Not bad. I have a lot of the basic details worked out in my head, now I need to put them on paper and start working out the finer points. Hopefully I'll be able to do some playtesting with my roomates next week.
__________________
Then Prime arrives and the most awesome music for an 10 year old ever starts playing and he saves the day but at the cost of his own life and its just like Jesus, except, you know, the music is better. - Jeremy Cole, on the Transformers Movie
What's that quote? 99% of everything is crap. Except with the internet, you can have hot fresh crap piped into your home on a daily basis. - CodexArcanum, on the power of the internet.
I'm in. I'm working on a game right now. Unfortunately, I'm in the middle of running finals for Georgetown Law (ask Random Goblin how busy I am) and can start the challenge on Dec. 26.
I'll post again here tonight with some details on my game.
Okay, I've decided to use this spot to throw out my ideas of setting construction. Maybe somebody someday will find it useful.
Y'see I already have a system in place, a house system, so that means all I have to do is construct everything else.
So here we go:
According to Wikipedia, The Protectorate was a period of time in England from 1653–59 during which the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland was governed by a Lord Protector.
Prior to the Protectorate, England (and subsequently Scotland and Ireland) had been ruled directly by Parliament since it had declared England to be a Commonwealth in 1649. The Rump Parliament had been forcibly dissolved in April 1653 by soldiers led by Oliver Cromwell, prompted by the perceived ineffectiveness of its rule and its refusal to dissolve itself. Although the replacement, the Barebones Parliament (July–December 1653), was nominated by Cromwell and the leaders of the army, it proved just as difficult to control.
The post of Lord Protector was formally established by the Instrument of Government, a constitution passed by the Council of State in December 1653. Cromwell was appointed to the position for life. Although the constitution divided power between the Lord Protector, the Council of State and Parliament, in practice it restored the strong executive power that had been absent since the abolition of the monarchy. Indeed, Cromwellian government has been branded as ‘one of the first experiments in (de facto) military dictatorship’ (Abbott). This power was entrenched when Cromwell used a royalist uprising as a pretext to sweep away the traditional shire governments in 1655, replacing them with military districts administered by army officers, the so-called ‘Rule of the Major Generals’.
The Protectorate is associated with rigidly enforced puritan legislation. Religious toleration was extended to Jews and most Protestants, but not to Anglicans or Roman Catholics.
The Instrument of Government was replaced in 1657 by the Humble Petition and Advice, which reinforced the similarities between the Lord Protector and a monarch: for example, Cromwell was addressed as ‘His Highness’; his subsequent re-installation as Lord Protector was not dissimilar to a coronation; and he was given the right to nominate his successor—he chose his eldest surviving son, Richard.
After Cromwell's death in September 1658, the new Lord Protector, Richard Cromwell, was unable to control the army and resigned in May 1659. After a chaotic ‘interregnum’, the monarchy was restored in May 1660, largely through the initiative of General George Monck.
Puritans did not originally use the term for themselves. It was a term of abuse that first surfaced in the 1560s. "Recusants", "Precisemen" and "Precisions" were other early antagonistic terms for Puritans who preferred to call themselves "the godly."
Puritan factions played a key role in the Parliamentarian victory and became a majority in Parliament, while Puritan military leader Oliver Cromwell became head of the English Commonwealth. In the Commonwealth period, the Church of England was removed from royal control and reorganized to grant greater authority to local congregations, most of which developed in a Puritan and semi-Calvinist direction. There was never an official Puritan denomination; the Commonwealth government tolerated a somewhat broader debate on doctrinal issues than had previously been possible, and considerable theological and political conflict between Puritan factions continued throughout this period. The label "Puritan" fell out of use when their movement became the status quo; it was replaced by the broader term Nonconformist, which was used after the English Restoration to refer to all Protestant denominations outside of the official Church. The pejorative name "Dissenter" (for non-Conforming Protestants, as opposed to Catholics) was also used.
Okay, so for the brief period of time between 1653 and 59, we make the Puritans, or "godly" the big dogs.
From previous discussions with 3rd level fighter, we wanted all magic bad. For this game, there's no such thing as a good or misunderstood witch. Those with magic have gotten it from the Devil himself.
So PCs are members of the Godly or, at least, affiliated with them. Adversaries are going to be evil. The only PCs that can do anything remotedly magical-ish are Puritan elders or something similar that call upon god for miracles. Other than that, all magic is in the power of the Dark Side.
The Church of England
Until the first break between the Church of England and the Papal authority in 1534, the Archbishops of Canterbury were in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church, which selected and consecrated them. After this the full communion was restored but then finally broken nearly 40 years later by the excommunication of Elizabeth I on April 27, 1570. Since 1570, the Archbishop has been selected by the English (latterly British) monarch.
From 1645 to 1660, the position of Archbishop of Cnaterbury was vacant.
Good plot point. The devil-worshipping bad guys could have helped bring this about. A plot campaign could become the battle to find a new Archbishop that fails. Must read further.
William Laud (October 7, 1573 – January 10, 1645) was Archbishop of Canterbury and a fervent supporter of King Charles I of England, whom he encouraged to believe in divine right. His support for Charles, absolute monarchy, and his persecuting of opposing views led to his beheading in the midst of the English Civil War. The beheading of Charles occurred four years later.
Laud's intolerance towards the Presbyterians extended to Scotland, where it led to the Covenanter movement and the Bishops' Wars. The Long Parliament of 1640 accused him of treason, resulting in his imprisonment in the Tower of London, where he remained throughout the early stages of the English Civil War. In the spring of 1644, he was brought to trial, but it ended without being able to reach a verdict. The parliament took up the issue, and eventually passed a bill of attainder under which he was beheaded on January 10, 1645 on Tower Hill, notwithstanding being granted a royal pardon.
William Juxon (1582 – June 4, 1663) was an English churchman, Bishop of London from 1633 to 1649 and Archbishop of Canterbury from 1660 until his death.
In 1627 he was made Dean of Worcester and in 1632 he was nominated to the bishopric of Hereford and resigned the presidency of St John's in January 1633. However, he never took up duties at Hereford, as in October 1633 he was consecrated Bishop of London in succession to Laud. In March 1636 Charles I entrusted Juxon with important secular duties by making him Lord High Treasurer of England as well as First Lord of the Admiralty; for the next five years he had to deal with many financial and other difficulties. He resigned the treasurership in May 1641. During the Civil War, the bishop, against whom no charges were brought in parliament, lived undisturbed at Fulham Palace, and his advice was often sought by the king, who had a very high opinion of him, and who selected him to be with him on the scaffold and to offer him the last rites before his execution.
Juxon was deprived of his bishopric in 1649 and retired to Little Compton in Gloucestershire, where he had bought an estate, and became famous as the owner of a pack of hounds. At the restoration of King Charles II he became Archbishop of Canterbury and in his official capacity he took part in the new king's coronation, but his health soon began to fail and he died at Lambeth. By his will the archbishop was a benefactor to St John's College, where he was buried; he also aided the work of restoring St Paul's Cathedral and rebuilt the great hall at Lambeth Palace.
Huh. An assassination attempt on Juxon between 1653 and 1659 is highly likely to show up now as a campaign situation.
In 1647, by an act of the Long Parliament under the control of Puritans, the Church of England embraced Presbyterianism. The re-establishment of the monarchy in 1660 brought the return of Episcopal church government in England (and in Scotland for a short time); but the Presbyterian church in England continued in non-conformity, outside of the established church.
Calvin started this up and he forbade the practice of witchcraft.
Which brings us to the whole witchcraft thing.
The Protestant Christian explanation for witchcraft, such as those typified in the confessions of the Pendle Witches, commonly involve a diabolical pact or at least an appeal to the intervention of the spirits of evil. The witches or wizards addicted to such practices were alleged to reject Jesus and the sacraments, observe "the witches' sabbath" (performing infernal rites which often parodied the Mass or other sacraments of the Church), pay Divine honour to the Prince of Darkness, and, in return, receive from him preternatural powers. Witches were most often characterized as a woman. As a witch she reasons disrupted the societal institutions, and more specifically marriage. It was believed that a witch often joined a pact with the devil to gain powers to deal with infertility, immense fear for her children's well-being, or revenge against a lover.
It is also apparent from an episode of English history during the early 1640s, when the Civil War resulted in the suspension of jury courts for three years. Several freelance witch-hunters emerged during this period, the most notorious of whom was Matthew Hopkins, who emerged out of East Anglia and proclaimed himself "Witchfinder General."
Oooo, Freelance witch-hunters. I am so in with having this as a character occupation.
On the strength of his commission, Hopkins then demanded that the communities he visited pay him for his work. He also sold fetishes he called "witch boxes" that were supposed to protect the households of their owners from sorcery.
Okay, witch box, useful for detecting witches.
Witches in England were never burned, always hung, so this is something I'd better keep in mind. Witches outside of England WERE burned, so if the characters wander out, this could become an interesting descriptive piece.
What else....
The five points of Calvinism, which can be remembered by the English acronym TULIP are:
Total depravity (or total inability): As a consequence of the Fall of man, every person born into the world is enslaved to the service of sin. According to the view, people are not by nature inclined to love God with their whole heart, mind, or strength, but rather all are inclined to serve their own interests over those of their neighbor and to reject the rule of God. Thus, all people by their own faculties are morally unable to choose to follow God and be saved because they are unwilling to do so out of the necessity of their own natures.
Unconditional election: God's choice from eternity of those whom he will bring to himself is not based on foreseen virtue, merit, or faith in those people. Rather, it is unconditionally grounded in God's mercy.
Limited atonement (or particular redemption or definite atonement): The death of Christ actually takes away the penalty of sins of those on whom God has chosen to have mercy. It is "limited" to taking away the sins of the elect, not of all humanity, and it is "definite" and "particular" because atonement is certain for those particular persons.
Irresistible grace (or efficacious grace): The saving grace of God is effectually applied to those whom he has determined to save (the elect) and, in God's timing, overcomes their resistance to obeying the call of the gospel, bringing them to a saving faith in Christ.
Perseverance of the saints (or preservation of the saints): Any person who has once been truly saved from damnation must necessarily persevere and cannot later be condemned. The word saints is used in the sense in which it is used in the Bible to refer to all who are set apart by God, not in the technical sense of one who is exceptionally holy, canonized, or in heaven (see Saint).
These might make good "spells" for the godly in this game, one for each tenet. Must look into that further.
Lastly, what else was happening between 1653-and 1659?
I can't participate, because I'm already involved in a similar challenge on a French forum : http://www.pandapirate.net/casus/viewforum.php?f=26
Every month, there's a topic, and one must write a full RPG based on it, one-page-long, two columns, font size between 10 and 15.
In October, the topic was "Halloween", and I wrote Samhain, which is now available in English : http://tromeur.com/samhain/
In November, the topic was "Soviet", and I wrote In Revolution We Trust, a game set during the Capitalist/Communist Civil War in the United States of America, under the presidency of Karl Marx. So far, I have not translated it into English, but it's there if you want to have a look : http://tromeur.com/irwt/irwt.pdf
In December, the topic is "Ocean", and I've written 4 games so far (only available in French) : Les voyages de l'arche perdue (Travels of the Lost Ark) : the travels of the Ark of Oberon, the ship that welcome all the beasts and people that missed the Ark of Noah. http://tromeur.com/arche/arche.pdf Le règne de Mu (Reign of Mu) : a game set during the Empire of Mu and Atlantis, several millenia before Christ, acording to Colonel James Churchward. http://tromeur.com/mu/mu.pdf ma mute : a post-apocalyptic RPG set in Polynesia, long after the older civilization is forgotten. Partially written in the toki pona language. http://tromeur.com/mm/mm.pdf L'autre côté du miroir (Across the mirror) : mystic demon-hunters (Dolphins and Whales fighting Sharks & Giant Squids) http://tromeur.com/miroir/miroir.pdf
I'm especially proud of what Le règne de Mu looks like. I think I'll write an expanded version of it someday (and translate it into English) :
Back from holidays.
Well, Wikipedia is tapped so I do what any woman or game designer would do: I go up in my attic, I pull out An Encyclopedia of World History to see if anything else catches my eye.
1649-1660: Title and office of king abolished as is House of Lords
1651: First Navigational Act passed forbidding importation of goods into England except in English vessels, which cause was with the Dutch in 1652. Peace with the Dutch came in 1654.
December 16 1653, Cromwell set up the Protectorate and ruled to 1658
1655: Anglican clergy are forbidden to teach or preach. Catholic priests ordered out of the Kingdom. Censorship of the press. Rigid "puritanical" rules in arts and morasls.
1656-1659: War with Spain. Good to know....
Sept 17-Feb 4 1658: Cromwell's Third Parliament: Created the Humble Petition and Advice, among other things it promoted toleration for all trinitarian christians except Episcopalians and Catholics.
Sept 3, 1658: Oliver Cromwell dies
From then until May 25, 1659, Richard Cromwell is Lord Protector. He loses ground until he finally gives up.
Okay. Now we have to decide how much history we're about to alter.
Effort is at a standstill so far but I've decided to add technological/geographical elements from the Legend of The Tower series from Heavy Metal magazine. The combat system is finalized. (I'll post details later) and I'm struggling to finish up a system for social interaction. (Wether to base it on skills or just a main ability).
__________________
"You know this car is kind of small. You don't have to drive it like a U-Boat."
"What? If this were a U-Boat I wouldn't be driving. I would be the Captain and I would say to the helmsman: 'Helm! Full ahead at 45 degrees starboard!' and he would say 'Aye aye sir!'."
Okay. Need to turn all that cool info into my game. 3rd Level Fighter gave me the beginning premise of the setting of the English Civil war era with Cromwell as the Lord Protector. He wanted all magic to be evil, although I'm going to press that the Godly may be allowed holy items of power, if not capable of doing some sort of holy magic themselves.
The year is 1655. England has been torn apart. There is no king. The Church of England has been effectively removed. And unbeknownst to the Lord Protector, a new evil is stirring....
The salvation of England and the world lies within your hands.
BACKGROUND
In the Year of our Lord 1651, members of Parliament became aware of a new threat of witchcraft and sorcery within England and spreading throughout the rest of Europe. Evidence brought before the House revealed that these evil factions were organised and appeared to have an agenda. Parliament elected one of their own to gather a unit together to investigate further, to identify and hopefully eliminate this threat. Cloaked in secrecy, this member of Parliament is known only as Lord (Britain? England? X?)
Then everything England was and knew exploded. Charles was defeated by Comwell in Worcester. In 1653, Oliver Cromwell is elected Lord Protector. Parliament meets in 1654. The whereabouts of Lord X are unknown and the unit stands waiting, wondering if perhaps evil will win after all.
In the year after this Parliament meeting, reports from Lord X come trickling in. The unit is to proceed as planned, but in upmost secrecy. It is unknown by Lord X as to whether the current events are simply fate or a deliberate move by the dark forces to take over England.
Then, Cromwell dissolves Parliament completely, and outlaws Anglican activies. The units are on their own.
CHARACTERS
You play members of a select group of civilians and lawmen who are searching for answers in the darkest hours of British History. You know what the common Englishman doesn't--sorcery evists and dark beings, perhaps the Devil Himself, are now making a bid for control on your own soil.
It is up to you to prevent evil from gaining a foothold. Your resources are slim; there is no one to report to or save you should you get in trouble, and even worse, your own activities may bring about accusations of treason and witchcraft. But you are not doing this to save yourselves, you are saving the world from terror and a black shadowy future.
Character types
Fighter Types: soldiers, ex-soldiers, interrogators, guards, some sort of holy fighter*
Priests, Anglicans, and Jesuits are capable of being played but they have extra agenda. For one thing, they have to keep secret identitiesand ensure their affiliations are not known by the rest of the characters. This could also introduce other conspiracies: i.e. they have additional agendas given to them by a secret Archbishop of Canterbury or even the Papacy of Rome. These characters would have additional goals as they continue to spy on the current situation in England and report back their findings.
Next needed: a map of what London looked like in 1654 and what the rest of England looked like.
Once, long ago, there was an ancient race called Humans... From them, were born all the races we know today.
Setting in a nut shell: Earth, a couple thousand years after the fall of modern civilization. With all the damage "modern" humans did to the environment, and the eventual release of tons of mutantigenic materials, evolution is on super fast forward. Sure, humanity blasted it's way back to the stone age, but technology is starting to come back around again. Tech level ranges from the high Renaissance, to stone age. And where once there was one human race, now there's hundreds.
I think I've already got my game mechanics in order, but I won't know until I start putting it on paper and play-testing it. It's gonna end up looking a bit like a WoD game, although I wasn't trying to plagerize their system. I'm using a different dice mechanic then they do, because I've never been a big fan of "roll a bucket o' dice".
I might extend my deadline to Jan 26th though, as this is the first time I've ran across this thread.
I'm really not sure I'll be able to finish my fantasy heartbreaker but I'm trying.
So far I've got an almost finished set of rules, descriptions of the seven races and a brief bit of history. I still haven't got anything into any kind of coherent manageable format, though.
__________________
Creating a character for every RPG I own. Clicky.
Linear Mode
