New Game Proposal - Death Makes A Kingdom

[Thorn Profile]

I'd intended to delay putting this up for a while, but circumstances have recently pushed me to move that timetable up.

I'm considering a return to GMing after the fizzle a couple years ago with JTF Greenjacket (still a good idea, but that was another time). My offline gaming group is about to be unavailable because I expect to be moving in the very near future (since I know you're reading this, yes, Cobalt, one of the job offers did pan out). A sane person would wait until he's settled in his new environment before starting something like this; however, it's a government job, so reasonable posting availability seems likely, and I had an idea I'd like to run either online or off. Circumstances have just pushed for "on."

The basic concept is that the arrival of the Black Plague in Europe heralds the Apocalypse - literally the drawing back of the veil. Because it is what I know best, the focus will be on how this affects England and France, locked in the first phase of what will be called the Hundred Years' War, and on the role of the Church in a world suddenly beset by literal demons. Because it works well for "normals," and because the SRD is easily accessible online, the system will be a heavily modified d20 Modern, though as usual, this should be largely transparent for players.

This game will likely be radically different from current MRC fare in wo ways: first, that I intend, at least to begin, to stay photorealistic - wounds may not kill, but infections will, and if you take an arming-sword in the gut, chances are you will not continue fighting for long - and second, the setting is obviously not sci-fi anime, but more like Bernard Cornwell's "Grail" novels. Anyone who's interested should take note of those facts before signing on. I'll post more in-character information in the near future, but for now, this will do to begin discussion.

[Thorn Profile]

They called it the Wrath of God.

It was said that it came from Satan himself, but most likely it came from the Genovese colonies in the Black Sea. Wherever it spread, men, women, and children died, without regard to class or wealth, and it spread like fire. Most of Europe had no idea what was coming. In northern France, the two competing kings of France - Edward Plantagenet and Philippe de Valois - clashed again and again, ending this year of 1347 with Edward capturing the port of Calais, emptying it of Frenchmen and settling Englishmen in their place. The capture of an intact city opened every sort of opportunity to Edward, giving him a chance to ravage Normandy and the Ile de France without the fears that had dogged him through the Crecy campaign. Edward looked forward to another year seeing him in Paris, and the fateful day of September 22, 1347, he was embarking on a ship for London and a long-overdue rest from the rigors of two years' campaigning.

His queen, Philippa of Hainault, was visiting her Flemish relatives, and was pregnant with their eleventh child, due the following summer. Just after sunset, she awoke screaming, clawing at the bedding and begging her family to allow her to join Edward in Westminster Palace. "A darkness comes, and Death makes his kingdom," she is reputed to have told her sister, the countess Margaret of Holland. Margaret, alarmed, considered having her incarcerated as a madwoman, but two things stopped her: the growing power of Philippa's devoted husband, and the fact that Philippa herself was so obviously otherwise rational.

In Paris itself, a Catalan Dominican student at the University of Paris, Fra' Nicolau Aymerich, sat bolt-upright in his cell at the same time, shouting out a warning. "Death makes himself a kingdom!" he cried out, the Latin expostulation waking and warning the other brothers in the row of bare cells in the students' cloister. The furious, thrashing Brother Nicolau required four strong men to restrain him, and only the summoning of the College de Sorbonne's dean of theology calmed him. It is unknown what transpired between dean and brother, but Brother Nicolau found himself thrust out of the University the very next day, a gathering of the school's faculty grimly, hurriedly draping his doctoral robes over his shoulders, thrusting a diploma into his hand, the calligraphy marred by an unusually shaky hand, and thrust him forth into the world to lodge at the Dominican house at St. Jacques.

In Avignon, His Holiness, Clement VI, occupant of the See of Peter and absentee Bishop of Rome, also lurched from his bed, clutching his chest and gasping out "Repent! Repent!" before collapsing at the foot of the bed, massive enough for five. The other four occupants, derisively called the Pope's daughters, shrieked and ran. Clement lived, but was a changed man, haggard and gray where before he had focused more on the artistic side of the Church, building great monuments to the Glory of God. The man who had arrived in Avignon to see the full coffers and had exclaimed "My predecessors did not know how to be Pope!" began to work with feverish energy, letters flying out from Avignon to the corners of Christendom by black-clad, close-mouthed riders.

In Constantinople, far to the east, the bishop-deacon of the Hagia Sophia found Patriarch Isidoros on his knees before the high altar, rocking back and forth in religious ecstasy with his arms outstretched. He wore the full ornate robes of the Patriarch of Constantinople, jeweled and stiff with gold. Candles lit the glorious interior, for it was well after sunset, the dome's tessellated mosaic of Christ Pantokrator staring down in judgment. Men had been falling dead in the streets of Constantinople for weeks; the Avtokrator Ioannes had been gone for quite some time, ostensibly in the field against the Serbs, but truly simply avoiding the plague-riddled Queen of Cities. The deacon seized the Patriarch by the shoulder and was horrified to see blood running down his face, where Isidoros had blinded himself, clawing out his own eyes. The Patriarch's face was still an ecstatic mask despite the deformation. "We are in the Kingdom of Death," he whispered before toppling forward against the altar.

[Cobalt]

Sounds intriguing. I have some questions before I make a decision.

What sort of posting schedule are you looking for? What sort of characters?

Oh, and congrats on the job.

[Thorn Profile]

Planned posting schedule is weekly. I know everyone here's likely involved in or running multiple games (I just watched you update, I'm not quite sure how you manage all of those in more or less one go), so more than weekly seems asking a bit much.

Characters - I'll take anything from a snot-nosed, entitled young noble who's Earl of West Nowhere because his father died outside Calais last month and expects everyone to defer to him, to a gutter rat who took service with one or the other of the armies to avoid the rope. The setting works equally well for an English poacher-longbowman, a Highlander captured at Neville's Cross and awaiting his ransom, a Flemish man-at-arms mercenary, or an itinerant monk. Especially at the noble end of things, there are problems with female characters (your job is to marry and breed, not much more), but I include Philippa of Hainault for a reason, and her servants are unlikely to be male.

Because of the degree of customization off default d20 Modern, in case of any character concept, I'll likely give a recommendation for feats, equipment, and languages (language is a significant stumbling point in medieval Europe); within limits, like priests and monks who don't know Latin not being a good idea, they will be recommendations.

[Cobalt]

I have a lot of free time at work. What is your minimum player count?

[Thorn Profile]

Ideally four, but I'm willing to go up from there. If it goes much past four, I'll run parallel threads. That seems excessive, though - I'm ambitious, but it's not far from "ambitious" to "ambitious but rubbish."

[Cobalt]

Count me in as a prospective player. I'm down.

[Frange1 Profile]

I'm toying with some character ideas right now - Save me a spot.

[Thorn Profile]

One of my offline gaming friends has expressed a tentative interest, so that's... call it 2.5 for now.

EDIT: Make that two and two halves, pending joining.

[lokeiSHP Profile]

Wow, this thing is still on. I'll see about working out a character tonight. I'm pretty set conceptually already. Expect something soldierish/mercish regardless of background.

[Thorn Profile]

Since it's come up, dice-rolling method is 4d6, drop the lowest. If I see abuse, that may change or I may just Harrison Bergeron you.

[lokeiSHP Profile]

Thorn, I figured I would just post the current product here. I *think* I have sorted through the skill system properly and this should sort out everything except equipment (however you want to handle that)


Character Name: Robert Fischer

STR 14
DEX 10
CON 11
INT 10
WIS 12
CHA 16

Age: 31

Home: Southampton, Hampshire County, England
Class: Strong Hero
Occupation: Military (skills Knowledge (tactics), Survival; Bonus Feat: Armor Proficiency (light))

Appearance:

Robert is an Englishman of average build. He has brown eyes and what is left of his hair is graying, though he currently has it shorn as close as he dares allow any of the camp followers to cut it so as to prevent any issues with lice or fleas while on campaign. Similarly he attempts to keep his facial hair trimmed as short as possible. Surprisingly, his teeth are in good health for a man of his age and there are no visually missing teeth (he does have a few cracked molars that can't be seen without looking directly in his mouth). He also has a significant scar on his left leg where he was injured during the Battle of Caen, though he was fortunate enough to avoid infection. He has a slight limp due to the wound but this only shows when he is tired or otherwise engaged as he consciously attempts to correct his stride. He also appears aged well beyond his years as hard years of campaigning have taken their toll.

Background:

Robert was born in Southampton in 1316 to Thomas and Alicia Fischer. The seventh child in his family, he was the fourth to survive childhood. He had two older brothers John and Adam, and an older sister, Matilda. He also has a younger sister, Emma. Alicia Fischer died during childbirth during her ninth pregnancy when Robert was 5. When Robert was 10 he took up his fishing trade alongside his brothers and father, earning a meager but good living fishing along coastal waters. In 1336 Robert was married to Agneta, a daughter of a thatcher. Prior to 1338 they had a son (Thomas) and a daughter (Felicia), though their son did not live past infancy. In the fall of 1338 Southampton was sacked by Genoese mercenaries in the employ France. Robert’s oldest brother, John was killed in the fighting and his family’s boat had been burned. Subsequently Robert was conscripted as part of the Hampshire county levy and subsequently participated in defeating several raids by the Genoese mercenaries in the spring of 1339. These raids continued until August of that year before the Genoese left French service due to pay disputes. From there Robert’s levy was included amongst the foot troops King Edward took with him during his September 1339 invasion of France. Robert participated in fighting in northern France ultimately culminating in the Siege of Tournai and the Truce of Esplechin. With the negotiated truce between the two belligerents and their allies Robert finally returned home to Southampton in September of 1340. In the several years that followed Robert returned to his fishing trade and his young wife. During this time back home he also fathered another son (William) before being called back to the levy briefly in 1343 as Edward marched on Vannes. This campaign ended quickly in another truce and Robert did not participate in any major engagements. In July of 1346 Robert was once again part of an invading force, led by his king and the Black Prince. He was injured while fighting at Caen and did not participate in the Battle of Blanchetaque, though he had recovered in time to serve at Crécy. Finally he participated in the Siege of Calais in 1347. Throughout his career as a soldier Robert has fought with a Bill, proving to be far more proficient with it than a longbow.

Personality:

Once vivacious and full of humor, years of warfare have made Robert dour and taciturn by nature. Despite this, Robert seems to be well liked and respected amongst his fellows. Robert is also full of practical advice for his fellow soldiers however, often as not simply because he is amongst the oldest and most experienced of his fellows, having actually survived multiple campaigns. He has grown tired of constant warfare and earnestly wishes to return home to his family and leave his fighting days behind him.

Class Skills:
Climb (1 rank)
Craft (Structural) (2 ranks)
Jump (1 rank)
Knowledge (tactics) (2 ranks)
Survival (2 ranks)
Speak Language (French) (1 rank)
Swim (3 ranks)


Feats:
Armor Proficiency (Light)
Armor Proficiency (Medium)
Simple Weapons Proficiency
Archaic Weapons Proficiency

Talents:
Extreme Effort

[Frange1 Profile]

Thorn,

I know you said not to include Feats, but I went ahead and added them to use as a base concept. I'm also not sure what the exact changes you'll be making to the Skills system, so I made the couple you indicated, but left the older version of skill ranks. We can make whatever changes you deem appropriate.

Thanks...
_______________________________________________________________
Player: Frange1


Character Name: Etienne D'Amber
Age: 26
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Blue
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 180
Nationality: French
Home: Basilican Abbey of St. Denis

Appearance:

Etienne is a slightly above-average sized French man. He wears his hair shoulder length and carries a beard, comprising a foreboding appearance. His icy blue eyes have a predatory gaze. He carries himself with a sense of purpose that exhibits in his movements. His previous lifestyle has caused him a similar sense of freedom, making him appear relaxed with a danger lurking beneath.

Personality:

Etienne is a man of opportunity at heart. He has accepted a life within the devotion of the priesthood, but as a soldier of the church, rather than as a priest. His dedication and loyalty are maintained out of his appreciation for the freedom they have earned him. He struggles daily with the duality between his life of service and the life he left behind.

Ability Scores

• STR 14
• DEX 16
• CON 10
• INT 11
• WIS 11
• CHA 14

Class: Fast Hero
Class Skills:

• Balance - 2 ranks
• Craft (mechanical)
• Drive - 1 rank
• Escape Artist - 3 ranks
• Knowledge (Streetwise) - 1 rank
• Pilot - untrained
• Profession (hunter/poacher) - 2 ranks
• Read/Write Language (French) - free/native
• Read/Write Language (Latin) - 1 rank
• Ride - 3 ranks
• Sleight of Hand - untrained
• Speak Language (French) - free/native
• Speak Language (Latin) - 1 rank
• Speak Language (English) - 1 rank
• Tumble - untrained

Cross-Class Skills

• Knowledge (theology and philosophy) - 1 rank

Talents:

• Evasion

Feats

• Simple Weapons Proficiency
• Armor Proficiency (Light)
• Archaic Weapons Proficiency

Occupation: Criminal
Bonus Feat: Bow instead of personal firearm proficiency??
Wealth Bonus Increase: +1
Occupational Skills

• Disable Device - 1 rank
• Stealth - 3 ranks

Personal Connections:

• Best Friend: Guillame - Etienne and Guillame are cousins on Etienne's mother's side. They spent much of their childhood together and became fast friends. It was during their escapades as highwaymen however, that the two of them would be sealed in an eternal bond of friendship.
• Worst Enemy: Lionel - Lionel is responsible for turning Etienne and Guillame in for their crimes. He was a rival in their line of business and double-crossed them in order to get ahead.
• Family:
  
  • Father: Etienne did not know his father. He was told that his father was a cursading knight, but the man did not spend any length of time with his mother.
  • Mother: Augustine Rousseau (43) - Augustine was a french bar wench who spent a single night with Etienne's father. Her pregnancy made her unable to work in a tavern, and her sister got her a job as a house servant after his birth. Because servants were not allowed to have children, Etienne was raised by his maternal grandparents.
    
  • Grandfather: Phillipe Rousseau (67) - Even at his age, Phillipe is a working blacksmith. He took on the business from his his own father, but having only daughters, was unable to pass it on to any sons. He spent some time as a soldier, but it was not extensive. He ismissing the last finger on his left hand from an old war injury.
    
  • Grandmother: Juliette Rousseau (49 ATD) - Etienne remembers his Grandmother fondly. She always kept a warm and inviting home and took particular interest in providing for her grandchildren. She died from a flu during a harsh winter.
    
  • Siblings:
    
    • Guillame (25) - Guillame is Etienne's cousin, but because their childhoods were so entwined, they are connected more as siblings. Guillame is currently a French crusader.
      
    • Cossette (23) - Cossette is Guillame's younger sister. She also spent enough time with Etienne as a child that she is like his sister, rather than his cousin. Like Guillame and Etienne, Cossette took to the life of a woodsman. She, however has not become a highwayman or brigand. She lives on the edge of civilization between the wilderness and their grandfather's house.
      

Background:

Etienne was born to a French bar maid in Marsailles. He was immediately sent to his maternal grandparents who raised him along with his two cousins. His Aunt and Uncle died due to illness. He spent his childhood helping his grandfather work the forge along with his cousin Guillame.

When Etienne was 10, his grandmother died also due to illness and a harsh winter. After her death, Cossette was too young to run the household, so their grandfather was forced to take on additional responsibilities around the home. It proved to be too much for him and their welfare began to decline. This eventually led the three children to learn how to venture ionto the forest for additional provisions. Etienne and Guillame became poachers with another childhood friend, Lionel. When the three of them became older, survival and food was no longer enough for their needs. They longed for glory and wealth. Joining a band of highwaymen was inevitable.

Cossette continued to hunt for game, but the boys hunted for gold, stealing from anyone they could manage and making a general nuissance of themselves. As the years progressed, so did their crimes. Their band was guilty of robbery, theft, rape, even murder. Althought the two shied away from some of the more violent crimes, they participated in the band's activities and were guilty of crimes. After a few years, their success within the band was envied by their friend and ally, Lionel. He saw the opportunity to eliminate his competition and took it by turning both Etienne and Guillame in. In the process, the magistrate's arrangement with Lionel proved to be a ruse and he too was imprisoned.

Guillame and Lionel have both taken up the mantle of crusader, earning their freedom. The state of Etienne's health at the time did not allow him to join them. Guillame tried to stay with him,but at Etienne's uring that he would die ayway, Guillame said his farewells and took the opportunity. Much to Etienne's dismay, his health took a turn for the better soon after Guillame and Lionel departed.

When the clergy visited the prisons, Etienne was again as healthy as any prisoner could be in the dungeons. Having missed the past opportunity and not wishing to live out the rest of his sentence, he prostrated himself before the priest, Father Reynard, begging for absolution and the right to serve the Lord. Since Father he was there to do that very thing, Reynard granted Etienne his mercy. Etienne's act however was of such magnitude that the Reynard took particular interest in him. He made him his very own retainer, tutoring him in enough theology and religion to allow him to remain in the priesthood.

Learning that Etienne's true talents lay not in study or the execution of rituals, Father Reynard had him educated in the ways of a soldier. He used private tutors in order to hide Etienne's true purpose. Etienne drew upon his experience as a highwayman to excel in his new profession. Both his fighting prowess and the tasks Father Reynard would ask of him would test his skills.

In 1346, the pride of the Basilican Abbey of St. Denis was lost on the battlefield of Crecy. This was the Oriflamme, the sacred banner of France and the royal battle standard. A new one was made, but the loss of the Oriflamme marks the complete eclipse of the Abbey of St. Denis, which was once home to the Bishop of Paris, since elevated to Archbishop and moved to Notre Dame de Paris.

This was not the only source of conflict between St. Denis and Notre Dame: Notre Dame claims to own the crown of the saint's skull, and with their more central location on the Seine, they are much closer to the king. It is the goal of Father Reynard de Pouilly to recover not only the saint's artifacts, but pride of place for St. Denis over the other churches of Paris, returning the Archbishop to the Abbey as he was in Suger's time (1150-1200). Father Reynard is far more interested in the greater glory of St. Denis than he is about the greater glory of God; he sees the restoration of the Abbey as the only sure way of gaining God's favor in the struggle against England, and the loss of the Oriflamme is a clear indicator that God is looking elsewhere. Thus, he is far more willing to use... questionable resources, officially in the Church's service, than he should be, and has gathered a surprising network of the scrapings of the prison at the Porte Saint-Denis, the Parisian gate leading out to the Abbey.

[Thorn Profile]

I'll open joining board threads for individual review.

[Thorn Profile]

Done; should be able to see some of the changes I'll be making.

[Thorn Profile]

More on-the-fly rules updates:

- Weapon Group: Basic and Armor Proficiency: Light are free for most characters, since armor in the Light family is meant to reflect peasant-level armor availability and armor that is designed to be non-restrictive. Players who wish to hot-swap AP:L for something else (for instance, non-combative monks) may select a skill-related feat in its place.

- For characters (e.g. Robert Fischer) who take an Occupation that gives AP: Light, the Occupation instead grants AP: Medium for free, reflecting extensive familiarity with the profession of arms.

Among other things, this makes a heavy-armor or shielded fighter possible again at first level, because you still have two feats to choose.

[Thorn Profile]

On Languages:

Languages are, as suggested in d20M, broken down into families. Since the focus initially is England-France, here are the significant spoken languages of the region:

English Family

Southern
Northern
Nourmand*
Lowland Scots

French (Northern) Family (Langue d'Oil)

Angevin-Poitevin
Langue d'Oil (High)
Parisien
Nourmand
Walloon

French (Southern) Family (Langue d'Oc)

Basque*
Catalan*
Gascon
Langue d'Oc (High)
Provencal

Gaelic Family

Breton
Cornish
Highland Scots*
Irish
Lowland Scots*
Welsh

Low German Family

Dutch
Flemish Dutch
Frisian
Plaatdeutsch
Walloon*

Spanish Family

Andalusian
Castilian
Catalan
Galician
Portuguese

Languages without distinct families

Basque
Archaic Greek
Hebrew
Latin

* Language not truly in family, but sufficient loanwords or border familiarity that anyone who speaks a language in the family can make themselves understood.

Written languages are somewhat more complicated. Until Chaucer in the later years of the 14th Century, there is essentially no written English, and the international written language is Latin. There are both written Langue d'Oc and Langue d'Oil; generally the poetic language, even during this period, is Langue d'Oc (High). Gaelic has no written tradition at all (see modern written Gaelic for evidence of this, since it is written approximating Gaelic sounds with non-Gaelic orthographies, else there would be no need to expand "Malcolm" into "Maelcolumn"). Obviously, classical langauges - to include for this purpose Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, and Latin - all have written forms, and being able to read, say, Andalusian Arabic would generally lead to being able to read Syrian Arabic.

Quick version: Regional dialect is much more important in speech than writing. If you can speak a regional dialect that falls into one of these families, you can generally make yourself understood in the other dialects, but there may be points of confusion.

As a guideline, noble characters will speak at least one dialect of the Langue d'Oil family, then learn, say, English or Breton as a learned language. Clerical characters will have to learn Latin, at least spoken and probably written. Characters who trade heavily are those most likely to learn lots of languages (an Englishman trading in Flanders might well know Flemish Dutch, Walloon, and Nourmand in addition to Southern English, just as a necessity of conducting business, and would likely be literate in Latin on top of that!).

EDIT:

To give you some idea how complex the problem of "what French do you speak?" is...

[Cobalt]

I have a couple of character proposals.

#1 - A young Chinese woman that was purchased in Shanghai as an Indentured Servant / Slave and brought back to Europe by an unscrupulous Merchant. She would speak decent French and bad English.

#2 - A time-traveller from the 32nd Century. He was on a mission to go back in time to kill Hitler but overshot his destination by a few centuries. Now he is trapped in the past with nothing but his trusty ray-gun to protect him.

Seriously, though, if #1 won't work, I can go back to the drawing board.

[Thorn Profile]

Let me think about #1. There's an ownership chain here that would probably run something like this: Chinese-Arab-(Greek-Italian-Sicilian Norman), THEN learning French and bad English. Being able to speak Arabic and Koine Greek would be a good thing for the party, but it'll require a LOT of language investment to make that jump. It's an interesting concept, and it gives me an excuse to tinker with the alchemy and herbalism rules some, but you have to admit it's a leap.

Oh, one other thing - there's a simple out for slaves in medieval Europe, Christianity. Slavery is only acceptable when practiced on non-Christians, partially as a means of encouraging them to convert. However, being as exotic as a Chinese woman in western Europe is going to be, it would require some very overt displays to make that claim stick.

[Cobalt]

I am willing to make the investment and take on the RP challenge. Let me know if it will work for you.

[lokeiSHP Profile]

You all are making feel like my character is plain and boring . Not that I'm going to make any changes, mind you.

[Thorn Profile]

Cobalt, go ahead and start a thread over on Joining, put everything in when you get a chance. I'll review it hopefully by week's end. I'm fine with the Chinese servant, especially since it gives me someone to blame any time there's something unusual that happens - she's a witch, burn her.

[Frange1 Profile]

Oh, that's just great.I thought my guy was going to cause problems with his 'Holy Assassin' thing. This party is going to be trouble.

[Cobalt]

I'll try to get something up before the holidays.

[Thorn Profile]

Back up and running fully. Anyone who's still on board, let me know.