I really like the idea of a medieval Black Death game.

For some interesting background fictional reading may I recommend "Company of Liars: A Novel of the Plague" by Karen Maitland.

Whilst not necessarily the world's greatest book it does give the skeleton (no pun intended) to what I think would be a great Black Death game - divination by runes, witchcraft & herbalism, true medieval 'magic' (i.e. not pointy hats and fireballs), religious beliefs and the power of relics, and also a tangible sense of the fear of this destructive disease that has suddenly engulfed the land.

Distrust and survival would (in my opinion) make excellent themes for a game which would be in stark contrast to 'resolving the puzzle', 'besting the high-lord of eneminess' or 'finding the magical item' that seem to be the prevalent themes at many lrp events.

Always having to be on the move to try and stay one step ahead of the plague gives an excellent background driver to keep things moving onwards. Anytime that things start getting too comfortable or easy then 'Bang!' the plague hits the players, the place they are at, or the people they are around.

The desperation of the plague and the accompanying famine will lead to others resorting to all manner of desperate acts (including violence) without having to resort to magical or fantasy creatures for protagonists(which massively helps from a crew costume point of view).

Basically ordinary people coping with extraordinary times and being 'free of plague' and constantly searching for a safe haven gives a plausible reason why a disparate player group would band together (something that I have oftened struggled with at other events i.e. why would this group band and stay together?).

Just my opinions but would be interested to hear what others have to say.

Si

_________________________________________

Everyone loves Hypnotoad!

Seems like something that would be nice to freeform.

-- -- --

Eos: Manius Shard. Upset.

FnH: Officious Guard no.1

We were going to do the last one freeform, but decided to go with a limited rules system instead. Might try a freeform for the next one

In summary. Its based in 13th Century England, the players are essentially the local militia rounded up from the Townspeople (so they're all ex soldiers, carpenters, rat catchers, and the odd physician or priest) who are sent off to investigate strange goings on

First event - A dark ritual had tried to summon the Devil into the unborn child of a local woman. Problem was that she had twins. One turned out to be a gibbering mess, the other a crazed flesh eating monster. The people who did the ritual took the children, the gibberer was kept locked in a cellar by the doctor who delivered them. The crazy flesh eating monster was dumped in the forest to die. Problem was he didn't die, he just ate everything he found, so they were offering it sacrifices of the guests at the inn. Essentially turned into a survival horror

Second event - A woman who had a child out of wedlock gave him to another family. 16 years later he found her. Her husband found out and fearing the shame has him framed for a crime and had him hung. The spirit of the child's father possessed the woman in her sleep and came back for revenge on those who killed his boy and all those who associated with them. The player picked up a disease that gave them 48 hours to live, unless they found out who the real guilty parties were and brough them to trial.

Third event - A member of the Templar order uttered a curse whilst he was being burnt at the stake that he would not die until he'd taken revenge. Basically an undead knight going round killing priests

Fourth event - A number of mysterious suicides at a house inhabited by a local noble, his wife and servant. A story of infidelity, and isolation basically. The end discovery being that the  house servant had been there for over 100 years and was in fact an "avatar" of loneliness. He attached himself to people in the house, driving others away, and causing despair on those around him. The local eeeeevil wisewoman didn't want him gone though as she wanted to punish one of the former suicide victims, so kept throwing spanners into the works. Required the players to banish all feelings of loneliness and isolation away (including from the spirits of those who'd died before who they had to re-summon).

Bit of a long post I know, but think it adequately demonstrates the scope for which this sort of game has.

Points that worked really well

1) Its much better being a spod. Who is the bigger hero? The cooper who kills the Vampire, or the Vampire Hunter that kills the Vampire. Simple things like solving a murder were good enough, rather than need to save the world

2) Everyone knows the period to a reasonable degree. Theres plenty of source material on medieval history, so there less to design from scratch

3) The limited medicine and magic system means that people tend to be a little more careful who they pick a fight with. Limited skills means that people tend to roleplay more too

4) IC costume, set dressing and food is fairly straightforward.

5) Theres loads of opportunity for good roleplaying. Things like a priest saying mass get people together worked well, communal eating, burials etc. We also had various sub-plots which added greatly to the games (i.e. one had a priest who was studying anatomy and had kept various organs from the dead, knowing that they couldn't go to heaven if they were buried incomplete. People had the choice of turning him in etc)

6) Magic was really simple. Basically priests could pray for miracles (that someone's wound is healed), Maleficarists (ie. devil worshippers) could curse people with their "evil eye" to blind them, strike them dumb etc, and Wisewomen could make charms. Worked in the fact that it was believable and simple

The drawbacks are:-

1) It has limited appeal. Lots of people want to get dressed up, wear masks / prosthetics and see spangly impressive costumes.

2) You're limited to a degree on monsters (i.e they're mostly human). Bandits encounters can be get boring after the 10th one

3) OOC knowledge creep. If you're a farmer, then you're not going to know about the Templars. Trouble is that as most LRPers do know about it, that plot didn't work so well.

4) Getting suitably olde worlde and isolated sites is tricky.

Overall though I'd heartily recommend a medieval Cthulhu as an event style. It does work.

-------------

 

Brighton Below : Organiser

Serenity: Capt Tom Crowson

RL: Simon / Trez

My only reservation was that I already run something like this but set in the 12th century at the end of the great anarchy, with normal people investigating fantastic things against the backdrop of a country in the midst of civil strife, but I digress.

I still like the idea of people bringing there own plot and passing it to another player, who is then responcible for rounding up people who want to crew etc. This could be personal plot but doesnt have to be.

I say we use the "Principles" system for combat etc.

Free form damage/skills/magic etc.

Perhaps we can use a Advantages/disadvantages character creation. Ie: criminal contacts/Hunted by an outlaw gang etc.?

Combat is a plot device, we could leave it up to the players to decide where that device takes them. This system is totally open to abuse of course, so it'll be up to peer review to keep everyone in check.

I think I'm seeing the game slightly more magical than Shelford. Historical no doubt but I want cultists, cannibals, dark rituals, books that possess people, the walking dead etc etc. NO POINT AND CLICK MAGIC. Rituals, hexes and all the rest is cool, but no "By my power..."

The 'principles' will have to be carefully drafted. I'm not sure about the 'define it as you go' idea. I think it could get messy. Also what would you do if the players defined something totally at odds with something that came before, or just something you thought was truely awful "It was the Cardassians". Principles I'm up for, but we need some solid idea about how they'll work that will mean we get a consistant gameworld.

I'm at work, so I'll give you some specifics later.

--------------------------------------------------------------

"Stick around!"
-Governor of California throwing a hunting knife into a man's chest

Dark Times has point and click in the fact that a Maleficarist can curse someone to make them fall over say, or be blinded, or a priest can pray for a healed wound.

In game terms, the Maleficarist has to actually verbally curse someone. So rather than "By my power Blind", they should be saying something along the lines of "You wretched cur, son of a thousand snakes and a dog, may your eyes wither to dust". A priest will actually say a prayer "Dear lord, look down on your servant James, who lies here injured defending your glory. Look upon him with grace......"

As well as that, all the magic is justifiable. A heal wound miracle doesn't actually heal up before their eyes, its just that the wound wasnt that serious (Most of the blood was his, Father) and a blind curse might just be that a large peice of grit has flown into the targets eye causing irreperable damage

-------------

 

Brighton Below : Organiser

Serenity: Capt Tom Crowson

RL: Simon / Trez