Zornhau Forums

Basically what it says on the tin. Knowing full well I have enough irons in enough fires, I'm kinda digging the idea of setting up a secondary play-by-post game. Mostly because I'm envious of Thirty33's current game.

So two main questions. If I were to embark on such ill-advised absurdity:
1) Would anyone be interested?
2) Anyone have any specific suggestions for the premise?

For the latter, I have some thoughts myself but I'm curious what you guys would pitch.

I would join.

I'm pretty sure if/when the Floating City ever finishes I will just keep running games. I summarised the ideas I had been turning over in my head in another thread:

After the magic section gets released I would really like to run a 1001 Arabian Nights inspired game set in the mythical City Of Brass. Daemons and Djinn roam the earth tormenting and tempting the hearts of men. Thieves and sailors like Sinbad, Aladdin and Ali Babaa inhabit the seas and the desert. Cults and Guilds vie for control of magic, power and wealth.

I also wonder how BoB would handle a Pendragon-esque campaign, with passions standing in for Personal Traits. A bunch of honorable knights doing their damnedest to stick to their vows and oaths, despite always being temped to take the easy way out. Arthurian Romance and all that.

The conquistadors first landing in North America and meeting the Aztecs. Drawing a lot of creepy inspiration from human sacrifices, Aztec gods, cursed gold and disappearing colonies. Maybe even throw in some North American Megafauna even though it isn't accurate to the time period. A lot like the new world early colonization idea Korbel was talking about.

As for published adventures/campaign settings... In no particular order: A Game of Thrones, Thieves World, Monster Island and Ars Magica all tempt me to some extent.

I generally like games that are "Mythic History". That is, a historic setting that includes all the mythology and superstitions of the people of the time taken to be fact.

I don't know if you would want to also go down the same vein (it fits the BoB ruleset well) or if you would do something more distinct from what I plan to be running. As far as characters go, I have some ideas but they are flexible.

I would be interested.

I'm into gritty bastardly stories, which I guess from the theme of your ruleset you are as well.

I like stories of human corruption, possibly but not necessarily including dark and sinister (low) fantasy. Like in GoT or Warhammer (RPG, not high fantasy tabletop wargaming).

No preference for any era though, so just do your worst

See? In an hour you have two declared players. Easy, eh?

Agamemnon wrote:Mostly because I'm envious of Thirty33's current game.

Noble!

If you ever need another player, I would gladly join in. But I think it would be wise to keep the group smaller than bigger (let's say somewhere about three players). So if there's anyone interested (beside 33 and Einbein) than go for it - I'm not in dire need of more bastardization, I play in Floating City and it's so fun.

I'd be interested.

I'm in if i'm allolwed to play a character like Joanne of Arc.

nemedeus wrote:I'm in if i'm allolwed to play a character like Joanne of Arc.

I see...

That escalated quickly!
OK, so I'm out, but I'm sure it's gonna be a nice spectacle
Have fun!

I'm definitely interested but I don't want to commit to another game as I play in the great Floating City game already.

So we have Thirty33, EinBein, Taelor, and potentially Nemedeus?

Aye! Though I think we can all agree on nemedeus playing some strong woman character if he likes, and if she'll get along with some serious drunkard as a potential character of mine

I've got a basic idea for a pitch in mind. I'll need to flesh it out into an official post, but imagine it a little bit Dogs in the Vineyard meets Warhammer Fantasy.

The public face of The Order (which needs to be named) functions almost like some combination of the US Marshal Service, the FBI, and God's Watchdogs (of Dogs in the Vineyard fame). They answer directly to the Emperor himself and are charged with seeking out fugitives from the Emporer's Justice as well as taking over when something is too important for the local constabulary to deal with. Secretly, they also serve as the Emporer's intelligence service and secret police, keeping tabs on uprisings and foreign agents. The PCs are either themselves appointed members of The Order, or mercenaries, agents, and other ne'er-do-wells in their employ.

The players will be dispatched to a specific province in the north of the empire, tucked into what is totally not the Black Forest. It's a far-off backwater, but the folk there are hardy and somewhat difficult to control. Ideally, one or more of the characters actually hails from said backwater and is being sent back home. I'm imagining poor Raylin Givens in Justified. "Art, I'm from Kentucky. I don't want to go back there."

These are my thoughts thus far. Would this sort of thing be of interest?

Though I knew little of Dogs in the Vineyard at fist, Google helped me and I'm definitely sold on this!

Sounds cool. I've never gotten to play Dogs but have always wanted to. I'm getting a pretty big Deadlands vibe too.

Were you thinking more western or fantasy, or some combination thereof?

thirtythr33 wrote:Sounds cool. I've never gotten to play Dogs but have always wanted to. I'm getting a pretty big Deadlands vibe too.

Were you thinking more western or fantasy, or some combination thereof?

Funny story. When we were originally talking about a "Feel" for 'Bastards, the concept we kept coming back to was "A western, but with swords."

I'm definitely getting a bit of a frontier vibe for the whole thing so a lot of seemingly "western" archetypes will fit, but I'm dressing the whole thing up in what is more or less the german renaissance. Maybe with a little Grimm's Fairytales or Solomon Kane kind of ambiance. Expect the empire at large to be very 16th/17th century. Civilized people carry backswords and rapiers, hangers, use matchlock or wheellock black powder weapons. Up north, though, well, those guys might as well be on the edge of the world. Don't be surprised to see Zweihanders and longswords. Maybe some poor bastards still in maille. Old nobility hanging on to their relevancy in a world that's passed them by.

The biggest reason for the Dogs in the Vineyard comparison is not necessarily the setting, but the player role. You guys aren't given a specific mission and reporting home to a command structure. You have the Emperor's Seal. Short of the imperial army marching up from the south or a member of the imperial line coming up to contradict you, your word is the final judgment. You decide what does and doesn't need your attention, where you will intervene or leave it to the locals to deal with, what is and isn't worthy of reporting back to the imperial family.

Members of The Order are autonomous and invested with the power to deal with things as they see fit. Of course, that also makes them responsible for the area in which they are dispatched to. If they abuse their power, or neglect their duty, and something goes wrong...

To answer the question more explicitly: I'm thinking a fantasy setting that takes place with the above themes/technologies/culture. It's actually going to be set in the same world as the demo adventure and the micro-setting we have notes on for inclusion in the book, but in a different corner of the continent.