My scenario idea-Robin Hood...or maybe Justa Hood.

[quinnthomsen]

I want to try out the system without too much back story or world creation, just to get a feel for combat.
So the very basics of the world. There's a king and a political system we like, there's a prince and a local officer or two we don't. The players might make Robin, but they aren't bound to his story...or thier story as they might make brothers, or they might make his retainers and Robin himself will be a NPC.

There will be an opening incident, they try to arrest Robin so they can keep his castle... and then it's all player impetus from there.

We did a similar game in Aces and Eights where the characters had a pretty straightforward job and they could do it how they wanted. It was a lot of fun.

I was curious what people would add, or think needed adding. Or what they might do with the idea.

and I'm stalling while hoping I can use this system for it, because it sounds about perfect.

[Marras]

So, Robin or someone who takes his place in this adventure is a noble?

Obviously there has to be a reason why Robin doesn't like the prince and those officers. I am pretty sure that setting those motivations breaths life to PCs. Maybe it is a rivalry between the nobles or even longtime feud between the noble families? Or maybe Robin is really just someone who wants to protect serfs from overtaxation?

Another thing you might want to consider is whether Robin is a passive or active player in this adventure. With passive I mean that he just notices that someone is trying to get his castle thus forcing him to fight. Active is a bit more interesting as the game starts a bit earlier and only possibly building to a situation where his castle is at risk as it is up to PCs to mess things up

If it was me, I would just have a small band of bandits who plan and execute a robbery or something like that. This allows very varying band of bast... characters if you want to play with character generation system. Heck, one of them might even be a noble whose finances are getting low and he has decided to set up this bandit group to fill his coffers

[hector]

Well, for quite some time the story of Robin Hood was that he was a dispossessed noble whose lands and title were revoked by the prince.

[higgins]

I want to try out the system without too much back story or world creation, just to get a feel for combat.

All good stories are, at their core, about characters and their interaction. Skipping over detailed back story and world makes this is even more true in your case. Characters is all you have, so, you need to focus on making them as memorable and believable as possible.

You seem to have a solid band template in your mind -- the group is going to consist of people screwed over by the law. When pitching the game, you can even use it as a guide. Ask each player exactly how their character was screwed over by the law and how bad? Are they just holding a grudge against the sheriff, or are some of them literal outlaws, with other less incriminated characters risking their necks sheltering them? Then weave the characters together by giving them a common goal. Ideally it should be something slightly abstract -- killing the sheriff or similar goals can be over way too soon and then the group has no longer anything that ties them all together.

So, my main advice for you is to create an ensemble of law enforcement (faction 1), then some townsfolk and village people around them, then tie them all up with your PCs (faction 2). Doing that last part right will most likely take a whole session. Adding another faction or two could make things more interesting, but just having two will probably serve you to get the initial taste.

Also, I strongly advise to make the Robin a PC. If the orders/directions come from outside the PC circle, you just won't get the full benefit of the Story Aspects which work best when PCs can choose their own path.

Sorry for being a bit rambling today, I'm still down with some Czech flu.

[Scarlet90]

Hmm, I really like this idea.

[Agamemnon]

Hmm, I really like this idea.

I don't know how this was overlooked forever, but I am ridiculously sorry. I'm going to wag a finger at Henri for the approval being overlooked. oi.

[higgins]

I PMed that user the moment he posted and asked him to make a more substantial post on account of my suspicions of him being a bot. That type of generic fit-every-context comment is just the kind of sneaky crap that they pull.

As I cannot de-approve a user without modding the forum engine, I guess we'll see.