Thursday, January 12, 2012

Sample Rules part 9 background on setting

Well back to my daily Roleplaying game work.  I have written out several of the rules on the how things will be done and a few stories but I am not sure how clear the setting is coming out for the RPG.   My goal is the setting to stand on its own even if my rule set is discarded and I am playing with the Pathfinder Roleplaying game rule set.  Though in all honesty I would prefer Iron crown Enterprises HARP.

If you were to list a few short descriptors of the setting they would be desert, biotechnology, demiurge, uplifted, Arzack, AI and Planetary Romance.  Which all means very little without explanation.

Lets start with influences for the Roleplaying game.  My first and most driving is the AI RPG by the Digest Publishing Group.  This was something that never materialized, but I have had a few conversations with Joe Fugate and have a little more than a passing picture of the  product.  Actually it is more my own miss ideas about the AI RPG that drive my game more that the actuality of the product.  The reality of AI is much more in line with the Eclipse Phase Roleplaying Game but with a more fantasy twist.  The book The Broken Land by Ian Macdonald is the nearest thing you will find.

In my mind growing tools was not through nano construction but Biotechnology of living tools.  It becomes much more like the Yilane of Harry Harrisons West of Eden. 

Visually my ideas were heavily drawn from parts of scifi animation.  Heavy Metal was one source but this always struck me as cheesy and juvenile.  I was please to find the source Arzack was clearly adult almost expressionistic.  I love what Mobeius did there and in l'incal.  The vast desert comes directly from Girards art.

From Ai and Arzack I started seeking any material that was like minded.  These let me to planetary romance fiction and the Roleplaying games that where influence by it.  Specifically Empire of the Petal Throne and Jorune are very much touch points for me.  Many would see a pretty big connection with the Darksun RPG with my lack of metal weapons or rather rarity.  While I am familiar with the setting of Darksun I have actually never played.  I haven't even read the books out of fear it is even closer to my setting than I fear.  i guess I am going to have to before I finish this stuff up.

The lack of metal comes from the cosmology that I have dreamed up.  I sort of dreamed up a false god called The Architect that is the demiurge of my world.  While I wouldnt publish this I sort of through of this as a continuation of the Werewolf world of darkness mythology.  The Weaver devours Gaia but afterwords is destroyed birthing a new entity , The demiurge.  An active creator that is constantly designing but through the nature of Gaia.  The metal and machines that destroyed Gaia are also enemies.  This draws from the gnostic demiurge and is meant to be a fool that sees the earth and assumes it created it.

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