Hot answers tagged fantasy
27
I think a good question should be "why are they going off-map?". You're running a sandbox campaign, so you're generally waiting for the characters' own motivations to lead to the next adventure. These motivations can be one of several things: they can be hunger for adventure, gold or power - in which, case, you're in control, since you determine where these ...
19
Back in the day, evidence was not as important as now. A lot of law was based on the person with the higher title being more honourable, so a landowner would win his case against a serf, for instance. Maybe your characters could try to get the support of a higher-ranking person if they want to convict, say, a knight?
Consider the amount of corruption in the ...
17
Three basic techniques come to mind:
keep a "Big Enough" map
keep the edges really unpleasant
keep the central areas really interesting
A couple more are more "corny" but can work...
a literal barrier at the edges
Wrath of the Gods at the edges
End of the world at the edges
Have your players agree not to go off the map
Some expansion on these ...
15
Things I would emphasize in an Iron Age setting:
Lack of information. In medieval settings, while peasants might know rather little of anything beyond the next town over, scholars at least have a pretty good idea of "the big picture". Just one example: Maps of the continent you're on exist, and while usually being pretty bad as far as scale is concerned, ...
14
Evidence was definitely not so important as today, but witnesses were. As Dakeyras noted, their status was important. Word of one noble was about as important as two or three townsmen and more important than any number of peasants (if someone of higher status didn't back them).
Question is, whether you want to emphasize "medieval", "fantasy" or "crime ...
14
Thanks for the clarification.
basically, as much as i appreciate all the answers so far, it would really help me to get to the source of them, why is it how it is, what is the cause, what led that people to develop their system how they did? and how will that natural development be different in my world, when fantasy is involved.
What it boils down to ...
13
The things that we take for granted that would be different on a flat earth or discworld are:
The horizon would be weird – there wouldn't be one. Eventually things would just get so far away that perspective would make them too small or they'd just fade into the atmospheric haze.
What's on the other side of the disc? The sort of players I know would try to ...
13
Noting that I don't like Pratchet's writings I have read, I've not read Diskworld, so my familiarity with it is very low, and so this is answered more generically...
So I'll base it upon a thick plate, and presume gravity is present and works close to normally, but always perpendicular to the world-plane.
no coriolis forces on non-spinning worlds
storms ...
12
You have a variety of choices.
Tell the party which areas you have stuff prepared for, and let them pick from those; if you have more than 3-4 choices, this generally won't feel like rail-roading.
Come up with a story about an ancient blessing on the kingdom keeping out the more ferocious monsters. If the party wanders out of the area, hit them with ...
12
The short answer is, you want FATE. But, keeping in mind your mention of generic systems, here's why FATE works and why it won't be as bad as you think, and it's all to do with a version of FATE called Dresden Files.
Supports fantasy settings
Dresden Files takes place in an urban fantasy world. The title character is a Chicago PI who happens to also be a ...
12
The system/setting that springs to mind is Savage Worlds and Hellfrost. As per your criteria:
Fast paced
Combat in Savage Worlds is specifically designed to be quick, and mostly resolves one way or the other within 5 rounds. It also deals with larger numbers of opponents without a great deal of slow down in how things are calculated, and minimises the ...
12
I'm a fan of Burning Wheel's combat. It's brutal, but rarely deadly. Take a mid-level wound and you're basically useless, fighting at a severe handicap. None of this nonsense of having 1hp and still fighting at full strength.
Plus, there are three ways to resolve a martial conflict: the full Fight! rules (for melee), the Range & Cover rules (for ranged ...
12
Wizards.com itself has a massive collection.
Finding exactly what you need can be tedious, but for sheer volume it's hard to beat the wizards.com galleries and archives.
The Art & Map Gallery and the Map-A-Week Archive are both free, and give access to most of the maps published in D&D 3.5 physical volumes and adventures (though not the content ...
11
Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #325, "Unusual Customs and Festivals" is full of things that could easily be turned into skill challenges.
Why have yet another footrace or archery contest when you can have a rousing Cheese Rolling contest, a longboat-pulling contest, or an all-village game of Bottle Kicking from here to the next village after the ceremonial ...
10
Just look at our own history. First thing would be to ask if there are irrefutable proofs that the world is flat? If you climb the tallest mountain in the world can you see the end of the disk?
If yes, then navigation and transportation would be a different thing. A single war between two extremities of the disk would be a major problem for the economy of ...
10
FATE, specifically Legends of Anglerre which is is a Fantasy themed FATE game. The core book for it is the only book you need.
Now, I am generally negative towards generic systems like GURPS or FATE. That's because I have a real hard time getting into them - they have so many extensions and content
FATE doesn't really have many rules. The LoA book is ...
10
Dungeon World is an award-winning modern RPG with an old-school feel.
Yes on adventuring for fun, profit, and personal goals.
Yes on class-based system. There are eight classes, with the barbarian forthcoming.
Not rules heavy. You can make new rules, but, in general, fudging rules is not necessary. There are distinct spells, but they're also open to ...
10
The best fits for this that come to mind are The One Ring and Pendragon 4th Edition. A not quite as good fit would be one of the systems using Glorantha.
The One Ring
Tolkien's world, done quite well by Cubical 7. Set between The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, it's intended to be a slowly darkening setting, but it needn't be run as slowly darkening.
...
9
Warhammer Fantasy RPG is quite famous for its grittiness and brutality. I played only the 2ed, but I can testify for it. Low HP, brutal criticals, complications, a d100 that makes it always possible to fail no matter how much XP you have... A few examples:
My first time playing, someone tried to kill me in my room. I surprised him, he ran away. Against the ...
9
I'm no expert on this field, yet I have to recommend you to read Bernard Knight's Crowner John historical mystery novels whose protagonist is a medieval coroner. Though opinions about the books vary (some find them lacking in excitement, others love it), the author is a highly respected forensic pathologist and is "a founder member of The Medieval Murderers, ...
7
When I run sandbox games I like to have a set of scenes prepared which are fairly flexible with regards to where they can take places and the people that would be involved. With each scene I make a note of the hooks that would allow it to be inserted in the games, like: "at sea", "in a bar", "in a city at night", "when confronting militia", and so on.
...
7
Depending on what you mean by Iron Age but I got the impression it was Roman Republic/Empire times: Make them all read Beowulf which is essential reading, De Bello Gallico by Julius Caesar paying attention to the Gauls, and some myths and legends. Of course, Asterix et Obelix are a must read. Film wise, Centurion and Beowulf and Grendel are both well worth ...
7
I'm gonna introduce you to the marvelous world of... no, really, it's a good game.
It's called the Burning Wheel, and I think it addresses most if not all of your points.
You could play really different adventures than those, like "old human professor in alchemy school tries to defend his theories" but if you're all on the same track, adventurers are ok. ...
7
Speaking from what experience I have, I've found that what you're describing depends more on the person in charge of the game, and the people taking part, then the game itself.
My suggestion would be D&D 3.5, or Pathfinder. Personal preference, really, but I can assure you from personal experience that everything you're asking for can be found in either ...
7
I suggest you read or watch some of Brother Cadfael's adventures, the character is a former crusader turned monk with a innate sense of justice and always has a eye out for a unlawful death trying to slip by in his parish/city.
His main tools and what I think is most helpfull for your own character is:
A keen sense of his surroundings.
A logical mind, ...
7
Cartographer's Guild has a wide selection of maps, some of which are gridded for tabletop gaming.
Paratime Design released 100 Creative Commons licensed, black and white dungeon maps in the style of old D&D.
6
Many tribes in western and central Europe were very superstitious, they had very particular ways of doing things and rarely stepped away from tradition and ritual. Some of these traditions are still paid tribute to even today, like the Green Man festival near where I live (not to be confused with the green man music festival) celebrating the rebirth of the ...
6
Our group has used Savage Worlds for some time. It has a simple character creation process, and has a lot of game settings to pick from, or you can roll your own. There is a test drive PDF, so you can get a feel for the system.
I've had two experiences with spell casters: one was balanced well with the rest of the party, and another was effectively a ...
6
I think the fantasy game which meets your complete list of requirements is Desolation by Greymalkin Design Studios. Detailed Product Description and Samples
Desolation runs using the Ubiquity Roleplaying System (from Exile Games, makers of Hollow Earth Expedition) which is an incredibly fast and stable system which is easy to learn, but very flexible.
...
6
I would recommend that you also consider taking a look at the dungeonmorphs products. Rather than a map, they are like Legos for building maps in a moment or two. The dungeonmorphs are classic old-schoolish square-grid maps with exits from each tile at the same locations. So you can use the dice, cards, battlemat images, or fonts to create dungeons at high ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
