Thursday 20 November 2014

Setting

Before any rules mechanics can be finalised, the matter of the setting needs to be addressed - to make sure the mechanics fit the tone and style of the game.

So, over the last few weeks I've been thinking about the setting and style for the Nexus Tales RPG.


It's planned to be a world of larger-than-life player characters, rooted in the real world but with more of a film/tv/book feel to it - so the characters are more capable than the general populace, but not to super-heroic levels.


The main place of play will be the City, set on the island of Kingdom - encompassing the counties of Devon to Essex, Oxfordshire to Hampshire, and is roofed in a transparent material 1km up. It's a place where technology is high, no-one works unless they want to, maker machines make consumer goods for everyone, medicines lengthen life and keep people healthy, augmentations are commonplace and DataSpace is accessible to all.


Outside the City is a wilderness, where storms are common and technology is unreliable - ships that sail on the sea are often sunk by storms and tidal waves, flying machines are brought down by storms and winds.


Off the coast of Kingdom are the storms, about 10km away and impenetrable to boats or aircraft.


History writes that about 200 years ago, Kingdom was an island off the coast of Europa and there were other lands that Kingdom traded with. Then the storms came and Kingdom is cut off, but still exists on the same planet as it did before.


There are those who live in the wilderness and travel its regions, in less technological vehicles and homes. Also in the wilderness are enclaves, people who have banded together to escape the City and set up their own laws and lives.


To the north is Hadrian's Wall, that separates Ecosse from the rest of the Kingdom - a place of clans and small settlements.


There are places where the walls of reality are thin, where worlds overlap, where people and things can move from one place to another. Some people from other places come to Kingdom for reasons of their own - to escape persecution, to prey on victims, to trade goods or information, as a stepping stone to other places.


The setting allows for a variety of places to do things, as well as a variety of things to do - whether hunting outsiders [those who come from other places, via  overlaps], inter-company intrigue, working for her majesty's organisations, helping friends at the Londinium Club, hiring out as independent operatives, exploring overlaps, dealing with those who exhibit unusual abilities.


With the storms have been noticed there is a conflict between nature and technology - where the presence of man is strong, the power of nature is weak, and vice versa.


And then you have the Feh Aree - things from myths and legends, come to feast upon the worlds of man and nature. Shapechangers, beasts, blood drinkers, fluttering imps, behemoth makers, lords and ladies.


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