Judd
09-26-2004, 04:59 AM
Just thinking about a home for a possible longer term BW game. Originally this was a D&D setting, then it become a TROS setting and now I see how the rules of BW fit it well.
The following is a player hand-out for a game I'm not sure when I'll run.
History and such at the beginning with rules tweaks at the end.
Marsui
In our ancestors’ days there was a fine pantheon. They worshipped a fatherly Sun Deity, a mysterious Moon Goddess, a cunning Trickster, a wise scholar, who had helped name all things when time began. There were others, of course: godly sons and daughters, Godlings and Demi-Gods depicting the primal embodiments of Love, Hate, Law, Chaos, Good, Evil, Peace, War, Earth, Sea, Wind and Fire.
No one knows exactly why they were slain but they were. From the primal deep forests to the Gates of Heaven the Pantheons of the world were hunted down, every God and Goddess put to death by sword and spell.
These days we can puzzle out what the Gods and Goddesses represented but that is all. No one can remember their names or rituals anymore as if a clumsy cosmic scribe spilled an inkblot across the minds of the world. Now countless godlings are born by finding bits of Godspower buried in dreams, hidden in a riddle or covered by dirt in a cornfield.
The era of heroes bringing Gods to mortal justice and taming Demons beneath mountains older than time is over.
Nowadays heads are crowned or put on a spike because of the blood spilled by steel in dark alleys or word-hoards unleashed on bustling city squares.
In this age of steel and philosophy Queen Monille De L’Avigne made Marsui, the Golden Port, what it is today. She wrested the city from its Elven Lords and convened the Admiral Senate. She proclaimed all religions legal within Marsui’s walls and founded the Faith Council to welcome and oversee the religious refugees of the world. Cursed night beasts once plagued Marsui’s streets but now they no longer hunt the slums because of her sly politicking. When her proclamations, decorations and condemnations were finished she truly became our liege, she declared the seven days after, Carnivale.
Carnivale is the celebration of Marsui’s freedom. Every year at spring folk make thorn and acorn banners for burning. Shining Hosts and Unseelie Fiends inflated with hot air float over the streets so children may throw stones at them. Her majesty gave us this celebration so that all would remember how hard-fought our liberation was.
The Queen is a local girl, daughter of the famous Captain Darius De L’Avigne. Some argue that she has no right to the throne. They say she has twisted this once proud city into a pit of demon worship and sinful pandering to undead beasts. Most of us remember what life was under Elven rule and welcome her choices. As Mother Superior Augusta Kirklin aptly put it, “If our ancestors can crucify a Demi-God at the cross-roads than our Queen can damn well storm the Shining Keep with cold iron so that our children might eat.”
Now churches, temples and shrines surround the city with the philosophies and worship that are forbidden in all other parts of the world. The pious call it the Wall of Faith, keeping Marsui safe from would-be invaders. Cynics call it the Wall of Fools, arguing that it keeps Marsui’s streets full of outspoken zealots and madmen.
The Faith Council struggles to keep peace between the countless religions that worship every obscure godling from here to the olde world. The Admiral Senators keep their own mercenaries, knight’s orders and musketeers to enforce their agendas. The Queen’s Hammers keep peace, ending brawls and seeing that the Queen’s taxes are paid in full with their dyed-red bludgeons.
This century’s history will be made and broken on cobblestone streets. These days a hero's destiny is realized on rooftops and stories begin in dead ends.
Winter is a quiet time with cool winds blowing through the lonely streets as all merchant ships are out to port, taking the sailors and their purses with them. Spring has its musky flowers in bloom on the terraces of even the poorest of Marsui’s districts. Summer has its thick heat, Festival and hot-tempered duels. Fall has the blossoms lining the streets so that the cobblestones look like a canvas, as the port grows busy with foreigners, sail and steam.
Questions:
Who do y’all want to be?
Options:
∙ the honor guard or inner circle of an Admiral Senator
∙ priest, nun or holy knight enforcers empowered by the Faith Council to keep peace or hunt unnatural beasts
∙ privateers or pirates just set into port for some mysterious or dark or mysterious and dark purpose
∙ Elven spies, hoping to assassinate the queen
∙ a group of daring thieves looking to make their big score with a heist during Carnivale
Admiral Senators and their forces:
1 Admiral Mc Arvon: clan of highlander types as house guards, defected from the Isles’ Royal Navy
Mc Arvon’s Clansmen: rarely seen off Mc Arvon’s island, these men are easy to notice with their claymores and kilts and are known to reflect Mc Arvon’s own paranoia.
Uniform: kilts, claymores, plaid hats with feathers
Banner: Silver Acorn on a black field
2 Admiral Kruv Valtgardt: excavator, barge ships that plunder sunken shipwrecks nicknamed the Sea Vulture, many sailors hate him, has many enemies, big specialized diving bells, member of the Steam Guild in good standing
Warehouse Guild: Admiral Kruv Valtgardt’s forces wield crossbows and are known to shoot first and ask questions later
Uniform: black leather vests with insignia on the breast, leather gloves, pot helms
Banner: black bell on a blue field
3 Admiral Shane Varsul: face of the revolution, many want him to marry the Queen as he was a big war hero in the taking of the city from the Elves, head of Corsairs, dashing and heroic, often out as a privateer but political games are keeping him home more and more often, many say that he would quit if it wouldn’t put the Queen in a compromised political situation, yearns to be out on the sea again
The Royal Order of Corsairs: these swashbuckling, dashing heroes are often to be found where the trouble and romance are, known for their reckless swordplay and honor
Uniform: dashing silver and green tabards, knee-high black boots, hats with long green feathers
Banner: two green swords below a green crown on a white field
4 Admiral Shawn Finnian: Priest of the Sea and Storms, friend of the queen’s father-Darius, old and cantankerous, wise and politically adept, never married
The Holy Order of Queensguard: Admiral Shawn is very close to the Queen and it is his fellow worshippers of the tempestuous God of Sea and Storm that guard her when she leaves her estates. This Queensguard are a religious military order of monks and nuns.
Uniform: sea-soaked dark green habit under a black topcoat
Banner: blue wave on a gray field
5 Admiral Louis Val du Gryphon: link to the old world (psuedo-Europe) and is always watching out for refugee old world nobility’s interests, commands a sizable fleet and could call upon more if needed, always at odds with the Queen and is her main antagonist, some call him the Shadow-Emperor of Marsui, has a son that he wants the Queen to marry
Royal Order of the Olde World: mostly aristocrats and nobles from across the sea, these men are known for their ornamental blades and fine fashion sense but for little else.
Uniform: black and red tabards with black hats and scarlet feathers
Banner: scarlet crowns on a black field
6 Admiral Tybed Marcellus: Wizard, frightening, some links to old world Wizards but only uses links to them rather than used by them like 5. Many of the Wizards flocked to him and his fleet when the Elves left town, since the Elves ran the Wizards Guild, is attempting to set up a Guild with him at its head but the individual Wizards are resisting and he needs many of them for the guild to work, strongly aligned with 5 and often at odds with 3
Senator’s Stormbringers: Known for throwing spells as often as they draw blades. They are tough bastards who are feared throughout Marsui and beyond.
Uniform: silver and black tabards with twin lightning bolts across the chest
Banner: silver scroll and sword on a gray field
7 Admiral Patrick O’Shaunessy: known as Sea’s Saint, helped set up Faith Council, is against the Queen’s policy concerning undead
Holy Order Sea Cavaliers: these warrior monks often work closely with the Faith Council and for their fine investigation. It is the elders of the Cavaliers who are often called in when a murder is to be solved.
Uniform: a monk’s brown habit cut for swashbuckling
Banner: yellow star or sun on a white field
Queen’s Hammers: they are a force of common-folk that deals with trouble whenever a danger bell is rung. They deal with everything from clearing bar brawls to bucket brigades for fires. The Senators’ forces send their young Squires to the Hammers for a time in order to test their resolve and so they learn the ins and outs of Marsui’s streets.
Uniform: dirty leather armor in need of repair and a faded red cotton shirt
Banner: red crown and a red hammer on a white field
Rules Tweaks:
Becoming a God
When a PC or NPC finds a piece of Godspower they become a God. The manner in which they find it and their natural proclivities will effect the ascension to godhood.
Essentially, in this world, gods walk around in the mundane world all of the time. The noble whose servants found a piece of Godspower in the garden and kept it a secret is oblivious that his servants now represent the minor Gods and Goddesses of Servants.
The God of Bows tracked down and killed the former God of Archery, taking his Godspower from his predecessor’s corpse.
The self-proclaimed Sun God used his noble vassals, holding their dearest family members hostage so they would use their considerable wealth and resources to bring pieces of Godspower to him.
When one becomes a god they may bump an existing skill up a shade. This skill, referred to as their Divine Skill, should represent the area of their deity-hood.
They also gain the Traits X, Y and Z. (to be determined)
They gain the ability to Summon Angels and Devils at a level equal to their Divine Skill.
Their BIT’s become the basis for their religion. If an order of prophets, monks or nuns should arise it will be a reflection of the godling’s BIT’s.
Becoming a god seems like a great idea. You have an army of Devils and Angels to call upon and you gain a shade in an important skill and people pray to you. However, you hear their prayers. You hear every single one like a whisper in your head.
Those who have faith and the ability to summon can summon you and put you in a circle, just like an angel or a devil.
Those who are cunning and brutal will seek to snuff you out in order to get your Godspower. Other gods might want more in order to bump their existing Divine Skill further or to gain a second.
Divinity is a slippery slope and a dangerous game. Gods and goddesses always have the option of throwing away their godspower as many deities did during the Siege of Heaven, return to mortality and be done with being worshipped. However this is a strain on the mortal body and it requires a test, the gods’ Divine Skill against their own Health. The difference between the two is taken as damage.
The following is a player hand-out for a game I'm not sure when I'll run.
History and such at the beginning with rules tweaks at the end.
Marsui
In our ancestors’ days there was a fine pantheon. They worshipped a fatherly Sun Deity, a mysterious Moon Goddess, a cunning Trickster, a wise scholar, who had helped name all things when time began. There were others, of course: godly sons and daughters, Godlings and Demi-Gods depicting the primal embodiments of Love, Hate, Law, Chaos, Good, Evil, Peace, War, Earth, Sea, Wind and Fire.
No one knows exactly why they were slain but they were. From the primal deep forests to the Gates of Heaven the Pantheons of the world were hunted down, every God and Goddess put to death by sword and spell.
These days we can puzzle out what the Gods and Goddesses represented but that is all. No one can remember their names or rituals anymore as if a clumsy cosmic scribe spilled an inkblot across the minds of the world. Now countless godlings are born by finding bits of Godspower buried in dreams, hidden in a riddle or covered by dirt in a cornfield.
The era of heroes bringing Gods to mortal justice and taming Demons beneath mountains older than time is over.
Nowadays heads are crowned or put on a spike because of the blood spilled by steel in dark alleys or word-hoards unleashed on bustling city squares.
In this age of steel and philosophy Queen Monille De L’Avigne made Marsui, the Golden Port, what it is today. She wrested the city from its Elven Lords and convened the Admiral Senate. She proclaimed all religions legal within Marsui’s walls and founded the Faith Council to welcome and oversee the religious refugees of the world. Cursed night beasts once plagued Marsui’s streets but now they no longer hunt the slums because of her sly politicking. When her proclamations, decorations and condemnations were finished she truly became our liege, she declared the seven days after, Carnivale.
Carnivale is the celebration of Marsui’s freedom. Every year at spring folk make thorn and acorn banners for burning. Shining Hosts and Unseelie Fiends inflated with hot air float over the streets so children may throw stones at them. Her majesty gave us this celebration so that all would remember how hard-fought our liberation was.
The Queen is a local girl, daughter of the famous Captain Darius De L’Avigne. Some argue that she has no right to the throne. They say she has twisted this once proud city into a pit of demon worship and sinful pandering to undead beasts. Most of us remember what life was under Elven rule and welcome her choices. As Mother Superior Augusta Kirklin aptly put it, “If our ancestors can crucify a Demi-God at the cross-roads than our Queen can damn well storm the Shining Keep with cold iron so that our children might eat.”
Now churches, temples and shrines surround the city with the philosophies and worship that are forbidden in all other parts of the world. The pious call it the Wall of Faith, keeping Marsui safe from would-be invaders. Cynics call it the Wall of Fools, arguing that it keeps Marsui’s streets full of outspoken zealots and madmen.
The Faith Council struggles to keep peace between the countless religions that worship every obscure godling from here to the olde world. The Admiral Senators keep their own mercenaries, knight’s orders and musketeers to enforce their agendas. The Queen’s Hammers keep peace, ending brawls and seeing that the Queen’s taxes are paid in full with their dyed-red bludgeons.
This century’s history will be made and broken on cobblestone streets. These days a hero's destiny is realized on rooftops and stories begin in dead ends.
Winter is a quiet time with cool winds blowing through the lonely streets as all merchant ships are out to port, taking the sailors and their purses with them. Spring has its musky flowers in bloom on the terraces of even the poorest of Marsui’s districts. Summer has its thick heat, Festival and hot-tempered duels. Fall has the blossoms lining the streets so that the cobblestones look like a canvas, as the port grows busy with foreigners, sail and steam.
Questions:
Who do y’all want to be?
Options:
∙ the honor guard or inner circle of an Admiral Senator
∙ priest, nun or holy knight enforcers empowered by the Faith Council to keep peace or hunt unnatural beasts
∙ privateers or pirates just set into port for some mysterious or dark or mysterious and dark purpose
∙ Elven spies, hoping to assassinate the queen
∙ a group of daring thieves looking to make their big score with a heist during Carnivale
Admiral Senators and their forces:
1 Admiral Mc Arvon: clan of highlander types as house guards, defected from the Isles’ Royal Navy
Mc Arvon’s Clansmen: rarely seen off Mc Arvon’s island, these men are easy to notice with their claymores and kilts and are known to reflect Mc Arvon’s own paranoia.
Uniform: kilts, claymores, plaid hats with feathers
Banner: Silver Acorn on a black field
2 Admiral Kruv Valtgardt: excavator, barge ships that plunder sunken shipwrecks nicknamed the Sea Vulture, many sailors hate him, has many enemies, big specialized diving bells, member of the Steam Guild in good standing
Warehouse Guild: Admiral Kruv Valtgardt’s forces wield crossbows and are known to shoot first and ask questions later
Uniform: black leather vests with insignia on the breast, leather gloves, pot helms
Banner: black bell on a blue field
3 Admiral Shane Varsul: face of the revolution, many want him to marry the Queen as he was a big war hero in the taking of the city from the Elves, head of Corsairs, dashing and heroic, often out as a privateer but political games are keeping him home more and more often, many say that he would quit if it wouldn’t put the Queen in a compromised political situation, yearns to be out on the sea again
The Royal Order of Corsairs: these swashbuckling, dashing heroes are often to be found where the trouble and romance are, known for their reckless swordplay and honor
Uniform: dashing silver and green tabards, knee-high black boots, hats with long green feathers
Banner: two green swords below a green crown on a white field
4 Admiral Shawn Finnian: Priest of the Sea and Storms, friend of the queen’s father-Darius, old and cantankerous, wise and politically adept, never married
The Holy Order of Queensguard: Admiral Shawn is very close to the Queen and it is his fellow worshippers of the tempestuous God of Sea and Storm that guard her when she leaves her estates. This Queensguard are a religious military order of monks and nuns.
Uniform: sea-soaked dark green habit under a black topcoat
Banner: blue wave on a gray field
5 Admiral Louis Val du Gryphon: link to the old world (psuedo-Europe) and is always watching out for refugee old world nobility’s interests, commands a sizable fleet and could call upon more if needed, always at odds with the Queen and is her main antagonist, some call him the Shadow-Emperor of Marsui, has a son that he wants the Queen to marry
Royal Order of the Olde World: mostly aristocrats and nobles from across the sea, these men are known for their ornamental blades and fine fashion sense but for little else.
Uniform: black and red tabards with black hats and scarlet feathers
Banner: scarlet crowns on a black field
6 Admiral Tybed Marcellus: Wizard, frightening, some links to old world Wizards but only uses links to them rather than used by them like 5. Many of the Wizards flocked to him and his fleet when the Elves left town, since the Elves ran the Wizards Guild, is attempting to set up a Guild with him at its head but the individual Wizards are resisting and he needs many of them for the guild to work, strongly aligned with 5 and often at odds with 3
Senator’s Stormbringers: Known for throwing spells as often as they draw blades. They are tough bastards who are feared throughout Marsui and beyond.
Uniform: silver and black tabards with twin lightning bolts across the chest
Banner: silver scroll and sword on a gray field
7 Admiral Patrick O’Shaunessy: known as Sea’s Saint, helped set up Faith Council, is against the Queen’s policy concerning undead
Holy Order Sea Cavaliers: these warrior monks often work closely with the Faith Council and for their fine investigation. It is the elders of the Cavaliers who are often called in when a murder is to be solved.
Uniform: a monk’s brown habit cut for swashbuckling
Banner: yellow star or sun on a white field
Queen’s Hammers: they are a force of common-folk that deals with trouble whenever a danger bell is rung. They deal with everything from clearing bar brawls to bucket brigades for fires. The Senators’ forces send their young Squires to the Hammers for a time in order to test their resolve and so they learn the ins and outs of Marsui’s streets.
Uniform: dirty leather armor in need of repair and a faded red cotton shirt
Banner: red crown and a red hammer on a white field
Rules Tweaks:
Becoming a God
When a PC or NPC finds a piece of Godspower they become a God. The manner in which they find it and their natural proclivities will effect the ascension to godhood.
Essentially, in this world, gods walk around in the mundane world all of the time. The noble whose servants found a piece of Godspower in the garden and kept it a secret is oblivious that his servants now represent the minor Gods and Goddesses of Servants.
The God of Bows tracked down and killed the former God of Archery, taking his Godspower from his predecessor’s corpse.
The self-proclaimed Sun God used his noble vassals, holding their dearest family members hostage so they would use their considerable wealth and resources to bring pieces of Godspower to him.
When one becomes a god they may bump an existing skill up a shade. This skill, referred to as their Divine Skill, should represent the area of their deity-hood.
They also gain the Traits X, Y and Z. (to be determined)
They gain the ability to Summon Angels and Devils at a level equal to their Divine Skill.
Their BIT’s become the basis for their religion. If an order of prophets, monks or nuns should arise it will be a reflection of the godling’s BIT’s.
Becoming a god seems like a great idea. You have an army of Devils and Angels to call upon and you gain a shade in an important skill and people pray to you. However, you hear their prayers. You hear every single one like a whisper in your head.
Those who have faith and the ability to summon can summon you and put you in a circle, just like an angel or a devil.
Those who are cunning and brutal will seek to snuff you out in order to get your Godspower. Other gods might want more in order to bump their existing Divine Skill further or to gain a second.
Divinity is a slippery slope and a dangerous game. Gods and goddesses always have the option of throwing away their godspower as many deities did during the Siege of Heaven, return to mortality and be done with being worshipped. However this is a strain on the mortal body and it requires a test, the gods’ Divine Skill against their own Health. The difference between the two is taken as damage.