Original Settings for Legend (or Runequest)

M

Mage

Mongoose
Well, I have been a fan of what Mongoose has been doing for the last few years with their percentile based fantasy game we all know and love, regardless of the name change, be it Legend or Runequest. Admittedly, I have not invested in any Legend products yet, but I intend to change that soon. Anyhow, I digress.

I have been writing up a good bit of background lately for my own Fantasy RPG setting. I am pretty happy with how it has turned out, and dream one day to put it all in a big document, possibly publish it, but that is a pipe dream.

I am slowly trying to get games in as a GM at least every week or two, but life keeps throwing random things at me that has been shifting my gaming priorities lower down the list. Nothing major though, just other stuff needing attention and time first.

I've always been a little afraid to post my material online, thinking ideas might be stolen, or nobody will reply to a thread based on the subject matter that is important to me in my writing, or that there will be very negative feedback.

Have many people out there on the forums written up their own settings for this/these games? If so, what makes it different to 'generic' or 'tolkien-esque' fantasy that is mostly germanic or pseudo medieval? Or what appeals to people about particular settings that incorporate different ideas (like the Iron Kingdoms by Privateer Press)? Or do you go back to basics but do something familiar but different (Westeros from a Song of Ice and Fire comes to mind, medieval but low magic with plenty of character interaction)?

Any thoughts, ideas, comments, questions, input anyone?
 
Almost all of my settings are pseudo-historical "What Ifs",
ranging from the remotely plausible ("What if a knightly
order had made a crusade to Greenland to enable the nor-
thernmost realm of Christianity to survive ?") to the extre-
mely weird ("What if space exploration had to be done by
magic instead of technology ?"). I get my ideas from rea-
ding, but more from non-fiction than from fiction, they are
basically questions that come to my mind during reading
which I attempt to answer in a playful way with a setting
(yep, I am a simulationist).

I usually post the first design stage of a new setting on so-
me forum, but I become too lazy to translate the material
into English after a certain point, which is why I have never
posted a completed setting (in my case somewhere from
30 to 200+ pages) on an English forum until now - writing
it and playing it is just a lot more fun than translating it.
The reactions are usually very friendly and helpful, I know
of only two forums where I have suffered destructive criti-
cism, and I have learned to avoid such forums.

This is a very recent example of a first idea of a setting pos-
ted on a forum, it is an idea which I will of course have to
work on a little more:
http://basicroleplaying.com/basic-roleplaying/thule-revisited-2862/
 
@ Mage, I have been tinkering around with some ideas of late as well. My fantasy "sandbox" is slowly come together, however, it is a bit intimidating for me to think about putting the work out there for everyone to go through with a fine toothed comb and take apart ...

I have also tried to put my own stamp on the work and have it able to stand on its own merits, as opposed to being a carbon copy of everything else out there. That approach has its own set of challenges too.

In any event, my work will be an amateur, free to download project to showcase the versatility of the brilliant system. There are little enough other fantasy settings out there, catering specifically to Legend.
 
Mage said:
I have been writing up a good bit of background lately for my own Fantasy RPG setting. I am pretty happy with how it has turned out, and dream one day to put it all in a big document, possibly publish it, but that is a pipe dream.
Click to expand...

I wish more people would publish their house campaigns, even on the web, as it provides a lot of source material that can be used/adapted.

Mage said:
I've always been a little afraid to post my material online, thinking ideas might be stolen, or nobody will reply to a thread based on the subject matter that is important to me in my writing, or that there will be very negative feedback.
Click to expand...

If you want to publish something, then post tasters or samplers that attract interest in the thing to be published. Lulu and its equivalents mean that anyone with a word processor can produce pretty decent books nowadays.

If you are concerned about negative feedback then put your material on a website that does not allow comments to be placed against articles. Mine is at www.soltakss.com for example - I have posted things there for years and have never cared what people thought about them.

Treat all feedback as positive. If you post things here or at BRP Central then you will generally get constructive feedback and people generally post replies to a thread, especially if you say you want feedback.

If you are concerned about people stealing your idea, then use the OGL and mark everything as not Open Content, that way if anyone steals the ideas you can complain about it. Having said that, it also means that we can't use your good ideas or rules changes in our OGL material, which would be a real pain.

Mage said:
Have many people out there on the forums written up their own settings for this/these games? If so, what makes it different to 'generic' or 'tolkien-esque' fantasy that is mostly germanic or pseudo medieval? Or what appeals to people about particular settings that incorporate different ideas (like the Iron Kingdoms by Privateer Press)? Or do you go back to basics but do something familiar but different (Westeros from a Song of Ice and Fire comes to mind, medieval but low magic with plenty of character interaction)?
Click to expand...

I did Merrie England for MRQI/II and BRP, some of the Golden Horde for HeroQuest and a lot of Gloranthan stuff for various fanzines and the web. Write about what interests you - there is no point forcing yourself to write something because it is popular if you are bored with it.
 
I have been working on a fantasy setting on and off since the 70s called Gaer.

Gaer is a fantasy setting, but it has science to back it up, so no Half-Elves etc. Each race is a separate species, or if they can interbreed, there is a reason, even if the players don't know about it. Gaer is a fictional planet, different moons, different sun, different planets and star patterns.

Gaer is a lot of islands and no large continents, similar to Earth-Sea, but not quite as small. The map extends from the Equator at the north, to the frozen southern icefields; a southern hemisphere setting.

My technology is early gunpowder, think Matchlocks and early bombs/rockets/cannons. The Dwarves have developed gunpowder and sell it to the other races.

I have developed my own pantheon of gods and while originally assumed D&D magic, I have recently begun converting it over to Legend and figuring out Common/Sorcery/Divine/Blood/Spirit magic and how that ties into everything.

I have found that Legend and how it assumes magic and magic items work is closer to what I envisioned for Gaer than D&D or D20 ever did.
 
Rikki Tikki Traveller said:
I have been working on a fantasy setting on and off since the 70s called Gaer.
Click to expand...

That sounds interesting. Are you thinking of publishing it? Even published as a series of PDFs for free would be good for us! If you use the OGL and make it Legend Compatible you could publish without any problems.
 
Well, I have a day job (Engineer) and a moonlighting job (writing Traveller stuff for a 3rd party publisher) and a wife (most important), so adding a Legend line to my schedule would be difficult.

But, it is in the back of my mind and since the setting just won't go away, I might end up doing something with it eventually.

I keep picking away at it and I REALLY like the Legend rules.

I am really waiting for Pirates of Legend to come out so I can add in the sea combat/travel stuff. Since the setting is all about islands, I need good rules for ocean/sea travel (and combat). I have some D20 stuff that I have stored away, but I am betting that Mongoose will be better at converting it to D100 than I am.
 
I've got a vague idea for a campaign based upon the disintegration of the Western Roman Empire, with some Lovecraftian horror thrown in for good measure. Here are the beginning of the rough notes that I am assembling:

The Situation
The campaign is located in a frontier province of a vast empire that was once a great military power but is now in decline. The empire rots from within as rival factions scheme and intrigue against one another for political advantage. And beyond the borders of the empire, dark forces gather in the wilderlands. Even now, barbarian tribes raid outlying settlements and the military forces of the Empire are hard-pressed to respond.

The massive bureaucracy that runs the day-to-day administration of the empire is rife with corruption. The public monuments of the empire are falling into ruin as dreams of imperial glory are abandoned. The common people of the empire go about their lives as best they can, surrounded by relics of fading grandeur.

In theory the Emperor holds absolute power, but in practice he must contend with the will of patrician families and powerful generals. And there is always the threat of mob riots if he makes an unpopular law. Imperial politics tends towards a ruthless pragmatism that has given the inhabitants of the Empire a reputation for treachery.

The current emperor is an aging general named Anastasius whose health is starting to fail. As death draws near, the emperor is gripped by a deep melancholy from which nothing seems to rouse him. Emperor Anastasius has grown grows grim and moody, unable to accept his own mortality. He has surrounded himself with astrologers and soothsayers who seek the secrets of true immortality. Meanwhile, Anastasius sits upon the imperial throne and broods upon the limitations of the flesh, neglecting his duties.

As the emperor withdraws from public life, political factions have started positioning themselves to struggle for the imperial throne upon his death. The various patrician houses are scheming for ascendancy. When Anastasius joins his ancestors, it is likely that the empire will descend into a state of civil war. It is even possible that the empire might disintegrate entirely.

The emperor's five surviving children are unsuitable as future rulers. Most of them are little more than spoiled brats, driven by selfish whims and petty hatreds. They can be cruel and spiteful if thwarted, engaging in capricious displays of vindictiveness.

The Setting
The campaign is centered on a lonely military outpost on the northern frontier of the Empire. A small garrison of veteran Imperial troops struggles desperately to keep the flame of civilisation burning amidst a rising tide of barbarism. The settlement consists of a wooden stockade built around the military stronghold and a small town. Across the border, rain-soaked forests spread across the landscape like a shadow. The wilderlands are inhabited by hostile barbarian tribes who have little love for the Empire.

Last summer, almost half of the Imperial garrison were marched south on the orders of the Emperor's youngest son to reinforce his hold over a major strategic city. Without reinforcements, the fragile peace along the frontier is fraying – the barbarian tribes know that the garrison of the border forts have been weakened by the political intrigues.

A month ago, an arrogant young officer with little military experience was sent north a month ago to take over the command of the border defenses. This is a blatant political appointment arranged by the Emperor's youngest son. The new commander has secret orders to ensure the loyalty of the frontier garrisons by any means necessary. He views his current posting as a stepping stone on a career path that may someday lead to the giddy heights of imperial glory. The new commander looks down his nose at the rank-and-file soldiers of the frontier garrison, seeing them as mere provincial troops with a poor command of strategy and military discipline.

From the outset, the new commander favoured a harder line against the barbarians, believing that they pose little military threat to the Imperial border forts. He regards the barbarian tribes of the highlands with contempt, considering them as little more than uncivilized brutes. And he dismisses the fragile détente that his predecessor maintained with the border tribes as a display of weakness.

Less than a week after his arrival, the new commander decided to stamp his authority on the region by making a public example of some tribesmen who had been caught cattle raiding. Whereas the previous commander merely levied a fine against the barbarian raiders, the new commander sentenced the captives to death by impalement. Unfortunately, one of the captives was the son of a prominent chieftain.The commander dismissed the advice of his own officers, who tried to prevent this provocative action.

Shortly afterwards, the commander intercepted a letter from a veteran officer in charge of one of the border forts to the emperor's eldest son asking him to remove the new commander from his post before the entire frontier goes up in flames. The new leader of the border forces charged immediately the officer with treason and had him executed in front of his own men. This action has outraged the frontier garrison and there are now whispers of mutiny amongst the rank-and-file.

[[To be continued...maybe?]]
 
@ Rust

Pseudo historical sounds very interesting, but does that not entail a lot of research to make it seem realistic despite the changes?

Have you written many long scenario documents like that? I would imagine that translating it would be another lengthytask. Forums like that are full of hate fuelled people who are usually jealous or unhappy with their life.


@ Warlock1971

I know the feeling, criticism, embarrassment, exposure. I wrote an essay once in an English class when I was 16 or 17. It was very passionate, a little personal, and when the teacher was given back our notebooks, mine was last, and he read it out. It went down surprisingly well and he praised it. It can be scary, seeing your work exposed for all, makes you feel naked. On this point, sometimes I see advice as criticism, and it can be hard hearing feedback sometimes, but you gotta put your stuff out there, maybe with those you trust at first.

We could always put a forum together on Legend and have a hidden one just for some
of us with projects close to our heart, a little inner circle support group.

It is hard sometimes not to copy things, even putting an original twist on traditional tropes can be seen that way, but the more you read and game with the less likely copying is to occur, even if unintentionally. Everything has its own pros and cons I guess.

Sounds like a nice prohect you have, and there should be more Legend settings. It makes me mildly jealous of 3.5 D & D. There was SO much out there for it…


@ soltakass

Your right about posting house campaigns, I will do a write up on one of mine soon. Makes me tempted to set up a Legend board or on RPGs in general…

I guess posting samplers is something I should do sometime soon.

Negative feedback I can get over, but it can be a bit off-putting. I think a no comment site would be counter productive though. People on Mongoose have always been pretty nice, at least when I used to post more frequently back in the SST days.
The OGL idea might be a good idea, but you do raise interesting counter points to this.
What is Merrie England if you don’t mind me asking? Your right about writing what interests you, that is a repetitive point in a Creative Writing book I bought a few years ago.


@ Rikki Tikki Traveller

That sounds like an interesting setting, but how do you pronounce this. I don’t mean to sound rude or harsh, but it sounds like ‘Gay-er’ in my head, sorry…

I like the idea of no half elves and science behind it, as well as it having a place somewhere in some unknown solar system. I especially like the idea of loads of islands, as well as the tech level.

Other pantheons are always interesting too. It sounds like you have a lot of interesting ideas for different spellcasting systems. I really like the sound of your setting.

Any rough idea for the setting that you mention in your second post, or is this the same one as you listed called Gaer? You could always pick up the old Runequest Pirates book, that was pretty good.


@ Prime Evil

I can’t say I know much about Rome at the time, but I love Rome and Cthulhu, it sounds like a good mix.

Regards ‘The Situation’ what if one of the rival schemeing factions were a Cthulhu-esque cult? Maybe commoners have forsaken the gods in favour of newer ones?

I like the direction you have gone in with the emperor, it could create a lot of plot hooks, even a campaign.

With regards his heirs, again, that creates many plot hooks, and gives a chance for many interesting PCs, or could create a civil war with someone making some sort of claim for themselves.

With regards ‘The Setting’ that sounds like a good start for a scenario, I like it!


I’ll route around when I get home and post some stuff on my own setting, called ‘The Three Kingdoms’, which focuses on one main continent called ‘Rivalos’.
 
Mage said:
Pseudo historical sounds very interesting, but does that not entail a lot of research to make it seem realistic despite the changes?
Click to expand...
Yes, it does, but I actually like to do most of this research, I find it
very fascinating to discover the often surprising details of a histori-
cal period or of one of the many often overlooked non-European cul-
tures. Besides, since my settings usually are only pseudo-historical
instead of truly historical, I can always stop whenever such research
becomes too difficult or tedious and use my own ideas instead of the
actual historical facts - after all, my setting is an alternate history, it
requires only a good degree of verisimilitude, not perfect accuracy.
Have you written many long scenario documents like that?
Click to expand...
Several of them, on my backup disks they take up the better parts
of 4 gigabytes of material. However, only a couple of them are ful-
ly developed, and were made available through the download sec-
tion of a German roleplaying games forum. Most still consist only
of notes and sketches which would require a finishing touch of edi-
ting to make them fully comprehensible and useful for other refe-
rees.
 
@Mage You are right about the variety of settings for D&D. It strikes me that Legend lends itself to a more realistic, less High Fantasy setting, which is fine by me as I prefer a more gritty feel.

One of the problems is that I am not a fan of role playing in realistic settings, the second is that, as far as I know, the settings I like haven't been developed for gaming ... (Gemmel's Drennai or Erickson's Malazan)

... I realize that that is just my laziness talking as I could develop the setting if I wanted but to counter that I will use Dragon Lance as my argument. I liked the setting but found that gaming was always overshadowed by the novels.
 
Mage said:
What is Merrie England if you don’t mind me asking?
Click to expand...

It is a mythic-historical medieval setting for BRP, set in the times of Kings Henry II, Richard I and John of England, with lashings of Robin Hood, Crusades, Faeries and Crusades. It should be fairly compatible with Legend and al the RuneQuests.

http://www.soltakss.com/merrieengland/MerrieEnglandindex.html

Available to buy at:
http://shop.cubicle7store.com/epages/es113347.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/es113347_shop/Products/CB75805
http://catalog.chaosium.com/product_info.php?products_id=6675
http://www.yourgamesnow.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3451
 
@Mage - It is pronounced to rhyme with Chair, replace the CH with a hard G sound and you have it.

It is the same setting in both of my Posts. I am really looking forward to the Pirates of Legend book. I think it will have a lot of what I need to finish off the mechanics of the setting.
 
I, finally, have a version of my Basic Sandbox ready for review. It is a fantasy setting "homebrew" and I will add to it over time.

The file is accessible here: http://www.4shared.com/office/Cm0UDDdb/Asharkund.html

Please let me know what you think?

- Darrel
 
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