Plots in Elric

[CthulhuFnord]

I'm thinking some crossovers with Elric and Hawkmoon could be great fun. Naturaly I'm thinking about some sort of Steel cage match between the forces of Granbretan and Melnibone. Perhaps Gregor of Edenbough returns to Granbretan with allies from Pan Tang or the Bright Empire.

 

[Mage]

I brought this up in a way, in another board, suggesting an evo game of eternal champion, where a melnibonean army could fight one of the Granbretan orders.

 

[CthulhuFnord]

A Tragic Mellenium wargame would be pretty neat. In many ways it might not be all that diffrent from Warhammer 40k in some respects.

 

[Rurik]

The battles should be huge though - 6mm would rock.

 

[gamesmeister]

The battles should be huge though - 6mm would rock.

That would be too small to differentiate all the beast masks though, which would be one of the factors that would make the game so cool.

 

[Rurik]

The battles should be huge though - 6mm would rock.

That would be too small to differentiate all the beast masks though, which would be one of the factors that would make the game so cool.

True, but the battles in the books are HUGE. Something like WHFB just wouldn't seem right to me - those are really just skirmishes. I want BIG battles for the Tragic Millenium.

Just my opinion of course.

 

[Mage]

It would never work in epic scale, whatever that is.

 

[Rurik]

It would never work in epic scale, whatever that is.

I'm curious as to why you say that?

 

[CthulhuFnord]

I'd rather see it at the 25-28mm scale myself. My next mod project looks like some Granbretan scratchbuilds.

 

[Mage]

Most people are used to playing with decent sized miniatures, and ones that small just won't sell enough. They would not be as cool either, and most miniature gamers prefer the zsize of minis they are used to. That and they are more fun to poaint and would work as prepaints, but not in such a small size.
Also, minis that small, when you boil down to it, simply are not as cool.


Look at how successful GW and Privateer press, and even Rackham are compared to companies that do the teeney minis.

 

[AKAramis]

GW has had a 7mm line for almost 20 years. It does just fine. It's called Epic Scale for 40K, and Warmaster for WF

 

[Rurik]

Most people are used to playing with decent sized miniatures, and ones that small just won't sell enough. They would not be as cool either, and most miniature gamers prefer the zsize of minis they are used to. That and they are more fun to poaint and would work as prepaints, but not in such a small size.
Also, minis that small, when you boil down to it, simply are not as cool.


Look at how successful GW and Privateer press, and even Rackham are compared to companies that do the teeney minis.

Well if you are talking about marketability than it is no secret 25/28/30mm scale sells best. Personally I just don't see it as a good fit for Tragic Millenium battles - which can contain upwards of a million combatants if I remember right - your mileage may vary.

I want lots of flights of ornithopters, batteries of plasma cannons, and death by the bucketload. Hard to do with bigger castings. Maybe 15/20mm would work.

It is an odd setting to game - medieval tech often lends itself to larger figures quite well, and most the combat will be at that tech level. But then you have energy artillery and air power, which is better represented by smaller scales.

 

[Rurik]

GW has had a 7mm line for almost 20 years. It does just fine. It's called Epic Scale for 40K, and Warmaster for WF

I swore myself off of GW back when Space Marine 3rd was released and they changed the bases - pretty much rendering my armies obsolete.

Sure they said you could still use them if you wanted to - but try showing up at a 3rd edition game with a bunch of square based figures.

 

[AKAramis]

GW has had a 7mm line for almost 20 years. It does just fine. It's called Epic Scale for 40K, and Warmaster for WF

I swore myself off of GW back when Space Marine 3rd was released and they changed the bases - pretty much rendering my armies obsolete.

Sure they said you could still use them if you wanted to - but try showing up at a 3rd edition game with a bunch of square based figures.

I've never played tournament.

I dropped out of 40K Epic about the same time. But it is an awesome scale for technological battles. Even so, it's still a bit range-compressed.

Several other companies have games in similar scales:
Ground Zero Games' Dirtside
dozens of microarmor rulesets.

 

[danskmacabre]

Elric:
* Characters are hired to accompany a sorcerer into the festering forest of Troos in search of rare herbs.

Did this one, it was a scenario provided in an early edition of stormbringer.

* Investigate the ruins of an old Melnibonean palace/castle/villa in search of riches.

I actaully ran a scenario like this, but the characters all died BEFORE they got there!

*Disturbing dreams of some kind trouble one or more characters: a dreamthief is needed to get rid of these nightmares

Not familiar with dreamthieves much and for some reason players were never that keen on them, they seem like a very 1 on 1 type session.

*A minor Lord of Chaos somehow breaks into the YK and threatens Kaneloon. Myshella herself summons the characters to retrieve a series of components to counter his mayhem.

that would be fun.

*A strange black ship with a blind captain and mute steersman collects the characters from a lonely shore and transports them to a shadowy plane where a great evil threatens the peaceful inhabitants.

Heh, so tempted to use that for more powerful characters.
In the original novel though introducing sanity might be in order for a gaming session.

*An inept sorcerer of Dharijor summons a demon he cannot control which then runs amok in downtown Ilmar, slaughtering as it goes.

Done something like this, good times!

*The characters are ordered by their cult to assassinate a ranking official in a rival cult or faction.

Done this too, also good times.. lol

*Weeping Waste or Pikaraydian tribes go to war on behalf of Straasha and Grome to reassert supremacy of one element or another in a time of drought.

Good idea.

*The cult of Arkyn uncovers an ancient machine that they believe is of lawful origin and start to experiment with it. It is, in fact, one of Cran Liret's Chaos Engines and the machine cannot be switched off once activated. The characters must go in search of the means of deactivation before Old Hrolmar gets turned to sludge.

I have an old hawkmoon scenario that could be adapted for this.

*The characters accompany a trader to Imrryr, acting as his bodyguards, on the eve of Imrryr's Sacking at the hands of Elric. The characters must escape the slaughter alive.

Lol another good one.

*Six handsome men of Bakshaan are found with their throats slit and blood drained (stored in jars neatly beside their body). Each one wears a red waistcoat or sash. Is this the work of Eequor or Teer? The characters must find out...

Good for a lawful party maybe.

I hope these offer some inspiration. BTW, I reserve the right to use some (or all!) in the Elric Companion and other Elric books...

Some great ideas here, sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but it was a good read.

 

[DamonJynx]

BTW, I reserve the right to use some (or all!) in the Elric Companion and other Elric books...

That's cool, we'll just pinch them anyway, we just won't try to publish them.:wink:

Regarding the family/background info as a starting point for character driven plot development, I got my guys to roll on the family and community tables in the core rulebook and the back story table in EoM and took it from there.

I used the scenario, The Curse of the Whisperer published in Sailors on the Seas of Fate an old Chaosium Stormbringer/Elric product, to start off with as an intro to both the system (I had to convert a lot of stuff but it was pretty straight forward) and the YK. From there I focused on one of the characters who was more goal driven than the others and have developed the rest from there. I've posted a link to my Google site elsewhere on the forums, you're more than welcome to have a look. It may give you some more ideas. I have a lot of fun in store for my intrepid adventurers as people seek retribution for what they've done; lost lovers, rightful owners etc. Some of them will be quite...vindictive.