FE RP Proposals

[AnonymousSpeed]

Inspired by this discussion, I've dusted off some of my old ideas and would like to see what you, the people, might be interested in playing. These are both inspired by campaigns I've previously attempted to run on this site, but are very different from their originals.

Pinging @Rapier, who initially asked about this, as well as @Acacia Sgt since I figure he might also be interested. Tell your friends if you think they'd like it.

Treasure 2: The free-form campaign where you embark on a journey to claim ancient riches and avoid strangling your cohorts over politics

Spoiler

Aside from the existence of an imperial Hellas and a treasure-finding objective, there's almost nothing in common between this and the original Treasure from 2015. That's good, because the original wasn't very good.

Note that, for the following, all proper names and terms are subject to change if something else would sound better.

The campaign takes place in Naponia, which is geographically similar to Greenland but has an extensive archipelago to the south. The party is a group commissioned by the Hellene Empire to retrieve a treasure in an ancient and frozen ruin, far beyond the reaches of civilization. The main item of interest with this one is the web of relationships between the different ethnic and cultural groups that are all mixed up on this island.

I think it would be easiest to introduce the setting with a brief timeline:

1. Since time immemorial, Naponia has been inhabited by the Bawn. Whatever their prehistoric habits, they have (also since time immemorial) adapted to the frozen tundras in the north and are extremely isolationist.
2. In addition to the Bawn, Naponia has also been inhabited by various shapeshifting beastmen called the Yayoi. They were once found throughout the land.
3. Oral traditional relays how seafaring raiders called the Wokou began establishing settlements on Naponia a few hundred years ago. They slowly drove the Yayoi out of the more prosperous south and into the frozen north. The Wokou call this process "the Homemaking". The Yayoi call it "the Crying Wars".
4. Within the past hundred years, the distant empire known as the Hellenes began trading in the region. The Wokou greeted them by raiding their ships.
5. The Hellenes roll up to Naponia with frigates and fire orbs, technologies hundreds of years ahead of what the Wokou possessed.
6. The Wokou have very gratefully agreed to be much nicer to the Hellenes, allowing them to trade in peace and promote their culture on Naponia.

The real-world historical and cultural parallels may be obvious, but knowledge of them shouldn't be necessary to appreciate some of the intrigue present.

In addition to the above timeline, these brief descriptions of the different peoples in Naponia may also prove helpful.

• Bawn: Isolationists who stick to the frozen lands that nobody else wants. They try to avoid other peoples' affairs, the Hellene drive to democratize and modernize every piece of land they encounter have made this increasingly difficult.
• Cathay: A confederation of kingdoms on what Naponians consider the mainland. Their silks and spices are what the Hellenes were originally there to trade for. Relations between the component kingdoms have been rocky as of late. The people of Cathay have historically considered the inhabitants of Naponia to be barbarians and pirates.
• Hellenes: An ostensibly secular people who all but worship democracy, economy, and learning. They come from a massive empire whose homeland is thousands of miles away and is ruled by a millennial dynasty (which is more a symbol of their enduring cultural values than an actual monarchy). Wyverns are native to Hellene lands and have been imported to Naponia, though they are not well adapted to its climate. They have also brought Pegasi from other islands, though certain breeds were already found in Cathay and known to Naponia through them.
• Yayoi: Referred to as "beastmen" by the Hellenes, a term used for similar kin found elsewhere in the world. This is a catch-all for the various animal-shapeshifting races which inhabit Naponia, be they cats or bats or dragons or birds. Their own rivalries with each other have largely been overshadowed by their unified opposition to the Wokou since the Crying Wars. The Yayoi are generally friendly to the Hellenes, viewing them as allies against the Wokou. The forceful spread of Hellene democracy has allowed the Yayoi to regain once-lost political influence, and many of them have adopted Hellene names in addition to or in place of traditional names.
• Wokou: Though no longer dominant politically, the Wokou are still a significant portion of Naponia's population. Their historical worldview was that being powerful enough to claim land from the Yayoi made them both better than them and entitled to do so. They are currently wrestling with this notion being thrown back at them by the Hellenes. They have a hierarchical, clan-based political system that only permitted certain families to acquire political titles. The head of this system is the Emperor. It is ostensibly with the Emperor's permission that the Hellenes operate in Naponia, but he has very little actual power. His base and the base of the entire traditional Wokou political system are being actively uprooted as the Hellenes pressure him into passing democratic reforms and open trade policies.

While there are no numbers, skills, or formal systems, it can still be fun to "pretend" (as if we weren't already) that your character is of a certain class, uses certain skills, and has a certain stat-line. Saying "my character is a ninja with high strength and low skill, kind of like a shuriken-berserker" is a fine enough way to give an idea of what your character is capable of what we can expect from them. Though there's no explicit format for things like that, Treasure 2 has a setting specifically designed to accommodate any Fire Emblem class you might be interested in. The Yayoi are the transforming classes, the Wokou are the Hoshidan classes, and the Hellenes are the traditional Fire Emblem classes.

The cultural exchange between these groups should make these class-faction boundaries more flexible and will hopefully enable some interesting character interaction.

You might like this if you enjoy: Ethno-political factions, industrial-era history, longer campaigns, or free-form roleplays

The Un-Ruined World: The one-shot using an experimental dice-pool system, set in World of Weal before its ruining.

Spoiler

Since the initial collapse of the Ruined World campaign, I've been working on a reboot of it that uses more traditional tabletop mechanics. I've been working on a modified version of the Forbidden Lands system, a dice-pool system where characters roll D6s and determine success based on the number of 6s they get.

The base system already had mechanics for mounted combat and weapon durability; Additional changes have been made to increase the Fire Emblem flair and make it more suitable for a play-by-post format. I'd obviously like to run some tests on this before moving to the actual Ruined World campaign, and this would be the first online trial.

The lore surrounding Weal is mostly similar to the original thread (linked above), so far as the events mentioned have occurred. However, while the Ruined World campaign took place in the late 9th century, this one-shot would take place in the early 7th century. The Auran and Cardinal Empires have no adjacent borders and do not yet consider each other direct rivals, although they are both attempting to expand their influence into the lands between them.

You, the players, would take the role of a small platoon of soldiers and mercenaries working for the Cardinal Empire. A Cardinal officer has deserted his post and fled to the independent city state of Pool. Your mission is to find him and bring him back, dead or alive.

This one-shot uses pre-made characters. Start-up time will probably be longer than Treasure 2, since I'll need to create those character sheets and let you review them.

You might like this if you like: Ruined World lore, helping test new systems, shorter campaigns, and stat-based roleplays

So yeah, those are the two main options. I have a few other things lying around; if you're looking for something in particular, let me know and I'll see if what I've got for you. However, these are the main FE-related things which I've been wanting to run lately.

Additional questions on either proposal are invited.

Edited March 22 by AnonymousSpeed

[Acacia Sgt]

Well, I'd say, was always on the lookout for a return of Weal, heh. Though a prequel idea with pre-established characters, huh. Sounds interesting, perhaps.

[Rapier]

I'm ok with any option.

First one gives me fun Borderlands/Monster Hunter vibes, so I'm good. The other gives me FE8 vibes, so I'm fine with it either.

[AnonymousSpeed]

On 3/21/2024 at 1:12 AM, Acacia Sgt said:

Well, I'd say, was always on the lookout for a return of Weal, heh. Though a prequel idea with pre-established characters, huh. Sounds interesting, perhaps.

So, you might be interested in a bit of un-ruined worlding?

On 3/23/2024 at 11:29 AM, Rapier said:

I'm ok with any option.

First one gives me fun Borderlands/Monster Hunter vibes, so I'm good. The other gives me FE8 vibes, so I'm fine with it either.

Excellent, I'm glad to hear it.

I'll give it a little more time to see if anyone else expresses interest. If not and Acacia is still interested, I'll go with the Weal mini-campaign.

[Acacia Sgt]

12 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

So, you might be interested in a bit of un-ruined worlding?

Well, I was hoping to use Karen again, but sure, wouldn't mind an un-ruined appetizer first, hahaha.

That said, due to work, my time is certainly limited. But we'll see.

Edited March 25 by Acacia Sgt

[AnonymousSpeed]

A quick update on this. The World of Weal thing is still underway, but picking a holiday weekend as the one to work on it shockingly didn't work out very well. I got hung up on the marching mechanics of all things, but I think I know how I want to do those now.