Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Metagame thoughts

This is a continuation of the thought process that began with this post.

I thought of a framework to assemble PCs for Eight Kingdoms/The Metagame - a support group for gamers who have trouble determining the difference between what is real and fantastic. Except when they get there, the head of the support group tells them it's all real. As proof, he shows them the entrance to a goblin warren and says it's their responsibility to clear it out.

The man who runs the support group, who I'm calling Gary, acts as a mentor and contact for the group of PCs. I'd further thought about providing a questionnaire for people to fill out, assessing their condition and rounding out their characters a bit more.

Additional thoughts:
I'd love to publish this someday, of course, and Google Wave won't be required to play. It did inspire me a little.

There are eight character classes in the Eight Kingdoms, and each class represents the general outlook and history of a particular kingdom. The ruler of each kingdom is at the pinnacle of their character class progression - and yes, people in the Kingdoms themselves can comprehend things like one's level, hit points, and character stats.

The eight classes are:
Warrior - your barbarian, fighter, knight, and samurai classes are all Warriors. Warriors are a "tank" class.
Guardian - druids, paladins, rangers, and the like are all Guardians. Anyone who dedicates themselves to defending and advancing a cause or ideal is a Guardian. Guardians are a "pet" class with "tank" trappings.
Spellweaver - wizards, sorcerers, blood mages: anyone who uses arcane magic is a Spellweaver.
Blessed - Monks and clerics both count as Blessed...and so does the village shaman, the medicine woman, and the combat medic. Blessed dedicate their lives to a cause as Guardians do, but while a Guardian advances their cause through combat, the Blessed strive to lead by example.
Diplomat - advisors, tacticians, bards, and warlords are all considered Diplomats. They have command abilities and impressive knowledge about the world.
Artisan - Smiths, craftsmen, and Weird Science tinkerers are all Artisans. Within their world, Artisans are at the top of their craft. Within ours, they have the power to create magical devices, or to conjure useful tools from nowhere.
Conjurer - The pure "pet" class of EK, Conjurers are your necromancers, summoners, warlocks, and witches. They have access to magics taught them by their pets, and they can call creatures not of this world. Despite the dark trappings, conjuring is not evil in and of itself, but it is sometimes put to evil use. Then again, so are swords, spells, and words.
Shadow - Moving silently through the night, leaping amongst city towers, or concealing themselves amongst trees, Shadows are the thieves, rogues, assassins, and scouts of an EK group.

Like all things SW, it's all about trappings.

There are no playable races besides Human in the Eight Kingdoms, though I have it in mind that the backstory of the EK involves the misadventures of elves, dwarves, halflings, et al.

...and that's all he wrote? I have trouble ending blog posts.

4 comments:

Sitting Duck said...

This is a neat concept and I'll be interested in seeing how you further develop it. BTW is this Eight Kingdoms a genuine urban legend or is it something you made up?

Theron said...

Eight Kingdoms is something I made up...but I think the fact that you asked means I'm on the right track with it.

jalinde said...

A fake entry on the rpg.net wiki might be in order...

I dig where this is going, but how do you differentiate between the three layers?

That is, actual player (Theron or Jamie), player character (Howard or Gary, our characters who play Eight Kingdoms), our player character's character (Thorvald the Diplomat, Imgrin the Enchanter)? Or do Howard and Gary assume their character's roles in Eight Kingdoms? Or some further interpretation I don't grok yet?

Theron said...

If I understand your question right, then I'm going to attempt an answer.

Theron and Jamie play Howard and Gary. They create Howard and Gary using SW character creation rules, modified for the setting. Howard and Gary have EK characters named Thorvald and Imgrin, a Diplomat and Artisan respectively (Imgrin may be called an Enchanter where she lives, but her character class is Artisan).

Howard and Gary can use the abilities of their Kingdoms characters to fight monsters in the real world, but at no point does anyone make a character sheet for Thorvald and Imgrin. If someone did, they would resemble ODnD or ADnD characters.

Theron and Jamie only control Howard and Gary. They decide when to channel the abilities of Thorvald and Imgrin. The game so far takes place exclusively in the real world.

Make sense?