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Okay, so I've been a fan of pen and paper RPGs for a while now (I used to have a subscription to a monthly Star Wars P&P lite-RPG where they'd send you a book every month for new adventures back when I was about 9 or 10...I've since tried getting into D&D, among other series with no luck, as no one around here is into P&P, really), though I don't often talk about them because it's hard to find anyone that shares my interest. I've also been toying with the idea of creating a quirky, yet interesting and often dark P&P RPG.

However, I thought I could make it interesting and provide an option for an open authorship before I delved in on my own. It could turn out to be interesting, and though it's a bit different, in the past, open authorships generally work out just fine.

Just curious to know if anyone would be interested. If you are, maybe I could get a Wiki going and we could build it up, as a Wiki would probably be the easiest way to separate everything and still retain true open authorship.

Yeah, just thought it could be an interesting community project. ^^

Hmmmm...
I do enjoy writing.
Yes why not.
An open wiki would be a great idea.
IM IN.

Alright, I'll see what I can manage.

Anyone else?

If you're interested in creating the setting, go for it! However, don't try to reinvent the wheelbarrow, there are hundreds of rule systems to choose from.

Unless you have both extensive experience from actually playing different RP rules systems and/or background in mathematical statistics, you're better off using a system made by someone who has played, knows the math and knows what does and doesn't work in other systems.

There's a vast array of free rulesets, from FUDGE to Ars Magica 4th ed (it's "for sale" for free), there's the Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition-based D20 Rebirth worked on by Fax Celestis, there's Wushu RPG...
Just go here, and choose one: http://www.homebrew.net/games/

The White Wolf series has a decent ruleset and the Palladium Books RPG System is actually quite good.

Okay, then, anyone have any ideas on which ruleset they want?

Any ideas for setting?

I love making up rules that aren't technically necessary but still nice to have. I'm in.

As for setting, I haven't seen anything similar to this, so it might be one of those settings that doesn't work at all, but imagine futuristic times, except we never developed electricity, or even steam power, instead we used magic for everything. So magic robots, magic guns, magic tanks. Not steampunk or cyberpunk, magicpunk.

...If magicpunk already exists it better have a cooler name than magicpunk.

Specific magic powering a something-punk system:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DungeonPunk

The only more-or-less relevant RPG setting listed there was Bloodshadows:
http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/10/10980.phtml

GURPS Technomancer might be relevant, but it's harder to tell from the description what time it's happening in...
"is what you get when you turn the Trinity Event into a necromantic ritual of immense proportions, completed by the Famous Oppenheimer Quote. Nikita Khrustschev claiming Soviet Union has entire armies of wizards? U.S. Army winning Vietnam War using dragons, weaponized flying carpets and zombies made from Vietcong corpses? Space travel by teleportation spells? Gene-engineered Stealth Dragons (with vampire genes, no less)? Oh yes..."

You know when you have an awesome idea and you need to get it down well I already wrote this down on paper but now I have to type it because my mind is going nutso here and I need to get it out now

Premise for basic setting- Imagine a world, modern times, except, electricity was never invented, steampower was never invented, there's no magic, no cars, no guns, HOWEVAR- You know in all those indiana jones style cave explorer stories/movies/games what-have-you, the ancient aztecish guys had all this amazingly advanced technology without any steam power or electricity, it's just stone and wood moving around, gears and such.

Imagine if they perfected that mechanical movement of gears and panels and cranks. Guns? No. Crank-activated-manheld-automatic-crossbow? Yes.

Gives us an excuse to have melee combat realistically, gives us plenty of opportunities for dungeon crawling, and we could easily fit magic into it without it becoming "dungeonpunk".

Speaking of which, I've already got a name for this type of setting. Az-tech. OH SMELL THE PUN

If it's been done before this is the official renaming of it to Az-tech.

Horribly off topic, but whatever happened to those collaborative rpgs/stories back when Ragdollmaster hung around more often? Those were entertaining.

TheBigCheese wrote:Horribly off topic, but whatever happened to those collaborative rpgs/stories back when Ragdollmaster hung around more often? Those were entertaining.

I don't know, honestly. It probably fell into the cracks, as people didn't stay interested in them after he left.

In any case, nice ideas guys! I especially like the Az-tech pun.

Blorx wrote:Okay, then, anyone have any ideas on which ruleset they want?

Any ideas for setting?

How about this: A steam punk world with Humans, Elves and Dwarves. Half the planet is made of iron, the other half, land. The two governments are in a terrible conflict, with another government that tries to keep peace on the border. Everything is powered by steam. You can combine your weapon arsenal with medieval weapons, the more advanced of which are heated for more damage by steam, and steam-powered slugthrowers. Steam-powered airships. And there's magic too. Punk magic. All that combined with the long and bloody history between races, I think it would be awesome. We could call it Cast Iron or something. Thoughts?

Okay, it seems people want either something steampunk or something "magicpunk."

Can we reach an agreement?

making steampunk an element in the game would be great for many reasons.
it could add a whole spectrum of weapon/armor upgrades, ship upgrades, and even situational uses of proficient engineering. a world revolved around pneumatic steam sounds fun.

also if you do choose to bring the magicpunk thing into it, it could be an interesting contrast for when the two factions meet. and eventually learn that the only way to trump one another would be to learn eachothers ways... aggressively of course.

i am short on time so i cant write much more but thaaats all i got right now.

Sounds interesting to me. Might want to have a few rules for the magic though, so it doesn't turn into a "whatever the heck I need at this moment" kind of thing.