The Cimmerian and his chronicler
Created | Updated May 28, 2005
Okay the last two articles in this sporadic series were, lets face it, nuts. But with good reason. Insanity should lay claim to you at least once in your life or you've missed out.
I've always been a fantasy lover. The sword and sorcery stuff, or the more sword and hint of sorcery kind that is becoming more common thankfully. But look at h2g2. Go on have a look around now and come back in a bit.
Find any fantasy? Sure theres dozens of RPG's, many long standing RPG's that have been running a year or more, but non that fitted what I wanted. So I took my cue from Craxus' rather splendiferous magicians guild.
Maybe I was just being picky.
See whilst it was a fantasy there was something that didnt sit right with me. Some thing that was just... Off.
You see, if a wizard gets backed into a corner, he still has his magic. Us mere mortals dont have magic (unless your tricksy like david blaine and can pull your heart out), so why have it in an RPG? And, if there were fifty Orc's running at me I wouldnt stand around chanting a little spell - I'd be sensible and leg it till I could have enough room to rain firey death.
Then there was Ma'rol Mannan, Scourge of the New Republic. Now he was an RPG charecter legends are made of<FOOTNOTE>Ma'rol built an army. Not a big one. Just 4000 strong on his own battleship. But then Ma'rol got pestered and thus began an armys race where 4000 went up too... ooo... 4 million by the end. The thing was, they never did anything really. The only time Ma'rol commited a truely evil act was after the army got sold and he had a small cadre of 300 cloned ladies (too much Shogun Assassin) who proceeded to tear apart a planet unopposed.</FOOTNOTE>. He had a wife (who went nuts and tried to kill him), three children (one clone, one bird-loving freak, and one unborn) and millions of soldiers at his command. Aye I miss the old sod, but again when ever I'd encounter other people something wouldnt be right. As an evil charecter, was I doomed to lose in the early stages of cunning plans? Was I ever to be thwarted by an over zealous GM who would give and take with the same hand? As it turned out - Yes. He died. Twice.
An example of an encounter between a good player character (Quentin) and a bad player character (Adolf)
ADOLF: *Adolf sits in evil lair and pulls out pad and pen. Writes down plans for diabolical army th...*
QUENTIN: 'BAH-HAH!' *Quentin cries, as he leaps through the window*
ADOLF: *Looks at half finished heading, looks at Quentin holds out hands for cuffs* 'just tell me one thing, how did you know?'
QUENTIN: 'BAH-HAH! Your not one of us! You must be being evil! I just came round after I'd finished my tea...'
So I got thinking about what I wanted to do. I wanted a game where you went in as a no body - an average joe. No matter how many RPG's you had under your belt or what have you. You see, thats what seemed to be killing the RPG's. Look around the magicians guild and star wars. The core players who stuck with it for years have done everything, reached the highest rank, and as such theres nothing left for them, and as such they dont see any reason to come on as often as they once did. Its like Doom. Theres only so many times you play doom before you want to play Halo...
Both, rightly, had one career path - after all keeping track of the progress of a dozen or so different people in different jobs is impossible for a hobby. But this limited players. Even when people left the main career they had relatively little to do unless they made themselves tasks and such, which only caused a knock on effect.
Then theres scale. How big is an RPG? Where does the rabbit hole end? Do you use one thread for a town, or one guide entery for a town, and what about noble houses, prisons, and palaces? Are these merely threads? And what places do you include and which are sacrificed in the name of progression?
But then comes the beauty of it. You see, the larger a game becomes, the more people you need to run it. In turn, more options open up as work can be divided. As such there can be as few as one, and as many as need to be in terms of games masters under the guidance rather then control of a creator.
So when I got to thinking about writing an RPG during a spate of madness I put all this together. To summarise
Multiple career paths
Massive selection of individual and charecterful places
Many masters to control the world
The 3M<FOOTNOTE>So called, because each point begins with 3M's and I'd patent the beaut if I could</FOOTNOTE> system. Its rather beautiful, and seems very complex. As any GM will tell you on our little site these are three things that can make or break a game. Too small and theres no room to grow, too big and people get lost (or pages never get used and its a waste of time), too many masters could also be a case of too many cooks...
Yet I didnt let this daunt me.
So about October right up til a few weeks ago I built the shell of the largest RPG's on H2G2. Only the HUGE assassins is anything near as many pages - but remember assassins is complete and my little venture isnt, as well as being a progressive build by players. As it stands, roughly a quarter of the world of Hyboria is mapped at a running total of 60 pages.
You see its a rolling build. There are no palaces, prisons, or towers because no one wants them. I worked out a country takes roughly three days work. A page roughly one. Therefore a city requested can be submitted, finalised and active in a day. Masters and players alike can add there own pages via a submission system.
So lets say that you wanted to go to medevil Japan. Fair enough. Robert E Howard calls it Lemuria - but theres little information from the man himself so Lemuria becomes exactly like medevil Japan (or near too). A player can then become a Samurai. What about an French Knight, a Saxon Huscarl, a spartan hopilite, or a roman legionaire? Fair enough - go to Poitain, Brythunia, Kamalla, and Koth repectively. Its literally built so if you want to go become something, you can but it wont be easy. A king, a general, an assassin - all are there on a plate waiting for you to pick them up and run with it.
So where does the fantasy come in - surely this is just a historical RPG? Well yes and no. You see, theres enough fantasy elements and unanswered questions to have you rumaging for years. Where are the weapons of old atlantis? What creatures lurk in the north? And then why not try to forge your own lands? I've deliberately not detailed two minor countries because I'm giving them as prizes. An entire nation to command - will you be a good or malicious ruler?
But all this is in the heady days. You begin a child, with a coin in your pocket and a world waiting to claim your soul.
I'v recently heard of a PC game called Spore. Hyborians is H2G2's version of Spore. You begin on a simple level and shape and grow right upto God-like status...
I've always been a fantasy lover. The sword and sorcery stuff, or the more sword and hint of sorcery kind that is becoming more common thankfully. But look at h2g2. Go on have a look around now and come back in a bit.
Find any fantasy? Sure theres dozens of RPG's, many long standing RPG's that have been running a year or more, but non that fitted what I wanted. So I took my cue from Craxus' rather splendiferous magicians guild.
Maybe I was just being picky.
See whilst it was a fantasy there was something that didnt sit right with me. Some thing that was just... Off.
You see, if a wizard gets backed into a corner, he still has his magic. Us mere mortals dont have magic (unless your tricksy like david blaine and can pull your heart out), so why have it in an RPG? And, if there were fifty Orc's running at me I wouldnt stand around chanting a little spell - I'd be sensible and leg it till I could have enough room to rain firey death.
Then there was Ma'rol Mannan, Scourge of the New Republic. Now he was an RPG charecter legends are made of<FOOTNOTE>Ma'rol built an army. Not a big one. Just 4000 strong on his own battleship. But then Ma'rol got pestered and thus began an armys race where 4000 went up too... ooo... 4 million by the end. The thing was, they never did anything really. The only time Ma'rol commited a truely evil act was after the army got sold and he had a small cadre of 300 cloned ladies (too much Shogun Assassin) who proceeded to tear apart a planet unopposed.</FOOTNOTE>. He had a wife (who went nuts and tried to kill him), three children (one clone, one bird-loving freak, and one unborn) and millions of soldiers at his command. Aye I miss the old sod, but again when ever I'd encounter other people something wouldnt be right. As an evil charecter, was I doomed to lose in the early stages of cunning plans? Was I ever to be thwarted by an over zealous GM who would give and take with the same hand? As it turned out - Yes. He died. Twice.
An example of an encounter between a good player character (Quentin) and a bad player character (Adolf)
ADOLF: *Adolf sits in evil lair and pulls out pad and pen. Writes down plans for diabolical army th...*
QUENTIN: 'BAH-HAH!' *Quentin cries, as he leaps through the window*
ADOLF: *Looks at half finished heading, looks at Quentin holds out hands for cuffs* 'just tell me one thing, how did you know?'
QUENTIN: 'BAH-HAH! Your not one of us! You must be being evil! I just came round after I'd finished my tea...'
So I got thinking about what I wanted to do. I wanted a game where you went in as a no body - an average joe. No matter how many RPG's you had under your belt or what have you. You see, thats what seemed to be killing the RPG's. Look around the magicians guild and star wars. The core players who stuck with it for years have done everything, reached the highest rank, and as such theres nothing left for them, and as such they dont see any reason to come on as often as they once did. Its like Doom. Theres only so many times you play doom before you want to play Halo...
Both, rightly, had one career path - after all keeping track of the progress of a dozen or so different people in different jobs is impossible for a hobby. But this limited players. Even when people left the main career they had relatively little to do unless they made themselves tasks and such, which only caused a knock on effect.
Then theres scale. How big is an RPG? Where does the rabbit hole end? Do you use one thread for a town, or one guide entery for a town, and what about noble houses, prisons, and palaces? Are these merely threads? And what places do you include and which are sacrificed in the name of progression?
But then comes the beauty of it. You see, the larger a game becomes, the more people you need to run it. In turn, more options open up as work can be divided. As such there can be as few as one, and as many as need to be in terms of games masters under the guidance rather then control of a creator.
So when I got to thinking about writing an RPG during a spate of madness I put all this together. To summarise
Multiple career paths
Massive selection of individual and charecterful places
Many masters to control the world
The 3M<FOOTNOTE>So called, because each point begins with 3M's and I'd patent the beaut if I could</FOOTNOTE> system. Its rather beautiful, and seems very complex. As any GM will tell you on our little site these are three things that can make or break a game. Too small and theres no room to grow, too big and people get lost (or pages never get used and its a waste of time), too many masters could also be a case of too many cooks...
Yet I didnt let this daunt me.
So about October right up til a few weeks ago I built the shell of the largest RPG's on H2G2. Only the HUGE assassins is anything near as many pages - but remember assassins is complete and my little venture isnt, as well as being a progressive build by players. As it stands, roughly a quarter of the world of Hyboria is mapped at a running total of 60 pages.
You see its a rolling build. There are no palaces, prisons, or towers because no one wants them. I worked out a country takes roughly three days work. A page roughly one. Therefore a city requested can be submitted, finalised and active in a day. Masters and players alike can add there own pages via a submission system.
So lets say that you wanted to go to medevil Japan. Fair enough. Robert E Howard calls it Lemuria - but theres little information from the man himself so Lemuria becomes exactly like medevil Japan (or near too). A player can then become a Samurai. What about an French Knight, a Saxon Huscarl, a spartan hopilite, or a roman legionaire? Fair enough - go to Poitain, Brythunia, Kamalla, and Koth repectively. Its literally built so if you want to go become something, you can but it wont be easy. A king, a general, an assassin - all are there on a plate waiting for you to pick them up and run with it.
So where does the fantasy come in - surely this is just a historical RPG? Well yes and no. You see, theres enough fantasy elements and unanswered questions to have you rumaging for years. Where are the weapons of old atlantis? What creatures lurk in the north? And then why not try to forge your own lands? I've deliberately not detailed two minor countries because I'm giving them as prizes. An entire nation to command - will you be a good or malicious ruler?
But all this is in the heady days. You begin a child, with a coin in your pocket and a world waiting to claim your soul.
I'v recently heard of a PC game called Spore. Hyborians is H2G2's version of Spore. You begin on a simple level and shape and grow right upto God-like status...
