Exactly what it says. I have a few ideas for an Ironclaw game. Any takers?
Two important notes-
A: I only have 2nd Edition (Squaring the Circle) products at hand.
B: I've never actually gotten to run a game with this system before, so any potential pitfalls are things I do not know.
I'm looking for a group of people, around 4 or 5 probably, but...are you familiar with this game at all? I imagine one look at the website will tell you if you are or not. Suffice to say, there aren't any elves running around Calabria.
Exactly what it says. I have a few ideas for an Ironclaw game. Any takers?
Two important notes-
A: I only have 2nd Edition (Squaring the Circle) products at hand.
B: I've never actually gotten to run a game with this system before, so any potential pitfalls are things I do not know.
I've never actually played, and I'll have to dig into my closet and unbox my books to see what edition I have.
But yes, I know what it is, and why there are no elves in it. <_<
Weasels, now...
The edition I have is from March 2001, printed by Sanguine. Do you know how different the 2nd Ed is? If nothing else, I'm familiar with the setting.
Second Edition takes a few cues from the Usagi Yojimbo game to attempt streamlining play from what I've gathered. There's been some rules tweaks in combat, skills, and gifts, mostly aimed at lessening player confusion and keeping everybody on the same page.
Whether this effort succeeded seems to depend entirely on individual perception if online reviews are anything to go by. Having no 1E products, nor played any 1E games, I can't judge for myself.
From the looks of it, the system isn't too confusing (though Sanguine's editing mishaps are still in place, ugh), combat is still gritty and semi-realistic, and everyone has the same baseline of power level to work with. There are a few character options from 1E not present in the 2E core, mostly involving the rarer and/or more obscure magical practices.
But like I said, I have no 1E products lying around, so I can't judge the true difference for myself, nor can I do conversion work.
The setting hasn't changed at all though, and if you can swing it I'd highly recommend grabbing the 2E book in your preferred format. You can even get it separately as "just player information" and "just GM information," though I think that's only for the dead tree version.
Oh, and perhaps most importantly, most of the awkward art parodying Slayers is gone. Most of it, anyway.
Hm. Well.
Craig, you still around? I'd rather not order a new gamebook for a game that might not even take off...IC games are not exactly thick on the ground. If you'll run with two, or if we can find three, or whatever...
(And yeah, I KNOW how ludicrous it is to try to guarantee a PbP game will happen, but since you only have two possible players now -- and a random elf -- I'm a little leery of committing my lunch money without knowing if things will work out if we only have two players.)
It seems likely (given how rare IC players are) that we're looking at a small group if any.
But this actually provides opportunities. Provided the GM's interest drifts that direction, you can do all sorts of unorthodox things with a small group. Merchant representatives, finding out why (or making sure as to why)a given deal doesn't go through, Court intrigues and diplomacy, the small team of rogues, or my own favorite, a blending of the lot, being deniable 'agents'. The medieval Retief, James Bond or Jim DiGriz gig is sorely underestimated and lost against the usual backdrop of cutpurses, second-story rogues and trap-finders.
Thoughts? Do you have something particular in mind, UF? You've got a character already I see, Craig? Any particular direction you feel that character is inclined to go?
To the extent that I have a plot outline at all right now, it basically says "guild war" on it. Anything else is gravy. I'm sharing putting my PDF of SqtC Edition in a Dropbox right now, so anyone who plays will get it. YAY!
That would certainly make life easier! My purse got stolen Friday and I'm waiting for my bank to replace my credit card. So I can't order a copy myself until that comes in the mail, sometime this week. :6
Got, thanks.
Now, you said 'guild war'. Is that a fairly high-end and wealthy guild (where a court intrigue character might be applicable) or are we talking about mayhem, arson and burglary where such a character wouldn't be reasonably involved at all?
I'm looking at the difference here, career-wise, between Dilettante and Rake.
My initial character concept leans towards the former, but it's adaptable. :)
Although technically, I suppose either of them could be up to their necks in the latter, while the Rake is less likely to be tied to the high-end, so I could just run the Dilettante and opt (if appropriate) for a 'more fallen than not' sort of background.
I'll be honest and say I haven't thought much about it yet. Best guess is that I'll be having you guys start on the low end of things, and expand outward and upward as the plot (both player and GM created) requires it. The closest equivalent I could think of on the spot is that you'd all be starting essentially as Shadowrunners for a large trade guild, most likely in Triskellian, looking to undercut it's rival.
So either one of your choices could be applicable.
I've set up a campaign page for the game since I've got at least 3-4 people expressing interest. Gonna leave this thread as Recruitment, no need to make a new one when this will do I think.
And now that I know for sure people are interested, I'll start hashing out a real game outline.
Important parts are: Game centered around Triskellian to start, can expand as needed. The initial plot will center around a large mercantile guild looking to undercut its rival(s), and needs some deniable assets to do so.
Other than that, go crazy! All I ask are some decent backgrounds to work with, since I like pulling elements from those to use as plot hooks in-game.
Oh, and please put your "official application" concept in here once you've decided on it, so that everyone can see, even if you've already PM'ed it to me. Thanks!
Dotting for interest. I've never played the system before, but it sure sounds like fun.
I'm tempted to play a honey-badger anti-hero. Something like if Marv from Sin City existed in Disney's Robin Hood.
Either that or an Octopus cat-burglar.
Here my char so far, I have a few things I need to finish like eq and bg but here is the basics, I am unfamiliar with the system but it reminds me of deadlands so far. If something is off let me know.
seems really interesting. Got Ironclaw in a bookshelf.. little bit dusty but fine it seems. Ironclaw Second Edition Omnibus, wondering if the same?
Thinking of a cat warrior but will post it here after a while
...And suddenly, there was interest.
Wait. Octopus cat-burglar? Mammals! Gotta stick to mammals. Primarily European mammals, though some of the ones on the list would've been extinct (in Europe) by the Renaissance era...
And I imagine you could use the standard Weasel template to generate a honey-badger, but I'm not sure where one'd be from. Probably Akoma, though, either way, it would be a foreign critter, like wolverines are... And thus way off its normal beat. IC is biased more towards European critters, it's true, but then again it's emulating a late medieval/early renaissance Europe model, socially.
On the other hand, there are definitely rules for bears. They trend towards Nordic civilization in terms of background but the description does more than just 'suggest' that some of them have become civilized in terms of Triskellion.
...And a bear would make a GREAT Marv.
And yes, Galrion, we're using the Second Ed. Omnibus. :) Welcome everybody, it's nice to see more interest.
It is a pretty great feeling to come into your interest thread and find it's garnered two more people. With that in mind, I'm actually going to make a Recruitment tagged thread for this, with a few more details in the OP about the kind of game I'm intending to run.
Then we can have back and forth over it and whatnot.
Here's the link to the "official" thread:
Does anyone else need my Dropbox link with the book?
Mammals only? Well that's a little boring. :)
Moving to the other thread...