The Dark Side of Corvis: an Iron Kingdoms RPG campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Quirk, Private Eye

I think we're still quite a ways from actually starting this, as I am VERY rusty as far as the rules go. I'm also not sure what resources I have for maps, and I'm not sure how to translate them to Google slides.

But it's fun to start dreaming, and I invite folks to consider character ideas here.

Should we continue with this urban campaign set in the great city of Corvis, I would encourage everyone to consider a human, dwarf, gobber, ogrun, or trollkin resident of the city (or from somewhere nearby). Nyss or Iosan elves have always seemed out of place in urban Cygnar due to the background and setting information surrounding them, so I would discourage them.

This will very much be a Cygnar-centric game. Khadorans and Protectorate of Menoth characters will be met with suspicion. Though you don't need to be savory, fine, upstanding Cygnaran citizens, being generally supportive and not actively working against the crown is a good thing.

I think this campaign will have the characters be investigators, detectives, and occasionally mercenaries. Though the many conflicts and wars going on in the world will serve as a backdrop to the campaign, it's my hope not to turn this into a military campaign, at least most of the time.

Your main source should be the Iron Kingdoms core book. The Kings, Nations, and Gods, along with the Urban Adventures book, can also be sources.

It's not my wish to put limitations on character creation arbitrarily. Instead, I see it as a way to forge a strong, cohesive narrative.

Dream away on those characters! I'll be reacquainting myself with the core book, some of my old maps and notes, and a few old ideas for adventures deep in the cobwebs of my mind.

Decimus Observet here, with a profile I think might fit the setting. Cheers for kicking this off, GM Quirk.

The one time I got to play Iron Kingdoms, it was as a cutthroat-spy. I think I'll revisit that approach for this campaign.

@All: For convenience, here's the Privateer Press Iron Kingdoms page on Drivethrurpg, with sale ongoing.

Also, a list of Cygnar names. Not certain how canon it is though, but it might be useful.

Ok great...I'll pull out my pdfs and find some inspiration...

Indeed thanks for doing this,GM Quirk

Inspired by the original Josiah Graves, I'm now looking at Aristocrat - Pistoleer.

Wooooo...lots of reading to do

How shady of a character would you consider appropriate for this kind of game? I'm considering a Thamarite Advocate (not sure on my second career yet) who's definitely into necromancy and other distinctly illegal things.

Honestly, my concern is how well such a concept would mesh with the other players. My assumption is that most of the other players would prefer to play characters with more law-abiding motivations, or at least no worse than minor crimes.

The other concern is that the church of Morrow will play a role in the campaign as a source for adventure. They would have no desire to work with a Thamarite (though, admittedly, they wouldn't necessarily have to know, at least right off the bat).

I'm re-reading most of the material to get some inspiration and try to decide between a tough melee trollkin guy, a fine, young and handsome gunmage and a cunning and powerful arcanist...

Damn, all of them are so appealing...

Aye, minor stuff at most sounds more doable.

I'm leaned towards the tough guy, I think... I'll think of a nice story.

Hmmmm, maybe an Alchemist then. I'll play around with ideas, but someone connected to the Golden Crucible would be neat.

Btw, I was wondering if you want to use any houserule/fix for the halberd. It seems a quite silly and overpowered weapon, being able to attack with Reach and used with one hand at POW 4. I'm asking because I might get one of these via Man-At-Arms and it would be nice to know before I plan any combat strategy.

Fluff wise, is anyone finally going with an Aristocrat or any other wealthy guy? My character might well be your employee/bodyguard/enforcer.

Sorry, some other questions:

What moment in the storyline are we playing? Has Khador made its big move already?

Are we beginning play in Corvis, or somewhere else?

The basics beyond my character concept is that his family has served a local Cygnarian family as lackeys for some generations already.

Maybe I'm moving too fast?

I'll try to answer some of these questions later tonight.

Spoiler alert: I have the "fluff" pretty well thought out--Khador is already in Llael, and fighting is raging. There are several refugees in Corvis--your character might even be one.

Honestly, never considered the halberd question. My first inclination is that there's no way that should be a 1-handed weapon. I'll have to look at it.

Btw, I was wondering if you want to use any houserule/fix for the halberd. It seems a quite silly and overpowered weapon, being able to attack with Reach and used with one hand at POW 4. I'm asking because I might get one of these via Man-At-Arms and it would be nice to know before I plan any combat strategy.

Fluff wise, is anyone finally going with an Aristocrat or any other wealthy guy? My character might well be your employee/bodyguard/enforcer.

I was toying with going with an aritocrat/ something....but there's so many interesting combos. :)

If the war in Llael is in full swing, I think that a Golden Crucible exile who elected not to go to Ord with the rest of the order is definitely a viable option. I'm leaning Alchemist and something magic using with a more support role. Storywise, he was probably one of the alchemists who focused on making the armor and weapons of the Order and Crucible Guard. Arcane Mechanic or maybe Gun Mage could work well.

@GM Quirk: Will you be adding any house rules to character creation? I've settled on Josiah Graves, aristocrat/pistolier.

I'm leaning towards a human Knight/Man-At-Arms. Human will work better towards being involved in the story, in my opinion.

He will be a young, rural Knight, coming from a ruined family and seeking to earn a name, respect and some riches to help the family business. With a note from his father to Prelate Dumas, will our hero prevail in these dark times? :P

Just in order to avoid problems, and because in my mind the image of a guy chopping with a halberd one-hand at ten feet away is complete madness, he will go with his trusted spear (which carries a more balanced ruleset).

Working on a pitch: Ogrun Soldier turned Bounty Hunter...

Really wanted to go Trencher + ?? but with it being more urban based thinking a bounty hunter might be a good shout.

@Spazmodeus: Fancy having your character have links to mine? Military? Aristocrat who hire him for a job?? Ex- mark of my guy? Spitballin' ideas...

Working on a pitch: Ogrun Soldier turned Bounty Hunter...

Really wanted to go Trencher + ?? but with it being more urban based thinking a bounty hunter might be a good shout.

@Spazmodeus: Fancy having your character have links to mine? Military? Aristocrat who hire him for a job?? Ex- mark of my guy? Spitballin' ideas...

Yeah , we could work with that...let me ponder...

Ponder away brother... :) Know you always come up with the goods (with a twist lol)

Well, you can always go with Trencher, assuming a guy who's been in the army but is now doing other thing (depending on your second career); he might have been wounded or whatever, idk.

I promise I'll write the story tonight or tomorrow, I just need to have some spare time in front of the PC.

@ Josiah Graves: Other than the guidelines in the first post here, I don't have any house rules for character creation in mind. Just be sure to read that first post.

PROPOSED TIMELINE:

1. Create characters over the next two weeks. Continue to discuss these characters here as you see fit. Have fun!

2. I am creating some maps on hex paper. I'm hand-drawing these for now, and I will attempt to scan them and upload them to google slides.

3. On or about November 25th, I will begin a very brief test adventure. I have in mind a single social encounter and a single combat encounter. This will give us the opportunity to try out rules and characters. You will receive experience points and perhaps a bit of gold in this encounter. This will be a learning experience for all of us, I think.

4. Following this test adventure, you may feel free to make changes to your character in any way you please (continuing to follow the guidelines in the first post above). You may change professions, equipment, etc.

5. On or about the first of the year we'll begin my original adventure, mainly set in the Corvis Undercity.

Tearing back and forth between Aristo/Spy and Aristo/Military Officer...gonna actually spec out both and see which one really appeals to me...

Also, do we have any kind of Adventuring Company template in mind? With my current configuration, I can only go Mercenary (because that one allows anyone in). If we're aiming otherwise, I might need to rethink the whole character (no Companies are there thought for Knights or Men-At-Arms).

I had forgotten about adventuring companies. It might be a great idea, if it doesn't put too many limitations on all of your personal character concepts.

Why don't I suggest that everyone check that out and give it due consideration.

Yeah, the adventuring company templates in the book are a bit restrictive...but I guess that's the point, you want all of the member to have a similar outlook.

@Jereru: Yup - know I could still go Trencher + say Ranger... but think Soldier & Bounty Hunter gives the balance of muscle and urban hustle since we're playing in Corvis... Plus it's a interesting combo :)

Unlikely Heroes Adventuring Company: Also allows anyone in, and as the group are bound by a collective threat or protagonist guess it would be up to GMQ to join the dots up of our disparate band? Would give us far more scope to draw them together (albeit it could be a flag of convenience to overcome our shared nemesis/threat).

Benefits of UHAC: Each character created as part of this company gains the Language ability. Additionally, characters created as part of the company gain an additional rank in one of their career’s occupational skills.

That seems a nice one. In which book does it appear?

Iron Kingdoms Unleashed p151. Not sure if its a "legal" source for our mini-campaign?

Ah well. I've been avoiding the use of abilities and careers from that book, but I guess a Company Template wouldn't hurt much, v since it's a communal thing and just an initial feature. Let's see what our beloved GM thinks about it.

There's also one for exiled nobles in the Llael section of Kings, Nations, and Gods if the party seems to be going the noble and his entourage route, though it would probably need a little bit of tweaking.

I have an alias here, Griff Higherwood. Human, Knight/Man-at-Arms, will bring the group a reliable melee guy, able to dish nice damage and being also on the receiving end so our pistol guys can do their pistol things :)

I'm going to withdraw from this one gang - overstretched myself somewhat and not sure I'll have the time to build a character to do the game justice.

Cheers

BD

Any news around here?

I aim to have Josiah ready tonight or tomorrow.

Josiah Graves is a minor scion of an old noble house in Cygnar. As a younger man, he realised his talent for pistol dueling and flaunted it. He won many duels but made many enemies and brought headaches upon his house. Therefore, it was suggested that he take up a term of military service in a far-flung duchy, though behind the front lines.

As it turned out, Josiah was the right man for the job. He helped investigate a series of ritualistic killings in the town he was stationed in. When the infernalist cult responsible tried to rampage and destroy the town, Josiah held his ground with iron in hand and sent several to meet their masters personally. He served out the remainder of his term of service, and is now at a loose end.

Josiah has his name, his wits, and his irons to keep him safe. His eyes are those of a man who has seen too much. In appearance, he carries much from his high-born life and more recent experiences. He is an average sized man but agile. His armour is custom-fitted and is covered by a fine greatcoat of good make and his top-hat. His hand cannons are holstered in his gun brace. His face is bearded with no moustache. To a very observant onlooker his thin smile hides much.

Excellent work Josiah.

I am a little bit behind on this, but I remain resolute. I need to try to scan a map at work and see what we can make happen.

Stay tuned.

Been quite busy lately....working from home sick today...so I'll try to get mine up and done.

@GM Quirk: Cheers! I'm looking forward to playing some Iron Kingdoms. Would you be inclined to open a gameplay thread so we could start dotting in? It'd make it easier to keep track. If not yet, that's fine.

Done. This will help keep me on task.

Honestly, just a little low on bandwidth right now. Some extra hours at work, holidays, and another online game I am running (and a few I am playing in, a couple are ending soon).

But I'll stick with it.

It happens! I'm trying to catch up for the day now before bed. ;) (GMT) And thanks. :)

I've been caught up in RL stuff lately, will get a profile up soon , I hope.

A merry Christmas to all! Hopefully, we'll get going early in the new year. :)

So, where are folks in regards to this game?

I'm here.

Still here and interested....got a bit of 'too-many-options' paralysis earlier.....

I may not be available to post at all tomorrow.

@GM Quirk: How are things on your end?

Hey everybody.

Life happened.

A combination of work responsibilities and home things have conspired against me. Honestly, I have been contemplating what to do--whether to hold off and see about preparing something later this year, or just forget about it.

There is a third option.

Obviously there are a few of us here who enjoy this setting and mechanics of the game. Would any of you like to step forward to create a game for us? While it's simply impossible for me to do all of the prep work to make a game happen, I am in a position to make a character and participate as a player.

If there is no interest, I will likely mark this game as "inactive" and give this due consideration later in the year.

Perfectly understandable, Quirk.

Look forward to what you decide later...