Contributor
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I have a back-burner project of making a Renaissance/Shakespearean PF game and setting, possibly involving a fantasy version of London.
Anyway, 2 questions:
1. How interested are people in a game that's based in the real world, lowish magic (Goetic, witchcraft, and theurgy), got swashbuckling, muskets, and focuses on Fae, intrigue, and the dark side of the Early Modern Period (with some humour)?
2. I have some resources on hand - mostly non-d20 (Renaissance, Te Deum Pour Un Massacre, Sorcerer's Crusade, Maelstrom, Broadswords & Bucklers, Flashing Blades, Lace & Steel, GURPS Swashbucklers and Northern Crown. I don't have 7th Sea, and I may have not heard or not have some others, if anyone can volunteer any ideas or comments...
Have you played Dishonored? Seems like exactly the setting you're looking for.
There was a Living Death campaign for 3.5 set in 1890. Much of that was in London, if memory serves, and it was a low magic setting.
Maybe there's something to work with there?
I was able to find this, to get you started:
http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7838
If you have players willing to read up on some history and/or literature, and then role-play it, it will be awesome. Otherwise, don't put all of your eggs in that basket.
If you are familiar with the Eberron setting, you will know of the city Sharn. While it is not London, it is a fantasy equivalent of a metropolis that has a culture of its own. It works, and its fun.
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Contributor
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Well, I'm going to use this as a basis of common knowledge.
But yes, I may be a former Shakespearean actor, but not everyone else is... At least one player I may recruit is a theatre person as well. I could steer non-English majors and the like to being sea-dogs or peasants, so their manners and in-character knowledge can be less developed.
I've been there. With Madge Earth, it was set in the time period where some monks found what they thought was Arther Pendragon's grave. I replaced real world religion with the game's pantheon. Fictional characters such as Robin Hood were quite real. I just had to add dungeons and modules to the real map of England.
Your biggest challenge is the amount of material that is now locked to the game company's game worlds. If you're willing to look to museums and fiction for inspiration instead, you can do it. If I lived in your area I would so play it.
I'd love to watch that game being played! Mayhaps prepare myself to play as well.
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 16, 2010 Top 4
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I'm just starting to put together just such a campaign that will take place in the Roanoke Colony (rather than London). Here's a few campaign traits I've thought up:
Shakespearean Comedian: As a member of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, you trod the boards at the Globe theater in London and mastered the comedies of William Shakespeare, becoming an unrivaled expert in the arts of wit, satire, and scathing insult. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Perform (comedy) checks and can use Perform (comedy) instead of Intimidate when attempting to demoralize an opponent.
Shakespearean Historian: As a member of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, you trod the boards at the Globe theater in London and mastered the histories of William Shakespeare, becoming an unrivaled expert in the history of the world as known to the folk outside the ivory towers of academia. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Perform (oratory) checks and can make untrained Knowledge (history) checks with a DC of up to 15.
Shakespearean Tragedian: As a member of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, you trod the boards at the Globe theater in London and mastered the tragedies of William Shakespeare, becoming an unrivaled expert in the understanding of human motivations and foibles. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Perform (act) checks and a +1 trait bonus on Sense Motive checks made to get a hunch about someone. Sense Motive is always a class skill for you.