I need to start up a new Fantasy Game, one that will let me indulge in my setting building passion! I have a few fun ideas for games below, and I'd appreciate input and advice for any of them! Systems would probably be either Shadow of the Demon Lord, Savage Worlds, or Freeform/Rules-Light. If somebody knows a better system for any concept I'd be happy to look into it though!

Adventurer School: A more lighthearted and quite possibly Anime theme concept, this one would have the characters as part of a new Academy made for training adventurers and heroes. The game would naturally feature a bit of dungeon crawling action along with some fun lore building. School-side antics such as relationships, friendships, and more would be encouraged. It could also be fun to explore a world where Adventurers are necessary, and deal with the implications of a bunch of people going into such a dangerous occupation.

Auxiliaries of the Empire: Taking place in a more Roman/Iron Age themed setting, this would feature a group of soldiers taken from the many far flung segments of a Roman style Empire. There would be a sort of clash between the different regional tensions and the goals of the larger Empire, along with other issues. As part of the plot the characters loyalties to both their home states and the Empire would be tested. There are a lot of fun elements to explore here, and it could definitely make for an interesting game.

The Crusade: The idea of a Crusade, fighting for one's religion in a foreign land, is certainly an intriguing concept. Of course, in a fantasy setting the enemies they go against would likely be far different, but a crusade is a fascinating environment to explore. Warriors looking for redemption, profiteers looking for a chance, peasants hoping for a chance at glory, all of this and more can be explored in this setting. We could also delve into the depths of religious fanaticism or other issues.

Witch Hunters: The idea is more related to games such as Bloodborne and darker fantasy settings like Warhammer. This game would feature a world in grave danger from powerful witches that threaten to destroy all of human kind. The heroes would be a desperate band of Witch Hunters looking for any advantage they can get, anything to try and turn the tides. Depending on the group's actions, this could go in a wide variety of directions, but it could be a fun Dark fantasy twist. Themes could even include a loss of humanity as they search for ways to save their world.

Exiled: A game that features the characters as men and women banished to a horrifying island by a Tyrannical Government. They shall have to find a way to survive, thrive, and maybe, just maybe, turn the tides against their oppressor. This one would be a little harder, but also quite interesting.

Are people interested in any of the concepts? Are there suggestions regarding themes, systems, or general advice? I'm more than happy to field questions as well!

All these concepts seem interesting! I'd prefer a freeform game though, as I don't know savage worlds or shadow of the demon lord!

I wouldn't need people to know the systems for any game. Most of them are pretty easy to learn at least in my opinion. I'll definitely consider doing just free-form or something light like the Window though.

The Adventurer's School sounds like a fun concept!  I'm a bigger fan of having some sort of system to keep things balanced, so I'd prefer something non-freeform. Dungeon World, perhaps?

I've never played Shadow of the Demon Lord, but I'd be open to trying it!

Any of these sound light hearted and interesting

I would only really take the first in a particularly light hearted direction to be honest. The others all contain darker themes like religious fanaticism, cultural assimilation and subjugation, tyranny, a loss of humanity, and so on.

Thanks for the clarification; more interested in that case :)

I'd give an anime adventurer school game a look, if you went with that one.

As long has the adventure school is lighthearted but not slapstick I don't mind. Sometimes people let that kind of thing get out of hand. I like lighthearted with serious scenes for contrast.

I think I'll go with the Adventurer School game. I had some fun ideas in how to make it work even in a slightly more grounded setting. Now, how do people feel about systems? I'm leaning towards having one since Dungeon Crawling will be a thing, but I'm open to other options. My Fantasy RPG of choice is Shadow of the Demon Lord, but I'm open to others and I'm more than willing to teach it.

I'd really rather prefer a system for it since I've seen far too many freeforms get out of hand for things like this.  I've never played Shadow of the Demon Lord, but I'm willing to take a look at it and see how it works!

Are you intending to have the system as a black box or require the players to be familiar with it? Or somewhere in between?

I'd say closest to somewhere in between, but I'd prefer some level of familiarity. Ownership of the books or prior familiarity would most definitely not be required of course.

Ok. Happy to learn, but unfamiliar with Shadow of the Demon Lord FYI. Don't let that steer you away from it if other folks are more familiar

Oh! By familiarity I meant during the game itself. I'm more than willing to teach, and quite frankly it's a pretty simple system.

I'm not that familiar with Shadow of the Demon Lord, but it's class-based, right? I agree that freeform is a bad choice for a dungeon crawler, but it does allow for a lot more freedom in what kind of "adventurers" can work. I'd recommend something point-based, like maybe Mutants and Masterminds 3E - it's very generic if you just leave off the modern equipment.

Don't change anything on my account though, it's just a suggestion.

I remember way back in the day there was a game called Wandering Monster High School that would have been great for the adventurer school.

It's hard to go wrong with Barbarians of Lemuria if you want a really simple system that still allows for daring do, and a little magic.

Hmm, or Scarlet Heroes?

I actually do like class based fantasy ha ha. But I'm definitely going to consider other options as well. I don't think I'll use Mutants and Masterminds though to be honest. Savage Worlds is what I'd choose for a more free character creation system. Barbarians of Lemuria is something I've been meaning to read through, so I'll take a look into it. Never heard of the other two but I'll definitely take a look.

In reply to CaesarCV (msg # 21):

Stumbled over Scarlet Heroes for another campaign and it's nicely cinematic

Scarlet Heroes seems sweet! Although it's also built for singe player games so I don't think it'll be suited to this particular concept. Neither will the Wandering Monster thing from what I've read of it.

I like the idea of the Adventurer's School, I'd prefer D&D 3.5 as I don't know the systems and agree that you need some structure and I like class based fantasy. I actually had a game that I ran a year or so ago that did something like you're proposing. You might be able to draw some inspiration from the Mutants and Masterminds supplements on a hero school. Of course there is also going for a Heroes Guild idea similar to Fable 1.

Currently I'm leaning towards Shadow of the Demon Lord. Not really into 3.5 much these days to be honest. Although if anybody knows D20 systems they'll be pretty comfortable with it. I'm currently trying to build up the setting as well, so if anybody has suggestions/ideas I'd love to hear them.

Right now for the setting I'm adding a pseudo-post apocalyptic angle where there was a mighty civiliztion destroyed by a great calamity. Between this and the new, still forming nations rising, there's both dungeons to loot and lots of adventures to have.

As soon as you said post-apocalyptic fantasy, my brain went straight to Dark Schneider.  God, I miss that series.  And its magic spells based on rock bands. xD

Just thinking about the various forms of quests, but depending on the magical level you can borrow from DOOM or one of its clones that came out in the early 90's to create dungeons and enemies. Of course, the Fallout series is valid to use as inspiration as well. What are you thinking of in terms of kingdoms? Maybe a Celtic inspired kingdom, maybe the Persian Empire?
100 Years War England? Maybe a powerful being-say a dragon or a lich- controlling a kingdom that it can't leave similar to Ravenloft?

I'm still coming up with kingdom ideas to be honest. Not sure how DOOM could provide that much of an inspiration though. Maybe some of the old Fantasy FPS games ha ha. I actually do have one of my nations at the moment as rather Celtic inspired. I'm not sure if something as large and advanced as the Persian Empire would work for this game though. Not as a 'player faction' anyway. Maybe something based off of one of the smaller Islamic Kingdoms could be interesting! Since the nations for our game are all ather young I'm seeing them as closer to city-states than sprawling empires. It also means they'll have to rely more on mercenaries and adventurers (like your characters).

I'm curious as to what exactly you mean by 100 Years War England.

As for DOOM providing inspiration, I've been thinking of making a game/campaign based off if some DOOM-like games. The Heretic/Hexen trilogy (fantasy FPS games made by makers of DOOM and Call of Duty) provides ideas for creatures, weaponry, locales, and in the case of Hexen governmental and social structures, all while being vague enough to keep hard core fans from getting upset because you didn't get the lore right. It's also concise enough (read: barely there) that newcomers  won't feel like they'll never keep up with their fellow lore-savy players until they learn 200 pages of lore.

Yeah, the Heretic and Hexen games are certainly interesting! But they might be a little too over the top for this particular game that I'm running. I'll have to check them out for some enemy inspiration though.

100 Years War period Where the English laid claim to the French throne? William the Conqueror and Richard the Lionhearted? Battle of Agincourt and the Siege of Orleans? St. Joan of Arc?

In reply to Rothos1 (msg # 31):


By the time of the Hundred Years War, William the Conqueror had been dead for almost three hundred years, and Richard for more than a hundred.  Just sayin'...   :D

Thanks for the clarification ha ha. Although I wonder if 100 Years war is really a good fit for an adventurer school game now that I think about it.

Speaking of which, how much should I even be putting into nations for this particular game?
This message was last edited by the user at 06:27, Sat 19 Aug 2017.

How much effort to put into any aspect of your game depends on how much the players will interact with it. If the players won't be interacting with the viceroy's cousin's daughter's dog's brother's owner then you're wasting your time detailing that person. Start with the broad strokes and fill in the details as your characters express interest or begin interacting with said nations.

The more I read about this, the more it sounds like 7th Sea would fit really well.

Just a random thought before bedtime.

In reply to CaesarCV (msg # 33):

I'd say you don't necessarily need much detail at all beyond the country where the school is located. You can always let the players define their home nations. Or you could come up with a few and have the players pick their choice of origin.

As for the system, something class-based will probably be fine for me, as long as there's an online SRD for it.
This message was last edited by the user at 00:10, Sun 20 Aug 2017.

I'll come up with a few and let people choose for now! I think that sounds fun. Currently creating the setting and writing up other things to get us started. Hopefully it should be ready within the next few days. I'm happy to hear more suggestions for lore concepts and the like though! Any particular ideas you want to see? Or any information I can provide as I'm still getting ready?

With this many posts in the thread, it's clear that there is sufficient interest in this idea to warrant constructing a game.

Please leave all further discussion for that game, created by CaesarCV, and linked to in the post immediately following this one.

Thank you.

Thanks! I'll link the game here so people can send in early PMs. As a warning the Lore is still in construction, and not everything is set in stone yet.

link to another game