[Interest Check] The Iridescent Dawn

I would like to GM a game inspired by this image.

- 1-3 Players. However, if more than one player, characters won’t typically be in the same scene. Cross-over episodes would be a big deal.
- A system Powered by the Apocalypse (Likely custom moves sprinkled in where needed.)
- Improv and collaborative play-- we play to find out.
- Serious setting
- Rated PG/TV
- Posting Rate: 3-5/week

Inspirations: The Black Company Series, The Prince of Nothing Series, N.K. Jemisin, Cormac McCarthy, Denis Villeneuve

If you usually GM, and would like a chance to be a player, perhaps this would be a game for you-- as the line between GM and Player might blur a bit from time-to-time.

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What does this image say to you?
What PbtA system do you think would shine? Ironsworn, maybe? World of Dungeons? Turbo Breakers?

I've played and enjoyed a few PbtA games, so I'm potentially interested. Curious how the "won't typically be in the same scene" will work... are you saying there will be individual solo threads/scenes with occasional connections to the others?

Excellent! I'm glad you're interested.
This is a technique championed by Rich Rogers:

Love that art, this premise, and the consideration of WoDu or Breakers, Rabbits. I should not throw my hat in as I'm firing up a new game and need to push a couple of others forward, but I'll be thinking about it!

Also, Rich plays here, dunno if you knew that...

Ironsworn does seem like a good fit for a one on one game with blurred lines.

Less from the artwork and more from the Inspirations, Apocalypse World: Fallen Empires was the first game that jumped out to me as a system. (Join the Patreon to get access to the files.)

Keeping the players separated does not appeal to me, so I won't be joining.

I'm passing by to say that Rabbits is an excellent GM, and I'm greatly enjoying my game with them! :D

And this game seems very appealing too - separated characters in a comic book -ish format certainly sound like the stuff I love, and it is a very beautiful picture. But I must resist, for I am already in too many games. :C

Maybe you can put me on a backup list, if you ever need more players later. :D

Well, I’m in.

I’ve only played Uncharted World and Thirsty Sword Lesbians, so I don’t have a strong preference on specific PbtA system.

The artwork is wonderful. The first thing that pops into my mind is a rogue planet captured by another and impending disaster.

I would be thrilled to play World of Dungeons under this sky.

Everything about the game format sounds intriguing. My longest-running play by post so far is a player-GM duet. It's a format that really gives the player a chance to shine, and gives the GM a chance to focus on evolving a responsive plot.

I agree with this proposal. As the inspirational image suggested a sci-fi setting to me (don't know why), I'd propose to use Starforged instead, the sci-fi version of Ironsworn rules.
Count me as potentially interested, depending on what system you finally choose and my availability when this kicks off. :)

Thanks!

It looks like you already have more than enough interested players, but if you have an extra space or someone drops out, I’d love to join in. The format sounds really unique and interesting to me :)

I could see a science fiction slant to this too, gnomius. I’d be down for that.

Wonderful! Thanks, everyone for chiming in. Special thanks to Flying Succulent, that post made my day.

Tardigrade - Playing - No strong system preference
Tibbius - Playing-- World of Dungeons sounds exciting - open to rules Bashing!
Gnomius - Potentially interested - Starforged sounds exciting
Oopslyon - Interested, but doesn’t want to line jump - No strong system preference
Harrigan - Giving it thought, but probably no.

It feels like we might be ready to tighten up the Concept. Aim, Tone and Subject Matter of the game-- and then do another check-in on interest.

Even if you don’t think you’ll play, I’d be happy to hear any ideas and imaginings--we are a community of hyper-creative types. We should leverage that, right?

Using the feedback here and just riffing off the image myself…

Questions that pop into my mind.

- I wonder, what are those bird-like things flying in the miasma?
- What is that swirling vortex in the sky, is that in the atmosphere, or deeper in space?
- What is the significance of the bright celestial object, is that a moon? A Nearby star?
- What sort of towers are those? Why did they build them? What purpose do they serve?

- If this is a rogue planet, something is definitely weird here-- so we should rule out normal physics. Perhaps the planet is actually some sort of alien that the people treat as a god-- an aspect of a psychic maelstrom? A Roadside Picnic sort of phenomenon?
- The city looks renaissance, like 1500’s level tech, I wonder what the social structure is?
- What is it about the bay, it looks almost like a marsh, is that something with the tides? Maybe there are no oceans, just interconnected bogs and swamps?
- I get the sense this visitation from time/space has been the state of things for some time… but maybe not?

But I don’t want to Anchor the creativity too much, where often the first person to say something everyone anchors, and riffs off that. Let me hear your ideas, even if they contradict ideas from above. Riffing a new campaign, honestly, can be some of the most fun.

Also, now is a good time to say No to potential things. It’s often hard, but if we get in early it can help create the boundaries to our imagination.

Like right now, I’m leaning towards NO for Demons, Devils and Angelic beings. But I’m willing to wiggle on that. But, something that is metaphysically evil…doesn’t feel right for this setting.

I’ve cracked open the .pdf for Starforged and will take a look around. I'm familiar with Ironsworn, so I'm sure I'll dig Starforged.

I am extra comfortable bashing World of Dungeons-- I can whip up custom moves pretty quick. We can even change the Special Abilities to match the setting. Like what Sean and Judd did here.

Hi, I'm new to the Forum. I read a lot about PbtA games and I was hoping to give one a try.
I like the idea of improvising the theme of the adventure from scratch.

Here are some ideas, just off the top of my head.

- I wonder, what are those bird-like things flying in the miasma?

-Experimental Flying machines a local inventor did to investigate the phenomenon more closely.

- What is that swirling vortex in the sky, is that in the atmosphere, or deeper in space?

- It is in the atmosphere but produced provoked from an outer space influence.

- What is the significance of the bright celestial object, is that a moon? A Nearby star?

- It is an exact copy (in appearance at least) of the planet the characters are in. It appeared out of nowhere and started causing strange phenomena in the "original" planet.

- What sort of towers are those? Why did they build them? What purpose do they serve?

- It is The Mind Forge a city build for the wise (scientists, wizards and other enlightened people) to develop mankind's knowledge and solve the mysteries of the universe. Each tower is dedicated to a particular scientific and or magic school.

Personally, I lean more toward fantasy than sci-fi so I wouldn’t be terribly interested in starforged on its own if you end up going in that direction, but a kind of mish-mash of sci-fi and fantasy could be cool :)

When I first looked at the image, my first thought was that the stuff in the sky was some sort of once-in-a-lifetime cosmic event -perhaps one that heightens magic or makes certain otherwise impossible rituals possible. A time of weirdness and instability, but also of opportunity.
Also I really like your bog/swamp idea, but playing off what you said about the tides— maybe the stuff in the sky has affected the tides so that the ocean has almost completely receded from the shore, exposing the ocean bed below?

I also really like what Ogion said about the towers being related to scientific/magic schools. Their silhouettes feel very renaissance-ish to me, for whatever reason, so a cultural focus on learning/knowledge seems fitting

Welcome, Ogion! Cool ideas.

Maybe... Dune meets 1400's Venice -- a more bleak, functional Sci-fi, rather than space opera sci-fi. We pick out one or two sci-fi elements- but keep the rest fantasy. Stargate-like concepts jump to mind-- like in the original film, that society. (I don't know much about the TV series).

I like that idea a lot. It evokes a lot of setting possibilities.

Perhaps these scientific/magic schools have had to reckon over the years with the unpredictable effects of this object (rogue planet, moon pushed out of original orbit?) appearing in the skies. Laws of physics and magic don’t work quite the way they used to, and there are pieces of technology (scientific or magic) that are broken or work in unexpected ways.

The flying creatures could be once-earthbound creatures whose evolutionary path was altered by the key object and now have taken to the air because they’re capable of doing so now.

The thing in the sky has tidally locked the planet, they rotate around a common center with the sky-object always at zenith above this particular city. The tidal lock has caused a permanent high-tide around the city, but elsewhere on the planet the oceans have receded from the shorelines to reveal long-lost ancient structures, treasures, and knowledge.

The flying things are biocybernetic constructs, lizards with artificial batwings powered by ... ? They remain constantly aloft and circling, somehow transmitting their observations of the sky-thing back to one of the Carrel Towers.

The sky-thing is not as close as it appears, it is quite large, and it has distorted the atmosphere so that there is barely-breathable air all the way to it ... literally the scholars of the Carrel Towers can (if they dared) ride one of the bat-lizards all the way to it.

The sky-thing is populated, but so far its people have not found a way down to the main planet.

Oh, those ideas are super cool. Thanks.
I have several ways to potentially riff from there.. but I'm resisting the urge for now, as I'd like to give everyone a chance to chime in.

It's the end of the universe.
Something has formed - not a black hole, but something - and its gravitational pull is enough to draw everything inside, first only nearby stars, but it kept growing and expanding. Scientists have been observing it for years by the time its pull reached our solar system. Then it had been a matter of months, but now we're almost inside of it. Earth, along with all live we've ever known in the universe, is about to be swallowed and end forever.

We only have hours left. How are we going to spend them?