Deluge: Swords of the Serpentine (GUMSHOE DarkSun)

Deluge

Introduction
The planet of Arth is a desiccated one. It is a world where once great civilizations worked wonders. That was until the coming of the Dragon, and the rise of the sorcerer-kings. Their foul magic poisoned the very earth itself, leading to the ruination of the world. Now, Arth is a blasted desert wasteland where the scant few city-states fight among themselves for what few resources remain. For spice, for food, and for water.

You are members of an upstart merchant house based in Tyr, the only free city upon the face of Arth. Your business is that of potable water. The finding, the bottling, the selling of it. Travelling through the desert, you have come across an almost miraculous discovery: an oasis. It could be your fortune, or your downfall.

Inspired by the D&D Dark Sun campaign setting, the Dune novels and movies, as well as various other heroic fantasy works. Run using the Swords of the Serpentine system in the GUMSHOE engine.


The World
I love Dark Sun and Dune, and dark/heroic fantasy of all stripes. The world is an homage to that tradition.

Arth is a post apocalyptic wasteland ruled by sorcerer-kings, ancient noble houses, insanely wealthy merchant families, and cabals of sorcerers. 700 years ago an entity known as the Dragon almost caused the end of the world and was supposedly only defeated by the sorcerer-kings and sorceress-queens. These nigh immortal despots rule their cities with an iron grip, and few question them or their Templars. Monsters inhabit the uncivilized stretches between cities, in the blasted wasteland where few dare tread. Servitude, slavery, and the death of the weak are common everyday experiences on Arth. The gods, if they ever existed, are long since dead or have fled to new worlds. Magic corrupts the natural world. There is little hope.

That is, aside from the free city of Tyr. 15 years ago, Overlord Nergal the Cruelhearted was killed by an enslaved gladiator named Mul. After a period of anarchy and war, a ruling council came together comprised of the city's power blocs. It's not a perfect system, but its one of the few positive developments in the recent history of Arth.

Enter the characters' Merchant House and their discovery of a seemingly miraculous oasis, which is much more than it initially appears to be...


Characters
Any character concept is welcome! The four basic "classes" from SotS as they fit in the world of Arth are as follows:
-Sentinels. Investigators, inquisitors, watchmen, templars.
-Warriors: Rangers, militia, household guards, mercenaries.
-Sorcerers: Mystics, prophets, madmen, wizards.
-Thieves: Smugglers, bandits, brigands, 'honest' merchants.

But these are just archetypes. It's a classless point-based system. The characters may be nobles ruling the Merchant house, merely councilors, servants, guards, mercenaries, or heirs apparent. Up to you!


The Story
I have a five act story plotted out, and I have zero idea how long it will take to get through all the story beats. As long as there's mutual interest in the game, I like to try and keep to at least a post a day, or at least three posts a week. I think it's safe to count on at least a month per act, so optimistically half a year, but you know how these things go.

In terms of the style of game, I favor mystery, intrigue, and exploration over pure combat. But there will likely be some fighting for when Shit Gets Real, as rules lite as possible to keep it all moving forward. I love player contribution to the world and story, and collaboratively designing the Merchant House and its place in Tyr is a priority.

I have a madlibs prepared to get the creative juices flowing about the characters' House:

The Great Merchant House of _________, was founded in the city-state of Tyr _________ years ago.

This House is known for its interests in the water trade and its _________.

The House's largest, most powerful rival is _________ which they crossed by _________.

This Houses's closest ally on the Ruling Council of Tyr is _________, who is known for _________.

This House's armed guard or trained servants are known as the _________ and is some _________ men strong.

The House's ancestral compound and home in the city of Tyr is known as the _________.

This House is organized politically along _________ lines, with the current Merchant Prince or Princess of the house being _________.

The sigil of this House is a _________.

The House's dark, most closely kept secret is _________.

Players Wanted
If all that sounds up your alley, then I'm looking for 4-6 player characters. Feel free to post your character concept in this thread. There's a great character generator located online here if you're so inclined. I have a PDF of the core rules if anybody needs to take a look, but the skills are all fairly self explanatory. 10 investigative points to start off.

Example character I built using the character generator:
Name: Kryll of Klathia
Adjectives: Heroic, Stoic, Cunning, Kingly, Brutal
Drives: To rule with an iron fist; To restore the honor of one's bloodline; To defeat your enemies and make them allies
Allies and Enemies: Ally: Outlanders 1; Ally: Thieves' Guilds 1; Enemy: Sorcerous Cabals 1
Defenses - Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 1, Health 12
Defenses - Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Grit 1, Morale 6
Investigative Abilities: Command 1, Intimidation 2, Liar's Tell 1, Nobility 1, Ridiculous Luck 1, Skulduggery 1, Know Monstrosities 1, Spot Frailty 2, Tactics of Death 1, Wilderness Mastery 1
General Abilities: Athletics 4, Bind Wounds 3, Burglary 5, Preparedness 3, Stealth 4, Sway 4, Warfare 7
Gear: A kingly crown carved from mamolith bone; A serrated steel broadsword; A cloak that blends in with both desert and city; A necklace of skulls belonging to dead kings; The eye of a sorcerer, still bloody and twitching

Hi! This sounds really interesting, I would love to be part of it. I’m a big fan of Dune and dark fantasy. For my play style, I like roleplay and intrigue, exploring the world and maneuvering social situations. I particularly like building a story together with other players, see what my character can get up to in the world. I’m new to GP but not new to PBP; I have been playing PBP for over two years. I do have to read through the rules since I’ve not played this system before.

For my character, I’m thinking she comes from a merchant house that’s known for witchery, secrets and its manipulations at court. They use sorcery, divination and subterfuge to uncover secrets of others and use them for advantage in their bid for power. My character would be an oracle/priestess from such a house. Smooth-talking, charming, mysterious, and a thirst for uncovered knowledge.

That would be all for now. Will work on my character more if I’m chosen. All the best. :)

This story sounds fantastic. I'd love to play. I'm a newbie when it comes to GUMSHOE. Is that all right?

Making some of the random characters was fun. I love me some Dune and haven't played Dark Sun in years, but I remember it fondly. What is GUMSHOE like? I have it on my radar, but have never gotten it to the table.

This sounds incredibly interesting. I would also be new to this system as well but this system doesn’t seem very hard to learn, so I’d love to throw my hat in!

A character I have in mind is a young man born from slaves. Some way, somehow through a ruling made by the council, he was able to be freed while his parents were not. He trained to become a mercenary and promised to free his parents one day - that is if they are still alive, of course.

This character would be somewhat of a "loudmouth" and often talks "out of line" to those that have higher positions than him or disregards lineage completely. He sees humans as humans and treats others based on how they treat him. He’s strong, empathetic, but stubborn and sometimes a bit too careless which leads to consequences.

Hope this pitch helps with a potential invitation! Looking forward to this!

Welcome aboard!
It's a very easy system. You have pools of points in skills usually from 1 - 10ish depending on the game. There are two types of skills: General Skills and Investigative Skills. For general skills you decide how many points you want to spend and then roll a d6, add them together to beat a target number, usually 4.

For investigative skills you spend a point to learn more about the mystery/story/world or to get special effects with your general skills. It's all pretty straightforward.
Welcome aboard!