Players wanted: Low-Fantasy Sword and Sorcery (5e)

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DMJInactive for 3 months

Feb 23, 2018 3:27 pm
About a year ago, six of us started a dark and gritty, low-fantasy, low-magic, Sword and Sorcery style game. The original pitch on it back in the day is here: http://gamersplane.com/forums/thread/4686/

A year and well over 4000 posts later, the game is still active and fully underway. It is framed in a specialized home brew setting that features humans as the default PC race and martial classes as the primary (though not only) class types. It's reminiscent of Howard's Conan/ Hyborian Age setting, mixed with a dash of Lovecraft Cthulhu type monsters, mixed with a dash of other retro pulp sword and sandals. A Bronze Age on the edge of a coming Steel Age setting, that aims for a Mediterranean-type crossroads of cultures feel.

Aside from the narrative and mechanics side of the game, we try to keep a relaxed OOC thread going to allow for sidebar conversation, entertainment, table talk, etc.

It's a tough, challenging game. Sometimes deadly. An eye for realism. But I think it has been a blast. The characters have progressed three levels by a tough but exciting road, with some wildly memorable scenes along the way.

Now we are looking for an expansion -- would like to see if 1 or 2 new players who like this sort of spin might want to join. Would hope to incorporate new characters sometime next month (March 2018).

It is a private game so the Forums aren't accessible, but I have the game page back on visibility with a slot open. It's called Dark Thrones: Remnants of the Ancients.
Please check it out: https://gamersplane.com/games/610/

Any comments are welcome below, especially messages of interest.

Also if you are really serious about the idea, PM me to let me know your thoughts. I can answer any questions and provide more info about the game as needed.

Thanks for considering,

J
Last edited February 23, 2018 5:08 pm
Feb 23, 2018 6:02 pm
I need some nitty-gritty in my life, I sent an invite. Upon acceptation, do you want to keep this in effect "Blind" Character Generation method, so players will not discuss character creation between one another before the characters are finalized. Everyone gets to play their "first choice" character instead of adjusting to meet other predictions of party needs"?
Feb 23, 2018 6:56 pm
This game kicks so much ass! J has created an incredibly rich and dangerous world that feels so real it hurts. No heroic deeds to be sung here. It is down and dirty. It's Conan and the Sex Pistols with a generous helping of the Twilight Zone.

DMJInactive for 3 months

Feb 23, 2018 7:09 pm
HypCo says:
... do you want to keep this in effect "Blind" Character Generation method, so players will not discuss character creation between one another before the characters are finalized. Everyone gets to play their "first choice" character instead of adjusting to meet other predictions of party needs"?
Thanks for writing in, Hyp.
Yea you know I left that "Blind" creation method on the game page, just for tradition. I'm a bit more flexible about it now, open to discussion on that. Though I still think it's really cool when players throw caution to the wind and just show up on the scene with a surprise character, completely disregarding (supposed) group needs. I happened to write something about it recently on the CharGen Forums themselves. Probably just easiest to cut and drop it here:
DMJ says:
Originally, we kicked off this game using a "Blind Character Creation" method. Everyone chose a character based solely on their own personal preference. No one talked about each others plans ahead of time. There was no meta-gaming coordination between everyone to put together some idea of a perfectly complimentary party.

In the end, it really turned out well. Everyone got to play what they wanted as their first choice. I think it added a sense of realism that really kicked things off right. The funny thing about it is that everyone chose very similarly on class/archetypes, but in the end there was nothing at all similar about each of those characters. It was a good illustration that showed us that it is more of the play style and personality that each person brought to the table, more than a wide variety of class skills and expertise, that delivered the real diversity to this game.

Now that we are creating characters gradually along the active storyline the "Blind Character Creation" method isn't really that important, and would also be difficult to apply when things are already underway. Make your own decision of what to discuss with the crowd (or not) in advance, but remember that you are invited to play what you want to play, your first choice of what you think would be a cool character. Don't feel obligated to "fill a gap" to best plug in to the party. Don't feel compelled to do something completely out of the ordinary just for the sake of it.

I feel sure that if you get a good vision of what you want to do, just plunge in and go with the gut feeling. Your character will fit in fine with this crowd and this setting, whether you share class similarities with everyone else or not.
Last edited February 23, 2018 7:13 pm
Feb 23, 2018 9:50 pm
Jabes.plays.RPG says:
This game kicks so much ass! J has created an incredibly rich and dangerous world that feels so real it hurts. No heroic deeds to be sung here. It is down and dirty. It's Conan and the Sex Pistols with a generous helping of the Twilight Zone.
Well put, Jabes.

I've been playing DT with Jabes and DMJ, along with the rest of the crew (Constablebrew, Oxbox and Xorthan) for almost a year now. Great realistic dark feel to the game. A very open world feel, where DMJ presents you with an environment to explore. No rails here fellas.

The PC's really advance the plot in Dark Thrones, making the choices that drive direction. The freedom DMJ gives us, in conjunction with an amazingly deep and believable setting, not to mention DMJ's great narrative style, makes for a truly superb gaming experience.

For those interested, keep in mind that the setting is 'R' rated, but in a tasteful way. It's not a game for depraved murder hobos; rather it's a game with a lot of grey areas when it comes to morality, and the PC's are not, by default, heroes. They are, in the simplest and also the most complicated of ways, men making their way in an unforgiving, wide open world.

And on the edges of that world, the very periphery... there are some mysterious, dark unknowns. And for the PC's, that periphery is a curtain slowly being drawn back, revealing to the PC's that there is far more to the Dark Thrones world than they could have ever imagined.

Given all of the above, I can only add one more thing:

Dark Thrones is hands down my favorite fantasy RPG setting of all time, and I've had a tremendous amount of fun enjoying it with some great guys. We've had some great in game moments and OOC laughs. Great fun all around.

Also, worth mentioning: DMJ is like a DM machine. You will not find yourself ever wondering "What happened to the DM?" The man is omnipresent on the Dark Thrones boards.

If all of the above sounds like your kind of game and group, we really look forward to having you. DMJ has some great plans in the works, and I have no doubts that those plans will only make the game that much better.

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