Iron Kingdoms

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SpaceMonkey
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Iron Kingdoms

Post by SpaceMonkey »

So the tracking on my book says it'll be at my door today or tomorrow. That means we'll have 2 for character generation on Thursday, so that's good.

The Iron Kingdoms collectively are an area rich in political influences, steam/magic technology, and a fair bit of war and strife. The current timeline for the 2.0 rpg is during a 'lull' in hostilities, but nations are still more or less at each other's throats off the battlefields. Please keep this in mind as you start to think about your characters - it will be unlikely for patriotic individuals from 2 warring nations to be adventuring together without good reason, for example.

Some tidbits to help get ideas flowing--

Races:
Human (Primarily from the nations of Cygnar, Khador, Llael (much smaller after the recent wars), Ord, Menoth)
Iosian (Elf) - would need a reason to be away from Ios (outcast/exiled, member of the Retribution of Scryah (spy?), etc)
Rhulian (Dwarf) - pretty common, little in the way of restricions. Mercenaries, Mechaniks, etc are often to be seen in the Iron Kingdoms
Gobber - Frequent many places (fewer in Llael & Menoth where old prejudice stands). Integrated among human settlements; many are nomadic or wanderers.
Ogrun - uncommon in human settlements, more common in Rhulic enclaves. Loyal almost to a fault, sometimes misunderstood. Some are bodyguards to wealthy human nobles or exceptional metalworkers.
Trollkin - more common in human settlements than Ogrun, with some prejudice (more in Menoth and along the coastal areas, due to contact with trollkin pirates/reavers from the Scharde islands)

Humans from the Protectorate of Menoth will be an issue unless everyone is from there (and they don't like non-humans as a rule, so that choice is very limiting). Humans from different nations varies from mostly fine to very problematic depending on the combination. Most non-humans can get along with most other non-humans, depending on the individual.

Archetypes--

Each character will choose an Archetype, which is sort of a 'role' within the game (then you will customize with 2 careers, see below). The archetypes are:

Gifted - The user of magic. You will have access to spells and feats that apply to magic.
Intellectual - Thinker and planner. You will have access to feats and abilities for coordinating your allies & assisting their endeavors.
Mighty - The big bruiser. You will have additional damage and access to feats & abilities relating to combat.
Skilled - Deft and quick. You will have more attacks and access to feats & abilities relating to a mix of TWF, dodging & swashbuckling, and awareness of surroundings.


Careers --

Each character will combine 2 careers for a unique mix of abilities and skills.

Examples include: Alchemist, Arcane Mechanik, Arcanist, Aristocrat, Bounty Hunter, Cutthroat, Duelist, Explorer, Fell Caller (trollkin specific), Field Mechanik, Gun Mage, Highwayman, Investigator, Knight, Mage Hunter, Man at arms, Military Officer, Pirate, Priest, Rifleman, Soldier, Sorcerer, Spy, Thief, Trencher, Warcaster

A portion of the careers have prerequisites, but most don't and you can mix and match freely to develop the type of character you want. A man-at-arms pirate would be different than a duelist pirate for example. Careers can represent time periods in your life (used to be a pirate, now I Spy for the court) as well as different fields of study that make up one person (a bounty hunter that defines himself as such, but specializes in bringing in folks from the far reaches as an Explorer for example).

Careers will provide some abilities, access to specialized and/or military skills (all characters have access to general skills) and some Connections (membership in an organization, some contacts, etc). They also provide equipment and some abilities and spending money.

---

I only have internet information to go on so far, not the actual book yet, so take the above with a grain of salt as far as the specifics, but the gist is solid. Hopefully it will assist everyone in thinking about a character concept.
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Re: Iron Kingdoms

Post by cczernia »

Awesome,

Before we jump into it I would like to brainstorm a concept that bonds the characters and bring them together. We can then build our characters around this concept.

Two ideas I have:

1. We were all childhood friends and something from our past brings us back together.
2. Basic training in the military
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Re: Iron Kingdoms

Post by cczernia »

I picked up the book.
constraints breed creativity
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Re: Iron Kingdoms

Post by mordraine »

I like the idea of having a shared past that allows our characters to know each other. I'd like it to be a little broader, however, so that there is the possibility of choosing from any of the races/careers/etc in the book. For instance, if I choose to be a Gobber Thief, it'll be hard to explain how we went to school together, or even how we were in the military together.

BTW, Sam - there is an additional race that you missed. Nys - a relative to the Iosian elves, but more tough and rugged. I was thinking of playing a Nys.

I love the book, BTW.
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Re: Iron Kingdoms

Post by SpaceMonkey »

I didn't miss them exactly, they are just rare and stick to their (adopted) homeland. Or at least that was how it was in d20 IK. Looks like things have changed for they Nyss in the last 3 years of game time. The Dragon Everblight has blighted and/or killed pretty much all of them. They used to number in the thousands, now are quite rarer and have had to flee their icy homes. Many more were (are being) killed as they travel south into the Iron Kingdoms area (primarily Khador I would expect since that's y'know.. right there).

Playing a Nyss may presume some things about the campaign, and you may want to speak with the other players regarding that. And learn to spell it with 2 s's ;) The Nyss are elves... AND barbarians... AND assholes*

*that said, i think they are quite fun and my sister played one in a prior Freeport game some years back. I don't see a Nyss working particularly well in Khador, Rhul, Llael (current anyway), or Menoth (most definitely a bad idea). Cygnar or Ord might work ok, though you would still be seen as 'odd and suspicious' at best. At worst, well.. just hope they still give you a claymore-sized katana ;)
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Re: Iron Kingdoms

Post by cczernia »

A few thoughts,

1. If we do the military thing we can pick at least one role that is military. The other could be what we were before. Also, in this scenario the Lys could be the odd man out but need a reason to cooperate with the party. You could be an outcast with a quest to find one of the PCs for some reason.

2. If we do the knew each other in the past you could be a refugee or orphan so you are playing the race without the "asshole" baggage. I good story would be where you came from or who your parents were and why an orphan/refugee.
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Re: Iron Kingdoms

Post by SpaceMonkey »

mordraine wrote:So Chris expressed a desire to have some sort of shared background that will connect our characters together. He suggested something like we all went to school together or we were all in the military together. I like the idea of having a shared background, but I'm not as crazy about the two ideas Chris had (not because they're bad really, but because it sorta limits the character choices we can make). So I thought about it and came up with this idea:

Some sort of EVENT happened 5 years ago that inextricably links us together. And something has recently happened that has drawn us together again 5 years later.

As a group we'll come up with the details related to the event from 5 years ago, and the thing that happened recently to bring us together.

The event - Maybe we all conspired to murder someone? Maybe we all robbed a bank or rich person or something? Maybe we were all in a huge steam train accident? Maybe we were caught up in a pivotal battle? Maybe we didn't save someone when it was within our power to save them, because their death benefited us all somehow?

What's bringing us together now - maybe someone's blackmailing us? Maybe one of our original group was killed mysteriously? Maybe we always meet every year on the anniversary of the event?

Anyway, I think it would be fun to work out those details as a group, and it would also give us the flexibility to create a wide variety of character concepts while still being linked together. We can use the method that we used to build our Midnight M20 game, or our post-apoc game.

I'm not sure if this interferes with anything you were planning Sam.
devlin1 wrote:I think that Five Fingers place looks cool, and I'm in favor of the general idea of a shared background, but I don' t know nearly enough about IK to have much of an opinion on what that shared background should be.

mordraine wrote:Maybe we didn't save someone when it was within our power to save
them, because their death benefited us all somehow?
Or we did save that person, and now we're being rewarded for our efforts, but something goes horribly wrong. Like we get a message from the guy saying "Now I'm rich and famous, so come to my place and let me pay you a bunch of money," then when we get there he's DEAD.

Or it turns out we're all Cylons.

Like I said, not familiar with the setting.
cczernia wrote:Sweet, and I like the idea about Cylons.

Or the idea that we saved a dude, now that dude is dick and we feel responsible.
devlin1 wrote:Yeah! We saved a guy who, five years later, has turned out to be an asshole. Like, the main antagonist. Sort of a reverse-Clancy.
cthulhu wrote:That sounds good. I like the idea of saving a guy who turned out bad. It also kerps our character option very open.
Also, this will take place on a steam train that crashes during a pivotal battle, that we're robbing (robbing the train, not the battle)
I'm liking the spit-balling so far gents. I'll add a couple of thoughts:

Five-ish years ago would have been a time of heavy war (as opposed to the current cease-fire atmosphere). This was also when The Elder (Vinter Raelthorne IV) returned from exile at the head of a Skorne army and assaulted (and ultimately took) the city of Corvis. If slightly later than that, it would have been during Khador's push into Llael (which ultimately succeeded - Llael is more or less completely occupied by Khador in 608AR - which is when we will be starting the campaign).

Either of these major conflicts would make a very nice backdrop for a [rare] train heist. Trains are still a burgeoning industry in the Iron Kingdoms, and thus are primarily for Military and Supply runs (and most of the supply runs are military during times of war). It has only been in the last year or so that some lines have opened up for (very pricey and limited) civilian passenger use - and that's just a few people cramming into whatever space is leftover on a regular run, basically. No separate passenger cars or amenities - it's a rough trip, but worth it to those that need to get somewhere (relatively) safely and quickly - if they can afford it.

Years ago, the situation would have been even more restricted - with trains being large and well armed and reserved for the military with no passengers. This requires a good plan if one wants to rob one of these behemoths (as you would have to get onto the train mid-run against gun turrets & heavily armed guards), as well as equipment and funding. Also, knowledge of the train's schedule (generally closely guarded secrets during wartime) and other insider information. Those participating in the robbery would likely have been working for either an opposing military or a large, well-funded and organized crime ring. This provides some interesting hooks for use in the game (who were you working for? [possibly link to a Five Fingers smuggling cartel] Are you still working for them, or under what circumstances did you part ways? etc). Those playing an 'oddball' character [Andy/Nyss, etc] could easily have been on the train rather than robbing it, because...

I see the person you 'helped' being one of a small group of prisoners of war being transported on the train. If you are robbing the train and are either opposing military or criminals then i don't see it as a stretch for you to be persuaded to release a prisoner or two, especially if it seems they can aid in your endeavor. One can cause you trouble later (as suggested above) and one or two might be PCs that don't fit into the train robbery job from the other end.

Some stuff to consider:
* in the 'five years past' timeline, there are probably 3 main areas a train heist might take place: the barren snowy wilds of Khador; the craggy and dangerous mountains of Rhul; or the Flats or hills of Cygnar. Some of these imply certain things about who you would be working for to rob that particular train - with Rhul being mostly limited to criminals but Cygnar and Khador open to opposing military or a criminal organization. Possibly there are other options i haven't thought of.
*the Iron Kingdoms lends itself very well to an Urban campaign, and i was leaning towards that anyway, though not necessarily in Five Fingers primarily - but i'm open to that option if that's where people want to be. There will likely be some sailing and wilderness action mixed in on the side since travel is easier in this setting than many other 'fantasy' type worlds.

Anyway, that's my 5c so far. We'll obviously discuss more tonight as you build characters.

-sam

* and I'm going to go out on a limb and say we aren't going to be using much in the way of Cylons in this particular game ;)
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Re: Iron Kingdoms

Post by Skyman »

Hi guys :)
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