The Campaign Builder's Guild

A Short History of Our World
in the Age of Empire

Quote from: FlavorIt has been 4562 glorious years since the birth of our Imperium; the living saint, Emperor Constantine the Great still reigns at the center of the universe with his host of angels. It is he that protects us from the malign forces of darkness, with the Word of God on one hand, and the Scepter of Righteousness in the other; for our world is a weak world. It is at a constant danger from the forces of darkness, the legions of Lucifer, and threatened by heretics from within. It is our duty to both God and Empire, to be vigilant against the agents of sin.

For ours is a world found at the center of all; where everything began. God's Heavens and Lucifer's Hell are found above and below us. Only darkness await us beyond the borders of the Sun's orbit around out gravity.

'What happens if a person with Imperialist ambitions were to get his hands not only on a repository of angelic-clockwork technology, but also the understanding required to actually make use of such knowledge?'[/i]

Such is the divergence from true world history for this campaign setting. The original idea was taken from someone else, but the overall gist of this alternate Earth's history is thus; 'St. Athanasius was able to completely comprehend the Book of Enoch, and placed it in the hands of the young Emperor Constantine, who he tutored in turn with learning culled from the book.'

The inevitable thus occurs; 'The Holy Roman Empire is born and, with its strength bolstered by angelic technology, it expands its borders in every direction as its manifest destiny. The whole world is thus beneath the reign of just one empire with its people dominated with just one omnipresent hegemony. All else is suppressed, be it non-christian religion, non-roman culture, or nonconformist attitudes.'

Our games and stories then begin at the Year 4562, Age of Empire. The Omnipresent Church of the One God has seen it fit to begin anew the counting of the years since the birth of Christ, with the rationale that since the faithful are now beneath the protection of a godlike Emperor, a new age that completed the mission of Christ to spread the word of God seemed at hand. Constantine is thus seen as the second coming of Messiah, the second son of God, and the Living Saint of all; who rules at his throne in his palatial home, Heaven on Earth.

In the Age of Empire, there is one basic source of conflict which could fuel any plot and yet still keep it close to the main story arc. That is the conflict between the Forces of Good against the Forces of Evil.

The Forces of Good are those blessed by the Omnipresent Church and the Emperor to fight in God's name against all the malign Forces of Darkness; this is just a relative state of affairs however. The Omnipresent Church has chosen to pain the world black and white, those who move against them are labeled evil, while those who defend them are labeled good; so a mere mortal who disagrees with the doctrines of Church is labeled a heretic; a person who studies anything without the consent of the Church is labeled a witch; while a being who displays miraculous abilities without the approval of the church is thus an agent of the Devil; and etc.

Players here could take the role of either Subversives or Imperials. The Subversives are those who undermine the Empire, while the Imperials are those who defend its integrity. Good luck, and happy gaming!
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Welcome to the clockwork themed setting club.

*bouncer opens door and allows you in*

We have the best food... also clockwork.

What type of adventures do you forsee?  
WHat type of system (and thus PCs?)

I intend to use a modified version of this moderated free form play-by-post gaming system. That way, I'd be able to keep the material dominantly fluffy at first, and thus allow people who want to use the setting with other systems the flexibility to do so. I'm a play by post gamer at heart, and a writer, so I don't have that much experience with table top.

As for the adventures, it would be mainly a lot about intrigue, rebellion, guerilla warfare, secret societies, esoterica, and emphasis placed on players fighitng each other rather than against one external enemy.

I love clock work. I'm reading Clockwork Jungle right now, I am liking what I'm reading.

The Flavor text reads as a more Christian version of Warhammer 40k.  Probably due largely to the word "Imperium" and the presence of an apparently immortal God-Emperor.

That was the general feel I was going for. The only difference between me and Warhammer is that the sides are ambiguous here. There is no clear demarcation, what may seem good might actually be bad, while what is branded as bad might actually be good. I'm not saying there's a gray area, because absolute truth does exist. I'm only saying that the truth might not be in what you see or what you are told.

A work in progress, Institutions of the Holy Roman Empire

I think this setting would work better as the background for a game along the lines of En Garde, rather than a role-playing game. The reason I say this is that it seems like the setting is deliberately designed to limit the options for 'adventurers' ie highly-skilled but socially marginalised vagabonds.

For example there's a totalitarian government with literally godlike powers, so there's no possibility of 'becoming a Lord' as in D&D (and very little reason for dissent to exist, given that the alternative is literally Hell). The nearest equivalent would presumably be climbing in the church hierarchy or civil service. But that's not 'adventuring', it's politicking. And 'player characters' would be likely to be rivals rather than help each other. There'd certainly be factions, but they'd be temporary.

Likewise there's no point questing for magic items of great power, because the ultimate item has been found; God gave it to the government.

Thus it seems like players are meant to competitively climb within the social hierarchy, not cooperatively gather resources outside of it.

En Garde, in case you haven't heard of it, is a game set in the Paris of the Three Musketeers, where players compete in winning mistresses, fighting duels etc. I'd particularly recommend Vatican En Garde, which changes the setting to the Vatican and the players to scheming priests, because that seems more like what you're after.

En Garde: http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/7771/en-garde

Vatican En Garde: http://www.vaticanengarde.com

S. John Ross article on the elements of successful RPG settings (specifically the section 'anarchy'): http://www.io.com/~sjohn/five-elements.htm

There are alternatives actually. The main source of conflict, seemingly, would be rivalries within the political structure; there is the alternative conflict, however, of the political structure being undermined from within and outwith--these we shall name subversives and invaders. No matter how powerful the Roman Empire purports itself to be, it is still limited. It has yet to conquer Asia. It has yet to conquer all of Russia. It has yet to conquer all of the polar continents. It has yet to discover Australia. It has yet to fully colonize North America and South America. All these it has failed to do because progress is not as rapid as it should be. Granting the Roman Emperor and the Early Church power beyond it's wildest expectations only served to entrench them in their own prejudices. Modernity in thought is grievously hampered by both an Immortal Emperor that has lived so long it fears any form of rapid change, and the Church which is shackled by its comfortable position and its own traditions. without modernity, there could be know true progress.

The world diverged from the industrial and colonial ages; much of the empire's efforts focused solely on consolidating its power and expanding. It's own subjects could not keep in pace with rapid expansion. All this and more, on account of the rest of the world fiercely resisting the efforts of the Roman Imperialists.

Besides, it is not only in Europe that history diverged from our own due to some things and people that were never supposed to exist. I'll keep these things behind a veil first though. The focus of this game is life with and within the Empire. There still needs be an aura of mystique and uncertainty in the lands that exist beyond the borders of Empire.

The other alternative for gaming would be, Manifest Destiny. Right now I am in the middle of organizing a plotline centered on the lives of colonists that are about to establish a new colony in the newly discovered lands of North America. What they are about to face, even I don't know. I'm still worldbuilding.

The distinction I am after here is that I am not really a fan of dungeon crawling. I think adventuring shouldn't just be limited to questing or hiring yourselves out as a band of sword-for-hire. One thing I am really a fan of, is a design philosophy espoused by Haven and Hearth and Dwarf Fortress. Here, the objective of their fantasy world was just as much about exploration and building civilizations from the ground up, as it was about swords and sorcery.

That is one gaming concept I am after, a world where the players direct its destiny.

Thank you so much for your mention of En Garde. I find it very useful. I'll be sure to even steal some concepts from it.

Also, I've yet o fully read the other article. I'll get back on it after lunch. Thank you for those thoughts. They are most helpful.

It sounds like your intention for the world might be different to what comes across.

The setting material gives the impression that the Empire is a world government, and has unbeatable magic power, but you seem to be saying it's a world power, but not necessarily able to conquer other powers.

Exactly. The things that come across right now are intentional, they are propaganda. Since the preliminary games will be done with players from within the Empire, their mindset must be according to the propaganda, they must believe that the Empire is all powerful. Eventually, reality shall set in, and that's when the real games start to play.

OK, but you need to get that across to potential GMs. Otherwise you aren't testing the system as written, you're testing the system as in your head, and that can't publish it until it's written.

Holy shit, you're right. Hmmm. How could I possibly do that without disturbing the mystique or the atmosphere i'm trying to build? Could I possibly do it through GM notes or something? Or maybe produce a little booklet meant for GMs alone to read?

I'm not sure. One way that RPGs have tried to give a subjective view is through short fiction (White Wolf seems to be particularly fond of this).

But yeah, my first thought would be to have 'players notes' - roughly what you've done here - and 'GMs notes'.

I am, as of this moment, addicted to Haven and Hearth. This project is on on hold until my addiction is satiated.