Re: Looking for a Walk in Darkness (For want of an Evil Game)
In reply to Norwood (msg # 1):
I've been bouncing around some ideas for a while now for a game inspired by Dungeon Keeper (and perhaps a dash of "The Dark Lord's Handbook"), using the FATE system. Player characters would have a relatively narrow set of skill columns, one skill at each rank up to +4. However, they would also have a column of underlings (both individual "agents" and collective groups of "minions") which have broader Profession ratings, though they receive significant penalties when trying to accomplish any task outside their job description. They can also receive stunts.
Finally, each character comes with a handful of "chambers," which have Features similar to skills, though they require a character to make active use of them. An armory might provide a one-time bonus equal to its feature rating to any character who's had the chance to make use of it before entering into battle. An Arcane Library's Feature rating could provide a wealth of forbidden lore, with all the risk and opportunity that implies. You get the idea.
A major focus of the game would be both managing the needs of and improving the "Dungeon," or fortress, which might take any form that made sense for the characters inhabiting it. Most underlings have some kinds of basic needs, zombies notwithstanding, as well as motivations and reasons for serving, any of which could come into question or start a conflict if things aren't going well. Underlings may need treatment or replacement after a fight goes poorly. An armory may need to be restocked (or you may just want to improve it), which could mean raiding someone else's, or acquiring resources for your own armorer. An Arcane Library is a wonderful tool so long as you haven't read every book you have on a given subject, or the one volume you've been using wasn't filched by an adventurer who made it in and out alive.
On the flipside, there's probably a reason you're amassing an army and building a fortress, and you probably think on a larger scale than the average adventurer. Vile schemes, intrigue, manipulation, punctuated by the occasional skirmish, would be the rule of the day. Most milestones ("Conquests") would come from spreading fear, sowing chaos, or generally making your mark on the world, and prevailing against, thwarting, interfering with, or especially subverting Heroic quests to your own ends.
The game as a whole would probably be heavier on logistics and management than the average FATE game, though the system helps to smooth that out enough that I think the players should only ever face interesting decisions if I'm doing things right, asking questions about things like specific structure layout and exact minion positions only when they become relevant and/or interesting. The setting would probably be a generic D&D world, though if something more exotic were preferred (an Eberron metropolis, a flying fortress in the Spelljammer setting, etc.), I certainly wouldn't object.
Does that sound like a game that could fit what you're looking for?