It was an age of myth. Titans walked the world. Beasts from before time shook the earth with their footsteps and men and women of ambition wielded the very power of the gods. Magic soaked the land, and those simple people who were not legends in their own right lived in an age of wonder. Fantasy cannot last forever, though . . .

In time, the mighty became so powerful that they could scarcely act. To make any move would be to over-extend yourself, to invite the reprisal of the myriad champions arrayed against you. It was this unending cold war which turned the wheel of ages. The ancient peoples wandered off. Gods withdrew. Ancient evils sealed themselves or were banished, and slowly, the world was made simpler. The magic faded, and though vestiges of the great power remained, they were but a pale imitation of what came before. It was a fallen age . . .

 . . . but the wheel of fate is ever turning.

* * * *

Lately, I've been heavily interested in an idea that's cropped up in my head. Watching the series "Overlord" has put me in a mind to play a story that revolves around a singular and mighty "dark lord/lady" returning to/appearing in a world that has not known their sort of power in an age. They wield magic unlike anything this fallen world can muster, and ambition is great. They must move carefully, however, for they have found themselves in a strange world. This is not the land they remember, and they have little knowledge of what is out there. They are, for now, the only player of their scale, but that might not remain true forever.

I could see the tone of a story like this going a couple of ways. It could be entirely serious, and I wouldn't be opposed to that. Playing the true dark lord is an opportunity that I think few people really get the chance to indulge in. Alternatively, I could see playing this with a slight edge towards tongue in cheek. I wouldn't want full satire, but some nudging of the fourth wall and a bit of poking fun amidst the action and drama wouldn't go amiss.

For system, I have a couple of ideas as well.

1) FATE: It's flexible, and could definitely handle something like this with ease. It might not be the best option, however, particularly for modeling someone who so thoroughly out-powers most of their opposition.

2) Exalted (3rd edition): As a game concerned with telling the stories of returning heroes, it rather neatly captures the power scale, particularly if the world starts with a very low population of people of the same caliber.

3) Dnd 3.5/PF: Usually not my favorite systems by a wide margin, but I could see them being appropriate, particularly with a more relaxed 4th wall where some humor might be directed at the mechanics.

4) Open to suggestions.

Anyway, it's late for me here, so I need to be getting on to bed, but if this sort of idea catches anyone's interest and there are any potential STs interested in running this for me, I would love to hear from you. I won't be checking the thread, so please rmail me if this is something you'd like to discuss.

Thanks,

-Norwood

Possibly interested, depending.

I actually purchased Adventurer Conqueror King from Autarch games (http://www.autarch.co/) and haven't had a chance to play with it yet. It harkens back to original D&D in terms of classes, rolls, etc., but has an endgame focused on building a kingdom as opposed to just killing bigger and bigger things.

Let me know if this system/style (kingdom building) is something you'd be interested in, either here or in rMail. Don't worry if you don't have the rules, we can work something out.

I'd like to bump this from the depths of ages past. I'm getting back to roleplaying, and I think a story like this would be really fun to delve into if I can find the right person to write it with.

Please rmail me if you have questions or ideas. I'm more likely to see that than a message here in this thread.

Sounds interesting.

I'm on an esoteric system kick lately, and looking at what you've described I'm almost tempted to point you at MAIDS.

Basically, evil overlord just recovering his power being served by much stronger 'minions' that do the dirty work. If you keep the randomized portion of CG, you'd get some crazy combos, although then your game would become more 'Dark Overlord Comedy'

In reply to MiserEnoch (msg # 5):

While I'm familiar with Maid and it could provide a good framework for a group game with a comedy bent, this isn't something I'm looking to run. It's a solo experience I'm after, and Maid really thrives on having different players behind all of the servants.

If this isn't a solo game, I'd love to play this as well. I'm familiar with 3.5 and Pathfinder aystems. I'm interested in learning Fate, but I don't have any books or pdf's of it to learn outside the game.