The basic pitch is as follows: The world is exactly like our own, except most conspiracy theories are real. More than that though, the world isn't just Illuminati and Templars and Lizard people. Its secrets go far deeper: there's a wizarding world, a bit like the one in Harry Potter. Vampires roam in great and ancient houses, while werewolves stalk in clans. Aliens from other worlds have visited, some have even infiltrated, and their super-tech can be found behind closed doors in well-fortified military bases. Companies buy-out or silence inventors that threaten their business, and corporate vaults contain world-altering inventions! Meanwhile a war between heaven and hell rages in the shadows, with angels and demons vying for the souls of mortals everywhere! Governments employ off-the-books police and paramilitary organizations to battle, or to fight for, any one of these supernatural and super-tech threats!

In this grand world of hidden wonders, what are your secrets?

***

I'm looking to maybe run a semi-freeform game, possibly using the FATE system, that includes many of the elements I mentioned in the title of this thread (and more!). I want to keep the exact nature of the world a bit fluid, allowing for elements from all sorts of different concepts, so that players feel more free to create the characters and stories that they most want to explore. That isn't to say that this world is exactly like its inspirations. Harry Potter doesn't actually roam the land, and there isn't a school called Hogwarts, or a stargate under Cheyenne Mountain... but something like those things could potentially exist, if that's what players wanted. The more divergent the players are, in many ways, the better: it would add to the world, and make their eventual meetings (and possible team-ups) even more interesting!

The only thing all of these fantastic elements have in common, is that they're kept secret. It is a world the looks like ours, but beneath it, is a wonderful, dangerous, and mind-blowing cacophony of lies, magic, death, and wonder!

The players would begin as... whatever they wish to be, as long as it makes sense for the setting. They would begin mostly alone, or in small groups or pairs, and eventually they would be brought together by a larger narrative. A threat that potentially effects them all, for good or ill!

The structure would be semi-free-form, with guided elements that relate closely to character backstories. Ideally, the world will act on players, as much as they act on it!

****

I'm open to suggestions, ideas, and tips regarding the game system and setting, and would especially like to get a read on the kinds of stories that people might want to tell!

Are people more interested in Vampires or Aliens? What if the something like 'The Force' actually existed, and there was an organization of supernatural monks that looked and acted a lot like Jedi from Star Wars? Would some players like to be dragons, centuries-old and recently roused from their slumbers? How interested would people be in how any of these elements might interact with each other? What would happen if the Wolfman met the Men in Black? Or if a Selene-like character from the Underworld series was suddenly faced with a servant of the Old Ones?

Not all of these things have to be 'real' in the context of the game, but they potentially could be... or, would people be more keen if I sat down and hammered-out the world more thoroughly before they wrote-up their characters, so they have a better frame of reference?

Oh...my...gerdness. I am SO in.

I like the force idea, and right now I'm a little overwhelmed with the possibilities to say more but I'll be back!

This message was deleted by a moderator, as it was against the forum rules, at 06:38, Sun 16 Oct 2016.

Great to hear from both of you!

Regardless of what anyone chooses to play, the over-arching themes of the game will revolve around a grand mystery (or mysteries). Think Hellboy: the movie is about a supernatural trash-talking devil man, but the plot is still ultimately an ensemble detective story. A story about a dragon might start with them seeking out a hidden treasure to add to their collections, only to find themselves in trouble with forces they didn't anticipate, while a force-user or an supernatural agent might start by trying to solve a murder.

I'm currently in the process of mapping an outline for a story that accounts for multiple different broad-stroke starting points, that will eventually converge in one way or another. If and when team-ups happen, they should end up feeling natural and unforced.

An approach we might consider, is for players to pick from a selection of opening scenes or narratives after they've made their characters. Those starting scenes can then be tailored to fit the themes of the characters, so they feel natural, but they should also give me and the players a sense of structure and goals that an unfettered open-world freeform might lack.

I think it would be neat to play a normal person who somehow gets caught up in all of it and learns about this "secret world".
This message was last edited by a moderator, as it was against the forum rules, at 06:41, Sun 16 Oct 2016.

Would it help focus your outline if we were to specify what we were interested in, or are you looking to keep things wide open to accommodate future stories or players?

Rocenous: I agree! Playing a normal person would be a very welcome concept!

bmsattler: For now, I'm keeping things open. The game doesn't even have a forum yet, and I'm just putting-out feelers for what sorts of stories people might want to tell in this setting, and to get a better idea of the interest level on the site.

Wow, what a wonderful concept. I'd love to join in. My head is a swirl with the possibilities, I'd want to bring in something super cool.
This message was last edited by a moderator, as it was against the forum rules, at 06:37, Sun 16 Oct 2016.

I will confess it sounds interesting, but for people who don't know system games at all, the mention of a system for this even if it's semi freeform is throwing me off the aspect. I don't know or understand table top games, or even systems, I'm not a DnD player. So if you did make this and someone like me did join, how would you see them being able to fit in without knowing the system game aspect?

Well, the FATE system is extremely simple compared to DnD, and I've been considering ways to make it even more PbP friendly than it already is. Unlike DnD or Pathfinder, you're not pushing figures around or referencing a great number of rules. I'm also willing to entertain other ideas for systems.

I've been running a Pathfinder game (DnD, for all intents and purposes) for the last several years, and one of the reasons I'm moving away from that rule-set for this game, is that I'm finding it too restrictive and unnecessarily complex. I want players feel free to create whatever concept suits them, while also giving them and myself comfortable guide-posts for what a character is actually capable of. Narrative is king, and player choice is paramount, but I also find that there's a certain simplicity and thrill to not always being in control of my character's fate, and not having to negotiate outcomes with other players or the DM every time there's a conflict.

I'd certainly do what I could to help people learn whatever system we end up using, but I know that some people are just fundamentally uncomfortable with leaving certain outcomes to chance. The FATE system is nice, in that it allows you to basically 'buy' ultimate success by accepting failures early. In other words: as a player, you can choose to fail or accept negative consequences early in the story, so that when it comes time to truly fight the battles that matter to you, you can guarantee that things will go your way. It's meant to be sort of a simulation of a sympathetic narrative arc: where you beat-up your protagonists early on, but in the end, they still come out on top.

I hope that answers your question, fireflights!

Well in truth, I know NOTHING about system games, I don't even understand how their concepts work so my point is and I know I'm not the only one out there, that you would essentially have to hold the hand of someone like me when it came to the system aspect until they could learn it. I was just trying to figure out as a lot of GM's don't really like doing that, if it was a possibility when it came to your game.

I am a huge fan of Harry Potter, I adore vampire and werewolf settings in fact I have a vampire I've been itching to play again that with some modification of her bio probably could fit in here, i just don't want to feel like a nuisance when it comes to having to learn the system of the game, you get what I mean?

I absolutely would not consider it hand-holding. As a DM of a game like Pathfinder, with such complex rules, even people who have been playing for years still will often have to turn to me or the internet to get clarification on how something is supposed to work. If questions like that annoyed me, then I wouldn't be good GM. I fully expect that people would have questions, some possibly more than others, and those questions won't even always pertain to the game system itself. Even in freeform games, it's often prudent to ask what's possible and what isn't.

I firmly believe that if you enjoy something, then learning the minutia of how it works will come to you naturally, because you'll want to know. If you come to me with enthusiasm and a desire to make your experience better, then you can ask questions all day long, and I'll answer them to the fullest of my ability. It only ever becomes a problem, when someone comes to me with an assumption that the rules are unfair, or that I'm being biased.

GMs and players need to have faith in each other, and it is my sincerest hope that players feel free to come to me and ask anything they want, as often as they want, without feeling judged.

As a GM my self I agree whole heartily with Carakav, and it sounds like the game is in capable hands. One other benefit is having players who are familiar with the game as well. Your fellow players should be willing to help with rules stuff, especially if the GM is busy with other things at the moment. Being a GM can be quite the juggling act.

As a recommendation for system, FATE would work fairly well as it lets you back up a narrative with mechanics, so that has my vote. And on quality side note right now I'm currently interested in Open Legend RPG. It falls Into an interesting area between FATE and D&D. It's also free from there site. But that's my vote.

I've created the game, called "Behind Shadows", and you can find the advertisement for it here: link to a message in another game

Hopefully I'll see you all there!