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16:37, 28th March 2024 (GMT+0)

IC: Sunless Sea inspired setting.

Posted by yuirick
yuirick
member, 12 posts
Wed 8 Jan 2020
at 21:10
  • msg #1

IC: Sunless Sea inspired setting

I've been wanting to play a game in a setting similar to Fallen London/Sunless Sea. The primary idea is that the world is weird and reigned over by many bickering gods, major and minor - bit like Call of Cthulhu, but different in that these gods are usually weaker with some exceptions. As you enter a god's realm, the very laws of reality will warp and mold your being, demanding that you obey it's rule. Rebellion is plausible, but a highly risky affair.

A major god is one whose rule potentially stretches across the entire setting. A minor god, on the other hand, will have a much more localized power. The gods may be inanimate objects that simply projects a will upon reality or fully sentient beings. This is all sorta similar to Sunless Sea yet not quite, IIRC.

As to what the players will be doing, I'm not entirely sure, honestly. My primary idea is that they're the crew of a vessel of sorts (Perhaps it's stolen to add to the chaos?), flying or sailing around from destination to destination, making ends meet, fulfilling ambitions, etc. There'd be a survival aspect to it all, in that they'd have to stock up on supplies and fuel. To do so, they'd have to make hard bargains with people who wants nothing more than make a coin off of their misery, brace the force of the world's unpredictable nature and make sure none of their cabin mates decide that the crew is better off without them.

Downside with that idea is that a lot of the time will be spent in transportation, but, maybe that could work too, as a sort of "off time" in which the characters have nothing to do but to entertain one another and make sure the ship stays afloat. I could imagine dramas occurring in these down periods, and perhaps the unpredictable will strike in the midst of some intensely petty bickering. I'm guessing shipping between two places will take a month to play or less, and then a stay at a given locale might take two to three?

The system could be some really simple homebrew of some sort, as I'm not too keen on reading too many rules at the moment unless it'll really add something to the story. I'm thinking a few stats, a 1D10, and that's it.

So yeah. If this sounds interesting to people, I'd love to know! If anyone has any ideas I could steal, don't be afraid to sacrifice them to me. I'm fairly new at organizing group RPs, and I'm completely new on this site, so any help is appreciated! (Note, I made this profile a loooong time ago and then never really used it, hence the 12 posts)
(Obligatory "I'm not new to RPing" note. :P)
DavidVC
member, 100 posts
aka DJ ThAC0
Playing Since Moldvay
Thu 9 Jan 2020
at 14:01
  • msg #2

IC: Sunless Sea inspired setting

This sounds a bit like the Into The Odd campaign I tried to run, where the players flew a skyship and rushed to catch falling cavorite meteorites to sell as fuel.
Hendell
member, 230 posts
Thu 9 Jan 2020
at 14:13
  • msg #3

IC: Sunless Sea inspired setting

I bumped into the Sunless Sky for the first time at PAX West this year and it looked like an interesting setting, but I have never seen any sort of tabletop support for it.

How much of the game's setting do you plan to make use of and or what base system do you think will be used for it?
yuirick
member, 13 posts
Thu 9 Jan 2020
at 14:30
  • msg #4

IC: Sunless Sea inspired setting

In reply to DavidVC (msg # 2):
Sounds fun to me, honestly! Skyships, steam trains, boats, whatever, I've been kinda in love with the notion of transportation in narratives ever since I played Wuppo. It had this train that went into the ground and it had you literally stand in line as you wait for things, and for some reason, that experience was just so strangely immersive to me. Like the game '80 days', that's all about travelling the world in less than 80 days in all manner of unique modes of transportation.


In reply to Hendell (msg # 3):
I plan to make use of the settings theme and steal some ideas here and there, but otherwise build up my own world from scratch. I feel like I'd be more comfortable in using a setting of my own making, and it'd be easier to hide secrets from my players as they wouldn't be able to scrounge obscure lore up from various wikis.

As to what system, I've no idea. I've long run 1x1 RPs with my own homebrew system, so at the moment I'm planning on using that.

Example of how it works:
You have to run and jump over a ridge. This could be a difficulty 11 check. You'd require strength to build up speed and agility to set off and land properly. So the check becomes [Agility|Strength] + 1D10 >= 11 = success. [Agility|Strength] implies that you roll for whichever of the two stats is the lowest - so let's say you have 5 agility and 3 strength. You'd be rolling ([5|3] = 3), ie: 3 + 1D10 >= 11. Since it's a fairly narrative based/freeform-esque system, the more above or below this result, the better or worse the result.
DavidVC
member, 101 posts
aka DJ ThAC0
Playing Since Moldvay
Thu 9 Jan 2020
at 15:04
  • msg #5

IC: Sunless Sea inspired setting

In reply to Hendell (msg # 3):

I played Echo Bazaar/Fallen London for a long time and wish there was a tabletop RPG for the game world. There was supposed to be an official game published for the Knife & Candle competition but that fell through.
Hendell
member, 231 posts
Thu 9 Jan 2020
at 15:47
  • msg #6

IC: Sunless Sea inspired setting

There are many 'setting agnostic' systems one can pick from, Savage Worlds or GURPS for the more crunchy side of things, or something more like Fate or Window for the low end.  Or going with something a little bit less free of its own setting but with a more robust or modern system to work with that is popular enough the players already know it like D&D 5e is always an option.
yuirick
member, 14 posts
Thu 9 Jan 2020
at 20:38
  • msg #7

IC: Sunless Sea inspired setting

In reply to Hendell (msg # 6):

I'll take a look at Fate and Window! I don't want the story to be too crunchy, and I'm not the biggest fan of DnD, so yeah. Either way, thanks for the ideas. :)
Spiderling
member, 3 posts
Thu 16 Jan 2020
at 07:46
  • msg #8

IC: Sunless Sea inspired setting

In reply to yuirick (msg # 7):

For running a ship and crew in a somewhat dark setting, there might be some merit in the current playtest versions of Wicked Ones, a PbtA game inspired by Dungeon Keeper.

That said... there *is* actually a free, official Sunless Skies rpg: https://azure.wgp-cdn.co.uk/ap...kyfarer_download.pdf

It also has a supplement: http://www.failbettergames.com...ories_Supplement.pdf
yuirick
member, 16 posts
The world is ending,
so don't forget to laugh
Thu 16 Jan 2020
at 10:37
  • msg #9

IC: Sunless Sea inspired setting

In reply to Spiderling (msg # 8):

Yeah, someone already suggested PbtA to me in a private message. It's definitely something worth considering, but over time, I've been leaning more and more towards using a homebrew. Don't know Wicked Ones specifically, but yeah. I've also kinda had cold feet on the idea of GM'ing, but I'm still mulling it over. Not that I have many minutes to mull it over, because my IRL is a dumpster fire of project stress right now, but you know. :P
DavidVC
member, 105 posts
aka DJ ThAC0
Playing Since Moldvay
Thu 16 Jan 2020
at 14:01
  • msg #10

IC: Sunless Sea inspired setting

Hendell:
There are many 'setting agnostic' systems one can pick from, Savage Worlds or GURPS for the more crunchy side of things


GURPS might be problematic considering the broken laws of science in the Neath, most notably Death being little more than an inconvenience.
evileeyore
member, 277 posts
GURPS GM and Player
Thu 16 Jan 2020
at 16:47
  • msg #11

Re: IC: Sunless Sea inspired setting

DavidVC:
GURPS might be problematic considering the broken laws of science in the Neath, most notably Death being little more than an inconvenience.

That's only as big a problem as the GM makes it.  Not like ya can't just ignore rules that don't fit your campaign.
shapeshade
member, 135 posts
Sun 19 Jan 2020
at 17:43
  • msg #12

Re: IC: Sunless Sea inspired setting

If this happens, let me know.
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