Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Civilization forming

You're not an adventurer. You're some poor schmuck whose father had a farm, same farm his grandfather did and so on. You're a guy who toils in the fields, who happened to be on the wrong side of the road when the Lugal came by conscripting those surrounding his city for a little hike over the hill and down to the river valley to face the army of the opposite city. Oh, and he has a job for you that involves raiding the other guy's camp and stealing away the Cup of Indrikal, which they say contains the power that Irrup-sa-gal uses in battle. Good luck there, Sparky! If you manage to take a noble prisoner, well, that ransom money might allow you to do a few upgrades and increase your standing in the world.

You're not an adventurer. You were supposed to be married off to some idiot, but what your father DIDN'T know was that you've been hanging around with the sister of the smith. Yes, the smith, that strange man who knows how to fold and beat the metal that brings strange power to your world. The sister even knows... WRITING! Somehow, that's made a connection in your head, but the dark little being that sits at the foot of your bed hasn't been persuaded yet to tell you, even as he teases you with the promise of power. He started showing up when you started wearing the metal around your neck and Gil-a-kel's voice in your head grew less.

You're not an adventurer. You're sweeping the halls of the Lugal's second home. You know that the fervor of worshiping Ish-ri-kal fills your blood and that you've had a knack for chasing away the flu demons and healing the wounds of battle. You've also smited a few enemies while screaming the cries of your god. The Lugal liked that, especially when he was taking the spoils of battle from you in exchange for giving you a place in Ishrikal's priesthood. But man, sweeping halls suck! But something is going on, because there is a lot of talk of sending people to the Underworld to try and bring back Al-kas-hag's soul back to his body. Strange tales of what lies there... riches and strange rewards. Maybe you'll get lucky... or maybe you'll never come back.

And did I mention that you'll be stretching your timeline from your Father to your sons/daughters and their sons/daughters? There's a civilization to be made... and gods to serve.

9 comments:

Timeshadows said...

When are you starting this up, and how do I get in on it? :D

Michael S/Chgowiz said...

As soon as I can persuade people to make the trek up to the middle of Lake County, IL.

Timeshadows said...

I may be in them thar parts in August.
--I'll keep in touch via FB. :)

Erin Palette said...

Could I persuade you to run this on Wave?

Jeffrey Runokivi said...

Oh, yeah...that sounds cool. What system are you using for it? Or is it your own game system to be used, as well? I love the flavor text hear and would love to play a game like that...but Ohio is a bit of a commute. Good luck with this, and I am anxious to hear how it turns out.

Michael S/Chgowiz said...

@R - probably a hash of D&D and my own crap. I really need to just bite the bullet and buy the damn EPT PDFs so I can go through that as well. I really loved some of the ideas and stuff that came out of playing EPT with Rients at Winter War.

I'm from Cincinnati... maybe I'll have to visit hometown on the bike someday. The hills around Clermont County and along the river are fantastic!

@Erin - probably not. LOL... I still have Ultima Whitebox and my Mechwarrior/horror/Pendragon mashup to run... this is meanderings to get my thoughts in order.

Jeffrey Runokivi said...

I think that Empire of the Petal Throne would be a good system for that too. I have a friend who played in one of M.A.R. Barker's campaigns. He said that they had a lot of fun. I myself have only read it here and there and really have no real knowledge of how the game works.

BTW, I am in Toledo...not proud of it...just the truth. heh.

Michael S/Chgowiz said...

@R - you're in the area I'll be travelling thru next year as @theprincesswife and I head up to Maine for a bike trip to see the whales.

Joshua Sherrer said...

I've read this at least ten times now and love it more each time. I hope to hear more about this idea