[Torg] Re: A redesigned Possibility War

[Phil Dack]

Some interesting ideas, I just hope you haven't given yourself
too much work to do!!

Couple of specific thoughts, I think I agree around Kanawa. I
got over the 80s/90s ninja-love-in in my teens, and had no
desire to bring that into my Torg game. But on the other hand,
the industrial conspiracy theme is one that resonates so
strongly in modern media that I think it's a shame to lose it
entirely. Possible compromise: make it a Core Earth element.
Just look at the relationships between governments and arms
manufacturers now (US with the likes of Lockheed, but the most
recent one I'm aware of is the government-led decision to pull
an investigation into alleged corruption in British Aerospace /
Saudi Arabia deals).

Secondly, I think the cross-over of fantasy and core earth could
work really well, but I don't think Shadowrun quite got it and
neither do I think Torg did. Aysle in particular had an
underlying element of campness in the way some of the denizens
were portrayed. Make it a harder fantasy realm, more akin to
Middle Earth or indeed myriad other fantasy novels, which takes
itself deadly serious and isn't inhabited with comic relief
imps, goblins and demons. That might appeal more. But YMMV.

Good luck and hope it goes well.

Phil



--- Morgan Nash <morgan.nash.uk at googlemail.com> wrote:
> On Nov 12, 2007 11:49 PM, Kansas Jim <ksjim at sdc.org> wrote:
> > > Core Earth...
> > Lots of people have tried this, from reports it's a mixed
> bag. Making
> > it grim may be a more realistic approach to the concept but
> it also
> > runs the risk of being too much of a downer to make for fun
> gaming.
> > (Whenever I've tried introducing a little grim reality into
> my Torg
> > games the players would get uncomfortable and do their best
> to get away
> > from it as quickly as possible so they could get on with the
> fun stuff,
> > bashing the bad guys.) On the other hand, the WTF!? factor
> can be a
> > gripping way of getting a game started.
> >
> > One thing I've noticed is parties that are
> predominantly/entirely Core
> > Earth characters tend to start feeling a little bland and
> dull to
> > players after they start encountering the other realities.
> It makes
> > sense for the initial group if it's set during the first
> days of the war
> > but probably sooner rather than later some of the players
> will start
> > wanting to play something from another realm because the
> other realms
> > get all the cool stuff.
> 
> I *think* we'll be OK on this one. Our style of play these
> days is to
> want to play characters that are more normal than fantastic.
> The
> battle of the common man vs adversity and all that. And we
> always have
> the option of transforming a Core Earther to one of the
> invading
> realities to spice things up.
> 
> Reading the "Storm Knights" webpage version of Core Earth, I'm
> going
> to be led by that to a degree. I like the World Laws and the
> concept
> of "heroic Earth" but I'll tone it down just a trifle. So,
> keeping the
> Power of Hope and the Threat of Villainy but adding a
> different third
> World Law: something like the Law of Defiance (Core Earthers
> don't
> like being pushed around and 'resist' things in some sense).
> In
> essence, taking inspiration from films like Con Air, Die Hard,
> even
> real-life stuff like Black Hawk Down. Determined people
> fighting the
> odds but without the need for cutting-edge tech, special
> powers of
> anything. I think that will appeal to my group.
> 
> > [Chinese fantasy realm instead of Aysle]
> >
> > > middle of the Olympic stadium as the opening scene. I'll
> probably dump
> > > the Light vs Dark thing, though.
> >
> > With an Asian angle, Light and Dark should probably be more
> of a Yin/
> > Yang thing than warring opposites.
> 
> Interesting thought - I'll look into that.
> 
> Morgan
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