Witcher MUSH Brainstorm (SPOILERS)
-
WARNING SPOILERS
This post and thread will contain MAJOR spoilers for the game Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, avoid it if you want to avoid being spoiled.
I feel the Witcher universe would make for a fantastic setting of a MUSH. You have a lot of themes that come together and the potential for a truly unique world if you build off of what has already been established. You could easily set up a Lords & Ladies MUSH, but with so much more.
Here are some basic ideas I had for such a game.
What is Canon:
Its been stated by the author of the Witcher books that he doesn't consider the games Canon. Hes an old Polish guy so its not a surprise hes not in on the hip new thing of Video Games. I feel to get the best of the world you need to consider both the books and the games Canon. Considering there are no Witcher books that are set during the time of the game, it should work. (The games takes place 5 years after the ending of the last book).
Setting/Geography:
The game and the books established a pretty rich world with various kingdoms and empires, obviously influenced by real world peoples and places. There are several large cities that the game could be based on, and in some areas of the world the cities are close enough you could easily establish multiple locations.Witcher 3 itself adds a big thing though. Other worlds~Insert Text Here~. Its already established that there around countless other worlds in the Witcher 3 Universe, some populated with sentient creatures. (You have the elven world that the Wild Hunt is from, and you also visit a barren desert world that Avall'ach tells you was once an ocean world inhabited by a sentient race.) We know that Elves come from their own world, entirely possible that so do dwarves and other humanoid creatures. We also know that all the mythical beasts such as Griffons, Cockatrice, Basilisk, Chorts, Fiends, Sylvans, Succubi, were deposited on the Witcher world by the Confluence of Spheres, meaning they also came from other worlds.
You also have a MAJOR point where the worlds are not limited to typical fantasy fare. Ciri states in the last half of the game "I visited a world where everyone had metal in their head (cybernetic implants?), waged war from afar (guns?), and everyone had their own flying ship. (flying ship...)"
You can really spice up stories with a sprinkle of other worlds, or have almost a Shangri-La type setting where different worlds are numerous and connected.
Setting/Time:
I feel the best place to set the world is obviously after the end of Witcher 3, likely a few hundred or so years in the future so that you don't run into the issue of having to play major characters such as Geralt, Ciri, Dandelion, ect ect.
Characters:
Who would you play? When I originally thought the Witcher world would be a good place for a MUSH, I was worried it would be limited in the type of characters you could play. Peasant, Lord, Soldier, Sorcerer/Sorceress, Witcher.
Doesn't seem like much, but kind of crimping off WoD you have to create your own concept and go from there. Having finished the game, there actually is a ton of concepts that are open and would fit, and the introduction of other worlds also opens the box on the types of characters that could be played.
Mechanics/Code:
I have zero experience here. As is obvious. Im an ideas guy. I know how to dig, connect rooms, and I can kind of cobble together stuff with other bits of easy to use code. (Kind of made a space combat simulation on AoA when I was staff there by creating special weapons and armor to simulate ships)
I feel the experience system can't be level based. I want this to be a MUSH, not a MUD. Combat should exist, be important, but not be the end all to be all.
Of course there is something to be said to have a game that is combat heavy focused and the focus is Witching and doing contracts to hunt monsters...
I'll probably add more later, but those are my ideas for right now...
-
While playing through the witcher, I've been taking notes for my warhammer fantasy campaign. The two worlds have a lot of similar things going on.
-
@FiranSurvivor said:
I feel the experience system can't be level based. I want this to be a MUSH, not a MUD. Combat should exist, be important, but not be the end all to be all.
Of course there is something to be said to have a game that is combat heavy focused and the focus is Witching and doing contracts to hunt monsters...
Given the general population level for individual games, I don't think you could go too wrong centering a game around Kaer Morhen.
I know this might elicit some groans, but FATE (especially a Dresden Files adaptation) seems pretty tailor-made for a Witcher game.
-
Centering around a Witcher school could be a very good idea... would also help explain the presence of new Witchers since during the time of Witcher 3, no new Witchers are being trained. But if you go far enough into the future you can create an idea why they have returned to the practice of making Witchers and why Kaer Morhen is populated, given that its implied it is abandoned by the end of the game.
As for Warhammer Fantasy and Witcher, there are a lot of similarities, its obvious they both pull from European folk lore and history heavily.
-
Big fan of the book/games series here. I think a Witcher MUSH could work with a setting linked to a big city, like Novigrad (this one would certainly be my pick), Wyzim or Cintra. According to the canon, there's some climate change coming, but it's up to you whether to handwave that or explain it with your own ideas.
Also, there's an issue with the Witcher schools being nearly wiped out and unable to grow their numbers again since they lost part of the secret mutagens, especially the Wolf and Snake (to a point, the Snake was nothing but a myth until Letho came up and proved us wrong :P)
I've also GM'ed a Witcher game using GURPS and it worked wonderfully, unfortunately you can't use it for a MU* game because SJG is a pain in the ass, but .you can certainly create/find some other modular system, which helps creating monsters/mutants/new races.
-
Spoilers incoming!
The Climate Change (tm) was actually the White Frost, and depending on how the Witcher 3 ends... its beaten.
And I believe the end of the Witcher 1 has Geralt retreaving those Mutagens, the Witcher 3 also shows they still know how to brew some of the potions necessary to make someone a Witcher, so the knowledge is not completely lost.
-
Given the near-destruction of the Witchers, perhaps a future exists where a new order can achieve only some of the miracles of the old (lower power level, more reason for PCs to work in groups and with non-Witchers than you would have if you had a bunch of Geralts running around).
I think the core issue with a Witcher game is the same as any setting where you have an order of godlike warriors. Everybody will want to play as the
JediGrey WardensWitchers unless the non-Witcher options are equally interesting. -
@FiranSurvivor said:
Spoilers incoming!
The Climate Change (tm) was actually the White Frost, and depending on how the Witcher 3 ends... its beaten.
And I believe the end of the Witcher 1 has Geralt retreaving those Mutagens, the Witcher 3 also shows they still know how to brew some of the potions necessary to make someone a Witcher, so the knowledge is not completely lost.
Haha, I haven't finished the W3 game yet, but it's good to know they are picking more and more things from the books, I just loved when Keira appeared. Anyway, in my GURPS game, the witchers could turn new people into them, but since they had lost part of the secrets, the mortality rate was even higher and they weren't so powerful (this helped leveling the campaign as @Sammi suggests).
-
Exactly. That sort of premise would make Witcher squads more of a necessity (we see some teamwork in the games, but mostly it's Geralt 1v1ing the world), and would make talented "mundanes" like Dandelion, Roche, and Shani be able to make themselves useful without feeling crowded out.
-
@Sammi said:
Given the near-destruction of the Witchers, perhaps a future exists where a new order can achieve only some of the miracles of the old (lower power level, more reason for PCs to work in groups and with non-Witchers than you would have if you had a bunch of Geralts running around).
I think the core issue with a Witcher game is the same as any setting where you have an order of godlike warriors. Everybody will want to play as the
JediGrey WardensWitchers unless the non-Witcher options are equally interesting.This is one of primary worries I had. Witchers are Jedi. Everyone wants to be a Jedi (Funny thing is I never liked Star Wars for Jedi, I always wanted to be a pilot)
The other concepts do have to be interesting, but I think there is a lot to work from...
Sorcerers/Sorceress
Knights/Knight Errants
Witches/Warlocks
Spies
Special Forces
Nobility
Bards
And then you have concepts from other worlds...Witcher 3 shows the Wild Hunt are not just Grrr evil.
-
@FiranSurvivor said:
This is one of primary worries I had. Witchers are Jedi. Everyone wants to be a Jedi (Funny thing is I never liked Star Wars for Jedi, I always wanted to be a pilot)
Right. IMHO if a setting only has room for one kind of supernatural and they're supposed to be very rare, either it has to be designed around the idea of many people playing the type anyway or to be prepared for anger and drama.
The real solution (where applicable) is to just have different types.
-
@FiranSurvivor said:
Everyone wants to be a Jedi (Funny thing is I never liked Star Wars for Jedi, I always wanted to be a pilot)
I always wanted to either be a scoundrel (Lando before he got wealthy) or a Force adept. But yeah, that's exactly the thing. In spite of "everyone" wanting to be a Jedi, there are a lot of us who don't. The non-Jedi-players make things more interesting for the Jedi, because it's less fun if everybody is a Jedi, but if Jedi are just good at everything, then there's no payout for playing anything but a Jedi.
-
So probably be better to set it in some kind of city hub such as Novigrad or Vizima. Or perhaps Kovir so that Mages could have a nice focus. Somewhere where seeing people from different parts of the world (or worlds...) won't be too odd and will be acceptable.
Of course that Skellige Raider is having a drink with the Zerrakanian Horse Racer while a Witcher starts a brawl with a Nilfgaardian officer for not paying up on a contract to hunt down a Forktail.
-
I think you'd have to play up the anti-Witcher sentiment to give the Witchers a downside, but that also wouldn't jive so much with a world where the training and creation of Witchers has revitalized.
I do like the idea of lower-power Witchers as a compromise. Maybe set it up so that somewhere in the timeframe, the Witcher Schools became specialized, so you'd have one specialized in combat/physical augmentation, one specialized in Signs, and one specialized in Alchemy. Not that the others wouldn't have some of it, but only the specialized schools would have the full breadth of their specialty, and so Witchers would now operate in groups of three. Or something. More like "Special Ops Teams" rather than "One Man Armies."
Though if full-blown Sorceresses are allowed, full Witchers probably could be too.
Or conversely get rid of Witchers altogether, but some small fragments of them have survived, leading to lesser-powered replacement monster-hunters of a less mutated bent. Could do something similar with Sorceresses.
Either way, it's certainly a setting rife for exploration.
-
Specialization sounds good, giving a more unique feel to some characters. As for the setting, I would still go with Novigrad, it has Oxenfurt on its backyard, which could serve well for the more scholar types. But I totally want to make my own Nilfgaardian ambassador :3
-
Could also go the opposite direction. Instead of "Nerfing" Witchers... perhaps buff normal people.
I believe the description of Signs is that anyone can use them with the proper training. Perhaps the use of Signs becomes more acceptable (though when something goes wrong, people blame the one who is tossing around magic) I could see a farmer learning Igni to properly burn clear crops. Gambler learning Axii to play the system.
Perhaps weaker version of witcher potions are available to normal people?
-
@Bargle said:
Though if full-blown Sorceresses are allowed, full Witchers probably could be too.
Allowing Triss and Yennifer would be just as bad as allowing Geralt. They're so epically powerful that it would be difficult to determine what they can't do.
-
As for curbing Sorcerer/Sorceress power. I could imagine an organization just for that. With the revitalization of the Lodge at the end of the Witcher 3, I could see the Emperor imposing some kind of rule that they MUST be policed. Thus leading to a kind of police organization that specializes in dealing with unruly magic users. Kind of like the Templar from Dragon Age. Almost kind of another Witcher type concept, but instead of monsters they deal with Mages.
-
Sorcery is supposed to be rare and often people who show the ability are quickly fostered by older mages, so maybe you could have them buy an advantage that is expensive by itself and have magic cost way more XP/points to improve.
-
It would be much simpler to say, "It's a couple hundred years in the future, and the glorious works of magic performed in the age of the Lodge of Sorceresses have been lost to the ages. Many have tried to recover artifacts or tomes from this era in search of the power once wielded by the likes of Sabrina Glevissig and Philippa Eilhart, but more progress has been made by forward-looking young mages and witches innovating new methods to compensate for their lack of raw prowess."
