Early in the eleventh century, Rokugan faced a threat it thought had long since passed. The Lost gaijin Garen Hawthorne had returned at the head of the Shadow Fleet, a massive collection of Rokugani and gaijin ships that had been corrupted by the Shadowland Taint. Determined to conquer Rokugan once and for all, he launched a surprise invasion from the Sea of Shadows that left the Empire reeling. The Great Clans banded together and counterattacked, but after almost two years of fighting, the Shadow Fleet's surprise strike and subsequent naval superiority left them struggling. In a desperate battle that would ultimately determine the fate of the Empire, the Shadow Fleet -- which had already devastated the Great Clan fleets -- was suddenly engaged by the Mantis Clan. Expecting no serious resistance from a minor clan, the Lost were unprepared for the ferocity of the island-bound samurai. The combined might of the Mantis bushi and shugenja crippled the Shadow Fleet and bought the Great Clans enough time to rally and destroy the invading forces. In repayment for the instrumental part they played in ending the threat to the Empire, the Mantis were elevated to Great Clan status.

That was almost one hundred years ago...

Now, Rokugan is in a state of relative peace. The Great Clans have finally managed to recover from the devastation brought on by the Invasion of the Shadow Fleet and returned to their prior strength. The sense of camaraderie borne of war and shared suffering has begun to fade as once again the Clans begin to strive against each other. All the while, another threat builds its strength in the shadows unbeknownst to the Empire, conspiring and plotting to bring down its hated foes...

City of Lies is an upcoming MU* based on the 4th Edition Legends of the Five Rings ruleset. Set in Ryoko Owari, players will have the opportunity to create members of (nearly) every strata of society, from the lowly Bonge, the various peasants and commoners of Rokugan, to the noble Samurai, the lords and warriors of the Empire. In the City of Lies and Stories, honor and dishonor walk hand-in-hand as no clan can afford to ignore the second largest city in the Empire. However, the opium trade stains the reputation of many, and the Lying Darkness is not without its agents. Meanwhile, the vast and mysterious Shinomen Forest lies just west of Ryoko Owari, tempting many to explore its uncharted depths despite the numerous risks.

Staff will regularly offer overarching metaplot, while player plots will not only be supported but encouraged. PCs will lead their clans -- at least locally -- in both political and combat roles as well. NPCs may fill out leadership positions at first, but ultimately we want players to take their spots and help guide the story. City of Lies is set in an alternate timeline, and though it starts at the beginning of the 12th Century, it exists outside of the canon series of events. Players and their characters will by no means be limited to following 'the script' -- many events that happen in the canon timeline likely will never come to pass in ours, and others may occur earlier or later and in drastically altered forms. Even then, the PCs will always have the power to decide how to face any threats that risk the safety and prosperity of Rokugan.

City of Lies uses @Faraday's wonderful Ares code and at the moment CG is about halfway finished with the most complex parts already in place. I plan to open to Alpha shortly after the most vital aspects of the game are finished, with the intention of progressing into a beta and then full open as more features are added. Currently however, we desperately need Staff. We'd like to get a few general Staff to handle jobs, the web portal, and the like, as well as a theme Staffer or two to help manage metaplot stuff. Even if the idea of being a full-time staffer isn't your cup of tea, we would still greatly appreciate anyone willing to donate their time to help get the grid in place or populate theme files before we open.

In the meantime we have an official Discord Server just like all the cool, hip new games here: https://discord.gg/pRe2bVJ

Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time...

@Roz said in Nicholaus @ Arx:

@MarsGrad said in Nicholaus @ Arx:

Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time...

Do you know him?

Well of course I know him. He's me.

Thanks to Ares being so thoroughly idiot-proof, development is going a lot faster and smoother than anticipated. I'll be posting a full ad in a day or two with more concrete info, so stay posted!

From my perspective as a long-time lurker and very occasional poster...

This has all appeared extremely silly, ngl. That might seem dismissive to some of the people who were involved in the very heat of it, but I don't really intend it to be. Overall, the optics from a largely outside observer on all of this haven't really been great, but I feel like that starts to tread into water that's not terribly relevant for the original point of this thread, so I'll attempt to stay on topic.

First off, if you genuinely want to make MSB a positivity-focused environment, you have to understand that you're going to be fighting an uphill battle. The reputation that MSB inherited from WORA and further refined with the Hogpit isn't one that goes hand in hand with 'calm and measured discourse.' You're undoubtedly going to have a lot of people who will try to continue to foster the more hostile environment the place has been known to be for a while. It feels a bit like an Applebee's just bought out a biker bar, so expect the bikers to keep showing up for a while, either in protest or ignorance. Honestly, if I hadn't been watching what's been going on, if someone told me that MSB fractured and a new place opened called Brand MU Day, I definitely wouldn't be putting money on MSB being the one all about positive discourse from here on out.

Anyway, that's just one of the two main hurdles I see going forward. The other is that... like... You're humans, too. You are not immune to tribalism and cliques anymore than the Brand MU Day people are. Be wary of the urge to label any criticism or opinion that you dislike as being hateful or insulting. This is the internet, disagreements are going to happen and they will get heated. Think hard about where you want to draw the line and make sure you make it clear where that line is.

Mind, none of this is to say I've seen evidence of any of this so far. It's just a general warning as someone who has seen and sighed his way through repeated fractures and merges as a comic game fan. Generally speaking, I'm all for a positive environment for discourse. Once upon a time I would have thought it was impossible on the internet, but over the years I've seen a few examples of it (mostly) working so... I'm rooting for you guys, but I wouldn't say I'm totally convinced of the viability of this experiment yet.

Well of course I know him. He's m- Wait, did you ask if I know him?

You're um... You're supposed to ask if I know him.

So I've been considering developing a game set in a Dark or Low-Fantasy world. The focus would be on a smallish city on the edge of civilization with characters being pulled from all walks of (commoner) life, such as artisans, soldiers, guards, bureaucrats, and laborers.

Magic is a thing, and while not wildly common, is also not extremely rare either. Most people probably know two or three people who know a spell or two, but for the most part magic isn't big fireballs and calling lightning storms. It's minor things like alchemy and spirit magic. Only the true masters who live in the heart of the empire and work for Kings and Nobles know proper D&D style magic, and they're incredibly rare. Further, while everyone generally trusts and appreciates their local alchemist or shaman or thaumaturge who work minor wonders like getting rid of pests or brewing curatives or reinforcing your wagon's axle, there are those who go dark side. Witches and Warlocks who dabble in hexes and the Evil Eye and maybe even necromancy if they're nasty.

If only that were the worst of it, for this world is also populated by things that go bump in the night. These would be heavily inspired if not straight stolen from folk tales and legends. Monsters and creatures like the cockatrice, griffins, black dogs, manticores, and yes even vampires and werewolves. They're known threats, though. While your average farmer might not know that salt along the doorway doesn't protect you from a black dog, a professional will, and even better they'll know what CAN stop one.

Which of course means that there will be playable Witch hunters and Monster hunters, specialists trained to find and kill those magic users who have lost their way and the creepy crawlies that go bump in the night.

I'm still debating stuff like blackpowder and its prevelance or introducing minor nobles into the mix.

Influences include, but are not limited to: The Witcher (Obviously), Kingkiller Chronicles, Spook's Apprentice, Folklore, and maybe just a smidge of Arthurian legend.

Setting aside, I'm still shopping around for RPG systems, staff, and feedback so suggestions for any of the three are more than welcome! Thanks!

Edit to clarify: Players would be able to make commoners, but also any of the other more exciting professions. I meant to specify that this isn't a Lords and Ladies game. High nobility and their games and politics wouldn't be the focus. Minor nobility? Maybe. Still unsure. Would have to be pretty limited if so.

Yeah, I mean it's been said in one way or another already, but I don't have an issue with social combat as a theory or a concept. My problem is when it's handled /exactly/ like physical combat, where Johnny B. Goode comes up and poses how he shoots at Space Cowboy and then rolls dice and we get the results. That's fine because the agency is entirely on Johnny in that situation. Whatever Space Cowboy's backstory and personality, a bullet is a bullet. It doesn't override Space Cowboy's character or development to be shot.

The problem comes when Johnny walks up to Space Cowboy and poses a big threatening speech trying to intimidate Space Cowboy into backing down by implying he's going to harm and kill Space Cowboy. Then he rolls dice, gets an awesome result and Space Cowboy is expected to be cowed by this, even though it's been established that Space Cowboy is a masochist and doesn't fear death. It overrides his admittedly cliche character and ignores his personality.

I'd love it if Johnny came up to Space Cowboy and said, 'Okay Space Cowboy, I'm going to try and intimidate you into backing down.' Then he rolls his dice, gets his awesome result, and then works with him to decide how he might do that, ie. Space Cowboy maybe worries about his friends and Johnny managed to convince him that 'Oh, you might be able to stop me, but not before I kill your whole crew' or something.

Very rarely is this done. Most people just want to play out social combat like physical combat and ignore the differences because they both involve dice, but there's an entirely different rhythm and approach to it.

I want to do one of these things, and TECHNICALLY I've played enough chars in enough places to make it worthwhile, but hell if I remember much of any of their names. I suck at the names. Just the stories. That said, I do remember some of their names. Like:

Game of Bones
-Vidomir Bolton
-Donovar Bolton
-Dalton Greyjoy
-Vhaegor Targaryen
-Eoric Dayne

AtonementRPI
-Skinner (Some metal armed Vulture dude.)
-Heinrich (A German guy from near the end. I don't remember the sdesc at all)

SoI
-Locke

Masq
-Prosper Felix
-Skinner Lee

HeroMux
-Dr. Doom
-Mr. Sinister

Staffed:

HeroMux
-Oz

CoMux
-Mobius

Currently:

Dystopia
-Chase

MotM
-Grant
-Iori

Those are the ones I remember specifically, though I will say I used the name Skinner on a lot of games, particularly WoD games. Also I think Burning Post II once. No doubt a few others, as well.

(Work in progress as I remember more)

Yeah, I mean... I understand the initial outcry of 'this is clearly discrimination and thus not okay,' but I think I have to agree with surreality on this. It's not like you have to submit a birth certificate to be allowed in. You yourself don't have to be male or gay/bi to play. It just supports a specific kind of character to the exclusion of all others. Is it going to be everyone's cup of tea? No. Do I think it's intended to be or is hostile or a Bad Thing(tm)? No.

Of course, then the question arises: If the specific kind of character was only white, straight males, would it still be okay? But I'm not going to touch that. Just bring it up and leave it here. Because.

From my perspective as a long-time lurker and very occasional poster...

This has all appeared extremely silly, ngl. That might seem dismissive to some of the people who were involved in the very heat of it, but I don't really intend it to be. Overall, the optics from a largely outside observer on all of this haven't really been great, but I feel like that starts to tread into water that's not terribly relevant for the original point of this thread, so I'll attempt to stay on topic.

First off, if you genuinely want to make MSB a positivity-focused environment, you have to understand that you're going to be fighting an uphill battle. The reputation that MSB inherited from WORA and further refined with the Hogpit isn't one that goes hand in hand with 'calm and measured discourse.' You're undoubtedly going to have a lot of people who will try to continue to foster the more hostile environment the place has been known to be for a while. It feels a bit like an Applebee's just bought out a biker bar, so expect the bikers to keep showing up for a while, either in protest or ignorance. Honestly, if I hadn't been watching what's been going on, if someone told me that MSB fractured and a new place opened called Brand MU Day, I definitely wouldn't be putting money on MSB being the one all about positive discourse from here on out.

Anyway, that's just one of the two main hurdles I see going forward. The other is that... like... You're humans, too. You are not immune to tribalism and cliques anymore than the Brand MU Day people are. Be wary of the urge to label any criticism or opinion that you dislike as being hateful or insulting. This is the internet, disagreements are going to happen and they will get heated. Think hard about where you want to draw the line and make sure you make it clear where that line is.

Mind, none of this is to say I've seen evidence of any of this so far. It's just a general warning as someone who has seen and sighed his way through repeated fractures and merges as a comic game fan. Generally speaking, I'm all for a positive environment for discourse. Once upon a time I would have thought it was impossible on the internet, but over the years I've seen a few examples of it (mostly) working so... I'm rooting for you guys, but I wouldn't say I'm totally convinced of the viability of this experiment yet.

I recall @tangent used to do massive scenes on some of the games we were on together, but broke them up into different rooms and ran them concurrently. They were comic games, so it would typically be one group of heroes punching the Big Bad Robot guy while another group dealt with a bunch of smaller robot minions and a third rescued civilians or whatever. All the rooms would get the same emit about big things going on, but each would ALSO get individualized poses about the results of the heroes' efforts...

Not really a take on how much is Too Much, but man was it impressive to watch.

@WildBaboons

Jeshin could probably answer that question more completely, but I do know of a module that works with a website that's full of tools for 5E that allows importing.

So the module method exists for sure. You can also just painstakingly go through your PDF or physical copy of the book and do it all by hand if you were in a mood to sit around copying an entire book into your Foundry game, rule segment by rule segment, stat block by stat block.

With nearly 7k hours on Roll20 almost exclusively as a DM, I can say with absolute certainty that Foundry is by far the better product IF you're looking to get into the deep end of using VTTs. I'm talking special effects, animated maps, looping status effects, weather effects, all that fancy stuff... Definitely go for Foundry.

If you're just looking for something to hold your character sheets, help you with a dice roller, give you a dry-erase mat for basic and quick maps to help with ToTM, and maybe have some music and sound effect options, the basic (read: free) Roll20 account is more than enough to get you where you need to be, and probably a little further with a few extras you didn't think you'd want and that I haven't mentioned.

IIRC, the 5E sheets have D&D Beyond integration as well without the need for a better-than-basic account, but I'm... Not positive. Don't quote me. I don't run much 5E.

ETA: Combat support on the three big VTTs (Roll20, Foundry, and FG) is pretty much a core feature. How usable and how much you get out of it sort of depends on the VTT and what you put into it (I don't have any experience with FG, so speaking primarily about Foundry and R20 here), but they all do the basics like NPC stat tracking including health and AC. They also all have initiative trackers built in and other QoL stuff. Out of the box, neither Foundry nor R20 do any sort of easy encounter generation, but I'd eat my hat if Foundry didn't have some sort of 5E module to help with it and if R20 didn't have some sort of script (a paid feature). Both have compendium support though, which is going to be all your OGL content like rules and stat blocks in a searchable, encyclopedia type format. Roll20 lets you purchase rulebooks through them that add the non-OGL content in and Foundry I think you can just import it if someone provides it, but again... I don't run 5E so I don't know.

@Arkandel Oh, in that case absolutely not. Complete mystery to me.

@Roz said in Nicholaus @ Arx:

@MarsGrad said in Nicholaus @ Arx:

Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time...

Do you know him?

Well of course I know him. He's me.

Well of course I know him. He's m- Wait, did you ask if I know him?

You're um... You're supposed to ask if I know him.

Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time...

@WildBaboons said in Dark/Low-Fantasy with a Witcher-esque Feel:

@MarsGrad said in Dark/Low-Fantasy with a Witcher-esque Feel:

The focus would be on a smallish city on the edge of civilization with characters being pulled from all walks of (commoner) life, such as artisans, soldiers, guards, bureaucrats, and laborers

So the focus wouldn't be on Witcher's or monster hunters or anyone with talent/etc?

What do you envision PCs doing? How would they react o the very real threats and monsters other than hiring an npc?

I didn't make that super clear, but they could be any of those things, or the witch hunters, or the monster hunters, or the witches, or the alchemists, etc.

Rather than lords or ladies, specifically.

So I've been considering developing a game set in a Dark or Low-Fantasy world. The focus would be on a smallish city on the edge of civilization with characters being pulled from all walks of (commoner) life, such as artisans, soldiers, guards, bureaucrats, and laborers.

Magic is a thing, and while not wildly common, is also not extremely rare either. Most people probably know two or three people who know a spell or two, but for the most part magic isn't big fireballs and calling lightning storms. It's minor things like alchemy and spirit magic. Only the true masters who live in the heart of the empire and work for Kings and Nobles know proper D&D style magic, and they're incredibly rare. Further, while everyone generally trusts and appreciates their local alchemist or shaman or thaumaturge who work minor wonders like getting rid of pests or brewing curatives or reinforcing your wagon's axle, there are those who go dark side. Witches and Warlocks who dabble in hexes and the Evil Eye and maybe even necromancy if they're nasty.

If only that were the worst of it, for this world is also populated by things that go bump in the night. These would be heavily inspired if not straight stolen from folk tales and legends. Monsters and creatures like the cockatrice, griffins, black dogs, manticores, and yes even vampires and werewolves. They're known threats, though. While your average farmer might not know that salt along the doorway doesn't protect you from a black dog, a professional will, and even better they'll know what CAN stop one.

Which of course means that there will be playable Witch hunters and Monster hunters, specialists trained to find and kill those magic users who have lost their way and the creepy crawlies that go bump in the night.

I'm still debating stuff like blackpowder and its prevelance or introducing minor nobles into the mix.

Influences include, but are not limited to: The Witcher (Obviously), Kingkiller Chronicles, Spook's Apprentice, Folklore, and maybe just a smidge of Arthurian legend.

Setting aside, I'm still shopping around for RPG systems, staff, and feedback so suggestions for any of the three are more than welcome! Thanks!

Edit to clarify: Players would be able to make commoners, but also any of the other more exciting professions. I meant to specify that this isn't a Lords and Ladies game. High nobility and their games and politics wouldn't be the focus. Minor nobility? Maybe. Still unsure. Would have to be pretty limited if so.