I've had an idea, but i'm struggling with an aspect of it and wondered whether anyone else had any ideas.

The fledgling idea is that is that spirits and demons inhabit people and things found in the world. Only the odd thing, mind, not everything - that'd get crowded fast.

So, the PCs are asked to find out the casue of a plague afflicting a farming community. They scour the area and find out that it originates from an infected rock in the nearby stream. It is inhabited by a spirit of pestilence. Chucking it away doesn't help, it'll corrupt someone else, picking it up might infect you, so the PCs must enter the rock to battle and evict the spirit. Their minds enter the rock and the landscape within has been shaped by the inhabiting spirit. It might contain hazardous environments, be a huge dungeon with traps etc and the PCs negotiate the obstacles set up by the spirit before confronting it and evicting it from the rock, thereby curing the plague.

There could be any number of items or people afflicted with innumerable conditions that need to be adressed by the PCs. Once inside, they have limited powers to shape the environment to their own needs - a warrior might shape a sword, or the priest might shape a stone bridge across a deep ravine.

Magic items also have this inhabiting spirit and it must be cowed into submission before serving the wielder.

Ok. I like the idea. This is where i'm struggling. All the action is inside something. What about the world that the characters physically inhabit? How to make that interesting as well as the central conceit?

I don't know the tone you want to give to your game/campaign. But I'd picture the rulers and important people trying to imitate this "Spirit/Demon inside" pattern. Maybe they're delusive and want so hard to be able to shape their city/guild/cult. Maybe there's something sad and poignant about how they have to sacrifice their individuality and freedom to fulfill their duty. It's my usual tendency : compensate the excess of fantastic elements with a dose of derision.

I dunno'. Is this a modern setting, fantasy, futuristic...? If it's modern I reckon' these spirit hunter would live in an enviroment where objects and people would be kept to a bare minimum.

Their whole enviroment would be autere and sparse....perhaps they would spend their time tending to Zen gardens and playing Go or something....honing their minds to combat the chaos that seems to infect eveything and anything.

Regards,
David R

The OP makes me think of the video Game Disgaea but it doesn't trigger relevant ideas. I could picture a Disgaea TTRPG though.

Quote from: David R;291355I dunno'. Is this a modern setting, fantasy, futuristic...? If it's modern I reckon' these spirit hunter would live in an enviroment where objects and people would be kept to a bare minimum.

Their whole enviroment would be autere and sparse....perhaps they would spend their time tending to Zen gardens and playing Go or something....honing their minds to combat the chaos that seems to infect eveything and anything.

Regards,
David R

That's a pretty cool idea. I'm by default a fantasy man, so dunno if i could pull off a modern setting. I like the idea though. Maybe it could fit in with my Ancients & Artefacts idea from a while back. Historic items give the PCs powers (except wedded with this idea, the historic item is inhabited by soemthing), and returning ancient threats such as Mayan Death-Priests, Babylonian Sorcerers and the like threaten the physical world.

So the PCs collect artefacts and delve into them for the protection they give. They hunt down corrupted sources of evil and enter them to evict the evil and they fight against returning evil in the physical world.

I like it.

Super Mind-Ninja Monks of the 21st Century!

Several ideas have merged together and i'm wondering whether there are too many. I'll explain below.

The setting -

1. Alternative World War II setting.
2. Historic Items give the PCs power. These items are inhabited by spirits/demons. The being must be cowed or persuaded into service. This means entering the item and overcoming the obstacles found there.
3. Scary guys are returning from history. Death-Priests, Sorcerers, Mummies, Historical figues. They are signing up to a covert war effort on either side or are single players flinging a wrench in the works.

which leads to a game where -

1. There is hellish WWII combat.
2. It has a strong sense of history, both in the historical items and the returning ancients.
3. There are mystical secrets to uncover or keep.
4. There are mystical battles to fight with returning ancients.

Well I think you've solved the "mundane/real" world angle. It would get murky real fast if these scary types sign up on either side. Hmm, you may be heading into Hellboy territory. Is this something you would find acceptable?

Regards,
David R

Quote from: David R;292454Hmm, you may be heading into Hellboy territory. Is this something you would find acceptable?

Regards,
David R

Yeah, that occured to me as well. I think i'm ok with that.

Well from your description, I'm getting a strong Saving Private Ryan meets Hellblazer vibe. Very cool. Just don't forget the Allied Voodoo High Priest named Malaki (Malachi).....

Regards,
David R

Quote from: David R;292469Well from your description, I'm getting a strong Saving Private Ryan meets Hellblazer vibe. Very cool. Just don't forget the Allied Voodoo High Priest named Malaki (Malachi).....

Regards,
David R

Cool. I'd like to get some Edgar Allen Poe in there too.

Hmm. Had a couple of ideas and ran with them.

The wierd happenings started when RADAR went operational. Additional research led to RADAR II and RADAR III and when WWII kicked off, the magical battle joined the mundane one.

Here are my 'rules' so far and a character.

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Dice Mechanic – Roll 1d10 equal or under the statistic governing the skill. Training in the skill is denoted as +1, +2, +3 etc. This is the number of additional d10 you roll for your skill attempt. You chose the best result. Skill and training packages depend on which service you belong to and your prior service record.

Combat – In combat, roll against the applicable skill and statistic. Reduce this number by the relevant Defence score of your target. You must roll equal to or under this number to hit. If you are successful, multiply the number rolled by the damage multiplier of the weapon being used. A rolled 1 is always a success, regardless of the target number. Example: Sergeant Morelli fires his pistol at the infantryman rushing him. Morelli’s Pistol Skill is +1 and the skill comes under Coordination, in which Morelli has a score of 6. His opponent has a Physical Defence of 2. This means that Morelli must roll 4 or lower on his attack to shoot the enemy. He rolls 2d10 (he is trained to +1) and gets a 6 and a 3. Because he can chose the best result from the rolled dice, he chooses the 3 - he hits! Looking at the damage multiplier of his pistol, he finds that it is 3. He does 9 points of Physical Health damage to the onrushing enemy (rolled 3 x 3 damage multiplier).  

Skills - Skills are attempted in the same way as combat rolls, except there is no defence score to take into consideration. Instead, some skills have a Difficulty attached. This is expressed as a number, which is subtracted from your chance of success. Example: Sergeant Morelli needs to climb a cliff-face to reach a machine-gun emplacement. Climb is a Physique skill in which he has no training. Therefore, his chance of success is 6 on a d10. Due to being under fire, the GM decides that the climb has a Difficulty of 1. Morelli needs to roll 5 or lower on his d10 to climb the cliff.

Statistics - Arrange your statistics. You have 10 points for each pairing. If in the course of the game, you increase a statistic, you must lower its partner by the same amount, so that the pairing still equals 10. This will alter your secondary statistics, so adjust them accordingly, also. Some returned ancients might have more points to spend in some pairings. This is noted in the relevant entries.

Acronyms

R.A.D.A.R II – Radio Assisted Detection of Ancient Relics

R.A.D.A.R III – Radio Assisted Detection of Ancients Returning

Staff Sergeant Mr.Morelli

Age: 27

Morelli is a Company Quartermaster Sergeant (CQMS) in the 11th hussars attached to the 7th Armoured Division (Desert Rats) in Egypt. He sadly has to move around in an ancient Morris armoured car. He struggles daily with making sure that supplies for the 7th from besieged Malta reach the mechanics so that tank losses can be recouped.

He has been seconded to the Eastern Africa R.A.D.A.R III group, searching Egyptian ruins for help in the brewing mystical war against the Italians ranged against the 7th.  

Brawn (10) -      Agility 4
                                       Physique 6

Grit (10) -      Endurance 3   
                                      Psyche 7

Brains (10) -      Coordination 6
                                       Intelligence 4

Belief (10) -      Mysticism 4
                                      Pragmatism 6

Physical Health (Endurance x Physique) = 18
Physical Shock Threshold (Physical Health/2) = 9

Mental Health (Pragmatism x Psyche)  = 42
Mental Shock Threshold (Mental Health/2) = 21

Physical Defence (Agility x Coordination/10) = 2
Mental Defence (Intelligence x Mysticism/10) = 2
Risk Defence (Physical Defence x Mental Defence/10) = 0

Skills

Life Skills

Furniture Making
Fishing
Cycling
Business
Ancient History

Basic Training

Forced March
Pistol
Rifle
Hand-to-hand combat

Logistics Training

Source Material
Convoys
Communications

Desert Training

Forced March (+2)
Desert Survival
Language – Egyptian
Armoured Vehicle

Archaeology Training

Egyptian Ruins
Roman Ruins
Hieroglyphics