Wayfarer is a working title for an RPG based on a blend of the Open Content in Sword of Cepheus, Cepheus Deluxe, and Of Realms Unbounded. A hopepunk fantasy of heroes that bring change for the better, saving, preserving and improving the prospects of communities in peril from great evils. What it lacks in moral sophistication it may gain with a broad brush of positivity, a sense that you, the player, can make a difference in a real world that conspires to prevent you from effectively doing so.
As projects go it is in early stages, not entirely confounded by two factors. One is that the name ‘Wayfarers‘ is currently in use for a 2012 RPG, that is still live and being sold on Drivethru. I expect that the similarity of the name may require a rethink at some point. The second is that there is a new Kickstarter that appears to be doing something similar: Westlands a 2d6 System RPG Core Book.
Menagerie Press is creating Westlands, a 2D6-based fantasy RPG with streamlined mechanics based on the Sword of Cepheus open game license system reference document. The 2D6 fantasy system (Traveller, Sword of Cepheus) has a true sword and sorcery feel, allowing exploration and adventure in a savage land. Action resolution is quick, putting an emphasis on story, not rules
In Westlands, we’ve taken the core open-license 2D6 fantasy reference material and are adding extra content, including reworked (more dangerous!) sorcery mechanics, optional rules for simple firearms, and an expanded bestiary.
The name Westlands is a nod to the West Marches RPG campaign style, which is a much more free-form, adventure-seeking campaign where the players decide their motivations and goals, rather than being directed via the game master.
This looks to be very good indeed, so have backed and look forward to seeing what they come up with. There are signs that it may be furrowing a slightly different direction, with dangerous sorcery and firearms. I’m going for more pervasive magic in a high fantasy direction. I also want to instill geography, places, with some game affecting attributes. These would be:
- Illume and Shadow. A place exudes the control it is under, the power that has strength over it. Poorly managed, oppressed or cursed, and the place will slip into Shadow. Activity that will support the community will be one difficulty harder (or maybe a DM scale of -2 to +2). The shadows will be deeper, resistant to the warmth of the sun. Conflict will prosper whilst individual health will suffer. Harvests will struggle with blight, and good trade will pass the place by. Many a location will be on a knife edge between Illume and Shadow, navigating the uncertainties of an uncaring world as best as possible. The heroes illumine the world arround them. Their deeds shifting whole places from the grip of dispair into a hopeful future. A place illumined will have good harvests, disease will struggle to take hold, children will be healthy and live into adulthood, tensions will ease.
- Mana. Old pacts, ancient legends and the ballads of recent times shape the mana of the land. Mana weaves itself into the state of the land, supporting particular magics and welling up chimera that exudes the character of the magic of the land.
- Location Qualities – place descriptors that act as scene DMs which can be exploited if they contribute to an action in the game.
These are early form thoughts, and will be supported by the lightest of mechanical effects. I’m trying hard to go with the simplicity of the Traveller aesthetic, without trying to create a carbon Traveller Fantasy. In fact I diverge from the standards quite quickly. Charateristics are currently set as:
- Strength
- Endurance
- Agility
- Intelligence
- Awareness
- Charisma
These are supplemented with an optional ‘Mana’ depending on your character’s Heritage (race) or Calling (profession). I wil lbe going with a roll 3D and drop the lowest roll as the default, with some adds and minuses for Heritage.
Other thoughts have created a skill list that works for me, at least as an initial draft. I’m creating some standard fantasy heritages with their own selectable Talents. Callings will have their own Talents, and there will be general ones to select. PCs will have three Talents drawn from these categories. Skills will be selected from Background, Calling, and a Group Pool. Calling Events are random, everything else is just selected.
Magic is currently based on ‘spheres’ that can be manipulated to create effects. As such they are freeform, with ‘spells’ created by the Mage, granting a +1 DM casting for the prepared nature of it. (Talislanta, I’m looking at you.)
We are still looking at a Cepheus base to everything, so the core will be rock solid.
Westlands might do enough for me to shelve this. Or, I might find there are some of my ideas that I want to syphon into that game. I think a reasonable goal is to have enough, in good enough shape, to be playtestable, if not publishable. If I can manage that then getting it out there for some play could happen this year.
Hope this sounds of interest? Let me know what you think?
