Friday, November 12, 2010

RPG Log: Board, Sword, and Cords group

So, every Friday at the college I work at we have a meeting of our local gaming group named "Board, Swords, and Cords."  It sounds vaguely S&M I know... but given the mix of tabletop and video gamers we have the name fits.

I'm one of the faculty advisers of the group and often try to run certain games for them.  Today I was able to gather a few of the folks interested in pen and paper games and got them to make some characters using the Hex Games QAGS system.  Granted we only used the "Quik Start" rules, but that was enough to get them up and going.

Originally I wanted to use the M-Force setting but as usual I was late to the wagon on this and found the damn thing was out of print and in works for a second edition.  Well hell... now what?

Make my OWN damn setting that's what.

So, the players are part of the "Pinkerton Monster Hunting Agency" in the "Old West."  This setting is actually one I've been toying with for a book idea.  Essentially it is a classic "Weird West" idea, but more steampunk than horror like Deadlands.

The idea was at some point during the Civil War, the ancient island nation of Lemuria revealed itself to the world.  The people were actually descended from the dinosaurs and only opened themselves to the world because of a disaster that almost totally wiped out their food supply.  Initially they appealed to the confederacy (being close to the gulf of Mexico and all) but were horrified to see a sentient race using slavery!  They quickly turned to the Northern Union and offered their aid in the war in return for food supplies.  The ink on the treaty was just drying when the Lemurians struck and struck the Confederacy HARD.  To be honest I am not sure what type of weapons I wanted to use here but I know they DECIMATED the South to the point of making the majority of it a wasteland.  Yeah the Lemurians REALLY hate slavery.

The North is still allied with them, but scared to death of them as well, and now there is a new frontier folks are rushing into to re-claim and re-build for the union.  This is where the players come in, they roam around for hire and deal with situations in small towns.

There is SOME magic in the world, but its more the classic pulp type (subtle and such and not whizz bang) and thanks to the Lemurians, technology has GREATLY advanced... but is all clockwork and steam powered because the Lemurians view using oil and coal akin to necromancy... (That got a laugh out of my group right there)

I had a bounty hunter, a sniper, a medic, and gunslinger and got them into the first adventure (basic idea... an jealous Asian rancher summoned a massive Oni to decimate his competitors... it was working until the Oni got free... which is where the players came in)  I just revealed the monster before having to stop the session...  but the players REALLY liked it and had fun.  I'll keep you posted on how else it goes and how the world grows as well.

3 comments:

  1. That setting sounds damned fun. I love me some weird west monster killing, and QAGS... well my opinion of QAGS should be pretty obvious.

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  2. Glad to hear QAGS worked out. Based on your game, you might like our Six-Gun Seven supplement, which we'll (hopefully) be releasing next year sometime. Also, speaking of Onis, if you read comics be sure to check out our buddy Cullen Bunn's book The Sixth Gun (from Oni Press). Definitely the same kind of weird west vibe.

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  3. Man I love the stuff from Oni Press, I'll have to check it out sometime. And the supplement would be greatly appreciated!

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