woensdag 8 mei 2019

Tone and Style in RPGs

Over at Monsters and Manuals, this post continues to spark discussion. It is a post about the setting of the D&D game as "Straight Man". In other words: players bring more than enough antics to the table, there is no need to interject levity and humor in the setting.

Trey over at the Sorcerer's Skull disagrees. And I have found that I don't enjoy seriousness and grimdark as I once did. In order to provide a fun game for my friends and family, I've decided to turn a page on a new chapter and let new inspiration guide my creation.

When I was young, my Saturday mornings were filled with action packed animated adventures. The adventures of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, The Transformers, Legend of Zelda and Thundercats are all near and dear memories of my childhood. So when I was looking for inspiration to make my game more kid-friendly (and direct it away from brain-eating zombies) I naturally struck on these memories.

The World of Arcana is the theatre of a classic struggle of noble heroes versus tyrannical villains. The Knights of Palladium struggle against the mindless hordes of the Undying Emperor. Dividing the Western Kingdoms, bastions of light, and the evil Eastern Empire, is the Shadow Veil, a dark curtain of smoke. But other threats lurk. Beneath the earth in Sub-Arcana, Queen Chroma, Mother of Monsters, spawns vile monstrosities. To the south, in the jungles of Savagar, the Elven sect called Oberon's Children plots revenge against the humans that drove them from their ancient glades. And to the far east, the mysterious Enlightened make plans for world domination. All the while, an ancient force of evil, frozen in the far north, plots and schemes to collect the powerful Arcana Crystals that promise power and divinity.

I seek to make this world not another Tolkienesque, Realmsian high fantasy setting. I try to hew close to the saturday morning cartoons that inspired Arcana.

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