Yeah, that's right, this is the best image I could come up with.
Here’s the hook:
It’s the turn of the century. The 3 most powerful nations have decided to sign a peace treaty and the continent (name probably pending) enjoys a period of peace. With the peace treaty being ratified for the most part, the three nations have turned their attention to pioneering. Their efforts have been focused on the frontier, a relatively untamed wild stretch of land, teeming with resources for the taking. The locals cooperated after some negotiations and they soon began to truly explore the frontier. It was around this time that a mysterious stranger revealed himself while the three nations were signing another treaty. The cloaked stranger declared that the wishing star, a legendary stone capable of granting any wish, was hidden somewhere in the frontier. This news alone shot the era into one of strong support for exploration, where there was tentative interest there was now a raging demand. The wishing star with the power to grant any wish was a prize worth dying for. The 3 nations and several other powerful factions have injected many resources into finding the wishing star, as well as several notable individuals. Rich people and famous bounty hunters have devoted lots of time, effort and money into the frontier, though not all who flock to its borders are so fortunate. More than anything, the rumours of the wishing star have attracted the desperate, those whose wishes are impossible to grant by normal means. And thus they flock to the frontier, the rich, poor, chaotic and organised alike. The curtains rise on this chaotic age, full of hope but fraught with danger. No one knows what lies in wait in the frontier.
So what’s this boil down to?
It’s basically a wild-westerny fantasyish steampunky kind of deal focusing somewhat on character development with a centralised plot device which everyone wants, and they’ll as much steel, bullets and magic power they need at their problems until they get to it. Today’s object of plot relevance is the eponymous wishing star, a gem that has the power to grant wishes. No one really knows how it works or why it exists, but people have gone farther for less.
Several factions also vie for possession of the wishing star. While each of the three nations are, in theory, on peaceful terms, the wishing star could be what breaks the stalemate. Smaller parties can also gain the potential to rise above the 3 nations with the power of the wishing star, so pretty much everyone wants it, including the player characters.
The aim of the game is to get to the wishing star first. No one knows where it is, but they know that it’s somewhere in the frontier. Whatever it is you want with it, you’re gonna have to work damn hard to make sure that you get it because everyone is giving it their all.
But wait, isn’t it dangerous in the frontier?
Yes. Yes it is. That isn’t stopping anyone.
Frontier survivor’s guide to living for longer than 5 minutes
The frontier’s a harsh place, but there’s a solution to every problem, and more importantly, there’s always a sharp stick for every beast, baddy or wall that happens to look at you funny. It’s a dangerous world, but if you arm yourself well enough then it’s the world that needs to be afraid of you. So listen carefully.
There are 3 types of weapons commonly used in the frontier, 1 sub-type that doesn’t count as a full weapon type (the hybrid) and 1 type that is often ignored. They are as follows:
Everything that lives has magic in it, whether they can use it or not is another matter entirely. It permeates all living things and causes a number of health benefits including faster reflexes and increased natural regeneration. Magic is life and most are content to leave it at that, but as always, there are those who take it further. Magic is divided into 2 sub-categories; runic magic, the most common, and innate magic, which is fairly uncommon (although technically everyone has it what with magic being in everyone but shh).
Our ancestors knew what they were doing with this stuff and words have been a traditional source of power for a long time. Several different cultures have different runic alphabets tied to ancient roots, and each works in different ways to each other. Magic has been everywhere for a long time and using the written language as a conduit for magical power has led to a practical and easy to use method of magic.
Runic magic uses written letters to collect, store and process magical power before releasing it to wreak havoc on your foes. There are several types of runes and several different ways of releasing the magic, such as the constant release runes which, when active, filters magic constantly to do the job, one-off runes which do the job once before disappearing, and multi-use which can be used again and again. Any living being can use activate rune magic, but not many take the time to learn the bothersome process of rune magic as if you mix it up even the slightest bit you might find that you accidentally used Laguz rather than Ansuz, making your all-important prisoner of war spill water rather than the beans. Runic magic needs precision to get the best effect and as such impractical is to create in direct combat, but prior preparation can more than make up for the lack of speed with copious amounts of power and can be rather versatile. Put it on a rock and you’ve got some throwing magic. Tattoo it on yourself to get out of a hairy situation, or put it on your weapons for extra punch. A lot of things can be done with runic magic but if you’re in dire need of a bear’s strength and all you have is 3 slots worth of owls’ wisdom then you’re going to have a bad time.
Rather than the INT-based knowledge-centric runic magic, innate magic is a much more comfortably CHA based affair. Runes act as conduits for magic power but the human body has lines too. Some people are born with their veins and muscles twisted in such a way that their bodies act as natural conduits for magical power. These innate magicians are colloquially referred to as ‘psykers’ by some; namely, me. Innate magic has great base power but far less potential than runic magic, with the ability to dispense a quick and easy solution, albeit a weaker and potentially less efficient solution that masterfully executed rune magic could attain.
Innate magic is pretty much a shortcut to the results and can be used to an extent by most, but to pull out any real power it must be trained and cultivated. Similar to rune magic; less easy to find but is usually intuitive to learn. Innate magicians can make for some pretty creative people.
Melee weapons Don’t let the title fool you, melee weapons can be as interesting or uninteresting as you’d like them to be. Swords, axes, maces, polearms, whatever you can think of. The age old adage of bigger sticks being weightier and more satisfying can ring true, but small sticks have their own selling points. The simplest and one of the most diverse category of fighting power, some morons even resort to using their fists in a world of guns and magic, but this is a world where bringing a sword to a gunfight isn’t necessarily a downside and with the aid of innate magic, fists can be used to deflect bullets, it just takes a lot of balls and practise.
Many melee-enthusiasts utilise armor to better protect themselves in a fight but armour is expensive and some get just by on their speed and a lot of luck. This process is made somewhat easier as magic naturally increases human reflexes, allowing sword-wielding fighters to really stand up to those pesky rangers.
Don’t let the name fool you (again). Guns are the newest and most undisciplined form of combat to date, although that hasn’t prevented the rise of gun disciplines and the legendary gun kata is a sight to behold. With that being said, the majority of plebs can only dream of mastering gun fu and must instead settle for boring old reliable ranged damage from behind cover.
There are several schools of thought that believe the gun is the penultimate weapon of range that replace all previous conventional range weapons, a school of thought which happens to be wrong. Guns were created to replace cumbersome crossbows, if one takes time to master the bow then they can make their weapons perform far better than any gun. But a big bow is hard to fit in a narrow doorway. Guns are easy to use, easy to carry and are pretty convenient but lack the skill ceiling other ranged weapons (such as the good old throwing rock) can display.
Hybrid weapons are weapons that mix the weapon types to create unique combinations. It’s to be noted that etching reusable runes onto conventional weapons is a common occurrence, but gun blades are significantly rare, if not unique, because people discovered a long time ago that they kind of suck. A weapon is best if it’s balanced for either swordplay or gunplay, so gun blades typically either end up being impractically large bladed bayonets or really bad swords that shoot bullets into your leg.
Runic enchanting is usually the way to go. Anyone alive can use it, though some have specific control requirements. Common enchantments need simply for a living thing to hold the weapon, but some enchantments require the injection of magic to activate its effect. Some require more magic, some less. Some build it by absorbing magic from the environment or take it from the user directly. There’s a lot of stuff you can do with it, but unfortunately, I’ll have to wrap up this guide here. That’s all you get for $9.99.
The final weapon you can use in the frontier is one that is often forgotten. Diplomacy, speechcraft, the greatest weapon in a politician’s arsenal and the one weapon used the least by the large majority of people in the frontier. A skilled fighter can take on 10 men at once, the world’s best gun can kill 10 men at once, a well prepared spell can kill hundreds, but a well-placed word can end conflict before it even begins. In a way, this weapon is the most difficult to use and master, but it’s not without rewards. The many factions that fight for supremacy may just heed a friendly word. Everyone has their enemies but not many have more allies than their nemesis.
Alright, now that’s over with…
Let’s get straight to business, shall we? Here’s what I need from you, the players.
People who’ll be more responsive than a dead fish
People who won’t die on me suddenly and without warning
Character potential
People
There’s a little hyperbole in that so let me just get my reasons out of the way. The reason I made this interest check was because my last most active RP’s GM got hit by typhoons and real life overwhelmed them. Now with a grand total of bugger all RPs, I decided to do this. With that being said, if this really gets going, I don’t want it to die so you better make doubly sure that real life isn’t about to rear end you out of nowhere.
No Character sheet template yet because this took me 3 days and I’m currently suffering through exams so excuse me if I have priorities.
Oh, and this'll be up in the casual section but don't let that bother you.
