In The Beginning... There Were Cliches

The purpose of this blog is twofold. First I plan on using it to collect my random musings about role playing games. Second I plan on chronicling the RPs I'm involved with, primarily the Age of Heroes RP that I will begin on Saturday.

The Age of Heroes is a setting that has yet to be created. So far the idea is that it will be themed around the idea of epic heroes who serve in a world of meddling gods. A world where heroes are not just legends, they've been seen just two towns over. Or so you've heard. The Players will play characters who are either mortals raised high through their skill, the children of gods, powerful spirits, or even minor gods. Think Odysseus, Samson, or Gilgamesh.

The game's structure will be largely episodic, with each quest being one or two sessions long and contributing to the overall setting. I really want my players to have the feeling that they are changing the world. Additionally, the cast of each session will be changing. I've realized that I have at least 8 good players in my group, and there are more "fringe" players who I'd like to play with more. Thus, a rotating cast where each quest may have a different combination of involved heroes.

All this is getting ahead of myself, however, as the setting is not yet created. I plan on creating the setting with a group of the players using the Dawn of Worlds rules. Dawn of Worlds is a game where each player plays a god who is involved in the shaping of the world, starting with its geology, moving onto the creation of the inhabitants, and then having the inhabitants interacting. There is no way to "win," it's a game designed to build settings.

I'm not going to be playing it straight though. I'll be incorporating some house rules, mainly the idea of domains. I thought it would flesh out the pantheon better if each god had domains that they played towards. Each domain will have multiple aspects, an aspect being a related area of a domain that the player has a focus on. Whether they choose to focus on a single aspect, multiple aspects, or combine their aspects in an interesting way is up to them. The players will take turn drawing domains out of a hat until there are no domains left. They can then trade one domain to another player who is willing to part with a domain as well. Every action that a player takes that can be related to a domain of theirs (or one of their domains' aspects) will give them a benefit, either reducing the cost of the action or getting a bonus to a dice roll. The domains and their aspects are as follows:

1) Air/Lightning
2) Animals/Plants
3) Chaos/Freedom/Change
4) Creation (building)/Cities
5) Commerce/Wealth/Greed
6) Death
7) Destruction/Murder
8) Earth/Farming/Stone
9) Fire/Hearth
10) Glory/Hope
11) Knowledge/Skill
12) Law/Responsibility/Justice
13) Life/Healing
14) Love/Lust
15) Luck/Fate/Trickery
16) Moon/Darkness
17) Strength/Protection
18) Sun/Light
19) Travel/Communication
20) War/Tactics
21) Water/Ice/Sea

Hopefully playing such a session will cause the players to all have an investment in the setting. I plan on digitally recording the session and then paraphrasing it into a history of the setting. A possible arduous task. However, I have high hope for this game, and I think I'm up to the task.