Onyx Thoughts: Medieval Urban Fantasy Campaign

I have overwhelmed with work over the course of the calendar year as the place where I am CEO is going through a merger with a larger organization. The merger itself is a good thing, with no one losing their job, and lots of new initiatives on the horizon. But there is a huge amount to do in the meantime, so that it will be a success. There are a lot of organizational synergies on paper that can only become actual synergies through getting a boatload of crap done (that the kind of CEO lingo you learn in management school and executive courses). I am moving to a COO position with the responsibility for about 400 people, so I have a lot to wrap my mind around. Not to mention the legal, financial, HR and fiddly bits that goes with a merger. I guess my point is that the embryonic medieval fantasy campaign that I was working on several months ago, Onyx, disappeared from my blog.

The merger plus me running the Montporte Dungeon campaign put Onyx on the back burner, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been thinking about it from time to time. Since some of the other Monday Night Gaming Group guys will be GMing after we are finished with the Montporte Dungeon, I will plenty of time to work on a city setting before I come up to bat again as GM.

Right now, I am thinking that:

• I will use the cosmology from the current Montporte campaign. I like it and I can expand on it in a different setting.
• GURPS is my likely ruleset, but I want to take a look at Savage Worlds and Fate Core (or Fate Accelerated) before I decide for sure. I was really unhappy with AD&D 1e years ago when I using it in an urban setting and I think I would be even less satisfied with a d20-based game now.
• My campaign concept will be a mash-up of Constantinople, Thieves World, and Oceans 11. I think GURPS would really support that sort of combo. I thought about some sort of steampunky thing, but that seems to add more complication than it is worth.

Given that +Tim Shorts (Gothridge Manor) has been working on a campaign (pics of his maps here) and Dan is working on a high fantasy GURPS campaign, I have plenty of prep time ahead of me. Maybe I can engineer another merger while I wait.

Five for Friday 21: Mash-ups

"You got chocolate in my peanut butter!" "You got peanut butter in my chocolate!" Who doesn't like peanut butter and chocolate together (actually, I don't, but that is a Sheldon Cooper kind of sensory thing for me, a matter for professional help, and beside the point).

I like RPG mash-ups but I am not particularly creative with them myself, so I thought I would take a crack at coming up with five mash-ups. To be honest, I am more interested in what other people come up with, but here are some things that have occurred to me:

Constantinople (c. 1150) + Oceans 11 + GURPS: I have actually put some work into this one as my embryonic Onyx campaign. A medieval urban fantasy campaign, featuring a band of specialists engaged in heists against the rich and powerful. It is currently on hold because our Monday Night Gaming Group is busy with other stuff.

Dresden RPG (Fate) + Amish + Jack Reacher: Our in-house gaming group created the characters for this, but the three kids in the group all left for college before we could actually play. My wife created a young Amish woman whose spellcasting abilities put her at odds with her community and her own faith. I was bummed we never played. I was a delivery truck driver with Jack Reacher combat skills (much like real life).

Swords & Wizardry + Realms of Crawling Chaos + Post-Apocalyptic Detroit: It doesn't take much imagination to cast Detroit in this role.

PDQ + Steampunk + Alice in Wonderland: This would take a bit of work and I probably would hack a few existing PDQ-based games but this seems like a trippy rules-lite combo.

Crypts & Things + Weird Adventures + Silk Road (Central Asia): I have always like the part in Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indiana Jones travels to Nepal, plus I am a fan of Central Asia, medieval and modern. I also really like Crypts & Things and Weird Adventures. It would take a bit of work but C&T is really simple and WA is awesomely groovy.

Have you come up with interesting mash-ups and hybrids? Have you seen something created by someone else that strikes you as particularly creative, bizarre and fun to play?

Five for Friday 7: Constantinople for Gamers

As I continue to work on Onyx, my medieval urban fantasy campaign, I am doing a fair amount of reading. Fortunately, I have decent history library, featuring a couple of bookcases of medieval history. That can also be bane, as too much reading and research doesn't necessarily help. I have found that most history books do not provide a lot of useful information in terms of campaign design, so here are five book recommendations for gamers wanting to swipe ideas from Constantinople and Byzantium (in alphabetical order):

• Byzantine Armies, AD 1118-1461 (by Ian Heath, Illustrated by Angus McBridge): Part of Osprey's Men-at-Arms series, I picked this one because it corresponds to my particular focus in Constantinople (c. 1150). There is not a lot of depth, but there is a lot of useful gaming info here and the illustrations are great.
• Constantinople: Capital of Byzantium (by Jonathan Harris): If I could only read one book on Constantinople, this would be it.
• The Digest of Roman Law (by Justinian I): Player characters in trouble with the law? Perish the thought! Here are excerpts from Justinian's codification of Roman law. The introductory material, by C.F. Kolbert, is worth the price of the book and is very useful to gamers.
• The Oxford History of Byzantium (edited by Cyril Mango): The title is a bit misleading (which is true of many volumes in the Oxford History series). It is not a typical history book; rather it is a collection of essays on Byzantium. I wouldn't start here but if you already know a bit about Byzantium, some of the essays can be mined for gaming goodies (particularly the religion articles).
• What Life Was Like Amid Splendor and Intrigue: Byzantine Empire AD 330-1453 (edited by Ellen Anker): A lavishly illustrated book that is part of Time-Life's What Life Was Like series, this is a great place to get a feel for Byzantine history and daily life.

Notes:
If you are looking for an easy-to-read book on Byzantine history as a starting point, I would recommend A Short History of Byzantium by Julius Norwich (just don't cite it in your doctoral dissertation). I also liked Sailing from Byzantium: How a Lost Empire Shaped the World by Colin Wells and Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire by Judith Herrin. Both books are fun reads.

Steve Jackson Games has a groovy online bibliography of Constantinople and you can purchase their GURPS Hot Spots: Constantinople, 527-1204 A.D. as a PDF.

Onyx and GURPS

I continue to work on Onyx, my embryonic medieval urban fantasy campaign setting. While I am wanting it to be as simple and as systems neutral as possible, I am thinking that, when it is my turn to be GM for our Monday night gaming group, I will use Onyx as my setting and GURPS as my system. While a d20 medieval urban fantasy campaign is doable, I don't see it as the best match of setting and system. Fate would be good match of setting and system, but I am not sure how Fate would fly with my fellow players.

I am thinking of doing a heist-based sort of campaign: Fantasy + Constantinople + Oceans 11. I think it would be a blast with GURPS.

The Dungeon 1: Cisterns

I have been doing some research for Onyx, my embryonic medieval urban fantasy campaign. My focus has been Constantinople, the only large city in Europe during medieval times. As Constantinople had no reliable source of water within its walls, emperors and residents built hundreds of underground cisterns to store water from aqueducts and rain. Sounds like the makings of an urban dungeon to me. Here is more info on three of the biggest cisterns:

Basilica Cistern (Source: Wikipedia)

Basilica Cistern
The Basilica Cistern (pictured above) was built in Constantinople in the 6th century by the Byzantine Emperor, Justinian I. It is a huge underground structure. Check out the dimensions (according to Wikipedia): This cathedral-size cistern is an underground chamber approximately 138 metres (453 ft) by 64.6 metres (212 ft) - about 9,800 square metres (105,000 sq ft) in area - capable of holding 80,000 cubic metres (2,800,000 cu ft) of water. The ceiling is supported by a forest of 336 marble columns, each 9 metres (30 ft) high, arranged in 12 rows of 28 columns each spaced 4.9 metres (16 ft) apart.

For more info on the Basilica Cistern, click here and here.

Theodosius Cistern (Source: Wikipedia)

Theodosius Cistern
The Theodosius Cistern (pictured above) dates back to about 430 A.D. It is smaller than the Basilica Cistern, but it still an impressive 150 feet by 80 feet, with columns towering at around 30 feet high. Click here for more info.

Cistern of Philoxenos (Source: Wikipedia)

Cistern of Philoxenos
This was an older cistern, built under a palace and restored by Justinian I in the 6th century. Called Binbirdirek in Turkish ("Binbirdirek"="1001 columns"), this cistern actually has 224 columns, each about 50 feet tall. Click here for more info.

Cisterns as Dungeons
It seems to me that most medieval urban RPG dungeons are sewers or catacombs, but using cisterns for at least part of an undercity dungeon adds some additional flavor. If the cisterns are active, it also forces player characters to contend with water and water-bourne critters.

Five For Friday #5: Medieval Urban Fantasy RPG Resources

Pic Source: Kobblestone Miniatures

I continue to work on Onyx, my embryonic medieval urban fantasy setting. Below are five gaming resources that I am using for information and inspiration (in alphabetical order):

• A Magical Medieval Society: City Guide (PDF)—A really cool free resource from Expeditious Retreat Press. It is an excerpt from A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe, an excellent campaign building resource.
• GURPS Low Tech (Print)—There is useful info on weapons and armor here, but the real attraction to me are the other types of medieval technologies that would drive an urban economy. The Security and Covert Ops chapter is worth the price of the book (the info is mostly system neutral). You can purchase the PDF version here.
• GURPS Hot Spots: Constantinople, 527-1204 A.D. (PDF)—All sorts of useful gaming info on Constantinople, much of it is system neutral. There are all sorts of things than can be swiped for any medieval urban campaign setting.
• GURPS Hot Spots: Renaissance Florence (PDF)—Another GURPS Hot Spots resource.
• Vornheim: The Complete City Kit (Print+PDF)—Zak’s amazing resource and tool-kit for running a medieval city campaign.

Are there other resources that you would recommend?

Adventures in the Unnamed City 3: Restrictions & Limitations

Pic by Alan Lee

One of the draws of a medieval urban fantasy campaign is the potential for a very different approach to gaming than the usual wilderness and dungeon setting. In the typical dungeon or wilderness, players are typically limited only by character ability and by resources. Fireball a cave full of trolls? Sure, if you have the ability to do it, then go for it. There are usually no legal or social consequences for toasting up some trolls. You may wish you had the spell when you meet the army of giants ten minutes later, but that is a resource consideration. Legal and social considerations matter little deep underground.

In an urban setting, player characters are not so much restricted by resources as they are by other factors. Unlike the remote wilderness, legal and social consequences loom large in a typical city. For example, if I am use Constantinople as my historical foundation for the campaign setting, there are a couple of legal items that are big deals:

• Most Forms of Magic Are Highly Illegal
• Being Armed and/or Armored Is Illegal for Most People

This urban setting creates a very different set of circumstances than the troll-infested cave under the mountain. Imagine the consequences of tossing a 10d6 fireball into a crowded market to kill of a couple of thugs near the basket weaver's booth. The characters would be pursued to the ends of the earth in the name of justice.

To be clear here, I am not trying to do a historical simulation as I create my setting, so I do not feel bound by these two provisions. However, the idea of keeping some of these restrictions and watching how the players work around it might end up being one of the best aspects of the setting.

I can really see how this would work well with the system like GURPS. There might be a premium on unarmed combat, stealth, social skills, creative spell selection/use, and socio-economic status. Reputation and connections become critically important even as the importance of a shiny suit of armor fades into the background.

I think the challenge is in the implementation. I do plan to keep the setting as simple as possible, particularly at the start of the campaign. I also think it would be great to have the players participate in the creation of the setting. This assumes that they are interested, but that is a topic for another post.

Adventures in an Unnamed City 1

So I have started my working on my urban fantasy campaign setting in earnest (wherever earnest may be). It feels a bit daunting, but deciding to use Constantinople (c. 1150) as my point of departure helps considerably. I have a decent collection of books on Byzantium, plus I just picked up the GURPS PDF on Constantinople. Starting with Constantinople has at least moved me out of the starting blocks.

My original thought was to use Constantinople juiced up with a bit of magic and weirdness. While I still might do that, I am now thinking of creating a fictional city with a lot of elements lifted from Constantinople. I am also thinking that I want a setting that I can use with multiple rule sets--GURPS, FATE, and Swords & Wizardry--so for now I am mainly thinking about setting and not system.

What has worked well when you have run a medieval urban fantasy RPG setting?