Anyone interested in a Alternate history Vinland Saga RPG.
This poll is to see if anyone would like to actually try out this idea. If it get's little to no interest then I'll give it a miss
Basically after reading and commenting on a thread discussing an alternate history scenario I have been inspired to try my hand at making an RPG.
Here's the thread in question.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...ed-as-a-colony
Basically the scenario is thus;
Instead of the haphazard settlement of Greenland that occurred historically, a noble/nobles of significant power and influence goes to the new world with a reasonably large number of well armed followers in the hopes of uniting the settlements in Greenland and carving out a kingdom.
The focus quickly shifts towards modern day Canada as the climate is much milder and plentiful in resources. As time goes on and the little ice age occurs Greenland is abandoned. Historically the settlers of Greenland either died or went to Iceland, in this scenario colonies in the new world would be much more firmly established and populous, meaning that Greenland is gradually abandoned in favor for 'Vinland', eventually giving 'Vinland' a population of 10,000+ viking settlers.
The Norse mix/marry with the native tribes they have allied/conquered so the kingdoms effective population is over 20,000+. The Kingdom becomes gradually cut off from Europe and is essentially on its own. It is not a homogeneous state, rather it follows the historic pattern of Viking settlement. Smaller islands will be taken over and towns and cities will be founded along strategic points on rivers and the coast, often significant distances away from each other, but almost always easily accessible via boat.
That's the background fluff (I'll flesh it out more later, there's already lots in the thread I linked), below is the actual RPG scenario;
A group of merchants/explorers explore the St Laurence river, bringing them to the great lakes region, where they hear tales of a great city to the west. They continue until they come to said city (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cahokia) where further mystery and intrigue take place, the culmination of which will end the game.
Not to give too much away, but there will be plenty of scenarios along the way, from trading, fighting natives, fighting rival explorers, battling the elements, wildlife and other survival elements.
I envision this being kind of an Oregon trail type game. You have a set place to sail from and a set place to get to, so it wont be free roaming as the path will mainly follow rivers. However, there will be opportunity to stop and explore certain areas.
There will be potential risks and rewards in every scenario and exploration area you come across. Some scenarios you can avoid/skip, some are mandatory, some can only be skipped or triggered by having certain skills (navigation, languages, etc).
I will have a mechanic whereby people can vote on certain scenarios. You are a party of equals (more or less) so you can vote on the steps you want to take. Such votes wont happen very often, but when they do the results can be pretty important. There may be instances when you can go against the majority vote, but those will be very rare and could come with big penalties, I haven't decided yet.
There will be a number of different classes you can pick from, each with merits and demerits that should offer a decent amount of role play (Thane, Skald, native scout, mixed race Indian/Norse Berserker, etc) I will also allow for there to be female characters as either shield maidens, or warriors from a native tribe etc. I'll be fairly easy going with RP elements and so if you can make something interesting and fitting with the alt history scenario I'll accept it.
I'm thinking this could be a good idea for a book or an Indie game so I figured this might be a good way to test out the core idea and see how certain scenarios might play out.
If this game gets enough interest (I think I'll need a minimum interest of at least 5 core players) then I'll create further threads going into further detail and additional polls on other aspects of the game.
Anyway hopes you guys like the idea!
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