FATHOM Maiden Voyage - an RPG

[Legendary Sidekick]

You've all heard the story before. Monster meets Girl. Monster captures Girl. Knight in Shining Armor rescues Girl.

And then there's this story.

The one where Girl shoots Monster in the face.

That's right, Mythic Scribblers! It's an RPG that's 100% monsters and maidens, and 0% damsel-in-distress. I'm rounding to the nearest hundred, but still... allow me to introduce my remix of the incomplete HAM2D6 ga brand new RPG with an imaginary drumroll and an actual title graphic that includes a copyright date just to make it look more official than it really is:

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Oh, and about me. I was off-site for quite a while after my career got derailed. I FINALLY received an offer this morning for a full-time teaching job. Over the weekend, I was already considering running my RPG on this site, and the one thing that made me iffy about running a game at all was riding on today's interview. It was a second interview, and it turned out they made up their mind about hiring me before I entered the room. I was pleasantly surprised to be handed an offer letter as soon as I sat down!

So anyway, I am definitely up for running a game. I learned lessons from the past: mainly, to not have a long-term the-fate-of-the-world-is-in-your-hands plot. The game will be a series of island-hopping adventures -- stories that end. In fact, that's what I'll call each part of the game. Not "chapters" or "episodes," but "stories."

 

[argentquill]

Sounds like a thing that's overdue . Like you say, in regard to traditional RPGs, it tends to be "fate of the world is in your hands" type of thing. When that attitude is prevalent, the most important thing becomes the "great, big important occurrence", instead of the characters. It's nice to think of stories where the most important thing is not to have impressive events, but instead to just have characters being themselves. And let them make decisions as themselves. After all, in real life, the most important thing we can do is just be ourselves.
So let the young woman be starting out her day, maybe just happen to hitch a ride on schooner going south 100 miles along the coast because that's where she can get a better price for her home-spun bolts of linen. Let the lackey of an evil wizard be guiding a magically mutated octopus to attck the schooner, since it's secretly carrying a magical item.
When the critter attacks, and she grabs a bow to also defend the ship(she's been bowhunting rabbits and deer in her little village for years), the lackey tosses her cloth overboard to get the magical item. In a rage, she jumps on him, grabs the box and hits him over the head with it, and the item spills out, and she involuntarily catches it (it's an hourglass filled with crimson ruby dust with a compass set in its center).
The compass spins as she grips it.
"You fool! You've activated it!" he screams.
"Pay me back for my goods, you knobhead!" She shouts, ignoring him.
The ship lurches, and he gets out from under her, scrambling topside and jumping into the sea, protected by his ring of water -breathing.
A shout from topside pulls the maiden's attention, and she pockets the hourglass and the three rolled parchment tubes that were in the box. She goes above-decks where the octopus has retreated, and the crew is saving the ship. Following the quartermaster's order, she climbs the rope ladder to untangle a rope hooked on the spar.
The ship limps into a closer port, and she disembarks, looking for a merchant named on one of the scrolls, to sell the hourglass for a profit and be rid of the thing.
What she doesn't know is that merchant is a crony of that wizard.
And what happens next depends on her own decision, for good or bad.
And despite whatever she finds out about the item, she's got no one to depend on except herself.
But it doesn't steal her thunder if certain male characters help her by giving her information, or provide transport to a little, hidden usland where the thing can be despelled and she can get her life back.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

The game is rather experimental, but yes, I try to let players' decisions affect the game and hope that none of my NPCs steal players' thunder.

By the looks of things, the fairy player found a very clever way to stop the horde, and between strategy and lucky dice, it looks like all seven samurai will get out of this mess. (I expected some deaths, but tried to make zero deaths possible. One NPC has 1hp, and another would have been down to 1hp if not for the fairy player's tactic.)

If you want to jump in after this battle, we can just have your character conveniently located in whatever path the players choose. They're one boss-battle away from finishing the island.

Next island will be loosely based on [Popular Sci-Fi Movie from the 80s] or even more loosely based on [Popular Kids' Movie from This Decade], depending where players decide to go.

If you do play, just pick a heroine (by which I mean race/class), and I'll set up a Rolz account. (No one played a Huntress yet, active heroines are Fairy, Amazon, Oceanid, Monstress:Harpy, but there's no rule against playing the same race/class as another player.)

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Regarding fate-of-the-world, that's a mistake I've made in past RPGs. It makes for a good hook, but kind of sucks when you realize it will take X months/years to finish the game.

A series of one-shots gives me the freedom to change my mind about the next level, and in fact, I come up with more than one idea for the next level and let players choose. Whatever isn't picked, I just let it go.

 

[argentquill]

Thanks, although I'm not a gamer myself. I've just found a lot of inspiration in the gaming and Fantasy world over the years. I love writing in the Fantasy setting.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

That's fine. Feel free to join now, join later, not play but read along... glad you like (and "get") the concept anyway.

 

[argentquill]

Thanks. Where do I go to read along?

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

I have it under the Mythic Worlds > Huntresses Attack Monsters! forum.