The Party as a Mirror for the world

I ran into an interesting phenomenon when running my bi-weekly Infinity: The Roleplaying Game. The game itself was a kickstarter and is currently shipping (check out the quickstart), though that’s not what this post is about.

By default, in the Infinity RPG, characters come from very different backgrounds, from the hyper-capitalist hyperpower PanOceania or the Neo-Anarchist megaships of the Nomad Nation to the rugged backwater nations of Ariadne or the cloning vats of Aleph, humanity’s sole AI. However, as per the standard design of the game, the characters will be working together in a supra-national team, usually dealing with crises that threaten the stability of humanity as a whole. This of course results in wildly different personalities and loyalties, something the game loves to play with. You see, there’s a layer placed on top of the normal special operations, diplomatic wrangling and rooting out alien infiltrators that the game usually deals with.

Get down john connor!
Just a normal day in the life of an Infinity character.

Every character has a handler (or more) that represents the interests of the nation state they ostensibly are loyal to. These handlers will provide side-missions to the character and that character alone. And that is where it gets interesting.

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The Hands of Tenzin

This week, i’m trying something different. I’ll be doing a writeup of a class variant for my own D&D 5e game. One of the characters is (was) a member of an exclusive sect so it seems only fitting that they’d get a unique class variant.

And as an added bonus, I get to use these sweet powers for my adversaries, her former sisters in arms, when they inevitably come for her.

Images of a tree in four seasons.
Four seasons, Four hands, Four elemental domains. Man, this Tenzin guy sure likes his fours.

A bit of backstory on these ladies (and rarely men). The Hands of Tenzin are a group of spellcasters who serve the king of Aracea. They are responsible for keeping the magical energies of the world in check and as representatives of the god Tenzin, are expected to guide the seasons where neccesary.

Everything clear? Cool, let’s dig in.

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Adult themes & You

Aka, Get a room, you two!

WARNING, this one may be NSFW!!

Let’s face a couple of facts before we get into this:

  • Humans are carbon based life forms, driven by a need to survive and procreate. (Sex makes the world go round.)
  • Both men and women agree that the female form is just all sorts of amazing.
    Especially in their prime. So much so that our society near worships the perfect female body.
  • And those not shy enough to admit, can say the same for the male physique as well. Again, primes more than others. Men strive to attain it, women strive to have the men that posses it.
  • Sexual attraction and urges heavily influence our society.

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Building your world

Aka, Once upon a time…

Before you choose your system,
before you dream up your antagonist or end  boss,
before there is even a mention of classes and sheets,
There is a talk you need to have with your players.

You may already have certain wants and interests for a possible campaign.
But to have an interesting and engaging game for your players, you will need to involve them in the creation of your world. Sit them down and spend some time on hearing them out. This can vary from group to group. From an hour to several sessions. If you can’t meet up in person, try and at least get a discord or skype call going. This will save you some trouble.

A gaming group but with Matt Mercer

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