Hi everyone, I’d like to get your opinion before diving into a time-consuming project, just to see if it’s truly worthwhile.
It will be a game aid and the project’s main theme centers on mixed-bloods—bastards—and their living conditions, relationships with others, and worldview.
The setting, in brief:
A group of mixed-blood slaves working for a minor merchant house faces a dilemma that leads to their unexpected freedom. Caught off guard by their new status, they eventually agree on a course of action: they will continue to play the part of slaves while handing the reins of the house to its last surviving heir—who is also of mixed blood.
The merchant house’s operations will serve merely as an official cover, allowing them to pursue their own private objectives.
Working from the shadows—unseen and seemingly subservient—they are now the masters of their own destiny…
The steps involved:
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managing the merchant house to generate enough revenue to fund their activities,
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a “council” to decide on the path forward and specific actions to take,
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defining the group’s ethical code,
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building and expanding their network without revealing their true nature; recruiting new members. This is a major part of the project, driven by roleplay and the chosen ethical stance: admitting only mixed-bloods (a purist approach?), or taking a more open-minded route by integrating other races to achieve their ends (a radical approach?).
This project has several objectives—summarized here and still being refined:
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To give players a way to forge group cohesion among characters with widely varying origins and classes.
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To provide a meeting point that serves as a true anchor—a base of operations or headquarters—capable of evolving based on the events the players experience.
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To allow PCs to “choose” their future adventures by roleplaying as a leadership council. This council is the group that founded the organization, though its members aren’t necessarily the ones heading out on missions. The council can dispatch PCs, selecting—for instance—the characters best suited to the objective (there is no point sending combatants on an espionage or infiltration mission).
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To give GMs an easy way to integrate new characters.
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To allow PCs to define the scope of their actions: what they are willing to do and the lines they refuse to cross.
If you are a player, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this kind of group.
What do you think of such an undertaking? Does the management aspect—handling the “behind-the-scenes” work like resource management, networking, recruiting new members, etc.—appeal to you?
How do you feel about playing different characters tailored to the chosen scenario?
Does the idea of roleplaying the council (which can also go on missions itself) make sense to you when it comes to selecting missions?
Ultimately, the true hero is the evolving community itself rather than your individual characters; is that an issue for you?
If you are a GM, would you use a tool like this for your campaigns?
Are there other elements you think should be included?
How would you handle integrating new characters in the event of a death or a new player joining? How do you manage characters with diametrically opposed mindsets?
Finally, as for the title, I was thinking of:
The Bastards’ uprising,
Bastards,
Mixed-bloods,
with a preference for the first one. What do you think?