Spitballing re: a Codex Alera RPG

[Auronculari]

Fair warning to those still reading: much of this is spoiler-y, since it all builds on the end of First Lord's Fury.

Lately, I've had the idea of a Codex Alera RPG in mind rather strongly. So I've been working to develop a system and setting for it, to make it into something very much in keeping with the tone of the books but also new enough to be interesting for those already familiar with the series. I'd like to spitball some of the ideas I've got and see what y'all think.

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My notion is to set it 100 years after the end of the series (so in 100 AV), just after the death of Gaius Tavarus Magnus (note: he lived so long b/c of the chala bond). The concept for the setting is that with Tavi's death comes a new time of uncertainty for Alera, since he was the glue holding the tentative alliance with the Canim, Marat, and Icement together. In the mean time, new enemies and new challenges have appeared, with the looming threat of the Canean Vord having passed mostly into myth over the intervening years. This sets him in a position something like his father, who also threw Alera into a time of uncertainty upon his death.

Anyway, here are some ideas for the intervening history...

* Tavi appoints new High Lords to manage the cities of Alera as soon as possible, establishing new Dynasties where necessary that are mostly composed of the heroes of the Vord War. Bernard and Amara become High Lord/Lady of Riva, while High Lord Riva is moved to Aquitaine, Crassus takes on Phrygia while (somebody else - I don't really know who) takes up Rhodes. Veradis assumes her duty as High Lady of Ceres, and eventually marries Max who becomes High Lord Ceres. Forcia remains without a High Lord because it was completely devastated by the Vord, so much so that nothing but ruins remain where it once stood. Attica becomes the military encampment of the combined Aleran/Canim/Marat army while they drive the Vord back, but grows much smaller after the primary thrust of the reconquest is finished.
* The Vord Queen, just prior to her death, gave the order for a new queen to be let free of her cocoon in Kalare. This new queen was altered so that her instinctive drive would not be to conquer, but simply to survive. The aim of this is to allow the Vord to keep a beach-head in Alera so that when the Canean Queen(s) come back they will have an easier time invading. This Queen then goes underground, turning the Vord that go with her into cave-dwelling monsters who strike from below and consume any steadholders or armies that venture into their territory.
* The Canim and the Alerans, combined with the forces of the Marat, drive the Vord back to Kalare within a generation. The croach is destroyed and much of Alera is freed, though the area around Kalare remains wild and not under the control of any organized power.
* Having mostly defeated the Vord, the Canim then return to their aggressive ways and fight to take Attica as well as Parcia. They then allow the Free Aleran and others of a similar vein to live and work there, establishing it domestically as a Free City even while imposing military rule and turning the city's products and profits toward their engines of war.
* A lone Marat, outcast whelp of Herdbane clan, comes to form a Chala bond with a Vord through a series of unusual events. She is then the progenitor of Vord Clan, a small but growing clan of Marat who are by degrees tricked, forced, or coerced into forming bonds with Vord. These Marat turn to a sub-surface life in the Vord-dug caves beneath Kalare (and mount Kalus in particular), providing a new and dangerous foe to those who seek to retake that wild land.
* The Children of the Sun, long thought extinct, return from over the sea (in Maratea) to their ancient home in the Feverthorn Jungle. They take back what they once held, and though they don't take much more than that they make that country unfriendly to outsiders.
* Just a few months before Tavi's death, the Royal Navy in Westmiston is attacked and dealt a rather mighty blow by what appear to be a significant number of Taken Leviathans. Riding on their backs and hiding in their stomachs are Canean Vord - an expeditionary force from the gigantic Vord Nation in Canea.

As far as the system goes, I think it would be best to do something entirely novel to try to capture the 'feel' of Alera better. I've been kicking around ideas for a composite system that's level-oriented but also based on White Wolf's 5-dot Attribute/Skill setup, although I've labored under the assumption that Mental and Physical would be the only categories. 6 Attributes per category - one tied to each element - would form the basic strengths and weaknesses of a character, while their learned skills would be defined by 18 different skills (9 each in Mental and Physical). Additional powers would come from one of three places: fury-crafting, class skills, and racial skills. Everyone would have the ability to Furycraft (though Alerans would be categorically better at it), provided that they had the right furies at their command. 8 character classes (Warrior, Soldier, Diplomat, Performer, Rogue, Hunter, Artisan, Scholar) would each get 1 signature skill that they could add to the sheet, which would give them special maneuvers and such related to their class's purpose. Racial abilities would break down to things like the Chala bond or Canim sorcery, each of which would provide new tricks signature to that race.

Each time a character gained a new level, one of their furies or their chala would also gain a level. This way, they get increasing advantages from their furies/chala over time, and there is a differentiation made between the paganus ways of steadholders (who often only have 1-2 furies of high level) and the more cosmopolitan furycrafters (who often have many furies, each of which is lower level), while the marat's chala grows in power right beside them.

I haven't figured out the details yet, obviously, but I've been kicking the idea around for a bit and it seems fun. What do y'all think?

Luke

[Archmage_Cowl]

well personally i'm not to familar with the idea of the system your describing so i'd have to play it to make sure but yeah it sounds like it would be a ton of fun to try out.

[Auronculari]

Okay, I've been working on this for a while and I think that I have a good core system worked out.

Character generation:

It's based upon a few different factors. You first choose a Background - Barbarus (foreigner), Paganus (country-dweller) or Civilus (city-dweller). That determines your starting Attributes, Skills, Merits, the Races you can choose from and the Magic you start with. Barbarus is the only Background that allows you to play as a Canim or a Marat. Paganus starts out with more Physical Skills and more focused Magic, while Civilus starts out with access to more Merits, Mental Skills, and access to a more diverse array of Magic. Once you've got that picked you figure out your Race (if Barbarus), then move on to Attributes and Skills. Like While Wolf, you divide up your dots in these within limits that your Background provides.

After that you choose your Job. There are 16 Jobs to choose from - 4 Warriors, 4 Rogues, 4 Scholars, and 4 Others. The Warrior Jobs are Soldier, Knight, Scout and Duelist. The Rogue Jobs are Thief, Spy, Mask (master of disguise) and Assassin. The Scholar Jobs are Academic, Arcanist (specialist in ritual magic), Politician and Legion Officer. The Other jobs are Tradesman, Merchant, Performer and Farmhand. They each give you access to Feats, and allow you to pick up new dots in certain Skills/Attributes.

After that you choose your Magic. Paganus choose two 1st level and two 2nd level magics. Civilus choose four1st level magics. Barbarus choose one 1st level and one 2nd level magic from their race's special magic, and two other 1st level magics from either their special magic or Furycrafting.

Finally, you choose your Creed. Your Creed represents the core value or ethos that your character follows. Every time you make a heroic sacrifice or reach a milestone for your Creed, you get a Hero Point. Hero Points can be spent to do Magics you can't normally do, refresh your energy, or do other appropriately epic stuff.

Character growth:

You grow by earning xp. As you earn xp you pass certain thresholds, where your character effectively "levels up." These happen at 10 xp (Apprentice), 30 xp (Journeyman), 60 xp (Hero), 90 xp (Master), and 120 xp (Epic). You can also spend the xp you earn to get new abilities, though. Experience can be spent to buy levels in a new Job, to buy new Magics, to buy new Feats, or to Upgrade Magics you already know to make your character better at them.

Magics:

There is no "spell book" for the Codex Alera. Each character crafts their own powers within the mechanical and thematic guidelines given. Each higher level power builds on a lower level one, ranging from something like fury-assisted acrobatics at level 1 to flight at level 3 to epic feats of windcraft at level 5. Each power can also be upgraded, to make it more effective without raising its level. In this way, being better at one use of furycraft is distinguished from knowing many different uses of furycraft.

There are also 2 racial magics for each non-Aleran race. The Marat have Sun Chala (which makes their Chala stronger) and Moon Chala (which makes them stronger in the vein of their Chala). The Canim have Red Sorcery (curses that feed on Hit Points) and Green Sorcery (blessings that feed on Willpower).

The World:

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The setting is 100 years post-First Lord's Fury. In that time the Alerans have expanded to retake most of their former land, and they have learned to live with their neighbors a bit better. The Academy Nova has been upgraded to the Collegium, and it now teaches soldiering, scholarship, politics, magic, and every other important discipline needed to maintain Alera. Kalare is still a smoking ruin, having been inhabited by the shattered remnants of the Vord. Rumblings of new troubles are on the horizon with the death of Gaius Tavarus Magnus, and the strange sights seen over the western horizon. Dead leviathans have started to wash ashore, and some have started to wonder if the Canean Vord are coming for Alera at last. Finally, the dead race called the Children of the Sun have returned to the Feverthorn Jungle, claiming to have been living in Maratea to avoid extermination at the hands of the Aleran Legions. It's a setting ripe for heroes.

There's still a whole lot left to do, but I have really enjoyed the effort and thought I'd share. I'm at the stage now where I'm playtesting the basics of the system with a few friends of mine. Unless somebody buys it (which I highly doubt) I'm never going to do anything commercial with it... but the idea has been burning up my mind for months, so I thought I might as well share my progress with you all.

[smoore]

Some historical stuff that would just make everything make more sense.

Two of your plans are just bad ideas in a feudal system. They are how civil wars get startedn not that they arn't happening anyway, but the First Lord would never do what your suggesting as it would just open the realm up to problems.

In a feudal system its not really practical to take land away from a lord and move him. All the underlings are sworn to him and have loyalty to him. Land is granted to a man and all if his descendants for all time. Taking land, even to give him something better is a slap in the face.
 You can't practially move High Lord Riva, a lot of his power comes from the generations his family has built up connections in the area. Promotions are fine, promote the two you were going to put in Riva in Aquitaine, but a High Lord is technically a High Lord.

You can't give Crassus and Maximus both cities unless one of the them is Antillus. One of them has to be the High Lord of Antillus someday. He would end up with with 2 cities making him and his family way to powerful and upsetting the political balance. I havnt read the last book so you may have some reasoning Im not aware of but this just seems like a bad idea.

City dwellers should be Urbanus from the Latin for "city" not Civilus meaning "citizen".


Now the stuff that just my opinion about your rules you can just ignore this:
I think the concept of level based games is a step backwards in roleplaying. As is being more numbers heavy with attributes and skills. Rather than having backgrounds, jobs, magic just give people points and let them build a unique character. Its so frustrating in a game system when the rules say I can only play X with Y powers and never get Z power because it doesn't fit some arbitrary rule. Think how many time you wanted to play a Dwarf Paladin, or a Fighter with just 1 magic spell. Thats the system you seem to be setting up and it doesnt reflect reality or the characters in the book. They arn't limited in growth because someone chose Paganus for Tavi on day 1.

[Auronculari]

In a feudal system its not really practical to take land away from a lord and move him. All the underlings are sworn to him and have loyalty to him. Land is granted to a man and all if his descendants for all time. Taking land, even to give him something better is a slap in the face.
 You can't practially move High Lord Riva, a lot of his power comes from the generations his family has built up connections in the area. Promotions are fine, promote the two you were going to put in Riva in Aquitaine, but a High Lord is technically a High Lord.

Yeah, you're probably right. This part's still being worked on. What I put up months ago was an earlier draft of the narrative post-FLF, which could probably be done better. That's just the results of a few days' brainstorming.

City dwellers should be Urbanus from the Latin for "city" not Civilus meaning "citizen".

Yeah, whoops. This comes from my not knowing Latin at all. Civilus sounds a bit better to me - the relation to 'civilized' makes 'paganus' sound slightly derisive by comparison, and adds a nice touch - but you've got a point.

I think the concept of level based games is a step backwards in roleplaying. As is being more numbers heavy with attributes and skills. Rather than having backgrounds, jobs, magic just give people points and let them build a unique character.

The market for alternative types of RPGs is certainly there and there's a great many folks who like them, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that role-playing in general is headed that way. D&D is still plenty popular, and it's completely level-based with a huge emphasis on numbers. People are writing non-level-based, non-numerical, high-story RPGs right now but most of those RPGs are also modern, punk, and/or noir, which naturally lend themselves towards that sort of system. Medieval epic fantasy is a completely different beast.

[MijRai]

To make a CA RPG, I'd just modify DFRPG Fate system.
Make some of the external furycraft Channeling, Incite Emotions, etc. Internal stuff would be powers, like Inhuman/Supernatural Strength and Speed. Maybe even use metalcrafting for Toughness, and Water for Recovery. Canim would be able to use physical stress for magic (blood magic), and maybe Marat could get some weaker powers related to their beast, along with Echoes of the Beast. Maybe use this for control of Furycraft.
each one costs -3 (Aircrafting, in this case)
You start with 1 Internal Use (Inhuman Speed)
Refinement -1 would give you another ability, or boost an original. (Either boost to Supernatural Speed, or give Flight or Veils/Glamours. Boost Flight to experienced Flight or something, and add bonuses to veils or some such).
Limit to Supernatural, unless they are very high leveled in that crafting field. External craftings couldd work like evocations/short term conjured thaumaturgy.
With Earthcrafting, it'd be strength, or toughness for a Metalcrafter, or Recovery for a watercrafter. The Catches would probably be that Metalcrafters just tone it out, they're still hurt (Like a ghoul, massive trauma perhaps?), and water-crafters need water and time for it to work. I dunno what Wood and Firecrafters would do internally, besides Fire keeping you warm in the cold. The problem is that Wood is solely external, from what we've seen (Metal was solely internal, until the awesome Colossus armor came out).

[Tsunami]

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* Tavi appoints new High Lords to manage the cities of Alera as soon as possible, establishing new Dynasties where necessary that are mostly composed of the heroes of the Vord War. Bernard and Amara become High Lord/Lady of Riva, while High Lord Riva is moved to Aquitaine,Crassus takes on Phrygia while (somebody else - I don't really know who) takes up Rhodes. Veradis assumes her duty as High Lady of Ceres, and eventually marries Max who becomes High Lord Ceres. Forcia remains without a High Lord because it was completely devastated by the Vord, so much so that nothing but ruins remain where it once stood. Attica becomes the military encampment of the combined Aleran/Canim/Marat army while they drive the Vord back, but grows much smaller after the primary thrust of the reconquest is finished.

Lord Riva is Lord Riva, why move him? You could say that Riva died without an heir and one of Bernard and Amara's Children was appointed HL Riva afterwards.

Aquitane needs a new HL... simply appoint one of the normal Lords to be HL.

Phrygia has an Heir, the Stammering Boy who impressed Tavi and Kitai so thoroughly, nobody would stand for Crassus being installed over him.

Crassus takes over Antillus... he is the legal Heir.

the others are free to be filled at leisure

[Auronculari]

To make a CA RPG, I'd just modify DFRPG Fate system.

Don't get me wrong: I like the Dresden Files RPG. I'm going to get myself a copy once I have the money, and I'm certainly going to play the heck out of it.

It seems an injustice to put a coat of spray paint on one fandom to support the other, though. Dresden and Alera are completely different in style and theme. Dresden is intentionally a world of greys, of blurry lines and moral ambiguity, where the hero is the hero because he steadfastly refuses to give in to the darkness all around him. Alera is a world of history and tradition where the law is the cornerstone of society, and being the hero means standing up for it against those who would twist it or use it for their own ends. Having no clear definitions makes sense in Dresden, because the world is so blurry and noir. Doing the same thing in Alera doesn't fit as well, though, because it is a world of definitions and castes and borders.

The world lends itself to classes and levels, so I figure why not use them?

[Auronculari]

Lord Riva is Lord Riva, why move him? You could say that Riva died without an heir and one of Bernard and Amara's Children was appointed HL Riva afterwards.

Aquitane needs a new HL... simply appoint one of the normal Lords to be HL.

Phrygia has an Heir, the Stammering Boy who impressed Tavi and Kitai so thoroughly, nobody would stand for Crassus being installed over him.

Crassus takes over Antillus... he is the legal Heir.

the others are free to be filled at leisure

All excellent points, and stuff I probably should have thought of myself.

I'll keep those in mind when writing the post-FLF history. They're definitely worth remembering.

[MijRai]

Don't get me wrong: I like the Dresden Files RPG. I'm going to get myself a copy once I have the money, and I'm certainly going to play the heck out of it.

It seems an injustice to put a coat of spray paint on one fandom to support the other, though. Dresden and Alera are completely different in style and theme. Dresden is intentionally a world of greys, of blurry lines and moral ambiguity, where the hero is the hero because he steadfastly refuses to give in to the darkness all around him. Alera is a world of history and tradition where the law is the cornerstone of society, and being the hero means standing up for it against those who would twist it or use it for their own ends. Having no clear definitions makes sense in Dresden, because the world is so blurry and noir. Doing the same thing in Alera doesn't fit as well, though, because it is a world of definitions and castes and borders.

The world lends itself to classes and levels, so I figure why not use them?

I'm not saying play it like the DFRPG, I am saying use the mechanics. The whole Skills, Refresh, Aspects, etc. thing really do well with making anything into a viable RPG character.

[JosephKell]

I agree with Auronculari that just trying to DFrpg it doesn't do CA justice, but I disagree that it needs a class system.  CA is very much high drama, and Fate works great for that.  DFrpg with its variable refresh can actually work great for balancing between PCs (one person might want to be a citizen with one strong fury while someone else might want to be a "dual" citizen with two furies equally strong as the "single" citizen, the one with just one has more unspent refresh).

I don't think DFrpg's spellcasting system works at all for all types of furycrafting.

I don't recall seeing Earthcrafters getting exhausted by drawing strength from the ground (especially for using the roads, the whole point there is that it prevented exhaustion).

Maybe evocation works great for firecrafting explosions and watercrafting away wounds.  But a simple "copy, paste, remask" isn't going to be fun.

I can definitely say that a person can't do all forms of furycrafting of a given element at the same time.  They would have to "invest" a given fury to get an effect.  What I mean by "invested" is that an Earth Fury (for example) can either grant an internal effect (such as stamina and strength) or be manifested externally (as an elemental or to draw something up from the ground).  But you can't be made super strong and use your fury to calm a garmant (spelling?) at the same time.

The first thing I would do is to just make a list of demonstrated powers and record what they were attributed to.  Unfortunately, they can (and do) overlap.

For example:
Air and Metal were both attributed with reaction improvements.
Earth and Metal with stamina.  Earth by drawing it from the ground, and Metal by just being bad***.
Earth and Fire are both used as examples to influence others emotions.  Earth for animals (or to inspire lusty feelings) and Fire for being a strong orator.

I would just make the lists, separate the powers, then try to "price them."  Then there would also be a Furycrafter [-0] power that just allows a person to make use of basic tamed furies (roads, water spigots, fury lamps).

I would also make similar powers based on what the Canim, Marat, and Icemen have demonstrated as doing.

Don't start by trying to balance everything, just record everything first, break it down, then price it.

Obviously the simplest method is to just say all the things are separate powers and aren't blocking (which can be fine if they generally require actions to use, you can't use Strength to be awesome if you are currently using your action to craft rock from the ground).

But you might choose that you like the idea of having to commit (to use the Exalted term) fury power to individual effects.  In that case, you might want to keep that in mind as you create powers.

[mindsword]

ahaha. my searching is yielding more posts...

I've been trying to produce my own Codex RPG using the whitewolf d10 system. I don't know Fate, or the Dresden files RPG well enough to integrate them. I simply grabbed the New World of Darkness Core Rulebook and went to town.

I currently have 60 some pages (Word, single spaced, 12 font with some page breaks and pictures) of possible mechanics, plus some simple flair as well. I'll hopefully be play testing it over the winter and spring with my firend group. They all think of it in terms of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but meh.