Our first draft of The 2nd Age is now free to download on Itch. It’s evolved pretty far from its GLOG origins. What were class templates are now institution templates, with the emphasis on how these 12 institutions fit into the game world. It's currently geared toward a qualitative style of play, and Panic Pillow will likely produce a minimalist statement of rule to accompany this.
One way the project has evolved is as a result of our decision to makethe 12 institutions part of the same empire, which we’ve named Turandor. I’m going to talk through some of the implications of this below.
The Empire Files
The 2nd Age is an empire for insertion into your campaign. This makes it a little different to a setting, conceived as a region of a game world. The 2nd Age has no map. This is partly so it can be overlain onto existing maps, but also because the influence of empire can’t always be neatly defined by geographic boundaries.
What you get instead of a map are 12 institutions, all serving as tools of the empire. These institutions share a mutual interest in seeing the empire’s continued expansion. Players or non-player characters can align with an institution, to reap the benefits of rank advancement. But they only advance so long as their in-game actions reflect Turandor's interests.
How to Use this in Your Game
Turandor is expanding into is the wreckage of its own first age. This means the ruins players explore aren’t from some forgotten civilisation. As history begins its farcical repetition, the horrors they face instead offer a dark reflection of the empire’s current trajectory.
Perhaps the game’s best use as an adventure setting is an outpost of Turandor’s expansion. A by-product of recent magical innovation has been the permanent shrouding of the seas with a dense fog. Literal chains serve to guide ships through the shroud. There is a constant demand for venturers to fill these ships, and push Turandor’s borders outwards.
In an isolated outpost setting, the Empire has less resources to achieve its objectives and is forced to engage with rogue agents. In contested territory, the PCs may serve as mercenaries, with greater freedom to pursue their own ends than in a civilised setting. Shortages of manpower mean it will not be uncommon for members of different institutions to band together.
Turandor can be integrated into an existing setting by overlaying the Empire’s interests onto the setting locations. This a little different type of benevolent kingdom often depicted in an RPG setting. In the classic G1 module Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, the kingdom’s interest in the location is to quell a gathering of evil forces. As an expanding empire, Turandor’s goals won’t always be uncontroversially positive in this sense.
We are used to considering why characters would be interested in an adventure location, which often amounts to the promise of treasure. Turandor’s interests might overlap on the same locations. These could include:
· Securing a strategic resource
· Acquiring a stronghold to defend its territory
· Eradicating those hostile to their interests
Players may find themselves torn by conflicting priorities at the same location. Achieving the Empire’s goals is an opportunity for rank advancement; acquiring artifacts and treasure might offer a path to resisting the Empire’s influence.
Summary
I’ll be expanding on some of the above ideas in future posts. The list of 3 “interests” Turandor could take in an adventure location feels like it could easily be longer. I’m working on d20 list (in the style of 2400) of these.
I'll also talk about the concept of mutual interest, which serves as the base assumption about how institutions relate to each other in The 2nd Age. This contrasts pretty sharply with one of the OSR’s common assumptions about group interaction - factionalism. In a future post, I'll be putting factions under the spot light, and questioning their use as a basis for world building.
Turandor is expanding into is the wreckage of its own first age. This means the ruins players explore aren’t from some forgotten civilisation. As history begins its farcical repetition, the horrors they face instead offer a dark reflection of the empire’s current trajectory.
Perhaps the game’s best use as an adventure setting is an outpost of Turandor’s expansion. A by-product of recent magical innovation has been the permanent shrouding of the seas with a dense fog. Literal chains serve to guide ships through the shroud. There is a constant demand for venturers to fill these ships, and push Turandor’s borders outwards.
In an isolated outpost setting, the Empire has less resources to achieve its objectives and is forced to engage with rogue agents. In contested territory, the PCs may serve as mercenaries, with greater freedom to pursue their own ends than in a civilised setting. Shortages of manpower mean it will not be uncommon for members of different institutions to band together.
Turandor can be integrated into an existing setting by overlaying the Empire’s interests onto the setting locations. This a little different type of benevolent kingdom often depicted in an RPG setting. In the classic G1 module Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, the kingdom’s interest in the location is to quell a gathering of evil forces. As an expanding empire, Turandor’s goals won’t always be uncontroversially positive in this sense.
We are used to considering why characters would be interested in an adventure location, which often amounts to the promise of treasure. Turandor’s interests might overlap on the same locations. These could include:
· Securing a strategic resource
· Acquiring a stronghold to defend its territory
· Eradicating those hostile to their interests
Players may find themselves torn by conflicting priorities at the same location. Achieving the Empire’s goals is an opportunity for rank advancement; acquiring artifacts and treasure might offer a path to resisting the Empire’s influence.
Summary
I’ll be expanding on some of the above ideas in future posts. The list of 3 “interests” Turandor could take in an adventure location feels like it could easily be longer. I’m working on d20 list (in the style of 2400) of these.
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