Ravenloft: GURPS or D20
Ravenloft: Berserk is inspiring and the setting of ravenloft so fits the genre. Its just demographic wise, they could've upped the scale. Adding depth to Vlad Drakov is fun and fleshing him out as a 3 dimensional character more so. The problem with flad is the redundancy with the Count Strad.
I moving away from the Vlad Teppes concept and moving to a tragic figure that would be more perfect for the role: Ivan the Terrible. A tragic figure that has a lot more research material available about him and not over shrouded with the myth of Dracula. Ivan the Terrible is also my inspiration for Nikolas Balthazar, in my setting of EAS.
The game is set in 751 in the setting timeline. Azalin has died and Vlad has eyes to the domain of the Wizard King. As a historical game nut, i have very low powered stuff and emphasizing on the social impact of certain abilities. Peasants crying "witch! WITCH!" and Inquisitors of the Eternal Order racing to burn those who don't follow the faith of the wizard king.
An inspiring voice or character to role-play Vlad as is Stellan Skarsgård when he played the antagonist in King Arthur. A warlord who has a soft voice but frightening demeanor. That's how I see Vlad Drakov role-played as. Then there are elements i picked up in Warhammer 40k, with religious zealotry, Ignorance, Fear, Suffering, Sin, Penance and despair all mix for a frighteningly fun setting.
Another thing I'm changing is Good vs Evil. Its a Gothic Tragedy/ Horror story. Irony and difficult choices should be part of the PCs challenge, as well as watching the roller coaster ride of the consequence in a dark and cruel world.
A world where the idea of fairness, justice and light has been lost to mere dreams and the need of heroes have long gone. The mists draw mortals whose fate may provide the greatest amusement to the darkest of forces.
Some guy asked me to run a game and bailed on me when I finished prep-ing it. (sigh) Fuck that, it was all set and things just don't go my way. I guess thats my own little ravenloft irony.
Research. One of the changes in ravenloft I made up is vlad's "blood tribute". basicall,y since it's a militarized domain, vlad would need more man power and as a capable warlord he knows the basics of logistics and man power. Vlad in his character sheet is very intelligent and at 80+ but still kicking ass (in the game its bec. of the "dark powers" i just made him a wily and fercocious old coot) he knows how to run his army... and this case a militarized domain. Vlad's habits can kill his domain's population and he needs a way to increase his numbers and military powers.
One of the infrastructures he set up is the blood tribute. basically a CHILD TAX. He takes children to be molded and drilled into his Spartan army. He also sells the services of his army and on the rarest occasions sell his soldiers. To say that having a child tax can kill your population as well, but under a centralized leadership things can be pretty good. The Blood tribute is not a every person rule. there are exceptions and it cyclic. Its main draw is that families can offer up a child to the "State" in lieu of taxes and the state can confiscate children if they can't pay taxes.
Its not a new idea but it adds flavor and an interesting twist to the setting. With a militarized state, men for the general populace are in short supply and the army tends to have all the money. So prostitution becomes a very lucrative profession. And since children can be used to pay taxes, a vicious cycle ensues.
What we have is a population growth that can be almost out of control.. except when you figure the part that vlad makes money by also selling the services of his forces (giving them valuable experience). Figure also that Vlad is actually a bit meritocratic bec. of his background, profession and from his character inspiration Ivan the Terrible (who also happened to hate nobles). Vigorous as a man fraction of his age, he is alert and perceptive. Weeding out the weak but maintaining a large man power base he is certainly gonna have a lot of very talented people making sure things run well.
He doesn't have magic in his realm but manages to not only keep up but challenge other realms which are at Renaissance level and that uses magic. Falcovia are like the Spartans (or Isreal).
One of the coolest thing i fixed up is that since a lot of his men are grow up in the spartan environment, he has the best army around. I wont go into the details but a gist of it: Psychology, Training (x3), Environment, Mindset and Leadership. Vlad would know best to organize a fighting unit and unlike the other armies, his men are coordinated enough to execute formation fighting.
Formation Fighting is a group skill that allows men to cover each other's backs, like in 300. Each man in a formation specifically designed to couple everyone's strengths into a war machine. Men's shields and fighting movement is carefully coordinated to maximize defense and and offense. Not to mention, wounded men cycle through the ranks to the back to recoup. This is deadly because only militarized cultures and lifestyles can afford the training and the environment to produce this coordination. IOW no one else in the realm can do this and typical medieval armies don't have choreography this painfully drilled in to their men.
Imagine a 20 by 20 man wall of steel marching into the an army many times it size. Its choreographed blocks, parries and strikes in mechanical precision. Men cut down so quickly and efficiently, with no effort is horrifying to men who's training doesn't match the Talon's own.
Then you have Vlad's light cavalry, soldiers who were at a tender aged reared to live and sleep on their saddles. Horse archery is a very difficult skill and at the hands of men trained their whole lives to ride and shoot they are the ultimate guerrilla weapon. These men are trained to keep a handful of horses for remounts can strike at any distance and at any time.
Then there is the heavy cavalry, trained to coordinate with everyone else. The medieval steam rollers of their day. Horses bred to be the largest and with the most violent of tempers. Armored tanks that plow through infantry like they were tall grass, their pikes glancing off thick steel front plates.
Plus the "shadowing" fighters (or guerrilla fighters before the 19th century term). Men who fight at night and in ambushes and lighting assaults. Like the vikings, taking the battle where an when they want it.
Highly trained they can adapt and change direction like a flock of birds. If their enemies are scattered the heavy infantry will cut them down, formed into an organized unit the horse archers will scatter them and weaken them, crowded and disorganized the heavy cavalry will crush them, and if they are invincible shadowing fighters will kill them in their sleep.
Suffice to say the game is: join vlad and aid his conquering the realm or join the wizard king and fight vlad. this would be a fun campaign (but I made it into a 1 sessioner to see if anyone wants to play it).
I moving away from the Vlad Teppes concept and moving to a tragic figure that would be more perfect for the role: Ivan the Terrible. A tragic figure that has a lot more research material available about him and not over shrouded with the myth of Dracula. Ivan the Terrible is also my inspiration for Nikolas Balthazar, in my setting of EAS.
The game is set in 751 in the setting timeline. Azalin has died and Vlad has eyes to the domain of the Wizard King. As a historical game nut, i have very low powered stuff and emphasizing on the social impact of certain abilities. Peasants crying "witch! WITCH!" and Inquisitors of the Eternal Order racing to burn those who don't follow the faith of the wizard king.
An inspiring voice or character to role-play Vlad as is Stellan Skarsgård when he played the antagonist in King Arthur. A warlord who has a soft voice but frightening demeanor. That's how I see Vlad Drakov role-played as. Then there are elements i picked up in Warhammer 40k, with religious zealotry, Ignorance, Fear, Suffering, Sin, Penance and despair all mix for a frighteningly fun setting.
Another thing I'm changing is Good vs Evil. Its a Gothic Tragedy/ Horror story. Irony and difficult choices should be part of the PCs challenge, as well as watching the roller coaster ride of the consequence in a dark and cruel world.
A world where the idea of fairness, justice and light has been lost to mere dreams and the need of heroes have long gone. The mists draw mortals whose fate may provide the greatest amusement to the darkest of forces.
Some guy asked me to run a game and bailed on me when I finished prep-ing it. (sigh) Fuck that, it was all set and things just don't go my way. I guess thats my own little ravenloft irony.
Research. One of the changes in ravenloft I made up is vlad's "blood tribute". basicall,y since it's a militarized domain, vlad would need more man power and as a capable warlord he knows the basics of logistics and man power. Vlad in his character sheet is very intelligent and at 80+ but still kicking ass (in the game its bec. of the "dark powers" i just made him a wily and fercocious old coot) he knows how to run his army... and this case a militarized domain. Vlad's habits can kill his domain's population and he needs a way to increase his numbers and military powers.
One of the infrastructures he set up is the blood tribute. basically a CHILD TAX. He takes children to be molded and drilled into his Spartan army. He also sells the services of his army and on the rarest occasions sell his soldiers. To say that having a child tax can kill your population as well, but under a centralized leadership things can be pretty good. The Blood tribute is not a every person rule. there are exceptions and it cyclic. Its main draw is that families can offer up a child to the "State" in lieu of taxes and the state can confiscate children if they can't pay taxes.
Its not a new idea but it adds flavor and an interesting twist to the setting. With a militarized state, men for the general populace are in short supply and the army tends to have all the money. So prostitution becomes a very lucrative profession. And since children can be used to pay taxes, a vicious cycle ensues.
What we have is a population growth that can be almost out of control.. except when you figure the part that vlad makes money by also selling the services of his forces (giving them valuable experience). Figure also that Vlad is actually a bit meritocratic bec. of his background, profession and from his character inspiration Ivan the Terrible (who also happened to hate nobles). Vigorous as a man fraction of his age, he is alert and perceptive. Weeding out the weak but maintaining a large man power base he is certainly gonna have a lot of very talented people making sure things run well.
He doesn't have magic in his realm but manages to not only keep up but challenge other realms which are at Renaissance level and that uses magic. Falcovia are like the Spartans (or Isreal).
One of the coolest thing i fixed up is that since a lot of his men are grow up in the spartan environment, he has the best army around. I wont go into the details but a gist of it: Psychology, Training (x3), Environment, Mindset and Leadership. Vlad would know best to organize a fighting unit and unlike the other armies, his men are coordinated enough to execute formation fighting.
Formation Fighting is a group skill that allows men to cover each other's backs, like in 300. Each man in a formation specifically designed to couple everyone's strengths into a war machine. Men's shields and fighting movement is carefully coordinated to maximize defense and and offense. Not to mention, wounded men cycle through the ranks to the back to recoup. This is deadly because only militarized cultures and lifestyles can afford the training and the environment to produce this coordination. IOW no one else in the realm can do this and typical medieval armies don't have choreography this painfully drilled in to their men.
Imagine a 20 by 20 man wall of steel marching into the an army many times it size. Its choreographed blocks, parries and strikes in mechanical precision. Men cut down so quickly and efficiently, with no effort is horrifying to men who's training doesn't match the Talon's own.
Then you have Vlad's light cavalry, soldiers who were at a tender aged reared to live and sleep on their saddles. Horse archery is a very difficult skill and at the hands of men trained their whole lives to ride and shoot they are the ultimate guerrilla weapon. These men are trained to keep a handful of horses for remounts can strike at any distance and at any time.
Then there is the heavy cavalry, trained to coordinate with everyone else. The medieval steam rollers of their day. Horses bred to be the largest and with the most violent of tempers. Armored tanks that plow through infantry like they were tall grass, their pikes glancing off thick steel front plates.
Plus the "shadowing" fighters (or guerrilla fighters before the 19th century term). Men who fight at night and in ambushes and lighting assaults. Like the vikings, taking the battle where an when they want it.
Highly trained they can adapt and change direction like a flock of birds. If their enemies are scattered the heavy infantry will cut them down, formed into an organized unit the horse archers will scatter them and weaken them, crowded and disorganized the heavy cavalry will crush them, and if they are invincible shadowing fighters will kill them in their sleep.
Suffice to say the game is: join vlad and aid his conquering the realm or join the wizard king and fight vlad. this would be a fun campaign (but I made it into a 1 sessioner to see if anyone wants to play it).
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