Introduction
- Introduction to The Bladelands Chronicles
- Introduction to Live Role Playing (If you know nothing about LRPing, we suggest you read this first....)
The Bladelands Chronicles
The Bladelands Chronicles is a high fantasy, low hit, Live Role Playing (LRP) system run in the UK by Majestic Oak Ltd. The game is set in a pseudo-medieval fantasy world, the geography of which is based upon a modified version of Europe, with the British Isles forming the Bladelands. The Bladelands are at the very edge of the known world, considered by most people to be at the very ends of the earth. Separated from the mainland by a wide stretch of treacherous and stormy seas they are remote and inhospitable islands, but they are the most magical lands in the known world, and as such they are rich in resources both magical and mundane. You would be forgiven for thinking that the Bladelands would consequently be home to a thriving and civilised culture, but with the abundance of magic comes an equal measure of danger. There are innumerable dangers in the Bladelands from ferocious creatures to savage tribesmen and strange magics, but the most peculiar and defining feature of the Bladelands are the Bladestorms from which the islands derive their name. These swirling storms of razor-sharp shards descend upon areas where large numbers of creatures gather together with hostile intent, killing all in their path. This makes it impossible to gather large armies, and for this reason the Bladelands are split up into much smaller feifdoms than the kingdoms and countries that cover the rest of the world, since no one ruler can gather the fighting men necessary to dominate more than a small area of land. Very little is known about the Bladestorms, but they are believed to be a natural consequence of the overabundance of magic in the Bladelands.
Despite these risks, many travel to the Bladelands to seek their destiny or their fortune, or to escape some dark past or avoid an unpleasant future. For this reason it is considered extremely bad manners to ask directly about another's reasons for leaving the mainland and risking the perilous journey to the Bladelands. Too many folk have secrets they would rather not share from their past lives for such things to be a comfortable topic for conversation. Many travellers die on the journey, especially on the final leg. Shipwrecks are common on the treacherous seas, known as the Stormy Straights, which separate the Bladelands from the mainland, and pirates add further to the danger. Every ship's captain seeking to travel to the Bladelands will retain the services of a member of the Guild of Navigators in order to make the journey to the port town of Sanctuary, the only place on the Bladelands to which safe passage can reliably be made. At one time, many years ago, safe passage could be obtained to a different port town, Haven. Unfortunately, the magical storms shifted and that link between the mainland and Haven was destroyed and the Navigators disappeared. Some were killed by angry nobles, some were lost to the storms and there followed a period during which no one was able to travel to the Bladelands. Recently the Navigators have begun to rebuild their Guild and it has become possible once again to travel to the Bladelands. Everyone who travelled there before this 'sundering' has been lost and is assumed to be dead. The only information known about the islands back on the mainland stems from the tales of those travellers who have returned, which grow more outrageous with each retelling. It is generally impossible to separate fact from fiction in such tales, and common maps of the known world have a tendancy to say little more than "here be dragons" across the isles.
Players play characters from one of the various countries which make up the mainland who have left their previous lives, for one reason or another, and set off on the dangerous journey to the Bladelands. PCs are considered to be the lucky ones who manage to survive the journey, to begin to make a new life for themselves. Events are set in one particular Bladelands fief in which the PCs settle, and will revolve around the struggles of that fief and its occupants to survive in such a harsh and dangerous land. You do not need any detailed information about the fief in which events are set, or about the Bladelands as a whole, as your character will first arrive in the Bladelands when you do, so you can learn about it IC. Your character will, however, have heard many stories about the Bladelands - more information is available in the world background.
At present players may only play humans from the mainland who have recently arrived in the Bladelands. In future we may open up the opporuntity to play other races, or folk who have been in the Bladelands for longer, but at present this is not possible. For those who wish to play something more unusual, it is possible to play a "Changeling" - humans who find themselves affected by the magicical atmosphere of the Bladelands when they arrive, and begin to develop unusual physical characteristics, such as pointed ears, scaly skin, tails or horns, as well as the opportunity to possess some unique magical abilities.
The following are good inspirational works from which to draw an impression of the look and feel of the world we are trying to create for The Bladelands Chronicles:
- Authors:
Raymond Feist about the Kingdom of the Isles (Magician etc)
David Eddings (Belgariad, Malorian etc)
David Gemmel (The Drenai Saga, Waylander etc) - Films:
13th Warrior
King Arthur
Lord of the Rings
Excalibur
More detailed information about the Bladelands world background and game mechanics can be found in the System chapter of this site.
Please note that the Bladelands world is not a sexist one, but for ease of reading male pronouns are generally used. Throughout this site, and in all other documentation relating to the Bladelands, read "he/she" for "he", "son/daughter" for "son", "Lord/Lady" for "Lord", and so on.
Live Role Playing (LRPing)
For those who are wondering, live role-playing (or LRPing) is a hobby in which each participant ("Player") creates a character who inhabits a fictional world, much like the characters in a book or film ("Character"). The Player then takes up the role of their Character, as if acting in a play or film, as they face and hopefully overcome various challenges put in their way by the Referees ("Refs") - the people who are running the game. If you have ever wanted to escape from the mundane world and become your favourite hero from a film or book, just for the weekend, live role playing is your chance.
Unlike acting, however, in LRPing there is no script and no audience. Each Character is free to act as they wish, without being constrained by any pre-determined plot. The characters create and shape the story line as they go along, guided by the Refs. The only audience is the other players, who participate as well as watch. So if you are one of those people who always shouts at the television when characters do something you consider foolish, this is your opportunity to step in and stop them.
The Refs, who run the game, are aided by a crew of people who play various parts, depending on what is needed. They may play 'line monsters' - monsters who are usually just cannon fodder, there to be killed in large numbers by the players - or 'non player characters' ("NPCs"), which have a more detailed background and history, and may have important information to impart, so should be talked to before being killed.
The challenges which the Refs give the Player's Characters vary wildly depending on the event, but typical things might be, for example, discovering the location of an important artefact or enemy base, defeating an enemy (everything from asassinating one man to defeating entire armies or mystical or magical creatures), rescuing damsels (and the male equivalent) in distress, escorting merchant caravans through dangerous territory or defending forts against invading marauders. Once the task or danger has been identified, it's up to the player characters ("PCs") to find a way to deal with it, hopefully, but not always, successfully.
To help everyone interact in a consistent way during an event, there is a 'system' - a combination of world background information and game mechanics, which together form the rules of the game. The world background is information about the world in which the events take place. For example: what countries exist, who rules them, and what form of government they have (feudal, republic, democracy, etc); what races exist and what they are like (elves, dwarves, goblins, etc); and what gods exist and what their spheres of influence are. The game mechanics govern interactions between characters. For example, if you have a magical spell cast at you there need to be rules to tell you how to react, or if you have a fight there need to be rules to tell you who wins the fight, whether anyone dies, and how you can be healed from any injuries. Things which relate to the game world and happen during game time ("Time In"), are referred to as In Character ("IC") while things from the real world which happen outside of game time ("Time Out") are referred to as Out Of Character ("OOC").
The major difference between live role playing and most other types of games is that rather than competing against the other players you are working co-operatively with them to overcome the challenges set by the Refs. Although conflict can, and does, exist between PCs, this is usually secondary. There is no 'winning' or 'losing'; you may succeed or fail in a given task, but even if you fail and live to fight another day you have not lost the game. Even dying isn't losing; if your character sacrifices themselves so that some aim may be achieved or so that another character can live, then that's a good way to go. Then, after talking to the Refs, you simply create another character and re-join the game.
There are many different types of LRPing systems in existence. Some are historical, some futuristic; some are high fantasy (meaning that the world they are set in contains mythical creatures and magic - think 'Lord of the Rings'), others are low fantasy (much more like the real world); some are high hit, others are low hit (this refers to the number of hits from a weapon a character can sustain before dying, which has a big effect on combat in a system). Although all of these are forms of LRPing games, each system may be vastly different to any other, in much the same way that Monopoly, Chess and Cluedo are all board games, but are completely different to each other. What all LRPing games have in common is that, just for a little while, you get to be someone else, who lives in a much more exciting world and does much more exciting and dangerous things. It's good fun, it's great escapism and it's fabulous stress relief, so why not come along and give it a try?
For further information about LRP we suggest you check out some of the links on the links page.
