Adventures in the Moonlit Forest - ROOT RPG

It is a time of war in the Moonlit Forest. The great factions of the forest struggle to survive, struggle to dominate, struggle to hold and grow their holdings. Roaming this troubled land is our band of would be heroes, or maybe villains. Vagabonds. Wanderers with no known allegiances, except to each other, and the skills, freedom, and attitude to make a difference. With the balance across the land teetering upon a dozen different knife edges, these unknown denizens could tip the scales of the war and the fate of the forest in any direction. For whom will they raise their banner? Will they fight for justice and glory or power and money? Will they seek lost and forbidden knowledge, wake ancient horrors, or bury deep any truths discovered as they delve shadow filled ruins and lost haunts of the vast Moonlit Forest? Only time will tell.

Title:  Adventures in the Moonlit Forest

 

Rule System:  ROOT RPG (Based on Powered by the Apocalypse)

 

Estimated Party Size: 4-6 players

 

Lethality:  PC death is possible, but should be rare.  

 

Game Action Type:  This is an open world, ‘Theater of the Mind,’ and narrative focused game in a fable-like setting where the characters are anthropomorphic animals. There will likely be combat situations, but combat will not always be the main driver of the story.  When combat is initiated it will tend to be less tactically detailed and more narrative based.  Story lines could include exploration, intrigue, politics, trade, diplomacy, heists, or delving for deep secrets no denizen was meant to know.  Note that although not part of the base game, I may introduce elements of magic, steam-tech, and/or horror as the game progresses. Depending on the goals and actions of the party, these elements could lead to additional moves that PC’s can learn during gameplay that are not included with the base playbooks or rules. 

 

Allowed Playbooks:  All from Core book.  All from Travelers and Outsiders.  For playbooks see the Resources thread.

 

Allowed Optional Rules:  Skills, moves, connections, natures, drives, and roguish feats from the Core book and Travelers and Outsiders.  Masteries and species moves may be added later.

 

Posting Expectations:  Once every other day with exceptions for weekends.  Or approximately 3-4 times per week.  

 

Setting: The Moonlit Forest stretches from the shores of the Sea of Storms in the west to the high, snowcapped peaks of Wyrmspire Mountains in the east.  Two great rivers cut through the forest, The Silvercrown and Whitewater.  The southern boundary of the forest slowly fades into the vast savannah and broken red rock formations of Badlands.  While to the north are the wild and impassable Mountains of Fire, an active chain of volcanoes that occasionally rain ash upon the forest and blot out the sun with their ferocious eruptions.  

 

For nearly a thousand years The Moonlit Forest was ruled by the Eerie Empire.  That vast, sprawling empire overseen by the imperial Eagles, Hawks, and Owls ruled with an iron claw but kept routes safe and open.  But as so often happens, change burned through the forest like drought fueled wildfire.  Rebellion ravaged the mighty empire and soon all was shattered and fallen into ashes.  Other powers have risen from the ruins.  The Marquesate de Cat, the Grand Duchy of Yis, The Riverrunner’s Guild, the Corvid Syndicate, the mysterious Temple of the Devouring Serpent, and the hopeful, idealistic, and scattered Woodland Alliance.  These and others each now strive for control of the vast realms and resources of the Moonlight Forest.  And still lurking in the shadows, the Eerie Empire rises once again upon the wings of power, its golden knights returning to the skies to thrust the forest back under the Imperial banner. 

 

The GM: I've been playing and GMing various RPG games since the early 80's.   Over the last ten or so years I've focused more on play-by-post because I enjoy the extra depth of character and story it can generate along with providing a fun creative writing outlet. I have played in various games using the Powered by the Apocalypse mechanics, but I have not run a game of ROOT yet, so we will be learning the system together. I imagine there will be a few tweaks and adjustments made as we go along to better accommodate the play by post format, but we will see how it all goes.