Pen n' Paper RPG Help

[PedroSteckecilo]

So...

I'm currently working on the biggest Pen and Paper Roleplay project I have ever undertaken and I'm looking for some feedback/help on some of my ideas. I can't go to anyone I know offline as they either don't game, are idiots... or are in the gaming group I'm writing this for.

Anyway the premise is as follows...

"The players are all citizens from a collection of semi-independant city states that together form a loose national body known as the Kasvian Alliance. Kasvia's northern neighbor, The Kingdom of Vakryn, an autocratic monarchy ruled by a succession of Prophet Kings, has instegated a full fledged invasion of it's divided southern neighbor under the leadership of its cruel and violent Crown Prince and his calculating younger brother. The Vakryn army begins its assault on the northern borders of Kasvia and quickly manages to drive its way into the country through a powerful suprise attack but their advance has been halted and now a full fledged war has exploded across the once peaceful Kasvian Alliance."

The world is technologically similar to the period of the mid 18th century, except there are also slow moving airships and large lumbering tanks, no machine guns though. I also intend to include some fantasy beastiary and some form of magic, though I haven't been able to figure out what form it should take yet.

Anyone got any ideas about how I should kick this thing off?
What kind of Scenario's I should include?
Good ways to get players to care about the fate of their nation (We're all Canadians, so we have an odd form of nationalism)?
System Suggestions? (I'm currently using Starwars SAGA, but I'm open to other suggestions)

One idea I'm trying is to work with each player to have them create their own City State which they come from. Some of them are against it though.

Also anyone else should feel more than free to post their own stuff for feedback.

EDIT: I would post more but it's mostly in the form of random notes that I've made.

 

[SomeBritishDude]

Hmm...Could engineering be your magic? I'm not sure how realistic that would be, then again, I don't know how realistic you want your world to be.

 

[Ursus Astrorum]

As for the magic, seeing as we're around the colonial period it would probably be viewed as witchcraft. Most magic users would have to be very tight-lipped or good at hiding. I'll pop by if I come up with anything else.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

So far what I have for magic is the following...

It is very uncommon
It is very powerful
During the games timeline may or may not be the first time Magic has appeared.

Also only the PC's and their immediate adversaries will have access to the stuff, kinda like Jedi and Sith.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

Sounds like a pretty sweet RPG.

Maybe start it off like Vakryn was once peaceful but when the king passed on and his son, now the prince of Vakryn, came to power. He ruled as a cruel an unjust leader. There was a rebelion attempt to dethrone the prince of Vakryn that was though to be the work of Kasvia by the prince. The prince ordered his army to attack Kasvia will all its force.

Not sure about scenarios or any of the other stuff, I'm more of a story guy.

Another way you could start the story off is by saying that Kasvia had some sort of powerful magic source that they would not share with their neighbours Vakryn. So Vakryn decided to attack, and so on, and so on.

Actually that's not a bad idea... especially if I have the Crown Prince's coniving brother be behind the whole thing as a ploy to oust his unstable older sibling and take the reigns of Vakryn himself.

I'm actually playing the Suikoden/Cross-Gen angle with the Magic...

For some reason Great Unknown and Powerful Forces have taken an interest in this conflict and have granted people on both sides with powers never before seen in the world.

 

[Ursus Astrorum]

So far what I have for magic is the following...

It is very uncommon
It is very powerful
During the games timeline may or may not be the first time Magic has appeared.

Also only the PC's and their immediate adversaries will have access to the stuff, kinda like Jedi and Sith.

That sounds good, but what I'm talking about is how it's viewed by the general public. whether by their religion's declaration or just the fear of something different, I think it would be outlawed and severely punished, kind of a Salem-style outlook. It not only would make the magic-using heroes think before they lob magic missiles around the square, it would also make the BBEGs much more terrifying to the commoners.

It'd also prove for some interesting scenarios. Think: A wealthy noble is strict in his no-magic laws, before the party finds out that he is a magic user himself, and is doing this to cover his own hide.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Ugh to Storyteller: I'd personally use Cyberpunk or Gumshoe (if you're using CP:2020 use 2d6 instead of d10 though)

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I've looked into Gumshoe... it seems a little too Mystery focused for my purposes.
Never heard of Cyberpunk though.

 

[Voltano]

Cyberpunk is something like what "Shadowrun" is, a paper & pencil RPG series that have spawned two computer RPGs on the super nintendo and the sega genesis (there's also a FPS on the PC/xbox 360, but it's not that good from what I heard). Generally, cyberpunk revolves around cybernetic implants to enhance human performance. "Deus Ex" series and I think "System Shock 2" also touched on this as well (never played that).

What your pulling sounds like steampunk to me, but don't quote me on that (don't have a good idea of what that is really). All I know about steampunk is that it's set in a genre with airships with people using steam engines or something...Probably not an accurate description, ah well.

On topic: I've always been more of the technical game master then a story-telling one, but I think a story with politics might be possible. One idea I heard which might be useful here is to really develop a more like "he said/she said" scenario with the two nations on why they are fighting against each other. One did not start the fight first, but they continue warring with each other because of blind hatred for the other side. That might work well with a political story, though that is just my two cents.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

Thanks for the suggestion Voltano, but I figured I'd make it easy on my players and have their nation be the "good guy" one for once, since I've tried the dual nature thing before.