Since Eizon Rebirth sputtered and died due to any number of factors, I've been thinking of a way to put it together in such a way that it would be reasonably self-sustaining (i.e. not a lot of tedious bookkeeping) and engaging. I've also been trying to figure out what direction I really wanted to take it in.
The original Eizon was all about world-building, and it is something I want to retain, but I've always been more interested in the role-play aspect and I'm going to be embracing that in this edition instead of trying to avoid it, like last time. So this is basically how this is going to work:
Roles:
There are two major roles and one small role that is necessary for the game to progress. The first two are the Ruler and Adventurer, the final role is the GM (GMs are not excluded from being a Ruler or Adventurer).
Rulers will be far fewer than previous iterations, and will control a country. I've eliminated just about all micromanagement, rulers will have significantly smaller budgets and will use the budgets to hire adventurers for various quests. Rulers will have the option of running quests with Adventurers, but because of the nature of how the quests will be organized, it's a lot more dangerous for them to do so. Rulers are also the potentially least RP-requiring role in this game, so those who want to be involved but by world-shaping instead of interacting with others are encouraged to become Rulers.
Adventurers will, in this iteration, encompass most of the players. They have a set level of abilities and go on quests conducted over EoFF chat by the GM. I am currently in the process of making a marketable tabletop system, and will be porting it over for this game. While I don't believe the system to be horridly complex, I will offer plenty of packages to duplicate various Final Fantasy jobs so as to prevent an adventurer from having to bother constructing their character at all. The option will, of course, be open to those who wish to do so, with several available tiers of complexity depending on how much they wish to micromanage their character.
Adventurers are welcome to form clans, and they get quests assigned to them by Rulers (it may involve investigating something or killing bandits but will more than likely involve screwing with another Ruler). In many cases, these quests may be played out by a GM just running the numbers and determining a success or failure, however, more interesting quests (which include any in which players face off against each other) will be played out through a GM in chat.
Game Masters are the final role, and I'll need a few of them to help me. They will help organize and run quests based on what it is rulers are trying to do. They will be required to know and understand the mechanics behind character creation and work with me to keep the game running smoothly. I will need at LEAST two of these if I'm going to run this.
How the Game Works
Players are encouraged to communicate via PMs and IMs, but threads will be made available to discuss game matters. All discussions in the threads are considered public and open to all. Any Adventurer can, with GM approval, make a clan. Clans take on jobs posted by Rulers, and the Clan leader gets to make the decision of what jobs to take/decline. Rulers are the major movers and shakers of the world, the jobs they post determine what it is the Adventurers do and how it affects the world. For example, say Country A is developing new technology that Country B wants. Country B posts a job to a Clan to break into Country A's research facility, steal the blueprints, and set the facility on fire. The quest is taken up and successful, after which Clan A hires some adventurers to investigate who went after them. The investigation, however, is botched, and they instead think that Country C attacked them, and in retaliation hire some Adventurers to go burn down the capitol. And so on.
Rulers can post jobs anonymously by PMing them to a GM, who will post the bill in whatever Clan thread they desire. Jobs also don't have to have their explicit nature or target described, and the participants informed about the job in detail upon accepting the job.
Finally, it's terribly bad form for Adventurers to give out sensitive information like who hired them. It's a good way to lose potential job offerings or, at worst, get oneself killed. Adventurers killed will be removed from play, but their player may create a new one and retain a good portion of the money they obtain. Money is important to adventurers, it allows them to buy new weapons and armor, as well as training in various skills and techniques.
Adventurers are paid by the job, Rulers get money every week. Rulers can also become adventurers, but if they are defeated or killed it means bad things for their country. GMs can be rulers or adventurers, but are not allowed to GM for anything their kingdom/adventurer is involved in.
Getting this game started
That's the basic description, I will not start this unless I have suitable interest. Go ahead and post here indicating if you are interested or not, and what you're interested in playing (Ruler, Adventurer, Clan Leader, GM, a combination thereof). I will also answer any questions. If I see there are enough people who want to give this a shot, I'll go ahead and remake the game.
