Universalis
So we played Univeralis last week. There was only Liam, Peter and myself playing, however the game was great fun. I thought it’d be worth writing up the story and the setting, however I’ll leave as much of my personal comments out of the post (and into actual comments!).
The setting was low fantasy, European-inspired alternative medieval world. Here magic was rare but also evil. There was a culture of duellists or blade slingers and there were schools and orders that trained men. The Schools were secular in nature; however the Orders had divine patrons. The form of government was the typical Monarchy.
Peter won the bid for the first scene and so it began, 10 years previous, in the burning ruins of one of the militant schools, the Swift Blade. Byron, a master swordsman, driven by visions and with a path chosen by the Wounded God, and a gang of mooks face off against the single remaining swordsman of the school, who was badly wounded. (Note: this last remaining swordsman became later known only as the Lone Swordsman, he never was given a name explicitly.) Byron demanded to know where the child was but the Lone Swordsman refused to tell and so Byron told the mooks to finish him. The Lone Swordsman would not go down without a fight and he managed to kill all the mooks and with a moment flash, scarred Byron before jumping off the cliff and out of sight. Byron swore an oath to have his revenge.
In the shadows, a mother clutched her child and disappeared into the night.
10 years later, Byron is training his most promising student Julian, young and handsome. Julian questions Byron’s never-ending vendetta as no evidence of the child or the Lone Swordsman has been recovered. Byron is now head swordsman of the order of the Wounded God. Byron passes off his student’s questions, trusting that it is just youthful questing. Their training is interrupted by the arrival of the Mistress, a woman of wealth and beauty, but to those that can see, she has the marks of magic. She brings rumours that the child and the Lone Swordsman are in the city. Byron orders the guards to search the city.
In a small pub backroom, the Lone Swordsman relaxes by the fire with the child who has now grown into the young Emily. She is sick of the prophecy that she is meant to fulfil. She is never told what it is. However a large crow enters the room (it is the Mistress in animal form). Guards enter the pub, led by Julian. The Lone Swordsman tells Emily to flee while he’ll hold off the guards. The crow follows Emily as she jumps out the wind.
There, Mistress takes human form. She tries to grab Emily but is burned by a magical aura and is instantly aged ten years. She flees in terror. Emily witness’ her teacher, the Lone Swordsman, being led away by the guards and Julian. Despite her fear she has pangs of passion for the young Julian. Emily takes what she knows and secretly follows them.
In a dungeon, deep in the Order of the Wounded God’s house, the Lone Swordsman is chained up. Byron spars words with him and we learn that Byron is the Lone Swordsman’s brother! The Lone Swordsman challenges his brother to a final duel. But the battle is swift and Byron defeats and kills his brother. Emily had hidden herself among the guards and apon seeing her teacher killed rushes forward. She glows with some bright light and it seems to stun everyone. Julian is instantly taken by Emily’s beauty. Byron rushes forward to kill Emily but Julian stands forward to defend her. The Mistress enters. The prophecy is revealed, Emily is destined to kill the Wounded God. Mistress throws herself on Emily’s mercy and the three prepare to take down Byron but then Byron is transformed, he becomes a living avatar of the Wounded God. The fight ensues but Byron is defeated. The Mistress cries for she had loved Byron, but the marks of magic burn her and she erupts in flames and is reduced to ashes.
So ended this tale.
Posted by
Administrator
November 20th, 2006 at 12:04 pm
I must admit I did enjoy this game. Once Peter got the feel for it, it felt very natural. I’m surprised we jumped right in and started using conflicts and kept using them, unlike Liam’s and my first game at Gaelcon.
What was interesting was that we were all on the same wavelength. We wanted to tell roughly the same story and so in part the conflicts were slightly artifical, where we would simply pick sides, just to pick sides and hopefully earn more coins. It would be interesting to run with more than just the three of us and see how it goes.
It was fun jumping in and out of characters, at one moment playing the Lone Swordsman, next Byron etc. What was also interesting is when things started to lag we quickly moved forward. We roleplayed more in that evening than we normally do in most of our games.
The setting itself is actually quite intriguing though we only scratched the surface. It was in part inspired by Riddle of Steel and Morrowind but it did have it’s own uniqueness. The Wounded or Bleeding God was invented on the spur of the moment but it made me think of Odin with spear in his side or Tyr Norse God of the Sword whos hand was bitten off by the Grey Wolf. The amazing thing is that there is so much more in the setting to explore. I’m nearly tempted to suggest playing it using a more traditional RPG system!