Death Row

Death row is meant to be a heavily character driven game. It follows a band of characters who all, for one reason or another, find themselves on death row. Unlike the other rabble scheduled to die, these people are special, each somehow set apart from the rest. This does not go unnoticed and each is offered the option to serve rather than die. After being bonded to some mysterious object, they are given a mission. Find and and retrieve Zane Red's Ring.

Setting

Magic

Magic raises the hackles on the back of one's neck. It is strange and inexplicable, secretive, fed by moonbeams and magnified by celestial winds.

Magic is the tinkle of chimes heard softly behind a person, in an empty room. Magic is the sudden screaming face in the fire, that imprints itself on the soul of the watcher for all the nightmares yet to come. Magic comes in threes and is warded by circles and items that number seven. Magic is the stigmatic bloodstain and the tears of sainted statues, the sound of the bell tolling after the dome is found broken. Wielding this is knowingly dealing with the unknown, willingly reaching for the out-of-reach, and a minute-by-minute admission of one's absurdly tiny place in an infinte canvas. Wielding magic is an abacination in an attempt to see more clearly.

LordVreeg - What is Magic?

The practice of Magic is forbidden throughout the lands. It is viewed as a basic evil, much the same as murder and rape. As such there are no schools of magic, nor any wizards guilds or magic shops. However this does not mean that there are no arcanists.

Those rare few who work mystic arts are outcasts of society. They must work in secret, perhaps learning their arts from a single master, perhaps evoking alone. Some recieve patronage from those who desire power without regard to the cost, others find like minded individuals and form dark cults, some seclude themselves so that may study while others lead a otherwise normal life, keeping their dark hobby secret.

When asked why magic is forbidden most will respond, "It is forbidden because it is evil". Those who know more than the normal superstitions will say that man should not attempt to alter our world through powers that we cannot fully control, for to do so is to tempt the ruination of us all. Some scholars have made their living by philosiphying about the nature of magic, if men are truely able to control it, and if even if it could be fully controlled, if the nature of magic itself is not inimical to our world.

Nations of the World

The Kingdom of the Crimson Sea

The Empire

Character Creation

I would like characters to be created around the table with everybody present. That way we can go over the rules as we go, as well as ensuring that characters work well together. For those of you who would like to plan ahead a bit, here's some of the key things I'm looking for.

• Why is your character on death row?
• Why does you character keep fighting? (not necessarily combat, but doing what it takes to stay alive and peruse your goals)
• What would your character like to accomplish now that you have a new lease on life?
• What is special about your character that drew your captors attention? How did your captors discover this?

Also make sure you take a look at the general Character Building Guidelines.

An example character can be found here, which includes all the steps of character creation.

Player Characters

Players, please create a page for your characters and post a link to it here. See here for a number of useful templates.

Resources

Useful Links

Burning Wheel Home Page - Check the wiki for Errata and Character Sheets.

Deismaar - The game that inspired this one.

Session Summaries

There have yet to be any sessions