RPGaDay2020 in August - August 26th: Strange
We continue on with #RPGaDay2020 in August.
Day 26 - Strange
Nothing really comes to mind with today's prompt word, other than...
The strangest roleplaying game I've ever run or played has got to be SkyRealms of Jorune.
I mean, come on, doesn't that image of the 2nd Edition cover get your mind going, "What the heck is this game!!?", huh?
Published by SkyRealms Publishing, SkyRealms of Jorune described an alien world over three and a half thousand years into our future. Long ago man developed the ability to travel to distant stars and Jorune was the first suitable colony that they found, but it was already inhabited: by the Shanthas, tall eyeless natives of the world able to master the ambient energy of Isho winds that flow across the surface of the planet. They allowed the foundation of a colony, which prospered with the support provided from home. Yet without this support, the colony could not be viable. The colonists were forced to expand into lands sacred to the Shantha when communication with Earth ceased after what was presumed to be a war. This initiated a war that destroyed the colony. Shanthic use of isho allowed them to strike through the colony's shields with devastating destruction. The colonists found themselves on the losing side and desperation developed causing them to release a plague that all but wiped out the Shantha population. In the three millennia since the war, there have been many changes. Humanity has endured many hardships to form its own place of safety in the realm of Burdoth. They also have evolved - alongside and sometimes against humans are the Boccord, bigger and stronger, able to disrupt the use of isho; and the Muadra, smaller and weaker, but like the Shanthas, capable of mastering the use of isho in order to cast dyshas (a cross between spells and psionics). Only humans though, can operate the powerful weapons and equipment found in the caches of "Earth-tec" hidden by fleeing colonists. Stranger still were the other races found on Jorune: the fearful and xenophobic Ramian; the Thriddle, fig-shaped bipeds that control vast knowledge in their libraries; and the Iscin races. A scientist once part of the original colony, Iscin was a bio-engineer who did not want the Earth's transported flora and fauna, which found most Joruni native plant and animal life poisonous, to die. He developed stronger and more intelligent strains of various Earth animals to survive on Jorune. Some of these, such as the bear-like Bronth, cat-like Crugar and wolf-like Woffen, as well as the human races, are available to play as characters in the third edition. Although the inclusion of these races make the game seem part of the anthropomorphic style of RPG, there is more to the game than this, with the designers having made the effort for the Iscin races to have developed strong individual cultures and societies of their own.
SkyRealms of Jorune is a brilliant game but very, very strange.
And there you have this twenty-sixth post for this #RPGaDay for August, 2020. Comments, thoughts, questions, etc. are all welcome, of course. :)
Day 26 - Strange
Nothing really comes to mind with today's prompt word, other than...
The strangest roleplaying game I've ever run or played has got to be SkyRealms of Jorune.
I mean, come on, doesn't that image of the 2nd Edition cover get your mind going, "What the heck is this game!!?", huh?
Published by SkyRealms Publishing, SkyRealms of Jorune described an alien world over three and a half thousand years into our future. Long ago man developed the ability to travel to distant stars and Jorune was the first suitable colony that they found, but it was already inhabited: by the Shanthas, tall eyeless natives of the world able to master the ambient energy of Isho winds that flow across the surface of the planet. They allowed the foundation of a colony, which prospered with the support provided from home. Yet without this support, the colony could not be viable. The colonists were forced to expand into lands sacred to the Shantha when communication with Earth ceased after what was presumed to be a war. This initiated a war that destroyed the colony. Shanthic use of isho allowed them to strike through the colony's shields with devastating destruction. The colonists found themselves on the losing side and desperation developed causing them to release a plague that all but wiped out the Shantha population. In the three millennia since the war, there have been many changes. Humanity has endured many hardships to form its own place of safety in the realm of Burdoth. They also have evolved - alongside and sometimes against humans are the Boccord, bigger and stronger, able to disrupt the use of isho; and the Muadra, smaller and weaker, but like the Shanthas, capable of mastering the use of isho in order to cast dyshas (a cross between spells and psionics). Only humans though, can operate the powerful weapons and equipment found in the caches of "Earth-tec" hidden by fleeing colonists. Stranger still were the other races found on Jorune: the fearful and xenophobic Ramian; the Thriddle, fig-shaped bipeds that control vast knowledge in their libraries; and the Iscin races. A scientist once part of the original colony, Iscin was a bio-engineer who did not want the Earth's transported flora and fauna, which found most Joruni native plant and animal life poisonous, to die. He developed stronger and more intelligent strains of various Earth animals to survive on Jorune. Some of these, such as the bear-like Bronth, cat-like Crugar and wolf-like Woffen, as well as the human races, are available to play as characters in the third edition. Although the inclusion of these races make the game seem part of the anthropomorphic style of RPG, there is more to the game than this, with the designers having made the effort for the Iscin races to have developed strong individual cultures and societies of their own.
SkyRealms of Jorune is a brilliant game but very, very strange.
And there you have this twenty-sixth post for this #RPGaDay for August, 2020. Comments, thoughts, questions, etc. are all welcome, of course. :)