(Fate Core) The Island Session One - Landfall

Session One: Landfall

The players 

Slate - a Golem who killed his master (and King)

Nadawi - an Elf who attempted (but failed) to assassinate her Queen in long-waited revenge for the death of her family

Arvelir Killenddare - a Half-Elf, banished to the Island for attempting to steal the Star of Brannor from his Queen and return it to its rightful owner

Sao the Kaeldraean - a Dark Elf who was captured after assassinating the entire royal family.

The group is in the hold of the ship with other prisoners and witnesses several of them brought up on deck and killed by something (well, they witness the aftermath). After being deposited on the Island with nothing but the clothes on their backs, Sao scares one of the other prisoners into investigating what appears to be a walled town that lies inland a bit. The man does so and soon after the group is met by someone from Harbor, who guides them back.

They meet Harbormaster Terasius Ilik who says that all are welcome in Harbor for a short time to become accustomed to the Island, as long as they contribute. He provides them with transitional food and board under the promise that they will do a task for him. He sends them to investigate word from a scout that a group of Rippers has been seen heading in the general direction of the town.

After finding that Rippers are a faction on the Island made up of people driven mad and turned cannibal, the group cautiously heads out. After facing down a boar nearly the size of a man, they come upon the abandoned camp the scout from Harbor found. They followed the tracks west through the forest and found another encampment with seven of the Rippers in it.

After handily defeating the Rippers, Sao opts to keep one alive to learn some of the ways of the Rippers and questions him, finding that a group of 50-60 are gathering to attack Harbor. They knock the Ripper unconscious and race back to Harbor, informing Terasius that there is an attack party due in a few days. Terasius says he needs to get word to a nearby Repentant encampment and a Pawns encampment to try and get aid. The group opts to be emissaries to the Repentant group and Terasius begins forming another small group to approach the Pawns and request assistance in defending Harbor.

The Island -Time Heroes of Fate- Character Creation Steps

I've just now realized that when I was doing the design journal for Time Heroes of Fate I never went into the steps of character creation. As I prepare to do the writeup for the Island's character creation steps, I thought perhaps I would do the same for Time Heroes as well. I'll write up the Time Heroes proces first, then move on to the Island. Character creation for both games will be pretty much identical to that of Fate Core. The only difference will be in Aspect creation, so that's what each area will focus on.

In Time Heroes, characters were pulled from their various times so there isn't much of a likelihood the characters will have met previously to being thrown together by the Great Merlini (or Merlin or the Merlinator). Instead of Phases 1-3 involving the other characters, the phases for Time Heroes will be the following:

Phase One - Last Day of Previous Life: The first phase is a story from the character's life prior to being recruited by the Great Merlini (or Merlin or the Merlinator). The story could be an adventure the character had or just a regular "day in the life of" story. The story should end with their recruitment. Once this has been done the player should choose an aspect that the story illustrates.

Phase Two - First Encounter: This might be a "first adventure" kind of story. This phase revolves around the first encounter the character had with the Time War. The Great Merlini likes to drop his recruits into circumstances where they can show their worth to Time Heroes, Inc. From fighting members of the Roman legion to attempting to go undercover in Al Capone's group, this phase shows the character's first real chance to shine.

Phase Three - Equipment: This last phase is for an item or piece of equipment the character is known for carrying. This would be their signature item. Ghostbusters have proton packs, King Arthur has Excalibur; this aspect should be an item that embodies the character.

The Island is a situation where each of the characters may very well be from completely different dimensions. The first time the characters likely will be meeting is on the prison ship. Of course if it's determined the group has already been on the Island for a while, that might be different. But still, I think these phases will likely better capture the feel of the game.

Phase One - Race: In my last post I talked about Racial Aspects for the Island. Whether a character is Human, Elf, Dwarf, etc., each race has qualities both positive and negative. That is why the first phase is choosing what race the character is going to be.

Phase Two - The Crime: This phase is the story of the crime of which the character was convicted. Whether guilty or not, this story illustrates what the character's involvement in the situation was. The aspect drawn from this could be one that came about because of the crime and conviction, or one that led to it, or even one that showed itself during the crime.

Phase Three - The Belief: Even the most hardened of criminals believes in something. This aspect should paint a picture of something the character believes deep down inside. Granted, it could be something along the lines of "Suckers are Everywhere," but everyone believes in something. This gets down to the very core of a character.

The Island - Playing with Fate - Racial Aspects

Racial Aspects

The group that I'll be doing some play testing with has gotten started on the collaborative character/world creation in the RPGG forums. As this a fantasy setting, one of the things we are working on now is picking out races for the characters. I've opted to use Aspects to cover races.

I am going to list a few of the sample races I'm planning on using. With each one I will be stating sample Invokes as well as Compels. I'll begin each with a brief description of the race. Of course, the Invokes and Compels listed aren't the ONLY choices, just ideas based on the specific racial cultures.

I am still debating using humans as a Racial Aspect. Part of me says go with it, the other says to use them as the baseline; human characters then have that aspect to use for something else.

Dark Elf
Dark elves are a race of elves who live deep underground. Rarely going out in the daylight, they are a tribal race where the basest rule is the rule of deniability. Anything goes in the upper echelons as long as it cannot be traced back. Dark Elves are capable of slipping into shadows and disappearing. Some say they can literally turn themselves invisible.
Invoke Aspect - Invoke this aspect when slipping into shadows, using water magic, moving quickly or to maneuver about/notice things underground more easily.
Compel Aspect - A GM might compel this aspect in situations where the culture of this race is known, or when the light of the sun might affect the character's action, etc.

Golem
Golems are a race of large humanoids, manufactured from fired clay and generally used as servants. Though they are entirely sentient and intelligent, they are viewed almost everywhere as property. They are strong, indefatigable, able to withstand the elements and rarely need to rest. They can be of any size and shape, though generally they are made to appear as 8-9 foot tall humanoids.
Invoke Aspect - This Aspect can be invoked when attempting feats of great strength, when needing to remain awake while others sleep, to remain steadfast when others would move, withstand severe weather/temperatures or when using Earth Magic.
Compel Aspect - The GM might compel this aspect when the character needs to be taken seriously (as opposed to being viewed as an animate object), when the literal interpretation of something might cause complications, when heavy weight may be an issue, etc.

Human

Humans are the most prevalent race in the multiverse. They are found in nearly every (if not all) plane of existence. They are adventurous, innovative, equally warlike and peaceable to their neighbors. Unlike other races, humans are rarely viewed at with suspicion as a race.

Invoke Aspect - This Aspect can be invoked to illustrate a character's ability to not stand out in a crowd, to use the general amicability of humankind, embrace innovation or use Ritual Magic.

Compel Aspect - The GM might compel this aspect when the character is among another race that dislikes the prevalence of humans, when an impetuous move could cause problems for the group, etc.

Dwarf

Dwarves are a hardy race, shorter than humans. They are skilled at smithing and mining. They're generally seen as greedy but are loyal almost to a fault. Able warriors but as a race unaccustomed to mounts, they generally make up infantry in armies.

Invoke Aspect - This Aspect can be invoked when attempting to create well-crafted arms or armor, gauge the worth of jewels, tell direction when underground, strike a mighty blow at an enemy, be trusted with something of import or use Fire Magic.

Compel Aspect - The GM might compel this aspect when the character is drinking, his greed could get the better of him, or someone wants to use a loved one against him.

Elf

Elves are a graceful long-lived race. They are slightly taller than humans on average. On some planes they live in villages built high up in the trees; in others they create magnificent cities surrounded by woodlands; but wherever they live it is almost always in a forest. They are able ranged fighters, quick on their feet and are excel at creating items of great magic. Oftentimes they are haughty, looking down upon the other races. They are less hardy than the other races, though adept at dodging.

Invoke Aspect - This Aspect can be invoked when gracefulness is required, when forging magic items, combating within woodlands, hunting, leaving other standing in awe that allies might move about unnoticed or making use of Air Magic.

Compel Aspect - The GM might compel the aspect when interacting with other races, when taking a harsh attack, when not amongst the familiar surrounding of the forest, etc.

And that's it for now. I have chosen one race for each magic type, initially, though there will likely be more to follow. If I dump humans as an aspect I'll have to at least pick another to hand off Ritual Magic to.

The Island - Playing with Fate - The Repentant and the Innocent

Factions on the Island

Here are some of the Factions I'm planning on having existing on the Island, even prior to a collaborative world building. Of course, specific GMs can keep them or discard them as they wish. I, however, will likely be keeping them in any games I run.

The Repentant
Description: The Repentant is a religious sect on the Island. They believe that the Creature is the physical embodiment of the guilt of those who live on the Island. They believe the only way to be able to leave the Island and get free of the Creature is to declare repentance of their sins. They also believe that everyone on the Island IS guilty of the crime they were convicted of. This causes problems when they encounter people who remain steadfast in their innocence.
Aspect: Everyone is Guilty
Emotional Offense: +4
Magic Offense: +2
Mental Offense: +1
Physical Offense: +2
Social Offense: +3 
Emotional Defense: +1
Magic Defense: +2
Mental Defense: +2
Physical Defense: +2
Social Defense: +3
Trade (Cartography): +2

Franchise Affiliation Benefits
1-3: +2 Resource when attempting to trade for supplies
4-6: Guilt Stunt - Characters may use Empathy instead of Deceit when trying to talk someone into doing what they want
7-9: Evangelical - When using Guilt, character may add +2 to the roll. 
10: Hero of the Repentants - Free access to all Repentant maps, an additional +2 Resource when trading for supplies, open access to all Repentant Holds (free room and board)


The Innocent
Description: The Innocent is a group made up of all kinds of races and creeds. The only thing that binds them all together is the fact that every one of them attests that they did not commit the crime they were sent to the Island for.
Aspect: Live and let live
Emotional Offense: 2
Magic Offense: +2
Mental Offense: +2
Physical Offense: +2
Social Offense: +3 
Emotional Defense: +2
Magic Defense: +2
Mental Defense: +2
Physical Defense: +2
Social Defense: +3
Trade (Caravans): +2

Franchise Affiliation Benefits
1-3: +1 to bartering for supplies, +1 to Rapport interactions with X factions
4-6: +1 to Barter when trading for supplies, +1 Rapport interactions with X factions
7-9: True Soul Stunt - May spend a Quantum point to turn a successful Rapport roll with the Innocent and X factions into a Success with Style
10: One of Us Aspect; free room and board in Innocent Holds as well as ability to freely travel with trade caravans

I left off the consequence boxes because I think that is going to be dependent upon the collaborative world building (deciding which Factions have more Holds, etc). Once the world building is done the GM can assign consequence boxes as needed.

The Island - Playing with Fate - Faction Affiliation Part Two

In part two of the Faction Affiliation design journal, I am going to discuss the Faction Affiliation Rating (F.A.R.) and the impact it has both on a character and with the faction to which it refers. After that I'll be moving on to the Faction Conflict Mechanic.

Faction Affiliation Rating
Each character sheet is going to have an area designated for Faction Affiliation Rating. My current ideas behind how this works is it will start with zero. As the players interact with the various factions on the island, this will increase and decrease. The rating will start at zero.

My idea is whatever else is going on plot-wise, in factions the players have made contact with, various "side-jobs" would be available. Depending on the difficulty of the assistance rendered, it would be worth a certain amount of Faction Points. The Faction Points are an abstract way of measuring acceptance, trust and influence a character has with a given faction. At the moment I'm thinking that the F.A.R. will range between 0 (unknown) and 10 (Faction Hero).

How is the F.A.R. used? First, there is the Faction Benefit. These are going to be Aspects and Stunts available to those who reach an appropriate level. As soon as a character reaches the appropriate level with the faction they will have access to all F.B.s of that level and below.

Additionally, the F.A.R. can be used like currency during a Faction Conflict. A player can spend F.A.R. points from a third party when two factions are going up against each other. This will enlist the aid of that faction in the conflict on whatever side the player desires. This will essentially be calling in a favor and will lower the character's F.A.R. with that faction by that amount until they do something for the faction to regain the previous level.

Example: Fartosh sees that the Reapers are preparing to attack the Innocents. However, he has a rating of 5 with the Repentant faction and chooses to spend 2 of those points to aid the Innocent's defense. Now the when the GM rolls for the conflict, he adds to to the defense total of the Innocents and says that at the last moment a troop of Repentants join the fray and push the Reapers back into their own territory.

Faction Conflicts
As I mentioned in my last post, Faction Conflicts are going to be an adaptation of the Franchise Conflict from Time Heroes of Fate. While the idea behind it itself will be similar, the mechanics will be more in-depth and fleshed out. I want the system to illustrate the potential for changing alliances and possibly points when characters will have to look out for themselves over the whole of the group.

The first thing I want to say is that character involvement in Faction Conflicts is going to be secret. The conflicts themselves will occur at the end of a session. The players will write down what (if any) F.A.R. points they will be spending from which factions and pass them to the GM. The GM will then make the necessary rolls, privately adding the appropriate bonuses. After, the GM announces the results of the conflict.

I think I'm going to have the consequence boxes for the factions represent strongholds or important parts of the Island they control. As they lose conflicts, they lose the area in the appropriate consequence box. I haven't yet decided if it will then go to the winning side. I suppose it would make sense.

The skills are broken up into offensive and defensive versions (except for the Trade skill, which is simply an indicator of what that particular faction is known for being able to offer to the island's economy as a whole). Whatever skill is being used by the aggressor determines the defense used by the defender.

I'm going to do one more post on Faction Affiliation where I'm going to show some examples of factions I plan on designing between now and tomorrow. As always, feel free to comment or question! As was yesterday's post, this one was freeflowing, so if I missed something I meant to touch on, let me know.

The Island - Playing with Fate - Faction Affiliation Part One

Well, I'm afraid today's post may not end up with anything solid in regards to the topic. I'm mostly going to just freeflow thoughts on the topic as they come to me. I suppose that it's possible that by the end of this I'll have laid out how the Franchise Affilition mechanic is going to work, but I'm not holding my breath. Anyway, without further ado, here goes!

Faction Affiliations
The Island isn't just filled with wildlife. It has had hundreds of years for the various convicts to form their own societies, stake their own claims to parts of the island. If a group is going to survive in the longterm, they are going to have to make some sort of alliances somewhere along the way, at least while it's convenient. Unfortunately, there are limited supplies for an always-growing population. This leads to strive amongst the various subcultures of the island. With this in mind, I am creating a new mechanic for the game called the Faction Affiliation System.

Each faction upon the island will be created as part of the collaborative world-building session. In the final product I will be including some of the bigger players on the island, although specific GMs can use or not use any particular faction as they desire. Each faction is going to be an entity in its own right. Every faction will have a name, an Aspect and skills. In addition, I am thinking of including Aspects and/or Stunts that are specific to each faction that characters with a certain level of Faction Affiliation can make use of.

Factions
Each faction in the game will made up of the following (for sure):
Name:
Aspect
Emotional Offense
Mental Offense
Physical Offense
Social Offense
Emotional Defense
Mental Defense
Physical Defense
Social Defense
Trade (specific profession)

When designing a faction, my first instinct is to have the group allot 20 levels amongst all nine of the skills listed, with any given skill maxing out (initially) at +4 (Great). If split evenly, that would give each skill a rating of +2 (Fair) with two skills a rating of +3 (Good).

I'm also planning on including levels in the factions with various stunts/aspects/benefits for characters that have an equal lefel in their Faction Affiliation Rating. I'm not sure specifically what they are yet, but I'll have more to talk about tomorrow.

The last thing I want to mention in this post is that I am going to adapt the Franchise Mechanics from Time Heroes of Fate to work with the Island, with some additions to add more depth to the system and to give some control to the players (and also potentially pit them against each other in secret). Come back tomorrow and I'll have more in detail. It seems to me that as I am detailing this from the top of my head, I'm quite liking the route it is going. I have a pretty good idea of where I'll be going with tomorrow's post.

Stay tuned and thanks for following along!

The Island - Playing with Fate - Skills

Skills of the Island

The first topic of my design blog for the Island is going to be adaptation of the skills from Fate Core. The book gives a good list of skills, but for my purposes I think I'm going to have to add a few more. In addition, I may be altering some of the existing skills so they fit more with the theme of my game.  For the moment, here is the skill list that will be used in the Island RPG. After I will discuss each of the skills that have been added or had their names altered, as well as why. The new and changed skills on the list are in bold:

Air Magic
Athletics
Contacts
Deceit
Earth Magic
Empathy
Fighting
Fire Magic
Intimidation
Investigation
Lore
Notice
Physique
Rapport
Resource
Ride
Ritual Magic
Shooting
Stealth
Survival
Thievery
Trade (specific profession)
Water Magic
Will

Before I move to explanations, I should state that the descriptions of the elemental magics will ring similar. I don't mean to be repetative, but I am trying to phrase them as they are most likely to appear in the final product itself.

Air Magic - Like the other elemental magic skills, Air Magic requires an air-based Aspect of some kind. Air Magic is the ability to manipulate the very air; summon gusts, carry messages on the very wind. Turned inward, Air deals with speed and the ability to fly and motion in general. As can the other magic skills, Air Magic can combine to create more powerful effects (sample effects will be provided in another post).

Earth Magic - Like the other elemental magic skills, Earth Magic requires an earth-based Aspect of some kind. Earth Magic is the ability manipulate the earth; create walls of rock, cause earthquakes. Turned inward, Earth deals with hardiness and the ability to stand firm. Again, Earth can combine with other magic skills to create more powerful effects.

Fire Magic - Like the other elemental magic skills, Fire Magic requires a fire-based Aspect of some kind. Fire Magic is the ability to manipulate flame; ignite flammable objects, create massive walls of flame. Turned inward, Fire deals with fighting prowess and passions. Fire can combine with the other magic skills to create more powerful effects.

Ride - This is the Drive skill, simply renamed. As the Island is a fantasy world, I felt it more appropriate as a skill.

Ritual Magic - Ritual Magic is the one magical skill that doesn't require an Aspect to be able to use. However, in order to combine it with another non-magical skill it is recommended that the character have some Aspect that would lead to combining them. Ritual Magic can be used on its own to assist in healing consequences or temporarily granting advantages.

Survival - This is a skill that I added. While I assume that survival skills would generally fall under Lore, I felt the setting might deserve having Survival as its own skill. Not only would this be knowledge of what's basically safe to eat, but it would enable one to be able to built sturdy shelters from available materials, create fires, things that reading in a book wouldn't automatically grant one the ability to do.

Thievery - This is the replacement skill for Burglary. I felt like Thievery might be a little broader ranging. In addition, burglary sounds to me more urban, while the Island is mostly anything but.

Trade (specific profession) - This replaces Crafts. In addition to assisting with creating objects (Trade - Smith, for example) it could be uses to assist in bartering (Trade - Merchant), etc.

Water Magic - Like the other elemental skills, Water Magic requires a water-based Aspect of some kind. Water Magic is the ability to manipulate the rivers and lakes; ice daggers to fling at enemies, spray gouts of water to put out flames. Turned inward, Water could give the ability to turn invisible or move more gracefully.

The Island - Playing with Fate - Magic

I was originally going to start my design journal for the Island by talking about skills and what changes I plan on making to the skill list. However, partway into it, I realize whatever I decide to do with skills will be directly affected by the magic system.

The magic system for Time Heroes of Fate was easy to come up with. Using Stunts as spells. Whatever Magic Stunts you have, that's what you can cast. Unfortunately (or fortunately, I suppose), I want to make a deeper, more visceral system for the Island. This topic may end up taking up more than one post as I'm not sure how exactly it's going to work.

Aspects/Skills/Stunts
My immediate idea for the magic system for the Island involves Aspects, Skills AND Stunts. I'll break down how I envision it working below. Any feedback is appreciated. I don't want to create a magic system that's either completely broken or completely uninteresting.


Aspects - My current idea is to have skills for the basic types of magic: Air, Earth, Fire, Ritual and Water. Ritual magic is a skill that anyone can use with the proper components. However, to be able to use any of the other types of magic requires choosing an aspect associated with one of the elements.

Example: A player wants their character Frantosh to be able to use the Water and the Earth Magic skills. He would have to devote one Aspect to each of the elements of magic. So, he might choose to create Aspects called "Born of the Earth" and "Favored of the Lake."

Skills - As I briefly mentioned above, I want to create five magic Skills: The four involved with Aspects are Air, Earth, Fire and Water. The fifth doesn't require an Aspect to be able to use. That one is Ritual Magic.

Ritual Magic by itself won't be overly powerful. Perhaps a minor ward or cleansing food/water at camp. It is more potent when combined with other magic skills, or other skills in general.

Example: A smith character could make an extended test using Ritual Magic and the Trade: Smith skill to make magically sharp blades.

The four elemental magics can work independently or combined. A player makes a roll for whatever skill they want to use for magic (Air might be used to create a gust of wind or to fly, fire to create a dart of flame to shoot at an opponent). However, if a player wishes to combine effects, they make consecutive rolls for each skill. During a conflict, this means one skill during one turn, the next involved skill during the next turn, etc. until all effects have been added. Only after the last skill has been rolled successfully does the spell go off.

Example: A player wants to reverse the gravity in a room. The player makes an Earth Magic roll. On the next round of the conflict he makes an Air Magic roll. Once both rolls are successfully made, the gravity in one Zone switches and down is up and up is down.

Stunts - Stunts are the way a character will be able to quickly combine magic skills without having to spend extra rounds. If there is a spell they plan on using often, they can create a stunt listing what magic skills it uses. Then, when the character needs to cast the spell, they merely have to make one roll and then add the average of the magic skills to be used.

Example: Frantosh is a mage who can get into places other cannot. He decides he wants to create "Ghostform," a Magic Stunt that would give him the ability to turn invisible and walk through walls. His player and the GM decide that the magic skills to be part of this would be Water for invisibility and Air for turning insubstantial. Frantosh has a +4 (Great) in Water Magic and a +2 (Fair) in Air Magic. The average of these two skills would be three, so any time Frantosh wants to use his Ghostform Stunt, he rolls the dice and adds 3 to the total.

Anyway, this is the magic system as it currently resides in my brain. I don't know how well (or even if) it will work as a feasible magic system, but it's the first one I thought of. Unless I hear a bunch of reasons why I should scrap it I'll probably move on to skills tomorrow under the assumption that this will be the magic system for the Island. If I change it later, I'll just have to do some redesigns.

The Island - Playing with Fate - Initial Thoughts

That's right, I am now officially working on two Fate products at once. While my Time Heroes adaptation is underway and has made decent progress, I'm going to be starting my "the Island" campaign soon via G+ Hangout and so I thought another design journal would help get me going.

A History of "the Island"

The Island is all the place is known by. It is a setting where the "worst of the worst" criminals from various realities are dumped. In a world where all is ocean save for this one single continent, it seemed the perfect place to have a penal colony. No work was required other than just dumping convicts there and returning to the home reality.

The point behind the concept of the Island is survival. The PCs are those convicted of their realities' most heinous crimes (though not necessarily actually guilty of said crimes) who have been left on the Island to fend for themselves. Not only must they fend off the creatures of the Island, they must also make alliances, prove themselves useful to whatever subcultures they choose to join in a day-to-day fashion and make sure they aren't stuck holding the short end of the stick when all is said and done. Oh, and the creature of the Island.

The Island was originally born as a D&D 4E setting. My players had fun in it but, like most 4E games I ran, it just didn't feel right to me. Here I had created a setting that was just perfect for political intrigue and backbiting, survival in the wilderness and plain old adventure. 4E does have its merits, but this game could be so much more than what 4E provided for.

The next thing I attempted was to run it using Burning Wheel, Revised. The system was intriguing to me and it seemed perfect for what I wanted to do with the Island. Between the unique fighting system and social mechanics to interesting skills, what could be better? Unfortunately, this was a bit too far on the other side of things for my players. Not used to such a system, it fell flat on its face before the end of the first session (combined with trying to game in a local store with the kiddos running around in an enclosed room for the first time, which didn't happen after that). After that, I set the Island aside.

Why Fate?
After getting a bit into the conversion of Time Heroes to Time Heroes of Fate, I found myself loving the system. It has a collaborative world-building to it that allows a GM to take a basic idea for a game and use the players to flesh it out to the benefit of everyone at the table. It has combat mechanics that can be used for more than just physically attacking someone. Players can work with GMs to create their own Stunts that can be used for most anything imaginable.

That is when the Island popped back into my head. While I still feel Burning Wheel would be a great system for the Island, I am finding that Fate might prove to work just as well, while being more player (well, MY player) friendly. I have decided to create a design journal as I attempt to turn the Island into a game of Fate. If it turns out, that's awesome. If not, it's a learning experience.

Here is what I am planning for Design Journal entries (there will likely be more and it may not happen in this order):

Skills - Time Heroes of Fate was fine just adding the Magic and Future Tech skills to the list. I think that in order to accomplish what I want to with the Island I'm going to have to rename/change/add skills moreso than in my last adaptation.

Magic - Magic in the Island is going to be of a different style than how I am doing things in Time Heroes. I'm not solid yet on how exactly it will work. This entry will be me exploring ideas I have an possibly settling on the one that will work best for how I envision magic on the Island working.

Stunts - As I did with Time Heroes, I will write at least one post devoted to Island Stunts. This may be based off of magic as well as other things about the Island that would work best as a Stunt.

Collaborative Creation - The Island, I think, is going to be created collaboratively under more of a "Microscope"-style system, allowing the players to assist in creating factions, areas of the continent, common problems, etc. This will certainly be a post to itself, although I may or may not add a second post with an example of collaborative world creation.

Faction Affiliation - I want to see if I can create some kind of affiliation system that will affect the players while they are interacting with one faction or another.

The Creature - There are a couple of ways I see the Creature working in the Island. I will be writing a post going into more detail on the various options I think could work and then explaining why I chose what I chose.

As I said, there may be more posts than just those touching on the topics I've just mentioned, but at the least these will certainly be addressed along the way.