Tone
The Broken Dagger is set in a “low fantasy” milieu. There are fantastical elements, but they are uncommon enough to be generally regarded with awe or suspicion. We strongly believe that it is important for fantastical occurrences to possess a sense of wonder rather than being so common as to be rendered routine or banal. Additionally, characters should not exist solely as vessels of special powers; they should be believable as people, each with their own desires, fears, strengths and flaws.
Races
Myrken Wood and surrounding regions are predominantly populated by humans. More fantastical races – elves, dwarves, halflings, minotaurs, etc. – are known, but present as a minority. As a broad guideline the more strange, exotic or monstrous a race, the more likely they are to receive reactions ranging from curiosity and fascination to fear and loathing. Traditionally “villainous” races such as orcs, trolls, dark elves or vampires are unlikely to be welcomed with open arms. This doesn’t preclude you from playing an antagonistic or villainous character, but players wishing to do so should be aware that their character may not receive a warm reception OOC.
Origins
The world of #Broken_Dagger is large and to a great extent unexplored. If your character is not from Myrken Wood or surrounding regions we encourage you to detail a homeland for them beyond the borders of Amasynian Province. Long-distance travel by land or sea is possible, if arduous, and foreigners are generally viewed with cautious interest. Magical travel by portal or teleportation is very rare in the core setting, and thus the preserve of the extremely wealthy or the extremely powerful. Travel between worlds/planes/dimensions is effectively unknown, and requires Op approval.
Take the time to familiarise yourself with our setting – explore the maps on the Broken Dagger website and spend a while browsing the BD Wiki – and it shouldn’t be hard to find a gap. The wider setting has been left deliberately undefined so that our players have room to fill in the blanks.
Importing characters
If you have an original character you want to introduce to the Broken Dagger from elsewhere, please don’t just copy them across directly. Make an expy version of them and take the time to adjust their background to fit into our existing setting. Rooting your character in our setting helps maintain consistency in our setting and avoids the introduction of technology, science or magitech incompatible with the tone of our channel. It also gives your character something in common with others: this world is their home.
Power
We believe that the use of special powers should never be a casual or trivial matter, and that the use of special powers should always expand story possibilities rather than closing them off.
Using special powers as a matter of routine can dilute the sense of wonder that such powers should evoke – what ought to be incredible becomes commonplace or even boring. Additionally, struggle against adversity is a rich source of engaging roleplay. While it makes sense OOC to accept a powerful character’s offer of help, OOC this can make things less enjoyable for other players, as the powerful character solves all their problems while they are left watching from the sidelines.
This doesn’t mean that your character can’t have amazing powers, only that such talents and abilities need to be offset by comparable constraints and consequences. Perhaps a power is exhausting or injurious to the user; perhaps it requires extensive preparation; perhaps it can only be used in moments of extreme duress.
As a general guideline: the more potent a power, the stronger the reasons a character should have against using it.
Healing
For many of our players their character coping with an injury is an interesting challenge. Ready access to instant magical healing can reduce the dramatic impact of situations in which a character risks physical harm. As such, we recommend that magical healing be kept to a minimum.
Limited forms of magical healing – speeding natural recovery, staving off infection, reducing an injury from mortal to survivable – are preferable to magic that instantly mends broken bones, regrows amputated limbs, or completely heals terrible wounds in a matter of moments.
Villainy
We don’t discourage the introduction of antagonistic or villainous characters whose desires conflict with those of others – conflict is the heart of a good story! – but we strongly recommend that new players spend a while getting used to the setting and characters therein before introducing a character intent on spreading strife and discord. We also believe that even “evil” characters should have a firm sense of purpose behind their villainy. “For the Evulz” rarely makes for an interesting antagonist.
