Need help to build a scenario

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(English is not my native language, all of this as with the help of a dictionary, so please, do not notice the terrible grammar mistakes I possibly had made, I tried my best)
I’ve always been a fan fantasy and sci-fi stories and board games. Nevertheless, it was a short time that I met (at the beginning of this year, I think) the RPGs. I liked it at first sight, and one day, my friends and I, we played with the free ZeFRS, and was fun. I will not tell the whole story, because it would be too unnecessary and this is not the main issue.

Recently, I am trying to build my world for my campaign in ACKS. It is strongly inspired by the dying world of Barsoom, although that will not have radio weapons or ships, and if any such technology was forgotten long time ago. I heard of a very good scenario, the Dark Sun, maybe what I’m looking for, so then I’ll try to take a look. However, I already have imagined some races that inhabited the scenario.

The first race is the ape-man, like the albino apes of the books, although the size of a human. I’m imagining them as a race created long ago, by magic or genetic manipulation, done mainly for the purpose of war. Today, most of them are slaves, because they have incredible stamina and strength. The other race would be of humanoid cats without hair, inspired in the Sphynx . They are divided into tribes, fighting each other, however unlike Green Man of Barsoom, this specie trust more on cunning and stealth, but there could be also some “civilized” individuals. The last one it would be a race that lives underground, insect-like, who revere their queen as a true goddess (inspired by the FirstBorn). And of course, there will be humans.

I read the forum where Alex explains how to create races. However, I could not really understand how works, maybe because of my terrible English, or because I simply could not comprehend very well, and would be good that someone try to explain to me. I am also not sure how many points should cost to the four arms for ape-man. I also wanted suggestions for the races or other interesting ideias.

PS: I’m waiting the launch of Domains at War, when the full version will come out? :smiley:

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Not an Autarch, but I will help, if I can.

Two-armed ape-men would be easy, I think. Very much like the “beastmen” of ACKS. Alex has a post on these forums applying race construction techniques to orcs and bugbears which may be helpful.

Regarding four-armed ape-men, you first need to consider what can be done with four arms. Is one arm primary? Or two or all four? Will they use a claw x4/bite attack or weapons? If weapons, look at the different options in ACKS: weapon and shield, two-handed weapon, two weapons. How might a four-armed ape-man combine these options? Are they all equally capable, or is special training required? (The latter might be handled by race-specific proficiencies.) Boil that down to +1 attack/damage/AC, then you can “price” it as a power.

This last point is key – don’t think ape or cat, but how powers might evoke an ape-like or cat-like play circumstance.

Regarding an underground insect-like race, infravision and a chitin shell spring to mind, which could be a Thrassian re-skinned as an insect. Similarly, you might exchange swimming movement with some degree of movement through loose earth or sand.

A cat-like race might be very similar to Elf 0. I noticed someone posted an ACKS cat-like race on rpg.net (tabi, or something like that), but I can’t find it right now. I believe their cat-like race stacked with the Thievery Value. So, again, what powers would your cat-like race possess?

Of course, the above assumes your races are substantially different from humans. There are a lot of examples of humanoid animals in fantasy and science-fiction that are not dramatically different from human “norms”. In this case, differences are substantially cultural and “fluff”, not rules “crunch”.

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Thank you, CharlesDM. About the last part, I think you’re right. I think I was very worried about how they would work “mechanically” at the game than actually worrying what is most important: creating a rich culture and history. I sought to know more about Dark Sun, and the scenario was exactly what I was looking for: a post-apocalyptic desert world, ravaged by magic, where corrupt Sorcerer-Kings reign great city-states where the hope of a better world was lost long time ago and water, food and metals are extremely scarce. I also found a project to convert the world of Dark Sun for ACKS. If you or anyone is interested, here is the link below. For now, are ready the races and classes.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6c9Bl1d9QMGcEpBVEk5dTVZcVU/edit?pli=1

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Alibino Ape-Men sounds a lot like Morlocks, which are already in the core rulebook.