Cursed Empire The Game

Why play Cursed Empire?

The main aim of Cursed Empire is to go back to the basics of fantasy, i.e. ensure that heroics are a centrepiece of any story or plot. A great deal of this is enhanced thanks to the Points of Renown (PR) system.

Points of Renown (PR) System

Crimson Empire 2nd Edition develops the Points of Renown System and changes most conventional gaming preconceptions.

Players can either progress an individual through the PR system or progress an Order or Faction, occasionally at the detriment of the individual character (Darkuns are a good example of this).

The two gaming styles are perfectly compatible but allow for a very different gaming experience.

Knights for example through their individual actions will no doubt progress their order. However the main aim for this type of character is to progress an individual by gaining renown through heroic deeds and receiving support and "sponsorship" from their order. This can come in the form of a better warhorse, superior weaponry and armour through to retainers and money.

Darkuns are characters who are expected to perish fast, not without "going with a bang" though as this would have the opposite effect on their Faction. Players who choose to create Darkuns know that they have chosen the "time-bomb" option and that their character's days are numbered.

What is the incentive for killing your character off? Well, by dying with glory for the Temple, the Darkun character progresses the status of the Faction. Fear is a powerful weapon against the Empire. This creates a new type of situation in the game as you have conventional characters all trying to progress and better themselves and a handful of demented individuals who really don't care who they take with them. It allows for some really heroic situations to arise, where players push the limits of their characters to new levels. Probability would normally dictate that they should really not be throwing themselves up against 12 hardened Imperial Knights, but the outcome could potentially surprise everyone. In any case, even if the Darkun was to die after having taken-out 4 Knights, they would be remembered on both sides of the conflict for their action.

What is important to note is that if a player recreates a character from the same Order, Faction etc. as their previous character then they can start off with a "head start" of PR. Basically the MT rewards roleplaying and background efforts from players.

Example: A Darkun character from the Scorpion Faction has been awarded with 17 PR over 6 gaming sessions. They perish after 5 minutes gaming in the 7th session. The player decides to recreate a Scorpion as they had so much fun being ultra evil and careless with their life.

1. The player creates the younger brother of the previous character and submits this to the MT for a PR transfer: they get 1 PR to start off with.

2. The player creates the younger brother but this time provides 6 pages of background story to explain their relationship and how they grew up together: the character gets 5 PR to reward them for their effort.

Basically Orders, Factions etc. have Renown Pools (RP) that can be used to redistribute PR amongst PCh's and NPCh's.

Complex Geopolitics and Intrigue

Cursed Empire comprises well over 100 orders, factions and guilds which allow for some really exciting and complex roleplaying sequences:

Knight Orders: 30
Darkun Factions: 15
Druid Gatherings: 7
Druid-Priest Brotherhoods: 7
Rlisha Houses: 12
Guilds: 10
Companion Orders: 3
Renegade Cults: 20

Rare and Deadly Creatures

Creatures of Myth do exist but that is just the point, most of them are so dangerous or terrifying that adventurers don’t go there. They get their own back in Cursed Empire, which adds to the heroic fantasy dimension of the game: only fools or heroes would ever seek out such beings…

Features of Cursed Empire

Background to Cursed Empire

Brotherhoods

Brotherhoods are brutal Druid-Priest Orders comprising ruthless power hungry individuals whose only aim is to extend their influence through the use of brute force and dark magic.

Church of Elementals

Within the Empire it is not uncommon to find the four elemental cults under the same roof or functioning in perfect harmony, this is what is commonly known as the Church of Elementals. In Karnarcos this concept is discussed and occasionally promoted but very rarely comes into practice.

Council of the Ten

Governing body of the Empire comprising ten representatives of the main Imperial Cities. The Council has a "caretaking" role in the absence of the Emperor.

Darkun

Religious zealot from the South whose only aim is to bring the Empire down and glorify their temple through deeds of great courage. Body art and tattoos play a major role in Darkun society as each design or style depicts the life history of the Darkun and their deeds.

Darkun Faction

These are in fact sub-factions of the main elemental cults. They comprise a number of

Darkuns within their ranks and are known to plot not only the downfall of the Empire but also that of opposing factions.

Death Magic

The practice of this dark art is outlawed within the Empire. Indeed such magic relates to interacting with the Dead and tampering with the course of nature.

Dergs

Dergs are force-mutated crossbreeds between Elves and Dwarves that the

Thargians created as sub-class slaves for their civilisation's requirements. This means that they differ greatly in appearance from small folk with or without facial hair, sometimes even smaller than Dwarves through to much taller individuals often described as "Ugly Folk", as their features are no way near as fine as Elves and they often have patchy facial hair and a great deal of baldness amongst them.