daflum
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The history behind the RPG Coriolis

Wed 20 Jul 2016, 13:22

So I thought it could be fun be fun too all you international Coriolis-lovers the kind of interesting story about Coriolis the RPG and its orgins, for example, did you know that the current version is actually 2.0?
 
You see Coriolis was originally made by Järnringen, you know the guys behind Symbaroum? It was their second game after Mutant: Heirs of Doom. The game Mutant has a long past in Sweden and their version was a kind of mishmash between Mad Max, The Wind in the Willow and the 19th century Swedish literature. You can kind of say that Year Zero is kind of a prequel too that setting(I know many roleplaying-groups, who see it as that at least). Anyway after they made that game and the largest official roleplayingcampaign in Sweden to date(three books that are 700 pages combined)  they started making Coriolis which was completed in 2008 and many people fell in love with the rich and colourful setting which oozed of atmosphere. It was so good in fact that it made our group begin to eat baklava, Middleeastern cuisine, dates and Maghrebi mint tea and really immerse in culturegaming, something we sadly did’nt do before or after that. Anyway Järnringen gave hugh promises about a large campaign that would rival their first, four big splatbooks and other stuff but after the first few supplements, like a GM-screen and intro-adventure, things went very quit except for the odd lifesign here and there about that the first part of the campaign where being made.
 
Enter Fria Ligan, some guys from Stockholm who felt that the official material didn’t last very long and began making their own on the now defunct horisontensande.se which was well received, they also began making articles in the Swedish roleplaying magazine Fenix and Kosta, the projectlead of the current Coriolis even wrote a 100page adventure to the old Coriolis. Järnringen however finally admitted in 2011(?) that they were burned out after over ten years of RPG-making and so the torch was given to Fria who, by that point had probably written more to Coriolis than Järnringen, although most if it was written for their own slice of the Horizon that most times didn’t affect the galaxy as a whole, with all the big factions and their conflicts.
 
However after some small releases it became abundantly clear that the old system of rules had som serious flawa that made the game quite broken(a word which I hate to use since that rarely is the case when people scream it on the internet), especially the spacecombat which were clearly unfinished in places and kind of needed to be handwaved a lot. So Fria Ligan decided that  it was time to make a new rulesystem but promised that It wouldn’t take too much time. Unfortunately that was not the case and so began the dark age(five years can of course be considered an age! ;) ) of “Coriolisåret”(The Coriolis Year). So called since every year did Fria Ligan promised that this year would be the Coriolis Year, the year where Coriolis 2 would come and all the material that was almost finished would follow with it but alas that was never the case until 2016. Fria Ligan explained in a lengthy podcast that there was always something that happened, almost like a curse that made them take one step forward and to step back. They decided for example that the new system would be based on FATE under these years but then realized that system didn’t quite work with what they were trying to create, so back to another system until the one its based on today that is based on Year Zero’s system. I still am just a little small bit salty(a very privileged kind of salty :P) over the wait even though most if it was explained in the podcast but I will not dwelve on it here any further unless anyone would want to know.
 
Anyway the year is 2016 and finally the game has arrived and it’s definitely the game I had been looking forward to the most and it delivered. For me it blends the thing Järnringen excels in, namely write things incredibly and oozing with atmosphere with the tight professionalism and all around quality that is Fria Ligan. This is told by my highly subjective point of view and I am probably wrong in some places or missed/glossed over things in others. Also Excuse my broken English and smiley faces :P  
 
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Vainamoinen
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Re: The history behind the RPG Coriolis

Wed 20 Jul 2016, 14:52

Wow, daflum, thanks for this. I wish more FL forumites would invest your tremendous effort to give a bit of background to international RPG fans!

I strongly dislike FATE, the absolute uncrunch and ridiculous experience approach especially, and I'm not too keen on roleplaying systems that detail every inch of the world map/galaxy in humongous fluff books so that there's simply no space for the GM to insert pieces of herself into the story. So, horray, all has turned out for the best here! 30 systems to fill myself, challenge accepted. :lol: 

I actually hope they're not too quick with the supplements for that matter. Get people accustomed to the systems in only a very basic way, and maybe see what's coming from the player communities for a little while. I'm literally scared of the "big campaign" they're promising, as it may change the whole outset and premise of the game world once completed ... ? :? In fact, I'm looking out for RPGs where players can change a whole lot, but still not contradict the canon of most other p&p groups in other virtual star systems around the real life globe. For every group to be THE people who change EVERYTHING, thus contradicting the lore of EVERY other group ... I don't know. It doesn't scream Arabian Nights to me also. :P

I've been in the Mutant: Year Zero Kickstarter via a friend, because as a proper German I didn't have a credit card by then (and I'm using a virtual credit card for Coriolis for the first time, all thumbs pressed). Recently she went to Portugal/Lissabon and, right there in a little fish restaurant, she met a Swede who had played MUTANT before. Incredible how the topic turned to that, and I'm so sad I wasn't there. But I guess we could say that by now Mutant is known beyond the confines of the Swedish country, and, judging from the success of the Kickstarter, very soon Fria Ligan will also have a sizable international Coriolis audience to reckon with. 8-)

Thanks again, from an avid emoticon user to an avid emoticon user. ;)

Also, I'm leaving a link in the Kickstarter comments that directs here. Hope you don't mind ...
 
daflum
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Re: The history behind the RPG Coriolis

Wed 20 Jul 2016, 19:09

Well no problem, just happy that someone read it i guess since I’ve been wanting to tell people some background of this game for a long time :) and well FATE sounded good at the time to me at least but i haven’t played with the system so i don't know really.
 
I’m gonna speculate here; I believe that first you are going to have a smaller intro adventure and two fishtanks(one of which is tied to the adventure), very similar too the zone sectors from year zero and then you are going to get the first part of the big campaign that will probably change some things most definitely, but hey the status quo is already kind of beginning to be breached when the campaign begins, however, it would’nt surprise me if Fria Ligan give you more options to tailor it to what suits you best but I don’t really know since I haven’t seen Fria Ligan in action when doing a bigger campaign(year zero and its expansions are after all more of a metaplot than a more classic campaign). That depends of how much they changed from Järnringen, Järnringens take on the campaign would definitely change everything when its done. However when I say epic campaign, I really mean epic campaign, the Heirs of Doom-campaign that Järnringen made took my group 56 sessions with and average playtime of 7 hours each seasons so well when you play that long you probably would be disappointed as a player if your character isn’t one  of the well-known people out there :P
 
I sincerely hope that both Mutant and Coriolis will spread far and wide across because the globe because they are two of the best RPG-settings I’ve read and you all people deserve them J Someday maybe Mutant:Heirs of Doom will be translated as well but I doubt it ;)
 
And it’s absolutely okey., spread it anyway you like I guess :P also as an extra treat I’ve give you all a picture of everything officially released for Coriolis 1(sorry for shady cam). Top is the GM-screen, from left to right in the middle row is everything produced under Järnringen and bottom is the stuff produced with Fria Ligan. If there are any more questions about the supplements and anything else, I be happy to answer J


Image
 
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Zapp
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Re: The history behind the RPG Coriolis

Wed 20 Jul 2016, 23:13

So I thought it could be fun
I thought so too :)
 
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Zapp
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Re: The history behind the RPG Coriolis

Wed 20 Jul 2016, 23:40

I'm literally scared of the "big campaign" they're promising, as it may change the whole outset and premise of the game world once completed ... :?
Well, Järnringen is and was perhaps Sweden's best writers of large world-defining campaigns. So have a little faith :)

Do note I said "defining". Not "disruptive". What I mean by this is that my hopes for The Mercy of the Icons is not some Vampire metaplot that invalidates everything already published.

Instead my hopes can be exemplified by three of the best campaigns I know of :) Obviously VERY spoilerific

Start white text (mark text block with mouse to read) ---->
The Enemy Within (WFRP) - A campaign that takes you into the highest levels of power to reveal that chaos isn't just monsters from outside, it's also insidious corruption from within.
Masks of Nyarlathotep (Call of Cthulu) - A super-luxurious campaign to tour the world and showcase every kind of lovecraftian cult and conspiracy, making a great example of both how to make adventure out of old HPs writings, and how to make an almost insanely detailed campaign
Heirs of the Apocalypse (previous Mutant) - As Daflum said, that version of the game was influenced not only by post-apocalyptic stuff but by a uniquely swedish take on worker's rights. And so the campaign ends with you holding the fate of the entire empire in your hands - will you uphold power or support the rebels and will you fight for workers' rights?
<---- end white text (phpBB doesnt support proper spoiler tags so I'm posting this white on white)

In other words nothing less than a campaign that explains why the entire setting and game was made in the first place :)

A campaign that defines the setting, as in you can't imagine the setting without the campaign.

You can, however, imagine playing in the setting both before the events of the campaign, after the events, and in an alternate timeline where the campaign never happens (but still subtly colors it).

That kind of campaign is nothing to be afraid of :)

Also note the kind of august company I put Mutant in. Yes, that's high praise. And yes, Järnringen deserved it!
It doesn't scream Arabian Nights to me also. :P
A minor point: I believe that sales pitch is by Fria Ligan. The original authors of the campaign wrote it for the previous edition of the game, which did not (AFAIK) use that particular sales pitch.
A much more important point: I still think it will be very true to the Coriolis look and feel :) In fact, if you read what I wrote above I hope it will refine Coriolis :)
 
Garage
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Re: The history behind the RPG Coriolis

Thu 21 Jul 2016, 18:35

it was a great read thanks for posting it!
i just hope we get all of those Gooddies!!
 
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schoon
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Re: The history behind the RPG Coriolis

Fri 12 Aug 2016, 18:49

Excellent thread - thanks to all the contributors!

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