Need a System

[Aptera]

I had an idea very recently when I was reading about long term campaigns in RPGs (different generations, founding kingdoms, that kind of thing) and I thought "wouldn't it be cool to play as secret societies?". You know, the ancient and vast conspiracies you see in every fantasy, or sci-fi story, whether they are vampires looking to control humanity from the shadows, an ancient species of aliens controlling humanity from beyond the stars, that kind of thing.

So heres my idea: The Players control a secret society devoted to a Goal. A Goal can be whatever a player wants, but it has to be big, and I'd encourage them to be creative, so something like "Defeat my enemy by learning ice magic" doesn't cut it, but "summon an ancient ice deity" is good, and "summon an ancient ice deity locked away by the gods, to encase the entire world in ice so that they survive the Squid-mens time travelling empire" is really good. The things standing in a players way would mostly be the other players, and whatever NPC groups (opposite aligned religion, empires, God) the GM decides to throw at them.

My problem is that I need a system for this. I need something thats flexible, so that players can have a wide variety of resources and Goals to choose from, but also balanced so that no player suddenly gets outclassed by another, which is my main worry. I've thought about doing this free form, or with a system of my own devising (with stats like Secrecy and Minions), but it would be really nice to have a system to work with, and any feedback you have on the idea itself.

[Knaight]

Nobilis. Its perfect for something like this. Alternately Fate, as Aspects are a uniquely suited mechanic for this idea.

[Jlerpy]

Depends a lot on how "crunchy" you want it to be. FATE is definitely good.
But if you just want it to be a game of stories about schemes, then maybe you should consider something really loose like a similar "system" to Polaris. It's almost entirely narrative, with a really interesting narrative conflict system.

[elliott20]

I believe you're talking about my thread called the Legend of the Seven. (I'm still working on it, but I haven't posted updates on it in a while)

but anyway, I will double echo the suggestions of either Nobilis or Fate for this. the Nobilis game structure is pretty much about myth and world building itself, so that can be a good system to go into.

Fate is good because of the aspect system where you can call on them and bribe the players with fate points for calling on them.

The "goal" concept, by the way, was also done in Burning Wheel via the belief/instincts/artha system, where players get action points for playing towards a goal and resolving plotlines. (And it's one I'm actually incorporating into my campaign setting for the Legend of the Seven.)

But the short of it is that if you want to encourage the "goal" concept, just make a system that awards players for playing towards the goal via a fluid resource they can use anywhere. (i.e. action points)

[Aptera]

I believe you're talking about my thread called the Legend of the Seven. (I'm still working on it, but I haven't posted updates on it in a while)

I wasn't aware that I was.

So, Nobilis or FATE. To the research-mobile!

[elliott20]

HOLY ISOTOPES, R&D MAN!!

I'm sorry, but R&D Man just doesn't have the same zaniness that is Adam West.