Cittarovina - the City of Ruins

Background
Cittarovina, the City of Ruins draws artists, intellectuals, and fortune-seekers like gulls to trash. The relatively recent return of the Pontifex to the ancient seat of the Church of the Unconquered Sun has further spurred the opportunistic to flock to this most vibrant of cities.

The various noble families are involved in political and personal intrigues (although the lines get blurred), and their various underlings are often the game pieces. More and more, these powerful men and women are becoming interested in the treasures that can be unearthed from the ruins of the ancient pagan empire. Previously, such artifacts were regarded as wonderful art to be displayed or studied for its aesthetic value, but in recent years, this study has turned to the unexpected (and inexplicable) power that can be unleashed from these items, or "Arcana" as some scholars have dubbed them.

So, now, the race is on to uncover the lost treasures of the gods...

The Rules

We'll be using Into the Odd (from the blog http://soogagames.blogspot.com/)

Everything is as the rules, and if you start with an Arcanum I will generate it.

Although the game is FLAILSNAILS, all characters will be native to begin with. Cittarovina uses Italianate naming conventions, so please bear this in mind.

If you'd like to play, drop me a line.

Creating a new world of odd

I posted on G+ recently about being in a world-building funk. I was casting around for a rules-set that would inspire me, and I found it in Into the Odd (from the blog http://soogagames.blogspot.com/). It's based on OD&D but is thematically and mechanically streamlined. There are no spellcasters; all magic that PCs can use comes from Arcana (mysterious items left by the equally mysterious Astrals).

I've also been playing a couple of video games from 2 well known series recently and they were added to the stew of elements I'd want in a game I ran or world I made.

Two possible ideas came to mind strongly: the Young Kingdoms of Moorcock's Elric stories, or a city-state modelled after those of Renaissance Italy. For the truly unique experience I decided to go with the latter, firstly because it means actually creating something, and secondly FLAILSNAILS, man.

Now, it's not going to be historically accurate or a love-letter to the Medicis. It's probably going to be as historically precise and as serious as Warhammer FRP 1E's version of Europe. So, now to create our city-state: I want something that combines the artistic culture of Florence (Firenze) with the ruins of Rome. (Yes I've been playing Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, can you tell?)

Time to hunt for a map to steal... er... be inspired by,