Mist & Shadow setting concept
Between Christmas and New Year's, I helped my Dad move between two towns 5 hours apart which gave me a chance to listen to a good chunk of The Guns of August. The Great War is definitely ripe for an RPG setting that involves hidden conspiracies and complex plots while still hearkening back to the medieval roots of traditional fantasy gaming. In fact, the book starts out by discussing the end of the old world of noble rule within the European countries that culminated with World War I.
Kaiser Wilhelm tried hard to get Tsar Nicholas to join his fellow emperors to defeat the other powers as a sign of authoritarian ability to rule. This authoritarian government complete with noble lines makes for a very old feel. Wilhelm tried a lot of things to either keep Russia from joining France or to keep England from entering the war. In fact, if not for Winston Churchill, the English might not have been able to keep Germany from completely controlling Europe since he ordered the English navy to be mobilized before the English government had approved the action. If not for that order, the English might have been ill-prepared to join the fight. Another interesting thing is that German leaders tried to recall the orders to take a town in Luxembourg that was one of the triggering events for the English to actually fight. The recall was never received, and the attack went on as planned. Word was immediately sent to the French, Russian, and English governments, ensuring that all of them would join the fight.
In other words, everything worked out just right for World War I to become the large-scale conflict that it did, and they involved elements of intrigue and conspiracy that will make for great fodder for the Mist & Shadow concept that I will be submitting for the bySwarm setting contest. If you'd like to follow the Mist & Shadow development, you can search Google Wave for "with:public byswarm" in your Google Wave search box.
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