Introduction: A Group Storytelling Adventure Game

   This game is for the purpose of telling a story from the individual viewpoints of fictional characters. Each player helps create the story by choosing the actions of their chosen character.

The Game Overseer, or master storyteller, tells the players of the events in the story. Then the players choose how their characters respond to these events. Players also take initiative actions to advance the skills of their character and add to the story.

The characters are on an adventure. The Game Overseer provides the background, plot and many other details of the adventure. However, it is the interaction of the characters with each other and their imaginary world that shape the story. The individual personalities of the characters are what add depth to the game play.

The emphasis of this game is not one of violence, greed and evil dark forces, though these are present in the world. It is a story of a civilization recuperating from disaster. Each character hopes to turn events towards the good of their people by improving themselves and their small part of the world. Still, the environment of the planet on which they live is a hostile one. Perilous adventures await any who dare. Mythical creatures of ancient legend roam the planet freely, and not all are tolerant of strangers.

Though this may be fantasy, where great and fantastic things happen, the Phoenix Role Playing Game system attempts to make the game realistic, believable yet maintain the element of fantasy.

Characters can learn almost anything. There are very few limits. It depends mostly on how much time they spend studying or practicing. As they learn and train in a chosen skill, their ability in that skill improves. At first all is new, so they learn quickly. Once they have learned much, it becomes more difficult to improve on what they know. There are no classes, levels or arbitrary limits. Time and effort allow any character to reach their desired goals.

Magic is not a power achieved through worship or dark forces. Everyone can work wonders if they choose to pursue the study. The planet’s sub-atomic particle fields are sensitive to the minds of the people and give them mental powers. The can control the world around them at will. These psionic abilities have separate areas of control, called Spheres of Influence. The names of the areas come from their most commonly used aspects: Earth, Air, Water, Fire, and Ice. Each Sphere can do a lot more than their name implies.

The players define their character by the skills they choose to study. So the character is the product of the player’s imagination not purely the result of dice rolling. This allows the maximum amount of freedom in character generation.

This is not a game where there are winners and losers. There is no ultimate achievable goal to finish the game. Each adventure and campaign, though each may have their own goal and end, is merely another chapter in the history of the planet called Phoenix.

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