Flipside: Sundereth (An Introduction)

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[size=150]Flipside: Sundereth[/size]

Game concept by Jared Hansen

Introduction
The following outlines some of the basic background flavour of a LARP capable of being used on multiple scales, from small scale adventures to convention sized games with hundreds of participants.
This game system is my attempt at taking some of the best features from many other LARP games past & present, with influences from RPG’s such as DnD, Runequest, & from books by James Barclay, J R R Tolkien, R Fiest & D Eddings.
Because I have borrowed so much I don’t feel I should have people pay for this game system, I wish to distribute it to high calibre GM’s who will use it to create a network of games. I wouldn’t mind the odd donation but really the use of my system would be enough payback for me.
Local cells would run their own games, with plots that may be independent but connected with a common background, allowing easy character transfer between cells, simply & elegantly representing the wandering adventurer.
For major events, people should be able to come from anywhere & bring their GM verified characters with them & participate in events which will shape the very game world itself. Major events would also be the forum for introducing change to the system, with GM’s bringing ideas & improvements to be discussed & potentially included by quorum.
Of course this is all just a pipedream if no one wants to use my system, so read the background & let me know what you GM’s out there think.
The game is still in development so your ideas can help shape things to come.
An initial version is still a few months away but GM’s who would like to see completed components should contact me by email: jm_hansen@hotmail.com

Game Background
Flipside: Sundereth is a LARP game for those who like an epic magical fantasy setting with a slight twist, the ability to role play an entire gamut of races with different creeds & beliefs. The boundaries of the righteous & diabolical, law & order, good & evil all become blurred as societies clash, throwing players into both unlikely alliance & bloody conflict.

Flipside: Sundereth is set in a mythological realm of Sundereth (or the sundered earth), an untamed world ruled by various factions, magic & war.
Sundereth is a divided realm & is split between relatively small occupied lands known as the ‘isles’, that held by societies slightly more advanced than tribal barbarians & the Savage Wilds, which aren’t held by anyone bar savage beasts & tribal warlord cultures .

While most of these “isles” are land bound, they are still islands & are often geographically isolated by large untamed wild lands. It is within these (generally) resource rich islands, that different societies have come to exist, some in uneasy coexistence, some in clear dominion over others.

Though true peace is non existent, open war is uncommon; occasional conflict comes in the form of raids, looting & skirmishes. Borders are fluid & resources are contested regularly. Complete domination of an “isle” is rare and though not every race may have representative settlements in every location, some societies mix well and some (begrudgingly) allow other races into their borders without issue.

Player Races
Skor – millennia ago an ancient race sought to create a race of warrior slaves by mixing the blood of multiple demi-human races with that of cunning demi trolls & a new race was born. The ancients are gone, lost to antiquity but the Skor remain.
This warrior society has strong leadership in the form of a tribal warlord, often backed with the advice of Shamen.
They have strict tribal law & many have ideals of honour, especially when facing worthy opponents. Though not particularly sophisticated tribal law governs & curbs some of their less appealing behavioural traits & it is now uncommon for them to eat their victims after battle.
They are strong & fierce they take pride in the skills & art of hunting, arms & battle.
They are identifiable by their skin tone varying from pale green to virtually black to blue or purple & their distinctive tribal iconography. They are known to have jutting, almost tusk-like canines, male & female alike, which sometimes impedes their speech.

Humans – prevalent in almost any area, they are a diverse group in of themselves, and quick to adapt to new situations, they are often found in the most unexpected of places doing the most unexpected of things.
Humans have no real disadvantage & learn faster than other races.

Stonekith – often bearded & proud these mountain men delve the depths of the world for riches, their understanding of stone is legendary.
Clan law & honour are important to these hardy folk & millennia of conflict with Skor & other savage creatures have hardened their resolve in battle to a fine steely point.
This can make them seem dour & unfriendly to strangers but once an alliance is struck they are steadfast in their purpose.
Male Stonekith often have beards and those that do wear it as a mark of Clan pride, they are often stout but of varying height, all (male & female) have a small Stonekith symbol of a crossed hammer & pick tattooed on the left side of their face or carried openly on their person.

Iltherin – pointed ears, capricious natures & a tendency for fine flowing clothes are the foremost impressions of Iltherin by other races. The younger children of a long dead race, they consider themselves the children of magic & their entire race has a natural affinity with it. They can seem to be a fey & fickle race to outsiders, their agendas often alien to other races that encounter them.
While their society is roughly cohesive, several subgroups (Naga, Archus & Genai) hold court over different lands, each often having different codes for ethics & morality.
Members of this race always wear a feather on their person, whether it is an actual or a stylised representation. Iltherin also have a metallic sheen to their skin, noticeable around the facial features.

Zlyn – are humanoid lizardfolk formed of a 3 sex race, their ancestors predating even the Iltherin ancients.
These sibilant, scaly, horned, tailed, and finned serpent people live a monastic existence, finding refuge in other societies which value their age old wisdom.
No one who meets a Zlyn could mistake them for another race.

Skkari – Their very existence lies shrouded in mystery, all that is known is that by some freak of necromancy, some human undead regain sentience, with fragmented memories & personality from their prior life.
Their undeath grips them as strong as life did; they become new entities entirely, drawing life from where there should be none.
They are inexplicably drawn together, forming an altogether alien society, unfettered by natural death, or reproduction, so many of their human needs are now extinguished.
Without the many drivers found in normal society, the small enclaves of Skkari seek their own goals of self preservation through power.

Cluagh – The Cluagh are a bestial mongrel race, being half humanoid & half beast. They are a diverse race & individuals often show features of many animal types from the hairy to the scaled or feathered or tentacled. They are thought to be the product of heavy Void exposure to primitive peoples long ago. They respect the strong but little else & forge a mercenary existence on Sundereth.

Societies
Within the various cities & landholdings, various societies accept members of other races depending on the cultural standings each race has with another.
Note: While most races will have their own distinct villages or outposts, predominantly of a single race & culture, the predominant race of the major cities form the basis for that society, regardless of the racial & cultural mix.

Societies: Sub societies & racial mixes

Human: Iltherin, Stonekith, Zlyn
Iltherin: Human, Zlyn,
Stonekin: Human
Skor: Zlyn, Skkari, Iltherin, Cluagh
Skkari: no permanent sub-societies
Cluagh: Skor

Factions
Factions are numerous in Sundereth, some are alliances of great strength or show the way of life, moral & ethical outlooks of particular subgroups. Some races in Sundereth have no real faction, being neutral or are more mercenary in their outlook, free to hire by the strongest or the highest paying. The Iltherin are divided, being neutral or mercenary & are split into 3 factions, the dark Naga, the righteous Archus & the more numerous Genai. Humans & Stonekith have formed the Allied Nations, the Skor & Skarri have a tenuous agreement know as the Claw Alliance & the vicious Cluagh are mercanaries or raiders & respect only the strong. Only the mystic Zlyn are neutral to all, welcomed for their presence & wisdom.

Magic
Magic is a layman’s term for the manipulation of the latent mana energies (known as the mana spectrum) that are an inherent part of the natural & supernatural forces that affect Sundereth.
Those that manipulate mana alter it from the latent natural state into less or unstable mana shapes, which are known collectively spells. Though the mana energy is practically limitless, manipulating it causes a drain on the psyche of the caster, which is of a finite value & varies from caster to caster, depending of training & experience.
Casters refer to this as mana stamina.
‘Casters’ is a generic term for a manipulator of magic, though they vary greatly in ability & effect depending on belief, focus, lore, training & even moral & ethical outlook.
The resultant effect is multiple magical disciplines or domains, each which utilise different though potentially overlapping parts of the mana spectrum (much like light through a prism).
Priests & Shamen for instance use devotion as their belief & focus; their religious texts provide the necessary lore, training & moral outlook.
Mages (a common type of caster) study the mana spectrum scientifically, jealously guarding their knowledge from other disciplines.

Mana Domains

Aether – magic of light, healing & astral beings
Void – magic of darkness, demons & the undead
Destruction – magic of fire & ruin
Nature – magic of the world
Mana – the essential force of magic

[size=150]Combat[/size]

No such thing as hit points
Creatures of flesh & blood do not resist cold steel or arrow shot very well & to large extent a blow will cause quite crippling damage to exposed flesh.
Armour, magical defences & to a lesser extent racial toughness all adds to the amount of punishment or damage that an individual can take in the course of battle.
In Sundered Isles they are all added to a term known as soak potential, or ‘Soak’.

Armour: full plate & packing steel.
Simply put armour protects our frail fleshy bodies, absorbing much of the impact of blows & turning sharp blades from vital organs. It even helps lessen the impact of spells. It adds to the amount of Soak potential a person has, the heavier the armour the more Soak it adds. This value is known as Armour Soak value.
Certain lighter armours can be worn over top of medium armours, in this instance add half of the lesser armour value to the greater, though this counts as heavy armour.

Soak damage by location
Combat strikes to the following areas result in the following combat resolutions. These do not need to be called in any way simply subtract them from your current soak. Should you lose count, simply add 1 point of soak damage to what you think you have taken; to honour the spirit of the game.
When you reach 0 soak you & your armour is damaged to the point where neither offer any protection & you risk serious injury or death, see Soak depletion for more information.

Torso – 2 damage to soak
Arms – 1 damage to soak
Legs – 1 damage to soak

Soak depletion
People (of any race) are fragile entities & without armour or magic to protect us, even the toughest warrior will fall quickly to blade or arrow.
When you soak is depleted to 0 you have been wounded, your body no longer able to take anymore punishment. Strikes that take you to 0 injure you significantly, causing you to fall down wounded. It is all you can do to crawl along the ground, you are almost helpless.
At -1 soak, you just cling to consciousness, crippled from your injuries. You curl into a ball & can call for help.
At -2 or less you are unconscious & if left in this state you will bleed to death in 10 minutes. If you are reduced to -2 you will also have a Lingering wound.
Lingering Wounds
Lingering wounds reduce a characters body soak to drop permanently by 1 unless suitably healed.
The wound should be suitably role-played with a painful limp or weak arm.
Multiple Lingering wounds are possible & if your body soak drops to zero your adventuring days are over, you are so crippled you can’t stand straight & can wield nothing heavier than a dagger.
A Chirgeon or a experienced spell-caster employing the Mana Chirgeon spell are 2 ways of reversing any Lingering wounds, though it may cost you for their services.

No saving throws!
There are no dice, no paper, scissors, rock or saving throws in this Larp, if you avoid an effect, spell-ball or blade then it doesn’t affect you. If there is an exception then you will be told. Simple, really.

Parry or not, it’s all up to you.
If you block a strike & it misses you, you have parried it. If you block a strike & it still hits you, then you have been hit. Remember each strike must have a defined strike action.

Poison
Certain venomous beasts poison with bite or sting as is their nature; however some nefarious individuals have to been known to use poison to give them an unfair advantage in combat.
This is the realm of thieves, cut-throats & murderers & is seen as cowardly & dishonourable by true warriors.
Poisoners are frowned on at best & are likely to be rebuked by others if the use of poison is openly practiced.
Of the 2 types of poison, only Injury poisons will be discussed here.
Injury poisons are poisons that must be applied to the blade of a weapon & enter the bloodstream of the victim as a result of being injured by that weapon.
Poisoned weapons strike like any other, doing Soak damage as normal. However, upon a successful strike the poisoner must call “poison” followed by any special effect of the poison used. Poison is represented by sticking 3 red round adhesive labels on each side of a bladed or piercing weapon, which must be removed as soon as possible after a successful poisonous strike.
Being poisoned is very painful & victims general yell & scream in pain, often alerting people of foul play!
In general a poisonous effect lasts until some sort of healing is applied, though generally a victim that survives a poisoning regains enough strength to hobble around after 10 minutes & even without treatment the remaining effects will pass in an hour.

Arkane Weapons
Arcane or magic weapons are fully described in the Arcane & Wondrous Items section (not yet complete) but feature occasionally in combat situations. These wondrous weapons are exceptional items that are imbued with permanent mana shapes. They are exceptional difficult to create, which in turn makes them rare & sought after items.
Weapons such as these are required to defeat some of the monstrous creatures within the Sundered Isles. Some very tough creatures are merely scratched by normal weapons while powerful supernatural beings are completely invulnerable to normal weapons.

You have been busy.

Yep I have. These posts represent the flavour but not the details.
I have about 4-6 times this amount developed or in development.
In development at the moment are magic system & spells (of which there are 54 subject to tinkering), skills & heroic abilities & racial details & requirements.
It is a hard line to mix suitably complex with simplicity for players & GM’s.

Cool - A few Quest like mechanics (Spell Balls etc) Would be good to see. we need a game that spans many cities

Um they’re in there… details will be posted later on in the magic section & also in the game mechanics section. I haven’t yet discussed this with Alista but the intention is not to replace Quest, in fact quite the opposite.
My intention if this gets off the ground is to include any other fantasy larps, with character cross over & joint experience awards, so that potentially characters can cross from one system to the other with minor tweaks or at the very least have a very similar character on either system with similar abilities.

It’s similar to our DragonSys. Sounds good.

I just wonder why you already invented a country. I reckon the rule system should be independent from the larp country, because then different game masters can make up their own countries and still have more or less the same rules. Of course one can make extensions or adaptions to match local circumstances. Like invent new options for new races. Or that magic doesn’t work properly in one location because of a crazy wizard who caused a magical accident 400 years ago and that’s why the whole area is polluted by magic or what ever.

I think you would then find more GMs who’d like to use your rules as they are still free to choose their own settings. And I think it would be attractive for players, too, as they can take their character from game to game and still experience different NPCs, landscapes and so on.

Continuity is the biggest factor for success I think. The Gathering has specified lands which each faction controlled. it does not limit a gamesmasters ability to make their own games and plots up but does given players a sense of knowledge about the world. So you can easily transfer characters betweengames because the races/socities/rules and conventions are the same at all games.

Just different plots from area to area - but with the possiblity of intertwining plots.

The difficulty of running a game with different worlds/culture/society if you want your system to be able to be transferable is that if you take a character elsewhere you have to makie a new one up because Morquendi (dar Elves) dont exist in the game world you are going to. No magical Aotearoa etc.

I believe what Jared is trying to do is to make a homogenous game where the world is set GM’s can make their own plts/adventures but characters are transfereable between cities and Games. Making it possible to run huge games because everyone knows the setting. This is what lorien Trist does with the Gathering.

There are plenty of games out there where GM’s have their own setting/system.

Well, I meant something along these lines. Basically, in Germany most larp countries are set in medieval / fantastic Europe, but there are still people who turn up and come from “far, far away”. Or GM who invent a country that isn’t part of this Europe. It all works. Remember that it wasn’t uncommon for people in medieval times to know nearly nothing of the world outside their village.

[quote]The difficulty of running a game with different worlds/culture/society if you want your system to be able to be transferable is that if you take a character elsewhere you have to makie a new one up because Morquendi (dar Elves) dont exist in the game world you are going to. No magical Aotearoa etc.
[/quote]

Why should anything not exist? I can understand that GMs might think some character concepts not really fitting into their game concept, but that can be avoided as the GMs before a game post why and how a character could come to a country, and what character classes would not really be fitting into it. It is common in Germany that you see ingame invitations and information about the country a game is set in and then really decide if your character would go there. Of course we have countries where only humans live. Or only elves. Or where no magic is possible. But they are all in one indefinite world.

So why not between differing countries?

I think you are overestimating knowing the setting rather than knowing his own character. Believe me, it is pretty funny if you’re character isn’t actually fitting into the setting, like I used to play an elf and played in a country where they actually hate magic and elves, and I was so afraid they could kill me and just told everyone that I am victim of a spell some evil elves used on me or that I was just born with pointed ears, I don’t know why… :wink: They limited the number and the power of elves and magician ingame (nobody really dared to use magic when soldiers of the country were watching…) so their concept would work out, without prohibiting races on their games. I thought it was a good solution.

I do know what you mean. But sureley roleplaying is about experiencing different things - so from your point of view it would be good for other people to experience the new things from iterractions from a character from a different place. My point of view is why do you not want to experience new character concepts as this is truely what roleplaying is all about is it not?

I am not saying your character can not fit in, nor GM’s make their own games up. But for large games or games that arte built to be played in multiple areas/cities of New Zealand it is a bit difficult to plan a campaign around everyone making their own world history up with their own races and own background because then it would just be a hack n slash lets kill the rampaging orc fest without the deeper plotting and scheming that goes with an accepted society/political/social structure.

You could not have conclaves of Churches during the year as everyone would have their own religions and their would be no continuity. Mgic may be easy to accept though.

The intention of Flipside is to be modular.

In theory you could remove magic if you wanted or pick & choose sections to fit your game idea.

Magic however is one thing I wanted included for the most part & a lot of my vision on magic came from spell casting as described in the Chronicles of the Raven by James Barclay. Barclay loved his multidimensional worlds.

Players do not have to fit the Sundereth world, Sundereth itself is not actually defined & is not required for the system to work.

The intention for putting some game world information into the system was to give it a base from which to build from.

I had reasoned it entirely possible for characters to come from far far away, from other worlds, whatever players & GM’s wanted.

Anything is a possibility.

Also just to clarify my races a little Skor are ~Orks, Iltherin are ~Elves, Humans are Humans, Stonekith are Giant Dwarves, Skarri are undead with Human souls, Zlyn are mystical lizardfolk much like the saurians from 2nd ed DnD, Cluagh are beastmen, much like those from the Warhammer setting.

[quote]My point of view is why do you not want to experience new character concepts as this is truely what roleplaying is all about is it not?
[/quote]

Yes, you’re right, and I have played quite a few different roles and still do that although I have two main characters which I’d like to live for a bit longer. Because I like them. Because I have even more ideas for them and they have still personal quests to solve. I guess (and I don’t know!) a concept for a character which is intended to live for a few years is deeper and you are keener on spending more money and time on your stuff.

[quote]But for large games or games that arte built to be played in multiple areas/cities of New Zealand it is a bit difficult to plan a campaign around everyone making their own world history up with their own races and own background because then it would just be a hack n slash lets kill the rampaging orc fest without the deeper plotting and scheming that goes with an accepted society/political/social structure.
[/quote]

Don’t ask me why but we do not have these problems on German larps. Even on the big ones like the Mythodea (www.mythodea.de, the side is available in english).

That’s not right. People tend to gather in flocks, so although it is possible for everyone to make up their own country and religion, most don’t but join another group. The biggest larp countries in Germany have about 400 to 500 people playing inhabitants (I know these dimensions might not be possible in NZ :wink: ) , and their religion and habits are well known. Just because you are allowed to make up your own background doesn’t mean everybody does it. And if one does, he is still keen on getting people to join his group. And that only works if his concept is good and not too freaky, otherwise he will play alone and there are probably not many people who want to play with him ingame (in Germany you usually play only good characters, vampires, demons and so on are proscribed, and only possible as NPC. However, especially on the really big events, there might be really big groups of player who play orcs or drow). That’s evolution.

I have not worked on big organisations, economy, noble status or rank as of yet. Guilds should be player driven though some basic ones will be established for new characters. I have touched on factions as they are integral to how the races see each other.
Basically I didn’t want to create a system where a new character could be of high rank, my lines of thinking are freemen or very minor nobles at best.
Reason: Rank should be earned! Both PC’s and NPC’s need to be involved in elevation of rank & ideally it will be only because of deeds done in service of a faction. I had envisioned a military type of rank advancement as reward for in game achievement, for roleplaying as much as skillful use of in game skillls ie. combat.

Personally in a country like New Zealand where there really isn’t the huge player base games need to have some sort of proscibed background I think that still allows for players who do want to make up their own background. In me experience and from the looks of it yours… only some players make up their pwn religion/backgrounds while most others stick to the proscribed backgrounds or existing Kingdoms.

I think in New Zealand to attract more of a player base as LARP is not so nearpy mainstream we need backgrounds so players who are unfamiliar with LARP can be attracted to it.

What i meant of conclaves of religions was that if everyone had their own religion it would be difficult for the Church of xyz to meet as there were not too may adherent. Therefore church xyz sanctioned games would be difficult. However if the Gods are all really just a manifestation of X or Y then you could have Church conclaves.

When you said “In Germany, Larp countries are mostly European based and everybody can make their own Larp country or just join another. " I thought you were colluding that most people make up their own country. Which i was rather surprised at.” So tihs is not really the case and my arguments about it really are unfounded because it doesn’t happen.

[size=150]Game Mechanics[/size]

Weapons: Larp safe, boffer or foam/latex. Strikes do 1 damage to arms or legs or 2 damage to torso.

Bows: Short (1m) or Long (1.5m) representative & not fired.

Arrows: A rice filled spellball or equivalent with a 90cm cloth or ribbon tail. Knotted at the end to represent fletching (can be more detailed).
Arrow is drawn by holding the arrow fletching at the bow, string and arrow head drawn as a bow normally would be, fired & thrown as per spell ball.
Arrow damage as per normal weapon damage.

Spells: Delivered by spellball, a rice filled balloon approx golf ball sized, no branding allowed. Special: Arrow spells & lightning-spheres, a twin tailed spellball, otherwise as arrow.

Touch spells may be applied to arms below shoulder, to feet or hands. Damage spells may be applied as touch spells but contact must be via a
spellball. Inappropraite touching is unacceptable.

Blast or area spells are represented by a thrown handfull of dried peas, thrown into air or dispersed horizontally at waist height.

Common damage spells are pyro-shere (sphere indicates 2 damage) & inferno-blast (blast indicates 4 damage) or arrow spells (as per weapon damage)

A sanctuary type effect which involves crossing arms with open palms on shoulders (though they are visible).

One teleport type effect spell, effectively removes effected players from the game for the spell effect. Represented by one hand placed on top of head.

Double damage effects, such as a warriors mighty blow, a mighty bow shot or a back stab are called “double”

Poisons are called “Poison” followed by effect.

Common effects are “slow” walking only, “web” sticks your feet in place, “freeze” paralyses. Other effects are straight foward.
Spells have spell name with “effect” inclusive during casting.

Global effects are “Timeout” & “Fire” Fire is the same as Timeout except all players must suspend play & go to the aid of the those yelling “fire”. This is a health & safety effect & halts game play.

No invisibility effects (in game).

No flying effects.

Mana Mana tracking is to be counted by caster. Any means to do this are viable.

Have I missed anything?

[/b]

[size=150]RACES[/size]

My races a little Skor are ~Orks

Iltherin are ~Elves, though they are quite fey, a bit like those of the Seelie or Unseelie courts.

Humans are Humans

Stonekith are Giant Dwarves. Otherwise they are stereotypical Dwarves.

Skarri are undead, often showing decay & have Human souls.

Zlyn are mystical lizardfolk much like the saurians from 2nd ed DnD.

Cluagh are beastmen, much like those from the Warhammer setting.

What other races do people like or want to play??? Give me as many as you want.

Just looked at the results… 2 people think its a lemon and 1 doesn’t like it. Can I have some critical feedback about what you don’t like???

[size=150]Casters[/size]

It will be a spell points system with 3 tiers of spells. Casting will be essentially the same for all casters, be it priest or shamen or mage.
Technically I could remove priests as they are really just mages in armor with slightly less scope.
Shamen are natural casters, mystics or druids really.
Priests are split down a dark light axis of Void & Aether. Dieties are not critical, though at some stage a base line will have to be set. Players will be free to give Gods different names but in terms of affliation will need to fit roughly into those that will be provided. Take Jamie’s post regarding Phuque, the Quest god of pleasure & Bacchus, god of drinking etc. as being an example of different facets of the same diety.
Mages can cast along any axis, though it requires specialisation, which prohibits casting on opposite axis.
Void & Aether oppose, Nature & Destruction oppose & mana is somewhat neutral to all, with all casters being able to access at least the lowest tier of mana spells.
Most caster skills will be metamagic, such as reducing casting time & even mana cost of casting, where warriors will have skills & abilities that focus on toughness & damage etc.

[size=150]World Setting[/size]
An idea in my head:

The game world will consist of a multi continental world such as our own, known as Sundereth.

Locally, that being games run in New Zealand, would be set on the Cloudy Isles. Waikato based games, which would be my home realm, would be RiverShire.

GM’s running games in other areas would be welcome to set other realms, providing they worked within the larger game setting.

Auckland, for example, which some of us call Orkland, would be another obvious realm. Since my game world orks are known as Skor, perhaps could be Skorland or Skoria (a play on Moria)?

What are peoples thoughts? And come one people, answering the poll is all very well but I’d like the feedback, the good, the bad, anything. I’m trying to be constructive here.

in relation to a PM to Isaac

I have been larping for many years and seen my share of good GM’s that keep game balance and others that dont. The writers forum would help in fostering a game that is linked between cities in new zealand and also with the magic item idea keep trigger happy GM’s in check. We had a GM that gives resonable gear not OTT but had one at one event that went crazy and put items into the game that were UBER powerful and lots of them something i would hate to see sully the thought of a cohesive system/campaign/game world

The idea that a magic item that was integral to to your characters concept could not possibly be accepted in a game because the G.M would not allow is unrealistic.

Either the boundaries for magic item transferral are open or closed. With open a signed card like you said telling people what the item is (but also registered on character repository - GM does not really need to check). This could potentially be hazardous to a GM that likes a low magic campaign.

Closed means it can only work at a particular game or games . Again with open a signed card like you said telling people what the item is (but also registered on character repository - GM does not really need to check). This could potentially be less hazardous to a GM that likes a low magic campaign because the item is vitoed in their campaign or not already.

The nationwide game forum could also include a players repository where Players characters exist as threads (held in Hard copy on a database). these threads include general chat, Character sheet updateable by administrators (GM’s) and viewable by the player. The other threads could be whatever you want.

The GM collaboration thread and also threads about upcoming games/ideas for improvement traders forum etc.