Welcome to Banteave
The King is Dead. Banteave is Burning.
In The Burning Isle, players will craft their own Noble House to sit amidst the five major houses seeking the Banteavan crown. Interpersonal drama, warring families, skulduggery, politicking and betrayal will all abound. Will they throw their support behind one of the other five houses, or seek to seize the throne for themselves? All players create characters from a minor sixth noble house that has been a part of the landscape of Banteave for centuries. However, they have only recently been elevated to the rank of Great House, earning their position through word and deed. They are the wild card in a kingdom about to be plunged into chaos, and their actions could tilt the balance… or even let them seize the reins of power, if they dare.
What kind of game will we be playing?
Gameplay will be split between smaller-scale character scenes and the grand, sweeping actions of the Great Houses of Banteave as they vie for the throne. Occasionally (roughly once per in-game month) the GM will call for player decisions on what their house will focus on. Will they be recruiting troops or seeking favour from the Church? Laying siege to a castle or attending a grand ball? Once the various actions by the Houses are underway, we zoom in on our individual player characters in scenes throughout Banteave as they work to further the goals of their House (or to survive the machinations of a rival one.) Once their scenes have been resolved, any bonus dice earned through their actions are added to their Houses roll to see if their undertaking was a success, a failure or something in between. Then we play through the fallout, note what's changed and continue on to the next month.
What kind of characters will we be playing?
Player characters will begin with creating people tied to the Sixth House in some way. They can be royal family, knights, advisors, generals, spies, courtiers, diplomats, sworn swords, priests... anyone who might be tangentially tied to the fate of the Sixth House in the coming Succession War.
After the campaign begins and our storylines begin to branch out, some player characters may find themselves separated from the rest, on a spy mission across enemy lines or working to earn favour in a distant court. In these instances when entire episodes (sessions) focus on the storylines playing out around a single character, the other players are encouraged to jump in with quickly-created Supporting Cast. These characters are a snap to create, with their skills and abilities filled in as you play, and can either be discarded at the end of the session if they're of minor importance or retained to play again later if they become relevant to the plot. To learn more about the character creation process, please visit Character Creation . To see how characters will evolve over time, visit Character Advancement .
What kind of game system will we be using?
The Burning Isle will be using a version of Cortex Prime, which was released in 2020. For more on the core mechanic, click here. For a glossary of gameplay terms, visit Key Gameplay Terms and Definitions.
What kind of world will we be playing in?
The Burning Isle is set in The Kingdom of Banteave , which some players may be familiar with from playing in previous games of The King Is Dead. It's a high medieval setting in a land with a long and storied history, with a low undercurrent of subtle magic offered to those who pledge themselves to the forgotten Gods whose ruined shrines litter the roadways and mountain ranges. To dig into the history of the world, please visit The Banteavan Chronicle.
The game world is rife with ancient cultures, warring cults, squabbling noble houses, upstart peasant rebels, bold knights and champions, an opulent Church, monstrous creatures lingering in the shadows and otherworldly whispers quietly influencing the course of events. Where you fit in among the weave of fate and what mark you leave upon the tapestry is up to you.
Who is our main opposition?
That's largely up to you. There are five other Great Houses in Banteave who will have designs on the crown, and maintaining neutrality in the coming Succession War is a sure way to make enemies with everyone. While the specifics of the Sixth House are up to the players, the five Great Houses in Banteave are House Antyre , House Oake , House Dillestone , House Luneste and House Sandoreale .
Acknowledgements
In addition to using Cortex Prime as its base, The Burning Isle is built from pieces of several games worth acknowledging: The King is Dead by D. Vincent Baker and Meguey Baker, Strands of Fate by Mike McConnell, Blackbirds by Ryan Verniere and Sword Chronicle by Robert Schwalb.
