In a far away and mythical time, Al-Nur lies on the coast of the Great Sea. The Shining City, The City of Jewels - it lies waiting for those who can see the opportunities in its dusty streets and darkened alleys. Fakirs and merchants line them, hawking wares from the mundane to the fantastical. Beggars hide in doorways, often willing to part with what they've seen for a few coins. Exotic animals mew and bawl the crowded ways, and the dark undercity of the sewers are rife with dangers unknown to the surface. It is a place of opportunity for the bold, of change for the scorned, and of misfortune for the unwary.
The Sultan makes his home there as well, kind to his friends and cruel to his enemies, and everyone on the streets speaks of his daughter's beauty, rumors and glimpses through a garden hedge or from afar at a high palace window. It is said she approaches the age where a prince must be found to marry her, thus many rulers and princes from all over the realm come to introduce themselves and hope for the chance at seeing her rare beauty.
The PCs are a young band of (honorable?) thieves trying to make their way in the Shining City. They are poor, but full of energy and the promise of opportunity.
The Desert
The City
The Undercity
The Palace
Morality is fairly black and white in this campaign. The good guys are good and the bad guys are bad. An air of mystery crops up regularly, and it would not be unexpected to gain access to a magic carpet for a while, or to find a djinn lamp.
This game uses the Leverage rules with small modification. The roles are as follows
Thief - Thief
Hitter - Mamluk
Hacker - Alchemist
"Oh, this bit of loot? That's the Djinn's Eye, and you can use it to follow anyone you give it to."
Grifter - Storyteller
"Best beloved, you remember how Hakim the Faithful was raised on the streets of the City of Jewels don't you? There, between it's tiled walls and golden minarets he learned all about jewels and gems and how to win over the heart of such precious Flowers of the Desert. And thus, you see, he knew exactly what to bring to the Sultan's daughter to melt her heart and turn it into honey."
Mastermind - Vizier
"Ah yes, you have the essence of jasmine blossom I gave you, yes? when you mix this with the feather of a golden dove and nestle a drop upon the petals of the rare rose blossoms of Al Gazir, the scent of the rose will guarantee you the love of anyone, from slave to King. I happen to know that in the garden of the Sultan sits the rose, but all will be for naught if you cannot get a feather from the golden dove. For that, my friend, you must steal into the tower of Vizier Alamud, and brave his traps and minions!"
Doug's Notes to himself
So I have been pondering on an Arabian Nights game and reading this and that (thanks rpg.net for Tales of the Caliphate Nights recommendations). I'd like to do an Arabian Nights setting for my group. I was originally thinking Exalted but thinking now, I kinda think Leverage might be an even better choice
Implicit Moral high ground in Leverage is frequently a theme in Arabian nights stories
Fancy traps and twisty corridors seem like they go in both settings
Stealing thing. Like how many stories involve stealing things? 986 or something?
the bad guys are regularly larger than the individuals in arabian nights stories and leverage as well. when you see corporate executive, read grand vizier instead
Instead of "The XXXX Job", read "The Tale of the XXXX". - OneSmallGod, rpg.net
It occurs to me now that the "story within a story" thing would actually work very well with flashbacks... it supports the changing of context by providing a sort of transition point.
"Firouz is exactly the guy I was thinking about when I included "alchemist" in my descriptions above. XD
For a non-modern game, the Hacker/Tech essentially uses his Role die to just have the thing that would be useful in the current context, or to get in touch with someone who has that thing. I often explain to people that fantasy!Leverage doesn't need a "Magic" role because magic is a tool, not a method. All of the roles are defined by their methods: Mastermind/Brain is the guy who thinks, Hitter/Muscle is the guy who fights, Thief/Sneak is the guy who does underhanded shit, Grifter/Face is the guy who uses people, and Hacker/Tech is the guy who uses stuff. When you understand that "Role = methodology," a lot of the other rules issues fall into place." - blackwingedheaven
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?758892-Leverage-Ali-Baba-and-his-40-thieves
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Trader can be worked into nearly all archetypes.
Muezzin is not a bad choice. For Skald-reskin, you could also go with Hakawati (Storyteller)
The Stalo could be converted to a Faris, who follows the code of Furūsiyya (Arabic knights) or even the Ansar, the elite warriors of the Caliphate.
The Rogue could be either a Barber or a Shatir (Con-artists) or even one of the Hassassin, though they will not arrive until the early 11th Century, as their organization was founded in response to the crusades. You could make a Khawarij assassin, as they had a reputation of killing important people, most notably one of the first Caliphs. They are quite... reminicent of the current branch of salfists though, so you might want to avoid it.
With some serious reskinning and explaining, the Rage of the Berserker might go well with the eurphoric whirls of the Dervishes. On a side-note, certain aspects of the Maiden of Ratatosk might fit just as well.
The Galdr could perhaps be one of the Sha'ir, summoners of Djinni. A blacksmith could be a Toledo Smith, working with Djinnis as well, having them be his forge-beasts.
The Druid could potentially be converted to a Hakim, a sage, schooled in natural philosophy and alchemy, using the incantations of God and his angels to cast "magic".
The more problematic would be the Ulfhednar. Eating corpseparts, shifting into different forms?
Not really a "heroic" collection of traits in Arabic eyes. You might twist this as either a straight up Ghul, a form of Djinni, or a offspring there of.
Perhaps you could skin it as one of the West African Hyena-shifters, which are not all that nice, but at least not straight up monsters.
Well. I'd avoid using Mohammed in a game-context, but that's just my personal view.
Find some of the names of God and perhaps his Angels.
(Yeah, I'm actually writing a game about this part of the world. So, I know a few things)
http://www.fateofthenorns.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=402&p=2690#p2685