The Elevator Pitch

• What if the Amerindians had discovered, conquered, and colonized Europe instead of the other way around?
• What if China had discovered, conquered, and colonized the New World instead of the Europeans?
• What if Columbus had sailed in 1842 and the Amerindians had developed large agricultural empires, domestic animals, and disease resistance to oppose European conquest and colonization every step of the way?
  

This game is not an alternate history of our world, but it is a fantasy world going through similar changes and challenges.  Forty years ago the powerful and technologically advanced nations of one continent discovered a new continent with less-advanced peoples.  Two great empires are clamoring for colonies and the wealth, power, and strategic advantages they will bring.  The natives' social order is in upheaval, with new technologies, allies, and enemies empowering the previously disenfranchized and toppling entrenched power structures.  On both continents, old loyalties are shifting, ancient grudges and long-standing rivalries are being brought to the surface, and everything everyone has ever known is being questioned.

In this world at this time everyone has a fortune to be made, a reputation to be gained, and a story to tell.  The characters are at the forefront of these changes, playing as either colonizers or natives, acting as soldiers, spies, savages, or settlers in a wild, strange, and occasionally lawless new frontiers.  Adventure awaits!

This elevator pitch is not perfect, or even stable.  I tailor it a bit more with each telling, but I've found the leading questions get people thinking in the right direction.  First of all, reactions.  How does this description make you feel?  What impression do you get?  What expectations are you forming?  Second, critique.  What parts ring true, catch your eye, pique your interest, and send a thrill of excitement?  Which parts are clunky or cliche, distracting or detracting?  What do you see here that shouldn't be?  What is missing that you would like to see added?