Roleplaying in the World of "A Brother's Price"
So along with the post-apocalyptic fantasy game idea I had (cf. Breaking Down D&D), I have also been pondering about another potential campaign for the future.

The idea is a game set in the world of Wen Spencer's "A Brother's Price" or a close parallel. The point is not so much to derive from or emulate the plot, but rather to draw on the setting. This would be an immersionist game, where a big part of the point is filling out the culture, society, and other aspects of life in that world. I recommend the book, but to describe it in brief: it is a world in a period roughly like early 19th century Europe, but for at least most of its history, nearly all male pregnancies miscarry -- resulting in men being only 3 to 5% of the population. So the point here is to focus on exploring this setting. There are a lot of details glossed over in the novel -- what is the religion like? What are educational institutions like? What is army life like? Answering all of these inherently means delving into gender issues.

However, I am not sure what the primary action of the game would be. My main constraint is that it should have intrigue and action mixed with family life. The big trick is -- how to make men be interesting as player characters? One thought is that I could set it several generations in the future, and have a nascent men's suffrage movement which is a focus of action. Or I could set it in the royal court where there are a series of well-policed balls which are a key part of the action. I might do what I did in the Vinland game, and have most people have a woman as their main PC -- while some people have a man as their alternate PC.

So I would want to keep the game very well grounded, realistic, and character-immersive. I'm slightly tempted to put in some emotional mechanics mainly to represent the group dynamics of a family -- like the stabilizing influence which a strong man. However, I don't want to go too deeply down that route. Another interesting possibility would be if the game could span generations. That would make character generation tricky, though, if I wanted to actually represent familial relations.

I'm not sure what mechanical system I would want to use as a base. In principle, something like GURPS would be appropriate -- but I have a distaste for that system from prior experience, although I realize that there have been a number of fixes in the fourth edition (which I haven't read). There are also similar systems like JAGS2, Action!, or EABA (which I also haven't read). But none of these options really grab me. On the other hand, I don't think I would get what I want out of something like, say, The Pool.