Waaaaay advanced prep

[subplotkudzu]

So I haven't even run a session of either Gaslamp Melodrama or Mech & Matrimony yet this year and I'm already gnawing on ideas for the 2013 prospectus. Specifically

He Escapes Who Is Not Pursued (Gumshoe)
A cross between Heroes and Cold Case, the PCs are part of the FBIs metahuman cold case squad, tasked with closing out kidnappings and murders that predate the early 21st century arrival of super villains. The intent is that the powers take the place of the high tech gadgety and super-forensics of shows like CSI rather than being flashy ways to beat people up. 

Pundits - Map of the Great Game
The PCs are British and Raj-era cartographers doing the first surveys of India and its surrounding countries, a wonderful excuse to go from place to place across all sorts of politics and environments. I suspect the setting will have just a touch of the sub-continents magic and mythology in it to make it a little gamer-friendly, but I haven't settled on a system yet. Indian myth and colonial history are just ripe with gaming opportunities so I'd like the excuse to research a bit. In case you're wondering, the term Pundit is Hindi for "Learned One" and the British applied it to their local cartographers and guides. 

I expect more will come to me.

Comments

[whswhs.livejournal.com]

Actually, "pundit" is an English word acquired as a loanword from Hindi; I believe the preferred transliteration is now "pandit." But it's pronounced much the same, and a 19th century British civil servant would probably have used the English spelling.

How much Kipling have you read? His Strickland stories are particularly good for hints of magic and mythology; his novel Kim equally so, if you have time for a novel. The spiritual side is portrayed with amazing sympathy in "The Miracle of Purun Bhagat."

I understand the advanced prep impulse; I haven't been able to hold any of the presessions for the July campaigns yet, but I'm starting to think about what to put on the 2014 prospectus. I'm starting to think that maybe I want to undertake two longer-term campaigns, lasting maybe four or five years, with intense worldbuilding and character life history aspects; I haven't done anything like that in decades.

[mylescorcoran]

Both of those sound appealing. I've not really found the Gumshoe system very grabby, unfortunately, though I appreciate the design intent.

The Pundits game sounds like it might work as an epistolary novel-style game.

[lazareida.livejournal.com]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6M_6qOz-yw