Games Prospectus, early 2008
Nov. 17th, 2007 08:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
subplotkudzuHere's the prospectus I just handed out for the first 6 months of 2008, before we go back to our regular games. For the actual player list, please send your votes via e-mail rather than post them here.
You have 18 points to spend on your options. 0 means you'd rather not play than play this game; 1 point means you'll play but there are other things you'd prefer. 2 points and up indicates increasing preference.
1. Ghostbusters: Hartford of Darkness
"The franchise rights alone will make you rich beyond your wildest dreams." The number of Chargeable Haunting Incidents in Connecticut is rising. Now is the time buy into Ghost Busters International and take the Nutmeg State by storm! It won’t be easy, what with prying reporters, wary politicos and competition from the Warner Exorcist Group. Oh, and ghosts, whose frequency rates are disturbingly high, and rising. Could some unspeakable evil be menacing the Insurance City? It's unspeakable, so we won't say...
Each session will be one case. The PCs are the owners, investors and technical staff of the GBI franchise. There will be a minor, ongoing thread of making the business viable. Combat will be proton pack battles against ghosts and monsters, which much room for humorous collateral damage.
The system is the Ghostbusters RPG, which is rules light. It is medium combat, medium mystery, medium character. Inspiration is Ghostbusters (1, not 2; 2 never happened), the Real Ghostbusters cartoon and some of the funny episodes of X-Files.
2. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw
The Sorting Hat noticed your steadfastness or intellect and placed you with the Badgers or Ravens. While the foolhardy and power-hungry snipe away, Hufflepuff & Ravenclaw expand their educations against a backdrop of strange mysteries. Comb Professor Binn's lectures for goblin treachery. Uncover the mirrored secrets of Professor Spout's greenhouses. Turn Professor Flitwick's charms against the entity stalking the library. Face the fangs of Professor Kettleburn's magical creatures. Feel the star-crossed passion of a centaur romance. Battle other schools in the cutthroat Q&A Witches' Bowl. Oh yes, and play Quidditch. All this and more awaits you at Hogwarts Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry! (Griffindor & Slytherin need not apply.)
I always wondered what the other houses did with their time. The game will be set during the 10 years between Voldemort's disappearance and Potter's arrival at school. There's a distinct chance that everyone will end up in just one house and I'm comfortable with that. Each session will present one mystery or problem - I'm letting the players decide whether each session is 1 year or some shorter duration.
The system is one I'm building to capture the setting, designed to be rules light. It is low combat, high mystery, medium character. The inspiration is Harry Potter, with a bit of Real Genius and other collegiate/private school coming of age tales.
3. Flight of the Atlas
Ludwig II, king of Bavaria, has loaned an airship to the International Cartographic & Exploration Society. The Atlas, its crew and passengers - scientists, explorers, journalists, & wealthy dilettantes - are creating the first accurate maps of Earth's geography, peoples & wonders. Their journey runs from the dinosaur of Maple White Land to the Theosophical Masters of the Himalayas and all in between. Though the airship may be a flying manor perfect for politics and dalliances, it is also the most advanced vehicle on Earth: the crew must be ready to face Robeur (the Lord of the Air!), Prussian agents and others who would crash the Atlas and claim the world.
This is a traveling exploration. Each session the PCs will either discover a new wondrous location on Earth or face some politics, intrigue or threat in the air. PCs will be built out of an array of archetype cards to give player control while making sure the ideas fit the setting. The Castle Falkenstein world is a Victorian Europe where all of the Victorian fiction is real, the faerie court is active and ritual sorcery works. It is an age of manners, an age of honor and an age of exploration.
The system is Castle Falkenstein. It is low combat, medium mystery, high character. Inspirations are the C Falk setting, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (though not as dark), the works of Jules Verne, Conan Doyle and H.G Wells and Star Trek (for the traveling exploration motif).
4. Atlantis!
It’s the greatest city in a country once as reliable as the southern current that lately changes with the tide. Two generations have drastically changed Atlantis. Technology is opening new doors, with cross-reef communication, mechanical transportation and rapid-fire side arms being just the start. A well intentioned movement to ban Dream Coral turned small gangs into organized crime juggernauts, corrupting the police and frightening folk into silence. Immigrants from Lemuria & Mu are altering familiar culture with their strange, insular ways. The world under the waves is in turmoil and calls for two fisted heroes to defend it!
Each session will be one "case file" for the PCs, who are a loose collaboration of stalwart cops, PIs, masked avengers, plucky reporters other pulp archetypes in the turbulent new scientific age. PCs will be built out of an array of archetype cards to give the players some control while making sure the characters fit the setting. Yes, it all takes place under water - I want Atlantis to be a living, thriving city rather a destination for surface adventurers, and the pulps ethos of science, crime-fighting and exploration and match the sense of a city undergoing massive changes.
The system is Tri Stat. It is medium combat, high mystery and medium character. Influences are the Shadow (of the books, not the radio show), Doc Savage, The Untouchables, Sky Captain and Sam Spade.
5 Saturday at the Bijou
Spend your 10 cents for a ticket, you nickel for the popcorn and be transported back to an idyllic weekend matinee. We start with a cartoon or two, followed by a newsreel of current events. Then the latest installment of a space opera serial of stalwart astronauts thrown into Universe 2 by the Better Than Light Drive. Finally the main feature - an espionage thriller where the best agents on Her Majesty's Secret Service race against the clock to save the world from an insidious threat perpetrated by a colorful madman!
This is an excuse to try systems and settings. The first two sessions will be one to three scenarios in humorous systems (Zorcerer of Zo set to fractured fairy tale, Paranoia or Ghostbusters). The third session is a Call of Cthulhu game centered on reporters unraveling a horrific secret and catching it on film. The fourth session is a en media res Space Ship Zero game - a very Buck Rogers setting with lost spacemen, alien savages and uplifted cats. Finally, we have a two part, world-spanning adventure of MI-6 agents using the James Bond 007 RPG. Admittedly, that last is a little early for the 1950's theme, but I have JB007 modules I've wanted to run for years!
The system is variable. As are the combat, mystery and drama levels. Inspirations should be obvious.
6 Blood of the Gods
The gods have a tendency to lay with humans, creating children of arate with powers that mortals cannot match. Just as well, for the pure blood of the gods, when spilled on Earth, creates monsters that no mortal can withstand. The children of divinity travel the lands of ancient Greece, following the orders of their parents to bring safety to those in danger and face the monsters created the last time the gods made war.
Each session the PCs will travel from town to town and island to island, facing monsters, agents of rival gods or human tyrants. The threats will have to be quickly assessed and studied for weaknesses, for an element of mystery. The PCs will be player created (unless you want to provide a concept and have me do the math). They will be bound by a web of friendships, obligations and oaths while representing different divine interests - the might be a session or two where the PCs have mildly conflicting goals that must be reconciled.
The system is HERO. It is high combat, medium mystery and low character. Influences include Greek Mythology, Hercules & Xena (but much less tongue in cheek), Clash of the Titans & other Ray Harryhausen works, and the indy game Agon. I had considered using Agon, but I see the target audience as people looking for more combat crunch and less narrative controls; I'll use Agon if the voting players prefer.
7 Pendragon!
Heed the call of the Round Table! Explore lands where sorcerers and fell beasts contrast against beauty and pageantry. Ride off in battle against ogres, redcaps, dragons, and fallen knights. Strive to improve your family's lands and holdings through great deeds, alliances and marriage. Live in a time when passion ruled, honor was assumed and glory was the benchmark against which all a man’s accomplishments were measured.
Each session covers one year’s worth of adventure, with adventures in the summer ad chances for you to improve your standing during the winter phase. On the softer side, romance and marriage are integral parts, even if you don’t always end up married to the woman you're romancing. All of the PC are male knights (standard for the setting) and expect a lot of fights with the systems rapid combat resolution mechanic.
The game mechanic is Pendragon. It is medium combat, low mystery and high character. Influences are Mallory, Camelot and Excalibur. For those familiar with the game, this is a standard Pendragon campaign.
8 A League of Your Own
It's a world with wide open super human origins - aliens, mutants, paragons, techies, gods, mages, etc. - where the most renowned heroes have come together to handle threats no one of them can defeat. Face alien armadas, mad gods, evil masterminds, parallel worlds, ad hoc teams of your personal villains and more. Find time to defend your home city and maintain your secret identity. Build your team's meeting hall in the asteroid belt , inside Mount Rushmore or in a pocket dimension constructed of the dreams of a lost civilization. Defend truth, justice, apple pie, Aunt Petunia and all of human existence.
The plan is for full league style play: each player designs not just a hero, but provides input on the tone and feel of their home city and makes supporting cast members for the other PCs. This is as much a group world-building exercise as it is a campaign. Adventures are 'firehouse' style, where the heroes available to take the call that day handle the problem. Characters powers will be potent, broad based and highly versatile.
The system is a tweaked Truth & Justice. It's medium combat, medium mystery, medium character. Inspirations are Justice League (both the comic and the animated series, but taking cues from both the satellite and moon base eras) and the Avengers (the Busiak, Stern and Wolfman runs). The tone is clearly Silver Age - leave your gritty or world-reshaping heroes at the door.
9 The House of the Dragon
The year is 500 AD, and China is broken: after the fall of the Three Kingdoms the country fractured, with no emperor to claim the mandate of heaven. Bandits spread violence across the roads and towns, monsters stalk the wilds, and both take orders from sorcerers lurking in hidden places. The only hope are the Buddhist monasteries in the north, the most secret of which is K'un Lung. Disciples learn a path to inner peace that includes both furious Kung-Fu for the kicking of butt and graceful calligraphy for the taking of names.
The PCs are monster hunting, kung-fu fighting heroes in ancient China. Expect high octane wixua action and over the top martial arts against bandits, rival martial artists, hopping vampires, demons and sorcerers. Each session will involve either an assault on K'un Lung or PCs on the road being dragged into helping those in need. Expect two fights in each session, a short one in the beginning and a bigger, flashier set piece at the end.
The system is Feng Shui, sans the secret war. It is high combat, low mystery and low character. Influences are any number of Jackie Chan & Jet Li movies, along with other classics like the 36th Chamber of Kung Fu, Prodigal Son, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
edit: clarified the point spending rules, 11/18
You have 18 points to spend on your options. 0 means you'd rather not play than play this game; 1 point means you'll play but there are other things you'd prefer. 2 points and up indicates increasing preference.
1. Ghostbusters: Hartford of Darkness
"The franchise rights alone will make you rich beyond your wildest dreams." The number of Chargeable Haunting Incidents in Connecticut is rising. Now is the time buy into Ghost Busters International and take the Nutmeg State by storm! It won’t be easy, what with prying reporters, wary politicos and competition from the Warner Exorcist Group. Oh, and ghosts, whose frequency rates are disturbingly high, and rising. Could some unspeakable evil be menacing the Insurance City? It's unspeakable, so we won't say...
Each session will be one case. The PCs are the owners, investors and technical staff of the GBI franchise. There will be a minor, ongoing thread of making the business viable. Combat will be proton pack battles against ghosts and monsters, which much room for humorous collateral damage.
The system is the Ghostbusters RPG, which is rules light. It is medium combat, medium mystery, medium character. Inspiration is Ghostbusters (1, not 2; 2 never happened), the Real Ghostbusters cartoon and some of the funny episodes of X-Files.
2. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw
The Sorting Hat noticed your steadfastness or intellect and placed you with the Badgers or Ravens. While the foolhardy and power-hungry snipe away, Hufflepuff & Ravenclaw expand their educations against a backdrop of strange mysteries. Comb Professor Binn's lectures for goblin treachery. Uncover the mirrored secrets of Professor Spout's greenhouses. Turn Professor Flitwick's charms against the entity stalking the library. Face the fangs of Professor Kettleburn's magical creatures. Feel the star-crossed passion of a centaur romance. Battle other schools in the cutthroat Q&A Witches' Bowl. Oh yes, and play Quidditch. All this and more awaits you at Hogwarts Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry! (Griffindor & Slytherin need not apply.)
I always wondered what the other houses did with their time. The game will be set during the 10 years between Voldemort's disappearance and Potter's arrival at school. There's a distinct chance that everyone will end up in just one house and I'm comfortable with that. Each session will present one mystery or problem - I'm letting the players decide whether each session is 1 year or some shorter duration.
The system is one I'm building to capture the setting, designed to be rules light. It is low combat, high mystery, medium character. The inspiration is Harry Potter, with a bit of Real Genius and other collegiate/private school coming of age tales.
3. Flight of the Atlas
Ludwig II, king of Bavaria, has loaned an airship to the International Cartographic & Exploration Society. The Atlas, its crew and passengers - scientists, explorers, journalists, & wealthy dilettantes - are creating the first accurate maps of Earth's geography, peoples & wonders. Their journey runs from the dinosaur of Maple White Land to the Theosophical Masters of the Himalayas and all in between. Though the airship may be a flying manor perfect for politics and dalliances, it is also the most advanced vehicle on Earth: the crew must be ready to face Robeur (the Lord of the Air!), Prussian agents and others who would crash the Atlas and claim the world.
This is a traveling exploration. Each session the PCs will either discover a new wondrous location on Earth or face some politics, intrigue or threat in the air. PCs will be built out of an array of archetype cards to give player control while making sure the ideas fit the setting. The Castle Falkenstein world is a Victorian Europe where all of the Victorian fiction is real, the faerie court is active and ritual sorcery works. It is an age of manners, an age of honor and an age of exploration.
The system is Castle Falkenstein. It is low combat, medium mystery, high character. Inspirations are the C Falk setting, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (though not as dark), the works of Jules Verne, Conan Doyle and H.G Wells and Star Trek (for the traveling exploration motif).
4. Atlantis!
It’s the greatest city in a country once as reliable as the southern current that lately changes with the tide. Two generations have drastically changed Atlantis. Technology is opening new doors, with cross-reef communication, mechanical transportation and rapid-fire side arms being just the start. A well intentioned movement to ban Dream Coral turned small gangs into organized crime juggernauts, corrupting the police and frightening folk into silence. Immigrants from Lemuria & Mu are altering familiar culture with their strange, insular ways. The world under the waves is in turmoil and calls for two fisted heroes to defend it!
Each session will be one "case file" for the PCs, who are a loose collaboration of stalwart cops, PIs, masked avengers, plucky reporters other pulp archetypes in the turbulent new scientific age. PCs will be built out of an array of archetype cards to give the players some control while making sure the characters fit the setting. Yes, it all takes place under water - I want Atlantis to be a living, thriving city rather a destination for surface adventurers, and the pulps ethos of science, crime-fighting and exploration and match the sense of a city undergoing massive changes.
The system is Tri Stat. It is medium combat, high mystery and medium character. Influences are the Shadow (of the books, not the radio show), Doc Savage, The Untouchables, Sky Captain and Sam Spade.
5 Saturday at the Bijou
Spend your 10 cents for a ticket, you nickel for the popcorn and be transported back to an idyllic weekend matinee. We start with a cartoon or two, followed by a newsreel of current events. Then the latest installment of a space opera serial of stalwart astronauts thrown into Universe 2 by the Better Than Light Drive. Finally the main feature - an espionage thriller where the best agents on Her Majesty's Secret Service race against the clock to save the world from an insidious threat perpetrated by a colorful madman!
This is an excuse to try systems and settings. The first two sessions will be one to three scenarios in humorous systems (Zorcerer of Zo set to fractured fairy tale, Paranoia or Ghostbusters). The third session is a Call of Cthulhu game centered on reporters unraveling a horrific secret and catching it on film. The fourth session is a en media res Space Ship Zero game - a very Buck Rogers setting with lost spacemen, alien savages and uplifted cats. Finally, we have a two part, world-spanning adventure of MI-6 agents using the James Bond 007 RPG. Admittedly, that last is a little early for the 1950's theme, but I have JB007 modules I've wanted to run for years!
The system is variable. As are the combat, mystery and drama levels. Inspirations should be obvious.
6 Blood of the Gods
The gods have a tendency to lay with humans, creating children of arate with powers that mortals cannot match. Just as well, for the pure blood of the gods, when spilled on Earth, creates monsters that no mortal can withstand. The children of divinity travel the lands of ancient Greece, following the orders of their parents to bring safety to those in danger and face the monsters created the last time the gods made war.
Each session the PCs will travel from town to town and island to island, facing monsters, agents of rival gods or human tyrants. The threats will have to be quickly assessed and studied for weaknesses, for an element of mystery. The PCs will be player created (unless you want to provide a concept and have me do the math). They will be bound by a web of friendships, obligations and oaths while representing different divine interests - the might be a session or two where the PCs have mildly conflicting goals that must be reconciled.
The system is HERO. It is high combat, medium mystery and low character. Influences include Greek Mythology, Hercules & Xena (but much less tongue in cheek), Clash of the Titans & other Ray Harryhausen works, and the indy game Agon. I had considered using Agon, but I see the target audience as people looking for more combat crunch and less narrative controls; I'll use Agon if the voting players prefer.
7 Pendragon!
Heed the call of the Round Table! Explore lands where sorcerers and fell beasts contrast against beauty and pageantry. Ride off in battle against ogres, redcaps, dragons, and fallen knights. Strive to improve your family's lands and holdings through great deeds, alliances and marriage. Live in a time when passion ruled, honor was assumed and glory was the benchmark against which all a man’s accomplishments were measured.
Each session covers one year’s worth of adventure, with adventures in the summer ad chances for you to improve your standing during the winter phase. On the softer side, romance and marriage are integral parts, even if you don’t always end up married to the woman you're romancing. All of the PC are male knights (standard for the setting) and expect a lot of fights with the systems rapid combat resolution mechanic.
The game mechanic is Pendragon. It is medium combat, low mystery and high character. Influences are Mallory, Camelot and Excalibur. For those familiar with the game, this is a standard Pendragon campaign.
8 A League of Your Own
It's a world with wide open super human origins - aliens, mutants, paragons, techies, gods, mages, etc. - where the most renowned heroes have come together to handle threats no one of them can defeat. Face alien armadas, mad gods, evil masterminds, parallel worlds, ad hoc teams of your personal villains and more. Find time to defend your home city and maintain your secret identity. Build your team's meeting hall in the asteroid belt , inside Mount Rushmore or in a pocket dimension constructed of the dreams of a lost civilization. Defend truth, justice, apple pie, Aunt Petunia and all of human existence.
The plan is for full league style play: each player designs not just a hero, but provides input on the tone and feel of their home city and makes supporting cast members for the other PCs. This is as much a group world-building exercise as it is a campaign. Adventures are 'firehouse' style, where the heroes available to take the call that day handle the problem. Characters powers will be potent, broad based and highly versatile.
The system is a tweaked Truth & Justice. It's medium combat, medium mystery, medium character. Inspirations are Justice League (both the comic and the animated series, but taking cues from both the satellite and moon base eras) and the Avengers (the Busiak, Stern and Wolfman runs). The tone is clearly Silver Age - leave your gritty or world-reshaping heroes at the door.
9 The House of the Dragon
The year is 500 AD, and China is broken: after the fall of the Three Kingdoms the country fractured, with no emperor to claim the mandate of heaven. Bandits spread violence across the roads and towns, monsters stalk the wilds, and both take orders from sorcerers lurking in hidden places. The only hope are the Buddhist monasteries in the north, the most secret of which is K'un Lung. Disciples learn a path to inner peace that includes both furious Kung-Fu for the kicking of butt and graceful calligraphy for the taking of names.
The PCs are monster hunting, kung-fu fighting heroes in ancient China. Expect high octane wixua action and over the top martial arts against bandits, rival martial artists, hopping vampires, demons and sorcerers. Each session will involve either an assault on K'un Lung or PCs on the road being dragged into helping those in need. Expect two fights in each session, a short one in the beginning and a bigger, flashier set piece at the end.
The system is Feng Shui, sans the secret war. It is high combat, low mystery and low character. Influences are any number of Jackie Chan & Jet Li movies, along with other classics like the 36th Chamber of Kung Fu, Prodigal Son, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
edit: clarified the point spending rules, 11/18
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Date: 2007-11-18 04:26 pm (UTC)This provides a stable range of regular outcomes - if the PC is good at something, they're reliably good at it. However, dice explode on a roll of 6, so you can occasionally get wildly high successes or poor failures, which I find captures the action movie style. Fights between equal opponents are usually resolved in 3 initiative phases, or roughly a hour to 90 minutes of play time. Since fights are the core of the game and are designed to be flashy & exciting I find it's worth the investment.
There's some resource management both in Fortune points (which add an other positive d6 to the roll, once per session) and in Fu. you spend Fu per round to activate kung fu powers, so a high fu lets you do either more things in a round or access the more impressive powers. Gun shticks are more reliably but less versatile, and sorcery is very open ended but both flashy and sometimes quirky.
It's worked very well for my 1001 New York Nights action heroes in Chinatown game for a while. I suspect that sans the secret war you could find its charms.