As someone who was once given the title of "Games Guru of the Lehigh Valley" by more than one person, there have been a LOT of games that I've been interested in that have netted zero players. Once you get out of the D&D/Big License umbrella that covers 95%+ of all gamers out there, anything else is "weird."
Today I'll drop a list of stuff I'm definitely not going to be playing anytime soon. These will include "Once and Future Games" where I may have run successful campaigns using the system before, but the chances of convincing the current or other group to play it are slim to none. It also includes campaign concepts that are outside the realm of "normal" gaming. It would be bad enough to put up a traditional tear off sheet at the FLGS looking to run a Castle Falkenstein game. Make it a CF game set entirely in Australia, and your options usually dwindle to less than nothing.
#7 Gamma World
I haven't played it in two decades, and I only own scraps of the 1st edition, but Gamma World is so wacky and gonzo that it's a blast, once you get going. I would hunt down a copy of 4th edition (which is also known as 3rd Edition D&D done right, a decade before it was made.) There's still a feel of 2nd Edition, mixed with sci-fi, mixed with some of the mathematical corrections, such as an armor class that goes up.
#6 Mouse Guard
I ran this once to try it out years ago, I love the system, and if someone else can buy into it, it would make for a great troupe-style campaign, with multiple people taking over the GM reins. Alas, anthropomorphic mice who are to scale are lower on the list than Adolescent Blackbelt Hamsters. After the Reaper II finally lands, and a few packs of mice warriors from Eureka, I'd like to make this the lazy snowbound winter afternoon game for the girls, but they each need a few years before they're old enough.
#5 Talislanta
It's been 15 years since the last successful campaign, which was a summer interlude between semesters in our college game. The traditional AD&D tropes were thrown into Tal, characters converted, and most survived unscathed. It was great because I could throw out some completely wacky modules that had no place in a "real" D&D game, tweak them to logically fit into Talislanta, and no one even blinked. I still have my complete run of books up through the WotC era, and I'd probably use Third Edition and play a lot more with the open magic system
#4 The Gnomish Space Marines
Still trying to hammer down the correct system (definitely percentile), but taking the old parody song out of Dragon Magazine, converting to the "tough" space opera style we used in TWERPS (yes TWERPS), and giving it a healthy dose of nostalgic sci-fi modules and some Rogue Trader era flavor. It's a mish-mash of tropes that I'm trying to avoid using d6 Star Wars or Star Frontiers, but I want this to be a hoot.
#3 Call of Cthulhu: Cult of Nevoz
I know, I play this more often than all other RPGs, combined, but this campaign never gets any traction, with the limited info I provide to players. This is a CoC modern campaign that's a bit more Ghostbusters than Delta Green or X Files, and my reading in the genre is lacking but here goes. The world has already experienced the Ghostbuster movies in real life and have come to accept the supernatural in some ways. In return, some of the creatures of myth and legend have emerged from the shadows and have joined the fringes of society. No, unlicensed nuclear accelerators are frowned upon, but you could have a headless Thompson gunner or a werewolf in London, and all of them could be gambling in Havana. Oh yes Nevoz = Warren Zevon and a catalog odd songs that could be used for some very creepy roleplaying.
#2 Recon
This under appreciated gem in the Palladium catalog was all about combat during the Vietnam War. PCs had there roles in the squad and didn't have any non military skills, outside of possibly foreign language skills. They really weren't even expected to make through their tour of duty, so why bother? Two decades ago, I used some of the rules in Advanced Recon and ran a micro campaign in West Africa in the late 70s/early 80s and it was phenomenal. I'd like to run that again and make the mercs a little more colorful than meat shields with stats.
#1 "Home"
No one ever bit on my offer to run "Polynesian D&D" and that's a shame. What everyone dismissed as beautiful weather and men in grass skirts was in reality a reverse dungeon based off of the classic module X1: Isle of Dread.
PCs would be young natives reaching their coming of age ceremony and finding not only their place in society, but some of the secrets of the island as well.
System wise, I would keep basic D&D (Rules Cyclopedia) for combat skills, integrate BRP skills, and slap on Talislanta's magic system to cover the elementalists that live on the island. All that, plus the Zombie Masters running amok and months of Dragon/Dungeon articles during the 3e era that could be mined for ideas? I just need the interested group.
Today I'll drop a list of stuff I'm definitely not going to be playing anytime soon. These will include "Once and Future Games" where I may have run successful campaigns using the system before, but the chances of convincing the current or other group to play it are slim to none. It also includes campaign concepts that are outside the realm of "normal" gaming. It would be bad enough to put up a traditional tear off sheet at the FLGS looking to run a Castle Falkenstein game. Make it a CF game set entirely in Australia, and your options usually dwindle to less than nothing.
#7 Gamma World
I haven't played it in two decades, and I only own scraps of the 1st edition, but Gamma World is so wacky and gonzo that it's a blast, once you get going. I would hunt down a copy of 4th edition (which is also known as 3rd Edition D&D done right, a decade before it was made.) There's still a feel of 2nd Edition, mixed with sci-fi, mixed with some of the mathematical corrections, such as an armor class that goes up.
#6 Mouse Guard
I ran this once to try it out years ago, I love the system, and if someone else can buy into it, it would make for a great troupe-style campaign, with multiple people taking over the GM reins. Alas, anthropomorphic mice who are to scale are lower on the list than Adolescent Blackbelt Hamsters. After the Reaper II finally lands, and a few packs of mice warriors from Eureka, I'd like to make this the lazy snowbound winter afternoon game for the girls, but they each need a few years before they're old enough.
#5 Talislanta
It's been 15 years since the last successful campaign, which was a summer interlude between semesters in our college game. The traditional AD&D tropes were thrown into Tal, characters converted, and most survived unscathed. It was great because I could throw out some completely wacky modules that had no place in a "real" D&D game, tweak them to logically fit into Talislanta, and no one even blinked. I still have my complete run of books up through the WotC era, and I'd probably use Third Edition and play a lot more with the open magic system
#4 The Gnomish Space Marines
Still trying to hammer down the correct system (definitely percentile), but taking the old parody song out of Dragon Magazine, converting to the "tough" space opera style we used in TWERPS (yes TWERPS), and giving it a healthy dose of nostalgic sci-fi modules and some Rogue Trader era flavor. It's a mish-mash of tropes that I'm trying to avoid using d6 Star Wars or Star Frontiers, but I want this to be a hoot.
#3 Call of Cthulhu: Cult of Nevoz
I know, I play this more often than all other RPGs, combined, but this campaign never gets any traction, with the limited info I provide to players. This is a CoC modern campaign that's a bit more Ghostbusters than Delta Green or X Files, and my reading in the genre is lacking but here goes. The world has already experienced the Ghostbuster movies in real life and have come to accept the supernatural in some ways. In return, some of the creatures of myth and legend have emerged from the shadows and have joined the fringes of society. No, unlicensed nuclear accelerators are frowned upon, but you could have a headless Thompson gunner or a werewolf in London, and all of them could be gambling in Havana. Oh yes Nevoz = Warren Zevon and a catalog odd songs that could be used for some very creepy roleplaying.
#2 Recon
 |
| Image from Palladium-store.com. Purchase it now! |
#1 "Home"
No one ever bit on my offer to run "Polynesian D&D" and that's a shame. What everyone dismissed as beautiful weather and men in grass skirts was in reality a reverse dungeon based off of the classic module X1: Isle of Dread.
PCs would be young natives reaching their coming of age ceremony and finding not only their place in society, but some of the secrets of the island as well.
System wise, I would keep basic D&D (Rules Cyclopedia) for combat skills, integrate BRP skills, and slap on Talislanta's magic system to cover the elementalists that live on the island. All that, plus the Zombie Masters running amok and months of Dragon/Dungeon articles during the 3e era that could be mined for ideas? I just need the interested group.
No comments:
Post a Comment