Dream Games You May Never Get to Play or Run

[clu2415]

I would love a chance to geek out about the details of armored vehicles and run a vehicle combat based game, possibly in the Command and Conquer universe. I don’t know if I’ll find people on that wavelength, though.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by clu2415

I would love a chance to geek out about the details of armored vehicles and run a vehicle combat based game, possibly in the Command and Conquer universe. I don’t know if I’ll find people on that wavelength, though.

Well, not unless it was based on Girls und Panzer. . . .

[kirbwarrior]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

I don't quite follow. In my mind, by default "scifi" focuses away from the supernatural, though many settings throw in psionics. Do you mean a setting with scifi trappings (spaceships, riveted metal, blasters) that also includes explicitly supernatural elements, though ones dominated by the tech? Or a setting where there are apparently supernatural elements which are in fact just sufficiently advanced tech emulating magic?

From what I've put together, there are three things that are "scifi";

A setting that looks futuristic and anything wondrous is called "high tech"
A setting where any kind of cool tech might exist, even if as we know it it's impossible
A setting where it's intentionally and methodically thought out how tech works from today to that point in the future

Somewhere in there is "space fantasy". Separate from all that could be other supernatural phenomena (like an alien race that has psionics or magic that is starting to be learned).

[Culture20]

GURPS BlackOps with a twist; over time, the players will be fed clues that their higher ups in the company are lying about the dangers they face. Science operatives might be first to catch on, as specimens dissapear from storage if checked for, and samples taken secretly in the field don’t yield proper DNA when analyzed. If the operatives ever choose to investigate, they’ll learn that the cabal that runs the Company is chaired by a General Michael, and a certain Jean runs the science division. Essentially, In Nomine, but the PCs are human servants fighting demons and ethereals (the greys are a common modern collective dream). The hard part would be making sure any interactions with Seraphim would be extremely limited because their desire for truth but demand for secrecy might make the PCs very short lived if they dig too deep.

[ericthered]

I'm in a weird state on this right now. I've always wanted to run a political campaign where the PC's are great figures of state commanding armies, conducting negotiations, and deciding the fate of a nation directly.

I'm running it right now. And its a huge GMing challenge. Its fun, but to do everything properly requires tracking an entire world in your head, including the motives of a half dozen political systems. I'm fumbling through it, and we're having lots of fun, but it's not the campaign that I've dreamed of, because I'm not that good. Yet.

[talonthehand]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

I don't quite follow. In my mind, by default "scifi" focuses away from the supernatural, though many settings throw in psionics. Do you mean a setting with scifi trappings (spaceships, riveted metal, blasters) that also includes explicitly supernatural elements, though ones dominated by the tech? Or a setting where there are apparently supernatural elements which are in fact just sufficiently advanced tech emulating magic?

Star Wars is the classic example of scifi with supernatural. I agree that it isn't the default, but given how iconic it is I'm not surprised that it's what some people think of.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by talonthehand

Star Wars is the classic example of scifi with supernatural. I agree that it isn't the default, but given how iconic it is I'm not surprised that it's what some people think of.

Of course it's the default when it comes to gaming. Players do like having superpowers and there's a long list of science fiction with fantastic powers of the mind.

Star Trek
Honor Harrington
Telzey Amberdon
The Foundation Series
Lensmen
2001: A Space Odyssey
Dune
Stranger in a Strange Land
Starship Troopers
Humanx Commonwealth
Just about everything Andre Norton wrote
Known Space
Perry Rhodan
Sector General...

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by talonthehand

Star Wars is the classic example of scifi with supernatural.

Star Wars is a classic example of what many people will call "science fantasy" or "space opera", even those that aren't devotees of hard SF. But I wasn't looking for a debate over the term.

Psionics has a long SF tradition before Star Wars (assuming we want to stretch the word to cover Force magic). Lensman, Alfred Bester, "The World of Null-A", "Lord of Light", Darkover... and more modern examples, not to mention the other space opera, Star Trek.

"Supernatural" isn't used to mean "psi" nearly as often as it is to mean "magic", "ghosts", "gods", "vampires", and so on. Sometimes those get an SF gloss -- say, "I Am Legend".

So I thought it was worth asking the OP for clarity on exactly what he was looking for with that term. A classic SF setting with minor psi powers (like, say, Traveller) isn't at all the same thing as an urban fantasy like, oh, the Laundry Files.

[Extrarius]

I'd enjoy just getting to play GURPS, but one campaign I spent some time thinking about and tried to run once (lasted a session - the one and only time I GMed, so I had no experience and, apparently, no talent):

Initial Apparent Setting: Modern Real World
Initially, the characters wake up in a room lined with beds similar to an old hospital. They find out they've all "died" (each in different ways according to the character, each not due to any fault of the character) but were saved by an angel because they fit a needed role / meet strange criterion / etc. The characters get a long briefing, which reveals that the apparent setting is actually closer to (loosely based on) In Nomine. After learning "what is really going on", the players start doing (apparently innocuous/inane) missions for the angel. "Go get box Z123 from location B-4 in that warehouse across town and bring it back here."

Each mission, the characters face more opposition. At first, they'd face simple security systems and other technology, then unwary people, then security guards, military guards, minor supernatural creatures, and finally demons. As the characters learn more about the aspects of the world they previously knew nothing about through play, the apparent setting shifts from pseudo-In Nomine to something a bit more like Supernatural (TV Series). They're going to be facing all kinds of supernatural threats in many different forms. At least a few challenges will require fierce combat, and a few more will be 'a simple massacre, you just need an unobtanium knife blessed by clerics from 3 different dead religions'. During this phase, characters will be able to pick up supernatural abilities as powers (with "magic" based on GURPS Sorcery). I'd hope to set it up so that all characters would learn some supernatural powers to complement and supplement their existing abilities - I don't really want 'wizard' to be a primary role for anybody.

Eventually, the characters come across some kind of creature they can't find any information on at all because there simply isn't any (here) - it's from Homeline and accidentally ended up on this world somehow. It isn't hurting people directly, but it is causing a lot of trouble (perhaps tearing up buildings looking for it's mate/family/etc, and so far they've all been empty buildings because it is nocturnal and living in an area full of office parks) and needs to be dealt with. Unfortunately, nothing in the current world can hurt it much (or for long). After some work, the players should be able to find a way to travel to Homeline and either find a weapon that can kill the creature, or find a way to send/drag it back home (or even just to any other world).

Now we're at the intersection of Supernatural (TV Series) and Infinite Worlds, and there are a lot of directions it could go. One emphasis I'd make is that a large portion of the worlds available have magic at least to the level the characters know it, but far fewer have modern technology. Most worlds are advanced to the same TL overall (or 1-2 levels behind), but many would be using different kinds of magic to fill the gaps (and thus be perhaps TL ?+1 or TL ?+2).

I'd like to think the endgame would involve Cthulhu (the actual creature, not the threat of it awakening), but I've never played in a game where characters got anywhere remotely that powerful, so I'm not sure how that would work.

[kirbwarrior]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

"Supernatural" isn't used to mean "psi" nearly as often as it is to mean "magic", "ghosts", "gods", "vampires", and so on. Sometimes those get an SF gloss -- say, "I Am Legend".

I was using "Supernatural" in the sense of anything not mundane. My main point was trying to do something more "hard scifi", but I'm not certain how to do that, especially when the close setting "Modern w/o Supernatural" is one I intentionally avoid doing due to a lack of interest.