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Old 06-23-2010, 07:57 PM   #1
Adina
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Louisville, Ky
Default Prospectus help.

Half a prospectus actually, but I'd like some feedback on this much.

What is confusing? What did I leave out? What could be edited or rephrased? etc.

All using Gurps, point totals TBD.

Thanks in advance, Jeff.

Campaign Prospectus

Come What May: You wake up and find that the end of the world has come and gone.

Characters are highly skilled individuals originally recruited for a government project. Now they find themselves in a post-apocalyptic world trying to survive and find a place for themselves. Some combat abilities will be needed; but investigative, medical, scientific, social, and survival skills will all be helpful. This will be a gritty, realistic campaign. The threat of violence is always near and will be lethal when it does occur.
Gritty post-apocalypse.
(A Boy and His Dog, The Road Warrior, Twilight2000, The Night of the Trolls).


First In: Exploration and interaction on an interstellar survey ship.

After 400 years the Long Night is finally ending. The young Lorasian empire is now expanding into the territory of the old Commonwealth. Characters will be crewmembers on a long-range covert survey vessel. They will be visiting worlds not heard from in over four centuries. Each player will have multiple characters in different departments (bridge officer, Marine, engineer, e.g.). This combat light, character driven campaign will focus on both on-board character relationships and the discovery of strange worlds and unusual cultures.
Exploration soap opera.
(GT: First In, Traveller: The New Era, Five-year missions, WHS’ Manse campaign, Brett’s Survey campaign).


In Her Majesty’s Service: Travel and adventure in a steam-powered Victorian age.

Being proper gentlemen (or other true and loyal subjects of the Queen) you have answered the call of duty. Now you will travel the world in Her Majesty’s service and carry forward the banner of civilization (while keeping a stiff upper lip, of course). But in this world Babbage completed his machine and Jules Verne is an engineer, not a writer. Steam-powered machines travel land and sea, while great airships cruise above. So crank up the difference engine and set forth to confound evil!
Steampunk Cliffhangers.
(Cliffhangers and Steampunk, Kipling and Verne).


Interesting Times: Heroic adventure in an iron-age Persian analogue.

The largest and wealthiest of the Sassanid states, Susa has long been mired in corruption and incompetence. Now the young Kings energy and dynamic leadership are restoring her to glory. Susa has reclaimed its destiny and has begun to once more unite the Sassanid Empire.
The characters will be working for the Kings Grand Marshall as a team of unofficial spies and troubleshooters. The characters (and the Grand Marshall) all grew up in the same mountainous border region. Magic and the supernatural are real but rare, limited healing abilities will be the only magic available to the characters at start, Combat is not the focus but when it occurs it will be heroic rather than gritty. Missions will be diplomatic, investigative, or intelligence gathering in nature, not commando raids.
Heroic Fantasty.


Riding the Storm Out: Desperate adventure in middle-eastern iron-age world.

Largest and wealthiest of the Sassanid states, Susa is infamous for its corruption and decadence. Now under its young King it has become frighteningly (if not supernaturally) effective in its ruthless campaign of conquest and expansion. Located on the border of the old Sassanid Empire, the small state of Bactria is determined to preserve its independence.
The characters are all retainers of the noble Prince of Bactria. They will be called on to be diplomats, spies, counter spies, saboteurs, perhaps even as assassins. They will need to be able to operate as a small tactical unit and, between them, be able to handle all of the missions above. They do not have access to magic or supernatural abilities to start with. Combat will be more heroic than realistic. Magic and the supernatural, though rarely seen, are unforgivably real.
Dark Fantasy.
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Old 06-23-2010, 10:26 PM   #2
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: Prospectus help.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jmurrell View Post
What is confusing? What did I leave out? What could be edited or rephrased? etc.

Come What May: You wake up and find that the end of the world has come and gone.

Characters are highly skilled individuals originally recruited for a government project. Now they find themselves in a post-apocalyptic world trying to survive and find a place for themselves. Some combat abilities will be needed; but investigative, medical, scientific, social, and survival skills will all be helpful. This will be a gritty, realistic campaign. The threat of violence is always near and will be lethal when it does occur.
Gritty post-apocalypse.
(A Boy and His Dog, The Road Warrior, Twilight2000, The Night of the Trolls).
Seems to cover the bases.

Quote:
First In: Exploration and interaction on an interstellar survey ship.

After 400 years the Long Night is finally ending. The young Lorasian empire is now expanding into the territory of the old Commonwealth. Characters will be crewmembers on a long-range covert survey vessel. They will be visiting worlds not heard from in over four centuries. Each player will have multiple characters in different departments (bridge officer, Marine, engineer, e.g.). This combat light, character driven campaign will focus on both on-board character relationships and the discovery of strange worlds and unusual cultures.
Exploration soap opera.
(GT: First In, Traveller: The New Era, Five-year missions, WHS’ Manse campaign, Brett’s Survey campaign).
Mostly good, but I'd like to see a shade more detail about the Empire. Does it have class stratification? Are officers from the aristocracy and enlisted from the commoners? What's the cultural background—Roman, Japanese, Brazilian, something made up?

How many technical tasks will there be? Is the ship heavily automated, with humans being there to provide heuristic decision making, or is this classic space opera with minimal automation? Will PCs be human or posthuman?

Quote:
In Her Majesty’s Service: Travel and adventure in a steam-powered Victorian age.

Being proper gentlemen (or other true and loyal subjects of the Queen) you have answered the call of duty. Now you will travel the world in Her Majesty’s service and carry forward the banner of civilization (while keeping a stiff upper lip, of course). But in this world Babbage completed his machine and Jules Verne is an engineer, not a writer. Steam-powered machines travel land and sea, while great airships cruise above. So crank up the difference engine and set forth to confound evil!
Steampunk Cliffhangers.
(Cliffhangers and Steampunk, Kipling and Verne).
Gritty, realistic, cinematic, mythic? Focus on tech or on swashbuckling? When Wells shows us the brave cavalry officers and the crew of the land ironclad that defeated them, and says the latter are not entirely unlike men—are Our Heroes the cavalry or the mechanics?

Quote:
Interesting Times: Heroic adventure in an iron-age Persian analogue.

The largest and wealthiest of the Sassanid states, Susa has long been mired in corruption and incompetence. Now the young Kings energy and dynamic leadership are restoring her to glory. Susa has reclaimed its destiny and has begun to once more unite the Sassanid Empire.
The characters will be working for the Kings Grand Marshall as a team of unofficial spies and troubleshooters. The characters (and the Grand Marshall) all grew up in the same mountainous border region. Magic and the supernatural are real but rare, limited healing abilities will be the only magic available to the characters at start, Combat is not the focus but when it occurs it will be heroic rather than gritty. Missions will be diplomatic, investigative, or intelligence gathering in nature, not commando raids.
Heroic Fantasty.
Are these something like Zoroastrian? Will there be a division between magia and goetia?

Quote:
Riding the Storm Out: Desperate adventure in middle-eastern iron-age world.

Largest and wealthiest of the Sassanid states, Susa is infamous for its corruption and decadence. Now under its young King it has become frighteningly (if not supernaturally) effective in its ruthless campaign of conquest and expansion. Located on the border of the old Sassanid Empire, the small state of Bactria is determined to preserve its independence.
The characters are all retainers of the noble Prince of Bactria. They will be called on to be diplomats, spies, counter spies, saboteurs, perhaps even as assassins. They will need to be able to operate as a small tactical unit and, between them, be able to handle all of the missions above. They do not have access to magic or supernatural abilities to start with. Combat will be more heroic than realistic. Magic and the supernatural, though rarely seen, are unforgivably real.
Dark Fantasy.
An interesting choice of premises and viewpoints in those last two. I'm not sure I would take the chance of offering players the choice. It seems likely to dilute preferences, as a player who really likes the setting can only give +1 point to each version by giving -2 to something else.

Bill Stoddard
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Old 06-24-2010, 06:21 PM   #3
Adina
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Louisville, Ky
Default Re: Prospectus help.

Quote:
Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
Quote:
First In:
Mostly good, but I'd like to see a shade more detail about the Empire. Does it have class stratification? Are officers from the aristocracy and enlisted from the commoners? What's the cultural background—Roman, Japanese, Brazilian, something made up?
Stratification is more by planetary origin. Culture is vaguely European with the Service having idealized Roman traditions.

Quote:
How many technical tasks will there be? Is the ship heavily automated, with humans being there to provide heuristic decision making, or is this classic space opera with minimal automation? Will PCs be human or posthuman?
Maintenance and housekeeping tasks are mostly automated. The crew consists of three groups: Navy, Marines, and Survey personnel. Navy is mostly bridge crew with a couple of engineers. Survey personnel are scientists and academics not military. Mostly human this is not intended to deal with THS themes.


Quote:
Quote:
In Her Majesty’s Service:
Gritty, realistic, cinematic, mythic? Focus on tech or on swashbuckling? When Wells shows us the brave cavalry officers and the crew of the land ironclad that defeated them, and says the latter are not entirely unlike men—are Our Heroes the cavalry or the mechanics?
Cinematic was my assumption, I need to specify that. Focus on swashbuckling. Our Heroes must deal with the problems that Amazing Inventions cannot.



Quote:
Quote:
Interesting Times:
Are these something like Zoroastrian? Will there be a division between magia and goetia?
That's how I am leaning but I've not done the serious research yet. The nature of magic could be a subcurrent connecting adventures.



Quote:
Quote:
Riding the Storm Out:
An interesting choice of premises and viewpoints in those last two. I'm not sure I would take the chance of offering players the choice. It seems likely to dilute preferences, as a player who really likes the setting can only give +1 point to each version by giving -2 to something else.
My experience has been that players are more drawn to 'What are we doing' and 'What can I be' than to settings. But this is a new group and a new approach for me so I'll have consider that.

Quote:
Bill Stoddard
Thanks for the input.

Jeff
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Old 06-24-2010, 06:37 PM   #4
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Default Re: Prospectus help.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jmurrell View Post
Combat will be more heroic than realistic. Magic and the supernatural, though rarely seen, are unforgivably real.
Dark Fantasy.
These two sentences seem contradictory. "Heroic" usually means "forgiving" in my mind.

Aside from that, yeah, I dunno if I'd offer two games in the same setting. The steampunk cliffhangers sounds awesome.
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Old 06-24-2010, 06:52 PM   #5
whswhs
 
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Default Re: Prospectus help.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jmurrell View Post
Maintenance and housekeeping tasks are mostly automated. The crew consists of three groups: Navy, Marines, and Survey personnel. Navy is mostly bridge crew with a couple of engineers. Survey personnel are scientists and academics not military. Mostly human this is not intended to deal with THS themes.
That's definitely info that I'd really want to know.

Bill Stoddard
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Old 06-25-2010, 09:00 PM   #6
Adina
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Louisville, Ky
Default Re: Prospectus help.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Crakkerjakk View Post
Quote:
Combat will be more heroic than realistic. Magic and the supernatural, though rarely seen, are unforgivably real.
These two sentences seem contradictory. "Heroic" usually means "forgiving" in my mind.
And in mine, but that's way I specified combat as being heroic; magic is dark, dangerous stuff. Guess I'll need to expand and clarify that part.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Crakkerjakk View Post
Aside from that, yeah, I dunno if I'd offer two games in the same setting. The steampunk cliffhangers sounds awesome.
So I need to pick one of In.Times and Riding tSO? I see the issue, but dang it, I like both of them. Would that be less of a problem if I should get lucky and be able to run two games?
(Yeah, InHMS is my favorite, too).

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That's definitely info that I'd really want to know.

Bill Stoddard
And that's why I posted, so I'd see what I missed that needs to be explained.

Jeff
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Old 06-29-2010, 08:10 AM   #7
Archangel Beth
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Default Re: Prospectus help.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jmurrell View Post
Come What May: [...] Some combat abilities will be needed; but investigative, medical, scientific, social, and survival skills will all be helpful. This will be a gritty, realistic campaign. The threat of violence is always near and will be lethal when it does occur.
"Some" is kind of confusing, in that it makes me wonder if you mean it's okay to just have a knife skill, or to have a lousy guns skill -- I'd nix it. Combat abilities will be needed, period. Then, since it's GURPS, I'd give a range of skill you expect, or a minimum. (E.g., "PCs should have Guns skill of at least 12, and Judo, Karate, Boxing, or Brawling in the 11-15 range. Other weapon skills as reasonable, but less than skill 10 probably won't cut it.")

You may wish to say, "An X-point Template (Government-Trained Recruit) will be used; PCs have Y points to customize it" and just make a template with the combat skills and/or advantage options you feel are going to be necessary to make these lot something besides Feral Dog Chow.
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Old 06-29-2010, 10:02 AM   #8
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Default Re: Prospectus help.

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"Some" is kind of confusing, in that it makes me wonder if you mean it's okay to just have a knife skill, or to have a lousy guns skill -- I'd nix it. Combat abilities will be needed, period. Then, since it's GURPS, I'd give a range of skill you expect, or a minimum. (E.g., "PCs should have Guns skill of at least 12, and Judo, Karate, Boxing, or Brawling in the 11-15 range. Other weapon skills as reasonable, but less than skill 10 probably won't cut it.")
OTOH, "some combat skills" could indicate that while one or two combat monsters would be a good idea, you're also going to want to have at least one person with high skills in vehicle maintenance and scrounging, so they can MacGyver repairs to the group's transport. You're not likely to find an open, fully-stocked Schuck's Auto Parts store in post-apocalyptic Omaha, ya know? :-) He did also mention a need for skills in medicine and investigation, which implies some rather interesting adventures.

(And now I'm starting to have ideas for a crossover-type campaign - a post-apoc world in which a group of survivors have taken to worshiping the Great Old Ones...)
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Old 06-29-2010, 05:00 PM   #9
Adina
 
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Default Re: Prospectus help.

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Originally Posted by Archangel Beth View Post
"Some" is kind of confusing, in that it makes me wonder if you mean it's okay to just have a knife skill, or to have a lousy guns skill -- I'd nix it. Combat abilities will be needed, period.
OK, and change ' X, Y, and Z skills will be helpful' to 'will also be needed'?
Quote:
Then, since it's GURPS, I'd give a range of skill you expect, or a minimum. (E.g., "PCs should have Guns skill of at least 12, and Judo, Karate, Boxing, or Brawling in the 11-15 range. Other weapon skills as reasonable, but less than skill 10 probably won't cut it.")
Something like this yes, when it comes to character creation time. That's too much detail for a 'what are we going to play?' prospectus. I'm trying to avoid hitting the players with a three-page brief each for 8 or 10 campaign ideas.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Irish Wolf View Post
OTOH, "some combat skills" could indicate that while one or two combat monsters would be a good idea, you're also going to want to have at least one person with high skills in vehicle maintenance and scrounging, so they can MacGyver repairs to the group's transport. You're not likely to find an open, fully-stocked Schuck's Auto Parts store in post-apocalyptic Omaha, ya know? :-) He did also mention a need for skills in medicine and investigation, which implies some rather interesting adventures.
Exactly. Remember no hospitals, no clerics, no Healing Potions, better have a medic.

Quote:
(And now I'm starting to have ideas for a crossover-type campaign - a post-apoc world in which a group of survivors have taken to worshiping the Great Old Ones...)
Oooh...

Jeff
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Old 07-02-2010, 12:39 PM   #10
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OK, and change ' X, Y, and Z skills will be helpful' to 'will also be needed'?
Probably. Basically, don't hint -- if you think that X is necessary to the campaign, then say so as bluntly as possible. To figure out how necessary, which would give me a better idea of the amount of Deadliness, I would say add some kind of parenthetical one-liner about minimum skill level(s) -- or that a template with minimum levels of critical skills/skill choices will be provided.

(Reading the GM's mind -- if I don't know the GM really well -- regarding How Deadly Is Deadly?... Well, that requirement would influence my choice of game, and probably to the negative. Three page paragraph about things, no. Extra sentence? Yah. Template would probably be easiest.)
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