Sample prospectus

[whswhs]

On the "Real-world religions in rpgs" thread, cadia asked if I would post a sample prospectus. Here is the last one I circulated. I'm putting it on a new thread because it's kinda long . . .

There are 10 proposals. You have a total of 20 points to bid for the proposals you want. Bids can be zero or any positive integer up to 20. If you bid zero, I won't assign you to that campaign, even if it means you don't play at all; so don't bid zero unless you really mean it. If you think a campaign is better than not playing for a couple of years, bid at least one point on it. I expect to run two campaigns, so it's perfectly safe to bid zero on one proposal; doing it on two or more is taking a chance. If you like everything equally, bid 2 points on everything.

I’ll pick out campaigns to run that a lot of people rate highly. I’ll try to produce a set in which everyone can be in one of their favorites. If several different sets are close together, I may not pick the flat out highest total scores, but consider intangible factors such as an interesting variety of things to run. But I won’t run something that not much of anyone likes and cram people into it anyway.

If there are people you’d rather not game with, let me know when you turn in your questionnaire.

Here are the campaign ideas, with brief descriptions:

___Beyond the Mountains of Madness: A new expedition goes to Antarctica, following up the ill-fated Miskatonic University expedition. Emphasis on investigation and character interaction. Rules system: Call of Cthulhu.

___Boca del Infierno: In the days when Spain ruled Alta California, a Slayer and her companions battle demons, vampires, and other mysterious horrors. Lots of combat, and lots of supernatural elements, with emphasis more on narrative than on mechanics. Rules system: Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

___Dying Mars: On the ancient, dying planet Mars, scientist-priests keep alive memories of advanced technology and city-states struggle for power. Play will tend to be cinematic, with a mixture of archaic weapons and superscience in combat. Rules system: GURPS.

___Heartland: During the era of Prohibition, the United States sees a secret war between two factions: the Mafia, covertly allied with the Roman Catholic Church, and the vampire-dominated nativists of the Ku Klux Klan. Player characters will be anti-vampire agents of the Mafia. High combat with lots of blood shed, in more senses than one. Rules system: GURPS, Big Eyes Small Mouth, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

___Manse: A huge, ancient building in a vast wasteland is occupied by several groups of people, some with unusual abilities. Play will focus on factional conflicts, schemes, and the uncovering of ancient secrets. Each player will have characters from different social strata within the household and the attached village, using a form of “troupe-style play.” Emphasis on intrigue and mysteries. Rules system: World of Darkness, Big Eyes Small Mouth, or Fudge.

___Mentat: Immediately after World War II, but with a historical divergence: effective mind-control drugs were developed before and during the war, making possible most of the effects attributed to hypnosis, telepathy, and brainwashing in popular fiction. Induced autism drugs made digital computers unnecessary for codebreaking and no one has them. Can the United States use this technology to preserve world freedom, or will it be corrupted by the use of these methods? And how long can they be kept secret, or is the secret already out? Agents of the United States’s most secret organization confront these issues. Rules system: GURPS.

___Second Dawn: In a world of the mythic past, members of the Solar Exalted are reborn and need to use their godlike powers to struggle against the rule of the Dragon-Blooded, who murdered their previous incarnations. Play will be cinematic, with superhuman powers and amazing feats. Rules system: Exalted.

___Sovereignty: Set in the present-day world, but with superhuman beings, including some powerful enough to wage war against a major nation. Since these beings have been around and openly recognized for decades, international law has evolved to take them into account, and the major powers have military forces able to do something about them, or reliable alliances with other superhumans. Player characters will be a voluntary superhuman force devoted to policing the superhuman community by restraining its rogue members. Play will emphasize both combat and legal issues. Rules system: Fudge.

___Whispers: At the end of the 21st century, agents of a small private investigative agency deal with informational crimes, from old-fashioned copyright violation and identity theft to unlicensed cloning, nanosocialist sabotage, and mind piracy. Setting will be technologically advanced, with most of the solar system colonized or explored. Characters may be humans, enhanced humans, uplifted animals, or artificial intelligences in robotic or biological shells. Play will be realistic with limited but deadly combat. Rules system: Transhuman Space ("powered by GURPS").

___Xenophobia: Humanity has gone to the stars, encountered new life and new civilizations, and set up trade with some of them—but it’s neither easy nor safe. Aliens in this setting are really alien. At one of the main ports, the personnel of a special agency work to facilitate trade, resolve conflicts, and limit humanity’s exposure to unknown dangers. Characters will be human but may have unusual abilities. Play will be realistic, with emphasis on mysteries and negotiations. Rules system: GURPS.

[GoodGame]

GURPS-head votes GURPS!

Some original ideas though---Heartland (too funny---redneck vamps vs. pious hitmen, especially intensify it to rednecks with gothic Angst and Sopranos-esque goodfellas with Catholic guilt), Mentat (cool idea a la Dune, but done completely original in a Cold War), & Xenophobia (Babylon 5 but maybe completely original full use of Space).

Straight Dying Mars only if pulpfiction space opera with some WH40k/WHFB miniatures (Skinks, Lizardmen, Imperial guard, Tau (and their buddies).
Maybe Dreenoi (Reverisco insects that looks closer to Gurps Mars) and Spugs (another indie kind of like humanoid Aphids with guns) also.
Over-the-top PCs and NPCs (500 pts +) conspiring and fighting serial-style goons ending in final battles amongst a cast of 1000's ( of grunts).
The stakes--nothing less than the fate of two worlds---Earth and Mars.
Minimal spaceflight---near zero FTL, and everything else travels like a Spanish Armada, but there's no equivalent frigates, so a OSS-style invasion of Mars to incite rebellion amongst subject race might be the trick to pre-empt an invasion of Earth.

Whispers kind of just sounds like an expanded Blade Runner (more variety of targets). Cool but already read the books and seen the movie much. Care to elaborate?

Originally Posted by whswhs

On the "Real-world religions in rpgs" thread, cadia asked if I would post a sample prospectus. Here is the last one I circulated. I'm putting it on a new thread because it's kinda long . . .

There are 10 proposals. You have a total of 20 points to bid for the proposals you want. Bids can be zero or any positive integer up to 20. If you bid zero, I won't assign you to that campaign, even if it means you don't play at all; so don't bid zero unless you really mean it. If you think a campaign is better than not playing for a couple of years, bid at least one point on it. I expect to run two campaigns, so it's perfectly safe to bid zero on one proposal; doing it on two or more is taking a chance. If you like everything equally, bid 2 points on everything.

I’ll pick out campaigns to run that a lot of people rate highly. I’ll try to produce a set in which everyone can be in one of their favorites. If several different sets are close together, I may not pick the flat out highest total scores, but consider intangible factors such as an interesting variety of things to run. But I won’t run something that not much of anyone likes and cram people into it anyway.

If there are people you’d rather not game with, let me know when you turn in your questionnaire.

Here are the campaign ideas, with brief descriptions:

_0__Beyond the Mountains of Madness: A new expedition goes to Antarctica, following up the ill-fated Miskatonic University expedition. Emphasis on investigation and character interaction. Rules system: Call of Cthulhu.

__0_Boca del Infierno: In the days when Spain ruled Alta California, a Slayer and her companions battle demons, vampires, and other mysterious horrors. Lots of combat, and lots of supernatural elements, with emphasis more on narrative than on mechanics. Rules system: Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

__4_Dying Mars: On the ancient, dying planet Mars, scientist-priests keep alive memories of advanced technology and city-states struggle for power. Play will tend to be cinematic, with a mixture of archaic weapons and superscience in combat. Rules system: GURPS.

_4__Heartland: During the era of Prohibition, the United States sees a secret war between two factions: the Mafia, covertly allied with the Roman Catholic Church, and the vampire-dominated nativists of the Ku Klux Klan. Player characters will be anti-vampire agents of the Mafia. High combat with lots of blood shed, in more senses than one. Rules system: GURPS, Big Eyes Small Mouth, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

__0_Manse: A huge, ancient building in a vast wasteland is occupied by several groups of people, some with unusual abilities. Play will focus on factional conflicts, schemes, and the uncovering of ancient secrets. Each player will have characters from different social strata within the household and the attached village, using a form of “troupe-style play.” Emphasis on intrigue and mysteries. Rules system: World of Darkness, Big Eyes Small Mouth, or Fudge.

_6__Mentat: Immediately after World War II, but with a historical divergence: effective mind-control drugs were developed before and during the war, making possible most of the effects attributed to hypnosis, telepathy, and brainwashing in popular fiction. Induced autism drugs made digital computers unnecessary for codebreaking and no one has them. Can the United States use this technology to preserve world freedom, or will it be corrupted by the use of these methods? And how long can they be kept secret, or is the secret already out? Agents of the United States’s most secret organization confront these issues. Rules system: GURPS.

_0_Second Dawn: In a world of the mythic past, members of the Solar Exalted are reborn and need to use their godlike powers to struggle against the rule of the Dragon-Blooded, who murdered their previous incarnations. Play will be cinematic, with superhuman powers and amazing feats. Rules system: Exalted.

_0__Sovereignty: Set in the present-day world, but with superhuman beings, including some powerful enough to wage war against a major nation. Since these beings have been around and openly recognized for decades, international law has evolved to take them into account, and the major powers have military forces able to do something about them, or reliable alliances with other superhumans. Player characters will be a voluntary superhuman force devoted to policing the superhuman community by restraining its rogue members. Play will emphasize both combat and legal issues. Rules system: Fudge.

__0_Whispers: At the end of the 21st century, agents of a small private investigative agency deal with informational crimes, from old-fashioned copyright violation and identity theft to unlicensed cloning, nanosocialist sabotage, and mind piracy. Setting will be technologically advanced, with most of the solar system colonized or explored. Characters may be humans, enhanced humans, uplifted animals, or artificial intelligences in robotic or biological shells. Play will be realistic with limited but deadly combat. Rules system: Transhuman Space ("powered by GURPS").

_6__Xenophobia: Humanity has gone to the stars, encountered new life and new civilizations, and set up trade with some of them—but it’s neither easy nor safe. Aliens in this setting are really alien. At one of the main ports, the personnel of a special agency work to facilitate trade, resolve conflicts, and limit humanity’s exposure to unknown dangers. Characters will be human but may have unusual abilities. Play will be realistic, with emphasis on mysteries and negotiations. Rules system: GURPS.

[Mark Skarr]

If whswhs is running, I'll play anything. Put me down for a 2 on them all. Now I just need to get out there . . ..
Here was my last one (which went over like a lead balloon).

Rising Sun over Denver Deadlands+Steampunk+Mecha

Set in 187? it’s a cowboy vs demon roundup. Utilizing advanced spirit-based technology from an imported Japanese Koubu-Kai a group of heroes will be battling the Reckoners. Both sides in the civil war want this fascinating new technology that doesn’t suffer from the standard breakdowns that afflict normal mad science. Emphasis will be more on research, discovery and conflict and less on horror and hopelessness. Aiming for a 25/75 in/out of Koubu-Kai.

City of Light and Hope Supers (Occult)

In 1979, a richter 9.9 earthquake struck northern California. Toppling Sacremento, Oakland, San Franscisco and countless smaller cities the loss of life and money was inconcievable. Alexander Cain, a wealthy industrialist spent billions of dollars to buy up the devastated land to build his dream city. Now in 2006 Futura City is one of the most populous cities in the world. Countless technological inovations and implementations has made Futura City the most advanced city in the world.

What Price Wisdom Horror+Adult+Space

In the wake of a particularly nasty earthquake an instalation is discovered in the deserts of modern California. While the world’s attention is focused on the rebuilding of Los Angeles and its suburbs, secret military and government experts are sent to investigate the sealed facility. No one knows what they will find inside, if they can ever penetrate the unidentifiable material making up the walls. Maybe these anatomacally-correct statues have something to do with opening the doors . . ..

Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow Investigation+Psi+Stuff

Discovering they couldn’t have children, Thomas and Maria Rose (owners of Thorne Industries) adopted a beautiful infant girl. They named her Krystina and loved her as their own. The positive influence of the child catapulted the couple and Thorne Industries to the top of the technology industry. After an accident in Balboa Park, Maria Rose was killed and Krystina Rose has gone missing. Mourning the loss of his wife Thomas Rose will stop at nothing to get his daughter back.

One in a Million! Supers

Remember, if you’re a one in a million kinda guy, there’s a thousand people just like you in China! In 1974 an earthquate in Sacramento devastated the California Capital. The people temporarially moved the capital to San Diego (annoying SF and LA). After 30 years, the capital was permanantly moved. Now, San Diego is one of the Super Seven cities in the world (San Diego, New York, Berlin, Bombay, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Jeresulam) where super heroes congregate. Sure, every city has a couple of super heroes, but only the Super Seven can claim a population density of 1% or higher metahuman concentration (not all metahumans are “super”). And only San Diego can lay claim to having five of the most powerful supers on Earth living within their city (okay, three of them are Villains, but hey! (Heroes: Avalon and Defender; Villains: Blaklite, Gravatus, Mandrake)).

Hmm, why do most of my campaigns revolve around something bad happening in California?

[Mark Skarr]

I clicked submit instead of preview on the last revision. What I didn't put in there was:

All of it is in GURPS.
My players were to give each entry a value of 1-5 (and try not to use the same number twice) depending on how much they liked it. (1 being not at all, 5 being they'd rather do that than sleep.)

It went over very badly, I think my players got together to screw with me. I had five gamers and had a running total of 15 in each campaign.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Mark Skarr

It went over very badly, I think my players got together to screw with me. I had five gamers and had a running total of 15 in each campaign.

You know, I really just don't get that. What's the payoff to players in pulling that crap? If they don't want you to run anything, they can just not take the prospectus; if they want you to run something, they're better off if you run something they like, and the prospectus helps you do that. I can't figure what they're getting out of it. Unless they're just trying to coerce you into doing something that's not GURPS.

[Rupert]

That does sound a bit suspicious, yes.

[cadia134]

My supers game is dying a slow death, Inspired by y'all, I have started to work on a prospectus of my own. I will try and post it here when I am done

[Paul]

Originally Posted by Mark Skarr

It went over very badly, I think my players got together to screw with me. I had five gamers and had a running total of 15 in each campaign.

Were there any patterns? I've had several campaigns rated equally, but when I looked at the actual numbers, I saw that one was rated "average" by all, but the other would have made one player extremely unhappy.

I'd also suggest scheduling a group session where you do nothing but discuss the campaigns. Sometimes players rate something because they didn't completely understand what you were going for, or because they thought "it'll be just like game X" which they didn't like.

[Mark Skarr]

Originally Posted by whswhs

You know, I really just don't get that. What's the payoff to players in pulling that crap? If they don't want you to run anything, they can just not take the prospectus; if they want you to run something, they're better off if you run something they like, and the prospectus helps you do that. I can't figure what they're getting out of it. Unless they're just trying to coerce you into doing something that's not GURPS.

It may just have been a joke, but none of them really owned up to it. Pretty much our options are usually GURPS or Hero. I'm not comfortable running Hero and my players know that. Of the six of us, four (including me) despise D20 with a flaming passion. And I'm not going to inflict Silhouette on anyone I actually like.

Originally Posted by Paul

Were there any patterns? I've had several campaigns rated equally, but when I looked at the actual numbers, I saw that one was rated "average" by all, but the other would have made one player extremely unhappy.

Um, it was either a conspiracy, or the most random situation in the universe. Pretty much, they staggered their numbers so that each person used 1-5 and when I tallied the values up, each person put a 1-5 in each option without duplicating. One person rated the first one 1, the second one 2, etc, and the second person rated the first one 2, and the second one 3, etc. You get the picture? Of them all, one of the hard-core-Hero gamers actually turned in a prospectus that made sense (according to his personality). Pretty much, I used his to decide what we were doing.

Originally Posted by Paul

I'd also suggest scheduling a group session where you do nothing but discuss the campaigns. Sometimes players rate something because they didn't completely understand what you were going for, or because they thought "it'll be just like game X" which they didn't like.

I've found that to be very effective. One of my favorite sci-fi campaigns was created that way. I was just trying whswhs' prospectus idea. I like sitting down with my players and finding out what they want out of a game. It gives me more ideas and ensures that they enjoy playing it.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by GoodGame

Whispers kind of just sounds like an expanded Blade Runner (more variety of targets). Cool but already read the books and seen the movie much. Care to elaborate?

I've been running it for a year and a half now. It's not at all like Bladerunner; for one thing, there's been almost no violence. It's much more about espionage and covert ops. And it's also very much a soap opera about the personal relationships of the characters who make up Ares Nakamura Investigations.

Cases examined so far:

A private club in Montreal that meets once a month for a banquet of real animal flesh is being coerced into supporting political causes its members don't favor (such as joining the European Union, which would make those banquets illegal rather than just disapproved of) by the threat of exposure of their hobby.

An emergent AI who is the star of a digital kingdom has learned that she has been illegally copied, and is afraid that the theft will lead to her existence as a sapient being being revealed, which would lead to her being erased.

A married couple bought the telepresence circuitry and software to inhabit each other's bodies; then the husband, in the wife's body, went out for a walk, and didn't come back—she knows her body is okay, because her brain is still working, but the protocols won't let the swap be undone without mutual approval, and he's out of touch.

One of the partners in the firm is worried about her brother back home in Singapore; she hasn't seen him in years, since she accused him of arranging their father's death, but she recently wanted to talk with him again and couldn't find contact info.

—Currently we're in downtime, as the partners deal with personal issues. One of the PCs has arranged for "team building" training for the firm; we're probably going to spend time on that next session.