Ideas Are Easy

[ericthered]

The Player Characters are personalities implanted in the subconscious of otherwise very civilian "sleeper agents". Their handlers can activate them remotely (be that through technological or supernatural means) when they need a job done and the sleepers are in the area. The personalities turn their "hosts" into high-end action heroes, but don't get to share any of the host's knowledge Their handlers try to minimize the knowledge the sleepers need to get the job done.

The Campaign starts as a series of action scenes, but the starting situations when the sleepers "wake up" get odder and odder, like waking up already in a fight, or just before they undergo surgery. And it seems that their hosts are catching on to what's happening, and taking measures to prevent the sleeper from actually doing anything. Or possibly even working for the other side. Whoever that is.

Originally Posted by RyanW

If such an organization exists, there is no doubt at least one pair of mercenaries roaming around on the run from just about everyone, incredibly skilled and fiercely loyal to one another.

Where would you insert the players? as one of the teams going through training? As the loyal pair on the run? As law enforcement dealing with the assassins? As self-appointed heroes stopping this menace?

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Where would you insert the players? as one of the teams going through training? As the loyal pair on the run? As law enforcement dealing with the assassins? As self-appointed heroes stopping this menace?

I haven't thought about where I would use it. It could be the backstory of one PC, of an ally or foe, or the framework for a whole campaign with two PCs.

[WaterAndWindSpirit]

It could have been messy: An Alliance of Supervillains tries various schemes to take over the world, and always escape from prison, and never straight up kill the superheroes. Despite their started goals, and their methods, the Alliance never caused any fatality, either intentionally or as collateral damage, only minor villains actually kill people.
The Villain Cell Project: Some major disaster is likely to happen in about a decade. The various governments recruit supers to form an Alliance of Supervillains to give the superheroes, other crisis first responders, and civvies live fire surprise drills spanning a wide variety of situations, and once they are arrested, are given the help of the best analysts to stage their escape from maximum security supervillain prisons, all to collect useful date and give expertise to various specialists to prepare for the disaster.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by WaterAndWindSpirit

Terminal Battalion: They are expendable and know it because of an incurable terminal illness, so they volunteer for high risk suicide missions most people wouldn't even consider. They are even pumped full of combat drugs that are otherwise not given to anyone because they cause horrible long term damage the Terminal Battalion will not live long enough to suffer from anyways.

A related concept:

Forlorn Hope: A real thing from history - a troop sent into battle first, with the assumption they won't survive the encounter. Campaign concept would have the PC's as important members of the Forlorn Hope. Each battle would end (from the player's points of view) with a TPK; the more the characters were able to accomplish prior to their inevitable demise, the better the war effort goes for their side. Either the players would make new characters for each battle, or there would be some method of resurrecting the dead ones between battles. The Forlorn Hope could be anything from a punishment detail (likely augmented by death-row criminals) to a highly sought-after honor (likely with high compensation for the soldiers' families, and probably a guaranteed ticket into an ideal afterlife).

Note this is a bit more brutal of an interpretation than was historical - it was often expected at least some of the Forlorn Hope would survive (and gain rank, have crimes pardoned, etc if they did so). Perhaps that's also the case in the setting, but the particular battles in the campaign are particularly brutal. You could also make it possible for characters to survive, although those who played surviving characters would likely still need to make new ones for the next battle, as their original characters are likely to have been promoted well away from being in the Forlorn Hope again.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Varyon

A related concept:

Forlorn Hope: A real thing from history - a troop sent into battle first, with the assumption they won't survive the encounter. Campaign concept would have the PC's as important members of the Forlorn Hope. Each battle would end (from the player's points of view) with a TPK; the more the characters were able to accomplish prior to their inevitable demise, the better the war effort goes for their side. Either the players would make new characters for each battle, or there would be some method of resurrecting the dead ones between battles. The Forlorn Hope could be anything from a punishment detail (likely augmented by death-row criminals) to a highly sought-after honor (likely with high compensation for the soldiers' families, and probably a guaranteed ticket into an ideal afterlife).

Note this is a bit more brutal of an interpretation than was historical - it was often expected at least some of the Forlorn Hope would survive (and gain rank, have crimes pardoned, etc if they did so). Perhaps that's also the case in the setting, but the particular battles in the campaign are particularly brutal. You could also make it possible for characters to survive, although those who played surviving characters would likely still need to make new ones for the next battle, as their original characters are likely to have been promoted well away from being in the Forlorn Hope again.

You have just described the Screaming Eagles on D-Day. Basically someone had to get bit, and having several thousand men in the back while the landing was coming ashore was fairly nice if unpleasant for those getting bit.

[cptbutton]

A time travel game where all the PCs are just alternate versions of the same person?

[ericthered]

Four Man Take-Over
The PC's are a highly trained and psionicly gifted team behind enemy lines. Their "drafting" and assignment on an enemy battleship has been arranged to allow them to take the vessel out. They will not be able to take any gear with them, but must make use of what they find on board. Their mission is not to merely sabotage or destroy the vessel, but to capture it. Despite being outnumbered 400 to 1, The PC's should be able to succeed. They have initiative, superior skills, and powers.

This is of course a cinematic game.

Psi-Ops
Superscience tech is possible, but requires the user to have a spark of psionic ability. Such individuals are rare, and a fierce shadow war rages over the posession of such individuals. The PC's are hardened psionic soldiers in this conflict. They leverage psionic abilities, superscience tech, and harsh military discipline in a covert war for dominance. They have cloaking devices, bullet deflectors, phase suits, goggles that can see through walls, sleek black guns, and grenades. Of course, the enemy has all of those toys too.

This scenario is based on the soliders you get at the end of x-com, but without the aliens. What if they just fought each other? What does combat look like when mind control is as common as rocket launchers?

Originally Posted by cptbutton

A time travel game where all the PCs are just alternate versions of the same person?

See header art in the IW chapter of gurps:campaigns, or the Lord Byron vignette in the IW book. Its a cool idea, but I've never been able to figure out a driving plot hook for that sort of game, especially a more sci-fi game as opposed to a more mystical one.

I suppose you could have the group naturally form if the character is the inventor of the travel mechanism, and his first few jumps were into alternate versions of their own garage. If its a power of some sort, that can also work. Those games still don't immediately suggest a plot, but you can grab some alternate cross-time plot. I can also see a bunch of "resume recruits", but I can see a strong argument for including at least one person in such a group who isn't an alternate version.

I suppose you could have a game where some cross-timer or cross-timers are really mad at an individual, and have determined to kill as many versions of them as possible. Then the challenge is to reach and save as many of yourselves as possible.

[RyanW]

PCs are members of a typical D&Dland style adventurers' guild. But rather than slaying monsters, they are the ones doing internal affairs, negotiating with other guilds and governments, assisting new or troubled local chapters, etc.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by ericthered

See header art in the IW chapter of gurps:campaigns, or the Lord Byron vignette in the IW book. Its a cool idea, but I've never been able to figure out a driving plot hook for that sort of game, especially a more sci-fi game as opposed to a more mystical one.

In the webcomic Crossoverkill (which is also a crossover of several pre-existing webcomics, and a sequel of sorts to a previous crossover webcomic, Crossoverlord), scientists in one reality manage to create a device that lets a person communicate with their alternates in other timelines. The various alternates of a single person band together into the Doppelganger Gang, the villains of the story, who travel the multiverse capturing the aspect/avatar of Death from each. It should be noted that "alternates" in that multiverse can be very different from one another - the Gang has everything from calm and collected intellectuals to psychotic serial killers amongst its numbers, of both sexes and in a wide array of body types. The only real themes binding them are a certain naming scheme (typically revolving around cold, or more specifically frost) and a single tuft of white hair (which is instead a tuft of black hair on Frostbitten, the sapient polar bear).

[ericthered]

Demon Response Team
Civilization runs on magic. It provides food and clothing, builds massive structures, moves people and goods at speed, heals disease, speeds communication, and forms the weapons needed to rule.

It also occasionally goes wrong and summons a demon.

The players are an expert team who detect, track, and eliminate the demons created by this rampant overuse of magic. Some are strong and require martial skill, while others are subtle, and some have arcane powers. All are evil, and with the PC's on the job, All will eliminated.