07-10-2014, 01:58 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Sydney
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atypical campaigns for typical settings
A typical setting with an atypical campaign for that setting.
First setting: High School. A lots already been done. Horror, Mystery etc so forgive me if a) someone has already done it or b) its not very good. High School espionage. Veronica Mars meets the Americans. Premise: in the 1950s the USSR planted hundreds of sleeper agents into the USA. Most were never activated. Their children had children. Now its the 1980s and a generation of children trained since birth to be spies are teenagers. They are at an elite school with the future leaders of America. The FBI has some how gotten enough information to suspect the school, but not enough to commit real resources. They have fast tracked some young recruits through training and planted some youngish looking 21 year olds along with older agents as parents and teachers. Are notes being swapped in class dead letter drops, high school videos being saved for blackmail etc etc I'd run it as a pretty hardcore espionage game only the protagonists or villains are 16 to 18 year olds. High School DF Dungeons and Dragons meets Degrassi One day the PCs (a group of ordinary students a cool kid, jock, geek) had a dream they were high fantasy warriors delving and scoring loot. Then they woke up and the 'cash' loot they scored (mostly gold and gems) was still on them meaning they could afford what they wanted in the real world. Now they spend more and more time in the dream world, and it intrudes into their real lives up until one of their avatars dies and their friend dies with it. Keep playing? Id run it as DF, but the social skills are those of a high school student. Theres also the potential to run a more serious social enginnering session about the highschool setting every so often. OR Dungeon and Dragons meets Harry Potter Its a high scool for DF delvers' children. Much more light hearted cartoon action hero style campaign for low powered delvers. |
07-10-2014, 02:35 AM | #2 |
Join Date: Jul 2006
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Re: atypical campaigns for typical settings
I have wondered from time to time about a high school campaign, set not in a wizarding school but in a regular school that happens to teach various magical subjects as well as mundane ones - either as part of the general curriculum (so that maths lessons might include mystical numerology or transdimensional geometry) or as subjects in their own right (rite?) (sorcery 101 and introduction to alchemy). Possibly with exchange students from faerie, homonculi running about the corridors and a golem as janitor...
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07-10-2014, 05:59 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: atypical campaigns for typical settings
My idea along these lines was Mad Science High: A magnet or charter high school with a curriculum focused on teaching students to become functioning mad scientists, in a world where mad science has been working successfully at least since Newton's efforts in alchemy. I think I would want to have Weird Science as a cinematic skill, with Blessed or Intuition or something along those lines playing the role of TbaM.
Then of course there's Worminghall, which already has a published GURPS supplement and which was one of the campaigns I just ended. Its students were university students, but in 1300 AD university enrollment started at 14 usually. Worminghall's rules for how much you learn per term would be a good fit to pretty much any high school campaign. Bill Stoddard Last edited by whswhs; 07-10-2014 at 06:02 AM. |
07-10-2014, 06:41 AM | #4 | |
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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Re: atypical campaigns for typical settings
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07-10-2014, 08:58 AM | #5 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: atypical campaigns for typical settings
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07-10-2014, 09:12 AM | #6 | |
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Sydney
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Re: atypical campaigns for typical settings
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You can dial it up or down based on if it is in a low to high mana area. |
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07-10-2014, 11:24 PM | #7 |
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Alsea, OR
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Re: atypical campaigns for typical settings
Vaguely... but also...
PS-238 - a super hero high school Ninja High School - all kinds of wierdness High School has lots of unusual bits... In fact, when one hits Anime, one encounters LOADS of high school variations, including the alternate reality via dreams dungeon fantasy bit. Classic Dungeon Fantasy - - But the players are running a merchant enterprise catering to the delvers. Firefly 'Verse - - Players are a cult of Flat-Earthers on Shinon or some other core world, out to convince everyone that spaceflight is a lie. |
07-11-2014, 12:03 AM | #8 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: atypical campaigns for typical settings
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07-11-2014, 03:47 AM | #9 | |
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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Re: atypical campaigns for typical settings
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07-11-2014, 05:21 PM | #10 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Upper Peninsula of Michigan
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Re: atypical campaigns for typical settings
Pirates! ...chasing romance on the high seas!
The players are fugitives from the law -- mostly women, a few men, running from arranged marriages on land, the Captain of the Leaping Hart being an iron-jawed matron who did so in her own youth. The occasional actual piracy in the plot is perpetrated under a letter of marque in a long-standing low-grade naval struggle between the Captain's home country (and that of most of her crew) and a couple of other major powers (who are, for dramatic tension, also the home of some of the crew). The Hart is low-violence, tending to disable a promising-looking foreign ship at the masts and take any wealthy or politically connected prisoners. After successfully disabling a laden foe, the Hart is reputed, truthfully, to treat their richer guests handsomely until ransomed, aboard ship and in their remote island hideaways (ranging from the wild, to the anarchic pirate cove, to the remote but respectable port town). Useful secrets have passed the lips of captives after their hearts have warmed to their spunky captors, and kidnapped gentry have been known to entangle the crew in drama and politics. More than a few crewmembers have left the life with a new spouse, or a full pardon and a new job in the intelligence service of this or that nation. |
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dungeon fantasy, settings |
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