atypical campaigns for typical settings

[David Johnston2]

I nearly ran a game of Maid the RPG, in which the maids were Bruce Wayne's household staff (because really, do you think a single old man can clean and maintain an 88 room mansion, or move that much equipment into a bat cave and keep it free of guano?). Of course they were ninja maids who would shadow their master and solve cases for him because he was actually a pretty good martial artist, but a lousy detective.

[Gold & Appel Inc]

I've had a similar idea (but no chance to run it yet), only instead of Bruce Wayne's household staff, it was the entourage of a corporate celebrity spokeshero popularly known as "Captain Coke" (for exactly two very significant reasons). He's a hyper-volatile, womanizing man-child with money to burn and potent superpowers, and it's the PCs' job to follow him around, do crowd control (ie: protect other people from him when he gets a wild hair about something), and generally clean up his messes (with skills ranging from Propaganda to First Aid).

This is a cross between Entourage and GURPS Action! set in a supers universe. The PCs (including a Lawyer / Media Liason / Face Man / the only guy who can talk CC down when he's got the Crazy Eyes, a former Cop / Wheelman, an EMT Medic, a Wire Rat to hack security cameras and jam press van transmissions, and a Martial Artist / Crowd Control Expert at the very least) are some of the best at what they do, but when push comes to shove they're still hopelessly outmatched by both the high-power supervillains (and rival corporate heroes) that occasionally take a poke at their charge to make a name for themselves, and their colorful and unpredictable charge himself.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

I nearly ran a game of Maid the RPG,

I've seen that before, or I'd probably think you were making it up :\
I have no idea what's supposed to be "typical" for it though.

[(E)]

I ran one cyberpunk game with the players making morally disagreeable characters. (corrupt ex-cops who where framed for a crime that they did commit and were looking for revenge) Using the example of US TV crime fiction the "colour" of the campaign was that "everyone is going to go down in the end". Each scenario seemed to result in the list of enemies getting bigger or law enforcement getting closer. The players had a great time playing the desperation of their characters as things got steadily worse. The PC's where all either killed, arrested, addicted, or harvested for parts and left in an alley by the end of the campaign.

Coincidentally the players had missed a couple of giveaways in the first scenario that resulted in them indirectly working for the person they where trying to hunt down. Which made for a great reveal scene at the end.

[Stormcrow]

Pyramid 3 #7 has a systemless article "The New Kingdom" about the return of the Egyptian Gods to the world... in New York City.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery

I've seen that before, or I'd probably think you were making it up :\
I have no idea what's supposed to be "typical" for it though.

There are two basic out of box approaches to MtRPG. The first is harem comedy, with the maids competing to win the affection of the Master while wacky random things happen. The second is kind of ominous soap opera.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by (E)

I ran one cyberpunk game with the players making morally disagreeable characters. (corrupt ex-cops who where framed for a crime that they did commit and were looking for revenge) Using the example of US TV crime fiction the "colour" of the campaign was that "everyone is going to go down in the end". Each scenario seemed to result in the list of enemies getting bigger or law enforcement getting closer. The players had a great time playing the desperation of their characters as things got steadily worse. The PC's where all either killed, arrested, addicted, or harvested for parts and left in an alley by the end of the campaign.

Isn't that pretty much the default cyberpunk campaign?

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

Isn't that pretty much the default cyberpunk campaign?

Pretty much, yeah. The atypical campaign is the one where you play a team of four-colour superheroes cleaning up a cyberpunk dystopia.

[MatthewVilter]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

Isn't that pretty much the default cyberpunk campaign?

IDK, aren't Cyberpunk protagonists supposed to be perceived as dangerous misfits by the corrupt authorities and megacorps but really be protectors of (or at least embodiments of) freedom and decency?

[RogerBW]

Originally Posted by MatthewVilter

IDK, aren't Cyberpunk protagonists supposed to be perceived as dangerous misfits by the corrupt authorities and megacorps but really be protectors of (or at least embodiments of) freedom and decency?

That's one approach. I prefer my Cyberpunk protagonists as corrupted compromisers, trying to step back from the one last compromise that'll make them as bad as the ones they're fighting, but knowing that they need to get an edge from somewhere.