TV series with ideas for GURPS

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by lachimba

I will not entertain any suggestions that either of the two zombie shows have any 'new' ideas for t.v. let alone ideas for GURPS.

Your loss.

I suppose the other other zombie show (izombie) might be full of ideas though. I'm yet to see it.

In my opinion based on the first 15 minutes of the first episode: It had nothing new.

The comic has some old ideas presented in a 'new fashion, but then... we've wrung out most ideas long ago. We live in the age of retreading.

Likewise none of the superhero shows have much of anything for GURPS that you can't find in the comic books or movies

If you want to go that route we haven't had any new ideas in a long time.

[lachimba]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

Your loss.

If you want to go that route we haven't had any new ideas in a long time.

Meh both shows are absolute garbage, but that's a different thread and garbage tv can be great for role playing (garbage movies too and you can hear Ken Hite discuss House 2 and why it's so bad, but so good for RPGs)


If you mean no new ideas in general that's completely untrue. Breaking Bad, Better call saul, Mad Men etc are very original tv shows. I just think that there isn't much new for GURPS there.
A lot about The man in the high castle (the detailed alternative world building) is original for tv if not fiction. (Its also detailed enough to apply to the paragraph below)

If you mean no new ideas for RPGs well as in OP I think sense8 gives you a pretty original game type where the party is split for the entire tv show with one member meeting just once in the finale. Name me one published GURPS scenario with that premise. I can now think of dozens of adventures for THS, a psis campaign etc. As Kromm pointed out it would be a good game for drop in players because their characters are offscreen much of the time anyway. I think it's great for when players want to jump in to take control because their character concept is perfect for the scene.

Anyway other shows. I've thought for a long time the Law and order investigation is good for the kind of group that doesn't enjoy investigation. Its basically scene to scene strung together with a roll or two by the players inevitably they'll fail a roll for the red herring then make the roll to get back on the right track. The show doesn't have big fights or action, but given how long that takes in GURPS you could probably have your gun fights and chases take up 50% of the time at the game table, but just a few minutes of the episode.

Also I think GMs like me often run investigation as you find the clue or not. In Law and Order the plot never hinges on clues being found they always find exactly what they can in any scene, they'll just misinterpret the clues (more like in Gumshoe). It's a good example of alternative investigation.

[Refplace]

Arrow has a good cast that could all be PCs of similar point level.

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by lachimba

I will not entertain any suggestions that either of the two zombie shows have any 'new' ideas for t.v. let alone ideas for GURPS.
...

The original post didn't say anything about "new" ideas, just about ideas ... and everything is new to somebody. I don't see this is an issue.

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by lachimba

I will not entertain any suggestions that either of the two zombie shows have any 'new' ideas for t.v. let alone ideas for GURPS.

(Ill actually give one to walking dead everyone is infected and that's it, but you already had that in the comic book)

I suppose the other other zombie show (izombie) might be full of ideas though. I'm yet to see it.


Likewise none of the superhero shows have much of anything for GURPS that you can't find in the comic books or movies

What makes The Walking Dead work is that the main characters are all pretty compelling (well, except for Carl, who is pretty boring...), and the writers understand that the real enemy is not the zombies (presented as a background hazard, albeit a serious one that complicates everything), but the other survivors.

I've seen that in the movies, but the fact that it gets presented so clearly in a TV show is pretty nice. The Walking Dead provides a good model for any zombie apocalypse game, IMO.

Z-Nation is just silly, and not in a good way. I couldn't make it past two episodes. I haven't watched any of the others -- I'm just not a fan of the genre, really, and would avoid any long-term campaign. (G&AInc's one-shot zombie-culls are a lot of fun, though....)

As for superhero shows, I do watch the Marvel ones, and I enjoy Gotham. I tried to watch Arrow, but got sick and tired of being preached at. Every. Single. Episode.

Gawd.

The fact that Oliver Queen is in The Flash put me off that one, too, but I understand it's much better.

That said, I generally avoid superhero RPGs. I've never been a huge fan of the four-color versions (with a few exceptions -- Simonson's run on Thor was outstanding), and much prefer the darker, lone heroes.

See my avatar.

Unfortunately, as wonderful as The Shadow and his philosophical descendants may be, they're not really all that great for RPGs, in which the party needs to work together as a team.

[Nymdok]

Originally Posted by lachimba

I suppose the other other zombie show (izombie) might be full of ideas though. I'm yet to see it.

iZombie is largely Zombie = Low Powered Superhero with Dependency:Brains. Whether or nto thats bad, is up to your individual tastes. Sub blood for brains and its another vampire show.

I dont hate it. Its fun to watch. Is it doing anything 'new'? I wouldnt say so, but the characters are likeable enough.

For Zombies as supers though Im more partial to the variants in Left 4 dead. At least they have different power sets.

Also worth mentioning is Zombie Island. Communication through the Edih, zombies eating zombies, and other little bits are fairly fresh takes on the genre and the book USED to be free on the guy's website.

Nymdok

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by Nymdok

I know Buffy/Angel, Xena/Hercules and Doctor Who gets a lot of love from the fans, but Id never game in those worlds, because they have centerpiece characters and everyone else is kind of along for the ride.

I wouldn't want to play with that sort of premise either, but that's not necessarily the case for all episodes of all of those shows. Esp latter seasons of Buffy have the Scoobies gaining agency.

[mehrkat]

I think most of the discussions is about playing in the series as opposed to playing in the world.

I've played multiple Star Wars games with completely different PC's. Generally I go forward in time and move the world logically forward based on a few circumstances and allow the new PCs to be the center of the new quest.

DragonLance is similar for me -- though I got rid of most of the stuff presented it after Time of the Twins and replaced it with a different reality.

I have a few ideas for Buffy/Angel world games. Admittedly I would probably focus on equal power characters. Even have a ready to go game set in Space Opera solar system adventures where Vampires run the government and businesses from the shadows.

Flash and Arrow are similar. I admit I don't have a lot of interest in playing Flash's second bananas as much as I enjoy watching them. But a game set in the world with a few less powerful supers trying to be good. Now that would be fun and a Trope styled Arrow world game in another city that is suffering their own problems. Both of those could be good.

For me I always focus on the feel of the world and the tropes that are common. For instance:
Buffy is all about friendship and working together to solve problems that are larger than any of them. How many compelling stories could you tell in with characters that fit that world with those ideas?
A character that I would really enjoy playing would be a young adult who was a kid who grew up too close to the Hellmouth. Kept getting captured, involved, etc so he had been changed in various ways until he was a full point character with odd supernatural quirks.

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by mehrkat

I think most of the discussions is about playing in the series as opposed to playing in the world.

I've played multiple Star Wars games with completely different PC's. Generally I go forward in time and move the world logically forward based on a few circumstances and allow the new PCs to be the center of the new quest.

DragonLance is similar for me -- though I got rid of most of the stuff presented it after Time of the Twins and replaced it with a different reality.

I have a few ideas for Buffy/Angel world games. Admittedly I would probably focus on equal power characters. Even have a ready to go game set in Space Opera solar system adventures where Vampires run the government and businesses from the shadows.

Flash and Arrow are similar. I admit I don't have a lot of interest in playing Flash's second bananas as much as I enjoy watching them. But a game set in the world with a few less powerful supers trying to be good. Now that would be fun and a Trope styled Arrow world game in another city that is suffering their own problems. Both of those could be good.

For me I always focus on the feel of the world and the tropes that are common. For instance:
Buffy is all about friendship and working together to solve problems that are larger than any of them. How many compelling stories could you tell in with characters that fit that world with those ideas?
A character that I would really enjoy playing would be a young adult who was a kid who grew up too close to the Hellmouth. Kept getting captured, involved, etc so he had been changed in various ways until he was a full point character with odd supernatural quirks.

Bill Stoddard did a campaign along those lines, and highly recommended the BtVS RPG as the system, IIRC.

Apparently, it has a clever way (akin to fate points or drama points, or something) to balance the vastly disparate power levels between the Slayer, the sorcerors and magical beings and the monsters they face, and the regular "Scoobie" types.

[mehrkat]

Originally Posted by tshiggins

Bill Stoddard did a campaign along those lines, and highly recommended the BtVS RPG as the system, IIRC.

Apparently, it has a clever way (akin to fate points or drama points, or something) to balance the vastly disparate power levels between the Slayer, the sorcerors and magical beings and the monsters they face, and the regular "Scoobie" types.

Its a lot like the GURPS spend points for successes strategy in Impulse Buy with the regenerating pool of points option switch. It allows the Scoobies to shine sometimes when the spend the points but the points go away and refresh more slowly.

I'm not totally against it though I still think you could come up with balanced power characters if you chose.
Just in the Buffy series we had: A cyberwarrior, a robot, a really powerful witch, a trained watcher who was also a wizard, a character that dressed up as soldier at the "wrong/right" time and got full Movie Action soldier capabilities combined with the senses of a Hyena, two friendly vampires for various reasons, a gadgeteer. Then a newly opened slayer potential waking for everyone.