Ideas Are Easy

[crretin]

Victoria: A game set in a Victorian England type land, where magic both exists and twists those who use it into beasts, known as hags, Humanity has learned how to use this magic safely by instead of drawing magic into themselves to craft spells, but rather pulling the magic into objects to craft impossible machines, but not all is well with this change as mysterious fey like creatures try to infiltrate the great city of Victoria, men who can jump higher than any building and vomit sparks upon all those who stand in their way, and deranged strangers made of rickety parts and jury rigged engines to drag prostitutes into the night and suck the blood from their veins... the players play members of the Night Watch, an organization intent on beating back these monsters of the night and reclaim their city.

[Johan Larson]

(Inspired by the Manchineel tree, which is very poisonous.)

Everyone who sees a Grayleaf tree drops dead within seconds. The effect reaches beyond human beings to all known sighted animal life. Each Grayleaf tree sits at the center of a specialized ecology of blind animals, many of which occur nowhere else. It is a vigorous plant and grows taller than most other trees. Depending on siting, the blind zone around a tree may reach as much as ten miles out. Their means of reproduction is unknown, as all known examples are mature trees.

No one actually knows what Grayleaf looks like. All reports are from scholars who have examined specimens by touch. The Mad Emperor did commission several paintings of Grayleaf, created by artists who saw a Grayleaf tree, died, and were then magically resurrected. The paintings vary considerably, as might be expected since each of them is based on a single look.

The largest collection of Grayleaf trees in a single location is the Line of Peace, which stretches 50 miles across the breadth of the peninsula known as King Philip's Finger, among other terms. The trees are planted in a straight line from shore to shore at roughly half-mile distances. Assuming the original arrangement was regular, there may have been 100 trees, of which 61 remain. No one knows who planted the line or for what purpose, but it was already present when Bannon's Chronicle was written, 350 years ago.

[crretin]

Hellworld: The players play a family of theme park goers after the nuclear apocalypse and most of the world outside had become unlivable as a result. Pretty much mad max but in a theme park

[jason taylor]

The greatest war in history to date is winding down and the Corsican Ogre looks to be soon caged. But His Majesties Foreign Ministry is not free from worries. Czar Alexander is behaving as overbearingly as, well, a Czar, and there is fear that he is likely to overtip the balance of power and start another war almost before this one is fairly ended. In the meantime the American war is dragging on, and if continued likely will drag on as long as the first American war with similarly unfortunate results.

The PCs are diplomatic couriers assigned to carry a message to the British negotiators to shut the American war down as quickly as possible to allow assets to be shifted back to Europe. No one can find out: if the Americans get a hold of the message they will bargain harder. If the Russians get a hold of it they might or might not send it to the Americans to get them to bargain harder depending on whether they are thinking more about finishing the war or collecting the spoil. As for Boney, well he has no reason to love any of his neighbors. The Prussians are practically a Russian puppet. The Austrians probably would like more British assets in Europe to back them up but they are well known for their slippery disposition. Few would openly attack a diplomatic courier, but a "random" mugging might be arranged and almost every power has a few random muggers in it's pay.

PS. While the incident is made up I have sometimes had a suspicion that the British mission to negotiate with America did indeed have secret orders to hurry up for the reasons given. The records would almost certainly be declassified now but are probably buried under a heap of paper somewhere.

[Anders]

"The Land And The King Are One". So what happens when the king becomes undead?

[crretin]

Neon City: 1920's America was hard enough, but ever since that strange comet in the sky came about people all over the world have started gaining superpowers. It's Watchmen vs Heroes in Chinatown in a world of rising chaos.

[David Johnston2]

Fundare: In this generational game, the characters are initially members of a doomsday cult of sorts led by a mystic prophet predicting the end of the Roman Empire who are banished to the far end of the Empire, under the shadow of Hadrian's wall, where they find themselves reincarnating again and again on a mission to first unite Britain, then guide it, making it the kernel of a new empire even bigger than the first.

[Daigoro]

One Man Chess

Ever played chess against yourself? How do you pretend you don't know what you're about to do?

In this Supers campaign, PCs make two characters each- one for a superhero team and one for the supervillain team. Sessions alternate between the 2 teams, with the supervillains planning a heist or evil scheme, then the heroes reacting to the crisis and thwarting it.

I actually have no idea if this'd work, but it'd be interesting to try.

[RogerBW]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

One Man Chess

Ever played chess against yourself? How do you pretend you don't know what you're about to do?

In this Supers campaign, PCs make two characters each- one for a superhero team and one for the supervillain team. Sessions alternate between the 2 teams, with the supervillains planning a heist or evil scheme, then the heroes reacting to the crisis and thwarting it.

I actually have no idea if this'd work, but it'd be interesting to try.

I have heard of something similar being done in an In Nomine game.

[David Johnston2]

Wizardpunk: In a setting of industrial magic, the characters live in a city of tens of millions among the desperately poor caught between the aristocratic rival wizard towers who have largely replaced common labour with golems, undead and conjurations. Some are people with the Gift hiding from the towers. Nobody knows what happens to commoners who are taken away to be "adopted" by the Towers...but nobody's ever seen them again. Some are non-mages who have had runes of enchantment carved into their bodies, reshaped by biosorcerers, or given animated clockwork parts, because they were experimental subjects, or served in the military, or were just dwellers on the street looking for an edge against rival criminals. But now they work together, maybe as thieves, maybe as mercenaries, maybe as revolutionaries...