Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - GURPS Monster Hunters: what will you do with it?

nondescript handle · 02-20-2011, 04:49 PM

To me "campaign in a box" implies something like Chad Underkoffler's "Campaign in a Box" column in Pyramid: a short text which in broad terms sketches a setting from bird's eye view, and then offers a handful of locales, NPCs and adventure/conflict hooks to kick start the action.
I.e. A setting which is small and sketchy ("fitting inside a small box"), but nevertheless playable "out of the box" (i.e. without worldbuilding).

It is true that DF, Action and most likely MH make genre and even very basic setting assumptions ("What are Dragon-Blooded?", "What powers have vampires?", "This is basically the real world, but more cinematic."), but they're not really sufficient to start a campaign "out of the box."

You'll have to add "setting" ("What is the Kingdom we're in called? Or is it a Magocraty?", "Are we CIA agents going against the KGB, or professional gangsters robbing a casino?", "Are supernatural monsters known to the public?") to turn it into a real campaign.

02-20-2011, 04:49 PM	#222
nondescript handle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Berlin, Germany	Re: GURPS Monster Hunters: what will you do with it? To me "campaign in a box" implies something like Chad Underkoffler's "Campaign in a Box" column in Pyramid: a short text which in broad terms sketches a setting from bird's eye view, and then offers a handful of locales, NPCs and adventure/conflict hooks to kick start the action. I.e. A setting which is small and sketchy ("fitting inside a small box"), but nevertheless playable "out of the box" (i.e. without worldbuilding). It is true that DF, Action and most likely MH make genre and even very basic setting assumptions ("What are Dragon-Blooded?", "What powers have vampires?", "This is basically the real world, but more cinematic."), but they're not really sufficient to start a campaign "out of the box." You'll have to add "setting" ("What is the Kingdom we're in called? Or is it a Magocraty?", "Are we CIA agents going against the KGB, or professional gangsters robbing a casino?", "Are supernatural monsters known to the public?") to turn it into a real campaign.