draft prospectus

[whswhs]

I'm looking at making a change in my GMing next year: running two campaigns instead of three, and with longer duration than two years, at least three and perhaps as much as five. So I've been looking at campaign ideas that might work on that scale. Here's what I've thought of so far; I may not keep all of them, and I might add one or two. Mainly I'm looking at campaigns in fairly classic gaming idioms, not the weird experimental stuff I've done at times.

(If you want to respond, allocate 10 points among the five campaigns: non-negative integer values only, please.)

___ Eloi. Near future social science fiction. Run in GURPS. Source material: Transhuman Space and its supplements.
Set in Transhuman Space, in a Fifth Wave nation, probably English-speaking. Player characters will be Eloi: people who have been successful enough economically to live on their investments and work only for personal satisfaction. Play will focus on social interaction on scales ranging from personal relationships to large-scale memetic campaigns, but centering on community identity and reputation. Secondarily, these relationships will be used as a perspective through which to explore the Transhuman Space setting.

___ Fronteira. Science fiction noir. Run in GURPS.
In the mid-23rd century, humanity has colonized and begun terraforming Mars. Player characters will be residents of one of Mars’s largest cities, at the base of the orbital elevator on Pavonis Mons, built and operated by a Brazilian megacorporation. Player characters will be colonists working to survive, prosper, and cope with emergencies in a sometimes lethally hostile environment. All characters will be human with minor genetic or cybernetic upgrades; the setting will be somewhat conservative technologically. Play will not be scenario-based but will make up one continuing storyline, exploring the physical and cultural setting and the relationships among the characters.

___ Shadowlands. Postapocalyptic dark fantasy. Run in Big Eyes, Small Mouth or classic World of Darkness.
Technology is failing and the world is reverting to preindustrial conditions, as magic returns to the world. Player characters will be residents of a college town that’s struggling to adapt to the change. Characters will have the option of learning some forms of magic, but the use of magic will be inherently perilous. Scenarios will be driven partly by the effort to survive and partly by mystical threats.

___ Tapestry. Historical fantasy. Run in Big Eyes, Small Mouth or GURPS.
Set in a GM-defined fantasy world inhabited by a number of intelligent humanoid races, each with its own magical style, culture, and preferred habitat. Technology will be mainly bronze age; magical traditions will be largely spirit-based. Player characters can belong to any race, or can be of mixed ancestry, though hybrids are rare and often sterile. The point of departure will be one of the world’s first cities, from which player characters will go out on quests, which they should be competent and motivated to undertake. The main focus will be on exploration, encounters with other races and cultures, and magical traditions.

___ World Class. Superhero drama. Run in Marvel Heroic Roleplaying. Source material: The Avengers, Captain America: The First Avenger, Iron Man I–III, Thor.
Player characters will be original superheroes, perhaps the only ones in the world and certainly among the first to appear. Character concepts should be suitable for group or team efforts but need not preclude disagreement and character conflict; the ethical abstraction that a character embodies will be as important as their powers or skills. Players will have a substantial role in defining the campaign setting, by establishing supporting casts, because the sources of their special abilities will define the possibilities for other superbeings, and because their character concepts—which need not follow the traditional formula—will define what it means to be a “superhero” in this world. There will be a lot of action, but the campaign will also look at investigation, political and cultural influence, and interpersonal relationships.

Bill Stoddard

[vicky_molokh]

Answering this not as a prospective player, but just to voice my opinion (since that seems to be the point of showing this to a forum).

Originally Posted by whswhs

(If you want to respond, allocate 10 points among the five campaigns: non-negative integer values only, please.)

___ Eloi. Near future social science fiction. Run in GURPS. Source material: Transhuman Space and its supplements.

4 points. I'm saying this based on my impressions from the THS campaign I play in: the grand conspiracies and daring adventures are awesome, but I feel the campaign would be nice with more 'peaceful times' roleplaying added (which we might yet see after handling the current crisis - who knows). And your campaign idea seems to explore that sort of thing. Though I must admit that this one concept feels like it still fits into weird-experimental compared to the others.

Originally Posted by whswhs

___ Fronteira. Science fiction noir. Run in GURPS.

2 points. Maybe interesting, but I'm somewhat spoiled with non-human templates and non-conservative tech. I also mostly don't 'get' noir.

Originally Posted by whswhs

___ Shadowlands. Postapocalyptic dark fantasy. Run in Big Eyes, Small Mouth or classic World of Darkness.
___ Tapestry. Historical fantasy. Run in Big Eyes, Small Mouth or GURPS.

One point each. I don't like post-apoc, and I can't say I'm in the mood for classic-ish fantasy.

Originally Posted by whswhs

___ World Class. Superhero drama. Run in Marvel Heroic Roleplaying. Source material: The Avengers, Captain America: The First Avenger, Iron Man I–III, Thor.

2 points. I'm not big on supers, but hey, maybe exploring 'just what are supers' is what would fix that.


As you can see, my replies are highly subjective / specific to my shoes. I'm not sure if I've been of use to you.

[Frost]

As an outsider two of these stand out for special attention. I won't allocate points because I am not sure which I would prefer at the moment:

Originally Posted by whswhs

___ Fronteira. Science fiction noir. Run in GURPS.
In the mid-23rd century, humanity has colonized and begun terraforming Mars. Player characters will be residents of one of Mars’s largest cities, at the base of the orbital elevator on Pavonis Mons, built and operated by a Brazilian megacorporation. Player characters will be colonists working to survive, prosper, and cope with emergencies in a sometimes lethally hostile environment. All characters will be human with minor genetic or cybernetic upgrades; the setting will be somewhat conservative technologically. Play will not be scenario-based but will make up one continuing storyline, exploring the physical and cultural setting and the relationships among the characters.

I think that this offers a lot of potential particularly in a long campaign to offer a variety of different types of adventures and develop personal plots and agenda.

Unlike Vicky I actually find the phrase 'somewhat conservative technologically' a potential selling point. While I very much like highly technological settings, there are a number of technologies (strong AI and radical genetic engineering are probably the worst offenders) that tend to either weaken or hijack settings. The humans with minor modifications angle sees to offer the best of both worlds.

Originally Posted by whswhs

___ World Class. Superhero drama. Run in Marvel Heroic Roleplaying. Source material: The Avengers, Captain America: The First Avenger, Iron Man I–III, Thor.
Player characters will be original superheroes, perhaps the only ones in the world and certainly among the first to appear. Character concepts should be suitable for group or team efforts but need not preclude disagreement and character conflict; the ethical abstraction that a character embodies will be as important as their powers or skills.

What can I say about this? Yes please!

Reading this the concept just struck a cord with me. An original world with a chance to be in at the start and define what constitutes a superhero? What is there not to like.

[combatmedic]

_1__ Eloi
I like THS but I'm not sold on playing 'Eloi.'


_4__ Fronteira

SF+ Mars colonists+ 'somewhat conservative tech'+ Noir=

Get your butt to Mars!



_2__ Shadowlands

Post-apoc sounds fun. Magic that's inherently perilous also sounds fun.


_2__ Tapestry
This is the setting you were working on in the RP in General forum, yes? I was impressed with your initial sketch of the setting and its races. I get a 'Runequest' vibe from it, and that's a good thing.

_1_ World Class

I'd play this one, but it's not top of the list for me. Supers aren't my usual style.

[RogerBW]

In my experience, saying "superheroes" already carries a baggage of cultural assumptions that I don't get on with. And the longer the campaign's planned to last, the more I find myself looking for "safe" options that I'm fairly sure I'll enjoy. With that in mind, Fronteira gets 5 (I like the isolated edge-of-civilisation setting and the strong daily-life as opposed to heroic questing element), Eloi gets 3 (sounds fun but I've played Transhuman Space fairly recently), Shadowlands and Tapestry get 1 each, and World Class gets 0.

[whswhs]

I see I should make it more explicit that I'm also thinking about whether there are any fairly traditional, well sustainable gaming genres that I've omitted. Obviously both multiracial worldbuilding fantasy and supers can be the basis for long lasting campaigns, and I think the same is true of postapocalyptic survival. But I'm still thinking about whether there are other such options.

Bill Stoddard

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I see I should make it more explicit that I'm also thinking about whether there are any fairly traditional, well sustainable gaming genres that I've omitted. Obviously both multiracial worldbuilding fantasy and supers can be the basis for long lasting campaigns, and I think the same is true of postapocalyptic survival. But I'm still thinking about whether there are other such options.

Bill Stoddard

I'd say something Action- or MH-like, but IIRC you had a bad experience with the former, and already done the latter in the 1800s.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

4 points. I'm saying this based on my impressions from the THS campaign I play in: the grand conspiracies and daring adventures are awesome, but I feel the campaign would be nice with more 'peaceful times' roleplaying added (which we might yet see after handling the current crisis - who knows). And your campaign idea seems to explore that sort of thing. Though I must admit that this one concept feels like it still fits into weird-experimental compared to the others.

It is, but on the other hand, I've run two THS campaigns, and both of them have gone well. I count Whispers among my most successful campaigns, in particular. I'm confident that THS is a rich enough setting for prolonged exploration.

Bill Stoddard

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

I'd say something Action- or MH-like, but IIRC you had a bad experience with the former, and already done the latter in the 1800s.

Some elements of MH are going to be included in Shadowlands. Remember the "dark fantasy" aspect.

Bill Stoddard

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

I'd say something Action- or MH-like, but IIRC you had a bad experience with the former, and already done the latter in the 1800s.

I believe I know that there were fairly specific reasons for William's bad GURPS Action'ish experience.