Current RPG game seeds
2018-Jan-13, Saturday 15:31![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dorchadas
I spent a while thinking about this at work yesterday, so I decided to write them all down. These are all the RPG games I currently want to run and have put some effort into planning. I have plenty of other "wouldn't it be fun to..." ideas, but if I haven't put any effort into it, I'll leave it out.
Game of Clans
System: Legend of the Five Rings or Sengoku
Description: The Emerald Empire has been at peace for generations, but the Heavenly Sovereign is on his deathbed. His eldest son is ready to assume the throne, but rumors have swirled around him since he came of age. The court is convinced that the Heavenly Sovereign will choose his second son as his heir, but is he willing to anger the Lion and the Crane by going to against tradition? And what of the rumors that someone is plotting against the Heavenly Sovereign? As Emerald Magistrates, the PCs must investigate and discover the truth of any rumors and bring the plotters to justice, but Otōsan Uchi's intrigues are legendary, and not all dangers wear kimono and bear a clan's mon.
Comments: This is obviously inspired by A Song of Ice and Fire. The Hantei Dynasty here are the Targaryens, the Great Clans are the various noble house, and Rokugan even has a Wall with horrors beyond. It's up to the PCs to figure out what's going on and prevent an equivalent of Robert's Rebellion from shattering the Emerald Empire. Also comes with its own theme song!
Broken Wings
System: Exalted 2.5e
Description: Ollantiyaja, the Land Spread Out as Wings, is one of the few Dragon-Blooded countries not under the shadow of the Realm. Secure in their mountain fastnesses, the yamasōhei and their agreement with the local spirits have kept the peace and prevented Ollantiyaja from losing its independence. But the Scion of Gaia is dead, murdered in her bed during Calibration, and now the manse at Gaia's Navel lies empty. The seven families of the yamasōhei have shattered into five warring kingdoms, struggling for supremacy over Ollantiyaja, and sweeping up its mortals and spirits into their wars. Can the PCs defend their homeland from the Lintha pirates and raids from island tribes, prevent Anathema from gaining power in a land torn by war, and lead their family to victory over the others so that a new Scion of Gaia is chosen? And what of the Realm ambassador?
Comments: Another game inspired by A Song of Ice and Fire, somewhat later in the timeline. This is my chance to use the redone Dragon-Blooded Charmset I wrote and have a lower-powered game of Exalted than the Solar game I ran, as well as have a game where the PCs can affect the course of the war but are still part of larger organizations that they have to take into account. And I like the idea of the PCs all being related--it solves the usual "why are you together?" problem.
Guānxi
(关系)
System: Shadowrun
Description Like most of the rest of the World, China balkanized in the aftermath of the Awakening, and now much of the land is under the control of dozens of splinter states, all struggling for dominance. But none of this matters in the Hong Kong Free Enterprise Zone, where profit is king and the megacorps come to do their business. The PCs are runners from all over the world, come to Hong Kong where the lights are brighter and the shadows are darker, to make their fortunes, and brought together by their contacts for a simple job. Go to a place, find a datachip, and bring it out. Easy money. Nothing can go wrong.
Comments: Ever since Harebrained Schemes came out with Shadowrun: Hong Kong, I've wanted to run a tabletop Shadowrun game set there too. This doesn't have a high concept like the previous two games, it's just a standard Shadowrun game where a bunch of criminals try to make money and strike back at the Man. But you know, that sounds pretty fun to me.
Forth from Theramore
System: Heavily-modified Pathfinder
Description: The Burning Legion has been defeated and the threat to Azeroth is no more. But for many of the people of Theramore, that doesn't matter so much. None of the ships sent back east have returned, and as far as the remnants of the Alliance know, they are all that is left of their people in the world. With no choice but to remain, and with the Sentinel politely but firmly refusing all requests for information about the continent, Lady Jaina Proudmoore has commissioned dozens of groups of adventurers to explore Kalimdor and bring her word back of what lies beyond Theramore Isle and the eastern coast of Kalimdor. The PCs are one of those adventuring parties, made up of Alliance members and sympathetic members of the Sentinel or various unaligned groups, who want to gain monetary reward for information about the land. And maybe there's treasure out there too! Of course, the Horde has the same idea, and while Alliance and Horde fought together at Mount Hyjal to defeat the Legion, there is too much bad blood for any peace to hold for long...
Comments: This is a straight-up hexcrawl of Kalimdor in the immediate aftermath of Warcraft III, before even the orc campaign of The Frozen Throne takes place and long before World of Warcraft. It has a feel closer to Warcraft III than WoW, where the night elves are feral and xenophobic and still separate from both the Horde and Alliance, where magic is dangerous but the Alliance sees no choice but to use it, and as far as anyone knows, the eastern continent was wiped clean of all life by the Scourge and the Burning Legion as Kalimdor is their new home. I wrote about this game years ago now, but I finally have enough work put into it that I could run it.
Flight of the Dawnstar
System: Dungeons: the Dragoning 7th Edition
Description: Somewhere, there is an ancient Syrneth artifact that allows travel without having to use the relays. With it, a merchant prince could avoid taxes and fuel costs and become fabulously wealth, or a commander could avoid all enemies and appear directly over enemy worlds, or a free trader could travel anywhere they wish. The Council at Sigil wants it, and rumor has that they have dispatched several Spectres in search of it. The Dark Eldarin want it, and there are raiding parties even now roaming the Great Wheel looking for it. The human Imperium wants it. The dragons want it. Even the aboleth have dispatched thralls through the safeguards around Pandemonium after it. That means if the PCs get it, they could name their price and secure their fortune, right?
Comments: Dungeons: the Dragoning is a mashup of the big five White Wolf games, Exalted, Dungeons and Dragons' Planescape setting, Warhammer 40K, 7th Sea, Mass Effect, and everything else that its creator Lawful Nice found interesting and that somehow works together. This plot is a redone version of a Fading Suns plot that I ran for a few sessions before it fell apart, but I think it could work well recast in a Traveller-esque group of free traders seeking the ultimate score. Dungeons: the Dragoning is the kind of game where a vampire, a Syrneth soul reincarnated in a modern body, a magical girl, a descendant of the Dragon Empire's supersoldiers, and a chosen servant of a god can all work together to try to make rent and find the next big score. This kind of glorious chaos is a lot of fun when done well.
Mass Exalt
System: Exalted 2.5e
Description: In the year 2148, explorers on Mars discovered the remains of an ancient spacefaring civilization. In the decades that followed, these mysterious artifacts revealed startling new technologies, enabling powers previously deemed to be mythological. The basis for this incredible enhancement was a force that controlled the very fabric of space and time.
They called it the greatest discovery in human history.
The civilizations of the galaxy call them...
THE EXALTED.
Comments: This is another game I've been thinking about for a while, and it's pretty much a straight combination of Exalted and Mass Effect (See also the canonical example: Glorious Shotgun Princess). Players are Dragon-Blooded (the titular Exalts) from the various galactic powers, working together when they discover evidence that the ancient Prothean Empire fell due to some disaster, and remnant Prothean technology seems to think that the danger is returning. It's then a modified version of the games' plot, with the PCs standing in for Shepard and crew and some changes to make things make more sense. And I love the image of the Mass Effect I intro, except as the ship approaches the relay Shepard ignites his anima and powers the drive himself.
Exiles
System: Exalted 2.5e
Description: The Empire is old, and powerful, and oppressive. Humanity was enslaved by ancient spirits and creatures of faerie long ago, and when humanity finally cast off its chains, it determined that such a thing would never be allowed to happen again. The laws must not be broken, and those laws forbid contact with spirits. Those who do, and those who are born as a result of that contact, face Exile--banishment to the caverns far beneath the world. The PCs are such, descendants of the Fair Folk and demons and spirits of nature, captured by the Empire and banished to Avernum. What will they make of themselves there?
Comments: Another old idea, but now that I've been running a low-level Exalted-based game for years and have done a bunch of work for Broken Wings, I can recycle it for this concept. This is based on the old Avernum PC game series (originally Exile), mashed up with some elements of Exalted background, so PCs would be god-blooded, elemental-blooded, ghost-blooded, demon-blooded, and fae-blooded, with a few heritage powers, some thaumaturgy, and their mighty thews, surviving far underground.
I've got some other stuff I've worked on less--The Mist setting that these elves come from, or Dark Sun with Exalted 2.5e, or Cthulhutech/the Void mashup space eldritch horror, or a Vampire game set during the classical era, or a game based on the original Quest for Glory, or another Warhammer game. But the list above is what's at the front of my mind now.
Game of Clans
System: Legend of the Five Rings or Sengoku
Description: The Emerald Empire has been at peace for generations, but the Heavenly Sovereign is on his deathbed. His eldest son is ready to assume the throne, but rumors have swirled around him since he came of age. The court is convinced that the Heavenly Sovereign will choose his second son as his heir, but is he willing to anger the Lion and the Crane by going to against tradition? And what of the rumors that someone is plotting against the Heavenly Sovereign? As Emerald Magistrates, the PCs must investigate and discover the truth of any rumors and bring the plotters to justice, but Otōsan Uchi's intrigues are legendary, and not all dangers wear kimono and bear a clan's mon.
Comments: This is obviously inspired by A Song of Ice and Fire. The Hantei Dynasty here are the Targaryens, the Great Clans are the various noble house, and Rokugan even has a Wall with horrors beyond. It's up to the PCs to figure out what's going on and prevent an equivalent of Robert's Rebellion from shattering the Emerald Empire. Also comes with its own theme song!
Broken Wings
System: Exalted 2.5e
Description: Ollantiyaja, the Land Spread Out as Wings, is one of the few Dragon-Blooded countries not under the shadow of the Realm. Secure in their mountain fastnesses, the yamasōhei and their agreement with the local spirits have kept the peace and prevented Ollantiyaja from losing its independence. But the Scion of Gaia is dead, murdered in her bed during Calibration, and now the manse at Gaia's Navel lies empty. The seven families of the yamasōhei have shattered into five warring kingdoms, struggling for supremacy over Ollantiyaja, and sweeping up its mortals and spirits into their wars. Can the PCs defend their homeland from the Lintha pirates and raids from island tribes, prevent Anathema from gaining power in a land torn by war, and lead their family to victory over the others so that a new Scion of Gaia is chosen? And what of the Realm ambassador?
Comments: Another game inspired by A Song of Ice and Fire, somewhat later in the timeline. This is my chance to use the redone Dragon-Blooded Charmset I wrote and have a lower-powered game of Exalted than the Solar game I ran, as well as have a game where the PCs can affect the course of the war but are still part of larger organizations that they have to take into account. And I like the idea of the PCs all being related--it solves the usual "why are you together?" problem.
Guānxi
(关系)
System: Shadowrun
Description Like most of the rest of the World, China balkanized in the aftermath of the Awakening, and now much of the land is under the control of dozens of splinter states, all struggling for dominance. But none of this matters in the Hong Kong Free Enterprise Zone, where profit is king and the megacorps come to do their business. The PCs are runners from all over the world, come to Hong Kong where the lights are brighter and the shadows are darker, to make their fortunes, and brought together by their contacts for a simple job. Go to a place, find a datachip, and bring it out. Easy money. Nothing can go wrong.
Comments: Ever since Harebrained Schemes came out with Shadowrun: Hong Kong, I've wanted to run a tabletop Shadowrun game set there too. This doesn't have a high concept like the previous two games, it's just a standard Shadowrun game where a bunch of criminals try to make money and strike back at the Man. But you know, that sounds pretty fun to me.
Forth from Theramore
System: Heavily-modified Pathfinder
Description: The Burning Legion has been defeated and the threat to Azeroth is no more. But for many of the people of Theramore, that doesn't matter so much. None of the ships sent back east have returned, and as far as the remnants of the Alliance know, they are all that is left of their people in the world. With no choice but to remain, and with the Sentinel politely but firmly refusing all requests for information about the continent, Lady Jaina Proudmoore has commissioned dozens of groups of adventurers to explore Kalimdor and bring her word back of what lies beyond Theramore Isle and the eastern coast of Kalimdor. The PCs are one of those adventuring parties, made up of Alliance members and sympathetic members of the Sentinel or various unaligned groups, who want to gain monetary reward for information about the land. And maybe there's treasure out there too! Of course, the Horde has the same idea, and while Alliance and Horde fought together at Mount Hyjal to defeat the Legion, there is too much bad blood for any peace to hold for long...
Comments: This is a straight-up hexcrawl of Kalimdor in the immediate aftermath of Warcraft III, before even the orc campaign of The Frozen Throne takes place and long before World of Warcraft. It has a feel closer to Warcraft III than WoW, where the night elves are feral and xenophobic and still separate from both the Horde and Alliance, where magic is dangerous but the Alliance sees no choice but to use it, and as far as anyone knows, the eastern continent was wiped clean of all life by the Scourge and the Burning Legion as Kalimdor is their new home. I wrote about this game years ago now, but I finally have enough work put into it that I could run it.
Flight of the Dawnstar
System: Dungeons: the Dragoning 7th Edition
Description: Somewhere, there is an ancient Syrneth artifact that allows travel without having to use the relays. With it, a merchant prince could avoid taxes and fuel costs and become fabulously wealth, or a commander could avoid all enemies and appear directly over enemy worlds, or a free trader could travel anywhere they wish. The Council at Sigil wants it, and rumor has that they have dispatched several Spectres in search of it. The Dark Eldarin want it, and there are raiding parties even now roaming the Great Wheel looking for it. The human Imperium wants it. The dragons want it. Even the aboleth have dispatched thralls through the safeguards around Pandemonium after it. That means if the PCs get it, they could name their price and secure their fortune, right?
Comments: Dungeons: the Dragoning is a mashup of the big five White Wolf games, Exalted, Dungeons and Dragons' Planescape setting, Warhammer 40K, 7th Sea, Mass Effect, and everything else that its creator Lawful Nice found interesting and that somehow works together. This plot is a redone version of a Fading Suns plot that I ran for a few sessions before it fell apart, but I think it could work well recast in a Traveller-esque group of free traders seeking the ultimate score. Dungeons: the Dragoning is the kind of game where a vampire, a Syrneth soul reincarnated in a modern body, a magical girl, a descendant of the Dragon Empire's supersoldiers, and a chosen servant of a god can all work together to try to make rent and find the next big score. This kind of glorious chaos is a lot of fun when done well.
Mass Exalt
System: Exalted 2.5e
Description: In the year 2148, explorers on Mars discovered the remains of an ancient spacefaring civilization. In the decades that followed, these mysterious artifacts revealed startling new technologies, enabling powers previously deemed to be mythological. The basis for this incredible enhancement was a force that controlled the very fabric of space and time.
They called it the greatest discovery in human history.
The civilizations of the galaxy call them...
THE EXALTED. Comments: This is another game I've been thinking about for a while, and it's pretty much a straight combination of Exalted and Mass Effect (See also the canonical example: Glorious Shotgun Princess). Players are Dragon-Blooded (the titular Exalts) from the various galactic powers, working together when they discover evidence that the ancient Prothean Empire fell due to some disaster, and remnant Prothean technology seems to think that the danger is returning. It's then a modified version of the games' plot, with the PCs standing in for Shepard and crew and some changes to make things make more sense. And I love the image of the Mass Effect I intro, except as the ship approaches the relay Shepard ignites his anima and powers the drive himself.
Exiles
System: Exalted 2.5e
Description: The Empire is old, and powerful, and oppressive. Humanity was enslaved by ancient spirits and creatures of faerie long ago, and when humanity finally cast off its chains, it determined that such a thing would never be allowed to happen again. The laws must not be broken, and those laws forbid contact with spirits. Those who do, and those who are born as a result of that contact, face Exile--banishment to the caverns far beneath the world. The PCs are such, descendants of the Fair Folk and demons and spirits of nature, captured by the Empire and banished to Avernum. What will they make of themselves there?
Comments: Another old idea, but now that I've been running a low-level Exalted-based game for years and have done a bunch of work for Broken Wings, I can recycle it for this concept. This is based on the old Avernum PC game series (originally Exile), mashed up with some elements of Exalted background, so PCs would be god-blooded, elemental-blooded, ghost-blooded, demon-blooded, and fae-blooded, with a few heritage powers, some thaumaturgy, and their mighty thews, surviving far underground.
I've got some other stuff I've worked on less--The Mist setting that these elves come from, or Dark Sun with Exalted 2.5e, or Cthulhutech/the Void mashup space eldritch horror, or a Vampire game set during the classical era, or a game based on the original Quest for Glory, or another Warhammer game. But the list above is what's at the front of my mind now.
