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Author Topic: Apropos of nothing - untried campaign ideas  (Read 1077 times)

Kyle Aaron

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Apropos of nothing - untried campaign ideas
« on: November 11, 2020, 01:06:02 AM »
Here is a thread for the campaign ideas you've nurtured for a little, but never been willing or able to run.

The other crazy idea I had for a campaign was, using AD&D1e - though you could do it with RuneQuest or similar games, too. Lion & Dragon would be good for it, I think.

You start you character at 0 level, 10 years old. Roll 2d6 for each attribute in order. You have no class at all.

You do a nice little adventure in your home town's neighbourhood, nothing bloody or nasty. Find the lost dog. Tell your parents about the orc tracks you saw. Go searching for treasure in an old henge, and get chased off by a wolf. After this you age a year and add 1d6 to one of your attributes.

At 16yo you find a mentor in that town and choose a class. Age your character another 6 years, do a training montage, and now you begin play.

This would be good for a long-term campaign. Depth rather than breadth. Perhaps a bit thespy, though. You definitely cry when Blackleaf dies.

« Last Edit: November 11, 2020, 01:19:33 AM by Kyle Aaron »
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Bren

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Re: Apropos of nothing - untried campaign ideas
« Reply #1 on: November 11, 2020, 07:10:07 PM »
Serendipity. When the current activities end I'm planning on pitching something like that for Runequest in Glorantha. I'll start them off prior to initiation at age 14-17 with a bunch of characters of the same age group who are either related or from the same stead or local neighborhood. The clan elders will pair them off for some weapons testing. Then they get individually kidnapped and run through the clan initiation process. After that the players can pick their careers (or have them chosen for them) and do a few years of "prior" experience and events. Then start the rest of play.

I like the idea of including something low key like finding a lost cat. That would give them a chance to use some non-combat skills before they are initiated. It would be nice to include a low key mystery just so that the antagonist can say, "Curse those meddling kids..."
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SionEwig

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Re: Apropos of nothing - untried campaign ideas
« Reply #2 on: November 12, 2020, 11:39:36 AM »
I've seen similar done before over the years, and with the right group it can be a very rewarding experience.  I remember a long running campaign (still going) that was done using Gurps (which is a great fit) but there are a number of systems that could work well.
 

Ratman_tf

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Re: Apropos of nothing - untried campaign ideas
« Reply #3 on: November 12, 2020, 05:44:21 PM »
Star Wars campaign set during the Galactic Civil War. (Rebellion era) A solar system with a monarchal government that is occupied by the Empire. It's a microcosm of galactic events. The PCs are members/agents/employees of the noble ruling house. Adventures revolve around the Empire and the Rebellion both trying to sway the government to their side. A cold war that occasionally heats up when the Rebellion and Empire throw down.
Toss in some space pirates who are a constant low key threat, and various nobles who are out to grab power for themselves to add spice.

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HappyDaze

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Re: Apropos of nothing - untried campaign ideas
« Reply #4 on: November 12, 2020, 05:57:02 PM »
Star Wars campaign set during the Galactic Civil War. (Rebellion era) A solar system with a monarchal government that is occupied by the Empire. It's a microcosm of galactic events. The PCs are members/agents/employees of the noble ruling house. Adventures revolve around the Empire and the Rebellion both trying to sway the government to their side. A cold war that occasionally heats up when the Rebellion and Empire throw down.
Toss in some space pirates who are a constant low key threat, and various nobles who are out to grab power for themselves to add spice.
So basically the Tapani Sector from WEG's Lords of the Expanse then?

Slambo

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Re: Apropos of nothing - untried campaign ideas
« Reply #5 on: November 12, 2020, 05:58:56 PM »
Ive wanted to do something like Brutal Legend for a while.

Ratman_tf

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Re: Apropos of nothing - untried campaign ideas
« Reply #6 on: November 12, 2020, 06:15:19 PM »
Star Wars campaign set during the Galactic Civil War. (Rebellion era) A solar system with a monarchal government that is occupied by the Empire. It's a microcosm of galactic events. The PCs are members/agents/employees of the noble ruling house. Adventures revolve around the Empire and the Rebellion both trying to sway the government to their side. A cold war that occasionally heats up when the Rebellion and Empire throw down.
Toss in some space pirates who are a constant low key threat, and various nobles who are out to grab power for themselves to add spice.
So basically the Tapani Sector from WEG's Lords of the Expanse then?

Never read it. I'll google and see.
*googled*
Yeah, it's a similar idea. Though the idea of the campaign is that whether the system goes Empire or Rebel (or maintains sovreignity) hinges on the actions of the PCs.
« Last Edit: November 12, 2020, 06:19:15 PM by Ratman_tf »
The notion of an exclusionary and hostile RPG community is a fever dream of zealots who view all social dynamics through a narrow keyhole of structural oppression.
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HappyDaze

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Re: Apropos of nothing - untried campaign ideas
« Reply #7 on: November 12, 2020, 06:28:30 PM »
Star Wars campaign set during the Galactic Civil War. (Rebellion era) A solar system with a monarchal government that is occupied by the Empire. It's a microcosm of galactic events. The PCs are members/agents/employees of the noble ruling house. Adventures revolve around the Empire and the Rebellion both trying to sway the government to their side. A cold war that occasionally heats up when the Rebellion and Empire throw down.
Toss in some space pirates who are a constant low key threat, and various nobles who are out to grab power for themselves to add spice.
So basically the Tapani Sector from WEG's Lords of the Expanse then?

Never read it. I'll google and see.
*googled*
Yeah, it's a similar idea. Though the idea of the campaign is that whether the system goes Empire or Rebel (or maintains sovreignity) hinges on the actions of the PCs.
That's pretty much how Tapani goes too except that it's a sector split between several noble houses (some more sympathetic to the Rebellion than others) along with some pirates and such. IIRC, there are free downloads of D6 SW stuff all over the place.

Ratman_tf

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Re: Apropos of nothing - untried campaign ideas
« Reply #8 on: November 12, 2020, 06:41:15 PM »
Star Wars campaign set during the Galactic Civil War. (Rebellion era) A solar system with a monarchal government that is occupied by the Empire. It's a microcosm of galactic events. The PCs are members/agents/employees of the noble ruling house. Adventures revolve around the Empire and the Rebellion both trying to sway the government to their side. A cold war that occasionally heats up when the Rebellion and Empire throw down.
Toss in some space pirates who are a constant low key threat, and various nobles who are out to grab power for themselves to add spice.
So basically the Tapani Sector from WEG's Lords of the Expanse then?

Never read it. I'll google and see.
*googled*
Yeah, it's a similar idea. Though the idea of the campaign is that whether the system goes Empire or Rebel (or maintains sovreignity) hinges on the actions of the PCs.
That's pretty much how Tapani goes too except that it's a sector split between several noble houses (some more sympathetic to the Rebellion than others) along with some pirates and such. IIRC, there are free downloads of D6 SW stuff all over the place.

Sounds likea good place to mine ideas from. Thanks for mentioning it.
Though this is a campaign idea that I doubt I'll get to run.
The notion of an exclusionary and hostile RPG community is a fever dream of zealots who view all social dynamics through a narrow keyhole of structural oppression.
-Haffrung

tenbones

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Re: Apropos of nothing - untried campaign ideas
« Reply #9 on: November 12, 2020, 07:33:53 PM »
Fantasy Dune - where the concepts of of the "galactic empire" are condensed down to a single continental mass. The center portion of the continent is a vast desert where the only source of magic (Spice/whatever) can be found. There will be houses, vying for power, each with their own "schtick", there will be powerful neutral factions, and Big Fucking Sandwyrms/monsters.

Space Commando Death Squad - The PC's are members of an elite super-lethal commando team. Their job? To kill and eliminate "problems' with ruthless efficiency across the stars working for various dictators, autocrats, cults, Space Presidente, Councils whomever, that needs the dirty deeds done, with the usual political hijinks that comes with it. High-lethal action, little bit of horror, little bit of comedy. High-octane.

Glorious Bronze! - Full on Mediterranean fantasy, bronze-age glory, gods, giants, titans, monsters, city-states and kingdoms, with mythic analogs of the Mediterranean nations and ancient empires beyond.

Riftwar - I've been wanting to set a campaign set in the pre-Riftwar world of Midkemia (Raymond E. Feist's novel series) for years. It's a bog-standard kitchen-sink fantasy world on its own. And I wouldn't mind going to their Tekumel rip-off world of Kelewan too.

MiB-Com - MiB, not the movie, not NWOD, but a serious organization dealing with a potential alien-invasion in the making. That means technological scaling (using and repurposing alien tech), psionics? Bio-mutation? Corruption? Base operation using Domain rules? Yes to all of the above.

Road Warrior - Yep a straight up translation of all the Road Warrior Lore then turn it up for full domain level play using resource gathering as the prime driver (pun intended). Time to raid the Bullet Farm my War Boys!!!! I plan on using modified Savage Worlds chase-rules for extended vehicular man-slaughtering over-the-top action. But I'm eyeballing Cyberpunk Red's new Interlock for this.

oggsmash

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Re: Apropos of nothing - untried campaign ideas
« Reply #10 on: November 12, 2020, 07:51:45 PM »
  Sounds a bit like the backstory version of the filter used in DCC, just I should hope without the horrific and almost comedic deaths en route.

  I like the idea, I think it would build a bit more relationship to the character for a player.