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Pen & Paper Roleplaying Central => Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games (RPGs) Discussion => Topic started by: tenbones on July 18, 2017, 06:42:40 PM

Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: tenbones on July 18, 2017, 06:42:40 PM
I keep folders of campaign ideas. Inside I jot down notes, to form the basis of the potential campaign setting later. As I come across stuff that inspires me, I toss it in there - images, more notes whatever. The goal is that as one campaign closes, I have something to firm up for the next one.

What are some campaign ideas you've never run yet? what are the conceits of that campaign? What system did you want run it with?

1) Oil and Sand - Road Warrior inspired Post-Apocalyptic game. I have this idea set up very loosely in a post-apocalyptic setting, like Dark Sun. Large local region with city-states each with their own "style". Independent set-piece locations that produce certain items needed by everyone - resource management/control, exploration, and survival being big key things. I also have this idea, somewhat lifted from Dark Sun (but I think it's just coincidence) - but I think it's more from Waterworld - where the world has been buried by sand. And in some places the sand is so silty you can literally dive down there to pull up stuff. There might even be post-apocalyptic tech to even facilitate this. Likewise it's a good way to introduce higher-levels of tech and do "dungeoncrawls". History is mostly irrelevant - as I can leave it wide open - I was even thinking of making it procedural with a bunch of tables that I could use as I go. And of course I'd need some vehicular combat. C'mon. It's a must. System: Savage Worlds. Outside possibilities: FASERIP

2) The Thaw - Post Ice-Age fantasy where the technology is Bronze Age. Pleistocene creatures juiced up to monstrous levels. Spring is coming and with it - magic! So the soothesayers say. Inspired by the Ice Schooner (Moorcock) set in a world thawing from the clutches of a winter so long, that Spring is a legend, yet the signs are there. Large scale area where I could have city-states further south dealing with the Thaw entirely differently than others still frozen. Ancient creatures long dormant begin to rise. Ancient races as well. System: no idea. SW is a likely bet.

3) Bug Hunters - Military Space Opera. Think, Starship Troopers lensed through Star Frontiers, where the PC's are a squad of military spec-ops used to deal with special problems the civvies, and the para-military can't/shouldn't deal with. Ideally it would be like highpowered kinetic combat, that acts as a hex-crawl revealing mysteries about the campaign setting, including new civilizations (to kill), older ancient races (to kill), and new enemies to play with. System: CP2020, Interface Zero

4) Savage Palladium Fantasy - Pretty straightforward, Savage Worlds in the Palladium Fantasy world.

I'll get around to these at some point... Anyone else got some stuff they've never done yet?
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Baron Opal on July 18, 2017, 07:29:25 PM
Under the Brazen Sun
Inspiration: Barsoom + The Time Traveller + The Night Land

Not post-apocalyptic, but millennia after when Civilization's defiant roar has faded to a death rattle in the face of entropy. The people of the Enclave scrape out a meager life in the sides of the Mohole that brings up desperately needed warmth from the cooling core. The shattered dome no longer keeps out the encroaching sand from the gardens and homes that surrounded the pit.

Ironically, when the Harvesters in Bone arrive, it provides the spark for Enclavers to search out ancient tech, forgotten lore, and lost allies to not only drive back the Harvesters, but to find a new purpose.

System: Light Sci-Fi. Traveller, maybe, although the character creation would need to be massively different. Maybe a version of Other Dust, as I envision some powers available (psi? nano dust control?) but not dominating or magical in nature.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Omega on July 18, 2017, 09:24:19 PM
An ice-age or stone age setting.

Something super high magic like in some anime.

Still trying to wrangle a Boot Hill campaign.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Harlock on July 18, 2017, 09:50:03 PM
A campaign based on The Black Company. I just never developed it. I didn't like the 3rd edition setting book from Green Ronin very much. I feel like low level B/X would be perfect for it. However, I'm never satisfied running someone else's setting very long. I like to create my own worlds.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Dumarest on July 19, 2017, 02:01:40 AM
I'd like to play Space: 1889 and draw from H. Rider Haggard, Doyle's The Lost World, Jules Verne,  Burroughs, and The Prisoner of Zenda. I think I'd go much lighter on living Martians and have them be much more rarely encountered,  and probably have lots of adventures exploring places on Earth as well (valley/island of dinosaurs and megafauna, King Solomon's Mines , lost Aztec cities, etc.).

Sadly, most gamers I have known do not share my enthusiasm. Most haven't even read any of the classics of adventure. And too many, for my taste, balk at any game without magic and elves and the familiar elements of fantasy. My personal preference would be more pseudohistorical settings or sci fi.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: tenbones on July 19, 2017, 10:30:55 AM
Quote from: Dumarest;976568
I'd like to play Space: 1889 and draw from H. Rider Haggard, Doyle's The Lost World, Jules Verne,  Burroughs, and The Prisoner of Zenda. I think I'd go much lighter on living Martians and have them be much more rarely encountered,  and probably have lots of adventures exploring places on Earth as well (valley/island of dinosaurs and megafauna, King Solomon's Mines , lost Aztec cities, etc.).

Sadly, most gamers I have known do not share my enthusiasm. Most haven't even read any of the classics of adventure. And too many, for my taste, balk at any game without magic and elves and the familiar elements of fantasy. My personal preference would be more pseudohistorical settings or sci fi.

Yeah I'm totally on this vibe - and I'm totally in the same boat. I would love to do a classic pulp-style adventure campaign but it's a hard sell to my players who want "higher-octane stuff" - but I maintain pulp-adventures *are* "high-octane", just with a different and sometimes lighter vibe.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: S'mon on July 19, 2017, 11:20:49 AM
I wanted to do a Warriors of Mars sandbox game, but couldn't work out how to make it work. I think the setting might be a bit too alien. I've struggled with post-apocalypse also - both near future Road Warrior and far future Taarna type stuff.

I also wanted to do a space opera, but for years was stymied by various incomprehensible rules until a few weeks ago, now my White Star PBP is going very nicely though. :D Also I'd like to do a two-fisted 1930s Daredevils type game but again I need better/simpler rules than are generally available, and some procedural content generators. Another one I've wanted to run is Heavy Gear or similar military SF. Now I have White Star I could see my way to doing that as a d20/OSR type game though. Another one is Space: 1889 - and, love much of the setting, conflicted about the rules.

I have run a 1e AD&D Yggsburgh campaign with a Gothic Romance vibe, I would like to go back to that style of campaign some day, probably use an OSR game - I like A Ghastly Affair but it may be a bit too complex.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: WillInNewHaven on July 19, 2017, 12:40:23 PM
I've always wanted to run a campaign based on the DARK BORDER books by Paul Edwin Zimmer. In fact, I have done some work on one. However, my peeps and I have a lot invested in my existing campaign world and the settings are too different to put the DB adventures in it. Now that I have retired and moved to Florida and left my gaming group behind, maybe I will do it.

Just before the aforementioned move, I had set up an adventure in my campaign world that involved a lengthy caravan trip on the Silk Road and we characters rolled up. However, the opportunity to buy this house came up and I jumped at it. The campaign I am running via Skype doesn't have enough player-characters for the ambitious caravan setting. So we are playing in the Black Mountain District.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Reich
https://sites.google.com/site/grreference/
https://sites.google.com/site/grreference/home/05-the-black-mountain
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Llew ap Hywel on July 19, 2017, 01:32:35 PM
I had a real urge recently to run a game using Mythras. Setting wise taking a lot from the tone and feel of Violet Dawn/Dark Sun/Conan but folding in some post apocalyptic/far future elements. Never got much past the ruminating stage but it's bubbling around the back of my head.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Gronan of Simmerya on July 19, 2017, 02:32:47 PM
PENDRAGON.  Straight, with no Monty Python references.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Dumarest on July 19, 2017, 02:43:48 PM
Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;976681
PENDRAGON.  Straight, with no Monty Python references.

Never gonna happen. :D
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Dumarest on July 19, 2017, 02:47:09 PM
I'd also like to run a Bushido game with all the PCs being bushi, no wizard types or ninja, and magic solely in the hands of the referee, kind of like how Pendragon works best. Probably set before the battle of Sekigahara so we can have lots of daimyo in conflict with each other and grasping for the shogunate.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Malleustein on July 19, 2017, 06:08:17 PM
Quote from: Dumarest;976683
Never gonna happen. :D


I don't see why not.  I've had a couple of groups who behaved themselves when we played.  I think the trick is just to let them get it out of their system before the campaign begins.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: gwb79 on July 19, 2017, 06:24:14 PM
Setting: Midnight (FFG)
System: The One Ring

The potential for desperate, dark grittiness seems perfect for this combo. I don't foresee ever having the right group to make it worthwhile though.

Setting: Sci-fi Espionage
System: an adaptation of the old 007 rules (home brew)
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Harlock on July 19, 2017, 07:39:59 PM
Quote from: Malleustein;976710
I don't see why not.  I've had a couple of groups who behaved themselves when we played.  I think the trick is just to let them get it out of their system before the campaign begins.

My group always spends the first 20-30 minutes goofing off, catching up, and getting the fart jokes out of the way.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Just Another Snake Cult on July 19, 2017, 08:20:42 PM
In the late 1990's I was playing Rolemaster/MERP with a group, and the GM wanted to take a break. They asked me if I would take over, and what game I might run if I did. I was really flattered by the fact they chose me to take over. I suggested a super-hero game. I then discovered that the other players were NOT super-hero fans and all thought that comic books were worthless garbage for illiterates and the mentally challenged. As someone who learned to read from comics and who grew up with all his friends trading comics back-and-forth, pretending to be Wolverine on the playground, and discussing the obscure points of comic book lore at lunchtime, I was a little taken aback, but... I could sorta understand it. OK. This crowd learned to read from Narnia and Tolkien, different strokes for different folks, etc. So... then I suggested a GURPS campaign where they would play Cold War super-spies in the Swinging London of 1965. What a "Cool" idea, right?

Everybody thought this was THE MOST RETARDED AND WORTHLESS THING THEY HAD EVER HEARD. The reaction was visceral. No one except the GM had seen the 60's TV Avengers. They immediately thought Austin Powers. And they apparently really, really, really hated Austin Powers. They were insulted by the very idea. What kind of asshole still likes that old James Bond shit? How stupid. What is this 60's hippy shit? I have never been as angrily rejected for anything in my life.  

It's still something I want to try someday.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: GameDaddy on July 19, 2017, 08:34:45 PM
I still want to run my d20 Spycraft Walking Dead: Chicago Campaign.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Lynn on July 19, 2017, 08:52:18 PM
Quote from: Dumarest;976684
I'd also like to run a Bushido game with all the PCs being bushi, no wizard types or ninja, and magic solely in the hands of the referee, kind of like how Pendragon works best. Probably set before the battle of Sekigahara so we can have lots of daimyo in conflict with each other and grasping for the shogunate.

I did that many years ago, where some of the characters were bushi sent by a local lord to check out some strange disappearances of travelers (something like the movie Onibaba). It all fell apart because two players played lower class characters who spoke disrespectfully a little too often to the warriors.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Dumarest on July 19, 2017, 09:02:24 PM
Quote from: Lynn;976750
I did that many years ago, where some of the characters were bushi sent by a local lord to check out some strange disappearances of travelers (something like the movie Onibaba). It all fell apart because two players played lower class characters who spoke disrespectfully a little too often to the warriors.

I figured they'd so be pretty much equal rank from samurai families loyal to whichever daimyo. Gives them a good reason to be together and makes it easy to start. Your daimyo summons you to carry out an assignment, and away we go.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: tenbones on July 19, 2017, 10:52:27 PM
Quote from: Just Another Snake Cult;976739
In the late 1990's I was playing Rolemaster/MERP with a group, and the GM wanted to take a break. They asked me if I would take over, and what game I might run if I did. I was really flattered by the fact they chose me to take over. I suggested a super-hero game. I then discovered that the other players were NOT super-hero fans and all thought that comic books were worthless garbage for illiterates and the mentally challenged. As someone who learned to read from comics and who grew up with all his friends trading comics back-and-forth, pretending to be Wolverine on the playground, and discussing the obscure points of comic book lore at lunchtime, I was a little taken aback, but... I could sorta understand it. OK. This crowd learned to read from Narnia and Tolkien, different strokes for different folks, etc. So... then I suggested a GURPS campaign where they would play Cold War super-spies in the Swinging London of 1965. What a "Cool" idea, right?

Everybody thought this was THE MOST RETARDED AND WORTHLESS THING THEY HAD EVER HEARD. The reaction was visceral. No one except the GM had seen the 60's TV Avengers. They immediately thought Austin Powers. And they apparently really, really, really hated Austin Powers. They were insulted by the very idea. What kind of asshole still likes that old James Bond shit? How stupid. What is this 60's hippy shit? I have never been as angrily rejected for anything in my life.  

It's still something I want to try someday.


Oh man. I read this aloud to my group - we laughed so hard. I totally feel you on this.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: S'mon on July 20, 2017, 03:36:09 AM
Oh, another one - I'd like to do an Achtung! Cthulu game, the GM's book is good (the player book is pretty much just WW2 Wikipedia level stuff). Not sure how to make it sufficiently sandboxy though.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Steven Mitchell on July 20, 2017, 08:19:02 AM
I'd like to run a DragonQuest campaign, more or less as the book implies, a typical fantasy setting with an emphasis on slow growth of the characters and scrounging after the wealth to advance.  I'm not partial to any setting conceits beyond that, and would probably take the cues from what the players pursued early.  The rules are just so unapproachable, that I think the only way I'd be able to do it is to handle all the rules behind the GM screen.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: RPGPundit on July 22, 2017, 01:48:03 AM
Only campaigns I haven't run yet, not "haven't" in the sense that I've been somehow thwarted, but rather waiting for one of my current games to end.  

Whenever my Wild West campaign ends (probably several years from now), I'll likely be running a WWII Cthulhu campaign.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Madprofessor on July 23, 2017, 07:29:14 PM
I've got a bunch:

Slipstream: Robots, dinosaurs, rocket ships, swords, and lasers in fast-paced, episodic, sci-fantasy action.  I'd like to run this as a short (4-10 session) mini-campaign and change of pace from my usual gritty historical fair.  My problem is system.  "Wiggy's" setting book is superb, but I don't like Savage Worlds much.  I would need to re-tool BoL or OD&D or something.

Brithright: I really like realm management type games and this has a great semi-unique fantasy/medieval setting to boot.  I've tried to get it off the ground a couple of times but for one reason or another it didn't take off.  I should really cross it off my list as the rules just aren't that functional, but I keep tweeking them and coming back.

Stone and bronze: I'd like to run a late stone/age early bronze age type game with a post-apocalyptic twist.  This one would include a re-tool of Realms of the Unknown and run as hybrid RPG/Wargame. This one is way on the back burner.  

Classic dungeon romp: I'd like to string-together 10 classic modules from low level to high, and run them as is with minimal modification, using 1st ed D&D, just for nostalgia.

I've never run the Great Pendragon Campaign, and that's something I need to do before I die - Monty Python jokes and all.

There are others.  Life is too short to play them all.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Dumarest on July 24, 2017, 12:57:03 PM
I'd also like to play or run a game set in the world of Jason and the Argonauts, Odysseus, Theseus, Perseus, and Herakles. Perhaps some epic quest requiring sailing around the Mediterranean and Black Seas and visiting Egypt.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Llew ap Hywel on July 24, 2017, 02:22:01 PM
Quote from: Dumarest;977818
I'd also like to play or run a game set in the world of Jason and the Argonauts, Odysseus, Theseus, Perseus, and Herakles. Perhaps some epic quest requiring sailing around the Mediterranean and Black Seas and visiting Egypt.

That would be good. Some great fun to be had there.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Michael Gray on July 24, 2017, 02:32:26 PM
I'd love to use The Great Pendragon Campaign with some of the safeties stripped off and just let the dice fall where they may. Canon would proceed as is unless the PCs get involved, but as soon as they get involved plot armor goes away.

I've always wanted to run a slightly modified Deadlands Reloaded game, but most of the people I play with aren't interested in a Western...even with wizardry thrown in.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: tenbones on July 24, 2017, 02:39:12 PM
Quote from: Dumarest;977818
I'd also like to play or run a game set in the world of Jason and the Argonauts, Odysseus, Theseus, Perseus, and Herakles. Perhaps some epic quest requiring sailing around the Mediterranean and Black Seas and visiting Egypt.

Oh man, I've wanted to do this too!!! Just use the whole Mediterranean with fantasy-bronze age awesomesauce all over it.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: tenbones on July 24, 2017, 02:40:23 PM
Quote from: RPGPundit;977246
Only campaigns I haven't run yet, not "haven't" in the sense that I've been somehow thwarted, but rather waiting for one of my current games to end.  

Whenever my Wild West campaign ends (probably several years from now), I'll likely be running a WWII Cthulhu campaign.

What system? And out of curiosity - what does one do specifically in a WWII Cthulhu game? Are the Nazis the cultists? or is it anyone/everyone? Never gave a lot of thought to WWII era Cthulhu.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Dumarest on July 24, 2017, 03:07:31 PM
Quote from: tenbones;977850
Oh man, I've wanted to do this too!!! Just use the whole Mediterranean with fantasy-bronze age awesomesauce all over it.

I was thinking about trying to convince people to play using the old Heroes of Olympus RPG and the Egypt supplement that came out in Nexus magazine way back when. The rules are pretty good for emulating Greek heroes. The combat rules in particular are pretty interesting as you can choose various tactics including trickery to defeat your opponent.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: tenbones on July 24, 2017, 03:33:58 PM
Quote from: Dumarest;977861
I was thinking about trying to convince people to play using the old Heroes of Olympus RPG and the Egypt supplement that came out in Nexus magazine way back when. The rules are pretty good for emulating Greek heroes. The combat rules in particular are pretty interesting as you can choose various tactics including trickery to defeat your opponent.

Have you looked at Atlantis: The Second Age?
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Just Another Snake Cult on July 24, 2017, 03:49:40 PM
Quote from: Steven Mitchell;976815
I'd like to run a DragonQuest campaign, more or less as the book implies, a typical fantasy setting with an emphasis on slow growth of the characters and scrounging after the wealth to advance.  I'm not partial to any setting conceits beyond that, and would probably take the cues from what the players pursued early.  The rules are just so unapproachable, that I think the only way I'd be able to do it is to handle all the rules behind the GM screen.


DQ has a cult following among geeks in the small college town where I live. In most places, D&D was the #1 fantasy RPG of the 80's and RuneQuest was #2. 'Round these parts, DragonQuest was the D&D alternative.

I once played in an EPIC DQ campaign with a GM who played fast and loose with the rules. It was awesome. My character once ambushed and grappled DEATH and then bound and gagged her to the mast of our ship. "This system rocks!", I thought. "It really feels like folklore/mythology/magical realism".

I then played in a DQ campaign with a bean-counter GM who was 110% rules-as-written. It was a fucking tedious slog.

It's a really flawed yet underrated game.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Dumarest on July 24, 2017, 03:56:25 PM
Quote from: tenbones;977870
Have you looked at Atlantis: The Second Age?


No, I hadn't even heard of it until now.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: tenbones on July 25, 2017, 11:26:56 AM
Quote from: Dumarest;977880
No, I hadn't even heard of it until now.

It's an amazing game. I'm more then willing to bet you'll dig it. System is rock-solid, the folks that did the game are super passionate about it (I've worked with them - disclaimer). And the quality of the production is superb.

If you're familiar with Talislanta (or not), Atlantis was the other game produced by Bard Games waaay back in the day. Khepera Publishing got the rights to it and have been publishing for it since with the original creator's input. Everything from Khepera is top-notch.

TBP did a pretty exhaustive review that I actually agree with.

https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/16/16104.phtml
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Dumarest on July 25, 2017, 01:46:28 PM
Quote from: tenbones;978080
It's an amazing game. I'm more then willing to bet you'll dig it. System is rock-solid, the folks that did the game are super passionate about it (I've worked with them - disclaimer). And the quality of the production is superb.

If you're familiar with Talislanta (or not), Atlantis was the other game produced by Bard Games waaay back in the day. Khepera Publishing got the rights to it and have been publishing for it since with the original creator's input. Everything from Khepera is top-notch.

TBP did a pretty exhaustive review that I actually agree with.

https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/16/16104.phtml

Thanks for the heads up.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Madprofessor on July 25, 2017, 05:53:31 PM
Quote from: tenbones;977850
Oh man, I've wanted to do this too!!! Just use the whole Mediterranean with fantasy-bronze age awesomesauce all over it.


Yeah, I've always wanted to do Greek myth based swords and sandals adventures, but I have never really pulled it off.  I'll never quite get why this isn't more popular as it seems just right for epic RPGing.  Maybe I should push this up in the queue.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Dumarest on July 25, 2017, 09:34:38 PM
Quote from: Madprofessor;978182
Yeah, I've always wanted to do Greek myth based swords and sandals adventures, but I have never really pulled it off.  I'll never quite get why this isn't more popular as it seems just right for epic RPGing.  Maybe I should push this up in the queue.

Personally I'd much rather play swords 'n' sandals than elves 'n' hobbits. I like Tolkien okay, but I've never understood the hold his books have over fantasy RPGs.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Steven Mitchell on July 26, 2017, 10:51:11 AM
Quote from: Madprofessor;978182
Yeah, I've always wanted to do Greek myth based swords and sandals adventures, but I have never really pulled it off.  I'll never quite get why this isn't more popular as it seems just right for epic RPGing.  Maybe I should push this up in the queue.

I tried this in college, with a group of players that all had enthusiastically read some Greek myths, and were gung-ho about the campaign.  It was flat for all of us, for some reason that I couldn't pin down at the time.  After a few session, we gave it up as a bad idea.  I think maybe that the problem was that we didn't give it enough time.  We needed a transition period where we could get into the right mental state to do it justice.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Madprofessor on July 26, 2017, 11:08:34 AM
Quote
I tried this in college, with a group of players that all had enthusiastically read some Greek myths, and were gung-ho about the campaign. It was flat for all of us, for some reason that I couldn't pin down at the time. After a few session, we gave it up as a bad idea. I think maybe that the problem was that we didn't give it enough time. We needed a transition period where we could get into the right mental state to do it justice.

I almost think it is a cursed genre.  I tried it back in the '80s and it didn't fly. Then in the when a group of my players were all into Titan Quest and were pumped to try, it didn't fly.  I don't get it, there are tons of Greek adventure movies, but very few RPGs.  It's almost like the genre is poorly defined for gaming.  If you set aside historical hair-splitting, it doesn't seem that different from medieval fantasy fair: a little more sunshine, different gear, more manipulation from the gods perhaps, but I've never know anyone to run a Greek myth based game successfully.  I can't put my finger on why.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: tenbones on July 26, 2017, 12:35:25 PM
Although I've never personally run a game like this (Swords and Sandals) - I fully intend to.

I think the key thing here is, as always when I talk about these things, is making sure you put your players deep into the context of the world. It's not enough for me to just watch the movies and know the fables, it's about taking all of that and putting it in context with Bronze Age cultures and bringing it all to life. A lot of this stuff is slightly tweaked material from standard S&S fantasy, but with bigger "legendary" stuff.

- the gods (and their enemies) are active! PC's get cursed/blessed which by itself makes them have enemies
- legendary beasts. Go full Kaiju if you have to. Give them fatal flaws, but exploiting those flaws are major quests unto themselves
- ancient cults that have big secrets they protect. Screwing with them makes enemies of various powers.
- Wars! City states are always seeking to expand, or at least crush their enemies!
- Mysteries and Secrets of the Powers. The world looks normal, but there are secret rules known only to the Powers that certain mortals can learn (and abuse). As always, just knowing this stuff can/will make you enemies and friends with other Powers.
- Bronze Age historical fun. Chariot races, gladiatorial fighting, raping the horses and riding off on the women etc.

... damn I'm getting myself all psyched up now...
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: Baron Opal on July 27, 2017, 01:33:08 PM
I did this once, and we had a good time with it. It didn't last long, but I could pin down why.

For us, it was the Odyssey-esque nature that was troublesome. Travelling from island to island was great for an episodic game with varying players (they stayed on the boat). The problem was coming up with new islands after a while. I was planning on having them encounter the Sea Peoples, but we didn't get that far.
Title: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
Post by: antiochcow on July 27, 2017, 02:52:35 PM
A sort of bronze age/Cthulhu mashup (http://daegames.blogspot.com/2017/01/frankenfourth-eldritch-world.html), with the undying corpses of the Great Old Ones orbiting about the world and raining down eldritch horrors at night.

Also want to do at least a short campaign with a vampire, but more like Castlevania/Resident Evil than Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, with weird-ass monsters and traps.