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Author Topic: Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't  (Read 2800 times)

tenbones

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Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
« Reply #30 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?

Just Another Snake Cult

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Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
« Reply #31 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.
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Dumarest

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Campaign ideas you've wanted to run but for whatever reason haven't
« Reply #32 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.

tenbones

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« Reply #33 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

Dumarest

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« Reply #34 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.

Madprofessor

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« Reply #35 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.

Dumarest

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« Reply #36 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.

Steven Mitchell

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« Reply #37 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.

Madprofessor

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« Reply #38 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.

tenbones

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« Reply #39 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...

Baron Opal

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« Reply #40 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.

antiochcow

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« Reply #41 on: July 27, 2017, 02:52:35 PM »
A sort of bronze age/Cthulhu mashup, 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.