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Author Topic: How are you using covid-19 as inspiration for your rpg sessions?  (Read 6278 times)

Godspar Games

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How are you using covid-19 as inspiration for your rpg sessions?
« Reply #30 on: April 04, 2020, 03:03:47 PM »
Quote from: jeff37923;1125548
If looking for wretchedness, may I direct your attention to the "jigger" or Chigoe Flea. I threw this at a Traveller game group who decided they wanted to run barefoot and go skinny dipping on a newly found Earthlike world before surveying the ecology.

Hell yes, man! I've actually had chiggers down on my work bench as one of my initial planned entries but havent gotten around to it yet. Today may be the day!
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Godspar Games

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How are you using covid-19 as inspiration for your rpg sessions?
« Reply #31 on: April 04, 2020, 03:07:14 PM »
Quote from: HappyDaze;1125554
To the contrary, I have the complete set of FFG's Star Wars books. Plenty to wipe my ass for a good long while.

Are they not good?? I had heard some really good things about them and was considering picking one up. I play Saga, which is full of the same sort of ludicrously intricate levelling rituals as any Wizards of the Coast D&D title, but I think West End Games pretty much nail't it with D6.
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HappyDaze

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How are you using covid-19 as inspiration for your rpg sessions?
« Reply #32 on: April 04, 2020, 05:19:48 PM »
Quote from: Godspar Games;1125634
Are they not good?? I had heard some really good things about them and was considering picking one up. I play Saga, which is full of the same sort of ludicrously intricate levelling rituals as any Wizards of the Coast D&D title, but I think West End Games pretty much nail't it with D6.

I think they are quite good, from a certain point of view. These days, I have a hard time holding to that point of view. Over time, the narrative hand-waving side of the game kept getting stronger and the rules kept getting weaker despite more rules subsytems being introduced in almost every product. It became clear that the writers/designers didn't really play the game the way I did, and I got an even larger disconnect when I witnessed that they outright dismissed playtest feedback that ran contrary to their whims (they just wanted playtesters to praise their stuff even when it was crap and nothing got fixed).

Godspar Games

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How are you using covid-19 as inspiration for your rpg sessions?
« Reply #33 on: April 05, 2020, 11:14:03 AM »
Quote from: HappyDaze;1125659
...when I witnessed that they outright dismissed playtest feedback that ran contrary to their whims (they just wanted playtesters to praise their stuff even when it was crap and nothing got fixed).

THAT shit drives me bananas. You seem the same kind of shit coming out of the comic book industry and even out of the movie industry. Anytime anyone tries to offer useful criticism (Rey is a boring Mary Sue, do Dark Empire instead, Snowflake and Safespace are awful, etc.) it seems like the people handling the intellectual property flip out and start slinging poo. Which is a shame, especially when you have a widely loved universe like Star Wars.
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mAcular Chaotic

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How are you using covid-19 as inspiration for your rpg sessions?
« Reply #34 on: April 05, 2020, 02:51:25 PM »
This whole pandemic gave me the idea of a D&D zombie one-shot or something plague related. I just need to figure out what it'll be.
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JeffB

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How are you using covid-19 as inspiration for your rpg sessions?
« Reply #35 on: April 06, 2020, 08:45:32 AM »
Quote from: Godspar Games;1125720
THAT shit drives me bananas. You seem the same kind of shit coming out of the comic book industry and even out of the movie industry. Anytime anyone tries to offer useful criticism (Rey is a boring Mary Sue, do Dark Empire instead, Snowflake and Safespace are awful, etc.) it seems like the people handling the intellectual property flip out and start slinging poo. Which is a shame, especially when you have a widely loved universe like Star Wars.

Preach it!

Godspar Games

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How are you using covid-19 as inspiration for your rpg sessions?
« Reply #36 on: April 06, 2020, 09:00:30 AM »
Quote from: mAcular Chaotic;1125742
This whole pandemic gave me the idea of a D&D zombie one-shot or something plague related. I just need to figure out what it'll be.

I'm liking more and more the notion of zombies in RPG settings being the result of biological warfare instead of necromancy. Necromancy/magic seems like such a handwave compared to the political chaos and horrors of one nation unleashing horrific biological doom upon another.

That's the story I went with with the Corvixix parasite from the original post. One shitty group of humans finding an organism and using it against another shitty group of humans.

Ah, its a tale as old as time itself.
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Godspar Games

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How are you using covid-19 as inspiration for your rpg sessions?
« Reply #37 on: April 06, 2020, 09:03:42 AM »
Quote from: JeffB;1125805
Preach it!

WELL YOU SEE, THE PROBLEM IS...

Many of the people in charge of our most beloved common fantasy worlds are in charge not because of their love/passion for the world but for their cynicism and skills with business/marketing. As a dude that works in medicine, let me tell you that this is the same problem with modern medicine. Likely a similar sort of problem with politics.

It just turns everything into poo.
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JeffB

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How are you using covid-19 as inspiration for your rpg sessions?
« Reply #38 on: April 06, 2020, 11:25:11 AM »
Quote from: Godspar Games;1125807
WELL YOU SEE, THE PROBLEM IS...

Many of the people in charge of our most beloved common fantasy worlds are in charge not because of their love/passion for the world but for their cynicism and skills with business/marketing. As a dude that works in medicine, let me tell you that this is the same problem with modern medicine. Likely a similar sort of problem with politics.

It just turns everything into poo.

I CAN SEE

I CAN SEE

:eek:

Ghostmaker

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How are you using covid-19 as inspiration for your rpg sessions?
« Reply #39 on: April 06, 2020, 03:14:10 PM »
Quote from: Godspar Games;1125806
I'm liking more and more the notion of zombies in RPG settings being the result of biological warfare instead of necromancy. Necromancy/magic seems like such a handwave compared to the political chaos and horrors of one nation unleashing horrific biological doom upon another.

That's the story I went with with the Corvixix parasite from the original post. One shitty group of humans finding an organism and using it against another shitty group of humans.

Ah, its a tale as old as time itself.

Ever read John Ringo's Black Tide series? That was pretty much 'asshole engineers disease that turns people into rabid lunatics to save the planet'.

Godspar Games

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How are you using covid-19 as inspiration for your rpg sessions?
« Reply #40 on: April 06, 2020, 04:50:42 PM »
Quote from: Ghostmaker;1125844
Ever read John Ringo's Black Tide series? That was pretty much 'asshole engineers disease that turns people into rabid lunatics to save the planet'.

Just added it to my Audible list. Thanks for the recommendation, man!
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Spinachcat

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How are you using covid-19 as inspiration for your rpg sessions?
« Reply #41 on: April 08, 2020, 04:18:06 AM »
I wonder if the Flu Manchu is going to kill the zombie genre or re-invigorate it?

I saw the movie Outbreak was trending on Netflix. So during a pandemic, people were excited to watch a pandemic. Makes me wonder how Walking Dead is doing with viewers now.

There's definitely drama to mine with the Invisible Enemy concept. My personal favorite is Cabin Fever by Eli Roth, the director of Hostel.

If someone wanted to use the current China Virus situation in a game, I'd suggest checking out the #FilmYourHospital videos floating around the web. The concept of a global hoax, empty hospitals and a panicked populace seeing a totally different reality than on the TV sounds like a great jumping off point for Lovecraftian horror, ala In the Mouth of Madness.

Quote from: Godspar Games;1125314
I find it quite disturbing to see how, despite the stone-age being many thousands of years in our past, humans are still just stupid, angry primates.

"Modern" humans have allegedly been around about 300,000 years. And until the past few centuries, most humans lived pretty much like their stone age ancestors. Looking over the timeline of history, the veil of civilization is paper thin, at best.


Quote from: Mishihari;1125410
In one of my longest-running campaigns, the countries of the world were still recovering from a magical bioweapon apocalypse 2,000 years ago, including plagues, bioengineered creatures, hostile plants, fungi, and so on.  And certain parties were starting to mess around with recently unearthed tech.

THAT sounds like an awesome setting. Consider publishing it.

RPGPundit

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How are you using covid-19 as inspiration for your rpg sessions?
« Reply #42 on: April 12, 2020, 06:30:00 AM »
I really wouldn't want to make or run a Coronavirus-based adventure.

I think that, in answer to another question, this will probably end up making any pandemic-based fiction/media less popular, including zombie shows/movies.
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Mordred Pendragon

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How are you using covid-19 as inspiration for your rpg sessions?
« Reply #43 on: April 13, 2020, 01:46:22 PM »
Quote from: RPGPundit;1126588
I really wouldn't want to make or run a Coronavirus-based adventure.

I think that, in answer to another question, this will probably end up making any pandemic-based fiction/media less popular, including zombie shows/movies.

This is probably true, and I say this as a fan of the zombie genre. However, it has prompted me to re-read my favorite Poe short story, The Masque of the Red Death, but I'm not the average person. I'm pretty messed up if anything.

I also think the virus will also eventually take the wind out of the sails of SJW culture. Identity Politics will be less of a concern for most people with an actual crisis on our hands.
« Last Edit: April 13, 2020, 02:19:24 PM by Doc Sammy »
Sic Semper Tyrannis

Koltar

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How are you using covid-19 as inspiration for your rpg sessions?
« Reply #44 on: April 13, 2020, 08:00:46 PM »
Quote from: RPGPundit;1126588
.....end up making any pandemic-based fiction/media less popular, including zombie shows/movies.

To me, that would be a great outcome of all of this. I am so sick of 'zombie' stories in movies and on TV....and gaming too.

-Ed C.
« Last Edit: April 14, 2020, 05:10:50 AM by Koltar »
The return of 'You can't take the Sky From me!'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUn-eN8mkDw&feature=rec-fresh+div

This is what a really cool FANTASY RPG should be like :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-WnjVUBDbs

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