Alright, this could be dumb idea 896, and I can already see some of the obvious things that can go wrong, but I am toying with this for the next campaign==I usually run Call of Cthulhu campaigns, and even when I am not, the players suspect I am about to drop a Call of Cthulhu campaign on them.

I am in a club with lots of folks who just play wargames, some who just play roleplaying games and a good number who do both.  

My idea is this:  First, to run a 18th/19th century sailing ship game, using the old Privateers and Gentlemen module, Decision at Djerba You can read about it here:  https://www.fantasygamesunlimited.net/product/privateers-and-genttlemen-decision-at-djerba/  It is set in something like 1799 after the Battle of Aboukir Bay where the French fleet is destroyed in Egypt/

This is a straightforward game, British players vs. French non-players run by the referee. It would probably want four or five players to run well.

Now, let us envision something else going on in 1799, two things--the French are in a kind of shooting war with the Americans, and the Barbary Pirates are also causing trouble.  Historically, the Americans did not send warships into the Mediterranean but paid tribute, but we can use the shipment of tribute to (Djerba) as an excuse to send an American squadron (ok, two ships sailing the same direction the same day) and set up a second game running parallel to the first.  And this game we can give a mythos twist to, to satisfy the call of Cthulhu crowd.

Now we are up to six seven or more players in two groups perhaps with an extra referee.

Bad idea?  Pitfalls?  How to coordinate it?

Ok so if I red this right you are planning to start as a wargame/boardgame and then segue into an RPG?

And you plan to run a bubble blind campaign? Player group A and player group B are unaware of what the other is up to but may encounter and deal with them?

I actually played in a great double-blind session long ago. They can be tricky to co-ordinate and my best suggestion is to keep notes on who does what when.

Quote from: Omega;996188Ok so if I red this right you are planning to start as a wargame/boardgame and then segue into an RPG?

And you plan to run a bubble blind campaign? Player group A and player group B are unaware of what the other is up to but may encounter and deal with them?

I actually played in a great double-blind session long ago. They can be tricky to co-ordinate and my best suggestion is to keep notes on who does what when.

Privateers & Gentlemen is an old percentile RPG, Omega. These are both RPG Campaigns to start. I was a bit disappointed that he's using P&G and not In Harm's Way: Napoleonic Naval, but that is less than 15 years old as opposed to 30+, and age before beauty!

-clash

Ah so like Furry Pirates or Spelljammer run as a dubble-blind campaign?

If you have two DMs then should work fine. Or one DM running tandem sessions at different days.

But it does require more organization to track who did what when. Id suggest doing a test run first to see if it feels viable.

I think it would be fine, as long as it's not a bait-and-switch.

If you keep good track of what happens when and where so that the potential effects of each group on the other are accurate, and most of teh players in both groups are OK with possibility of a Mythos twist, I think this could be a great campaign.

Just don't drop Cthulhu on people who wanted a strictly historical campaign.  That can end very badly.

Many thanks for the replies so far--I shall reply as best I can:

1.  To a certain extent, Omega, but as Flyingmice points out, Privateers and Gentlemen is a RPG as well as having a full set of miniature wargame rules.  One can run the wargame rules without the RPG, or I suppose the RPG can be run without the wargame rules (though how this becomes interesting for Napoleonic sailing game is a point that escapes me.)


2. Privateers and Gentlemen and CoC are both essentially variations of BRP, or close enough to be converted into one BRP-driven set, which is one more thing for me to work with.  My club has considerable experience with the sailing side of the wargame, and with CoC.   I am certain In Harm's Way is a fine set of rules, and that I would find many valuable ideas and references, but we have no expertise with it.

3. A test run sounds ideal--the groups would be initially unaware of one another but very quickly become aware of one another, and they would have slightly different objectives somewhat but not entirely competitive, so the players would come and go as their ships moved around on the wargame side.

4. RPG Pundit writes "I think it would be fine, as long as it's not a bait-and-switch. " and DavetheLost writes: "Just don't drop Cthulhu on people who wanted a strictly historical campaign. That can end very badly."  I get accused of and suspected of running Mythos games even when I am not trying to run Mythos games.  So I am already typecast.  The bait-and-switch would be if something didn't show up and at least wave a tentacle.

Based on  Playing At The World, (ESSENTIAL READING) this sounds very much like something from the Early 70's Braunstein/ Dave Arneson Era of proto-RPGS.  

That is to say fun, awesome, and very, very old-school. PSR (Paleo School Renaissance), if you will.