So, movies, books... other media often inform/inspire my campaigns. My current OtE campaign is based on the doc Crisis Is Our Brand and the TV series 24. My cyberpunk campaign is inspired by the TV series Entourage.

I've been toying with the idea of using Paranoia to run a campaign inspired by the movie Brazil. I've been threatening my players with a Pendragon game based on Boorman's Excalibur :eek:

So, what about you folks? Have you done anything like this or what system would you use to run a camapign based/inspired on a movie, book etc you found interesting?

Regards,
David R

I've had really good results using PDQ, especially the "Good Parts" PDQ system introduced in The Zorcerer of Zo.  It lets players define what's most important to them as their Qualities, and whatever is being used least is likely to generate more story arcs due to how damage works in the system.  It's quite clever, and I've found it to be particularly awesome for games like Star Trek where most of the conflict revolves around beliefs, values, and other less physical capabilities.

I'd use it in a heartbeat to run a Battlestar Galactica game.

I ran a Cyberpunk 2020 game inspired by COPS.  Basically the players all worked for the Traume Team company.  The media were camera men, solo were the guards for the rescue folks, etc.  

Not to mention lots of Max Headroom inspired material also.

Did a 24 based game using Spycraft d20.

Did a Trauma: Life in the ER inspired campaign using GURPS: Traveller (and wrote an article about it in fact for SJG's JTAS a million years ago that made the one and only "Best of..." from SJG).

Used GURPS: Ogre to do a North African campaign using GEVs, detailed in a Pyramid article, that was an homage to Rat Patrol.

That's about it, based directly on a series. Not counting Star Wars d20, Star Trek, or something like that, of course.

When D&D 3rd came out, I conceived of an all-bard campaign based on Fame and Breakin'.

No, I'm serious.

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!When D&D 3rd came out, I conceived of an all-bard campaign based on Fame and Breakin'.

No, I'm serious.

I wan' play.

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!No, I'm serious.

This line was completely unnecessary. For anyone else, yes. But not for you.

"I wanna live for..ever!"

I took the back cover of Ferienheit 411 and used it for some world flavor.

(the actual book is shit.)

Isn't that the story about burning phonebooks?

(sorry, couldn't resist the tempation to pounce on that typo )

We ran a Humanis Policlub Campaign based off of Showtime's Sleeper Cell. We ran an entire campaign based on the idea that one of the PC's was a photographer for the National Geographic, and the others were his "entourage." (Driver, the gun guy, etc...) I ran a street level gang campaign based loosely off the video Streets of Rage, and the movie Streets of Fire. We did the whole black ops thing where the PC's were everything from UCAS government to Saeder Krupp black ops.

Our current game is loosely based on the television series Eyes, in which the PC's play private investigators.

My Port Blacksand campaign was directly inspired by Gangs of New York.

In turn, my Roman campaign apparently inspired HBO's Rome.

RPGPundit

Quote from: WerekoalaUsed GURPS: Ogre to do a North African campaign using GEVs, detailed in a Pyramid article, that was an homage to Rat Patrol.

I :heart: this idea.

Just wondering: how have they fleshed the ammo in the Ogre world since introducing the minis game and RPG rules? In the original canon it was all tactical nukes, but I remember an excellent short story from The Ogre Book which implied that GEVs used (or could use) high velocity armor-piercing rounds.

First: I highly recommend GURPS: Ogre. One of my favorite but alas, least-used GURPS books.

Weapons are DEADLY.  The world of Ogre/GEV is hugely destructive. Even with amazingly powerful battlesuits for infantry, for example, they have essentially no chance on the battlefield. That said, we must assume that there are plenty of places to use infantry and special forces away from the glazed glass terrain of an Ogre battle.

GEVs, just like in the board game, survive on speed and maneuver. That's where I got the Rat Patrol vibe - in the show, they took on armored columns (well, the same one every week) by being neigh impossible to hit. Same thing with GEVs.

As to weapons: Railguns, Gauss guns, howitzers, missiles - all included. Nukes, of course, but generally only for Ogres. Nice high-tech weapons like long-duration stand off attack missiles that loiter over the battlefield until they I.D a target. "Smart mines" that know the characteristics of enemy vehicles so they don't blow up your own guys. Really, really nice high-intensity, high-tech warfare. Get the book, it rocks.

The thing that makes it a "survivable" battlefield is that you have to assume that Ogres are horrendously expensive and fairly rare, then make the wars fought with the heavy tanks, GEVs, etc. When you take Ogres out of the equation, the battles become very playable and winnable - with good tactics.

So, yes, I loved it and highly recommend the book.

(wow, didn't know it'd end up being a review)

edit: Just went back and re-read it and my other Pyramid articles. I need to start writing again.

currently working on a Castles and Crusades game of spying based on James Bond novels simply because my girlfriend, for some goddamn reason, has recently decided to not play modern games. grrrrrr.
set in the Known World, Grand Duchy of Karameikos. i'm only running two players so they'll get a real chance to shine and go all out working for the Duke's Ministry of State: investigation, intrigue, and a license to cause all kinds of fireballing sword-hewing poison in the glass all out fucking chaos to root out the king's most clever and hidden enemies...the Iron Ring and The Veiled Society.

i've also been toying with an idea after i finally saw Six String Samurai and Reign of Fire. the PC's will play WW2 soldiers investigating reports of missing patrols and sightings of flying creatures. dragons caused by crazy nazy cloning science gone out of control. they'll have to kill the escaped dragons and destroy the lab. Sherman tanks and P-40's vs. dragons sounds like PC fun or TPK based on a horrible miscalculation on the DM's part
personally i'm hoping they do NOT defeat the dragons. failure leads to another game.
1950's post apocalypse: mad max road warriors, tommy guns, crazed musicians with katanas driving armored 1940's cars in a world burnt out by the now dying dragons and contaminated by advanced atom bomb tech to try to destory the dragons before they reached america.
not very original but sounds fun.
i'll most likely use Savage Worlds or D6.

i figure i've got a slim chance of running the ww2 dragon game given my groups partial lack of interest in pulp, ww2, etc.

I ran a short Buffy campaign based on 80's teens movies unfortunately it fell apart before we got to Pretty in Black.