New Twists on Old Settings.

Serious Paul · September 21, 2007, 12:16:57 PM

Someone was discussing discontinued settings over at Animal Ball and it got me to thinking about new twists on old settings.

For instance I liked Recon and Twilight 2000 a lot. They were fun Cold War style settings, and I'd love to see them redone with a Red Dawn twist, or maybe a USSA twist. (If any one besides me remembers those books.)

So what sort of settings would you like to see revised with what sort of revisions?

flyingmice · September 21, 2007, 01:29:25 PM

Old settings don't twist well. Old things get brittle, as I well know.

-clash

John Morrow · September 21, 2007, 01:36:10 PM

Quote from: Serious PaulSo what sort of settings would you like to see revised with what sort of revisions?

So have we hit the end of creativity so all that's left are remakes? Based on what I see in the movie theaters, on TV, and on the radio, it's sure starting to see that way. And, no, being "edgy" doesn't automatically make the new versoin cool.

RPGPundit · September 21, 2007, 11:31:20 PM

The problem with these "twists" is balancing out providing something new and relevant with staying true to the spirit of the original setting/Game.

Paranoia XP did a really good job of this, for example (probably could have even gone a bit further); whereas obviously Gamma World D20 was an unmitigated disaster as far as this was concerned.

The dividing line in this is usually found in whether the person in charge of "redoing" the setting is actually a fan of the original, or someone out to wipe out what came before and punish those who liked it.

RPGPundit

TonyLB · September 21, 2007, 11:38:07 PM

Quote from: Serious PaulSo what sort of settings would you like to see revised with what sort of revisions?

I'd love to see Traveller's mercantile/mercenary model get cross-pollinated with Firefly's very differen mercantile/mercenary model.

I'd love to see Toon revamped to more easily support raunchy/obscene cartoons like South Park.

I'd love to see an alternate Castle Falkenstein influenced by some of the more recent writings on steam-punk ... maybe made a little less magical-faerie-land and a little more gaslight.

Serious Paul · September 22, 2007, 12:04:51 AM

Quote from: John MorrowSo have we hit the end of creativity so all that's left are remakes?

It beats hashing out high school memoirs, or bitching about group X, and it's actually about RPG's which is more than half the recent topics in this forum contain.

cr0m · September 22, 2007, 12:15:57 AM

I'd like to see a revision, not necessarily a twist, to the Dark Sun setting. Trim it down to it's essential conflicts, add some magic mechanics that make Defiling and Preserving more than just hand-waving... and a way to become a Sorcerer King or a Dragon.

For me, Dark Sun was all about magic literally destroying the planet and the cost of remaining human in a very harsh world.

For a twist, Twilight 2000 redone as a game after peak oil, rather than nuclear war.

Ian Absentia · September 22, 2007, 01:37:56 AM

Quote from: TonyLBI'd love to see Traveller's mercantile/mercenary model get cross-pollinated with Firefly's very differen mercantile/mercenary model.

:confused:

What are you talking about? From where I'm sitting, Firefly is Traveller.

!i!

rcsample · September 22, 2007, 02:16:30 AM

Quote from: Serious PaulFor instance I liked Recon and Twilight 2000 a lot. They were fun Cold War style settings, and I'd love to see them redone with a Red Dawn twist, or maybe a USSA twist. (If any one besides me remembers those books.)

Dude when I was in my teens and playing T2000, you could have called our game the Rambo: First Blood Part II Simulator. God that was fun. An excuse to blow shit up!

Oh yeah, and, er, trying to get back to America...or something...

I could totally see Red Dawn.....

dar · September 22, 2007, 09:11:46 AM

I'd love to see 'Transhuman Space' writ large Traveller style. Maybe with the Zhodani being an empire of people with zero desire to stay biologically human.

I'd love to see a fantasy world done Traveller style. An ocean that stretches on forever and worlds are Islands/Continents sprinkled throughout the blue (like worlds in the black of traveler). It's fantasy, the 'world' doesn't have to be a planet.

signoftheserpent · September 22, 2007, 10:21:39 AM

Quote from: John MorrowSo have we hit the end of creativity so all that's left are remakes? Based on what I see in the movie theaters, on TV, and on the radio, it's sure starting to see that way. And, no, being "edgy" doesn't automatically make the new versoin cool.

as opposed to what?

stu2000 · September 22, 2007, 10:31:08 AM

Any published setting can be improved with the inclusion of ravenous man-apes.

Danger · September 22, 2007, 11:02:28 AM

"Any published setting can be improved with the inclusion of ravenous man-apes."

Nay, my friend.

Zombies, ninjas, or pirates or any combination thereof will make the mundane perfect.

Except when it comes to cooking. It just gets really messy once any of these three ingredients are introduced.

Seriously; don't do it.

dar · September 22, 2007, 01:15:49 PM

Your all wrong. wrong! WRONG!

Winged monkeys!

Because "It's all just fun and games until the winged monkeys attack".

ColonelHardisson · September 22, 2007, 01:24:29 PM

Quote from: Ian Absentia:confused:

What are you talking about? From where I'm sitting, Firefly is Traveller.

!i!

From where I'm sitting, it isn't. I won't dispute that Traveller's rules could be used for Firefly, but I never saw anything about Firefly that screamed "Traveller!" to me. I never saw much similarity between the settings, either. Just about any bog-standard scifi game could be used for Firefly. Star Frontiers is an example that leaps to mind.