Gor.

Not a fan of any licensed settings based on book or film, period.  Based on exactly the kitchen-feeling Kaz had...don't like the idea of adventuring where others have tread.  From Middle Earth to Newhon to the Star Wars universe, I have no reason to go there, except in memory. (or via dvd/reading)

Hi!
  I think it depends on how much leeway we have with the license.
  For instance, with Harry Potter most of the coolest stuff you can do as a student has been done. And I wouldn't have too much fun re-hashing it
  Whereas, most of the stuff outside of school is only vaguely defined and leaves plenty of room for creativity while still staying canonical...
  So, I guess my answer is, where in the license are we playing? Even Tolkein's middle earth might be mysterious and exciting if you could play in the western lands maybe?

Quote from: RezendevousI think I agree with stu2000 in that there are properties that I really enjoy and would like to game in, but where it would be hard to recreate the experience in an RPG.  As such, they would be ones I would stay away from.  An example of this would be something like Lost, in that it's a show I love but have no idea how to run a decent RPG that captures what is so cool about the show.

Wow.

That's explicitly easy to recreate. Take your favorite modern RPG as a framework, and when pre-designing the game sessions use the following format:

QuoteEpisode format
Episodes have a distinct structure: following a recap of events relevant to the upcoming narrative, each show begins with a cold open. Often a close up of a character's eye will follow. At a dramatic juncture, the screen cuts to black and the title graphic, slightly out-of-focus, glides towards the viewer accompanied by an ominous, discordant sound. The opening credits generally appear alphabetically by last name over the scenes that immediately follow.

While there is a continuous story arc, each episode relates events concurrently with off-island flashbacks and later, flashforwards, centered on a particular character. The majority of episodes end with a suspenseful twist or cliffhanger, revealed just seconds before a smash cut to black and the title graphic.

Others, following a plot resolution, will finish with a reflective closing scene that precedes a simple fade to black, and in particularly tragic or heart-felt closing scenes, the booming noise that accompanies the title graphic will be silenced, amplifying the impact of the event.

Recurring Elements
There are several recurring elements and motifs on Lost, which generally have no direct effect on the story itself, but expand the show's literary and philosophical subtext.

1. These elements include frequent appearances of the colors black and white, which reflect the dualism within characters and situations;
2. dysfunctional family situations, as portrayed in the lives of nearly all the main characters;
3. apocalyptic references, including Desmond’s pushing the button to forestall the end of the world and the DHARMA Initiative's goal to alter the parameters of the Valenzetti Equation and prevent the end of humanity;
4. coincidence versus fate, revealed most apparently through the juxtaposition of the characters Locke and Mr. Eko;
5. the conflict between science and faith, embodied by the leadership tug-of-war between Jack and Locke;
...and 6. references to numerous works of literature, including mentions and discussions of particular novels.

There are also many allusions to philosophy, demonstrated most clearly in the distinct naming of certain characters after famous historical thinkers, such as John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, David Hume, Edmund Burke, Mikhail Bakunin and Richard Alpert.

Cold Open: In a television or movie, a cold open is a technique of jumping directly into the story. In the pilot episode, we saw everybody struggling on the beach imediately after the plane had crashed. This is how the show started. Only later did we learn more about the characters themselves. In designing a lost RPG gaming round, I would have each player individually and secretly roll up their character without consulting any of the other players ahead of time. Another good way to do this, would be to have the players each design a character for a modern gaming round they always wanted to play but never had the chance to until now.

Story Arc: With Lost, the main story arc dealt with surviving the plane crash on a deserted out-of-the-way island that features many supernatural events and a hostile people known as "The Others"

Flashbacks: are an easy way to provide players with additional information about their characters based on past experiences.

Flashforwards: Provide the players with glimpses of the future, they are usually viewed out-of-context or without a frame of reference. When designing a flashforward experience, simply engage one specific character with just a portion of an encounter or an experience. Dreams, Visions, hallucinations, echoes of reality, a stunning, surprising, or unexpected  experience, or an intense internal conflict, all of these can serve to trigger the flashforward event.

Cliffhangar: A plot device in fiction where the main characters are left in a precarious or difficult condition to ensure the audience will return at a later time to find out how the cliffhangar is resolved. When designing a lost RPG round, most sessions should end with some new threat, danger, or unresolved mystery to keep the players coming back for more.

Reflective Closing Scene: A scene that reviews what conflict each character is struggling with, or that helps the character understand his/her conflict by portraying a key moment where the character makes a decision regarding the main challenges he/she is facing.

Bibliography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_(TV_series)

:rolleyes:

The cliffhangar is where I'm parking my plotmobile!

Anything by Tolkien.

Stories like Lost have great roleplaying elements--the big puzzle island is kinda like Myst, with people. But the reason the show is compelling is because of the elaborate, intricate, painfully contrived and convulted plot gradually revealing the equally contrived relationships among the characters.

You can't do that in a game. If the characters know they're interrelated, the reveal is lost. If they don't, the players will resent you suddenly telling them huge chunks of their backstory that onflicts with what they have already established.

TV works differently than games. There are a number of games that give a nice framework for an episodic TV feel, but none that have a good mechanic for imposing an awkwardly contrived story on characters that presumably have some autonomy.

Quote from: Pierce InverarityThe cliffhangar is where I'm parking my plotmobile!

:haw:

good one!  it better have lasers or machineguns behind the flip-headlights. . .  and the ability to jump off rails

Quote from: RezendevousI think I agree with stu2000 in that there are properties that I really enjoy and would like to game in, but where it would be hard to recreate the experience in an RPG.  As such, they would be ones I would stay away from.  An example of this would be something like Lost, in that it's a show I love but have no idea how to run a decent RPG that captures what is so cool about the show.

Quite some time ago, I read about the idea that a lot of crappy movies/books/etc. would make great RPGs, but that a lot of great ones would make lousy RPGs.  I think there is some truth to that, though of course it is not an ironclad rule.

Finnegan's Wake 2nd edition was pretty rocking, except for all the spelling mistakes in the rulebook.

Quote from: stu2000At the front of my mind is Grimjack.

I've been thinking of you too stu, thanks!  Seriously though, I agree with your point, it would be hard to do justice to Cynosure although as you can tell from my name I'm a huge fan and would probably buy any credible attempt to recreate it.

I've had mixed success with Lankhmar.  I've purchased the Mongoose version for RQ, and the earlier TSR version and they seemed good but my players never really liked it that much.  Same with Thieves World.  The odd thing is that they always love City State of the Invincible Overlord which is essentially Lankhmar with the names changed.

It depends on how much of a setting there is beyond the book and if players would be ok being 2nd fiddle to the book characters.  I don't like to recreate much by the way of characters or plots from a book/movie.  If you see the Fellowship's business as pretty much wrapping up all of Middle Earth, then there isn't much room to play.  But if players are alright with a much earlier or later time in Middle Earth, it could work.
 
Something like The Matrix would be lame to me.  The whole setting is pretty much a plot element for the characters of the movie.  I wouldn't see what to do other than recreate Matrix and rewrite the sequels.
 
I see Star Wars as a big place with lots of room for untold adventures - I could do somthing a quarter of a galaxy away from anything in the movies and still have fun explosions in space.

I can't think of any that I would use. I might do something similar, but I can't use some one elses world, really. I thought about it when I bought Conan D20, but I couldn;t bring myself to do it. I love that shit too much to fuck it up.

I hadn't used a licensed setting until this recent Star Wars game.

I think I'd be having less fun if I hadn't exploded canon down into tiny little bits, but as it stands, it's going great.  I have a world of resources to use or ignore as my whim takes me.

-O

Quote from: PseudoephedrineFinnegan's Wake 2nd edition was pretty rocking, except for all the spelling mistakes in the rulebook.

:haw:

I'm generally on the Licensed Properties Suck bandwagon, but the two that stand out foremost in my mind are the Harry Potter series and The Matrix.  By all means, borrow and steal for inspiration for your own game, but the cries for official treatment are sorely mistaken, I fear.  I think it's the attempt to mechanise the fantastic that renders it all trite.  If a game setting starts out as nothing but mechanics, your imagination brings it to life as you play.  But if it starts out alive in your imagination, the intrepretation in game format either drags it down or conflicts with your preconceived ideas.

!i!