So, if you were to set an RPG campaign in a school, and it couldn't be a 'wizard school', what type of school would it be?
I'm betting the second most popular choice would be 'school for superheroes/mutants' in the X-men style. But does anyone have any other creative ideas?
A martial arts, fencing, or space cadet school could lend itself to all kinds of mischief. Rival schools, defending your honor, tests and challenges, family and politics, showing off, sporting competitions, etc.
I think doing something along the lines of the Red Room, Gunslinger Girl or Deadly Class would be interesting. A bunch of kids from criminal families or orphans or whatever being raised and trained to be assassins. There's lots of room for rivalries between the students as they try to compete over the most outrageous kill or racing to claim a target before another school gets to it first.
Ahistoric, but what about 'squire school?'- wizard school (in pseudo-medieval backdrop) equivalent, but for the martial classes.
Maybe just a regular boarding school (perhaps set in a classic time period), and then the aliens/cluthlu-beasts/whatever come.
Cyberpunk 2020 had a neat supplement/spin-off called Cybergeneration where you played the kids of the characters you played in CP2020 (always thought it was a neat idea, but couldn't quite figure out what adding the constraints of childhood onto CP added).
A couple of friends of mine have set their game in an "animal house" style American high school. I haven't played it myself but I've been told it's a lot of fun:
Sci-Fi Beta Kappa.
Ninja High School. (The comic, not just the concept. But, the concept too.)
Quote from: Dave R;1048451Ninja High School. (The comic, not just the concept. But, the concept too.)
Available in d6 System (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/205381/Ben-Dunns-Ninja-High-School-the-Anime-and-Manga-RPG) and Savage Worlds (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/207615/Ben-Dunns-Ninja-High-School-the-Anime-and-Manga-RPG-Savage-Worlds) flavour.
I'd probably have to go the Buffy the Vampire Slayer high school/ or university. It would depend on the game but that is about the only setting involving a school that I would be interested in.
Although, my daughter is a Pokemon kick so I could see a training academy for Pokemon trainers in the near future.
Nuke'Em High
Teenagers From Outer Space.
Starfleet Academy. Didn't LUG do a setting book or box for that?
Boot Camp. The guy who introduced me to RPG Inc's Recon back in the mid-80s said he had been introduced to it by a GM who ran a Boot Camp game. Get all that R Lee Ermey out of your system.
Quote from: MonsterSlayer;1048461I'd probably have to go the Buffy the Vampire Slayer high school/ or university. It would depend on the game but that is about the only setting involving a school that I would be interested in.
Yeah, something like a VanHelsing style game. Magic isn't real but there are monsters and we're going to train you how to kill them.
Quote from: Willie the Duck;1048442Maybe just a regular boarding school (perhaps set in a classic time period), and then the aliens/cluthlu-beasts/whatever come.
That was my first thought, Cthulhu High. Creepy old boarding school where things man was not meant to know about occur on a regular basis. Could be straight horror, or maybe the school selects students specifically to train the next generation of investigators.
I've been running East Texas University for about a year now. It's college with monsters/demons/etc. thrown into the mix. Very fun. There are no safe spaces at ETU, though my players probably wish there were at times.
There's also Panty Explosion aka Tokyo Brain Pop for those interested in psychic Japanese schoolgirls fighting monsters. I've never read or played it but it is a thing that exists.
I've definitely toyed with the super hero high school idea, but another that's crossed my mind is feuding fencing schools. I played with the idea for a bit using Pirates of the Spanish Main some years ago, but my group ended up going with a different game so nothing ever came of it.
Quote from: RPGPundit;1048430So, if you were to set an RPG campaign in a school, and it couldn't be a 'wizard school', what type of school would it be?
I'm betting the second most popular choice would be 'school for superheroes/mutants' in the X-men style. But does anyone have any other creative ideas?
Done one set in a frat house "Animal House" style. That one got pretty raunchy. Was using Beyond the Supernatural as the base. Just minus any supernatural.
Didnt get to play in it but wayyyy back a DM was setting up a Top Secret session that was effective spy school.
Seen, but never played in a few "Thieves Guild" campaigns.
Knight Hawks pack in module has the PCs potentially start off as cadets on training missions.
And while not quite school related. There is an old mini module in early Dragon for D&D where you are modern day boy scouts and other kids exploring a haunted house.
My favorite is Hellcats & Hockeysticks, adapted from the St. Trinians comics and movies.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2634[/ATTACH]
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/65704/Hellcats-and-Hockeysticks
In a vaguely dystopian far-future sci-fi setting, a boarding school for the children of the elites with paramilitary after school activities.
(https://www.drivethrurpg.com/images/8413/151049-thumb140.jpg)
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/151049/Vacation-with-the-Space-Battle-Club
Quote from: Brand55;1048517. . . . I've been running East Texas University . . . .
This was going to be my suggestion. Regular university + supernatural shenanigans.
Gotta admit, the assassin's school that competes with rival schools is kind of neat, too. Honestly, I'd make it a general rogue school since I don't care for playing evil characters, but the setup could still be really similar.
Quote from: Pat;1048435...or space cadet school could lend itself to all kinds of mischief.
Makes me think of Ender's Game. That could be cool - but it would be blatant railroading by the school.
One of the starting points of my Lords of Olympus campaign appeared to be like a 'wizard school' but was really a training academy for the children of gods.
Fighter School
Thief School
Monk School
Adventurer School
Quote from: RPGPundit;1048430So, if you were to set an RPG campaign in a school, and it couldn't be a 'wizard school', what type of school would it be?
I'm betting the second most popular choice would be 'school for superheroes/mutants' in the X-men style. But does anyone have any other creative ideas?
I'd enjoy running a Tom Brown's Schooldays type game as a prelude to a long-term campaign (mostly to introduce Fraser's version of Flashman to use later.) No magic, no powers, just upper-class schoolboy awfulness.
In my Setting Hachi:Blue, the city state of Mirai is run by an artificial intelligence named Maitreya, who also poses as a school teacher oh so cleverly named Treya Mai. Using time travel technology, she has improved herself over timelines and eventually found a way to enhance people by activating the genes that allow for psychic abilities. Her timeframe for manipulation is less than 20 years, which means most of the espers she has created are in their teens or younger. These agents are immune to the symbiotic effects of non baryonic Dark Matter aliens who live in a world overlapping the game world, and who can only interact with it through the use of a host. The aliens are dismissive of the threat of human created technology because hubris. She uses some of those agents, students at Nikola Tesla Secondary, to hunt down and destroy as many of those aliens as possible. The aliens are analogous with "Gods" and "Angels" and two factions are in a proxy war with one another. Those two are recognized in mythology as Enki and Enlil. I originally ran the campaign with my hack of Cortex Plus heroic but lately I've seriously considered putting it together using Cepheus Engine, or possibly my own potential dream system which uses the Cortex Plus add two dice pool system, only using d6s, a good amount of Cepheus Engine, and Success/Failure tables based on the recursive Menzter Monster Reaction table. Now if work will stop giving me overtime I could attempt to start writing it. :D
Some kind of Kung-Fu School could be interesting.
Quote from: RPGPundit;1049113Some kind of Kung-Fu School could be interesting.
It is interesting, but I've done that so much I think my group needs a break:D!
If my daughter asked, I would in a heartbeat run a My Hero Academia "school based" RPG.
Quote from: thedungeondelver;1049125If my daughter asked, I would in a heartbeat run a My Hero Academia "school based" RPG.
I don't read the mangas like the kids do, but that's a superhero school, right?
Quote from: RPGPundit;1049448I don't read the mangas like the kids do, but that's a superhero school, right?
Yes. But it's in a world where 80-90% of the population has superpowers of some sort, so it does end up being something other than a manga/anime version of X-Men, despite obviously being inspired by it. Plus - quite a few 'heroes' are in it for the glory & the pay-check (which goes higher with more popularity).
Ah I see East Texas University for Savage Worlds was already mentioned.
Basically college Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Quote from: Charon's Little Helper;1049453Yes. But it's in a world where 80-90% of the population has superpowers of some sort, so it does end up being something other than a manga/anime version of X-Men, despite obviously being inspired by it. Plus - quite a few 'heroes' are in it for the glory & the pay-check (which goes higher with more popularity).
You'd have to do it right if you ran it, though, with random rolls for Quirks! Roll high and get a nigh-unbeatable combo of elemental abilities, roll low and your head is a cactus. It's the only way to stay true to the source material. :)
Quote from: Brand55;1049460You'd have to do it right if you ran it, though, with random rolls for Quirks! Roll high and get a nigh-unbeatable combo of elemental abilities, roll low and your head is a cactus. It's the only way to stay true to the source material. :)
Not if you start with the default of already being students.
That's like saying it's only true to the source for Warhammer Fantasy if you have a chance of rolling up as someone who died of disease in childhood or is the village idiot.
Quote from: Charon's Little Helper;1049461Not if you start with the default of already being students.
That's like saying it's only true to the source for Warhammer Fantasy if you have a chance of rolling up as someone who died of disease in childhood or is the village idiot.
I was joking, but to be serious even in UA there is a huge gap between students. The girl who can make her hands big goes to the same hero course as the one that can create any non-living object in a flash, after all.
That kind of power disparity doesn't always make for the most fun, though.
Quote from: Brand55;1049468I was joking, but to be serious even in UA there is a huge gap between students. The girl who can make her hands big goes to the same hero course as the one that can create any non-living object in a flash, after all.
That kind of power disparity doesn't always make for the most fun, though.
I think you'd have to play only students at the same place in the power curve and have the rest be NPCs.
Quote from: RPGPundit;1048430So, if you were to set an RPG campaign in a school, and it couldn't be a 'wizard school', what type of school would it be?
I've done an 'Adventurer's School', with all the appropriate classes, from swordsmanship to magic. I once tried a sci-fi police/bounty hunter academy, but that didn't last long. I like to think it was life that got in the way, but it might have been a bit lame.
Yeah the girl who can make any non living material is really, REALLY OP (yes even compared to AllMight): she pulled a GPS tracker out of...herself...during one episode. Actually I think it was two of the same "model" she created on demand. So it's not like "Oh well I can make a sword or a shield or a metal bar"; it's straight-up electronics and other complex items, too.
So what's to stop her creating, say, a nuclear weapon?
I have to admit I enjoy watching the show with my daughters :)
Quote from: thedungeondelver;1049561Yeah the girl who can make any non living material is really, REALLY OP (yes even compared to AllMight): she pulled a GPS tracker out of...herself...during one episode. Actually I think it was two of the same "model" she created on demand. So it's not like "Oh well I can make a sword or a shield or a metal bar"; it's straight-up electronics and other complex items, too.
So what's to stop her creating, say, a nuclear weapon?
I have to admit I enjoy watching the show with my daughters :)
Yep, the show is a blast. I have my nitpicks but it's a lot of fun.
Okay, Momo. She's actually one of my favorite characters so it kinda sucks that she has such a broken power and the mangaka has to constantly leave her in the background or come up with silly reasons why she doesn't instantly solve most of their problems. I still don't know why she doesn't make tranq guns or other capture devices on demand to take down villains when they attack, but whatever. Oh, and the test with Aizawa never should have been close if she'd been written to use her full ability. But I digress.
Anyway, she actually could make a nuke if she really wanted to. She only has two real limitations. First, she has to know the molecular structure of the thing. That's not a huge factor since she's a genius-level intellect and can do complex electronics without trouble. Second, she has to use her body's lipids to create the item. That would be an issue but we've seen that the mass isn't transferred on a 1:1 basis since her favorite attack is to make a cannon that is about the same size she is. So to make a nuclear warhead, I'd say her biggest challenge would be getting her hands on the plans so she could memorize them. Once she had that, there's be nothing to stop her from being a walking nuke factory.
Quote from: Brand55;1049562Yep, the show is a blast. I have my nitpicks but it's a lot of fun.
Okay, Momo. She's actually one of my favorite characters so it kinda sucks that she has such a broken power and the mangaka has to constantly leave her in the background or come up with silly reasons why she doesn't instantly solve most of their problems. I still don't know why she doesn't make tranq guns or other capture devices on demand to take down villains when they attack, but whatever. Oh, and the test with Aizawa never should have been close if she'd been written to use her full ability. But I digress.
Anyway, she actually could make a nuke if she really wanted to. She only has two real limitations. First, she has to know the molecular structure of the thing. That's not a huge factor since she's a genius-level intellect and can do complex electronics without trouble. Second, she has to use her body's lipids to create the item. That would be an issue but we've seen that the mass isn't transferred on a 1:1 basis since her favorite attack is to make a cannon that is about the same size she is. So to make a nuclear warhead, I'd say her biggest challenge would be getting her hands on the plans so she could memorize them. Once she had that, there's be nothing to stop her from being a walking nuke factory.
Well there's the rub: when she created the two tracking devices...I mean let's consider what goes into those: ROM, RAM, display, software, correct PCB layout, etc. etc. Did she really remember ALL of that? Shit, I couldn't accurately draw a gate array for an Intel 4004 if you put a copy of it next to me. Yeah her power is definitely broken. It was a lot more...ugh, I hate to use this word,
believable when she was just making solid items or basic chemical compounds.
But at this point what's to stop her saying "I'll create a disintegration ray"
She's got an "I win" button that the show's creators have built in and now have to make excuses to not use.
Quote from: thedungeondelver;1049623Well there's the rub: when she created the two tracking devices...I mean let's consider what goes into those: ROM, RAM, display, software, correct PCB layout, etc. etc. Did she really remember ALL of that? Shit, I couldn't accurately draw a gate array for an Intel 4004 if you put a copy of it next to me. Yeah her power is definitely broken. It was a lot more...ugh, I hate to use this word, believable when she was just making solid items or basic chemical compounds.
But at this point what's to stop her saying "I'll create a disintegration ray" She's got an "I win" button that the show's creators have built in and now have to make excuses to not use.
Exactly. To use a Mutants and Masterminds reference, she's the super smart player with a Variable power and the poor GM has to come up with often ridiculous reasons how said player doesn't walk over every obstacle put in front of them. If I was drafting a supers team from UA's first years, she'd be my first pick without hesitation.
That's actually a an issue with hero games like that; they're full of broken powers and builds that can trip up GMs who don't catch them. Hero high games actually have an advantage there simply because PCs are typically coming in weaker than their adult counterparts.
Quote from: thedungeondelver;1049623Well there's the rub: when she created the two tracking devices...I mean let's consider what goes into those: ROM, RAM, display, software, correct PCB layout, etc. etc.
Yeah - before that it was more consistent and not OP. She could make one solid thing at a time. Even the cannon she made before could arguably have been made in stages and be too time consuming in most circumstances.
If it was just one solid thing at a time she'd still be amazing - but not able to make nukes (she'd kill herself with radiation by the time she put it together) or even guns with any speed.
Quote from: Charon's Little Helper;1049631Yeah - before that it was more consistent and not OP. She could make one solid thing at a time. Even the cannon she made before could arguably have been made in stages and be too time consuming in most circumstances.
If it was just one solid thing at a time she'd still be amazing - but not able to make nukes (she'd kill herself with radiation by the time she put it together) or even guns with any speed.
Yeah I wish they'd stuck with solid object creation and left it at that. They opened up a can of worms with the whole "Anything/person of holding" shtick with her power.
I guess a Jedi Academy could be another one.
A "school" for thieves/con-artists akin to The Lies of Locke Lamora could be fun. Alternately, what about a "school" for assassins that is part of a Thuggee-style cult? Unbeknownst to the students (at first, at least), they are all children of people slain by the Assassins and taken as infants to be raised up and trained in the cult.
Quote from: nightlamp;1049954A "school" for thieves/con-artists akin to The Lies of Locke Lamora could be fun. Alternately, what about a "school" for assassins that is part of a Thuggee-style cult? Unbeknownst to the students (at first, at least), they are all children of people slain by the Assassins and taken as infants to be raised up and trained in the cult.
So, ninja academy run by the bad Indian ninja clan:D?
Something like that! :p
Sounds fun, then:D!
Quote from: RPGPundit;1049909I guess a Jedi Academy could be another one.
Jedi academy
would be a Wizard School though. And not just a little bit.
Quote from: thedungeondelver;1049985Jedi academy would be a Wizard School though. And not just a little bit.
More like space ninja school:p.
The degree to which those two are different is still to be determined;).
Quote from: thedungeondelver;1049985Jedi academy would be a Wizard School though. And not just a little bit.
It would be closer to an order of kung-fu monks than a wizard academy.
So lightning, force choke, force grab, mind control, astral projection, telekinesis, none of that shit counts as magic to you.
I think he means thematically or flavor-ly
No one can reasonably say with a straight face that the force is anything but magic (just like psionics). But Jedi are still jumping around and doing backflips and fighting with swords. Adventures in Jedi school are going to look as much like adventures in faux-Shaolin monk or ninja-school as it is going to look like Hogwarts.
Quote from: thedungeondelver;1050549So lightning, force choke, force grab, mind control, astral projection, telekinesis, none of that shit counts as magic to you.
All of it is stuff you learn at the higher stages of kung-fu training, at least according to wuxia stories, so no, it doesn't need to be wizards:)!
Quote from: thedungeondelver;1050549So lightning, force choke, force grab, mind control, astral projection, telekinesis, none of that shit counts as magic to you.
Well, no not exactly. Not "western" magic, at least. They work more like Wuxia stuff, Chi-powers.
What about a Monster Hunter academy or school? Teach the next generation to hunt down and kill things that go bump in the night...
Quote from: Pyromancer on July 11, 2018, 05:01:34 PM
In a vaguely dystopian far-future sci-fi setting, a boarding school for the children of the elites with paramilitary after school activities.
(https://www.drivethrurpg.com/images/8413/151049-thumb140.jpg)
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/151049/Vacation-with-the-Space-Battle-Club (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/151049/Vacation-with-the-Space-Battle-Club)
Isn't that essentially the premise of Final Fantasy VIII?
I've always been a fan of "Top Gun" style training schools for various complex vehicles; aircraft, Mechs/power armor, spacecraft, what have you.
Where it works really well is when the normal formations for such things involves a roughly player group sized team (ex. Battletech's Lance/Star, two 2-man fighters, battle armor squad) since that naturally plays to the PCs as one pre-designated squad who is assigned to work together for the duration of the program.
Then, if you're ever having an off-day as GM, you can assign them to an inter-team competition and let them be the opposition to each other.
I still recall fondly the old Robotech Advanced Training Program adventure module that had a whole variety of scenarios to put the players up against... including things like a head-to-head cat-and-mouse through one of Macross' aircraft carriers and a scavenger hunt against other teams.
These days I'm thinking it might even be more fun to run something where the PCs are the instructors having to teach raw recruits... ironically, finally losing to the recruits in the scenarios is the PC's win condition.
A school for rogues would be cool. Different clubs and school organizations could be different kinds of rogues: so there's a ninja club, an acrobat club, etc.