Its curious that we don't have more games on these two decades (especially the period between 1963-1974), or more people running campaigns in that time.
I have occasionally thought of doing a very different kind of Call of Cthulhu campaign, tied in with all the global instability and the vietnam war...
It just seems, this was the defining era of everything that came after it in our society.
Plus, I would easily have a great soundtrack for it.
But what kind of stuff could one run in the 60s and 70s?
RPGPundit
In a World where magic was forgotten...
One man found a secret rhythm...
A discovery that could set the world ablaze!
DISCO INFERNO!
It's not exactly "in" the 60s-70s, but there's a game on my want to run list that draws from that era quite a bit. I'd love to do a Star Wars game with a Vietnam theme. The characters are all Stormtroopers, draftees from all walks of life and assigned to garrison some jungle planet none of them have ever heard of or care about. The natives are in league with the rebellion and constantly attack and harass Imperial targets. See if the characters stick to the Empire, or turn sides and join the rebels, or go nuts in the jungles.
Much darker than your typical Star Wars fare, but I think it would be a good time.
It ain't me,
It ain't me,
I ain't no Senator's son...
:D
"Kashyyyk, I can't believe I'm still on Kashyyyk"
Seriously, the reason why we don't have many games set in that era is that quite a lot of the players were actually aware of that time. So there's no mysticism attached to it, as opposed to the pulp era. Most "modern" games play in the always undefined "now" or even "near-now". Some themes (as the Vietnam conflict) are applied, but often transported into another time. Ray Winninger's Underground certainly took some inspiration from Nam veterans (As in "n-n-n-n-one of them received a hero's welcome")
Isn't there a exploitation movie sourcebook for True20?
There's Cold Space... Not the 60s and 70s we remember, but not all that different. :D
-clash
Damnation Decade is a d20 book that came out recently that dealt with the 70s. It presented an odd setting, since the writer fictionalized pretty much the entire world, giving all the countries different names. That part I didn't like. Solid! was another 70s-era d20 supplement that I think is still available at RPG.now. It dealt with the blaxploitation genre of the early 70s. Starchildren: The Velvet Generation, while set in 2073, borrowed the whole early 70s glam rock motif, as aliens become enamored of rock music and culture circa 1972. So think T. Rex, Ziggy Stardust, early Alice Cooper, etc.
Anyway, in American culture of the time, at least, there was a lot of dystopic views of how things were and would be. You saw this mood reflected in movies speculating on the future like Logan's Run, the Planet of the Apes series, Silent Running, and Colossus: The Forbin Project. Technological progress was going to result in a horrifying future, according to American scifi cinema of the 70s.
UFOs and stuff like Bigfoot really hit the scene big in the 70s. There was talk of a coming ice age. The "big one" was gonna hit California any minute. Forces beyond our control were poised to destroy us. So the Cthulhu feel was there.
On the other hand, you had the more upbeat (and unexpected) cultural phenomenon of CB radios and truck driver culture.
There was a lot of grit in the cinema also - Serpico, the French Connection, the Taking of Pelham 123, Superfly - grim, gritty, streetwise crime stories where everyone was suspect in one way or the other.
Personally, if I was going to run a game in that era, I'd run it somewhere around 1973-74. I'd try to emulate the French Connection for mood and feel, but with Cthulhuesque underpinnings. Maybe that coming ice age needs to be staved off as it heralds the arrival of Ithaqua the Wind Walker to the world.
Quote from: SosthenesIsn't there a exploitation movie sourcebook for True20?
Damnation Decade has d20 and True 20 stats.
The seventies also had their share of disaster movies, a genre that hasn't been very popular since then. I've never seen that done in a role-playing game. The Wizard's Guild is crumbling! Can Charltonius escape?
The sci-fi of that era was also notably dystopian. The vietnam conflict, cold war and obviously inevitable over-population created the food for the Omega Man, Soylent Green, Logan's Run... Star Wars basically catapulted the whole genre back to the earlier era of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers.
The _real_ reason why we aren't playing with 60s/70s themes is the following: Charlton Heston won't play with us.
I think there's room for a Disaster! rpg. With all the zombie games shambling about, we have templates for survival-based games. What if, instead of the walking dead you were dealing with the temporary breakdown of society caused by a major earthquake or flood?
You'd still be tasked with finding food and protection, you'd still have to deal with looters and loonies.
I think there was a PS2 game on this theme some years ago, to boot.
There's also the problem that not everyone's 70's is the same.
In the US the 70's was a time of cocaine and incredibly expensive clothes worn in gaudily decorated night clubs.
In the UK the 70's was a time of massive social upheaval, industrial action and economic turmoil.
Quote from: MaddmanIt's not exactly "in" the 60s-70s, but there's a game on my want to run list that draws from that era quite a bit. I'd love to do a Star Wars game with a Vietnam theme. The characters are all Stormtroopers, draftees from all walks of life and assigned to garrison some jungle planet none of them have ever heard of or care about. The natives are in league with the rebellion and constantly attack and harass Imperial targets. See if the characters stick to the Empire, or turn sides and join the rebels, or go nuts in the jungles.
Much darker than your typical Star Wars fare, but I think it would be a good time.
It ain't me,
It ain't me,
I ain't no Senator's son...
:D
I played close to that in a Star Wars game, except we started out in basic training, where we had to execute one of our fellow PC for insubordination. After that we
then got stuck on a foreign planet to stave of an alien invasion.
It was more WH40K than 'Nam, but it was still definitely dark.
Quote from: Mr. AnalyticalIn the UK the 70's was a time of massive social upheaval, industrial action and economic turmoil.
A lot of that was going on here, as well. The US was going through a rough recession and saw inflation on the rise (I still remember the Whip Inflation Now! buttons). The social unrest of the late 60s had simmered down, but social disparity was being recognized more and more. The 70s also saw the steel and auto industries begin to feel their foundations erode away, with the gas crisis being one of the triggers, as well as "planned obsolescence."
The cocaine and disco stuff was a construct of the media.
Quote from: fonkaygarryI think there's room for a Disaster! rpg. With all the zombie games shambling about, we have templates for survival-based games. What if, instead of the walking dead you were dealing with the temporary breakdown of society caused by a major earthquake or flood?
You'd still be tasked with finding food and protection, you'd still have to deal with looters and loonies.
I think there was a PS2 game on this theme some years ago, to boot.
I would totally play that.
I was not around in either decade. But, I have taken several courses on 60s history. I say this to make you (yes, you) feel old.
However, there is a Spycraft book called The 60's & it's actually very good. It is much grittier than regular Spycraft, and pretty germane for any espionage campaign set in the 60s.
A few things I'd like to see for the 60s:
Call of Cthulhu in the 60s.
Superheros in the 60s.
Some kind of game based on social unrest or the hippy movement mixed with... what? Fantasy? Magic? an alternate history? aliens?
I don't know. I just think its one of the most interesting periods of the last century, and is currently underused.
RPGPundit
Well, I for one prefer to transpone historic eras/ conflicts into a traveller planetary setting. That takes the vinegar out of the worst stuff, and let`s the players see the underlying conflict much clearer without being aggressive to their actual real life political beliefs.
Quote from: RPGPunditIts curious that we don't have more games on these two decades (especially the period between 1963-1974), or more people running campaigns in that time.
Now that the Baby Boomers are turning 60, it's almost non-stop commercials for retirement funds with nostalgic pictures of hippies trying to comfort the aging Boomers by telling them that they'll have exciting retirements that won't end in shuffleboard and Bingo. Frankly, I'm tried of hearing how important the 1960s were and how special the 1960s are. I'll pass.
Quote from: John MorrowFrankly, I'm tried of hearing how important the 1960s were and how special the 1960s are. I'll pass.
Won't it be funny in twentyyears when they show commercials highlighting the 80s like that?
Quote from: RPGPunditCall of Cthulhu in the 60s.
Scooby-Doo
Quote from: RPGPunditSuperheros in the 60s.
Adam West's Batman
Quote from: joewolzWon't it be funny in twentyyears when they show commercials highlighting the 80s like that?
No, it will be just as sad.
Of course by then, all of those 60 year-old Baby Boomers will be 80 and will finally understand why shuffleboard and Bingo appeal to old people.
I wanted to create an LSD based psychedelic superhero game set in the 60's and 70's. While I was putting my ideas together 2000AD published Storming Heaven.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storming_Heaven_%28comics%29
So I put it all on hold.
:(
The 70s was a very bleak period, in Italy they are referred to as the anni di piombo, the years of lead - which is a reference to the number of terrorist and state (back then in Italy a fine distinction) killings.
I would love a good 70s game dealing with the themes of the time, but instead all we ever get is warmed over disco crap which far more to do with nostalgic ideas of what it was like than what it actually was like.
The 70s is the cold war, unemployment, the dream bubble of the 60s having popped, disillusionment, Vietnam, the Red Brigade, mass industrial unrest, as Col Hardisson correctly notes the dramas of the time reflect that and are by and large dystopic and bleak.
That is what I want to play in, the 70s I remember as being a totally fucked up and shitty decade, a massive hangover after the optimism of the 60s. That and I know quite a lot about Italian politics, which at that point was horrifically bloody and corrupt, culminating of course in the government planting bombs in Bologna station and blaming it on terrorists - a defining moment in post-war Italian history once the full story came out.
The TV series The Professionals, is how I would like to do a 1970s game.
The characters worked in teams of two, but nobody headed the team, it was closer to partners with cops. They were part of an intelligence outfit that outranked the police and had considerable training and resources, they were profoundly undemocratic - a secret police in a way - and the program routinely addressed that issue and whether their existence was itself a threat to Britain in the same way as the things they fought. They contested terrorist threats, foreign powers, organised crime and the occasional lone wacko and the tone was very gritty. In one, a hero has a broken arm and there is a genuine concern if he can guard some prisoners without passing out.
Great stuff, dark, fast moving, characters have authority and autonomy. Almost tailor made as an rpg setting, and you would not need a licenced rpg as it is simply Britain in the 1970s with a quasi-secret police organisation added in.
The funny thing about the Professionals is that it was clearly meant to be like Spooks; all swish and glamour and a bit high-tech. But looking back on it now it's just horribly bleak and full of men wearing ugly clothes working in what look like disused office blocks when they're not out being the secret execution squad of the British state.
Quote from: Mr. AnalyticalThe funny thing about the Professionals is that it was clearly meant to be like Spooks; all swish and glamour and a bit high-tech. But looking back on it now it's just horribly bleak and full of men wearing ugly clothes working in what look like disused office blocks when they're not out being the secret execution squad of the British state.
I think part of that was intentional, there are episodes where they discuss how Britain has gone wrong or whether it is right that they should have the powers they do.
Like any TV series it is a bit inconsistent, but I think the writers were aware how ghastly the world portrayed was.
Quote from: BalbinusThat and I know quite a lot about Italian politics, which at that point was horrifically bloody and corrupt, culminating of course in the government planting bombs in Bologna station and blaming it on terrorists - a defining moment in post-war Italian history once the full story came out.
Ah yes, the infamous Strategy of Tension. Is anyone surprised that Berlusconi was/is a big supporter of it?
Being British there is a whole set of TV I remember my Dad watching (and then watched myself as re-runs in the 80s) that presents a great roleplaying setting of paranoia and agency intrigue with a dash of the supernatural.
The Avengers would stand out here (both the original version and the campier version from Season 2 on) as the gold standard. We also have the Jon Pertwee Dr.Who years (the good Doctor was exiled to Earth during this period and couldn't swan about through time and space).
Of course (a little later) Sapphire and Steel would make a great game: All irregularities will be handled by the forces controlling each dimension. Transuranic heavy elements may not be used where there is life. Medium atomic weights are available: Gold, Lead, Copper, Jet, Diamond, Radium, Sapphire, Silver and Steel. Sapphire and Steel have been assigned.
Really pessimistic Brit shows like Callan and The Wicker Man(both starring Edward Woodward -if I'm not mistaken) and Staw Dogs for example would set the tone for my games set in these eras. The feeling of something dark this way comes, would definately be a major theme running through the game.
Regards,
David R
I'd forgotten about Callan; the credits with the swinging light bulb were great.
So do we have consensus that a gaming version of the 60s/70s would be a dark or a light world to play in? Would it tend to be about confronting the possibilities of the future or watching the light dim?
It's rather like playing 1920s CoC isn't it? No matter how many monsters/cultists you stop you know as a player that really, really bad things are going to happen soon and you cannot stop them (not mythos stuff just the gloomy disasters of the mid-twentieth century).
Quote from: MisterPunchI'd forgotten about Callan; the credits with the swinging light bulb were great.
So do we have consensus that a gaming version of the 60s/70s would be a dark or a light world to play in? Would it tend to be about confronting the possibilities of the future or watching the light dim?
It's rather like playing 1920s CoC isn't it? No matter how many monsters/cultists you stop you know as a player that really, really bad things are going to happen soon and you cannot stop them (not mythos stuff just the gloomy disasters of the mid-twentieth century).
My consensus is a dark world, watching the light dim.
I would guess many of the light and cheery 70s crowd don't have direct memories of the period.
Quote from: MisterPunchOf course (a little later) Sapphire and Steel would make a great game: All irregularities will be handled by the forces controlling each dimension. Transuranic heavy elements may not be used where there is life. Medium atomic weights are available: Gold, Lead, Copper, Jet, Diamond, Radium, Sapphire, Silver and Steel. Sapphire and Steel have been assigned.
That is still a wonderful show, and a major influence on how I run
Nobilis.
My darkest experience from the 70s was Rick Wakeman's solo album, Journey to the Center of the Earth. Set standards for pretention and bad artistry the worst of the Forgeites could never hope to sink to. I blame it in large part for punk rock. A movement by pretentious reactionary anti-musicians that did more to kill rock music than Adam Ant.
I posted this on a thread on rpgnet about superhero settings.
QuotePosted by David R
365
The Set Up - Your life has't turned out as you expected. Too many people let down. Too many expectations not lived up to. And of late, that feeling that something bad is about to happen. You see it on the faces of people who pass you by. You see it on the faces of your loved ones. This is not the troubling part. No. What is troubling, is that there is a hint in those looks, that they want you to do something about it.
The Call - 365 Days. One year, to make a difference. One year to make up for lost time. One year to make it right.....to get it right.
The Gift - Your full potential. What you really are inside. We can make it happen. Your wildest dreams. Are you faster? Stronger? Soar in the heavens? Who are you really? We can help you find out?
The Judgement - 365 is all you get. How many people can you help ? How much can you do? Are you really a good person? We will be the judge of that....
After reading some of the post on this thread, if I ever run this campaign it would be set during the Seventies.
Regards,
David R