Just that. What genre/setting could most use an RPG in 2011; either because its (somehow) a setting or genre that has never been approached before, or it was only approached ages ago, or it was never approached well?
RPGPundit
Steampunk? Cyberpunk?
Seanchai
Cops. Clash & I bantered a bit about it a while ago, and I think the concept roughly fits the mold of some of his other games, but he hasn't done anything with it so far as I know. There's Gangbusters of course but it's very old, and focused on the Prohibition era. I think a good game could be made of contemporary cops, including fighting street crime, tracking down murderers, taking on gangs, SWAT situations, etc. Some nod to genre could be included--60s and 70s shows, Starsky & Hutch, Kojack, Jack Lord, Streets of SF, etc.
Prison drama, no magic, no powers, just harsh reality with a system that is appropriate for running the politics, dealing and brutality of it all.
Robin Hood
None at all.
I think it's time for a classics rpg - with xena level realism and time line, putting the roman, Greek, and Persian empires at there peaks.
Fill that game world with over the top gore, deities, and magic.
Quote from: AikiGhost;451540Prison drama, no magic, no powers, just harsh reality with a system that is appropriate for running the politics, dealing and brutality of it all.
Coming this fall from Vincent Baker & Co.:
Prison'd.
Quote from: estar;451543Robin Hood
There's Lionheart as a systemless supplement, and ICE's Robin Hood RM supplement. Both good sources, particularly when combined with each other (as the former has a more historical approach to the period, while the other presents more specifics as it relates to the legend, a particular fantasy system as a template, and stuff like castle plans and so on).
What would you have in mind for a dedicated RPG?
As for the OP, my first reaction was comparable to Imperator's: I don't think any genre is "in need" of a RPG at this point.
Quote from: AikiGhost;451540Prison drama, no magic, no powers, just harsh reality with a system that is appropriate for running the politics, dealing and brutality of it all.
No thank you.
Forever.
- Ed C.
Quote from: Koltar;451551No thank you.
Forever.
- Ed C.
Yeah, same. I can appreciate a game of Cthulhu for instance where the PCs are in an asylum (I remember a convention game with a plot along those lines, where the PCs were dubbed "insane" and in fact the whole staff was in a vast Cthulhoid conspiracy using the inmates as sacrifices to the Old Ones), but a dedicated RPG that combined "Locked" and "Oz"? Yeah. No. Not for me.
What I could go for is a light-hearted Spy game - not as silly as Get Smart but perhaps in the general Chuck or Man From Uncle ballpark and with a system as streamlined as ICONS or Barbarians of Lemuria. If could also be a little futuristic with a touch of cyberpunk but without the angst.
I expect I may have to wait a while.
Prison Planet does all that and more. Traveller covered a LOT of ground in its old adventures.
Quote from: Benoist;451550As for the OP, my first reaction was comparable to Imperator's: I don't think any genre is "in need" of a RPG at this point.
Is there anything you think we need if you discount all the crap that was either released in PDF only, small press crap that never saw the light of day, or things out of print?
Personally, I'm not, at all, inclined to buy out of print crap, books with flat pages, books with crap art, or anything sold only in PDF form. While I know a lot of people that will steal things included above, I don't know anyone off line that will pay 2 cents for a PDF. Nor does anyone want a shitty looking small press book on their shelves.
I think there is a lot of room for new games if we are just talking about games of better material quality.
Quote from: estar;451543Robin Hood
Well, ICE (Fantasy Hero/Rolemaster) and SJG (GURPS) did supplements a while back, but those (admittedly) are kind of old. But there's this (http://battlefieldpress.com/node/34) for Savage Worlds/OGL, and this (http://www.alephtargames.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=39%3Ahistorical&id=53%3Amerrie-england&Itemid=59) forthcoming for BRP.
Can't speak to the quality of either, and the BRP one looks like a bit of a hodgepodge, not focusing specifically on Robin Hood.
Quote from: Cranewings;451574Is there anything you think we need if you discount all the crap that was either released in PDF only, small press crap that never saw the light of day, or things out of print?
Personally, I'm not, at all, inclined to buy out of print crap, books with flat pages, books with crap art, or anything sold only in PDF form. While I know a lot of people that will steal things included above, I don't know anyone off line that will pay 2 cents for a PDF. Nor does anyone want a shitty looking small press book on their shelves.
I think there is a lot of room for new games if we are just talking about games of better material quality.
I haven't said anything about not wanting anything new at all. All I said was that I was basically satisfied with the RPGs that exist, and don't think any particular genre "needs" (<-- emphasis) a new RPG. If something new comes out and looks cool, I might play it, purchase it, enjoy it. If a product provides a specific experience, or inspiration, or whatever else that'll benefit my gaming, I'll take a look at it. There's a nuance here. One doesn't preclude the other.
As for purchasing out of print stuff, that's what I do. I don't particularly care how others feel about it. If something I want to purchase is out of print, I don't have any problem hunting for it and purchasing it. As for paying for a PDF, it also depends on price, like everything. $5 for a 250+ page PDF of a game I enjoyed is reasonable to me. Depending on the actual content, I might pay more for them (Pavis & Big Rubble comes to mind in that department).
Just chasing down the new because it's "new" and that's it, period, I'm basically over it at this point.
I'm still waiting for a good Urban Fantasy game, one that is actually designed for it and accounts for all the current major trends in the novels. Wizard, vampire, werewolf, coyote, fae and even normal humans as the PCs.
And no, World of Darkness is not it. It's aimed at horror. I'm talking where the setting is not necessarily horror, and has supernatural elements. And vampires don't sit around crying about how horrible they are.
Quote from: danbuter;451582I'm still waiting for a good Urban Fantasy game, one that is actually designed for it and accounts for all the current major trends in the novels. Wizard, vampire, werewolf, coyote, fae and even normal humans as the PCs.
Dresden Files didn't work for you?
(I'm not sure it's working for me, but I haven't
played it yet, so I'm holding off till I do.)
Quote from: estar;451543Robin Hood
It would be cool. I got GURPS Robin Hood and I found it disappointing (most GURPS supplements are top notch). The part dedicated to Robin Hood was good, but the rest of the supplement was filler in my opinion.
I would have loved to see a GURPS Rebels, with different rebels in different settings. For example, besides Robin Hood we would have Geronimo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geronimo), Stenka Razin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stenka_Razin), Juraj Jánošík (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juraj_J%C3%A1no%C5%A1%C3%ADk), Ishikawa Goemon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishikawa_Goemon), etc.
Quote from: Brasidas;451584Dresden Files didn't work for you?
(I'm not sure it's working for me, but I haven't played it yet, so I'm holding off till I do.)
That doesn't cover all the possibilities.
Right now there is an oddball cross-genre thing going on between 'fantasy', 'Horror', romances, and 'Mystery' novels.
Included in this new 'Urban Fantasy' genre are book series like:
Chicagoland Vampire novels
The Sooki Stackhouse novels ("TRUE BLOOD" is the HBO version)
The Amber Benson books about Death's Daughter Calliope Reaper-Jones
The Dresden Files
Penguin Books inside their covers refers to this kind of stuff as 'Dark Fantasy' or 'Urban Noir' books.
TV Shows that might fall under this umbrella rea things like:"Angel"
"Being Human" (U.K. or North Am version)
"Buffy: The Vampire Slayer"
"Charmed"
"The Dresden Files"
"Forever Night"
"Highlander" The Series
"Moonlight" (it wasn't as 'angsty' and 'dark' as other Vampire shows)
"TRUE BLOOD"
"Special Unit Two"
(two season cop show set in Chicago - they hunted monsters of legend)Is there a current RPG that covers all that kind of stuff as its main focus?
- Ed C.
I don't think a single Urban Fantasy RPG should cover all those possibilities. It'd be awful scattershot. However Dresden does contain all of the explicitly mentioned subjects in Dan's post.
I still have yet to see a good Steampunk game, though, that takes some of the more modern styles and trends and plays it straight, rather than Steampunk + X Genre.
Quote from: Koltar;451591Is there a current RPG that covers all that kind of stuff as its main focus?
Not that I'm aware of. Hell, that's a lot of genre to cover for one game, I'm not even sure you
could hit all the bases.
Dresden Files
Buffy/Angel
Night's Black Agents (forthcoming)
Esoterrorists
The Laundry (well, that's more modern Cthulhu)
The Much Reviled d20 Modern
The Not-To-Be-Mentioned WoD
Frank Trollman's AWoD
Those are the ones I know off the top of my head that could fit some of the genre. I'm sure there's more.
Daytime Soap Operas
Quote from: Brasidas;451584Dresden Files didn't work for you?
(I'm not sure it's working for me, but I haven't played it yet, so I'm holding off till I do.)
That's a Fudge game, and not a system I care for. But I did forget about it (mainly due to the system). I'd like a game that has a
good system attached to it. I will say the books were well made. Too bad about the system.
Tut tut, posh posh.
Quote from: Soylent Green;451554What I could go for is a light-hearted Spy game - not as silly as Get Smart but perhaps in the general Chuck or Man From Uncle ballpark and with a system as streamlined as ICONS or Barbarians of Lemuria. If could also be a little futuristic with a touch of cyberpunk but without the angst.
I expect I may have to wait a while.
Beyond Belief Does have Dogs of W*A*R, which uses the same system as Barbarians of Lemuria. It's aimed more at 80's style Men's Adventure (Mack Bolan, The Destroyer, that type of thing) than actual Spy Rules, but the rules would work fine for it. I'm going to most likely use it for a 1950's Retro-Apocalypse Espionage based setting.
I know those settings and the basic description of my setting aren't Light-Hearted, but I think the system would work fine for it if that's the type of game you wanted to run. (and even my retro-apoc setting will be somewhat over the top and more along the Man from U.N.C.L.E. lines)
Quote from: estar;451543Robin Hood
There's at least one Sherwood Forest specific FRPG, Darkwood...maybe more.
http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9864.phtml (http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9864.phtml)
Quote from: Brasidas;451584Dresden Files didn't work for you?
(I'm not sure it's working for me, but I haven't played it yet, so I'm holding off till I do.)
I'm sort of underwhelmed by the magic system. But ironically, I think the general shape of it (with templates and all) would be a good starting point for a FATE Star Wars spin.
Quote from: Benoist;451550There's Lionheart as a systemless supplement, and ICE's Robin Hood RM supplement. Both good sources, particularly when combined with each other (as the former has a more historical approach to the period, while the other presents more specifics as it relates to the legend, a particular fantasy system as a template, and stuff like castle plans and so on).
What would you have in mind for a dedicated RPG?
I have both including GURPS Robin Hood. They are all good but out of print for now. I feel there hasn't been a definitive Robin Hood RPG in the way there has been a definitive Arthurian RPG (Pendragon). Robin Hood is one of the great legends of English culture and the RPG that embodies it hasn't been written yet.
Steampunk or decent Science Fantasy (whatever happened to that Eoris game?)
Quote from: Bloody Stupid Johnson;451618There's at least one Sherwood Forest specific FRPG, Darkwood...maybe more.
http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9864.phtml (http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9864.phtml)
I own a copy of it which I haven't fully read. It's probably best as a sourcebook, I don't think the rules are particularly noteworthy from what i've seen. The idea is interesting: the PC's are the 'force' that will become the legend that is Robin Hood. There is no actual Robin Hood in the game beyond that.
Quote from: AikiGhost;451540Prison drama, no magic, no powers, just harsh reality with a system that is appropriate for running the politics, dealing and brutality of it all.
I'm in the middle of re-watching my Oz dvds and I think this could be a great idea for a campaign with the right group of players.
As for a whole game by itself? Well, not so sure. The theme is pretty limited and appeals to a pretty small subsection of the market. You could maybe get away with a Forge-sized game (though I wouldn't make it Forge-ish rules-wise).
I think the biggest problem is the limited player pool. The game doesn't work for players who dislike darker themes / PCs (just look at the people here who hate the idea) and you don't want to appeal to the sicko crowd either.
And even if you find people who like the concept well enough, it's difficult to execute. Most of the guys in Oz are quite devious in their planning. You really need PCs to be on the level of guys like O' Reily, Adebisi, or Keller. Unfortunately, you're more likely to end up with players on the level with the less subtle stylings of Robson, Hoyt, or Guerra.
Quote from: Koltar;451551No thank you.
Forever.
- Ed C.
Come on! You come for the politicking but you *stay* for the gang rape!
Maybe FATAL already does this...
The whole 'Man + iconic machine' genre, which encompasses things like Thunderbirds, Knightrider, Power Rangers and Battle of the Planets.
The closest things out there are various Battlemech RPGs, but they tend to be over complicated and verge on being full on wargames.
Quote from: Koltar;451551No thank you.
Forever.
- Ed C.
You know, if they did make it you wouldn't
have to play it.
Modern-day men's adventure, spy thrillers and action movies are a genre I feel it's somewhat underserved.
There are the classics (Top Secret/SI; James Bond 007; Mercenaries. Spies & Private Eyes; Ninjas & Superspies), but they are woefully outdated. N&SS, my favorite, has a Microfilm skill, for Sean Connery's sake. This is what happens when a game, victim of its own success, remains in print for 24 years without a revision. :mad: ;)
Today they still make great games... if you're setting your game in the 1980s. For an actual modern-day setting, a lot of adaptation is required, at least as far as technology is concerned.
Admittedly, I am not familiar with Spycraft 2e (and apparently there's a 3e on the way), but if FantasyCraft is any indication, it may be a bit crunchy for me. And GURPS, of course, has it covered.
But I can't for the life of me see why is it that, other than the above mentioned classics, we don't more options for a decent modern day men's adventure RPG. I still want to see a modern-day take on an A-Team, Ronin or Mission Impossible-style team-up of PCs doing their stuff.
Quote from: Malakor;451610Beyond Belief Does have Dogs of W*A*R, which uses the same system as Barbarians of Lemuria. It's aimed more at 80's style Men's Adventure (Mack Bolan, The Destroyer, that type of thing) than actual Spy Rules, but the rules would work fine for it.
Now that sounds a lot like what I'm talking about! I'm not particularly fond of BoL (a bit too rules-light even for my standards), but I just might check this out. SUPERS! is really rules-lite, too, but packed with great ideas.
Quote from: Soylent Green;451554What I could go for is a light-hearted Spy game - not as silly as Get Smart but perhaps in the general Chuck or Man From Uncle ballpark and with a system as streamlined as ICONS or Barbarians of Lemuria.
I think Ian Warner is working on a FATE-based light-hearted '60s espionage game called Agents of SWING. He'll probably be along shortly with more information.
Quote from: Benoist;451552Yeah, same. I can appreciate a game of Cthulhu for instance where the PCs are in an asylum (I remember a convention game with a plot along those lines, where the PCs were dubbed "insane" and in fact the whole staff was in a vast Cthulhoid conspiracy using the inmates as sacrifices to the Old Ones), but a dedicated RPG that combined "Locked" and "Oz"? Yeah. No. Not for me.
I've actually pitched a Hunter: The Vigil Slasher-hunting game inside a prison, with PCs as convicts, or maybe even prison staff. I suspect that, like a monastery or a remote house in the mountains, it's a nearly perfect, closed environment for a murder mystery. It didn't happen because of real-life issues, but I still think that the premise holds.
Quote from: The Butcher;451683I've actually pitched a Hunter: The Vigil Slasher-hunting game inside a prison, with PCs as convicts, or maybe even prison staff. I suspect that, like a monastery or a remote house in the mountains, it's a nearly perfect, closed environment for a murder mystery. It didn't happen because of real-life issues, but I still think that the premise holds.
As part of a campaign, like an opener, or a section where PCs get interned or imprisoned for crimes or whatnot, a small, self-contained, few-sessions campaign, or one-shot, I can see that working for me as well. A dedicated supplement for Hunter or CoC? "Prisons and Asylums in the 1920s" - sure, awesome! "Locked Up: The RPG" (not Hunter, not CoC, but the thing itself as the base concept of an entire dedicated RPG) however... Meh.
I'd also love to see a game tailored more towards modern espionage/crime/con type of action. A game that could handle Burn Notice, Oceans Eleven, or White Collar all the way up to something approaching near-future sci-fi Minority Report, or perhaps even go so far as Inception. My go-to 80's style game is GDi Miami Nights, and that's perfect, so my 80's cop show fix is covered, but putting together rules and stats for modern computing and communications tech would be extensive enough that I might as well write my own game, and I don't wanna. I'd rather pay someone else to do it :D
Quote from: jadrax;451679The whole 'Man + iconic machine' genre, which encompasses things like Thunderbirds, Knightrider, Power Rangers and Battle of the Planets.
The closest things out there are various Battlemech RPGs, but they tend to be over complicated and verge on being full on wargames.
I could go for an Andersonverse game, which could probably also provide Soylent's 'light-hearted spy game' through the filter of Captain Scarlett/Joe 90/UFO.
The trick would be, like you mention, keeping the game from getting all caught up in the mechanical details of the machines... how to give it that BIG feel without making the PCs insignificant.
Quote from: Sigmund;451705I'd also love to see a game tailored more towards modern espionage/crime/con type of action. A game that could handle Burn Notice, Oceans Eleven, or White Collar all the way up to something approaching near-future sci-fi Minority Report, or perhaps even go so far as Inception.
Now that you've mentioned it, the Cortex-based Leverage RPG has been getting a fair amount of good press lately.
As for Inception, look no further than the Dreamquest and Dreamthieving rules in MRQII Elric. Seriously. They look really good on paper, I haven't playtested them yet, though.
Quote from: The Butcher;451775Now that you've mentioned it, the Cortex-based Leverage RPG has been getting a fair amount of good press lately.
As for Inception, look no further than the Dreamquest and Dreamthieving rules in MRQII Elric. Seriously. They look really good on paper, I haven't playtested them yet, though.
How compatible is MRQ with BRP?
Quote from: Cole;451776How compatible is MRQ with BRP?
I'd say 80-90%. The Dreamquest system should be portable with minimal adaptation.
Also the Combat Maneuvers system from MRQII core, which is pretty damn cool. :cool:
Quote from: The Butcher;451775Now that you've mentioned it, the Cortex-based Leverage RPG has been getting a fair amount of good press lately.
As for Inception, look no further than the Dreamquest and Dreamthieving rules in MRQII Elric. Seriously. They look really good on paper, I haven't playtested them yet, though.
Hmm. Hadn't thought of Dreamthieving, might have to check it out. Most of the other shows/movies I mentioned I have thought about using GD3 for, but Inception I've been wondering about. Potentially not a bad idea, but I haven't read the MRQII version of Elric yet. I hope it works, because anything BRP is my new fav go-to system :)
Quote from: Technomancer;451595Daytime Soap Operas
They're dead now in US media, at least in Anglophonic media. ABC just canceled the last two.
Quote from: Sigmund;451783Hmm. Hadn't thought of Dreamthieving, might have to check it out. Most of the other shows/movies I mentioned I have thought about using GD3 for, but Inception I've been wondering about. Potentially not a bad idea, but I haven't read the MRQII version of Elric yet. I hope it works, because anything BRP is my new fav go-to system :)
Mechanically the transition should be smooth.
The Moorcockian Dream Realm cosmology has to go, though. But this would be the perfect opportunity to substitute it for some mechanic portraying the importance of dream "architecture" and/or "layers" of dreams, as the movie so proeminently portrayed.
And of course, replace the mystic mumbo jumbo with psychological mumbo jumbo. :D
Quote from: Bradford C. Walker;451788They're dead now in US media, at least in Anglophonic media. ABC just canceled the last two.
I think they still have 'General Hospital'... and the other 'Big 3' channels still have at least one each... but yeah, they're too expensive since they require actors and writers and sets... reality shows and chat shows are much cheaper and easier to put on.
Quote from: Koltar;451551No thank you.
Forever.
- Ed C.
Its ok we don't have to like the same games. I like Chthulu too :)
Quote from: Sigmund;451705I'd also love to see a game tailored more towards modern espionage/crime/con type of action. A game that could handle Burn Notice, Oceans Eleven, or White Collar all the way up to something approaching near-future sci-fi Minority Report, or perhaps even go so far as Inception.
Its already out there, Leverage based on the TV show and its rather excellent.
Quote from: Elliot Wilen;451539Cops. Clash & I bantered a bit about it a while ago, and I think the concept roughly fits the mold of some of his other games, but he hasn't done anything with it so far as I know. There's Gangbusters of course but it's very old, and focused on the Prohibition era. I think a good game could be made of contemporary cops, including fighting street crime, tracking down murderers, taking on gangs, SWAT situations, etc. Some nod to genre could be included--60s and 70s shows, Starsky & Hutch, Kojack, Jack Lord, Streets of SF, etc.
Absolutely this. For me it's a core genre that's almost entirely ignored.
Quote from: AikiGhost;451811Its already out there, Leverage based on the TV show and its rather excellent.
Haven't seen the show or the game, how is it (the game that is)? It seems awfully tailored to the specific show, but even the quick start is $2 and I'm not willing to pay for quickstarts.
I guess one thing that turns me off of the 'police' idea is that I don't think of police as having all that much freedom of movement/self-direction... even at the detective level. The same sort of thing puts me off games about military characters. You pretty much go where you're told and always have a lot of oversight regarding your activities. Plus the vast majority of their time is spent waiting for something to happen. Just how I see it.
I can still enjoy cop shows because the boring/bureaucratic stuff gets truncated... but a game like that seems like it would be a series of unrelated vignettes.
Am I looking at the bark and missing the forest?
Quote from: Simlasa;451878I guess one thing that turns me off of the 'police' idea is that I don't think of police as having all that much freedom of movement/self-direction... even at the detective level. The same sort of thing puts me off games about military characters. You pretty much go where you're told and always have a lot of oversight regarding your activities. Plus the vast majority of their time is spent waiting for something to happen. Just how I see it.
Playing criminals or freedom fighters would be easier?
Some earlier discussion on police games: http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=16623, where I learned (and promptly forgot) that there is a GURPS Cops and GURPS Swat...
Then there's a brief back & forth with Clash, in another thread, which might give some idea of how a cops (or military) game still can have freedom: http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?p=330793#post330793
Another related possibility, I think, is that "the action" occurs on several levels--not just the case, which indeed may be highly circumscribed in terms of options, but the inter-character stuff that happens during the case.
Also, something that may have been mentioned in one of those threads, if you have a broader perspective of the campaign, so that players are dealing with a case load and nonspecific stuff on "the street" (like staying in touch with contacts/sources), there's more freedom. You don't run a session as a scenario that has to be completed before you can go to the next crime. Cases can stay open and may never be solved, etc. See: early days of Homicide, for example.
More generally, for military games, especially, it could still be fun to just play tactical games with firefights and have your characters gain experience.
And another angle, something I've particularly seen in British crime dramas such as Red Riding or Midsomer Murders, is to embed the crimes in an engaging web of relationships, where various individuals have secrets and backstory that may or may not relate to the crime itself. This is getting a bit more into the detective/investigation genre, though--something that may well be handled by (for example) Call of Cthulhu or Gumshoe, depending on the quality of the modules/scenario/GM guidelines.
Streets of San Francisco actually did a nice job of mixing victim/criminal backstories with police procedural action/resolution.
Quote from: ggroy;451879Playing criminals or freedom fighters would be easier?
Yeah, I think they might...
Quote from: Elliot Wilen;451883More generally, for military games, especially, it could still be fun to just play tactical games with firefights and have your characters gain experience.
I guess that's the sort of thing I play wargames for.
I could see an ongoing undercover operation being varied and interesting... or playing in some era where the police were much more loose, with fewer restrictions on them.
Quote from: Simlasa;451888I guess that's the sort of thing I play wargames for.
Right, the RPG-ish aspects would be (a) use of a GM who can handle limited intelligence, devise scenarios, and who will play the opponents in a fair fashion instead of competitively. (b) Character development over time.
If you've seen Inquisitor, from the 40k universe, I think it might be a bit like that. The designer's notes in Inquisitor called it "narrative wargaming". (In the print edition at least; GW hosts a free set of the rules (http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?aId=4900004&_requestid=672719) on their servers that I think have been re-edited, but see p. 34 of the second rules PDF). The definition doesn't really matter, though, if it's fun.
RECON was very similar. Most of the game is in the combat, and PCs die often enough that you're not wasting time coming up with shit like "backstories" for some FNG who's gonna step on a mine in the first five minutes of play. When I ran it, I refused to let anyone tell me their characters' names until they had survived a mission (no one ever did).
Edit:
QuoteBack When I Played Recon
Someone's foot fell onto a bunch of punji sticks with a mine buried amongst them.
The party died.
Someone was chasing Viet Cong through a jungle when two logs smashed them "like an AT-ST in Return of the Jedi".
Then he fell on a mine and the party died.
Once, the party ambushed some Viet Cong on bicycles who were shipping dynamite in boxes. One of the rounds punctured the box of dynamite.
The party died.
Once, the party had to guard someone from assassination by the Viet Cong.
The man lived in a mansion, and the party staked out the house really well, so that no one could get inside.
So the Viet Cong crept in the night while they slept, and planted mines outside all the entrances to the house.
Then in the morning, once the PCs were up, someone threw a molotov cocktail at the house and got shot. The PCs ran out of the house b/c it was on fire.
The party died.
Once, the party ambushed some NVA regulars who were driving construction vehicles.
They leapt atop the vehicles, fought the NVA to a standstill in brutal firefight, disabled most of the tanks, and went home to enjoy a job well done.
Except they'd laid mines to disable the vehicles, and forgot they were in the middle of the minefield that had just blown the treads of the vehicles off.
The party died.
Then we stopped playing Recon.
Whimsical fantasy.
In particular, I'd love to see an RPG based on James P. Blaylock's Balumnia novels.
Quote from: D-503;451859Absolutely this. For me it's a core genre that's almost entirely ignored.
Here in Spain we have sLAng, a game that tries to emulate the movies of Guy Ritchie, Tarantino, Spike Lee and the like. It is pretty good, but even the authors think it is more approppriate for one-shots and short campaigns than for the usual long campaign.
I think its odd to say that there can be no character development in a cops game likewise that you have a limited range of activities.
In a world where TV shows like The Wire, Dark Blue, Life on Mars not to manetion the whole CSI thing. Movies from Dirty Harry through to Bad Boys.
I think a cop Game has a lot of legs.
Then with Crime stuff fromt eh Sopranos and Brotherhood through to Oceans 11 - 19 or whatever, Usual suspects and of course Heat that combines them both.... I reckon a moden Cops and Robbers game woudl fill a real hole.
Is there a game that does the gonzo superscience and over-the-top comic-book action crossed with a perverse Johnny Quest vibe of The Venture Brothers?
Because if not there needs to be one.
I'm thinking Hero System could probably do the trick.
Quote from: Simlasa;451878I guess one thing that turns me off of the 'police' idea is that I don't think of police as having all that much freedom of movement/self-direction... even at the detective level. The same sort of thing puts me off games about military characters. You pretty much go where you're told and always have a lot of oversight regarding your activities. Plus the vast majority of their time is spent waiting for something to happen. Just how I see it.
I can still enjoy cop shows because the boring/bureaucratic stuff gets truncated... but a game like that seems like it would be a series of unrelated vignettes.
Am I looking at the bark and missing the forest?
Yes, you are. In military game, your commanding officer tells you what needs to be done, not how to do it. Personal initiative is everything, and what separates winners from losers. In my military games, PCs either start or end up as the COs. For example, in In Harm's Way: Wild Blue, the PCs are entirely in charge of everything. They have characters who run the mercenary company, allocate resources, negotiate contracts. They have characters who are field officers controlling other PCs. They play grunts trying to achieve the goals the officers set. At each level individuals *must* exercise initiative to control the things they can control. They are the guys *in* the situation. They are the only ones who really know what;'s going on.
-clash
Quote from: thedungeondelver;452027Is there a game that does the gonzo superscience and over-the-top comic-book action crossed with a perverse Johnny Quest vibe of The Venture Brothers?
Because if not there needs to be one.
I'm thinking Hero System could probably do the trick.
I think a lot of what makes VB, VB, is the whole baseline theme behind the entire series, which is failure and being a has-been or never-was. You could model the characters easy enough with nearly any current supers system, but I'm not sure how satisfactory that would be since you're only capturing the style. A lot of the show's substance is ephemeral when it comes to trad tabletop systems unless you're willing to incorporate some minor story-game stuff.
Although I'm sure a really (
really) epic botch table could work. The failure mechanics would have to be super fun and entertaining, though. And people would need to be willing to hand their character up Fate every once in a while for the sake of capturing the completely insane randomness of the show -- sort of revel in the complete deterioration of whatever situation they're in. Sort of a toned down Paranoia vibe, maybe.
Quote from: Bradford C. Walker;451788They're dead now in US media, at least in Anglophonic media. ABC just canceled the last two.
That's not the last two. Four remain: ‘Days of Our Lives’, ‘General Hospital’, ‘The Young and the Restless’, and ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’.
Quote from: flyingmice;452029Yes, you are. In military game, your commanding officer tells you what needs to be done, not how to do it. Personal initiative is everything, and what separates winners from losers.
See, I can see that in a 'Guns Of Navarone' type scenario... out there on your own with limited information and no way home but finishing the mission. A short campaign.
Mercenaries make sense as well... a small group that will stay together and answers mostly to itself.
Being a common grunt in a warzone doesn't sound like a tasty campaign idea though.
For a police game 'Life On Mars' would work because it's got a whole other set of mysteries going on besides the official police work.
Maybe I could get into an RPG version of Dragnet... I love Dragnet. The characters have a lot of restrictions but interesting freedoms to balance them out. Can't see a long campaign of it though... even Dragnet stresses that the every day experience of being a detective is pretty dull.
CSI is just bullshit on stale bread (with dance club lighting to how dumb it is).
Quote from: Elliot Wilen;451539Cops. Clash & I bantered a bit about it a while ago, and I think the concept roughly fits the mold of some of his other games, but he hasn't done anything with it so far as I know. There's Gangbusters of course but it's very old, and focused on the Prohibition era. I think a good game could be made of contemporary cops, including fighting street crime, tracking down murderers, taking on gangs, SWAT situations, etc. Some nod to genre could be included--60s and 70s shows, Starsky & Hutch, Kojack, Jack Lord, Streets of SF, etc.
I agree. We are working on an FBI game this year. And I have been thinking about doing somekind of general law enforcement game.
Quote from: danbuter;451582I'm still waiting for a good Urban Fantasy game, one that is actually designed for it and accounts for all the current major trends in the novels. Wizard, vampire, werewolf, coyote, fae and even normal humans as the PCs.
You would like this Italian comic book series, Jonathan Steele (http://tinyurl.com/3hnznbj) (no relation with The Guardian's journalist). It is exactly what you describe. The writer is a friend of mine, and I even ran a couple of GURPS andventures in this world.
Sadly, even if it screams "use me for a RPG background!!" (there are twelve years of monthly issues to mine from) finding a good publisher in Italy is the highway to clinical depression.
Quote from: AikiGhost;451540Prison drama, no magic, no powers, just harsh reality with a system that is appropriate for running the politics, dealing and brutality of it all.
One guy has already written a spoof RPG for politicians and public servants - BRIBE
http://www.criticalmiss.com/issue1/bribe.html
Quote from: Peregrin;452054I think a lot of what makes VB, VB, is the whole baseline theme behind the entire series, which is failure and being a has-been or never-was. You could model the characters easy enough with nearly any current supers system, but I'm not sure how satisfactory that would be since you're only capturing the style. A lot of the show's substance is ephemeral when it comes to trad tabletop systems unless you're willing to incorporate some minor story-game stuff.
Yeah; I mean, you're basically (as a GM) asking players to play fundamentally (and I mean really fundamentally) fucked-up characters. Breaking it down with the VB squad as written, the team looks something like this:
Washed-up ex-jock ex-OSI "Swedish murder machine" is reduced to being a babysitter for two loudmouthed idiot kids.
Loudmouthed idiot kid #1 - no specific role other than adventure foil or comedy relief.
Loudmouthed idiot kid #2 - ditto
(it doesn't matter which is Hank and which is Dean)
The "superscientist" is a pill junkie whose occasional flashes of brilliance are either entirely useless (witness the shrink ray) or uncontrollably destructive (the security 'bot he built to supplement HeLPeR).
The magic-user whose sole superpower seems to be the ability to drive his wife into the arms of another man, and embarrass his daughter.
The boys' other babysitter, a washed-up ex-supervillian pedophile.
(it goes on, but you know)
QuoteAlthough I'm sure a really (really) epic botch table could work. The failure mechanics would have to be super fun and entertaining, though. And people would need to be willing to hand their character up Fate every once in a while for the sake of capturing the completely insane randomness of the show -- sort of revel in the complete deterioration of whatever situation they're in. Sort of a toned down Paranoia vibe, maybe.
Yeah...but at that point it becomes a real, real railroad. I think a
The Venture Brothers, the RPG is one of those things best left for talking about at the table while someone's on a pizza run/waiting for the game to start/discussing in webforums. Although playing Rusty Venture: The College Years and playing D&D with Dr. Sorayama could get hilariously meta.
Quote from: The Butcher;451777I'd say 80-90%. The Dreamquest system should be portable with minimal adaptation.
Also the Combat Maneuvers system from MRQII core, which is pretty damn cool. :cool:
@ Cole: I basically agree with that. The skills are rearranged, repurposed and/or renamed, some parts like the combat maneuvers are added, and the combat chapter is more detailed than in most versions of BRP I know (which you'd expect from a RuneQuest game worthy of the name - MRQ2
is worthy of the name, btw), with hit locations, reach, charges and all these kinds of details, but ultimately, when you come down to it, the fundamentals are the same.
Quote from: BedrockBrendan;452210I agree. We are working on an FBI game this year. And I have been thinking about doing somekind of general law enforcement game.
Then I will leave it in your extra-ordinarily capable hands, Brendan! I have no doubt your game will kick ass! :D
-clash
A friend of mine is working on a Niszchen roleplaying game :S
Quote from: flyingmice;453492Then I will leave it in your extra-ordinarily capable hands, Brendan! I have no doubt your game will kick ass! :D
-clash
Thanks.
Quote from: BedrockBrendan;452210I agree. We are working on an FBI game this year. And I have been thinking about doing somekind of general law enforcement game.
Awsome news :)
Quote from: Sigmund;453564Awsome news :)
Well I've been quite sick, so it may take us time (our schedule is a little backed up as a result). But I am hoping I will be in good enough shape by next month to go full throttle on these ideas. I have all the basic groundwork for the FBI game done (and it uses many of the basic parts of our Counter Terrorism game---however focusing on the FBI changes a lot of the core concepts).
Quote from: Koltar;451591That doesn't cover all the possibilities.
Right now there is an oddball cross-genre thing going on between 'fantasy', 'Horror', romances, and 'Mystery' novels.
Included in this new 'Urban Fantasy' genre are book series like:
Chicagoland Vampire novels
The Sooki Stackhouse novels ("TRUE BLOOD" is the HBO version)
The Amber Benson books about Death's Daughter Calliope Reaper-Jones
The Dresden Files
Penguin Books inside their covers refers to this kind of stuff as 'Dark Fantasy' or 'Urban Noir' books.
TV Shows that might fall under this umbrella rea things like:
"Angel"
"Being Human" (U.K. or North Am version)
"Buffy: The Vampire Slayer"
"Charmed"
"The Dresden Files"
"Forever Night"
"Highlander" The Series
"Moonlight" (it wasn't as 'angsty' and 'dark' as other Vampire shows)
"TRUE BLOOD"
"Special Unit Two" (two season cop show set in Chicago - they hunted monsters of legend)
Is there a current RPG that covers all that kind of stuff as its main focus?
- Ed C.
Closest to cover all is probably Bureau 13 from Tri Tac Games (d20 version)
Would Randal and Hopkirk Deceased come into that catagory is it too goofy?
We need more RPGs based on British Cinema:
If, the RPG
Withnail and I, the RPG
A Clockwork Orange, the RPG
...
etc.
Quote from: thedungeondelver;453750We need more RPGs based on British Cinema:
If, the RPG
Withnail and I, the RPG
A Clockwork Orange, the RPG
...
etc.
Over the Edge, Over the Edge and definitely Over the Edge.
RPGPundit
Quote from: RPGPundit;453916Over the Edge, Over the Edge and definitely Over the Edge.
RPGPundit
One and Three I'll give you but really? I mean that was entirely tongue in cheek (although I can definitely see storygamers embracing an
If RPG and nerds in general glomming on to an
A Clockwork Orange RPG - and entirely missing the lesson of the book, even worse than Kubrick's film interpretation), but how exactly would you make an RPG out of
Withnail & I? Irrespective of rules.
How about an Ealing Comedy RPG?
Quote from: thedungeondelver;453968One and Three I'll give you but really? I mean that was entirely tongue in cheek (although I can definitely see storygamers embracing an If RPG and nerds in general glomming on to an A Clockwork Orange RPG - and entirely missing the lesson of the book, even worse than Kubrick's film interpretation), but how exactly would you make an RPG out of Withnail & I? Irrespective of rules.
If you could do it, it'd be with Over The Edge.
RPGpundit