Gaming concepts

[Anastasia]

I tend to think up a lot of ideas for games. Well, you see, by think up I mean think of them, get inspired, play games that give me ideas, talk games over that add even more, and generally geek it up. So anyway, regardless of the source I have a lot of ideas for games, be them one shot or campaigns. Most of the time, they end up being unused and withering away in the recesses of the mind.

Fuck that.

It's worth a shot to post them and encourage others to do so. It could spark good discussion and even give life to a game or two.

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Eischenloss: The Black Tower.

http://www.soulriders.org/phpBB2/index.php?c=77

I'll start with this one, as I think I had a reallly good, mold breaking idea. It takes standard D and D dungeon fare and mixes things up - instead of playing a single hero, you play a soul creating bodies to challenge a dark dungeon. It's kinda like a rougelike given form, if you're familiar with the genre.

I like it because it puts all the normal assumptions of D/D on it's head. It's okay to die, it's okay to go crazy or try different builds, you can even be suicidal and it can get you ahead. Sure, the incarnation I used of it was intentionally generic and cheesy, but this could get twisted around quite a lot to suit tastes.  

My run at it failed for a few reasons. One was timing issues combined with some shitty real life luck. Using 2nd edition D and D wasn't the best move; third would suit this so much better. It's streamlined and plug'n'play design lends itself to this sort of creation. Finally, as it's largely a dungeon crawl at heart(Without a lot modding, things I was considering for higher levels), you're required to do a lot of GM prep work. Despite that, I really like the base here.

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Suikoden: The RPG.

This is an idea that I've been tossing around for a long time, and recent events inspired me further. Namely, Laggy made a rune magic system for D/D. <_< Anyway, if you're familiar with the game series you know what's up. 108 stars, a true rune or two, epic wars, lots of PCs and NPCs. Basically high fantasy in a distinctive worldset with just a faint dash of techno in one or two places.

The entire setup lends itself to adventure. In short 'Youth leads an army of revolutionaries/shattered kingdoms/joint task force/whatever the fuck, slowly gains power and a True Rune, beats the baddies and saves the day at the end. With a well developed world and a magic system far more controllable than the norm, everything lends itself to an interesting campaign. Oh, it has the 'Oooh, I played this!' appeal as well. That's always good for sparking up interest.

The only thing of note is what system to use. As I said, Laggy is brewing up a D/D conversion, but you could use BESM/Tristat for it, or any system like that.

[Dracos]

Eischenloss was neat.  I forget if I went over the issues I saw, I probably did, but the major one against it was rewards for not using the game mechanics(Congrats, you got through without dying...  but you're going into the puzzle blind, so really that's a large bit luck.) and a do everything repeatedly ("Well, yeah, I know how to solve this one").

I'll write up some of my dead ones later today. =)

And probably talk suiky.  Since Suiky is neat.

Dracos

[Olvelsper]

How would one handle a Suikoden RPG, though? Would you assign the True Rune to a NPC to keep the PCs from feeling like it's all going to fall down to that one PC. What if the PC with the True Rune leaves the game? Would things just crumble without that needed power that the GM may have planned for?

[Carthrat]

There are a number of cheap ways around the whole 'There's only ONE McGuffin' thing. You can split it up or hand it to an NPC, sure. It's gonna depend on the players. Personally, I think that as long as everyone has time to do their 'cool thing' and it meaningfully impacts the game in some way, it doesn't MATTER if Player X is the one holding the Sword of All Creation- he wouldn't have got to the Tree of Life without help!

As for people leaving.. that screws up any game, so nothing special here. :/

[Carthrat]

But enough of that discussion.

I'm running a concept I've wanted to for a while right now; Exalted, obviously. I always wanted to try my hand at running an empire-building game of sorts (as well as play in one!) It's not turning out quite like I envisioned from the start, but it's good fun.

I'd also be interested in a game based around a group of people who command a ship (for whatever reason) and using that as a vehicle for adventure.

Actually, come to think of it, a concept I generally would enjoy to RP is that the group of PCs are in control of *some* organisation of some variety, and focus the adventures around that. You can paralell the growth of PCs alongside the group. And everyone really DOES enjoy gaining status and being able to order people around.

[Anastasia]

Yeah, Rat's pretty much correct.  People leaving sucks no matter what the situation, so it would come down to GM patching or the game folding. I wouldn't give a True Rune to smoeone I knew might be flaky but past that you just gotta deal.

I'd also be interested in a game based around a group of people who command a ship (for whatever reason) and using that as a vehicle for adventure.

Actually, come to think of it, a concept I generally would enjoy to RP is that the group of PCs are in control of *some* organisation of some variety, and focus the adventures around that. You can paralell the growth of PCs alongside the group. And everyone really DOES enjoy gaining status and being able to order people around.

I'd like to do a ship adventure just to get to make seamen jokes a -ack!

Sorry, sorry. I digress, so I'll get on with it. Weren't you in Iddy's game, which was supposed to be something like that? The concept's interesting enough and comes with some great conditionals. The PCs have great range and speed because of the ship, yet they're bound to it's very small space. Reminds me of Pirates of Dark Water offhand.

This strikes me well as I think about it, since you have everything under control and yet always some interesting conditionals that aren't in a normal game. Plus you'd have to think to break the basic adventuring mold and encounters. Hmmm. THat is interesting.

I'd toyed around with the idea of a group leading a organization in a game I ran, Assassins. Regretably the game died very young due to Tristat DX sucking groats; I envisioned the PCs commanding groups of assassins once they became 'invested' into Magnum Deus properly. I like the idea, it's fun to make NPCs do what you will and be all in charge. Screw doing the footwork sometimes.

[Dracos]

I'd love doing a sailor adventure (The Oddssey?) or Pirate game. =)

That'd be a blast.

Dracos