Pictured here is my 2013 roleplaying "reading list". They boil down into three camps - superheroes/urban fantasy/Arthurian myths.
SUPERHEROES:
- Villains & Vigilantes - have a long history with this game.
- ICONS - appears rules-lite and is well supported.
- Smallville - looks nice but features totally alien design concepts that I'm interested in investigating.
URBAN FANTASY:
ARTHURIAN MYTHS:- Buffy/Angel - always loved the Cinematic Unisystem for its sleek flexibility and have always wanted to try my hand at a (non-college) Buffy-esque game setting. Probably more Supernatural in tone than Buffy and Angel though.
- The Dresden Files - I know next to nothing about the FATE system, but am willing to give it a try as the background for this game seems to gel with what I am looking for.
- Primeval - basically this is Cubicle 7's Doctor Who game with more guns, dinosaurs and time anomalies.
- King Arthur Pendragon - simply put this has always been on my RPG bucket list.
Quite a few of these games (particularly The Dresden Files, Smallville and, to a degree, Pendragon) are unlike anything I have played or run before - and I think it's about time I challenged myself to think outside my OSR-shaped box.
To a degree there is some overlap potential between the "superheroes" and the "urban fantasy" as, if I went the Unisystem route, I suspect my game would be leaning towards an Alphas/4400/Heroes/Misfits style of setting with street-level (non-costumed) powered humans.
Or it might go more Supernatural.
But what I need to do - in my continuing desperate struggle to adhere to The Tao Of Pete - is take my time, select one system I really get on with and then develop a campaign setting that's ready to go when 2014 rolls around.
To a degree there is some overlap potential between the "superheroes" and the "urban fantasy" as, if I went the Unisystem route, I suspect my game would be leaning towards an Alphas/4400/Heroes/Misfits style of setting with street-level (non-costumed) powered humans.
Or it might go more Supernatural.
But what I need to do - in my continuing desperate struggle to adhere to The Tao Of Pete - is take my time, select one system I really get on with and then develop a campaign setting that's ready to go when 2014 rolls around.
Wow I didn't even know there was a Smallville RPG, and me with my Supers RPG fetish.
ReplyDeleteI want to pick up Primeval and still haven't.
I've had Pendragon for decades now, but like Ars Magica, never the group to play it. Well I shouldn't say never, but the groups that went in deep enough, I had tied up in other things.
I think it's always good to try new games and systems, at least for short exploratory runs in between tried and true favorites.
Smallville is a very atypical game system, very 'indie' from what I've read so far, being more about the strengths of inter-relationships between characters than actual stats. Looks interesting, but not sure how our gaggle of old schoolers (including myself) would adapt to it!
DeletePrimeval is a spin on DW:AITAS (which, itself, is finally getting a slew of supplements it would seem), and has some good mechanics for tampering with time which I like the idea of.
As with Pendragons, as you suggest, it's one that the group has to really buy into for the long haul to get the most out of it. We shall see - I'm just looking forward to being a player for a while ;)
Yeah, we've set up a couple games where I can play instead of GM (very rare), a Savage Mass Effect and In Nomine, while I keep running Hong Kong Action Theater and soon, DWAITAS again. If we can make it a weekly thing across 3-4 games, that would be sweet.
DeleteYou're so lucky, I wish we could get a weekly group together - but it's never going to happen. How's the HKAT going?
DeleteWell there was an IF in that sentence. It's not a done deal, only an ideal.
DeleteHKAT is fun, and playing a different movie each time allows for some role-playing opportunities you wouldn't normally have (like PCs at each others' throats, or premises that wouldn't work in campaign for like Pucks of Fury), but I do find the combat system just a tad crunchier than I would like. Everything so high energy, I don't like the fights to slow things down even a little. You can see our version of play reports here: http://www.siskoid.com/RPG/JoyLuck/releases.html
It's the fake movie studio's website, with "reviews" from "movie critics". And the fake posters.
That's incredible - very entertaining and inspirational.
DeleteThanks. I do like to give a little something extra special to the players.
DeleteI should also be doing a CD of the various soundtracks used in the "movies" for Christmas gifts.
Nice touch!
DeleteWhatever you settle on, run a few simple one-shot scenarios with pre-gens before you start a campaign, maybe relating to your upcoming campaign in some tangential way. They'll help you and your players figure out some of the oddities and bugs of the new system beforehand, so they don't frustrate your glorious campaign launch.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good idea, but part of our problem is we only meet monthly, for a few hours, so have to make the most of our gaming time - so it's a bit risky trying out totally new systems in case we fritter away one of our precious slots ;)
Deletedid you get into or know about the smallville season 11 comic book series? i bought a bunch and have not started to read them yet... maybe it's cause i don't know how to read...
ReplyDeleteI only really got into Smallville seriously in the later seasons when it broke away from its tedious "freak-on-the-week" format and started borrowing ideas from the comics.
DeleteI didn't really see the need for a Season 11 comic - it's just an alternate take on Supes competing with the existing comics.