Wednesday, June 21, 2006
RPG brainstorming, part one
Since I've been reading through (or skimming) a bunch of RPG books lately, I've been starting to think about what types of games I'd like to run and/or play in after Labour Day. When our summer hiatus breaks, I want to be able to come out of the gates running. I don't want to get tripped up by not having something ready to go. I figure I'll just do some brainstorming here.
I believe all the players in the Sunday night group stop by here on occasion, so I'd appreciate any comments, concerns or even additions to my brainstorming. If you see something you think is neat, tell me. If you see something you think is lame, fuck off. Uh ... I mean, tell me, but be constructive. If you have ideas to make something work a little better than what I've got, go ahead and lay it out for me. Email it or put it in the comments. I'll add it to these brainstorming sessions.
My first idea, which would need a lot of fleshing out before it would be viable, is something in the style of Constantine. I really should pick up the first Hellblazer TPB to get some more ideas as to how this could work, but my ideas so far come from the Constantine movie, In Nomine and WitchCraft.
The war between God and Lucifer is kind of an old cliché, but it's really not something I've ever explored in RPGs. With the acquisition of the Revelations series of books for In Nomine, I've been thinking I need to actually get an In Nomine game going. I think something on a lesser scale than angels and demons could be a lot of fun. And this is where Constantine fits in, see?
If we push the angels and demons further into the background and concentrate more on the minions, I think the war between Heaven and Hell becomes rather more interesting and easier to deal with. I really don't have a clue how to run angels and demons, but mortals imbued with celestial or demonic powers to fight for whatever cause is certainly doable. Keep it on the low-down so that the rest of the mortal world doesn't see what's going on and flip out, and voila!
Of course, I could also forget the weird In Nomine system and use the Unisystem. Having WitchCraft makes that easy. With All Flesh Must Be Eaten and several supplements, I could add in some bizarre stuff.
It makes sense to steal ideas from various other sources. I really liked the concept of Papa Midnight's bar acting as neutral ground for good and evil. Midnight himself could be spun into an interesting NPC, although I'd ditch the character's personality and image and weave the concept into something else.
I need to think more about how PCs would fit in and exactly what they would do. Fight for good? For evil? A damned Constantine-like character trying to buy his way into Heaven would be nice and dramatic. Or maybe a do-gooder who finds something he hadn't seen before in Hell makes sense.
I believe all the players in the Sunday night group stop by here on occasion, so I'd appreciate any comments, concerns or even additions to my brainstorming. If you see something you think is neat, tell me. If you see something you think is lame, fuck off. Uh ... I mean, tell me, but be constructive. If you have ideas to make something work a little better than what I've got, go ahead and lay it out for me. Email it or put it in the comments. I'll add it to these brainstorming sessions.
My first idea, which would need a lot of fleshing out before it would be viable, is something in the style of Constantine. I really should pick up the first Hellblazer TPB to get some more ideas as to how this could work, but my ideas so far come from the Constantine movie, In Nomine and WitchCraft.
The war between God and Lucifer is kind of an old cliché, but it's really not something I've ever explored in RPGs. With the acquisition of the Revelations series of books for In Nomine, I've been thinking I need to actually get an In Nomine game going. I think something on a lesser scale than angels and demons could be a lot of fun. And this is where Constantine fits in, see?
If we push the angels and demons further into the background and concentrate more on the minions, I think the war between Heaven and Hell becomes rather more interesting and easier to deal with. I really don't have a clue how to run angels and demons, but mortals imbued with celestial or demonic powers to fight for whatever cause is certainly doable. Keep it on the low-down so that the rest of the mortal world doesn't see what's going on and flip out, and voila!
Of course, I could also forget the weird In Nomine system and use the Unisystem. Having WitchCraft makes that easy. With All Flesh Must Be Eaten and several supplements, I could add in some bizarre stuff.
It makes sense to steal ideas from various other sources. I really liked the concept of Papa Midnight's bar acting as neutral ground for good and evil. Midnight himself could be spun into an interesting NPC, although I'd ditch the character's personality and image and weave the concept into something else.
I need to think more about how PCs would fit in and exactly what they would do. Fight for good? For evil? A damned Constantine-like character trying to buy his way into Heaven would be nice and dramatic. Or maybe a do-gooder who finds something he hadn't seen before in Hell makes sense.
// posted by Chris @ 3:02 PM 
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**WARNING**
The below document was created without benefit of a spell checker, a grammar checker, a proof reader or caffeine. The creator takes no responsibility for any typographical errors, wonky ideas or silly concepts that may be contained below. Unauthorized reproduction or use of the below document or any parts thereof will result in legal action and possibly severe rubber tube beatings.
You have been warned.
LoS
* * *
Disturbingly enough I'd been pondering how to design and run a heaven vs. hell game in the last few months.
While it never made it past the planning stages I'd decided to try setting the game after the apocalypse had taken place rather than the endless cold-war style conflict that most of these games seem to focus on.
The basic idea being that the war between heaven and hell had taken place but never had a clear victor.
On the side of the Light you had angels who finally recognized that their supposedly perfect society had a dark side to it and, disenchanted with the half-truths they'd been fed for endless millennia, struck out on their own to create what they viewed as a "true" paradise or heaven. Some might achieve something resembling that ideal while others turn into tyrants, no better than the forces they swore to oppose.
While on the side of Darkness (dun dun dun....) you have demons who for the first time ever have a chance at to be something more than an expendable minion in some endless war. Some might take this as an excuse to set up their own versions of hell on Earth, while others, perhaps recognizing "the error of their ways" decide to try and atone for past sins.
While Heaven and Hell proper are still present and significant forces that are not to be underestimated they both suffered severe losses in the war and the mass exodus of deserters which took place after the war weakened them to the point that they were no longer have the forces to risk a direct confrontation, essentially resetting the Armageddon clock.
While they recuperate and lick their wounds they retreat back to their respective fortresses and close the gates preventing souls from crossing over. This leads to restless souls wandering the land. In many cases the dead don't remain dead but rise days or weeks later to once again wander the Earth. Unfortunately most are driven mad by their deaths and turn into little more than savage beasts (aka Zombies). Others, with a stronger will or an unbreakable stubborn streak, return from the dead with their minds more or less in tact. However even though their minds are sound their bodies are still dead slowly rotting away resulting in their being shunned by what passes for "normal society". Eventually though their bodies decay to the point that even their disembodied spirit can't animate it any more and they become ghosts, possessing entities, or poltergeists. The same happens with their feral cousins resulting in malignant spirits.
So this begs the question "What happened to humanity during all this mess?" Well humans turn out to be a pretty durable lot. While the Armageddon had the expected effect of turning the world on its ear and there were the obligatory doomsday cults and mass suicides by and large humanity just kept on going.
Many population centres were destroyed in the great conflict while others remain relatively intact. Some nations allied with one side or another in the conflict while a surprising number shunned both factions and stood by themselves against both heaven and hell. Old rivalries were set aside and unlikely alliances were formed during that time. Great nations were splintered as groups of people chose different paths, some wanting to aid the forces of heaven, while others felt they had a better chance of survival if they allied with hell.
After the two divine factions pulled their forces back after the war some nations crumbled without their continued support, others were absorbed by their neighbours while a small number continue on, albeit as little more than a shadow of their former glory.
* * *
Anyway I'm going to take a break for the time being and continue this when I have more time.
LoS
The below document was created without benefit of a spell checker, a grammar checker, a proof reader or caffeine. The creator takes no responsibility for any typographical errors, wonky ideas or silly concepts that may be contained below. Unauthorized reproduction or use of the below document or any parts thereof will result in legal action and possibly severe rubber tube beatings.
You have been warned.
LoS
* * *
Disturbingly enough I'd been pondering how to design and run a heaven vs. hell game in the last few months.
While it never made it past the planning stages I'd decided to try setting the game after the apocalypse had taken place rather than the endless cold-war style conflict that most of these games seem to focus on.
The basic idea being that the war between heaven and hell had taken place but never had a clear victor.
On the side of the Light you had angels who finally recognized that their supposedly perfect society had a dark side to it and, disenchanted with the half-truths they'd been fed for endless millennia, struck out on their own to create what they viewed as a "true" paradise or heaven. Some might achieve something resembling that ideal while others turn into tyrants, no better than the forces they swore to oppose.
While on the side of Darkness (dun dun dun....) you have demons who for the first time ever have a chance at to be something more than an expendable minion in some endless war. Some might take this as an excuse to set up their own versions of hell on Earth, while others, perhaps recognizing "the error of their ways" decide to try and atone for past sins.
While Heaven and Hell proper are still present and significant forces that are not to be underestimated they both suffered severe losses in the war and the mass exodus of deserters which took place after the war weakened them to the point that they were no longer have the forces to risk a direct confrontation, essentially resetting the Armageddon clock.
While they recuperate and lick their wounds they retreat back to their respective fortresses and close the gates preventing souls from crossing over. This leads to restless souls wandering the land. In many cases the dead don't remain dead but rise days or weeks later to once again wander the Earth. Unfortunately most are driven mad by their deaths and turn into little more than savage beasts (aka Zombies). Others, with a stronger will or an unbreakable stubborn streak, return from the dead with their minds more or less in tact. However even though their minds are sound their bodies are still dead slowly rotting away resulting in their being shunned by what passes for "normal society". Eventually though their bodies decay to the point that even their disembodied spirit can't animate it any more and they become ghosts, possessing entities, or poltergeists. The same happens with their feral cousins resulting in malignant spirits.
So this begs the question "What happened to humanity during all this mess?" Well humans turn out to be a pretty durable lot. While the Armageddon had the expected effect of turning the world on its ear and there were the obligatory doomsday cults and mass suicides by and large humanity just kept on going.
Many population centres were destroyed in the great conflict while others remain relatively intact. Some nations allied with one side or another in the conflict while a surprising number shunned both factions and stood by themselves against both heaven and hell. Old rivalries were set aside and unlikely alliances were formed during that time. Great nations were splintered as groups of people chose different paths, some wanting to aid the forces of heaven, while others felt they had a better chance of survival if they allied with hell.
After the two divine factions pulled their forces back after the war some nations crumbled without their continued support, others were absorbed by their neighbours while a small number continue on, albeit as little more than a shadow of their former glory.
* * *
Anyway I'm going to take a break for the time being and continue this when I have more time.
LoS
# posted by 
: 6/22/2006 9:21 AM
: 6/22/2006 9:21 AM
I really like the idea. At least in the premise that it's the End of Times, it has some similarities to Eden's Armageddon -- a game I don't own and only know a little bit about. In WoD terms, Armageddon is WitchCraft's version of Gehenna, I'm told.
Chris
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