Campaigns of 2010

As the new year is upon us and on the 16th of January the Ultimate Session of Book 1 of the New Dawn of the West (wow that's a mouthful) will be occurring, I have to think about what 2010 will mean roleplaying wise.

For certain I have Ultimate Guardians on the plate, as well as my ongoing Final Age playtest group. The main thing though is that the Fortknights, the group that has been playing New Dawn of the West, are my oldest and primary group. One player has been gaming with me since grade 9!

So Ultimate Guardians for sure. Superheroes is how this group came together, and super heroes is still their favorite game.

I am also thinking of a Star Trek campaign, but I can't decide what flavour yet. I know for sure I will make a SAGA version of Star Trek though, using cards and such. It just seems like a natural mix to me.

I like TOS, but my "Trek Sweet Spot" is Star Trek 2 - 4 with cherry pickings from everything after. Wrath of Khan, Search for Spock and Voyage Home are the sweetest Trek trilogy ever and frankly my view of what Star Trek should be. Very FASA Trek I know.

That said there was a lot I liked about the new Star Trek (Abrams-Trek) and a lot I really really didn't. It is funny how when I walked out of the theatre I was simply blown away by that movie. Every subsequent review I have disliked it more and more. I find giant plots holes or logic-fails in the story (1 super nova is going to destroy the whole galaxy? WTF?) and like it less and less. I really hated the bridge and the "utility" look of the engineering. Arrgggh! I just reminded myself of more stuff I didn't like! Peh! Enough of that.

And don't even get me started on TNG.

So yeah TOS or Movie Gen? That is the question.

After Trek I need a third choice. One that works with a group of 6 players. Cyberpunk, while fun as hell, is not realy good longterm stuff for me. I kill characters far too easily and often for that to happen.

Horror rpging has never gone well with my groups. Smaller ones yes, but big groups no.

Western Horror might be fun though, some seriously toned down Deadlands could be a hoot.

Any suggestions?

25th Anniversary!

So with 2010 right around the corner, I realized something. This is going to be my 25th anniversary of roleplaying! I started way back in 1985 as a freshmen in high school and never looked back int he quarter century since.

Wow.

Unlike most people I didn't start with D&D but actually with FASA's Star Trek game. I quickly moved on to Villains & Vigilantes and then dabbled a bit in D&D.

Fantasy rping always took a back seat to Star Trek or Superheroes, that's just the way it was up until 1989. Then I discovered a game that made all others moot for me, it came in a minimalist black box and cost my $18 at Captain Quebec (uFLGS) and it was called Cyberpunk.

I ran Cyberpunk for years (both 2013 and 2020) and was considered quite a lethal referee. I still am. I have always warned players that all other games I run for them to have fun and explore the world... Cyberpunk I run for me. And I like shootouts, double-crosses and non-stop action. All of these things lead to very high PC bodycounts in Cyberpunk and I am quite fine with that.

The other two themes I have ran to death are Superheroes and Star Trek.

I was the only person in my circle of gamers who held onto MSH Classic (FASERIP) after everyone else had moved on to Mutants & Masterminds. I just never got into all that book keeping. Wasn't for me. MSH was elegant, fast and I could eyeball a threat/power level in seconds. I didn't need to then perform a bunch of caculations based on that eyeballing, all I needed to do was add some ranks and Bob's your uncle.

I have run homegrown campaigns, Marvel Universe campaings, DC Universe campaigns and a weird folded Universe that lasted a bloody longtime as well.

Star Trek is another game I have ran in almost every incarnation, though not the one that came before FASA Trek. I have run Next Gen Campaigns, Movie Gen Campagins, Post-Gen Campaigns and even my own Ultimate Universe version of Star Trek. I have run Prime Directive using the original rules and D6. I know my Trek, but surprisingly only became a fan after I start RPGing it. That is why the FASA Universe will always be in step with how I see Star Trek and as such Movie Gen being Trek to me.

So with my 25th Anniversary of gaming looming I plan to spend 2010 revisiting these awesome genres (as well as continuing work on Final Age) and really have some old school fun with myself. The only difference is that I will use SAGA instead of FASERIP for my supers. I don't know what I will use for Trek and I will use my melange of 2013/2020 rules for Cyberpunk.

It's gonna be a good year for gaming!