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?

Updates, Holiday Break and Random Thoughts

So with this past weekend's session of New Dawn of the West (episode 11) we are on hiatus until the New Year. As well the Final Age game (more on that in a second) is also on hiatus for the same period.

I think that it is good to take a break for a month and really let the creative juices recharge a bit. I have been working non-stop on the World of Aeran and the Final Age game together for about 6 months now and I need to think about something other than swords, dwarves and dragons.

Final Age, just so we are all clear, is the playtest group for a RPG+Setting that a number of us are working on for release hopefully next year. Once the holidays are over, this blog will chart the development of that as well.

The New Dawn of the West campaign is also coming to a wrap-up soon, probably with the next session. Which is funny, because with the previous two DC Legacy story arc campaigns I did, it seems that I have found my magic number, 12.

12 is the number of comic book limited series (usually), it is also usually the number of episodes in a British tv series (they don't call them seasons) and it happens to be a number of other cool things, not the least of which is the Zodiac.

The problem I have always had as a narrator is an over abundance of creativity to the point that I lose interest and want to change the campaign after about 3 to 6 sessions. This used to drive my players nuts, but recently having settled into story arcs of 12 or so sessions has proven to be quite doable. So why fight it? It gives the players a nice long run and the me a chance to tell a story that may allow for a return, as it did in my DC Legacy game.

So what's next for the Fortknights? (That's right, the regular Saturday night biweekly game are the Fortknights and have been since about 2000 or so) Well I am itching to do a another superhero campaign, though this one homegrown and not DC. The only issues is system.

I am not going to use the MSH Classic (FASERIP) for reasons I won't go into now. It has been my go-to system for supers for the past 20 years, but for now I would like to try something else. So here are my choices;

• Marvel SAGA is a super fun system that I have enjoyed immensely as well, but the lack of cards may be an issue, since I would have to make my own and print them up.

• Basic Action Super Heroes: Ultimate Edition (hereafter BASH-UE) has caught my eye and I may give it a whirl.

• D6 Powers - Revised and Expanded may be a solid choice, but on the other hand I have played D6 to death and know its weaknesses far too well to really want to use it for a supers game.

• Truth & Justice is too weird for my tastes from what I am seeing.

• Mutants & Masterminds/Champions are just too darn complicated for me.

Any other superhero game I would consider are either too obscure, too rare or too broken for me to delve into, like say Superworld, V&V or Golden Heroes.

At this point I would say that BASH-UE is a strong leader with MSH SAGA right behind it. I'll let you know as soon as I do, and if you want to sway my thoughts feel free to comment on this.

Cheers