Sunday, May 15, 2011

In the Beginning...

I don't know how other GM's do it, but I like to start any new game by first deciding what kind of setting I am going to use. My default is generally a fantasy world of my own creation. However, sometimes I want to do something different. The problem with going with something different is player interest. Most of my players have a strong preference for not only fantasy, but Dungeons and Dragons specifically. I do not mind either fantasy or D&D but sometimes I like doing something a bit different. My conundrum is generally I don't want to put a lot of work into a campaign I am never going to run. On the other hand, I am doing this in a public domain which means there is a chance someone else might use some of what I put up here.

Since currently I am not in the mood for fantasy and there is a chance that even if I don't use any of what I write here someone else will, I am going to go with something else this time. I have been thinking of doing a Sci Fi game for a while but this is a bit difficult because I don't have much in the way for source material. I have Dark Heresy, but I find that setting is a bit limited in concept, you can play part of the inquisition and that is about it. I know that Rouge Trader is out and I want it, but I don't have it yet so I can't go there. There is Fading Suns which is an incredible setting, but the system is a little on the wonky side. Of course there is always D20, but I have never really liked that system for Sci Fi. Since I can't really seem to find a happy medium here, I don't think I will be going Sci Fi.

I always like to run horror games and at least a couple of my players like them so this has some potential. I have been considering a Vampire, and know the players would like it, but I don't know if I am in the mood for that kind of horror. I would love to play Geist, but so far I have not really come up with a story I like enough and again, not sure if I want to go there right now. Of course thinking about White Wolf has gotten me thinking about all of their games and Scion comes to mind. I have to admit letting the players loose as the children of gods sounds like a lot of fun, the one problem with Scion is that it is generally a lot better to know who the characters are before building a campaign around them.

I am going to shelve horror at the moment and keep Scion in the back of my mind. Since I have decided that fantasy, sci-fi, and now horror are out I am not left with a lot of room to wiggle. I would like to do a western but its not a very popular thing, but I could go with combining horror and a western with Deadlands. I really like Deadlands and have never ran it, but I have also never played it and I try to stay away from running systems I haven't played. I will throw that in the back of my head along with Scion.

A game I have been dying to run is some kind of post apocalyptic game like Gamma World or Shadow Run. I would also like to do some kind of undead apocalypse game. In fact right now I suddenly had a burst of ideas. Hell, why not?

Yep thats the way I am going to go, I am going to run with the undead apocalypse idea. Now that I have decided what kind of setting I am going to run, I need to decide what system to use. I will cover that in my next post.

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