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Serpentine
2010-09-15, 12:27 AM
Even though I'll never get a chance to anytime soon, I keep coming up with ideas of particularly novel types of campaigns. So, I thought I'd talk about them, instead. What different or odd sorts of game-types would you like to play, and/or which have you, and how did they go?
The most obvious - and boring - example of the sort of thing I'm thinking of is the Evil Campaign. I played one of those for a game or two, but it folded pretty quickly.
One I was thinking would be fun is a monstrous campaign. Pick a fairly high level, and tell everyone "be whatever you want! Go nuts! The weirder the better!"
Another, inspired by some recent threads, is the Stereotype Campaign. The cleric would be a sweet naiive elfen maid on a unicorn. The Barbarian would be a dumb Conan figure - and/or a Red Sonya. Maybe the female Bard would be an image-obsessed slut with an excessive concern for her nails, while the Wizard is a socially-awkward, pimpled, scrawny or overweight-and-neckbearded nerd. That sort of thing.
Yet another is the Class/Race Stereotype Campaign. Stick-up-bum Paladin, dumb-as-nails fighter, mad-for-power/mad-scientist Wizard, drunken axe-wielding Scottish accented Dwarf, annoying gnome Illusionist, steals-everything-not-nailed-down-and-also-the-nails halfling, and so on.

So... Novel/ty games. Discuss.

Gan The Grey
2010-09-15, 02:39 AM
I'm a big fan of the persistent detailed world that doesn't revolve around the PCs. Here I can choose at any point what part of the world I want to immerse myself in, and should I do something of meaning, those changes will visible to future characters playing in the same world. I like knowing that there is more to the world than what the DM comes up with from week to week, that my path is mine to choose. I prefer my games to focus more on the small victories than saving all reality. I want to know my bartender by name, form a friendship with him, learn a bit about his history so I can better immerse myself in the world. I want to feel something when something happens to him, good or bad.

Morph Bark
2010-09-15, 04:17 AM
Under what definition of "novel" are we working here? It would be nice to set some perimeters.

Dirty n Evil
2010-09-15, 04:38 AM
Just to toss some ideas out there that I've had in the past.

The "themed heritage" game. The players all possess the same template, and because of this background they find a common cause that guides their efforts and provides an underlying theme to the adventures. Examples include the half-dragon group, the half-celestial group, you get the idea. For an interesting twist, mix up the group as some half-celestial and some half-fiends.

The "children of the gods" game. Using the classic style of many Greek tales, the characters are the children of the gods... greater than common mortals, but their parentage means that they're destined to overcome great challenges. Sometimes to aid their otherworldly parents, and sometimes in direct competition with them.

Don't discount the idea of changing not the characters, but the world around them. Have all of the players play human characters... in a world where humans are very uncommon. This lends itself very well to problem solving and lots of covert behavior from the players.

One idea that I once played was a game that begins with each of us having chosen favored characters from the past... and having them die. We then awoke to find ourselves not facing our afterlife, but instead on an entirely different plane of existence in a mage's tower. It seems that at the moment of death, the wizard in question had managed to pluck our spirits on their course to final rest and brought them to him for use in his plans. Our characters were sent on epic tasks to retrieve powerful items and rare possessions back for him, but because of a magical binding we couldn't confront him directly. The running plot was our characters trying to find a way to regain our freedom, with the challenge of the day being whatever new task he sent us on. It was actually a lot of fun.

Hope these ideas helped you out some! :smallbiggrin:

panaikhan
2010-09-15, 07:48 AM
I once came up with a strange campaign where each player had a character from two completely different game systems.

It started as a D&D dungeon crawl... yet each character couldn't quite remember how they got there. After beating the BBEG, all of the characters pass out, and awaken in their true bodies (Cyberpunk characters).
From then on, the D&D characters were used to explore / defeat VR problems, and the 'Punk characters handled 'mundane' problems.

bokodasu
2010-09-15, 08:46 AM
My favorite that I've run was the anti-stereotype game - scrawny pencil-necked barbarian, thick-as-a-plank hulking wizard, monstrous, screeching bard, etc... highly entertaining.

I've also been playing around with the all-x campaign; all-wizard, using the single-school variant and each taking a different school; all-barbarian, using the UA totem variants, all-paladin, with free Leadership feats, all-gnome... something.

The one common thing I'd always make sure to do with novelty games is make them contained; most lose their appeal relatively quickly. And if the players do wind up having a super-fun time, there's always room for Gnomes II: Psionic Boogaloo.

Gavinfoxx
2010-09-15, 09:44 AM
I came up with an interesting 'thought experiment' themed game some time ago... I'd be glad if you all gave it a look and some thought:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9215448

Shenanigans
2010-09-15, 11:23 AM
Novel campaigns I have been involved in:

- Magehounds - The party were all members of the Magehounds, an organization in Halruaa (Faerun) dedicated to hunting down rogue (the adjective, not the class) wizards. We had a Duskblade/Bloodhound, a Sorceror/Transmogrifist, a Mystic Theurge dedicated to Mystra, and one other character I can't recall off the top of my head...something melee-ish with Mage Slayer stuff I believe. Our adventures consisted of hunting down various wizards who had all been imprisoned, then set free by a mysterious figure, who was using them to collect the pieces of some crazy artifact or another.

- Campaign wherein each character had some organization (particular church, guild, governmental group) which they were looking to join and/or advance. The setting was a small wilderness town, and as the town grew, the characters' actions helped determine the relative strengths of their chosen organizations

- Dwarven Mining Incorporated - the characters are all figures within a dwarven mining community (miner, administrator, local cleric, blacksmith, noble) and are forced to band together when mysterious forces threaten not only the mine's operation, but the community itself. Not original, I know, but it was a lot of fun and a great mystery.

Like Bokodasu, I also enjoy the anti-stereotype game. I remember fondly a campaign wherein one character was an ogre who had been ostracized from his tribe for being small and runty (Str 12 or something) and who became a traveling minstrel (bard) It led to much hilarity.

Unrest
2010-09-15, 02:18 PM
Like Bokodasu, I also enjoy the anti-stereotype game. I remember fondly a campaign wherein one character was an ogre who had been ostracized from his tribe for being small and runty (Str 12 or something) and who became a traveling minstrel (bard) :xykon: Needless to say, hilarity ensued.

Fixed (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0434.html) that for you ;)

As for novelty times, I always wanted to participate / run a game with some serious (read: possibly out-of-your-mind) planar hopping and / or with an Orphean 'trip to hell' motif. It lets the DM go completely ape on what he creates in the world for the PCs to see and even the spheres of mental stimulation they might undergo, and that's a big plus.

Other than that, a mega-city adventure (I think there actually is a setting like this, but name escapes me). Perhaps involving a healthy amount of inter- and intra-faction intrigue and mischief. Oh, and rooftop chases. Rooftop chases definitely. Well, not real novel but always cool.

One thing that always gives your games a +4 to Novelty is setting them off in medias res, doesn't it? And seconded on the monstrous / evil game - but for those you need characters who really know what they're doing.

Also, if you played the Suikoden games series, you would know how much fun having your own castle gives!

Shadow of the Colossus game, with a team of hunters going after a singular enemy. Can get much more tactical than normal games!

<shouts something more but you can't hear him over the roaring of the river he is sailing down on a ship, among the lands of an Empire torn by war and plague!>

Endarire
2010-09-15, 05:40 PM
Novel campaigns use novel settings. Thing about every video RPG you've played. THey've almost certainly had

-A major city
-A forest
-A cave/cavern/underground dungeon
-A body of water large enough to be a plot point/obstacle but too small to cover most the world/planet.

What if you relied on mountainous environments? Deserts? Tundra? Oceans?

What if you had computers, constructs, and modernish/futuristic technology as frequent major plot points? I'm not saying go Shadowrun, but this is an option.

If you go constructs, I advise starting with homunculi (Eberron Campaign Setting 284). Iron defenders are spiffy to spook people and set the mood, and 'laser' guns can redirect sunlight into intense beams..

The Big Dice
2010-09-15, 05:45 PM
You ask for different and novel, I give you Bunnies and Burrows (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=82542)!

I never actually played this one, but when there was a FLGS in this area, they had GURPS B&B and I was so sorely tempted to get it just to see if it was a surreal as it seemed it should be.

Zaydos
2010-09-15, 06:08 PM
I've tried to start a city game before... my players immediately left the City of Adventure.

Monster games are always interesting. Dragon games are also really nice.

I now want to run a kobold game where you're all a group of young kobolds, born at the same time and your village was destroyed by adventurers.

How about a game where you are elves working to try and redeem the drow and bring the two races back together again. In the process you'd have to kill Lolth.

I've played a Doctor Who D&D campaign... it was interesting but had too much of a railroad and kick in the door style plot to really get to explore the universe.

What about a time travel game. You work for a guild of chronomancers and you travel to various places in the time stream.

RebelRogue
2010-09-15, 06:19 PM
At one time, a friend of a friend asked the members of my regular gaming group to roll up 6th level 3.5 characters to playtest a scenario of his. We were very close to all creating depraved 6th level Aristocrats with the Leadership Feat and then each having a cohort comprising a "normal" party (i.e. a fighter, rogue, cleric and wizard). We ended up not doing it (and it was a crap scenario too), but the idea was pretty funny.

gdiddy
2010-09-15, 07:04 PM
I am a big believer in games that have a theme, but not novelty. Novelty grows old.

The DM that I trained under famously ran a game that amounted to "Protect the Drow Messiah." Successive generations of parties had to guard a young Drow woman who was a living paradigm shift of the dark elves' goddess (not named Lolth). This campaign took place over ten years. The players speak about the game as an honest life achievement.

It has been recorded and is quite copyrighted, pending a full manuscript when the man who ran it has enough time to put everything to page.


Generally, if the party is accomplishing Big Things, they should be founded in that spirit. Consistent tone is probably the most important factor. Joke characters are alright, but can grow old quickly. Instead of stereotypes, why not look at archetypes? The Orc berserker is Achilles and d'Artagnan and Boromir. He is a hero with his own inner dragons. The arcanist is Merlin and Athena and Obi-Wan. They are the guides. The Cleric is John the Baptist and Joan of Arc. The heart of the movement, they anchor the world to the heavens. The rogue is Han Solo and Odysseus.

/Rant on Stereotypes and Novelty

Serpentine
2010-09-15, 11:35 PM
Some really interesting and fun-sounding ideas! :smallbiggrin: I'm not actually looking for advice on running a game, by the way (I can barely get my usual campaign going). I just felt like a discussion of concepts.

I really like the kobold idea. Gorrammit, I'm even starting to formulate an adventure for it...
(the remains of your tribe are hidden and safe for the time being, but you need to find a new home for them soon. Whether you find a safe place, or make a safe place is up to you, but winter's coming...)
edit: You could have a map with all the potential spots on it, with some of/the main dangers on it. There would be a dragon or several, and a dwarf mine, and a canyon full of swarming horrors... Dammit!

Elfin
2010-09-16, 12:06 AM
Not sure if it can really be considered a novelty at this point, but I've always wanted to playa West Marches-style game.
In addition, while I usually play in higher-magic worlds, I'm intrigued by the idea of extremely low-magic worlds; something else I've always wanted to try are campaigns that stretch through multiple generations/characters.

Hm. I really need to try some of these out, even if none are particularly inventive.

Serpentine
2010-09-16, 12:34 AM
I can't stop thinking of ideas for this kobold game >.< I've already got Rainbow-Sparkle Woods (the fairies will let you stay there if you prove your good hearts by finding all the lost unicorn children and promise to be nice. Or you could kill and eat them.), Sinister Mountain (the red dragon will let you stay there if you bring it a dozen meats she hasn't tried before and be her minions. Or you can set off the volcano and cook her alive.), a dwarf mine (the leader will let you stay if you bring them a tonne of precious metal, and work for them. Or you can trap them to death), and a canyon o' swarmies (probably have to kill 'em, or possibly tame them).

Gavinfoxx
2010-09-16, 12:40 AM
Serpentine! If one of the kobolds wants to be dragonwrought, make sure to write down what TYPE of dragon it is... maybe tell them you'll waive the "you die quicker as a chromatic than a metallic when venerable" thing to encourage them to choose a Chromatic in the area...

...and make several members of the tribe, or the PCs directly RELATED to the dragon, and the dragon can tell (by smell)?

Also, I'd like to chat about this (or the other ideas) on aim or msn/wlm, but you aren't onnnn...

Serpentine
2010-09-16, 12:54 AM
Hmm. Maybe I should run this as a PbP game... Who'd be interested? It'd be fairly simple, even a bit like a computer game, and fairly silly.
Making the kobolds related to the dragon might be cheating, though. Or maybe it'd just make her less likely to eat on sight...

Gavinfoxx
2010-09-16, 12:57 AM
That wouldn't be cheating! That would make it a diplomatic encounter!

Also, "You know, just because you are my great grandniece doesn't mean I won't eat you if you annoy me." is an AWESOME line!

Zaydos
2010-09-16, 12:58 AM
I'd be interested :smallsmile:

Serpentine
2010-09-16, 01:05 AM
It was your idea :smallwink:

Raistlin1040
2010-09-16, 01:08 AM
I've always wanted to run a game based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Or Hamlet. Or maybe One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Possibly The Picture of Dorian Grey. Perhaps something by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

:smalltongue:

Serpentine
2010-09-16, 01:11 AM
Alice in Wonderland's pretty straightforward, but how would the others go? Would Hamlet be a political intrigue sort of game?

edit: Whellup, I've officially initiated the kobold game (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9366841#post9366841).

The Big Dice
2010-09-16, 12:15 PM
I've always wanted to run a game based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Or Hamlet. Or maybe One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Possibly The Picture of Dorian Grey. Perhaps something by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

:smalltongue:
There used to be a couple of old AD&D modules based on Alice in Wonderland that WotC hda put on their site for download. In fact, a bit of Google-fu and I found it (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/dx20020121x8).

Rainbow Servant
2010-09-16, 06:18 PM
Some of these sound really fun, I might add them to my list of potential games that I'll probably never get around to playing...
Anyway, I've always wanted to run a game where the players are members of a travelling circus. I'm still working on the homebrew that fits the setting I have in mind, but I'm sure I'll get there eventually.

The Dark Fiddler
2010-09-16, 08:18 PM
I think the closest to a novelty game that I've run was a campaign where I had the players stat up themselves (although I did give them a bit of leeway with their stats), and had them fall into a D&D world.

Never ended though, cause my players got tired of my style of DMing not being 100% killing things.

Weirdlet
2010-09-17, 03:16 AM
I've had an idea in my head today that might fit this thread- a game where the inspiration is the Cattle Raid of Cooley, and the basic premise is that all the PCs are part of the same tribe/kingdom in a world where they're fairly low level, but still epic by dint of the fact that they're the big darn heroes of their generation and the world is more Bronze-age than Medieval. It doesn't matter if the new tribe wandering over from beyond the next hill is monstrous or not- they're strangers and equally worthy of both mistrust, investigation, and possibly a little raiding if it seems profitable.

Say your neighboring king boasts about his prize cow or some miraculous tree or his daughter spinning straw into gold- then the PCs are practically honor-bound to do something about it, from pranking to outright war. The reverse would also be true, if they manage to accomplish something spectacular or uncover some amazing relic of the elves or what-not.

Earthwalker
2010-09-17, 04:30 AM
My current campaign is DnD (well pathfinder) but based on a campaign seed for shadowrun.

The shadowrun idea has the player part of a medical emergency team, or body gaurds for such.

The same is true in my DnD city campaign with the players working for the local temple of healing as emergency medica staff, running around the city trying to save peoples lives. I added in some megi tech so the player team can get the call and find the people.

All that’s left is putting in an over riding arc for a bad guy to try to destroy this healer group, and lots of adventures along the way, from run ins with crime syndicates or street gangs to turning up just after a murder is committed.

Ricky S
2010-09-17, 06:45 AM
I've always wanted to run a game based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Or Hamlet. Or maybe One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Possibly The Picture of Dorian Grey. Perhaps something by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

:smalltongue:

I dm'd American mcgee's Alice for two of my friends. It worked out pretty well. I made it as twisted as possible with large amounts of puzzles and roleplaying. It didn't last as long as some of my other campaigns and required a lot more thought as well. Still much fun was had.

valadil
2010-09-17, 08:58 AM
Not sure if this qualifies. For a while I've wanted to see a game where the players are at vastly different power levels. It's a pretty common fantasy trope, but you don't see it in fantasy games. I'm curious what would have to be done to make a game work if the PCs were a level 10 wizard, 5 ranger, 5 paladin, and four level 1 experts.

Oh and before anyone objects, no this is not the sort of game I'd run for any old group. You'd have to have players who were not competitive or power hungry. I realize these players are not exactly common.

Chambers
2010-09-17, 01:34 PM
Neon Genesis: Eberron vs The Old Ones.

Sharn sinks down underground, below the goblin caverns. The EVA's are Colossal ++ Experimental Warforged that were created in the last days of the Last War, but were never used against the other nations. The Warforged Eva's are incomplete souls, requiring a creature to step inside and operate it.

The Last War suddenly ended, not with the treaty of Galifar (sp?), but when all the 5 Nations banded together for mutual protection.

For the stars had aligned and the Old Ones had come back to life. Cyre was where the first Old One landed and in response Aundair revealed it's weapon that it had been developing: The magic/anti-magic bomb (read: matter/anti-matter). Cyre was wiped out and the Old One destroyed...but they kept coming. The Warforged EVA's were soon put to the test as the only things that stood a chance against the non-euclidean monsters from outer space.

Le Sigh...because I'm horrible at DM'ing online, and I don't know when I'd ever have a chance to run this IRL. Someone want to run it for me? :smallsmile: