Silus
2014-08-31, 10:27 AM
Okay, so while my turn in the DMing rotation is a ways off, I've always been one of those people that needs a plan with regards to games. Buuuuuuuut I've started kinda second guessing myself and what I want to run, or if I even want to run a game at all. So here's a brief couple ideas and the pros and cons I've thought of for each, and I'd appreciate some feedback on what course of action would be best for me to take (I'm a little torn between the options without having spoken to the group recently).
1: The Barrier World setting
You can find a link to the document in my signature there. The short of it is that it's a homebrew setting that I'm trying to keep fantasy but is, as I describe it to people, a post-post apocalyptic steampunk magitech world. Out of all of the options, I wanna go with this one the most.
Pros: New and different, lots of potential to have the PCs help with the worldbuilding and takes into account some of the new tech stuff added to Pathfinder. The DM is also pretty hyped to run it.
Cons: The players apparently have little faith in me to run another homebrew game after the fiasco that was my first campaign with them (granted I was a new DM running an untested world for a group of long-time gamers I had not had experience running with). At least two of the players are turned off by the tech + magic thing that's prevalent in the setting and the party in general has the tendency to roll Chaotic Neutral or evil alignments (One claims playing evil characters is "cathartic"). Also the party seems to hate authority of any sort setting up any sort of rules or boundaries regardless of the setting.
2: D20 Warcraft
Basically run a semi-sandbox game in the Warcraft setting.
Pros: I know the setting more or less like the back of my hand, I've got the core book on hand and the other relevant PDFs on my laptop, and it's based around 3.5 which was my introduction to TTRPGs.
Cons: More or less the same as option 1, barring the homebrew setting and tech + magic thing.
3: "Skin Deep" WoD
So take the WoD system and homebrew some stuff to run a TTRPG version of this webcomic (http://www.skindeepcomic.com/archive/issue-1-cover/).
Pros: Interesting take on the WoD system, something new and fresh and (hopefully) NOT resulting in endless backstabbing.
Cons: Let's face it, it'll end in endless backstabbing. Also, I'd need to come up with the stuff for the whole "turning into mythical creatures" thing.
4: Iron Gods
So this last month (August), Paizo put out the first book in the Iron Gods Adventure Path, taking place in Numeria. Basically a structured campaign pretty similar to option 1.
Pros: Everything is already accounted for and structured, leaving the DM free to just run the AP. Also, buying the books gives me options for gear and monsters I can use in my homebrew setting.
Cons: The books aren't cheap ($12-$15 each), the AP is designed for 4 people, which makes running it with a group of 5-6 difficult, not a lot of options for creativity on the DM's part, the ever present thread of the PCs going off the rails and leaving the DM floundering.
5: New group
An idea I've been kicking around recently, just find a new group to run a game with.
Pros: Well I wouldn't have to struggle trying to run a setting I'm passionate about with a bunch of older, jaded TTRPGers.
Cons: Actually trying to find a group and learning about the players and their play styles.
1: The Barrier World setting
You can find a link to the document in my signature there. The short of it is that it's a homebrew setting that I'm trying to keep fantasy but is, as I describe it to people, a post-post apocalyptic steampunk magitech world. Out of all of the options, I wanna go with this one the most.
Pros: New and different, lots of potential to have the PCs help with the worldbuilding and takes into account some of the new tech stuff added to Pathfinder. The DM is also pretty hyped to run it.
Cons: The players apparently have little faith in me to run another homebrew game after the fiasco that was my first campaign with them (granted I was a new DM running an untested world for a group of long-time gamers I had not had experience running with). At least two of the players are turned off by the tech + magic thing that's prevalent in the setting and the party in general has the tendency to roll Chaotic Neutral or evil alignments (One claims playing evil characters is "cathartic"). Also the party seems to hate authority of any sort setting up any sort of rules or boundaries regardless of the setting.
2: D20 Warcraft
Basically run a semi-sandbox game in the Warcraft setting.
Pros: I know the setting more or less like the back of my hand, I've got the core book on hand and the other relevant PDFs on my laptop, and it's based around 3.5 which was my introduction to TTRPGs.
Cons: More or less the same as option 1, barring the homebrew setting and tech + magic thing.
3: "Skin Deep" WoD
So take the WoD system and homebrew some stuff to run a TTRPG version of this webcomic (http://www.skindeepcomic.com/archive/issue-1-cover/).
Pros: Interesting take on the WoD system, something new and fresh and (hopefully) NOT resulting in endless backstabbing.
Cons: Let's face it, it'll end in endless backstabbing. Also, I'd need to come up with the stuff for the whole "turning into mythical creatures" thing.
4: Iron Gods
So this last month (August), Paizo put out the first book in the Iron Gods Adventure Path, taking place in Numeria. Basically a structured campaign pretty similar to option 1.
Pros: Everything is already accounted for and structured, leaving the DM free to just run the AP. Also, buying the books gives me options for gear and monsters I can use in my homebrew setting.
Cons: The books aren't cheap ($12-$15 each), the AP is designed for 4 people, which makes running it with a group of 5-6 difficult, not a lot of options for creativity on the DM's part, the ever present thread of the PCs going off the rails and leaving the DM floundering.
5: New group
An idea I've been kicking around recently, just find a new group to run a game with.
Pros: Well I wouldn't have to struggle trying to run a setting I'm passionate about with a bunch of older, jaded TTRPGers.
Cons: Actually trying to find a group and learning about the players and their play styles.