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Mr. Mask
2015-09-24, 11:50 PM
I was bored, so I thought it's be interesting to try mashing random genres. The results can be pretty interesting.


Napoleanic era + Scifi: The colonial powers discover ancient portal technology, and proceed to colonize various low-tech alien planets, subjugating the strange inhabitants to their iron will and fearsome powder weapons. The slave trade is extended to all kinds of aliens, and sportsmen travel to distant planets to hunt weird alien animals.

Horror + Pirates: There is a town with a song they are known for. It is about a boy who snuck out to the docks to hear news from the sailors, but he went out a little early. And off the boats didn't come sailors, but mice. "Hi, hi diddle di-dee, the life of a sailor is a life to be free! Hi, hi, diddle di-das, come up you boys and off at last!" The boy's breath stops, and he tries to stop his quickening heart. He escapes away from the mice, but encounters the chorus of the song again. The song ends with the boy explaining the mice got him good, and for the last ten years, he's been a sailor proud--then the mice's chorus again. With such an amusing song, many are drawn to the sea-side town. The mice don't sing, but they do hang out on the boats. They hang out just about everywhere. Getting under your feet, in your food, chittering to themselves in the dark, as you complain about the mice to the inhabitants. The townspeople make evasive comments in response, saying they aren't hurting anyone; they only watch... and no one gives them cause to hurt anyone.


My suggestion is to make a game of it. Combine two random genres yourself, or just put one forward to be mixed with someone else's suggestion.

Ninja_Prawn
2015-09-25, 07:15 AM
I like the idea of pirate/horror, reminds me of Sunless Sea... LOSE YOUR MIND. EAT YOUR CREW.

Now let's try something different.

Pharaonic Egypt x Wilderness Exploration (Gritty Deconstruction Mode). Roll up new character. Die of malaria. Roll up new character. Die of thirst. Roll up new character. Ooh, die in a chariot crash! Roll up new character. Die of thirst (again).

Hmm... that didn't turn out so well, did it?

Raimun
2015-09-25, 02:28 PM
Western with Zombies! No, wait... that's Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare.

Dracula vs. the nazis! ... And that's Hellsing.

Spies with superpowers. No. It's Metal Gear... and some Marvel comics.

Sci-fi + Fantasy! ... damn it. It's basically Star Wars.

... This is kind of hard.

No, wait! Space vikings! ... Aaand that's Space Wolves of Warhammer 40k.

Yeah, it is hard.

Draconium
2015-09-25, 02:34 PM
Napoleanic wars + dragons = the premise of the Temeraire novels. :smallbiggrin:

mikeejimbo
2015-09-25, 06:41 PM
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Not_Taken_(short_story)

Twist on the Napoleonic Sci Fi.

My mashup? Steampunk Fantasy Film Noir. So Steampunk really.

Mr. Mask
2015-09-25, 07:25 PM
I would like to see another Western Zombie take. I think the writing was better in Red Dead Redemption than in the zombie edition (I mostly remember it being littered with failed humour). That does give me an idea, though.


Scifi + Zombies: It's the year 2,112. Bionics have advanced to the point where your lifespan can be greatly increased with self-repairing artificial organs, which can be replaced and maintained more easily than the ones we receive at birth. These organs are constantly being improved, and updated, capable of repairing themselves and improving based off the latest download. Out of bravery and a monetary incentive, many people download the trial updates, to see if there are any bugs and to make themselves human test subjects so that those trials can be ushered into general usage much more quickly (which once long ago would've been highly illegal). How the virus got past the trials.... no one is quite sure. We turned off the updating process since then, those who remained sane, but they still receive their updates, continually growing worse and more savage. Even some of us who, "switched off," have somehow become... tainted, struggling with the violent urges that plague the, "Latest". I've wondered for some time who it is that keeps making those updates. Someone trying to cure the Latest, and not succeeding? No... whoever it was that made that virus to begin with, worsening his new creations.

There's only so much time to wonder, when scavenging for nano-gel. That self-repair aspect that keeps the steady rhythm of our heartbeats, that doesn't come free. Nano-gel is an adaptive nanite which replaces and reinforces our nano-machines, but more importantly feeds them the toxins we can't eat which they need to keep functioning (don't ask me what's in it--all I know is the over-stated 0.0004% platinum). The adaptive quality is notable in that these nanites can work for your heart or your liver, changing to match the most recent build of the ones already working there... I bet you see the problem coming, with neon lights reading, "infection". The Latest are perfectly willing to share their nanites, through force, and they carrying the Latest's updates will, necessarily, excruciatingly, make you get with the program. Who knows, it mightn't be such a bad idea... one of them's jumping this way, some twenty feet in the air. Of course, I might be biased. They started hacking my brain yesterday.



To add to the premise, you need more than nano-gel to survive. Aside from food and other standards, you sometimes need to fix or even replace your organs, which could be damaged or infected in a fight (requiring you to shut them down before the Latest Update spreads). You also need to make sure you're protected against hacking, which is harder than it sounds since many of your organs communicate and function through short-range frequency.

Not everyone has the same update before the Latest Update came, so some of them are suffering quirks which no one had foreseen or worried about since you could just get replacements or download a patch. Some crazy people haven't gotten with the times, and lack bionic organs, happy to live for a mere estimated 110 years. Those people can't be infected, but then they don't have a bionic skeleton or muscles to help them fight the Latest (whom are very, very strong).

For some reason, not all the latest are updating in sync, presumably because many of them were subscribed to different trial groups (one of the few ways to afford bionics). So, some of the Latest are.... different.



There's a reasonable chance someone already has a similar premise of this, of course.

nedz
2015-09-25, 07:41 PM
Wight Apocalypse and Cold War

Two Empires face off with mutually assured undeadiness. Tactical use of Wights in Limited Undead War is much debated. "Turn and Survive" pamphlets instruct citizens on how to make your own forbiddance bunker.

Vampire Ponies
Gothic and Cute — I'm not sure how this works.

Vonwalt
2015-09-26, 12:35 AM
The great thing about combing genres is you can combine them a hundred different ways! For instance:
Space Vikings: the space wolves from 40k.
Easy, let's try again.
Space Vikings: earth's real Vikings, abducted to fight against monstrous beasts for the entertainment of a dissolute alien empire.
Or perhaps even...
Space Vikings: heading out into the star-lanes and boarding ships is just a job for Ragnar. He's stolen data crystals from the monks of the infinite expanse, drugs from the decadent khans of the horsehead nebula, and precious gold (for microchip parts) from the Caliphate Stars, all in his reaver-ship with custom Uninvited Docking Array.
As for my real submission, I choose Western/Lovecraftian.
The Law is sparse out on the fringe of society, and only the boldest of sheriffs can defeat both ordinary illegal prospectors and the ancient horrors they've unwittingly awakened...

Raimun
2015-09-26, 01:48 AM
The great thing about combing genres is you can combine them a hundred different ways! For instance:
Space Vikings: the space wolves from 40k.
Easy, let's try again.
Space Vikings: earth's real Vikings, abducted to fight against monstrous beasts for the entertainment of a dissolute alien empire.
Or perhaps even...
Space Vikings: heading out into the star-lanes and boarding ships is just a job for Ragnar. He's stolen data crystals from the monks of the infinite expanse, drugs from the decadent khans of the horsehead nebula, and precious gold (for microchip parts) from the Caliphate Stars, all in his reaver-ship with custom Uninvited Docking Array.
As for my real submission, I choose Western/Lovecraftian.
The Law is sparse out on the fringe of society, and only the boldest of sheriffs can defeat both ordinary illegal prospectors and the ancient horrors they've unwittingly awakened...

Western+horror? That's just Deadlands. The roleplaying game. You know?

... Besides, [anything]+lovecraft is just lazy writing. Seriously. It's done to death.

ThinkMinty
2015-09-26, 02:36 AM
Cattlepunk meets Heroic Fantasy. Well, Dark Tower? Westerns are cool, heroic fantasy is cool, it's an underutilized combination. Plus, gun wizards. GUN WIZARDS. I shouldn't have to convince you with more than gun wizards.

Biopunk meets High Fantasy. The full-on, splash-pagiest Mutant Megawar that X-Men keeps cockteasing but never really gets around to showing. Sure, it'll be the backstory for the bad Sentinel future or Age of Apocalypse or whatever, but the franchise weirdly refuses to cut all the way loose. A bunch of bio-enchanced metapeople going nova on eachother, pretty much.

Dungeon Punk meets Wuxia. It'd be like The Raid, but with wizards, monsters, and higher stakes! Or if you don't know what The Raid is, this mashup would like if Die Hard was also Big Trouble in Little China.

Steampunk meets (hard) Science Fantasy. This would be incredibly hard to pull off without coming across like a jackass, but if you could do it...you'd be a legend, just sayin'.

Ocean Punk meets Dark Fantasy. Be what Pirates of the Caribbean and the Risen games wanted to be. Or like...Seinen One Piece. Or...Berserk, in the ocean? You get the idea. Lots of people die because they drown or get eaten by sea monsters. For a fancy twist, the heroine is a plucky pirate girl like Polly from Polly and the Pirates. This protatonista would **** up all the sea monsters and rapacious evil pirates/rapacious evil sailors with her pirate skills and funky ocean sorcery.

Sky Punk meets Comic Fantasy. It'd be great to see these two come together. Lots of propeller aircraft and dragons, and a grim, sharp sense of humor for flavor. Pistols are referred to as "extra parachutes". That kinda thing.


... Besides, [anything]+lovecraft is just lazy writing. Seriously. It's done to death.

Aboleths, tho? Also, Lovecraftian horrors are easy to do. Just write extraterrestrial seafood that wants to eat your brain, which proves that the presents were never from Santa and that nobody loves you.


Vampire Ponies
Gothic and Cute — I'm not sure how this works.

http://i.imgur.com/EATisEQ.png
They did a whole episode about this. It turns out...kinda cool, to be honest.

tgva8889
2015-09-26, 04:53 AM
Has any popular media actually set the zombie apocalypse in a typical High Fantasy or Medieval Fantasy setting? Zombie apocalypse is itself sort of overdone, but that could be interesting.

Vigilante Steampunk! I have no idea what that would look like exactly, but I'd love to see costumed superheroes in a Victorian era technosetting using steampunk weaponry and gadgets. If I knew more about the Steampunk genre I'd consider just running it.

Mr. Mask
2015-09-26, 05:24 AM
Vigilante Steampunk sounds like Dishonoured.

Not sure of any good zombie apocalypse plus high fantasy settings.

ThinkMinty
2015-09-26, 06:33 AM
Not sure of any good zombie apocalypse plus high fantasy settings.

Apparently someone's trying to Kickstart a PF thing with that premise in mind.

Or there's those episodes of Adventure Time with the Candy Zombies?

Draconium
2015-09-26, 11:17 AM
Now I'm curious about how good of a show you could get if you took the Slice of Life genre and put it in a Post-Apocalyptic setting. Is there any shows out there that do this already? It really wouldn't surprise me.

Knaight
2015-09-26, 12:58 PM
The heist genre is underdone, and could be hybridized with a number of things. Post apocalyptic heist, fantasy heist, hard sci-fi heist. Once you get to science-fantasy heist you just have Shadowrun though.

nedz
2015-09-26, 01:17 PM
The heist genre is underdone, and could be hybridized with a number of things. Post apocalyptic heist, fantasy heist, hard sci-fi heist. Once you get to science-fantasy heist you just have Shadowrun though.

Is Heist a genre ? I've always thought of it as more of a scenario thing, multiple sequential scenarios perhaps ?

ThinkMinty
2015-09-26, 01:41 PM
Is Heist a genre ? I've always thought of it as more of a scenario thing, multiple sequential scenarios perhaps ?

Yes, it's a genre.


The heist genre is underdone, and could be hybridized with a number of things. Post apocalyptic heist, fantasy heist, hard sci-fi heist. Once you get to science-fantasy heist you just have Shadowrun though.

One of the Harry Dresden books has a heist, I think? I really need to get around to reading those.

Mr. Mask
2015-09-26, 01:43 PM
Now I'm curious about how good of a show you could get if you took the Slice of Life genre and put it in a Post-Apocalyptic setting. Is there any shows out there that do this already? It really wouldn't surprise me. School Live Club gets into that part way in. It's an anime they just released. I recommend it.


Knaight: Zombie Apocalypse almost has heists. having to get past undead to scavenge. All they need to do is work out a more detailed, elaborate plan for such a scavenging run. You could potentially have other humans be antagonists as well, where the heist characters do stuff like lure a horde of zombies their way to distract them.


Nedz: I'd say it's at least a sub-genre. In the end, genre is just to indicate a trope or set of tropes common of popular media.



Giant Robots and Western? Trigun is almost that, but robots were never a major plot element. They recently had a game that was small robots and the American Civil War. Western robots would carry Gattling revolvers, cannon rifles, and maybe ride trains like horses to get where they want to go? hey might have have a giant, metal-chain lasso, too. Probably salvaged from a lost alien civilization, or actually a post-apocalyptic world, where people are trying to give their robots big powder weapons.

Fighting a giant robot without one would mostly need cannon and traps, but a really fine shot might be able to put a bullet past the vision slits. Robot wielding outlaws scourge the land with their cattle rustling, it up to whatever do-gooders with their own robots or tricks to set them straight.



Coincidentally, I think they did make a game about giant robots in world war 2.

tgva8889
2015-09-26, 03:08 PM
Vigilante Steampunk sounds like Dishonoured.

I suppose "Superhero Steampunk" might be closer to what I was thinking of, but man now I have to play Dishonoured. So glad I got it in the last Steam sale.

Heist is also a great genre, though I can imagine a Heist in some settings would be weird. Fantasy Heist would be interesting just to see how they do all the things we expect from the Ocean's Eleven crew but with medieval tech and magic, but any sort of Apocalypse heist raises questions like "where did they get all of this gear?" and "what's so important about this thing that they're willing to spend lots of resources acquiring it here rather than from somewhere less defended?" which would be very interesting to answer.

Isn't the movie Zombieland sort of Zombie Apocalypse Slice of Life/Comedy?

Giant Robot + Slice of Life?

Mr. Mask
2015-09-26, 04:06 PM
I'd say Super Hero steam punk works in Dishonoured too, though it's more Batman than Avengers. Superhero steam punk would probably have your Moriarty and Sherlock Holmes, your corrupt colonial officials and your Jack the Ripper, all with steam punk flare. Possibly some plot lines based around trains and airships. That is, assuming it's a Victorian steampunk, which is the main era that comes to mind with such.


I'm sure there's a giant robot slice of life one somewhere, but I haven't heard of it. It'd probably involve doing silly things with your giant robot, because you're bored.

ThinkMinty
2015-09-26, 04:26 PM
Giant Robot + Slice of Life?

Megas XLR, at least somewhat. It was very character-driven, and a fair amount of Coop's problems were mundane, such as his DMV misadventure.

tgva8889
2015-09-26, 04:59 PM
Oooh, High Fantasy Criminal Investigation! CSI: Eberron. :smallbiggrin:

Draconium
2015-09-26, 05:07 PM
Oooh, High Fantasy Criminal Investigation! CSI: Eberron. :smallbiggrin:

Is it bad that I'm not surprised that OotS has a related strip (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0339.html)? And It's probably not the only one. :smallbiggrin:

ThinkMinty
2015-09-26, 07:27 PM
Oooh, High Fantasy Criminal Investigation! CSI: Eberron. :smallbiggrin:

Sounds familiar (https://youtu.be/IHQr0HCIN2w)...

GorinichSerpant
2015-09-26, 08:34 PM
Oooh, High Fantasy Criminal Investigation! CSI: Eberron. :smallbiggrin:

The Guards line of Terry Pratchett's books is basically that. Maybe not if you don't consider the discworld to fall under high fantasy, but it is definitely fantasy.

Drakeburn
2015-09-26, 08:46 PM
One idea that comes to mind is Mecha + Steampunk. A game with a Jules Verne feel would be really awesome. Although the idea sounds more ideal for a wargame than a roleplaying game. A Steampunk Battletech game is still a pretty cool concept nonetheless.

Mr. Mask
2015-09-26, 11:34 PM
Someone actually made just that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvfq89_j7iM


Since we keep coming back to zombies and mechs, what about zombie mechs? Would it involve huge mutant zombies that need to be fought with giant robots? Or zombies who pilot mechs even after their death? Or the Mech computers contaminated by a virus, causing them to attack humans?

NRSASD
2015-09-27, 01:29 AM
One I'd be curious to see (and I don't know of any examples of) is Space/Sci-Fi Vampires. What would that even look like?

Was a part of a loooong campaign that was a Zombie Apocalypse/Medieval game in 2nd AD&D. It was fantastic!

Medieval/Espionage/Heist: The Dark Mod, and to a lesser extent, the original Thief games. It's a blast if done well

Space/Medieval: The Excalibur Alternative. English knights from the 100 Year War get abducted by aliens to serve as mercs, backstab the supremely overcocky aliens, and cruise across the Galaxy frantically trying to figure out how to fly their ship.

Space/Western: Oh wait, Firefly

Least successful genre mashup in my opinion has to go to Vampire Pirates; otherwise known as "how many different ways can we get dusted in 24 hours?"

tgva8889
2015-09-27, 01:52 AM
I forget the name of it, but there was a comic that was effectively Vampires + Apocalypse, and that in itself sounds pretty interesting.

Drakeburn
2015-09-27, 11:13 AM
The idea of an robot uprising has me thinking about Cyberpunk + Apocalypse where drones from Law Enforcement and the Military are infected with a virus that has them turn against humanity. Then again, that sounds a lot like Terminator. But it would be a cool campaign idea for Shadowrun though.

Cealocanth
2015-09-27, 11:38 PM
The idea of an robot uprising has me thinking about Cyberpunk + Apocalypse where drones from Law Enforcement and the Military are infected with a virus that has them turn against humanity. Then again, that sounds a lot like Terminator. But it would be a cool campaign idea for Shadowrun though.

Sounds a lot like The Matrix. Cyberpunk is pretty tough to do with any originality nowadays.

Colonial Era and High Fantasy:

It has been twelve days since my companions and I traversed the planar gate into this untamed land we have come to call the Feywild. Alorias, our tracker, seems significantly more at home here than the rest of us, but we are all slowly succumbing to this strange new world. Two men have already died from horrific rotting diseases, and the monsters out here stretch the very meaning of predator. The only thing I have recognized so far, besides the tremendous quantities of trees, are the dragons, which burn entire swaths of forest often, only to have it grow back in a matter of hours. Navigation is extremely difficult in this world. The stars are not our own, and there doesn't seem to be any real meaning of day and night. But we are hopeful. Soon we will find a suitable place to erect a colony in this new world. Soon we will begin life anew in this alien world. Soon, very soon.

Morph Bark
2015-09-28, 04:16 AM
Aboleths, tho? Also, Lovecraftian horrors are easy to do. Just write extraterrestrial seafood that wants to eat your brain, which proves that the presents were never from Santa and that nobody loves you.

Ohoho, nononono. Lovecraftian horror is really hard to pull of right. The D&D monsters and how they're typically used are bad examples. Lovecraftian horror is primarily about the tone of the story, and therefore usually covers only a small area at a time. If the BBEG that is hinted at shows up, you've already lost.

Unless, of course, you combine it with Pulp before further combining it with other genres, as has been done most of the time in the past.

Even then, there are a few settings/genres that haven't gotten a load of good Lovecraftian horror to be combined with. Put it in the final days of one of the great empires of ancient times, like 5th century Roman Empire, China's Warring States period, the 30 Years' War, the Greek-Persian Wars or Hellenic Egypt. If a writer does it right, s/he shouldn't even advertise it as Lovecraftian horror, causing the reader to only realize that it is when it's too late.

Sword and Sandals/Horror: It's the final days of the West Roman Empire. Antonius Marcellus is a centurion on the northern border. His requests for reinforcements have been repeatedly denied, even as several patrol groups have disappeared one after the other. He digs himself in, swearing he will hold his position as if it were Rome herself. What he has not counted on, however, is that in these distant dark forests his prayers will be heard by gods far different from his own...

Lvl 2 Expert
2015-09-28, 04:53 AM
Let's see...

Bronze age swords and sandals/dinosaur centered time travel:
A weird storm takes a large part of the Hittite army to a strange land, full of bizarre creatures. Having no idea what just happened they start building a camp for themselves, facing the dangerous monsters all around them every step of the way. The higher officers estimate the Egyptians will hear about their disappearance in about two months, and will take another two to get their army to the border, after which they can fight their way to the capital in one more. Will they find a way back before then?

Alien invasion/alien invasion:
When the fleet lands they start conquering right away. But then officers start giving weird orders, missions start failing inexplicably and the materiel seems to get sabotaged. It turns out their are puppeteer parasites on the lose on this planet, taking over their hosts and using them for their own cause. Also there are some wild monster aliens, and maybe some giant aliens, plus a large van Neumann machine for good measure. O, and some grey goo, and and some astral beings, and an ancient order of reptilians secretly ruling the world, and...

High fantasy/Saturday morning cartoon:
Cowabunga dude! We need to find this totally tubular magic sword to slay the witch king of Dragonia! Awesome bro, let's go!

Gritty medieval fantasy/interdimensional travel: I arrived in this world on the eve of its greatest challenge. I don't know that of course, I don't even speak the language here. I have no money too few useful skills and I think I picked up some weird disease somewhere. It's been two weeks, I'm laying in an ally and I'm probably going to freeze to death tonight.

Mr. Mask
2015-09-28, 05:46 AM
"High fantasy/Saturday morning cartoon"

Isn't that just Heman: Masters of the Universe?



Sword and Sandal Rome vs. Medieval: It was scarcely after Trajan's death, when Hadrian had seized power. But before the new emperor of Rome could act, the new continent appeared. It was a strange thing, as if it were placed in the middle of the Mediterranean, yet the landmass was so great that it should've bridged the shores from Italy to Egypt, twice over. Yet, shipping was not much effected, except it now had to contend with the now senseless nature of the sea, where travelling in much the same direction could bring you to Macedonia or to this strange new world. Of course, it is hard to call the world new, when considering its familiarity. Indeed, much of the land's mass could be said to fit the barbarian lands to the north, and more disturbing, the rest of the continent replicates that which Rome has held place in for over a hundred years. Many more disturbing facts became apparent, when explorers were sent.

Though there were many barbarian tongues on the new island, many too spoke Latin, albeit a crude misshapen form of our tongue. Some had such gall that when they asked our messengers who they were and where from, and so our messengers revealed themselves servants of Rome, the barbarians laughed and declared themselves Roman citizens, when never we have heard of such as them. Worse was it when we discovered the imposters, the self-named Holy Roman Empire. Our messengers were even cursed for speaking the names of the gods, and revealed they had heard much of a god like that of the small sect which Hadrian, in his wisdom, has granted leniency. In light of these new, bold barbarians, I wonder if this shall remain.

With all these things we have discovered, and as our sailors grow more apt in the peculiar way to reach these new shores (and, pressingly, the barbarians grow cunning to such methods themselves), it is becoming the common talk of the people that a new campaign must be waged. The Barbarians will accept us as masters of the world, or pay the price others had. They seem to be fragmented, much as the tribes we conquered long before. Of their weapons and means of war, these are much different than the tribes we faced. Still, it is only a small concern to Rome. Just as Macedonia and Egypt learned our might, so shall these new barbarians who blot our sea.



I'd read it/play it/watch it.

Joe the Rat
2015-09-28, 07:38 AM
You should pick up Smash Up (the card game). That can give you some strange ideas. Steampunk Disney Princesses vs. Vampire Bear Cavalry vs. Zombie Robots vs. Pirate Lolcats. Just your average Wednesday.

Keep in mind that just because it's been done, doesn't mean it's been done every way possible. Fantasy "CSI" (More broadly, Fantasy Procedural) gives you Pratchet's guards (investigative mindset in a medieval setting), but it also gives you the Lord Darcy series (Magic CSI in a divergent 1970s). Or the Dresden Files, if Harry spent more time analyzing clues and less time getting beat up.

So give me a Western Lovecraft that takes the typical Lovecraftian Setting, then infuses the story with Cowboy elements. What would that look like?


Yes, it's a genre.



One of the Harry Dresden books has a heist, I think? I really need to get around to reading those.Skin Game. Fun story, but if you're thinking about hitting the series, there's a lot happening that is massively spoilery, so be warned.

GungHo
2015-09-28, 02:13 PM
Sword and Sandals/Horror: It's the final days of the West Roman Empire. Antonius Marcellus is a centurion on the northern border. His requests for reinforcements have been repeatedly denied, even as several patrol groups have disappeared one after the other. He digs himself in, swearing he will hold his position as if it were Rome herself. What he has not counted on, however, is that in these distant dark forests his prayers will be heard by gods far different from his own...
Done this before. It's actually quite fun. Essentially, take the darkest of the rumors about the Druids and Picts and cannibalism/blood magic and then go for it. Or, turn it on its head and make the Romans diabolists, or a little of both, with the players essentially getting in the middle of a millennia-old power play (e.g. Blood War) that started in Mesopotamia and proxies through history including the Sea Peoples, Greeks, Trojans, Persians, Scythians, Egyptians, etc.

I've also done it as Vampire (Rome) vs Werewolf (Celt) in a WoD: Dark Ages campaign. It was a little too obvious.


"High fantasy/Saturday morning cartoon"

Isn't that just Heman: Masters of the Universe?
With additional Sci-Fi, it's Thundarr the Barbarian and/or Thundercats.

Cealocanth
2015-09-28, 05:30 PM
So give me a Western Lovecraft that takes the typical Lovecraftian Setting, then infuses the story with Cowboy elements. What would that look like?

An ancient, unspeakable Aztec god is attempting to enter our realm in the late 19th century Southwest. The only ones who can stop him are the Martin "Hellslinger" James and his gang of outlaws. But what good are six-shooters and grit when the ground itself is opening up to swallow towns, and unspeakable horrors from beyond are rustling the local fauna and sending grown men crying for their mammas?

GorinichSerpant
2015-09-28, 06:11 PM
An ancient, unspeakable Aztec god is attempting to enter our realm in the late 19th century Southwest. The only ones who can stop him are the Martin "Hellslinger" James and his gang of outlaws. But what good are six-shooters and grit when the ground itself is opening up to swallow towns, and unspeakable horrors from beyond are rustling the local fauna and sending grown men crying for their mammas?

I'd read/watch/play that. It sounds like it would be plenty of fun. In between the utter horror.