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Thamir
2008-02-26, 05:06 AM
I love Jasper Fforde's books and was thinking about playing a Thursday NExt RPG, naturally the humour and amazing quality would be lost but I reckon the core concept is still very cool. What system should I use (eg. InSpectres, Passages, d20 Modern) and has this ever been done before?

hewhosaysfish
2008-02-26, 06:29 AM
I don't have much experience with it but D20 Modern could be a good fit: the core concept as I understand it is of real(ish) people in the real(ish) world but the level-based advancement let's you become kickass heroes if it becomes appropriate and there is plenty of supernatural hoohah in various supplements.
You could homebrew races for Neanderthal's and book people, if you want them to be playable, an advanced class for SpecOps maybe... Would book-jumping be a class, a feat or a skill?

This assumes that party largely consists of real people (Outlanders) and most of the action takes place in the real(ish) world.
If the plan is to have the party all be book people in the Library then you should probably look amongst some of the more obscure games out there for something that captures the sheer Otherness of it all.

So... what is your plan for the campaign?

streakster
2008-02-26, 12:48 PM
I think this could be done in DnD 3.5, with a little lot of renaming.

You've got two main races - Human and Neanderthal - as well as Written, a template that you apply to any bookworld race - the robot from Scifi, the human private eye from a detective novel, the elf from Fantasy, and so on. I imagine that a written creature gains better bonuses that humans or Neanderthals, and can Bookjump naturally, but is vulnerable to a bunch of effects that Humans and Neanderthals aren't - eraserheads, mispeling vyrises, stat drain from grammasites, etc. Of course, most of the more fantastic classes - Wizards, Psions, etc - should require the Written Template. No wizards in the real world. Neanderthals don't get as many skill points as humans, nor the bonus feat, but they do get a CON boost and survival as a class skill.

As for bookjumping, as I said, I imagine the Written characters can just do it, while Outlanders must spend a feat. Bookjumping has various levels, though - so you could have chains of feats to improve it from its most basic level. Some feats to decrease the time needed to jump, some to remove the need for a book, some to remove the need to go to the library first, etc.

As for classes, Outlanders don't get magic, so they are limited to mundane classes - Fighters (Soldiers), Rogues (Detectives), Barbarian (Thug) etc. Any class with no real magic can be renamed to an Outlander class. As for modern weapons, just change the name of the repeating crossbow to "gun".

Written characters can choose from a whole bunch of classes. The standard DnD fantasy classes fit quite well for a bookworlder from Fantasy - no renames needed there. Warforged makes for great robots from SciFi , and call the psions Telekinetics, or Genetic Experiments, and they fit right in. Change the names of wands to gadgets or rayguns, and they're good as well. Wand of Grease? No, that's my Lubricant Sprayer. This isn't a wand of fireballs, its a flamethrower. Horror? Just grab Libris Mortis, Heroes of Horror, and the BoVD. Mystery? Urban Rangers are now Gumshoes or PI's. This isn't Dust of Appearance, by the way - it's Fingerprint Powder.

You'd also want some meta-classes, perhaps. It'd be simple enough to homebrew a class with massive bonuses to Book jumping. Heck, renaming works here too - the Fatespinner and Luckthief are now Plot Twisters and Spotlight Stealers. The Bard is a Narrative Engineer.

Grammasites? There are way too many undead - grab an obscure one, rename it, and describe it's negative levels or stat drain as eating words. Done.

Sounds like a fun campaign. If you do go with 3.5, and need stuff renames to fit, I'll be happy to. Good luck with this!

Thamir
2008-02-26, 04:21 PM
How about Book World character as a template. -2 Wis, Book Jumping as a Feat and they don't have to eat, drink etc

UserClone
2008-02-26, 05:52 PM
I would suggest Green Ronin's True20 (http://true20.com/) System - it's quite generic, so it's good for those games which sort of defy conventional genre, as well as those that don't. Anyone who has played Mutants and Masterminds can tell you, it's good.

Thamir
2008-02-26, 08:38 PM
I will use d20 Modern Rules but use the generic classes from Unearthed Arcana.

Grammarsites are just Mooncalves

SpecOps is kinda like InSpectres

Book jumping will be a full round action.

I will use plot points from Passages however these will be a manifestaation of the predictability of plot and the character will be concious of this.

I will also use Passages for things like items and Bookworld Characters

SurlySeraph
2008-02-26, 10:17 PM
I have nothing useful to add, beyond noting that the Thursday Next series is awesome.

Thamir
2008-02-26, 11:44 PM
Would anyone be interested if I launched it as a PBP?

SurlySeraph
2008-02-27, 07:48 PM
If I weren't in so many PbPs right now, I'd jump on it in an instant. As is, I probably don't have time. Playing a stake-happy SO17 operative would be fun, though.

Thamir
2008-02-28, 03:30 AM
How about a triggerhappy SO 31 operative:smallbiggrin:

Here is the link to the recruitment thread http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73697