Extreme Ways of Running RPGs

[Goober4473]

The "Surprise" thread has got me thinking about this:

What are some very different ways you've played, or thought of playing, tabetop RPGs?

Some examples:

Like the mentioned thread is talking about, my last GURPS game began with people making 50-point characters (non-heroic regular person value) in the normal world, with nothing a normal person in real life couldn't have, where the only description of what the game would be about was that it was not in fact just the normal world. They ended up getting superpowers (due to magic), in a style sort of like Heroes (or Misfits, if anyone is familiar). The fact that they had no idea what the game was going to be about was very cool.

As an opposite approach, I'm currently running a Scion game, where the premise was the players get all of the setting information, get to make any character they can think of, and get to make any calls about the world they want, so long as they didn't conflict with each other. Want to decide that Ragnarok has already happened? Cool. Maybe kill off the Greek pantheon as part of your backstory? Awesome. Do it. They didn't end up with anything that extreme, but one of them is an Atlantean robot that's also a horseman of the apocalypse. I'm also going to be adding ways of spending Legend to alter the story, like with Plot Points in the CORTEX system (the system the Serenity RPG uses), and I'm considerign doing sort of cut-scenes of things the characters don't see, but the players get to.

I had one silly idea, where the players would be given premade D&D characters, and go on a generic adventure fighting orcs. After a couple fights, they would be killed by a group of orcs. I would then hand the players the character sheets of those orcs and tell them these are the real main characters.

And another idea with premade characters: It would begin as a series of one-shots. The players would always be part of some organization, and go on a mission each game. Each of the characters would have an associated description, but with physical traits left vague enough for the twist: they're playing the same character each time, only they've been mind-wiped each time. Slowly they start remembering past versions of themselves, possibly allowing them to switch between classes/sets of skills.

[Tyndmyr]

I once played a campaign that started out with each person running a full six man party of level ones. The idea was that whoever was last alive out of the six became your character.

While it was a terrible campaign for many reasons, running an entire party did have a certain fun to it.

[Nohwl]

what happened if you managed to keep more than one person in your party alive?

[JonRG]

what happened if you managed to keep more than one person in your party alive?

Fight to the death?

[Goober4473]

what happened if you managed to keep more than one person in your party alive?

Lasers.

(Sorry, I'm tired. Portal 2 kept me up late.)

[Tyndmyr]

what happened if you managed to keep more than one person in your party alive?

This was actually an issue. Some people were down to one person in the first fight through poor strategy and risk taking. My squad was entirely alive when we got to the point where essentially everyone else was down to one each, and we were getting oh-so-subtle cues that it was time to move on. So, I got five of them killed in terrible fashion, such as sending the bard outside to fight alone with a knife. Suicide, basically.

I'd drop that portion of the idea, really, and just go with squad o' dudes for each players. It's surprisingly quick when you've got people that know the game well, and it makes combats fairly interesting.

My particular choice was Warlock, Warlock, Cleric, Bard, Wizard, Fighter.

[Odin the Ignoble]

I recently played in a game where we were all told to create characters for and anti-terrorism task force. It was set fifty years in the future, and we were all given primitive mech suits, about the size of compact cars.

The first couple sessions were taking out terrorist training camps, where the only real problems we had to worry about were the handful of anti tank rifles and rockets they had.

I sort of figured that we'd eventually run into the Chinese Suit Equivalent, or maybe have participate in a major conflict against actual enemy tanks.

At the end of the second mission we're wrapping things up, interrogating the hostages that sort of thing when we start getting really weird radio transmissions.

The Gm takes us to another room and plays a sound clip he prepared. It basically details new reports from around the world as every major city on the planet is turned into a glassy crater, followed shortly by news of the arrival of several UFOs showing up and blowing up anything that looks like it might be able to put up a resistance.

Then the game started in earnest.

[SurlySeraph]

I'm fond of making characters as normal, and then rather than all meeting in a tavern you all meet on a battlefield, several miles in midair, tied up at the bottom of a swimming pool, locked in the back of a truck with sounds of screaming and gunfire coming from outside, surrounded by a forest fire, etc. Starting off with a bang and immediately forcing the group to think creatively and work together to survive is good. If you're using a standard "The villains drugged you and put you here" explanation, it gives everyone an instant incentive to investigate and fight the villains; and telling the players to explain how their characters got there can be a lot more fun than coming up with an explanation yourself.

[Jerthanis]

I had this idea for a political drama game where the Players would be instructed not to bring their character sheets to most of the sessions, and have huge sections of the game entirely consist of players talking in-character. The plot would slowly build towards three or so major battles which would take place over huge terrain with countless foes and allies, and where the events of the battle (who lives, who dies, and how ect) would affect the continuing political plot. The events of these handful of battles would resonate through the story, and would be discussed at length in subsequent sessions.

I sort of figure Rokugan for the setting, as that would allow for an environment where the PCs must stay civil even with their arch foe, and forbid them from using underhanded sneak attacks while in the pure politics sections.



I had another idea for a 3.5 D&D game where the 4thish level party begins a quest against a powerful Great Wyrm Red Dragon... achieves some minor victory against the Dragon's forces... and the Dragon himself swoops by and kills them all... They awaken in the afterlife as Petitioners. They begin adventures across the planes as Outsiders, gaining either levels in PC classes or Outsider HD, becoming more powerful types of Angels and eventually returning to kill the Dragon and stop his plans for good.

[Mercenary Pen]

I nearly had a group create the character for the player on their left once- in an attempt to break players out of playing more or less the same class all the time.

[Goober4473]

I nearly had a group create the character for the player on their left once- in an attempt to break players out of playing more or less the same class all the time.

Ooh, I kinda like this. Premade characters, but made by other players. Particularly if they make the backstory and everything. Could be a lot of fun to roleplay, if you don't mind the loss of control.

[Kallisti]

I'm planning to run a game of Don't Rest Your Head, tied into a game of Betrayal at the House on the Hill (a board game). Basically, the House on the Hill would be a part of the Mad City, and the players keep getting funneled back into it. Every time they go in, we switch over to the Betrayal game, except with custom rules for their Madness and Exhaustion powers.

[Goober4473]

I'm planning to run a game of Don't Rest Your Head, tied into a game of Betrayal at the House on the Hill (a board game). Basically, the House on the Hill would be a part of the Mad City, and the players keep getting funneled back into it. Every time they go in, we switch over to the Betrayal game, except with custom rules for their Madness and Exhaustion powers.

I've been meaning to run a series of one-shots based on Betrayal. Maybe even with its own custom system.

[randomhero00]

Well me and my friends dress in camo and fingerpaint. Then we get our automatic sub machine guns and "quest" and "level" off each other.


......oh wait you didn't meant that?

[Totally Guy]

I ran a session for 7 players. A diplomatic trio of elves arrived in the dwarven halls to talk diplomacy with the dwarf prince and his three aides.

The elves forgot to bring a gift.

The dwarven prince expects one.

The elven leader is wearing the finest mithril armour ever, an heirloom of his clan.

Hilarity ensues.

[Lord.Sorasen]

I've been working on a D&D 3.5 campaign for a pretty long time now. It's currently standard affair. But I've been sort of wondering for a while... What happens in tpk? It's beginning to be a possibility. The players are aware it could happen. I've been considering continuing from the point in which the villain wins... And also a few hundred years later. Same campaign world, but (as part of the villain's actions) severely limit magic, and run a d20 modern campaign in the aftermath of the previous story.

[BayardSPSR]

I'm debating whether or not to pull a bit of a bait-and-switch on my players for a one-off.

The idea is, I tell them they're all Soviet civilians in the 1930s, and they instead get drafted into the Red Army to die against the Germans in Stalingrad.

I'm not sure whether or not to do it, or how to pull it off without it degenerating into a tactical wargame.

[Tyndmyr]

I'm fond of making characters as normal, and then rather than all meeting in a tavern you all meet on a battlefield, several miles in midair, tied up at the bottom of a swimming pool, locked in the back of a truck with sounds of screaming and gunfire coming from outside, surrounded by a forest fire, etc. Starting off with a bang and immediately forcing the group to think creatively and work together to survive is good. If you're using a standard "The villains drugged you and put you here" explanation, it gives everyone an instant incentive to investigate and fight the villains; and telling the players to explain how their characters got there can be a lot more fun than coming up with an explanation yourself.

In Media Res is a pretty common tactic, and IMO, an often useful one. Last campaign I DMed started with "You all wake up in a room, hung over from the previous night, and no memory of anything...". An unusual starting circumstance gets the creative juices flowing, and gives them something to respond to. With some groups, this is extremely helpful.

I nearly had a group create the character for the player on their left once- in an attempt to break players out of playing more or less the same class all the time.

Heh, unless explicitly given instructions to mix it up, I'd create the kind of character the player on my left would enjoy. Probably with something hilarious(to me) added in. If not told at all, I can see a lot of arguing resulting. This seems like an idea with potential, but could easily go astray.

[Lither]

In Media Res is a pretty common tactic, and IMO, an often useful one. Last campaign I DMed started with "You all wake up in a room, hung over from the previous night, and no memory of anything...". An unusual starting circumstance gets the creative juices flowing, and gives them something to respond to. With some groups, this is extremely helpful.

I find it to be a valid and effective tactic to start a game and get the players interested.

Eaxcept with me it's less like "You wake up hungover" and more like "You wake up three days after you've all died."

I occasionally think of creating a campaign where everyone has to have at least three templates with contradicting alignments.

[Caliphbubba]

I ran a session for 7 players. A diplomatic trio of elves arrived in the dwarven halls to talk diplomacy with the dwarf prince and his three aides.

The elves forgot to bring a gift.

The dwarven prince expects one.

The elven leader is wearing the finest mithril armour ever, an heirloom of his clan.

Hilarity ensues.

The first and only time I played Burning Wheel (So far) was this scenario, like exactly. Except there were only 5 players, and two of them were under 14 years old. I could see how it would be awesome, but it sort of fell flat for me.


and to keep this on topic:

I ran an oWoD game where all my friends in the group made mortal versions of themselves (more or less). They all received invitations in the mail to a new, exclusive hotel/gaming center that opened in our city sent by the WoD version of me. When they arrived they found out that I had been brutally murdered and strange things started happening.

Eventually they all "Awakened" into one of the Iconic oWoD creatures. They found out that I was a Wraith trying to lead them to my killers. We had a Bastet, a Toreador, a Pooka, and a Hallow One as the main group. I also had Cameo apperances of other of our Friends play a few times. One played an Abomination (sliver fang/malkavian) who the main group had to end up fighting and killing. Another played a Hunter that tried to "put his friends out of their misery".

I let them use their (the player's) meta-game knowledge of the oWoD as free "Lore" abilities, but I warned them that a lot of it wasn't true/accurate. Basically the Masquerade/Veil/et al was protected by putting it in plain sight.

Along the way they dealt with things from Black Dog Gaming Factory, the Sabbat, the Technocracy. Mixed-bag stuff, but slightly off-kilter.

It was a lot of fun...

[Totally Guy]

The first and only time I played Burning Wheel (So far) was this scenario, like exactly. Except there were only 5 players, and two of them were under 14 years old. I could see how it would be awesome, but it sort of fell flat for me.

I ran it at the last UK meetup. It was pretty awesome. But I posted a thread asking for advice on running such a scenario... the only response was pretty much "Don't."

[Caliphbubba]

I ran it at the last UK meetup. It was pretty awesome. But I posted a thread asking for advice on running such a scenario... the only response was pretty much "Don't."

I think the problem with it for me was that 80% of the people at the table were very, very new to roleplaying and that the two younger kids didn't really stay in character. I can definately see how it would be a really neat game. I really liked how the battle of wits (or whatever it's called) played out. Except that I got beaten in debate by a 13 year old because of lucky dice rolls lol.

All in all it intrigued me as a system, but I would definately want to play it with more experianced roleplayers.

I might be playing my 2nd session tonight. I'm hopeful.

[Tengu_temp]

If your character dies is declared dead, then you can't make a new one, the DM shoos you off the table and everyone treats you like you're dead or never existed in the first place. You might as well commit suicide from grief.

Seriously though. In games with superpowers, I'm a fan of starting the PCs as normal people, and giving them their powers on the first or second session. The players always know they're going to get them, though, so I guess it doesn't really qualify as extreme.

[Analytica]

Seriously though. In games with superpowers, I'm a fan of starting the PCs as normal people, and giving them their powers on the first or second session. The players always know they're going to get them, though, so I guess it doesn't really qualify as extreme.

I was in an initially wonderful campaign where the implicit premise was this. We spent about a year or so realtime building up the mortal characters, their relationships and so forth, and I was really excited about getting to see it all tumble down once my cutthroat stockbroker turned into an actual werewolf against her will and without understanding any of it. Unfortunately, as time passed, the storyteller became less and less interested in pursuing those plots and instead introduced lots of temporary player characters along different storylines. Eventually the game just fell apart.

It is a really good idea in general though.

[Goober4473]

I ran an oWoD game where all my friends in the group made mortal versions of themselves (more or less). They all received invitations in the mail to a new, exclusive hotel/gaming center that opened in our city sent by the WoD version of me. When they arrived they found out that I had been brutally murdered and strange things started happening.

Eventually they all "Awakened" into one of the Iconic oWoD creatures. They found out that I was a Wraith trying to lead them to my killers. We had a Bastet, a Toreador, a Pooka, and a Hallow One as the main group. I also had Cameo apperances of other of our Friends play a few times. One played an Abomination (sliver fang/malkavian) who the main group had to end up fighting and killing. Another played a Hunter that tried to "put his friends out of their misery".

I let them use their (the player's) meta-game knowledge of the oWoD as free "Lore" abilities, but I warned them that a lot of it wasn't true/accurate. Basically the Masquerade/Veil/et al was protected by putting it in plain sight.

Along the way they dealt with things from Black Dog Gaming Factory, the Sabbat, the Technocracy. Mixed-bag stuff, but slightly off-kilter.

It was a lot of fun...

I did something very similar once, only the players made themselves minus any knowledge of oWoD. They ended up with two werewolves, two mages, and a vampire. I was a demon, in game (or well, one was in my body).

[eepop]

We ran D&D for a few years replacing the XP chart with a "time played" chart. 3 hours * current level to reach the next level. It helped play up roleplaying elements and encouraged us more to keep going even when it was past the time we should have stopped.

[Kylarra]

I had another idea for a 3.5 D&D game where the 4thish level party begins a quest against a powerful Great Wyrm Red Dragon... achieves some minor victory against the Dragon's forces... and the Dragon himself swoops by and kills them all... They awaken in the afterlife as Petitioners. They begin adventures across the planes as Outsiders, gaining either levels in PC classes or Outsider HD, becoming more powerful types of Angels and eventually returning to kill the Dragon and stop his plans for good.

This sounds like a pretty awesome game...

[Fire]

I played a Gurps campaign that started in Earth middle ages (right before the 3rd crusade if I remember correctly) with normal, no magic or superpowers, (but 100 points, so above average) characters that shortly after the beginning acquired a Stand (as in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga or anime), chosen by the Gms accordingly to the characters: my greedy venetian merchant ended up with a purse that could suck up everything in front of it when I opened it (and throw them in kind of a semi-plane), the militant priest had a sword wielding angel made of light (I don't remember the others).

[Toofey]

Spoiler

Show

I recently played in a game where we were all told to create characters for and anti-terrorism task force. It was set fifty years in the future, and we were all given primitive mech suits, about the size of compact cars.

The first couple sessions were taking out terrorist training camps, where the only real problems we had to worry about were the handful of anti tank rifles and rockets they had.

I sort of figured that we'd eventually run into the Chinese Suit Equivalent, or maybe have participate in a major conflict against actual enemy tanks.

At the end of the second mission we're wrapping things up, interrogating the hostages that sort of thing when we start getting really weird radio transmissions.

The Gm takes us to another room and plays a sound clip he prepared. It basically details new reports from around the world as every major city on the planet is turned into a glassy crater, followed shortly by news of the arrival of several UFOs showing up and blowing up anything that looks like it might be able to put up a resistance.

Then the game started in earnest.

your gm was doing it right.

With my old group I had dmed a long running campaign that had ended a few years earlier, and we had decided to start up with long one shots when we could get together ever couple of months. For the third of these I knew one of the players (who played a paladin) would be unavailable for, and I made a point of making sure all the other players know that we would have a player who they all knew, but who we didn't play with as regularly, who wanted to borrow his character when he was gone.

In game: the other player was an evil spirit that had taken over the paladin, who led them against a gold dragon (who he cloaked in illusion) to recover the body of a dead archmage.

it was a pretty satisfying twist.

[Knaight]

If your character dies is declared dead, then you can't make a new one, the DM shoos you off the table and everyone treats you like you're dead or never existed in the first place. You might as well commit suicide from grief.

Blackleaf! Noooooo!