As I mentioned in my last two posts, I’m trying to clear all of the arcane RPG stuff that I’ve accumulated over the years. Because I persistently know the rules better than anyone else at the table, I end up as the referee or Storyteller. So here are some of my unused ideas.
Scion
At one point, Mrs.A had talked about doing an Indiana Jones-style game of Scion, with a Greek-inheriting character. When I explained to her that I wanted to stick with Hero levels of power (and ease into Demigod), she scaled that back to Archaeology student (I’m not sure why). She said she wanted to put it in Orlando, FL because she was tired of the cold.
I created a cast of characters centered in Orlando’s Natural History museum. I was going to prelude it in the first session with an extremely intrusive employment interview with her boss (he’s focused, doesn’t realize he’s being rude), then start the first session simply: a few weeks into her job, she is left in charge of the library over the 4th of July holidays. Her first morning, she comes in to discover that a set of Tlaloc jars have been stolen, and one person, Chaz Waters, didn’t show up for work that morning.
However she decides to go, it turns out that Chaz is a scion of Tlaloc. At his first Visitation, he received a set of brand-new Tlaloc jars. When all four of his were filled with blood, it triggered a major cataclysm (aka Katrina). He felt bad, so he threw one jar into the ocean before moving inland to Orlando. Now, a Mexica cult has kidnapped his mortal sister, and they refuse to return her unless Chaz gives them all four jars. He only has three, so he hopes to use the full set from the museum instead. That is intended to take 2-3 sessions. I had other characters designed, inclucing a fast-sushi restaurant mogul Scion of Tsuki-Yomi; an ophidophobic dancer, daughter of Damballa; a corporate lawyer daughter of Tyr (complete with shit-kicking boots); and an Egyptologist scion of Thoth.
Later adventures would have her help Chaz get to Agwe’s house under the ocean, where the fourth jar is now stored. I also had visions of using Carhenge to get to Stonehenge, and other good uses of Terrae Incognitae.
The stuff in Scion:God sounds impressive also; but I wasn’t going to buy that book until I had a game running (good thing, too!).
Exalted
One of my big regrets about Exalted was that I was never able to get a second story off the ground. I had great ideas about doing a race across creation, with the characters all on a single team. Or maybe Pirates. Ooh, a voyage to Malfeas would be cool. Maybe add a few Lunars for flavor.
Wild Talents
This is kind of a stretch, because I never even bought the book, but doing a Superpowers game centered around a major event – put them all as management in a sports league made up of people with superpowers, maybe – would have been neat. Plus, I really like Greg Stolze’s One Roll Engine.
Monsters and Other Childish Things
Again with ORE-lurve. Something about this game really calls to me: “imaginary” critters that beat up on each other and mess with their owners’ lives? Love.
PDQ
When I thought about giving up the games, I wondered if it was the intrinsic violence that was the problem. That made me think about Atomic Sock Monkey Press’ game, Dead Inside, which is described by its creator, Chad Underkoffler, as a response to the “Kill people and take their stuff” mentality so prevalent in RPGs. In Dead Inside, you progress in power by being nice to people and giving them your stuff. Plus, I’ve always liked the Damage Rank/Failure Rank system that PDQ has as its central point.
