irons in the fire

Here's a brief rundown of the gaming projects I'm working on when I'm not prepping for Greypocalyspse Now, my current campaign's ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny.

Nova Walker Chronicle: Glimmerdrift War - This is my palate cleanser game, a mini-campaign designed to shake up the groups preconceived notions learned from the game we are about to complete. NWC: GW will be a anime-influenced giant robot space opera set in the Gateway Quadrant of Classic Traveller, using the robot designs from the Japanese version of Battletech for the mecha art and d20 Modern and the Polyhedron mini-game Mecha Crusade for rules. That sounds grotesquely frankensteinian but to me it makes perfect sense. If wrapping your head around this beastie causes you to go all googly-eyed just remember this handy phrase: it's all an excuse for giant robots to blow shit up.

Sky Pirates of Eberron - My friend Doug gets beaucoup kudos for this idea. After much gnashing of teeth over whether my next campaign would be Iron Heroes, Arcana Evolved, or Eberron, he threw this idea on the table and I immediately snatched it up. Imagine the Black Pearl flying over the unsuspecting Five Nations and you instantly get what we're hoping to accomplish with our next big campaign. D&D + Captain Jack Sparrow = Crazy Delicious! We may monkey with the fight mechanics just a teeny bit to encourage more buckling of swashes and less plating of mails. One of the nice things about a pirate game is I can get away with house rules like "no lawfuls allowed". Those dang lawfuls, always ruining our fun.

The Prisoner: 6 x 6 - This is the most serious game I've planned since my Jack the Ripper game for Call of Cthulhu. The idea itself is braindead simple: you're in an episode of The Prisoner and all the PCs are Number 6. Why are there six people who all claim to be the real Number 6? Which one is the real deal? This is the sort of premise I can only maintain for a few hours, so I plan to run this one as a con game. Probably at the next Winter War. For mechanics I think FUDGE is in order, though I'm not sure how I'm going to fine-tune FUDGE to my needs. Part of me wants to look towards the designs of Ron Edwards and Vincent Baker and put together a set of mechanics that shine a laser on the narrative needs of the game. The other part of me wants to slap together the easiest mechanics possible and *ahem* fudge the rest. Since I'm a lazy ass GM and not a mechanical wonk I think the latter will probably win out.

Emerald Knights of Uresia - More giant robots blowing shit up! S. John Ross's Uresia setting combines all the best features of a kitchen-sink approach to settings with a idiomatic vision of how those elements can fit together. For this game I'd focus on one of those elements, the magical mecha of the Emerald Knights. I think I'm going to set the game in the region of Uresia called Rindenland, the rather backward land where princess and wizards still wear pointy hats, but with this twist: instead of horses, all the best knights ride giant green robots. Uresia: The Grave of Heaven saw release as both a BESM and BESM d20 product. Mr. Ross has a systemless electronic version in the works as well. But for this game I'm thinking of going with the king of giant robot games, Mekton Zeta. I think this one would be a good con game. I'd really like to run both this one and my The Prisoner game at the same con, but that sounds like a lot of work. Especially when I can get just as much con fun out of running something stupid and easy.

Risus Rasslin' - The name says it all, super-awesome Risus plus Big Time Professional Wrestling. You've seen the illos and I've actually started writing the text. This is another game I'd like to run at Winter War but falls more in the "stupid and easy" category than the others. I know this sounds ridiculous, but Risus Rasslin' is actually intended for campaign play moreso than one-shots. Given the decompressed, soap operatic nature of wrestling stories, you really need a lot of time to build up a good plot. But with a Winter War schedule slot lasting four hours, I might be able to fit in a TV episode and a Pay-Per-View for the same game, effectively running a one day mini-campaign.