Campaign Ideas?

[prophane]

Sad day sad day, there is not a GURPS game advertising right now.

I hope some of you GURPS GMs out there have some great ideas kicking around in your noggins!

I would run the game I suggested above, but I have far too many games going on right now for my health and sanity, once I am done with the OSE one-shot, the GURPS one-shot will hit the boards.

 

[prophane]

hey you GURPS-folk out there, anybody got any good ideas of a new GURPS game to put out there?

I hate seeing no GURPS games being advertised!

[Morphling]

A campaign using the After the End sourcebooks is something I would really love to see.

[Michael Silverbane]

A few months ago, I read a couple of old threads on RPGnet called "Voices From Below and the Long Stairs" which was primarily described through in-universe emails, memos, and reports.

It detailed a modern-day earth in which one or more holes had been poked in reality leading to a fantastical dungeon like one might find in an old school dungeon crawl. I thought it would make an excellent setting for GURPS, able to spawn games of all sorts.

 

Here's the intro text (some stolen from the aforementioned threads on rpgnet, some stolen from the setting information of the old GDW game Dark Conspiracy) for the campaign that I have been thinking about since I saw those threads. This campaign would (probably) be split into two parts. One dealing with a group of soldiers or mercenaries engaged in exploration, resource extraction, and other operations within The Dungeon, and the other dealing with so-called Fortean Phenomena (ghosts, monsters, magic) in the real (game) world.

 

Things That Go Bump

In a world much like our own, there are things that go bump in the night.

The world as we know it is a fragile place. And worse, when it breaks there's another world beyond it, a world filled with horrors and wonders that defy rational explanation. Those who know about it variously call it The BASEMENT, Downstairs, or even the, "Subterrestrial Operational Theater."

In 1958, under the code name Operation CANDLELIGHT, The Department of Energy conducted an Underground Weapons Test of an undisclosed device using the methodology developed for and as a result of the Operation PLUMBBOB Rainier Nuclear Weapons Tests.

The resultant detonation stabbed through the fragile skein of normal spacetime the whole visible universe occupies, and opened a hole into something stranger.

The Department of Energy put a door and a lock onto the hole - ninety tons of steel and titanium strong enough to bounce nukes. They kept it secret too. The place the hole opened into was just too weird for people to know about or deal with. But it was too valuable to leave alone.

In the late 70's, one of the young computer boffins working on the project called it, "Gygaxland."

By the 90's, everyone was just calling it, "The Dungeon," despite the term being officially verboten.

The name fits though. Under reality, in realms so strange they defy scientific models to explain, someone or some thing built tunnels, chambers, traps, lairs... but also filled it with wonders and treasures - including objects and devices which can, quite simply, do the impossible.

Operation LONG STAIR was born.

Efforts to map The Dungeon proved difficult (and extraordinarily dangerous) for the Marine and Special Forces survey teams sent down during initial forays. The place seemed to change, slowly but inexorably, and entirely unpredictably. Maps go stale, get rancid.

The dangers from the cruel and arbitrary traps (and the constant minefield stress they engender) is bad, but the inhabitants of the dungeon are worse. There's no other word for them but monsters. Alright, there IS another word - "Xenofauna" - but nobody uses that except in reports. Contact between Deep Operations Group personnel and Xenofauna has invariably been classified as, “Hostile,” resulting in a variety of bizarre casualties. Some of these casualties come back changed, infected, or otherwise compromised.

The Americans poured money and men into The Dungeon, extracting from it miracles. Impossible devices. Unique wonders. After JFK's assassination, every US president wears a talisman which renders him practically immune to gunfire. Reagan's near-assassination was the result of its removal at the behest of Jerry Falwell, who declared it to be ungodly. Reagan’s tendency to let slip information about LONG STAIR was a constant source of aggravation for the project’s controllers, but the president loved the project and pushed his allies in Congress to fund its cover programs massively through his two terms. His fear of what the Russians might do if they had access to The Dungeon drove him.

And with good reason.

LONG STAIR wasn't the only place The BASEMENT impinged on normal reality - the Soviets punched a similar hole in 1969 under Degelen Mountain.

Then, through the 60s, 70s, and 80s, following close on the heels of nuclear weapons proliferation, new portals to the Dungeon were opened in China, France, and the UK. Following on their heels, Israel (though, never officially confirmed), India, Pakistan, South Africa, and North Korea all opened Breaches of their own.

The secret proliferation of Xenoartifacts (dungeon devices, monster tech, or ‘magic items’) has flowed out through the military industrial complexes and intelligence communities of the nations controlling Dungeon access - scrying bowls guide missile strikes, rings of invisibility hide black-ops wetworkers, and in top secret labs teams of specialists work to unlock the secrets of artifacts of such wonder and power that they defy imagining.

The collapse of the Soviet state saw huge stockpiles of Dungeon artifacts broken up, looted, stolen, sold off.

Perhaps worse, every breach into the Dungeon has been followed by an increase in so-called Fortean Phenomena. Nothing as overt as monsters in the street, but cases of probable hauntings, psychic events, missing time, UFO sightings, and even some semi-credible cryptozoology continue to emerge. The most common are the voices - weird, semi-audible hallucinations which almost make sense. Those who hear them are usually labeled schizophrenic, but they don’t respond to medication. And every year, the voices get a little louder, and a little more intelligible. Those who recognize them as a Dungeon-linked phenomena are extremely worried.

The world is getting stranger.

After a number of incidents with the Code Name SITUATION PANDORA, Operation LONG STAIR was quietly “shut down” in 2001. Those in the know understand that such a Breach is nearly impossible to close, and that LONG STAIR was not the only Gate in the US, let alone the world.

Increasingly, rumors of objects with strange properties, horrific creatures, and people with wild abilities are becoming more difficult to cover up or to pass off as the mad ravings of the mentally ill, or even as viral marketing for a new big-budget movie.

The dangers of The BASEMENT are not the world's only problems.

Throughout the 90s, 00s, and 10's, the world seemed to stand poised on the brink of the abyss. Global population approached critical levels. Socialist nations were imploding economically, placing a major strain on the rest of the world's financial institutions. The capitalist West engaged in a succession of reckless investments. Internationally, hundreds of billions of dollars had been loaned to governments with soaring deficits and that now faced insolvency and default. Domestically, economic bubbles burst one after another, all leading to a series of recessions that left large swaths of the population homeless, out of work, and without hope.

Then came the wars - Wars over diminishing oil supplies in the Middle East. Wars over land in the Indian subcontinent. Wars over nationality in Europe. Wars over drugs in Central and South America.

As economic and social ruin outstrip the ability of governments to deal with them, traditional institutions which promote order begin to break down. Governments still exist in name, but unable to effectively maintain a monopoly on force, they become little more than paper tigers.

The world is learning that there are things that go bump in the night, and it is little prepared to deal with them.

[prophane]

6 hours ago, Morphling said:

A campaign using the After the End sourcebooks is something I would really love to see.

I think that's gonna be my next home f2f game, but were still playing some other games with other GMs for now.

[prophane]

4 hours ago, Michael Silverbane said:

Voices From Below and the Long Stairs

That sounds really cool, both versions of the campaign. If you played one exploring the strangeness that was seeping into the real world, then some investigations/ events could easily lead to the military incursions part.

[Caffeine11]

And vice versa. Military guys release something that has to be contained in the real world. Top side nerds send them down for an artifact or information to contain it. Both sides keep the other gainfully employed.

Edited March 22 by Caffeine11 (see edit history)

[Michael Silverbane]

Yes to both.

The setup has quite a lot of potential for different types of adventures, from straight up dungeon crawls, to mysteries, horror, political intrigue, and spycraft. And lots of opportunity for overlap.

Of course, the breadth of possibility is also a bit of a problem. How to narrow the focus without unnecessarily curtailing character... stuff. Hooks, possible concepts, or whatever? I already know that I want to start off with all the player characters being, 'baseline human,' that knocks out a big chunk of possible characters already.

I also know that I want The Dungeon to be a bit of a meat grinder, so characterization will be somewhat less important to that leg of the campaign (I think I may have each player be the members of a separate squad with identical stats, and they can just embody whichever member of the squad isn't currently getting killed, but I'm not totally sold on this idea).

Anyway, that is all to say that I'm still in the very early planning stages, but its in the works.

[Morphling]

Some other campaigns I've ran in the past that didn't get very far:

A campaign where the players are 50-point kids, based on works such as goosebumps and animorphs.

A gritty Dungeon Fantasy campaign that is not about role-playing, but rather killing monsters, taking their treasure, and carefully tracking resources.

A future campaign set in a world with genetically engineered cat-girls. It's about the players and their spaceship, and is based on such works as Firefly, Outlaw Star, and Cowboy Bebop.

A weird west campaign where the players are all undead cowboys (haven't actually ran this one, but have thought about it).

[prophane]

5 hours ago, Michael Silverbane said:

How to narrow the focus without unnecessarily curtailing character... stuff

You just have to selectively reveal bits and pieces of the background for different campaigns. You can't let everyone know everything.

[prophane]

5 hours ago, Morphling said:

Some other campaigns I've ran in the past that didn't get very far:

Those are definitely some very different style campaign undead cowboys sounds fun... Like Jonah Hex stuff crossed with deadlands.

[Bobcloclimar]

I've thought about attempting to run I Smell a Rat for DFRPG as an introductory adventure (including pregens for folks who aren't comfortable with the build process), but that's going to be a while from now - at least after I've finished the new one-shot I just started.

[prophane]

That would be cool! I have never played/ read that one, though I do own it.

[TheDragonOfFlame]

Hey, all! I'm looking at running some Steampunk. I've got two pitches for the same idea, but completely different themes. Let me know what you all think. The basic concept is "Steampunk city at the gates of Hell", and so these are two takes on that thought.

Scenario 1:

Streets stained black with coal, children working overtime shifts in boiler plants, and a plague spreading like wildfire through the slums of London. All the while the gentry enjoy the spoils of the new technological age, oblivious to the wretched tragedies occurring daily in their city. Certain arcane gentlemen's clubs begin to experiment with rituals and artifacts beyond their comprehension, and rumours begin to spread of sickening creatures that prey on innocents in the night.

A dark and gritty game that starts characters in a low tech, low magic London right at the beginning of a Steampunk revolution. The TL can be expected to change from TL 5 to 6 or even 7 through the course of the game. The players will be pitted against demonic forces and corrupt occultists, perhaps even venturing into hell themselves. One of the main differences between this scenario and the next is that the creatures are undeniably malicious entities with supernatural effects on the world.

 

Scenario 2:

Shining brass boilers, magnificent airships, fantastical new cogwork machines, and vast horizons to explore. A bustling new city with a bright future, pushing the bleeding edge of technology further and further. However, deep in the boilerworks beneath the city, there is a problem. For unknown reasons, workers and explorers in the steam tunnels have been disappearing, only to be rediscovered brutally maimed. The rumors abound. Otherworldly monsters that some call demons and others call failed experiments and still more call aliens have supposedly been spotted in these catacombs, and many brave or foolish souls make uncovering their origins a goal.

In this scenario, technology is already quite far along, and the origin of the "demons" is likely not supernatural. It is a much brighter and cheerier game, and more standard to the steampunk genre.

 

Personally, I am more interested in running the first scenario. I like the idea of the technology developing as the game goes on, and the idea of a darker take on Steampunk. But let me know what you all think! Maybe something in the middle could work, a grittier setting without the objectively evil entities, or a setting that seems Utopian on the surface but really hides vast corruption and demonic influences.
 

[Bornite]

The first sounds more interesting to me. Around what year are you thinking of?