Random Gaming Thoughts

[the_gneech]

It's a little early to put any real thought into it now, but being in "the final stretch" of Red Hand of Doom naturally leads to thoughts of "So, what will come next?"

My first post-RHoD priority as a GM will be to finish up that Star Wars scenario from, y'know, April. From there I'm not sure if I'll continue that game or not; as much as I like Star Wars, I've been finding myself hard-pressed to do something that isn't "ditto, ditto" of things I've already done with it. I might like to do something in the Knights of the Old Republic era, tho. (I also thought of using Saga Edition as the basis for that discussed-but-never-run Crimson Skies campaign.)

Second priority will be to actually run some Uncanny Midnight Tales. The Halloween Call of Cthulhu one-shot was a nice appetizer for that, but I want to actually get to the main event now. The character group that the players came up with for that sorta came at me from a direction I wasn't expecting, so I've had to retool some of my plans to make it work. (I chose to run "The Haunting" as a CoC one-shot largely because it ended up on "the cutting room floor" of my UMT plans but I wanted us to have gone through CoC's version of The Keep on the Borderlands.)

That just leaves what's next in the realm of fantasy. I already know I don't want to switch to D&D 4E, but I don't really want to stick with 3.X either, particularly with the group's copy of E-Tools gradually-but-perceptibly falling apart the way it is. So the ruleset will probably be S&S Saga or a close variation thereof, although at this stage part of me wants to jettison even that much connection to "pure d20" and come up with my own ruleset. (I doubt I will, though — system creation is just an urge I get periodically.) But assuming "system neutrality" for the moment, I have had the following campaign ideas:

• Sword and Sorcery — The game S&S Saga was created for, an episodic string of pulp fantasy adventures set in a Hyboria-esque world. The heroes would be a motley collection of random adventurers thrown together by fate (i.e., shipwrecked together, all enslaved by cruel overlords and needing to escape, or something similar) who then spend the rest of the campaign wandering from place to place as adventurers for hire, searching for rumored treasure, getting involved in the schemes of petty warlords or evil sorcerers, etc.



• The Red Maid of Cardolan — Set in a slightly-alternate Middle-Earth, the premise of this game is that the ring Bilbo found in Gollum's cave was not the One Ring, but was in fact Durin's ring, thought lost when he was slain by the Balrog, but instead stolen from the dwarf lord's body by an orc and traded (or stolen) among the tribes until its owner was also slain during the ambush that slew Isildur — the One Ring has not been found. The year is now T.A. 2991; Balin's company has established a colony in Moria, Sauron has openly declared himself, and while The Wise are preoccupied with locating and either claiming (or destroying) the One Ring, the Rangers of the north find themselves dealing with a new threat closer to home — a malevolent and powerful witch known only as the Red Maid of Cardolan, whose army of wights and twisted huorns are turning their attention to Bree and Rivendell, and if unchecked from there to the Shire, Angmar, Eregion, and beyond. (This idea steals some of the neater ideas from LotRO, I freely admit it. But I'd make it my own.)



• Iuz Must Die! — You've survived the Tomb of Horrors. You've turned back the armies of Elemental Evil. You've escaped the Lost Temple of Tharizdun. Now you've been asked to go on one last, great adventure. Veluna and Furyondy are openly at war with the demon-realm of Iuz the Old — and while their nations spill their blood to keep his infernal army at bay, you've been given an even more daunting task: travel Skull Road to the fortress of Iuz himself and slay him, by whatever means necessary. More of a one-shot than a complete campaign, the idea behind this game is that everybody will have a 20th level version of a previous character (Kyriela for jamesbarrett, probably Kory or Angelina for lythandra, perhaps Brother Murphy or Wadsworth for sirfox, some new character for hantamouse, Celedras as a party NPC), tricked out with 20th level gear, and your job will be as described: go to the heart of Iuz's empire and destroy him, going through whatever horrors stand in your way.

My players: I'm curious as to which of these ideas (if any) you'd be interested in. Everyone else, I'm curious as to what other comments or suggestions you might have. :)

-The Gneech