Jul 23, 2021 5:37 am
Hello people of Games Plane!
I joined GP several months ago and have been mostly lurking and playing in a few games. I now feel comfortable enough to try my hand at running something. I have several games in mind that I could GM. Inspired by a similar thread from Remnant, I decided to throw out a few options and see what people would like.
Here are some choices for games that I'm interested in running, followed by a brief description of each game. I have used lenpelletier's excellent post about "How to Write a Recruitment Thread" as a template for this interest check.
Imagine that you died. Maybe you had a heart attack. Maybe you drowned. Maybe a gun or a car accident or a wild animal took your life from you. Regardless of the details, as you reach that liminal place between life and death, you are approached by a mysterious being that offers you a Bargain.
Sin-Eaters, also called The Bound, are people who died and are brought back to life thanks to an encounter with a powerful creature of the Underworld called a Geist. But they are forever changed. In return for their second chance, the Sin-Eater's body plays host to the Geist, and they are now capable or seeing and interacting with ghosts, along with a whole assortment of other death-related powers called Haunts. Some Sin-Eaters can scream like banshees or make walls bleed. Some can curse the living or alter their own bodies with ectoplasm. Some can puppeteer surrounding objects like a poltergeist. Some can summon up the bubbling waters of the River Styx. Some eat ghosts to gain their strength, while others descend into the Underworld to learn its mysteries and become Gods of Death.
The ability to see and hear ghosts has a profound effect on most Sin-Eaters, who find themselves unable to ignore the suffering of the invisible spirits around them. Most of the Bound become champions of the Dead and use their abilities to intervene and give a voice to the voiceless. As a Sin-Eater, you are a living psychopomp who maintains the balance between Life and Death, while helping ghosts resolve their regrets and Move On.
The first edition of G:TSE had a lot of potential but suffered from significant design problems. Even after the release of major errata (in the form of Geist: The Sin-Eaters v1.1), many issues remained. Yet I always considered this game a wonderful diamond in the rough. I'm happy to say that the second edition has resolved most, if not all, of the problems with the first edition. It's a great game. Not only are you creating a Sin-Eater character, but you also get to design your Geist companion as well. Ghost characters are also an option.
Geist: The Sin-Eaters in part of the Chronicles of Darkness, and as such, exists in the same universe as other ChroD games: Vampire: The Requiem, Werewolf: The Forsaken, Mage: The Awakening, etc.
System: Chronicles of Darkness Second Edition Storytelling System
Adult Content/Themes: Geist: The Sin-Eaters strongly centers around the topic of death, as well as other mature subject matter. This is unavoidable given the nature of the characters and the setting. Grief, religion, violence, suicide, and trauma are all things that could potentially make an appearance in this game. Granted, I'll always try to address these topics respectfully and tastefully.
Game Duration: Ongoing campaign with no set duration. The game will continue for as long as people want to play.
Post Frequency: Three or four times a week at minimum.
Player Experience Requirements: Open to anyone. Newbies are welcome. System is moderate crunch.
Character Restrictions: Only Sin-Eaters or The Absent (ghosts). No characters from other Chronicles of Darkness splats.
Permissible Sourcebooks: Geist: The Sin-Eaters Second Edition, Memento Mori, The Chronicles of Darkness, and The Hurt Locker.
How to Apply: No application process. Spots are first come, first served. Leave a post expressing your interest in a particular game, or message me.
Conspiracy X Second Edition is, in my opinion, one of the finest RPGs of its genre. It's essentially the X-Files, and if you were/are a fan of that show, then you'll probably love Con X. The setting posits that several races of extraterrestrials are secretly vying for control of the world. You play an agent who is part of a conspiracy called Aegis. Aegis is a powerful secret organization fighting a shadow war against the extraterrestrials, as well as clandestine elements of the American government that are working with the aliens. The game touches on many popular conspiracy theories, everything from Russian involvement with psychics to alien cover ups by MKULTRA. Psychic powers and the supernatural are known to be real, and Aegis uses them as another tool in its arsenal alongside secret military research and stolen alien tech.
Characters work as part of a cell and undertake missions on behalf of Aegis. Each player character was recruited from a different government agency or civilian background, and each provides skills that Aegis needs in its fight. Characters have "pulling strings" - traits that reflect their influence and ability to draw on favors and resources. Although Aegis might nominally be regarded as "the good guys," in truth, the organization is ruthless in the protection on its secrecy and regularly makes use of blackmail, assassination, torture, and whatever other methods it feels are necessary. The game will focus heavily on investigation and spycraft.
System: Uses the Eden Studios system.
Adult Content/Themes: Given that this is a game about government conspiracies and alien abduction, subjects such as murder, violence, kidnapping, and other mature topics are likely to come up.
Game Duration: Ongoing campaign with no set duration. The game will continue for as long as people want to play.
Post Frequency: Three or four times a week at minimum.
Player Experience Requirements: Open to anyone. Newbies are welcome. System is moderate crunch.
Character Restrictions: Aegis characters only. All characters must also be human.
Permissible Sourcebooks: All of the official second edition Conspiracy X books are permissible.
How to Apply: No application process. Spots are first come, first served. Leave a post expressing your interest in a particular game, or message me.
Infinite Worlds is a campaign setting for GURPS Fourth Edition. Players are members of a large multiverse-spanning agency called the Infinity Patrol. This agency and its "Intervention Service" polices all of Time and the multiverse. Its "I-Cops" are charged with maintaining the cosmic balance and protecting all of existence from a variety of existential threats: parachronal terrorists, dimension-jumping monsters, temporal paradoxes, and even dangerous versions of the Infinity Patrol that seek to conquer or destroy everything. If you’ve been watching Loki on Disney+ and this reminds you of the TVA, then you're on the right track.
This game is chock full of alternate histories, and I-Cops spend a lot of their time investigating new worlds/dimensions while trying to also contain dangerous parallel universes. Universe-hopping nazis armed with superscience... yep. Fourteenth century mongol hordes that have figured out how to time travel... you betchya. Earth parallels where magic for some reason exists... uh huh. I-Cops have seen it all and probably battled it all.
Being a GURPS supplement, the setting is fun but very densely packed with information. Players don't need to worry about learning all the complexities of the Infinity Patrol or how parachronics/time travel works. I'll only be using as much of the setting's technical aspects as needed to keep things simple.
System: GURPS Fourth Edition.
Adult Content/Themes: Not much, if at all. Some violence.
Game Duration: Ongoing campaign with no set duration. The game will continue for as long as people want to play.
Post Frequency: Three or four times a week at minimum.
Player Experience Requirements: Open to anyone. Newbies are welcome. Fair warning to those who are new to GURPS, however, the system in CRUNCHY.
Character Restrictions: All characters must be members of the Infinity Patrol. Given the sheer amount of possible character options in a multiversal time travel game, further restrictions will be determined on a case-by-case basis depending on the kind of group that is created.
Permissible Sourcebooks: The Infinite Worlds setting book, of course, as well as all of the official GURPS Fourth Edition books.
How to Apply: No application process. Spots are first come, first served. Leave a post expressing your interest in a particular game, or message me.
Wild Skies: Europa Tempest is a game created by a friend of mine named Brandon Aten and his company, Wet Ink Games. I've been meaning to run his game at some point, in support of his work, so this seems like a good opportunity to do that.
Wild Skies is a diesel punk alternate history RPG in which, instead of people, the world is populated by anthropomorphic animals. The setting takes place in Europe during the 1930s, and the First World War never quite ended. Airships fill the sky, and sovereign nations wage war against one another with retro-futuristic rocket packs, galvanic weapons, and diesel-powered war machines closer to mecha than tanks. Think the old '90s cartoon TaleSpin, and you'll get the idea.
The game has over 40 animal types to choose from. The system is percentile-based, and players need to roll within a certain range of numbers to succeed. Rolling either too low or too high is not ideal. Skill dice can be used to adjust a roll - lowering it or raising it to get a better result.
The PDF is only $7.50 on DrivethruRPG and I strongly recommend checking it out.
System: Compass System.
Adult Content/Themes: Some violence.
Game Duration: Ongoing campaign with no set duration. The game will continue for as long as people want to play.
Post Frequency: Three or four times a week at minimum.
Player Experience Requirements: Open to anyone. Newbies are welcome. System is lite to moderate crunch.
Character Restrictions: None, really.
Permissible Sourcebooks: Both of the official Wild Skies RPG books are permissible.
How to Apply: No application process. Spots are first come, first served. Leave a post expressing your interest in a particular game, or message me.
I joined GP several months ago and have been mostly lurking and playing in a few games. I now feel comfortable enough to try my hand at running something. I have several games in mind that I could GM. Inspired by a similar thread from Remnant, I decided to throw out a few options and see what people would like.
Here are some choices for games that I'm interested in running, followed by a brief description of each game. I have used lenpelletier's excellent post about "How to Write a Recruitment Thread" as a template for this interest check.
Imagine that you died. Maybe you had a heart attack. Maybe you drowned. Maybe a gun or a car accident or a wild animal took your life from you. Regardless of the details, as you reach that liminal place between life and death, you are approached by a mysterious being that offers you a Bargain.
Sin-Eaters, also called The Bound, are people who died and are brought back to life thanks to an encounter with a powerful creature of the Underworld called a Geist. But they are forever changed. In return for their second chance, the Sin-Eater's body plays host to the Geist, and they are now capable or seeing and interacting with ghosts, along with a whole assortment of other death-related powers called Haunts. Some Sin-Eaters can scream like banshees or make walls bleed. Some can curse the living or alter their own bodies with ectoplasm. Some can puppeteer surrounding objects like a poltergeist. Some can summon up the bubbling waters of the River Styx. Some eat ghosts to gain their strength, while others descend into the Underworld to learn its mysteries and become Gods of Death.
The ability to see and hear ghosts has a profound effect on most Sin-Eaters, who find themselves unable to ignore the suffering of the invisible spirits around them. Most of the Bound become champions of the Dead and use their abilities to intervene and give a voice to the voiceless. As a Sin-Eater, you are a living psychopomp who maintains the balance between Life and Death, while helping ghosts resolve their regrets and Move On.
The first edition of G:TSE had a lot of potential but suffered from significant design problems. Even after the release of major errata (in the form of Geist: The Sin-Eaters v1.1), many issues remained. Yet I always considered this game a wonderful diamond in the rough. I'm happy to say that the second edition has resolved most, if not all, of the problems with the first edition. It's a great game. Not only are you creating a Sin-Eater character, but you also get to design your Geist companion as well. Ghost characters are also an option.
Geist: The Sin-Eaters in part of the Chronicles of Darkness, and as such, exists in the same universe as other ChroD games: Vampire: The Requiem, Werewolf: The Forsaken, Mage: The Awakening, etc.
System: Chronicles of Darkness Second Edition Storytelling System
Adult Content/Themes: Geist: The Sin-Eaters strongly centers around the topic of death, as well as other mature subject matter. This is unavoidable given the nature of the characters and the setting. Grief, religion, violence, suicide, and trauma are all things that could potentially make an appearance in this game. Granted, I'll always try to address these topics respectfully and tastefully.
Game Duration: Ongoing campaign with no set duration. The game will continue for as long as people want to play.
Post Frequency: Three or four times a week at minimum.
Player Experience Requirements: Open to anyone. Newbies are welcome. System is moderate crunch.
Character Restrictions: Only Sin-Eaters or The Absent (ghosts). No characters from other Chronicles of Darkness splats.
Permissible Sourcebooks: Geist: The Sin-Eaters Second Edition, Memento Mori, The Chronicles of Darkness, and The Hurt Locker.
How to Apply: No application process. Spots are first come, first served. Leave a post expressing your interest in a particular game, or message me.
Conspiracy X Second Edition is, in my opinion, one of the finest RPGs of its genre. It's essentially the X-Files, and if you were/are a fan of that show, then you'll probably love Con X. The setting posits that several races of extraterrestrials are secretly vying for control of the world. You play an agent who is part of a conspiracy called Aegis. Aegis is a powerful secret organization fighting a shadow war against the extraterrestrials, as well as clandestine elements of the American government that are working with the aliens. The game touches on many popular conspiracy theories, everything from Russian involvement with psychics to alien cover ups by MKULTRA. Psychic powers and the supernatural are known to be real, and Aegis uses them as another tool in its arsenal alongside secret military research and stolen alien tech.
Characters work as part of a cell and undertake missions on behalf of Aegis. Each player character was recruited from a different government agency or civilian background, and each provides skills that Aegis needs in its fight. Characters have "pulling strings" - traits that reflect their influence and ability to draw on favors and resources. Although Aegis might nominally be regarded as "the good guys," in truth, the organization is ruthless in the protection on its secrecy and regularly makes use of blackmail, assassination, torture, and whatever other methods it feels are necessary. The game will focus heavily on investigation and spycraft.
System: Uses the Eden Studios system.
Adult Content/Themes: Given that this is a game about government conspiracies and alien abduction, subjects such as murder, violence, kidnapping, and other mature topics are likely to come up.
Game Duration: Ongoing campaign with no set duration. The game will continue for as long as people want to play.
Post Frequency: Three or four times a week at minimum.
Player Experience Requirements: Open to anyone. Newbies are welcome. System is moderate crunch.
Character Restrictions: Aegis characters only. All characters must also be human.
Permissible Sourcebooks: All of the official second edition Conspiracy X books are permissible.
How to Apply: No application process. Spots are first come, first served. Leave a post expressing your interest in a particular game, or message me.
Infinite Worlds is a campaign setting for GURPS Fourth Edition. Players are members of a large multiverse-spanning agency called the Infinity Patrol. This agency and its "Intervention Service" polices all of Time and the multiverse. Its "I-Cops" are charged with maintaining the cosmic balance and protecting all of existence from a variety of existential threats: parachronal terrorists, dimension-jumping monsters, temporal paradoxes, and even dangerous versions of the Infinity Patrol that seek to conquer or destroy everything. If you’ve been watching Loki on Disney+ and this reminds you of the TVA, then you're on the right track.
This game is chock full of alternate histories, and I-Cops spend a lot of their time investigating new worlds/dimensions while trying to also contain dangerous parallel universes. Universe-hopping nazis armed with superscience... yep. Fourteenth century mongol hordes that have figured out how to time travel... you betchya. Earth parallels where magic for some reason exists... uh huh. I-Cops have seen it all and probably battled it all.
Being a GURPS supplement, the setting is fun but very densely packed with information. Players don't need to worry about learning all the complexities of the Infinity Patrol or how parachronics/time travel works. I'll only be using as much of the setting's technical aspects as needed to keep things simple.
System: GURPS Fourth Edition.
Adult Content/Themes: Not much, if at all. Some violence.
Game Duration: Ongoing campaign with no set duration. The game will continue for as long as people want to play.
Post Frequency: Three or four times a week at minimum.
Player Experience Requirements: Open to anyone. Newbies are welcome. Fair warning to those who are new to GURPS, however, the system in CRUNCHY.
Character Restrictions: All characters must be members of the Infinity Patrol. Given the sheer amount of possible character options in a multiversal time travel game, further restrictions will be determined on a case-by-case basis depending on the kind of group that is created.
Permissible Sourcebooks: The Infinite Worlds setting book, of course, as well as all of the official GURPS Fourth Edition books.
How to Apply: No application process. Spots are first come, first served. Leave a post expressing your interest in a particular game, or message me.
Wild Skies: Europa Tempest is a game created by a friend of mine named Brandon Aten and his company, Wet Ink Games. I've been meaning to run his game at some point, in support of his work, so this seems like a good opportunity to do that.
Wild Skies is a diesel punk alternate history RPG in which, instead of people, the world is populated by anthropomorphic animals. The setting takes place in Europe during the 1930s, and the First World War never quite ended. Airships fill the sky, and sovereign nations wage war against one another with retro-futuristic rocket packs, galvanic weapons, and diesel-powered war machines closer to mecha than tanks. Think the old '90s cartoon TaleSpin, and you'll get the idea.
The game has over 40 animal types to choose from. The system is percentile-based, and players need to roll within a certain range of numbers to succeed. Rolling either too low or too high is not ideal. Skill dice can be used to adjust a roll - lowering it or raising it to get a better result.
The PDF is only $7.50 on DrivethruRPG and I strongly recommend checking it out.
System: Compass System.
Adult Content/Themes: Some violence.
Game Duration: Ongoing campaign with no set duration. The game will continue for as long as people want to play.
Post Frequency: Three or four times a week at minimum.
Player Experience Requirements: Open to anyone. Newbies are welcome. System is lite to moderate crunch.
Character Restrictions: None, really.
Permissible Sourcebooks: Both of the official Wild Skies RPG books are permissible.
How to Apply: No application process. Spots are first come, first served. Leave a post expressing your interest in a particular game, or message me.
Last edited August 7, 2021 8:47 pm
