Last week, Dysonlogos over at A Character for Every Game, posted a list of licensed role-playing games he was still waiting for. Good choices too. I was also preparing such a list (honest!), but he was quicker, so this is my answer to his post. I've set some rules for myself: No licensed property that has ever had a RPG published from it (which eliminates Dune, for example) or that is, in fact, on Dysonlogos' list.
To best answer the question of what licensed worlds would make the best RPGs, my mind recalled the halcyon days of GURPS 3rd edition, which would turn such sci-fi and fantasy series as Wild Cards, Horseclans, Riverworld, New Sun, Witch World, War Against the Chtorr, Discworld and Lensman into settings you could plug your game into. These worked both as games and as sourcebooks for your favorite book series, something you'd probably never get in the regular book market, and sometimes, you even got new material straight from the author's pen. So for the bulk of my suggestions, I went to the old hardcover, Book Club Edition, SF and fantasy books of my youth, starting with...
The Magic of Xanth
So begins my Piers Anthony dyptic. I loved Piers Anthony as a teenager. Great high concept adventure, and series that would roll out at an amazing pace. Today I'd probably call the majority of his work "pedestrian". A degree in literature has spoiled me rotten. However, what made for flighty youth-oriented novels woud also make for kick-ass role-playing games. High concept + tons of material = cool and detailed settings. The Magic of Xanth has undeniable appeal, for example. In Xanth, a magical world where puns are literallu true sitting on top of our mundane Florida, everyone has a magic talent. Some are powerful, some are very limited, some are silly, but everyone is born with a power. Break out the random talent table and have fun.
Apprentice Adept
Piers Anthony created this series by juxtaposing two worlds - one science fiction world, Proton, where everybody plays The Game (a huge random competition that can have you play everything from water polo to spontaneous poetry to rock-paper-scissors); the other a fantasy world called Phaze, where magic is king. Characters all have a counterpart in the other world, whose magical ability is equal to their game ranking and vice-versa, unless their counterpart has died, in which case they can cross over... I can see the dual-character sheet now.
West of Eden
Those who know me are aware of my love of low-powered role-playing. Harry Harrison's West of Eden combines GURPS Ice Age with Doctor Who and the Silurians to create an epic clash between Native Americans and the descendants of the non-extinct dinosaurs. Wood and stone vs. biotech. And though the saurian Yilanè are the nominal antagonists of the series, there is also some good in them, so players could take either side, or learn to work together. Bottom line: This is an efficiently detailed setting I'd love to run a session with some day.
Spellsinger
Alan Dean Foster already allowed Steve Jackson Games to adapt his Humanx universe to GURPS, so there must be an opening there. Spellsinger is a fantasy series in which a kid from our world falls to the fantasy world (a common trope, as it was also used in Xanth and returns in my very next suggestion) and turns out to be the best magician there is. The key to magic is Spellsinger is singing, and a fluid magic system keying off song lyrics would be really cool. Players with guitars and good voices could do the songs live, though reciting the words should be enough. Perhaps spellsingers should specialize in music styles and have modifiers when going out of their comfort zones. You could also play one of the spunky and barely anthropomorphic woodland animals that make up the bulk of the world's population.
Guardians of the Flame
Here's a meta-role-playing idea. Players are encouraged to use old D&D characters as a basis for their GotF characters. The game then asks questions to see how integrated each character is with its player. Do you really get into it, or are you basically yourself no matter what? Based on the modifiers proposed, the characters are tweaked to resemble (for better and often worse) their players. Then the GM informs the group that in the middle of a session, they are whisked away FOR REALZ to Joel Rosenberg's fantasy world of guilds and slavers. How do they deal with entering a world that was, moments earlier, only a fiction? A world they in part created and molded? There should be a section on integrating the players' old campaign into the game's background as well.
Let's leave that particular book case now and head for the trade paperbacks. Two ideas I've had based on creator-owned Vertigo series:
Fables
Whether you play in the Homelands, in Fabletown, on the road like Jack of Fables, before, during of after the War, there should be plenty of opportunities for adventure as a Fable (or even a Literal). Players should be encouraged to unearth fairy tales, legends and nursery rhymes from which to pull their characters, and they probably shouldn't shy away from rewriting the history of such Fable luminaries as Snow White, the Big Bad Wolf and Beauty and the Beast.
DMZ
It's America's next Civil War and Manhattan has become a DMZ where all factions vie for power. The RPG, of course, would offer gaming opportunities outside the DMZ itself, but New York could continue to act as a hotspot for the campaign. It's a military game for the new Millennium, with Iraq and Afghanistan fresh in our minds, bringing home to hell that is war. Whose side are you on?
And finally...
Godzilla
The world of Godzilla is a crazy one. It's not just the giant radioactiver monsters either. The Godzillaverse has super spies, Venusians and Martians hiding among us, magical fairies and ancient cultures, probably even the kitchen sink. Those interested in playing Godzilla should check out the GURPS work made by fan Jonathan Woodward. His setting work is quite good. In my version of the game, however, I would also include moments where the players are invited to take on the roles of the giant monsters during rampages, especially the "good" monsters like Godzilla and Mothra. Playing in a world where there are such monsters is all good and fine, but it's not really a Godzilla game if you don't actually play a giant monster in a rubber suit yourself, is it?
Those are my ideas, what are yours?
To best answer the question of what licensed worlds would make the best RPGs, my mind recalled the halcyon days of GURPS 3rd edition, which would turn such sci-fi and fantasy series as Wild Cards, Horseclans, Riverworld, New Sun, Witch World, War Against the Chtorr, Discworld and Lensman into settings you could plug your game into. These worked both as games and as sourcebooks for your favorite book series, something you'd probably never get in the regular book market, and sometimes, you even got new material straight from the author's pen. So for the bulk of my suggestions, I went to the old hardcover, Book Club Edition, SF and fantasy books of my youth, starting with...
The Magic of XanthSo begins my Piers Anthony dyptic. I loved Piers Anthony as a teenager. Great high concept adventure, and series that would roll out at an amazing pace. Today I'd probably call the majority of his work "pedestrian". A degree in literature has spoiled me rotten. However, what made for flighty youth-oriented novels woud also make for kick-ass role-playing games. High concept + tons of material = cool and detailed settings. The Magic of Xanth has undeniable appeal, for example. In Xanth, a magical world where puns are literallu true sitting on top of our mundane Florida, everyone has a magic talent. Some are powerful, some are very limited, some are silly, but everyone is born with a power. Break out the random talent table and have fun.
Apprentice AdeptPiers Anthony created this series by juxtaposing two worlds - one science fiction world, Proton, where everybody plays The Game (a huge random competition that can have you play everything from water polo to spontaneous poetry to rock-paper-scissors); the other a fantasy world called Phaze, where magic is king. Characters all have a counterpart in the other world, whose magical ability is equal to their game ranking and vice-versa, unless their counterpart has died, in which case they can cross over... I can see the dual-character sheet now.
West of EdenThose who know me are aware of my love of low-powered role-playing. Harry Harrison's West of Eden combines GURPS Ice Age with Doctor Who and the Silurians to create an epic clash between Native Americans and the descendants of the non-extinct dinosaurs. Wood and stone vs. biotech. And though the saurian Yilanè are the nominal antagonists of the series, there is also some good in them, so players could take either side, or learn to work together. Bottom line: This is an efficiently detailed setting I'd love to run a session with some day.
SpellsingerAlan Dean Foster already allowed Steve Jackson Games to adapt his Humanx universe to GURPS, so there must be an opening there. Spellsinger is a fantasy series in which a kid from our world falls to the fantasy world (a common trope, as it was also used in Xanth and returns in my very next suggestion) and turns out to be the best magician there is. The key to magic is Spellsinger is singing, and a fluid magic system keying off song lyrics would be really cool. Players with guitars and good voices could do the songs live, though reciting the words should be enough. Perhaps spellsingers should specialize in music styles and have modifiers when going out of their comfort zones. You could also play one of the spunky and barely anthropomorphic woodland animals that make up the bulk of the world's population.
Guardians of the Flame
Here's a meta-role-playing idea. Players are encouraged to use old D&D characters as a basis for their GotF characters. The game then asks questions to see how integrated each character is with its player. Do you really get into it, or are you basically yourself no matter what? Based on the modifiers proposed, the characters are tweaked to resemble (for better and often worse) their players. Then the GM informs the group that in the middle of a session, they are whisked away FOR REALZ to Joel Rosenberg's fantasy world of guilds and slavers. How do they deal with entering a world that was, moments earlier, only a fiction? A world they in part created and molded? There should be a section on integrating the players' old campaign into the game's background as well.Let's leave that particular book case now and head for the trade paperbacks. Two ideas I've had based on creator-owned Vertigo series:
FablesWhether you play in the Homelands, in Fabletown, on the road like Jack of Fables, before, during of after the War, there should be plenty of opportunities for adventure as a Fable (or even a Literal). Players should be encouraged to unearth fairy tales, legends and nursery rhymes from which to pull their characters, and they probably shouldn't shy away from rewriting the history of such Fable luminaries as Snow White, the Big Bad Wolf and Beauty and the Beast.
DMZIt's America's next Civil War and Manhattan has become a DMZ where all factions vie for power. The RPG, of course, would offer gaming opportunities outside the DMZ itself, but New York could continue to act as a hotspot for the campaign. It's a military game for the new Millennium, with Iraq and Afghanistan fresh in our minds, bringing home to hell that is war. Whose side are you on?
And finally...
GodzillaThe world of Godzilla is a crazy one. It's not just the giant radioactiver monsters either. The Godzillaverse has super spies, Venusians and Martians hiding among us, magical fairies and ancient cultures, probably even the kitchen sink. Those interested in playing Godzilla should check out the GURPS work made by fan Jonathan Woodward. His setting work is quite good. In my version of the game, however, I would also include moments where the players are invited to take on the roles of the giant monsters during rampages, especially the "good" monsters like Godzilla and Mothra. Playing in a world where there are such monsters is all good and fine, but it's not really a Godzilla game if you don't actually play a giant monster in a rubber suit yourself, is it?
Those are my ideas, what are yours?
Comments
Esperanto owes Harry a great debt of gratitude, due to the "Stainless Steel Rat" books.
If you - or your readers - have a moment please see http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8837438938991452670
or http://www.lernu.net
I played a D&D Xanth module at CanGames many, many, MANY years ago. It was fun and goofy. When I was 12 I made up tables for determining what your magical ability was for playing a Xanth game.
And I love the idea of the players taking on the roles of Godzilla, Mothra, Rhodan and Gamera during game play.
Full Metal Alchemist, not just because I'm a fanboy but playing in a European alternate universe with alchemic powers would be pretty sweet. Not sure how it would all work because I've only played D&D and I don't even understand all of it. But back on FMA, you would choosing to be an alchemist and what branch of alchemy or even if you want choosing someone from the military with guns, swords or whatever. You could set up from anything really, pre-war conspiracies or hectic in-war or after war happenings.
I also find it funny that you mentioned West of Eden, when I just started reading East of Eden yesterday. I don't think there any correlations between the two but still.
Nizbel: They both use the same biblical allusion in their titles.