RPGs I'd Like to Play - 2011 Edition

April... the work and study pressures of the winter are ending, people are moving away (or back home), getting summer jobs with odd schedules or perhaps seeing their vacation days opening up. Invariably, it's a time for looking hard at my RPG collection and making choices. I'm losing a few players, but some old players would like to come back to the fold. New faces are also showing an interest. The DC Adventures game we set up last fall collapsed after only two sessions, partly my fault (my first experience with a d20-related game AND superhero RPG overload simply failed to motivate me) and partly the time's (we probably shouldn't attempt role-playing in the winter, not with our schedules). So now, with a new group assembling, I need the proper campaign for the summer months. But WHAT?

Mission statement: I think I'm done with the whole multi-genre fixation I've been on for the past decade. I'd like to keep it simple this time. I'd also like for it to be more free-form, both in terms of rules (relatively rules light) and plot (be able to improvise and let the players take the lead rather than script elaborate plots). At least one player who'd like to come back likes the mathematical aspect of building characters so I'd like to indulge him. So what possibilities have I come up with?

Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space. Of course. I'd love to bring last year's game back to life, skipping a few regenerations and setting up a Whoniverse that's well ahead of the current show's. I'd bring back the Time Lords and everything. Because the new series is about to start and I've put myself on a strong Whovian diet of DVDs and audios, I feel super-inspired AND the rules are quite free-form. The main impediments are that 1) most of my current players are not particularly fans of the show and 2) the game works better with very small groups (our 5-man party seemed to leave some players warming benches). I could, of course, turn the premise inside out and forgo having a Time Lord (because such a being requires a strong player and more dedicated Whovian) and drop a self-piloting TARDIS in the middle of things. It becomes a time travel game in the Whoniverse, but not a Doctor Who RPG. I have no problem with that idea, if other are game.

GURPS... something. I put the same thing in the 2007 edition of this post. I have a huge GURPS collection (nearly complete as far as 3rd edition is concerned) and character generation should be mathsy enough for certain players. I've got enough experience with it (we wound up choosing GURPS Black Ops game last time) to wing it (and have done so). My attempt at creating a GURPS Torg a couple years ago failed because again, tried it in the winter, so we didn't get past chargen despite some interesting characters from across the sourcebook range. But like I said, I'd like to avoid multi-genre this time. A more down to Earth version of Black Ops perhaps? There's a lot of material that would fit "monster hunters". I wouldn't mind something historical either, but with a twist, like Vikings who've lost their way and are sailing to Africa and Asia.

Savage Worlds... something. If players want a finite, but continuing campaign, Savage Worlds could be the way to go. We had great fun with Evernight last summer, and it'd be dead easy to pick up another setting/plot and go. Personal favorites include Slipstream (Flash Gordon-style 1950s SF), Rippers (Victorian monster hunters) and Oriental Adventures (adapting SW for AD&D's Ninja Wars scenarios). I'm wide open, but it's really a matter of players being interested in any given setting.

AD&D 2nd. Because fantasy has never been high on my list (due to overplay in my teen years), some players are really curious as to what this "Dungeons & Dragons" thing is supposed to be like. I still have a big collection of 2nd edition stuff (my preferred D&D), and wouldn't mind playing if the premise was right. Usually, I'm all about Planescape, but having started short-running campaigns in Planescape 3 times now, I'm ready for something else. Spelljammer might be a nice diversion for the summer, perhaps, and injecting some space opera tropes to sword&sorcery's could be fun. There are other options, of course. Forgotten Realms offers almost every type of environment and society the players think up.

Ars Magica. If a more episodic game is desired, one in which players don't all have to show up every single time, I might suggest Ars. I've always wanted to play it. I think players might find the magic system very interesting, especially the possibility of creating their own spells, their own magic college (or "Covenant"), and playing more than one character (super-powerful magus, highly skilled companion, and disposable grunt). Plus, we're all French speakers and the game takes place in medieval France!

James Bond 007. Even more episodic, and if I want to strap myself down to written scenarios instead of improv (which has its own advantages), I would very much like to run the old James Bond game with a Mission: Impossible type group (must be all that M:I, MI-5, Alias and Chuck I've been watching). I got a stash of Victory Games' excellent boxed scenarios at one point, full of beautiful handouts. We've played a couple over the years, and I've found them excellent. Superspies is not a genre I've attempted for any length of time, so I'd be interested to try.

It's in my players' court now...