Troll Lord Games

so, I'm still loving C&C, and still wanting to play and run games, however, I'm pretty bored with 'traditional' fantasy.

I'm not all that excited about orcs and elves and dwarves and all that... and I'm not sure what to do...

So I ask, what have you done in the past when you reach a fantasy 'funk'.

I'm thinking of running a humans only 'fantasy' game. with the very very very rare monster - more horror/fantasy than anything else... but not sure...

is it just me, or have others felt that the default fantasy setting gets a bit stale from time to time?

Cheers,

J.

When that happens, I usually play a sci-fi game for a while.

I'm playing in a friend's D&D game which is based in historical England 1066, but the mythologies of the time are real. It's a neat break from your typical D&D style game.

I admit I occasionally get into a "fantasy funk", at least in regards to "traditional" fantasy.

Some of the things that I have done in the past:

1. A Dark Ages campaign, with the Saxons invading Britain. These are alot of fun. Though, various historical settings could be used.

2. Talislanta. This is more, over-the-top fantasy but enough of a fresh breath from your standard fantasy setting. They recently released the 5th Edition of this game but I haven't picked it up yet to comment. If it's anything like the 4th edition, it'll be GREAT.

3. I recently came across Midnight. Awesome. Dark fantasy with alot of nuances which veer it away from your normal fantasy setting.

DangerDwarf wrote:
1. A Dark Ages campaign, with the Saxons invading Britain. These are alot of fun.

Heh! That's exactly the setting my friend is running!

Dristram wrote:
Heh! That's exactly the setting my friend is running!

Actually, I was talking more along the lines of the 5th century Saxon invasion. 1066 would have been the Norman invasion.

Both fun though!

Oh, yeah, D'oh! I read "invading" and "Britain" and ignored the Saxon part.

jman5000 wrote:
so, I'm still loving C&C, and still wanting to play and run games, however, I'm pretty bored with 'traditional' fantasy.

So I ask, what have you done in the past when you reach a fantasy 'funk'.

I'm thinking of running a humans only 'fantasy' game. with the very very very rare monster - more horror/fantasy than anything else... but not sure...

I agree that switching settings is good from time to time, even if you don't switch games.

'Sword and sorcery' games are a nice break - one of my more successful campaigns stole heavily from Thundarr the Barbarian, of all things. I also just had a lot of fun playing in an S&S C&C game, and I was sorry to see it end.

I have also run all-human campaigns, as well as all-dwarven, all halfling, etc. The main thing is (for you as CK) to make your changes without confusing your players too much in the process. If everyone's on board, it can really give your game a shot in the arm. Good luck!
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Shadowrun, Traveler, L5R, and Mutants and Masterminds 2E top my list of "funk" games to play.

Lots of good ideas for alternate gaming.

If this ever happens to our group/me, I plan to run Lejendary Adventures, WHFRP or Star Frontiers.
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"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax

"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth

Also, if you want to consider non-fantasy gaming while in a funk my regulars standbys are:

Shadowrun

Rifts

Werewolf: The Wild West

If I'm feeling in rut, I typically run one of the following:

1. Historical Fantasy mini-series or one-shot. (e.g. Vikings, ancient Greece, Rome, ancient Levant, crusades, etc)

2. Call of Cthulhu/Delta Green

3. Mutants & Masterminds

At some point I also want to run a grim-n-gritty approach using Green Ronin's Black Company Campaign Setting. Or maybe Thieves World.

I play Gamma World when I get bored of fantasy, which happens a lot. Then again, I also add elements of every game system I own, and prefer a heavy horror feel.

Last year I was in a modern gaming funk. I was running modern/mecha/sci-fi games and it got a bit bland. So I ran a medieval 12th century historical fiction game about crusaders returning home from Jerusalem. The return path was through Transylvania.

That game not only rejuvenated me for gaming but gave me more inspiration because it's one of the best games that I've ever run. My players still talk about it!
My take is that running something that you usually don't do will really recharge the old gaming batteries.

Eisenmann wrote:
So I ran a medieval 12th century historical fiction game about crusaders returning home from Jerusalem. The return path was through Transylvania.

That sounds pretty damn sweet.

Eisenmann wrote:
...I ran a medieval 12th century historical fiction game about crusaders returning home from Jerusalem. The return path was through Transylvania...it's one of the best games that I've ever run. My players still talk about it!

That sounds very cool. I've become a big fan of the historical fiction or historical fantasy in RPGs. All of the games I've run in that vein seem to come off very well. Also, since I've been running them as mini-series or one-shots, sometimes I'll try a different system, or some variant rules, which also helps deliver "something new."

Over on EN World someone was talking about running G1-3 with a definite Norse spin ("Against the Jotuns"), instead of "standard D&D fantasy," which sounds really appealing, too.

Thanks guys! I went all out and got actual photos from the Transylvania region including actual period castles. I did a little research and used proper terminology for the period. For example, I used revenant in place of the term zombie.

I also put a playlist together for the sessions in iTunes using the music from this guy:
http://www.last.fm/user/Michikawa/

His music is free to use and is REALLY good. About half way down on the left-hand side of the page is where the links to the free songs are.

Far out part is that I ran the game using Silcore which is renowned for Mecha and gun action. The game, as I said, went great and is one of my best ever. I just couldn't sustain that action because I wasn't about to convert creatures and monsters ad infinum to Silcore. I needed a system that all that stuff in place so here I am!

I run a "Shoot 'em up" one shot with a really fast playing RPG system, such as TWERPS or Tunnels & Trolls (with modern firearms from MSPE). No magic. But monsters are OK. Unlimited ammo.

Your Mission: Board the Cruise Ship, hit the Bad Guy's Villa. Take down everyone. Sink the ship. Burn the villa. Return to base. Drink beer.

Let the players blow off steam. Usually after 3 - 4 hours of this everybody is ready to get back to serious gaming.

With SIEGE being so fast, you could use it as the game system. Just loot modern weapons from D20 Modern. Figure the maximum range (No modifiers). Create one shot characters. No magic. Everybody is a Thief...Erm...Rogue.

Every DM has a map of a small village laying around - there's the Teams target. Evil Halflings - gotta go. No involved tactical plans - kick in the door. Shoot the place up. Blow off steam. Have fun.
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Hmm...what do I play when I'm in a fantasy funk?

<---------Gee, guess.

Star Trek: The RPG though is another one I'd play. If I want real silliness, I play Toon.
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pineappleleader wrote:
- there's the Teams target. Evil Halflings -

I HATE those guys!

Traveller wrote:
Hmm...what do I play when I'm in a fantasy funk?

<---------Gee, guess.

Star Trek: The RPG though is another one I'd play. If I want real silliness, I play Toon.

I've been wanting to get a Traveler game going but just haven't been able to. Any suggestions on system, books, resources?

I played in a Traveler game back in 10th grade. The GM graduated and went to the Navy. That was the last time for me. lol

thanks guys, all good suggestions. I'm thinking about keeping things 'fantastic' in nature. so it will still be with swords and stuff, just not all those pesky demi-humans and goblins to fight at 1st level. I think that is where the 'funk' really resides... boredom with the standard C&C/D&D Fantasy troupe...

hmmm. have everyone start out as 1st level Orcs or Goblins in their village, and have them fight off and defend against marauding human "adventurers" hell bent and determined to rid the world of these pesky humanoids...
Wasn't there a computer game like that years ago, dungeon master or something like that...

Cheers,

J.

jman5000 wrote:
hmmm. have everyone start out as 1st level Orcs or Goblins in their village, and have them fight off and defend against marauding human "adventurers" hell bent and determined to rid the world of these pesky humanoids...

Here ya go:
Reverse Dungeon

groovy,

that actually sounds like fun. anyone ever play this, or something like it? does it 'translate' well

Cheers,

J.

Gamma World, BattleStations, Magic the Gathering.

I am also looking forward to SIEGE goodness for funk times in the form of NovaSIEGE (aka The-Game-Formerly-Known-As-StarSIEGE), and Ruins and Radiation. (Though, I am sure I will be waiting a long time for one or both...hope springs eternal).

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I have Reverse Dungeon. It works best for the low level stuff, as the higher things would involve needing to have playable monsters, like trolls, vampires, and liches, without someone feeling totally shafted.... though, the scenarios can be used basically as-is.

That Crusaders in Translyvania game sounds fantastic... Ooooh what a good Cthulhu Dark Ages game that might make. 8)

.................................................Omote

FPQ
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Funnily enough, I'm toying with a new C&C setting that has no Elves, dwarfs, gnomes and the like. Instead, there are "Paragons". I took the major classes of vertebrate and created a race that would be that Paragon.

So, Humans are the paragon of beasts (mammals), and there are also reptile paragons, amphibian paragons and bird paragons. Possible fish paragons too, but nobody's ever seen one. Humanoid features are considered to be a hallmark of an intelligent race, of the Divine in fact (the gods of this world look like highly-stylised humanoids), so they're all upright bipeds with more-or-less humanoid physiologies.

Another concept I toyed with was that Humans and Humanoids were the result of magical experiments, and that animals wee never supposed to possess sentience. In this idea, the various classical chimarae (satyrs, minotaurs, sphinxes etc) would have been the Firstborn, creatures that came from a Spirit existence and took physical forms based on the natural creatures they saw, while Humans did the opposite. They were Flesh that somehow caught up enough Spirit to become intelligent. It would set the scene for a lot of tension between the groups.

So I'd strongly advise giving alternatives a try if you're feeling a bit tired of the standard. It doesn't have to be just Humans, Dwarfs and Elves if you don't want it to. This is fantasy! There are no limits.
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