CHALLENGE: Campaigns that NOBODY would want to play in

Lanefan said:

A campaign nobody would want to play in (at least after the first session):

The PCs, via a hard railroad, meet in a tavern. They remain in that tavern, because no matter what they do they can only go to a) the kitchen, b) the washroom, and c) three guest rooms upstairs. That is the extent of their available world, and they cannot leave it by any means. The only NPCs they can interact with are a) the barkeep (a dull and bitter man), b) the cook and assistant in the kitchen (the cook is fussy to a fault, the assistant is dumb as a post), c) two other customers in the tavern who are simple common farmers with nothing of interest to say, and c) the upstairs valet, who is mute. The entirety of the treasure in this building consists of 15 s.p. 8 c.p. in the bar till and about the same again divided between the occupants and some forgotten corners of the rooms upstairs, plus whatever the PCs have of their own. Looking out the windows shows an endless prairie of wheat fields in all directions except a rough cart track leaving to the north, all suitably narrated to reflect the time of year.

How to (maybe?) make it awesome:

The tavern building is mobile - it can 'walk', it can fly, it can go underwater or travel through interstellar space, etc., and it can communicate externally as directed, but it can't in any way think for itself - but the PCs have to figure this all out. After that the goal of the PCs is not to themselves adventure but to a) learn how to guide/steer/operate the building, b) to teach the building how to do certain things e.g. fight for itself, conceal itself, etc., and then c) to use their collective skills and abilities to guide it through a series of adventures and-or to a series of interesting places. Their means of interacting with said adventures and places is the building: the PCs tell it what to do and-or 'say' and it does so.

Lanefan

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Retreater said:

The setting I've had a hard time selling is one set in a low fantasy equivalent of the United States during the time of the War of 1812 with border skirmishes on the frontier as the might of the empire is crushing from the east. Long rifles and canons, Napoleonic sea combat, westward expansion, river pirates.

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Ralif Redhammer said:

All PCs are required to play as my homebrewed race, the Potato-Kin…

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Gammadoodler said:

LOTR campaign set in a suburban Wal-Mart conducted entirely in rhyming linguistically accurate Elven.

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MNblockhead said:

I'd play it, but only as a LARP.

Your XP is the number of minutes you last before being escorted out of the Wal Mart.

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Retreater said:

The setting I've had a hard time selling is one set in a low fantasy equivalent of the United States during the time of the War of 1812 with border skirmishes on the frontier as the might of the empire is crushing from the east. Long rifles and canons, Napoleonic sea combat, westward expansion, river pirates.

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MNblockhead said:

Right, so you turn it into the medieval fantasy version of Star Trek. The characters all man the "bridge" of their space/dimension faring vessel.

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MNblockhead said:

Well, that's kind of the premise of one location in Lost Laboratory of Kwalish, though one session is not a campaign. I agree, an entire campaign of this would get old fast. Hard to make that awesome. Though, could other beasts survive. Are their spirits and undeed to interact with? Can you bring back any of the dead as you clear areas? Would the jellies and other monsters have evolved in this world?

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