Brainstorming: Lord of the...WTF?!?!

Dannyalcatraz · Mar 12, 2019

Inspired by this post, shortly after suggesting a modern reboot of LotR with Jackie Chan as Frodo and someone responding Sammo Hung as Samwise...

Dannyalcatraz said:
Sammo as Samwise opposite Chan as Frodo would be perfect!

A full-on martial arts movie version of LotR would probably be difficult to cast, but probably kick ass. (Quasi-pun intended.)

I mean, just imagine how awesome a wushu battle between Gandalf and Saruman would be!

Hmmm...now I’m thinking I need to buy a copy of the Spirit of 77 rpg and design a blaxploitation/chop socky/buddy cop campaign based on a reskinning of LotR.

(Emphasis mine.)

In addition, someone suggested this movie as a possible source for inspiration
[video=youtube;xChArcx5_M4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xChArcx5_M4[/video]

Soooo...even though I’m thinking Spirit Of 77 for the RPG, I don’t actually own it. HERO is more likely, since it’s my go-to. But regardless of system, I want to conceptualize this setting as being inspired by and in harmony with shows and movies from 1970-1989, and generally set sometime in those decades. Some minor anachronisms for flavor would be OK- see Life on Mars or Ashes to Ashes, and stuff lifted from “period pieces” like most wushu films would get modernized to fit in.

I have some ideas- Nazgul being cyborgs a la Steve Austin, for instance, and obviously the wizards would be a lot like mystic martial artists. Besides the sources listed, I can see Kolshack, Night Stalker, Hammer films, and the like being mined for ideas. But I know there are many clever minds on ENWorld, and I’d love to do an open brainstorming with anyone who cares to join in.

Bring it on!

Riley37 · Mar 13, 2019

The trailer features swastikas, so people are gonna think your LOTR story is a WWII analogy!

The palm of the true Bhudda gives acceptance and compassion, perhaps defending but never harming. Similarly, the physical victories of LOTR were the necessary steps towards a moral victory, which centered on renunciation of power. Something to consider for the story's ending... though in a TRPG, you'd better be ready for what happens if Boromir swings the party to his goals.

I imagine that someone has done a Ninja Hero write-up of the Mortal Kombat characters.

Bedrockgames · Mar 13, 2019

Not to toot my own horn but I have a system called Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate that is pay what you want and built with stuff like Buddha’s Palm in mind.

Dannyalcatraz · Mar 13, 2019

Because I have HERO in my proverbial back pocket, I’m less thinking about system at this point and more thinking about translating the various elements of the Middke Earth saga of LotR into an epic adventure set in a bygone age of the USA.

And as I write that, I realize I don’t mean everything has to HAPPEN in the USA. I mean, from the perspective of that era, starting off in small town USA and ending in the USSR (Moscow? Novosibirsk?) could work. Is the analogue to The One Ring some form of lost USSR hunter-killer/spy satellite tech?

Or is the story arc linked to the masterminds planning the Phoenix-like rebirth of the Fourth Reich?

...all with the lighter, funky, stylish cavalier approach of the action shows and films of the day, of course.

LuisCarlos17f · Mar 13, 2019

That 1982 movie is fantasy wuxia. I suggest as source of inspiration videogames set in oriental fantasy.

Dannyalcatraz · Mar 13, 2019

I like video games, but I haven’t played many RPG style ones since the 1990s.

Bedrockgames · Mar 13, 2019

LuisCarlos17f said:
That 1982 movie is fantasy wuxia. I suggest as source of inspiration videogames set in oriental fantasy.

Another good one is Holy Flame of the Martial World (similar style and era)

Umbran · Mar 13, 2019

Dannyalcatraz said:
And as I write that, I realize I don’t mean everything has to HAPPEN in the USA. I mean, from the perspective of that era, starting off in small town USA and ending in the USSR (Moscow? Novosibirsk?) could work.

You have an issue trying to justify it being a long and arduous overland journey, though, especially with an ocean in the way. Why don't they get on an [-]eagle[/-] jet plane and just fly there?

Is the analogue to The One Ring some form of lost USSR hunter-killer/spy satellite tech?

You may want the thematic element that carrying The One Thing is bad for you. A radioactive power cell, maybe?

Or is the story arc linked to the masterminds planning the Phoenix-like rebirth of the Fourth Reich?

Then read a bunch of Captain America comics, where the Red Skull is trying to bring up some old Nazi super-robot weapon, or somesuch.

Bedrockgames · Mar 13, 2019

Umbran said:
You have an issue trying to justify it being a long and arduous overland journey, though, especially with an ocean in the way. Why don't they get on an [-]eagle[/-] jet plane and just fly there?
.

Just have Sauron put them on the Terrorist Watch List. Have the eye of Sauron be either a conspiracy of many government agencies around the world, or agents from a particular government

Riley37 · Mar 13, 2019

Umbran said:
You have an issue trying to justify it being a long and arduous overland journey, though, especially with an ocean in the way. Why don't they get on an [-]eagle[/-] jet plane and just fly there?

Fly, fools, fly!

Umbran said:
You may want the thematic element that carrying The One Thing is bad for you. A radioactive power cell, maybe?

That's physically bad for you. The One Thing should warp your mind and tempt you to use it, especially when you're under pressure. It could be an artificial intelligence. Maybe it's a handheld computer with the hard-wired root password to the Orbital Mind Control Satellites, and you need to take it to the Siberian laboratory where the OMCS were built, because from there (and only from there), you can use it to send the self-destruct command to the OMCS network. So all along the way, it will remind you that you COULD be using it to begin a new era of world peace, uniting humanity under your benevolent directions. Meanwhile, every now and then, despite your best efforts, it manages to signal one of the satellites to beam you with cooperative feelings.

Brainstorming: Lord of the...WTF?!?!

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