Cross-over characters and campaigns?

[JimAde]

I do some crossover stuff. In my now-defunct Star Trek campaign (run in GURPS) the PCs dealt with a wizard named Roland from another dimension, eventually tracking him back home to eliminate him. There was also some "magic" in the campaign itself.

My current D&D group (the same players) is actually adventuring in Roland's home world though they don't know it, so there is a chance of crossover there. They are bugging me to do a "movie" reunion adventure for their Star Trek characters...

 

[Henry]

In the old days, my groups used to do this. One campaign I played in (using the rules from the 1st edition DMG) had AD&D characters allying with Boot hill gunslingers and Gamma World Mutants to stop an evil bad guy from making an army of unstoppable mutants to take over all three worlds. I played a Kender with an invisible telekinetic arm -- talk about HEAVEN!!!

Nowadays, not so much. My Co-DM ran a game where a Star Wars Jedi with amnesia was allowed as a PC, but not much came of it because he was still using swords and had very little jedi power by the time the campaign folded.

 

[haakon1]

I don't know, there's something cool about a party of moderns in a D&D setting, loading up their handguns and oozies as they get ready to delve into some dungeon of death.

Crap, now I want to DM that. Just for a laugh.

Nod . . . the thread about "what class and stats would you be in D20 Modern" got me started thinking about this.

 

[haakon1]

You're not. I'm very much into cross-over.

I like them to make sense though. I won't put a Jedi Guardian in D&D "just because". However, running several campaigns, say one of Star Wars, one of Cthulhu, one of D&D, and realize after a few years that they all mingle into a single, greater-than-its-parts plot, that's my style.

I was contemplating the idea of cross-overs between Cthulhu 1920s, Ravenloft and D&D at some point.

As for your question, is the stuff really compatible? Between the official WotC productions and some OGL stuff out there (like say Arcana Evolved), it could work without in-depth modifications, just tweaking here and there for them to fit nicely. For other OGL stuff, the work increases. Midnight, Lone Wolf, Conan RPG... these include changes that are harder to work out for cross overs.

On one hand, I wish d20 systems would be more compatible than they are. In fact, they aren't directly but almost always indirectly by modifying this or that, adding/substracting this or that subsystem, character build element or whatnot. This ought to be easier for those who do not like to modify the rules.

On the other hand, it's fair to let designers express their originality when they build their d20 game. If all d20 games had to be 100% compatible, we would run into countless (I mean, more countless than they already are) arguments about this and that "that is not balanced", and we would end up with less creativity.

I'd side with the simpler to translate rules. If D20 were like GURPS, only with D&D as the underlying rules, that'd be my preference.

I agree about it having to make sense . . . wild cross-overs (Oriental Adventures into Indiana Jones, into Gamma World) can be fun sometimes, but you have to work to maintain "willing suspension of disbelief". And it was probably easier to do with earlier, simpler editions of D&D.

For now, I'm thinking more on subtle imports to my D&D game. Cases in point:
- CofC monsters. They might not even notice that's the source, though.
- Some "magic items" at the one and only magic shop are from a Stargate PC who visited. The other party will hopefully be intrigued by the strange nylon camouflage tent and light amplification binoculars . . . could be adventure in figuring where this new magic comes from.

 

[haakon1]

Generally, no. I had a d20 SW GM pull a stargate SG-1 cameo. To me, that's just WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.

So, I take it you wouldn't like it when T.J. Hooker and crew showed up as NPC's in my Top Secret SI game . . .

 

[Psion]

So, I take it you wouldn't like it when T.J. Hooker and crew showed up as NPC's in my Top Secret SI game . . .

I don't see the problem there, to be honest. Not that I have watched enough TJ Hooker to know if that's a bad fit...

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I GMed a Star Wars game based on the Alternity rules a long time ago, and used Tangents as a port over to the FR. I ported the characters over to DnD using the rules in the back of the Alternity GMG and had some fun with it for a while, before it degenerated. I've also used elements from Tangents as a cross between Urban Arcana and Stargate, which was a one-shot to give my stargate players a little info on Urban Arcana. I do use some of the Star Wars races in my DnD games, but no Gungans, not ever. In one variant FR game, I've got a players with some Klingons and his own city, a couple of Spelljammers (including his own Starbase and one ship from GURPS Traveller - the 50-Ton Modular Cutter, which has a superspace drive. The characters are going to find themselves in a Star Drive setting, a MagiTech setting and a Traveller game mix. Its going to be loads of fun!

 

[haakon1]

I do use some of the Star Wars races in my DnD games, but no Gungans, not ever.

Ouch-a! Me-sa no like fireball!

Hmmm, I wonder what the stats on the "space orcs" from Return of the Jedi are. Just plain old orcs, or did they have to pretend they were different?

In one variant FR game, I've got a players with some Klingons and his own city, a couple of Spelljammers (including his own Starbase and one ship from GURPS Traveller - the 50-Ton Modular Cutter, which has a superspace drive. The characters are going to find themselves in a Star Drive setting, a MagiTech setting and a Traveller game mix. Its going to be loads of fun!

Sounds like fun, but it's a lot of plates to keep spinning in the air!

I especially would like the idea of a quasi "hard science" setting like "Aliens" crossing over into Spelljammers, getting stalled by the phlogiston . . . "man, the ship keeps slowing down, like we're in atmosphere or something . . . "

I've also always wanted to play out the Red Shirts versus Stormtroopers thing . . . Federation versus Empire.

But Stargate seems a uniquely good setting to accidentally pop into other settings. Harder to explain for Star Wars . . .

 

[Goddess FallenAngel]

Hrm... we had the Dragonstar Empire try to conquer the Forgotten Realms. That was interesting.... and quite fun, actually, as our D&D characters tried to deal with technology.

 

[haakon1]

Hrm... we had the Dragonstar Empire try to conquer the Forgotten Realms. That was interesting.... and quite fun, actually, as our D&D characters tried to deal with technology.

How did you deal with that? Just role-play it?

I remember the old flow charts from Gamma World on characters figuring out technology worked, with chances to break it or hurt themselves, etc.

For my campaign, the stuff that's been brought in from Stargate was brought in by a Marine, so I'm thinking he told people how to use it. And some of it should be fairly obvious, like a camouflage modern tent. Don't think we need to roll on how to put it up or use the zipper flaps, but . . . that might be fun. Nobody's bought it yet though.