Help me name my Runepunk RPG!

[Ilium]

I agree on switching the taglines, but I prefer:

OMEGABLADE: Heavy Metal Roleplaying

Although it might lead people to think it's a game about being in a Heavy Metal band.

http://members.aol.com/TRITACGAMES/RockStar.htm

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

I was just going to suggest switching the two taglines. Goreblade: The Alien Dragon Apocalypse sounds *much* better than the available choices.

+1'd.

You can't get much more metal than this.

 

[GreatLemur]

I think it all depends on how tongue-in-cheek you're planning to go. "Alien Dragon Apocalypse" is flat-out goofy. But "Heavy Metal Roleplaying" sounds like it comes from that narrow zone where you're at once making fun of your subject matter and embracing it at the same time. Like Metalocalypse, really.

The trouble with the name "Omegablade" is that it's got kind of an (oh, Christ; now I'm doing it) anime sound to it. I'm almost sure some console RPG or fighting game character has a special move with the same name. "Goreblade", on the other hand, could be the name of an album with with Frazetta art on the cover, so that works for me (assuming you're going that slightly less goofy we-know-this-is-silly-but-it's-also-frickin-awesome route, anyway).

 

[Nifft]

IMHO the only part worth keeping is "Alien Dragon Apocalypse". All the rest is extraneous.

Cheers, -- N

PS: You don't need a colon in your game title! Many games avoid the colon entirely!

 

[BluSponge]

There is one problem with naming the book "RunePunk" of any sort.

Just sayin.

Tom

EDIT: Gospog beat me too it.

 

[Desdichado]

WHAT IS THIS?
I am in the final stretch of writing my first roleplaying game and I am nearing the time when I am going to have to nail down the title of the game. Your votes and thoughts are appreciated. I use "runepunk" as the genre because that seems to be a good word for fantasy plus science fiction.

Not necessarily. Does it have any punk? A dystopian view of society? Outcast protagonists? Does it actually use runes prominently?

I'm a big opponent of willy-nilly using "punk" as a tack-on to anything. If you don't know what the -punk in cyberpunk and steampunk actually means, then don't try to use it.

That said, I don't really like either of those names. Runepunk itself is much better.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Many games avoid the colon entirely

. . . and instead opt for an ampersand!

Alien Apocalypses & Dragons ?

With more gory runes and heavy metal punks than you can swing an omega-blade at?

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Goreblade: The Alien Dragon Apocalypse

Much Better. Could just go with Goreblade that would work by itself.

Sounds like it would make a good ruleset to use for my perpetually threatened Khorne cultist campaign.

 

[Spinachcat]

I am not wedded to any exact title. Keep up the suggestions for creating combos!

Will is be anything like this game named Runepunk?

The Savage Worlds Runepunk game is a Dark Fantasy Steampunk game and it does indeed look very cool. It appears to have a Jerry Cornelius / Hawkmoon flair and the Moorcock roots are very clear which is terrific.

As I mentioned, I only use Runepunk as a genre definition to say Fantasy + SciFi which is the domain of Shadowrun and too some extent Star Wars or other scifi where "magic" is a dominant part of the high tech setting.

My game is not Steampunk at all. I like the Steampunk genre, but my game's setting does not have a Victorian element. Instead, society is very much Lord of the Flies and Apocalypse Now in that yesterday had great structure to daily lives and today that structure is gone so what happens now?

If you don't know what the -punk in cyberpunk and steampunk actually means, then don't try to use it.

I know what -punk means extremely well since the early popularity of the genre, but -punk has moved away in the general gamer consciousness from that definition rather tremendously. I agree that -punk should have a strict meaning, but it doesn't anymore. It's become a shorthand. Reality Blurs was smart for jumping on the title just as the Cyberpunk jumped on the title early on. It is a shame that Cyberpunk 2020 did not adhere closer to the themes of the literature, but instead focussed on cyborgs carring M-60s. In some ways, Cybergeneration did a better job with the thematic issues of -punk.

(assuming you're going that slightly less goofy we-know-this-is-silly-but-it's-also-frickin-awesome route, anyway)

In general, I don't take many RPGs very seriously, especially a game where tentacled mutant warlocks are throwing spells at dragons while shooting plasma pistols at them. I aim for the fun and the rollicking insanity of the game, but I do emphasize the internal logic and consistency inside the setting. I contrast this to Paranoia (which I love), but that game focuses on the humor created by the absurdities of the setting. In my game, setting and action is only goofy from the outside, but great fun once the players are in the game. Kinda like if you think about dungeoncrawling too long.

 

[Byrons_Ghost]

Scanning the first post, the only unique term that lept out at my was Wyrm Sun. So, I say you go with that one. Sure, it's slightly close to Dragon Star, but a cover with a barbarian dude lasering a dragon on a blasted landscape should be enough to drive the point home.

As for "runepunk", I'm no musical purist, but I don't think these compunded buzzwords are good for marketing your game. Nobody knows what "runepunk" is, and it's not going to make them buy your book.

I once heard the game "Children of the Sun" explained to me as "dieselpunk." I never did get a solid definition of what that "genre" was supposed to be, and to this day still have no idea what the game is about. From looking at the cover, it seems to be about big glass globes.