Let's Get Weird!

[Richards]

In an AD&D campaign I ran way back in the day, the PCs ended up in a mansion that shifted between multiple dimensions. They ended up fighting (well, running away from, mostly) a group of Daleks, and then met up with Captain America, all of whom had entered the mansion from their own respective dimensions.

Johnathan

 

[Reynard]

In an AD&D campaign I ran way back in the day, the PCs ended up in a mansion that shifted between multiple dimensions. They ended up fighting (well, running away from, mostly) a group of Daleks, and then met up with Captain America, all of whom had entered the mansion from their own respective dimensions.

Johnathan

I ran a Return to the Isle Dread convention campaign with a similar theme: I leaned hard into the notion that the Isle bragadooned between dimensions so I had dinosaurs, Gamma World War machines, pirates of the Caribbean stuff and more.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I was in a group selected to playtest GURPS: Vampire: the Masquerade. In an otherwise straight V:tM campaign, my PC stood waaaaaaaaay out.

Before he was embraced by a very old and powerful Brujah, he had been a private detective…one who got too close to the truth about vampires. But the process of becoming ine himself broke his mind.

When he rose from the dead, he quickly realized that he had been transformed into something with supernatural speed, superhuman strength, and who was nigh invulnerable. Clearly, he rationalized, he was a superhero.

(IOW, he was a vampiric version of NEC’s The Tick. Complete with surgical steel “crime straws” for feeding on the blood of villains.)

He remembered something of his past life, so he resumed his quest to find and destroy vampires. His “costume included an armored vest and a stake-firing repeating crossbow. Not that he needed those often: because of who had turned him, he was more dangerous in physical combat than almost any other being in the campaign. He patrolled the city on a BMX bike with cards in the spokes that he kept in the back of his big car (which had a trunk he could sleep in).

But he had not succeeded in FINDING any real vampires. Fortunately, he found some good allies to help him gather intel and root them out…

So, not only did the other vampires have to maintain their secret from the MORTALS, they were constantly in the presence of an insanely powerful but deluded vampire-hunting vampire whom they also needed to deceive.

His existence was chaos personified. He was like a pony keg of nitroglycerin that could undo everything if you weren’t careful. Many were the times his presence was used to pressure NPC bloodsuckers.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

FWIW, that was some 30 odd years ago, and it profoundly affected the way I approach PC creation.

Part of the reason Major Mosquito was so outré was I wanted to do what I had been asked to do: test the game. The PC was designed to be mechanically extreme within the set parameters, to test whether the mechanics held up or if they were too easily broken. The roleplay aspects came to me in a flash of inspiration.

Ever since then, I’ve been increasingly interested in the mechanical outliers of various RPG systems. I often select options that go overlooked and see if they can be incorporated into characters that genuinely contribute to the party’s overall successes.

Similarly, more and more of my roleplay concepts stray away from the games’ core archetypes, and draw higher percentages of inspiration from outside sources than just the game fiction. All of them would still fit the game world, but would be rarer than is typical.

So far, none have proven to be true game breakers, and many are objectively underpowered. But in worlds where giant flying fire-breathing geckos can terrorize the world or trans humans can toss tanks like cornhole bags, they still manage to be notably unusual.

 

[Edgar Ironpelt]

In my "Brotherhood of Rangers" game (3.5e D&D) I regularly throw in Star Trek (and other science fiction) references as 'Easter Eggs.' E.g. a spring surrounded by a circle of flowers of beautiful appearance and foul odor, with the inscription "Logic" above it. Or a stronghold where the supplies included sacks of "Soylent Green Pet Chow." Or, a set of extra-large eggcups holding silver dragon eggs, with each eggcup having a different inscription: “I firmly believe in the you-lose scenario.” “Send it to hell. I am a torturer, not a healer.” “Stylus. How quaint.” and “How do you feel?” (if the last is spoken aloud, the silver dragon eggs will chorus “Awful!”)

There was also one adventure where the big enemy was an ogre-magi couple, and the treasure in their bedroom included three 'sex manual' books appealing to the kink of playing 'good' characters in bed. (Paladin’s Guide to Joy, Piffany on Pleasing Men, and Nice Nookie.)

 

[Reynard]

I have started a new project for publication: a "bestiary" and Savage Worlds style "plot point campaign" for PF2E where essentially a interstellar pirate ship decides to raid a typical fantasy world for "easy loot."

I really like the intermixed between sci-fi and fantasy.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

I have started a new project for publication: a "bestiary" and Savage Worlds style "plot point campaign" for PF2E where essentially a interstellar pirate ship decides to raid a typical fantasy world for "easy loot."

I really like the intermixed between sci-fi and fantasy.

If you've never read the, I'd rec reading the "War Surplus" duology from Lawrence Watt-Evans for some inspiration. The first book Cyborg & the Sorcerers isn't exactly a space pirate raid and the world isn't exactly fantasy but there's a lot of conceptual similarities.

Rather underrated author these days IMO. Can't think of a single novel of his I haven't enjoyed, although there are a few I still ought to hunt down. The (lengthy) Ethshar series has some very interesting and diverse magical rules at its foundation, as does the Chosen trilogy.

 

[aramis erak]

What out of place, strange, weird elements have you introduced (or experienced the introduction of) into an otherwise "normal" game?

Note: no relating tales of weird campaigns. I am talking about games that were ostensibly played "straight" and then something weird, off kilter,out of genre, etc... happens.

I do this a lot, but my favorite from recent games was a Doom Trooper assault team breaking into a Descent into Avernus campaign. Literally just guys in power armor with beam weapons diving into Hell and the PCs having to deal with it.

How about you?

Introduced uplifted cats (Felis sylvestris sapiens) into an SG-1 campaign. 3 players loved that; 1 was offended by it. Also had them dealing with Bast and Archimedes... as benificent, but not tokra-ish, uplifters looking for new and worthy hosts. And not looking to take any unwilling hosts.