Saturday Morning Cartoon Campaign...

[Scribble]

So I'm in the planning stages of a new campaign. I'm thinking I don't want it to be super serious/realistic. I'd rather it take inspiration from things like:

Thundar the Barbarian
Goltar and The Golden Lance
The D&D Cartoon
He Man
Thundercats

IE more pulp, and less Tolkien. (And I probably will mix a little future tech in there.)

Still working on the actual setting- What kind of things would you throw into a setting like this? Places, People, Artifacts, etc...

 

[weem]

I have to add in "Duck Tales" hehe.

I wrote a few brief articles recently (elsewhere) called "From Duck Tales to D&D" that went into pulling out inspiration and ideas from that show directly into your game.

Anyway, it's a great show (I have been watching them all again) so I had to mention it

<edit> Some ideas to contribute, coming later </edit>

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Well, you have a lot of sci-fantasy in the mix, which is going to set it apart from the run of the mill campaign.

Pirates of Dark Water seems another logical addition to your stable of sources.

I'd like to see some Flash Gordon and some of the Japanese cartoons that made it to American mornings, like Robotech or G-Force.

Hurculoids, perhaps?

At any rate, what system are you thinking about using? The breadth of the genres you're covering would suggest a RIFTS-like setting, and though I'd never suggest that game for its mechanics, its fluff is second to none. You might consider it as a hidden idea mine.

You might want to use a toolbox system- HERO, M&M or GURPS spring to mind- or perhaps one of the Star Wars games which already mix sci-fi with fantasy, making your task as GM a little easier.

 

[Scribble]

Well, you have a lot of sci-fantasy in the mix, which is going to set it apart from the run of the mill campaign.

Pirates of Dark Water seems another logical addition to your stable of sources.

I'd like to see some Flash Gordon and some of the Japanese cartoons that made it to American mornings, like Robotech or G-Force.

Hurculoids, perhaps?

At any rate, what system are you thinking about using? The breadth of the genres you're covering would suggest a RIFTS-like setting, and though I'd never suggest that game for its mechanics, its fluff is second to none. You might consider it as a hidden idea mine.

You might want to use a toolbox system- HERO, M&M or GURPS spring to mind- or perhaps one of the Star Wars games which already mix sci-fi with fantasy, making your task as GM a little easier.

Ohh Pirates of Darkwater I forgot about that one.

I was thinking Voltron... but in the end I do want it to be more heavily fantasy... with elements of sci-fi creeping in, so for some of the more heavily sci-fi shows I'm looking more at the "look" or feel of the world, rather then the plots if that makes sense?

Seems like these shows all have that sort of, dark all the time alien world nature to them. With elements that are reminiscent of real world stuff, kings, knights, medieval weapons... mixed with really bizarre stuff.

I'm going to be using 4e.

 

[Crothian]

You should really use Cartoon Action Hour. It was bascially made for this.

 

[Scribble]

You should really use Cartoon Action Hour. It was bascially made for this.

Thanks... I'd rather this not devolve into you should use this system or that system though. My mind is set, I like 4e and think it will work well for this.

I just want more ideas really and not rules elements, so the thread really can be system neutral.

Feel free though to recommend source books and stuff if they have cool ideas... I don't mind re-ruling stuff if the idea is cool.

 

[Crothian]

Cartoon Action Hour can work for source material to. You'd want to look through it to see how it handles specific things. One of the goals of the game was to amke it feel like those classic cartoons of the 80's so they have great advice on running the game in general to get that feel. If though you are using the inspiration less as cartoons and more of a typical D&D game then the book would not be for you.

 

[Scribble]

Cartoon Action Hour can work for source material to. You'd want to look through it to see how it handles specific things. One of the goals of the game was to amke it feel like those classic cartoons of the 80's so they have great advice on running the game in general to get that feel. If though you are using the inspiration less as cartoons and more of a typical D&D game then the book would not be for you.

Thanks- I'll definitely check it out... not sure entirely what you mean by typical D&D game though.

 

[tuxgeo]

So I'm in the planning stages of a new campaign. I'm thinking I don't want it to be super serious/realistic. I'd rather it take inspiration from things like:

Thundar the Barbarian
Goltar and The Golden Lance
The D&D Cartoon
He Man
Thundercats

IE more pulp, and less Tolkien. (And I probably will mix a little future tech in there.)
< snip >

So: not too serious, and not too Tolkien? That still sounds moderately serious to me.

If D&D has room for Monty Python jokes, it should also have room for:
* Scooby-doo
* Daffy Duck ("Yoicks and away!")
* Rocky & Bullwinkle ("Hokey Smokes!")
* Thunderbirds
* Jonny Quest

(I'll let other people suggest anime titles.)

 

[Crothian]

Thanks- I'll definitely check it out... not sure entirely what you mean by typical D&D game though.

Is it going to be a D&D campaign that has influences by those cartoons, or are you trying to RPG those cartoons and just using the D&D rules to do so so? A typical D&D game is not like a cartoon, so Cartoon Action Hour would be less useful for that. But if you really want the cartoon feel the game would be worth while.