Starting a new campaign

[Umbran]

Just a bit over 5 years ago, I started a classic Deadlands campaign...

It came to its conclusion last night, as the PCs finally tracked down and dealt with the evil voodoo king of New Orleans, who was raising thousands of walking dead to finish his trans-continental railway. Had he succeeded, the City of Lost Angels would have been overrun with walking dead, the Civil War would have reignited, and many other bad things would have happened. Luckily, they didn't fail.

So, now I am stuck with the need to follow my own top act.

Now, many people will tell me, "Just run what you want!" And those people would be right, insofar as the group will probably play anything I decide upon. However, they'd be wrong in that I am not at my most creative when doing, "whatever I want." I am far more creative when I have some limits imposed upon me to form a framework to work upon.

I have a few assumptions:

1) Not a super-crunchy system. While the players are all capable of working with such a system, playing system is not the primary reason for any of the players to be at my table. On top of this, we play short weeknight sessions - and crunchy systems run slow. The end result would be a game where not much happened in a given session, and that's not a lot of fun. I need something that plays pretty quickly.

2) The system/setting must allow for a little bit of goofiness. One player, in particular, has a penchant for wild mages, mad scientists, and the like, and a setting too grim, or a mechanic too inflexible, would be unfun for him.

3) Combat won't be the player's primary focus. While the Deadlands party motto was, " We are best at Intimidation, sustained violence, and the dark arts," going to conflict for them is the culmination of dramatic necessities, not a desire to play tactical wargames (see point #1).

So, there'll have to be some questioning, to find out what genre they want to play in...

 

[innerdude]

Have your players given any indication of preferences for their next creative venture?

I'd say you're well versed enough in various systems to have a good enough idea of what you could play, depending on the genre and premise your players want.

There's not much anyone will suggest that you haven't already considered, I'd imagine. Unless you're looking for some kind of indie "heartbreaker" that only the game's creator and a grand total of 11 other people have ever heard of.

The "goofy" aspect could be limiting, if it truly has to be "goofy" and not "goofy tinged with dark humor." That would automatically disqualify the truly "gritty" stuff like Warhammer, Harnmaster.

Setting and genre really do have so much impact on what would be considered the "right" system these days.......

Heck, the easiest answer is probably 5e.

If the players really liked the original Deadlands system, the next logical evolution would be its progeny Savage Worlds. Pick one of the dozens of settings for it and off you go.

I don't know you personally, but your description of the group makes it seem like something Coretex+ -ish would probably be a decent fit.

The other issue would be, do the players expect the next campaign to also run 5 years? Because that might also have an impact on the choice. Savage Worlds works great for an 18 month campaign. I don't know how well it would do over 5 years.

 

[Umbran]

Have your players given any indication of preferences for their next creative venture?

One player has suggested 5e. Another has suggested I run nWoD Hunter - but she's my wife, and she doesn't want to have undue influence on the selection. The others have not yet said what they'd like to play, if they have a preference.

Heck, the easiest answer is probably 5e.

That's certainly on the table. However, two of my players are currently in an unrelated Pathfinder game, and I wonder if playing another high fantasy game won't be make the genre overdone for them.

If the players really liked the original Deadlands system, the next logical evolution would be its progeny Savage Worlds. Pick one of the dozens of settings for it and off you go.

Savage Worlds is definitely on my list. As you said, many of the basics would be very familiar, but we'd dispense with many of the baroque fiddly-bits of the original.

I don't know you personally, but your description of the group makes it seem like something Coretex+ -ish would probably be a decent fit.

I only have experience with a couple Cortex+ games - Leverage and MSHRP. In general, I like the mechanics of these games. The first is a little too focused on a very specific style, though. And MSHRP has squat-all for character generation. And, I'm not really familiar with how either handles long-term character growth, which is something my players would like.

Similarly, FATE-based games have a character-growth issue. They're much better as character change over time that isn't actually power growth, IMHO.

The other issue would be, do the players expect the next campaign to also run 5 years?

Not necessarily. In original conception, the Deadlands game was pitched as, "no definite end, we will switch to something else when we feel we are done." I sort of thought that, at the outside, it'd run a couple of years, and group changes would lead to fizzle, and I'd have to arrange something else. This group has managed to weather losses, however, which is why the run lasted so long.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'd look at 2 main options:

1) run setting in The Strange/Numenera. Plenty of room for goofiness in a system that could handle things like Thundarr The Barbarian, modern urban fantasy, and so forth. And not too rules-heavy.

2) Savage Worlds- which is new to me- includes rules for supers, Deadlands, and Space:1889. That right there would be enough to run a version of my superhero campaigns set in the turn-of-the-century worlds envisioned by H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, with dashes of James Bond, Wild, Wild, West, anime, Moorcock and legends of Atlantis.

I've previously run it in HERO and M&M. With the right group, it could be fun. My first group dove in head first, my second group never really engaged (for a variety of reasons).

 

[Razjah]

How large is your group? I never used to really pay attention until gaming in a group of 7. We're playing Pathfinder and its a slog.

FATE using the Dresden FIles stuff (new supplement came out for FATE Core, I think it's called Paranet Papers or something like that) can work very well for allowing a wide range of stuff, a combat system that doesn't mean "combat at the expense of everything else" and character growth and power increase.

Burning Wheel is an awesome system. It looks crunchy, but you can run a game using just the basics and slowly add stuff as you get more used to the rules.
Mouse Guard is similar, but lighter and probably better for teaching everyone. You can find some excellent hacks like Realm Guard online (and free). For MG and Burning Wheel their forums are extremely helpful.

Savage Worlds is another great option. Tons of options out there, easy enough to make your own. Mechanically inclined but not crunchy to slow things down.

 

[aramis erak]

My suggestion: Pick three, one of which is 5E (since you have the feel that it would go well), then ask your players to rank them (1 = least, 3= most desired) Total. You break ties.

I've done this. It's surprised me in the past.

 

[Manbearcat]

Just a bit over 5 years ago, I started a classic Deadlands campaign...

It came to its conclusion last night, as the PCs finally tracked down and dealt with the evil voodoo king of New Orleans, who was raising thousands of walking dead to finish his trans-continental railway. Had he succeeded, the City of Lost Angels would have been overrun with walking dead, the Civil War would have reignited, and many other bad things would have happened. Luckily, they didn't fail.

So, now I am stuck with the need to follow my own top act.

Now, many people will tell me, "Just run what you want!" And those people would be right, insofar as the group will probably play anything I decide upon. However, they'd be wrong in that I am not at my most creative when doing, "whatever I want." I am far more creative when I have some limits imposed upon me to form a framework to work upon.

I have a few assumptions:

1) Not a super-crunchy system. While the players are all capable of working with such a system, playing system is not the primary reason for any of the players to be at my table. On top of this, we play short weeknight sessions - and crunchy systems run slow. The end result would be a game where not much happened in a given session, and that's not a lot of fun. I need something that plays pretty quickly.

2) The system/setting must allow for a little bit of goofiness. One player, in particular, has a penchant for wild mages, mad scientists, and the like, and a setting too grim, or a mechanic too inflexible, would be unfun for him.

3) Combat won't be the player's primary focus. While the Deadlands party motto was, " We are best at Intimidation, sustained violence, and the dark arts," going to conflict for them is the culmination of dramatic necessities, not a desire to play tactical wargames (see point #1).

So, there'll have to be some questioning, to find out what genre they want to play in...

I'd suggest Dungeon World for any D&D (swashbuckling hijinx meets mythic fantasy...or you can certainly go dark fantasy western...here is a huge list of playbooks that runs the gamut) or Apocalypse World for any Mad Max meets Fallout post-apoc.

Both of those definitely meet your 1-3 specifications if you aren't interested in Cortex + Hackers Guide or Fate.

 

[Umbran]

How large is your group?

At the moment, it is a group of 5. There is one additional player who seems to want to try to come when his work allows.

My physical space would be awkwardly crowded at 7. I'd probably have to consider relocating play to the living room to handle that many, losing us the common table.

FATE using the Dresden FIles stuff (new supplement came out for FATE Core, I think it's called Paranet Papers or something like that) can work very well for allowing a wide range of stuff, a combat system that doesn't mean "combat at the expense of everything else" and character growth and power increase.

I have Dresden Files. It does have better character growth options than most other FATE-based games. However, one of my players says he isn't much of a fan of FATE. Not so bad that he won't play the Atomic Robo filler-arc I expect to run, but he *loves* Atomic Robo.

FATE does have the benefit that it lends itself very well to *creative* combat. The narrative interplay of environment aspects and maneuvers is excellent for creativity.

Savage Worlds is another great option. Tons of options out there, easy enough to make your own. Mechanically inclined but not crunchy to slow things down.

If I were to start the previous game today, I might well use the Savage Worlds rules - my wife even (a bit mistakenly) got me a leather-bound, signed copy of the Savage Worlds Deadlands rulebook. I could use *all* the old setting information, with the SW ruleset. The players have said they wouldn't mind returning to Deadlands (or maybe Deadlands Noir) at some point, and I'd probably use the SW rules for that.

One thing I have is some time. While I'm churning ideas in my head, I'm making no decisions until after July 7th.

Savage Worlds is high on my list if the players say, "We want to play Pirates!!1!" or something similar that I don't have a specific game to deal with.

 

[Razjah]

If 5 is 1 GM and 4 players, I highly suggest Mouse Guard. Okay... I have to less highly suggest it, the BW webstore doesn't have it in stock and amazon lists it almost $65 USD. That might be something for your budget, but that is out of mine.

Another really good system is Corporation. The base mechanic is simple (2d10 + modifier) and has a lot you can tweak. The mix of mega-corps, government ops, and other work plus balancing rising in the corp and as a citizen give a lot of different types of play. Oh, and the corps specialize in different things too. Really great game.

 

[DM Howard]

If you're willing to wait a little bit the AGE system might work for you Umbran.