Gaming Journal: Of Worlds Unknown

What Am I going to say.

Right.

Avatar Press produced some eariler softcore smut in comic book format eariler in this decade under a running title called Jungle Fantasy. Interesting theme, if shallow on plot and character development. Seriously the short series produces serious eye candy for young adult males. It reminds me or Mike Grill's Warlord series DC published way backin the late 70's and early 80's when scinece fiction, (which owes George Lucas more favors than a deity owing his congregation), sheds its b-film pulp paper-esque themes and became a significant mainstream gold mine. I've always wanted to do a theme-based campaign around a lost world type scenario, but with strong elements of both science fiction and fantasy. Think of dinosaurs and primitive shamans mingling with ancient psuedo-Atlantean technology. The hay-day equipment waiting to be re-discovered. Old technology like cloning pods and maturation chambers, light-solid holographic transmitters, genetic engineering that can build extinct species from the floor up, disruptor rifles, and blasters. Machines that cna build modern mythical creatures or produce the proverbial "fire of the gods." Think of forgotten arcane lore waiting to be unearthed again. Ah sorcerers, slavers, warlords, gladiators, big game hunters, archeaologists, socialites, thieves, merchants and explorers all in one setting striving to do the best they can.

Cloning machines, bio-organic matter replicators, incubation chambers, artificial maturation envirnoments, imprinting and behaviorial nanotechnology, surgical droids, and ancient human races manipulating their very building blocks of life. Abandoned Nazi (an over used theme in my book) or Stalinist Communist research faculties still housing great unearthed secrets.

Yes, what fun.

What game mechanics would I select?

I had d20 Future in mind, but after downloading and skimming Reign of Discordia by Reality Deviations Publications and RPG Objects. Instead, I could switch to True20 by Green Ronin Games. A levelI think this system will work best and if I need stock monsters, especially dinosaurs, I can always barrow from other source books. The Menance Manial and GURPS: Dinosaurs are two books that spring to mind. A level-based system would do for a solid fantasy RPG, but I need something out more in a super-heroic genre. Green Ronin games, through their Mutants and Masterminds line of games has released a supplement called Warriors and Warlocks. I like the point based approach to super-heroics, and with a larger selection of based-stock creatures, I could easily assemble a campaign using this material. An added plus is the character templates M&M provides across several sourcebooks.

What can I use for technology? A mixture of archaic, modern, and lost science fiction seems to work best. Both D20 weapon's locker and d20 future could work but I would need a simple system for conversion. Not that it would be difficult to move one from the other. I believe Green Ronin provide that in the back of their own books. Again, I have old GURPS books, including Bio-Tech and Futures for those necessities. Weirdly enough, my old Gamma World books could be useful as well providing insight into eugenics, pure strain human, and altered human branches. Comic book source materials could include Jungle Fanatsy (again), Dynamite Press's Jungle Girl, and Mike Grell's the Warlord, the later as a more detailed realm if there ever was such a place.

More on this later.

The Realm would also be mutli-envirnomental enabling the world to host several thousand diverse species and cultures from earth's past and from other worlds as well.

I wonder if I could have shape changin monsters as well. Infernal sorcery would be the most obvious mechanic to initiate a metamorphosis. I do not believe technology or gentic engineering would do as any changes would be permanent and have the potenital to pass itself down to it descendents.

More on this later as I have other posts to, well, post.