RPGs as Westerns

Something that has always challenged me is when designing a campaign or adventure for any role-playing game and I want to base in on existing material or use it for inspiration, is what would be the best source material tobase a RPG upon? A book, a movie or TV series?

 

ADND claimed to have been heavily based on the works of Jack Vance with elements of J.R.R. Tolkien. But then when you read any classic fantasy story, epic or otherwise (and I mean proper fantasy novels, not the cheap hack trash that TSR managed to pump out on a daily basis in the late 80s and pretty much most of the 90s) they are not good for basing a RPG adventure on. Most have one idea or concept which doesn't sit well with an ongoing campaign, or be based around one hero (e.g. Conan the Barbarian), and completely destroysthe concept of a RPG party.
 

So I thought more about the concept, what genre of books or films would be best to base a campaign on.

 

The DM of the Rings, a wonderful webcomic based on Lord of the Rings movies clearly showshow a bunch of players are completely inept at taking part in something based on Tolkien. So its plain to see that Role-Playing Games have very little to do with Tolkien.

And then it hit me, the Western. Yes thats right the Western, that quintessential American dream! Now that is what the modern role-playing group is like. A posse of ne'er do-wells. And I am not picking up on this because of Firefly, but simply because those western style games I have run in the past, the concept of a posse seemed to me to sit much healthier than a party in any other game I have ever run. It just makes sense for there to be a posse.

 

Deadlands, both the Weird and Wasted West are perfect settings for a mob of unruly players to shoot bad guys, and get shot at themselves without any consequences. Yes there are sheriffs, but they can be shot too.

Id heard the heroes of Pendragon referred to as a gang of knights wandering ancient Britain in search of trouble to sort out. A gang of knights is about as uncouth as you could imagine a team of valiant knights to be. Yet it was the most apt description.

Plans for a Party

So my wife and daughters are off to Russia for the summer. This can only mean one thing. A whole month of catching up on console gaming. I bought a PS3 a year and half ago and still have tons of games I've yet to install/play/try.

I recently (last night) finished Uncharted 1, and put the 2nd installment in immediately. And like all good older games, required updates before I could commence my treasure hunting.

GTAIV is on the list, I bought it but skipped over it in favour of GTAV which I have now finished. De Blob 2, a game I started a while back but never had the time to devote to it and finish it for good.

Venezuela

I noticed that Venezuela isn't looking too healthy at the moment. Apparently outside private corporations and financial instituitions are holding the country to ransom in exchange for resources. I wonder where we've heard that story before.

2012 Gaming

Our group has been on a hiatus seeing as my wife's have birth to daughter no3 over the Christmas holiday, and I've been itching to get back.

Right now we have 2 big games that are underway, our Dark Heresy campaign which is close to finishing as well as my Vampire Dark Ages campaign.

DH is being run by our resident blood thirsty history teacher and V TDA is being run by myself.

A long time away

Jesus, I just noticed Ive not posted here in over a year. Odd when I used to write here at least once a week, I suppose different needs were severed better by Facebook, Twitter and such like.

Well, my creative juices are flowing and I need to put something in the way to soak up the mess.

Things in Progress
Orchid novel - been doing bits and pieces, but more editing and revising rather than anything new

Things in Planning
Ice Age - either a role-playing system or a campaign based on my fascination/love for the cold winters with last for generations rather than just months

Things up in the Air
iPhone app - I want to have a go at programming an iPhone app, not sure what yet, but could prove to be profitable and worthwhile

So thats whats been occupying my mind for now.

Deadlands RPG

Deadlands RPG sessions still remain on hold. Personal problems with 2 players (one of which is our venue host) has meant the delay.

I was hoping to "cheat" and run an adventure I had already run before, Dime Novel 1 - Perditions Daughter, as I realised none of the players had actually been through this adventure, such was the turnover of players since I ran it last 3 or 4 years ago.

Trouble is a gamer who dropped out in September last year, has rearer his ugly head, and put that idea back in its grave.

Still, gonna be running Riders in the Sky, the Marshall Screen adventure.

Also the delay has enabled me to fill up my laptop with suitable music to inspire the imagination of the group too.

Dark Heresy and Deadlands

So a double dose of news about our Sunday group.
We've gained 2 new players, and lost 1, whilst a 2nd has gone AWOL and not responding to any stimuli...

So it means that the group is still where it was almost 2 years ago, struggling to keep a good sized group to make running/playing games worthwhile. The bad weather hasnt helped, and the Christmas holidays means no gaming now to the New Year.

Still in the intervening months we managed to finish off the 2nd part of Haarlock's legacy for the Dark heresy RPG, and also planned a short Deadlands diversion. This may run for a lot longer based on virtually a new set of players, means I can run some adventures Ive already run with past players in the same group.

Now I love Deadlands, but the overhead in terms of materials (rules, paperclips, character sheets, 2 decks of playing cards, poker chips AND dice) is enormous when compared to other games.

Still, I'll keep running it as long as they enjoy it. Been playing Red Dead Redemption on the XBox 360 just to get into character.

Once Im all GMed out, Ill sit back and enjoy the 3rd and final part of the Dark Heresy campaign...