Fantasy SWAT Team

Genre: Dungeon Fantasy

Theme: Maintaining order in the face of chaos.

The PCs are a special group recruited to the local militia in a fantasy city. Their job is to deal with the rowdy, insane adventurers who burn down buildings, murder and maim citizens, steal and destroy property, get drunk, high and otherwise cause chaos for the regular citizens of the city. In addition to specific adventuring groups, the PCs would also investigate important crimes and mysterious happenings in the city--which are the fault of evil adventurers as well as 'good' ones.

System: GURPS?

---------------------------------------------------------------

Saving Night City

Genre: Cyberpunk

Theme: Idealistic struggle in the face of difficult odds.

Mood: Grim but hopeful.

The PCs are a group of cops, citizens, and/or criminals in a rundown district of Night City. Their objective is the improve and defend their neighborhood from outside threats.

Possible PCs include

-Beat cops or detectives from the local precinct.

-A reporter covering the area for the crime beat.

-A doctor at the local clinic or ghetto hospital.

-A small-time musician who has made Chinatown his home.

-A local crimelord who sees the area as his own turf.

-A group of Nomads or go-gangers settling down in one place.

-A cybered-up former soldier back from the war, etc.

Possible threats to Chinatown include:

-Intimidate a gang that thinks they can make Chinatown their new turf.

-Tracking down a serial criminal (murderer, rapist, bomber/arsonist, etc.) who has made Chinatown their hunting grounds.

-Dealing with a shortage or lack of something (gangers burglarize the clinic, stealing all the meds during an outbreak of some disease, the power's out or the water is off during a heat wave; to a building or the whole block--how to get it turned back on?),

-Negotiate with a crimelord to accept tribute from the neighborhood in exchange for leaving it alone.

-A new drug has hit the local boostergangs, making them even more dangerous, can the PCs track down the supplier and put a stop to it?

-Some piece of infrastructure has been damaged or attacked (see above)--how do the PCs repair and upgrade it so it doesn't happen again?

-The local gangs have skeleton keys to local businesses, allowing them free access--where did they get them and can the PCs stop the source?

-A cyber-psycho is going nuts and heading towards the bazaar, packed with citizens--can the PCs stop it in time?

-Protect a vulnerable citizen--a joygirl tries to leave her pimp, a witness to a gang murder needs protection, etc.

-A local fence has something the PCs need, how do they purchase or trade for the item?

Cyberpunk character examples:

Solo: Ghost Dog (Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai), Vincent (Collateral), Leon (Leon, The Professional).

Nomad: Max Rockatasky (The Road Warrior)

Cop: Inspector Harry Callahan (Dirty Harry, et al), Max, Fifi, the Goose, etc. (Mad Max), Alex Murphy, Lewis (Robocop), Deckard (Blade Runner).

Fixer: Hatchet Harry (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), The Drake (Hobo With a Shotgun), Boris the Blade (Snatch).

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Mystic China game: Either a China-esque fictional nation in the same world as the Al-Qadim game or set in "legendary" China would be fun. Fight bandits and armies, exorcise spirits, encounter hermits, alchemists, and sages, deal with court intrigue, maybe encounter the Triads...

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**I.C.A. Campaign: Using GURPS High-Tech, GURPS Tactical Shooting and some old Top Secret modules would be good to make a Hitman-style espionage game.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

One Thousand Styles Period: Star Wars, 100-200 ABY.

First of all, we're going to have loads of different Force traditions. Say, two dozen big ones. They'll all use the force in diverse ways. Something like kung fu-- everybody's got something different, and THEN there's all the styles near China that aren't kung fu! Lots of diversity. 

There's mystic seers, say, six different kinds of weapon-users, assassins, negotiators, unarmed experts, people who use telekinesis a lot...all kinds of stuff.

They'll be a lot more personal than what we see of the Jedi and Sith. People will argue over what the Master said and what it means...even if the Master is alive to talk to! 

There are rivalries between styles, between masters.

I'd make there be more galactic level political entities--you've got the Hutts, as always, maybe two or three states descended from the Empire and two or three from the nascent New Republic (now under a different name), and two more or so, kinda neutral places. And they're all either rivals, or in a cold war, or there's border tensions or economic tensions or something. Very little happy peace.

There's always a war going on somewhere (since this is a galaxy), and there's plenty of opportunities for mercenaries, spies, information brokers, gamblers, smugglers, pirates, soldiers, Force-users, bounty hunters, etc. to make a buck and get into trouble.

I'm talking about much greater differences-- you'd see the Zeison Sha, another group using force pikes or vibro-weapons invested with the Force, another group focusing on stealth and silent killing, another two or three focusing on lightsaber duels, another focusing on mental effects, interrogation, mind-reading, another military order focusing on commando tactics, etc. THAT kind of diversity.

A group that use a sword-and-shield style with their lightsabers and miniature force-field generators or magnetically reinforced shields that can block lightsabers.

A group that ride speeder-bikes, and carry long shock-lances that they can use to swoop down and attack. They can even hold jousting tournaments.

A group who carry pistols instead of lightsabers and fight like gunslingers whose precognition lets them quick-draw and shoot an instant before their opponent.

A group which focuses on piloting skills, each able to replicate Luke's feat in the death-star trench run easily but with none of the personal combat skills.

A group that trains diplomats and negotiators, who use empathy and mental influence rather than combat, or who use precognition to play the stock market.

The advantages of telepathy and telekinesis are hardly limited to running around in robes carrying a lightsaber - and for any possible use you'll probably end up with two or three competing schools each of which claims their way is better.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Star Wars: Tyrant's Test

"The New Republic is ascendant. With the capture of Coruscant, and the deaths of the Emperor, Ysanne Isard, Grand Admiral Thrawn and Warlord Zsinj, what remains of the Galactic Empire is a revolving door of warlords, Force cultists, and former Admirals, Grand Admirals, System Marshals, and so on, each more and more interested in maintaining their position than with fighting the Republic.

    The Star Destroyer Tyrant and it's crew are tired of war and politics. Finding neither side to their liking, they head into the fringes of the galaxy to find a place away from the larger struggle."

This would be a troupe game, where the players would create three sets of characters: Bridge crew for space battles, first encounters, political negotiations, etc., a member of a stormtrooper or Naval Infantry squad, and a pilot/small craft crewman.

For example, the Tyrant would send out a scouting party to select a nearby world to 'forage' for supplies on.

The party consists of a couple of Skipray Blastboats, with the 'pilot' PCs on them. They make several hyperspace jumps to nearby systems, and eventually discover a primitive (TL7) world plagued by pirates from a nearby gas giant. After a skirmish with the pirates, the PCs perhaps get orders from the Tyrant to track down the pirate base and gather intelligence.

When the Skipray detachment returns to the Tyrant, the officer PC group analyze the information and present a briefing to the CO. Once the CO makes a decision, (say, to sack the pirate base and capture the pirate snubships and freighters to use instead of her own "disposable" TIEs) the pilot PCs and the marine PCs go into battle. The pilot PCs participate in the space battle, and the marine PCs deal with the task of boarding several ion-blasted pirate freighters and snubships, with angry, resentful pirates in close-combat. Then comes the task of the officer PCs...negotiating...with the leaders of the primitive world for food, technology, etc. And so on.

Optionally, the officer PCs might run the ship in a egalitarian fashion with a representative from each group (officers, enlisted men, pilots, technicians, marines, logistics, etc.), a charter delineating responsibilities and rights, etc.  

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________