Using RPGs for something other than their intended purpose

I used 13th Age to run a campaign set in Conan's world of Hyboria. The gods were the Icons 

It was awesome.

I once used the original Cthulhu Dark Ages game to run a game set in Middle-earth, just after the War of the Ring.

The low magic worked really well and the system suited it.

I also used the Buck Rogers XXVc to run an adventure game for a crew travelling beyond the Solar System for the first time, so it was a kind of Lost In Space game using the D&D Monster Manual for alien beasts and races.

The first edition WEG Star Wars RPG I used for all kinds of things. Fantasy, hard sci-fi, modern. That book worked just as well as a core system rulebook as it did as a Star Wars game.

I ran a Warhammer 40K game using WFRP first edition and the blue pages of the original WH40K Rogue Trader book. Instead of the homeworld being Terra, I kept it as The Old World.

I used MERP in a fantasy Europe setting, stripping out the magic system and using the monsters in a kind of medieval version of the show Supernatural.

I used Twilight 2000 for a Vietnam War era game about a squad getting shot down and becoming lost in the jungle, and I threw in the Predator for good measure.

I used Call of Cthulhu Third Edition for a 1920s gangster game, with warring criminal factions in the fictitious city of New Roma on the East Coast. The twist was that the family winning the war was summoning monsters to use as hitmen so nothing could be traced back to them.

I used Paranoia straight - no humour, no jokes, but horribly stark and dystopian. The players had to sneak around as they organised the resistance to try and break free of the Computer. It was strangely compelling and really creepy.

Basic Fighting Fantasy

Still one of my favourite roleplaying games, it's a wonderful world to game in and the ruleset is fast and fun. It's clunky but I think the power of nostalgia gets me through.

I like Advanced Fighting Fantasy but sometimes I just want starters and not the main course.

FIRETEAM - Rules Light Sci-Fi Action Roleplaying

OUT NOW - Fireteam is a rules-light combat-heavy #ttrpg in which you play a specialist in an Interplanetary Combine Fireteam.

BUY HERE

A simple D6 dice pool roll-for-successes system keeps the action moving and includes five 1 or 2 session combat missions.

This is an adventure roleplaying game designed for quick one-shots of high action and fast combat. Players will take on the roles of Specialists in a Fireteam of the Interplanetary Combine, a government body in constant conflict with the universe.

Threats to the Combine come in all shapes and sizes; insurrection, terrorism, and strange, alien threats that the Combine struggle to deal with. On top of all this they are fighting an ongoing war with the Gene League Separatists, a huge collection of worlds that see the Combine as a threat to their ‘freedom’ and individuality, as well as seeing the rest of the non-augmented human race as inferior. They feel they are fighting a war for the purity of their genetically superior species and their independence, and worlds and star systems continually change hands with the borders shifting every few months. It’s becoming more than the Combine can handle.

If there’s a problem, and if every other route to a resolution has tried and failed, then it’s time to call a Fireteam.

Cosmic Quest - Share this! It's free!

Cosmic Quest is a handbook to help you use the core rules of Those Dark Places for exciting games of stimulating exploration, exciting combat and heroic deeds.

I originally played this with the awesome team that is @tales_infinite and I ran a Star Trek game set just after the Dominion War. It was a lot of fun, so I wanted to share it!

FIRETEAM - A Rules Light Science Fiction Action Roleplaying Game

Out Friday 29th October!

It's short and sweet with a setting you can build on with an easy D6 dice pool roll for successes system.

The bulk of the book is 5 combat missions that expand the setting, good for  1 or 2 sessions each and for both fighters and roleplayers!

Legacy of Blood for Against the Darkmaster available now!

Available now from DrivethruRPG

HEAR ME, AND LEARN THE DOOM OF LEORIC’S BLOOD!

Once one of the mightiest families of all the Nine Kingdoms, the Leorics have now fallen on hard times. Dark tidings and unspeakable rumors surround this once noble house. But a chance at redemption may still be at hand. In a desperate race against time, the heroes must recover a cache of lost magical artifacts before they fall into the hands of agents of the Darkmaster. Only this way they can restore the fallen noble family’s legacy, and stop the darkness spreading through their domains.

Can they reach the treasure before the agents of the Darkmaster pursuing them? Can they sneak past the dragon who has made Castle Dulgroth her lair? Can they survive this Legacy of Blood?

Legacy of Blood is an Adventure Module for 4-5 Level 2 to 3 characters, to be used with the Against the Darkmaster Core Rules.

Featuring:

A map of the Windown Plains, complete with keys to several adventuring locations.

Adventure hooks for three additional short side quests.

A cast of diverse and interesting NPCs, each with their own agenda and motivations.

Scheming noble houses and vicious minions of the Darkmaster.

A legendary dragon!

Those Dark Places: The AMC-222 Report OUT NOW

The AMC-222 Report

'This is a good one.

‘Asteroid Mining Catch 222 in the Peller System has sent out an emergency request for assistance. They have two members of staff deceased, probably murdered, and another member missing. After the station started a new mining shaft two workers were found mutilated in the mine and there appears to be foul play in the disappearance of the third. I’ve attached what we know to this message but these deep space mining facilities don’t have the best hypercom transmitters so the data package was quite small. Anyway, there should be enough information to give you an idea of what’s going on.'

'The AMC-222 Report' is an official adventure for 'Those Dark Places Industrial Science Fiction Roleplaying' published by Osprey Games.

**COMING SOON** FIRETEAM - A Rules Light Science Fiction RPG

 **COMING SOON**

FIRETEAM - A Rules Light Science Fiction #ttrpg. Protect the Interplanetary Combine from threats within and without!

Full rules and six missions included. Designed for one-shot action games on online tabletop sites, but can be played as a traditional RPG.

The game uses a D6 dice pool looking for successes, and it's centered around a team of soldiers in four different roles: Rifle, Medic, Tech and Heavy Weapons.

Games are strike missions using square-based combat maps, the kind found on VTT. The quick rules allow for fast involved play, and the characters can develop over a period of time as they complete missions for the Interstellar Combine. Seperatists, terrorists, opposing governments, alien threats and internal conflict. Just another day in the Fireteam.

Brian Fitzpatrick

 I've spent much of the last few days thinking about Brian Fitzpatrick. 

His is the first name in my acknowledgments in my first published roleplaying game because when I asked for feedback he was the first to volunteer, the first to offer feedback and the first to give me a reason to be excited about what I was doing. I did some work for his Aliens & Asteroids game and he was always generous, honest and informative and even when he wasn't 100% on board with my ideas he worked around them and we hit compromises that suited us. There was never any drama, just honest creativity and a genuine love of the game and the hobby as a whole.

I guess I'm writing this to acknowledge his importance in other people's lives, even ones he'd never met face-to-face all the way over the pond, and I'm saying goodbye to a stalwart of the RPG community, a talented and generous creator and, most of all, a friend. I was proud to have worked with him.

Goodbye, Brian.

Coming in July for Those Dark Places

Coming in July for Those Dark Places, the Industrial Science Fiction Roleplaying Game.

'The AMC-222 Report'

A new shaft has been opened on an asteroid mining station and now two people are dead and one is missing. What is happening on station AMC-222?