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omorkaHave I described the Palo Rojo School for the Unusually Gifted game setting here before? It's an original setting of mine, loosely speaking - it owes something to MSMS and the other math-and-science-academies (and, more fictionally, Pacific Tech from Real Genius), something to Project A-Ko and various other high school anime that followed it, something to several similar schools for superheroes in various comics (most prominently Professor Xavier's school, although I didn't have it in mind when I wrote it), something to the GURPS IOU setting, and a smidge to a very old Saturday morning cartoon called Galaxy High School. It's also an implied (or, in some incarnations, explicit) Bureau 13 spin-off.
The location is Palo Rojo, a town of approximately 10,000 located somewhere in east Texas/west Louisiana (it's shifted a couple of times, but I think the gag is funnier if it's on the Texas side of the Sabine). It's the most inconspicuous location that an obscure government organization could find that was still convenient to supply and staff. There are no interstates passing through, or even near, although it is loosely at the intersection of two state highways, no navigable waterways passing through the town, and fairly thick pine forest surrounding it. It's a nice town, although after you've been there for a while, it has an Eureka vibe - many, although not all, of the people who live there are far too sophisticated and technologically-savvy to naturally be out here in Hicksville. Some of the inhabitants come from the rural Texan culture-set, while others are from the ArkAlaLaMiss culture-set, which provides opportunities for "local color" incidents.
The PRSUG masquerades (in multiple senses) as one of the math, science, & arts residential academies, like Louisiana's. It takes students in grades 10-12, both boys and girls, and has a student body of about 300 total. Most of the faculty are, loosely speaking, mundane teachers in their subjects. A few of the students are selected as cover, and really are also mundanes, albeit both bright and exceptionally talented in some other way. However, the rest of the kids are all candidates for the SOS Brigade - they have some unusual feature, whether that be lycanthropy, magic, psionics, metahuman abilities, vampirism, extreme gadgetry, or merely being aliens stranded on Earth. They all have cover stories, and in some cases secret identities - some of them better constructed than others. Most of them were voluntarily recruited by the obscure government organization; a few were more forcibly transferred, or even rescued from Frankenstyle angry mobs.
Now, in its previous incarnations this has always been a GURPS setting, since that's my System of Choice. However, in that system, it tends to be rather dark and weird. Not that I really have a problem with that, but I tend to have problems attracting players for serious games. This is a case in which the system I'm using seems to at least partially drive plot - GURPS is a fairly gritty system unless you rig it not to be. A pyrokinetic at the school in the GURPS version is likely to end up reminiscent of Firestarter, and I don't particularly want to GM a Stephen King novel.
I had the idea the other day of running it in Big Eyes, Small Mouth instead. But that's a system that slides easily into goofy crap for goofy crap's sake. A BESM version of the PRSUG is likely to morph into Every Bad Shonen Action High School Anime Ever, and that's not what I'm going for here, either. There should be some sense of foreboding, of being manipulated, or at least not knowing who has secrets - and caring about it.
Today, I had the idea of running it in the Feng Shui system instead. That sort of high-action-movie setting would, I think, work very well at keeping it from getting either too gritty to be fun for the players or too silly to be fun for me. It's also a system that rewards creativity over power-gaming, which is a near-perfect fit for the folks I have nearby to potentially game with - and it's an easier system to teach someone than GUPS, in which character creation takes an entire session, and new players still often need some help.
Hmm. Anyone interested? Any questions?
The location is Palo Rojo, a town of approximately 10,000 located somewhere in east Texas/west Louisiana (it's shifted a couple of times, but I think the gag is funnier if it's on the Texas side of the Sabine). It's the most inconspicuous location that an obscure government organization could find that was still convenient to supply and staff. There are no interstates passing through, or even near, although it is loosely at the intersection of two state highways, no navigable waterways passing through the town, and fairly thick pine forest surrounding it. It's a nice town, although after you've been there for a while, it has an Eureka vibe - many, although not all, of the people who live there are far too sophisticated and technologically-savvy to naturally be out here in Hicksville. Some of the inhabitants come from the rural Texan culture-set, while others are from the ArkAlaLaMiss culture-set, which provides opportunities for "local color" incidents.
The PRSUG masquerades (in multiple senses) as one of the math, science, & arts residential academies, like Louisiana's. It takes students in grades 10-12, both boys and girls, and has a student body of about 300 total. Most of the faculty are, loosely speaking, mundane teachers in their subjects. A few of the students are selected as cover, and really are also mundanes, albeit both bright and exceptionally talented in some other way. However, the rest of the kids are all candidates for the SOS Brigade - they have some unusual feature, whether that be lycanthropy, magic, psionics, metahuman abilities, vampirism, extreme gadgetry, or merely being aliens stranded on Earth. They all have cover stories, and in some cases secret identities - some of them better constructed than others. Most of them were voluntarily recruited by the obscure government organization; a few were more forcibly transferred, or even rescued from Frankenstyle angry mobs.
Now, in its previous incarnations this has always been a GURPS setting, since that's my System of Choice. However, in that system, it tends to be rather dark and weird. Not that I really have a problem with that, but I tend to have problems attracting players for serious games. This is a case in which the system I'm using seems to at least partially drive plot - GURPS is a fairly gritty system unless you rig it not to be. A pyrokinetic at the school in the GURPS version is likely to end up reminiscent of Firestarter, and I don't particularly want to GM a Stephen King novel.
I had the idea the other day of running it in Big Eyes, Small Mouth instead. But that's a system that slides easily into goofy crap for goofy crap's sake. A BESM version of the PRSUG is likely to morph into Every Bad Shonen Action High School Anime Ever, and that's not what I'm going for here, either. There should be some sense of foreboding, of being manipulated, or at least not knowing who has secrets - and caring about it.
Today, I had the idea of running it in the Feng Shui system instead. That sort of high-action-movie setting would, I think, work very well at keeping it from getting either too gritty to be fun for the players or too silly to be fun for me. It's also a system that rewards creativity over power-gaming, which is a near-perfect fit for the folks I have nearby to potentially game with - and it's an easier system to teach someone than GUPS, in which character creation takes an entire session, and new players still often need some help.
Hmm. Anyone interested? Any questions?
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no subject
Date: 2008-06-23 11:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-23 12:51 pm (UTC)Not even The Dark Tower or Eyes of the Dragon, his fantasy novels? They seem to be a bit closer to the tone you're trying to set.
Most of them were voluntarily recruited by the obscure government organization; a few were more forcibly transferred, or even rescued from Frankenstyle angry mobs.
Does this lead to tensions in the student body between those present by choice and those otherwise? I can imagine a few forcibles seriously unhappy with the situation... and ready, willing, and able to do... drastic... things about it. (I'm thinking Pyro in the second X-Men movie.)
I've never heard of a Feng Shui game system. I take it the original background is kung fu flicks?
no subject
Date: 2008-06-25 10:16 am (UTC)Whether there will be tensions between the voluntary and involuntary PC students is pretty much up to them. In general, rather than taking it out on the other students, those who were intimidated or kidnapped into being there will attempt to leave, mostly but not invariably unsuccessfully. Pyro-type incidents happen, oh, less than once a semester, and are usually subdued by the other students before things get too out of hand. Usually.
Yes, the Feng Shui system is meant to simulate Hong Kong action films in RPG form. While GURPS tends towards the tough-but-fair there's-a-rule-for-everything end of the spectrum, Feng Shui tends towards the loose-description GM-decides-what-makes-sense-here end. I like crunchy systems, but I freely admit that the learning curve is steep, and several of the folks I'd like to have play in this are not the sort who are likely to put up with having to learn the rules.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-23 01:07 pm (UTC)(I left the books on your desk...)
no subject
Date: 2008-06-23 02:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-23 02:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-25 10:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-23 03:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-23 10:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-24 12:37 am (UTC)How often are you thinking of running it? I can't really do a weekly, but I might be able to do bi-weekly. This sounds like a blast.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-24 11:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-24 05:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-25 10:22 pm (UTC)