GM backlog

My master plan

This is about TRPG adventures I am willing to GM, any time I am not busy GMing or being sick of GMing. This isn’t television, so if you want to play, don’t wait for me to come calling. Tell me what you’re into and help round up players. Most of my regular players are Swedish, but descriptions are in English for wider recruitment.

I try to keep this up to date.

The Enemy Within

Pitch Uprooted Renaissance-German low-lives discover a truly nefarious plot against the realm.
Genre Action, investigation, horror, black comedy.
Setting Warhammer, the fantasy version. Call of Cthulhu meets D&D with a sense of humour. Sounds bad. Is good.
System Unsure. Both of the official Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (WFRP) systems are pretty boring.
Author Phil Gallagher, Graeme Davis, Jim Bambra and others.
Script status Complete since 1989. I have both that original version in physical form and the Cubicle 7 Collector’s Edition in electronic form.

I want to run The Enemy Within for two reasons: It’s one of the most lauded RPG campaigns ever published, and I have a soft spot for the dirty, superstitious, dog-eat-underdog world of WFRP.

Warhammer 40,000

Pitch First contact with humankind.
Genre Science fantasy, gothic horror, action.
Setting Warhammer 40,000, interpreted with an eye to moral ambiguity and not-too-soft SF. A bit like Star Wars, but with the darkness of William Hope Hodgson’s The Night Land.
System Perhaps ORE or a modified Adventures on Dungeon Planet (2013).
Author Various.
Script status There are prefabs. I have lots of ideas, but nothing complete.

Rogue Trader (1987) was the first publication for Warhammer 40,000, and the first 40K RPG, though it was primarily a skirmish game for miniatures. Inquisitor (2001) is a more finely detailed 40K skirmish system. Since 2007, there have been five official RPGs published for 40K, including a remake of Rogue Trader, all using a mediocre, splat-driven d100 system loosely based off of WFRP2. None of these systems are terrible, but none of them are very good.

As of 2015-09, the main stumbling block is the lack of a player group that already understands 40K. This is why I’ve planned a one-off taster with Tau PCs. To most Swedish SF fans, the non-human Tau are probably less alien than the human Imperium of Man.

Rains of Felonis

Pitch Explorers briefly set down on a planet for the first time.
Genre SF horror sandbox.
Setting Across a Thousand Dead Worlds (2023).
System Probably the official one but hand-waving a lot of the crunch.
Author Donn Stroud.
Script status Complete as published. Needs some work on the back end.

I like Across a Thousand Dead Worlds for two reasons: It’s a loose adaptation of Gateway (1977) without the Freudianism, and it pitches boredom as a feature. That’s because it sets up space exploration as a metaphor for wage slavery, which is the real theme of the game. Here’s an official pitch:

Across a Thousand Dead Worlds is a game of risk-taking, constant dread, a dash of boredom coupled with stress, sheer violence, bright moments and casual brutality. It is a game for exploring the insignificance of humanity, how its greed, wants and desires come to bear in the face of a cold, unknowable universe.

This artistic intent is interesting to me. Unfortunately, it is implemented mainly in an old school, as low-prep randomness. Even in the published one-shot “Rains of Felonis”, there is little worldbuilding behind the vision. If you don’t mind that, I think the themes and vignettes can carry the one-shot.

Dårarnas ö / Maniac Isle

Pitch Freelancers troubleshoot high-tech theft in a city where convicts are exiled to reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay.
Genre Cyberpunk, action.
Setting Mutant (1989).
System Probably Mutant (1989). It’s a simple BRP-like affair.
Author Gunilla Jonsson.
Script status Complete.

Sekundus befrielse / The Liberation of Secundus

Pitch Mech pilots reshape a hitherto peaceful world.
Genre Soft SF, action adventure.
Setting Homebrew.
System Probably the One-Roll Engine Mecha rules by Kevin Pezzano.
Author Me.
Script status Incomplete.

Bizarra Campaign

Pitch Magically trained explorers and diplomats rediscover their islands after cataclysmic change.
Genre Fantasy with surrealist elements.
Setting Bizarra, a homebrew.
System Bizarra.
Author Me.
Script status Incomplete. The setting is meant for sand-box play and has been playtested successfully, but doesn’t have all the detail it needs for a campaign.

Other

I would be interested in running, but have not adequately prepared for, the following:

On the level of only mild curiosity: