Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?

[ThatGuyThere]

@Botulism said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:

For better or worse, people end up playing what they know, not what they profess to want.

I also think part of the nature of these threads leads to that. Not intentionally but you have many voices shouting out for many varied things, so while there is a large chorus of voices wanting something different they all want a different something different. So each different thing will have a much smaller audience than the familiar thing so it is less of a people play what they know not what they want it is more each person plays what they know rather than what other people have professed to want.

[Three-Eyed Crow]

@ThatGuyThere said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:

I also think part of the nature of these threads leads to that.

Yeah, this is why I don't think these boards are actually very good for the infancy stages of a game. I think it's more important to have a group of players picked to invite (maybe 5-10) for some kind of alpha testing. And if the idea works for a few months, open it up once you've got a core you know will stick.

[Arkandel]

@Three-Eyed-Crow said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:

Yeah, this is why I don't think these boards are actually very good for the infancy stages of a game. I think it's more important to have a group of players picked to invite (maybe 5-10) for some kind of alpha testing. And if the idea works for a few months, open it up once you've got a core you know will stick.

For the early stages of a game I think involving more than 2-3 people is doing it a misservice. Just... too many cooks will spoil it.

A tightly knit group, whether they'll be involved in later stages or not to finalize some early decisions and set the tone, should do it. But I'm a fan of tiny staff teams anyway.

What MSB is great for is if you know what you want but not quite how, and you want to brainstorm on specific things. That's where it shines.

[Ominous]

@Arkandel Is that the one where reality changed right in the middle of a nuclear war, and all the nuclear weapons turned into demons with the most powerful, Orcus, was one that was in the process of detonating when reality changed?

[Arkandel]

@Ominous Nope! It's this: https://www.goodreads.com/series/64473-the-broken-empire

Two trilogies are finished by now, each independent...ish from the other and quite different, both excellent. Even as a read I highly recommend them.

[surreality]

@Ominous ...that sounds incredibly neat. If you find out what that actually is I am tempted to look for it.

[Thenomain]

@Botulism said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:

@Thenomain Far more people have read American Gods than MU*, though. Just saying among the MU* subset, WoD is more widely known.

Yes, I knew that. It's still a crying shame.

[Lotherio]

@Arkandel said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:

@Tempest said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:

Into the Badlands could be pretty dope. I'm pretty sure there's a crowd around who are always talking about wanting a post-apoc game. The problem is they probably want more Fallout-y?

One of the many, many, many issues that fragment our community (but also make it great in a way, take your pick) is we're so hard to please and won't compromise easily.

Sure, I want a post-apocalyptic game, but not Fallout, and no no, The Walking Dead isn't it either, I want Badlands - exactly that, nothing else will do. Or... sure, I want a DC Comics game but set in the post-Rebirth Universe not the New 52. What do you mean the Flash is Barry Allen? No no, I'm out.

This is why my pref is actually not cannon setting but original theme. Us that love cannon can't argue with Flash is best, or which splat book should be used. But everyone seems to want cannon for familiarity which circles back into which parts of cannon are best.

[Ominous]

@surreality said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:

@Ominous ...that sounds incredibly neat. If you find out what that actually is I am tempted to look for it.

Found it. It's Empire of the East and Book of Swords series. I know of it, because I follow the D&D OSR and someone had an article about using the swords from Book of Swords.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_the_East_series

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books_of_Swords

[Cupcake]

One of the reasons I think Into the Badlands would work is because in its way, it's a very structured universe.

Assuming the game only takes place within the Badlands and outside influences are NPC only, there are lots of options to play:

Clippers - soldier/assassins/enforcers. Probably a lot people will go for this. Each individual Barony has its particular look and theme. Each Baron also has a Regent, their head clipper. Some Barons have all-male clipper forces, some all-female, some mixed.

Barons - and their families, assuming Barons are not NPC only. Basically the heads of household. FYI, Barons can be female.

Craftsmen - Leatherworkers, blacksmiths, tattooists, even doctors and healers. Technically most of these are cogs, or retired clippers, but they have somewhat more status than cogs who work the fields and industries and households.

Cogs - the regular joes. Often fieldhands, house servants, etc. In some baronies, cogs can actually work their way into the upper "classes" - prove themselves worthy of becoming clippers, draw the eye of a baron or a member of a baron's family, prove they are worthy of learning a more advanced skill.

Edited to add: I suppose I should add Dolls to the mix, but that would depend entirely on how staff would field about prostitute characters.

And that's just within the Badlands. It opens up even further once you're past the walls.

[Alamias]

@Arkandel said in ...post-Rebirth Universe not the New 52. What do you mean the Flash is Barry Allen? No no, I'm out.

Isn't the post-Rebirth Universe Flash Barry?

[Arkandel]

@Alamias said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:

@Arkandel said in ...post-Rebirth Universe not the New 52. What do you mean the Flash is Barry Allen? No no, I'm out.

Isn't the post-Rebirth Universe Flash Barry?

I've read Rebirth and I don't know! Is both Barry and Wally Flash? This is becoming a Spartacus situation.

[ThatGuyThere]

@Arkandel said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:

I've read Rebirth and I don't know! Is both Barry and Wally Flash? This is becoming a Spartacus situation.

Not that bad really considering for most of the companies history DC has had multiple active folks using the Flash name, after all Jay was active as the Flash from golden age to Crisis on Infinite Earths along with Barry whose existence kicked off the Silver Age, and with the return of the JSA from Limbo, (Not being flippant here the actual in universe reason the JSA was gone from COIE to their retrun in 1991 was that they were in Limbo fighting Surtur and the rest of the Norse baddies.) from 1991 - 2009 you had Jay and Wally, with an interlude of Jay and Bart as Flashes, and from 2009-2011 you have three active Flashes with Jay, Wally, and Barry all actively using the name in different titles. The only periods with just one Flash were from 1940-1956 when it was just Jay and from the end of Flashpoint when it was just Barry until Jay was re-introduced not long after that.
Edit to Add: One more period of just one Flash, Wally was the only active Flash from the end of COIE to late 1991.

[Thenomain]

I will just leave this here:

Fables.

[Arkandel]

@Thenomain I thought you didn't read comics?

[Thenomain]

@Arkandel said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:

@Thenomain I thought you didn't read comics?

I read them, I just don't like them. I know this because I read them. Sometimes under great duress, when @Coin bugs me for the fifteenth time that week.

Mostly, tho, it's the superhero comics, but since 99.995% of the time when someone says "comic mu*" they mean "superhero mu*", I just assume that people forget that there are other amazing illustrated serials out there.

Like Fables.

[Shaggy]

@Arkandel said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:

Into The Badlands. Characters belong to different Baronies, maybe also to some neutral factions like the monks or mine owners, and let them go to town - heavy emphasis on martial arts (of course), betrayals and post-apocalyptic intrigue.

I know of someone who might be working on this one, fingers crossed and all things going well.

[Ghost]

@Shaggy said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:

I know of someone who might be working on this one, fingers crossed and all things going well.

Agreed. I would love to see this setting. One thing that I think will be key is if the level of grit and brutality, as well as that 'wandering Kung Fu badass' energy is captured in a bottle. While that setting is, in its own way, about the setting, the point that makes that show so great is about the conflict. I would hate to see this setting devolve into mayors and community building, which runs the risk of turning into post apocalyptic playing house, which didn't do see well for some zombie games. So, in summary, I really hope that genre gets captured and the Into the Badlands energy is bottled up.

Into the Badlands, not Little House on the Badlands

I'll be keeping my eyes open for it.

Edit:(AFTERTHOUGHT One thing that did the early Battlestar games so well was that BSG was on Netflix in it's entirely around the time the games were out. Staff could tell players to go watch the first few episodes on Netflix to understand the feel, the imagery, and the general idea. In a point for Into the Bandlands' favor... it's on Netflix. Woo.

[Arkandel]

@Ghost said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:

as well as that 'wandering Kung Fu badass' energy is captured in a bottle.

That's kind of what concerns me about it, in that it's not easy to capture the high energy visuals of a kung fu fight in poses, let alone mechanics.

It's however the same issue I have with many similar hard to portray things I really enjoy. For example although in theory I'd love a Lord of the Rings MUSH, the cruel reality of meeting idiots who play horny Elves prevents me from even trying one.

[Lotherio]

@Arkandel said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:

@Ghost said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:

as well as that 'wandering Kung Fu badass' energy is captured in a bottle.

That's kind of what concerns me about it, in that it's not easy to capture the high energy visuals of a kung fu fight in poses, let alone mechanics.

It's however the same issue I have with many similar hard to portray things I really enjoy. For example although in theory I'd love a Lord of the Rings MUSH, the cruel reality of meeting idiots who play horny Elves prevents me from even trying one.

Dragon Fist; TSR released it for free as they sold D&D to WotC back around 1999. I ran a campaign for a few weeks don't recall the exact mechanics off hand, but totally captured wuxia/Hong Kong action film. It came down to planning an outrageous maneuver getting a bonus the more out there it was, then one roll to see if it works.

Two memories from that campaign ... We did the fighting in poles thing pretty early on and it worked even at low level. Then one fight scene in a paper wall house, a villain was knocked over but the fought on his back, slipping under his counterparts legs for a four arm attack. It ran smoothly, never bogged down and captured kung fu fighting without extra rules ( it was all 2e).