Settings you wish had an RPG treatment

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Sebastien De Castel's The Greatoats. There's any number of games I could use to pull it off. I just wouldn't mind seeing an official treatment, with high quality art.

Scot Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards. Pretty much ditto above. No, Blades in the Dark doesn't remotely qualify.
 
Neil Asher's Polity universe. Puts Altered Carbon to shame as a cyberpunk+speculative sci fi mashup.

The Lost Room. Mechanics here would be nearly pointless--anything would work. I would love the cosmology documented (even just options) and story building techniques outlined.
 
I love Blake's Seven

Checking the image captures at the link, the skill list heavily reminds me of Classic Trav. I reckon you could very easily do B7 in CT, especially with the Supplement 4 careers.
I'd love a "Revelation Space" RPG. It strikes me as a very RPG-friendly setting -- lots of possible adventures during the "Inhibitor Phase" especially.
I've just been re-reading the Galactic North short story collection and it's packed full of interesting possibilities - various cold and hot wars like the Coalition/Conjoiner conflict, or the much later Conjoiner/Demarchist war in the Yellowstone system. Playing Panoply agents defending the Demarchy against existential threats could be great although maybe a bit limiting for a long campaign.

The campaign premise I would really like to do is to cast the PCs as the crew of a lighthugger. Basically like a CT trade-based campaign with a similar mix of trade and non-trading hi-jinks, but where the runs take years and planets will likely have completely changed next time you swing through. As your body gradually gives way to time and radiation, you need to balance taking on ever more implants against losing your connection to baseline humanity. Could easily dovetail into a quest for weapons or other tech to fight/hide/run away from the Inhibitors once they show up, but I'd like to mess about in the setting for a bit before blowing it up.
 
The video game Grim Dawn has a really cool and interesting setting, even if the story in the game is pretty meh (all the lore notes paint a really interesting world).

The Shannara books are a personal favorite form my childhood, they aren't like, masterworks, but something about them makes me wish that someone made a good RPG for it.
 
I love Blake's Seven. Checking the image captures at the link, the skill list heavily reminds me of Classic Trav. I reckon you could very easily do B7 in CT, especially with the Supplement 4 careers.
Yeah, the system is a BRP derivative with elements of CoC and Traveller. A bit wonky but it captured the feel of the show (desperation and despair) when I ran it.
 
Try Worlds Without Number?

I'm actually genuinely not sure it would have done, even in The Past where HP was hyper-relevant. Yes there were a lot of young folks into HP, but they were doing their own thing for free already, and typically didn't have the disposable income for RPG books; even the many HP-but-with-the-serial-numbers-filed-off products of the time didn't even make a dent on the market.

I don’t know where you get the idea that people don’t have money for Harry Potter shite. They absolutely do. Hundreds of quid of stuff STILL sold every Cmas out of Primark.
And the theme park is still rammed.
 
I don’t know where you get the idea that people don’t have money for Harry Potter shite. They absolutely do. Hundreds of quid of stuff STILL sold every Cmas out of Primark.
And the theme park is still rammed.
I liscensed HP RPG would sell like hotcakes. I suspect the cost of said license and/or resistance on the part pf the author or publisher is why we don't have one. There are a bunch of off-brand ones, but I have no real idea how well they've sold.
 
Isn't Mindjammer The Culture already?

No, it’s Mindjammer.
It’s Culture-adjacent but you have to scrap the background to be close and, frankly, the setup doesn’t really allow for SC.

You’d be as well using Delta Green.
 
From what I've heard, Rowling has been very reluctant to have a tabletop RPG + asking for a crazy price for licensing for one.

Add in that while I'm sure a HP RPG would sell well, that you may be injuring the sales of other products due to associating your company with Rowling as a person, or that the publisher themselves might not wish to associate themselves with Rowling on personal grounds, and I could see it being even a harder sell now. (trying to avoid the political aspect here, but I don't see how not to address it, I'm not saying whether it is right or wrong or whatever, just that it probably is).
 
From what I've heard, Rowling has been very reluctant to have a tabletop RPG + asking for a crazy price for licensing for one.

Add in that while I'm sure a HP RPG would sell well, that you may be injuring the sales of other products due to associating your company with Rowling as a person, or that the publisher themselves might not wish to associate themselves with Rowling on personal grounds, and I could see it being even a harder sell now. (trying to avoid the political aspect here, but I don't see how not to address it, I'm not saying whether it is right or wrong or whatever, just that it probably is).
The problem of association is a relatively recent thing in terms of the franchise and while I'm sure that's an issue, I would suspect that an astronomical asking price is probably item 1.
 
The problem of association is a relatively recent thing in terms of the franchise and while I'm sure that's an issue, I would suspect that an astronomical asking price is probably item 1.
Probably. People need to understand that even successful tabletop RPGs don't make THAT much compared to things like video games/movies/etc. and the licensing fees being in the same stratosphere as those types of things is silly.
 
Probably. People need to understand that even successful tabletop RPGs don't make THAT much compared to things like video games/movies/etc. and the licensing fees being in the same stratosphere as those types of things is silly.
Yup, although I bet there are people eyeing that insane Avatar KS and thinking, hmm...
 
From what I've heard, Rowling has been very reluctant to have a tabletop RPG + asking for a crazy price for licensing for one.

Her reaction was that she didn't want anyone other than herself making up HP stories. Which just leaves the world open to offbrand clones (heck, someone could do a Tim Hunter series. It predates HP)
Add in that while I'm sure a HP RPG would sell well, that you may be injuring the sales of other products due to associating your company with Rowling as a person,

I wouldn't see a problem with it. She's knocked herself off the billionaire list through charitable giving. Seems proper orde.r
 
From what I've heard, Rowling has been very reluctant to have a tabletop RPG + asking for a crazy price for licensing for one.

Add in that while I'm sure a HP RPG would sell well, that you may be injuring the sales of other products due to associating your company with Rowling as a person, or that the publisher themselves might not wish to associate themselves with Rowling on personal grounds, and I could see it being even a harder sell now. (trying to avoid the political aspect here, but I don't see how not to address it, I'm not saying whether it is right or wrong or whatever, just that it probably is).
We don't need to go on this derail.
 
I'd have thought Star Wars D6 would be a fine fit for Blakes 7 (ditch the force and create a few genre specific character archetypes and go).

I think there is a thread for this sort of thing somewhere but here we go with my pitches:







The books of David Gemmell cover heroic fantasy, grim and gritty low magic fantasy, grey characters rather than black/white heroes and villains and topics such a time travel, post apocalypse, making use of myth (a take on the Uther Pendragon story) and more (Troy, Brigante series and great stand alone stories like Echoes of the Great Song and Morningstar). Of course Druss and Waylander are fan favourites.

I think there was an amateur effort to make a game set in the time of Druss but it's a shame there wasn't a system book and splat/lore books relating to the various series. A personal favourite is the Jon Shannow series (the 'Jerusalem Man') which is a western, post apocalypse, time travel, demon war, magic/miracle (sipstrassi stones) crossover.

If you've never read any of his books start with Waylander or Legend or Wolf in Shadow.

View attachment 56023

Cthulu esque investigation, group decisions on where to put research and engineering resources and bug hunts with things that can tear you to pieces, take over your mind or disintegrate you. Loot you can't figure out without research, guns that are like pea shooters to alien bad guys and moving up to psychic powers and cybernetics in mid/late game. XCom would have a core book, sourcebooks for aliens (monster manual), modules with different scenarios and enough to create a sense of suspense around the table with anyone prone to panic if their characters are close to the edge having seen and experienced things that mankind was never meant to know about.

Set in a 1930 that never was, the age of Crimson Skies practically writes itself for an RPG, crossover plane combat game (be it with cards, dice, a board or book of tables or whatever). FASA had a good go at creating a fully fleshed universe and Microprose made a great PC Game back in the day.

crimson-skies.png
I ran a game set in the Crimson Skies world about 25 years ago. I used GURPS, and we all played the minis game for the battles
 
I actually think that BoL would be perfect for the Drenai Cycle part of Gemmell's stuff.
 
From what I've heard, Rowling has been very reluctant to have a tabletop RPG + asking for a crazy price for licensing for one.

Add in that while I'm sure a HP RPG would sell well, that you may be injuring the sales of other products due to associating your company with Rowling as a person, or that the publisher themselves might not wish to associate themselves with Rowling on personal grounds, and I could see it being even a harder sell now. (trying to avoid the political aspect here, but I don't see how not to address it, I'm not saying whether it is right or wrong or whatever, just that it probably is).

I've get the feeling that HP is largely tied to the generation that grew up reading it. Most of those I know who are older and readers have little time or interest and it seems to be fading in popularity with the younger generation. It isn't displaying the staying power of Tolkien (not that I ever expected it to but its more rabid fans seem to think it would).
 
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I've get the feeling that HP is largely tied to the generation that grew up reading it. Most of those I know who are older and readers have little time or interest and it seems to be fading in popularity with the younger generation. It isn't displaying the staying power of Tolkien (not that I ever expected it to but its more rabid fans seem to think it would).
I've had to attend 4 Harry Potter-themed kids parties this year. They all love Harry Potter. I think the perceived loss of popularity is that none of them have the same level of interest in the spin-off movies.

There are rumors that WB is looking for way to reboot the franchise, possibly as a streaming show as their research shows that kids love Harry, Hermione and Ron more than the idea of movies about new parts of the Wizarding World.
 
I've had to attend 4 Harry Potter-themed kids parties this year. They all love Harry Potter. I think the perceived loss of popularity is that none of them have the same level of interest in the spin-off movies.

There are rumors that WB is looking for way to reboot the franchise, possibly as a streaming show as their research shows that kids love Harry, Hermione and Ron more than the idea of movies about new parts of the Wizarding World.
Yeah it's still selling but it's kinda a victim of its own success. I can get the hardbacks in every thrift store. And since she made so much money there are now a ton of other people trying to be the next one.
Would the RPG make bank? Depending on the licensing fee yeah it would.

Main reason we don't see it or Wizard of Earthsea is the authors are opposed to seeing an RPG. Earthsea is now in her heirs hands so maybe we will.
 
Yeah it's still selling but it's kinda a victim of its own success. I can get the hardbacks in every thrift store. And since she made so much money there are now a ton of other people trying to be the next one.
Would the RPG make bank? Depending on the licensing fee yeah it would.

Main reason we don't see it or Wizard of Earthsea is the authors are opposed to seeing an RPG. Earthsea is now in her heirs hands so maybe we will.
My point is that sales don't directly relate to cultural longevity. Star Wars-related products plummeted after the original trilogy ended, but didn't mean people stopped caring.
 
There are rumors that WB is looking for way to reboot the franchise, possibly as a streaming show as their research shows that kids love Harry, Hermione and Ron more than the idea of movies about new parts of the Wizarding World.
Whereas by contrast a wider Wizarding World is more applicable to RPG than Harry, Hermione, and Ron are.
 
DC don't have a current RPG and if they are rebooting the DCU there is an opportunity to have another go at an RPG.

I think the current Gunn reboot of the cinematic DCU and all of the attention it is attracting would make such a license more expensive than most publishers could (or would want to) handle.
 
I wouldn't mind an RPG in HB Pipers space (Like Little Fuzzy etc)
Traveller is certainly capable of it.
Herculoids.
Thunder cats/Silver Hawks
 
  • Mass Effect and Jade Empire. These worlds are as fascinating as Dragon Age in their own right, given the former's success I'm surprised it hasn't happened already.
  • Masters of the Universe (all franchises, unified). Don't even talk to me about FASA.
  • Phantasy Star (classic; PSO can come along, too) I just really love everything about these games.
  • Super Mario Bros. All of the games franchises together, plus Super Mario Bros: The Movie separately.
  • Killer Instinct doesn't even need to be a "fighting game" system. Just the really fucked up combination of cyberpunk, magic, and aliens is :heart:
  • Star•Drive and Dark•Matter. Even better, bring back the whole Alternity game; give it to Slavicsek and Baker, full stop.
  • Buck Rogers in the XXV Century (the existing RPG is fine, just make it legal again)
  • Doom and/or Jupiter Hell. Why hasn't this happened already? Space Marines versus the literal Forces of Hell? Gun porn and guilt-free slaughter?
  • The Last Sovereign (shove that up your "morality clause", Hasbro) I mean, we don't know how it ends yet... but pick it up a century or two after that in the remade continent of Arclent, leave the possibility open for all manner of new threats... leave shards on the table as a player option.
  • Bug Fables every kind of bug has their own special abilities and personality tendencies. This is built for a TTRPG.
  • Brütal Legend is another in the "why hasn't anyone done this yet?" category. The world is hilarious and gameable as hell.
  • Guacamelee Luchadores, Mexican folklore, that aesthetic? Sold.
 
I can't think of any book/movie/tv show, but since we have already started to talk games.

The card game Aeon's End. The setting is alright - mages in the last human city defend it against monsters. But lore wise, the magic in Aeon's End is interesting (breaches, gems), so I hope Aeon's End RPG would contain some awesome magic system.

The PC RPG Tyranny. Just for the setting. It is about a world where the dark lord has already won. There is a tabletop RPG for another Obsidian Entertainment's PC RPG - Pillars of Eternity TTRPG, but that is not my cup of tea, because the system is in my opinion needlessly complex.
 
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