8:05 p.m.

Chris Pramas (from Green Ronin) just announced that they’ve secured the rights to produce an RPG based on George R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire. Even though I thought the books were interesting, I have to wonder, what would a PC do in such a populated world? It seems to me that Martin pretty well covered every corner with at least some part of his plot line. I’ll be interested to take a look nonetheless.

Okay, here’s something I’ve always wondered about but was always too chicken to actually try out in an actual game. So, I figured I’d simply ask it as a question and see what kind of response I get.

Consider that a GM (such as me) came up to you and said the following:

I’m going to be starting a game soon and I’m going to be using a generic system — GURPS, Savage Worlds, True20, et al. For the purposes of character creation, forget about setting and simply design a character of any kind. The only catch is that you can only use the respective core rule book, and it has to be a character of “starting” experience (100 pts for GURPS, Novice for Savage Worlds, 1st Level for True20, etc).

What kind of character would you design? Extra credit if you actually design it and post it (I’ll likely follow suit with a few examples of my own).

As I mull over the idea of a non-projectile setting, and attempt to decide whether I’d prefer it in a post-apocalyptic or near future society, I stopped to think about the first type of game. In my experience, the bulk of the post-apocalyptic games are covered with either mutant characters or enraged, flesh eating monstrosities. The only exception I can think of is Twilight 2000, which is really so utterly realistic as to be all but depressing.

Personally, I’ve never been a fan of the former. Almost every game I’ve seen where mutant powers come into play just makes my skin crawl. Not only does it completely take away from any realistic feel, but the benefits are often so absurd as to be superhero-like in nature.

The later version — flesh eating monstrosities — is much more to my taste. Not only does the idea of mixing modern or futuristic technology with rampant monsters add an interesting flavor, but it’s also more fun than the generic Twilight 2000 combat scenarios (and ultimately more survivable).

Of course, with the game I have in mind, neither of these types of post-apocalyptic settings would seem ideal. The mutation genre might work san projectiles, but as I said, I’ve never been a fan of it; meanwhile, the flesh eating monstrosities would likely wind up eating the party before their kung fu action grip could spoil their plans.

I realize this doesn’t cover all the possible variations for a post-apocalyptic setting, but it did give me a quick idea of what I’m going to steer away from. Needless to say, I’m still exploring a lot of different possibilities, and continue to mash up various weird ideas to see if I like the feel and fit of anything.

Here’s a question. Have any of you run a futuristic game that did not use any form of projectile weapons (firearms, lasers, blasters, et al)? I’m considering running a game where guns (of any stripe and design) are either non-existent or strictly prohibited. Keep in mind, however, that I don’t want to design a non-combat game, merely a game where combatants have to rely primarily on hand-to-hand combat.

I’ve certainly run adventures before in settings where guns are scarce or missing, such as Victorian England or in similar gothic European settings, but I was wondering if anyone has any idea of how much enjoyment can be sucked from a futuristic setting without modern projectiles. Any thoughts, ideas, comments, observations, criticisms, wisecracks?