Jmonty

There is a Spanish RPG with a setting like that, "La puerta de Ishtar". Sargon made some magic and is immortal, and his empire last centuries, and the world is like his people thought it was. Add barbarians, and Lovecraftian deities and forbidden magic. But, for my taste, was a setting a bit depressing. Liked very much the chapters of culture and archaeology.

Thanks for the suggestions. The plot idea can be said (the adventure will be here once played) and is Ape-plus was captured and the Trust wants to free him while he's being transported to prison. In a train. With other convicts ("Con Air" but in a train).

Anyone has used the Brain Trust in an adventure? I have a plot idea and could publish it here, once we play it, but it would be interesting to read some people who used them or fight them before me.

Not discussing wich is the best, I'm here just to tell I played a campaign in 6th century Europe, from Byzantium to the Vandal Kingdom to the Persian frontier in Armenia, with the Blue and Green hippodrome factions fighting in the streets, Huns still menacing, conspiracies, spies, and a gold mine. Years 519-535, a long run.

Adventurer PCs in fantasy genres are often a bunch of rogues, not very different of criminals. Sure, they have a code of honor, maybe... In present time RPG genres, crime-fighters and crime-doers are the most akin to adventurer types. I mean, a regular office working person has little adventure time, but a gang member or a cop could have more. That said, has anyone played gang members (one of them an undercover cop, of course), a gang war, or a similar adventure thing? If not, but you like the concept... Hudson City has many gangs, Dark Champions is a cool game, but I need some inspiration. Some general idea, something more concrete. May be stories of Maffia, or samurais, can be adapted to the gang setting. Well, I read your comments if anybody has something to write.

Refloating this topic because I published the adventure in the Downloads sections, 5th edition documents.

You must decide if you want a group of PCs with good relationships between them, or not. I usually give my players their PCs built with a group idea, like a mad doctor and his followers (an assistant, a bodyguard, and a fixer), so I would think of monsters in a pack. Or not, then I would give them a medieval version of the Universal Monsters and let them fight for the same goal. Or may be you want Kaijus.

An earlier idea was something like "Hudson City GTA", but... We are in a Fantasy forum. I only have at this moment 3 PCs, will be better with five. 1. The conscripted antihero, knight or minor noble, probably a human male. The less evil one of the pack, or maybe not. Loyalty not questioned because happens to be a lover of a lieutenant of the Dark Lord. (this Dragon Lady inspired by Kitiara, from Dragonlance, and yes, she is a dragon rider) 2. Battle mage with ambitions. What kind of magic has? May be some fire magic, and spells from the god of evil. 3. An Ogre, strong and all that, a minion pure and simple. Unless I find another idea.

Well, the PCs should be the protagonists and have some power in the outcome of the adventure, so they are more or less trusted agents. They proved their worth in some previous mission, and now are far from the headquarters of the Dragon Lady in a moment of this Evil Empire expansion. They have to decide wich chieftain is the better for the Dark Lord, and one of the PCs might think of himself as the best, but must convice the rest or let all the contenders be killed so he might be promoted. In game terms, I think PCs should have 200 CP. And what happened to the city? That must be answered because the PCs need to be there and know that. The city suffered a short siege. Royal family escaped and are guests of a nearby nation. Factions control territories, yes, the most powerful has the palace from the beginning. The city gates could be more or less shared because of the supplies received, and the local population... Well, that's a point to develop. I'd like to minimize things like torture of innocents, and have the bad people fight each other instead. Some collaborationists are to be found, may be one of them was a king's adviser.

Well, this idea might have been used before. What if the PCs are not the good guys but some baddies? First problem, for me, is how much of evil are they allowed to be without spoiling the fun. Some things are not fun in a game, I won't like the PCs raping peasants and beating baby seals. One solution is "comedic evil", but I want a serious approach. Another ideas are "evil can turn against itself, sometimes" or "you see, the minions of the Dark Lord are not so different from people working for unethical corporations and bosses they hate just beacause the money". So, inspired by the Turakian Age, I have more or less this outline for a long adventure, and for a group of characters. The forces of the Dark Lord, Kal-Turak, conquered a city. But they are a mess of orcs, goblins, humans, ogres, a few trolls... Each group with their captains and chieftains. Kal-Turak hopes one leader will unite them, killing the weakest, but one year passed and there are four factions yet. The PCs a legates from the Dragon Lady, serving the Dark Lord, and their mission is to help the best leader of this factions to become the Overlord. One of the PCs is conscripted to serve Kal-Turak, and the rest could suspect of him. He battled against the evil forces, but his hometown was conquered and the warriors were offered to choose death or service. Now he is one of the many lovers of the Lady, and has something to gain serving evil. Another may be a wizard who considers himself the best candidate to Overlord. Another can be a big ogre who simply follows orders. The strongest contender in the city, based on Zarlang Thul, is very suspicious of the PCs and will conspire to have them killed by unknown assassins and blame the opposition. This adventure is what comes to my mind by now, it can work with baddies, not will work well if the PCs were goodies.

In my mind the cars are like the ones in the 2008 movie. In the 5th edition Ultimate Vehicle we can find some of these gadgets (the Supercar in page 46 has many of them). I like things from the movie like the tombstone droppable panel (this makes more sense in surpass a car with forward machine guns) and the idea of activating weapons or gadgets only when arriving to certain places. But I would like to write some background story for the PCs, some motivation and things to do outside the cars, not just a race.

Well, I should have figured the police could be very busy this day with a great number of incidents and calls, not all of them for real but they must check them anyway. The points thing is interesting, but killing innocent bystanders is not OK. Killing a rival, or the police, on the other hand... This adventure can be fun, but must be written as a screenplay with charcters and motivations.

Every year a mysterious Maffia boss forces some tough people to run the Death Race in Hudson City. Lots of money in bets around the world, hidden cameras in the cars and the streets, thousands of spectators, the police trying to stop them or infiltrate a driver, drivers running for their lives or the money or trying to discover and kill this boss. Well, I only have this idea, but could grow into an adventure. Drawbacks I see so far, which is the race course to follow and why the police could not stop them with helicopters.

Finally, the adventure is here. Spanish/English edition, with the stats only in English and a different illustration in each part. This is the blog, with one player telling their playtesting. https://murallasblancas.blogspot.com/2020/10/los-misteriosos-contra-las-cuerdas.html And this is the link to the adventure text in PDF. (28 pages) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YVi-OxupXsIny-r4qsNtn94mOilO0Hot/view