Thinking out loud.
I've been re-reading GURPS: Infinite Worlds for the past couple of days. For one thing, I'm stuck at home and I ran out of novels (a shipment is on it's way, but if someone has something good they can loan me that will also be lovely). For another, I'm still toying with the idea of putting a game together. This is the same deal from a couple of weeks ago; the new job kind of derailed me for a while.
I've been trying to think about what kind of game I'd like to run. Nothing jumps to mind, which is sub-ideal, but I've worked with it in the past. In general I prefer my games to be grand in scope and fairly high on scale, and to allow me to design fantastic sets, characters and situation. I'm big on the sense of wonder, and I guess after many years of running away from it I decided it's my favorite genre (classic fantasy, which I detest, is the obvious exception). It's quite telling that my game of choice (for prolonged games) changed from Mage: The Ascension to Nobilis, while settings like In Nomine, Amber and Armageddon remained on my peripheral radar.
My first instinct was to try Nobilis again, but I don't really feel like having discussions about the meaning of Grass or the deep symbolism of Tears. Something a bit more hands-on is called for.
The first time I read G:IW I ruled it out because it seemed to focus on the alternate history and cross-world cold war angles. But I've been thinking if there's some way that I can shift the focus more to the Myth parallels or the "weird" worlds, while still keeping the game rooted in a familiar reality (I firmly believe in giving the players solid ground to stand on as well as tools to do things - the "lost in a strange land" motif is one that I detest whole-heatedly). There's also a lot of other things I'd love to throw in, and it's not an easy framing job.
This is where I'm stuck right now.
Also, nothing is going to happen unless I get a couple of players together which I'll actually enjoy playing with. I'm stuck on that as well.
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I've also jotted down "Where in the Worlds is Carmen Sandiego" and "The Journeyman Project" as one-shot ideas. The latter in particular I think could be really good.
I've been trying to think about what kind of game I'd like to run. Nothing jumps to mind, which is sub-ideal, but I've worked with it in the past. In general I prefer my games to be grand in scope and fairly high on scale, and to allow me to design fantastic sets, characters and situation. I'm big on the sense of wonder, and I guess after many years of running away from it I decided it's my favorite genre (classic fantasy, which I detest, is the obvious exception). It's quite telling that my game of choice (for prolonged games) changed from Mage: The Ascension to Nobilis, while settings like In Nomine, Amber and Armageddon remained on my peripheral radar.
My first instinct was to try Nobilis again, but I don't really feel like having discussions about the meaning of Grass or the deep symbolism of Tears. Something a bit more hands-on is called for.
The first time I read G:IW I ruled it out because it seemed to focus on the alternate history and cross-world cold war angles. But I've been thinking if there's some way that I can shift the focus more to the Myth parallels or the "weird" worlds, while still keeping the game rooted in a familiar reality (I firmly believe in giving the players solid ground to stand on as well as tools to do things - the "lost in a strange land" motif is one that I detest whole-heatedly). There's also a lot of other things I'd love to throw in, and it's not an easy framing job.
This is where I'm stuck right now.
Also, nothing is going to happen unless I get a couple of players together which I'll actually enjoy playing with. I'm stuck on that as well.
------
I've also jotted down "Where in the Worlds is Carmen Sandiego" and "The Journeyman Project" as one-shot ideas. The latter in particular I think could be really good.