Campaign Prospectus

My GURPS group and I were about halfway through a GURPS conversion of the d20 Iron Kingdoms published campaign The Witchfire Trilogy (highly recommended), when I decided that I wanted some guidance on what to run next time I was GM.  Taking a cue from the estimable WH Stoddard, I decided that a Campaign Prospectus for the players to vote on was a great approach.  So, I assembled a bunch of campaigns I thought would be fun, and let them vote.

What did the players pick? Tune in next installment to find out!

Campaign Prospectus 2013

(in approximate order of preparation required, least to most)

Please note your interest level for each, where

0 = not interested, 2 = somewhat interested, 4 = very interested

Clockpunk Dungeon Fantasy, continued 0 1 2 3 4

Inspirations: old AD&D modules, d20 Iron Kingdoms

Sketch: Witchfire PCs have new adventures in the Greek Empire

Sourcebooks: Dungeon Fantasy, Magic, Thaumatology, Low-Tech

2 PCs per player, 250-300 pts starting, slower advancement than Witchfire

The Rogers Agency 0 1 2 3 4

Inspirations: Leverage, Burn Notice, Sean Punch's The Company, Ronin, Nikita

Sketch: Gritty modern white-hat black ops - an elite team works undercover performing hostage and prisoner rescues worldwide, where governments can't or won't go.

Sourcebooks: High-Tech, Martial Arts, Tactical Shooting, Social Engineering

Likelihood of Weirdness (psi, vampires, aliens, etc): low

1 or 2 PCs per player, 200-250 pts starting, time-based advancement

Alexander's Companions, continued 0 1 2 3 4

Inspirations: Robert E. Howard, Mary Renault

Sketch: Alexander the Great's boon companions go necromancer hunting in northern Persia

Sourcebooks: Dungeon Fantasy, Magic, Thaumatology, Low-Tech

1 PC per player, 350? pts starting

Lassaka 0 1 2 3 4

Inspirations: Gamma World, Morrow Project, Hiero's Journey, Last of the Mohicans

Sketch: 23rd century Alaska after the Epidemic Wars that knocked humanity back to 18th c. technology, mutated everything, and flooded the world. Humans, mutants, talking animals, flintlocks, and lots of wilderness.

Sourcebooks: Low-Tech, High-Tech, Biotech?

1-2 PCs per player, 150-200 pts starting

The Dead Are Hungry 0 1 2 3 4

Inspirations: classic zombie movies, Walking Dead, The Colony (TV)

Sketch: PCs react, adapt, and plan to survive the zombocalypse.

Sourcebooks: Y2K, High-Tech, Zombies

Likelihood of non-zombie Weirdness (psi, vampires, aliens, etc): low

1 PC per player, 100 pts starting, time-based advancement

Beyond the Emerald Isle 0 1 2 3 4

Inspirations: History, fantasy, Celtic & Germanic Studies, plus the odd D&D module.

Sketch: Irish PCs (w/possible Norse & Saxon options) in the Alexander timeline corresponding to our world's 9^th c AD, shortly after the death of Bel/Baldr/Apollo.

Sourcebooks: Low-Tech, Magic, Divine Power

1 PC per player, 150 pts starting

Death On Two Legs 0 1 2 3 4

Inspirations: MechWarrior, BattleTech

Sketch: Mecha lance stranded in hostile territory

Sourcebooks: Spaceships (mod. for mecha combat), Ultra-Tech, Space

Likelihood of Weirdness (psi, vampires, aliens, etc): low

1 PC per player, 200 pts starting, possibly additional support staff?

Free Trader 0 1 2 3 4

Inspirations: Traveller, Firefly

Sketch: PCs are the crew of a sci-fi tramp steamer. Nearby campaign worlds to be developed collaboratively in the first sessions using Diaspora.

Sourcebooks: Traveller, Ultratech

1-2 PCs per player, 175 pts starting

Exceptional 0 1 2 3 4

Inspirations: Freakangels, Bourne movies, The Matrix, X-Men

Sketch: There's something different about the PCs, and someone powerful wants them captured or dead.

Sourcebooks: Powers, High-Tech, Monster Hunters

Likelihood of Weirdness (psi, vampires, aliens, etc): very high

1 PC per player, 75 pts starting + powers

The Woods 0 1 2 3 4

Inspirations: Twin Peaks

Sketch: PCs are residents of a small town near Redding CA, where strange things are afoot.

Sourcebooks: Mysteries

Likelihood of Weirdness (psi, vampires, aliens, etc): high

1 PC per player, 100 pts starting

Starcraft 0 1 2 3 4

Inspirations: Starcraft (video game), Uplift War series

Sketch: PCs are humans and aliens forced by circumstance to work together.

Sourcebooks: Ultratech, Space

1 PC per player, ?? pts, heavily templated with some customization

Wheels Within Wheels 0 1 2 3 4

Inspirations: Alias, Delta Green, X-Files, Declare, Stross' Laundry

Sketch: Cells within the government try to discover or conceal The Truth.

Sourcebooks: Conspiracy X, High-Tech

Likelihood of Weirdness (psi, vampires, aliens, etc): high

2 PCs per player, one field operative and one patron of a different player's operative.

Starting pts: 250 pts operative, 200 pts patron?

Apollo's Bones 0 1 2 3 4

Inspirations: Old-school megadungeon crawl, Tolkien's Moria.

Sketch: When Apollo was murdered, his divine corpse fell to earth in southern Gaul, carving a crater into the earth and uncovering a forgotten underground city. Even more cursed and undead-ridden than most of the world, the area has reverted to a haunted wilderness, but ancient treasures and divine vis attract the adventurous, the desperate, and the unscrupulous.

Sourcebooks: Low-Tech, Magic, Divine Power

1 PC per player, 150 pts starting, advancement during downtime only

Life During Wartime 0 1 2 3 4

Inspirations: DMZ (comic), Life During Wartime (Talking Heads song), Safe Area Goražde (comic)

Sketch: The Second American Revolution (aka the Declared State of Emergency, depending who's talking) is happening. PCs are “domestic insurgents”.

Sourcebooks: High-Tech, Tactical Shooting

Likelihood of Weirdness (psi, vampires, aliens, etc): low

1 PC per player, 150 pts starting, advancement slow or time-based