RPGaDay Challenge 2018 - Day 16

This one made me laugh...

Sure.

You want that from newest idea to oldest, alphabetical order, most developed to least, or how likely they are to get to the table based on compatibility percentages with each group?

Seriously, this is the Barking Alien blog kids. Anyone whose been around here before this post knows I'm usually working on at least half a dozen new campaign ideas at any given time. Most of these concepts never get beyond the initial 'hey, you know what would be cool' stage. A select few get nearly the attention of games I manage to run before they are shelved for one reason or another. Developing a Role Playing Game campaign is, for me, very much like pitching a motion picture in Hollywood, complete with concept art that's never used and going over budget on props. 

All kidding aside, the games I plan to run next are...

The Orville

I would really love to give the Orville another chance. I don't feel like my initial attempt truly captured the feel of the series and it certainly wasn't as challenging for the PCs as it could have been. Against my own better judgement, I tried to make it 'Star Trek Lite' instead of serious Space Adventure with more quirky characters. I missed the mark big time and want very much to make another go at it. 

I would use Modiphius Entertainment's Star Trek Adventures system as I like it a lot and of course it designed (or at the very least adapted) to emulate just such a setting. I want to more fully flesh out the Orville universe elements and to do that I may have to wait until after Season 2 of the series has gotten underway. 

Maybe my new campaign for 2019? We'll see.

Bitichin'.

Pioneer

A little secret side project I've been toying with for some time is a Wild West RPG based on the rules of classic Traveller. Right now it lives in a dusty corner of my computer under the title 'Pioneer'.

The idea first came to me about a year ago (maybe two) when I was trying to think of a system for running my very specific take on Westerns. I wanted something that had an air of realism about it but would still enable me to tell the kind of American Folklore, Wild West Ghost Story tales I used in my first and really only Western campaign up to this point. 

The project is currently a bit unfocused. I know what I want for the most part but I am not sure how to present it or where I am going with it. Yet. It is very much a work in progress, though progress does continue. 

Can I / Will I / Should I finish Pioneer in time to make it my next campaign? I haven't yet decided...

and getting honorable mention...

Sentai / Giant Robots

I have been powerfully inspired by Voltron, The Legendary Defender and haven't run a Giant Robot campaign in a very long time. I'd really love to do a game inspired by the Netflix animated series combined with more Sentai elements such as more individualized abilities and gear for the PCs and more Kaiju-of-the-Week enemies.

Maybe. I kind of like how they held off throwing a 'robeast' at the Voltron team episode after episode, making the appearances of said monstrosities extra-special. 

Shelved in my mental archives for later.

Well, that's where I'm at.

Where are you?

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Barking Alien

March of The Giant Robots

I have Mecha on my mind this month.

This month of March that is. March is Mecha Month I guess. It's March Mecha Madness Month! 

OK, heheh, sorry. I got a little carried away.

The Five Paladins of Voltron!

Kind of. SPOILERS! Things change up a bit in Season 4 and 5.

Go watch it!

It's not just me either. Oh no, just you wait and see.

Tomorrow, Netflix will be releasing Season 5 of Voltron, The Legendary Defender, which I have talked about on the blog before and really enjoyed so far (well, most of Season 4 was kind of lame, though they did have a great finale). I still want to figure out a way to run something like it as a campaign. It has all the elements a GM could want and is a great model for making a long term Mecha game work. 

On March 23, there is going to be an uprising and my man John Boyega will be there to ensure that this new apocalypse is cancelled! 

Pacific Rim: Uprising, the sequel to America's first and only real Mecha film, Pacific Rim, hits theaters like a Category 4 Kaiju rampaging through Hong Kong. I really liked the first film and I'm a big fan of Boyega who is starring in and co-producing this one. I am there! I've covered this one too and I'm looking forward to discussing the idea of a Giant Robots vs. Giant Monsters game because, you know, Giant Robots vs.Giant Monsters!

In addition to the aforementioned titles, I will be also discussing a variety of ideas that are based on or inspired by Japanese Anime, Manga, or Live Action Mecha, though not necessarily a specific series.

This isn't the only thing I'll be talking about this month, but it's something that's been popping into my head a lot lately. 

Will any of this go anywhere?

We shall see.

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RPGaDay Challenge 2017 - Day 6

After a wonderful day on Saturday, I spent most of Sunday exhausted, and honestly feeling like crap. I passed out on my bed for a nap at some point (a thing I am very rarely able to do), and ended up sleeping over five hours.

The end result is that I am a tad behind on my posts, but I will do my best to catch up.

I actually had the opportunity to do this once, in high school I believe, and it was a pretty epic experience. The game was Skyrealms of Jorune. The story covered a journey from one location to another over the course of 7 days. Each day of travel was one session, played on a different day for one week.

A tale for another time.

What would I do now?

Hmmm.

Inspired by my recently rekindled interest in Anime, and Manga, and the idea of binge-watching shows on Netflix, or other similar streaming services, I would probably run a Giant Robot/Mecha RPG with a finite story designed to be told in seven 'episodes'. 

Additional inspirations include Netflix's Voltron, The Legendary Defender, Japan's revival of the Japanese tabletop RPG Wares Blade (a personal favorite of mine), and the computer/video game franchise Monster Hunter.

The end result would be a Fantasy with Mecha tale of a small city-state plagued by attacks from monsters for so long that they've developed an entire way of life built around slaying these creatures, and using their parts for various purposes. 

Clothing, food, armor, weapons, and even building materials from homes, and tools are made of monster parts. These are obtained by brave, volunteer citizens who use mechs to defeat the larger, and more dangerous of these mystic beasts. 

I don't really have a story beyond that, but it's an idea I've been playing around with for sometime now that I'd really like to try. I'd probably use a modified version of first edition Mekton to run it, possibly merged with my homebrew Extended Mecha system. Maybe Mekton 1E + Ars Magica? Sword World? Not sure.

Well, that's what I'd do.

What would you do?

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The Legendary Defender

Can you believe it's February already? This year is already going fast.

Anyhow, let's get down to business...

Have you seen the new Dreamworks reboot of Voltron on Netflix?

Why the hell not?!?

It's pretty awesome!

For those unfamiliar with Voltron, it was originally a Japanese animated series entitled King of the Beasts GoLion. The series was adapted for American television with a story written by Peter Keefe and John Teichmann, founding partners of a company called World Events Productions in 1984. 

There are a great many folks in the 30-50 year old range who have a deep affection for this show. As with many Japanese animated programs brought to the U.S., and altered during the 80s, I never developed a taste for it. The problem being that I was already exposed to the original Japanese version, and therefore found the American version more like a knock-off.

This feeling got even more pronounced when the later versions of Voltron were introduced. The further incarnations were based on Armored Fleet Dairugger 15 (Voltron II in America), and GodMars (If I remember correctly - used as a tv movie/special) which unlike GoLion were shows I was more interested in.

All in all, I never became a fan of the American phenomenon of Voltron.

In spite of this (or perhaps because of it), I found myself really intrigued by the rebooted version entitled, Voltron, The Legendary Defender. 

The Paladins of Voltron!

Left to Right:

Keith (Red), Lance (Blue), Shiro (Black), Pidge (Green), and Hunk (Yellow)!

Although ostensibly a reboot, I viewed it as an original program. The original was an adaption of an already existing Japanese product, where as this Voltron was actually built from the ground up to be Voltron!

I've now watched both seasons, and I have to say I really like it. It isn't perfect, it has its flaws, but overall I find it a ton of fun. It also provides some excellent inspiration, and insight into how to effectively run a super-heroic, giant robot anime style RPG campaign.

I will get to my RPG related ideas in a follow up post, but first I want to do a general overview/review of the series (or at least how I see it).

PALADINS BEWARE!

Sensors are detecting SPOILERS!

SPOILERS are Imminent!

The Good

The designs, animation, script, story, and pretty much everything that goes into the show is top quality. It is all very well done.

I am particularly impressed by the visual design of the 'Castle', the team's starship headquarters. I also really like the look of Voltron in fully combined, robot mode.

The aliens they encounter are very neat, looking reminiscent of the alien species from another favorite animated series of mine, Oban Star Racers. Going hand-in-hand with the nice look of the aliens in the series is the impressive setting artwork. The artwork done for the planetary environments is really cool indeed..

I like all the characters, each having a distinct personality, a specialty, a unique weapon, and an interesting background/subplot. Well...almost all of them have that. I'll discuss that a bit in the next section.

I also like that each pilot's robot Lion has unique powers, and special weaponry all their own. The connections between the Lions and the elements they're linked with are handled much better than they were in the original series. There are some distinctly mystical, and emotional relationships between the Paladins, their Lions, and the psychic/mystic forces the Lion draw their powers from. 

An excellent balance is achieved between the science-fiction, and mystical components of the setting and story. The result is a Space Opera setting that is one part classic super-robot show, and one part modern character driven action/comedy.

The Bad

The only real weakness of the show is that when it fails to do what it is good at, it shows.

For example, whereas Shiro, Keith, and Pidge have intriguing backstories, motivations, and goals, Lance, and Hunk are mainly comedy relief. This wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that it makes Lance and Hunk seem like especially weak characters by comparison. The two are considerably less interesting then their fellow Paladins at best, annoying distractions at worst.

Hunk suffers the worst because his comedic elements don't work as well as Lance's do. In addition, he is routinely depicted as cowardly, with a weak will, and constitution. Why is he even there? I like some of Hunk's dialogue, and feel the voice actor does a decent job. He, and the character, deserve better material, and more to do.

The Lions are shown to have cool unique abilities, but the enemy mecha are sort of hit, and miss. In the two seasons they've shown I can only recall them fighting the enemy robot-kaiju (Robeasts as they are referred to eventually) a couple of times. I can only clearly remember two of them. One appears in the first season, and returns in the second. The other is in the season two finale 'final boss'.

The Ugly

This is may sound a bit weird, but I am not sure how I feel about the character of Coran. 

Coran is the advisor to Princess Allura, an Altean male, and an experienced space traveller, and possibly soldier. I say possibly because although it's clear that he served the Altean Royal Family, I am not entirely certain in what capacity he did so. 

He is depicted as knowledgeable and compassionate, but also foppish, goofy, and absent-minded on various occasions. The character is more often than not far too comical to be taken seriously, especially during critical events. 

The show tries very hard to be an exciting action-adventure, but also still very funny. For the most part it succeeds, but there are many points in which they overdo the comedy and this is particularly true in scenes with Coran. He is so over-the-top, he shakes the suspension of disbelief. His humorous moments sometimes seem less humorous because they are so overdone, and more like a failure on the part of the episode's writer, director, or story editor to comprehend the proper use of the character as described. 

That's enough for now. I will follow this up with a post focusing more on what gamers - specifically Anime Mecha and Science Fiction/Space Opera gamers - can learn from the series.

Stay tuned,

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