What setting licence should Mythras get

[jux 71]

I remember there was such a topic in rpg.net where you could let your dreams run high and for chits and giggles people could name any unrealistic (expensive) setting there is. Why not have this game in this forum as well!

So I start with (in my opinion) quite a doable option - Dark Sun! It seems D&D has abandoned this setting and there is 25 year anniversary coming up for the world of Athas. It would work very well for Mythras system.
 

[Vile 401]

Okay, I'll get my realistic feelings out of the way first - none! Licences are evil and should be avoided at all costs! Right then, down to business:

Thieves' World! With TDM at the helm this could at last be done right! Admirable as the Chaosium version was, it seemed small and mean compared to the wealth of adventuring opportunities in the books. The Mythras system would be perfect.

[Mankcam 1,236]

Yes realistically Design Mechanism should probably stick foremost with their 'Mythic' lines and produce pseudo-historical settings, and/or perhaps continue to further develop the settings they already have, such as Classic Fantasy and  Thennla (we need more than just The Iron Simulacrum and The Shores Of Korantia books from Jonathan Drake).

However if we are widely speculating on properties, then perhaps some of these may be interesting:

* The Elder Scrolls setting of TAMRIEL

* Joe Acrombie's THE FIRST LAW (possibly)

* Frank Herbert's DUNE

* China Meiville's BAS-LUG

and finally, a game setting that has been done by two rpgs, Savage Worlds and FATE, yet would be infinitely better portrayed by a gritty BRP engine like Mythras:

* Kenneth Hite's THE DAY AFTER RAGNAROK

 

If we were also including a less gritty version of BRP, like OpenQuest, then I would probably suggest:

* Joss Wheldon's FIREFLY

* J.K.Rowling's THE WIZARDING WORLD

* George Lucas's STAR WARS

* J.R.R.Tolkien's MIDDLE EARTH

This is a Thread Of Dreams, after all 

Edited October 19, 2016 by Mankcam

[TrippyHippy 243]

Well, there already was a Star Wars supplement.....

But some aren't ever going to happen as they are either too difficult to obtain, or have been obtained already. 

I would like to see some other interesting titles though: 

 - Alan Moore's V for Vendetta or Watchmen? 

- Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovesky?

- Stormbringer.....

 

 

 

 

[Mankcam 1,236]

22 minutes ago, TrippyHippy said:

Well, there already was a Star Wars supplement.....

Yes, the one where we were all sworn to secrecy and took the oath never to mention again outside of masonic circles, heh heh

[Questbird 278]

How about finally a stable set of rules for Tékumel, Empire of the Petal Throne?

Or wrest Lankhmar and Nehwon back from Savage Worlds (though they are doing an OK job with it; better than MRQ)?

Jack Vance's Lyonesse could dovetail nicely with Mythic Britain perhaps?

Or any of Jack Vance's worlds, really..

Edited October 19, 2016 by Questbird
Jack Vance rocks

[Soccercalle 13]

Its better to make som settings great than to spread the glory too much. I think that Thennia and a bunch of Mythic settings (Britain and Rome) should be enough. The Classic Fantasy line could maybe adapt something classic from D&D that is dead at the moment (maybe Dragonlance?).

[Simlasa 349]

7 hours ago, jux said:

So I start with (in my opinion) quite a doable option - Dark Sun! It seems D&D has abandoned this setting and there is 25 year anniversary coming up for the world of Athas. It would work very well for Mythras system.
 

I'd go for that... especially if it could dial back the D&Disms.

Aarklash, the setting for Rackham's defunct Confrontation/ Cadwallon / Hybrid games. Kind of like Warhammer's Old World setting, but with less dirt and disease and more old-school Disney. 

The Incal / Metabaron's setting, from the comics by Moebius & Jodorowsky (sneak in The Airtight Garage as well).

[Simlasa 349]

Also...

Pellucidar, ERB's hollow world setting... cavemen, dinosaurs, Mahars, victorian inventor-explorers.

Edited October 19, 2016 by Simlasa

[g33k 2,541]

One of the things that a Really Good Licensed Setting could do for this game (any RPG) is broaden the awareness/appeal.  I know, for example, that quite a few non-gamers (or lapsed gamers) came to EvilHat's "DresdenFilesRPG" from the books and/or the movies (I myself bought the game with zero interest/experience of "Fate," but a love of the novels).  I'm honestly not sure what setting would best do that for the Mythras line...  But if one could be found (and reasonably licensed), I think it'd be a Good Thing!  I suspect that DM also thinks More Mythras Sales would be a Good Thing.  

FWIW, I think any setting which already has a (recent) RPG is a poor-ish choice, as Mythras becomes just the latest me-too entry in that catalogue (Tekumel might be an exception; and *MAYBE* a sly numbers-filed-off-CF-Dragonlance (or Athas, or whatever now-unsupported D&D setting has broadest appeal), unless WotC would sell the IP, cheap (and what's the odds of THAT, eh?)).

 

Edited October 19, 2016 by g33k

[g33k 2,541]

4 hours ago, Mankcam said:

Yes, the one where we were all sworn to secrecy and took the oath never to mention again outside of masonic circles, heh heh

NO

THERE

WASN'T

<whisles desperately to cover the sounds>

whispers: the eye, you fools!  The burning, lidless eye of Disney Legal!

 

[Pual 2]

The warhammer old world could be up for grabs.

[Simlasa 349]

1 hour ago, Pual said:

The warhammer old world could be up for grabs.

I'd buy that! (I'm pretty sure my money is safe though. Even though it's officially defunct now I doubt GW would ever rent it out or sell it).

[skarl 25]

Glen Cook's Black Company series

Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique

Lawrence Watt-Evans Lords of Dus series

[TrippyHippy 243]

Well, now that Mongoose have lost the 2000AD license, what price Judge Dredd?

[Vile 401]

Come to think of it, Mythras already has Luther Arkwright. That's basically every setting there is rolled into one.

[Verderer 26]

As long as we're speculating, I'd go for a setting that has wider mass-appeal than just paper & pen RPG fans. I guess Game of Thrones is already taken?

How about Skyrim (Elder Scrolls) and/or Fallout, they don't have anything in paper & pencil side, that I know of? They'd have a big following from video gaming circles, and enough depth for good setting.

Edited November 1, 2016 by Verderer

[fulk 42]

Personally I would love Warhammer (the 1st edition version of the world).  Put that on a kick-starter and I'm in.  I do, however, have a love-hate relationship with 'careers'.  Already d100-like. 

I would also suggest Starfrontiers, one of my favorite sci-fi games.  Also d100, sort of.  Perhaps M-Space already fills this roll for a d100 sci-fi though.  I haven't seen it yet. 

 

[Jakob 115]

Regarding Tekumel, for some reason I always felt that RQ6/Mythras would be ideal for it. Maybe because of their common focus of the important role of communities.

The same goes, for some reason, for the rules-free setting Dragon Kings, which is pretty much Dark Sun by one of the original designers with the numbers filed off, the D&D-isms reduced and some additional weirdness. But to be honest, I haven't even read through the whole book yet ... still I like it, and for some reason Mythras would feel right for it.

Regarding China Mieville's Bas-Lag: Wasn't a BRP version of this in the works somewhere a long time ago? It's probably never going to come together, so maybe The Design Mechanism could pick up the pieces ...

Also, I'd love to have a Mythras setting along the lines of Sofia Samatar's Olondria novels: Non-eurocentric low-magic fantasy with a strong focus on believable and slightly odd cultural systems and mythologies.

 

[g33k 2,541]

Just found this interesting scrape of Wikipedia searches:

http://top-topics.thefullwiki.org/Fantasy_novel_series

The "Twilight" series stands head-and-shoulders above the rest.  Unfortunately, that game-space appears adequately covered already... though if the setting were available for license, it'd apparently be a HUGE market!

Percy Jackson is #3, and if combined with the Kane Chronicles (at #16) it'd be #2 (but the customer base probably mostly overlaps, so combining them would be silly); there was "Camp Myth" from ThirdEye, but I think that was a numbers-lightly-sanded-not-even-really-filed-off unlicensed grab.  I presume that the license costs were prohibitive (or just unavailable), but it'd probably be worth at least a letter-of-inquiry or even a sales-pitch...

Then there's Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series...  I bet it'd be too expensive (if available at all), but all kinds of awesome.

My bet (if it could be had) would be on Patterson's Maximum Ride (#10 on that list) for best fit / most-awesome / biggest market.

 

[Mankcam 1,236]

The Twilight Series is like WoD meets Romance novella fan fiction, lets give that a miss. The Underworld films do it much better, although it doesn't attract the fandom. Plus WoD pretty much have all that cornered. 

Percy Jackson & The Olympians isn't too bad, although a little juvenile for my tastes, and something that may be more suited to the game mechanics of FATE or Savage Worlds.

hmm The Dark Tower Series may hold some possibilities, its very gritty and its got all kind of weird in it

Edited November 2, 2016 by Mankcam

[fulk 42]

Road Warrior or Car Wars

Twilight 2000 (2013)

Sharpe's Rifles

[g33k 2,541]

13 hours ago, Mankcam said:

The Twilight Series is like WoD meets Romance novella fan fiction, lets give that a miss. The Underworld films do it much better, although it doesn't attract the fandom. Plus WoD pretty much have all that cornered.

Um.  But the numbers on Twilight (at #1) are the size of #2 + #3 combined.  So while I don't actually care for the line myself, it's clearly the "best" choice.  

And so far as I can tell, "Underworld"  _IS_   WoD  (there was even a lawsuit).

 

[Thot 71]

1 hour ago, g33k said:

Um.  But the numbers on Twilight (at #1) are the size of #2 + #3 combined.  So while I don't actually care for the line myself, it's clearly the "best" choice.  

And so far as I can tell, "Underworld"  _IS_   WoD  (there was even a lawsuit).

 

 

The differences between oWoD and Underworld are vast, both in tone and in the origin story.

 

A good license would be something that's currently a TV show, because TV shows are much like RPG campaigns, so that is the easiest port.  A good approach would thus be something that is successful on TV currently - or even stuff that is a bit older, but popular with the streaming services.

 

 

 

 

[Mysterioso 111]

A thick collection of mysteries and adventures to support Rome would be very; something like Marcus Didius Falco.