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What setting licence should Mythras get


jux

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To be honest... even though I can join in the fun of listing licences I'd like to see, I just about never play or run games in licenced settings. But I WILL buy them and strip them for parts... twist them around till even their creators wouldn't recognize them.

Like, I'm a fan of the Luther Arkwright stories from way back, and I pounced on the game as soon as it became available... but that's not so much because I wanted to run a game in that setting, it's more because I knew what sorts of stuff the setting is made of and that that stuff would (hopefully) get codefied to RQ6. Stuff that I could then turn to my own purposes... which is something kinda like LA's multiversal espionage, but mixed with Moebius and Jodorowsky and lots of other influences.

So if I say I'd like to see a Warhammer Fantasy licence... I'm really looking for a Mythras version of its careers, magic, and creatures... ways to run those sorts of adventures, with that whimsical yet horrific tone... but I don't really need all the IP names in place. As long as I can see the connection I really don't care if it's called 'Warhammer.'

But licenced versions of well known titles do help me make that connection right off... while something like Thennla, cool as it is now that I've gotten around to reading it, didn't (in fact, I originally bought it under the mistaken impression that it had rules for gigantic automatons... not realizing the Simulacrum is unique and only 8 feet tall!).

If I see a licence I recognize, then right away I can make some good guesses about what's in it... but if it's 'Tony's Homebrew' I'm either going to have to get a good look at it (harder to do these days with far fewer games on store shelves) or wait for word of mouth and reviews (good reviews, not just Tony's pals giving him a boost).

Not that a licence is any guarantee of quality (as we've all seen)... 

 

 

Edited by Simlasa
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  • 2 weeks later...

ooh, I would buy that (even if I already have all Freeport books for d20). I havent' checked out what's going on with them recently, but the last did, the Freeport citybook was actually system-free, and you could purchase a companion book with system specific stats fro NPCs (the systems mentioned above). So all you needed to get going was to make the companion book, and you'd be on your way?

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On 14.12.2016 at 1:56 PM, Simlasa said:

At least until Disney takes an interest in it...

Disney might just have access to the necessary technology to ressurect him ... but of course, his genes would have been accidentally mixed with the Genes of C.A. Smith, resulting in lots of screams and hilarity.

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I wouldn't want a Warhammer license, as I'm perfectly happy with the 2nd edition of the rules they put out some time ago. I think half the reason that FFG tried to experiment with narrative dice, and other bells and whistles was that the 2nd line had reached a level of completion with a massive line of supplements that they couldn't do any more with it. If any company wanted to get the WFRP license, they'd probably do no worse that simply realising the entire back catalogue (1st through to 3rd) as PDF/POD and they'd probably make more money than trying to develop a new edition, or adapt it to a new system. 

I still think a 2000AD license is a good call though - Loz wrote lots of the line for Mongoose already, and the art could incorporated to make some good looking black/white interiors as well as striking covers. It could effectively run alongside Luther Arkwright which gives a blueprint as to how to adapt Mythras to comic book settings. I also think that there is a market for satirical, British-style comics that isn't really being tapped in gaming at the moment - including the work of Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman and so on. The license to 2000AD is available. 

 

 

 

Edited by TrippyHippy
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On 1/4/2017 at 4:49 PM, TrippyHippy said:

I still think a 2000AD license is a good call though - Loz wrote lots of the line for Mongoose already, and the art could incorporated to make some good looking black/white interiors as well as striking covers. It could effectively run alongside Luther Arkwright which gives a blueprint as to how to adapt Mythras to comic book settings. I also think that there is a market for satirical, British-style comics that isn't really being tapped in gaming at the moment - including the work of Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman and so on. The license to 2000AD is available. 

 

 

 

I would love me some Judge Dredd.

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Join my Mythras/RuneQuest 6: Classic Fantasy Yahoo Group at https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/RQCF/info

"D100 - Exactly 5 times better than D20"

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41 minutes ago, Mysterioso said:

What about Prime Directive? http://www.starfleetgames.com/pdindex.shtml

There was supposed to be a Prime Directive book for Mongoose Traveller, but it's been vapourware for years. Matt Sprange wrote the latest version of the Prime Directive miniatures game, I think, so there is bound to be some contractual arrangement in place already even if no RPG has come about. 

Besides, I think any Prime Directive game becomes a little redundant whenever somebody lands a full Star Trek license, which Modiphius did last year.

 

 

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56 minutes ago, Mysterioso said:

What about Prime Directive? http://www.starfleetgames.com/pdindex.shtml

I like that setting... vs. struggling with all the expanded canon of the further TV shows and movies... but really more in spirit than specifics. I've been wondering how well M-Space could be turned to that sort of relatively optimistic space exploration, ala Star Trek, Space Patrol, Fireball XL5 and other Andersonverse shows.

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9 minutes ago, HeirophantX said:

Ugh, whatever.  I'm sorry but a faux-Trek setting which includes the premise that Klingons worship Satan, not a merely evil deity but the actual KJV Devil? ... Just. No. Stop.

Is that part of the Prime Directive setting? I haven't delved far enough into it to run across that bit. Yeah, I'd think that was dumb, I'd just ignore it/change it. Seems a minor point though.

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3 hours ago, Simlasa said:

I like that setting... vs. struggling with all the expanded canon of the further TV shows and movies... but really more in spirit than specifics. I've been wondering how well M-Space could be turned to that sort of relatively optimistic space exploration, ala Star Trek, Space Patrol, Fireball XL5 and other Andersonverse shows.

"Relatively optimistic space exploration" would be truly nice change of pace as it seems everything currently has to be dark all the time. Something like Fireball XL5 for instance would be a lot of fun! 

The whole Prime Directive suggestion is moot as Loz dismissed the idea but my thought with Prime Directive was less a wholesale embrace of their militarized Star Trek universe than if the already-existing PD books were brought to D100 it would give people who don't know other games systems enough to play that setting or to tinker up whatever they wanted.  IIRC from Conan, Modiphus seems to have their own system, which if done for Star Trek has 0% appeal to this admittedly old dog. 

Another thought is that a M-Space based edition of Goblinoid Game's Starships & Spacemen would produce the exact same thing and would leave things even more open in terms of tinkering.

Edited by Mysterioso
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6 hours ago, lawrence.whitaker said:

Metal Mickey, on the other hand, is looking very promising.

OMG !!!

This brings back memories, and quite bad ones!

Metal Mickey was shown in Australia on the ABC in the 'BBC before-dinner time slot' while we were waiting for Dr Who. It was painful, and eventually the ABC resurrected The Goodies, which reclaimed that BBC time-slot schedule with Dr Who for many years.

Now if Design Mechanism brings out a pulpier version of the Mythras rules specifically designed for playing something like The Goodies then I think it could have possibilities, perhaps a new rpg genre called something like 'BritComic Escapades' heh heh

Loz I take your Metal Mickey, and raise it by one Goodies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-w8OKo4phg

lol

Edited by Mankcam

" Sure it's fun, but it is also well known that a D20 roll and an AC is no match against a hefty swing of a D100% and a D20 Hit Location Table!"

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It's kind of difficult to find something rationally license-able that hasn't been licensed in the past, Heck, there's even a Game of Thrones RPG.

I'd rather see DM explore other ideas that can hopefully still be profitable. And while it's hard to imagine something completely new in an RPG environment, there are some setting approaches that could be pursue-able. There are still things you can do with revolutions in space (that aren't Rogue One), or revolutions in fantasy environments. There's no particular reason to think that the High King of a fantasy England would necessarily be noble, good, or altruistic, Even if Arthur was a fundamentally decent person, his mythical England was hardly a utopia. Sometimes there are tyrants who need to be brought down by their own people, which is just as true in fantasy as it is everywhere else.

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I'm sure it's been said lots before, but a licence has got to be worth it to the company. Big license deals can quickly bog down as companies have to get canon checked and the fanbase can have all sorts of awkward expectations. On top of this the bottom line of market distribution has to get levied up against the actual overhead cost of the licence itself. If TDM got the Star Trek licence, they'd probably have to drop everything else to write it rapidly, print it with full colour stills from the show on glossy paper, and distribute it to a wider chain of retail outlets. Licences like this only seem to last a few years anyway.

In many ways, Call of Cthulhu was the greatest licence ever because not many people had ever heard of it and the game's market actually enhanced awareness of Lovecraft's writings - allowing it to build in the long term against any disruption from pop culture trends.  

 

Edited by TrippyHippy
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I'm a huge Goodies fan.

But we've spent all our money on securing the rights to Metal Mickey and Rentaghost, so there's sadly nothing left for Brooke-Taylor, Garden and Oddie.

Don't worry though - we do have a couple of fondly remembered British TV shows quite well represented in an upcoming release.

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The Design Mechanism: Publishers of Mythras

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I'm a huge Goodies fan.

But we've spent all our money on securing the rights to Metal Mickey and Rentaghost, so there's sadly nothing left for Brooke-Taylor, Garden and Oddie.

Don't worry though - we do have a couple of fondly remembered British TV shows quite well represented in an upcoming release.

The Design Mechanism: Publishers of Mythras

DM logo Freeforums Icon.png

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I'm a huge Goodies fan.

But we've spent all our money on securing the rights to Metal Mickey and Rentaghost, so there's sadly nothing left for Brooke-Taylor, Garden and Oddie.

Don't worry though - we do have a couple of fondly remembered British TV shows quite well represented in an upcoming release.

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The Design Mechanism: Publishers of Mythras

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