Realization: I am not the market for a lot of RPG's

As it happens I am a pretty traditional gamer. I like games with lots of imagination, a conventional GM/Player set up and pretty ordinary rules.

A lot of games these days are different, some of the Indie RPG's go in a more collaborative story telling direction, others like 4e more board gamey and others are just plain too strange for me.

Thats perfectly OK though. Between the various games I do like (GURPS, Pathfinder. OSR, Risus and others) there is more material than I can afford anyway.

As long as I can get players I am good to go.

Thinking About: Dwarves as Cunning Folk.

This idea came to me while skimming Searchers of the Unknown, Revised .

The simple (its a one page game) description of Dwarves struck me as a great idea

posted here in part

Dwarfs are short and cunning

Subterfuge: Sneaking, climbing, fiddling locks, hiding, disguise,
forgery, picking pockets and so on are all feats of subterfuge. . Dwarfs add +2.

Rather than an entire race of Gimli's, throw in this and some of more magical Dwarf ideas (like say Eldoran arcane Dwarves from Advanced Race Codex Dwarves (Green Ronin BTW ) and you have a great replacement for the halfling and gnomes niches

Also if you want to play Elves as exalted and Dwarves and more base and sin wracked (play up the greed and anger) possibly Half Orcs too.

Its also very Nordic (they can be Dvergar and the Elves Alvar) if you like that flavor. or play them as selflish ala C.S. Lewis' "The Last Battle" bah, the Dwarves are for the Dwarves.

So you get a much more variated people (some will be doughty warriors) that is not as flavored with Gamer Scottish. Well just a little. ;)

Rules-Wise it requires very few rule changes. At most drop the various "hated foes" for some kind of craft cunning as I do already and if desired add some Fae traits .

In older games, all thats required is tweaking racial bonuses to thief skills and allowing Dwarf casters.

So what say you folks?

Pathfinder Content: Haflings of Midrea

Halflings almost didn't make the cut, no one plays them and they were a poor fit with the worlds original vibe. However I relented and thus were born the Shire Folk

Midrean Halflings are a pastoral people who live along a tributary of the river Arna. Their kingdom, as big as most, is lightly inhabited pastoral hills and valleys bounded by a thick Hedge of magical thorns and the Darkling Wood.

Attempts to enter the Shires en-mass by water seem to be thwarted by the river itself and despite the peaceful nature of the inhabitants, they can put up a nasty fight if attacked.

Typical Halflings are about 4 feet tall, shorter than Dwarves plump (around 95 lbs) and have furry feet. Females are about 2 inches shorter.

As a general rule they prefer good food and the comforts of home to adventure though there are of course exceptions.

They don't appear to have gods or divine casters though some Hedge Wizards and Herbalists with magic (variant druids) are known. They are also often fairly psychic.

Halfling marry for life and are generally honest tending to Lawful and Good Alignments.

Stats are as per Pathfinder.

Campaign Ideas Bonus Round

Just a few that occurred to me recently ...

Into the Big World
A party of sheltered shire folk must journey into the wider world to regain a powerful protective device. D&D with an all Halfling party.

Days of Dust
Explore the world and try to survive when essentially everyone is dead and turned to dust. Night of the Comet meets the Omega Man with twists.

The Rift Worlds Invasion
Can you hold the Imperial line and stop the invasion of a TL17 civilization?

Conquest and Glory
The Rift Worlds Invasion from the POV of the invaders. The PC's get to play the command personnel of the 1,000,000 ton TL17 cruiser Tribute of Cana as they try to get a foothold into Imperial Space despite the Jump 15 distances.

Trillion Credit Squadron
This is the classic GDW module updated. Players may either play the Imperium , who gets the eponymous tera-credit or the Rift Worlds who gain one TL17 1,000,000 Warship.

Campaign Ideas Day Fourteen

Boy its been Two Weeks already. Hard to believe. Today I am going to wrap this up with a nice long post with well everything else, including SF, Horror, Modern, Modern Fantasy and Fantasy stuff.


This Far and No Farther:
A GURPS game set in a stagnant near future. New technologies include Longeity Serum, Immune Amplification and Smart Drugs. The hitch, After a Neo Nazi Biogenic War hard science research is severely limited and controlled .
The PC's would be local police investigators on the trail of a homicide. Along the way they will discover all sorts of mad scientists illegal science labs and illegal micro fab computer chip plants.

Starlight, Iron and the End of Days:
This is DeLint style Faerie tales set in a 2050 where the demographic prediction of Phillip Longman et all are true. Less Men means the Fae have crept slowly back into the world. Normal people, poignant empty cities and greening


Revolution Rock:
Also set in the same Universe. A band of teen age friends try to get into the rock concert of the century.

Quiet Years:
A cop show set in the same Universe as above, though without any supernatural elements at all
System: Unisystem Medium or GURPS.

Project Restoration
The player characters come together while they are all working for a future government program called "Project Restoration" Since the Earths population dropped by 50% and the birth rate is really low (even with extended lifespans) the State of California decided to use a mixture of volunteers (called Tans from the uniform) and folks on alternative sentences (for various minor to moderate offenses, called Blues) from 16-25 (ish) to restore of demolish unused housing stock in hopes of making it easier to have kids (more space means more kids). said players uncover some very old problems (possibly occult) and wacky hijinks ensue.


Eldritch Hours:
Call of Cuthulu with the names and serial number filled off. New names, new faces and new horrors.

Wing Zero:Senego Dreams
Anime inspired. 6 ancient experimental ships and a rag tag commercial fleet against an alien invasion.

Under a Broken Sky:
Thundaar inspired post apocalypse super science an magic fusion using with D&D and Gamma World. . Who cares if its not logical, its fun.

They Who Were Chosen:
Modern fantasy. The PC's discover All Hell is Breaking Loose and its there job to stop it. Sort of like an all Slayer Buffy game without the background stuff


Simply Marvelous:
A return to my modified marvel universe using Beyond Human.


Faerie Triumphant:
The Elves have destroyed European civilization. But recently there has been a sliver of hope and the Fae sighting have diminished. Is it the new beginning or just a lull in the end of the world.

All the World is Trees:
Inspired by a recent thread Veridia of course. No oceans, no plains -- just trees.Tribal style adventuring with Anglo Saxon, Australian Aborigine and Native American flavor


All Along the Great River
Another Corner of Videria, this time the city states along the great river that traverses the world.


Psi-Co-Gens
Scannerque modern intrigue in the vein of Firestarter, the 24th letter , Push and Jumper. The PC's are powerful psi fugitives on the trail of the mysterious "Haven" a place where psis can live in piece. Pursuing them is "The Shop" and "The Company" both of them who want to control this powerful asset.

The Elf Killer Way
The mortals of Anar will no longer be pawns of the Elves. Its time for war. Men, Orcs, Dwarves and Halfling vs the Evil fae.

Dark Streets
Pulp Supers with more than a hint of Wold Newton.

The Grand Campaign
L1 to the Demon Web Pits – Old School

Reign of Ghosts
This is the preamble to Wielders and is set in Midrea after the 3rd apocoli. All of the faiths except three (Wicca, The Way and The Left Hand Path) were actually soul collecting beings using the power for obscure purposes. These "Gawds" were killed during the Soul Taker War changing what was a D&D world into a True 20ish one.

Bonus Campaign Ideas

Just because and just because it is just because I am posting a grip of short ideas

Ramble
"One strange day exploring a city on foot, kind of a little Adventurers in Baby Sitting meets Up with a dose of Garfield. "

Keep Her Flying
A ship and a crew is a family. Sometimes a dysfunctional one. The players are a crew of Free Traders in the Verse, after the events of Serenity.

See Ya Space Cowboy
Cowboy Bebeop in the Verse

Special Crimes Unit
Law and Order +CSI +Weird

Borderlands
Classic modules using 3x D&D with light rule changes

Little Wishes.
Petty magic on the world of Cantrip . D&D using cantrips and osirons and magic items as the only magic.

Dark Cities
Dark Fantasy possibly with NWOD rules from Mirrors

Campaign Ideas Day Thirteen

All horror themed in honor of the triskadekaphobes out there.

Something Wicca This Way Comes
The players end up running a magical trouble-shooting service out of their downtown bookshop. Think a cross between Hellblazer and Practical Magic.

Welcome to Santa Carla:
Buffy/Angel set in the eponymous town from Lost Boys

Broken Faith
Now in the service of the Watchers Council the P.C.'s must contend with growing horror as well as rehabilitate a very damaged Faith the Slayer. Its Buffy/Angel with more psychodrama. Faith, or whats left of her, has returned from prison. Tormented body, mind and soul by the sadistic Warden, the Slayer is but a shell of herself. With darkness on the rise the world needs Champions. So until the new potential can be found its up to the PC's to hold the line and if possible help a young girl back to health.