Short RPG Games in 2015

In the time since I last wrote this blog, I've got 2 active D&D groups, with 2 more groups in the forming stage. Now I love D&D and the fantasy setting but I believe a good gamer should have more game experiences then good old D&D, so for 2015 I'm putting together some short games using other systems. These will last from 1-3 sessions and hopefully people will enjoy them. I'll be posting these on different RPG web communities in the Philippines and interest in them will determine in which order I run these games.

Most of these are Fate system games,which is a testimony to how versatile the system is.  Where applicable, the background information for each setting have been copy pasted from the PDFs of each book that I own.

1. Apotheosis Drive X

What's it like: Science fiction giant robot war drama, primarily inspired by the Gundam 00 and Gundam Wing anime series.

System: Fate Core

Background:

Humanity lives on colonies in the stars, they have built super soldiers, clones, and giant machines of war, called Titans. They war with these machines in the mistaken opinion that there “isn’t enough” for everyone, despite the huge solar relay in the atmosphere that powers all of the Earth cleanly and endlessly.

The Great Clone War has ended, with the clones returning to their colonies off planet, earth ‘united’ under the One Earth Accord. Malcontents form the People’s Collective and demand attention and independence from the Accord. The Nation of Oya, genetically altered super humans and scientists, attempt to live as neutral peacekeepers despite political heat. And everyone, everyone wants to be the first to come up with the next big leap in Titan technology. The faction with the next advancement in Drive technology, will become the dominant faction.

Adventure Scenario: "Against the Ghost Titans"

In the aftermath of the Great Clone War, the four great factions of the Earth Sphere created a secret peacekeeping force code-named Radiant Helix. Captain Cornelia Black, formerly of Radiant Helix has gone rogue and it's up to the PCs to deal with her and her squad of rogue mechs called the Ghost Titans.

2. Angel's Song - The Infinite Symphony

What it's like - It's an anime themed urban fantasy like "the Matrix" meets Arkham Horror with a touch of psychological drama. This game setting is my original creation.

System: Fate Core

Background:

This story is set in the World of the Great Work, in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, which resembles modern day Earth except that magic is real and hidden from day to day view. This is because in reality this Earth is like a fortress under siege.

Invaders enter the cracks in the walls, some are benign but most are malicious. An organization of mortals known as the Symphony, wields magic and the world's built in defenses to contain and combat the invaders and repair the damage that they cause.

The Symphony is composed of two orders of magic users: The Cantors, who wield the elemental powers of reality, and the Icons, who have the ability to make mental concepts real. Their powers complement each other to protect reality

.

However in the last Great War, the Icons were corrupted. Most were killed and the Cantors now manage the magical defenses alone, but are having a difficult time doing it. The Icons are slowly returning, their spirits finding new humans to bless with power, but it is tainted power, and the Icons must fight not only the enemies without, but their own emerging selfishness, knowing that if they give in to it, they will birth one of the very monsters they are fighting to preserve the world from, a Wyrm.

You are playing an Icon, a member of the Infinite Symphony, you and your rag-tag group of fellow Icons have banded together to fight a guerrilla war against the invaders while avoiding the Cantors, who see your group as a dangerous threat.

Adventure Scenario: "Tears for the magical girl."

The PC's former leader, Ageha, aka "Silver Feather" has been assimilated by a powerful Wyrm and is using her in its siege of Shibuya. Can the PCs save her before she is taken out by the Cantors and stop the Wyrm from corrupting Shibuya?

3. Angel's Song - The Eternal Symphony

What it’s like – Men-In-Black meets the X Men with a healthy dose of anime tropes. This game setting is my original creation.

System: Fate Core

Background:

This game is also set in the World of the Great Work in the Shibuya District of Tokyo. You are playing a Cantor, a member of Squad 9-2 of the East Asia Bureau of the Eternal Symphony. You have newly graduated from the Academy and with your fellow new recruits, have been assigned to patrol the greater Kanto area with 2 other squads against supernatural threats.

Among the threats you are monitoring are the Reavers, fallen Cantors who possess and consume the bodies of innocent people in order to work their magic. Though their very existence is an affront to the Eternal Symphony, they are left alone for now since other threats exist and the Reavers also help protect the world, but eventually the Symphony will deal with them since the Reaver idea of helping mortals is by dominating them.

Adventure Scenario: "Only Mother."

A young boy develops the power to rewrite reality, abused the power and has hidden in the territory of the Reavers. The players must find him before he creates more orphans from the families of the city. But the Reavers will not take the invasion of their territory lightly, so the players must deal with the political ramifications of their mission.

4. Mindjammer

What it’s like – The Firefly TV show, but with posthuman elements (sentient starships, bioengineered humans etc)

System: Fate Core

Background

Mindjammer is set in the New Commonality of Humankind, a vast interstellar civilisation centred on Old Earth. Following the invention of faster-than-light travel only two centuries ago, the Commonality is expanding to the stars, contacting lost worlds colonised in the distant past. The Expansionary Era is a time of turmoil; as the Commonality discovers and assimilates these lost colonies, it finds itself getting “colonised right back”, its cultures and stability shaken to the core. Agents of the Commonality battle constantly against cultural contamination, and everywhere the frontier flares in conflict and war.

Adventure Scenario: "Rim Justice"

The PCs are the crew of the sentient trading starship Windrunner. After a deal between a corporacy and a colony goes horribly wrong the PCs must transport key witnesses to the octant capital for trial. But in the lawless edge of civilized space, anything can happen and it's up to the players to ensure that the key witness survives to see his court appointment.

5. The Strange

What’s it like – Dr. Who or Quantum Leap, involving inter-dimensional travel and adventures within. In each new world, you become another “You” that can be very different from the world you came from!

System: Cypher System

STRANGE PRIMER

The Strange is a network created by aliens several billion years ago. Estate researchers believe the Strange was built to allow intergalactic travel. It’s unknown at this time what went wrong, but the builders lost control of their creation.

In the course of passing aeons, the Strange became something wild, chaotic, and without rules or laws (which is why we also call it the Chaosphere).

NATURE OF THE STRANGE

Think of the Strange as its own boundless realm—as a separate universe underlying our own. The Chaosphere has no direct relationship to matter and space as we understand it: There is no up or down, there is no ground beneath a visitor’s feet in most places, and merely gazing into its lawless void damages the human brain (“alienation” is the preferred term for the pain and derangement most operatives experience upon visiting the Strange).

RECURSIONS IN THE STRANGE

Stable regions called recursions exist within the Strange. Recursions are like tiny, self-contained universes. Each one operates under a particular set of rules, which means that planetovores have almost as difficult a time entering a recursion as they do entering Earth. In fact, a recursion can act as a barrier for preventing a planetovore from getting to Earth, thanks to the presence of the recursion’s rules.

Earth and the visible universe operate under a familiar set of rules, called Standard Physics. But different recursions often operate under alternate sets of rules.

The Estate has classified the following additional laws under which recursions operate:

Magic, Mad Science, Psionics, Substandard Physics, and [redacted].

Adventure Scenario: "The Curious Case of Tom Mallard"

The PCs work for the Estate, an agency that protects the Earth from the threat of alternate universes. Assigned to trail a certain Tom Mallard, to make sure that he isn't doing anything to undermine Earth's security, they soon discover that he is not what he seems.

6. Jadepunk - Tales from Kausao City

What it’s like – Wuxia meets Steampunk set in a huge corrupt city.

System: Fate Core

Background:

The world of Jadepunk is one of danger and wonder. Jade, a natural resource that takes on mystical properties once refined, grants near-modern technology while still keeping that old-world feel. With the help of white jade, ships (and even some cities) sail through the sky. Red jade explosives are used in construction, while the strength of green jade shores up skyscrapers.

Kausao City is the center of the economic world. Black jade, rare and once thought merely a legend, was found in the region in abundance. Now the city is a melting pot of different cultures, all vying to exploit the area’s rich veins of jade.

But despite the glamorous stories of the fabled city, all is not well within its high walls. The current governor of the Kausao region backs evil corporations, feeding off low-level workers who are perceived to be, at best, expendable. The rich care for nothing but personal gain, and the poor have had enough.

A rebellion has begun. The Jianghu, a loose society of warriors and Jadetech engineers, have risen up against the governor in open conflict to better the position of the people and free Kausao City from the clutches of evil officials.

The adventure in this setting is yet to be designed.