Darn things are like potato chips.

I AM infinitely creative is one of my many affirmations. I need to come up with one for editing now because I can’t decide where I want to go with the Chaosium BRP Design Challenge. Since you’ll be sorta side seat writing this contest entry with me, let’s go over some of the concepts that have gotten shot down so far as well as some of the “maybe” category.

Ninja Clan Wars: I’m an 80s kid and as such Storm Shadow  and Sho Kusugi are a couple of my heroes. I’m also a fan of an RPG called Ninja Crusade. My love for the genre was inspired by a ton of movies and of course, AD&D’s Oriental Adventures. Guys running amok in black pajamas throwing bombs and shuriken around while the real assassins go to work always appeals to me.

However, I had to shoot that idea down for much the same reason I’m being careful with genre and campaign world selection. I can’t afford any inclusivity readers and I’m incredibly leery of cheesing off a large segment of my audience. That, and I don’t want to come off as an insensitive bastard because I’m not. Like a lot of my anime inspired game ideas, I don’t want to get in trouble for cultural appropriation.

Gunslinging Weird West Mecha: I love Battletech, but I’ve never been too keen on Solaris VII. Aside from being kinda awkward as a TTRPG idea, I was having trouble justifying all of it. It might make for a cool boardgame someday. Still, I thought the notion of gunslinging giant robots sounded cool.

80’s Action Movie Superstars: Back in my old, old notes, this was listed as “Tales of the Pulp Fiction Squad.” I wanted to do a team-up with Stallone’s Cobra, Gibson’s Riggs, Russell’s Pliskin, Campbell’s Ash, Jackson’s Jules, and Stone Cold Steve Austin as himself. I wanted an RPG with a bunch of badass dudes packing unlimited firepower doing missions for money, love, and country. Of course, all of these guys are loose cannons and rarely follow orders.

There were a few too many drawbacks to this plan. For one, it’s basically just stripping certain components from BRP and presenting it with an action slant to it. It’s basically some new martial arts, weapons, vehicles, and NPCs. I’ve seen numerous TTRPG presentations of this idea, the most recent being Evil Genius Games’ Everyday Heroes. It’s a lot of fun for me, but I don’t think it will sell in the current TTRPG market. Plus, we have to go back to the sensitivity of the modern audience. I don’t think the world really needs a game with guns.

World War 2 in Action: About the only historical period which I’m interested in terms of gaming is WW2. I love Operation WhiteBox. I also like the NUTS! RPG and have been wanting to sit in on Bolt Action sometime. Unfortunately, WW2 games are more wargame and less TTRPG most of the time. I also think we’d have arguments about historical accuracy cropping up. The other problem with this title would be a lack of sales typically associated with games of this nature.

These were just a sampling of the ideas that bounced. I’ve got a “short list” of 18 different titles that might work. I’m going to go through elevator  pitches for each one to see what I like/don’t like. I’ll have some of those up soon.

Thanks for being here. You rock.  I appreciate you. Please embrace the things that bring you the most joy today.