Your Office, President Varney...

Up again, down again, up again, down again; it's been hard to update with the server issues. I'll probably be tossing up some bonus articles up over the weekend to make up for it.

I had a neat world idea tonight. Remember Ravenloft, the D&D setting where the monsters are in charge? Well, the simplest way to sum up the idea would be a modern-day Ravenloft. It would be set up as an alternate history, diverging with the events of ye olde novelle Dracula. The main divergence occurs in the early part of the novel - Jonathan ends up becoming a Renfield before returning to England, and is a sleeper agent for Dracula. Because of him, Dracula ends up "winning" over the protagonists of the novel, and he and his minions end up more or less overrunning London entirely. With animals, vampires, and madmen at his beck and call, his influence spreads far and wide.

In this world, this essentially breaks tradition for the "creatures of the night". Because of past events - perhaps the Inquisition, or even older purges by humanity, monsters operate by a code of silence similar to Vampire: the Masquerade's code. Dracula ends up breaking that rule, and finding the world now ill-suited to a supernatural intrusion. Other creatures, some from gothic literature, some not - end up grasping for their own little states, seeking to keep Dracula from wiping them out (as he doesn't care much for competition). Chaos ensues. America becomes a "promised land", not for humanity, but for weaker monsters seeking thinly-populated and weakly-defended realms to dominate.

By modern day, you end up with a world where the world is divided between human and monster-dominated areas, with monsters clearly having the upper hand. However, infighting and ancient feuds keep any single one from dominating. Technology has stagnated in some areas, and more advanced in others; things like transportation might still be roughly around the 1940s, nuclear science is unheard of, while biochemistry might be very advanced (blame the early discoveries of Frankenstein or the like).

Not all "creatures of the night" are necessarily bad, but most are. Still, life in a vampire-dominated town or village is much the same as normal life; it's just that a handful of villagers are taken every year to 'supplement the stock'. In worse areas, humans might be cattle, playthings, or husks for possession, but in most places monsters have not plundered the resource humanity presents.

And, of course, you have monster hunters and revolutionaries. Unlike Ravenloft, it's not a given that the monsters will stay in charge, but the monsters have a definite edge due to their natural powers. The humans do have some edges - for example, things like crosses and silver are almost always useful against monsters.

As for system, it could be done with d20 Modern, or Unisystem, or Savage Worlds... I'd probably do it with an existing system. I'm more visualizing it as a action type setting, with cinematic action and wild powers. That's the rough overview, anyway.

New Expanded Buffy Talent Show System!

Well, okay, maybe not. I'm a bit late in doing this, but here goes:

In the Buffy game, take the Talentless Drawback and make it worth 4 points. Alternately, reduce its Influence penalty to -1.

It only makes sense. My design perfection says rise! It says kill!

Don't blame me. I didn't write the game.

If I Were Steve Jackson...

... I sue every last one of you bastards.

And then, I'd revise Car Wars.

Yeah, I know there was a revision of Car Wars. It was, in my mind, too dumbed down, however. Packs of only two cars? Blah. I remember when you could get 200+ vehicles for $7, thankyouverymuch. So here's my useless thoughts on the matter.

• Take the old game.
• Keep rules for the majority of vehicles on wheels - cars, trucks, motorcycles, trikes, and trailers.
• Dump the aircraft (helicopters included) and watercraft (hovercraft included).
• Simplify hit resolution. Make to-hit modifiers lower but standardize things like accuracy modifiers for speed and size. For example, subcompacts might be -1 to hit regardless of their side, and pickups and vans might be +1. Similarly, you might have a straight -1 modifier for every 10 or 20 MPH the vehicle is travelling.
• Add range increments for weapons to diversify them. For example, a laser might have a very high range increment, while a vehicular shotgun would have a very low range increment.
• Clean up the engine rules and make gas and electrical engines largely the same in function, if not necessarily in design. Try and simplify the formulae for top speed, and make it so racing vehicles and normal vehicles aren't so bizarrely different.
• Reduce some of the overkill in the weapons. Some weapons, like Anti-Tank Guns, X-Ray Lasers, and Blast Cannons should be reduced in order to keep the effectiveness of things like metal armor good.
• Improve metal armor somewhat, so it isn't the flimsy shell it is in high divisions.
• Simplify the handling rules somewhat - only have handling control rolls when a vehicle hits HC 0, and again when it hits its negative HC.
• Simplify the collision rules. I know the new rules do this, and it's one of the few good ideas. Of course, there's such a thing as too much - a sideswipe should be a sideswipe.
• Increase the survivalbility of pedestrians. Perhaps double their base HP or the like, and have ped armor act like 1 or 2 points of metal.
• Remove chassis and suspension. Chassis was pointless in the old rules (there was rarely any reason not to get Extra Heavy) and suspension enhancements (and other handling-improving gear like spoilers) could be accessories, perhaps even improving different capabilties with different enhancements (the classic "grip" vs. "drift").
• Make three main starter books. The first would have the basic rules, arenas, and a book of premade (full sheet) vehicles ready for play). Maybe a light boxed set. Then there would be a vehicle design set, and another book of premade vehicles.
• The first book would keep gadgets light - things like ATAD, cargo safes, and other non-duelling items would be kept to a minimum. A later Uncle Al's catalog could bring some of those widgets back, or they could be included on a book for campaign or RP play.
• Collect the old Road Atlases into a worldbook(s) of sorts. You could cut the adventures and GURPS rules, and adapt old material to the new rules and update the world.

I've love to see Car Wars become a game worth supporting again. Unfortunately, it's unlikely that'll happen... I can dream, though.