So it's official: I'm fed-up with the Dungeon Bash; I'm fed-up with D&D4th.
Last night we played through the short Last Contact scenario and it was good fun. GURPS ran well, the guys had a laugh and, although the story was improvised and light, we enjoyed it. There was, however, an interesting side-effect...
We got talking about GURPS Infinite Worlds.
The Problem...
The big problem in our group is that we've got comfy playing D&D in the same ol' way. That is only a problem if you don't enjoy dungeon bashes... but, like I said, I'm fed-up with them. The real problem is that although several players are bored no-one has a better idea of what to do.
The related problem in the group is that as a GM (one of two, the other of whom loves D&D but is strapped for time) I am a total butterfly-head. In fact, several of the players are too: we like the IDEA of a campaign but no-one can really stomach a long-haul game... and so a lot of adventures peter out and we lose enthusiasm.
Enter Infinite Worlds
GURPS Infinite Worlds posits the development of Parachronic technology that allows a group of intrepid reality-surfers the chance to cross-dimensionally travel. The practical upshot of this technology is that the characters regularly enter different alternate reality worlds, in different time periods of Earth history, and have adventures.
The benefit of the idea for our group is that we could have an ongoing campaign without all the tedious mucking about with one detailed setting. Instead we can flutter, butterfly-like, from genre to genre, tasting the wares, and experiment with the Butterfly Effect.
For the intrepid GM, such as myself, I get to run short world-hopping adventure arcs with one rule set and the same characters. For the players, they get an ongoing story with their character but lots of varied adventure types and locations. Heck, we can even throw in a dungeon bash every once in a while if we fancy it.
From Reich-5 to the Wild West, Infinite Worlds offers a campaign style that is free-flowing and varied. That sounds like music to my ears. It also makes the most of GURPS by crossing genres and mixing it up.
Darken the mirror...
Of course, being written by North American types, Infinite Worlds is slightly cheesy. For my campaign I'd have to darken things up and add a touch of conspiracy and doom. What's a trip across realities without some Cosmic Doom?
But then, that's the really cool thing about roleplaying games, isn't it? You get to customise everything. All I need know is to find some interested players... anyone for a delve into another world?
Game on!