There's obviously a lot of interest in adventure paths, and that's great because they're probably the easiest thing to get going, but I'm kind of interested in what people are interested in along the more unusual lines. In addition to being a neat discussion, I figure if a lot of people show interest in some obscure genres of campaign ideas it might inspire a DM to start a game.
I'll go first: I love Wuxia although I'm already running a wuxia campaign. I get a lot of interest for it so if someone else wanted to start a similar game I imagine you'd get a lot of sign-ups. I get pretty deep into some of the stranger concepts of the genre and so far everyone has been completely on board. I've was very pleasantly surprised.
Another thing I think Pathfinder could handle well would be a Star Warsy space fantasy. You already have guns, androids, basically everything you need to reskin Pathfinder into Starfinder.
I think it would also be cool to see some absurdist fantasy along the vein of Adventure Time (which is already bursting with D&D references). Not something in that setting, which is too character-driven to translate into a game, but doing the same "make it up as we go along" style of world-building. I've considered pitching something like this before but I don't really have the time and I'd be afraid people wouldn't "get" it.
So how about everyone else? What games would demand your immediate attention? Get as absurdly specific as you like.
I guess I'm dull, I like the classic fantasy RPG and mostly focus on Golarion. Still, even that can lead a lot of room.
1)"Kingbreaker"- A reversal of Kingmaker..."Kingbreaker" if you would, where you work with the other characters to overthrow a corrupt evil nation from within and actually have a good chance to do it. Instead of Way of the Wicked, you might have a "path of the pure" ;) True, A council of Thieves hints at that but
2) Warbrides of Lastwall- there's really not much lore on Lastwall beyond the barebones. One thing they DO say is that there has been a dearth of recent crusaders as most find the Mendev crusade against the Worldwound more glamorous. To me, that sounds like there might be a shortage of troops in Lastwall, and while Iomedae's example means that many women are among the combatants, it does strike me that the majority still might be lonely young men hoping for a chance to wed (Maybe the good ones are already married or taken). heck, maybe there are some lonely young warrioresses fighting the good fight too, who want a nice guy to handle home and hearth while they're away. Maybe there is just societal pressure to GET hitched..etc etc.
So a group of women (And maybe a few men) agree to escape poverty in Taldor or what have you by coming overseas to Lastwall. Things may not be pre arranged so much as a 'we're coming over on Lastwall's dime hoping this works out for all involved". The PCs might be nervously awaiting their arrival, some with eagerness ("Oh thank the gods, a chance with a woman in an honorable way") others with dread ("I am WAY too young for this no matter what mom and dad want") etc. As happens in these things, the caravan/ship etc is kidnapped. You want your brides? You have to go after them and rescue them. Even once you do, they maybe deep enough in a bad area that it will be quite and adventure to return.
Or reverse that, the PCs ARE the "Warbrides" (again, or grooms), hoping to marry well, or escape poverty or what have you, and maybe just barely 1st level at that. So when battle lines shift abruptly, they find themselves lost in a land they barely know and having to get to safety and maybe find their spouses to be. They might even end up SAVING the folks if they gain enough levels.
(Not sure how well Warbrides would work in play, but the idea has been lodged in the back of my mind for awhile now)
3) Ye gads, I've been reincarnated- The PCs are, each and everyone of them, old, we're talking venerable and ready to keel over soon from natural causes. They were adventurers once though, a kick ass party. The decades of retirement have dulled them a bit (Might even have cost them some levels) but once they were great. The game starts with a bit of roleplaying the aches and pains of old age and worrying you're about to star in a 'I've fallen, and I can't get up scene". Then... to no one's surprise (Because they're reading this) , they're murdered!
And wake up in new, young bodies! They've been reincarnated. At least the ones who weren't ready to go onto their eternal rewards (And any player saying they'll stay dead is kind of a kill joy ) that is. While their relations, servants and friends may or may not believe them ("Listen Grandson, I know I LOOK like a goblin, but dammit, I bounced you on my knee so put down the sword!"), hopefully at least one of the PCs will learn the same thing happened to each member of his/her old party. The DM can either make it a murder mystery, or a "getting the band back together" story, or both.
I don't really go for adventure paths (mostly because I don't have any). The mythic rules kinda gave me a headache so I don't feel right applying to any of those games. I know people could teach me but I'm also new to PbP so having the group have to deal with my inexperience in both would be annoying.
So really I'd like a sandbox Golarion or Homebrew game. That isn't to say I hate plots. Just as long as it's new to everyone (barring the GM of course.)
As for settings, I would like one in Brevoy seeing as it's A Song of Ice and Fire in Pathfinder. How is that not awesome? Plus you can subvert the pointless Grimdark nature of SoI&F by having the players actually be heroes and win.
As for your Starfinder idea, there is a planet for that: Verces. It's not as detailed as Golarion obviously but there's a enough of a framework to build on.
I also like the reincarnation idea. But I think it would work best if the players had done a campaign as the old guys first. They have the challenge of playing the old characters into new bodies.
For extra fun, the couple who lived happily ever after are now reincarnated into bodies of the same gender (two dudes or two girls) or into the bodies of the opposite gender they once were (the dude becomes a chick and vice versa.) For homosexual couples, they're both in the opposite gender (lesbians become men and gays become women.) I think it'd be an interesting RP challenge. If the relationship survives, then it's sweet because their love survived being based on personality without necessarily having physical attraction to support things.
Other challenges include a ranger being put into the body of his favored enemy or the closest thing to it (demon hater becomes a tiefling, animal hunter becomes a skinwalker, etc.), a superstitious barbarian is now a sorcerer, and the waifish face-rogue is now a huge brawler.
Politics. I am currently enjoying crusader Kings II. A big part of it is uncovering plots - or formulating them myself. It would be so cool to see a band of PC courtiers formulating and foiling plots, hoping to win a title (landed or otherwise), as well as dealing with external threats to the county/duchy/kingdom. In addition, marriage, family, begetting an heir are all important goals. Instead of this headlong rush to get more levels, players would be able to celebrate their growing achievements, marry into important families, be granted titles, etc.
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First of all, some games that tend to get a lot of attention on the boards:
Superhero - whether by race builder, gestalt, or other means, giving the players a campaign where they get to create iconic superhero type/comic book characters always seems to be popular.
Hunting - maybe it's undead, maybe it's demons, maybe aberrations or evil fey, but whatever it is, people like the idea of taking on one thematic opponent. Just tell people "you're fighting this kind of evil magical thing" and you're sure to have a lot of interest.
Secondly, some concepts that seem largely ignored and have a lot of untapped potential:
Fight the Hoard - from goblins to kobolds and everything in between, monsters love to gang up into hordes and try to wreck stuff. Lots of games have people teaming up against a single epic opponent over and over, but this kind of game gives the barbarian more cleaving fun, lets the cavalier actually use his mount and charge, and over all shifts focus to a more novel "frontier outpost guard" feel from the usual "dungeon-delving adventurer" that we've all done over and over.
Survival - too often PCs are given all they need and more, showered with high-level potions and magic weapons, stumbling upon vast treasure troves holding more gold than they can carry back. There's a lot to be said for a game where clubs and improvised weapons are standard stock, and "create water" is the only thing keeping the party alive. This is no campaign for your critical focus fighter.
Latley I've had a "thing" for fantasy/space opera mash ups.
1. Pokemon
2. Games that allow things other than core races or core classes or both
3. Female DMs
4. Adventure Paths
5. Horror
6. Dinosaurs
7. Mega Campaigns
Oh man, Verces sounds cool. And I'd much prefer a setting not bogged down by too much prefrab material anyway. It makes me want to run another game but I really can't right now...
Oh man, Verces sounds cool. And I'd much prefer a setting not bogged down by too much prefrab material anyway. It makes me want to run another game but I really can't right now...
Yeah I'd think it might help the caster-martial gap too. Since magitek is expected of the setting, unique weapons and armor would be commonplace. Weapons should be like Marvel Thor's Mjolnir; weapons that allow you ot pulls magic out of them. Armor's should have forcefields to stop ray attacks. Maybe even a limited dispelling field to make magic less likely to hit. Meanwhile mages can get cool new spells to reflect the setting. Something like creating small vacuums or deflecting ranged attacks with their hands. Though any fighter should have a brilliant-energy weapon too ;).
Setting-wise, I enjoy Golarion, since it means I won't have to do too much reading for backgrounds and whatnot.
Zon-Kuthon is my favorite god in Pathfinder/Golarion.
I prefer playing Evil than Good (I seem to have much better ideas for interesting evil characters than good ones), but most APs are good-aligned (although some could work with other alignments), so I make do.
I have yet to wrap my head around the new-ish downtime rules as I get a headache every time I try to figure them out. Kingdom building can get fairly complex, but the system is a little easier to grasp for me.
The game I'd love to play takes me back to my first proper RPG experience - and would work with Pathfinder.
And that's something post-apocolyptic. With civilizations destroyed, firearms would be basic or non-existent and travel would be back to horses and the like.
Magic could be optional. Perhaps the nuclear war affected us as a race? Genetic mutations occured to both abilities (magic) and physical features (orcs, elves and dwarves) and creatures warped into the current bestiary (dragons etc.)
Religion too could be optional, depending on the GM.
Now that I'd sign up to play in a heartbeat...
The game I'd love to play takes me back to my first proper RPG experience - and would work with Pathfinder.
And that's something post-apocolyptic. With civilizations destroyed, firearms would be basic or non-existent and travel would be back to horses and the like.
Magic could be optional. Perhaps the nuclear war affected us as a race? Genetic mutations occured to both abilities (magic) and physical features (orcs, elves and dwarves) and creatures warped into the current bestiary (dragons etc.)
Religion too could be optional, depending on the GM.
Now that I'd sign up to play in a heartbeat...
Post-apocalyptic is by far one of my favorite genres, you don't see many games with that setting though.
Personally, I would love to do some horror mystery stuff. Like the Hangman's Noose or Haunted Forest (with some, you know, actual haunted stuff...) Not with so much Lovecraft influence... I just don't think it works so well in Pathfinder. Hallucinations and stuff... ehhhh... having a shrieking banshee suddenly wailing as it charges down the hall at you? Holy crap. And if it vanishes before reaching you, even worse! Was it a trap?! Was it a monster!? ...oh god, is it still running around!? Ahhhhhh!!!
Actually, if any GM is daring enough, some Japanese/Chinese/Korean/Far East horror would be awesome. There seems to be a degree of logic and rules to them, but on the flip side, if you fail those rules, lord knows what will happen.
So here's a scenario I'd like to see: the PCs are stuck in a Japanese mansion (those one story ones with the little gardens and everything) and can't leave until they solve the mystery of the murdered owner or his wife or something. And the ghosts need rules. They don't have to be the least bit logical, but they need rules. That's scary to me; subconsciously, you know they have rules. The problem is, they aren't traditional, and could be totally random. You have to push your logic and problem solving to the limit.
...oh, and ponies.
For settings, there's a couple of video games that supply some interesting material.
Dragon age is one, and so is mass effect, although the timeline of that thing makes it a little difficult to work with.
Down the rabbit hole. Characters are ordinary, 21st century folks. Probably commoners, but with a decent point buy. Something happens, they find themselves in Golarion (or pick-your-fantasy world) and have to learn to survive. Presumably, they retrain.
Or, a really evil evil campaign. Everyone plays an orc from Belkzen. First, you take over your tribe. Then you conquer the other tribes. Then ... Varisia? Lastwall?
My favorite themes are easily horror-adventure (think Ravenloft or Carrion Crown) and Wuxia (so sad I stumbled upon CaptainMarvelous' wuxia campaign so late- I would have loved to jump in on that), but I'll give any style of adventure a try.
I actually kind of prefer homebrew settings and campaigns; I don't mind doing a little homework. Golarion's my favorite premade setting, but since my IRL group always does homebrew adventures (even adapting Golarion modules to our homebrew settings), I always get excited to see something different.
I've always wanted to see a "Kaiju Hunt" type of campaign, where high-level PCs have to hunt down and try to defeat colossal-type monsters who seldom get seen in actual campaigns. This is even better now that Bestiary 4 gave us actual Kaiju, but Behemoths and Spawn of Rovagug-types would be awesome as well.
