WS-Varied Game Pitches (Coming Soon)

This is just a collection of potential game pitches for the Lords room. Each are developed to a varying degree as some are fairly new while others have been stewing for years. Each has notation for its intended tone, amount of social or combat, and how 'weird' it might be either from the start or when it gets rolling.

Note, that I tend to stick to the following golden rules when GMing (unless otherwise noted):
1. Sandbox style games where I try rolling with the consequences of what the PC's do. Intentional or otherwise.
2. NPC's are more than loot and XP dispensers and have their own goals and motivations. That said the time spent on those aspects depend entirely on how important a given character is.
3. Anything the PC's can do in terms of tactics or tricks the NPC's can and will eventually figure out themselves given enough time and exposure.

Steel Sky

"Do you like interwar diesel-punk? Do you like Gritty Adventure Pulp and Weird Science with a side of Conspiracy? Do you like the idea of punching Nazis while on the back of a burning anti-gravity flying ship just like Indiana Jones? Then this is the game for you."

Tone: Gritty Pulp, PCs are still 'real people' in the 'real world' but clearly stand head and shoulders above the common folk even at game start.
Social: Medium/High, depends heavily on PC choices.
Combat: Low/Medium, depends heavily on PC choices.
Weird: Medium, starts with a interwar era we'd recognize but with the recent development of practical anti-gravity called 'lift engines'. The potential only goes up from there.

New Dawn

"The world as we knew it ended that Christmas of 91, a cold war boiling over as the Commies breached the Rhine and France carried out its long promised retaliation. A spark once struck that found ample tinder and quickly blazed out of control. Millions died in the resulting exchanges with untold legion perishing in the collapse of society that followed. A scattered handful of survivors stared into the abyss of extinction itself as a contaminated veil of silence fell over the world that would last many years.

However life, as always, tries to find a way.

You are one of the lucky ones, born within the territory of the Phoenix Initiative based around the old pre-war town of Truth and Consequences, New Mexico. Nestled along the Rio Grand between the Black Range to the West, and both the the Sacramento and SanAnders ranges to the East the valley has remained relatively free of radiation and other contamination. The mountains on each side and the elevated levels of radiation to the North and South along I-25 standing as quiet sentries against the horrors of the outside world. Descendant from both survival minded locals and a detachment from the Army corp of Engineers tasked with refurbishing the nearby Elephant Butte Dam when contact with their superiors was cut off your people are hardy, resourceful, and determined to rebuild the world they once knew. Though opinions remained divided on seeking out survivors further afield, even as a growing population back home slowly strained the resources available despite heroic effort to keep pace.

Eventually the issue would be forced not by internal pressures but via an external event no one expected.

The Red August of 2039 found the Ranger border patrols, whom previously had to deal with the occasional lone bandit or small pack of mutants, inundated with a sudden influx of refugee's from the West. A ragged starving force numbering in the hundreds washing over them, many sick with radiation poisoning or already showing signs of mutation. Desperate men, women, and children who not only possessed the will to take what they needed but also the force of arms to do so. Training and discipline that filled the surviving Army Engineer founders with unease as they recognized its all too familiar roots. Cold soil and rock ran red with blood from both sides as the invaders were eventually broken, survivors either dispersed or captured. But the price was high for the newborn state and weeks of debriefings and investigations later finally gave four pieces of evidence that none could dispute.

1. That despite years of radio silence and isolation they were not alone.
2. That the natural barriers they had sheltered behind for decades finally had been breached.
3. That background contamination levels were decreasing to the point that previous deadzones could with preparation be traveled again.
4. That something had routed a smaller faction to the West, the so called Free State of Arizona, that shared much in common yet was routed by a foe they called the Iron Men. With armor that shrugged off the heaviest of weapons, flying craft that made no sound, and never spoke. Never asking for quarter or surrender.

Thus after much debate Project Argus was born. Twelve teams of their best and brightest from any walk of life would each be trained as Elite Rangers, each assigned one of twelve pie shaped sectors of responsibility centered on the now small city of Truth or Consequences. Their goal to discover any friends, defeat any foe, secure any resources vital to The Phoenix Initiatives future survival, by any and all methods deemed necessary per each team leaders personal judgment.

You are part of one such team. Assigned to Sector Alpha you and your team are the first to step beyond your borders in nearly a half century. Your actions will become the stuff of legend, helping determine the fate of your nation and perhaps even that of the American Wasteland itself. So, what will your story be?"

Tone: Gritty Post Apoc with a very heavy dash of Fallout/Wasteland like Pulp for levity, PCs are still 'real people' in the 'real world' but clearly stand head and shoulders above the common folk even at game start. They can get sick, crippled, and even gear with bad luck can break however such things may not be permanent...for a price. But remember anything the PCs have to worry about also will affect the NPCs.
Social: High, lots of trying to win Hearts and Minds though depends heavily on PC choices.
Combat: Low/Medium, there are Bad Dude and Bad Things out there but a lot combat can be avoided often with guile or silver tongue. This is fortunate as when combat does happen its going to be rough and brutal even if the PC's do get a bit of an edge. Once again depends heavily on PC choices.
Weird: Low/Medium, viable mutations and mutants are known to exist while radiation /mostly/ works like we expect IRL. Though it can be as likely to give you a mutation, useful or otherwise, as it is to give you Super Cancer. And who knows what else might be lurking out there...

Tombstone

"The last thing you heard was the hammer of an outlaws revolver as you swore vengeance in this life or the next. Funny thing about oaths is they always hold a spark o power and something decided to hold you to it. Welcome back, partner."

Tone: Larger than Life with a bit of grit for flavor.
Social: Medium, depends heavily on PC choices.
Combat: Medium/high, depends heavily on PC choices.
Weird: High, you start as the undead freshly risen from your grave in the old west for reasons and methods unknown to you. Things will only get stranger from there.