I am sitting here wondering if I were to turn any modern day setting into a role playing game what would it be? What is so interesting to me in this day and age that I would want to play in it. Of course it would not need to be something realistic but something that has some kind of genesis in real life today.
I do not do a lot of news watching as it tends to annoy me the way that journalism today is soooo one sided and, well, wrong. Clean cut young girl gets raped and killed and it is all over the news. Prostitute gets raped and killed you are lucky to read about it. After all, isn’t it more important that Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez got back together?
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| What game would you run based on today’s society? |
I do think about the things that manage to penetrate my news free zone though and wonder what of these things actually make me want to run a game about them? Perhaps something around Julian Assange and the Wikileaks material. A spy game designed around attempting to capture or free him? Or maybe an idealist who has some data to give to the press?
Another option could be a response to the violence that plagues the “lesser” beings of the street. Perhaps a vigilante super hero who fights for everyone, not just the young and innocent. A superhero game in the style of Kick Ass except by a group who is sick of their flawed friends from being a cold case due to disinterested police who only jump when the media tells them to.
What would your modern day games tackle? What interests you in the world enough to explore it through game? Let me know in the comments.
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As a Pathfinder fan you can always go back to your roots and play D20 Modern.
Your players should be able to pick it up during character creation and run with it almost instantly.
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Mark, you know me. I love me some modern roleplaying games. What draws me to it? I don’t know. It’s the familiarity for players and being able to flip everything they know on its rear. It is being able to take the familiar and make it unfamiliar. It is about being able to warp reality and make a statement without having to get too deep into symbolism and allegory. It’s about getting to enjoy settings that I usually enjoy reading and watching. I cannot bear to watch period pieces save for a few. Reading them, eh, as long as they’re not too close to reality. I play everything from the 80s action TV reboot to modern day street heroes to cyberpunk that has already arrived. The news can give us ideas for stories, but it’s still just a fantasy after all. I’d ask the same question to everyone who enjoys their sci-fi or fantasy settings better–what makes them so different and worth playing. It’s not that they aren’t, but what is it about them.