Sunday, February 21, 2010

Mutant Future as a multi-genre game

The players in my Mutant Future campaign have recently traveled through a portal opened with the Plane Shift mutation and are currently adventuring in what appears to be a "fantasy" world, complete with elves and dragons.  I can't say too much about the specifics of that until after tonight's session because there is a lot going on that the players have not figured out yet.

Still, this development has really gotten me thinking about Mutant Future's ability to be a multi-genre game.  Plane Shift leaves it wide open, completely up to the Mutant Lord, as to what is on the other side of the portals that are opened up.  Want to have a session or two of WWII gameplay?  Throw in an NPC mutant that the players are after who has the Plane Shift mutation - things get hairy and the mutant has no choice but to open a portal to escape... straight into the middle of war torn Europe!  Of course, a party that does not have the Plane Shift mutation themselves would be at the mercy of the NPC to get back to their regular place in the space/time/dimensional continuum... unless some sort of epic quest could be performed to open a portal? 

Mechanically, Mutant Future uses the Labyrinth Lord ruleset as its backbone.  This means that the entire wealth of pre-3e D&D material ever published can be used with minimal adjustments.  Take a look at that RPG bookshelf and imagine a portal opening into any of those great old adventures or supplements.  Mutants Against the Giants.  Mutants in the Underdark.  

I had a brain flash while thinking about this sort of multi-genre gameplay; imagine an interdimensional A-Team of sorts (the players) who go on missions that their employer sends them on (the employer has Plane Shift as well as a unique mutation that allows his Mental Telepathy to extend across gulfs of time and space to discuss terms of service with clients in all the possible dimensions).  As the party is hustling through the portal, their employer gives them the stern warning,
"Be back to this same place in one week exactly, as the return portal will be open for only five minutes."

This would be the perfect picaresque set-up, episodic by nature, confined to no genre.  The characters would get to experience everything the wide world of D&D has ever offered.  The many worlds are their oysters...

4 comments:

  1. That's a really interesting idea. I took my Gamma World Campaign into Traveller (picked up by an imperial research vessel) then to D&D (their ship crashed) back in the day and the players had a blast! Plane Shift really does open up alot of options! + it can help prevent GM (Mutant Lord) burnout, you get to run different things, players get to keep playing their characters. The Exiles comic series might be good for some ideas as well.

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  2. Fits perfect with what me and Danny were saying about the A-Team idea, I freaking Love it.

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  3. Exactly what I was thinking, a few gaming sessions back. This literally opens doors to other realities for your game. I was exploring this possibility in my own Mutant Future game. I'm glad to see it's being done in other MF games too.

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  4. Long ago a friend was running Gamma World and eventually revealed we weren't on Earth or a planet at all but one a starship a la Metamorphosis Alpha. Later we escaped the ship via a shuttlecraft/runabout type vessel and I took over, bringing our heroes into Star Frontiers.

    Interestingly, a friend of mine was recently pondering the idea of Mutant Future as the basis for a Superheroes game. Sort of a Villains & Vigilantes vibe no? I mean, V&V is old school is anything is after D&D right?

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