Gaming White Whales: Campaigns I Really Want to Run Someday


He tasks me. He tasks me, and I shall have him. I'll chase him round the Moons of Nibia and round the Antares Maelstrom and round Perdition's flames before I give him up! 
- Star Trek II Channeling Moby Dick

I've been gaming since the early 1980's so I've run and played in a lot of games. But there's a few games I've never really gotten the chance to run or play in much more than a few standalone games here and there.


I've mentioned Traveller a few times in this blog. I remember seeing those little black books at my gaming store in the 1980's but never got into it. Over the years I've picked up a number of the books for it and have a pretty complete digital collection of the original game. It does have a few challenges. The first of which is having a bit of trouble selling it - it does have a reputation of being "the game where you can die in character creation". There's also the challenge of the Imperium, a massive setting which has become synonymous with the game. Truthfully I'd be inclined to toss out the Imperium beyond what was implied by the earliest books and go with a Firefly-inspired game. You're out in the boonies, you're in a massive Empire, though one which exerts minimal control over planetary governments, to the point where one world can go to war with another - so long as Imperial revenue doesn't suffer. Good opportunities for mercenaries, exploration, trade, and general adventure.




Some day I'm gonna get a Hero System campaign going. It might be in the gamers' retirement home, but it will be done. It's not a surprise I've not gotten much more than a one-off here and there with Champions and other Hero games - it is a powerful system, but it can be very intimidating with all its options. My recollection is that once you've got a character it plays rather easily. Reading the backer in-development copy of Aaron Allston's Strike Force I'm intrigued how Allston ran his Strike Force campaign, using ancient prehistory of the setting as an excuse to use Fantasy Hero, using Champions for his modern day games and trashing the planet with a World War 3 which unleashed many science fiction elements. It seems an interesting way to link various games together. Were I to run a game I'd be inclined to use a low-power game like Justice Inc. as a way to ease into it. You've got your pre-superhero setting which, should the game go well, you can make as the next stage of the campaign. Or further out at the beginning of the superhero age - starting out with low-powered superheroes.

There's hope - I'd gone years without ever running a Call of Cthulhu game only to find myself playing it more than any other game over an extended period. Though I've gone about a year without a Cthulhu game. I'm ready for that.

This is what happens when I have an extended break between game sessions - I get to think of ideas I want to try out...

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