Established Series Mash-Up

A brainstorming tool for creating RPG campaign settings

Together as a group, pick a TV show, comic book, movie, or book series with a setting that sparks the interest of at least a couple members of your group. Now think specifically of one episode or story arc within that series. You’re looking for something that either your group is already familiar with, or that can be read or watched in an hour. That means the group should not pick a whole TV series (like Supernatural), but a single episode (The first Trickster episode). If you are using a comic as your inspiration, don’t pick a whole title (The Walking Dead), but a single issue or graphic novel (like when they move into the prison). Not a whole book trilogy, but a memorable chapter or so.

Okay, got your source in mind? Now pick a second one. This second source should be from a different book, a different movie. Or maybe your first source is a movie, and your second is a comic book. The same rules that applied to the first source apply to the second. Pick something that perks the interest of most of your gaming group, and pick a section of story that would only take an hour to revisit (by watching or reading).

For our examples, we’ll use two TV shows. Our first source is the Dr. Who episode, “The Empty Child,” where people are turning into gas-masked zombies. Our second source will be the Heroes episode “Four Months Later…,” where Hiro Nakamura travels to feudal Japan and meets Kensei, an immortal Englishman.

Once your RPG group has picked the two sources of inspiration for your campaign setting, your job is to brainstorm together what the setting of the game will be like. Assume that the only thing we know about the setting comes from these two episodes. Nothing, for example, that happens earlier or later in Dr. Who and Heroes, will be a part of your campaign when the game begins. Maybe after a few sessions, the group will decide they want to add other story elements, but for now only these two specific stories are canon.

You are free to shoot ideas back and forth in a brainstorming session about the world and the characters in it. If you would like some further guidance to get the ball rolling, here are a few tips:

• Make a list of the organizations that appear in your two sources. Don’t write down character names, just the type of people who show up, and what groups they are a part of. For example, we have time travelers, aliens who look human, normal humans, super-powered people, heroes, and a mysterious evil force that can turn humans into monsters.
• Describe any supernatural or sci-fi elements in your sources, and decide as a group if there is a particular genre or set of tropes you want in your game. In “The Empty Child” and “Four Months Later…” we have a time machine or two, a person who can teleport and travel back in time, a reincarnating immortal alien, a regenerating immortal human, and a sort of zombie plague. We decide to include in our campaign various alien and supernatural powers that affect our interaction with time and history or affect our mortality.
• Describe the overall tone or look of the sources, especially in areas where your two sources overlap. For example, we have a dark creepy feeling of impending doom, a hero who is disappointed by his mentor, a small group of do-gooders, witty banter, and friendship. All of these seem important to the feel of our sources.
• Consider what kind of characters would be fun to play in this setting. Resist the urge to play main characters from your sources. Minor characters might be fun, but playing main characters makes it difficult to ignore the all the other episodes, issues, or chapters in your source material. In fact, I suggest that a couple of main source characters die during your first few games sessions. It becomes much easier for the group to know what to do in the setting when canon is a springboard for new adventures than when they are forced to play second fiddle to the characters in the established universe. So take it from me, Captain Kirk and Luke Skywalker kill each other, and the players are forced to figure out how to defend the Federation from the Sith. In our example game, Dr. Who becomes a gas-mask zombie, and in order to save Rose, Hiro teleports himself and the Doctor into the earth’s core. Now, Rose and the alcoholic immortal Kensei find themselves in charge of the TARDIS.

Whatever your sources, remember that half the fun of setting creation is setting up problems for the players to solve and mysterious places for them to explore, so leave things a little messy at the end of your brainstorming session. Leave loose ends. Load the setting with dynamite, and then throw your characters at it to find out what happens. Now, go play!