There’s been some discussions about doing an actual play podcast. I don’t know when schedules will allow us to do an actual play, or who would be the GM when we do kickoff such a thing, but here are some ideas I’ve got were I to be at the helm GM’ing an actual play campaign. In particular, Shadows of Redmark is an interesting possibility since we could play those on some Thursdays (potentially) without feeling like we’re derailing the normal Redmark campaign (maybe I could even tie the storylines together at the end like cross-over comic book series). Anyway, here are my three campaign ideas:

(1) Shadows of Redmark™ — Game of Thrones meets X-Files. A parallel campaign with different characters centered in the Citystate of Redmark, with events running in parallel with the Chronicles of Redmark main campaign.  In the ancient city of Redmark, your secret society works in service to the Emperor to investigate dangers kept secret from unsuspecting citizenry. But often the most dangerous threat is the vying political factions who wage a shadow war to control the throne. To make things worse, a shadowy cult has reared its ugly head and pose a threat the adventurers must overcome or all of Redmark will fall into Shadow. (We would use D&D 5e rules but strictly theater of the mind, using rules similar to these: https://merricb.com/2017/11/28/a-quick-word-on-theatre-of-the-mind/.)

(2) Eighties Things™ — The Goonies meets Cthulhu. Reboot or continuation of the couple of demo games I ran. Basically a ‘Strangers Things’ / E.T. / Goonies style 80s adventures using a monster-of-the-week format. (We would use Stan’s Mystique rules, currently in beta).

(3) Starblade — X-Men meets Star Wars. A 250-year-old war rages. Legends say the war started over an insignificant planet called Kradax. Two neighboring empires claimed it, and for reasons long forgotten, thought it was worth going to war over. Nowadays, only a few galactic historians even recall the planet’s name. Those who started the conflict are long dead, but the two empires continue on in a war that has no end in sight. Queen Malkana now rules the empire known as the Monarchy which spans half of known space. Her dynasty of many centuries controls a highly skilled and well-paid galactic navy. Opposing her from his crystal throne sits The Lord Trans-Papal, immortal leader of the Technocracy. The Technocracy is a dread scientific-transdimensional-religious order which rules an empire spanning half the galaxy through its army of zealot techno-clerics who enforce their rigid orthodoxy (along with the occasional mass inquisition). While entire planets die overnight in the ongoing mad conflict, a few heroes stand against the darkness. A group of fugitive have acquired superpowers and various uncanny skills. Aboard their rebel ship they hatch a plan to disrupt the endless conflict between the two major forces in the galaxy: the Monarchy and the Technocracy. Much depends on recovering the fabled starblade, an ancient, alien artifact whose powers both Queen Malkana and The Lord Trans-Papal fear. (We would use Stan’s Mystique rules, currently in beta).

— Stan