Thinking About Non-D&D RPG's Again - also, Cyberpunk Red

 

Well apparently it's that time of year as I did this last year too. With an opportunity to run something that isn't D&D or Pathfinder as a possible ongoing game I started digging into options and found a lot of the same options as last year on my mind. Trying to narrow it down a bit:

• Star Wars is still an option. My players all have some interest at least and really any of the 3 major system options are fun. I have several campaigns outlined so it's really just a matter of picking this one and then deciding what to run.
• Deadlands (Savage Worlds) would be a strong choice as I have a lot of good campaign material and we have liked the game whenever we have tried it. 
• Rifts (Savage Worlds) is a strong contender just because it covers a lot of similar ground to those two others and everyone has things they want to try. We've had some short runs in it but no long sustained campaign recently. This might be the easy consensus choice.
• Shadowrun is in the mix as I went looking back through my campaign binders and found tons of notes waiting to be unleashed on a party. This would probably use 2nd or 3rd edition for a variety of reasons. Might discuss that later - especially if we end up playing it. 
• "Some kind of superhero thing" - yeah that's how I phrased it to my players. Lot of options here as I've discussed in the past.

One that I thought might be a fun idea is Cyberpunk Red, but after reading the quickstart box ... probably not. I have a weird relationship with the game. The system looks great. I know it's good and I really want to like it but the setting I think is too much like a Wild West game without any supernatural elements: Everyone has a bunch of cool abilities they want to try out but after one good firefight half the team is dead or in the hospital for a month. I think that lack of powers or magic or psi or that "extra something" leaves my group with a lot less interest than they might have. 

Plus ... anytime I start thinking about scenarios/missions/adventures I keep thinking it would be more fun ... a lot more fun ...to do this in Shadowrun. I guess I'm just a Shadowrun guy and not a CP guy at heart. I think with a good GM it could be a lot of fun and I would definitely play it given the chance but that GM is probably not me. It just doesn't speak to me in the right way.

So that's where things stand at the moment - more to come.