Instead of digging deeply into a new setting, I’m going to throw out a couple of roundup ideas. Trying more to throw a few thoughts into the air and see which ones fly. Any thoughts and feedback are welcome. These are all potentially the basis of a short (4-8 session) game, though some could easily support campaign play as well. Some are tied to a published system/setting, some aren’t.
Filioque: Detailed extensively here, but the short version — long-suppressed regional disagreements give rise to theological schism in a world where true knowledge leads directly to true power. Emphasis on belief and faith, cultural clash, and political maneuvering.
Jade and Iron: “Doktor Sleepless” meets “Weapons of the Gods” — wuxia-style trappings and adventure on the threshold of a technological apocalypse. Action-heavy, with a good dose of comic book intrigue and weird science.
Dragon Trials: Terrestrial (non-Realm) Exalted as Knights-Errant, sent out to do something useful with their lives at least once before settling into indolent nobility. Power level to be determined. Potential campaign.
Valhalla: The BDO exploration story where I steal shamelessly from Norse myth. Mysterious giant tower appears from nowhere. PCs are some combination of bystanders, investigators, and Official-Type Disaster Guys. Not quite horror, but definitely channeling Lovecraftian themes of the insignificance of man and the blind indifference of the universe.
Neon Babylon: Comic book/cyberpunk adventure game. Stolen power armor, evil corporations, mysterious technology of mystery. Major notes of stealing things and/or blowing them up. Collateral damage a plus.
Clockwork Jungle: Steampunk exploration and adventure, side order of post-apocalyptica. The vanguard of an attempt to establish human survival in a hostile mechanical environment. High levels of resource management, lots of threats, constant danger. This one feels more campaign-ish than the others.
Tetragrammaton: Nobilis, gods help me. The Power of Names is missing or in hiding, which sparks off suspicion, paranoia, politics, and plenty of people calling for something to be done, preferably by someone else. Very much an experiment — Nobilis has not been kind to me in the past.
It’s Dark In Here: My excuse to pick up the Rules Cyclopedia and make people suffer. OD&D and I don’t usually get along, but I think I can get into the mood for a few sessions, provided the mood in question is rampant sadism. Putting a plot and setting around this seems redundant, really: adventurers, treasure, abandoned subterranean temple complex. Figure it out.
Nobilis is a down-the-street second to WotG on the list of games I want to play, so I’d vote for that. I remain interested in Filioque. If we play a post-apocalyptica game, can it be Gamma World?