Stealing my Game

Here's my third post for the DBloC Challenge. I'm still a little behind here, and almost let today get by without a post. I'll try to double-up over the weekend, so I can at least be caught up.

Since it's already a bit past my bedtime, I'm going to keep this short. The world of 70s and 80s film and TV are rife with possibilities for game settings. Taking a familiar franchise and making a game out of has been handled by the pros and the home DMs for years. Plenty of folks got their start playing as the crew of star ship in the Star Trek RPG or as members of the Rebellion in the Star Wars RPG. Of course there are slightly newer products like the Buffy The Vampire Slayer RPG from Eden and the Serenity and Battlestar Gallactica RGPs from MWP. I've seen posts on RPGBN about playing in the Thundarr the Barbarian universe and there is the ever popular Scooby Doo Cthulhu.

Ideas I've been tossing around include the following:

• The Warriors - Players are members of a NYC street gang maybe with Savage Worlds as the game system
• Land of the Lost - Crazy pulpy adventure with Sleestaks, scary, weather controlling pylons, and dinosaurs using Hollow Earth Expedition rules
• Just about any 70s or early 80s John Carpenter film, particularly if they happen to star Kurt Russel
• Italian Giallos converted into Call of Cthulhu scenarios, possibly.

The challenge here is to not necessarily clue the players into what your are doing. Clearly, you don't want to run the players through the plot of Escape from New York or Assault on Precinct 13, but the setting and ambiance of those films are perfect for a gaming situation.

I'll post more about this topic as ideas develop. Hopefully, during my time away from 4e, I can work up the gumption to put one of them into action.