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Universal Role-playing System and the Crossover Campaign

© Johnnie Lohmann

Universal role-play systems such as GURPS, TOG, Westend's Masterbook, and the Palladium system, have grown quite popular. The reasons for this are amny. Before them, if you wanted to play a different genre, you had to buy a whole new system, and usually a new set of dice, copy new character sheets etc. If, like me, you love all of the genres and possibilties, this quickly became expensive. With a universal system, anything becomes possible. Want your medieval knight to battle 20th century Yakuza? No problem for your universal system. In todays article, I will give ideas on crossover type campaigns.

Space/Fantasy:

Goblins, trolls and machine guns, oh my. FASA did an admirable job of combining all of these in Shadowrun a near future setting. With a universal system, you could take this one step further with elves in space. It opens up a whole new area in magic. Are there spells to allow you to survive in low, or no atmospheres? To facilitate spce travel? How tied up to a plnet is your magic? Will a mage have to learn a whole new system if he moves to a new world? Will there at least be penalties? Star Wars is an excellent example of fantasy meets spce.

Space/Horror:

Vampires ghosts and ghouls are no longer limited to Victorian England. Perhaps they now reside in your spaceports. Maybe that undead creature of the evening is thriving in the forever night atmoshere of space, and is a wealthy mining baron. Horror is a setting, not just a genre. Scary is scary, no matter the time or place.

Space/Intrigue:

Whether it is the illuminati, or men in black, just because aliens have been proven to exist in one place does not mean their job is done. And how many more conspiracies may exist beyond the stars?

Fantasy/Intrigue:

Conspiracy need not be confined to space or modern times. In a fantasy setting there are many things to hide. Earth shattering spells, technology, etc.. Perhaps gunpowder is the "alien" technology of that time period, and some will do anything to keep it quiet.

Cyberpunk/Religion:

Imagine a world where science and technology are literally dieties. What sorts of powers might they grant their faithful? Would, then, ignorance and illiteracy be the demons? Would the heavens be inside the web? Where then would hell be? The recycle bin?

Cyberpunk/Fantasy:

This is in essence the world of FASA's Shadowrun. Magic and demi-human meet tecnology and the machine.

The possibilities are as endless as your imagination, and as varied as the systems themselves.

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