Oscar Best Picture Nominees - Fresh RPG settings

[Mustawd]

This is kind of an offshoot of the "what settings do you want to see in RPGs?" thread, but I thought looking at some Oscar winning movies might provide some fresh ideas beyond the [insert XYZ historical setting here] ideas. Although some movies definitely have a historical theme, it just depends on what slice of that history you're looking at.

Anyway, the link below has a list of all Best Picture Oscar winning and nominated movies. Which three do you think would make for a fresh RPG setting? Feel free to add in a bit of flavor and modify the setting slightly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Picture


Mine are:

1. Lawrence of Arabia When's the last time we had an RPG set in the middle east/africa? Titan Quest and Prince of Persia don't count.
2. Chinatown - Maybe add in a bit of supernatural for a Cthulhu vibe
3. Taxi Driver - Would be a great gritty cyberpunk setting. I guess in a way it's akin to Blade Runner already but with more violence

 

[Daemongar]

Did Clockwork Orange win an Oscar? I always thought a good game would be set in a bleak dystopia where your four person party goes out and beats up old people.

 

[sser]

Lawrence of Arabia would make for a better adventure game than RPG, but who knows.

Personally, I'd like to see a Western. I've already got one mapped out gameplay wise.

Also, I'd love to see an RPG in a one-setting place like a big apartment complex with a large cast of characters and procedural storylines (e.g., Oscar Award-winning motion picture, Dread).

 

[Severian Silk]

Any Adam Sandler movie.

 

[iZerw]

Brazil, Tarkovskiy' Stalker (for a great Torment experience), Dark City, Waterworld.

 

[Mustawd]

Waterworld.

You know, that WOULD make a good setting. Totally different approach to a post apocalyptic world.

 

[Mustawd]

Personally, I'd like to see a Western. I've already got one mapped out gameplay wise.

tombstone, Good/Bad/&Ugly, or Unforgiven?

I'm thinking a combination of 1 and 3 myself. But #2 would give it some really good flavor.

 

[Mustawd]

Did Clockwork Orange win an Oscar? I always thought a good game would be set in a bleak dystopia where your four person party goes out and beats up old people.

It was a runner up for best picture at least.

I thought about it at first, but the whole thing is so......surreal. It'd be hard for me to buy into the world tbh.

 

[Kutulu]

Id really like a Detective or Police Procedual RPG either 1920s-30s America or Gaslight London.
Could include:
Cultists
Cosmic Horrors
Satanists

Would definitely include:
Brass Knuckles, Revolvers, bizarre cases, Women in Furs, Bar fights

Could also work in the future, think like Transmetropolitan (The Comic) working out of a disgusting little office....
Who's the cybernetic private dick, that's a sex machine to all the chicks?

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Captain Blood (1935, nominee) or Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003, nominee) for nautical-based conflict.

The Godfather (1972, winner) and The Godfather Part II (1974, winner) for maneuvering up the ladder of an organized crime family/syndicate.

 

[Ninjerk]

Lawrence of Arabia would make for a better adventure game than RPG, but who knows.

Personally, I'd like to see a Western. I've already got one mapped out gameplay wise.

Also, I'd love to see an RPG in a one-setting place like a big apartment complex with a large cast of characters and procedural storylines (e.g., Oscar Award-winning motion picture, Dread).

tombstone, Good/Bad/&Ugly, or Unforgiven?

I'm thinking a combination of 1 and 3 myself. But #2 would give it some really good flavor.

I myself have fantasized about a TB party Western that would be an exploration of the American Western myth (in terms of what Hollywood showed) as well as an exploration of the real American Western expansion. The guy that Ethan Edwards from The Searchers was likely based upon (James Wilson Parker, I think) basically lived a solo, real-time RPG after members of his family were captured, wrote a fucking diary his entire life for it, and ended up dying of old age. The crazier part is that, according to him, he didn't even write everything down that happened to him because he didn't think people would believe what he had seen!

 

[Mustawd]

The Searchers was likely based upon (James Wilson Parker, I think) basically lived a solo, real-time RPG after members of his family were captured, wrote a fucking diary his entire life for it, and ended up dying of old age. The crazier part is that, according to him, he didn't even write everything down that happened to him because he didn't think people would believe what he had seen!

Updated my text. Thanks. Gonna look into this.

 

[Mustawd]

Lawrence of Arabia would make for a better adventure game than RPG, but who knows.

Yes, I think you're right. That and a mix with Raiders of the lost ark would make a great adventure game.

Also, I'd love to see an RPG in a one-setting place like a big apartment complex with a large cast of characters and procedural storylines (e.g., Oscar Award-winning motion picture, Dread).

Dread was great. It'd be a great spin on a dungeon crawler for sure. It also reminded me of a futuristic Max Payne for some reason. Dunno why to be honest. Maybe it was just the drug commonality? *shrug*

 

[Mustawd]

Id really like a Detective or Police Procedual RPG either 1920s-30s America or Gaslight London.
Could include:
Cultists
Cosmic Horrors
Satanists

Would definitely include:
Brass Knuckles, Revolvers, bizarre cases, Women in Furs, Bar fights

Could also work in the future, think like Transmetropolitan (The Comic) working out of a disgusting little office....
Who's the cybernetic private dick, that's a sex machine to all the chicks?

LA Confidential-type? Secret celebrity occult thingy? A bit like Eyes wide shut maybe?

 

[Kutulu]

LA Confidential-type? Secret celebrity occult thingy? A bit like Eyes wide shut maybe?

Yeah, sleazy, cheesy and sexy.

 

[Mustawd]

LA Confidential-type? Secret celebrity occult thingy? A bit like Eyes wide shut maybe?

Yeah, sleazy, cheesy and sexy.

Yup, that is a badass concept. Now we just have to wait for it to be made....wait 100 years or so...

 

[PhantasmaNL]

Midnight Express

Im not sure if this was done before, an RPG set in a prison. Of course if "prison" is abstracted to a sufficient level, many games may qualify as being set in one. So just a disclaimer, there may be many prison RPGs out there.

That aside, it would give an instant and plausible world with its own set of rules (potentially bizarre, and preferably brutal like in the film mentioned, but a toned down version like Escape from Alcatraz -not a nominee, really?- could work too i guess).

Prison settings are (were) pretty popular in movies and (relatively) recently on TV, in Prison Break (new season coming soon apparently, huh what?!).

The RPG could offer many routes to admittedly limited end conditions (death, escape, regular convict, teabagged, king of the hill) and plenty of potential for story stuff and combat.

 

[Parsifarka]

The world needs a Birth of a Nation RPG.

 

[Ninjerk]

Midnight Express

Im not sure if this was done before, an RPG set in a prison. Of course if "prison" is abstracted to a sufficient level, many games may qualify as being set in one. So just a disclaimer, there may be many prison RPGs out there.

That aside, it would give an instant and plausible world with its own set of rules (potentially bizarre, and preferably brutal like in the film mentioned, but a toned down version like Escape from Alcatraz -not a nominee, really?- could work too i guess).

Prison settings are (were) pretty popular in movies and (relatively) recently on TV, in Prison Break (new season coming soon apparently, huh what?!).

The RPG could offer many routes to admittedly limited end conditions (death, escape, regular convict, teabagged, king of the hill) and plenty of potential for story stuff and combat.

PekkaK

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Some good ideas here, especially RPGs set in prison or in a mob setting. If you think about it, mob/prison movies are some of the most popular out there, people just love that stuff. Think The Godfather trilogy, Goodfellas, Casino, Once Upon a Time in America, Carlito's Way, Scarface, The Shawshank Redemption, Escape from Alcatraz and Sopranos, Oz, Boardwalk Empire and Breaking Bad (if you include cable series).

In video games, I wouldn't say these settings are used nearly as much. The GTA series obviously kills it, but other than that, some niche and failed attempts like Kingpin, Godfather and Scarface the games, etc. RPGs could bring a whole new perspective to these areas compared to GTA, like for example offer a lot more in-depth dialogue, a lot of C&C, character development, and so on.

 

[an Administrator]

Les Misérables
I always wanted an RPG in a 19th century setting

 

[InD_ImaginE]

The Lord of The Ring

On more serious note, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.
I really2 want to play RPG in Asia setting that is not some crappy MMORPG, and Wuxia is perhaps one of the easier to adapt to RPG seeing it is basically Chinese medieval fantasy with sprinkle of magic/qi.

 

[Space Insect]

Gone with the Wind could be awesome as an RPG set on the antebellum south during the Civil war. It could provide lots of choices in the way of slavery vs abolition. You could also easily throw other skills into the mix as how you choose to react to your neighbors and the Union army.

Amadeus. I don't really have a clue what could be done with that setting, but I just love the German wigs and culture period. It's really underused.

 

[Mozg]

Did Clockwork Orange win an Oscar? I always thought a good game would be set in a bleak dystopia where your four person party goes out and beats up old people.

All the '70s movie dystopias would be awesome RPG settings. Like Soylent Green, Logan's Run, something like Rollerball or (not '70s) Running Man dealing with dystopic celebrity, Westworld. I wouldn't want to full blown RPG save the world in any of those but just tell some story in them.

 

[sser]

Lawrence of Arabia would make for a better adventure game than RPG, but who knows.

Personally, I'd like to see a Western. I've already got one mapped out gameplay wise.

Also, I'd love to see an RPG in a one-setting place like a big apartment complex with a large cast of characters and procedural storylines (e.g., Oscar Award-winning motion picture, Dread).

tombstone, Good/Bad/&Ugly, or Unforgiven?

I'm thinking a combination of 1 and 3 myself. But #2 would give it some really good flavor.

I myself have fantasized about a TB party Western that would be an exploration of the American Western myth (in terms of what Hollywood showed) as well as an exploration of the real American Western expansion. The guy that Ethan Edwards from The Searchers was likely based upon (James Wilson Parker, I think) basically lived a solo, real-time RPG after members of his family were captured, wrote a fucking diary his entire life for it, and ended up dying of old age. The crazier part is that, according to him, he didn't even write everything down that happened to him because he didn't think people would believe what he had seen!

I actually think Fallout 1/2 just about fall in this category. I've always considered them fairly close to the Western genre just with a palette and setting swap. New Vegas is quite similar too. Obviously they're all sci-fi at heart, but I can't help but see western tropes buried in all of them.

My game would be party-based with tactical turn-based combat. A very large cast of disposable characters (not unlike LISA). Heavy emphasis on sights/sounds in combat as well as morale. For example, shooting a shotgun indoors would blow out your ears for a few turns. If you shoot enough, large clouds of gunpowder start to create vision screens. Most men would get scared easily and most enemies (or yourself) could be defeated through morale breaks instead of outright battles of annihilation. Battles would be a gradual decline into total chaos. Gut shots would leave men crippled and crying out turn after turn. People could be scalped mid-battle for morale losses.

Characters would have a large array of talents -- some would be great shooters, others just strong-willed, some half-blind, others deaf, Natives carried a variety of skills from scouting (e.g., Delaware) to scary killing machines that could warcry (e.g., Comanche). Some men would relish in the chaos, loving to be adorned in necklaces of ears or other habits of the religiously insane. Obviously, you'd just have a basic list of western tropes from gamblers to peddlers to thieves to lawmen and everything in between, with lots of non-combat functionality as well. The overall story would have you trundling about an overworld map of Texas in the post-Civil War era -- about 1866-1870.

All kinds of combat modifiers based around morale, melee, sights/sounds, shooting, and reaction-fire systems, but I won't get into that