Considering a couple pitches. What do you guys think?
Lost Worlds
Survivors of a plane crash, a shipwreck, a wrong turn in the uncivilized depths, you awaken on a strange beach amid flotsam and jetsam. Others are there with you. The beach swiftly climbs to meet a dense jungle from which eerie cries echo. Strange creatures wheel high in the sky above. A volcano in the distance sleeps uneasily. The weather is hot, the insects are buzzing—including a dragonfly the size of your arm.
Impossible creatures surround you. Long-necked giants whose kind perished from the world eons ago. Giant sharks that could swallow any shark you ever saw whole. Titans of horn and bone, teeth and fury, and scurrying shelled things that predate even the mighty reptiles.
Where are you? What are the strange ruins half-overgrown that dot this lost world? Creatures and things from across time have collected here for some mysterious reason, but why? And more importantly, how are you going to survive long enough to find out?
Yet other things exist here: titans that defy explanation. Dragons. Gods of rock and thunder. Dark spirits of an ancient world that sank into the deeps of time. If you are to prosper in this Lost World, you must learn its ways...red in tooth and claw.
PCs: All survivors from the modern world who have ended up in this Lost World. Your various skills can all find some use here. Gather together into a tribe of sorts to try to build up shelter, community, a sense of civilization. Or live like wild people as part of the land, taming the prehistoric beasts and adapting to your new world with pure instinct. There are mysteries to be solved here, clues to others who have come before, and what they might have found at the heart of this savage paradise.
Example Scenes: Hunting (with and against) prehistoric beasts. Exploring overgrown ruins in search of mysterious artifacts. Negotiating with distant tribes down the river for supplies...or scouting for a potential raid (from either side).
Variations: The Cypher System game
Predation also touches on a similar prospect, with more in the way of tech and stuff being brought back. People time-traveled back to the Cretaceous to set up a new world, then the contact with the future got cut off. No need to use Cypher System necessarily; SW would work just as well, I feel.
Mass Effect
Five years ago, Commander Shepard managed the impossible: she united the people of the galaxy to end the threat of the Reapers once and for all. Now the galaxy is recovering in the aftermath of war. Piracy has increased on the edges of civilized space. Worlds laid to ruin by the Reapers devolve into chaos, while on others ruins long since buried have been uncovered on others. The unity fostered by Shepard is threatening to dissolve into open war once more.
A group hand-picked by Shepard of each race must come together and solve problems the galaxy over. You are that group. The galaxy needs heroes who can embody the unity that once saved civilization as we know it. Can you answer the call?
PCs: All the PCs are part of a special team dedicated to solving problems across civilized space. This team doesn’t operate above the law, like Spectres, but instead maintains a deliberately high-profile mission, a symbol of unity in a troubling time. The team comes from all species and careers, from scientists to soldiers and spiritualists. They are authorized to use every method within the law to solve problems, empowered by the Council to be their face to galactic civilization. Succeed and show everyone that unity wasn't just a one-time solution in the face of extinction. Fail...and you might just plunge the galaxy into civil war!
Example Scenes: Investigating a derelict supply ship. Battling deadly alien creatures while investigating a mysterious signal on a distant planet. Visiting a refugee camp to help with supply raiders. Participating in a tense debate about galactic policy.
Special Note: I take my playthrough as "canon" for gaming purposes: full Paragon (except for headbutting a Krogan), female Shepard, romanced Liara and/or Tali. Cured Genophage, freed the Geth, united everyone, activated the Crucible, wiped out the Reapers but
not all artificial life. Happily ever after!
