Dustlands

Hello! To those of you who have asked, Dustlands is not dead! Our campaign switched to a different website shortly after I created an account here. To make a long story short, we will be switching our campaign site back to these pages. Over the next few weeks I will be posting information here, including some session logs, campaign specific background notes, and information for interested players.

The Dustlands campaign was unfortunately put on hold for several months due to various time and scheduling issues. We were only three sessions in to the campaign when things had to be put on hold, so anyone interested in joining will still be able to get in on the early stages of things.

I would love to be able to give a specific start date for this, but at the moment I am revising the Dustlands setting as well as switching over the system to be used in the campaign. We will be moving from my own home-brewed rules to an established OGL system. Although I am still not sure which system this will be, not having to write rules at the same time I am writing a campaign setting has been a tremendous load off of my shoulders. My hope is that by concentrating on setting alone I will be able to provide a much more thought out and in depth experience for players in the Dustlands setting. I would like to get as much work done on Dustlands as possible before re-starting the campaign, so all I can say for now is that I will post back here as things develop, and if all goes well we should be up and running sometime in early September.

I would like to apologize to those of you who contacted me through this site. The messages you sent did not get forwarded to my email account and I have not logged on here in quite some time. I will be sending messages out to those of you who were interested in playing, and hopefully we can still make that happen when things start rolling again.

Thanks!

- rob

GM – Dustlands

Because this is our RPG group’s first time using OpenRPG, we have been playtesting the GURPS mechanics in the ap to see how things run. Playing online is a bit different than playing over the tabletop, and some issues have arisen with using the GURPS system. Last night’s test run caused some discussion today and we have come to some conclusions.

We have been using GURPS lite to play around with the OpenRPg ap. I figured the scaled down rules would allow for a more fluid game, but the problem is that the GURPS lite rules were not built as a rules lite system. They are a scaled down version of the full GURPS rules, and they tend to feel this way when you play them. We have been adding things in from the advanced set in order to make combat more interesting, but this has backfired by causing combat to slow to a very boring pace. Sitting in your friend’s living room while the GM makes numerous calculations, measures range, etc is fine. Doing it while sitting in front of your PC is a pain in the ass. It kills the momentum of the game and makes combat very uninteresting and tedious.

We need to switch to a different, more rules-lite system in order to maintain the pace of the game. We are currently using the Fudge Roleplaying System to create a set of rules for Dustlands. This system will allow the PCs to retain all of the traits they took with the GURPS system to still be represented in game terms.

“Dustlands” is a GURPS campaign taking place in a harsh, post-apocalyptic America. While there are certain science fiction elements in this setting, the emphasis is on the struggle to survive and prosper in a dangerous and inhospitable world. Interaction between PCs and NPCs plays a key role in this campaign as well, since true loners tend to lead very short lifespans in this Post-Apocalyptic world.

The campaign will be played online using OpenRPG and Skype, which are both freeware. Our currently scheduled meeting time is 7pm (pacific time) on Thursday evenings.

We are an older group, most of us in our thirties, but are open to anyone over the age of eighteen.

For more information on the setting and how to join up, please visit our main wiki