RPG ideas, resources, and projects

I'll start this blog off with a summary of the RPG ideas, links and notes that are currently floating around my mind and notepads.


Systems of Interest

I have broad interest in the RPG hobby, but my interests are primarily in:
Pathfinder/D&D: This is the game that my group play the most, and that we have by far the most experience with, first as D&D 3.5, and then as Pathfinder.  It is the go-to system for most of my regular players, largely because we invested the time and energy to grok it when our brains were young and plastic.
Fate: This toolkit system has captured my imagination, it is supremely flexible, and its design is elegant, simple, and powerful.  Probably my favourite system.
GUMSHOE: Designed for mysteries, I enjoy the way that this system handles the competence and characters, and has a simple mechanic which controls the spotlight focus in the game with regards to character skills, by liking it to a resource management system.  In particular, I find NBA (Night's Black Agents) to be a masterpiece.
13th Age: This is a game that takes the core ideas of D&D 3rd and 4th edition, and then strips away the complexity and turns up the dials for combat speed, narrative flexibility, and fun.
Cortex: In its CortexPlus and CortexPrime incarnations.  This is reminiscent of Fate, but with pools of various polyhedral dice.

We also have plenty of play experience with nWoD (new World of Darkness) and Warhammer 40K; but for various reasons those systems don't grab my imagination as much.  World of Darkness nicely simple and fairly flexible, but is a bit bland for my taste since I started tinkering with Fate.
Warhammer 40K (Dark Heresey, Rogue Trader, Only War etc) are too prone to randomness and PC failure for my taste (which I appreciate may be a intentional feature rather than a bug, for the 40K setting), so a character will frequently fail at even things that they are supposed to be good at, until a great deal of XP has been spend.  Much hilarity ensues from the clownish flailing, but that doesn't suit most genres/stories that I want to run a campaign of.


Settings

Whilst I'm making lists, here are the settings that I tend to gravitate to frequently:
Eberron
Star Wars
Warhammer 40K
Dresden Files (and other urban fantasy, including the World of Darkness)
The Elder Scrolls (from games such as Morrowing, Obilivion, and Skyrim)
D&D's generic setting (a weird European Medieval Fantasy, with inspiration from Greyhawk etc)
I rarely run by the book, I tend to play fast and lose with default settings, allowing for a healthy dose of artistic licence.


Projects

The ideas that are floating around my head currently, most of whilst are unlikely to reach fruition:
Become better at creating story/scenario ideas.
Tweak a game to focus on the area that gives my group the most enjoyment, which I believe is solving challenges with cunning; particularly in finding innovative ways to solve/bypass problems with spells.
Create a scenario with pre-made characters that have good dramatic character traits for a team/ensemble, e.g. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Ensembles
Create a short campaign, focusing on heists, cons, intrigue, and covert opps.
Crate a short swashbuckling campaign, focusing on mysteries, honour, and daring deeds.
Run an Elder Scrolls Game.


Resources

http://donjon.bin.sh/
http://walkingmind.evilhat.com/
http://walkingmind.evilhat.com/2010/12/14/two-guys-with-swords/
https://fate-srd.com/
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/extras/pirates-arrr-us
http://www.13thagesrd.com/
http://gumshoesrd.opengamingnetwork.com/
https://www.reddit.com/r/rpgtables/
http://tvtropes.org/
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Ensembles
http://inkwellideas.com/free-tools/
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GambitIndex



Also, I'm cross posting here and https://rjdaines.wordpress.com/