#RPGaDay: Day 30

30. What is an RPG genre mash-up that you would like to see?

Answer: This is something I alluded to in my auxiliary answer for Day # 2. I'd love to see a mash-up of a pre-WWII pulp setting mixed with the excavation of the ancient world where government spies, artists, writers, secret societies, religious sects, and ambassadors seek to uncover occult mysteries to solve present day socio-political dilemmas. The campaign setting I have in mind would be similar to Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet but with magic and occult lore, a world where the pre-war tensions are layered throughout a murky underworld of intrigue, lies, espionage, holy relics, love triangles, and murder. It would be the kind of game where uncovering the hidden meaning in the Key of Solomon could lead to an ancient tomb to destroy or obtain and sell a relic of the Old World before the enemy gets it. It could be a game where the same timeline (1930s) is played over again with old characters becoming NPCs and new storylines revealing new aspects to them and their story - just like in Durrell's novels.

I'm sure plenty of people might point out that this sounds like a mash-up of some existing games like Raiders of the Lost Ark, Top Secret, maybe Hollow Earth Expedition, or others. In terms of the setting or the period, this kind of game has been mined before and you could certainly bend any of the aforementioned to this purpose with a good bit of tweaking. However, I envision this new game to be more focused on intrigues and puzzles/mysteries than driven by swashbuckling action. Also, the part of it I don't believe has been done before is the ability to run a campaign of recursive timelines emulating Durrell's layered, multi-faceted storytelling. In this way, the layering of the role-play would parallel the layers of history and mystery the characters would be uncovering.

I think this historical world mash-up of history/mystery/literature/art/religion/occult is probably a little (or a lot) too narrow of an idea to make a marketable game. As a last ditch attempt to sell this idea, here are some story hooks that better illustrate the flavor and which one might use to launch games:

• The Nazis believe that a new translation of a forgotten book of Christian Apocrypha reveals the location of a "prophecy stone" said to have belonged to the prophet Elijah. With it, the wielder can see the future. A mysterious collector contacts the PCs to find it for him/her first.
• A mystic in Florence, Italy finds a scroll said to have survived the fire that destroyed the great library of Alexandria. The scroll is said to have been a central reference for Dante's map of the underworld locating the actual entrance to Hell. The Vatican hires the PCs in secret to investigate and seal this unholy portal if it exists.
• Coptic priests are dying through Egypt, murdered from poisoning. A secret society/cult out of Tunisia called the Daughters of Dido are said to be the culprits. This new sect is allegedly working with one of the powers in Europe (Germany? The Vatican?). British Intelligence wants answers.
• An American explorer says that he's found the lost city of Atlantis. Initially not taken seriously, this changes after a series of strange weapons of arcane technology show up on the black market in Morocco. Said explorer disappears and world powers are now trying to find him before their enemies do.
• Rumors of a shadowy figure rising to power in the underworld of Istanbul over the past few decades coincide with the Armenian Genocide and fall of the Ottoman Sultan after WWI. Both are said to be the work of this mysterioso who bears a striking resemblance to a certain Wallachian prince.
• It is the early 1930s and Aleister Crowley has just left Berlin for England again. British Intelligence hires the PCs to spy on him aboard a Mediterranean cruise to investigate who he is meeting with and if his business is personal or political.

So, am I nuts? Is there a game that already does this?