The Traveling Circus (aka Truly Peculiar Campaign Themes)

[Mouseferatu]

So suddenly, without obvious cause, I'm desperately feeling the urge to run a D&D campaign where the PCs are all performers in a small traveling circus (acrobats = rogues, strongmen = fighters or barbarians, animal tamer = druid or beastmaster ranger, magician = wizard, etc.), who make a habit of not only entertaining the people in the villages they pass through, but also eliminating their monster troubles.

This could, I'm thinking, be exhaustion talking.

But I'm wondering, would people be interested in playing such a quirky sort of campaign? (Even if only for the short term.) And what other sorts of quirky-themed but actually playable campaigns have you come up with (whether actually played or just envisioned)?

 

[Bold or Stupid]

I've had similar ideas myself...
Often with no excuse, I just like the idea. Though actually I thought of a group who were all survivors of a destroyed circus, seeking to find out who was behind it, but to start that well I'd probably want to run a few sessions of the live circus.

I also had a group come close to running away with the circus...

Okay Mouseferatu what you need to do is head over to the Play by Post section and start this game right now! I want to play!

 

[Inez Hull]

I've played in a campaign that had a travelling circus as the base for adventuring. The concept was that it was a huge continent travelling Cirque du Soleil affair complete with a contingent of illusionists who put on a light and sound spectacular. My chacarter was an apprenctice amongst the illusionist cadre and the other pC was a fighter thief type who was basically a carnie type doing labouring on the circus site. It was quite fun but unfortunately got left for other comitments.

 

[Herobizkit]

I like it. I'd play it. I've DM'd it.

I've also been wanting to play an entertainer-themed adventure. I wanted to model an elven character after Shakira and have her wander from town to town, singing, dancing, and gathering the best road crew and illusionists around... her concerts would be epic!

 

[LurkMonkey]

Just a suggestion, if you were interested in such a circus-themed game you might want to check out the HBO series Carnivale: CarnivÃle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It had a lot of interesting good vs. evil supernatural tropes. The main action occured with a travelling circus during the Depression.

As for an interesting quirky-themed game, I have been considering making a game focused on an amateur group of undead/demon hunters à la Buffy and the Scoobies. To allow for a heavy preponderance of otherworldly foes in an urban setting, I am thinking of setting the game in Sigil. I already have the karaoke bar Caritas set up in another Sigil-based game I am running (off Gear Run at the border of Hellgate, using the Planewalker.com map) and I really think it could be an interesting game, especially with undead and demons having a 'legitimate' role in Cager society. The Dustmen would also play an obvious adversarial role in such a game.

 

[theskyfullofdust]

It sounds like a cool idea for a campaign, I'd play it and now I'd want to run one too

 

[White Tornado]

I would totally play that!

Perhaps not as weird, but really up my alley, is a 4E setting in which various factions in the Feywild and the Shadowfell are in a cold war of espionage, sabotage, assassinations, and building up armies for a war that may never happen. The PC's could be either an eladrin or a shadar-kai Special Ops team, operating in the natural world, both parallel planes, and whatever planes their missions take them. Sort of planar cloak & dagger. I would love to DM or play in such a campaign.

 

[White Tornado]

I wanted to model an elven character after Shakira

I did that once. I lost interest when she found a girdle of feminity/masculinity, though Rat bastard DM.

 

[Aeolius]

:: awaits the dwarven bearded lady debate ::

 

[Tonguez]

My major recurring PC/NPC is a gnome who owns a circus

As a PC My PC was orignally intenxced as an alchemist however in his very first adventure he captured a herd of giant hamsters that had been terrorizing farmers. I then decided to tame and breed the hamsters and that sparked the brilliant idea of a trained giant hamster act and the Circus Maximo was born. I was even able to convince a couple of others (a knife throwing/juggler rogue, a acrobatic ranger (who eventually got to be a griffon rider) and our Cleric to join me).

Through the circus we travelled alot, capture a lot of animals to add to the show, concealed a runaway princess, fought snake headed mummies, was used in a sting operation against bandits, were summoned to an extra-dimensional city to perform and used fireworks to bring down an invading flying ship.

As an NPC - I insert the caravan pulled by giant hamsters into every campaign I do, even if it is just a passing reference "as you arrive at the city gates you pass a gaily painted caravan being pulled by a pair of giant hamsters. The gnome driver gives you a wave as he rides on towards his destination" Other times he is athe Day man of the PC circus troupe (ie the one who travels ahead of the main troupe arranging venues and living markers for the troupe to follow) and sometimes he is an information source 9afterall he has seen a lot)

also
I've played agame in which the PCs were working for the Church as an artifact recovery crew and I've attempted a Merchant game in which the PCs were merchants travelling from city to city making deals.

A campaign I've always wanted to play is one set 'under the floorboards' ie in which the PCs were an inch tall and lived underneath the floor of the city (or some large building) clambering up broom handles, dodging shoes, fighting rats and spiders and the menacing horror of the enormous Cat!