This week, I’ve been thinking a lot about the ideas I talked about recently in Episode 5 of the current season of the podcast:

What I want to do is explore worlds of fantasy. And that might not need to be a strict genre label either – I am as intrigued by Monte Cook’s Numenera as I am with Middle-Earth. But when I look at what I buy, the stuff that excites me offers a world of adventure… not in the abstract sense, but in terms of a specific realm.

Season 9, Episode 5: “Finding My Blend: Fantastic Worlds”

One of the key suggestions I made in that episode was to visit an existing world but pare it down to a manageable start. In other words, to start somewhere small and lightly sketched… and take it from there.

Mulling it over, I realised that there are a couple of fantasy worlds that I simply love and which I believe would make for truly rich gaming experiences. One of those worlds is the Palladium Fantasy “Known Realm” published for the Palladium Fantasy Roleplaying Game.

I discovered Palladium back in the 1st edition when I picked up the revolutionary perfect-bound paperback tome. I was drawn to the imagery and the promise of a more interesting approach to fantasy roleplaying. Although, over the years, I have gravitated away from playing the game rules from Palladium, I have always enjoyed the setting books. I have one or two of them on the grand stacks of roleplaying at home:

This past weekend, while also mulling over the desire to return to some GURPS fantasy play, I hit upon a simple idea: I would try playing a game of the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game set within the amazing world of Palladium’s Known Realm. I printed off a copy of the world map, dug out my books – initially, I was wanted to visit the Baalgor Wastelands… but that might be a bit ambitious with 62 points characters. We shall see.

But all of the nitty-gritty details of exactly how I might bring a game of GURPS set in Palladium’s Known World aside… I wanted to make a note that I was working on the idea. Just in case anyone else fancies playing.

Am I crazy? It strikes me that when I keep talking about how much I love to explore fantastic worlds that perhaps I ought to get on and do it.

Game on!