Basic Reskinning

A GM's life is tough. Coming up with new, interesting, content on a consistent basis can tax even the most creative person. Most GMs eventually turn to borrowing bits and pieces from books and movies and comics and whatever and adding them to their campaign. I'm not certain what folks actually call this but I call it re-skinning.

I'm convinced that nearly everyone eventually reskin content it but most don't really talk about it either for fear of giving up the game to players or for some mistaken thoughts of plagiarism.  I'll start with the second issue first. If you don't publish the reskinned content then you don't have to worry about plagiarism. As for giving up the game for players, that is what this column is about: how to create reskinned content that is mostly unrecognizable.

The elements of nearly everything worth reskinning boil down to: plots, characters, & scenes. There is also theme but we're not sure that can really be reskinned. Some thoughts on effective reskinning:

• Jump genres. Reskinning the Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones will be obvious. Reskin Star Wars into a medieval setting less so.
• Change character names. Conan can be just as big a bad-arse if his name is Tyrion.
• Blend characters from different sources. Its the interplay between groups of characters that make them so memorable, split up the group and the source of the parts are less obvious.
• Television and series books make better sources than movies. There is more to work with and the list of plots among a series are far less memorable than from a handful of movies.
• Even mediocre sources occasionally have amazing scenes that can be used.
• Some elements for a series aren't enough for a plot. Sometimes you just have to admit some things don't work and let it go.

An example of a reskinned scene
The movie Phantom Menace was not our favorite but the pod race scene was a lot of fun. It appears to be a reskinned sci-fi version of the chariot race from Ben Hur. So how can we re-use it.

First why the chase?

1. Race for a cash prize (Phantom Menace)
2. Race because one is forced to on pain of death (Death Race, Ben Hur)
3. Race to get through enemy territory or escape (Road Warrior, Thunderdome, Fury Road)

What is our vehicle since cars and pod racers just won't do?

1. Horses with horse archery, lances, and hacking melee weapons (straight medieval)
2. Chariots or wagons (protect the wheels, protect the wheels). Similar to  horses except the terrain needs to be smoother lest the wheels get shattered.
3. Magical flying ships (like in the world of Slain) or flying mounts (I guess, not our style)  Terrain would mostly be about the wind, possibly rivers of wind cutting through mountain passes.
4. Racing on dinosaurs or such (heroes could be on a sauropod while the villains could be on sauropods or smaller two legged fast beasts (making this a truly wild Sword & Sorcery deal). Imagine villains dropping down onto the heroes sauropod on those long arm-like levers from Mad Max Fury Road.
5. Race using Carvels or other ships. The race could go through narrow spots between rock, over shallow shoals, or even into floating seaweed that slows and clogs up the oars.

By the time you've changed things, even a little bit, you'll have amped up the excitement and hidden where the original skin came from.