This is a project were I tested out a new lightweight rule system. I told my players I was willing to run anything they wanted: Sci-fi, Fantasy, Superhero, Spy thriller, Mystery
Ideas could be detailed as they wanted. Some examples were 1) Animals with weapons 2) High school drama club abducted by aliens and forced to escape a prison planet in time for exam all while staying in character for their play. 3) Victorian pirates on a steam punk space-ship attempting to intercept the British empire's new eldritch super-weapon.
Background
I had been reading some different RPG systems and one caught my eye for winning awards and having innovative mechanics. The system by design allows players to invent details that have not already been set in stone. (System is FATE-RPG Accelerated available at http://fate-srd.com/fate-accelerated/get-started)
FATE Accelerated is a simplified version of FATE RPG. It is used by Dresden Files RPG, Spirit of the Century, and several other systems. The rules are based on FUDGE which I am generally not a fan of but I really do like Fate's mechanism for dealing with damage and adding detail to the story.
Some of the player story bits can make for interesting detail. For example - If you are locked in a dungeon, a player may state they are going to the window to check for loose bars. The very existence of a window was in fact in limbo until that moment when a player expressed desire to use one to escape but by the Gm accepting the action the window becomes a significant part of the scene.
Also instead of taking damage you may take consequences with can then be used against you. For example if your superhero is thrown into a building to take 6 damage (a killing blow) You may take 4 points of the damage as a consequence like "Mangled limb", or "Destroyed my house" (stating the building was yours and most of your stuff is now gone). Or maybe even a plot twist like "The children hospital on fire" so there is another problem you need to deal with even as the battle continues. Very cool story aspects. One big change is that the focus is more on telling a good story rather than combat and the focus is on doing what-ever makes the story gripping.
Party decided to go with Steampunk Space and Piracy as a theme but the trial run had issues when multiple players had last minute cancellations. (Sickness, Frozen pipes, etc) So we instead winged the entire session.
First session started with a simple plan : meet contact, get cargo, and leave planet. During session this became fail to reach contact before he was hauled off to the drunk tank, break into prison to free him and instead steal impounded goods before escaping on a railroad handcart. Said handcart then had a gripping game of chicken with a train which ended with foiling a botched train robbery by two of the worst prepared goons in the universe. See session1 for details.