A Discussion about science fiction and the world wars

[AndrewW]

But such a story is not without its precedents. There have been science fiction and fantasy stories where the protagonists have ended up stuck behind some sort of barrier and forced to survive somehow, such as the episode of Stargate Atlantis where John Sheppard finds himself stuck in a valley where time is accelerated compared to the outside world, or that episode of Voyager where Tuvok befriends Lori Petty playing, well, herself.

Also an episode of Sanctuary had a greatly accelerated time barrier, though they did get help from those in normal time to 'escape'.

A variation is the Next Generation episode The Inner Light where Jean-Luc Picard is struck by a beam from a probe and experiences 40 years while only minutes pass for everyone else. He thinks 40 years has passed but it hasn't really.

 

[Hopeless]

Okay how about a returning mining ship finds their home world completely abandoned with no sign of anyone?

Searching they discovered shortly after their ship made the last jump to this system an undisclosed event caused everything to shut down with no sign what happened to the population but there is enough information online to indicate the same event is going to repeat itself a few hours after they learn about it forcing a rush back to their ship and jumping back out of the system before it happens...

The twist is their home world is fine they suffered a misjump and their experiencing problems being revived from low berth after being found by rescuers since their ship went missing a few centuries ago...

How does that feel like to you?

 

[alex_greene]

Okay how about a returning mining ship finds their home world completely abandoned with no sign of anyone?

Searching they discovered shortly after their ship made the last jump to this system an undisclosed event caused everything to shut down with no sign what happened to the population but there is enough information online to indicate the same event is going to repeat itself a few hours after they learn about it forcing a rush back to their ship and jumping back out of the system before it happens...

The twist is their home world is fine they suffered a misjump and their experiencing problems being revived from low berth after being found by rescuers since their ship went missing a few centuries ago...

How does that feel like to you?

Confusing, which means your players are really going to be in the dark ...

 

[Condottiere]

Bait and switch would work, only after some time into the campaign, not that I would recommend it last more than a session or two.

 

[Rick]

Okay how about a returning mining ship finds their home world completely abandoned with no sign of anyone?

Searching they discovered shortly after their ship made the last jump to this system an undisclosed event caused everything to shut down with no sign what happened to the population but there is enough information online to indicate the same event is going to repeat itself a few hours after they learn about it forcing a rush back to their ship and jumping back out of the system before it happens...

The twist is their home world is fine they suffered a misjump and their experiencing problems being revived from low berth after being found by rescuers since their ship went missing a few centuries ago...

How does that feel like to you?

So what you're saying is that the entire team is suffering some kind of shared mental trauma from being in low berth for too long? Could be interesting but I would have clues that the players could work out that what they were going through wasn't real, as well as some explanation for why they are sharing it (there are some good ideas for this in Stargate - from a virtual world to keep their minds active in low berth, to some sort of emergency protocol for saving dying characters). Of course, then there'd be the problem with convincing them the world they'd woken up into was real, as well as images/sequences from the trauma resurfacing when stressed.

 

[fusor]

Okay how about a returning mining ship finds their home world completely abandoned with no sign of anyone?

Searching they discovered shortly after their ship made the last jump to this system an undisclosed event caused everything to shut down with no sign what happened to the population but there is enough information online to indicate the same event is going to repeat itself a few hours after they learn about it forcing a rush back to their ship and jumping back out of the system before it happens...

The twist is their home world is fine they suffered a misjump and their experiencing problems being revived from low berth after being found by rescuers since their ship went missing a few centuries ago...

How does that feel like to you?

Why take such an interesting idea and destroy it with a misguided "twist"? I think you're trying too hard here. The concept sounds like the web video "L5" (which wasn't very well executed but had an interesting idea - a ship returns to earth and finds everyone has disappeared, there's no sign of life anywhere in the system. They're near an O-Neill colony at L5 though so they go investigate. Unfortunately it didn't go anywhere further than that). And the repeating event sounds like the film "The Quiet Earth".

And then you blow it with a totally unnecessary "twist".

 

[alex_greene]

Of course, then there'd be the problem with convincing them the world they'd woken up into was real, as well as images/sequences from the trauma resurfacing when stressed.

Tell them there's a small black spinning top gyrating on the table, and then slam the core rulebook closed and say "Right. So, next week we're playing Legend" while you're playing the theme tune from Inception?

No, wait! Have Lawrence Fishburne turn up, wearing shades and a trenchcoat, and offer them the choice of a blue pill or a red pill!

 

[-Daniel-]

No, wait! Have Lawrence Fishburne turn up, wearing shades and a trenchcoat, and offer them the choice of a blue pill or a red pill!

I have often wondered what would have happened if Neo had taken both pills at once. The Purple Option. :mrgreen:

 

[alex_greene]

No, wait! Have Lawrence Fishburne turn up, wearing shades and a trenchcoat, and offer them the choice of a blue pill or a red pill!

I have often wondered what would have happened if Neo had taken both pills at once. The Purple Option. :mrgreen:

He'd have ended up in the Matrix, marooned.

 

[Condottiere]

Every man is an island, or floating in his own life support pod.

 

[Hopeless]

What the heck did he drink last night?! :twisted:

 

[Condottiere]

Going over the border to party in Tijuana.

Should check if he has all his kidneys still.

 

[alex_greene]

Going over the border to party in Tijuana.

Should check if he has all his kidneys still.

All? Last time he checked, he only had two.

 

[Hopeless]

Going over the border to party in Tijuana.

Should check if he has all his kidneys still.

All? Last time he checked, he only had two.

Are they his?

 

[alex_greene]

Going over the border to party in Tijuana.

Should check if he has all his kidneys still.

All? Last time he checked, he only had two.

Are they his?

Probably. They have QR codes imprinted on them, and "Property Of The Wachowskis" underneath.

 

[Condottiere]

I'd think they'd be cloned, by that stage of our technological development, or even regenerated.