A game concept

Hopeless

Mongoose
Supposing you start a session zero with the pcs travelling to a post apocalyptic world due to rumours of a warship belonging to a long dead race had been spotted due to suspicion it's been targeting ships belonging to a much more powerful empire whose been otherwise bullying the other species.

How much detail do I need to prepare for the start of this game assuming the PCs are not members of the Imperium, but more Babylon V equivalent...
 
Prepare what you need for session 0.
Where are the players at the start of the sesssion.
Is there a hook for them to go where you want them to go? This could include staying put, or travelling to some definite location.
What do you need/want/expect them to do first session? Prep that.

Prep a disaster plan. If they suddenly decide to go to planet X and become nerf herders and skip everything, have some Mercs start a fight in the hallway and have the group have to fight their way clear.

For a session 0 that involves a post apoc world you need the base where they start. Is the starport still there? If so, why? Is it a highport or lowport? Then a library link or storyteller to relay information about the downfall. Ship records to research/access/bribe to get to discover what ships have gone missing. Have a few names of ships, tonnages, destinations etc.

Using this information the group may figure out the flight parths of the missing ships. Maybe it shows a 'Bermuda Triangle'area where ships go missing. This could be the link to where your mystery ship is, or maybe it is a pirate band, or new political faction, or secret military invasion from another system. You still have options at this point. All the players know is X marks the spot.

Prep a ship encounter with whatever you want to have them encounter. Make it political or a fight, your choice. Or have it be a trader and let them make a deal to lull them into a false sense of safety, THEN have the enemy ship attack.
 
Hopeless said:
Supposing you start a session zero with the pcs travelling to a post apocalyptic world due to rumours of a warship belonging to a long dead race had been spotted due to suspicion it's been targeting ships belonging to a much more powerful empire whose been otherwise bullying the other species.

How much detail do I need to prepare for the start of this game assuming the PCs are not members of the Imperium, but more Babylon V equivalent...

1) Create some background for the post-apocalypse world. What is left? Where do they land? Who is still angry and wants to fight? What kind of encounters can they expect?

2) Create some background for the long-dead race. What is their tech? Why are they "long dead"? How can their hair dryer work as a localized disintegrator if they click the wrong button? Why are they targetting ships? If they are, how did survivors get the word out that strange long dead aliens are attacking starships? Just how powerful are these ships? What is their technology and level?

3) The Imperium, the "much more powerful Empire", the other species - if you are opening up this box you need to create something that defines all this and sets the stage.
 
Hopeless said:
Supposing you start a session zero with the pcs travelling to a post apocalyptic world due to rumours of a warship belonging to a long dead race had been spotted due to suspicion it's been targeting ships belonging to a much more powerful empire whose been otherwise bullying the other species.

How much detail do I need to prepare for the start of this game assuming the PCs are not members of the Imperium, but more Babylon V equivalent...

You don't need a setting. Or a whole lot of narration either. Basically, the players only know what the audience in a movie theater, that would be watching this as a movie, knows.

Just make career templates for skills and life events that could be used, or give the players pre-gen characters. Mostly, what you are going for here is the theme/mood for the situation the characters will be in. Some of the theme can be discovered during life events by the players as they do char-gen.
 
Your characters are on a ship heading for a world that has suffered some form of apocalypse in the distant past.

You have been drawn together to investigate rumours of vast treasures and a potential relic alien ship of technology far beyond your current TL.

Tell my why your character is on this ship and how they know the other characters, if at all.



your ship exits jump in the outer reaches of the system containing the planet. What are you doing next?

Good to go.
 
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