RuneQuest/Eternal Champion SpaceOpera/PlanetaryRomance

[Astromancer]

I'm reading Moorcock's Eternal Champion series in the order in which he told the White Wolf editors they should be read. I'm currently in The Roads between the Worlds which is totally space opera. The altered planetary system at the end of The Wrecks of Time is a wonderland for RPGers. Twelve alternate Earth's in one solar system with walkable roads between them! The setting in The Winds of Limbo is as Jetson-ish as a serious sci fi novel gets.

These aren't the only sci fi settings in the Eternal Champion stories. Which leads to my suggestion, "There should be a RuneQuest SpaceOpera/PlanetaryRomance book. It should cover all the basics of the genre and have psi rules that fit in with the RuneQuest system. This wouldn't be Traveller it would be Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers not "The Moon is Harsh Mistress," "Look to Windward...," "The Tactics of Mistake," or "Foundation and Empire." "Dune," "The Book of the New Sun," "A Princess of Mars," or Star Wars , but not Blake's Seven, Star Trek, or Star Gate .

The Planet Mongo et al belongs with the RuneQuest line. Please give us the tools.

Thank-you.

 

[Osentalka]

Yes, put SpaceQuest back on track!

 

[Magistus]

I agree.

 

[SnowDog]

Wouldn't the two system be competing against each other? Granted, Traveller will have a standard setting as does MRQ (Glorantha) but Traveller is still intended for a generic system, AFAIK. SpaceQuest would also be a generic ruleset.

I'm not saying that I would not be glad to see it happen, too but somehow I really much doubt it...

 

[Astromancer]

Traveller, even with it's Psionics and often comic Aliens, is meant to be a hard Sci Fi setting. A RuneQuest space opera/planetary romance book would only marginally be Sci Fi. Let's look at my lists.

Hard and Hardish Sci Fi

"The Moon is Harsh Mistress"
"Look to Windward..."
"The Tactics of Mistake"
"Foundation and Empire"
Blake's Seven
Star Trek
Star Gate

Each of these is meant (with different levels of success) to represent possible futures or presents. The world that we see as "real" is the basis of discussion and action.


Science Fantasy

Flash Gordon
Buck Rogers
"Dune"
"The Book of the New Sun"
"A Princess of Mars"
Star Wars

With the exceptions of "Dune" and "The Book of the New Sun" these are swashbuckler-style tales of darring doo. The two exceptions, "Dune" and "The Book of the New Sun," are mythological tales in the sense that they reach into the commonnalities of myth and create vibrant new epics from the old traditions. Star Wars also attempts this but with far less skill.

Basically, like RuneQuest , these are meant to be heroic and mythic tales. Traveller has always wanted to tell various kinds of Sci Fi tales, and it is often very good at this. But Science Fantasy settings are basically so much closer to RuneQuest . If nothing else, you don't have to explain the wildly implusible ecconomic and evironmental systems, let alone the wacky governments!

 

[AKAramis]

I disagree with your list.

Dune, for reference, is a better fit to Traveller than it looks at first glance. The benegeserit can be done with Traveller psionics quite nicely; the only elements that are not are the changing of the spice (which could be a specialized form of TK and Clairvoyance, or could be a "Chemokinesis" special), and the Navigators.

Dune, Old BSG, and each Trek (individually) really occupy a third niche, along with Sten and McCaffrey's FSP setting: Soft Sci-Fi. Stuff works in a generally consistent manner, which may not be realistic, but is handled in a consistent and apparently realistic model. Nothing is too far out there, but it also isn't restricted to realism, either. In short, each breaks the "3 disconnect" rule, but tries to keep the breaks reasonable.

So I'd say....

Hard & semi-hard Sci-Fi:
Most of AC Clark, Issac Azimov, and RE Heinlein.
Stargate
Some of WH Kieth's works, and a few of Mercedes Lackey's SF works
Space: ABove and Beyond (barely)

Soft Sci-Fi:
Dune
Star Trek
Old BSG
Alien Nation
Cole & Bunch's Sten
Andromeda*
Most of McCaffrey, Bujold, Niven, and the rest of Clark and Azimov
Traveller's OTU

Space Fantasy:
Dr. Who (old)
Flash Gordon
Earth: Final Conflict
Andromeda (After season 1)
Star Wars
Red Dwarf


Much of the Space Fantasy works reasonable well in Traveller, and, just about all the Soft Sci-Fi does, too. Many editions of Traveller don't do the Hard Sci-Fi all that well, unless one glosses over the whole issue of travel, as most of REH's works do.

 

[Astromancer]

AKAramis we're looking at different things. You're doing a more general literary analysis of the works in question. Me, I'm asking a simpler thing. Is this story best simulated as a realistic/adverture or as a mythic/romantic tale?

Now there are many ways to treat most themes. I once used the old QuestWorld box set to do a Star Trek game as priveteer/explorers useing the RuneQuest rules. ("The Sails canna take much more Captain!") It was a blast. But at it's heart, Star Trek (like Star Gate , Babylon 5 or Firefly ) fit the Traveller set up better. Each has it's Mythic qualities, but these are all closer to traditional ideas of realism. Star Wars , like Glorantha, is primarily about myth For all it's serious and rich detail, Dune , like Star Wars is a mythic tale of the comming of a messiah. Dune is by far the more sophistocated and nuanced, though Star Wars isn't totally lame. In the end, both stories are concerned with spirtual values. Dune with the evolution of truely free humans, Star Wars with the redemption of the Republic. Each of these themes are far closer to Glorantha than The Third Imperium .

Note, I'm not making value judgements here. I'm trying to describe/define a narative's type or kind.