Sell me on Strontium Dog
- Thread starter kafka
- Start date
Loz
Mongoose
Here's the sales pitch:
You're playing a mutant bounty hunter who is licensed to hunt down and kill the scum of the universe. As a mutant, you're hated, feared and despised; your mutations may be extreme (your face on your ass, for instance), but may also grant you significant advantages (such as enhanced characteristics, or special powers).
However, as a Search/destroy agent, you have access to numerous cool weapons and gadgets - like the awesome Variable Cartridge Blaster; or the Time Bomb, which projects targets forwards or backwards in time, but not in space, leaving them victims of vacuum because the planetary orbit has obviously progressed whilst they have stayed put. All these weird and wonderful weapons are yours - if you can afford them, and to afford them, you need to hunt-down the scum of the universe.
The Strontium Dog series is chock-full of wry humour and in-jokes. Its Sergio Leone in space. This is spaghetti science fantasy with a dollop of very dry, black humour. Its about killing bad guys for profit and being viewed as one of the bad guys yourself. Its about double-crosses, treasure-hunts, Mexican stand-offs and uber-weaponry. Its about travelling back in time to bring Hitler to justice (or any mass murderer from history). Its about 9th Century Vikings coming forward in time to become bounty hunters themselves. Its dimension-hopping into weird realms that mimic hell...
Its every strange and gonzo SF idea you can think of and then some.
Its a richly described universe with ties into Judge Dredd.
Quite simply, its going to be heaps and heaps of Maximum Game Fun.
Loz
You're playing a mutant bounty hunter who is licensed to hunt down and kill the scum of the universe. As a mutant, you're hated, feared and despised; your mutations may be extreme (your face on your ass, for instance), but may also grant you significant advantages (such as enhanced characteristics, or special powers).
However, as a Search/destroy agent, you have access to numerous cool weapons and gadgets - like the awesome Variable Cartridge Blaster; or the Time Bomb, which projects targets forwards or backwards in time, but not in space, leaving them victims of vacuum because the planetary orbit has obviously progressed whilst they have stayed put. All these weird and wonderful weapons are yours - if you can afford them, and to afford them, you need to hunt-down the scum of the universe.
The Strontium Dog series is chock-full of wry humour and in-jokes. Its Sergio Leone in space. This is spaghetti science fantasy with a dollop of very dry, black humour. Its about killing bad guys for profit and being viewed as one of the bad guys yourself. Its about double-crosses, treasure-hunts, Mexican stand-offs and uber-weaponry. Its about travelling back in time to bring Hitler to justice (or any mass murderer from history). Its about 9th Century Vikings coming forward in time to become bounty hunters themselves. Its dimension-hopping into weird realms that mimic hell...
Its every strange and gonzo SF idea you can think of and then some.
Its a richly described universe with ties into Judge Dredd.
Quite simply, its going to be heaps and heaps of Maximum Game Fun.
Loz
Klaus Kipling
Mongoose
Pretty succinct summary there, Loz 
alex_greene
Guest
Strontium Dog is the brainchild of the same geniuses behind Judge Dredd - namely Wagner and Ezquerra.
That much pretty much speaks for itself. But wait: there's more.
As a Stront, your character is usually possessed of some mutation or other. Usually, that mutation is an advantageous ability such as enhanced hearing or sense of smell, or telepathy, or some such talent.
Of course you have to pay for this with certain pretty obvious disadvantages. Your enhanced sense of smell might come from a lupine muzzle, or your ears' incredible sense of hearing might be the product of the lobes being large and leathery, like a bat's.
And with that disadvantage comes another: prejudice from the Norms, which is pretty much endemic. You're a SD agent, there to do a job and collect your pay: that doesn'tmean the Norms will be eager and willing to fall into bed with you.
Unless they're skeevy like that.
But hey; it pays well enough, considering your ungrateful clients usually want you to hunt down the most ugly, violent, nasty scum the universe has ever suffered. But the good news is, you get a licence to take out that same scum. Especially if the contract stipulates dead or alive.
Just watch out for those despicable Stix clones trying to take your rightful catch out from under you. Nobody likes a bindlestiff - someone who steals from their own, and the Stix are bindlestiffs of the worst kind.
Worst of all, though, if your prey's big enough, you might just find yourself up in a race against the worst of the worst. The heaviest SD agents, with real brass ones. Johnny Alpha himself, or worse - Durham Red, the Strontium Bitch.
Excitement enough for you?
This setting, I'll look forward to. As much as I'm a Dredd fan, I am even more of a SD fanboy.
That much pretty much speaks for itself. But wait: there's more.
As a Stront, your character is usually possessed of some mutation or other. Usually, that mutation is an advantageous ability such as enhanced hearing or sense of smell, or telepathy, or some such talent.
Of course you have to pay for this with certain pretty obvious disadvantages. Your enhanced sense of smell might come from a lupine muzzle, or your ears' incredible sense of hearing might be the product of the lobes being large and leathery, like a bat's.
And with that disadvantage comes another: prejudice from the Norms, which is pretty much endemic. You're a SD agent, there to do a job and collect your pay: that doesn'tmean the Norms will be eager and willing to fall into bed with you.
Unless they're skeevy like that.
But hey; it pays well enough, considering your ungrateful clients usually want you to hunt down the most ugly, violent, nasty scum the universe has ever suffered. But the good news is, you get a licence to take out that same scum. Especially if the contract stipulates dead or alive.
Just watch out for those despicable Stix clones trying to take your rightful catch out from under you. Nobody likes a bindlestiff - someone who steals from their own, and the Stix are bindlestiffs of the worst kind.
Worst of all, though, if your prey's big enough, you might just find yourself up in a race against the worst of the worst. The heaviest SD agents, with real brass ones. Johnny Alpha himself, or worse - Durham Red, the Strontium Bitch.
Excitement enough for you?
This setting, I'll look forward to. As much as I'm a Dredd fan, I am even more of a SD fanboy.
kafka said:
I think that's the wrong question to ask (if I understand you correctly). There's nothing here that "screams Traveller" - Traveller is just a ruleset. If you're asking if SD feels like the Third Imperium/Charted Space setting then IIRC it doesn't - and I don't think there's any point in asking that question of subsequent SF settings released for MGT, because most of them won't be anything like the Third Imperium setting either (from what I remember of the comics SD is that sort of typically grim, nasty, dirty, unpleasant setting that only Brits seem to be able to come up with
). If you're asking why Strontium Dog should be done with the MGT rules as opposed to say GURPS or HERO or anything else then I'd say the answer is that Mongoose have the license so they're going to use their own system for it, which is MGT.
And if I recall correctly, you are not allowed to practice any other profession except being a bounty hunter So, no free trader mutants...
But I agree that this is pretty far away from OTU setting. Still, what makes it sort of Traveller is the fact that there are quite a lot of space travelling to do when you are pursuing the criminals...
So, no free trader mutants...But I agree that this is pretty far away from OTU setting. Still, what makes it sort of Traveller is the fact that there are quite a lot of space travelling to do when you are pursuing the criminals...
AndrewW
Emperor Mongoose
SnowDog said:And if I recall correctly, you are not allowed to practice any other profession except being a bounty hunter
Correct, that's the only one you are allowed. Assuming you are playing in that setting. Nothing says you can't create a mutant using those rules and play in another setting. Or modify the setting as desired.
SnowDog said:
The same could be said about Judge Dredd, which allows for space travel but that isn't generally a large part of it.
Loz
Mongoose
And, as others have pointed out, bounting hunting is the only profession mutants are allowed to follow. They really are treated as third class citizens (often not even that) by the norms and forbidden to hold jobs.
The mutation rules will work with any aspect of Traveller - from Dredd to OTU - but you may find them a bit too OTT for the OTU. The kinds of mutation seen in Strontium Dog can veer towards the stupidly ludicrous, so if you're striving for hard realism SF, then they probably won't work. However, for pulp comic book Science Fantasy, then its a perfect fit. And yes, they will definitely work with Dredd. The Judge Dredd game has its own mutant rules, but they're the Lite version of Strontium Dog.
The mutation rules will work with any aspect of Traveller - from Dredd to OTU - but you may find them a bit too OTT for the OTU. The kinds of mutation seen in Strontium Dog can veer towards the stupidly ludicrous, so if you're striving for hard realism SF, then they probably won't work. However, for pulp comic book Science Fantasy, then its a perfect fit. And yes, they will definitely work with Dredd. The Judge Dredd game has its own mutant rules, but they're the Lite version of Strontium Dog.
Gentleman John
Banded Mongoose
Loz said:You're not necessarily from Milton Keynes. You could be... but there are mutants everywhere. You might be from the Stevenage wastes, the Letchworth Gardens or the Leeds/Bradford Conurbs... Or New Salisbury... or Croydon Township....
Or even Donaghadee. Must get me some nice ice cream from there when I go home this summer.
Seriously, one of the things that I did like about SD was that it was not just about bounty hunting. In the classic strips Johnny Alpha frequently had to face his conscience as well as his bounties. For example, there was the story where a child was accidentally killed during a duel. In order to make amends he has the child resurrected by a necromancer (Malak Broode) who has been imprisoned by the weight of his own crimes. Beautiful writing, wonderful story. Very surreal.
Vile
Banded Mongoose
Yeah, I know - I was just hoping that a board member with a certain stripey-faced mutation would see that ... :twisted:Loz said:
I was always under the impression that it was only on Earth (or maybe only on the more 'civilised' planets) that bouny-hunting was the only legally available profession for mutants. IIRC, there were lots of mutant pioneer-type dirt farmers in the wilder portions of the western arm of the galaxy.
Time to go back and re-read my S/D Agency Files!
For a roleplaying setting, SD has cool (and stupid) mutations, cool (and stupid) weaponry, cool (and stupid) aliens, and complete freedom of time and space.
You play a mutant. Your job is bounty hunting. That's all you need to know, really - your motivation is making money, and you get to spend that money on cooler and stupider weaponry, and trips to cooler and stupider planets (ot times, or dimension) to make even more money to spend on... you get the idea.
Ever wondered why, in fantasy RPG's, your heroes are actually going on all these adventures and taking all that gold and spending it on equipment to go on more adventures? In SD, that worry is taken awy - it's the only thing you are allowed to do, other than hang around your ghetto being oppressed and (quite often) exterminated by the Norms.
You can even, if you so desire, make more involved scenario's highlighting the deeper political aspects of the strip... or you can just use cool and stupid weaponry and powers on criminal scum.
You sold yet?
You play a mutant. Your job is bounty hunting. That's all you need to know, really - your motivation is making money, and you get to spend that money on cooler and stupider weaponry, and trips to cooler and stupider planets (ot times, or dimension) to make even more money to spend on... you get the idea.
Ever wondered why, in fantasy RPG's, your heroes are actually going on all these adventures and taking all that gold and spending it on equipment to go on more adventures? In SD, that worry is taken awy - it's the only thing you are allowed to do, other than hang around your ghetto being oppressed and (quite often) exterminated by the Norms.
You can even, if you so desire, make more involved scenario's highlighting the deeper political aspects of the strip... or you can just use cool and stupid weaponry and powers on criminal scum.
You sold yet?
I agree that some of the mutations only work on comics, like some of the weapons etc. It's all matter of what you want. It's good to know that all will be included and I can just drop the parts that I don't like in my games. Personally I am not all that thrilled on time travel or dimension hopping, so for me they will play only a minor part. Same thing (probably) for time grenades and mutations that make playing that character extremely hard or something that can't be taken seriously.
About travelling. Yes, in Dredd there are space travelling, too but it's not very central part in stories as almost all of the stories are located to Big Meg. I agree that space travel in SD is mostly just getting from point A to point B, not part of the story (unlike in Traveller) but the chances are much higher that you will visit a new planet in your SD adventure than in JD adventure
Anyway, is it too early to get a hint at how rules are tweaked in SD to better emulate the comics? Similar way than in JD?
About travelling. Yes, in Dredd there are space travelling, too but it's not very central part in stories as almost all of the stories are located to Big Meg. I agree that space travel in SD is mostly just getting from point A to point B, not part of the story (unlike in Traveller) but the chances are much higher that you will visit a new planet in your SD adventure than in JD adventure
Anyway, is it too early to get a hint at how rules are tweaked in SD to better emulate the comics? Similar way than in JD?
Loz
Mongoose
Traveller and SD slot together quite neatly. Characters can gain special techniques, as in Judge Dredd, but essentially the gritty nature of SD and the inherent crunch of Traveller mean that few new rules or tweaks are really needed.
Weaponry, particularly blasters, are pretty formidable; and the mutation rules mean that some players may have characteristics at 12+ quite easily (or 0, or less), but there are few real, specific, rule changes. You can take the Strontium Dog book and core Traveller and you're good to go.
Weaponry, particularly blasters, are pretty formidable; and the mutation rules mean that some players may have characteristics at 12+ quite easily (or 0, or less), but there are few real, specific, rule changes. You can take the Strontium Dog book and core Traveller and you're good to go.
