Space Quest

[Utgardloki]

I've been thinking for a long time that it is time to get out of the archaic ages. I've been thinking of running Iron Kingdoms (still archaic, in my opinion), Runequest Modern (set in the 1970s), and Battlestar Galactica (using the D6 system, boo hiss). I've also been thinking of running a World War II/Ravenloft game using D20. (more boo hiss)

But I was thinking, sometimes I feel in the mood for a good old fashioned space opera, but one not based on an existing movie or TV show. The question becomes then, if I don't base a space opera on an existing movie or TV show or novel or comic book, then what do I base it on?

So I decided to come here for ideas. Some thoughts I've had:

"Third Legion". Inspired by the Legion of Super-Heroes comic books, but not so goofy. 1,500 years in the future, the PCs are part of a galaxy spanning law enforcement organization.

Exalted. I've played the Exalted role playing game, but don't care for the game system and don't care for the setting and don't care for the concept of being hunted by the empire and don't care for the existentialistic ethics and don't care for the free-form system and don't care for having to work improbable stunts into every action. But I like the idea of charms, and have thought about converting them to another system. Being able to do Exalted-style charms might be an interesting idea for a space opera type game.

Exoduses. The problem with space operas nowadays is that the cyberpunk people have shown that AI, genetic engineering, and nanotech would dramatically alter the human race in the next couple hundred years. But perhaps one way to have normal-type humans is to have an Exodus away from the Sol stellar system from humans who do not want to be so radically transformed. These humans might settle into a set of solar systems where the more advanced creatures might not find them. Or perhaps the advances lead to a "gray goo" in the Sol Stellar System, leaving the humans who left it, unmolested.

I know there are settings out there, and I have a lot of them. A lot of settings seem rather dark and dystopian, and I don't really want that. I am looking for ideas, ideas that can inspire me.

 

[Shadow Queen]

no D6 for Battlestar Galactica

 

[Quire]

I've played the Exalted role playing game, but don't care for the game system and don't care for the setting and don't care for the concept of being hunted by the empire and don't care for the existentialistic ethics and don't care for the free-form system and don't care for having to work improbable stunts into every action.

You must have had a real blast.

But I like the idea of charms

Ah, a redeeming feature. So in what way do you think charms could be applied to SF?

- Q

 

[Utgardloki]

I am thinking that in a science fiction setting, humans could start developing psychic abilities that could be manifested as "charms". Instead of different castes like dragon-blooded, etc, there could be different schools. The PCs would use the charms that they learn to achieve their goals.

 

[are]

But I like the idea of charms, and have thought about converting them to another system.

According to me, charms is probably the worst part of Exalted. Every charm is a special rule that has to be learned - this is even worse than Feats.

 

[soltakss]

The trouble with Psi Powers is that they are different with each setting.

Some settings have Psi Powers that are almost natural talents and can't easily be expanded. So, Julian May's Saga of the Exiles has Coercers, Farsensors, Redactors and so on who are pretty much set in their fields. Babylon 5 has a similar idea that you can't change the nature of your Psi Abilities, although you can train them to be better, you can't normally get new abilities. Star Wars, however, has the Force, which is Psi-based, and people can certainly learn new abilities. I can't think of other settings with Psi Abilities, as I haven't read much Sci-Fi for a while.

So, unless you want a "one size fits all" approach, you'll get different variants of Psi Powers. Which may or may not be a bad thing.

I think that RQ works well as a Space Game. Personal combat is handled within the normal rules, you just have special damage effects for the more exotic weapons, special rules for radiation, force shields and so on. But they are just tweaks.

Technology is handled fairly easily, even Cyberpunk could use similar rules to the Jrusteli modifications.

Computers are best handled as intelligent things with a skill set that can multitask. If you define hardware for computers then you'll be rapidly overtaken.

Space Travel is always a problem as you need rules for it that are game/setting dependant. So: Babylon 5 has jump points, jump gates and hyperspace travel; Star Trek has Space Warp; Star Wars has Jump/Hyperspace travel; Buck Rogers had jump gates and so on. Each requires different rules, unless you describe each method of transportation and then say which methods can be used in a particular setting.

The problem with a Sci Fi game is that you need some good settings. A game without a setting is a vacuum. So, you need something like Babylon 5, Farscape, Star Trek, Star Wars, Dune or even Blakes 7 or Doctor Who. Alternatively, there are very many sci-fi books out there with worlds ripe for gaming in.

I like my Sci Fi with a certain amount of fantasy as well. So, Radix or Hawkmoon fits quite nicely as they are Fantasy/Sci Fi with magical effects as well as Psi.

What I try and avoid is generic creatures that don't have backgrounds or racial characteristics. Terry Pratchett had a nice scifi book "Dark Side of the Sun" (I think) with the Kung, a four-armed race of combat machines, which I've always wanted to see stats for. Star Trek suffers from the "oh, look another alien species", where something like Farscape or Babylon 5 have a few main species and an indeterminate number of species that don't feature very heavily.

 

[klingsor]

If I do an SF setting I would have some rules, the first ones would be:

Time travel is not possible.

Alien races are unlikely to want to mate and cannot produce offspring if they do.

Aliens cannot be described as <insert name of terran species>man. Examples include lizardman, lionman so on.

Planets will have more than one climate type.

No technobabble.

 

[klingsor]

I am very tempted by a post collapse setting with no aliens. Basically humanity spread out then something happened and spaceflight was largely lost with most settled planets reverting to barbarism. Now some have recovered and are starting to expand again. It gives you plenty of room to explore and meet new cultures and the opportunity for discovering secrets and artefacts.

I do not think you need alien races. If you want weirdness you can do it with strange human cultures – and the best way to get those is to steal from reality.

Of course my fantasy setting has a similar setup albeit with the very grudging addition of non-human races.

I would recommend the Reaches books by David Drake. The setting is a pretty good one to steal though he does have aliens.

 

[duncan_disorderly]

Alien races are unlikely to want to mate and cannot produce offspring if they do.

.

what, not even with each other? THat would make them very alien!

 

[simonh]

Planets will have more than one climate type.
/quote]

Thats all very well, but when you look at our solar system, by and large most of the planets and moons actually do only have one climate type, albeit with some seasonal variation such as Mars' dust storms. Europa and Titan are ice planets, Venus is "hoter than a snake's ass in a wagon rut" planet, etc. Maybe it's Earth that's weird.

 

[klingsor]

I was only thinking of habitable worlds.
If it can support human life then it is going to be complicated. I am just fed up with desert world, jungle world and so on, that seems far too simplistic. Even Mars, the only remotely earthlike example we have has different climatic zones – even if it seems to be as simple as the polar regions and everywhere else!
I am sure we can devise examples to break this rule but I think it is a good one to keep in mind.

 

[Shadow Queen]

Stargate anybody??

 

[lastbesthope]

Stargate has been done already with Spycraft ruleset. Sony pulled the licence from AEG. If you did it in another system, you'd either have to get a lot of new customers or convince the old ones to buy into a new ruleset.

LBH

 

[simonh]

I think there's a lot of mileage in mashups - take two series/novels/films and mash them together and see what you get.

A friend of mine once ran a Blake's Seven game set in the Star Wars universe, but using a very fast ship with poor weaponry but an invisibility field. It worked exceptionally well.

I once ran a Star Trek game set in the Traveller universe. Imperial scientists discovered a wormhole to a distant sector, and the players were the command crew on a cruiser boldly going, etc, so the premise was similar to the classic series in some ways, but in a different setting. Normally in Traveller you can't assume a planet has never been visited before because the timeline is so long.

A sidetrack I know because SF and Superheroes are different genres, but I've always wanted to do a Superhero game set in the ancient world, say around the time of Julius Caesar - the BBC/HBO series Rome has rekindled that idea recently.


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