Strontium Dog v Rogue Trooper

[BigSteveUK]

Hi Guys,

I noticed that this time next year, we should hopefully have a SD game in our sticky palms.

I was surprised I would of thought they would have gone for Rogue Trooper as I fell there is a far more scope for a long term campaign.

SD is very much like Dredd a niche game, very focused.

I must admit I am very glad they are going to release a full campaign for Dredd, as this has won me over to forget the XXX.XX (stupid amount) I invested in the D20 system and by it again in Traveller!!

Laters,

Steve

 

[Samvail1]

Hey BigSteve

I'm interested as to why you think that Rogue Trooper gives more scope for a long term Campaign over a Strontium Dog Campaign. As fun as a Rogue Trooper game would be, I can't see why it would offer more scope for a campaign. Surely once you become a chip in someone's equipment, it becomes a bit boring. I've been running a Strontium Dog Campaign for years using various systems. The scope for adventure is vast in SD, with Galaxy spanning adventure. You can mix elements of investigation and detective work with combat and even war! The dynamic of being labeled as scum wherever you go adds a lot and having Bounty Contracts means there are always guidelines for adventure.

If you have strong ideas I suppose you can have a fun campaign with any game. It's just good to be talking about SD again on these forums with a strong possibility of a product release.

Thanks BigSteve
Sam

 

[SnowDog]

I have to agree that SD has more potential for a long campaign than Rogue Trooper. I have enjoyed both as comics but RT has some problems to actually work as an RPG.

1) It is not fun to play a normal human in Nu-Earth. Once the suit is ripped, you're dead.

2) Only G.I.s survive in that hostile environment, sadly there are only one G.I. left (plus his chipped friends).

3) Military campaigns are pretty hard to come up with. On the other hand if you get a good plot and can come up with plenty of missions etc. it can be a blast.

Strontium Dog doesn't suffer from the same problems as there are plenty of SD agents running around (like judges in JD). While the focus will be in bounty hunting it is much easier to think of other kind scenarios for that game, too, like Samvail1 already mentioned.

Frankly, if I wanted a military game set in 2000AD books, it would be Bad Company

Kill Krool! :twisted:

 

[The Greek]

I also would like to throw my lot in with SD as a=n easier setting for a RPG. There are possibilities of things to do on Nu Earth (and beyond - although Nu Earth is the most familiar setting for the war between the Norts and Southers there are other battlefields as well (although the stories set on them were not generally as strong, they do provide possibilities for good roleplay.

The problem I have with Rogue Trooper is the same as all military settings. Command structures tend to run contrary to most RPG groups' instincts, which can hamper play. But I have no doubt we will be giving Rogue @& Co a good look at some point in the future...

 

[SnowDog]

I stopped reading Rogue Trooper at the late 90's and practically got back to his adventures when he was known as Friday. I don't know what's the difference but anyway I missed those stories that were set outside the Nu Earth.

Like I wrote, I agree that military command structure is a sort of antithesis for normal RPG party. Then again, why all of the games should be alike in that aspect? Yes, I am aware that there are games where command structure is stressed and important.

I stopped reading Strontium Dog at the same time as RT (some sort of hiatus on comics) and it seems I missed pretty much. When I got back to reading comics my comic retailer didn't any longer carry 2000AD products and now I have to be happy if I can see occasional JD album

Anyway, I am really looking forward to seeing Strontium Dog.

 

[numanti]

Rogue would make a good tabletop battle game, but the scope for roleplaying isn't really there. SD would be perfect for an RPG - probably even more perfect than Dredd (which sounds like blasphemy to me, Dredd has been my main campaign for 20 years, off and on) and with a wider appeal as the set up is so simple - you are a mutant, the only job you are allowed is Bounty Hunter, all the normas hate you wherever you go, you have access to a huge range of exotic vehicles and weaponry but you need money, to get money you have to collect bounties, and you have the entire galaxy to play in, oh - and there is time travel, too. And alternate dimensions.

Oh - and there are tons of other mutant bounty hunters - all of whom are after the same bounties as you, and who would not hesitate to blow you away for a quick buck.

You can take that idea anywhere you want, really. It could easily have a huge appeal outside of the readership of 2000AD as it's just such a perfect premise for a group to get together, roll up some outrageous mutations, and go off on wild adventures with no restrictions.

I'd be careful about bogging this one down in SD continuity as I reckon it's perfectly playable without having the Kreelers and Church too heavily involved in any campaigns, but that's just me.

 

[SnowDog]

Like I have already mentioned, I have dropped out of the loop about ten years ago. I have understood that Johny Alpha and Sternhammer are dead but I am not sure if that is true.

I would set the game at the end of the story and thus have all the history of the comics present. I am sure that there are plenty of story hooks in old stories that can be re-used or more like continued.

I totally agree that Rogue Trooper would be awesome as a miniatures game.

 

[Robin]

Like I have already mentioned, I have dropped out of the loop about ten years ago. I have understood that Johny Alpha and Sternhammer are dead but I am not sure if that is true.

Sternhammer died, in the comic, in 1986. Alpha died a few years later in 1990.

Several follow-up series were produced featuring characters left over from the final Alpha story and later the Gronk. These had a mixed reception. Initially these stories were written by Garth Ennis. He was followed by Peter Hogan who, in my view started to turn the series around by dealing seriously with the characters and situations left behind in the wake of Alpha's death and the plotlines that Garth Ennis started. Sadly, his efforts never reach fruition. However, if I was going to run a SD game, I'd actually be looking at following on from where Hogan was forced to leave off.

Sadly, none of the post-Alpha stories have been reprinted. However, all of the Alpha stories have now been collected in chunky collections. See here:

http://www.2000adonline.com/books/strontium-dog-the-kreeler-conspiracy.php

A few years ago, one of the original writers of the SD, John Wagner, began writing new SD stories featuring Alpha before he died. The first of these, The Kreeler Conspiracy, was actually an attempt to reimagine the series, the idea being the SD stories that had gone before were mere folklore. However, this idea was quickly dropped, and the later stories fit into the old continuity. These have been pretty popular.

Regards

Robin

 

[SnowDog]

Sternhammer died in '86? There must be a huge hole in my memory stack not to remember that because I was definitely reading the series at the moment. I think that I was followin it even in '90 but maybe I remember wrong and was just reading Dredd and Rogue Trooper (mostly).

Thanks for bringing be back to the loop, Robin!

 

[Da Boss]

big fan of the later Durham Red stories/ novels myself

 

[SnowDog]

Unfortunately I have found only one Durham Red story (the one where she awakens in a pretty far future). I liked that but then again even before I was aware of it the story gave Dan Abnett (sp?) kind of feeling

 

[Robin]

big fan of the later Durham Red stories/ novels myself

Sadly, I really dislike them. Abnett can write some good tales, but his Durham Red stuff is just a wholesale rejection of everything that made the character and her setting interesting in the first place. It was a completely different story that didn't need Red in order to tell it.

Regards

Robin

 

[BigSteveUK]

Hi Guys,

I see what you’re saying but I’m not convinced, I suppose it depends how you approach the game.

I ran JD for a while and though I and my players enjoyed it, it did suffer because of its tight focus. SD would be the same for me I would more likely run a series of one-off's, I am sure tracking down the odd villain is fun for a while but I am not sure of its long term appeal.

I am interested to see this new JD campaign Mongoose are going to release as hopefully it will give me a fresh look at JD.

I must admit I struggle a bit with running Sci-Fi games anyway.

Happy New Year,

BigSteve

 

[The Greek]

I may look at producing my own, long-running (several times) JD campaign in addition to the official Mongoose material. It is one of a couple of campaigns where players come back to me asking when I can run it again, years after they played in it.

I was tidying up my house when I found all my old Dredd gaming files, which is a real result (I had feared I had thrown them out some time ago). It is a proper campaign too, with events mentioned in week 1 (in the game world) reappearing in week 5, sparking an investigation.

My campaign had the player judges working as an investigative task force, with plenty of action mixed in with investigation, interrogation and the like. Plus a fair bit of Dredd-like humour.

I find that the world of Dredd has more than enough material to keep things fresh for Gms and players, IMO. But, there again, I have always liked Dredd.

 

[OtherNiceMan]

Frankly, if I wanted a military game set in 2000AD books, it would be Bad Company

Naah, VC's.

 

[SnowDog]

Granted, I ever read one story of VCs and it never made such an impact to me as Bad Company. Personal tastes of course

Kill Krool!

 

[Standing-Stone]

This is a odd thread.

Just look at the dates on it

 

[SnowDog]

True, going off topic post by post but not all that fast