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How do we all get invited to the create a Scifi RPG project?No such project exists yet, as far as I know... so step one would be "get that project off the ground."
So how do we get this off the ground? Space Ships and Battle fleets? Pathfinders like Wormhole Navigators guiding Ships from one world to the next?
Exerting enough force to reach escape velocity?
Is this "Magic is Space" Pathfinder, or is it "Spaceships with Hyperspace drives".
If it is the former then isn't it a remake of that stuff from 2nd Edition?
If it's the latter, it changes the makeup of the current universe and you can't just plop a spaceship on a Golarion.
Really shouldn't you start at the character level and not at the big stuff like ships? The skill and combat systems would need to be altered as well to reflect character's with science knowledge and high tech gear.
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Really shouldn't you start at the character level and not at the big stuff like ships? The skill and combat systems would need to be altered as well to reflect character's with science knowledge and high tech gear.
James Jacobs recommends just getting the project of the ground...suddenly it seems like some impossible task. If it were a Scifi how about one that doesn't have any 'problem solving tech' like a warp drive, a jump engine, or other things. It would mean A Battle for the Resources of a Solar System, with Colonies, and a fleet of nuclear powered Orion Drives.
If we were to do it like this we could have 'man-made' aliens. Like Some Corporation breeds a Weaponized Cockroach that is sent to take out a Mars Colony, machine life spreads beyond the Battlefield, and clones of the super rich become a source of biological material for their 'immortality'. Genetic Experiments, abandoned, forgotten, or covered up...
Well if you're going to include magic you will probably end up with something like Star Wars, Eberron, or Spelljammer depending on how much magic you want to include. Perhaps looking at one or more than one of those games will provide a good starting point?
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Well if you're going to include magic you will probably end up with something like Star Wars, Eberron, or Spelljammer depending on how much magic you want to include. Perhaps looking at one or more than one of those games will provide a good starting point?
Purely to keep the development process open - this is hopefully to become a think tank for a Paizo Scifi RPG.
One idea is to do Empire of the Petal Throne
This is a Science Fiction World that has fallen into a fantasy world. Adventurers find a travel system that takes them all over the world.
Another idea is to us Aranna's idea and keep it very simple and keep the future not so far off. The game might be more like Cyberpunk and you would have access to the generic fantasy races (what game was that? I am confusing Cyberpunk with something else)
Still another idea that has been started with the Gunslinger is to push Golarion far into the future. Flip Gunslinger with any of the spell casting classes. Casting is a mystery, while guns are super common. In such a world, there wouldn't be any 20d6 fireballs. (at least via a caster)
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I would like this as well. I loved TSR's Star Frontiers (setting anyway if not rules) also tried Traveller, and the D20 modern stuff with splat books like D20future ( which i liked because it brought back the star frontiers stuff!) As well as Battletech and Rifts and G.U.R.P.S. even tried a RoboTech game once.
Seems a lot harder to find players interested in the Sci Fi spin tho.
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I would like this as well. I loved TSR's Star Frontiers (setting anyway if not rules) also tried Traveller, and the D20 modern stuff with splat books like D20future ( which i liked because it brought back the star frontiers stuff!) As well as Battletech and Rifts and G.U.R.P.S. even tried a RoboTech game once.
Seems a lot harder to find players interested in the Sci Fi spin tho.
Is a Star Frontiers more appealing or do you want D&D in Space?
Dingo, have you checked out Stars Without Number?
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Dingo, have you checked out Stars Without Number?
No, and I'm creating my own as a public property...but this is a Think tank working on piecing together the interests of the Pathfinder Community so Paizo will have an Idea of what we might be interested in when they do get around to doing a Scifi RPG.
I am wondering does Paizo want to step away from D&D in space. It has already been done. It would basically be Fantasy.
Another idea is to try to take a popular book series and make a game out of it. Larry Niven's Ringworld is one example.
I don't know if Warhammer 40k has turned into an RPG. I know that Battletech did.
I think one problem is finding a sci-fi setting where there is already a fan base. The problem there is getting the main company let Paizo create an RPG (Star Trek -many versions, Star Wars - many versions, Firefly, Babylon 5) Think of your favorite scifi show and see if Paizo could get their foot in the door.
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I am wondering does Paizo want to step away from D&D in space. It has already been done. It would basically be Fantasy.
Another idea is to try to take a popular book series and make a game out of it. Larry Niven's Ringworld is one example.
I don't know if Warhammer 40k has turned into an RPG. I know that Battletech did.
I think one problem is finding a sci-fi setting where there is already a fan base. The problem there is getting the main company let Paizo create an RPG (Star Trek -many versions, Star Wars - many versions, Firefly, Babylon 5) Think of your favorite scifi show and see if Paizo could get their foot in the door.
Fantasy Flight does the Warhammer 40K RPG. Gorgeous, expensive hardcovers that really capture the feel of the setting, but the rules are not to my taste.
There are plenty of other licensed products on the market. My understanding is that Paizo is against licensing other people's IP even if a sci-fi setting became available.
Do folks prefer a sci-fi system to come with a setting, or to be more of a setting-neutral toolbox (like GURPS Space, for instance)? My preference would be to have a specific setting, as otherwise the scope of the project gets very big.
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Soooo many variables. My solution is this-
Buy DragonStar from Fantasy Flight Games if they still have it.
Setting already there.
Has its own fanbase already.
Ties to the monstrously successful Pathfinder universe.
Rules easily converted from Pathfinder RPG.
However- if they want pure Sci Fi, if they don't want it tied to pre existing licenses then
-They'll need their own setting. People that don't want setting will still buy the product and use the system. People that want setting won't buy if it's only system.
-The setting (galaxy, universe, whatever) needs an over-arching conflict for the players to join, ignore or take advantage of.
-Tech level can't be insane. Too high and you start introducing magic equivalents.
-Starship combat is an issue for SciFi RPG's- either the worst pilot will get too easily killed, or you end up with passengers on the ship while the pilot and gunner PCs do all the work.
-Plenty of aliens to choose from BUT no special abilities for them. As soon as you start it's a slippery slope and suddenly you have overpowered shapeshifters.
-Simple standardised RPG system. All aliens and humans should be roughly equal in power so no need for 20 levels and hundreds of hit points. Variety comes from the universe and the technology- not from character's classes and magical abilities.
Ultimately, what I want from a SciFi RPG is Dragonstar, or original Star Wars D6 system. If Paizo can make me a system that's easy to learn, and a setting that's grandiose with a couple of novel twists then I'll probably buy it.
Well, the OP doesn't provide much to work on.
What system -- existing or new mechanics?
If existing -- d20, M&M, Savage Worlds, ... ?
If new (ish) -- point buy, class, or both? Rules light or rules heavy? What do you want to have rules for? What can be winged? What die system (d20, bell curve 3d6, d10s, percentile, etc.)?
What genre -- EVERYTHING sci fi can be, from low power stuff with some cybernetics and robots, to mecha, to time travel, to full blown space opera, or just one kind of sci fi RPG, such as space opera? Near future or far future? Set on Earth or another world or many?
In other words, Six Million Dollar Man, Battletech, Doctor Who, Star Trek, or what? Or all of the above?
For the genre -- what systems have handled this before? Did they do it well? Poorly? What mistakes did they make that one should not repeat? What did they get right that should be emulated? What do prior systems not provide that makes you want a new system (besides their not being in print, which is a fair concern)?
Suppose the game was called "Space Finder", if the mechanics were based on Pathfinder rules, a user could say 'hey, I know this system because I have played pathfinder D&D!'. I think that is the direction that Gurps and Champions and Rolemaster went with.
As far as setting, if you gave a broad setting, you could start the game in one century (say 2180's) so that populating the/a star system was possible. Then you could have supplements for future time periods.
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Is this "Magic is Space" Pathfinder, or is it "Spaceships with Hyperspace drives".
If it is the former then isn't it a remake of that stuff from 2nd Edition?
If it's the latter, it changes the makeup of the current universe and you can't just plop a spaceship on a Golarion.
Maybe it should be spaceships without hyperdrives...
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@yellowdingo:
I personally would prefer Star frontiers type over D&D in space. I liked spell jammer, but I would like to play a more sci-fi vs fantasy game. Tho you could use a lot of the same critters and such. most monsters could be aliens of some kind.
And you wouldnt have to use Hyperdrives at all. Look at Ben Bova's novels. He has a bunch of them about just our solar system but still interesting and advanced.
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Is it Viable though or do you want that kind of limit?
Currently working on my own public setting and faced with Proxima Centauri being 4.23 LY from Earth. Given Voyager 1 traveled 1/600th of a Light Year in 30 years, that means 76,140 years to Proxima Centauri.
Unless there are Brown Dwarves out there closer to Earth - could be. Could even be a Star with a Dyson Sphere around it closer than Proxima Centauri and we wouldn't see it. According to NASA there is a Y Brown Dwarf out there with a temperature of 80F? So its a Room Temperature Star...How is that even possible?
Anyway At some point the SI Setting will produce an Interstellar Drive capable of reducing transit times (none of that star gate or warp drive crap). Until then they are going to be restricted to sending Drone ships on missions to strip-mine the Solar System.
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Cryo-sleep, suspended animation,recorded personalities in android bodies, generation type ships. all theories on how to defeat this, tho 76 thousand years seems it would defeat most of them.
Gravity control seems like a way to go if it can be controlled. continually excelerating by falling into an artificial black hole would create amazing velocities if it didnt fail. also look at Weber's Honor Harrington series of books, they run ships with gravity "plates" around them that allows for great speed and use gravity
'waves" to go great distances.(maybe a kind of string theory?).
Here is another idea, don't base space travel on science fact but science Fantasy. It would sort of like Cthulu. Reality is a lie. The people who understand it are insane and the rest of us don't understand things until we get out there.
Of coarse we can't use H.P. Lovecraft, but we can use something like it. I have a friend who has this idea that maybe we don't understand the real universe because all we've seen is inside this system.
Anything is possible if you want to put enough spin on it. Perhaps the means of getting from point A to point B won't be the most important part of the game. If the story takes place on another world, then these spaceships are just galactic cars.
Dot.
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Cryo-sleep, suspended animation,recorded personalities in android bodies, generation type ships. all theories on how to defeat this, tho 76 thousand years seems it would defeat most of them.
Gravity control seems like a way to go if it can be controlled. continually excelerating by falling into an artificial black hole would create amazing velocities if it didnt fail. also look at Weber's Honor Harrington series of books, they run ships with gravity "plates" around them that allows for great speed and use gravity
'waves" to go great distances.(maybe a kind of string theory?).
Actually you might enjoy this: A/0=NOT A so g=m.a or g/m=a thus for a Mass = 0, g/0=/g=a so an object of mass zero has an acceleration of /g (a gravitational force from another universe as opposed to ours).
How does that go in your FTL calculations?
Why would you need to figure Mass=0? Ships and crew have mass.
How do we all get invited to the create a Scifi RPG project?No such project exists yet, as far as I know... so step one would be "get that project off the ground."So how do we get this off the ground? Space Ships and Battle fleets? Pathfinders like Wormhole Navigators guiding Ships from one world to the next?
If you guys want, send me your email address, and I can give you a fully fledged d20 sci fi game, I took the old Palladium Robotech stuff and converted it to d20 Modern. Only need 3 books to play it. Very highly detailed, more than anything in Palladium.
purely because even at zero mass there is a gravitational force acting on you...and this one isn't even in the same universe.Why would you need to figure Mass=0? Ships and crew have mass.
But isn't division by zero undefined? You can literally use division by zero to prove 1=2. So your equations don't really prove anything.
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purely because even at zero mass there is a gravitational force acting on you...and this one isn't even in the same universe.Why would you need to figure Mass=0? Ships and crew have mass.
But isn't division by zero undefined? You can literally use division by zero to prove 1=2. So your equations don't really prove anything.
Actually you cant prove 1=2 except at superposition. 2 has components of 1 which is why you cant.
And the solution to divide by zero gives you an understanding of other possibilities...like other universes. Solving it is therefor the vital moment in your civilization.
And PS there is always a solution...especially when they say there isn't.
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If you guys want, send me your email address, and I can give you a fully fledged d20 sci fi game, I took the old Palladium Robotech stuff and converted it to d20 Modern. Only need 3 books to play it. Very highly detailed, more than anything in Palladium.How do we all get invited to the create a Scifi RPG project?No such project exists yet, as far as I know... so step one would be "get that project off the ground."So how do we get this off the ground? Space Ships and Battle fleets? Pathfinders like Wormhole Navigators guiding Ships from one world to the next?
Establishing one of our own is the goal here.
In case it's interesting still:
Step 1: Let a=b.
Step 2: Then a^2 = ab,
Step 3: a^2 + a^2 = a^2 + ab,
Step 4: 2 a^2 = a^2 + ab,
Step 5: 2 a^2 - 2 ab = a^2 + ab - 2 ab,
Step 6: and 2 a^2 - 2 ab = a^2 - ab.
Step 7: This can be written as 2 (a^2 - a b) = 1 (a^2 - a b),
Step 8: and cancelling the (a^2 - ab) from both sides gives 1=2.
The only flaw isn't superposition(step7) it's division by zero(step8).
In your equations g=ma if m=0 and ANY number times zero = zero literally any number can be used for a at m=0 ANY number works so it's undefined.
ANY number isn't very useful mathematically.
Establishing one of our own is the goal here.If you guys want, send me your email address, and I can give you a fully fledged d20 sci fi game, I took the old Palladium Robotech stuff and converted it to d20 Modern. Only need 3 books to play it. Very highly detailed, more than anything in Palladium.How do we all get invited to the create a Scifi RPG project?No such project exists yet, as far as I know... so step one would be "get that project off the ground."So how do we get this off the ground? Space Ships and Battle fleets? Pathfinders like Wormhole Navigators guiding Ships from one world to the next?
Then someone needs to make the big decisions on what kind of setting or rules because this is going nowhere without oversight.
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purely because even at zero mass there is a gravitational force acting on you...and this one isn't even in the same universe.Why would you need to figure Mass=0? Ships and crew have mass.
But isn't division by zero undefined? You can literally use division by zero to prove 1=2. So your equations don't really prove anything.
division by zero is defined in logic: NOT g is unrelated to g except at superposition. so it has definition. Its undefined mathematically because they are mathematical limits in our universe. You can't define something in another universe. Although Pi is a unusual bugger...its defied as circumference divided by diameter except that the only way you get a infinite decimal series is if diameter is always larger than circumference.