Not sure if this is the place for sharing story ideas yet, but all of the speculating about technology and hard/soft sic-fi in other threads got me brainstorming something fierce, so here is something I came up with:
The Crew, after gaining the attention of some higher-ups of a Starfinder Faction by completing a few risky missions, are called upon to investigate an anomaly in a distant part of the galaxy. A star system that was referenced in documents from a few hundred years ago as being a place of interest is no longer visible where it should have been, and there have been reports of ships disappearing in the vicinity.
The Crew arrives after a couple jumps to discover a dim solar system, punctuated by beams of lights as if spotlights from a prison guard tower illuminating planets and other objects in an almost paranoid
As the players venture further into the center of the system they are contacted by an unknown alien and learn the truth of the system: the star is still present, it is just completely enveloped by a Dyson Sphere.
The sphere is a large solid metallic object with many nodes over it's surface, many closed and several open with bight light pouring out, pointing at some of the planets providing them with the sunlight needed, others left in a frozen darkness.
The lone inhabitant of the sphere contacts the players, it is not immediately revealed but they are an ancient alien from another galaxy and a civilization far advanced beyond what the pact worlds are capable of. The Dyson sphere has a lot of it's power output used in a nearby fleet of planet building machines, and most of the planets it orbit are artificial with abnormal environments and landscapes. The gap affected all of the alien's memories, and now they do not know why they are here or for what reasons they are in possession of this solar system.
So then things get "Saw in Space" up here, the alien informs them that they are now part of a game he has been playing while trying to figure out what to do about it's situation for the last few hundred years.
Some of the planets are points of interest for the alien's system, noted by the sphere, but the alien is unable to leave the sphere, so it traps vessels entering it's sphere of influence with a threat: Investigate the surface of these planets and try to activate the points of interest, or else be fired by concentrated solar rays from the Sphere. The sphere is able to narrow the solar energy through is nodes t'd project it in a destructive beam to the very edge of the solar system and is accurate enough to obliterate a planet or even just a single ship.
So the alien begins directing the party from planet to planet, where the party has to deal with local flora and fauna as well as the crews of other ships that either crashed or escaped the notice of the alien on the surfaces and in orbit of several of the planets, given a set amount of time on each world before the alien overheats the surface, killing all life and leaving it empty for the next team it traps in it's solar powered web.
The campaign would mostly consist of the Saw-like, high-pressured missions with no real tangible time-limit, just the hanging threat of one to keep the players moving forward, then ending in the Dyson Sphere with the players potentially gaining control of the mega-structure. I'm trying to come up with interesting ideas for planets with different environments and challenges to overcome. Has anybody else run a similar style of campaign and have any advice on how to not stress the players too much or just have any fun ideas for artificial worlds?
I loved the set up, but you lost me at "So then things get "Saw in Space"" - I don't like those movies so that kind of comparison just lost all my interest.
I know that given that set up, the group I'm in would immediately go on a way to escape - they hate being coerced (even by NPCs). They might get through first challenges or so, but by then the decision would be "OK, we get away or die, and if we die, we will roll up new characters".
If you group is cool with that premise, it would be great.
I loved the set up, but you lost me at "So then things get "Saw in Space"" - I don't like those movies so that kind of comparison just lost all my interest.
I know that given that set up, the group I'm in would immediately go on a way to escape - they hate being coerced (even by NPCs). They might get through first challenges or so, but by then the decision would be "OK, we get away or die, and if we die, we will roll up new characters".
If you group is cool with that premise, it would be great.
I 100% understand that, and have the concern about members of the group not wanting to have that kind of pressure as well. I also floated the idea around of the alien being more friendly, and just requesting help and the players would be able to come and go as the alien continues to discover more uses for the planets in it's orbit, and even reward the players with technology for each task they complete. A carrot instead of a stick.
Basically this would be a side-dungeon the players could come and go from as the alien contacts them with it's advanced capabilities when it needs help again.
I loved the set up, but you lost me at "So then things get "Saw in Space"" - I don't like those movies so that kind of comparison just lost all my interest.
I know that given that set up, the group I'm in would immediately go on a way to escape - they hate being coerced (even by NPCs). They might get through first challenges or so, but by then the decision would be "OK, we get away or die, and if we die, we will roll up new characters".
If you group is cool with that premise, it would be great.
I 100% understand that, and have the concern about members of the group not wanting to have that kind of pressure as well. I also floated the idea around of the alien being more friendly, and just requesting help and the players would be able to come and go as the alien continues to discover more uses for the planets in it's orbit, and even reward the players with technology for each task they complete. A carrot instead of a stick.
Basically this would be a side-dungeon the players could come and go from as the alien contacts them with it's advanced capabilities when it needs help again.
That is cool.
As for planets - go with classics - Ice planet, planet where all the plants are dangerous (or cause hallucinations), Desert planet. All to the extreme.
That is cool.As for planets - go with classics - Ice planet, planet where all the plants are dangerous (or cause hallucinations), Desert planet. All to the extreme.
I like that idea, the planets being artificial gives a good window of opportunity to have planets that otherwise wouldn't make sense. I really wanted to utilize the controlled sunlight of the Dyson Sphere, and planets that are frozen but can be thawed to give the players access to certain areas, or a world where the vegetation grows and shrinks with the presence or absence of direct sunlight, and the players would tell the alien when to turn the sun light on that planet on or off in a game of "Red-light Green-light" opening up areas and growing bridges to get through to a destination. Sweet, got a lot of ideas coming now!
How about a planet (artifical) that grows or shrinks depending on how much light there is - they start a trip that is X kilometers, and at halfway through it become X times 1.5.
variable gravity is always fun.