Hello, everybody. I'm checking out the possible interest in a space opera game on these boards. I'm hoping to find a handful of creative souls who love the wild and unfettered possibilities of space adventure, who will want to help create aliens, factions, and worlds along with me.
I'm hoping to create a mash-up of all the sci-fi that I've loved over the years. Stuff like Farscape, Mass Effect, Star Wars, Babylon-5, Star Trek, Firefly, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Aliens. I want planet-hopping, ray gun-shooting, exploring, crashing, wild technology, wilder aliens, and real human emotions.
What do I mean, High-concept?
See the above paragraph. It'll be home-brew, so all bets are off.
What do I mean, collaborative?
I don't want to create everything in the Galaxy/Universe. I plan on relying on the players' input and saying "yes" to wild concepts that they'd like to see added. From backstories that include entire space empires or regions of space to crazy anomalies and bizarre alien devices. It's a big universe, there will be room for just about everything.
Will there be anything off limits?
Well, maybe. One thing I don't want is a singular, monolithic Empire or Conglomerate that is the bad guy. I want factions, federations and empires that are always jockeying for advantage. Also, while space opera leaves room for mystical forces, god-like aliens, and weird psionics, I don't plan to introduce a Galaxy-wide Force. I also don't want something as plain and universal as "magic." Which leads me to...
What system will you be using?
It's NOT going to be Starfinder. I'm sorry, but while I love the world of Golarion, I don't care for the setting of Starfinder. I don't want goblins in space. I don't want magic classes. Heck, I don't even want a level-based system. I'm open to any rules-lite suggestions, but I'll probably use either a Powered by the Apocalypse version like Impulse Drive, or a retooled version of the old West End Games D6 Star Wars game. Force powers can be called Biotics or Psionics or something.
How can I show interest?
Post something! A question, an idea for a race, planet, faction, ship or corporation. Ask me if you can run something like ____. Steer me to the perfect system that meets all of these needs. After a while, I'll either know that there's enough interest out there that will let me choose a small crew of a hyper-capable spaceship ready for adventure and I'll put up the true recruitment thread. Or, it'll fizzle and be consigned to the scrapheap. We'll see.
Interested. I'd recommend the system you know the best.These boards are primarily pathfinder players and Pathfinder isn't limited to Golarion or pick and choose your ruleset You could say "Pathfinder System but no magic classes" or Technological options and psychic casting only or whatever you like. Players here are pretty flexable.
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Hi, Stalwart!
This sounds EXACTLY like Uncharted Worlds, a PbtA-like ('like' because it breaks away from playbooks and several other common ideas) system that has the players build the universe as they play, right down to creating factions and the like. It's rules-lite and focuses very heavily on 'prompting', where the GM leaving gaps in the narrative for asking the players to fill. It's a system where a player can open a cargo pod and the GM often asks them whats inside; when you get attacked, its the players who say what Faction emblem is on the enemy ship; and so on. I'm not sure how else to sell it besides saying that it's exactly what you're looking for.
It also has an expansion, Far Beyond Humanity, which deals with supernatural aspects (magic, cosmic horrors, etc.) and creating strange aliens.
http://www.uncharted-worlds.com/
I'm currently attempting to run a recruitment for a Star Wars-based Uncharted Worlds game, but so far there has been no interest. I chose Star Wars in the hopes that the familiar setting would draw people in, but heh, no dice. I mostly want to play or GM an Uncharted Worlds game, so if recruitment over there fizzles out (it ends this Monday, June 4th), then I'll gladly come over as a potential UW player or UW GM.
Frankly after looking over a few systems Uncharted Worlds seems amazing. It has my favorite character building I've seen in a while. The factions system looks pretty robust as well. Impulse Drive seems pretty neat. The Veil is another one I've played but its emotional focus might be a little off base for something like this. The Sprawl is another possibility to consider. If it's not obvious I love powered by the apocalypse systems. I've only gotten to play in one once but this sounds amazing to me. Impulse Drive and Uncharted Worlds both sound wonderful for this and I'd love to help world build and create an interesting story.
This sounds very interesting.
I am down for anything I would lean towards an existing system. The powered by the apocalypse system is very collaborative.
Looks like I'm going to have to take a look at Uncharted Worlds. I've looked over Impulse Drive (because it's in testing and therefore free), and liked a lot of it, though I'm a little put-off by how much the choice of ship dictates what sort of campaign it's going to be. Although, that may be for the better since having a theme may be preferable.
I'll go ahead and take a look at how UW stacks up against ID.
And I'm in agreement with how collaborative Powered by the Apocalypse games are. I've played Masks, and have really enjoyed how it creates stories to which everyone can contribute.
And SkaTalon, I've thought about that -- simply disallowing the "too much magic" classes, but I have a feeling that guts much of the system. And as I mentioned in the first post, for some reason level-based systems just don't do it for me when it comes to science fiction games.
Keep posting your interest! Thanks to those of you who have already popped in!
I would adore a PbtA-styled Sci-Fi game. It is one of my favorite systems thanks to it giving birth to some of my other favorite systems (Blades in the Dark, Masks). I'd definitely check it out.
@CCCXLI - I will definitely check that out and give it a read-through, don't know how I missed a Star Wars anything lol.
Cool mix and you don't have to exclude "MAGIC" just call it Science!
Heck I even know a wild alien species from the Aliens franchise: the egg hunters. They came from a Dark Horse comic and looked like orcs a little and they ATE the xenomorph eggs. IIRC there was another Dark Horse short comic where a facehugger is plopped onto a frying pan by a huge alien species as a side street vendor snack.
But I have never heard of Uncharted Worlds system. I think I am seriously going to have to look into that since people on the fori keep bringing it up.
Oh, I'm perfectly fine with high technology replicating things like magic, don't worry. "Indistinguishable from..." and all.
And while I'm all for using the various popular properties for inspiration, I'm not looking for a "mash up" where Serenity is getting chased by TIE fighters hoping to reach Federation space just in time for the Nostromo to arrive at Z'ha'dum... As fun as a game like that might be, its not really what I'm going for. I want to file off the serial numbers and splash a new coat of paint over everything so we don't get into age-old debates about what would happen if the Death Star had to fight off the Borg.
Also, I'm liking what I'm seeing with Uncharted Worlds. I haven't delved too deep yet, but it's rising to the top fairly quickly. But I'm still open to other systems as well.
Recruitment has fizzled on my Star Wars game :'D So you've officially got me as a UW player or GM. I mightttt be willing to play some other system, depending on what it is, but my heart is set on finally getting into an Uncharted Worlds game.
I own Uncharted Worlds, Far Beyond Humanity, Wild Jumps, 21 Jump Points, and Colonies. That's both official material and fan stuff, so you can tell I've been wanting to play this for a long time, haha.
Wild Jumps is a free Fan Supplement btw, encourage those with UW to check it out
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/192696/Wild-Jumps?manufacturers_id=10407
I'm interested basically regardless of the system, as a player.
Okay, by my count I think there's been six people indicating interest, so that could probably be the start of a decent recruitment of a non-Paizo, non-AP game.
But before I start up a formal recruitment thread, let's have a little more dialogue here about the setting. CCCXLII, I was planning to run this, but I'm also open to co-gming this thing if we get it off the ground.
I think the two biggest properties I'd like for this to "feel" like is Mass Effect and Farscape. Both have the feeling of wide open, anything's possible, journey into mystery and adventure. They we're both willing to break the rules of genre expectations and usual tropes.
Now, both were constrained by their respective media -- the limitations of budget and special effects of Farscape (though they were the gold standard for a long time thanks to the Jim Henson Creature Shop) and the single-player video gameplay of Mass Effect (though Bioware managed to create some compelling NPCs despite those limitations). Obviously, a PbP game is only constrained by our imaginations (and to a lesser extent, the game system itself).
I want to create the wide-open feel of a huge galaxy, with mystery and adventure in every system. An undercurrent of political intrigue to thread the disparate adventures together, and a ship that is practically a character in it'sown right. (I might even entertain having someone play the ship as their character.)
So, any additions to this aspiration? What do you want from the game? What are your favorite shows/movies/games?
Understood :) Just thought I'd put out my willingness to GM on a perm or temp basis in-case you weren't confident in running Uncharted Worlds.
I've got a lot of different favorites, but personally I'd like to see this game be open in terms of setting. My addition to the aspiration is that the setting largely isn't established beforehand, allowing for a wide variety of situations and character types. i.e. Basic Setting first, then Character Creation, THEN the details.
All I want from the game though is a locked down choice of system. I don't care about setting or anything else as much as I do the engine behind it, as that dictates a lot of how the game will unfold. Recommend you put up a poll or something.
Cowboy Bebop is one of the coolest futuristic settings that comes easily to mind. Various planets and stations have their own cultures and settings going for them and you can kind of drop into essentially another world/adventure depending on where you are going. I also like that it has this sort of old-fashioned aspect to the technology. There's some stuff that is what we would think of as high-tech but it somehow feels worn or antique.
In a similar vein, for somewhat obvious reasons, is Space Dandy. Although I dont particularly like the show I like that sometimes it just had weird things. Aliens that dont really make any sense from a human perspective. I like the idea of occasional exposure to things that are just so out of our own context as to be impossible to understand.
As for theme My favorite game is Shadowrun, and I was going to list Dark Matter and Firefly for influences. I like the little guy vs the status quo stories.
But that said I enjoy space opera as well Mass Effect and the stories of Peter F. Hamilton.
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I loved Mass Effect, (except the friggin' Mako levels), and I loved the KOTOR games. Those games had a kind of "loyalty" mission for each of the characters in your party that fleshed them out and made them memorable. It would be awesome if you let each player as part of their submission describe their chracters 'loyalty' mission. Like their own personal side-quest in the campaign, with new plot hooks, NPCs, new planets/settings for you to use as the GM. Let the players flesh out the universe through their backstory AND during the actual gameplay.
Welcome to the boards! I'm a long-time veteran here (seven years and 12,000+ posts -- yikes!), and hope you enjoy your stay! Plus, thanks for choosing my campaign idea to make your first post!
If you're new to play-by-post, the biggest thing I can say is, be patient. It can take months to achieve what a single tabletop night can accomplish. However, there's also way more opportunity for role playing and digging into your character's mind and emotions.
I'm slowly familiarizing myself with Uncharted Worlds and will probably be choosing it to go with, even though I also like Impulse Drive. But having CCCXLII around who's also familiar with UW might tip the scales in its favor. But either way, it'll be a PbtA game.
Oh, and SkaTalon, that is a GREAT idea, having each player come up with their own "loyalty mission." That's definitely going in!
As a confirmed sucker for PbtA systems, I'll be giving Uncharted Worlds a look before checking in with some appropriate setting-building thoughts.
Interesting UW fan resource that was recently released: a random character generator.
Okay - look given, and I like the system! The build your own playbook part is particularly neat, and the rest seems great for a campaign where we're all expected to help build the galaxy as we go.
So, as requested, a couple ideas for corners of the setting:
*An arms manufacturing megacorp that runs the gun-gamut between crappy throwaways to bleeding edge military prototypes, but advertises them all with the subtlety of a boat show on public access tv
*This one is a little broader: Faster than Light travel is common, but Faster than Light communication is rare or impossible. Meaning assorted star systems only get news updates, wanted posters, etc. whenever ships come to visit. This happens all the time for central, civilized systems, but means that there are plenty of backwaters to hide, and Official Data-Couriers to hack into spreading whatever News you want!
For the basis of world building is this mainly a small group setting or a multi group setting. Would be interested in this based on interest in the way certain factions.
Also. Would there be an overall "feeling" to the environments within. More advanced in some and also to the fact far more or far less than the party.
So many sources to gain inspiration from and so many ways to start out. Would come down to what is available at the start (ie. Ships, no language barriers (unless translators exist.)
Curious on the system. Have been looking over starfi for briefly as of late.
Hi, Cwethan! Thanks for your interest! You too, Yodler.
I can definitely say I'm going to only go with a single group. It'll be up to group consensus whether the ship will be large enough that there will be a crew of NPCs -- redshirts, even? -- or if the players comprise the only people aboard.
Interesting ideas -- I'd probably go with FTL communication being rare, since I don't want to rule anything as impossible, especially this early in the setting creation.
I've read through the Uncharted Worlds, and I'll be starting with that, I believe. I still need to go over it a few more times to make sure I feel comfortable enough running it and explaining it. I haven't picked up the Far Beyond Humanity supplement yet -- I might start slow and expand into the wild stuff with a gradual reveal. It's probably going to be plenty work to create the basic setting before throwing in that stuff.
I'll probably begin working on the main recruitment thread in a few days or so. In the mean time, keep dropping in with ideas and concepts!
Far Beyond Humanity is definitely 'wild stuff', but it's also wildly cool stuff too B) Everything in there is great. Had we started with it, I probably would've made a Time Lord/-esque character, ala Doctor Who, which gives you an idea of what the expansion makes possible.
Here are the official GM and Player sheets to help with keeping track of things; I highly recommend checking out the pregens/sample character sheets: http://www.uncharted-worlds.com/indexdownloads.html
Regarding the size of the ship, I've played Sci-Fi that's gone both ways. I've generally enjoyed running a ship with crew a lot more when your ship and crew are from a specific faction (and so have hooks and stereotypes built in), or are acquired in game as the campaign progresses. I've seen them be a bit much to frontload otherwise.
If the feel is meant to be a bit more pulp adventure though, it might even be better to not have much in the way of crew, and so avoid the "Picard can't go with the Away Team" problem.
Or have the crew be a network of automata/solid light holograms/indentured cyborgs who aren't really the best choice for off-site mission...
I'm heavily in favor of recruiting NPCs; I had a Star Wars game where if we liked a character we attempted to recruit and collect them for our rebel cell and used pretty much all of them.
Could tie in nicely with the 'Loyalty Missions' idea too
I played in a collaborative setting space opera game once using the fate system. It was a ton of fun, so I'm definitely interested in doing something like it. I'll have to read up on Uncharted worlds, but here's a concept from the aforementioned game: a solar system which has been flooded with water. The water is cooler the farther it is from the star, putting the habitable zone planets underwater and spaceports built on the thick frozen exterior.
Hey, cool and interesting ideas, everyone! I realized I was going on vacation so that wouldn't be the best time to start up a recruitment. So I won't be putting anything up for another week. But that still gives everyone interested more time to chime in and throw out some ideas and interest for this game.