BRP Interplanetary

[Jason Durall]

Inspired by Pete's revelation about BRP Rome, I thought I'd unveil the proposal for my next BRP project. This is the actual "pitch" I sent Chaosium, and was approved by Dustin and Charlie.

I'm in the middle of collecting background info, re-reading the classics of the genre, and doing "preproduction" on it before dedicated writing begins in the last third of the month.

INTERPLANETARY – A BASIC ROLEPLAYING SOURCEBOOK
By Jason Durall

Interplanetary is an adventure sourcebook for roleplaying games in the style of planetary adventure (also called ‘interplanetary adventure’ or ‘planetary romance’). This popular genre was epitomized by the John Carter of Mars series by Edgar Rice Burroughs, as well as other authors such as Poul Anderson, Robert E. Howard, Michael Moorcock, Andre Norton, and many others. It is a fan favorite in many online polls regarding what genre should be explored more, and has rarely been addressed in roleplaying games.

Rather than being about the worlds created by any one of these particular authors, Interplanetary deals with an overview of the genre, and focus more on the style of planetary adventure. This sourcebook presents a sample campaign and exploration of the planets of this solar system in a manner appropriate to the planetary adventure genre. Additional resources allow game masters and players to explore distinct and new settings of their own devising.

In size, this project will be in the 48,000-64,000 word range. Once approved, I anticipate it taking roughly three-to-four months to complete, with an additional month for a limited playtest cycle using a smaller and more dedicated subset of the Basic Roleplaying playtest, as well as local playtesters and reviewers. Assuming approvals and contracts are executed in or around January, it would be ready around late April. Writing will go much faster than BRP due to the lack of rules-related content and the relative light requirement for playtesting.

Following is a projected outline of Interplanetary:

SECTION ONE – INTRODUCTION
A basic introduction to the genre and a quick description of Basic Roleplaying, stating that this is a sourcebook for BRP and that the core rules are required.

• Introduction to the genre
• Suggested optional rules from BRP

SECTION TWO – CHARACTERS
Mostly self-explanatory, this provides some background and context for players to grasp how to create appropriate creatures for planetary adventure.

• Character origins
• New character professions
• Character generation
• Alien characters
• Powers
• Motivations and personalization

SECTION THREE – ARTIFACTS AND EQUIPMENT
Self-explanatory, this presents a wide range of armaments, equipment, ancient artifacts, and vehicles for use in planetary adventure campaigns.

• Introduction to planetary adventure technology
• New weapons
• New armor
• New equipment
• Creating new artifacts and equipment
• Spacecraft, ground cars, seacraft, airships, and other means of transport

SECTION FOUR – ADVENTURING
This section is for players and game masters, and contains game systems and mechanics.

• Getting into space
• Vehicular combat
• Space hazards
• New spot rules

SECTION FIVE – OUR SOLAR SYSTEM
Each planet’s description will include a basic description of the planet’s geography and climate, its inhabitants, major conflicts, notable points of interest, significant NPCs, and a variety of aliens and creatures native to that planet.

• Earth – Described in brief with the 1920s as the default setting.
• The Moon – A near-lifeless wasteland, though with strange canals and ancient ruins hidden in crater cities.
• Mercury – Extremely hot volcanic planet, as well as [withheld] life forms.
• Venus – Hot and humid, with thick jungles and evocative life.
• Mars – The desert planet, home to many [withheld].
• Sol System's Asteroid Belt – Home to exotic life forms and [withheld].
• Ceres – This planet-sized asteroid is near-lifeless, though home to ancient mysteries of time and space.
• Jupiter – A giant gassy planet, with inhabitants dwelling in floating cities.
• Saturn – The ringed planet, host to many moons and inhabited by [withheld].
• Uranus – A cold gassy planet, inhabited by [withheld].
• Neptune – An oceanic planet, shrouded in poison mists and inhabited by [withheld].
• Planet X (Pluto) – A barren and strange planet, with equally inscrutable inhabitants.
• [withheld]

There will be a short section describing how the planets were viewed at the time, versus their scientific reality.

SECTION SIX – GAMEMASTERING AND CAMPAIGNS
Basic information for handling planetary adventure campaigns and structuring adventures.

• Aspects of the planetary adventure genre
• Evoking a planetary adventure atmosphere
• Adventures in planetary adventure games
• Sample campaign involving [withheld] threatening the entire solar system and involving a visit to each planet

SECTION SEVEN – APPENDIX AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

• List of sources
• Reference sheets

[drohem]

It definitely looks interesting and useful. Good luck with the project and congratulations on its acceptance.

[NickMiddleton]

Definitely getting a copy of this when it's out Jason, sounds fabulous!

Cheers,

Nick Middleton

[Zane]

You can count me in for a copy as well, it looks like it would mesh well with some things I want to do.

[Nightshade]

Funny you should be doing this, Jason; one of the campaign ideas being considered locally is a planetary romance in the "Planet of Adventure" style...

[Doctor Jest]

Yes, I'll be awaiting the release of this product as well. It's true that this genre is mostly ignored in roleplaying and I think it can be loads of fun. I think too many people have become too serious about science fiction and forget to stop worrying about "logically" explaining everything and just have fun with it. I love that the default Earth setting is the '20s...wouldn't be hard to tie it in with Cthulhu or any other pulpy adventures. Great idea!

[PK Games]

any time frame here Jason?

[NickMiddleton]

Originally Posted by Jason Durall

... In size, this project will be in the 48,000-64,000 word range. Once approved, I anticipate it taking roughly three-to-four months to complete, with an additional month for a limited playtest cycle using a smaller and more dedicated subset of the Basic Roleplaying playtest, as well as local playtesters and reviewers. Assuming approvals and contracts are executed in or around January, it would be ready around late April...

Nick Middleton

[The Tweaker]

Damn it, Jason!

You are determined to make me spend more money on BRP products, aren't you?!

Consider it bought.

[badcat]

Spaceships in the 1920's? How does that happen in the setting, if you care to explain that much?

It reminds me a of E. E. Doc Smiths' 'Skylark', a bit. Invasion, alien gift, brilliant breakthrough? All of the above?

Good hook job, Jason.