Thread: Suggestion - SciFi Co-op

Originally Posted by HollyKnight55

Now, how to avoid power mongers? A dozen unstopable warrior races? Super mental power unbalancing type races? They have to apply to be part of some kind of Inter Galactic Council - which means the other contributors are permitted to discuss and vote whether the race should be permitted to enter the game world.

I have a suggestion for an alternative way to solve this problem...

Originally Posted by Puck

...I would suggest that instead of individual races people could make up individual worlds or planets similar to Rust's Beneath Alien Waves. That would allow for a bit of individual freedom as well as allowing other people playing BRP sci-fi to visit the world for an adventure or two. It seems like with a few different planets or star systems on the Wiki this could be a valuable resource for gamers who are gallivanting though the final fronter in search of strange new worlds.

Originally Posted by rust

I agree, I think this would be a better approach than trying to design a common world.

Yes, I also think a "separate worlds"-type approach is best. But I'd go further, and suggest separate Universes.
But with Gates of various forms to allow travel between the Universes.

Authors of each Universe would have total editorial control - so no need to smack-down anyone's creativity, no need for voting or bureaucracy. (Some authors might want more than one world, and some might want unstoppable warrior races, or whatever - and wouldn't things be boring without 'em?). But co-operation between authors would still be possible if they wished, of course.

GMs would have total control of the Gates - so only things thay allowed could pass though them, and only to/from Universes they permitted.

This has been suggested previously and is called the 'Gated Worlds' (as opposed to SharedWorld).

Originally Posted by rust

While I think the replicators would be an interesting idea, I would not like to
have anything of that kind in my setting, because it would very much reduce
(if not eliminate entirely) the need for interstellar trade - and with it a clas-
sic science fiction adventure source.

True, but remember, our own earth is self-sustaining, and many people on this planet would love to be able to explore the cosmos in a starship. I think the PCs will get into interesting situations just because they feel the need to have to do interstellar travel just for exploration (which I think is very much lacking in modern SF). And a trade of ideas and new technology will always be there regardless if a solar system is self-sustaining or not. This is why I had my replicators not be copy machines. They can only replicate raw material, the expertise and such for new inventions will come from outside of the solar system--or on other colonies. So most solar systems or colonies are not going to want to be too cut off from the outside. There will always be a trade in intellectual property.

Maybe the word 'replicate' is the wrong word to use. It would be more like a mining operation except it's recreating basic elements and their combinations from what's being thrown off from a sun. It would simply be mixing and matching atoms and molecules from solar radiation.

Originally Posted by Dredj

Maybe the word 'replicate' is the wrong word to use. It would be more like a mining operation except it's recreating basic elements and their combinations from what's being thrown off from a sun. It would simply be mixing and matching atoms and molecules from solar radiation.

Ah, now I understand what you mean, and agree.

There is a major weekly science fiction booklet series here in Germany, "Perry
Rhodan" (running for 2000+ weeks now ...), where the Terrans have develo-
ped a kind of nucleosynthesis machine providing them with the basic raw ma-
terials for their industry.
However, there is still a lot of trade in blueprints, finished goods and especial-
ly organic chemicals (which are difficult to synthesize from elements).

Originally Posted by HollyKnight55

I've read through most of the posts in this area, and I noticed they've slowed down. I hope it will be okay if I suggest something.

It's always OK to suiggest something, make comments or say whatever you want.

Originally Posted by HollyKnight55

A Fantasy world is harder to share, with no ground rules to follow. I think if you said "Dwarves are dwarves, elves are elves, don't go ridiculous, flesh it out" then it could be interesting. The Green, for example, is a great location.

Possibly, but there are a lot of opinions about what to include, what not to include.

Originally Posted by HollyKnight55

Honestly, though, I think SciFi would be easier. I'd go so far as to say it might be easier for a group to come up with a SciFi game than an individual. LOL

It's certainly easier because there is a lot less work to do.

Originally Posted by HollyKnight55

FTL Travel? Stargates? Land gates? Jump engines? One solar system? One planet?

Psychics - yes or no? Common or uncommon?

AI or no?

blah blah

That sounds easy, doesn't it?

However, you have people who hate SciFantasy and only like hard SciFi, people who don't want aliens, people who want aliens as long as they are completely non-humanoid, people who want faster than light, people who only want current-physics-based science, people who like anything that sounds reasonable and so on.

It's very difficult to get people to agree on all of this.

Originally Posted by HollyKnight55

Then all this gets glued together, and the basic premise is agreed upon. I have to be honest and say I'm a fan of the "Empire on decline/fallen" concept.

SciFantasy, then. So am I, but I also like Asimovish hardish SciFi and think the two could work well together.

Originally Posted by HollyKnight55

Then - this is where the real "shared" part comes in - each contributor comes up with their own race! A bit of detail on the home world, physical description and abilities, philosophy, approach to life, etc... With each race coming from a different person, they should have a different (ie alien) feel.

I'd say Culture rather than just race (I hate using race, species is much better). You could have humans and other kinds of humans such as Asimov's Spacers, Dune's Fremen and Bene Gesserit and Farscape's Peacekeepers for example, all human and all completely different.

I like having alien species as well, perhaps with some different cultures.

Originally Posted by HollyKnight55

Make it not our solar system, and say "Earth" is long lost. That way different people can have variations of humanity if they like.

If you have a Space Empire, or numbers of Space Empires, then you get away with having one planet being too important. Set it way into the future and you get other human planets becoming more important than Earth. What was the book where all the physically/mentally superior people went to space colonies, leaving the dregs left on Earth?

Originally Posted by HollyKnight55

Now, how to avoid power mongers? A dozen unstopable warrior races? Super mental power unbalancing type races? They have to apply to be part of some kind of Inter Galactic Council - which means the other contributors are permitted to discuss and vote whether the race should be permitted to enter the game world.

Power Mongers are never ever a problem, in my opinion. Good powergamers will abuse any setting and any species/culture/tech level so you can't design a setting to stop powergamers.

In any case, so what if someone powergames? Let them have their fun.

Anywa, look at SciFi films and TV Series. Star Trek has Vulcans and Klingons who are physcially superior but have sever cultural problems that stop them from becoming dominant. Star Wars has humans as the dominant species even though there are many physcially or Psionically superior species.

Technology is far more important than species, in my opinion. Give PCs access to alien technology and they will keep the best bits and build up a hodgepodge of technology, becoming superior to all their foes.

I don't like the idea of a Galactic Council rukling on whether a species is allowed in. A powerful species will muscle its way in anyway and a weak species will be exploited by the others.

Originally Posted by HollyKnight55

I know judging other people's work might seem harsh, but I'm a firm believer that putting something in just because somebody put work into it would result in mediocrity.

Mediocity is good, as long as there's a lot of it.

Originally Posted by rust

Ah, now I understand what you mean, and agree.

There is a major weekly science fiction booklet series here in Germany, "Perry
Rhodan" (running for 2000+ weeks now ...), where the Terrans have develo-
ped a kind of nucleosynthesis machine providing them with the basic raw ma-
terials for their industry.
However, there is still a lot of trade in blueprints, finished goods and especial-
ly organic chemicals (which are difficult to synthesize from elements).

I guess it's true: there is no such thing as a truly original idea:lol: I'll have to see if this Perry Rhodan series is translated into English.

Originally Posted by Dredj

I'll have to see if this Perry Rhodan series is translated into English.

It once was, for a very short time, but it was no success in the USA, mostly
because of the (for US readers) very unusual format - imagine a small booklet,
about the size of National Geographic, with about 70 pages with only very few
black and white illustrations.

Originally Posted by Dredj

One of the things I'm thinking about for a sci-fi setting is to have 'replicators'. But they will be different from the Star Trek ones. If you've read or watched any "science behind Star Trek" stuff, then you know the replicators in Star Trek would take an ungodly amount of energy.

That was a running gag in my group: imagining Picard & Riker doing the budget and realizing they had to justify all the energy expenditures from the holodeck by "exploring a nebula or something".

This led us down an interesting path. We concluded that the Federation was consuming mass sums of energy from everywhere, and while the series usually portrays a money-less utopia, we envisioned a more bleak living condition for the poor or less useful members of society.

So while the Federation gallivanted about the galaxy, replicating long extinct caviars and period costumes for hours of entertainment on the holodeck, replicator technology for much of the rest of the population was similar to Neil Stephenson's Diamond Age.

Originally Posted by rust

It once was, for a very short time, but it was no success in the USA, mostly
because of the (for US readers) very unusual format - imagine a small booklet,
about the size of National Geographic, with about 70 pages with only very few
black and white illustrations.

It looks like they are making a PC game from the series that's going to be translated into English: Perry Rhodan - Home Amazon says it's coming out July 7th and will only be $19.99 USD. And it's a point and click adventure (arrrgh! But the price told me as much, anyway).

Maybe Chaosium should just pick up the license for Perry Rhodan? At least it might go over big in Europe. And will fulfill the need for a BRP space opera game everywhere else.

Originally Posted by Dredj

Maybe Chaosium should just pick up the license for Perry Rhodan? At least it might go over big in Europe. And will fulfill the need for a BRP space opera game everywhere else.

There is already a rather good Perry Rhodan RPG, although the system is com-
paratively complex. It is a d20, originally published for the German fantasy RPG
"Midgard", decades before D&D used a d20 system:
dorifer.com

However, the Perry Rhodan RPG is no success, not even over here. While the
fans of the series like it because of the many background informations, most
roleplayers obviously find it too difficult to "get into" a background universe
which has developed over more than 40 years, with literally thousands of ra-
ces and a timeline of more than 2,000 years.

:focus:

I agree with the OP that a galaxy spanning SciFi game might be easier to share than a single fantasy world. I also think it was the OP's intention to suggest that we could share the process by focusing on individual worlds.

I definitely want to pick up a copy of Shock, for the world/adventure building tools, but not for the game system.

Ok, so I see two ideas. Empire in decline, High Frontier. That's like chocolate in my peanut butter.

Travel?
I really like jump travels. Especially how it was unveiled in Traveler.

Aliens?
Definitely. But not tons.