Dark, low-power space opera

[Psuedopod]

Hello, everyone. I'm kind of new here, and I guess I'd like some advice on the game I'm developing. It's an idea I've been working on for some time...

The idea is (and this probably sounds kind of kitchen-sinky) sort of a hybrid between all three shows of Joss Whedon. Note that when I say this, I would also like to say that I plan to avoid being too much like the Unisystem, as I would like to play this game with my tabletop group, and they don't like Uniystem's requirement of having to write down things about the personality of a character before they begin playing.

Anyway, the setting is the Sol star system and one star system to which jumps are occassionally made through a wormhole-type thing. The Corporate Conglomerate, an alliance of corporations and such, control Earth, Luna, Mars, Mercury, Venus, and some of the asteroid belt, but there's a geurilla war from the asteroid belt onwards between the Conglomerate and the Spacer's Union, a group of people who believe in their right to be free of the corporations. Note that although corporate tyranny will play a role, this is not a black-and-white struggle between "good rebels" and "bad corporate guys". This conflict is very grey, and neither side is good or evil. That's one thing I need help emphasizing: how to show that the corpers aren't all bad and the spacers aren't all good.

About fifty years before the setting is set, aliens called Pegasans, who are not the most original aliens ever, invaded the Sol system through a gate near Jupiter. They are creatures which can control their own development, so that they can create living ships, shapeshifters, big aliens-from-Alien-type-things, et cetera. At first they just rampaged all over the solar system, but then the Conglomerate managed to reason with them, and now the two are allied against the Spacer's Union. The Union, meanwhile, created a hive of robots, who are sort of cliché (again) to fight the Pegasans, but they malfunctioned (or something), even though their orders were simply "protect the Human race and the Spacer's Union at all costs". As you can probably guess, there's something else going on here.

Both the CC and the SU are being controlled by the Progenitors, a race of aliens who are all sinister and evil and who I don't have a good motivation for. Basically, they have a virus which infects about half of all humans and can influence them to act for the benefit of the Proginitors. Hence creating a massive conspiracy lead by high government officials who know everything. The Machines (as I am calling the cliché robot army) found out about this and are attacking Humanity to destroy this virus and the Proginitors, and they are allied with some rogue Pegasan hives (the other hives are infected with the virus). Hence, the "big evil enemies" at the start of the campaign are discovered to be protaganists.

The Proginitors have other agents, by the way, which resemble traditional supernatural monsters like zombies, vampires, demons, et cetera - but not so much that they don't fit at all into the space opera setting...

So anyway, that's the setting, which I managed to make cliché and gimmicky at the same time. But what I really need help with are mechanics. I searched for a generic system that's Open Content or something similar, and couldn't find one. So here's my concept for players:

They are somewhat low-power characters, but still heroic, sort of like Firefly. No levels or classes. I want to strongly focus on running a space freighter, making money, trading, et cetera. So I want to have both a good mechanic for different jobs and the like on ships, as well as an economic mechanic - and that I have no idea how to pull off.

So, any ideas? Comments?

-Thanks[/i]

[darthblevis]

Archetypes not Stereotypes
Having strong archetypes in your game can createa comfortable and accessable landscape for people interested in your game.  Sadly most of the strong archetypes in the Sci-fi genre have become very cliche (the borg robot race etc).  Try flipping aspects of your races.  Maybe making the robot race

So basically you have:
Humans: Where the struggle is over corporate control.
Pegasans: Old enemies that are now allied with Humans.
Progenitors: Evil/manipulative aliens.
Robot: Destroying progenitor control over Humans.  Perceived as a threat and now cast out from Human space.
Spacer's Union: The peacekeepers of space.  Creators of the Robots.

I think your robots are the best race you have going.  There's possibilty for real conflict there.

I'm a big fan of triangular conflict.  Your races (human/pegana/progenitor) have good potential for that, as long as their alliances aren't rock solid.  Fleshing out the inner conflicts and motivations of each race will help.  Possibly modelling them after real world nations could give youa head start and some ideas for details that might otherwise be difficult to make up.

GURPS?
GURPS sounds like a good fit.  Steve Jackson games are the only games I know of that provide details on economics and the system is both class-less and lacking in levels.

Enjoy!!

[Matt Wilson]

and they don't like Uniystem's requirement of having to write down things about the personality of a character before they begin playing.

Do they just not want to define their characters prior to the start of play, or is there some specific method to the Unisystem that they don't like?

Because the personal stuff is the heart of a Whedon production. It's what drives the show (note: maybe I'm a little biased). Strength, Intelligence? Total window dressing. Anger, loyalty, love: that's the stuff you need to focus on, and the parts of each character that every player at the table needs to understand well.

[Vaxalon]

low-power space opera [/i]

By "low-power" you mean that the characters are not individually powerful, right?  Because space opera pretty much demands an epic scope.

[Roger]

I want to strongly focus on running a space freighter, making money, trading, et cetera.

I think you're just setting your customers up for some major Drifting with this.  There's a chance that everyone who picks up this game will be happy with being an employee of Planet Express, but I suspect that many of them will not.  The background presented so far is almost taunting them to have goals other than "making money, trading, etc."

If you really want your game to be strongly focused on running a space freighter, I'd suggest describing virtually every other part of the setting and system in those terms.  If it doesn't have any impact on running a space freighter, leave it out.



Cheers,
Roger

[Psuedopod]

Yes, you're probably right about the space freighter reaching a little. The main reason I put that in was for the players to have a role besides... "oh, we're hardened mercenaries/military guys". So I think I'll drop the focus on ships for something else.

Basically, my players don't like the idea of plotting out the entire personality of their characters on paper ahead of time; they like to have a general idea which gets fleshed out as they go along. I somewhat agree with them. Also, I'd like something a little rules-heavier than Unisystem.

The Joss Whedon comment was a little bit overstating how much I'd like the game to be in that style. It was mainly the Firefly influence, and the low-poweredness, plus the sort of [/i]philosophy[/i] that pervades the story - that of a hopeless struggle that you fight anyway.

So basically I'd like some advice on either finding or creating a semi-rules-heavy system for the setting, minus the strong focus on ships (though I would like to have a good space combat mechanic).

-Thanks.

[DevP]

Remember that in Firefly, their ships don't even *have* guns. I think you want to go for a system where being outgunned and outarmed will be the deciding factor in a fight, and create a world where they are always in this state. And keep that a ceiling, except under rare circumstances. (And make those circumstances very temporary. Many series also have the rogue crew "lucky" enough to find the best ship in the galaxy, but spend the whole series on the run as a result.)

To that end, I would question - just for consideration - why all that backstory is out there when what you really need is just lots of generic bullies to remind your heroes why they're supposed to be "small"? I was a bit confused, between seeing lots of wars and scheming aliens and viruses, and then being told that the players were just going to trade. (I like the just-trade bit, but the other machinations don't fit.) How do you see the various politics amongst these various political bodies important to the shaping of the play style?

[greedo1379]

It does sounds basically like you're talking about a slightly changed Firefly.  In Firefly they were slowly letting the major world details become known.  You have just laid all of it out ahead of time.  Would you tell your players the whole background or is this somethign they would learn slowly on their own?

Also, it sounds like you could use the D6 system pretty easily.  Like 2nd edition Star Wars RPG (before it went to D20) or any of the plain D6 books.  I'm just a big fan of these rules.  They are class less and level less too.

[Psuedopod]

I'm thinking that the players would learn this over time; that was the original reason for the spaceship idea. I need a job/role for the heroes that allows them to be somewhat ordinary and nevertheless be able to be involved in these things. So I still need that.

Really, the backstory IS what the world is about - as I said, I'm ditching the "freighter focus" idea. The space combat system is just there because space combat is a fun diversion. However, what I really need is a base system of some sort which is Open Game Content, as I would like to at least have the option of distributing this, even if it never happens.

Mentioning Firefly was probably a bad idea - I'm really not trying just to imitate Firefly. The universe is somewhat different, and the playing style, at least in my group, will be significantly different.

That said, if there are no systems which are OGC which would fit, what would you recommend for designing my own (simple) system? 2d6 + skill, perhaps? 2d6 + attribute + skill? I'm new at the "overall system design" idea, so what are the main balance issues to consider?

-Thanks

[Psuedopod]

I've thought things over, based on a lot of advice in this thread, and here's what I've concluded (in great detail, so feel no obligation to read):

Setting:

EARTH CONGLOMERATE:
-Ruled by a Corporate Senate and a Civil Council, headed by a Prime Chairman. More or less democratic, but somewhat open about being really, really money-oriented (being on the Corporate Senate requires holding of at least several million marks [the standard currency])
-Stable, with Pegasan allies. Has a military force which consists entirely of mercenaries working for corporations. Primary forces in wartime are Pegasans, supplemented by mercs. Players could perhaps be mercs for the Conglomerate, to start out with.
-Most rich people live on Earth or Mars (Mars is fully terraformed). Player could perhaps start as rich people's kids who are somewhat wild and thus gain experience from streetfighting and the like.
-Slums are everywhere - players could perhaps be denizens of the slums.

SPACER'S UNION:
-Mostly made up of small, "rural" space stations and mining colonies. One major urban station, Jupiter Central; has strong influences in the neutral trading station of Trade Center (in the Asteroid Belt).
-Has an official military force, but also a militia, which is mainly survivalists & the like.
-Ruled by a Congress, which elects a President who also has a lot of power.
-Few "elite" people.
-Players could be militia members or just spacers.

PEGASANS:
-I need some advice on making these guys original. I was thinking hive-mind, but since the Robots are already hive-mind, I think I need another idea. I'm mainly trying to avoid them being humanlike in any way (you won't really see any Pegasan player characters, except for the shapeshifters, who often assimilate themselves into human society).
-A primary group of Pegasans helps the Conglomerate, while a (much smaller) rogue group ruthlessly fights the Big Conspiracy.

ROBOTS:
-Hive mind control; has autonomous agents who control fleets and the like. Understand humans quite well, since they were created by humans.
-Agents of the Robot Central System, or CS as it's usually abbreviated, do not always know why they are doing things; while the CS is ordered to "protect humanity", the agents are simply under instructions to "obey the CS". If they lose contact with the CS, they attempt to reestablish contact while carrying out whatever part of their mission they understand.
-Robot PCs are possible - a rogue agent (need a better term, as "agent" sounds Matrix-y) could have a single body and have lost contact with the CS.

PROGINITORS:
-These guys are just evil. I didn't bother with motivations, besides, "be all dark and mysterious". I doubt the heroes would ever find out that much. But I probably will need a reason eventually.
-The real Proginitors never really manifest. They send agents who often look strange and supernatural; they have a virus that controls minds - but you'll never see a Proginitor mothership or anything. They can't really be defeated completely.
-They control more or less everything when it comes to corporations and government. About 25 to 50 percent of people have the mind-control bug, although it doesn't control their every action; it just influences them. Most PCs will not be infected. The bug CAN completely take someone over, but this is more trouble for the Proginitors, so they'd rather not do it. But when it comes to government & corporate higher-ups...

TECHNOLOGY:
-Artificial gravity
-Semihumanoid robots
-"Matrix"-like VR, but without the whole mind control and actually dying in the simulation bits. Often used for entertainment & training.
-Some sort of mild FTL to help speed travel between planets - or maybe not. Advice on this one?
-Jumpgates to the Pegasan home system and possibly elsewhere, but these "wormholes" are barely used. Most are closed by the government when found.
-Terraforming

OTHER:
-Various religious groups, some secretly agents of the Proginitors, others really fighting it. The ones who are against the Proginitors are generally branded as terrorists - which they often are.

SYSTEM:

Just an idea; use qualities/drawbacks, but just don't define the player's personality quite as much as Unisystem... still some personality stuff, though. Just nothing that might change a lot, like "perky" or "mildly depressed". Nothing that indicates a character's social status either, as I'm guessing that'll be very fluid.

Ability scores:
Brawn
Speed
Toughness
Smarts
Guts
Intuition

Derived:
Social: Smarts+Intution+qualities
Dodge: Speed+(Intuition/2)+qualities

Attack: Speed

So, that's all I've got. I'm sure it's very flawed, especially the rules. But what does everyone think?[/b]

[Walt Freitag]

"Proginitors" looks like a misspelling of "Progenitors," which is a real word that means "ancestors" (more specifically, "progeny-makers"). Players may therefore wonder (1) why are these beings called that -- that is, what are they considered to be the parents of? and (2) why is it spelled differently?

I once wrote a CRPG in which "Archaegenitors" are a mysterious alien villain race (and were indeed responsible for seeding intelligent life throughout the galaxy, including earth). And its a common trope in space exploration SF in general; Niven's Known Space, B5, the Trekverse and many others all have their own known or rumored planet-seeding ancestors. I tend to be more than usually curious about such things.

- Walt

[Psuedopod]

Yeah, I just misspelled it... and yeah, I know that's a fairly common trope... I'm not neccesarily trying to create the most original story ever here.

Does anyone think the Action! system would be a good fit? I've seen it, it looks good, but it's not very often used, and I'm wondering why...