My own space setting: which fork do I take?

[DevP]

As for the Old West theme, I'd suggest maybe adding in some colorful interstellar factions.

Of course. <g> I have a few so far, but they're more like provincial governments. Just from play, I have a few interesting Pirate Groups / Mercenary groups coming about; I'll mine this a lot.

Of course, a rules-light setting is one where a large Mad Scientist conspiracy isn't necessary, as you might run accross a loner genemangler on some uninhabited moonbase... Perhaps some semirandomized freak generation rules, in addition to a list of thought-out factions, would help thigns along.

So what will the system do to support these things?

Ah. My inclination is to plug into an existing syste. See my cross-post:

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?p=78356#78356

But basically, I was going to write my setting in generic terms, and append statistical bits tailored to specific other systems at the end. I don't greatly want to make my own system, and I want my material slightly help a few other systems

I do see the point that the mechanic will really effect what people actually do. As Dirig suggested, simply making combat lethal and not reward "kills" can greatly encourage Running Away/Ambush tactics. (Granted, if they're using Wushu there's not so much I can do about it.)

As for the other aspects of the setting, I could try to glom in an extra layer to character creation...

FREEDOM - Identify at least one "liberty" or "freedom" you will not give up.

PUNK - Identify at least one authority / group that annoys you? Also, perhaps at least one criminal act that's in your past.

FAMILY - Identify at least one person or group your trust.

BASTARDS - Identify at least one person or group you've fucked over, on purpose.

CONSEQUENCES - The GM will keep a running track of individual's positive or negative karma, but this positive karma will devalue at a steady rate; at some threshold, force negative karma to be paid in full.

A bit flaky here, but we have an antagonistic secret karma pool, and mandatory friend/enemy/criminal record/convictions set up from the get go. Any better ideas?

If anyone is curious, I could list the systems I had in mind, but it's a touch pedantic (and of course I'd worry about hurting people's feelings that I didn't invite).

[Daniel Solis]

FREEDOM - Identify at least one "liberty" or "freedom" you will not give up.

PUNK - Identify at least one authority / group that annoys you? Also, perhaps at least one criminal act that's in your past.

All I really have to say is that I'm quite jealous I didn't think of these two bits for PUNK. Do you mind terribly if I tweak them a bit to work them into the character creation?

Aside from that, I can offer a sample "interesting location" I wrote up for a western space setting. A rickety little outpost on the edge of the asteroid belt that's so close to falling apart that ballistic weapons aren't allowed and everyone carries swords or batons while hopping around at quarter-gravity.

[DevP]

All I really have to say is that I'm quite jealous I didn't think of these two bits for PUNK. Do you mind terribly if I tweak them a bit to work them into the character creation?

Aside from that, I can offer a sample "interesting location" I wrote up for a western space setting. A rickety little outpost on the edge of the asteroid belt that's so close to falling apart that ballistic weapons aren't allowed and everyone carries swords or batons while hopping around at quarter-gravity.

Go ahead and borrow, Gobi!

Also, that's a good idea you have. Generally speaking, I'd say that ballistic weapons are legal and safe in most modern space stations, it's bad luck to fire one (given the older spacers' bad experiences with quickly depressurizing cabins). This would an interesting twist on that.

[Troy_Costisick]

Also, that's a good idea you have. Generally speaking, I'd say that ballistic weapons are legal and safe in most modern space stations, it's bad luck to fire one (given the older spacers' bad experiences with quickly depressurizing cabins). This would an interesting twist on that.

-Actually, I would have to say that most if not all space stations would ban balistic and laser type weapons.  The old Babylon Project RPG talked about the type of weapons the security guys used.  It was some sort of heat-plasma pistol thing that disipated when it hit a solid object.  If delivered an impact and a burn to its vicitim, but when it hit a wall, the energy would just disipate and not puncture the steel bulkhead.  There was a lot of techno mumbo-jumbo in it, but it served it's purpose: a) Let people have weapons on board and b) not risk depresurizing the cabin.

-Old Mechwarrior had a system that assigned a credit cost and legality level to all equipment.  You might want to try something similar for your game.  For instance, balistics might be highly illegal to purchase but plasm guns not so much.  Could be another hook for characters if they are gun runners. /shrugg just a thought :)

Peace,

-Troy

[Daniel Solis]

I actually ran a quickie session using this setting and the UA system. People really seemed to like the juxtaposition of swords in spaaaaace. There were two characters who trained a specific style of martial arts that utilized zero-g environments and so we had some fun matrix-style wall-running and extended leaps.

[DevP]

I gave it some thought...

Your History (as a Bastard, Fugitive, and Cool Mofo)

You get to describe up to 6 "exploits" of yours - your previous adventures, which succeeded in some lucky/cool/stylish way.

For each of these, also describe either one person you fucked over (Bastard), or one incident with the Law (Fugitive). These can probably tied to the exploit.

My thinking is that the player should describe each exploit on a 3x5 inch card, and on the back write down the consequence (with the Law or an bad karma).

Your Drive (family versus liberty versus ego)

Basically, pick either a "family" represented by a person/group that you would give yourself up for, OR a notion of a liberty that you would not back down on, OR a trait of your ego that you cannot and will not help. These could be used for you (using family as an ally, using ego to amp your willpower) or against you (blackmail and worse).

Secret Mechanics

The GM should keep some stats on each character secret: Payback and Wanted. Payback represents what the karmic law of the universe "owe" you in terms of unhappy retribution. Payback is zero, +1 for each person you fucked over in your history. Actions you take may increase/decrease this number, but this value also "accrues interest" over time. As it goe shigher, the GM can arbitrarily cause worse thigns to happen to you, until an untimely death is inevitable.

Wanted (or perhaps, Bounty or Criminal Record) is a simple stat determining how badly you are wanted by various authorities. THe actual effect varies rougly depending on where you are, but in general the level allows for more frequent encounters with various security forces. Wanted should increase in value when the law has been repeatedly broken (consider "bandits on the run", with an increasingly higher reward), and will devalue after a few conseuctive turns of abstaining from illegality. Of course, at some level of illegality devaluation is impossible. Again, capture and/or an untimely end may be inevitable.

[Daniel Solis]

You might want to look at Unknown Armies' Passions for some other interesting personality traits. They use three stimuli: Noble, Fear and Rage. Something that brings about your noble side, something that makes you piss-your-pants afraid, and something that makes you angry, respectively.

For PUNK, I'm translating this into Fight, Fuck, Flight: Something that you want to fight tooth-and-nail, something that you desire with all the greed in your soul, and something that you fear more than anything else, respectively. I'll be linking those traits into the Tweak Meter as well.

Which brings up another thing, have you considered a variant on a "sanity" system that is more short-term? As opposed to sanity, I'm thinking "composure" which would only apply to immediate responses to various stresses. This would be a way to mechanically encourage escape from combat. Something like "every minute you spend in combat results in cumulative 'violence' composure checks." If you fail, you freak out and the GM gets control for one action.