space opera with Dust Devils

[woodelf]

OK, we're about to wrap up our current campaign (probably this session or next), and we've agreed that the next game will be Dust Devils mechanics, space opera setting. Think stories in the vein of Farscape, Blake's 7, or perhaps Firefly.

[I say 'perhaps', because i think Firefly is the poorest fit of the 3 for the mechanics--unfortunately, it's also the only one of the 3 that all of my players are familiar with. However, i've got one player who borrowed my copies of Blake's 7 and is, i think, watching them, and the other three are all well into season 1 of Farscape, so there's hope. ;-) ]

Anyway, in order to prevent the game falling into just an emulation of one particular TV show, and make it more an emulation of a subgenre of space opera, i'm trying to do up DD versions of at least most of the main characters from all three series.

As i see it, the defining characteristics of the subgenre are:

• a dark and dangerous world, where the badguys will just kill you if they get a chance (unless they're into torture, perhaps)
• the heroes are not necessarily nice guys--they may be, but they may just as well simply be less-bad than the badguys. Usually the protagonists are a mix.
• the heroes are flawed, usually tragically. The struggles against these flaws are often a bigger problem than the external threats, and always at least complicate the external threats. It can be argued that the entirety of Blake's 7 is the story of the struggle between Blake's flaws and Avon's flaws, which in the end finally triumpth over both each other and their respective strengths.
• the heroes are not necessarily friends--they are more often thrown together by circumstances. In a few cases, they'd just as soon kill one another, but more often they are merely of incompatible worldviews, or otherwise don't play well together, and would be perfectly content merely to be rid of the other, with no malice necessary. Circumstances generally require cooperation, however.
• survival is often the primary goal, rather than  some constructive motive. The heroes are as or more often reactive than proactive--usually due to circumstances.

With that in mind, here are my initial drafts of 5 of the characters from Blake's 7. I'd greatly appreciate any help in refining these, and coming up with character descriptions for at least Crichton, D'Argo, Aeryn, Chiana, Rygel, and Zhaan (Farscape); and Mal, Zoe, Wash, Kaylee, Jayne, and Simon (Firefly)--Book and Inara are too ill-defined, it seems to me, to import, but i'll take suggestions if someone has them.

Also, of course, any suggestions on important elements of the subgenre to keep in mind, or disputations of the ones i've already identified, are welcome.

----
Kerr Avon

Attributes (13)
Hand   3
Eye      5
Guts   4
Heart   2

Traits (2)
Cold and calculating
Strong-willed

Knacks (11)
Making computers do what he wants   4
Manipulating people   3
Shooting   2
Repairing things   2

Devil
Looks Out For Number One. Avon is incapable of truly trusting anyone, even when it's in his own best interests. He will shoot a man in the back, just to make sure he doesn't get shot in the back.

----
Roj Blake

Attributes (13)
Hand   3
Eye      3
Guts   4
Heart   5

Traits (2)
Born leader
Idealist

Knacks (11)
Commanding   3
Understanding what people want   3
Shooting   2
Judging people   3

Devil
Driven Revolutionary. Blake is a political enemy of the Federation, and is driven to overthrow it, at almost any cost.

----
Olag Gan

Attributes (13)
Hand   4
Eye      2
Guts   5
Heart   3

Traits (2)
Big as an ox, and twice as strong
Likeable everyman

Knacks (11)
Shooting   2
Unarmed fighting   4

Devil
Limiter Implant. Gan has a bit of computer implanted in his brain that prevents him from doing lethal harm, even in self-defense.

----
Jenna Stannis

Attributes (13)
Hand   3
Eye      4
Guts   3
Heart   4

Traits (2)
Charming
Gorgeous

Knacks (11)
Piloting   4
Shooting   3
Social graces   2

Devil
In love with Blake. Against her better judgement, her self-preservation instinct, and her independent nature, Jenna is in love with Blake. This causes her to put his goals before her own, to protect him from himself, and threatens to turn her into an idealist in a pragmatic world.

----
Vila Restal

Attributes (13)
Hand   5
Eye      2
Guts   1
Heart   3

Traits (2)
Quick-thinking
Dextrous fingers

Knacks (11)
Opening locks   4
Sleight of hand   4
Convincing people he's useless   3

Devil
Vila is a coward, through and through. Even when he truly wants to help himself or his friends, he simply can't summon the courage to do it. He gets in as much trouble trying to avoid trouble as he would if he just faced it.

----
Oh, i should probably point out that i decided to go with modeling, rather than strict rules adherence. So some of the characters have slightly more or fewer points than a standard starting Dust Devils character does, because it seemed like a better fit for the character. I consider it more useful to my players (who are mostly familiar with high-crunch games) to see what the characters they're familiar with look like using these rules, than to show them legal starting characters who only sorta model the fictional characters.

-Nat

[DevP]

Hey Nat. Awesome idea! Have you've seen Matt's discussion of Firefly? I think it does work, although you'd need to let their players tone down their Devils for a bit, and given them the necessary chips so that they don't get into Endgame until they're characters are ready. While the world of Firefly is gritty as you describe, the television-reality of the story is a bit more heroic.

Cowboy Bebop is also another key episode this this sort of genre, so if you can get a disc from Netflix or elsewhere, it could possibly give you another angle. Bebop works pretty well in that, despite all the fun-loving crew unity, there are a lot of dark pieces of history pulling them apart at all times. Are you familar with Bebop?

I'll stat up Inara and Travis,...

Travis
Hand 4
Eye 3
Guts 4
Heart 2

Traits: Cold and calculating. Lethal as a viper.

Devil: Revenge. You will bring the terrorist Roj Blake to justice. Nothing else matters, and you will cut down as many people as necessary along the way.

Inara
Hand 3
Eye 3
Guts 2
Heart 5

Traits: More elegant than a queen in court. More proud than a preacher on Sunday.

Devil: Cold. In her profession, a cool and aloof demeanour is the only defense against the intense passions that surround her. She needs to keep her distance from the temporary crew, and even the man she wants to love.