Hostile Space will be a game of science fiction horror emulating everything from Aliens, to Predator to Pitch Black. Set in the future humanity has reached the stars but has yet to meet any sentient alien life. All they find are graveyards, planets littered with bones and ancient ships drifitng through the void. While the large corporations and governments fight over colonies they miss the significance of this.

The reason mankind has never encountered any other alien races is because when a species begins exploring space they gain the attention of an ancient entity which creates monsters to eliminate all life. Humanity has just got it's attention.

Each adventure the player characters encounter one of these hostiles. They can't simply fight it, they must first gather Victory Points, representing things they do to tilt things in their favor, whether it be learning more about the creature they face, setting a trap or helping others who can help them in return. Once they have enough victory points they stand a chance of defeating their foe.

The core mechanic is what I call the Fear Engine. I wanted death to be a real possibility to make the hostile really threatening. One successful strike and your character could die instantly. To represent this player characters have three playing cards, 2 black and 1 red. They can have additional black cards representing edges they have, such as being quick, smart or a particularly good weapon. 

When the Hostile attacks these cards are placed face down and the player is allowed to shuffle their position as much as he likes. The GM then selects a card. If it is the red card the character is killed by the hostile. Before the GM chooses the player has the choice of discarding a black card, sacrificing it to save himself. This could represent an injury or losing the weapon.

This leads to a tactical choice. Play the odds and hope the red card isn't selected or escape by giving up a card but know that next time the odds are no longer in your favor.

If they do die then their remaining black cards can be donated to other players to increase their chances or gifted to their next character. This could even be a NPC that the player wants to assume control of. This will allow players who die early to keep playing or at least contribute to the success of the rest of the group.

Coupled with the Fear Engine is the idea of a count down. The hostile will attack when the count down reaches 0, no matter where you are. How long you have is set by the GM. Pass a task successfully as you try to gather victory points and your time increases. Fail and the count down decreases. Escaping from a hostile or if a player dies adds 10 minutes to the count down so sacrificing a member of the group can buy you some time.

When they have enough Victory Points the players get to try and pick the hostiles red card. The more cards it has the less chance they have. They can use victory points to either pick a card or get rid of the Hostiles black cards. They can either try their luck or try to even the odds, knowing that after each victory point is spent the Hostile gets to make an attack in return.

I wanted to set up the same situation as in most horror science fiction films. The leads have limited resources and it's only a matter of time before the monster finds them. The lucky ones either slowly loose the things that give them an edge or die suddenly. I also wanted to inspire real fear during combat. It isn't a roll of a dice that determines if you die but whether your opponent will pick the red card you've hidden.

I think that science fiction lends itself well to horror. They never know what they'll find in the depths of space and whether they are on a ship or on a colony they are effectivelly isolated. It would take months for any kind of rescue to be mounted to save them. They are on their own, trapped with the thing that wants to kill them.

Pretty awesome. Is that it or are you planning on adding more to the system. You mentioned that players could have more cards through things like reflexes how does that work?

During character creation a player chooses two qualities that add to their pool. These qualities could be things like aggressive, alertness, agile, a cause, being a cyborg, being determined, knowledgeable, lucky, overlooked, having someone to look after, etc. Anything that might let them escape death and could be sacrificed. For example a player character could sacrifice their aggressiveness and become meek or they could watch in horror as their loved one is killed by the monster instead.

At the end of each adventure they can gain either another quality or a survival trait. A survival trait is something they gain having survived an encounter with a hostile. A survival trait could be knowing when a count down starts, how long they have or being able to make one final attack on the hostile even if their red card is picked. Survival traits are special things to reward players for making it out alive.

Normal tasks are also resolved using cards. A difficultly rating is set and the player draws a card, adding any skills to the face value of the card. Skills are gained during character creation, selecting careers like in Traveller. Each career gives a selection of three skills. I feel this is a good way to create characters suited for the genre (from spaceship crew, to scientists, to colonists to criminals) and has the benefit of creating a character with a history already laid out for them. It's also quick so if a character dies then it doesn't take long to make a new one.

Failing a dangerous task, like making a space walk or defusing a bomb could also result in the GM selecting one of the player cards. This also occurs in combat, the more deadly the weapon the more times the attacker gets to try and select his targets red card. If the players are fighting nameless goons then their opponent will have only 1 red card and 1 black, giving them a 50% chance of killing them to help speed up combat.

Death is an ever present threat. Players should never forget life in space is short and brutal.

Victory points make designing an adventure really easy. You simply think what the players could do to defeat the Hostile and design various tasks, the more important the task the bigger the reward of Victory Points if they succeed. You could decide the local crime lord has access to weapons that could be useful so set up a scene where the player characters either bargin with him or kill him and take his stuff. You could award Victory Points if they use the colony steel works to dump molten metal on the Hostile or if they get the orphans to the remaining escape pod.

By the time you've planted enough Victory points for the players to face the Hostile you've written a whole adventure.

Again awesome do you have a rules compilation(like a pdf?) or are you not there yet. I would love to run a Hostile game.

How does the card draw feed into the narrative? Like, what do I say happens in the story if I draw black card. What about if I get killed by drawing the red card?

I'll look at putting a pdf together of the rules I have so far.

To clarify the player is not drawing a card when fighting the Hostile. At the start of the game the player allocates a black card to each of his qualities. So if he had the Hardy quality he could say that is represented by the 8 of clubs he has been dealt.  They are then laid out in front of him, face down. When attacked he can shuffle their arrangement and has the choice of sacrificing one or let the GM try to pick the red card.

The GM points to one of the cards and it is revealed by flipping it over. If it is red then the GM describes how the player is killed by the Hostile. If it is black and has been allocated to a quality the player can describe how that quality saved their life. Similarly if they sacrifice their quality they discard the card and describe how the Hostile's attack damaged or destroyed it.

If the player dies and gifts his black cards to another player they could describe how they are taking his equipment, vowing to look after the son he has left behind or adopting his stoic view of the world. Anything that shows the passing of the torch.

Cards are only drawn during tasks or combat that doesn't involve the Hostile. Qualities don't come into play during this, only skill ranks which add to the value of the card.

Hi,

Sounds like it has potential, so far.

One thing about death is that in practically all movies and books, there is some narrative forshadowing as to why someone dies. Even if it's as lame as having had sex (in a  slasher flick)

Perhaps you could have some sort of forshadowing the player builds up for points or such, along the lines of 'If my PC dies, it because he was a X' or 'If my PC dies, it's because he always did Y' and read them out.

So if he does die, it has that 'narrative sense' that because he was a X or does Y, that's why he got killed.

It sort of ties up a loose end, right?

The game sounds great, this genre (sci-fi horror) thrives on building tension, and from reading this it seems your game does this very well.

Will there be any form of defined setting (apart from what you have defined below), or will the game encourage groups to make up setting elements themselves?

I'd love to playtest this with my gaming-group when you have something you are comfortable with releasing.

The description and mechanics explained so far sound awesome. Have you ever played the board game The Hobbit? The resolution mechanic is similar, except in The Hobbit, all the "black cards" are pre-printed with items, allies, and spells-- and it's not narrated what happens when you give up a card to overcome an obstacle or enemy.

Do you have rules in mind for who narrates what during play?

Sounds very interesting and I really like the card mechanic. (In fact, it is at base conceptually very similar to my game dead*space [sup][1][/sup] -- space is full of dead worlds and derelict ships, some "force" is destroying the universe and seeks to devour mankind -- though mine has a neo-mythic bent to it and is less focused on the horror-and-fear aspects. So this is right up my alley.)

One concern for me is character creation: if death is that "easy" in play, then character creation needs to take no more than a couple of minutes. It seems almost pointless to worry about having detailed character backgrounds and going through Traveler-like options for creation when chances are your character WILL die in a game. How does "Hostile Space" handle this? How quick is char gen? Have you thought of perhaps using something similar to the "character tree" idea found in the 2nd Edition AD&D Dark Sun setting?

([sup][1][/sup] Yes, I am aware there is now a video game with this name. I started developing my game years before the video game was a glimmer in some developer's eye, so whatever. There's also a book of sci-fi horror stories and a band with the same name.)

Okay everyone, below you'll find a link to a pdf of the rules I have so far, along with a setting and several adventures to get you started.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/3cnf3em8ey1613s/hostiledraft.pdf

Any feedback is gratefully accepted.

There is a setting, establishing what life is like for space travellers and the various powerful corporations and governments they'll encounter. I thought it was important to establish what level of technology is available. I wanted to make it like Aliens or Moon. There is faster than light travel but only by passing through Ex-space, a domain that will drive you mad if you look at it so cryo-suspension is used. There are robots but most are simple, break down easily or go berserk and kill people.

There is also a reason for the Hostile monsters which gives the player characters something to discover and try to find a solution for. I've provided a selection of Hostiles. Many of them were human, which I think is a scary idea, that anyone could become a monster. There are also alien lifeforms which are suitably weird.

I don't really agree that the genre needs foreshadowing. Unlike Slasher films, which as you say usually have some karmic pay back for carnal lust or being a jerk, sci-fi horror films death is rarely just. If you look at the crew in the original Alien film they're all pretty good people. The only one who causes them problems is Ripley as she is uptight and by the books yet she is the one to escape alive. In Aliens Burker is the only one who deserves to die.

I think that it is scarier if death has no meaning. It comes to everyone, eventually.

I think the character creation is reasonably quick. You select your qualities and then a handful of careers. There are no character points to spend and the only calculation you need to do is simple addition. You can specialise or pick a diverse selection of careers.

Nice! So are you comfortable with play-testing the game? I would be thrilled to try it out in a while.

If you look at the crew in the original Alien film they're all pretty good people. The only one who causes them problems is Ripley as she is uptight and by the books yet she is the one to escape alive. In Aliens Burker is the only one who deserves to die.

Devin, I think it is in a playtest-able state but I'm not really comfortable running a season over the net. If any one wants to try out the rules feel free and let me know how it turns out.

Callan, if the attacks were triggered by the behaviour of the characters and the point is to survive then you're going to influence their behaviour. If they die if they do bad things everyone would do good things, if good people die then everyone would do bad things. Either way you're artificial shaping the character's decisions.

I think it's more interest if there is no moral judgement. Victory points could be assigned for saving people but you could also reward points for getting on board an escape pod, even if it means you strand others. It opens up much more interesting scenarios where you examine what people are capable of when their only goal is to stay alive.

If they die if they do bad things everyone would do good things, if good people die then everyone would do bad things.

It opens up much more interesting scenarios where you examine what people are capable of when their only goal is to stay alive.

This kind of system sing black cards and red cards works pretty well. I've been using it for the last few years in my game "The Eighth Sea".

The take I used is a little different though.

Each player begins with 2 black and 2 red cards.

Players can apply their cards to the characters of other players, but may never apply them to their own characters...until the final scene when cards left in a players hand are applied onto their own characters automatically.

So through the course of the game, you can apply a black card to someone to make their skill attempt harder, or apply a red card to someone to make things easier. Then you draw a random card to refill your hand once the scene is over.

If you keep throwing black cards at people and keep making it harder for them, then you'll have a better chance of a hand full of red cards when crunch time comes. So everyone else has done the hard work for you and things are easy for you at the end...but then again if you're playing black cards on everyone, then they'll probably be throwing black cards at you through the course of the game as well.

It adds some great dynamic tension to the game, because players need to consider whether to make challenges easier for the other players (and thus gain an ally during the course of the game), or make it harder for them (and thus make it easier at the climax).

If you want more information about it, have a look at the game (it only costs a dollar for a 160 page pdf from Lulu...see my signature.)

Interesting system. It reminds me of Fiascho's system, where who the players decide to allocate black and white dice to affects the final outcome. How did you find the process of publishing on Lulu?

Using cards appealled to me as it included a random factor (having to pick the red card) but would build more tension than just rolling a dice. It's less about fate than it is a decison that is being made. When the card is flipped it's either a sigh of relief or a gasp of horror. If they sacrifice cards they have a visual reminder that things are getting worse for them.

I can see a few people have downloaded the pdf. Any thoughts on how it is laid out? I like to sketch out the setting first before getting to the system because I want to give the game context. I think it is better to know what you're designing your character to survive in. I hope that the collection of Hostiles I've included give a good idea of the varied types of adventure you can run. The adventures should also demonstrate this, with a mix of actions and events.

Anything that people think should be included or expanded on?

hostilespace wrote:
Interesting system. It reminds me of Fiascho's system, where who the players decide to allocate black and white dice to affects the final outcome. How did you find the process of publishing on Lulu?

I've been continuing to work on Hostile Space, adding further adventures and details of the setting (including a few new corporations and cults). I've also written some short pieces of fiction to insert between chapters. I know some people don't like rpg fiction but I find a well written piece can help establish the mood of the game and spark ideas.

I'm going to go with a star background with white text. It should be able to produce two versions, one with the star background and one with white background and black text for printing (to save on ink).

21 people have downloaded the draft so far but I haven't seen much in the way of feedback. Has anyone looked over it or even play it?

Feedback:

I think you should concentrate the absolute success/failure stuff on the direct interaction with the Hostile.  All the stuff preceding that is just foreplay.  Let the players prepare for the inevitable in the best way possible, without inflicting the possibility of absolute failure on them at this stage.  Ill give one idea below.

I REALLY like the 'countdown' to the arrival of the Hostile.  Its like the audience watching a monster movie - you know its coming, but you dont know when.  And often that part of the movie is the best, because the monster is only hinted at.  The slow reveal...

However, I dont like the double whammy of success=monster stays away, failure = monster gets closer.  I would prefer giving the players a tradeoff.  i.e.  The players can accomplish anything plausible, given enough time.  So lets say the players is attempting some action, and rolls the result of 'failure'.  the player can take this result and find an alternative solution to their problem, OR they can spend more precious time to ensure that the thing gets done.  Love the idea that the players dont know what time the doomsday clock is, nor by how much it decrements when they opt for more time to ensure a task gets done :)  I would get rid of any trait that allows them to know. 

An example: GM secretly rolls 1 doomsday clock dice for any action attempted, and if that action turns out to be a failure, give the player the option of success at the cost of an additional 3 more dice off the clock. 

Get rid of task resolution for trivial or easy tasks, its just a waste of time -- this isnt a 'sim' game.  Only bring out the task resolution system for dramatic/challenging situations.

Thanks for the feedback.

Most of the time trivial and easy tasks won't come up. They're there mostly to give a sense of scale for the higher difficulties. I do think you could find occasion to have players make an easy task to do something simple like driving away or talk to someone if they're driving away from a monster or explaining about the horror that is chasing them. Will their nerves cause them to stall or stammer? It is also a way for a charitable gamesmaster to give the players some extra time by giving them an easy success.

The countdown was the core concept when I thought of Hostile Space I wanted something that would be inevitable and terrible. There is the Survival Trait 'Warning Signs' that gives a 10 minute warning before the countdown reaches 0 for each level taken. Since the countdown can vary in length and they only get 1 level per game they survive it shouldn't ruin the suspense. Hopefully it will just increase the tension to know that in 10 minutes the Hostile is going to appear.

I like the idea of bargaining a greater success for less time. So if you fail you can increase your result for 1 point in exchange for losing 10 minutes. It would fit in nicely with the tactical choice of sacrificing cards instead of the Hostile selecting a card. They could even spend time before they make their roll the difference being that if they spend time after they fail they still lose time for the failure. They'd need to decide how much they want to succeed.

It could result in some nice scenes where they go all out to get the victory point they need to confront the Hostile, knowing that by doing so the Hostile will immediately appear.

In a close game of sport, say AFL footy (to give an example of the best sport there is):  is it more suspenseful to have a countdown clock so you know exactly when the game ends, or no clock?

I'd say that having a clock creates more tension.

The thing with the countdown is that the inital attack by the Hostile is a surprise. They don't initially know how long they've got and the Survival Trait only gives them a few minutes warning.

Once the Countdown clock does reach 0 and the Hostile attacks the time until the next attack is known, although the players could loose track. After it has killed someone the clock goes back up by 10 minutes giving the players time to perform tasks so that they can add time on when they succeed. This is where the tension really mounts. They now know that the Hostile is breathing down their neck and every action counts.

What can they do to save themselves before the clock reaches 0 again?

random thoughts - you could have a whole time based system, and make success or failure completely a choice.  And you play in real-time.

There is a system called 'the window' which uses a mechanic where your skill competency is measured in a single dice 'size'.  As in a poor competence you roll a d20 but a high competence you roll a d6 kind of thing.  Rolling under the target number, so low rolls are better.  but a time-based system wouldnt need target numbers at all.

You could make it so that whatever you roll is how many minutes it takes to complete the task.  If you need a modifier due to penalties or extreme difficulty or something, you could bump the dice used by one level.  i.e.  normally the player would roll a d10 for this skill, but because they are wounded they are bumped down to a d12.

If players are collaborating on a task, they all roll and the lowest roll is how long it takes, with the character  contributing the lowest roll seen as having the greatest effect on the outcome.

If you dont like how long the roll indicates completing the task will take, you can give up after a short period and try something else.

As for the monster, it can simply be scheduled to appear at a random secret time for the first appearance, and at shorter secret random intervals after that.

example rules:

So you go around the table and ask everyone to briefly describe  what they intend to do do.  Then they immediately roll to see how long in real time it will take.  In order of quickest resolution first, the player describes what they did to accomplish the task, or if the task is going to take longer than the next few minutes, they describe what they will continue to be doing to accomplish the task.

Once this has gone round the table, anyone who completed their task quickly can announce a new task and roll for that.  Then description continues to go round - what did you do to accomplish your task if it is coming to an end, or what you are continuing to do if the task is ongoing.  There is also the option of describing meeting failure or giving up in frustration which allows you to abandon any task in progress and move on to another task when it is your next turn.

Two weird things about this - a) it is realtime so it might be kind of intense to play for any length of time and b) the process is totally player-driven with players having full narration rights over their own character.  Would it work?  I dont know.

So what does the GM do?  I guess he has to observe and judge how the players actions would give them any advantage / disadvantage dependng on the secret natutre of the monster which he has already pre-designed.  Its strengths, weaknesses and modus-operandi.  And he has to keep a poker face.

I think it would be most fun for the GM to be entirely at odds with the party, and try to kill them all.  The players win collectively, even if their own character die in the process, if the monster(s) is taken out.  And obviously if the players are all wiped out, the monster wins.  Although you could mix it up and say the monster has a secret objective and if win/loose is judged on it achieving that objective, regardless of who kills who - some monsters might not even WANT to be found and its the payers who have to find and kill the monster before it accomplishes its objective?

Sounds very cool. I just downloaded it. My first reaction is that I like the count down mechanic but also wonder about success=more time, failure=less. Perhaps each time a task is attempted to get more Victory Points, a (random) amount of time elapses (role a die), whether success or failure and players can improve chances of success by investing time up front. Time should only be added to the countdown clock if the players somehow fool the Creature or throw it off their scent. But that shouldn't gain them VP. It's sets up another wager: Invest time that could be spent hunting for VP in order to fool the Creature to gain more time to hunt for VP?

If you played in real time you could use a chess timer.  You know, it consists of two clocks and a back and forth switch so that either one clock or the other is running down at any given time.  One clock would be for the alien of course, so you could cover the face of that clock so you wouldnt know how much time it had left, until it went DING!

Dont ask me how to incorporate that though.