What kind of campaigns will you all be running?

[ShadowRaptor]

With the release of Terran Empire and Star HERO, I am still in the working stages of trying to figure all this out and cipher the information so it all makes a lot of sense, but one thing I noticed that the kinds of campaigns one can run are very staggering, and I was curious as to what kind of games many of you will be playing in. Perhaps I will also get a wonderful idea and run with it in my own game also.

[John Desmarais]

Well, I probably won't be using Terran Empire, but I do plan on eventually revisting my earlier attempt to get players interested in a based on the Honor Harrington setting.

John Desmarais

[Monolith]

I sent this to someone by email who was interested in learning about the TE campaign I was playing in. Here is a really brief rundown of what is going on:

The game is set in 2638 during Marissa's reign (from the TE book). The basic premise is that our group is an imperial scout ship posing as mercenary/merchants. We scout out the empire and delve into the Neutral Zones, basically looking for dissidents, uncovering plots which threaten the empire, and expanding the empire's knowledge base involving alien species and worlds. During all this everyone just thinks we are looking to make a few credits.

The group consists of a Martial captain, a Fex second in command and the engineer, a Heavy security officer, A Human espionage officer who is also a member of the IPF, a Mon'Dabi communications officer and the chief trader, and a Catavalan scout, who is secretly spying on the Empire for the Velarian Federation.

Our current ship is called the Maltise, and is a variant of the Gagarin. It has been modified to carry more cargo and also carries two nuclear warheads incase things go really bad. :)

Our last mission had us on Cherub III, where we were "buying" of load of Kendrium. Our actual mission involves tracking the activities of a smuggling ring know as the Ebon Brotherhood who are trying to funnel terran weapons and tech information to the Varanyi; who are trying to destroy the empire without a major confrontation.

So basically we are hunters, seeking out those who would do harm to the empire.

[Armitage]

Originally posted by John Desmarais
Well, I probably won't be using Terran Empire, but I do plan on eventually revisting my earlier attempt to get players interested in a based on the Honor Harrington setting.

Except that the starships would be disgusting by the Star Hero and Ultimate Vehicle rules. I was just looking at the specs in David Weber's "The Universe of Honor Harrington" in "More Than Honor".

A battlecruiser with its inertial compensator's safety margins cut to zero can pull 500 G's of acceleration.
Obviously that could be done more cheaply with MegaScale Flight, but it still outperforms anything in normal Star Hero, and the Inertial Compensator itself would be hideous.
Force Field 998 PD?

And the amount of Force Wall needed to create the impeller wedge...?
Maybe just a Limitation on weapons. Cannot Damage Dorsal and Ventral Sides of Ships When Target's Drive is Active.

[nHammer]

Later this year I'll be running a comedy/action adventure Star Hero campaign. It's inspired by the TV cartoon show Futurama.

We (the group I game with) really need to play something different. We've been playing D&D and Champions for awhile now, and burn-out is creeping in slowing. I think this game will be LOTSA fun.

[BobGreenwade]

I've only gotten to glance at TE thus far, but once I own both it and the Spacer's Toolkit I'm giving some serious thought to running something where the PCs are the Imperial equivalent of the US Diplomatic Secret Service (bodyguards for US diplomats abroad), operating on Mon'da. I don't know exactly when in the TE timeline this would take place, but (depending on what I can work out) it would give an opportunity to have action, investigation, constantly exotic locales, and many other elements. If I do it right, it should feel like a cross between Babylon 5, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, James Bond movies, M*A*S*H, and the A-Team. :cool:

[Barghest]

If I run something Star Hero related rather than my Pulp Hero campaign, it will be a pulp SF thing along the lines of Burroughs' Venus series, perhaps Beyond the Farthest Star

[Agent Escafarc]

John Desmarais
Well, I probably won't be using Terran Empire, but I do plan on eventually revisting my earlier attempt to get players interested in a based on the Honor Harrington setting.

I'm using this as an influence for scale and flavor.

Armitage
Except that the starships would be disgusting by the Star Hero and Ultimate Vehicle rules. I was just looking at the specs in David Weber's "The Universe of Honor Harrington" in "More Than Honor".

Since I don't see starships as something that a single person can aford, it realy doesn't matter what the cost is.

BobGreenwade
I've only gotten to glance at TE thus far, but once I own both it and the Spacer's Toolkit I'm giving some serious thought to running something where the PCs are the Imperial equivalent of the US Diplomatic Secret Service (bodyguards for US diplomats abroad), operating on Mon'da. I don't know exactly when in the TE timeline this would take place, but (depending on what I can work out) it would give an opportunity to have action, investigation, constantly exotic locales, and many other elements. If I do it right, it should feel like a cross between Babylon 5, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, James Bond movies, M*A*S*H, and the A-Team.

Very much what I have plan but my players are going to be members of an elite "Emperess' Own" type units with shades of the Three Musketeers thrown in.

[AnotherSkip]

Star Frontiers, possibly 350 point with superpowers and Heroic level.

[Storn]

I always wanted to run a Private Investigative firm, that wasn't the pulp version of the lone P.I.... but rather a group of specialists underneath a corporate PI umbrella. A freelance Pinkerton outfit.

Why? Because I can run mysteries, spy, surveillance of wayward spouses, smuggling investigation, organized crime investigation, corporate security and a whole range of adventures that should keep the game fresh. Each week could be really different, yet a very solid framework for the characters to exist in.

I see the firm be about 100 people, and have 3 teams of elite investigators (the PCs) working on various cases. The other 80 folk are admin, support and researchers. So it is a decent size company.

The adventures would happen mostly in "civilized" space and would probably only visit 3 or 4 planets for mose of the adventures, so we get a real sense of these places. Occasionally, the "hunt the missing freighter" might take a team out to the boondoocks.

PCs would have to justify expenses and maybe the company only has one spaceship, which all three teams might need at the same time... so there would be "public" travel at times.

That is the sci-fi game I've always wanted to run. Terran Empires would handle that just fine, as would Star Frontiers. This idea could really be dropped into almost any sci-fi game.

[jguerin]

Star Frontiers cross-over/convergence

[BobGreenwade]

Originally posted by Storn
That is the sci-fi game I've always wanted to run. *sigh* It's such a pity that the distance between Oregon and Michigan is so vast.... ;) I'd love to play in a game like that!

[James_Kiley]

I just ran the third session of my Terran Empire campaign. Most of the PCs are 20th century humans, kidnapped in 1987 by some Mystery Aliens. They wake up aboard an Ackalian pirate/slaver ship, the Unfettered Happiness, 650ish years later (2640) -- the Ackalian crew is all dead of a mysterious disease that they contracted when they brought the PCs' cryosleep chambers onboard the vessel, and the computer woke the PCs up because that was all it could do. The ship, at campaign start, was careening through hyperspace in the Vorsan Expanse, just a few hours from Terran Empire space.

There are three non-20th-century humans aboard. One Fex (a former member of the crew who seems to have been immune to this disease); one human spacer who was also in cryosleep and had been sold to the Ackalians; and one sentient android from a planet chock full of 'em.

I have no strong plans for this game. Typically when I run games I have an end for the game in mind -- I don't in this case. So far they've made enemies of the only Imperial humans they've met (a Peregrine-class Frigate patrolling the border, whose crew was extremely interested in this disease that would kill Ackalians but not humans or Fex), and they're currently on the run from that ship (we're starting next session in the midst of that escape).

[Rick]

I'll be doing a Cowboy Bebop-esque game.

[AnotherSkip]

Originally posted by jguerin
Star Frontiers cross-over/convergence



Uhmmm HOw?

Since Im planning on runnning a SF/Volturnous with a dozen more plothooks than the original. And the beggining quest is just Tops! all new.

The people are escorting a rare lizard for breeding purposes.

[ShadowRaptor]

Originally posted by James_Kiley
I just ran the third session of my Terran Empire campaign. Most of the PCs are 20th century humans, kidnapped in 1987 by some Mystery Aliens. They wake up aboard an Ackalian pirate/slaver ship, the Unfettered Happiness, 650ish years later (2640) -- the Ackalian crew is all dead of a mysterious disease that they contracted when they brought the PCs' cryosleep chambers onboard the vessel, and the computer woke the PCs up because that was all it could do. The ship, at campaign start, was careening through hyperspace in the Vorsan Expanse, just a few hours from Terran Empire space.

There are three non-20th-century humans aboard. One Fex (a former member of the crew who seems to have been immune to this disease); one human spacer who was also in cryosleep and had been sold to the Ackalians; and one sentient android from a planet chock full of 'em.

I have no strong plans for this game. Typically when I run games I have an end for the game in mind -- I don't in this case. So far they've made enemies of the only Imperial humans they've met (a Peregrine-class Frigate patrolling the border, whose crew was extremely interested in this disease that would kill Ackalians but not humans or Fex), and they're currently on the run from that ship (we're starting next session in the midst of that escape).

wow this sounds like a cool idea having some people kidnapped from our time period and wake up in a future period. Just to follow up, how are they reacting to their predicament and how are the locals treating them?

[Syberdwarf2]

Unfortunately,.....
With two kids, a wife, and no local players as yet... It'll be a while before I can play any Star HERO.
Fortunately....
Because it will be a while, I have plenty of time to develop my setting AND I get to take my time doing so.

My setting thus far is set in the distant distant future. The pan-galactic Empire has long since fallen, and Sentientkind is just beginning to even come close to restoring civilization to it's former glory. There's a few elder races, B5 style jump gates in low-tech regions, and huge wars brewing. Earth, at least as far as anyone knows, is a myth at best.
The truth, however, is that Earth is recovering from a strict and long-drawn out isolationist period from which it was "cleansing itself". The Das Reich Noveau du Terra (the New Reign of Earth) story arc deals with genship priests catching up with the worlds in which humanity has spread. However, during their travels, the world had changed and in place of their enlightened peacful tolerant democracy, is a self-serving iron empire bent on reunification of the True human species... wheteher they like it or not. Anyone not cooperative with the eugenics program,well....... ;)


If done right, it should feel like a combination of Andromeda, Outer Limts, Babylon 5, and Stargate SG-1

[jguerin]

Originally posted by AnotherSkip
Uhmmm HOw?

Since Im planning on runnning a SF/Volturnous with a dozen more plothooks than the original. And the beggining quest is just Tops! all new.

The people are escorting a rare lizard for breeding purposes.

Not that difficult...basically I've plagiarized and ripped off most of TSR Star Frontier campaign information and converted it to Hero format. I've taken the Race Kits in the Star Frontiers discussion channel and applied them, than I converted the star ship construction rules to conform more to HERO system, so far I've converted the assault scout, frigates, frighters, and corvettes. I'm working on Sathar ships and UPF ships next. Eventually I'd like to do the space stations as well.

I will be converting all the ship weapons and ship defense's to a HERO format as well.

Next create basic occupation kits to reprsenet the PSA and SSA from Star Frontiers

Once all of this is done you've got the basics, you can take the Star Frontiers Modules and run them in Star Hero.

[jguerin]

Originally posted by jguerin
Not that difficult...basically I've plagiarized and ripped off most of TSR Star Frontier campaign information and converted it to Hero format. I've taken the Race Kits in the Star Frontiers discussion channel and applied them, than I converted the star ship construction rules to conform more to HERO system, so far I've converted the assault scout, frigates, frighters, and corvettes. I'm working on Sathar ships and UPF ships next. Eventually I'd like to do the space stations as well.

I will be converting all the ship weapons and ship defense's to a HERO format as well.

Next create basic occupation kits to reprsenet the PSA and SSA from Star Frontiers

Once all of this is done you've got the basics, you can take the Star Frontiers Modules and run them in Star Hero.

oh one more thing..very important..if you want to keep the Miniature Star Ship battle feel of Star Frontiers..go back to the Original Star Hero combat system..with a few modifications it can quickly resemble the old Night Hawks system for Star Frontiers.

[Armitage]

I had long wanted to run a Galaxy Rangers campaign and had planned on using the (unfortunately) discontinued Alternity RPG. After all, the basic rules covered the characters from the show perfectly: Cyborg, Mutant, Mindwalker, and Hacker.
But the Hero System handles the super-hero-esque power levels of the characters much better than Alternity, even with the various fan-created variant FX Power rules.
e.g. A Fraal Mindwalker (Will 16) could lift 160kg with the Telekinesis-Psychokinetics Skill.
Compared to Niko lifting multi-ton boulders on the show there's just no comparison. Granted, the Mindwalking sourcebook has rules for drastically scaling up effects by spending extra psionic energy points, but it's just not the same.

[Space Cadet]

I don't have all of the necessary pieces to do this just yet, but
once I've got everything that I need, I plan on putting together
a modern-day Star Hero/Super-Agents campaign (something along
the lines of the Near Space Defense campaign setting shown in
the Super Agents sourcebook). The PCs would start out as your
basic, normal everyday folks -- at least, up until the point where
they're suddenly thrust smack-dab into the middle of a secret
war between Earth and the alien invaders who want to use our
world and its people for their own sinister purposes.

Space Cadet :cool:

[Tetsuyama]

Originally posted by Armitage
I had long wanted to run a Galaxy Rangers campaign ...

Did you have any ideas on where to get source material for it? It's been a long time since I've seen the show, and I haven't found much about it since then. I remember that it was a pretty cool show, and that it seemed like it would make an awesome RPG, but it's been so long that I've forgotten a lot.

[Armitage]

Originally posted by Tetsuyama
Did you have any ideas on where to get source material for it? It's been a long time since I've seen the show, and I haven't found much about it since then. I remember that it was a pretty cool show, and that it seemed like it would make an awesome RPG, but it's been so long that I've forgotten a lot.

A quick Google search produced over 4000 hits, so there are quite a few fan sites.
There's a small webring at
http://l.webring.com/hub?ring=galranger
I seem to recall that one of these sites (Guild, maybe) had a page of technical specs. Ship armaments and FTL capabilities, distances between planets, Super trooper backgrounds, Series 5 Implant data, etc.
Fortunately, I obtained all 65 episodes on tape a few years ago.

Just went looking. The technical specs are at
http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Set/4721/gr/index.html
including a timeline that reveals details not covered in the show, like the alien invasion that led to the creation of the Super Troopers in the first place.

[ShadowRaptor]

Okay, I decided what kind of game I will run. It will be a Final Fantasy in Space game, pretty much. It will have many races, use gem magic akin to Materia in FF7, a great and powerful bad guy that wants to threaten the universe with powerful magics, cybernetics will exist, there will be a Solar Union of planets (okay, working title for the good guys group, but Galactic Federation is used way way to much and I need something cooler than that).

The characters will probably be 175 pt based characters. 100 base plus 75 disadvantage, and I will have some rules for how points will be spent. Basically something like at least 35-50 points on skills, 35-85 or so on Characteristics, and then the powers will probably use a framework of some kind to simulate different kinds of attacks with weapons.

What I need is a really kick butt name for the main galactic federation, and I don't want to use that name but I can't think of a cool name right now...its late and I am tired. Any help will be great if anybody wants to throw out a suggestion...

[Syberdwarf2]

Originally posted by ShadowRaptor
Okay, I decided what kind of game I will run. It will be a Final Fantasy in Space game, pretty much. It will have many races, use gem magic akin to Materia in FF7, a great and powerful bad guy that wants to threaten the universe with powerful magics, cybernetics will exist, there will be a Solar Union of planets (okay, working title for the good guys group, but Galactic Federation is used way way to much and I need something cooler than that).

The characters will probably be 175 pt based characters. 100 base plus 75 disadvantage, and I will have some rules for how points will be spent. Basically something like at least 35-50 points on skills, 35-60 or so on Characteristics, and then the powers will probably use a framework of some kind to simulate different kinds of attacks with weapons.

What I need is a really kick butt name for the main galactic federation, and I don't want to use that name but I can't think of a cool name right now...its late and I am tired. Any help will be great if anybody wants to throw out a suggestion...

-Interstellar Federation
-Terran Federation
-Systems Federation
-Systems Alliance
-Galactic Alliance
-Terran Confederacy

Just a few of the top o my head

[Syberdwarf2]

Here's a website that I use a lot for when I'm stuck for ideas. Go to "settings" on the main menu, they have a government name generator and set it to generate as many as you can do at once. I'd never really use the stuff as presented, but it works GREAT as a springboard for ideas...

www.seventhsanctum.com/gens/index.html

enjoy :)

[James_Kiley]

Originally posted by ShadowRaptor
wow this sounds like a cool idea having some people kidnapped from our time period and wake up in a future period. Just to follow up, how are they reacting to their predicament and how are the locals treating them?
The two PCs who are from the present day and are part of the overall TE society are dealing with the sleepers as best they can -- both of them have issues of their own. They're cooperating, because they're stuck in a bad situation together. My cunning plan. :-)

The only other people that they've encountered have been the crew of the Dauntless, the Peregrine-class frigate they just encountered. The crew of the Dauntless is rather fascinated by them, from a social, economic, genetic, and historical perspective, but right now the PCs are fleeing from Dauntless and who knows how things will go from there. This is very much a seat-of-my-pants game, so I don't know what will happen next. I have detailed about half of [i]Dauntless[i]'s crew and am trying to get the rest of them done before the next session.

[Heroman]

I actually have been running a Star Hero (ish) campaign for some odd 4+ years now, kind of a mix of Star Wars meets B5 meets Call Of Cthulhu. Recently (past year) it has become SW meets B5 meets CoC meets The Matrix meets Fantasy Hero. Hey, the players gotta have *something* to spend points on :)

The group are basically a bunch of fixers, directed by the former boss they had from a MegaCorp (who went solo). They are all human (though some dispute that for at least 1 player...). Among the stranger players:
Sam 'Butcher Of IO Station' Taggart who has been showing some...unusual traits (like shooting life draining tentancles from his body), an ex-marine who has been showing more and more signs of being freaky (beside the tendrils he can make his skin all armory, recently peppered his marine armor with spikes which grew out of his body, and has on a number of occasions melted highly advanced technology/religious items with his touch)

Brian 'Destroyer of Pluto [acquitted]' Malloc, a super genious who has a strange fetish for alien technology (including a strange alien fragment found on one of the first missions) who has acquired far, far more Psi talent than capable for normal humans (wait til he goes in for a psi-record update...) and who's next goal in life is to make a dimensional disruptor beam weapon for the ship.

2 humans from a parallel earth universe (20th century) who found out their own world was a mere projection from a super machine known only as 'The Great Machine' (basically based on The Matrix) who escaped to the real (?) universe thru the aid of the group. In addition to their existing funkiness, they were recently joined by their daughter that neither knew they had but who knows all about *their* world.

They already lost their druggie (a combat guy who was heavily, heavily addicted to drugs) and tripwired (chemically super enhanced human, a design which actually relates way way back to a TMNT campaign I used to run) guys.

I cannot say stuff about the others cause the players read this :)

This goes to show that you don't need books to run a complex campaign...

Oh, one of the key things I think which has worked very well for the group and the excitement: I don't care if players die. Mind you I don't go out and focus on killing them, but they are very, very mortal and I am not one to make up last minute rescues or bail out situations. They are not the focus of the universe which helps alot.

-Scott

[ShadowRaptor]

Originally posted by James_Kiley
The two PCs who are from the present day and are part of the overall TE society are dealing with the sleepers as best they can -- both of them have issues of their own. They're cooperating, because they're stuck in a bad situation together. My cunning plan. :-)

The only other people that they've encountered have been the crew of the Dauntless, the Peregrine-class frigate they just encountered. The crew of the Dauntless is rather fascinated by them, from a social, economic, genetic, and historical perspective, but right now the PCs are fleeing from Dauntless and who knows how things will go from there. This is very much a seat-of-my-pants game, so I don't know what will happen next. I have detailed about half of [i]Dauntless[i]'s crew and am trying to get the rest of them done before the next session.

This actually sounds like it could be one of the best player character driven campaigns I have heard of. You toss in a see here and there, and then run with what the players do in response, especially those from the 20th century. You just have to be mentally ready to be surprised though, but I am thinking that will be one of the more exciting things about it.

[Syberdwarf2]

Originally posted by Heroman

Oh, one of the key things I think which has worked very well for the group and the excitement: I don't care if players die.
-Scott

Er... Um... You mean Player Characters , right?

[Mavnn]

*Off Topic*

I had a quick look at this website - great fun, and I was intrigued by this idea:

Aerial Cavalry: The "Charging Storms" - Minotaurs, riding giant mecha-magical birds, armed with warhammers and muskets. This unit is mainly used for covert operations.

"Covert Minotaur Strike!"

Michael

Originally posted by Syberdwarf2
Here's a website that I use a lot for when I'm stuck for ideas. Go to "settings" on the main menu, they have a government name generator and set it to generate as many as you can do at once. I'd never really use the stuff as presented, but it works GREAT as a springboard for ideas...

www.seventhsanctum.com/gens/index.html

enjoy :)

[BobGreenwade]

Originally posted by Agent Escafarc
Very much what I have plan but my players are going to be members of an elite "Emperess' Own" type units with shades of the Three Musketeers thrown in. It just occurred to me yesterday that maybe we ought to try coordinating our efforts, at least as far as the Imperial agency our PCs work for. Then we could forward the results to Steve, and maybe (just maybe) they could influence something in a future publication.... ;) Or at any rate we could more easily let each other's PCs make "guest appearances" in our games. :D

[ShadowRaptor]

What about a PBeM game in the Terran Empire? Is anybody else up for something like that? I would like to be a player since I am new to it all but I think that there are a lot of sci-fi gamers here that would be able to make it a kick butt game.

[Gannok]

I'm currently starting up a low Sci Fi game based off of the first X-Com game. Though as they progress, I'll probably start using some of the material from later games.

I had originally been making a game based off of the Aliens movie, but decided that the similarities between Aliens and X-Com were close enough that I could do either just as easily. Since the Aliens universe is alot more limited then the X-Com one, I decided to use X-Com instead.

The source material for X-Com just seemed easier to expand on then the Aliens material.

[fauxgemini]

I've been tinkering on a Phantasy Star type universe. In this case, more closely modeled after Phantasy Star Online. 3 primary races, a LARGE selection of gimicked weapons, and a number of techniques/powers/psionic talents. I find dice scaling a great way to represent star values on equipment from the game. Players start out with less discinctive/damaging gear and as they gain money and exp they upgrade to rarer and more unique equipment. The rest is story/plot. :cool:

[Shadow Shulker]

*SIGH*

DELETED AND BANNED

[Hermit]

IF I can ever get a STAR HERO game going, I'm not sure. It depends if I get the official settings or not. The budget being what it is, I may have ot get my own. I used to love the Star Frontiers game (And thanks to those working on the conversions) so I'd probably try to mix that (or the races from it) with a setting of my own design.. a bit of 'Untamed Space' as it were.

[Snarf]

Can anyone tell me what star frontiers is? I'm still learning Hero system. Is that a Hero expansion or some other RPG?

Me? I'm doing a game based on that show Lexx. That show wasn't stupid and cheap at all!!1

No, seriously, I'm doing a travelling around the universe type of game with super-hero level psi powers. We'll be toppling empires and going nuts like a couple of nutty nut-brained nuts. The setting is still being developed but we're making good progress. We already have a token robot character.

[nlubofsky]

I always wanted to run a Private Investigative firm, that wasn't the pulp version of the lone P.I.... but rather a group of specialists underneath a corporate PI umbrella. A freelance Pinkerton outfit.

Why? Because I can run mysteries, spy, surveillance of wayward spouses, smuggling investigation, organized crime investigation, corporate security and a whole range of adventures that should keep the game fresh. Each week could be really different, yet a very solid framework for the characters to exist in.

I see the firm be about 100 people, and have 3 teams of elite investigators (the PCs) working on various cases. The other 80 folk are admin, support and researchers. So it is a decent size company.

The adventures would happen mostly in "civilized" space and would probably only visit 3 or 4 planets for mose of the adventures, so we get a real sense of these places. Occasionally, the "hunt the missing freighter" might take a team out to the boondoocks.

PCs would have to justify expenses and maybe the company only has one spaceship, which all three teams might need at the same time... so there would be "public" travel at times.

That is the sci-fi game I've always wanted to run. Terran Empires would handle that just fine, as would Star Frontiers. This idea could really be dropped into almost any sci-fi game.

I'm starting a campaign almost like this, with the exception that the PC's are partners in their own private eye firm, i.e. they are the only ones in the company.

In the first or second adventure, a wealthy customer gives the PC's an advance big enough for them to purchase a starship (the customer wants to find out what happened to his daughter).

I'd be interested to hear if anybody has any ideas or recommendations for this type of campaign.

Thanks!
Nick

[Erkenfresh]

Dang dude, why didn't you start a new thread? :)

Personally, I avoid investigation adventures. There's too many snags that could happen:
1. The players glaze over an important clue.
2. The players miss an important clue altogether.
3. The players don't deduce the solution from the clues.
4. The players go overboard on something meaningless you mention.

One solution is just railroad them through it. But, in that case, I would think the players might want something more fun like fighting pirates or overthrowing a corrupt government.

Anyway, good luck.

[nlubofsky]

Dang dude, why didn't you start a new thread? :)

I revived this old thread instead of starting a new one to increase the odds that interested parties would see my message.

Personally, I avoid investigation adventures. There's too many snags that could happen:
1. The players glaze over an important clue.
2. The players miss an important clue altogether.
3. The players don't deduce the solution from the clues.
4. The players go overboard on something meaningless you mention.

One solution is just railroad them through it. But, in that case, I would think the players might want something more fun like fighting pirates or overthrowing a corrupt government.

Yes, these are the bugaboos of mysteries in RPG's. There's some really good advice for mitigating these in Pulp Hero (the "Deduction" subsection on page 357).

Also, often a detective case doesn't turn out to be much of a mystery at all -- rather, the foul play is very apparent to anyone that makes the effort to investigate. The real problem is the antagonist that doesn't want anybody to find out what's going on and tries to stop the detective from snooping around!

Anyway, good luck.

Thanks!

Nick

[Nolgroth]

Nothing wrong with a little thread necromancy. :)

[Matt Frisbee]

What kind of campaign am I running?

Right now it's a Fuzion-powered game which is a cross-breed of Firefly and Cowboy Bebop where humanity has fled the devastated earth and has found a trinary star system with dozens of planets suitable for terraforming. The whole thing is STL (Slower Than Light), though ships can get from one planet to another in a few days (via unrealistically efficient reaction drives).

It's been fun so far, as the players were thrown together as unwilling partners and have been at each others' throats almost as often as their adversaries'...

Of note, this is the first time all of the players in one of my campaigns have been members of the same family (the players, not their characters -- a father and mother, plus their son).

Matt "Only-steals-from-the-best" Frisbee

[Nolgroth]

I would really like to run an Alien Wars style campaign. I have a bunch of ideas popping around in my head after playing a few video games* and systematically going back over the pilot mini-series and first season of Battlestar Galactica.


* Namely Quake IV (distinctly Sci-Fi war genre, though tending to more fantastic tech) and X3:Reunion, which gives me a nice view of what it would be like to be a freetrader or freelance merc in a war setting. Well that and some mega cool ship models for cap ships.

[nlubofsky]

Firefly and Battlestar Galactica -- great shows!