Fantasy Hero Campaign (ala. Space Opera)

[Dr. Evil]

:help:

I'm trying to create a FH campaign who parallels the Star Wars/Flash Gordon genre...you know, Evil Emperor (the Dread Sorcerer Tyrannis), his Dark Lord Enforcer, er...'servant' (Lord Obsidian) and their Legions of Terror (Boo! Hiss!) against the "rebel" kingdoms and their heroes (Huzzah!).

It's certainly not a new concept, of course, and certain elements cannot be converted from a Space Opera to Sword & Sorcery. It's with this, I could use some advice on things. For instance, what FH elements may I use instead of Space Opera? Here's what I've done:

SPACE OPERA = FANTASY HERO
Starships = Enchanted Flying Ships and/or Horses and Siege Engines
The Force = Sorcery
Stormtroopers = The Legion of Terror, or Legion of Doom ("Terrortroopers?" or maybe "Doomtroopers"? Do those names suck?)
Jedi Masters = Master Sorcerers
Lightsabers = Magic/Enchanted blades

Any other things/elements I should/could include?

Also, I'm setting up the Empire as in Flash Gordon...The Emperor is like the High-King, with other lesser kings and their kingdoms paying tribute to the Emperor. Remember in the movie "Flash Gordon", with Prince Thun?

Is this a good idea, or could I do better?

Please, any advice or useful comments are welcome.

Thanks

[WhammeWhamme]

:help:

I'm trying to create a FH campaign who parallels the Star Wars/Flash Gordon genre...you know, Evil Emperor (the Dread Sorcerer Tyrannis), his Dark Lord Enforcer, er...'servant' (Lord Obsidian) and their Legions of Terror (Boo! Hiss!) against the "rebel" kingdoms and their heroes (Huzzah!).

It's certainly not a new concept, of course, and certain elements cannot be converted from a Space Opera to Sword & Sorcery. It's with this, I could use some advice on things. For instance, what FH elements may I use instead of Space Opera? Here's what I've done:

SPACE OPERA = FANTASY HERO
Starships = Enchanted Flying Ships and/or Horses and Siege Engines
The Force = Sorcery
Stormtroopers = The Legion of Terror, or Legion of Doom ("Terrortroopers?" or maybe "Doomtroopers"? Do those names suck?)
Jedi Masters = Master Sorcerers
Lightsabers = Magic/Enchanted blades

Any other things/elements I should/could include?

Also, I'm setting up the Empire as in Flash Gordon...The Emperor is like the High-King, with other lesser kings and their kingdoms paying tribute to the Emperor. Remember in the movie "Flash Gordon", with Prince Thun?

Is this a good idea, or could I do better?

Please, any advice or useful comments are welcome.

Thanks

Okay. "Stormtroopers" is a pretty fantasy-esque name by itself. Just run it through another language... or go with Storm Warriors or some such.

Flying Ships is probably the best starship equivalents.

Otherwise, pretty good IMO.

[DRThrush]

I think it's a great idea. Run with it, after you have done some serious planning.

Be careful with devices that allow transport that is fast, efficient, easy, and safe. Many players will do terrible things to your game with these tools if they can get their hands on one.

Terrortroopers is a mouthful (to me) but Doomtroopers sounds good, if I am understanding the feel your setting properly. Especially if you are trying to get that Flash Gordon pulpy feel.

As a side note, (and just a little piece of my prodigious collection of personal opinion), if you want a little guidence in capturing an epic feel you might want to check out this site on the web for advice from a master: http://www.jitterbug.com/origins/myth.html

Best of luck, I hope your game goes well!

-Dave

EDIT: wrong url

[LordGhee]

Storm Warriors,

Wow this could be great,

Lighting effects....( glowing, sparks coming off as they attack): :shock:
to add to thier presence,

clouds, fog, to hide thier coming and numbers. :sneaky:

Wind to reduce the effect of arrows ect. :nya:

Lead by the dreaded storm knights commanded by Baron Thunder . . . .

In my game the players have seen a flying swan ship and swan knights with thier light lances (one use engery blast)

Lord Ghee

[Chris Goodwin]

I'd say don't be too literal about the ships. They're either a way to get from point A to point B, while having adventures on the way (the Millennium Falcon getting caught by the tractor beam) or part of the climactic final battle (which is, let's face it, an epic battle, and we all know what that looks like in a fantasy film).

Storm Warriors sound like a good name for an elite band, but the Imperial stormtroopers are more like the orcish horde in LotR.

[bblackmoor]

I kind of like "doomtroopers".

You might even consider getting rid of ships entirely, unless you really want the effect of a space battle. An idea I had (and will use in a game, some day) is the Cult Of The Navigator. The Navigator is a mythical figure who walked from world to world, building enormous magical portals and teaching his acolytes how to cast the rituals which open them. All travel between worlds is through these ancient portals, and the Cult controls who travels where and when, in cooperation with the ruling elite on each world. It's kind of a medieval Church and State sort of thing, with ordinary people and merchants caught in the middle.

Incidentally, I thought of this before the movie Stargate came out. It's actually a riff on the portals in GateWar (aka Element Masters), an overly complex fantasy game I helped write back in the dawn of time. But you could obviously use episodes of StarGate for inspiration.

Anyway, it's just a thought. I am sure your game will be great if you use space ships. :)

Oh, and you might get a kick out of Dan Behlings' Star Wars Hero (http://rpglibrary.blackgate.net/jump.php?id=291), which is pretty darn cool.

[Rapier]

I love the flying galleon idea. It is one I'm particularly fond of. One of the great stumbling blocks for fantasy games is the fact that travel can be hideously boring. If you need to get from the home city to the evil wizard lair, this journey can take 4 months of travel.

Long distance travel is the bane of GMs everywhere. Either you concentrate on ho hum camping or all they get is the three random encounters on the way. Of course there is a middle ground...but it tends to be a lot of work for very little bang. The flying galleon (or large chariot or whatever) is actually a nice middle ground.

For FH games I usually go with the "Knights" instead of troopers: Doom Knights, Blood Knights (with obligatory red armour), Shadow Knights, etc. Troopers is just to modern for me.

On the whole though, Star Wars is nothing more than Space Western. A western campaign is fairly generic and works good in almost any setting. A Fantasy Western campaign would be LOTS of fun. Its not like Western and Fantasy are that different in genre.

All the best, and it sounds like a great time.

[The Mad GM]

You could always use real ships, on a sea populated with dangers. That more closely mimics a spaceship in any case. You are stranded in a hostile environment, and the only thing between you and death is the hull of the ship, which annoying pirates and imperial gunships are trying to poke holes in.

Perhaps the perfection of mithral cladding for an immense (city size) ship or some such has given the evil empire and their Storm Warriors (equivalent to Marines, very flexible small unit land fighters conveyed over water) the edge to conquer the good kingdom that had been acting as a buffer all this time. And with the fall of this good NPC kingdom, as it were, the game is afoot. A small band of adventurers must get aboard the uber-boat and sink it from within, but must rescue the hostages from NPC kingdom first.

You could go 70s anime with it and make it an immense insectoid iron golem or something.

Storm Warriors could be lead by Thunder and Lightning (in German, Donner unt Blitzen, if I recall correctly) ;)

[Chris Goodwin]

Star Wars, transposed to a fantasy world:

Okay, here's how our story begins. The dark lord's evil horde has the princess under siege in her tower. As the horde is making preparations for a great battle to break in and kidnap her, she passes the secret plans along to her two most trusted servants (one is tall, skinny, and talks exactly like Anthony Daniels; the other is short, fat, and talks only in chirps, howls, and screeches) to take to Obi-Wan Kenobi. (She might even have an illusion that plays over and over...) She tells them to go through the secret passages to the stables, and to take her fastest horse to find Obi-Wan. Artoo, the shorter of the two, seems to know how to find Obi-Wan; Threepio is in the dark. They ride off just as the Dark Lord's troops enter the castle.

The two servants become completely lost in the dark forest, but eventually break through to daylight and a clearing where they meet up with some thieves and brigands, who sell them to a labor market in town.

Meanwhile, on the farm where Luke, with his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, lives. Luke dreams of the day he can leave the farm; he's not bad with a crossbow or a pole-arm, maybe he'll join the Empire's elite troops. Uncle Owen and Luke are going into town; they need some farm hands. In town, they meet up with the aforementioned rough types and hire on the Princess' two servants as farm hands, mainly because they go cheap. They take them back to the farm, where while Luke is teaching them about farm life, Artoo spills the secret message! Luke is instantly captivated, and insists they go see Old Ben ("Maybe he's related!").

Meanwhile, the Dark Lord's troops are tracking the servants. They track them to the slavers' camp site, thence to the labor market/slave auction in town, thence to the farm, where they kill Uncle O. and Aunt B.

Ben tells Luke about his father who fought in the war, and shows him his father's magic sword. Ben has his own magic sword. When Ben sees the message he recognizes the princess and allows as how he might be the Obi-Wan referred to in the message. "Ben, we have to go save the princess!" Ben tells him that no, it's not up to Luke to be involved in this. Ben takes a dejected Luke and the two servants home, where they discover the farm a burned out wreck along with the bodies of Uncle O. and Aunt B. It then becomes time for Obi-Wan to take Luke on his quest to rescue the princess. Off to the wretched hive of scum and villainy to hire a couple of guides/mercenaries/bodyguards, Han and Chewie, mainly because a couple is all they can afford.

On the way out of the inn, Han stumbles into Greedo in the alley, who gets all huffy about Jabba's money. Han knifes him in the gut (first!) and leaves him to die, receiving only a superficial wound in return.

While they are off to the Princess' castle (cue wizardry-training scenes, Chewie threatening to kick the servants' asses over a chess game, etc.), they stumble into a trap set by the Dark Lord's forces. They are captured and taken to the Dark Lord's stronghold, whereupon they rescue the princess and attempt to escape. In the process of escaping, Obi-Wan faces down his old enemy the Dark Lord and is killed, buying the others time to escape. Han and Chewie escort them back to a rebel encampment, where they leave Luke, the Princess, and the servants, saying "This is not our fight."

Proceed to the epic battle, in which Luke saves the day, Han and Chewie save Luke's bacon, and the Dark Lord escapes. End of Episode IV.

[Chris Goodwin]

Oh yeah. The Dark Lord's secret weapon is a frickin' huuge dragon, and maybe they all dogfight on pegasi if you want the sort of WWII in a fantasy world feel.

[tkdguy]

I'm not trying to trash your idea or anything, but it reminded me of a joke my sisters and I sahred about doig a Star Trek type of show set in Ancient Egypt. So we came up with Nile Trek, with Capt. Kirkamon and Mr. Spockatis.

"Captain, there's a Hittite Bird of Prey on the horizon!"

[Kilmore]

May I suggest Edgar Rice Burroughs "John Carter of Mars" series? I hear the first movie should be out soon. With any luck.