What setting would you prefer?

[Diamond Spear]

NOTE: If you select Established Setting please select the setting as well.

I’m posting this poll mainly to see what kind of games in a Star Hero setting people most enjoy. I’ve also kicked around running one so this poll should give me some kind of idea of what the “average Hero gamer” (if there is such a thing) would prefer. Thanks for your participation.

[Nolgroth]

I chose Other.

It doesn't matter what the setting is all about, as long as the GM is familiar with the genre conventions and runs that setting well. On the other hand, even my favorite setting can be ruined by a bad GM.

[Shigeru]

I went with Space Opera and Military.

I like original gameworlds much more than firmly established ones. Mostly because its so much easier to "create continuity" and to avoid the possibility of PCs created in the image of fictional characters. It promotes originality and the players can help the GM craft a new world in which to game.

Space Opera because its fun to play high-melodrama and cinematic action in a scifi vein (Flash Gordon, Star Wars, Star Blazers, etc).

Military because its always fun to take a well-understood model (the military mindset, organization and function) and place it in a high-technology setting. Starship Troopers, Hammer's SLammers, Legion of the Damned, etc.

[TheQuestionMan]

Traveller HERO
http://www.comstar-games.com/csg-store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=29

Firefly/Serenity HERO
http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptationsmovie/moviechar.html#firefly

Firefly Resources
http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44281

[Compilation] "to Star HERO Conversions & Adaptations"
http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24969


Hmmm...more later


QM

[Lord Fyre]

You left out the possibility of a "Pulp" style Space Opera . . . (i.e., Buck Rodgers, Mongo, Barsoom, etc.) :yes:

[TheQuestionMan]

You left out the possibility of a "Pulp" style Space Opera . . . (i.e., Buck Rodgers, Mongo, Barsoom, etc.) :yes:

I just finished a few Mike's Hard Lemonades and read Pub, not Pulp.


LOL


QM

[ghost-angel]

Space Opera!

I don't like Hard SF in gaming (I barely tolerate it in literature).

Anything that feels Space Opera-ish I'm down for. Setting details are open for me.
Though... I shy away from Star Wars as a setting I'm not really that big a fan (shh!). But I can take elements of it for sure.

[SSgt Baloo]

I just finished a few Mike's Hard Lemonades and read Pub, not Pulp.


LOL


QM

Pub-style Space Opera? Wasn't there an RPG based on just such a premise?

Personally, I've run Traveller, Star Trek and Star Wars in their Official (mid-late 1980s incarnations), and each of the latter two using 4Ed Hero.

[Captain Obvious]

I'd like to play Alien Wars.

[BobGreenwade]

I voted for both Space Opera and Hard Sci-Fi, and then tagged Other for good measure.

I like to mix-and-match. :D

[ghost-angel]

Pub-style Space Opera? Wasn't there an RPG based on just such a premise?

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon might be Pub Space Opera.....

[SSgt Baloo]

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon might be Pub Space Opera.....

I've been racking my brains trying to remember that game and just kept drawing a blank. I'd rep you if I could, but it seems I've been overly generous these past 24 hours. Would somebody whack this guy with the rep stick on my behalf?

[wrestlinggeek]

I picked Star Wars, because I've had a campaign rattling around in my skull for years.

[tkdguy]

My taste in sci-fi has gotten harder over the last few years. I'm not averse to space opera, but I'm not as interested in it as I used to be.

[Pentoth]

I chose military SF and Hard. I can't seem to get enough of either.

[xenobrain]

I prefer hard-sf like Transhuman Space, but unfortunately I'm the only person in my group who does. Or knows what hard SF is. Of even even knows what SF actually *is* (ie: *NOT* W40k).

So I'm pretty much outta luck there. Somehow convinced my group of combat monkies to play Traveller though, so long as they get to play alien fighter pilots and look awesome doing it.

A small price to pay, though :)

I'm trying to talk a couple of them into playing Aslan so I can kinda recreate the man-kzin wars from Larry Niven's Known Space universe. Here's hoping :)

On another note, I was originally planning to run the game in the Mass Effect universe, but decided against it since I'm not keen on spending months fleshing out the setting when I have other projects I'd rather work on. Besides, Traveller is awesome :)

[Diamond Spear]

I prefer hard-sf like Transhuman Space, but unfortunately I'm the only person in my group who does. Or knows what hard SF is. Of even even knows what SF actually *is* (ie: *NOT* W40k).

So I'm pretty much outta luck there. Somehow convinced my group of combat monkies to play Traveller though, so long as they get to play alien fighter pilots and look awesome doing it.

A small price to pay, though :)

I'm trying to talk a couple of them into playing Aslan so I can kinda recreate the man-kzin wars from Larry Niven's Known Space universe. Here's hoping :)

On another note, I was originally planning to run the game in the Mass Effect universe, but decided against it since I'm not keen on spending months fleshing out the setting when I have other projects I'd rather work on. Besides, Traveller is awesome :)

I don’t think Mass Effect would take too much effort to flesh out. The game gives you tons of background info in the dictionary (or whatever it calls it) that you can review at leisure after you’ve played through it. Then you can simply flesh out as you go. Heck I’d be tempted to run a game set in the Mass Effect universe but the problem with such is of course (for me anyway) is that I’d need HERO gamers who have also played Mass Effect. Kind of narrpws the pool down a bit.

[bubba smith]

would a legion of super-heroes style campain be star hero or galactic champions?

[TheQuestionMan]

Hero Games Products
Wish List

1.Artesia: Adventures in the Known World (Mark Smylie) – The Spirit World. A mix of celtic, medieval European, and Middle Easterns styles.

2.Legend of Five Rings (Rokugan) – Japanese/Wuxia. Bushido, Oriental Adventures, Sengoku, Usagi Yojimbo, etc…

3.Seventh Sea (Thea) – Swashbuckling, Pirates, & Undead. The right mix of art and stories I wanted to play.

4.Girl Genius – Mad Science Steampunk/Clockwork Punk. Why not?;)

5.Full Metal Alchemist – Pre-WWII Magic and Alchemy battle Mad Science and Political Factions. Demon Manipulations and Plots. Secret Weapons.

6.Danger International – Spycraft, Millennium’s End, & The Espionage World. (La Femme Nikita, Alias, 24, Mission Impossible, etc…). The name is Bond, James Bond.

7.Justice Inc. (Pulp HERO, Golden Age Champions, & etc…) – What more can we add save Indiana Jones, the Mummy, Journey to the center of the Earth, etc…

8.Wuxia HERO (Susano) – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, House of Flying Daggers, Drunken Master, The Forbidden Kingdom, etc…

9.Regency HERO (Shelly Crystal McTyre) – Sharpe, Horatio Hornblower, & Master & Commander. Age of Sail…Bride and Prejudice, the Jacobite Rebellions.

10.Victorian HERO – League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Adventures of Jules Verne, Castle Falkenstien, etc… Steampunk, Airships, Deadlands, etc….

11.Horror HERO – Call of Cthulhu, Conspiracy X, etc…

12.Lord of the Rings HERO (Steve Long) -

13.Urban Fantasy HERO (World of Darkness, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Night Watch, The Dresden Files, etc…)

14.P.R.I.M.U.S. (Shelly Crystal McTyre) – 6th Edition HERO System

15.Strike Force Universe (Arron Allston) – Strike Force, Shadow Warriors, The Blood & Dr.McQuark, The Circle & METE, ++ 6th Edition

16.Brave New World (Matt Forbeck) – Alternate Universe for Champions.

17.Mutants and Masterminds Universe –

18.DC Universe (Wildstorm) –

19.Marvel Universe (Ultimate) –

20.Defunct Universes (Malibu, Valiant, Ultraverse, Grossgen, Hero Alliance, etc…) –

21.Babylon 5 HERO –

22.Battlestar Galactica/Pegasus HERO – Post Apocalypse/Star HERO

23.Star Trek HERO – Enterprise era…

24.Star Wars HERO – Fall of the Republic and Rise of the New Reepublic

25.Firefly/Serenity HERO – Western/Star HERO mixed with Traveller HERO

26.Usagi Yojimbo HERO – See the above

[bubba smith]

8.Wuxia HERO (Susano) – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, House of Flying Daggers, Drunken Master, The Forbidden Kingdom, etc…

ethats the 5th edition of NINJA HERO

[TheQuestionMan]

Wuxia HERO 6th Edition of Ninja HERO 5th Edition.

Whatta yah think?

QM

[bubba smith]

wuxia Hero 6th Edition Of Ninja Hero 5th Edition.

Whatta Yah Think?

Qm
I Like The Sound Of It

[ghost-angel]

would a legion of super-heroes style campain be star hero or galactic champions?

Generally considered Galactic Champions - which is High Powered Supers in a Space Opera Setting...

[bubba smith]

Right G-a Thanks

[Shigeru]

2.Legend of Five Rings (Rokugan) – Japanese/Wuxia. Bushido, Oriental Adventures, Sengoku, Usagi Yojimbo, etc…

Way OT here, but...

I read all those L5R novels and some of them were damned good. I also played the CCG for a while with my wife (alas, I didn't ekeep up with it but we still have all our cards).

In thinking about working on SENGOKU HERO (or JIDAI-GEKI HERO or CHANBARA HERO..whatever the proper flavor ends up being) I realized that L5R would be the best of all possible scenarios because ti effectively mixed FANTASY HERO elements with Sengoku elements. It could easily bring in Fantasy roleplayers as well as samurai nuts like me.

So maybe SENGOKU HERO with a L5R supplement. That's what I'm thinking about, even though I never played the Legend RPG. I got plenty of inspiration form the novels and the CCG. Cool spells, monsters, characters and settings.

[Psybolt]

Space Opera.

Have not had much opportunity to play Star Hero. I have the book, but it is outside my real knowledge.

[BNakagawa]

Cowboy Bebop.

[Hermit]

Space Opera

And Star Trek,when its good, can be very good indeed.

[DusterBoy]

I went for military and space opera because I'm a HUGE Lois McMaster Bujold fan and her "Vorkosigan" saga is military-themed space opera. It also features a fair amount of espionage-themed stuff. I've also read the first three books in Elizabeth Moon's "Seranno" sequence and Moon used to be a Marine.

I may get beats for this, but Starship Troopers is one of my favourite books.

I've also read a massive amount of Arthur C Clarke's work, because well, he was just the God of hard sf, wasn't he? High time "A Fall of Moondust" was made into a movie.

[Southern Cross]

I was always a fan of Isaac Asimov-I'd love to be in a Foundation HERO campaign....`

[Lawnmower Boy]

Witches of Karres Hero --providing that everyone keeps telling themselves that the Captain is only about 20.

[GreyGuardian]

Generally I like space opera with as much underlying science as is feasible without making it tedious.

Some relevant blogs etc. for near future science and tech:

Next big future (http://nextbigfuture.com/)

Futurismic/ (http://futurismic.com/)

Grinding/ (http://grinding.be/)

Wiki associated with the comic book Doktor Sleepless (http://www.doktorsleepless.com/index.php/Main_Page) - where the heck is my flying car?

[voodoo54]

Starwars Hero , trying to get a campaign started that takes place between Episode III and IV.
Really Like Aliens/Firefly/Traveller settings would like to run a campaign mixing all three.

[Matt Frisbee]

*Established Setting*

I would love to play in a game based on Firefly / Serenity -- preferably not with the current set of franchise RPG rules, however.

I also really love the Classic Traveller setting -- which, truth be told, is roughly the same thing. (P.S. Has anyone else seen the Mongoose Publishing take on Traveller?)

Matt "Old School / New School space gamer" Frisbee

[Maelstrom]

I just finished a few Mike's Hard Lemonades and read Pub, not Pulp.
LOL
QM

Dude! Pub fiction! Pub Heroes! You're on to something here! Go with it! :thumbup:

[badger3k]

I've always had a weakness for the Traveller setting since it came out - it was pretty much my first sci-fi game, and that's been helped with my recent purchases. I like a more "hard" sci-fi, although my second choice would be Space Opera (maybe Star Wars, maybe not).

[Curufea]

I've always had a weakness for the Traveller setting since it came out - it was pretty much my first sci-fi game, and that's been helped with my recent purchases. I like a more "hard" sci-fi, although my second choice would be Space Opera (maybe Star Wars, maybe not).

I wouldn't mind Star Wars before it Built C3PO (jumped the shark).

[voodoo54]

I wouldn't mind Star Wars before it Built C3PO (jumped the shark).

But now that they have Jar Jar you don't mind so much.;)

[badger3k]

But now that they have Jar Jar you don't mind so much.;)

Meesa like some star wars? :sick:

(let's not even speak about the creepy child pron going on in the "first" movie - the Princess and the Pee-Wee) :eek:

[Captain Obvious]

But now that they have Jar Jar you don't mind so much.;)

Jar Jar showed up in the same episode as the building of C3PO. And that's when Star Wars became all about SFX and lost all story value.

[Maelstrom]

I would like to play in a Culture campaign -- but I'm not at all sure what it would look like. I've run Star Wars HERO and liked it. Played Traveller, but not the HERO version yet -- but I'm not adverse.

[voodoo54]

Jar Jar showed up in the same episode as the building of C3PO. And that's when Star Wars became all about SFX and lost all story value.

Yea got it, only watched episode 1 once(for obvious reasons). So yes even though I'm a Star Wars fan boy I agree 100% that the overuse of Computer graphics ruined the prequals.

[Rapier]

John Ringo has written a few books about an alien invasion of earth ("The Posleen Wars" - A Hymn Before Battle, Gust Front, When the Devil Dances, Hell's Faire and Calley's War).

An alien race is invading the universe. Some of the more established races have moved "beyond" violence and can't really fight back (the concept of violence is beyond their ability to consider). Since the invasion path eventually includes the Earth, they land and offer us some juicy armour and weapons in return for us fighting the war for them.

It has a great deal of StarShip Troopers feel (the book, not the "eh" that was the movie...even if Casper van Dien was just positively yummy).

I always thought that this kind of setting would make a wonderful game. It's near enough future that it would be easy to relate to and wouldn't necessarily require the time/effort to build an entire setting world.

If I was going to do Star Hero (and I would almost have to loosely define this as Star Hero), this would probably be it.

Of course, then we must almost discuss where Hero leaves off and Star Hero begins. Egads, there is a discussion that is gonna get ugly.

[tkdguy]

I'm not much into alien invasions as I used to be. I think humanity fighting with itself much grimmer. Of course, I don't need to use military themes. Exploration and espionage work well too.

[Captain Obvious]

Yea got it, only watched episode 1 once(for obvious reasons). So yes even though I'm a Star Wars fan boy I agree 100% that the overuse of Computer graphics ruined the prequals.

CGI saved those movies. If Lucas had tried to foist that crappy story on us in the 70s with the SFX available then, well, I probably would have forgotten who Darth Vader or Han Solo is by now.

[badger3k]

CGI saved those movies. If Lucas had tried to foist that crappy story on us in the 70s with the SFX available then, well, I probably would have forgotten who Darth Vader or Han Solo is by now.

I only watched "episode 1" a second time to see the underwater sequence again. That, I liked.

Once my brother got me to watch the clone thing, with the incredible wooden man, I gave up completely on it.

[voodoo54]

CGI saved those movies. If Lucas had tried to foist that crappy story on us in the 70s with the SFX available then, well, I probably would have forgotten who Darth Vader or Han Solo is by now.

If ol' George hadn't been relying on CGI so much he might have attempted to write a decent script or had somebody else do it. The thing that really makes me mad is he had 20+ years to write a good story across the three prequals but instead came out with what we have now.

[Sweeper]

I picked other as my group is insa-er,diverse enough to want to try to mix everything up and play. :)

[penemue]

I really enjoy running my Star Trek Hero Campaign and I HATE established settings. It takes place just before the Original Series.
I had an original setting I was playing in Mekton that I might want to switch over. Contemporary Earth was included into a Galactic Federation. Our Corporate structure was interpreted as a Economic Government with all the multinational corporations seen as a world government.
I would prefer an original setting space opera. I found Traveller fun, but that was back in the little black book days.
I'd love a Firefly feeling no alien campaign although I've only ever seen Serenity. Star Wars wouldn't interest me in the slightest.
A steampunk space exploration game would be fun, but I wasn't very excited about Space 1889. I think a small group of interplanetary explorers in a homemade bullet rocket would be more interesting.

[monster]

I would like to see how hero would handle warhammer 40k.

[tkdguy]

I vaguely remember a 40K HERO setting. I'll try to see if I can find it.