Ringworld, Stargate and Apocalypse - Oh My!

[Xiawarr]

Note: Links in this post go to E-Bay and Amazon. I'm also cross-posting to the Star Hero forum.

 

Finally got a copy of Ringworld off of E-Bay and now I want to use it for a game, however, not using the Basic Role-Playing (BRP) system. I’ve been a Hero system fan for years and years.

 

I thought I might do something a little different and combine the Ringworld with the following settings/elements:

 

Stargate SG1 – If the “creators†can create the ringworld, I’m sure they can create a stargate system as well.

Lords of Madness – I’ve always enjoyed the Illithid/Mind Flayers, Aboleths, Neogi and Beholders. And, I dig the whole Aberrations/Far Realms concept that d20 has going. Mythos goodness, without the Lovecraftian canon.

D20 Apocalypse – Especially, the Plague World setting. Use the Lords of Madness aberrations as the invading force, keep the bio-tech/nanotech slant. Replace magic with “extra-dimensional, non-euclidian science†and/or psionics.

 

Don’t have a solid concept yet – but something along the lines of the discovery of the ringworld, either via starship (as in the Larry Niven novels) or via a stargate (a la SG1). However, it’s not the great zoo/museum seen in Niven’s vision, but a blasted apocalypse with stargates linking to the Far Realm(s).

 

Would this be an interesting setting/campaign?

Is it too much kit/genre bashing?

How would you enhance the idea?

 

Suggestions and comments welcome. Thanks in advance for your input.

[Roy_The_Ruthles]

Re: Ringworld, Stargate and Apocalypse - Oh My!

 

it sounds great!

 

here's my initial thoughts (coming from my thoughts)

 

remember to have kitzen, puppeters and tasps, all of those are important to the setting.

 

Also have luck be a big force, like luck as an advantage and disadvantage (like as destiny)

[Lethosos]

Re: Ringworld, Stargate and Apocalypse - Oh My!

 

The Kzinti and whatever doesn't neccesarily have to be included--there is always HALO, which is pretty much a Ringworld rip. Just different tech, and different aliens. (You can make the Elites twisted servants of the Arboleths or whatever, they deserve to be seen on a Class 2 orbital habitat IMO.)

[Roy_The_Ruthles]

Re: Ringworld, Stargate and Apocalypse - Oh My!

 

i was just saying they were staple of ringworld. it's not a hack slash like halo, it's a thought out gigantic puzzle.

[Curufea]

Re: Ringworld, Stargate and Apocalypse - Oh My!

 

There were several interesting scientific "what ifs" explored in the Ringworld books that I remember, and the roleplaying game (which I also have a copy of) does try to show some of them.

Such as-

Superconductors that transfer heat as well as electricity.

Plants that reflect light as a weapon.

GP hulls, a hull that for all intents and purposes is invulnerable.

Variable swords - a stasis field surrounding a monomolecular blade. Can cut through anything except a concave surface.

Stasis fields - freezing time in a set area.

Sun-sized lasers as a defensive weapon.

Engines that can move a solar system.

Hominids filling the evolutionary niches normally covered by other species of animals.

Successfully eugenics to breed a lucky human.

A fertile livable surface area several hundred thousand times larger than the Earth.

A catalyst sparked hyper evolution into a secondary stage for hominids (to be precise, descendants of the Pak).

An intelligent herd species.

[Xiawarr]

Re: Ringworld, Stargate and Apocalypse - Oh My!

 

The Kzinti and whatever doesn't neccesarily have to be included--there is always HALO' date=' which is pretty much a Ringworld rip. Just different tech, and different aliens. (You can make the Elites twisted servants of the Arboleths or whatever, they deserve to be seen on a Class 2 orbital habitat IMO.)[/quote']

Just picked up the original Halo for X-Box. I didn't realize that it was referring to a ringworld. Interesting... may need to mine the game for some additional ideas.

[Inu]

Re: Ringworld, Stargate and Apocalypse - Oh My!

 

Just picked up the original Halo for X-Box. I didn't realize that it was referring to a ringworld. Interesting... may need to mine the game for some additional ideas.

It's a small ring, anyway, not a true Ringworld. More like the Orbitals from Iain M. Banks.

 

Those things are cute, btw. 3 million kilometres across, constructed from plates 1000km wide. They're then set next to a star, at an angle, so light from the star hits the inside of the orbital. It's then set spinning at a constant velocity, so that the spin provides, simultaneously, a day-night cycle AND gravity. Apparently 3 million km is the magic number for a the standard diurnal cycle and gravity (which is something like 25 hours and 1.2G respectively, in his books, or similar). In that setting, Orbitals have more or less replaced planets as the primary residence for civilians in the high-tech civilisation, The Culture. They feel that terraforming is an unnecessary violation of a stable ecosystem, and anyway, who needs to do it, since a single Orbital gives the land area of 50 earth-type planets?

 

(Yes, I like Orbitals.)

[Curufea]

Re: Ringworld, Stargate and Apocalypse - Oh My!

 

Ah, but you can do megascale physical experiments with a Ringworld - moving the solar system, or causing the sun to lase.