Xiawarr Posted July 17, 2005 Report Share Posted July 17, 2005 Note: Links in this post go to E-Bay and Amazon. I'm also cross-posting to the Other Genres 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRavenIs Posted July 17, 2005 Report Share Posted July 17, 2005 Re: Ringworld, Stargate and Apocalypse... oh my! I think that it sounds like a fun concept. If you do it leave a bit of the ancinet's and other galatic races around just for fun. Remember that the Ringworld is freaking huge. Raven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted July 17, 2005 Report Share Posted July 17, 2005 Re: Ringworld, Stargate and Apocalypse... oh my! *sigh* I used to own the Ringworld RPG and the Companion. I then I got rid of it. I wish I'd kept it... would love to have adapted Louis Wu and Speaker to Animals to HERO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiawarr Posted July 18, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2005 Re: Ringworld, Stargate and Apocalypse... oh my! SNIP Remember that the Ringworld is freaking huge. Raven Yep! That's what appeals to me. It's big enough that you can port over almost any setting. And, if memory serves, Ringworld was a big "atlas" or some such, where entire worlds were recreated "in flat" inside the ring. Who says they all have to be sci-fi worlds? At one time I thought about a campaign in a dysan sphere, then I did a little looking on the net and found out just how big one really is. Now that is FREAKING HUGE! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted July 18, 2005 Report Share Posted July 18, 2005 Re: Ringworld, Stargate and Apocalypse... oh my! Yep! That's what appeals to me. It's big enough that you can port over almost any setting. And' date=' if memory serves, Ringworld was a big "atlas" or some such, where entire worlds were recreated "in flat" inside the ring.[/quote'] Correct. Louis Wu and Speaker found Earth, Mars, and Kizin, to name a few. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy_The_Ruthles Posted July 18, 2005 Report Share Posted July 18, 2005 Re: Ringworld, Stargate and Apocalypse... oh my! great idea, here's some ideas from my ring world plots... Ring world is huge, it's metal surface is also indestructable. The razor wire will cut anything. Kinzin, Puppeteers and tasps are a must. Luck, as a motivational force, both good and bad is a major moving force in the book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigJackBrass Posted July 18, 2005 Report Share Posted July 18, 2005 Re: Ringworld, Stargate and Apocalypse... oh my! I noticed that a copy of Chaosium's "Ringworld" game went on eBay.co.uk for £110 this week, a serious amount of cash for such a relatively unsuccessful game. Reviews of the game when it first appeared all pointed to the fact that it was beautifully done but virtually unplayable: Player characters were so far beyond the tech level of any potential opponents that there was no threat. The weapons were too powerful (and the ones from the companion were, if I recall, a bit silly. A gun firing compressed pellets of air sticks in my mind) and supplies were never a problem because there was equipment to turn almost anything into food. The problem was that the novels didn't present the sort of problems common to SF gaming, they were on a much bigger and very different scale. There's no reason why you can't run a successful game with the setting, but I think you've taken the right approach by considering some serious changes. The Ringworld itself should be a genuine wonder, but I think that taking it out of the Known Space setting helps a lot. As for Dyson Spheres... fascinating idea, but I think that my players are much more likely to encounter a Dyson Vacuum Cleaner. Might be more dangerous, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted July 18, 2005 Report Share Posted July 18, 2005 Re: Ringworld, Stargate and Apocalypse... oh my! [copied over from the same thread in "other genres"] 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. __________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiawarr Posted July 18, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2005 Re: Ringworld, Stargate and Apocalypse... oh my! I know I'm going to get stoned for this (in the biblical sense, not the altered state-sense)... But I have not read any of Larry Niven's Known World universe stuff. Probably need to remedy that based on Curufea's post. Sounds like there may be more involved than what I can glean from the rpg. Although, I have to admit my preferred style of play is pulp, cinematic with lots of combat - rather than puzzle solving. I stopped playing COC because of that - oh, and the fact that your characters would go insane and die! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Anomaly Posted July 19, 2005 Report Share Posted July 19, 2005 Re: Ringworld, Stargate and Apocalypse... oh my! I know I'm going to get stoned for this (in the biblical sense, not the altered state-sense)... But I have not read any of Larry Niven's Known World universe stuff. Probably need to remedy that based on Curufea's post. Sounds like there may be more involved than what I can glean from the rpg. Although, I have to admit my preferred style of play is pulp, cinematic with lots of combat - rather than puzzle solving. I stopped playing COC because of that - oh, and the fact that your characters would go insane and die! I tend to like Niven's short fiction better than his longer works, though Ringworld is a favorite of mine, as is Dream Park -- but on the latter he worked with Stephen Barnes. If you want to try and "get into" Niven, I'd reccomend this: 1) Read Ringworld. 2) Get a couple of his short fiction collections. 3) Since the short fiction in the collections are not all "Known Space" stories, nor are they in any kind of coherant chronological or 'historical' order, find (on line) a timeline of his books/stories that place the various stories with "real" dates (i.e. 2273 A.D. and so forth) Edit: Like this one; just select the "timeline" link from the menu on the left bar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egyptoid Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 Re: Ringworld, Stargate and Apocalypse... oh my! Larry Niven was at SheVaCon and they did this in his honor: it rotated with a small motor. picture doesnt do it justice there Sun was orange spun sugar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 Re: Ringworld, Stargate and Apocalypse... oh my! So... where is Fist of God? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Mackinder Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 Re: Ringworld, Stargate and Apocalypse... oh my! Maybe have more than one Stargate on the Ringworld. It would seem logical (as well as somehow ironic) to have a dozen or so of these as a reliable form of transportation around the interior and beyond. When it comes to that, hard to see this as anything but the "centrepiece" of some great empire, so maybe an orbiting Stargate or two (as in Atlantis) and/or even a SuperGate (think of the TRAFFIC!). Consider the enormous size of the thing - surface area equivalent to three MILLION Earths. Put it another way - add together every world ever visited or even simply mentioned so far in SG-1 and Atlantis - and the classic-sized Ringworld has several thousand times as much room. Minimum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundog Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 Re: Ringworld, Stargate and Apocalypse... oh my! The Ringworld doesn't need multiple Stargates. Teleportation is possible by much less technologically sophisticated means in Known Space, provided vertical distance is not too great. The Ring would probably have some equivalent of the Teleportation Booth system that Earth has at this point in Known Worlds development. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 Re: Ringworld, Stargate and Apocalypse... oh my! Just as long as they don't have the DC Metro system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 Re: Ringworld, Stargate and Apocalypse... oh my! *sigh* I used to own the Ringworld RPG and the Companion. I then I got rid of it. I wish I'd kept it... would love to have adapted Louis Wu and Speaker to Animals to HERO. It so happens I know own both books. Now i need to find the time to convert the various alien races over to Hero. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Mackinder Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 Re: Ringworld, Stargate and Apocalypse... oh my! The Ringworld doesn't need multiple Stargates. Teleportation is possible by much less technologically sophisticated means in Known Space' date=' provided vertical distance is not too great. The Ring would probably have some equivalent of the Teleportation Booth system that Earth has at this point in Known Worlds development.[/quote'] Sure, but by the time of the original novel, it AIN'T WORKING. StarGates, on the other hand, are extraordinarily tough items and it has been known for worlds to have more than one (just very rare). The Ringworld is a lot bigger than any single world, so it seems very reasonable to have more than one SG there, if just to cut down on congestion. Three million worlds, remember? Imagine the incredible hassle of handling all extra-solar commerce, military traffic, etc. for all that through only one SG. AACCCKKKKK!!!! to put it mildly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drhoz Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 Re: Ringworld, Stargate and Apocalypse... oh my! If you're going to stick with the earlier Ringworld novels - i.e. before the Kzinti and Humans start trying to land on the thing deliberately ( and trying to do that *after* the first two books would be a good way to die ) then you have plenty of scope for a survivors plot. And a lot of strange civilisations growing in the ruins to encounter and/or avoid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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