Midas Posted May 5, 2006 Report Share Posted May 5, 2006 Re: No spaceship A while back I remember an article in the Journal of the Traveller's Aid Society regarding Travelling without a starship. It quite rightly pointed out that there should be more than enough things in any one system for people to do' date=' and if they needed to travel, they could buy passage, which gives the GM greater control over the direction of plot. Anyway, one of these days I'll run a Shattered Sky campaign, where the player characters are savages in the ruined remains of a Dyson sphere. Eventually, they are picked up by passing travelers, but people have changed a hell of a lot in the Universe at large while the PC's culture was stagnating.[/quote'] I agree, I think the original poster (blitzed? English as a second language?) was asking "How can you have a "star" heroes campaign without spaceships? Three answers: First, an After the Holocaust campaign, which needn'd be set on Earth, as Al Hazred's proposal. Second, A campaign lacking FTL (or even out of atmospheric craft) such as something set in say 2100. Needn't be Cyberpunk either, just future tech, but nobody has figured out how to make interplanetary flight cheap and practial. Or as the TA article suggests, a single planet only campaign (chasing enemies of The Republic on Coruscant, for example) without anyone leaving the planet. Or "Stargates" only. No such thing as FTL, but you can go to any hyperterminal and buy a ticket to any place the ref allows. Midas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlHazred Posted May 5, 2006 Report Share Posted May 5, 2006 Re: No spaceship The way I see it, there're different levels of "No spaceship" Star Hero campaigns. Absolutely no space-travelling craft of any kind. Now, that seems a little odd considering we have "spacecraft" now. However, if you consider the current economic climate and extrapolate, you could picture a future with little space travel - if it's as expensive then as it is now, and global economic conditions worsen, then it just might not be feasible to launch. Meanwhile, various current technologies could continue to advance. No interstellar craft, but spacecraft are available. This is actually a decent (slightly optimistic) "hard sci fi" Near Future campaign. I've got a campaign along these lines brewing in the back of my mind, have for years. It's a decent campaign, I think. Just close enough to us to be relevant, just far enough away to have "marvels and wonders." High tech interstellar or interplanetary travel without spacecraft. The most well-known example is the Stargate campaign in a nutshell. Another interesting one is John de Chancie's Skyway series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverhawk Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Re: No spaceship The way I see it' date=' there're different levels of "No spaceship" [i']Star Hero[/i] campaigns. Absolutely no space-travelling craft of any kind. Now, that seems a little odd considering we have "spacecraft" now. However, if you consider the current economic climate and extrapolate, you could picture a future with little space travel - if it's as expensive then as it is now, and global economic conditions worsen, then it just might not be feasible to launch. Meanwhile, various current technologies could continue to advance. No interstellar craft, but spacecraft are available. This is actually a decent (slightly optimistic) "hard sci fi" Near Future campaign. I've got a campaign along these lines brewing in the back of my mind, have for years. It's a decent campaign, I think. Just close enough to us to be relevant, just far enough away to have "marvels and wonders." High tech interstellar or interplanetary travel without spacecraft. The most well-known example is the Stargate campaign in a nutshell. Another interesting one is John de Chancie's Skyway series. Another way to have a no starship campaign is as Larry Niven did in Ringworld have the players crash land and then have to figure their way back to civilization. This could be either trek across the surface or get back to space and contact another passing ship. Either way can allow for a GM to challenge the PC's with ancient ruins, hostile natives, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Re: No spaceship Then there's the variation where the PCs spend the entire campaign adventuring inside a single immense spaceship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thia Halmades Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Re: No spaceship Oh dear G-d. Did someone turn this fake thread into a real discussion? Do you people have no shame? That's it. I'm going back to my giant robots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRavenIs Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Re: No spaceship This is a fake thread???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thia Halmades Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Re: No spaceship Yah. Whole thread began because Scott went off his meds. Again. He's worse than E84. Although I've heard, on very quiet nights, if you take a mirror into a pitch black room ... and if you say 'Enforcer84' three times fast in that darkened room, you can see Chad's face - writhing in agony - in the depths of that mirror... Because he has to offer you a beer. HIS BEER. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRavenIs Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Re: No spaceship Yah. Whole thread began because Scott went off his meds. Again. He's worse than E84. Although I've heard, on very quiet nights, if you take a mirror into a pitch black room ... and if you say 'Enforcer84' three times fast in that darkened room, you can see Chad's face - writhing in agony - in the depths of that mirror... Because he has to offer you a beer. HIS BEER. All I can say is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thia Halmades Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Re: No spaceship *kicks TheRavenIs one more step up the rep ladder* On you go! Upwards, you rapscallion! You rosicrucian! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRavenIs Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Re: No spaceship *kicks TheRavenIs one more step up the rep ladder* On you go! Upwards, you rapscallion! You rosicrucian! Well that wasn't expected. But THANKS.....THANKS. I just love this place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thia Halmades Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Re: No spaceship Well... you're welcome! So THERE! Take THAT! Take your WELCOMENESS and feel... feel... MORE WELCOME! HA! And come back as soon as you want some more! HA HA! *shakes fist mightily* I'll fix his wagon... thanking me... who does he think he is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robyn Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Re: No spaceship Well... you're welcome! So THERE! Take THAT! Take your WELCOMENESS and feel... feel... MORE WELCOME! HA! And come back as soon as you want some more! HA HA! *shakes fist mightily* I'll fix his wagon... thanking me... who does he think he is? He must think he's on the Thank-You thread. Kaja sits quietly, holding his rod and giving up vital nutrients to feed his servants . . . . . . oh wait this wasn't the Thank-You thread? That's what I get for listening to TheRavenIs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thia Halmades Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Re: No spaceship No no. Not enough you did it in one place, you had to bring the same BAD JOKE over here, dinja? OY. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robyn Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Re: No spaceship No no. Not enough you did it in one place' date=' you had to bring the same BAD JOKE over here, dinja? OY.[/quote'] Hey, TheRavenIs started it . . . thanking people and all that Besides, this thread is already NGD-compatible. That thread would have just been derailed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thia Halmades Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Re: No spaceship *blink blink* No sir, we found him like that, all strung up. No your honor, i don't know who brought the rope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlHazred Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Re: No spaceship Then there's the variation where the PCs spend the entire campaign adventuring inside a single immense spaceship. Ah, Metamorphosis Alpha! What a kooky freakin' game! And it directly inspired Gamma World (probably when Jim Ward said to himself, "Now, where the hell did all this High Weirdness launch from in the first place?") Plus, there's that weird TV show Starlost, with a similar concept (if somewhat uneven execution). I've always wanted to run a game like that; and after the players have had their fill of the weirdness on-board the ship, the ship reaches its destination. What will happen to the unknowing cultures on the ship when it fulfills its purpose? And what if the people they left behind developed FTL and have already beaten them there? Although, technically, that's not a variation of the "no spaceship" Star Hero campaign - it's the complementary campaign to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlHazred Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Re: No spaceship Oh dear G-d. Did someone turn this fake thread into a real discussion? Do you people have no shame? That's it. I'm going back to my giant robots. No disrespect intended, but this is the Star Hero forum. If you want to have fun with that sort of thing, request Simon to move it to NGD. I like my peanut butter without chocolate, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Re: No spaceship . . . If the PCs didn't have personal access to a spaceship, and had to have the GMs permission to leave the planet, but starflight was still part of the campaign background . . . Would that make a sound? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thia Halmades Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Re: No spaceship No. But I'm fairly certain that life is more entertaining when phasers make noise as they boil through the Structural Integrity of a hull. I was surprised in HALO: Combat Evolved, when the game opens and you're aboard ship, that they left anything that happened in space utterly silent. It was actually quite cool, and really lent to the feel of the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thia Halmades Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Re: No spaceship 1400. Nyah. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRavenIs Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Re: No spaceship If the PC's have no ship, just how will you make it a Star Hero game? Now from where I sit, you can do that by just using a modification of any setting, just add the needed science fiction element that make it have the feel of Star Hero. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thia Halmades Posted May 7, 2006 Report Share Posted May 7, 2006 Re: No spaceship Star Hero is just a label. That's it. I can run gritty sci-fi and call it Dark Champions; I can run rubber sci-fi and call it Champions, and I can run Sailing Ships in Space and call it Pulp Hero. Names matter not - the game's the thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlHazred Posted May 7, 2006 Report Share Posted May 7, 2006 Re: No spaceship Absolutely. But the trouble is, how to have the "Star" Hero game without spaceships. I think the original poster's intent was to ask how to do so as a campaign. And I agree, it's quite possible, but you'll need to have the players want to play that kind of game; it might be very contrary to what some players expect of a Star Hero game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRavenIs Posted May 7, 2006 Report Share Posted May 7, 2006 Re: No spaceship Star Hero is just a label. That's it. I can run gritty sci-fi and call it Dark Champions; I can run rubber sci-fi and call it Champions' date=' and I can run Sailing Ships in Space and call it Pulp Hero. Names matter not - the game's the thing.[/quote'] I agree. I was just using the Star Hero as the tag line, for the sake of keeping it in this section of the boards. Bu I could just as easily post it in any of them. I just love hero for the flexiability it has to do anything you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thia Halmades Posted May 7, 2006 Report Share Posted May 7, 2006 Re: No spaceship Case in point: I'd originally posted my Giant Robot RPG concept into Dark Champions. They moved it to Star Hero, despite the fact that in my mind, the game bore no resemblance to what I would call a Star Hero campaign - it was a DC campaign in the future; at best, a Post-Apocalyptic game. But definately not Star Hero. *shrug* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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