Post-Apocolyptic Hero Campaign Idea:

[Bygoneyrs]

Hello everyone,

 

 

I was toying with trying to run a PAH campaign set in a kinda

Metamorphosis Alpha campain setting. Basically the players from

a "Star Hero" setting , awaken from Cryo Sleep aboard their ARK.

The Ark has not reached it's intended destination, but a large yet

unknown alien design ship has docked with the Ark.

 

Now many of the systems are off line, and there appears to be

damage to different parts of the ship. Their appears to be no

sign of the crew or their decendants that were to make the trip

awake while living in the living domes. On further exploration it

is discovered that the alien ship was adrift in space and was docked

with, and searched. That was were the problems began.

 

Ok I could do a Alien type bug hunt plot. I could use a plague zombie

horror plot., or I could use real Aliens as the enemy. I could even use

a kind of vampire plot line as well, or even a Werewolf plot line to.

I could keep alot of details in the dark and force the players to use

their skills and etc, to look for clues and find out what happened.

Then as the player play, if someone dies...the rest of the players

just awaken another Cryo Tube Sleeper. I would also allow them

to also awaken a few extra NPCs crewmen that I could use to add

color and depth to the whole plot too. I have five players and would

say that the system awakened say a team of ten 'trouble shooters'.

BTW the ship would be run by a Self awair AI named UltraMind that

has a few issues/flaws to it's 'personality' along with loads of system

problems too.

 

The end goal would to get the ship repaired and back on target and

to get the Ark to it's intended destination. Also resolve all the different

'issues' that have come up while the Ark has been adrift in space, and

many unplanned happenings have been introduced.

 

What do you think of the whole concept idea?

 

Penn

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: Post-Apocolyptic Hero Campaign Idea:

 

Interesting, but perhaps a little too cliche for the players, who have probably seen both Alien and 28 Days Later. To give it a twist, try having the ship's computer awaken the characters because of an object in the ship's path -- a really large alien space ship that is bathing the character's ship with radiation from a sputter drive or some such. (The ships are crossing paths but moving in generally the same direction.) The characters discover that the pilot crew is already dead from exposure to the radiation (presumably failing to navigate the ship away from the hazard), and the ship's systems are being adversely affected by the alien ship's radiation. Can our heroes make contact with the aliens and get that ship out of their path before all of the colonists die from radiation exposure, or can they affect some sort of makeshift solution until they can affect repairs on their own ship?

 

Matt "Just-tossing-out-an-idea" Frisbee

[Bygoneyrs]

Re: Post-Apocolyptic Hero Campaign Idea:

 

Hey there Matt,

 

Some good points to consider, and gives me something to consider.

Now I was thinking the Flight crew that would stay awake and live

out their lives and have children and oversee the Ark would have

either died out from some type of radiation or disease.

 

Plus add in the derlick Alien ship, I could also add in both Aliens,

plagues, even Werecreature of sorts too. Lots of possibilities

here with this plot line, and plenty of room to go into many different

directions with it as well too.

 

Penn

[StGrimblefig]

Re: Post-Apocolyptic Hero Campaign Idea:

 

My first thought was that it sounded a little like the beginning of System Shock 2. Of course that gave me the idea that you could reveal the fate of the awake crew by having the PCs find a series of log entries from the crew members. Perhaps they are only cached on certain terminals because of system failures, or saved to disks that the PCs find, or even hastily scribbled on whatever paper is available just before some important (i.e. likely fatal) event occurs.

[Bygoneyrs]

Re: Post-Apocolyptic Hero Campaign Idea:

 

Hello everyone,

 

I have been giving this concept some more thought and I like it. Oh

I might change a few things and plot twists, but I am know best as

a GM that has plots within plots within plots.

 

I just ordered my copy of PAH and it should ship out to me within

1-3 business days, so hopefully this time next week I can start reading

it over and begin to work on my concept. I just love Gamma World

and Metamorphosis Alpha...now I can combine PAH and Traveller Hero

together in this plot line campaign concept.

 

The huge Ark allows me to base both Gamma World, and Traveller

based concepts together here. The PCs would be from a TH/SH

background makeup.

 

Add in the Alien derlict (another Alien Ark) and one can double the

fun and adventure. The elements that I would want to throw into

the overall plot mix are:

 

--- Caniabuss plague (Flesh eating Zombies - always fun)

--- Alien critters (Bug hunt - squish them if you can)

--- Mutant decendants of former Flight generations crew

--- Werebeast plague (another fun time)

--- Damage and radiation hazords, and lots of system failures

--- AI that has a few screws loose and a few Robots to spread fun

--- Make repairs t get the Ark back on course and etc

 

Plenty of fun for all!

 

Penn

[ghost-angel]

Re: Post-Apocolyptic Hero Campaign Idea:

 

If you've ever played the (now) ancient computer game Marathon ... give each ship an AI and have them each manipulate the PCs for different reasons. Making one apparently good vs one apparently evil with a large generation ship and an alien ship to work with could make for all kinds of fun.

 

Not to mention AIs can, at least at the start, create mission based sessions to get the PCs the info dump of what's apparently happened.

[azato]

Re: Post-Apocolyptic Hero Campaign Idea:

 

How about this scenario:

 

The players are part of a colony on a remote world. The plant contains an abundance of raw resources. Suppose something bad happens at home and the last ship that restocked them was the last one that will ever come (fill in the reason why). Much of the stuff that made their life comfortable and easy will eventually break down. The simple manufactured items will be in a very real finite supply. A disaster could hit the colony like a disease or some very strange political factions could rise up. Perhaps the making of a dictatorship with the technology and the refugees who have to have to figure out how to live on their own.

 

Alien technology/artifacts could be found by the refugees. Alien creatures and races would provide the interesting encounters