Space 1999 aka Space 2099

[Bygoneyrs]

Hello everyone,

 

Ok based of the other two Space 1999 threads I feal that this could be

a awesome PAH and Star Hero/Traveller Hero campaign mixed genre.

 

Now as I stated I would love to see a Space 1999 Hero but I feel it should

be renamed to Space 2099 and set in the era. The projected tech of the

show would most likely come about by 2099 and it could fit most nicely

being that we are just about to start 2008.

 

So I would also set the show not on Earth's Moon (Luna) but instead on

one of the Asteriods in the great belt between Mars and Jupitor. One

could set up moon base Alpha and have a much larger self sufficiency

colony that was a mining and raw materials processing location with

some minor manufacturing going on as well. Also the low gravity could be

a ship yard of sorts for building and repair of space craft for use in the

outer solar system. They could have Eagles, Mark IX Hawks, Supper

Swifts, and Long Range Probes, as well as staging areas for exploration

launch missions. I would have some accident happen that maybe caused

this smaller asteroid to leave it's orbit and maybe fall through a temporary

wormhole to an unknown location and thus be "Lost In Space".

 

Penn

[Clonus]

Re: Space 1999 aka Space 2099

 

Why does it keep showing up near "interesting" places? That's my biggest problem with the Space 1999 premise. Who's steering this thing?

[Bygoneyrs]

Re: Space 1999 aka Space 2099

 

Well that would have to worked out....I would rather it travel through worm holes in space that it found and that they have Super Swifts and such to go off and explore

with.

 

Penn

[mikesama]

Re: Space 1999 aka Space 2099

 

You should probably also make the base a major refit/resupply depot with it's own ore deposits and hydroponics gardens. Not to mention machine shops, labs and the like. I'd make it a HUGE A$$ asteroid so they have a chance to both dig into the asteroid for certain supplies and they have enough room to justify having all that extra junk at the base.

 

The biggest problem with the run away asteroid theory is that they'd need a way to be self sufficient or regularly pass in range of the proper resources.

[Bygoneyrs]

Re: Space 1999 aka Space 2099

 

I have thought about that as well, and yes there are some rather large asteroids in

the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupitor(almost the size of small moons). We

could say that the said asteroid were Alpha Base was locted was on a huge deposits

of multiple resources. I was thinking that the "colony" called Alpha Base could be

like 25,000 pop and have many different facilities and etc.

 

Now as to how the asteroid leave earth's system, say that they were testing a

new drive system...maybe a kinda FOLD Jump drive system. Maybe the first attempt

at using the drive, it by accident took the whole asteroid into Fold Space and

transported them to some unknown part of the galaxy and can't find their way home.

Since there is a large Scientific research station also located on base, they are able

to figure out how to make small controlled "Folds" to different systems and etc. They

just need to figure out where Earth's system is to where they are in space.

 

Penn

[Midas]

Re: Space 1999 aka Space 2099

 

 

Now as to how the asteroid leave earth's system, say that they were testing a

new drive system...maybe a kinda FOLD Jump drive system. Maybe the first attempt

at using the drive, it by accident took the whole asteroid into Fold Space and

transported them to some unknown part of the galaxy and can't find their way home.

Since there is a large Scientific research station also located on base, they are able

to figure out how to make small controlled "Folds" to different systems and etc. They

just need to figure out where Earth's system is to where they are in space.

 

Penn

 

Now this could handle the biggest "suspension of disbelief" problem I had with the show:

 

OK, they're on Luna and it got blasted out of Earth orbit.

 

OK, they are making interstellar travel.

 

OK, they aren't aging hundreds of years between stops, so they must be traveling at near light speed.

 

So how are their Eagles et al interacting with all those non relativistic planets?

 

Yep, a Farscape meets Sliders origin works. "Assuming we're in the same galaxy, does anybody recognize these constellations? ANYBODY?"

 

Midas

(My other problem is that the FX people from Dr. Who would shake their heads in pity at the show's FX budget, but that is just me).

[mattingly]

Re: Space 1999 aka Space 2099

 

You could also tie in a bit of "Lost" with the campaign, and these interstellar castaways find that the asteroid they're on has been inhabited before. They find secret tunnels, artifcats, runes, etc.

 

That would also help explain why they keep going to interesting spots -- the asteroid was designed for travel, and may even have a specified route.

[Narratio]

Re: Space 1999 aka Space 2099

 

The asteroid was an interstellar greyhound coach with regularly scheduled stops? No way to control where it's going, just discover through trial and loosing people, that it only stays in a system for a certain amount of time and then 'folds' out?

 

That could work. Big question would be what happens when it finally arrives at the Terminus and the cleaning crew appear.

[Midas]

Re: Space 1999 aka Space 2099

 

The asteroid was an interstellar greyhound coach with regularly scheduled stops? No way to control where it's going, just discover through trial and loosing people, that it only stays in a system for a certain amount of time and then 'folds' out?

 

That could work. Big question would be what happens when it finally arrives at the Terminus and the cleaning crew appear.

 

They tell the characters to go sleep over in the corner with the other vagrants?

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Space 1999 aka Space 2099

 

OK' date=' they're on Luna and it got blasted out of Earth orbit.[/quote']

 

One of my biggest problem with the show, from a semi-scientific viewpoint. There is this thing called 'Roche's Limit', which basically says that any force strong enough to de-orbit the moon (or other planet-sized body) would also turn it into fragments. Kind of like a handful of wet sand- seems nice and stable "at rest", but will shatter if subjected to any real stress (such as being thrown). But explosions shifted the Moon's trajectory AT LEAST three times in the course of the show, without any ill effects.

 

******************

 

There were comments made by David Gerrold (w-a-a-y-y-y back when he was a columnist for STARLOG) that arguably have relevance here. He was asked to compare between Star Trek (TOS) and the (for the time) more recent (original) Battlestar Galactica and Space 1999. Other issues aside, he pointed out that ST's characters were basically masters of their own destiny. The crew of the USS Enterprise were out exploring the galaxy because they CHOSE to do so. Galactica was (crudely put) about running away, refugees trying to outwit and escape from a vastly more powerful enemy. 1999 were about people that were, for the most part, reluctant passengers.

 

It is really not my intention for this to become a "Which Show Is Better" sort of discussion. Honestly. But, as this "2099" campaign progresses, I expect that PCs will become increasingly more interested in having control over where they are going. Which is quite understandable. Possibly this can be a thread though the campaign - trying to understand and control what got them into the soup in the first place. To that end, there could be adventures involving malfunctioning experiments, quests to find various McGuffins (alien tech, rare substances, etc.), and so forth.

[Clonus]

Re: Space 1999 aka Space 2099

 

One of my biggest problem with the show' date=' from a semi-scientific viewpoint. There is this thing called 'Roche's Limit', which basically says that any force strong enough to de-orbit the moon (or other planet-sized body) would also turn it into fragments. [/quote']

 

No, Roche's limit is the proximity at which the tidal force of a body will tear apart another large body.