The Outworlds

[Pariah]

I'm starting a new Star Hero campaign at the end of next month. I've never really GMed anything in HERO System besides Champions--or maybe I have, but I just don't remember at the moment. At any rate, this is going to be a bit of a stretch for me.

 

The basic premise is that the PCs are going to wake up someplace alien and unfamiliar. They'll learn that they've all been abducted and brought to some foreign part of the universe, many many light years from Earth. They'll have to learn to navigate their way through alien cultures and technology while keeping their collective skins intact and looking for a way home. It should be fun; I know at least one of my players is really looking forward to it.

 

I am too; I'm just a little nervous.

 

I started this thread to post occasional updates, comments, and questions. I'd be interested to hear any feedback any of you might have to offer. Enjoy, everyone!

[Pariah]

Re: The Outworlds

 

To help set the stage for the new campaign, I wrote up the following introduction. The first adventure will take begin in an alien hospital, the heroes having survived the described incident(s):

 

It's a day like any other day. Thursday. Crowded sidewalks, slow traffic, lukewarm coffee. The park is full of people who should probably be at the office. The office is full of people who would rather be somewhere else. The streets are full of people on their way to who-knows-where. All around, the ocean of humanity roars and rises and ebbs, taking you along with it. Until you find a quiet, solitary place to take a moment for yourself.

 

At first, you find the silence eerily uncomfortable . . . until you realize that it's not really silence. There's a low, barely audible hum in the air. It dances just inside the edge of your perception. You pause to listen, wondering what it might mean. It takes you a moment to realize that there's a slow, rhythmic pulsation buried within the hum. You barely realize that your foot is tapping, keeping time.

 

Entranced as you have become by the music, you don't even notice the blue-white glow that begins to grow just inside your peripheral vision. The colors around you begin to fade, washed out in a gathering brilliance. Too late, you realize that you can't even see where you are any more.

 

And then, in a single instant of awful clarity, the sensation assails you—gut-wrenching vertigo, mixed in equal measure with the panic of impending doom. Your soul withers in terror. There's not even time to scream.

 

You are awakened by a bone-jarring impact and the rush of cold, metallic air in your lungs. You try to move, but something restrains you. You feel a sudden wave of claustrophobia as you perceive for the first time where you are. You are entombed in metal and translucent plastic—but a large crack is visible before you. You strain against your captivity, finally gaining your freedom, and get your first good look at your surroundings.

 

Smoke and panicked noises fill the air as the metal grating beneath your feet rocks back and forth. If this isn't what an earthquake feels like, you hope that it's the closest you ever get. Lights flash and warning klaxons blare in the dull steel corridor. In the haze you can see several other figures moving. They all seem as confused as you. You turn to look for a way out of your current peril, then turn back when you realize that one of the figures you saw didn't look human.

 

Any further thoughts you might have had on the matter are interrupted by an explosion, a blunt pain at the back of your skull, and then quiet darkness.

 

Thoughts, anyone?

[tkdguy]

Re: The Outworlds

 

Sounds good. Will the PCs be Normals, at least at the start of the campaign?

[Pariah]

Re: The Outworlds

 

Sounds good. Will the PCs be Normals' date=' at least at the start of the campaign?[/quote']

 

The PCs will have low-level superpowers, more like 'super Talents'. 30 Active Points on average, 40 AP maximum.

 

I was going to run them as Normals, but I made this change as a concession to one player who felt that playing characters with no Powers would be uninteresting to him. "A campaign where everyone has the sme gun" was essentially his feeling.

 

Fair enough.

[Pariah]

Re: The Outworlds

 

This is a brief primer to let the players know what technology does and does not exist in the campaign setting in which they will find themselves.

 

FTL Travel

Yes. FTL drive creates a hyperspace bubble around the ship, allowing it to travel faster than is possible in normal space.

 

FTL Communication

Yes. Using hyperspace carrier relays, communication anywhere in the sector is practically instantaneous. Finding an open channel, or finding someone who is willing to respond to a communication, can sometimes be problematic.

 

Energy Shields - Ships

Yes. Spacefaring ships have energy field generators that protect them from stellar radiation, micrometeor strikes, and hull breaches, as well as attacks from hostile forces.

 

Energy Shields - Personal

No. Both the field generators and the power sources to necessary to run them are too large for individual use.

 

Energy Weapons - Personal

Yes, but not necessarily widespread. Military personnel, especially those on starships and space stations, will typically carry energy weapons to reduce the possibility of accidental hull breaches. However, energy weapons (and their ammunition) are expensive. In most situations, slugthrowers are more common.

 

Energy Weapons - Ships

Yes. Most armed ships use energy or particle beam weapons. Some ships use missiles or ballistic weapons (shells) in addition to, or instead of, energy weapons. It should be noted that the majority of ships in the Outworlds sector, other than military vessels, are unarmed.

 

Matter-Antimatter Reactors

No. Fusion reactors provide power for most ships, stations, and cities. Some older installations or more primitive areas still use fission reactors (the kind in use on Earth right now).

 

Transporters / Teleporters

No. The conversion of matter to energy and reconversion to matter in another location has never been successfully attempted by any of the races in the sector.

 

Replicators

No. Again, converting energy to matter has proven problematic.

 

Cryosleep

Yes, but not always common. Military installations and larger population centers will usually have cryogenic chambers available to doctors and researchers.

 

Biotechnology

Yes. Genetic manipulation and selective breeding have been responsible for a number of advances in medicine, food production, and materials science.

 

Genetic Engineering

Yes, but limited. Gene therapy is practiced in medicine to cure certain diseases, disorders, or defects. Noncurative genetic manipulation in sentient beings is rare.

 

Cybernetics

Not in the traditional sense. Advanced prosthetics, such as electromechanical appendages and artificial eyes, have been developed as replacements for lost or injured body parts. Functionally, these prosthetics tend to be comparable to, or even slightly inferior to, the original organs. They are also expensive, and most are easily detectable and obviously artificial.

 

Computers / Artificial Intelligence

Yes. Computers are much more advanced than those on Earth, with exceptional memory and computational capacities. Some of the most advanced computers have adaptive and heuristic capabilities, and may be considered artificially intelligent. Computers that could be considered sentient have not yet been developed.

 

Androids / Robotics

Yes (and no). Extremely advanced robots are fairly common in some settings. The computers controlling these robots can give them the ability to learn and to adapt to new situations, but only within the limits of their programming. Sentient robots or androids have not been developed.

 

Sensors

Yes. Hyperspatial sensors make it possible to detect and identify ships, planetary characteristics, and life signs from as far as half a light year away under optimal conditions. Long range sensors are much less precise and sensitive, but can reach as far as four or five light years.

 

Medical

Yes. Advanced medical procedures, techniques, and discoveries have produced cures for most diseases and lifesaving treatments for serious injuries. It is not generally possible to revive someone once they have died, however.

 

Pharmaceutical

Yes. A number of advanced drugs have been developed, both in laboratories and by biological means.