Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

[Wolf]

Okay, so I've finally convinced my D&D group to try out hero, and due to the recent Star Trek phenom they are asking for me to further develop a one shot that I did with one of them a couple of years ago....

 

So here it is, I know CB and FF/Serenity, but is there any other material that I can mine for thoughts on this type of setting. I'll get the thoughts for it here, and then I'll try to write it up on another thread.

 

Any help would be fantastic. I have several of the CB Anime books, and have researched that heavily. I also have access to the Firefly series and RPG, along with, of course, the movie.

 

Q1: What genre are these really, sci fi yes, but... western?

 

Q2: What shall I have as the protagonist? Corporation, kingdom, or united planets against a frontier?

 

Q3: I know that cyberware is pretty low key in this, why shouldn't I push it with a touch of Cyberpunkish stuff?

 

Q4: One larger ship, and personal ships?

 

Q5: I dunno, I guess I have to work for some more questions.

 

So far I'm thinking that there is a Binary system that several slow ships are sent to... there is one habitable planet, but several that can be Terra-formed.

 

Ships launch automated machines to start the Terra-forming. Then wake up the first settlers. These have been frozen, and there is a second generation that have been genetically modified, the history of their trek has been "written" in code directly into their genes, so that when their decedents get advanced enough (in case of a tragedy where they only have the second gen and after surviving) they can find the reason for their being there (here's a great question, why are they here?)

 

And so far that's about all I've got, granted I've really only started today.

 

I don't want FTL or Phaser/Lazer weapons, all slug throwers and inner system craft, but I want it to be fairly well populated as a system goes, I could even go for another star within a LY or something (maybe a double double with a large station at the Lagrange point between the 4 stars) to separate the independents from the "core".

 

Okay, I'll log off for now and see what's up.

Woof.

[csyphrett]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

Firefly was based off a book about the end of the Civil War in America. Bebop always struck me more of a detective/noir novel

 

Choice of antagonists should depend on what the players come up with.

 

I don't see why that's a problem since both Spike and Jet had prosthetics and one of the their enemies was a six million dollar man.

 

Mal and Jet both owned their ships with the sidekicks/crew using personal craft. That should be up to the players.

 

Depending on what the crew build, that should make things easier to design as far as setting goes. I wouldn't worry too much about building a star system until you know who is playing what.

CES

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

Q1: Certainly. SF freely borrows from other genres, and always has. The Wild West thing has been done in various forms and various ways quite a few times (refer the movie 'Moon Zero Two' for just one example of 'SF Meets Wild West').

 

Q2: KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). My suggestion is to keep your options open to start with, and then start shifting things based on the PCs you get plus their subsequent actions and preferences.

So, have a big corporation or two around with shadowy goals and representatives using "questionable" methods.

Have an obnoxiously snobby and scheming "royal" family on one of the wealthier worlds - possibly with some corporate interests.

Have a few would-be revolutionary types plotting against one or both of the above, some of which may well have "special" agendas of their own.

Then as things progress, you phase out or de-emphasize those things the PCs are not interested in or that don't seem to work; and build up the rest.

 

Q3: Keep cyberware rare and expensive, if just to prevent certain PCs from seriously cybering up right from word Go. There is always at least one potential Cyberpsycho in every group, trust me on this. Certain kinds of cyberware can be acquired on the more "civilized" worlds, but the "good" stuff ain't cheap or easy to get, and there may well be legal considerations as well.

Plus, the higher-grade government and/or corporate agents are rumoured to have "custom" hardware, which makes them a tad scary by normal standards.

 

Q4: One main ship, and one or two lesser craft. Plus possibly one or two much smaller specialized surface vehicles. Like with Firefly, in short. Gives the PCs some flexibility in how they get around, but not all-encompassing. Note that this aspect also gives you your best shot at siphoning off any excessive loot/wealth the PCs acquire - as they repair/replace their combat losses, or try to "improve" what they still have.

 

Q5: No worries. Plenty of people around to answer any questions you have.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

This HERO sourcebook for gaming in the Cowboy Beebop universe (including several character write-ups at the bottom of the page) may help you: http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptationsanime/bebop/cbseeyou.html

 

You might also like to view character sheets for several Firefly series regulars: http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptationsmovie/moviechar.html#firefly

[tkdguy]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

I used Bebop, Firefly, and the new BSG as the sources for my campaign. Feel free to use whatever you like from it. It will eventually become a military campaign, but I think I've put in enough stuff that you can exclude the military aspect.

 

Also, check out this thread for adventure ideas if you need it.

 

And check out the link Edsel provided in the DC forum.

[Wolf]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

I used Bebop' date=' Firefly, and the new BSG as the sources for my campaign. Feel free to use whatever you like from it. It will eventually become a military campaign, but I think I've put in enough stuff that you can exclude the military aspect.

 

Also, check out this thread for adventure ideas if you need it.

 

And check out the link Edsel provided in the DC forum.

 

Must spread rep... yaddada yaddada.... Thanks though.

[tkdguy]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

My pleasure.

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

I don't want FTL or Phaser/Lazer weapons' date=' all slug throwers and inner system craft, but I want it to be fairly well populated as a system goes, I could even go for another star within a LY or something (maybe a double double with a large station at the Lagrange point between the 4 stars) to separate the independents from the "core".[/quote']

 

Thinking on the star system thing, having 2+ binary (double) or tertiary (triple) systems in relatively close proximiaty should not be too unlikely. Don't think there is anything like that in our 'Local Group' but, further away, who knows?

 

For that matter, you could even have the campaign set in a globular cluster - a number of stars that are (comparitively) close together, kind of a galaxy in miniature. Gives you maybe several star systems close enough together for immediate use, plus the possibility of expansion to others as necessary.

 

I have always thought that, for the sheer number of hospitable or terraformable worlds / moons in 'Firefly', they had to be in a cluster, not just a multiple star system.

[DusterBoy]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

Wolf, you might want to check out an old BBC sci-fi sceries called "Blake's 7". It's not a Western, but it has the same general theme as "Firefly": ie: a group of (quasi-)outlaws rebelling against a repressive Federation. Blake, the original leader was a revolutionary, but the others were criminals, including a thief, a smuggler and a murderer. Warning: it looks seriously dated and low-budget compared to Firefly, almost laughably so. It was pitched to the BBC as the "Dirty Dozen in Space" byTerry Nation, the same bloke who who created the Daleks and was a scriptwriter for Doctor Who.

 

I was a big fan when I was younger.

 

I hope this will be of use.

[Wolf]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

I like the Globular Cluster, I mean, if we presume that we find a near enough one that will support at least one terraformable planet (quickly modified anyway) that would support a star for a voyage. And provide endless moons planets and other things within a LY or so, so as to not outdo the "speed" I'm looking for, but keep things at home.

 

I'm still absorbing TKd Guy's stuff, so It'll take a bit to get into how much of that I'll steal .

 

I'm also working on the original group of people to arrive are volunteers, where as the second gen is a bio-batch of "test-tube-babies" who have a sort of "history of human life" recorded into their DNA or at least supported by their genetic... marks.

 

How this would work I really don't have any idea, but the thought would be that if anything happened to the original settlers the decedents of the test tubers would be able to (once they achieved a level of science) find out why there is no "evolutionary" history of their people within that worlds history.

 

Now I have no intention of having history having gone this way, so it's really just for story. But I may have it that at the "core" there my be less opportunity for descendants of the tubers. I mean if your busy trying to terraform a planet the last thing you need at about a year or so in is a few hundred babies that have to be cared for. So there is some animosity that has come down, but again mostly seen in the core.

 

That's all I've got for now.

[Wolf]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

Wolf, you might want to check out an old BBC sci-fi sceries called "Blake's 7". It's not a Western, but it has the same general theme as "Firefly": ie: a group of (quasi-)outlaws rebelling against a repressive Federation. Blake, the original leader was a revolutionary, but the others were criminals, including a thief, a smuggler and a murderer. Warning: it looks seriously dated and low-budget compared to Firefly, almost laughably so. It was pitched to the BBC as the "Dirty Dozen in Space" byTerry Nation, the same bloke who who created the Daleks and was a scriptwriter for Doctor Who.

 

I was a big fan when I was younger.

 

I hope this will be of use.

 

I'll have to find this. This is something of what I was looking for, more fuel for the fire as far as fiction that I can absorb to prep me/ that I can plunder for ideas. Thank you very much.

[Wolf]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

Reading this I'm interested but unsure about a globular cluster... then again I think that it would be pretty cool.

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

Reading this I'm interested but unsure about a globular cluster... then again I think that it would be pretty cool.

 

Yeah, the interior of a GC seems like a pretty exciting place. But living on the fringes would probably be less so.

[Wolf]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

Yeah' date=' the interior of a GC seems like a pretty exciting place. But living on the fringes would probably be less so.[/quote']

 

That would be the ONLY way to make that work... what I like about it is it's all so close... The article even says we have found an exo-planet on the fringes one of the clusters, so it's possible. I'm just trying to find reason to send a colony out there...

 

Maybe it's because they found more exo-planets, and an earth type with lots of H2O.

[Mirgos]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

If you can get a copy you may find Guardians of Order's Centauri Knights - I like the description of the first system to be colonised & gives an excellent feeling of life on the frontier

[csyphrett]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

Is colonization that important? Does it matter to whatever adventure you are setting up, or is it backstory?

CES

[CTaylor]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

If I ever run another Star Hero game, I'd use the Cowboy Beebop world. Sci Fi but still pretty limited tech, and a great setting.

[Clonus]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

If you aren't going to have interstellar travel, you might as well stick to a single planet. Planets are big. Honestly they are.

[tkdguy]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

The hard sci-fi campaigns thread has several earthbound adventure ideas. It also has a few with spaceflight, although it's limited to the solar system.

[Wolf]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

Is colonization that important? Does it matter to whatever adventure you are setting up, or is it backstory?

CES

 

Backstory.

[Wolf]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

If you aren't going to have interstellar travel' date=' you might as well stick to a single planet. Planets are big. Honestly they are.[/quote']

 

I know, and honestly it could be a continent, planet, star system, or galaxy it's really SFX for what you want where. Mos Eisly could be in Africa, Corrisaunt could be in England, Hoth could have been the north pole or Alaska, and Degoba could be just outside of New Orleans... but then you really wouldn't have the scale or feel that Star Wars had.

 

Just like a 1d6 HKA could be a knife or a sharp wedge of glass, it's the smoke and mirrors that make the difference.

[Wolf]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

The hard sci-fi campaigns thread has several earthbound adventure ideas. It also has a few with spaceflight' date=' although it's limited to the solar system.[/quote']

 

I'm also planning on having the hulls of spacecraft not built to be able to handle gun fire, so shipboard combat is H2H, Martial Arts, knives, swords, etc.

 

I like the idea.

[csyphrett]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

If the moving to the setting is not important to the current adventure/campaign, just handwave it like Firefly and Bebop. Humanity has settled in this system of planets after a slow expansion from the core.

 

Ships in Firefly would still have to be fast even to cover planetary distances, and bebop used gates that accellerated a ship like a railgun.

 

Boarding with hand to hand is common sense thing to do, but I think most ships that could handle space dust would be able to stop a bullet in the hull with exception of internal mechanisms.

CES

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

I'm also planning on having the hulls of spacecraft not built to be able to handle gun fire, so shipboard combat is H2H, Martial Arts, knives, swords, etc.

 

I like the idea.

 

What, is armor-plating a "lost" technology?

 

Just be ready for when the PCs realize that they can use high-powered rifles to take out the other guys just before they can board.. And vice versa.

[Kristopher]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

Hulls that are proof enough against micrometeors to be safe for tens of thousands of relatively untrained people to be zipping around the solar system are going to be fairly proof against small arms fire.