Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

[Clonus]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

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.

 

That's quite right. You wouldn't have the scale that Star Wars had. The thing about setting everything in a single solar system colonised from the outside is that you don't really have a significant increase in scale. It's not far enough to have any problems communicating or tracking all the ships. You don't have any isolated ecosystems full of exotic life, and no more social isolation to produce different cultures than you'd have on a single planet.

[Wolf]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

This is high tech. I've been thinking of that issue a great deal.

 

I can use a single straw to hold up a small book, but placed on it's side the straw collapses under the books weight, who knows what we'll have to give away to gain armor in the future. To those a couple of hundred years ago, that might look like magic, especially when you see how thin the walls of a straw are.

 

When I was in Kosovo with the Army, we were driving HMMWV's . We had these awesome bulletproof windows, they could stop a fifty call as I recall, but if you put your finger on it, you would leave a deep indentation. It had the consistency only a fraction harder than that of a cold bowl of Jello. I could have taken a knife and cut any portion of it out without much effort at all.

 

My point is that as we advance in tech, things change, some things get WAY more specialized, while giving up all other properties that they have... and to defend a craft against VERY fast moving space debris and ship to ship weaponry we may find that we have to give up the ability to maintain structural integrity when a firearm is used inside said ship.

 

Looking at the Firefly and Cowboy Bebop as Canonical, the players are going to be using civilian crafts to get around (even Spike's nifty little runner is the equivalent of a race car, and a classic one (read as OLD) at that, The Bebop itself is a seagoing vessel that Jet converted into a space worthy craft.). From a designers perspective, if you are going to get better defense against space debris, why would you even need to be protecting the inside of a civilian vessel from weapon fire. I may change that for military vessels, but I like the effect that it pushes, and that's mainly a reason to "not always go to your gun".

 

I was going to go that route or the route of weak metals in the 'verse and external shielding, but that has it's own problems, such as if our hacker drops their shields, then you get one shot kills.

[Wolf]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

That's quite right. You wouldn't have the scale that Star Wars had. The thing about setting everything in a single solar system colonised from the outside is that you don't really have a significant increase in scale. It's not far enough to have any problems communicating or tracking all the ships. You don't have any isolated ecosystems full of exotic life' date=' and no more social isolation to produce different cultures than you'd have on a single planet.[/quote']

 

And yet Firefly was a terrific series.

[Clonus]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

And yet Firefly was a terrific series.

 

Uh-hunh. But not for its world-building. It was only after it was cancelled that we found out that it was set in a solar system with stationary planets and no cube square law. Until then I thought it did have FTL rather than just being a place where no physical laws existed.

[Kristopher]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

This is high tech. I've been thinking of that issue a great deal.

 

I can use a single straw to hold up a small book, but placed on it's side the straw collapses under the books weight, who knows what we'll have to give away to gain armor in the future. To those a couple of hundred years ago, that might look like magic, especially when you see how thin the walls of a straw are.

 

When I was in Kosovo with the Army, we were driving HMMWV's . We had these awesome bulletproof windows, they could stop a fifty call as I recall, but if you put your finger on it, you would leave a deep indentation. It had the consistency only a fraction harder than that of a cold bowl of Jello. I could have taken a knife and cut any portion of it out without much effort at all.

 

My point is that as we advance in tech, things change, some things get WAY more specialized, while giving up all other properties that they have... and to defend a craft against VERY fast moving space debris and ship to ship weaponry we may find that we have to give up the ability to maintain structural integrity when a firearm is used inside said ship.

 

Looking at the Firefly and Cowboy Bebop as Canonical, the players are going to be using civilian crafts to get around (even Spike's nifty little runner is the equivalent of a race car, and a classic one (read as OLD) at that, The Bebop itself is a seagoing vessel that Jet converted into a space worthy craft.). From a designers perspective, if you are going to get better defense against space debris, why would you even need to be protecting the inside of a civilian vessel from weapon fire. I may change that for military vessels, but I like the effect that it pushes, and that's mainly a reason to "not always go to your gun".

 

I was going to go that route or the route of weak metals in the 'verse and external shielding, but that has it's own problems, such as if our hacker drops their shields, then you get one shot kills.

 

What's the difference between a bullet and a micrometeor?

 

You have plenty of reasons to not fire off small arms in boarding actions without having hulls that can't withstand small arms fire. Namely, all the stuff inside the ship that can't be made bulletproof in a pratical matter, hearing damage, etc.

[Wolf]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

What's the difference between a bullet and a micrometeor?

 

Though it may seem like a small distinction;), direction of travel. It's why I included the comment about the straw.

 

You have plenty of reasons to not fire off small arms in boarding actions without having hulls that can't withstand small arms fire. Namely' date=' all the stuff inside the ship that can't be made bulletproof in a pratical matter, hearing damage, etc.[/quote']

 

You are right about this, I just like the flavor when it comes down to it. And who's to say that that assessment doesn't include interior systems (though granted, I said (much less thought) nothing of it). I'm not saying that one 9mm round with blow a ship up, but it will make it uncomfortable for those in the vicinity.

[Kristopher]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

Though it may seem like a small distinction;), direction of travel. It's why I included the comment about the straw.

 

 

 

You are right about this, I just like the flavor when it comes down to it. And who's to say that that assessment doesn't include interior systems (though granted, I said (much less thought) nothing of it). I'm not saying that one 9mm round with blow a ship up, but it will make it uncomfortable for those in the vicinity.

 

A hole the size of a 9mm round isn't going to decompress the ship in much of a hurry, IIRC.

[Wolf]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

A hole the size of a 9mm round isn't going to decompress the ship in much of a hurry' date=' IIRC.[/quote']

 

That's kinda what I'm saying.

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

When it comes to PC-preferred weapon calibres, 9mm is W-A-Y down the bottom end of the scale.

Consider the impact (no pun intended) of the way-over-the-top stuff - an Elephant Gun will probably create a lot more than a finger-sized hole.

[Steve]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

Thinking about the multiple star sytem idea, they've spotted star systems with up to six stars in near proximity (ie Castor). That would allow quite a bit of real estate for colonization if one or two of them were hot enough to support life.

 

The interaction of multiple stars could also produce tidal stress zones like shoals in space that could lead to some dramatic scenes. Navigation could be quite interesting, and a good navigator would be worth his weight in gold.

 

I didn't see any mention of alien races in the OP. Is it a human-only system?

[tkdguy]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

One idea I've toyed with is having alien life evolve, but not as much as Earth life has. There wouldn't be any alien civilizations, but there would be alien plants and animals. That could come in handy if you decide to set the campaign away from our solar system.

 

Even if you decide to keep it in our solar system, scientists are looking for life on Mars, Europa, and Enceladus. I decided not to use that in my campaign, but only because I wanted to concentrate on human colonization and had a lot of details to develop.

[Wolf]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

Thinking about the multiple star sytem idea, they've spotted star systems with up to six stars in near proximity (ie Castor). That would allow quite a bit of real estate for colonization if one or two of them were hot enough to support life.

 

The interaction of multiple stars could also produce tidal stress zones like shoals in space that could lead to some dramatic scenes. Navigation could be quite interesting, and a good navigator would be worth his weight in gold.

 

I didn't see any mention of alien races in the OP. Is it a human-only system?

 

Yes, I only want human life. Though I've toyed with Mutations... Like a Human Whale hybrid. Work in High pressure, underwater environments, without making them unable to come aboard a local station.

[Wolf]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

One idea I've toyed with is having alien life evolve, but not as much as Earth life has. There wouldn't be any alien civilizations, but there would be alien plants and animals. That could come in handy if you decide to set the campaign away from our solar system.

 

Even if you decide to keep it in our solar system, scientists are looking for life on Mars, Europa, and Enceladus. I decided not to use that in my campaign, but only because I wanted to concentrate on human colonization and had a lot of details to develop.

 

I'm fairly certain by now that I'm keeping it an foreign system. Thanks for the thoughts.... I don't know why I decided to quote you to say that, but I think I'm just tired.

 

As a side note, I may use as part of "the uprising" (as in CB and FF/S), something like altered life (see previous post) and something like the Neo-sapien idea from Exo-squad. I loved that show... I can't find episodes anymore, but you want some good sol based story, that's a good'n.

 

Episodes here

[Tasha]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

When it comes to PC-preferred weapon calibres, 9mm is W-A-Y down the bottom end of the scale.

Consider the impact (no pun intended) of the way-over-the-top stuff - an Elephant Gun will probably create a lot more than a finger-sized hole.

 

One itty bitty issue with making the Ships susceptible to small arms fire, that being Micrometeorite hits on the hull. Esp if the ships in your 'Verse hit the insane speeds that the ones in Firefly did. You either need good armor or deflector shields to move those particles out of your way.

 

Small holes in the ship will not cause explosive decompression like we see in hollywood. (See the Mythbusters episode where they pressurized a 747 and shot a hole though a window with a Pistol).

 

BTW in Bebop the starship Highway system was a FTL Gate system. It translated the ships into this other space, when the ships reached their Destination the gate there brought the ship back into our space. Kind of Like the Babylon 5 Hyperspace gates, but somewhat cooler.

 

Building a SciFi game I have been wrestling with the question of FTL and how fast do I want to make travel. As I see it I can make either make Travel Equal to:

 

Air Travel (Fast trips every where can be reached in less than a Day). This is like Star Wars, where most planets in the universe can be reached quickly. Starships have a lounge but no sleeping spaces.

 

Ground Travel (Takes a day or two to get most anywhere, lots of stop overs possible) Ships have small sleeping areas, but aren't made for extended stays in space. Firefly feels like this.(though it could be argued that Firefly is on the slower end of this)

 

Water Travel (Slow trips take weeks to get anywhere) Ships have good facilites for staying aboard for extended Periods of time. Traveller is a good representive of this kind of FTL.

 

Once you decide feel then you can make starships that fit that feel. Hell you could even start with a Starship design and extrapolate what kind of hyperdrive it has from it's facilities. Of course some people will make ships that don't fit the exact mold of the Hyperdrive. ie I have seen many fan created StarWars Deck plans with sleeping areas, even though most other ships don't have them.

 

Jen

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

Small holes in the ship will not cause explosive decompression like we see in hollywood. (See the Mythbusters episode where they pressurized a 747 and shot a hole though a window with a Pistol).

 

It was a DC9, actually. And, in the case of an aircraft, it ain't just about the hole and internal pressure, one also needs to consider the blast of air one gets on the outside, from the plane travelling along at 500-600 mph. That airblast is going to start tearing bits away and rapidly enlarging the hole, possibly to the point where the aircraft's structural integrity eventually becomes an issue.

 

This is something the Mythbusters concurred with on their forum, when a good friend of mine raised this point. Irrelevant when talking about a ship decompressing in the vacuum of space, of course, but worth keeping in mind for other environments (such as during reentry).

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

One note about the Bebopverse is that almost all of the action took place on planets in the solar system other than Earth, as well as moons of Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune, that had been terraformed to varying degrees. That implies that at least someone has access to very, very high technology. (There are many anime series in which terraforming has taken place where it seems the technology or time wouldn't be sufficient for it logically -- see Armitage III for an example).

 

Still, it wasn't the setting that made Cowboy Bebop cool, but the characters and the way they interacted. Spike and Faye had a very interesting dynamic, Ed was -- well, Ed, and Vicious was one of the classic villains in all anime. When designing your campaign, the main thing is to give your playerrs interesting things to do and hooks into the setting; just as it always is in campaign design. The most intricate world design is of little gaming use if you can't use it to tell great stories and give your players great things to do.

[Shaft]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

Here's an ambitious timeline I wrote up for a mixed Firefly/Blade Runner/Total Recall/Minority Report/BattleStar Galactica/Neuromancer/Robocop/Terminator/Aliens/Predator campaign:

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1224980#post1224980

 

I hope it gives you some ideas. Dates don't match the ones in the original source material.

 

 

1987

-Major "Dutch" Schaeffer encounters an extraterrestrial Hunter that uses cloaking technology and kills off his Special Forces unit in South America before self-destructing. He is debriefed by an X-Com unit.

 

1997

-A vice cop unit encounters a Predator in LA during a gang war. An X-Com unit is tracking it.

China begins building moonbases as economic depression hits the West.

NASA is privatized and sold off to the Weyland corporation to pay for government debts.

Police services in several cities are privatized.

Omni-Consumer Products field tests the ED-209 robot to control the rioting that occurs daily in many cities.

 

2004

-A nuclear explosion destroys the remnants of an Antarctic hunting maze designed by the Predators.

 

2013

-OCP field tests a cyborg "Robocop". Cyberdyne begins working on SKYNET defense network.

 

2014

-The Tessier-Ashpool corporation begins work on the Jules Verne L-5 station.

Weyland merges with Yutani corporation. Recession ends as opportunities begin opening up in space.

Massive population shift from third world countries to geosynchronous stations begins as space development corporations offer employment opportunities: the hardships of life in space are easy to cope with compared to the poverty in poor nations. Relatively few First worlders go, as they are less willing to give up the comfort they are accustomed to.

 

2020

-Tyrell corporation develops the first replicants (the Nexus-1).

 

2022

-The first true Artificial Intelligences are developed. Turing agency is established to ensure that controls are kept on them to prevent them from acheiving too much autonomy.

 

2025

-Martian miners start suffering from high rates of cancer. Many of their children are born with mutations.

 

2027

-Weyland-Yutani begins building a colony on Mars, as does China.

 

2028

-Faster-than-light travel is developped, but crews are required to spend months in hypersleep.

 

2029

-3rd generation replicants begin rebelling. Their use is restricted to working to develop off world colonies. "Blade Runner" units are formed to police the androids.

 

2032

-Skynet becomes operational. Cyberdyne downplays its effectiveness when reporting its capabilities to Turing.

 

2035

-The Nostromo disappears after responding to what appears to be a distress beacon of unearthly origin.

 

2037

-Mutant children of miners begin displaying psychic powers. They are restricted from leaving Mars out of fear that they will be able to steal secrets and read minds. Blade Runners expand their roles to hunting down rogue telepaths.

 

2041

-Four replicants are able to make it to Earth. A Blade Runner takes them down, but not before they kill off the president of Tyrell corporation.

 

2043

-Skynet instigates a war across Asia, unleashing Terminator robots on an unsuspecting populace. Cyberdyne sends in Screaming Fist operatives through Finland airspace to take on the Skynet AI that has taken over the Russian defense grid. Cyberspace Technolgy as we know it is field tested for the first time.

 

2047

China emerges from the Asian Land War as the clear victor and establishes itself as a globally dominant economic superpower.

 

2048

-Martian population begins insurgency as it seeks freedom from the Terran corporations that control it.

 

2050

-As Martian insurgency worsens, construction begins on L-5 colonies around Jupiter.

 

2057

-Wintermute AI merges with Neuromancer AI, acheiving unprecendented levels of sentience. Newly formed AI claims to sense another presence on a scale equal to it at Alpha-Centauri. The presence is Skynet, who survived by transfering itself to a hidden FTL ship that it sent off. Skynet awaits in orbit of Alpha Centauri, determined to follow its original programming.

 

2058

-Douglas Quaid finds an ancient Predator device under the surface of Mars and activates it, Terraforming the planet to Earthlike conditions within days.

 

2060

-Cylon robots are developed from the Terminator droids and are used to continue the expansion into space. Improved control methods are implemented on replicants to make them comply with Asimov's laws of robotics.

 

2061

-The Blue Sun corporation tests a trio of Martian telepaths as the core of a "future crimes" unit for its police contract in Washington DC. Though initially hailed as a huge success, the experiment is later deemed to be a failure.

 

2062

-Vast advances are made with starship travel and FTL technology, reducing the travel time between worlds to days instead of months. The BattleStar class starship becomes the most visible symbol of the Terran defense fleet.

 

2078

-Neuromancer/Wintermute and Skynet infiltrate the Cylon network and subvert them. However, most replicants appear to be resistant to Cylon control. A war breaks out that lasts 10 years, during which the Blade Runner change their focus again to Cylons. Psychics gain acceptance among humanity for their role in taking on the Cylons.

 

2088

-An armistice is agreed on. Cyberspace advances are discarded in favour of standalone systems that are isolated and more protected from Cylon hacking. The Cylons retreat to deep space where they no doubt have isolated encounters with Xenomorphs & Predators.

 

2089

-The Cylons develop the technology to transfer their consciousness to organic bodies. They begin a long term plan for a pre-emptive strike against humanity, and plan to persuade as many replicants as they can to their banner.

 

2095

-A pacification experiment goes wrong on the planet Miranda. The planet is quarantined.

-Reavers begin appearing in the outer fringe of space.

 

2098

-Unification War rages for 3.5 years after the Outer Rim Colonies declare independence & The Alliance of Worlds disagrees.

 

2102

-The battle of Serenity. The Secessionist Browncoats are defeated by the Alliance.

 

2103

-The Blue Sun Corporation isolates the gene that triggers psychic abilities. They begin extending invitations out to talented children who they believe have psychic potential.

 

2109

-The USS Sulaco is sent to investigate the loss of contact with LV-426.

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

Here's an ambitious timeline I wrote up for a mixed Firefly/Blade Runner/Total Recall/Minority Report/BattleStar Galactica/Neuromancer/Robocop/Terminator/Aliens/Predator campaign:

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1224980#post1224980

 

I hope it gives you some ideas. Dates don't match the ones in the original source material.

 

Interesting timeline. Hard to imagine what else could have been squeezed in (Zefrem Cochrane and First Contact, maybe? Naaahhh!).

 

The thing that keeps popping into my mind is a new version of an old joke - Are there many Cylons out there in space? Nah, the Xenomorphs ate them all.

[Tasha]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

Interesting timeline. Hard to imagine what else could have been squeezed in (Zefrem Cochrane and First Contact, maybe? Naaahhh!).

 

The thing that keeps popping into my mind is a new version of an old joke - Are there many Cylons out there in space? Nah, the Xenomorphs ate them all.

 

The funny thing is that the Xenomorphs didn't give a damn about the Cylons till they took nice implantable human bodys...

 

Tasha

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

The funny thing is that the Xenomorphs didn't give a damn about the Cylons till they took nice implantable human bodys...

 

To quote that great philosopher, Snake Plissken - "Welcome to the human race...".

 

Hmmm. Any way to shoehorn 'Escape From New York / LA' into the mix? Maybe not. Pity, I always liked ol' Snake.

[Guest Celt]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

Uh-hunh. But not for its world-building. It was only after it was cancelled that we found out that it was set in a solar system with stationary planets and no cube square law. Until then I thought it did have FTL rather than just being a place where no physical laws existed.

 

The single solar system presentation annoyed me in that it appeared somehow the Alliance had forgotten how to use radar to track items in space. Really, the opening space salvage scene should have concluded with...

 

INT. DORTMUNDER BRIDGE - CONTINUING

 

The captain and ensign are near the screen. The captain's face goes cold with disgust.

 

MAN It's a transport ship. Firefly class.

 

ENSIGN They still make those?

 

CAPTAIN Illegal salvage. Lowlife vultures picking the flesh off the dead.

 

ENSIGN Should we deploy gunships, bring her in?

 

MAN Captain, I am picking up a distress signal thirteen clicks ahead... From a... it sounds like a personnel carrier...

 

EXT. SPACE - CONTINUING

 

The crybaby beeps.

 

INT. DORTMUNDER BRIDGE - CONTINUING

 

MAN There's nothing on the radar other than this pinpoint signal, Captain.

 

CAPTAIN (considering) Gunships'd never get back to us in time... Nothing is indicated on radar but still, we better check it out. (to the ensign) Mark that Firefly as contact object #437-zed-niner-238. Put a bulletin out on the Cortex, and flag Interpol: a Firefly with possibly stolen goods aboard. We can always pick them up later.

 

I'm more a fan of the globular cluster myself.

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

'Battlestar Dortmunder'. For some bizarre unknowable reason, I rather like the sound of that.

[Shaft]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

To quote that great philosopher, Snake Plissken - "Welcome to the human race...".

 

Hmmm. Any way to shoehorn 'Escape From New York / LA' into the mix? Maybe not. Pity, I always liked ol' Snake.

 

This could easily be done. I could probably toss in Judge Dredd elements as well.

[Guest Celt]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

To quote that great philosopher, Snake Plissken - "Welcome to the human race...".

 

Hmmm. Any way to shoehorn 'Escape From New York / LA' into the mix? Maybe not. Pity, I always liked ol' Snake.

 

Two words- Prison. Planet.

 

Throw in a skyhook as the only avenue to and from orbit and there ya go. I understand it can make for a very exciting action scene.

[Korren]

Re: Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly inspired game

 

I saw this thread and got a little excited so excuse me if I get wordy or repeat stuff from other posters!

 

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?

Q4: One larger ship, and personal ships?

 

I recommend that MOST of the answers to these questions be from the players preferences! Get their input on which they'd prefer. Same with the colonist/clone concept. (Just give them generalities.) Do they want to play the cops that are chasing the bad guys? Or, do they want to play the rebels trying to take down the evil Corporation? Do they want one ship or several?

 

We played an interesting game, once, where some of us were on a spacecraft that returned to Earth several hundred years after it was supposed to and the remaining Earthers had developed psychic powers. Each player could choose to play a 'spaceman' (new to the psychic powers, but skills from being a scientist) or a 'native' (grew up with psychic powers, but skills based on farming and scrounging only). It made an interesting choice.

 

I would suggest starting them out on a single planet, maybe not even knowing that there ARE other worlds out there, have an adventure or two on that world, then they discover the larger 'verse & where they need to go to fulfill their personal goals. (similar to World of Warcraft questing systems... lead them by the nose but let them think they're making their own decisions!)

 

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

 

Don't forget to make any cyberware they get illegally or cheaply to be clunky and malfunctioning! Humour and plot-points! Maybe offer them a series of Limitations based on who built their cyberware. (Lim: Stark-ware (-1/4); Lim: Corp-ware (-1); the Stark stuff works more frequently than the Corp stuff, but they don't have to know that when they buy it! Maybe even the 'Corp Cops' can remotely control their brand of cyberware, when you try to break into their HQ!) Stuff they find, in game (defeating bad guys) and try to put onto their own bodies is even better! YOU get to decide who built the stuff and what 'quirks' it has! ("Why do you keep hitting yourself?")

 

(here's a great question, why are they here?)

 

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".

 

Perhaps going from one 'quadrant' to another is more hazardous than just travelling within the quadrant, to keep their movements more restriced ('leading by the nose' also means 'keeping them contained') The Slingshot around the Sun method of getting from one quadrant to another sounds like a possible plot-device for that. Slightly dangerous, but do-able.

 

Why they're there: There's something the Mega-Corp WANTS or NEEDS and the colonists are the long term method of getting it... Maybe the clones are programmed like the Cylons: Do (this) when you encounter (that) so that you can bring us the (goal). Ancient tech? Magic? Mutation or Alien DNA for gene-splicing?

 

As for weapons, don't forget tazers, bio/chemical agents & such. Also, leave open the possibilies of more sci-fi stuff that are rumoured to exist, microwave lasers & brain-wave scramblers. Keep them as rare and big-bad-guy controlled items that the PC's HOPE to get their hands on, someday! They always seem to be broken after the combat is over!

 

Thoughts:

Blakes 7 is excellent! (think Dr. Who does Star Wars!) Servalan is a great villainess. (They don't use the apostrophe in "Blakes", I'm not sure why. It might be easier to find without it.)

Also, check out "Earth 2" an American TV show from the late 90's, I think. The colonists were not expected to survive the trip (due to corporate 'planning') and the world they arrived on had been used as a 'prison planet' for years before. Tim Curry does an excellent portrayal of a prisoner who cons the colonists into thinking he's a good guy.

The Chronicles of Pern (Novels by Anne McCaffrey) has an interesting origin where the colonists forget even THAT they were colonists & later, find computers that tell them about spaceships and such.

Another Amercian TV show that only got 1 season "Earth: Above and Beyond". Mostly character driven plots, very little sci-fi. They travelled by predicting where wormholes would open and where they'd lead (which made the two "they're lost!" episodes kinda stupid!). Also, the clones (called Nipple Necks, 'cuz that's where their navel was!) were looked down upon. More food for thought. (Social Lim?) Basically, Marines in Space.

Another interesting source for info, though it sounds like you're not interested in completely copying this, would be the RingWorld series by Larry Niven (I think!). Humanity finds this incredible structure built by long-dead ancients that is a huge ring shape, 90 million miles radius around a sun. People can live on the inner surface & they sometimes find 'ancient technology' (see also StarGate). Also, the Dysun Sphere concept (not a ring but a sphere with a star in the middle and artificial gravity) might give you some good plot points.

 

 

You've gotta have a 'volcano planet' that has a few cities (mining?) but plenty of unwatched areas for the PC's to land & repair in secret. Then they have to dodge the lava flows and 'geisers of flame' that often pop up! And a asteroid belt... don't forget one of those! Very important detail!

 

That would be the ONLY way to make 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.

 

Or, maybe they've developed Light Speed travel but not FASTER than LS, so travel within the cluster is possible without cryofreezing, but travel TO the system requires the deep-freeze. They send enough materials to make the small LS ships when they get there, but not enough to get BACK.... Maybe it's just a social experiment... the geeks back home wanted to find out if it WOULD happen like in all the movies & books they've read!

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clonus

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

 

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.

 

Here's a thought.... the 'spaceship' they find has programs for getting to other 'spaceports' around the 'verse and takes them there, but is really just flying to different areas of the same planet and they don't know it! That could lead to some interesting plot! Explains why the gravity and atmospere is always the same!

 

As for guns damaging the hulls of the spacecraft, you could techno-babble that with either "certain parts of the hull have delicate hardware needed for space-travel" or "the force fields that protect it from space dust only work in zero-G or no atmosphere" or even "most guns fire rounds made from something very much like lead, but it damages hulls". If I found a cheap bullet that could take down a spaceship, I'd load my gun with that! Perhaps a gun, if fired while the ship is in space, could make a decent enough hole in the ship that, once the force field drops when starting re-entry into atmospere that it will destroy the ship. Could make an interesting episode where they have to find the parts to fix the hull before they can go to a planet... space stations?

 

All my thoughts, for now. Sorry to be so wordy! Hope it helps!

 

Good luck,

Korren