Duke Saturn & The Astro Commandos (6e)

[The Main Man]

This is a campaign set in the early days of the Terran Empire, when things were still about bold expansion and not about stagnation and rebellion - think Old Republic Star Wars, OS Star Trek, Pulp Sci-Fi (Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, Lensmen, etc), etc put into a blender.

 

The PC's are Astro Commandos - the best that the Terran Empire and its allies can muster, rallied together by the legendary hero Duke Saturn to adventure throughout the galaxy, exploring new worlds while protecting the old ones.

 

Each Astro Commando has been given a Ring of Saturn by the man himself, an ultra-technological device that aids them in their adventures (think a minor Lens/Green Lantern ring) as well as allowing them to use Astro Commando equipment.

 

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Characteristic Maxima

 

Characters have 225 CP with 50 Complications Points.

 

I use a modified CHAR Maxima to reflect the higher than Standard point totals as well as to influence the power level.

 

STR, DEX, CON, INT, EGO, PRE, and BODY are capped at 25.

 

OCV, DCV, OMCV, DMCV, PD, ED, and REC are capped at 10.

 

SPD is capped at 5.

 

END and STUN are capped at 60.

 

Running is capped at 24m.

 

Swimming and Leaping are capped at 12m.

 

 

These caps can be adjusted by Racial and Environmental Templates, but not by Professional, Cultural, or other kinds of Templates.

 

Example: A female Ackalian gets +5 STR, so their STR limit is 30 instead of 25.

 

 

Furthermore, these caps are what I call "hard"; A player may not surpass them at all, but they are not charged extra points to get to the maximum.

 

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Other Rules

 

Besides that, the campaign uses Knockdown and "Placed Shot" Hit Locations.

 

I'm using Placed Shot Hit Locations to simulate how damage is indiscriminate in pulp fiction unless directly described - a punch is a punch until it's a punch to the chest that knocks the wind out the opponent.

 

Otherwise, damage is generic, and to further simulate it's intended pulpy nature I will not be using the Impairment or Disabling rules, but a hacked limb will still be a hacked limb.

 

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Questions, Comments, Suggestions?

 

Have at it, HEROphiles!

[Nyrath]

Re: Duke Saturn & The Astro Commandos (6e)

 

I'm curious as to what powers populate the slots in the Saturn ring. One of the important powers of the Lensman's lens was "universal translator."

[RexMundi]

Re: Duke Saturn & The Astro Commandos (6e)

 

Lensman *Digs them all out of the box*. Hard to beat those books, they just started a re-release as well. I'd be interested in the Saturn Ring myself, since it's a heroic style game, curious to see what you stuck in it.

 

~Rex

[Nyrath]

Re: Duke Saturn & The Astro Commandos (6e)

 

Lensman *Digs them all out of the box*. Hard to beat those books' date=' they just started a re-release as well.[/quote']

It is startling to realize that many SF gizmos we take for granted were invented by Doc Smith in the Lensman and Skylark books. Things like tractor beams, virtual reality, force fields, that sort of thing.

 

Of course while reading these you have to make allowances for for the fact that some of the books were written in the 1930's and are written in what we now consider stilted writing.

[RexMundi]

Re: Duke Saturn & The Astro Commandos (6e)

 

Doc invented TONS of stuff in those books, All before really functional Vacuum Tubes even heh.....and we don't say Stilted. We say, Pulp or Space Opera. Actually if you look at Ideas he presented before they were ever used, AWACS, C3 principals, Stealth Technology Craft, and the fact his single largest fan base, were all Scientists and Engineers, we can thank Doc for a LOT of things.

 

So, yeah, Writing of the time. But classic and Immortal.

 

~Rex

[The Main Man]

Re: Duke Saturn & The Astro Commandos (6e)

 

Yes, certainly.

 

What I love about 6e is that it allows me to specifically build the Rings of Saturn.

 

Basically, they are VPP's with small Pools but with large Control Costs.

 

What I've been thinking is something around 10-20 Point Pools with a 100 Point Control Cost.

 

This makes them very capable tools but it doesn't let the PC's treat them as the toolbox.

 

 

But wait, there's more!

 

The Rings are actually a part of the same whole - the destruction of a bearer leads to the siphoning of the ring's power to the other bearers.

 

This is simulated by increasing the Pool cost.

 

 

The Astro Commandos may do the opposite as well - they may sacrifice a portion of the Rings' power to grant it to a new bearer.

 

 

What I envision here is that if there was but one bearer the Pool and Control Costs would be equal at 100 points apiece, but the more users, the lower the Pool cost.

 

 

This ties into an important plot point that I have planned for the PC's:

Duke Saturn is basically a Marty Stu, much like Doc Savage can be if you turn off your nostalgia filters. In the first session, he will continue to basically be better than the PC's and he will get them into increasingly dangerous situations that challenge the PC's more than him.

 

But come the end of the session, he makes one wrong call and is killed right before their very eyes.

 

The idea is to let the PC's know just what their rings are capable of and then to set them free with a little more power as well as seeing just what they got in them if they want to call themselves Astro Commandos.

 

[Nyrath]

Re: Duke Saturn & The Astro Commandos (6e)

 

Excellent! Brilliant concept.

[The Main Man]

Re: Duke Saturn & The Astro Commandos (6e)

 

Come to think of it, I probably ought to pick up GURPS Lensman.

 

Can anyone point me to where I can find Lensman novels, or, if possible, reprints?

[The Main Man]

Re: Duke Saturn & The Astro Commandos (6e)

 

they just started a re-release as well.

 

~Rex

 

*sputter*

 

Rerelease?

 

I've got to look into that!

[RexMundi]

Re: Duke Saturn & The Astro Commandos (6e)

 

Yeah I just saw Galactic Patrol on the book shelf at the bookstore no more then two weeks ago, SO, you should be able to walk into any book store, and just order them. Otherwise, Amazon.com, Old Earth Books, Red Jacket Press, or books in Motion if you want the Audio books.

 

Nice set up on the rings. Useful, but not out of scale with the set up of the campaign.

 

~Rex

[Nyrath]

Re: Duke Saturn & The Astro Commandos (6e)

 

Come to think of it, I probably ought to pick up GURPS Lensman.

 

Can anyone point me to where I can find Lensman novels, or, if possible, reprints?

GURPS Lensman is worth it. The author is a Doc Smith scholar (I did give him a couple of tid-bits of data and managed to get a mention on the "acknowledgements" page). There is lots of stuff useful to a space opera campaign in general. And as an added bonus is an amusing space opera starship combat system. It is simplistic, but it is good enough for an RPG and it captures the flavor.

 

Copies of out-of-print books can be found at http://www.bookfinder.com

[The Main Man]

Re: Duke Saturn & The Astro Commandos (6e)

 

Yeah I just saw Galactic Patrol on the book shelf at the bookstore no more then two weeks ago, SO, you should be able to walk into any book store, and just order them. Otherwise, Amazon.com, Old Earth Books, Red Jacket Press, or books in Motion if you want the Audio books.

 

Nice set up on the rings. Useful, but not out of scale with the set up of the campaign.

 

~Rex

 

Thanks.

 

 

And yup, something mighty fierce would have to bring about needing to bring them all together for ultimate power, which by the way will eventually happen...

[Nyrath]

Re: Duke Saturn & The Astro Commandos (6e)

 

The only thing you have to be careful about is to ensure all the ring holders are of noble mind.

 

Otherwise you've created a "Highlander" situation, where the ring holders will start killing each other in order to increase the power of their rings.

[RexMundi]

Re: Duke Saturn & The Astro Commandos (6e)

 

I was thinking similar myself. Noble Minds .......Still...a Puppeteers Scenario could happen as well. Good possible game hook.

 

~Rex

[The Main Man]

Re: Duke Saturn & The Astro Commandos (6e)

 

Good call, in fact it may be a recruiting rule (i.e. character creation requirement )

[LordGhee]

Re: Duke Saturn & The Astro Commandos (6e)

 

One Ring to Rule them . . . . . . what not this game!

 

 

 

 

Lord Ghee

[Nyrath]

Re: Duke Saturn & The Astro Commandos (6e)

 

I vaguely remembered that one of the biggest dangers facing the Green Lantern Corps was Sinestro.

The thought occurs to me that one of the biggest dangers that could face the Astro Commandoes is one of their own number who decide to be evil.

[The Main Man]

Re: Duke Saturn & The Astro Commandos (6e)

 

I vaguely remembered that one of the biggest dangers facing the Green Lantern Corps was Sinestro.

The thought occurs to me that one of the biggest dangers that could face the Astro Commandoes is one of their own number who decide to be evil.

 

 

Shh! Quiet you!

 

 

There's going to be three "rogue" Astro Commandos.

1. One of their own gone rogue, like Sinestro yes.

2. A powerful Varanyi lord who mentally forced a former Astro Commando to give him his ring.

3. The Duke's vengeful son, feeling scorned for not getting his father's ring, forges his own destiny as Jupiter, Son of Saturn, and since he doesn't share his ring, he's got the full VPP baby!

 

[Nyrath]

Re: Duke Saturn & The Astro Commandos (6e)

 

Basically, they are VPP's with small Pools but with large Control Costs.

 

What I've been thinking is something around 10-20 Point Pools with a 100 Point Control Cost.

 

This makes them very capable tools but it doesn't let the PC's treat them as the toolbox.

That is a very nuanced construction method. Very versatile, but not too uber-powerful.

[Lucius]

Re: Duke Saturn & The Astro Commandos (6e)

 

Doc invented TONS of stuff in those books, All before really functional Vacuum Tubes even heh.....and we don't say Stilted. We say, Pulp or Space Opera. Actually if you look at Ideas he presented before they were ever used, AWACS, C3 principals, Stealth Technology Craft, and the fact his single largest fan base, were all Scientists and Engineers, we can thank Doc for a LOT of things.

 

So, yeah, Writing of the time. But classic and Immortal.

 

~Rex

 

 

Yep.

 

And the same grasp of tactics as an oyster has of mountaineering.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary says it's a good thing he was a writer then and not a military officer.

[RexMundi]

Re: Duke Saturn & The Astro Commandos (6e)

 

Lot of the tactics back then still involved Horses and auxiliary units still powered by Steam, so I'm not a "Tactics Hater" when it comes to Doc Smith. Weren't for him, a Lot of the "Tactically Correct" writers with a Military background wouldn't have been able to get their foot in the door for anything other then a text book. I'm not at all surprised, that he incorporated the tactical elements of the adventure material he grew up with, for his stuff. It's really no different then the modern material constantly rehashing WWII era dogfight ideology, when they should be thinking Sub Tactics, and then sticking to Sub Tactics, when they should be thinking Carrier Group Tactics so on and so forth....

 

In the end, it's What gets the story Done, within the premise of the story. Since in the Lensman Material, the bad guys were just as Tactically skilled as the Other Oyster, looking at the Other mountain, the "bad" cancels out, and that leaves some of the most brilliant foundation work that was ever written, with more of that material moving forward into the real world, then any previous writer, and most since then.

 

So to return to the topic at hand, since it has a similar Element to something like the Lensman (or the Nova Corps, or the Green Lantern Corps, or the Darkstars, or the Guardians of the Galaxy, or even, ATARI Force ( ), instead of things like Star Trek (2d fleet actions at dogfight range between capital ships?), or StarWars (Again, Dogfighters Uber Alles) ), then to delve into that kind of material for inspiration makes a lot of sense, if you want to maintain that kind of campaign feel.

 

Topic point continued, I do like the point levels of the rings, though I remain curious as to a basic "set up" that said VPP is used for for the most part.

 

~Rex

[The Main Man]

Re: Duke Saturn & The Astro Commandos (6e)

 

I'm thinking limiting the rings to making physical objects that the character can actually conceive.

 

I think that it would promote the purchasing of Background Skills as well as diversity between the players to cover the bases.

 

At a base of a 20pt Pool and 100pt Control, the rings are rather capable of many things that the PC's want to get done.

 

For instance, remember the "Multi-Tool" from Gadgets and Gear? A Ring of Saturn could easily accomplish that, if not with a small limitation.

[RexMundi]

Re: Duke Saturn & The Astro Commandos (6e)

 

Ah. Something like Multi Tool or the Utility belt, but in a ring form, with the potential to acquire More Ooomph down the road. I can see that. Certainly has some interesting potential.

 

~Rex

[Lucius]

Re: Duke Saturn & The Astro Commandos (6e)

 

Okay, I'll take back what I said. But I will say this instead -

 

In some of his stories, characters who are supposed to be both

intelligent and trained to fight exhibit a level of tactical planning I

would expect of a moderately bright shellfish.

 

It has nothing to do with the fact that he was writing in the 20's and

30's. It has to do with a lensman, graduate of the vaunted Space Patrol

Academy, doing something so mind bogglingly stupid that I would expect

better thinking from a Neanderthal whose tactical experience came from

hunting mammoth in small groups.

 

The episode that sticks in my memory is of the lensman meeting a single

member of an intelligent species described as both physically and

psychically formidable, who explains that he is on a quest to destroy an

entire species of super-telepathic sadists. As I recall, his species and

their enemies live in the same solar system. For many generations, his

people have chosen their best young minds, trained them intensively, and

then sent them to the planet of evil psionic titans to take them on -

one at a time. Naturally, they've all died painfully.

 

Now, this doesn't actually bother me that much. The "good guy" species

seem to be basically peaceful, they have never fought a war among

themselves, and this age-old conflict is the only war they've ever had.

Neither instinct nor culture prepares them for it. So I can actually

believe that despite their obvious advanced intelligence it wouldn't

occur to them to say "Hey, you know, instead of sending people out one

by one to die, let's try training about a dozen of them as a group and

sending them out together. And if that fails, maybe we can try a hundred

at one time..."

 

So I'm expecting Our Hero to say something like "Let's go back to your

planet, and from there I'll try to contact Space Patrol and get a

squadron of ships and a couple more experienced lensmen to investigate

this situation and if necessary see to it these diabolical mind

controllers never claim another victim!"

 

Or maybe "Let's go back to your planet, and I can help recruit and train

a small force of your people, we can see how well you can learn to

coordinate your mental powers, and then we can attack these diabolical

mind controllers in force and maybe accomplish something instead of

playing into their hands and dying painfully one by one."

 

But no, it's "Let's you and me go get 'em!"

 

That's stupid in 2010, it was stupid in 1920, and it would have been

stupid in 4000 BC. The fact that, in the story, it worked, doesn't make

it less stupid. Even if Our Hero had been of some pacifist species

instead of Human, it would be stupid, because he's supposedly been

trained to be an officer in a military organization. It strained my

suspension of disbelief past the breaking point. I suppose it could have

been salvaged if there were any hint that the enemy was subtly

influencing his mind already, to the point of ignoring the glaringly

painfully obvious options and instead choosing a more self-destructive

path, but I don't recall reading any such hint.

 

Now, I still retract my previous statement because of course Dr. Smith's

writing wasn't always that stupid. Sometimes it was quite brilliant, to

the point that he influenced the design of actual military equipment. In

fact, that's probably what makes idiocy like I just described so jarring

and memorable - how can an obvious genius, write something so obviously

dumb?

 

Not that it's the only time it ever happened....

 

Back on topic, I want to say that I really love what I hear so far about

Duke Saturn and his Rings. If I were playing in such a game though I'd

really wonder about those rings - why are they so unique? How do they

work? Why aren't they being duplicated?

 

Lucius Alexander

 

KS: Palindromedary Tactics

[The Main Man]

Re: Duke Saturn & The Astro Commandos (6e)

 

That's something that I've honestly been pondering.

 

I've thought that it could be a Tech Level 14 item, in that vein that Doc Savage had a lot of gadgets in the adventure pulps - Duke Saturn (a direct homage) possibly invented it.

 

 

On the other hand, this being the Hero Universe, I wonder if it may have something to do with a Galaxar? (Q from Star Trek comes to mind as making that a possibility).

 

 

It could be a lingering question if nothing else.

 

Might anyone else have brighter ideas in that department?