Pandorum (Huge spoilers inside)

[The Nexus]

Last warning, if you keep reading I will spoil the whole movie, which would be a shame, because I kinda liked it.

 

 

 

 

Okay if you're still reading, I assume you've seen the movie or you don't care about spoilers, allow me to get anyone who falls the latter up to speed: Here's the deal:

 

In the future overpopulation is destroying the Earth. Luckily a probe we sent out found a habitable planet, even saw a plant, yay us. So things because worse on Earth so they launch this massive ship with 50k people on it. Most of the people would be in suspended animation, and flight crews of 3 people (Pilot, Engineer, Captain) would take turns running the ship they going into hyper sleep. The included the crews families too (so there were useless bodies on board too). One of the fight crews got a message that from Earth, that Earth was about to blow up, and they were the last Humans. They scanned for Earth and sure enough it was gone. One of the crew flipped out and killed the other two. He experimented on the crew a bit and went back to sleep ( a few times probably). You also learn that the crews "Feeding tubes" contained a drug that stimulated evolution so humans would adapt quickly to the new planet.

 

Okay so by the end of the movie the hero leans that instead of something like 80 years they were supposed to be traveling, they've been on the ship for 922 years. A lot of the crew has morphed into cannibalistic monsters (explained but instead of adapting to the planet they've adapted to the ship) . They're strong fast hard to kill. You assume they are the first humans that the psycho guy experimented on, because they breed. Other crew members have been waking up over the years and the monsters attack them. The other crew members learned to survive however they could. Most couldn't get into the weapons locker because they were keyed to the 18 or so Flight Crew members, so they were using sharpened bits of metal for weapons living in holds, etc.

 

The Hero also learns that the ship isn't floating through space, it has crashed landed on the planet they were going to, except it landed in water and was at the bottom of a lake/ocean. The hero cracks the hull which causes all the hyper sleep chamber to eject, and they pop up to the surface, there are 1283 survivors, roll credits... That's the end of the movie, but the beginning of the campaign.

 

Okay so I was thinking there could be a lot of options for character creation:

• Security Details are an obvious one
  
• Scientists brought along to help colonize
  
• Maybe 700 years ago a few got out early, and they Evolver chemical has adapted them to where ever they ended up. In one group ended up in a desert and another a mountain, they'd have different adaptations.
  
• Maybe there are natives on the planet (we know there are glow in the dark fish, seen from a window on the ship)
  
• Family member provide another option, maybe some family members were Ex-CIA or ESPionage agents
  
• Something I haven't thought of yet.
  

That's what I have so far. I'm still trying to hash out the types of adventures and the purpose of the group. I mean there could be expeditions back to the ship to retrieve the doodad, or prevent the reactor from exploding. Recon of the planet, things like that, but what would keep our team together? Would someone have taken charge and created "Mission Teams"? Do I force some kind of common thread? I don't know. Still trying to figure all that out.

 

Thoughts, ideas, comments or suggestions are appreciated.

[Escafarc]

Re: Pandorum (Huge spoilers inside)

 

Sounds a lot like Metamorphisis Alpha.

[The Nexus]

Re: Pandorum (Huge spoilers inside)

 

Sounds a lot like Metamorphisis Alpha.

Maybe, I've never heard of that, but don't go by my synopsis alone. I just really got the key points I wanted to touch on, some of them aren't that important to the movie's story, and some things I glossed over are important. The movie probably plays out a lot different.

 

By the lack of comments, am I to assume this is a bad idea and I should abandon it.

[Escafarc]

Re: Pandorum (Huge spoilers inside)

 

Maybe, I've never heard of that, but don't go by my synopsis alone. I just really got the key points I wanted to touch on, some of them aren't that important to the movie's story, and some things I glossed over are important. The movie probably plays out a lot different.

 

By the lack of comments, am I to assume this is a bad idea and I should abandon it.

No it's a good idea. Metamorphisis Alpha is basicly the first version the Gamma World line and a great game on it's own. Also there was a TV show from the UK in the '70s with alot of the same ideas just can't recall the name right now.

[Kraven Kor]

Re: Pandorum (Huge spoilers inside)

 

There really aren't many things that would be a "bad idea" per se; it is executing them that will determine if it will make a good campaign or not. It also depends on your players, and your own strengths or weaknesses as a storyteller or GM.

 

If it were a campaign set with the PC's waking up in their pod, floating in the ocean, that might appeal to some and not to others. If it were set X years or decades or centuries or so after the survivors settle in, and the movie is just the backstory to an otherwise standard fantasy or whatever campaign, that might appeal to another group.

 

All depends on where you want to go with this.

[Escafarc]

Re: Pandorum (Huge spoilers inside)

 

. Also there was a TV show from the UK in the '70s with alot of the same ideas just can't recall the name right now.

Ok it was a canadian show created by Harlan Ellison called The Starlost

[lapsedgamer]

Re: Pandorum (Huge spoilers inside)

 

Sounds a lot like Metamorphosis Alpha.

 

No it's a good idea. Metamorphosis Alpha is basically the first version the Gamma World line and a great game on it's own. Also there was a TV show from the UK in the '70s with a lot of the same ideas just can't recall the name right now.

 

I saw this movie, and I was thinking Metamorphosis Alpha the whole time. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

 

The TV show was called the Starlost, and it's kind of a cult classic. Harlan Ellison was involved, but he ended up not liking the final project and threw a hissy fit. No surprise there. The show was actually Canadian. I only know this stuff because I rented the DVDs from our excellent local shop, Scarecrow Video, and actually liked some of the episodes. The production values were very 70s Dr. Who, but it had some nice moments, especially in the writing.

 

Here are some links that might give you some ideas. They never landed the ship in Starlost. It was a massive generational set-up, but still brain fodder is brain fodder.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Starlost

 

http://www.snowcrest.net/fox/star.html

[csyphrett]

Re: Pandorum (Huge spoilers inside)

 

It seems to me that the key to this is what is on the planet. is the planet a standrad planet? Are there native fauna that are dangerous? Do your players want to play in a survivor game? Do they care about the setting?

CES

[The Nexus]

Re: Pandorum (Huge spoilers inside)

 

If I get around to it, this would probably be an online game, so let's assume I don't know my players.

 

My initial thoughts were it was maybe a few weeks after floating in the pods. I was thinking that the base camp was pretty safe, maybe the occasional freak escaped the ship. For a survival game I could have just left everyone on the ship . I was thinking of more of an explore game, with the occasional survival session of having to try to make it around the ship to get some tech. They need to get the "civilization" off the ground. There were all these different types of plants on the ship (and I think animal DNA) that the scientists would need.

 

That's not to say that there aren't dangers on the planet, but I don't want that to be the over-arching theme.

[Shadowsoul]

Re: Pandorum (Huge spoilers inside)

 

So what's the main hook here?

 

Is it about exploring an alien planet and learning to bend it to your needs?

 

Or is it a Settlers or Civilisation resource-gathering style game where the reward is to watch your ragged band of survivors grow into a thriving settlement?

 

Do you want your players to get involved in the finer points of alien agriculture or basic architecture? Or will they be the go-to guys, running off to fetch things that the experts need to build their settlement?

 

You might also want to think about conflict amongst the remaining settlers. Some of the people stranded on the ship did some pretty horrible things to survive. And with the death of Earth alongside the loss of so many fellow settlers some survivors might go mad or develop violent/criminal tendencies.

 

Btw. Will the mutants who evolved in mountains and deserts be intelligent enough to be reasoned with? Or will they be mindless monsters?

[The Nexus]

Re: Pandorum (Huge spoilers inside)

 

So what's the main hook here?

 

Is it about exploring an alien planet and learning to bend it to your needs?

 

Or is it a Settlers or Civilisation resource-gathering style game where the reward is to watch your ragged band of survivors grow into a thriving settlement?

 

Do you want your players to get involved in the finer points of alien agriculture or basic architecture? Or will they be the go-to guys, running off to fetch things that the experts need to build their settlement?

This is kind of what I'm having trouble with. I'm not really smart enough to get down into the nuts and bolts of rebuilding a settlement. I don't know enough about climate and biology to make a game like that be realistic enough for players. I was thinking about more about being the go-to guys, but how do you do that plausably. Why are they the go-to guys and why that particular group? I would need to come up with some common thread as to why they are a team let alone the team.

You might also want to think about conflict amongst the remaining settlers. Some of the people stranded on the ship did some pretty horrible things to survive. And with the death of Earth alongside the loss of so many fellow settlers some survivors might go mad or develop violent/criminal tendencies.

That's a good point, definately could add some political conflits. Maybe even a Lord of the Flies situation.

 

Btw. Will the mutants who evolved in mountains and deserts be intelligent enough to be reasoned with? Or will they be mindless monsters?

My inital thoughts were that the mutants could be Player Character's, but there could certainly be tribes of less friendly. Maybe even making the players question whether the mutants are natives.

[Shadowsoul]

Re: Pandorum (Huge spoilers inside)

 

It's not like the settlement has a lot of options. If the players complete a mission successfully then the other survivors might simply come to rely on them. The survivors would probably be desperate for heroes, people who will sort this mess out, so whoever is in charge might find it politically expedient to use these 'heroes' to solve problems. Or they may simply not know who else to turn to for the difficult stuff.