Star Hero Command

[Zane_Marlowe]

So I'm starting a new campaign and I thought I'd give people a chance to comment on it while it's still in the formative stages in my thinking because it's a kind of different animal from the normal character-group-has-adventures game.

 

This game is based on the kind of military sci-fi command fiction familiar to readers of the Honor Harrington series, Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet series, and Walter Jon Williams's Dread Empire's Fall.

 

The players will make two characters. The first is a naval officer tasked with command of a starship. This character will have to be a competent command officer, and will have to meet challenges from enemy ships and fleets, and from aligned, unaligned, and hostile planets. The officer must be a competent commander, making use of his crew's strengths, and training their weaknesses out to the best of his or her ability. The officer must also coordinate with other fleet elements, including the other player characters, to complete fleet-level tasks.

 

The second character will be a kind of politician character. This character will be one of those determining the course of the fleet characters' parent political entity (i.e., "The Terran Hegemony" or whatever we decide to call it). This character will be in charge of one aspect of the political entity's actions as described in the Kingdom rules from Ultimate Base. The character might be a diplomat (for the "political combat"), an economic minister (for the "economic combat") a military leader (for the "combat combat") or someone else who operates at that level besides (e.g., a spymaster, an industrialist, or anyone with extremely high level influence).

 

Characters' actions on each level shape the circumstances of those on the other. A successful military engagement will make it easier for the political characters to prosecute their ends, and a successful political action will make it easier for the fleet characters to accomplish the tasks set for them by the fleet. So also will failures make everyone's life a little more difficult.

 

Consistent with the literature of the setting, this is a kind of hard sci-fi. When ships engage one another, they do so with the limits on information and maneuver imposed by the speed of light. Travel through solar systems takes place on the order of days, battles on the order of hours, information on the order of several minutes, at a minimum. There is no magic version of artificial gravity. I'm going to borrow ship designs from the Jovian Chronicles game which feature rotating crew habitats that produce artificial gravity with ordinary physics. Hopefully the only rubber science I'll need to include is the idea of either wormholes or jump engines whose use is constrained either by being in a fixed location (for wormholes) or by the distorting effects of a system's gravitational field (for jump engines). (I do think clever use of lagrange points would add interesting dimensions for strategy, but I digress.)

 

I'd be interested in people's reflections on this question as it impacts the feel of the setting. Should it include aliens, robots and psionics? The literature doesn't require this to go either way, but I'm kind of inclined to include these elements if it doesn't break the military sci-fi feel of the setting. Psionics would most likely appear in the context of intelligence gathering. Aliens could be obvious as other factions. Robots are virtually guaranteed by some level of automation, though whether or not there are Asimov-style humaniform robots is a separate question.

 

Also, if people have relevant resources of threads, I'm interested in seeing them.

 

Thanks again, hope you find the idea intriguing!

[Clonus]

Re: Star Hero Command

 

Consistent with the literature of the setting, this is a kind of hard sci-fi. When ships engage one another, they do so with the limits on information and maneuver imposed by the speed of light. Travel through solar systems takes place on the order of days, battles on the order of hours, information on the order of several minutes, at a minimum. There is no magic version of artificial gravity. I'm going to borrow ship designs from the Jovian Chronicles game which feature rotating crew habitats that produce artificial gravity with ordinary physics. Hopefully the only rubber science I'll need to include is the idea of either wormholes or jump engines whose use is constrained either by being in a fixed location (for wormholes) or by the distorting effects of a system's gravitational field (for jump engines). (I do think clever use of lagrange points would add interesting dimensions for strategy, but I digress.)

 

Rotating crew habitats pose a problem if your ships can generate more than about 0.1 gs of thrust.

[Zane_Marlowe]

Re: Star Hero Command

 

I figured that rotation would be suspended during high delta maneuvering. Crew would strap in and have to deal with acceleration. One other rubber science concession will be some form of inertial dampening so the ships can get around systems in reasonable amounts of time.

 

Also, does anyone have thoughts on how to make movement speeds sensitive to ship mass? I'm imagining a kind of "engine prefab" that could be plugged into different size ships and produce different movement speeds according to the mass to thrust ratio.

[Kraven Kor]

Re: Star Hero Command

 

I figured that rotation would be suspended during high delta maneuvering. Crew would strap in and have to deal with acceleration. One other rubber science concession will be some form of inertial dampening so the ships can get around systems in reasonable amounts of time.

 

I'll dig into some of my old FTL threads if you want, but we came up with about 12 days of travel to get from Earth to the edge of the Solar System if your engines can produce a steady 1G of thrust for that time. Granted, 1G of constant thrust is a HUGE and physics-breaking Delta-V if using traditional torch drives and current energy production technology. If you do the rubber science exception in your drives and/or reactors, travel time is still "believable" but fast.

 

This also negates the need for "inertial dampeners" - 3G or so short-duration burns for rapid acceleration, then 1G of steady thrust to halfway point, turn the ship around and 1G deceleration. This would turn your ships into 'flying scyscrapers' however. And simply could not be explained using any type of chemical rocket, etc. Trust me, I tried to work out any possible way to retain a claim to being "hard sci-fi" while still having interstellar travel at all and reasonably fast in-system travel.

 

Also, does anyone have thoughts on how to make movement speeds sensitive to ship mass? I'm imagining a kind of "engine prefab" that could be plugged into different size ships and produce different movement speeds according to the mass to thrust ratio.

 

Well, in HERO terms, flight is just meters of movement per turn, but Star HERO has you turn that into meters of acceleration per turn for more "realistic" acceleration. So if you want that level of detail, you would have to convert the inches of acceleration into a STR score, compare to mass of ship, etc. And that math is far beyond me (well, I could work it out after a bit, but more work than I would wish to do - for gaming or anything, really.)

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Star Hero Command

 

I figured that rotation would be suspended during high delta maneuvering. Crew would strap in and have to deal with acceleration. One other rubber science concession will be some form of inertial dampening so the ships can get around systems in reasonable amounts of time.

 

Also, does anyone have thoughts on how to make movement speeds sensitive to ship mass? I'm imagining a kind of "engine prefab" that could be plugged into different size ships and produce different movement speeds according to the mass to thrust ratio.

 

From Terracide:

 

Flight purchased for spacecraft has the limitation limited thrust (-0), which means it doesn't follow the normal encumbrance rules. It works at its full value when the spacecraft carries no cargo (or very little cargo), and gets reduced to half when the spacecraft's mass is doubled, and to a third when the mass is tripled, etc.

 

It should be noted that a vehicle's base STR is enough to carry cargo equal to its base mass, (100 ton vehicles have a base STR of 60) so with extra STR a spacecraft can easily be upgraded to carry cargo up to several times its unloaded mass. I house-ruled the effect this would realistically have on the spacecraft's movement, and gave it an arbitrary (-0) limitation value. (It's not worth anything in my campaign because there aren't any rocket engines that don't work this way.)

 

In another concession to realism, I also made Flight "fully cumulative" for rocket-powered spacecraft. It's actually a measure of acceleration, rather than speed. (Rockets have a constant acceleration, their maximum speed is whatever delta-vee they can manage with the available fuel.) And never mind what I did to turn modes. By the time you make spacecraft movement 'realistic' it doesn't really look like the Hero system any more. Funny, that.

[Zane_Marlowe]

Re: Star Hero Command

 

Interesting thoughts. The Ultimate Vehicle lists 120m of flight per turn (12s) as 1g of acceleration, so that bit of math is already done at least. With that and cumulative I have the mechanics except for the mass requirement. The Limited Thrust thing sounds good, but I'm thinking about what the upper limit on that might be. Maybe the non-combat multiplier?

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Star Hero Command

 

Interesting thoughts. The Ultimate Vehicle lists 120m of flight per turn (12s) as 1g of acceleration' date=' so that bit of math is already done at least. With that and cumulative I have the mechanics except for the mass requirement. The Limited Thrust thing sounds good, but I'm thinking about what the upper limit on that might be. Maybe the non-combat multiplier?[/quote']

 

For the "upper limit" I used some semi-realistic rocket science. If you don't want to fool around with a lot of fancy rocket-science equations, you can simplify things for spacecraft with relatively small fuel reserves. (Up to a fifth of the craft's loaded mass.)

 

Fuel equal to 1% of the spacecraft's mass will give it a delta-vee equal to 1% of the engine's exhaust velocity.

 

This is only an approximation, it works best for highly advanced spacecraft which don't need carry a lot of fuel; the approximation fails hard if the spacecraft's fuel tankage is over 20% of its total mass. (The actual equation is an exponential; after the 20% it curves upward sharply.) For a list of engines and exhaust velocities (and everything else you need), go here.

[Sundog]

Re: Star Hero Command

 

Getting a 404 Not Found error on the link, XO.

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Star Hero Command

 

Getting a 404 Not Found error on the link' date=' XO.[/quote']

 

Ah. Should be working now. (And is there anyone here who hasn't already been to Nyrath's site?)

[Zane_Marlowe]

Re: Star Hero Command

 

Lots of good reading there. I'm afraid I may get buried if I don't start picking and choosing a bit. I don't think I'm going to figure out the specifics of the engines except that they're going to be capable of sufficient acceleration to make system transit something that happens on the order of days. Nyrath's site is great, but as I said in the first post, we're going for the feel of a particular cross-section of military sci-fi: command fiction.

[Zane_Marlowe]

Re: Star Hero Command

 

So here's a question I'm currently pondering. Aliens? Lots of these settings don't include them, but some do. Going without is simpler, but they are a kind of setting trope for many kinds of SF. I don't think it'll be out of setting, but I'm uncertain about which way I want to go with this. What would you do?

[Clonus]

Re: Star Hero Command

 

I would make "aliens" by assuming that there was a first wave of colonization in which they genetically modified themselves to suit their worlds and hopefully toss in a few "improvements". Then a collapse of civilisation to give them time to develop independently. There. Aliens.

[Kraven Kor]

Re: Star Hero Command

 

Pandorum was a horrible movie, Clonus

[Clonus]

Re: Star Hero Command

 

But Seedling Stars was a great book.

[shadowcat1313]

Re: Star Hero Command

 

or cheat... find a copy of the GURPS Ship Designer software for GURPS Space or GURPS Traveller, check assorted archives for the freeware version, it allows you to fiddle with mass and G ratings etc

Tom Bont wrote the software originally

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Star Hero Command

 

I would make "aliens" by assuming that there was a first wave of colonization in which they genetically modified themselves to suit their worlds and hopefully toss in a few "improvements". Then a collapse of civilisation to give them time to develop independently. There. Aliens.

 

I went with a variation on this: genetically altered humans went to the stars alongside the 'base-line' stock, although in greater numbers. Some of them have their own cultures, while some colonies have strongly integrated cultures with multiple types of humans.

 

I also wrote up a number of truly alien species which were so different from humans they aren't playable as PC's. Adventures involving one or more of these are always interesting, challenging, and most of all, weird.

[Lawnmower Boy]

Re: Star Hero Command

 

For what it's worth, I say, "bring on the aliens." Dread Empire, in spite of Williamson's decision to take his heroine rather darker than was wise, is by far the best literary effort amongst your cited influences. And it, of course, has aliens.

 

So, IIRC, do some of the ostensibly "all human" universes. In these cases, the aliens are primitive and irrelevant. That approach, I find questionable at best. If you're going to have Native American analogues, confront historical reality, don't hide from it.

 

The whole "humans as aliens" is also good. In my mind, because it ends up implying a deep history. All the DNA tinkering in the world isn't getting you to the divergent cultural evolution that is the really interesting part of such a setting. That divergence implies that this culture has been out there a long time in relative isolation.

 

To get that isolation, you can go any number of ways. There's the postlapsarian narrative, as in Drake's paint-by-number Leary books. The first human era in space ended in disaster, many years ago. You can also have a prehistory of STL (or even wonky FTL) expansion of the kind that Bertram Chandler and Marion Zimmer Bradley used to set their scenes. Or there's some version of Battlestar Galactica's "life here began out there" mythology.

 

Of the options that I've suggested, that last is my particular favourite. If only because you've got sexy Cylons. Take it for what it's worth.

[Zane_Marlowe]

Re: Star Hero Command

 

Excellent comments friends, thanks! A friend suggested to me the idea of having aliens at different levels of technical and social sophistication. So here's the first part of what I've written for the players. More to follow soon, but this should help a bit.

 

THE STAR HERO COMMAND SETTING

By the late 23rd century, human beings have finally begun to spread out among the stars and colonize other worlds. The process has been difficult and costly. It is an undreamed of technical achievement alongside a harrowing cost in life as humans take their first steps into the galaxy. However, as with the earlier frontiers in human history, there are gains to be had for those who find terra nova first. For some, it is the promise of exotic or plentiful natural resources. Others seek political autonomy or the opportunity to make a new life. Still others may just feel the stirring toward the far horizon. Whatever the reasons, humans have entered into a new world of dangers and opportunities, and they will write the next pages of their destiny on the canvass of the galaxy.

 

Players assume the role of multiple characters in this game, each occupying a different level of play. Unlike a normal RPG campaign that focuses on the exploits of a small group of closely related companions and their adventures, the characters in this game are responsible for both themselves and many thousands or millions of lives as well. The time scale for these characters’ actions might sometimes be measured in weeks or months as important plans and projects are carefully brought to fruition and the course of human events changes accordingly. Importantly, all the levels of the game are interconnected by the wider geopolitical situation. In short, tasks achieved or failed at one level of the game will affect the difficulty of future tasks at the other levels.

 

THE KINGDOM CHARACTER

The political entity that describes humanity will be built as a character using the Kingdom rules from chapter 8 of The Ultimate Base. This “character” describes the diplomatic, military, economic, and social qualities of humanity in this era, and the players can build this character—and thus define future humanity—as they see fit within the character creation guidelines listed below.

 

This political entity will not be the only such entity, for the galaxy is filled with other political factions, including both aliens and human splinter groups. Accordingly, not all challenges for the kingdom character will be military in nature. Diplomacy, intelligence (and counter-intelligence), and wise economic and social policy will all be required for this character (and humanity) to survive and succeed among the stars.

 

THE POLITICAL CHARACTER

This character is the human political entity, and each player will additionally create a political character whose influence permits him or her to act on that level. For example, the political character might be a diplomat, an economic minister, or a military leader. These characters afford the players a way of speaking to one another about policies within the game, and permit the assignment of specific political responsibilities to specific players. However, the characters are not merely mouthpieces, for their skills and talents (as well as their flaws) may weigh importantly in the action taking place at the political level of the game.

 

THE COMMAND CHARACTER

Not to be overshadowed by the game’s political characters, the players will finally have a character who is a starship commander recently assigned to his first command. The ship name and type will be assigned, but with as much deference to the players' preferences as permitted by the political context and the fact that it's the character's first command. In general, there will be a lot of latitude extended to the command character and to the player as well. The command character can disposition the ship’s crew and resources on his own initiative as he attempts to complete fleet objectives in coordination with the other captains. Players are free to create the NPC subordinates who comprise that command, subject to the normal constraints of the crew typical of that ship type.

 

MILITARY SCIENCE FICTION

The Star Hero Command setting is inspired by military sci-fi, specifically those kinds of stories that translate “wet navy” conventions into space. Fans of Horatio Hornblower or Master and Commander should find the setting familiar for that reason. Characters in this setting tend to be physically adequate for the tasks of their command, but it is rarely the case that the Captain will lose his shirt in hand to hand combat, or even that most of the ship’s command crew will go to investigate an unknown planet by themselves. Instead, these characters are typically well educated in military doctrine such that they understand the value of a chain of command, of discipline and training, and of their personnel as the means to effect victory.

 

HARD SCIENCE-FICTION

Star Hero Command is like many military sci-fi settings in that it is a hard science-fiction setting. This means that in general, the world should behave more or less according to established scientific knowledge. Here are some examples:

• Mass does not exceed the speed of light.

• Communication happens at the speed of travel generally.

• Newtonian movement in zero-gee environments rather than space dogfights.

• Sensory information may take hours to cross the distances in a solar system.

• Sensory instruments discover specific things like temperature, emission spectroscopy, visibility to radar or visible light optics, radio emissions, and radioactivity. “Sensors” are not generic instruments that produce whatever information one happens to need.

• Without a plausible means of artificial gravity, characters will experience (and eventually suffer the effects of) zero-gee environments.

 

While this isn’t necessarily an exhaustive list, it should illustrate the kinds of constraints science imposes on setting. That said, some concessions made on behalf of the setting are present as well.

 

• Interstellar travel is made possible by means of wormholes and jump engines.

• Ships are capable of sustaining crews through high acceleration maneuvering, and can therefore transit solar systems in days rather than months.

• Ballistic, guided, and beam weapon systems are capable of targeting and effectively engaging ships at much longer distances than are presently possible.

 

ROBOTS, ALIENS, AND PSIONICS

Robots, artificial intelligence, and automation have made important advances and have enabled humanity to make important strides into the stars. However, the convergence of human and artificial intelligence once envisioned by futurists is still a distant possibility. Artificial intelligence is not creative, and so robots are still bound by human design. They act only as programmed, though the complex implications of robotic programming frequently requires expert maintenance by behavioral logicians. For this reason, robots and automated systems have not replaced humans in positions that include decision making responsibility in circumstances of life and death. Robots are adjunct systems that provide labor, information, and analysis.

 

Aliens are present, and humans have regular interaction with some of their civilizations, but as yet humans do not have a wide social interaction with alien cultures. Trade and diplomatic missions have brought humans into the galactic community, but galactic culture is anything but cosmopolitan. In part, this is because alien civilizations are not uniform in their cultural and technological development. Some cultures have what appear to be archaic political forms alongside advanced technology. Others appear get by on what appears to be inferior technology, but have remarkably enlightened social regimes. Humans are not always well informed with respect to the races of which they are aware, and information remains among the galaxy’s most valuable resources.

 

Psionics are (so far as anyone knows) still a matter of science fiction.

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Star Hero Command

 

While there are some differences, the setting also has quite a few similarities: I think when Terracide comes out it'll have a lot of stuff you can use. (Or at least I hope so!)

[Manic Typist]

Re: Star Hero Command

 

Very, very intriguing.

 

I'd also suggest another, lower level, of shipboard Marines or the equivalent. For the few times that a firefight breaks out, the players might like the chance to participate directly in the combat. You could always just hand out generic NPC soldiers, but perhaps PC noncoms and their squad would be better.

[Zane_Marlowe]

Re: Star Hero Command

 

Doing three (or n) levels is of course possible, but the reason for doing more than one is because they're different in kind. While marines have different duties than captains, they're essentially acting in the same "scale" for lack of a better word. Anyway, not a reason why it can't be done, but just the reason why I made that choice. Would be interesting to do all kinds of different "paired" games, but this is a PBEM game, so players sending emails as commands, communiques, political memos, etc., is very consistent with the scale and presentation of the setting.

[Zane_Marlowe]

Re: Star Hero Command

 

Oh, one other thing, it may be that in a sense I already built the lower levels in. Players are permitted to build their crews, so they may build their marine complements as well. I'll probably make use of those player generated NPCs to resolve actions the captains order, but the players won't be playing them directly.

[Zane_Marlowe]

Re: Star Hero Command

 

Well, progress on building this campaign has been somewhat slow, but at last I've adapted a variety of ships from the Jovian Chronicles's excellent setting material. The players are going to captain these ships, and now that I've got the main conversions done for a set of missiles (5 types), interceptors (4 types), flight control computers (2 types), and capital ships (3 types), the rest of the conversions should go much easier now that I can basically modify what I have here.

[shadowcat1313]

Re: Star Hero Command

 

looks interesting, going to take a better look at everything later in the week, am working on a couple of new projects for real world vehicle building