Opale Posted February 26, 2013 Report Share Posted February 26, 2013 Yes ! That's the cool idea a player of mine had proposed me for my Galactic Setting. Question is : I don't have any clue on how to make it playable and possible . What are the basics and limits for such a build ? Any of you already had the case ? he wants to play an intelligent event sentient starship, big enough to transport all the players, and maybe incarnate himself in a robotic form (Multiform ?) Now now, I'm enthusiastic but clueless. Help please ! Opale - isn't that a nice name for a major battleship ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmjalund Posted February 26, 2013 Report Share Posted February 26, 2013 Re: A starship as a PC for Galactic Champions shifting into a giant robot would be multiform, having a human size version that can accompany the PCs - would be Duplication Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grailknight Posted February 26, 2013 Report Share Posted February 26, 2013 Re: A starship as a PC for Galactic Champions Watch Andromeda for ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Posted February 26, 2013 Report Share Posted February 26, 2013 Re: A starship as a PC for Galactic Champions For ideas: The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey Path of the Fury by David Weber The Starwolves by Thorarinn Gunnarsson Making it playable is a whole 'nuther kettle o' fish... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opale Posted February 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2013 Re: A starship as a PC for Galactic Champions Ok, keep all of this noted Now, for the idea, I don't know if this is it, but the character would be an association of a Vehicle + an AI ? Am I right ? And how to create the duplicate then ? Including all characteristics or without the AI part ? Opale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheQuestionMan Posted February 26, 2013 Report Share Posted February 26, 2013 Re: A starship as a PC for Galactic Champions Star Hero and Other Products http://www.herogames.com/productsStarHero.htm Hero System Vehicles Sourcebook http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/63160-The-HERO-System-Vehicle-Sourcebook The Ultimate Vehicle http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/63199-The-Ultimate-Vehicle Hero System Traveller ??? Galactic Champions - Defender 3000's Follower: Robot/AI Powered Armor http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/63136-Galactic-Champions Champions Beyond - Istavatha V'Han's Starships https://www.herogames.com/viewItem.htm?itemID=255418 Digital Hero #5 Star*Guard http://www.herogames.com/viewDHIssue.htm?issueID=50360 Digital Hero #6 Star*Guard http://www.herogames.com/viewDHIssue.htm?issueID=60490 Digital Hero #7 Star*Guard http://www.herogames.com/viewDHIssue.htm?issueID=74480 Digital Hero #41 for Star*Guard http://www.herogames.com/viewDHIssue.htm?issueID=217474 Champions Lore: Danu, the Progenitor Sentient Starship protector of the Lyonessians ??? , Starship & Base of The Zodiac Conspiracy Hmmm... QM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egyptoid Posted February 26, 2013 Report Share Posted February 26, 2013 Re: A starship as a PC for Galactic Champions An interesting idea would be to have the starship (the AI) be subject to the 3 laws of robotics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawnmower Boy Posted February 26, 2013 Report Share Posted February 26, 2013 Re: A starship as a PC for Galactic Champions The easy way to do this is to take the "mobile form" as the main character, and the starship as a Duplicate. (I believe the consensus is that using the vehicle rules is munchkinning.) You probably want to ignore the AI and "robot body" rules for the mobile form, as they tend to shape the character disproportionately. (You spend a lot of points for Takes No Stun, naturally, because it's a pretty significant power. It's just that that leaves you with very few points to spend on cooler stuff like cyberpathy and bullet-time kung fu.) As with Mechanon, you only need to specify that the AI form is "advanced enough to take stun." This obviously doesn't apply to the starship form, but, then, I assume that the starship doesn't have Matrix-style kung fu moves! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haerandir Posted February 26, 2013 Report Share Posted February 26, 2013 Re: A starship as a PC for Galactic Champions I can see two obvious approaches to this concept: If the PC consists of a 'ship' and a 'robot extension' or whatever, then it's mechanically no different from a regular PC who 'owns' their own ship. Just design the robot and have them buy the ship with the vehicle rules. Maybe give the mobile extension form a Complication/Disadvantage to represent that they're dependent on the ship (can't go more than X [kilo]meters from ship, need to return to ship to recharge, whatever). Unfortunately, this doesn't do much to fulfill the player's character concept. It'll end up feeling like just another human(oid) PC who happens to own a ship (because that's effectively all it is). The other option that presents itself is to just build the ship as a PC, and ignore the concept of a remote module. You could do this, with the appropriate Complications (Inconvenient Size; Distinctive Features; maybe a Social Complication to represent that the ship isn't a legal person; etc.) The problem with this approach is the same problem that is often faced by, for example, hackers in cyberpunk campaigns. It's hard to feel like you're 'part' of the group when you can't go to the places they go and do the things they do. Plus adventures can break down into 'things the ship does' and 'things the rest of the group does', with somebody always stuck waiting for the other part of the group to wrap up their sub-plot before they get to play. I'm not saying you should disallow the concept out-of-hand. Just be aware that it's going to be both a role-playing challenge for the player and an adventure-design challenge for the GM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayinde Posted February 26, 2013 Report Share Posted February 26, 2013 Re: A starship as a PC for Galactic Champions We did something like this in the last game we played the player took all the powers the craft would have. Plus to dim travel only on others location inside self and dublacation pilot so he could come on mission Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew_A Posted February 27, 2013 Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 Re: A starship as a PC for Galactic Champions An interesting idea would be to have the starship (the AI) be subject to the 3 laws of robotics. An equally interesting idea would be if it was subject to the Zeroeth Law. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prometheus Posted February 27, 2013 Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 Re: A starship as a PC for Galactic Champions I'm treading over some of what's already been said, but I wanted to add that Star Hero discusses computers as characters, and I think the point it makes that, "In some cases, the 'computer" character is really a sentient robot for game purposes, even if it conceives of itself as a computer," is an important one. One possibility is to conceive of the character as an intelligence that inhabits a ship, an android body, or whatnot, but for the actual build, don't give yourself the headache of a really complicated design. That said, I can think of a few builds you might consider: 1) The Smartship - Astron the sentient asteroid field from Champions Beyond and the Engine of Destruction from the Hero System Bestiary are both built as standard characters with powers, skills, etc. to represent their abilities. You could scan various Hero products for parts of the build-- the various computer/AI skill and talent writeups, for example-- adapting them as suits you, and then define the rest via special effects. Carrying capacity? STR. Massive size? Physical Complication. Sensors? Enhanced Senses. This build can get pricey fast, since it requires a good amount of Usable On Others (or Usable By Nearby) to simulate the internal workings of a ship that can be used by the crew. 2) The Android Avatar - A straightforward build with a Vehicle, with (again) the special effects taking care of the rest. Not necessarily the munchkin route since ships can also eat through points quickly; the large ship examples in Star Hero weigh in at 100 points on the low end and 500 points for all the bells and whistles. The character functions as a detachable "away party" for the ship, which saves the player and GM some headaches over how to get him involved in the plot. 3) The Core - A combination of the above, but with the character as the ship AI's physical core and all its systems-- a sort of permanent, sessile crew member for the vehicle the player also purchases. If the player wants an "away party", it can be covered with Duplication and the Altered Duplicates advantage. Of course, you can mix and match as suits you, but regardless, I'd say go with whatever you're comfortable with and you feel the player will enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheQuestionMan Posted February 27, 2013 Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 Re: A starship as a PC for Galactic Champions EDI from Mass Effect 3 http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/EDI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opale Posted February 27, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 Re: A starship as a PC for Galactic Champions Thanks everyone for the brainstorming It will be very usefull ! Keep posting about it if more advises or ideas come to mind. Opale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheQuestionMan Posted February 27, 2013 Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 Re: A starship as a PC for Galactic Champions 350pt Character Project by Matt Ignash http://home.comcast.net/~mathewignash/champions.html Sky Garry Autobot Transforms into Starship http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Sky_Garry_(ROC) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion Posted February 27, 2013 Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 Re: A starship as a PC for Galactic Champions As a GM, I do the following: 1) The player gets a robot character. If he wants to be able to control multiple robots, he just needs to write all of them up. I'd recommend using multi-form if the other players obsess over character points, but otherwise it's just a stack of character sheets and a gentleman's agreement that only one can be active at a time. Not really much different from playing multiple characters in different locations. 2) No character sheet for the ship at all. I would not charge any points for it at all (bases and vehicles are free in my games). A general write-up for it so that all know the capabilities, but no more than that. Whenever the ship is in use, that player gets to control it and the rest of the players advise it and/or give it orders. Sure, the ship and robots are the same mind, but that's just SFX. In play, they'd be separate characters, or even more likely, a PC robot, and an NPC ship that a designated player handles for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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