Breaking Universes

[Cassandra]

Just now, tkdguy said:

One way to make the PCs the heroes in a well-known universe is to set the campaign in a different time or place. For example, the default setting in MERP was year 1640 of the Third Age. Why? Because aside from the Great Plague having just ended, not many details are included in this time period. That gave the module writers and the GM a lot of leeway to develop the setting as they saw fit. Alternatively, if the players want their characters to take part in the War of the Ring, the GM can have them fight Sauron's forces in the east, so the heroes can prevent Sauron from sending more troops to Gondor, Dale, and Lorien.

 

The same thing works for Star Wars. Maybe the Death Star wasn't the Empire's only super weapon. Palpatine may have ordered the construction of another weapon of mass destruction in a different part of the galaxy. After all, the Death Star could only be at one place at a time, and the Rebellion was scattered in different locations. This would give the PCs a chance to shine without overshadowing Luke and company.

 

Of course the heroes couldn't go up against Palpatine after the second Death Star exploded.  I mean it would be crazy for him to have survived that.

[tkdguy]

I have heard of one AD&D game set in Middle-earth's Fourth Age where Sauron survived the destruction of the Ring, albeit in a disembodied and greatly weakened form, and started causing trouble years later.

[Cassandra]

1 minute ago, tkdguy said:

I have heard of one AD&D game set in Middle-earth's Fourth Age where Sauron survived the destruction of the Ring, albeit in a disembodied and greatly weakened form, and started causing trouble years later.

 

Just  like Jeffery Epstein.

 

What, too soon?

[Anaximander]

One issue about simply setting an campaign is in the far future or far past is having to adjust for technology differences, re-writing established lore, and such which undermines a major advantage to using a canonical universe. 

[tkdguy]

Not necessarily. The Star Wars universe seems to have some sort of technological stagnation going on. IIRC ,much of the Old Republic's past has been forgotten even in the EU, so you can make up what you want. Star Trek would be a different matter, as advancements in technology are recognized in the different series.

[Ninja-Bear]

10 hours ago, Cassandra said:

So where does the Star Wars Holiday Special fit into canon?

Ahead of Episode 8!

[Ninja-Bear]

9 hours ago, Anaximander said:

One issue about simply setting an campaign is in the far future or far past is having to adjust for technology differences, re-writing established lore, and such which undermines a major advantage to using a canonical universe. 

Tales of the Jedi has some ideas of Technology set perhaps 1000 years (I think) from Episode 4. 

[Ninja-Bear]

Oh and EU wise I guess it’s been done to *ahem* death but there seems to be ancient weapons of planet killer class floating around the galaxy.

[Ninja-Bear]

Oh one of the best ideas I saw advertised by WEG which I think sums up how to play in an established Universe had to deal with the stolen shuttle in RotJ. To sum it up, “Some one had to steal it”. 

[Vanguard]

23 hours ago, Cassandra said:

 

Actually there was suppose to be only one Slayer, but then Buffy changed the rules.

 

Wasn't it Willow that changed the rules, through magic, but at Buffy's behest?

[assault]

What I want to know is: why did Luke etc get credit for destroying the Death Star instead of the droid commando unit that sabotaged it while the Imperials were distracted by the Rebel fleet?

You don't really think that a womp rat hunting farm boy really destroyed it, did you?

[tkdguy]

8 hours ago, assault said:

What I want to know is: why did Luke etc get credit for destroying the Death Star instead of the droid commando unit that sabotaged it while the Imperials were distracted by the Rebel fleet?

You don't really think that a womp rat hunting farm boy really destroyed it, did you?

 

Probably because the Rebellion witnessed Luke firing torpedoes into the vent, while everyone witnessing the robot commando's sabotage was dead.

[Cassandra]

8 hours ago, assault said:

What I want to know is: why did Luke etc get credit for destroying the Death Star instead of the droid commando unit that sabotaged it while the Imperials were distracted by the Rebel fleet?

You don't really think that a womp rat hunting farm boy really destroyed it, did you?

 

Now you know the power of the force.

 

Cheating.

[Michael Hopcroft]

As an Anime/British Media/TTRPG fan, I have access to scores of universes to muck about with. Like taking a setting from one game and adapting it to another. So you can, if you want, run Freeport in Hero, and while the game system might not work the same the core idea (a flourishing city built, in a large part, on open-sea piracy).

 

Since we're on a Hero board, many of us will be in the camp that we want a single game system that, with adaptations, will work for anything. Others have different thoughts on the matter.

[Anaximander]

1 hour ago, Michael Hopcroft said:

As an Anime/British Media/TTRPG fan, I have access to scores of universes to muck about with. Like taking a setting from one game and adapting it to another. So you can, if you want, run Freeport in Hero, and while the game system might not work the same the core idea (a flourishing city built, in a large part, on open-sea piracy).

 

Since we're on a Hero board, many of us will be in the camp that we want a single game system that, with adaptations, will work for anything. Others have different thoughts on the matter.

 

The existence and other media also raises some discussions on the topic.  Let's my Star Wars game gets off the ground, and I wind up inviting someone into the group who isn't that strong on Star Wars and is having trouble coming up with a Star Wars character.  I think Star Wars is flexible enough to work with most science fiction, fantasy, or action and adventure.  So, let's say this character is strong on Japanese anime.  I am personally weak with anime, but if the player comes up with a good enough description of what they want to do and are willing to make compromises where necessary, I could make it work.   In the end, the player decides to create a Jedi character based on Sailor Moon and actually names the character Sailor Moon, and I allow some ideas and concepts of the Sailor Moon universe to splash over into the Star Wars universe.  Admittedly, it would violate both the Sailor Moon and Star Wars canons, but it might be fun to play, and who knows?  I might actually start to understand Sailor Moon enough to start liking it.

 

On the issue of Hero system, I am not necessarily looking for a single system to run every game idea I have.  I think different game mechanics work better under some situations and not others.  Besides, I sometimes start with the story first and then look for a game system I can mold into what I want.  That is how I got interested in Hero System in the first place.  I had written short story about super heroes doing their laundry for a creative writing class and wound up writing some more stories within the same universe until I had a cohesive super hero universe.  At first, I thought about expanding the stories and trying to publish them in a short story collection.  I have since decided I have a long ways to go before I am good enough for professional writing but came to the inclusion that the universe might be fun to turn into a gaming universe instead and went looking for a system to put it in.  I had owned GURPS and DC Heroes before, but I didn't think their mechanics really matched what I wanted, and I had already gotten rid of all of my books for them and decided I want to shop around instead.  I came across this site and ordered the PDF for 6e and decided it would work for what I wanted to do.  The game never got off the ground.  I live in a small population area and never found enough players willing to try their luck with an inexperienced GM in a system and genre that just isn't locally popular.

 

So, I still remain loyal to Hero, but I don't remain true.  I look for game systems to match how I think the mechanics will work with my ideas and for one that I can actually find local players for.

[Michael Hopcroft]

One could make an interesting campaign by crossing Star Wars with Superdimensional Fortress Macross (one of the three component series of Robotech). Veritech fighters with compatible weaponry would be a lot more flexible than X-Wings in some ways, and not others (you can't fit a hyperdrive in a Veritech because it needs the space for the legs and arms). They would run rings around the Imperial mecha (aka AT-AT Walkers). The bewildered crew of a Macross-like vessel finding themselves caught in the middle of the Galactic Civil War (and their original enemies finding they are a much smaller dog than they thought they were) would be a challenge for them, the Rebels, and the Empire. And I'm sure you can find many other ways to run them through the blender.

[Anaximander]

I'll have to take your word on that.

[Ninja-Bear]

I’ve said this before but I’ll mention it on this thread. Back when when the Internet was new and dial up, I saw other people’s WEG inspired websites. And the feeling I got from them was that just about anything Sci-fi could be included in a Star Wars games. Just might have to have some of the serial numbers filed off.

[Anaximander]

On 2/12/2020 at 7:50 PM, Ninja-Bear said:

I’ve said this before but I’ll mention it on this thread. Back when when the Internet was new and dial up, I saw other people’s WEG inspired websites. And the feeling I got from them was that just about anything Sci-fi could be included in a Star Wars games. Just might have to have some of the serial numbers filed off.

 

The versatility of the Star Wars universe is a big reason why I like over the Star Trek universe for roleplaying purposes.  It also has a lot to do with why I like the idea of super hero roleplaying games.

[tkdguy]

It is a big galaxy with different civilizations having different tech levels. 

[Ninja-Bear]

1 hour ago, tkdguy said:

It is a big galaxy with different civilizations having different tech levels. 

Agreed but is it me this seems to work with Star Wars but not so much with Star Trek.

[tkdguy]

17 minutes ago, Ninja-Bear said:

Agreed but is it me this seems to work with Star Wars but not so much with Star Trek.

 

The anything goes approach does seem to work better with Star Wars than with Star Trek, although the latter has had its share of oddities.

[Duke Bushido]

The hardest thing for me with Star Trek (in spite of being a fan), is that the willingly die, over and over, just go look at a planet. 

 

"step onto this little disk; the machine will rip you apart at an atomic level and-" 

 

 

Dude!  I am not a physician, but I know what the most immediate result of that is! 

 

And it's confirmed multiple times with "we can fix this by killing the current flawed version and rebooting off an older version stored in the system." 

 

And none of them seem to care! 

 

F'kin astounding! 

 

 

[Ninja-Bear]

I used to be a Trekkie.  I still like TOS however after the episode of Prime Directive on Enterprise, I walked away. I hold Capt. Archer (and the writers) guilty of genocide. Worst episode ever.

[Duke Bushido]

1 hour ago, Ninja-Bear said:

I used to be a Trekkie.  I still like TOS

 

I strongly dislike the phrase " the original series." 

 

It implies that there were others....