was thinking of running a game with a similar tone and style to pic related. Was wondering what advice you might have on how to manage that and incorporate a more pulpy old school sci-fi-fi tone.
Some general questions >What system to use? Was thinking of traveler or GURPS
> How to handle alien races? Should I come up with a pre set list or allow players to design their own?
> General setting and world building advise? How should I handle running and designing a campaign in a pulpy space opera style world when I come from a background of running and playing more gritty and lethal systems ( WFRP, AD&D 2e etc.)
Traveller is best for a generic space opera setting. It has some guidelines for creating your own races, too.
If you really want to ape GotG, though, I would suggest a more narrative system, or even a superhero system.
Easton Smith
Why not use Starfinder? It just came out.
The envoy and solarian are too strong though, they're way overpowered.
Ayden Lewis
My suggestion: DONT DO THIS
James Martinez
Don't want to ape it 100%, just want to give the campaign a similar tone of pulpy space opera for the players to muck about in. I want to give the players a bit of a relief from our ongoing vampire dark ages campaign which in which the parties situation is going down hill very quickly with no good fortune in sight for the near future, so I want something to lift the mood bit so that they don't get oversaturated with tragedy.
Matthew Nguyen
Players should get to design their own races. Puply sci-fi tends to go very, very high on the Drake Equation.
As for the game itself, basically what some pulp stuff, or stuff that's trying to BE pulp, and then just transplant it to a space setting. Indiana Jones is your go-to in this case, especially Temple of Doom. In fact, the "Planet of Doom" practically writes itself.
>Heroes begin the adventure trying to make a deal >It goes south and they have to flee in their spaceship >The spaceship malfunctions and crash-lands onto a primitive planet >The planet's tribesfolk are friendly and helpful, but being plagued by evil raiders who have stolen their children, and beg for aid >Investigating the "raiders" finds no evidence of wrongdoing at first, and the raiders claim to be there for peaceful exploration purposes. There is even an official envoy from the Interstellar Federation there who thinks everything checks out. >But something seems weird about their fortress >Investigating the fortress leads the heroes to find a hidden mine where the children are being forced to mine for Sankarium, which is vital for lightspeed travel >The leader of the raiders is some Mola Ram looking motherfucker who wants to take over the galaxy with the massive Sankarium desposits on the planet >He betrayed Shiva >Players fight the raiders, free the children, call the Federation for help >Showdown on the bridge just like in Temple of Doom, only in this case the bridge is on a spaceship or something (maybe an umbilical connecting two spaceships?) >Mola Ram is thrown from the bridge at the end and eaten by Space Crocodiles >The Interstellar Federation shows up, mops up the rest of the raiders, rewards the heroes >Children are returned to the primitive people, who also reward the heroes, and become members of the Federation >Close on the heroes standing around and smiling/laughing while a celebration happens.
Lucas Rodriguez
Why Not?
Carter Torres
Oh, also, this means you get to use what I personally think is the best piece of music from the Indiana Jones franchise, which is the Slave Children's Crusade. I like it even more than the Raider's March.
In what way? Please elaborate your statements, otherwise they make no sense.
Ian Watson
Use something that rolls super fast with little space for rules slowing you guys down.
Get Warbirds, learn how perfect that is, and then get the Space safe expansion. It's perfect.
Also, a bit of advice if I may. Don't go for pure failure if they fail to make a check. If they got close, then try giving them what they want to do, but with some kind of inconvenience or misfortune also happening. Something to fit the tone.
It makes the whole thing more cinematic, which fits with your idea. These heroes rarely ever fail outright when trying something. They succeed at a cost, or maybe don't get all of what they were going for.
Jaxson Stewart
So, I will probably use traveller and allow players to make their own races if they choose to. How do I handle the setting, how much should I flesh out and how much should I build as the campaign goes along?
How do I avoid to much grim darkness in this game. (The only other sci-fi games that I have played in or run are the 40k RPGS and SLA Industries which somehow managers to be even more grim dark than 40k.)
Cameron Wood
I'm going to give you the best advice of this thread. But most people will react badly to it.
Uncharted Worlds is your poison, friend.
Elijah Bell
I am intrigued. I have never heard of it, care to give me a summery of what it is?
Ethan Cooper
Stars Without Number is OSR IN SPAAAAACE!, so if you like AD&D it could be good.
Check the YouTube videos. It's a powered by *lypse but everything is streamlined for flow of play and combat is only one roll, the rest is descriptive.
You just need to stick to your guns and make sure the theme and rock and roll feel is constant.
Kevin Johnson
I don't particularly care for powered by the apocalypse games, but I will take a look at it. Traveller does seem to be the best fit though.
Any more good pulp works or old sci-fi-fi to rip off? I am quite fond of John Carter of Mars and the series, perhaps I cold figure out a way of merging the two genres, but I don't know how well the planetary romance aspect would work with the PC's flying around on a space ship.
Also, how much should I flesh out the setting?
Henry Flores
Why not GURPS Traveller?
SJGames gave up the license last year but the pdfs are on gurps general and it sounds like you know and like the system already. GURPS Spaceships makes creating and running spaceships a snap.
Aliens should definitely be a pre-set list created by you. GURPS requires prep work from the GM, and if you're a gurps player you know that. That said, if a player comes up with a cool idea, then let him describe it and you cook up the template.
Try using the Impulse Points system (Powerups 5: Impulse buys), but make them 5pts per refreshing Destiny Point or whatever and carefully pick the available options. It's like spending Willpower in oWoD or Karma in Shadowrun. VERY cool for a cinematic feel and makes GURPS weapons fire much less lethal, which is great for space opera. It's a good add to the core system for this kind of campaign.
Doing it this way is a middle ground between setting a low-lethality rule switch like TV Action violence and staying with the default gritty realism. You could just have it be TV Action all the time (or, in keeping with the genre, for PCs and important NPCs only). But I think giving the players an expendable resource to bail them out is a nice way to keep combat tense without killing the game or ruining the tone. You want players to take big risks and for it to usually pay off in this kind of game. GURPS lets you do that, but only if you turn those options on.
Traveller is a great setting, or just use it as a skeleton to help you make your own setting.
Any other questions? I'm eager to think of ways to help you do this.
Lincoln Martin
Yes, so my hesitation with making all the races is that I was planning on running this as a secondary campaign to help maintain the tone of tragedy in my dark ages game from becoming overwhelming and give my players a bit of a break to cool of and have some fun, not needing to be scheming all the time etc.
That being said I do love GURPS although I do tend to bounce off it when I try to run it due to the prep work required. In that regard, my desire to let the players create their own races is due to the fact that part of the genre is a collection of often weird and strange races that can be members of the main cast and while I can come up with some interesting ones and use the random gem in GURPS space for more, I tend towards a more grim dark backstory and setting in most of my home-brews. Therefore I thought that letting the players play around with whatever wacky concepts they wanted as races might help in that regard and take some work off of me in the process.
What do you recommend in this regard?
Brody Robinson
>overpowered But are they at least interesting?
Oliver Baker
It's the game out?
Nathan Cox
what does this word pulpy mean? not fruit
Jose James
Oh, then... well, shit. Yeah get your players to cook up the races. Give them a 20 point budget or so.
Or even use the templates in the Action series (which includes lots of simplified rules suitable for a Space Opera game like Abstract Range Bands). Or dungeon fantasy. Switch a Chi, Sorcery, or Psi power modifier, and poof! You have cyberware or a force adept or whatever.
If it's a fun palate cleanser game played w/ beer, and if they're used to GURPS, then sure let em go hog wild.
Plus, that kind of game you really want the cliche cheesy ideas like a race of cat girls or shapeshifters or hyperintelligent shades of the color blue. For a fun off-beat tone of game, turn on those cinematic combat options so that explosions have a ton of knockback but don't do much damage, PCs who get hit take flesh wounds, etc. Then in a way the fact that you COULD play gritty realism, but very obviously make the choice not to, becomes a source of humor in itself.
Since you have a highly thematic historical game in progress with the same group, the contrast itself will probably make both games more fun.
Matthew Sanders
It's a game concept that is highly cinematic, following the narrative conventions of comic books and cheesy action movies and books. Given the choice between honoring those narrative conventions (tying up a captured player and putting him in an overly complex and easily escaped death trap, explaining your evil plan, and then leaving and assuming everything goes according to plan, for example) versus doing something that makes sense in real life, a pulp game will always go for the narrative convention.
"Pulp" refers to the cheap paper that these kinds of stories were written on in the early 20th century. The paper was grey and the little pieces of wood pulp were still visible in the paper.
Jaxon Thompson
Pulp refers to a kind of low quality paper which was heavily used in the publication of cheap books for decades in the early 20th century. The genres of Noir, two fisted adventure, cosmic horror, classic sci fi, etc. were often the subjects of these low cost books. Think grocery store magazine area paperback books now.
Caleb Jenkins
Thanks for the advice, I will take it to heart.
Any general tips for what sort of story structure and possible plot hooks etc might be a good idea.
Space opera doesn't have the same sort of generic setting that fantasy does so any advice in that regard, how I might make something that feels familiar to everyone but still has some depth and secrets to it?
Colton Jenkins
The system I've had the most fun with along those lines is probably Rogue Trader, but there's obviously the issue of it being built for the 40k setting
Logan Ross
Simple adventure stories that are style over substance, traditionally serialized in cheap low-quality magazines. Think Conan, Flash Gordon, Doc Savage, et cetera.
I would let players create their races and then build their planets-society based on what players bring.
Ryder Jenkins
I highly recommend reading the intro of Two Fisted Tales by Precis Intermedia. It has some very good research and spiel on pulp in general.
Henry Evans
> What system to use > suggesting GURPS user...
> How to handle Alien races If you're already looking at Traveler, it has guidelines for that.
> General setting and world building advice? Start off with rolling one subsector. The one where the group starts. There's rules for that. The rules are guidelines though, you can go as ape as you want with what life on any world is like, as long as you sign the respective values to each system's UWP and make it in a way in which it's in some way possible. An example for common standard world generation: > world has insane temperature, no water, or poisonous or too thick atmosphere > Pop 9 The system generally tends to make rather small worlds. And worlds where the population makes little sense. Some hands-on alteration on population, tech level and water is in order most of the time. Once you're done with one subsector, you start rolling the one they're most likely to travel to. Both for pulp and utility reasons, limit their knowledge of what systems lie where. That way they don#t start in one subsector, and end up asking what the profile of some world three subsectors away is.
What you should be asking is: > Advice on how to bring in the pulp Characters. If you want to make a pulpy traveller adventure, that will be mostly driven by the characters the players play and the characters the players encounter. Many ways in which you can make the game easier on yourself and fit the style: > The players acquire a ship that is hard to steer, but has an autopilot with a mind of it's own. Autopilot has developed a personality, will have preferences as to where they want to go, and need to be persuaded if they are to be taken to a place they don't like. > contacts, rivals, allies and enemies play much larger and immediate role, every player character has more of them. Think Yandere scout that is chasing one of the crew members, pirates that want something that player characters don't know is on the ship
John Young
Cont > encounter or get enlisted by rich faggy patron who sends group out to run an unnecessary and unnecessarily dangerous errand, upon further inspection, turns out patron would have granted players what they wanted without it had they asked to skip the errand. > broker employer who asks to be transported or to join, but every world players visit has people he ripped off, calling for his head and that of anyone who gets in the way > scientist employer who asks to be transported. Works with restoring ancient alien artifacts. When approached in little lab he sets up in ship, always has some gadget that could be broken/completely op if used properly, but which is arbitrarily useless due to how carelessly scientist uses them or due to disinterest on part of scientist in using artifacts, rather than discovering the meaning and purpose of new ones > slut npc that fucks everyone either one by one, or all at once during collective alcohol-or-other-nerve-toxin-driven blackout, next thing they know entire party has a hangover and several kinds of trouble lined up including a deadly disease and only rich npcs have access to the cure.
Adam Hughes
Since we are on topic what is your favorite pulpy race?
Lucas Murphy
>Thanks for the advice, I will take it to heart.
My pleasure! GURPS general and the sjgames forumites are really helpful and with the dungeon fantasy boxed sex coming out there's hunger for a space Opera version. So plenty of people will want to help.
>Any general tips for what sort of story structure and possible plot hooks etc might be a good idea. >Space opera doesn't have the same sort of generic setting that fantasy does so any advice in that regard,
IMO that's what makes it space opera, that you have a fantasy structure with superficially sci fi style and scenery. You know the old joke about ice planets, forest planets, "it was raining on Earth that day" stems from the trope that a planet is just a fantasy location writ large (but in practice is very small in terms of how much room the players have to play in).
>how I might make something that feels familiar to everyone but still has some depth and secrets to it?
IMO use Guardians of the Galaxy or Buffy the Vampire Slayer or RTD era Doctor Who or Chuck or Firefly as your template. Have a mindless action plot and a feels plot operating in parallel. By which I mean at the same time and involving the same player characters, but also sharing thematic similarities. When the game gets too silly, shift gears to the feels plot. When the game gets too serious, shift to the action plot. If it's done right, the shifts can be natural and organic.
Rocket is a great example in the first movie. He's comic relief... right up until you hit your point of suspension of disbelief. Then suddenly they make you feel bad for him. But not too much, because suddenly he's ridiculous again. It's a VERY hard tonal shift to pull off but we'll worth it if you can manage it. The biggest thing about space opera is that it should be about very relatable day to day issues which are made larger and more dramatic
PS Firefly was based in part on a Traveller game that Joss whedon played in college, do it comes full circle.
Benjamin Turner
Try Hero. It's less autistic than GURPS while still having tactical depth, is still 3d6 based but starts assuming at least more cinematic levels of play and goes up to superheroic scales and beyond, and is the original "stat me" RPG.
> Hero System 6th Edition Trove m3g4 #F!06Q2kY7I!r2JY-moVxFUGl90w6LDa2A
> Hero System 5th Edition Trove m3g4 #F!Ym5RHIJL! Qk1NgisxONlZbCQdbNYBZg
If you want to sample Hero check out Hero System Basic Rulebook from the 6e trove or Sidekick from the 5e trove. If you want to go whole hog then go for Vol 1: Character Creation and Vol. 2: Combat and Adventuring in the 6e trove or Hero System 5th Edition Revised from the 5e trove. Hero is generally backwards compatible from 1e to 6e so don't worry much.
If you want a pulpy space opera game then check out Pulp Hero and Star Hero from the 5e trove and then also give Star Hero a look from the 6e trove. If you want Guardians of the Galaxy then also give Champions a look from both editions.
I hope this interests you but have a good game nonetheless.
Anthony Hill
> aliens If you choose something like Fate, GURPS, Hero, or Savage Worlds then let your players design their own races. If you choose something like Warhammer or D&D then make a big, robust list of aliens and at least hear out your players' ideas. Try refluffing predesigned races, maybe try tweaking them on a case by case basis.
Isaac Smith
Savage Worlds is made for pulpy fun. You could take a look at its Sci Fi Companion or maybe its Flash Gordonesque Slipstream.
Grayson Bennett
Yeah. Lock picking a door to a ships store room and failing will like either set off an alarm, or the other side of the door is full of sleeping space pirates.
Nathaniel Evans
>Any more good pulp works or old sci-fi-fi to rip off?
Forbidden Planet is a personal favorite, in terms of setting. It really did a good job of making alien stuff seem alien, and has the first ever Robby The Robot.
Otherwise Outlaw Star isn't exactly old, but its pulpy, I think the way it explained FTL travel was with stuff called Aether streams that the ships sailed on.
Kayden Clark
Really giving planets a flavor is a must. Make them really weird and distinct from eachother, beyond just desert world magma world jungle world.
Pic Semi-Related. That netflix voltron show has some very pretty and weird looking planets and places. A world of giant stone spikes with gas swirling between them that screw with sensors, A living animal planet that grows starship fuel that's being abused for its resources by the baddies, A rebel outpost that's secured and hidden in an asteroid that orbits a blue sun thats being tugged between two black holes.
Nolan Thompson
>Hero >Less autistic then GURPS Even Doctor Destroyer thinks you're a monster, user.
Landon Allen
>system I would keep to a rules lite system. There are a bunch of pulp science fiction games out there already. FATE, Savage Worlds, Space 1889, Rocket Age. >aliens I don't see how player input on alien races is a bad thing, as long as you have the final say. Usually for stuff like that I have the players come up with the concept, and I handle the mechanical aspects. >setting I go with a general outline, with a couple of fleshed out encounters and go from there. That way when the players express interest in a particular aspect or locale, they are handing you the plot hooks.
I would read a few pulp science fiction stories to get a feel for the genre. Or listen to/ watch some of the old serials.
Angel Green
OP here, I would just like to add that I am more familiar with planetary romance such as John Carter of Mars and Kane of Old Mars than space opera, so I was wondering what advice you might have of merging certain aspects of the two genres so that I have some source material to draw on that I am more familiar with.
Easton Bell
>OP wants to play a space opera game >"Why not used refluffed Pathfinder"?
I will never understand you people
Gabriel Sanchez
Eh, pulpy space opera is often fantasy... IN SPAAAAACE. So I can sorta see the draw.
Except of course, I don't trust Paizo to do anything that isn't shit.
Robert Watson
Ignore the idiot, thats the new shitty troll meme about Starfinder. Supposedly the solarion and envoy are underpowered according to a few autists and now the trolls are doing their evil little shit by spreading as much misinfo via terrible copypasta memes.
Its not refluffed pathfinder though. There has been some rather interesting changes to mechanics and how the game math functions.
Blake Baker
A functional d20 system? I'm very skeptical.
Owen Anderson
Something whacky and quirky that redditors can be invested in ironically, it's really no surprise Veeky Forums is a big fan of it
Austin Hughes
>Its not refluffed pathfinder though. There has been some rather interesting changes to mechanics and how the game math functions.
Explain.
Liam Green
I understand your pain. I don't hate pathfinder on it's own, but the amount of twisting, refluffing, and forcing into genres that other systems already exists for makes me despise it.
Cameron Collins
If it's not a 3.x spinoff, there's a more than fair chance that it's functional.
It is, though
Hudson Campbell
My group is hungry for horror so what do they hope someone runs? Carrion Crown of course. Next best thing they can come up with (single member admittedly) is Call of Cthulhu... d20. Same guy even says he heard that Chaosium, BRP CoC's rules are "weird." Guy even ways to run Monte Cook's World of Darkness. My group is currently so enamored with Pathfinder while I'm not. It's playable, sure, and it's not the game itself that raises my hackles so much as their current fixation on it.
Christian Gonzalez
That doesn't reassure me, user, it's a different flavor of shit at most.
