Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

 

Well of Souls has a lot of cool races' date=' powers and reasons for conflict. It even mixes magic and tech.[/quote']

There's been a Well World RPG, by TAG Industries, published in 1985. As I recall, it sucked.

 

I'd like to see a good adaptation.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

 

The Witches of Karres might be a good setting for a Space Opera campaign.

Agreed.

Sector General by James White. The pubished stories tend to focus on the hospital station' date=' but it's a well developed universe with a plethora of interesting aliens.[/quote']

Agreed.

TITAN' date=' [b']WIZARD[/b], and DEMON by John Varley were almost tailor-made as an SF setting. Weird civilizations inside a sentient L5 colony around Saturn.

 

Lilith: A Snake in the Grass, Charon: A Dragon at the Gate, Medusa: A Tiger by the Tail, and CERBERUS: A Wolf in the Fold by Jack Chalker are similarly almost tailor-made. These are the planets where an interstellar civilization inters its mega-criminals. Each has some weird planetary phenomenon that approximates some type of magic.

Agreed.

 

I really need to think of some more settings so that I can do more than just post "agreed" with all the suggestions that came after my last batch...

[Chuckg]

Re: Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

 

re: "The Road Not Taken"...

 

There's also Alan Dean Foster's 'A Call To Arms' trilogy, which involves...

 

OK, on the one side, you got an alliance of alien races, who are fighting this other alliance of alien races.

 

The other alliance is a very horrifying thing -- the Amplitur, the race who runs it, have mind control powers. One good headwhack and you are their happy slave. Even more horrifying, they think that they're the good guys -- that they are benevolent overlords who are removing free will from the universe so that all can live together in peace and harmony. Sadly, misguided souls (i.e. -- everybody who ain't already their slave) are selfishly attempting to maintain their brutish, violent ways rather than accept Amplitur harmony (i.e. -- not wanting to *become* their slave).

 

The problem is, the Amplitur are really making as much advantage out of the ability to turn anybody they capture into a loyal soldier, so the other alliance has been losing by attrition for centuries.

 

And then the battle lines shift to include this primitive mudball called Earth. And the free alliance discovers us first, and goes 'dammit, they have no stardrive, only primitive (20th century) tech, they can't be the new ally we need. ah well, let's make contact anyway and tell them what's coming for them. maybe we can at least get some foot sloggers out of the deal.'

 

So, their scout team talks to the first person they snatched, who turns out to be a student peace activist. Not believing their tales of the Amplitur, and thinking that it's just cynical alien propaganda by this bunch of cynical alien users who want to make Earth the 'Third World pawn' in their grotty war, he tries to sabotage their pilot project by rigging the results to show that Earthmen are useless for fighting.

 

So when they ask him to point out 40 or so subjects for a platoon-sized troop test, he deliberately picks the least promising prospects he can find that aren't so obviously lame that even aliens would notice the jig was up -- housewives, computer geeks, etc. He deliberately avoids anybody with combat experience or aptitude.

 

And so the aliens, testing out if humans can serve as infantry, take this provisional platoon, run them through a few months of boot camp, load 'em up, and send them out to where the ground front is raging on another planet.

 

And they, despite being 40 random schmos with only weekend warrior training, proceed to absolutely kick the *** of everything in their way, including some of the Amplitur's best combat troops.

 

It was at this point that, with dawning horror, our activist friend realized that humanity's evolution was an aberration -- every other sentient race known had apparently evolved sentience in reaction to either environmental conditions, or much wimpier predators than Terra had. Humanity was the only known race in the universe with adrenal glands, or the capacity for berserker rage, or hundreds of thousands of years of natural selection and refining the art of killing things just as intelligent and well-supplied with tools as they were. (i.e. -- each other).

 

(quote from the book -- "I can't believe it! These readings are impossible! It's like, whenever they feel threatened past a certain threshold, their minds turn off!)

 

So the free alliance thanked him for finding them such good warriors, and revealed their presence to Earth at large, just before the Amplitur front moved that far.

 

... and then they saw what real Earth combat types could do. Now remember that, on sheer adrenaline-fueled rage or panic, ordinary Earthmen with guns were matching the Amplitur's veteran line infantry vassals.

 

Try to imagine what the free aliens felt like when they witnessed what the US Marine Corps, Spetsnaz, SAS, etc. in action. 'Like rampaging angry gods' is an understatement.

 

There was genuinely serious discussion among the free alien alliance (I can't remember the name) if winning the war vs the Amplitur Collective, and preserving the capacity for free-willed sentient thought in the universe, was actually worth the risk of letting humanity off the planet.

 

And then the point was rendered moot when the Amplitur's command council captured their first human... and found out, the hard way, that Amplitur telepathy doesn't work on humans. (Actually, the problem was, it *did* work -- it's just, the raw savagery of the human reptile brain, those things we keep buried in our primal id, are the very first things that any Amplitur sees whenever they try to plug into a human head... and it's intense enough to put them into catatonic shock.)

 

They also discovered that while every other known race was calm and rational about facing threats, humanity is the one that invented the philosophy of "Maybe I'm gonna die, but I'm taking all you SOBs *with* me." (Of the eight Amplitur in the room with them for his initial programming, the human prisoner had beaten six of them to death with a chair before the guards finally managed to bust down the door, get inside, and finish killing him.)

 

That was book one.

 

Books 2 and 3... well, suffice it to say, by the end of book 3:

 

a) the Amplitur are long gone

humanity is the dominant superpower in the universe

c) all of the other alien races are hiding fearfully in dark corners and going 'so, what happens to us when their good mood *stops*?' 'maybe we should gang up on them first!' 'and maybe we'd all get killed?' etc, etc, etc.

 

Edit -- and no, it doesn't end with humanity killing everyone.

[Susano]

Re: Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

 

Books 2 and 3... well, suffice it to say, by the end of book 3:

 

a) the Amplitur are long gone

humanity is the dominant superpower in the universe

c) all of the other alien races are hiding fearfully in dark corners and going 'so, what happens to us when their good mood *stops*?' 'maybe we should gang up on them first!' 'and maybe we'd all get killed?' etc, etc, etc.

 

Edit -- and no, it doesn't end with humanity killing everyone.

 

So.... basically, it is a somewhat more serious treatment of the short story With Friends like These? (Which features the tag line of "What do we do when there are no more Yops?")

[sinanju]

Re: Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

 

So.... basically' date=' it is a somewhat more serious treatment of the short story [i']With Friends like These[/i]? (Which features the tag line of "What do we do when there are no more Yops?")

 

Pretty much, yeah. In addition to the humans being insanely aggressive by galactic standards, we're...well, pretty much all-around physical marvels. Humans aren't as strong as the strongest alien race--but we run a close second. We're not as fast as the fastest alien race--but we run a close second. We don't swim as well as the aquatic races...but we _swim_. It goes on in that vein. Even the softest couch potato of a pacifist is a terrifyingly aggressive engine of destruction by every other races's standards.

[ShinDangaioh]

Re: Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

 

Since the GURPS sourcebook is long out of print:

 

Lensman

 

and with E.E. Doc Smith in mind:

 

Skylark

 

Moving into comedy space opera:

 

Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire

[ghost-angel]

Re: Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

 

Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire

I keep waiting but her never arrives....

[Susano]

Re: Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

 

Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire

 

I'd buy this in a heartbeat.

[Mantis]

Re: Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

 

Seeing some of these on the video store shelves recently made me think of Gerry Anderson's work:

 

* Thunderbirds

* UFO

* Captain Scarlet

* Space: 1999

 

[Of course, bad luck if your character is John Tracy.... ]

[Curufea]

Re: Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

 

Thunderbirds I's say was more pulp than scifi.

I have UFO and Space:1999 - wonderful stuff.

[tkdguy]

Re: Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

 

First Wave was a great series; I'd like to see that translated into game terms. I heard of the GURPS version of The Prisoner, but I never found a copy.

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

 

First Wave was a great series; I'd like to see that translated into game terms.

I've thought the same time every time I've seen it for the last couple of years.

 

One of these days maybe I'll sit down and do it.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

 

The Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison and the Retief series by Kieth Laumer are very good, but not so much for their universes as for their empahsis on charming rouges as their heroes (thief-conman-secret agent "Slippery Jim" DiGriz and iconoclastic diplomat Retief respectively). Science fiction, both in media and in gaming, needs more rogues.

[Markdoc]

Re: Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

 

Julian May's Pleistocene series seemed pretty much ready-made for gaming the first time I read it. High tech, psionics, nasssty monsters and all wrapped up in a limited, well-detailed setting, making it easy to GM. Most of the major characters just scream "player character" - the players could get a wide choice of powers or chracter types, but not so much that the characters would be "samey".

 

Likewise, Joe Haldeman's "All my sins remembered" would be a good setting. In the book, prime agents worked alone, but given that the major character routinely got betrayed, captured and tortured, maybe his organisation might reconsider, oh, I dunno, giving him a little, you know, backup? As a game, the players would get to reconfigure their characters via multiform and then get dropped somewhere new with a definite goal, but little external support: an ideal setting for the GM. Something new and different, but you don't have to worry about the players running out on your scenario. At the same time, the players should have enough operational freedom not to feel too compressed.

 

cheers, Mark

[Nyrath]

Re: Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

 

If you want a sort of pulp-SF with valiant heros performing feats of derring-do to rescue their true love from the clutches of hideous aliens, it's hard to beat Jack Williamson's The Legion of Space series. Probably the easiest way to get them is to look up Three From The Legion in http://www.bookfinder.com

 

There are daring escapes through ventilator ducts, advanced aliens threatening the entire solar system, starship chases through deadly nebulae, adventures in sinister alien jungles, combat with proton-pistols, crude spears, and hand-to-hand, what's not to like?

[Greg]

Re: Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

 

Something I just started looking at the other day was some sort of amalgamation of Piers Anthony. In particular Mute, the Cluster Series and Orn, Ox and Omnivore.

 

Androids, Teleportation for FTL travel, Consciousness transfers for budgetary and ecological reasons and an increase in psychic powers with the caveat that nobody have more than one power (keep power levels low)

[theFatMan]

Re: Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

 

Someone has already mentioned many of my favorites.

The Pleistocene Exile (and related novels) by Julian May would be excellent. Cool psionics and a very intriguing setting.

Mike Resnick's novels (and Firefly by Joss Whedon) for that interesting wild-west frontier sci-fi vibe.

I would add in David Drake's Hammer's Slammers (top notch military sci-fi about a mercenary tank company). Check out 'The Sharp Edge' and the related 'The Forlorn Hope' to see non-tank related entries in the series. David Drake's Northworld trilogy would be interesting,too. Could legitimately go with either StarHero or Champions for it.

Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light. Epic novel set on a world ruled by tech-enhanced psi's who have set themselves up as the Hindu gods. Would also be a nifty setting for a very weird FantasyHero campaign.

Ringworld (there was a game based on it, but I don't remember who made it) would be very neat (actually Niven's whole Known Space timeline would rock).

That's all I can think of for now, sure I'll come up with more later.

[Susano]

Re: Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

 

Ringworld (there was a game based on it' date=' but I don't remember who made it) would be very neat (actually Niven's whole Known Space timeline would rock).[/quote']

 

Chaosium.

 

I used to own the RINGWORLD RPG and the RINGWORLD COMPANION, but ended up getting rid of them....

[Kraven Kor]

Re: Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

 

I am going to be running a campaign loosely based on Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles books. A very believable socio-political setup in those books, and it offers a wide range of "plot hooks."

 

Of course, I am always tempted to run a game in the Ender's Game setting. If only to build Dr. Device with champions rules

[Dale A. Ward]

Re: Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

 

I am going to be running a campaign loosely based on Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles books. A very believable socio-political setup in those books' date=' and it offers a wide range of "plot hooks."[/quote']

 

~whimper~

 

Why can't you live near me?!?

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

 

I am going to be running a campaign loosely based on Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles books. A very believable socio-political setup in those books, and it offers a wide range of "plot hooks."

 

Of course, I am always tempted to run a game in the Ender's Game setting. If only to build Dr. Device with champions rules

If my memory serves me right some of us gave that a try a while back.

It might have been in the Plantbusters thread.

I know I've messed around with trying to stat it out before, with a convoluted build involving an Uncontrolled, Continuous, Sticky, Ranged Body Transfer to Megascale Area of Effect, IIRC.

[Chuckg]

Re: Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

 

I am going to be running a campaign loosely based on Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles books. A very believable socio-political setup in those books' date=' and it offers a wide range of "plot hooks."[/quote']

 

GURPS Vorkosigan status update.

[Kraven Kor]

Re: Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

 

GURPS Vorkosigan status update.

 

It is sacrilege to convert such fabulous science fiction into such garbage of a game system. (Sorry, I hate Gurps with the fiery passion of 10,000 suns. Its only redeeming factor was that it was not Palladium.)

[John Desmarais]

Re: Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

 

It is sacrilege to convert such fabulous science fiction into such garbage of a game system. (Sorry' date=' I hate Gurps with the fiery passion of 10,000 suns. Its only redeeming factor was that it was not Palladium.) [/quote']

 

Nah, this great news. DOJ has shown no interest in spending the money to license things like this (and I can't really say I blame them); while the GURPS books of this type tend to be well researched, well written, and (more importantly) easily translated to Hero System.

[Kraven Kor]

Re: Star Hero fictional settings we haven't seen

 

Nah' date=' this great news. DOJ has shown no interest in spending the money to license things like this (and I can't really say I blame them); while the GURPS books of this type tend to be well researched, well written, and (more importantly) [b']easily translated to Hero System[/b].

 

Yeah, I'll grab this if it comes out for the setting info. I don't even bother converting GURPS to HERO, I just create it my way. GURPS is easily converted, but I definitely don't want to keep the GURPS "playstyle," so I just start from scratch and ignore any GURPS "stats."