Well, the Sci-Fi Hack of Swords & Wizardry is probably going to be genre specific (but hopefully the genre can be plucked out without much ado - time will tell ;). It's still in the brainstorming phase but I am definitely going to be drawing inspiration from Classic Traveller, Crypts & Things and of course Swords & Wizardry.
Now, for me, the two best Sci-Fi franchises are Babylon 5 and Firefly, and they cover very different niches. What I want to hear is what defines the type of sci-fi you'd like to game in - your favorite genre and why.
I've have ideas for character generation and skill use and such, but for genre I'm personally all over the map - I like a lot of different types of Sci-Fi.
So, sell me on your favorite ;)
Note: this will be the labor of a hobbyist, with pieces hitting the blog as they come to me. It's pace is it's own. I wish half the folks running RPG Kickstarters would think that way before raising money instead of reverting to the hobbyist method of creation after taking money. Hey, who know, this may seem some kind of completion before Far West...
Tower in the Wasteland v2
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I recently asked my patrons what posts deserved a sequel and Tower in the
Wasteland was one of the first replies. So here's an updated version of
that d...
2 hours ago
TV: New BSG
ReplyDeleteGame: Hulks and Horrors... really cool dungeoning!
"Strange New Worlds"; episodic. Crew of a ship explores new worlds, each with a particular mystery and/or peril that must be solved or overcome. ST: ToS.
ReplyDelete"Ancient Empire and Intrigue"; vast, ancient interstellar empire is riddled with political factions vying for power and fighting off decay and/or internal or external threats. Dune, Foundation Trilogy.
"Gritty War"; mankind is engaged in a vicious war against a mysterious alien foe. Starship Troopers, Enders Game, The Forever War, Space: Above and Beyond.
Joseph Bloch's three entries sums up most of the great premises that held my interest in sci-fi over the years. I'll add:
ReplyDelete"Dropped into wild interstellar shenanigans" Mostly normal humans of the not too distant future (or right now) suddenly find themselves with the means to travel to the stars and mingle with interstellar civilization in it's infinite variety which is often threatening and sometimes weird. Farscape, Stargate, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, Starlord.
Cyberpunk. Seedy, down-to-earth premises... it's the Sword and Sorcery of scifi. Plus, cyborgs. Who doesn't like cyborgs?
ReplyDeleteIs there a name for the genre represented by the smuggler side of the Star Wars universe, Firefly, and Cowboy Bebop? That would be my second choice, which I'll elaborate on later if someone can put a name to it.
Mankind has reached the stars only to find … Earth. Birds flying through distant skies, fish swimming unknown seas, and dinosaurs ruling unexplored continents. On a hundred worlds are the children of the Earth; children of a Earth of sixty-five million years ago.
ReplyDeleteNow the newest children of Earth have outgrown their cradle and wonders who and what scattered the seeds of the Earth throughout the stars. Mankind is forging a new life among the stars but old fears and conflicts still threaten.
The year is 2403 and this is their universe.
Post-apocalyptic S&W would be cool.
ReplyDeleteOne word: CthulhuTech. The old gods are real, and they're back. And so are the interstellar Mi-Go, with battlefleets. Cthulhu + Mecha = Awesome.
ReplyDeletePersonally I love Alien(s), Firefly, Babylon 5 and Mass Effect, but I'd say that S&W and D&D in general lend themselves better to the higher end of "space opera", ala Star Wars and Mass Effect, than to "harder" sci-fi. Corrupt, crumbling interstellar empires provide an almost infinite amount of gaming potential.
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