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Markozeta
2010-07-24, 12:13 AM
I'd like to start up a campaign of some kind or something, but I'm new to this idea. Been mostly focusing on other things.

Anyways, heading to comic con since I live near San Diego. I have a kind of vague idea of what I'd like to see in a game, was wondering if someone could point me in a good direction of what to get.

The setting I envision is a world where the players are in an interplanetary shuttle and are attacked midway. They are rescued by a high-level NPC who also contains a scientist aboard. The scientist is able to take items that the players come across and fusion them with a nuclear fusion reactor (mass to energy) to form new items similar to a combination of the items they have (example: slinky + bar = extenda-bar). He is also able to make copies of items discovered, but since matter can not be created, the scientist needs ingredients to make the new items.

Anyways, the attackers are an invading empire of aliens. There would be some twists along the way, and the high-level NPC would eventually be removed once the players could fend for themselves. In this way, I envision the primary campaign (4-5 sessions or so) would essentially dissolve the initial strike force. However, the main cause of the alien invasion is something that would be carried out in the secondary campaign, involving twists I have not worked out yet, probably involving teleportation as the motive of the main plot ( not time travel - time travel is a bit to much of a headache). This secondary session would be more or less contingent on the success of the primary. This is sort of like killing Xykon before revealing the snarl "main" plotline - it tells the story to begin with.

All that being said, is there a set of rule books written where I can do those complex item interactions? I was thinking of taking a standard "sci-fi" campaign book and essentially equating items based upon their vendor sell value (slinky (50 gold) + bar (100 gold) = extension bar (150 gold)), as a way to make "fair" substitutes.

Markozeta
2010-07-24, 05:47 PM
No replies. :-(

DabblerWizard
2010-07-24, 09:21 PM
It sounds like you're looking for a system that supports Sci-fi themes and genres.

Here are my suggestions:

- The only "true" sci-fi system that I know of, is Star Wars RPG. I've read through the main player's guide (if that's what it's called) and the content looked creative and interesting.

I have heard, however, that WOTC plans to no longer update its contract with Lucas Arts, which means that it will likely no longer create new books for this system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Roleplaying_Game_%28Wizards_of_the_Coast %29

- A more "sandbox" system that supposedly allows you to create anything you want, within reason, is GURPS. From what I understand, they have extra books that allow for genre-specific play.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurps

- My final suggestion, which may be the most helpful, is to ask sellers at the Con what systems work best with sci-fi themes.

There's a warning attached to this suggestion of course. Ask a car salesman if you should buy his car, and he will tell you "yes".

Markozeta
2010-07-25, 12:56 AM
That looks pretty cool. I think I'll look into GURPS. I've enjoyed several games from Steve Jackson, especially Munchkin. Thanks for the advice - I was indeed looking for more of an opinion before heading to the "dealership".