Zahhak
2013-07-04, 07:23 PM
So, I'm looking for a few things with this post. Chief among them is "Am I about to do too much/is this game going to have too much background radiation to be fun?"
Basic explanation:
My group decided we wanted to do something different with an upcoming game and what we seem to have kind of worked our way down to was: we're kind of tired of generic fantasy hack-and-slash "the main characters a good, the other people are bad, go kill them", we have some interest in sci-fi (debates between hard and soft), Robinson Crusoe style "oh crap, we're stranded" style stories, Lost World-style story that focuses on exploration more than anything else, and a mystery themed story. The actual location and basic story I came up with I think covers those all pretty well
Setting:
It is many years in our future. We have found a cluster of planets that are (relatively) close to each other that can each support Earth-like life, but are about a 250 year flight from Earth even with the latest in space flight. Some colonies have been established on primarily ideological grounds. However, one planet was colonized mostly because of diminishing resources on Earth has driven a need to get rid of some excess population. Thats this group of colonists.
The planet has its own life (not intelligent though) and a vibrant ecosystem. Think the Cambrian period: 2 foot long dragon flies are nothing to bat an eye at. However, the atmosphere is toxic to humans; not immediately poisonous, but it will slowly suffocate humans and other Earth-life. So, the human population lives in massive geodesic domes made out of fortified glass. Each dome represents a neighborhood in an overall city, the neighborhood domes are connected to each other to form cities by a series of tunnels. The cities are then connected to each other by a lacework of high speed rail lines that are in tunnels themselves and have breathable air in them, incase the trains break down.
I was planning on doing some research into real-world historic and prehistoric (and hell, mythical) plants and animals, like the aforementioned 2 foot long dragonflies, that I think would inspire a sense of awe and wonder that would encourage exploration. Feel free make suggestions on where I could find some additional resources in this matter.
Basic Plot:
Another local human settlement attempted to launch an attack on the player's planet in an attempt at conquest. The attack is well coordinated, but eventually fails. The attack does manage to severely damage or destroy most of the critical high speed rail lines and communication satellites. The central government decides that the best course of action would be to get the populations in the smaller, outlying cities into more central cities (they don't have the military forces to spread out defending everyone). This includes the player's city. The players would be someone who worked with or for the government, like the military, police, bureaucrats, etc.
Because of the attack they only have intermittent communication with central authorities, which means that they cannot call in for reinforcements and due to damage to more central cities there will not be troops sent anyways. Also because of the attack, they have to walk the rail lines, and occasionally scavenge outside of the rail tunnels for supplies (ie, food).
During the walk a subplot is introduced: during the attack the player's city was attacked. Using some remote sensing devices it is discovered that the attack was from a terrorist, not a military strike. So, the leadership of the city puts together a task force to try to figure out who the terrorist was. This is something secondary to the main plot of getting from A to B with as many civilians alive as possible, and they can choose to completely ignore with no consequence.
Input?
Basic explanation:
My group decided we wanted to do something different with an upcoming game and what we seem to have kind of worked our way down to was: we're kind of tired of generic fantasy hack-and-slash "the main characters a good, the other people are bad, go kill them", we have some interest in sci-fi (debates between hard and soft), Robinson Crusoe style "oh crap, we're stranded" style stories, Lost World-style story that focuses on exploration more than anything else, and a mystery themed story. The actual location and basic story I came up with I think covers those all pretty well
Setting:
It is many years in our future. We have found a cluster of planets that are (relatively) close to each other that can each support Earth-like life, but are about a 250 year flight from Earth even with the latest in space flight. Some colonies have been established on primarily ideological grounds. However, one planet was colonized mostly because of diminishing resources on Earth has driven a need to get rid of some excess population. Thats this group of colonists.
The planet has its own life (not intelligent though) and a vibrant ecosystem. Think the Cambrian period: 2 foot long dragon flies are nothing to bat an eye at. However, the atmosphere is toxic to humans; not immediately poisonous, but it will slowly suffocate humans and other Earth-life. So, the human population lives in massive geodesic domes made out of fortified glass. Each dome represents a neighborhood in an overall city, the neighborhood domes are connected to each other to form cities by a series of tunnels. The cities are then connected to each other by a lacework of high speed rail lines that are in tunnels themselves and have breathable air in them, incase the trains break down.
I was planning on doing some research into real-world historic and prehistoric (and hell, mythical) plants and animals, like the aforementioned 2 foot long dragonflies, that I think would inspire a sense of awe and wonder that would encourage exploration. Feel free make suggestions on where I could find some additional resources in this matter.
Basic Plot:
Another local human settlement attempted to launch an attack on the player's planet in an attempt at conquest. The attack is well coordinated, but eventually fails. The attack does manage to severely damage or destroy most of the critical high speed rail lines and communication satellites. The central government decides that the best course of action would be to get the populations in the smaller, outlying cities into more central cities (they don't have the military forces to spread out defending everyone). This includes the player's city. The players would be someone who worked with or for the government, like the military, police, bureaucrats, etc.
Because of the attack they only have intermittent communication with central authorities, which means that they cannot call in for reinforcements and due to damage to more central cities there will not be troops sent anyways. Also because of the attack, they have to walk the rail lines, and occasionally scavenge outside of the rail tunnels for supplies (ie, food).
During the walk a subplot is introduced: during the attack the player's city was attacked. Using some remote sensing devices it is discovered that the attack was from a terrorist, not a military strike. So, the leadership of the city puts together a task force to try to figure out who the terrorist was. This is something secondary to the main plot of getting from A to B with as many civilians alive as possible, and they can choose to completely ignore with no consequence.
Input?