New Sci-fi Campaign

Having talked to a few people over the last few weeks I’m go to start running a Sci-Fi campaign. I have a few people currently (2-3) who are interested, if anyone else is interested please say (I’m ideally looking for a couple of more players, no more than 6 total). The plan currently is Sunday afternoon, at either my flat (or an alternative flat), roughly every other week. It won’t start for a few weeks yet (I’m in the UK on business in two weeks), but if we get a group we could maybe meet to discuss character generation.

I’m planning to run the StarDrive campaign setting from the Alternity game (a game published by TSR/WotC around 1999). We will take the game easily to start with as I doubt anyone has played this game much (and I’m probably the only person with a copy of the rulebooks). If your interested in finding out about the system the Fast-Play version of the rule (essentially a scaled-down version of the game) can be found on the old Alternity fan site (http://www.alternityrpg.net), which will give you a rough idea of how the game works (you can even read the GMs part of the fast play rules - there isn’t anything confidential in them).

The campaign will be a frontier-based space opera. How exactly it will work depends on the characters you make, but generally I intend to have you in your own personal ship (it could be a military ship, or a private ship owned by you - I’ll let you decide the types of characters you want to play). The campaign will (probably) include lots of political intrigue, a few space battles, alien bug hunts and a little space horror.

In case anyone is interested. Here is some background information on the campaign setting. I have some more information basic information on the various nations and alien species (humans make up the main population but other species exist) if anyone wants it.

[quote]
The year is 2501. The “Stellar Ring”, an area of space on the Orion Arm of the Milky Way roughly 200-300 light year in radius around Earth, contains the main star systems of the “Stellar Nations” of the 26th Century. Outside this ring lies the less-developed star systems. The most important of these is a region of space known as “The Verge”. The Verge lies about 100 light years from the main Stellar Ring, but is seen as a major stepping stone to the potential exploration of the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way, and beyond. Exploration of the Verge started in 2315, with most stellar nations starting to colonise star systems; then the “Second Galactic War” (GW2) erupted.

Sparked by the mutant uprising of Tau Ceti of 2346, GW2 consumed the whole Stellar Ring and lasted for 126 years, until the Treaty of Concord was signed in 2472. During the Battle of Kendai in 2376 the Kendai drivesat relay, the only link for FTL communication between the Verge and the Stellar Ring was destroyed. With travel between the Verge and the Stellar Ring taking nearly a month, no communication link, and the militaries stretched thin, the Verge was essentially abandoned by the stellar nations. Of the 24 stellar nations existing at the start of the war only 11 survived, plus one new stellar nation formed by a declaration of independence. As part of the Treaty of Concord a 13th stellar nation, the Galactic Concord, was formed. This stellar nation was designed to be a galactic peace keeping force and works with oversight from the other stellar nations. The Concord manages its own star systems like any other nation, which, along with personal, were donated from the various stellar nations (mostly war-ravaged and old, dead, stellar nation territories). The Concord territory is unique in that its territories are spread all over the stellar ring, rather than being a unified portion of space.

In 2496, by the efforts of the Concord, the Kendai drivesat relay was repaired and communication with the Verge was re-established. One of the first messages received (dated from 2489) was a distress call from Hammer’s Star, a star system at the furthest point of Verge - the system was under attack by unknown forces. The following year the Concord lead an expedition to the Verge and discovered the colony of Silver Bell, in Hammer’s Star, completely levelled. The reaction of the Verge to the reappearance of the various stellar nations was mixed. Most planets in the Verge were used to their independence and, therefore, were not happy with the re-appearance of their parent stellar nations (some of whom believe the planets are still their property). Other planets were still locked in proxy wars for their parent stellar nation, a legacy of GW2, and are more than happy to gain support from the re-emerging nations.

Contesting claims by stellar nations and independent Verge planets, the Galactic Concord trying to keep peace, unexplored planets, planets with archaeological artefacts from long-extinct alien civilisations, and the mysterious aliens that destroyed the Silver Bell colony somewhere out there. All in all, the Verge is a melting pot of potential conflicts and opportunities.[/quote]

I’ll take that bet. :mrgreen:

Alternity is an interesting game. Kind of a shame that it never really caught on, even though TSR pushed it pretty hard.

How many sessions do you have in mind? I might be interested, but don’t know to how many Sunday afternoons I could commit.

[quote="-H-"]
How many sessions do you have in mind? I might be interested, but don’t know to how many Sunday afternoons I could commit.[/quote]
Same here.

Definitely interested - but not if it’s every week. Twice a month I could do.

I think it suffered from being launched about the time Wizards were buying out TSR, then it got canned when d20 came out.

[quote="-H-"]
How many sessions do you have in mind? I might be interested, but don’t know to how many Sunday afternoons I could commit.[/quote]
I’m was really planning to keep running until people got bored (or I’ve had enough of people picking at my science :angry: ). However, it would not be every week anyway - probably every other week but fairly flexible, ideally about twice a month. (I don’t really want to get in the situation where we go months between games thou).

Good (since I’ve already counted you… :wink: ).

Yep, in my fair experience with long-running campaigns, twice a month is perfect (not too much not too little), keeps the interest high enough without the feeling of burnt-out players might get when playing once a week or more.

Aaaand I would gladly sign in! XD
I tried Alternity a couple times, so I would just need to re-read some stuff.

But only if I can choose the colour of my ship. (Edit: of course, shocking pink and dark purple)

OK. I suspect we wont start for a few weeks yet (the next two Sundays I’m busy), unless people can meet an evening this week to discuss character concepts, etc.

@H & Thopthes - Are either of you still interested, and do you think you will make it?

[quote=“Vastar”]
But only if I can choose the colour of my ship. (Edit: of course, shocking pink and dark purple)[/quote]
I’m afraid it will come in a rather boring colour - but if you want you can repaint it (assuming the rest of the party let you).

And of course a shocking pink and purple starship would be rather distinctive! :smiling_imp:

I’m in for that! :smiley:

I’m in for that! :smiley:[/quote]

Somehow I thought you would be; however, as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that’s a double edged sword - pick too many faults and be prepared to start calculating FTL starfalls by hand :smiling_imp:

I’m probably looking at getting the campaign going in the next few weeks (I should have PM’d everyone) - if anyone else is interested I could still take maybe one more.