Space Opera: Alien Profiles Part 1

Time for 3 more alien species. As before I’ll include the Randomly Generated Description from scifiideas.com first and then follow it up with my expansion of the species. I may or may not change the names of the species and home-worlds at some later date. I am planning on fleshing out each species some more, these are just general ideas of who/what they are.

Species #2
Name: Dolanans
Home-World: Gorder VI
Description: A race of thrifty therapods who wear chainmail and wear blue body paint.

Therapods are your quintessential bipedal dinosaur. When you think Velociraptor, Tyrannosaurus, or anything like them you are thinking of Therapods. So this mean they are warm-blooded, possibly covered or partially covered with “primitive” feathers and likely from predator or omnivore anscestors.

Thrifty implies that they are a frugal and mercantilism inclined race, so they will likely have a strong inclination for free-trade and shrewd negotiating.

The chainmail and body paint may represent a warrior history. The chainmail could be ancestral or handmade and part of their maturation rituals. The body paint will definitely be a religious symbol.

All in all, this sounds like a race that encourages their people to become mercenaries. A tribal or clan family/social structure with an emphasis on strength of arms would be the most common culture on the planet. Their chainmail is more than likely purely ceremonial at this point, especially when dealing with high tech weapons. It may still really be chainmail, but it’s more of a symbol of their status rather than actual protective material.

Primary Type: Warrior
Secondary Type: Religious

Species #3
Name: Sheromi
Home-World: Luminar 3
Description: A race of three-fingered mammals who are able to survive up to eight weeks without food or water and are easily insulted and quick to judge.

Mammalian species with three fingers. Okay, so appearance wise just go with generic Star Trek humanoid alien with different facial structure plus Ninja Turtle hands. Got it.

Survival with no food or water for eight weeks at a time implies they come from a harsh world with scarce safe resources. Their society could potentially live in a Hunter-Gatherer mode for a very long time before they decide to transition to agriculture. The transition to agriculture would likely be due to a weakened ecosystems or a sudden population boom. They could have even had an issue in their biosphere that made hunting and gathering a less than sustainable or effective tactic. The species would still have a great respect for the hunting and gathering lifestyle though and may choose to keep it up whenever they can, supplementing with farmed foods only when necessary.

Survival being their top priority they would concentrate on technological advancements. Let’s also assume that their ability to go weeks at a time without food and water also translates too little need to sleep and a longer life expectancy. Say a 300-500 year range. They tend to take things a little bit slower than everyone else but can also concentrate on tasks a lot easier. They like to plan ahead.

Their society may like to encourage a minimalist approach to sustenance intake, maybe consuming a meal once a month at most. Each meal is a feast though. It’s almost a religious event where they thank each animal for its sacrifice and are thankful for the bounty they are able to reap. When they can, they prefer to only consume food that they or their companions have hunted or gathered. It isn’t a requirement, as modern life has made this difficult to maintain, but when given the opportunity the species tends to take it.

When it comes to protective, environmental, and survival gear the Sheromi make some of, if not the, best. They are also all at least competent in hunting and wilderness survival as it’s required skills for them to learn while growing up.

They believe very strongly in the tradition of guest’s rights and helping travelers even if they are bitter and sworn enemies.

Primary: Tech
Secondary: a dash of Mysticism and Warrior

Species #4
Name: Basa (Bah-Sah)
Home-World: Jittania VI
Description: A race of fury (sic) marsupials. They evolved on the same world as a race of semi-intelligent mammals which they use as slaves. They share their homeworld with beings of pure energy, whom they worship as gods.

I don’t know if that’s supposed to be “Fury” or “Furry”. I’m just going to assume it’s okay to use a simile of “fury”. Passion or Rabidity sound good for beings that can physically see and interact with their “Gods”.

Passionate Marsupials. Hmmmm… all that’s popping into my head are disgusting images of humans in religious garb with kangaroo pouches. Something like a Mobi Wrap, but made of skin. *shudder* Okay, maybe I’ll just leave the appearance alone for the moment before I make myself sicker…

This entry is a little bit more complex. I need to include two more races.

Clearly the energy beings are controlling everything in this society. The enslaved, semi-intelligent mammals may not know they’re enslaved and they may be common enough that everyone has one, buys one, or is given one. It could very well be an important piece of their culture too. How well you treat your slave reflects upon your character, and so on and so forth.

Why do the energy beings allow the enslavement? Were the Semis intelligent beforehand? How long has this been the standard?

Okay, clearly they need to be fleshed out more. I’ll post them after this entry as minor/related species.

The Basa worship the energy beings as gods. Their gods clearly exist. Their religious devotion is going to be nearly unshakable. Maybe there are dissenters here and there, but I’m sure it’s heresy to speak of such things.

Everything the species does will be in service to these Energy Beings whom they will defend with only a passion that religious zealots only can.

Primary: Religious
Secondary: None

Name: Basa Sa-ani (Bah-Sah Say-on-ee) which translates to literally mean The Gods of Basa
Home-World: Unknown
Description: Vaguely humanoid shapes of pure energy of varying colors.

The Basa religious texts speak of these benevolent beings descending from the heavens and delivering a great golden age to the Basa. No one knows where they came from or why they’re doing what they’re doing, but they protect and help advance the Basa. There are rumored thousands of these beings on the Basa homeworld. Very few, if any, outsiders have ever seen one let alone spoken to them.

Name: Vallo
Home-World: Same
Description: Mamallian, semi-intelligent. They have four eyes, a muscular humanoid build, and are placental mammals.

The Vallo’s origin has always been that of one growing up in the shadow of the Basa. Two sentient species with incompatible DNA typically do not show up together on a world due to the competition between primitive societies. It appears that the two species vied for control somewhere in the distant past and the Vallo lost. The became a domesticated, semi-intelligent species while the Basa went on to obtain a more “typical” intelligence level the universe is used to seeing. Vallo are used for labor and menial tasks. They’re bred for it, they are treated well, and seem pretty happy with their lot in life.

A Vallo is given to a Basa as part of their coming of age ceremony before the Basa is sent off on a pilgrimage. The care and respect a Basa shows his Vallo is a direct reflection of whom that Basa is. A goodly Basa is seen as one who treats their Vallo well, despite the fact that the Vallo are seen as little more than animals.

Edit: Post was unfinished when originally published, fixed that issue.

Space Opera: Aliens

I’ve been trying to come up with a general set of concepts to use to populate my Space Opera setting with alien races, because what’s a sci-fi setting without aliens, right?

 

The problem is that I’ve pretty much got nothing bouncing around in my head to start off from. Anything that I make is going to either end up being clichéd, too weird, or not make any sense whatsoever. Maybe I shouldn’t care and just go with it, but I can’t make myself do it. Whenever I try I just end up with a blank screen in front of me as I attempt to write.

 

Fortunately a little bit of Google based luck while searching for images to use as inspiration lead me to a website called SciFiIdeas.com (link: http://www.scifiideas.com/). In its writing resources section it has a random alien species generator. It has helped me get a massive list of ideas to springboard off of. The Generator provides a Name, a Home-World, and a basic Description using what appears to be a fill in the blanks format. Pretty much in the same way that any dice based randomly generated tables would work which was going to be my next option. Heroes Unlimited’s Alien section is really useful for that type of thing and I may still use it to flesh out what I get stuck on.

 

Most Sci-Fi settings have various Tropes associated with their alien species. Each race fills a niche or acts as a metaphor for an aspect of humanity or a segment of human history. Star Trek is really blatant about this type of thing. Entire cultures with tens of thousands of years of civilization seem to have a single unified culture with humanity being the only one with any variety in said culture. I’ve never been a big fan of that, but I do have to do it a little bit for the sake of gaming, at least a little bit. Setting the races up in categories can help establish their general “role” in the galaxy at large.

 

Generally you’re going to see 4 primary types of races in a sci-fi setting with multitudes of species. You have the Warriors, the Techs, the Religious/Mystical, and the Bizarre. Depending upon the setting and the species you can see some overlap in these categories.

 

Warrior species tend to be your Krogans, Klingons, Mandalorians, and other war-loving races. They may or may not have a special code of honor and they respect might and tests of strength over diplomacy/politics.

 

Tech species are those who rely heavily upon technology (who aren’t humans) and are well known to be very skilled with it, very close to it, or manufacture amazing things. Quarians, the Tau, the Borg and the Protoss fall into this category. Tech species can also include species that have used other species tech to improve themselves, like the Hutts and the Krogan.

 

Religious/Mystical species tend to stand in for earth religions somehow to make a point about how silly we can be or how powerful faith is depending upon the point the author is trying to make, or they could just be and excuse for a holier than thou group with mysterious powers. In this category you’ll see the Protoss, Bajorans, the Yuuzhan Vong, and the Asari.

 

The Bizarre are those being which are utterly alien to humans. Everything I’ve previously mentioned is generally (and very improbably) humanoid. This category is where the really weird stuff goes. Races like the Tyranids/Xenomorphs/Zerg, the Buggers/Formicans, Species 8472, the Reapers, the Daleks, and other species that are extremely difficult to relate with or speak to. Their bodies don’t tend to end up looking humanoid and their thoughts are completely and totally alien to most other races.

 

With this type of guidline combined with some of these randomly generated species I think I may be able to build a few alien races now. Let’s try one out. I’m going to transcribe the original description I got directly and then work from there with my thought process included afterwards.

 

Name: Hutiglurn

Home-World: Holiday

Description: A race of bovids with green skin and large tusks. They live in self-sufficient communities and prefer their food to be ground into paste. They are staunch Atheists and find all forms of religion and superstition offensive. Their home-world is connected to orbiting space stations by huge space elevators.

 

Okay, wow. That’s a pretty solid randomly generated start to a species I’d say. So, where to start here? Apparently a Bovid is a ruminant, cloven footed animal. Cows, Antelope, Buffalo and other unbranched horn herbivores belong to it. So they have horns, tusks, green skin, and likely eat plant matter. Being ruminants it makes sense for them to prefer their food be ground up, it means that they are less likely to need to chew their food more. Horns would evolve as a defensive/mating mechanism so they’ll have some warrior tendencies. Tusks are also useful for those things as well as rooting around for edible tubers and fungi.

 

Staunch Athiesm, self-sufficient communities, and space elevator accessible stations scream a technologically adept and intelligent society that values logic, reason, and personal/communal responsibility. They are likely to not have a very strong care for art or expression unless it has practical applications.

 

Primary Type: Tech

Secondary Type: Warrior

Space Opera: The Last Bunch of Random Planets

Time for the last 3 planets to be generated at random.

Planet 11:

8 Planets; 4 moons; Earth-like atmosphere; saturated hydrosphere; Earth-like Gravity; 16 hour day; 165 day year; Ocean/Volcanic terrain; Cataclysm establishment; Alliance government; Intolerant regulations, Alien Prejudice; High-tech; Imports: Service (Terraforming)/Education (Terraforming/Economic); Exports: Gems, precious metals, jewelry/Natural Resources; 600,000 population; no spaceport; trade backwater

Planet 11 is a primordial earth that has very minimal life on it. Mostly its life is simplistic creatures living in the ocean still. There are no native land or air dwelling organisms here. People came to this planet as refugees following the destruction/devastation of their homeworld a few decades ago. This planet was colonized because no one wanted to deal with terraforming it before these refugees showed up. The refugees have been working very hard to transform this barren planet into a human-like species compatible planet so they can rebuild their culture. They import experts in financial and terraforming matters so that they can make sure they’re doing it right.

Planet 11 is not without controversy though. Because of how pristine of a condition this primordial world was in before their arrival, scientists and preservation groups have heavily protested this colonization, but since it isn’t in a government controlled system, no one can really do anything about it. The people on this planet don’t really like many visitors, and begrudgingly accept trade from other planets. They just want to be left alone to rebuild their people.

Planet 12:

9 Planets, 1 Asteroid Belt; Earth-like atmosphere; Arid Hydrosphere; 0.8 Earth Gravity; 29 hour day; 390 day year; Jungle/Forest terrain; Abandoned colony; Anarchy; Informal regulations: Alien prejudice; High tech; Imports: Service/Natural Resources (Water); Export: Minerals/Entertainment; 20 Million population; No spaceports; Off Route Trade.

Planet 12 used to be a semi-prosperous corporate colony mining precious minerals and metals until their parent company went under. Corporate abandoned them on planet as economic collapse set in. Many years of conflict ensued while people tried to instill their own order onto the planet. None were successful and no central authority exists anymore. After many years a sort of order sprang up from the remains of the colony. The spaceports that once existed are dilapidated and are being reclaimed by the deserts.

The planet is primarily composed of deserts; most plant life takes the shapes of desert and savannah plants. They protect themselves and are extremely efficient with water absorption and use. Most animals are adapted to a desert lifestyle. Water is a major import for these people because of the lack of major sources of water outside of processing the plants. Planet 12 is known very well for a very specific style of dancing entertainer groups (of course made up of beautiful women) and less known for being the originator of a primary chemical in a very popular drug. The knowledge of this chemical’s origin is a well-kept secret. The only thing most know is that the chemical originates from this planet and it’s from an organic compound that no one can reproduce. Its distance from the main trade routes and the secretive nature of its origin have made it an extremely expensive and not cost-effective for criminal enterprises and governments to go after, so whomever is selling the chemical is making a fortune and is not in any danger of losing their business anytime soon.

Planet 13:

4 Planets; 3 Moons; Earth-like atmosphere; moderate hydrosphere; 28 hour day; 375 day year; Wetlands/Plains terrain; Independent colony; Govt: Bureaucracy; Moderate Regulations: Unbeliever prejudice; High tech; Imports: Service/Luxury Goods; Exports: Processing/Service; 500 Million Population; Minor Spaceport; Minor Trade

Planet 13 is a small planet in a small system orbiting a giant star. It is owned and operated by a Corporate interest and run by an autocracy. Has the single most convoluted and difficult to understand tax/regulatory/etc systems in the galaxy. It is impossible for even the most advanced brains in the galaxy to comprehend them. To speak ill of the planet’s convoluted systems is to invite fines upon yourself and possibly be forever expelled from the planet.

The planetary government can get away with this because of how much money they have and how high quality of a product they’re able to produce. This planet produces the best, cheapest, and most reliable starship replacement parts in this sector. Everyone relies upon their production facilities and wants to sell their parts or use them on their ships. The planet would have a more prominent role in the cluster’s trade routes but it’s out of the way and the costs of doing business there is extremely prohibitive. (Primarily because you’ll have to buy a native lawyer team in order to safely navigate their rules and regs.)

Truth time...

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m a Speciest. In RPGs I am very partial to playing a Human to the exclusion of almost everything. When I create a setting or run a game I prefer to have it in a 90+% human population setting. I dislike Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Gnomes and pretty much every single playable race in tabletop games. (Except for games in Sci-Fi settings for some reason)

Why is this? I have no idea.

In most settings I will only play a human, or something that very easily passes for human. There are some rare exceptions, but in the end it will primarily be human. This may stem from myself entering gaming through the Everway/World of Darkness route rather than DnD. Those settings are without out a doubt Human-Centric settings.

There’s also the fact that in DnD/D20 humans start off with a major advantage, and extra feat at first level and extra skill points. That’s pretty huge in that system. Plus there’s also the fact that it’s far easier to relate to the thoughts and feelings of humans because of familiarity with their way of thinking.

If I don’t count the various things that aren’t human but take human form from the World of Darkness as not being human (Garou/Werewolves, Vampires, etc.) then I’ve only played a handful of non-human characters. Blarg the Orc, an Elan Psion, I think there was a minotaur and a gargoyle back there somewhere, and possibly one more that I can’t remember. Not one was a memorable character or had very much effort invested in them.

The other races just don’t appeal to me, especially the Elves. Screw Elves, they suck. Nothing but haughty assholes.

My current character in the Orcanraytrel campaign isn’t human, but he’s the closest thing possible to it in the setting. Being of Fell Human decent with an “Inert Bloodline” racial trait really makes him statistically speaking a Human in Pathfinder terms so it’s good enough for me.

I don’t think there’s any real point to this post. I just wanted to say that humans rule and all other PC races suck… maybe?

Space Opera: Ship Categories

The next step for the Space Opera is Starships and their classifications. This one should be pretty easy to do since I was planning on initially just using ships from existing sources anyways.

Ships will be broken down into a handful of categories; Fighters, Freighters, Cruisers, Capital Ships, and Superships. Primarily this setting will be dealing with the first four categories. The Supership category is just there in case I feel a need to use it someday long down the road.

Fighters are small ships that tend to be fast, maneuverable, cramped, and tend to be short-range. This category also includes sub-categories that would be the equivalent of Naval PT boats, a ship like the Delta Flyer or a Danube-class Runabout in Star Trek, or an X-Wing or Skipray Blastboat in Star Wars. These are the smallest classes of ships and are usually armed with weapons that fire in a small, sometimes fixed arc. Almost everything in this class can be effectively flown with a single pilot. The larger ships may need two pilots, usually a pilot and gunner team, to be fully effective.

Freighters are larger than Fighters but smaller than Cruisers. Freighters are the most common ship type out there with the largest variety available. Large enough to actually have a “crew” and typically designed to not only haul cargo and passengers, they also fill many different roles in militaries. These are the types of ships that are based off of the Millennium Falcon and the Serenity. A hardy, independent, deep space transport vessel that has a lot of potential setting/story hooks. Some are combat oriented, some are scout ships, some act as personnel/cargo transports, other are smugglers, and so one and so forth.

Cruisers are larger than Freighters. Cruisers fill roles similar to the modern military equivalents of Frigates, Destroyers, Littoral Combat Ships, Cruisers, and other similarly sized vessels. This also includes your Bulk Freighters and other common large transport vessels. Equivalent ships would be Nebulon-B frigates and Correlian Corvettes in Star Wars, or the Defiant and a Klingon Bird of Prey in Star Trek. In a military sense these ships will fill an escort role or a specific niche in a larger fleet.

Capital Ships are your truly impressive ships. These are your Star Destroyers, your Enterprises, your Mimbari Sharlin Battleships, and your EVE Battleships. These have a very large variety of sizes (depending upon the series they originate from, with Star Trek’s being the smallest), but they all fulfill a similar role. They are the heart of a fleet. These are the big, important ships that will carry entire fighter command wings, massive invasion forces, countless weapons, and all the other cool things you expect from gigantic ships in a Sci-Fi setting. Civilian ships of this size tend to be the rarer Mega-Transports or Starliners. Those are essentially the Super Tankers and Mega-cruise ships of the sci-fi world and as big as civilian ships get.

The Superships category is reserved for the greatest ships of the types of ships you’d think of as Superships. We’re talking Ships about the size of a Super Star Destroyer and larger. If these types of ships exist in this setting they will be rare and restricted to the military almost exclusively. These are the engines of war that can bring ruin to entire fleets of lesser ships on their own. If I do include them for whatever reason in a story, they will likely be set-pieces with no real stats to speak of because there is no way in hell I’d let PCs have something strong enough to take something like this on…

Next time I think I might start looking at a couple alien race ideas.

Generic questions

So found this online, figured I'd fill it out for funsies. I didn't have a good answer for some of these so I just wrote something in to fill the spot.

I'm currently running (at home): Nothing

Tabletop RPGs I'm currently playing (at home) include: Nothing

I'm currently running (online): I ran about 1/3rd of the Tomb of Horrors a month or so ago

Tabletop RPGs I'm currently playing (online) include: Clint's Orcanraytrel Campaign (I have wanted to do more of the ones I've been invited to but my schedule sucks)

I would especially like to play/run: See my last blog entry

...but would also try: Pretty much anything that I can get

I live in: Western Massachusetts

2 or 3 well-known RPG products other people made that I like:

2 or 3 novels I like: Ender's Game, Monster Hunter International, Dresden Files

2 or 3 movies I like: Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Howling

Best place to find me on-line: Facebook

I will read almost anything on tabletop RPGs if it's: Interesting to me

I really do not want to hear about: Gender politics and other major socio-political issues unless they have something directly to do with the game at hand. Real modern politics in my adventures are a big no-no.

I think dead orc babies are ( circle one: funny / problematic / ....well, ok, it's complicated because....): It's complicated and problematic

Game I'm in are like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOUksDJCijw but there's also a lot of variety based on who I'm gaming with and the tone of the setting.

I talk about RPGs on Facebook

Space Opera: Small Arms

Because we’re talking Space Opera we can’t just talk about planets and the make-up of the star cluster. We need to have a full discussion on the subjects relating to what the PCs are going to be using relatively often, their weapons. I generally have a view on technology for sci-fi that variety is important to a realistic setting. Each species, planet, and culture is going to have its own preferences, capabilities, and resources that will determine what types of weapons are available to them. Each type of weapon will have its own strengths, weaknesses, and unique advantages. This will determine their usefulness in battle. With that being said, my sci-fi setting does not discriminate against most types of imaginary weaponry (I only discriminate against lasers because they’re lame in reality) and includes a wide variety to choose from because of the multitude of species, systems, and cultures.

The first type of weapon is the Particle Blaster. Typically referred to as a Blaster; this weapon essentially rips solid matter from its own barrel, superheats it, and projects it downrange using a magnetic field to push it into hypersonic speeds. It has the advantage of causing impact as well as energy damage to targets. It is the most common weapon type in the galaxy because it uses a simple power pack to fire (just called “Packs” for short). These power packs are easy to recharge pretty much anywhere power is generated and are highly reliable. They can even be adapted into power sources for other things in an emergency. The catch with Blasters is that after about 5 power packs worth of shots their barrels don’t have any more particles they can pull from and have to be replaced otherwise they suffer a meltdown. They have a very reasonable price point as far as weapons go and are a very good balance of Stopping Power and Range.

The second type of weapon is the Plasma Caster. Plasma weapons superheat special gasses inside of a magnetic field and then send the whole thing downrange. Plasma is a powerful energy weapon, but it is limited range. The Mag-field used by plasma weapons can only last a set amount of distance before it dissipates and releases the plasma to the air in a relatively harmless form. Typically considered a step above Blasters in terms of damage, but a step below in their range. They have the same amount of functionality as a blaster though, so they find their way to similar platforms. Plasma weapons use a combination Gas Canister and Battery to hold the gasses and generate the power required to make each plasma bolt. These are typically called “Cans” by those who use them.

The third type of weapon is called a Needler. Needlers are essentially scaled down railguns. They fire tiny metal projectiles with a magnetic rail at hypersonic speeds. They require very little power to operate and are capable of very high rates of fire. The ammunition is generated by the gun shaving a tiny, needle-like shard of metal off a block inserted into the weapon called a “Slab”. A one pound slab is able to generate about 100 or more rounds of ammunition. Some types of needlers are even able to use scrap metal found on the battlefield if it is inserted into its receiver (this could have a detrimental effect on the damage, range or accuracy depending upon the metal inserted) It is a very efficient and effective system but it can generate a lot of waste heat over the course of firing the weapon and the rounds are not as powerful as a comparable Blaster bolt. The rounds do have the advantage of being solid matter though, so they are able to go further than the rounds of most other weapons. Built-in cooling systems and external cooling enhancers help extend the amount of time a needler can function without hours long “rest” periods. (The Mass Effect series uses these types of weapons exclusively, outside of their heavy weapons.)

The fourth type of weapon is a Gyrojet. A Gyrojet is essentially a miniature rocket that shoots out of a small arm. They are self-propelled, explosive tipped bullets. People familiar with Warhammer 40k know who the Space Marines are and know what their iconic weapon, the Bolter, is. That weapon is essentially a Gyrojet. In this setting they’re smaller than bolters, they have a low rate of fire (I’m thinking semi-auto for the handheld stuff), and have powerful explosive heads relative to their size. So when compared to a Blaster, they’ll be stronger, longer range, more expensive, have a lower rate of fire, and a very limited magazine.

The last type of weapon is called a PlasCart. (The name needs work, shut up) This name is short for Plasma Cartridge. PlasCarts are self-contained cartridges that allow someone using an old slugthrower to fire plasma bolts. They are cheap, one-time use items that people on the frontier like to keep around. You don’t have to spend a ton of money on a modern weapon, you don’t have to have fancy recharge machines, and you don’t have to have high tech tools to maintain the weapon. Old slug throwers tend to be far more resistant to environmental wear and tear than most modern weapons so people who spend a lot of time exploring might keep one on them when exploring. These plasma rounds have about the same punch as a Needler, the range of a Blaster, and are dirt cheap to buy. They come in various calibers to fit whatever weapon you’re using them in and are highly praised for their reliability. Due to the nature of the design, these rounds are also undetectable by most modern sensors. No one knows why that is, but people are starting to take advantage of this feature more and it is making some places paranoid.

The typical small arms platforms you see in the galaxy fit into the following categories; Pistols, Submachine guns, Carbines, Rifles, and Heavy Weapons.

Pistols are pretty much anything that falls under the category of a handgun. They are typically small, concealable, semi-automatic, lower powered, and able to be held in one hand. All types of weapons are supported by this platform.

Submachine guns are typically larger versions of pistols that have a larger supply of ammunition and are capable of full-auto fire. They offer your normal pistol advantages as well. These weapons are typically heavily restricted in most civilized space and being caught with one can mean trouble. There are no Gyrojet submachine guns and loading one with PlasCarts is seen as impractical and unnecessarily expensive.

Carbines are shortened rifles. Traditionally used by ancient armies for use on horseback, the carbine found its way into regular military use by troops who needed the power of a rifle in tight spaces that others might use a submachine gun in. In the modern era, carbines are the primary weapons used in urban warfare and starship boarding actions. They have the power and capabilities of rifles, but with a shorter barrel and lighter weight to make them more maneuverable in tight spaces. Military models are capable of full auto. Supports all weapon types, Gyrojet weapons are not capable of automatic fire.

Rifles are the quintessential long-arm. These range from simple target practice rifles to the highest tech rifles carried by the military. They are accurate at long range and military models are capable of putting out an insane amount of rounds down range. The power of a rifle depends greatly upon its role. Same as Carbines.

Heavy weapons are anything that is big, bulky and able to wreak destruction above the norm. This is where you’ll see rocket launchers, machineguns, and other types of anti-material/anti-group weaponry. Weapon types expand here to also include small versions of vehicle/starship weapons as well as more powerful versions of small arms. Here is where you’ll be able to see Gyrojet weapons capable of fully automatic fire.

I’ve been thinking about adding a Shotgun category, if I do it will only work for Needlers since everything else uses an accelerated beam/energy source. Although Plasma Casters and Plasma Cartridges might be able to simulate something similar.

Planets of Random, Episode 3

Part 3 of the ongoing world-building for the Space Opera campaign.

Planet 8:

15 object system with 1 asteroid belt; 4 moon planet; atmosphere harmful over a long period of time; Saturated Hydrosphere; 0.6 earth gravity; 29 hour day; 285 day year; Common terrain: Mountainous/Wetlands; Establishment was a Recent or Past Cataclysm; Government is an alliance of groups, Informal regulations with tech/weapons restrictions; Imports: Finished goods, services;  Exports: Processing and Research; Population of ~20,000; Basic Spaceport; Off-route trade status

Planet 8, this one has been hard to think about. Nothing really jumped out at me about it. It is known about enough that it can’t really be a secret research base but it’s off the normal trade route so it only gets minimal or deliberate trade traffic. Exports processed materials and research on a world that is a world saturated with liquid water that has been devastated by some type of disaster.

Hmmm… How about it’s a world where various interests rent out spaces to do R&D and Raw Material processing that they can’t do elsewhere. Similar to a certain planet in the first Mass Effect game. This is a planet owned by one business, family, or species that rent out spaces to whoever can afford them to do what they feel like doing there away from prying eyes. The only real rules are a in regards to secrecy and keeping everything contained to your research area. Typically only people who have a good reason to be there fly out to it with the occasional trader flying out to try to sell some luxury goods, exotic foods, or similar things.

Planet 9:

12 object system, 3 annual comets; 1 moon; earth-like atmosphere; Dry hydrosphere; 1.2 Earth gravity; 27 hour day; 105 day year; Common terrain: Mountains and Forests; Established as independent colony; Democratic government; Moderate regulations, alien intolerance; Imports: Luxury Goods, Natural Resources; Exports: Services, Manufacturing; Population of 20 million; Basic Spaceport; Minor trade port

Planet 9 is a colony of people looking to get away from the rest of the galaxy. They live their own lives and try to leave everyone else alone. The government is a loose confederation of allied city-states in semblance of post-revolution, pre-constitution America. Most of the people just want to live their lives and be left alone. They trade mostly with each other and occasionally go to the markets to trade with off worlders. The government restricts where off-worlders can go unless they are purchasing property. They just don’t trust people whom they don’t know.

The planet itself is rather earth-like in nature. It’s a little bit large and closer to its star though so there is less liquid water and a little bit warmer, but it is perfect for raising most types of food plants and animals.

There is a city-state near the space port that specializes in manufacturing components from raw materials. They have contracts with many of the major businesses in the cluster for component supply due to their proximity to trade routes and the lack of taxes.

Planet 10

12 planets, 2 asteroid belts, 1 annual comet; 1 moon; Enviro-suits required on surface; Saturated Hydrosphere; 0.3 Earth Gravity; 30 hour day; 345 day year; Common Terrain: Jungle, Artificial; Established as Dependent Colony; controlled by single organization; Intolerant regulations, alien intolerance; Imports services and manufactured components; exports luxury goods and services; Population 300,000; Basic Spaceport; Major Trade Port

Planet 10 is a corporate owned world. There is a single Dome city that humans land on here to conduct business with the company. This is the primary manufacturing plant for a number of luxury goods that the Starliners that stop at Planet 1 like to stock their ships with. As such, there is always a high level of demand for these products and the company is always willing to let independent traders transport these items for them since it pads the company’s bottom line.

It’s also a great place to gain some experience and a reliable reputation for independent traders who are just getting started. You can prove you’re reliable and trustworthy by doing some of this transport work. It’s an easy route with lots of security. Basically it’s a great and boring way to make enough money to pay some bills and build up a reputation. You won’t get rich doing it but you aren’t going to get attacked by a pirate along the way.

The planet isn’t all happiness and sunshine though. There are many rumors about health, safety, and rights violations by the corporate owners but no one seems to speak much about it because of how popular the products are and how much money it brings in everywhere. It also doesn’t help that no one is able to actually confirm these rumors.

Wasted Potential or How I Wish I Had a Local Group

Current list of RPG Campaign Ideas that are actively running through my head or have been partially written out:

1)      The Eternal Seas campaign, my 3.5 and now being converted to Pathfinder high seas campaign/setting

2)      The Savage Plain, a Pathfinder campaign idea I had after seeing a picture. Basically Magical City, bunch of warring tribes, dinosaurs and unknown horrors beneath

3)      Dresden Files RPG, a San Francisco based campaign that I have a concept fleshed out for

4)      Werewolf The Apocalypse Chronicle that I’ve posted on here about before

5)      Werewolf The Apocalypse, Our Apocalypse with our group from high school. Sigh… I wish I could play in this one…

6)      FATE RPG, Geinrich The City of Merchants campaign I recently put together

7)      Star Wars (D20 or WEG D6), a campaign set in the New Jedi Order era centered around a young Jedi named Caleb Undertowner

8)      D6 Adventure based Mighty Morphin Power Rangers campaign. ‘Nuff said.

9)      D6 Space campaign that I’ve been playing around with.

10)   The Plague Campaign idea that just cropped up this past week

11)   A run through of The World’s Largest Dungeon.

12)   An Exalted Campaign based on our old dabbling in the setting back in high school.

13)   X-Crawl, because it’s awesome!

14)   A couple Iron Kingdoms ideas.

15)   A Werewolf/Dresden/FATE/whatever campaign idea that just needs to be “injected” into a system. Supernatural experiments are fun times.

Yeah, I really need a gaming group that meets up more than once a month in my life because these stories must be told dammit. At the very least I can see how awful they actually perform so I feel better about them not wasting space in my head anymore.

The Plague Campaign

A discussion on a Facebook group about Plague Campaigns piqued my interest. In it there were people talking about how they’ve run plague campaigns and the usual discussions of how societ will break down and blah blah blah. I gave my typical opinion and viewpoint where I don’t believe that a magical society really has to worry about these types of things because Magic and centuries of curative spell items and so on and so forth. Numbers were thrown around, references were made, and a grand debate was had. It was a wonderful discussion. It also inspired me to have another spark of an idea for a campaign that will likely never see the light of day. I also have an Pathfinder Adventure Path to look into called “Curse of the Crimson Throne”, specifically the 2nd book because it apparently breaks down the numbers in a very meaningful way. (Something like a city of 18000 people might have between 12-20 Clerics capable of casting Remove Disease at a time and maybe 180 Divine casters total)

The idea has to exist in a high-fantasy world like the Generic DnD/Pathfinder world. The specifics don’t matter much, but it must be a D20 based system for this to work. The society is a properly outfitted and prepared society where magic exists quite as clearly as science exists to us. This is because humans act like humans and recognize useful tools, even if they don’t fully understand the tools they’re using they will continue to use them and find new ways to improve their lot in life. In my opinion this means that humans will do everything they can to ensure that they can do the best they can to prevent bad things from happening (more or less). In this case it means that someone will use magic to prevent plagues from breaking out.

Imagine if you will a world where magic is real and there is a deity along the lines of DnD 3.X’s Pelor who is dedicated to healing people and preventing outbreaks of disease. The god grants people very real and very measurable amounts of his own power that his faithful can directly use to influence the world. They can fashion magic wands, rings, potions, scrolls, and various other implements that have the ability to help stave off diseases, bolster people’s immune responses, or just remove the disease entirely. They can create wondrous magical fountains that could be capable of performing these deeds for them too and provide it to those who come to their temple. This is in addition to other magics they’ll have at their disposal, like scrying magic that would allow them to detect where a disease is about to strike, or detect who is infected and who isn’t.

Some people countered my thoughts on those with “these are higher level clerics that would have to do this” “there’s no way there’s enough of them to do that” “why would they waste their time, money and spiritual energy (read: xp) on those things”. Which are legitimate points if you’re talking about people thinking rationally about their own benefits; not a millennia old religious order dedicated to the prevention and curing of disease. You look at real world example where our religious leaders aren’t able to coat themselves in glowing magical armor by reciting a prayer and what real humans sacrifice for their religions based upon faith alone. We argue about the existence of deities because we don’t see real, measurable results like “Remove Disease” “Call Lightning” or “Animate Dead”. Imagine what people in the real world would do if their god rewarded their faith with access to a couple 0-level spells. Hell, Jesus displayed abilities equivalent to an 8th or 9th level cleric in a 3.X setting and we proclaim him to be the son of God imagine the world if your region’s Catholic clergymen could perform that stuff on a daily basis.

My point is, that when I look at a potential for a plague campaign there has to be more wrong than there just being a plague that exists. Religions like those dedicated to Pelor would have stockpiles of items with Spell-Trigger completion (that would allow lower level casters to use a spell like Remove Disease) while constantly making a new supply, active plans for dealing with outbreaks, Scryers and Healers working around the clock watching for plague, permanent magical artifacts at their temples that provided some type of healing or disease resistance, monthly cleansing rituals at the temple, and countless other measures that we might not be able to comprehend because we live in the real world. In order for a disease to cause a plague or have a major outbreak would require something different to happen with the disease.

If a disease is to cause an outbreak it either needs to be unusually virulent (Bubonic Plague is “only” a DC17, easily within the power of a low-level caster to help out with), magical in nature (very possible because microbial evolution is a thing. Just think about MRSA and other treatment resistant diseases), or allowed to spread in some way by nefarious people for nefarious purposes.

And now that this groundwork is established, here’s where things get interesting. The campaign idea starts with the PCs being members of one such religious order. They are tasked with taking care of a potential outbreak of some disease. They are sent off by their order into a district quarantined per their standard rules, but something is wrong. Maybe the disease is spreading in an abnormal pattern, or its resists all magical treatment, or maybe something is actively trying to stop them from curing the sick. Eventually the disease will have to escape from the confines of the quarantine and maybe something else is discovered about the situation. Maybe the order’s stockpile of Remove Disease Wands was stolen, broken, or disenchanted. Their magical fountain may have been smashed. Maybe their god disapproves of the city and is damning it for its sins. Is it the work of a doomsday cult? A lich? A mutated bacterial infection that has gained hive-mind sentience? SO MANY OPTIONS!!!

The PCs don’t even have to be just Clerics and Paladins either. Churches have use for all kinds of people with a variety of skills. Maybe a nun used to be a rogue in her pre-convent life. The paladins may be supplemented by regular Fighters and Knights. Oracles and Bards could be there performing their normal functions. Alchemists could Easily supplement the healing supplies. The trips out to cure diseases and help the down trodden could easily be construed as pilgrimages and evangelizing. What better way to convert people than by performing good deeds and curing people of The Plague and promising them further protection by attending your sermons?

For the first time ever I think I actually would want to play a Cleric…

PS: Upon further reading it appears that the spell Remove Disease grants no future immunity to a disease. So if you catch a virus it appears that Remove Disease will cure you but doesn’t allow your body to produce anti-bodies against future exposure to the disease. Interesting but useless trivia!