(no subject)
So, I have a plan for my space opera campaign once I get them out of the space base. I do not trust most of my platers to stay on a game with rails, so I'm instead offering them walls to bounce off of and trying to plot their trajectory.
Okay, so after they get shot through the wormhole in the escape pod, they find themselves on a course to a small world where they find a derelict spaceship on the planet. The power supplies are depleted (if it's feasible to have enough anti-matter on the escape pod to get the ship limping) or the communications and FTL are broken. It barely has weapons to speak of, outdated shipboard computers, no armor, and weak shields. It's every teenager's first car (at least, every teenager I knew. I knew a guy who drove an aquamarine Geo Metro. With a Princess bumper sticker. It's like that.) They need to get back to Fed Space... in theory. Hrm. I also need to introduce the B.G.G. (Bald Goatee Guy, leader of the space pirates and archvillain for the campaign). I need to introduce him as the antagonist who is seeking out the wormhole research (See, I told you I stole this from Farscape). More on that bit later.
But once they realize they need to get themselves from the ass-end of the galaxy across dangerous territory, they need to go shopping. We're talking military grade hardware here, out in the part of space run by smugglers, pirates, and unscrupulous miners. So they won't find what they need on any one planet. In fact, they'll have to planet hop if they want to upgrade their ship. And so I just lay out the possibilities.
If you want better beam weapons, you're going to want to head to X planet. Once they're there, they get involved in zany hijinx that should take about one to two sessions to resolve. I think I laid out 25 possible upgrades and obtainments for the ship (although some, like food, oxygen, and water, could be combined into one). So I just show them the list and say, okay, this is where you could go. Go on and pick. And then as their characters start getting involved, I can bring in their own personal stories and agendas and start working that in as the big objectives. Say, for example, a character has a long lost brother in their history. Guess who they happen to hear is leading a miner's revolt on an asteroid. Let's say they make more enemies or allies. They get their little moment. Again, it's all stolen from Farscape in structure, although I'm hoping it'll have more of a Mass Effect tone. It also gives me a bonus of letting me not have to plan too too far ahead. I just need one basic planet/system per week to deal with. I don't have to plot out the intricate web of politics across the galaxy all at once, populating systems with complex astrophysical equations. I just need to come up with the complication of the week, figure out a planet that'll work for it, and boom, I've got a game. And all the while, I let the player's tell their stories and see what comes out of it. Let's see how this works.
Okay, so after they get shot through the wormhole in the escape pod, they find themselves on a course to a small world where they find a derelict spaceship on the planet. The power supplies are depleted (if it's feasible to have enough anti-matter on the escape pod to get the ship limping) or the communications and FTL are broken. It barely has weapons to speak of, outdated shipboard computers, no armor, and weak shields. It's every teenager's first car (at least, every teenager I knew. I knew a guy who drove an aquamarine Geo Metro. With a Princess bumper sticker. It's like that.) They need to get back to Fed Space... in theory. Hrm. I also need to introduce the B.G.G. (Bald Goatee Guy, leader of the space pirates and archvillain for the campaign). I need to introduce him as the antagonist who is seeking out the wormhole research (See, I told you I stole this from Farscape). More on that bit later.
But once they realize they need to get themselves from the ass-end of the galaxy across dangerous territory, they need to go shopping. We're talking military grade hardware here, out in the part of space run by smugglers, pirates, and unscrupulous miners. So they won't find what they need on any one planet. In fact, they'll have to planet hop if they want to upgrade their ship. And so I just lay out the possibilities.
If you want better beam weapons, you're going to want to head to X planet. Once they're there, they get involved in zany hijinx that should take about one to two sessions to resolve. I think I laid out 25 possible upgrades and obtainments for the ship (although some, like food, oxygen, and water, could be combined into one). So I just show them the list and say, okay, this is where you could go. Go on and pick. And then as their characters start getting involved, I can bring in their own personal stories and agendas and start working that in as the big objectives. Say, for example, a character has a long lost brother in their history. Guess who they happen to hear is leading a miner's revolt on an asteroid. Let's say they make more enemies or allies. They get their little moment. Again, it's all stolen from Farscape in structure, although I'm hoping it'll have more of a Mass Effect tone. It also gives me a bonus of letting me not have to plan too too far ahead. I just need one basic planet/system per week to deal with. I don't have to plot out the intricate web of politics across the galaxy all at once, populating systems with complex astrophysical equations. I just need to come up with the complication of the week, figure out a planet that'll work for it, and boom, I've got a game. And all the while, I let the player's tell their stories and see what comes out of it. Let's see how this works.