Halivar
First Post
So, I've got a Grand Experiment(tm). I'm using 4E to DM a sci-fi game starting in 4 weeks, starting at level 6 (the level we're ending our current D&D campaign). I'd like some help thinking through some of the issues that are likely to come up. In preparation for the game I prepared a document to help me gather my thoughts.
In particular, I'm looking for ideas on both how to go about creating sub-systems for sci-fi game elements as described in the document below, and for developing the game-fluff that holds it all together (because right now, I got some serious holes, m'thinks).
Anyhow, please read and critique/give feedback.
[sblock]4E Sci-Fi Game – Prospectus
Goal
The goal is to create a rich sci-fi setting using D&D 4th Edition rules. The setting should allow the basic mechanics of 4E to remain as unchanged as possible to preserve balance. Therefore, most elements of the “implied setting” should be preserved in the setting (races, classes, weapons, magic, etc.).
The best way to accomplish this is to create a “space opera” setting akin to “Star Wars” or Frank Herbert's Dune, in which pseudo-medieval traditions influence the setting.
What Should Change
There are some essential elements of 4E that really must change in order for the sci-fi setting to make sense. In an era of ship-to-ship combat and compact energy weapons, bows and arrows make little logical sense. This is easily addressed by reflavoring crossbows as “small-arm blasters” and bows as “long-arm blasters” and keeping the handedness requirements.
What Should Be Added
While there is much potential for adding new classes, weapons, powers, etc., this should be kept to a minimum at first.
There should be a sub-system for dealing with classical sci-fi setting elements, such as ship-to-ship or mechanized warfare. Such sub-systems should be presented as player options that sit atop (or are integrated with) player-character sheets in such a way that they do not interfere with character combat power-levels. In other words, these sub-systems should not require feat or power choices that would otherwise have been used for skirmish combat in a traditional fantasy setting.
Rituals, though, are usually used for plot purposes in a game, and therefore should be easy to modify for a sci-fi setting. For instance, if ships break the laws of physics via magic, then arcane rituals are the best way to handle “soft” sci-fi elements such as faster-than-light travel, deep-space scanning, artificial gravity, and teleportation.
The Setting
The following sections are pretty game-specific, and apply more to how I plan on implementing the reflavoring of 4E for this specific campaign.
The setting spans across an entire galaxy, with countless settled worlds. The galaxy is dominated by an empire of sentient races (mostly human) who divide themselves according to the feudal hierarchy of vassalage. Major Houses control planets of billions, while Minor Houses control continents of millions by the authority of their liege. All are subservient to the Emperor, who rules the civilized galaxy.
The Galactic Imperium is not the only major force in the galaxy. The forces of darkness, led by fell gods and their demonic generals, sprawl across the galaxy like cancer, consuming worlds and remaking them in their own evil image. The Emperor wars against the forces of darkness with the Imperial Victory Armada, made up of levies from the Major Houses. His own personal Avant Garde spearheads this war with frightening effectiveness. Most ships of the Imperial Victory Armada cycle in and out of the Wall, and impenetrable line of defense between the Imperium and the slavering hordes of Outsiders.
Clerics
There are those who question the cleanliness of the Emperor's hands. In fighting a terrible foe, he himself has made terrible decisions. Among these people are clerics and paladins of the Light, who embark on personal missions to fight evil across the galaxy. Though the Church of the Light has no political power in the Imperial feudal system, its influence is felt wherever good and goodly folk gather for protection.
The Church of the Light has only one deity, the Creator, who with his arch-angels is “the Light.” The Church of the Light divides itself by orders following individual arch-angels (with Pelor, Sahanine, Erathis, Avandra, and Bahamut amongst their number).
Fighters
There are millions of soldiers in the Imperium, but there are few “true fighters,” the weapon-masters who are prized above all others. The credo of the fighter is summed up in its first lesson: “Any fool can learn how to use a blaster in six weeks. Learning the sword take a lifetime.” Fighters are classified according to strict imperial standards, and are developed at a small number of fighter academies scattered throughout the Imperium. These academies are no replacement for personal tutelage, however, for after graduating from these academies, fighters must seek out master fighters and train under them in the deadliest school of all: real combat. For those few who survive these dangerous lessons, there is high demand among the noble houses for military instructors and leaders of men.
Being a fighter is about control and discipline. The training of a fighter emphasizes unity of body, mind and spirit; thus they are often of a philosophical bent (usually stoic, but there is diversity among masters). Weapons are objects of respect, for they are an extension of the fighter himself. Each fighter has a code of honor, but this code varies wildly from fighter to fighter; conflict may occur if two fighters find their codes in diametric opposition (“defend the weak” versus “cull the weak”).
Paladins
Paladins fill the role of knights-errant in the Imperium. Their unyielding moral codes make them singularly unfit for imperial service, but more high-minded noble houses find them of great value. Paladins will become retainers to noble houses, but only if those houses display strong loyalty and ethics.
Paladins are not trained in any school. Many paladins claim that their training comes directly from the Creator's arch-angels, and that divine ordination guides their blades. Others may fit into a monastic order, where mentor trains student.
Rangers
Rangers are a special breed in the Imperium. Between the core planets of the Imperium and the Armada Wall is a buffer zone of thinly populated stars, where no Major Houses rule. This frontier is a lawless place where orcish space-raiders and goblin junk-pirates prey on the unwary. It is here that the Imperial Galactic Ranger Service keeps the peace. The rangers, though technically under the authority of the Imperial Victory Armada, have their own command structure and largely operate autonomously.
In frontier space, the word of a ranger is law. Unfortunately, the Ranger Service is small, and frontier space is vast. Many activities that would not be permitted in the core planets are tolerated due to the ranger's necessity to prioritize police actions. This usually includes most “victimless” crimes.
Due to their itinerant nature and constant contact with the strange wild planets, rangers are known for their stealth, cunning, and unparalleled knowledge of xenoecology.
Rogues
Fighters are prized for their strong honor codes and dependability. There are some fighter schools, however, that teach a different sort of combat. So-called “rogue” fighter schools reject the stoic sophistry of traditional weaponmasters, preferring a more pragmatic (but less honorable) approach to combat. Rogue fighter schools are banned in the Imperium, and yet students of these underground schools are still in high demand amongst the Major and Minor Houses.
Most rogues prefer the itinerant life of a mercenary, but can be swayed into retainership for the right price or loyalties. Houses that have paladin retainers will have a difficult balancing act when bringing in rogue retainers.
Warlocks
Most wizards are found in childhood and raised in officially sanctioned imperial wizard colleges, but some slip through the cracks. No one can guide themselves through the learning of magic, and wild wizards (or warlocks, as they are known) are no exception. Most wild wizards inadvertently destroy themselves in youth, but there is a small number who, having heard voices from the distant, hoary stars, are guided by foreign agents in the manner a traditional arcane acolyte is guided by a wizard mentor.
Warlocks are valued in the same way that rogues are valued: for their unorthodox training and methods. Wizards and warlocks normally have friction, and prefer not to work with each other. Nevertheless, they are known to have worked together when the mutual bonds of loyalty to a noble house require it.
Warlords
Fighter academies teach the basics of advanced melee combat, but the mentor a student chooses after graduating has the deepest impact on their development. Warlords are fighters whose specialty is leadership and tactics. Such weaponmasters are valued as command staff by noble houses, and they make up much of the upper echelon of the Imperial Victory Armada.
Wizards
Children that are sensitive to the arcane are gathered at youth and sent to imperial wizard colleges, where they are trained to handle their power and direct it constructively. Wizards are in the highest demand of all people, for it is by arcane power alone that the great starships of the Imperium move amongst the stars. Each ship that makes interstellar travel is equipped with great arcane turbines, a melding of science and magic that wizards use for FTL travel and deep-space scanning. Without a ship's wizard, a starship is completely cut off from all help.
People have been known to die, marooned and helpless, just parsecs away from the imperial throneworld itself, and all for want of a wizard.
Weapons
Most soldiers of the Imperium use blasters (reflavored crossbows, bows, and longbows). The greatest warriors, though, use traditional bladed weapons. For this reason, many rank-and-file soldiers of the Imperium carry functional melee weapons, though mostly for decorative purposes.
Armor and Shields
Armor should be reflavored for a sci-fi setting, but should retain the same statistics. There is also specially constructed “reflexive” armor, which covers the body in anticipation of attack until combat is over (as in the movie, “Lost in Space”)
Humans
Humanity has spread throughout the galaxy, and dominates almost all Major Houses (as well as the imperial throne, itself). It was not always thus. The homeworld of humanity is long-lost, having been consumed by the hellspawn summoned there by its ancient scientists in experimentation gone awry. No one knows how it happened or exactly how long ago, or whether this was also the event that precipitated the advent of arcane magic into the universe. All that is known is that it ushered a diaspora of humanity, which scattered to the stars in desperate flight from the Outsiders.
Out in the stars, humans found the other races, many of them from their own legends, sealed off millenia prior. Humanity (as it always does) recuperated and prospered. It reconciled and rose again to prominence, this time on a galactic scale, and returned to face the Outsiders. For over two thousand standard years, the forces of the Imperium have faced the Outsiders at the Wall, and their leaders among the Major Houses and the imperial seat have sworn that they will one day have their homeworld back.
Dragonborn
Once, long ago, the dragonborn had an empire that spanned the galaxy. No one knows how it failed, but it passed long before the human empire rose to prominence. They are found in isolated colonies on many planets, and have lost the ability to travel between the stars. Upon contact with humans, however, they have made their worth readily apparent with their strength and discipline. Dragonborn make up many of the greatest instructors at the imperial fighter schools, and can be found wherever the Imperium requires strong, deadly force.
Dwarves
It is not known where dwarves originate, but they can be found today wherever there is mining to be done. They specialize in deep-space operations where other races fear to go. Many dwarf clans travel between barren lumps of rock in frontier space, looking for the next great mother-lode to make them rich. Because of their great knowledge of natural resources and mechanics, dwarves are valued by noble houses as architects and engineers.
Eladrin
The first of the space-faring people contacted by humanity, eladrin hail from the same homeworld as elves, but have changed significantly since leaving that world behind. The first wizard colleges were created by eladrin wizards (though even those institutions have, in time, come to be dominated by humans). Eladrin today are found wherever humans are, albeit in smaller numbers. Nevertheless, they take great pride in themselves, and retain their strong racial identity, even as they serve the Imperium.
Elves
Elves are the formerly planet-bound cousins of the eladrin. It is know that, far in the past, elves traveled to humanity's homeworld by means of the feywild, an alter-dimension that some eladrin and warlocks can still access, if only for a short while. Long ago, great numbers of elves left their home planet (becoming the eladrin). Those left behind shunned technology and returned to their arboreal origins, and allowing their planet to once-more become a sylvan paradise. Upon making contact with humanity, however, they have begun asserting themselves on the galactic stage. Many noble houses value the elves for their adroitness and great natural knowledge that makes them perfect for interplanetary exploration. The Ranger Service, in particular, values the elves in its ranks.
Halflings
Before the rise of the human Imperium, halflings led a nomadic existence, traveling from planet to planet in search of a home. Over time, this great caravan was scattered, and isolated pockets of halflings have been found ever since. Halflings tend to retain their strong family ties, and thus typically live in ghettos on human planets, impeding no progress, but allowing no assimilation of themselves.[/sblock]Any comments or suggestions? Right now this is the fullest extent of the brainstorming I've been doing for the game. I expect that the players will have full mobility in the game universe, which means I will need to develop it in depth to handle curious adventurers.
In particular, I'm looking for ideas on both how to go about creating sub-systems for sci-fi game elements as described in the document below, and for developing the game-fluff that holds it all together (because right now, I got some serious holes, m'thinks).
Anyhow, please read and critique/give feedback.
[sblock]4E Sci-Fi Game – Prospectus
Goal
The goal is to create a rich sci-fi setting using D&D 4th Edition rules. The setting should allow the basic mechanics of 4E to remain as unchanged as possible to preserve balance. Therefore, most elements of the “implied setting” should be preserved in the setting (races, classes, weapons, magic, etc.).
The best way to accomplish this is to create a “space opera” setting akin to “Star Wars” or Frank Herbert's Dune, in which pseudo-medieval traditions influence the setting.
What Should Change
There are some essential elements of 4E that really must change in order for the sci-fi setting to make sense. In an era of ship-to-ship combat and compact energy weapons, bows and arrows make little logical sense. This is easily addressed by reflavoring crossbows as “small-arm blasters” and bows as “long-arm blasters” and keeping the handedness requirements.
What Should Be Added
While there is much potential for adding new classes, weapons, powers, etc., this should be kept to a minimum at first.
There should be a sub-system for dealing with classical sci-fi setting elements, such as ship-to-ship or mechanized warfare. Such sub-systems should be presented as player options that sit atop (or are integrated with) player-character sheets in such a way that they do not interfere with character combat power-levels. In other words, these sub-systems should not require feat or power choices that would otherwise have been used for skirmish combat in a traditional fantasy setting.
Rituals, though, are usually used for plot purposes in a game, and therefore should be easy to modify for a sci-fi setting. For instance, if ships break the laws of physics via magic, then arcane rituals are the best way to handle “soft” sci-fi elements such as faster-than-light travel, deep-space scanning, artificial gravity, and teleportation.
The Setting
The following sections are pretty game-specific, and apply more to how I plan on implementing the reflavoring of 4E for this specific campaign.
The setting spans across an entire galaxy, with countless settled worlds. The galaxy is dominated by an empire of sentient races (mostly human) who divide themselves according to the feudal hierarchy of vassalage. Major Houses control planets of billions, while Minor Houses control continents of millions by the authority of their liege. All are subservient to the Emperor, who rules the civilized galaxy.
The Galactic Imperium is not the only major force in the galaxy. The forces of darkness, led by fell gods and their demonic generals, sprawl across the galaxy like cancer, consuming worlds and remaking them in their own evil image. The Emperor wars against the forces of darkness with the Imperial Victory Armada, made up of levies from the Major Houses. His own personal Avant Garde spearheads this war with frightening effectiveness. Most ships of the Imperial Victory Armada cycle in and out of the Wall, and impenetrable line of defense between the Imperium and the slavering hordes of Outsiders.
Clerics
There are those who question the cleanliness of the Emperor's hands. In fighting a terrible foe, he himself has made terrible decisions. Among these people are clerics and paladins of the Light, who embark on personal missions to fight evil across the galaxy. Though the Church of the Light has no political power in the Imperial feudal system, its influence is felt wherever good and goodly folk gather for protection.
The Church of the Light has only one deity, the Creator, who with his arch-angels is “the Light.” The Church of the Light divides itself by orders following individual arch-angels (with Pelor, Sahanine, Erathis, Avandra, and Bahamut amongst their number).
Fighters
There are millions of soldiers in the Imperium, but there are few “true fighters,” the weapon-masters who are prized above all others. The credo of the fighter is summed up in its first lesson: “Any fool can learn how to use a blaster in six weeks. Learning the sword take a lifetime.” Fighters are classified according to strict imperial standards, and are developed at a small number of fighter academies scattered throughout the Imperium. These academies are no replacement for personal tutelage, however, for after graduating from these academies, fighters must seek out master fighters and train under them in the deadliest school of all: real combat. For those few who survive these dangerous lessons, there is high demand among the noble houses for military instructors and leaders of men.
Being a fighter is about control and discipline. The training of a fighter emphasizes unity of body, mind and spirit; thus they are often of a philosophical bent (usually stoic, but there is diversity among masters). Weapons are objects of respect, for they are an extension of the fighter himself. Each fighter has a code of honor, but this code varies wildly from fighter to fighter; conflict may occur if two fighters find their codes in diametric opposition (“defend the weak” versus “cull the weak”).
Paladins
Paladins fill the role of knights-errant in the Imperium. Their unyielding moral codes make them singularly unfit for imperial service, but more high-minded noble houses find them of great value. Paladins will become retainers to noble houses, but only if those houses display strong loyalty and ethics.
Paladins are not trained in any school. Many paladins claim that their training comes directly from the Creator's arch-angels, and that divine ordination guides their blades. Others may fit into a monastic order, where mentor trains student.
Rangers
Rangers are a special breed in the Imperium. Between the core planets of the Imperium and the Armada Wall is a buffer zone of thinly populated stars, where no Major Houses rule. This frontier is a lawless place where orcish space-raiders and goblin junk-pirates prey on the unwary. It is here that the Imperial Galactic Ranger Service keeps the peace. The rangers, though technically under the authority of the Imperial Victory Armada, have their own command structure and largely operate autonomously.
In frontier space, the word of a ranger is law. Unfortunately, the Ranger Service is small, and frontier space is vast. Many activities that would not be permitted in the core planets are tolerated due to the ranger's necessity to prioritize police actions. This usually includes most “victimless” crimes.
Due to their itinerant nature and constant contact with the strange wild planets, rangers are known for their stealth, cunning, and unparalleled knowledge of xenoecology.
Rogues
Fighters are prized for their strong honor codes and dependability. There are some fighter schools, however, that teach a different sort of combat. So-called “rogue” fighter schools reject the stoic sophistry of traditional weaponmasters, preferring a more pragmatic (but less honorable) approach to combat. Rogue fighter schools are banned in the Imperium, and yet students of these underground schools are still in high demand amongst the Major and Minor Houses.
Most rogues prefer the itinerant life of a mercenary, but can be swayed into retainership for the right price or loyalties. Houses that have paladin retainers will have a difficult balancing act when bringing in rogue retainers.
Warlocks
Most wizards are found in childhood and raised in officially sanctioned imperial wizard colleges, but some slip through the cracks. No one can guide themselves through the learning of magic, and wild wizards (or warlocks, as they are known) are no exception. Most wild wizards inadvertently destroy themselves in youth, but there is a small number who, having heard voices from the distant, hoary stars, are guided by foreign agents in the manner a traditional arcane acolyte is guided by a wizard mentor.
Warlocks are valued in the same way that rogues are valued: for their unorthodox training and methods. Wizards and warlocks normally have friction, and prefer not to work with each other. Nevertheless, they are known to have worked together when the mutual bonds of loyalty to a noble house require it.
Warlords
Fighter academies teach the basics of advanced melee combat, but the mentor a student chooses after graduating has the deepest impact on their development. Warlords are fighters whose specialty is leadership and tactics. Such weaponmasters are valued as command staff by noble houses, and they make up much of the upper echelon of the Imperial Victory Armada.
Wizards
Children that are sensitive to the arcane are gathered at youth and sent to imperial wizard colleges, where they are trained to handle their power and direct it constructively. Wizards are in the highest demand of all people, for it is by arcane power alone that the great starships of the Imperium move amongst the stars. Each ship that makes interstellar travel is equipped with great arcane turbines, a melding of science and magic that wizards use for FTL travel and deep-space scanning. Without a ship's wizard, a starship is completely cut off from all help.
People have been known to die, marooned and helpless, just parsecs away from the imperial throneworld itself, and all for want of a wizard.
Weapons
Most soldiers of the Imperium use blasters (reflavored crossbows, bows, and longbows). The greatest warriors, though, use traditional bladed weapons. For this reason, many rank-and-file soldiers of the Imperium carry functional melee weapons, though mostly for decorative purposes.
Armor and Shields
Armor should be reflavored for a sci-fi setting, but should retain the same statistics. There is also specially constructed “reflexive” armor, which covers the body in anticipation of attack until combat is over (as in the movie, “Lost in Space”)
Humans
Humanity has spread throughout the galaxy, and dominates almost all Major Houses (as well as the imperial throne, itself). It was not always thus. The homeworld of humanity is long-lost, having been consumed by the hellspawn summoned there by its ancient scientists in experimentation gone awry. No one knows how it happened or exactly how long ago, or whether this was also the event that precipitated the advent of arcane magic into the universe. All that is known is that it ushered a diaspora of humanity, which scattered to the stars in desperate flight from the Outsiders.
Out in the stars, humans found the other races, many of them from their own legends, sealed off millenia prior. Humanity (as it always does) recuperated and prospered. It reconciled and rose again to prominence, this time on a galactic scale, and returned to face the Outsiders. For over two thousand standard years, the forces of the Imperium have faced the Outsiders at the Wall, and their leaders among the Major Houses and the imperial seat have sworn that they will one day have their homeworld back.
Dragonborn
Once, long ago, the dragonborn had an empire that spanned the galaxy. No one knows how it failed, but it passed long before the human empire rose to prominence. They are found in isolated colonies on many planets, and have lost the ability to travel between the stars. Upon contact with humans, however, they have made their worth readily apparent with their strength and discipline. Dragonborn make up many of the greatest instructors at the imperial fighter schools, and can be found wherever the Imperium requires strong, deadly force.
Dwarves
It is not known where dwarves originate, but they can be found today wherever there is mining to be done. They specialize in deep-space operations where other races fear to go. Many dwarf clans travel between barren lumps of rock in frontier space, looking for the next great mother-lode to make them rich. Because of their great knowledge of natural resources and mechanics, dwarves are valued by noble houses as architects and engineers.
Eladrin
The first of the space-faring people contacted by humanity, eladrin hail from the same homeworld as elves, but have changed significantly since leaving that world behind. The first wizard colleges were created by eladrin wizards (though even those institutions have, in time, come to be dominated by humans). Eladrin today are found wherever humans are, albeit in smaller numbers. Nevertheless, they take great pride in themselves, and retain their strong racial identity, even as they serve the Imperium.
Elves
Elves are the formerly planet-bound cousins of the eladrin. It is know that, far in the past, elves traveled to humanity's homeworld by means of the feywild, an alter-dimension that some eladrin and warlocks can still access, if only for a short while. Long ago, great numbers of elves left their home planet (becoming the eladrin). Those left behind shunned technology and returned to their arboreal origins, and allowing their planet to once-more become a sylvan paradise. Upon making contact with humanity, however, they have begun asserting themselves on the galactic stage. Many noble houses value the elves for their adroitness and great natural knowledge that makes them perfect for interplanetary exploration. The Ranger Service, in particular, values the elves in its ranks.
Halflings
Before the rise of the human Imperium, halflings led a nomadic existence, traveling from planet to planet in search of a home. Over time, this great caravan was scattered, and isolated pockets of halflings have been found ever since. Halflings tend to retain their strong family ties, and thus typically live in ghettos on human planets, impeding no progress, but allowing no assimilation of themselves.[/sblock]Any comments or suggestions? Right now this is the fullest extent of the brainstorming I've been doing for the game. I expect that the players will have full mobility in the game universe, which means I will need to develop it in depth to handle curious adventurers.
