Interest Check: Narrative World-Building

Voda Vosa · Oct 1, 2012

I see a potential pitfalls on those ideas, not that I don't like them, but I think the continuity of the game might be affected:
-There is no goal besides surviving.

I think a more defined setting/scene/objective would help us not get swamped. Say, we are the lone survivors from an alien scout party, escaped on a shuttle as our ship was destroyed. Our mission is to alert the galactic empire/federation/whatever of the incoming invasion, while we keep ourselves alive, as the aliens hunt us, or we face problems being on a life pod rather than a fully equipped spaceship. That example would give the survival angle to a more defined objective.
Other idea? Sure: Human race has expanded its borders to the edge of the galaxy, and found no trace of alien civilizations nowhere, besides primitive life forms. Our origins are now a mystery, belonging more to the realm of fable than history. We are space explorers, sent on a mission to investigate the fate of a lost merchant vessel, that lost communication and was drifting in unknown space. The reason why that portion of the galaxy was not used for space routes was unknown as well. The group would soon find that reason, and linked to it, the fate of Humankind's original worlds.

airwalkrr · Oct 1, 2012

Good ideas, Voda Vosa. I especially like the idea about humankind having expanded to the galaxy's edge and finding no other forms of advanced life leaving us to ponder the meaning of existence.

And as for motivations for individual adventures, I will guide the narrative through the first adventure. Then we will begin taking turns guiding the narrative through successive adventures. Think of it like a typical American science fiction television show, where you have the same characters, but each episode is written by a different writer. An entire season might follow a general plot, but a team of writers (us, the players) each have their own particular spin on it and take turns writing parts.

We could begin thinking about a cast of characters now if you like. Let's work with the idea that our characters are space explorers of some type. We are either part of the "establishment" (a large intergalactic government of some kind), like the crew of a Starfleet vessel on Star Trek, a Battlestar of Battlestar Galactica, or a Star Destroyer from Star Wars, or we exist on the fringes of it, like the Serenity of Firefly, the Millenium Falcon of Star Wars, or Moya on Farscape. Basically we are either suits with regulations to follow or we are rogues able to do as we please. Both offer interesting roleplaying and writing challenges. I kind of lean towards the rogue idea.

Voda Vosa · Oct 2, 2012

I see, I'm liking it each time more.
I would lean towards the part of the society kind of angle, but on a smaller crew; much like Knights of the old republic games, where there are 8 characters at best, on a small shuttle. Gives us better narrative opportunities I think, Simplifies things, and also gives the roguish feel, not so stiffed up like on a big ship; with the always present chance to discover world flipping events that might turn allegiances obsolete.

Jemal · Oct 2, 2012

I prefer the rogues to the suits, but i'm good with either.

I like the idea of a starship crew that doesn't really have anybody else to depend on, (Moya, Voyager, Lost in space, etc).

airwalkrr · Oct 2, 2012

Perhaps using Voyager as a paradigm, our crew could be former members of a society that is on the outs for some particular reason. Maybe there was a drastic regime change and our crew went rogue. Or perhaps, like Voyager, we were suddenly cut off from communication with the rest of our society. We might want to re-establish contact, or maybe not. Just floating some ideas.

Let's give our vessel a name. Ideas?