Ashen Stars: space opera done really right

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

I've read it (and the Dead Rock Seven adventure book) and am intrigued. I don't know that I'd call it space opera, or at least, it doesn't seem to fit my definition of space opera. Much more along the lines of something like the Flinx and Pip books than Firefly, IMO. Still looks interesting, though.

I agree with the skills, and the overall 'mystery' as well as some other things seem a little more meta and hand-wavey than I'd like.

I can't conceive of trying to run it without some heavy prep. I'd consider the Dead Rock Seven book to be mandatory for GMs. It's an excellent primer on how to structure the kind of adventure Ashen Stars was written for.

 

[Piratecat]

I can't conceive of trying to run it without some heavy prep.

I think - think, don't know - that I could run this extemporaneously. All you need is an adventure seed and you can pull everything else from your butt when the PCs ask about it.

As an example, spur of the moment: let's say I wanted an adventure where people are being kidnapped, and PCs investigate. By whom? Let's say.. by a cyborg faction. The cyborgs are kidnapping people and implanting them with cybergear to make them cyborgs as well. Yeah, sure, but too Borg-like. So let's bring something wacky like a nu-religion into it. We'll say that the cyborgs believe that the second coming of the Messiah is at hand, that he was prophesized to be born in a particular time and place, and that he will only realize his potential for Godhood if he has the door to cyberhumanity unlocked for him. Unfortunately, this is a planet that abhors artificial augmentation. Thus the cyborgs have identified possible candidates according to their predictions, and are kidnapping them to convert them.

1. PCs get called in after young children have gone missing.

2. Another child is believed to be next on the kidnap list. Locals believe their hated bogeymen, cyborgs, are at fault. They are organizing a witch hunt to wipe out the few cyborgs on-planet.

3. PCs have to go and stop a possibly deadly riot. They rescue a cyborg in the process. While they're gone, the kid is kidnapped and clues lead to borgs.

4. The PCs go back to their new friend for clues. Under duress, he indicates that there is a grand religious event taking place right now.

5. The PCs race to save the children. When they arrive, the cyborgs will defend themselves. Religion is more important than lives.

6. They confront the newly cybered kids. What will their parents do with them now? Reject them, surely.

7. Are they in time to save the latest kidnap victim? and in fact, this kid IS the Messiah. Should they let him be transformed so that he reaches his potential? And if they do, will his parents kill him as an abomination?

There we go. 8 minutes of prep, and I could maybe run this right now. I'd just consider the clues on the fly and tell the players the logical response.

 

[Ycore Rixle]

Hm, initially it lost me at the double-acronym (Licensed Autonomous Zone Effectuators). But that's a pretty strong recommendation, so I'll give it a look!

 

[TarionzCousin]

6. They confront the newly cybered kids. What will their parents do with them now? Reject them, surely.

7. Are they in time to save the latest kidnap victim? and in fact, this kid IS the Messiah. Should they let him be transformed so that he reaches his potential? And if they do, will his parents kill him as an abomination?

The resolution noted above sets up perfectly for a sequel or an ongoing campaign. The players could even play the kids and the supposed messiah.

If you would just kill off all the characters once or twice, your reputation would suffer and you wouldn't be asked to GM all the time.

I mean, "nice work."

 

[spacemonkey]

Here's a quick background of the game I ran at GenCon. I'm throwing it in spoiler blocks because I'll be running this at the next Boston gameday (Oct 22nd), AnonyCon (Stamford, early Dec) and PegCon (a housecon we throw for our anniversary, next June.) If you expect to be in any of those conventions, I'd skip this bit for now.

...

Sounds like a cool adventure. I haven't really played much Gumshoe, other than an aborted session of Trail of Cthulhu my friend once ran. You've piqued my interest in Ashen Stars though - think i might pick it up.

I would be interested to see what the character sheets look like, mechanically - if you still have those handy someplace.