Space RPGs?

[Oni]

Artist rant coming online in 3...2...1....

Why is the art work in most Sci-Fi/Space RPGs so gawdawefully horrible?! I mean, a quick look through deviantart, concept art forums and even, dare I say it, elfwood! provides better illustrations of spaceships, aliens and gear then is seen in professional products. Nothing personal to the artists of Mongoose Traveller but my lord was the art terrible. I'm willing to attribute it to poor production values or tight deadlines or anything else that will make Mongoose feel better but as a Sci-Fi Fan, Traveller Fan, Gamer and Artist I was practically offended. This is 2008 guys. Our desktop computers have art programs will more rendering power then a computer in the original edition of the Traveller universe could generate.

Please someone make a Sci-Fi game other then those with a licensed IP that I actually want to look at. Please.

Thanks. Sorry. I'm ok. The medibots are here and I'm good now.

AD

P.S. Putting my credits where my mouth is...I'm no art prodigy but this is Imperial Battle Dress from my Traveller campagin universe:

Colors indicate the Glimmerdrift Reaches Sector.

Nothing will ruin a perfectly good book for me faster than bad art. Can't get past it, cheapens the whole product.

 

[The Green Adam]

Nothing will ruin a perfectly good book for me faster than bad art. Can't get past it, cheapens the whole product.

My point exactly and Traveller especially. Why? Because in order to alter the perception that its dated it needs a look that really stands out and grabs people attention. It needs to generate the same interest and excitement it did in 1977 but appeal to a 2008-9 consumer who has watched and read science fiction with solid art, design and effects.

In Japan, Traveller was illustrated by Katoh Naoyuki, a noted illustrator and painter who was famous for doing the covers of numerous Western SF Novels before being hired to do Traveller. Amoung his works were the covers of Starship Troopers, The Forever War and the Foundation Trilogy. You can see his work, including some of his Traveller illustrations at ‰Á“¡‚³‚ñ‚¿‚ÌŽdŽ–ê and there are addition Japanese Traveller images at TRAVELLERƒR[ƒi[”à

I collect Japanese pen & paper RPGs. I suppose I needed a way of being EVEN MORE GEEKY!

Right now I'm feeling a little depressed about the current lack of a Sci-Fi RPG that does what I want and looks good. The Stars, My Disappointment.

AD

 

[Psion]

I think Mongoose Traveller is a great game.

But I have to agree: the art is a disappointment.

 

[Staffan]

A 2-D universe is no improvement. You can visualise it on the page, but every time you look at it or make decisions based on it it screams "I am not Space".

It does make things a lot easier though. I have attached a copy of the map of the Verge from the Star*Drive setting, with four of the stars marked. The yellow circles are around the systems Corrivale and Karnath, which are about 72 lightyears apart. The green circles are around Tendril and Argos, about 70 lightyears apart. By just looking at the map, you'd assume that Tendril and Argos are much farther apart than Corrivale and Karnath are.

That kind of thing matters if you're running, say, a trading-based campaign (something which is about as classic in Traveller as "kill things and take their stuff" is in D&D). You want to be able to realize how long it would take you to travel from one system to another to figure out if it's worth going there for the profit you can make.

 

[Metus]

What do you mean by "space opera"? In one sense, it is used to mean "sci-fi consisting of a thin veneer of spaceships and rayguns over stock characters, stock situations, and stock plots". In another it is used to mean "interstellar sci-fi more concerned with spaceships than planets, in which the scope is wide and the scale large (tending to 'grandiose' on both those dimensions)".

I meant the latter, although I was purposely leaving it a bit vague. I'm interested to hear about all the space RPGs in general.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Artist rant coming online in 3...2...1....

Why is the art work in most Sci-Fi/Space RPGs so gawdawefully horrible?! I

Good art is expensive. And few gaming companies have an art budget even approaching that of WotC.

That said, if you want good art, look at Heavy Gear and Jovian Chronicles. Though they have lost their main artist now...

 

[Shades of Green]

In space, everyone can hear you pump the 12-gauge.

That is signature stuff! iconic!

 

[Agemegos]

It does make things a lot easier though.

At the cost of being grotesquely unrealistic. It's like the difference between chess and a wargame: the chequerboard and the funny pieces and moving only one piece on each turn makes things a lot simpler, but the result is just not a representation of a battlefield.

I have attached a copy of the map of the Verge from the Star*Drive setting, with four of the stars marked. The yellow circles are around the systems Corrivale and Karnath, which are about 72 lightyears apart. The green circles are around Tendril and Argos, about 70 lightyears apart. By just looking at the map, you'd assume that Tendril and Argos are much farther apart than Corrivale and Karnath are.

Indeed. But at that scope (ie. about forty stars) the problem is easily solved by a distance table.

I have a copy of this starmap, which I have laminated and use in gaming. It has about 224 stars on it, and while the distances between the stars are not apparent at a glance it is possible to discern which stars are near to a given location in a few moments. You glance at the dot that represents your current location and note the last of its co-ordinates. Then you glance at the nearby dots and check the last of their co-ordinates. If it is very different from the number you mentally noted you dismiss the star as not all that near. The same approach works using the Astrogator's Handbook, which divides space within 75 light-years into 63 sectors and represents each with a map like this.

Sure, it's not as easy as judging distance on a map of something flat. But that's because it is representing something that is intrinsically more complex. You can't suppress that complexity without losing the essence of Space.

 

[Korgoth]

That is signature stuff! iconic!

Enjoy!

@Agemegos:

For what it's worth, here's how I handle Jump technology in my interpretations of Traveller:

(2D) Sector maps are accurate because they're not star maps, they're maps of Jump Space. J-Space is a separate space (or quasi-space) that does not map precisely (as far as man can tell) onto real space.

The Jump Drive propels you into Jump Space and maintains you there. When there, you aim yourself at one of the large disturbances that constitutes a stellar mass. As you draw near the stellar mass, you precipitate out of jump space and into real space (thus mass hampers jump so you need more powerful jump engines for a larger ship). If you don't reach a precipitating mass before lose jump field integrity, you're swallowed up or sometimes appear at a random point in real space (after a variable amount of time). Another reason for the high casualties in the Scout service.

Anyway, Jump space works on its own physics and the relative positions of the jumpable systems can be accurately represented in 2D. A jump map is not a real star map, however, and does not have constellations, familiar locations, etc. Maybe Terrans have never visited Alpha Centauri because there has never been a jump route found to it. Maybe we have visited Eta Carinae because, due to the quirks of J-Space, it is only a few jumps away (and you can hardly miss it!). Etc.

 

[Hal Maclean]

Reign of Discordia, of course.

Here it is in PDF: RPGNow.com - Reality Deviant Publications - Reign of Discordia

The print version is available in both color and B&W and can be accessed here: 's Storefront - Lulu.com

I'll echo that. There's some great ideas in RoD that really harken back to the glory days of space opera.