Arthurian Knights in Space

[cjwillet]

Imagine for a moment, you are a glorious knight. Ensconced in power armor, with an ancient relic blade in one hand and wielding the power that moves the universe, the very source of the big bang. You sail across the Caelestus sector in a star cruiser seeking out lost relics, exploring strange new worlds, and fighting in the service of your liege lord.

This is an idea a high school student of mine and I have been discussing for a few days. It started as an idea of how to combine fantasy with science fiction, it got into a discussion of how to reinvent the Jedi knight which lead to this idea.

Once mankind ruled the stars, now it ekes out a feudal existence among the stars in a new dark age. The king rules from his fortress of Camelot, a 50 km long starship that sails between star systems. His orders of knights serve to protect the weak and defend the realm. His paladins are marked by their power armor that grants them increased strength and endurance. They are walking tanks wielding the Relic Blades, left over from the Empire of Fallen Man. The paladins also call upon a mystical energy known as the Source, it is the cause of the big bang and allows a paladin to bend space and time, to unleash lightning from their fingertips and create life.

The party would be made up of several knights of different orders (essentially specialists of different disciplines of the Source) who move throughout the ruins of fallen men aboard your own starcruiser along with a crew of pages, servants, soldiers, and rogues. Together you enforce the King's laws, defend his realm, and seek out lost relics to harness the Source.

 

[cjwillet]

The Source
The unread serfs toiling aboard the starship Camelot, after a long day toiling in the fields, like to sit around the campfire and tell tales of the King's paladins. How they descend from on high wielding magic. They are masters of the sword and capable of stopping time, unleashing fire, and even raising the dead. They can know the secrets of a man's mind and even erase him from reality. They are the only line of defense against the enemies of mankind.

Most of this is half true. A paladin calls upon the Source, which is a power that causes the universe to expand at an ever increasing rate, can create planets and populate them with life, and potentially, create new universes. A paladin taps into 7 disciplines which allow him to bend reality. They are Space, Time, Mind, Life, Matter, Force, and Energy. (this is subject to change). The paladin tends to aim for breadth rather than depth, being a jack of all trades and master of none. It is the King's wizards who delve deeper into the subject matter, specializing in a different discipline and uncovering their secrets.

• Space allows a paladin to bend space, allowing for faster than light travel. A novice can move objects or himself short distances. A master can move an entire starship across light years in the blink of an eye.
• Time allows a paladin to bend time, allowing him to change it's relative speed. A novice can cause an object to age or look like new again. A master can stop time except for himself, or even affect time itself (although that is a carefully guarded secret).
• Mind allows a paladin to read thoughts and expand his knowledge. A novice can simply read thoughts, or obtain knowledge through osmosis. A master can manipulate the weak, change memories, and know everything.
• Life allows a paladin to destroy or create living organisms. A novice can heal the sick, or uplift simple organisms. A master can populate planets from residual biomass, or raise the dead.
• Matter allows a paladin to destroy or create objects. A novice can turn lead into gold. A master can turn dust into a planet.
• Force allows a paladin to convert potential energy into kinetic energy. A novice can make a stone in his hand a bullet in the air. A master could do the same to a mountain.
• Energy allows a paladin to control energy in its many forms. A novice can heat metal or launch a lightning bolt. A master could reverse gravity or create nuclear reactions.

The Empire of Fallen Men were masters of the Source. Legends tell of the wonders they were able to wrought wielding the lifeblood of the cosmos. However, it may have been their doom. The king seeks relics of Fallen Men. They allegedly, had orbs capable of wielding massive amounts of the Source. The King believes that if enough of it could be channeled, he could create a new universe where mankind never fell. The paladins are integral to that plan.

Note: The idea behind the source was to create a "scientific backed" magic. We wanted it to be limited in a lot of ways, and to mostly deal with controlling reality not just casting spells. I'm thinking of using a dice pool system like World of Darkness. I feel that the number of successes you have could impact how well you wield the Source.

 

[cjwillet]

There are a lot of things left up in the air right now that I want some input on.

First, I want to include rules for making your own noble house. This is the party of paladins, they serve their liege lord aboard their star cruiser. Think Game of Thrones.
Second, I want to include rules for making different flavors of paladins. This could be compared to the chapters of space marines in warhammer 40 k. It's essentially which order you grew up and trained and distinguished yourself in before coming to serve this noble house.
Third, I am trying to decide if I want to include specializations of paladins. Like a sword master, or a tank, or a master of the source, etc.

Let me know what you think.

 

[Razjah]

This seems cool, but many would see it as a slight spin on Warhammer 40k.

Savage Worlds or FATE Core could work very well for this system's "magic" Savage Worlds has generic powers (combat focused, non-combat spells can be added and role played) adding trappings allows the Bolt power (generic magic missile) to be different for a using of Energy and one using Matter.

FATE however allows more freedom in the magic system, the Dresden Files magic system could be adapted for this. The Evocation magic allows for combat style magic while Thaumaturgy would allow for giant effects that take time to accomplish (creating a new planet for instance).

 

[Ulfbert the Reiver]

I like your take on Aurthurian adventures in space, but as a formal product, it's already been done:


(can't post links yet) w w w .rpgnow.com/product/101297/Camelot-Cosmos-GMs-Book?src=s_pi

I bought the CC bundle a while ago and it's pretty good -- very complete as the mythos goes. It's also Fate based.

 

[Ulfbert the Reiver]

I like your take on it, but it's been done in a game called Cosmos Camelot. I can't post links yet, but it's on drivethrurpg and the webpages are out there. I bought the bundle and it's pretty good; I'd bought it mainly because it's Fate-based.