Farscape: How would you do it now?

[Psion]

Okay, Farscape sort of died in the shell, and the book had some problems to begin with.

But my recent purchase of the DVD sets just reaffirmed my love for the setting.

If you were to run a Farscape game, how would you do it?

I am thinking it might be most doable to fix up some of the problems in the Farscape book (like the class balance) and add some details of later modern games that are a benefit. But retooling D20 Modern/Future or T20 has promise as well.

 

[Krieg]

I am thinking it might be most doable to fix up some of the problems in the Farscape book (like the class balance) and add some details of later modern games that are a benefit.

That would be my approach....primarily clean up the non-standard bits from the races & classes (odd racial bonuses for example) and even things out a bit better. The game playable as written just a bit wonky in some areas. I actually liked the FX system and wouldn't mess with it too much.

 

[julius27]

Actually, I don't think I would mess with it at all. The show itself has wildly unbalanced character types, and it is the other characters' intelligence and creativity that even it out a bit. For example, John is outmatched in every way by every other character on the show, both friend and foe. Toe to toe, he was never a match for anyone except maybe Rigel. The thing is, in order for the game to work as is, you need really good, creative players that are willing to roleplay both strengths and weaknesses of their characters. It wouldn't be a fun game to play with people who always min-max their characters.

 

[Psion]

Actually, I don't think I would mess with it at all. The show itself has wildly unbalanced character types,

Um, lots of shows and novel feature unbalanced characters, but few games do. When it comes down to it, games have different design criteria than books or shows. I beleive unless you have some specific mechanism to handle unbalanced characters (d20 does not by default), you should strive for balanced characters.

and it is the other characters' intelligence and creativity that even it out a bit. For example, John is outmatched in every way by every other character on the show, both friend and foe. Toe to toe, he was never a match for anyone except maybe Rigel. The thing is, in order for the game to work as is, you need really good, creative players that are willing to roleplay both strengths and weaknesses of their characters.

I don't buy that either. Some d20 variants -- like d20 modern -- do a very good job of modeling a character's cleverness that does not rely purely on the player's ingenuity, and the essence of a good role-playing game is to allow the player to portray a character different from them. Also, you may be used to the emphasis on combat in D&D, but in games like Traveller d20 and Spycraft, a characters skillset and special abilities does not have to be about combat to make a credible contribution to the game.

 

[Von Ether]

Best 1st level game I ever ran. Had loads of fun. The errata seemed to ruin it for us.

If you didn't like rules as is, I suggest running a low level MnM game with modifications instead.

 

[Chaldfont]

If you didn't like rules as is, I suggest running a low level MnM game with modifications instead.

I've heard of people using Mutants and Masterminds to play a Farscape game. After playing MnM for a while, I think this would be the best way to do it. I think it would be the best way to model the freaky abilities many of the Farscape characters have (Dargo's stun-tongue, Grandma's herbs, Zhaan's telepathy, etc). MnM combats seem to be much quicker and easier to run than when using d20 rules, too. That keeps up the excitement.

And remember the first rule of Farscape campaign design--The party never kills the bad guy, he just becomes another PC.

 

[Psion]

I've heard of people using Mutants and Masterminds to play a Farscape game. After playing MnM for a while, I think this would be the best way to do it. I think it would be the best way to model the freaky abilities many of the Farscape characters have (Dargo's stun-tongue, Grandma's herbs, Zhaan's telepathy, etc). MnM combats seem to be much quicker and easier to run than when using d20 rules, too. That keeps up the excitement.

I really don't see the players designing farscape-esque characters if I just hand them the MnM ruleset. Unless I hand them a framework that would facilitate this. And once I do that, I am reinventing the wheel.

And remember the first rule of Farscape campaign design--The party never kills the bad guy, he just becomes another PC.

Not always true (still no psychic mind vampires in Moya's crew, frex), but a common happenstance to be sure.

 

[Von Ether]

I really don't see the players designing farscape-esque characters if I just hand them the MnM ruleset. Unless I hand them a framework that would facilitate this. And once I do that, I am reinventing the wheel.





Not always true (still no psychic mind vampires in Moya's crew, frex), but a common happenstance to be sure.

The biggest challenge I had was narrow minded players who would look at the MnM cover and subconciously thought we were suddenly doing Legion of Superheroes as compared to the regular d20 Farscape we had played for months. On that note, the recent Nocturals book may greatly help. It has guidelines for lower levels of play the general weirdness just need to have a coat of SF varnish to fit.

The framework I used is a set of loose guidelines. Forbid the front loaded powers, such as Invisiblity and Incorpreal and Explosion. Gadget is quesitionable as well. Limit Super Attributes to 2+ and give skills a 2/1 ratio. It did all right.

 

[Chaldfont]

Like all point-buy character build systems, MnM has a few pitfalls including character balance and, not the least of which, the amount of work just to build a character. I find that the best way to make characters in these systems is to just have the player tell you his character concept and then stat it up as best you can. After the first session or two, allow the player to adjust the stats more to his liking as he learns both his character and the rules.

This works great for MnM.