Jemal
Adventurer
For a long time now I've wanted to run/play in a certain type of sci-fi game.
I've always been a fan of the 'lost in space' style of sci fi, and am looking to start up a game along those lines. This game will definitely be high-tech sci-fi, and though there are a number of systems that may fit better, I really enjoy the flexibility of M&M, and it's the only one I have good access to that this type of game would really fit into. I'm open to suggestions, but as my options are limited, please only suggest rulesets that are available for free online (Legally!)
I've been thinking alot on whether I want to go with a 'lone crew trying to find/achieve something in a harsh universe (Star trek: Voyager, Andromeda, Battlestar Galactica) or the "Trying to survive the ride" style (Stargate: Universe, Lost in space, Sliders).
I Decided that unless people really want to try one over the other I'm going to to with a bit of a mix, starting off with the 'trying to survive and learn to use the ship' aspect before transforming into a 'space-trek with purpose' once the crew figures out the ship. (And yes, even though I reference Sliders, there will DEFINITELY be a ship). It will be set in a semi-dystopian future with the PC's finding a fabled 'lost-tech ship from the golden age'. The PC's will be on a highly advanced (But not under their control) Starship travelling through a hostile and wild galaxy.
HISTORY:
By the 30th century, Humanity had become a galaxy-spanning, exploring and expanding across the Milky Way. We found that life existed, or was capable of existing, on millions of planets. We even found a few other sentient species - but nothing quite on the same scale as us. Most were still struggling with basic technology, while some had advance as far as colonizing their own solar systems. When it seemed appropriate, we would greet them, learn from each other, and even aid them in joining us among the stars.. if they were deemed 'worthy'... we were arrogant, but felt benevolent in our superiority.
The only example of another 'advanced' species we had yet to find were the remnants, scattered across the galaxy, of a Primordial - and presumed dead - race, with technology so advanced that humanity could not yet grasp it.
In the 31st century, we finally found another advanced civilization, but this one was not so friendly. They came from another galaxy, or so we assume. We had encountered nothing of them anywhere in the Milky Way before this. They attacked on sight, tore through the exploratory vessels they encountered, and examined the wreckage and crew for information on their new prey.
We were caught off guard - never before had we encountered such power, and within a decade nearly half of our colonies had been destroyed. A Hundred Billion dead, with no response to communication, no mercy, no rules of war. They took no prisoners, and offered no surrender.
Humanity fought back, aided by the races we had befriended and helped along through the years. An alliance was formed, and a century of war raged across the galaxy. Near the end, both sides stood ravaged. Entire systems had been mined clean to produce the weapons of war, ship graveyards littered the stars, the death toll was higher than most people could even conceive, but finally, we stood victorious. The enemy had been purged from our galaxy, and all sentients rejoiced.. for a short time. Most goverments and leaders had fallen, the major population centers destroyed by the enemy, vast stores of knowledge, art, culture destroyed. For decades we had been little more than ragtag fleets performing 'guerrilla warfare' in space. Infighting broke out over who should lead, what we should do.. racial animosity arose, and the whole thing fell apart.
Much of our knowledge, art, and past is gone. Whole civilizations have been wiped out so thoroughly nobody remembers them. We don't even know which planet we came from. Some fabled rock called 'Earth'.
TECHNOLOGY:
The 'average' technology level of humanity is 'near future', though with MUCH advanced tech scattered across the galaxy. Physical and mental augmentation and minor cybernetics are fairly commonplace. Both Solid projectile and beam weapons are used, the later being attainable but uncommon, and mostly antique. Interplanetary travel is fairly commonplace, and Interstellar travel is possible, but hard to come by. The knowledge of how to build hyperdrives has been lost, and those ships that still have hyperdrives are much coveted. The slower, but still stellar-capable 'FTL' drives are more common, and still reproducable by some civilizations.
Some civilizations have recovered better than others, restarting the learning curve, trying to pick up the pieces. Most are still stuck in a 'dystopian/cyberpunk' phase.
For those familiar with the Kardashev Scale, Humanity WAS a mid-level Type 2 civilization, with the invading enemy being High type-2 and most of the other races being type 0 or 1, though quickly advancing to Humanity's level with help. Now, everyone is back to early type 1, with some type 2 'relics'.
FTL: Practically all ships have FTL capability, and most advanced civilizations are capable of reproducing it. FTL drives vary in speed, being measured in Kc (1 Kc = 1 Thousand times light speed). The fastest being able to travel at 50 KC, the slower ones being around 1 Kc(Equivalent to Warp 9 in star trek). Most are around 20 Kc . Even at the fastest FTL speed, it takes over two years to traverse the galaxy, and the average is around 6 years.
Though many civilizations are only weeks or even days apart by FTL.
Hyper-drive: Hyper-drives, also known to some as "Jump Drives", can no longer be manufactured by any known civilization in the galaxy, but some do still exist, and are heavily guarded and kept in top shape. Ships with Hyper-drives are capable of essentially teleporting through space. They require a cool-down time to recharge between jumps, or risk causing a catastrophe that will essentially spread the atoms of the ship (And everything/body on board) across the galaxy. The most advanced hyper-drives currently in service can transport up to 10,000 light years and require a day or so to recharge, capable of crossing the galaxy in a couple weeks. Most can move around 2-5,000 Light Years per jump and often require several days to recharge. They are still orders of magnitude faster than even the best of FTL's.
**Civilizations do the majority of their interactions with close-by planets, and reserve whatever hyper-drives they may have for long-distance or important, time-sensitive journeys.
Also just for a bit of fun, the average FTL drive travel time from Earth to the nearest star (Proxima Centauri) is about Two hours.
UPDATE:
CHARACTER CREATION RULES:
OK, so the setting here is going to be very Tech-heavy, and so I'm going to be going with a bit of an odd way of using M&M to play the game.
characters will be PL 4 with 50pp, but there are several variant rules:
First up, the reason behind the lower than usual PP is manyfold, but primarily because you'll be using more equipment and devices than would usually be expected, and will be getting upgrades sooner.
Since I'm using a lot of gear and expect your gear to upgrade faster than your personal skill, I'm not going to cap the damage output or Toughness bonus gained from gear. Instead, PL caps will be as follows:
Attack bonus & Active Defenses will be each be individually capped at PL.
STARTING damage and toughness including equipment & devices cannot exceed PL, but it won't be too long before you start getting upgrades.
Powers will be limited based on race - feel free to make up your own so long as they are basically humanoid, no more advanced(technologically/intellectually) than humans, and don't have many powers (And nothing weird/over the top).
Also be aware that personal power will be secondary in most cases. the game will be much more focused around character interaction, role-playing, and ship-life. Combat and personal trinkets will be secondary.
Normal Tech -Akin to the tech level we've been discussing(anything that can be reliably produced by multiple civilizations.)- can be gained as equipment. If the equipment you want doesn't exist in the book, you may create it similar to a power: equipment costs as much in EP as the power would in PP. For obvious reasons, you may not put certain flaws like Removable on equipment.
For HIGH Tech, you may create it as a removable or easily removable power, so long as you don't have a lot of it. -This is usually pre-fall level technology, stuff that can't really be recreated except by the most advanced civillizations, and some not even by them, so you're essentially carting around an artifact. Include that as an extra complication.-
In either case, if you aren't completely sure of how a device should work, which tech level it belongs at (equipment or power), or whether it might be too high - just propose it and we'll figure it out.
*NOTE: it doesn't matter what type of advancement your character is from, something that's common for the highest tech is still equipment for the barbarians, they would just need a good RP reason why the character has it.
notable technology for character creation:
Augmentation (Genetic, Chemical, or Cybernetic) - Humanity has discovered ways of augmenting themselves physically and mentally. You may buy abilities (Str, sta, etc) as Enhanced Powers with the 'Augment' limit, which reduces cost by 1 every two ranks (So Augmented str+2 would cost 3 points). The limit is essentially a complication that doesn't provide you a hero point, and varies depending on the type of augment - Cybernetic augments may require repairs/maintenance, Chemical augments may require semi-frequent boosters, genetic augments can have some side effects down the line. Also, in certain cultures Augments can be a sort of stigma.
Augmented abilities can be raised up to 4 and may exceed norms.
I'm also open to other genetic/cybernetic changes, such as minor immunities or other 'semi-super human' powers, but I reserve final say on any and all such powers.
I've always been a fan of the 'lost in space' style of sci fi, and am looking to start up a game along those lines. This game will definitely be high-tech sci-fi, and though there are a number of systems that may fit better, I really enjoy the flexibility of M&M, and it's the only one I have good access to that this type of game would really fit into. I'm open to suggestions, but as my options are limited, please only suggest rulesets that are available for free online (Legally!)
I've been thinking alot on whether I want to go with a 'lone crew trying to find/achieve something in a harsh universe (Star trek: Voyager, Andromeda, Battlestar Galactica) or the "Trying to survive the ride" style (Stargate: Universe, Lost in space, Sliders).
I Decided that unless people really want to try one over the other I'm going to to with a bit of a mix, starting off with the 'trying to survive and learn to use the ship' aspect before transforming into a 'space-trek with purpose' once the crew figures out the ship. (And yes, even though I reference Sliders, there will DEFINITELY be a ship). It will be set in a semi-dystopian future with the PC's finding a fabled 'lost-tech ship from the golden age'. The PC's will be on a highly advanced (But not under their control) Starship travelling through a hostile and wild galaxy.
HISTORY:
By the 30th century, Humanity had become a galaxy-spanning, exploring and expanding across the Milky Way. We found that life existed, or was capable of existing, on millions of planets. We even found a few other sentient species - but nothing quite on the same scale as us. Most were still struggling with basic technology, while some had advance as far as colonizing their own solar systems. When it seemed appropriate, we would greet them, learn from each other, and even aid them in joining us among the stars.. if they were deemed 'worthy'... we were arrogant, but felt benevolent in our superiority.
The only example of another 'advanced' species we had yet to find were the remnants, scattered across the galaxy, of a Primordial - and presumed dead - race, with technology so advanced that humanity could not yet grasp it.
In the 31st century, we finally found another advanced civilization, but this one was not so friendly. They came from another galaxy, or so we assume. We had encountered nothing of them anywhere in the Milky Way before this. They attacked on sight, tore through the exploratory vessels they encountered, and examined the wreckage and crew for information on their new prey.
We were caught off guard - never before had we encountered such power, and within a decade nearly half of our colonies had been destroyed. A Hundred Billion dead, with no response to communication, no mercy, no rules of war. They took no prisoners, and offered no surrender.
Humanity fought back, aided by the races we had befriended and helped along through the years. An alliance was formed, and a century of war raged across the galaxy. Near the end, both sides stood ravaged. Entire systems had been mined clean to produce the weapons of war, ship graveyards littered the stars, the death toll was higher than most people could even conceive, but finally, we stood victorious. The enemy had been purged from our galaxy, and all sentients rejoiced.. for a short time. Most goverments and leaders had fallen, the major population centers destroyed by the enemy, vast stores of knowledge, art, culture destroyed. For decades we had been little more than ragtag fleets performing 'guerrilla warfare' in space. Infighting broke out over who should lead, what we should do.. racial animosity arose, and the whole thing fell apart.
Much of our knowledge, art, and past is gone. Whole civilizations have been wiped out so thoroughly nobody remembers them. We don't even know which planet we came from. Some fabled rock called 'Earth'.
TECHNOLOGY:
The 'average' technology level of humanity is 'near future', though with MUCH advanced tech scattered across the galaxy. Physical and mental augmentation and minor cybernetics are fairly commonplace. Both Solid projectile and beam weapons are used, the later being attainable but uncommon, and mostly antique. Interplanetary travel is fairly commonplace, and Interstellar travel is possible, but hard to come by. The knowledge of how to build hyperdrives has been lost, and those ships that still have hyperdrives are much coveted. The slower, but still stellar-capable 'FTL' drives are more common, and still reproducable by some civilizations.
Some civilizations have recovered better than others, restarting the learning curve, trying to pick up the pieces. Most are still stuck in a 'dystopian/cyberpunk' phase.
For those familiar with the Kardashev Scale, Humanity WAS a mid-level Type 2 civilization, with the invading enemy being High type-2 and most of the other races being type 0 or 1, though quickly advancing to Humanity's level with help. Now, everyone is back to early type 1, with some type 2 'relics'.
FTL: Practically all ships have FTL capability, and most advanced civilizations are capable of reproducing it. FTL drives vary in speed, being measured in Kc (1 Kc = 1 Thousand times light speed). The fastest being able to travel at 50 KC, the slower ones being around 1 Kc(Equivalent to Warp 9 in star trek). Most are around 20 Kc . Even at the fastest FTL speed, it takes over two years to traverse the galaxy, and the average is around 6 years.
Though many civilizations are only weeks or even days apart by FTL.
Hyper-drive: Hyper-drives, also known to some as "Jump Drives", can no longer be manufactured by any known civilization in the galaxy, but some do still exist, and are heavily guarded and kept in top shape. Ships with Hyper-drives are capable of essentially teleporting through space. They require a cool-down time to recharge between jumps, or risk causing a catastrophe that will essentially spread the atoms of the ship (And everything/body on board) across the galaxy. The most advanced hyper-drives currently in service can transport up to 10,000 light years and require a day or so to recharge, capable of crossing the galaxy in a couple weeks. Most can move around 2-5,000 Light Years per jump and often require several days to recharge. They are still orders of magnitude faster than even the best of FTL's.
**Civilizations do the majority of their interactions with close-by planets, and reserve whatever hyper-drives they may have for long-distance or important, time-sensitive journeys.
Also just for a bit of fun, the average FTL drive travel time from Earth to the nearest star (Proxima Centauri) is about Two hours.
UPDATE:
CHARACTER CREATION RULES:
OK, so the setting here is going to be very Tech-heavy, and so I'm going to be going with a bit of an odd way of using M&M to play the game.
characters will be PL 4 with 50pp, but there are several variant rules:
First up, the reason behind the lower than usual PP is manyfold, but primarily because you'll be using more equipment and devices than would usually be expected, and will be getting upgrades sooner.
Since I'm using a lot of gear and expect your gear to upgrade faster than your personal skill, I'm not going to cap the damage output or Toughness bonus gained from gear. Instead, PL caps will be as follows:
Attack bonus & Active Defenses will be each be individually capped at PL.
STARTING damage and toughness including equipment & devices cannot exceed PL, but it won't be too long before you start getting upgrades.
Powers will be limited based on race - feel free to make up your own so long as they are basically humanoid, no more advanced(technologically/intellectually) than humans, and don't have many powers (And nothing weird/over the top).
Also be aware that personal power will be secondary in most cases. the game will be much more focused around character interaction, role-playing, and ship-life. Combat and personal trinkets will be secondary.
Normal Tech -Akin to the tech level we've been discussing(anything that can be reliably produced by multiple civilizations.)- can be gained as equipment. If the equipment you want doesn't exist in the book, you may create it similar to a power: equipment costs as much in EP as the power would in PP. For obvious reasons, you may not put certain flaws like Removable on equipment.
For HIGH Tech, you may create it as a removable or easily removable power, so long as you don't have a lot of it. -This is usually pre-fall level technology, stuff that can't really be recreated except by the most advanced civillizations, and some not even by them, so you're essentially carting around an artifact. Include that as an extra complication.-
In either case, if you aren't completely sure of how a device should work, which tech level it belongs at (equipment or power), or whether it might be too high - just propose it and we'll figure it out.
*NOTE: it doesn't matter what type of advancement your character is from, something that's common for the highest tech is still equipment for the barbarians, they would just need a good RP reason why the character has it.
notable technology for character creation:
Augmentation (Genetic, Chemical, or Cybernetic) - Humanity has discovered ways of augmenting themselves physically and mentally. You may buy abilities (Str, sta, etc) as Enhanced Powers with the 'Augment' limit, which reduces cost by 1 every two ranks (So Augmented str+2 would cost 3 points). The limit is essentially a complication that doesn't provide you a hero point, and varies depending on the type of augment - Cybernetic augments may require repairs/maintenance, Chemical augments may require semi-frequent boosters, genetic augments can have some side effects down the line. Also, in certain cultures Augments can be a sort of stigma.
Augmented abilities can be raised up to 4 and may exceed norms.
I'm also open to other genetic/cybernetic changes, such as minor immunities or other 'semi-super human' powers, but I reserve final say on any and all such powers.
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