(Mongoose) Licences and RPGs


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EarthsShadow said:
I guess just the possibility of being able to go through numerous Stargates and finding different cultures and technologies and rulers and enemies that don't like humans and attacks against earth and just as many variants for mysteries and diseases and first encounters and second encounters with the species/cultures ...

While, to me, this conversation appears more about what appeals to the individual than the true merit of the setting for an RPG, I would note that you could easily replace the word "Stargate" with "star ship" (especially if you used one of them minbari cruisers in a Crusade-esque fashion) and come up with the same result.

To me, I think B5 makes for the more potential in a RPG setting simply because of the greater freedom one would have creating a character, and the nature of the missions/runs/adventures to be had. I think Stargate, with its single Earth gate (single may = low number, I don't recall) and specific number of SG teams. How many SG teams can you burn through before it seems sort of strange that they're still doing it?

I think D&D, and even B5, scale better - if there're a set number of teams, not only does it seem weird that one group may burn through 5 in a year, the entire world of RP'ers are doing the same thing. While each group in another setting may change the history of another setting enough to make them non-compatible, there isn't the seeming incongruity of them all assuming essentially the same 20-30 people.

On another note, some people would like the idea of having the GM able to (don't take this the wrong way) control the players by issuing orders, others don't. I don't see many good ways of having SG "opened up" and allowing that kind of player freedom that is enjoyed (if it's desired) in, say, a D&D group of freelance adventurers. Until say the group is stranded on an alien world, isolated from command. But to me, the real core of the game would be a military squad sent out via gate to explore worlds, taking orders (sometimes even real-time) about what to do. The variety just isn't there, imho.

Anyhow, I don't want to threadjack too harshly, so I'll leave it there.

/Frelaras/
 

EarthsShadow said:
As for Farscape, its not cancelled yet as far as I can tell. I keep seeing previews and commercials for the next season that is to start on January 10th on SciFi channel.

Farscape is cancelled. How it works is that Farscape was usually filmed in partial seasons: first half, then reruns for a while, then the second half. Then the next season starts shortly thereafter.

What happened is that Farscape was cancelled right after they finished filming the last half of the current season. It's only now going to air, but the show is dead after that. :(
 

Stargate is very very suited to an rpg. You've got your adventuring party (an SG team) who go on episodic missions. The Stargate can lead anywhere, allowing the GM to adapt and drop in scenarios easily. You've got a military hierarchy at home, letting the GM guide the PCs when he needs to, but in the field, everyone's more or less equal, with their own specialities.

Babylon 5's big problem is that it's got one big story, which hits almost all the high points of the universe. It's like Star Wars -you can mooch around and play the supporting cast (deliver the death star plans to Princess Leia, stop the terrorists from blowing up B5 before it's operational), or go off on adventures that miss all the cool stuff (expanded universe Star Wars, for example). The old B5 rpg took the rather odd tack of setting itself before the B5 story arc.

Babylon 5 can work as an rpg, but it'll require a bit more work to adapt than Stargate.
 

I originally posted this to the thread in the General RPG forum, but thought I would repost it here for comments ...

Andrew D. Gable said:
I dunno, maybe it's just me but his talk of a "curse" kinda threw me for a loop.

Yeah. That had me wondering too.

Sci-Fi.
TV show.
Movie.
Cursed.
Maybe bigger than Conan.




Twilight Zone?!?!
 

Another thought...

Godzilla!

I got several Godzilla DVDs for x-mas, and it occured to me, there was a TV series. 2 of them in fact, both animated.

Plus, Mongoose could use some of the rules from it's mech game for it. Mechagodzilla and all that.
 

Don't forget about the clue in the Dragon ad: B-minus 120 days, and counting...

Yes, I've heard some good arguments for a Stargate RPG. Sounds cool to me. Someone should do one. But Stargate doesn't start with a B. Neither does Godzilla. Barsoom is a possibility, but, as I stated earlier, it seems like a silly thing to make this big of a fuss over. I doubt that the license to produce that game even costs that much.

I guess another possibilty that starts with a B is Battlestar Gallactica. Given that the Scifi channel is doing a Battlestar Gallactica mini-series sometime next year, that could be it. Still not as big a deal as B5, but still a very cool show for its time and it was both a TV series and a movie (in the UK).

Just as long as it isn't Buck Rogers. I hated Buck Rogers (see my earlier posts concerning this).
 

Just found this link to a bio about the writer Steven Barnes (gotta love Google :) ). Apparently, he wrote the screenplays to two Twilight Zone episodes and co-wrote The Barsoom Project with Larry Niven.

Hmmm ...
 

Hour 25

mirthcard said:
Just found this link to a bio about the writer Steven Barnes (gotta love Google :) ). Apparently, he wrote the screenplays to two Twilight Zone episodes and co-wrote The Barsoom Project with Larry Niven.

Hmmm ...

And JMS used to host a radio talk show called Hour 25, as part of a team of sci-fi writers, one of whom was Stephen Barnes.

JMS did this for a couple of years, then left to focus on Babylon 5, though Barnes continued to host the show once monthly.

http://www.hour25online.com/Hour25_Welcome.html
 

mirthcard said:
Sci-Fi.
TV show.
Movie.
Cursed.
Maybe bigger than Conan.

It's B5. The curse being that every company that released, or was going to release, a B5 game has either gone under, or was forced to scrap their plans due to financial reasons.
 

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