Need a Sci-Fi Hook, FAST.

[Agent Oracle]

Okay, after running a very successful Feng Shui campaign for a few weeks, while talking shop with my players, I let it be known that I had Dragonstar, and had allways wanted to play it, but had never found a group to play it with.

Problem: the game is tonight, and my players just called me. Seems they had all been chatting, and decided, as a group, that they wanted to Play in this sci-fi setting. Furthermore, they want me to do this... TOnight...

So here's to trashing the planned Kung-Fu campaign in favor of an immediate spacepunk campaign.

So I need A plot idea... i have a small one, but i need to expand that to a few encounters and some gaming for tonight.

Here's the backstory.

The players wake up, very cold, with their head throbbing. An orderly is standing over them. Uh, Good morning... umn... sir?" He presses a few buttons on the PDA in his hands, you are not quite certain where you are or what has transpired.

"Now please, State your name and rank..." (Both players given the rank of Enseign)

"... oh dear no... sir, how old are you?"

"... That's... that's TWO YEARS too young... I hope you still posess your (flattering attribute) because right now, we need it."

Good start?

 

[Henry]

sounds good. The PCs are secretly cloned from DNA recovered when their ship's crew was devoured by Xenomorphic space aliens, and they've been cloned because something has altered their DNA (ripping straight from Alien4). Now, they have to find out what's wrong with them, and if there's a retroviral cure, before they begin losing their minds...

 

[Psion]

Were you going somewhere with this "two years too young thing", or were you just rectally extracting and now you need to justify it.

Do the characters know their backstory? Or is this cold sleep thing taking it over for them. Perhaps the dragon empire has a secure installation that needs penetrated, but it is guarded by security systems that can recognize known rebels/metallic sympathizers; the PCs, being in cold sleep for whatever reason, were convenient since they were thought dead.

Perhaps the PCs were captured and put in cold sleep as "fall guys" for wanted criminals that they look like who were the ones that were really supposed to be on ice. And now, either:

• The guys waking them up work for the "law"/"good guys", and the criminals the PCs were meant to replace have been captured/killed, and they need the PCs to sneak in pretending to be the criminals that iced them, or...
• The guys waking them up are criminals that think they are really the criminals that iced them, and they need to figure out what is going on or die trying.

 

[Sir Brennen]

Ripping from Walter John William's Voice of the Whirlwind:

The PC's are clones - "betas", as they're called - their originals having died a few weeks ago in an "accident" . Unfortunately, due to some lapse in protocol, their brain tapes were never updated, and so they have a gap in their memories of over two years.

So now they have to jump right in to their current assignment, but they'll probably want to find out what happened to their originals. Of course, someone doesn't want them to discover this information...

 

[Psion]

Ripping from Walter John William's Voice of the Whirlwind:

The PC's are clones - "betas", as they're called - their originals having died a few weeks ago in an "accident" . Unfortunately, due to some lapse in protocol, their brain tapes were never updated, and so they have a gap in their memories of over two years.

So now they have to jump right in to their current assignment, but they'll probably want to find out what happened to their originals. Of course, someone doesn't want them to discover this information...

Oooh, I like that.

 

[Sir Brennen]

Nice thing about this setup is the PCs have developed enemies and friends in those missing two years, and they won't neccessarily know who is who. And the DM doesn't neccessarily have to decide until he's ready to pull a Rat Bastard move on them

 

[Psion]

I may have to yoink that for Spycraft and run it at GenCon.

 

[Agent Oracle]

I'm taking Sir Brennin's idea and running with it.

The PC's are Operatives _for_ the Dragon Empire, (One player rolled up a dragon shaman, Red Dragon focused) who happen to have Died, but were cloned, and their "brain tapes" uploaded into the clones. Sadly, the brain tapes were over two years out of date (These things were supposed to be updated weekly, but it's painful to update them, which is why the previous operatives avoided them)

A lot can happen in two years, and they have allready discovered that they are out of their element. They still look, act, and sound like their older, more experienced counterparts, which means that the NPC's that thye had interacted with are all familiar with them, and talk casually to them, often about things that the PC's have no knowledge of.

Tonight was just character roll-up, intro, and a single encounter (where they beat back some CR 1/2 foes). My players are a Dragon Shaman (red), a Duskblade, a fighter, and a pilot.

Stats were not kind, one character (the duskblade) has a highest stat of 12, and a lowest stat of 9. He's almost perfectly average human. The Fighter has one 17, three middling stats, and two nines.

When it comes to reestablishing themselves in however deep they were in, the only thing that they have to work with is two years worth of Personal logs from one of the Player's previous life. I plan for him to relate information slowly, with lots of code words for various people and places. Have to make them seem ordinary, without being suspicious...

 

[Sir Brennen]

Cool. Let us know how it goes. What was the player reaction to the scenario you're putting them in?

One thing to remember, if they ever do figure out who caused the death of their originals, play up the fact that these guys have already killed them once, and now they don't have backup clones to avenge them.

I don't know if or how cloning tech is done in Dragonstar, but I'd say it'd take at least a year to "force grow" a clone of one's self to adulthood. Magic may help, but is very expensive, especially for a whole team. Or, if they do have clones, they better make sure they do brain tape backups (The effects of undergoing that might be character is fatigued for a day, or even -2 penalty to all mental stats for a day.)

 

[LostSoul]

Stats were not kind, one character (the duskblade) has a highest stat of 12, and a lowest stat of 9.

Sorry for the nitpick - you can reroll your PC if your highest score is less than 13, or your total modifiers come out negative. Though that's D&D.