Starting a new campaign

[Dannyalcatraz]

I won't lie: HERO is crunchy. But most of HERO's crunch comes in character creation; between the crunch and the vast array of options, that's where you will invest your time.

However, once characters have been made, the rulebook sits, virtually untouched. You almost never need it in play, since everything you need is on the sheet in front of you.

 

[innerdude]

I don't have experience with Hero, but by report is it heavy-handed on the crunch. Probably not appropriate.

GURPS is a bit on the "gritty realism" side of mechanics for me to use it for action-adventure space opera (or comedy version thereof). I can think of sci-fi for which I'd use GURPS (Outland, perhaps) but not Galaxy Quest.

SW might be good for such - I'd have to read it over. I might also consider using a hack of Ashen Stars (GUMSHOE-based), as I've personally experienced GUMSHOE doing pulp-action reasonably well.

I've had relatively poor experiences with GURPS---admittedly due to poor GM-ing mostly, but the carryover has soured me on the system as a whole. And the fact that HERO is a roll-3d6-under-attribute like GURPS is enough to give me pause. I will say, the fact that [MENTION=19675]Dannyalcatraz[/MENTION] is a big HERO proponent is enough for me to at least consider it in the future. I've heard from several people who really "grok" HERO that if you can just get over the initial hurdles, it becomes a favorite system.

I'm absolutely intrigued by GUMSHOE generally, and by Ashen Stars and Night's Black Agents particularly. Everything I've read about the systems make them seem like exactly the kind of thing I'd be into.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

HERO's main flaws are grounded in its strengths: it's very mathy and option filled in character creation/modification. The math- while simple, in general- is omnipresent. The options are myriad- you can have analysis paralysis trying to decide how to design your character, because nearly any concept can be modeled half a dozen ways.*

But that translates into a game with few cookie-cutter characters and resultant PCs that often mesh very well with the idea of them you had in your head.










* And, in all honesty, this mans it's even worse for GMs. Which is why- even though all you need is technically 1 book to play, most fans buy the splatbooks: a lot of generic and archetypal characters can be found in them, which cuts prep time greatly.

 

[innerdude]

[MENTION=177]Umbran[/MENTION] -- If you're seriously considering something sci-fi and looking at Savage Worlds, feel free to shoot a personal message or ask of you have any questions. At the very least I could probably help give you an idea of which "dials" to twist to get a certain feel for the type of campaign you want.

You may not need much help with this, given your experience with original Deadlands, but thought I'd offer.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

I suggest you run a Star Trek game like you mentioned wanting to run in that other thread. Maybe your players will surprise you and give it a try.

Haven't played SW myself, but have played about three campaigns of 7th Sea. It has absolutely my favorite mechanics ever in the Roll and Keep system and their pirate action, swordfighting and specialized magic is fantastic.

Indeed! I love that system and setting. I only played in one one-shot but I read the books over and over again.

 

[Umbran]

I suggest you run a Star Trek game like you mentioned wanting to run in that other thread. Maybe your players will surprise you and give it a try.

In the discussion this evening, Star Trek and Star Wars got mentioned, but neither generated any interest.

However, some space opera did - the first game I'm looking at will be....

....drum roll....

Ashen Stars!

I have it in pdf form - I'll have to get myself a hard copy....

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Don't know that'un.

Edit: looked it up. If I were running that system, I'd probably take inspiration from Brin's Uplift saga or Rusch's Retrieval Artist novels.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

Fantastic! I read through Ashen Stars but haven't had a chance to play it yet. I really like the Kch-Thk. Let us know how it goes!

 

[Umbran]

Don't know that'un.

For those who are not familiar with it - Ashen Stars is GUMSHOE applied to space opera. In the standard form, the PCs play troubleshooters hired to go from place to place and solve problems in a galaxy that's half-fallen-apart after a war.

If I were running that system, I'd probably take inspiration from Brin's Uplift saga or Rusch's Retrieval Artist novels.

I'm highly familiar with Brin. Not familiar with Rusch.

Brin, a bit of Firefly, a bit of the grittier end of Trek. I can draw on several bits of Niven as well. I probably know more Sci-fi than anyone else at my table, which will be a help.

The aspect of it that is a bit more daunting is the investigative bent of the system. In a normal RPG, the hard part of a mystery is typically *getting* the information. So, to not make the thing too hard overall, the GM is kind of encouraged to make the clues pretty blatant once you've found them. GUMSHOE turns that around, and makes finding information easy, because figuring out what the information means is more interesting.

Which, in a nutshell, means that if the players choose to lean in the investigative direction, I'll have to become a better mystery writer!

That is probably a subject for another thread.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The Retrieval Artist series boils down to: similar to Brin's Uplift series, humanity is at the low end of the totem pole- the new kids on the block- in galactic civilization. This is all relatively new stuff, and humanity is still getting used to dealing with the aliens.

As such, humans keep running afoul of the law in those dealings, kind of like in that ST:NG episode, "Justice".* When that happens, humans often go on the run, and they use certain humans to try to change & conceal their ID. When someone wants to contact those in hiding- or bring them to justice- they use Retrieval Artists...sort of like Sci-Fi private detectives/bounty hunters.







* http://en.memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Justice_(episode)