What was Alternity like?

[CarlZog]

It's really an incredible piece of work.

It definitely tops my list of most underrated settings of all-time. But since it was sometimes disregarded as a "too-generic" space opera setting, I'd be curious to hear what in particular impressed you.

Carl

 

[Elwood]

This thread made me pull out my Alternity books again just for nostalgia's sake. I never really got a chance to play Alternity (at least not for more than a couple of one-shot game sessions) because I couldn't intererest anyone else in the system. I'm playing with a different group of people now and they have shown a least a modest willingness to try out new systems so I think I'll pitch the game to them and see what happens.

I'm also in the process of creating an Excel character sheet for Alternity. I made one for Conan (I'm myrmidon over on the Mongoose forums) that seems to be pretty well-received. I know that at least part of the problem with getting people to try new rpg systems is that it can be difficult to create a character when you've never played the game before. Hopefully the character sheet I'm working on will make my group more willing to take the plunge. When I get the sheet done I'll post it for others to use.

Elwood

 

[Tyler Do'Urden]

It definitely tops my list of most underrated settings of all-time. But since it was sometimes disregarded as a "too-generic" space opera setting, I'd be curious to hear what in particular impressed you.

I'm curious too... I loved Alternity, but as for the Star*Drive setting, there wasn't anything that really caught my eye about it. I'd rather go play in a familiar space opera setting- like Star*Trek or Star*Wars...

 

[Henry]

I'm also in the process of creating an Excel character sheet for Alternity. I made one for Conan (I'm myrmidon over on the Mongoose forums) that seems to be pretty well-received. I know that at least part of the problem with getting people to try new rpg systems is that it can be difficult to create a character when you've never played the game before. Hopefully the character sheet I'm working on will make my group more willing to take the plunge. When I get the sheet done I'll post it for others to use.

Elwood, not to knock your efforts, but assuming this link is still viable, I heartily recommend the "Walter" Alternity Character Generator made by John Christgau. Our group used it for the year and a half we played Alternity, and found very few flaws and lots of customization capable. I think it even comes with Stardrive and Dark Matter material, but am unsure.

 

[DMH]

It definitely tops my list of most underrated settings of all-time. But since it was sometimes disregarded as a "too-generic" space opera setting, I'd be curious to hear what in particular impressed you.

It is not too generic (esp after the Star Compendium, Threats from Beyond and Externals were released), it is too damn low in technology for the year 2500. It is Flash Gordon for Alternity. Not that is a bad thing, but it would have been nice to see a hard or semi hard setting for Alternity.

 

[CarlZog]

It is not too generic (esp after the Star Compendium, Threats from Beyond and Externals were released), it is too damn low in technology for the year 2500.

I don't think the tech level is outrageously low. I actually think it's part of SDs gritty charm, and, frankly, adds some realism in its own right. I like that there are aspects of technology that still vex and inconvenience us.

Besides, advances in technology never seem to match up with our expectations. When I was a kid, I was promised we'd be living on the moon by now. Is it so unreasonable to imagine that we might not get much further than our little corner of the Milky Way in 500 years -- especially if we spend our energy fighting a couple wars?

It is Flash Gordon for Alternity. Not that is a bad thing, but it would have been nice to see a hard or semi hard setting for Alternity.

It IS space opera. No doubt about that. I'm not enough of a science guy to know what would make a good hard-science setting.

Carl

 

[Ahzad]

This thread has made me sad that I just sold off all my Alternity books on Ebay but I'm consoled in the fact that I kept all the Star Drive stuff That stuff was just to damn cool to get rid of.

 

[Teflon Billy]

It definitely tops my list of most underrated settings of all-time. But since it was sometimes disregarded as a "too-generic" space opera setting, I'd be curious to hear what in particular impressed you.

Carl

Well, firstly the Meta-Reasons. They took everything in the core book, and turned it into a unfied whole. That's toguh to do without it looking stupid or forced. StarDrive made everything in the core book useful, and did it witha certain amount of flair.

Its own merits were many though. First off: Scale. StarDrive managed to convey a setting with a number of Stellar nations, eache with upwards of a thousand worlds and still keep it playable.

I'm not sure what a critic would mean by calling it "generic", but I certainly thought it was a great work of imagination.

The writing was top-notch, the art was beautiful, and the utility as a SF gaming resource was pretty much unmatched at the time (I love traveller, but the Imperium is near-useless in comparison to StarDrive and basically flavourless in the same comparison).

I'm glad I have the whole line now.

 

[Elwood]

I heartily recommend the "Walter" Alternity Character Generator made by John Christgau.

I have "Walter" and I agree that functionally it is a superb program. My problem is that I haven't been able to get it to generate a usefully formatted character sheet that I can print. I admit that I'm no expert at using this program so there may be a method that I don't know about. The author's website has little documentation and the link to the forums seems to be broken. Henry, how did you print your character sheets?

 

[Henry]

The author's website has little documentation and the link to the forums seems to be broken. Henry, how did you print your character sheets?

The latest version seems to have more customization in character sheets, but the "Export Hero" option (File menu) always gave us a text or HTML sheet that was very well organized. When I just checked version 62, They now have XSL templates you can modify - that is, if you are good at editing stylesheets. It's easy to do very minor modifications, but for something fancier you may need to use some wort of graphical editor for that.