Diaspora, hard sci-fi FATE, [Still open, check last post.]

Started by AKunoichi, December 15, 2012, 01:54:29 AM

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AKunoichi

Mankind has existed in space for longer than anybody can remember. It's origonal homeworld lost to history, countless empires have risen and fallen. The reminants are scattered across a dozen planets connected via the slipstream, a mysterious network of wormholes connecting each human world. The people who travel between these planets are a unique blend of merchants, pirates, diplomats, and soldiers for hire. Forming there own culture in endless frontier of the stars.


I've been wanting to run a game using VSCA's hard sci-fi FATE game, Diaspora, for a while now. It's a relitively simple game where the players are the crew of a starship like Serenity or the Melinium Falcon, only more realistic. (no anti-gravity, force fields, artificial gravity, cloaking devices, teliporters, reactonless drives, or tractor beams)

You can buy the book Here, or you can just use the SRD Here.

Diaspora is also notible in that the players work together to build the setting as they make there characters. Each one rolling for there own homeworld and detailing it as a group.

As for what kind of game it might be. I haven't decided yet, I'll have to see what everyone makes. But I have two basic ideas, Feel free to add your own.

  • People who live in space tend to be nomadic. Living out of there ships in tight knit family groups They are known as Gipsy angels. Being isolated in close quarters for months at a time, they also tend to be more open minded about sex and nudity than planet dwelers. They usualy earn money by transporting cargo and mining asteroids, but space is a dangerous place and some of them also turn to piracy, smuggling, and bounty hunting.
  • Alternately the players could be in the military. Either the crew of a military spaceship patrolling the spaceways and hunting down pirates. or Espatiers. (Calling them marines is silly) wearing powered armor and fighting alien bugs, possibly tenticle rapey aliens. Or perhaps a mixture of the two, with one group of players being the ship's crew and another being the platoon attatched to it.

Muse

  Oh!  This sounds awesome! 

  Is it possible to mix you two themes? 

  (Tentacle monsters are fun too...) 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

AKunoichi

#2
Not totaly sure. I think the first one would be about freedom, and the second one would be about order. So I'm not sure they would mix well.
In general The Fleet tries to arrest smugglers, and Smugglers try to avoid the Fleet.

But it is likely that the crew in the first idea would have members who are ex military, and tenticle monsters could appear in either. Space is a dangerous place.

Muse

  *Smiles* 

  Maybe privateers? 

  nah.  :) 

  I'm really more down with the first way of doing things.  (But enjoy some action.) 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

AKunoichi

Smuglers and pirates tend to find lots of action.

RecklessRapscallion

"Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun." - Ash Williams
O/O's - Under Construction

AKunoichi

Which idea intrests you more RR?

RecklessRapscallion

Privateers and smugglers, the concept of a ship filled with Han Solo types I find appealing.
"Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun." - Ash Williams
O/O's - Under Construction

CarnivalOfTheGoat

#8
Possible interest. Smugglers/pirates preferred, though privateers would work, too.
Or just (seems like this would fit well with the system) scavengers in general. Salvagers who don't object to making their own salvage. Opportunists, more than villains, justified according to circumstances.

Have you read Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling? The Red Consensus of the Free Nation-State of Fortuna?
Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
...a nation state, evolved from a mining operation on a major asteroid who had been granted independence during it’s heyday, has dwindled to nearly nothing, and made the best of the new situation. “…they were, however, in full legal control of a national government, with its entire apparat of foreign relations and diplomatic protocol. They could grant citizenship, coin money, issue letters of marque, sign treatises, negotiate arms control agreements. There might be only a dozen of them, but that was irrelevant. They still had their House, their Senate, their legal precedents, and their ideology. They therefore redefined Fortuna, their national territory, as the boundaries of their last surviving spacecraft, the Red Consensus. Thus equipped with a mobile nation, they were able to legally annex other people’s property into their national boundaries. This was not theft. Nations are not capable of theft, a legal fact of great convenience to the ideologues of the FMD*. Protests were forwarded to the Fortuna legal system, which was computerized and of formidable intricacy.”

* Fortuna Miners' Democracy

Haven't played before, curious to see how system will work via PbP.

My O/Os. My A/As.
Games I seek:
Savage Worlds of My Little Pony <- Just what it says. Free supplement for SW. (Or any other MLP RP!!! :D)
Eclipse Phase <- Posthuman grit SF, open source, downloadable from their web site. VERY deep worldbuilding.
Cold City <- Espionage meets the Lovecraftian supernatural. Allies in post-war Berlin chasing down the results of secret Nazi experiments
a|state <- Post-apocalyptic sort-of-steampunk, sort-of-high tech roleplay in a massive, decaying, broken-down city-state.

AKunoichi

I haven't read that, but it sounds nice. A free state of space pirates is a great idea.

elfguy

I'm always up for sci-fi stories. Either theme seems fine to me.
----

Marie Reynolds

Hmm i would like to throw my interest in this especially for the first idea with the Gypsy Angels. Gypsies i have always had a soft spot for, Lol.

Zaer Darkwail

I voice interest, having most interest in option 1. A somekind ex-military guy who was discharged 'honorably off duty' but he feels no connection nor any like to return to his homeworld (nor have close relatives and such) so he worked as mercenary and joined gypsies as somekind guardian/protector against pirates/criminals and space creeps (alien stuff). So not born gypsie who more often than not rolls his eyes regarding casual nudity and sex.

CarnivalOfTheGoat

#13
Looks like the consensus is leaning towards the gypsies/smugglers/pirates motif.

With that in mind, currently considering an opportunist/scavenger ex-asteroid miner who has absconded with a heavy construction/mining suit. Not military armor as such, but heavy equipment can be disturbingly flexible in the wrong hands; excellent for mining, starship salvage...Or making big holes in ships.

Heh. I'm thinking "Make holes in things" might be a...Whatsit. I forget. Need to re-read the rules thoroughly.

Anyhow, probably an EVA spec, possibly a mil-EVA spec on the basis of a bit of pirating in her background...Not a literally military background, but some training and specific experience having to do with barricade breaching during a worker's riot on a mining colony and then in a more piratical vein a boarding party first-in shock trooper sort-of role. She's got a little bit of a Marxist/Anarchist thing going on (not that anybody in-game knows Karl Marx, but idealistically anti-system government, pro-independent, screw the bosses, spread the wealth mindset). Also a little bit of a Napoleon complex.

I'm picturing a petite little five-foot hothead who sometimes forgets she's not in a two-ton mobile rock-ripper.

Thinking of an adjustment to existing template, perhaps something like Powered Marine Armor but -servos, -sensors, -encrypted comms, +crushing fists, +very heavy, +industrial equipment, +civilian +make a big hole in it? Something along those lines!

My O/Os. My A/As.
Games I seek:
Savage Worlds of My Little Pony <- Just what it says. Free supplement for SW. (Or any other MLP RP!!! :D)
Eclipse Phase <- Posthuman grit SF, open source, downloadable from their web site. VERY deep worldbuilding.
Cold City <- Espionage meets the Lovecraftian supernatural. Allies in post-war Berlin chasing down the results of secret Nazi experiments
a|state <- Post-apocalyptic sort-of-steampunk, sort-of-high tech roleplay in a massive, decaying, broken-down city-state.

AKunoichi

Sounds like a nice idea Goat. The system has rules for making your own gear, from weapons and armor, to entire spacecraft.

I also like your idea Zaer. Would like to see what Rapscalian, Marie, and Muse are thinking up too. I have one other possible player that I know from outside E who is currently in Approvals, so I'll wait for her, but I think this is a nice size.


As for Elfguy. I've done RPs with you before, and we've had problems. I'm not really sure if I should let you in or not. Sorry.

CarnivalOfTheGoat

#15
Ooooooh, it's down in the chapter full of GM-stuff, I see. I wasn't gonna go digging through that but after your statement I figured it had to be.

I am still not 100% sure I understand the rules, so I am still re-reading. But basically, you have this pool of Fate points, that you are constantly spending/hoarding. You can use a Fate point to take one of your aspects, say "Has a Big Mouth" and use it to influence what's going on...So you could spend a point, say "But damn my character has a Big Mouth and is going to shout him down." and use that to get a reroll or a bonus on your roll.

OR

Perhaps the party is looking for something but hasn't really started yet, so as the scene is being set you can say "My character has a big mouth, so by now half the starport knows what we're looking for' (which might be good or bad depending on how the GM takes it). It doesn't affect your rolls, but it sort of affects what is going on, in the scenario, in a general sense?

OR

You can use the SAME thing to get a Fate point added to your pool when the party is in some delicate negotiations and you say "But damn my character has a Big Mouth and can't keep it shut." and offends the negotiator making life harder for the party and themselves...And then you add a point to your pool?

...And because Aspects are sort-of-weirdly-general 'does it work? then use it!' I suppose you could use 'Has a Big Mouth' in an eating contest, too? Or trying to bite something?

But I don't think I understand Tagging aspects you don't have?

EDIT: I have been reading this but I am still not really sure I understand tagging.

Some of the ideas I am kicking around are:
Mouth Like an Espatier Drill-Sergeant,
Wind Her Up and Watch Her Go (Berserk),
and Awwww, Isn't That Cute! (Shockingly incompatible with the two above)

...But I think I need to think about more 'story' ones, probably.

My O/Os. My A/As.
Games I seek:
Savage Worlds of My Little Pony <- Just what it says. Free supplement for SW. (Or any other MLP RP!!! :D)
Eclipse Phase <- Posthuman grit SF, open source, downloadable from their web site. VERY deep worldbuilding.
Cold City <- Espionage meets the Lovecraftian supernatural. Allies in post-war Berlin chasing down the results of secret Nazi experiments
a|state <- Post-apocalyptic sort-of-steampunk, sort-of-high tech roleplay in a massive, decaying, broken-down city-state.

AKunoichi

That's pretty much it, although you can also compel somebody else by making a deal with them "I don't think you should succeed that roll because you have a Big Mouth" If they agree, you give them a fate point. If they disagree, they give you a fate point.


Some questions before we start anything.
Is everyone okay with including Aliens, Psionics, and Artificial Intelligence in this campaign?

If aliens exist. The cluster is recovering from a war with space bugs. The war ended in a truce, but both species still distrust the other. Other alien races might also exist. I think my friend might want to play her own race.
If Psionics exist, it would mostly follow the optional rules in the book, Slipstream navigation would require a psychic navigator.
If AIs exist, they would be available at T1 and higher, and be about as smart as an average human, abet much better at multitasking. It would also allow the Ship to be a character. Either a PC or GMPC.

In all cases, Alien/Psycic/Robot Abilites would be represented by stunts, and have to be approved be me. Although I think I would prefer at least half of the party to be normal humans.

Muse

  I'd enjoy all of those things, boss!  :) 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

CarnivalOfTheGoat

I am also okay with all of those, albeit more enthusiastic about bugs and AI than psi.

For some reason, in too many games I have been in, Psi has been the 'power to abuse', but really, this system doesn't favor it in any fashion...And that sort of thing is more a player attitude problem than a rules problem. People who will find a loophole and abuse it will do so whether it's a psi loophole or anything else.

So I guess I'm good with all three. :)

My O/Os. My A/As.
Games I seek:
Savage Worlds of My Little Pony <- Just what it says. Free supplement for SW. (Or any other MLP RP!!! :D)
Eclipse Phase <- Posthuman grit SF, open source, downloadable from their web site. VERY deep worldbuilding.
Cold City <- Espionage meets the Lovecraftian supernatural. Allies in post-war Berlin chasing down the results of secret Nazi experiments
a|state <- Post-apocalyptic sort-of-steampunk, sort-of-high tech roleplay in a massive, decaying, broken-down city-state.

Pretty in Pink

#19
First, RARGH!  Zaer beat me to the concept I had forming in my head when I read the first post.  :P  Brat.

Second...  ZOMGITSSCIFIYESPLEASECOUNTMEIN!

Ahem.  Now that I'm done being a rabid fangirl...  Of course, this sort of game would draw my interest (Thank you, Muse, for pointing me in this direction).  I personally would prefer the first concept, but I would have no problems with playing the second, and being one of the crew of the ship the platoon is attached to.  But considering the popular concensus is the first option...  I shall have to come up with a concept.  :D

And now that I have read over the initial post, and have actually looked over the SRD, I think I have an idea.  Right now it's just a Gypsy Angel Bounty Hunter.  May or may not go Psionics, I'm not sure yet.  Haven't glanced at the sections for it to know for sure.
[FLOATLEFT][/FLOATLEFT]O.O ~{=}~ Ideas ~{=}~ A&A[FLOATRIGHT][/FLOATRIGHT]

I've taken the Oath of the Drake for Group RP

AKunoichi

Well including my friend, Who's probably gonna be in approvals for a while longer because she has work and stuff. That's about 8 people.

I think I'll open an OOC thread so we can start making planets and homeworlds.

Zaer Darkwail

Fin with aliens, psionics and AI's. A full sci-fi experience :). Anyways I checked rules briefly but could work char in quiet times at christmas.

Pretty in Pink

So we are actually going to do the planet pool?  Awesome.  Should be fun!
[FLOATLEFT][/FLOATLEFT]O.O ~{=}~ Ideas ~{=}~ A&A[FLOATRIGHT][/FLOATRIGHT]

I've taken the Oath of the Drake for Group RP

CarnivalOfTheGoat

I knew I recognized this system from somewhere.

I generated a character for a Dresden Files game that died before it started. One of the neat things there was that people sort of had to interact their characters in the five phases of generation (if it's in Diaspora, I'm missing it...). It made instant links between characters as well as shared background.

Is that something you'd be interested in snagging and implementing? Or would you rather not complicate matters?

My O/Os. My A/As.
Games I seek:
Savage Worlds of My Little Pony <- Just what it says. Free supplement for SW. (Or any other MLP RP!!! :D)
Eclipse Phase <- Posthuman grit SF, open source, downloadable from their web site. VERY deep worldbuilding.
Cold City <- Espionage meets the Lovecraftian supernatural. Allies in post-war Berlin chasing down the results of secret Nazi experiments
a|state <- Post-apocalyptic sort-of-steampunk, sort-of-high tech roleplay in a massive, decaying, broken-down city-state.

AKunoichi

No that's what I'm planning. That's why I'm making the OOC thread before asking people to give me sheets. ;)