The Campaign Builder's Guild

Quote from: Nomadicnow what chess game have you ever played where you got to roleplay the pieces?

Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1922)  :p

Just Another Day....
The players make Averge Joe PCs driving to Fort Lauderdale Airport.  It is rush hour on I-95.  You're mission:  Make your flight to Washington DC on time.

For added flavor, insert a random bait-and-switch zombie attack.

Quote from: Cataclysmic CrowHmm, so what would the actual tech level be? What level of technology do they still understand?

Wandering Jew[/url]).


Another idea that came to mind is that perhaps any aliens humanity thinks it has encountered are actually genetically altered humans from ages past that have taken root and propogated in other systems that became isolated during the fall of humanity.  This could serve to allow the classic humanoid aliens that are so common in space operas while still explaining their inexplicable similarities to humans (why is Spok just a human with pointy ears? Because his great great great great great grandfather was made that way from human stock).  Again, just a random thought, but who knows.  Maybe the real aliens sitll lurk out thre somewhere and humans just haven't encountered them yet.  Maybe they already have met real aliens.  Who knows just yet.

Quote from: Light DragonI don't really see cyberpunk in that territory. Cyberpunk is more about a reaction against society -- doesn't really have much in the way of individuals or heroes since everyone is just a cog. In your description of Gothic literature, the people have an opportunity to affect the world for the better.

In real Cyberpunk, I don't think the actors can really affect the world, and even then they are often disaffected anti-heroes at best.

One thing here:  "heros" in gothic literature do little to affect their world, and the very few times that they do, it is hardly for the good.  Truly, characters in gothic literature are helpless victims of the world who may or may not be striving to merely find a place within it, and maybe, if they're lucky, surivive with their soul in tact.

Some excellen gothic reading would include The Castle Ontrato by Horace Walpole, The Mysteries of Uldolpho and The Italian by Anne Radcliffe, Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin and The Monk by an author whose name escapes me at present.  These are the works that founded and defined the genre.  While EA Poe has many gothic elements, he rarely ever makes use of the supernatural, which is a key element in gothic literature.  He, still, is considered a Victorian gothic author, though.

Quote from: SteerpikeWarhammer 40 000, in places, could be the definition of Gothic Space Opera - the decaying galaxy, the hellish horrors, the vast, brooding cities, the religious awe, the sense of dread, the enormous scale.

The supernatural pervades a lot of Gothic - do you envision it playing any part in your envisioned setting?  40K has Chaos and psykers, but I'm sure there are other ways of implementing the supernatural.

Yeah, WH40K is pretty gothic, though not for the baroque architecture that dominates much of the artwork.  I'm actually hoping to avoid remaking WH40K, since it is so well known and loved.

As for the supernatural, I was considering taking a page from Anne Radcliffe, sort of.  I'm thinking that technology may fill in nicely for the supernatural, so long as most people do not understand just how it works.  Thus, while the supernatural can still exist in the sense of strange and ancient technologies, it can still be explained with a simple handwave.

Allow me to further explain my current train of thought.  At present, I am thinking that for some reason humanity is experiencing a dark age in which science has suffered greatly.  A great deal of technology has been lost and now cults of holy mechanics maintain what few bits of technology still survive and strive to rediscover the secrets of their machine-god (much to be modeled after Zoroastrionism and the medieval Catholic Church).  In fact, this machine-worship will form the most prominant religion (others have yet to be decided).  Through sufficient mystification, I believe technology can fill the roll that the supernatural often played in gothic novels.  Technology is not currently understood, and thus is a source of wonder, awe, and seemingly paranormal.

Totally haven't read all the posts here but thought I'd link to a little stuff I scratched together in a wiki for a viking-esque game I was running a few months ago.  All of this stuff was the result of a few days at the local library, and some of it seems kind of obscure but fitting.  Hope it helps.

Folk Beliefs
Social Structure

Ignore anything metagmish, as it was for a GURPS game.  The rest should be useable, though.

Well, I know I'm not very regular here, but after thinking a bit today and doing a little research, I thought this is a place worth sharing my findings.

I've begun to consider a gothich space opera setting.  While no specifics are in place as of yet, I've been just checking out ideas for inspiration and reading about both genres in general.  The first thing that struck me is that neither one precludes the other in any way, and in fact, actually shares some elements.  I shall discuss this more:

Gothic literature is marked primarily by Byronic heroes, a sense of terror and suspence, a morbid atmosphere often enhanced through metonymy and colorful language, a setting suffused with decay and corruption, ancient prophecies and omens, women in distress - often because of particularly vile and tyrannical men, strong melodrama, and many romantic elements such as unrequited love and such.  Similarly, space operas are marked by their Byronic heroes (who can forget James T Kirk or Han Solo?), are rife with melodrama, women in distress, and often include ancient prophecies and even the supernatural in the form of the paranormal.  Space operas are also easily described as epic and romantic, and they often bare marked similarities to old maritime adventures like those by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Thus, I can best describe a gothic space opera as a story set in a decaying galaxy where byronic heroes strive against unassailable odds to survive in a decaying universe rife with turmoil and decadance.  The heroes often spend time on or use starships, although the action may just take place on an exotic locale (such is often the case in gothic horror).

Now, using this lense, let us examine an example of classic science fiction, Dune.  A galaxy of declining noble houses rule a scattered and oppressed humanity where chicanary is a way of life among debauched barons and emperors.  Here, there are at least two women who fidn themselves in various forms of distress, although they are far from helpless.  There is also the ancient prophecy that Paul fulfills, and an epicly-scaled conflict in which Paul and the Fremen must defeat the empire itself.  Paul definitely fits the bill as a Byronic hero, although more darkly so than most space opera protagonists.

I find, interestingly, that with little extrapolation, cyberpunk easily begins to fall within this category on a more planetary scale.  Also, I find that the supernatural can easily be substituted with technology, where technology provides the mysteries and forbidden fruits that the supernatural once did for the likes of Horace Walpole, Anne Radcliff, and Charles Robert Maturin.

I'd love any thoughts any one might have or any other examples of what they might consider "gothic space opera".  A setting will surely come of this eventually, but for now, I"m content to merely explore the possibilities of the genre.

Haha, wow!  I kinda forgot about this.  My mind is about as directional as a blue light on a police car.

I'm in the middle of prepping a PbP game, atm, but I'll probably return to this once that work's finished.  Probably jam that magic stuff into it, actually.  Thanks for the interest, guys!

Quote from: Snargash MoonclawInitial skill buy-in is always 1 CP - difficulty of course means that the relative skill level varies. These reflect an important part of "basic education." Again, deviation is possible but requires backstory.

So they all have a minimum of 1 point in the skill, not a +1 to the skill?  I think I misunderstood what you were going for.

Yeah, looks pretty good, then.  I'd just tack on a note about the SM options, so players are aware it exists.  Pretty cool stuff ya got going on.

Hmm...looks pretty good, but I do have a coupel of comments.

Firstly, at that height, don't they average SM-1?  It's not listed.

Do those quirks count against the 5-quirk limit?

You've listed several mental disadvantages.  Are these present in all members of the race or just most?  Are there Fehladurh that aren't overconfident or suffer guilt?  Personally, when dealing with racial templates, I prefer to stick to morphological traits and suggest optional mental/social ones - that is unless every member without fail has a given trait.

Do you intend for Fehladurh to be completely immune to shock?  That's mean that one would not be the least bit fazed if a tiger shark bit it in half (until it bled out).  Perhaps a low degree of Resistance might be more appropriate?  Something like Resist Shock +3 (common, 15; +3, x1/3) [5]

That's a lot of skills and honestly, I don't think they're priced properly.  If I recall correctly, +1 to a given skill is worth 2 CP, although I might be mistaken. I'd have to go hunting through books for the actual reference and am being lazy atm.  My other contention is similar to that with your mental/social traits - do ALL members of the race get this or just some?  I'd be more comfortable with either a "pick X points from the following list" or simply suggest common skills for members to take.

That's my two cents.  Do with them as you please.  :)

Quote from: GhostmanCould the form of a summoned demon be based on the nightmares/fears of the summoner, even if the summoner is actually unaware of this?

Sort of like the emohawk in Red Dwarf?

Perhaps being innately immaterial, they do as Crow says, but just prefer certain shapes?  "Usually takes the shape of X but is also depicted as Y and Z occassionally."  You see that sort of thing with a lot in archaeology.

Thanks, Gamer Printshop.  Very interesting read and in line with what I am discovering as I read a couple of books I checked out of the local library on the Dark Ages.  I'll probably end up pushing the equivalent date further back.  Though, I'd first like to see how much of what makes the Dark Ages feel like normal fantasy is purely cultural and how much is a result of different technology.  It could be possible that Dark Age levels of tech are fine if socially, it is divergent.  After all, there's no Roman Empire or Chatholic Church here, so I already expect there to be a major difference in feel.  It could still be a good jumping off point, I guess.

I have to agree with Cataclysmic Crow on this.  The more human the demons are, the easier they are to relate to, and the less scary they become.  Frex, an angry lioness attacking a person is scary, but not as much if that person was poking her cubs.  Suddenly, the lioness stops being a giant, marauding beast and is doing what any human mother would do - protecting her children.

Introducing relationships between demons in this manner runs the risk of mitigating their fear factor.  IF that is what you want, then by all means go for it.  If not, you might wish to reconsider this approach.  Personally, I'd think the embodiment of sadism should probably be as inhuman as possible, but that's only my take.

Yup, you are.  But if you read Dante, he viewed it as anyone who commits treason is akin to the devil and earns themselves a permanent seat in his eternally chewing maw.

Also, you'd find that most American Christians are not very Christian and don't have a clue exactly what they believe.  They're sort of like trained hampsters who stomp their feet whenever they're told but never know why.

Thanks guys.  I'm trying not to research all of this just to recreate dark ages europe, but so I can mine it for stuff that would fit in.  I've found one book about Scandenavian folklore that is a treasure trove of old wives tales, myths, and customs.  I expect much of it will filter into different cultures in some way.  I also attacked the history section, since the anthropology section was missing the one book there on the time period.  I'm hoping to start by just getting a feel for what the times were like so I can better understand what people were working with, both socially and technologically.  Naturally, if it gets in teh way of a good story, it's out, but truth often is stranger and more interseting than fiction.  I figure since I steal most of my ideas from other sources, I might as well pilfer from the best.  =)

I use to incorporate a fun little quintet of goddesses who together formed the death pantheon.  I had a goddess of war, hatred, vengeance, battle, death (not "the dead" - death; there was a seperate god of the dead).  The goddess of hatred was their leader and together they use to incite a crapload of problems in the world.  Then again, strife was their thing.  So for ideas...

Hatred
War
Death
Vengeance
Battle
Strife
Chaos
Darkness
Ignorance
Pride
Envy
Treason (depending on the viewpoint of the faith - after all, this is really what Satan is in christianity)
Destruction
Decay
Retribution
Rage
Monsters (in general and not of the kind people like to feel sorry for)
Forbidden Knowledge

Just what you want ot demonize really depends on the culture, though.  Satan was sort of a God of Treason as cast by Dante, and he was demonized.  By that same logic, the forebarers of the US would be demonic, too, since they committed treason to form our country.  In a society where eating pork is evil, some sort of pork-eating demon might be appropriate.  So in order to give better suggestions, I'd need more information.