Galactic Encounters Role-Playing Game

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TardisCaptain
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Re: Basic Scifi Role-Playing Game

Post by TardisCaptain »

Solomoriah wrote: Tue Sep 22, 2020 10:57 am Having said all of that... supplements.

Basic Fantasy supplements are strictly downloads, but insofar as we can, I'd like to hope that Basic Sci-Fi supplements can be made printable. I'd love to see supplements that include not only a concept for a world or alien race or what have you, but also provides one or more adventures applying those concepts, which can be published as a package in print as well as in PDF form. Obviously, supplements that violate someone's IP will be omitted from distribution, even as free PDFs, from whatever official site we end up with. Anything outside that should be fine, though.
I have an idea for a supplement. Did you want me to post the idea here or wait until the rules are ready?
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Re: Galactic Encounters Role-Playing Game

Post by TardisCaptain »

I wasn't able to log in for a week and this thread exploded. I missed the name debate.

I may be a little late, but I really liked the name Basic Science Fiction RPG. I knew it was instantly connected with Basic Fantasy and the quality I saw in that series. In the back of my mind I was even wondering if there could be others in the future (Basic Western, Basic Espionage, Basic Pulp Adventures, etc.)

I realize it's not my boat to name, but I wanted to throw my two credits in. I'm still very excited about this game. If I'm reading the revisions correctly, I like the idea that the XP is applied towards increasing your skills instead of levels. That made a light bulb go off in my head.
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Solomoriah
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Re: Galactic Encounters Role-Playing Game

Post by Solomoriah »

What's your supplement idea? I'm curious.
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TardisCaptain
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Re: Galactic Encounters Role-Playing Game

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Solomoriah wrote: Mon Sep 28, 2020 8:04 am What's your supplement idea? I'm curious.
Well I figured that there would already be the standard supplements for a space opera type game. Equipment, Alien Races, Creatures, Ships, Planets, Equipment, etc.

When the name of the game was still Basic Sci-Fi RPG I started thinking about other SF aspects besides Interstellar Conflicts, Galactic Exploration, Piracy and Trade.

One of the oldest SF tropes is the alien invasion of (or just arrival on) Earth. From the 50's and 60's campy Sci-Fi movies like "Mars Needs Women" or "This Island Earth" to the secret take over shows of the 70's and 80's like "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" or "V" there are lots of ideas to pull from. Even the 90's and 2000's had stories of just alien arrivals like "Men in Black" and "Alien Nation". From the written works we have Robert Heinlein's "The Puppet Masters" all the way up to Douglas Adam's "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy". These visitors could come from another planet, another galaxy, another time or another dimension. They could be completely alien, or just humans from an alternate Earth. They could be benevolent teachers trying to help humanity, lost souls looking for a safe harbor or invaders needing a resource that we have. The "aliens" could have been here first before man evolved and just come out of hibernation. Perhaps Humans made it to another planet to find out it's an alternate Earth or an Earth in the future where things have changed.

The working title in my head was "Aliens on Earth" and it would cover the genre in general. Some people may recognize from different works with the serial numbers filed off. But there is enough generic portions that it would be a guide book in general, not a specific universe. The GM could set up a campaign where the players find them selves stuck in a war by the Lizard People from a hollow Earth fighting the Nazis on the Moon. Another campaign could have the players as part of a secret government (or private) organization set to find out why the Greys are kidnapping Humans. And then there is just the old fashioned alien invasion (by secret infiltration or ships just suddenly appear in the sky). The possibilities are endless and I think it could meet the requirement of not stepping on anyone's IP.

I know it sounds like a completely new game, but I thought it would make for an interesting supplement to the Basic Sci-Fi RPG. Outside of some basic stats for equipment, some possible skills and some alien templates, the bulk of the rules would refer back to the core rulebook.
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rredmond
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Re: Galactic Encounters Role-Playing Game

Post by rredmond »

:shock:
That is some well-thought out, quite excellent stuff.
But it does sound like one giant magilla of a supplement!
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Re: Galactic Encounters Role-Playing Game

Post by Seven »

Sounds like Men in Black.
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Re: Galactic Encounters Role-Playing Game

Post by Solomoriah »

Ack. First of all, sounds like a lot of fun. Second, proves why we needed a new name. I never envisioned anything other than a system for adventures in an established galactic civilization, and the name was too broad for that.

Feel free to build what you're talking about using whatever parts of this game work for you, and I'd be happy to see it shared here.
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Re: Galactic Encounters Role-Playing Game

Post by Rosisha »

Two quick notes as I've just started reading through everything:

1) The names seen fine but I wonder if it would make sense to move away from a "single system" and maybe think about how the GM could create a system. So more of a framework. So maybe the core rules reference the Frozen World of Sikkara where miners search for a special fungus that grows only where the snow worms go and unlocks psycher potential... but there are rules to make a bunch of other types of games - city states on an abandoned worlds overrun by gangs, various competing hostile space nations, a large space station in orbit around a black hole, whatever.

2) Currency: I don't think blockchain could work. Even under a single system as part of a galactic empire. There are a few reasons. A) Blockchains work on the same principle as gold - a purposefully limited supply. As such, a blockchain economy would be subject to the same forces as a gold economy. B) Blockchains work on computers crunching code. Galactic empires or FTL travel would probably have incredibly powerful computers that could make munch out of any human derived code. Sure we could hand wave that, but I think that the sum total of all computers across the entire empire would make short work of a blockchain. C) Government power - they very much are not going to want to give it up, even as a powerful galactic empire. D) Speed of Communication: Even if communication is instant, trying to coordinate a blockchain across hundreds, thousands, or even millions of worlds would be nigh impossible. Unless computers can process instantly - which leads back to B.

So I'd recommend taking a page out of BattleTech or Dune and having currency represent services from some kind of galaxy wide monopoly. The C-Bill and CHOAM (respectively) represent what I think would make the most sense. And I favor the BattleTech mixed model (C-Bill plus regional currencies). SOME worlds might use a blockchain. Others gold and jewels. Others fiat scripts prepared by local administrations. But EVERYONE takes "Trade Authority Credits" as it provides access to the entire galactic imperial economy.
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Re: Galactic Encounters Role-Playing Game

Post by Solomoriah »

One of the things I want to emphasize in my approach to this game is that the galaxy is just too large to make an empire out of it. I've done some math, back of the envelope style, and I'm looking at something like 40,000,000 worlds with substantial population (ranging from 40,000 as a starter colony up to a billion or so for a long-established world). A uniform currency used on a galactic basis is difficult to imagine, especially given that I'm not planning to include "subspace communication" but rather stick to FTL travel for communication. So yeah, blockchain as we currently understand it is out. A trader's guild of some kind with a standard currency, which each planet with a spaceport would provide an exchange for, is more reasonable.

An issue with our thinking is that we're accustomed to scarcity economies. There is no reason why, on the largest scale, scarcity should be an issue in a future with basic robots and fabricators. When working with fantasy games, we often handwave complexities like different currencies in different kingdoms because the main issue for player characters is getting the gold in the first place; we abstract away complexity in places where we find it unnecessary. I'm suspecting that this is not a good idea in a game where those traditional difficulties have been removed or substantially reduced.
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Re: Galactic Encounters Role-Playing Game

Post by Solomoriah »

Just uploaded R5, by the way, bearing the new name.

Really need a proper logo.
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