 October 14, 2011 - 7:08am | Ok, ok, ok I'm ripping off STar Trek some but so what? I was just downloading a copy of GURPS Ancient Greece from Scribd.com Nice resource, BTW, and the thought occurred to me of an ancient Greek campaign where the "gods" were alien visitors and magic is alien tech. Some of the creatures of myth could even be legit creatures imported from across the galaxy for some reason. So the campaign runs in Phase 1 with the PCs being Greeks and gaining some limited contact with the "gods" but the players never realizing that this is a sci-fi campaign and thinking its just a fantastic fantasy campaign. Phase 2 is the obduction of the PCs and a group of warriors to fight for their alien abductors against other primitive abductees and their abductors. Now contact with the gods is higher and the players realize that this is a SCi-fi campaign. The point here is to overthrown the abductors and figure a way to return to earth. (Read a novel along this lines where a roman legion was abducted in this fashion and had to fight other primitives- Galactic civilization had rules about commercial control of planets being abjuticated with primitive weapons by proxy armies- cant remember the book or author right now) PHase 3 Return to earth but time has move on and they dont get back to their time. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 14, 2011 - 5:34pm | I hear you, not sure I have that much of a burn to run it over other campaign concepts if I had the chance. Think I would rather run it as a straight fantasy campaign. Either with Troy, the Odessy, Thermopoly as a back drop- not sure I'd want to revisit Alexander the Great's period though the book has information for that. I never would have bought this but having downloaded and previewed it I think I'd like to have it on my shelf. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 October 14, 2011 - 6:47pm | I never really cared for the Trek episodes where they were in mimic period times. The holo deck episodes were fun and interesting because you knew it was 24th century people interacting with their version of a movie. Which may be a perfectly good way to run your campaign with the ancient greeks is to run it as some kind of simulation, VR, or hologram entertainment program. You could even throw a wrench in the works when the Hologram safety program fails or the robot simulations (West World) fail and start running amok. I just cant sink my teeth into the idea of my SF characters running around ancient greece without a laser pistol or a skimmer. I love historical games and simulations but I just dont see the connection well as a campaign setting in and of itself. Don't take my criticism the wrong way, Im sure you could make it work, I just am not feeling the greek adventure. |
October 14, 2011 - 8:36pm | Actually GURPS appears to have a Time Corp game resource to where PC have to go back in time to fix problems created by someone or something called Stopwatch. But any ancient greece campaign that had SF elements would be PCs starting out as Ancient Greeks. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 15, 2011 - 2:59pm | Okay, I see, well I don't want to start my SF pc as a greek in ancient greece setting so I can't say the concept appeals to me. |
October 15, 2011 - 3:05pm | I can tell you this, I'm impressed enough with this source book from GURPS that I'm giving serious thought to picking up some of the other source books with sci-fi themes. Either used from eBay or amazon or a download from scribe.com I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 October 15, 2011 - 3:56pm | I remember playing a D&D game where the characters were magically transported to the 1990's. I was playing a fighter/rogue. All I really remember was running through a mall and snatching an X-files t-shirt to "blend in". Shortly after that we got our butts kicked by a gang with sub-machine guns. That pretty much ended the game. If handled better it may have actually been pretty fun. |
October 15, 2011 - 6:43pm | It was always easier to do things like that in D&D as a fantasy game as there are no plausible limitations as long as the magical item or wizard has sufficient skill / level and resources to make the spell. Sci-Fi, especially SF, makes metnalism, dimensional travel, and time travel tough proposales to intigrate. It doesn't mean that you couldn't step away from the rules and create something involving something like time travel for the game. I tend to stay away from time travel and mentalism in the SF games. I started to develope a techno-mentalist concept in my comic book setting and it nearly derailed the whole continuity of the setting so I had to scrap that story line and go back to the drawing board to fix the continuity problem it created. |
 October 15, 2011 - 11:09pm | I've done the Star Frontiers to AD&D Cross over adventure once where the most famous Bountyhunter in the Frontier found herself stranded in my AD&D campaign world. This particular storyline lasted several months of gaming, and turned out really well, because the Star Frontier's character had to adapt to the low tech world around her (my campaign world was very low magic) until she discovered a way back home. during her time there she found herself doing things (especially caring for the people who she ended up meeting) and came to terms with some personal issues that in the fast pased Frontier she never had time to deal with. I think that occasionally breaking a character out of the established mold of the game setting can be rewarding if handled properly. As for this idea, while not my cup of tea, might be interesting for your gaming group, though I would talk to them about it before you spring it on them. Nothing kills a game session like going on a mission or Adventure that you're not interested in, and while you don't have to reveal all the details, you should at least give the group a heads up as to what you want to try. "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
 October 16, 2011 - 6:01am | Jedion, be sure to check out the old Pacesetter "TimeMasters" game (which has recently been acquired by Goblinoid Games, the makers of Labyrinth Lord). w00t and I have discussed at times past, about bringing some of its "sister" game "Star Ace" into the Star Frontiers Milieu. (diff mechanics than SF, but extremely compatible setting) Last I checked the Star Ace I.P. was more-or-less up for grabs. I've nver heard back from Dan Proctor at Goblinoid if he acquired it when they got TimeMasters. PM me, if you'd like to see some of the original PDF's. I have the complete hard copy collection. |
