 March 6, 2020 - 2:48pm | setting aside the "official" position of Star Frontiers existing in a galaxy different from Earths Imagine a "Return to Sol" my return to Sol would probably be mystery and horror themed space canibals, xenomorphs, alien hunters, a system destroyed and laid waste through hubris of man, ecological disaster, war and alien meddling. A bit of H.G. Wells' Time Machine, a bit of Alien, a bit of Predator, a bit of "The Thing", a bit of Event Horizon, a bit of Doom meets Star Frontiers Penal asteroids, drifting hulks, desolate cities and colonies on moons surrounding gas giants (Saturn and Jupitur or just Jupitor) Mars- degenerate remnants of humanity living by canibalism and such. Secret labs. Earth- Nuclear, chemical or biological wasteland- such that only limited locations to vist possible just to keep things managable for the game master. moon abandoned cities and domes lost tech and stuff. alien artifacts Venus floating cities tightly controled by elites with oppressed worker class. Go for a Gamma World feel without the magic like mutations for the PCs I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 8, 2020 - 6:32am | I suppose an important question to answer would be are the sathar present? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 8, 2020 - 6:34am | start the players in the outer system performing a survey- they dont know its Earth to begin Allow the PCs to begin to amass data- at some point the players sould realize that this is Sol and Earth even though the PCs wont know that. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 March 8, 2020 - 7:04am | some ideas on how to disguise the planet: The Great lakes are now one vast ocean, east coast under water, Florida is gone. West coast, Most of Californa is an island with beach front property in Nevada. No landmarks (pryimids, effiel tower, or statue of liberity) are left to truily identify the work with ease. And you could throw in an ice age to boot. Most of my ideas comes from story I've read. (left out the bay of Huston.) |
March 8, 2020 - 10:13am | I would think that the players would begin to clue in once the system gets mapped. or they come looking to confirm this is "Earth that was" I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 8, 2020 - 10:38am | Ice age brought on by neclear winter or by Tungsten Rods (Rod of God) dropped from space which hit with power of nuke minus the radiation but still likely to cause "nuclear winter" Progression of Travel from outer system to inner system or in other words a ladder of encounters A. Drifting hulk- always a possibility although more likely to discover one in the inner system than the outer system since as the further out you go there is geometrically more space and the chances of finding something by chance is slim or DM fiat. But a good introduction might be a war cruiser broke in half and drifting. Nothing to fight but some information to glean. B. Proxima Jupiter: colonies and outposts unlikely that any survived but maybe one with a nuclear reactor running it still has power and bad things ie Alien xenomorph (1), infor to glean and a fight. wreckage and suck drifting around Jupiter. Maybe automated defenses left over from the war centuries ago. C. Proxima Saturn? D. Proxima asteroid belt? Drifting hulk not damaged old unstable atomic drive still hot but could go up like a nuke at anytime and secrets on board- xenomorph? or hibernation victims of xenomorph implantation- ie you wake them up and shortly there after chest burster. E. Mars- remnants of Humanity here but not very human. degenerate cannibals etc. Predator? maybe a Dr. Moreau type individual who can portray urbanity to the PCs ie look and act like them- call his bio dome the Ravenloft or Disney's Black Hole of this campaign. gruesome experiements on the degenerates but now he's looking to subdue and experiment on the PCs. He is quite mad. F. Moon desolate waste land little life but ruins to investigate. Perhaps the crash site of a scavenger from Venus and its surviving crew who will endeavor to get the PCs to take them to Venus. G. Earth: Nuclear winter spawned ice age. some places to visit: labs, old launch facilities (not in US but closer to equator maybe in south/central America), Museums, libraries maybe a Logan's Run type dystopia/utopia where they eat soylent green. H. Venus. The sky cities of Venus send out scavengers to pick the bones of the solar system. Their society is split very sharply into haves and have nots in a very "Time Machine" sort of way. Their scavengers craft are a mixed bag and rulers will covet the PCs ship. Maybe the Venusian ships cannot land on Earth but only can manage the escape velocity for the Moon and for Mars? So whats the quest? what keeps the PCs moving forward? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 8, 2020 - 10:51am | Perhaps the PCs are tasked with surveying and contacting the political/ Governmental rulers of this system. its only accessible via a Tetrarch jump gate technology hence the PCs being kind of cut off and forced to survive on their only resources. They came knowing it could be a one way trip but they will be highly paid and fabulously wealthy if they manage to locate a matching jump gate and activate it to return. Thus they must explore what ever they find looking for data bases that might have information on the jump gate. Maybe a one man probe was originally sent through the jump gate decades before and this individual is all Robinson Crusoe and he might be a resource to help the PCs locate the jump gate. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
