 August 28, 2012 - 11:19am | So in the interest of exposing my kids to all the nerdy SF goodness from my childhood - I have really wanted to run an GW setting for my kids. But I really don't want to get into another campaign, and ruleset, etc. So the idea is to incorporate it into my existing SF campaign, but outside the boundaries of the existing frontier. All that said, I really like Jedion's timeline for the frontier and don't really want to tweak that, other than having the one missing colony ship wind up forming a colony out past the frontier. But the humans' entrance to the Frontier doesn't leave enough time IMO for the radioactive goodness to warp things to the point necessary for a good GW type setting. Also, the humans wouldn't have enough time to build a population density that later was almost destroyed in a nuclear conflagration, from which would come Pure Strain Humans, etc. So enter the Mhemne. They live outside the frontier and have been enslaved by the Sathar for quite some time. Perhaps there are several Mhemne systems, including a homeworld that got nuked by the Sathar hundreds of years ago. They are humanoid and could create a good stock from which to base the Pure Strain and Humanoid variety of characters. Also, a setting like this would be a great place to have the Vimh originate from. If the Sathar 'wiped the place out' they would probably just leave it alone after bombing them back into the stone age, provided they didn't display any ability to return to space. Perhaps a UPF exploration vessel could discover this place and also evidence of a lost lost Mhemne Empire or such like that? Anyways, I need to check into this idea more, and would appreciate input, especially into the feasibility of using the Mhemne like this. |
August 28, 2012 - 11:49am | Since the Mhemne factions caused the destruction of Snowball some 2,000 years in the past, and since have not really advanced technologically, perhaps another planet in the same system would be a better choice. If they had ships capable of jump travel, the Frontier would have heard from them. If the asteriod strike by the belters happened 2,000 years in the past, it would stand to reason that they had been in space for some time before that. That would give time to colonize another planet in the same system and for the population to build. Obviously the biggest problem is the description in KH4 which states that the Sathar came in 10 years prior. I think 2,000 years of technological stagnation could be better explained through a crippling attack. |
August 28, 2012 - 11:37am | A quick check on a population calculator: http://www.metamorphosisalpha.com/ias/population.php Beginning population: 2,000 Growth Rate: 1.2% Time: 2,000 years Result: 4,592,561,737,670 Perhaps the Sathar came on the scene as the Belter/Confederacy/Iceworlders factions were fighing over who started it, invade the system, nuke the other-colony planet and enslave all those who remain. |
August 28, 2012 - 11:54am | Perhaps it would be too much to expect that everyone would stay off a GW planet if it was in the same system. Perhaps the Mhemne had just achieved jump technology and planted a colony in the next system when their civil war began. The colony was cut off when the fighting started, but was in good enough shape to survive and thrive. Then the Sathar came... |
 August 28, 2012 - 2:44pm | I would just run a GW campaign with SF rules. Becareful though- the gama dawn suppliment is unballanced in favor of mutants over pure strain humans. If you must meld it with the SF setting you could hand wave up another colony expedition that left earth even earlier. Or go with the methamorphasis alpha shtick of a massive space ship with its original crew missing and the primitive are run amok in the asylum. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
August 28, 2012 - 4:26pm | I would just run a GW campaign with SF rules. Becareful though- the gama dawn suppliment is unballanced in favor of mutants over pure strain humans. If you must meld it with the SF setting you could hand wave up another colony expedition that left earth even earlier. Or go with the methamorphasis alpha shtick of a massive space ship with its original crew missing and the primitive are run amok in the asylum. I hear that. If anything, I'll give them Pure Strain or humanoid with only moderately helpful mutations. |
August 28, 2012 - 5:05pm | If you go MA with the massive ship warden, I've often thoight that it could be a story line of alien abduction of primitives (primitives from the abductor's POV that is- "Look at these beastial humans still using fossil fuels!") And in corporate in another race or two. Story line is to capture control of the good ship warden and there is race war as a backdrop, with each of the three races' pure stain stock forming a faction and the mutants forming a faction.and a group with crazy religious beliefs asserting a return of the "collectors" to purify the ship with fire and reward the pure. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 August 28, 2012 - 8:14pm | I agree with Jedion. Metamorphosis Alpha is basically Gamma World... IN SPACE! (You dont need the KH ship rules, as adventures take place inside the ship, as the game was deliberately designed to be D&D... IN SPACE!) You have a microcosm set is a large ship, with ignorant folk unaware the true nature of their own would, and lots of mutants—or "Muties"—after a disaster with the power-plant. The neat part of this, is that the players—like the characters—don't
even need to know they are on a big ship. The revelation would blow
their minds! It 1st ed MA, the danger was that the ship is heading into a burning star, and the players need to build-up their technical understanding to set the right course—much like the show The Star Lost. In 2nd ed, an asteroid occupied with creepy little aliens hits the ship, so the players have to fight them off, or the little buggers will takeover. On the other hand, Orphans of the Sky (by Robert A. Heinlein) had a conflict between the crew and the muties. So yeah, there are a lot of possibilities with plot and adventure, and even if it seems like every inch of the ship was explored, whole new decks can unveil themselves! |
September 25, 2012 - 9:43pm | I agree with Jedion. Metamorphosis Alpha is basically Gamma World... IN SPACE! (You dont need the KH ship rules, as adventures take place inside the ship, as the game was deliberately designed to be D&D... IN SPACE!) You have a microcosm set is a large ship, with ignorant folk unaware the true nature of their own would, and lots of mutants—or "Muties"—after a disaster with the power-plant. The neat part of this, is that the players—like the characters—don't
even need to know they are on a big ship. The revelation would blow
their minds! It 1st ed MA, the danger was that the ship is heading into a burning star, and the players need to build-up their technical understanding to set the right course—much like the show The Star Lost. In 2nd ed, an asteroid occupied with creepy little aliens hits the ship, so the players have to fight them off, or the little buggers will takeover. On the other hand, Orphans of the Sky (by Robert A. Heinlein) had a conflict between the crew and the muties. So yeah, there are a lot of possibilities with plot and adventure, and even if it seems like every inch of the ship was explored, whole new decks can unveil themselves! Holy smokes. I've been reading up on Metamorphosis Alpha here and they turned me on to a great movie called Pandorum. Full of all kinds of space-mutant-sci fi-horror goodness. And it gives me some great ideas on how to incorporate an MA campaign into the frontier setting... Thanks for all the advice. And watch Pandorum if you haven't already. The ending is a little weak, but the movie is really interesting... |
 September 26, 2012 - 5:25am | The ending is a little weak, but the movie is really interesting... From Wikipedia The producers gave the script to director Christian Alvart who was struck by the similarities to his own screenplay titled No Where. His dramatic story was about four astronauts aboard a settlers' ship who suffer from amnesia. Alvart decided that they should weld the two screenplays together, and the producers and Milloy agreed. It sounds like if they had stuck with the original script we wouldn't have had the weird, weak, ending. |
