 March 5, 2013 - 9:13am | I've had gothic horror and Ravenloft on my mind- because of a wierd and tangle string of associations that would be hard to explain. but anyway this is just me brainstorming/ examining gothic horror possibilities for Star Frontier. two sites that hit on a google search that were helpful were: http://www.virtualsalt.com/gothic.htm http://www.ehow.com/info_8104633_10-elements-gothic-literature.html using the second site as a recipe: 1. Setting: Old run down structures principly castles or manors with hidden and secrect passage ways Possibilities: star ship where the hidden passages are air ducts and sub floor, yazirian monastery, manor house, tetrarch ruins 2. Atmosphere of mystery, horror and dread- myserties are easiest of those three- there are mysteries to unravel that actually threaten the PCs lives. The advice on the first site about metonymy of gloom and horro and the information on vocabulary of the gothic genre might assist with establishing atmosphere- artwork might also- clip appropriate art work to the referee's screen. 3. Protagonist that are isolated, varying types of isolationu used in gothic romance but this is easy enough to contrive in a RPG adventure. Possibilities in SF- mis jump of starship, unexplored planet, sand storm driving the PCs into the strange alien ruins and etc. 4. Emotion driven motivations for characters- best used with key NPCs strong powerful emotions are best: possibilities: NPC that hired the PCs is driven by rage and this becomes more apparent to the PCs as time goes on 5. Damsel in Distress- probably cliche by this time and at the top of the list of elements I would drop. though I'm sure some interesting twists on this might be possible. 6. Foreboding- ominous events, dark prophesies, omens, a fortune teller is a good mechanic for introducing this. dreams and nightmares caused by phsychic powers (mentalism) or alien artifacts 7. The supernatural - in some gothic stories supernatural events have natural explanations that are eventually revealed. In sci fi you can just chalk it up as weird alien artifact nonsense that cant be explained or you could go the route of natural explanations. 8. Decay- buildings that are falling apart and old and crumbling- easy enough with a star ship which is breaking down and nicely used in Pandorum with the fusion reactor malfunctioning and requiring a reset except to reset it required a march into the heart of darkness. Alien ruins are easy enough to pick up this element. 9. Drama- high drama from events like kidnapping, murder most foul, madness and tragic illnees I like the madness angle for sci fi, murder and possibly kidnapping sound like standard fare corporate themed adventures. Weird alien artifacts driving people mad would fit. Possibilities for horrific creatures 1. cybots- look cutting open a head and putting the brain inside a metal body is just kind of creepy and its already a setting element in Star Frontiers 2. the ill defined creature from the Zebs timeline that was attached to an assassin's back and led to the fashion trend of see thru clothing is creapy and introduces mind control or bodily possession which is a common theme in many horror properties 3. sathar are a bit vampiric and there was a discusion recently concerning fluid sucking by them which dovetails with the hypnotism ability. 4. the hull scrapter creature (a D&D borrowed gelatinous cube) certainly works for a minion of a bad guy since the SF explanation for them is a corporate designed creature that is used to scour hulls of organic matter, the underlying implication, to me, is that they are controllable somehow. 5. nanite animated corpses or virus infected zombies- creepy 6. physchic originating ghosts, I liked that short story that turned up about the Hir-cal or avenging clan spirit. 7. I was thinking another revisit of the vihm casting them in the role of were-rat, natural explanation is that they are geneticly engineered that the scratches and wounds they deliver during early encounter become horribly infected because of the presence of bacteria or other infectious agents on the claws (they're hygiene challenged) living in the guts/bowls and ducts of a space station they've never heard of sonic showers let allone taken one. The infection here plays the role of lycanthropy. Naturally the corporation that developed the vimh also developed the infectious agent they happen to be contaminated with. it wants to cover up the escape of vimh specimens and the fact that they developed a very serious biological agent with high potential for bio warfare. This means disappearing anyone who was infected by the bio agent. In this case though things take a decidely corporate theme which is common to SF. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 5, 2013 - 9:25am | While working on this various ideas popped: 1. ancient alien artifact that is an artificial singularity (black hole) but seemingly supernaturally controlled has been sucking in ships from void space (a sort of alien saragasso sea) and has been doing this for millenia, there is an area around the singularity that is a safe zone which traps ships there. many are ships are hulks and derelicts, there is quite a bit of wreckage, This set up enforces isolation, age and decay, mysteries, a supernatural or super science element much of the action will involve boarding and exploring various wreck and hulks to figure out the mysteries of the "Saragasso Singularity" one would have a crazy survivor that is quite mad from being here for 25+ years alone that desires to kill the PCs and take their stuff one ship would be a sathar ship which could be a recent arrival and simply engages the PCs ship in battle some ships will just be empty and will be an opportunity to strip fuel and equipment I like the idea of phsychic originating ghost for this one as we already introduced alien super science so why not go a little further. 2. Weird yazirian order of monks, organized by one yazirian that was the sole survivor of a mis jumped ship. PCs hired to get a son/daughter/lover back from the clutches of the monastery. mysteries, secret passages, damsel in destress, emotion driven motives, isolated location, cave or catacombs beneath the monastery, mad crazy yazirian monks bent on murder. Soaring gothic cathedral structure is called for with yazirian monks sitting gargoyle like at great heights waiting to stoop upon the unwary. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 March 5, 2013 - 12:53pm | That's quite an expansion on my concept of adapting KOTB to every non-D&D game I've ever played. |
 March 5, 2013 - 10:44pm | There is an episode of ST Voyager along the same vein. |
March 6, 2013 - 9:23am | That's quite an expansion on my concept of adapting KOTB to every non-D&D game I've ever played. Well you'd need to add a little village out side the castle for KOTBs I would think and rip off the gypsie camp from Ravenloft as well. or simply redo KOTB as Ravenloft and get rid of the realm of darkness feature to the latter editions of that property. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
