Gameable Sci-fi?

[Nobby-W]

I wonder if Lexx is direct inspiration for the ‘deader‘ race in Savage Worlds Sci-Fi companion?

Don't know. I also wonder to what extent Lexx was influenced by WH40k.

 

[Mankcam]

Lexx was pretty interesting in a weird way - an odd mix of coldness, cheesy, and edgyness, a little on the adult-indie side of things, kind of like a 1990s version of Barbarella meets Metal Hurlant. Feels a bit like a bizarre Euro sci-fi graphic novel at times, including the mature themes.

The organic starship was cool, it swallowesd other starships and planets if left to its own devices. Lots of eye-candy in the show as well, it felt quite sexualised. Depending on how you view this, it was a pro or a con. Definately not one to watch with the kids.

Despite such, Lexx did fall flat, I lost interest in the characters. I'm not really sure what they were aiming for with it.
It made late night TV viewing for a little while, but it faded away so I never really watched it all the way through it's seasons.
I suspect it has a cult following in some circles

 

[AsenRG]

I'm not sure what they were going for with Lexx either...but it was fun to watch for a while (and no, eye candy never hurts, though I was more interested in Lexx being basically a ghola and the biotech in the movie felt for a while like an "updated" version of what Dune might have been). Then yes, it started to feel stale, like they've ran out of ideas but had to keep churning out episodes.
And at this point I stopped watching it.

Enough that Traveller took its name and a good % of its implied setting ideas from E.C. Tubb's novels! There are dozens of worlds detailed in the stories, FTL travel (courtesy of the Erhaft drive), noble houses, mutants, a diabolical organization seeking absolute control over the various governments of the galaxy for its own good (the Cyclan), a secretive cult (The Original People), a guild of honest brokers and traders (the Hausi), a humanitarian pacifist group (Church of Universal Brotherhood), and a tableau large enough that you can really insert whatever you think fits and pursue whatever aims your characters want. One thing that sets it apart from most sci fi settings is that there are no galactic or interplanetary empires or other polities and no massive space warships in any of the stories.

"No massive space warships" is a good way to play Traveller, too...
But you forget the biggest Dumarest influence on the Third Imperium: It's a setting where the humanity has long since forgotten which planet it originated on.
Cue Solomani...

Having read a couple of the Dumarest saga books, one can see the origin of many Traveller-isms (Air/Rafts, for example, first make an appearance here). The other big influences are Space Viking (which is a surprisingly influential work) and Dominic Flandry, in which you can also see many ideas that got picked up in Traveller. Apparently you can also see stuff pulled from Jack Vance's Demon Prince novels, but I've never had occasion to read one.

I found #2 and #3 of the Dumarest books in a secondhand bookshop in Arundel, a small coastal town in Sussex best known for its castle. It was a lovely bookshop, converted from an old house. The building was a rabbit warren and every single room in the building had shelving crammed into it. Unfortunately you have to get out of London's commuter belt for real estate to get cheap enough for this kind of shop, [1] but small English towns out in the cuds are a treasure trove of odd little shops like this.

Anyway, what I was going to ask Dumarest is does he have any recommendations for what are the better books from the series.
____________________________
[1] - Location can make an order-of-magnitude or more difference to the price of an ordinary terraced house. A house that would be £50,000 in a small town in Wales can be £500,000 inside the commuter belt of London and north of £1 million in Zone 2.

Well, I started reading the Demon Princes once, I think... It's one of the many I didn't manage to finish because the loan (from a friend) expired before I had read it.
Anyway, I think prospecting and belters might well be coming from there.


Also, I'd recommend Eclipse Phase, myself. Post-apocalyptic transhumanistic SF...though trigger warning, it very much wears its politics on its sleeve! (As written, the transhumanist anarchists seem very much like the good, wise guys of the setting).
But other than that, it's got body-hopping consciences in a post-scarcity society threatened by mad AIs, ETs that aren't humans in drag, (other?) ET-created gates that lead to Somewhere Else, a reputation economy that even works in some places, and multiple fractions warring between themselves. Plenty to entertain your group for a few sessions, probably much more, I'd say!

 

[E-Rocker]

Starhunter Redux is pretty gameable. It's available streaming on Prime. Bounty hunters in space who are not especially good at their jobs.

 

[dbm]

I’ll check that out

 

[Atelerix]

A question for the crowd... If a fellow developed an interest in Fading Suns, and it seems fairly common second-hand, which book or two would be a good overview of the setting?

On the understanding that it will almost certainly never be played, but as a source of ideas.

 

[AsenRG]

A question for the crowd... If a fellow developed an interest in Fading Suns, and it seems fairly common second-hand, which book or two would be a good overview of the setting?

On the understanding that it will almost certainly never be played, but as a source of ideas.

The corebook has a nice overview of the setting (though I'm not sure which edition is the one that I've got from Bundle of Holding). The rest of those I have are focusing on specific organizations and places, though "Worlds of..." would probably be a nice somewhat-general addition, IMO.

 

[Atelerix]

Thanks AsenRG !

 

[E-Rocker]

I’ll check that out

Cool!

I'm recommending it a source of gameable content; if you end up actually liking the show, like I do, fair warning: most of the cast changes from Season One to Season Two, and the series ends on an unresolved cliffhanger.

 

[Dumarest]

Having read a couple of the Dumarest saga books, one can see the origin of many Traveller-isms (Air/Rafts, for example, first make an appearance here). The other big influences are Space Viking (which is a surprisingly influential work) and Dominic Flandry, in which you can also see many ideas that got picked up in Traveller. Apparently you can also see stuff pulled from Jack Vance's Demon Prince novels, but I've never had occasion to read one.

I found #2 and #3 of the Dumarest books in a secondhand bookshop in Arundel, a small coastal town in Sussex best known for its castle. It was a lovely bookshop, converted from an old house. The building was a rabbit warren and every single room in the building had shelving crammed into it. Unfortunately you have to get out of London's commuter belt for real estate to get cheap enough for this kind of shop, [1] but small English towns out in the cuds are a treasure trove of odd little shops like this.

Anyway, what I was going to ask Dumarest is does he have any recommendations for what are the better books from the series.
____________________________
[1] - Location can make an order-of-magnitude or more difference to the price of an ordinary terraced house. A house that would be £50,000 in a small town in Wales can be £500,000 inside the commuter belt of London and north of £1 million in Zone 2.

My estimation is that the first seven are the most intriguing as Tubb bit-by-bit reveals more and more of the setting in which the stories occur; you'll also recognize many, many things that inspired the original Traveller RPG. If you just want ideas for a sci fi setting, those early novels are a goldmine. After that, the general parameters are firmly established and Earl Dumarest peripatetically seeks clues and follows any evidence he can find and, though he has a firm goal, basically adventures around the galaxy. Those stories are all fun reads, but sometimes it feels like there is no end in sight as our hero bounces around from world to world and job to job. Things really pick up momentum in The Terridae (1981) as Earl gets closer and closer to a way home to Earth. In The Temple of Truth (1985), he finally obtains the long-sought coordinates of Earth. That's the last book I've read as the series stopped for 12 years before The Return (1997) and Child of Earth (2008) were published, the finale just before Tubb died, and both of which are pretty much impossible to obtain at a decent price. I actually kind of like ending with The Temple of Truth and imagining what happens next and ehat Earth turns out to be, but part of me is curious to read the conclusion.

I recommend not clicking on the novel synopsis links if you have any intention of reading the books, but here is a list of all the novels in the series. It's a remarkably consistent series with some highs and no real lows, and a well-realized and unique vision of the galaxy and humanity's diaspora:

Jeff Buser's Dumarest Spoilers - Bibliography

jeffbuser.com

 

[dbm]

fair warning: most of the cast changes from Season One to Season Two, and the series ends on an unresolved cliffhanger.

Good to know, that sort of thing can sour an experience.

Just started watching Nightflyers on Netflix. That turned a lot darker than I expected very quickly! But it’s a good watch so far.

 

[dbm]

Did you look at Savage Worlds Sci-Fi setting: Last Parsec?

This what I’ve ended up picking, and it is fab based on my read through for prep.

Question for tenbones or anyone else who has played it: whilst I know it’s my game, my choice etc is it envisaged that only Serrans have psionic abilities in high numbers? They are the only race where it is mentioned in their description, but that doesn’t mean it is exclusive to them?

Clearly there are other beings with psionic ability, I’m just wondering what the baseline assumptions are, whether a psionic human or yeti would be considered odd, etc.

 

[Chris Brady]

This what I’ve ended up picking, and it is fab based on my read through for prep.

Question for tenbones or anyone else who has played it: whilst I know it’s my game, my choice etc is it envisaged that only Serrans have psionic abilities in high numbers? They are the only race where it is mentioned in their description, but that doesn’t mean it is exclusive to them?

Clearly there are other beings with psionic ability, I’m just wondering what the baseline assumptions are, whether a psionic human or yeti would be considered odd, etc.

Odd? Sure, but it happens. The wording implies that other races have them, which is how I took it. Odd enough to have the Outsider hindrance? That's up to you, though.

 

[tenbones]

This what I’ve ended up picking, and it is fab based on my read through for prep.

Question for tenbones or anyone else who has played it: whilst I know it’s my game, my choice etc is it envisaged that only Serrans have psionic abilities in high numbers? They are the only race where it is mentioned in their description, but that doesn’t mean it is exclusive to them?

Clearly there are other beings with psionic ability, I’m just wondering what the baseline assumptions are, whether a psionic human or yeti would be considered odd, etc.

My take is that as a phenomenon - it's pretty much accepted that only Serrans have it as a naturally occurring cultural trait, like Betazoids in Star Trek. I mean even Vulcans in Star Trek while not overtly considered "Psionic" have practices that clearly by their own expression, are psionic in nature. So in Parsec does that mean no one else has it? Probably not. It should be *exactly* as rare and as powerful as you require it.

Me? I like having humans have a Psi-Corps like in Babylon 5... hehehe but that's just me.

 

[dbm]

Looking into into the suggested character archetypes, they include psikers and talk about how these people often keep it a secret.

So my plan at the moment is to have Serrans as ‘accepted’ psikers and require others to have some kind of hindrance to represent people not trusting them.

 

[tenbones]

Leverage the Savage Worlds idea of "Trappings" to give the non-Serran psionics as totally different flavor. It could even have mechanical effects - or specific limitation on which powers are available to each "style". So Humans might get nosebleeds and be limited to *specific* disciplines.

It's wide open for you to develop since Last Parsec, as I recall, doesn't specify any kind of Psionic powerlist for the Serran. That gives you *incredible* opportunities to develop entire secret subcultures around races having specific practices that produce specific results. And the degree of cross-pollination would be huge game-worthy material.

Humans with "Scanner" like powers... they get nosebleeds when doing things that affect the material world (vs. purely psychic), with whatever mechanical effects. Maybe they want to learn some Serran techniques which involve more subtle disciplines? Then you can create Trappings for that specific kind of cross-pollination effect. Humans learning Serran techniques might have different specific effects than say, Rakshasha?

You get the idea.

 

[Chris Brady]

My take is that as a phenomenon - it's pretty much accepted that only Serrans have it as a naturally occurring cultural trait, like Betazoids in Star Trek. I mean even Vulcans in Star Trek while not overtly considered "Psionic" have practices that clearly by their own expression, are psionic in nature. So in Parsec does that mean no one else has it? Probably not. It should be *exactly* as rare and as powerful as you require it.

Me? I like having humans have a Psi-Corps like in Babylon 5... hehehe but that's just me.

Actually, humans had Psychics in Star Trek. They were rare but they did exist, the first instance of it was in The Original Series, her name was Miranda Jones in the season 3, Episode 7, "Is There In Truth No Beauty?"

And in The Last Parsec one shot I played in a few months? Was just before SWADE came out, I remember that, that's what we treated it as. A rarity but possibility for most playable races. We had two in the party, one was human.

 

[Ronin]

I’m planning to run a sci-fi campaign in the near future, with Savage Worlds Adventurer Edition. I’m looking for something which I can convert or adapt. Sci-fi isn’t a genre we play often, so I’m interested in good stuff people have run in the past, either campaigns or adaptable franchises.

I know the obvious things at a high level, like Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5, Dune, Warhammer 40k, Traveller, Firefly. There are a few more low-key properties I’m aware of like Lensman, KillJoys, Aliens, the Expanse, Star Gate.

I’m ideally looking for something a bit more space opera than hard sci-fi. Interplanetary flight, but doesn’t need to be intergalactic. Artificial gravity desirable. Alien races are negotiable. The PCs might be scouts, traders, scoundrels; people who will get involved in stuff and have some dirt under their fingernails.

I’m looking for either straight campaign materials or setting bibles. Any suggestions greatly appreciated! Your thoughts on what makes them good would also be a plus.

(I know there is Slipstream and Flash Gordon for Savage Worlds, they aren’t my first choice so hence my asking...)

I'm sure you have already picked something to run by now. But, reguardless let me suggest one of my favorites. The Hammerverse (AKA Hammers Slammers). Its a series of short stories and novels written by David Drake. Handily collected in three omnibuses. (I personally really enjoy the books) It has a miniatures game by Pireme publishing. (Not sure if it is still in print) Their is also a supplement for using it with Traveller.