I'm thinking these two -- plus critters from one or two of the various BRP beastiaries (reskinned) -- might do admirably for my long-planned but never implemented GammaWorld-esque campaign...
The Pitch:
Quote
Anyone wanna start with "hard sci-fi" and devolve from there into gonzo unrealistic "science fantasy"? I warn you up front, there WILL be a twist in the action right away... all is NOT as it seems! You respond to the following ad:
"USER Inc (U.S.Exotic Redevelopment) seeks team members to explore new planets for potential future colonies and/or resource-extraction outposts; in addition to your Base Pay (delivered to your designated heirs, here on Earth), you will earn shares in all finds! Shares in prior expeditions have produced 42 of the current top-200 personal fortunes in the word today!!!! Your Base Pay will render you heirs financially independent for life, and includes a generous healthcare package; or you can bank it and come home to a safe cushion whether or not your expeditions net a profit!"
Your characters all know "USER Inc" as a semi-private / semi-governmental agency whose starships -- slower-than-light cryosleep vessels -- are the primary means used by the United States of North America to survey, colonize, and develop the planets & asteroids beyond the Solar System, identified by telescope and robot probe, as likely candidates. Your characters may be either from the government or the private sector, but must be motivated to Leave It All Behind -- the round-trips will be measured in multiple decades, at a minimum: everyone you knew will be old (or dead) by the time you return!"
The "twist" that I advertise up-front: late in training, as they're undergoing the umpteenth test of their reaction to the cryosleep freeze/thaw cycle, the world goes ka-blooie in that apocalyptic Gamma World way... They awaken 1000 years later (more or less) as the lab power-core finally runs down, and the computers decide that -- despite the lack of authorizing Release Codes and the clearly-dangerous external conditions -- it's either Awaken the Sleepers or let them die as their cryosleep chambers catastrophically deactivate!
There is exactly ONE powered object when they awaken: a recording -- made intermittently over the span of a decade or more by the senior scientist at the lab -- documenting the world's skew into chaos and destruction.
They begin play as "Pure Strain Humans" with a small cache of tech and absolutely NO grasp of what's beyond the walls of the lab. Session 1 is pretty railroad-y, but after that it's mostly sandbox + a few set-peices.
That session-1 railroad track runs thus:
You're winding up your training, only a few more cryosleep tests to do, then the final briefing on the (first!) planet you'll be exploring & associated specialty gear; then you ship out! Give me a list of any special equipment, special preparation, etc. Probably USER Inc will have better gear for you than you can get for yourself, but maybe you like the old-fashioned AR-47 your grandpa taught you to hunt with, better than gauss rifles, sonic disruptors, and Gigawatt-class pulse-lasers?
OH. SHIT. You wake up from the cryosleep test -- the lab is dark, unoccupied (previously, it's been bright and bustling). Each of your cryosleep chambers powers-off as you sit up (previously, they've had health-readouts displaying until turned off (not to mention doctors and nurses reading the readouts!)). You see one blinking green button on the wall.
They get the briefing from the "fall of mankind" recording (blinking green button); at least, I presume they do! And I'll let them look out the window at nothing-they've-seen-before, likely give them a short orientation of lab-as-lair.
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I'm thinking these two -- plus critters from one or two of the various BRP beastiaries (reskinned) -- might do admirably for my long-planned but never implemented GammaWorld-esque campaign...
The Pitch:
The "twist" that I advertise up-front: late in training, as they're undergoing the umpteenth test of their reaction to the cryosleep freeze/thaw cycle, the world goes ka-blooie in that apocalyptic Gamma World way... They awaken 1000 years later (more or less) as the lab power-core finally runs down, and the computers decide that -- despite the lack of authorizing Release Codes and the clearly-dangerous external conditions -- it's either Awaken the Sleepers or let them die as their cryosleep chambers catastrophically deactivate!
There is exactly ONE powered object when they awaken: a recording -- made intermittently over the span of a decade or more by the senior scientist at the lab -- documenting the world's skew into chaos and destruction.
They begin play as "Pure Strain Humans" with a small cache of tech and absolutely NO grasp of what's beyond the walls of the lab. Session 1 is pretty railroad-y, but after that it's mostly sandbox + a few set-peices.
That session-1 railroad track runs thus:
Aaaand... that's a wrap! See y'all next session.