Lloyd Dupont Posted April 9, 2020 Share Posted April 9, 2020 (edited) Hi All... I have the writer block.. (you know when you have trouble starting) trying to write adventures for my Master of Orion setting I am working on. So I call here for help and suggestion! But first you have to understand I closed many usual avenue for adventures... So what is the expected background for the adventures and adventurers? Well it's inspired by Master of Orion, which is like Civilisation in space. So player will be part of a successful expanding space empire. Lots of Alien races (I will start by saying that human are a minority in that empire: now you know). I am not going for a Star Trek angle for the mood, more like Blade Runner. Although. I watched last one.. seems too bleak to be a successfully developing empire that compete with other star empire.. The theme is not endless war either... No endless space marine missions. Nor it is space pirates. Anything inter stellar space travel is meant to be.. tedious (weeks of travel between star systems is my angle). Nor it is saving the universe (that is the background arc that will slowly emerge, sort of, there will be an alien invasion, a hightech relic, a war, a civil war, etc... but this is supposed to be in the background for a while... not the main everyday driver), Nor it is exploring ancient and mysterious alien ruins or fighting strange aliens monsters (not enough of them). Nope I plan it to be mundane. For inspiration I look at typical case that the police gets. But here another problem pops up. I will let people chose whatever profession they want. Maybe it's librarian or entertainer hey? So.. why would they help the police on their cases? Also since it's a relatively successful expanding space empire I expect a minimum amount of order (I see adventurer as chaos feeder.. so too much order is bad for adventures 😕 ) However, going for trouble. The empire is a not very caring oligarchy (as long as profit, research and production work, they are happy), a mix of many different possibly antagonist race from conquered planet and relocated around: democratic human, feudalistic telepathic aloof Elerian, haughty and graceful Mrrshan (tiger people), lots of despondent Bulrathi clone without a good situation, arrogant Psilon genius, and a few more I forgot (I am at work). I was thinking players can be part of a militia (so here go the part time investigative job) that try to find missing person or collect debt. But is there enough money in missing person? And wouldn't the police help with debt collection? Well now you know.. if you have any inspirational ideas for adventure rich occupations, please share!?! I was thinking to have a group of Bulrathi supremacist killing aliens. Some investigatino on disparition and equipment stolen as well. Some not very subtle alien spie who heard rumor of a buried Antarian crashed ship...) but all of that need to go with some mundane investigation.. and I am at loss as to what kind of ... background will justify the adventurer being part of it, and in fact of many investigation.... Edited April 9, 2020 by Lloyd Dupont 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dethstrok9 Posted April 9, 2020 Share Posted April 9, 2020 I liked your idea of the players joining or forming a militia, similar to the driving idea behind Delta Green, it makes sure they have a stake in the investigation and aren't just there randomly. That way, the players can be whatever they want as former background, but they are all together. In fact, I would stress the point during character creation and let the players know the reason behind it. Some other occupations could be a Bounty Hunter, Police, Family to the Victim, or oppressed minority trying to change the world. I think you've got a pretty awesome campaign shaping up:) 1 Quote -Voice of the Legion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajagappa Posted April 9, 2020 Share Posted April 9, 2020 13 hours ago, Lloyd Dupont said: but all of that need to go with some mundane investigation.. and I am at loss as to what kind of ... background will justify the adventurer being part of it, and in fact of many investigation.... Trade. Legal, illegal, and in-between. Given your pretext of lengthy space travel, there will be a lot of room for those seeking trade, seeking to control trade, seeking new angles or new resources to exploit, etc. "Police" will more likely be enforcers for cartels, gangs, etc. who control routes, planets, inspectors, et al. Lots of different roles needed - researchers, scouts, investigators, guards/militia protecting or aiding the others, diplomats,... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lloyd Dupont Posted April 9, 2020 Author Share Posted April 9, 2020 (edited) Yeah I think the militia might be the right idea, thanks Deatstroke ... And.. I should look up Delta Green!! I need to think how it's worth it.. or maybe it's simply worth it because there are too many problem and local shop owner simply pooled up fund for help... Also there is a lot of forced immigration to fill up new planets... so obviously there is lots of problem and not enough order.... Ha thanks also jajagappa, my thinking might have been blinded by vision of perfect society.. there is implicit scarcity (new planet building up, slow space travel, lots of new arrivals).. there is room for trouble.. and profit here! Edited April 9, 2020 by Lloyd Dupont Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajagappa Posted April 9, 2020 Share Posted April 9, 2020 21 minutes ago, Lloyd Dupont said: there is implicit scarcity (new planet building up, slow space travel, lots of new arrivals).. there is room for trouble.. and profit here! An important question is whether an alien society will have the same trade motivations as humans? Or will they be part of a hive mind, or an AI race that has a particular focus on aesthetics, or ensuring optimal survival, etc. Such differences open up ways to utilize "trade" as opportunity to understand and investigate different species. There's some ideas around that in Sandy Petersen's Hyperspace universe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lloyd Dupont Posted April 9, 2020 Author Share Posted April 9, 2020 (edited) mmm... I am all for understanding and coming with new intrinsic motivations for aliens (an interesting background work). Might check your book suggestion for that! But for the mundane part of the adventures I do not plan to surprise my players with mind bending motivations.... On that note though.. For your eyes only, one of the planned adventures, unknowingly prelude to a war part of the campaign, is a trade agreement with the Klackons. Klackons are an insect race, with hive mind and such. They also have very poor social skill and are unlikely to trade. In that case they only trade because they heard of an interesting, undiscovered, and possibly Antarian, spaceshipwreck on the players' planet and one of their captain (really a spie) will do some tourism, assisted, what a lucky coincidence, by the player characters! If they discover the wreck and the captain return to his ship... war of invasion will follow overnight without warning (the Klackon want the spaceshipwreck!) Edited April 9, 2020 by Lloyd Dupont 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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