Any civil war RPG?

[Lloyd Dupont]

For my scifi setting I am working on, while looking at adventure opportunities, I am thinking I should take inspiration from American Civil War...

Wonder if any one could come up with PRG Scenario tied to a similar settings?

[SDLeary]

Isn't that basically the prelude to Firefly? 😉

SDLeary

[Lloyd Dupont]

I dunno I only saw the Movie, for which the context remain a little nebulous, at least to me...
Oh I see.. do you mean I could, as one possible story, retell the  story of Firefly? I suppose I could! 🙂

For me the civil war part enable me to have typical looting, pirating, bandit activity and so on, that hurt my suspension of disbelief usually in scifi stories...

Edited March 2, 2023 by Lloyd Dupont

[Joerg]

So do you want to have a secession war like the US Civil War (or the Naboo incident in Star Wars), do you want a succession war (not necessarily of nobility) after a coup or otherwise end of a government, or do you want to have a doctrinal war like e.g. the 30 years war as your backdrop? Are there outside forces to ally with for either side of the conflict? What kinds of oppression are there to rise up against?

[svensson]

So, I'm a Civil War reenactor, historian, and lifetime gamer.

There's a whole genre of US Civil War wargames out there, but that's not what you're really looking for.

Traveller did an entire edition where the Emperor and his family were assassinated and the Third Imperium fragmented into regional factions, each fighting each other and vying for the Iridium Throne at the same time. Meanwhile, several external enemies took the opportunity to attack for various reasons. That edition was called MegaTraveller and you can find all of the materials on drivethru.

A sci-fi TV series that does a good job of portraying issues that could lead up to a civil war was 'Space: Above and Beyond'. It only ran for one season of 23 episodes, though like Babylon 5 there was a plot arc that was supposed to run for 5. If you're a veteran, there will be some truly cringeworthy moments [trained fighter pilots who get sent off to play grunt games on a regular basis, for example], but it's got plot elements that I think might inspire you.

From a historian's standpoint there are several real-world civil wars that bear looking at, not just the American Civil War.

- First is the granddaddy of all 'modern' civil wars, the English Civil War of 1640-1651. 'Cavaliers and Roundheads' etc.

- The second I'd suggest looking at is the Bolshevik Civil War of 1917-1925.

- The third one is the Spanish Civil War 1935-1939.

- And the last one is the Breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

All of these have succinct wikipedia articles that can give you a good grasp and overview.

Edited March 3, 2023 by svensson

[Lloyd Dupont]

4 hours ago, Joerg said:

So do you want to have a secession war like the US Civil War (or the Naboo incident in Star Wars), do you want a succession war (not necessarily of nobility) after a coup or otherwise end of a government, or do you want to have a doctrinal war like e.g. the 30 years war as your backdrop? Are there outside forces to ally with for either side of the conflict? What kinds of oppression are there to rise up against?

For those in the known, it's (loosely) in the Master of Orion universe (http://www.moo3.at/moo2), I am thinking player would be part of the Bulrathi Military Dictatorship (whether Bulrathis themselves or conquered aliens, like, you know, Humans, Elerians and other such alien scum 😛). And the long lived Emperor would have died. The rumor has it that was a Darlock terrorist that did it!
Regardless the many descendant would be fighting for the throne. A war of succession one might say, as you asked. Foreign empire might stoke the fire to collect some lost planet in the conflict as well!
At least that's my current thinking.

1 hour ago, svensson said:

So, I'm a Civil War reenactor, historian, and lifetime gamer.

There's a whole genre of US Civil War wargames out there, but that's not what you're really looking for.

Traveller did an entire edition where the Emperor and his family were assassination and the Third Imperium fragmented into regional factions, each fighting each other and vying for the Iridium Throne at the same time. Meanwhile, several external enemies attacked took the opportunity to attack for various reasons. That edition was called MegaTraveller and you can find all of the materials on drivethru.

A sci-fi TV series that does a good job of portraying issues that could lead up to a civil war was 'Space: Above and Beyond'. It only ran for one season of 23 episodes, though like Babylon 5 there was a plot arc that was supposed to run for 5. If you're a veteran, there will be some truly cringeworthy moments [trained fighter pilots who get sent off to play grunt games on a regular basis, for example], but it's got plot elements that I think might inspire you.

From a historian's standpoint there are several real-world civil wars that bear looking at, not just the American Civil War.

- First is the granddaddy of all 'modern' civil wars, the English Civil War of 1640-1651. 'Cavaliers and Roundheads' etc.

- The second I'd suggest looking at is the Bolshevik Civil War of 1917-1925.

- The third one is the Spanish Civil War 1935-1939.

- And the last one is the Breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

All of these have succinct wikipedia articles that can give you a good grasp and overview.

Wow.. lots of material for inspirations here! Thank you very much! 😄

Edited March 2, 2023 by Lloyd Dupont

[svensson]

2 hours ago, Lloyd Dupont said:

Wow.. lots of material for inspirations here! Thank you very much! 😄

Some key points about civil wars from a Terran historical prospective:

- The unrest usually starts when there is a large economic disparity. 'The haves and the have-nots' so to speak. There is a very small class of wealth and privilege but the large majority are struggling just to stay fed, warm, and dry. This builds up the resentments that lead to the next point.

- A huge gap in political opinion, for example in the Spanish Civil War on one side you had the Royalists /Carlist faction that supported the old Imperial regime and on the other you had radical anarchists who wanted to burn the whole structure of society down and start over.

- Issues that include rights and privileges of a minority people [as in US slavery] are also one of the fuses that will spark a war.

- But it should be said that only under the most egregious circumstances is one party totally 'right' and the other totally 'wrong'. Even the Confederacy had legitimate complaints about the Federal government... an most of those points are still be argued about today 160 years later. Remember that one side's justice is often the other side's atrocity.

- And speaking of atrocities, EVERY civil war features them. The situation that sparks a civil war has gone way past compromise or moderate opinion. Hatreds have formed and anybody on the other side, or for that matter anyone who doesn't support your side with sufficient zeal, is 'the enemy' and they will be disposed of in all sorts of nasty ways.

Anyway, I hope that adds some grist for your mill. Good luck with your project!

[Lloyd Dupont]

I have yet to come with a good timeline for it, that would be great if I can have the player live it from day one...

For now, and from lack of sleep and thinking in my bed so far, I am thinking a nuclear bomb blow up the palace. The oldest alive daughter and also planetary administrator claim inheritance. Meanwhile there are 2 space armada with powerful Admiral, also descendant of the High Commander who reject her rule for being weak and unworthy of Bulrathi military values. And also, if GNN is to be believed, she might even be a Darlok impostor for all we know!

Meanwhile many planetary administrator, other independent minded ruling family relatives in most cases, feel either supportive of their relative or maybe have independent streak of their own, but lack the power for it.

Ideally player could start looting and reject their master at this stage, or they might become conscript to loot other citizen (or something, this doesn't stand much scrutiny) for a local planetary administrator...

I like a key planet Far Harbor, to have a successful run at independance playing both the Bulrathi and Psilon and its rich resources. I'd like some local battle sponsored by Psilon Authority and Gnolam-Humal Confederation.

It's all I know so far.... Many details to felsh out...

Edited March 2, 2023 by Lloyd Dupont

[Darius West]

On 3/2/2023 at 4:26 PM, Lloyd Dupont said:

I dunno I only saw the Movie, for which the context remain a little nebulous, at least to me...
Oh I see.. do you mean I could, as one possible story, retell the  story of Firefly? I suppose I could! 🙂

For me the civil war part enable me to have typical looting, pirating, bandit activity and so on, that hurt my suspension of disbelief usually in scifi stories...

The single series of Firefly is recommended viewing.

[Darius West]

I suspect that you can retro-engineer any Western Genre RPG into a US Civil War RPG without much effort btw. 

Edited March 7, 2023 by Darius West