early '80s: RQ + Traveller = Star Frontiers ? (also: sci-fi aliens that are ALIEN)

[g33k]

23 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

Probably. If you can post an idea of what you are looking for I can probably suggest a few RPGs closer to the mark. For, instance, I'd say that Pacesetter's Star Ace was probably functionally closer to what Star Frontiers was trying to be that Star Frontiers was. That is a fairly simple Sci-Fi RPG that was fairly easy to learn and play. Star Ace used the same basic game system as Chill, but optimized for Sci-Fi rather than horror. 

Nothing in particular.
I've had a pulpy-science-fantasy BRP idea kicking 'round the back of my mind for... oh, a decade or more.

Chaosium releasing the ORC-licensed BRP has actually kicked that idea out of the BACK of my mind.

Now I'm looking round to find grist for my mill.

I've got "Worlds Beyond" that I can stripmine at need.  I've got the fannish "Waning Stars" that is I think a retroclone of "Fading Suns," and the fannish/OGL'ed "RQ-SciFi" SRD, very Traveller-esque.  I've got several commercially-published iterations of BRP (notably missing both Ringworld RPG and Future*Space).  None of them are quite exactly right for what i want.  I've got 2-3 non-BRP games that are a closer fit to the "vibe" I'm after, that I can use for that sort of inspiration.

I've begun writing; but the writing is slowing down, and I still want more resources, so instead I'm advancing on this front (for now).

[SDLeary]

If you can find a copy of Other Suns (beg, borrow, steal), it really is a template. An evolved RQ2 based system in space.

SDLeary

[Atgxtg]

1 hour ago, SDLeary said:

If you can find a copy of Other Suns (beg, borrow, steal), it really is a template. An evolved RQ2 based system in space.

SDLeary

Oh, and let's not forget RingWorld. IMO it probably would have done better as a generic sci-fi RPG, without the Larry Niven stuff. 

[Ravenheart87]

14 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

Oh, and let's not forget RingWorld. IMO it probably would have done better as a generic sci-fi RPG, without the Larry Niven stuff. 

RngWorld totally deserves a new version, even if it's with serial numbers filed off like Magic World.

[g33k]

On 12/7/2023 at 2:25 AM, Ravenheart87 said:

RngWorld totally deserves a new version, even if it's with serial numbers filed off like Magic World.

Start with the "space elevator" concept.
Add substantive intermediate steps along the way, every 5 miles or so; suspension-bridge tech means these can each be several miles wide (the added weight means you need to add more counterweights up above geosync;  that's OK, make the "counterweights" structure not ballast:  more room for more adventure)...  These steps are called "rungs" up the "ladder."

Rungworld!
(serial numbers filed off)

Now fill the equator with Ladders -- literally, the entire surface is one contiguous ladder-base.
Add interlinking superstructures, so you can lateral from a rung on this ladder to a rung on either adjacent ladder.
Aaaall the way up.

As seen from outer space, above the poles -- it looks like the world is girdled with a gigantic spiderweb.
Alt-name:  "Webworld"
 

Fill in the web with solid structure, so it becomes a disc

Discworld (just to f--k with the fandom's).

[Joerg]

On 12/9/2023 at 9:42 PM, g33k said:

Start with the "space elevator" concept.
Add substantive intermediate steps along the way, every 5 miles or so; suspension-bridge tech means these can each be several miles wide (the added weight means you need to add more counterweights up above geosync;  that's OK, make the "counterweights" structure not ballast:  more room for more adventure)...  These steps are called "rungs" up the "ladder."

Rungworld!
(serial numbers filed off)

Now fill the equator with Ladders -- literally, the entire surface is one contiguous ladder-base.
Add interlinking superstructures, so you can lateral from a rung on this ladder to a rung on either adjacent ladder.
Aaaall the way up.

As seen from outer space, above the poles -- it looks like the world is girdled with a gigantic spiderweb.
Alt-name:  "Webworld"
 

Fill in the web with solid structure, so it becomes a disc

Discworld (just to f--k with the fandom's).

Check out some of Isaac Arthur's series on megastructures for more ideas: 

 

[Atgxtg]

2300/AD did the space elevator beanstalk concept.

 

One thing about mega-structures (Space Elevator, Ringworld, Dyson Sphere, etc.)  is that any culture than can build such a structure doesn't need to, and probably wouldn't want to. It's like if a species can fly they probably won't build a great road system. 

[Joerg]

17 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

2300/AD did the space elevator beanstalk concept.

 

One thing about mega-structures (Space Elevator, Ringworld, Dyson Sphere, etc.)  is that any culture than can build such a structure doesn't need to, and probably wouldn't want to. It's like if a species can fly they probably won't build a great road system. 

Some of Isaac Arthur's concepts are for our technology level (but great commitment).

[Atgxtg]

3 hours ago, Joerg said:

Some of Isaac Arthur's concepts are for our technology level (but great commitment).

Oh, I didn't mean to suggest that we shouldn't have such structure in Sci-Fi. I only wanted to point out that such things probably wouldn't happen realistically since those are capable of building such structures have better alternatives.

 

For example the whole Space Elevator concept becomes obsolete if a society can somehow build a single stage to orbit  spacecraft that somehow isn't mostly fuel, something common in most Sci-Fi settings. The Elevator works great for us because real spacecraft need to be over 90% fuel to get into orbit. 

 

So for something to exist in a Sci-Fi setting would tend to suggest what technological limits a given society is working under, or that something was build by a more advanced society for another less advanced culture. All of which can help to springboard ideas. 

[Joerg]

Spacecraft freely entering planetary atmospheres is a standard trope in less hard SF.

Escaping the rocket equation is theoretically possible by using external sources of energy to produce lift, e.g. focussed electromagnetic beams or fields creating a virtual space lift. Starting and landing beams collected in the equivalent of solar sails could allow vertical take off and landing.

There are cheaper and more easily constructed alternatives to space lifts, like e.g. railgun sleds. Isaac Arthur has an episode where the sled's rails are upheld dynamically by a high-speed circular cable beneath these rails using the direction change at the end of the loop to produce enough force to counter the gravitational pull of the planet.

Or space bolas, basically docking facilities slung down into the upper atmosphere at the rotaitonal speed of the planetary surface to enable aerial docking, then moving up with the rotational momentum, to leave the docking module when the vessel is at a convenient angle and start velocity. The losses in rotational energy would be re-filled either using rockets or beamed electromagnetic energy.

[Ethereal]

After reading all the comments, I remembered a game I acquired back in 1975 when I had not heard of RPG's but I did like Avalon hill games. I was in Korea and most G.I.'s spent their free time (at least on the post I was stationed) doing other things. The magazine 'ARES' advertised two play by mail games, by Shubel and Son. 'Tribes of Crane' and 'Starmaster'. So I subscribed to ‘Starmaster’ and played it by mail. Back then computers were expensive and little known or played with. Now a majority of people can play very similar games on computers. So the game mechanics were done by hand and so grew very expensive very fast and as my pay grade wasn’t that high I quit after a few months.

 

The comments on this subject reminded me of that game. In the rule book I received there was a chart for creating aliens. There was no anthromorph, but there was a chart and you chose the characteristics for your alien race. The chart listed those characteristics on a 100 point basis mental/physical/communication/senses. I created a race called the ‘Gar’ra’vachi’. I don’t remember a lot about most of the characteristics, but to get something you wanted in your aliens you pick those characteristics to a maximum of your hundred points. If you wanted something additional you had to give up something. In my case I remember wanting the aliens to have a poison tail, retractable poison claws and a poison bite. But to get that I had to give up some agility. They had no ankles or wrists. So their feet and hands were basically an extension of their lower legs and lower arms. It was an interesting creative process.

[rsanford]

On 12/29/2023 at 5:16 PM, Ethereal said:

After reading all the comments, I remembered a game I acquired back in 1975 when I had not heard of RPG's but I did like Avalon hill games. I was in Korea and most G.I.'s spent their free time (at least on the post I was stationed) doing other things. The magazine 'ARES' advertised two play by mail games, by Shubel and Son. 'Tribes of Crane' and 'Starmaster'. So I subscribed to ‘Starmaster’ and played it by mail. Back then computers were expensive and little known or played with. Now a majority of people can play very similar games on computers. So the game mechanics were done by hand and so grew very expensive very fast and as my pay grade wasn’t that high I quit after a few months.

 

The comments on this subject reminded me of that game. In the rule book I received there was a chart for creating aliens. There was no anthromorph, but there was a chart and you chose the characteristics for your alien race. The chart listed those characteristics on a 100 point basis mental/physical/communication/senses. I created a race called the ‘Gar’ra’vachi’. I don’t remember a lot about most of the characteristics, but to get something you wanted in your aliens you pick those characteristics to a maximum of your hundred points. If you wanted something additional you had to give up something. In my case I remember wanting the aliens to have a poison tail, retractable poison claws and a poison bite. But to get that I had to give up some agility. They had no ankles or wrists. So their feet and hands were basically an extension of their lower legs and lower arms. It was an interesting creative process.

I remember Shubel and Son. I played a few competing PBM games at the time but always wanted to try their Global Supremacy game (I think that was the name).