Star Trek on a Shoestring (Free Scenario)

[clarence]

What would happen if the Federation in Star Trek was broke?

That’s the basis for two new M-SPACE titles written by Mike Larrimore (author of last years excellent Agony & Ecstasy for Mythras). Instead of a prosperous mega-government, as in Star Trek, the focus in Elevation is a tiny NGO - aptly named Elevation - running solely on the devotion of its members. Its goal is to find new life and new civilisations. 

The problem is, it only succeeded once and now funds are running out. They are in desperate need of new heroic recruits.

But competition from greedy corporations, pirates, aggressive aliens and convoluted bureacracy is literally deadly. The race for new discoveries is on.

Elevation will be released on July 8.

Free Scenario

To give you a feeling for the setting, you can download the introductory scenario for free on DriveThruRPG.

The Triton Incident, 36 page scenario, is a freestanding murder mystery that introduces the players to Elevation.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/280146/The-Triton-Incident

 

Edited July 6, 2019 by clarence

[g33k]

This looks like a lot of fun!

Is Elevation set within / part of the Weaver setting?

Obviously, both being M-Space, they could be fit together even if it's not official.  But I wonder if it's (officially) an alternate setting, or unified?

 

[clarence]

Elevation is a separate setting. But the campaign is easy to use in The Weaver as well.

The other way around - using REFLUX in Elevation - might require a bit more work though.

[Bill the barbarian]

3 hours ago, clarence said:

What would happen if the Federation in Star Trek was broke?

 

You just know the Ferengi are waiting in the wings, Latinum in hand, waiting for the fire sale to begin.

Edited July 6, 2019 by Bill the barbarian

[clarence]

The ultra-greedy Ferengi have no direct counterpart in Elevation. But interstellar trade is controlled by a fiercely competitive species. And the worst sides of human greed - often mentioned as the inspiration for the Ferengi - is alive and kicking. 

[Bill the barbarian]

7 minutes ago, clarence said:

The ultra-greedy Ferengi have no direct counterpart in Elevation. But interstellar trade is controlled by a fiercely competitive species. And the worst sides of human greed - often mentioned as the inspiration for the Ferengi - is alive and kicking. 

Quote

Greed, for lack of a better word. is good

Gordon Gekko lives. But, on that note, off to DriveThruRPG.

Cheers

[clarence]

Greed is not good. But it’s the perfect ingredient for good stories : )

[kronovan]

Haven't had a chance to read it yet, but since I bought M-Sqace last month I bought this too. I still haven't decided if Mythras  is the system to base my psychepunk homebrew upon.  I like lot of the potential in the core system, but the magic doesn't seem to mesh that well with my homebrew. As per usual though, reading of more ways to adapt the system always helps.

Edited July 7, 2019 by kronovan
Javemt

[clarence]

Psychepunk sounds interesting! I can see that the magic in M-SPACE might not be a good match for you though. But you can easily replace the magic chapter with almost any other Mythras/BRP magic system. The Mythras core book has five to choose from and Luther Arkwright takes a different approach to psionics. Or you can use the magic from Stormbringer, Elfquest or even Call of Cthulhu. 

[kronovan]

Quote

Psychepunk sounds interesting! I can see that the magic in M-SPACE might not be a good match for you though. But you can easily replace the magic chapter with almost any other Mythras/BRP magic system. The Mythras core book has five to choose from and Luther Arkwright takes a different approach to psionics. Or you can use the magic from Stormbringer, Elfquest or even Call of Cthulhu. 

I really like the psionics in M-Space, but you're correct in that it doesn't quite fit with powers/magic in my homebrew.

Part of my challenge is that my psychepunk setting was originally brewed for the Savage Worlds system.  In that RPG powers are purposefully generic and it's up to the GM or player to flavor them with trappings. There's also few utility powers in the system. All of which supports the common criticisms that SW powers are too generic, which is almost always due to the GM or players not taking the time to trap them, or being ignorant of the need to. Apart from cosmetic descriptions, trappings also add some play mechanic boons to powers so players miss out by not having defined them.

For my setting I wanted to build in some structure to trappings and avoid the generic. I took trappings way out there by basing all powers on 5 core energies and 8 trappings/disciplines by which those energies are manifested - it's subtext as to why they emanate from 5 energies. Those trappings reflect the characteristics of the core energy they're linked to. When a character manifests a power, their trapping descriptions are always activated in the form trapping+power name. So for example; Varma is one of the the core energies and is what we would think of as thermal energy, while Brenna is that energy manifested as heat. If a player were to manifest that trapping as the SW Blast power, it would be activated as Brenna - Blast.

The cosmetic aspect to the trapping could be anything heat related; fire and flames, melting objects, visual heat distortions, etc. There's a utility component to the trapping too, in that a player with even a novice understanding of the Brenna discipline can do some simple things involving heat; i.e. lighting a candle, igniting dry kindling, quicken the drying of a wet t-shirt, etc. I've read through the 5 different magic chapters in Mythras, but I haven't found 1 that exactly matches up. Mysticism is probably the closest, but not all of my trapping-disciplines align with it. While hedge magic is some ways is similar to power disciplines in my setting when at a novice proficiency. I've done enough converting/adapting to be aware that the best approach it to always only adapt flavor, but I'm struggling with even matching up the flavor of my setting - no doubt partly due to magic being so well detailed in Mythras and the 5 forms being distinctly different.

The who, when and how many, is also a challenge in making the powers in my setting work with Mythras. While my trapping-disciplines restrict the powers a player initially has access to, players are able to unravel the mysteries of other 8 disciplines through the course of their life as a psychepunk. As well, all PCs are able to acquire 1 or 2 powers (dependent upon their core Spirit attribute) from a single trapping in their most novice form. There's also a further awakening of 2 additional energies and 4 additional trapping-disciplines, that a psychepunk can awaken to at advanced life stages - called ranks in SW. In my setting there's 4 degrees by which a PC  may have embraced powers;  those in which powers are only stirred (all PCs), those in which they're awakening (PCs with a SW Arcane Background edge), those in which powers have been awakened (PCs with an AB @ Veteran+ rank) and an obscure clique -most citizens only consider them a myth- called the Wakers.

Wakers can learn all 7 core energies and 12 trapping-disciplines. Initially players aren't even aware of how find or become a Waker and must discover them through adventuring. Then having found them, must undertake a potentially fatal, weird and maybe even humorous process in one very weird and obscure location. In SW, the ranks make it very easy to gauge where a players at cradle-grave, but are broader than the more restricting levels found in other RPGs - there's only 5. With Mythras though, it isn't so clear and I have a hard time wrapping my brain around how to handle the "when" with magic/powers?

Anyhow...didn't mean to ramble on so long and derail this thread - I've been pondering this recently, so it's still fresh in my mind. The SW edition of my setting is very complete and I'd start going through the Pinnacle approval process tomorrow, were I not lacking the art work. 

Edited July 7, 2019 by kronovan
edited to add Clarence's quote

[clarence]

It sounds like you have a lot of details for the system already. That’s good - but it will be much harder to find a system that can harbour it. 

My best advice is to design your own system from scratch. You have done much of the work already. If you need help, people here and on Design Mechanism’s forums are often happy to contribute. 

There’s also a fan-made magic system that’s very flexible and somewhat similar to Ars Magica. I can’t remember who made it or what it’s called, but I’m sure someone else does. 

[g33k]

It's also worth noting that you may not need to exactly model every detail identically...

Take(for example) Glorantha:  RQ (any edition) has its Battle/Spirit/etc magic, and had its Rune Magic, and the game-world manifests in a certain way, as per the rules.

But the HW/HQ engine doesn't have those mechanics.  Some "spells" in HQ get called "charms" and others seem to be treated with the same mechanics as mundane skills.  The mechanics result in very different details...

But it's all still recognizably "Glorantha" in look AND feel...

===

So, start with M-Space, add in a hefty dose of the punk-ish Luther Arkwright vibe, maybe grab some elements from Snead's After the Vampire Wars and/or Worlds United retro 50s/60s?  Stop there and playtest a bit.  Possibly sprinkle some Odd Soot over it all?  And/or Agony&Ecstasy?  Even re-skin some of the magic systems from Mythras core?

Edited July 7, 2019 by g33k
Mythras, dammit! And M-Space, Janet!