Barf Forth Apocalyptica
barf forth apocalyptica => Apocalypse World => Topic started by: wingsofwax on June 04, 2014, 01:27:31 PM
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The idea of making a Star Trek game has always been close to my heart. Now that I've fallen for AW, I have to ask the question: Will a Star Trek RPG powered by AW be interesting?
Here are my first jumbled thoughts about it...New play books will be needed, but the classes are already there, ripe from the TV show (or movies, if you're young...).
Captain is a cardholder of sorts, First Officer, Engineer, Security officer....they all lend themselves almost directly to AW stereotypes.
It could be a "Planet of the Week" or "Crisis of the week"-deal, where the action corresponds to what a TNG TV show would go through. Star Trek had some great writing, and structuring frameworks will be easy.
If you have some great ideas, let me know - also post if you see some issues that will crop up. The plan is to take AW and simply change the fiction - model it on "Monster of the Week", and presto - you've got yourself a Star Trek game powered by AW.
So Trekkies, unite!
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I suggest to start with the Principles and MC Moves.
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I suggest to start with the Principles and MC Moves.
Yeah, I will jot down a take on the principles and MC moves. These should be pretty easy to make interesting, since the show featured so many genres, foes and developments in its 7 year run.
I am leaning towards a planet-side game, then add a starship framework afterwards.
I am seeing fronts like different cultures/races (the Romulans, the Klingons, even the Vulcans), space anomalies, pirates, the whole nine yards.
Think about the Borg. Basically, you can lift the warlord from AW, and it's right there in the AW book, no change needed: the Hive Queen. Impulse: to consume tech and flesh.
"Scarcity": Drones/Unique Technology. Method: Assimilation.
Moves:
- Assimilate. A drone assimilates a PC with nano-probes, creating a zombie-like shell of a man with no free will (See the first real ST:TNG movie)
MC Moves for the Borg:
Outflank someone, corner someone, encircle someone.
• Attack someone suddenly, directly, and very hard.
• Attack someone cautiously, holding reserves.
• Seize someone or something, for leverage or information.
• Make a show of force.
• Make a show of discipline.
• Offer to negotiate. Demand concession or obedience.
• Claim territory: move into it, blockade it, assault it.
• Buy out someone’s allies.
• Make a careful study of someone and attack where they’re weakest.
That's a straight lift and it fits.
and lastly, just some agenda:
GM Agenda - more or less the same:
- Make the galaxy a real place. Also, a place with conflicts all over.
- Make the characters real and make their lives interesting. Shouldn't be too hard: Starfleet admirals always have gaseous anomalies that need checking out.
- Play to see what happens. The galaxy is as huge a sandbox as you get.
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GM Agendas
Make the Universe seem vast
Fill their lives with exploration and discovery
Play to show what it means to be human.
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GM Agendas
Make the Universe seem vast
Fill their lives with exploration and discovery
Play to show what it means to be human.
I like that, Noclue - it's been assimilated!
Perhaps nr. 3 should go like this:
Play to show what it means to be human in a high-tech world.
(that should be worded better, but I hope you get the idea)
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I think this one is pretty good.
Principle: Barf forth technobabble.
Because ST:TNG had some serious babble going on. And a lot of it.
"The dilithium crystals have been drained by the extra energy you diverged to the shields. What do you do?"
Here are some more General moves. The game will have a lot of gear-related GM moves, because something always goes wrong at the exact time you really needed it.
General GM moves:
- Cut off communications (person to person and shipwide)
- Disable starship system (shields, engineering, etc)
- Strand the players on a planet.
- Make the players break the Prime Directive or suffer/inflict terrible consequneces.
The GM moves don't need changing - they only need additional moves.
If you are interested in helping, simply post in this thread or PM me.
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Perhaps there should be a Principle dealing with chain of command.
"Remember your duty to Starfleet" or some such.
Oh and of course, The Prime Directive.
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GM moves
Cut them off from the rest of the crew.
Show them the limits of their technology.
Present them with a Kobayashi Maru.
Invoke Starfleet chain of command or directives.
Confront them with an alternate reality.
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Great input, guys, thanks a lot.
Keep this post "notified", because I am going to post some real stuff on here soon.
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What are you going to replace Weird with?
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What are you going to replace Weird with?
Good question. There are many good options, depending on what elements in the game I want to emphasise.
It could be ESP (or some sort of mind reading - for betazoids like Deanna Troi and her mother, Lwaxana).
It could also be a descriptor for any superpower, for characters like Q or characters with other special abilities (mind melts, for example)
It could be a stat that describes the character's star fleet training (perhaps even with a specialty). This should be the basis of moves that rely on Starfleet training, for example beaming someone back to the ship through an ion storm (barf forth technobabble!)
There are a lot of other options, but these are the ones I can think of right now.
What do you think? What would you find more interesting?
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What do you think? What would you find more interesting?
I quite like the idea of a Starfleet stat, representing rank, knowledge, power etc within the Starfleet organisation.
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What do you think? What would you find more interesting?
I quite like the idea of a Starfleet stat, representing rank, knowledge, power etc within the Starfleet organisation.
Me too. It would have to be specific to each character.
I've just finished some fronts that I would like you to give me feedback on. All warlords and lifted directly from the AW book.
The Borg
Warlord, Hive Quee, impulse: to consume and swarm.
The Orion Syndicate
Warlord, Slaver, impulse: to own and sell people.
The Romulans
Warlord, Dictator, impulse: to control and Dominate.
The Klingons
Warlord, Alpha Wolf, impulse: to hunt and dominate.
The Marquis
Warlord, Prophet, Impulse: to denounce and overthrow.
Their moves are directly lifted from the book. Some new moves will also be added to cover the sci-fi moves.
I would like you all to tell me where things are going to get hairy; what I really need to work on.
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Some preliminary thoughts on the GM's job.
Before each game, he must spend a few minutes coming up with a premise or an open-ended scenario. Not a story, because we play to find out what happens. I will make it easy way to construct premises and scenarios.
The GM's preparation is strictly limited to a premise, hook or scenario. There's no planning ahead beyond that. That's what the agenda dictates.
Some examples of premises. I will write some guidelines to making premises and scenarios that will add some weight to them.
- The USS Hood moves deep into Romulan territory to blow up a scrambling transmitter. The players must infiltrate the colony where the transmitter is located.
- The team is dropped off on a planet where they must assess whether or not the planet is ready for entry into the Federation. (Stakes could be used here)
If you've seen Star Trek - any of the series - you will know that the amount of inspiration is almost unlimited.
But the point is that we need to keep it improvisational.
Here's the preliminary GM principles. The game uses the AW principles and then adds these:
- Create high tech concepts and put them in the game.
- Build the conversation on the Star Trek mythology, but create something completely new that is specific to your team.
- Keep the players on missions constantly. No downtime, no safety.
- Keep the player team as allies; they don't have to be friends, but they can't be enemies.
- Get into the mindset of Star Trek.
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I am looking at play books, and you can all help a lot here. I am trying to find the closest play books from AW to use as templates for the Star Trek characters.
Take a look at the list and if you feel like it, share your opinion.
The Captain is based on the Hardholder.
The First officeer is based on......
The Security officer is based on Gunlogger
The Pilot is based on
The Commander is based on the Battlebabe and ....
The Counsellor is based on the Brainer.
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I have made a proof of concept: the captain playbook.
The Captain
The captain is the mind of the ship. However. he doesn't rule unilaterally; he always delegates tasks and listen to advisors. The ship belongs to all the characters after a fashion. This makes the captain's role to lead, not rule.
A Captain is often stranded somewhere in the galaxy without the ability to contact Starfleet. This puts an enormous burden on the captain. He has to make hard decisions based on his own interpretations of the Starfleet code.
He sets an example for his officers, making protocol and behaviour very important.
The Starship
By default, your ship has: 75-150 souls.
Personnel: Ensigns, engineers, security officers, etc.
Ship options
Choose 4:
your ship population is large, 200-300 souls. Surplus: +1barter, want: +disease.
Your ship population is small, 50-60 souls. Want: anxiety instead of want: Knowledge.
When visiting starbases, extra equipment can be channelled to your ship.
for gigs, add protection tribute. Surplus: +1barter, want: +obligation.
for gigs, add a manufactory. Surplus: +1barter, want: +idle.
for gigs, add a bustling, widely-known market commons. Surplus: +1barter, want: +idle.
Your security force is large instead of medium, 60 people or so.
your security force is well-disciplined. Drop unruly.
your armory is sophisticated and extensive. Your security force gets +1harm.
your security equipment is cutting edge models. Your security force gets +2armor when fighting in its defense.
And choose 2:
Ship population is filthy and unwell. Want: +disease.
Ship population is lazy and drug-stupored. Want: +famine.
Ship population is decadent and perverse. Surplus: -1barter, want: savagery
Creating a Captain
To create your captain, choose name, look, stats, moves, holding and Hx.
Names:
Jack Pike, Christopher Belkin, July Moore.
Appearance:
Age 40+, Captain's uniform, air of authority.
STATS
Choose one set:
• Cool-1 Hard+2 Hot+1 Sharp+1 Weird=0
• Cool+1 Hard+2 Hot+1 Sharp+1 Weird-2
• Cool-2 Hard+2 Hot=0 Sharp+2 Weird=0
• Cool=0 Hard+2 Hot+1 Sharp-1 Weird+1
MOVES
You get all the basic moves. You get both captain moves.
Captain moves
Rally the troops:
When you attempt to make your officers and ensigns perform at their maximum potential despite a crisis, roll+Cool. If you succeed, any penalties related to the situation are ignored.
Experienced officer
When you are in doubt about how to proceed with any given Starfleet protocol, roll+sharp.
If you succeed, you may ask the GM two questions pertaining to the task at hand.
(the information gained can't go beyond standard Starfleet protocols).
HX
Everyone introduces their characters by name, look and outlook. Take your turn.
List the other characters’ names.
Go around again for Hx. On your turn:
• Choose whether you are by nature generous with your trust and resources, or reserved. If the former, then tell everyone Hx+1. If the latter, then tell everyone Hx=0.
On the others’ turns, choose 1 or both:
• One of them has been with you since before. Whatever number that player tells you, give it +1 and write it next to the character’s name.
• One of them once betrayed you or stole from you. Whatever number that player tells you, ignore it; write Hx+3 next to the character’s name instead.
Everyone else, whatever number they tell you, write it next to their character’s name.
At the end, find the character with the highest Hx on your sheet. Ask that player which of your stats is most interesting, and highlight it. The MC will have you highlight a second stat too.
IMPROVEMENT
Whenever you roll a highlighted stat, and whenever you reset your Hx with someone, mark an experience circle. When you mark the 5th, improve and erase.
Each time you improve, choose one of the options. Check it off; you can’t choose it again.
__ get +1hard (max hard+3)
__ get +1weird (max weird+2)
__ get +1cool (max cool+2)
__ get +1hot (max hot+2)
__ get +1sharp (max sharp+2)
__ choose a new option for your holding
__ choose a new option for your holding
__ erase an option from your holding
__ get a move from another playbook
__ get a move from another playbook
__ get +1 to any stat (max stat+3)
__ retire your character (to safety)
__ create a second character to play
__ change your character to a new type
__ choose 3 basic moves and advance them.
__ advance the other 4 basic moves.
STARSHIP PERSONNEL
By default you have around 20 officers, loyal to you but not fanatical. They have their own lives apart from you, integrated in the local ship population
When you create an away party, choose officers with care.
The away party should fit the mission, and other officers can chime in when it comes to recommendations.
Choose 2:
Your Officers are dedicated to you.
Your Officers are involved in successful commerce. +1fortune.
Your Officers , taken as a body, constitute a powerful psychic antenna. Surplus: +augury.
Your Officers are joyous and celebretory. Surplus: +party.
Your Officers are rigorous and argumentative. Surplus: +insight.
Your Officers are hard-working, no-nonsense. Surplus: +1barter.
Your Officers are eager, enthusiastic, and successful recruiters. Surplus: +growth.
Choose 2:
You have few officers , 10 or fewer. Surplus: -1barter.
Your officers aren’t really yours, more like you’re theirs. Want: judgment instead of want: desertion.
Your officers rely entirely on you for their lives and needs. Want: +desperation.
Your officers are drug-fixated. Surplus: +stupor.
Your officers disdain fashion, luxury and convention. Want: +disease.
Your officers disdain law, peace, reason and society. Surplus: +violence.
Your officers are decadent and perverse. Want: +savagery.
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Some good stuff, but I'm not sure how filthy, sick or drugged Starfleet personnel fit with the ST Universe.
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Some good stuff, but I'm not sure how filthy, sick or drugged Starfleet personnel fit with the ST Universe.
Heh, yeah the tags will have to be changed, naturally. The point is that making play books will be very easy.
You could change tags to "undermanned", "restless" and "exhausted", just off the top of my head.
If anyone wants to read the stuff I come up with, I would really appreciate some feedback. Also, if you want to write it, I will be happy to help. Doesn't anyone else see the potential in this?