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gridloreHaving finally finished my work on the religion stuff (Islam? Heretical sect that believe that Law is the supreme virtue. Except for the western Sahara and Spain, it has a similar spread.) I need a break before tackling the political layout and history.
I've been jonesing for some good old-fashined Space Opera. Between reading the Ultramarines Omnibus and re-watching Babylon 5 I'm in a mood for fast ships and handy blasters. and when I say Space Opera, I mean Space Opera, FGU's epic RPG. Where Traveller took a semi-hard science, toolkit approach to mechanics and setting, SO gleefully threw in everything they could think of, including the kitchen sink. You could play a lightsaber-wielding Vulcan fighting the Arachnids from Heinlein's Starship Troopers without having to add a single house rule. Did I mention that the Vulcan is also a Lensman? Yeah, great game.
Very amused to see that my spell-checker recognizes lightsaber as a correctly spelled word.
Space Opera had one of my all-time favorite easily misinterpreted rules. One section of the character generation rules lists all the goodies characters get from their previous careers. Several of the space related careers had the following phrase inserted into the list: "one complete ship, Summer and Winter uniform," As a power gaming 14 year old, you can see how I read that one. Especially as the list was a block of items set apart by commas.
Along with the Vulcans (called "Transhumans" in the rules) there was also the usual animal people aliens. Dog people, Caqt people (two versions, the MekPurr and the savage Avatars), bear people, bird people, lizard people, etc., etc. Even as a kid raised on Star Trek this bugged me. We're the upright, tool-using animals we are because of how we evolved. Even assuming that an effective predator like a cat would evolve full intelligence, the odds of it having the same body plan as we have is remote at best. So, being me, I've written a solution.
Our early FTL drives were slow FTL. Months to get to Alpha Centauri. Even at superluminal speeds, sleeper ships were still the rule for colonization efforts. Trade was non-existent due to the travel times. Now everywhere we went we find two things: Ruins, and life that is at least somewhat related to us. Seems that Our local neighborhood was home to an ancient civilization that spread Terran life around, modifying it as necessary. Some of these ruins lead to technological breakthroughs. Others swallow anyone who enters them without a trace. One colony far out on the edges of explored space finds a treasure trove of biological engineering data and equipment. They use this to improve themselves, becoming the Transhumans.
At this point, a threat appears. Say it's the Bugs. Needing soldiers, the Transhumans uplift and mass produce soldiers based first on dogs, then on big cats. Around this time, Terra develops the "fast" FTL, and begins forming what would eventually become the Federation with several alien races. Eventually, with the Bug threat mostly dealt with, the Federation realizes that the Transhumans are keeping intelligent species as slaves. The resultant war would be short and decisive. Without too much detail, here are the results:
I can play with ursine and avian aliens to make them alien enough for my satisfaction.
I've been jonesing for some good old-fashined Space Opera. Between reading the Ultramarines Omnibus and re-watching Babylon 5 I'm in a mood for fast ships and handy blasters. and when I say Space Opera, I mean Space Opera, FGU's epic RPG. Where Traveller took a semi-hard science, toolkit approach to mechanics and setting, SO gleefully threw in everything they could think of, including the kitchen sink. You could play a lightsaber-wielding Vulcan fighting the Arachnids from Heinlein's Starship Troopers without having to add a single house rule. Did I mention that the Vulcan is also a Lensman? Yeah, great game.
Very amused to see that my spell-checker recognizes lightsaber as a correctly spelled word.
Space Opera had one of my all-time favorite easily misinterpreted rules. One section of the character generation rules lists all the goodies characters get from their previous careers. Several of the space related careers had the following phrase inserted into the list: "one complete ship, Summer and Winter uniform," As a power gaming 14 year old, you can see how I read that one. Especially as the list was a block of items set apart by commas.
Along with the Vulcans (called "Transhumans" in the rules) there was also the usual animal people aliens. Dog people, Caqt people (two versions, the MekPurr and the savage Avatars), bear people, bird people, lizard people, etc., etc. Even as a kid raised on Star Trek this bugged me. We're the upright, tool-using animals we are because of how we evolved. Even assuming that an effective predator like a cat would evolve full intelligence, the odds of it having the same body plan as we have is remote at best. So, being me, I've written a solution.
Our early FTL drives were slow FTL. Months to get to Alpha Centauri. Even at superluminal speeds, sleeper ships were still the rule for colonization efforts. Trade was non-existent due to the travel times. Now everywhere we went we find two things: Ruins, and life that is at least somewhat related to us. Seems that Our local neighborhood was home to an ancient civilization that spread Terran life around, modifying it as necessary. Some of these ruins lead to technological breakthroughs. Others swallow anyone who enters them without a trace. One colony far out on the edges of explored space finds a treasure trove of biological engineering data and equipment. They use this to improve themselves, becoming the Transhumans.
At this point, a threat appears. Say it's the Bugs. Needing soldiers, the Transhumans uplift and mass produce soldiers based first on dogs, then on big cats. Around this time, Terra develops the "fast" FTL, and begins forming what would eventually become the Federation with several alien races. Eventually, with the Bug threat mostly dealt with, the Federation realizes that the Transhumans are keeping intelligent species as slaves. The resultant war would be short and decisive. Without too much detail, here are the results:
- The Federation is the largest interstellar government.
- Humans who object to both alien influence and genetically modified humans break away to form the Azuriach Imperium.
- The Transhumans renounce genetic manipulation and turn inwards, exploring the growing field of psionics.
- The Rauwoof, with their high birthrates, soon dominate several star systems.
- The feline Mekpurr and their more animalistic relatives claim several worlds still infested by Bug nests.
I can play with ursine and avian aliens to make them alien enough for my satisfaction.
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Date: 14 May 2011 08:39 (UTC)I still need to upgrade to a proper widescreen tv too, and Babylon 5 is definitely on the block to screen in full once that happens.