To The Stars! (Ideas for a Back to the Dungeon Sci-Fi Variant)

I have been a contributor to the neo-clone rpg over at Back to the Dungeon! for several different versions of the rules.  Now that Eric seems pretty satisfied with the rules, the focus has shifted to expanding the basic game.  Some of the areas for expansion include both of our campaign settings, variant rules, epic levels, modules, and a host of other topics.  One of my favorite ideas is a compatible science fiction game that uses as many of the base rules as possible with only the changes necessary for the science fiction genre.  Eric and I floated several ideas back and forth during some text messaging - I have expanded on some of them - and the basic ideas are listed below. 

Rules
Obviously, strip out the fantasy elements from the BttD RPG and then replace the appropriate sections with science fiction elements.  My goal is a generic sci-fi game that serves a role similar to D&D as a generic fantasy game.

Introduction

The introduction should start by explain that science fiction was one of the early genres to be featured in role-playing games following the success of D&D and other early fantasy games.  Maybe make a mention or two of other example games such as Traveller or Star Frontiers.

Races
Of course, Humans will be available for play.  *maybe the humans should have no attribute adjustments but the careers might modify the attributes?*  I am thinking that the best option may be to offer only humans in the base rules while alien races will be available in the setting descriptions.  There could also be mutant humans with psionic or other powers and Robot or Android characters.

Attributes & Generation
The original six attributes will most likely be used with the possible exception of replacing Wisdom with Will.  Attribute score generation should include a point distribution method along with the random die method. 

Classes (Careers?)
Some of the classes available for play might include:

Ace, Mercenary, Mystic, Scientist, Smuggler, Soldier

That is just a small list to serve as an example.  There should be many options available in the basic rules while the settings will offer even more.  I think an attempt should be made to have the careers be more fluid and open-ended than classes. 

Talents
While Back to the Dungeon has no specific skill rules, To the Stars will need to include them.

GM Stuff
Tables for generating planetary details like atmosphere, political climate, tech levels, religious climate, etc.  A short section on using both games - Back to the Dungeon and To the Stars - together in a crossover.

The Setting
There should be many and each one different in ways.  Each galaxy could be inspired by the basic premise of well known science fiction properties;  use the root idea as the base and then expand in different and original ways.  One galaxy could be based on Star Trek, another on Star Wars, another on BSG, and so on. 

Other Areas
Other topics that should be detailed in the rules include credits, equipment, a simple ship to ship combat system, military service, the different styles or genres of science fiction (50's, space adventure, hard science, etc.), adventure ideas, time travel, travelling to other worlds & dimensions, psionic powers, organizations, and more that I most certainly failed to mention so far.

It's a start...





 

Jumping on the USR Bandwagon...

This is just a short post explaining that I am going to dig in to some serious work with the USR rules system.  I have the original version offered on the Trollish Delver site.  The document has been sitting on my hard drive for months and I just now got around to reading through the rules.  I am really impressed with the rules and I have several projects that I would like to use USR as the base rules system.

 

My Toldara campaign was originally developed for 3.x and Pathfinder.  After some time, I became interested in using a simpler rules set for the campaign.  I have dabbled with Castles & Crusades and several other systems.  I finally decided to look into doing a B/X version after recovering some old gaming items from my old room at my parents.  Then I discovered the Moldvay Era Classes in USR download available from Tabletop Diversions.  After I read that information I decided that USR looks like it would work remarkably well.

 

I also have several unfinished game ideas from my Old Gaming Notebook series of posts that I would like to complete.  The most likely are A World in Ruins and To The Stars... after I complete the Toldara conversion. 

 

That is a minimum of three downloads that I am developing.  USR is pretty much exactly the type of game I was attempting to develop with Quick Six and S.T.A.G.E. but I kept hitting stumbling blocks because I just could not seem to "get it right" on either one of these designs.  I am currently putting them both on the back burner and attempting to show some USR support.

 

More later...  

[Old Gaming Notebook] The Rest of the Games

The information about the remaining game ideas contained in my old gaming notebook was pretty sparse.  That is the point of my notebooks - keep them handy and jot down ideas that come my way so I don't forget them.  The details about these four games is very limited but is included here for the sake of completeness.

A World in Ruins
This game will be Gamma World + RIFTS + Thundarr the Barbarian.  Player races will include Pure Humans, Mutants, & Mutant Animals.  Civilization is destroyed by all out nuclear war and the players explore the ravaged Earth and fight for survival.


I'm a big fan of post-apocalyptic games and fiction so that's really all the description I needed.  I played a lot of Gamma World and RIFTS in my youth and Thundarr is my absolute favorite cartoon from my childhood.  I am sure that "Gamma World + RIFTS + Thundarr the Barbarian" means that I should design the game around all of the good stuff to be found in those settings.

Army Men
A simple war game using those packages of low cost plastic army men found in the toy sections of various stores.


That little blurb is the entirety of the work I did on that game.  My war gaming experience is pretty limited.  I really enjoy Axis & Allies, One Page Bulge, and RISK.  I have been tempted to pick up Warhammer, Warhammer 40K, Twilight Imperium, or some other such board or war game.  I have not been able to justify spending that much money on a gaming purchase but I would be interested in low cost alternatives.  That's where the idea for this game came from.  I've seen those little green - other colors also available - army men in all sorts of stores from Dollar General to Wal-Mart.  Amassing a large force would be pretty inexpensive.  I've also seen sets you can buy to use with them have armored vehicles, sandbag formations, and other assorted stuff.

Old School Role-Playing
A game designed like the early competitors to D&D that tried to "out-D&D" D&D.


I think most gamers reading this knows the type of game I'm talking about with this idea.  For those that don't know the type of game this references the explanation is simple.  There were a run of games following D&D's release that could basically be summed up as "D&D turned up to 11!".  Where D&D had six Abilities, these games would have more.  Why have only Dexterity when you can have Agility and Dexterity or why have only Charisma when you have Appearance, Social, and Charm?  You get the idea - these games would be considered a fantasy heart breaker today.

To The Stars...
A game set in the 1950's during alien encounters with flying saucers, ray guns, little green men, etc.


In a nutshell, every cliche used in the old science fiction movies during the 1950's and 60's - bug eye monsters, martians come to steal our women, pseudoscience, and America winning in the end.  Plus, it would give me an excuse to watch a bunch of those old sci-fi movies.

Closing Thoughts
I think each of these ideas have some merit if done properly.  I will admit that I probably would not do anything with Army Men today.  I don't feel that I have enough practical war or board game experience to do it properly.  Old School Role-Playing could be a fun project but it is in opposition to the lighter approach I like to take with rules now.  To The Stars... and A World in Ruins would probably have the best chance of being developed by me.  In fact, either one of these would probably work great with the Microlite20 rules and I may just pursue that sometime, who knows?

[Old Gaming Notebook] Overview

I imagine that many role-players have a notebook, or notebooks, that they keep all sorts of information stored. I always liked to use a 5 subject spiral notebook.  The information I included in these notebooks were D&D characters, game ideas, setting notes, house rules, and other assorted ideas; sometimes, I would include other non-gaming stuff in them also.  Of course, with the advent of computers I have pretty much migrated any gaming stuff I do to folders on my laptop.  I ran across one of my old gaming notebooks recently.  It was probably the most recent of the notebooks.  Anyway, let's take a look at the contents of this notebook.

Board Games
I have had several ideas that I would like to turn into board games but I have never actually completed the design of one of them.  I had ideas for 3 board games written in this notebook.

Army Men: This would probably more accurately be described as a war game instead of a board game.  I spent 8 years in the Army and I remember playing with those old plastic Army men out in the sandbox growing up.  I wanted to do a simple set of rules for fighting out battles with these figures because the mass of armies would be easy to purchased and assemble due to low costs.

Auto Arena: I was a big fan of Car Wars by Steve Jackson Games.  When it went out of print I was not happy.  My rules were misplaced years ago.  I started on an attempt to do a new version of vehicle combat rules.  It would share some similarities with Car Wars such as being set in the future and have fighting cars but it would also be different.  Auto Arena would be set up like NASCAR in a league format.  The drivers would go to different cities throughout the season and compete in an ultimate demolition derby type event.  Instead of just ramming, the drivers would also have guns and other equipment to use in the event.  The arenas at each location would be different in layout and makeup.

Dungeon Crawl: This would be a board game for when you were just in the mood to pick up and play.  It would be more detailed than the old DUNGEON board game from TSR but less complicated than D&D.

Role-Playing Games
I began playing D&D in 1980 with the Holmes Basic set.  Shortly after I began playing I started having ideas for games of my own.  I have designed several role-playing games but these three are subjects that I never finished.

A World In Ruins: Gamma World was probably the 3rd RPG I purchased.  I always enjoyed the game but I also wanted a grittier version of the setting.

Old School Role-Playing: This was actually planned as a series of games.  The first planned game was to be Old School Role-Playing: Fantasy Rules.  The inspiration for these rules were the games that followed after D&D early in the hobby.  Basically, the fantasy rules would be similar to D&D but include more options, more rules, and more crunch just as the early competitors did.

To The Stars...: This was to be inspired by the science fiction of the '50's and '60's films.  Of course, that means flying saucers, little green men, ray guns, and everything else.  I still think this could be a fun game to do.

House Rules
I also had various notes written down about house rule ideas for several games.

AD&D: Ideas about a new Ability Score generation method, a Hit Points variant idea, and a note that a racial bonus of +1 allows a score of 19.


D&D 3E: A breakdown of the racial traits listing in the race entries so custom races could be matched to the official entries.


RIFTS: Ideas on a low attribute table for the Palladium Megaversal system.

Risk: Submarine rules for the RISK board game.

I will post this information her soon...