The Unseen Servant forums

As mentioned in Bharts post here: viewtopic.php?f=21&t=1188 I am looking to start my own Star Frontiers game. I'm really jonesing to run something Sci-Fi, and I like the simplicity of the system.

Though I wouldn't be ready to actually start the game for a few weeks (maybe even as long as a month), assuming that there is still interest, I can have Toni make a game thread, lay out the house rules, and then start taking character applications. That way we'll have the characters ready to go when the game begins.

The broad premise that I have for the game (which I'm refining as I go) is that the players will be working for the Pan-Galactic Corporation, exploring a newly discovered planet that was once home to a member of the highly advanced group of aliens known as the Tetrarchs.

As many players can play as want to join. Characters will be split up into teams (ranging in size from maybe 2 to 4 members? I haven't really got a firm idea of how large each party should be, yet.), that will explore different areas, on different continents of the planet.

Different teams might occasionally cross paths and could be called upon to support (or rescue) one another, from time to time. The exploration teams might encounter native flora and fauna, environmental hazards, dangerous remnants of Tetrarch technology, agents of rival corporations bent on stealing such technology for themselves, or Sathar agents who have discovered that the planet exists and wish to claim it for themselves. Umm... and other stuff, as my fiendish mind can devise.

Anyhow- who's up for it?

Firsties!

Is this one newbie friendly? I never played Star Frontiers, but I would love some Sci-Fi.

Is this one newbie friendly? I never played Star Frontiers, but I would love some Sci-Fi.

It's pretty simple to learn and play. Everything you need to know is in the free Digitally Remastered Alpha Dawn rules. You can get it here: http://starfrontiersman.com/downloads/remastered

I'll also be allowing certain optional races from Starfrontiersman Magazine, Dragon Magazine and other sources. I haven't decided exactly which ones I will and will not allow, though I have some pretty firm ideas of the ones I don't want, due to game imbalance issues. I'll post all the particulars, once I get a game set up.

That's three people, including Bhart, who has said he wants to play. Anybody else?

Recklessfireball wrote: That's three people, including Bhart, who has said he wants to play. Anybody else?

I'll be lurking.

I'm also tempted to check out the rules now that I know it's a free download.

How often do you want people to post?

How often do you want people to post?

I would like to run a fairly fast-paced game, so I would like to shoot for at least one post per day, or more. However, it may depend on how often the majority of my player base is able to post. If I have 5 players, and 4 of them have schedules that will only allow them to post once a week, then that's what I'll have to work with.

Conversely, if we happen to have a group that could post as often as I'd like (once per day or more) that wouldn't prevent players with less frequent posting ability from participating. But those players would have to be okay with me posting actions for their characters, whenever the game progresses (in which case, I would do my best to be faithful to the personality of the character they created, taking actions which are logical based upon what I think the character would do and the circumstances of the situation).

If I can get a large enough player base, it shouldn't be a problem, regardless. As I mentioned above, I want to structure the campaign so there will be different exploration teams, pursuing different missions, on different areas of the planet. If I can get enough players to form multiple groups, I can make groups to accommodate different posting rates. For example, Alpha team posts 1x per day, Beta team posts 2 to 3 times per week, Delta team posts twice a month, or whatever. In that even, you could choose the group that best accommodates your posting rate.

All of that is hypothetical, of course. I don't know that I'll get enough people interested to form more than one group.

I can post daily.

So will this be Alpha Dawn only, or will there be Knight Hawks rules in use?

So will this be Alpha Dawn only, or will there be Knight Hawks rules in use?

Alpha Dawn only. Where as Alpha Dawn is simple, Knight Hawks is much more tactically complex and requires visual references that would be difficult to accommodate in pbp. There may well be space-based adventure and combat at some point in the game, but it won't utilize Knight Hawks rules- most likely it will be an abstract system, where I have you roll against your skills/attributes to pilot an evac shuttle, dodge pirate attacks, operate the shuttles systems and so forth.

The game is not really designed to support starship combat early in the game, anyhow. The Knight Hawks rules assume that you need a very high level of skill in several pre-requisites, before you can take even a single level of ship based skills. For example:

Piloting: Technician 6, Computer 2
Astrogation: Computer 6
Engineering: Tech 4, Robotics 2
Rocket Weapons: Projectile 4, Gyro-jet 2
Energy Weapons: Beam weapons 6

But beginning characters only have two skill areas, each at level 1; you can see the obvious problem here. For these reasons (and others) I've never been a fan of the Knight Hawks rules, so I'll be using a simplified form of space combat.

Edit: The game will take place primarily on the planet that will be explored. Each team will be transported to a base camp, via orbital shuttle, from a PGC moon base nearby. The teams will periodically return to this base for debriefing, downtime, and skill training, between adventures. There are several other planets and moons in the system, and occasionally you may need to follow up on a clue you discovered planet-side (maybe there is evidence of a hidden pirate base or Sathar outpose somewhere else in system), by following it to someplace else in the system. So, obviously, there will have to be space travel and ship combat, at some point.

I would like to join. Aliens, lasers, dark magics, mutants, ancient artifacts and cyborgs. Fun.

Cool- that's one more. Here's the potential player base I have, so far:

Argennian: Maybe- definitely interested.
rremedio: Maybe- seems interested.
dmw71: Interested enough to lurk.
Sulldawga: Not sure, yet?
Bhart: Yes
Blackrazor: Yes
Rotten: Yes

Four maybes and three who definitely want to play. If I could get one more solid yes, I think I'd feel justified in asking ToniXX for our own game thread.

Recklessfireball wrote:Four maybes and three who definitely want to play. If I could get one more solid yes, I think I'd feel justified in asking ToniXX for our own game thread.

So you have my solid yes

So you have my solid yes

Awesome- that'll do.

Edit: Hold onto your skivvies, kids. If I'm reading the help and suggestions tips correctly, I can make the game forum myself. Gonna go give it a shot now. Maybe I won't have to bug ToniXX, at all.

Ah, I get it. I make my own campaign ID, but I still need to request my own forum. Heh.

Recklessfireball wrote:

So you have my solid yes

Awesome- that'll do.

Edit: Hold onto your skivvies, kids. If I'm reading the help and suggestions tips correctly, I can make the game forum myself. Gonna go give it a shot now. Maybe I won't have to bug ToniXX, at all.

Ah, I get it. I make my own campaign ID, but I still need to request my own forum. Heh.

You're not bugging him. That is the whole reason for the website he administers, no?

You're not bugging him. That is the whole reason for the website he administers, no?

Yeah, I know, I'm just reluctant to ask for anything. Call it a personality quirk.

I did get a PM to ToniXX though, and he should have our game forum up sometime in the next day or two.

While I'm thinking about it, I was wondering what kind of posting rate everyone would prefer? I prefer a pretty fast moving game, myself, but I know that doesn't work for everyone. Feel free to chime in with your preference.

Oh, and I've still got plenty of room for more players, so if anybody else is interested in joining, don't be shy.

So will we be starting out as rookies or will our characters have a little experience under their belt?

You'll be starting out as rookies. However, given the sometimes slow nature of PbP campaigns (even though I hope to run a fairly fast paced game) I will probably award XP at an accelerated rate (double or triple the usual amount), so you should progress fairly quickly. We'll see how fast paced the game is, and sort of play it by ear.

ToniXX has got a game forum up for us. You can go ahead and submit a character if you want. Campaign ID is 106

I'm in! (if there's room)!!!!

I'm going to pass, if only because I have some ambition to DM my own D&D game at some point and I don't want to have to quit any as a player when that happens.

I will be lurking though, for sure...