Author Topic: Creating a d20 Future setting..need some help  (Read 4077 times)

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NecroticBanana

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Creating a d20 Future setting..need some help
« on: February 04, 2009, 10:18:34 PM »
Hey guys, i was recently propositioned to do a d20 modern game, i'm not really into star trek but i like the style and thought doing a game were all the characters are members of a crew on this space ship would be kinda cool. So i started creating some simple backstory for the setting, i had originally decided to have the human race have a major cataclysmic event that leads to a new scientific renaissance age, and eventually a meeting witht he Fraal that kinda catapults them into the time frame i set the official game in. Now!...heres my problem, i did some research and found out that my story is damn near identical to the star trek timeline, including all the big events, the post apocyliptic period, to the meeting the vulcans and stuff...so now i need to rethink something so it dont look like a rip off lol. Any ideas?
« Last Edit: February 05, 2009, 04:18:55 AM by NecroticBanana »
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Lonewolf the Hunter

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Re: Creating a d20 Future setting..need some help
« Reply #1 on: February 04, 2009, 10:49:35 PM »
I don't think you have to rework anything, all that happened was that you followed a simple formula for a Sci-Fi senerio that by coincidence followed the outline of Star Trek, however if you really want to change something, try making contact with the Fraal either the cause of the Apocalypse or the cause of the scientific Renaissance.
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NecroticBanana

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Re: Creating a d20 Future setting..need some help
« Reply #2 on: February 04, 2009, 11:47:48 PM »
not a bad idea, maybe the Fraal came down once hey relized that the world was

1.) Safe to actually visit once all the worlds major weapons are destroyed and the possibility of being attacked are nill lol

2.) seriously at rock bottom and absoluty needed the outside influence to survive.

I'm thinking once the Fraal land they basically re-teach the (now almost primitive) humans to rebuild there cities and influence them to create a new government in conjuction with there own, kinda like an intergalactic U.N. and then thru them are introduced into an already exsisting council of worlds.
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j0lt

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Re: Creating a d20 Future setting..need some help
« Reply #3 on: February 05, 2009, 12:06:42 AM »
How about this:
Earth is a mess.  The various governments* who remain in power are anxiously trying to create ways to move large numbers of people off the planet in large ark-like ships (like Titan AE).  To protect the human transports, a number of corvettes (medium sized combat ships, a little larger than the Millenium Falcon with a crew of 4-8) are also made.

Protect?  Protect from what?  Enter the Klicks (page 49).  They have begun their invasion of the Milky Way, and Earth, being near the outer edge, is one of the first places they hit.

You don't even need the Fraal to come teach the humans anything, they could be met later on.

*The governments are not working together on this, I always hated how Star Trek just conveniently swept aside all the negative aspects of human nature it always felt so damn naive.
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veekie

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Re: Creating a d20 Future setting..need some help
« Reply #4 on: February 05, 2009, 03:48:25 AM »
How about this:
Earth is a mess.  The various governments* who remain in power are anxiously trying to create ways to move large numbers of people off the planet in large ark-like ships (like Titan AE).  To protect the human transports, a number of corvettes (medium sized combat ships, a little larger than the Millenium Falcon with a crew of 4-8) are also made.

Protect?  Protect from what?  Enter the Klicks (page 49).  They have begun their invasion of the Milky Way, and Earth, being near the outer edge, is one of the first places they hit.

You don't even need the Fraal to come teach the humans anything, they could be met later on.

*The governments are not working together on this, I always hated how Star Trek just conveniently swept aside all the negative aspects of human nature it always felt so damn naive.
Might want to have a few alien first encounter scout ships shot down by outdated(to them, warfare revolving around plasma/laser/energy weapons might not do so well against kinetic weapons for smaller ships, and not to mention any ECM simply wouldn't work if they jam the wrong stuff) to provide earlier than usual FTL technology from the wreckage, and the nations/organisations that can afford to hurry in a free for all colonisation land grab. Poorer nations might band together to do the same.

Then it turns out whatever got shot down were just the forerunners of fleeing refugees from an intergalactic invasion force. And Earth's next on the menu. We have from a few decades to maybe a century while they settle and resupply on the star systems further out.

Might help if the nearer planets aren't inhabited, so you can have some legit interhuman rivalry, suppressed by an external threat. Then more advanced interstellar civilisations further in 'gift' the Rim civs with military technology, so they can slow the intergalactic invasion while the Inner Worlds arm themselves for war.

Space is a big place though, and there are still plenty of unexplored areas. This overall setup gives the players to be the crew of anything from the forerunner of a colonisation fleet, marking new lands to settle, interstellar espionage agents between the two massive forces that are going to crush the Rim systems soon, or even raiders, attacking other ships for technology, resources, and politics.
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NecroticBanana

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Re: Creating a d20 Future setting..need some help
« Reply #5 on: February 05, 2009, 04:27:06 AM »
just an update, they'll be flying this:




Technically its considered a superheavy ship...but i might only make it heavy.

P.S. this is the Sovereign starship...I filed the numbers off lol.
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NecroticBanana

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Re: Creating a d20 Future setting..need some help
« Reply #6 on: February 05, 2009, 04:56:45 AM »
How about this:
Earth is a mess.  The various governments* who remain in power are anxiously trying to create ways to move large numbers of people off the planet in large ark-like ships (like Titan AE).  To protect the human transports, a number of corvettes (medium sized combat ships, a little larger than the Millenium Falcon with a crew of 4-8) are also made.

Protect?  Protect from what?  Enter the Klicks (page 49).  They have begun their invasion of the Milky Way, and Earth, being near the outer edge, is one of the first places they hit.

You don't even need the Fraal to come teach the humans anything, they could be met later on.

*The governments are not working together on this, I always hated how Star Trek just conveniently swept aside all the negative aspects of human nature it always felt so damn naive.


I like this, i think i have it now, the earthlings abandon planet and begin to colonize the moon (somewhat already colonized), they remain there in peace for several years most of the moon is acctually a gigantic science lab dedicated to re-terraforming the earth, while the bulk of the population lives in several orbiting colony ships. (kinda like Wall-E lol) but only capable of limited interplanetary travel. The  Fraal come into contact after a damaged Fraal ship is attacked by the Klicks and crashes, nearby a team of marines are dispatched to investigate, fight off a few remaning bugs and save the only surviving pilot, this is "First Contact". Eventually the Fraal and the earthlings set up a diplomatic bond, and the Fraal share with them technological secrets that let them heal the earth by leaps and bounds. Eventually the Earth is re-populated, and with the Fraal's influence create a utopia. (A test as far as the Fraal are concerned, to judge if the earthlings are ready to move beyond there petty, warlike ways) Eventually they teach the secret of lightspeed travel. Eventually the first real interstellar starships are created and the Earth is the newest memeber of (United whatever of systems or something)....fast forward a hundred years, and queue the PCs.

I prefer the idea that the technology that the Earth has isn't the best, but enuf to let the Pc's have fun, i'm thinking of leaving off the teleporters, and the food replicators and other frivilous things like holo-decks or whatever (star trek crews had it too damned easy, makes em soft lol)...but i think they would enjoy discovering or even creating this kinda advanced technology and then adding on to the ship. So i think they'll be a mix of several Progression levels worth of stuff.
« Last Edit: February 05, 2009, 05:01:14 AM by NecroticBanana »
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j0lt

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Re: Creating a d20 Future setting..need some help
« Reply #7 on: February 05, 2009, 07:04:00 AM »
I like this, i think i have it now, the earthlings abandon planet and begin to colonize the moon (somewhat already colonized), they remain there in peace for several years most of the moon is acctually a gigantic science lab dedicated to re-terraforming the earth, while the bulk of the population lives in several orbiting colony ships. (kinda like Wall-E lol) but only capable of limited interplanetary travel. The  Fraal come into contact after a damaged Fraal ship is attacked by the Klicks and crashes, nearby a team of marines are dispatched to investigate, fight off a few remaning bugs and save the only surviving pilot, this is "First Contact". Eventually the Fraal and the earthlings set up a diplomatic bond, and the Fraal share with them technological secrets that let them heal the earth by leaps and bounds. Eventually the Earth is re-populated, and with the Fraal's influence create a utopia. (A test as far as the Fraal are concerned, to judge if the earthlings are ready to move beyond there petty, warlike ways) Eventually they teach the secret of lightspeed travel. Eventually the first real interstellar starships are created and the Earth is the newest memeber of (United whatever of systems or something)....fast forward a hundred years, and queue the PCs.

I prefer the idea that the technology that the Earth has isn't the best, but enuf to let the Pc's have fun, i'm thinking of leaving off the teleporters, and the food replicators and other frivilous things like holo-decks or whatever (star trek crews had it too damned easy, makes em soft lol)...but i think they would enjoy discovering or even creating this kinda advanced technology and then adding on to the ship. So i think they'll be a mix of several Progression levels worth of stuff.

Yeah, I'd keep Earth at a PL5/6ish level, using mainly ballistic weaponry.  The Fraal get energy weapons and stuff like that but while the Klicks are a little resistant to such attacks, they don't handle bullets quite so well.  This way, the humans have a way to help the Fraal survivor without being torn to pieces.
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NecroticBanana

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Re: Creating a d20 Future setting..need some help
« Reply #8 on: February 05, 2009, 04:19:40 PM »
well remember the campain starts 100 years after the klicks reveal themselves, so i'm thinking PL 6/7 (at least as far as weapons) enough to show serious advancement in technology, but not far enough to make ballistics obsolete.
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veekie

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Re: Creating a d20 Future setting..need some help
« Reply #9 on: February 05, 2009, 04:32:31 PM »
Heck, you could have enhanced ballistic weapons also, just because the other civilisations favor energy based weaponry doesn't mean that mankind would convert wholesale to energy weapons. Super railguns, enhanced explosive ammunition, ultradense projectiles etc can serve for personal arms(though recoil dictates that any advanced kinetic weapons without an onboard means of propulsion be combined with powered armors, projectiles that accelerate after leaving the barrel can bypass this, as can exotic physics manipulation techs), on the ship to ship scale, missiles mounted with nuclear arms or beam projectors can skip past energy weapon defense fields and fire at close range.

Hmm, fun thing about mass drivers is that unlike energy weapons, they can seriously knock a ship off course from the impact. Other fun thing about explosives in space is that properly shielded, such a thing looks like any other space debris, and probably invisible due to the darkness. Space minefields:D
The mind transcends the body.
It's also a little cold because of that.
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I can barely read mine.

"Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. At 2:15, it begins rolling up characters."

[spoiler]
"Just what do you think the moon up in the sky is? Everyone sees that big, round shiny thing and thinks there must be something round up there, right? That's just silly. The truth is much more awesome than that. You can almost never see the real Moon, and its appearance is death to humans. You can only see the Moon when it's reflected in things. And the things it reflects in, like water or glass, can all be broken, right? Since the moon you see in the sky is just being reflected in the heavens, if you tear open the heavens it's easy to break it~"
-Ibuki Suika, on overkill

To sumbolaion diakoneto moi, basilisk ouranionon.
Epigenentheto, apoleia keraune hos timeis pteirei.
Hekatonkatis kai khiliakis astrapsato.
Khiliarkhou Astrape!
[/spoiler]

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Re: Creating a d20 Future setting..need some help
« Reply #10 on: February 08, 2009, 10:30:34 PM »
I never allow personal energy weapons, it leaves for a sense of awe when they see or get energy weapons. Theoretically, a big enough ship could fire a projectile the size of a grain of sand at fast enough speeds to liquidate a planet, a task which requires a even bigger energy weapon. Don't forget to make new types of weapons, for example, symbiotic weapons.
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veekie

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Re: Creating a d20 Future setting..need some help
« Reply #11 on: February 09, 2009, 12:49:47 AM »
One advantage of physical weapons in ship to ship combat is that it's much harder to stop. A laser is literally line of sight only, and thus, mounting a mister on your hull to generate a smokescreen can scatter that cheaply, while a kinetic penetrator has to be met with enough force to deflect it at the least, requiring point defense. Energy point defense weapons do not generally do anything to a kinetic penetrator except make it more energetic, converting a spike of 0.95c metal into a 0.95c blob of hot plasma. You'd need to meet it with enough force to change it's direction. Drawback, recoil, advantage, impact knockback. Equal and Opposite Reaction can be a boon and a bane here, larger/faster weapons can cause structural strain, as well as nudging the ship off course, while having the enemy knocked off course is an advantage. Possibly partially self propelled weapons, like missiles would have an advantage here, especially with future tech engines. A translight speed missile is a terror to behold. Even with no payload.

The real advantage of energy weapons here is ammo, as long as there is a generator, or some means of gathering energy, theres no problem, making them extremely good for ships that will be far from resupply, as well as firing speed, as a kinetic weapon takes more time to cross the intervening distance, allowing the target to dodge or counter better. For style points, energy weapons can also be converted to power supply just need a sufficiently durable photovoltaic element, or redirected with a classic mirrored hull.

Emissary, practically speaking though, a personal energy weapon is better than a projectile weapon. Projectile weapons only shine in Future at ship to ship scales, as recoil and ammo is a major concern to a person in space, especially with advanced projectile weapons that either pack ultra dense ammo, or have greater muzzle velocity. Inertial dampers have to exist before that problem can be reduced, but at the same time, by the time Inertial dampers exist, projectile weapons are greatly reduced in effectiveness. Midpoint, guns that shoot rockets reduce some of the muzzle velocity problem. More specifically, guns with bullets that self propel to their max speeds.

At the ship to ship scale though, I expect most of the shooting will be done by AI, it's not humanly possible to account for counterfire at the distances and speeds involved.
The mind transcends the body.
It's also a little cold because of that.
Please get it a blanket.

I wish I could read your mind,
I can barely read mine.

"Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. At 2:15, it begins rolling up characters."

[spoiler]
"Just what do you think the moon up in the sky is? Everyone sees that big, round shiny thing and thinks there must be something round up there, right? That's just silly. The truth is much more awesome than that. You can almost never see the real Moon, and its appearance is death to humans. You can only see the Moon when it's reflected in things. And the things it reflects in, like water or glass, can all be broken, right? Since the moon you see in the sky is just being reflected in the heavens, if you tear open the heavens it's easy to break it~"
-Ibuki Suika, on overkill

To sumbolaion diakoneto moi, basilisk ouranionon.
Epigenentheto, apoleia keraune hos timeis pteirei.
Hekatonkatis kai khiliakis astrapsato.
Khiliarkhou Astrape!
[/spoiler]

There is no higher price than 'free'.

"I won't die. I've been ordered not to die."

NecroticBanana

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Re: Creating a d20 Future setting..need some help
« Reply #12 on: February 11, 2009, 06:08:00 PM »
I'm def. keeping ballistic weapons, at least as the primary technology. one aspect of this game is, of course, exploration, so eventually they'd encounter all sorts of new and strange technology. I was watching a simpsons re-run last night and was debating statting up some aliens strangely similar to Kang and Kodos lol.
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Lonewolf the Hunter

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Re: Creating a d20 Future setting..need some help
« Reply #13 on: February 13, 2009, 07:05:09 PM »
On a half related note, I have my own d20 conversion of the Sovereign class, not sure how canon my source was though, they came from a fan made thing, the project made heavy use of the technical manuals and published materials.
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NecroticBanana

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Re: Creating a d20 Future setting..need some help
« Reply #14 on: February 14, 2009, 01:59:57 AM »
On a half related note, I have my own d20 conversion of the Sovereign class, not sure how canon my source was though, they came from a fan made thing, the project made heavy use of the technical manuals and published materials.

hmmm might make good background fluff, what were your sources?
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Lonewolf the Hunter

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Re: Creating a d20 Future setting..need some help
« Reply #15 on: February 14, 2009, 05:00:38 AM »
A painfully brief article on Memory Alpha the Star Trek wiki, and the Advanced Star Ship Design Index for the A Call to Arms Star Trek game,  (http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Main_Page) Memory Alpha's address,  (http://techspecs.acalltoduty.com/nova.html) A Call to Arms address.
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