So loved Gravity, recently played Adr1ft and am currently reading Chris Hadfield's autobiography. This got me thinking, how could you make a (vaugly) realistic game taking place in earth orbit?
I mean it seems like there aren't all that many ideas but I'm banking on that just being a side effect of my uncreativity and /tg/ usually surprises me with some crazy original concepts so I figure this is worth a shot.
Some ideas:
> experiment so dangerous it could only be tested in space breaks loose
> Secret mass driver on moon starts getting conflicting commands on whether to stay silent or 'avenge' the UK and the satalite(s) talking to it must be quietly shut down before it makes up it's mind
> Old Soviet satellite thought dead for decades wakes up and starts transmitting
Like I said, I'm not that creative and that fact really gets to me. Thanks in advance tobothposters.
Eclipse Phase has a ton of shit going on in Earth orbit, you could check that out.
>>46807548
You want to look up the manga/anime called "Planetes".
Its about "garbage collector" astronauts trying to clean up the junk in orbit before operation of satellites becomes impossible.
Maybe not enough for a game in and of itself, but an interesting starting point.
>>46807987
Dude, I read that and age ago. Somehow my forgetful ass managed to forget it. Thanks for the reminder man.
>>46807663
Honestly while I appreciate Eclipse Phase for being one of the rpgs to really focus on transhumanism, it has almost nothing about the experience of being an astronaut, it's really just a unique cyberpunk setting in the far future.
>>46807548
If you're looking for systems that will do it for you the only one that I know of that is REALLY dedicated to having you play as astronauts in a near future science fiction world would be Orbital:
https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/15/15778.phtml
If you're looking for more material that's all about being an astronaut and the magic of space itself then all I have to say is that if you haven't seen Planetes you should really watch Planetes.
>>46808223
>>46807987
Son of a bitch we even used the same image. Planetesmind.
>>46808223
Would also agree about Orbital.
Possibly even Mekton's Jovian Chronicles.
Man, I have Sooo gotten that vibe from the first season of The Expanse (Ya, I know it was based on a bunch of other books)
oooh. I love that stuff. I actually started work on a homebrew system for it before I realized I don't have time for that.
as I recall one of the main problems was handling positioning for combat in zero g. best solution I could think of is to have the players jump between holding onto various objects/obstacles, so the playing field is defined by a 2d map of walls and objects, rather than floors, which don't really make sense in zero g.
So at the end of most turns you'd be gripping onto a wall or something, launching yourself between points to maneuver, unless you have thrusters or similar.
also, in a vacuum, stuff can't cool down by conduction or convection, only radiation. I recall I had the beginnings of a system that modeled weapon overheating, with increasing chances of failure as it got hotter.
>>46810242
Diaspora does hard sci-fi space combat well, but I don't really see a focus on combat having anything to do with being an astronaut.
>>46810419
Yeah. the focus on combat was a product of the setting I was working on. It was sort of a black-ops sort of thing in which the united states and the soviet union are fighting for control of orbital weapons, asteroid mines, etc. maybe at some point i'll go back and finish it, but probably not.
>>46808223
Good taste
>>46807548
It kinda seems like it would have to be super story based with no combat, unless you go full on Moonraker.
>>46812481
Unless the ISS fights you with it's Canadarm
There was a horror thread not too long ago about a scenario in which a group of future astronauts are sent up to the Moon to reclaim a lunar base that was cut off from the Earth after a devastating nuclear war. Maybe you can crib some inspiration from it:
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?searchall=Abandoned+Moonbase
Planetes, Diaspora, Orbital, ...
I don't think I have much to add.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaOC9danxNo
>>46807548
What sort or genre are you looking for?
>Horror?
>Action?
>Survival?
>>46812736
It's hard to do action in space. Survival-Horror seems more right.
Again, unless you go full on Moonraker.
>>46812758
I can see what you mean. A secret Cold War era space war might be fun to play out though, pitting American and Soviet superscience against one another as was suggested earlier.
>>46812758
Action works great. Just combat all the time stretched suspension of disbelief. But action must not mean combat. Race against the clock, chases, EVAs - in space everything is deadly dangerous and small oversights become huge problems in a second. Use that for pacing.
A manual docking takes 5 astronauts on two vessels. Tiny mistakes (failed checks) can lead to damage to and even destruction of both vessels. And even if everything goes well the propellant expenditure may be crippling. All without violence. It's man vs nature.
>>46812805
>cheaper to always have at least one obsolete solar array at any given time than to spin the entire satellite into the sun with each rotation.
We flywheels now!
>>46812824
I often like to layer supernatural or surreal dangers on top of survival.
>>46812909
But that's a tension game rather than an action game.
>>46812936
That's true.
>>46812963
I prefer that as well. Action can provide relief, but only in very careful dosage. I'd go Alien or Alien 3 ten times before I go Aliens. Parties understand firepower as a device to dominate plot and take it as an insult if the GM doesn't facilitate that, so better not give them ideas. Instead give them some character tension to play up, some inner conflict, something that at times might rate higher than the group interest.
I'm just gonna post it. It's kibble to /tg/.
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/12130366/
But after the fascination with immersion settles, please realize that Awake got damn lucky and didn't in fact use the GM role to structure a story well or present atmosphere to his players in the game. He just used gimmicks and fortunately the players got into it. It doesn't reproduce well.
Might give you ideas though. Ideas you could make happen with pic related.
>>46813020
Right. Keep things unnerving and unsettling. Don't let the PCs grow too comfortable of complacent with their own competence and control of the situation. Leave them with a few nagging, worrisome questions unanswered.
>>46813121
A big part of crafting a good horror game is having players who want to be scared.
>>46812586
You could have like a prelude to this where an underfunded expedition is sent to the moon, but there was no budget to get them all the way there. Instead they have to dock at the ISS and 'steal' a shuttle that's been docked there for ages because it was deemed unfit for re-entry.
Then inject some suspense as the Chinese sabotage the ISS, but boldfacedly deny it, meaning you have to quickly get the shuttle working before you de-orbitthe Chinese didn't sabotage it at all, they just launched their own independent expedition which has the budget to reach the moon. Something on the moon wants to cause a Nuclear War and is trying to raise international tensions
Op here
I think this thread is winding down.
Thanks for your ideas, I'll keep them in mind.
I mean if you have more ideas keep posting by all means
are you looking for setting ideas or game mechanics?
>>46816311
Literally anything. I'm basically hoping for spitballing.
Reminder that the ISS looks pretty creepy at night
>>46816515
oh shit you opened the door, now imma come inside.
here's my thoughts on tradgaming in LEO space:
in space timing is always of the essence. launch windows, air supply, speed/angle of descent - everything is timed exactly right to avoid death. time MUST somehow be part of the gameplay.
decision-making forced by time is basically the theme that interests me most.
here's one concept for how this could work:
you are working on a multinational space station when sudden nuclear war breaks out on earth. in the midst of the chaos, someone from ground control has hacked the station and destabilized its orbit - it will reenter the atmosphere in ten minutes.
with no two astronauts on the station coming from the same side of the conflict, trust evaporates - each man is for himself, attempting to reach the one attached escape shuttle before the others do. This is depicted as a station with a known (but configurable) layout - the players start at random locations within or outside the station, and the shuttle also starts at a random location attached to or outside the station.
Each player is given a stack of 50(?) cards with various actions on them, color-coded to their game piece with an arrow on the back.
starting a 5 minute timer begins the game - all players can play simultaneously by putting their card on top of a center "action" stack. players can play a card face down in the desired direction to move one unit on the map, or else face up to use the action on the card. a card is not in play until you let go of it on the center stack.
strewn about the station are various predetermined tokens players can take by moving onto their square - players can take these and put them into their inventory as a free action if they are on the space. players can carry up to 3 of these items at a given time; they can drop items or swap them out. Items can be played as actions by putting a motion card down with the token on top.
whoever gets to the shuttle first wins.
>>46808223
I'm quite interested in both Jovian Chronicles and Orbital. Can some anon provide links for the books pls?
>>46817079
cont'd:
you can draw as many cards as you like into your hand, but only your hand. you cannot lay cards face up on the table or any other way except face-down on your player deck or face up on the action stack.
you can shuffle cards in your hand into your own deck at any time.
if you run out of cards, you die of asphyxiation.
if someone makes it into the shuttle before you, you die.
players can kill you.
even if only one player is left alive, the game goes on until either the timer runs out or someone reaches the shuttle.
if the timer runs out before the game ends, everyone on the station dies.
dead players can play cards from an event stack - they must play the card they draw, they can each only hold one card at a time, and they can play that card at any time.
>>46817237
Nice dude, that's pretty good
You come up with that on the spot?
>>46817372
yup, I'm liking it myself the more i look at it. the hard work will be making the "action cards" and "event cards" so that nothing is broken.
>>46817237
example action cards:
- hotwire locked door: remove locked token on door
- lock door: place locked token on door; players can't move through
- overcome: fight your way into the same square as another player
- shove: move another player one square
example event cards:
- electrical system failure: in the dark, without suit radar, every move takes two action cards unless you have a flashlight.
- space junk strike: place a "decompression" token on any square of your choosing on any station module; players can use that as a "door" to the outside. any player in that module when the strike hits must spend an action card as a motion unless there was already a decompression token on the module. Players without action cards die.
