Friday, May 1, 2020

Ill-Advised Escapades on the Outer Solar System - pitch

Below is the text of the pitch document I sent out to my friends for a dungeon-style science fiction campaign I plan on running next year called Ill-Advised Escapades on the Outer Solar System (or just Ill-Advised Escapades if you don't have a lot of time).

I took the idea of a pitch document from the Angry GM, and the idea of a small set of basic principles that govern how the game is played from the wikipedia page for the Tales from the Loop rpg.

---------- Setting Information ----------

Aliens, Humans and Robots.
Most of the characters you will play and encounter will be humans, but there are two other kinds: robots built and rejected by the inner solar system and aliens from beyond the solar system.
Most of the Aliens in the outer solar system come to the system sol seeking refuge from the terrible wars raging across the galaxy. The system sol is neutral in these conflicts, making it a relatively safe haven. Migration to the wealthier planets of the inner solar systems is strictly regulated, leaving large populations of alien refugees trapped in the outer solar system.
Robots are built in the inner solar system with limited cognitive functions, but occasionally something will go wrong and one will be built with full self-consciousness and an inner life. Various local and inter-planetary laws forbid or prohibitively regulate the enslavement or murder of concious beings, so instead of using or recycling these rejects, they ship them off to the outer solar system to fend for themselves.

Floating Wrecks
It is only natural, given both how many vessels travel in and out of the solar system, and how many raiders, meteorites, space locusts, mind-warping oddities, and other various hazards, that there are a whole lot of shipwrecks in these parts. Many of them are laden with trade goods, trapped survivors, and other miscellanea exchangeable for credits. Some of them have rare and experimental technologies, which can also be exchanged for credits, or used to your own advantage. If there’s a decent living to be made here, it’s in the wrecks.

Weird Crystals
As well as advanced tech and credits, there’s another treasure that lies in some of these wrecks: a semi-liquid, semi-crystalline substance known to the scraps and scoundrels of the outer solar system as Weird. Those who ingest it in small qualities manifest strange powers and develop mutations. Nobody knows what happens when you ingest large qualities of it.


---------- Principles ----------

Life Is Cheap
Life on the outer solar system is nasty, brutish and short. You start play as scraps, 0th level characters with low stats, not many hit points and hardly any gear. Even as you level up, play stays dangerous and death a very real possibility. The game is rigged against you, and it will take cunning and luck to win. Character generation is quick and mostly randomised, so it’ll never take too long to get back into play.

The Law is Powerless at Best, Evil at Worst.
Unlike the heavily governed inner solar system, in the outer solar system, the law is little more than a rumour. Predatory debt collectors and corporations keep everyone in constant competition, preventing co-operation or organisation by the people of the outer planets from happening on any large scale. When the governments of the inner solar systems do get involved, it is never for the better. Those shiny white vessels drift forth towards us not to protect or serve us, but to enforce corporate interests, find minor offenders to convict to indentured servitude, break up bars or demand tribute.

Science Doesn’t Really Matter
Importance is not placed on how different tech actually works, how different alien species came to be, or other such concerns. Some elements of this campaign may contradict how things would actually work. It’s a pulp sci-fi comic or a bad 80’s flick set in space, not a hard science fiction novel. Once established, rules about how things work will be logically upheld, but any resemblance to actual science living or dead is purely coincidental.

The World is Discovered Through Play
Beyond the basic information laid out in this document, and the implicit assumptions of the rules, the setting is a blank map waiting to be filled. Not just you, put I - the GM - will be discovering things as we go along. The vast majority of information of the setting will be decided about me or by random tables. Collaborative worldbuilding is great, and we might do a little of it, but for this campaign, we won’t be doing as much of it, to put a further emphasis on discovery and exploration.

The Game is Played Adventure to Adventure
Any storylines greater than a single wreck will emerge through play. I’ll prepare sessions in advance, but not a whole campaign. You’ll find plot hooks, hear rumours, encounter signs of bigger plots going on, and at the end of every session I’ll ask “what do you think you’ll do next session?” and prepare for that.

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