Quote from: HinterWeltClash, don't feel bound by my silliness. Lay out what you were thinking. I am a bit unsure as to what you want. Is it 2200 AD and it will be a modern sci-fi alt-future-history kind of thing? So, like we would be mucking around with super-tech, modern sci-fi and the whole pulp thing is a misunderstanding?

So said considering I just whipped this up...


Bill

Well, I was thinking that there are a LOT of pulp games out there, and pulp games are historically beloved of designers and ignored by the fans. What I was thinking would be something like this:

Mars and Venus were not terraformed, but were naturally fertile.

Mars is thin of air - like the andes - and dry - like the Sahara. The seas are old and bitter-salt, and the canals are not so much irrigation channels as ways to spread the thin evaporation and precipitation. The people of Mars are very humanoid, but not precisely human - they could intermarry, but not interbreed. They are an old people, much fallen from their technological heights, when they colonized the solar system, back during the last ice age.

Venus is wet and warm, with an almost constant cloud cover. The people of Venus are decendants of ancient Martians. like Earthmen, but are also a separate species. When Mars abandoned it's colonies, the Venusians - like the Earthmen - regressed to savagery, but unlike Earth, never recovered.

Possibly some of Jupiter's and Saturn's moons could have been colonized by the Martians as well, though they would have been areoformed. I like this idea.

The theory of relativity failed. Einstien went back to working on Patents.

I haven't nailed down the tech - so far this has been a concept in the back of my mind - but I'm sure I could. It would be extrapolations of ideas current around the 1900s. Spaceflight, for example, may not be by rockets at all - it might be electrical in nature.

Getting a better idea of what I was thinking? Does it appeal, or does straight Pulp work better?

-clash

Quote from: flyingmiceWell, I was thinking that there are a LOT of pulp games out there, and pulp games are historically beloved of designers and ignored by the fans. What I was thinking would be something like this:

Mars and Venus were not terraformed, but were naturally fertile.

Mars is thin of air - like the andes - and dry - like the Sahara. The seas are old and bitter-salt, and the canals are not so much irrigation channels as ways to spread the thin evaporation and precipitation. The people of Mars are very humanoid, but not precisely human - they could intermarry, but not interbreed. They are an old people, much fallen from their technological heights, when they colonized the solar system, back during the last ice age.

Venus is wet and warm, with an almost constant cloud cover. The people of Venus are decendants of ancient Martians. like Earthmen, but are also a separate species. When Mars abandoned it's colonies, the Venusians - like the Earthmen - regressed to savagery, but unlike Earth, never recovered.

Possibly some of Jupiter's and Saturn's moons could have been colonized by the Martians as well, though they would have been areoformed. I like this idea.

The theory of relativity failed. Einstien went back to working on Patents.

I haven't nailed down the tech - so far this has been a concept in the back of my mind - but I'm sure I could. It would be extrapolations of ideas current around the 1900s. Spaceflight, for example, may not be by rockets at all - it might be electrical in nature.

Getting a better idea of what I was thinking? Does it appeal, or does straight Pulp work better?

-clash

This is fine to me. So, would it be set in 2200 or modern or past?

I will try a different cover then.

Bill

Quote from: HinterWeltThis is fine to me. So, would it be set in 2200 or modern or past?

I will try a different cover then.

Bill

I am thinking it may be cool  to go with now - for the same reasons Cold Space was neat - it juxtaposes people and things we know with the unfamiliar. If we can work out the tech, this would be the preferable way.

BTW, I LOVED the cover!

-clash

Quote from: flyingmiceI am thinking it may be cool  to go with now - for the same reasons Cold Space was neat - it juxtaposes people and things we know with the unfamiliar. If we can work out the tech, this would be the preferable way.

BTW, I LOVED the cover!

-clash

Well, and feel free to throw in your opinion, i can see you doing the tech, we will use Kyle's Risk system, and I will work on the setting (and by that i mean us). So, for instance, I can work on some tribes of Venusians, their customs and religions bounce them off you and then we can see what comes up. Meanwhile, you work out what levels of tech you want on Earth, what you want on Venus and Mars, and what should be ancient artifacts and what do they use day-to-day.

Make sense?

Oh, and no offense meant man, but I will handle the lay out.

Bill

For tech, I'm keen on the idea of just adding one Revolutionary New Technology that lets us get to the planets in a reasonable time for a reasonable cost. Some sort of backyard-built nuclear rocket, or special chemical that gives us 10,000 km/sec exhaust velocities, or something.

Gamers more often consider themselves experts on things like firearms than planetology, from a "hard science" point of view, they'll actually complain more about a laser pistol than about Venus being habitable.

And yes, Bill should handle the layout

Aww! I was looking forward to butchering... I mean laying it out! :O

I'm cool with all this.

Kyle - I'll bet I can find a "path not taken" in science that would yield reasonable travel times. Remember that what science held true in 1900 would be true in this setting, but developed into various technologies. I want it to be hard SF from that standpoint.

-clash

Oh dear.

I foresee space capsules in giant cannon.

Be careful, if you go for tech from 1900, you may be duplicating the Forgotten Futures rpg.

Quote from: David JohansenHonestly Clash, there's nothing wrong with new villains.  Why do pulp when you can do noir?  Instead of Nazis, why not a hindu or buddist menace or even Aztec?  Venusian Aztecs would be way cool...

Also, Kyle, I really like your idea, lots of fun there.

Good point about new enemies. I like Kyle's idea too. How about militantly secular, emotion suppressing martial art practising, two gun weilding Venusians ? Think Equilibrium.

Regards,
David R

Quote from: HinterWeltWe should have Nazis...or Communists....No, not Nazi Communists. My brain hurts thinking about that. I like Nazis though, that make really good bad guys. Oh, and other factions too but over them all have some sort of United Earth Federation or Terra United Organization....

Soviets! You need S.O.V.I.E.T.S

Quote from: Kyle AaronIn 1958 archaeologists digging outside New Dehli find under 7m of volcanic ash a very well-preserved crashed spacecraft with a stunningly efficient chemical rocket design. This design revolutionises space travel making it much more affordable. And...?

Just random thoughts

Yes! Although, I'd make it real early 1950s, so the setting can ramp right into the Cold War.

Here you go.

Quote from: Kyle AaronOh dear.

I foresee space capsules in giant cannon.

Be careful, if you go for tech from 1900, you may be duplicating the Forgotten Futures rpg.

I'm not going for tech from 1900, Kyle - I'm going for Tech from 2008 that is derived from 1900 scientific theory.

-clash

Quote from: JohnnyWannabeHere you go.

Brilliant, Rich!

-clash

Quote from: JohnnyWannabeHere you go.

Beautiful!

However, even if it is "hard scifi", I must insist it has a good dose of cheesiness and camp. That stuff's good for games.

Or that could be just that the new Aussie series of Gladiators started last night...

Quote from: Kyle AaronHowever, even if it is "hard scifi", I must insist it has a good dose of cheesiness and camp. That stuff's good for games.

I agree. Especially since Clash has flogged the hard sci-fi horse to death, re-animated it, and then flogged it to death again.