Starquest - anybody ever try to turn it into a game ?

 If you don't know what I'm talking about here goes a hopefully not verbose description :

    In the July 1979 issue of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, John M. Ford wrote an article called: ON EVENINGS BEYOND THE FIELDS WE KNOW. (page 62) it was descriibed this way : Here is the second of a set of articles on SF and fantasy games which have recently become popular. Mr. Ford has just sold his first SF novel, Air and Angels to Pocket Books.

 In the article Ford makes up a hypothetical RPG called Starquest, because at the time  no one had trademarked that name.

In this game Starquest,  characters (or "character cards") look like this :

NAME: Allan Quarterhour
STRENGTH: 10  INTELLIGENCE: 5
DEXTERITY:  8         EGO: 12
GUILD: Warriors
FAMILY: Blacksheep son of an Overculture Naval Officer
EXPERIENCE:  0

 The brief description of the game universe is :

   Starquest takes place in the Overculture, a loose organization of
forty human-inhabited planets. Humans are dominant on twenty of
the Worlds. Ten are controlled by the Rasheni, a wolf-like race who
do not like humans but are not openly hostile. Ten more belong to
the Zu'ul, humanlike, but amphibian, who slightly favor Man over
Rashen because of shape, but are generally indifferent to both.

    Of the twenty Human Worlds, magic works on ten, as a result
have not developed much machine civilization. On the other ten,
including Earth, technology is dominant. There is a certain mistrust
between Engineers and Magicians, but no great anger.  Clarke's
Law is seen to apply: "A sufficiently advanced society is indistin-
guishable from magic." Also, the Koniichev Hyperdrive for faster-
than-light travel is a mechanical device that draws power from the
magical energy field, and requires both guilds to maintain an op-
erate it.

  Sound interesting? or not?

 Anybody hear of groups attempting to play that game or game universe ?

- Ed C.

In the same article, John M. Ford isolated what he thought were Key Points Things he thought were general to all games.  Considering Pundit's recent posts quoting Gary Gygax from the mid 1970s, thought some of you might find these interesting.  Rmember this was written in 1979.

1. The depth of immersion" in the game world varies according to the tastes of the participants

2. Requisite numbers measure inherent physical and mental abilities.

3. Characters are usually organized into "classes" or "types" such as Warriors, Magicians, and Thieves, each of which has its own set of benefits and obligations.

4. Advancement of abilities takes place through an "earned experience" system   page 67

5. The game environment is usually liberally seasoned with borrowings from fiction: place-names, magical and scientific gadgets, and often even guest appearances by the characters (assigned Requisite values for the purpose).

6. Disagreements among the players are permitted; the referee arbitrates them only by applying natural constraints such as time limits.  page 71

7. Many of the values in the game are not known, or not fully known, to the players: the old "we'll know what's faulty when it breaks" system.

8. There should be some system for a graduated challenge to abilities; not all situations are as tough as others.   page 73

9. Whever possible, the GM tells the players facts in the form of observations, which they then must interpet, rather than as Godlike statements.   page 74

10. The players have the ability to insert their own suggestions and modifications, as long as the balance of the game is not upset. A good GM can think on his feet and never structures the game so tightly as to deny the players this freedom.   page 74

11. This particular kind of abilities check, not to perform a "feat" but to dodge some ill effect, is referred to as a "saving roll." Some games use extensive tables of saving rolls against specific effects such as spells, fire, and poisons. Objects may be assigned saves, such as a wooden wand's chance not to burn in a fireball.   page 74

12. Some system of "hit points", "damage factors", or the like is used to keep track of progressive damage to a character. When sufficient "wounds" are absorbed, the character "dies". Points can be healed through time, medicine, and magic. Powerful magic may even restore dead characters to life.

Interesting , reading what was written about a typical RPG 28 years ago.

- E.W.C.

Fascinating stuff Koltar, thanks for posting it.  Do you have more details?  Is there a pdf of the article available?

I've never heard of it before, is it in John Kim's lists?  If not we should flag it to him.

I don't know if there is a pdf.
  I typed all of that from the old copy of the magazine that I have sitting nearby.  

 Did ASIMOV's ever put their old stuff up on the internet?

- Ed C.

Number 9 and 10 in particular are interesting. 10 for obvious reasons, 9 because it makes you realize that "You see a 10 feet wide hallway and hear a scream at the opposite end" feels totally natural but is actually a convention. I wonder what an RPG would look like that has the GM communicate info about the gameworld other than through PC observations.

I have to admit I hadn't heard of Ford until he died and people everywhere were praising him. I'm getting my GT Starports in the mail next week, so I guess I have something to look forward to here...

Quote from: Pierce InverarityNumber 9 and 10 in particular are interesting. 10 for obvious reasons, 9 because it makes you realize that "You see a 10 feet wide hallway and hear a scream at the opposite end" feels totally natural but is actually a convention. I wonder what an RPG would look like that has the GM communicate info about the gameworld other than through PC observations.

I have to admit I hadn't heard of Ford until he died and people everywhere were praising him. I'm getting my GT Starports in the mail next week, so I guess I have something to look forward to here...

 I met him in person one weekend at a Klingon campout.  This was in 1999, he was in bad health then and a special RV with air conditioning had to be rented for his comfort.  Very nice man and quite witty in person. Turns out he got an award for a PARANOIA RPG  adventure supplemt years ago . (ORIGNS  award  I think)  He wrote a lot of articles for the original Journal of the TRAVELLER's Aid Society JTAS ! In snail-mail!!) ..and in his later yuears still continued to write game material for the GURPS version of TRAVELLER.

 Why at a Klingon campout ? Because some Klingon Fans . (not me )  went overboard in love with a book he wrote called The Final Reflection that focused on the Klingon Empire.  He also wrote the original FASA sourcebook on the Klingons.  The book was good - but some of the fans of it make me look quite sane and normal...if you get my meaning.

- E.W.C.

Quote from: KoltarWhy at a Klingon campout ? Because some Klingon Fans . (not me )  went overboard in love with a book he wrote called The Final Reflection that focused on the Klingon Empire.  He also wrote the original FASA sourcebook on the Klingons.  The book was good - but some of the fans of it make me look quite sane and normal...if you get my meaning.

John M. Ford also wrote the Trek novel How Much For Just The Planet, which is a quite funny book bordering on farce.  I enjoyed it very much and for very different reasons than The Final Reflection.  Apparently writing very different books, and writing them well, was very much his style.

As for his gaming work, it is also of very high quality.  The Paranoia module that you referenced is the infamous Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues, which for my money is one of the best adventures written for *any* RPG.  It's that good.  The Klingon sourcebook for the old FASA ST:TRPG was based on the development of Klingon culture in The Final Reflection and really brought the Klingons out of the Cold War Analog For Commies/Mongols/Whatever and put them on the path of becoming the Misunderstood Warrior Culture that we see in TNG.

His GT Traveller stuff is pretty neat, as well.  GT: Starports takes a potentially very dry topic and makes it quite interesting and useful in a gaming context.

Can you tell I am a huge fan?  

TGA

Quote from: The Good AssyrianJohn M. Ford also wrote the Trek novel How Much For Just The Planet, which is a quite funny book bordering on farce.  I enjoyed it very much and for very different reasons than The Final Reflection.  Apparently writing very different books, and writing them well, was very much his style.

Heh heh, James Caligula Kirk

What was it, Plan C?

Apparently he also wrote an article titled "On Tabletop Universes" in Asimov's April 1979 issue.  Do you have that one and, if so, what's it about?

Quote from: TechnomancerHeh heh, James Caligula Kirk

What was it, Plan C?

It is apparently a much-loved and much-hated book.  I personally thought it was funny as hell...where else do you get a Star Trek novel with musical numbers and a pie fight, I ask?

And for some reason the part in the beginning dealing with the simple aspect of getting breakfast on a starship is still one of the most memorable parts of the book for me.  I think it was the idea that not everything is perfect in the future that was an "aha" moment in my young mind.  It lead me to later portray the Star Trek universe in a different way when I ran several ST:TRPG campaigns in my youth.


TGA

I look it up on amazon--wow, it sounds like it's right up my decidedly OS alley. I can see how people raised on Picard & Co. would loathe it.

Quote from: KoltarSound interesting? or not?

It does, for a very special (to me) reason. Ford's articles about RPGs were some of my first exposures to the hobby. I was (and am) a scifi fan, and was reading Asimov's magazine from the first issue. At the time of the article you cited, I was about 13 years old, had kinda heard of D&D, and Ford's articles solidified my interest in playing such games. I long ago stopped reading IASFM regularly, but it sparked an interest that lasts to this day. Very cool of you to post this; I'd wondered from time to time what issues those articles were in. I need to find copies for myself.

Well, I was 15 the summer that the article appeared in Asimov's - so you and I aren't that far apart in age , Colonel.

That was also about the time that I was getting interested in Roleplaying games.

- Ed C.