NB: This is a premise/setting thread, no system recommendations are desired.

I love Mass Effect, for me it's entirely supplanted Star Wars as my go-to space opera. Largely because it's a hell of a lot more internally consistent and coherent (especially if you ignore ME3's ridiculous plot). It's filled with all sorts of hints and nuggets too, especially the first game. We've got a recurring Mass: the Effecting game set in the period between ME1 and ME2 (where we take ME1 as canon and ignore anything subsequent unless we like it), but I'm really interested in using the setting's history for a different premise entirely.

Not ancient history, but a few decades back, in the early 2150s during the rise to prominence of the Systems Alliance and prior to human contact with any of the Council races. Because of the nature of the Prothean discovery on Mars in 2148, you can assume humanity has the default level of ubiquitous tech in fairly short order - the Reapers made sure anyone who found precursor tech could rapidly bootstrap themselves up to the right flavour to be useful. However, there's no biotics yet; while children exposed to eezo in a series of recent starship "accidents" are starting to manifest some strange abilities, they're still untrained children and not relevant to the scope of the premise.

So essentially we have Mass Effect without (Council) aliens or biotics. Why?

Firstly, because of the possibilities contained in this:

QuoteIn 2148, a mining team on Mars made perhaps humanity's greatest discovery. After investigating the "Bermuda Triangle-like" reputation of the southern pole, the team unearthed the subterranean ruins of an ancient alien research station, revealing incontrovertible proof of the existence of alien life. Humanity was no longer alone in the universe.

The impact was profound in all areas of human culture, but nowhere more so than religion. New beliefs sprang up overnight such as the Interventionary Evolutionists, who zealously proclaimed the discovery as proof that all human history had been directed and controlled by alien forces. Even established religions struggled to explain extraterrestrial life. Some tried to incorporate this new-found knowledge into their dogma, some remained silent, while a few tried to stubbornly deny the evidence found on Mars.

The news of the discovery dominated the media and raised questions not only about the existence and purpose of humanity, but questions about the aliens themselves. Foremost, were they still out there? While these questions had served to fracture most religions they had a unifying effect in politics. Rather than nations fighting each other over their differences, it was now "us vs. them" and the foundations of a united human front were laid.

Within a year of the discovery, Earth's eighteen largest nations had drafted and ratified the Systems Alliance charter, establishing a representative political body to expand and defend human territory. Shortly thereafter, the various nations of Earth pooled their military resources to create the Systems Alliance Military. The same year, 2149, the Alliance discovered the Sol system's mass relay orbiting Pluto, previously thought to be a moon, Charon. The Charon Relay propelled them into space and the reach of humanity grew quickly.

The Alliance began a rapid campaign of expansion, establishing numerous colonies and constructing a large fleet, even though it had yet to encounter another species. Maintaining this expansion policy, the Alliance activated all the mass relays it could find to seek out new resources and possible colonies. But despite this success, the Systems Alliance was not considered a serious political body, as it was considered to lack the authority of individual nations.

That's chock-filled with potential areas to explore and play off. We have a period of nine years before first contact with the turians in 2157 to play with a human-centric exploration game. I intend to leave canon as is, because I think that's plenty of time for even a longer game to take place, and the PCs could potentially be involved in the First Contact War and beyond if desired. Aside from the broad outlines, there's a lot of ability to use license to do anything you like.

What I'm thinking is drawing on the likes of the Alien and Riddick franchises - humans discovering a hostile universe filled with inimical environments, old tech and hints of long-dead species leaving more questions than answers as to what happened. There are aliens out there, but they're generally not sapient or if they are, they're pre-spaceflight and thus not a threat the way the Council races would be later. The aim is very much not to have sympathetic, playable alien PCs, you've already got the later period for that sort of thing. This is a game about humanity, in the same way sword & sorcery fantasy distinguishes humans from everything else when contrasted with the usual D&D tropes.

A lot of the opposition, when it isn't the environment, though, will be from other people. The Systems Alliance isn't a political and military heavyweight at this time, it's basically the United Nations 2.0. It's a talking shop who's aims and goals are largely subservient to those of the nations who fund it and provide it with staff, ships and soldiers. No one beyond a tiny handful of idealists think in terms of humanity and what's best for all; most are bound up in their own parochial national interests. Nations run the show, but there is also a strong independent element, colonists and separatists who leapt on the expansion bandwagon with both feet as an opportunity to escape the old ways of doing things and start afresh.

The main idea I have is that the PCs would be the senior officers and other important personages on a Systems Alliance recon frigate - soldiers, scientists, doctors, diplomats and so on, tasked with exploration. It's a Star Trek-style "go boldy and get into trouble" mandate, but the critical thing is that each character is very much defined by where they come from and will have instructions and agendas coming from the national governments that assigned them to the mission. For a nice bit of intra-party tension, they may have conflicting objectives at times (on discovery of alien tech one PC might be urged to destroy it, another to take possession and study it, etc).

So what could we do with this sort of premise? There's nations, corporations, colonies, unexplored worlds and so on that would need some detailing. Are there resources from other games that could be stolen?

Thoughts?

Cool idea.

What would your 'adventure hub' be?  The ship, maybe?

Quote from: mcbobbo;712460Cool idea.

What would your 'adventure hub' be?  The ship, maybe?

If it's an Alliance-centric game, yes. In a classic Star Trek style, they'd be wombling about getting into trouble and discovering new things.

On the other hand, if it's about colonists, the colony itself would be the hub, though it would probably be limited to the system rather than spanning the galaxy like the first one.

Quote from: Kiero;712458What I'm thinking is drawing on the likes of the Alien and Riddick franchises - humans discovering a hostile universe filled with inimical environments

The universe really is hostile and filled with inimical environments, even here on cosy little earth mother nature has conspired to wipe out life on numerous occasions, and nearly succeeded several times. People tend to forget this stuff, but I'll get back to it in a minute.

What sort of feel of game are you going for here - wild west expansion, cold war jockeying and proxy wars, European colonialism with beaurocracy in place of braids, or the interplay between private and public sector endeavours - corporations versus governments versus the little guy? From the sounds of it you're aiming for Star Trek meets diplomacy/spying/Hunt for Red October.

That's the premise of quite a lot of sci-fi, and it frames space exploration in comfortable, understandable terms that we can all relate to. And at the end of every episode there's a twee little moral everyone can take to heart and learn from. I would pitch it as such, then I would shit all over it.

Humanity exploring space, exploring the universe, should be like an accountant who knows a few Excel macros confidently sitting down at a computer only to be faced with dense, sophisticated C++ modules and antiquated Linux. That prickly skin feeling, that iceball surge in the guts which says things have just gotten waaay out of hand, cold sweat, mentally clinging on by the fingernails, all of mankind's petty little ambitions and rivalries suddenly naked and tiny before the empty void of eternity.

Hit them with that environment, hit them hard. Mad, unimaginable stuff - imagine it! Emphasise the incredible, juxtapose that with the orders coming from the comfy chairs back home, unite them in terror and awe. Let the group evolve in response to the unbelievably harsh beauty of reality and find their own place, bringing out the best and the worst of what it is to be human.

Maybe that's a teeny bit of a bait and switch, but it would be a lot of fun, if handled just right.

Quote from: The Traveller;712469The universe really is hostile and filled with inimical environments, even here on cosy little earth mother nature has conspired to wipe out life on numerous occasions, and nearly succeeded several times. People tend to forget this stuff, but I'll get back to it in a minute.

What sort of feel of game are you going for here - wild west expansion, cold war jockeying and proxy wars, European colonialism with beaurocracy in place of braids, or the interplay between private and public sector endeavours - corporations versus governments versus the little guy? From the sounds of it you're aiming for Star Trek meets diplomacy/spying/Hunt for Red October.

I'd say ideally it should have scope for all of those themes - the beauty of a roving setup is that different places can evoke different feels. Here at this remote, marginally-viable world, some Don't Tread on Me isolationists have established their utopia: somewhere free of government interference. However, they're locked in family feuding over competing claims on land dating back to initial colonisation and aren't afraid to resolve their disputes with a gun.

Over there we have the travails of indentured colonists who signed away their rights to a major corporation in order to get free passage to a new world, and only now do they discover the catch.

And so on.

Quote from: The Traveller;712469That's the premise of quite a lot of sci-fi, and it frames space exploration in comfortable, understandable terms that we can all relate to. And at the end of every episode there's a twee little moral everyone can take to heart and learn from. I would pitch it as such, then I would shit all over it.

Humanity exploring space, exploring the universe, should be like an accountant who knows a few Excel macros confidently sitting down at a computer only to be faced with dense, sophisticated C++ modules and antiquated Linux. That prickly skin feeling, that iceball surge in the guts which says things have just gotten waaay out of hand, cold sweat, mentally clinging on by the fingernails, all of mankind's petty little ambitions and rivalries suddenly naked and tiny before the empty void of eternity.

Hit them with that environment, hit them hard. Mad, unimaginable stuff - imagine it! Emphasise the incredible, juxtapose that with the orders coming from the comfy chairs back home, unite them in terror and awe. Let the group evolve in response to the unbelievably harsh beauty of reality and find their own place, bringing out the best and the worst of what it is to be human.

Maybe that's a teeny bit of a bait and switch, but it would be a lot of fun, if handled just right.

Sounds like a good approach to lifting it beyond what might seem rather ordinary and benign first impressions. Though I'd do it with less surprise.

Quote from: Kiero;712473Here at this remote, marginally-viable world, some Don't Tread on Me isolationists have established their utopia: somewhere free of government interference. However, they're locked in family feuding over competing claims on land dating back to initial colonisation and aren't afraid to resolve their disputes with a gun.

Over there we have the travails of indentured colonists who signed away their rights to a major corporation in order to get free passage to a new world, and only now do they discover the catch.

All of these have been done before - Ruby Ridge/Waco meets hillbillies, labour sent to the thirteen colonies - it's well trodden territory. Which is the exact opposite of the spirit of space exploration, and so makes a perfect foil against which the alien experiences should work to produce something unique. These experiences are not easy, by their very nature, to enunciate, but I'd definetely recommend pushing the boundaries.

Unless you're actually going for the Saturday afternoon feel, in which case enjoy by all means.

Quote from: Kiero;712473Though I'd do it with less surprise.

What is adventure without surprise?

Quote from: The Traveller;712475All of these have been done before - Ruby Ridge/Waco meets hillbillies, labour sent to the thirteen colonies - it's well trodden territory. Which is the exact opposite of the spirit of space exploration, and so makes a perfect foil against which the alien experiences should work to produce something unique. These experiences are not easy, by their very nature, to enunciate, but I'd definetely recommend pushing the boundaries.

Unless you're actually going for the Saturday afternoon feel, in which case enjoy by all means.

What I'm saying is it has room for the spirit of space exploration as well as those sorts of things, they're not mutually exclusive.

Quote from: The Traveller;712475What is adventure without surprise?

Surprise for the characters is great. Surprise for the players (especially around the premise they think they signed up for) not so much.

Quote from: Kiero;712477What I'm saying is it has room for the spirit of space exploration as well as those sorts of things, they're not mutually exclusive.

Okay, so how would you embody the spirit of space exploration? I'm not arguing in any way here, just kicking around ideas which is I assume why you opened the thread, to get fresh perspectives.

Quote from: Kiero;712477Surprise for the characters is great. Surprise for the players (especially around the premise they think they signed up for) not so much.

Maybe if they signed up for Star Trek and got the Care Bears. If they signed up for Star Trek and got Ellen Ripley regressing into childhood as the beast awakens, you might be pleasantly surprised at their reaction.

Quote from: The Traveller;712478Okay, so how would you embody the spirit of space exploration? I'm not arguing in any way here, just kicking around ideas which is I assume why you opened the thread, to get fresh perspectives.

That spirit is already embodied by the players having a ship and a mission to get out there and check things out. You enhance it by highlighting the discoveries they make along the way, the firsts and unusual things, the sheer breadth of possible destinations ahead of them. That they have license to go wherever they like and the means not only to get there, but enforce their will on whatever they find.

The tension comes when they have reasons to invest in whatever is going on at a particular locality (and stick around to resolve it), rather than just jump back on their ship and leave.

Obviously if you're not going with an Alliance-centric game, some of those things work differently.

Quote from: The Traveller;712478Maybe if they signed up for Star Trek and got the Care Bears. If they signed up for Star Trek and got Ellen Ripley regressing into childhood as the beast awakens, you might be pleasantly surprised at their reaction.

I don't go in for bait and switch, and nor do my group. In highlighting influences like Alien and Riddick, I'm demonstrating that this isn't Star Trek alone. Either way, there'd be a discussion beforehand about the tone, which would make it very clear, rather than implying one thing, then springing a surprise shift on them later.

Quote from: Kiero;712579That spirit is already embodied by the players having a ship and a mission to get out there and check things out. You enhance it by highlighting the discoveries they make along the way, the firsts and unusual things, the sheer breadth of possible destinations ahead of them. That they have license to go wherever they like and the means not only to get there, but enforce their will on whatever they find.

The tension comes when they have reasons to invest in whatever is going on at a particular locality (and stick around to resolve it), rather than just jump back on their ship and leave.

Obviously if you're not going with an Alliance-centric game, some of those things work differently.

Ah okay I get what you're saying now, coolio.

I'd give a pinky finger to play in this. I wanted to run a game based on the Manswell Expedition but the crummy ending to ME3 killed my interest at the time. I had thought to present it as a generic sci-fi wilderness exploration game with lots of alien ruins and beasts, keeping the colony alive, etc and playing through various points in the settlement's history until their discovery by the Asari three years after the events of Mass Effect.

Quote from: The Traveller;712594Ah okay I get what you're saying now, coolio.

Excellent.

Quote from: Raven;712620I'd give a pinky finger to play in this. I wanted to run a game based on the Manswell Expedition but the crummy ending to ME3 killed my interest at the time. I had thought to present it as a generic sci-fi wilderness exploration game with lots of alien ruins and beasts, keeping the colony alive, etc and playing through various points in the settlement's history until their discovery by the Asari three years after the events of Mass Effect.

Something like that could be really cool, too. Though presumably they'd be "primitives" compared to everyone else, since they set up without the benefit of Council space tech?

As a slight aside I've always thought you could do a retelling of Enemy Mine with an asari pilot and anyone else shot down together.