[Recruiting] SciFi PbtA (Starscape) "one-shot"

My first ever PbP GMing. A system I'm familiar with, a short scenario, to make my first try more manageable.

Here's the page for the game here on GamersPlane

✅ The Game System and Rules Version.
Starscape is currently version Beta 4.0 and is pay-what-you-want. It is a medium-complexity PbtA system that "focuses on the ebb and flow of trust and the dynamic relationships that form between a crew as they explore the stars. It is a found family game that is ideal for stories that focus on a small number of main characters who agree on a central goal, such as in Star Trek, Farscape, or Firefly."

You can tell all kinds of one-ship-focused science fiction stories using Starscape - but the rules and the core of the 'action' focus on how PCs feel about each other, how they trust each other, how these things change given what they encounter. As such there are no hit-points, PC death is always a choice made by the person running that character, and this is not for combat simulation.

To speed up game prep, I have already chosen a ship and a setting for the game (ideally these are chosen collaboratively by players before the adventure begins, but this can take a lot of discussion so for this first try I've chosen most of this for you already).

✅ The Pitch.
You're a crew of smugglers on your small freighter The Ballerina. You met in prison, escaped together, got your hands on The Ballerina, and make a (dis)honest living together.

Travel is by jumps once far enough from a big gravity well e.g. a star, with impulse drive to reach such distances (think the way travel works in the original Elite video game). Lots of non-human species, the ones you encounter/play will be human-sized, able to safely co-exist around humans (just because those are the kind of species most likely to be working together/encountering each other). No transporter technology, no FTL communications technology.

Game tone will be aim to include some drama, some action, but not to take itself too seriously.

You're in the middle of a smuggling run - the hopefully-boring part where you hope to make your way un-noticed through to your destination. Maybe it'll be uneventful this time. OR MAYBE NOT?!

I guess we're gonna have to play to find out...!

✅ Safety tools.
Extremely important to me that we feel safe and comfortable at the table. To help with that I'll be using two safety tools.

Firstly, the X-Card. At any moment, any player can just say "X-Card" with a short description of the content that is being Xed, and that content will be removed from the game, no questions asked about why, only perhaps some follow-up to understand specifically what is being removed. Players can X content for any reason.

Secondly, Lines and Veils. I'm using the Happy Jacks Google Sheet version of this. In the sheet, indicate any topics that you want restricted or not included in the game, or that you are perhaps particularly excited to see included. Restrictions/exclusion will always trump requests for including content. I'll need all players to fill out the sheet before we begin play.



✅ Character Restrictions.
All PCs will be different Playbooks. No restrictions. Character Creation is fairly quick, and I've prepared a GamersPlane Custom Character Sheet Snippet to act as a template. You'll need to edit it somewhat, to include Playbook-specific content (moves, connections, background questions, conditions).

Initially we'll build everything except Connections and Personal Directive - these we will fill in collaboratively.

If you want a pre-gen, just let me know the Playbook you want, and I'll make one for you.

✅ Game Duration and Post Frequency.
Aim to run this as a short "one-shot" scenario - my guess is it takes a few months to run though. I have the feeling that 5 posts a week could work well.

I'll run the game "Public" because I might want to share posts with other people outside the game for advice/thoughts on how the game is going (because I'm keen to learn from others about how to run games effectively via PbP).

✅ Specialized Software and Resources.
Planning to only use GamersPlane.

✅ Player Experience Requirements.
Game is open to anyone. I'm keen to play with people who already have experience playing and running games on GP, just because I have little experience myself and think it could be good to have people involved who do have that experience. And space for enthusiastic newcomers too :) Aiming to recruit 3, maximum 4, players,

✅ How to Apply.
Reply to this Recruitment thread indicating your interest, any thoughts you have on a Playbook you'd like to go for. If there are more than four players interested, I'll look to pick a set of players with a mix of experience levels who sound excited to play the game. For now, I'll expect to send invitations next week (perhaps Tuesday 14th November) - I'll let you know more details by adding to this post as we get a sense for levels of interest.

✅ Welcome Marginalized Groups.
I'm an allocishet middle-aged middle-class white guy who strives to make this game as welcoming and safe as possible for any disabled people, any People of Colour, anyone LGBTQIA+, of any gender, of any neurominority, of any class.

I still need to review the rules and pick a playbook, but I'm really interested in this game. I'm a big D&D player, and this is something totally different that will really expand my knowledge of ttrpgs, and sounds like a blast to boot. If selected I may ask for a pregen so I can get off the ground faster.

Ah, that sounds great @JoshuaMabry! Excited to play with you, for us both get used to new parts of what TTRPGing can offer us! As someone who is always, in TTRPGs, drawn to the role-play and the feels, I love how this system really pushes players mechanically to engage with these things - I think it's been really well designed!

Hey there, as I said, I'm definitely interested.

I just checked out the playbooks and there's a lot of fun options in there. I think I'm leaning most towards Rebel right now, but I also like Greenhorn or Unfamiliar.
I'd be fairly flexible with my character, depending on what others are interested in.

Great, @bowlofspinach!!! "Excited"/aufgeregt😬 heh to try my hand at this :) Guess I'll leave the thread open a couple of days to see how many people might be interested.

I know we're not playing a combat heavy game, still I think I'd like to go with the Warrior playbook, Mercenary background. I'm pictured an old grizzled merc whose past his prime and trying to keep up with the younger members of the crew.

What variety of species will the game feature?

Ah, I'll add something about species to the game post and the recruitment post - we'll have a galaxy with plenty of non-human species. The ones we'll be meeting/playing will all be human-sized, able to breathe/exist in human-like situations - i.e. the kinds of species that can peacefully and safely co-exist around one another.

Warrior/Mercenary sounds good :) They have feelings too - even if they try to hide them heh

I definitely need a refresh on the PbtA rules, but this sounds promising 👌 I’m thinking the explorer could fit well with the pitch

Once we're in-game, the main/key rule is that if you act narratively in a way that matches the trigger of a move (either one of the Basic Moves, or one of your own specific moves) then the move gets activated (which usually involves the player rolling 2d6 plus/minus a modifier of some kind.

There are some Starscape-specifics around the ship, the interaction with Trust-levels, but that's most of how things work.

I'm interested. The Normal seems just fine. I will name him Jonh... Doe. :)

Definitely interest. Thinking an outsider (Was originally thinking before the pitch a smuggle/Info broker, but if we are also smugglers maybe slight different...or still an info broker which has others on edge they could be sold down the river) or Hot Shot pilot

Heya, if you still have any slots open I'm definitely interested!

I was thinking the gifted, and playing a really off the wall oddball. Of course, I won't be game disrupting because no one likes that, but I could bring some silliness to the table. I'd go with the Untrained background, and play the character as the scion of a noble family who kept their gifts a secret for political reasons which led to them not having the proper training.

Interested but I don’t have capacity. Are you planning on making the game public?

Hi there. I am definitely interested. The Greenhorn or the Civilian jump out at me, but I'd be happy to jump into any role. I've been playing a lot of Pathfinder play-by-post after the last few years and discovered PbtA this year. I'm really keen to see PbtA work in a play-by-post context.

This all sounds like fun to me - I think we now have enough to run two games in parallel (I'd rather run two smaller ones than one big one) so for now that's my current plan.

Maybe try one with GM specifying a lot of the universe, another where we do a bit more collaborative universe-building. Hm.

Will keep the thread open until Monday. Choosing people to include and exclude wasn't something I'd particularly reconned with, had assumed this would be kinda niche and not particularly popular as an idea. Guess I can aim to run another game later on if and give people who missed out first priority on that game, or something like that.

And, yes, will make it/them Public.

Looks like maybe I'm too late to this party, but if there is room, I'm very interested. Skimming through the playbooks, several of them appeal to me: The Gifted, The Outsider, and The Unfamiliar top my list. Hot Shot also has some appeal. I might want to see what other playbooks are on the crew and then make a final decision.

Very Interested in this game and the proposed concept of the group.

I am a very active player and poster. I really want to play in a game where all the players are engaged in the story and their characters and do their best to maintain the agreed posting rate. I have been involved in Pbp for at least 10 years now and RPGs (pen and paper) for most of my life. I enjoy being a player and a GM. Doing both here GP atm.

As for Playbooks: My preferences in order would be - The Gifted, The Rebel, The Hot Shot, The Outsider, The Warrior.

Alright, with 9 people interested, I'll close this thread for recruitment now.

I'm currently considering either running three games with three players per game, two games one with 4 players one with 5 players - as it feels rough to exclude anyone who's excited to play. Hm.

Or maybe as this is my first time ever trying PbP GMing I'm better off being careful and running just one game with either three or 4 players with the plan of coming back and hopefully playing with the others who are interested again soon, with a bit more experience under my belt.

Any thoughts from PbP GM verterans out there on this? I can also see how running three games is a chance to get a whole bunch of experience quickly...