[CLOSED] Recruiting: Homebrew Sci-fi sandbox

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ClosedStars Without NumberPublic3 / weekhtech
This is a sci-fi sandbox game, where you willl join a starship's crew trying to earn credits and survive, with stories taking place far from Earth - on space stations, starships, or distant colonies in the far corners of the galaxy: far from anyone else, far from aid.

They revolve around trading, problem solving, exploration and deep space travels, being cut off in an alien environment, taking whatever jobs and cargoes you want, trying to keep your spacecraft aloft and in one piece. There may be elements of horror, cyberpunk, military sci-fi, hard sci-fi, etc.


Nov 26, 2023 5:11 pm
This is an interest check a recruitment thread for a playtest of a sci-fi sandbox PbP game of exploration.

https://i.imgur.com/kEymS3U.jpg

In this game, inspired by classic science fiction games from the early days of roleplaying, you will live aboard a starship making a living through the
transport of freight, passengers, speculative cargo and the occasional mercenary or odd job. You will engage in space battles, enjoy the risks of interstellar speculative trading, help me create and explore new worlds, and a host of other activities.

Our goal
If there is enough interest, our goal will be to play during character generation and one mid-length job, learning the game, playtesting the system and hopefully having a blast. Suspect this will be a 4-8 month PbP, but that's quite hard to predict... After this job, we will check how everyone is feeling and if we should continue to another job.

Inspirations
Many films and series, including Alien, Firefly, Star Trek, Blade Runner, The Expanse, etc. There are lots of video games and RPGs in this genre and with similar rules too, but Travellers, D&D 5E and GURPS Space comes immediately to mind and are major inspirations.

Game system
The system is a homebrew, rules-light system, where the characters have attributes and skills.

All rules for the system, including character creation, are already available in the game forums, above. This game will be a playtest for the system as well, so expect some rough edges.

Public forum
This game will be public, so people can follow and read our posts, if they want to.

Character generation
You will start with a 18 year old human and choose a couple of careers before you join the ship's crew, around 12 years later. Like in Travellers, Chargen is part of the game. But don't worry, it's not lethal ;)

Interest
Please reply to this thread if you are interested in this game, as well as what types of jobs or gigs you would like to play (mercenary, speculative trading, law arbiter, diplomacy, etc.).

Player Experience
No previous experience is necessary. Mine is a homebrew system, after all. All game rules are in the forum and I'm more than willing to help.

Welcome All
This game is explicitly friendly to LGBT and any other minorities or marginalized groups, species, uplifited animals, Elders, synths and other life forms.
Last edited December 29, 2023 12:36 am
Nov 26, 2023 5:59 pm
Science fiction is probably my default, favourite kinda TTRPG setting, rules-lite also my preference, and I enjoy trying home-brews/game-testing, so this sounds like it's very much my cup of tea heh. So count me interested! :)
Nov 26, 2023 11:26 pm
I'm interested. I've played on and off in an open-ended science fantasy RPG for most of the last 30 years.

Edit: I'm reading through the chargen and rules. The working title of the game is Far Trader? It sounds like you may be building a custom character sheet for it, is that correct? I'm making a couple of test characters now.
Last edited November 26, 2023 11:32 pm
Nov 26, 2023 11:45 pm
I'm in for a Mercenary or Trader type of campaign.
Nov 27, 2023 8:17 am
spaceseeker19 says:
The working title of the game is Far Trader? It sounds like you may be building a custom character sheet for it, is that correct?
Yup. I'll provide a custom sheet in the future.
spaceseeker19 says:
I'm making a couple of test characters now.
You will need a GM for the career, promotions, connections and life events... They are not detailed in the forums and can significantly shape your PC. Chargen is part of the game. ;)

Either way, if you have any feedback so far, please let me know. We will be able to change some things during play, as well, if necessary.
Last edited November 27, 2023 8:49 am
Nov 27, 2023 8:23 pm
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'ello!
First off, I'm super new on GP and really only found this thread thanks to @BeardHare - I hope the @ works correctly too, I should probably have a gander at the formatting guide - and this sounds super interesting! Now, I'm not the bestest at evaluting systems or just the mechanical side of things in general, but the premise is super awesome! Also, I love the traveller character creator, so that's neat.

Would be happy if you'd consider me despite my shortcomings. :D
Last edited November 27, 2023 8:23 pm
Nov 27, 2023 11:54 pm
Ok, thank you for your interest! I'm converting this to a recruitment thread now.

Invites will be sent by December 4th (also known as: soon), so there's still a couple of days left if more people wanna join us.

Here are further details about the recruitment process:

Post Frequency
Posts that move the story forward every 1-3 days are required. If you're gone for more than 3 days, I'll move on, going with whatever makes the most sense and is least intrusive to your character. But if possible, please notify the group in advance so we can proceed accordingly.

Selection criteria (if necessary)
I'm looking for 2-5 players in each starship. I'll give you bonus points in the selection process if you're also GMing a public game here in Gamersplane. Everybody is welcome, including super new people ;)

Starships
We may have more than one starship (ie. more than one game) if there's interest in that. If you wanna recruit your own crew, please do so, but DM me for more details before that.

Player agency and secondary characters
This is a large universe and a sandbox game. As such, you will be able to help with world creation, setting goals, choosing from available jobs and can even describe scenes and secondary characters ("NPCs") to be controlled both by you and the GM, if you wanna.

Even if you focus only on your own character, player agency is expected and encouraged.
Last edited November 28, 2023 10:45 am
Nov 28, 2023 2:24 am
I would love to play a mechanic type roll on a ship. I am intrigued.
Nov 28, 2023 5:01 am
If you still have room I'd like to Try
Super interested in all sci fi systems.

I'm waiting for your news
Thank you
Nov 28, 2023 5:27 am
For me, I think common sense prevails - looks like you've loads of interest here and er maybe I should focus on getting these games I'm GMing up and running before taking on new things heh. Sounds great - if they're public I look forward to reading them! And if you were to be stumped for players do hmu as it sounds like an awesome game plan...
Nov 28, 2023 11:10 am
Sounds very interesting. Like others here I’m very new (joined today in fact) so might need a little hand holding, if you’re still accepting crew.
Nov 28, 2023 8:56 pm
I'm interested. Sounds fun. I'd like to be considered.
Nov 28, 2023 11:44 pm
Well... There was more interest than I expected.

So I will begin to send invites and start the game with all of you, in individual threads, now. We will see how many people are left after character generation, and if there's enough people I will create two ships / two games within the same sector and with the same rules.
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For me, I think common sense prevails - looks like you've loads of interest here and er maybe I should focus on getting these games I'm GMing up and running before taking on new things heh. Sounds great - if they're public I look forward to reading them!
Okay! Thank you for that. =) They are public. Feel free to DM me in the future as well, when it's time to "take on new things". =)
Last edited November 29, 2023 12:12 am
Dec 27, 2023 12:43 pm
I'm opening this game for another 1 or 2 players to begin their character generation. If you're interested, see the rules and our current game here: https://gamersplane.com/forums/10619

I'm using threads to further divide the players and let us all play simultaneously in small groups that share the universe and affect each other.
Last edited December 27, 2023 12:48 pm
Dec 27, 2023 10:33 pm
I am curious. I can absolutory make post frequency.
Last edited December 27, 2023 10:34 pm
Dec 27, 2023 10:51 pm
Invite sent. Please check the first posts in the OOC thread and introduce yourself there =)

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