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Old 10-21-2009, 07:15 AM   #1
Dangerious P. Cats
 
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Default Barbarians with ray guns: He-man, thundercats and the like

Been watching some old saturday mourning cartoon favorites recently like he-man, thundercats and Skeleton warriors and began to notice a general theme of orvelaying fanatasy fiction with ultra tech elements and began to think of developing a setting based on that idea. Part of what I hope to do is capture the feel of this sort of series, a world where warriors happily wield swords and ride giant cats along side tanks, lasers and space ships. What are the quinticential elements of this sort of fiction and how can it be brought into roleplaying. The other issue is making it all sensible. While cartoons are ruled by cool roleplaying settings have this nagging problem of asking how things are actually achieved, so I guess the question to ask is why would people ride animals for transport when there are spaceships?
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Old 10-21-2009, 07:22 AM   #2
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Default Re: Barbarians with ray guns: He-man, thundercats and the like

I'm not sure why in other shows, but I remember that Thundarr's storyline was that the show took place after some sort of apocolypse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thundarr_the_Barbarian
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Old 10-21-2009, 07:25 AM   #3
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Default Re: Barbarians with ray guns: He-man, thundercats and the like

Some things to consider:

1) Make mechanical items finicky, and more difficult to deal with as they get bigger. They require maintenance (for which skills and tools are uncommon), fuel (which is uncommon and expensive), and a support infrastructure (gas stations and such along the way, which simply don't exist outside of major settlements in this barbaric universe). They are easily fouled by muddy ground and dust in the air. For the most part, vehicles are limited to heavy lifting through dull, open terrain or prepared pathways, so you may take the Orbital Galleon from continent A to continent B or the train through the vast desert of Foo, or short trips, so you take the Royal Hovertank out of the hangar for an important battle but not for long patrols.

2) Sensors and computers suck, or simply don't exist. Navigation and aiming weapons is done by eye, computers do math and act as libraries, but don't act as control systems.

3) Crank up the performance of living creatures. Sharpshooter doesn't exist, but sword-waving barbarians get TBAM and all the cinematic skills. Likewise, the giant riding cats, riding bears, riding lizards, and so on are fast, tough, and able to take care of themselves in the wilderness.
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Old 10-21-2009, 08:12 AM   #4
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Default Re: Barbarians with ray guns: He-man, thundercats and the like

You need an explanation for high technology combined with no infrastructure, competing/co-existing with well-developed exceptional animal husbandry (usually megafauna because they're cool).

Post-apocalyptic is the usual handwave, although you'll need to explain what the political situation is that nobody wants to maintain the existing roads, and why all the old roads (and other infrastructure) are now missing.

For a hand-wave, I like "peak oil", possibly combined with "an oil-product eating plague unleashed during the Last War ate all the tarmac, plastic, etc except some carefully horded and protected military supplies." Mix liberally with political instability, and you've got an incentive to save what remains for military application, and while METAL may be abundant (necessary for studded barbarian war harnesses, giant riding cat barding, and swords) industrial chemistry isn't (no kevlar, very few replacement gaskets or tyres, etc etc etc.)

Crown with "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" and garnish with mystical forces. Serves 3-8.
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Old 10-21-2009, 08:17 AM   #5
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Default Re: Barbarians with ray guns: He-man, thundercats and the like

Perhaps you could get some of the way by eliminating the microprocessor - valve or even diode based computers would be too big for most of the uses we employ them for today, leaving only mechanical reckoners and (human) skill.
Replacing industrial capitalism with a less functional system might also give you a craftsman based economy rather than an industrial one, which would lead to less mass produced equipment with less standardisation and (probably) none of the things like replacable parts that simplify modern technology. You could still have laser blasters (or whatever), and at the highest quality, but they'd be more Purdey or Wogdon than Heckler & Koch.
Vehicles would be made in short runs, or custom built individuals and riding animals might prove a viable alternative.
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Old 10-21-2009, 08:24 AM   #6
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Default Re: Barbarians with ray guns: He-man, thundercats and the like

I think the key to making these plausible is that the tech stuff is not made around here, and hence rare, hard to maintain, and often not available in the best form for whatever task you need done that week. Whether this is because it is a residue from a vanished civilization, or imports from some other world to which transport costs are high doesn't matter much.

There are any number of places where flintlocks or trucks, or for that matter iron tools went through a brief period like this. It's not a particularly stable situation - eventually the locals are going to start learning, or all the stuff is going to wear out, but it doesn't need to be. Note that historically introducing just a little high tech stuff is very destablizing. It tends to be very valuable, so a little of it vastly distorts the local economy, even when it doesn't throw people out of work by doing their jobs more cheaply. And it often triggers a period of envious internal violence and wars of vengence or conquest now believed possible. Not that this is bad for a game setting.
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Old 10-21-2009, 08:40 AM   #7
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Default Re: Barbarians with ray guns: He-man, thundercats and the like

Barbarians and Ray Guns, some common elements:

My sword can block your lasers/I can dodge lasers: Gets around the 'Why do we even bother carrying swords' issue.

Animal Sidekick: Snarf, Ookla the Mok, BattleCat...all these make the hero seem more evolved/civilized by comparrison (among other things) and therefore less barbaric.

Elegant Female/Companion : Teela/Sorceress, Ariel, Cheetara....all these are there to remind us that our Hero has quite a ways to evolve or that he has potential.

Hero uses a sword: Normally in this kind of post Apoc, there needs to be a distrust of the old Tech as its normally what brought the downfall. Therefore our hero doesnt use the old tech, or uses very little, but the bad guys might. Thundercats dodged this by letting Panthro hadle the tech they had mostly by never using it.

Damage/Stunning but not disintegration: When My sword fails to deflect the attacks, I might be injured or stunned, but I wont be disintegrated.

My Gear is Neat!: Ooklas Bow/horse thing, Sunsword, Hemans Sword, Sword of Omens, Panthros Chucks/Tank. Give em gizmos and treat the objects as low level chrachters. THere should be stuff that only WidgetofPower can do.(Julienne the Potato of destiny)

What Disbelief?: One of the main problems is that people obsess over 'believeability' as they get older while 7 year olds watching cartoons dont. DOnt bother justifying things. ALL fiction requires some suspension of disbelief, this genre may require more than some. If you start battling this, you will fail, because no one has enough expience with an apocalypse of any kind to speak with authority on 'how it will be.' Especially not when magic! or Science! is involved.

Just some Ideas
Nymdok

p.s. If you decide to go thundar, I just funished an adventure. YOur welcome to it.

Last edited by Nymdok; 10-21-2009 at 08:45 AM.
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Old 10-21-2009, 09:30 AM   #8
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Default Re: Barbarians with ray guns: He-man, thundercats and the like

Quote:
Originally Posted by malloyd View Post
I think ... making these plausible is
not even remotely the point.

Cheap shot, yes, but c'mon. Don't try to make it sensible unless you are trying to subvert the genre. This genre is about Rule of Cool. Full stop.

Last edited by martinl; 10-21-2009 at 09:33 AM. Reason: clarification
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Old 10-21-2009, 09:49 AM   #9
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Default Re: Barbarians with ray guns: He-man, thundercats and the like

Quote:
Originally Posted by martinl View Post
This genre is about Rule of Cool.
Even so, Cool very often gives way to Practicality when it comes to PCs selecting and hauling around gear. If death-dealing zap guns and invulnerable grav tanks are available, it's hard for players not to take them unless you give them more substantial reasons not to.
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Old 10-21-2009, 10:24 AM   #10
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Default Re: Barbarians with ray guns: He-man, thundercats and the like

Make ray-guns and the like be bought as Innate Attacks with the Gadget limitation. Do the same for the badass magic swords and whatnot.
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