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Old 01-18-2022, 02:01 PM   #11
ericthered
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Default Re: [Plot] What would cause a newly FTL-capable Earth to seek out allies among the st

So my gut take from the thread title is that realpolitik demands garnering allies of one form or another where ever you can.



So enemies or a natural disaster, yeah.
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Old 01-18-2022, 02:10 PM   #12
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Default Re: [Plot] What would cause a newly FTL-capable Earth to seek out allies among the st

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Originally Posted by Varyon View Post


An out-of-control Von Neumann swarm, like the Faro Plague from Horizon: Zero Dawn
Basically, this is Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series. Lots of good stuff in those stories, including clever ways to tell if the radio transmission you are getting is from a human, or from a Berserker mimicking a human.

That said, it would work for this scenario. Even worse if the original Berserker was built by Humanity, which might make it hard for Humans to ally themselves with others (at least at first, until the other aliens realize that the Berserkers will kill them all if they aren't stopped somehow).
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Old 01-18-2022, 02:15 PM   #13
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Default Re: [Plot] What would cause a newly FTL-capable Earth to seek out allies among the st

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The thing to remember is that RPGs require drama, and drama thrives on conflict. A fight against a blight can be okay for one (short) story arc, but real drama requires active, challenging antagonists.
RPGs thrive on having fun. Now, personally, I find conflict - particularly physical conflict - to generally be the most fun in an RPG, but not everyone is like that. I know I wouldn't be terribly interested in what appears to be the thrust of the campaign prior to the Big Problem coming to light. "Travel the Galaxy! Meet Fascinating New Life-Forms!" doesn't terribly appeal to me as a player - unless, like the opening of Schlock Mercenary, one appends "And Then Kill Them." So, I gave some scenarios that are more about finding help than fighting in the trenches, and purposefully made the stuff human-centric so it's not just another "Humanity leads the charge against the Darkness!" story. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course.

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Basically, this is Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series. Lots of good stuff in those stories, including clever ways to tell if the radio transmission you are getting is from a human, or from a Berserker mimicking a human.

That said, it would work for this scenario. Even worse if the original Berserker was built by Humanity, which might make it hard for Humans to ally themselves with others (at least at first, until the other aliens realize that the Berserkers will kill them all if they aren't stopped somehow).
I was largely thinking of something more localized - a problem for Earth, rather than one for the entire galaxy (and possibly beyond). But "Oops, we broke the universe, plz help fix" can certainly work as well. I also feel that, by the time rogue Von Newmann probes have gone beyond one system, stopping them isn't really a practical option (unless there's One Weird Trick, like a radio signal that tells them to stop or whatever). Asteroid belts have a lot of readily-accessible raw materials. So, if I wanted a Von Neumann scenario that was surmountable without some convenient magic trick, fighting them at the start would indeed be the way to go (plus, bonus drama points for the humans being the ones at fault).
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Old 01-18-2022, 02:50 PM   #14
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Default Re: [Plot] What would cause a newly FTL-capable Earth to seek out allies among the st

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... What might cause Earth to go, "Huh, maybe our survival in this cold, dark universe depends on making friends, sharing ideas, and signing papers?"

Hmmm. Enlightenment?
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Old 01-18-2022, 03:44 PM   #15
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So, I'm working on some fundamentals for a space exploration setting and I'd like to see if anyone has some ideas. Or, an idea in particular.

So, the PCs are crew on Earth's first FTL spacecraft that's fitted for long-term exploration. I want to create a credible threat to Earth's future part-way through their endeavor that will encourage them to seek out potential allies. Eventually, I envision mimicking Enterprise, which portrayed the birth of the Federation, but I'd prefer such things to occur organically.
The only thing that can get disparate polities to give up sovereignty, even in so much as an alliance is a credible common threat, something like the Kaa.
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Old 01-18-2022, 11:39 PM   #16
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Default Re: [Plot] What would cause a newly FTL-capable Earth to seek out allies among the st

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Hmmm. Enlightenment?
Taking this and going one step further, maybe going out to the aliens and learning the psionic secrets of the galaxy, with a view to humanity undergoing some sort of psionic transcendence of the material world and becoming immortal? (Like the Ancients in the Stargate franchise). Humans have done all sorts of weird and wonderful things in search of immortality.
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Old 01-19-2022, 03:16 AM   #17
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Default Re: [Plot] What would cause a newly FTL-capable Earth to seek out allies among the st

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Originally Posted by Varyon View Post
RPGs thrive on having fun. Now, personally, I find conflict - particularly physical conflict - to generally be the most fun in an RPG, but not everyone is like that. I know I wouldn't be terribly interested in what appears to be the thrust of the campaign prior to the Big Problem coming to light. "Travel the Galaxy! Meet Fascinating New Life-Forms!" doesn't terribly appeal to me as a player - unless, like the opening of Schlock Mercenary, one appends "And Then Kill Them." So, I gave some scenarios that are more about finding help than fighting in the trenches, and purposefully made the stuff human-centric so it's not just another "Humanity leads the charge against the Darkness!" story. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course.
Maybe we could go with the trope that humanity is unusually aggressive for a species and turns out to be in high demand for dealing with other people's issues - we are the "proud warrior race" in this setting.
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Old 01-19-2022, 04:55 AM   #18
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Default Re: [Plot] What would cause a newly FTL-capable Earth to seek out allies among the st

Everything boils down to the type of game you want to run, since you have mentioned Star Trek then the challenges are meant to be built around diplomacy (which I personally find very difficult because there are too many variables to consider) with the occasional fight.

Going along this route the I would consider a proper diplomatic challenge: a threat that other factions could see as a resource, so discarding any "big bad enemy" (a la Mass Effect) in favor of something more subtle and nuanced.

- A resource starving Earth find an "unobtainable" energy mineral on Mars but earthlings don't have the logistic or tech to properly exploit it, so commercial partners are needed... It's a race against time but maybe those partners want the resource for themselves.
- The FTL expose earthlings to a previously raging interstellar war with an intricate web of factions and forces, Earthlings must choose its side trying to get the most of it while avoiding being obliterated. Meanwhile some terrran factions may dissent on the general choice.
- The Sun is dimming or some LHC accident opened a Black Hole on Earth, it's again a race against the clock but some alien faction could not be bothered to help "system destroyers".
- Colonies and border friction are a staple of the genre: add in some lost in translation and/or precious resources and you have an explosive mix with no real "right" stance.
- Refugees are always a tricky diplomatic issue: add terran (or alien) exiles to any of those scenarios and you have an even hotter plate to spin.

All those ideas could offer interesting diplomatic and exploration games, with the occasional fight with splinter groups or hostile factions. I repeat, in the end everything depends on what you want to be focus of your sessions.
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Old 01-19-2022, 06:11 AM   #19
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Default Re: [Plot] What would cause a newly FTL-capable Earth to seek out allies among the st

I recall Babylon 5's narrative was that the first human FTL ships were picked up by Centauri explorers, who were surprised by the physical resemblance and struck up friendly relations. Under Centauri patronage humanity then expanded into our local area and joined the Space UN (I forget the actual name), as part of which we played a significant role in the Dilgar war and earned much prestige.
The we fought the Minbari ... which was a much worse idea as they were on the high end for an involved species.
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Old 01-19-2022, 07:09 AM   #20
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Maybe we could go with the trope that humanity is unusually aggressive for a species and turns out to be in high demand for dealing with other people's issues - we are the "proud warrior race" in this setting.
That's always a workable option (although I'd argue for "proud soldier race"), but doesn't immediately lend itself to a crisis that would cause us to start seeking out allies. Perhaps one of our mercenary misadventures really ticked off one of the galactic powers, and now we need to try to find allies? The allies wouldn't necessarily be for actually fighting for us, but rather to hold the enemy in check due to threat of violence (basically "If you invade Earth, we'll all declare war on you to protect our allies").

Of course, turning that on its head can also be interesting. I read a short story some time back wherein it turned out that every species that had evolved intelligence and went to the stars were obligate carnivores... except for humans. Every other space-faring species is bigger and meaner, and we all smell like prey to them. That story was basically about a single human in a "fish out of water" scenario, on a space station and having to rely on the one alien there who wasn't interested in eating him/her (I don't think a gender was given, they were just "the human"). I always thought it would be interesting to explore such a setting, but with an organized group of humans rather than a single one well out of their depth - after all, all the "meaner" aliens may find it an unpleasant surprise to discover that part of what allowed humans to become top dog was largely us wiping out anything that had the nerve to eat us.

In a scenario like that, humans are looking for allies who will spread their "Humans are Not for Eating" message, without them having to wage an existential war. I don't think that really works for a scenario where the humans are initially doing the Star Trek thing of exploring new worlds and interacting with alien cultures until Crisis happens - because they'd be contending with aliens mistaking them for prey pretty much from the beginning.
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