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Old 01-26-2008, 10:14 PM   #1
Qoltar
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Default L5-type Space Colonies as RPG settings.

Just what the title says.

Can anyone suggest a way to use an O'Neill L-5 type colony as a setting for an RPG campaign?

Like this kind of space colony:

http://www.nss.org/settlement/Coloni...es_chap08.html

Probly setting the story 100 to 200 years in our near future.

I'd probably use GURPS, but any system could be used.


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Old 01-27-2008, 12:09 AM   #2
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Default Re: L5-type Space Colonies as RPG settings.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Qoltar
Just what the title says.

Can anyone suggest a way to use an O'Neill L-5 type colony as a setting for an RPG campaign?

Probly setting the story 100 to 200 years in our near future.

I'd probably use GURPS, but any system could be used.
- Ed Charlton
Ok, you struggle for 25 years to get funding and all those materials up into space to build a O'Neill L-5 type colony only to discover you dont know what to do with all that space... (or maybe you forgot the stembolts).

Well, you can rent that space to corporations that NEED zero-gee manufacturing facilities... they will also help the Earth "go green"...venting toxic fumes into space isnt going to hurt anyone, or the waste can be more easily collected and recycled or safely blasted into the sun.

Plenty of extra space for transit cargos headed out to the jovian moon colonies... supplies / food out, asteroid metals comming back. Lots of room for space sciences like astronomy where thers no atmosphere to interfer with their observations. There's space to rent out for solar energy collection, power cell production, and maybe even a solar system shipyard that can make the special needs ships that can deal with solar winds / asteroid shields. There's plenty of manufacturing that can use Zero-gee to make products without gravity to affect the materials being created. Take artificial crystal growth, or plastic injection molding just to name two. What about metals, the ease of creating them without gravity and the ability to give them a molecular polarity without the interferance of the earths magnetic field...

Theres room for agricultural green houses to grow food for the masses back on earth, and even the opportunity to own your own Brubecks or an Astroburger franchise to feed all those hungry technicians, scientists, rocket jockeys, engineers, cargo monkeys and administrative people...

Why you have plenty of things an O'Neill L-5 type colony can be used for... it's the things you DON'T want it used for thats the real problem...
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Old 01-27-2008, 09:14 AM   #3
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Default Re: L5-type Space Colonies as RPG settings.

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Originally Posted by Qoltar
Can anyone suggest a way to use an O'Neill L-5 type colony as a setting for an RPG campaign?
The Centrifugal Rickshaw Dancers come immediately to mind.
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Old 01-27-2008, 09:32 AM   #4
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Default Re: L5-type Space Colonies as RPG settings.

I may be in error, but I believe GURPS Mars has a chapter on this subject.
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Old 01-27-2008, 10:13 AM   #5
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Default Re: L5-type Space Colonies as RPG settings.

  • Industrial espionage.
  • A revolutionary war of independance.
  • An overloaded temporary resettlement point for an exodus of people in "shanty-towns" forced to leave the Earth as a result of massive enviromental problems on their way to newer colonies build out beyond the orbits of the outer planets in the Oort Cloud by massive colony ships that each take two years to get there and back.
  • Cyberpunk adventure in the ultimate company town where a few of the decendants of workers trying to make a new life for themselves revolt under the weight of contracts.
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Old 01-27-2008, 10:39 AM   #6
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Default Re: L5-type Space Colonies as RPG settings.

Is the point to show off the colony itself? That is, you think the O'Neil colony is a cool idea in and of itself, and you want the game to explore it? (Think of "milieu" stories like LOTR or Gulliver's Travels where the point is mainly to wander around and look at interesting things.)

It could of course be used as a setting for any sort of game.

You've got some new places to discover a body for a noirish mystery, plus a chase scene down the zero-G axis.
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Old 01-27-2008, 11:39 AM   #7
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Default Re: L5-type Space Colonies as RPG settings.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anaraxes
Is the point to show off the colony itself? That is, you think the O'Neil colony is a cool idea in and of itself, and you want the game to explore it? (Think of "milieu" stories like LOTR or Gulliver's Travels where the point is mainly to wander around and look at interesting things.)

It could of course be used as a setting for any sort of game.

You've got some new places to discover a body for a noirish mystery, plus a chase scene down the zero-G axis.
Thats a big Yes!

When I was much younger (late 70s/early 80s) these sorts of colonies used to get talked about a LOT in magazines that I read back then . (FUTURE LIFE, OMNI, etc...)


Technically, the Babylon 5 station was one of these kinds of colnies.

What I'm looking for a somewhat optimistic future timeline that leads to where we have 1 or 2 pf hese things in operation....with lots of residents and travelers in frequenting them - in our own solar system. (There are almost too many big "DARK" settings)

It could be a great setting (map?) for an RPG campaign.

Just curious what others thought.

Any more suggestions?

- Ed Charlton
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Tell them I ain't comin' back
Burn the land and boil the sea
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Old 01-27-2008, 01:32 PM   #8
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Default Re: L5-type Space Colonies as RPG settings.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Qoltar

It could be a great setting (map?) for an RPG campaign.
Only if you let it go to hell. Otherwise it's about as good for RPGs as your average suburb.
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Old 01-27-2008, 02:03 PM   #9
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Default Re: L5-type Space Colonies as RPG settings.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Qoltar
Thats a big Yes!
Okay, if I was going to run a campaign with showcasing an O'Neill cylinder colony as a primary goal, I'd probably try to steer PCs into one of two groups: People who make it happen, and people whose jobs are non-integral but radically altered. Technicians should have plenty to do (just pour something crunchy over your favorite Engineering subplots from Trek and reheat), and the Doctors probably don't get bored either between the calcium loss, RPM problem, and other factors discussed in the linked article. Pro Athletes have Low-G and Zero-G options, probably sponsored by Earthbound broadcasters. Psychologists, Law Enforcement, and Bureaucrats have to deal with bizarre maladies brought on by prolonged anxiety in maladjusted imigrants.
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Old 01-27-2008, 02:51 PM   #10
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Default Re: L5-type Space Colonies as RPG settings.

THS High Frontier has a bunch of L-4 and L-5 stations with adventure ideas.
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