Prospectus for Flat Black 2013

[Agemegos]

I've undertaken to run a PBP campaign set in my old standby SF setting, FLAT BLACK, for some people who got interested in it from reading my posts to the forums over the last few years but who haven't had much chance to play it yet. We still need to settle what the campaign will be, for which purpose I have drafted as prospectus in the usual way.

Comments?




Okily dokey then! You know the drill: distribute ten whole points among the following five campaign suggestions, with zero indicating a game that you would rather not play at all than play in, and 10 indicating "OMG how fabulous! The only FLAT BLACK I want to play, like, ever!"

Without further ado, the campaigns:

1. We Came, We Saw…
   

   Genre: rationalised planetary romance (exploration), dark humour in the vein of M*A*S*H.
   
   The PCs are: Explorers on one of the Survey missions in the 530s PDT, which is to say bright and ambitious social scientists from the Core (and mostly from colonies, not Imperial Direct Jurisdiction), who have leaped at the first chance in centuries to do real anthropological fieldwork, and who originally thought they wouldn't mind spending five years in a tiny spaceship with the same forty other people.
   
   The adventures will involve: the PCs landing on planet after planet and trying to figure out the crazy locals, and sometimes doing a little bit of good on a personal scale, in an entirely unofficial way. Meanwhile being driven buggy by the crowding and humourless fanatics in the Navy. Caution: this is going to involve a lot of staring at hopelessly intractable social problems and not being able to make any difference to the important stuff.
   
   Bonus material: GURPS Ultra-Tech, GURPS Social Engineering.

2. The Voyage of INS Icebird
   

   Genre: rationalised planetary romance edging into space opera, "Star Trek done right" in a much grittier universe.
   
   The PCs are: Imperial officers with diverse duties and backgrounds on one of the Survey missions in the 530s PDT. Each player will play one explorer, one diplomat, one Imperial marine, one Imperial Navy officer, and one of either the captain or the heads of department who advise her on strategic decisions.
   
   The adventures will involve: the characters arrive in orbit around planet after planet, whereupon the explorers and the diplomats try to discover what the Hell these crazy colonials are up to. Occasionally they may get into trouble trying, or they may discover a problem that is worthy of official notice, in which case the PC captain and her advisors will consider what to do, and the PC Navy, diplomatic service, or marines will attempt to do it. Note: This will involve a bit more scope to solve some middle-sized problems than in "We Came" but you're still in FLAT BLACK, where more serious problems are practically unsolveable.
   
   Bonus material: GURPS Ultra-Tech, GURPS Spaceships 1, 3, 5

3. Same Scumbags, Different Planet
   

   Genre: Planetary-romance thrillers and hard-boileds, disguised as SF police procedurals.
   
   The PCs are: A team of criminal investigators working for the Independent Commission for Justice c. 603 PDT.
   
   The adventures will involve: Posted to a particular planet, the PCs will be given cases to investigate; investigating, they will have to go down some very mean streets, and they can't always rely on local assistance, or even Imperial back-up.
   
   Bonus material: GURPS Ultra-Tech, GURPS Mysteries

4. Secret Servants
   

   Genre: rationalised planetary romance, spy/caper adventures in the vein of Mission Impossible but in a grittier universe and with more stale beer.
   
   The PCs are: Secret effectives of a nameless Imperial covert agency, c. 603 PDT.
   
   The adventures will involve: The PCs will be sent to planet after planet, on each with a brief to accomplish some very specific thing that the Empire needs done and is utterly forbidden to do. If they are captured, well, they don't even know who will deny knowledge of their activities.
   
   Bonus material: GURPS Ultra-Tech, GURPS Social Engineering, [GURPS Action 1 & 2] <edited to derogate Action>

5. I Think We're Not the Imperial Secret Service
   

   Genre: rationalised planetary romance, caper adventures, "cigarettes and stale beer" espionage.
   
   The PCs are: "Effectives" of some interstellar NGO (to be determined), such as GreenWar, the Sons of Patrick Henry, Democracy Unlimited, maybe even the Humanity League, c. 603 PDT.
   
   The adventures will involve: The PCs will arrive at planet after planet with an indication of something that their handlers think needs fixing, and a wholly inadequate set of resources for fixing it.
   
   Bonus material: GURPS Ultra-Tech, GURPS Social Engineering, [GURPS Action 1 & 2] <edited to derogate Action>

[Peter Knutsen]

You've never defined what RPG system is going to be used (you refer to certain GURPS supplements, but almost all GURPS supplements can be highly useful for non-GURPS campaigns, so it's not a conclusion that I feel it is safe to draw).

Also, what's the character creation point budget? GURPS, if that is the system you intend to use, has no default amount that you can assume. It has to be said out loud by the GM.

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

You've never defined what RPG system is going to be used (you refer to certain GURPS supplements, but almost all GURPS supplements can be highly useful for non-GURPS campaigns, so it's not a conclusion that I feel it is safe to draw).

I'd really prefer something simpler such as ForeSight or maybe even FUDGE, but as GURPS is what we all have in common that's what we'll probably end up using.

Also, what's the character creation point budget? GURPS, if that is the system you intend to use, has no default amount that you can assume. It has to be said out loud by the GM.

I'm not especially fond of point budgets, and I certainly don't think they ought to determine what campaigns we play. That would really be putting the cart before the horse. I'll sort out a suitable method for generating characters after choosing a campaign.

Furthermore, I often find it very disruptive when players generate characters before consulting adequately on who is playing what. I try to discourage this by not announcing character generation methods until an appropriate consensus is achieved.

[combatmedic]

I'm guessing this game will be by invitation only, but if I were a potential player, my votes would look like this:



We Came, We Saw…

9

Does history count as a 'social science' in Flat Black, or maybe as a close cousin?


The Voyage of INS Icebird
0

Five PCs for each player? I'm afraid that I am just not the right fit for this game.


Same Scumbags, Different Planet

1
It only gets a rating this low in relation to the brilliant first option. Looks solid.


Secret Servants
0


Looks cool, but at this time I'm not interested in playing an action-heavy game with capers and spies.


I Think We're Not the Imperial Secret Service
0
Ditto.

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

I'm guessing this game will be by invitation only

I already have a quorum, and one player hanging on in the hope that I'll fire up another campaign in a couple of months.

Does history count as a 'social science' in Flat Black, or maybe as a close cousin?

I'd guess history was fundamental to Social Dynamics.

The Voyage of INS Icebird
0

Five PCs for each player? I'm afraid that I am just not the right fit for this game.

Maybe "only" four, as the Captain would have to be his or her player's character in the naval crew, and the Ambassador likewise mutatis mutandis.

Same Scumbags, Different Planet

1
It only gets a rating this low in relation to the brilliant first option. Looks solid.

It works well FTF.

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

I already have a quorum, and one player hanging on in the hope that I'll fire up another campaign in a couple of months.



I'd guess history was fundamental to Social Dynamics.




Maybe "only" four, as the Captain would have to be his or her player's character in the naval crew, and the Ambassador likewise mutatis mutandis.




It works well FTF.

Cool beans.


I ran a PbP campaign on Fraternity of Shadows for more than three years, as well as a couple of games of several months in length. I was also able to play in several games. It's fun.

Good luck with your game.

Do you have a Photobucket account? It's handy for sharing images like maps, pictures of objects or NPCs, and so on.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

I'd really prefer something simpler such as ForeSight or maybe even FUDGE, but as GURPS is what we all have in common that's what we'll probably end up using.

FUDGE has the benefit of being freely available on the web. I don't believe Foresight is legally available, although I may have seen a severely gimped "demo" version once. Furthermore, the design of FUDGE is obviously influenced by GURPS, so wouldn't be overly unfamiliar to players whose primary RPG experience is with GURPS.

Also, I'm not trying to tell you what system to use.

I'm simply pointing you that you forgot to state that in your prospectus. Whenever someone puts a campaign out on the market, for me to see, the very first thing I look as it what system the GM intends to use, because I care to a profound degree about rules quality (and most other GMs don't).

[combatmedic]

I assumed that it would be GURPS rules on all the GURPS books he listed.
Some are pretty crunchy.

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

I assumed that it would be GURPS rules on all the GURPS books he listed.
Some are pretty crunchy.

It probably will. We'll see. Rules are perhaps not as important to me as to Peter.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

Rules are perhaps not as important to me as to Peter.

Water is less important to me than to a tuna.