[CT] Forbidden Planet adventures

[Major Matt Mason]

Another game to build from the basic CT set.

Again, the mechanics are all pretty much there and straight forward. The jump drive becomes a hyperdrive, the reactionless thrusters are perfect, and the basic ship hull is a flying saucer type. (Personally I think the blasters and blast rifles should be downgraded to pistols and rifles.)

(I wonder about the old rpg Space Patrol and Star Patrol, whether they have any parts germane to a Forbidden Planet type of game? Maybe a table of missions or something.)

An article by Jim Davenport in "Knights of the Dinner Table #147" is specifically about using Forbidden Planet as a universe for gaming. It points out that it is basically US Navy (post-WW2/pre-Cold War) in Space. True enough -- elsewhere (the "Forbidden Planets" anthology) it has been posited that FP is more specifically PT-boats in the South Pacific. (Which then bleeds into the Earth-based anime series of PT-boat adventurers in "Black Lagoon," fwiw.)

Anyway, the detail in the article that was different for me was in the second sentence of this bit:

"Stereotypes of naval personnel from the Second World War would work well here. They are ready to do their duty but also not above shirking work, goldbricking, scheming to find a way around regulations, looking for women, booze, gambling, and other transitory comforts" (p. 67).

Okay, now =that= seems like a challenge to me. How to simulate such behavior? Sure, "carousing" and "gambling" skills cover some, but shirking, goldbricking (fake working), and scheming? Buck passing, etc.?

It isn't entirely trivial, either, since "skirt chasing" causes a lot of mischief in FP, if it doesn't actually drive the whole thing; and Cookie's antics, while mainly for humor, also drive the story along.

For the Skipper, the skirt chasing proves a challenge to discipline and his command (maybe only among the officers). Cookie's antics sometimes challenge discipline and whatnot among the ranks, but also a bit of jokes played on Cookie reduce tensions.

Still, such things are best used in moderation, since it is the stuff of Military Comedy. Or it becomes the stuff of High Drama, with clash of personalities, punishments, court martial, muttering of mutiny, and who ate the strawberry jam?

 

[Gadrin]

It's possible.

Not sure if you're interested but you might find this interesting...
http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=SJG37-0604

>

 

[Icosahedron]

"Stereotypes of naval personnel from the Second World War would work well here. They are ready to do their duty but also not above shirking work, goldbricking, scheming to find a way around regulations, looking for women, booze, gambling, and other transitory comforts" (p. 67).

Okay, now =that= seems like a challenge to me. How to simulate such behavior? Sure, "carousing" and "gambling" skills cover some, but shirking, goldbricking (fake working), and scheming? Buck passing, etc.?

It isn't entirely trivial, either, since "skirt chasing" causes a lot of mischief in FP, if it doesn't actually drive the whole thing; and Cookie's antics, while mainly for humor, also drive the story along.

These things should be brought in by good role playing, but maybe it doesn't happen as often as it should.
Particularly skirt-chasing. Let's face it, a group of red-blooded males, cooped up in a ship together for weeks at a time - how else would they spend their R&R?

...Unless they're paranoid PCs, convinced that every female NPC is a GM plot to catch them with their pants down - literally. The average PC in my experience would be quite comfortable in a monastery.
I'm not saying their paranoia is necessarily unfounded, :smirk: but it's unrealistic.

 

[Ishmael]

McHale's Navy, but with SDB's.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McHale's_Navy

 

[leo knight]

I've been itching to do something of the sort for years. "Forbidden Planet" is one of my favorite SF movies, if only for the amazing production design. Check out this Italian movie, "Planet of Vampires":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUXlc8lLEzY
Look familiar? Bastard child of "Forbidden Planet", inspiration for "Aliens".

Just off the top of my head, blasters are way too powerful in the wrong hands (PCs). I would downgrade them to laser weapons, or firearms with extra kick. Hyperdrive in the movie was way too slow (over a year to Altair). You might need to upgrade that to at least jump drive speeds.

 

[beowulf2044]

There were ship's blueprints published for the C-57D, and they're beautiful. My only complaint was that there was no representation of a Vacc Suit (termed a 'Survival Suit' in the movie) to be seen in the original film.

It's just me and my sense of humour, but if I were going to run a game like this, I'd crib the plot right from a different Shakespear story, just to see if any of the players recognized it.

 

[Major Matt Mason]

Re GURPS Solar Patrol, thanks for the tip Gadrin. It looks more like "Tom Corbett, Space Cadet" to me, but there may be useful elements.

Icosahedron wrote:

These things should be brought in by good role playing, but maybe it doesn't happen as often as it should.
Particularly skirt-chasing. Let's face it, a group of red-blooded males, cooped up in a ship together for weeks at a time - how else would they spend their R&R?

...Unless they're paranoid PCs, convinced that every female NPC is a GM plot to catch them with their pants down - literally. The average PC in my experience would be quite comfortable in a monastery.

Right, so maybe it all has to be done by the GM. "In this episode, Smitty gets a cupid, falling for the local barmaid . . . bad news, since when she turns up dead, it looks like he did it!"

That is to say, in FP it is all pretty much driven by the plot-machine. To open it up to player initiative threatens to turn it into military humor.

Ishmael wrote:

McHale's Navy, but with SDB's.

Yep, like that. Add a bunch of space marines and their bossun, present in FP (which plays havoc with the PT-boat model!), and you can throw in a little Gomer Pyle as well.

Still, episodes of McHale's Navy (or the original stand-alone it came from) might provide scenarios if switched around into a non-comedy type.

leo knight wrote:

Hyperdrive in the movie was way too slow (over a year to Altair). You might need to upgrade that to at least jump drive speeds.

Yes. To be fair, I think the point for the movie was to have the star far enough away that the baby could grow into a babe during the transit time of the radio distress signal. And the FTL drive had to be slow enough that the ship couldn't call back to base for help -- they are all on their own. Still, that said, the scale seems messed up, and the drive should be faster.

beowulf2044 wrote:

It's just me and my sense of humour, but if I were going to run a game like this, I'd crib the plot right from a different Shakespear story, just to see if any of the players recognized it.

I'm with you one hundred percent on that. Here are my two cents on how to proceed with such a scheme: first, the play is pretty slightly referenced, i.e., maybe the beginning situation and the ending situation only (so the GM is free); second, the play's type is converted to something different (that is, "The Tempest" is a romance, whereas "Forbidden Planet" is more like a horror, almost a Shakespearean tragedy).

 

[beowulf2044]

Othello, MacBeth, Romeo and Juliet. . . now if I can just mash all those up into one campaign.

 

[BlackBat242]

There's always a place for King Lear as well.

 

[Icosahedron]

It looks more like "Tom Corbett, Space Cadet" to me

Now there's a blast from the past! I'd forgotten that name. One of the first sci-fi stories I read... <drifts off into a world of nostalgia>

 

[Whipsnade]

Okay, now =that= seems like a challenge to me. How to simulate such behavior? Sure, "carousing" and "gambling" skills cover some, but shirking, goldbricking (fake working), and scheming? Buck passing, etc.?

MMM,

By actually role-playing? Instead of roll-playing perhaps?

I can see drawing a playing card, as in T:2000, 2300AD, or TNE to give a GM a handle on a NPC's personality, but should players need that much help developing personalities for their characters?

In the long run, the many "aids" developed over the last few decades to "help" players develop their chracter's personalities have hurt more than helped. Those aid mechanisms are being gamed in and of themselves and are not being used to create richer roleplaying. For instance, going by the many threads on SJGames' fora, rather than assisting with roleplaying GURPS' advantages, disadvantage, and quirks simply open the door wider for more munchkin min-maxing. Players routinely mix and match all three to gain as many points benefits without their PCs being discomforted in some manner which forces better GMs to limit ads, disads, and quirks severely.

I place the blame on the influence of computer game in RPGs and the expanding levels in the d20 family of systems. People don't roleplay anymore, they don't explore themselves or their characters. They merely look for more power-ups for their eternal characters instead.

Players whose characters are part of an all-male military ship crew shouldn't need to be told that shirking, goldbricking, scheming, and skirt chasing are part of the group's behavior dynamics. And they shouldn't need skill, disads, levels, and quirks on their player sheets to roleplay the same.


Regards,
Bill

 

[Mithras]

Check out:

http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/index.html

Lots of stuff in there, particularly the ship interiors, crew responsibilities and such. Have a root around!

 

[beowulf2044]

I've love the Atomic Rockets site. I've rooted and looted it when I ran a Retro-Space game at a convention some years ago.

 

[beowulf2044]

And I agree with Whipsnade in regard to all the quirks and personality disorders that are actually integrated into character creation and have an effect on PC play. Since when does aquiring one disability grant you extra ability in some other area of development? If you role play it right, your character will come with his or her own personality, quirks, flaws and all.

But hey, some people just like point-whoring and war-gaming dressed up as an RPG. Whatever works for you.

 

[FreeTrav]

But hey, some people just like ... war-gaming dressed up as an RPG. Whatever works for you.

Didn't RPG-ing have its roots in wargaming?

I happen to agree with the derision of minmaxing chargen; it's one of the things that I like about CT-style chargen, including the random selection of skills - it's essentially impossible to minmax a character; you sorta gotta play with what you got.

That said, if I were going to rewrite chargen, I'd start with CT, but make most-if-not-all skills cascades or clusters, to allow the player to 'focus' the character somewhat, and come up with a reasonably coherent set of skills to allow the player to build a reasonably plausible character backstory.