Death World

[ChalkLine]

My MT group has a lot of ex-marine/army guys in it.

So I thought, after looking through Marooned again, that having them come into orbit around a world out beyond The Rim and getting shot down would be cool.

The basic premise is that the two races onplanet annihilated each other in a centuries long war that ruined the planet. It'll have a Standard-tainted atmosphere. Bioweapons. Chemical weapons. Nuclear weapons. Fun.

The PCs go into orbit, what looks like ancient weathersats turn into still functioning killsats and shoot down their ship (the patron is gonna be angry!). Once onplanet ancient killbots and defences come alive as they sense the travellers and engage. The PCs must journey to both ancient HQs to shut down the defences. Combat heavy but still with science and and other options, and I might have the ancient AIs requiring bargaining with that'll be a non-shooty ending (plus a satifying shooty denoument with a rogue something or other, haven't thought that far yet. Maybe an offplanet group waiting for something to silence the killbots.)

But.

I keep getting this niggling 'this has been done before in a Traveller scenario' feeling. Has it?

 

[Spinward Scout]

Watch Pitch Black and Aliens. Two perfectly good examples of 'bioweapons' And Pitch Black has a great crash landing in it. Might be what you are thinking of.

 

[ChalkLine]

Yep, two movies I definitely own.

I'm thinking of having the killbots reactivate when the PCs use their comms gear (like in one of Kieth Laumer's Bolo stories), as that way they'll ignore the rogue bioweapons. Of course, there'll be two sides, so maybe they can get them shooting and sneak off during the fracas.

 

[flykiller]

some variations.

some of the AI's are not manufactured but are mirrors of the last living leaders. or, they are the last leaders themselves whose bodies are kept in lowberths but whose minds are able to control various machines.

branching off from this, the machines themselves may have independent programing, but each can be taken over by an entity (A.I. or otherwise) and thus become an extension of that entity, at will. i.e. one entity may control any number of machines, one at a time.

entities may have their own agenda. they may be criminals or prisoners of war pressed into desperate experiments, they may be insane, they may be trying to find some way to die or some way to escape. "take me off-planet!"

some entities may be waiting or working to restore the world to its original condition once the war is over, however they define "over". these could be allies of the player characters.

there may be A.I.-equipped escape ships, still waiting for leaders who never made it. give the player characters a way off-planet.

many possibilities here, even for human interaction, actual or after-the-fact.

 

[Gadrin]

My MT group has a lot of ex-marine/army guys in it.

So I thought, after looking through Marooned again, that having them come into orbit around a world out beyond The Rim and getting shot down would be cool.

The basic premise is that the two races onplanet annihilated each other in a centuries long war that ruined the planet. It'll have a Standard-tainted atmosphere. Bioweapons. Chemical weapons. Nuclear weapons. Fun.

The PCs go into orbit, what looks like ancient weathersats turn into still functioning killsats and shoot down their ship (the patron is gonna be angry!). Once onplanet ancient killbots and defences come alive as they sense the travellers and engage. The PCs must journey to both ancient HQs to shut down the defences. Combat heavy but still with science and and other options, and I might have the ancient AIs requiring bargaining with that'll be a non-shooty ending (plus a satifying shooty denoument with a rogue something or other, haven't thought that far yet. Maybe an offplanet group waiting for something to silence the killbots.)

But.

I keep getting this niggling 'this has been done before in a Traveller scenario' feeling. Has it?

Nice idea, this might work for a Milieu-Zero "recontact scenario", maybe with some tweaking.

I also see a little of http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/reignsteel/ in there too.

Thanks!

 

[Jeff M. Hopper]

Watch Pitch Black and Aliens. Two perfectly good examples of 'bioweapons' And Pitch Black has a great crash landing in it. Might be what you are thinking of.

I'd quibble with you on this, because if you are using bioweapons, then it makes more sense to use diseases than full blown creatures. For an odd zombie spin on this idea, remember that the humans of 28 Days Later were infected by a disease bioweapon.

 

[Spinward Scout]

True, tho gengineered killing machines are so much better than robots because they can breed and make more killing machines. Besides, what better way to clean up the bodies?

 

[ChalkLine]

The biobeasties are going to have to be chemical, radiation and disease proof, as well. But even if they are, what are they going to eat? Everything else is dead.

Then again, maybe they're in low berths in the HQ citadels. Sort of huge, hive-like vaults that open up when intruders are detected. I keep wondering if the inhabitants, originally humaniti, maybe turned themselves into something revolting to keep prosecuting the war after the planet was dead. Maybe they're an intelligent version of the biobeasties.

It's starting to sound kinda epic. I've noticed epic campaigns usually never get finished. I think I should keep it short and 'sweet'.

 

[atpollard]

The biobeasties are going to have to be chemical, radiation and disease proof, as well. But even if they are, what are they going to eat? Everything else is dead.

Cockroaches and Humans were the first two organisms to return to Hiroshima after the bomb. Life will survive, just think "plague-like" lifeforms (roaches, rats, locust) and toxic plants. Rodents eat the plants, "zombies" eat the rodents, and swarms of roaches finish off the injured zombies (picture a shark feeding frenzy type of event).

Getting wounded is only the beginning of your troubles, don't let them smell the blood.

 

[Darkhstarr]

The planet Kilogren (a.k.a. Virgin's Delight) in my campaign is kinda like Deathworld meets Witch World-except the lifeforms are on the side of the colonists. The world's never been successfully invaded. I used the setting for a scenario once. Some day once I get updating caught up I'm going to have to corner all my notes & make a page for that world.

 

[kafka47]

The idea of a planetwide nightmare is too much like Gamma World or Skaro for me. I would rather wan to built a world of feral Terran counterparts, perhaps, the bioweapons have induced evolution/devolution...to see how weird things can get see BBC series - The Future is Wild. Lots of templates there with what could happen, if nature is left alone and does its natural thing.

 

[Duke]

Your original proposal sounds a lot like the plot in a ST:NG episode where an arms-dealing planet's weapons got the better of them. Anyway, Don't worry too much about using plots and themes that have gone before. It's a longstanding practice that has been around since gaming was created, way back in the last century.