Our general idea is that we have a world around medieval technology TL with three Sophont species that all have significant and roughly equal presence. They have blacksmithing, water wheels, beast-and-cart, textiles but are pre-Renaissance.
In the style of Savage Worlds, the system has been the focus of interstellar naval battles for some reason, and ships have crashed on the planets and thus technology scavenged and changing the social balance between the three species. A central conflict in the background is how useable technology is treated - as an advantage in war? To share to increase the welfare of 'all' (although 'all' may or may not include the other Sophont species).
Each player (all three of us) develop the details of their own idea for a Sophont. At the moment we generated a bunch of ideas, we haven't quite reconciled them yet, and they could be plugged into, say, the T5 Sophont rules making choices more than dice rolls. The central trope would be technology scavengers who fence their finds to either governments or private agents with various motives. Conflicts would include competition from other scavengers, ethical dilemmas about how governments would use that crate of autorifles, etc.
Edit: Just started reading Rob's discussion of proto-Traveller. Could insert this world somewhere in the Spinward Marches somewhere in neutral space where human enemy navies meet (Imperial vs. Zhodani, or even Darrian vs. Sword Worlds or Imperial vs. Sword Worlds). That might fit as well.
The party would consist of one or two sophonts from each species, run as PCs by the player who developed that species. When the party wanders onto a territory dominated by the Sophonts they have created, they become the Referee.
The twist is that the interstellar war is between two Human interstellar empires or mini-empires and so it is Humans that are the 'aliens'.
This allows us to insert the world into an OTU or ATU in which we'd start by sharing out worlds in a subsector to research or develop, and again rotate the Refereeing when the party wanders onto the world that person developed.
If we keep up the setting, we can then play other Sophonts including humans with each player having an intimate knowledge of the Sophonts they have created.
I'd like general feedback, but I do have a particular question: I had a look over the Cepheus Engine (which I gather is basically Mongoose mechanics with Mongoose IP removed?) and I like its simplicity and playability and I think it captures the spirit of Classic Traveller while filling in some blanks. But I am also fond of T5 (despite the Errata) and the Sophont creation rules especially fit here.
In the style of Savage Worlds, the system has been the focus of interstellar naval battles for some reason, and ships have crashed on the planets and thus technology scavenged and changing the social balance between the three species. A central conflict in the background is how useable technology is treated - as an advantage in war? To share to increase the welfare of 'all' (although 'all' may or may not include the other Sophont species).
Each player (all three of us) develop the details of their own idea for a Sophont. At the moment we generated a bunch of ideas, we haven't quite reconciled them yet, and they could be plugged into, say, the T5 Sophont rules making choices more than dice rolls. The central trope would be technology scavengers who fence their finds to either governments or private agents with various motives. Conflicts would include competition from other scavengers, ethical dilemmas about how governments would use that crate of autorifles, etc.
Edit: Just started reading Rob's discussion of proto-Traveller. Could insert this world somewhere in the Spinward Marches somewhere in neutral space where human enemy navies meet (Imperial vs. Zhodani, or even Darrian vs. Sword Worlds or Imperial vs. Sword Worlds). That might fit as well.
The party would consist of one or two sophonts from each species, run as PCs by the player who developed that species. When the party wanders onto a territory dominated by the Sophonts they have created, they become the Referee.
The twist is that the interstellar war is between two Human interstellar empires or mini-empires and so it is Humans that are the 'aliens'.
This allows us to insert the world into an OTU or ATU in which we'd start by sharing out worlds in a subsector to research or develop, and again rotate the Refereeing when the party wanders onto the world that person developed.
If we keep up the setting, we can then play other Sophonts including humans with each player having an intimate knowledge of the Sophonts they have created.
I'd like general feedback, but I do have a particular question: I had a look over the Cepheus Engine (which I gather is basically Mongoose mechanics with Mongoose IP removed?) and I like its simplicity and playability and I think it captures the spirit of Classic Traveller while filling in some blanks. But I am also fond of T5 (despite the Errata) and the Sophont creation rules especially fit here.
