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FASA Games, Inc. • "Cold War" campaign idea
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"Cold War" campaign idea

Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2016 10:26 am
by Bertjammin
Hello all,
Years ago I came up with a campaign concept (originally for the Babylon 5 inspired "Babylon Project RPG") where the players where members of a star ship crew which skirted the borders of enemy (in this case Minbari) space listening and watching (and ending up playing cat and mouse actions with the enemy, dealing with tensions with the various factions on board ship, inspired by "Cold War" era dramas and submarine conflicts and focusing on the themes of paranoia, propaganda and truth). I later ported the idea over to the Star Fleet battles rpg "Prime Directive (as the Klingon/Romulan/Federation Neutral zone seemed an ideal parallel) and contemplated doing the same with the Firefly RPG (An Alliance vessel watching the Rim for Browncoats and Reavers).

I'm a great believer that Fading Suns is such a rich and diverse setting that it can be used to tell almost any kind of story. The question is - how would you fit in this campaign concept? An Imperial ship sent to monitor the Vau? A Hawkwood Cruiser on the edge of Vuldrok space? Or Hazat/League combined forces watching for Kurgan invasion?

I figured I'd open this up to suggestions, so over to you...

Re: "Cold War" campaign idea

Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2016 6:50 pm
by Leviathan of Maddoc
I'm not sure this actually fits into the theme as a "Starship" game. The Nature of gate travel makes starship combat almost 2-dimensional. It would be very challenging for a ship to enter an enemy solar system undetected. The exception I could see would be stealth ship, but that cuts down a lot on the Red October feel and makes you more like badasses of the universe. A more thematic approach might be to have the crew impersonating a vessel of another faction, a stolen church or guild ship spying on enemy military emplacements.
This sort of plot can be done very well with boats or recon teams. The low-tech nature of warefar in Fading Suns would leave a lot of fighting groups disconnected from their command and supply lines. We had a few times in the Dogs of War game where the Muster Unit got cut off from their line and just wandered for days, running into enemy controlled downs, trading with locals and even doing contract work for them.
Our games set on Leminkainen have always had an element of this with either the Imperial or Hawkwood navy trying to get accurate intel on activities in Valdalla.

Re: "Cold War" campaign idea

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2016 8:48 pm
by Danos
Look at the write up for the Vera Cruz system in the Imperial Survey, and the Sargasso system in Lost Worlds. Vera Cruz is what you want. The Vuldrok have found that it is a back door to the known worlds, the Kurgans raid through that gate all the time, and there are pirates hiding in the asteroid belt in the Vera Cruz system. The jumpgate is also closer in than usual, only 3 days from the gate to the planet instead of the usual 5 for a fast ship. You can have multiple factions; Hazat, League, Pirate, Imperial, Church, Vuldrok, Kurgan, and pirate. They will all be very cautious of each other, on hair trigger watch because of the Kurgan threat, and the League will be trying to sneak runs to the lost world without getting caught. I think you want Vera Cruz.

The other option would be Cadavus, which is crucially strategic as a jump system, but the planet is not very valuable. I think Vera Cruz is a better bet.

Re: "Cold War" campaign idea

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2016 6:28 pm
by Angelman
I've had a campaign in the makings for a decade - have tried to write it three times - which resolves around a a Hazat commander running off into Barbarian space with a Vera Cruz flotilla to hunt for a lost world. His plan is to spark an interstellar crisis that will reignite the Emperor Wars in his wake, and then come to his house's resuce with the resources of the lost world he believes he can find. (Obviously, there's more to the story than this, but that's the gist of it). The players would be the crew of an Imperial starship sent after the Hazat commander, Apocalypse Now style, to take him down; the crew is made up of Imps, Hazat, Church, and League folks, making it a joint effort (and saving the Hazat from shame). Basically, the idea was to take inspiration from WEG's excellent Star Wars campaign, Darkstryder. That's how I wouldnt' have done it anyway :)

Re: "Cold War" campaign idea

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2016 11:55 pm
by Bogie
Sounds like a fun campaign!

Re: "Cold War" campaign idea

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 7:54 am
by Bertjammin

Re: "Cold War" campaign idea

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 6:34 pm
by Danos
Also, you would be one jump from Sutek, where the League is smuggling to Pandora because of its tech base, and the Imperial Eye is trying to catch them violating the imperial law that reserves lost world exploration for questing knights and people operating with an Imperial writ. Remember, House Hazat have an Imperial writ to conquer Hira, and House Hawkwood has an Imperial Writ to pursue raiders into Vuldrok space, which is how they are justifying their actions on Hargard, Twilight, and possibly even beyond those systems. One of the plots percolating in my campaign is the Hazat effort to get a writ to go after Khayyam, past Hira, as the Kurgan logistical base for the Hiran war. Of course, Khayyam is in revolt against the Caliph, so it all gets very murky.

Re: "Cold War" campaign idea

Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2016 8:52 am
by Bogie

Re: "Cold War" campaign idea

Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2016 9:24 am
by Bertjammin

Re: "Cold War" campaign idea

Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2016 1:04 pm
by Amlost
Great Campaign Idea!! Good conversation.

I can really appreciate the idea of a cold war and a team assigned "Cruz'ing" the Vera Cruz system. Playing "the game" of what you can get away with in terms of spiting your adversary's, explore lost worlds, and spycraft without Imperial Writ. Saragossa's Vuldrok, Pandora's Techno-fetishists, Hira's Fatwah/Pilgrims, Khayyam's proto-Republicans, and Heavens Ridge's Heretics [Cortez] are all politically on the knife's edge of being power players, enemies, or allies. Making deals back room deals for lands on Saragossa, stealing fleet/convoy information from a passing Khayyam diplomatic vessel, selling information for technology with Pandorans.... Sounds fun.

The other location that came to mind was Twilight. I had long considered a similar "hotter" adventure series in the Twilight system with a al Malik knight playing privateer/illicit trader. The setup was convoluted; the knight (youngest son Criticorum Count #1) was disguised as a disgraced son of (Criticorum Count #2) who had stolen Knight #1's identity to infiltrate the Port Authority on BZ [Different adventure idea].
He was given the task of acquiring technological resources of interest to his father’s Criticorum Rota Allies {see: S&R} any way he could. Raid remote outposts, steal from Seyshel Corporations, kidnap Reval technicians, trade with Zigo Rebels, etc… Don’t get caught, avoid contact with the Dephian Tigers Hawkwoods have too many allies there… Some technologies were of particular interest; Anti-Rad Meds [Regaining wealth & influence on Cadavus], Atmospheric Recycling [Rebuilding Acheon’s Air Processors], Subterranean Military Tech [Suppressing Ukari Revolts], and Jumpgate information [Bartering with Charioteers & more obvious reasons]. Should the knight bring back a fortune in stolen of his own, all the better, the Rota would purchase everything from him for a fair price on his return.

I was going to set the knight up with a stolen Zigo-Built passenger ship of their own (moderately armed) and a for-hire ally privateer/pirate with a frigate. Other PC’s would be encouraged to be Spies, Thieves, Mercenaries, Tech-Bandits, and Conmen. Encourage the underhanded/deceitful over the direct [i.e. brute force] approach players often default to. The work to encourage them to bring me plans to schemes, thefts, raids beforehand; play them thru with a few curveballs. I was hopeful I could make it work and be fun/entertaining.