Game Concept: Scifi Television On A Budget

This one is a bit unusual and quite a bit of game gimmick that does not really rely on any system of choice or, indeed, even genre. However for the purpose of this idea I have chosen Science Fiction, as being locked down as made me binge back some old scifi ranging from Classic Doctor Who to Star Trek. Watching so much of it makes you see the idiosyncrasies and the silly elements born of budget constrains.

My Game Has Limited Budget

A mundane, wooden box is a lot cheaper on the budget
than a 'proper' space ship.

Its an odd restriction, when tabletop RPG allows one to use their imagination as much as they want. You don't need to bother about budget. Some people might, a bit, if they insist on using miniatures for Dungeons & Dragons but in my experience that rarely is enough of a limiting factor: people will repurpose a mini and go 'Okay I know its a bandit, but its a hobgoblin'. Most people who use mini and map nowadays use some mat where they can erase and draw at will. Only those gifted with time and skill usually bother to build elaborate sets, unless they are war gamer who can reuse terrain. As a result, the idea of 'budget' is a non-issue for tabletop. Even in an era of supplement creep, there are things like the SRD/OGL and Pathfinder has a wiki where all the info is available. There's no need to buy books.

Overall, anything can happen. A game can be set in any number of villages, cities, biomes or planets with only the GM's words to change the setting. Fantastical monsters can be dime a dozen, spaceships can show up as massive fleets and action scenes can be as overly detailed with flourish as much as one choose to elaborate upon. But what if it wasn't so?

Suppose my game was based off televised Science Fiction, from the sixties to the late nineties. This was the era of televised episodic budget science fiction: immensely popular, yet still not quite mainstream in the way they are now. These shows were often very ambitious but sadly lacking in budget. This is the era of Classic Doctor Who, of the original Battlestar Galactica, of Star Gate, of Babylon Five, of Star Trek from the Original Series to the end of Voyager. Television budget was often a mess. Computer generated images weren't a thing yet or, if they existed, were extremely primitive and limited until the tail end of the nineties. That's why aliens looked like 'men with weird foreheads in funny clothes'. There was no budget to allow twelve feet tall, four armed reptilian creatures or floating psychic amoeba, at least not in any form which would age well visually. Aliens were usually just people in funny clothes, maybe with some makeup or at best some 'rubber suit monster'.

Not only that but the action was limited by budget too, as was every aspect of world building. Most (in)famously is the example of the ubiquitous Transporter technology in the original Star Trek. It existed because some cheap sfx trick was much cheaper and easier to do than build the following: a shuttle's interior, a shuttle's exterior (with launch pad/hangar bay), a shuttle model for it flying in space and maybe oversized parts of the Enterprise's back showing said model landing or launching from the ship itself. It was just easier to add some bad sparkly after effect and make people vanish into thin air, the same way it was easier to make the Tardis magically look like a police box. Both elements would end up becoming so iconic to their respective universe its basically impossible to imagine the settings without them.

What Would It Affect?

Vasquez's Rocks aka 'Kirk's Rocks' aka 'every single
rocky alien planet ever'.

So if a game was ran to emulate this era of television, what would it be like? How much would it change? Would it fundamentally alter tabletop RPG? No, not at all the core elements are still there. This is more of a 'cosmetic' thing and a set of restrictions on the Game Master's part. It would be best suited to episodic games (granted, given my pacing, something closer to a classic Doctor Who serial) to fit the style of the era.

• All aliens would either be humanoids or rubber suit monsters. The former would range from the obvious cop out of 'human aliens' to 'rubber forehead aliens' while the latter would be better suited to something that's less of a person and more some monster, as it would not be able to convey emotions properly due to the bulky suit.
• There would be very little, any animals shown especially not alien wildlife. This is too costly. Any set in the wilderness would be some quarry or random forest which just so happen to look very conveniently like Earth. There would be very little exotic environments without straining an episode's budget or trying to get creative.
• Sets would be quite limited and reused as lot, so if the game is focused on a ship (the Enterprise and the Tardis are good examples) or space station (like DS9 and Babylon Five) it would make heavy use of the same major reused locales as much as it can. When a new set need to be used, the descriptions would try to mention as many reused elements as possible to show its the same old sets with a few pieces added/removed and maybe a coat of paint.
• There would be a very commonly recurring caves, a bunch of desert rocks and/or a quarry set for any kind of mine shaft, alien tunnels and long lost civilization ruins. That they all look the same would just be a happy coincidence. These desolate locations would be heavily abused as any kind of evil lair or dangerous location.
• Props face a similar situation. If an adventure showcase some ancient alien artifact which take the form of bronze colored geometric foam and cardboard shapes topped by a crystal, then a later adventure might conveniently happen to have an alien ship control's be a stack of geometric shapes, but in green and grey.
• Many minor NPC would be recurring actors in different makeup, so some element of their physical descriptions and mannerism would be repeated as the same guy in one episode plays an asshole security guard who gets murdered by an alien and 3-4 episodes later plays an alien trader in makeup.
• Spaceship action would be kept to a bare minimum, as the budget cannot sustain massive space battles, those requiring too many models and/or CGI. If the game is text-based then as many 'shots' of recurring spaceships would be reused as stock footage. Heavy kitbashing of ships may occur if the game use space ships a lot.
• Finally, action scenes would be somewhat limited to basic action stuff with some added 'pew pew' laser effects for the guns. This is not the kind of setting where advanced weapons, power armor and complex shields effects can be used. This will result in the characters being a lot more 'grounded' with little to no display of any kind of superpowers, with even supposedly fearsome warrior races displaying little super strength beyond tossing someone to the ground. Psychic powers, likewise, will be mostly effects-less. They just happen without any description of glowy lights and sounds and tend to be abstract. In other words, it isn't Warhammer 40 000 , Mass Effect or Halo, with big spectacle of military scifi and/or space magic.
• This would also mean monster's abilities would need to be abstract, such as mind control or death rays as graphic things like acid or melting people is not only out of the budget but also not allowed on television.

The Importance of understanding the past

This post will certainly skirt my 'no politics on the blog' rule a bit.

I don't really buy recent books (that aren't RPG books, obviously) anymore, there's not really appealing to it. Science fiction, fantasy and horror seems to suffer from a pretty bad exhaustion lately which, combined with the obsession with major intellectual properties which are then destroyed by inept writers (or perhaps on purpose, if you're feeling like being called nuts by people with their heads in the sand) just doesn't really make me want to buy scifi or fantasy novels. The other issue, which I've come to realize following my massive 'born again grognard' phase when I got really invested in the OSR is that fundamentally we (and by extension, most writers) are less and less able to grasp what makes a genre tick.

All we experience in pop culture are copies of copies. Like a telephone game, it increasingly lose its meaning. Ideas. Memes. Tropes. Call them what you want but they exist. Unfortunately people have lost much of their understanding and, when they do spot them, they often generate a sense of hatred for the past followed by a smug satisfaction of pseudo intellect nonsense. The 'trope has been subverted'. Your 'expectations have been subverted'. In actuality it just mean someone wrote crap and felt good about it. No, worse: they felt morally superior.

My most recent purchases in the last few years have been the collected works of H.P. Lovecraft,  Robert E. Howard's Conan stories, an English edition of Tolkien's work (I previous had it as a French translation). More recently (last Monday) I got my hands on Bulfinch's Mythology. Is that book perfect? Hardly, as it is well known that Bulfinch definitely loved to edit out things as to not 'offend' the delicate sensibilities of the Victorian, including young girls. Does that all sound familiar? We should not fear the past and we shouldn't shun it either. If I can keep being pretentious for a moment, I genuinely think anyone out there who is running a Tabletop RPG campaign of any type, but especially fantasy and/or scifi should go out there and read some old mythology. Not the modern takes, not the comic books and Hollywood version where Thor is an alien. These books are, for the most part, either readily available or in the public domain. There is no excuse.

Read some mythology and read some Conan and other pulp works. For science fiction, read the War of the Worlds and other works. You don't even have to like it. I'm not the thought police, you're allowed to dislike it or even think its abhorrent for all I care. Who am I anyway? A nobody. The important point is to at least understand the how and the why of these genres, how they evolved and what form their basis. You can't tinker around with concepts and ideas if there's no grasp of the basics and the core elements. This is how you end with a generation that felt so disconnected from the root elements and the myths that they don't even understand how to play Dungeons & Dragons. Hell, I sure at one point realized that I didn't 'really get it' and then this spiraled in a nearly ten year pretentious-as-fuck phase where I loved to use the term 'deconstruction' as if it meant something. Then one day you get tired of huffing your own farts. You crave the simple, the coherent. Are Conan stories 'deep'? Fuck no. It's pulp, man. However it definitely has lesson to teach on the simple basics of dropping characters in an adventure. The focus isn't on some deeper world building. Its not on some deeper meaning. It's about the how and the why and what adventures this bring.

You have to understand the rules before you bend them.

Urban Fantasy: The Ancient Folks/The Fey, Part 2

Last time I wrote about the basic concepts of my take on the 'fey' of my Urban Fantasy setting, giving them the somewhat paradoxical name of 'mortal demi-gods'. Their concept requires even more fleshing out to further understand them and their game use, as well as offering some core stat blocks to build them.

Statting the Ancient Folks

Forest Hag by Ilya Emelyanov

As creatures so manifold (and contradictory) in their nature, statting these creatures is not exactly an easy task at a glance. These beings are extremely mutable in form, function and abilities, ranging from the greatest of their kind being almost god-like beings, only 'mortal' in the sense their physical form being destroyed ending their lives, to mostly-human mongrels and changelings. For simplicity, these stats are split both in general power level and concept or archetypes found among these creatures. The 'true' Fey consist primarily of:

• Lesser Folks are the mostly-human creatures loosely related to the true Ancient Folks and are mechanically mostly just a supernatural human with possibly a few gimmicks.
• Ogres are those of the Ancient Folks who are of larger stature and physical prowess. These creatures are the Trolls and Oni of myth and folklore. Some are dumb brutes but others are simply just very large and strong lads whose nature has no effect on their intellect.
• Nymphs are land spirits bound to their physical location and have power over this landscape. Some are beautiful maiden but some may be portly Yaksha. The archetype is not limited by appearance.
• Elves is a bit of a dirty word that evoke certain ideas, but here it is used to refer to a greater Folk gifted with both grace and magical power. These are not the Elves of D&D and fantasy, however and are closer to some of the Sidhe or even the Djinn.
• Fey Spirits are the greatest of their kind and are almost True Spirit, being able to shift between material and spiritual form at will.

There are other types of Fey and not all fey are 'true fey', as they can create minions or raise beasts born of other dimension, of dreams and nightmares. These are creatures which form the 'ecological' niche of familiar and pets.

Fey Type	HD	AC	Atk	Dmg	Mov	ML	Skills	Effort
Lesser Folk	1-3	13	+1/2 HD	1d6 or Wep	10m	7	+1	2
Ogre	3	14	+3	1d8	10m	7	+1	1
Nymph	4	15	+4	1d8	10m	7	+1	3
'Elf'	5	17	+5	1d8	10m	7	+2	3
Fey Spirit*	6	18	+6	1d10	20m	8	+2	4

*Fey Spirits are mechanically akin to True Spirits with Materialize at Rank B or A.

In terms of general abilities, the Folks are rather elusive and hard to hit but suffer from a somewhat lacking morale. This isn't necessarily cowardice so much as a mercurial temperament. If a fight takes too long, gets boring, is a stalemate or something else then odds are the Folk will make a Morale check and might very well decide to just book it, possibly using its powers to confuse a foe and run away (even if they don't call it that).

Abilities of the Folks

The core statblock are only the basic framework, as these are creatures which can be heavily reliant on their often oddly specific abilities. By itself, one of the Ancient Folks is 'just a monster' with HD and everything and that can be a tad boring. The devil, however, is in the details and the bizarre abilities they posses. Unless a game is some high level murder-romp, odds are that most Ancient Folks encountered a Nemesis: an NPC with full HP and multiple actions, able to challenge Heroic Characters (which is the default power level of my game).

A good source of combat-related effects for the Ancient Folks would be in Godbound, specifically the monster section. Specifically the Impairing Powers found on page 169. Generally these would require the Ancient Folk to commit Effort for the scene or day, depending on the power or creature.

• Ogres are generally somewhat lacking in more advanced abilities. However because they are tough creatures, they tend to have the Hardy Nemesis trait, which grants them +3 HP by default and receive +1 additional HP every 3 other HD.
• 'Elves' (as much as one may loathe to use the term) might possess the ability to Commit Effort to cast a spell. Alternatively, in the case of creatures such as Djinn, Peri or others they might possess an enhanced Fray Dice, representing a more direct and reliable access to elemental abilities.
• Meanwhile, Fey Spirits are where a GM can just go nuts with ideas.

Generally speaking, each Ancient Folk encountered should be somewhat unique unless a game is specifically dealing with the Fey on a semi-regular basis, at which case creating some broad categories might be of use.

A common limitation of the abilities of the Ancient Folks requires them to target a mortal which offended them and their ancient taboos and/or someone who broke a bargain. This can include people who trespass on the invisible domain of the fey to doing certain actions on certain days, as well as those who do not respect the oddly specific rules a Fey might add to a bargain. NPC and the likes get no Saving Throws, obviously, it 'just happen' however a PC might find themselves making a Saving Throw with a penalty.

Idiosyncratic Weaknesses

The Ancient Folks are a loose conglomerate of strange beings from a bygone era, or perhaps of even stranger origin. For all their power, these creatures also often find themselves cursed with particularly unusual limitations, not unlike a Spirit, despite being (mostly) corporeal beings.

• Most folks are weak to a specific substance. The most infamous is of course Iron, but in some cases it could be anything coated with a specific substance, such as wolfsbane, holy water or even the blood or ashes of a holy man or something equally unusual. Striking an Ancient Folk with a weapon coated with their specific weakness make their AC count as 10, irrelevant of its actual value. In some cases it might also cause damage to always read straight.
• For other limitations, see previous posts on Spirits.
• Finally, the Ancient Folks (even the Fey Spirits) are mortal, meaning being reduced to 0 HP and killed very much destroys them, unlike Spirits which might simply vanish or be banished for a while.

Urban Fantasy: The Mortal Demi-Gods of the Lands (The 'Fey')

They bear many names, have many guise and indeed their origins may very well be distinct. These are creatures only vaguely analogue to each others and yet somehow are often lumped together both by outsiders and themselves. They are the creatures which often dwell just beyond the horizon: in the wood, over and under the hills or which have adapted to the dark alleys. They are creatures of otherness, straddling a line between man, monster or spirit. European Folklore have named their to be the Fey or Fairies. Asian folklore has vague categories of creatures of ogres and demons, yet these creatures aren't True Demons while others are woodland spirits. The Middle East has the Djinns, Dev, Peri, Shedim and other creatures which are conflated with Demons and Angels. These creatures are nothing of the sort, however.

The Ancient Folks

Are these all similar creatures or are they simply vaguely related by the artifice of the human mind and our need to categorize them? Most likely. And yet, some similarities emerge in all of them:

• Within a single major geographical areas there are many type/breeds, often rather vaguely defined yet ostensibly part of the same pantheon 'ecology'.
• They are neither true Spirits nor full mortal, with some individual or breeds leaning more toward one or the others. Their physical forms are quite varied but often mostly human-like safe for inhuman traits. They are either thin and 'fey'-like or large hulking brutes.
• They have strong associations with their native lands and the wilder places of the world, where men feared to stray in ancient times.
• They have powers over mortals yet, at the same time, mortal superstition seems to hold them at bay or at the very least placate them.
• They freely intermingled with human in ancient times and are connected with the mystical.
• They often have ties to the 'old gods' of antiquity.

These creatures are what we might indeed call the 'Fey' but this isn't quite an accurate term. They are supernatural beings, not quite mortal or spirit. Their lifespan are quite long, if not often endless, yet they are clearly mortal in the sense destroying their physical form end their lives unlike spirits which often require more complex ways to destroy.

Art by Amy Cornelson

For simplicity we will call them the Ancient Folks or the 'Folks', namely because most of these creatures often claim to predate modern human. How true this is unclear and given these fading beings do not fully recall their true ancient history they too subscribe to this theory. The Folks being neither Spirit nor mortal may be a state of being which predate mortal existence for humanity, a predecessor form or some more primal state with stronger ties to the spirit world when it held greater sway over the land. This concept is similar to the Pre-Adamite theories, if one was to hold 'Adam' (or a being analogous, disconnected from Judeo Christian myths) to be the first modern and mortal human.

Thus these ancient folks are a race of semi-mortals, which may have splintered from the true ancestors of humanity long before some fundamental change, at least the theory goes. Stronger, yet more tied to the primordial lands they existed as a bridge between Gods/Spirits and the mortal world, which was simpler and cruder. Slowly and inevitably they faded away. Of course, even if this theory is true there are still many missing links and 'holes' in it, yet it is a theory which some Mages hold to be at least partially true. Creatures which folklore recorded as Fey, Jinn, Div, Peri, Yaksha, (some forms of) Yokai and more may at least in part descend from the Ancient Folks. In turn these creatures did intermingle with ancient humans at some point. These beings may also have played a role in the stories of 'Ancient Aliens', too. It is worth noting that such beings are only considered a unified category by human attempts to make sense out of their existence and origins and each one may have a somewhat complex history and ancestry.

Are they enemies or allies of mankind? A good question with no clear answer because the folks are alien (and indeed may have inspired a few modern myths about aliens, as many works of fiction have made a connection between fairies and alien abductions). Long lived and insular in many cases or, at the very least secretive, they have their own codes and own ways of thinking. They are, in many ways a wild card. Some of them actively enjoy devouring human flesh while others are protectors of wild places. Sometimes both at the same time.

Powers of the Ancient Folks

The forms of the ancient Folks are myriad, as are their abilities. Attempting to catalog all of them in one place would be nearly impossible a task. They are incredibly diverse creatures both in term of appearances and abilities, ranging from almost spirit-like beings to creatures closer to a supernaturally powered mortal. This is but a mere sample of their incredibly varied powers and should be taken as a starting point and not an exhaustive list.

• Glamour or Shapeshifting: Powers of illusion and disguise are common among these creatures, with the most basic taking the form of a passive ability to appear as a single human. There are being who can take this ability much further, however.
• Enhanced Physical Abilities: Many of the Ancient Folks are innately stronger, faster and especially more agile and perceptive than ordinary mortals.
• Elemental Abilities: Many of the Ancient Folks have some form of ability over the elements of the world, such as the association of Djinn with 'smokeless fire' or aquatic fey having some powers related to water. These can range from offensive (throwing fire) to something a bit subtle such as a 'blindsight' when in contact with their element. Many Yokai, for example, can take minor control over air to an absurd degree, coating blade or even bullets in 'razor wind', which is rather insane of an ability and guarantee to get people to scream about 'anime bullshit'.
• Fate Alteration: Sometimes called 'probability alteration' by those who find the concept of fate to be silly. It isn't completely known how or why the Ancient Folks do this but they seem to possess some innate and often mysterious ability to increase or decrease odds of unlikely events. To some degree this can even seemingly cause small amount of reality warping, seemingly altering (very small) events. Another way this manifest is through bargains and pacts and breaking one made with the Ancient Folks or some other taboo can bring about misfortune.