Is this an April Fools prank? A hoax? No?? It's real? Really real?
It's not my birthday. It isn't Xmas or Hanukkah. Life Day?
How can this be true?
Well it is...it definitely is...
Modiphius Entertainment, the makers of my beloved Star Trek Adventurers, have announced that they are making a Space:1999 Roleplaying Game.
I've brought up Space:1999, the British Science Fiction TV Series, only a few times in the past and as some may remember, that's the tagline for my Thorough Thursdays series. I had always intended to do a Thorough Thursdays about this show but never got around to it much to my dismay. Now I have every reason to do so...only its Saturday. Drat. Oh well, the show must go on! I'm too excited about this to wait until next week.
I caught the show when it first aired in the US in 1975 and instantly fell in love. It was like a a cross between Lost in Space and Star Trek, yet distinctly different in setting, plot, and atmosphere from both of those shows. The stories were somewhat darker and more surreal. The science of it was often wonky (Isaac Asimov famously lambasted the 'science' of the series in Cue Magazine in 1975) yet somehow gave off the feeling of being more 'realistic' due to its tone and look.
I for one ate it up. I had the Mattel Eagle 1 Spaceship (the Eagle Transporter), action figures, the toy prop Stun Gun and Communicator, and even went as a Moonbase Alpha crewman one Halloween (not a store bought costume but a total homebrew - long sleeve colored shirt underneath another white one with one sleeve removed. Vintage/second hand clothes are magic).
I've always wanted to run a Space:1999 RPG but never have as best I can recall. The series has absolutely influenced many of my Sci-Fi campaigns such as Star Trek, Traveller, Red Dwarf, and more but I have never done a dedicated Space:1999 game. The reasons for this are really three fold:
While I was and am a fan of Space:1999, my working knowledge of the setting and its elements is no where near as strong as those of Star Trek, Star Wars, ALIEN, or Red Dwarf. I would need to re-familiarize myself with the series in a big way in order to feel comfortable running it as a campaign.
Am I alone in my love for Space:1999? I've seen a lot of people on the internet surprised that Modiphius chose this particular franchise to produce as an RPG. Most noted positive but only vague memories of the show or a hope that some other Gerry Anderson property would be made into a game (most notably UFO or Thunderbirds). My concern now is the same as it was in the past - do enough people know about and like Space:1999 enough for me to find players?
Lastly, the setting focuses on one 'world', Earth's Moon. On it is a single, large base known as Moonbase Alpha which is occupied by 311 crewmembers*. That's kind of limiting when compared to the settings of other modern SF RPGs. In the RPG to come, are you one of the 311 on Alpha? Don't we know we (the Player Characters) aren't the ones in charge unless the players are controlling John Koenig, Helena Russell, or Alan Carter?
The question that comes to mind would be the same one I'd have if I were running a Star Trek campaign set on the original series Enterprise; if we come upon a derelict alien vessel and we're not playing Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, how is it that the PCs get to go on a mission to investigate it? If we are assigned to accompany the leads, do the NPCs (again, Kirk, Spock, McCoy) decide what to do? That doesn't sound like fun even though it makes internal sense.
Personally, I am very excited to see this game and will definitely be picking it up. I do hope that the book dedicates a significant portion of the GM section to how you play this given the parameters of the milieu.
Until then, "Loyalty is better than logic; Hope is better than despair; Creation is better than destruction".
AD
Barking Alien
*Between character deaths and new births during the course of the show's two seasons, Moonbase Alpha has approximately 284 occupants (including at least one baby as I recall).
I had the Mattel Eagle 1 and the toy sidearm as a kid, and I have the complete series on Blu-ray as of last Christmas. My favorite episode is the one with Ian McShane, "Force of Life."
ReplyDeleteA role-playing game adaptation would be interesting, but I'd rather adapt it unofficially myself than play a version published by Modiphius. I'd prefer something along the lines of Fudge, Call of Cthulhu, or Classic Traveller over 2d20.
Interesting. Traveller I could definitely see but why the others over a game already established to work well with Sci-Fi TV show properties?
DeleteFudge and Call of Cthulhu are both good systems for player characters who are mostly ordinary human beings with a variety of skills at different levels. Call of Cthulhu also models sanity, which is often relevant in Space: 1999 episodes. And I prefer the task resolution rules of all three over 2d20.
DeleteI had the big Eagle too - a Christmas present one year, I'm guessing 75 or 76 and I had that thing for years. I haven't see the show in years though.
ReplyDeleteI was one of those "why this?" people myself. It seems like a niche of a niche for an RPG but hey if the license terms are right and someone has the passion for it, well, why not give it a try? It's still not something I expected to see as a glossy hardcover RPG book but I didn't think old-school Planet of the Apes would be one of those either so what do I know?
As far as campaign options I'm with you on the narrowness of the setting. "Moon as ship" is an interesting concept but it is otherwise fairly tight. Would it wreck things if you retconned in a heretofore unmentioned "Moon base Beta" on the other side of the moon as a monitoring station/observatory where PC's could begin? Something to think about. Idea 2: Possibly the crew of a ship in lunar orbit that gets dragged along when the moon zooms off? The first adventure could be getting to the surface and to the moon base before the air runs out.
My two standing ideas for a Space:1999 based RPG setting, which I've had for a good many years now, are:
DeleteSpace:1999: LaGrange Point Station
A Space Station existed inbetween the Earth and the Moon that was jettisoned away in a completely different direction when Luna was blasted from its orbit. 'Space Station as Starship' instead of 'Moon as Starship' essentially. I imagine an aspect of the game could be repairing, modifying, and adding to your Space Station as your campaign goes on.
The second idea, and one I've mentioned on this blog in the past (once. I think), is a campaign taking place in our Sol System. The game would revolve around the Earth and other worlds of our solar system post the Moon's departure. The PCs strive to help our big blue marble survive its new, moonless existence.
I do love your Moonbase Beta idea, with (perhaps) the added twist that Moonbase Alpha might have no idea that Beta even exists. A secret base on the far side of the Moon doing secret Moon stuff.
Yeah. Moon stuff.
I watched Space: 1999 as a small child and it scared the bejeezus out of me. I am also too young to remember much of it at all...just images and impressions.
ReplyDeleteIt belongs in that same genre of scifi as the original Alien film. Which is to say: the BEST genre of scifi. Space should be scary: you can't breathe out there.
I do like me some scary space.
DeleteI also remember being terrified of one particular episode -- I think more than one Filipino kid was psychologically scarred...
DeleteIf I can induce a little Science FIction related childhood trauma...my work here is done.
DeleteI had seen this and immediately thought of you....
ReplyDelete