[LFP] Alternity- Science Fiction RPG

I just wanted to see if I could get anyone interested in Alternity. It is a really good science fiction RPG and I would be happy to teach it to new players. I have a number of stories rolling around in my head. The overall theme would be humanity's initial expansion outside of earth. I typically run a little more of a hard science fiction with more of an emphasis on player driven adventure. So plan on getting access to a ship pretty early on. I would say that the tone may be a bit more "Interstellar" than "Star Wars", but I am open to suggestions.  I am pretty flexible with most things. Weekends are best for me, but I can try an accommodate other schedules. Feel free to reply if you are interested or have any questions.   

If you and the other players decide to run every other week, I would be interested.

Every other week would be optimal. 

I'm unfamiliar with Alternity but I'm interested in the tone you're trying to go with. Not sure on my schedule right now, I should be flexible.

Lucas, If its a dedicated game every week or other week, Id' be interested dependent on what day you play? Send me a PM!  Thanks! 

I'd be total noob too it, but I'd be super interested in playing it, of course depending on what day you would like to play!

I am interested as well and I too would be a total noob to this system. I did a search and see there were a number of books published and some of them can be downloaded as PDFs, so I did get a chance to read some of it. I am a huge fan of GURPS (player and GM for many many years), and this system looks like a stripped down version of it, which is OK in my book. So I am interested and of course depending on when the sessions will be.

I don't know much about the game system, but seeing as I already know how to play 19 other systems so why not add another onto the pot?!? I'd really be interest in playing in a more space oriented character driven game, as apposed to the many many fantasy, doomed world arches that I've been falling into as of late. I've got a good mic, can play on Sundays, as well as Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday afternoons, and a rather agreeable personality, or so I've been told. So If you're still looking, I'll be waiting! 

I played Alternity, back in the day (get off my lawn!), and although I probably cannot join this campaign I recall the system & game being quite fun! Mr GM, perhaps if this takes off please let me know which day(s) you plan to play? Game on!

when are you wanting to start im in central timezone and saturday nights would be good , would definately need help with char gen

Hiya! I'd be rather new to Alternity however I am super interested in space and dramatic space operas! I have played a bit of D&D and Pathfinder, a couple of WoD games as well, but I am still learning! I highly prefer roleplaying over combat oriented games and a bit of intrigue and adventure! After this week I should have a relatively open schedule! I have discord and skype!

I received a lot of interest so I am struggling to get back to all of you, so bare with me. As of time, I am located in Germany CET. I would like to run games around 0500 AM on Saturday or Sunday. That would be 1100 PM  2300 on Friday or Saturday EST and 2000 PM on Friday or Saturday PST. Probably do this every other week. I am somewhat flexable with this arrangement, however weekdays are almost impossible for me due to work schedule. I will post more when I begin to get some things figured out. Thank you for all of your interest and hopefully we can work something out.  

Here is a brief introduction to the setting.&nbsp; October 18th, 1962 (Thursday) The Nikola Tesla Research Center, 70 miles West of Colorado Springs, Colorado Our 1962 is much like the real 1962. Two days ago the New York Yankees beat the San Fransisco Giants in an epic 7 game World Series contest. "I Can't Stop Loving You" by Ray Charles (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_7iRVtxui8" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_7iRVtxui8</a>) is number 2 on the Billboard Magazine's Top 100 songs list. Yes, I mention #2 because the number one song is some awful clarinet piece by Acker Bilk. Seriously what were they thinking? However, The Beatles have just released their first single "Love Me Do" in the UK, although it will be 2 years until it crosses the pond. This is screaming on all the radios, (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS7SUFz36lg" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS7SUFz36lg</a>). Too bad Colorado isn't on the beach. The TV show, The Jetsons has just begun reaching kids as part of the Saturday morning lineup and Johnny Carson has just taken over the Tonight Show. But we aren't here to talk pop culture. The Vietnam War has recently been escalating over the past two years and tension between the United States and the Soviet Union are at an all time high. What you don't know just yet is that the Soviets have just recently been caught arming Cuba with long range nuclear warheads pointed straight at the US. But what you are most interested in is the US Space Program. Just over a month ago U.S. President John F. Kennedy reaffirmed his commitment to put an astronaut on the moon by the end of the decade. The Sigma 7 spacecraft has recently made its 6th orbit of Earth in fifth manned mission of the U.S. Space Program and Mariner 2 is slowly nearing Venus. All these events are directly tied to you and your colleagues efforts at the Nikola Tesla Research Center. The Nikola Tesla Research Center, or NTRC, is a top secret government research center isolated in the mountains near Buena Vista, Colorado. The NTRC began it's construction in 1942 as part of the Manhattan Project. After the development of nuclear weapons the NTRC was reorganized to research a number of cutting edge technologies. Departments of Military Tech, Space Technologies, and Computer Science were all built, each with its own individual command structure each overseen by the US Military. To ensure security, each command is completely independent and avoids sharing resources with other departments. Now seeming more like a military base, the NTRC accommodates a number of specialties. Army and Navy special forces units have been seen testing the MOPE, or Man Operated Personal Exoskeleton. Air Force and Marine Corps pilots have been flying the prototype SF-01 Phoenix, the first stealth fighter jet. Both civilian and military scientist huddle in laboratories theorizing about new concepts of physics which could potentially lead unmanned vehicles to break the light barrier While access to the facility is tightly controlled, even foreign researchers from NATO and the Soviet Union have been invited to tour the base. There in no greater deterrent to aggression against American interests than a controlled display of American technological superiority. This should give all of you enough information to begin conceptualizing characters. The only real requirements are that you all be human and have some reason to be working or stationed at this research facility. It should accommodate a wide range of professions, from low level military grunts working as gate guards, special forces units testing new military technologies, to military or civilian doctors and scientists. To be honest, all that is really required is that you be on the base on the night of October 18th, 1962. You can be a foreign diplomat touring the facility or even a Soviet spy who has infiltrated the base. Events in game are going to totally restructure your character's priorities anyway so don't focus much on you character's rank or allegiances, those will all rapidly change. Finally, spoiler alert, I anticipate the characters to gain access to a ship fairly early on in game, so you may want to take skills which would make you useful as crew to a space faring vessel.

Lucas I have &nbsp;a few questions: I am not sure I understand what we need to provide at this point. Are we providing just a character concept or designing a full 60 point character? Since it in 1962 I assume we do&nbsp;not&nbsp;have any type of space faring skills right? Since no one has been in space yet. Skills such as&nbsp;Engineering, Sensors,&nbsp;Astrogation&nbsp;Drivespace, Xenomedicine, Space Vehicle, or Space Tactics&nbsp;would&nbsp;not exist yet. If this is correct,&nbsp;could&nbsp;you&nbsp;supply&nbsp; list of skills&nbsp;we&nbsp;cannot&nbsp;take? All other&nbsp;skills and/or weapons,&nbsp;would&nbsp;be based on the tech level of 1962, correct? Just trying to grasp the situation Mike

Great questions. So the first session or two are going to be something of a prologue. Basically, I don't want to just tell you what your characters ought to care about, I want give you a series of events and let you decide what your character thinks about it and how they react. So if 1962 doesn't seem very Space Opera, I will get you there quickly. I figured I would be getting a number of players who are new to Alternity, so I thought a little prologue would be a good opportunity to get a handle on things before we get deep into our space adventure. So this research center which you guys begin play working at has top secret technologies which exceed that of what we know from the real 1960s. By 1962 there had been a a few Soviet and US manned space mission. Perhaps your character could have been on one of them. Perhaps the Nikola Tesla Research Center is where the crew for some of these manned missions debriefed and your character could have trained under these astronauts. Maybe your character is a brilliant astrophysicist and he has at least a theoretical grasp on FTL travel &nbsp;and/or interstellar navigation. Overall, I am not so eager to bar any skills. If you have a neat idea for a character concept and some of these "questionable" skills are part of that character concept, we can work something out which makes at least some narrative sense. What I would rather avoid is a player making a character without any character concept in mind. This is how you get characters who's skill-set doesn't match their backgrounds. You get a young, low-ranking, gruff, soldier character concept who for some reason has 3 ranks in Surgery. Sure, the rules don't forbid it, but why would a skilled surgeon ever serve as a low-ranking soldier? Overall, I just want to have a good time and provide an environment where fun can happen for anyone. To make that happen, I want to help you play the character's you want to play. So I don't mind bending some rules.&nbsp;

Lucas M. said: As of time, I am located in Germany CET. I would like to run games around 0500 AM on Saturday or Sunday. That would be 1100 PM on Friday or Saturday EST and 2000 PM on Friday or Saturday PST. I think you accidentally gave one time in military and the other in normal notation. 5AM/0500 CET = 11PM/2300 EST = 8PM/2000 PST, just to clear up any confusion people might have. Do you intend the manner in which the crew come to be in space to be a surprise? I feel like that's going to be a big deal in shaping the nature of their explorations. I'm also curious, is your vision for this something akin to the aesthetic of 1950s science fiction, since it's set in 1962? What are some other pieces of film or literature besides "Interstellar" that you would say have the look and feel of what you're going for?

Thank you for bringing the time issue to my attention. I will fix it when I get a chance.&nbsp; The events when propel the characters into space will form a sort of prologue which will, hopefully, shape the goals of the players for the remainder of the campaign. I say hopefully because I suppose the players could just ignore it, but I am confident that can give this prologue a lasting impression. My intention is to script out the first few sessions and eventually turn the characters loose. But I need to turn the characters loose with some direction or at least some sense of what is going on so that they might actually make decisions.&nbsp; People seem really concerned about the 1960's issue. I picked it for a number of reasons. First, it isn't going to play that big of a role. I could amend my story a little but and change is to 2023 or whatever. I knew that I didn't want a "typical" sci-fi setting feel. Humans are the movers and shakers of the galaxy. Star Wars has hundreds of alien races, but really it is humans who are in charge. You could say similar things about Mass Effect, Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen, and even the Alternity settings. I like the 1960's because the human space program is in its infancy. Humans haven't even been to the moon yet. To the rest of the galaxy, humans are only a small step above apes. I think that is a cool new twist that you dont see in much popular sci-fi. I want a setting a little more grounded in reality. I mean, what do people wear in 2023? What music do they listen to? Guardians of the Galaxy did a good job with Star Lord's character by designing him as a product of the late 70's and early 80's. It gives the character a subtle depth. Finally, I don't want to get too close to modern politics. I don't want to be accused of trying to make a political statement. I like RPGs to get me away from thinking about our current problems. As for inspiration. Interstellar is probably more what I am looking for, at least in tone. I dont know enough about physics to really get as deep as Interstellar. I would also say the Martian would be a similar tone. I want to avoid some of the trends in stuff like Mass Effect. In the very fist moment of Mass Effect you are told you are the hero, the exposition tells you how great you are, but you didn't roleplay that. I am more interested in letting players decide. Fantasy and Sci-fi sometimes thinks that stories are only good if the stakes are really high. I dont really believe that. Sometimes just surviving or just exploring are far more rewarding adventures. I mean imagine how you would feel leaving Earth with a small group of people and no promise that you will return. Imagine seeing that blue dot which carries every thing you have ever cared and watching it slowly disappear from site. You dont get that in a typical far future sci-fi story. Hopefully that answered some of your questions. &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Yeah, thanks. I actually like the 1960s idea, I'm just curious what you have in mind for the kind of technology that will be involved in the alternate history. It sounds like you're going for something fairly realistic with some notable exceptions?

I'm not familiar with the system, but I'd like to throw my hat in the ring for this as well. Zeerust sort of sci-fi is totally something I'm into. If there's anything you'd like to talk about feel free to PM me or get at me here.

Yah, fairly realistic with notable exceptions is a good assessment. Part of the point of the first two sessions will be to show you guys a little more about the ways in which the game world differs from the real one. And the ways it does differ, it pretty much differs only in this research facility.&nbsp;

The 1960's idea sounds good. I work this weekend and every other weekend after that. My availability starts Dec 16th and every other weekend after that.

Every other weekend is OK to me, even every weekend I can do. Assuming it is Friday or Saturday evening 8pm PST. You have my character now, all I need to do is assign equipment but I also need to know what equipment is preassigned to me. Also I notice that the character sheet has not updated yet, even though it was published this past weekend. I also know the inventory section has been completely revised so I will wait to enter my equipment until the new sheet is available. BTW: After the first few sessions have completed, is the game basically going to be a sandbox and open ended? Are you looking for it to run for some time,perhaps a year or more? Or will there be an end in sight? Also within the game, can I request a Handout be made called Player's Notes and be&nbsp;available&nbsp;for view and edit by all players? This way we&nbsp;can keep &nbsp;notes we have collected once the game is running in a central location. Thanks Mike