Design Diary - Creating a retro science fiction adventure game
Creating a roleplaying game based on the science fiction works of Jack Vance.
Hi all,
One of my current works in progress is a roleplaying game inspired by the science fiction works of Jack Vance.
In the world of analog adventure games, Jack Vance is mostly associated with the Vancian magic systems inspired by his Dying Earth fantasy books, but for me his science fiction works have been foundational1. Jack Vance is one of the sf writers with the most works translated into Dutch, so I've been reading his work since an early age, when I was devouring every science fiction and fantasy book in our local library. Early last year I started rereading a lot of his science fiction output. I love his kind of science fiction: more focused on weird cultures and mystery then on tech and aliens.
As of now this is almost 2000 words of research, half baked ideas, and lists. To order my thoughts and notes, I thought it might be fun to start designing the game in public. Before writing anything, I want to set up the basic principles of the setting, the type of characters and the type of adventures these characters will have.
Why make this game? Isn't there one already?
Sure, there is the Gaean Reach roleplaying game by Pelgrane Press, but it does quite a different thing then I'd would like: it allows you to play in Vance's worlds, instead of allowing you to create worlds & peoples LIKE those of Jack Vance.
Next to that the GUMSHOE based system does not really vibe with my playing style. It's an important step in the mystery game genre, but especially for solo play, I like the Brindlewood Bay system better. (Also GUMSHOE in this iteration is a bit too crunchy for me).
One big hurdle in mystery adventures is making sure the players find enough clues to solve the mystery. GUMSHOE solves this by allowing the players to always find the clues, and then letting them solve it. Carved from Brindlewood games approach this differently: there is not a predetermined solution to the mystery. When players have collected a number of clues they can try and present their theory and roll for it. The more clues they can include in their theory, the bigger the chance they are right. This might not be to everyones taste, but it fits perfect with the vibe of discovering & defining the setting during play I want this game to have.
So, while there is a game, it's not the game I want it to be. Which of course means I'll have to make it myself.
Defining the setting
Vancian science fiction was never hard sf, already feeling retro when the later books came out. This retro pulp feeling is what I want to emulate.
The age of exploration is over. This is a lived-in universe. Settled worlds are everywhere, with their own long histories. Exploration, discovering and settling new worlds and is not the focus.
This does not mean travel can't be the focus of a game: the picaresque mode of Vancian novels will be much supported.Technology is retro and stagnant. There is FTL travel, there are blaster guns, but not much more progress. There might still be inventors, but they're more tinkerers. There are no space stations, space ships land on planet-side space ports.
Computers do exist, but more as big archival machines, there are limited to none personal computing devices, no smart phones.Human centered. Aliens exist, but mostly as dangerous wildlife. If there are intelligent creatures, they don't care much about the universe past their own world, and they'll be uninterested in humans. The focus is on all the weird societies, cultures and foods humans have created.
There is no canon. No one's version of the setting will be the same. There might be adventures or planets created at some point, but most of the setting will be determined and built during play. There is no timeline, there is no setting guide.
No big focus on space ships. Space ships are mostly a way of transport: we have space cruise ships & space cargo haulers. Adventures might takes place on ships, but ship to ship combat is not a thing. Most of them can be flown by a single person or a small crew.
Communication travels at the speed of ships. Information will be transported by ships, there is no separate communication network between worlds.
What about the characters?
While there are some differences, most of Jack Vance's characters share a few common traits. His early works like the Planet of Adventure series fall in the classic planetary adventure genre, with the typical very capable everyman lead. Over the course of career the type of characters evolved a bit, but he did stick to a few characteristics.
Most of his characters are capable, smart and fit young men. They often find the rules of their societies a bit too strict, but have good relationships with good role models. They do break conventions, but out of conviction, not out of malice. They have learned to fight, they can fly spaceships, and they know their way around an investigation.
The stories mainly fall in two modes: picaresque adventures on either a big single planet (Big Planet and it's sequel Showboat World are two prime examples) or traveling from planet to planet (Ports of Call). The other mode is more plot driven, either by revenge (the Demon Princes series is the best one example of this, the main character taking down one of the 5 arch villains who killed his family one by one) or more mystery (the classic amnesiac plot in Marune, one of the Alastor books, where a man tries to find out which of his enemies poisoned him so he lost his memory).
Regarding the type of stories, I think my main challenge is between offering single world versus multiple world, that would require 2 sets of random tables I think. I'll start by focusing on multiple words at first. Supporting both the picaresque and more plot driven modes should be easy enough. Even in the more plot driven stories you still encounter weird cultures and peoples.
By offering systems like the Iron Vows in Ironsworn, you could give a character focus, while still allowing the player to explore the universe according to their whims.
The following character types seem to be the best fitting:
Young adventurer: excels in studies, but not much world experience, with have one or mentor connections
Vigilante: might have a past working for 'proper' crime fighting organizations. Often motivated by revenge, loners, but usually quite a bit of useful contacts.
Effectuators: crime solvers for a certain organization, traveling judges
Trader/crew man, part of a crew, less of a focus on trade then on picaresque adventures
Danger is certainly a part of the stories, but more in the way of setbacks and wounds (either wounded egos or actual physical wounds), but character death does not really fit. What would fit is a PbtA style success with a complication.
It's good to point out that in his science fiction Jack Vance stuck to male protagonists almost exclusively, this game will be open to characters of all genders.
(In the Cadwel trilogy the love interest of the main character, Wayness Tamm, has her own plotline in the second book, but sadly she gets relegated to the sidelines in book 3.)
While I like his stories, but I'm not blind to the dated views in Vance's books. There's some casual racism and sexism (more in the older works, but still there in the later works). This game will not be for people who liked those parts.
Prefaces & Footnotes
Jack Vance uses footnotes for a lot of his info dumps and worldbuilding, but I especially love his chapter prefaces. In the Demon Princes series each chapter starts with in-universe work of non-fiction or even fiction. Planetary guides, highly opinionated commentaries, fragments of interviews and more. While a lot of the Demon Princes books can be pretty straight-forward revenge stories, the prefaces add a lot of depth.
I'd love to find a way to add a way for players to add their own worldbuilding to the game. Maybe something to frame sessions separate from their own characters or the current plot, or as a downtime mechanic? Or as a special ability that helps establish truths convenient to the current thing happening?
Food for thought! I'd love input on this one.
So, where does this leave us?
In the next installments I want to start defining the minimal needed mechanics to start some play-testing and actually designing the first sub-systems.
I might change my mind, but for now I want to start with:
Generator for planets & their cultures
Generator for character goals/quests/jobs
The main game resolution mechanic
Where would you start?
See you in the next installment!
Of course I will always return to the Lyonesse trilogy, his great fantasy series, but that's a topic for another game time.
Thank you Peter for sharing your thoughts about this (future) game. Old fan of Vance stories, I'm very interested by what you will create on this one :)
For the world building part, maybe you can have a sort of prologue to the game each time you play, to build the world from a more larger point of view than the character's. Each game session would be split in a short world building part (god stance), followed by the main game part (character stance). That prologue could be like a creative exercise before plunging in your character.
PC helping with world building is always cool. I like your suggestion of downtime tasks. Or maybe as a reward? “Because you did this, you get to design a space station or shuttle craft and name it”?