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Post by scottenkainen on Dec 27, 2023 22:58:09 GMT -6
Hi all! I'm back from a two month sabbatical from visiting here. Since then I've acquired a PDF copy of Starfaring on Drivethrurpg, so I'm back here because this is the best place I know to ask about it.
Marv has previously said that in Starfaring your character is the ship, but that does not jive with my reading. It seems to me that the captain of the ship is your character and the ship is his equipment, like your D&D character's sword, if D&D had tables and tables of details for what your sword's edge, cross-guard, pommel, etc. were like.
But it also seems to me that Starfaring seems optimally played one-on-one. The rules seem to be saying that every player gets his own ship, so how does a scenario then work with six players? I can see competitive play, with six ships swooping around a new solar system, trying to lay claim to resources before the others, but cooperative play across six different ships seems like it would be very hard to pull off.
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Post by Finarvyn on Dec 28, 2023 5:16:39 GMT -6
Never trust Marv. He's a moron.  Honestly, your interpretation of the game sounds a lot like mine. Each person captains one ship with various capabilities, all of which are under your control. Beyond that it's just semantics, I think. You are the captain, you are all of the crew, you play the ship. From there the game tells you how to build your ship. You buy a shell, you buy weapons and engines, you buy various computer programs. Sort of like Traveler, but there are no individual adventures. Only ship adventures. That's what led to my "you play the ship" comments. The only time that I've played was one-on-one, so I'm not really sure how six players would work. Others who have played Starfaring (or those with questions) please hop onto the conversation!  |
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Post by derv on Dec 28, 2023 20:37:42 GMT -6
The rules seem to be saying that every player gets his own ship, so how does a scenario then work with six players? I can see competitive play, with six ships swooping around a new solar system, trying to lay claim to resources before the others, but cooperative play across six different ships seems like it would be very hard to pull off. You should give it a try. Be interesting to hear the outcome. If I recall, the rules are a little scant. So, pretty open to interpretation and implementation. They do mention someone filling the role of a Galaxy Master who creates the setting and runs the alien NPC's. Perhaps it could be run like Star Frontiers or a simple exploration game where all of the players are part of the same federation. |
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Post by Finarvyn on Dec 29, 2023 6:35:18 GMT -6
If I recall, the rules are a little scant. Welcome to the 1970's. I think that the brevity of rules is a feature, not a bug, of game design at the time. In the 1970's regular folks would have a neat idea and type it up into a little pamphlet and others could play it. Sometimes it matched the concept of the designer, sometimes just served as fuel for inspiration. Today's games are big hardbacks which might be filled with better grammar but come off as somewhat sterile to read, but interesting only because of high-priced artwork. A lot has changed in fifty years. |
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Post by geoffrey on Dec 29, 2023 14:57:38 GMT -6
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Post by geoffrey on Dec 29, 2023 15:00:39 GMT -6
In the 1970's regular folks would have a neat idea and type it up into a little pamphlet and others could play it... Today's games are big hardbacks which might be filled with better grammar but come off as somewhat sterile to read, but interesting only because of high-priced artwork. A lot has changed in fifty years. Yeah, and most of the change has been for the worse.  |
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Post by scottenkainen on Dec 29, 2023 16:18:27 GMT -6
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Post by derv on Dec 29, 2023 21:07:31 GMT -6
I think that the brevity of rules is a feature, not a bug, of game design at the time. Brevity and conciseness are a preference in my games of choice. I can't say that any bloated rulesets really appeal to me despite their appearance of completeness. That being said, I'm not convinced that brevity in and of itself can always be considered a feature of good game design. Conciseness, on the other hand, is definitely a feature no matter when a game was written. Yet, after again taking a quick look at it, Starfaring seems to offer a fairly decent framework to start from. It gives you a method for creating a scouting spaceship and instructions for creating starfarers. It also has a number of suggested scenarios. I think you could easily play a game with multiple players. One would need to be the Galaxy Master and the others could all be different members of the crew on the ship. Each crew member would have their own stats, equipment, and weapons. It could even be run sort of like a dungeon crawl in space with each star cluster containing alien encounters, hazards, puzzles, things to discover, and treasures to be prospected or earned. Return to the homeworld to refit for the next adventure. |
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Post by scottenkainen on Dec 30, 2023 15:33:41 GMT -6
I'm pleased that my current players sound interested in trying it. I am on the fence about putting them all on the same crew or perhaps doubling them up on the same ships. It would definitely be easier to run this with them all on the same ship, but it seems to defy the spirit of the game, that every player is a Ship Master.
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Post by Finarvyn on Dec 30, 2023 16:11:06 GMT -6
My copy has a pinkish-redish color cover, however, and not a color one. The one you linked to may be an update? |
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Post by scottenkainen on Dec 30, 2023 19:54:18 GMT -6
There's a note inside that only spelling errors have been corrected.
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aramis
Level 4 Theurgist
Posts: 170 
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Post by aramis on Jan 1, 2024 0:25:47 GMT -6
My copy has a pinkish-redish color cover, however, and not a color one. The one you linked to may be an update? My dead tree copy was purchased from "that litigious guy" before I found out TLG wasn't licensed for it. There's a difference 'twixt concise and cryptic. It's a bit too cryptic for me. |
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Post by Finarvyn on Jan 1, 2024 7:06:19 GMT -6
..."that litigious guy" before I found out TLG wasn't licensed for it... I just wanted to correct something. TLG is "Troll Lord Games" and had nothing to do with that guy who stole everyone's IP material for resale. That guy's company was "Outlaw Press" if my memory serves me correctly. TLG is the group that does Castles & Crusades, Amazing Adventures, and other fine games. They are good people and I wanted to be sure that they weren't painted with a bad brush. |
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Post by Piper on Jan 3, 2024 18:13:50 GMT -6
..."that litigious guy" before I found out TLG wasn't licensed for it... I just wanted to correct something. TLG is "Troll Lord Games" and had nothing to do with that guy who stole everyone's IP material for resale. That guy's company was "Outlaw Press" if my memory serves me correctly. Your memory serves you well. He Who Shall Not Be Named left a lot of bad feelings in his wake. Still, may he RIP. |
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Post by chicagowiz on Jan 4, 2024 10:22:09 GMT -6
Your memory serves you well. He Who Shall Not Be Named left a lot of bad feelings in his wake. Still, may he RIP. He really passed away? When was this? |
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Post by Finarvyn on Jan 4, 2024 15:12:56 GMT -6
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Post by chicagowiz on Jan 5, 2024 8:09:14 GMT -6
Wow. I'm feelin' kinda old these days!
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aramis
Level 4 Theurgist
Posts: 170
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Post by aramis on Jan 6, 2024 20:55:17 GMT -6
..."that litigious guy" before I found out TLG wasn't licensed for it... I just wanted to correct something. TLG is "Troll Lord Games" and had nothing to do with that guy who stole everyone's IP material for resale. That guy's company was "Outlaw Press" if my memory serves me correctly. TLG is the group that does Castles & Crusades, Amazing Adventures, and other fine games. They are good people and I wanted to be sure that they weren't painted with a bad brush. TLG was me shortcutting "That lawyer guy"... Biggest IP thief in the industry is a bloody lawyer. |
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bobjester0e
Level 4 Theurgist
DDO, DCC, or more Lost City map work? Oh, the hardship of making adult decisions! ;)
Posts: 182
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Post by bobjester0e on Jan 13, 2024 9:34:26 GMT -6
I read the rules once and my takeaway is that a player creates a character, crew & ship, so that would facilitate solo play, but I see no reason why multiple players could be the crew of one ship.
Granted, it's been many years since I read Starfaring, so my memory may not (will not!) be 100% accurate, as I tend to remember rules in a way that I can bend them to my table's needs moreso than RAW.
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Post by scottenkainen on Jan 27, 2024 21:52:44 GMT -6
I'm going to start running Starfaring for 1-3 sessions over either Zoom or Google Meet sometime in February. Is anyone here interested in joining?
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