Running a "Reese's Campaign"

While some people prefer to play game systems specifically tailored to their favorite SciFi universes (Star Wars, Firefly/Serenity/Star Trek/etc all have branded games, for example), many others, like me, tend to mix things up a bit. The result is what TotS contributor Christine Mayfeld calls the "Reese's Campaign".


So, say you run an ongoing Star Wars game, using whichever rule system suits you. Things are going fine, when when of the players show up after a binge-watching of the Firefly TV series. She loves the idea of playing a bunch of smugglers transporting a fugitive like River Tam. The rest of the players want to keep the Star Wars game going, so do you ignore her request or upset the others by taking time off to run a game of the Serenity rpg? What if there was a third option?

Captain Mal Reynolds is a smuggler, right? Star Wars has those. Lawrence Dobson, Jubal Early and the nameless operative from the Serenity movie are bounty hunters? Star Wars has those. Serenity is a well loved but kind of beat up light cargo ship. So is the Millenium Falcon. Alliance, meet Empire. Browncoats? How about Rebels? Serenity has psychics with uncanny combat prowess. Jedi and Sith, anyone?

So what if the Star Wars PCs, 'freelance traders' with a Reynolds or Solo willingness to ignore the law and do whatever they have to to make a buck, pick up a strange new passenger who recently escaped her Sith master, who recruited her through lies and false promises after discovering her potential skill with the Force. This "River" is still a young padawan, not fully in control of her abilities, like proto-operative River in Firefly. The Empire wants her back, but has to keep it on the downlow to keep up the illusion that the Jedi and Sith are just folktales from an old religion. Almost every scenario involving River could be played out in the Star Wars universe with these tweaks.


"Captain, get a load of this frikkin' guy"

Obviously, some SciFi sungenres and brands would be harder to mix than the example above. William Gibson's dark, gritty cyberpunk tales are a little out of place in a Star Trek universe future earth setting, and the almost Groundhog Day futility of time travel of 12 Monkeys (the movie at least, I'm not really familiar with the TV spinoff series.) doesn't really jive with the Terminator 'verse, where time travel has predictably happier endings, at least until the next sequel.

On the other hand, Aliens style xenomorph bughunts would work great in a Starship Troopers game. Zombies, Resident Evil or I am Legend style (meaning, they're a chemical, biological or other "sciency" accident, not magical undead) could be added to the mix to create a really bizarre but fun twist on War of the Worlds, where the humans the aliens round up aren't outright killed, but comeback later as mindless cannibals.

I'll go into more detail on mixing ideas from various SciFi in the near future, specifically relating to how I use the somewhat generic setting of the Traveller RPG to host any manner of near to far future SciFi. That was, after all, the original intent of that game; to be a catch all for playing any SciFi game you could dream up. The allure of selling sourcebooks inevitably leads most games, Traveller included, to produce a default setting for game play, but Traveller, intentionally or not, left things open and adaptable enough to easily plug all kinds of stuff in without destroying the setting.

For now though, what's your take on mixing settings? Are you a "Reese's" GM, or do you prefer your chocolate bars separate from your peanut butter sandwiches? Let me know in the comments, and tell us about your experiences with mixing stuff together.

Weblinks for the XWing Miniatures Game

Along with being the current licensee for a Star Wars RPG, Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) is the producer of the excellent Xwing starship miniatures collectible game. If you're into one ship per player or small squadron skirmish gaming, or have the resources to build giant fleets, the game scales quite well, and even if you're not into wargaming at all and just want some awesome knick knacks for your desk or bookshelf, you owe it to yourself to check out XWing Minis. Along with their other Star Wars licensed games, you can quickly build a relatively affordable collection of nicely detailed models, pre-painted and ready to use.

Want to learn more or get started? Here's a few links.

FFG's X-Wing Miniatures Game hompage
https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/x-wing/
This is the main page for the game at FFG's  website. You can learn about the game, access the fan community and order the products. For about $40 USD you can pick up a starter set, including a brand new one themed for the Force Awakens movie, as well as a number of expansion sets and accessories.

FFG's other Star Wars licensed games
https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/#/universe/star-wars
As I mentioned, FFG produces a variety of other Star Wars products; RPGs, card games, and board games, some of which include more miniature ships. You'll also find the Star Wars: Imperial Assault game, a miniatures game dealing with single characters; heroes, villains, aliens, stormtroopers. etc.

FFG's Star Wars Dice app
https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/star-wars-dice-app/
You call yourself a gamer but don't have a gaming dice app for your IOS or Android device? You can download the official FFG Star Wars themed app from your app store of choice. With generic support for any game and custom features supporting their Star Wars themed products, complete with nice graphics and sound effects, it's a pretty sweet app for any SciFi gamer.



You know the deal, clicky to make biggie.
Once you have your squadron assembled (Red 5, standing by!) or if you want to learn more before diving in with your wallet open, you may want to check out these recommended fan supported sites.

XWing Miniatures Game Community
http://www.xwingminiaturesgame.com/
A great place for getting the latest news and rumors about the game as well as interacting with other fans. It's a blog style site, with frequent updates.

Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game page on Facebook
http://www.starwars.com/news/category/fans-and-community 
Nice collection of regularly update news and rumors about the game, right in your Facebook feed.


X-Wing Miniatures Mods and Repaints
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1536099843345877/
Speaking of Facebook, I highly recommend joining this group. It's all about kitbashing and custom repainting of XWing Minis and other Star Wars miniature ships. There are some insanely creative folks here! 

Star Wars Miniatures Swap and Sell
https://www.facebook.com/groups/StarWarsXwingSwapandSell/?fref=nf
One last Facebook group worth mentioning. If you're looking for deals or trying to find a rare or custom piece, this is the place to start.

Keep in mind that there are older, out of production Star Wars themed miniatures games out there too.

Star Wars Miniatures was an RPG-style skirmish game by Wizards of the Coast featuring miniature 34mm scale models of characters and vehicles from across the Star Wars saga. It was published between 2004 and 2010.

Star Wars Miniatures Battles was a tabletop miniature wargame system produced by West End Games from 1991 to 1996. WEG is now defunct and some of this stuff is pretty hard to find anymore, having wound up in the hands of collectors.

(Classic Traveller) Setting Background Material - The Solomani Hypothesis and Terran "racism"

Another reposted guest post I wrote for Christine Mayfeld's Transstar News Network blog. I'm copying it over here with her permission.

The Solomani Mind: The Solomani Hypothesis and Terran Human Supremacy

"It's now undisputed scientific fact accepted by all the starfaring sophonts of known space, except the Aslan(1), that humaniti and derived humanoids trace their genetic ancestry to Terra! We are the untouched and purest strain of human blood! Pay no mind to the insolents of tainted lines who claim that our late entry into interstellar affairs makes us somehow inferior to them, that logic is nonsense. We needed no mythical ancestors of the Chirpers(2) to hold our hands throughout our technological progress, we achieved alone what the rest of our scattered cousins did only with mentors aiding them down the path to the stars!"

 - Andrea Solomon(3), TNN Commentator, 184-5634 (1114 IC)

Notes:
(1) One of the Solomani scientists involved in the haut-Devroe expedition of 588 IC, a genetic anthropologist named Viktoriya Beagle, came to much more controversial and, many of her peers and scientists since then say, biased, conclusions than the rest of the researchers present for the expedition. Most of Dr. Beagle's theories and conclusions were disputed or disregarded outright, and were not published among the official findings of the h-D team. Nevertheless, many Solomani loyalists, including more than a few high ranking Party directors, accept Dr. Beagle's body of work as fact.

One of Dr. Beagle's most disputed claims was that the Fteirle, or Aslan, as most humans refer to them, are not a naturally indigenous sophont race. Beagle claimed that genetic analysis of the Fteirle and samples from other animal species found on Kusyu obviously revealed that the DNA of that world's prehistoric life forms had been modified with DNA samples native to Terra. Using methods similar to those used to uplift Terra canines to become the Vargr, Dr. Beagle claimed that the Ancients had uplifted Kusyuni proto-felines to become the Fteirle.

This theory is rejected by Imperial, Fteirle and Hiver scientists, and even questioned (at least publically) by most Solomani researchers. Futhermore, confronting most Fteirle with the "Beagle Conjecture" is a rather egregious insult. Solomani loyalists who accept Dr. Beagle's ideas argue that the fact that the Fteirle declined to participate in the haut-Devroe expedition, and even forbade biological and genetic study of their homeworld's life forms by the members of the h-D team is evidence that the Aslan have something to hide, and insist that until the Fteirle allow an "objective" scientific survey of Kusyu's plant and animal life, Dr. Beagle's theory is within the margin of acceptable scientific error.

It is worth pointing out that although Dr. Viktoriya Beagle is something of a heroine to Solomani extremists (racists, to be blunt), she herself was decidedly not a racist or advocate of innate Solomani superiority. As a matter of fact, late in Beagle's career, decades after the haut-Devroe expedition, she was dismissed from her tenured professorship at the University of Luna after the sordid details of the nature of her relationship with her long time associate and confidant Kfouzarra, a female Vargr long in the employ of Dr. Beagle's research department came to the public attention.

(2) Rooted in a long history of superstitions and urban myths dating back to the infancy of Terra's space age, the Solomani as a whole have a deep distrust and dislike of the Droyne. This, coupled with the condescending attitude toward the Ancients and the races they meddled with, which is demonstrated clearly in Miss Solomon's rant above, leads most Solomani loyalists to refer to Droyne as Chirpers, the common name used for the Droyne's degenerate non-spacefaring cousins.

(3) Miss Andrea Solomon is a well known celebrity new analyst and commentator all around the Confederation, appearing as the host of a popular holovid program called Terra Talk. Imperials and less sympathetic Solomani view Terra Talk, and its host as angry, overly patriotic drivel, but the program is wildly popular and anticipated among many, many Solomani in the post Rim War years. Andrea is a blatant, raging Solomani racist and anti-Imperialist, akin to the most annoying fringe extremist "journalists" of modern day Earth. (Insert your wacko talking head/blogger of choice here)

Miss Solomon lives and works from the TNN headquarters on Mars (Terra, Sol), and it is a little known secret that she is also the eldest daughter of one of that world's top SolSec operatives, making her a dangerous person to threaten or harm. Andrea herself is somewhat unaware of the exact nature and stature of her father's position, and is surprisingly unlikely to his him as a threat against those she dislikes.

Andrea Solomon (Andrea Fabiani) 5749BA
Solomani Female, Age 44
7th Term Solomani Party, Cr 200,000 (plus liberal access to TNN assets related to her work)
Administration 3, Bribery 2, Leader 2, Liaison 3, Streetwise 1

Miss Solomon is also a typical example of TNN's Terran Humanity bias and focus. All of the major, Confederation-wide reporters, anchors, analysts and hosts on the TNN holovid programs and XBoat delivered "email" reports use surname pseudonyms derived from the word Solomani; Solomon, Solo, Solomonson. The one exception is the Arrghoun language Vargr holovid anchor "Mr. Agzee", a pseudonym used by a succession of Solomani sympathizing Vargr celebrities and based on a rather crude Anglicization of the Arrghoun term Agedzllaergh, "he who returned home". The Vargr of the Confederation are uncommon, but not unknown, and the current Mr. Agzee is always wildly popular among them, as well as among younger Sol humans who are fluent in the Arrghoun language.


One last note: Dr. Beagle's name is just a silly homage/joke re: Charles Darwin, referencing the sailing ship upon which he formulated most of his evolutionary theories.