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Dredwulf60
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 Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2016 8:38 pm Post subject: Some Crossovers I've had |
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I was always a big fan of Frank Herberts DUNE.
So naturally I shoe-horned elements of DUNE into my Star Wars games back in the mid 90s. It was only much later...once I got a computer and the internet that I realized how much homage Lucas had paid to Frank Herbert's Dune himself.
In my SW universe, the Imperium (aka The Padishah Empire) is a little-known sector on the edge of Wildspace. It never joined the Republic and has been Quarantined by the Galactic Empire.
They had their Jihad against 'thinking machines' centuries ago, so they have no droids or advanced computers. They have hyperspace drives, but instead of navigation computers they use the Spacing Guild Navigators who are force-sensitive due to their use of the spice Melange; though their entire discipline is focused on the prescience necessary to plot hyperspace routes.
The Spice Melange of course comes from planet Arrakis, where the Fremen live not unlike the Sand People of Tatooine, though they are fantastically fierce fighters.
The spice melange is like speed for midi-chlorians and consumption of it boosts a person's force sensitivity, though heavy use guarantees addiction. The fremen are constantly around spice which accounts for their seemingly supernatural fighting prowess (basic force-based bonuses)
Melange is the primary reason for the Imperial Quarantine, and Arrakis would have been a prime target for the Death Star had it not been blown up.
There is also the feudal nature of the Imperium which fits in well with Star Wars, with Dukes, Barons etc; their swordsmanship skills and assassins.
They have developed personal shielding which functions like a bonus dice pool to parry that can be used against melee attacks as well as firearms.
(A slow blade can penetrate the shield, thus a skilled opponent can roll high enough with melee to beat your shield.)
When energy weapons are used against a shield it causes a feedback. (In the source it causes a nuclear explosion that would annihilate both shooter and target. I scaled it down) the blast would ignore the shield and do normal damage to the target, but the feedback would blow up the energy weapon in the shooter's hand doing equivalent damage to him.
The Bene Gesserit sisterhood is a group of female force-users that manipulate the noble houses and carry on their selective breeding program.
Mentats are humans who use a special drug to enhance their ability to think quickly and retain information, giving them eidetic memory and incredible bonuses to knowledge-based skills.
The crossovers made for some interesting situations. |
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Dredwulf60
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| Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2016 8:42 pm Post subject: |
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In my clone-wars era game I had a planet that was ruled by the Coalition (from the RIFTS RPG).
They were aligned with the CIS and provided another worthwhile enemy besides battle droids to my players;
I had them have their own military cloning program which made up the bulk of their 'dead boy' infantry.
The Techno Union helped them develop their own line of skelebot droids and advanced mechanical war machines, including their sky-cycles and SAMAS power armor.
(I used a home brew mass-combat system for a lot of the clone-wars battles) |
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Dredwulf60
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Whill
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Joined: 14 Apr 2008
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Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, The Solar System, The Milky Way Galaxy
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| Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 1:21 am Post subject: Re: Dune |
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| Dredwulf60 wrote: | I was always a big fan of Frank Herberts DUNE.
So naturally I shoe-horned elements of DUNE into my Star Wars games back in the mid 90s. It was only much later...once I got a computer and the internet that I realized how much homage Lucas had paid to Frank Herbert's Dune himself.
In my SW universe, the Imperium (aka The Padishah Empire) is a little-known sector on the edge of Wildspace. It never joined the Republic and has been Quarantined by the Galactic Empire.
They had their Jihad against 'thinking machines' centuries ago, so they have no droids or advanced computers. They have hyperspace drives, but instead of navigation computers they use the Spacing Guild Navigators who are force-sensitive due to their use of the spice Melange; though their entire discipline is focused on the prescience necessary to plot hyperspace routes.
The Spice Melange of course comes from planet Arrakis, where the Fremen live not unlike the Sand People of Tatooine, though they are fantastically fierce fighters.
The spice melange is like speed for midi-chlorians and consumption of it boosts a person's force sensitivity, though heavy use guarantees addiction. The fremen are constantly around spice which accounts for their seemingly supernatural fighting prowess (basic force-based bonuses)
Melange is the primary reason for the Imperial Quarantine, and Arrakis would have been a prime target for the Death Star had it not been blown up.
There is also the feudal nature of the Imperium which fits in well with Star Wars, with Dukes, Barons etc; their swordsmanship skills and assassins.
They have developed personal shielding which functions like a bonus dice pool to parry that can be used against melee attacks as well as firearms.
(A slow blade can penetrate the shield, thus a skilled opponent can roll high enough with melee to beat your shield.)
When energy weapons are used against a shield it causes a feedback. (In the source it causes a nuclear explosion that would annihilate both shooter and target. I scaled it down) the blast would ignore the shield and do normal damage to the target, but the feedback would blow up the energy weapon in the shooter's hand doing equivalent damage to him.
The Bene Gesserit sisterhood is a group of female force-users that manipulate the noble houses and carry on their selective breeding program.
Mentats are humans who use a special drug to enhance their ability to think quickly and retain information, giving them eidetic memory and incredible bonuses to knowledge-based skills.
The crossovers made for some interesting situations. |
That's a pretty straight forward crossover. No Kwisatz Haderach?  I've done some similar things in my game. I'm a huge fan of Dune but it's a bit more subtle inspiration in game. I have the Whills Nebula in a region of space just outside of the galaxy proper, near Calamari Space.
In the Whills Nebula, traditional astrogation is extremely difficult but there is a unique Spice available only one one desert planet, Adoonis, in the central system of the Nebula. This spice, which only works for certain species, alters the mind of the astrogators and temporarily connects them to the Nebula in such a way to make astrogation easier. The spice only assists astrogation inside the Nebula so it just doesn't work anywhere else. The spice has temporary positive and negative side effects, and overuse becomes more dangerous and addictive. The spice is regulated by the Navigators Guild which is controlled by an exiled clan of Hutts. Only the navigators guild can provide a license for ship captains to legally posses the spice and travel through hyperspace in the Nebula. The spice only works in certain species including a couple near-human species, but it does not work for humans. Furthermore, Hutts are the only species that the spice works for that are large enough to consume the quantity of spice needed to navigate capital ships in the Nebula. That and the remoteness of the Nebula is why the Empire still hasn't invaded it as of 3 years BBY (despite Palpatine's secret interest in it). Humans do live in the Nebula but are a small minority among many alien species.
The feudal nature of Dune is also an influence. The planet Adoonis is effectively ruled by the Navigators Guild who are based in the capital city but there are five other cities that produce the spice and each is controlled by a "spice lord" ruling a noble house. Each house and city is populated by a different species (none human). In the space station in geosynchronous orbit over the planet's capital city, there is a powerful human noble related to both the Tapani sector nobility and Count Dooku's house.
And various cultures throughout the Nebula have prophecies of chosen ones and messiahs who will save the Nebula in a coming war.
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Dredwulf60
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| Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 7:18 am Post subject: Re: Dune |
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| Whill wrote: | | That's a pretty straight forward crossover. |
Yeah, I liked to keep it pretty much as the source material. The interesting parts came when elements of Star Wars interacted with the Dune elements.
Like the absolute loathing and hatred toward a simple protocol droid that was brought along on an expedition to meet some spice pirates.
There was the bene gesserits scheming to acquire a PC jedi for their breeding program; in ways that they could not see coming; namely by 'aiming' attractive young ladies at him.
I had a Sith acolyte who was overdosing on melange to gain incredible powers, but at the expense of his addictions. In the end, the the dark side of the force physically consumed him, (like that scene in the Guyver anime when Guyver II gets consumed when his control metal is damaged.)
There was no Kwisatz Haderach in the flesh, but it was an unfulfilled prophecy, that I toyed with by having the Jedi council learn of it during the Clone Wars, and wonder if it intersected with their own prophecies of a chosen one.
One pirate PC had an NPC fremen as a member of his crew, that I modeled after Stilgar. This required them making regular trips across the border to pick up a supply of melange.
I had the bene Tleilaxu, who I had as a group of cloners, bring a dead PC back as an NPC Ghola. Fun times.
| Quote: | | The spice is regulated by the Navigators Guild which is controlled by an exiled clan of Hutts. ... Furthermore, Hutts are the only species that the spice works for that are large enough to consume the quantity of spice needed to navigate capital ships in the Nebula. |
LOL. This is exquisite, subtle crossover genius. |
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CRMcNeill
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Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 11:56 am Post subject: |
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You could also base the navigator's necessity on geography, by putting it inside the barrier that separates the Unknown Regions from the rest of the galaxy. Constantly shifting hyperspace routes would mean Instinctive Astrogation or its equivalent would be essential to regular hyperspace travel...
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Whill
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Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, The Solar System, The Milky Way Galaxy
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| Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 3:21 pm Post subject: Re: Dune |
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| CRMcNeill wrote: | | You could also base the navigator's necessity on geography, by putting it inside the barrier that separates the Unknown Regions from the rest of the galaxy. Constantly shifting hyperspace routes would mean Instinctive Astrogation or its equivalent would be essential to regular hyperspace travel... |
You could... but I put the Whills Nebula on the other side of the galaxy from the Unknown Regions because Calamari Space is important to background of the Whills Nebula. The Nebula was first explored by Calamari scouts about 300 years ago (Mon Calamari and Quarren are both species the spice works for, but they had previously believed the Nebula was impenetrable until they found Adoonis). There are some indigenous sentient species in the Nebula. The Adoonis system was colonized by the outcast Hutts clan and various Republic species, and five other major star systems in the Nebula developed from religious colonies of various Republic species. These six major star systems maintain most of their independence but formed an amphictyonic league that was in part responsible for space defense of the Nebula, so they contracted the Calamari to patrol the region. The Nebula has never had any sort of alliance with Republic out of desire to remain as independent as possible.
Like in the EU, Calamari Space in my SWU was an independent Allied Region of the Republic (with galactic senatorial representation). But in my SWU, Calamari Space completely withdrew ties to the Republic with the rise of the Empire, and the Empire left them alone, for a while. The Emperor's plans for Calamari Space were intertwined with plans for the Whills Nebula.
Instinctive Astrogation is also possible in the Whills Nebula... with the spice from Adoonis. But the spice is not known to provide any powerful boost to Force powers.
| Dredwulf60 wrote: | | Yeah, I liked to keep it pretty much as the source material. The interesting parts came when elements of Star Wars interacted with the Dune elements... Fun times. |
You've inspired me to consider other aspects of Dune that could influence this setting...
The anti-droid sentiment seems easy in light of the Clone Wars. I already had the idea that some factions in the Nebula had supported the Separatist confederacy, perhaps similar to the Quarren Isolation movement (or cold hard commercialism by just providing a product for profit). Maybe a Separatist droid army invaded the Nebula to acquire some resources but were defeated, leaving the victors with a hatred and distrust of droids. However I do have one system that is just the opposite, where restraining bolts are illegal and sentient droids are offered emancipation and full citizenship. This is where my SWU's version of Shards live too. The anti-droid sentiment elsewhere in the Nebula would be a nice contrast.
Some other aspects of Dune may be interesting to include too...
| Quote: | | LOL. This is exquisite, subtle crossover genius. |
My first experience with Dune was the 1984 movie, which was the year after RotJ. When I saw the big orange spice-mutated navigator, I don't know why but the first thing that popped into my head was Jabba the Hutt. So many years later, it was an easy thing for me to dream up spice-addicted Hutts that can astrogate capital ships through the Whills Nebula.
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CRMcNeill
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Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 4:42 pm Post subject: Re: Dune |
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| Whill wrote: | | Instinctive Astrogation is also possible in the Whills Nebula... with the spice from Adoonis. |
What's the reasoning behind this limitation? My understanding from the Duniverse was that spice allowed the Navigators to see the future, and thus navigate down the route that they did not foresee ending in destruction. This is basically identical to the WEG description of Instinctive Astrogation."The Jedi uses his sense skill to feel through the myriad possible routes through hyperspace to determine the safest path."
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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Whill
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| Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 7:54 pm Post subject: Re: Dune+ crossovers |
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| CRMcNeill wrote: | | Whill wrote: | | Instinctive Astrogation is also possible in the Whills Nebula... with the spice from Adoonis. |
What's the reasoning behind this limitation? My understanding from the Duniverse was that spice allowed the Navigators to see the future, and thus navigate down the route that they did not foresee ending in destruction. This is basically identical to the WEG description of Instinctive Astrogation."The Jedi uses his sense skill to feel through the myriad possible routes through hyperspace to determine the safest path." |
The Whills Nebula is not a nebula in the normal sense...
It is part of the greater Whills Nebulae Cluster, also called The Whills Galaxy, the latter of which is a controversial designation in of itself. It is roughly the size of a satellite galaxy, but it's orbit doesn't seem to have the gravitational relationship to main galaxy that would be expected of a satellite galaxy. Even when looking at the Whills Galaxy thousands of lightyears away and thus looking back at the Whills Galaxy in the past, it seems to be in a galactosynchronous orbit with the Calamari Sector. This has lead to many theories including that the Whills Galaxy was long ago ejected from a collision of distant galaxies and acquired by the main SW galaxy, and that the Whills Galaxy was created artificially by the Celestials, the Whills or even older primordial deities from the dawn of time.
Even further out from the Whills Nebulae Cluster is The Metabarony Cluster, also called the Human Galaxy, which shares the odd gravitational relationship the main SW galaxy but otherwise is like a normal satellite galaxy. This of course is my crossover with the Metabaron WEG RPG (which uses the WEG SW R&E game system), and the comic book it is based on which was heavily inspired by Dune and made after its creator was no longer involved in the making of the 1984 Dune movie.
The Whills Nebulae Cluster is so named because it is heavily populated by more normal nebulae, the exception being the Whills Nebula. The other regions in the Whills Nebula include: D6 Space (the Amatsumara System and the homes of the D6 Space Aliens species), The D6 Intervoid (The D6 System, DC Legend System, MIB System, Ceybrodin System), Khepera Space (The D6 Powers, Hellas and Godsend Agenda alien regions), The Shatterzone Nebula, The Black Nebula (The Verse System), Star Frontiers, Dragonstar Space and Gurps Space (including settings like Traveller and Blue Planet settings). These main inhabited areas are separated by nebulae, but hyperspace travel through these other regions is follows the normal rules. The Whills Nebula is the only exception to that, and Adoonis is the access point to these other regions as well as the other systems in the Whills Nebula and Calamari Space (and the rest of the main galaxy)
The Whills Nebula seems to have normal gases expected in nebulae but it also has dark matter, dark energy and other mysterious qualities. The nebula has chaotic energy storms, and most all explorers who have travelled into it are never heard from again. Scientific studies of the nebula have only raised more questions. The only way hyperspace travel is even possible at all through the Whills Nebula was by the discovery of ever changing "tunnels" through the Nebula, always constricting, expanding and shifting positions. Part of the mystery of the setting is that it is not understood what even keeps these tunnels open at all. Using the Adoonis spice does reveal these tunnels to navigators in an intuitive way, but it is also not understood why the spice works and why it only works on certain species.
Basically, the entire Whills Nebula is one big space-time continuum anomaly. I should clarify that Instinctive Astrogation in the Whills Nebula is not completely impossible. But the Adoonis spice does make it easier. The spice must flow.
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CRMcNeill
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| Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 10:16 pm Post subject: |
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I'm still not sure I see why Instinctive Astrogation would be less effective under the stated circumstances.
However, if the central purpose is to maintain the relevance of the Navigator's Guild in a Dune crossover (i.e. not allowing a Force user to waltz onto the scene and violate the Guild's monopoly on interstellar travel), then that's what matters. If a reason or explanation is needed, it can be invented post facto.
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Whill
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| Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2016 6:56 pm Post subject: |
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| CRMcNeill wrote: | I'm still not sure I see why Instinctive Astrogation would be less effective under the stated circumstances.
However, if the central purpose is to maintain the relevance of the Navigator's Guild in a Dune crossover (i.e. not allowing a Force user to waltz onto the scene and violate the Guild's monopoly on interstellar travel), then that's what matters. If a reason or explanation is needed, it can be invented post facto. |
I came across some notes and it seems I had actually agreed with you and was just misremembering it. For the species the Adoonis spice works for, I wanted the spice to basically give non-Force-sensitives an Instinctive Astrogation like ability (of course in the Nebula only). I also wrote down the idea of a Force character having to use Instinctive Astrogation without spice outing the character as a Force user, so perhaps spice navigation is roughly equal to Instinctive Astrogation. That makes sense. But using the spice with the Instinctive Astrogation force power will for sure eventually have additional effects.
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CRMcNeill
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| Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2016 12:37 am Post subject: |
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So basically, Adoonis is to Instinctive Astrogation what glitterstim is to Receptive Telepathy? Does it provide any other precognitive abilities, like Danger Sense?
Additional side effects? That sounds interesting...
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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