has anyone run a campaign set on a herdship?

[Barrataria]

I'm thinking about ways to make a more regular game work, and one of my basic problems is scheduling... my schedule is weird with a lot of family/travel commitments, and all my players or potential players usually come with their own scheduling difficulties.

I recall seeing garkhal (I think) suggest a Space Rescue Corps type campaign, where whoever shows up to the game session goes on the "rescue call" for that night. I have seen X-wing squadron campaigns like this, probably suggested here too. I think a "MASH" type setup could be interesting too if players were willing to be a medical response team.

Anyway, today I thought that a group set on an Ithorian herdship would be another answer for the situation. Maybe a group of scouts that surveys planetary systems when the ship arrives; pretty much any drop-in character like a gambler or bounty hunter could tag along for one adventure or multiples. Plus, the herdship itself gives plenty of room for adventures of one sort or another, even in "lost" levels of weird terrain and so on. Maybe part of the ship was infused with radiation a la Metamorphosis Alpha.

Anyway, that's all just background for the very simple question in the title. If you have run multiple adventures or a campaign on a herdship I'd like to hear what props you used if any (maps of Bazaar or Tafanda Bay, for instance) or other details you may have come up with.
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"A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing"- George Lucas

[Nico_Davout]

There was an adventure in SW Gamer 6 magazine that takes places on a herdship called "Welcome to the Jungle". A mix of hunting and survival.
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Nico,

Han Solo shot first, midichlosomething do not exist, Rebel Alliance was created as in the WEG books and indoctrination theory is the true ending of ME3.

[lurker]

[Barrataria]

Things seem to be quiet at the pit, so I thought I'd share these ideas I've dredged up again.

First, a question: I take it the spacefaring herdship (eg Bazaar) is a different design than the floaty-city kinds on Ithor itself like Tafanda Bay? I started looking at deckplans/drawings and realized that the Tafanda Bay sort have an exterior jungle/plant moat that overlaps the side, so (absent some kind of plastisteel shroud) they are not spacefaring. I never thought about there being two different designs before. I've started from the Bazaar maps from Graveyard of Alderaan, but obviously will modify them to accomodate the necessary things for a campaign as well as some story hooks.

Here's the campaign design: the Ithorian Scout Service is an ancient but dynamic organization. Its main focus is the discovery of new worlds or reopening of the many worlds lost in the chaotic years after Endor. Most of the scouts in the Exploration branch (to Wildspace, forgotten worlds) or the Survey (gathering data or surveying ecosystems on known worlds) branch are Ithorians.

But the ISS also includes another branch [unnamed yet], which is a sort of Coast Guard for the herdships. They do forward survey/recon before a herdship enters a system, serve as a rescue force, run courier or shuttle missions between the herdship and planet or other starships, and generally troubleshoot while the herdship is in system.

Unlike the other branches, most individuals in the [unnamed] branch are not themselves Ithorians. ISS/[unnamed] is not too particular about the backgrounds of individuals; like the classic French Foreign Legion, emphasis is on the skills a member brings, not his or her previous deeds or misdeeds (although like the FFL the Ithorians do some screening for real misanthropes, but information and records in the post-Endor galaxy are spotty at best).

Each ISS/[unnamed] unit is more or less beholden to the collective running the herdship, and the command of the unit is an "Elector", a non-ISS Ithorian (civilian). They have a small base unit on the herdship, a kind of ready room with access to vehicles, droids, etc.

In game terms, I expect the "ready room" to have a pool of 20 or so character templates (several of each type: pilots/spacers, gunners/enforcers, tech, or "liaison" (the Knowledge/Perception types). Since we'll make every effort to have each adventure be self-contained, whoever shows up can pick whatever character they want to run for that adventure. Or, of course, they can stick with the same one. If we have few players for a session, one or more players will run one of the other characters as an NPC.

I'm brainstorming adventure seeds right now, without regard to where they might happen or any overarching plot (although I intend to have recurring NPCs in various roles around the herdship and of course the Elector). If one adventure goes well and the players like that session's world, maybe another adventure happens there. If not, well, the herdship jumps to hyperspace and we fade to black until next week...

It's pretty liberating and I think will be a fun way to run SW for the players I have access too. My best friend's wife is giving birth in the next couple weeks, so he's anxious to have a way to play that's flexible, and this might be it. I recently stopped running a D&D game so (hopefully) some or all of those folks will be interested once in a while. And all we need are one or two players.

I hope to keep posting ideas here as I go, but since I'm already adding onto a two year old thread you can predict my pace. Oh, if not obvious from above this game is set about a decade after Endor (see here). Damned Disney better stay away from my timeline!
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"A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing"- George Lucas

[garhkal]

I could potentially see space fairing herd ships being like those Agri ships in BSG.



Each dome is linked to the next. And you can have separate bio areas in each dome if you wish. Perhaps one of the missions is to go to planet X nearby to replenish a specific nutrient that one of those domes needs for growing its plants. Or to planet Y to acquire parts to repair domes..
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Zarn]

It could've been interesting to run a Whodunnit on a herd ship, perhaps with an unknown stowaway using the biome(s) of the ship to great effect - a sort of Predator in Space, essentially. Without necessarily going full 'Alien'.

[Barrataria]

Thanks garkhal, I never saw those ships before. The Bazaar type (and the Tafanda Bay type for that matter) have the domes in the center of the ship, but same idea.

I actually used one of the Metamorphosis Alpha plans (http://www.metamorphosisalpha.com/images/ma2model.jpg) for my pre-Tales of the Jedi campaign, and that looks a little too similar.

Your adventure seeds are awesome though, thanks! And I haven't forgotten it was your suggestion in the first place to run a sporadic game in this way. Thanks again for that too, I don't know if I'll ever run a weekly game again until I retire (whenever that is).
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"A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing"- George Lucas

[Barrataria]

[Zarn]

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[DougRed4]

Fun concept, Barrataria, and I like the idea of having a rotating cast with contained adventures.

Zarn's given a number of great ideas.

Once you've established a routine (and many of the PCs and NPCs), a self-contained massive ship like this might be a fun setting for a murder mystery, with clues pointing towards a number of different possible characters (player and NPC alike).
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

[garhkal]

[aegisflashfire]

Probably from Silent Running actually. The ships in BSG were a nod to the movie (Silent running was from 72, BSG was more like 1978)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TckJBvl_uT0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Running
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GM of Falling Star: D6 Star Wars Campaign Podcast

[gavin storm]

i took part in a training sim once that was on a crashed herdship. But that was quite a while ago
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Gavin Storm
Causing Imperials headaches, one punch at a time, since 2000