Results 1 to 6 of 6

Thread: A Doomsday Like Any Other advice

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    Ames, Iowa
    Posts
    12

    A Doomsday Like Any Other advice

    Hey, FASA fans! With news of a brand-new Trek rpg on the horizon, I'm wrapping up my current LUG Trek campaign with an adaptation of A Doomsday like Any Other. As I do with virtually all the published adventures I've ever run, I customize it to better fit the personality and direction of my home game. Do any GMs who've run this particular adventure before have any tips? Did you make any modifications to the written adventure that you found improved it? What elements of the published text did you find worked the best and worst on the table?

    My goal is to end the current campaign on an exciting and climactic note that also honors and celebrates one of the most iconic stories ever told in Star Trek's 50-year history. Any guidance would be super appreciated. Thanks!

  2. #2
    I always thought having a regular-looking control room in the Doomsday Machine undercut how faceless and intimidating it was. You could replace that with either some interface that was more alien—like 20-feet tall granite-looking panels that arc electricity over them in unusual patterns—or just make the Machine a semi-living entity like some engineered space-Horta. (You could even make Dholes 'larval' Machines, still flexible and planetbound before they excrete sufficient neutronium through their skins to survive the rigours of space.)
    Portfolio | Blog Currently Running: Call of Cthulhu, Star Trek GUMSHOE Currently Playing: DramaSystem, Swords & Wizardry

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 1999
    Location
    Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    3,490
    You are in luck, sir. Many moons ago, I did a full-on ICON adaptation for the module, with revised maps for the Doomsday Device to make the interiors look more alien, deckplans for the ships and conversions for not only the ships but the characters as well. All are available at http://www.coldnorth.com/owen/game/m...y/doomsday.htm for your use, gratis!

  4. #4
    It'd be neat to take Owen's deckplans and treat each circle not as a circular room, but as a spherical room in isomorphic projection.
    Portfolio | Blog Currently Running: Call of Cthulhu, Star Trek GUMSHOE Currently Playing: DramaSystem, Swords & Wizardry

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    Ames, Iowa
    Posts
    12
    I'll definitely take advantage of the character conversions, Owen. Those are great! Thanks!

    I also like the idea of making the rooms inside the machine spherical. But what would be a good in-story explanation for such rooms? Why would someone build them that way? Maybe the artificial gravity allows you to walk around the rooms 720 degrees. Or maybe there's no artificial gravity at all. I dunno. I definitely want the interior of the machine to seem alien and spectacular. What would excite you guys as players?

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Derf Evol View Post
    I'll definitely take advantage of the character conversions, Owen. Those are great! Thanks!

    I also like the idea of making the rooms inside the machine spherical. But what would be a good in-story explanation for such rooms? Why would someone build them that way? Maybe the artificial gravity allows you to walk around the rooms 720 degrees. Or maybe there's no artificial gravity at all. I dunno. I definitely want the interior of the machine to seem alien and spectacular. What would excite you guys as players?
    360 degree artificial gravity would be neat. I was just thinking that crewmembers entering the ship would need to use suits and thrusters to get around cavernous spaces, making any potential fight inside the Machine a memorable one. (It would also make that one person in the group who took the Zero-G Training trait feel justified!) Maybe the surfaces could be semi-'sticky' so things that hit them at really low velocities (like 1" per second) get captured by gravitation but any more momentum and it's just like it's zero-G for it.
    Portfolio | Blog Currently Running: Call of Cthulhu, Star Trek GUMSHOE Currently Playing: DramaSystem, Swords & Wizardry

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •