One option, if you don't mind delving into the EU a bit, is either Hapian (Space Pirates!) or CorSec space...Star Wars, but without the feeling that you're playing in someone elses sandbox.

EU is ok to a certain extent with Thrawn and Dark Force Rising, but alot of the content will be lost on the less-devoted fans of the series.

I read the old Han Solo books that traipsed around the Corporate Sector, about Star's End and Xim the Despot's battle robots and all that.

I was kind of thinking that even though it's cliché, a Rebel force of privateers/fighter pilots would be best. I mean, just about anyone or anything can slap a Rebel logo on their ship.

It might be cool to catch kind of a Black Sheep Squadron feel. Since they're out toward the fringes, they don't have the best stuff. For example, their ships would probably be leftovers from the war. The supplies that are sent to their outpost are second rate, etc. Thus, some of their missions would involve trying to collect / capture new/better equipment and parts. This would only work if they had a couple of pretty good mechanics so as to make the best of what they could get. Aurelia would be a god-send here.

Actually, here's my concept to combine some of those ideas:

Q-Ship.

Everybody knows that the Errand of Mercy is a ship to be wary off. It's been crewed by pirates and smugglers for its entire life, and crew changes come about through gambling or hijacking. It's a rundown piece of crap nobody in their right mind would want.

Except the New Republic.

After capturing the Errand, the ship is torn apart and stripped to a mere shell. Inside, however, the Republic integrates a new, cutting-edge Interdictor design. Utilizing the Errand as a (slightly modified) shell, the ship still looks - for all intents and purposes - like the Errand did, but instead of the cavernous cargo bay, the formerly hollow inside is now filled to the brim with experimental technology. In this configuration, the ship can appear as inconspicious old freighter, but when required, hidden flaps in the shell can open to deploy weapons. Together with internal armor and reinforced shields, the new Errand of Mercy delivers the performance of a combat craft almost twice its size, and the new gear provides the shell with almost blindingly fast sublight speed and agility, way too quick to counter for anyone expecting a mere modified freighter.

That's not to say that there are no problems. Owing to size restrictions, many exterior parts of the Interdictor had to be integrated (and hidden) in the shell, and the two ships are thus completely intertwined. Furthermore, while most systems on the shell have been replaced, it's still a finicky beast, and there's some worry over whether the ship will be able to reliably bring it's heavy weapons to bear. Even then, the experimental tech used for the Interdictor is not as rugged as other, proven designs, and as a prototype of such rebuild, there are bound to be all kinds of technical problems.

The crew is an odd mixture of trained Republic undercover operatives and actual smugglers the Republic trusted enough to help operate the ship - under supervision, of course. As for the missions? Well, with that kind of a ship, you know it's almost suicide going in, but hey, the pay is good.

Might be trying to do too much, but I love the Q-Ship idea and would like to use it somewhere.

Gatac

I am currently deeply embroiled in Firefly fandom. I just dropped stout green on the boxed set, I phrase my speech in a Malcolm Reynolds fashion, and my friends and I are contemplating going to the San Diego Comic-Con dressed as the crew of Serenity. That kind of deeply. If I wasn't already trying to run two games, I'd start a Firefly game up, myself. Truly, it's the hotness.

Arnae didn't have a bunch of posts due to this psychological posting rut that I fall into. It goes something like this: I'm trying to think, "What would my character do in this situation?" and end up coming with something pretty mundane, and what's more, I can't think of a way to spice it up. So I don't post, fearing that I'll end up posting nothing but mundanity. And, you may have noticed, Arnae isn't the only character I had this with. Problem identified, now to go about fixing it.

I really liked Arnae, though. Of course, I didn't post enough to really share my mental picture of him, so maybe I really just liked the idea of Arnae. Yes, yes, technically all our characters are just ideas, but you know what I mean. One thing I'd have liked to do was tool around in a more capable craft, one that needs constant maintenance, sure, but one that lets us kick some ass. Next time, can we get ships that let us light things up real good?

I loved that old Han Solo trilogy. Space opera done right. (Corporate police who used sawed-off stun rifles for crowd control? Oh, so right.) Hell, I almost cried at the end when some goodbyes were said. (I was nine.)

In an email Benn (Aihal) sent me, he mentioned breaking down the roles one would need in a space-based game, and also mentioned the Assault Shuttle/Skipray Blastboat idea; multiple smaller craft which still have multiple crew members.

I don't see why we can't do a mixture. A large bulk freighter or frigate acting as the home base, with a small fleet of spacecraft to choose from depending on the mission (and so if one ship's broken, there are alternative choices). You get missions now and then from the Rebels, but you also have to "make your own fun", so to speak. Are the ships low on concussion missiles? Why wait for a shipment from command when you can raid an Imperial convoy or flat-out steal some TIE Bombers? Besides, where do you think Command would be getting the ones they're sending you? Maybe another Rebel cell needs a pristine Imperial shuttle to sneak through an Imperial fleet and plant explosives on a shield generator. It's your job to get them that shuttle and make sure nobody lets on that it's gone.

You'd be elite and highly skilled, but black sheep outcast soldiers at the same time. Thoughts on the "small fleet" idea?

That sounds like so much fun I just have to ask:

Is there room for additional players in this mercenary business?


Daton

Since the Admiral thinks it is worthy, I will post the majority of my idea in terms of character role. I picture most characters having two roles on the ship: One for ship operations and one for combat. That way everyone is useful in every instance. I also checked out crew compliments for ships. Skipray Blastboats and Assault Transports take about 3-4 crew. Now add an Engineer and Gunners and you got yourself a typical party.

For some reason, I'm really hung up on the Assault Transport idea. (Probably because it would lend itselft to a more Firefly type of independence). Since it can carry troops and we most likely won't be, the troop area could be converted into bunks/living quarters. The Admiral's idea about a Frigate or something with multiple ships is cool because of the adaptability factor: Need stealth? Take Ship A...if you can find it. Need to just blast shit? Take Ship B.

So far my idea is as follows:

The New Republic/Rebel Alliance in their desperation to take the war to the Empire/Imperial Remnant commissioned the creation of the Omega Group/Omega Squadron/Project Omega/Insert name here. Armed with the best equipment the Alliance could steal, Omega Group acts as a surgical strike team, taking out critical targets and disrupting shipping lines. Part soldier, part pilot, all privateer, the crew of the [insert ship name here] works in unison to bring down the evil Galactic Empire and bring peace to the galaxy....

Sorry, went into Opening Crawl mode there for a second. I'll stop rambling on now.

Hm, yeah, that seems to be where things are going. I take it nobody digs the "Q-Ship" idea, though?

Gatac

I like it, except not as a primary ship type of thing. I'm not really sure what to do with it as-is. If it's an Interdictor, it wants to keep people from leaving. If it's got hidden weapons, it wants to catch its enemies unawares. BUT... if it's a ratty old freighter, it's going to attract pirates and not much else. It's got a specific role which while could be interesting for a mission, wouldn't stretch out into a campaign.

So it'd be one of our ships for a special mission, but not the main focus. I'm cool with that...I like the ship idea much more than my campaign concept for it.

Gatac

I'm becoming more enamored of the humorous idea that phase 1 of every mission is actually stealing the ships you'd want to use for it. Including Rebel starfighters.

"We'll need A-Wings if we're going to get out of there in one piece."

"We have two X-Wings - it'd still be a suicide mission with four."

Some time later....

"Those aren't cleared for launch!"

"We'll bring 'em back... suckers!"

Kind of like what MACVSOG did in Vietnam, actually. They were notorious for "making their own fun" when on a base with "normal" grunts.

I like how this is coming together. The larger ship could actually house several teams like ours. There is a limited availability of smaller ships for missions, so there is some give-and-take between the teams for which ships to take on which missions.

I like the assault transport or something of that sort as one of the mission ships, but would also like to do some dogfighting in individual craft (using whatever fighters / interceptors they have at their disposal).

The problem I have with the Q-ship is that it's too cutting edge for how I see the game. Considering the time period and setting, it seems like they would more likely be using moderately-good castoffs from the war that their mechanics have souped up as best they can. The Q-ship could actually be something they capture on a mission. They might get to use it once or twice before having to send it to command for "study by top experts".

If you want to play the whole thing on a carrieresque main ship + housed squadrons, I'd recommend a Quasar-Fire class carrier as lead ship. Big enough for several squadrons, not enough weaponry to take it into battle.


Daton

Quote:

Quote: from DatonKallandor on 10:30 am on June 4, 2005
If you want to play the whole thing on a carrieresque main ship + housed squadrons, I'd recommend a Quasar-Fire class carrier as lead ship. Big enough for several squadrons, not enough weaponry to take it into battle.


Daton

Quasar-Fire...was that the "Holy crap, we need a carrier right after Endor...oh look, a freighter with launch facilities!" from whatever immediately post Endor novel that was?

Such an idea sounds good to me. Bonus is, I can still play a mechanic

I dont kow what novel you are referring to. But quasar-fire's are, from what I know, pretty good carriers.

A Xitiyar freighter, boy that would be bad. Imagine the falcon, without weapons, armor, or chewie. Thats the worst kind of launch-capable ship you can get.


Daton

I think it might be fun to have some refitted older ships. Remember the diplomatic courier vessel that Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan used at the beginning of Episode I? I wonder who would expect one of those to be outfitted with Ion Cannons and marines?

There doesn't need to be a specific home base immediately. In a modified assault transport we could probably be out for a week or so at a time. One of our missions could be capturing a derelict for the home base. Missions could be left for us on Nav Beacons which we would then destroy.

As for what type of ship to use...I'm open. Derelicts are a man's best friend. Imagine having to clear and repair a disabled star destroyer...it'd be like a dungeon crawl.

Quote:

Quote: from DatonKallandor on 12:16 pm on June 4, 2005
I dont kow what novel you are referring to. But quasar-fire's are, from what I know, pretty good carriers.

A Xitiyar freighter, boy that would be bad. Imagine the falcon, without weapons, armor, or chewie. Thats the worst kind of launch-capable ship you can get.


Daton

It is what I'm talking about. Fair carrier, 50 fighter capacity, piss poor in combat.

And ugly as hell. A mechanics worst nightmare as well.


Daton