Forums of the Megaverse®

BASIC EPIC CAMPAIGN OUTLINE:


Kreeghor attack random small single planet kingdom. They lay waste to the planet surface, the citizens have secret space faring technology and one ship of frozen refugees escapes. They must be thawed and discover their situation and learn knowledge and skills before arriving at their locked destination. Probably rifts earth, could be another planet in 3 Galaxies. Once arrived they have to figure out how to live and possibly avoid or fight the Kreeghor. Or any other empire. OR a new race, or it could be all humans involved. Man versus Man and so forth. But I think they ideal situation is the refugees end up on an unfamiliar planet (inhabited or uninhabited) and need to survive. Like Lost in Space or something similar.

Take it from there.

..and it turns out that the only people among the refugees with any technical skills are phone sanitizers.

taalismn wrote:..and it turns out that the only people among the refugees with any technical skills are phone sanitizers.

So the Kreeghor will die from a disease spread by an unexpectedly dirty telephone?

Warshield73 wrote:

taalismn wrote:..and it turns out that the only people among the refugees with any technical skills are phone sanitizers.

So the Kreeghor will die from a disease spread by an unexpectedly dirty telephone?

If the giant space-goat doesn't get them first.

taalismn wrote:

Warshield73 wrote:

taalismn wrote:..and it turns out that the only people among the refugees with any technical skills are phone sanitizers.

So the Kreeghor will die from a disease spread by an unexpectedly dirty telephone?

If the giant space-goat doesn't get them first.

I mean if Dominators aren't bad enough now giant space-goats. Lets hope the Minion War doesn't lead to the Cricket War.

Warshield73 wrote:I mean if Dominators aren't bad enough now giant space-goats. Lets hope the Minion War doesn't lead to the Cricket War.

(Looking at the Megaverse)
"Yeah, it's gotta to go."

Shorty Lickens wrote:BASIC EPIC CAMPAIGN OUTLINE:

Gonna try a more serious, with no Hitchhikers' Guide, Red Dwarf or Lexx references, take on the subject.
Hopefully, also without being too obnoxious in my nitíckery while at it.

Shorty Lickens wrote:Kreeghor attack random small single planet kingdom. They lay waste to the planet surface, the citizens have secret space faring technology and one ship of frozen refugees escapes.

My first thought upon reading this was "people from a single planet nation trying to escape the Kreegor into their secretly developed "Great Icetruck in the Sky" pre-FTL ship? Sorry, not happening."

Simply put, if they we are speaking of a pre-FTL group with a "generation ship" with most of the crew on ice there's zero chance of them outpacing or avoiding any TGE patrols (or any experienced FTL civilization's navy for that matter). The poor sods first sight upon thawing would be themselves at gunpoint as slave labor force for some recently founded Kreeghor colony/prison world. No salvation for pre-FTL refugees without some random rift, wormhole or similar plot device to get the invaders off-track (unless we bring an immense amount of Kreeghor incompetence, disinterest & escapees luck into the equation).

Alternatively, a marauding smash-&-grab raid by infernal forces involved in the Minion War could make a simpler explanation for the "world razed, little to no care about tracking survivors" situation - Infernals are pretty much the book definition of brutal but sloppy, definitely going for "there are more worlds to raze, no time to waste combing out for stragglers" kind of thinking.

All of that said, the use of "Great Icetruck in the Sky" spaceships with large numbers of sleeping tripulants while overall walking pretty much hand-in-hand with sci-fi scenarios where people are limited to relativistic speeds for space travel, does not have to be so and might have some application in scenarios where FTL is available under certain circunstances - like a "no one left behind" desparate attempt to bring as many survivors out of the warzone as possible in as little space as affordable - what could possibly also mean sacrificing space for food and/or medical resources to make room for more people, meaning that keeping as many frozen as possible becomes a logistical necessity for the refugees survival, driving the general direness of their situation further home, i dare say.

Shorty Lickens wrote:They must be thawed and discover their situation and learn knowledge and skills before arriving at their locked destination. Probably rifts earth, could be another planet in 3 Galaxies. Once arrived they have to figure out how to live and possibly avoid or fight the Kreeghor. Or any other empire. OR a new race, or it could be all humans involved. Man versus Man and so forth. But I think they ideal situation is the refugees end up on an unfamiliar planet (inhabited or uninhabited) and need to survive. Like Lost in Space or something similar.

It all depends on what you have in mind. The rifts earth option is another thing that makes me think the concept only minimally dependent on space opera and instead of the 3 Galaxies might be better off in either the TNMNT, AU, Robotech, Mechanoid 'verses or some homebrew context of one's own.

Are the refugees frozen and the ship launched before the kreegor arrive or after?

If before maybe they were already out of the system before the Kreegor arrived? Either the Kreegor missed it completely or had more important targets and just didn't get back to them. The Kreegor ship that detected them got destroyed or something?

If after the planet will have to be advanced enough that their navy can put up a defense that would last long enough for the refugee ship to be loaded and launched. The odds of escape are slim but if their navy keeps the Kreegor busy enough and they play dead its possible to get away, especially if they can launch before the Kreegor's sensors can see the ship.

Or maybe the ship just hides in a cloud or asteroid field until the Kreegor are gone and are found by explorers checking out the remains of their world?

OK sorry but I had issues posting here. The people who actually host and administrate the forums keep flagging my small locally run ISP as shady, and I have to go thru a process to get it unlocked.

Back to the topic: I think some people here made a lot of assumptions without asking questions. It also did not help that I was either high or coming down when I made the OP.

This is an old trope already used many times in many scifi and fantasy novels.

A massive invasion force of tens of millions bombards and or invades a planet of billions and because of superior technology they are basically assured victory.
Millions of escape vessels try to leave, the invading force cuts down almost all of them but maybe a dozen or so somehow slip thru in all the confusion and chaos and blind bloodlust. Some of those dozen might be tracked down and either destroyed or captured, but at least one, perhaps a couple, manage to sneak away and escape to another planet or star system. Maybe they have prototype stealth technology. Or prototype engine technology that lets them achieve FTL in less time than a normal vessel or closer to the planets gravity than the other ships will allow.
Or they just got super lucky. Or even more mysterious, maybe theres a reason the invaders don't target their ship......

Anyway, its supposed to be epic storytelling, the stuff of legends. Like how James Kirks mom got away from Nero when a lot of others did not. And I'm kinda sad that a bunch of people who play RPG's all the time could not see that. So, I will make the effort to post more clearly with greater detail next time.
I will not promise to post sober.

Shorty Lickens wrote:
Or they just got super lucky. Or even more mysterious, maybe theres a reason the invaders don't target their ship......

.

Or the Kreeghor want to see where they go...
Or the Kreeghor were stretched thin, were saving their last torpedo for a higher value target, closest gun ran out of juice just as they achieved target lock...
Or they just didn't consider the refugee ship all that important(unlikely, yes, but somebody might have missed the memo "kill EVERYTHING!").

Shorty Lickens wrote:OK sorry but I had issues posting here. The people who actually host and administrate the forums keep flagging my small locally run ISP as shady, and I have to go thru a process to get it unlocked.

Sorry to hear, i kind of know how that kind of longstanding headache with some system that just never goes away can feel, but good to see you back among us.

Shorty Lickens wrote:Back to the topic: I think some people here made a lot of assumptions without asking questions. It also did not help that I was either high or coming down when I made the OP.

This is an old trope already used many times in many scifi and fantasy novels.

Well, i did point out i might end up being too obnoxious in my nitíckery even though i hoped not....

Shorty Lickens wrote:A massive invasion force of tens of millions bombards and or invades a planet of billions and because of superior technology they are basically assured victory.
Millions of escape vessels try to leave, the invading force cuts down almost all of them but maybe a dozen or so somehow slip thru in all the confusion and chaos and blind bloodlust. Some of those dozen might be tracked down and either destroyed or captured, but at least one, perhaps a couple, manage to sneak away and escape to another planet or star system. Maybe they have prototype stealth technology. Or prototype engine technology that lets them achieve FTL in less time than a normal vessel or closer to the planets gravity than the other ships will allow.
Or they just got super lucky. Or even more mysterious, maybe theres a reason the invaders don't target their ship......

I'm aware of that trope for certain, i guess most of us are familiar with either Galactica, Homeworld or a number of other materials where this conceit comes up.

All of that said, not all things are equal - some parts of what you proposed in your original post resonated with other tropes, not to mention a few others could be implied to get in the way of making that same trope sounding convincing. Devil is in the details, so to speak.

Shorty Lickens wrote:Anyway, its supposed to be epic storytelling, the stuff of legends. Like how James Kirk's mom got away from Nero when a lot of others did not. And I'm kinda sad that a bunch of people who play RPG's all the time could not see that. So, I will make the effort to post more clearly with greater detail next time.

Well, Nero was one nutcase with one "supership of the future", not a whole fleet. But i get what you mean.

Shorty Lickens wrote:I will not promise to post sober.

I will not promise to avoid perusing posts info under a microscope either.

Anyway, let's try again then. Any particular thoughts on things you'd change about the initial outline or comments about the criticisms and suggestions given in my breakdown?