Episodic Space Opera/CCH Vibe (Demo coming soon)

My suggestion as an outsider who has seen the tv show would be to be ok with a reading of episode synopsizes but not actually watching and seeing the details. Just my take, though.

It sounds interesting

Sounds good. Romancing a ghost could be interesting and given I watched the “honest trailer” for Star Trek TNG earlier it brought up the episode where Dr Crusher gets enthusiastic with a ghost so potential ideas there :smiley:

Said honest trailer: https://youtu.be/-6Zc8Co2H3w

Hmmm…hypothetically from a legal point of view watching it is probably better, then you know what you can take away from it as inspiration and what you absolutely need to avoid so you don’t cross into copycat territory, assuming a sufficient familiarity with local IP laws.
In general, inspiration good, slavish copying bad.
Plus it’s a generally enjoyable series.

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You can use sci-fi as a coat of paint for a story that could essentially take place anywhere. Plenty of awesome stories have been told that way, some with Gundams. But the real power of the genre, which you find everywhere in Star Trek and Stargate and Futurama and Rick & Morty is the speculative aspect. Answering that “What if…” brings up a ton of potential.

What if introducing the game of football to a peace-loving species ignites a flame of competition that turns them into Europe circa WW2 overnight? What if the concept of beauty was reversed, how would that change society? There’s so much modern social commentary you can expand on to fictional levels. You can also highlight the potential boons and flaws of certain technological advances and how they change people.

The other of my two cents is–when considering your secondary characters–is to focus on their perspectives. A logical, heartless robot perspective adds a ton of potential to deal with themes of humanity. A naturalist beastman offers another great perspective. Don’t be afraid to go to extremes here.

The problem with not having a set human protagonist is that you lose access to the “mundane” perspective. It’s the one readers will most relate to, and that’s hard to pass over to a secondary character. But if you’ve already explored that with CCH, then another option is probably best.

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I think having the freedom to look at humans as just another “alien” species, and a primitive one if we visit our Earth, or something very akin to it on the fringes of the galaxy will be a very interesting perspective however, even if it will be a challenge to write.

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That could definitely be fun.

definitely some potential here, looking forward to a demo

But the thing about nearly instantaneously travelling across the galaxy is that when they get back, the attackers most likely would have died of old age( assuming they age the same way as humans). It’s fiction so you could just ignore relativity but hey, it’s something to consider( maybe throw in an easter egg or something)

@kyros, I will write around that. This is not meant to be super realistic when it comes to tech. I just want to use the trappings to let me explore the interpersonal conflicts and the philosophical and ethical issues that will come into play as they encounter new races and are forced to balance their own needs versus the needs of others.

@MultipleChoice Well, I still have CCH for mundane. And I still expect to insert a lot of mundane qualities into this story. Just because the MC is an alien, it doesn’t mean the MC is in any way “above” our own human perspectives. Plus, I looked back at my old “What sort of protagonist would you want to play as?” poll from a few months ago where 96% of 378 voters said they would be open to playing as an alien as long as they could pick the gender, so I actually think MC as Alien is a very safe move.

General Note: I sketched out the 5 crew members last night and I think there is a lot of potential, although I’m sure they will be tweaked many times in the future. I did something I should have done with CCH; sketch out the main attributes and assign actual values for each character’s attributes to help myself treat them consistently as to what they are good/bad at. Basically, I created a RP card for each member.

And I’m trying something new and using the randomizer for many stat checks. I like the idea of even a MC with low Brilliance being able to “roll the dice” on a Brilliance check and having SOME ability to prevail if they want to go that route (perhaps passing the check gives a greater reward then using other stats)

*One of my LEAST favorite things about coding is keeping up with zillions of stats and trying to decide what a “reasonable” or “hard” stat check is at a given point in a game. Hopefully I can minimize that a bit.

Main stats for now are:

Vitality - physical feats
Brilliance - research, puzzle-solving, inventing
Allure - negotiation, trading, people skills
Spontaneity - used to bluff, confuse, find an escape, might be viewed as “luck”
Resolve - intimidate, focus, withstand hardships

Health is Vitality x 2

Okay, I’ll be quiet until I have a link!

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A sci-fi space opera with a CCH feel?

Begins throwing money at the computer screen

Just let me know when to stop. :laughing:

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Oh god. My dream in life is to live long enough for brain transplants to be atleast 50% successful so I can prolong my lifetill space travel, so I can ultimately to marry an alien.

Preferably Spock or Garrus Vakarian.

So yes, I would adore this. :raised_hands:t2:

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:flushed: Isn’t there… … you know…contraceptive…crap?

This sounds awesome I love space games!! Will this be kinda like mass effect?

I’m usually the sort to use diplomacy or intellect in COG settings but I love the idea of having this idiot bluff and get lucky enough to live what should by all rights kill them.

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*set makeTheGameYesPlease +1

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I’m down with it. Can never go wrong with a space story

Quick poll to give me some idea of which alien build might be more popular.

I’m basically trying to keep the MC, regardless of the build you chose among the options given, visually and physiologically distinct from the rest of the crew. Crew is now two humans (one female, one male), a bionic space platypus, a fairly stupid robot who looks like a big stick, and a perpetually nervous alien shapeshifter.

So in a vacuum, (the vast vast vacuum of space!), no I just mean without knowing much more about the story, do you think you would design your alien character as…

  • #1 An attractive, ‘almost human’ alien with a little something extra like distinctive coloring, forehead ridges, horns, and/or spots.
  • #2 A humanoid alien that walks on two legs, has two arms, etc., but who looks less human, with characteristics of an insect, lizard, ‘little green man,’ etc.
  • #3. A non-humanoid alien with vastly different anatomy like a space squid or a slime.

0 voters

Don’t think a contraceptive is what you want there, per se. Unless the only disease you’re worried about is babies.

Oh wait sorry I meant the contraceptives that protect/prevent STDs

-looks at poll- Well I think my MC-building process may have just gotten easier. I’m glad I posted this.

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