Players should note that the various scenarios produced for use with Space Opera are not necessarily from the same game universe. There are many possible universes and settings for Space Opera and each scenario will be from the campaign of the scenario designer, not necessarily from the original campaign of the original designers. As each campaign and scenario are different, it is still possible to place the region described in any scenario, Martigan Belt included, in a different region of any Star Master's campaign universe.I find the sentiments expressed above to be ones with which I largely agree, though I do wonder why it was that this particular Space Opera adventure is the only one to carry such an editorial note, so far as I can tell. It's also worth noting that, despite what's written above, this is the only module for the game ever to appear carrying Stephen Kingsley's byline. Indeed, almost all of the modules released for the game were one-offs whose writers never wrote another adventure for Space Opera. That's a shame, because I really like the idea of a kitchen sink, toolkit ruleset supported by several series of adventures that show how one referee took that ruleset and ran with it in his home campaign.
Other scenarios by the same designer will be from the same campaign universe so that entire regions may be placed in out-of-the-way corners of the galaxy by a Star Master. There will be a continuing series of such scenarios by this designer and by other designers.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Intriguing Quote
Looking through an old Space Opera adventure, Stephen Kingsley's Martigan Belt, I noticed the following "editorial introduction" on its table of contents:
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If I had a nickel for every grandiose RPG publishing plan that came to naught, I'd have a big jar of nickels.
ReplyDeleteI like that idea, too. I feel like some books by major RPG writers that were less modules and just a collection of different writers saying "this is how I ran my game of ____" (kind of like some of the material in your interviews) would be interesting.
ReplyDeleteYou get a little of that on message boards and blogs, but having it all in one place for a certain ruleset would be a really interesting DM guide.
The Zantabulous Zorcerer of Zo game book is just that - the rules and setting, followed by the author's campaign, interspersed with notes from the players he ran it for. It could be run as a campaign in its own right, and is quite insightful. I would love to see more books like that. Far too many books give a setting, but no practical information on where to run with it.
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