E is for Equipment

FGU's Space Opera roleplaying game has 28 pages of equipment and personal weapons. Camping and outdoor gear, medical supplies, computers, vision aids and sensors, communication equipment. Tool kits, armor, space suits, and jump packs, robots.

And OH YEAH, Guns Guns Guns!

A to z challenged

I got way behind last week. The usual combo of internet connection problems, busy at work, and like that.
I still intend to post many little snipits about Space Opera, so back at it.

D is for Disruptor

Firearms are the medium tech weapons in Space Opera. Lasers blasters and fusion guns are higher tech. Disruptors, particularly energy disruptors are the really fancy stuff. Blasters blast things up. Disruptors screw things up, make them fall apart, disintegrate them.

Disruptors work on either sonic or magic energy principles. Sonic disruptors can be built to effect protein or metal. Higher tech (more expensive) energy versions can effect both. Stunners work on much the same principles. A combined disruptor and stunner weapon costs about one fourth more than a single function disruptor. The inspiration from Star Trek is obvious.

C is for Credit

The Credit is the standard unit of currency for Space Opera. It is issued in setting by the largest league banks, Headquartered on the planet Augusta, and the great Federation central bank of Earth.

League and federation credits are pegged each to the other. The currencies of the Azurich Imperium. Galactic Peoples Republic, Mir,  Rauwoof republics, Blard and Mekpurr star kingdoms and of several IRSOL star cities are freely exchanged by those League and Federation banks, abet at floating exchange rates.

The Imperium is well aware the Space Commies Committee for Galactic Security, the Federation Bureau of Intelligence, Blards, and Rauwoof are sending genuine imperial currency to anti-imperial rebels. The banks of Augusta trade with all. There is not much the azzies can do about it, without shutting down all their international trade.

Sucks to be a space Nazi.

C is for character class

Space opera is a class and skill level system, with nothing like a experiance level governing the characters abilities. The closest thing to an experience point or lrvel is a small allocation of skillpoints per year of acive service pior to the start of acive play.
The classes are:
Armsman. Combat soldiers, martial artists, and other gunbunnies.

• Astronauts space pilots, navigators, and captains.
• Engineers designers and hackers of hightech gear.
• Physicians treaters of injuries and disease.
• Research scientists in the physical, bilogical, and social sciences. 
• Techs fixers and mantainers of gear.

The biggest difference between character classes is the types of skills that must be bought. An Armsman, for example, must spend
her experitise skillpoint skills and half her attribute bases pool on class relate skills like guns, driving and piloting anfixing military equipment.
Each character class has a different set of prime attributes. The prime attribute generat a significant portion of a characters skill points. When generating attributes each claa also has a small pool of points for improving attributes.

B is for Blard

The Blard are usoid or bearlike furry aliens. They big, not overly bright and kind of stuffy. The Blard home world is somewhwrw near the Horsehead nebula. Blards are saunch alies of the Rauwoof canines, as well as the nicer sorts of humons.

C is for computer

Computers in Space Opera seem to be a reaction to the computers in Original Black Book Traveller, a game renowned for it's take on computer technology. (Short form: They were too conservative -- using PDP8 equivalant systems for a limited range of uses).

There's two kinds of computers in Space Opera. "Real" computers -- mainframes running Starships, often artificially intellegent, and Minicomps. Minicomps are laptops, PDAs, Tablets, and other small devices.

Programs for both include knowledge bases, expert rule based diagnostic and troubleshooting systems. The catalog of ship programs provide basic capabilities to operate the ship and various skill die mod bonus programs. All very good, but there's no internet or anything like that -- it's assumed there's one mainframe per ship, with a smaller backup system for emergencies.

Aside from the possibilities for AI NPCs in "the" computer system, there is a very limited vision for computer technology.

Oh, and Computer skills seem to be based more on the size of the computer than anything else. Back in the 80s no one envisioned Windows and Unix/Mac OSX/Linux  running on every thing from handhelds to embeded systems, to workstations to  big arse dedicated server systems.

This looks like a good opportunity to rule hack to me. I'll follow up on this in the future.

B is for Blaster

"Hokey Religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side."

In FGU's Space Opera game, blasters are ancient weapons. Apparently originally invented by the most ancient of Forerunner civilizations, the Blaster has been used for at least 37,000 years since the Korelians (one "L") found them in an archeological site.

Blasters are the standard small arm of most Tech Level 8 civilizations. They fire magical space opera energy bolts, and are related to the Novaguns that are the standard Spacecraft weapons. Compared to more primitive Lasers, blasters are less effected by smoke, dust, and other atmospheric interference, and have measurably more penetrating power. Compared to higher tech Energy Disruptors they have longer range, abet with less penetrating power.

Blasters have a certain amount of recoil, making rocket guns and lasers preferred for microgravity combat. Blaster also require more exotic materials than laser weapons. Still, blasters are very deadly and very effective. They certainly deserve respect from both their users and from potential targets. And they're endorsed by Buck Rogers and Han Solo; how can you beat that?

A is for Android

There isn't much to say about FGU's Space Opra game's androids. There is no provision for android pcs. There is a catalog of standard utility and combat robots in the equipment list. Just enough to cover R2D2 and C3P0 as very limited NPCs.

Robots and androids have a limited use in the Space Opera battlefield. There exists a special Anti Robotic Positronic Disruptor Field or APROBPDIF series of weapons, which knock out positronic higher level computer function. Armor and standard forcefields are not effective protection  against APROBDIF attacks. Only specialized defensive screens work at all well, and only in the most expensive models.

Androids are a speciality of the Mekpurr, furry aliens of feline stock. They have the technical expertise and economics to support heavily shielded robotic brain equiped androids (should be Felinoids, I suppose.) Mekpurr Androids are programmed for obediance and loyality; they make up much of their army and space force enlisted personnel.


Space Opera, in my opinion missed an opportunity for some interesting role play by deemphasis on Artificial Intelligence, robots, and specifically androids. I'd look to Spacemaster if I intended to focus on Androids in my games.

A is for Atlas.

Star Sector Atlas that is.

The Space Opera default setting is published in a series of numbered sector atlases. Five of these were published. Each starts with a historical essay, written in character by a fussy academic or scheming intelligence officer.

In each Atlas, there's a two dimensional projection of the sector. Sectors are a 3d cube, 200 light years on a side. Yes, that means a little high school level geometry is required for space travel. Given the Space opera game's typical 10 or 15 light year a day  hyperdrive, this means no two worlds in the sector are more than a few weeks apart. Major shipping lanes are marked. There are lists of transport lines operating in the sectors.

The map is followed by an alphabetic listing of the various planets, each with about twenty useful statistics (major imports, exports, types of government, gross national product and personal incomes, probability of being lynched by cheerful xenophobic lynch mobs, military installations and like that). Several of the atlases include orders of battle for local armies and space forces, with notes about unique local weaponry.

Atlas number 1 is for the Terran Sector, home of Earthlings and the Federation. The Atlas begins with an essay written by an IRSOL (UFO aliens in flying cities) leader and academic. He tells how the IRSOL found Earthlings living in gravity well squalor and fighting each other. With his leadership, his benevolent alien race intervened to  lead Earth to a new age of Galactic Enlightenment. After centuries of light handed manipulation the Earth became a Mature Civilization(TM), with only a few billion deaths along the way. They would have died anyway.

In turn Earth leads the idealistic do-gooder United Federation Of Planets (where have we heard that before?). Now the IRSOL are preparing the Eartlings and their Fed for their role as cannon fodder in their upcoming defense against the Big Bad sometime expansionist and mysterious Starrkadd Empire.  In the meantime there's galactic do-gooder fun to be had taking up the Earthman's burden of civilizing the Aliens.  And dealing with renegade Earthlings, all of whom you can bet voted for the wrong side in the last election.

The planets in sector one include a mix of human and aliens. All the major Human Powers have some presence in the sector, along with the Bugs and Lizards and other hostile inhuman enemies. There are, therefore, lots of folks to trade with or kill as appropriate for the Players campaigns. Plants in this sector include the obligatory ice world with big game, a jungle planet with really big (dinosaur) game, and a clone of Dune. Dune clones show up two or three times in the different sectors, so every campaign has an opportunity to smuggle drugs and guns and rebel against off world oppressors, while riding big worms. Something oddly Freudian about that, but I digress.

Atlas 2 is set umpteen hundred light years away, in the home sector of the Mercantile League, a bunch of Libertarian Earthlings who ran away from cruel earth oppression back in the day. Now they have their own planets. In Sector 2, the Leaguers can trade with and otherwise exploit their alien neighbors, keep an eye on pretty much the same foreign earthling ex patriot star nations as the Federation in Sector 1, and sweat over the menace of the local snake people to their greedy little hearts content. Oh, and dress funny, in homage to the honest plain dealers of the Roman Republic. (????)

The League is a pretty nice place to live, comparable to the Federation. However, the League is not such a big deal in interstellar politics as the Feds. The plutocrats in charge see little profit in meddling in others business, except if there's money in it. I reckon most traditional space mercenary action adventures would be set in the League.

Atlas 3 is another umpteen hundred light years away, at the center of the Azurich Imperium. The Imperium, as much as they deny it, are Space Nazis, Earthling self-exiled space Nazis. So heroic adventurers from the Fed or the League don't have to feel the slightest bit upset when they blast Impie bastards into itsy bitsy pieces. The Starmaster will make more. The Azzies oppress Doggie aliens, raise bird aliens for meat, and are just generally despicable. Their only good point, (and it's rather dubious) is they hate space commies. Oh there's hidden rebel bases and a bigmongous Federation Space fortress for those that like that sort of thing.

Atlas 4 would have been about the exiled earthling space commie soviet socialist republic if they'd ever published it, which they didn't. Instead they jumped to the much more interesting Ranan space Maoists in Altas 5. Ranan have the distinction of not being earthlings. They are humaniods with retrograde feet. The Ranan inhabit bunches of overpopulated politically oppressed (or occasionally, semi liberal) Chinese Maois sterotype planets. They  trade with the league, but have running cold and hot wars with the Fed, the Azzies, and the Bear aliens. The Atlas includes a brief description of another space commie group canine alien Mir.

They skipped more numbers to get to Atlas 11 and 12, from Phil Mcgregor's home campaign. Evil Korellian bastards (Spartan Mongol Klingon type aliens) oppress the noble and heroic rebel Earthling Confederacy. Pretty good stuff, but hard to move characters from other areas here, as it's umpteen Thousand Light years away. But some how the IRSOL and Federation Intellegence are snooping around and writing the footnotes.  Oh, and the Korellians are distracted by border wars with (guess who) the Starkadd. It's a perfect time for the Confederacy to rise and overthrow their oppressors.



The Space Opera Sector Atlas series contains many playable adventure settings, providing a place for just about every space opera thrope imaginable. They're available from drivethru in scanned PDF format for a few dollars. Many are available in print directly from Fantasy Games Unlimited.