Mon 06 Jan 2020, 18:00
Maybe you, mrchrislackey, have got all you need by now. But since this thread probably is of a more general interest, I would like to add some more thoughts on truckers in space.
First of all, most truckers are employed by a company. That means that there must be some kind of contract and probably also a personal file for everyone who has done any kind of job för the Company. I would like the contract and the personal file (to make it simple, both of them are in the same document) a part of the game. In this document I imagine there should be short track record with a list of previous missions, private insurance info, previous payments, list of previous and possible future bonuses and benefits, and some kind of medical record. Maybe there is a classified part too. I see this documentation as something that could be added to the character sheet. Basically, it’s a way to make the corporate connection more interesting and playable. Seeing this from an in game perspective, it should be info that the Mother could just provide at any time that isn’t battle or other emergency. The contract and the corporate track record should, I think, be a part of creating the PCs - they have life stories from the start, even if they are trucker rookies.
I also see The Mother, or maybe an android as it’s extension, as the corporate voice in the game. The truckers would probably get mission instructions on a regular basis, much like Ripley and her collegues in the first movie. Writing some of those instructions in advance, could be a way for the GM to prepare a campaign. The instructions could then work as handouts. I think it’s quite in the style of the movies. The truckers get instructions that feel standardized and not personal.
A way of twisting what who the Mother, apart from just being a corporate voice, could be if she has an agenda on her own that is revealed after some time, perhaps in the end of the campaign. In our world, that is the fear of future AI. The danger of an independent Mother, just pretending to work for corporate profit only, could be interesting also in this fictional universe.
Considering that the truckers are the main characters of the campaign, I would look for articles about real world truckers and their problems. Of course, being a trucker in the real world is not the same, but some aspects should at least be similar. Space truckers must take care of their cargo, go to truck stops, get good payments, take some extra cargo, and perhaps deal with criminals (or commit crimes if it’s tempting enough). Truckers can be underdogs or working class heroes, Davids fighting or just accepting a corporate Goliath. That makes them unconventional among the standard RPG heroes, who often have some kind of super powers.
Last edited by
Bengt Petter on Tue 07 Jan 2020, 13:17, edited 2 times in total.