settings for gaming?

[Sangennaru]

Hi everyone!

I've been discussing the whole evening with a friend, and we are looking for a setting for our miniatures. We do have some factions, but we have yet to paint them, and "contextualizing" them in a known setting would be great.

• The first though was of course Star Trek, but the style of the species is far too fixed and... trekky.
• Another idea was DUNE
• Another was the Metabaron Saga from Jodorowsky
• The Iain Banks cycle of Culture
• A Mutant Chronicles setting, although that's a bit far from the plain scifi we were looking for

in general, rather than just a good setting, we were looking for something with some products attached, movies or good books, so we can get the feeling of what's happening, rather than just playing with miniatures as tokens. Basically, we are looking for something just like historical wargaming, where you know who your minis represent.

Thanks for the help!

Jack

[Sangennaru]

Forgot to say: we are playing skirmishes, so max 20 troops per side. That's ok even for star trek, where rarely more than 10 people were on the scene (mostly, i suspect, for economical reasons).

[nathan]

I vote for a mash-up.  If the trek races are too trek, just take what you really want from it and add it to something else.  Like Starfleet or the Federation or whatever.  A group of self-governing planets that are all members of the same interstellar organization.  The have a combination of a military, exploration corps and service organization called Starfleet.  Anyone with the right mind set can join and work with Starfleet.  Their ships use antimatter nacelles and warp coils using dilithium crystals and their favored weapons are photon torpedoes and phasers.

I also noticed that no one on LAF has posted a link to Star Trek: Axanar's Prelude to Axanar video:

2:54 length trailer


21 minute full video

[Doomsdave]

The trekkie design aesthetic was mostly restrained by special effects budget.  The books, and especially the original animated series reveals just how expansive the galaxy was and how far the aliens could diverge from the bumpy-head norm.  The one that springs immediately to mind was the Edoan helmsman from the animated series.  (3 arms and 3 legs).  I think the trak universe can contain a lot and just feature the basic window-dressing that informs the milieu. 

[Hat Guy]

There are a series of Doctor Who New Adventures Novels and Big Finish Audio plays set sometime in the 25th(correct me if I'm wrong?) Century. Humanity has allied with the Silurians and Ice Warriors to fight the Sontarans and Draconians. The Daleks are rocking around, causing trouble and only penal legions are sent to fight them because regular soldiers refuse to go. The Cybermen are a long-forgotten threat who pop up on occasion and there's a galaxy-wide Shadowrun-esque internet.

Give me a day or two and I can find the names of the specific stories/books.

[Kamandi]

I have not been able to pull it off, but I have long thought the Stargate background would make an excellent skirmish game template.

Most actions are skirmishes near gates, boarding actions, storming enemy encampments, etc.

Most figures can be sourced:
Earth - current/near future special forces, SWAT, Spy-Fi;
Transplanted Humans - historical analogs;
Goa'uld and Jaffa - a bit tougher - various "not" figures, SF Celts, Romans, Egyptians.

If you already have any of the above types of figures, wilderness and/or ruins terrain, then all you need is a Stargate!

 

[Westfalia Chris]

Well, Metabarons is basically Dune with awesome tech and extra squick, so why not do that? Lots of skirmish potential in it, although it might be tricky sourcing minis that look as aesthetically pleasing as the source material - but I'd  love to see what someone with your skills could produce.

[Onebigriver]

There are a series of Doctor Who New Adventures Novels and Big Finish Audio plays set sometime in the 25th(correct me if I'm wrong?) Century. Humanity has allied with the Silurians and Ice Warriors to fight the Sontarans and Draconians. The Daleks are rocking around, causing trouble and only penal legions are sent to fight them because regular soldiers refuse to go. The Cybermen are a long-forgotten threat who pop up on occasion and there's a galaxy-wide Shadowrun-esque internet.

Give me a day or two and I can find the names of the specific stories/books.

I considered something simliar with the 26th Century.

http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/26th_century

 You have Humanity bumping heads with the Draconians and the Daleks bumping heads with both, Human colonies getting caught up in the Sontaran/Rutan war and as you say, the Cybermen popping up. My big problem was finding proxies for Draconians as I'm not keen on the Black Tree figures.

[Sangennaru]

First of all - thank you all for your suggestions.

For star trek (and dr Who and even Stargate) the main problem is that we are not huge fans. I kinda like those, but i don't feel "expert" enough to game in their settings.

other settings (such as starship troopers, which unfortunately has only two factions) can be "learned" through a movie or a series season, but those need a LOT of learning.

Metabarons are supercool, but the setting can be a bit too much "elaborated", and the design is extremely specific too.

Never heard of Shell worlds: what can you say about it Scurv? (but briefly, just to have an idea)

there's the Fundation from Asimov too, but it's a bit dispersive, since even though there are factions, they are rarely interfering...

however, even a less super-known setting but with enough diversity and depth (again, so bad that District 9 has only two factions!) could be great!


Thanks for your future suggestions, and for the past ones too! ^_^

[Onebigriver]

First of all - thank you all for your suggestions.

For dr Who and even Stargate) the main problem is that we are not huge fans.

I know I've got a pitchfork and flaming torch around here somewhere,

[YPU]

The name Iron Empires has been popping up a lot on my RPG feeds. Its a comic series with new ones coming out I believe. Also the base for the burning wheel RPG system. Honestly don't know much beyond that but maybe something worth checking out.

Also a rather radical suggestion 40K. Especially the older fluff leaves so many room for other species and human factions. I think some people's work on this forum shows the potential there is there, even if there is a pungent GW smell hanging over it.

[Comsquare]

Metabarons would be great 
My alltime favourite comic-series.
Red "Castaka" recently, the prequel to the "Barons", and decided to convert me some minis for that.

[Sangennaru]

I know I've got a pitchfork and flaming torch around here somewhere,

i beg for mercy!!!


I'm not looking for Iron Empires, sounds nice!! Maybe a bit unknown?

40K is great, but the design is rather fixed and the style is too fantasy and... it's GW :S

[nathan]

I kinda like those, but i don't feel "expert" enough to game in their settings.

Which is why I suggested a mash up.  You take the things you think are cool from everything that's been discussed in the thread and built your own universe with it.  You don't need to be an expert in a published commercial franchise.  It's going to be your miniature gaming, not some company's.

[whiskey priest]

Picking up on the mention of District 9 you could look at maybe combining it with Elysium giving you several factions, NGO's, Prawns, armed criminals, corporate types, security droids, mercenary's (both loyal and rogue), and of course any governmental forces that might want to get involved.

Another idea is using Jodowrosky's version of dune as your setting tying in two of your suggestions.