Hologram Prose

Heart of Darkness [Elder Scrolls]

One can only hope.

Heart of Darkness [Elder Scrolls]

Heart of Darkness is one of my favorite books and I loved ES:III Morrowind (even if I came late to the party), so I'm down. :D

NOVA DAWN (working title) Science Fantasy, Cosmic Adventure, Space Pirates

@Hologram Prose My thought is that while it uses the terms Good/Evil as a callback to traditional alignment, the idea of alignment itself has no bearing on morality. It's just a descriptor of natural forces in the universe. Entire races/worlds get clumped together in it, because that's the lowest level at which these forces can be measured. For an individual to have their "own" alignment, they would have to be something akin to a demigod or greater, as otherwise they are too insignificant on the universal scale. As far as discrimination goes, maybe/maybe not, as someone who is sensitive to alignment would probably also have knowledge that it's a fairly objective system. They would have to make the conscious decision to discriminate against someone for factors outside of their control that has almost no bearing on them as a person.

Just as a couple of examples... an "all things must end eventually" sort of Death God (Raven Queen for instance) would be categorized as Neutral Evil (indifferent to stasis vs change, favorable to entropy). A sun god focused on destroying the undead would be Lawful Neutral (favorable to stasis, indifferent to entropy vs extropy). A crazy death god obsessed with raising the undead would in fact be Lawful Good (favorable to stasis, favorable to extropy). Funny, right?

@Dead Cruiser

Ah ok, that makes a lot more sense, thanks for the clarification! :D

Another thing I wanted to mention, just offhand, is that the Nova Dawn is not a big ship. It has the living space and amenities to support a crew of about twenty tops.

@Dead Cruiser

Bunk beds for everyone!

Also, nature is kind of weird and frightening at times, but makes for good inspiration.

@Hylozoist

My first thought was "it's just like r/natureismetal"... D:

NOVA DAWN (working title) Science Fantasy, Cosmic Adventure, Space Pirates

It's all fun and games until the crew run into someone with a phobia of caterpillars/butterflies.

NOVA DAWN (working title) Science Fantasy, Cosmic Adventure, Space Pirates

So while I'm thinking about it, I want to run a goofy idea by you guys. It's sort of a subversion of the usual classic D&D alignment system, but rather than being a descriptor of your character's morality, it's a sort of classification of the makeup of their soul. The universe exists on these metaphysical axises of Good and Evil (Extropy vs Entropy) and Law and Chaos (Stasis vs Change). None are more closely in tune with these forces than Gods (hyperdimensional beings of vast power), whose existences and perceptions are dependant on the alignment of other entities and forces in the universe. So your character would have an alignment dependant on where their species (or possibly entire planet) falls in the grand scheme of the universe's alignment, regardless of their personal character. This would only affect their potential interactions with Gods (if they were a Cleric for instance) and the effects of certain types of magic on them.

It's just a weird idea I was working with, and I can easily drop it if you guys aren't fans.

@Dead Cruiser

I'm always a fan of fictional religions/mythology.

An interesting twist could be taking a page from Eberron and playing with the "shades of gray" of each religion.

For example, Chaos can be seen as bad (lawlessness, which leads to terrible things), but one could also identify Chaos as being change (progress, allowing things to improve).

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I guess the only thing I don't quite understand is why it wouldn't be based on the individual/their actions?

However, you could definitely play it like a trait with associated stigmas, like maybe Character A is really good, but belongs to a race known as Evil, so they're forever trying to escape the stigma that comes with being identified as Evil (even though they personally are not), which might be what you're suggesting.

NOVA DAWN (working title) Science Fantasy, Cosmic Adventure, Space Pirates

I like it, but who they spying on?

@Irisity

Everyone!

Nah, jokes aside, I figure the character would be useful when the party crew need to have a little bit of tact when trying to procure something (like say a ship full of gold) or when some clever reconnaissance work needs to be undertaken. The way I see it, when you're doing potentially bad things (or even good things), sometimes you need someone who can fight and other times you need someone who can accomplish a task with the utmost discretion.

Another valuable trait of said character would be connections to people who deal in information. Say for example, a most beloved crew-member is captured, well how does the party crew find them? Perhaps, the mysterious spy can ask some old colleagues to ask the right people the right questions?

Who hired them?

@Irisity

Nominally, the spy would work for the Captain...although who knows? Can you ever trust a spy? :D

NOVA DAWN (working title) Science Fantasy, Cosmic Adventure, Space Pirates

I think I'll do a sneaky spy, as an unnamed steward once said: "a fellow pirate who can pass themselves off as something other than a pirate sounds like something that would be extremely useful" and who doesn't want sketchy back-room connections that may or may not try to murder you?

NOVA DAWN (working title) Science Fantasy, Cosmic Adventure, Space Pirates

I would like to suggest that any competitors for the vital and prestigious role of Ship's Cook must of course settle the matter through a trial of arms (knives as befitting of this illustrious profession).

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Some potential roles (I can make random lists!):

First Officer: doesn't necessarily need the title/rank, but the Captain's right hand man/woman/thing
Engineer: fixes stuff, keeps stuff working, there could be a chief and assistant engineer (one more experienced/older, the other more of an "in-training" person)
Navigator: navigates, hopefully accurately
Quartermaster: keeps the supplies in order,
Merchant: sells/buys the swag, knows their way around the Blackmarket
Helmsman/Pilot: steers the ship, ideally while sober
Armsman (Master-at-Arms): responsible for security on the ship and the suicidal illustrious boarding party
Ordnance Master: in charge of ship weapons and ammunition (keeps peeps fighting), sort of like a more weapon oriented engineer
Ship's Surgeon/Doctor: fixes people, dispenses Vitamin C as needed
Master of Communications: deals with communications, master of duck-tape
Spy/Agent: someone who can figure out what is going on, has connections, knows some bad people and how to stop those bad people from murdering the ship
Boarding Party: captures swag, shoots fools, sing pirate shanties, short life-span
Ship's Steward: most important person on the ship, feeds the crew with hopefully delicious food
Researcher: could be an sort of archaeologist looking for alien artifacts, some sort of xenobiologist, or really any sort of scientist, researchers stuff (obviously)

NOVA DAWN (working title) Science Fantasy, Cosmic Adventure, Space Pirates

Sounds good.

I'm not greatly knowledgeable about ships (or space travel, sadly), but it seems like reasonable roles depends quite a bit on the size of the ship/crew, so what are we looking at in regards to those characteristics?

NOVA DAWN (working title) Science Fantasy, Cosmic Adventure, Space Pirates

Just look at what happened to Firefly...

There's a direct correlation between Space prostitutes/consorts and FOX canceling your show RP (statistics is basically magic, so this is definitely a correct analysis).