Presuming you’ve followed the previous two days of campaign ideas, here is number three for this week’s pitch session. To regular readers of Abulia Savant this one will come as no surprise.
Out of the pages of Entertainment Weekly and a one year hiatus, the third season of the hit sci-fi series, Stargate SG-4!
Game: Stargate
System: Savage Worlds or Cinematic Unisystem
Quickie Bite: (via TV Guide)
Stargate SG-4 (Premiere) The team is rebuilt six years later to fend off a new threat against the Earth with an insidious connection to SG-4. ‘TV-14′ (V,S,D) 750448
The original Stargate SG-4 campaign ran from November 2004 to August 2007 with a haitus in-between the two seasons. The games were noteworthy for being our first regular, long-running campaign and also crossed two iterations of our gaming group. A third season would continue that tradition by including a new regular cast member.
One of the items that my Stargate game was most known for was genre emulation, specifically the three act model that I employed. Sometimes it was used to great effect, sometimes not at all. It’s strange to be sitting here and seeing all the mistakes that I made; it’s so clear now. Frankly I attribute that to having the past year off and the ability to watch our other two GMs at work. I know in one case I’ve learned quite a bit about how I would improve Stargate by reviewing how Martin’s Mage game was crafted. To that same degree the open-ended nature of the D&D campaign also holds some treasures worth plundering. Somewhere along the line I became more focused on crafting plots that successfuly followed the three act model rather than whether they were good adventures. I had a good story if you were willing to sit down and just follow the ride. A good role-playing adventure that does not necessarily make.
After that primer it may sound like Stargate would be a non-starter. To be honest, I hadn’t even considered dusting off Stargate until recently when a player made an off-hand comment about maybe returning to the game. I had pretty much written the game off as done and just assumed there wouldn’t be any interest. Actually, there may not be any interest; it could have just been simply a polite remark. But it was enough to get me thinking as to how I could improve Stargate if it were to return for a third season and learn from the mistakes of the past.
One thing I would do is advance the timeline and make it more contemporary. I mostly kept SG-4 held back in the past—around season 6—because that seemed like a great place to plop a campaign. Focusing almost entirely upon the Goa’uld, we never ventured much further beyond that. Moving the timeline up would allow us to explore new options, touch upon the Ori that appeared in later seasons, changes with the SGC, and the associated spinoff series and DVDs. Essentially broadening the scope of the campaign.
The jump in the timeline also provides reasoning for some changes in the system, ala the 4th Edition of the Forgotten Realms. While D20 Modern was perfectly servicable for Stargate it didn’t do us any favors. The crunchy bits of the system never came much into play from a positive standpoint, making their inclusion questionable. Why not just skip that entirely, transition over to a new system, and go with something that handles cinematic action better? Savage Worlds would work out of the box and to a lesser extent Unisystem. (Trivia Note: Back when Eden Studios was in the running for the Stargate RPG license I crafted the sell sheet pitch document to MGM and the basics of a design document. Ultimately the license went to AEG where I still ended up working on Stargate. I would have much preferred Eden had won, however.)
I think staying with D20 Modern would make Stargate a harder sell and make the players pretty “meh” on returning. A system transition, more suited for the game would help (perhaps artificially) generate interest and the potential to revisit—and re-imagine—some characters. Interestingly this worked really well between seasons one and two when one character was essentially redone from the ground up with amazing results.
Right now I envision at least five years have passed since the events of “Tourniquet” (S2 finale), some members of SG-4 are probably still in the program, perhaps on other teams. Others retired, some possibly involuntarily mustered out. Others may have left disillusioned by the program (Lt. Green?). New characters in part help bring the old team back together to face a new—or old—threat, the likes of which only SG-4 are capable of contending with. Like season two, drawing upon a mixture of old enemies and allies while featuring new ones as well. It’s a fine line between the tribute show (“I remember him!”) and driving the story in new directions.
All told I have to say that as something I considered dead and had little to no interest in, that one throwaway comment from a former player was enough to jump start my interest in revisiting this game for a third go. The question is, will anyone join me?
Pros: Game concept is uber-teamwork friendly; prior history; strong foundational basis; new system provides new opportunities; chance to re-invent characters.
Cons: Players may be more inclined to try something new than going back for a third time; system change may turn off some; sense of closure for some players; apprehension in reliving some of the mistakes made in seasons prior.
Don’s Interest: 
Would you tune in to watch?
Recent Comments