Category: Uncharted Worlds: Discussion

Hello,

I am an Apocalypse World veteran. (I’ve ran campaigns for Apocalypse World, Urban Shadows, Monsterhearts, and Dungeon World.) I’m running an Uncharted Worlds campaign coming up in October and I had an idea but I am not sure about the best way of going about it. Maybe you can suggest some ideas?

My players and I agreed to have a Lost in Space/Battlestar Galactica style game. The players are in an unexplored part of the galaxy, low on resources and working to get back home. As a plot device, I thought I would have their warp drive out of fuel and dependent upon some mineral or whatever (e.g., dilithium crystals) that the players will need to stop, go planetside and retrieve regularly. I can do this purely as a narrative device (i.e., the players run out of fuel whenever it is narratively convenient to me) but is there a better way? I don’t want to railroad my players every session but at the same time I don’t want them to just Wild Jump and be home in a single roll. Part of the fun should be resource management. I imagine the struggle to get home taking up the entire campaign (6 sessions total). Ideally, I allow them the ability to strategically manage their resources without making it too easy or too difficult to get home.

One thought was to make “being lost” an ongoing passive Threat with an Agenda to consume fuel, food and water, eventually inflicting damage from starvation, dehydration and life support system failures, if not handled.

Another potential issue with a campaign like this is that Markets and Factions will likely not be much of a factor. I can warn players about this during character creation but maybe there is a better way to handle that, also. I definitely don’t want them stopping at the intergalactic gas station for fuel, filling up and – bam – they are home.

I could also use suggestions for what to call the fuel source. Not “dilithium crystals” but something like that.

Look forward to your responses.

John