Game Master's Introduction
Welcome to this Alternity campaign. For the time being we'll be calling it the "Twilight Sector Campaign."
It's a science fiction/space opera setting, using TSR's new Alternity game rules. As I write this introduction
the rules have not officially been released. To begin with we'll be using a copy of the pre-release players handbook.
So don't be surprised if there are a few rules changes down the line.
When conceiving this campaign, I had reason to look back on a number of failed science fiction campaigns I have
tried over the years. Hoping, of course, to avoid the mistakes that had doomed those endeavors. As many of you
know science fiction is probably my favorite genre, so it has been especially disappointing to me that I have been
unable to launch a successful campaign. In looking at previous campaign attempts I noted two things that in my
mind were the primary culprits in their demise. The first of these being the superficial way in which most settings,
like Travelers Imperium dealt with world development. This combined with the player's natural wanderlust tended
to consume campaign material (i.e., star systems) at an alarming rate. The systems had no depth or substance and
so on arrival the players looking for something new and different would be disappointed. Subsequently they'd fly
off in search of a new and hopefully more exciting venue. They would never want to come back to the system because;
"that place was boring". So your poor Gamemaster found himself in an increasingly vain attempt to try
to keep up with the players.
The second problem commonly encountered is one of familiarity. Or lack there of. It's very hard for players to
get a feel for a place if there is nothing they can connect with. There are two aspects to this problem. The players
need a place they can call home. A base of operations. A place that they can always go back to and have at least
a fair chance of finding a familiar face. This "home base", needs to be a place that they know very well.
After all they were either born there or they live there. It has to seem familiar to them.
Of course I have attempted to address these problems in this campaign. I believe its success or failure will hinge
of how successful I have been. To combat the world development problem, I've done three things in this campaign.
The first is I've placed the setting on the very fringes of the frontier. There will be a limited amount of systems
for players to explore, at least initially. The second is depth of preparation. I have endeavored to develop each
system in depth, so that it is not merely a one-off setting. Hopefully when players arrive in a setting they will
be able to see a number of avenues for them to explore. Thirdly, players will not initially have access to a ship.
It doesn't make a lot of sense that relatively inexperienced individuals would be entrusted with such a huge and
expensive machine early in a campaign. To counter the player's lack of familiarity with the setting, I've designed
the players' initial setting (your homeworld) to be someplace already very familiar to you. Earth! Or at least
what looks like an exact duplicate. There are of course subtle differences. The political divisions do not match
those you know. Because everyone in the system is an immigrant, settlement patterns based on race would not be
present. There are a number of other subtle differences you will discover in the course of the campaign. Yet still
if you're in Kansas City, you'll know where that is and where it's at in relation to say New York.
This campaign is being designed, hopefully, for your enjoyment as well as my own. Please feel free to let me know
of anything you can think of to improve it, or that would make it more enjoyable for everyone. At any rate, welcome
to the Twilight Sector Campaign. Hopefully this one fly's (pun intended).
GM: Michael Cross (e-mail)