Topic: Running old Spacemaster 2nd Ed adventures with Spacemaster: Privateers.

[Erik Sharma]

Hi I am about to kick of a SM:P campaign and was planning to use some of the old SM2 adventures and rework them to suit the Privateers universe. From what I have seen it shouldn't be to hard and mostly would require some name changes on stuff in the adventure and replace the background with a suitable one for SM:P. But then again I only have one adventure as pdf at the moment so can't say if this applies to the other adventures I plan to buy.

Either way I was wondering if anyone else have done this and have some good advice to give me.

[JimiSue]

I've run a couple of the old Spacemaster modules in SM2 so it's not quite as big of a shift, and own pretty much all of them, but I can tell you that:

The old modules use as a background the Terran Star Empire, and often use the political maneuvering within it as reasons why things happen. If you can replace that convincingly, you're already most of the way there.

The modules themselves are very open-plan. They give a background, a run down of key NPCs, a couple of maps... and that's about it. This lends itself to a certain flexibility in how they are completed, but also means it becomes easier to drop them into other games.

All of the modules come with rules to convert them to other systems like d20 or Traveller, so I'm guessing they were written with the intent that they got adapted.

In all, it's a bit of work, but a good GM project I'd say!

[markc]

Chorpa,
 1) Watch the SM2 DB's and OB's as they can be higher than in SM:P
   1a) Level bonuses can throw things out of watch at high levels, vs in SM:P the bonus skews to the lower levels.
 2) Watch the skill scores as they can be higher also. I would take a few moments and just convert over the major NPC's using the chart's for relevant skills.
 3) Computers might be a issue if they play a big part in your SM:P game vs the presentation in SM2


 If I think of more I will post them.
MDC

[yammahoper]

The systems mesh very well except for psions.  With those you will have to choose between the traditional list method or the SM:P method.

[Usdrothek]

I use SM:P psions for sure. They are more 'sci fi' IMO.

[arakish]

As yamma said.  They mesh very well together.

I am running a FtF SM campaign that was created with the original SM system.  Now I am using the new SM system and have had no problems whatsoever switching over.

The only major difference is the way skills are learned and the way Stat Bonuses work.  Otherwise, there really is no difference except for setting.

And in all honesty, I do not really like the Privateers setting.  Not to say that the Privateers setting is bad, just that I don't like it.  I still think SM could have been written separately from the Privateers setting.  Much like RM has no setting in its system, but has a separate one in Shadow World.  Also, kind of like HARP and Cyradon.

But that is only my opinion, which counts for nothing.

rmfr

[Erik Sharma]

And in all honesty, I do not really like the Privateers setting.  Not to say that the Privateers setting is bad, just that I don't like it.  I still think SM could have been written separately from the Privateers setting.  Much like RM has no setting in its system, but has a separate one in Shadow World.  Also, kind of like HARP and Cyradon.

But that is only my opinion, which counts for nothing.

rmfr

I do agree on that point. Don't have anything against the Privateers setting but would rather have seen Spacemaster setting free and generic and the Privateers setting published separately.

I was thinking about making up a setting of my own but noticed that if you break the Privateers down it really isn't that much different from other settings except the war between ISC and the Jeronan Empire. Nothing really says you do have to play as Privateers as suggested in the premise. With minor tweaks I don't see any problem to run the type of game I want. I see them having the Privateer license just as another story hook that could be applied to any group. My game is gonna be more a freewheeling rough'n tumble merchant/mercenary group trying to survive in the galaxy (much like the crew of Firefly) and of course the Privateers license is just another dangerous way to come by money.

From what I have seen from the premises from the SM2 adventures is that you mostly just have to replace the Empire with ISC and I was thinking about replacing the houses with corporations or something more appropriate to the Privateers setting. Have printed out the first adventure (Raiders from the Frontier) I have gotten my hands on to give a proper read through. But from what I have seen so far by just skimming through it is that the adventure should be no problem to run except for the minor tweaks mentioned above and tweaking the NPCs when needed.

[Erik Sharma]

Well the conversion of Raiders of the Frontier is underway. Are redesigning all NPCs and vehicles to fit the mechanics of Spacemaster: Privateers better. Once I have converted all the adventures I will gather up the files and suggestions on how to run it in the Privateers background and send it to Guild Companion Magazine to see if they want to publish it. If not I will just upload it to the Vault for everyone to use as they see fit. It will contain general guidelines on what changes you should make to be able to fit it into Privateers and the above mentioned new stats to replace the ones in the adventures. Even if you don't have the actual adventure you should still be able to loot the new vehicles and have some premade NPCs to use in other adventures. ;-)

[markc]

Nice. I look forward to seeing it either in the Vault or TGC.
MDC