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Blue Planet (role-playing game)
Encyclopedia
Blue Planet is an environmentalist
science fiction
role-playing game
and setting from Biohazard Games.
in 1997 to critical acclaim, receiving a nomination for the Game of the Year Origins award
.http://www.comicfoundry.com/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=75
The rulebook, weighing in at just under 350 pages, is almost a worldbook, with about five-sixths of its length dedicated to the alien setting. In keeping with its environmentalist theme, the game was dedicated to Jacques Cousteau, and 10% of the profits were to go to his Cousteau Society.
The game received criticism for its overly involved character generation system and extremely lethal combat system. A second version of the game was later released in 2000 in association with Fantasy Flight Games
. This used a new role-playing game system
commonly referred to as the Synergy System instead. The rules and modules were released in several books.
There was also a GURPS
Blue Planet conversionhttp://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/blueplanet/ of the original product released in 2002 by Steve Jackson Games
.
The intellectual property of Blue Planet passed back from Fantasy Flight Games to BioHazard in 2004. http://www.biohazardgames.com/whatsnew.html
On 7 May 2008, RedBrick LLC, publisher of the Earthdawn and Fading Suns roleplaying games, announced they had licensed the Blue Planet property from BioHazard Games. Since then they published "Ancient Echoes", which was originally produced in very small numbers and only in softcover.
, geography
, ecology
and political
situations.
200 years from now, the human race has irreparably damaged its environment. Uncountable plant and animal species have gone extinct
, and humanity has just begun rebuilding in the wake of a 75-year worldwide famine. Just before the disaster, a mysterious artificial wormhole
was discovered a fair distance out beyond the edge of the solar system. Expeditions discovered that the wormhole led to another star system around Lambda Serpentis
, 35 light years away. The second planet of the system was covered with a single vast ocean and was suitable for human life, and was named Poseidon. One major colony ship was sent there before civilization collapsed on Earth, and the colonists were given up for as lost.
The GEO (Global Ecology Organization) and various Incorporates (read: Megacorporations) then rebuilt the Earth's economies (but not ecology) and recontacted Poseidon, only to discover that the colonists have gone "native," abandoning their run-down technology for simple, tribal life as fisherfolk. When the discovery of a "xenosilicate" ore revolutionizes genetic engineering
, a new gold rush brings new settlers, greed and Incorporate warfare to the planet, threatening to destabilize the ecology of Poseidon. Some natives start ecoterrorist groups to protect their oceans from being despoiled, while the GEO tries to maintain law and order with genetically engineered soldiers. Meanwhile, the rarely-glimpsed and enigmatic aborigines which dwell beneath the ocean surface begin reacting to the human presence.
The native colonists of Poseidon are genetically engineered to be able to function underwater, either breathing through gills or possessing a high-capacity diving lung, as well as small fins to aid in swimming and saltwater-resistant skin. Additionally, the game includes genetically "uplifted" dolphin
s and orca
s as playable characters on either side of the native/immigrant dichotomy.
In Synergy the average attribute is 0 and the human range is from -3 to +3, while the skills may range from 1 to 10. The higher the number the better the attribute or skill. Aptitudes can be bought for skill groups, which implies natural talent on the given group. Depending on the level of the aptitude it increases the number of dice rolled in tasks. Synergy uses a roll under system. You add your attribute and skill together and your have to roll below that number. Depending on one's aptitude with the given skill one may roll with 1,2 or 3 dice, keeping one of the dice results.
Environmentalist
An environmentalist broadly supports the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that seeks to improve and protect the quality of the natural environment through changes to environmentally harmful human activities"...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
and setting from Biohazard Games.
History
The first edition was demonstrated and released at OriginsOrigins International Game Expo
Origins Game Fair is one of North America's most prominent annual gaming conventions, second in size only to Gen Con. Origins takes place each year in Columbus, Ohio at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, in late June or early July....
in 1997 to critical acclaim, receiving a nomination for the Game of the Year Origins award
Origins Award
The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so the 1979 awards were given at the 1980 Origins.The Origins Award is commonly...
.http://www.comicfoundry.com/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=75
The rulebook, weighing in at just under 350 pages, is almost a worldbook, with about five-sixths of its length dedicated to the alien setting. In keeping with its environmentalist theme, the game was dedicated to Jacques Cousteau, and 10% of the profits were to go to his Cousteau Society.
The game received criticism for its overly involved character generation system and extremely lethal combat system. A second version of the game was later released in 2000 in association with Fantasy Flight Games
Fantasy Flight Games
Fantasy Flight Games is a Roseville, Minnesota-based game company that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games. Fantasy Flight Publishing was founded in 1995 by its CEO, Christian T. Petersen. Since the release of its first game product in 1997, the company has been doing...
. This used a new role-playing game system
Role-playing game system
A role-playing game system is a set of game mechanics used in a role-playing game to determine the outcome of a character's in-game actions...
commonly referred to as the Synergy System instead. The rules and modules were released in several books.
There was also a GURPS
GURPS
The Generic Universal RolePlaying System, or GURPS, is a tabletop role-playing game system designed to allow for play in any game setting...
Blue Planet conversionhttp://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/blueplanet/ of the original product released in 2002 by Steve Jackson Games
Steve Jackson Games
Steve Jackson Games is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and the gaming magazine Pyramid.-History:...
.
The intellectual property of Blue Planet passed back from Fantasy Flight Games to BioHazard in 2004. http://www.biohazardgames.com/whatsnew.html
On 7 May 2008, RedBrick LLC, publisher of the Earthdawn and Fading Suns roleplaying games, announced they had licensed the Blue Planet property from BioHazard Games. Since then they published "Ancient Echoes", which was originally produced in very small numbers and only in softcover.
Setting
Blue Planet is fairly unusual among sci-fi RPGs in that its setting is exhaustively researched and scientifically accurate. It is set on an alien water planet, with believable climateClimate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...
, geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
, ecology
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
and political
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
situations.
200 years from now, the human race has irreparably damaged its environment. Uncountable plant and animal species have gone extinct
Extinction
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
, and humanity has just begun rebuilding in the wake of a 75-year worldwide famine. Just before the disaster, a mysterious artificial wormhole
Wormhole
In physics, a wormhole is a hypothetical topological feature of spacetime that would be, fundamentally, a "shortcut" through spacetime. For a simple visual explanation of a wormhole, consider spacetime visualized as a two-dimensional surface. If this surface is folded along a third dimension, it...
was discovered a fair distance out beyond the edge of the solar system. Expeditions discovered that the wormhole led to another star system around Lambda Serpentis
Lambda Serpentis
Lambda Serpentis is a star in the constellation Serpens, in its head .- Hunt for substellar objects :...
, 35 light years away. The second planet of the system was covered with a single vast ocean and was suitable for human life, and was named Poseidon. One major colony ship was sent there before civilization collapsed on Earth, and the colonists were given up for as lost.
The GEO (Global Ecology Organization) and various Incorporates (read: Megacorporations) then rebuilt the Earth's economies (but not ecology) and recontacted Poseidon, only to discover that the colonists have gone "native," abandoning their run-down technology for simple, tribal life as fisherfolk. When the discovery of a "xenosilicate" ore revolutionizes genetic engineering
Genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...
, a new gold rush brings new settlers, greed and Incorporate warfare to the planet, threatening to destabilize the ecology of Poseidon. Some natives start ecoterrorist groups to protect their oceans from being despoiled, while the GEO tries to maintain law and order with genetically engineered soldiers. Meanwhile, the rarely-glimpsed and enigmatic aborigines which dwell beneath the ocean surface begin reacting to the human presence.
The native colonists of Poseidon are genetically engineered to be able to function underwater, either breathing through gills or possessing a high-capacity diving lung, as well as small fins to aid in swimming and saltwater-resistant skin. Additionally, the game includes genetically "uplifted" dolphin
Dolphin
Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating...
s and orca
Orca
The killer whale , commonly referred to as the orca, and less commonly as the blackfish, is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family. Killer whales are found in all oceans, from the frigid Arctic and Antarctic regions to tropical seas...
s as playable characters on either side of the native/immigrant dichotomy.
Rules
The first edition of Blue Planet (V1) and the second edition (V2) use a similar system. V2, which is called the Synergy system, is a much more streamlined version of V1. While V1 used a percentage (d100)system, V2 used d10s. Also, the combat in Synergy completely rewritten. Avoiding the use of hit locations, introducing a new initiative system and using a more abstract armour and damage modelling instead of the in complex damage tables and more detailed armour types from V1.In Synergy the average attribute is 0 and the human range is from -3 to +3, while the skills may range from 1 to 10. The higher the number the better the attribute or skill. Aptitudes can be bought for skill groups, which implies natural talent on the given group. Depending on the level of the aptitude it increases the number of dice rolled in tasks. Synergy uses a roll under system. You add your attribute and skill together and your have to roll below that number. Depending on one's aptitude with the given skill one may roll with 1,2 or 3 dice, keeping one of the dice results.
External links
- Blue Planet wiki
- Blue Planet page at Biohazard Games
- RedBrick LLC's web site
- Top Fansites: