Our Space: 1999 Roleplaying Game will be available to experience soon with the forthcoming release of the core rulebook. This co-production between Anderson Entertainment and Modiphius thrusts you into the world of Space: 1999 and allows you to create your very own cosmic adventures with fellow Alphans!
Modiphius’ Andrew Peregrine provides you with in-depth guides explaining what an RPG is and how to start your very own gaming experience. Now, he explains how to make your Space: 1999 RPG feel like a classically authentic episode of the original 1970s sci-fi TV series!
Now that you are set up and playing the Space: 1999 Roleplaying Game, how do you make it feel like you are really part of a brand new episode of the show? How do you capture that iconic feeling at your gaming table? There are a few simple story techniques you can use, but if you are already enjoying the game, then don’t feel you have to use them. You might love being able to create a whole new style for your own season 3, and if that’s working for your group, that’s great! But if you’d like to capture more of the tone and style of classic Space: 1999, here are a few options you can try at your table.
Opening Narration
Many episodes from season 2 begin with Dr Helena Russell setting the scene by detailing the state of Alpha in her personal log. In the game as much as in an episode, a short description of recent events is a great way to begin the ongoing story of your Moonbase Alpha. The gamemaster might do this themselves, reading aloud a prepared log entry, or get one of the players to do so. They might even read the entry in the style of one of the canon characters as if this really is Dr Russell or Commander Koenig’s personal log. It doesn’t matter if they won’t feature in the adventure itself; this is just setting the tone and expectations of the upcoming adventure.
This opening log entry should be short; after all, you want to get into the game as soon as you can. It should also detail any recent events. These might be a reminder of previous adventures or update the players on something they weren’t previously aware of about life on Alpha. Finally, they should also contain the gamemaster’s concerns and feelings about what might be next for Alpha. It is a way to foreshadow what might be approaching in the next adventure and set some expectations of what the player characters might be about to face.
Set the Style
Episodes of Space: 1999 are extremely varied. They might be action tales, mysteries, horror episodes, investigative stories or even surreal experiences. The gamemaster can set this tone very early on with a simple question to each of the players, asking them to add something to the atmosphere of the base. Each player should be encouraged to detail what their character might be getting up to as the adventure begins. This might be a pilot flying a patrol, a medic checking the stores, a security officer guarding a post, or a scientist conducting an experiment, etc. Once they have given the group an idea of where their character might be found, the gamemaster can ask them to come up with a recent event or feeling that mirrors the tone they are going to be evoking. This question might be one of the following:
- What is the most exciting thing to happen to your character in the last week? (Action)
- What is the strangest thing to happen to your character in the last week? (Mystery/Surreal)
- What has your character found scary or unsettling in the last week? (Horror)
Essentially, each player should come up with a short description of something from their own imagination to answer the question. It will be up to the gamemaster to decide how relevant to the adventure this might be, or even if it was real. If the gamemaster is evoking a horror theme and asks about scary things, one player might decide that their character has been hearing voices. The voices are just whispers, but they are getting worried and thinking about talking to someone about it. However, they are worried that might get them removed from duty. It will be up to the gamemaster to decide if the voices are real, although they may decide to make the voices an important part of the story. Either way, the player’s character is now a little on edge, and the mood of the adventure is clear.
The answers need not be so involved, or even so important or portentous. A player might say their character is feeling odd because the cafeteria didn’t serve chips this Friday and they always look forward to chips on a Friday. It might not be much, but it does leave the character feeling unsettled and off their usual routine, which is all you need.
Canon Characters
The canon characters of the show are available as player characters. But even if they are not the leads of your episodes, they can still feature in them. Player characters will be responsible for at least one of them at some point, and the option to interact with them can quickly make the adventure feel more like an episode you know. Just being cleared for duty by Dr Russell after an injury, flying as a co-pilot to Alan Carter or even getting shouted at for taking unnecessary risks by Commander Koenig will swiftly make the players feel like they are right there on Alpha.
Adapt an Episode
While you can play out completely new adventures, there is nothing wrong with adapting episodes from the two seasons of Space: 1999. There are two ways to do this. The first is to take the episode as it is and just replace the original characters with the player characters. Maybe it was your group instead of Koenig, Bergman and Russell who boarded Gwent in The Infernal Machine. Maybe it was two of your characters instead of Helena and Tony who are taken to Vega in One Moment of Humanity. If the players haven’t seen that episode, they won’t know what it is all about, and the gamemaster can run it like any other adventure. If they have seen the episode, the gamemaster might throw in a few twists to keep them off guard. What if Gwent is actually frightened of Companion instead of being his master? What if the androids of Vega are seeking to free themselves from the control of their apparent servants?
The other way to adapt an adventure is to have the player characters working on an unseen aspect as we do in Breakaway in the Quickstart Guide. For this sort of adventure, consider what else might be happening when the events you see on screen are going on. How did Carter get all the supplies together for Gwent? Were some dangerous to extract and collect? Did the Alphans manage to track Tony and Helena when they vanished, and if so, how? There are all manner of adventures happening in the shadows of every episode, especially when the whole base might be involved in dealing with a crisis.
To craft these compelling gaming experiences and beyond, be sure to pre-order your copy of the Space: 1999 Roleplaying Game Rulebook and accompanying Quickstart Guide. These items will be available to pre-order from the Official Gerry Anderson store this coming Breakaway Day (September 13th).
Gamemaster group Lurking Fears is hosting a series of livestreams of the group playing the Space: 1999 RPG for you to experience it in action, which take place this coming Breakaway Day (September 13th). Tickets for the livestreams can be ordered now!
To be the first to hear about the latest news, exclusive releases and show announcements, sign up to the Anderson Entertainment newsletter!
Leave a comment