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[blackcampbell]

I think a good prospective setting might be not space and running from the Cylons, but a resistance setting on Caprica or one of the other colonies.  Particularly if you are leaning toward a civilian group over the Colonial Fleet.

[Chybi]

I agree with you on that although there's that gut feeling where I'd love to play through or GM an All players involved Viper Vs Cylon Raiders battle. Although I'm pretty sure this has very few chances of happening.

Another thing I see happening is more like a cat and mouse game between survivors and Cylons on one of the colonies.

This might be off-topic abit but I feel this topic is the right place to include it.

How close to canon will you be sticking in your games?

I've personaly said it before and will say it again, I have no problems with scrapping canon if I feel it would be better for everyone involved.

[Jonesy]

I think it would be great to have it on another colony besides Caprica. You could make your own terrain, name your own cities, etc.

[brand]

As it is hard for me to explain the concept of the campaign without explaining the pilot, I'll do this first :

In my own campaign, PCs are survivors of the attack of the colonial fleet headquarters on Picon and were refugees/crew membres (dependeing on their civilian/military status) on the Battlestar Atlantia under Admiral Nagala orders. Then they participated with most or the fleet surviving military capitol ships on the battle around Virgon and eventually had to flee with Dr Amarak to a rendez vous point aboard a damaged raptor (which was not able to FTL anymore). There most of the civilian ships (including Rising Star, Olympic Carrier and Greenleaf) who flew Picon with the military expeditionnary force where waiting for the return of the military fleet and went under big disapointment. After some hours lost and without any idea of what to do next Sharon's Valerii raptor found them and as them to join the stranded civilian fleet. But as two raiders are approaching, Colonial Heavy 798/Colonial One  and all the FTL-ready ships jumped away leaving the PCs and 20 ships to be slaughtered by cylons (this part is in the miniseries). The pilot ends with the PC raptor drifiting into space in the midst of 20 destroyed ships without power, without FTL and with only 1 hour oxygen left.

The campaign is mainly being part of this stranded and almost destroyed fleet with the very few survivors which are not very happy anymore with authorities like government or military which both abandonned them to a certain death. As they have the info that fleet is going to Ragnar station but cannot go there before they repair the damaged FTL engine of one of the capitol ships (it was damaged before the attack), they will basically for some time follow the cylons and the Ragtag fleet. This concept allows to adress most of BSG themes (and locations) but without having to deal with the feeling that main cast is doing everything important and still allow a few surprise. For example, the survivors need to find their own leaders (as in the series) but are nominating a sleeper skinjob. This will be an interesting twist the first time they will meet people from the BS Galactica or Pegasus

EDIT : I am a bit struggling with enlish language. So, if I am not clear enough, please let me know

[Rel Fexive]

Sounds like a great scheme.  I particularly like the "those left behind" bit, which was an idea I was thinking of as well... and no doubt others also

[Vinzent]

Here's another idea for a campaign setting (ala espionage). The characters are cylons that are sympathetic to the human plight. While the some units are trying to change the cylon plan of eradicating humanity, these few units might resort to sabotage in an effort to buy the humans time.

[blackcampbell]

I think it would be great to have it on another colony besides Caprica. You could make your own terrain, name your own cities, etc.

I agree.  As for canon, I intend to stick close to what we've seen, but that's all on Caprica or in the fleet...I'm sure there's other stuff going on back on the colonies.

[selek]

I am a die-hard fan of the original BSG (what can I say, I was a pre-teen boy when it aired!), and the new series is beginning to grow on me.

I'm also a veteran gamer with experience in several different sci-fi genres, not the least of which is the other title hosted on these boards.

My main problem with the BSG setting is that it seems limited to only a handful of discrete campaign settings.  Minor variations are possible, but it seems to me that you're essentially limited to one of the six themes below:

• Military/civilian elements of Adama's fleet.
• Military/civilian elements of an independent refugee fleet.
• Military/civilian resistance on an occupied colony.
• A "black hat" campaign mentioned above (Cylon insurrectionists sympathetic to the human's plight).
• The first Cylon War
• The InterWar years

LIFE AS PART OF ADAMA'S FLEET
   The problem with being military or civilian members of Adama's fleet is that you are not really masters of your own destiny- the power and critical decision making is actually done far above your paygrade.  Face it- most of the 50,000 people in the fleet are either redshirts or supernumaries at best.  They're along for the ride.

   The best fit I can forsee under these circumstances is serving as a squadron of viper pilots or trouble shooters dealing with the various crises the arise in the fleet itself- mechanical difficulties, health issues, supply crises, insurrection, civil unrest, and espionage.  The problem here is repetition.  You can only handle so many engine room fires, small, plucky, but misguided resistance groups, and Cylon sleeper agents before it become monotonous.

Exploration missions are possible, but both the Classic BSG and the reimagining are notably short on aliens with whom to interact (other than the myriad lost human colonies and offshoots).  It has been said that one of the main reasons we never really pushed further than the moon was that we didn't encounter any Klingons along the way.  A BSG exploration mission might suffer the same fatal flaw.  If MWP gives us a decent aliens section, this objection might well be moot, but I expect that any alien interaction is going to impose a lot of work on the GM.

LIFE IN AN INDEPENDENT FLEET
   This campaign has all of the headaches of being part of Adama's Fleet with a single glaring exception- with their own battlestar and their own refugees to protect, the heroes really do become masters of their own destiny- the power and critical decision are in their hands. 

The problem with this campaign is in avoiding repetition- both the same tired missions you're people are always undertaking, but also in repeating the missions seen on the show.  While both your heroes and the iconic characters will be facing similar problems and obstacles (if not necessarily the search for Earth), you really don't want to be perceived as stealing plotlines from the show, either. 

I think the best fit for this kind of campaign would be something along the lines of he adventures of the Pegasus(in both series) before she hooked back up with Galactica- hit and fade missions, harassment of the enemy and their supply lines.  Shepherding a smaller convoy of survivors (much like Galactica) is also a good fit- though also heading for Earth strikes me as a bit cliched.  Another option is a rag-tag fighter squadron operating from hidden bases, scrounging what they need to survive, and hitting the enemy where and when they can (as we saw in the movie Independence Day).

Life on an Occupied Colony
   This campaign type, in my opinion, has the greatest potential for a wide variety of missions and character types- and a lot of inspiration that can be readily adapted from other sources (the French Underground during World War II, The Underground Railroad of pre-Civil War America are two excellent sources).
   On one of the original twelve colonies (such as Caprica or Geminon), people are dealing with shortages, massive casualties, the complete destruction of infrastructure, societal collapse, and possible extermination orders.  Radiation sickness, food shortages, clean water, shelter and medical care will all be critical priorities.  Once those are handled, then you can look at getting rid of the toasters.  Twilight 2000 (though I have only a passing acquaintance with the system itself) is likely to be an excellent Gamemaster's resource for this type of campaign.   Settings can include refugee camps, bombed out military bases, geurrilla operations, or even trackless wilderness camps operated by the resistance.

On a new colony (such as New Caprica), the heroes would have many of the same problems, but to a lesser degree, and will likely be more involved in harassing or suborning their Cylon masters directly. 

The main headache for the GM in a campaign like this is the sheer, overwhelming opposition.  As President Roslin pointed out- "The war is over.  We lost."  The Cylon juggernaught is simply too large to be beaten in any realistic fashion.  Colonies that rebel are likely to be exterminated.  Resistance groups that are too successful will likely draw crushing military reprisals either upon their heads or the heads of thier fellow colonists. 

The "Black Hat" campaign
This campaign type will likely incorporate elements of several of the types listed above, but places the heroes on the outside looking in.  Given the general dearth of information on the Cylons and their society, the GM has the greatest latitude in fleshing out his 'Verse (ironic when dealing with a race of toasters), but also the largest amount of heavy lifting to do.  This will also be hampered to varying degrees by his devotion to canon.

The most workable variant of this campaign I can see would incorporate elements of the occupied colony campaign, with the heroes acting as part of the Cylon occupation government.  They must then tread the thin line between winning the trust of their charges and keeping the trust of their allies, and also the line between being effective and exposing their true allegiances.

The First Cylon War
This campaign type (given the props used in the Miniseries) will likely be the closest in style and content to the Classic Battlestar Galactica.  Depending upon where in the timeline your events are set, Cylon elements will likely (at least initially) be interspersed with the Colonial civilian populations, and then resort to armed conflict on a fleet level.  Heroes in this setting will likely be Colonial military personnel working literally to expel the Cylon menace and clean up the damage following Cylon attacks on the civilians.    Again, depending heavily on how much information the RPG provides on the Cylons and the history, the GM has the greatest latitude in fleshing out his 'Verse, and the most work to do. 

The Inter-War Years
This campaign type is actually the one I expect will be used the least.  Depending upon how much information the RPG actually provides, it would be the easiest to implement, and will likely have the weakest BSG atmosphere.  The Cylons are (nearly) silent behind their border, and most of the missions will deal (thanks to the dearth of aliens) with internal threats and disorder, plus the soap-opera politicking inherent in a war-fleet stuck in peace-time maintenance and training cycles. 

Ironically, this setting also gives the most leeway for civilian-type crews, transport operators, smugglers, con-artists, honest merchant men, mechanics- pretty much anybody looking to make an honest (or not so honest) living within a single (or nearly so) large star system.  I can see a lot of cross-overs/outright theft from MWP's other products in this type of campaign.

Again, depending heavily on how much information the RPG provides, the GM will have a tremendous amount of wiggle room, but all in all, I generally suspect that absent an especially creative and inventive GM, and players worthy of him, this campaign will collapse into reruns of the mercifully short-lived TV series Supercarrier. 

Again, the greatest threat in this campaign will be internal- civil unrest and insurrection being the greatest.  President Adar had to send the Marines into Aerilon for a reason!  Military types will likely be reduced to border maintenance, training cycles, and chasing down the odd smuggler.  Exploration and R&D missions are also not terribly likely (the former for the reasons listed above).  R&D, on the other hand, suffers from the fact that nearly all of the technology displayed in BSG (with the exception of the Cylons themselves) is well-worn and well-understood.  The apparent differences between Galactica and Pegasus (fifty years of design and development between their commissionings) are minimal, dealing more with incremental improvements in function rather than radical increases in capability.

All in all, as much as I do love BSG, I'm leery of investing time and money into what seems to me to be a terribly limited genre.  Again, it depends heavily upon how much meat Universal allows MWP to put on the bare-bones we see on the screen.

[Wildspacer]

It's unlikely I'll be playing BSG for a while since my group has their campaigns scheduled out through the next year but I'm thinking of doing something with it on the side as a break from regular sessions. 

I'm also haveing some problems comming up with setting ideas since there isn't as much room for new personalities in Adama's fleet. 

Some of my ideas include: 

Merchant Marines:  The players are part of the crew of an armed merchantman in Adama's fleet.  Perhaps with their own small squadron of Mark I or Mark II vipers.  The problem still exist however of being small fish in a very big pond and there is an additional problem if I were to give them Vipers.  Wouldn't they just be pressed into service by the Military? 

Pirates and other Scavangers:  The players start out as Pirates or illiegal scavangers.  They may be ex-military or just lifelong spacers and they may have old vipers or even older style raiders in their small fleet.  They survived the Cylon attack by doing what they do best.  Knowing all the best places to hide from the athorities.  The Cylons crushed the Colonial fleet because they knew where to find them.  The had all the information from the defense mainframe so they knew every official and classified military base in the colonies and all of the civilian ones as well.  They did not however know where all the smuggler and pirate havens were.  At least not any more than the Colonial fleet knew.  The players have probably heard rumors of "The Galactica and it's ragtag fleet" but they don't know how to find them or make contact with the.  The also have another choice.  Use their knowledge of Colonial space to do to the Cylons what they use to do to the Merchant traders and Colonial fleet.  Hit them where they least expect it.  They also might be involved in rendering aid to survivers and resistance groups on the colonies.  If they are using old Cylon equipment they are probably more familier with Cylon tech than most people.  Perhaps they have learned a way to use that knowledge against the Cylons.     

[Wolfe]

I'm also a veteran gamer with experience in several different sci-fi genres, not the least of which is the other title hosted on these boards.

My main problem with the BSG setting is that it seems limited to only a handful of discrete campaign settings.  Minor variations are possible, but it seems to me that you're essentially limited to one of the six themes below:

The setting options are only limited by your imagination, that may sound cliche but is none the less the truth.

The more obvious you've skipped is all military, all civillian, not to mention Wildspacers additions and thats just not even thinking about it.

If your going to limit the setting to just what you have seen on TV you have limited it yourself, the setting didn't do it.

 Once the book is actually released this board will more then likely be deluged by the various adventures by folks just like the Waves board was, the chance somebody does need a fresh idea, well thats what this board is here for.

The GM who believes the setting is limited has my pity.

[selek]

Which is why, if you'll note, I stuck to broad campaign types rather than discrete settings.

I agree with you without reservation on a single point: we're going to see a tremendous amount of creative energy on these boards once the game is released.  We're already seeing a sneak peak of that.  I also expect, however, that nearly all of the contributions we're going to see will fit (however sloppily) into one of my broad categories.

I have not discounted all military/all civilian or "Wildspace" options- I addressed above the basic problems a GM would likely face in trying to implement such a campaign.
The problem is that the further you stray from canon, the greater the workload on the GM, and the more of the BSG feel and atmosphere you lose.

The question in my mind (canon aside) is how inventive you can be- how far afield can you wander- and still be playing Battlestar Galactica (as opposed to Dungeons and Dragons with Colonial Vipers). 

There is a vast difference between a campaign set in the BSG universe and one that has merely cannibalized set pieces from the BSG universe.

As to pity, well, we'll leave it at that, and I'll save my cheap shots for the toasters.

[Wildspacer]

If I run Star Wars in a time of peace can I still call it Star Wars? 

If I run Dungeons and Dragons but include neither a dungeon nor a dragons can I call it D&D?

If I run Serenity but feature neither Serenity nor even a Firefly can I call it Serenity?

If I run Battlestar Galactica but don't involved the actual Battlestar Galactica can I call it Battlestar Galactica?

[selek]

If I run Star Wars in a time of peace can I still call it Star Wars?

If the main opposition the characters face is not a Sith Lord, but Katherine Janeway (though the confusion is understandable) and her Borg minions is it still Star Wars or is it something else?  If the heroes are composed of an elf and two halflings magicians is it still Star Wars?

If I run Dungeons and Dragons but include neither a dungeon nor a dragons can I call it D&D?

  If the campaign is set on the Death Star and the party is comprised of a rogue starship pilot, his hairy sidekick, a farm boy, an old man, and two Cylon wannabe's, it is still D&D?  Or is it something else? 

If I run Serenity but feature neither Serenity nor even a Firefly can I call it Serenity?

  If the characters are named, Ray, Egon, and Spengler, and run around fightings ghosts with proton hurlers is it still Serenity?

If I run Battlestar Galactica but don't involved the actual Battlestar Galactica can I call it Battlestar Galactica?

Is it still BSG if the players are all fourth-level mages questing for the magic cup of Ardis which the nefarious Cylons have converted into a door stop?

[Wildspacer]

So what's your point?  Even the six or so campaign style you listed could be taken in any number of directions without resorting to wizards flying Vipers agaisnt Cylon cyber dragons.

Any setting that has any set canon has similar constraints yet people play in these settings all the time.  I don't see how BSG is different.   

[Rev503]

I considered doing a campaign as "the other squadron" on Galactica, so the players get to have a minor part of all the really cool events of the TV but have scope for their own stories, but thinking about it it seemed too limited (for me..if someone else can make it work, more power to them).

What I'm inclining towards now is the players as nuggets and staff on Icarus station which is set on the other side of the system to Ragnar Anchorage 6 months before the Cylon attack.

Icarus is mostly there to provide a jump corridor for the miners in the extraplanetary system and few outsystem mining ventures (there should be hardly any of those) - A jump corridor is what I'm calling a spot in fairly flat space where ships can jump to easily (so civillian jump calculations are safer and quicker..military ships usually have the computing power not to need it) and provide jump calculations for civillian ships leaving the station (which has a military grade jump computer). It also is the control point for the Eye of Aggamemnon, a large (about 500 kms across) synthetic aparture telescope array that is half financed by the military and half by the Caprican Science Foundation.

The station itself will be a third strike target to the Cylons (the only armament is a squadron of old vipers and another squadron of raptors acting mainly as a search and rescuse service) but the eye is definately a pre-strike target by a cylon posing as an arms dealer (and if I'm lucky I can arrange things so the players abandon him at Ragnar before Galactica shows up ) .

Initial scenarios are going to be character interaction with the NPC's, SAR missions, occasional security patrols, and a nice little scenario I've got cooked up to  get them a warship (not a battlestar) so they can abandon Icarus when the Cylons get going.

Long term it's going to be a seperate refugee fleet with the players having a major role in the running of the fleet. From a military standpoint, I'm thinking the equivalant of an attack carrier and three frigates so it's possible some of the players will wind up as ship commanders.

[flyingcircus]

I am attaching my current BSG campaign, its a PDF of 4 pages that could help those interrested in running a non-Galactica campaign who need some inspiration or who want to pick-up a quickstart setting.  I think you might find it interresting.

[Traveller61]

Flyingcircus - thanks for sharing
This is good stuff that I might just nick, um, I mean borrow of course

DW

[flyingcircus]

Flyingcircus - thanks for sharing
This is good stuff that I might just nick, um, I mean borrow of course

DW

NP enjoy.

SN

[jeff]

The campaign idea I had in mind was that the PCs are long range scouts who jump ahead of the main fleet to look for planets where they could get supplies.  I think that they would be a squad of Marines on a Raptor.  I'm going to run this with the Savage Worlds rules because as a veteran on disability, I don't have the cash to buy the BSG book itself.

[kenashimame]

This is definitely non-cannon (in more ways than one), but you could use a variation of something I've foreshadowed in my Serenity campaign:

The crew found a mysterious shuttle, approximately a little smaller than a standard 20 ton short-range shuttle and fitting the description of a heavy raider, floating in space without power and failing life support.  The sole occupant was an attractive blonde woman.  Once they were able to communicate with her (a process which took several days of pointing at objects and speaking slowly) she gave her name as "Shelly Godfrey".

Just how would Adama & Co. (and the PC's) react when they reached a used up Earth-That-Was that had been abandoned by humanity?  What would the Cylon reaction be? 

Conversely how does the Alliance react to the sudden appearance of a Cylon task force or the Colonial Fleet?  If the Cylons appear during the Unification War, can the Alliance and the Independents pull together against a common threat?

Since both games use the same system, it seems like a natural cross-over.  (Though one of my players was a little miffed once she figured out that I'd introduced Number 6 into my Serenity game.)