Literary Inspiration for the 2320 Player/Ref

[Mysterion]

How about a list of books thatwould make for good inspiration for folks looking to put together or play a 2320 game?

I'll start:

Any of David Drake's "Hammer's Slammers" books or stories. The tech is about right for the setting, and would be good for anyone playing or running a military oriented game.

"Freehold" or "The Weapon" by Michael Z. Williamson. Grainne could easily be a frontier world with a bit of tweaking,a nd there's some good black ops fun in these.

 

[tanstaafl2300]

Outland - the movie and the book, both do a very good job of capturing the feel.

Enders Game/Enders Shadow - Orson Scott Card

Rebel Moon - Bruce Bethke & Vox Day (Book written based on a game) Excellent feel, good story, you can almost feel the dice being rolled.

Total Recall - Piers Anthony

Starship Troopers - RAH

Aliens Series - Lose the aliens (or not) and you have a very good take on the 2320 timeframe.

Cthorr series - Don't remember who wrote it but really good action and background.

Red/Blue/Green Mars series - Author unknown - Science was really interesting but kind of a chick book.

 

[mbrinkhues]

Not restricting myself to books

Military/Espionage

Drake: Hammers Slammers
Pournelle: CoDominion Novels except Moat
Anderson: Domenic Flandry
Williams: Voice of the Whirlwind
M.J. Strazinsky: Babylon 5 Universe except Crusades
Unknown: Aliens and follow-on Novells
Robin Moore: The Green Devils
???: Starship-Troopers, The Movie
Weber: The first two Honor Harringtons


Civilian

C.H.Cherryn: Downbelow Station and it's universe
Joss Whedon: Firefly/Serenity
Unknown: Alien (First Movie)
Niven: Most of the "Known Space" except the Ringworld
Anderson: Technical Civilisation/Nik Van Ryn Novels


Civilians at War

Buchheim: Die Festung (The Fortress)

 

[Mysterion]

Originally posted by tanstaafl2300:
Cthorr series - Don't remember who wrote it but really good action and background.

Those are by David Gerrold. His "Star Wolf" series would also be good inspiration for a starship-based campaign. He has a really good take of life on an interstellar warship.

More suggestions:

The "Blue Planet" RPG is ripe for pillaging of it's setting. Poseidon is an interesting world with some nifty secrets. Witha bit of tweaking (less bio-mods) it would fit nicely in the 2320 universe.

 

[Colin]

From the 2320AD Referee's Guide:

Books
Clarke County, Space, Alan Steele
Lunar Descent, Alan Steele
Orbital Decay, Alan Steele
Downbelow Station, CJ Cherryh
Rimrunners, CJ Cherryh
Heavy Time, CJ Cherryh
Hellburner, CJ Cherryh
Revelation Space, Alistair Reynolds
Absolution Gap, Alistair Reynolds
Redemption Ark, Alistair Reynolds
Chasm City, Alistair Reynolds
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson (for a nanotech future)
Cold As Ice, Charles Sheffield
Summertide, Charles Sheffield
When Gravity Fails, Alex George Effinger
A Fire in the Sun, Alex George Effinger
Hammer’s Slammers series, David Drake
Aristoi, Walter John Williams (for a very nano-tech, virtual
reality world)
Hardwired, Walter John Williams
Voice of the Whirlwind, Walter John Williams
Angel Station, Walter John Williams
Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
Fountains of Paradise, Arthur C. Clarke
Imperial Earth, Arthur C. Clarke
Songs of Distant Earth, Arthur C. Clarke
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Robert A. Heinlein
Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
The Real Story: The Gap into Conflict, Stephen R. Donaldson
Forbidden Knowledge: The Gap into Vision, Stephen R. Donaldson
Dark and Hungry God Arises: The Gap into Power, Stephen
R. Donaldson
Chaos and Order: The Gap into Madness, Stephen R. Donaldson
This Day All Gods Die: The Gap into Ruin, Stephen R. Donaldson
Space Doctor, Lee Corey
The Legacy of Heorot, Jerry Pournelle, Larry Niven, and Stephen
Barnes
The Dragons of Heorot, Jerry Pournelle, Larry Niven, and Stephen
Barnes
Beowulf’s Children, Jerry Pournelle, Larry Niven, and Stephen
Barnes
A Mote in God’s Eye, Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven
The Gripping Hand, Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven
West of Honor, Jerry Pournelle
The Mercenary, Jerry Pournelle
Prince of Mercenaries, Jerry Pournelle
Falkenberg’s Legion, Jerry Pournelle
Go Tell the Spartans, Jerry Pournelle and S.M. Stirling
Prince of Sparta, Jerry Pournelle and S.M. Stirling
The Wild World of the Future, Claire Pye
Reference
Oxford Concise Science Dictionary
Collins French-English/English-French Dictionary
CIA World Fact Book
Movies
Outland
2001
2010
Alien
Aliens
Alien3
Enemy Mine
Gunhed (if you ignore the giant robot toys)
Supernova (Really just the ship…)
Moon 44
Pitch Black
Bladerunner
Soldier
Predator
Silent Running
Starship Troopers
Wing Commander
Gattaca
eXistenZ
Solaris (original Russian version)
Mission to Mars (Ignore the end, and the rest was OK)
Red Planet (The look, the pressure suits. Not the story)
Total Recall
Serenity
Television
Firefly (If you ignore the artificial gravity bits, this is very
2320AD)
Babylon 5
Earth 2
Space: Above and Beyond (Chigs = Kafers)
Battlestar Galactica (New Series)
Anime
Ghost in the Shell (1 and 2)
Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex
Wings of Honneimaise
Cowboy Bebop
Gundam (more for the life-in-habitats ideas than the giant
robot toys)
Appleseed (the new one)
Comics and Manga
2001 Nights
Planetes
Ghost in the Shell
Appleseed
Aliens vs. Predator (the comic, not the movie)
Erma Felna, EDF (from Albedo Anthropomorphics) (Hard SF
war story, with fuzzy animals…)

 

[Colin]

In particular, I recommend Voice of the Whirlwind, Angel Station (hey look, Pentapods...), Downbelow Station, Firefly/Serenity, Alien/Aliens, and Space: Above and Beyond.

 

[nyrath]

I found one novel that was uncannily close to Traveller, but nobody has ever heard of it.

THE SHATTERED STARS by Richard McEnroe. It is almost tailor-made to be a Traveller scenario.

http://www.bookfinder.com is currently showing about 25 copies for under $5

 

[nyrath]

A good source of inspiration for scenarios is an old 1982 TV series called TALES OF THE GOLD MONKEY
http://www.goldmonkey.com/infopage.html#synopsis

Replace the Grumman seaplane with a Beowulf Free Trader, the yes/no barking dog with a robot similar to The Bit from the movie TRON, change the nationalities of the German Secret Agent and the Japanese Dragon Lady, and you are all set.

 

[Dunryc]

Please have a look at Elizabeth Moon's Vettas War books.
You'll be surprised .

 

[mbrinkhues]

Originally posted by Nyrath:
A good source of inspiration for scenarios is an old 1982 TV series called TALES OF THE GOLD MONKEY
http://www.goldmonkey.com/infopage.html#synopsis

Replace the Grumman seaplane with a Beowulf Free Trader, the yes/no barking dog with a robot similar to The Bit from the movie TRON, change the nationalities of the German Secret Agent and the Japanese Dragon Lady, and you are all set.

And the changes to the antagonists are so easy. Make Zee Germans into Zee Zolomanie and the Dragon Lady into a Zhodanie and you are set.

 

[mbrinkhues]

Originally posted by Dunryc:
Please have a look at Elizabeth Moon's Vettas War books.
You'll be surprised .

As much as I like the books, they are more compatibel with Traveller than with 2300AD.

 

[Golan2072]

Originally posted by tanstaafl2300:
Red/Blue/Green Mars series - Author unknown - Science was really interesting but kind of a chick book.

They're by Kim Stanely Robinson; very hard-science, near-future and dealing in detail with things such as terraformation, beanstalks and interplanetary corporations. Also deals with how living on an alien colony-world would effct culture, society and religion.

 

[yatima]

I'd have to add:
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• Altered Carbon, Richard K. Morgan</font>
• Broken Angels, Richard K. Morgan</font>
• Woken Furies, Richard K. Morgan</font>

If you only read one of these, read the last book (Woken Furies). Teams of gunned up mercenaries called DeComs are hired to clear an island of AI war machines that repair each other and improvise with what's to hand. And that's only the first part of the book!

 

[ElHombre]

Originally posted by Nyrath:
A good source of inspiration for scenarios is an old 1982 TV series called TALES OF THE GOLD MONKEY
http://www.goldmonkey.com/infopage.html#synopsis

Replace the Grumman seaplane with a Beowulf Free Trader, the yes/no barking dog with a robot similar to The Bit from the movie TRON, change the nationalities of the German Secret Agent and the Japanese Dragon Lady, and you are all set.

Ack! I rmember watching that show as a kid. I suddenly feel very old.

 

[Ishmael]

Tales of the Gold Monkey was my favorite show. It came on right before Black sheep Squadron.

It is the perfect action adventure show!

 

[nyrath]

In that case, look over the episodes, and see if any look particularly good to adapt into Traveller scenarios. See if any stir your memories.

If you click on the episode name, it takes you to the script of the entire episode.

 

[mbrinkhues]

Originally posted by ElHombre:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Nyrath:
A good source of inspiration for scenarios is an old 1982 TV series called TALES OF THE GOLD MONKEY
http://www.goldmonkey.com/infopage.html#synopsis

Replace the Grumman seaplane with a Beowulf Free Trader, the yes/no barking dog with a robot similar to The Bit from the movie TRON, change the nationalities of the German Secret Agent and the Japanese Dragon Lady, and you are all set.

Ack! I rmember watching that show as a kid. I suddenly feel very old.

</font>[/QUOTE]Now that I read through the basics, I remember the (few) shows I got to watch in Germany. I also remember a comic that replaced most of the actors with animals (Cutter was a Bear, The Mechanic a Cat etc) IIRC called "Higher for Hire"

 

[nyrath]

GOLD MONKEY had a lot of fun with the yes/no barking dog. One bark is No, two barks is Yes. Limited vocabulary, but the dog was always making snarky comments. It had an attitude.

Think of Jack as an eighty-year old man who's seen enough of the world and ridiculous things people insist on doing to pretty much know what's coming next. He doesn't hesitate to give his opinion...one bark for "no," two for "yes."

The Bit from the movie Tron did much the same thing, but wasn't so mean.

 

[far-trader]

Originally posted by Michael Brinkhues:
...Now that I read through the basics, I remember the (few) shows I got to watch in Germany. I also remember a comic that replaced most of the actors with animals (Cutter was a Bear, The Mechanic a Cat etc) IIRC called "Higher for Hire"

Are you thinking maybe of Disney's TailSpin? (maybe it was renamed for international markets)

http://www.ultimatedisney.com/talespin-volume1.html

 

[mbrinkhues]

Jup, that's it. The german title is "Captain Baloo", I "guesses" the english title from the company name.