Pathfinder

Description

Pathfinder is a colonization mission set in the early 22nd century under conditions of secrecy. The population of the Earth had exceeded the ability of the planet to support itself – even with off world resources and recycling systems. New laws had gone into effect which controlled pretty much every aspect of life. And Earth was not without its political factions – Sedition Factions as they were called. Several very wealthy entrepreneurs pooled their resources to build a starship in secrecy – wanting what settlers of old called “elbow room.” They hoped to leave the Earth behind before

The Pathfinder was the size of a battlestar, though not built for war. It carried over 25,000 passengers in cryogenic suspension. Some were the families of the entrepreneurs and scientists that designed the ship. Most were chosen for their youth, health, and ability to bear offspring on the new world. Most were chosen by a secret raffle by the entrepreneurs. Four of the key entrepreneurs responsible had decided from the beginning that they would not be on the voyage, for they knew the world government would always be watching them. They chose to remain behind as a decoy.

While the colonists were chosen with some care, the ship was built with whatever parts they could secret away. Gear was chosen in much the same fashion. More effort was placed into basic survival gear, rations, seeds, workshops, and such. Even with all the secrecy the mission almost failed. Terran Security detected the exodus and made an attempt to prevent the ship from making it to lightspeed. The Pathfinder sustained considerable damage.

The first two systems the Pathfinder passed through proved to have no viable planets. The third system proved to have a marginally habitable world with a gravitational field very similar to Earth and two moons. Still, the planet was teeming with vegetation, oceans, weather, and volcanism. The crew decided this would be their new home – not that there was a lot of choice. The damage the Pathfinder had sustained was finally getting to the point of making a continued voyage dangerous.

Characters must be developed with good backgrounds, describing personality, education, career, and physical descriptions. (If you have ever seen the movie Lost in Space, Earth is not unlike that version. Or Babylon 5 – minus all the aliens and stargates. Yes, a PSI Corp was forming. Psionics are possible.) A profile describing the character for other players to read will need to be uploaded to the Yahoo group site. It should include any information the players should know. A more detailed version should be made available to the GM.

Please no lone wolves. I want PC’s that can work well with others. I want players to work together. A solid character will be able to handle exploration and unexpected situations. Creativity is a necessity. Yes, there will be First Contact situations. Some aliens will be intelligent enough to handle translation on their own; others will be primitive. Some will be primal and animalistic, but able to understand body language. Raise a club at them and they WILL get the hint of an immanent threat. Hand them food and you might start a new trade route.

Players should be able to post 2 to 3 times a week, with average lengths of posts not less than a few good paragraphs. The game is rated Mature (PG-13 to R), with some military violence, appropriate language, some alien horror. Fade to Black instituted for those adult scenes. No children please.