Storytelling: Series Concepts
By Steven Otte
As Storyteller, you'd certainly be within your rights to run your series as a bunch of unconnected characters having a bunch of unrelated adventures. There's even something to be said for entirely episodic games, in which players are given a different set of characters to play in each new adventure. Such an approach can help give players an appreciation for the size and variety available in the Millennium's Edge setting.
However, if your players want their characters to have a past and a future, some reason for them to be together doing what they do, it's a good idea to start out with a series concept -- a guiding idea that will shape both your players' choice of characters and your choice of situations and adventures.
As we've said elsewhere, the Three Million is a huge, expansive setting, with almost no limits on what kind of series can fit into it. What follows are merely some examples; feel free to use, modify or discard them as you like.
Hope, Sacrifice, Unity, Enlightenment
This is the broadest and most common theme of Millennium's Edge series. At least one of the player characters will be an Æon functionary, assigned to return hope and civilization to the galaxy. The other characters could be fellow Æon members, or friends and allies who share her goals. This series can encompass many sorts of adventures, from investigation to diplomacy, from exploration to war. Due to the difficulties of communicating with Æon administration across the light-years, characters are free to follow their own paths, so long as they coincide with the Æon agenda. However, the Storyteller can still use Æon to nudge characters in the right direction and drop clues when they get stuck. An Æon series also offers the players the feeling of being part of something big, important and noble, which appeals to the "builder" kind of player.
Bringing Light to the Galaxy
This series is similar in tone to the preceding one, but without Æon entanglements. The player character group could be associated with the ISO, the Order of All-Space, Orange Star, the Old Confed, Cyan, Spacefleet, or any other group whose goals are to rebuild and renew. There's a lot of rebuilding to do in the Three Million, and Æon can't do it all. Adventures in this series could focus on restoring a certain area of space, like a Domain or even a single world, or on performing a certain mission, like repairing the EPIC network, restoring diplomatic ties or tracking down fugitive war criminals.
Rage Against The Machine
The player characters are citizens of a repressive regime, such as a fascistic military dictatorship, a totalitarian monarchy, or a fundamentalist theocracy. The planet might even be under the iron fist of an Aberrant. Whatever the oppressor, the characters have decided to band together and join either a secretive resistance movement or an open rebellion. Adventures in this series will focus on small but incremental victories against the vastly more powerful enemy. Challenges should be tougher and victories smaller here than in other series, but remember that in this game, one defeat can be the players' last. Assigning a particular officer or unit of the regime to the players' capture can add a personal element to what could otherwise be an overwhelmingly large fight. As the regime is in the position of power, the players will need some sort of advantage, or else they will quickly be crushed. The advantage may take the form of wide popular support for their rebellion, as in the movie "Star Wars"; a technological edge, as in the British TV series "Blake's 7"; or a combination of personal power, destiny and sheer luck, as in the film "The Matrix."
The Final Frontier
The goal of this series is discovery, whether it be an Æon team investigating mysterious happenings on the Fringe, a CIPAC crew reestablishing shipping routes and trade agreements with long-lost worlds, or an ISO expedition uncovering the remains of an ancient civilization. The players should be given the opportunity to uncover new civilizations and explore strange, new worlds, but break out the "big ones" sparingly -- it can quickly get difficult to top yourself game after game. "Star Trek" is the classic example of this sort of series.
Voices of the Past
Thanks to Chromatic-developed 4DT travel, a long-distance journey -- whether intentional or not -- can mean a fast-forward journey through time. Drive failures while in starfall transit, a foulup with the suspended-animation equipment, or other MacGuffins can have similar effects. The result is a spaceship and its crew from the era of high civilization suddenly finding itself in the chaos and barbarism of 2997. The crew may decide to try to restore the Confederation to its former glory, get back to their previous timeframe (if their particular method of time-travel makes that possible), or simply make the best of the situation. This kind of series can be played seriously, as in the syndicated TV series "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda," or for fish-out-of-water comedy, as in the fourth "Star Trek" movie, "The Voyage Home."
Only the Strong Survive
In this kind of series, instead of being the ones to bring civilization back to the galaxy, the player characters get the short end of the stick. Born on a planet that has lost technology somehow -- perhaps it abandoned science in favor of survival when supply lines were cut, or was bombed back to the Bronze Age by Aberrants, or is ruled by a regime that took power by suppressing education -- the characters have to make do the best they can in a hostile world. Though the day-to-day challenge of this series is survival, elements of other themes -- a struggle against a repressive regime, the discovery of lost knowledge -- may creep in here.
Shadows Behind the Veil
The big events in the universe are not as random or chaotic as they might seem -- there is (or, as far as the player character knows, may be) a hidden hand guiding and shaping them. This type of series seeks to uncover that hidden hand and its movements. Shadow governments, secret societies, and pacts with strange alien races all are popular events behind a series like this. Conspiracies abound, political intriuge is key and nobody is as they seem. Good inspiration can be found in most science fiction shows, especially "Babylon 5" (particularly seasons two through four), "The X-Files", and "Earth: Final Conflict."
Scum and Villainy
Instead of fighting against the collapse of civilization, the player characters in this series take advantage of it. They could be mercenaries, smugglers, freelance black operatives, technology raiders, members of one of the more morally questionable Spacefleets, even space pirates. The feel of this series is similar to Rage Against The Machine, except that the agencies pursuing the player characters are legitimate authorities. (As a twist, the characters could be falsely accused, forced into their course of action, and/or undercover agents infiltrating a criminal enterprise.) Series of this sort can get stale fast, so be prepared to morph them into one of the other types, such as Rage Against The Machine, Only the Strong Survive or even Voices of the Past (the band of pirates may join up with a ship/crew from the past and eventually come around to a nobler way of thinking, as in "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda").
Long Live the Fighters
This is an action-oriented series, centered on a war or other sustained armed conflict. Player characters may be members of Spacefleet or the armed forces of an Autoc or planetary government. While player characters should be allowed some freedom of action to keep up the players' interest level, the majority of adventures in this series will be missions against a large, resourceful and dangerous enemy. This enemy may be an alien race (e.g. the Kani), a rival Autoc, or an internal rebellion. (If you're lucky enough to have a large group of experienced players, it can be a lot of fun to alternate game sessions between this series and a Rage Against The Machine series, playing both sides of the conflict.) While this series will have plenty of action to keep your "shoot-em-all, let-the-Noetic-Totality-sort-'em-out" style gamers happy, don't forget to focus on personalities and character development to satisfy the more cerebral players in your group. The movie "Aliens," the TV series "Space: Above and Beyond" and the fourth season of "Babylon 5" explore the range available in this theme, from dark to bright.
Additional material by Derek Burrow.
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