Opinion on Skraypers?

[EltonRobb]

I'd like your opinion on Skraypers. One of my players wanted to create a superhero for my Savage Rifts game, and I want to give him something for his background (like coming from the Skrayper "dimension"). I thought of him coming from a world where super humans are plentiful, and the Skraypers dimension seemed to be the ticket.

[ShadowLogan]

I don't have the book so can't comment, but the Heroes Unlimited setting would also qualify as a Super Human plentiful dimension. Couple that with Conversion Book 1 to handle the conversion of HU's powers and you'd be good to go.

[Marcethus]

I have always loved Skraypers. It's a fun setting despite the scientific unfeasibility of a solar system with 9 planets all inhabitable with sentient life. Even so, I've enjoyed the story of the Tarlok and their invasion of Seeron. Since Seeronian Humans are commonly mutants your idea for the player's background is a good one.

[SolCannibal]

I have always loved Skraypers. It's a fun setting despite the scientific unfeasibility of a solar system with 9 planets all inhabitable with sentient life.

Unfeasible if NATURAL you mean - there's a lot left untold about the setting for GMs flesh out and build the cosmos in their own peculiar ways.

Even so, I've enjoyed the story of the Tarlok and their invasion of Seeron. Since Seeronian Humans are commonly mutants your idea for the player's background is a good one.

The setting is fun and while the Tarlok are less over-the-top than the baddies from either, it could make a good starting point for a Star Wars meets MCU kind of campaign and backstories.

[Marcethus]

I have always loved Skraypers. It's a fun setting despite the scientific unfeasibility of a solar system with 9 planets all inhabitable with sentient life.

Unfeasible if NATURAL you mean - there's a lot left untold about the setting for GMs flesh out and build the cosmos in their own peculiar ways.

Very true it could be a designed system by an unknown force, which I hadn't thought of when I first read the book many years ago. And one of the many reasons Skraypers is so good is that it leaves alot of that in the air for the GM to do with as they see fit.

[SolCannibal]

I have always loved Skraypers. It's a fun setting despite the scientific unfeasibility of a solar system with 9 planets all inhabitable with sentient life.

Unfeasible if NATURAL you mean - there's a lot left untold about the setting for GMs flesh out and build the cosmos in their own peculiar ways.

Very true it could be a designed system by an unknown force, which I hadn't thought of when I first read the book many years ago. And one of the many reasons Skraypers is so good is that it leaves alot of that in the air for the GM to do with as they see fit.

Indeed, i might have gone very deep indeed into that particular rabbit's hole if not for some misadventures and creative reinterpretations of Century Station and AU leading me towards a very extensive tweaking if not borderline rewrite of AU's Milky Way into a entertainingly bizarre thing of my own.

[Marcethus]

Sounds interesting, I may have to explore that particular rabbit hole.

[SolCannibal]

Sounds interesting, I may have to explore that particular rabbit hole.

Aliens Unlimited and AU Galaxy Guide are definitely worth the read. While not everything appealed to me, there was much that i did enjoy and would work from in fleshing out my own games, with homebrewing proper - and no small ammount of crossover easter eggs (my homebrew HU draws inspiration from fluff bits in Mutants in Orbit and Rifts South America, among lots of other things) - going into some strategic parts.


Speaking of Skraypers proper, i have yet to return for a deep dive into it, to see where i would go with expanding further certain parts of the Charizolon system and the history - known and unknown - of its inhabitants (or elusive neighbors like the Blhaze, Rithe & Tandori), what bits to downplay and tweak, where and how to bring or not crossover bits (or maybe "just" alternate reality analogs) from other settings and so on.

The role of psionics, magic & the supernatural - or their absence - in the setting seems to me like a venue with much to offer depending on the answers a GM decides to choose and where the dominoes might lead one into as they drop together.

[SolCannibal]

I'd like your opinion on Skraypers. One of my players wanted to create a superhero for my Savage Rifts game, and I want to give him something for his background (like coming from the Skrayper "dimension"). I thought of him coming from a world where super humans are plentiful, and the Skraypers dimension seemed to be the ticket.

Well, how do you and the player envision his superhero past or homeworld being? Because while superbeings are definitely a major element, i'd say it's more of an "occupied Earth" sci-fi setting, closer to Battlestar: Galactica (specially the remake), V: the Final Battle, Rogue One or the Andor series - but with superpowers - in spirit than say, "Avengers: Mightiest Heroes" or "Justice League Unlimited", with Guardians of Galaxy 1 & 2 as something of a middle ground i guess (though possibly closer to Phaseworld).

If you're looking for something more Marvel or DC "mainstream supers world" i'd say stick to Heroes Unlimited proper.

If what interests either of you is a superhero with a grittier or stranger vibe, something more like early Image comics or some of the titles or story arcs of the '90s era (with some late '80s to early 2000s mixed in), TMNT & Other Strangeness and Nightbane might make for some entertaining alternatives.

Meanwhile, Ninja & Superspies would work great for a supers scenario with a strong inspiration in the more over the top spy or martial arts movies, there being definitely popular comic series, manga and other media past & present that toy with this too.

And then there's Beyond the Supernatural, that while not geared toward masked crusaders & vigilants would definitely work for stuff with a paranormal & conspiracies vein frpm films like Scanners, Firestarter, X-Men: First Class & Days of a Future Past or the classic X-Files series.

So, what style of superhero and the kind of "superhero world" you people imagine it coming from is the key to everything else, imho.