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[generic] Star Cops the unofficial TTRPG idea

sanjurotokage

sanjurotokage

Initiate
Since I briefly mentioned it elsewhere, think of giving myself a project to work on next year.

I may periodically post bits here as I work (and cry) on the project

As stated, I have been listening to Big Finish’s Star Cop series along with watching the original show. Also I have been ru(i)ning investigational/police procedural type RPGs like Rivers of London and Bladerunner being the key ones.

It got to me thinking what a near future in our solar system police procedural ttrpg would be like - hence Star Cops being a perfect fit.

The show raises the point of the human element and the reason why have right laws in place to nip problems in the bud before they become bigger issues. Of course not everyone sees it that way.

So creating an ttrpg for this means I need to think of questions to answer:

1. what would make a Star Cops Ttrpg being a star cops ttrpg (I.e core themes, interest to players, , etc)

2. What game system would fit well for Star Cops ttrpg? (year zero stepped dice, BRP, pressure/those dark places, orbital blues, etc)

3. What is life like in the star cops universe?

4 what equipment is used?

5 where are places settled built in space?

6. What challenges face the Star Cops?

7. What ready available resources are their?

There are more but it is a starter for seven the now
 
Based on what I recall from the TV series, I think Fate Core or Fate Accelerated would make an excellent choice for a system. It would practically write itself.
 
I too have listened to all the Big Finish Star Cops audios, and would love to run it as an RPG when it is my turn to run for the monthly game. I thought of using Blade Runner system, since it is designed for police procedurals. I'd probably nick some of the Talents and "job templates" from the Aliens RPG, to broaden out the choice.

I like the fact that some Star Cops are part-timers and have another job. Or that they qualified as something else and became a cop later. Like Kenzy was an engineer and Anna Shoun was a geneticist. That gives a lot of scope for PC variety.

The Moon/Mars/space stations are working environments. No families, no kids there - it is like working on a oil rig or a military base or an Antarctic research base. You only get to see your husband/kids on Zoom or when you go back to Earth for your holidays.

Lots of vested interests: governments, industry, university funded research, corporate funded research, unions and all the folk who are trying to break the rules and smuggle in alcohol, cigarettes, etc.

Here are my notes from a re-watch of the TV series and some thoughts I had:
Canon stuff – TV show and Big Finish https://starcops.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Cops_Wiki

The Law and Jurisdiction of the ISPF
  • The International Space Police Force (ISPF) headquarters is on the Moon, in the biggest moonbase.
  • The ISPF has jurisdiction on the Moon and various space stations, and on the groundside spaceport facilities on Earth. Everywhere they have jurisdiction are places or spacecraft registered to nations who have signed up to the ISPF Treaty.
  • Corporation/company owned facilities count as being in the nation to which the company is registered. So a Coca Cola base on the Moon counts as being in the USA and a Royal Mail shuttle counts as being in the UK.
  • Some nations, such as the USA and Russia were reluctant to sign up to the treaty.
  • Some countries have never signed up to the treaty.
  • The ISPF does not have jurisdiction on any station, satellite or craft which is deemed by a government to be a top secret facility or to do with national security UNLESS in pursuit of a fugitive. For instance, if MI6 has a space station, the ISPF has no jurisdiction there, but could enter to arrest a murderer who was hiding there.
  • There are no courts in space. A criminal arrested by the ISPF will be returned to Earth for trial. Where they are sent depends on the jurisdiction of the place they committed the crime. If you murder someone on the American Ronald Reagan station, then you’ll be sent back to the USA. If you smuggle drugs on the Allied-Pacific Consortium’s Coral Sea station, you’ll be returned to one of those nations (e.g. Australia, Philippines, Fiji, etc).
  • If your crimes were committed over multiple jurisdictions (e.g. on the Ronald Reagan, the Coral Sea, an Indian moonbase and a Brazilian shuttle), then the chief investigating officer has final say as to where you are sent to stand trial.
  • 20 ish of the ISPF’s cops are part-timers (at start of the TV series). They have another job on a moonbase or space station. The rest are full-time.
  • Star Cops of all ranks wear pale blue coveralls or trousers/jacket. The nearest to plain clothes is an inspector wearing their own t-shirt/rugby shirt/jumper instead of the official issue white t-shirt.
  • The ISPF have a Union.
  • The cops sometimes assist with checking the documentation of people arriving on the Moon or a space station (basically doing Customs work to help out the Customs guys).
  • The official ISPF gun is a laser set to “flesh”, because that won’t punch unfortunate holes in the walls of space stations or moonbases… Does it have a stun setting??? TV series doesn’t use stun, but one episode of the Audio series had a stun weapon.

Daily Life in Space
  • Spacers refer to space as “out there” rather than “up there”.
  • People do not live in space permanently. It is more like a job on an oilrig or a ship. Because living in low or zero gravity is not good for you, workers on long contracts will have mandatory periods of leave on Earth, lasting for 7 days.
  • The jobs are nearly all industrial, transport, science or maintenance & life support. Service industries are pretty much limited to running the canteen and the gyms. There are no nail bars, theatres, casinos, shopping malls, restaurants, etc.
  • There are no children in space. It is a dangerous working environment, so people do not bring their families with them. Possible exceptions: (1) some people working on Mars intend to stay there, so kids will eventually be born; (2) space tourists to the Moon might bring 16- or 17-year-olds with them. Younger kids aren’t allowed to do astronaut training.
  • No alcohol, recreational drugs or smoking is permitted. Companies and nations do random drugs tests. They may also test during mandatory health checks. If you are caught with illegal alcohol, the ISPF can send you back to Earth.
  • It’s an open secret that the shuttle maintenance crews are brewing moonshine out of shuttle fuel. Opinions differ whether this is ‘like a good scotch’ or will send you blind.
  • Space is trying to kill you. Faulty equipment, faulty spacesuits etc are often fatal.
  • Everyone has a nametag of their surname on their coveralls and jacket, plus a shoulder flag patch to show their nationality and another shoulder patch to show what base/station/affiliation they are.
  • High level civilian administrators can wear civilian clothing without nametags and patches, should they so wish.
  • Maintenance workers wear brown coveralls. Traffic control and various other jobs wear beige coveralls.
  • On official government spacecraft it is against the rules for lovers/couples to be on the same crew, because this is deemed to be unprofessional and dangerous. Private companies can do whatever the hell they like.
  • Travel time from the Moon to Earth is 3 days. Apparently, the shuttles carry more passengers than they have sleeping cubicles, so some passengers will have to sleep in their seats.
  • There are regular drills for (a) decompression accidents, (b) radiation accidents, and presumably (c) fires. There are lockers with emergency spacesuits and lockers with emergency radiation suits.
  • There are ‘moonquakes’ due to tidal effects. These are (usually) predictable, because the Moon keeps the same face to Earth all the time, and they are due to libration. Check more on this.

The Media
  • TWBC – a news channel
  • World Press Association
  • Cosmopolitan News
  • Atlas News

Technological oddities
  • Indian government security services base (Outpost 9) could make Moon-rover engines automatically cut out a few hundred metres away, while the base does a security check.
  • Many organisations use computer animated AI chatbots to answer the phone. These are nicknamed “PR graphics”.

Dubious & Nefarious Organisations
  • Organisation of Pan Continental Anarchists
  • Mother Earth – opposed to mankind in space
 
Stronty Girl said:
I too have listened to all the Big Finish Star Cops audios, and would love to run it as an RPG when it is my turn to run for the monthly game. I thought of using Blade Runner system, since it is designed for police procedurals. I'd probably nick some of the Talents and "job templates" from the Aliens RPG, to broaden out the choice.

I like the fact that some Star Cops are part-timers and have another job. Or that they qualified as something else and became a cop later. Like Kenzy was an engineer and Anna Shoun was a geneticist. That gives a lot of scope for PC variety.

The Moon/Mars/space stations are working environments. No families, no kids there - it is like working on a oil rig or a military base or an Antarctic research base. You only get to see your husband/kids on Zoom or when you go back to Earth for your holidays.

Lots of vested interests: governments, industry, university funded research, corporate funded research, unions and all the folk who are trying to break the rules and smuggle in alcohol, cigarettes, etc.

Here are my notes from a re-watch of the TV series and some thoughts I had:
Canon stuff – TV show and Big Finish https://starcops.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Cops_Wiki

The Law and Jurisdiction of the ISPF
  • The International Space Police Force (ISPF) headquarters is on the Moon, in the biggest moonbase.
  • The ISPF has jurisdiction on the Moon and various space stations, and on the groundside spaceport facilities on Earth. Everywhere they have jurisdiction are places or spacecraft registered to nations who have signed up to the ISPF Treaty.
  • Corporation/company owned facilities count as being in the nation to which the company is registered. So a Coca Cola base on the Moon counts as being in the USA and a Royal Mail shuttle counts as being in the UK.
  • Some nations, such as the USA and Russia were reluctant to sign up to the treaty.
  • Some countries have never signed up to the treaty.
  • The ISPF does not have jurisdiction on any station, satellite or craft which is deemed by a government to be a top secret facility or to do with national security UNLESS in pursuit of a fugitive. For instance, if MI6 has a space station, the ISPF has no jurisdiction there, but could enter to arrest a murderer who was hiding there.
  • There are no courts in space. A criminal arrested by the ISPF will be returned to Earth for trial. Where they are sent depends on the jurisdiction of the place they committed the crime. If you murder someone on the American Ronald Reagan station, then you’ll be sent back to the USA. If you smuggle drugs on the Allied-Pacific Consortium’s Coral Sea station, you’ll be returned to one of those nations (e.g. Australia, Philippines, Fiji, etc).
  • If your crimes were committed over multiple jurisdictions (e.g. on the Ronald Reagan, the Coral Sea, an Indian moonbase and a Brazilian shuttle), then the chief investigating officer has final say as to where you are sent to stand trial.
  • 20 ish of the ISPF’s cops are part-timers (at start of the TV series). They have another job on a moonbase or space station. The rest are full-time.
  • Star Cops of all ranks wear pale blue coveralls or trousers/jacket. The nearest to plain clothes is an inspector wearing their own t-shirt/rugby shirt/jumper instead of the official issue white t-shirt.
  • The ISPF have a Union.
  • The cops sometimes assist with checking the documentation of people arriving on the Moon or a space station (basically doing Customs work to help out the Customs guys).
  • The official ISPF gun is a laser set to “flesh”, because that won’t punch unfortunate holes in the walls of space stations or moonbases… Does it have a stun setting??? TV series doesn’t use stun, but one episode of the Audio series had a stun weapon.

Daily Life in Space
  • Spacers refer to space as “out there” rather than “up there”.
  • People do not live in space permanently. It is more like a job on an oilrig or a ship. Because living in low or zero gravity is not good for you, workers on long contracts will have mandatory periods of leave on Earth, lasting for 7 days.
  • The jobs are nearly all industrial, transport, science or maintenance & life support. Service industries are pretty much limited to running the canteen and the gyms. There are no nail bars, theatres, casinos, shopping malls, restaurants, etc.
  • There are no children in space. It is a dangerous working environment, so people do not bring their families with them. Possible exceptions: (1) some people working on Mars intend to stay there, so kids will eventually be born; (2) space tourists to the Moon might bring 16- or 17-year-olds with them. Younger kids aren’t allowed to do astronaut training.
  • No alcohol, recreational drugs or smoking is permitted. Companies and nations do random drugs tests. They may also test during mandatory health checks. If you are caught with illegal alcohol, the ISPF can send you back to Earth.
  • It’s an open secret that the shuttle maintenance crews are brewing moonshine out of shuttle fuel. Opinions differ whether this is ‘like a good scotch’ or will send you blind.
  • Space is trying to kill you. Faulty equipment, faulty spacesuits etc are often fatal.
  • Everyone has a nametag of their surname on their coveralls and jacket, plus a shoulder flag patch to show their nationality and another shoulder patch to show what base/station/affiliation they are.
  • High level civilian administrators can wear civilian clothing without nametags and patches, should they so wish.
  • Maintenance workers wear brown coveralls. Traffic control and various other jobs wear beige coveralls.
  • On official government spacecraft it is against the rules for lovers/couples to be on the same crew, because this is deemed to be unprofessional and dangerous. Private companies can do whatever the hell they like.
  • Travel time from the Moon to Earth is 3 days. Apparently, the shuttles carry more passengers than they have sleeping cubicles, so some passengers will have to sleep in their seats.
  • There are regular drills for (a) decompression accidents, (b) radiation accidents, and presumably (c) fires. There are lockers with emergency spacesuits and lockers with emergency radiation suits.
  • There are ‘moonquakes’ due to tidal effects. These are (usually) predictable, because the Moon keeps the same face to Earth all the time, and they are due to libration. Check more on this.

The Media
  • TWBC – a news channel
  • World Press Association
  • Cosmopolitan News
  • Atlas News

Technological oddities
  • Indian government security services base (Outpost 9) could make Moon-rover engines automatically cut out a few hundred metres away, while the base does a security check.
  • Many organisations use computer animated AI chatbots to answer the phone. These are nicknamed “PR graphics”.

Dubious & Nefarious Organisations
  • Organisation of Pan Continental Anarchists
  • Mother Earth – opposed to mankind in space
Click to expand...
The Star cop wiki will be helpful while plotting - thanks for this - though the wiki hasn't got everything from the audio dramas, there is more than enough to get going

Even though I am tempted to use the Bladerunner stepped dice system I think my first focus will be to work out what to make of a Star Cops ttPRG to be and that will help determine the game system rather than try and fit a game system to an idea.
 
I am trying to avoid the space western theme though Outland does have other points trying to enforce the law in space with drugs, company interests and dealing with loneliness- think I still have the Alan Dean Foster Outland book somewhere
 
just to prove this isn’t a dead thread. I have been working on the idea on and off.

The key theme of the show is promoting the value of the International Space Police Force or “Star Cops” to the colonies as they expand and protect humanities interest in space. The players being part of the star cops will investigate crimes and threats in the high frontier.

I don’t intend to have the shows main characters as playable as they serve better as NPCs and are involved in events elsewhere.

As for the games system, I have narrowed it down to using a variant Basic Role Playing System or rather the version used in Rivers of London.

Initially I thought of using the YZE stepped die as from Bladerunner. I may look at it again but wanted to go with BRP as there is something with the luck mechanic i want to use.

I ruled out Pbta and Fate as the systems usually require the players as well as the GM knowing the show and it is unlikely everyone will.
 
steveh said:
Have you thought about investigations yet? I imagine that they will be key to a Star Cops game.

Or are you concentrating on worldbuilding first?
Click to expand...
Still world building a bit. Would be good to have locations - my thought is to have it set on the moon when the main characters aren’t about (there is a bit in the audio when they go off to Mars)

Investigations in mind will be a mix of petty crime to murder while long term goal of conspiracy would be a campaign idea.

There are some ideas in mind but wanted to get world and character set up.

There is still a lot to do but worth getting working on
 
Sounds great. Run it online or at a con?
 
I will see. I want to finish up on my bladerunner and Rivers of London con games after tabletop Scotland

There is a good chance I will start testing it out next year beginning with Con-tingencey
 
Last edited:
Wanted to say special thanks to the players who give Star Cops it's very first run - there are some more modifications I will want to do to the case file before I bring it to the table at Con-Tingency for the first time and it's second outing at AireCon. I have hidden parts as they will be plot parts and if you are planning to join in the future games to save spoiling them for you

  • A litte reworking on the warm up scenes and setting the world up (players were describing their officers in uniform on a commercial flight to the moon which doesn't happen in the series so will advise plain clothes )
  • Reworking the first crime scene
  • [*]||going to move the first body and parts to the inside of the salvage shuttle. This will allow the players to make use of the ISPF office on Charles Du Galle and research more||
    [*]
  • Get some images of the PC and NPC created
  • Expand the clues and increase the locations
  • Get some maps created for the locations - Charle Du Gaulle Station, Cargo station, Shuttles (maybe 15mm maps as can use 15mm figures! - no, not get ahead of myself)
  • Going to look at the PC skills as some may crossover
  • Need to explain the ISPF gun

Also like to thank the additional resources suggested. Those resources will help improve (or allow me to blag with semi-confidence) the scenes

If you can think of anything that would work better for the game - let me know
 
Been thinking about the zero gravity environment. My thought that anyone with a job requiring an extended period in zero-G will need to spend at least a month on Earth to rebuild bone and muscle mass between assignments. Temporary trips/assignments in zero-G don't require this. Spending time on the Moon will extend the length of time before you need to return to Earth. (Riffing on my mother's days working in Egypt in the 1940s/1950s; you got a week or 2 local leave every year, and every 2-3 years you got an extended home leave.)

This would be monitored using bone densitometry. There would be a set-up on the Moon and any major space station with a large permanent population. All manned installations have a gym with resistance training, and all personnel are expected to exercise for at least 2 hours daily (missed exercise periods are to be made up when feasible). Larger installations may have a centrifuge ring to simulate gravity; often sleeping areas are located in the ring.
 
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