Alright guys:
First, we (or I) dropped the Space RPG idea for fairly obvious reasons: even within just the solar system, it was much too large, and the world I came up with was much too complicated and something I couldn't even begin to comprehend when put into the context of a rule set, when one takes in the existence of nearly infinite types of characters.
Second, we (or I) dropped 'Kingdom' because, well, even though a good handful of players showed interest in the end, it doesn't currently feel like the work necessary to put into it was worth the hype.
Again, I saw a decent amount of interested players "who would play" if it existed, but it wasn't enough. Maybe some other time.
As for the Space rpg, I see a very easy alternative, one I personally find very attractive (although others may not!).
As some of you may remember, I tried to launch a Dune RPG social group quite a while back, and well, it was too complex a world for non-fans.
However, if one simply salvages some basic ideas, here is what you get:
A feudalistic society, much like many medieval RPGs here on TWC, come and gone, but in space.
We take an image of the galaxy, mark of a certain are around Earth and name it the Known Universe.
We have government reminiscent of the Holy Roman Empire, with an open-elective emperor and the "Landsraad", a "body that represented all the Great Houses during the days of the Imperium. It was ruled by the High Council and overseen by the Padishah Emperor."
We would create families like Game of Thrones, and rule over our own made-up fief-planets, one each of course, with basic resource levels (through some over-arching resource system).
In Dune, computers are outlawed by society in every way, because they were once the tool of mankind's slavery (whether by a handful of men controlling the 'thinking machines' or by the machines themselves, doesn't matter). Humanity became religious again, and waged a 'jihad' that united the known universe and removed 'thinking machines' from use (Of course, their use may exist in certain black market 'fringe' societies).
Then, because of the lack of "thinking machines", humanity developed 'mental training schools'; some people become 'Mentats' (essentially human calculators of logic) and some women become witches of the Bene Gesserit sect, while others (like mentats) control space transportation (folding space) in the Spacing Guild.
In the original Dune novel's status quo, they have typical technology with certain unique features, but resemble a lot of medieval .. vibes.
Houses of the Landsraad feud through the ancient laws of 'kanly', essentially chivalry-bound duels to the death, while the majority of humanity follows of religion that resembles something between Catholicism and Islam, with hints of Hinduism and Buddhism. Sayings like "May the hand of god be with you" are very common.
What's interesting is the viable use of hand-to-hand combat weapons, small swords, daggers, and the like, as duels are very common.
Also, in Dune, battles in space don't seem to happen because of how space travel works, but rather occur on the planets (don't know your guys' opinion on that)
^ Essentially, it's a very medieval culture but with space tech.
Basically, we could take some base aspects of that, like the religious aspects, to give such a setting more base in reality.
What do you guys think? Do you want to see Dukes, Barons, and Counts in space, ruling planets as fiefs?
It would certainly be easier than what I had before.
