Inspiration: Endurance, A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery

I read a lot of books. Like, a lot. Last year I hit over one hundred and twenty before losing count half way through November. And one of the great things about reading is that it can be amazing inspiration for a game.

So I've decided that when I read a book that I like, and that gives me good ideas for a game, I'll drop in and express my inspiration. Today I'm going to start with a book called Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery.

I know, it's a long title. But the book itself isn't that long, and the story of a man that goes into space just to find out what the long term health ramifications are is amazing. Scott Kelly is a man devoted to space travel, to science, to family and friends.

The book itself is told in a sort of frame, switching between Scott's current time on the International Space Station, and his time growing up down on Earth.

And as I was out on a walk catching Pokemon today, I had a thought. His story would make an interesting setting for a game if it gets switched around a bit.

Picture a world where magic was a literal sea of arcane and divine energy. Land masses exist on the surface, floating islands of self contained civilizations. But there is little travel between the islands, because the Seas of Magic destroy anything it touches.

But then one of the islands comes up with a shield of sorts that protects a ship (or a special metal alloy, something along those lines). Suddenly travel between the islands is possible, but journeys can often take months at a time. And traveling on the Seas of Magic isn't like traveling on an ocean. The traveling crafts sink beneath the surface, gravity is a thing of the distant past, and traveling through the Magic has... consequences. Maybe it seeps into a person's spirit, forming one into a sorcerer. Or maybe the magic slowly eats away at your sanity, driving you to the brink of madness.

Little is understood, and there is a need to know more. So a small team of people is put together, not to travel in the sea, but rather to exist in it on an immobile station. The goal? Spend a full year in the magic to discover how it affects mortals over a long period of time.

The game itself switches between the quiet sessions on the craft (except for the rare emergency), and flash back scenes that delve into each character's story. I kind of like the idea that each character's story has the players running different characters, switching as the stories shift from person to person. The campaign becomes a string of linked together one shots, but with the back drop of the station always in the background.

I'm pretty full up on games I'm running right now, so this will likely sit on the back burner and never get used... but I really like the idea, and wish I had the time to run every idea that came into my mind.