Dark Star: A Fruit Tree Ripe for Harvest

Dark Star is a movie by John Carpenter that my parents made me watch when I was 14, which was one hundred years ago today. I'd like to bring it to your attention because there's actually a lot here that DMs can steal.


First, there's the captain, who lives in a cryochamber. Mentors in boxes and tubes is an old, old bit, but it's useful for a lot of reasons, especially in the context of an RPG. Giving your PCs a mentor that's physically incapacitated gives you a reasonable method for adding some structure while also providing a good reason for the PCs to be given plenty of agency: They have a boss, but he's dead, so he's got limited ability to reign them in, can't doublecheck their work, and definitely can't be called in to solve problems for them if things get sticky.

(I stand corrected)

There's also character named Sgt. Pinback, who insists he is just a maintenance worker who accidentally stole the identity of the "real" sgt after said officer died. This is sort of a fun twist in and of itself, but like tubing, it serves as another way in which an authority figure can be neutered, which delivers more agency to the PCs. It also creates a secret, which opens the way for intrigue operations around uncovering or concealing said secret.

Most importantly, there's the bombs. In Dark Star, the bombs are, inexplicably, sapient, and have all the variety of humans. Bomb #19 is chipper and cooperative, more professional than the crew in many respects. Bomb #20 is obnoxious and bureaucratic, and the driving force behind the film is an ongoing debate with Bomb #20, which receives a detonation order by accident and becomes increasingly frustrated with being told it isn't allowed to explode. I've been salivating all day at the thought of presenting my PCs with a bomb that needs to be talked out of exploding.