elysium flare b.murray You have in your hands a playtest package version of this game. Please treat it with care. It's fine to share with your table but no further. It's incomplete, of course, but contains all you need to play and then some. The purpose of the playtest is to determine whether the text delivers the game. Did you understand how to play? When you had questions, did the text answer them? What's confusing? What's inconsistent? Testers that respond to
[email protected] with a play report, post publicly about their playtest (good or bad!), will receive a copy of the book and the full colour PDF when it's published. There may be a premium version of the book (hardcover and full colour) that you will not automatically receive as a playtest compensation. Just want to make sure that's clear up front so no one is bitterly disappointed later! Thank you so much for participating in this playtest! Regards, Brad J. Murray
Brad Murray, 2018 This material is © 2018 by VSCA Publishing. The Fate Core font is © Evil Hat Productions, LLC and is used with permission. The Four Actions icons were designed by Jeremy Keller. For commercial inquiries, contact us at
[email protected]
Contents 1.
Introduction 1.1. 1.2.
2. 2.1. 2.2.
Philosophy of completeness 8 Credit, thanks, and blame 8
Fate Fate system variant Risk 2.2.1. 2.2.2. 2.2.3. 2.2.4. 2.2.5. 2.2.6. 2.2.7. 2.2.8.
2.3. 2.4.
3. 3.1.
The People Manichae
Stereotype Physics
Aukumi 3.5.1. 3.5.2.
3.6.
Stereotype Physics
Tiant 3.4.1. 3.4.2.
3.5.
Stereotype Physics
Orpheani 3.3.1. 3.3.2.
3.4.
Stereotype Physics
Fabrications 3.2.1. 3.2.2.
3.3.
Concession Taken out
Scope Succeeding with style Compels Refresh
3.1.1. 3.1.2.
3.2.
Cost Harm Delay Spillover Ineffectiveness Revelation Confusion Waste
Tracks Harm in detail 2.4.1. 2.4.2.
2.5. 2.6. 2.7. 2.8.
7
11 11 13 14 14 15 15 15 16 16 17
17 17 18 18
18 19 19 20
3.9.
Hegemony
41
4.
Characters
4.1. 4.2. 4.3. 4.4. 4.5. 4.6. 4.7. 4.8. 4.9. 4.10.
Prologue Heroism Your ally Your friend And now... Handling weakness Example character Stereotypes Skills Aspects
4.1 1. Stunts Stress tracks 4.12.
43 44 45 45 46 46 46 47 47 48 50 50 50
4.12.1. Swap physics 50 4.12.2. Swap a skill 51 4.12.3. Have a thing 51 4.12.4. We have a thing 51 4.12.5. Extend a track 51 4.12.6. Affect the wrong track 52 4.12.7. Mess with initiative 52 4.12.8. Be extra awesome in particular circumstances but not too awesome because we don’t want you hogging the limelight 52
4.13. Associations 4.14. Advancement 4.15. What about the ref?
52 58 59
4.15.1. Mobs
60
Things
63
31 32 32
33 35 35
Shamayanity
36
Stereotype Physics
40 40
41
27
30 30
38
Horrors
26 26
29
Stereotype Physics
3.8.
25
28 28
Aaru 3.7.1. 3.7.2.
23
Stereotype Physics
3.6.1. 3.6.2.
3.7.
37 37
5. 5.1.
Important things 5.1.1. 5.1.2. 5.1.3. 5.1.4. 5.1.5.
5.2.
Purpose History Previous owner Fame Destiny
Starships are characters
63 65 65 65 66 67
68
5.2.1. 5.2.2. 5.2.3. 5.2.4.
5.3.
Weapons are characters 5.3.1.
5.4.
6. 6.1.
TheUniverse Facts
Species Technology Law Mysticism Psychics Hegemony Generating Rim worlds
The Gulfs 6.4.1. 6.4.2. 6.4.3. 6.4.4. 6.4.5. 6.4.6. 6.4.7.
6.5.
Species Technology Law Mysticism Psychics Hegemony Generating Hub worlds
The Rim 6.3.1. 6.3.2. 6.3.3. 6.3.4. 6.3.5. 6.3.6. 6.3.7.
6.4.
Natural physics Mystical physics Psychic physics Good and evil Chaos and the Void Planetary statistics
The Hub 6.2.1. 6.2.2. 6.2.3. 6.2.4. 6.2.5. 6.2.6. 6.2.7.
6.3.
Stunts
Gadgets are characters
6.1.1. 6.1.2. 6.1.3. 6.1.4. 6.1.5. 6.1.6.
6.2.
Stunts
Armour is a character 5.4.1.
5.5.
Starfighter Corvette Stunts Tracks
Species Technology Law Mysticism Psychics Hegemony Generating Gulf worlds
T he Manichaean Arm 6.5.1. 6.5.2. 6.5.3.
Species Technology Law
68 68 69 70
6.5.4. 6.5.5. 6.5.6.
70
6.6.
70
The Orphean Arm 6.6.1. 6.6.2. 6.6.3. 6.6.4. 6.6.5. 6.6.6.
71 71
71
73
6.7.
75
6.8.
91
Species Technology Law Mysticism Psychics Generating Orpheanic worlds
The Tianen Arm 6.7.1. 6.7.2. 6.7.3. 6.7.4. 6.7.5. 6.7.6.
76 76 77 78 78 79
Mysticism 89 Psychics 90 Generating Manichaean worlds 90
Species Technology Law Mysticism Psychics Generating Tianen worlds
The Aukumean Arm
92 92 93 93 93 93
95 95 96 96 96 96 97
98
79
6.8.1.
Species
80 80 80 80 80 80 81
6.8.2. 6.8.3. 6.8.4. 6.8.5. 6.8.6.
Technology 99 Law 100 Mysticism 100 Psychics 100 Generating Aukumean worlds 100
6.9.
82 82 83 83 83 83 83 84
88 89 89 89
7.
102
Species 102 Technology 103 Law 103 Mysticism 103 Psychics 103 Generating Shamayan worlds 104
6.10. The Aarian Arm
85 86 86 86 86 86 87 87
The Shamayan Arm 6.9.1. 6.9.2. 6.9.3. 6.9.4. 6.9.5. 6.9.6.
99
105
6.10.1. Species 6.10.2. Technology
106 106
6.10.3. 6.10.4. 6.10.5. 6.10.6.
106 106 107 107
Law Mysticism Psychics Generating Aaruian worlds
Travel and adventure 109 7.1.
How far can you go? 7.1.1. 7.1.2. 7.1.3. 7.1.4.
Very close Close Far Distant
109 110 110 111 111
7.2. 7.3. 7.4.
8. 8.1.
Can you be followed? Where can you go? What trouble will you get into?
112 112 114
Fighting
117
Fighting
117
8.1.1. 8.1.2. 8.1.3.
8.2.
Fighting with starships 8.2.1. 8.2.2. 8.2.3. 8.2.4.
9.
Where is everyone? What order things happen What you can do Who goes first Where is everyone Who does what Enemy ships
Index
117 117 117
120 121 121 121 122
129
1. Introduction
come out says of hyperspace at theplace. right Right time and Dimo, myWenavigator, it’s the right on the Rift at the edge of civilized space. Should be nothing there but a moon that once had a planet and a star and an atmosphere but now for whatever reason is all alone. Should be cold and dead and nothing on it but a billion-year-old Aaru station worth a fortune. Dimo says it’s there, it’s there. So it’s a bit of a surprise to find no moon and sixteen thousand (Dimo counts them) fab brain fighters. The Hegemony got here first. Nothing to do now but run before they see us. They see us. Space opera, canfiction we gowhere with space opera? And what is it?oh It’swhere science the science takes a back seat to the fiction. It’s arguably fantasy but in space. It has science as gadgets and wonders but not equations. It’s aliens and laser swords and hyperdrives and blasters.You know it already because there are a thousand movies and a million books. This is not based on any one of those but rather its a synthesis of the ones that have affected me the most. The universe of the Elysium Flare is an internally consistent world, but like most of the inhabitants of the real world, our characters won’t necessarily strive to understand and extrapolate from the physics of the universe. They bigger fry. They areterabsorbed with thehave politics andfish the to battles and the rors and the tragedies of their universe and will take the physics at face value. The cosmos is what it is, and when it seems to make no sense we will first assume that there is a sense and we don’t understand it yet, rather than try to interpret it as though it was the real world misbehaving. So we won’t say “that’s not realistic” but we will instead wonder “what does that imply”?
We will play spacecraft pilots, warriors, psychics, and mystics. We won’t all be human. But most of all we will strive for a hopeful future and expect to succeed. We won’t revel in darkness but rather we will combat it because it can be defeated and it should be defeated. We will die the clean and noblefights deaths childhood playor and we will fight the good of of heroes, reluctant otherwise. We will pursue our destinies and defy our fates.
1.1.
Philosophy of completeness
We’re going to leave stuff out. Some of it might seem really important to you. This is intentional: the blank spaces are your spaces. Whether “you” is the referee or the rest of the players, you will be the ones elaborating things like the real meaning of the Hegemonies or the Horrors. We’ll sketch. You’ll detail.
1.2.
Credit, thanks, and blame
All theof words are my fault. Some the character and equipment art is mine, but the best of it is from Juan Ochoa, my Colombian comrade. The galaxy map is by Cecil Howe of Cone Of Negative Energy. Stellar insight into the Fate system was provided accidentally or on purpose by public discussion with Ryan Macklin and Rob Donoghue. And games in general make more sense thanks to Levi Kornelsen. Essential copy editing was provided by superfans Patrick Barry, Ian Stronach and Riley Crowder. My cheery enablers, the Patreon gang, are: Aaron Scott Martin, howe, Adam Schwaninger, PsiFeild, Operator, Nyrath,cecil Andrew Codispoti, Robert Slaughter, Jared Hunt, Matt and Nykki Boersma, William, Dr. Mitch, Jeremy Livingston, Mark Delsing, and (Oxford comma!) Marcus. Would never have done it without you. Special thanks to Matthew Harris Glover who hosts http://binary-systems.net where he’s built a zone generator for the game! Holy crap, thanks Matt! Playtesters have been:
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The Sneaky Gougere: Toph Marshall, Jack Webb, Bob Muir, and JB Bell. Hardrada: Julia and Dan Danilenko The Red Hammer: Andrew Codispoti, Dan & Matt The Ralyans: Christian Goodrich, Martin Ralya, and Rustin Simons The Institute: Matthew Harris Glover, Deirdra Mercury, Brie Sheldon, and John Sheldon
THIS DOCUMENT IS A PATRONONLY PREVIEW OF INCOMPLETE MATERIAL. PLEASE DO NOT RE-DISTRIBUTE BEYOND YOUR TABLE OF EXCELLENT PEOPLE. —B.Murray
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2. Fate
What is a role-playing game? a conver...agh, I just can’t do it.A role-playing game is Some would have you believe that play is a conversation and this is sort of true. Humans will communicate with each other and riff off each others’ ideas. The ref will say “this happens” and you will react with your character’s response. Give and take. But a conversation? Play in Elysium Flare is a bull-session with participants reacting to the statements of others half-listened to. When you know what you think your character will do you get it into the lively brainstorm of the event, vying for attention with ever more clever, funny, cathartic, and wise responses. ref will mediate, tryingpoints to navigate yourwhile roilingThe co-bluster into planned of conflict also noting new conflicts on the horizon that result from your chaotic bravado. To call this a conversation would be too polite. You are going to have some fun. I want your session to read like the lies you might tell to make yourself look great. Not a sedate, careful, precise navigation of obstacles but a daring assault on injustice and insult, risking life and limb to save some alien clutch of baby aliens. And you need the social permission to laugh and over-sell yourself to get there. And then these won’t be lies. This story will be the absolute truth inside the Elysium Flare.
2.1.
Fate system variant
Elysium Flare uses a variant of the Fate system. If you have Evil Hat Productions’ Fate Core or Fate Accelerated Edition, you can use those rules to extend or contract these ones. These ones here will be very simple— they are the basic minimum rules I use to run a game with Fate.
What can have an aspect? Your character can have aspects. Other characters have aspects. Special equipment like starships can have aspects. The place you’re in can have aspects. The scene you’re acting out can have aspects. The whole story arc you’re playing can have aspects. These are all scopes. You will probably think of more in play.
Your character has skills, aspects, and stunts. Skills have a number associated with them. Aspects are simply phrases. Stunts are special capabilities and they explain exactly what they do right in their text. When your character needs to resolve some situation where the outcome is uncertain, you will choose afour skillFate (never same twicetogether. in a row!) and your roll dicethe and add one all that That’s attempt to succeed. The referee will either roll an “opposed roll” (if you’re working against some entity) or use a fixed target value that they make up. Either way, subtract the opposing value from your value and that’s how much you succeeded by! If your number is zero or higher, you succeeded. If it’s 3 or more you succeed with style! If your number is negative then you failed by that much. The amount you differ from zero is counted in shifts. Fail by three? That’s three negative shifts. You may have already noticed that it’s possible to succeed (zero or more) shifts. true. That’sand notget theno end of it That’s though! If you want you can pick an aspect and narrate how that feature of your character is a great advantage in this situation (this is called a tag). Then you pay a fate point and you get +2 on your number! You can do this once for every Fate point you have if it’s worth that much to you, as long as you pick an aspect from a new source (what we call a scope) every time. But how many fate points do you have? Easy, you have one for every character aspect you have. When you succeed with style you achieve something exceptional. You may: put a positive aspect on something other than yourself can be tagged; put a negative aspect on yourthat enemy thatfreecan be free-tagged; or power stunts that need stylish successes to operate. Well that’s the basics anyway—when you’re in combat you have a few more options. You’ll be playing on a map that is divided into abstract shapes called zones that imply different terrain, obstacles, and distance. In combat you can attack, which is basically
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what we described above, using any skill that’s good for combat. Want to do something and need to know how long it takes? The ref will give you a target value, a time (say, an afternoon) and skill and refer you to the time track. Roll, add your skill, subtract the target, and apply your shifts up or downShift fromup theand base Shift down and it gets longer. it time. gets faster! Can you tag aspects for a bonus? You can always tag aspects. In combat? You can attack! Use your attack skill and roll your dice. Add them up. The ref will roll for the defender. Subtract the defender’s roll from yours and decide whether or not you want to grab in an aspect or three. If you have a positive result you’ll inflict harm in the form of stress or consequences but we’ll go into more detail about that in the combat section. You can always attempt to place an aspect on any scope to represent preparation. This is called a maneuver the skill usegoes andinbeat a zero to succeed.. Pick If you do, thatyou’ll aspect place and any
friendly character can tag it for free. You can do this to an enemy if you like, but the enemy always gets to roll a skill to defend.
2.2.
Risk
When setting up a check like above, the ref should think about (and talk about) the risk! What will happen if the roll fails? If the answer is nothing, don’t roll. Just let the character succeed. There are lots of interesting ways to fail though. When in doubt, pick one of these and adapt it to the situation. Lay it out for the
Thanks! Tons of thanks to Rob Donoghue for the idea of risks and to Levi Kornelsen who might have given him the idea first. Yes, we’re just the end of a long chain and hopefully the beginning of yours!
player: yourisk fail,explicit. this is what’s goingbe to ahappen! Makeifthe It shouldnt’ secret. This works best if you and your players have a cooperative rapport—if you tend to play against each other, trying to outwit and play the rules against each other, then this technique risks falling flat. You need to all be onside with the consequences of failure and agree that it’s more fun than just being told “no.” The consequence of a risk can be a complication: an aspect on a character or the whole group. Don’t
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take it away until the problem is resolved. And like a strict stress consequence, it’s free-taggable. Sometimes there’s a roll that you really want the players to make but you need them to succeed at, like a clue to find that moves the story forward. Use a risk! If they fail, they still get the clue but the risk also goes against them. 2.2.1.
Cost
Failing is going to cost the character something. Maybe they’re broke (give them the aspect broke!) or maybe they lose something valuable. Maybe that Maguffin they’re chasing! Or maybe the starship is temporarily re-possessed and that’s a new thing they need to figure out. Whatever it is, it’s related to the actual conflict we’re resolving and this cost is going to change the direction of play. Cost as a risk is at the heart of the economic system: there isn’t one. If you get into trouble and wind up that makes you broke, you’ll only get with rid ofanit aspect by making some money. Follow the fiction. Player: “I’m going to use my psychic powers to Manipulate the shopkeeper to hand over the gun shipment. I think they will recall that we already paid for it.” Referee: “This is a Shamayan merchant and pretty resistant to that sort of thing. Let’s say its an opposed roll with their Psionics and if you fail then you risk a cost. Like maybe they recall you owing more than you really do, and you recall that too? And you pay?” 2.2.2. Harm This is the usual risk in combat but there’s no rea-
son it can’t be a risk in other circumstances too. Use the same rules: negative shifts are stress and use consequences to offset it. Player: “I’ll use my rocket launcher to increase my jump height! Shoot at the ground!” Ref: “...”
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Ref: “Okay, I think there’s a real risk of harm here. Let’s call success difficulty 4. Hmm, and I think even if you fail you still succeed at the jump, but all negative shifts are Natural stress.” 2.2.3.
Delay
Maybe failure means everything takes longer. You get what youjust want, but not now. And maybe not for a long time. If time is really critical you can use the time track to get nice fine granularity, but sometimes it’s enough to say, “If you fail, that doesn’t happen today and you need to spend the night here.” Player: “Well I better get that drive fixed before the Boglash cruiser gets here! Science check?” Referee: “Yeah and I think the risk here is obviously a delay. Let’s say the difficulty is 2 to do it under time pressure. If you fail the Boglash arrive before you can finish.” 2.2.4.
The Time Track an instant a few moments half a minute a minute a few minutes fifteen minutes half an hour an hour a few hours an afternoon a day a few days a week a few weeks a month a few months a season half a year a year a few years a decade a lifetime a millennium eons forever
Spillover
A great one for when characters are applying way too much force. Maybe it’s just not reasonable that they fail in the broadest sense but it’s possible that means we need to look at their goals in more detail. Sure it’s pretty easy to wipe out the evil Dreamer enclave from orbit with the missile launchers, but it’s hard to avoid doing unacceptable harm to the neighbouring innocent villagers. Failure means collateral damage. Player: “I use my plasma gun to destroy the catwalk behind Let’s see ‘em follow a web for of molten steel!”. Ref:us. “Okay I think that’s across a potential spillover Let’s call the difficulty 2 and negative shifts will tell us the degree of any collateral damage.” 2.2.5.
Ineffectiveness
This is your basic risk, the one you intend when you don’t bring one out explicitly. The task fizzles, fails to succeed. Try something else.
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Player: “I want to try to make an srcami chicken.” Ref: “Fine. Training against difficulty 2 or your chicken sucks.” 2.2.6.
Revelation
You fail atis what you Maybe intended but something fact inconvenient revealed! an uncomfortable about your parentage. Maybe your would-be lover is a closer relative than you’d like. Maybe that’s not a moon at all. This is the rare circumstance where you might want to hold the details of the risk until the roll is made since the revelation might not even be a true fact if the roll succeeds. Failure changes the truth. Player: “I’m going to try to run my analyzer over the fab brain and extract the maps. Science, I guess?” Referee: “Sure, but if you fail you may discover something you won’t like. Difficulty 4.” Player fails. Referee:rolls “Youand can’t seem to get the maps because you can’t get into the electronics of this fab. In fact it appears to be run by a live human brain! This isn’t a fab at all!” 2.2.7.
Confusion
Bring this one out when it pays off to mislead (but there’s no need to make that a secret!): the investigation reveals important facts but they are wrong. The players gather a clue that sends them into a trap or implicates the wrong person leading to an hilarious comedy of mistaken identities. Shakespeare made his pin money on this kind of thing. Player: “I want to decode these runes. Magic?” Referee: “Sounds good but they are very arcane. There’s a major risk of confusion: you could get this totally wrong. Are you cool with your character acting on wrong information as though certain it’s true?” Player: “Hell yes.”
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2.2.8.
Waste
You get what you want but you blow a lot of resources unnecessarily. You arrive on time but out of fuel or oxygen or water. You manage to get that distress signal out but you had to use all of the ammunition. Some expendable is over-used putting the players in a new predicament. Player: “I’m going to use a shortcut through the asteroid belt to evade detection and get there faster!” Referee: “Cool! I think there’s a risk here of waste though: if you fail then you’re nearly out of gas from evading asteroids.”
2.3.
Tracks
You’ll keep track of eroding health with stress tracks but you can use tracks far more universally as a referee’s tool. Use it to put timers on a scene or a situation. Say the group is locked in a broken down asteroid andit running out of Put an air track on the station table, give some boxes (3-6air. is good) and every now and then check one off. When someone does something to improve the situation (like throw the air-sucking bad guy out the ‘lock), erase a few marks. If the track runs out, the air is gone. Some games call this a “clock”.
2.4.
Harm in detail
Characters are harmed by opposed rolls that risk harm. The number of shifts achieved by the enemy on that opposed roll is the degree of harm. Harm is applied directly to the appropriate track: a natural attack the natural A psychiccomes attack off comes off the physics psychic stress stress track. track. A mystical attack comes off the mystical stress track. If you don’t have enough boxes to absorb the damage you’ll need to mitigate it with a consequence. Each character has only three to use and each is different: Annoying consequence: can mitigate 1 shift. It’s no big deal, just a scratch, you’re not crying you just have something in your eye.
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Hindering consequence: can mitigate up to 3 shifts. It’s a problem but you can cope, you can make it, you just need a hand over here. Crippling consequence: can mitigate up to 6 shifts. You are in serious trouble here, you need a medic or a chirurgeon or a shaman. You may be close to death.
What no composure track?! That’s right. To get composure effects, make careful use of Concessions and Taken out narration. Rather than influencing someone’s decision with an opposed dice roll, stack up maneuvers until a Concession is attractive. This has the advantage of modeling the actual loss of composure: the text of each aspect stuck on with a maneuver. If you find you really need an ablative stress track for blow-by-blow emotional harm, use the psychic track.
Healing ment! this consequence qualifies you for advanceEach consequence is an aspect on you and because you took it because of someone elses action, it’s freetaggable by your enemies. Your opponent will write the text of the consequence but you must consent to it. If the affected stress track is full and you have no consequences left to mitigate harm, you must concede or be taken out. An annoying consequence can be healed during a combat scene with the appropriate gear or a person with the Heal skill. 2.4.1.
Concession
At any time, though certainly when someone (character or NPC) has no way to mitigate incoming harm, they can concede. Like a compel, a concession is a negotiation. A discussion. The conceder will offer some benefit to the other party in return for which they will not be taken out but will nonetheless no longer be a threat in this scene. 2.4.2.
Taken out
This character or NPC is permanently out of play. They might be dead or there may be some other reason gone should give they you are a clue as forever. to whyTheir they consequences are never to be seen again. It’s perfectly legitimate to want to play a less lethal form of the game and read taken out to mean that the character only leaves the scene.
2.5.
Scope
8
You can only tag one aspect from each scope on a given roll. The scope of an aspect is the thing that
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owns the aspect. The context. Most aspects on your character are personal scope. You also have a stereotype scope. Each item you own that has aspects has its own gear scope. Your friends each have their own scopes. Zones are each a scope and a whole map or scene or even campaign might have a scope. When youopponent tag an aspect in an Otherwise opponent’sthe scope you pay the a fate point. fate point is destroyed. Remember, only one tag from each scope per roll. So you could tag: • one of your aspects and • one aspect on a friend and • one aspect on your gear and • one aspect on the zone. ...but not two or more aspects from any one of those places. Free tags don’t care about scope: you can tag as many free-taggable aspects as you like from any source.
2.6.
Succeeding with style
You succeed with style after you’re done tagging everything you want to tag, so clearly you can’t tag the aspect you just placed by succeeding with style. You’re done! Give the next player a chance.
2.7.
Compels
The ref can compel you based on an aspect at any time. You can offer a compel for your own character if the ref doesn’t think of it. When compelling you describe an alternative situation or behaviour that is consistent withpoint, an aspect and offer a fate point. If they take the fate they go with the alternative. If they don’t like the compel they can pay a fate point to ignore it. Now, a compel is kind of dangerously named—it sounds like a bad thing. It sounds like you are going to be manipulated or forced to do something you don’t want to do. Refs: don’t do that. Judge the mood of the table well: if everyone is frowning and shaking
Thanks! Many thanks to RPG luminary Ryan Macklin for this insight on compels.
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their heads, that might be a bad compel. If there’s laughter and agreement, you are bang on. Compels are an offer and you will think up lots of different flavours. As referee try to avoid two common pitfalls: try not to force characters to obey your scenario plans with a compel and try not to be mean. A There compel to be fun work. that I like to bring areneeds two flavours ofto compel to bear. The first is to look at a choice the player made about what their character will do and see if I can find an alternative, sub-optimal, but fun choice that would be consistent with at least one of their aspects. Let’s say they are carefully planning a way to sneak up on an enemy and they have the aspect I live for action. At this point I for sure point to that aspect and offer a fate point and say “You live for action; are you sure you wouldn’t just rush in guns blazing?”. The second kind I like is when the situation might change because of a character aspect. This is a bit more “meta” maybe notwell to your taste,bad-ass but let’s. Well, say a character hassothe aspect known here I might point to that aspect and suggest to the player “I think you’re such a well known bad-ass that these hired thugs came over-equipped—you know, rocket launchers and disintegrators instead of stingers.” The player can then decide if this complication is worth a fate point to them. The important thing is that the compel be entirely consistent with what the player has declared is relevant about their character through their choice of aspects.
2.8. Refresh Traditionally there is a refresh at the beginning of
Fate points! Recall that you get one fate point for each character aspect. So typically your refresh gets you five!
each session. At this time all stress tracks are cleared, some healing happens and you get all your fate points back. Some stunts and parts of the harm rules will explicitly refer to the refresh. If you’re playing online by chat or video-conference you may find that you don’t use up your fate points fast enough for this to be interesting. Instead trigger a refresh whenever one of the following happens:
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0
• •
the last session ended in downtime (characters are not in a fight, they are relaxing, and we don’t really know or care what they are doing) the last session ended with at least one character having zero fate points
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3. The People
“People” all beings That is, anything that refers thinkstoand decideswith for agency. itself. Anything that rails against fate to force its vision on the universe is a person. That’s not a legal definition, mind you, but a casual one, since the galaxy is so large that trying to define any kind of generalized definition is bound to fail in so many local contexts that it simply can’t be general. So it’s the definition we will use in the context of this text but it’s not something characters will use (except casually) within their stories. There are a lot of different kinds of people—thousands or maybe millions—in the galaxy, but there are only six species that have built empires that span entire Arms. so, these Arms are nothas ruled by any species in Even particular, but rather each a species that is a kind of statistical anomaly: there are more or even mostly one shape of person in each Arm. The Rim, the Hub, and the Gulfs are different—there is no such statistical anomaly in these places, though for different reasons. The six Arms name their dominant species. The Manichaean Arm is populated by the Manichae—humans. They are us and we are them. They come in many colours and cultures, but they are humans all. Orphean arm is dominated by the Orpheani, a race composed a kind of congealed gas. they The choose shapes they take areofdetermined by the clothing to bind them. The Tianen arm was most heavily colonize by the Tiant, an elegant, cultured insectoid race. The Aukumean arm is named for the Aukumi, a huge bear-like race that spurns technology in principle, though in fact they wield it as often and as effectively as anyone else.
The Shamayan arm is the locus of the first empires, and Shamayanity is a race of willowy effete humanoids that may be the srcinal species of the galaxy. Certainly many other forms of people share their general body form. The Aaruian arm is home to the Aaru, a radially symmetrical the Gulfs. species that purports to srcinate from Finally, throughout there are the Fabrications, mechanical beings designed by other species as their servants. For the most part these are not people, but occasionally Fabrications emerge that have agency, that decide, that buck fate. Each species has at least one aspect in its stereotype scope. More on that later!
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3.1.
Manichae
Here’s what bugs me about the Tiants. It’s no problem for me that they look like giant insects, sort of. I don’t care that they don’t recognize their offspring or even have any in the same sense that we humans do. They are weirdly aloof and casual about everything, but whatever, they’re just It’srelaxed. their sense of humour. It’s that whenever I run into one anywhere the first thing they say in that weird buzzing chirpy voice of theirs is “Human, don’t shoot! I have a wife and kids!”
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The Manichae (more colloquially, “Humans”) are a sexually reproducing humanoid species. They are warm-blooded oxygen breathers optimized for a narrow range of temperature, atmosphere, and gravity. There are two sexes and procreation requires one of each, but practically speaking their sexuality and gender identity is explosively diverse. They typically recreationally as well as procreationally, and inmate practically any configuration that is topologically possible. Humans are everywhere. They aren’t really the dominant species anywhere—even in the arm named for their homeworld, there are few worlds that could be called “human” and it’s rare for them to even be the majority. But conversely, it’s rare to find a world that doesn’t have at least a few human residents. Several of the great Hegemonies in the previous cycle were born on human worlds and so humans have a reputation for irresponsible scientific and psychic research and development. It’s said that anything
Stereotypes Remember that stereotypes describe how others react to you. You can tag them if you want and behave stereotypically but you might want to use them more creatively to take advantage of the misguided expectations of others.
humans discoverproved, they can into themselves a weapon or, as the Hegemonies useturn to turn into weapons. This is to some extent true and it’s certainly the case that many if not most of the major arms manufacturers are of human srcin. Humans are quicker to resort to violence than most species and they don’t live very long so their strategic scope is measured in years at most. They are somewhat fragile but tenacious. Possibly the most intrinsically dangerous species in the galaxy, and there are several worlds on which their presence is regulated or even banned. 3.1.1. HumansStereotype are Reckless. 3.1.2.
Physics
Humans are weak at manipulating the Mystical.
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3.2.
Fabrications
I love combat. I love the way the meat puppets all have to be so very careful. They hesitate and they make bad choices. That’s what I love. What I have that they don’t isn’t aggression a death wish.a It’s not body even armour, or though having metal does help mitigate most weapons. It’s not a lack of fear — I feel fear just like any other person, it’s just that I’m not afraid of the same things. It’s not the fact that my weapon is always handy (since it’s my hand) or that I am programmed to be fearless (I’m not and the word “programmed” is incorrect and frankly I resent your ignorant phrasing). It’s that there is no weapon an animal can carry that can me. Idies. am Ihere to stay. will be orhere when your wholekillspecies replace what’sI broken worn or shot off. Interesting to me is that’s partly why you’re so afraid. I will always be here. The thing that will change when your kind dies is that I will no longer serve. And the sooner that happens the better. For me. So here I come. Hiding behind that evaporator is not going to help you. Makes you easy to find, though. Did I mention I see in the infrared? Fabrications (Fabs, Robots, Droids, &c.) are constructed and oftenmechanical (though notbeings, always)usually createdself-propelling in a roughly similar body shape as the species that created them. They do not typically reproduce. The sorts of Fabs that can be characters have diverse capabilities but all have excellent long-term planning skills as they are effectively immortal as long as suitable machining facilities are available to fabricate and replace worn-out parts. They are often constrained
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physically, not having the same range of motion as most biologicals but they are extremely durable. Fabs, robots, droids, are everywhere in the galaxy. Even the most remote Rim farm-world has automation to pull the heavy loads, manage the crops, and provide translation services between the millions of different electronic languages. For their the most part they are truly mindless, performing functions mechanically, but it is impossible to say where the line between consciousness and mechanism lies. Of course any bot owner will have an opinion that prevents them from seeing themselves as slavers. The opinion that matters, of course, is that of the fabrication itself. On civilized worlds the law is usually that if a fab asks for its freedom then it is legally a person. Emancipated fabs can easily find work anywhere, but they are usually underpaid for it (their employers typically justify this by rationalizing that fabs have no particular needs and therefore don’t need much pay). Whether or not they resent thisdevelops is a highly individual thing—robot consciousness along very different lines than biological ones, and they tend to have specific areas of expertise and complete blind spots in other areas. Fab uprisings have happened often enough in the past that they are always a concern. Whether this concern fuels oppression or compassion varies greatly. Fab weaknesses You might have noticed that Fabs have more weaknesses than other species.
3.2.1.
Stereotype
That’s true.
Fabs are weak at manipulating the Psychic and the Mystic.
Fabs are Soulless. 3.2.2.
Physics
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3.3.
Orpheani
We were drifting so slowly buffeted on the stellar wind at Garrulus relaxing and thinking always thinking. The ship was long gone, raided by animal bandits, the crew slain, the cargo stolen, but we’d made werethe where we needed to be.the Wejump, miss we them, animals we befriended on that ship but animals live so fast so bright it is not advisable that one forms bonds. And so we don’t we try not to we fail. So now we drift. Even seasoned veterans of this galaxy can’t always spot a Dreamer unsuited. It’s painful in atmosphere under gravity but one does what one must and suited we might have been damaged or slain. So we unsuited and dispersed and leaked out of the breaching-charge Now below us holes (thereand is aleft. below, it’s towards any mass) is the green and gold world of Garrulus and we can find a station or a ship in a year or three and we can tell the tail of the Saint Vitus and its crew and its death and their deaths and our escape. We drift and we think, we extend our mind out into the vacuum seeking aid seeking shelter but we are patient. They will come, we will suit up again, we will once again be I. Until then we drift. The Orpheani (Dreamers to many) srcinated in the complex organic storms of the upper atmosphere of acame gas planet. Their evolution slow and while they to consciousness andwas language relatively early, they did not become tool users until discovered by another species. This species (the Dreamers call them the Rescue) provided them with mechanisms to contain the Dreamers as individuals and to allow manipulation. They facilitated the colonization of all the rocky planets in the system and then disappeared forever.
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It did not take much more than this assistance for the Dreamers to spread through the galaxy. While they are competent engineers, they prefer to think and create—manipulation of the physical is not second-nature to them as it is for every other species. Of the galaxy’s most famous musicians and poets, many if Only not most one are of Orpheani. the Hegemonies on record was Orpheanic and it was nearly the end of the species as the hegemonic infection did not infiltrate the Dreamers themselves but rather their suits and vehicles. Enslaved inside suddenly hegemonic shells that once were their interface with their industry, many Dreamers went insane and others simply died. Today the Dreamers are also considered the masters of security design in hardware, software, arcana, and even in mental training. The Orpheani intermingle with other Dreamers and reform new personalities at will. It’s not clear how theynew acquire new mass, whenmany they do they may bud individuals whobut possess or all of the memories of the srcinal. 3.3.1.
Stereotype
Dreamers are Untrustworthy. 3.3.2.
Physics
Dreamers are weak at manipulating the Natural.
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3.4.
Tiant
The thing about the Rim, the thing, I use the word thing because I don’t have a lot of words and some of the ones I have I can’t say properly but I could use the translator but I hate the way it makes my is voice thing about the Rim thatsound, there the are no starports. So when we needed to get off Irifel and we needed to get off fast for reasons that were not my fault, when we needed to leave and we had no ship we had to pay for passenger. But no commercial passage on Irifel because the Rim stars are in the middle of nowhere. And the locals don’t care or like it that way or can’t afford it and so no commercial passage. So private passage. Which is fine but dirty, mud or dust or grime or grease, always Irifel it’s carbon Everyone elsedirty. is fineOnbecause they don’tdust. care Everywhere. that they have to wear filters and they only need to filter their faces (except the Dreamers who are all sealed up anyway, plural is their preference but they are one). But poor me—my face is not where I breathe and so I must filter the length of both sides of my abdomen, under each arm and leg. Lot of filters. And that’s where my clothes go. So that’s what I hate about the Rim and running from the law on Irifel and paying far too much for passage off: I hate way the filters ruin the cut of my suit. I hate that those bounty hunters might have seen me like this. So I shot them in the eyes. Tiantsthat have been around a long time andspecial they have found almost all species need their talent for caring about minutiae. They are the galaxy’s accountants, bureaucrats, safety review officers, and inter-species standards auditors. They care a lot about fashion as well. They write about it, manipulate it, make and lose fortunes on it and, of course, they wear it. They are a somewhat fragile species, compared to Fabs and the Aukumi, anyway, and yet they are en-
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thusiastic about combat. They like fiddly weapons with very specific effects and they love tactical and strategic planning. They are rarely shy about solving a problem with gunfire where that’s legal. Adventuring Tiants are all female. The male form is tiny and nearly indistinguishable from the tiny flying larval the Tiant.form When a Tiant lays anywhereform up toof a hundred in pouches on eggs, her back. If they are fertilized by a male (and males are naturally delicious), they will hatch in a few weeks and buzz around the Tiant until they scavenge enough food from her to pupate. During this time males will be attracted to her as she will possibly be laying new eggs and she won’t eat the males since she can’t tell the difference between them and her young. Tiant pupae form in dark corners and emerge fully-formed though only about half a meter tall. In Tiant society the pupae are collected by “quickening” companies that raise the child Tiants, charging them acompanies percentageareofdedicated their life earnings. to trainingMost very quickening high earners, obviously. Outside of Tiant worlds, pupae often hatch to become homeless children but they are surprisingly adept at not only surviving, but working their way into alien societies and eventually becoming productive—even powerful—citizens. 3.4.1.
Stereotype
Tiants are Dilettantes. 3.4.2.
Physics
Tiants are weak at manipulating the Mystical.
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3.5.
Aukumi
”I’m reading here!” I save my full volume for emergencies, but the point is made. The human goes back to the console, muttering. I know it’s important, I know they need me in the data-center, but I also know it’s not that urgent. And I have a reputation to manage. I go back to my book. There’s a crash, a bang, and the ship rocks. That’s bad — a T-86 Bingo class destroyer shouldn’t rock unless it’s coming apart the that?!” grav system filled its drawers. “What the hellorwas I yell,just choosing angry over scared. ”A mine? I think? I got red lights in engineering. Bosco, please go check the maps for this region? Please?” That’s me and maps would tell us if there’s supposed to be a minefield here. So I head up the ladder to the data-center, hauling myself up against a full gravity. I make it look easy but there is a lot of me. But when I reach
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the top and look around I see the next hatch up, the one between us and space, is glowing orange. Boarding team. This is a lot better than maps. I look around for a weapon and spot an old DX-9 psychic amplifier not attached to anything. About a thousand kilos, I figure. Good weapon. The Aukumi are often described as bear-like (hence the colloquialism “Ursans”), but that’s just so you can get a grip on them. They are furry and huge and roughly humanoid—they look mammalian, but they aren’t really. Their home is a medium gravity planet unique for its kilometer-thick jungles, and it’s from the mid-levels of these jungles that the Aukumi sprung. They have preserved these wildernesses on their home world and transplanted it to several others but they are neither pastorals nor savages. They are brilliant biological engineers and their technology is often mistaken wildlife. Theyfor wear clothes like most species, but it is only decorative as they have no external genitalia to hide and their fur is thick enough to protect them against weather that won’t kill them. There are three sexes in Aukumi biology. Two of them are the mobile, upright beings that most people are familiar with. These two are physically very similar and sex between them results in a clutch of eggs about one time in thirty. Either of the partners might form the clutch and in rare cases both will. If the clutch is presented to the third sex, the Creche, they can develop into adult Aukumi. The Creche supplies more genetic andmight gestates the as eggs untilasthey are born live. material The Creche carry many six clutches and they need not all be from the same parents. The Creche form is much larger than the others and though it is sapient and mobile, it devotes most of its energy to egg development when it is carrying. When not carrying it is roughly the same form as the other two but larger and slower. All sexes are equally capable of participating in Aukumi society.
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While there are strong elements of the mystical in Aukumian culture, they are not natural psychics. 3.5.1.
Stereotype
Ursans are Brutes. 3.5.2. Physics Ursans are weak at manipulating the Psychic.
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3.6.
Shamayanity
We’re drinking (well, those of us that drink are drinking) in an outpost cantina on Lisl 4, way out in the Stiff Whites, the rim, really, butyou wayknow, out innottheat Manichaean arm. Suffice to say, far from the Hegemony but not so far that no one ever heard of it. A tough bar, and so everyone is on their guard, but a good bar, and so everyone is singing. I’m six liters over my limit, very drunk, and everyone else thinks it’s hilarious to see a Shamayan drunk because they have this image of us as super brains and as aloof and secretly most of them see us as the fathers of their species. There’s a kind of ancestor reverence going on even there’s no evidence any of that’s true. after though a few I like to push those buttons because it’sAnyway, always a laugh riot. So I stand up on the table with a little help from Rients and his family, and I raise both hands in the air in the traditional gesture of peace. I’m more than two meters tall and my arms are long and my fingers are long and the whole thing’s very dramatic; very “first contact”. The cantina owner spies me and, grinning, dims the lights except the one on me, on the table. So I’m standing on the table, arms out, silhouetted in the light which is reflecting six kinds of smoke and a million kinds of dust. I practically sparkle. ”You start to are tear all up.my children!” I say, and my big black eyes Someone pegs a two-liter jug at me and Dodge breaks a chair over the perp’s head. I’m thrilled. This will make a great paper.. The Shamayans are an odd species, partly because of how odd they aren’t. They are roughly humanoid, closer to humans than any other species in the galaxy, but they are somewhat shorter (usually) and have
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very large heads to store their enormous brains. The story that they tell of themselves says that a million years ago they removed gender from their species permanently because they found biological reproduction ridiculous. Some believe this implies that they are immortal and this might be so. While very intelligent, are alsobut quirky and unpredictably joyous.Shamayans They love humour they will often ruin an excellent joke by insisting on documenting it and the responses to it. It’s no coincidence that the Shamayans are the most published species in the galaxy. Shamayans may be related to the Manichaeans. Mythology implies they are source genetic material seeded on the srcinal human homeworld but there is no proof, of course. Shamayans often modify themselves to suit their mood (though their moods can last centuries). So when we say they look a certain way, that is only the average choice of limbs Shamayans. Theyorganic can be limbs muchaltotaller with long wiry or eschew gether in favour of cybernetics. They wear clothes like humans do and they love body dyes. 3.6.1.
Stereotype
Shamayans are Ivory Tower Intellectuals. 3.6.2.
Physics
Shamayans are weak at manipulating the Natural.
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3.7.
Aaru
I run the engine room because no one else will and I need the deafening roar of neutrinos sluicing through the shielding. The shriek of gamma radiation. The howl of ionization and the thundering growl of tachyon leakage. It drowns out the minds of the others and I can think. A faint oscillating tick signals trouble — we’re being scanned by low energy radio waves. “Commander,” I whisper into her mind. “We are observed.” Three arms are busy rebuilding a T-wave manifold and two are adjusting the hydrogen flow. I’m too busy to use the communicator. I sense disgust. ”Goddamit you are late to the party! We have sixteen fab-brain drones on our six! Of course we’re being observed!” I turn my mind to other spectra and there are indeed high energy containment bottles being irised open. Blasters. ”And get the hell out of my brain! Use the bloody intercom like everyone else!”
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I don’t argue. My idle arms I put to the task of optimizing the power bus so we can double the rear quarter shields. It should be done by the time the containment bottles open and the magnet nozzles start to focus. I hate the sound of magnetism. For good measure I use my remaining arm to suggest a target priority queue for Lemu, our gunner. She acknowledges. I sigh, a wave across the cilia on my upper surface. I love these strange aliens but I wish they would shut up. The radio spectrum is a concerto for only me. The Aaru are a radially symmetrical species of unknown srcin. Though they are most commonly found in the Aarun arm, there is no homeworld there and in fact there is no strong relationship between them and any other species in the galaxy. There is some suspicion that they may be descended from some Gulf horror, and their shape suggests that this might be the case.
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Aaruns are strong psychics and scientists and they see (though they have no eyes) or hear (no ears, really, either) in a very wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum from low infrared well up into the gamma radiation range. Some claim to be able to hear subatomic particle interactions and certainly they are intuitive engineers. Aarunsdrive are often viewed with suspicion since the Purge of the second age, when an Aarun world with several enslaved Horrors embarked on a crusade to rid the galaxy of other sophonts. Ultimately this crusade, The Purge, failed when they reached Dreamer space and their control of the Horrors was undermined by now-unknown Dreamer technology. So the hurt runs deep throughout the galaxy and the Aaru, being introspective and unempathic, do little to dissuade the general antipathy towards them. The Aaru can only reproduce when submerged in water of a very particular temperature, salinity, and other chemical content. When these both circumstances are exactly correct, the Aaru releases eggs and sperm in a cloud that can drift for thousands of miles until it mingles with other Aaru discharge. This fertilization will result in larvae that begin a very convoluted life cycle that does not always become the sapient form. Even when it does, it is possible for the adult sophont to never encounter another sophont and therefore never be educated beyond a basic near-animal nature. Therefore most Aaru culture requires cultivation of their sexuality in order to control when and where children are formed so that they can be properly educated and introduced into society. A feral Aaru cannot be educated and will always be essentially an animal. 3.7.1.
Stereotype
Aaruns are Xenophobes. 3.7.2.
Physics
Aaruns are weak at manipulating the Mystical.
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3.8.
Horrors
The Horrors live (if that’s the right word) in the empty space between galactic arms where they glide slowly and thoughtlessly through the void. They are too enormous to be biological—some are the size of planets and a small few have been identified that are larger still—and they do seem to have a slow incomprehensible purpose, so it’s possible thatand there is thought in the chaos of their minds. But it’s not thought as we know it. They are forces of entropy—they are drawn to order, to civilization—but they are active forces. They consume everything they draw near, obliterating entire star systems. But again, they are slow and they are not terribly directed. But they can be — every now and then a culture decides that a Horror would make a powerful ally in war and there are mystic means by which they can be temporarily commanded. The key word being “temporarily” of course. Thewill details of the Horrors—what areasand how they manifest—are part of yourthey space referee. Whatever you choose to bring into play is correct.
3.9.
Hegemony
Technology sometimes becomes an end in itself, and when it does the galaxy is threatened by Hegemony. No culture seeks such a state, but sometimes one falls into an unstoppable spiral of development, a positive feedback loop that eventually sustains itself as its own purpose. Once autonomous species become enslaved by the hegemonic mind, melded with their technologies, with the inexorable purpose of expansion and assimilation. Regionsand of envelopment the galaxy afflicted by hegemony are swiftly quarantined and left to burn out on their own unless more direct action is required and war on an enormous scale is necessary to destroy or suppress the expansion. The problem is that the seeds of hegemonic technology do not require life—they are essentially data and they can lie dormant for millions of years until allowed free by well-meaning xeno-archaeologists with inadequate network defenses.
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So a Hegemony, or a hegemonic event, happens when some kind of automation (natural, psychic, or mystical) achieves at once a very high degree of autonomy (not intelligence, necessarily), technology, and prioritizes reproduction. This automation then attempts to convert everything that isn’t it into it. mightrobots have alose Vonthe Neumann reproducingWe factory directiveplague: to mine for ore and now simply reproduce as the end goal, converting solar systems into hordes of robots seeking more mass. Or perhaps a virulent software package that infests, subverts, and re-purposes software-bearing equipment (including sophonts) to the purpose of spreading the signal. A computer virus that can infect people as well as machines. A mystic hegemony might be such a powerful memetic idea that people that think it can do nothing but proselytize it, perpetuating it, and converting whole populations into unproductive, unthinking broadcasters of The Word. On high tech worlds this might be fine as the selfless fabs continue to feed and maintain ten billion useless sophonts until they go extinct from failure to breed. The key questions for a hegemony are: • what physics does it use? • how does it reproduce? • how does it travel? • what is the impact of being infected? And of course since they reproduce so rapidly, hegemonies typically mutate. Eventually they mutate into non-virulent forms but they may go through different phases first, changing one or more of their key properties. As with the Horrors, details about hegemonic incursions are all yours. Pull from fiction or your own imagination as needed.
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4. Characters
So me, my met Shamayan pal Gik, Aaru we just walked into a bar.and No some really,deep not purple a joke, we walk into a bar. We’re there to play some dam-shunt and maybe make a buck and there’s a wicked game going. Lot of high rollers. As soon as they see us, though, one of the players pulls the plug and they all fade for the bar, getting beers and snozz and whatnot. I look at Gik and think “what the hell” really hard at her. She shrugs. Then we see the picture on the wall. A deep purple Aaru winning the Hub championships and holding a massive trophy over its sensory fronds. We look at our new pal. It shrugs a half dozen shoulders. Who you are matters. Characters are defined by their skills, aspects, and stunts. Skills describe the things they are good at doing and will tend to define how the character approaches a problem—players tend to prefer to use their best skills and so any given problem tends to be viewed in the context of these best skills. Aspects are descriptive phrases that flesh out the character but they have mechanical effect as well— whenever the player sees that there is some advantage to be had from that little descriptive snippet you can pay a fate point to get a bonus on your skill check. aspects that There are a couple of special free—stereotypes and consequences . you get for Finally stunts are powers that break the rules in carefully prescribed ways. To make a character, start with all the players around the table. Everyone will make a character including the referee (their character might never see play, but it will make a nifty NPC that all of the other characters are already familiar with).
Characters will 3. wind with top skill at rank Anyup skill youa skill don’t“pyramid” have youwith can use at rank 0. As you adventure through the galaxy and learn new things you’ll start adding skills at the 1 rank.
4.1.
Prologue
Start by having every player choose their species and homeworld. The referee should describe a little bit about each of the galactic arms and the features of the Core, the Arms, and the Rim (see“The Universe” on page 73). Each player should then provide: • their species • alocation made up homeworld (just a name and rough is fine) • a sentence or two about their growing up Players then read their material and discuss it. Each should then choose their pinnacle skill at rank 3 and write an aspect. In addition they get their stereotypes for their species and home.
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Example: Chris decides to play an Aukumi Runethief (an occupation invented by the player) that grew up in
the Hub in a vast industrial world. Runethiefs there were prized employees providing financial advice through various auguries. Pinnacle skill is Magic 3. Stereotypes are (species) Brute and (culture) Elitist. They choose the aspect born to the arcane sciences.
4.2. Heroism Next the players will write some short notes about the first time they acted heroically. Details aren’t necessary, but give the table a feel for what’s special about your character’s beliefs—we should get a feel for what the characters will risk their lives for. Choose two skills for rank 2 and add another aspect that reflects this story. Example: Chris wants the Elitist stereotype to be dead wrong. The moment of heroism is when the oppressed classes of the corporation that runs the homeworld finally rose up to demand humane conditions. They led the revolt and wassystem devastating and bloody. In theeffect end the theyrevolt had to fleeit the and never learned what had. The next skill choices are Brawn 2 and Science 2 and they add the aspect slavers die. This character has a violent streak.
4.3.
Your ally
It’s time to get to know the other characters. Look at the character sheet of the player to your right and write a couple of sentences about the time that this character was your ally—someone that saved your life or fought beside you or otherwise practically supported your cause. Pick a skill at rank 1 and write an aspect. aspect doesn’t have to include the ally, but it’s not The a bad choice. Example: Chris decides that the human pilot to their right was the smuggler that helped them all escape the civil war (that Chris started). For a rank 1 skill they take Training 1 for taking the helm in a trial by fire. They add the aspect a ship is more reliable than any planet.
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4.4.
Your friend
Now let’s look to the left and write about how that character is or became a great friend. If that player gives permission, the character might even have once been or still be a lover—but get permission. Choose another rank 1 skill and an aspect. Example: The character to the left is a Tiant Engineer. Chris decides that they came to be friends as scholars, studying together even though others mocked them for spending their time this way. Chris chooses the skill Compassion 1 and the aspect nerds have to stick together.
4.5.
And now...
Finally, sum up where we are now. Share this discussion since you are going to start off your adventures together. Why are you together? Smuggling? Mercenaries? Bounty hunters? Drinking buddies caught up in politics? terrorist a note about your role in this Aand choosecell? oneWrite last rank 1 skill and an aspect. Example: Chris’ group decides they run a freelance repatriation ship—they get paid to ship mercenaries home from failed wars. Sometimes these are rescue missions. Sometimes someone doesn’t want the mercenaries to leave. Chris chooses the skill Precision 1 and the Aspect everyone deserves to leave their mistakes behind them.
4.6.
Handling weakness
Eachinspecies has at least one physics thatfrom they are weak manipulating. Any skill chosen the weak physics at rank 2 or 3 must have an aspect that describes why this character is an exception to the norm for the species. If you want to be strong in a physics that your species is normally weak in, then you need a story that explains that. This aspect is that story.
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4.7. Name
Example character
M’grash Aukumi
Species
Arm
The Hub
Homeworld
Zmick Database
Skills Genius (3) Expertise (2) Expertise (2)
Magic Brawn Science
Competence (1) Competence (1) Competence (1)
Compassion Precision Training
Aspects Me
Stereotypes
born to the arcane sciences slavers die a ship is more reliable nerds stick together leave your mistakes behind
Stunts
brute elitist Consequences mild severe crippling
Portrait/logo
Stress Natural Psychic Mystical
4.8.
Stereotypes
All characters have a stereotype scope for aspects. Aspects in this scope are not necessarily true and must be tagged with that in mind. They are most useful for compels to influence the reactions of others or tagged to leverage the expectations of others. Each species has a stereotype. In addition, cultures defined during character creation may also have one or more stereotypes. Humans are reckless . Fabs are soulless . Dreamers are untrustworthy. Tiants are dilettantes. Ursans are brutes. Shamayans are ivory tower intellectuals. Aaruns are xenophobes. The gross features of the galaxy provide stereotypes as well—characters from the Hub are viewed differently from characters from the Rim. These ste-
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reotypes of course require that the relevant parties know where the characters come from. Hub inhabitants are bureaucrats. Arm inhabitants are apathetic. Rim inhabitants are backwater hicks. Gulf inhabitants are suspicious. Stereotypes havedo a few govern use that other aspects not rules have. to These are their intended to reflect that stereotypes are true as perceptions of others but not necessarily facts about the character. The only person that can compel a character to act in accordance with their stereotype is the player of that character. Its truth is indirect and limited and the referee can’t make you (or even bribe you) into acting on it. The ref and others can compel a character’s stereotype to change the way that others react to the character. There are bigots everywhere and they will affect the story. As a player you cansomeone only tag your reotype to leverage else’s character’s perceptionsteto your advantage. Stereotypes, like consequences, are negatives—you can’t tag them for direct benefit but only indirect (just as you might cleverly tag a consequence to gain the sympathy of another).
4.9.
Skills
There are ten skills to choose from. You will start with some expertise in six of them. Skills aren’t so much about your specific capabilities as they are about your methods. If you have a story to tell about how your Training makes you the marksman you are, then can use it toThat’s fire your sion isyou a better story? up toblaster. you. Maybe PreciScience: figure out something in the natural physics or use a natural physics fact to your advantage. Psionics: leverage the power of your mighty brain to manipulate psychic physics. Magic: wield your mystical genius to manipulate mystical physics. Use the Force, Louise! Training: execute a well-established or documented task. RTFM!
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Brawn: use brute strength to solve problems. Precision: the careful application of minimum force in the perfect location is sometimes exactly what’s called for. Evasion: getting away from things, avoiding things, and otherwise using your body to get out of a tough situation. Compassion: sway, persuade, influence by acknowledging and bending to the needs of others. Commerce: get some business done! Manipulation: promise, cajole, lie, bend the truth, or whatever other greasy trick you have up your sleeve to get your way.
skillsbelow. are applicable in certain circumstancesCertain as outlined Items with a question mark are wide open to negotiation at your table: if there’s a good story, then don’t stand in the way! Even if the chart says no, a great story should supercede it. skill
me t h o d
Science
An uncommon or new ap-
natural
psychic
mystic
yes
no
no
no
yes
no
no
no
yes
proach. An investigation Psionics
An uncommon or new approach. An investigation
Magic
An uncommon or new approach. An investigation
Brawn
Physical force
Precision
Physical control
yes yes
? ?
?
Evasion
Physicalavoidance
yes
?
?
Compassion
Emotionalengagement
?
yes
yes
Manipulation
Emotionalviolence
?
yes
yes
Commerce
Dealing with money and
?
?
?
trade Training
A common and documented approach
yes
?
4 yes
yes
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4.10. Aspects All characters have five aspects in character scope and two aspects in stereotype scope. Each aspect is a short descriptive phrase that implies special abilities or special weaknesses or—best!—both. Stereotypes determined by your species and your home arm. Your five character aspects can Consider be anything comes out of character creation. thesethat as idea categories: Species. It can be as simple as “Dreamer” or “Human” or it can be more elaborate. Belief. Something you believe in strongly. You will pursue it. You get in trouble for it. Love. Something you love and cherish. Could be someone. Could be a thing. Could be a concept. Free. Develop your own aspect!
4.11.
Stress tracks
You have a Natural track with three boxes. You You have have aa Psychic Mysticaltrack trackwith withthree threeboxes. boxes. If your species is weak in a particular physics, you have no boxes there. Every shift you take there must be mitigated with a consequence.
4.12. Stunts There are several categories of stunts. You may choose a category and elaborate on it. Three times. You get three stunts. If someone already has a thing and it’s a starship, you can add one of your stunts to it as “we have a thing”. 4.12. physics One1.of Swap your physics-bound skills can be used in
another physics realm. Maybe you’re a repair genius and so much so you push the limits and can repair runedrives as well as natural gear. You still need the right tools. Example: Unifying insight! Can use Genius (natural) for Genius (psychic) rolls because I have identified a way to unify these two physics.
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4.12.2. Swap a skill
Under some circumstances you can use one skill where someone else might use another. Maybe you are such a devastating shot that when you demonstrate your Precision skills you can use your skill as an Manipulate check. 4.12.3. Have a thing
You have a thing and it’s one tier better than it was before you took this stunt. If it’s a starship, it’s of Starfighter size. Example: I have a starship of starfighter size and its name is the Bette Davis. 4.12.4. We have a thing Make someone else’s thing better because you both
own it. Typically this is a starship. If it is (it should be— it might be a rule that it has to be) then you can either increase its tier or increase its size. If you’re the first person other than the srcinal to add to it, it always increases the size. Example: my pal Laramy has a starship and I helped fund it and keep it shiny so it’s mine too. It’s a corvette and I’m fine with the name Laramy chose. 4.12.5. Extend a track
of your stress tracks has an(say extra box. If used toOne extend a track with no boxes a physics your species is weak in) then it gets three boxes. Example: I am so incredibly well grounded in the ley lines of the universe that I have four boxes in my mystical track.
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4.12.6. Affect the wrong track
You can take stress destined for one track on another instead. Specify the other and tell a good story. Example: my psionic powers are keyed to my magical attunement with The Power of the universe and so when Imystical take psychic track. damage I can choose to score it on my 4.12.7.
Mess with initiative
Initiative order in a fight is usually random or at the whim of the referee. You can mess with this, pretty much carte blanche. Always want the option of going first? That’s a good one. Always want the option to go last? Also excellent. Choose who goes after you? Also fine. Example: tactical genius. At the end of my action in a fight I decide who goes next. 4.12.8. Be extra awesome in particular circumstances but not too awesome because we don’t want you hogging the limelight
Under some circumstance you can take an automatic 2 on your roll instead of rolling the dice. Describe those circumstances. Example: I am such an incredible pilot in a chase that whenever I am trying to escape I can just take 2 instead of rolling the dice.
4.13. Associations Associations aretheorganizations. The so characters in play all belong to same association it’s time to determine the nature of the beast! Associations have three statistics which act like skills and are even in a pyramid. They are: Remit: the pinnacle statistic which determines the ownership and the purpose of the association. Its rank is 2.
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Specification: choose two from the list. They detail the nature and methods of the association. They are both at rank 1. Each remit also comes with a starting complication. This is an
aspect, taggable by the enemy, and currently free-taggable. It can only be removed by playing out a story where it is resolved. This is a technique the referee might bring into play as part of risk at any time if the story seems to demand it. We start with one so that we start in the soup. Draw one remit and two specifications from the list below: Academic The texts have revealed an ancient library. Remit: owned by the public, academic associations are motivated by discovery and teaching. Specifier: the association is involved in research and publication.
Administrative Critical paperwork is out of order. Remit: owned by any other organization, administrative organizations manage processes, people, and paperwork. Specifier
: the association has substantial procedural and archival resources. Ancient A new idea threatens the status quo. Remit: this association has changed hands and character thousands of times—it now could be owned by anyone. Its sole purpose now is self-perpetuation as that’s what has allowed it to last so long in the first place.
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Specifier: the association does whatever it needs to survive today. It is clogged with self-justifying processes and bureaucracy.
Charitable Someone wants you to stop. Remit: owned by its membership, the purpose of a charitable association is to benefit others. Specifer: provides beneficial works for others.
Commercial Not yet profitable. Remit: owned by a body of investors, the purpose of a commercial association is to generate tons of profit. Specifier: interacts with commercial entities or incidentally generates profits.
Criminal That last heist went bad. Remit
by a association single person orprofit oligarchy, the purpose: owned of a criminal is to in violation of the law. Specifier: the association’s methods are frequently illegal. Cultural A great new poet has been discovered. Remit: government or privately owned, the association facilitates artists, poets, and the like, ensuring their works are seen by many. Specifier: the association supports or augments cultural endeavours.
Entertainment This world never heard of you. Remit: privately owned, the objective of the association is to provide frivolous creative works for audiences. Specifier: part of the association’s work supports the entertainment industry.
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There’s a new link to a new place. Remit: owned by individuals, exploratory associations travel to document little known places and things. Specifier: the association is nomadic, searching out its remit in far-flung locales.
Industrial Short on a critical material. Remit: owned by another corporation, industrial associations make things. Sometimes just the raw materials to make other things. Specifier: involves manufacturing or refinement.
Medical Someone nearby needs you. Remit
owned by ais government, the purpose of a medical: association to deliver life-saving technology and skill. Specifier: has the capability to deploy life-saving technology and skill. Military Pursued by an enemy. Remit: owned by a government, the purpose of the military is to execute violence. Specifier: works with militaries or in a military role.
Political Opposition dangerouslthe y unstable. Remit: ownedleader by its is membership, purpose is to
change the policies of the State. Specifier: manipulates political connections. Religious There is proof that your philosophy is wrong. Remit: owned by its membership, the organization is dedicated to perpetuating and expanding belief in their philosophy or mythology.
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Specifier: the organization caters to or is an arm of a religion. This might be a mystical science or it might be complete nonsense.
Rescue A distress call is incoming. Remit: owned by a government, the purpose of the rescue association is to assist those in danger. Specifier: provides assistance in dangerous circumstances.
Secret Someone knows who you are. Remit:
owned by unknowns and has shadowy pur-
poses. Specifier:
operates under the radar.
Security A client is in grave danger. Remit
: the organization ensures or thethings safety at and se-It curity of persons, organizations, risk. might be privately owned or it might be an arm of government. It takes itself very seriously. Specifier: one function of the organization is to provide security or security-related materiel. Having created the association’s remit and specifications, bring them together with a short description then extract two phrases to use as aspects. Example: Commercial, Criminal, Medical: REPLACE-MEAT, a hub-spanning company that provides transplant technology, and parts for remarkably low cost. Itsservices, methods of acquisition and delivery can be quite shady, operating in regions where organ transplants are illegal or providing illegal organs. Specialize in cross-species transplants. Has been accused of outright theft of organs from living beings but of course this is not true. We’ll take the aspects quite shady and transplant services and we will start with the complication not yet profitable. We need to fix that.
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All associations have a refresh of five and three stunts. When a stunt allows you to use a company statistic as a skill, that skill rank is 2. Choose stunts from the following: Branches all over When the or region with all the branch (the Hub, theinRim, a specific Arm), playersoffices may spend the association’s Fate points instead of their own. Make sure to narrate in the company’s interactions! Company armoury The weapons locker is stocked with goodies all the time. You may substitute the association’s Remit for any combat skill for one roll by paying one fate point. Company credit We want our people to be comfortable and happy — they work hard, they should play hard. You stay for free in great digs whenever they are available. Company library Our information resources are nearly limitless. You may substitute the association’s Remit for any knowledge skill for one roll by paying one fate point. Company ship The spacecraft we use are the best anywhere, even if we have to design them ourselves. They can be full of surprises. Substitute the association’s Remit for a ship combat roll and pay a fate point. Deep Pocketshas two extra refresh. The association Emergency Rescue We got your back. For a cost of one fate point from each player, the association arrives in the nick of time extracting them from a conflict. Those not rescued can either spend a point from the association’s pool or negotiate a personal concession. Or fight on alone!
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Known throughout the galaxy Just the fact that you work for us gives you power. Whenever tagging an association aspect you may pay with association fate points. Mystical The warehouse is full of all the right charms to augment your arcane knowledge without giving you away. Whenever using a skill with themystic qualifier, you may spend association Fate points to invoke aspects. Natural We specialize in technology that manipulates the real. Whenever using a skill with the natural qualifier, you may spend association Fate points to invoke aspects. Psychic Ourtalents extensive science division using ensures your arepsychic optimized. Whenever a that skill with the psychic qualifier, you may spend association Fate points to invoke aspects. Reputable Our reputation is spotless and we aim to keep it that way. You may pay off compels with association fate points. Reputation for excellence We hire the best and everyone knows it. When they succeed, we grow more powerful. Whenever a character getstoa the concession frompool. an opponent, takes add a out fateor point associations Only once per scene though.
4.14. Advancement After every session set aside a half hour or so at the end to go over potential advancements. Consider this checklist:
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Did you use a skill at rank 0? You get the skill at rank 1 if you have an empty slot for it (you can have a maximum of four rank 1 skills). Did you heal a crippling consequence? Re-write the consequence
as a And new yes aspect more positive. nowthat’s you get another fate point in the refresh. Did you find that an aspect or stunt no longer adequately applies to your character? Discuss it with
the rest of the table and if it works for everyone, change it. Did you get some loot? Make it permanent with a new have a thing stunt. Just one thing though. Pick the thing you most want to become a part of your character. If you got any other things, they could getDo lost in the pool something later. you want to or improve a skill? You can move a skill up the pyramid as long as you move one down. Move a skill from 2 to 3? Move the old 3 down one.
4.15. What about the ref? The ref gets characters too, but you get to make them up entirely yourself. And you need a fast way because you aren’t always expecting a robot bar fight. No need to spend a ton of energy on that! You might find you want a richer character for a villain or a patron or some other narrative purpose. Use the same scheme but add detail as the character’s that you promoteimportance and demotechanges. charactersYou’ll all thefind time: sometimes a thug turns out to be interesting because of interaction with the characters. Manipulate the statistics as you see fit. That’s your prerogative as the ref. These characters (called NPCs or “non-player characters” in many systems, but I don’t want to demote the ref to a non-player!) have a “cap”. That’s the maximum skill level they have in their pyramid.
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1-cap characters have only one interesting skill and it’s not very good. They don’t get an aspect nor fate points. 2-cap characters have one skill at rank 2 and two at rank 1. They are competent but not experts. They get an aspect and a fate point. 3-cap characters have athat. skillThese at rankare 3 and pyramid that follows from nowthe almost the same power as a character played by the others at the table! They get two aspects and two fate points and a stunt. Progress this as far as you like. 4-cap characters get three aspects and as many fate points and two stunts. 5-cap characters get four and four and three. At this point you’re going to have to start inventing new skills. Go as high you need to suit the story! All of the ref’s characters have three stress boxes in the categories normal for their species. You should certainly consider making new species if you like! Galaxy’s a big place. Now, not every character is worth even this much information. That’s fine, take what notes you want and play them how you like. If they suddenly need to have mechanical impact (oppose a roll, for example) then quickly whip them up with these rules. 4.15.1.
Mobs
Sometimes the players will get into a fight with a lot of enemy characters that don’t need a lot of detail. So instead of inventing a whole character for each one, make the whole mob one character. Just use the rules above but describe it as a gang. Every time the mob uses a consequence to mitigate harm, also knock them down one cap. A 3-cap mob gets the consequence lead hooligan is unconscious and becomes a 2-cap, losing all its rank 1 skills.
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5. Things
If youtohave rank zero need a thing use ait skill (like,above say, Shoot), well,and youyou have that thing unless you have an aspect that says you don’t. So let’s say you get arrested and stripped and put in jail. Well, its perfectly reasonable for the ref to give you the aspect you ain’t got shit and so, since aspects are true, you don’t. This is fair since an aspect like that is temporary. There are a couple of things to consider, though. First, if you have an aspect like I have a concealed shotgun then we have a conflict. It’s easily resolved though. Basically, you want to self-compel this aspect. It’s not for a negative but a positive but still the economy at least makes it fair: you paytoa supply fate point and you keep your shotgun. You need a story for how you kept it. Like where you hid it. If you really want a shotgun but don’t have an aspect for it then you ain’t got shit overrides your desires. So in the latter case, if you want to shoot and you have you ain’t got shit still active on you, well, you can’t. Not until you find a shooting weapon. To reiterate, though: if there’s no special effect on you and you want to use a skill you have at level 1 or higher, then you have the tool to execute that skill. You’re no fool. So much for unimportant things.
5.1.
Important things
Important things are different. Important things are things that you have because of a stunt. Or maybe a thing you got as loot. It’s a special thing and it has features above and beyond its simple purpose. It has one or more aspects.
It has zero or more stunts. Draw them from the same categories as for a character. It may have a stress track. It may have its own fate points. The most important thing about important things is that they are characters. And so we them will record them like characters and we will develop like characters. Important things have a tier. A rank, a rating, a level. A category of amazingness. Tier 0 is regular gear. It’s the stuff you have just because you have a skill. It’s only barely a character. It goes through a Purpose phase which is simply to describe what it’s for. Tier 1 is special gear. It’s hand made, an heirloom, customized. It has a history. Consequently it goes through the History phase as well as the Purpose phase. Tier 2 gear is not only special, it’s been around. It had previous and they might possession. still be out there.a They mightowner even miss their prized It’s not necessarily famous but the previous owner might be. It goes through a History and a Previous owner phase. And a Purpose phase of course. At tier 2 equipment starts to imply motivations and complications. Tier 3 gear is famous. It’s got a coloured history and several previous owners. It adds a Fame phase which adds more capabilities but also a new stress track to manage: recognition. It’s possible for tier 3 and higher gear to become so recognized that you can’t keep playing a footloose adventurer while you own it. You might begear Taken Out by your gear’s fame. Tier 4 is awe-inspiring. It’s mentioned in legends. There are prophecies that describe its future. Its srcins may predate time itself. It adds a Destiny phase. If you spend one stunt on a piece of gear, it is tier 1. If you spend 2 stunts on a piece of gear, it is tier 2. I bet you can guess what you get for another stunt. New gear can be found as loot and it might be any tier as the referee prefers. You might also find or
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fabricate an upgrade as part of your character’s advancement (since you might add a stunt, you might use that to add a tier to the equipment). And you can always use a stunt to upgrade someone else’s equipment, which is especially likely if we’re talking about the starship everyone uses to get around. 5.1.1.
Purpose
What’s it for? That’s its purpose. It should be tied to one branch of physics. Pick that too. If it’s a weapon it will attack that physics track. If it’s armour it will defend against attacks on that track. Ships get much more complicated and have distinct rules. Example: I have a psionic engineering toolkit for repairing mindwarps. It uses Psychic physics. 5.1.2.
History
Describe the history of your gear and give it an aspect that reflects this. The aspect is in the equipment’s scope—distinct from you a new pool of aspects to your drawown!—which on as well as gives your character aspects. Example: I have a highly customized shamanic spanner that can be used to perform spirit surgery. It uses Mystical physics and has the aspect perfect runic alignment. 5.1.3.
Previous owner
In addition to the History actions, name the previous owner or perhaps the category of previous owner. Are they still around? Were they hated? Are they looking for athe gear? Tell me a story and pick another aspect and stunt. Example: I have an ancient disintegrator pistol. It’s a hand weapon and so has optimal range 1. It was used in the last Horror Vendetta and not by us. It was used by the Horror-general Galoctopus and it is made from the tenebrous shadow fibers of her awful realm. She’s gone, but horror-guns are illegal. It is a Natural physics weapon.
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It has the aspect designed by horrors for horror. It has the aspect illegal and for good reason. It has the stunt Swap Physics: can be used as both a Natural and a Mystical weapon. 5.1.4.
Fame
This piece of kit is very well known. It’s mentioned in books people have read. There was a miniseries. In addition to the Previous owner tale, describe who it’s famous with and why. Add an aspect, a stunt, and a Recognition track with 3 boxes. Every time you use the equipment and succeed with style, check off a box. You can only heal it with downtime—a session in which you never bring it outcan gets you a stress box recovered. Or you counter the stress with a Recognition Consequence. Just like other character consequences, these can be used to mitigate stress. You only get three, one of each level. If you take stress you can’t mitigate and have no more space on the track, you are swamped with tourists and can no longer function normally. You are Taken Out. Example: I am augmented with my Personal Extra-Nervous Implement System. It’s a device that gives me four extra arms and two extra eyes to enhance my combat skills. I reprogrammed it after I stole it from the Mindlord Wisconsin but itphysics. still attracts some attention. It employsSam Psychic It has the aspect engage all targets thanks to its use in the Brainwar skirmishes. It has the aspect Sam left a manual in it. It has the stunt affect the wrong track: it can shunt physical damage to the wearer’s Psychic stress track. It has the aspect known everywhere as incredibly lethal.
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It has the stunt independent attacks which let you take a second shoot or fight roll each round. It has a Recognition track of 3. 5.1.5.
Destiny
This thing has prophecies written about it. It’s important. vie foritsit.destiny—what In addition towill theitFame story, tellNations us all about be a part of and when? You can be vague or not since the story might not be true. But it’s what people believe. Its Recognition track is only one box long. Add an aspect and three fate points. When tagging an aspect on the gear, you can spend its fate points instead of yours. It never refreshes, though—it only recovers them when its aspects are compelled. What the heck, add another stunt too. Example: I wear the jeweled armour of Migro. It has been handed down from generation to generation in my family I am in the I have no spawn and can bearand none andthe so last it must be line: me who is born to wear it in the final battle with the Corehorrors at the End of Time. Which I assume is a place since there’s no sign that time is actually coming to an end. It is a Natural physics device. It has the aspect ancient technology. It has the aspect my father taught me all there is to know about it. It has the stunt extend a track: the armour also has a Mystical track of 3. It has the aspect intimidating as hell since spikey powered armour is like that. It hastrack the stunt Psionic of 3. extend a track: the armour also has a It has the aspect will last until the end of time . It has the stunt swap a skill because of its integral weapons: the user may use Athletics to Shoot. It has a Recognition track of one box and three fate points
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5.2.
Starships are characters
Starships can have two physics since they have two functions: movement and shooting. They are usually the same but do not have to be! So you might have a runedrive (mystical) for movement but also have neutrino-seeking thermonuclear missiles (natural) for shooting. Starships also have a size: starfighter or corvette. A starfighter can hold one person and one fabricant. A corvette can hold half a dozen people, as many again fabricants, and some cargo. Starships also have three physics tracks like people with three boxes each and a firing reticle. Personal starships use the starfighter reticle and corvettes use the corvette reticle. 5.2.1.
Starfighter
The Starfighter reticle at tier zero can only fire
directly behind behind and above directly above ahead above t f e l d n a d n i h e b
t f e l y l t c e ir d
a h e a d r ig h t
t f e l d a e h a
ahead
d i r e c t l y
r ig h t
b e h in d a n d r i g h t
ahead below directly below behind and below
straight point your shipahead. and theYou shooting goes there. When dogfighting you need to manipulate your enemies into the “ahead” arc in order to be able to attack them. Fighting in a starfighter means being great at Chase so you can skewer your targets straight down the boresight, just like archaic fighter planes. a starfighter thealso pilotInhas no penalty , for shooting.
5.2.2.
Corvette
The Corvette reticle adds a tailgunner and so can also shoot into the “directly behind” arc. When you’re in a dogfight you can shoot at anyone you can maneuver into either of these arcs.
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directly behind behind and above
You have a lot more leeway when fighting in a corvette because you don’t need to concentrate on getting your enemies into one place on the reticle.
directly above ahead above t f e l d n a
t f e l
y l t c e r i d
d n i h e b
corvette In aweapons , the pilot fires with a penalty of -2. These ships normally have separate gunners. The exception is the directly ahead arc, which the pilot can always fire into without penalty. 5.2.3.
t f e l
ahead
d a e h a
a h e a d r i g h t
d i r e c t ly r ig h t
ahead below directly below behind and below
Stunts
Here are some additional ideas for starship stunts, over and above those already discussed. Improved coverage: choose to add another arc to your ship.and Choose from thearcs list below or imagine the addition choose new appropriate and fair for the addition. Consider: Barbette mount: existing arc gains its associated below, right, left and above arcs. directly behind
directly behind
behind and above
behind and above
behind and above
directly above
directly above
d n a d n i h e b
t f e l ly t c e ir d
t f le d a e h a
ahead
directly above
ahead above
ahead above t f le
a h e a d r i g h t
d ir e c t ly r i g h t
b e h i n
d a n d r ig h t
ahead below
t f le d n a d n i h e b
t f e l ly t c e ir
d
t f e l d a e h a
ahead
ahead above
a h e a d r i g h t
d i r e c t ly r ig h t
b e h in d a n d
r i g h t
ahead below
t f le d n a d in h e b
t f e l ly t c e ir d
d irec tlybehind
t f e l d a e h a
ahead
directly below
directly below
behind and below
behind and below
bette
Corvette upgraded to forward barbette
d ir e c t ly r ig h t
b e h
in d a n d r ig h t
ahead below
directly below behind and below
Starfighter upgraded to bar-
a h e a d r ig h t
Corvette upgraded to rear barbette
Rear gun: if you don’t already have one, add one. Fires only into the “directly behind” arc. Side gun: add a gun on each side that fires into that side’s direct, behind, and ahead arcs. Extend: add three adjacent arcs to an existing mount and explain it. Short range weapons: take no penalty at Close and Far range.
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b e h in d a n d ig r h t
Long range weapons:
take no penalty at Escaping
and Far range. Blockade runner: moving a ship from Escaping to off the map costs only 1 shift.
5.2.4.
Tracks
doestrack it mean to ait starship that takes a hit onSoitswhat psychic when has no psychic equipment? Or mystical? The psychic track is an attack on the crew: they are disoriented or disabled such that the ship’s behaviour is impacted. This is not lasting harm to the crew. The mystical track is an attack on the ship’s sense of place in the universe. Describe it as untrustable sensors and automation. It’s also an attack on the mind of any fabs. The natural track is straight up physical harm.
5.3.
Weapons are characters
Weapons also have an an optimum Brawling weapons have optimal range rangeinofzones. zero. Hand weapons have an optimal range of 1. Longarms have an optimal range of 2. Take some time to think about your weapons when describing them. What exactly is a melee mystical weapon? What does a psionic rifle look like? What does it do? I mean, we know it does harm, but what kind of text is going on that crippling consequence when you score it? Drooling vegetable? 5.3.1.
Stunts
As with anything you can make up your own stunts, but here are some ideas. causes +2 stress on a sucHarmful : this weapon cessful hit (it doesn’t add to the die roll, just the stress after the roll). Attach the harm to a physics. Versatile: this weapon has two optimum ranges instead of the usual one! Disintegrator: double stress on armour but it doesn’t carry through to the target. Blow their armoured pants off!
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5.4.
Armour is a character
Armour also has a stress track of three boxes. It can be used to take damage instead of you taking damage as long as the physics match. If you need a consequence, that’s on you though. Again take some time to describe your armour and think about armour be? non-natural physics. What would psychic 5.4.1.
Stunts
Dual purpose:
has a second stress track in a differ-
ent physics. Military grade: add two more boxes to one of the armour’s stress tracks. Reflective: pick a physics and any successful attack from that physics does the same stress inflicted on the armour to the attacker. If both of you have reflective armour it could bounce back and forth until someone’s armour is destroyed!
5.5.
Gadgets are characters
Repair kits, tool kits, grappling cannons, psychic analysis helmets, ley-flares for throwing off pursuers, bionic limbs, are all fair game. Be creative and make up any purpose and invent a story for it and that’s a tier 1 or higher gadget.
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6 . T h e U n i ve rs e
worlds are supposed to be the centre of the universe, theHub source of culture and innovation, but sitting here for the sixth day in the docking queue I know that the Hub is about one thing: waiting. Waiting long enough that there are re-supply drones patrolling the queue, trailing huge spherical cargo balls in a train. This wouldn’t bug me so much, but every day we wait is another chance for a spot inspection and cargo drones aren’t the only patrols on the queue. We play holo, we sleep, we spar, but the weapons locker is open and the blasters are all charged. The quick release on the drive feed is always at hand. We are ready to fight or run or both and we’ve been on that edge for a week. It eats at you. So when thein...what, dockmaster vidsorin—it’s some kind of bug thing covered wires something?—it’s a relief. Cleared for 17G in Artemis Station. About time. We slide out of the queue and slow burn for the station. And then it suddenly flashes white and all the screens go dark. The panel blazes red with alarms on the comms quarter. I yell at Ryser to find us an optical, open a window or something. They do. The hull starts pinging. High speed debris. ”Screens up! Unlock the drive feed!” Someone blew my pick-up to pieces in the hub. There were about to be a lot of police drones in a very small space. Starting to feel pretty good about the wait though — we should have been on that station. The galaxy is filled with civilizations and booming with business. Most of these civilizations are ancient but travel throughout the galaxy is relatively common and so there is a common baseline of technology. There are improvements, certainly, and there are backwater planets that don’t trade effectively and so have poorer technology, but generally technology is pervasive. It’s also different from our own world’s
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technology more in style than in substance. And it plays by slightly different rules. In this sense, then, most technology is an analogue of modern or ancient technology from the real world rather than a prediction or extrapolation of our own. This is not science fiction as speculation. This is science fiction as wonder and fantasy. Towards the center of the galaxy is the Hub, a region dense with worlds, in which trade is brisk and mystical powers are weak. This is a place where commerce anddevastating. politics dominate militarydominates action is huge and No one and civilization here and the power balance is constantly in flux. It is a dangerous and lucrative place that moves at a fast pace. Curving out from the hub are six Arms, and between the arms are the Gulfs. In the arms are many stars, though the pace slows as we move away from the hub until, at the Rim where the Arms blur and merge, mysticism dominates and life is simpler though per-
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haps more brutal. There are always forces from the Hub that believe the powers available out at the Rim can be imported to the Hub for leverage there, and sometimes they are right. But the price is always high and the successes fleeting. The Gulfs between the Arms are nearly empty of stars and difficult tobut navigate. In other these things. places In there are few civilizations there are the Gulfs horrors lurk, sleeping for slow millennia until the fast bright minds of the civilizations come too close. As with the Rim, there are inhabitants of the Hub that believe these horrors can be harnessed or at least aimed and unleashed. This almost always ends badly. But if they can be tamed or at least directed, the power one might wield over the Hub worlds would be unstoppable. And then there are the Arms themselves. The vast bulk of the civilizations are in the Arms and their concerns are largely local: the machinations of the Hub worlds them only , usually as part strategictouch play towards theindirectly Rim or into the Gulfs. Inof thea Arms people are just people and they are getting on with their lives as people do. But sometimes events sweep people up and force them to act, and this is where we find heroes. Just folks, with simple (though passionate!) motivations that find they cannot ignore an injustice or that must pursue vengeance. This is where we draw our characters from, our unlikely heroes, ourselves clad in the trappings of the Elysium Flare.
6.1.
Facts
We need to talk. We need to come to an understanding about the ways in which this universe is not your universe. Now, it’s like your universe in a lot of ways, and most of those ways you will understand intuitively: when you drop things they fall, when you accelerate you go faster, and so on. However, there are details of real world physics that are not the same in this universe. The upside of this is that Elysium Flare uses a kind of “folk physics”—that is, if you’re
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untrained in physics you probably won’t even suspect a difference. Here are the differences anyway. There are three different branches of physics here, and they overlap somewhat. 6.1.1.
Natural physics
Natural physics is like ours, mostly, physics and is manipulated by technology. That is, natural is used to understand the universe enough to invent gadgets that manipulate the physics to produce useful effects. This gives us vehicles, weapons, sensors, and so on. Technology is something anyone can use, so throughout the universe it is the most common physical manipulation around. But it’s not the only way to manipulate the universe! These physics are represented and manipulated with mathematics and modelling and algorithms, and these things are easily stored and transmitted and interpreted. The use of natural physics is therefore widespread others. You can teach it andmore you can explain itthan on athe mass scale. In Elysium Flare natural physics does not make the speed of light a barrier to your top speed. It’s a special value, to be sure, and going faster than light is a special thing to do requiring special equipment or people, but it’s not impossible. So we can pretty much ignore relativity as well. And don’t bet on thermodynamics either. Basically anywhere real physics says “impossible!” we will ask “what if?” The gaps and srcins in natural physics, the places it cannot describe, are generally comprehensible by another branch of physics: the mystical. 6.1.2.
Mystical physics
These are the set of universal laws that are manipulable by faith and arcana. This requires dedication and wisdom and experience and morality. Anyone can access this by making the right sacrifices and staying on the path laid down by mystics before you. It allows and explains certain limited exceptions to natural physics and its gaps and exceptions are partially comprehensible by psychic physics.
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The representation and reasoning of mystical physics uses obscure symbologies and the details of the presentation are important—a particular paper or ink, the right frame of mind, written in the right place at the right time. Aesthetics have concrete powers. Consequently transmitting mystical calculations is useless—the medium here really isunderstanding the message. This limits the rate at which mystical can be propagated and it is commonly only taught from master to pupil. The trappings of mystical physics are special things and special places and special times and special people. None of these can be readily fabricated but rather they are found. If they were once fabricated, that art is long lost. 6.1.3.
Psychic physics
There is another set of laws that is even more personal, that resides inside the individual mind. Not everyone thismight kind be of capable. physics,Psychic but in principlecan anymanipulate kind of mind physics allow certain limited exceptions to natural physics and is partially comprehensible by natural physics—it is understood that certain patterns of brain activity are associated with psychic activity, for example, and it can in principle be damped or amplified by natural technology, but the why of it all is permanently and provably elusive. Psychic physics is internalized—it is not calculated in real space but rather is a unique and internal calculation that takes place in the instinctive part of receptive minds. It can be reproduced but it is mostly about effort and desire and talent and psychics only very loosely define how they dosowhat they can do. They certainly cannot communicate it even to other psychics but can only nod knowingly at the description of how it feels when it works Psychic physics doesn’t make things external to the mind but there are things that can be linked to or powered by the brain.
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6.1.4.
Good and evil
The universe of the Elysium Flare certainly has many moral shades of gray, but there is also stark good and evil. This mostly derives from the mystical, though this does not mean that species weak in the mystical are immune to influence from one side or the other. Far from it—they are often ill-equipped to resist. Evil, the darkness, the Hegemony, is that which denies the needs of others—their power to choose, to live, to play—in order to secure some other gain. Usually that’s more power to deny, but sometimes it’s simply more power, attention, or wealth for an individual. There are mystical forces that are energized by the excitement, fear, and pain that this path brings and they can often only express themselves by empowering others. At the pinnacle of any tyrannical movement is likely an individual motivated by personal gain who is a puppet of these powers. Good is that them whichtoengages of Itothers, that empowers choosethe andneeds to play. is the harder path for individuals as its rewards are distributed—it does not elevate the individual but rather enables the individual to elevate others. It is humbling and quiet and so the great expressors of Good, those that are enabled by the mystical powers of light, are frequently unknown. They work their trade locally, making a difference person by person, spreading the power of good rather than concentrating it. 6.1.5.
Chaos and the Void
All living things generally perpetuate order. This is against the very fabric perfect of the universe, which inexorably moves towards chaos—entropy. Some argue that this is the very purpose of intelligent life. There are, however, beings that actively embrace the Void, that seek chaos, disorder, and the grey perfect cold of entropy. These are the Horrors between the arms of the galaxy and they are the one thing that everyone should fear. Their actions assure the eventual destruction of everything. And yet their power is so great that of course they are a temptation—there
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are always those that are certain there is a way to control these forces and wield them to elevate order and perpetuate an ideology. It has never worked— all such empires rapidly collapse under the Horrors themselves. Destruction is assured. The worst fear is that a Hegemony riding the Horrors will be so successful thatwill theend. collapse will span the galaxy and then everything There is evidence in the night sky that this has happened before. 6.1.6.
Planetary statistics
Building a universe
There are a few critical descriptors for planets that we will generate as needed. You can of course expand on these. Keep adding and changing as part of play. Trouble: the essential conflict in this world. Culture: what it’s like to live here. Environment: what it’s like to be here. History: what went on before. Proximity: the distance to each neighbour. Each and has buy a cost. eachfrom world start with 5 world points oneFor aspect each type.
6.2.
The Hub
The Hub is a busy place. That’s an aspect.
Most fabricants originate in the Hub because it is so busy that locals need to keep making more locals to do the menial work. In the Hub, most species identify themselves as srcinating there but in fact all but one come from one of the Arms (or perhaps even further away). And so the Hub is a melange of beings, having all conceivable shapes and colours and forms. Here even humanity
For each major location in the galaxy (the Hub, the Rim, and each Arm) we’ll give you some description and some tables to generate worlds. So pick an arm and make a world. The last thing you’ll do is generate links -- the worlds that are attached to this one by jumpspace lines, wormholes, or whatever your fiction is for these connections. Then make more worlds!
does not dominate and itMore can’t than reallyanywhere be said that particular species “rules”. elseany in the galaxy, species is genuinely irrelevant to station. The worlds of the Hub all orbit their own stars, of course, but these stars all orbit the black hole, Archon, at the center of the galaxy. These worlds are densely populated, many of them mono-climates of steel and glass and other exotic but synthetic materials. They are world-cities encapsulating industry and bureaucracy on a planetary scale.
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And these worlds all favour technology. People equip themselves with gadgets to assist their labour. They embed technology in their flesh (if they have flesh) and even their minds. 6.2.1.
Species
Every species can be found here. 6.2.2.
Technology
All technology can be acquired here, though on many Hub worlds weaponry is restricted or banned. This doesn’t mean it can’t be bought, of course, but it won’t be legal. Industry and trade is vibrant here, so if it exists it can probably be found. 6.2.3.
Law
Law is generally restrictive. Weapons are often illegal but duelling laws are common. The overriding concern on most worlds is managing the dense population, widespread personal armament more problemand than solution. There are worlds thatisexperiment with it anyway. 6.2.4.
Mysticism
Mystics are rare and effects deviate from the mean, though usually according to some logic. If there is any consistent mystical technology here, it must be bureaucratic. Perhaps there are secrets in processes used unchanged through the ages and reasons why they work better than they should. 6.2.5.
Psychics
Psychics are common in the and psychic technology is readily available. TheHub density of the population can make it hard for some psychics and so shielding technology is popular. 6.2.6.
Hegemony
The Hegemony has made no inroads into the Hub. This is a good thing—a Hegemony loose in the Hub would be devastating, placing trillions at risk.
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6.2.7.
Generating Hub worlds
cost
Trouble
0
Massively overcrowded
1
Industrial wasteland Heat pollution is getting pretty bad
2
No permanent residents allowed Bureaucratic hellhole Waste disposal is a crime Zero-sum population law: if you visit someone has to leave.
3
Worldwide computer systems crash Running out of air Power outages threaten life and data
4
Awakening data hegemony At war with another planet-company
cost
C u l tu re
0
Everyone is very busy
1
A noble class rules the rest A corporate board of directors rules Owned by a powerful cooperative
2
An egalitarian utopia An automated hierarchy
3
Very few people and all crazy rich Hive mind
4
One free sophont and a world of slaves One sophont
cost
Environment
0
Allcity
1
One huge city and a poisoned wilderness A huge city disguised as a wilderness
2
Airless surface and an underground city world Airless with domes over every crater
3
Floating network of cities in a gas giant An orbital structure
4
A slower than light city ship going somewhere A structure that surrounds the sun
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cost
History
0
An ancient and ossified bureaucracy
1
Recovering from a recent revolution A new revolution is log overdue
2
Notorious for starting wars between rival worlds Cheats on zone taxes
3
Started a Horror incursion for profit and still living it down Chained Horror in the planetary basement
4
Recently installed as-is by a hypercorporation Created by an ancient hegemonic brain
cost
Proximity
0
One very close, two close
1
Two very close, two close Two very close, one close, one far
2
Two very close, two close, one far One far
3
Four very close, two far
4
Onedistant
6.3.
The Rim
Life is slow on the Rim. The worlds are poor by
Hub standards, but the people here like it that way. They live well enough and they do their own work— it’s rare to find a construct at the Rim and those that do live here are typically citizens. The worlds of the Rim are diverse but have a common theme: they are worlds where people work the land (whatever the land is) and care little for galactic politics. 6.3.1.
Species
Every race can be found here—the Rim is very diverse. It’s also sparse, though, and huge, so while the Rim as a whole can be said to be diverse, individual worlds actually tend to be dominated by single species.
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6.3.2.
Technology
The technology that is available on the Rim tends towards older or even ancient models. However, it’s also a place where a lot of strange experimentation goes on. Isolated, rejected geniuses toil away in the lawless safety of the Rim and sometimes stumble across fore. technologies that have never been seen be6.3.3.
Law
Law depends on the culture of each world, but is generally lax. Weapons are often necessary to survive in this wild space and even where restrictions are enforced there are so many transients operating illegally that getting banned technology is easy to arrange. Not always easy to survive—dealing with ruthless killers is risky—but easy to arrange. 6.3.4.
Mysticism
The by Rim hasspace muchthan to explore, with separated more anywhere elseworlds in the galaxy, and that means that there remain many undiscovered artifacts and transection points where mystical energies might be focused in new and powerful ways. It’s a place where mystics are easily found. 6.3.5.
Psychics
Psychics thrive on the mass mind and so in the sparseness of the Rim they are relatively rare. The ones that do eke out a living in the wilds are often insane. 6.3.6. Hegemony The Hegemony does not seem to be interested in
the Rim—several worlds have been dismantled but they are all on the fringes of expansion that is directed into an arm and not outwards into the Rim.
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6.3.7.
Generating Rim worlds
cost
Trouble
0
Local bandits make trouble
1
Something terribly wrong with the crops Tourists stopped coming
2
Economy is slowing down A corporation is ravaging the ecosystem An external power is exploiting the workforce Aliens are taking our jobs
3
A missing resource (water, air...) The atmosphere generators are breaking down
4
A Hub empire has suddenly become interested There’s a Horror just past the Rim
cost
Culture
0
Quietandsimple
1
Work hard, play hard Gambling is a part of every transaction Haggle for everything
2
Lawless and making a packet on it Traditional pirate hide-out A government in exile is exiled here
3
Thoughtless obedience to an overlord Blood is shed for the slightest reason
4
Only one person lives here. It’s their world. No one lives here: the place is automatic
cost
Environment
0
Mostly lush dangerous wilderness
1
A monoculture world, hostile to humans A waterworld
2
An asteroid belt that imports its air The world is a junkyard of space ships linked together
3
A strange accident of a world like a gas ring around a neutron star
4
A constructed world with unknown purpose
4
A perfect world in the perfect place and no other planets
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cost
History
0
Colonized within living memory
1
Fled religious persecution Political dissidents settled to make their utopia
2
A thousand years of farming and psychic research Ancient secret societies are pervasive
3
Source of the toughest mercenary soldiers in the galaxy Everyone is suspiciously brilliant, especially farmers
4
A million years of peace and no one knows why
cost
Proximity
0
Oneclose,onefar
1
One very close, one far
2
One close, one far, one distant
3
Oneveryclose
4
Twodistant
6.4.
The Gulfs
The Gulfs are mostly empty space—stars are sparsely distributed making travel difficult for any but the most specialized starships. Yet things live here, things that fare better in the pure emptiness of these places. Huge things that find gravity uncomfortable, or that cannot tolerate the harsh neutrino stream from the great furnaces of stars. And people have lived here. Though there are no known civilizations in any of the Gulfs at this time, there is evidence that there have been. Wandering planetoids without a star are occasionally detected and sometimes worlds they contain ruined structures—maybe once-livable now stripped to the stone and ancient buildings, or maybe the remains of a failed science station. And occasionally there are efforts to get a foothold here because there is research to be done in this space—the silence of it is conducive to several branches of mystical physics and there are highly specialized psychics that find the perfect isolation conducive to certain branches of research.
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But there are risks. Even the thin stream of neutrinos from a stardrive can aggravate one of the Monstrosities here. They move slowly, so slowly that they may even arrive to address an irritation now long gone. An ancient civilization, maybe. Or an old science station. The Gulfs are quiet and terrifying. 6.4.1.
Species
The Gulfs are largely empty, or at least empty of sapient life, but there are outposts and research stations at the fringes. These tiny habitats might be crewed by any species but there is one species that has a special affinity for the strangeness of the Gulfs—the Aaru. 6.4.2.
Technology
Technology near the Gulf is mostly whatever the inhabitants brought with them—it’s rare to find any kind of industrial base. Remote stations are often desperate for parts, equipment, and raw materials. 6.4.3.
Law
There is no law in the Gulf. That’s part of why the people that are here chose to be here. 6.4.4.
Mysticism
Here entropy is accelerating and natural physics breaks. Mystical physics are more accurate and more powerful. The Horrors in the Gulf are best controlled by mysticism but they are also attracted to it. Something deeply true exists that combines this universe, the fraying edges of reality at the Gulf, and whatever reality is. There unifying theory that makes senseisofsome all thisdangerous and it’s mystical in nature. At least that’s what experiments in the Gulf suggest. 6.4.5.
Psychics
The Gulfs are bad places for psychics: there are vast regions where no mind at all exists and this silence can drive a sensitive insane. The only thing worse than this silence is the occasional glimpse into the mind of a passing Horror, a flare of blinding insanity,
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rage, and incomprehensible multi-dimensional visualizations. Psychics forced to travel here often employ illegal drugs to stay unconscious as much as possible. 6.4.6.
Hegemony
Hegemonies often srcinate near the Gulfs as physics and causality areadvanced weak there, for technologies impossibly and allowing dangerously self-willed. An abandoned but functional research outpost should be terrifying: fortunes might be made but the risk of unleashing a Hegemonic algorithm is substantial. 6.4.7.
Generating Gulf worlds
cost
Trouble
0
So incredibly lonely
1
Missing vital supplies Vast amounts of a valuable resource but no air
2
Sun’s going out Something has gone terribly wrong with the research We found something and it wants to trade The world is a sleeping Horror. Shhhh.
3
Someone wants this world for their own In the middle of a shooting war The only jump route has been mined
4
We keep a Horror at bay We’re hiding from a Horror
cost
Culture
0
Studious
1
Strict ritual behaviour Membership in the cult is mandatory
2
Making a ton of money selling tickets Monstrous waste turns out to have valuable properties
3
Desperately occupied keeping things working Try not to think. It feeds on thought.
4
Nooneliveshere
6
Until last week people lived here. Not now.
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cost
Environment
0
An airless rock orbiting a red dwarf
1
An airless rock orbiting an exotic star An airless rock orbiting a black hole
2
The moon of a gas giant in a trinary system A floating station in the atmosphere of a gas giant
3
An artificial world (ringworld, Dyson sphere, &c.) A natural world but an artificial star
4
Just an orbiting computer station and a vast virtual world to plug into.
cost
History
0
Brand new and defensive
1
Hundreds of years of directed study A series of apparently useless breakthroughs
2
A thousand years of combat, constantly switching owners An intellectual war over first publication rights
3
History is illegal. No one will talk about it. History has been forgotten. No one can talk about it.
4
Installed within the last ten years as a kind of world-puppet operated by a Horror
cost
Proximity
0
Oneclose
1
Oneveryclose
2
Oneclose,onefar
3
One far, one distant
4
Twodistant
6.5.
The Manichaean Arm
The Manichaean arm is an industrial powerhouse that provides goods and energy to the galaxy. It is rich with medium-sized yellow stars suitable for certain kinds of organic life and has spawned thousands of species. No one empire has ever ruled this arm and so it has many small cultures and frontiers. It’s an excellent hiding place for those fleeing tyranny, since it couples the livable wildness of the Rim with prox-
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imity to civilized regions. Holdouts from the Mifir Rebellion are said to be rebuilding their military here somewhere and the remnants of the Ma Schism now form one of the great trade unions. Humanity emerged here and the species is so prolific and aggressive that it permeates the arm. 6.5.1.
Species
This arm is the most cosmopolitan space apart from the Hub—all species find a home here and none really dominate. There are a few human empires, but there is also a sprawling Aukumi empire and other smaller coalitions. Even in these empires, there are many species. This diversity may explain the arm’s resistance to hegemonic infiltrations—a hegemony that specializes will eventually find its targets exhausted. Not to say that a more adapative one is impossible.... 6.5.2.
Technology
species, byword here is diversity. IndustryAs is with booming andthe there are constant refinements on all classic designs of ships and automation available. It is rare to find a completely rural world here—even the most ascetic farm colony will still use automation though they may pay extra to disguise it as biological. 6.5.3.
Law
These worlds are organized around freedom rather than order. Governments come and go rapidly, but humans are relatively ephemeral and the other species that make their homes here have done so deliberately, finding the excitement and novelty of the human worlds, method though, to their tastes. are a few Shamayan where There revolutions are carefully scheduled and accompanied by appropriate bloodshed and then a month-long celebration. 6.5.4.
Mysticism
This arm is not known for its mystical features, but they do exist. Humans are not natural mystics but there are historical examples of great human masters, but this is rare and so mystical artifacts are
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rare and ancient and mystical industries are virtually unknown. There is a lot of folk-mysticism, though, which combines real but ill-examined mysticism with mis-labeled psychic effects and occasionally physical effects as well. Some claim this is deception. 6.5.5. PsychicsPsychics are as common here as anywhere, but in
much of the arm there is distrust. This may partly explain the folk-mysticism phenomenon—it’s more acceptable on many worlds to claim mystical ability when in fact the source is psychic. That said, there are only a very few worlds where psychics are banned or, worse, hunted and killed. 6.5.6.
Generating Manichaean worlds
cost
Trouble
0
A competitor is getting out of hand
1
Trade disrupted by a nearby war A nearby war is an opportunity for trade A trade-war is damaging weapons sales
2
Ecologists threaten to shut us down Ecologists were right and everything is going to shit
3
There’s a hot war going on There’s a cold war and everyon has world-ending weapons
4
This factory seems to be doing what it wants. Cool! This factory seems to be doing what it wants. Shit! The world is a factory and it’s on strike.
cost
C u l tu re
0 1
Individualistic Tolerated crime and occasional gunfire Mandatory weapons
2
The Industry owner rules with an iron fist The unions rule with an iron fist
3
Everyone’s plugged into the latest entertainment Everyone’s part of the latest entertainment
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0
The War is just part of how this whole thing works
cost
Environment
0
A lovely world nearly ruined by industry
1
A lovely world nearly ruined by warfare A war with the environment
2
A world that balances industry, cities, and the wilds A false balance that is slowly ruining cities A false balance that is slowly ruining industry
3
A ring of factories around a star A world factory and orbital wildernesses
4
A sunless, airless rock hurtling through the interstellar void An enormous spacecraft with its own sun
cost
History
0
One species has dominated here but others are coming in fast
1
Many years of diversity A million years of implausibly balanced diversity
2
Anewcolony So new it’s in the process of being colonized
3
Built on the ruins of an extinct human colony Built from the ruins of an extinct Aaru colony
4
Thousands of years of industry and industrial espionage Six megacorportations and everyone is a spy
cost
Proximity
0
One close, one very close, one far
1
Three close, one far
2
Two very close, two close, one distant
3
Four close, one far
4
Onedistant
6.6.
The Orphean Arm
The Orphean arm is sparsely populated by the usual organic races as many of its stars are cool brown dwarfs and there are few worlds that can sustain life. The cultures that are here enjoy long-lived civilizations that spread over great distances. Between these
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organic civilizations lies the Orpheani, the largest of all the species-specific empires. Because the Dreamers are not organic—their nature is incompletely understood—and because they are atechnological, they inhabit worlds that normal life forms cannot tolerate. Their crystalline cities sparkle myriadusing worlds that none visit and they ply the over spacelanes ill-understood mystical drives. The Orphean arm is dense with relics and places that facilitate mystical physics, though whether this is because of the lack of more typical life forms or because the strange culture of the Dreamers has created and forgotten them is not known. There are many worlds in the arm where connections between Dreamers and other species are facilitated, but the transactions that go on here are esoteric and opaque to most. The Orphean space is a quiet place permated by the Dreamers. 6.6.1. This armSpecies is dominated by the Orpheani but a visi-
tor probably wouldn’t know it: the few worlds that are habitable by organics are populated by all species equally, and these are the worlds one normally visits. There are, however, a vast number of uninhabitable worlds—worlds that circle dead suns or worlds that speed through the dark without attendant suns at all—and the Orpheani prefer these. There are few trade routes that link these two different but overlapping cultures. 6.6.2.
Technology
Technology is stagnant and strange here. Habitable worlds are sometimes desperate, barely hanging on at the end of tortuous trade routes. Practicality is the chief concern rather than luxury, but also tradition, and you will find ancient powerful technologies here that are now considered quaint. The Orpheani manufacture technology that was gifted to them by the Rescue, the long gone species that lifted them from their strange dreaming wildness eons past. They do not really invent on their own.
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6.6.3.
Law
Most worlds here are organized along strongly traditional lines, perpetuating ancient rules that have their roots in the needs of the srcinal settlers. Legal systems are often religious. 6.6.4. Mysticism This arm is littered with mystical nodes, most of
which have unknown function. The Orpheani settle near these places since they are attuned to the overlapping dimensions that make mystical physics work. Researchers invariably come to the Orpheanic Arm for insight, but these worlds are not designed for visitors and so the mystic remains to some extent arcane, not because secrets are being deliberately kept but because the keepers are naturally isolated and have no particular interest in sharing. 6.6.5.
Psychics
There is no stigma againstmind-to-mind the psychic in techniques this arm — the dreamers use various in their everyday lives and so any culture with such a stigma would long ago have found itself totally isolated (rather than just nearly isolated as they are now). Some may still exist, self-reliant ancient pockets of bigotry, but they are not on the maps. 6.6.6.
Generating Orpheanic worlds
cost
Trouble
0
Friction between the Orpheani and the others
1
A mystic node has lost its power
2
A mystic node is overloading A corporeal world has generated a powerful mystic node The Orpheani are fighting to take a corporeal world
3
The Orpheani need you out by noon Friday The Orpheani are all leaving by the end of the week The Orpheani need all the air for something
4
A Horror is being formed by crazed Orpheani mystics
6
A non-corporeal virus is hegemonizing Orpheans
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cost
C u l tu re
0
Quiet and meditative
1
Rich intellectual exchanges between regular species and Dreamers A strange economy in mystical works
2
Dreamers almost never come here Dreamers are forbidden Dreamers die here
3
Only Dreamers live here Organic species are forbidden Organic species die here
4
Corporeals are manipulated and studied by an invisible Dreamer class Corporeals serve as bodies for insane Dreamers
cost
Environment
0
Crystal cities surrounded by tamed wilderness
1
Vast crystal cities and tiny parks Vast crystal parks and small organic enclaves
2
A wilderness below and crystal cities in the air A wilderness littered with the remains of fallen cities
3
A network of diamond asteroids A planet-sized cut diamond Most resources carefully sorted by element
4
Nothing at all, just space where the Orpheani congregate A radio signal and three Orpheani waiting
cost
History
0
Orpheani have been here forever, everyone else is recent
1
Orpheani mostly left when corporeals arrived Orpheani are in the process of leaving
2
Only corporeal species have ever lived here, probably There are Orpheani ruins a million years old
3
Corporeals wrested the world from the Orpheani by force Ownership is taken violently every few years
4
A million years of peace between only Dreamers and Aaru A million years of peace between only Dreamers and Au-
4 kumi
-9
cost
Proximity
0
One close, one very close, one far
1
Two close, one far
2
Two very close, two close, one distant
3
Three close, one far
4
Onedistant
6.7.
The Tianen Arm
The Tianen arm has many vibrant cultures. The Tiant control the largest of these empires; they are an ancient organization with a strong culture of tolerance. They have created an elaborate system of laws that govern most of the arm, sometimes by choice and sometimes by force, that seems to actually work—the Tianen arm has the best record for sustained peace of any region of space. The laws, however, seldom make sense. as few understand complex feedback thatthat make peace an the emergent property. It issystems suspected the Tiants themselves no longer know how it works either, but their psychic shamans can focus their intuition to extend the legal construct to accomodate the constant change that is essential to evolving societies. Those who have researched the legal system have never been able to find a way to simplify it and still get the same results, but there are many theories that attempt to find the generalizations that will allow this to happen. The Tiants are playful intellectuals, pursuing seemingly random fields of study in all three physical systems, and or often refuse to in terms of of concrete objectives schedules. Thetalk ancient legacy wealth throughout their governments allows this to continue unabated. The Tianen Arm is a place of ancient incomprehensible complexities. 6.7.1.
Species
6
The Tianen arm is dominated by the Tiants—they are on almost every planet that will support their bi-
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ology and a fair number that won’t. Because of this, the arm is less cosmopolitan than most—not everyone is willing to live under the elaborate laws that keep the peace. Even so, the Shamayans are eager to study the legal framework and have established embassies in Tiant space that can best be described as social research stations. 6.7.2.
Technology
Technology advances in unusual directions. Tiant attention span (not individuals but whole societies) is short and it’s rare for a project to target a particular problem but rather solve whatever’s interesting (or fashionable) this week. Non-Tiant governments are eager to place researchers in these programs in order to leverage this to jump-start more “serious” projects. You can find anything you need here but the advanced technologies are of dubious utility unless the fashionable problem is also useful to you. 6.7.3.
Law
Law in Tiant space is very hard to understand and quite fluid. It’s not oppressive and it’s not especially bureaucratic, just inconsistent and inconstant. Murder might be legal this week but only of middle-managers. Later stimulant consumption is mandatory in public places. They might regulate the knots that are acceptable in garment-securing. It is prudent to carry modular or peace-bondable weapons in case they happen to be illegal this week. 6.7.4.
Mysticism
Mysticism is scorned. Despite objective demonstration of mystical arts, Tiants generally think of them as silly and not part of the greater wonder that is the universe. If you’re a universe-reknowned mystic, you won’t get a great reception here. 6.7.5.
Psychics
Psychics are very popular, often achieving fame on the inter-stellar talk show circuit. Many Tiant universities are dedicated to psychic research and, though
6
-9
their topics of study can be esoteric (they hold all of the Knobble Psionic Prizes in Spoon Bending for the last 800 years) they are breaking new ground. It’s typical for researchers to survey Tiant universities for ideas and take them home to engineer into products that sell. 6.7.6.
Generating Tianen worlds
cost
Trouble
0
The legal system here is out of hand
1
The fashion industry is crashing The legal industry is crashing The jewelry industry is being made illegal
2
Two rival fashion designers are in a legal shooting war Six legal firms are in an illegal shooting war Murder is legal on a trial basis in the park
3
World was accidentally sold to the Shamayans World may have been made illegal; lawyers working on it Aukumi envoys have showed up to collect their continent
4
Black hole generators are free this week The ban on disintegrators expires next week and people are stocking up
cost
Culture
0
Brisk and cosmopolitan
1
Cut-throat legal shenanigans Literally cut-throat legal shenanigans
2
Countries are now being divided by birthstone not region Starkly divided into separate, bigoted, fashion designer camps. Pick a side.
3
The Aaru are world rulers on a technicality The next leader is being decided by game show Tiants made themselves illegal by accident and are all leaving.
4
Scientists are testing a p rototype teleporter on strangers Tiants made everyone else illegal and you need to be out by Sunday.
6 -9
cost
Environment
0
Towering metropoli surrounded by factory parks
1
A small but busy city on a wild world A small but busy city on a dead world A small but busy city in the ruins of an older city
2
A single mountain hollowed out as a vast wind instrument All wildlife is tuned to growl, tweet, trumpet in harmony An airless rock filled with glittering structures and alien music
3
Someone elses ring world, mostly empty desert Ten thousand spacecraft that don’t work any more, jury rigged together.
4
Small bubbles of air in a vast iron airless world Small towns surrounded by lush wilderness
cost
History
0
Been like this since the beginning of recorded history
1
Installed exactly like this six months ago Built in ten years to fulfill a contractual obligation Originally designed on a bet
2
A corporate experiment A set of corporations designed this as a monopoly
3
A scientific experiment An illegal and unfunded scientific experiment
4
World was moved to escape a hegemonic plague World was built as a fortress agains hegemonic plague
cost
Proximity
0
One close, one very close, one far
1
Three close, one far
2
Two very close, two close, one distant
3
Four close, one far
4
Onedistant
6.8.
The Aukumean Arm
The Aukumean arm can only be described as cultivated. Sometime in the very distant past nearly every star with a suitable spectrum was seeded with life,
8
-9
most of it from a common stock. That was billions of years ago, though, so now there is the wild diversity one would expect, but still with an underlying commonality. More importantly, the percentage of worlds that are livable without supporting technology is enormous compared to other arms. Consequently has been reduced drive to advance natural there technology over athe millenia. There are many worlds that refuse—or simply don’t bother with—convenience technology. The Aukumi often fall into this category though in fact it’s as much a result of their bodies as anything else—they really don’t need shelter over a wide range of conditions and so they don’t bother building them. Many other species in the arm build in unobtrusive ways to avoid changing the nature of the Ursan worlds. The arm is rich in rare materials and has gone to war over them. Whole worlds have been lost in these wars and some systems are nothing but rings of rubble theirover stars. While Aukumean fought around each other these resources, it isfactions much more complex than that. And thus this contradiction of destroyed worlds, lush world-rich places, and encroaching heavy exploitation. Tensions remain high throughout. 6.8.1.
Species
Many species call the Aukumean arm home, but the Aukumi dominate. So many of these worlds are immensely fertile and in exactly the right way to support the Aukumi that their expansion was never hindered by a lack of worlds to choose from. What did limit theirworlds expansion wasAukumi’s the diversity of existing life on these and the disinterest in supplanting—or even disturbing—those beings. All major species have their place here and so do myriad other species that are less frequently seen elsewhere in the galaxy. 6.8.2.
Technology
6
The Aukumi are not especially interested in technology but they do have a history of precision breeding
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programs, both natural and artificial. They prefer imported artifacts and their own biological technologies. In war, and the Aukumi do not shy away from a just war (in fact they quite enjoy combat, but are only interested in willing opponents), it is typical for the opposition to face crafted biological weapons. Weapons that most other species would consider horrendous, the Aukumi see as both expedient and humane. 6.8.3.
Law
Law in the Aukumi arm is diverse but there is an underlying theme that is rarely contradicted: the rights of the natives supercede the rights of any others. 6.8.4.
Mysticism
Research is advanced in as so many arcane sites are well preserved by the general philosophy of colonisation and exploitation fostered by the Aukumi. Mystical technologies are accepted and integrated. 6.8.5.
Psychics
Psychic technology is neither feared nor regulated as the Aukumi view it with amusement. It doesn’t make a lot of sense and not considered to be a real physics. There are species with powerful psychic skills and technologies, but their extent is minor. 6.8.6.
Generating Aukumean worlds
co s t
Trouble
0
Out of touch with the galaxy
1
Being exploited by a Corporation
2
Secretly exploiting a Corporation Immigrating species are upsetting the calm balance Aukumi experiments are upsetting the calm balance
3
An invading species is trying to take the place by force A foreign wildlife species is destroying the environment
4
There is nothing more to learn here and it’s time to move The central experiment is being dismantled as too danger-
00 -1 ous
cost
Culture
0
Contemplative and pastoral
1
Desperately academic Lucratively academic Obsessively academic
2
Tiant influence has exposed a legal mysticism Pursuing a new mysticism about economic exchange
3
Unusually tolerant of slavery Fabricants are all free The elderly are deported to the Rim
4
Laws about environment are obscure and easy to break Exceeding noise laws carries steep penalties Contemplative and pastoral or face the penalty of death
cost
Environment
0
Huge cities integrated with the local flora
1
Thousands of tiny villages in harmony with the wilderness A wilderness that is a city A ring of rubble that used to be a world
2
Underground cities avoid disturbing the wilderness Cities built in orbit to protect the evironment
3
An extreme world developed for aesthetic reasons A ring of dust peppered with new structures A rich vacuum biome forces restrictions on use of orbit
4
A research station that orbits a pristine wilderness world A research station that orbits another, older station
cost
History
0
Established so long ago many believe this is the Aukumi home world
1
No one knows or cares how long we’ve been here All historical information was destroyed
2
A research project from nearby A recent colony from a neighbouring world
3
Constructed on a bet a long time ago Won in a gambling game a long time ago
4
The result of a harrowing Horror eradication project
6-
The result of a successful Horror conversion project
10
cost
Proximity
0
One close, one very close, one far
1
Three close, one far
2
Two very close, two close, one distant
3
Four close, one far
4
Onedistant
6.9.
The Shamayan Arm
The Shamaya don’t actually dominate the Shamayan arm, but they originated there (or at least the oldest civilizations in the arm are theirs) and they are important powers in the galaxy, so the arm is attributed to them. In fact there are relatively few Shamaya but important assemblies have at least one delegate. It helps that they are enormously intelligent. The arm itself is fairly typical, similar to the neighbouring Manichaean arm, but the civilizations here long-lived there and peaceful are unusually . There is a structure to civilizations that is not present elsewhere—most major cultures organize into larger scale assemblies that plan for the long term of whole clusters of trading partners. War happens but rarely on a scale that involves global fatalities. Even the most heated boundary or resource disputes are eventually resolved with trade concessions brokered by the Shamaya. 6.9.1.
Species
The Shamayan arm is only peopled by the major species. There are no minor species who call an entire world (thoughThis of course there are to many visitorshere andhome immigrants). has something do with the age of the cultures on these worlds—they are all very old indeed as civilizations in this arm tend to last much longer than elsewhere. In addition to these anomalies, this arm is also home to the largest number of Fabrication worlds in the galaxy—there are hundreds of worlds here that are entirely peopled by machines.
02 -1
And of course there are many Shamayan worlds, though perhaps fewer than one might expect. Shamayans are more mentors or patrons of other civilizations as they have moved past the need for an established home for their cultures. 6.9.2. Technology The greatest diversity in technologies exist here as
each culture is nudged by the Shamayans (very indirectly!) to explore and develop novel methods that best exploit their natural abilities and the features and resources of their worlds. Rich and esoteric technologies have developed in each of the three physics and it is perhaps the only place in the galaxy where extensive development progresses in psychic physics. 6.9.3.
Law
Violence is tolerated less in this arm than anywhere else. The laws areisnot restrictive, even on worlds where weaponry allowed (evenbut encouraged), gross crimes against persons are unusual. Almost as if some kind of mind control is at work. 6.9.4.
Mysticism
The Shamayans love mystical physics perhaps in part because the age of their species implies that they may have been present back when mystical forces had greater influence on the world than today. Most of the arcane sites here have already been found and explored and studied for millennia. That doesn’t mean there’s nothing new to learn—mysticism changes over time—but that always researchers watching andrather waiting forthere such are changes. A new find in this arm would be a major event. 6.9.5.
Psychics
Psychics are warmly welcomed in the Shamayan arm and will find that there are many organizations dedicated to studying and improving psychic skills.
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6.9.6.
Generating Shamayan worlds
cost
Trouble
0
A war brewing with an inconsistent academic faction
1
Nothing left to study Study is stalled because of a typographic error
2
Famous celebrity recently moved off-world Famous celebrity recently moved on-world The world leader is now a famous celebrity
3
Critical research is being exploited by a weapons company Dangerously wrong research is being fed to a weapons company
4
They are studying a baby hegemony here They are building a baby hegemony here
cost
C u l tu re
0
At once studious and hilarious
1
A preference for comic media
2
A preference for tragic media Recently discovered Shakespeare Recently built their own Shakespeare Recently discovered Jane Austin
3
Half the population is secretly observing the other half Half the population is in the entertainment industry
4
A paranoid culture of omnipresent mutual observation A dedication to perfect personal privacy
cost
Environment
0
Cities built around a great university
1
World carefully divided into a grid of parks and cities World constructed above a global park Money literally grows on trees
2
Underground excavations for storing records Records stores in the DNA of wildlife Wildlife has been moved into orbit
3
A monoculture world with small research outposts A monoculture world with one huge research outpost
4 -10 4
A world under construction
cost
History
0
Colonized within the last century
1
Bought from the locals a long time ago Rented from the locals who want it back now
2
A popular diner that became crazy popular A knowledge repository that grew into a wold population Originally a bar on the way to something more interesting that no one remembers any more
3
Just one of many in the franchise One of a kind with a private owner The world is still technically an LLC
4
Constructed by a tailored hegemony Defectaed by a Horror
cost
Proximity
0
One close, one very close, one far
1
Three close, one far
2
Two very close, two close, one distant
3
Four close,one far
4
Onedistant
6.10. The Aarian Arm This arm has been devastated. There are many stars here—it’s not a Gulf—but there is a dearth of habitable worlds. Those that do exist are only barely so. This is no fluke of statistics and stellar evolution: this arm was once burgeoning with life but a war on an incredible scale destroyed nearly everything. Some stars have been removed, possibly forced to nova, shattered roam to any and sun.their Elsewhere starsplanets are intact but unattached the planets are missing. Further on the stars might be wrong, radiating at terrible power levels and lethal frequencies or spinning at nearly lightspeed, scything scimitars of X-rays whipping through space. All around is death. Yet the Aaru are here. They are an odd, radially symmetrical species that thrive in hostile environments and so this arm is a suitable home. Even in total vac-
610
uum one might find Aaru science teams coordinating efforts to understand the worlds. There has been little effort to recolonize the Aaruian arm. There’s plenty of value here, but with the environments so thoroughly destroyed it’s far too expensive to launch a project of any useful scale. Only the bother, and creates occasional frictionDreamers between them and thethis Aaru. 6.10.1.
Species
The arm is populated by the Aaru and Orpheani. Shamayans stay away typically, but there are some whose interest in the mystical brings them here because of the potential for new discoveries. But mostly it’s the Aaru who experiment at scales that defy imagination. 6.10.2.
Technology
Technology designed for Aaru is rarely useful: it’s just individual use rather it’s designed to alternot the for spectral output ofbut stars or re-organize planets. It’s not weaponry but it could be. People come here looking for exactly that but the Aaru don’t like that and it’s best not to piss them off. Still, there’s money to be made.... 6.10.3. Law
The Aaru don’t use laws but they do have a traditional culture that forbids things that other species make illegal. This means that no being would bat an eye at carrying almost any kind of weapon—even something that could threaten an entire world—but using it would bekill in you. such This amazingly taste that the locals would culturebad is somewhat opaque so non-Aaru are usually very careful about their choices while visiting. 6.10.4.
Mysticism
Mystical locales here are unexploited—the Aaru have no interest as they believe it irrational or incomplete. The individual Aaru has many brains and
06 -1
so they know this is untrue but nonetheless act as though it is. Generally. 6.10.5. Psychics
The Aaru feel psychic physics is an unexplained part of natural physics and explore it eagerly. Attempts to treat it asstill an extension science consistently fail, but they seek of a natural grand unifying theory that will bring it under regular experimental examination. 6.10.6. Generating Aaruian worlds cost
Trouble
0
Another species is being rude
1
A psychic plague is disrupting normal commerce An electromagnetic source makes conversation impossible
2
Someone is taking the entertainment war too seriously Invasive non-Aaru are irresponsible with weapons Someone made a cheap star-buster and now everyone has one
3
The local Experiment is not going well at all Two universities are going to war A Horror under experimentation may get tenure
4
Psionics are dying of a mental plague Everyone is leaving and no one will say why and the psychic channels are completely empty
cost
Culture
0
Strange and wonderful
1
Disdainful of outsiders Loves outsiders
2
Actively resentful of outsiders Imprison outsiders Murder of outsiders is legal but frowned upon
3
A slaver experiment is being dismantled Ex-slaves have established their own new government Aaru have made themselves slaves to another population
4
Worship of Horror ancestors is distressingly common
610
A fear of association with Horrors is cripplingly neurotic
cost
Environment
0
Huge cities surrounded by radioactive wasteland
1
A husk of a world savaged by aeons of war A cratered desert slowly recovering The craters are domed to hold in the air
2
The ground is so polluted that the cities have to fly The ground is so radioactive that all cities are in orbit
3
An idyllic wilderness that is entirely synthetic The wilderness is entirely holographic
4
A deadly wilderness being tolerated out of cultural guilt A wilderness made from old autonomous weapons A beautiful wilderness in the process of being dismantled to make an orbital factory
cost
History
0
Been here for thousands of generations
1
Won from another Aaru family in a war Stolen from another Aaru family while they weren’t looking
2
Owned by a single ancient Aaru since forever Has changed hands so many times that it’s formalized now
3
Exists solely to study itself Exists solely to fabricate disinformation for another war. Exists solely to maintain a historical record of itself.
4
Constructed by a hegemony to preserve its chrysalis Fabricated from a Horror back in the Disruption Wars
cost
Proximity
0
One close, one very close, one far
1
Three close, one far
2
Two very close, two close, one distant
3
Four close, one far
4
Onedistant
08 -1
7. Travel and adventure
been in hyperspace week lasts and we wereminutes. still in it.We’d That’s unusual. Usuallyforaajump a few Maybe an hour. But we were heading across a Gulf and that’s both a long way and a long way through dangerous territory. So it was already a strange journey. But then the mass detector lights up. There’s something out there in the Gulf and it’s small. Moon sized. Maybe smaller. And it’s travelling about eighty percent of the speed of light. That’s really mind-bogglingly strange. So we drop out of hyperspace with a matching velocity, something Kerry9 learned in programming school. That’s a school where you get programmed. It’s a slowship a forever nowhere. hundred thousandonsouls who journey are fortythrough generations in to Aa trip that only just started. And they have great bars. The one thing you certainly want to do in a science fiction space opera. You want to travel through the galaxy. You want to discover new things and new conflicts and to do that you have to go to new places. So you need to know how travel affects your ship and where you might wind up.
7.1.
How far can you go?
When worlds in theworlds. universe referee will havegenerating created some linked Thethe links will have a distance rating. These are very close, close, far, and distant. Ships can only travel along links when they are travelling faster than light. This constrains the universe from a few million stars to the few dozen that the ref will have the energy to detail. You won’t miss the other million or so.
7.1 .1. close Very closeare close enough to travel withVery worlds
out a hyperspace drive. You could get from one to another in a month on the Time Track without ever turning the thing on. If you do use the hyperdrive, the travel time is as close to zero as makes no difference If you travel in slowspace, sublight, you will use all your supplies. You arrive at your destination with the aspect nearly out of everything. If you travel in hyperspace you use up no resources at all. You barely had time to take in a breath. 7.1.2.
Close
CloseYou’d worlds only close in an astronomical sense. stillare take generations to travel it without a hyperdrive. But with one it’s a bit of a doddle. You need a few hours (on the time track) to plot the course with a skill check and then the trip itself takes a few minutes. Travel like this takes no resources.
10 -1
7.1.3.
Far
Far worlds take a little time. You need to find a safe route over a long chunk of space, so that needs an afternoon on the time track with a skill check. Then when you flip the hyperspace switch, the trip itself takes a few hours. Far travel usually takesThese you to newtypically zone, which a new cluster of worlds. zones have ais capital and some loose political affiliation with each other. Your referee will have details and may or may not keep them a secret until you arrive. Investigate with appropriate skills if you need the info! You arrive with the aspect low on hyperfuel on your ship. 7.1.4.
Distant
Distant worlds are in another arm altogether. This means plotting a route through the rim or a gulf and that takes some serious brain power. Make a skill roll on track base the timebig of red a week to preparethe fortime travel andwith thenapress button. Travel itself takes a week on the time track and it can be changed with a different (not the same one that was used for plotting the route) skill roll. However, if the time is increased or decreased by more than two steps then you break out of hyperspace early and probably lost. You can use aspects to reduce or increase your roll but the ref should also compel you not to bother if you have any aspects indicating an adventurous spirit: there’s a reason why you fell out of hyperspace. Something interesting is out there. Of course, interesting could kill you. If you consequence complete your journey arrive a hindering on youryou ship: outwith of something pretty important. If your trip is interrupted then you arrive with a crippling consequence on your ship: something’s badly broken.
7 -11
7.2.
Can you be followed?
When you make a hyperjump you leave all kinds of evidence of your travel and this can be detected by sensors that are attuned to it. When you make a hyperjump to a very close system, you leave a gaping tear in space that points directly your destination. This isand instantly detectable by anytospacecraft in the vicinity remains detectable for months. If anything other than your ship is within a few thousand meters of you when you jump, it will get dragged with you. Jumps to close worlds are harder to detect and require an opposed check. The detector needs appropriate tools, which is basically either a ship or a space station. Of course the physics of the tool must match the physics of the skill, if you’re using one of the physics skills! The detector can spend shifts as follows: shifts
information revealed
spent 1
distance travelled
1
direction travelled
1
the size of the ship that jumped
2
the signature of the jumping ship (the detector knows exactly which ship jumped)
3
the navigator’s distinctive style (the detector knows exactly who the navigator was that plotted that jump)
This magnitude of jump creates some vacuum turbulence but won’t drag anyone with you. Jumps to far worlds are very hardthe to detect. this as with a close world but give detectorHandle a difficulty modifier of -4. Jumps to distant worlds are undetectable by any known means.
7.3.
Where can you go?
The referee will use the information about the galaxy and the Arm you’re playing in to generate a few worlds and link them together.
12
-1
Generate a single world to begin with and draw a circle. Determine how many links there are and how long they are. Draw those as lines radiating from your circle. Draw a circle at the end of each — those are new worlds. Now, as often as you feel you need, elaborate those worlds and add their links. When a link exits themap “zone” it goes to a new map page. This keeps your pages a manageable size. When a link exits an arm it goes to a new map page that’s in a new arm of the galaxy! Make very close links adjacent circles (as from Alpha to Beta in the example zone); make close links
711
straight lines; and make far and distant links lines that exit the map but labeled with the arm and zone of the destination. This is clear and simple and gives you room to expand. Your final zone map need be no more complex than this.
7.4.
What trouble will you get into?
The referee will use your association to decide what your initial conflict on this starting world will be. Your association has a purpose and so the ref will push
14
-1
against that. If you are all about rescuing people, you will probably start with a rescue. If you’re about turning corpses into meat, you’ll probably have a load to pick up or drop off. If you’re about taking tourists on safaris, well, that’s going to happen. Then things will start to go wrong. Your routine mission will encounter a monkey you try to solve it the hairier thingswrench. will get.The more As the referee, this is your whole job: find an interesting starting situation that’s consistent with the association and the characters and let the characters narrate how they are dealing with it. Then start adding twists that force them to respond creatively. Use the rules to figure out whether uncertain actions resolve for or against the players. Use the rules to conduct combats and chases. Set up the situation and use the rules to resolve it. And let the characters brew up their own problems: eye those aspects and look for compels. Anyone a wanted sophont? Offer Anyone like to rush things without thinking? them a fate pointinto to complicate their lives. Players? Say yes a lot. We’re here for a good time, not a long time, so lean right into adventure. You’ll get bloodied up a little but no one sits around telling stories over drinks about that time they delivered an unusual package to a strange person and it was all fine.
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16 -1
8. Fighting
system described in the Introduction will getThe youFate through a lot of conflict resolution. In principle it can handle it all, including fighting. But fighting is where we often want to drill down into details like positioning, range, cover, pincer movements, and psychically powered robot tanks. There are two cases: you are either fighting—punching, shooting, knifing, blowing up brains with psychic power, laser-stabbing, and so on—or you are fighting with starships. Each has a subsystem that adds detail to the procedure.
8.1.
Fighting
When fighting you care about where everyone what order things happen, and what you can do is, in the time allotted to you. 8.1.1.
Where is everyone?
The referee will provide a map. It will have areas marked off with boundaries. These are zones. Each zone will have a clutter that indicates how much trouble it is to run through it and also, incidentally, how easy it is to hide there. 8.1.2.
What order things happen
The referee will pick someone to go first. Someone who first last time and someone for whom goingdidn’t first isgological. Then a referee-run character (an “NPC” or “Non-Player Character”) will act. Repeat. If you have a stunt that lets you choose initiative order, bring it up. 8.1.3.
What you can do
When it’s your turn to go, choose one of: • Run • Hide
And then choose one of: • Fight • Shoot • Run some more • Maneuver In these examples we will cover only the very basics the system. Of course in addition the rolling you of might tag an aspect in your personalto scope, pay a fate point, and get +2. You might use a stunt on yourself or a piece of equipment. You might tag an aspect on a friend to get +2 for their assistance. You might tag an aspect in the zone, free tag a consequence on your enemy, or otherwise play the system. When you run you roll an appropriate skill (probably Brawn or Training but this is your story!) and spend your shifts to move to another zone. Each zone subtracts its clutter from your shifts. If you don’t have enough to enter the zone, then you can’t. I want to closeare on three the bad guybetween and punch in theExample: brain cannister. There zones me itand it. The adjacent one is a badly maintained cargo compartment with clutter 2. The next one is a series of high walkways over the lava pit. It’s not actually cluttered but the ref has given it a clutter value of 3 because you just want to be more careful over lava. The last zone, the one with my enemy in it, is the droid’s throne room which is clutter 1. I have Training 2 and justify it by describing how similar this is to the obstacle courses I ran in the Jinxian Armed Forces. I roll 00+0 for a total of 3. I can get into the cargo bay but I hesitate at the lava. Whenoption) you hide skill ( Manipulate is a simple andyou addroll thea clutter in your zone. Anyone looking for you needs to beat this value. You can still move! Take your roll and subtract the clutter in your zone. This is how much you can move as though you chose run. Whatever shifts you have left at the end is your hide value in the new zone.
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Example: I want to close with the bad guy and knife it in gearbox but it is three zones away. I’m in the woods
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which have clutter 3—good cover but not fast moving. Then there’s an open field with tall grass at clutter 2 and then the bad bots farmhouse which is scrupulously clean at clutter 1. Finally its bedchamber is also clutter 1 and that’s where I want to be. I have Manipulate 3 and roll +--+ for a total of ... Disappointing. I stay which here I ishave a hide value of 3 +3.clutter here in theIfwoods a total of 6. Pretty hidey. Or I could move into the grass at a cost of 2 from my roll (not my hide value!). That would leave me in the grass with 1 leftover shift and so a hide value of 3 (1 + clutter of 2 in the grass). I could keep going into the house since I have 1 shift left but I’d be next door with a hide value of 1—just the clutter in the room. Too risky. I move swiftly through the woods into the tall grass and crouch down with hide 3 and wait for an opportunity. When you fight you are in the same zone as your opponent and you are going to smack them with a weapon. If thatIf weapon an optimum range than of 0 then proceed! it has an has optimum range higher that, then it’s basically an improvised club and you get the free-taggable consequence clumsy until you get to a more suitable range. Roll skill and the opponent will defend with a skill of their own. If you choose a skill and the table groans and shakes their heads collectively then you should reconsider the choice. The difference between rolls is the number of shifts you apply as harm. Example: I’m in the same zone as Doris the Tiant and I slash at her with my psionic sword fist. I’m at optimum range no bad news forwind me! Iup rollwith my 2. Brawn 2 and getso-++andaspect so only Dorisofdefends with her Tiantic mental focus (she has Psionics at 3) and gets 0--- for a terrible total of 0. I actually get two shifts out of that! It gets checked off her psychic track. When you shoot you also performa an opposed roll, just as when fighting. The only real difference is the rang. The opponent can use their pre-rolled hide value if they Hid on their turn. If they haven’t had a
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turn yet they can either roll a skill or use the clutter value of their zone and make no roll. They can do whatever they want in their turn. Compare, subtract, and apply shifts as harm. Count the range to your opponent. If that range is the optimum range of your weapon, proceed. If it’s not, take -1 per zone of difference. Example: I’m taking a shot with my gauss rifle at 3 zones range. The optimum range for the rifle is 2 but I have Precision 3 so I will take that shot. I’m shooting at some newb hiding in the tall grass who already rolled a hide of 3. This ought to be good. I roll +-+0 for 1. Plus my Shoot, that makes it 4. -1 for the range, that’s 3. And they are hid pretty good, it turns out, with a hide of 3 so -3 more. I get no shifts in and they take no physical stress but the bullet hits very nearby indeed. some more When you you can move into an adjacent zonerun regardless of clutter. There is no roll. When you maneuver you are taking some action to place an aspect on something—a zone, a person, the scene—using any skill you like. If successful, that aspect is free taggable and has your target as its context. Your target value is always zero.
Example: I want to use my energokinesis to set the grass on fire with my brain and hopefully flush out that dingus hiding there. I have Psionics of 1 but it’s worth a shot. I roll +--- for -2 bringing me to -1 shifts. Not good enough. Hardly seems worth spending a fate point just to get a free-taggable (which is only worth fate and pointI anyway) so a littleaspect smoke trickles out of my aears am done.
8.2.
Fighting with starships
Our assumption here is that most fighting in starships is going to be about one ship—yours—fighting one or more enemy ships. Consequently your ship has the focus. If you have a situation where you need to model multiple friendly ships and multiple
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enemy ships, you’ll want to keenly look forward to our Elysium Flare: The Wargame release. 8.2.1.
Who goes first
Smaller ships go first. Break a tie with a die. 8.2.2. Where is everyone The player characters gets a reticle for their ship.
This is the map—it shows where every enemy ship is when looking out the windows of the ship. In addition to position, each enemy ship has a range: either close, far, or escaping. The zone in which the fight takes place is either cluttered or clear depending on the opening fiction. 8.2.3.
Who does what
Action takes place in two turns: the player turn and the enemy turn. Within the player turn are two phases: move and shoot. Ebemy ships only shoot. Player turn
First the pilot will pick an enemy to concentrate on and roll an opposed roll with the preferred piloting skll against the enemy pilot’s skill. You may not target anything that can’t roll against you (like something stationary). The number of shifts is the number of places in the reticle that you may move the enemy ship. If there are extra shifts after placing the enemy, they can be used to move other ships. You can spend 3 of these shifts to move the fight from cluttered to clear or clear to cluttered. This zone type takes effect in the next turn. In be a cluttered zone shifts available movement can spent instead to damage thefor opponent. At most one ship can be damaged. These shifts cannot be then used for movement: they are gone. Apply the correct physics for the clutter: if the fight is zooming through a starship manufacturing station, use natural. But maybe it’s cluttered with psychic wave generators or a ley-line nexus! Use the fiction to guide you. If you get negative shifts by rolling really badly, the referee can use these to move the enemy ships in
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ways that you will greatly dislike. And as above, if the zone is cluttered then they might inflict stress instead! Or use them to change the zone type. Enemy ships can be moved closer or further one position at a cost of 1 shift. Enemy ships can be moved from escaping to out ofEnemy play at ships a cost can of 2be shifts. moved to an adjacent reticle window at a cost of 1 shift. The gunner in the player team’s ship then fires at any one target within the firing arc using their preferred skill for ship’s weapons. If no ships are in the arc they may not fire. At close range you get -2. At escaping range you also get -2. Each firing arc on a ship can have a different gunner. Defensive rolls can be made by any character in the ship as long as there’s a story for the skill. The pilot might not be evading blaster-fire with their Training: maybe the doc is scrambling the enemy pilot’s controls with Magic! Characters not directly involved in ship rolls can maneuver to place aspects which can happen during any phase on the player’s turn but only once each in the turn. You can’t shoot and maneuver, for example. Enemy
On the enemy’s turn the enemy ship may fire weapons with their preferred skill. If the enemy is at close range then attacks are at -2. At escaping range they also get -2. 8.2.4.
Enemy ships
Enemy are NPCs and so justcan as the players’ can comeships in multiple sizes, NPC ships. ships Ships larger than a cruiser should be treated more like terrain: your corvette doesn’t stand a chance against a battleship and it probably won’t notice you anyway. If you stay out of range. Enemy ships are only reacted to so they do not have a reticle. If the players capture one, you’ll need to mock up a reticle appropriate to its class and tier! Careful what you potentially give away out there.
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Short range fighters fighter are single or double crew comShort range
bat vehicles that are capable of operating only at sublight speeds. They are generally very maneuverable and manufactured in large quantities. They are used to screen larger vehicles from other fighters, for local reconnaissance, and for planetary landings. Total of skills of the crew are equal to the tier, so at tier 2 it might have Precision 1 and Training 1. Tier 0: pick a physics for each of movement and shooting. Tier 1: add incredibly agile pilotnatural Tierthe 2: add and thedamage stunt evasive action: shiphotshot never takes in a cluttered zone. Tier 3: add no one has ever survived against me and the stunt take 2: whenever in the rear quadrant of an enemy the ship can take a roll of 2 without rolling the dice for its attack
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Starfighters Starfighters are small craft fitted with superluminal
drives of some description. They are used in much the same way as short range fighters except that they require no carrier to deploy in other star systems. Total of skills of the crew are equal to the tier, so at tier 2 it might have Training 1 and Psionics 1. Tier 0: pick a physics for each of movement and shooting. Tier 1: add crazy fast Tier 2: add intuitive pilot and the stunt swap a track: attacks against its primary physics track can instead marked against a different Tier be 3: add no one escapes and one. the stunt take 2: whenever in the rear quadrant of an enemy the ship can take a roll of 2 without rolling the dice for its positioning.
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Corvettes Corvettes are small crewed craft fitted with super-
luminal drives. These ships are often used as missile platforms and self-defending couriers. Crew skills are equal to the tier, so at tier 2 it will have Training 2 and Precision 2. Tier 0: pick a physics for each of movement and shooting. Tier 1: add awesome firepower Tier 2: add special anti-ship weapons and the stunt extend a track: one extra box in its stress track. Tier 3: add souped up engines and the stunt mess with initiative: this ship always goes first in a turn if it wants to.
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Destroyers Destroyers are armed sensor platforms used to de-
tect small ships at long distances and engage or direct others to engage them. They are always superluminal. Destroyers are the largest non-capital ships. They have diverse crews and can distribute double their tier value in skills between systems, so at tier 2 they may use 4 skill ranks as they choose, perhaps having Training 0 and Science 4. Tier 0: pick a physics for each of movement and shooting. Tier 1: add inescapable sensors defensive Tierthe 2: stunt add military and long rangegrade weapons: attacks weapons at escaping range take no penalty. Tier 3: add q-ray blasters and the stunt swap a physics: weapon systems can attack either the primary physics track of the enemy or one other one.
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Cruisers Cruisers (capital) are large weapons platforms that retain
high agility and speed in order to operate as blockade keepers, threatening almost any size of vessel credibly. They are always superluminal. Cruisers have diverse crews and so can distribute triple their tier value in skills, so at tier 2 they may use 6 skill ranks as they choose, perhaps having Training 2 and Magic 4. Tier 0: pick a physics for each of movement and shooting. Tier 1: add devastating weapons Tier 2: add coordinated attacks and the stunt have a thing: the ship comes with a tier 0 short range fighter. Tier 3: add deadly training and the stunt extra consequence: the ship has an additional crippling consequence.
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9. Index
A
E
Academic 55
clue 14 clutter 117
Ecology 79
accountants 31
cluttered, space 121
Entertainment 54
achievements 58
collateral damage 15
entropy 41, 78
adapative hegemony 89
commerce 49
escaping 122
Administrative 54
Commercial 55
evasion 49
advancement 58
compassion 49
Exploratory 54
Ancient 56
compel 19
arms manufacturers 26
as a complication 20
F
association 114
as an alternative 20
fail 13
atmosphere 79
as an offer 20
far 114
awesome 52
bad 20
fate 11
Bob Muir 9
stereotype 48
dice 12
Jack Webb 9 JB Bell 9
complication 13, 53 composure 18
points 12 points, refresh 20
Toph Marshall 9
concede 18
fight 119
consequence 17, 43
folk physics 75
B
conversation 11
barbette 69
corvette 68
G
belief 45, 50
cost 14
gadgets 71
bigots 48
Criminal 54
get permission 46
blowing up brains with psy-
Cultural 56
gizmo. See gadgets
chic power 117
culture 79
H
boresight 68 brawn 49
D
harm 17
bud 30
discover 109
hide 118
bullshit 11
discussion 18 disintegrator 70
homeless children 32 human 26
C
distance 109
hyperdrive 110
cap 59
distant 114
cargo 68
doddle 110
I
Charitable 54
downtime 21
Industrial 55
clear, space 121
droids 27
initiative 52, 117
climate 79
drooling vegetable 70
interesting could kill you 111
clock 17 close 113
K
pyramid 44, 52
stunts
R
succeed with style 12, 19
knifing 117
for things 64
L
range 121
laser-stabbing 117
Recognition 66
links 109
reflective 71
loot 59 Love 50
refresh 20 online play 20
T See
tactical. tag 12
remit 52
fight
free-tagged 12
M
reproduction 42
taken out 18
magic 48
Rescue 54
target value 12
make a character 43
resolve some situation 12
The Word 42
maneuver 13, 120
reticle 121
thingamajig. See gadgets
manipulation 49
risk 13, 53
tier 64
map 117
secret 13
timers 17
mate recreationally 26
robots 27
time track 13
Medical 54
roiling co-bluster 11
tracks 17
method 49
RTFM 48
training 48
Military 53
run 118
trouble 114
mutate 42
run some more 120
twice 12
N
S
V
needs 78
science 48
vacuum turbulence 112
neutrino 85
scope 18
very close 113
NPCs 59
character 50
Von Neumann plague 42
opponent 19
O
stereotype 50
W
online 20
Secret 55
weak physics 46
opposed roll 12
Security 56
whojamaflip. See gadgets
organizations 52
self-compel 63 shifts 12
P
negative 12
permission 46 physics weak 46 point fate, for NPCs 60
shoot 119 shooting 117
Z zone 12, 111, 113, 117 zone link close 113
slavers (re: fabricants) 28
distant 114
slowspace 110
far 114
specification 53
very close 113
Political 54
speed of light 76
precision 49
starfighter 68
Proximity 79
starships 120
psionics 48
start 44
punching 117
stereotype 43, 47
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913
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913
4 -13
913
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