I was going to work on some in setting fiction for this post. I was going to write the creation myth for one of the empires(well a version of the creation myth). Turns out, its crap. I will keep working on the fluff but that leaves me with nothing for today, OK yesterday. So I thought I would put a post together that had all the major plot and mechanics decisions I had made to date. I am doing this not to pad out the blog(as you have probably realized by now I only add stuff when I have something to add), but to clarify what I have in fact decided to do. Rereading through the posts I realize I was sometimes a little vague on what my actual choices were. So here gos:
Space Travel: In the distant past man traveled to many different stars the slow route. They traveled in cryogenic ships(and a few generation ships). They sent massive terraforming engines ahead of them with the purpose of making sure there were habitable planets for humans to colonize. The colonized these worlds, and over thousands of years, forgot almost everything about where they came from. Then one of them discovered The Gate. A giant alien artifact that, when activated, allowed faster than light travel to another gate. There was a whole network of Gates linking up dozens(maybe hundreds) of systems. Travel through the gates had a strange psychological effect on anyone awake at the time. They would start to go insane. Each trip was worse. The effect could be softened with mind altering drugs, but not stopped completely. People in cryo-sleep were unaffected by the Gate. It became standard practice for All but the pilot of the ship to enter cryo-sleep for the duration of the trip. Pilots are drugged out madmen.
Communication: There is no faster than light direct communication. All important information must be delivered by courier ship.
Character roles: Characters will be deeply involved in the wars, both hot and cold, of the various interstellar powers. There will probably be no more than three major powers(governments that cover more than one system). The major factional lines will be ideological and religious. There will also be several lesser powers(governments that control a system, but are not part of a larger state). Players will be playing Diplomats, spies, missionaries, and/or special forces of one of the major powers. There job will vary depending on where they are assigned. If they are involved in a lesser power then they will seek advantage for their cause, through clandestine action and diplomacy. Should they be on a contested planet they will be the vanguard. Leading the way, getting behind the lines. They will be the field leaders. That is what I have so far.
Basic mechanic: currently, there will be six major stats(I have not named them yet). All but two will be ranked at two. One will be higher, three or four. One will be lower, one or zero. These will be modified by aspects. There are three special aspects, Vision, Commandment, and Crusade. There may be other aspects. I am also thinking about adding feats/specialties/stunts, though I have not yet. Aspects, when used, will either add three to the roll, allow a reroll, or add a die to the roll. For an action you will roll a number of six sided dice equal to your rank in the relevant stat. This can be modified by aspects. I think I may not have a large enough pool of dice yet to do what I would like. As my eventual goal is to roll a certain number of dice, but only count a smaller number of those rolled dice. There will be a target number. The closer you are to the target number the better the result. If you go ver by three or under by three you do not succeed. Right now the dice mechanic is the least set in stone, as I am still working on it. It currently is a mess.
Magic: there will be some form of magic(the force, psychic powers, whatever) in my game. I know that there will be prophesy in my setting, as I have decided that a prophesy is what has caused this constant warfare. Basically there is a prophesy along the lines of, “whoever finds the Earth will forever rule man's destiny.” crap like that. I think it will be unique to a small independent system. They barter the gifts they have to the various major powers in order to keep their system safe.
And I think that is what I have, as far as concrete decision making. It is kind of sad, when I look at it now. I have put so much thought into it and yet it covers barely half a page. That just means that I have to get back to work on it. Nose to the grindstone and all that. I will continue to work on a piece of flavor fiction for you all so you can get a feel for the setting. Here's hoping its not crap!
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