Galaxies In Shadow

[David Johansen]

It's done. No, really, here it is:

http://www3.telus.net/public/uncouths/FDGIS2020.pdf

Seriously, for real. Okay, it could use a dedicated equipment chapter and a table of contents and an index and the rules for entertainment careers aren't in there and I haven't written rules for running sports leagues but it's done okay? (edit*here's the cover image, for some reason scanning it really brought out the yellow)

 

[David Johansen]

And I built a table of contents! I also found that somehow the organisms and star systems chapters wound up in the middle of the technology chapter so I fixed that.

Next up, probably finish building some settings I've written up over the years and play with it a bit.

In the longer term there's illustrating it. I've got lots of art but I'd like to do a consistent, clean, sharp line-drawing style for the whole book.

I'll be breaking it down into a basic book and supplements too. That way I can illustrate it in sections but the core is done but breaking it into modules also provides the oportunity to fill in areas that need some more detail and structure.

Marketing and selling it? I don't know. I don't want to fall into the supplement and editon mill trap that so many game companies fall into. Sure I'd like to make some money from my work but I don't want to develop the kind of infrastructure that forces creators to ruin their games with endless development churning.

 

[David Johansen]

Annnnd Word Perfect's table feature scrambled the weapon and armor tables some how. I hate when it does that. If you wonder why I use tabs instead of tables it's because Word Perfect's tables are busy trying to be a spread sheet and all smart and shit instead of being a good way to display data.

 

[David Johansen]

Okay, I've fixed it. I don't know why, when, or how it happens but sometimes it just autosums the entire table and makes a mess.

 

[David Johansen]

If I strip out the races, alien generation, world generation, non-adventurer careers, and any activities outside of combat I can get it down to 100 pages. That would let me do modules or integrate a setting. I don't know, is it better as a monster rules volume? I generally feel those are better for fans of existing systems and not so good for people coming in. If I cut a bit more, it'd be down to 96 pages which is about the limit for a saddle stitched volume. Which would work for a boxed set. On the other hand the other stuff it covers is what makes Galaxies In Shadow stand out. When you look at it and say, "why would I play this overly complex percentile sf game when I could play BRP," my answer is that there are rules for building colonies, overthrowing governments, robbing banks, and developing new technologies.

 

[David Johansen]

Well, I got some playtesting in today. I wasn't as prepared as I'd like as I spent the afternoon debugging a star system generating javascript. So much for generating a sector with the push of a button. Oh well, it'll get there and I'll learn something by doing it. Anyhow, I've got the one player who can't ever seem to wrap his head around things and he had an awful time of it. I feel bad. But the other player pretty much made his character without much direction. We didn't get much play in but the one guy made a governor of a utopia world. Naturally it's the most horrible prison planet I could dream up and the utopia society is up in idyllic arcologies up in the mountains.

 

[David Johansen]

Just out of curiosity I googled Galaxies In Shadow and it came up with an rpg.net Art of Game Design thread from 2006 which had the original draft of the interpersonal rules, which had these personality trait based modifiers to activities.

Aggressive
mutually exclusive with Friendly
+10 to, Bargain, Force, Intimidate, and Melee Attacks
-10 to Befriend, Request, Seduce, and Parrying


Brave
mutually exclusive with cowardly
+10 to resist Fear
Must make a Willpower roll to exercise discretion in the face of insurmountable odds

Calm
mutually exclusive with Temperamental
+10 to resist panicking
-10 to react to surprise

Cerebral
mutually exclusive with Physical

Cheerful
mutually exclusive with Depressed
+10 to Befriend
-10 to Intimidate

Contented
mutually exclusive with Greedy
+10 to resist Bribery and Seduction
-10 to Bargain

Cowardly
mutually exclusive with Brave
+10 to react to surprise by running away
-10 to resist Fear

Cruel
mutually exclusive with Empathic
+10 to Force
-10 to Befriend

Depressed
mutually exclusive with Cheerful
+10 to make economic forecasts
must make a Determination roll to start any long task

Diplomatic
mutually exclusive with Offensive
+10 to Bargain and Convince
-10 to Intimidate and Force

Dishonest
mutually exclusive with Honest
+10 to Deceive
-20 to Deceive people who know you

Empathic
mutually exclusive with Hateful
+10 to Figure Them Out
-10 to resist Requests

Friendly
The character is outgoing and helpful.
mutually exclusive with Antagonistic
+10 to Befriend and Seduce
-10 to Intimidate and Provoke

Generous
mutually exclusive with Miserly
+10 to Befriend
-10 to Bargain

Greedy
mutually exclusive with Contented
+10 to
-10 to resist Bribery

Hateful
mutually exclusive with Empathic

Honest
mutually exclusive with dishonest
cannot improve Embezzlement or Lying Skills
+10 to Convince people who know you

Imaginative
mutually exclusive with Practical

Impulsive
mutually exclusive with Patient
+10 to react to surprise
-10 to resist Convincing

Industrious
mutually exclusive with Lazy
+10 to Determination rolls for repeated tasks
-10 to

Gentle
mutually exclusive with Sadistic
+10 to Befriend and resist Provocation
-10 to Provoke or Intimidate

Humble
mutually exclusive with Proud
+10 to resist Provocation
-10 to resist Intimidation

Kind
mutually exclusive with Cruel


Lazy
mutually exclusive with Industrious
+10 to
-10 to Determination rolls for repeated tasks

Miserly
mutually exclusive with Generous
+10 to resist Salesmanship
-10 to Bargain

Modest
mutually exclusive with Sleazy
+10 to resist Seduction
-10 to Seduction

Offensive
The character is given to speaking their mind to anyone at any time without concern for the feelings of others.
mutually exclusive with Diplomatic
+10 to Provoke
-10 to Befriend and Request

Outgoing
mutually exclusive with Shy

Passive
mutually exclusive with
+10 to resist taking direct action
-10 when requesting direct action

Patient
mutually exclusive with Impulsive
+10 to Determination rolls for long tasks
-10 to react to surprise

Physical
mutually exclusive with Cerebral

Polite
mutually exclusive with Rude
+10 to interact with mainstream society in general
-10 to interact with outsiders and fringe elements

Practical
mutually exclusive with Imaginative

Proud
mutually exclusive with Humble
+10 to Deceive others about the character’s own greatness
-10 to resist Provocation

Rowdy
mutually exclusive with Sober
+10 to Provoke
-10 to resist Provocation

Rude
mutually exclusive with Polite
-10 to interact with people in general
+10 to resist interpersonal interactions

Sadistic
The character is just plain mean and enjoys the suffering of others.
mutually exclusive with Gentle
+10 to Force and Provoke
-10 to Befriend and Seduce

Shy
mutually exclusive with Outgoing

Sleazy
mutually exclusive with Modest
+10 to Seduction
-10 to resist Seduction

Sober
mutually exclusive with Rowdy
+10
-10

Temperamental
mutually exclusive with Calm
+ 10 to Intimidate
-10 to resist Provocation

Thrifty
mutually exclusive with Wasteful
+10 to Repair worn out parts
-10 to

Wasteful
mutually exclusive with Thrifty

 

[David Johansen]

I spent some time coding a star system generator this week. I'm not sure how to share it as most web browsers are a little gun shy of javascripts from unsecure sources.

 

[David Johansen]

Here's a sample of the output. It still won't generate a world with no moons and doesn't generate world data for a planet sized moon of a gas giant. Nor does calculate the distance between stars and planets or occlude planets that are too close between companion stars. But it works!

Galaxies In Shadow Star System Generator

1/6/7, MV Main Sequence Redstar
Asteroid Belt Micro under 0.125g gravity, Trace atmosphere, Minimal water, Frozen Water, Atmosphere Frozen at Poles Barren
 Ring  

Medium Planet, 9000km diameter Medium beween 0.75 and 1.25g gravity, Thick atmosphere, Traces water, Temperate, Frozen at Poles Bacteria and Algae
 Asteroid  Asteroid  

Small Gas Giant Crushing, between 2.5 and 5g gravity, Liquid atmosphere, Plentiful water, Hot, Scalding in Tropics Protozoa and Primitive Plants
 Small Planet  Medium Moon  Small Moon  Tiny Moon  Tiny Planet  Small Moon  Medium Moon  

Asteroid No gravity, No atmosphere, Drowned in water, Frozen Core Barren
 Ring  

Huge Gas Giant Compressing, over 10g gravity, Super Dense Solidatmosphere, No water, Hot, Scalding in Tropics Prions
 Tiny Moon  That's no moon...It's a space station  That's no moon...It's a space station  Tiny Moon  Asteroid  Large Moon  Medium Moon  Medium Moon  Small Planet  

Medium Gas Giant Crushing, between 5 and 10g gravity, Solid atmosphere, Submerged in water, Temperate, Frozen at Poles Protozoa and Primitive Plants
 Small Moon  Large Moon  Large Moon  Tiny Moon  Asteroid  Tiny Planet  

Huge Planet, 15000km diameter Crushing over 1.75g gravity, Liquid atmosphere, Saturated water, Frozen Water, Atmosphere Frozen at Poles Barren
 Medium Moon  Small Planet  

Large Planet, 12000km diameter High, between 1.25 and 1.75g gravity, Dense atmosphere, Flooded with water, Frozen Core Barren
 Medium Moon  Medium Moon  Asteroid  

Huge Planet, 15000km diameter Crushing over 1.75g gravity, Liquid atmosphere, Excessive water, Frozen Atmosphere Barren
 Small Planet  Ring  Medium Moon  Medium Moon  

Huge Planet, 15000km diameter Crushing over 1.75g gravity, Liquid atmosphere, Flooded with water, Frozen Core Barren
 Medium Moon  Asteroid  Tiny Moon  Tiny Planet  

Medium Planet, 9000km diameter Medium beween 0.75 and 1.25g gravity, Average atmosphere, Flooded with water, Frozen Core Barren
 Asteroid  Small Moon  Medium Moon  Small Moon  Medium Moon  

Asteroid Belt Micro under 0.125g gravity, Trace atmosphere, Plentiful water, Frozen Core Barren
 Ring  

Small Gas Giant Crushing, between 2.5 and 5g gravity, Liquid atmosphere, Traces water, Frozen Core Barren
 Tiny Planet  Medium Moon  Medium Moon  Ring  Tiny Planet  

Medium Gas Giant Crushing, between 5 and 10g gravity, Solid atmosphere, Drowned in water, Frozen Core Barren
 Medium Moon  Medium Planet  Large Moon  Tiny Planet  Large Moon  Ring  Large Moon  Small Planet  Large Moon  

Medium Gas Giant Crushing, between 5 and 10g gravity, Super Dense Solidatmosphere, Saturated water, Frozen Core Barren
 Tiny Planet  Asteroid  Small Moon  Medium Planet  Asteroid  Large Moon  

Medium Gas Giant Crushing, between 5 and 10g gravity, Solid atmosphere, Saturated water, Frozen Core Barren
 Medium Moon  That's no moon...It's a space station  Asteroid  That's no moon...It's a space station  Medium Moon  That's no moon...It's a space station  Small Moon  Small Planet  That's no moon...It's a space station  Small Planet  

Huge Gas Giant Compressing, over 10g gravity, Solid atmosphere, Saturated water, Frozen Core Barren
 Medium Moon  Large Planet  Tiny Moon  Small Moon  That's no moon...It's a space station  Tiny Planet  Asteroid  Medium Planet  Medium Planet  Medium Moon  

Asteroid Belt Micro under 0.125g gravity, Trace atmosphere, Submerged in water, Frozen Core Protozoa and Primitive Plants
 Ring  Asteroid  

Huge Gas Giant undefinedgravity, Collapsed Matteratmosphere, Traces water, Frozen Core Barren
 Large Moon  Small Moon  That's no moon...It's a space station  Ring  

Medium Gas Giant Crushing, between 5 and 10g gravity, Solid atmosphere, Endless Depths of water, Frozen Core Protozoa and Primitive Plants
 Asteroid  Large Moon  Small Planet  

Huge Gas Giant Compressing, over 10g gravity, Super Dense Solidatmosphere, Submerged in water, Frozen Core Protozoa and Primitive Plants
 Tiny Planet  

Small Gas Giant Crushing, between 2.5 and 5g gravity, Liquid atmosphere, Saturated water, Frozen Core Barren
 Asteroid  Large Moon  Medium Planet  Large Moon  Ring  Small Planet  Tiny Moon  

Asteroid Belt Micro under 0.125g gravity, Trace atmosphere, Submerged in water, Frozen Core Protozoa and Primitive Plants
 Ring  Asteroid  

Large Planet, 12000km diameter High, between 1.25 and 1.75g gravity, Thick atmosphere, Drowned in water, Frozen Core Prions
 Medium Moon  Small Moon  

Asteroid No gravity, No atmosphere, Traces water, Frozen Core Barren
 Ring  

Tiny Planet, 3000km diameter Minimal between 0.125 and 0.25g gravity, Thin atmosphere, Flooded with water, Frozen Core Barren
 Asteroid  Asteroid  

Small Planet, 6000km diameter Medium beween 0.75 and 1.25g gravity, Thick atmosphere, Excessive water, Frozen Core Barren
 Small Moon  

Medium Planet, 9000km diameter High, between 1.25 and 1.75g gravity, Dense atmosphere, No water, Frozen Core Barren
 Ring  

Medium Planet, 9000km diameterMedium beween 0.75 and 1.25g gravity, Average atmosphere, Minimal water, Frozen Core Barren
 Small Moon  Medium Moon  Small Moon  Small Moon  Ring  

Medium Planet, 9000km diameterMedium beween 0.75 and 1.25g gravity, Thick atmosphere, Limited water, Frozen Core Barren
 Asteroid  Medium Moon  Asteroid  Tiny Moon  

Small Planet, 6000km diameter Low between 0.25 and 0.75g gravity, Average atmosphere, Plentiful water, Frozen Core Barren
 Asteroid  Tiny Moon  Small Moon  Ring  

1/6/7, MV Main Sequence Redstar
Small Planet, 6000km diameter Low between 0.25 and 0.75g gravity, Average atmosphere, Average water, Temperate, Frozen at Poles Bacteria and Algae
 Asteroid  Tiny Moon  Tiny Moon  

Small Gas Giant Crushing over 1.75g gravity, Liquid atmosphere, Limited water, Hot, Scalding in Tropics Prions
 Tiny Moon  Ring  Small Moon  Medium Moon  Tiny Moon  

Huge Planet, 15000km diameter Crushing over 1.75g gravity, Liquid atmosphere, Drowned in water, Warm, Small Frozen Poles Protozoa and Primitive Plants
 Medium Moon  Medium Moon  Asteroid  Small Moon  Medium Moon  

Huge Planet, 15000km diameter Crushing over 1.75g gravity, Liquid atmosphere, Flooded with water, Temperate, Frozen at Poles Protozoa and Primitive Plants
 Small Moon  Asteroid  Asteroid  Small Planet  

Small Planet, 6000km diameter Low between 0.25 and 0.75g gravity, Average atmosphere, Drowned in water, Frozen Core Barren
 Asteroid  Asteroid  Asteroid  Tiny Moon  

Large Planet, 12000km diameter Crushing over 1.75g gravity, Liquid atmosphere, Flooded with water, Cold, Frozen to Tropics Protozoa and Primitive Plants
 Tiny Planet  

Huge Planet, 15000km diameter Crushing over 1.75g gravity, Liquid atmosphere, Limited water, Frozen Water, Atmosphere Frozen at Poles Barren
 Tiny Planet  Large Moon  Tiny Planet  

Large Planet, 12000km diameter High, between 1.25 and 1.75g gravity, Dense atmosphere, Excessive water, Frozen Core Barren
 Medium Moon  Tiny Moon  Ring  Small Moon  Small Moon  

Medium Planet, 9000km diameter Medium beween 0.75 and 1.25g gravity, Thick atmosphere, Flooded with water, Frozen Core Barren
 Ring  Asteroid  Asteroid  

Small Planet, 6000km diameter Low between 0.25 and 0.75g gravity, Average atmosphere, Excessive water, Frozen Core Barren
 Ring  

Small Planet, 6000km diameter Low between 0.25 and 0.75g gravity, Average atmosphere, Plentiful water, Frozen Core Barren
 Tiny Moon  Tiny Moon  Tiny Moon  

Huge Planet, 15000km diameter Crushing, between 2.5 and 5g gravity, Liquid atmosphere, Limited water, Frozen Core Barren
 Asteroid  Asteroid  Medium Moon  Medium Moon  Medium Moon  Small Planet  Medium Moon  Tiny Planet  

Huge Planet, 15000km diameter Crushing over 1.75g gravity, Liquid atmosphere, Average water, Frozen Core Barren
 Asteroid  Tiny Moon  

Large Planet, 12000km diameter High, between 1.25 and 1.75g gravity, Liquid atmosphere, Limited water, Frozen Core Barren
 Large Moon  Large Moon  Small Moon  Tiny Planet  Asteroid  Tiny Planet  

 

[Nobby-W]

I spent some time coding a star system generator this week. I'm not sure how to share it as most web browsers are a little gun shy of javascripts from unsecure sources.

You could wrap it up in something server side, although this would mean you'd have to find somewhere to host it and shell out for hosting fees.

 

[David Johansen]

Yeah, I'm getting to where I need a web page anyhow and the little bit of web space I get from my ISP is insufficient for what I want to do.

Anyhow, here's an upgrade to an undeveloped portion of the rulebook. It should go in the core eventually but I don't want to mess with the table of contents at the moment.

Genetic Engineering
Manipulating the traits of animals through selective breeding is one of the earliest technologies a herding society develops. As more advanced technologies are developed it the pattern for life is encoded in strands of deroxy nucleaeic acid or DNA. Even in the present, genetic engineering has leapt forward with crisper III technology. The capacity of advanced societies to adapt and change may well make humanities descendants as alien as anything that ever graced the cover of a pulp magazine.

As mentioned in character creation, building a character on a pool of points represents the results of selective breeding and building one on a larger pool of points represents significant genetic engineering. Beyond these options, the referee can chose to reduce or increase the points allowed to represent deliberately weak slave races or super races. As more points are allotted the points should probably be considered in terms of specialized packages rather than simply allowing the players to take whatever they want. Creating super beings takes a significant investment. Genetics corporations may well produce new models for each passing year. If forced growth and neural programming are available they may well come with a fixed skill package and a shortened life span, so people will need to upgrade in a few years.


Directed Breeding Programs
The most basic and hands on method of genetic engineering is selective breeding. Producing a color change or reproducing or removing a minor mutation can be achieved in a single generation by allowing individuals with the desired trait to breed or preventing those with the undesired trait from breeding. Increasing or reducing the size of an organism requires a sizable herd to select from and takes many generations. Producing a superhuman that can see into the male and female side of the racial memory takes hundreds of generations.

Genetic Engineering
The default for genetic modifications is that a zygote or egg is altered and allowed to grow into a full organism. This means that any alterations grow into the entire organism as part of its natural cycle. If the changes are physically or chemically incompatible it may prevent the organism from surviving to maturity.

Genetic Therapy
Actively altering existing genetics is harder and slower. Billions of cells need to be replaced and reprogrammed and it can’t be done in an instant. Genetic therapy is usually used to cure conditions rather than to totally reshape the body, which is a horribly invasive and painful process. Genetic therapy is used to naturalize organic grafts.

Cloning
A simple, related technique that produces identical duplicates of an organism is often used as a starting point or manufacturing method for genetic engineering. Early cloning still requires a natural womb as gestation tanks are staggeringly complex. It seems likely that egg laying species will be easier to clone as eggs are already a natural gestation tank.

Grafting
Printed and cultivated appendages and organs can be surgically bonded to an existing organism to give it a tail, wings, or perhaps another heart. This essentially allows new traits to be added to the organism. Creating the neural pathways to control the grafts and suppressing the immune system’s inclination to attack parasites requires gene therapy.

Cultivated Symbiotes
Instead of permanently grafting appendages it may be possible to grow them as symbiotic organisms. These creatures graft themselves to their host and feed on their blood in exchange for the specialized capacities they offer. Cultivated Symbiotes are a very advanced genetic engineering technique.

Brain Swapping
Growing a new organism and transferring the brain or neurally programming a copy is another technology entirely, though one with some awkward implications regarding identity and the rights of the original and copy. With psychic technology a true transfer of consciousness is possible but still leaves a functional husk and questions surrounding its personhood. Can it relearn and become another person entirely?

Reduced Gestation Time
The gestation time for a species can be reduced at the cost of a smaller organism or a less viable offspring. In nature marsupials and sea horses carry their infants in pouches until they are larger. If gestation tanks are unavailable raising infants in incubators will allow for faster population growth, and may be used to rapidly increase the population of colonies. Each stage of reduced gestation time halves the normal gestation time.

Increased Litter size
A species can have its birthrate increased by increasing the size of litters or clutches of eggs. This generally requires a larger mother or smaller infants and shares many problems with reducing gestation times.

Fast Maturation
In nature some animals take a long time to mature while others grow more quickly. A species can be modified to grow to full size faster. This generally requires a great deal more high energy food than the normal growth rate. In time, rapid growth tanks will allow organisms to be grown to full size in factories but the neural and muscular development that comes with natural activity is another technology entirely. “Quick and Floppies” may be good for organ harvesting but are a long way from being a usable product on their own.

Life Span Extension
The various chemical and genetic methods of extending the natural life span of organisms provide an increase in the racial age of majority.

Longevity
Aging is a product of accumulated micro-toxins and genetic duplication errors. Genetic therapy can do a lot to reduce the impact of aging. Improved double the species’ aging rate per step. The aging factor, can also be reduced to deliberately create a short lived species.

Immortality
Immortality means the species doesn’t age, however they still suffer atrophy, injury, and obsolescence. There are two stages of immortality technology. The first is a series of treatments that prevents aging. Generally the treatments are needed annually but more advanced versions come in a handy pill which is taken daily. This of course is a great money maker for pharmaceutical corporations and can have huge political implications. Especially if the treatment is a naturally occurring product that comes from a single lightly populated desert planet. The second form of immortality is generally a result of genetic engineering that creates a species that does not age. Such beings are usually created at full growth and to a template that ensures they will fill their intended role for eternity.

Modifying Racial Traits
Genetic engineering can be used to modify a species by adding or removing traits. This can also be done with genetic therapy but the process is long and painful and the result of failed experiments is often death. Nature tends to favor specialization and species with lots of extra traits seldom prove viable in a natural environment.

Modifying Racial Structure
Changing the very structure of an organism is best done with genetic engineering. It’s always easier to start with something that’s already close to what you want. Genetic therapy approaches to alter the skeleton or size is often lethal. Trying to turn a arthropod into an anthropod is madness but you’ll show them. You’ll show them all!

Modifying Reproductive Systems
The genetic modification of species reproductive cycle is complex but can be used to tailor a species to a social role or to make cloning easier. It might also mitigate some of the nastier issues of natural competition for reproductive opportunities.

Cloning Apparatus
The equipment for making clones is fairly simple as single cells are quite small, it’s the scanning electron microscope and laser that are a bit bulky. Still, a cloning bay is probably no larger than a breadbox. It’s the gestation tank that’s the problem.

Gestation Tanks
A mechanical device that replaces the womb or egg as an environment in which the zygote can grow into a viable organism before being exposed to the hazards of the environment is exceedingly complex and needs careful adjustment for each species. Once developed they have some advantages as they can integrate a growth tank cycle or act as a VR neuromuscular development tank to allow the organism to be better developed. Advanced gestation tanks reduce the gestation time for the species by half which can be combined with genetically engineered reduced gestation time for really quick turn around. Gestation tanks must be large enough to contain the organism, and count as machinery.

Growth Tanks
A mechanical device that speeds up a species’ maturation can be fairly simple. Cells duplicate when they’re fed. A growth tank doesn’t offer much stimulus and muscular and skeletal development need to be provided for or the results are weak and floppy clones.

Bio-Printers
With the advent of three dimensional printing, a lot of what is known about life has become, printable. Meat and organs printed from cell cultures will likely be available in the near future. Even printing an entire organism is not out of the question. This may make gestation and growth tanks somewhat irrelevant. While three Dee Printing is fairly slow and cell cultures take time to grow, and organisms are incredibly complex. It’s quite possible that children in the future will print hamsters on their home bio-printer for their science project. In game terms, a bioprinter is a useful tool for creating transplants and skin grafts in the sick bay or a common kitchen appliance, much as a fabricator is a useful feature in an engineering bay.

Organ Plants
One interesting possibility is hybrid plants that grow organs for transplant. Such farms and hydroponic operations make an interesting setting feature and get away from the issue of growing clones for their organs. 3D printed organs may make this irrelevant but modified plants might also be used to grow the tissue cultures used in bio-printers. Trees full of hearts swaying in the breeze are certainly atmospheric and creepy.

Creating Species
There comes a point when you’re not just playing god. Creating a species from scratch is a complex task. The in game method is basically taking the organism creation rules and writing down whatever the would be deity wants. On the simpler end, hybridized, anthropomorphic animals and chimeras are modified versions of existing species and may explain all the furry people with animal heads wandering around in space operas. One decision that is quite important is whether the species will be capable of reproduction. Creating a viable species capable of multiplying in the natural habitat is much more difficult than one that lives in a carefully tended aquarium.

Neural Programming
The ability to guide and accelerate neural development is key to creating that army of cloned super soldiers. Using the mind of an existing person is the easiest approach, especially if the soldiers are all clones of the mental template. While printing a copy of a brain might produce this result, there’s always the problem of neuromuscular development. Virtual reality uploaded directly to the cortex provides an opportunity for basic neuro-muscular development if the growth tank is at least twice as large as the organism. Neural programming can also be used to add or remove personality traits from individuals.

Psychic Traits
If psychic powers are a genetically keyed ability in the setting it is possible to clone them and modify a species to have them. It is even possible to use genetic therapy to give psychic powers to living individuals, though at great risk to their mental health and personality.

 

[David Johansen]

And the space travel chapter with the math to make sure everyone runs back to Traveller!

Space Travel
The great, empty distances between the stars are full of dangers. Vacuum, radiation, micro-meteors, and even running out of food and fuel can be fatal to humans and other explorers. Even the math involved might be enough to kill you. The planets are all moving at different rates determined by their mass and the star’s mass and the distance between them. The orbits are elliptical and the planets slow down and speed up as they go. The “launch window” is the time when the destination is approaching the tk but will pass it by just enough for the space craft to match velocities without needing to expend valuable fuel to decelerate. Over interplanetary distances, being a fraction of a degree off course could be deadly. In most popular science fiction super-science drives make it possible to cross the solar system in a day.

The distances presented here are in light-seconds and light-years. Astronomical units and parsecs are based on the position of Earth in the solar system and are not particularly universal. For those who aren’t clear on the concept, a light second is the distance light moves in one second and a light year is the distance light moves in a year. They are measures of distance, not time. As far as modern science is concerned, the speed of light is a universal constant and cannot be exceeded. The mathematical theories that suggest it can be all rely on “negative mass energy” which is to say less than not existing at all. Science fiction has always had unrealistic elements ranging from time-travel to anti-gravity and faster than light drives. You can’t emulate your favorite movie or television show if you’re too mired down in the science.

If the campaign is a space opera focused on the exploits of a band of heroic adventurers the referee can probably hand wave all that away and just assume that they can travel a number of light-seconds per day. If they’re feeling really ambitious the travel time can be divided by the ship’s top speed (½ fuel duration x acceleration usually, you need to maneuver and slow down). With reality taking a day off, chases can be resolved with piloting skill rolls. But in the end the heroes will always get there just in time and the villains will always get there first no matter how unlikely that seems.

Simplified Plotted Movement
If you can live with circular orbits and straight courses, it’s easy to represent planetary motion and launch windows. Use a ruler and pencil to mark out the positions of the star and planets on a sheet of paper at a scale of one light minute per centimeter. Next, draw a circle with a compass to show each orbit. Roll 1d10 x 36 to find the planet’s location along the circle and mark it using a pencil and protractor. At this point you can measure the distance between the planets by measuring it with a ruler. Orbital motion is given in degrees per day with Earth moving roughly one degree per day.

Interstellar Travel
Interstellar maps are done in a ‘well’ ten spaces wide by ten deep. The distance tables show the distance between any two points within the map. The basic scales for the map are one light year per space, ten light years per space, one hundred light years per space and so on, increasing by orders of magnitude and allowing the blocks to be seamlessly integrated in blocks one size larger.

The faster a drive system is, the harder navigation becomes as the margin of error increases.

Instantaneous transit is instantaneous. The space craft gets there the moment it leaves. This requires really precise navigation because there is no ability to make course corrections en route.

Hyperspacial drives remove the vessel to another dimension with a different relationship to time and space. While the journey takes a fixed amount of time, like instantaneous transit, it’s hard to navigate when you can’t see. If real space objects have shadows in hyperspace it becomes easier but is still less precise.

Space warp drives and other such real space faster than light systems allow real-time navigational corrections but they are also the most dependant on a spacecraft as they are passing through space rather than going around it.

The Math
Here are some useful formulae for computing travel times. They may require a scientific calculator. Their use in play is entirely optional.

Circumference = 3.1416 x radius x 2
Distance = ½ Acceleration x Time ^2
Velocity = Acceleration x Time
Travel Time = Distance / Velocity
Gravitation Force = 6.67x10-11 x Mass One x Mass Two / Radius^2
Circular Orbital Velocity = = 0.25 x Circumference / √(2 x Orbital Radius / Gravitational Force)
Year Length = 6.2832 x Radius / Orbital Velocity

Distances are usually given in meters, time in seconds, velocity in meters per second, acceleration in meters per second squared. There are 1000 meters in a kilometer, 3600 seconds in an hour, 299792 kilometers in a light second and 9.46053 x 10 12 kilometers in a light year. Where possible, units have been used in such a way as these conversions aren’t used in play but sometimes it’s handy to know them.

When you’re looking at orbital velocities for simple circular orbits. In essence the planet has to move a distance equal to a quarter of the orbit’s circumference by the time it sweeps out a ninety degree angle or it will drift off or drift in.

Note that while the speed of light is an absolute physical limit, most space craft have a limited top speed as a result of limited fuel that is well below the speed of light. Faster than light drives have a fixed velocity because they’re mainly a plot device and we’re lazy.

 

[David Johansen]

Well, I've wasted entirely too much time working on the star system generator. It's coming together nicely.

Galaxies In Shadow Star System Generator
10/6/2 AV Main Sequence Blue star
301 light seconds Small Gas Giant
   Medium Planet, 9000km diameterMedium beween 0.75 and 1.25g gravity, Average atmosphere, Average water, Boiling at Poles, Metal Melts in Tropics, Prions
   Medium Moon
   Small Moon
   Large Moon
   Small Planet, 6000km diameter Low between 0.25 and 0.75g gravity, Average atmosphere, Limited water, Boiling, Hot at Poles, Barren

610 light seconds Huge Planet, 15000km diameter Crushing over 1.75g gravity, Liquid atmosphere, Flooded with water, Burning Surface, Barren
   Small Planet, 6000km diameter Low between 0.25 and 0.75g gravity, Average atmosphere, Limited water, Hot, Scalding in Tropics, Prions
   Medium Moon

922 light seconds Tiny Planet, 3000km diameter

1249 light seconds Small Planet, 6000km diameter Low between 0.25 and 0.75g gravity, Average atmosphere, Minimal water, Temperate, Frozen at Poles, Prions
   Medium Moon

1561 light seconds Medium Gas Giant
   That's no moon...It's a space station

1896 light seconds Large Planet, 12000km diameter High, between 1.25 and 1.75g gravity, Dense atmosphere, Excessive water, Warm, Small Frozen Poles, Protozoa and Primitive Plants
   Medium Planet, 9000km diameterMedium beween 0.75 and 1.25g gravity, Thick atmosphere, Average water, Temperate, Frozen at Poles, Protozoa and Primitive Plants
   Small Planet, 6000km diameter Low between 0.25 and 0.75g gravity, Average atmosphere, Limited water, Cold, Frozen to Tropics, Barren

2250 light seconds Medium Gas Giant
   Medium Planet, 9000km diameterMedium beween 0.75 and 1.25g gravity, Average atmosphere, Average water, Cold, Frozen to Tropics, Barren
   Small Planet, 6000km diameter Low between 0.25 and 0.75g gravity, Average atmosphere, Limited water, Frozen Water, Atmosphere Frozen at Poles, Barren

2585 light seconds Small Gas Giant
   Small Planet, 6000km diameter Low between 0.25 and 0.75g gravity, Average atmosphere, Limited water, Frozen Atmosphere, Barren
   Medium Moon
   Small Moon
   Small Moon
   Large Moon
   Medium Moon
   Large Moon
   Small Moon

2917 light seconds Large Planet, 12000km diameter High, between 1.25 and 1.75g gravity, Dense atmosphere, Excessive water, Cold, Frozen to Tropics, Barren
   Large Moon
   Small Planet, 6000km diameter Low between 0.25 and 0.75g gravity, Average atmosphere, Limited water, Frozen Core, Barren
   Large Moon
   Medium Moon
   Tiny Planet, 3000km diameter Minimal between 0.125 and 0.25g gravity, Thin atmosphere, Minimal water, Frozen Core, Barren
   Medium Moon

3298 light seconds Huge Planet, 15000km diameter Crushing over 1.75g gravity, Liquid atmosphere, Flooded with water, Cold, Frozen to Tropics, Bacteria and Algae
   Small Moon
   Small Planet, 6000km diameter Low between 0.25 and 0.75g gravity, Average atmosphere, Limited water, Frozen Core, Barren
   Tiny Planet, 3000km diameter Minimal between 0.125 and 0.25g gravity, Thin atmosphere, Minimal water, Frozen Core, Barren
   Medium Moon
   Small Moon
   Small Moon

 

[Séadna]

Played a few sessions of this David. Really enjoyed it. When I've more experience with it I'll give a more detailed report.

 

[David Johansen]

Wow thanks! That's awesome!

I've posted an updated pdf with some equipment, space travel, genetic engineering.

 

[David Johansen]

I'm thinking about putting some artwork in now. I've got lots of sketches and doodles but I'm not a professional artist by any means. You get what you pay for right? Most are black and white sharpie drawings but I'm thinking of coloring them. Sadly I don't have any really good graphics software at the moment. But I do have felts and pencil crayons. I think the felts are generally a little too saturated and bright but my pencil crayon work tends to look shoddy. I like to draw in Crayola but I find it doesn't scan well because it's too shiny.

 

[David Johansen]

I've added some art to the website that will be in the book. I'm going to have to look into why it hasn't updated to the domain name yet.

 

[Nobby-W]

I'm thinking about putting some artwork in now. I've got lots of sketches and doodles but I'm not a professional artist by any means. You get what you pay for right? Most are black and white sharpie drawings but I'm thinking of coloring them. Sadly I don't have any really good graphics software at the moment.

Inkscape and Krita are better than one might think these days.

Alternatively, older versions of Corel Draw often go on Ebay for quite reasonable prices - even legit retail copies.

Even more alternatively, Serif have now rebranded themselves as Affinity and are bringing out a next gen product, which you can buy of their web site for quite a cheap price.

Take a look on Ebay for a Wacom Bamboo or Intuos tablet if you feel that way inclined. You should be able to get one for a reasonable amount of money.

 

[David Johansen]

I've got an older copy of Corel Draw, what I don't have is a DVD drive. I'll get there. I used Paint for the pictures I added to my website. It's adequateish.

 

[David Johansen]

Here's an update with the equipment chapter, price lists, and size and signature modifiers added to the vehicles as well as a bit of art.

http://www.uncouthsavage.com/uploads/1/3/3/2/133279619/gisgrfx.pdf

 

[David Johansen]

While I think this kind of omnibus is handy as a reference, and a very useful point to reach, it's also huge and intimidating. The response I've seen to T5 makes me want to break it down into sections.

I'm thinking about stripping it down to combat and adventuring careers for the core.

The supplement on worlds would have scout careers and world generation and survival.
The supplement on politics would have political and aristocratic careers and politics.
The supplement on aliens would have alien generation and lots of sample species.
The supplement on daily life would have schools and corporate careers and technology rules.

I don't know, alternately I could keep the omnibus and do a stripped down basic book at 96 pages.
The thing is that I'd rather have a set of booklets in a boxed set than a big, thick hardback.

Any thoughts?

 

[David Johansen]

Here's three more generic races that won't be in the core. I might substitute the lizard men in. I'm also thinking I should add a Talent modifier for group size as non-human Talent ratings are quite low.

I did find a little error while creating these: Cultivation should be -10 Reflexes not +10 Reflexes. The cognizant behaviors are supposed to balance out to a +10.

Turtles
This contemplative species are slow moving due to their heavy shell. If they were genetically engineered it is probably due to eighties cartoon property nostalgia. If they evolved it’s simply that a long lived race has a lot of time to think.

Size: -2
Structure: Endoskeleton, 2 Arms, 2 Legs
Dietary Strategy: Forager
Reproductive Strategy: Egg Laying
Sexes: 2
Litter Size: 3 - 6
Gestation Time: 7 months
Maturation: 8 years
Aging Factor: 26 years
Move: run 120 m
swim 60m
Sight: 40 m
Hearing: 20 m
Smell: 10 m

Traits:
Amphibious
Carapace
Cold Blooded
Long Lived
Planning
Recording

Characteristics:
Agility: -10
Dexterity: -10
Endurance: 0
Knowledge: 0
Logic: 0
Perception: 0
Reflexes: 0
Strength: -20
Talent: -10
Willpower: -10

Snapping Turtles
A larger breed of turtle, possibly suited to heavy labour in swamps and lakes.
Size: +2
Structure: Endoskeleton, 2 arms, 2 legs
Dietary Strategy: Forager
Reproductive Strategy: Egg Laying
Sexes: 2
Litter Size: 1 - 2
Gestation Time: 11 months
Maturation: 12 years
Aging Factor: 17 years
Move: run 120 m
swim 60m
Sight: 40 m
Hearing: 20 m
Smell: 10 m

Traits:
Amphibious
Carapace
Cold Blooded
Planning
Recording
Sharp Bite

Characteristics:
Agility: -30
Dexterity: -10
Endurance: 0
Knowledge: 0
Logic: 0
Perception: 0
Reflexes: -30
Strength: +20
Talent: -20
Willpower: 0

Lizard Men
A race of humanoid crocodiles, prone to suddenly biting annoying small animals. The motives for genetically engineering such a race might be the colonization of swampy worlds or as a race of terrifying shock troopers. If they evolved it is likely for the sake of cultivating and keeping food animals.

Size: + 2
Structure: Endoskeleton
Dietary Strategy: Devourer
Reproductive Strategy: Egg Laying
Sexes: 2
Litter Size: 1 - 2
Gestation Time: 5 months
Maturation Time: 12 years
Aging Factor: 18 years
Move: run 120 m
Sight: 40 m
Hearing: 20 m
Smell: 10 m
Size:
Traits:
Awareness
Amphibious
Cold Blooded
Hands
Heavy Tail
Husbandry
Sharp Teeth and Claws
Thick Hide

Characteristics:
Agility: -5
Dexterity: -10
Endurance: +10
Knowledge: -10
Logic: 0
Perception: +10
Reflexes: -5
Strength: +10
Talent: -10
Willpower: -10

 

[David Johansen]

Settings
I’m thinking I need a core setting. Given the name Galaxies In Shadow I think it should be a multi galactic space opera on the grand scale with a major threat looming over everything but open enough for people to easily drop their own ideas into the broader backdrop. If there’s a major lesson to be learned from Traveller, it’s that there should be broad frontiers between most interstellar polities, room to explore or build personal empires.

Here’s the basic notion:

Overview
A generic space opera spanning mulitple galaxies with fast FTL and cheap, convenient space travel, a wide range of alien races, empires and unexplored expanses.
Technology:
Primitive Hardware GTI: 40
Older Hardware GTI: 50
State of the Art Hardware GTI: 60
Advanced Hardware: GTI:80
Standard Advances: Anti Gravity, Faster Than Light, Reactionless Drives, Force Fields
Advanced Hardware: Artificial Gravity, Teleporters
PSI: Class II Common, Class III Rare

I do have a number of partially developed settings I’ve done some work on over the years for this and other game systems. I don’t want to rigidly tie the game to a single setting or any setting to a single game.

The Covenant Generation
A loose alliance of religious colonies resist the expanding United Nations and Corporations sphere of influence. Humanity’s expansion is checked by the Dagathian, Sheth, and Gryph polities but the main conflict is within. The Gnar were a dying race of tick like parasites who were masters of genetic engineering and sold ftl technology to humanity in exchange for unwanted war orphans who inherited their worlds. The Dagathites are a race that was subjugated by the Gnar for centuries before they died out. They are native to corrosive swamps with toxic atmospheres. The Glimmers are their junior allies a race of greyhoundlike predators. The Sheth are reducing scavengers with a self sacrificing death wish, they look like big shaggy muppets but their mouth is in their belly and they have a third, larger eye for night vision that is usually closed where you might think their mouth is. The gryph are a feathered velocoraptors with a crazy gender dynamic. This was the setting for the earliest version of my sf% rules. I’d like to revisit it enough to work up the races and redo the map and background. The history is probably a bit too jingoistic but I really like the races.

The False Start War
Early, stl interstellar colonies lose contact with Earth and returning ships find a pristine world with no sign of human habitation. Fighting breaks out between colonies that want to return home from less than ideal worlds and colonies that want to keep the pristine Earth pure.

Incandescent
A long standing interstellar republic collapses as a result of entrenched bureaucratic government. The last war was an invasion of strange living machines two hundred years ago. Ill equipped to fight a war, the largely out dated fleets return to their octants with different agendas and ideas of where things should go. The main races are Humanity, the Bassoondar a race of water filtering tubers, the Rrell bacterial plaques on fiberglass frames, and Hezzanth a highly aggressive, spiny, chasers. In this age of collapse and warfare the living machine menace returns. Incandescent is Galaxies in Shadow’s sister d10 based game that developed parallel to it because I never can settle on one idea.

Transcendent
In the distant future stellar engineering allows stars to be positioned to act as slingshot accelerator chains to get ships up to near light velocity. The ruling class are virtually immortal, living on city ships that orbit the galaxy at relativistic speeds. The close integration of nano-technology an computers with human ruling houses gives society a bizarre, transhuman, mysticism. Transcendent is a very high technology hard sf setting, no psi, no aliens, no force fields, no antigravity. Just humanity with a lot of time and tools to shape the galaxy to their ends. It’s a bit Jupiter Ascending meets Dune meets Warhammer 40000. It actually came out of an idea for a romance story in the 40k universe but as I started scrubbing off the serial numbers something else emerged.

 

[David Johansen]

Well, there's an oversight! No medical equipment. And back to re-numbering the table of contents. Also, someone asked about nanotech. Now there's a can of worms I probably need to open.

Medical Gear
While medical technology advances apace with synthetic cell cultures, tissue printing, surgical lasers, neural activity scanning, and gene editing therapies the problems largely remain the same, the disruption and deterioration of biological processes by internal and external influences.

First Aid Kit
Crash Kit
Stretcher
Medical Bay
Surgical Suite
Culture Vat
Tissue Printer
Medical Scanner
Pharmacopia

First Aid Kit
A ubiquitous feature of camping gear and industrial sites, this small box contains materials to treat minor wounds and abrasions. In general, it will contain mild pain killers, antiseptics, bandages or wound sealant, and materials for splinting broken bones. More advanced versions will provide more durable treatments but the role of a first aid kit is not to heal but stabilize and contain injuries until a proper facility can be reached. A first aid kit allows scratch level injuries to be treated without penalty.

Crash Kit
Paramedics and physicians frequently carry one of these satchel or cases containing the basic materials found in a first aid kit in greater quantities as well as medication to deal with cardiac arrest, seizures, and serious wounds like compound fractures and gunshots. Strong pain killers and stimulants are standard as are sensors for detecting heart beats and breathing. Advanced versions contain universal blood serum and oxygen. A crash kit allows injuries to be treated without penalty.

Stretcher
A light weight frame for carrying wounded individuals without making their situation worse. Advanced stretchers incorporate features like vital sign monitors and medication dispensers. A particularly useful feature is the ability to stiffen up around the patient to provide more support and reduce jostling. Ambulatory robotic stretchers are heavier and more expensive but free up corpsmen from the task of bearing the wounded to the ambulance.

Medical Bay
The back of an ambulance or a closet on small ships is well equipped with medical supplies and equipment. Anesthetics, oxygen, restraints, and lighting are sufficient for a medical bay to serve as an emergency surgical suite. A medical bay allows wounds to be treated and stabilized without penalty and surgery at a -10 penalty due to the cramped conditions.

Surgical Suite
A proper surgery is well lit and sterile with enough room for a team to work on the patient without tripping over each other. Systems to

Culture Vat
A hermetically sealed cannister with nutrient feeds allows cell cultures to be grown into biomass for printing tissue and organs. Advanced models are self flushing and contain a small sample of radioactive material in a shielded cell, to sterilize the tank between uses.

Tissue Printer
Three dimensional printing technology using electrostatic charges and lasers can even print flesh. Skin, muscles, veins, and even organs can be printed out from cultures grown from the patient’s own cells avoiding all risk of rejection but at the cost of reproducing any congenital conditions.

Medical Scanner
Hand held units capable of reading heart rates, blood pressure, and even brain activity are popular with paramedics and physicians. The size of the device is generally determined by ergonomics and ease of use but advanced versions may well fit in watches or cybernetic eyes. Access to a medical scanner allows patients to be diagnosed quickly meaning one medic can treat more patients or treatment applied sooner.

Pharmacopia
This advanced system can synthesize medications from stored chemicals on demand. The internal computer stores a wide range of known drugs with proven track records but can also produce new combinations on command and speculate on how they will perform. Earlier versions are larger, room sized affairs, but more advanced versions will fit in a suitcase. The larger version will always have a larger supply of raw materials. One limitation of a pharmacopia system is that only about half of the supplies are useful for any given medication and the machine and supplies are much bulkier and heavier than a supply of a specific drug.

 

[David Johansen]

Someone was asking about nano-technology and admittedly it's something of an oversight for such a comprehensive system. How's this for a start?

Nanotech
Machines composed of a few molecules are often presented as virtually magical. These range from metamorphosis to eating everything around it like a super acid. The main role of nano-tech in these rules is seen in the improvements in manufacturing and medical technology. In these roles the nano-tech can be contained within the factory environment and controlled by central servers reducing the risk of unfortunate accidents.

While this powerful technology has its applications it also has its limits. As much as computers continue to get more powerful, the processing power of nano machines is limited. Molecules are sticky and there’s really no way to lubricate them. Individual nano-machines need to be able to receive and carry out instructions. The low level radio emissions used to communicate commands are vulnerable to disruption by strong electromagnetic fields.


Nanotechnology is generally powered by the ambient electromagnetic field and can be burned out by surges. It is also quite vulnerable to high temperatures. Reducing it to plasma is a sure fire way to know nano-tech has been eliminated.

It is important to keep the conservation of energy in mind. Nano-technology has access to plenty of electrostatic energy on the nano-level but nano-tech objects still require sufficient energy to work on the macro level. It may seem magical but it doesn’t get to violate physics.

Each machine will probably have a single function and a receiver that turns it off and on or a socket / gripper that links it to the next machine.

Biological Nano Tech
One branch of nano-technology emulates methods found in natural biological organisms rather than machines. The line between biological nano-tech and microbial bio-engineering is very fine.

Lattice Nano-Tech
If every machine has a socket/gripper, broadcast commands become unnecessary but the reach of the nano-tech is limited to a physical object like a ball of goop or a block and cannot spread out into a cloud. This limits the aerial capabilities of the nano-tech as it cannot simply disperse though it may organize into an aerodynamic form with ducted fans.

Locomotion
The medium in which nano-machines move is quite unlike the macroscopic universe. Movement through air is more like crawling through a sticky ball pit and solid objects are more like spongy turf with frequent large pits and gaps. Nano-tech deals with its environment on a very direct level making climbing and walking more effective than rolling or floating.

Node units receive and relay instructions, in a lattice arrangement, nodes will have at least four socket/grippers to link up multiple machines and can receive and send radio instructions.

Disruptors generate electromagnetic pulses much like a capacitor to break down molecules into their component atoms and rearrange them into new ones. Note that nano-technology cannot break down atoms and rearrange them into other atoms.

Burners generate precision laser bursts that can be used to transmit energy, join atoms into molecules, and relay tight beam communications to receiver units.

Receiver units are sensory apparatus that attempt to provide the system more information than it can accumulate through contact. Receivers can receive information pulsed by burner units to allow clearer communication than radio waves allow especially in high static conditions.

Generator units can produce and store power which can be passed to other units through gripper/sockets.

Manipulator units can attach to objects and manipulate them. Manipulators need to be able to move and grip objects. Manipulators generally resemble a spiky ball that uses its spines to grip and move.

Aerostatic units use a hydrogen gas bag to generate lift and are common in aerosol nanotech.

Heli units use a tiny rotor to generate lift this is generally less efficient than aero units but provides an alternative.

Superscience Units
Generally nano-tech is limited by the laws of physics and it’s a good thing too. The anti-gravity and force field projectors are simply too bulky and complex to function at a molecular level but, supposing they aren’t a variety of new capabilities become available. All super science units are assumed to be power hogs requiring an equal number of generator units.

Anti-gravity units allow nano-tech to ignore gravity, letting it fly and drift freely without
Force field units allow nano-tech to isolate itself from its environment, essentially allowing it lubricate its passage through the

Gravity generator units allow molecules to be pushed away creating a clear path, allowing the nano-tech to move much faster. They can also be used to drag down and manipulate macro-scale objects. Nano-tech carpeting may well be a standard feature of super advanced star ships, compensating for acceleration and negating the deleterious effects of life in free fall.

Self Replicating Nano-Tech
Nano-tech becomes truly dangerous when it can produce more nano-machines. This is the world eating grey goo of fiction. In order to reproduce itself, a nano-tech colony requires manipulators, harvesters, disruptors, burners, and a program directing it to do so. Self replication slows a nano-tech glob or swarm down as resources must be devoted to deconstructing materials encountered and manufacturing more nano-machines. The faster a nano-tech colony grows, the slower it moves.

Self Terminating Nano-Tech
Given the danger of uncontrolled self replication nano-tech, it’s safe to say that safety features may be required by societies that use it. One common safe guard is a command that causes the nano-tech to destroy itself when it finishes a set of instructions. This may also be useful in preventing the copying of proprietary technology.

Nano-Tech Neural Networks
A sufficient concentration of linked node units can function as a neural network, inherently making nano-tech a computer. While the information density is much lower than a standard computer due to the nodes with other functions, large nano-tech colonies may even achieve self awareness. H.P. Lovecraft’s “Shoggoths” may have been a prophetic warning.

Nano-Active Materials
There’s a real difference between an object with some nano-machines in it and a lump of solid nano-tech. In some societies it is not uncommon for humans and others to have paramedic nano-machines in their blood to boost their immune system and speed healing. Nano-tech in the muscles can boost strength and endurance. Highly flexible and durable fabrics may well be nano-tech latices that enhance the physical abilities of the wearer while providing excellent protection from environmental hazards. Much of this is assumed in the basic technology factor used to establish ratings for devices.

Fixed and Open Nano-Tech
A nano-tech unit may be designed to fulfil a single function or to be an open and flexible universal resource. Fixed nano-tech has fewer node and receptor units and can generally carry the program that fulfils its function. Self replicating nano-tech goop is usually form of fixed nano-tech that is only capable of reproducing itself. Open nano-tech has a higher percentage of node and receptor units and a more generalized and balanced mix of other unit types to allow it the flexibility to operate however it may be directed.

The functional limitation of nano-tech is the amount of it in the system as a percentage of mass.
Active nano-tech is less durable than traditionally manufactured materials.

Primitive nano-tech can form itself into vague objects with obvious functions.
Standard nano-tech can form crisp mechanical machinery and basic electronics like light switches and bulbs.
Advanced nano-tech can replicate complex electronic devices

Paramedic nano-machines in the blood give a bonus equal to the technology factor to Endurance rolls to resist poisons and diseases and to cut the healing time for wounds by the technology factor as a percentage.

Hero nano-machines in the muscles and skeleton give a bonus equal to the technology factor to Strength even when resisting injuries.

Machines and vehicles with nano-machines imbedded in them or coating them can heal damage as if they were organisms with an Endurance score equal to the technology rating.

A nanotech colony can act as a computer of the same technology level of a mass half the proportion of the colony composed of node units. Thus a 10 kg cloud of nano-machines with 1 kg of node units in it will function as a 0.5 kg computer.

A standard or advanced nano-tech colony of sufficient mass can replicate any tool or mechanical weapon. Advanced nano-tech can replicated energy weapons. The range and damage of firearms morphed out of nano-tech is usually halved as the components for propellant contained in the nano-tech are generally limited. The ammunition of energy weapons is similarly halve.

Any nano-tech can ooze along at 1/10 of the technoloy factor meters per second. Fixed nano-tech that is intended to turn into weapons does not have this limitation. If it has at least thirty percent float or rotor units it can drift through the air instead. Eating everything in its path to make more nano-tech slows it down by fifty percent.

A standard or advanced nano-tech colony of sufficient mass can take the form of a vehicle and move and function as a vehicle of that type. It’s armour and structural ratings will be half the normal rating. Yes, self aware nano-tech colonies could change from a vehicular form into a robot. I can’t imagine why you’d ask.

Nano-tech can absorb objects and deconstruct them molecule by molecule. The damage is the square root of the mass of the nano-tech time the technology factor. It penetrates softer materials and flesh and is resisted by hardened materials like armour.

Nano-tech is expensive, costing 10 x its mass times the technology level.

 

[Nobby-W]

While I think this kind of omnibus is handy as a reference, and a very useful point to reach, it's also huge and intimidating. The response I've seen to T5 makes me want to break it down into sections.

I'm thinking about stripping it down to combat and adventuring careers for the core.

The supplement on worlds would have scout careers and world generation and survival.
The supplement on politics would have political and aristocratic careers and politics.
The supplement on aliens would have alien generation and lots of sample species.
The supplement on daily life would have schools and corporate careers and technology rules.

I don't know, alternately I could keep the omnibus and do a stripped down basic book at 96 pages.
The thing is that I'd rather have a set of booklets in a boxed set than a big, thick hardback.

Any thoughts?

If I remember back to when I was a wee lad, I used to enjoy keeping an eye on the local bookshops for new Traveller supplements. Getting it drip-fed had a way of leaving one wanting more, and I think there's something to be said for drip feeding the setting canon rather than dropping it in one big lump.

 

[David Johansen]

Steve Jackson games is certainly sold on the micro product format for GURPS. On the other hand, I mostly design games on something of an intellectual exercise basis. "What if I built a game like this?" One of the founding concepts for Galaxies In Shadow was "What if I covered other topics than character creation and combat in more detail?" That's the one thing I really feel Galaxies In Shadow has to offer in comparison to a thousand other games out there, the breadth of the material.

I tend to lean towards more focused settings that grow from a premise. "What if early stl colonies lost contact with Earth and mounted expeditions to find out what happened." "What if Warhammer 40000 was a hard sf setting?" "What would it be like if Star Trek the Next Generation's Federation encountered Dune's Empire?" They don't seem to fit into a single setting.

 

[Nobby-W]

Steve Jackson games is certainly sold on the micro product format for GURPS. On the other hand, I mostly design games on something of an intellectual exercise basis. "What if I built a game like this?" One of the founding concepts for Galaxies In Shadow was "What if I covered other topics than character creation and combat in more detail?" That's the one thing I really feel Galaxies In Shadow has to offer in comparison to a thousand other games out there, the breadth of the material.

I tend to lean towards more focused settings that grow from a premise. "What if early stl colonies lost contact with Earth and mounted expeditions to find out what happened." "What if Warhammer 40000 was a hard sf setting?" "What would it be like if Star Trek the Next Generation's Federation encountered Dune's Empire?" They don't seem to fit into a single setting.

I got back into role playing after a hiatus. A few years ago - quite a few years ago - I did a sci-fi setting and then set it aside after doing about 4 campaigns (for various reasons). At the time (about 25 years ago) I didn't have any money, so bringing something to market was completely aspirational. Doing a sci-fi system and bringing it to market has been a bucket list item of sorts since then.

In the past few years I got really burned out with work and decided I needed a hobby, so I've resurrected my sci-fi game plan. I'm mainly into world building so I decided to come up with a setting ab-initio, although it's partially a mashup of some stuff from my old sci-fi game and a couple of traveller campaigns I ran some years back, plus one I had planned at one point.

A few years ago I had a major operation, which put me in some downtime. I spent a little bit of that frigging with a system, then decided that if I was going to do a narrative system I should try playing one. Verily, I went off and got some FATE stuff and ran a little bit of that, and I've been running a couple of Scum and Villainy games PbP here.

I'm still really dealing with burnout and I'm trying to find a way to wrangle a decently long sabbatical in Indonesia with my family, in which I may try to put my bucket-list game together for real. In the meantime I'm nibbling on stuff for it.

 

[Nobby-W]

If I strip out the races, alien generation, world generation, non-adventurer careers, and any activities outside of combat I can get it down to 100 pages. That would let me do modules or integrate a setting. I don't know, is it better as a monster rules volume? I generally feel those are better for fans of existing systems and not so good for people coming in. If I cut a bit more, it'd be down to 96 pages which is about the limit for a saddle stitched volume. Which would work for a boxed set. On the other hand the other stuff it covers is what makes Galaxies In Shadow stand out. When you look at it and say, "why would I play this overly complex percentile sf game when I could play BRP," my answer is that there are rules for building colonies, overthrowing governments, robbing banks, and developing new technologies.

Steve Jackson games is certainly sold on the micro product format for GURPS. On the other hand, I mostly design games on something of an intellectual exercise basis. "What if I built a game like this?" One of the founding concepts for Galaxies In Shadow was "What if I covered other topics than character creation and combat in more detail?" That's the one thing I really feel Galaxies In Shadow has to offer in comparison to a thousand other games out there, the breadth of the material.

I tend to lean towards more focused settings that grow from a premise. "What if early stl colonies lost contact with Earth and mounted expeditions to find out what happened." "What if Warhammer 40000 was a hard sf setting?" "What would it be like if Star Trek the Next Generation's Federation encountered Dune's Empire?" They don't seem to fit into a single setting.

I'm not a fan of the big-book-of-canon format. I think it's very hard to do something like that without it being quite sterile. Also, I suspect it will go in one ear and out the other with most folks, even if they do read it.

Being a splat-book fest didn't hurt Traveller, although I suspect there's a happy medium somewhere. I think, also, that doing a series of supplements lets you get something finished and on the market sooner. If you can do your own illustrations then the major external pre-production expense is eliminated (assuming you want to do them all yourself) and you can do a series of books, which will help you to break the product down into bite-sized chunks.

Any chapter or section that's more than 50 pages or so in its own right is a candidate for its own supplement, assuming that the topic is cohesive enough. For example, a book on starships, robots or alien species might be a good candidate for a supplement.

I have the second edition of Stars Without Number, which is quite a weighty tome, about the same page count as the 5e players handbook. I haven't bothered to read either, but just looked some stuff up in them. My instinct is to shy away from making big, monolithic products in possible.

 

[David Johansen]

It's almost 300 pages as it is. And utterly opaque to a new user. Part of my issue is endless frustration with games that promise parts that never get written let alone published. Particularly hanging loose ends like vehicle design or mass combat.

Part of my problem is that my method is basically quantum game design. I design every possible version and eventually settle on one. I've got so many half finished games on my hard drive.

Another thing I'd like to avoid is the market driven approaches that drive game sales. The core things left out of the core book to allow for supplement grind. The big full color book that makes the game inaccessible to all but the desperately obsessed. The gimmicky mechanics that require special dice or cards. So, basically everything FFG and Modiphius do.

At the very least I'd like there to be a very slim introductory core book. I don't know if you saw my one business card version of Galaxies In Shadow so I'll put a link here. The core book should be thicker than that.

http://www.uncouthsavage.com/uploads/1/3/3/2/133279619/gis_card.pdf

 

[Nobby-W]

It's almost 300 pages as it is. And utterly opaque to a new user. Part of my issue is endless frustration with games that promise parts that never get written let alone published. Particularly hanging loose ends like vehicle design or mass combat.

I think the solution to that problem is to have the material substantially worked out before you go to publish. I think a lot of folks have done kickstarters before they were ready. Part of having a road map is not just having a wish list of things to do, but having worked out the major kinks of them before you say you're going to publish them.

Part of my problem is that my method is basically quantum game design. I design every possible version and eventually settle on one. I've got so many half finished games on my hard drive.

It's OK to do stuff that never sees the light of day. You can go through many ideas and chuck out the ones that don't work. As long as you can settle on one that's satisfactory at the end it doesn't matter what came before it.

Another thing I'd like to avoid is the market driven approaches that drive game sales. The core things left out of the core book to allow for supplement grind. The big full color book that makes the game inaccessible to all but the desperately obsessed. The gimmicky mechanics that require special dice or cards. So, basically everything FFG and Modiphius do.

Consider what your minimum viable product is. What do you want to support in your core rulebook? You don't need (for example) vehicles or mass combat unless you're doing mercenary type games, and this might not be needed in the core rulebook. You might want to include a basic system for determining vehicle damage in your combat system, but re-inventing Striker is probably not needed and could be left to a supplement without diminishing the value of the core rulebook. If you look through your rules there are probably other candidates for that.

Think about what scenarios you want to support in the core rules. For example, I have a mental image of core rulebook support for these types of campaigns in my WIP system:

• A bunch of yobs in an old starship
• Space westerns
• Scum and villainy type capers.

Other things might be in or out of scope, for example interstellar trade, or 'to go boldy' type space exploration. Traveller had rules for interstellar trade bundled with the core set. Stars Without Number has it in a separate supplement. As far as I'm aware, there were never any trade rules published for Space Master.

As long as supplements actually do something useful and coherent, I don't have any real issue with breaking stuff out into them. A trade supplement might have a trade system, a sample sector set up for a trading game, and maybe some merchant ships done in detail. Maybe you could also have detailed character generation for merchant characters. You could also have an actual merchant campaign - GDW published The Traveller Adventure, for example.

It would depend on whether you felt that should be a part of the core system, or whether you can do something that merits a whole supplement in its own right.

Again, I come back to my experience with seeing the universe revealed in parts as I got hold of different Traveller supplements. Props to GDW for having their shit together back in 1984 but if you actually publish the supplements, the incremental reveal might actually be a selling point and enhance the experience of the folks reading the books.

 

[David Johansen]

I'm pretty sure Space Master Privateers has a table that basically provides a profit margin for trade static maneuvers. It's actually got a lot of fun charts in the Vehicle Manual.

What I wonder with Galaxies In Shadow is whether it makes sense to break it down into a series of specific campaign type books. Focus on adventuring in the core book, put politics and entertainment in another, and science and technology in yet another. These books could still be integrated into a single volume while remaining independently functional games. But then there's issues with settings and setting up multiple settings for multiple campaign types, there are sports in Incandescent Destiny and the Covenant Generation but I don't really see either as a sports setting.

 

[Nobby-W]

I'm pretty sure Space Master Privateers has a table that basically provides a profit margin for trade static maneuvers. It's actually got a lot of fun charts in the Vehicle Manual.

I don't think I ever read that. I only ever had the base set and one adventure module.

What I wonder with Galaxies In Shadow is whether it makes sense to break it down into a series of specific campaign type books. Focus on adventuring in the core book, put politics and entertainment in another, and science and technology in yet another.

There's some sense to that. If you have some coherent idea of what types of campaigns to support in the core rule book, you can gear supplements to supporting other types of games. That gives folks a reason to buy the supplements, and pick and choose depending on what they want. The core rulebook could support some gamut of adventuring; other books might focus on technology or topics as you describe above. You could then do other supplements geared at supporting different types of games.

As long as the supplements have enough material to be interesting and valuable then they're potentially of use to people. If you have a setting then you can also use the supplements to incrementally reveal the setting. In the trade supplement you could put a sector in with a trading campaign. A pirate module might have some example pirate-friendly ports, rules for fencing goods, some example pirate ships and a sector with a pirate campaign. A space exploration module might incorporate a sector on the edge of known space with some stuff to explore.

I think the key to supplements is to make them interesting. There were Traveller supplements that were more interesting and some that were not-so-interesting. For example, S7:Traders and Gunboats was much more interesting than S9:Fighting ships, as the ships in S7 were mainly adventurer-sized and done in enough detail that you could pick them up and use them in a campaign. S9 was really only of interest to wargamers.

 

[David Johansen]

From a marketing stand point, one thing WotC seems to have gotten right with D&D 5th edition is the mix of material in the adventures. You need to get them for the monsters and spells and other stuff like naval rules that are in them. It gives the adventure modules an extended use beyond the adventure.

One thing I am sure of is that there will always be a free complete rules reference available from the beginning. It might be broken down differently. I lean towards putting things like psionic cultures and careers in the psionics chapter so the poor GM doesn't have to deal with players making ESPers in their hard sf games. This is probably true for other elements like government careers.

Another thing I think about is an actively three dimensional rulebook where the rules, support, and structures are layered with depth. It's a purely digital concept that can be reflected with stacks of booklets.

 

[Nobby-W]

From a marketing stand point, one thing WotC seems to have gotten right with D&D 5th edition is the mix of material in the adventures. You need to get them for the monsters and spells and other stuff like naval rules that are in them. It gives the adventure modules an extended use beyond the adventure.

I've got this sort of thing in mind - melding supplements with adventures, and drip feeding the setting canon with the adventures rather than one big book. A pirate supplement has rules about stuff to do with piracy, some pirate ships, a sector with locations suitable for piracy, character generation for pirates, some star ports and other pirate resources and a pirate campaign. Structure it so it's modular and you can use the bits independently of the adventure.

This makes the adventures more useful and appeal to a wider audience, and makes for a convenient 'pirate pack' with pretty much everything you need for a pirate game. Plus, it goes with the drip-feed model of revealing the setting.

 

[David Johansen]

I've actually got around 3ish simpler sfrpgs on my hard drive. One is a descendant of my d10 Incandescent game, another is a hybrid of Mutant Chronicles and the GDW House System, and a third is a Warhammer 40000 game with a thin veneer of an alternate setting. I've also got a 3d6 generic game that would get a science fiction supplement at some point.

I guess the first step is admitting I've got a problem...

 

[Nobby-W]

I've actually got around 3ish simpler sfrpgs on my hard drive. One is a descendant of my d10 Incandescent game, another is a hybrid of Mutant Chronicles and the GDW House System, and a third is a Warhammer 40000 game with a thin veneer of an alternate setting. I've also got a 3d6 generic game that would get a science fiction supplement at some point.

I guess the first step is admitting I've got a problem...

Well, there is something to be said for finishing a project. One reason I picked a setting and ran with it was a bit more clarity about what I was building. Having said that, even hacking the thing down to a manageable scope hasn't been trivial. There's been a lot of stuff that's gone in and come back out, and a lot of leaving things to ruminate until I come up with an easy to do it via serindipity.

An old Russian programmer once said "Think for an hour, code for an hour. Think for a minute, code for a day." Blaise Pascal once said "I have written a long letter as I don't have time to write a short one," or words to that effect. Scale that up a bit and it's easy to come up with big, sprawling shibboleth of complexity, but more effort to trim it back down to size.

 

[David Johansen]

True enough, simple and elegant is harder to do well.

 

[David Johansen]

Here's the original setting from my sf% rpg that evolved into Galaxies In Shadow. It's pretty jingoistic and maybe even a bit offensive. I'm thinking about putting it in an appendix as I used some of the races from it on the cover. I like the races but probably need to tone down the setting a bit. A major inspiration was David Weber and Steve White's novel Insurrection in which colonial worlds revolt against the government of Earth. I need to update the races to the current version of the system.

THE COVENANT GENERATION

The answer is still no. As a race we struggle to overcome a deep urge for irrational self sacrifice. How can we admit missionaries of religions that encourage our worst excesses?
A Sheth Immigration Official


The “war” between the Dagonites and the Gnar is brutal beyond our comprehension. The worst atrocities of human history are the daily events of their struggle. In no way can we, as a race and as people, dare take sides. It would consume us as it has consumed the Inheritors of the Gnar’s legacy.
A Sheth peace speaker


You humans misunderstand our demands. We don’t want a war at all, we just want your planet.
A Gryph ambassador

Time Line

2044 The United Catholic Church is formed from the scandal torn remnants of the Catholic and Anglican churches.

2047 Five Star General Stanley Maxwell’s military coup overthrows the government of United States of America and wins popular support due to on going world terrorism. In declaring the new American Empire before the United Nations he proclaims “Maybe now we can get something done.”

2048 Mexico absorbed into the American Empire.

2051 The Canadian government announcement of its intention to join the American Empire leads to widespread rioting. Many Canadian military units form a revolutionary army. American troops cross the border but face long years of guerilla warfare and terrorism.

2052 The American Empire’s Aerospace Force finishes the asteroid defence grid. A group of nine satellites armed with ion driven nuclear missiles. The United Nations denounces the system as “A threat to the liberty of all the people of earth.”

2063 Powerful corporate concerns including Consolidated Wall Street Enterprises and Genetic Adventures Conglomerate successfully lobby for entry into the United Nations, lending new capital, power and authority to the crumbling institution.

2067 The Greek Orthodox Church merges with the United Catholic Church.

2073 The American Empire’s Deep Space Force launches the Santa Maria manned exploration ship on a twenty year mission to Alpha Centauri.

2123 Private interests launch the first corporate extra solar exploratory mission

2127 The American Empire establishes the first extra-solar colony in Alpha Centauri. A vast space station made of local materials mined from asteroids. Plymouth Rock becomes the main port of call for further deep space missions.

2135 A New Frontiers exploratory ship The Bounty encounters the alien Gnar species and makes contact. The Gnar give the ship’s crew a biotech faster than light drive which allows the mission to be completed in under a year.

2136 The crew of the Bounty obtain sole proprietary rights to the Gnar drive in a UN&C court. Analysts speculate that the decision’s blatant contract violations are intended to make the FTL drive technology public. The money made in the new venture is lost later that year when the biological components of the drive are killed in a routine cleaning.

2139 The UN&C and the American Empire clash over asteroid mining rights, leading to the First Solar War. At first, the warfare consists of little more than mining ships throwing rocks at each other. But soon both sides begin building warships in their deep space ship yards.

2152 The First Solar War is first echoed in ground battles on earth. The American Empire quickly establishes dominance planet side.

2153 UN&C commandos capture several asteroid defence grid satellites and turn their nuclear weapons on American Empire ground forces. In space, the American Empire’s Deep Space Force is broken and scattered in the battle of Ceres. The remaining ex-American ships turn to piracy and raiding.

2157 The American Empire arrives at terms for a peace accord with the UN&C. North America is broken into six smaller nations in return for peace. The deal allows the Americans to have more votes in the General Assembly and Security Council. It is widely noted in the news media that during the war, the American Empire never launched nuclear weapons from the asteroid defence grid. Latter evidence shows that the order was given but the crews refused to act.

2160 The Gnar Empire establishes normal relations with the UN&C. The secrets of faster than light technology are given to the general public. Less openly known is the transfer of thousands of radiation sick North American refugee children to Gnar transport ships.

2165 The United Astronomer’s Union is Incorporated as a joint venture between Gnar and Human Corporate interests.

2167 The Genetic Ventures Conglomerate enters bankruptcy proceedings, a small firm called New Life, miraculously produces the capital for a buyout and forms Immortality Incorporated.

2170 The first of many massive corporate FTL colonization efforts begin. Many affluent religious groups soon follow including The United Catholic Church, The Church of Scientology, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

2179 Many colonies lost in the Dagonite / Gnar warzone as the Gnar dwindle and the Dagonite offensive gains momentum.

2227 The Gryph invade several colonies at the same time as their diplomats arrive on Earth. The initial hype of humanity’s second race of friendly aliens is short lived, as the Gryph Ambassadors frequently attack and eat people who don’t agree with them. Social unrest begins to grow in the colonies, when the fleets of earth don’t arrive to protect their neighbours until long after the Gryph are deeply entrenched.

2410 A general strike is crushed by the forces of Consolidated Wall Street Enterprises. NewStream agents escape the colony with evidence of atrocities. The resulting shock leads to a general revolt among corporate colonies.

2413 Humanitarian aid groups from the religious colonies suffer casualties while working in corporate / colonial war zones. A coalition is swiftly formed and fleets are dispatched. General warfare between colonial and UN&C forces breaks out.

2414 The first Inheritors of Gnar are encountered by humans. The genetically modified descendants of the American refugee children are far less friendly to humanity than the Gnar were. The Dagonite offensive soon slows to a stop as the new race bolsters the sagging Gnar lines.

2415 The Free Colony’s League is formed. The headquarters on Ephriam are disputed by the corporate colonies, but the solid finances of the religious colonies are too desperately needed to continue the war.

2513 The UN&C fleets are withdrawn from the region claimed by the Free Colony’s League. On earth, this is generally described as cutting losses in unprofitable ventures which had steadily been losing money from the beginning.

2609 In spite of efforts on both sides, the religious colonies and the corporate colonies finally give up on trying to agree on just about anything. The corporate colonies retain the title of The Free Colony’s League, but lack the unity to maintain internal government.

2611 The last official meeting of The Free Colony’s League takes place on Industrial#645. After this point, the corporate colonies become little more independent nation states and pocket empires.

2614 Due to a massing of UN&C fleets, a new colonial league is formed, mainly consisting of the religious colonies. The league is officially named the Celestial Liberty Association (that being the only name to receive two votes) The new league is commonly called the Covenant due to the large number of Christian colonies involved in its formation. The old headquarters of the Free Colony’s League on Ephraim are renovated to serve the new government.

2625 A new Gryph offensive is launched this time against the Covenant as a result of two Gryph diplomats being executed for murder. The war is bloody, but the disunited Gryph are soon put to flight.

2640 A Covenant diplomat kills six Gryph Hiearchs with a sword. The Gryph normalize relations with the Covenant and drop all claims to their worlds. Gryph Hiearchs begin to prey on free colonies instead.

2652 Several UN&C colonies rebel to join the Covenant in hopes of getting protection from the Gryph raiders. The UN&C reprisal is swift, but met by a combined Covenant and Gryph force. A general war breaks out, only ending when the fleets and economies of all sides are drained to the breaking point

2678 The last battle of the Fools War (a name long favoured by the media and latter ratified by historians) is fought by rag tag fleets of armed merchant men. The disputed worlds become free colonies. An arms race and cold war ensue, mercenaries and secret agents become the new weapons.

2700 The Covenant is offered a seat in the United Nations and Corporations General Assembly, they respond by sending a Gryph ambassador.


Setting Considerations:

The Covenant Generation is a fairly straightforward future. Other than the faster than light drive, no hypothetical technologies are available. This drive generates a wormhole in a particle collider that provides the negative mass energy essential to forming the space warp around the vessel. The achronality caused by faster than light travel is drained into a second wormhole in the drive. The overall effect is a more-or-less real space, faster than light drive. A related technology is used to produce faster than light communications and sensors. Psionics do not exist at all, but there is a strong “psychic” subculture and popular fiction generally assumes that they are real but being covered up by the government. The human and gryph worlds are fairly uniformly Technology Level 40, while the Dagonites are Technology Level 50. The inheritors of Gnar are only Technology Level 50, but possess every possible advance in genetic and medical technology. The Sheth have not progressed beyond Technology Level 30, but purchase a fair amount of Technology Level 40 equipment from the human colonies.

In general, The Obscure Stars is modelled on the modern world instead of a historical era. Space travel is fairly fast and convenient, communications are nearly instantaneous, and a major power block dictates policy to the majority of human occupied space. The Covenant is more analogous to modern Iraq and North Korea than it is to the United States. In keeping with a modern feel, while some worlds may boast royalty, the majority of worlds are governed by democratic nations. One noteworthy exception is the Infernal Court, as Immortality Incorporated is often called, which is very much a corporation as feudal state, going as far as to call the members of the board of directors “Lords”. Even so, II doesn’t have any imperial ambitions, they just think their pretentious titles are sexy.


The United Nations and Corporations
The worlds closest to earth are governed by the corporations and governments which funded their colonization. Earth itself is divided into nation-states and corporate states which have intense rivalries. At any given time, there is likely to be a brush fire war or revolution occurring somewhere on Earth. The UN&C maintains the largest fleet of war ships in human territory and uses them to enforce the resolutions passed by the members of its Security Council and General Assemblies. On Earth, the UN&C has no military presence at all and must call upon peace keepers volunteered by its members to sort out conflicts. Individual nations and corporations within the UN&C have their own laws and cultures, but these must be within the guidelines set within the UN&C’s Charter, allowing minimum degree of human rights and dignity.

The Infernal Court
Immortality is available to the general public for a price. Immortality Incorporated has a monopoly on Human Rejuvenation Technology so the price is very high. This corporation is managed from the top by an immortal queen, the daughter of the corporation’s original CEO. The company is arranged like a feudal state, and its ageless, hedonistic, nobility are the media darlings of the stellar age. The Infernal Court’s product is illegal in the Covenant, and this has led to a great deal of the animosity between them and the UN&C.

The Covenant
While the Covenant’s worlds are often utopian societies without poverty or war, this has been achieved through questionable means. Many worlds in the Covenant have very little law enforcement beyond church appointed mediators. Criminals and even dissidents are often treated harshly. Corporeal punishment and death sentences are quite common place on some worlds, but the most common punishment is exile. If the offender will not change their ways, a harsh sentence may be commuted if they will leave the Covenant and never return on penalty of death. This policy has lead to a great deal of resentment for the covenant on neighbouring worlds, as has the tendency of some organizations in the Covenant funding mercenary units to carry out reprisals against outsiders who have thought to escape justice.
The individual worlds in the Covenant generally belong to the same religion and have a fairly homogenous culture. Ephraim, the Covenant’s cosmopolitan capital is the most notable exception.

The United Astronomer’s Union
Scientists have rarely enjoyed working for military, corporate, and government institutions. The UAU is a private corporation which crosses political and racial barriers. While their star maps are used extensively across boundaries, their main mission is the collection of astronomical data and the study of stellar phenomena. The mapping division’s work pays for a wide variety of scientific activity. The UAU is governed by a board of directors drawn equally from the share holders, the scientists, and the scouts.

Culture and Entertainment
One major change in the cultures of Earth is the decline of mass market entertainment. By the mid twenty first century, the copyright and patent laws finally collapsed from over use and abuse. As a result, not only has technology progressed at a slower pace with less corporate funding, but the gargantuan budgets and salaries of the twentieth century entertainment industry have been greatly curtailed. Live entertainment thrives, and cultured persons are expected to be able to play a musical instrument, produce works of art, sing, tell stories, or dance for the entertainment of their friends. In general, it is easier for modestly talented entertainer or athlete to obtain an income from their work than it was at the dawn of the twenty first century.

Computer games tend to be integrated with live action activities. Historical and fantastic dramas and role playing events are far more popular than other types of live computer game. These are not played in a primitive virtual reality rig, but with sensor loaded props, costumes, and holographic back drops. Most professional sports have developed an open league structure which plays off local teams, with the champion teams competing in ever higher tiers until they reach the Interstellar Championships. With a professional sports career being a realistic dream, out door athletic activities have also made a strong come back both for players and spectators.

 

[David Johansen]

Dagonites

Appearance: Imagine for a moment, a mosquito, with a single, sail-like fin on its back instead of wings. A four armed, body, shaped like a jalapeno pepper, perched on four spindly legs. Instead of a proboscis, it’s head is dominated by four sharp dangling blades. The whole body is a moist inky grey, covered in slowly shifting darker blotches. There, you go, that’s what a dagonite looks like. Of course, humans rarely see anything other than Dagonites in vaguely lobsterish environment suits anyhow.

Environment: Dagonites were originally native to a small dense greenhouse world with a corrosive atmosphere and a tide locked moon that blocked out a great deal of the harmful radiation that resulted from its close proximity to a red sub-giant star. They are amphibious predators by nature, hunting in the marshy areas that dominate their world. The Dagonites have expanded into a star faring empire in the power vacuum left by the decline of the Gnar.

History: The Dagonite’s native environment is not conductive to the development of many forms of primitive technology. As a result, it has taken them over a million years of recorded history to achieve interstellar travel. During this time they have been enslaved by a number of other races, most recently by the Gnar Bio-Technocrats.

Political Situation: As a result of their enslavement, the Dagonites despise the Gnar. Their entire culture is driven by their desire to eradicate their former masters. The Glimmers are an active part of Dagonite society and have full citizenship and equal status. The Dagonites have good relations with the Gryph, whom they have often hired as mercenaries. Due to the Sheth home world being directly on the front line’s of the war between the Dagonites and the Inheritors of the Gnar, relations with the neutral Sheth are unfriendly and often result in violence. Humanity’s relationship with the Dagonites amounts to thinly veiled hostility and deep distrust, because humans provided the Gnar with the ability to preserve their legacy.

Technology: The Dagonites are more advanced than any other race humanity has encountered. Their base technology level is 60. They use more robots than any other race because they need such extensive life support systems. There are rumours that the Dagonites have some kind of warp gate technology that functions safely in planetary gravity wells that allows them to perform most of their internal trade and commerce without space going freighters. Much of their technology is distinguished by a rough organic shell coating that protects delicate machinery and circuitry from their corrosive environment. Dagonites are totally incapable of speaking human languages and their translator devices are notoriously fickle.

Biology: Dagonite females lay clusters of eggs on the underbellies of large aquatic host animals that are owned by the males. The male will raise any infants that survive and are not devoured by their hosts or various other native animals.

Psychology: The minds of the Dagonites are inscrutable. While they seem to have strong paternal instincts that extend to other races, they allow the majority of their children to be devoured by domestic host organisms. Over all, Dagonites appear to have a deep sense of history which overwhelms their sense of self. Their culture produces nothing that humans would identify as art. The closest word in the Dagonite vocabulary to art is crap. As such, humans often find them dull and yet fanatically brave. However, one scrap of common ground lies between human minds and the Dagonites, both strongly identify with underdogs.

Size Modifier +2
Social Solitary
Reproduction egg laying, 3 genders
Maturation Time 20 years
Native Environment Caustic Swamps
Life Support 240%
Structure Bilateral
Four Arms
Four Legs
Senses
Sight 20 meters
Hearing 20 meters
Smell 20 meters
Movement
Run 60
Swim 60
Fly 0
Characteristics
Agility -10
Dexterity -10
Endurance 0
Knowledge 0
Logic 0
Perception 0
Reflexes -10
Strength +20
Talent -20
Willpower +20
Traits
Hands
Diminished Limb Set
Claws
Sharp Teeth
Chameleon
Caustic Poison Gland
Awareness
Mute
Increased Life Support

Glimmers

Appearance: If you were to crossbreed an F-16 Hornet with a greyhound, cover it in slick skin that blends into the surroundings like a ghost, give it a sharp, jagged beak and large claws, and you’d have a Glimmer.

Environment: The home world of the Glimmers is highly volcanic and often blanketed in corrosive mists. Their bodies are designed to filter large quantities of air through a large intake in the front of their torso and expel it in a jet like burst through vents on their flanks. This allows them to make tremendous bursts of speed or incredible leaps. Whether this feature is a Gnar addition to the base species or a natural trait is unknown, but their ability to breathe in toxic environments has made it possible for the Glimmers to interface with the Dagonite culture.

History: Originally predators The Gnar have altered the base Glimmer racial stock to create a race of infiltrating attack beasts. While it seems likely that the Gnar engineered them to be intelligent, the Glimmers claim to have oral legends dating back to before their enslavement. The Dagonites liberated the Glimmers from the Gnar and have fully integrated them into their society, where the Glimmers often act as spies, commandos, and guards.

Political Situation: The Glimmers are full citizens of Dagonite society. The don’t seem to have the deep seated hatred for the Inheritors of Gnar that their fellows do, but nor do they seem to have the political will to put an end to the war.

Technology: It is likely that the Glimmers would have never gotten out of the stone age without the Dagonites and Gnar. They are well aware of this, but seem to have little interest in technical matters.

Biology: Glimmers are pair bonding egg layers. Generally, the female will make a nest in a sheltered, marshy area, and the male will hunt. A clutch of Glimmer eggs contains three to five eggs.

Psychology: Generally, the Glimmers are an exuberant and energetic species. They like to run, or more particularly to run things down. While normally playful and easily delighted, their ages of enslavement under the Gnar has left them with a tendency towards mood swings, depression, and suicide. While they produce no visual art, the Glimmers have a broad tapestry of myths and legends and are talented storytellers.

Size Modifier -1
Social Small groups
Reproduction egg laying, 3 genders
Maturation Time 13 years
Native Environment Dense Atmosphere
Life Support -30%
Structure Bilateral
Four Legs
Senses
Sight 40
Hearing 20
Smell 10
Movement
Run 120
Swim 30
Fly 0
Characteristics
Agility +5
Dexterity -30
Endurance 0
Knowledge -10
Logic 0
Perception +10
Reflexes +5
Strength -10
Talent -10
Willpower +10
Traits
Awareness
Built For Speed
Chameleon
Claws
Metabolic Overdrive
Sharp Teeth


Gryph

Appearance: A Gryph resembles a small, feathered, predatory dinosaur. Their arms are larger and more developed than those of most terrestrial dinosaurs. Male Gryph are larger than the females, have colourful plumage and extravagant feathered tails. The females tend towards mottled greys and browns, with naked tails.

Environment: Hailing from an world much like earth in it’s primordial ages, the Gryph prefer hot, humid climates. They are particularly fond of broad open spaces where they can chase down their prey.

History: The Gryph are a warrior people. Their societies are less nation states than fluid social hierarchies. The males fight and preen and curry favour, while the females work away, largely oblivious to the ongoing politics. The Gryph achieved interstellar travel about five years before humanity. It is a great matter of debate whether the Gryph developed Warp drives on their own. They have fought numerous wars with all of their neighbours and might well have conquered the human race by now, if they could ever stick to one war at a time.

Political Situation: The Gryph Hierocratcy has been at war with itself and all of its neighbours at one point or another. At the present, they are at peace with the Covenant which seems to have learned how to communicate with Gryph males. Disenfranchised males often work as mercenaries for the Dagonites.

Technology: The Gryph have developed to Technology Level 40, essentially matching the capabilities of humanity. They are particularly fascinated with flying machines and construct these with great skill.

Biology: While their birthrates are about equal, in practice female Gryph generally outnumber the males by a factor of about twenty to one. A male Gryph needs a lot of females to support his lifestyle, so Gryph society centres heavily on mating rituals and competition for mates. Gryph females lay four to eight eggs on a fairly regular basis. The males occasionally get around to fertilizing them. Females seeking to attract a mate will often dye their feathers bright colours. In times of war, forced breeding programs allow the Gryph to expand their numbers and replace losses at an accelerated rate.

Psychology: The Gryph see themselves as flightless birds. They’re pretty sure that it is only by some horrible cosmic fluke are they earthbound. Many of their myths and legends tell of how they lost their place among the clouds. Every Gryph wants, very badly to fly and it is this common urge that has allowed them to overcome their racial infighting and develop technologically. While the males are extremely territorial, vain, and aggressive the females are extremely cooperative, modest and hard working. The Gryph are a very religious race, every male wants to be a god and the most powerful males are deified by those who can claim to be descended from them. They are very innovative creators of abstract patterns and masters of colour, but produce little representational art.

Male Female
Size Modifier +10 -10
Maturation Time
Native Environment
Life Support Requirements
Structure

Senses
Sight 80 meters
Hearing 20 meters
Smell 10 meters
Movement
Run 120
Swim 30
Fly 0
Characteristics
Agility -5 +5
Dexterity -10
Endurance 0
Knowledge 0
Logic 0
Perception 0
Reflexes -5 +10
Strength +10 -10
Talent -10
Willpower +10
Traits
Acute Vision
Awareness
Claws
Complex Courtship
Diminished Limb Set
Hands
Leaping Legs
Sharp Teeth

The Inheritors of the Gnar

Appearance: Originally human, the Inheritors of Gnar look a lot like pale, slender humans, with unearthly alien body parts grafted haphazardly onto them. Generally speaking, the Inheritors have dark hair or none at all. Their bodies are always totally hairless.

Environment: The Gnar had a preference for warm, dry, and shady areas. Their Inheritors have been modified to share this preference.

History: In Earth’s late twenty-second century, China, Western Europe, and North America were in a state of social and ecological collapse. The United Nations and Corporations were overwhelmed by the need for aid and the waves of refugees. It seemed that the excesses of the twentieth century might yet cause humanity’s extinction. At the same time a couple thousand light years away, the last of the Gnar were dying. Their meteoric rise to interstellar dominance, mastery of bio-science, and racial megalomania had led to loss of vital sections of their genetic code. As their birth rate declined, new plagues spread through their arcane living cities and star ships. Five hundred years of progress ended in under a hundred of decline. Their last agents looked to humanity for help. The UN&C gave them millions of refugee children. Historical documents show that the Security Council had hoped to gain Gnar worlds when the last of the species died and the human children matured. They hadn’t counted on the Gnar capability for bio-manipulation. Gnar and human DNA was mingled in the children’s living bodies, chemical therapies were applied. In the end, a race emerged that was neither human, nor Gnar. They were bitter though.

Political Situation: The Dagonites are trying to wipe the Inheritors of Gnar out. The war is terrible beyond human comprehension. Humanity is generally afraid of its lost children and rarely willing to aid them.

Technology: The Gnar were every bit as advanced as the Dagonites, having a Technology Level of 60. Above and beyond that, they were masters of biological manipulation and nano-technology. Most Gnar artifacts have an organic appearance to them. The Inheritors of Gnar are only using the technologies that their creators developed.

Biology: The alterations to the human Genome made by the Gnar are really quite minimal. Every Inheritor has glands that allow them to produce chemical code communications that allow them to interact with Gnar bio-devices as if they were themselves Gnar.

Psychology: Needless to say, the Inheritors of Gnar are pretty messed up. Removed from all the psychological breakthroughs humanity had achieved. Altered by a heartless alien race and left to fight a war with a genocidal enemy, only their desperate need to survive has given the Inheritors the ability to form a coherent society. Individually, the Inheritors tend to be childish, prone to paranoia, quick to anger, and unforgiving. They are also fiercely loyal to anyone who shows them enough patience and kindness to earn their trust.

Size Modifier 0
Maturation Time 17
Native Environment
GV Star

Life Support Requirements x1
Structure
Bilateral
Two Arms
Two Legs
Senses
Sight 40 meters
Hearing 20 meters
Smell 10 meters
Movement
Run 60
Swim 30
Fly 0
Characteristics
Agility 0
Dexterity 0
Endurance 0
Knowledge 0
Logic 0
Perception 0
Reflexes 0
Strength 0
Talent 0
Willpower 0
Traits
Any, Inheritors can purchase racial traits for cash.
Acute Smell
Awareness
Diminished Limb Set
Hands