Click for bigger images
Finally, if you go back to the ruleset post about skills you'll see I have posted a comment there, as I have decided to change the skill die.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
MORE CHARACTERS
Today I present you two more characters for the Necronomicon setting. To be more precise, these are the other two PCs for the adventure "Have you seen the Yellow Sign?", along with the Det. Frank Callahan I showed in a previous post. Note that today's characters, Kitty and Martin, are normal (level 2) characters, whereas Frank was a heroic (level 3) one. You may spot a small change in the layout of the character sheet to make the image look better (as if it were a clipped photograph).
Finally, if you go back to the ruleset post about skills you'll see I have posted a comment there, as I have decided to change the skill die.
Finally, if you go back to the ruleset post about skills you'll see I have posted a comment there, as I have decided to change the skill die.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
GALAXTAR ADVENTURE IDEAS
As I did previously for the Necronomicon setting, now I compile some of the ideas I've had for adventures run in the futuristic setting of Galaxtar. See if you like them.
· COUNTERSTRIKE
This adventure will feature a somewhat complex plot. An old corrupt military officer with connections to the black market is tired of that life, and devises a plan to become "respectable" once again: he'll secretly arrange a valuable alien artifact to be stolen from the military and then he'll publicly recover it and have the robbers executed. The pawns of that plan will be the PCs, a group of mercenaries, contacted to steal some goods from a civil cargo ship (actually an undercover military transport). Once done, they'll travel to a luxury resort to sell the key item to a top level smugglers; but right then an special ops team, lead by the evil guy, will arrest them and send them to a military court to face a swift judgement and sentence to death. But fortunately for them, just before their death sentence is going to be executed, another military officer "saves" them. This officer is legal, and has always suspected of the other one's black market operations. He'll save the PCs' lives with some fake executions in exchange for them uncovering the evil guy's machinations. A new mission that won't be easy, as he's been cleaning all evidences of his former activities; cleaning means killing, of course. They'll have to do quite a lot of research in the underworld to gather enough data to be able to lure the corrupt officer in a trap, having him arrested and their freedom gained.
· DOOMSDAY
Not truly a sequel to the above adventure, but connected to it. The adventurers, a group of smugglers, make an hyperspace jump, but they suffer a strong deviation and appear amidst an asteroid field. Once they break free from it the ship's navigational computers will give them their situation, revealing that the asteroids are what remains of a moon collapsing on its planet. They'll also receive a S.O.S. signal from a nearby smaller moon, the orbit of which has been affected and is on collision course to the same planet. If they track the signal they'll arrive to secret military investigation facilities, where they were experimenting with a doomsday weapon; the experiment that has gone awkward. They were using the artifact from the previous adventure, an experimental teleportation device from the Ancients, joined with a ship's black hole generator. After the rescue, the PCs are already involved with this project, and will face no chance but to accept helping the military in retrieving the notes of the ancient scientist that created the teleportation prototype, so that the weapon can be upgraded before a new test is made. That means travelling to an ancient planet, avoiding being detected, and once on the completely uninhabited surface search for the laboratory. But all of the ancients' planet is guarded by powerful and strange technologies. If the PCs are successful on their mission, they may think twice about contributing to the creation of a doomsday weapon.
· DEADLIEST OF THE SPECIES
This adventure will actively feature two alien species: Goualds and Dalektoids. Some rogue scientists from these races have joined in a common effort to force an artificial evolution of their two species, joining them with humans in what they expect to be the ultimate supreme race (these experiments are in no way endorsed by their authorities, who would consider them heretical and contrary to their racist believes). In order to carry their experiments they have contacted a neogi trader who's willing to provide them with human specimens. But these disappearances have not gone unnoticed by the authorities, and a group of police inspectors (yeah, those are the PCs) are commissioned with investigating them. First specimens come from the downtrodden, so that will misguide the PCs into some gang war and payback. But as the gouald-dalektoid experimentation advances they'll need better specimens to use the best human D.N.A., a fact that should allow the players to become aware that something else, and likely bigger, is going on. Either way eventually they'll come across the neogi trader, from whom information may be elicited for money and impunity. It will be up to the PCs whether they want to personally raid the secret installations of the rogue scientists, or filter the info to their races so they punish them.
· EMPTY HULL
A very simple adventure, which actually is little more than a dungeon crawl in space. The ship in which the PCs (a bunch of people little more than criminals dedicated to salvaging abandoned ships) travel will locate a stress signal from a sligg ship. Suddenly, the PCs' ship switches to automatic mode and approaches the sligg vessel, which is controlling it (a thing of superior technology dominating lesser one). Once the salvage crew abroads the derelict, which is pretty big by the way, they'll soon learn that there are no living beings there. The corpses of several sliggs can be seen scaterred here and there, and studying that and their injuries makes it clear there was some fighting to death for control of the ships. All the while, electronic equipment used by the PCs will begin to have random errors and reseting themselves. Occasional flickers of light in the ship's screens should add to the creepy atmosphere; and point to the presence of artificial intelligence, occupied with studying the adventurers. As it was to be expected, the robots that killed the sligg crew will finally awake and attack; fortunately, just a handful of them are still operative. Once the PCs defeat them (if they do...) they'd better leave the sligg derelict soon, before the damage caused by the blasts makes the ship explode. And once their ship, they could worse than double-check their computers' systems to avoid an artificial intelligent virus to invade it and ultimately unleashing doom upon human civilization.
· TO THE OTHER SIDE AND BACK AGAIN
A military ship from the Serapis system disappears when making an hyperspace jump; neither overly common, nor unheard of. Time later, it reappears in the Myrzam system, and a three members military team, commanded by a lieutenant, is sent to investigate what may have happened. A soldier, a private, from the ship's system is invited, too. Somewhat strangely, two elite troopers from Earth join the mission, with one of them, a sergeant, taking control of the mission and surpassing the Myrzam lieutenant. I plan this just to encourage role-playing and add a bit of tension to the game. The adventure as of itself will begin with the PCs boarding the reappeared ship and investigating it. There are no humans there, but they'll find that some of the utility robots (which lack real A.I.) behave as if they had it... and very malevolent intentions. Also two weird, zombie like, creatures will appear and attack the PCs; even if they are easy to get killed, they "die" with a laugh only to reappear later. All of this is happening because of the pernicious mutative effects of the other side: the ship is now a sentient being. Before they realize they have to destroy the full ship they'll find that the former crew has gone to a nearby moon with a small human colony to evangelize them on the new "other side faith". Or slaughter them. Which is very similar, truth to be told. PCs will endure now a more thought mission to protect the innocent while battling some crazed but well trained former mates.
· FAREWELL, COLONIES
In this adventure the PCs will be a group of four policemen (and a special operations policewoman). I hope to be able to create a very complex plot of economical and political conspiracies all across the human populated systems, but so far I only have some vague ideas regarding said plot; these I present here. Everything will start innocently enough at some customs, when a possible case of corporate smuggling is discovered. A team of police detectives specialized in economical mischiefs is entrusted with the investigation. It will soon turn out to be an industrial spying case, though. Moreover, the involved corporations all have strong political connections. And so, the smuggling was to cover industrial spying, which was to cover political spying. The latter revolves around the rumour of a coup de etat of Earth against the colonies. Tracking the rumour they'll find a goauld, and it would be natural to assume he's the responsible to spread a rumour that would cause frictions in the human civilization, thus weakening it. Yet even he is just a pawn, and the real conspirators are much higher in the power chain. In the end the PCs should be able to prove everything has just been orchestrated to promote independentism amongst the colonies from within them, accusing Earth of pretending to use the colonials as cannon fodder in a massive attack of conquest, and dismantle this machination; although it's unlikely its perpetrators will ever go to jail.
· HAIL TO EARTH
This is a follow-up to the former adventure, but with a different group of PCs (it would be good, though, if the players are the same, for better effect). It turns out that there really was some secret Earth conspiracy to overcome the democratic governments of the colonies and create a militaristic oligarchy to prepare for war. Some radicals of Earth, tired of hearing that humans are the "last", "young" and "weak" race, are embarked in the production of a massive war starfleet, with which they plan to launch a conquest of all the galaxy, exterminating the hostile races and subduing the rest. To be able to man the ships and fight the war it's compulsory that the populations of the seven colonies enlist in the army, and a "no" won't be accepted. Among the high spheres of power, the viability of this plan is doubted, but having a bigger fleet is never a bad thing, and Earth has always consider itself the metropolis and frowned upon colonial independentism. But someone critically fumbled somewhere, letting some secret info slip, and now the mess must be cleaned. The PCs will be the responsible for this, finding the original information leaker and terminating him/her to prevent further errors. Fortunately for them, some well placed misinformation prevented an investigation carried by some colonial policemen to discover the truth; yet, their knowledge makes them dangerous, so they need to be terminated, too (a confrontation that should be fun if the players are the same of the previous game, as I suggested above).
· COLLATERAL DAMAGE
This had to happen. Xenos are too efficient killing machines. Weapon development is a too lucrative business. Scientists are too absorpted with their researches to care about security issues. Add all them together and you'll have this adventure, in which a research carried in an orbital station made to turn the xenos into living weapons has gone awkward with the bugs breaking their confinement and killing everyone. The self-destruction worked fine, but not before some survivors managed to escaped... impregnated. Now a containment crew of special operations agents, the PCs, is sent to take care of the mess. They'll have to track the landing place of the tainted escape pod and follow the signs of the new xeno infestation up to a rural area, where it has spread surprisingly quick. In top of that, a hürn will enter the game, too, because the xenos for the experiment were originally taken from them, and they are not pleased. His mission is to get rid of the xenos and punish the humans. If the PCs play well their cards they may get some help from the hürn regarding the infestation (despite knowing that truce will end soon); but it's more likely they'll have to confront him. Anyway, once the infestation is seemingly controlled, the climax will come with a new menace, as the military intermediary of the experiments has gone crazy and has started to worship the xeno queen, helping her to flee from Earth aboard a military ship. It's up to the PCs to chase them and finish this incident for good.
· COUNTERSTRIKE
This adventure will feature a somewhat complex plot. An old corrupt military officer with connections to the black market is tired of that life, and devises a plan to become "respectable" once again: he'll secretly arrange a valuable alien artifact to be stolen from the military and then he'll publicly recover it and have the robbers executed. The pawns of that plan will be the PCs, a group of mercenaries, contacted to steal some goods from a civil cargo ship (actually an undercover military transport). Once done, they'll travel to a luxury resort to sell the key item to a top level smugglers; but right then an special ops team, lead by the evil guy, will arrest them and send them to a military court to face a swift judgement and sentence to death. But fortunately for them, just before their death sentence is going to be executed, another military officer "saves" them. This officer is legal, and has always suspected of the other one's black market operations. He'll save the PCs' lives with some fake executions in exchange for them uncovering the evil guy's machinations. A new mission that won't be easy, as he's been cleaning all evidences of his former activities; cleaning means killing, of course. They'll have to do quite a lot of research in the underworld to gather enough data to be able to lure the corrupt officer in a trap, having him arrested and their freedom gained.
· DOOMSDAY
Not truly a sequel to the above adventure, but connected to it. The adventurers, a group of smugglers, make an hyperspace jump, but they suffer a strong deviation and appear amidst an asteroid field. Once they break free from it the ship's navigational computers will give them their situation, revealing that the asteroids are what remains of a moon collapsing on its planet. They'll also receive a S.O.S. signal from a nearby smaller moon, the orbit of which has been affected and is on collision course to the same planet. If they track the signal they'll arrive to secret military investigation facilities, where they were experimenting with a doomsday weapon; the experiment that has gone awkward. They were using the artifact from the previous adventure, an experimental teleportation device from the Ancients, joined with a ship's black hole generator. After the rescue, the PCs are already involved with this project, and will face no chance but to accept helping the military in retrieving the notes of the ancient scientist that created the teleportation prototype, so that the weapon can be upgraded before a new test is made. That means travelling to an ancient planet, avoiding being detected, and once on the completely uninhabited surface search for the laboratory. But all of the ancients' planet is guarded by powerful and strange technologies. If the PCs are successful on their mission, they may think twice about contributing to the creation of a doomsday weapon.
· DEADLIEST OF THE SPECIES
This adventure will actively feature two alien species: Goualds and Dalektoids. Some rogue scientists from these races have joined in a common effort to force an artificial evolution of their two species, joining them with humans in what they expect to be the ultimate supreme race (these experiments are in no way endorsed by their authorities, who would consider them heretical and contrary to their racist believes). In order to carry their experiments they have contacted a neogi trader who's willing to provide them with human specimens. But these disappearances have not gone unnoticed by the authorities, and a group of police inspectors (yeah, those are the PCs) are commissioned with investigating them. First specimens come from the downtrodden, so that will misguide the PCs into some gang war and payback. But as the gouald-dalektoid experimentation advances they'll need better specimens to use the best human D.N.A., a fact that should allow the players to become aware that something else, and likely bigger, is going on. Either way eventually they'll come across the neogi trader, from whom information may be elicited for money and impunity. It will be up to the PCs whether they want to personally raid the secret installations of the rogue scientists, or filter the info to their races so they punish them.
· EMPTY HULL
A very simple adventure, which actually is little more than a dungeon crawl in space. The ship in which the PCs (a bunch of people little more than criminals dedicated to salvaging abandoned ships) travel will locate a stress signal from a sligg ship. Suddenly, the PCs' ship switches to automatic mode and approaches the sligg vessel, which is controlling it (a thing of superior technology dominating lesser one). Once the salvage crew abroads the derelict, which is pretty big by the way, they'll soon learn that there are no living beings there. The corpses of several sliggs can be seen scaterred here and there, and studying that and their injuries makes it clear there was some fighting to death for control of the ships. All the while, electronic equipment used by the PCs will begin to have random errors and reseting themselves. Occasional flickers of light in the ship's screens should add to the creepy atmosphere; and point to the presence of artificial intelligence, occupied with studying the adventurers. As it was to be expected, the robots that killed the sligg crew will finally awake and attack; fortunately, just a handful of them are still operative. Once the PCs defeat them (if they do...) they'd better leave the sligg derelict soon, before the damage caused by the blasts makes the ship explode. And once their ship, they could worse than double-check their computers' systems to avoid an artificial intelligent virus to invade it and ultimately unleashing doom upon human civilization.
· TO THE OTHER SIDE AND BACK AGAIN
A military ship from the Serapis system disappears when making an hyperspace jump; neither overly common, nor unheard of. Time later, it reappears in the Myrzam system, and a three members military team, commanded by a lieutenant, is sent to investigate what may have happened. A soldier, a private, from the ship's system is invited, too. Somewhat strangely, two elite troopers from Earth join the mission, with one of them, a sergeant, taking control of the mission and surpassing the Myrzam lieutenant. I plan this just to encourage role-playing and add a bit of tension to the game. The adventure as of itself will begin with the PCs boarding the reappeared ship and investigating it. There are no humans there, but they'll find that some of the utility robots (which lack real A.I.) behave as if they had it... and very malevolent intentions. Also two weird, zombie like, creatures will appear and attack the PCs; even if they are easy to get killed, they "die" with a laugh only to reappear later. All of this is happening because of the pernicious mutative effects of the other side: the ship is now a sentient being. Before they realize they have to destroy the full ship they'll find that the former crew has gone to a nearby moon with a small human colony to evangelize them on the new "other side faith". Or slaughter them. Which is very similar, truth to be told. PCs will endure now a more thought mission to protect the innocent while battling some crazed but well trained former mates.
· FAREWELL, COLONIES
In this adventure the PCs will be a group of four policemen (and a special operations policewoman). I hope to be able to create a very complex plot of economical and political conspiracies all across the human populated systems, but so far I only have some vague ideas regarding said plot; these I present here. Everything will start innocently enough at some customs, when a possible case of corporate smuggling is discovered. A team of police detectives specialized in economical mischiefs is entrusted with the investigation. It will soon turn out to be an industrial spying case, though. Moreover, the involved corporations all have strong political connections. And so, the smuggling was to cover industrial spying, which was to cover political spying. The latter revolves around the rumour of a coup de etat of Earth against the colonies. Tracking the rumour they'll find a goauld, and it would be natural to assume he's the responsible to spread a rumour that would cause frictions in the human civilization, thus weakening it. Yet even he is just a pawn, and the real conspirators are much higher in the power chain. In the end the PCs should be able to prove everything has just been orchestrated to promote independentism amongst the colonies from within them, accusing Earth of pretending to use the colonials as cannon fodder in a massive attack of conquest, and dismantle this machination; although it's unlikely its perpetrators will ever go to jail.
· HAIL TO EARTH
This is a follow-up to the former adventure, but with a different group of PCs (it would be good, though, if the players are the same, for better effect). It turns out that there really was some secret Earth conspiracy to overcome the democratic governments of the colonies and create a militaristic oligarchy to prepare for war. Some radicals of Earth, tired of hearing that humans are the "last", "young" and "weak" race, are embarked in the production of a massive war starfleet, with which they plan to launch a conquest of all the galaxy, exterminating the hostile races and subduing the rest. To be able to man the ships and fight the war it's compulsory that the populations of the seven colonies enlist in the army, and a "no" won't be accepted. Among the high spheres of power, the viability of this plan is doubted, but having a bigger fleet is never a bad thing, and Earth has always consider itself the metropolis and frowned upon colonial independentism. But someone critically fumbled somewhere, letting some secret info slip, and now the mess must be cleaned. The PCs will be the responsible for this, finding the original information leaker and terminating him/her to prevent further errors. Fortunately for them, some well placed misinformation prevented an investigation carried by some colonial policemen to discover the truth; yet, their knowledge makes them dangerous, so they need to be terminated, too (a confrontation that should be fun if the players are the same of the previous game, as I suggested above).
· COLLATERAL DAMAGE
This had to happen. Xenos are too efficient killing machines. Weapon development is a too lucrative business. Scientists are too absorpted with their researches to care about security issues. Add all them together and you'll have this adventure, in which a research carried in an orbital station made to turn the xenos into living weapons has gone awkward with the bugs breaking their confinement and killing everyone. The self-destruction worked fine, but not before some survivors managed to escaped... impregnated. Now a containment crew of special operations agents, the PCs, is sent to take care of the mess. They'll have to track the landing place of the tainted escape pod and follow the signs of the new xeno infestation up to a rural area, where it has spread surprisingly quick. In top of that, a hürn will enter the game, too, because the xenos for the experiment were originally taken from them, and they are not pleased. His mission is to get rid of the xenos and punish the humans. If the PCs play well their cards they may get some help from the hürn regarding the infestation (despite knowing that truce will end soon); but it's more likely they'll have to confront him. Anyway, once the infestation is seemingly controlled, the climax will come with a new menace, as the military intermediary of the experiments has gone crazy and has started to worship the xeno queen, helping her to flee from Earth aboard a military ship. It's up to the PCs to chase them and finish this incident for good.
Friday, September 18, 2009
SAMPLE CHARACTER SHEETS
This has taken me longer than expected, and has been much harder. Yet, here I can present you with three sample characters, one for each of my settings. With these sheets the sketchy ruleset I have in my mind is finally coming to fruition. I'm posting them in the hope that seeing a real example will help you better understand some of the points I've not been able to explain correctly. And I'd expect to ignite your imagination, too.
Lastly, a word from our sponsors (no, not really). One of the companies I added a link to last week, Heresy Miniatures, has just started a sale with discounts up to 35%. Don't miss the opportunity to grab some lead goodness at a superb price! And you may want to have a look at the upcoming BIG dragon (and place a pre-order; I already have one). Did I mention it's BIG?
Click for bigger images
Lastly, a word from our sponsors (no, not really). One of the companies I added a link to last week, Heresy Miniatures, has just started a sale with discounts up to 35%. Don't miss the opportunity to grab some lead goodness at a superb price! And you may want to have a look at the upcoming BIG dragon (and place a pre-order; I already have one). Did I mention it's BIG?
Friday, September 11, 2009
LAYOUT CHANGES
As you can see, this time I have updated the design of the blog. Nothing too fancy again, as I want to keep it dead simple to navigate and use. Just two main variations:
First, I have stretched it, because I think no one still uses a 800x600 resolution. I'm pretty certain that 1024x768 is the new minimum nowadays.
Second, I have inverted colours and use a black background with white text. As my posts are usually long pieces of text (sorry!), I've decided to follow the recommendations to make reading from a screen safer for your sight.
I've tested everything on different resolutions, etc, and seems to work just fine. But if you're experiencing any problem, please post a comment here and I'll try to solve it as soon as possible and to the best of my knowledge.
Also, I have included more links in the appropriate section. Those are sites I frequently visit and companies I buy products from. You may want to check them.
Lastly, I've made some minor editing in some old posts here and there, and added a comment in this one: Arcade Ruleset VI. If you've got nothing better to do, you could have a look at those older posts.
First, I have stretched it, because I think no one still uses a 800x600 resolution. I'm pretty certain that 1024x768 is the new minimum nowadays.
Second, I have inverted colours and use a black background with white text. As my posts are usually long pieces of text (sorry!), I've decided to follow the recommendations to make reading from a screen safer for your sight.
I've tested everything on different resolutions, etc, and seems to work just fine. But if you're experiencing any problem, please post a comment here and I'll try to solve it as soon as possible and to the best of my knowledge.
Also, I have included more links in the appropriate section. Those are sites I frequently visit and companies I buy products from. You may want to check them.
Lastly, I've made some minor editing in some old posts here and there, and added a comment in this one: Arcade Ruleset VI. If you've got nothing better to do, you could have a look at those older posts.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
CLASSES OF AJSALIUM
Unless otherwise stated, these classes are for human characters. There are four main categories for classes: warriors, which includes barbarians, fighters and rangers; magic-users, comprising of druids and wizards; holy men, which are clerics and paladins; and finally rogues, which includes bards and thieves. For non-human, we have the following standard classes: elf ranger, dwarf fighter and orc barbarian.
· BARBARIAN: A primal warrior, an unleashed powerhouse, a barbarian is a powerful foe. Most barbarians come from uncultured, almost primitive, cultures, such as Nhorbar; but there are also those that come from advanced kingdoms but proudly retain the old ways of war. Barbarians disdain armour and self-preservation: for them, the best defence is a good attack, and they happily charge into their enemies, crushing them before they have the chance to react. There's even a certain brutal beauty of seeing a barbarian hack his enemies to pieces; or so the brave warriors from the north say. Their abandon may make for short lives, but that won't matter a barbarian, because all he hopes for it's to die in a blaze of glory. Fighting alongside one can be dangerous, but fighting against him is deadly.
· FIGHTER: In Ajsalium there's never lack of fights. But you must do much more than enter a fight to deserve the title of "fighter". A fighter is also more than just a soldier. A true fighter is someone who soughts to reach always higher levels of martial prowess, and test them in battle against formidable foes. A fighter can't just imagine life without violence and conflict, and is ready to accept them as a way of life, forever sacrificing a peaceful existence. No wonder this psychology has prevailed in Ajsalium given its dark past and uncertain future; in fact, maybe it's because of this toughening of the soul that mortals were able to rival their fiendish enemies. Although fighters tend to be loners at their heart, they are willing to cooperate with others as they understand the tactical advantages of it, so they commonly join parties of adventurers. With them they can keep on fighting, honing their skills until they become legendary heroes; or they may die in a damp corridor, their corpses to serve as a warning of the dangers ahead.
· RANGER: Rangers are the scouts and spies from ajsalian armies, trained to survive alone in the wilds or to leave without a trace in the cities. Loners by nature, rangers soon take to the woods and become hunters or trappers; if they hone their skills enough they may attract the attention of the military, whom can put their abilities to other uses. Yet the individualistic nature of rangers usually makes them abandon their careers and either establish themselves as hermits or join a group of adventurers and quest all around the world. A ranger is always a valuable mate not just for his understanding of the wilds, a place that becomes the second home of most adventurers, and not just for his hunting skills, but also for his tracking ability and good fighting prowess. It's interesting noticing that rangers can still employ much of their knowledges in urban areas, and some even consider themselves urban rangers, in the constantly evolving world of Ajsalium.
· DRUID: Druids are the keepers of the Old Faith: way back in time, humans paid devotion not to the gods, but to Nature itself and every aspect of it. It was believed that there was power everywhere, and it was true, because everything was impregnated by magic. Druids are magic-users, but very different from wizards, because the former have a religious respect for magic, considering it a divine bond that merges the world and its inhabitants together. And despite the fact that religion has changed a lot since the naive old days, and today only god worship is approved, druids keep their simple and naturalistic spirituality. They seek to maintain the natural balance, a pro-active neutrality that often makes them despise the so called "progress"; something that has relegated them to the frontiers of the world. But in no man's land, theirs is the voice of Nature.
· WIZARD: Dragons brought magic to Ajsalium. It's a force that impregnates everything and unites the world. It may be invisible, but still it's there. And wizards learn the ways to manipulate it, and thus, manipulate the world. Wizards are amongst the most ambitious people in the world, as they seek what's considered the ultimate power, the power of the spell, that which equate mortals with immortals. Of course, that is not an easy task to accomplish, and learning the winding ways of magic takes long years of hard study. Only the very disciplined, centered and even stubborn, can hope to achieve a good mastery of magic. That's not the type of people that get along well with others, as they're usually introverts and rather egoistic. The disrespect with which they treat magic puts them at odds with druids; and their lack of faith in the gods does the same with clerics. But nobody will be such a fool as to anger a wizard without good reason, because everybody knows magic is the most formidable weapon.
· CLERIC: Clerics are the ultimate believers; the life of a cleric is devoted to being a perfect mirror of his god. They go far beyond the standard obligations of a devout person, self-imposing a strict code of conduct based on the ethos of a god. For this they can expect the gift of being personally heard by a god, and being rewarded with power, including the holy power over life and death. It is this what grants them important political power, and the basis from which Churches were built. In them, clerics are the focal points, whereas priests, zealous people that conduct masses but lack the true powers of a cleric, are their backbones and the ones who truly constitute the hierarchy. Only old clerics will settle long enough for them to hold some place in a Church, with younger ones travelling in an unending mission of evangelization in the name of their gods, showing their power through their deeds and smashing their enemies.
· PALADIN: A paladin is a shining beacon of light amidst the darkness of the world. They are considered living saints by many, and dangerous fools by others; and both may be right. A paladin feels he must become a perfect embodiment of some virtue, such as valour, love, light, honour... and defend it with the sword, a strong arm and a stronger heart. It's the abstract approach to the divine what differentiates them mostly from clerics, as their faith is of a different kind. And it's what explains why they don't belong to any Church; although all of the latter try to befriend the paladins and give them shelter and support, if only for the popular estimation they (usually) have. Yet no paladin will stay anywhere for long, for they can't never overcome the impulse to search for new lands to cleanse, and fight the darkness till death claims them. Unfortunately, in Ajsalium there's never a shortage of deeds and quests for them to perform.
· BARD: Seeing them in their colourful clothes and cheerful playing you wouldn't imagine them crawling in the darkest corridors of forgotten dungeons, would you? But you'd be wrong. A bard is, first and foremost, the ultimate hedonist, but a consequent one: he's ready to put his life at risk in a quest for strong emotions. It is from the raw flush of adrenalin that his odes come. When a bard sings about desperate struggles against horrid monsters, he knows what he's talking about. And a good bard, who's a master of his arts, is able to transmit those emotions to their spectators, up to a point where he can give hope to the desperate and valour to the coward; truly there's magic in their music. Bards also join adventuring parties to travel around the world, meet new cultures and learn from their traditions, later to re-tell them elsewhere. Thanks to them the world is a richer place.
· THIEF: Swift hands and disdain for the law define a thief. Beyond that, everything is possible: from idealistic revolutionaries that steal from the rich and give to the poor, to ugly faced thugs that break the fingers of the enemies of "the guild". As long as you can make a living and it doesn't seem like proper work it's fine. And what better promise than an ancient tomb full of gold for anyone who finds it? And when you have problems with the law wherever you go, keeping on moving is a good idea. Thus it's common for thieves joining other adventurers, beneficial both to them and their mates. Because even though you'll always have to keep an eye on your possesions, a thief's numerous and varied abilities can be helpful: unlocking doors, disarming traps, entering supposedly impenetrable fortresses, getting funds when things are tight... A thief is a jack-of-all-trades , and proud of it.
· ELF RANGER: Given that elves have accepted the inevitability of their demise it's rare to see one outside the limits of their domains (Vidolgreen, Rintölle and Yanathanil); the very few that leave them are likely to be rangers. An elf ranger is charged with patrolling their woods and make sure no enemies penetrate them. Elf rangers are legendary archers; in fact, legends go as far as suggesting that elite rangers practice a weird magical archery unknown to other races. This active duty make them less passive than the rest of their kind, and some may go as far as deciding the best way to protect the inner peace of elven sanctuaries is to patrol the frontiers and beyond them. Yet, it's very rare for an elf to leave his land, and when they do so is just because given their long lifespans travelling for a couple of decades seems like a mere moment. They learn as much as they can about the current situation of the world and later go back to spread the word amongst their elders.
· DWARF FIGHTER: Dwarves have a fame for being stubborn and unshakable; and when it comes to war, they know how to make them into two martial virtues. Dwarven fighters are soldiers, heirs of a millennia long military tradition that has imbued its tactics in them almost innately. Perfectioned by long years of continuous training dwarves can built phalanxes as impenetrable as a stone wall. But lately they've been charged with another duty, for the mines that are the core of the dwarven race are getting depleted. Young and intrepid fighters are now discreetly searching across the world for new ores and a place for their people to settle, far from the ancient mountains of Eternock and Drakpac. They are slightly more common to see than an elf (or an orc), but yet most humans will die without ever seeing one. The minering knowledge every dwarf has makes them capable prospectors, and their fighting abilities ensure their survival.
· ORC BARBARIAN: Most humans, and elves, and dwarves, think that orc and barbarian are synonymous. Orcs themselves couldn't agree more. Orc society is primitive, compared to that of the other major races, as it's based on savagery; and that is translated into the behaviour of orcs, who are feral warriors. But unlike human barbarians, there's little in the field of honour and courage for orcs, being replaced for sheer brutality and animalistic aggressiveness. For all of this, and more reasons, orcs will never be accepted amidst mankind, so you can only expect to see one near the orc territories of the Isles of Broken Spine and Nhorbar (or very cosmopolitan and tolerant cities such as Lonjhumar). If he's not up for hire as mercenary he may join a party of adventurers of dubious morals.
Lastly, I admit that in my original sketches, there were more classes. Those ones have been eliminated so far just because I know myself well enough to know that unless I keep the development of the game small and easy I'll never finish it. But should I release the completed rules someday, next expansion would include those classes, which are the following: for humans, martial artist, sorcerer, witch hunter and duellist; for elves, wizard and wardancer; for dwarves, cleric and inventor; and finally three "overpowered" classes, for races whose natural talents make them perfect for specific roles: half-dragon paladin, half-infernal wizard, and half-ogre barbarian.
· BARBARIAN: A primal warrior, an unleashed powerhouse, a barbarian is a powerful foe. Most barbarians come from uncultured, almost primitive, cultures, such as Nhorbar; but there are also those that come from advanced kingdoms but proudly retain the old ways of war. Barbarians disdain armour and self-preservation: for them, the best defence is a good attack, and they happily charge into their enemies, crushing them before they have the chance to react. There's even a certain brutal beauty of seeing a barbarian hack his enemies to pieces; or so the brave warriors from the north say. Their abandon may make for short lives, but that won't matter a barbarian, because all he hopes for it's to die in a blaze of glory. Fighting alongside one can be dangerous, but fighting against him is deadly.
· FIGHTER: In Ajsalium there's never lack of fights. But you must do much more than enter a fight to deserve the title of "fighter". A fighter is also more than just a soldier. A true fighter is someone who soughts to reach always higher levels of martial prowess, and test them in battle against formidable foes. A fighter can't just imagine life without violence and conflict, and is ready to accept them as a way of life, forever sacrificing a peaceful existence. No wonder this psychology has prevailed in Ajsalium given its dark past and uncertain future; in fact, maybe it's because of this toughening of the soul that mortals were able to rival their fiendish enemies. Although fighters tend to be loners at their heart, they are willing to cooperate with others as they understand the tactical advantages of it, so they commonly join parties of adventurers. With them they can keep on fighting, honing their skills until they become legendary heroes; or they may die in a damp corridor, their corpses to serve as a warning of the dangers ahead.
· RANGER: Rangers are the scouts and spies from ajsalian armies, trained to survive alone in the wilds or to leave without a trace in the cities. Loners by nature, rangers soon take to the woods and become hunters or trappers; if they hone their skills enough they may attract the attention of the military, whom can put their abilities to other uses. Yet the individualistic nature of rangers usually makes them abandon their careers and either establish themselves as hermits or join a group of adventurers and quest all around the world. A ranger is always a valuable mate not just for his understanding of the wilds, a place that becomes the second home of most adventurers, and not just for his hunting skills, but also for his tracking ability and good fighting prowess. It's interesting noticing that rangers can still employ much of their knowledges in urban areas, and some even consider themselves urban rangers, in the constantly evolving world of Ajsalium.
· DRUID: Druids are the keepers of the Old Faith: way back in time, humans paid devotion not to the gods, but to Nature itself and every aspect of it. It was believed that there was power everywhere, and it was true, because everything was impregnated by magic. Druids are magic-users, but very different from wizards, because the former have a religious respect for magic, considering it a divine bond that merges the world and its inhabitants together. And despite the fact that religion has changed a lot since the naive old days, and today only god worship is approved, druids keep their simple and naturalistic spirituality. They seek to maintain the natural balance, a pro-active neutrality that often makes them despise the so called "progress"; something that has relegated them to the frontiers of the world. But in no man's land, theirs is the voice of Nature.
· WIZARD: Dragons brought magic to Ajsalium. It's a force that impregnates everything and unites the world. It may be invisible, but still it's there. And wizards learn the ways to manipulate it, and thus, manipulate the world. Wizards are amongst the most ambitious people in the world, as they seek what's considered the ultimate power, the power of the spell, that which equate mortals with immortals. Of course, that is not an easy task to accomplish, and learning the winding ways of magic takes long years of hard study. Only the very disciplined, centered and even stubborn, can hope to achieve a good mastery of magic. That's not the type of people that get along well with others, as they're usually introverts and rather egoistic. The disrespect with which they treat magic puts them at odds with druids; and their lack of faith in the gods does the same with clerics. But nobody will be such a fool as to anger a wizard without good reason, because everybody knows magic is the most formidable weapon.
· CLERIC: Clerics are the ultimate believers; the life of a cleric is devoted to being a perfect mirror of his god. They go far beyond the standard obligations of a devout person, self-imposing a strict code of conduct based on the ethos of a god. For this they can expect the gift of being personally heard by a god, and being rewarded with power, including the holy power over life and death. It is this what grants them important political power, and the basis from which Churches were built. In them, clerics are the focal points, whereas priests, zealous people that conduct masses but lack the true powers of a cleric, are their backbones and the ones who truly constitute the hierarchy. Only old clerics will settle long enough for them to hold some place in a Church, with younger ones travelling in an unending mission of evangelization in the name of their gods, showing their power through their deeds and smashing their enemies.
· PALADIN: A paladin is a shining beacon of light amidst the darkness of the world. They are considered living saints by many, and dangerous fools by others; and both may be right. A paladin feels he must become a perfect embodiment of some virtue, such as valour, love, light, honour... and defend it with the sword, a strong arm and a stronger heart. It's the abstract approach to the divine what differentiates them mostly from clerics, as their faith is of a different kind. And it's what explains why they don't belong to any Church; although all of the latter try to befriend the paladins and give them shelter and support, if only for the popular estimation they (usually) have. Yet no paladin will stay anywhere for long, for they can't never overcome the impulse to search for new lands to cleanse, and fight the darkness till death claims them. Unfortunately, in Ajsalium there's never a shortage of deeds and quests for them to perform.
· BARD: Seeing them in their colourful clothes and cheerful playing you wouldn't imagine them crawling in the darkest corridors of forgotten dungeons, would you? But you'd be wrong. A bard is, first and foremost, the ultimate hedonist, but a consequent one: he's ready to put his life at risk in a quest for strong emotions. It is from the raw flush of adrenalin that his odes come. When a bard sings about desperate struggles against horrid monsters, he knows what he's talking about. And a good bard, who's a master of his arts, is able to transmit those emotions to their spectators, up to a point where he can give hope to the desperate and valour to the coward; truly there's magic in their music. Bards also join adventuring parties to travel around the world, meet new cultures and learn from their traditions, later to re-tell them elsewhere. Thanks to them the world is a richer place.
· THIEF: Swift hands and disdain for the law define a thief. Beyond that, everything is possible: from idealistic revolutionaries that steal from the rich and give to the poor, to ugly faced thugs that break the fingers of the enemies of "the guild". As long as you can make a living and it doesn't seem like proper work it's fine. And what better promise than an ancient tomb full of gold for anyone who finds it? And when you have problems with the law wherever you go, keeping on moving is a good idea. Thus it's common for thieves joining other adventurers, beneficial both to them and their mates. Because even though you'll always have to keep an eye on your possesions, a thief's numerous and varied abilities can be helpful: unlocking doors, disarming traps, entering supposedly impenetrable fortresses, getting funds when things are tight... A thief is a jack-of-all-trades , and proud of it.
· ELF RANGER: Given that elves have accepted the inevitability of their demise it's rare to see one outside the limits of their domains (Vidolgreen, Rintölle and Yanathanil); the very few that leave them are likely to be rangers. An elf ranger is charged with patrolling their woods and make sure no enemies penetrate them. Elf rangers are legendary archers; in fact, legends go as far as suggesting that elite rangers practice a weird magical archery unknown to other races. This active duty make them less passive than the rest of their kind, and some may go as far as deciding the best way to protect the inner peace of elven sanctuaries is to patrol the frontiers and beyond them. Yet, it's very rare for an elf to leave his land, and when they do so is just because given their long lifespans travelling for a couple of decades seems like a mere moment. They learn as much as they can about the current situation of the world and later go back to spread the word amongst their elders.
· DWARF FIGHTER: Dwarves have a fame for being stubborn and unshakable; and when it comes to war, they know how to make them into two martial virtues. Dwarven fighters are soldiers, heirs of a millennia long military tradition that has imbued its tactics in them almost innately. Perfectioned by long years of continuous training dwarves can built phalanxes as impenetrable as a stone wall. But lately they've been charged with another duty, for the mines that are the core of the dwarven race are getting depleted. Young and intrepid fighters are now discreetly searching across the world for new ores and a place for their people to settle, far from the ancient mountains of Eternock and Drakpac. They are slightly more common to see than an elf (or an orc), but yet most humans will die without ever seeing one. The minering knowledge every dwarf has makes them capable prospectors, and their fighting abilities ensure their survival.
· ORC BARBARIAN: Most humans, and elves, and dwarves, think that orc and barbarian are synonymous. Orcs themselves couldn't agree more. Orc society is primitive, compared to that of the other major races, as it's based on savagery; and that is translated into the behaviour of orcs, who are feral warriors. But unlike human barbarians, there's little in the field of honour and courage for orcs, being replaced for sheer brutality and animalistic aggressiveness. For all of this, and more reasons, orcs will never be accepted amidst mankind, so you can only expect to see one near the orc territories of the Isles of Broken Spine and Nhorbar (or very cosmopolitan and tolerant cities such as Lonjhumar). If he's not up for hire as mercenary he may join a party of adventurers of dubious morals.
Lastly, I admit that in my original sketches, there were more classes. Those ones have been eliminated so far just because I know myself well enough to know that unless I keep the development of the game small and easy I'll never finish it. But should I release the completed rules someday, next expansion would include those classes, which are the following: for humans, martial artist, sorcerer, witch hunter and duellist; for elves, wizard and wardancer; for dwarves, cleric and inventor; and finally three "overpowered" classes, for races whose natural talents make them perfect for specific roles: half-dragon paladin, half-infernal wizard, and half-ogre barbarian.
Monday, August 31, 2009
THEORY OF ADVENTURE DESIGN
I've said time and again that the Arcade Ruleset is intended to provide fast and fun gameplay. There's an emphasis in being GM friendly - as his is always the worst part - providing a set of rules that are very easy to learn and general enough to convey most situations.
Yet, this is a game, and is governed by a set of rules. Those rules will dictate what can be done, and what don't. And that limit should be taken into account when designing an adventure; as this is not a precise simulator of real life, there are many things that you can imagine that won't be playable with these rules. So, before making an adventure, try to concentrate on the rules for a while, because they are the "language" in which the adventure must be written.
Basically, in any roleplaying game there are two types of encounters: combat encounters, and non-combat ones. With my ruleset the latest can be subdivided into skill test encounters, and powers encounters. A combat encounter is what it sounds: a fight on any kind, that will risk the lives or wellbeing of its participants. A skill test encounter means that a character has found some kind of obstacle, and to be able to do what he wants must proof himself valid. A powers encounters (in lieu of a better denomination) is similar to a skill test one, but with a biggest emphasis on the protagonism of a character: his will be the spotlight, showing that it is thanks to his special uniqueness that obstacles can be overcome and the plot advanced.
And for an adventure to be fun it should be as varied as possible. Which means that all three kind of encounters should be used in any adventure. Don't have the PCs always fighting for their lives, but threat them every now and then. Similarly, show them there are many difficulties to face in the world, but that many of them can be overcome. And this is very important: make sure every player have fun by giving their PCs their fifteen minutes of fame. One of the good points of being a GM is that when you write an adventure you already know the PCs; having that in mind, always write at least one encounter per PC in which he may shine; if possible, make them two. It's nice for a player to feel his character has made an essential contribution to the adventure.
But how should an adventure be structured? In my opinion the best way to do so is using a cinematographic approach, which means thinking the adventure in terms of scenes. Write the adventure as if it were the script of a movie; that means structuring it with the typical introduction-plot-conclusion scheme, too. The introduction serves two goals: getting the PCs know each other (unless we're talking about an ongoing campaign) and involve them in the adventure. Don't be afraid of breaking the old cliche of starting with all the PCs together and take for granted they already know each other; introducing them in successive scenes will give much more realism to the story.
But, of course, a rpg is not the same as a movie, because you must take into account a key element: those perky players, and their weird decisions. That said, the introduction and the conclusion scenes can be pretty much rail-roaded without it affecting the game's playability; it's what the players will expect, after all.
The plot will be a whole different matter. It is there where there's never any single way to do things; even if you think the "right" decisions for the PCs are very obvious, they are not. More, there's no such a thing as "right decisions", because during the development of the plot the game no longer belongs to the GM, but to the PCs. After all, they are the protagonists. What I'm trying to say is that, even if it's good to present ways to advance in a very obvious way, you can't seriously expect that the PCs will follow a linear plot (unless you force them, a bad habit that takes most of the fun from a game).
And all that means you'll have to write extra scenes, quite a good bunch of them. And they can be of any of these three kinds: alternate paths, dead end paths, or floating scenes.
Alternate paths, as the name suggests, are different ways to reach the same place. They can make things more dangerous or more safe; quicker (less scenes than the "original" plot) or slower (more scenes). With alternate paths is important to tie their benefits or perils with good or bad playing on the PCs part; good alternatives should be the result of players using well their characters, and vice versa. And there's always the same old alternative: left or right corridor? You, the GM, know they are the same, but it will give the players the sense that their decisions can influence how the game goes. Infact, it would be good if you considered the "original plot line" just as another alternate path, and take on writing the adventures including many alternatives since the beginning.
Dead end paths are either side quests or false clues (these can be misinformation or misunderstandings too). They are a series of scenes that won't later connect with the main plot, so what's the point with them? Actually, they are pretty useful, and serve different purposes. The first purpose is slowing things when they're going too fast; the Arcade ruleset is intended to provide a fast gameplay, but sometimes the PCs are too good and the adventure is menaced to be ended within an hour; trying to make them follow a side quest will ensure a little more time. A second purpose is adding difficulty to the adventure; evil guys should not be stupid, and they sure will try to mislead would-be do-gooders. Or adding ethical questions; for example: the main plot may require the PCs to act quickly, but won't they spend a little time to save an innocent? Yet a very important use for dead end paths usually overlooked is giving realism to the adventure. Sure, the PCs are the protagonists, but that doesn't mean the world revolves around them; foiling them into leading what finally has nothing to do with them or the main plot will give them, and the adventure, a nice reality bath.
Finally we have the floating scenes. They are a more evolved equivalent of what in D&D tradition were the random encounters. They are very similar to dean end paths in that they don't really belong to the core of the plot, and the uses they can be given. The main difference is that floating scenes have no predefined starting point, and can be thrown at the players almost at any moment. In order for that to work properly they must be short and very generic. In fact, they can be so generic that you may recycle them from one adventure to another, and always keep a bunch of floating scenes made for a setting. For example: in Ajsalium, heroes may be attacked by a hungry griffon whenever they are in the wilds; in Necronomicon, the players can suffer a theft attempt whenever they are just going anywhere; or in Galaxtar, hyperspace jumps can always go wrong and put the adventurers in the middle of an asteroid field.
Has all this rung a bell to you? Likely it has, because it's has been done before: "choose your adventure books". Very popular for teenagers, they are a full genre based on the concepts I've just exposed. So if you want a good example just grab one of these books from your collection (or ask your friends for one, if you don't own any, what would be rare for a roleplayer, that is what I assume every one following this blog will be).
Yet, this is a game, and is governed by a set of rules. Those rules will dictate what can be done, and what don't. And that limit should be taken into account when designing an adventure; as this is not a precise simulator of real life, there are many things that you can imagine that won't be playable with these rules. So, before making an adventure, try to concentrate on the rules for a while, because they are the "language" in which the adventure must be written.
Basically, in any roleplaying game there are two types of encounters: combat encounters, and non-combat ones. With my ruleset the latest can be subdivided into skill test encounters, and powers encounters. A combat encounter is what it sounds: a fight on any kind, that will risk the lives or wellbeing of its participants. A skill test encounter means that a character has found some kind of obstacle, and to be able to do what he wants must proof himself valid. A powers encounters (in lieu of a better denomination) is similar to a skill test one, but with a biggest emphasis on the protagonism of a character: his will be the spotlight, showing that it is thanks to his special uniqueness that obstacles can be overcome and the plot advanced.
And for an adventure to be fun it should be as varied as possible. Which means that all three kind of encounters should be used in any adventure. Don't have the PCs always fighting for their lives, but threat them every now and then. Similarly, show them there are many difficulties to face in the world, but that many of them can be overcome. And this is very important: make sure every player have fun by giving their PCs their fifteen minutes of fame. One of the good points of being a GM is that when you write an adventure you already know the PCs; having that in mind, always write at least one encounter per PC in which he may shine; if possible, make them two. It's nice for a player to feel his character has made an essential contribution to the adventure.
But how should an adventure be structured? In my opinion the best way to do so is using a cinematographic approach, which means thinking the adventure in terms of scenes. Write the adventure as if it were the script of a movie; that means structuring it with the typical introduction-plot-conclusion scheme, too. The introduction serves two goals: getting the PCs know each other (unless we're talking about an ongoing campaign) and involve them in the adventure. Don't be afraid of breaking the old cliche of starting with all the PCs together and take for granted they already know each other; introducing them in successive scenes will give much more realism to the story.
But, of course, a rpg is not the same as a movie, because you must take into account a key element: those perky players, and their weird decisions. That said, the introduction and the conclusion scenes can be pretty much rail-roaded without it affecting the game's playability; it's what the players will expect, after all.
The plot will be a whole different matter. It is there where there's never any single way to do things; even if you think the "right" decisions for the PCs are very obvious, they are not. More, there's no such a thing as "right decisions", because during the development of the plot the game no longer belongs to the GM, but to the PCs. After all, they are the protagonists. What I'm trying to say is that, even if it's good to present ways to advance in a very obvious way, you can't seriously expect that the PCs will follow a linear plot (unless you force them, a bad habit that takes most of the fun from a game).
And all that means you'll have to write extra scenes, quite a good bunch of them. And they can be of any of these three kinds: alternate paths, dead end paths, or floating scenes.
Alternate paths, as the name suggests, are different ways to reach the same place. They can make things more dangerous or more safe; quicker (less scenes than the "original" plot) or slower (more scenes). With alternate paths is important to tie their benefits or perils with good or bad playing on the PCs part; good alternatives should be the result of players using well their characters, and vice versa. And there's always the same old alternative: left or right corridor? You, the GM, know they are the same, but it will give the players the sense that their decisions can influence how the game goes. Infact, it would be good if you considered the "original plot line" just as another alternate path, and take on writing the adventures including many alternatives since the beginning.
Dead end paths are either side quests or false clues (these can be misinformation or misunderstandings too). They are a series of scenes that won't later connect with the main plot, so what's the point with them? Actually, they are pretty useful, and serve different purposes. The first purpose is slowing things when they're going too fast; the Arcade ruleset is intended to provide a fast gameplay, but sometimes the PCs are too good and the adventure is menaced to be ended within an hour; trying to make them follow a side quest will ensure a little more time. A second purpose is adding difficulty to the adventure; evil guys should not be stupid, and they sure will try to mislead would-be do-gooders. Or adding ethical questions; for example: the main plot may require the PCs to act quickly, but won't they spend a little time to save an innocent? Yet a very important use for dead end paths usually overlooked is giving realism to the adventure. Sure, the PCs are the protagonists, but that doesn't mean the world revolves around them; foiling them into leading what finally has nothing to do with them or the main plot will give them, and the adventure, a nice reality bath.
Finally we have the floating scenes. They are a more evolved equivalent of what in D&D tradition were the random encounters. They are very similar to dean end paths in that they don't really belong to the core of the plot, and the uses they can be given. The main difference is that floating scenes have no predefined starting point, and can be thrown at the players almost at any moment. In order for that to work properly they must be short and very generic. In fact, they can be so generic that you may recycle them from one adventure to another, and always keep a bunch of floating scenes made for a setting. For example: in Ajsalium, heroes may be attacked by a hungry griffon whenever they are in the wilds; in Necronomicon, the players can suffer a theft attempt whenever they are just going anywhere; or in Galaxtar, hyperspace jumps can always go wrong and put the adventurers in the middle of an asteroid field.
Has all this rung a bell to you? Likely it has, because it's has been done before: "choose your adventure books". Very popular for teenagers, they are a full genre based on the concepts I've just exposed. So if you want a good example just grab one of these books from your collection (or ask your friends for one, if you don't own any, what would be rare for a roleplayer, that is what I assume every one following this blog will be).
Sunday, August 23, 2009
NECRONOMICON ADVENTURE IDEAS
This is a kind of Commonplace Post for the ideas I've had so far for Necronomicon adventures. They are listed in no particular order, and you'll soon see that most of them are just a bare skeleton or a simple bunch of ideas. If things go as expected, someday these plots will be expanded; until then, here you have what my insane mind has come across after one too many Lovecraft stories and horror films.
· HAVE YOU SEEN THE YELLOW SIGN?
This adventure will begin with the disappearance of a young woman, in the city of San Francisco. Her sister Kitty (first PC) will go to the police to seek help. There, the case will be given to veteran detective Frank (second PC). Together they'll begin the investigation by searching for the former boyfriend of the girl, a scum named Baker (third PC). Only thing he'll know is that she has met some new friends some months ago, and spent more and more time with them, until they split up about a month ago. Said "new friends" are actually a sect, leaded by a decadent "artist" that has fallen under the influence of the Yellow Sign, and has rescued some of Erich Zann's unearthly compositions, by means of which he has created strange melodies that have drug-like effects, to which his acolytes are totally addicted. The bad part is that the music has the effect of heightening sensory input, leading to more intense pleasure, but ultimately to extreme and excruciating pain too; and worse, it's drawing the attention of some entity from far beyond. It's up to the PCs to find about the sect and locate them before it's too late, so they can rescue the missing girl before she dies or goes irremediably mad.
· BELOW THE SANDS
Unlike most of my projected Necronomicon adventures, this one will be on the pulpy side of the mythos. Basically, it's a dungeon crawl across the sand-buried Irem, City of Pillars, that has just appeared from below the sands in the Sinai peninsula. There's gonna be five PCs: two Jewish brothers working for a secret section of Israel's Mossad service, the Cabala: they want to uncover and rescue the secrets of the practitioners of dark arts from Erim. Next we have an English female archaeologist and adventuress, who just wants to explore this mythical locale. Finally there's an American tomb raider and plunderer and his Arab guide, both caring only to get some valuable treasures. I hope to get these three parties to confront each other, to add to the tension of the adventure. Regarding Ir em, they'll soon learn that old Ir em actually was built over an even older city, not of human origin. The deeper they go, the more they'll learn about this, but the closer they'll be to releasing forgotten monsters best left alone.
· PHANTASM
This adventure is based on the movies of the same title (four of them so far). A strange and very sinister mortician has come to a small town; in itself, there's nothing wrong about that. A close relative to one of the PCs will die, and when he visits the cemetery will spot, by chance, the mortician performing something weird with the corpses. After recruiting some help, the PCs can watch over the mortician, but they'll finally be discovered and attacked; they'd better run away. The mortician is, in fact, a creature from some other plane of existence, that came to being when a lone scientist from the beginnings of the XX century devised a machine that allowed him to perceive different realities separated from ours by their different vibrations; too successful, he actually opened a door, and a golden sentient sphere seven inches across crossed it, grossly replacing his brain. He's become an immortal being, that has been amassing an army made with animated corpses, and floating steel spheres. If the PCs survive to learn all this, they may conceive of a plan to imprison him for good in an alternate reality, or even destroy the golden sphere that is his core.
· ALTERNATE SCIENCE
The idea for this adventure was born when the new Large Hadron Collider was created some months ago in Europe; and the stupid controversy regarding the possibility of creating a black hole that would swallow Earth. The device is intended to provide better knowledge of the first stages of the universe, just after the Big Bang. And then I thought: Azathoth is the pure nuclear chaos; what if He actually were everything our universe is not, the sum of every alternate universe created by every bifurcation in the path of existence, all of them coexisting simultaneously? And what if some mad scientist, a secret follower of the mythos, planned to alter the experiments to recreate not the Big Bang, but the opposite, i.e. Azathoth? That would result in the destruction of our universe. Maybe he's been inspired by Nyarlathotep, who likes cheating, and will "only" create a black hole that would destroy our solar system. Either way, his early experiments would create disturbances strong enough for weird phenomena to happen in the region where the hadron collider lies. That's what would draw the attention of the PCs, a series of little unconected "adventures". If they're clever enough they'll find only thing they have in common is being close to the collider, which will lead them to the final confrontation to stop the final fatal experiment.
· THE OLD WAYS ARE BETTER
There's a village in the Basque Country, the Valley of Carranza, that's the closest to Dunwich that you may come across; the most rural town of a very rural region. In many ways, civilization has not reached them. There's an interesting geological formation there, and absolutely enormous cave. It's logical to think that a village that still lives from cattle would give big importance to fertility; and there's a fertility goddess in the mythos, Shub-Niggurath. Whom, for some reason, it's worshipped by the mi-go, the fungi from Yuggoth, who come to our planet for mining. So that cave is not natural, is a mine that the mi-go exploited centuries ago. Those fungi met the people from Carranza and taught them the worship of Shub-Niggurath. And that cult has survived to the present days, in that secluded place. But when some infants disappear (to be used as a sacrifice in a ritual that's repeated whenever the stars are right to retain the favour of the black mother) the police decides to investigate. The PCs will be these policemen, of course, who will have to fight against the wall of silence and the cultists.
· MYSTERIES OF THE WORM
I had the desire to write an adventure about ghouls. I also had some ideas regarding the alien secrets of the book De Vermis Mysteriis. And I had the desire to create an adventure about vampires, reimagined the Lovecraft way. Now all three sources are joined in a single adventure, based on the following background: Nepfren-Ka, the black pharaoh, summoned something, some "worm", from the stars, that merged with him and transformed him into the devourer of souls. After he was dethroned and executed, from his corpse exuded some things that needed human blood to survive. Provided to them by human servants, these immortal vampires hided in the dark corners of Europe. Yet the corruption that emanated from them created the first ghouls, no longer human and not exactly alive, infested by worms from the crypts; that spread like a plague all across the world. Regarding the adventure itself, it will begin when some books are stolen from the library of the Miskatonic University. The PCs will be two professors and three students. Chasing the suspected robber, a guy named D'erlette, they will come to Europe; and there's a plot twist here, for when they confront him they'll realize he's not a bad guy, but someone who is searching for a way to exterminate the ghouls, reversing the original summoning spell, becoming one of the PCs. In a second plot twist, one of the professors will be revealed as a bad guy, of ghoul heritage, that will try to stop them and release a horde of ghouls.
· THE HOUSE
Haunted houses are a well established horror cliche, and they too have been given the mythos twist in stories such as The Rats in the Walls or The Dreams of the Witch House. The background is about a house that was built upon unholy ground, one of those places where the fabric of reality is somewhat thinner; and it was built using arcane non-euclidean geometry, to allow for extra-planar connections. The builder died now more than two centuries ago, and his last descendant has just inherited the house. Trying to inhabit it, he's seen a number of strange phenomena and had wild nightmares, so he gets the aid of the rest of the PCs to investigate what's wrong. And that's that from the arcane gateway a strange ooze is leaking, that's impregnating the house and giving it its own conscience, and also infiltrating people's minds. PCs better discover this and abandon the house and set for its demolition) before they go mad.
· TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO DREAM
I have always loved everything oniric, so I have fond feelings for Lovecraft's Dreamland, and feel like directing an adventure set there. But it won't be a light-hearted one, as it will revolve around an evil leader of a sect, a very powerful dreamer that's conquering the Dreamlands and getting increasingly more power; a power that he hopes to be able to retain in the waking world, something that may be viable if he keeps syphoning his followers' souls. PCs will be other dreamers, who must travel the Dreamlands undoing the evil guy's biddings, and finally confronting him (perhaps in Carcosa?). I may create some special rules for this adventure, to govern how mere willpower is able to affect the Dreamlands, or even allowing the expense of Sanity Points to gain powers, at the risk of losing sanity and becoming a permanent inhabitant of the Dreamlands.
· OPERATION FISHERMAN
Cthulhu's best know worshippers, the deep ones, deserve to appear in a Necronomicon adventure. I've thought about giving the players some fun with a pulpy scenario, happily killing deep ones. This adventure is inspired by the finale of The Shadow over Innsmouth: government agents raid said town and destroy Devil's Reef. I'll translate that to the present times, and so the PCs will be federal agents and/or soldiers putting an end to the nefarious history of Innsmouth. Of course, things won't be too easy because it's a whole town we're talking about, and the sheer number of hideous hybrids may overcome the army forces; should they be able to push the PCs to the shore, the aid of true deep ones may make survival a little though. And the desperate rash attempt made by the Marsh family to summon Mother Hydra to possess their matriarch can unleash hell on earth rather literally.
· HAVE YOU SEEN THE YELLOW SIGN?
This adventure will begin with the disappearance of a young woman, in the city of San Francisco. Her sister Kitty (first PC) will go to the police to seek help. There, the case will be given to veteran detective Frank (second PC). Together they'll begin the investigation by searching for the former boyfriend of the girl, a scum named Baker (third PC). Only thing he'll know is that she has met some new friends some months ago, and spent more and more time with them, until they split up about a month ago. Said "new friends" are actually a sect, leaded by a decadent "artist" that has fallen under the influence of the Yellow Sign, and has rescued some of Erich Zann's unearthly compositions, by means of which he has created strange melodies that have drug-like effects, to which his acolytes are totally addicted. The bad part is that the music has the effect of heightening sensory input, leading to more intense pleasure, but ultimately to extreme and excruciating pain too; and worse, it's drawing the attention of some entity from far beyond. It's up to the PCs to find about the sect and locate them before it's too late, so they can rescue the missing girl before she dies or goes irremediably mad.
· BELOW THE SANDS
Unlike most of my projected Necronomicon adventures, this one will be on the pulpy side of the mythos. Basically, it's a dungeon crawl across the sand-buried Irem, City of Pillars, that has just appeared from below the sands in the Sinai peninsula. There's gonna be five PCs: two Jewish brothers working for a secret section of Israel's Mossad service, the Cabala: they want to uncover and rescue the secrets of the practitioners of dark arts from Erim. Next we have an English female archaeologist and adventuress, who just wants to explore this mythical locale. Finally there's an American tomb raider and plunderer and his Arab guide, both caring only to get some valuable treasures. I hope to get these three parties to confront each other, to add to the tension of the adventure. Regarding Ir em, they'll soon learn that old Ir em actually was built over an even older city, not of human origin. The deeper they go, the more they'll learn about this, but the closer they'll be to releasing forgotten monsters best left alone.
· PHANTASM
This adventure is based on the movies of the same title (four of them so far). A strange and very sinister mortician has come to a small town; in itself, there's nothing wrong about that. A close relative to one of the PCs will die, and when he visits the cemetery will spot, by chance, the mortician performing something weird with the corpses. After recruiting some help, the PCs can watch over the mortician, but they'll finally be discovered and attacked; they'd better run away. The mortician is, in fact, a creature from some other plane of existence, that came to being when a lone scientist from the beginnings of the XX century devised a machine that allowed him to perceive different realities separated from ours by their different vibrations; too successful, he actually opened a door, and a golden sentient sphere seven inches across crossed it, grossly replacing his brain. He's become an immortal being, that has been amassing an army made with animated corpses, and floating steel spheres. If the PCs survive to learn all this, they may conceive of a plan to imprison him for good in an alternate reality, or even destroy the golden sphere that is his core.
· ALTERNATE SCIENCE
The idea for this adventure was born when the new Large Hadron Collider was created some months ago in Europe; and the stupid controversy regarding the possibility of creating a black hole that would swallow Earth. The device is intended to provide better knowledge of the first stages of the universe, just after the Big Bang. And then I thought: Azathoth is the pure nuclear chaos; what if He actually were everything our universe is not, the sum of every alternate universe created by every bifurcation in the path of existence, all of them coexisting simultaneously? And what if some mad scientist, a secret follower of the mythos, planned to alter the experiments to recreate not the Big Bang, but the opposite, i.e. Azathoth? That would result in the destruction of our universe. Maybe he's been inspired by Nyarlathotep, who likes cheating, and will "only" create a black hole that would destroy our solar system. Either way, his early experiments would create disturbances strong enough for weird phenomena to happen in the region where the hadron collider lies. That's what would draw the attention of the PCs, a series of little unconected "adventures". If they're clever enough they'll find only thing they have in common is being close to the collider, which will lead them to the final confrontation to stop the final fatal experiment.
· THE OLD WAYS ARE BETTER
There's a village in the Basque Country, the Valley of Carranza, that's the closest to Dunwich that you may come across; the most rural town of a very rural region. In many ways, civilization has not reached them. There's an interesting geological formation there, and absolutely enormous cave. It's logical to think that a village that still lives from cattle would give big importance to fertility; and there's a fertility goddess in the mythos, Shub-Niggurath. Whom, for some reason, it's worshipped by the mi-go, the fungi from Yuggoth, who come to our planet for mining. So that cave is not natural, is a mine that the mi-go exploited centuries ago. Those fungi met the people from Carranza and taught them the worship of Shub-Niggurath. And that cult has survived to the present days, in that secluded place. But when some infants disappear (to be used as a sacrifice in a ritual that's repeated whenever the stars are right to retain the favour of the black mother) the police decides to investigate. The PCs will be these policemen, of course, who will have to fight against the wall of silence and the cultists.
· MYSTERIES OF THE WORM
I had the desire to write an adventure about ghouls. I also had some ideas regarding the alien secrets of the book De Vermis Mysteriis. And I had the desire to create an adventure about vampires, reimagined the Lovecraft way. Now all three sources are joined in a single adventure, based on the following background: Nepfren-Ka, the black pharaoh, summoned something, some "worm", from the stars, that merged with him and transformed him into the devourer of souls. After he was dethroned and executed, from his corpse exuded some things that needed human blood to survive. Provided to them by human servants, these immortal vampires hided in the dark corners of Europe. Yet the corruption that emanated from them created the first ghouls, no longer human and not exactly alive, infested by worms from the crypts; that spread like a plague all across the world. Regarding the adventure itself, it will begin when some books are stolen from the library of the Miskatonic University. The PCs will be two professors and three students. Chasing the suspected robber, a guy named D'erlette, they will come to Europe; and there's a plot twist here, for when they confront him they'll realize he's not a bad guy, but someone who is searching for a way to exterminate the ghouls, reversing the original summoning spell, becoming one of the PCs. In a second plot twist, one of the professors will be revealed as a bad guy, of ghoul heritage, that will try to stop them and release a horde of ghouls.
· THE HOUSE
Haunted houses are a well established horror cliche, and they too have been given the mythos twist in stories such as The Rats in the Walls or The Dreams of the Witch House. The background is about a house that was built upon unholy ground, one of those places where the fabric of reality is somewhat thinner; and it was built using arcane non-euclidean geometry, to allow for extra-planar connections. The builder died now more than two centuries ago, and his last descendant has just inherited the house. Trying to inhabit it, he's seen a number of strange phenomena and had wild nightmares, so he gets the aid of the rest of the PCs to investigate what's wrong. And that's that from the arcane gateway a strange ooze is leaking, that's impregnating the house and giving it its own conscience, and also infiltrating people's minds. PCs better discover this and abandon the house and set for its demolition) before they go mad.
· TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO DREAM
I have always loved everything oniric, so I have fond feelings for Lovecraft's Dreamland, and feel like directing an adventure set there. But it won't be a light-hearted one, as it will revolve around an evil leader of a sect, a very powerful dreamer that's conquering the Dreamlands and getting increasingly more power; a power that he hopes to be able to retain in the waking world, something that may be viable if he keeps syphoning his followers' souls. PCs will be other dreamers, who must travel the Dreamlands undoing the evil guy's biddings, and finally confronting him (perhaps in Carcosa?). I may create some special rules for this adventure, to govern how mere willpower is able to affect the Dreamlands, or even allowing the expense of Sanity Points to gain powers, at the risk of losing sanity and becoming a permanent inhabitant of the Dreamlands.
· OPERATION FISHERMAN
Cthulhu's best know worshippers, the deep ones, deserve to appear in a Necronomicon adventure. I've thought about giving the players some fun with a pulpy scenario, happily killing deep ones. This adventure is inspired by the finale of The Shadow over Innsmouth: government agents raid said town and destroy Devil's Reef. I'll translate that to the present times, and so the PCs will be federal agents and/or soldiers putting an end to the nefarious history of Innsmouth. Of course, things won't be too easy because it's a whole town we're talking about, and the sheer number of hideous hybrids may overcome the army forces; should they be able to push the PCs to the shore, the aid of true deep ones may make survival a little though. And the desperate rash attempt made by the Marsh family to summon Mother Hydra to possess their matriarch can unleash hell on earth rather literally.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
ARCADE RULESET (VI): ASSIGNING STATS
As promised, in this last entry to introduce you to the Arcade ruleset (and help me to define the frame of it), I'll explain how scores are assigned to the different stats.
First of all, any creature (hero, npc, monster) would be assigned a level; and levels are assigned certain "construction" points. The higher the level, more points. This is the level/points chart I've sketched so far (note it's not a linear progression):
Level 1: 10 points
Level 2: 15 points
Level 3: 21 points
Level 4: 28 points
Level 5: 36 points
Level 6: 45 points
Level 7: 55 points
Level 8: 66 points
Level 9: 78 points
Level 10: 91 points
With these points you can buy stats, at the following costs. Most combat stats cost two construction points, because they are a matter of life and death: HP, MAR, MDR, RAR and RDR. The other combat stats as well as skills stats are cheaper, needing only one point: MOV, INI, FOR, AGI, PER, DEX, INT, KNO and SOC.
In Ajsalium, class powers will cost from 1 to 3 points, depending on how useful they are. Magical Resistance's cost is two points; Mana Points are cheaper, just one point.
In Necronomicon, investigative specializations will cost two points (as it's an investigative game, I deem reasonable to make them somewhat expensive, as they'll be the most used stats). Sanity Points will cost one point.
In Galaxtar, skill specialities will cost one point.
It's important to know that there's a "level 0 template". Said template has a minimum of attributes that make something exists, and so you don't need to spend points in acquiring, for example, the first HP, or the first three MOV points. Also, monsters may range from level 1/4 to 15, with the following points assignation:
Level 1/4: 3 points
Level 1/2: 6 points
Level 11: 105 points
Level 12: 120 points
Level 13: 136 points
Level 14: 153 points
Level 15: 171 points
Lastly, some differences between the different settings in which these rules are to be used:
Ajsalium is created with an old-style flavour. That means two things: it will feature legendary heroes, ranging from levels 1 to 10. Also, they are divided in different classes, and I plan to provide exact stats for every class at every level. In other words, PCs will be pre-generated, and you'll only have to copy the stats in a blank character sheet.
Necronomicon is very different in style. The PCs are not heroes, but ordinary people facing the inexplicable. That will be translated, rules-wise, in only having levels 2 and 3 (level 1 would make them too helpless, even for my taste!). Also, there are not classes. So, players will be given the adequate points (15 or 21), and they can use them to create their character as they see fit. Some restriction rules may be added to avoid unbalanced PCs.
Galaxtar will work out in a similar way to Necronomicon. But as it's more action oriented, there will be three levels to choose from: 2, 4 and 6 (15, 28 and 45 points, respectively). That should allow for the cinematographic action so fashionable nowadays. In theory, and as of today, there won't be classes, but freedom to create PCs as wanted. Yet, so far I can only think of adventures created for policemen, soldiers, mercenaries or criminals; so I may at the very least create the pre-generated versions of those professions.
First of all, any creature (hero, npc, monster) would be assigned a level; and levels are assigned certain "construction" points. The higher the level, more points. This is the level/points chart I've sketched so far (note it's not a linear progression):
Level 1: 10 points
Level 2: 15 points
Level 3: 21 points
Level 4: 28 points
Level 5: 36 points
Level 6: 45 points
Level 7: 55 points
Level 8: 66 points
Level 9: 78 points
Level 10: 91 points
With these points you can buy stats, at the following costs. Most combat stats cost two construction points, because they are a matter of life and death: HP, MAR, MDR, RAR and RDR. The other combat stats as well as skills stats are cheaper, needing only one point: MOV, INI, FOR, AGI, PER, DEX, INT, KNO and SOC.
In Ajsalium, class powers will cost from 1 to 3 points, depending on how useful they are. Magical Resistance's cost is two points; Mana Points are cheaper, just one point.
In Necronomicon, investigative specializations will cost two points (as it's an investigative game, I deem reasonable to make them somewhat expensive, as they'll be the most used stats). Sanity Points will cost one point.
In Galaxtar, skill specialities will cost one point.
It's important to know that there's a "level 0 template". Said template has a minimum of attributes that make something exists, and so you don't need to spend points in acquiring, for example, the first HP, or the first three MOV points. Also, monsters may range from level 1/4 to 15, with the following points assignation:
Level 1/4: 3 points
Level 1/2: 6 points
Level 11: 105 points
Level 12: 120 points
Level 13: 136 points
Level 14: 153 points
Level 15: 171 points
Lastly, some differences between the different settings in which these rules are to be used:
Ajsalium is created with an old-style flavour. That means two things: it will feature legendary heroes, ranging from levels 1 to 10. Also, they are divided in different classes, and I plan to provide exact stats for every class at every level. In other words, PCs will be pre-generated, and you'll only have to copy the stats in a blank character sheet.
Necronomicon is very different in style. The PCs are not heroes, but ordinary people facing the inexplicable. That will be translated, rules-wise, in only having levels 2 and 3 (level 1 would make them too helpless, even for my taste!). Also, there are not classes. So, players will be given the adequate points (15 or 21), and they can use them to create their character as they see fit. Some restriction rules may be added to avoid unbalanced PCs.
Galaxtar will work out in a similar way to Necronomicon. But as it's more action oriented, there will be three levels to choose from: 2, 4 and 6 (15, 28 and 45 points, respectively). That should allow for the cinematographic action so fashionable nowadays. In theory, and as of today, there won't be classes, but freedom to create PCs as wanted. Yet, so far I can only think of adventures created for policemen, soldiers, mercenaries or criminals; so I may at the very least create the pre-generated versions of those professions.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
RACES OF GALAXTAR
Here are the races that are to be found in the Galaxtar setting. The first seven races are the ones that have signed the Pact of Major Races talked about in the previous post; the latter three are not members of said Pact, yet they're an important element in the galaxy. Without further ado, and in no particular order, here they are:
HUMANS: I'll take for granted you know what a human is. You should.
GOUALD: Parasites, shaped like a small serpent; when they reach maturity they're four-five inches long, and can still grow up to one foot before they're too old for implantation and start gruesome cancerigenous mutations that lead them to death. They have genetic memory, which allows them to quickly apprehend the knowledge from other races. When they infest a body, they grow inside gradually replacing every organ, starting with the nervous system. They've been parasiting humans for centuries, but now have to choose minor races. They are extremely aggressive, cruel and vain, and are at odds with most civilizations; despite being weakened, their kingdom still spans dozens of systems.
ASGARD: Little grey men, about five feet tall, lithe body, long limbs, big head with two enormous black eyes. All of them are extremely intelligent, and of a benevolent and civilized nature. That's made theirs a very advanced technologically and benevolent race (yet, they own a fearsome fleet of state-of-the-art warships). They are asexual, and reproduce via an artificial cloning process, but unfortunately the successive copies are maiming their DNA quality and their race is in a decline that not even their scientific knowledge seem able to overcome. In the XXI century allied themselves with humans, and keep good relations with them up to date.
SLIGG: Reptilian humanoids, very similar in frame to fit humans, but covered with little greenish-brownish scales; they are very tough and posses extreme healing capabilities, that medically improved can grant them up to regeneration. They are a bellicose race, and so proud of themselves that they're xenophobic and isolationists. But after milennia they became lazy, and developed the dangerous technology of Artificial Intelligence in order to build robots that fighted for them and served them. They finally gave the robots the responsibility of designing new models, and it didn't take long for a rise of the robots against their sligg masters, whom they seek to replace.
PLANT-MEN: This is the only sentient race in the galaxy that has evolved from the vegetal world. Yet they are (very) vaguely humanoid, although there's a great deal of randomness regarding their aspect and number of limbs/branches; also their skin, similar in compostion and texture to rubber is covered by very thin grass that is used for photosynthesis. Having very long lifespans have made them calm and patient, if somewhat apathetic. Their neutrality has granted them many times the role of lawyers and arbiters in galactic conflicts, which has made them evolve from a passive position to a more active one, seeking to maintain neutral balance in the galaxy.
DALEKTOIDS: Disgusting bugs cross of a crab and an octopus, the mishappen result of trying to force evolution during a nuclear civil war countless centuries ago. They are so physically weak that they must live perpetually connected to machines, to protect them. But being good engineers, basic support allows them to survive in a great variety of environments, and move levitating. Furthermore they can join minds and think like a hive; the backdrop of this being that they've grown so used to doing so their individual intelligence has dropped. Fascists at the extreme, they keep one of the biggest galactic empire sustained through mere cruelty, and their obsession with conquest is barely refrained by the Pact.
ANCIENTS: As far as it's known, the ancients were the first sentient race to appear in the galaxy. They have huge bald heads (three or four feet wide), with pointy ears and two little antenna coming out of the forehead; the rest of the body is very small and nearly atrophied. They have telekinesis, which they use both for propelling themselves and manipulating objects. Anyway, everything about them should be said using the past tense, because they have disappeared a long time ago. It's speculated that they finally found the absolute knowledge they were seaking, and that allowed them to transcend to a higher plane of existence, whatever that means.
NEOGI: The merchants, smugglers and slavers of the galaxy. Their look is that of a huge spider with a humanoid face atop a serpentine neck; and their behaviour is as disgusting as their looks. They don't claim any system as their own; in fact, they no longer have a known natal world. Travelling in enormous ships they engage in any kind of commerce with all races of the galaxy; and although even the vilest ones despise them, everybody ends up dealing with them.
HÜRN: The ultimate predators. Rather similar to big and strong humans, except for their ugly faces with four mandibles; they see infrared radiation instead of common light. They only inhabit their natal planet, and are limited in numbers, but it's been impossible to conquest them. They live for the thrill of the hunt, and they specially enjoy hunting sentient races; a single hürn can easily stalk and kill dozens, collecting their skulls as trophies.
XENOS: The most dangerous species out there. Humanoid, covered with a black chitinous exoskeleton, with wicked claws, a dangerous tail and a elongated eyeless head that holds a deadly secondary mouth; and best not forget their acidic blood. They infestate living beings (which kills them) for incubation; and spread like a wild fire. Many worlds have fallen under them; and the only good news is that they behave like vermin, apparently lacking true intelligence.
HUMANS: I'll take for granted you know what a human is. You should.
GOUALD: Parasites, shaped like a small serpent; when they reach maturity they're four-five inches long, and can still grow up to one foot before they're too old for implantation and start gruesome cancerigenous mutations that lead them to death. They have genetic memory, which allows them to quickly apprehend the knowledge from other races. When they infest a body, they grow inside gradually replacing every organ, starting with the nervous system. They've been parasiting humans for centuries, but now have to choose minor races. They are extremely aggressive, cruel and vain, and are at odds with most civilizations; despite being weakened, their kingdom still spans dozens of systems.
ASGARD: Little grey men, about five feet tall, lithe body, long limbs, big head with two enormous black eyes. All of them are extremely intelligent, and of a benevolent and civilized nature. That's made theirs a very advanced technologically and benevolent race (yet, they own a fearsome fleet of state-of-the-art warships). They are asexual, and reproduce via an artificial cloning process, but unfortunately the successive copies are maiming their DNA quality and their race is in a decline that not even their scientific knowledge seem able to overcome. In the XXI century allied themselves with humans, and keep good relations with them up to date.
SLIGG: Reptilian humanoids, very similar in frame to fit humans, but covered with little greenish-brownish scales; they are very tough and posses extreme healing capabilities, that medically improved can grant them up to regeneration. They are a bellicose race, and so proud of themselves that they're xenophobic and isolationists. But after milennia they became lazy, and developed the dangerous technology of Artificial Intelligence in order to build robots that fighted for them and served them. They finally gave the robots the responsibility of designing new models, and it didn't take long for a rise of the robots against their sligg masters, whom they seek to replace.
PLANT-MEN: This is the only sentient race in the galaxy that has evolved from the vegetal world. Yet they are (very) vaguely humanoid, although there's a great deal of randomness regarding their aspect and number of limbs/branches; also their skin, similar in compostion and texture to rubber is covered by very thin grass that is used for photosynthesis. Having very long lifespans have made them calm and patient, if somewhat apathetic. Their neutrality has granted them many times the role of lawyers and arbiters in galactic conflicts, which has made them evolve from a passive position to a more active one, seeking to maintain neutral balance in the galaxy.
DALEKTOIDS: Disgusting bugs cross of a crab and an octopus, the mishappen result of trying to force evolution during a nuclear civil war countless centuries ago. They are so physically weak that they must live perpetually connected to machines, to protect them. But being good engineers, basic support allows them to survive in a great variety of environments, and move levitating. Furthermore they can join minds and think like a hive; the backdrop of this being that they've grown so used to doing so their individual intelligence has dropped. Fascists at the extreme, they keep one of the biggest galactic empire sustained through mere cruelty, and their obsession with conquest is barely refrained by the Pact.
ANCIENTS: As far as it's known, the ancients were the first sentient race to appear in the galaxy. They have huge bald heads (three or four feet wide), with pointy ears and two little antenna coming out of the forehead; the rest of the body is very small and nearly atrophied. They have telekinesis, which they use both for propelling themselves and manipulating objects. Anyway, everything about them should be said using the past tense, because they have disappeared a long time ago. It's speculated that they finally found the absolute knowledge they were seaking, and that allowed them to transcend to a higher plane of existence, whatever that means.
NEOGI: The merchants, smugglers and slavers of the galaxy. Their look is that of a huge spider with a humanoid face atop a serpentine neck; and their behaviour is as disgusting as their looks. They don't claim any system as their own; in fact, they no longer have a known natal world. Travelling in enormous ships they engage in any kind of commerce with all races of the galaxy; and although even the vilest ones despise them, everybody ends up dealing with them.
HÜRN: The ultimate predators. Rather similar to big and strong humans, except for their ugly faces with four mandibles; they see infrared radiation instead of common light. They only inhabit their natal planet, and are limited in numbers, but it's been impossible to conquest them. They live for the thrill of the hunt, and they specially enjoy hunting sentient races; a single hürn can easily stalk and kill dozens, collecting their skulls as trophies.
XENOS: The most dangerous species out there. Humanoid, covered with a black chitinous exoskeleton, with wicked claws, a dangerous tail and a elongated eyeless head that holds a deadly secondary mouth; and best not forget their acidic blood. They infestate living beings (which kills them) for incubation; and spread like a wild fire. Many worlds have fallen under them; and the only good news is that they behave like vermin, apparently lacking true intelligence.
Monday, August 3, 2009
BRIEF HISTORY OF GALAXTAR
First, let me explain that I claim no originality whatsoever in this setting. It is but a mere collage of different things that I like; you'll soon find plenty of references to Stargate, Galactica, Aliens, Riddick... I have not cared about changing the names of those "copied" things, although I will twist them every now and then, so they fit better together and contribute to a grim atmosphere.
Now let's get started with history:
At the beginning of the XXI century, a routinous archaeological excavation in Egypt discovered an ancient device of very advanced technology that was named "stargate". This stargate allowed for the teleportation from Earth to different planets containing working stargates. It was soon realized that most, if not all, inhabitable planets in the galaxy had these devices. At the same time, mankind learnt that Earth had belonged to the Gouald Kingdom, providing both hosts and slaves for the parasitic goualds.
These, infuriated by seeing Earth bound humans had become so advanced and that they were promoting rebellion amongst the goualds' human slaves, tried to stop their exploring the galaxy. Yet, despite their superiority, the guerilla-like nature of the conflict allowed the humans to resist against their new enemies, and even have some significant victories. All the while, alien technology falling in human hands allowed for a scientific boost. Moreover, humans also met the Asgards, another alien race that had historically opposed the goualds.
Finally, in the last years of XXI century, humans won due respect and were accepted in the galaxy-wide Pact of Major Races. Among other things, it meant that they were not the possesion of the Gouald Kingdom, and so they had to offer freedom to all their slaves, and search for a different species to parasite from then on. Yet half of the slaves chose to continue with their lives; and it was not such a bad idea, because all freed humans had to migrate to an already overpopulated Earth, whose population doubled within a decade.
The next century is commonly referred to as the "lost" one. Extreme starvation plagues very soon led to conflicts, struggles, and war. Even though mankind avoided falling in a World War Three, more than fifty different wars erupted (which had the dubious benefit of keeping population controlled). The little resources that were not spent on the military were destined to the space race, now more a space sprint searching for habitable planets.
Of course, being acknowledged as a Major Race didn't include the posession of any useful system. Mankind had to settle for seven systems that had planets that were inhabitable but could be, in theory, terraformed. This process was started as soon as possible, medium of XXII century. The living conditions of the pioneers were horrible, but actually not much worse than what Earth was like those days; and official propaganda worked hard to give a halo of heroism to the pioneers.
By the early XXIII century terraforming had been completed, and massive migrations began. Yet mankind had to suffer one more misfortune. Goualds were still hostile towards humans, and they appealed to an obscure passage in the Pact to claim the stargates of human planets as their own. After a long legal battle humans only kept the Earth stargate, losing the ones from the seven colonies. Starship technology allowed only for slower than light speeds, and that was clearly insufficient for the needs of mankind. And building stargates was still far from human science. An alternative teleportation method was created, one that every other race in the galaxy had banned millennia ago because of its risk: the creation of controlled mini black holes, with which the space continuum is pierced. Of course, those maneuvers can't be made anywhere near a celestial object, because there's always a minimun gravity leak. And every now and then, ships get lost in the void of "the other side" when the black hole generator malfunctions. And what's worse, some of them later return.
Finally established and with difficulties overcome, humans had truly become a spacefaring race. Scientific knowledge was free to develop again, and great attention was put in genetics. The old medical motto of "prevention better than curing" was put to an extreme with the genetic manipulation of human ADN to make our races stronger and far more resilient. This investigation was not a bed of roses, and many disastrous failures and much ethical and political debate took place before it was finally incorporated into everyday life. Also, colonies may had been terraformed, yet they all had specific particularities; in order to compensate them, more genetic engineer "tuned" the colonies' inhabitants to their habitats, around the turn of the XXIII century into the XXIV.
Comparatively, this last century has seemed the more placid one in a lot of time. Which doesn't mean nothing has happened.
Externally, the race of the Ancients, founders of the Pact of Major Races and developers of most of the technology spread throughout the galaxy, have been declared officially extinct, after millennia since their sudden and misteryous disappearance. Sliggs, a proud and militaristic race of humanoid reptilians, whose empire is bigger than any other one, are entangled in an internal war against their own cybernetic creations; and it is believed they are losing it.
Meanwhile, internally, human tendency towards independentism is causing tension in the political relations of Earth and Colonies. The fact that the latest are significantly close to each other, whereas the former stands very far apart is joined by the totalitarian ways of directing politics from the capital. In the other hand, this XXIV century has seen a rise in economical corporation power unmatched since the fierce neo-liberal years of the XX century. Enterprises buying political influence has only lead to more destabilization and corruption spreading like a wild fire, now that the XXV is already here.
Now let's get started with history:
At the beginning of the XXI century, a routinous archaeological excavation in Egypt discovered an ancient device of very advanced technology that was named "stargate". This stargate allowed for the teleportation from Earth to different planets containing working stargates. It was soon realized that most, if not all, inhabitable planets in the galaxy had these devices. At the same time, mankind learnt that Earth had belonged to the Gouald Kingdom, providing both hosts and slaves for the parasitic goualds.
These, infuriated by seeing Earth bound humans had become so advanced and that they were promoting rebellion amongst the goualds' human slaves, tried to stop their exploring the galaxy. Yet, despite their superiority, the guerilla-like nature of the conflict allowed the humans to resist against their new enemies, and even have some significant victories. All the while, alien technology falling in human hands allowed for a scientific boost. Moreover, humans also met the Asgards, another alien race that had historically opposed the goualds.
Finally, in the last years of XXI century, humans won due respect and were accepted in the galaxy-wide Pact of Major Races. Among other things, it meant that they were not the possesion of the Gouald Kingdom, and so they had to offer freedom to all their slaves, and search for a different species to parasite from then on. Yet half of the slaves chose to continue with their lives; and it was not such a bad idea, because all freed humans had to migrate to an already overpopulated Earth, whose population doubled within a decade.
The next century is commonly referred to as the "lost" one. Extreme starvation plagues very soon led to conflicts, struggles, and war. Even though mankind avoided falling in a World War Three, more than fifty different wars erupted (which had the dubious benefit of keeping population controlled). The little resources that were not spent on the military were destined to the space race, now more a space sprint searching for habitable planets.
Of course, being acknowledged as a Major Race didn't include the posession of any useful system. Mankind had to settle for seven systems that had planets that were inhabitable but could be, in theory, terraformed. This process was started as soon as possible, medium of XXII century. The living conditions of the pioneers were horrible, but actually not much worse than what Earth was like those days; and official propaganda worked hard to give a halo of heroism to the pioneers.
By the early XXIII century terraforming had been completed, and massive migrations began. Yet mankind had to suffer one more misfortune. Goualds were still hostile towards humans, and they appealed to an obscure passage in the Pact to claim the stargates of human planets as their own. After a long legal battle humans only kept the Earth stargate, losing the ones from the seven colonies. Starship technology allowed only for slower than light speeds, and that was clearly insufficient for the needs of mankind. And building stargates was still far from human science. An alternative teleportation method was created, one that every other race in the galaxy had banned millennia ago because of its risk: the creation of controlled mini black holes, with which the space continuum is pierced. Of course, those maneuvers can't be made anywhere near a celestial object, because there's always a minimun gravity leak. And every now and then, ships get lost in the void of "the other side" when the black hole generator malfunctions. And what's worse, some of them later return.
Finally established and with difficulties overcome, humans had truly become a spacefaring race. Scientific knowledge was free to develop again, and great attention was put in genetics. The old medical motto of "prevention better than curing" was put to an extreme with the genetic manipulation of human ADN to make our races stronger and far more resilient. This investigation was not a bed of roses, and many disastrous failures and much ethical and political debate took place before it was finally incorporated into everyday life. Also, colonies may had been terraformed, yet they all had specific particularities; in order to compensate them, more genetic engineer "tuned" the colonies' inhabitants to their habitats, around the turn of the XXIII century into the XXIV.
Comparatively, this last century has seemed the more placid one in a lot of time. Which doesn't mean nothing has happened.
Externally, the race of the Ancients, founders of the Pact of Major Races and developers of most of the technology spread throughout the galaxy, have been declared officially extinct, after millennia since their sudden and misteryous disappearance. Sliggs, a proud and militaristic race of humanoid reptilians, whose empire is bigger than any other one, are entangled in an internal war against their own cybernetic creations; and it is believed they are losing it.
Meanwhile, internally, human tendency towards independentism is causing tension in the political relations of Earth and Colonies. The fact that the latest are significantly close to each other, whereas the former stands very far apart is joined by the totalitarian ways of directing politics from the capital. In the other hand, this XXIV century has seen a rise in economical corporation power unmatched since the fierce neo-liberal years of the XX century. Enterprises buying political influence has only lead to more destabilization and corruption spreading like a wild fire, now that the XXV is already here.
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