Freehold, a D&D 5E project

In the very limited amount of tabletop gaming I've been doing (really any gaming; between work, kids, buying a house, Dawning Star, etc, I don't have a lot of free time), I've mainly been playing D&D 5E lately, so my brain has been percolating some ideas when its not focused on Dawning Star. I have a very long commute these days and while a lot of it is spent listening to history podcasts, I also spend time noodling around game design ideas. This is a result of that. If folks are interested in seeing the googledoc that is the evolving text of this project, let me know.

D&D campaign design traditionally begin on the macro-scale, detailing entire campaign nations, worlds, or planes and allowing players to select from a vast swath of races, nations, cultures, etc, when creating characters.  I prefer going the other direction; keeping settings small and intimate, where every detail, character, and resource is important.  Where every character is deeply tied to the immediate surroundings, with any outsiders being the exception rather than the norm. If no one plays the archetypal residents of a region and everyone is a strange outsider, it just feels weird to me. This worked pretty well back in the day with Dawning Star, which was a sci-fi setting focused on a single planet/stellar system rather than some massive, galactic scale setting where the actions of individuals gets lost.  Thus I’ve been working on brainstorming what is effectively a add-on D&D rule set for running a macro-scale, focused, intimate type of D&D campaign.  The type where all the PCs have never been more than fifty miles from their village unless the random character creation process (to be posted later and blatantly stolen on a conceptual level from Beyond the Wall) says so.  The campaign will grow in scope over time, but initially and for the first few levels, it’s entirely focused on one village and the characters who live there and defend it.  

This rules set would be an add-on to 5E D&D focused on running a campaign set in a small, remote village in a northern temperate coastal region similar to Germany or Britain (lots of dark forests, hard winters, important trade rivers but not a lot of roads, etc) called the Katrys Freeholds (as a reference to my favorite Dungeon magazine adventure of all time). The text will include rules for running a low-fantasy style game where the characters are heavily integrated into the village; their backgrounds tie them into the village, they can establish important NPCs and shape the village by their choices in character creation (i.e. if there is a wizard PC there is some old wizard tower on the edge of town that the owner, the PC’s master, owned before she just recently died).  There will be rules for the village growing and changing over time in response to player actions, such as retiring characters to the village or the village coming under attack.  The goal is to get the players to focus as much on the advancement of the village as the advancement of their individual characters, especially since advancing the village will help their characters and give more advantages to starting characters.  Character creation will be done via a random character generation system ala Beyond the Wall where you choose your class, background, and race, but then roll on tables determined by your race, class, and background for various events in your past to determine your ability scores, skills, etc.

The text also includes rules for running a harsher version of D&D to drive home the low fantasy feel of the setting.  These would include new rules for resting that really make you want to be back at the village, rules for long term injury and recovery that will lead to eventual PC retirement, limited starting equipment, a non-coin based economy, etc.  The goal would be to create a system where characters rarely advance to high level before being retired due to injuries, but their retirement feels valuable because they improve the village and make the group as a whole more effective.  The most basic example of this would be if you retire a wizard character because he took one too many swords to the guy and can no longer adventure (i.e. a lot of permanent Constitution damage), future new wizard characters start with a wider selection of spells drawn from the retired wizard’s spellbook or even at higher than first level representing the training they receive from the retired character.  Also this will create a network of known, beloved characters in the village the players will want to defend.   

In order to try and capture the cultural feel of the region there would be new character options like sub-classes, spells, feats, etc, to help present the fact the area is not a normal generic fantasy region.  There would also be new monsters and threats that all have folkloric defenses, such as creatures that can’t stand the sound of bells or creatures being repelled by certain herbs.  The goal is to give every monster that’s a serious threat some way for players to avoid having to fight it outright if they think ahead or are prepared to make sacrifices.

The text concludes with a series of adventures to set the tone for the campaign and notes on storylines.  These would primarily be ancient sleeping threats in the region (cities  of the dead awakening because the stars are right, ancient magitech defenses from the sunken empire, the invasion by a Rome-esque empire that looks to expand its reach, etc), short term threats like hostile tribes or dungeons, and threats to the village itself (famine, plague, etc).  

Inspirations:

• History of Rome podcast
• History of Byzantium podcast
• Spartacus television series
• 13th Warrior

I'm working on a number of rules ideas, the first of which is below:

Divine Influence

The gods of the setting transmit their power through physical objects that are important to their faith, i.e. relics.  A cleric’s and paladin’s spells and channel divinity powers only work within a limited range of these items, usually something like fifty miles per level of the relic.  A village may only have a small level 1-2 relic that allows their local clergy to function, while the center of worship may support clergy for hundreds of miles with its higher level relics. A divine caster can’t cast spells higher level than the relic they are supported by. They retain all their spell slots so they can cast spells with higher level slots, but cannot use those slots to cast spells of higher level than the relic.  So a high level cleric still has all his slots when working under a level 1 relic, but he’ll have to use them to cast first level spells with his high level slots.  

A divine caster can work through the relic of any god in the same pantheon as his own, so a cleric or paladin is fine as long as they stay within the the territory covered by their pantheon’s relics (though some disputes among the gods may limit this; maybe a cleric of Loki couldn’t use a relic of Thor).  Some relics may grant advantages to followers of certain gods, like extra hit dice or resistance towards certain elements, or possibly benefits while casting specific types of spells (+1 hit point per die on healing spells).  

This limitation is a known thing and conflict between religions is usually around relics.  Crusaders on the march carry relics from their gods with them to ensure their magic still works, while secretly stealing the relics of an opposing religion is a good way to deprive your enemies of their own clerical support.  Relics can be harvested for Glory (Glory system is for the next post) by clerics if they are of an opposing pantheon, making them valuable on their own as well.  

Relics come in power levels that are increased by clerics and paladins of that faith investing Glory in that relic.  If the relics of two opposing gods are brought into close proximity, the higher level relic will overpower the lower one, decreasing its effective level by the difference between them (so if you have a level 5 and a level 3 relic overlapping the level 3 relic becomes a level 1 relic).  If the relic level is reduced to 0 it no longer grants any power to its followers.  

At the beginning of the game the player’s village has a level 1 relic at its heart, but this makes it a target of agents of other pantheons (such as the Roman-esque to the south who wants to bring their brand of monotheism to the pagans of the north).  The goal of this is to make religious warfare more of a tangible thing in the setting and to make going into the lands of foreign gods actually something really scary.  

Druids draw power from the natural world around them; they must choose a number of terrain types as they go up in level (probably one at first, fifth, and thirteenth level).  Outside of those terrains they have reduced casting capacity.  This works using the layout below.  In a terrain you have power in, you cast spells normally.  For each step removed from one of your terrains, swamp from coast being one step, the maximum level spell you can cast decreases by one level in the same fashion that clerics are limited by relics.  Thus a 9th level coast druid in the mountains could only cast up to 2nd level spells instead of 5th, but could use his 3rd-5th level slots to cast 1st and 2nd level spells.  You can only select a terrain next to one you already have, so if your first choice is Coast your second must be swamp and your third Forest.  

		Arctic
		Mountain	Underdark
Coast	Swamp	Forest
		Grassland	Urban
		Desert

Also there are places of power that are tied to a terrain, such as high mountain peak surrounded by standing stones, that can grant advantages if the druid visits them at the correct time and carries out the proper rituals.  These also act as relics, allowing druid of the terrain type that the place of power is tied to to cast spells as if they were standing in their chosen terrain within 10 miles per level of the place of power. A level 1 place of power will be near the player village initially with a terrain type appropriate for druids in the party.

The goal of this is to both mirror the limitations on clerics and to really drive home the druid’s tie to their home terrain.  This hopefully would not come up terribly often as the campaign is not meant to be one of world travel, but at the same time the druid should get a little nervous going into the setting stand-in for Rome or Constantinople.  

Arcane Interference

The relics of some gods, particularly opposed to to arcane magic as a matter of faith, will interfere with divine magic in the same fashion as relics of gods from opposing pantheons.  These gods are usually from civilizations where one dominant religion has taken control of the culture and preaches against arcane magic in all its forms.  Overall these should be pretty rare and a mjor plot point in the campaign.  Some areas may also experience arcane interference without relics due to magical disturbances in the area, such as places long ago ravaged by magic or that have somehow become magic dead, limiting what level spells may be cast there.  For both relics that interfere with arcane magic and interference locations, the rating of the relic or the location is subtracted from the highest level spells an arcane spellcaster can cast to figure out what level of spell they may use in the affected area.  For example, a level 2 relic of a god hostile to arcane magic would limit a 5th level wizard (who can cast third level spells) to only casting first level spells.  Note that arcane casters so affected still have all their spell slots, but they can only use their higher level slots to cast lower level spells.  The above 5th level wizard would only be able to use 1st level spells he has prepared, but he could use his 2nd and 3rd level spells slots with them.

Wizards and warlocks can construct arcane foci that counteract these effects, but they are expensive, difficult to make, and hard to transport.  These arcane foci count as relics for reducing the effectiveness of relics or areas that would negatively affect the abilities of arcane spellcasters.  

Dawning Star: Fate of Eos and Red Truth

So I do still have the password for this!

I am still plugging away, slowly but surely, on Dawning Star: Fate of Eos.  Between kids, changing careers, and life in general, I don’t have a lot of time to work on it, thus the project is way behind largely due to the fact I don’t get more than a few hours a week to work on it.  

The other problem is I have been running into rules design issues I’m having trouble working through.  We’re doing a Fate Core game, but with a number of add on rules (more equipment focused, vehicle rules, psionics ala Red Truth, and some work making stunts more interesting).  Since I’ve been having trouble with some of these I figured I would run through some of them and see if anyone had feedback.  The main thing I’m concerned about is how I’m implementing Red Truth, which takes some setup to explain.  

Red Truth

In Dawning Star Red Truth is our pseudo-scientific explanation for psionics.  Red Truth is a layer of reality that humans can’t normally perceive that is thematically the programming code of the universe.  Or the blueprint of the gods, as some cultures call it. It is an incredibly information dense realm that overlays our level of reality and it is where everything about everything is stored.  Normally you look at a chair and you see a chair, but if you can pierce the veil into Red Truth you could see that chair’s exact physical dimensions with a glance, or dig deeper to see its history, where it was made, who last sat in it, etc, if you are skilled enough at interpreting what you see.  Most of Red Truth is about perceiving this information: Red Truth users are extremely hard to sneak up on, can read the minds of others, etc.  More advanced users can do things like block the flow of information completely (blindness, invisibility), disrupt information (erase computers with a touch, confuse people, disperse information ghosts which are created from people who lose their mind completely to Red Truth), and edit information (telekinesis via changing the velocity of an item, pyrokensis by changing the velocity of individual molecules, etc).  

Problem is the human mind was never designed to deal with Red Truth; humans can only perceive without assistance after exposure to Red Truth in a place where the veil between layers of reality have weakened.  This exposure causes mental damage that can allow a person to perceive Red Truth, but usually at some cost to their sanity.  Also each time a human uses Red Truth, they have a chance of suffering further mental damage.  Some species are better adapted for this but they are rare.  

The existence of Red Truth is a known scientific fact in the Dawning Star setting at this point, but that does not mean it is well understood.  It is still something governed more by ritual and superstition than logic and reason; there are several traditions of Red Truth users among various non-human cultures that have found means to stave off the negative effects of Red Truth through unusual mindsets or ritual.  The best example of this are the Grass Widows of the velin who use grief to keep their mind focused to avoid the dangers of Red truth.  

The plan currently is to have Red Truth inflict mental stress when used, filling in some number of the highest or lowest mental stress boxes depending on the strength of the power. Alternately they can use stunts to get Focus, which is a mana pool that can be used to power Red Truth powers instead of mental stress (focus comes back at minor milestones). This means some powers will force characters to take consequences to use if they haven’t bought up Willpower or some Focus feats.

There’s a lot more about Red Truth infecting our layer of reality, massive Red Truth monsters trapped between the stars where there is little information to be had, other layers of reality aside from Red Truth, but those aren’t necessary here.  Red Truth = psionics and they’re dangerous is what you need to know.  

Stunt Sets

Sort of stealing an idea from Atomic Robo, one of the ideas we’re working with in the new rules are stunt sets.  These are groups of stunts that are tied together thematically and represent a single resource, such as a handful of stunts that quantify the mechanical benefits of being a Republic Ranger (a deputy follower, resistance to Provoke, etc.) or having an awesome alien relic.  These have to be tied to an aspect of the character.  Most stunt sets are 3-5 stunts in number.  We mainly use them to help give players guidance as to how to build some of the pre-existing factions, special gear, etc, that exists in the setting.  

All stunt sets must have a Flaw, which is an aspect that is unlikely to be used to the characters advantage and comes with one free compel per session that can be used against the player.  Basically it’s an unhelpful aspect that can hurt you once for free.  For example, with the above Republic Ranger example they have Bound to Serve the Law of the Republic (so the character has to uphold the law even when it’s dangerous or counterproductive), or the alien relic may have Unreliable (so it may not work all the time).  Each flaw gives the stunt set one free stunt, so if a stunt set has four stunts in it and one flaw, it would cost three stunts for a character to take that stunt set.  

In addition to the standard range of stunts, stunt sets can have some special stunt types that are only allowed with stunt sets (and thus have to have a flaw attached that can hopefully mitigate them being more useful than normal stunts).  Here we get into stealing from Atomic Robo.  Here’s some of those new options:

• Armor: You get a point of armor, like if you have an alien force field relic.  
• Focus: Give you a mana pool to power Red Truth instead of using mental stress.  Generally it’s two points per time this stunt is taken.
• Invulnerable:  Choose one type of attack (bullets, lasers, melee, fire, etc).  You’re immune to that.  This is not such a big deal as in other games since so many types of attacks get thrown around regularly.  
• New Skill: You get to make up a new skill, like having the Weather Control skill for your weather control relic.  
• Permission: You get permission to buy from a special list of skills and stunts, mainly used for Red Truth.  
• Personnel: You get followers.  More stunts make them better or more numerous.  
• Scale: Your stunt set operates on a different scale than normal, such as having a relic that affects vehicle scale objects instead of people.
• Skill Affinity: You can remove one fate die from your total when using a skill you have skill affinity in.  So it can’t help you roll higher numbers, but can help you not roll low numbers.  
• Stress: Your stunt set has more stress.  
• Superior Skill: Your stunt set is just better at something than normal people.  If it comes into a contest with something that does not have this stunt, the opponent loses.  

So one of the more extremes of this system is a stunt set that represents an alien underground base your character has claimed.  It has New Skill (Weather Control), Scalex3 (Planetary), Followersx2 (AI that runs the place with a skill upgrade), and the flaws (Not Totally Explored) and (Don’t Speak the Same Language) for the AI.  This base costs four stunts.  Sure, an alien base may not work in every campaign but is practically a campaign in and of itself (who knows what all is down there!).  

Some other examples:

Artifact of the Ancients (2 Stunts)

You have an alien artifact that you found in one of the ruins of Eos and have spent much of the time since learning its secrets.  Unfortunately you’ve had precious little luck aside from activating what seems to be a handful of basic systems, but one of these is a personal force field that has proven very useful.  It seems to be some manner of sensor and defensive system, but until you can find a velin or some xenotech expert to tell you more you’re stuck with a few very impressive tricks.

Aspect: I Will Discover the Secrets of this Alien Relic

Stunts:

·         Armor 1.  The force field provides some level of protection from all physical threats.

·         Invulnerable (x2). You are immune to non-energy melee attacks and bullets while the force field is active.

·         Early Warning System. +2 to Notice to Overcome and Defend actions.

Flaws:

·         Unreliable. You cannot reliably activate any of the artifact’s features.  

Republic Ranger (3 stunts)

You have found a place among the ranks of the Dawning Star Republic’s finest agents, the Republic Rangers.  Your authority knows no bounds within the Republic, enabling you to bring justice to the nooks and crannies where criminals attempt to hide their wicked ways.  You must not only be fast on the draw but also a skilled communicator and tracker as not every problem can be solved with bullets.  Not every problem, only most.

Aspect: Officer of the Law of the Dawning Star Republic

Stunts:

·         Follower (x3).  Your deputy or posse. You can make this one skilled individual or a variety of less skilled individuals.

·         Invulnerable. Provoke attacks from known criminals.

·         Skill Affinity. Provoke, Contacts, or Survival.  You are among the best at browbeating, working your informants, or tracking.  In any case, you always get your sentient being.

Flaws:

·         Bound to Serve the Law of the Republic. You must follow and enforce the laws of the Republic.  This includes no summary executions of criminal; while you are empowered to arrest criminals anywhere in the Republic and can act as a judge and executioner when called upon, you are by no means allowed to serve as a jury.

·         Big Damn Hero. You can’t turn your back on those in need.   

Red Truth is built using stunt sets with each tradition being it’s own stunt set.  For example, Grass Widows get Red Truth Permission, Focus, Beast Mind (Red truth powers focused on animals), Skill Affinity (Red Truth), and the Flaw (Grief Stricken).  Becoming a Grass Widow would cost three stunts.  

Red Truth Mechanics

Red Truth is its own skill that you can only purchase if you take the Red Truth Permission stunt.  In addition to letting you buy the Red Truth skill and stunts, the permission stunt also lets you do basic information gathering in Red Truth (i.e. look at the chair and know how much it weighs, but not the last person who sat in it).  The Red Truth skill is used to make Overcome actions to gather information, Defend actions against Red Truth attacks, and other uses as detailed in Red Truth stunts.  

To do more with Red Truth you have to buy stunts, which is my current stumbling block.  Characters have to spend at least one stunt to buy the Red Truth Permission stunt, though will likely spend an additional stunt or two on Focus or Skill Affinity (Red Truth), plus put skill points into the Red truth skill.  Thus players will likely spend two stunts and some skill points before they get any real meat from Red Truth.  To that end, my current plan is each Red Truth stunt has three facets, each of which is about as powerful as a normal stunt.  I figure between all the buy in costs and the mental stress costs for activating powers, this hopefully balances out but I am really not sure.  Also I wanted to make each power feel well rounded; using telekinesis to move stuff (use Red Truth as Physique to Overcome and Create Advantage) and using it as a weapon (use Red Truth to Attack) are two facets of the Telekinesis stunt rather than being separate stunts.  

Most of the Red Truth powers are currently balanced such that they are something like “you can use Red Truth in place of X skill for X and Y actions for one scene by filling in your lowest/highest 1-3 mental stress boxes.”  So using telekinesis to lift things is “You can use Red truth in place of Physique to lift things, using it carry out Overcome and Create Advantage actions for one scene but you must fill in your two highest unused mental stress boxes.”  These mental stress boxes can be paid off with Focus, but this does mean most characters may activate only one or two powers per scene unless they blow a lot of Focus.  Gathering information (psychometry, read mind) generally consumes your lowest unused mental stress box, blocking information (invisibility) consumes your two lowest unused mental stress boxes, disrupting information (deleting files, confusion) your two highest unused mental stress box, and editing information (telekinesis, pyrokinesis) fills your three highest unused mental stress boxes.  This means without some Focus or extra mental stress boxes from Willpower, characters can’t edit information without taking consequences.  

I like this cost structure as it drives home the fiction of Red Truth being dangerous, but I worry the individual stunts may be two powerful with the three facets.  On the other hand, it’s pretty non-standard Fate stunt design.  Thus the desire for outside feedback.

Some examples:

Telekinesis. You can alter the location and velocity of objects through Red Truth, allowing you to move items at a distance with little more than a glance.

        Move: You can move objects by editing their information in Red Truth.  You can use Red Truth in place of Physique when taking Overcome or Create an Advantage actions for the rest of the scene.  You can do this a range equal to your Red Truth skill in zones.  When you activate this power you must fill in your three highest unused mental stress boxes, or spend three focus.  Once active, Move remains active for the rest of the scene.

        Shield: You concentrate on deflecting any objects coming towards you, editing their velocity information to deflect them off target.  You can use Red Truth in Defend actions against any physical attacks made against one target each round; if you choose to defend yourself you cannot change your attention to defending an ally during that round. You can only defend targets within a number of zones equal to your Red Truth skill. When you activate this power you must fill in your three highest unused mental stress boxes, or spend three focus.  Once active, Move remains active for the rest of the scene.

        Launch: You edit the information for a nearby object to grant it sudden high velocity, launching it violently at a nearby target.  You can make Attack actions against targets within a number of zones equal to your Red Truth skill. These attacks should only have Weapon:1 or 2 at most. When you activate this power you must fill in your three highest unused mental stress boxes, or spend three focus.  Once active, Move remains active for the rest of the scene.  

Absorb Information. You can quickly digest information through Red Truth, allowing you to learn at an astounding rate and even notice the smallest details.

        Requires: Permission (Red Truth)

        Mimic Skill: You can look deep into Red Truth to gather information about challenges before you, allowing you deal with situations you have little training in.  You can use your Red Truth skill in place of Infiltrate, Investigate, Knowledge, Medicine, Science, and Tech.  When you activate this power you must fill in your two lowest unused mental stress boxes.  Once active, Mimic Skill remains active for the rest of the scene.

        Open Mind: You can glace into Red Truth to get a +2 bonus to one Infiltrate, Investigate, Knowledge, Medicine, Science, or Tech contest, but doing so fills your lowest mental stress box or consumes one focus.

        Read Data: With a few seconds you can look through large and complex data structures, such as computer networks or libraries, to find information you seek.  You can search all the information contained in the same zone as you, using Red Truth in place of Investigation or Notice.  You can search forms of data storage you have no normal mean to read, such computer files, but you cannot penetrate encryption or other forms of protection that scramble the information.  When you activate this power you must fill in your lowest unused mental stress box.  Once active, Read Data remains active for the rest of the scene

Dawning Star Ten Years On

So for the past few weeks I've been working on rewriting the history for Dawning Star while noodling around various bits and pieces of Fate Core to see where I want to go with it. When I say rewriting I don't mean making huge changes; the core story is the same, I'm tweaking some things here and there to make the setting make more sense. I made contact with the velin happen earlier, changed the nature of what kept the settlers on Eos close to the planet, etc. For the most part minor stuff. The big new stuff has been additions to the setting as we're moving the timeline ahead five years and introducing a whole bucket of new stuff to the setting; stuff that takes Dawning Star in new directions that that I think are much more interesting than the previous version. I think I've actually ended up putting political allegory into my game about humans trying to survive on another planet.

So some background with those not familiar with Dawning Star, it originally was a d20 Future setting about a cold sleep evacuation ship from 23^rd century Earth ending up on a distant planet, Eos, after getting separated from the rest of an evacuation fleet fleeing the destruction of Earth by a comet. The fleet was separated by an alien stargate type device built by a long dead alien civilization that threw the fleet across the galaxy, and the Dawning Star ended up near the capital planet of that dead civilization. The game was sort of a pulp mashup of Firefly and D&D; mixed high tech and frontier tech, riding horses with laser guns, and exploring ancient ruins looking for hyper-advanced tech from the previous inhabitants of the planet. The sound track would be a mixture of Johnny Cash and Afro-Celt Sound System. It was a pretty morally clear game; there were good guys, there were bad guys, all pretty black and white. As an example it turns out there was a group of human-ish aliens on Eos called the velin that were pretty much stone age tech, and instead of abusing them as usually happens with indigenous people, the colonists of Dawning Star were fair with them all the away around. I guess you could say humans learned something in the centuries between now and then, but a Western scifi game with a Native American analog that pretty much plays into a lot of Native American stereotypes...well, not exactly the best plan in hindsight. I don't know if it counts as cultural appropriation since they're purple skinned humanoids who ride lizards, but if you look at the setting their place in it is pretty clear. They're about two steps from Tonto-ing it up.

As the setting expanded through the second sourcebook, Helios Rising about the other planets in the system, this mashup nature was maintained and every planet sort of had it's own genre + science fiction mashup. If Eos was Western scifi, C'thalk was Samurai scifi and Thres was Fantasy scifi, etc. Dawning Star was very much a product of where I was at the time and the influences present in my life, which was almost ten years ago now. I had just started working freelance full time and had big plans for it being awesome. I was writing for realsies now. I was elated to have moved out of New York City after three years (did not like the city, dearly loved and miss the friends though). But now I'm working on Dawning Star and its coming out very different. Everyone's motivations are more suspect. No one's totally a good guy. Self interest is everywhere. This is explicitly spelled out by characters in in-play writings, such as admitting the evacuation fleet brought nukes in case they had to take a new home world by force and wipe out some other species. That sort of hard edged realism and pragmatism has crept into a lot of the game; the idea that people in the setting sleep better at night thinking they're the good guys, but are totally ready to do terrible things if they have to in order to survive. It's a game about numerous species on the edge of extinction, so this seems apt. The faction-camps in original Dawning Star were human settlements that were nebulously up to no good and plotted against the Dawning Star Republic, the main human settlement on Eos, because...they were bad. Pretty much. Their motivations were terrible. Okay, one is being mind controlled by an alien relic, but the rest had no real motivation. So they've become sort of self interested libertarians who are motivated by a desire to escape the government of the Dawning Star Republic and its growing and corrupt bureaucracy. They're right in that the Republic is flawed, but theire alternative may be no better.

As I said, original Dawning Star was pretty much Firefly plus D&D; this version is becoming more District 9, BSG, and Mass Effect. One of the big events in the moving of the time line is the introduction of a second human evacuation ship to Eos along with an alien ship carrying millions of refugees from dozens of alien species, the two ships having spent the last five decades together fighting their way through hostile alien space to get to Eos. Now a colony that could barely feed it's own people has millions more to worry about, some of which they can't communicate with and don't even breathe the same air. The tension meter has been cranked way up as the Republic gives the newcomers citizenship, but the newcomers will be able to completely dominate the upcoming election through sheer numbers. Political parties have formed on both sides of that question. All of the aliens are the last of their people, so there's a moral imperative to save them, but when there's just not enough food and resources to go around what do you do? Who can you trust out of all these aliens and their strange religions, philosophies, etc? Especially since many of these new human colonists are actually more loyal to the aliens they've been fighting alongside for fifty years then the humans who were just chilling on Eos during that time. That's a big question in the new Dawning Star. The Dawning Star Republic is not just some settled, high tech place the players can go back to after raiding an alien dungeon; it's a overcrowded, dirty city surrounded by ghettos and camps with every variety of inhuman creatures lurking in the corners just looking for some organic material they can actually digest or another methane capsule before their breather dies out.

Sure, there's still ancient alien threats to face, strange intelligences from other dimensions, and all the other fun stuff that was in Dawning Star, but there's a lot more weight to it now. I'm hoping I can stretch this out through all the setting, though I do think the other planets had more complicated societies to begin with. It feels like now I'm writing from a very different place than I was on original Dawning Star. I've moved several times, almost gone bankrupt, become a father, seen more of the conflicts that are part of human nature. Have vs have nots. Racism. Never ending war. Government surveillance vs privacy. All those have much more part in Dawning Star, in addition to changes to reflect how science fiction has changed in ten years (the lack of any real transhumanism elements in the original game is sort of shameful now). Hopefully it makes it better.

Not sure why I felt the need to write all this, but it's been nagging on me since I got started on the revisions. I guess I just wanted to warn people that Dawning Star is going to be different, but hopefully better.   

Star Saga: A new game idea

Because what I need is another project.

Occasionally I get ideas for games or stories that I can't stop thinking about until I get something down on paper for.  This is one of those times, despite having Dawning Star and some other stuff being more effective uses of my time.  Not that I haven't been working on Dawning Star; I have, but posting big chunks of background text doesn't seem that interesting to me.  Could be wrong.  

Anyways, this is a game concept I initially thought of based on my Shadow of Azathoth game about space marines trying to fight back the forces of the great old ones in deep space without help, resupply, or reinforcements.  Sort of the same idea of a lone ship crew standing against great evil, only with the viking knob turned way up (because everything needs a viking knob).  I see this as a table top rpg with some pretty light mechanics though lots of gear and mechanics for building your ship and saga so far as group characters. 

The oracle had alerted the village that the ship of heroes had arrived six hours after noon.  It being winter, this meant the sky was dark enough to see the new star twinkling overhead, travelling at a speed across the night sky that made its presence obvious.  By the time the heroes has descended to the village of Ferruheim the inhabitants had collected the prescribed tribute around the oracle beacon, heedful of the ancient traditions dictating this momentous transaction.  

The heroes descended from their vessel of the stars in a smaller steel star boat the size of four wagons, landing the boat in the cradle the ancients had built for such.  Though no star boat had used the cradle in five generations, the people of Ferruheim had kept it clean and repaired according to the litanies of the ancients for just such an occasion as this.   The heroes’ star boat snapped into the cradle and immediately began replenishing itself from the supplies contained therein, the spirits that carried the arcane machine consuming much in their hunger.

The ten score inhabitants of Ferruheim had gathered in the village center between the cradle and the oracle beacon, a sea of dirt caked faces, soiled blonde hair, and rough spun wool dyed the color of the earth surrounded by a collection of thatch huts occasionally broken up by the metal structures of the ancients.  The tension in the air was palpable. The mood of the assembled host was one of respect, hope, and fear.  They had all grown up with the stories of the heroes who roam the stars protecting the colonies of man that survived when the great empires of the past age collapsed, but those stories always had cautionary lessons.  These were men and women with tragedy always nipping at their heels, and it was content to bite anyone who got within reach. Activating the oracle beacon in the first place had been a contentious choice in the village such was the fear of these beings clad in the weapons and armor of a world long dead, but another the loss of another family to the beasts of the caves had settled the matter.

The star boat opened with a hiss, spilling brilliant white light across the village center, causing the entire village to recoil and shield their eyes.  By the time they had recovered the heroes had begun exiting the ship, approaching Alfairn and the village elders who stood closest to the boat and cradle.  Alfairn and the elders, eight in number, were all gray of hair and bent of frame, their best days behind them.  Though they were the oldest in the village, none of them had actually seen a star boat before. Seven forms stepped off the ship, three men and three women that were nearly indistinguishable since they all had long hair and all wore various forms of armor.  The seventh form lagged behind, towering over the others and moving with a whir and clank that spoke not of flesh and blood.  A golem.  

The first of the heroes, the tallest aside from the golem at over two meters tall, stepped up to Alfairn and removed her plast-steel helmet, revealing a battle scarred woman in her middle years whose face was made of iron and strength.  She wore the Goliath armor of the ancients, decked out in runes and trophies from dozens of worlds, wreathing her in power arcane.  On her back she carried a massive sword that glowed softly with an unnatural light, while a fire wand rested at her hip.  She surveyed Alfrain and the elders, then the rest of the crowd.  She did not seem impressed.  

“You have called us here, we crew of the starship Pennsylvania, and asked for our help,” she shouted to the crowd. “Your beacon said you were in mortal danger, and that the strong people of Ferruheim would soon perish without our help.  It spoke of monsters and a witch to lead them. We have come to see if you are worthy of our help.”  She looked to Alfrain, cocking an eyebrow as she did.

“Mighty and honorable Captain of the Pennsylvania, we petition your help to deal with the monsters that live beneath our mines.  Our miners broke into their lair and her children have harried us since with no respite or parlay.  The one known as Grendel leads them and attacks our mead hall nightly.  They have killed dozens, leaving us nearly defenseless as children, the old, and the infirm are all that remain.  We would not call you away from your duties if we thought we could survive otherwise, but we cannot.”  Alfairn gestured at the crowd behind him and a score of older children began carrying up dozens of hemp bags, each clanking heavily as it is put down before the heroes. The pile quickly grew to stand taller than the captain or Alfrain.   

“We have collected the tribute prescribed by the ancient rites, a tonne of iron to pay for your assistance. Further,” Alfairn said with a gulp, “you may take what supplies of grain, mead, and wool you need from our stores and up to five of our number to replace those who fall in our defense.”  

The captain looked over the assemblage and the pile of iron without reaction.  She gestured towards the iron and the golem moved towards it, extruding a wand from its arm that it waved above the iron.  “Iron ore, grade B, eleven hundred and twelve point three kilograms,” it said in a metallic voice.  

The captain walked over to one of the older boys who brought the iron, grabbing his arm and inspecting him with a series of pokes and prods.  After a moment she seemed pleased.  “Mining folk, good strong arms and backs.  We could make soldiers out of you.  We’ll take your cause, Ferruheim.”  She yelled the last sentence so the entire village could hear her.  There were muted cheers throughout the crowd; while there was little jubilation there was noticeable relief in the crowd.  

“Now take me to your mead hall and we’ll see what we can do about this Grendel creature, and how much he likes plasma burns.”  Alfairn gestured towards the heart of the village, the crowd parting before him as he lead the six heroes and their mechanical servant towards the largest structure at the center of town.  

Long ago there were great empires that stretched between the stars, ruling dozens of worlds across vast reaches of space using ships of steel powered by arcane forces.  These empires ruled their worlds for centuries, but then something happened.  What no one is sure, but the legends offer many options.  Some say it was war among the empires that destroyed all their capitol worlds, while others say it was some star exploding at the heart of the galaxy.  Some even whisper it was demons summoned by ancient men desperate for power.  Whatever the truth, nearly overnight they fell into chaos and the tightly woven economies of the imperial worlds collapsed as most planets has developed specialized economies and relied on trade so heavily they could not survive alone.  A mining world with no atmosphere had no hope of growing the food it needed, while farming worlds regressed as their technology failed.  Only in the outer colonies where the imperial subjects still had to be self sufficient did much survive in the way of technology or civilization, but even then only the barest glimmers of each remained.  Humankind fell into a new dark age, reverting back to being violent, superstitious, and desperate.

The lone beacon of hope among the outer worlds were the ships of the imperial border forces.  The crews of theses ships went by many names.  Some were called Colonial Marines, other Emergency Responders, or any of a dozen other names varying from region to region and empire to empire.  All were charged with supporting the colony worlds, of which there were thousands spread across vast distance inconceivable to man, and helping them deal with threats they could not face lone.  Famine, disease, floods, war; all these were dealt with. These ships were designed to operate without resupply for decades at a time through use of nanofactories and other advanced manufacturing technologies, so when the empires fell these ships continued. They went where the distress beacons summoned them, sometimes taking weeks or months to do so due to the vagaries of space travel, and at each stop saw the colonies falling apart around them.  These few heroes in their ships of the stars dedicated themselves to do everything they could to save humankind, and now five hundred years after the empires fell they remain at their task.  

As soldiers have been lost, ships destroyed, technology broken, and resources consumed, their old allegiances, ranks, procedures, and training have been passed down in fragments to create a mythology of the ancient world that only superficially resembles the truth.  Resupply procedures have become tribute, plasma weapons magic wands, and robots golems.  These few surviving crews have fed this mythology to the surviving colony worlds over time, creating a vast lore of heroic sagas about the heroes and their star ships.  While this may seem self-aggrandizing, these heroes and their ships are one of the last threads holding the worlds of humanity together.  Only they still have the technology and skills to deal with threats from the old world.  The empires of the ancients knew that humanity was not alone among the stars, and many of these others did not hold humankind in their goodwill.  

Star Saga is a tabletop role playing game about playing the last remnants of an advanced, spacefaring civilization that has been reduced to iron age level technology save for a few remaining star ships and their crew fighting to keep humanity alive.  It is a game of larger than life heroes, lost artifacts, history becoming mythology, doomed last stands, and sacrificing everything for a greater cause.