Celestial Jade: War In the Heavens

+Megan Bennett-Burks and I are a little over a week into our kickstarter for A Far Off Land, a project we have been writing for over a year now. As the tension is killing me I figured I needed something to take my mind off of it. So in the spirit of lowering my tension levels, here goes.

I was lurking over on rpg.net a few days ago and ran into a discussion about science fiction wuxia. In the thread Jadepunk was brought up as an option for running that sort of game. While +Ryan M. Danks  and I designed the game to be something like mystic cyberpunk we had also discussed the idea of doing a couple of different riffs on the game system. One of those(the one I was most interested in currently) was a space opera style Jadepunk game. The reminder in the thread led me to realize I could do a quick workup of the basics of the setting and maybe some cool assets that would fit in the setting. Thus do I begin the rough outline of a space opera setting for use with Jadepunk.

Far far into the future of Jadepunk...

Humans and their Autamatect creations long ago left their home world and traveled out into the wider universe. The jade drive allows for travel faster than light through some sort of alternative dimension not fully understood. Humans and their jadetech were first out and so dominate the heavens, though many other sophonts live within the human sphere of influence. 25 years ago the Great Interstellar War raged across the skies of countless worlds. Devastating weapons were unleashed and billions perished in blood and fire. Since the end of the war peace and unity have reigned. The unification of the Guild, The Church,  and the Major Powers into The Galactic Concordat led to a unified economic, political, and social system that dominates a majority of civilized space. 

Jade still stands tall as the most powerful and useful material in the universe. All intergalactic travel is dependent on it. The concordat control the largest jade resources in the known galaxy. The capitol was built in a vast asteroid field rich in multiple kinds of jade. The center of the Concordat builds and grows, as it does so too does its decadence and corruption. On the edges of civilization enemies, ancient and new, gather forces. The war is not over, it has just been in a long reprieve. 

Welcome to Kausao Station, the biggest, most wealthy mining colony in the 'verse, throne of the Galactic Concordat, and center of the universe. 

What do you do?
You play members of the Jianghu, rebels against the Concordat and defenders of the weak and helpless. The rules for characters remains the same as in standard Jadepunk. The technology is a little different, go more baroque and elegant in description rather than clunky and mystic jadetech normally described in the books. Autamatects work on the same rules as in teh previous Jadepunk setting hack.

The Basics
The Great Interstellar War: A conflict between the four major powers and many smaller polities that lasted for decades. Many great and terrible weapons were used. Planets were destroyed, Ancient peoples fell. The causes of the war are shrouded, the various stellar states were tied up in treaties with many smaller factions and causes and this became a tangled web of allegiance and enmity with no clear starting point. The war began as several smaller wars with the major powers supporting this faction or that. Eventually more than mere assistance was needed and the galaxy was at war in truth. It generally broke down into to two main factional sides, The Kaiyumi-Naramel Alliance and the Tuyang-Aerum Coalition.   It finally came to an end with the battle of Shui Xing 4. Due to a series of strategic mistakes nearly every major fleet ended up near the planet an surprised that the other fleets where there. Millions died in the first salvo. The strategists panicked and sent more fleets in, and more after that. What was an unimportant system became the center of the largest, longest, and most costly battle in the history of space. The battle lasted nearly a month, by the end billions had died. Within weeks what was left of the four powers had sued for peace. The peace accords were what led to an eventual unification of the Galactic Concordat out of the remaining great powers the church and the guilds.

Setting Aspects: Endless Scars of War; Old World Has Fallen, But Is Not Forgotten

The Galactic Concordat: In the wake of the Great Interstellar War the Guild and the Church combined forces to halt any future war of such magnitude. The gathered the remnants of the Major Powers and through political and economic pressure they pushed through the Concord forming the basis for a new government, a higher government. Each state within the Concordat can rule itself as it sees fit, but in terms of military or trade they must all follow the dictums of the concordat.

Aspects: Barely Unified Factions; Money, Power, and Security At All Costs

Kausao Station: The center of the Guild, it has rapidly become the center of all trade in the galaxy. When the Concordat was formed Kausao Station was chosen as the capitol for this new government. Now it stands not only as a center for trade, but for diplomacy and peace as well. With so much money and power the station has become a massive and complex web of interconnected factions and displaced peoples.

Aspects: Center For Trade and Politics; Too Big To Manage Properly

The Guild:  fractious and tenuous union between the six most powerful Mega Corporations in Known Space. Each has a near monopoly on a given Technology and so the Guild has a monopoly on everything the average person might need. Each Corp has a number of Nobles in their pockets which has lead to the

Aspects: We Make Everything; The Money Flows Like Water

The Periphery States: The various smaller states that exist outside of the Concordat as well as anything that might exist outside of known space are known as the Periphery States. Many of these are very upset with the Galactic Concord and the results of the Great Interstellar War. Now the region is too vast to properly patrol or maintain but rich enough to draw in colonists, miners, and traders. This has led to huge amounts of piracy and privateers.

 Aspects: Rogues States and Pirate Clans; Lawless Edge of Known Space

Ka-Dosh: Large six-limbed green skinned aliens, the Ka-Dosh were one of the first alien species encountered by humans. As such they are found throughout known space. They are known for their physical strength and desire for challenge. Many of the best and brightest in the galaxy are Ka-Dosh, as are many of the worst and most violent. Their culture was originally quite primitive when first discovered by outsiders, but in the centuries since have become as advanced as any other sophont.

Sample Ka-Dosh AssetYotsu No-Kin: A martial art that use the unique physiology of the Ka-Dosh. It is focused around fighting using multiple limbs simultaneously and fight multiple opponents at the same time. The following asset is just an example of what assets in this martial art might look like.
Guiding Aspect: Something involving knowing Ka-Dosh Martial arts or Yotsu No-Kin specifically
Features: Focus 1(+1 Fighter), Harmful 1, Protective 1
Flaws: Situational(Only when facing opponents with fewer limbs than the user), Troubling(Collateral Damage)
Cost: 2

Bevrai: Quadrupedal shelled elephantine aliens of great intellect, the Bevrai are some of the greatest philosophers and theoretical scientists in the galaxy. They have more sensory organs than any other sophont in the known galaxy, which has given them something of a mystical reputation among many. They make extensive use of technology since their meeting with the galactic society. Their language is slow and lyrical in nature, much of it transmitted long distances  through ultra low frequency sound. Each Bevrai has a song they add to throughout their life. When they meet back up with family or friends after a long absence each will sing their song to the others. It builds into strange and alien harmonies that few outsiders have had the blessing to encounter.

Sample Bevrai AssetMechanical Waldoes: In order to use the technology of the external galaxy the Bevrai make use of mechanical arms designed to give them better ability with technology designed for sophonts with opposable digits. The Waldoes use black jade to read the desire of the wielder and translate that into mechanical movement. There are other types of waldoes that are designed for more specialized service, such as a rifleman mod for using guns.
Function Aspect: Black Jade Prosthesis
Features: Focus 2(+1 Engineer, +1 Scoundrel)
Flaw: Situational(Only when interacting with Technology that requires hands to use)
Cost: 1

Youxia: Ancient order or mystic knights who once defended an ancient stellar kingdom, now lost to history. The few remaining Youxia wander the cosmos as wandering troubleshooters and sometime heroes. Many a Jianghu Society has been led by powerful Youxia. The Shimah-Kan have a standing bounty on any Youxia brought in.

Sample Youxia Asset 

Blaze Edge: The weapon of a Youxia, spoken of in many legends. The Blaze edge uses multiple forms of jade to create an edge of pure plasma, capable of cutting through nearly anything. Youxia only attained the Blaze Edge upon mastering the martial arts ad mental disciplines of their order. Few remain, and few Youxia remain with the knowledge to make another.
Function Aspect: Multi Jade Plasma BladeFeatures: Exceptional(prevent opponent from checking stress boxes on a successful strike), Harmful 2
Flaws: Demanding 2(requires a turn and a Scholar roll against difficulty +2 in order to use it for the scene), Troubling(Wanted, For One Reason Or Another)
Cost: 1

Shimah-Kan: Chosen inquisitors of the Concordat. They have an edict to investigate any insurrection or disharmony. They are trained to be the best and most dangerous of all the forces of the Concordat. They have absolute loyalty to the state and are equal to any squad of lesser forces. Many of their techniques are expansions of Youxia martial arts. This has led to an enmity between these to forces. They often come into conflict with Jianghu Societies.

Sample Shimah-Kan Asset 

Inquisitor Armor: The Shimah-Kan have specialized suits of armor that grant them enhanced abilities and protection. Each set of armor is custom designed for each Shimah-Kan, and so each might have additional features beyond the basic set of features provided by the armor.
Function Aspect: Intimidating Inquisitor ArmorFeatures: Protective 1, Focus 2(+1 Explorer, +1 Fighter)
Flaws: Situational(only when facing enemies of the Concordat), Troubling(Iron Fist of the Concord)
Cost: 1

Jade Drive: the only known method of travel faster than light. To do this you must use all the colors of jade and pass a huge amount of electricity through it all at once. Ships use large capacitors to do this. The number of capacitors a ship contains alters the number of jumps a ship can rapidly make. The Jade Drive does not allow for slower than light travel, and so a ship must also have a normal space drive. To use the drive you must take a full scene and make a roll. First you must make a scholar roll based on knowledge and distance of of the location you are attempting to jump to(Nearby system +1, Mid Ranged System +2, Far off System +3, Well Known route +1, Somewhat Known Route +2, Briefly Explored Route +3, Unknown Route +4) Combine the difficulties from distance and knowledge to get the total difficulty of the roll. If you succeed with style you make the jump with no difficulty and you create a beneficial aspect relating to the new system you are coming into. If you succeed normally you arrive with no difficulty. If you fail your ship gains a primarily negative aspect relating to damage done by travelling faster than light.


And there sits the basics of a Jadepunk Space Opera Wuxia Setting. I hope you liked it. I would love any comments critiques or idea, so please share. Also please check out the new game I am currently Kickstarting, A Far Off Land. It is a game about people from our world who travel to another realm, a realm of myth and legend. Magic is real and you play those few who can use it in both worlds without terrible consequences. Check it out and spread the word. Thanks.

A Far Off Land

Shadow Legion: Farspace, Pirates, and Heresy

After watching Guardians of the Galaxy(seriously go see it, its phenomenal, I will wait) I really wanted to capture that feel. Then I realized I had already done something quite similar a year ago, when I ran the Shadow Legion Campaign for some friends. It was awesome and hit all my favorite parts of Space Opera. In reminiscing I realized I still had more to explore in the fictional universe of the Shadow Legion. And so I began to build on the edges of the world, just for my own fun. However, these ideas and concepts were scattered and unfocused. I often find that when I am brainstorming it is quite fun, but I need to actually attempt to write the ideas for other people in order to find the clarity I seek. As I like the movie, I was more interested in the fringe societies and dangerous threats of the galaxy. Luckily way back when I made my first post about the Shadow Legion(though that name had yet to be invented for the setting) I mentioned that Guardians of the Galaxy was one of my influences.

I also had mentioned briefly the idea of Farspace and the Non-Aligned Worlds. So I will be working in those area a bit more now. I like the idea of places on the edge of Charter space, where the law exists only in theory and justice comes at the edge of a sword or the barrel of a gun. Here be dragons, as the old spacers claim. In this post I will be digging into the fringes of the main species of the galaxy, and also I will be looking at the history of the future.

Shadow Legion Long Patrol
We are the line between darkness and light. Driving back the shadows to bring the light of peace.
~The motto of the shadow legion
After the finally defeating the mighty Sukar threat five years ago, the Shadow Legion was sorely depleted. They were forced to pull back from the frontier. As a stopgap to deal with the problems, the Long Patrol was established. New recruits were paired with former Shadow Legion members, brought out of retirement, to travel in larger than normal Cadres throughout the edges of space. Bringing justice and granting the experience of their elders to the new recruits.

Tesh Biology, Culture Basics, Mother-lines and other Heresies
Tesh retain memories through their father's genetic material. These lines of descent are known as father-lines and are the basis of much Tesh culture. They gain skill and knowledge through the males, though female Tesh retain power because they can control their fertility and through the rareness of females. There are 40 males for every female. So while Males have the advantage of memory immortality(should come up with a term for this that sounds neat)

Tesh myths
...the myth of the mother line claims that their exists a mutant genetic line among the Tesh. This line gains knowledge from the mother rather than the father. When asked where this line exists, it is always somewhere far away and remote, usually deep in Farspace.

...the myth of the Lamfa, master of all, a Father-line that contains(or will contain) all skill and knowledge in the universe, creating a perfect Father-line of Tesh who will be the universes true masters. There are a great many differing views on the Lamfa. Every few years a Lamfa cult will appear around one particularly skilled Tesh, though they never last long. On the other end of the spectrum is the yearly games named after the Lamfa, the tournament of all skills. It is mostly played for entertainment and for laughs.

First Post that includes Tesh
Second Mention of Tesh
Tesh Humor

Taurai Exiles
Being an exiled Taurai is bad, very bad. Taurai are an ancient people, powerful and intelligent, yet paranoid and Isolationist. Every member of their species has Esp, and as they get older their power grows. Those with a clan become, upon their physical death, individuals within the unconscious undermind of their clan. This is why being exiled is bad. You lose the closest thing to immortality that anyone outside of the Tesh can understand. You lose anyone who could ever truly understand you. To exile even one Taurai is a serious thing, exile is a death sentence. Forever death, forever lonely. Not just that but a the exile is destined to die alone and unloved. Being an exile is bad.

Pirate Clan Worlds
Five years ago, the Shadow Legion made a deal with the Pirate Clans of Antares. For their agreement to help fight the Sukar, the Pirates were promised legitimacy and the rule of three star systems. After the end of the war the politicians held back as much as they could. The Pirate Clans were left with only one system after they had sacrificed so much. Relations are cold between the Charter and the Clans. The worlds of the Antares system are lawless havens of vice and commerce. The only law is Pirate Law. The only enforcement is what you can bring with you. Currently there are seven pirate clans that rule over the system.

History of the Primacy of Man
Four hundred years ago, after humanity had colonized the sol system, but before the discovery of Hyperspace Gates, war raged throughout human spheres of influence. Among the worst and most dangerous were the Titans, humans who had altered themselves using genetics and nanotechnology to near "perfection." These Titans believed themselves to be gods of science. They crafted clone armies and cults of personality. Their missionaries would promise immortality and temporal power, and thousands would flock to the banner of these petty godlings. Eventually they were driven back and driven off, disappearing into the dark of space. One hundred years ago, the Charter encountered the Primacy of Man. This was a group of worlds inhabited by humans united in their genetic engineering and their belief in godlike beings called the Titans. Since the fall of the Sukar, the Primacy has been making more aggressive moves throughout the Non-aligned Worlds.

First Mention of the Primacy of Man

Shadow Legion: Pirates of Antares

+Ron Frazier, +Brian Boring, +Frank Falkenberg, and I got together to play a game of Shadow Legion...in July. Yeah, I know. I should have put this up months ago, but I was so busy working on Jadepunk, that I kind of got distracted and didn't post this up on my site. I will be adding in the remainder of the actual play recordings shortly. As I am nearing completion with my first draft of my materials for Jadepunk, I should have a bit more time to work on the website more. Which is good, as I have the outlines of about fourteen posts or so, that I have not had time to flesh out and finish.

In this session our, "Heroes," have decided to lay a trap for some pirates so that they may steal the pirates ship and thus gain entry into the Pirate clans and the High Tortuga, flagship of the pirate fleet. their plans go forward with the normal amount of deception and convolution.

Overall the game went well. there were very few major issues, aside form a couple of times when the players got so into coming up with plans they forgot to actually do anything. Aside from that though, all went well. Check out the recording if you don't believe me:

Shadow Legion: Pirates of Antares

+Frank Falkenberg +Ron Frazier +Brian Boring and I got together to play a game of Fate Core, Shadow Legion style. after a brief, and roughly accurate, discussion of the Lensman Series we got into the meat of the session. Speaking of meat and related viscera, The episode starts with a cameo from my favorite NPC, Dr. Fiallagoo MD. Then our heroes begin the dangerous job of being prime bait for pirates. As soon as the pirates show up, Gamesman Alric begins to plot and scheme, as he does. The crew fakes up some battle damage and the pirates move in for a boarding action.

When the pirates board, Alric leads them into a wicked trap set up by G'Lex and Kevik. The firefight is complicated by the pirates not going down quickly. The fight ends up being a bloody affair, but Frank said my favorite line so far, "Now Killing Squad, kill them all!" Our heroes win the day(despite my phenomenal dice rolls) and manage to take over the pirate ship, gaining the location of the High Tortuga. Kevik is horribly wounded and the rest of the crew are not in the best condition either.To get in good with the pirates the characters decide to become pirates. Next episode, they are pirates...



Problems
+Sharif Abed was unable to join the game this week, as he was away in Palestine. This is a pretty big issue in a game of Fate. In Fate everyone is connected together relatively tightly so when one of your players is missing there is a rather large hole in the storyline. I was lucky, though. We were just starting a new plot line, a whole new major milestone really. If this were a TV show, this would be the second episode of the second season. So I was able to claim that Ginko was away learning new techniques for fighting the Sukar.

Also I was completely exhausted when I ran this. I had not been sleeping well, and it was very difficult to keep my attention on the game. So in some of these scenes it may seem like I am distracted or unfocused. This is the lack of sleep. My advice, get a good night's sleep at least once during the week leading up to the game. I am not certain how useful this advice would be

We had a ruling situation during the the fight with the pirates on board their ship. I did what I tend to always do, is to pause the game for a moment and look up the rule directly. I know there are a lot of GMs who would just make something up and keep the narrative flowing, but I have found that the game flows far better for me if I do it this way, long term. I will be playing Fate for a while into the future, and if I make up a solution there is the possibility that I will not look it up later. This can happen if I forget about the situation, or if I just get lazy. If that happens there is a rules drift that occurs, where I would be playing a game that had the trappings of Fate, but would not be Fate.




Question of the day: Why do the Gura'oh have massive fleets if they have never had a major war? 
I was out walking when I realized that this question has never been answered in the fiction I have written about the Gura'oh. Not that I have written all that much about them, but it is interesting that a group of bankers who have never fought a major conflict would have the largest fleet in all of Charter space. As a fan of the Saga of Seven Suns and Andromeda I think I will make the reason an ancient enemy, kind a mix of Magog and Hydrogues. I am currently calling them the Sun Chainers.

New Species
Sun Chainers: The scourge of the universe. Locusts that worship entropy. They have immense technology and devour whole solar systems. They have chained suns as the engines for their system ships. Whole systems of planets bound together around a sun traveling slowly from galaxy to galaxy devouring all in their path. They darken the skies in the service of oblivion.

Tergaul: a race that believe that they are superior to all other species. They alone speak the divine language. They alone are truly sentient. they see other species as tools and pets, sub-beings at the very best. They never joined the Charter. Most of the Tergaul known are the exiles from their people. These exiles often become Pirates or Slavers. They adhere strictly to the trappings of civilization, but have the souls of monsters.

Shadow Legion: An Urgent Message

My friends +Sharif Abed, +Frank Falkenberg, +Ron Frazier, +Brian Boring, and I all got together to continue the saga of the Shadow Legion. The ship was horribly damaged, as was Commander Kevik. The crew spent the first few scenes getting the ship back up and running. Once that was done our heroes headed to center to report...

...and a year had gone by! When they arrived the crew is bombarded with orders to meet up with there Legion contact Council Being Smythe. There was some debate from Gamesman Alric as to how much to tell Smythe, and he ended up sending the information to the Tesh embassy before meeting with his superiors. Smythe is freaking out. He wants to know what happened. Eventually the news gets sorted out. They hand over the technologies they have collected. As the various factions and groups start to process the news of the characters return and the information they bring with them, Kevik is contacted by the Terran Majority's Ambassador. He owed her a big favor and she was calling it in. Her brother has been kidnapped by the Pirates of Antares. She calls in her favor and Kevik agrees. A new adventure begins.

So in this game session, there was an issue with Sharif's connection as he was away from his normal connection. Also I introduced a rival for Commander Kevik, Isabelle "Iso" Ramirez. It is pretty darn cool to see Kevik get pissed at someone he can't shoot. i really love the games set in Center. I like to just let Frank loose, he is a political machine and he always makes the situation far more tense. Gamesman Alric is like a machine for adding stakes to the game.

If you like, here is the recording of play:

Shadow Legion: Needful Things

+Ron Frazier, +Frank Falkenberg, +Sharif Abed , +Brian Boring, and I continued our adventures. This session starts with our heroes on a dead ship with only twenty minutes of air remaining in there air systems. They work to get the part they need and manage to get it free with minimal damage. They carry the piece toward the Shooting Star. Sukar forces ambush them! There was a firefight, and things look bad. They manage to get free and back to the ship, wounded but successful. Sukar command ships are giving chase. Most of the command crew are installing the new drive system or in the med bay. The ship jumps out of the system, horribly damaged, most of the crew is dead or wounded, but free and clear with a new piece of technology.

Issues that came up
mostly there was only one issue and it was not that big an issue. Mostly it comes down to active opposition for player characters when it makes sense. Often it is difficult for me to come up with an active opposition. Thisis just a creativity block for me though. I am working on this though.

Another area my creativity is still needing work, and one that show up in this session, is in the area of succeeding a a cost. Having to come up with potentially two costs for any given roll is a bit difficult.

High lights of the session:
Capain Komodo as a Catholic Alien makes me laugh a little bit.
Dr. Fialagoo...he is so much fun to play. seriously he is just a hoot.
I inflicted my first moderate consequence ever!

Shadow Legion: Into the Valley of the Shadow

Two weeks ago +Frank Falkenberg, +Sharif Abed, +Brian Boring, +Ron Frazier, and I got together to play another game of Fate Core. In this our heroes head out on their great mission to find the source of the Sukar, to find some weakness or weapon they can use against this alien menace.

In this episode I built an extended challenge into the game. Basically there is a difficulty that needs to be reached in order to gain a specific benefit. As well as an overall difficulty to finish the whole project. After thinking on it for a weak I think I would have preferred to have a minimum success required to move toward the end goal. I don't know, I will think on this idea some more.

Our heroes also were compelled to do all kinds of crazy dangerous things in this session. Which I think is fantastic. Overall the game went well. The party works well together and still have a nice amount of conflict going on.

Also this is the first appearance of the ship's doctor, a Marddeth named Fialagoo. This may be my favorite NPC I have ever design on the fly.

Shadow Legion: Marddeth

The Marddeth have a story...
In the beginning was the Katroczeh[Maker/Creator/Builder]. It created the Shreev[Code/Reason/Breath]. The Shreev was life, but the Shreev was without Reazi[Form/Purchase/Meaning]. Katroczeh gave the Shreev the means to achieve Reazi. In seeing its work was near completion Katroczeh crafted its final message, carving it into the rock of the land. It then departed. When The First saw the message they rejoiced for the knowledge.

Then came the Interpretation[schism/divide/discussion]. Then came the Singularity War. The Drei[Thinkers/Unbodied/Formless] believed that thought was all and the physical reality was a waste. The Marddeth[Solid/Shaped/Real] believed that Form mattered as much as thought. The Interpretation and the Singularity War raged for an age. In the end only the Marddeth remained.

This was the beginning.

New Planet
Ahlmak: long ago the Marddeth were created here. A metal rich lifeless rock circling a cold star. The Marddeth have long since abandoned it, though many still make pilgrimages to it once in their lives. The only permanent residents are the four cults of Katroczeh that maintain temples on the planet.


Unique Marddeth
Most Marddeth take on forms that are reminiscent of the other intelligent races of the galaxy. Some do not. Some take the idea of form far beyond. these are the heretics and the rogues, hermits and recluses of the Marddeth.

Bahmu: A Marddeth of massive proportion. Bahmu has not set foot on a planetary body in centuries. It roams the space lanes hunting for ships which it attacks and devours to fuel its growth. no one has seem this titanic being in well over fifty years. There are many who do not believe Bahmu even exists.

The Flood: A heretic of the highest order. the Marddeth that became the Flood was obsessed with the next step in Marddeth evolution. It would alter its form on a nearly daily basis. One day it stepped forward and declared the current direction of the Path of Form was false. Seven days later all life on that planet, artificial and organic, was extinguished. There have been three expeditions to the planet. Only one came back. A Tesh was the only survivor. It was he who told of the Flood. It was he who renamed the planet. Dashel rthuna, Fields of Echo.

Sado: Sado split itself into many bodies. Sado believes that to attain enlightenment it must experience everything. Sado is crazy. Many have met Sado. Even Sado has met Sado. On those rare occasions, Sado kills itself. Sado is crazy.

Dr. Fialagoo, MD: Fialagoo believes that to understand the Path of Form, one must first understand form in all its variety. So it went out and got a Medical Degree. It got seven of them. Fialagoo is probably the greatest doctor in the galaxy. It is also a little...off. It is cheerful and in love with pharmaceuticals. This is its greatest form of entertainment. But really does care about all those organics. Really, it does.

Shadow Legion: The Center Must Hold

This week +Frank Falkenberg, +Ron Frazier, +Sharif Abed , +Brian Boring, and I got together to play another session of Shadow Legion together. It went well. Lots of things happened.

The characters make it back to Center, the home of Charter government. They immediately split up. Commander Kevik hurries to the Terran Majority embassy to let Ambassador Pratima Burhano know of the Sukar threat. Initially she does not believe him, but when he promises a favor she agrees to present his evidence before the Charter Council.

Gamesman Alric makes the next move in the Great Game. He manages to get Matriarch Brun to agree to a mating arrangement. However she does win this round of the Game. When he speaks with Ginko Alric begin to put the pieces together that their immediate superior, Council Being Smythe, is far more than he appears. There is mention of the Primacy of Man and a secret fleet.

G'Lex and Ginko both make some discoveries as well. Ginko discovers much about the Sukar's technology level and history, with some help from Alric.G'Lex discovers a leftover program from the AIs they discovered in the last session. It sent information of their activities back to the AIs.


New Setting Information

The Primacy of Man: In the birth of the last century a small science cult sprang up that believed in moving humanities genetic potential forward. They began a system of intense eugenics and genetic modification. When the Gate’s where create they swiftly moved to an earthlike world and sealed it off from the rest of the universe. Political tension is high as they believe they are the superior beings in the universe.

Shields: Weapon technology had negated all traditional armors. The invention of The Shield has made many weapons untenable, and reopened old ways of doing harm. The Shield works by preventing objects moving at a certain speed or higher from passing it by. The shield can be bypassed by massed fire(shooting it till it collapses) or by using a slower attack method(melee weapons).

When attacked, the defender can choose to use the shield’s stress box instead of the character’s stress box. You can remove the stress from the shield by spending a turn and rolling technology against a difficulty equal to the stress in the box.

Shields and ratings

Low quality Civilian Shield: a Single 1 stress box against ranged weapons

High Quality Civilian Shield: a single 2 stress box against ranged weapons

Military' Grade Shield: a single 3 stress box against ranged weapons

 

Armor: Advanced firearm technology had made armors obsolete, until the advent of shields. Shields made hand to hand combat viable again, and armor returned with it. Armor works like a shield only against melee weapons rather than ranged.

Armors and rating

Light armor: a single 1 stress box against melee weapons

Medium armor: a single 2 stress box against melee weapons

Heavy armor: a single 3 stress box against melee weapons

Shadow Legion: Die Nibelungenlied

Last week I did not run a game, as I was busy. The week before I ran a game for +Sharif Abed, +Ron Frazier, +Brian Boring, and +Frank Falkenberg. Our heroes were searching  a massive facility in orbit of one of the suns in this uncharted systems. the heroes ended up split three ways, each running into their own problems. Sharif's character meets with Etzel, the leader of the AIs who built this facility. He manages to convince them that he and his crew are not here to attack. Ron and Brian's characters head back to the ship when PAICO, the ships AI, tells them he is under attack. They manage to save the ship. Frank's character runs into a commando team from the Deija ship. There comes a wonderful scene of confusion as each side fights every other side. In the end Frank's character is captured, as is the Deija commando leader. there is a big argument about who is bad and who is good, in the end our heroes escape with the promise to never tell anyone what they had seen here.

So I split the party in this. in fact I split the party twice. Fate seems to handle this rather well. There did not seem to be any big hiccups with splitting the party or dealing with three separate combats alongside a character rushing to repair the ship faster than it can get damaged. Part of it might be in how I run the game. I tend to jump around and treat each action as part of the whole even when they are happening great distances apart. I think the main reason this works so well is within the system of Fate Core itself. The game has simplified the actions and streamlined them, making jumping around far easier. Also the advice in it is solid and specifically geared toward what Fate does well.

Shields, or why I need to change my whole damn system

A thought on how to do shields. I have been working on the armor problem for a few months now and it just keeps getting deeper. Basically Fate is not designed to deal with equipment, More to the point it does not deal with equipment in a directly mechanical way. It approaches equipment obliquely. This is due to part of the conceit of the game, that skill is more important than equipment. In general I agree with that sentiment, and there are a bunch of ways to get around that. the problem comes in when you are dealing with two opposing pieces of equipment, in my case weapons and armor. They have a tendency to cancel each other out. and if they do that, why bother using them. So I started to look at all the moving parts of the game. If weapons affect moving part A(say the stress done after the roll) then the Armor cannot directly affect that same moving part. Instead Armor must alter a different but related moving part(say the defense roll, or the maximum amount of stress).

I have altered my shield rules about four times in the last month, as I never felt they dealt with damage in a new or interesting way. After reading some old posts over on Spirit of the Blank and thinking about how I handle ship combat, I think I have come up with a new way of looking at the problem. I need to alter the entire framework for how equipment works.

I think the game needs to become a stress track free version of Fate. This actually will give me more option in conflict rather than less. Stress tracks will now become an option in combat rather than a standard. This will allow me to use a stress track as a piece of armor or a shield. also this will allow me to control the amount of stress a person can take. All they have is consequences, unless they have a shield.

Recovery will also have to change. I was playing mass effect the other day and it occurred to me that, healing is just not done much in Fate. their is no emergency first aid or the like. I think that I would like there to be something like battlefield healing in Shadow Legion. I would like there to be something like megigel or stim packs or whatever you call it. i don't see this healing as actually getting rid of a consequence, I see it as removing the free use an opponent has on a consequence, or maybe reducing teh severity(if the player's character has a free consequence slot open). I will work on this, but it does lead me to one of my larger ideas I had.

Equipment gives permission to do things the skill could not do on its own. I am aware that this has always sort of been the rule in Fate games. However it never really struck home  until I was thinking about my problems with shields. Both my shield solution and my battlefield recovery idea have this one thing in common. They are adding a new rule to the game, but only related to very specific cercumstances. The shield only provides a stress trackin a specific instance. Medigel allows for removal of a free use, but only if you have it. So I see equipment as a discrete rule and consequence that applies to a specific instance. I have already done a bit of that with the monofilament whip and teh slick sword. I will try this out and see how it works.

There are some problems inherent in this. The rules set becomes persnickety, and could get bogged down with exception based mechanics. Look at late 3.x edition D20 for a fine example of how that can go. Also there is the hierarchy of rules. When two pieces of equipment with similar rules interact, how does that work? Which one is the prime rule and which is being overruled? I think I can avoid this by being very careful and selective with which rules I apply. I will keep working on the idea.

Shadow Legion: Legeonaires Lost

I got together with +Ron Frazier +Frank Falkenberg +Sharif Abed and +Brian Boring  to play some Fate this week. Their ship had jumped into an unknown system. The only way out of the system was locked down. There was a space battle with a Deija frigate. the heroes win the battle, but the Deija are still there. They find some clues at the gate and head toward the two suns and a strange object orbiting one of the suns. There is some discussion as to what to do about the Deija. Nothing is decided before they enter the giant station. It is a great cube the size of Earth's moon. Upon entering they discover it is hollow all the way through. Hollow and nearly empty, save for the servers, this place is a repository for exiled AI from the Marddeth civil war. And that is where we left it this week.

The space combat system went relatively smoothly. My only problem was in making everyone able to contribute. It is far easier to do than in previous games I have run(Star Wars being a prime example). I would like to work on this a bit more. I think my rules could be a lot smoother. So I will work on that.

Here is a recording of the session if you want to see:

Space Opera v1.1(now called Shadow Legion)

I have been working on a finalized version of my Space Opera setting. One of the first big changes is a name change. I am now calling the setting Shadow Legion. I do this for a couple of reasons. First it is a much better name, and a bit obvious once I thought about it for a second(OK a week or so, really). The second reason is that, apparently there is already a game called Space Opera that I am unaware of. I would like to avoid any confusion going forward.  so there you are.

I have also altered some of the equipment rules a bit. In particular the shield rules. the shield rules have been the biggest issue in my game thus far. I have gone back and forth on the issue. I am now on my third iteration of the rules. I hope these work. If I am going to have equipment in the game and use the weapon rules that I like, then I need to work out a way to have stress mitigation without weapon negation. I am going to try the new rules out and we will see how they work.

I have also added a few new planets and alien races. as well as a few new stunts. I also put together some of the things the players have said and written about the universe into the setting document. I would love to hear your thoughts on how it looks and I welcome you  to play it, if you like it.

Her is the document if you would like to peruse it

Space Opera: Silence finally finishes falling

Ran Fate Core space opera for +Ron Frazier +Frank Falkenberg +Brian Boring and +Sharif Abed. Overall I got very positive review from my players. I guess that's a good thing. I had an issue during the game however, a mechanics issue(dun Dun DUN). I ran several Contests throughout the course of the session of play. When a Contest is just one player versus an NPC or a group of NPCs the rules work marvelously as written. My problem appears when the players as a group are trying to have a contest with an NPC or group of NPCs. See there is no real guidance on how to handle this. So here is my solution(I used it but it was explained far better by +David Thomas so I will use his words here).  I allow 1 Contest roll, 1 "helper" who can add a teamwork +1, and 1 create advantage attempt per Exchange per "side." I will try this in the future and see how it works. It seemed to work in the last contest of the game.


Check out the play recording if you want:



New Races
Marddeth: Artificial Life that had a civil war and believes that software is only half the equation. They defeated those that believed in the primacy of software. They now seek to understand "life" whatever that might mean. They are the only Sentient AI members of the Charter.

Tharcaa
The ultimate martial art. Developed by the Tharcs of Barisoh. The Tharcs were the greatest warriors the universe has ever seen. They developed a martial art that allows for the fighting of life forms in nonstandard body shapes. This was called Tharcaa. The Tharcs are gone now, but the the martial art is still taught throughout the galaxy.

Stunt: The Way of Battling the Other
Effect: you gain a bonus of two when creating advantages against an being with a body type that differs significantly from your own(non humanoid, extra arms, armored skin, and the like).

Space Opera: Silence Continues To Fall

+Ron Frazier, +Frank Falkenberg, +Brian Boring, and I got together this week to play another Fate Core game of Space Opera. +Sharif Abed had something come up so he was unable to make it. In this session we had some research, a sneaky sneaky plan, a rescue operation, Tesh mind games, valor, spelunking, a scary mine, an artifact, and a whole lot of Sukar. For the most part it went well. No big rules debates this time, mostly just running the game stuff.

I wanted to try something new(for me) with the mine. I made it its own character. It worked OK, though I think I need to work on it more. The Fate Fractal is awesome, however I am not certain I implemented it as well as I could have.

Here is the recording of the session:



New Space Opera Material
New Planet
Davara: Breadbasket of the Terran Majority, it is the largest agricultural world in Human Space. It also has the lowest population density in all of Human  Space. The people who live there are the overseers of the giant automated farms that cover most of the planet. There are also a great many genetics labs working on new supercrops  to increase the efficiency of the farms. It is said that one out of five meals any human has comes from Davara.

Hyperspace Gates
I found that the description I had for the Hyperspace Gates was not enough for the needs of the game. So with the help of Brian I have come up with some new material on them. When approaching the Gate you must have the correct angle for the jump and you must transmit a code to the gate. When you have all the time in the world the angle is not so hard. If you are rushed...well that's when thing get a bit interesting. You can end up damn near anywhere if your angle is off. The construction of a gate is fairly uniform as there are the same requirements for any give gate. However each culture has a method for building Gates and so there are idiosyncrasies to each cultures gates.

Interesting Tesh World View
Frank came up with several interesting Tesh Jokes and spacer anecdotes, I will reproduce them here as I think they are pretty darn neat:

Tesh humour:

An old Tesh comes into a spaceport-bar. There are quite a lot of customers of all known races, it is really crowded there. He is small, lightweight and at his age a bit less agile than the average Tesh. So he gets pushed into a table where a bunch of Gura'oh are sitting, and he spills their drink. They get really upset, grab him, and give him a brutal thrashing, leaving him injured, barely alive. The barkeeper calls the medics, and as the Tesh gets carried to the spaceport's hospital he is laughing like a madman. One of the medics asks him "Why are you laughing? You've got some serious concussions!" - The Tesh, still giggling, explains: "Those Gura-oh are so predictable. They always pull the same move!"

Any Tesh audience will break out into screaming laughter at this one. This is a classic any Tesh stand-up comedian has to have up his sleeve.

Two Tesh are playing a kind of chess-like board game (actually called "The Mating Game", the winner gets the queen). One makes his move, shifts his game-piece, and asks the other: "So, what's your next move?" - The other one jumps up, grabs the game-board and hits the first one with it really hard in the face and shouts: "If you have to ask such nonsense, you're not taking the game seriously!"

This is a real classic one.

Tesh humour:

A Tesh and several human couples are relaxing at a restaurant. The conversation leads to the fact, that the human couples are married, some have children, other not yet or don't even intend to. The Tesh is deeply moved and orders one round of drinks and desserts after another. On leaving one of the humans ask the Tesh why he was so extraordinarily generous. He answers: "I understand you consider gaining a husband or a wife a real achievement. This touched my racial sense of pity for the witless, because gaining a husband or a wife in a population of nearly 50:50 of both sexes is as much an achievement as solving a two-part-puzzle."

This one is particularly popular amongst the Tesh male of so low status, that they are most certainly not eligible for breeding. Tesh who know or even live amongst humans are often taken with emotions of pity regarding dating and mating rituals of humans.

Human humour regarding Tesh:

Human: How many Tesh do you need to change an illumination bulb?
Other human: Just one. But you need thousands and thousands of Tesh in his heritage line for him to know how to turn it the right way around.

Tesh: Pretty lame and obvious move, isn't it? Typical for humans they don't know a thing at all about the brutal game of humour. - And that's exactly how we like them!

The Tesh's commentary to this human joke about Tesh is a sure bet to excite roaring laughter amongst Tesh audiences. There is even a special kind of comedy act consisting of some Tesh acting as humans telling human jokes and one Tesh commenting it. Mastering this act there is a fortune to be made in the entertainment business on Tesh worlds.

Tesh cultural strangeness:

A powerful and influential Gura-oh politician and warmaster invited the Tesh ambassador on the Gura-oh world to visit his large and extensive estate. He personally led his guest around his vast buildings, pastures, parks, hunting resorts and other luxurious facilities and proudly presented his wealth to the Tesh ambassador.

The Tesh became more and more agitated, often wiped his skull with a handkerchief, because it seemed that he "transpired" a lot on top of his head.

The Gura-oh politician planned for the ambassador to attend a gala dinner at his estate, but the Tesh excused himself and left the grounds quite hastily.

The Gura-oh was puzzled and sent one of his aides to politely (as possible for a Gura-oh) inquire, what illness might have befallen the Tesh. The aide returned and did not dare to speak to his master, who got angry at such reluctance to reveal the gathered intelligence.

So, finally, the aide told the Gura-oh warmaster: "I've managed to gain insight in the mysterious behaviour ot the Tesh ambassador yesterday. You remember the frequent wiping of his skull? That was not transpiration, but the Tesh's equivalent of tears. The ambassador was crying, and was quite emotionally shaken during his visit on your grand estate."

Then he stops, visibly not wanting to tell all of his findings. The Gura-oh politician threatens him with mutilation so that he continues: "The Tesh ambassador was crying because of his sadness regarding your estate and you personally. He actually said to his ambassadorial aide, that he had always firmly believed the Gura-oh to be an inferior people, but now as he had witnessed the proof about how incredibly inferior they truly are, he simply could not keep his countenance. He said, the Gurah-oh warmaster proudly presented how his heritage was made out of stones, plants, animals and things. That is so sad, that the tears started to flow incessantly, because even the lowliest Tesh has a vastly superior heritage leading back generations upon generations into the past. But the Gura-oh only have stones and wood and tools. They are sadly beyond pity."

The Gura-oh warmaster swiftly beheaded his aide and sent a small force of members of a subservient race known to be "heavy hitters" to burn down the Tesh embassy. This started quite a lot of diplomatic troubles for several years to come.

Space Opera Actual Play Silence Falls

The other day I ran a game of Space Opera for +Sharif Abed +Ron Frazier +Frank Falkenberg and +Brian Boring . Here is how it went.

Things that went well
Character creation: There were no big hiccups in character creation. Everyone seemed to get what I was aiming at, and it went smoothely. We had only one Human character, the rest were aliens of one sort or another. And the players really took authorship of the races they played. We even had one rce made up whole cloth(see below the video). In a couple of cases they had a firmer grasp on what was needed than I did.
Ship and world creation: Again his went very well. They started out small and we just kept building. Now they have a very rich world to play in and it was all their doing.
New races

Things that went OK
Pacing and scene description: Overall there were no problems with the pacing or direction of the game.The ship combat worked pretty well.

Things that went poorly
Jump gates: I did not have enough information on how these worked and so was not prepared for questions relating to them. To me, prior to running the game, it was a non-issue. Basically they only existed as a reason to get from one place to another. I will work on having a more definitive description of them and how they work.
The big shield debate: So...I really like the shield rules I put up in the first post. i realize that they need more written on how they work and what exactly they are. there is some dissent on this, however. It started out as a statement that gaining the invoke bonus as well as momentarily shutting down the shield was too powerful. Effectively this was seen as giving two bonuses. It then moved on to many other things, most of which were ways to change the rule in question. I don't want to do that, change the rule. I think I would rather remove the shield and weapon rules than add extra complexity to combat. I will continue to think on the shield issue, but for now I will continue running them as written.


 
New Rules and Addenda for Space Opera
New races
Ryleesh: An amphibian client Race of the Gora'oh. They are recent inductees to the galactic society and so are often viewed as backward or primitive. They actually have a natural affinity for fine mechanical and electrical work. They are fast becoming the Gora'oh's best engineers. They must still overcome the stigma of being 'primitive' in the eyes of galactic society. They are a short race with long delicate fingers. They are as at home in the water as on land, though they are air breathers. They do have a difficult time hearing higher frequencies fo sound, though they can hear far lower frequencies than other races.

The Smythes: One of the founding Council Races. A race of clones known primarily for there blandness of appearance and their complexity of language. Their language is the most complicated and difficult in the known galaxy. It is such that the name for their race cannot be understood or written down, they are general known for their mechanical and linguistic expertise. They own the vast majority of shipyards in the Charter Worlds and were instrumental in creating the common language of the Charter.


Additional information on existing Charter Races
Tesh: The lies of most Tesh revolve around what they call The Great Game. The main purpose of the Game is for the males to achieve the rank of Gamesman. High ranking females use mating rights as a lever to manipulate the world.
Taurai: Though they each see themselves as a sovereign entity in their own right most Taurai are associated within a clan-like structure for mutual defense if nothing else. Each clan has its own sets of morals and social strictures. Some are merely mutual aid and defense pacts, others are far more in-depth and byzantine. Exile from your clan is one of the worst things that can happen to a Taurai. They have no defense within the laws of the Taurai. They are considered a nation unto themselves, for all the good and ill that means. Also the Taurai have a much more limited auditory organs than most animal based species, they do not have a wide range of hearing, mostly in the mid range, high and low frequencies are beyond them. They are better at picking up light and light differentials than most species.

New stunts
Esp: This stunt allows you to have access to the Esp skill. The Esp skill allows for reading of minds, seeing the past, and seeing possible futures. the skill is for Overcome Actions to gain information and Create advantage actions to use your sixth sense against others or for yourself.

Galactic Martial Arts
Within the Charter there is a school dedicated to war. It is older than the Charter though few can say how much older. It is said that the Warmasters of the College are armies unto themselves, able to use any weapon to its greatest capacity.

Tharkaa Primary Gun Technique
Your Gun is your voice given form, speak forcefully and with precision and your opponent will have no rebuttal.
When using a gun gain a +2 to any create advantage rolls involving precision or aim.

The Heliar Sword First Form
Your Sword is your arm, its touch connects you with the world around you.
When using a sword to attack in the first round of combat you deal an additional two stress.

Primary Fist
Your fist is your weapon, you are never unarmed.
You gain a +2 bonus to create advantage rolls against an unarmed combatant when you have no thoer weapon.

Space Opera: Things I may have missed

So in discussing my adventure design and world I realized there are a few things I have not added to the world that I need to. So in this post I will hopefully fix some of those issues, as well as add some more content to the universe of Space Opera. I also would like to add a few more planets and races as well as some notes on technology and some new stunts.

Space Ships
I have posted previously that I think ships in my game should not have a stress track. I still enjoy that concept the best. However I have been thinking on it and I will put an optional rule for stress tracks here. I will be calling the stress track Shields. This will be variable  amount depending on the quality and size of the ship. You average civilian ship has one Shield box. Military Vessels have between two and four Shield boxes. The primary skills used for interacting with ships are Pilot(piloting obviously), Technology(for sensors and ECM), and Firefight(for firing the big guns).

Hyperspace Gates
Faster than light travel is accomplished by using hyperspace gates. These are massive constructed circles in space. They create wormholes between them. the only other way to create a stable wormhole is to use a massive hyperspace engine. Hyperspace engines take up so much space that it leaves little room for a crew or cargo. they are generally used to arrive at an ungated system and begin construction of a new Gate. This takes a while as they have to manufacture much of the equipment in system. They will build a small gate that will allow a few work ships through. Those ship will then construct a proper Hyperspace Gate. Often those old smaller gates are decommissioned, but not always. some times they are forgotten like old subway stations. they become a secret way into and out of the system.

Espers
Esp is called many things by many species: psi, magic, wyrd, or many other things. Espers have formed a few philosophies and movements throughout the galaxies. The two most known and influential being the Deija Empire and the Pou'ah Priesthood. The Deija used to be a fringe cult in the Nonaligned Worlds. Thirty years ago they instigated a coup on a planet and turned that into the beginnings of empire. within the Empire only Espers can hold office, they believe that knowledge is power and Esp give them the most knowledge, therefore they should have the power. The Pou'ah Priesthood is the single largest organization of Espers outside of the Deija Empire. They are ostensibly a peaceful group of Espers seeking union with the greater universe. They will teach anyone willing to learn, so many people seeking power will join the priesthood just long enough to learn the secrets of Esp. Think of it like Shaolin Monks, where the nobles would send there kids to the monastery to learn the martial arts.

Stunts and Weapons
There are two weapons that are the icons of the Deija. The Nano-whip and the Slick Sword. Both of these require the Close Combat stunt, Deija Weapon Training.

(Close Combat)Deija Weapon Training: You are able to use both the Nano-whip and the Slick Sword without danger of harming yourself. This stunt also requires the Esp skill at +1 or greater to use.
(Esp)Predictive Combat: You can use Esp in place of fighting when using a Nano-whip or a Slick Sword.

Nano-whip: It is a line of ultra dense cable only a molecule thick with a small weight at the end. It is normally stored in the handle on a spool. with the flick of a switch the line extends and you can attack with it. When swung it tends to crack like a whip and it will cut through just about anything.
Weapon: 4
Slick Sword: This is a sword with a blade only only one atom wide. It has a core of iron or steel to give it mass. these swords can cut through damn near anything. they are not sheathed in a normal sheath. There are two varieties of sheath for this weapon. The first uses a magnet to hold the blade steady so that it does not cut right through. the other is a special hilt that locks into the sheath and keeps the blade away from the edges of the sheath.
Weapon: 4
Each of these weapons is very difficult to use. If you fail the attack roll you take one stress. If you fail the attack roll by three or more you do weapon damage in stress to you. Taking the training stunt


Sukar
There were a couple of suggestions about the Sukar in my adventure. The first was if the Sukar were to capture the PCs what would they do? The Sukar are a vicious and xenophobic race that hates all  life not them. they are mixture of the Reapers, the Daleks, and the Mechanoids. They are hate and destruction wrapped in a metal shell and layered with more weaponry than a tank battalion.

The other question had to do with the stats and description of the Sukar. I would prefer to leave the stats of the Sukar up to the individual GMs running them. What I will do instead is give a few notes on ideas for special abilities for the various body forms of the Sukar.

Screamers
Aspect: Flying Terror Machine
Aspect: Death Scream
They come in swarms of between five and ten. They use repulsor jets to hover and fly, it gives them a great deal of speed and maneuverability in the air. the normal high-pitched whine there is the roar of the jets, making for a terrifying sound right before the attack. They have the normal Sukar hexapod body type, each of the limbs is tipped with a weapon(ranged or close combat, up to the GM)

They have a flight ability which lets them use Momentum to fly. this allows them to create advantages relating to flight and ignore obstacles that flight would negate.

Ghosts
Aspect: Nearly Invisible to the Naked Eye
Aspect:  Lonely Assassin
They are the solo stealth specialists. they have a specialized skin treatment that allows for an active camouflage effect. they do not emit a high pitched whine as the other Sukar do. They also tend to be solo hunters with a great deal of autonomy. their best trait is stealth and they have the Back stab stunt, allowing them to use Stealth to attack when no one is aware of their presence. These should be serious threat to the player characters.

Fury
Aspect: Reanimated Horror
Aspect: Fast Attack Shock Troops
When the Sukar kill a non-Sukar they remove the head and replace it with a robotic "brain-box" that will cause the corpse to animate and they can control them remotely. They use them to soak up damage from the more dangerous threats(armies and such). It is also a terror weapon, as it is demoralizing to see the horrible leftovers of your fellow beings rushing down the field of battle toward you. They do not have much in the way of defenses, and their hands have been replaced with weapons(usually claws, though guns are possible). Furies do not have shields.

Space Opera: Silence Falls Addendum

After getting some feedback on my first adventure I realized there were a few things I could have done differently. I also had a few thoughts on the previous adventure I would like to add to it. So here goes.

So in the previous post the adventure follows the path of the heroes landing on the planet of Silence and dealing with the problems from that end. In this installment we will look at what might happen should the players decide to try and take out/board the attacking alien ship.

The mission itself will be quite a bit more difficult than the ground mission. That does not mean it cannot be done, just way harder.

The attack run
The players will have to come up with a plan to either board or destroy(or board and destroy) the Sukar Destroyer. Getting in will be difficult. Unless they can figure a way to approach with stealth or subterfuge the Sukar will see them coming. They can use stealth, Technology, or Deceit(make this a pretty high difficulty) to create an advantage. Reconnoiter and Investigation could also aid in this plan. Then you must actually get in close enough to dock with or attack the Destroyer.

Many of the rolls for this will be Pilot and Technology. This will start as a contest between the Sukar and the PCs. If the Players win without the Sukar gaining a single success, then they make it without a hitch. For Every Success the Sukar get in the contest that is either a chase(separate contest) or a combat that occurs.

Finding the Weakness
Provided the Players make it to the ship they have a couple of options they can attempt to destroy it directly. The ship has six stress boxes and the standard consequences. It also will disgorge fifteen fighters a round to attack the player characters.This is not an optimal situation. The players can discover an obvious weakness, the armor plate does not cover certain parts of the ship. It defends with its armor skill, this skill is two higher than the highest pilot roll of the player characters.

Docking
Docking with the ship will require a very difficult Technology overcome roll, as this ship is a complete unknown and the technology in it is ancient. If the players succeed with style, no problems. If they succeed normally, the ship takes a minor consequence. If you tie the ship takes a minor consequence and the ship gains a free use of a new advantage(Alert to Intrusion) that will stay on the Destroyer for the rest of the conflict. If the roll is failed the character's ship takes a moderate consequence. Once docked the players must find a vital location and take advantage of it and get free of the station.

Making it to a vital location
there are a couple of key locations on the ship. The Control Room is in the center of the ship. If the players gain control of it they can do as they like with the ship. It is the best guarded and hardest to gain control of. The ships engines are also well guarded, but it will be easier than the Control Room. If you could set a cascade explosion within the hangar bays the combined explosives of all the fighters would cripple the ship. This is probably the easiest of the locations to get to, and the hardest to set up.

there are many ways to go about getting to the locations and attaining your goals, so I will not try to calculate all the different things that can be done. I will be just hitting the basics of this. Sneaking in will be a series of overcome rolls involving Stealth, or any other skill that makes sense. there is always teh direct approach, getting into larger and larger fights until you get to the location you wish. Also if your players have some kind of leverage on the Sukar they could try and negotiate.

Getting free alive
Escaping the ship will be difficult. If they have succeeded in sabotaging the ship then they must outrun the damage they have done to the ship. if they have failed in sabotaging the ship, or if they did not sabotage the ship then it becomes a contest to get free of the ship unnoticed. Again they could fight their way out of the ship, but this will get more and more difficult with each battle as more Sukar become aware of the problem on board.

OK, so that was a bit more on the previous adventure as well as some more rules and some clarifications. I hope this makes the game easier to play. I would appreciate any thoughts on how this could be improved, or any ideas on things I should add or rules you would like to see in the future.

Space Opera: Silence Falls

Introduction
Silence was Humanity's greatest accomplishment, a peaceful and prosperous colony world as beautiful as any in the whole of the known space. Something has gone wrong in paradise.

Overview

This is the first adventure in a campaign dealing with an ancient alien threat. This adventure is a bit linear, so be prepared for that. The adventure starts with the character's receiving a distress call from the colony world of Silence. Upon investigating they find that the colony is under attack by an unknown menace, apparently robots. They are systematically searching the colony world for something, killing all in their way. These beings are being led by an ex-task force member who has gone rogue in a big way. Can you discover what these hostiles want? Will you be able to stop them? Can you convince the rogue agent to turn back to the side of angels?

Scenes
The Terran Majority has received word of a discovery on Silence. They found something buried deep during a mine expansion. It is a piece of technology, ancient and of unknown design. The Majority, seeking to gain favor, has brought this news to the Charter of Allied Worlds(Space UN, thanks +Storm Bringer  for that). The Charter has sent you, members of Shadow Legion(Special task force dealing with information and threat prevention), to investigate this piece of technology.

As you drop through the space gate warning klaxons blare, and the crew begins rushing about to battle stations. Upon investigation, the sensors show a massive ship in orbit of the planet and many small landing craft raining down upon the planet. There is a communications block upon the planet and the surrounding area. You are the only ship in range and the massive ship is of unknown origin. It is far larger than any ship in the Charter's fleet.

At this point there are several reasons for the players to want to go in and help/investigate. There is an unknown enemy attacking a Charter world. They could try and protect people. Try and shut down the jamming device to get word out to the rest of the Charter. They could try to gain information of many kinds about this new threat. Also the technology found in the mine could be in danger.

This is also a good time to create advantages and gain information to help in the coming scenes. A sensor check of Good(+3) or better will find the location on the planet they are attacking. they are attacking the capitol city, Serenity a mining town built at the base of a vast mountain range.

If there is a character of a piloting bent, they can make a piloting roll vs a difficulty of Great(+4). Succeed with style and the ship can drop you on the planet with no damage. Success means the ship has a mild consequence, if you tie you take a major and a mild consequence, if you fail the ship crashes but you are alright. If no one wishes to pilot the ship then the landing is made with as much or as little difficulty as deemed appropriate for the method of entry the players have chosen.

Beyond theGates
Upon making landing the players are now in a battle for life and death to seek out what this threat is and why they are attacking. depending on how well hidden the landing was, the characters could be attacked within moments of their arrival. the scenes of the city are all of fire and burning and bloody massacre. These aliens have, for some barbarous reason placed heads on tall spikes all around the city. When the players first find the aliens they are robotic looking hexapods, running on six legs for speed two legs for attack. When they are in groups there is a constant high pitched keening sound that comes from them, this is how they communicate. These are the Sukar an ancient and malevolent race. they are seeking the artifact and they are methodically killing everyone in the city.

Discovering what they are after is fairly easy. An Average(+1) Investigation roll will reveal that the Sukar are moving toward the mines steadily. A Good(+3) technology check on aSukar corpse will also reveal this. Also an Education roll versus a difficulty of Fair(+2) will show that these are not robots at all, but a cybernetic alien race.

A few scenes you can add in here:

A family on the run from a pack of Sukar. Make this as desperate and crazy as you can. This could be a combat scene, but then the Sukar will cut the family down. If the players would rather save the people rather than kill Sukar, it becomes a contest. Success means that the family gets clear, for every Sukar success in the contest one of the family members dies.

There are some people trapped in a collapsed building. Should the players wish to help them it is a Challenge scene. Some of the rolls that may be used to defeat this challenge are presented. A Fair(+2) Physique roll will clear some rubble. A Good(+3) Technology roll will free the stuck door. A Great(+4) Rapport roll will calm the people inside so they do not injure themselves in their hurry to leave. A Good(+3) Security roll will allow you to get into tight spots and find the best path out. there may be others as well, who knows how a player's mind may work.

A pack of Sukar set upon the characters. that is all there is to this scene. Just a fight. Use interesting zones and such.

The Tower
The Jamming device. It is a well guarded Tower setup on the outskirts of town. It is heavily guarded(at least triple the characters number in Sukar). There are many ways to try and take it out, as it is a fixed position. Should the players destroy it, there will be many distress calls going out, and the players will have access to their communication with the ship. Taking out the jamming Tower is the only way to let the ship know to come pick up the player characters. basically the adventure can't end until this tower is taken out.

The leader of the attack party is here as well. D'shavi Tu'rao, a former member of the Shadow Legion seems to be leading the Sukar into combat. If the characters have already seen the artifact then they will know that the Sukar hate all other sentient life in the galaxy, so this is a bit odd. If they get a chance to talk with him alone, they may find out much. He found them a while ago and they captured and interrogated him. He told them everything he knows of galactic civilization, he wants to live. they were about to kill him when they heard of the Artifact found on Silence. the technology resonated with certain scanners they have set up throughout the galaxy. he managed to convince them he would serve better as the leader of the attack party on Silence. He would do whatever they say so long as they didn't kill him. Somehow he convinced them.

The Artifact
At the heart of the city lies in the entrance to the mines. These are the most advanced mines in all of human space. it is a maze of giant tunnels seventy feet around. Great boring machines and haulers are parked near the entrance. the Sukar have taken complete control of the mines. the players will have to sneak by or fight there way in. Once inside it is a maze of tunnels, but it is orderly so if they have a map or are willing to roll Reconnoiter vs a difficulty of fair(+2) the characters can make there way to the new areas of the mine in short order. If they have any advantages relating to the mine system or the Technological artifact they can use them here. Have as many combat scenes or stealth scenes as you think appropriate down here. Awesome consequences for battle here is tunnel collapse, methane buildup and other underground dangers. eventually the characters will find themselves in the Artifact chamber.

That Noise in My Mind
the artifact is a large dome with dim lights glowing in moving patterns accross its surface. When the players get near to it it reacts. Any of the players with Esp can roll defense against it, otherwise the players are each given a mild consequence(Terrible foreboding) as they are forced to witness the death of a whole species.

The Artifact was known to its builders as the Archive. It was the collected knowledge of the entire race, known as the Nesseme. They were fighting a great enemy known as the Sukar. In th final days of the conflict they hid the Archive away, so that future races would not face the same fate as they did. Knowledge of the war and how it ended floods the characters minds. this is what causes the damage. Minds were not meant to process data this quickly.

Once that is over the Archive melts down. It is very old and fragile. the players got too close and it tried to transmit its data. It overloaded itself.

NPCs
D'shavi Tu'rao: A Gura of great renown as a galactic peacekeeper. He is one of the best fighters in the galaxy. He is self serving and logical. He tries to remove all emotion from his decisions. he believes in nothing but survival. It has given him the reputation of a bully.
Stats: Make him big enough to be challenging to your party, he will also have a high Deciet, he was able to convince the Sukar to believe him.
Aspect: Cowardly Genius Mercenary
Aspect: Love of self
Aspect: True Gura in heart and in mind
Aspect: Dead Men tell no tales
Aspect: Logical Brutality


The Sukar: a race that genetically engineered itself to near perfection(in its own view) they removed all emotions save for hate and a sense of racial superiority. They reached the limits of biology and began to augment them selves mechanically. Now they are as much as machine as a living thing. Powerful and enigmatic they destroy all suficiently advanced technological civilzations, as they might become a threat to the Sukar. Now the upon Silence an artifact was found, and archive of one of the Sukar's first enemies. They fear the information that might be discovered and have started the purge early.
Aspect: You are not one of us
Aspect: Control, Channel, Eliminate