Spes Magna Games

Whew! Week one of the blogging challenge is just about done. I was doing okay until day five. I didn’t start working on this post until 9:00 p.m. last night, which, after the week I’ve had, is a bit after my bedtime. Still, with drooping eyes, with throbbing temples, I plodded through, Pandora playing a mix of 50s doo-wop, reggae, and 80s new wave.

I’ve been using A to Z as an excuse to get more writing done for Tiamat’s Throne, focusing on the different planets in the sector conquered by the dragons. This post is supposed to be a more detailed write-up of Elanor, similar to what I’ve done recently for Castor and Deneb. Alas, this was not to be. Instead, you get this, namely me writing about how I come up with planet descriptions.

Here’s the big secret: It’s almost entirely random, using the various tables found in the Stars Without Number rules. I tweak things a bit here and there, but pretty much what you end up reading about is what I generated with my dice. For example, here’s the very-rough-draft-indeed version of Elanor:

Atmosphere: Breathable mix
Temperature: Temperate
Biosphere: Human-miscible
Population: Tens of thousands
Tech Level: 3
World Tags: Heavy Mining, Altered Humanity
Reason for Colonization: Research outpost
Original Government: Autocracy
Current Government: Republic
Traits: Resigned, Warlike
Conflict: Land – The land is just a proxy; one side simply wishes to destroy the other, and so uses the dispute as an excuse for conflict. Both sides are confident that their diplomats can force a concession, and are holding back from war at present. Outsiders are vigorously recruited for the struggle for possession.

What I need to do now is take this raw, mostly random data and make it fit into Tiamat’s Throne. I say “mostly random” because I added the Altered Humanity tag without it coming up via a die roll. Elanor is the planet where one is most likely to encounter the malgrandegulos, the gengineered dwarf-like race created by the Eugenics Commissars for mining work.

What I think is most interesting about Elanor is the comparatively small population and the nature of the conflict on the planet. I’m envisioning a few, mutually hostile city-states. Each city-state controls an important mining interest and associated territory, but as resources in the territory become scarce, pressure to expand and remain profitable leads to conflict over unclaimed land. Diplomats from the various city-states vie against each other for negotiated advantages, preferring bloodless politics to the sort that comes out of the barrel of a gun.

The one thing I’m not sure I like about Elanor is the low tech level. Tech level 4 is imperial standard. Elanor’s lower tech level greatly limits her ability to engage in interplanetary travel and trade. This seems odd for a planet whose natural resources are vital to imperial interests. Perhaps this can be explained away by including an imperial fleet stationed off-world but still in Elanor’s system. The malgrandegulos mine using tech roughly equivalent to what we have today, and imperial agents take care of the shipment to extraplanetary markets.

Tags: A to Z 2013, planetary tour, Stars Without Number, Tiamat's Throne

In the early 27th century, the Homeland Fellowship, a monarchical colonial effort, settled on Castor, establishing a liaison outpost as a first step toward opening diplomatic relations with other worlds in the sector. For a time, the Homeland Fellowship court on Castor was a thing of wonder: heraldric flags, orders of knights, aristocratic ambassadors, and the architectural wonders, with pillared foundations, scroll buttresses, numerous mosaics, squared support piers, and flat-topped towers.

Then came the irruption of magic and the rage of the dragons. Castor suffered worse than most other worlds, for the dead refused to stay in their graves. The monarchy collapsed, and the knightly orders stepped into the breach. Centuries of internecine warfare followed. Even today, in the Age of the Phoenix, Castor remains a world wracked by conflict and terror.

Castor’s population lives precariously behind the walls of a half dozen fortified cities that rely on technology generally equivalent to 19th-century Earth. Castoran society is controlled by quasi-religious military orders under the supreme command of a council of generals. Almost all commerce and wealth on Castor is controlled by members of the military. The martial quartermaster class has taken on most of the roles performed by the businesses class on other worlds. Unskilled labor is performed by Castorans unfit for military service.

This large civilian class is widely discriminated against, being forbidden to run businesses, possess significant wealth, or own land. The Castoran civilian class’s reputation for sloth and vice is not unmerited. Among them, cultural patterns inimical to success within the competitive military orders have become deeply ingrained. Nevertheless, exceptional civilians can be rewarded with contractor status, which comes with entrepreneurial and property privileges.

Social norms reward ambitiousness, especially within the military by demonstrated courage in defense of the cities. The military and contractor elite also evince cosmopolitan pretensions. Martial ceremonies, balls, and faux ambassadorial functions are common. It is no secret that Castor’s ruling generals would welcome renewed contact with other worlds, but this goal remains elusive. The military lacks the technology to make contact on its own, and Castor languishes under a planetary quarantine due to its undead plague.

While most worlds have intermittent problems with the undead, Castor is overrun with them. Her cities exist in a state of constant siege. The most prominent undead menace are the hordes of zombies. Tens of thousands of zombies surround the cities, and more wander the wilderness between Castor’s urban centers. Other undead monsters are less common, but more dangerous, especially those that can fly such as ghosts and spectres. These types of monsters can not only bypass city walls, but they can also threaten the dirigibles that link the cities via the airways.

Despite the planetary quarantine, groups of adventurers sometimes travel to Castor. Caches of pretech can be found in ancient ruins by those willing and able to brave Castor’s undead terrors.

Castor at a Glance
Population: 755,000
Atmosphere: Breathable but dense. Use those pressure masks!
Climate: Tropical
Government: Military Dictatorship
Tech Level: 2

Castoran Characters: Any character can be from Castor, but growing up on such a backward world has consequences. At 1st level, no native Castoran character can have more than rank 0 in many skills due to Castor’s limited tech level. Skills such as Combat (Energy Weapons, Psitech), Computer, Culture (Alien, Spacer, Traveller, World other than Castor), Exosuit, Tech (Any), or Vehicle (Grav, Space) are restricted. Native Castorans do not need pressure masks to breathe heavy atmospheres that are otherwise capable of supporting human life.

Tags: A to Z 2013, planetary tour, Stars Without Number, Tiamat's Throne, undead

If you’re already signed up for Quid Novi?, it’s not secret that I botched the deadline for issue two. February was a bit on the rough side for me. I’m still working on issue two, the main part of which is “Garrison of the Gargoyle Gerent”, a short Swords & Wizardry adventure for 3rd-4th level characters. There will be also be, of course, a new magic item (or two), a new spell (or two), a new monster (or two), et cetera, with the strong possibility that material for Stars Without Number will end up in the mix as well.

At the same time I’m finishing up issue two, I’m planning issue three. After all, I do have Spring Break coming up, and I’ve got nothing better to do (as far as I know). With issue three, information about Clockwyse will start to appear. I want to detail this town for use as a game location suitable for most fantasy campaigns.

Well, I’m not sure “detail” is the right verb for my infinitive, but I at least want to provide fuzzy outlines. Regardless, I think I have some good ideas for Clockwyse. Probably not good enough to expect people to pay money for them, but certainly good enough to spend my time on in order to provide Quid Novi? subscribers some free stuff.

Of course, if you’re not a Quid Novi? subscriber, you’ll miss out on all of this upcoming gratis gaming goodness. If you’d like to remedy this potential problem, look to the left for the link to the Quid Novi? subscription page.

(Dig all that alliteration!)

Tags: place of power, Swords & Wizardry

One of my goals for Tiamat’s Throne is to provide locations and hooks for just about any type of fantasy or science-fiction game players might want. Adhara is rough-and-tumble world of farmers and anarchist artists with Pre-Rage ruins lost on uncivilized continents. Bellatrix is a hotbed of high-tech corporate intrigue set on cities floating above a waterless, lifeless planet. Castor is a low-tech quarantine world overrun by the undead. The arctic planet Deneb combines corporate oppression, a decadent aristocracy, and caverns full of degenerate outcasts.

Here’s rough-draft text for Adhara:

Population: 657,000
Atmosphere: Breathable but dense. Use those pressure masks!
Climate: Tropical to temperate
Government: Agricultural Republic
Tech Level: 3

Adhara was founded by the Striker Pact, a paramilitary conglomerate that specialized in establishing military outposts for frontier sector security. The planet was nearly ideal for colonization. Its biosphere is human-miscible, but its atmosphere contains unusually high concentrations of gases that make pressure masks necessary for breathing outside environmentally controlled buildings. During the Age of Fire, almost the entire original population of Adhara was killed by the dragons.

Recolonization of Adhara began a few decades before the Age of the Phoenix. Duke Apophis relocated natives of his throneworld Whetu to Adhara. The new Adharans have taken to the planet well-enough. Their tech level is still sub-par, but the reconstruction proceeds nonetheless. Most Adharans work in agribusiness. The planet’s temperate weather and rich soil regularly yield large agricultural surpluses.

Politically, Adharans have divided themselves into three competing republican districts, each one focusing on different crops and related products. These republics are small, and they are clustered on one of Adhara’s smaller continents located in the planet’s southeastern hemisphere. Relations between the republics are generally cordial. Adharans pride themselves on their vibrant interdistrict arts communities. Adharan fine arts can fetch high prices among discriminating collectors on other worlds, and the most successful Adharan artists sometimes go on interplanetary tours.

The vibrant arts communities have proven problematic in the past. Artistic expressions of contempt directed against Apophis and Tiamat resulted in violent reprisals. Since those dark days, Adharan republics have instituted severe restrictions on freedom of expression. Political speech and art is heavily regulated, and the penalties for underground art are particularly harsh. This conflict between a famous cosmopolitan arts culture and repressive controls on artistic expression is a sore spot with many Adharans.

The “art police” lack the personnel and expertise to adequately enforce speech laws in a few economically depressed wards. Radical underground artists run illegal presses and traveling galleries among the underclasses of these areas. Missionary priests associated with the Domini Canes also aid and abet these criminal artists.

Adhara is also a tomb world, a fact of interest to black marketeers as well as Duke Apophis’s agents. Whetu’s draconic master is rumored to maintain a covert force of soldiers, archaeologists, and Pre-Rage specialists on Adhara. These units comb through the blasted ruins on Adhara’s other five continents, seeking to claim whatever Pre-Rage artifacts can be found.

Tags: planetary tour, Tiamat's Throne

I’m gearing up for a new year of Quid Novi?, my (allegedly monthly) newsletter. This is the fourth year I’ve been writing this gaming resource, and I hope to do a better job with it in 2013 than I did in 2012. The focus for Quid Novi? is shifting away from Pathfinder/d20 System to old school RPG clones with special emphasis on Stars Without Number and Swords & Wizardry.

Quid Novi? will feature an assortment of, well, features, including:

* Awful Afflictions: New curses, diseases, and poisons to torture your players’ characters.
* Bazaar of the Bizarre: New items to augment your villains and reward victorious heroes.
* Chance Encounter: New monsters to claw/claw/bite those who try to steal their stuff.
* Treacherous Terrain: New terrains and traps to befuddle your players’ characters.
* Words of Magic: New spells for casters of all classes.
* Recommended Reading: New links to some of the best RPG blogposts I can find.

Subscribers also get a 33% discount on all Spes Magna Games PDFs purchased at Paizo.com. Free subscriptions to Quid Novi? can be processed at this link.