Spes Magna Games

In preparation for Tiamat’s Throne, I’ve been doing research into science fiction. Most recently, this has meant watching Space: 1999 on YouTube. While I am old enough to have been alive, walking, and talking when this show first aired in the mid-70s of the last century, I seldom watched it. Back then, Mom determined what we watched during prime time, and that didn’t include this British-import sci-fi series.

For those of you not in the know, the first episode, “Breakaway”, recounts events leading up to a massive explosion in a lunar nuclear waste storage facility that knocks the Moon out of orbit and sends it hurtling through space toward adventure. Space: 1999 is wildly improbable if not downright silly, but it is played out with such gravitas by good actors such as Martin Landau (as Commander John Koenig) that there is something compelling about the show, no matter how absurd some of the plots are.

At the end of “Breakaway”, Koenig orders that Moonbase Alpha’s computer process how to execute Operation Exodus given the new parameters of the Moon no longer being held in the Earth’s orbit. The computer explains that new parameters exceed its ability to determine whether it is possible to abandon the Moon and return to Earth. Ominously, it declares that a “human decision” is required. Koenig provides that decision, commanding that no escape attempt will be made from the Moon, thus setting up the whole careening-through-space premise of the series.

Something struck me while watching “Breakaway”. One of the common complaints about certain RPGs is that the player characters end up being little more than the sum of their equipment. Solutions to scenario problems become less about the characters and more about having the right gizmo. I’ve seen this play out many times, and the results are often less than satisfying. I’ve also seen situations where the players deliberately try to hinge their success on elements external to their characters.

For example, I once ran a short-lived Mutants & Masterminds campaign. The first plot arc the heroes confronted involved a serial killer preying on adults who victimized children. What I had planned on being a sort of mystery/police procedural quickly turned into the tech hero sitting in front of a keyboard and using a combination of search engines and hacking to gather information. While this certainly fit the hero’s schtick, it didn’t make for exciting roleplaying. I didn’t GM the situation well, and for an unnecessarily large hunk of play time, most of the other players had little to do but feed the tech hero’s player suggestions about the next thing to type into Google.

Which leads me back to Moonbase Alpha’s computer. When we start playing Tiamat’s Throne circa February 2013, I want to avoid the problems associated with over-reliance on tech. At the same time, I don’t want to hamstring character options. If a player makes up a tech-skill heavy character, that player deserves to use those skills in meaningful ways. This must mean that adventures be crafted so that player decisions are required. No just feeding a bunch of data into a computer and then letting the machine make the decisions. Technology should assist, not replace, player character actions to the greatest extent possible.

As my players (well, one of them) have expressed interest in a Firefly-esque campaign, concerns about over-reliance on technology seem even more relevant. It is appropriate that tech assist the player characters in their various heists and capers, but the tech shouldn’t remove the dramatic tension.

Consider a common plot element in heist stories: stealing vital data from a computer. What I don’t want is for a single Computer skill check to accomplish this task. That’s not how it works in the genre. Instead, the heisters have to get into the facility somehow, evading security, slipping past checkpoints, entering secure areas, et cetera, in order to get to the computer system, at which time the Computer skill check comes into play, preferably with a complication, such as the head of security showing up for a surprise inspection or a mishap in another area triggering lockdown protocols.

Tags: adventure design, Tiamat's Throne

If you’ve not see it, you need to. It looks awesome. “What the deuce are you talking about, Mark?” you ask. I’m talking about Sine Nomine Publishing’s under-development Spears of the Dawn, “an old-school RPG that provides an African-flavored take on traditional fantasy adventure gaming.” I’ve long enjoyed what little African history and myths I’ve studied over the years, which is often very different than the more familiar (to me, at least) history and myths of the West. If you want a fantasy setting that truly is different than what you and your players are likely used to, why not go for a brand new set of cultural assumptions?

As I mentioned in my previous post (see below), work on Tiamat’s Throne has slowed down a bit. I hope to remedy that next week when I’m off for Thanksgiving. (Huzzah! to my pilgrim forefathers.) Until then, here’s another beast for my Stars Without Number-inspired setting that mixes fantasy elements with the sci-fi.

Magovore Invader
Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 3
Attack Bonus: +6
Damage: 1d10 plus special
No. Appearing: 1
Saving Throw: 14+ (+4 versus magic)
Movement: 30 ft. flying (see below)
Morale: 7

A magovore invader resembles a dense gray, leathery lump of tissue and muscle roughly three or four feet in diameter. It undulates via flight through the vacuum of space as easily as it moves through an atmosphere. Its serrated beak is surrounded by a ring of fleshy growths that detect heat, electrical activity, and magical dweomers. (Otherwise, a magovore invader is blind and deaf, and has no olfactory senses.)

Magovore invaders, as their name implies, feed on eldritch energy, which they tear from magic-using creatures (such as wizards) by biting. A magic-using creature bit by a magovore invader loses mana points equal to half the damage inflicted by the bite (round up). (Mana points lost in this manner are recovered normally.) Also, the magovore invader gains bonus hit points equal to the number of mana points consumed.

This creature is particularly resistant to magic, enjoying a +4 bonus on saving throws against magical effects. If a magovore invader makes its saving throw against a magical effect, the beast is completely unaffected by the magic (even if there would normally be a reduced effect with a successful save, such as against a fireball). Even worse, the successful saving throw against a magical effect also grants the magovore invader bonus hit points equal to the level of the spell it saved against.

When bonus hit points gained by biting magic-using creatures and/or making saving throws against spells equal the magovore invader’s original hit point total, the creature immediately reproduces by asexual fission, and the new creature reaches its full size three rounds (gaining one Hit Die per round).

Magovore invaders are completely immune to the hazards of outer space, such as the vacuum, cosmic radiation, et cetera. Extreme conditions, such as flying too close to a star, still prove disastrous to a magovore invader. A magovore invader can fly through outer space as if it were a drive-1 rated starship. These creatures always succeed at Navigation checks.

Tags: Stars Without Number, Tiamat's Throne

In a comment to this post, krys remarked, “Only 4 dragons eh? I was hoping there’d be more with different factions, orders (both secret and open) and sects of followers. I like what I’ve heard though.”

I felt this comment deserved some clarification. Yes, Tiamat’s Throne as a campaign setting has its astropolitics dominated by four dragons, but Tiamat and her dukes are more like plot devices than monsters. Each one is roughly equivalent to a planet-smashing interstellar battleship.

The presence of Tiamat and her dukes does not preclude the existence of lesser dragons more suitable for use as challenges for the PCs. I envision these dragons working more or less the way such monsters did in Old School RPGs. Sure, they’re apex predators, but a sufficiently experienced and well-prepared gang of adventurers could take one on and win.

When it comes to factions, which is a topic I’ve barely addressed in blogposts, rest assured that there will be a major faction dedicated to the worship of Tiamat and her dukes. I’m thinking of this faction being a cross between the Templars and the Gestapo. Splinter dragon cults are also likely. What’s more, since I want Tiamat’s Throne to be a science-fantasy space opera sandbox, customization from individual GMs is not only to be expected but encouraged. The sector is a huge place with 18 known, inhabited worlds. There’s easily room for any number of additional factions, orders, et cetera.

Work on Tiamat’s Throne has slowed down a bit lately, due in part to one of my seasonal funks, but I can feel the itch the write more building up in my brain and fingers. My self-imposed playtest release date of February 2013 is still in effect. I’m also considering going Kickstarter, but I don’t want to do that until I have the playtest document(s) ready for release.

Tags: Stars Without Number, Tiamat's Throne

Another one from the xenobestiary for Tiamat’s Throne, my Stars Without Number-inspired setting that mixes fantasy elements with the sci-fi.

Bellatrixian Plague Fungus
Armor Class: 10
Hit Dice: 1/2
Attack Bonus: NA
Damage: special
No. Appearing: 3d4 troops per victim
Saving Throw: 15+ (see below)
Movement: 5 ft.
Morale: NA

Bellatrix was founded as a gengineering research outpost by the Meteor Alliance, a long-defunct corporation. The planet’s minimal biosphere was believed to be an ideal location for genetic manipulation of microorganisms, including the wide variety of alien microbial life that still manages to thrive in the planet’s waterless, inhospitable conditions. Today, Highbeam Multistellar runs Bellatrix’s corporatist government, and the gengineering research continues.

One of the more horrible results finding its way from HM’s gengineering labs to the Imperial Navy is the Bellatrixian plague fungus. Weaponized spores secure within shielded missiles can be deployed from orbit with near-perfect precision. These missiles disintegrate above the target areas, dispersing the weaponized spores into the atmosphere. The spores then drift and gradually settle due to atmospheric currents and gravity.

Plague fungus spores quickly germinate in any organic medium, and the fungal mycelium spreads through tissues for 1d4 minutes after exposure (a Physical Effect, Evasion, or Luck save made with a -4 penalty avoids spore infestation). Affected living targets suffer 1d4 points of damage every five rounds as the fungal mycelium invades tissues. The spreading fungal mycelium manifests itself in physical symptoms that include pain, nausea, and a growing network of dull pink “threads” visible in the dermis.

After the fungal mycelium stage, the transition to mushroom primordia and then to growing mushrooms occurs within another 1d4 minutes. This process rapidly destroys tissues, inflicting 1d4 points of damage per round (no saving throw). A single victim (almost certainly dead by the end of the plague fungus’s initial life cycle) typically sprouts 3d4 troops of mushrooms. These mushrooms reach full maturity in another 1d4 minutes, at which time each troop swells and bursts, releasing a cloud of spores in a radius equal to 5 feet per troop.

At this time, the plague fungus’s life cycle starts over again at the fungal mycelium stage.

There is little that can be done to save an infected target. A Tech (Medical) check made with an appropriate array of anti-fungal medicines can stop the plague fungus’s life cycle. Doing so, however, is not easy (difficulty number 10). Biopsionic powers may also be helpful, but halting the fungus’s life cycle requires purge toxin. Psychic succor can heal damage, certainly, but this doesn’t stop the fungus’s life cycle, and biostasis is completely useless.

Tags: monsters, planetary tour, Stars Without Number, Tiamat's Throne

The first demi-human race I’ve rough-drafted for SWN:

Eugenics Commissars gengineered the duonos from selected human populations born with different forms of dwarfism. Through selective breeding and genetic manipulation, a dimininutive variation on the human species emerged and was put into production for use as domestic servants.

Appearance and Biology: Duonos average 3 feet in height. They tend to have thin arms and legs with pudgy, short torsos with short necks. A duono’s hands and feet are often quite hairy as well as oversized for his stature, being nearly as large as the hands and feet of an adult human. As a result, a duono’s overall appearance may seem somewhat comical to non-duonos. Facial hair is uncommon even among adult male duonos.

History: As Tiamat and her dukes solidified their control over the sector, there arose a need for an upper class of military officers, bureaucrats, and so forth who would be loyal to the dragons. Even with all of their power, our draconic masters cannot oversee billions of people spread across 18 worlds separated from each other by light years. Loyalty, however, has its price. For some, fear can serve as payment, but most demand wealth and power. The gengineering of the duonos was meant to fill part of this demand. The Eugenics Commissars gave the rising elite of Tiamat’s empire the duonos as a reward for loyal service. For years, the reward was happily received. The sector’s duono population grew rapidly, and the new species was assigned a growing number of mostly menial jobs.

When the kolero mutation manifested itself, the situation changed. Koleros are duonos with a serious psychological disorder that makes the koleros subject to fits of extreme rage. On several worlds, berserk koleros murdered dozens of imperial loyalists and injured scores more. Something had to be done, and so the Eugenics Commissars established the Pogrommers.

Few if any imperial factions are more feared than the Pogrommers. These highly trained personnel, expert in the arts of assassination and espionage and equipped with the empire’s latest tech, hunt the sector’s worlds. The Pogrommers primary mission is the enforcement of racial sanitation codes. The Pogrommers have authority to execute summary judgment against those with “deviant” genetic disorders, such as the koleros.

Today, the duono population is diminished, but duonos are still found in substantial numbers on most worlds. Koleros, on the other hand, live cautiously and often in underground communities. Being a member of a kill-on-sight species doesn’t encourage bold lifestyles, at least not in heavily populated imperial centers.

Psychology: When the Eugenics Commissars finished designing the duono genome, the plan was that the new species would be genetically predisposed toward obedience. Thus, genome manipulation aimed at docility and timidity. The first two or three generations of duonos functioned well in their various roles as compliant domestic servants too afraid of their masters’ authority to be disobedient. In the fourth and following generations, however, a genetic instability evidenced itself. Centered in the amygdala, this instability resulted in a minority of duonos exhibiting the binary psychological traits of fear or wrath. Put more simply, some duonos were typically docile and timid, but only up to a point. After that, these aberrant duonos — called koleros — became violent, sometimes shockingly so as they fell into the grip of rage verging on psychotic in intensity.

Flavor: This species comes in two different flavors: duono and kolero. On the surface, there seems to be little difference between them. There are no physical differences between duonos and koleros above the genetic level.

Duonos tend to be polite, deferential, even obsequious. They have been gengineered to serve, and many find contentment in doing their jobs well and pleasing their masters. Duonos often live in relative freedom, and many of them hold influential positions. A duono secretary assigned to a high-ranking imperial official may have privileges that the average imperial citizen can only dream of. While duonos usually have their civil liberties restricted even moreso than the norm, most duonos are not considered chattel.

Koleros also tend to be polite, but more to avoid drawing attention to themselves. Most koleros occupy low-profile positions or else live as much as possible in underground economies. Consequently, many koleros survive via lives of crime. They work as smugglers, thieves, black marketeers, and so forth. Resistance groups, working against imperial hegemony, often include several kolero members.

Racial Traits: Any player running a duono character must decide if his character is a normal duono or a kolero. This choice affects racial traits. It also has social consequences. Koleros live under constant threat of exposure as unlawful genetic aberrations, and death is the usual punishment under imperial racial sanitation codes for this crime.

All duonos and koleros move slower than larger races. Their movement speed is 15 feet per round slower than a human’s at all categories of encumbrance (45 feet per round normal, 30 feet per round when Lightly Encumbered, 15 feet per round when Heavily Encumbered). Duonos and koleros are sure-footed and quiet. They enjoy a +1 bonus to Stealth checks.

A duono must have at least a 13 Dexterity, and his Strength and Charisma cannot be higher than 13. Due to their docility and timidity, duonos suffer a -1 penalty on saving throws against effects related to authority, command, and fear. Their near-constant state of alertness to avoid incurring the displeasure of others grants duonos a +1 bonus to initiative rolls and to Perception checks. It is assumed that all duono characters have spent some time “in service” as well. A duono character gets to add one of these skills to his background package: Artist, Bureaucracy, Business, Computer, Profession (any), or Steward. A duono cannot be a warrior.

Koleros also must have at least a 13 Dexterity, but his Strength and Wisdom cannot be higher than 13. Koleros also suffer the same -1 penalty on saving throws against effects related to authority, command, and fear. Unlike duonos, subjecting a kolero to such an effect may trigger blood rage.

If a kolero makes a saving throw against an effect related to authority, command, or fear, he involuntarily enters blood rage for the next 1d6+4 rounds. During this time, the kolero gains a +2 bonus to his Strength and Dexterity scores (gaining the benefits appropriate to the boosted ability scores). His increased speed and strength also grants him a -1 to his Armor Class (in addition to any changes due to boosted Dexterity), normal human movement rates, and a +4 bonus to saves against Mental Effects. While in the grip of blood rage, a kolero must attack every round, but he is not so deranged that he cannot choose his targets (or even vent his rage on inanimate objects). If a kolero has a full round to spend working himself into an emotional frenzy, he can voluntarily trigger his blood rage. Every instance of blood rage experienced by a kolero also imposes one point of System Strain on that character.

A kolero can be of any character class.

Tags: Stars Without Number, Tiamat's Throne