Aelwyn

Anyone remember Starship Warden? This was my first role-playing game, so I'm loving this thread.

Seeds? That's 20th century talk. Keep the DNA of every living thing (except maybe mosquitoes, lima beans, and Ebola) on a hard drive. The only biomaterial you need is stem cells and some basic chemicals. The DNA would take up about 5 petabytes for two individuals of each eukaryotic species. That's not very much genetic variation, so let's multiply that by 5,000, the average minimum viable population for 95% survival 100 to 1,000 years into the future. That's 25 exabytes. Nanobots produce the DNA, robots pipette it into stem cells. Instant clone farm, and a pretty big clone zoo. Downloading memories into clones might be more difficult, possibly beyond the scope of possibility, so we might still want to include sleeper colonists. Of course, mechanical storage is just as susceptible to random noise as DNA, so... mutations? Yep. We got mutations.

There are no items on the link above, and I'm not seeing Wind on the Steppes anywhere on Chaosium's site.

If the ship was hydrogen powered and could refuel off a gas giant or had a solar sail and could use the destination star to fly off again, ditching the first choice to go off to a second star system might be feasible. But there might be some good narrative reason why you want the colonists stranded... in which case, figure out a good reason why it's a one-way trip. Maybe the star system doesn't have any gas giants, or something goes wrong with the solar sail or the refueling system. And not to throw a monkey wrench in your plans, but planets may not be the optimal habitat for a starfaring race. Hollow out an asteroid... or a thousand, build yourselves some O'Neill cylinders, and use those nice Alpha Centauri photons to start a farm in space. No need to throw yourself down some gravity well to muck around with the local fauna, which might not even be DNA-based, or worse, might be DNA-based and hungry. Unless, of course, that sounds like fun. Or there's some mysterious health or cultural reason why humans need to live on planets. (See 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson, where everyone needs to return to Earth every few years to replenish their microbiome.)

Possible my lamination problems are due to living in high-humidity Northern Virginia. The setting is very rich and flexible: You could do Dresden files, Twilight (which I know everyone hates but I feel compelled to mention because it gives you an idea of the breadth of possibilities), Sandman (fae, magicians, ghosts, and the dreamworld), high-powered covert ops in the vampire enclave, or even a children's campaign where all the characters are human children, mischievous goblins, and semi-intelligent animals, living in a haunted house, helping the ghosts and trying to keep the human adults from figuring out that the family cat is actually from the Otherworld. I know some folks who do role-playing with their kids, so this might appeal to some. And if you want your vampires brutal and horrifying--and also have them be high-level politicians, criminals, and business owners--you can do that, too, quite easily. This is begging for an second volume that's packed with pre-rolled characters, NPCs, maps, and three or four adventures. And Volume 2 has to include a lycanthrope motorcycle gang called The Wild Thangs. I'm not into urban fantasy, but I really enjoyed reading After the Vampire Wars.

Picked this up and am almost done reading it. The Good: Very well-written. A complete, well thought-out setting. 128 pages. It doesn't focus completely on vampires... you could run a complete campaign in this setting and never see a vampire. Or you could have nothing but vampire characters, vampire NPCs, and blood donors, if you're really into that. Lots of power levels, so you can have Normal-level minions (enthralled humans, low-level creatures from the Otherworld), characters and many NPCs at Heroic level (lycanthropes, awakened psychics, half-fae, lesser vampires, sorcerers), and some Epic-level NPCs that either employ or thwart the characters (elder vampires, fae, monitors). Or you could run a Call of Cthulhu-like campaign with nonpowered humans who have to face off against an elder vampire and his minions or other overpowering supernatural character. Or you could let the characters be Epic-level elder vampires and fae, facing off against others of their kind, as well as angels and demons, and possibly the U.S. military or intelligence agencies, the Russian government, or the vampire enclave in Siberia. Well thought-out powers. Effective use of the BGB with some tweaks and interesting additions. Lots of background on the history of the setting. Reading about the vampire wars gave me lots of ideas for scenarios. The Otherworld, the land of dreams, ghosts, and the fae, is reminiscent of the Sandman series by Neil Gaiman. In fact, this could be a nice base setting for characters going off and having adventures in the Otherworld that look like other settings. Parts of the Otherworld look like the wild west, medieval Europe, Victorian, and cyberpunk settings. Very easy to adapt this to fit your style of play--you can have a light, fun campaign with half-fae pop singers, goblin record producers, and lycanthrope bodyguards, or you could do a very dark campaign, ala Kolchak: The Night Stalker, except that Kolchak would be seriously outmatched if he faced an elder vampire. In fact, maybe Kolchak has already been turned into a vampire, and he has to serve his elder vampire master even as he's continuing to investigate supernatural crimes. I like the idea of a team of human psychics, half-fae, lesser vampires, and lycanthropes investigating supernatural crimes, either as a civilian team working for law enforcement or a government agency, or working for a shadowy, possibly supernatural, private individual. Some of the characters might be "out" as supernatural; others would be hiding their nature from the general public. They would have to negotiate the human legal apparatus, public opinion about supernaturals, and the politics of local magician's guilds and vampire nests. Members of the team might have fought on different sides of the vampire wars, leading to some inter-team conflict... but this might also be an advantage, as it would widen their range of contacts. Their investigations would require frequent visits to the Otherworld to seek out information from ghosts and fae. At some point the team might face a moral dilemma if their employer asks them to do something unethical. The Bad: Quite a few typos and grammatical errors, but in general they don't detract from the writing, and they don't confuse meaning. Lamination is already coming off the cover, which doesn't bode well for its durability. Although Enlightened Magic is optional, you probably need it if you're going to include magicians or elder vampires in the campaign. I would strongly suggest you have a copy if you're going to run a campaign. Basic Creatures would also come in handy; it is briefly referred to. Interior art isn't as good as the cover. I wish it had a sample adventure and some pre-rolled characters and NPCs. The Bottom Line: There are lots of ideas for campaigns here, but this isn't a ready-to-go adventure. If you like rolling up your own characters and NPCs, and you like creating your own scenarios, and you are willing to buy or already own Enlightened Magic, it's well worth the money.

One thing to consider: The originating star system would continue to develop new technology after sending out a generation or sleeper ship, and might conceivably develop FTL travel before the colonists reach their destination. The colonists might arrive only to find that the system had already been colonized by their descendants, who might have mixed feelings about their ancestors showing up. Fuel might not be a problem if you use a magnetic sail: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_sail

Sladethesniper has a good idea, but I'm not sure the folks I role-play with are aware that I've got teaching experience and a black-belt in Tae Kwon Do, or that I used to run a men's group. Maybe you could bring in a resume of relevant experience for the skills you think you have, then let other players assign numbers to those. And here's my own attempt. Ron Stanley STR 12 (broad shoulders, sometimes do physical work, but I don't lift weights) CON 10 (allergies but no serious health problems; I exercise sporadically and don't seem to have a problem with altitude sickness, although I've had some problems with motion sickness; gave myself an extra point because I seem to be able to "push myself" at the point where most people become fatigued) SIZ 13 (based on weight rather than height) INT 14 (IQ/10, rounded up and subtracted a point as my IQ hasn't been tested since I was 8 years old, and my memory isn't what it used to be) POW 9 (history of depression; no apparent talent for magic; numerous attempts to "use the force" when I was 14 all failed; however, I strongly suspect this is due to the lack of magic in this setting rather than the absence of midi-chlorians in me) DEX 7 (I have to admit, I'm a clutz; perfect outfit for me would be coffee-colored pants and marinara-colored shirt) APP 13 (self-deprecating, and somewhat good-looking, but not movie-star handsome [although I look a lot like the actor Kenneth Branagh]; I've based this a little more on my ability to get along with a wide range of people in many different circumstances rather than physical beauty) EDU 16 (I have a master's degree (18 years of education) but I think EDU 18 would not make sense for me as there are serious gaps in my knowledge. Plus, you could pretty much do away with this stat in a campaign... if you know something, your character knows it, period.) Skills: Write 80%, Edit 80%, Teach 50%, Brawl 50%, Grapple 35%, Persuade 40%, Command 40%, Perform (Sing) 50%, Perform (Guitar) 30%, Listen 10%, Psychotherapy 25%, Repair (Structural) 25% Notes: I'm a professional editor and have been published in national newspapers and professional magazines. I was a high school English teacher for 9 years, hence the Teach skill. I manage a small team of people... Persuade rather than Command seems to be more my management style, but I think I can get some of the effects of Command with a lighter touch. I got a black belt in Tae Kwon Do from a pretty serious club but I am out of practice, so I gave myself a 50% for Brawl and a 35% for Grapple, but I'm probably 0-5% for Martial Arts. 1st degree black belts are fairly common; it would be a lot more impressive if I were a 3rd-degree black belt and my skills were current. Might want to bump those stats up a bit if other players start maxxing their characters. Listen skill is low because I've got some deficits in that area. Gave myself slight bumps for Psychotherapy due to running a men's group for young men and Repair (Structural) because I'm fairly handy but have no professional experience in that area other than fixing up my own house to sell it. Also sing and write my own songs, but I'm a beginning guitar player. Not sure how long I'd survive in a combat- or magic-based setting. Possible other skills: Drive (automobile), Strategy, Computer Programming (this would be fairly low but maybe above the base skill), Technical Skill (Computer Use)

Uplifts v. Aliens: The aliens create a virus that wipes out all human life, but not before human scientists manage to bring human-level intelligence to genetically modified chimps, dolphins, gorillas, and dogs. The aliens try to capture the uplifts in order to develop a new virus, while the uplifts fight a guerrilla war against the aliens and negotiate the post-human landscape.

Robots + Clones v. Aliens: Skynet/the Matrix won and exterminated the humans, but New Earth, completely dominated by AI and robots, is now under invasion by aliens. The robots lose the first few battles and decide to clone/decant/wake up/unplug some of their human slaves/batteries/DNA samples because humans might be better at fighting off other biological beings. Might be fun to let the human characters find out the premise only after defeating the aliens. They could wake up with no back story other than an intensive combat training by robots.

Very excited to see this. I like the name Revolution D100 as well. Are you planning to port all Alephtar's products to the new system?

Vrinimi Vrinimi are large insectoids whose skin ranges from pale, grub-like flesh to hard, translucent chitin. They also have internal chitin that supports their body just like a skeleton. A Vrinimi somewhat resembles a tall grasshopper standing upright, with mouth parts and large, human-like arms. From far away they appear to be vaguely humanoid. They have large compound eyes with several eye-freckles on each eye that perform approximately the same function as the human iris. Vrinimi are polite and formal. They are often found in leadership positions. They make excellent diplomats and traders. The Vrinimi are an old, well-established race in the Beyond. The Vrinimi Organization runs the Relay station, which sees an immense amount of Net traffic. It also acts as a communications outpost between the Beyond and the Transcend. It is also involved in trade, particularly of information, data repositories, and ancient artifacts. STR 3D6+2 CON 3D6 SIZ 2D6+10 INT 2D6+10 POW 3D6 DEX 2D6 APP 3D6 EDU 2D6+12 Armor: 2-point chitin Skills: Appraise, Etiquette, Persuade, Insight, Language (numerous), Computer Programming, Listen, Research, Science (various), Sense, Technical Skill (various), Strategy, Command Hit Locations: Use hit locations and hit points for humanoid characters.

Greater Skroderiders Skroderiders are intelligent plants that evolved from beach-dwelling, fern-like trees. An ancient race gifted them with the Skrodes, 120 cm x 150 cm wheeled carts with enough computing power to raise their intelligence to nearly human levels. Skroderiders have a symbiotic relationship with their Skrodes. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to call them plant cyborgs. Although they have reasonably high intelligence, Skroderiders often have to pause to think while they access data on their Skrode. At a critical moment of decision, or if asked a complicated question, at the GM’s discretion, a Skroderider character may have to make an Idea roll. Failing the Idea roll will not prevent them from answering or making a decision, but it will cause the Skroderider to pause while it consults its Skrode. Skroderiders often decorate their Skrodes with decals, scarves, flags, pennants, and tassels. Primarily traders and merchants, Greater Skroderiders also make good mechanics, engineers, programmers, medics, and diplomats. Their fronds are delicate and make a soft rustling sound when they speak through their voders. Because of their indecisiveness, it is not recommended that they be put in a combat position or be made a pilot of a starship likely to be involved in a chase. However, they are exceptionally brave and may sacrifice themselves for others, even members of other species. STR 1D6 CON 3D6 SIZ 1D6+2 INT 3D6 POW 2D6+9 DEX 2D6+3 APP 3D6 EDU 2D6+9 Skills: Appraise, Bargain, Etiquette, Persuade, Repair (Mechanical, Electrical, Electronic, Jump Drive, Quantum), First Aid, Medicine, Pilot (Starship), Navigate (Space), Fine Manipulation, Language (Triskweline, numerous others), Computer Programming, Listen, Research, Science (various), Sense, Stealth, Technical Skill (various) Mutation: Hardy (Major): Because they are plants, Skroderiders can continue to perform actions unhindered until they reach negative hit points equal to their CON characteristic. Minor wounds do not require them to make a POW x 4; and they do not fall into shock as a result of major wounds. Once they reach hit points equal to their CON characteristic, they will die unless healed back to positive hit points within 5 minutes. Hit Locations 1-10 Rider 2/3 of HP 11-20 Skrode 2 point armor metal casing, 2/3 of HP

Tines Tines are native to Tines World, but they’ve recently been contacted by employees of the Vrinimi Organization. Tines World had reached a medieval/low Renaissance level of development at the time of contact: crossbows, metallurgy, stone architecture, ceramics, primitive flamethrowers using raw petroleum, early refracting telescopes. Tines are highly intelligent and adaptable and in the opinion of the Vrinimi Organization are ready to be incorporated into the culture of the Beyond. Tines World is at the bottom of the Beyond, subject to frequent incursions from the Slow Zone. Visitors may find themselves stranded. Tines are similar in appearance to dogs or wolves of Old Earth, with longer necks and a drum-like organ on the tops of their heads, the fore-tympanum. The fore-tympanum produces low-frequency sound waves, which can be detected by a Tine’s shoulder tympanums. This allows for a form of telepathy or hive mind among a Tine pack. If the tympanum is damaged or destroyed, an individual Tine may be cut off from its pack and revert to being an animal. Tine fur is often black, white, or brown. Most individuals have some combination of the three colors. Tines have short, pointy teeth and reddish eyes. Tines work very well with humans, as they are extremely similar to dogs, the animal that has the longest symbiotic relationship with humans. Tines are excellent vocal mimics and find it easy to learn languages that use sound as a medium and have approximately the same range as human speech. They also purr when in close contact with other beings, which humans find pleasant. Not all species may feel the same. Humans seem extremely odd but amazing to Tines. There are no similar animals on Tines World. It is astonishing to Tines that humans can walk on two legs without falling over, and human hands appear to be paws with tentacles attached. Tines always appear in packs of 4 to 6 individuals. Occasionally a larger pack may be encountered, and some Tine cultures may include an entire small island of up to 100 individuals acting as a single pack, but those cases are rare. A pack acts as a hive mind, with memories and perceptions shared by all individuals in the pack. The personality of the pack is an amalgam of the personalities of all of its members. If there isn’t a lot of integration, the pack may act as if it has multiple personalities, and the loss of one member can drastically change the personality of the pack. Most packs are well-integrated, however, and are able to lose a member or integrate a new one without a lot of damage to the personality of the pack. In fact, new members, including pups, can sometimes reinvigorate a pack, bringing new skills, ideas, and personality traits into the group. Tines use their mouths to manipulate objects, and a Tine pack is able to work in concert to do extremely difficult tasks requiring a lot of coordination. However, they may find tools designed for other species, such as small keys or buttons, difficult to use. In combat, Tines use metal enhancements to their claws, which is where they got their species name. (Tines themselves do not use the term—they refer to their claw enhancements as “battle axes” and like many species, they think of themselves as “people” and others as “aliens.”) Tines are devastating in hand-to-hand combat, with the pack quickly surrounding and attacking a target, gaining the advantage of attacking from behind. Tines are also excellent with missile weapons, with one member holding a crossbow, another firing it, and the other members looking at the target from different angles. However, battles with lots of Tine packs involved tend to be bloody, confusing messes, as packs get mixed and confused and turn on themselves. It is recommended that any military platoon consisting of mixed species have exactly two Tine packs, and that the packs stay away from each other unless one of the packs loses members. If one of the packs loses enough members to become mindless, its members can be incorporated into the other pack. If two or more Tine packs come into tympanum range, each pack must make an Idea roll every time it takes an action. A 95-00 always fails, regardless of the INT of the pack. Many Tines are excellent sailors. Their boats are generally small sailboats built for a single pack or with outriggers for extra packs that need to be separated from the pilot. The Tines sense of smell is not as great as that of a dog from Old Earth, but they have good vision, and since every pack has four to six sets of eyes that can turn in different directions, they make excellent guards, soldiers, artillery spotters, and nannies. Some Tine packs are centuries old, with their memories going back through previous members, long dead. Such packs are known as Pilgrims. On Tines World, they are often wandering adventurers, though they may also be highly regarded sages or political figures. Such a pack might be able to recall almost anything with a successful Know roll, though of course it would not know anything that the pack had never experienced, such as the weather on a planet it had never been to. It is difficult to remember more than a few centuries back. A Tine pack is in effect a single individual; players choosing to play a Tine character should be allowed to play the entire pack. STR, CON, SIZ, DEX, and APP listed are for an individual pack member; INT, POW, and EDU are for the entire pack. If a pack member dies or is incapacitated, the pack retains the same INT, POW, and EDU, unless it falls below four members. At three members, a pack becomes confused, and its INT, POW, and EDU are divided in half, minimum of 5. All actions require a successful Idea roll at the lowered INT. At two members, a pack becomes animalistic, with INT, POW, and EDU divided by 3, minimum of 5. At one member, a pack becomes a singleton. The Tine is now an animal with an INT and POW of 5 and an EDU of 0. It can hunt, feed itself, seek shelter, and it can seek out other Tine packs and beg to become a member. However, Tine packs are often resistant to incorporating new members, and a Tine pack can usually easily fight off a singleton. Packs have 1D3+3 members. STR 2D6+1 (member) CON 3D6 (member) SIZ 1D6+2 (member) INT 2D6+9 (pack) POW 2D6+9 (pack) DEX 2D6+6 (member) APP 3D6 (member) EDU 2D6+12 (pack) Weapon: Battle-axe/Tine (similar to the Claw weapon in BRP) 1D4 + 1 Skills: Pilot (Watercraft), Crossbow, Claw, Bite, Dodge, First Aid, Teach, Appraise, Repair (various), Art, Craft, Language (high-talk), Command, Strategy, Knowledge, Spot, Sense, Insight, Stealth, Track Once the Tines have been incorporated into the culture of the Beyond, Tines characters might have more advanced skills, such as Energy Weapon or Pilot (Starship). A Tine pack would make an excellent Artillery crew, with two or three members operating the weapon and one or two members as spotters. Likewise, they would make an excellent crew for a small starship built specifically for a Tine pack, although such a ship would have to be custom-made and would likely be expensive. Hit Locations 1-2 Right hind-leg 1/4 total HP 3-4 Left hind-leg 1/4 total HP 5-7 Hindquarters 2/5 total HP 8-10 Forequarters 2/5 total HP 11-13 Right fore-leg 1/4 total HP 14-16 Left fore-leg 1/4 total HP 17-19 Head 1/3 total HP 20 Typanum 1/5 total HP* *Damage to the tympanum can cause the member to lose contact with the pack and become confused

I agree strongly, Jae... the Beyond is a BIG universe with a lot of potential, and Vinge just scratched the surface with the one book. I haven't read the others in the series, but I believe Children of the Sky focuses only on Tines World and a Deepening in the Sky is a prequel that occurs mostly in the Slow Zone. I love Vinge's aliens. So completely non-human, and yet they have all the personality traits, quirks, and failings that make human beings great and horrible. Stats coming...

Characters would likely live in the Beyond. A wide variety of nonhuman characters could be chosen. Useful skills: Pilot (Starship), Navigate, Artillery (Ship’s Guns), Persuade, Bargain, Appraise, Etiquette, Knowledge (other species, Powers, locales), Energy Weapon, Brawl, Computer Programming, Research, Repair (Quantum), Medicine. Plot ideas: Characters work for a corporation that is controlled by the proxy of a Power. The Power’s motives are difficult to understand; sometimes It seems to be undermining peace, development, or trade, and other times encouraging it. Occasionally the motives become clearer after a mission is completed, but not always. Characters are mercenaries, assassins, or bounty hunters, working for any corporation, species, or Power willing to pay the going rate. You want someone captured or simply killed? Do you want it quiet, or loud?—we can do it either way. Various legal systems, corporations, or species may be out to get the characters, but the Beyond is big. There are a lot of places to hide. Characters are scientists, merchants, archaeologists, and explorers seeking their fortune. Although most of the Beyond is civilized, there are still many unexplored worlds. The galaxy is unbelievably ancient. Lost civilizations and even remnants of dead Powers have left amazing technology hidden away in the unexplored parts of the top of the Beyond. Of course, it could get nasty if you wake up the wrong thing. Characters have been falsely (or perhaps accurately?) accused of something horrible, perhaps genocide or working for a rogue Power. The Net is buzzing, and everyone in the Beyond is out to get the characters. Well, maybe everyone. Not everyone subscribes to TlinkkkitGenocideBoundersReach | Relay or BountiesCurrent | Relay, but enough species do that the characters are in trouble. They’ve got to get themselves to safety and clear their names. Characters are working for a multispecies corporation seeking to bring new species into the Beyond. There’s been a recent extension of the Beyond into the Slow Zone, enabling us to send faster-than-light ships into new areas to explore and check for intelligent life. The team should try to make contact, avoid getting entangled in local politics, if possible, and bring some likely candidates back to the middle of the Beyond. Don’t stay too long, though. The Beyond is unpredictable and may retreat again.

A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge would be a great setting for either a space opera or a space horror campaign. I highly recommend the book. 1993 Pyramid article from Steve Jackson Games about the setting: http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/sample.html?id=367 Wikipedia article on the book (contains plot spoilers): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fire_Upon_the_Deep Hey, just buy it already. It won the Hugo Award, for Pete's sake: http://www.amazon.com/Fire-Upon-Deep-Zones-Thought/dp/0812515285 Setting Description: Humans are a minor species in this setting, one of millions of biological species living in the Beyond. Unlike many Hollywood science fiction settings, aliens are as likely to look like dogs, or elephants, or butterflies, or rhododendrons, as they are hairless bipedal apes. Most biological species are approximately human-sized, and nearly all are between the size of a mouse and a blue whale, although there are exceptions. The Milky Way galaxy and deep space outside the galaxy are divided into four zones of thought, based on their distance from the galactic center. Technology and even intelligence itself becomes more and more limited the closer you get to the center of the galaxy. There are no sharp dividing lines between the zones; one zone gradually fades into the next, and the quality of the zone gradually changes from the top of the zone (closer to the edge of the galaxy) to its bottom (closer to the center). Also, storms, extensions, or tendrils can extend from one zone deep into another zone. The zones are likely a natural phenomenon, a function of gravity or star density, but this is never confirmed in the book. It is likely that other galaxies experience similar phenomena. The Unthinking Depths surround the galactic core. Here, biological and artificial INT is limited to 5. That limit likely gradually decreases as you get closer to the center of the galaxy, but that has never been tested. Faster-than-light travel and antigravity are not possible here. Space ships that go into the Depths will be permanently stranded there. Computers and other artificial intelligences moving toward the depths will slow down until they stop working entirely. Biological intelligences will experience something similar, becoming more and more stupid until they reach animal- or zombie-level intelligence. The Unthinking Depths begin about 30,000 light years from the galactic center. The Slow Zone is the next outermost layer, from 25,000 to 38,000 light years from the galactic center. Old Earth is said to exist somewhere in this zone. Faster-than-light travel and communication are not possible. It is possible to jump into the Slow Zone, but not out of it. Most ships in this zone use Bussard ramjets and coldsleep facilities for the crew. Generation ships are also possible. INT is limited to 24, and that limit gradually decreases as you near the Unthinking Depths. Computers don’t work particularly well. Trade, diplomacy, development, and military operations take lifetimes to come to fruition. The Beyond is where the action is, 38,000 to 48,000 light years from the galactic center. Here, faster-than-light travel and communication are possible, as are superhuman intelligence and antigravity. Millions of species live here, and they mix freely, although not without conflict. Interspecies prejudice exists, although the most successful species are able to deal with nearly any other species. Trade and diplomacy are constant. When wars happen, they tend to be very destructive, involving hundreds if not thousands of star systems, and over quickly, in a matter of days or weeks. Genocide against individual species has been known to happen, but most violence happens in bars when a species with a biological predisposition to dislike another one gets its arm/tentacle/frond/servomechanism bumped. The Beyond is connected through the Net, a region-wide communications network. Rumors fly across the Net quickly. Because high-intelligence AI is possible, the Net can be data-mined easily. Some species in the Beyond are unthinkably old; others only recently made it up from the Slow Zone. The Transcend begins near the edge of the galaxy, about 48,000 light years from the center and extends into deep space around the galaxy. This is the region of Powers, entities with intelligences so vast that it is dangerous for humans and other biological organisms to interact with them. Powers can manipulate, possess, destroy, and re-create thousands of biological entities at a time as easily as we play with building blocks. Sanity rules apply, although Transcendent Powers are able to put a small piece of themselves into a biological organism in order to interact with other bios without driving them mad. Transcendent Powers have been known to extend their reach down into the Beyond, for both good and ill, though such terms may not apply to Transcendent Powers. Some Powers may be dormant; it is possible to awaken a dormant Power at the top of the Beyond, if you find one. It is also possible for biological entities to transcend and become a Power. It is difficult for Powers to reach into the Beyond, and impossible for them to reach into the Slow Zone. When Powers are interested in affecting affairs in the Beyond, they usually use biological or artificial proxies, though it is as interesting and useful for them to do so as it is for human beings to try to communicate with bacteria. Humans have been known to experiment with or exterminate bacteria, however. It is possible for one Power to kill another Power.

I guess Acting 3% would apply to the player more than the character.

Classic. We should also do Eegah and Star Crash while we're at it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eegah https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starcrash

Okay, probably a weird time to post this. But perhaps the weirdest time is the best time. I'm an aspiring writer of supplements for BRP. I've never had anything for BRP published in any form. So, I'm a complete noob. I've got two ideas I've been working on for a long time. Both would require a lot more work before I would feel comfortable publishing them, but I might be able to finish at least one in the next six months. I've got two settings, two half-finished campaigns, introductory material, a bunch of creatures, four new races, some ready-to-play characters, and some adventures I'm not satisfied with. Nothing has been playtested. Dustin at Chaosium expressed an interest in one of them, but that was several years ago. Here are my alternatives, as I see them: 1. Revise over the next year and publish through Chaosium. I'd love to give them right of first refusal, but recent events suggest they won't be publishing many BRP supplements for the foreseeable future. What they do publish will probably be written in-house or by more established writers than me. But you never know. 2. Revise over the next year and publish through a third-party, probably Alephtar, if they'll have me. 3. Revise over the next year and self-publish, probably through print on demand, maybe through Amazon. I'm reluctant to go this route mainly because I don't know anything about it and as far as I know, no one here has done that. There may be copyright issues and other drawbacks I haven't though of. 4. Polish what I've got and upload it here. Let others playtest, get feedback from the fine folks at BRP Central, revise, then either revisit options 1-3, or not. Maybe set up a PayPal account as a tip jar. Possible drawback: It might be harder to convince Chaosium or Alephtar to buy it after I gave a bunch of folks a free preview... but I'm not doing this for the money. 5. Don't polish what I've got--just dump it all here as is and let you guys sort out the juicy bits from the less than juicy. Look at it as my flawed gift to the Basic Roleplaying community. 6. Rework the adventures for a different system, maybe RuneQuest 6, Legend, or OpenQuest. I'm very reluctant to go this route, even if I can find a system that has all the qualities I like in BRP--and I'm not certain I can find that system. 7. Walk away from a lot of work and a project I really enjoyed, content with the pleasure I got out of working on it, even though no one else will ever see it. I know there are a lot of writers here--people who have had experience working with and for Chaosium and Alephtar, and people who just upload excellent stuff here. Also a lot of people who buy supplements and therefore have opinions about them. So what do you think I should do? I'm looking for advice, encouragement, ideas, a heads-up about some of the dangers lurking in the path ahead, and maybe just some reassurance that there is still a path.

Right... and I'm considering that now as one of several avenues to publishing still remaining. Might even be the best avenue--I could publish it in serial fashion, get feedback, and do updates at no real cost except my own time--which I wasn't going to get paid for in any case. Thanks for that, Sunwolfe.

Just out of curiosity, pansophy, what is that system? I have very mixed feelings. I have a lot of love for Chaosium, dating back to 1980, and I think this is a good business direction for them. Two flagship products (CoC and RQ) is better than one flagship and a struggling product (BRP). But dammit--I've wasted thousands of hours writing two pieces that I wanted to submit as BRP monographs. That seems extremely unlikely to happen now.

Must be something that came out of the Future of Chaosium presentation at GenCon. I'm dying for news, so please post if you were there or know something. Does anyone know if the presentation was recorded? Got a link?

This looks great, pansophy. I tried working on something like this but it was slow going as I have very rudimentary programming skills. This looks great, pansophy. I tried working on something like this but it was slow going as I have very rudimentary programming skills.

It sounds like there's a lot of love for Magic World, at least from the small number of folks posting in this thread. Given that, here's what I'd like to see in a Chaosium product line. BGB: (Done.) The uber-manual for developers and GMs running multiple-genre or unusual genre campaigns. Would be nice if this got revised at some point, but I think this is a lower priority than a lot of other projects. Long-term, I'd like to see the Powers section more integrated, with a Character Point purchase system for Mutations and perhaps other powers, just as there is for Superpowers. That would make it easier to run cross-genre campaigns and would simplify character creation. I think the BGB will continue to be popular even if Chaosium brings out more genre-specific core rules--when people want to add some spice to their genre-specific campaign, they'll turn to the BGB. Core Rules Manuals that are Genre-Specific, including expanded bestiaries, sample adventures, and complete rules: Call of Cthulhu. (Done.) Magic World (Done.) Super World (Wouldn't take a lot of work to revise and update this--I'm pretty happy with the rules as is--Chaosium should try to come out with this sometime in the next 6 months, and my spidey-sense tells me they might already be planning this) Space World: Classic space opera, ala Star Wars, Star Trek, Firefly, Traveler; starship rules, combat in space, alternate races for character creation, much larger alien bestiary, rules for different planetary environments. Psychic powers might go here, but see also below. (Lots of work, but I think this would be a popular genre) End of the World: Rubble and Ruin and similar post-apocalyptic products collected, revised. More balanced Mutation rules. Lots of improvised weapons. Might even try to integrate Mutations and Psychic powers. (Medium amount of work; some material already exists.) Cyberpunk World: Dystopian future with rogue AIs, shadowy corporate and quasi-governmental organizations, hacking skills, near space, nanotechnology, cloning, lots of equipment, expanded rules for AI and robots. Might make sense to incorporate this into Space World or End of the World for a new edition of Future World, but I think they're really different genres. Psychic rules might fit here. (Medium amount of work; lots of stuff would need to be created, but I think this would be smaller than either Space World or Post-Apocalyptic World.) Supplements that would require either the BGB or one of the core rulebooks: These would include sample characters, bestiaries, maps, and adventures, but would not include a complete set of rules. Dinosaur Land: two expanded bestiaries, one for the Mesozoic (Age of Reptiles), one for the early Cenozoic (Rise of the Mammals), adventures, suggestions for bringing in characters from different genres--time travelers from Future World and Super World; dimensional travelers from Magic World. Micro Land: Tiny people, giant ants. See Dr. Shrinker, Land of the Giants, numerous folk mythologies. Bestiary, scaled size rules, adventures. Steampunk Land: airships, mechanical AIs and robots, pulp adventures. The Silk Road: Historical setting that might include martial arts and sorcery. Tons of other stuff, too numerous to mention, many of which are already published. Adventures, bestiaries, equipment, oddball genres and settings that don't fit into any particular category, alternate histories, all of which are dependent on the BGB or one of the core rulebooks.