Evilschemer

Awesome, thanks! I'd be curious to see what you came up with for an adventure. Maybe we can work it out to make it an actual adventure. I could write your notes up and lay it out and illustrated, then give it away for free online.

I can answer that. Chronicles of Future Earth is Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun. It's weird. It's incredibly ancient. It feels medieval and old yet also weird and gothic at the same time. It's Jack Vance and Frank Herbert. Chronicles explores themes of decadence and decay and corruption. It also falls more on the fantasy side of science-fantasy. Swords of Cydoria is Flash Gordon meets Chris Wooding's Ketty Jay series by way of French comics. Cydoria explores themes of imperialism and political power and social class structure. It's also more dieselpunk with a dash of pulp adventure and seventies sci-fi. Cydoria falls more on the science side of science-fantasy. It also depends on where you are in the setting. The City-States are the film Metropolis. The deserts of Eris are American Westerns and Firefly. Everywhere in between is good old Swords and Sorcery with blasters. Numenera, however, is much more transhumanist, more avant-garde. It is definitely weird, but not in a gothic way. It also feels like a French comic book mixed with anime. It is based more on digital concept art paintings than on literary precedents, I think. In my opinion, there is no strong thematic thread to Numenera, no central gravity pulling it together. It is more patchwork and episodic. One thing I've noticed reading and playing Numenera is that you never see the same thing twice. Everything feels unique, or only found in a small region and nowhere else, which is what contributes to the patchwork feeling I get from the setting. Personally, I like all three. Each provides a different take and has a different feel. Chronicles feels more literary. Cydoria feels more pulpy and cinematic. Numenera feels more avant-garde and anime.

I have one page on how to use psionidcs in Cydoria as well as two new powers. Psi-Magic Psychic Powers Psi-magic is a school of magic based on psychic abilities (BRP pages 110-122). The Psi-Mages of Sakaan are best known of its practioners. Psi-mages cloak their abilities under the shroud of occultism and sorcery. In addition to their psychic powers, psimages consort with forbidden Aya spirits. Psychic Powers The rules for eligibility and use of psychic abilities are unchanged from the BRP rulebook with the following exceptions. Divination Range: Self Duration: 1 hour per power point spent Power Point Cost: 1 or more power points The Divination power is utilized by psi-mages to make contact with the ancient Aya spirits of the Sdara Vatra. You spend the duration of the power in quiet meditation, usually isolated though several psi-mages may undertake the same power. During the meditation, you make telepathic contact with an Aya. FUMBLE: You have summoned an evil demonic Aya infected with the Techno-Plague. The demonic Aya will immediately attack everyone in the vicinity using its telekinesis or by turning advanced technology against its owner. FAILURE: You spend one hour in meditation but no Aya appears. You lose one power point. SUCCESS: You have summoned an Aya with a Teaching skill of 100% (BRP page 82) and able to provide instruction for the purposes of skill training (BRP page 184) in one skill of your choice. SPECIAL: You have summoned an Aya with a Teaching skill of 120% (BRP page 82) and able to provide instruction for the purposes of skill training (BRP page 184) in one skill of your choice. CRITICAL: You have summoned an Aya with a Teaching skill of 200% (BRP page 82) and able to provide instruction for the purposes of skill training (BRP page 184) in one skill of your choice. The Aya appears as an ethereal form, visible only to you or to anyone telepathically linked to you. The Aya may take different forms, altering its shape to suit your expectations and whims. The Aya speaks directly to your mind, asking the nature of your query. Each Aya is an expert on a specific subject. Some are masters of chemistry or astronomy, others of ancient history or philosophy. You need simply ask a question, and the Aya will tell you all it knows about the subject. Bind Aya Range: Self Duration: Permanent Power Point Cost: 3 permanent POW After a successful use of the Divination power (see below), you may choose to permanently bind the Aya into an ancient artifact called an Aya stone. An Aya bound into a stone may be summoned at any time at no power point cost. Once telepathic contact has been made with the Aya via Divination, you must defeat the Aya in psychic combat (BRP page 114). The defeated Aya may then be bound into the stone at the cost of three permanent points of POW. Although the Aya initially resists the binding, once trapped within the stone the Aya offers no complaint and makes no attempt to escape. You may call the Aya forth at any time for any duration at no power point cost by performing the secret activation ritual, an action that normally consists of a specific mental image known only to the binder and a difficult to pronounce activation phrase. The knowledge of how to create new Aya stones is long lost. Aya stones, both empty and occupied, are often found in ancient ruins. Aya stones may also be aquired on the black market or stolen from wealthy collectors. Once an Aya is bound to a stone, it can be used by anyone that knows the secret activation ritual. For more information on Aya stones, see page 170. Force Fields Force fields and energy barriers are effective at blocking psimagic. Force fields are opaque impenetrable barriers to sensory powers such as Astral Projection, Aura Detection, Clairvoyance, Danger Sense, Divination, Empathy, Intuition, Sensitivity, or Telepathy. Powers such as Emotion Control, Mind Blast, Mind Control, and Telepathy will not penetrate a force field. Telekinesis will not work through a force field but it can be used to throw a physical object at someone or something behind a force field as if it were thrown by hand. Powers that affect the physical world such as Cryokinesis and Pyrokinesis may heat or cool the air outside the force field which may have a secondary effect on the air on the other side. Wearing Armor Armor is bulky and inhibits the movements necessary to properly invoke psi-magic. Wearing armor incurs an additional power point cost for each power use. Armor Burden Extra-----Power Point Cost None -----0 Light -----0 Moderate -----+1 Cumbersome -----+2 The Psi-Mages of Sarkaan are psionic sorcerers, but I do little more than name-drop them and say they use psionics. I do provide a profession for them: Psi-Mage The mysterious and reclusive psi-mage spends his entire life studying the psychic powers of psi-magic. Through their mastery of psi-magic, psi-mages may achieve seemingly magical effects. Psi-mages are also renowned for their relationship with the demonic Aya. Many psi-mages belong to a cabal known as the Psi-Mages of Sarkaan. For more information on the Psi-Mages of Sarkaan, see page 119. Wealth: Poor to Wealthy, usually Affluent. Skills: Dodge, Insight, Knowledge (Artifacts), Knowledge (Occult), Listen, Persuade, Sense, Spot, plus any two Psychic Power skills. Equipment: A psi-mage begins play with a small library (2D6 books) of grimoires (see Books and Printed Materials, BRP page 272). Special: Psi-mages practice psi-magic, a type of psychic power (see page 79).

The armed forces of Phanos are called: The Spear of Destiny (space forces) and the Shield of Truth (defense forces). Other obscure references in Cydoria include: The name of the aero-ship is the Tonbo, which is Japanese for Dragonfly, because Firefly was too obvious. It's captain is Kak Resko instead of Mal Reynolds (moving a letter up and down, then using the Czech version of the name Reynolds). His illustration is based on Timothy Hutton. Ku-Bawa-Mavu is Swahili for "Big Wasp".

There are dozens if not scores in Swords of Cydoria. Especially in names of the creatures. There's also the espionage service of the planet Phanos: the Hands of Fate.

Hi Tzunder. There is a free preview in the files section of this site, but I'll try to summarize the answers to your questions: Characters are heroic with the heroic hit point option. Used: Psychic powers Vehicle combat Futuristic Technology Races and Cultures and Professions Abstract Wealth Referenced (but not totally used): Mutations Super-powers Not used: (but can easily fit) Magic Sorcery Sanity Fatigue Alliances Pendragon-style personality Stat-based skills New: Ta'Oudh, A new power system for the setting that is based on the Sorcery rules Gadget rules Potion rules (references Mutations) Rules for forgeries and bureacracy Description of the Setting: Swords and Lasers, Monsters and Robots. It's Sword and Sorcery meets Steampunk. Flash Gordon + John Carter + Thundarr + Last Exile + Firefly + Star Wars. For more obscure references, it's Storm (the old Belgian graphic novels) + Tales of the Ketty Jay + Tschai: Planet of Adventure + The Knights of Cydonia video by Muse. It's set on Earth in the far future (25,000 years). Or is it set on an alternate Earth? Or is it set on a parallel Earth somewhere out in the Galaxy? I'm intentionally not very clear about that. Twenty years ago, the City-States of Cydoria were just about at a tech level equivalent to that of 1900 or so, though still heavily in a sword-and-sorcery style culture. Then one of they city-states made contact with advanced aliens and made a deal to get futuristic weaponry. They used these weapons to conquer the other City-States. They have now formed an evil empire. I provide several campaigns in the book ranging from treasure-seeking adventurers to rebels against the Vrildarian Empire. Plus a ready-made intro adventure. I have provided several articles about the setting in the downloads section of this site under Science Fiction and I have a blog (see sig below).

That's great to hear. There's also a city-based adventure on my blog (see Sig).

Just an update for those who may have been holding out on picking up Swords of Cydoria - I finally got my check from Chaosium, all is right in the world! Nick really came through for me. So please go purchase a copy of Swords of Cydoria! If there's enough interest in this setting, I'll create future modules and adventures. At some point I need to make a free intro adventure that uses nothing but the Quick-Start rules.

Anyone interested in a sci fi castaway game should check out the bbc series Outcasts on Netflix.

Have you seen the Basic Bestiary free download? It's got lots of great monster write-ups for BRP. I also adapt monsters from Legend, Runequest, Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer, et al.

Yes, I still want feedback from anyone. I haven't play tested myself yet so after I run it, NPC stats and story details are likely to change.

Photoshop

Okay, I've decided to make the link publically available. Though it doesn't have a front or back cover yet. To download: http://www.mecha.com/~conkle/cydoria/blade.pdf I welcome feedback and suggestions. On a completely unrelated topic, anyone wishing to give me a paypal donation to encourage me to produce more free sourcebooks can do so at my blog: Swords of Cydoria

It's pretty much the only way as this is a completely unauthorized unofficial not-a-BRP product. In fact, I should probably remove any reference to BRP in the text. In any case, it will be free. Any donations made to me will be completely unconnected. I just realized it needs a cover too.

The Blade of Takshaka is Essentially Finished I have completed working on my urban scenario The Blade of Takshaka for Swords of Cydoria. It's laid out, it's edited, it's illustrated. It's done! It's 52 pages with five chapters and four appendices. It has a drawing room role-playing mystery; a thrilling chase; a dungeon crawl with a jelly-blob, a giant octopus, and albino alligators; more role-playing with a group of intelligent rats; infiltrating an evil snake cult; and an optional raid/infiltration against a well-guarded penthouse mansion! The only thing I haven't done is playtest it. Playtesting it might result in a future revision of some monster stats to make them tougher or weaker, or a slight revision to the story to cover any plot holes or logical fallacies I may have missed. I also want to change some text on one of the maps from black to grey, and maybe add one or two more illustrations. If anyone would like a copy of this module to playtest and provide feedback, please let me know. I will provide it free of charge and will incorporate your feedback and add your name to the credits. I also haven't figured out how I want to monetize this. I'm thinking of just releasing it into the wild and asking for donations to encourage me to create future works. I don't think I want to go the monograph route again. One can see more previews and updates about this on my Swords of Cydoria blog at http://cydoria.blogspot.com/

I have a question to the other monograph authors out there? What is the schedule for receiving payment? Is it after a certain number have been sold? Once a year? On submission? Also, what has been your experience corresponding with Chaosium? No one at Chaosium is returning my e-mails so they haven't answered my questions. I don't know if it's a spam filter issue or if they are deliberately not responding to my e-mails for some reason (too busy, they're annoyed at me for some reason, whatever).

In the adventure I'm writing, the evil cult consumes a narcotic drug dilluted in wine that has the following effects: 1) Feeling of euphoria and invulnerability 2) Reduced pain, sensitivity 3) Increased susceptibility to mind control/dominance The player characters have an opportunity to consume this drug too, on purpose or accidentally, so I need some advice on how best to model the above effects. Like how to model the reduced pain: extra hit points? Keep acting even after hit points reduced to zero? What are some suggestions? Any precedents in other books? I've been going over my CoC books and other BRP supplements but haven't found anything close yet.

No one at Chaosium has responded to any of my e-mails in 9 months, so who knows?

As of 4:57pm Pacific time, I was unable to view the Chaosium website. Anyone else having trouble? It was also down today when I checked it around 1:30pm.

I have created a blog site for Swords of Cydoria to provide bonus material and ongoing supplement development updates. Check it out at Swords of Cydoria

I have added two new PDFs to the files section. The first is an entire chapter I had to cut from Swords of Cydoria for space reasons. It's a chapter about Thaumaturges and their secret "magic" known as Karak, the lost techno-sorcery of the Sdara Vatra. The second is a short little conversion document I created to convert abstract Wealth Levels to actual coinage.

Dustin hasn't replied to any of my e-mails since before August. I'm really worried, since I haven't heard anything about sales of Swords of Cydoria or receiving payment for said book.

I wish I knew how well (or poorly) it was selling. I have no idea if it is selling well or not compared to other monographs. I should probably do some marketing, of which I've done next to none.