Stargazer's World » Ad Astra

Ad Astra RPG on Scribd

Stargazer — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:27:37 +0000

Some months ago I created a new version of my Ad Astra Primer document. The new PDF is much more printer-friendly and includes some artwork created by my fellow RPG blogger Greywulf. Since I planned to release a complete book including rules for either a game licensed under the OGL or maybe even Savage Worlds, I just haven’t had the time to finish it yet.

But today I decided I should at least share the updated Ad Astra RPG with you. Enjoy!

Ad Astra RPG

The Ad Astra setting is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Ad Astra update

Stargazer — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 07:46:16 +0000

This weekend I finally continued work on my Ad Astra project. Some time ago fellow blogger Greywulf provided me with his awesome SF-themed render artwork and so I decided to give my Ad Astra PDF a complete overhaul. The new version is also much more printer friendly. You can check out a sample page to the right.

If everything turns out as planned, at least the background section should be done in a few days. But then I have to make some important decisions. Should Ad Astra be just background without any rules or shall I make it a complete game?

I’ve looked at several games released under the OGL that could work with the setting. The problem with most OGL systems is, that usually I will either have to include the complete SRD or I will have to comply to one of the Trademark licenses. Since I am no lawyer nor do I want to pay one for a project that will probably never make me any money, I will avoid doing the latter. But without a Trademark license I can’t claim compatibility.

I am currently looking into creating a stripped down variant of one of the OGL systems. Using Microlite20 would be a viable option, although it’s a bit too stripped-down for me. Another possibility would be to create a system from scratch, like I did for Noir. Decision, decisions!

So, what would you do, if you were in my shoes? Adapt one of the OGL systems (like d20 Fantasy/Modern, Action! or perhaps even FATE or FUDGE), create a system from scratch, or release the book without any rules?

Ad Astra: And so it begins… (Part 2)

Stargazer — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:00:13 +0000

The first part of my first Ad Astra adventure started a bit slow but that will soon change. The adventurers, new recruits of the Twilight Star, were ordered to investigate an archeological dig on the planet Kalanda III in a solar system at the very edge of known space. The planet is unhabited and undeveloped but has a breathable atmosphere. There is plenty of plant life but aside from a few microorganisms the planet is devoid of any animal life.
A couple of months back a scout discovered Elohim ruins under a glacier on the northern hemisphere. The Twilight Star send a science team to investigate. But suddenly the contact with the team has been lost. So, the players are sent to investigate.

The player group is provided with a Warhawk class FTL frigate, a Theseus class starfighter and a Black Hawk class shuttle. Aside from these space ships, they have access to a variety of weapons and equipment. After some preparations and some research in the Twilight Star archives, the team heads toward Kalanda III. The trip in hyperspace takes about two weeks that give the players some time to get to know their ship and the crew. When their frigate finally drops back to normal space, they at once notice that there’s something terribly wrong.

The espers on board suffer from headaches and can’t use their powers, there’s just static on the hyperband and making the jump back to hyperspace is impossible. They are stranded. A quick sensor sweep of nearby space reveals to space ships in the vicinty: a civilian mining vessel (that was used by the science team) and a Tovenaari partol ship! Both ships are obviously out of power and do not respond to hails.

After some consideration the group decides to fly to the civilian ship to investigate. They order the frigate’s crew to wait on the other side of the planet, fearing that the Tovenaari ship may have prepared for some kind of ambush. A closer examination of the mining vessel’s hull reveals no visible damage. When the player characters finally enter the vessel, the shocking truth is revealed: the crew is dead, and the corpses look like the attackers used tools and their bare hands to kill their victims. At first the player characters believe this may be the work of the Tovenaari crew from the patrol ship but quickly dismiss this idea again. When checking the ships logs the agents find out that the crew obviously killed each other, obviously driven mad by an unknown force. It also becomes clear that the scientific team was on the planet when the unspeakable happened onboard the ship. They leave the mining ship and use their shuttle to dock at the Tovenaari patrol ship.

This concludes part two of my play report. I have to admit the revelation of the “ancient enemy” will have to wait a bit longer since I will split the second part of the adventure in several posts. So stay tuned!

Ad Astra: And so it begins…

Stargazer — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:00:06 +0000

On last Saturday we started our Ad Astra campaign. My group consist of three players. Character #1 is a Gaian war hero and fighter pilot who disobeyed an order to save many lives. Following a court martial he leaves the Gaian military. Character #2 is a strong esper, ship pilot and hobby historian from the Akkathon Federation who tries to find a way back to Old Earth. The last character is a fugitive from the Tovenaar Empire. She was a technician before her latent esper talent was discovered. Because she didn’t want to be part of the Mindwalkers she ran. She also has some strong interest in xenoarchaeology and the Elohim.

At the beginning all three adventurers get contacted by agents of the Twilight Star. Obviously they would make perfect agents themselves and so they are provided with tickets for a passenger liner which takes them to the Rheinland system where they meet their contact Lt. Coh. Coh reveals a few details about the organisation he’s working for and then takes them with a shuttle to the battleship “Vasco da Gama” that takes the aventurers to an undisclosed location where they first lay eyes on the super-carrier “Twilight Star”. On board of that massive space ship they are finally introduced into the ranks of the Twilight Star agents, get some basic training and in the end meet Gordan Griffin, obviously one member of the Star’s inner council.

I used the first part of the evening to introduce the players to the world, the PDQ rules and the Twilight Star, since it will be the organisation they’ll be working for during the campaign. We also had a short combat sequence when character #3 was ambushed by a couple of soldiers from the Tovenaar Empire who tried to bring her back, dead or alive.

That concludes part one of my game report. Stay tuned for part two, where our heroes learn about an ancient enemy.

Ad Astra character sheet

Stargazer — Sun, 31 May 2009 11:40:03 +0000

Yesterday we finally started my Ad Astra campaign. In order to make things easier for my players and me, I created a couple of record sheets for characters and space ships. Today I made some minor adjustments to the sheet and decided to share it with my readers.

The character sheet was created with the PDQ system in mind, so if you want to play Ad Astra with any other system, you’ll need to create your own sheets. You can download the characters sheet as a PDF document here.

Ad Astra: Starships using PDQ rules

Stargazer — Fri, 15 May 2009 10:00:33 +0000

When you have a look at the PDQ core rules you’ll notice that there is no section about how vehicles, space ships, etc. could be added to the system. In my opinion the easiest way is to handle vehicles just like characters. They get a name, a description, a few qualities and perhaps even a weakness.

Take a space ship for example. In one of my early posts about the Ad Astra setting I posted the D6 Space stats for the Theseus Starfighter. Let’s now have a look at how we could rebuild this starfighter using PDQ rules:

Let’s first start with the vehicle type. Every vehicle should have at least one quality that designates the basic type of the ship. This quality should start at Average [0]. The GM can of course choose to improve this quality if the vehicle is exceptional for its class. So we write down Average Starfighter [+0]. I imagine the Theseus fighter as an old workhorse model that has been in use for quite some time now. So I assign Good Workhorse [+2]. The fighter should neither be very fast or have superior armor, but I think Average Armor [+0] is in order. We shouldn’t forget that we need some qualities written down, so that the fighter can take a beating. Finally I add the weapons as Average Medium Lasers [+0] and Good “Artemis” Missile Launcher [+2]. Finally lets add a weakness to make the design a bit more interesting. Since it’s an outdated model it’s not up to par with some of the more fancy designs. So, we add Poor Outdated Model [-2] as last quality. Ok, let’s review our design:

Theseus Starfighter
Average Starfighter [+0]
Good Workhorse [+2]
Average Armor [+0]
Average Medium Lasers [+0]
Good “Artemis” Missile Launcher [+2]
Poor Outdated Model [-2]

In order to totally disable the ship you’ll need 16 hits, which is pretty decent for a starfighter. The pilot can also decide to reduce the Armor or Workhorse qualities by one level in order to “take it on the chin” and ignore all damage from a single attack.

So, how does starship combat work? It works just like normal combat. But pilots may use both their own and their ship’s qualities. For example a pilot with the Good Starfighter Pilot [+2] quality wants to fire a volley of missiles at an enemy craft. He can add not only the bonus from his piloting quality but also the bonus from the weapon he used. In this particular case he rolls 2d6+4. In most cases player and GM should be able to decide which qualities and weaknesses are relevant for any given action.

Ad Astra PDQ character creation

Stargazer — Thu, 14 May 2009 06:00:23 +0000

Last weekend my group of players and I decided to give the PDQ system a try. We’ll be using it to run my “Ad Astra” campaign. At first I thought about using the PDQ# rules, that are used for “Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies“, but then I decided to stick to the PDQ core rules. This has a couple of reasons: PDQ# was created with swashbuckling in mind. Especially the whole style dice mechanic revolves around that concept. But for my Ad Astra game I prefer a more subdued tone. It will have action, but it will be grittier and you won’t see any fencing duels, that’s for sure.

Both the free PDQ core rules PDF and the PDQ# PDF don’t come with any magic or psionics rules, but I own both Quester of the Middle Realms and S7S, that come with some additional PDQ rules like magic, vehicular combat (in the case of S/S) and more. But again I won’t just copy the rules from those books. But there is a nice table of modifiers for magic effects that I can use for psionic effects, too.

So, let’s talk about character creation for Ad Astra works. Every character consists of a name, a description (including such things like looks, biography, etc.), a weakness and a couple of qualities. Each character also starts with a fate point and 0 experience points. Currently I plan to use fate points mainly to allow players to save their characters in situations they usually would have died (like when they botched a climbing wall, hundreds of meters above ground for example), but perhaps I will allow more uses when I get more comfortable with the system.

Every character starts with a Past, Motivation and Nationality quality. That’s something I took from PDQ# and it helps fleshing out the character tremendously. My players where quite creative when they came up with their pasts and motivations, so this will surely be a very exciting campaign. All those qualities start on Good [+2].

The eligible Nationalities are Gaian Republic, Tovenaar Empire, Akkathon Federation, Venshran Principality and SpaceCorp Corporate State. The Nationality quality gives the character a bit more background and allows him access to a wide range of knowledge about their home planet, home region, local politics, et cetera. Nationality starts on Good [+2], too.

Aside from Past, Motivation and Nationality, my players were allowed to choose four additional qualities at Good [+2]. A special quality is Esper, since it gives access to psionic abilities. Esper starts a Average [+0], thus making esper characters a bit weaker than their mundane counterparts. But since the psionic talent is very versatile, I think it’s fair. Esper can be used to use such powers as telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation, psychometry, far seeing and many more.

In order to start with a quality higher than Good [+2] you have to forfeit one of the other qualities. For example: You want to start with Good [+2] Esper, so you have only two additional qualities left to choose (in addition to your Past, Motivation and Nationality) of course).

Another important character aspect is his weakness. Every character has one weakness quality and it starts at Poor [-2]. The weakness is a constant story hook and usually leads to downshifts when a characters weakness hampers his actions. But there may be cases when the weakness could also be a strength of a character. For example a curious character may overhear a conversation someone else would have missed.

Alas I forgot to copy my player’s characters, so I will have to post their stats after our next session. So stay tuned for that!

Ad Astra: PDQ vs. D6 1:0

Stargazer — Sun, 10 May 2009 16:49:43 +0000

Yesterday my gaming group assembled to play our first session of “Ad Astra”. Alas I wasn’t able to finish everything I wanted to have written down at that point, but we decided it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try. I initially planned to use D6 Space for Ad Astra, but when we sat around the table, ready to create characters, I had an idea. I have been reading Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies for some time now and I think that the PDQ# system can easily be used for SF, too. So I ask my players if they would be willing to give it a try. So, I pulled out my copy of the PDQ# rules and started creating characters. I haven’t run a PDQ game before, so I am not 100% sure how it will turn out but my players are excited and more than ready to give a narrative game a chance.

Two of my players wanted to play espers, so I told them that one of the qualities they could choose, has to be Esper and that this quality would start at Average (0) instead of Good (+2). This makes espers a bit weaker (they can’t soak as much damage as others) but the versatility of the esper quality should make up for it.

As for vehicular/space combat I think of giving each vehicle/space ship a couple of qualities and a weakness of their own. Or I try to adapt the S7s rules for vehicular combat to space ships, when my approach doesn’t work out. When I remember correctly another S7S fan has already started a Star Trek conversion for PDQ, so perhaps I can borrow a few ideas from that project.

But fans of the D6 system should not worry, I haven’t abandoned D6 altogether. It is possible that we’ll return to using D6 at a later date and perhaps I will at least release some of the D6 stuff I’ve created so far for you to use.

Ad Astra Primer

Stargazer — Thu, 07 May 2009 19:05:42 +0000

Today I created an “Ad Astra Primer”, a system-less introduction to my science fiction setting. The 13-page PDF includes all of my Ad Astra posts that I already posted here and a few additional information.

You can download the PDF here. Enjoy! As always I am interested in your thoughts, so please post your comments below.

Ad Astra: Twilight Star

Stargazer — Thu, 07 May 2009 05:02:37 +0000

Although I am still in the middle of my hiatus, I want to share some more information on my Ad Astra setting.

“I want this Twilight Star scum killed on sight!” - General-Emperor Arbach Tovenaar after the attempt on his life

The Twilight Star is a privately funded secret agency that has been around for a couple decades now. Not much is know about this organisation aside from the fact that they are exceptionally well trained and equipped. Usually the public is unaware of the Twilight Star’s operations but when they rescued several high-ranking Gaian members of parliament that were taken prisoner by terrorists, they entered the public awareness. Especially in the Gaian Republic the Twilight Star’s agents are seen as noble rogues, a view not shared by the Tovenaar Empire for example.

The Twilight Star recruits agents from all worlds of the Star Ocean. It is said that they only recruit the best in their fields and that each agent is also trained in all forms of personal combat including archaic weaponry like swords. According to several rumors they own a small fleet of hyperdrive capable ships including the supercarrier “Twilight Star” which is a space ship of huge proportions, dwarving even Tovenaari fleet carriers. Twilight Star operatives usually operate in small groups that disguise themselves as free traders, explorers, prospectors or even mercenaries. They almost always have access to a hyperspace-capable ship and sometimes even to powered armor or spacefighters.

Aside from rumors not much is known about the Twilight Star. The agenda of the Twilight Star is unknown also a lot of people believe they try to hold peace in the Star Ocean by making sure there’s a balance between the four major nations. They supposedly have some close relationship with the Gaian government and the Tovenaar Empire is openly hostile towards them.

My current plans for my Ad Astra campaign is that the players are all Twilight Star operatives working secretly to bring peace and unity to the Star Ocean.

Ad Astra: The Psitech League

Stargazer — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:25:17 +0000

Almost as powerful as one of the major nations of the Star Ocean is the Psitech League. Without Espers interstellar travel would be impossible and the League is the largest and most influential group of Espers in the Omega Centauri cluster. But although the Psitech League could easily misuse these powers they’ve decided against doing so. Instead they always strive to work in the best interest of all humans: Espers and “normals” alike.

“Millenia ago, an alien species, we call the Elohim, tampered with human genome to create humans with extraordinary abilities. Espers are today the backbone of our species’ voyage to the stars. We are the Elohim’s legacy!” – Unknown esper

When human astronauts found the remains of an alien space ship on Mars, humanity was changed forever. One result of the research of Elohim technology was the “Prometheus Effect” that allowed to awaken the dormant gene that the Elohim had introduced into the human genome. When an esper’s abilities emerge they are often uncontrolled and it takes some training to master psionic abilities. So the Psionics Institute was founded to research psionics and train new espers. In these years the majority of society had a cautious if not hostile stance against espers. Especially people with strong telepathic abilities were feared. So the Institutes second mission was control of espers and their abilities.

As reaction on the Institute’s new mission espers started to organize themselves in the Espers Union, that was organized similiar to a worker’s union. The Espers Union fought for the rights of people with psionic abilities and gained more and more influence over the years. When the colonization of Halley II began, especially espers saw this as a chance for a new beginning. When the jumpgate closed the Espers’ Union took control of all Psionics Institute facilities. In the turmoil of the early years the goverment of the colony grudgingly gave in and didn’t move against the espers. Over the years espers showed their value to humanity. Without espers a lot of the secrets of the Elohim would never have discovers and fear and hostility were replaced with respect.

The Psitech League of today is the modern version of what the Espers Union and the Psionics Institue were back in the early days of Gaia. When someone with a latent psionic ability is found the Psitech League will use the “Prometheus Effect” to awaken his potential and train him in his abilities. But the Psitech League is much more than that.

With the discovery of the Elohim data cache on Alexandria the League created a xenoarchaeology and exploration division that was meant to find out more about the Elohim and their psionic-based technology. With the discovery of the psitech hyperdrive the espers actually gained monopoly on interstellar travel, because only espers are able to initiate a hyperspace jump sequence. So it’s no surprise that the League grew in money and power. But instead of misusing their influence the League has always tried to work in the best interest of all humanity.

The Psitech League owns and finances not only the Gaian Academy for Applied Psionic Sciences on Aeon, but also organizes xenoarcheological digs all over the Star Ocean and several of the leading hyperdrive technology experts are members of the League.

Of course not all registered espers are members of the Psitech League. Especially the Tovenaar Empire has made sure that the espers in their employ have severed their ties to the League. Their espers are mandatory members in the Mindwalker Corps, a quasi-military organization totally loyal to the General-Emperor.

The next installment of my Ad Astra series will finally shine some light on the most secretive organization in the Star Ocean: the Twilight Star.

Ad Astra: The Akkathon Federation

Stargazer — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 10:00:31 +0000

Today I am finally returning to the world of “Ad Astra”. This time I will present to you the Akkathon Federation, a federation by name only that is more of a loose alliance that was formed to defend against the rising Tovenaari agression.

Main World: Akkathon, 3rd planet of the Nebuchadnezzar System
Government: Representative Democracy
Head of State: President Aleksey Gregory Kalinin
Official Language: English and Russian
Official Currency: The Federation has no common currency
Military: Each member world maintains its own military
Economy: Mostly Free Market Economy, but a few members have a centrally planned economy
Religions: Atheist 54%, Neochristianity 27%, Buddhism 12%, Other 7%
Major Worlds: Akkathon, Higara, Ygdrassil, Napoli, Kerensky, Anasazi, Rheinland, Potemkin, Vatican

“General-Emperor, we’ll have the Akkathon Federation conquered by the end of the year.” – Admiral Carl De Luca, three weeks before his fleet’s defeat in the Higara system

The citizens of SpaceCorp are not the only people who have clinged to their national identity during the first centuries of life on Gaia. As hyperspace travel became available a lot of these groups left Gaia to start a new life at the frontier.

When the Tovenaar Empire started expanding, nine systems decided to form an alliance. They convened on Akkathon in the Nebuchadnezzar system and eventually the Akkathon Federation was founded. In the following decades more members joined the alliance.

Each member state sends its representatives to the federal council with decides all matters that concern external affairs and the security and defense of the federation. The federal government headed by a president does usually not meddle in the eternal affairs of the member worlds. In case the federation is under attack the president assumes command over the member’s forces.

The standard of living varies from world to world. Some worlds like Akkathon, Rheinland and Vatican have an above average standard of living, but other member worlds like Anasazi are still pretty undeveloped.

Main export of the Akkathon Federation are lifestock, food and unrefined minerals. The federal council has made an effort to secure trade agreements with the other major nations in order to improve its economy.

The Akkathon Federation is on friendly terms with SpaceCorp and the Gaian Republic but has been attacked several times by the Tovenaar Empire. Luckily they were always able to defend the major worlds.

This concludes today’s report from the Omega Centauri cluster. Next time I will share some of the secrets of the Psitech League.

Ad Astra: The SpaceCorp Corporate State

Stargazer — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 10:00:20 +0000

As promised I will now share some information on the only corporate state in the Omega Centaury cluster:

The SpaceCorp Corporate State (Quick Facts)

Main World: Kobe, 4th planet of the Kansai System
Government: Corporate State
Head of State: CEO Moriann Sakata
Official Language: Japanese
Official Currency: Yen
Military: Professional Army/Navy
Major Religions: Buddhist 62%, Atheist 28%, Other 10%
Major Worlds: Kobe, Toshima, Nerima, Shinjuku, Arakawa, Kanto, Chiba, Kyoto

“Contrary to the vulgar belief that men are motivated primarily by materialistic considerations, we now see the capitalist system being discredited and destroyed all over the world, even though this system has given men the greatest material comforts” – Ayn Rand 20th century writer

One of the corporations that took part in the colonization efforts in the 22nd century was the Japanese SpaceCorp Corporation. SpaceCorp not only supplied a lot of the space ships but also sent thousands of highly trained and qualified workers, engineers and managers to the new world beyond the wormhole.

The mainly Japanese employees of SpaceCorp clinged to their langauge, tradition and work ethic even after the wormhole collapsed. The Gaian branch of SpaceCorp survived all hardships and as the first Gaian space ships travelled to the stars they were built by SpaceCorp engineers.

In 387 NR the newly elected CEO of SpaceCorp Ken Watanabe convinced the Gaian government to grant extraterritoriality to his corporation. A few decades after that SpaceCorp bought the Kobe colony from the Gaian Republic for an undisclosed sum. Until today the SpaceCorp Corporate State is the largest supplier of space ships and heavy machinery.

As a corporate state, SpaceCorp is not governed but managed. Minor rules and regulations are set by corporate bureaucrats at all levels. The major day-to-day operation is handled by the CEO. The board of directors, which advises and directs the CEO is directly elected by the stockholders.

The standard of living in SpaceCorp is very high, especially in higher branches of the management.

SpaceCorp is the faction of the Ad Astra campaign setting that changed the most from my initial ideas. In the beginning it was just another corporation. And it was still American. In a later version I made it a Japanese-Americam corporation with extraterritorial rights (much like the megacorps in Shadowrun). When I was leafing through GURPS Space for inspiration I reread the section about corporate states and decided to remodel SpaceCorp into a fully-fledged corporate state. While doing so I made it Japanese to give it a more unique flavor. But there are still a few details I have to work out. But since my campaigns focus will probably be on the Gaian Republic and the Tovenaar Empire, this can still wait a few more weeks.

SpaceCorp tries to stay neutral in all conflicts but has several trade agreements with the Gaian Republic.

Ad Astra: The Tovenaar Empire

Stargazer — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:00:39 +0000

Any good SF or Space Opera setting features an evil empire. The scourge of the Star Ocean is definitely the Tovenaar Empire, a expansionistic, militaristic and faschistic nation ruled by the iron fist of Arbach Tovenaar, heir to the throne of General-Emperor.

The Tovenaar Empire (Quick Facts)

Main World: Tovenaar Prime, 1st planet of the Tovenaar system
Government: Military Dictatorship
Head of State: General-Emperor Arbach Tovenaar
Official Language: English
Official Currency: Tovenaari Denar
Military: Universal Conscription
Economy: Free Market Economy
Major Religions: Atheist 90%, Neochristianity 6%, Other 4%
Major Worlds: Tovenaar Prime, Ayasi Secundus, Bethalor, Turondro, Outback, Serpentus V

“Not everyone was happy with how things worked in the Gaian society. One of these people was Alexander Tovenaar, a young and brash Gaian career soldier. He believed democracy to weak, to slow to solve the problems the Gaian Republic faced at that time. In 317 NR Tovenaar and his followers tried to overthrow the Gaian government. The coup failed and they were forced to flee.” – From a Gaian history textbook

After their flight from Gaian space, forces loyal to Tovenaar conquered a colony world on the rim. They called the planet Tovenaar Prime and made it the capital of their fledling empire. Today the Tovenaar Empire is one of the superpowers of the Star Ocean.

The Tovenaari Empire is ruled by the General Emperor and the Tovenaari Senate who has only advisory functions. All members of the Senate are drawn from the higher echelons of the military. In fact the whole Tovenaari society is highly militaristic.

The Tovenaari industry is totally focussed on war production, shortages of non-military products are common and the standard of living of civilians is pretty low. Only members of the military and industrialist enjoy a higher standard and have a lot more freedoms than the ordinary citizen.

The Tovenaari government has almost total control over the lives of its subjects. The second most important person in the Tovenaari Empire is the propaganda secretary. The indoctrination of young Tovenaari begins in early childhood making sure they don’t fall out of alignment.

The Tovenaari maintain the largest military of the Star Ocean. In the last centuries they invaded their neighbours repeatedly. Currently most of the imperial forces are trying to quell an uprising on several imperial frontier worlds.
Relations with its neighbours are tense to say the least.

That concludes another installment of my “Ad Astra” series. Stay tuned for the next episode when I will reveal some details on the corporate state of the Star Ocean: SpaceCorp! As always I am interested in your comments, so don’t hesitate to post your thoughts.

Ad Astra: The Gaian Republic

Stargazer — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 10:00:46 +0000

Welcome to the next installment in my “Ad Astra” series. Today I provide you with some details on the Gaian Republic:

The Gaian Republic (Quick Facts)

Main World: Gaia, 2nd planet of the Halley system
Government: Representative Democracy
Head of State: AdministratorArlen Coronaar
Official Language: English
Official Currency: Gaian Credit
Military: Professional Army/Navy
Economy: Social Market Economy
Major Religions: Atheist 78%, Neochristianity 12%, Other 10%
Major Worlds: Gaia, Alexandria, Asgard, Paris, Hephaistos, Aeon, Nifelheim, Sanctuary, Tannhauser

“Freedom, Equality and Fraternity. These are not just empty words from a world lost to us, these are the ideals we want to build our republic on!” – Tycho D’Arellien, first Administrator of the Gaian Republic

The Gaian Republic is the oldest nation in the Omega Centauri Star Ocean. Port Liberty, its capital city, was founded at the place where the first colonists from Lost Earth set foot on a new world. After contact to Earth was lost the Gaians struggled for centuries until they finally returned to the stars.

The Gaians are proud of their achievements, their freedom and their ideals, and sometimes are regarded as arrogant by other humans.
The common Gaian citizen has a high standard of living. The Republic’s education, healthcare and social welfare system is on a very high standard. Even the Republic’s frontier worlds are often better off than e.g. the major worlds of the Akkathon Federation.

The Gaian economy is almost second to none, because of the resource rich planets Hephaistos and Nifelheim, and the vast industrial plants in the orbit of Tannhauser. The Gaian industry is known for high-tech equipment and psitech devices.

The Gaian Republic maintains a small professional army and navy in order to defend its member worlds against aggressive neighbours like the Tovenaar Empire. Although the Gaians don’t have as much ships and troops as other nations the Gaian forces are well-trained, well-equipped and highly motivated.

The Gaians have several trade agreements with both the SpaceCorp Corporate State and the Akkathon Federation, but are in a state of cold war with the Tovenaar Empire.
They are on friendly terms with the Psitech League and it is rumored that they have special ties with the Twilight Star.

That concludes part 3 of my “Ad Astra” series. Stay tuned for more. If you have any comments, questions or criticism, feel free to speak your thoughts in the comments below!

Ad Astra: Major Factions of the Omega Centauri Cluster

Stargazer — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 10:00:20 +0000

Last time, you learned how thing came to pass, now I want to give you some details on one the major factions of the Omega Centauri cluster.

THE STAR OCEAN OF OMEGA CENTAURI

In the 8th century NR (New Reckoning) the Gaians and their descendants have colonized hundreds of worlds all over the Omega Centauri cluster which they now call the “Star Ocean”. In the last hundred years several factions have emerged that now coexist more or less peacefully.

The Gaian Republic

The Gaian Republic is still the most influential nation in the Star Ocean. The Gaians are a peaceful people who value science and philosophy but they are not afraid to take up arms if their liberty and peace is at stake. The Gaian Republic is currently ruled by Administrator Arlen Coronaar of the Technologists party.

The Tovenaar Empire

The Tovenaar Empire is the complete opposite of the Gaian Republic. It’s a militaristic state that is ruled with an iron fist by the General-Emperor Arbach Tovenaar. Currently the empire is struggling with an uprising along their rimward border but it’s only a question of time until the Tovenaari start expanding again.

The SpaceCorp Corporate State

SpaceCorp Industries is the largest manufacturer of space ships and heavy machinery in the Star Ocean. Eventually they were granted “extraterritoriality”, which means that any land owned by the corp is sovereign territory and immune to any laws of the nation within. Its employees are corporate citizens. With the acquisition of the Kobe colony SpaceCorp became another sovereign state. Current CEO is Moriann Sakata. SpaceCorp tries to stay neutral in most conflicts, but has cordial relations with the Gaian Republic.

The Akkathon Federation

The Akkathon Federation is a loose alliance of worlds in the space between the Gaian Republic and the Tovenaar Empire. They have lost several systems during the last Tovenaari agression.

The Federation doesn’t meddle in internal affairs of their member states and every world has its own laws, customs and military. But all member states work together in times of need.

The Psitech League

The Psitech League started as a worker’s union for espers. In the 8th century NR almost all espers or psitechs as they prefer to be called, are members of the Psitech League. Some of the best space ship pilots and explorers are members of the League.

The Twilight Star

The Twilight Star is a privately funded secret agency that is believed to have some ties to the Gaian Republic. Usually they intervene in order to restore peace and balance to the Star Ocean. The Twilight Star operates from a secret headquarters somewhere in neutral territory.

By the way, if you have followed my Dungeoncraft articles you’ll notice that I’ve recycled some names from my Asecia setting. That has several reasons: a) I am really bad at coming up with original names, b) I like to have some eastereggs in all my campaign and c) Asecia is currently on the backburner, since I am focussing on the SF campaign I want to run soon-ish…
As always your comments are appreciated!

Ad Astra!

Stargazer — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:15:24 +0000

For the last weeks I have been working on a science-fiction campaign setting that I call “Ad Astra!”. I have finally finished writing down the background story and descriptions of the various factions and I want to share a few bits with you. Please let me know what you think. Every comment is appreciated.

21^ST CENTURY

The first manned mission to Mars is a success and a semi-permanent research base is established on Mars. A couple of years later the remains of an alien space ship are found under the surface of the red planet’s desert.

The alien technology salvaged from the derelict ship is far beyond human technology. The leader of the research team calls the unknown aliens Elohim. Nobody knows what happened to them and why they crashed on Mars.

A international research team finally uncovers another alien artifact. A huge Elohim jumpgate orbits the Mars moon Phobos. Using alien technology and human ingenuity the scientist and engineers manage to start the millenia-old gate opening a wormhole to the far away Omega Centauri star cluster. Several probes are sent through the wormhole and return with information about several habitable worlds.

22^ND CENTURY

Huge colony ships are sent through the wormhole to establish colonies and research outpost on the other side of the wormhole.

The data crystals found in the Elohim ship indicate that the Elohim have tampered with human genome in order to give them abilities like telekinesis and ESP. Using alien technology it’s possible to identifiy people with a latent ESP ability and awake the dormant gene. This is called the “Prometheus Effect”. Over the coming centuries hundred thousands of people are identified as “espers”.

Among the abilities of espers is the capability to attune to Elohim technology. At the end of the 22nd century millions of humans live in the Halley II colony thousands of lightyears away from home, when suddenly the Elohim jumpgate is destroyed.

A NEW BEGINNING

For several hundred years the human colonists fight for survival far away from Earth. There are wars, famines, natural disasters, but in the end the former colonists build a new civilization. In memory of the world left behind they call themselves Gaians and their new homeworld Gaia.

Several hundred years after being stranded on Gaia the former colonists start building space ships again to explore the Halley system.

On Halley III aka Alexandria they find Elohim ruins and more artifacts that allow them to build their first psitech devices. Psitech devices can either be used to grant some basic esper abilities to ordinary humans or greatly enhance the abilities of a talented esper. This technology leads to the first hyperdrive. But even after extensive research the Gaians scientists are unable to build another jumpgate.

If you like to read more about the world of “Ad Astra” let me know in the comments! Then I will post more details on the factions of the Omega Centauri star cluster. And by the way, when you still remember my “Ad Astra!” posts from a few months earlier, you’ll notice that I changed the backstory a bit. The “we don’t know where we come from” idea was perhaps a bit too much to handle.