What is it, besides some gruesome chimera of Star Frontiers, DCC, and Ravenloft? I don't rightly know. I conceived it at first of a way to inject my anti-corporate politics (says a guy whose website is hosted by GoogleCorp; I know I know) into a low-fantasy grubby space faring game. I thought immediately of the Cryptic Alliances of GW and the galaxy spanning corporations of Star Frontiers, and I tried to build into the campaign a fun bunch of premises (I mean, maybe, FUN TO ME):
- The action advances behind the scenes whether the PCs play or not. Players ought to be able to interact with each other via the community (I saw this first done by +Jason Paul McCartan in his Barrowmaze Open Table thing and it's worked well in all the campaigns I've kept on Google+ communities)
- Always have some weird topography or gimmick to induce awesome movement and zero-G Mighty Deeds and stuff
- Always introduce an Alien race each game. So far, these have been the Fed, the Sheeple, the Wolfoids, the Silgurians, the Mechannids, and a couple of others. I am awfully fond of the original Star Frontiers races and the premise is that any race is welcome as a PC
- Flailsnails-ers are welcome (this was a New Year's Resolution of mine at the time, and I'm cool with it entirely, now)
- Low-fantasy. It's a struggle. It's dirty. Things are breaking down.
- Nebulmor, the Tomb Planet, is where the action takes place and the undead and weird aliens are fine, but it's really the naughty corporations that are kind of the bad guys. Right now, at this minute, Vista Financial has sent emissaries to the Berserker Droid fleet that approaches this sector of space. They were awakened during the second game by some intrepid adventuring scumbags, after being locked away metaphysically for a long, long time. With the captured Shining Trapezohedron that the PCs recovered for them, communication with the Berzerkers ought to be easy peasey.
- I'd included a basic idea (but maybe not very good mechanics) for people to set up businesses and interests for in-the-downtime investment and carousing, and criminal enterprises. I haven't really devoted too much time to it, but I gave a couple of examples (Carl's CloCloCloning, for example)
- I stole some ideas from Kabuki Kaiser to give an example of how a settlement on the surface might work.
- It's nestled seamlessly and fluidly into my other campaigns, and the Robolich/Cyberlich are patronized into my Purple Planet campaign (not yet published - I like there to be a little mystery but it's based on Helgaz Belkur from AD&BI)
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