Far Beyond Humanity Origins
Day 1 – Primal
The Primal career falls somewhere between the Brutal and the Frontieer, tone-wise. I wanted something that played to brutish and low-tech without being the stupid “metal fish go to dark not-ground” trope. A big inspiration was the Catachan and Orks from WH40k, the Weren from Alternity, Wookies from Starwars, etc.
Navigating the design of this Origin was tricky, and I still worry I fell into an unconcious trope or stereotype. So much fiction is filled with gross colonial racism regarding the “noble savage” that it’s become ingraned. When creating a “barbarian” origin, I can’t help but call upon the images of Conan or Tarzan, despite how ugly and problematic they are as representations. I’m hoping socially aware community members will call me on any subconcious biases that manifest.
The unique Origin skill is a new direction. Previously all the Origin uniques were +Stat. For FBH, I toyed with stat replacement. It’s a tricky balance. Without limits, it’s way better than +Stat, meaning anything from a +1 to a +3 depending on the stat you’re replacing. Too many limitations makes the skill Not Fun.
I ended up going with a narrative limitation/direction, to create an expectation for when the skill could reasonably be used. I also added a strong suggestion as to the secondary effects of using that replacement, as a guideline for the GM. Each of FBH’s 5 careers will have a stat-replacement skill like this, but I’ve got my eye on them in upcoming playtests, they feel dangerous.
Launch being a cross-career skill available here was interesting, and shows that the source of a skill can affect the skills fiction, even if they are mechanically identical. A Kinetic character will psionically propell an object, but a Primal character will just chuck a scooter at someone’s head.
I’m still on the fence about having Transform in there. The druidic/shamanism aspect of it are fairly clear, but it might not be the best fit.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bslvjbzwcaksifp/Origin%20-%20Primal.pdf?dl=0
I like the exclusive skill. Not sure that I’d associate primitive people with telekinesis, but I only ever take Origins for the unique skills.
I don’t think it’s supposed to be telekinesis — so much as using slings, throwing axes, and going Full Tarzan on some goon’s hoverbike.
Yep. When in doubt, chuck a scooter at their head.
And that has to be part of the blurb for FBH.
I’m sort of not understanding how Transform fits in. I was thinking of this Origin like a caveman
Aaron Griffin I’m thinking Shaman, Druid-type stuff.
I’ve got an entire chapter on “be judicious about which aspects of FBH you introduce, be up front about what you want in your universe. These are condiments, don’t just dump the whole suppliment into the stew.” 😛
Yep. I’ve got like 2+ pages of “campaign recipies”, to be tacked on during Campaign Creation. For example:
Technocracy: Humans only. Robotic and AI species common. Cybernetic implants social necessity. No magic careers/origins. Psionics granted by cerebral augments/implants. Rustic, Primal, Forlorn origins vanishingly rare.
I mean, you could go gonzo. But do so deliberatley, rather than unthinkingly.
Also: I updated the initial post with actual design thoughts
Oh whoops I meant “Rustic” not Frontier. The problem is that I have 4 years of name changes and rewrites in my brain.
I swear I have to refer back to my own book so often. “Did I write that?” “Which version did I end up implementing?”
I echo the sentiment that Transform feels like a really odd fit here. The rest looks great though.