Author: Sean Gomes

I’ve been informed that Google Drive is causing problems for some people. I’ve uploaded the preview material to Dropbox instead!

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/42aq427wsno2x8b/AADGWiTCM45rOHK3iZQDvPSca?dl=0

For those who are unfamiliar with the Apocalypse engine -style games, here’s an introductory video about the core gameplay of Uncharted Worlds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5ZB8HobDV4

Cross-pollination! Set up a Facebook account, because more signal is always better. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Uncharted-Worlds/350511445157381

If I can be human for a moment… embarrassingly, I’m a bit of a social media Luddite (which I’m sure you can tell by now), so I’ve stayed off the radar in that sense. Publishing UW has rather forced me into these arenas, and not in a gentle way either. It’s why I’ve been asking so many people to ‘boost the signal’ or share with their friends on other forums/media; I really need the exposure, but I cringe at the thought of exposure.

My back brain is screaming “What have you done?! This isn’t introverted at all! This isn’t even extroverted! It’s… ULTRAVERTED! It’s so beyond -verted it’s horizontal.”

We’ve pushed past the half-way point on the Uncharted Worlds Kickstarter. Thank you all for your support! I’d love to keep this momentum going a little longer, to get this thing funded by the weekend. I’m sure we can do it. Post, tweet, etc, keep the signal alive.

In other news, I’ll be making a video blog type thing this weekend, the first of a series. Should the first video be about How To Play in a general sense? Or should it be about character creation? Or something else?

I’ve just shared a folder of preview chapters:

www.tinyurl.com/uwpreview

Take a look! I’ll be adding new preview chapters to that folder as time progresses.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am excited to announce that the Uncharted Worlds Kickstarter is now live. Thank you all for your support, and please feel free to repost, reblog and share the news in your gaming communities and to anyone who you think might be interested in supporting an indie roleplaying game. Together we can make this an awesome product.

Thank you all!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/278368114/uncharted-worlds-a-space-opera-roleplaying-game

Behold! Sector 05 – Habitation. Aka Character creation.

Barring minor alterations to individual skills, this should be it for this chapter. Check it out, run character creation for yourself, try to find some cool or wacky combinations.

Also, as a fun exercise, my regular playtest group would roll 1d10 3 times, rolling for origin-career-career and then trying to come up with an appropriate sci-fi archetype that fits that combination and/or an interesting skill interaction. It was a great viability test; never had a roll that was unworkable, and really allowed them to step outside the bounds they were comfortable with. Give it a shot, if you have a spare moment.

Moving on to Sector 06 – Marketplace. Gotta equip those newly minted characters!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4ky16XZasoPaFUwelpyX2lLZkk/view?usp=sharing

And finally, the last (but certainly not least) career, the Technocrat.

Those of you who tried out versions 0.83 and before might notice that the ‘Access’ basic move went through a very recent major update, allowing me to overhaul the Technocrat (which was already the newest career). Much more satisfied with the interplay of the skills with other careers in this version.

Side thought: It’s amazing how we take technology for granted. If sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, then sufficiently widespread technology is indistinguishable from the mundane (he wrote, creating electronic signals across the breadth of a planet by touching his fingers to squares of shaped organic polymer).

Tomorrow, a special treat: Chapter 5: Character Creation in its entirety. Step by step character creation rules, full 10 careers and 10 origins.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4ky16XZasoPeV9JaFJMaUtTN28/view?usp=sharing

Captain’s log: The Starfarer (career #9)

The Starfarer and Explorer were always mirrored classes, thematically, between frontier and core worlds, between land and space. This can be seen in the parallels between Cosmopolitan and Reconnaissance, and between Custom Vehicle and Custom Flyer. To a lesser extent, Calibrations and Recklessness are also opposites, though they’ve diverged mechanically.

Also: Yes. Calibrations. I’m sure that reference will age well.

Tomorrow: The final class, the Technocrat.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4ky16XZasoPWWxhVjFDRkZMUkk/view?usp=sharing

The dastardly Scoundrel is our 8th career. The overlap between this and Clandestine made for some interesting back-and-forth, to ensure the separation of style and intent between the two designs. That said, the Sneak Attack move remained with the otherwise non-lethal Scoundrel (as opposed to the very lethal Clandestine) was an aesthetic choice of sorts; it fulfills the Rogue analogue, and I couldn’t help but put in a cheesy Star Wars reference. I mean, really, it’s a scoundrel, there’s an ability that lets you shoot first. How could I not?

The Addict move is one of the newest skills to be introduced, and I’m still scrutinizing it. I’ve avoided flat +1s and -1s for the most part (because they’re usually boring), but the narrative gain is quite high here, from a story perspective, a characterization perspective, and for the sheer number of hooks the GM can get into the player.

Tomorrow: The far-travelling voyages of the Starfarer.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4ky16XZasoPM211R2JYSXl1ZnM/view?usp=sharing