I want to share with you two custom moves I made for a StarWars 1-shot I run using Uncharted Worlds.
Rogue One spoilers ahead!
The idea was to represent something in the flavour of THAT scene at the end of Rogue One.
In this case, the PCs are recovering the body of a Jedi in cryostasis from an abandoned facility in an uncharted planet.
They deal with the features of the planet, they deal with the defenses of the facility and imperial troops arrive.
When discovering the body, they are surprised by a heavy, metallic breathing coming from the shadows. A red light switches on and Lord Vader is revealed, lightsaber in hand.
The 2 custom moves are:
FEAR OF THE DARK SIDE
When you are in presence of a lord sith, a sith artifact or a place of power owned by the dak side, roll+Mettle:
10+ You feel the darkness coming from it, flinch for a second, but gather your breath and carry on. Ignore the source for the rest of the scene.
7-9 You are scared and shaky, but you find the guts to do one action. You’ll have to roll this move again if you want to do something else.
6- Your heart is shrouded in cold darkness, your whole body shivering. You can’t control yourself and choose one:
– You run for your dear life.
– You freeze out of fear, unable to do anything but uttering a few words.
– You react with madness and anger, attacking recklessly.
The GM also makes a move as usual. She may impose a debility on you, or she may say something you lose (you forget what you where doing, you drop what is in your hands) or anything else appropriate.
FACE DARTH VADER
When you dare to face Lord Vader, say what you do and roll+Stat.
10+ You stop, divert or somehow prevent him from acheiving his goals, for a short time.
7-9 As above, but you suffer his wrath in return. GM makes a move (force push, lightsaber cut, your weapon flies to his hand…)
6- You don’t know the power of the dark side. GM makes a hard move. Force choke strongly recommended 😉
The idea behind these moves is to make it almost impossible to kill him, but let daring players try to delay him and scape with their prize.
If everything goes terribly wrong, the sleeping jedi will awake in the last second to save their asses, and he will sacrifice himself to let the PCs scape.
In this case the mission will be a failure, but not every PC will be Force-choked to death.
Let me know what you think. I’ve run this mission twice and both groups gave very possitive feedback of this encounter.
Managed to get quite a bit done on the final chapter, despite the family visiting over the Easter weekend (Happy Easter/Paschal Greetings to you folks that celebrate it!)
The most important thing I managed to get was a solid grip on the Trauma section. Without it, I couldn’t advance.
Magic
Rewrote most of the Magic section to flow better and get the concept across with less fluff/story. Also clarified how stats interact with magic.
Villains
Putting together a GM section on how to run major villains, for those who want a more drawn out combat. It leverages the layered/multi-threat tech that was used for starship battles. A villain is a ball of threats that cover each other’s flanks, making it impossible to attack them from any front. Each defense has to be circumvented to have a shot at The Weak Spot for Massive Damage.
Trauma
I decided that I would represent Trauma as a personal villain, leveraging the Threats system to make an active, mindless Threat that was always vexing and disrupting the character. Trauma would need to be more than a mere injury, it would need to be an Antagonist, one that the character would have to heroically overcome again and again.
As a Threat, the Trauma repeatedly and regularly afflicts the character with varied minor debilities (aches, insomnia, dizziness, confusion, etc), depending on whether it’s a Physical Trauma or a Psychological Trauma. The minor debilities follow the usual debility/healing rules, and can be cured with a Patch Up, which represents medicating the symptoms (rather than treating the cause).
So far I’m quite happy about how well the mechanics are meshing with the existing mechanics of Threats, Debilities/Healing, etc. I invite you to take a look at Chapter 3 in the previews and tell me what you think. Especially if you see anything problematic in my phrasing or concepts.
What’s Next
I’m going to try to finish up the Villains and Trauma sections before moving on to more fantastical elements. Also, if anyone is a Sci-Fi Horror buff, ping me or post in this thread, I’d love to pick your brain. (grrr braaaaaaains).
I MCed few one-shots of UW and now I’m part of a mid-length campaign. In one-shots we didn’t put much attention to advancement triggers, but in campaign we do and here is my question.
Who is really in control over advancement triggers – are they an action or a plot hook that players should try to achieve or are they ideas that MC should try to introduce at the next session or is it everyone’s job to try and trigger them?
Some examples to talk about:
A bold act fails spectacularly – this seems like a task for MC when players miss on a roll, but players have to position themselves to do something boldly.
A conspiracy is uncovered – again this seems like an idea for MC, but players should position themselves like hang out in a bar where something might happen or try to hack some installation so that MC can jump forward with some unexpected plot twist.
A piece of junk proves pivotal – this one seems a lot in player hands and tools they use.
Thanks for answers on how do you approach it when you play and MC.
pondering running this at a convention. Anyone got tips for that? I have around 4 Hours and in the experiences I had so far thats not quiet enough to cretate Setting + Characters and finish an adventure. I will propably use the Derelict Jumppoint and Pregen Characters. But how do you handle the Setting questions like “What ship just appeared” etc?
I ran three sessions of Uncharted Worlds at a local con (Who’s Yer Con, in Indianapolis).
I ran three sessions of Uncharted Worlds at a local con (Who’s Yer Con, in Indianapolis). I’m pleased to report that folks appear to have gone bonkers for it, and one of the players has purchased a copy of his own already.
So the question of UW t-shirts has been raised (which is both flattering and quite confusing).
So the question of UW t-shirts has been raised (which is both flattering and quite confusing). So I’m wondering, what style of design do people like in a gaming/roleplaying t-shirt?
– Logo: The UW Logo on the front left/pocket area.
– Abstract Front: The UW Logo on the front, surrounded by abstract space-opera-esque sci-fi designs (like the page borders of the book).
– Abstract Back: Same as above, but on the back, with a small logo on front upper left.
– Full Art Front: A print of the cover of the book, in full color.
– Full Art Back: As above, but on the back. Small logo on front upper left.
Please note: I am not committing to anything at this juncture, I’ve already got many things on my plate. I’m just looking at my options and what people expect out of a T-Shirt.
Also: Is there a reputable T-Shirt printing… service? Like, where do people go to get their geek t-shirts? The only brand t-shirts I have are from work, or that one time I went to BlizzCon.
Something a little different for you all this week: the grand reveal of Far Beyond Humanity’s cover art! I thought you might be interested in my process for commissioning my cover art. This is the second cover I’ve commissioned from Aurore Folny and once again she absolutely knocked it out of the park.
So here’s the Art Direction I sent her, and the progression of sketches that came back. If you guys are interested, I could also go dig up the Art Direction of the first cover as well.
———-
I’m considering something of a cross between the Guardians of the Galaxy and Force Awakens posters: very saturated color, glowing objects/energy, action poses, possibly a profile face in background.
Overall color composition: Blue-green in upper left, transitioning to green in lower left, to yellow and gold in lower right.
Left-side: A very tall, elongated blue female alien with 4 arms, 4 eyes and a crest of horns on her head.
– She’s holding a futuristic spear with two hands.
– Aiming a glowing green plasma pistol with her outstretched third hand.
– Holding a strange object in her fourth hand, near her body. The object floats above her open palm, and glows green.
– She is wearing futuristic armor. No cleavage, mid-riff or exposed legs.
– Feel free to add cultural decorations (rings, cape, cloth, chains, medals, whatever you think would look cool).
Lower left foreground (Slightly more towards center than 4-armed alien): A human street-urchin girl sitting cross-legged with her hands raised, palms up as if in supplication.
– She’s wearing filthy rags and her red hair is a mess of dreadlocks.
– She’s wearing massive technomancy gauntlets.
– She looks very happy, big genuine smile.
– She is surrounded by glowing green numbers a la Matrix.
Lower right side, mid-background: A robot riding on a dinosaur mount (yes, I’m very aware how silly that sounds).
– The robot should be obviously mechanical: Thick, curved plates for chest and forearms, and thin hydraulic/piston tubes for upper arms, waist and neck.
– The head should be a solid, curved plate, and have a single eye that glows yellow-white.
– The robot is wearing a poncho like a cowboy. Those are its only clothes.
– The robot is carrying a heavy-duty laser rifle (the same kind that the woman was carrying in the cover of Uncharted Worlds) in one hand.
– Its other hand holding the reigns of the beast.
– The beast is a sauropod: dinosaur body with a short neck, short legs and dragon-like head. You do awesome dragons so I’ll leave the details to you.
– The beast should be loaded with packs and stuff, it’s a beast of burden.
Lower 3rd, background (Horizon): A rocky, desolate world. Dark brown, rib-like arched rock formations. Whole area is bathed in golden yellow clouds.
Upper right, far background: This is where I’m conflicted.
Either A: A starscape with a close-up profile face superimposed (like the Kylo Ren from Force Awakens or Darth Vader from New Hope)
Or B: An exploding planet.
I’d appreciate your opinion, whether the face in the background would make things look too cluttered.
If we go for the Face option: The profile of a short-haired, dark-skinned woman.
– Her mouth, nose and lower jaw is replaced with a rebreather, with heavy tubes coming out of it going over her shoulder.
– There is a large socket for a cable installed in her temple. The skin around the socket is cracked.
– Perhaps a small earring, either in the earlobe or in the upper ear arch.
So that’s what I got. Before we go too far, maybe just a composition/color super-ultra-rough layout sketch?
Also, I feel like there’s an opportunity for a lens-flare in there somewhere, just for the extra StarWars-y kitsch!
(After receiving a few preliminary sketches)—
I really like the second image, with the face on the right and the exploding planet on the left! We need to make sure it doesn’t look like the back of the woman’s head is exploding, but otherwise I say go for it, that’s a great idea. Really cool!
Quick correction: I’d like the alien to have her gun in her left hand, maybe pointing towards the opposite side of the page (if that doesn’t mess with the composition). The glowy-crystal-object thingy would be in her right hand, close to her body (so that the light it casts illuminates her and the top of the girls’ head/shoulders.)
So, to the questions:
– The woman with the respirator is likely the villain of the story, or at least the Darth Vader-style main threat/antagonist.
– The robot is in the desert. The other two are not, technically they’re in a different scene. A starry background would be fine, or just plain dark blue, or smoke/clouds. Go with your instinct.
– The Technomancer girl is creating/shaping virtual reality with her hands. I guess “supplication” is the wrong word, maybe… “molding”? As if she was using her big magi-tech gauntlets to work a ball of hovering clay.
– The alien and the girl (and technically the robot) are the player characters, so they have roughly even spotlight. Though the robot is a bit more background.
You’re right, totally forgot the Title:
– The title will be roughly the same size as the original UW title.
– I’m going to be putting it at the bottom, like the Starwars posters.
– If possible, could you fill the space behind the title with asteroids to the left and floating starship debris to the right? Kinda like the way the stormtroopers are placed in the Force Awakens poster.
———————-
Hope you guys enjoyed that. I’ll have more Words Words Words updates next week, but work has been continuing apace and the editing process has begun on a few chapters.
Hey all! I just DM’ed my first game of Uncharted Worlds: we had an absolute blast!
Hey all! I just DM’ed my first game of Uncharted Worlds: we had an absolute blast!
One move that really impressed me was the “Stealth” move. The first time the player used it, I thought “Oh my gosh this is gonna be so overpowered and unfun.” But it wasn’t at all! The player had a blast sneaking around and disrupting the enemies, and it took SO much less time than it would have in any other system. Really impressed with it.
Anyway: looking for some advice!
One thing that I struggled with was that my Threats felt a little static/passive/weak. It seemed like I got them into position, but then my players would attack and demolish them with Open Fire. Part of it was luck but I did feel like the enemies didn’t really do anything.
Another thing: I struggled with one player’s Crew. He had a Class 3 crew from Military and relied on them heavily. However, once he rolled a 7-9 to command them to drive. The situation was intense and it just didn’t make sense that they wouldn’t accept more Commands.
Any advice to help me up the Threat dynamic and treat power player Crew assets?
Whuff. The closer I get to finishing, the harder it gets to actually see progress. One of my big issues right now is wringing the most value-added to the final chapter.
Chapter 3 (Arcana) in progress
I finally have a “shape” of what Chapter 3 will be, elusive bugger that it is. In addition to general guidelines for integrating the supernatural into the game, the chapter also touches on Encounter Design. Specifically, the “Villains and Monsters” section. The sections will be:
– Magic and Faith (the forms that the supernatural can take in Space Opera)
– Outer Realms (from the Spirit World to someone’s Mindscape to Literal-Actual-Hell)
– Horror and Trauma (long lasting injuries, both physical and emotional)
– Monsters and Villains (foes that take coordination, bravery and luck to defeat)
– Mutations (alter your character’s body in strange and disturbing ways)
So far I have a half page on Faith and Magic, and a page and a half on Villains and Monsters. It’s slow going, I’ll freely admit. But the fact that I finally have the rough outline will help me move forward. I hope.
What’s Next
More of the same, honestly. Digging away in the word-mines. Working on Chapter 3.
I’ve uploaded what little there is on Chapter 3 to the previews Dropbox, feel free to check it out if you’re curious.
