Category: Uncharted Worlds: Far Beyond Humanity

Far Beyond Humanity Weekly Update #10

(Warning, long post!)

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.

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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.

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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.

-SG

Far Beyond Humanity Weekly Update #9

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.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/atd0ygpwhur5yp6/AAB140jz3usjE3imwUkkCTLia?dl=0

Far Beyond Humanity Weekly Update #8

Uhhh… weekly. Yeah. <_<

So yeah, this is the point where I put the back of my wrist on my forehead and lament about the difficulties of writing and being creative and such. Last week was indeed a wash, creativity wise. Totally blocked. But life goes on, and I must power through.

Chapter 6 – Assets finished

Huzzah. This chapter has been kinda hanging half-done in limbo for a while. Went back and put all the old asset types together, adding new upgrades for all of them.

I also added two NEW types of Assets:

– Artillery are super-heavy, stationary weapons. These will be useful in Colony and Station games, or in situations where the players want to design their own Starship weapons. Plus it gives a bit more (entirely optional) mechanical structure to the otherwise hand-wave-y artillery that the GM might introduce.

– Beasts are loyal xeno-fauna companions that can act as a cross between a Crew, a Vehicle and an independent Melee Weapon.

What’s Next

With Chapter 6 done, the only thing left is… Chapter 3 -_- The Arcana chapter is still knocking me flat every time I attempt to wrangle it. I’m circling it right now, looking for a good angle of attack.

As usual, everything is available in the previews folder on Dropbox, and I welcome any comments or questions you may have. I invite you to take a look, take the new Asset upgrades for a theoretical spin just to see if anything utterly silly falls out, and so forth.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/atd0ygpwhur5yp6/AAB140jz3usjE3imwUkkCTLia?dl=0

Far Beyond Humanity Weekly Update #7

Bloody slow week this week. Rather disappointed, to be honest. Still, such is life chipping away in the Word Mines.

Chapter 2 complete

The Technology chapter is complete! I moved the Scarce Fuel optional rules over there, since the chapter is very starship-oriented. I also added a section on alternate forms of FTL, just so people can simulate their favorite sci-fi settings. Admittedly, it’s all stuff people could come up with themselves, but it’s only a page and maybe it inspires someone.

Most importantly, the Vessel design rules are complete, including the various Forms. If anyone wants to take them for a spin and give their feedback, I’d be very interested in the results.

What’s next

I’ve got my rough outline down for Chapter 3 – Arcana. It’ll include rules for Villains and Monsters, Outer Realms (as a mirror of the SectorNet rules), and potentially Horror and Trauma (still exploring this aspect).

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/atd0ygpwhur5yp6/AAB140jz3usjE3imwUkkCTLia?dl=0

Far Beyond Humanity Weekly Update #6

Bit of a support/fill-in week this week. Many words were written, many sections re-written or altered or tweaked. Also that “throat thing” from last week evolved into full-blown bronchitis, so yaaay for failing my Face Adversity +Physique.

Characters Chapter

Formatting is finally finished on chapter 4! Huzzah. Also took the opportunity to revise a number of abilities, and to do that thematic overhaul of the Arcane career I’ve wanted to do for a while.

– Arcane Career is now known as the Shaper career. The career descriptions, workspaces and xp triggers have been updated to account for this slightly more generalized “reality shaping” career. The thematic shift should hopefully signal to more popular archetypes, such as the Babylon 5 technomagi, or the Mass Effect Vanguards.

– Skill change: Teleport (Shaper): While I liked the idea of a character being able to Wild Jump, the design of Wild Jump limits the Teleport to long-range jaunts. The new skill allows it to take a more action-oriented role when things get dicey, while still evoking a mini-Wild Jump. This incarnation also plays every well mechanically or thematically with a number of other skills, including Surveillance, Network, Clairvoyance, Recklessness, etc.

– Skill Change: Evoke (Shaper): This one has evolved a few times to get it to a point where it doesn’t just feel like a rehash of the Upgrade skill. In recent playtests I’ve got to see the new incarnation in action, and I’m pleasantly surprised at how creatively flexible it is.

– Skill Change: Launch (Kinetic): This skill now supports more build diversity by being allowing Mettle for small objects and Physique for large objects. Also makes it more logical when applied as the Origin skill of Primal.

– Skill Change: Telekinesis (Kinetic): Another one that went through many forms. Current implementation should be useful to many different archetypes.

– Skill Change: Terrify (Fanatic): Changed the effects of each level of success/failure slightly, to give better direction to the GM to adjust the NPC reactions. Got to playtest this one in multiple games, probably one of the most successful Skills in terms of story-driving and double-edged-sword-y goodness.

Technology Chapter

A first pass on the Vessel upgrades is up. The rules are coming together nicely. It’s quite feasible to custom-design Starships using this system, and I’m happy about that because it’s a design space I was never able to nail while writing Uncharted Worlds. The “Form” part is not in yet, but I’m sure you can make an educated guess: Form describes how the Vessel moves, whether it flies, is capable of exiting/entering atmosphere, how stable it is, etc.

New Art Preview – Characters

Another chapter art preview from +Juan Ochoa.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ms1bf6uwc6kuabu/Careers.jpeg?dl=0

What’s Next

I’ll be trying to finish up the remainder of the Technology chapter, while tooling around with early chunks of the Arcana chapter. I’ll also be going back and looking at the chapter distribution and density, possibly moving sections around so that they’re with similar systems and rules. (For example, the Fuel Scarcity optional ruleset will likely go into the Technology chapter along with the Vessel design rules and the alternate Jump technology section).

Feedback targets

I’m especially interested in feedback for the careers and origins, since they are prettymuch done and unlikely to see major changes. If you have a spare moment, I’d invite you to make characters using the new careers and a mix of new and old. See if there are any problematic or contradictory skill combinations, try to remake some of the more esoteric archetypes from popular sci fi.

Similarly, feel free to take the Vessel creation rules for a spin. These ones are still being built, but I’d really like to make sure I didn’t forget an important component.

As always: comments, questions and suggestions are always appreciated.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/atd0ygpwhur5yp6/AAB140jz3usjE3imwUkkCTLia?dl=0

Rather minor/inane question: Which works better as a term that encompasses super vehicles like mega-tanks, grav platforms, airships and mecha?

Creating a Vessel

Designing a Vessel follows a similar process as creating an Asset

• Choose a form to define how the Vessel moves.

• Select upgrades to define what the Vessel can do.

• Determine the Vessel’s tier based on the number of upgrades.

• Assign Sections for Tier II and higher.

vs

Creating a Greater Vehicle

Designing a Greater Vehicle follows a similar process as creating an Asset

• Choose a form to define how the Greater Vehicle moves.

• Select upgrades to define what the Greater Vehicle can do.

• Determine the Greater Vehicle’s tier based on the number of upgrades.

• Assign Sections for Tier II and higher.

So close to being done FBH, but one of the big writing challenges is looming on the horizon and I figured it might help to write about it here, blog-style.

While Uncharted Worlds has basic rules covering debilities, they’re all kinda lumped together (physical, mental and emotional) with a heavy focus on the physical because action adventure pew pew lasers. In FBH, I wanted to expand on the mental/emotional side of things, and open mechanical space for more Cosmic Horror style space opera (the Warp of Warhammer 40k, or Event Horizon, for example).

BUT, I worry I’m about to tread into very touchy subject matter. Stuff like PTSD, disorders and trauma are very real, very sensitive and can be very harmful if treated flippantly and disrespectfully. I’d love to give options to create a Horror setting, but still remaining respectful.

I guess I’m at the point now that I have to decide whether I should even make the attempt. Whether there’s enough value in the subject matter to offset both the effort of getting it right and the very real probability that I’ll get it wrong anyway. Whether it’s even possible for someone uninformed like me to handle this subject matter respectfully.

If anyone has any useful resources (blogs, reviews, whatever) about how other roleplaying games handle mental/emotional debility well or poorly, I’d be extremely grateful.

(I’m definitely going to be including a section about the X-Card, with or without any other Horror/Trauma mechanics. I’m just saddened that the X-Card wasn’t on my radar when I was writing UW).