Category: Uncharted Worlds: Far Beyond Humanity

A couple of teasers of the new career chapter. Looking to have the full chapter and running this weekend.

Wisdom (Chosen)

When you are involved in Cramped Quarters (either directly or as a third party), up to one participant resolves a mental or emotional debility afterwards, no matter the result. You may choose yourself as the “other” subject of your own Cramped Quarters.

Compel (Telepath) (replaces “Suggestion”)

When your word compels another to perform a few brief, simple actions, Roll+Influence.

On a 10+, they obey.

On a 7-9 they obey. If they would act against their fundamental nature, they can choose to suffer mental/emotional harm instead.

Advise (Counsel) (formerly “Suggestion”, from Telepath)

When you steer someone towards a decision or desire, Roll+Influence.

On a 10+, they accept this completely, and will act on it if they can.

On a 7-9, they become conflicted and confused, no telling how they might act.

Mediate (Consul)

When you are involved in Cramped Quarters (either directly or as a third party), choose one:

• Change the roll to a 9.

• Each party gains a Data Point about one of the other participants (your choice).

I’ve been slightly unsatisfied with the theming of the Xenologist career, so I’m considering expanding it to be something of a bridge between Academic, Commercial, Personality and Starfarer. It’ll still deal with “Seek Out New Civilizations” kinda thing, and will play well with all things xeno. At the same time, I wanted something that pushed understanding of people, of societies and of cultures.

This career would give me an opportunity to explore the mental/emotional debilities introduced in this book (between the mental powers and the elder-god-esque arcana). We already have one career that resists these (the fearless Fanatic), but healing from trauma could fall under this umbrella.

Finally, I’d like a few skills that leverage Cramped Quarters, because it’s a strong area that has opportunities to grow. Something like:

Council

When you are involved in a Cramped Quarters, no matter the result, choose one:

– The result is 7-9 instead (can be subsequently changed by someone else’s Get Involved)

– Each party gains a Data Point about another party involved in the Cramped Quarters.

– One of the other participants resolves one of their mental or emotional debilities.

I just need to come up with a name for this new career.

Councilor? Diplomat? Ambassador? I’d like it to be usable as both a first and last word of an archetype (“____” Academic and Academic “_____”)

As always, thoughts/comments are very welcome.

Sorry I haven’t been around very much, folks. Crunch time at work has left me drained. I’m trying to get back on the saddle, writing-wise, but this summer has taken a lot out of me and my overly ambitious schedule for two supplements in a year is just not going to happen.

I’m going to focus all my efforts to make sure that at least FBH gets out the door by year’s end. I might see about releasing Carta Galaxia in chunks; one campaign setting at a time, rather than a bunch all at once.

Anywho, thought I’d post a preview of what I’ve been tooling around with in FBH lately. We’ve got new Upgrades for Melee Weapons. Like everything in FBH, these upgrades should only be taken if it fits the fiction of the Campaign Style the table agreed on.

I’d appreciate thoughts and comments. A lot of these new upgrades are going to be kinda out there. Also if there’s an obvious upgrade that I missed, please tell me!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lnbxgtqtmnp666r/WeaponsPreview.docx?dl=0

Asking for feedback yet again! (What’s the point of having an awesome community if not to bombard them with design feedback requests!)

Took all the wonderful responses in the previous topic about cyberscapes, and tried to put together something robust/solid but not overwhelming. It creates a new “zone” of play, but only adds one new Move.

I posted what I have written so far. This has probably been the hardest topic of FBH, I spend most of the week hammering away at it, trying to shape it into something that wasn’t too thin or too in-depth.

If you guys have a moment to spare, I’d love to hear your feedback. Specifically:

– The overall design/fiction of the SectorNet and the gridscapes.

– The Breaching mechanics.

Obviously, this is still very much unedited first draft, beware of terrible grammar and run-on sentences.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tsulme0u5fos2rp/SectorNet%20Preview.docx?dl=0

So, writing up the Technology chapter and I’m kinda stumbling on the whole NeuroNet/Matrix/Cyberspace implementation. I find myself staring at a blank page and going “there is a full game system in just this little section”.

So I’m wracking my brain as to how to approach this. I want something elegant, that simulates the feeling of cyberspace. I want it to be robust enough that it can stand in for a number of different visions of cyberspaces. And I want it to be a component of the game, rather than the whole game (because holy crap this could easily be a whole new ruleset)

My current plan is to create an alternate Access Move (still using Interface), something approaching the back-and-forth multi-action implementation of Launch Assault or Face Adversity. It would only trigger when you try to Access through the cyberspace (which means you don’t have to physically be there, and can hopscotch from system to system).

Like: You enter cyberspace with a specific goal and tools, the GM describes the digital landscape/protections, then you Roll. The “Run” happens in a rapidfire back-and-forth of VR-spaces, shattered ICE, neural boobytraps, and shifting gridscapes.

The upside of this is that it adds a lot of VR action without adding more rolls. It only “exists” if the table has chosen to include cyberspaces in the game. And it plays well with the Technocrat (who gets a serious boost in cyberspace-active campaigns).

Sorry if that got rambly, it was useful to just write out my problem. That said, what do you guys think? Any issues or suggestions? I’d totally take links to specific, well-made cyberscapes as inspiration.

Also, is NeuroNet cool, name-wise? Or should I remain generic with “cyberspace”.

Need a few extra sets of eyes. Hoping some of you guys could take a look at the list of Mods on page 3, and tell me if something is missing.

Note that this system will not only drive the Cybernetics and Biomods, it will also drive Beast aliens and mutations.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ijgw80pk7wisfal/Mods%20Preview.docx?dl=0

Small but important breakthrough in mechanical framing/connection:

Cybernetics and Biomods are Assets.

Prosthesis (Obvious and Subtle) are Class 0 Cybernetics

Transplants (Donated and Grown) are Class 0 Biomods

Higher Class Cybernetics and Biomods require biological and/or neurological support from the body. Bodies can support a maximum of Class 3, divided between any number of Cybernetics and/or Biomods.

Damage to Cybernetics and Biomods are represented as Debilities, the same way limbs and organs are (Cybernetics don’t heal naturally)

Thus Cybernetics and Biomods (and Mutations, through Biomods) are tied to the existing health, injury and healing systems. Huzzah

Far Beyond Humanity Origins

Day 5 – Forlorn

We round out our new Origins with the Forlorn, a very popular trope indeed. DS9s Odo, the Doctor from Doctor Who, Cale of Titan AE, and so many, many more.

This origin’s unique skill is the one that plays the most into the social behavior aspect of these stat-replacement skills. While the consequences will always have a social element, it also has the potential to cause some real drama between protagonists as well.

The cross-class skills center around a character who moved around a lot, someone who wasn’t tied down to a place or a culture.

There’s a lot of defiance in this origin… but a lot of loneliness too.

Side note: it’s bloody hard to come up with icons for all these origins and careers.

So that’s it for Origins! Coming soon: A first look at Species, a new character creation step.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wl2ne58lhuu3xn3/Origin%20-%20Forlorn.pdf?dl=0

Far Beyond Humanity Origins

Day 4 – Occult

This is an odd Origin, in that it fills a hole in the design-space without having any recognizable/popular sci-fi parallels. It goes one step further into the supernatural than the Spiritual Origin, and adds a mix of generically pseudo-pagan-witchcraft mysticism.

In addition to the Warhammer 40k-ish “dark galaxy” style, this Origin serves Magitech / Magipunk style games as well. For example, all the kids from both Hogwarts and Xavier’s School for Metahumans fall into this category (which is why I put in that line about “prestigious mystic academies”).

You may note that the unique Skill has the same name as one of the Chosen skills. Not a typo! I’ve removed the skill-formerly-known-as-Ritual from the Chosen career, and will be replacing it (it was pointed out that the old Ritual was a so-so version of the way Pact would work. Huzzah for good feedback!)

The implementation of this unique was a bit tricky, in that I tried not to dictate the behavior too heavily. My worry is that in practice it will be very “swingy” (either too easy to activate or too dangerous to bother). Will need to playtest.

The cross-class Skills are a smattering from the more magically inclined careers. I’m quite happy with the fact that the unique and cross-class skills all have a very physical, manual component to them.

Tomorrow: The Forlorn

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7eu7e0ofe6f5a7p/Origin%20-%20Occult.pdf?dl=0

Far Beyond Humanity Origins

Day 3 – Programmed

(I know I originally called this the Indoctrinated Origin, but that was too much of a mouthful).

This Origin comes from a LOT of different sources, and is a super common sci-fi trope. Basically, all the bad-ass sleeper-agents and living-weapons, from Jason Bourne of the Bourne series, to River Tam in Firefly, to Talia Winters in Babylon 5.

As a side note, this Origin allows for plant creatures, hive-mind insects etc. More importantly, it allows for more tightly controlled AI and Robotic species.

The Unique skill is probably the most GM-facing of all the stat-replacements. While the other 4 skills give direction as to the consequences, this one allows a small amount of control over the character directly.

The cross-class skills are pretty self explanatory. Still love Obsession, and in this case, it’s not even your obsession, it’s theirs (“they” being the ones that programmed the Obsession).

Tomorrow: The Occult

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ih3dudn5pemqj53/Origin%20-%20Programmed.pdf?dl=0