VOID HUNTERS: The Flaming Kickstarter Thread of Doooooom...
Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 1:03 pm
After discussions with JG and sending in my Licensing agreement, I'm pleased to announce that Jabberwocky Media LLC [ http://jabberwocky-media.com/ ] is going to start work on Void Hunters, the DCC game of Seventies Science Fiction in November, with a Kickstarter to follow in the Spring of 14.
The default setting is focused on the horrors of space exploration, including isolation, alien terrors, and weird quirks of science and nature that defy man's understanding of the universe. The rules will follow closely in the gritty mold of DCC and reinforce the notion that space is a cold, lonely, uncaring thing that will kill the unprepared, and, when faced with an infinite variety of things that can kill you, it's practically impossible to be totally prepared.
Adventures would largely be based around sandbox style exploration of the universe, discovering the remains of other civilizations that died out long before man took his first steps into the universe, fighting against alien super-predators that are bred in the darkest and harshest environments, and salvaging the remains of lost expeditions that fell prey to unknown forces or the predations of their fellow men. Basically, DCC In Spaaace! But there will information for setting up Feudal Dark Sci-Fi settings (like Dune or 40k) and War Amongst the Stars settings (like Ender's Game or Starship Troopers)
In accordance with the 3PP licensing agreement with GG, it will, like my Barbarians of the Aftermath supplement for BoL, be a supplemental book that requires the main DCC rulebook to use, and it will focus on converting those rules to fit a Dark Sci-Fi setting. Here is the working Table of Contents (subject to change, of course):
Chapter 1: Introduction
● How to Use This Book
● Setting Assumptions - What is Seventies Science Fiction?
● New Rules (the Resource Attribute, firearms, technology rolls, etc.)
Chapter 2: Characters
● Defining Setting Assumptions about PC Classes
● Redshirts - Level 0 Characters
● Soldier
● Scientist
● Scout
● Officer
● Psychic
● Synthetic
Chapter 3: Psionics
● Rules
● Psionic Disciplines
● Power Listings
Chapter 4: Gear
● Defining Tech Level in your Setting
● Acquiring Gear - Resource Checks
● Standard Gear
● Combat Gear
● Servitors
● Psychic Gear
Chapter 5: Starships
● Defining Space Travel in your Campaign
● Acquiring a Starship
● Running a Starship
● Fighting a Starship
● Starship Construction
● Starship Modules
Chapter 6: New Worlds
● Sector Generation
● Star System Generation
● World Generation
Chapter 7: Alien Menaces
● Defining Setting Assumptions about Aliens
● Random Species Generation
● Sample Alien Flora
● Sample Alien Fauna
● Sentient Civilization Generation
● Alien PCs
Chapter 8: Exploring the Darkness
● The Interstellar Sandbox
● Hazards of the Void
● The Planetary Sandbox
● Planetary Environments
● Lost Civilizations
● Hulks
Chapter 9: Missions & Campaigns
● Player Unit Organization (Expeditionary Forces, Survey Teams, Traders, etc.)
● Mission Generator
● Dungeons In Spaaaace (Creating and stocking adventure sites)
● The Wider Universe (Level 6+ Campaigns)
● Mission 1: The Lost and the Damned (Level 0 Hulk Recovery Mission)
● Mission 2: The Pyramids of Pyxis (level 1 Planetary Exploration Mission)
What is Seventies Sci-Fi? Well, outside of the elements I've mentioned above, here is my personal 'Appendix N' that is currently inspiring the design of the book:
BOOKS
All the Stars a Stage (James Blish, 1971) - The imminent destruction of the sun forces humanity (now a matriarchal society in which men are considered largely useless) to flee for the stars in untested starships. Over 50 years of dangerous exploration to find a suitable homeworld ensue.
Dune (Frank Herbert, 1965) - The prime example of the Feudal Sci-Fi setting, the universal order has regressed into a series of interstellar Dukedoms ruled over by an Emperor; space travel and psionic disciplines along with human computer/assassins are controlled by guilds; and Machiavellian schemes, political assassination and interstellar war are the primary past-times of the noble houses.
Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card, 1985) - Although the full novel came out in 1985, the basis for it appeared as a novella in Analog magazine in 1977. Mankind, still recovering after a narrowly won war against an implacably alien insect race known as 'the buggers,' starts training the next generation of children to become generals and launch a pre-emptive strike against the aliens before they can regroup and return to finish humanity off.
Gateway (Fredrick Pohl, 1977) - The core premise of this story, an ancient and long dead alien race leave behind a stargate and several hundred ships for humanity to discover and experiment with, would make an excellent setup for a Void Hunter's campaign. The fact that the poor humans have little control over where they are going (Habitable world? Dead world? Edge of a black hole?) and when they might get there (Do we have enough supplies to last the trip or will we starve in space?) just makes it all the more fun. Throw in a 1849 era gold-rush mentality as people risk it all for a chance to get rich off the unknown, and a greedy corporation looking to exploit them when/if they return, and you've got the perfect recipe for adventure.
Rendezvous with Rama (Arthur C. Clarke, 1972) - The subject of this novel is another space born artifact from a long lost alien civilization, which would qualify as an extremely unusual hulk: part space craft, part world. The 'biots' also make for highly interesting alien fauna.
Ringworld (Larry Niven, 1970) - Louis Wu and company crash land on the mother of ancient archeological artifacts, a Ringworld, and are forced to explore it's massive, bizarre structure in order to find a way to escape. While not all that dark, and featuring a number of different alien races, Ringworld does provide a perfect example of exploring the remains of a lost alien civilization while interacting with the retro-grade descendents and strange creatures that make up the flora a fauna around it. It is a massive, campaign worthy, sci-fi sandbox.
Starship Troopers (Robert Heinlein, 1959) - For more military based campaigns, there isn't a great deal of combat in the book, but there is a great deal on the no holds barred, anything to survive mentality humanity may adopt in order to cope with the extreme circumstances surrounding interstellar war. Brutal training for a brutal people to fight a brutal enemy in a variety of brutal environments..
Solaris (Stanisław Lem, 1970) - The perfect example of what happens when man inadvertently discovers that life doesn't neatly fit in the pigeonhole that he places it in, and the consequences that emerge from that arrogant assumption. I won't give away the core story element that makes this novel unique, but suffice to say, sometimes the observer doesn't realize that they're the one under the microscope.
Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader (Rick Preistley, 1987) - Although a game book, not strictly straight fiction, the first edition of the world-popular WH40k game set forth a dark interstellar empire in its decline, its teaming subjects living a feudal existence underneath a brutal regime venerating a corpse Emperor and beset by external enemies and internal corruption. The original is still the best and presents humanity and space as terrifyingly uncaring and full of black humor. It also provides a ton of story seeds revolving around the exploration of new worlds, the rediscovery of lost worlds and salvaging of massive 'space hulks,' essentially mega-dungeons in space.
MOVIES
Alien (1979) - A crew of space miners, ordered by the Company to investigate a signal coming from a mysterious moon, end up exploring a dangerous world, encountering the crashed hulk of an alien spaceship and bring aboard a parasitic alien life form that stalks the crew in the 'dungeon' of their own spacecraft. This is the quintessential Void Hunter adventure in the Dark Sci-Fi paradigm.
The Black Hole (1979) - No aliens, space demons or lost civilizations, just a mad scientist in a massive 'lost' space ship (the sci-fi equivalent of an evil wizard's dungeon complete with the robot equivalent of orcs and an ogre) perched on the edge of the most destructive force in the universe with all the danger that entails.
Dark Star (1974) -Somewhat less serious than some might expect from the title, the comedy is still black as the void of space, the end result of the film is fairly fatalistic and the clear insanity of the crew after a long space voyage (not to mention the dark nature of their ongoing mission) is likely to remind players and GMs of the black humor and absurdity that even the most well meaning and serious RPG adventure devolves into after a long night's play. It's like somebody took an actual sci-fi RPG session, wrote it into a screenplay and then filmed the results.
Event Horizon (1997) -This movie came out well after the seventies, but it encapsulates the horrors of space exploration and turns them up to 11. A search and rescue team finds a spacecraft with a prototype interstellar drive that went missing 7 years earlier. As they explore the 'hulk' they find that, on its maiden voyage, the Event Horizon uncovered horrors beyond human comprehension. It's 'The Shining' in space with a little bit of 'Hellraiser' thrown in for good measure.
Outland (1981) - Again, shortly outside of the seventies, but still deep in the ethos of many of the stories from that time. No aliens, just man's inhumanity to man in the pursuit of interstellar resources and profit. Often described as 'High Noon in Space,' nothing better captures the frontier nature of space, where help is not around the corner and running away is not always an option when you're surrounded by an environment that is totally antithetical to human life.
Silent Running (1972) - While this film is set within the solar system, it has many elements that define seventies sci-fi. Man's inhumanity and self-destructive nature, the delicate nature of life and maintaining it in the cold dark of space, and a perfect example of how some last remnant of a lost civilization could end up floating in space (becoming a Hulk, in VH vernacular).
MAGAZINES
A lot of the science fiction I read that really defined the themes of seventies science fiction came from a selection of magazines that were popular during that decade and into the eighties as well. I can't necessarily remember the specific stories or the particular authors, but the influence of these periodicals, whose stories reflected the time they were written in, will impress the feel of the era on you like nothing else can.
Omni - A magizine of technology, science and science fiction, it boasted articles featuring some of the most influential writers, scientists and artists of the time, including Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, and H.R.Giger. The stories were a bit on the weird side. One story that sticks in my brain to this day involved an alien shape changer that absorbed people to feed itself and then took on their form and memories. It had escaped from a government black site and became the lover of a woman who took it in after she found out it had eaten and taken the form of her ex-husband. She basically kept it as a lover until she started to think it might leave her, at which point she turned it over to the government, stoned out of its mind on oregano, which acted as a powerful and addictive drug for it. Yeah, that's the kind of weird stuff the seventies was known for...
Analog - The premier science fiction magazine of the time, it collected the works of authors known and unknown and many of its stories really reflected the zeitgeist of the time, one of uncertainty and fear of the unknown. Find yourself a dozen or so back copies form this period and you'll probably have enough material for an equal number of adventures.
Heavy Metal - Now, as a whole, this comic magazine was all over the place, with fantasy and science fiction of bewildering variety and wildly varying quality decorating its pages. A lot of it was just cartoon porn. But occasionally, once every other issue or so, they'd have story that really grabbed the Dark Sci-Fi vibe of the era and ran with it. And let's not forget they published the comic version of Alien, one of the best movie to comic adaptions ever.
***
As for me, I'm the author and designer of Barbarians of the Aftermath and was a designer on the Doctor Who RPG line (writing, game design, graphic design and layout) so I've got a far bit of experience in this area and should have a manuscript ready for folks to peruse by January. In the meantime, while I'm gathering my material together, does anyone have any questions or requests?
The default setting is focused on the horrors of space exploration, including isolation, alien terrors, and weird quirks of science and nature that defy man's understanding of the universe. The rules will follow closely in the gritty mold of DCC and reinforce the notion that space is a cold, lonely, uncaring thing that will kill the unprepared, and, when faced with an infinite variety of things that can kill you, it's practically impossible to be totally prepared.
Adventures would largely be based around sandbox style exploration of the universe, discovering the remains of other civilizations that died out long before man took his first steps into the universe, fighting against alien super-predators that are bred in the darkest and harshest environments, and salvaging the remains of lost expeditions that fell prey to unknown forces or the predations of their fellow men. Basically, DCC In Spaaace! But there will information for setting up Feudal Dark Sci-Fi settings (like Dune or 40k) and War Amongst the Stars settings (like Ender's Game or Starship Troopers)
In accordance with the 3PP licensing agreement with GG, it will, like my Barbarians of the Aftermath supplement for BoL, be a supplemental book that requires the main DCC rulebook to use, and it will focus on converting those rules to fit a Dark Sci-Fi setting. Here is the working Table of Contents (subject to change, of course):
Chapter 1: Introduction
● How to Use This Book
● Setting Assumptions - What is Seventies Science Fiction?
● New Rules (the Resource Attribute, firearms, technology rolls, etc.)
Chapter 2: Characters
● Defining Setting Assumptions about PC Classes
● Redshirts - Level 0 Characters
● Soldier
● Scientist
● Scout
● Officer
● Psychic
● Synthetic
Chapter 3: Psionics
● Rules
● Psionic Disciplines
● Power Listings
Chapter 4: Gear
● Defining Tech Level in your Setting
● Acquiring Gear - Resource Checks
● Standard Gear
● Combat Gear
● Servitors
● Psychic Gear
Chapter 5: Starships
● Defining Space Travel in your Campaign
● Acquiring a Starship
● Running a Starship
● Fighting a Starship
● Starship Construction
● Starship Modules
Chapter 6: New Worlds
● Sector Generation
● Star System Generation
● World Generation
Chapter 7: Alien Menaces
● Defining Setting Assumptions about Aliens
● Random Species Generation
● Sample Alien Flora
● Sample Alien Fauna
● Sentient Civilization Generation
● Alien PCs
Chapter 8: Exploring the Darkness
● The Interstellar Sandbox
● Hazards of the Void
● The Planetary Sandbox
● Planetary Environments
● Lost Civilizations
● Hulks
Chapter 9: Missions & Campaigns
● Player Unit Organization (Expeditionary Forces, Survey Teams, Traders, etc.)
● Mission Generator
● Dungeons In Spaaaace (Creating and stocking adventure sites)
● The Wider Universe (Level 6+ Campaigns)
● Mission 1: The Lost and the Damned (Level 0 Hulk Recovery Mission)
● Mission 2: The Pyramids of Pyxis (level 1 Planetary Exploration Mission)
What is Seventies Sci-Fi? Well, outside of the elements I've mentioned above, here is my personal 'Appendix N' that is currently inspiring the design of the book:
BOOKS
All the Stars a Stage (James Blish, 1971) - The imminent destruction of the sun forces humanity (now a matriarchal society in which men are considered largely useless) to flee for the stars in untested starships. Over 50 years of dangerous exploration to find a suitable homeworld ensue.
Dune (Frank Herbert, 1965) - The prime example of the Feudal Sci-Fi setting, the universal order has regressed into a series of interstellar Dukedoms ruled over by an Emperor; space travel and psionic disciplines along with human computer/assassins are controlled by guilds; and Machiavellian schemes, political assassination and interstellar war are the primary past-times of the noble houses.
Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card, 1985) - Although the full novel came out in 1985, the basis for it appeared as a novella in Analog magazine in 1977. Mankind, still recovering after a narrowly won war against an implacably alien insect race known as 'the buggers,' starts training the next generation of children to become generals and launch a pre-emptive strike against the aliens before they can regroup and return to finish humanity off.
Gateway (Fredrick Pohl, 1977) - The core premise of this story, an ancient and long dead alien race leave behind a stargate and several hundred ships for humanity to discover and experiment with, would make an excellent setup for a Void Hunter's campaign. The fact that the poor humans have little control over where they are going (Habitable world? Dead world? Edge of a black hole?) and when they might get there (Do we have enough supplies to last the trip or will we starve in space?) just makes it all the more fun. Throw in a 1849 era gold-rush mentality as people risk it all for a chance to get rich off the unknown, and a greedy corporation looking to exploit them when/if they return, and you've got the perfect recipe for adventure.
Rendezvous with Rama (Arthur C. Clarke, 1972) - The subject of this novel is another space born artifact from a long lost alien civilization, which would qualify as an extremely unusual hulk: part space craft, part world. The 'biots' also make for highly interesting alien fauna.
Ringworld (Larry Niven, 1970) - Louis Wu and company crash land on the mother of ancient archeological artifacts, a Ringworld, and are forced to explore it's massive, bizarre structure in order to find a way to escape. While not all that dark, and featuring a number of different alien races, Ringworld does provide a perfect example of exploring the remains of a lost alien civilization while interacting with the retro-grade descendents and strange creatures that make up the flora a fauna around it. It is a massive, campaign worthy, sci-fi sandbox.
Starship Troopers (Robert Heinlein, 1959) - For more military based campaigns, there isn't a great deal of combat in the book, but there is a great deal on the no holds barred, anything to survive mentality humanity may adopt in order to cope with the extreme circumstances surrounding interstellar war. Brutal training for a brutal people to fight a brutal enemy in a variety of brutal environments..
Solaris (Stanisław Lem, 1970) - The perfect example of what happens when man inadvertently discovers that life doesn't neatly fit in the pigeonhole that he places it in, and the consequences that emerge from that arrogant assumption. I won't give away the core story element that makes this novel unique, but suffice to say, sometimes the observer doesn't realize that they're the one under the microscope.
Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader (Rick Preistley, 1987) - Although a game book, not strictly straight fiction, the first edition of the world-popular WH40k game set forth a dark interstellar empire in its decline, its teaming subjects living a feudal existence underneath a brutal regime venerating a corpse Emperor and beset by external enemies and internal corruption. The original is still the best and presents humanity and space as terrifyingly uncaring and full of black humor. It also provides a ton of story seeds revolving around the exploration of new worlds, the rediscovery of lost worlds and salvaging of massive 'space hulks,' essentially mega-dungeons in space.
MOVIES
Alien (1979) - A crew of space miners, ordered by the Company to investigate a signal coming from a mysterious moon, end up exploring a dangerous world, encountering the crashed hulk of an alien spaceship and bring aboard a parasitic alien life form that stalks the crew in the 'dungeon' of their own spacecraft. This is the quintessential Void Hunter adventure in the Dark Sci-Fi paradigm.
The Black Hole (1979) - No aliens, space demons or lost civilizations, just a mad scientist in a massive 'lost' space ship (the sci-fi equivalent of an evil wizard's dungeon complete with the robot equivalent of orcs and an ogre) perched on the edge of the most destructive force in the universe with all the danger that entails.
Dark Star (1974) -Somewhat less serious than some might expect from the title, the comedy is still black as the void of space, the end result of the film is fairly fatalistic and the clear insanity of the crew after a long space voyage (not to mention the dark nature of their ongoing mission) is likely to remind players and GMs of the black humor and absurdity that even the most well meaning and serious RPG adventure devolves into after a long night's play. It's like somebody took an actual sci-fi RPG session, wrote it into a screenplay and then filmed the results.
Event Horizon (1997) -This movie came out well after the seventies, but it encapsulates the horrors of space exploration and turns them up to 11. A search and rescue team finds a spacecraft with a prototype interstellar drive that went missing 7 years earlier. As they explore the 'hulk' they find that, on its maiden voyage, the Event Horizon uncovered horrors beyond human comprehension. It's 'The Shining' in space with a little bit of 'Hellraiser' thrown in for good measure.
Outland (1981) - Again, shortly outside of the seventies, but still deep in the ethos of many of the stories from that time. No aliens, just man's inhumanity to man in the pursuit of interstellar resources and profit. Often described as 'High Noon in Space,' nothing better captures the frontier nature of space, where help is not around the corner and running away is not always an option when you're surrounded by an environment that is totally antithetical to human life.
Silent Running (1972) - While this film is set within the solar system, it has many elements that define seventies sci-fi. Man's inhumanity and self-destructive nature, the delicate nature of life and maintaining it in the cold dark of space, and a perfect example of how some last remnant of a lost civilization could end up floating in space (becoming a Hulk, in VH vernacular).
MAGAZINES
A lot of the science fiction I read that really defined the themes of seventies science fiction came from a selection of magazines that were popular during that decade and into the eighties as well. I can't necessarily remember the specific stories or the particular authors, but the influence of these periodicals, whose stories reflected the time they were written in, will impress the feel of the era on you like nothing else can.
Omni - A magizine of technology, science and science fiction, it boasted articles featuring some of the most influential writers, scientists and artists of the time, including Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, and H.R.Giger. The stories were a bit on the weird side. One story that sticks in my brain to this day involved an alien shape changer that absorbed people to feed itself and then took on their form and memories. It had escaped from a government black site and became the lover of a woman who took it in after she found out it had eaten and taken the form of her ex-husband. She basically kept it as a lover until she started to think it might leave her, at which point she turned it over to the government, stoned out of its mind on oregano, which acted as a powerful and addictive drug for it. Yeah, that's the kind of weird stuff the seventies was known for...
Analog - The premier science fiction magazine of the time, it collected the works of authors known and unknown and many of its stories really reflected the zeitgeist of the time, one of uncertainty and fear of the unknown. Find yourself a dozen or so back copies form this period and you'll probably have enough material for an equal number of adventures.
Heavy Metal - Now, as a whole, this comic magazine was all over the place, with fantasy and science fiction of bewildering variety and wildly varying quality decorating its pages. A lot of it was just cartoon porn. But occasionally, once every other issue or so, they'd have story that really grabbed the Dark Sci-Fi vibe of the era and ran with it. And let's not forget they published the comic version of Alien, one of the best movie to comic adaptions ever.
***
As for me, I'm the author and designer of Barbarians of the Aftermath and was a designer on the Doctor Who RPG line (writing, game design, graphic design and layout) so I've got a far bit of experience in this area and should have a manuscript ready for folks to peruse by January. In the meantime, while I'm gathering my material together, does anyone have any questions or requests?