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[TURN NULL]Space Myth 2: Fate of the Future!
Scooter
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Way back in the bygone days of 2006 there was a lil game called Space Myth. Due to much/some/a little/ok-some-guys-said-it-would-be-a-good-idea demand, it arises again!
You, leader of your freaky, tentacled, robotic, insectoid, psychic flying whale alien species, have suddenly gained technologies that will allow your people to expand into the stars! However, other species have gained the same knowledge and will be working to beat you to it! Or just beat you, some of them are into that. SM is a turn-based RPG/RTS/4X game, and we'll likely be running 2 turns a week for at least some number of weeks, maybe a couple months. Each turn you learn new techs, expand into new systems, and eat new people. I encourage reading the SM1 and SM2 wikis if you missed the first game to get a good background knowledge.
However, there's going to be a few changes around here. I'm going to be dropping the d20s and instead using FATE as a sort-of guide. I'm not that familar with Fate myself and will need some time to decide exactly how I want to balance the rules, but one thing I do like is their 'phase' method of character(civilization) creation. I haven't yet had time to do much deep thinking but I'm hoping to have rules pretty hashed out by the end of this weekend. So, if you played SM1, or read through it, and had some problems with the mechanics or concepts, now would be a good time to make suggestions. In addition to the Fate flavor, I've also done some Resource changes (see wiki) and am considering adding in Superprojects as a feature.
The Space Myth 2 wiki is: here and suggestions, comments, and signups are
here
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Edit:
TURN 14
Roster:
* Virii - Cynic Jester
* Prime Collective - TalonRazor
* The Combine - INNS
* The Ardek- Frowbakk
* Anandans & The Space Gods - Krata Lightblade
* The Varggath Cooperative- Abysmal Lynx
* Codettans - delroland
* The Concordance - The Lord of Hats
* The Dolphoids - SanderJK
* The Tvashtri - Shamus
You, leader of your freaky, tentacled, robotic, insectoid, psychic flying whale alien species, have suddenly gained technologies that will allow your people to expand into the stars! However, other species have gained the same knowledge and will be working to beat you to it! Or just beat you, some of them are into that. SM is a turn-based RPG/RTS/4X game, and we'll likely be running 2 turns a week for at least some number of weeks, maybe a couple months. Each turn you learn new techs, expand into new systems, and eat new people. I encourage reading the SM1 and SM2 wikis if you missed the first game to get a good background knowledge.
However, there's going to be a few changes around here. I'm going to be dropping the d20s and instead using FATE as a sort-of guide. I'm not that familar with Fate myself and will need some time to decide exactly how I want to balance the rules, but one thing I do like is their 'phase' method of character(civilization) creation. I haven't yet had time to do much deep thinking but I'm hoping to have rules pretty hashed out by the end of this weekend. So, if you played SM1, or read through it, and had some problems with the mechanics or concepts, now would be a good time to make suggestions. In addition to the Fate flavor, I've also done some Resource changes (see wiki) and am considering adding in Superprojects as a feature.
The Space Myth 2 wiki is: here and suggestions, comments, and signups are
here
|
|
\/
Edit:
TURN 14
Roster:
* Virii - Cynic Jester
* Prime Collective - TalonRazor
* The Combine - INNS
* The Ardek- Frowbakk
* Anandans & The Space Gods - Krata Lightblade
* The Varggath Cooperative- Abysmal Lynx
* Codettans - delroland
* The Concordance - The Lord of Hats
* The Dolphoids - SanderJK
* The Tvashtri - Shamus
Scooter on
Posts
EDIT: Just read the wiki. Good conversion of FATE to use our skills. For some reason I never thought of that... (dumb?)
Maybe.
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
If anyone else also wants to make a straight-up Earthborn human race, you should PM me so we can figure out a point of divergence and be awesome
When the rules have been more or less settled I'll post what's required for the official signups. I figure we can hash out ideas this weekend, start official signups Sunday, then do the first turn next weekend.
Original Spacemyth OOC: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=9486&highlight=Space+Myth&page=3
A quote from two years ago with merit:
There's a strong chance that I'd be down with this.
DropBox invite link - get 250MB extra free.
This sounds interesting, let's see where it leads.
Oh come on Salt.
Remember how you and I got to the edge of apocalyptic warfare but didn't have the chance to start it?
Let the the flames of war between the Combine and the Wargh consume the universe.
Maybe we'll have some more warmongers this time around.
I'm still totally tempted to play hyper-violent humans again, but I might end up with a different, equally violent race.
Edit: In fact, I'm thinking something like Starship Trooper's Arachnids + Ender's Game's Formics, except instead of one huge Hive, it's numerous smaller Hives (with their homeworld being home to dozens of huge hives, and each colonized planet being home to many smaller hives)
Its a sun surrounded by leaves. It also kind of looks like their eye.
Their a species of carnivorous plant beasts.
Do I still need a logo
Then things changed. The first intra-system spaceship was launched, although nobody much cared at the time, and began to explore the system. Probes had, of course, been launched, but again, nobody much cared. The last few had been lost, but the scientists in charge of the launch were confident all would go well with the launch of their manned vessel.
The Anandan ship approached the fifth planet in the system, a gas giant they'd always just called "The red one." There'd been other names, in history, of course, but they'd fallen into disuse decades previous. When it came near to the fifth planet, the ship found itself caught in a gravity well significantly stronger than expected, and was drawn in inexorably.
Unfortunately, the ship did not escape the well, and its crew was killed. But that was not the end. The gas giant was not, as thought, uninhabited. Rather, it was inhabited by a race of large, tentacled creatures, who'd evolved in the immense pressures of the gas giant's interior, and it was these creatures that had drawn the Anandan vessel in. They were a high advanced species, at least in comparison to the Anandans, and had little trouble reverse-engineering the ship's destroyed circuitry and learning quite a bit from it about the Anandans. Even worse, the gas-dwellers were a highly telepathic species, and the Anandans were far from strong-willed. They then turned their space-faring communications devices on the planet Ananda and contacted the Anandans.
Over the course of the next decade, the Anandan culture underwent rapid growth and change. The gas-dwellers had identified themselves as gods to the Anandans, and had "gifted" their "children" with "vast stores of knowledge according to their worthiness". Not all Anandans accepted the truth of this, but the ones who did were gifted with much better technology and quickly usurped global control. Within the decade the Anandans were fully under the yoke of their "Star Gods", and had fallen into a deep religious worship of their new masters. The "star gods" gifted the worthy with "great inspiration", and then began to make requests of their followers.
Now the Anandans seek to expand their spheres of influence, to grow and populate new stars, so that they might follow the eternal whims of their Star Gods. The gas-dwellers themselves, of course, couldn't care less, as long as they recieve their due and don't have to risk themselves in the search for new homes. Where the Anandans colonize more normal planets, the gas-dwellers search out gas giants, and seek more and more control over the populace in their spheres of influence.
The gas-dwellers, who as yet I haven't named (though I may yet just keep calling them the Star Gods) do most of the researching, and have a very strong artistic culture. The Anandan civilization will be strongly cultural, though in reality most of their culture will be due to the gas-dwellers attempts at mind-control.
I'm looking forward to the final determination of the rules, so I can actually put the stats together. However, the preliminary stats I've figured out according to the SM2 wiki are as follows.
Soldiering+1=1
Resource Richness+1=1
Culture=0
Espionage=0
Expansive+2=2
Phase 2: Anandan First Spaceflight
Soldiering+1=2
Resource Richness+1=2
Culture=0
Espionage=0
Expansive+1=3
Phase 3: That Star Gods Speak
Soldiering=2
Resource Richness=2
Culture+2=2
Espionage=0
Expansive=3
Phase 4: The Anandan Religious Revolution
Soldiering+1=3
Resource Richness=2
Culture+2=4
Espionage=0
Expansive=3
Phase 5: The Reconstruction
Soldiering=3
Resource Richness+1=3
Culture+2=6
Espionage=0
Expansive=3
Phase 6: The First Wave of Exploration
Soldiering=3
Resource Richness=3
Culture+2=8
Espionage=0
Expansive+1=4
You could post the logo that other races use when alluding to them.
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
who's going to help me fill the void of space with as much blood as possible?
GM of Pearl City - A group of superheroes form The Beacons.
Player of Arifyn Tok in Kingmakers [D&D 4E]
Player of Kane Fainklyn the Hallow Preest in Crumbling Citadels [D&D 4E]
Player of Torin Magnus in Blackwood [Monsterhearts]
Player of Torin Magnusson in And Justice for All (M&M 3E)
I'm going to play a race of insects, basically giant 'individual' hives with billions of limbs each
We will destroy and destroy
Are we using our Phases to determine Aspects, or do they just set our skills up?
Phases, with each being a different age of your civilisation.
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
That is awesome.
Is there a limit on players? If not, or if it hasn't been reached yet, count me in.
Right, except in FATE, each Phase also gives you an Aspect which lets you do cool stuff.
Do we get aspects?
I hadn't thought of it but that does sound useful.
No player limit, the more the merrier. I gotta head out for a bit but I should be in bombfell tonight for discussion/questions.
When the Ardek were a young species there were many wars where local tribes though themselves a distinct separate group, but through the diaspora and interbreeding resulting from such events eventually there were no populations "pure" enough to lay claim to their separateness by biology alone. The vagaries of heredity could combine to pop up traits suitable for arctic survival amid a clan of rainforest dwellers, or even rarer amphibiousness among desert groups. As travel became easier and easier as technology progressed, it became common for those ill-suited to their surroundings to leave their families and wander until they found where they could fit in the best.
The travel engendered by the wandering process settled out into trade routes and lines of communication as cultures learned science and that for all their differences, the Ardek were basically the same. As technology developed to the steamship and gunpowder level, it seemed that a worldwide civilization was within reach.
All of the Ardek cultures had engendered leaders of the dictatorial stripe at one part of their development or other, and eventually they all fell apart as the genetic variance took it's course. It was hard to declare any subgrouping of Ardek a "Master Race" when that very same subgroup would have children and grandchildren which never could fit the "purity" mold set out for them. It seemed that a ny movement resembling fascism would never take hold in such a context.
However, a leader named Faddon emerged from the scientific community and became the iron fisted dominator of the entire planet, not by trying to get everyone to focus on the differences of others when compared to the "pure" group, but by turning the concept around. With the Bell Curve as his symbol and core of his beliefs, Faddon was able to rationally, and scientifically show that the Majority of the Ardek exhibited physical characteristics within one standard deviation from average. Faddon successfully created a gradually oppressive culture where the nail which stood up would get hammered down, that those outside of the Standard Deviation wandered off sooner or later anyway, and so the process would be more effiecient by casting them out as infants to whatever community was "the best possible fit".
Faddon's culture of Standard Deviation held sway for centuries, as travel except for official relocations dwindled, so did the unofficial communication and passing of knowledge brought social and technological advances through serendipitous discovery to a standstill with only the official government research proceeding.
The dead core of a star wandering past the Ardek solar sytem changed everything as it first disturbed the orbits of the cluster of stars of which the Ardek system was a part. Comets pulled out of their former sedate orbits bombarded every planet with the force of a nuclear explosion with each impact, but without any radiation. Over the course of a decade the celestial traveller set five solar systems into a collision course a mere hundred thousand years away.
The culture of Standard Deviation collapsed under the strain of forced migration from the cometary bombardment, the demands of developing a space program to attempt to intercept or deflect comets from the homeworld, and the need for resources and labor which could not be met while marginalizing a significant portion of the population.
The space program held surprises for the Ardek people as the cometary bombardment began to terraform planets and moons previously thought uninhabitable. Several groups of cometary intercept fleets took their mandate to deflect impacts from the homeworld, added initiative of purposefully targeting those planets and moons closest to homeworld conditions, and began rough colonies of their own. With the revitalized sciences brought about by necessity being the mother of invention, some colonist chose to genetically tailor themselves to suit their colony worlds better by splicing local organisms into their own genetic makeup. This resulted in Ardek able to breathe methane, some able to photosynthesize, and even one group successfully adapting members to sulphur-based biology instead of carbon-based for the planet closest to the Ardek sun.
Within the course of another few centuries the Ardek solar system was teeming with life of allsorts, and the original homeworld now just one of many. However with knowledge of the impending end of their solar system, the Ardek set about the task of not just settling other solar systems, but of reaching beyond their collapsing local cluster of stars to expand into the galaxy as a whole.
Here's my cultural development too.
Soldiering+1
Resource Richness+1
Culture=0
Espionage=+1
Expansive+1
Construction=0
Phase 2: Global Wandering
Soldiering+1=2
Resource Richness+1=2
Culture=0
Espionage+1=2
Expansive+2=3
Construction=0
Phase 3: Standard Deviation
Soldiering=1
Resource Richness=2
Culture+2=2
Espionage=2
Expansive=3
Construction=0
Phase 4: Cometary Bombardment
Soldiering+1=2
Resource Richness=2
Culture+1=3
Espionage=2
Expansive+1=4
Construction=0
Phase 5: Spaceflight & Comet Deflection
Soldiering+1=3
Resource Richness+1=3
Culture=3
Espionage=2
Expansive+1=5
Construction+1
Phase 6: Terraforming & Genetic Manipulation
Soldiering=3
Resource Richness+1=4
Culture=3
Espionage=2
Expansive+1=6
Construction+1=2
Empire Flag:
Color Choice: A light shade of Brown, or Grey
Aspect: +2 to Resource Richness
Physical Description: The Ardek usually bipedal with two manipulating limbs (but Ardek with six or eight limbs in total may also be encountered) and they range in size from the smallest sentient (30cm tall, 3 kg) to largest (3 meters tall, 400 kg), and can feature fur, skin, scales, or armored carapace. None have the ability of self-powered flight, but a few can mangage to glide, leap, swim rapidly, or brachiate depending on their physical attributes.
The one telltale feature of an Ardek is the eyes. Instead of a pupil allowing light in like a pin-hole camera, the eyes of an Ardek feature a white "dot" in the center with black all surrounding. The black is their equivalent of a pupil, which allows light in to reflect off of the rear of the eyeball and be focused on the white dot just as a parabolic mirror would. The biology necessary for vision resides on the back of that white dot to a large extent, and to a lesser degree in the reflective surface of the inside back of the eyeball.
Home System: The Ardek home system consists of three large gas giants and five terrestrial planets, and two asteroid belts. All of the planets and many of the moons are terraformed to some extent, from the sulphur-based biology of the first planet from the sun, an asteroid belt in the second orbit, a tiny rocky wasteland with a minimal atmosphere in the third orbit, the original Ardek homeworld in the fourth orbit, a Gas giant with three moons in the process of being terraformed in the fifth orbit, the second asteroid belt in the sixth orbit, a large methane atmosphere planet in the seventh orbit, and the remaining two gas giants in the eighth and ninth orbits, with the tenth orbit occupied by a captured planet after the core of the dead star wandered past 600 years ago.
There are millions of comets, asteroids, and planetary ejects littering the Ardek system still, with much of the Ardek fleet and space habitats built to nudge those potentially disastrous floaters into more suitable orbits to aid in terraforming.
Formians (Human Nomenclature)
The Formians are a species of insect-like creatures, generally quadrepedal with two claw-like hands and thick exoskeletons. The species is believed to be held together by highly specialized pheromone communication systems, although some scientists believe the Formians display rudimentary albeit powerful telepathic capabilities which allow them to communicate without any physical interaction at all.
Formians exist not as invididuals but rather as massive hives, some of which are believed to span entire contents. Noteworthily, unlike most Earthborn insect hives, Formian hives do not seem to conflict with one another but rather work cooperatively toward their goals.
Formian space travel at this time is very rudimentary and crude, having only recently taken to the skies, but their technology seems to advance at an alarming rate.
Phases:
Like-Minded
Thousands of years ago marks the first attempt of a Formian hive to communicate with a neighboring hive through symbol and action. Although for many species this was not worthy enough to end war, for the Formians, the spread of communication also quickly proved to also spread peace throughout their civilizations, and the Formians began to focus more strongly on discovering new land and new resources.
Construction +1
Expansive +2
Resources +1
That's one... more to come, tomorrow.