Baroque Space Opera Update #5: Sneak Peek

Last night I sent off my final edits of the game mechanics chapters to my editor: +Jeremy Morgan. Tonight's update is partially fuelled by excitement and partially by Woodford Reserve bourbon. Excuse any typos and stuff...

Since the book is written, nearly-done-done, and ready for layout, I want to provide a bit of info about what's in it -- because keeping it to myself and my gaming group is killing me.

I present a couple of the character archetypes that are available in Baroque Space Opera. There are 22 archetypes to base your character on, and you have the option to make up your own thing -- of course.

Genesis Adepts
The Genesis Adepts are the progenitors of the bio-sciences of the Dominion. They were tasked by the first incarnation of the Tyrant, Aristonymus, to breed a caste of humans who are superior in intellect and morality, to rule over humanity shortly after the Tyrantine Dominion was founded. Since then, the Adepts have mastered the mysteries of life, including the secrets of biological immortality. The Genesis Adepts are able to resurrect those who died through cloning. These Revenants lack the memories of their former lives, but they do retain the skills they once possessed. Through this resurrection, five incarnation of the Tyrant have been raised from the dead. The Genesis Adepts have produced many genetic products that are in wide use throughout the Dominion.


Mirror Men 
Mirror Men are androgynous clones from the original specimen perfected by the Genesis Adepts. They are based on Hroon (an alien race) genetics and are partially human and fungus. The Mirror Men are all shapeshifters, but they all possess the exact same appearance. Each is driven by the need for individuality and they resent the fact that they are treated as inferiors and products. To espouse their individuality, when in their natural form, each wears a Trasmuter-made mask with a unique and groteque visage. Mirror Men are purchased by powerful Deipotents to act as entertainers, artists, stand-ins, and even assassins.




 

Remnants
Remnants were created scores of millennia ago by the traitorous Artilects -- artificial intelligences created by the Theors who rebelled against the Tyrant and humanity. They are the original Dominars -- the shock troops of the Dominion. They were hunted down after the Artilect Rebellion by their genetically altered successors. Remnants are more machine than man, and the fear of their subversion by the Artilects continues, even after untold millennia. Some have survived the purges in stasis and now operate with in the Dominion. Many become Remnant Reavers who murder and pillage for spare parts to keep their failing bodies functioning.

Simulacra
Simulacra are the creations of the Transmuters; These atomic-scale clockwork intelligences are constructed over centuries by a Master Transmuter. Each is a work of art and patience. They are mechanical analogue processing engines given a semblance of life -- and each is utterly unique.

Transmuters
The Transmuters are a sect of Theors dedicated to the perfection of the Dust: nano-scale machines capable of incredible and fantastic feats. The Transmuters are the most secretive of the Theor sects, and they alone keep the secrets of Dust. The Transmuters have been instrumental in the development of key technologies within the Dominion. Transmuter sciences are shrouded in tradition, ceremony, and ritual. It is said that through the Dust a Transmuter is able to change the very nature of matter.

Tect
The Tech are a fallen civilization that once sided with the rebellious Artilects. Their culture spans over 300 millennia before the founding of the Dominion, but their days are numbered. The Techo Scourge unleashed by the Transmuters on the Artilects and their allies brought an end to the Tect empire. The Tect still hold much knowledge that is beyond Dominion sciences.

Battlemasters
The hereditary order of Battlemasters are one of the few human societies that have retained their independence since the rise of the Tyrant. They are master tacticians and warriors without peer. The Battlemasters once saved the Dominion from the Nihilim invaders, but now they are fallen; their order reduced to a fraction of their former glory by the wrath of Typhon, the current Tyrant, for his murder. The Battlematers are still revered as masters of warfare and many travel far and wide seeking to make a name for themselves among the Dominated Planets. Many seek the weapons hidden during Typhon's Pogrom in hopes of restoring their order to its former glory.




You may be interested in also checking out the previous posts about Baroque Space Opera, which provide additional information and art.

Introduction to Baroque Space Opera

Baroque Space Opera Concept Art

The Baroque Space Opera Logo 

More Concept Art

The Book Cover

The Baroqueverse Map

Baroque Space Opera Update #4: The Baroqueverse Map

The Baroqueverse map shows all of the locations that are detailed in the Baroque Space Opera setting for Fate Core. The book contains a writeup of each location and region, as well as a number of story hooks that you can use to instantly jump into the action. The majority of locations contain Fate Core statistics for various critters, people, and voidships found at each location.

Space travel in the Baroqueverse is possible through the use of great voidships that ply the void between the stars. Voidships of the Baroqueverse come in all shapes and sizes; from the smallest two crew fighters to planetoid sized constructs crewed by thousands of individuals.

Voidships of the Baroqueverse are classified into three categories based on the drive(s) they are equipped with:

Lightpacers: Lightpacers can travel quickly, but cannot exceed the speed of light. This makes them viable for in-system travel, but impractical for interstellar voyages, which would take thousands and tens of thousands of years to reach the nearest systems. Every voidship is equipped with Lightpacer drives.

Lightracers: Lightracers are able to out-race light and are capable of traversing the great gulfs of the void in a matter of days, weeks, and months -- depending on the distance involved. These vessels make rapid jumps through the void and require careful calculations for each jump so that you don't fly right through a star, or bounce too close to a supernova -- that'd end your trip real quick.

Loomships: Loom Drives are the secret science of the Void Weavers sect; these drives are capable of generating a conduit through the fabric of space using a powerful gravitational singularity to connect two points in space -- no matter the distance. These drives permit near-instantaneous travel through the conduit.

The distance rings on the map are the relative distances of planets as measured from Baroque: the central planet and centre of the Tyrant's power. Distance determines the opposition when making Lightracer navigation calculations. Many navigators choose to split the trip into multiple legs, to reduce the difficulty of plotting course, and to make the voidship more difficult to track. Loom Drive navigation difficulty is determined by knowledge of the destination's gravitational anomalies and hazards.

This map is near-final.

Baroque Concept Art

What I really want to do is post all of the completed illustrations, but then I would have nothing for the book when it comes out. Rather, here are two scene concepts which have already been completed.

I previously introduced Baroque Space Opera in another blog post.

The Baroque Space Opera setting book will include 30 full colour illustrations to depict the Baroque universe, and the Fate Core systems to go with it. The book is a setting book, in the same vein as Day After Ragnorock, and will require the Fate Core book to play. Considering Fate Core is pay-what-you-will, this is a good deal! Not including rules reduces the time to completion, cost of printing, and the cost of the book.

Baroque Space Opera will include a write up of the Baroqueverse, character archetypes to base your character concepts on, additional Fate Fractals appropriate to the setting and an introductory adventure. Among some of the extras included are a psychic system, spaceships, vehicles, and a new take on gear. The rules will be open sourced to the community, because open source is the future.

The following scenes give some of the flavour of the setting.

A bit of Dune bleeds through here. The Arkship is a massive space vessel capable of conveying other starships to far flung locations in a matter of minutes. Arkships operate on the secret technology of the Void Weavers, a sect of Theors who uncovered the secrets of the fabric of space-time. Using massive gravitational singularities, the Loom Drive tears a hole in the fabric of space and falls through towards its destination -- falling out on the other side. A Dominion-wide transportation network of these Arkships ferry passengers, cargo and news to the hundred planets.

In this scene, a fleet of house ships embarks onto the Arkship. House cruisers and destroyers heading to some far-flung battlefield, no doubt.

There are other means of space travel within the Dominion; the Loom Drive is but the latest and quickest method.  Many vessels utilize the superluminal drive, hurtling through space at faster than light speeds. Travel in the Baroqueverse is not limited to a set of jump gates, portals or routes. You can go anywhere, anytime.

This is a scene of the sacking of Baroque, the capitol planet of the Dominion, and seat of power for the Dominion. During the Second Nihilim Invasions, the third incarnation of the immortal Tyrant was slain when Baroque fell to the Nihilim. This scene depicts a Voor, a Voorish war machine and a Brood flier. The Voor are masters of bio-mechanics, constructing semi-living machines and breeding a host of Brood horrors, each adapted to their function on the battlefield. As servants of the mysterious Nihilim Presences, the Voor act as shock troopers and breeders of the bio-mechanical engines of war employed by the other Nihilim slave races. The Nihilim Presences are masters over a number of species who originate outside this universe and pillage in the name of their mysterious masters.

This is a small taste of the Baroqueverse, and all the strange people, places, and things found within. The book is scheduled to go out when its done, and no sooner. :) The art is close to completion and I have some more writing to do. There's much editing to be done. I expect to be finished sometime this fall.

Introducing Baroque Space Opera

I'd like to introduce Baroque Space Opera, an RPG setting for Fate Core. This project was started exactly a year ago. The writing is mostly done, though it needs quite a bit of editing still, and the art is 75% completed. The setting will be self-published, in PDF format with some sort of print-on-demand available -- eventually. The book will be packed with 25 - 30 full colour illustrations. My gaming group has started playtesting some of the new Fate Core systems included with this setting.

The Baroque Space Opera setting is a mashup of ideas from literature, film, other roleplaying games, with unique ideas thrown in. The primary goal of the setting is to provide gamemasters with unlimited freedom. Baroque is designed to facilitate fast paced action in a fantastic and futuristic setting without any limitations. Anything is possible in Baroque, no matter how grand or world shattering. Setting concepts such as space opera, steampunk, cyberpunk, horror and fantasy are all meshed together to provide a perfect mix of gaming possibilities. Technology just exists, no matter how improbable or magical. Realism takes a back seat to action and adventure. This is Space Opera at its best!

Baroque Space Opera draws inspiration from many varied sources, among them: Dune, Chronicles of Riddick, H.P. Lovecraft, Simon R. Green's Deathstalker series, Scott Westerfield's The Risen Empire, Star Gate, Babylon 5, Lexx, Farscape, Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, Warhammer 40K, the ancient astronaut hypothesis, alternate archaeology and ancient world myths and legends.

Below is a quick summary, likely to go on the back cover of the book, as well as a couple of the illustrations to give you an idea of the look and feel. Baroque is not your usual, run-of-the-mill space opera. It is a unique and strange setting, filled with awesome and crazy stuff to enable your adventures across the void!

Baroque Space Opera

Enter an extravagant realm of strange technology, stranger cultures, exotic locations, and incredible danger. In a distant time, and another place, there exists a universe ruled by the 5th revenant incarnation of the immortal Tyrant. A universe where flesh and blood Aristo gods, given their genetic right to rule, control the destiny of a hundred planets. A universe filled with biological minds which approach the immense intellect of machines, shape-shifting genetic clones who desperately seek individuality, and atomic-scale clockwork mechanicals given sentience. A universe where the Aristos engage in civilized rhetoric, performing a social dance dictated by ancient traditions, whilst employing the abilities of master assassins and house syndicates to wage their feuds.

For 149 millennia, the Tyrantine Dominion has weathered arch-heresy and war with terrible enemies who sought its downfall. The political and cultural stasis has bred deep seated corruption within the convoluted hierarchy of power. Humanity of a hundred planets chokes and laments under the immovable yoke of the Tyrant. The embers of rebellion grow brighter each passing day. The Tyrant extinguishes all opposition with his vast legions of genetically engineered warriors; created through the amalgamation of human and alien genetics.

Enemies within and without plot to bring down the eternal Dominion. Interdimensional invaders lurk beyond space and time, plotting their next incursion. Unfathomable aliens stalk humanity, corrupting and enslaving subjects for strange purposes. Once more, the rebellious machines, betrayers of humanity, threaten to escalate the millennium-old cold war. Meanwhile, the Aristo Houses further their schemes, eyeing the Tyrantine Throne and the golden planet, Baroque, for themselves.

Voidship fleets move into position. The pieces are falling into place. Which side will you choose? Will you enforce the will of the Tyrant to ensure the stoic Dominion stands for another hundred millennia? Or, will you become an Arch Heretic to tear down this suffocating and corrupt regime? The choice is yours. The Baroque universe awaits.

Futurama Story Intro

My group will be playing our first roleplaying session of Fate Core on Monday.  We have played a few sessions to playtest the Fate Starship Battles rules I developed. Those were a great intro to aspects and Fate in general. On Monday we will play out first session of Fate Core.

We previously made characters which can be found here.

What follows is the introduction to the story:

Everyone is sitting at the company table at Planet Express HQ. Professor Farnsworth comes in carrying a package that occasionally jumps in his hands.

"Good news everyone! We have a very special delivery to make today. It is a special cat, named Slinky. You see, he's extremely special because his mother has been bred with a spring. He is the most playful cat there ever was! We must deliver him quickly to the Lrrr, ruler of Omnicron Persei 8 so that he can give it to his wife, NdNd as a make up present. You see, he's still in the dog house since the last time he pretended to invade Earth."

"Speaking of dogs, unfortunately we have to fly past the Dog Star. The Dog-un despise cats and have developed a powerful Smell-O-Meter that can detect cats that come close to their star, so that they could be DESTROYED! We must be careful! If we fail, Lrrr threatened to really invade earth this time! The world is in our hands."

There is a sound out of the box: "Mrrrow!"