Daedalus Winter2004

AEDA LUS Editorial workshop for the role-playing hobby
NEW GAME
Lacuna
A mysterious game, page 5
by Jared Sorensen
PLUS
Inside,
Cyberpunk Sorcerer supplement, page 21
by Clinton R. Nixon
Daedalus
Volume 2, Issue 1
Fourth Millennium
Winter, 2004
An in-depth preview, page 32
Editor by James Maliszewski
Matt Snyder & Kevin Brennan
Contributing Writers And much more. . . .

Jason L Blair
Kevin Brennan
Emily Dresner-Thornber
Neel Krishnaswami
Lynndi Lockenour
Illustration is copyright 2004 © Jonathan Walton

T.S. Luikart
James Maliszewski
Ralph Mazza
Chris Morgan
Jesse Noller
Jared Sorensen
Eddy Webb
John Wick
M.J. Young
Cover Artist
Jonathan Walton
Starry frontiers
Daedalus examines science fiction
in role-playing games
Daedalus Winter 2004
Looking for
FEATURE
articles, artwork for
Spring 2004 SCIENCE FICTION
Daedalus is looking for
contributors for the Lacuna Part I. The Creation of the Mystery SNEAK PEEK!
spring 2004 issue. If you and the Girl from Blue City...................5-20 Robots & Rapiers Q&A ........................73-78
would like to write an Designer Jared Sorensen unveils his latest cre- Get inside a robot’s head in this Q&A with
article, showcase a ation, a dream of a game. Robots & Rapiers designer Ralph Mazza.
game, review a game,
or provide artwork for Inside...................................................21-31 SNEAK PEEK!
the upcoming issue, Cyberpunk gangbusters .......................79-85
A cyberpunk supplement for Sorcerer, virtual
please contact editor
demons and viruses, oh my! By Clinton R. Nixon. Old time gangsters meets a dark future in this
Matt Snyder:
matt@chimera.info. setting preview of Midway City. By Eddy Webb
SNEAK PEEK!
The deadline for and Jesse Noller.
Fourth Millennium preview .................32-63
contributions is
Grok a thorough preview for this anticipated sci- Causality and Choice: Getting rid of the
March 31, 2003.
ence fiction setting. By James Maliszewski and {TECH}.................................................86-90
Kevin Brennan. A useful look at causality in actual play.
Please donate By Neel Krishnaswami.
Daedalus is free e-zine SNEAK PEEK!
with volunteer contribu- Dark Drive...........................................64-72 Ten Big Gimmes ..................................91-93
tors. Please consider Traverse another dimension in this work-in- Ten great ideas for science-fiction gaming.
donating via PayPal progress space opera. By John Wick By Emily Dresner-Thornber
(www.paypal.com) to
keep Daedalus going!
You can make payments
to matt@chimera.info
LETTERS
Advertise Daedalus seeks editorial team
Game publishers, please Letters to the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
P
contact Daedalus utting together a free e-zine with vol-
Editor Matt Snyder ARTICLES unteer contributors is a lot of work.
(matt@chimera.info) for Uncertainty and exclusivity . . . . . . . . . . 94-96 To see that DAEDALUS keeps soaring,
information about ads New twists from the same old games. By T.S. Luikart I’m looking to assemble an editorial team.
for your game or prod- If you have interest in any of the following
uct in this e-zine. Battling stereotype . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97-99 duties and can dedicate time for a quarterly
Role-playing hobbyists face challenging social zine, please contact me at matt@chimera.info
issues. By Lynndi Lockenour.
• Copy editing
In the spirit of radio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100-103
• Advertising direction
Role-playing games can learn to survive other
media, just as radio did. By M.J. Young. • Editing & content direction (contact-
ing writers, handling photos, etc.)
COLUMN
• Regular column writing
A universe of generic games. . . . . . . . 104-106 I’m always open to ideas. Share them!
A frank look at the nature of games’ settings
and systems. By Jason L Blair. —Matt Snyder
DAEDALUS Editor
Issue contents www.chimera.info/daedalus 2

Daedalus Copyright © 2004, Matt Snyder / Chimera Creative
Out of character
Send a letter Letters to the editor
Please send letters! We
want Daedalus to
I'll buy that for a shekel! weight of metal remained the standard until the
T.S. Luikart's article, “You Do What for a mid-1960s, when the United States finally
include the voice of its stopped making silver coins.
Living?” in your premiere issue was very inter-
readers. If you have a Now, I am the first to admit that there are
esting and informative on a number of topics.
comment, critique or sometimes absurd amounts of coinage floating
However, his suggestions about the dearth of
question about anything around in my fantasy games, but as my wife said
both precious metals and coinage generally in
in this issue, send a let- when she read the article, who cares? The
ancient times seem to me to have failed to rec-
ter via email to: amounts might not be strictly historical, but
ognize some history. Perhaps this is because he is
matt@chimera.info there is evidence for ancient civilizations trading
focused on Europe and does not go earlier than
Rome, but coinage was part of the system for a in vast amounts of precious metals in the form of
very long time before that. coinage, without the benefits of government
As I explain in my Gaming Outpost article, minting. I suspect that the treasure troves in The
Game Ideas Unlimited: Cash, there was an inter- Arabian Nights were envisioned to be this sort
mediate step between the early barter economy of coin from truly ancient times; and those are
and the use of minted coinage such as the the fantasies many of us are playing, even if
Romans had. This was the age of the shekel in they've been strongly westernized.
the Middle East, but it existed elsewhere as well. I would like to commend T.S. Luikart on his
The shekel was indeed a coin, weighing about otherwise excellent and insightful article, partic-
half an ounce, made usually of silver, sometimes ularly in regard to the inflationary impact of
of gold. It was treated very much as a barter treasure influx. I recall one of my players com-
item, in that merchants were willing to trade menting that whenever his party got around to
goods for goods or for shekels. However, a dumping their silver and copper on the market it
shekel was not worth its value because it was a was probably going to result in a devaluation of
coin, but because of its weight. In a sale using the coins, so I think his ideas are quite sound
shekels, the merchant would produce a balance and worth considering.
scale and place a weight on one side as the num- Thank you for the wonderful e-zine, and I
ber of shekels, each weighing about half an look forward to the next installment.
ounce, that the buyer had to place on the other
side. The coins might have different weights —M. Joseph Young
individually, but when the scale balanced, that
was enough silver, or gold, to close the deal. This GM se quois
became a common means of transacting busi- Congratulations on the issue. I read all of the
ness long before there were empires, and these articles with interest, but Eddy Webb's struck
metals were apparently considerably more plen- me in particular.
tiful than Mr. Luikart suggests. He says that a role-playing game is not a
As my article explains, minted coinage was an game. And yet, a little later on, he says:
effort to get beyond weighing the coins. The
Roman government made coins which it certi- Instead of explaining to players why they
fied had a specific weight of metal of a specific should call you the Great High and Mighty
purity, and this notion of governments stamping Grand Poobah every time they want to
their seals on coins to certify their value by spend their experience points (excuse me,
“Improvement Traits”), can we forget the
Out of character Letters to the editor 3

Article Copyright © 2004
FROM THE EDITOR
Pointing toward science fiction in role-playing games
W
elcome to the second issue of post-modern approach challenges players to con-
DAEDALUS. If you're a lover of science front a hidden reality.
fiction, this is your issue. I can also point to Clinton R. Nixon’s Inside.
For reasons no doubt related to the history of This Sorcerer supplement transforms the game’s
this hobby, science fiction has often played second intense supernaturality into intense technology,
fiddle to the fantasy genre. We have scores of fan- complete with virtual “daemons” and even UNIX
tasy games to play, from the common Dungeons commands as game mechanics! The cyberpunk
& Dragons fantasy to modern supernatural fan- supplement does an admirable job of injecting sci-
tasy and beyond. I’m a lover of the rich genre. ence fiction into a Sorcerer framework.
But, I'm also a lover of science fiction, which is The online community has anticipated
Matt Snyder also very diverse. I started this issue with the Fourth Millennium, which debuts in this issue.
Matt Snyder is editor naive thought that the great and respected literary This in-depth preview reveals a rich setting,
and creator of tradition of science fiction has been under-repre- filled with sciences soft and hard.
DAEDALUS. He sented in the role-playing hobby. This issue forced And there’s more. John Wick lets us peer
designed Dust Devils me to eat my words, but at least I also helped con- into his workshop, where he’s crafting a new
an award-winning tribute to better representation! space opera game. Ralph Mazza talks about
indie role-playing Science fiction is not easily defined. I learned swashbuckling robots in his new game design,
game for the Western that the hard way in college, where I took classes Robots and Rapiers. Eddy Webb and Jesse
genre. Matt is working from a fantastic professor named Brooks Landon, Noller give us the scoop on Midway City. Neel
on new games for his a science-fiction scholar and afficionado. Brooks Krishnaswami gets rid of the {TECH} with a
Chimera Creative reminded our Science Fiction literature class about clever technique, and Emily Dresner-Thornber
imprint currently, what Writer Damon Knight said: “Science fiction launches a salvo of ideas for your science fic-
including Nine is what we point to when we say it.” I’ll go along tion games.
Worlds and with that. (I had to for the final paper!) There are There is much more to point at, science fic-
Dreamspire. Matt a few things I’d like to point to in this issue. tion and otherwise, in this issue. With apolo-
lives in Iowa with his For starters, DAEDALUS includes a new game by gies to Damon Knight, “Fascinating, useful
wife and daughter. designer Jared Sorensen. Lacuna is a brilliant lit- stuff is what I point to when I say DAEDALUS.”
tle game in the tradition of Phillip K. Dick. Its Enjoy the issue! Ω
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, CONTINUED should just slavishly adopt the terms used in one
or another role-playing game, without thinking
pedigree of the haphazard technical terms
that perhaps some of the other terms bandied
we've developed over the years, and just
about are better. And, depending on the game,
call you the “GM?”
using a different term for a GM might be inten-
tional -- depending on the game, there is a vast
I would point out to Eddy that GM is, of
(and possibly important) difference between
course, short for “Game Master.” If RPGs are
Dungeon Master, Game Master, Narrator, and
not games, why should the person running them
"Great High and Mighty Grand Poobah."
be called game masters?
My point is not to be snide or even to disagree
—Stephen Martin
with him. But, he seems to assume that we
From the editor By Matt Snyder 4

“This is a game planet.”

– William S. Burroughs
Lacuna Part I. The Creation of the Mystery

and the Girl from Blue City
By Jared Sorensen
Lacuna by Illustration by Manning Krull
Jared A. Sorensen
Special thanks to Michael Gentry and Joshua Neff,
Jared A. Sorensen is an who acted as my unwitting accomplices — Jared Soren
award-winning game
designer from New
England. In the time he
has left, Jared runs “The first thing, the very first thing you are the result of not enough sleep, too much caf-
Memento Mori Theatricks have to understand about this entire feine and hours of frantic typing. Others are sim-
(www.memento-mori.com) blessed situation is that of the nature of ply there. The Perfection of Imperfection.
where he sells games the Mystery. Without this knowledge, you Soemtkimes teh kjeys gert stliuck bduyt yueou
involving ghosts, dinosaurs might as well be pissing into a bottomless cvban sthiill rsrjfad betsdkween tdhe lieness.
and Mexican wrestling … bucket. Without this knowledge, nothing Still, there’s a great deal in this game that I
though not necessarily all else is going to make any sense. The simply do not wish to share with you.
at the same time. Mystery is the key.” It is highly encouraged that prospective Game
Masters read through the entire game before play-
About this Game ing. It is also highly encouraged that prospective
T
his game (henceforth called Lacuna, for players read through the system and character
brevity’s sake) pits the players against creation sections and let the GM fill them in on
madmen and serial killer; individuals too any other details on a need-to-know basis.
dangerous to allow to exist in our reality. It is not necessary to understand the game in
This game is also a puzzle. A puzzle where order to play it. If you encounter any “blank
some of the pieces may be missing. This is inten- spaces,” fill them in as you see fit. There is an
tional, though not all discrepancies that may answer, but there’s a chance that it’s not the one
appear are the result of careful planning. Some you want. Proceed with caution.
Lacuna By Jared Sorensen 5

Article Copyright © 2004 Jared Sorensen
* Start of Sanctioned Player’s Section * Proficiencies: Wily, feral, iron-willed, alert, cen-
tered, sly, clear-headed, calm
System Mechanics Deficiencies: Dull, ignorant, vacuous, tourist,
Lacuna uses a system light on rules for specific guileless, frazzled, naïve, loud-mouth
situations and heavy on player and GM input.
Access
Primary Attributes This attribute deals with the acquisition,
The primary attributes used Lacuna don’t management and exchange of resources.
cover specific, easily-defined traits (like strength, Uses: Bribery, research, memorization, finances,
agility, charisma). Instead, the game uses four negotiation
abstract attributes that describe broad areas of Proficiencies: Sexy, magnetic, pack-rat, snoop,
ability. Having an abstract system of attributes shrewd, rolling in dough
helps players to think about what their charac- Deficiencies: Forgetful, destitute, obnoxious,
ters are actually doing, rather than just relying on odious, untrustworthy, lazy
a simple statistic to “define” who their character
is and what they’re capable of doing. Attribute Keys
Below are the four primary attributes, their Each of the four character attributes is
definitions, and situations where they would be marked with an attribute key that measures the
used. Also included are keywords that could be skill of the character in that area and the die
used to describe someone with either expertise rolling scheme to use when performing actions
proficiency or deficiency in that attribute. of a certain type.
Impaired (I): Roll two dice (only pertains to Force
Force rolls in special cases)
This attribute measures physical conditioning Deficiency (-): Roll four dice, discard highest die
and the ability to commit random acts of vio- Nominal (0): Roll three dice
lence. Proficiency (+): Roll four dice, discard lowest die
Uses: Brawling, climbing, resist torture, break- Expertise (E): Roll four dice
ing objects, shooting someone
Proficiencies: Yard-Monster, tenacious, stoic, Task Resolution
ripped, deadly, sadistic, ruthless When performing any action, first determine
Deficiencies: Spineless, invalid, wimp, sickly, what attribute is to be used. Roll three six-sided
weak, fragile, Mama’s Boy, quitter dice, modified by that attribute key, and total the
results.
Talent If the total is between 7-9, the player nets a
Coordination, creativity, and intellect are cov- Mediocre success.
ered by this attribute. If the total is between 10-13, the action’s suc-
Uses: Invention, balance, painting, computer cess is Nominal.
hacking, dancing, dart-throwing If the total is 14+, the player achieves an
Proficiencies: Brainy, artistic, smart as a whip, Exceptional success.
graceful, elegant, ingenious Most actions require a Nominal success. In
Deficiencies: Clumsy, ineffectual, boring, moron, these cases, a Mediocre result achieves a minor
all-thumbs, predictable, insipid victory and an Exceptional success nets the best
result possible. If the player gets a better-than-
Instinct intended result, their action may be upgraded to
This primitive, animalistic attribute governs per- match the better result.
ceptive abilities, force of will and intuition. After a successful roll, the player gains a num-
Uses: Sensing danger, hiding, tracking, gam- ber of Challenge Points equal to the highest tar-
bling, discerning truth from lies get number attained (7 points for Mediocre, 10

points for Nominal, 14 points for Exceptional). done once the Agent has gone above their max-
The player should keep track of Challenge imum heart rate.
Points gained using each attribute (for example,
Force Challenge Points can only be used to Challenge Points
increase the Force attribute or to augment Force- Challenge Points may be used to permanently
related die rolls). upgrade an attribute or to temporarily increase
an attribute for one roll.
Heart Rates • Spend 150 Challenge Points to perma-
Because of the nature of a Mystery Agent’s nently upgrade an attribute key of - to 0
work, physical trauma is not really an issue. • Spend 300 Challenge Points to perma-
Instead, injury and stress and general loss of nently upgrade an attribute key of 0 to +
control can lead to an elevated heart rate, and • Spend 500 Challenge Points to perma-
this can lead to complications that may put the nently upgrade an attribute key of + to E
agent at risk. To modify an attribute key for one die roll,
All Mystery Agents begin their assignments spend 1/10 the amount it would normally take
with a resting heart rate of around 70 bpm for to modify that attribute. For example: it would
men and 75 bpm for women. Whenever the dice cost 15 points to temporarily upgrade an attrib-
are rolled to use an attribute, the total is added ute from – to 0.
to the agent’s heart rate (this includes the multi-
ple rolls made when accepting a risk multiplier). Risk Multipliers
When agents are within their target heart rate, Usually, a roll is successful if the target num-
they begin to gain modifications to their die ber is met or exceeded on a roll of the dice.
rolls. Once the maximum heart rate is reached, Players can increase the difficulty of an action
the agent is in danger of physical harm. The (and thus the reward) by accepting a risk multi-
player has two choices: either eject their agent plier. The risk multiplier increases the number
from the mission or continue. of times that the player must roll the dice for
Note that ejecting in a non-emergency situa- that action.
tion requires a successful Access roll. Failing any of these rolls results in a failure
If the player opts to continue, that player for the action, regardless of how many of the
must make a Mediocre Force roll. If the roll rolls were successful.
fails, reduce the character’s Force by one attrib- There are two benefits for accepting a risk
ute key. Another Force roll must be made every multiplier. The first is strictly a style thing: each
time the agent’s heart rate increases by 10 bpm successful roll enables the player to “amp” up
or more. Each time, the agent’s TN increases by the action a few degrees, allowing the character
one level (from Mediocre to Nominal to to perform extreme actions and bold stunts.
Exceptional). The second benefit (more valuable in a game
If the Force attribute is ever lowered to an sense) is that player can earn a significant amount
attribute key of Impaired (I) then the agent must of challenge points. If successful on every roll, the
roll a 10 or higher (a Nominal success) on 2d6 or player multiplies the risk multiplier by 10 and gets
die of a heart attack. If the roll is successful, the that many Challenge Points for the roll.
agent is forced to eject from the mission (due to The danger of a risk multiplier (besides the
medical intervention by technicians back home). lowered chance of success) is that even if a sin-
Mystery Agents are trained to control their gle roll fails, all the rolls must be made and
heart rates through meditation and other mental added to the agent’s Heart Rate.
exercises. If the Agent is at rest and not under-
going any kind of outward stress, the player Combat
makes a generic Talent roll and subtracts the There are no granular combat or initiative sys-
total from the Agent’s heart rate. This cannot be tems in Lacuna. When a player wishes to shoot

someone (for example), the action is declared and have attributes. If an HP attacks an agent,
rolled as normal. The target number is deter- assume that unless the agent does something to
mined by the action, the desired outcome and the oppose the HP, that agent is going to get hurt.
methods used. The GM is the final arbiter of com-
bat, which is as good a reason as any to avoid Agent vs. Agent Combat
senseless acts of random violence. It’s been known to happen, especially when
A fistfight is the easiest kind of combat roll to things get hot and heavy. If an agent fights
adjudicate. A Mediocre success is superficial (a another agent, the attacker makes a normal
miss, a glancing blow, whatever…it’s not enough attribute roll. Any Challenge Points are added to
to do any damage). Nominal damage is enough the defender’s heart rate. Then, the defender may
to stagger your opponent (to either give yourself respond. This continues back and forth until the
time to run or a better shot at a knock-out) and combat is over. The GM may opt to decide
an Exceptional success knocks the sucker out. which agent’s “turn” it is to attack if the players
Guns and knives are good at killing people use especially good (or poor) judgment once the
and injure people quite easily. If an agent shoots blood starts to flow.
someone with a handgun with the intent to kill
someone, the player rolls their Force attribute. A Mystery Agents
Mediocre success injures the target. A Nominal “When one is a Mystery Agent, a lot (and I
success kills or otherwise incapacities the target mean a lot) has to be taken at face value and a
(GM’s discretion). An Exceptional success is an kind of ”come-what-may” attitude. To be per-
instant take down (the player decides whether fectly frank, it’s mushroom work – you’re fed
it’s lethal or not). bullshit and kept in the dark. Faith is not some-
Shooting a gun out of someone’s hand (for thing that can be taught in a training manual
example) is another thing entirely. The Talent (contrary to the opinions of some religious insti-
attribute is used and an Exceptional result is tutions).”
required for this difficult task. A Mediocre suc-
cess will hit (perhaps kill) the target! A Nominal Agent Creation Checklist
success will miss the target or hit the target, ____ Establish Psuedonym
causing him to drop the weapon. ____ Establish Age
There are no hit points or other measure- ____ Establish Sex
ments for non-player characters. If someone is ____ Write down Clearance (Blue)
injured, it’s purely a “special effect” and doesn’t ____ Determine Attribute ratings
have any in-game effect. There are also no ____ Determine Mentor (modify attributes if
botches. A failed result means that the GM necessary)
ignores the system and decides what happens. ____ Use keywords to define areas of strength or
If a player accepts a risk multiplier for their weakness
action, they get to describe (in however much ____ Write down Resting Heart Rate by sex and
gory detail they desire) exactly what happens fitness level
during the fight. ____ Write down Target Heart Rate by age and
applicable bonus
NPC Actions ____ Write down Maximum Heart Rate by age
Non-player characters (ie: Hostile Personalities ____ Define personal Quirk
—a.k.a. “HP’s”—or other Personalities) don’t

Name Attribute Keys

All Mystery Agents are assigned a pseudonym Each of a character’s four attributes are rated
on their first day with the Company. As per by “keys” rather than numbers. Each type of key
Company regulations, pseudonyms are sur- corresponds to a different die rolling technique
names derived from occupational titles (i.e.: to be used when making attribute rolls.
Stewart, Warner and Chessman). A partial list of A rating of Impaired (I) means that the agent
pseudonyms can be found in Appendix I: Agent is incapacitated for some reason (usually injury).
Pseudonyms. Either select one not currently in This rating only applies to the Force Attribute
use by another character or roll two ten-sided when an agent is injured.
dice to randomly generate a number between 01 A rating of Deficient (-) means that the agent
and 00 (100). is of limited ability in this area.
A rating of Nominal (0) signifies that the
Age agent’s achievement in this field is average or “as
The age requirement for employment in the expected.”
company is limited to men and women between Agents with a rating of Proficient (+) show
the ages of 20 and 60. Like gender, an agent’s better than average ability in an area and agents
age affects his or her heart rate. Roll two six- that far exceed expectations have a rating of
sided dice to generate your agent’s Base Age, Expertise (E).
then roll two more six-sided dice and add the Assign two Attributes at a rating of Nominal
total to your agent’s Base Age. (0), one at Deficient (-) and one at Proficient (+).
Or select all four at Nominal (0). Your charac-
ter’s attributes may change depending on that
Starting Age character’s Mentor (explained below).
Although they provide no in-game benefit,
Die Roll Base Age feel free to assign keywords to any attributes in
2 18 which the agent shows Expertise, Proficiency or
3-4 22 Deficiency.
5-6 28
7 32 Mentor
8-9 38 All agents are assigned a Mentor at the start of
10-11 42 their careers in the Company. For several months,
12 47 the Mentor assists the trainee (and vice versa)
while teaching the recruit all about life in the
Mystery Agents. After graduation, Mentors often
keep in contact with their charges and are there
for help or advice long after their student has
Sex joined the ranks as a full-fledged Mystery Agent.
The Company enforces a strict policy of gen- Although the Company has dozens of capable
der equality in the workplace and hires both men Mentors available, this game allows characters
and women as Mystery Agents. In the game, to have one of seven different Mentors. As some
there is a slight difference in the resting heart time has passed since the characters joined the
rates of men and women but this is the only game Company, the seven Mentors have gone through
mechanics difference between the two choices. some changes of their own.
It is not required, but it is recommended that A Mentor’s Status describes if he or she is
players create characters that are of the same gender. available as a resource to the character (MIA or
Note: Fraternization is not tolerated by the KIA Mentors are no longer available).
Company. Influential Mentors can be useful sources of
information and support for the character. But

beware: Mentors often have agendas of their to benefit from this association and gain an
own and may use one of their former pupils as a Access key upgrade of one step.
pawn in a chess game played against with their
rivals in the Company. Chief Agent Wagner
Mentors also have the ability to modify cer- Status: Retired from active-duty on medical
tain character attributes (not always for the bet- discharge
ter) and these modifications are explained in Age/Sex: 58/Male
detail in each Mentor’s write-up. Chief Agent Wagner has recently retired from
Mentors cannot be chosen by the players. the Company after a bout with clinical depres-
Instead, roll two six-sided dice: sion. The twice-decorated agent was a respected
member of the Company known for his patience
Special Agent Miner and dedication.
Status: MIA, under investigation Mentoring with Chief Agent Wagner grants the
Age/Sex: 32/Male agent an Instinct upgrade of one attribute key.
Senior Agent Miner disappeared while on
special assignment in Deep Blue. Control has Senior Instructor Snyder
tried him in absentia for various breaches in Status: Active, re-assigned to SCS (Special
departmental protocol, and any prior associa- Company Services)
tion with Special Agent Miner is viewed with Age/Sex: 62/Male
suspicion. Unfortunately, this even extends to Snyder is known throughout the Company as
new recruits that worked with Agent Miner. its toughest trainer. He’s also an anomaly; the
Agents that have trained under Special Agent oldest agent in the Company. When he was
Miner receive a one-key downgrade of their active in the field, his no-nonsense attitude and
Access attribute unless dealing specifically with extreme methods was the stuff of Company leg-
Senior Agent Baxter. end. Though no longer sent out on assignments,
Snyder hasn’t changed a whit.
Senior Agent Chambers Snyder’s age and current status owe to a previous
Status: KIA retirement age of 65. He enjoys telling new recruits
Age/Sex: 38/Female that back in his time, “retirement” was a single-
Chambers was killed in the line of duty dur- malt scotch and a bullet to the back of the head. He
ing a botched engagement with an HP. She was says it as though it’s a joke, but he never laughs.
a skilled operative and was well-liked within the Recruits placed under his care can learn a lot,
ranks of Mystery Agents. but the grizzled ex-Mystery Agent demands only
Recruits that trained under her tutelage seem the best from his students. Snyder provides a per-
Starting Mentor Table

Die Roll Mentor Status Attribute Modifier
2 Special Agent Miner MIA Downgraded Access
3-4 Senior Agent Chambers KIA Upgraded Access
5-6 Chief Agent Wagner Retired Upgraded Instinct
7 Senior Instructor Snyder Active Upgraded Force
8-9 Agent Gardiner KIA Upgraded Talent
10-11 Senior Agent Baxter Active Upgraded Talent
12 Vice-Director Forester Active Upgraded Access

manent upgrade from Force 0 to Force +. Those and Sex.

deficient in Force do not receive any benefits (and Resting Heart Rate (RHR) is the starting
may be treated with some degree of contempt by point at which an agent begins all missions and
Senior Instructor Snyder). is influenced by physical fitness and gender.
• Characters with Force (–) add twenty to
Agent Gardiner their Resting Heart Rates.
Status: KIA, under investigation • Characters with Force (–) add fifteen to
Age/Sex: 26/Male their Resting Heart Rates.
Agent Gardiner was killed a year after accept- • Characters with Force (+) subtract fif-
ing his Mentoring position. Details on his death teen to their Resting Heart Rates.
remain classified. An agent that studied with • Characters with Force (E) subtract
Agent Gardiner may upgrade his or her Talent twenty to their Resting Heart Rates.
key from - to 0. Target Heart Rate (THR) is the zone at which
the agent cardiovascular system is at its peak
Senior Agent Baxter performance. During this time, characters
Status: Active receive a bonus to certain attribute rolls. These
Age/Sex: 45/Female bonuses are added to die roll totals while within
Senior Agent Baxter is an amiable member of the THR range.
the Mystery Agents with years of experience Maximum Heart Rate is the uppermost “safe
under her belt. As head of the operation in zone” of an agent’s heart rate and equals 220 –
which Special Agent Miner went AWOL, she the agent’s age. If a character’s heart rate ever
was investigated by the Directorate and found exceeds his or her Maximum Heart Rate
not guilty of misconduct. Despite her exonera- (MHR), that character is in physical jeopardy.
tion, the Directorate revoked her Deep Blue At best, the agent will be pulled from the mission
Clearance (a fact that has slanted her views on by emergency medical technicians. At worst, the
Company policy). Senior Agent Baxter is noted agent could die of cardiac arrest.
for innovative training techniques that have only
recently been adopted by SCS. Security Clearance
Her students gain a permanent upgrade to All player characters in the game are Blue-
their Talent attribute key. level clearance Mystery Agents, authorized to
embark on Blue-level assignments.
Vice-Director Forester
Status: Active, promoted to Vice-Directorate Quirks
Age/Sex: 42/Male The last phase of character creation is to
Vice-Director Forester is the highest-ranking assign your agent a Quirk. Quirks are not just
active operative within the Company. Although colorful little character traits. They are compul-
Vice-Director Forester seldom ventures out on sions, phobias, obsessions and other psychologi-
assignments, he maintains contact with even the cal speed bumps that read as extremely odd to
lowest-ranking members of the Mystery Agents. other agents or normal people. These eccentrici-
Vice-Director Forester provides a conditional ties begin to appear within a few months of
one-key upgrade to the Agent’s Access attribute. activity as a Mystery Agent. Internal medical
Agents with proficiency in Instinct gain a two- studies have concluded nothing.
key upgrade in Access. Examples include:
• Compulsion to read aloud street signs
Health and other written material
Health in this game is a broad category that • Fanatical obsession with certain numbers
encompasses several different factors. The chart or patterns
below describes these factors, as grouped by Age • Inability to recognize faces or remember

Health Factors
RHR RHR Maximum
Age (Male) (Female) Target HR Bonuses Heart Rate
20-24 75 bpm 70 bpm 100-150 bpm +2 Force 196-200 beats per minute
+1 Talent
+1 Talent
+1 Talent
+1 Instinct
40-44 75 bpm 70 bpm 90-135 bpm +1 Talent 176-180 beats per minute
+1 Instinct
+1 Instinct
+2 Instinct
55-59 75 bpm 70 bpm 83-123 bpm +2 Instinct 161-165 beats per minute
60+ Not Applicable / Mandatory Company Retirement Age
names When selecting a Quirk, keep in mind that

• Obsessive-compulsive hand-washing Quirks were not designed to add depth to the
• Deathly fear of heights but a simultane- character, nor were they intended to annoy the
ous attraction to high places (acrophilia) other players or the GM. Quirks exist for other
• Compulsion to touch things a certain reasons entirely, one of which is to handicap your
number of times character with a psychological defect that must be
• Complete lack of a sense of direction handled during play. The other reason is to estab-
• Aural hallucinations (the agent hears lish that something is very, very wrong.
non-existent bells, whispered voices or
other things) * End of Sanctioned Player’s Section *

Character Appendix I: Agent Pseudonyms

The following is a list of 100 common occupational surnames to use for Mystery Agent pseudonyms. Roll
d% to pick one at random or select from the list.
01. Archer 35. Fuller 69. Schreiber

02. Bailey 36. Gage 70. Seals
03. Barber 37. Glover 71. Sexton
04. Barker 38. Graves 72. Shepherd
05. Bender 39. Hammer 73. Shields
06. Bowman 40. Harper 74. Singer
07. Brewster 41. Hayward 75. Skinner
08. Butler 42. Heard 76. Skipper
09. Cantrell 43. Hooper 77. Smith
10. Carpenter 44. Hunter 78. Spencer
11. Carter 45. Inman 79. Steele
12. Cartwright 46. Kellogg 80. Stewart
13. Carver 47. Key 81. Stringer
14. Chaffer 48. Killer 82. Tanner
15. Chandler 49. King 83. Taylor
16. Chaplin 50. Knight 84. Thatcher
17. Chapman 51. Marshall 85. Tiller
18. Clark 52. Mason 86. Tillman
19. Cleaver 53. Mercer 87. Todd
20. Coleman 54. Naylor 88. Trainer
21. Conner 55. Page 89. Trapp
22. Cook 56. Palmer 90. Travers
23. Cooper 57. Parker 91. Trotter
24. Cotter 58. Parson 92. Tucker
25. Day 59. Piper 93 . Turner
26. Dexter 60. Plummer 94 . Tyler
27. Draper 61. Potter 95 . Voss
28. Dyer 62. Provost 96 . Walker
29. Falconer 63. Purcell 97 . Ward
30. Faulkner 64. Redman 98 . Warner
31. Fisher 65. Rock 99 . Webster
32. Fletcher 66. Ryder 00. Wright
33. Foster 67. Sadler
34. Fowler 68. Sawyer

Awake Asleep on the surface of the ocean. Easily seen, they were
In the last few years, bold experiments in hyp- signifiers of currents and turbulence far below.
notherapy and neurology have uncovered fan- Memories could be “skimmed” by a trained pro-
tastic secrets. Humans now realize that the last fessional; much like a meteorologist can gauge
great frontier lies neither beyond our solar sys- weather patterns by studying cloud formations.
tem nor underneath the waves. The final frontier Down below the surface, the “blue” level
lies within us all – in our thoughts, in our seemed to capture the majority of the research
dreams and in our memories. team’s interest. This unconscious realm of
The Nasrudin Institute (a clinic devoted to sleep dreams and desires seemed to exist on the
disorders and dream therapy) discovered the periphery of an entire world. One in which the
Lacuna purely by accident. Its scientists, dreams of one person were like dense fogbanks
researchers and therapists were tasked with the hiding a rocky coastline.
mission to explore our inner spaces and to map The Map began to take shape.
the human consciousness. But while pursuing Deep within Blue City, places inaccessible to
these goals, the members of the Institute uncov- inexperienced travelers, were the levels classified
ered quantifiable proof of a collective uncon- as “deep blue.” When some subjects were
scious, much like the one proposed by Carl Jung. brought back from parts of deep-blue with
Using a complex assortment of techniques severe psychological problems, these areas were
(both traditional and esoteric), the walls of the designated “black” and further exploration was
“collective unconscious” were breached by a suc- prohibited except in specially monitored ses-
cession of volunteers. Three subjects were laid sions. Black-level seemed to have some relation
out on padded tables and simultaneously to nightmares and night terrors, an inhospitable
brought into REM sleep. The fourth was placed environment with (psychically) crushing depths
into a hypnotic state and then put to sleep via and hostile life forms.
intravenous injection. While in this altered state, While charting out this dangerous area, a
the hypnotized subject began to describe a kind of trench was discovered…a fissure run-
strange dream in which he was riding on a bright ning along the “floor” of the mnemonic topog-
orange trolley with the other three patients. After raphy like a rift in the seabed resulting from seis-
fifteen minutes had elapsed, the subjects were mic activity. This seemingly bottomless pit was
awakened and then interviewed by researchers. called the Lacuna.
What was most curious was that the three
dreamers all separately described the same city Lacuna (definition)
and the same trolley as the hypnotized subject. Literally, a pit. Also. a missing piece or a
Not only that, but they maintained that the hyp- blank space. A psychic black hole so dense
notized subject had engaged them in conversa- that not even memory can escape its pull.
tion. Subsequent tests validated the subjects’
claims. An alternate reality did exist, apart from When the Map was near-completion, more
ours, and could be reached through dreams. and more time and resources were spent explor-
ing the Lacuna and the area around it. The
Oceans of Memory Nasrudin Institute was placed under the scrutiny
The term “Mnemonic Topography” was of government agencies, and its therapeutic
coined by the head of research at the Institute. research was farmed out to similar clinics. The
Evidence pointed to several discrete levels of the Institute now had one purpose and one purpose
subconscious. And much like the depths of the alone: unlock the secrets of the Lacuna.
ocean hold startlingly different species of life,
each mnemonic level carried its own unique Sirius Makes First Contact
“ecosystem.” On the “green” or topmost surface, Early human experimentation could not be
short-term memory and emotions were the waves avoided, and we have only just begun to learn of

these early forays into the Lacuna. Naturally, CONTROL: Spiders?

volunteer subjects were unsuitable (both for SIRIUS: Spid … I’m *unintelligible*
technical and for ethical reasons), and convicted inside. I see her. I see her with a
felons were used instead. little boy. *unintelligible* She’s
One of these subjects was a serial rapist and reaching for me … help me … I’m here
murderer codenamed Sirius. While under hyp- …
nosis, Sirius described a cadre of strange beings
that followed him through the streets of a vast *At this point this subject’s heart
city. These beings appeared to be humanoid and rate returns to normal and he leaves
dressed in some kind of antiquated uniform. A REM sleep. No other contact is made
portion of his transcript follows: during the session, and the subject
insists that he remembers nothing
SESSION: #112 SUBJECT: #16 (“Sirius”) when he awakens. Subject appears
CONTROLLER: #14-b (“Nader”) extraordinarily calm and passive.
Asks for a glass of milk.*
SIRIUS: I can’t get away from them.
CONTROL: Who? Who is chasing you? Further inquiries substantiated the claims of
SIRIUS: I told you. I can’t see them. these “spidermen.” Humanoid creatures with
They’re all shadowed. I can hear them arachnid-like faces, dressed in some kind of out-
coming. dated Eastern Bloc-style uniform. These beings
CONTROL: Can you see anything? appear to be hostile to human interlopers though
SIRIUS: Uh, yeah. It’s dark but I can their origins are a complete mystery. No attempt
see a little. I just ducked into an at communication has proven successful.
alley. Hiding behind a dumpster. The identity of the “girl” from Sirius’s final
*unintelligible* It’s cold and I session has yet to be established. Additional
think it’s snowing or something. investigation has proved the existence of a mys-
Raining. Uh…uh, it’s freezing. terious female character. She does not appear in
CONTROL: And those men? Are they further sessions with Sirius but her existence is
still chasing you? confirmed by other researchers working with
SIRIUS: I…no. Wait…I hear footsteps. various other subjects.
Sirius himself has since become a model pris-
*At this point the subject’s heart oner and professes to remember nothing of his
rate jumped dramatically* life since his parents died in a fire when he was
a child and he was sent to a foster family. This
SIRIUS: Oooh no. No…no. memory loss persists up to and including the
CONTROL: What? What do you see? first encounter with the unidentified female
SIRIUS: I…uh, I have to go. I have to dream character.
get away… Identity of the “little boy” in session #112
has been established as Sirius at approximately
*Subject began to thrash violently* age six.
CONTROL: You’re okay, [NAME DELETED]. Prisons Without Walls

You’re okay. Nothing can hurt you. After the prison experiments concluded, sev-
SIRIUS: I … don’t … I don’t think so. eral theories came to light:
I can see them now. I need to go now. The shared dream-space (now called “Blue
CONTROL: What do you see? City”) exists outside and alongside our own
SIRIUS: Oh, god. Oh, god. Spidermen. reality. It appears to host its own population
Spiders. I gotta move. I see a door. apart from human personalities engaged in

REM-stage sleep. well as a method of mnemonic alteration using

The Lacuna is some kind of mnemonic “black something called the “Lacuna Device.”
hole” that eats memories and subconscious
thought. Although it cannot be explicitly located Lacuna Device (definition)
within Blue City, it is somehow connected with This button-sized device is used to send its
the Unidentified Female Dream Character (aka wearer to a “metaphysical black hole.”
“The Girl”). The device must be pinned onto the sub-
The Spidermen exist in Blue City, perhaps as ject and is then activated by twisting it to
some kind of autonomous agents (?) or as a kind the right. After a three-second delay, the
of psychic projection (much like the City itself subject is summarily dispatched to the
appears to be a psychic projection). Lacuna. Modern devices are emblazoned
Memory loss and extreme personality shifts with the Mystery Agent logo and can only
follow contact with the Lacuna. be used by the agent assigned to
Violent criminal offenders appear carry that specific device.
to be pacified and “cured” of
violent psychosexual A specialized task force
impulses after contact with had to be created to patrol
the Lacuna, though we Blue City for HP’s and
don’t know why or how mete out rehabilitation
this happens. using the Lacuna Device.
Years later, some mys- The Mystery Agents were
teries remain but others formed from the core
have been solved. Using the members of the prison
techniques pioneered by experiments. “The
the Nasrudin Institute and Company,” along with
developed during the prison the police departments, the
experiments, it is now possi- FBI and other public health
ble to excise a violent personali- agencies, began its war against
ty from its host consciousness. The the disease of violence.
process is not unlike how a surgeon
slices away cancerous tissue from its surroundings. The Company
Prisons are now a thing of the past. It no The Company follows a hierarchal structure
longer makes sense to lock up an individual starting with Control at the top and working
when they’re not the ones at fault. Humans are down to the technicians and non-official person-
basically good people. The hostile personality is nel at the bottom.
what drives them to their ends; it’s a sickness.
And once the hostile personality (or “HP”) is Control
dealt with, the subject is able to be re-integrated Control is the top-level of the Mystery
into the populace as a functional, compassionate Agents’ organization (a.k.a. the Company).
and conscientious member of society. The crimi- Because of their special clearance levels and iso-
nal mind has been revealed as a kind of disease, lation from the Mystery Agents, not much is
one with a permanent cure. known about this group. What is known is that
Now all that was needed were people to carry Control is made up highly skilled, highly moti-
out this new initiative. vated operatives that create and hand out field
assignments to Directorate members.
Origins
Advances in so-called ‘dream technologies” have The Directorate
yielded more advanced equipment and protocols, as The Directorate is run by a shadowy individ-

ual named Superintendent Pastor. Below him are Blue: Player character Mystery Agents have
the Directors and Vice-Directors. The this security clearance and are authorized
Directorate is in charge of Special Company for so-called Blue-level “insertions.”
Services and is also tasked with monitoring Deep Deep Blue: Only Special Agents and those of
Blues-level assignments. higher clearance may qualify for Deep-
Blue assignments.
Special Company Services
Black: Black clearance is only given out to
SCS is a special group that answers to the
Senior Agents and even then, sparingly. It
Directorate. SCS includes training, internal
is widely known that Black-level assign-
investigation and R&D.
ments bear some relation to the activities
of the Spidermen..
Mystery Agents
The agents themselves carry out assignments Wine: There is no such thing as Wine-level
as decreed by Control. Within the Agents, there clearance. Please disregard.
are several ranks and clearances.
Support Services
Ranks Support Services is a catch-all for the non-offi-
Junior Agent: Recruits, usually in the midst cial personnel that serve in a technical or custodi-
of their training. al capacity. Support Services has its own manage-
Agent: Standard rank. Duties include ment structure that does not need to be explained
Green and Blue-level assignments. in detail for the purposes of this game.
Senior Agent: Duties generally involve
management of lower-ranking agents. “It’s not the work, it’s the stairs.”
Reports to Chief Agent – A Mystery Agent speaks
Chief Agent: Oversees all field agents, “It is unclear whether the Nasrudin Institute
reports to Directorate. created or discovered the Lacuna. One theory is
that it was always there, waiting to be discov-
Special Agent: Duties include Deep Blue- ered. The other theory is that the Institute’s
level and non-standard assignments. experiments split open the collective uncon-
Reports to specific individuals within scious like weeds splitting cracks in poured con-
the Directorate as designated within crete. Of course, up until recently, the collective
their mission parameters. Special Agents unconscious was a theory too.
are the elite amongst the ranks of the “Still, with the advent of the Mystery Agents,
Mystery Agents and few of them hide crime has plummeted. And not just violent
this fact. Some Special Agents acting on crime, either. It seems that by working on the
particularly sensitive assignments main- diseased parts of society, the entire body has
tain a secret Deep Blue-level clearance slowly begun to heal. People are happier. Streets
and maintain a cover identity as a stan- are clean and quiet. The world is coming to
dard field agent. order at last, and not under the auspices of jack-
booted thugs and tanks and police states, either.
Clearances “What most amazes the general public is how
White: White-level is reserved for members of quiet the whole process is.
Control. No other information is available “A few people lying down in a sealed room,
at this time. wires and electrodes hooked up to their chests and
Green: Green-level agents differ from Blue- temples. Racks of shiny medical equipment wait-
level agents in their duties but not neces- ing in the wings. A lot of technical-looking people
sarily their importance. watching monitors and EKG’s, talking constantly
and speaking into throat-mikes taped to their

necks. Sometimes music (something subtle and Calling Home

relaxing, no Beethoven or Wagner here), some- “Getting information or equipment can be
times candles or aromatherapy. New Age hokum done in a few different ways. The easiest way is
is mixed with Information Age technology.” just to grab a vehicle or whatever once you’re
inside Blue-level. Control is able to provide just
Groundwork at Green-level about anything else you’d need that isn’t readily
“There are still police departments in every available. The trick is to get the request out to
city. And aside from a rapid downturn in police- them, which can be tricky at times. ‘Calling
related deaths (on both sides of the equation), home,’ as we call it, involves cutting through the
there’s no major difference between the police psychic noise between the real world and Blue-
work of today and the police work of yesterday. level. If you can get to a public payphone or a
The big difference is what happens with a body private phone line, you can dial in requests,
is found. That’s when the Mystery Agents step in. which is a lot easier than just sending out a tele-
“When some sick bastard starts raping and pathic “ping” and waiting for the “pong” to be
killing little girls, or when some nut with a delivered back to you.”
grudge and a rifle starts picking off people from
a bell tower, Green-level Agents are called in to Access rolls for intel or equipment while in
investigate. If the police or the feds have done Blue-level or deeper need to hit a target number of
their jobs, they’ll have a suspect (or at least some Nominal to be heard at all. Exceptional rolls get
solid leads). Mystery Agents will assist them in the message through loud and clear. If the agents
apprehending suspects and submit them to a use telephones to contact Control, a Mediocre
procedure called Cursory Mnemonic success is sufficient (though Nominal and
Exploration (or CME).” Exceptional successes provide faster service).
The Slab Blue City

“The Slab is our colorful term for the operating “Blue City is beautiful in the way a sad girl
theatre where Mystery Agents ply their trade. The can be beautiful … gray and lonely and lovely.
subject is sedated, and the Exploration Team con- It’s always raining, and the sun never shines in
nects with the subject’s mind. From there, the team Blue City. The cold wind whips against the brick
wanders through Green-level (the ‘shallow end’ of and stone walls of a multitude of buildings.
the mnemonic pool) and pokes around for infor- Everything seems so much larger and deeper and
mation regarding the crime (or crimes) being inves- darker. It’s the City writ large, surrounded by
tigated. When evidence is found, it’s presented to a cool blue waves. Personalities drift in and out
committee of judges, law enforcement personnel, like ghosts. They materialize in the corner of
psychiatric experts and senior agents. If the evi- your eye and when you turn to focus in on them,
dence is satisfactory, the next phase commences. they sharpen like slides under a microscope.
“What happens is this: Everything comes into detail and every mote of
“You go to sleep in this world. You wake up dust is like another world.
inside the head of someone else. You walk “Sometimes I feel like I’m in a dream, which
through their dreams, their fears, their memo- … well, obvious. Other times, it’s more … like
ries. More specifically, you’re locked down into I’ve gone backward in time. Everything seems a
Blue City, a meandering cityscape of the mind. little archaic. Like the cars look different. And
Because it’s far too dangerous to just muck people dress and talk … different. And little
around inside someone’s head, Blue City acts things, neon signs, automats … when was the
like a border town that links everyone’s heads. last time you went to an automat? The newspa-
And everyone exists inside Blue City. Everyone pers are written in some language that looks like
you’ve met. People you’ve never known. People Arabic, but isn’t. The food tastes odd. Not bad.
that don’t exist.” Just, more organic. Like it was grown in alien

soil. I don’t really dig it.” from a little cart. His name is Clarence Boscow.
Rhymes with ‘Boss Cow.’ Funny guy.”
Inside Blue City
“There are three types of beings you’ll Hostile Personalities
encounter in Blue City. The first are other “Hostile Personalities are just that: personal-
Mystery Agents. This is the reason for the stan- ities. But twisted and wrong, like cancer feeds
dardized-everything MIB look…quick and easy off blood in the body. HP’s consume the flesh of
identification. Once in Blue City, it’s best to find the living, in our world. The real world. To
out where the other members of the team are. excise the cancer, someone has got to go in and
Usually, they’ll be close by – within a block or cut it out.
two of wherever you end up. Sometimes, things “Rookie agents have plenty of training about
happen and the distances increase.” the nature of HP’s. How they’re emotionless,
ruthless, brutal monsters. How they’re inhuman
Once the first agent goes under, have each in the very real sense of the word. But nothing
other player make an Access roll (this roll won’t … nothing can prepare an agent for their first
increase the THR of the agent). Nominal success encounter with one of these beasts.
means that they wind up right next to the pri- “On the outside, HP’s look like their host
mary agent. Exceptional successes have the same personalities (the subject of the investigation –
result but give a temporary Access upgrade to the guy or gal laying on the Slab). When it sheds
the next agent to land in Blue City. A Mediocre this host body, its true nature is revealed … and
success puts the agent in the same general area it can be a doozy. Fanged mouths surrounded by
(within a few blocks in any direction). A failed barbed tentacles, nine-foot tall shaggy black
Access roll results in a lost agent. It’s the team’s things with too many eyes and too many teeth,
responsibility to search out lost agents ASAP. reptilian creatures with sinister smiles and poi-
sonous intent. Nothing is too odd, too ugly, or
“Blue City is fairly large…larger than any too extreme. You can rest assured that as a
existing metropolitan area. So although it’s a Mystery Agent, you’ll see too much and still
rare event, it is possible to run into other agents never see it all.
on other missions. For the most part, though, “Which brings us to this.”
you’re on your own.”
Spidermen
Personalities “The Company, the Institute…hell, just about
‘P’s’ are a kind of ‘dream character’ that everyone has questions about the Lacuna and
appear as random faces in the crowds of Blue Blue City. These uncharted realms are more
City: cab drivers, call girls, bartenders and traffic mysterious than deep space and we know so lit-
cops, families walking down the street, dogs, cats, tle about it all. One of those many mysteries
birds… Everything is hyper-realistic but gives off revolves around the Spidermen.
a weird ‘vibe’ that nobody can pin down. The “Rumors about the Spidermen have existed
interesting thing about the P’s is they don’t realize for awhile now, ever since the first experiments
that they’re characters inside a dream. This is why at the Nasrudin Institute. Sirius and his friends
subtlety and discretion are the keystones of the proved that they’re not just shadows in the
Mystery Agents organization. mind. They’re real. Really real. And if you ever
“I’ve met some P’s over and over again. meet one (and you don’t just wake up screaming
Sometimes, they start to remember you, which is right then and there), you have a whole lot of
nice. It’s nice to know people, to have friends trouble on your hands.”
outside the Company. This one guy … huge, fat
guy wears this crazy straw hat. He sells papers Interaction with the Spidermen always
(that I can’t read) and food (that I don’t eat) prompts a risk multiplier of x2.

The creatures usually keep to the sidelines but

prolonged contact in Blue City, obvious Mystery
Agent activity, or just sheer dumb luck can draw
them out like dogs hunting down a gob of
bloody hamburger.
“No shit, I ran into the Spidermen once.

And I didn’t wake up screaming. They wanted
to know who (the team) was and why we where
there. They had weapons, strange little hand-
guns, and demanded identification documents.
One of the rookie agents freaked out and
opened fire. They pulped him with those weird
little guns and took off after us. The mission
ended with the rest of us ejecting. The subject
and the other agent both died on the Slab. The
techs still don’t know why.”
The Girl from Blue City

“I’ve never seen her. I don’t know
anyone who has (or if they have, they
haven’t told me about it. I don’t know
anything about it.
“Okay, interview over.”
*At this point the Mystery Agent

grabs a donut from the box on the
desk, stands up and walks out of the
room. The author is escorted outside
and led off the premises where a car
is waiting. The author enters and is
driven back through the entrance
gates to the Company’s grounds. The
driver says something in Russian and
looks up at the author in the rear-
view mirror. The author looks up from
his notes and sees six glistening
back eyes staring back*

Inside
Illustration by Christian St. Pierre. Copyright © 2004 Christian St. Pierre.

Inside by
Clinton R. Nixon
Clinton R. Nixon is the
owner of Anvilwerks and
has created several role-
playing games, including
Donjon, Paladin, and
Vermin. In his copious
spare time, he is one of
the administrators of The
Forge, an role-playing
game design and discus-
sion forum. He lives in
New Orleans and is cur-
rently working on his per-
sonal behemoth, The
Shadow of Yesterday.
I
n a far-too-soon future, the world falls But, there is an escape. A simple telephone
apart. The tyranny of the elite draws the jack, and one can be transported into a world
blood of the weak. Bleak skies “the color of without aging, without pain, without hunger,
television, tuned to a dead channel” blanket the without ugliness – as long as you obey the rules.
ground below in oppression. Will you go Inside?
Inside By Clinton R. Nixon 21

Article Copyright © 2004 Clinton R. Nixon
INSIDE: A SORCERER MINI-SUPPLEMENT Building a perfect cage

Inside is a cyberpunk-themed supplement for In presenting this mini-supplement in
Sorcerer, the game of power and temptation by Daedalus, I’m hoping not only to present some-
Ron Edwards. (www.sorcerer-rpg.com) In it, the thing fun to use in your game, but at least show
players take the role of hackers, people with the the first steps to making your own Sorcerer mini-
ability to re-code Inside, a vast virtual world supplement. In creating a mini-supplement, or
world of beauty and structure. even designing a campaign, for Sorcerer, there’s a
There is no set setting for Inside. Like the few questions you need to answer.
game Sorcerer, I’m painting with a wide brush
here, allowing you to create your own setting What is a sorcerer in this setting?
from the pieces and themes I’m throwing out. In “Inside,” as mentioned before, a sorcerer is
You could have a world like The Matrix, in a hacker. As defined by Eric S. Raymond in his
which the majority of humanity knows nothing essay “What is a hacker?”:
but Inside, and the characters are freedom fight-
ers waking everyone up. You could have a world There is a community, a shared culture,
like Jim Munroe’s excellent novel Everyone in of expert programmers and networking
Silico, where people conduct everyday business wizards that traces its history back
in this virtual world—and more and more of through decades to the first time-sharing
humanity is moving to conduct their entire lives minicomputers and the earliest ARPAnet
inside, leaving mortality and pain behind. You experiments. . . .
could have a much more conventional cyber- Hackers solve problems and build
punk world in the vein of William Gibson’s things, and they believe in freedom and
Neuromancer, where the majority of humanity voluntary mutual help. To be accepted as
lives in the gray here-and-now, and the powerful a hacker, you have to behave as though
and elite of the real world are building a new, you have this kind of attitude yourself ..
even more intrusive power structure Inside. But copping an attitude alone won’t make
No matter what sort of setting you choose, you a hacker, any more than it will make
there are a few tenets that always apply. you a champion athlete or a rock star.
All characters are hackers. This isn’t Becoming a hacker will take intelligence,
Shadowrun, as much as I like that game. This practice, dedication, and hard work.
doesn’t mean your character doesn’t have useful Therefore, you have to learn to distrust
real-world talents. Take Hiro, Protagonist of attitude and respect competence of every
Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash. He’s the best kind.
swordsman in the world. He’s a perfect “Inside”
character–and he’s a hacker. As you can see, a hacker is not exactly the neg-
Hacking is prohibited. There are no excep- ative stereotype of today. It’s someone driven to
tions to this. Programming Inside might be hone a unique skill–in this case, and in most uses
legal–with a license or some such business. of the word, programming–to a level of ability
Freelance coding is strictly prohibited, though, that it can be used to solve any problem.
whether by law, robots, or yakuza assassins. Don’t throw out the entire baby with the tub
Therefore, your character is an outlaw. of soda, though. This sort of insatiable drive
The player characters can get outside. Even if isn’t the healthiest thing. In order to learn
you take this setting to its apocalyptic Matrix- more–control more–sacrifices have to be made.
style end, where all of humanity has enslaved What will your character give up?
itself, the player characters can get outside Inside
and be, well, humans. That doesn’t mean it’s What is sorcery in this setting?
necessarily easy; getting out a different way than In this setting, sorcery is the ability to code.
the way you came in requires a Contact roll. Coding will let your character make new con-

structs Inside, take control of existing constructs, records to make him appear to authorities as a
and understand the underlying structure of the grand-theft robbing kidnapper.
virtual world. It can even be used to make your It is, essentially, staying Outside–in the real
character’s avatar–his representation Inside, his world. What this means for players is that they
very self there–different and more powerful. must make Humanity checks when their charac-
The ability to code provides no special pow- ter uses their abilities Inside to avoid Outside
ers Outside, though. When choosing to stay out- problems, when they use the grid to weave lies.
side Inside, your character makes the decision to Players can make Humanity gain rolls when
leave his most powerful weapon checked. their characters confront problems Outside that
cause them great difficulty.
What is Humanity in this setting?
To be honest, this was a hard one for me. I What does it mean to have zero Humanity in
originally starting mapping Sorcerer’s rituals to this setting?
the programming metaphor and thought I had Losing all of your character’s Humanity
something. Soon, I real- means that he has achieved a Zen-like mastery
ized I had very little if I over coding. His skills have increased to the
Another cut-and-paste monk couldn’t follow the point that he sees in code; he feels in code. He is
walked by, holding a small flame metaphor through to the master of himself and others Inside.
cupped in his hand, and Paul’s ire Sorcerer’s central ques- Unfortunately, he’s also on the verge of being
tion: What will you do only code, nothing more than an electronic con-
was whipped up again. We had an
for power? struct. Characters that hit zero Humanity have
infinitely varied environment on In Inside Humanity is to choose between two paths – staying Inside
Earth, and we painted over it to the ability to distinguish forever, or never coming back the same.
draw our little stick figures. ... between truth and artifice. The mechanics of zero Humanity are covered
‘What do you think when you see Using sorcery–and sacri- later in this text.
ficing Humanity–provides
that?’ Paul said, pointing at the two the characters with great LIVING THE MIRAGE
monks. . . . power to create and con-
‘That whoever was doing skins trol beings, artificial beings Describing Inside
was fucking lazy,’ Jeremy said, in an artificial world. By What is it like Inside? No matter what your
using this power, you final setting Outside is like, Inside looks the
returning an eyeball back under grant real power to elec- same. It is a late-1990’s metropolis, clean, with
his sunglasses. ‘But that’s the way tronic mirages. fair-to-good weather. It rains some days, but it’s
it is here, man. It’s not just the The power of truth is never so hot or cold to be unreasonable, and the
skins. ... It’s the architecture, too. different; it is the power sun’s out most days. One important factor is
And the security. That’s why there’s to interact–more specifi- that almost everything is concrete, steel, and
cally, solve problems–on glass. Artifice likes to look solid.
so many holes for rats like us.’ an interpersonal level. It’s If you play with a relatively new (timeline-
—Jim Munroe, Everyone in Silico going to your boss and wise) setting, where people come and go from
explaining that you have Inside regularly, they enter and exit from bath-
to miss a day of work rooms. In designing Inside, it seemed like the
instead of coding an ingenious voice-activated most private place, so people’s “bamfing” does-
construct to reply to calls and send email in your n’t disturb others. When people don’t have to
place. It’s breaking up with the girlfriend you live Inside, it needs something to attract people,
don’t want anymore instead of disappearing into so its theme parks are amazing, with physics-
the night and erasing all records of yourself in defying rides, and complete virtual reality simu-
telephone and other public directories. It’s knifing lations of other worlds.
the fucker who hurt you instead of altering his If you play with a relatively advanced setting

where people live their lives Inside, there are no Ten years later, the West Coast of America is a
bad neighborhoods. There are poor neighbor- ghost town. Conditions from San Diego to
hoods, sure, but they’re quaintly blue-collar, Vancouver are brutal, with enormous unemploy-
with block parties on the weekend and such. ment, high crime, and filth cluttering the streets.
Being hackers, the characters may find unau- A full third of the population lives in sinister
thorized places Inside that are nothing like like the black cubic buildings, hooked to machines offer-
rest. An apartment door might take them to a ing eternal life. Inside these black boxes, there are
Japanese garden, or to a fantasy-themed land always free terminals offering guest passes to
where fireballs are the order of the day. (These may RealLife, but rumor on the street is that not
well be the remnants of old virtual theme parks.) everyone entering a Westwego office comes back.
It’s important to note that nothing overly In this setting, Inside is controlled by the
breaks real-world rules, though. People don’t Westwego corporation, large, faceless, and with
teleport from place to place; they take monorails no clear leader. The characters might live in the
and subways, or drive themselves if they can outside world, or be trapped Inside, under the
afford it. People still experience hunger and eat watch of the enormous Transamerica building,
in restaurants. Night and day still come. Inside now the RealLife offices of Westwego. What hap-
looks like a typical city, just nicer. pens in those black glass boxes? What happens to
There is no outside Inside. By that, I mean the bodies of people who sign up for RealLife?
there is no countryside–no beach, no place to get Why are people disappearing? Who exactly is
away from the city. There are parks, but that’s staring down from that monolithic Transamerica
about it. In a nod to the excellent movie Dark tower? And do the ghosts of the real San
City, there may be signs pointing to the beach, Francisco haunt the brave new world of Frisco?
and people might even talk about going there,
but it does not exist. Characters
“Programmers still needed debugging tools,
Frisco: an example setting of course, but debugger vendors in 2047 distrib-
Frisco is the City By the Sea, an idyllic place of uted numbered copies only, and only to official-
equality, good jobs, and nice weather. Westwego, ly licensed and bonded programmers. The
a corporation involved in cutting-edge digital-sen- debugger Dan used in software class was kept
sory research, made it big when they brought out behind a special firewall so that it could be used
their star product, RealLife. RealLife gave every- only for class exercises.”
day people the chance to visit a new city, meet oth- Richard Stallman, “The Right to Read”
ers, and escape the conditions of their own lives, Characters are created using the same rules as
deemed lesser by advertisement. Sorcerer. The statistics are a bit different,
When San Francisco fell into the sea two weeks though. Following are the new descriptors and
after their launch, they exploded in a way no one rules. Humanity is computed as normal.
could predict. Their product offered the city the
survivors once knew and loved, all in its best day. Stamina
Frisco had no crime, no earthquakes, low rent, Body hacker: As you analyze and slice code,
and a job for everyone. In what was termed an act so you do to your body. Raw-egg shakes,
of extreme benevolence, they offered all survivors protein supplements, and a bizarre regi-
a free Bronze Pass to Frisco They hook you up, men–often martial arts–keep you in shape.
stick in a feeding tube, and you’ve got a new life Keyboard jockey: Your body’s been toned by
and a new job. The fact that their data banks now nights under fluorescent lights, typing
lay on the ocean-floor remains of the real San away and munching on snack food. In
Francisco was emotional icing on the cake. Entire other words, you’ve ignored it. This does
companies moved their operations inside not denote a low Stamina, though–you
RealLife’s Frisco, and families followed. could be whip-thin in that lanky way, or

alternatively, one big eatin’ dude, impossi- In Inside hacking is illegal. You must have a
ble to put down. license to code at all. That means your character
Hopped-up: The goth sister to “body hack- can’t just be a hacker–he’s got to do something
er,” you take coffee and speed in the morn- for a day job. He might be a fully legal coder, or
ing and phenobarbital when you’re ready something much different: a courier, a street
to crash for 16 hours. marketer, a dopehead, or a powerful executive.
Trapped in the wrong body: Your body was The choice is completely up to the player, and
born to play football, and your head was this becomes your character’s Cover.
born for compiling. Your natural health The Cover score is determined like it is in
keeps you going. Sorcerer. It serves one other purpose than it does in
Rebel: Your anger’s as easily seen in your fists that game, though. When your character is suspect-
as your eyes. ed of hacking, his Cover score is what you roll to
portray him as nothing more than what he seems.
Will
Focused: Your mind is like a laser, able to
concentrate on one thing for hours at a
time. You’re not easily distracted from “I know kung fu.”
your personal train of thought, though. —Neo, The Matrix
Ideology: You believe in an ideal, a personal
reason you do what you do.
Thrill-seeker: The truth is, controlling your Martial Arts
own little electronic world is fun. If you own the excellent supplement Sex and
Self-absorbed: If the faces just knew what you Sorcery, every single hacker knows martial arts
do, if they could just understand; they’d be using those rules when they are Inside. Why?
just like you. Because it’s fucking cool. Major villains should be
given this same ability.
Fu
Formal training: (Fu 2+) The powers-that-be The Price and Telltale
judged you of good character and trained Your character’s Price and Telltale are things
you to be one of the architects of Inside. that affect him Outside. As defined in Sorcerer,
They judged wrong. power comes with a price. Your character’s Price
Underground student: (Fu 1-3) You found a is something he’s poor at because he is a hacker.
mentor in the underground, someone who With the Telltale, it’s similar; it’s a giveaway to
taught you how to code. those in the know that he’s not exactly legal.
Confederation: (Fu 1+) You are a member of This will vary greatly depending on the setting.
an illegal group, organization, coven, car- The fact that Tank, from The Matrix, doesn’t
tel, or whatever you guys call it. have a big plug-in on the back of his head would
True hacker: (Fu 4+) You’re an original gang- be a pretty good example.
ster–a hacker who’s been there since the
beginning, and will never give up your Sample character: Chi Mack, hacker at large
right to change the electronic world. Chi missed out on the RealLife exodus. At the
Natural talent: (Fu 1+) You were born Inside. time, he was too busy selling the old way to
You’ve got unnatural talents, though, tal- escape reality–pills, grass, and anything else he
ents that have led you to believe some- could find. As downtown Vancouver grew more
thing’s not real about your world. and more desolate, he realized he was missing
out on something big, and it ticked him off. He’d
always had his ear to the street.
Cover When he finally got Inside on a visitor’s pass,

he liked the concept, but it was a bit too ordered. most mid-level functionary positions are
Sure, it was a great trip, but you only got to held by them. There are rumors of uncon-
explore the pathways that were obvious. Making trolled Turings, powerful daemons that
his way through a couple of acquaintances, he have the ability to control others.
found the Flesh Consortium, a bunch of malcon- Utility: These daemons look like inanimate
tents dedicated to showing those jack-heads that objects and are programs written to assist a
they were missing out on a whole world of sen- Turing or Avatar. Almost everything that does-
sory experience. Sometimes the politics get a lit- n’t walk and talk Inside is a Utility daemon.
tle boring, but he thinks they’re on the right Virus: These daemons can overwrite other
track. Screwing up reality, even when it’s just an daemons, controlling them. These dae-
electronic illusion, is a damn good time. mons are used by the powers that be to
control Inside, change an Avatar’s actions,
Stamina: 3 (hopped-up) and enforce their will. It is illegal for a nor-
Will: 5 (thrill-seeker) mal person to use a virus, and mentioning
Fu: 2 (confederation) them is discouraged.
Cover: 5 (street fixer) Unlike in Sorcerer, most daemons are stand-
Humanity: 5 alone with no one particularly controlling them.
Price: -1 (addiction: penalty to all actions if he’s Everything is a daemon Inside. You might ride in a
not on hallucinogens. Reality bums him out.) taxi Inside, but it’s still a piece of code. (It’s a pret-
Telltale: All members of the Flesh Consortium ty sweet ride when you Chmod and re-Code it.)
have scarification. Chi’s is a spider-web on his
left forearm. Daemon statistics
Like humans, daemons have scores that
Power, control, and gasoline define them They use different terminology to
While Inside looks like the real world, it’s reflect the different nature of their world,
most definitely not. A motorcycle looks, feels, though. The scores are as follows:
and smells like a motorcycle, but it’s a piece of Robustness: When two daemons come into
code. It’s the same with a front door, walking conflict, their Robustness helps their code
stick, ink pen, or monorail operator. All of these overcome each other’s. This is like Stamina
things are daemons, pieces of code that can be Outside, and it is most often used in phys-
created, altered, controlled, and destroyed by ical conflicts.
people who have the knowledge. Interface: On the other hand, daemons can
The types of daemons in Inside can be broken interface with each other, attempting to exert
down into several groups. influence over each other via normal proto-
cols. Their Interface is how well they can
Types of Daemons exert this control. This is analogous to Will.
Avatars: Avatars are representatives of real Fu: Much like a hacker’s Fu, a daemon under-
people Inside. When someone enters the stands code. Unlike hackers, they cannot
simulation, a digital facsimile is created. create new code on the fly, but they can
Avatars look like the people that control help someone analyze code or understand
them, and are generated directly from the what another daemon is doing.
brain’s own self-image. Power: This is the strength of a program, and
Turings: These daemons can interact like a measure of how powerful its code is.
humans, and are also called artificial intel- With more code comes more self-aware-
ligences. They don’t necessarily look ness and ability to perform autonomous
human, but they can talk like one and put actions. All daemons, even those without
on a good replica of a personality. Most abilities, have a minimum Power of 1.
utilitarian jobs are done by Turings, and

Daemon abilities needs virtual gasoline, for example.

Abilities are used as written in the Sorcerer Desires, re-titled Purposes, are a bit different.
rules, but are extrapolated into a meta-verse. Each program has a Purpose built into it and
Some examples: barring other instructions, will attempt to fulfill
Warp would be used as normal to change the this Purpose at all times. With Utility daemons,
shape of things Inside. this is somewhat obvious and boring; with
Perception could be used as normal, or like Turings, this can drive an entire game.
Hiro’s Bigboard in Snow Crash, which he could
use to obtain the name and public information Avatars
about everyone in a nightclub. Your character’s avatar is his body Inside.
Cover is used to make a daemon appear to be While it is a daemon, it is not an external pro-
an everyday, legal, doing-good sort of daemon; gram. Instead, it is the representative of the per-
Shapeshift can be used for similar results. son using it to access Inside. Avatars, by default,
Special Damage is just what it sounds like. are based off the user’s mental self-perception,
Travel and Transport allow, or subvert, the within algorithmic limits.
normal modes of transportation Inside. Avatars follow special rules from other dae-
Utility daemons with very mundane powers that mons. Since all their actions come from the user,
do not fit into a Sorcerer ability do not have to be Robustness, Interface, and Fu are always the
defined with abilities. An ink pen can write without same as the user’s Stamina, Will, and Fu.
a special ability, and a wall can prevent people Robustness is not limited to the normal Interface
from walking through it. A monorail, however, has restrictions. Avatars are the only daemons that
Travel and Transport, and a massive Robustness. cannot be Chmod-ed, and they can not be re-
There is one new daemon ability: Crossover. Coded; the identity conflict is impossible to
Crossover lets a daemon’s abilities affect the real overcome. The new sorcerous ritual Hack is
world; it is a linked ability, like Ranged. The used for temporarily altering an Avatar.
most obvious use is with Special Damage.
Normal Special Damage attacks can destroy Sample daemons
someone’s avatar Inside and kick them out
dazed. Crossover Special Damage will attack the Bigboard, an invisible monitor
very electrodes attached to your character and Bigboard appears as a watch, but when in
blow his brain out the back of his head. The Black Hole, a power-broker’s bar, it displays
The non-obvious uses are for electronic repre- the names and public information of everyone in
sentations of real-world objects. Some examples: the room to the owner, visible only to him.
• A monitor that is connected to a camera
Outside. Type: Utility
• A wall of repelling code that keeps a Robustness: 3
real-world door locked. Interface: 4
Fu: 3
Power: 4
Needs and Desires Abilities: Cloak, Perception (everyone in the
In order to allow for some sort of economy Black Hole), Perception (all public data about
Inside, the designers built inertia into the system. people in room)
In other words, while a program–something Need: The user must have an interrogative con-
composed of data, with no moving parts–should versation with Black Hole denizens. Bigboard
be able to work forever, the inertia Inside stops thrives on data.
programs from doing that. Each program has Purpose: To disseminate data.
something that must be input into it on a regu- Telltale: The user’s face has a greenish glow
lar basis in order to work. A virtual motorcycle upon it when Bigboard is being used.

The Tea Garden, a room unto itself would alter the program. Stealthy, strong, and
The Tea Garden appears as a door in the nearly impossible to notice, they are every hack-
owner’s home. When it is opened, it gives access er’s nightmare.
to an outdoor landscape, a Japanese garden sur-
rounded by rock faces and waterfalls. Type: Virus
Robustness: 7
Type: Utility Interface: 8
Robustness: 5 Fu: 7
Interface: 6 Power: 8
Fu: 3 Abilities: Spawn, Hop (with Ranged), Perception
Power: 6 (through the eyes of its spawn), Mark, Boost
Abilities: Transport, Confuse (anyone in the Tea Stamina, Fast
Garden), Warp, Psychic Force Need: To create more Investigators. If an Avatar
Need: The Tea Garden needs to trap Turings or dies within the Investigator’s presence, it can
Avatars inside it. When the door is closed, send a spawn into the dying program, which
those daemons are attacked by the Tea gestates a new Investigator within one to two
Garden until they are absorbed. weeks.
Purpose: To obscure information. Purpose: To stop all threats to the structure of
Telltale: The doorway has no handle or knob, Inside.
nor any visible way to open it. Telltale: Any Avatar inhabited by an Investigator
gives off a sweet smell, much like orchids.
Gabriel, the avenging angel Chmod strength: 5 (to Inside)
Gabriel is a rogue agent of Inside, turned in a
fierce battle with one of the original hackers, Up against the system
who Chown-ed and re-Coded Gabriel before his Hacking is the art of subverting Inside to your
own death. Gabriel is powerful enough that he will. It is this supplement’s version of sorcery,
tends to pick his own master. and follows many of the same rules. Like sor-
cery, it involves bringing up inhuman forces and
Type: Turing controlling them; unlike sorcery, these forces are
Robustness: 6 either created by the hacker or are found all
Interface: 7 around him in this supplement’s version of a
Fu: 6 Mystic Otherworld.
Power: 7
Abilities: Special Damage (with Crossover), Rituals
Armor, Taint, Shadow, Daze, Shapeshift Hacking has the following rituals, five of
Need: Gabriel thrives on taking over parts of its which are analogous to standard Sorcerer ritu-
owner’s life. He uses his Shapeshift abilities to als; the sixth is new. Beside each ritual is the
appear to be the hacker, and interacts with name as used in Sorcerer.
Avatars that know the hacker. Design (Contact): This is the initial design work
Purpose: Destruction. done for a daemon. You have to be able to visual-
Telltale: Gabriel’s mouth has no teeth, nor ize how a daemon will work before you can create
tongue, nor anything except a black void it. To succeed at this ritual, a roll of the hacker’s Fu
inside it. vs. the daemon’s Power is needed. This process is
usually done Outside, and Design is the only ritu-
al that can be conducted without being Inside.
Investigators (En-Vees) There is another version of the Contact ritu-
Investigators are continuity cops Inside, al, called “Contact” by hackers. Inside, you can-
designed by the system to watch for hackers that not exit except through pre-defined entry and

exit points determined by the simulation. ered. Any time either the owner or the daemon
Usually, this is the same way you came into takes penalties, that Chmod strength is lowered
Inside, and, usually, others cannot see you do it. like all statistics. If it hits zero, then a hacker can
A Contact roll is necessary to exit any other try to Chmod the daemon. This usually results in
time, and the Power rolled against is the highest some serious pre-ownership fistfights.
Power of any daemon present. Daemons owned by Inside have a Chmod
Code (Summon): Coding is how daemons get strength from 1 to 5, depending on how impor-
built; it is the part where a hacker sits down and tant they are to the system and how much atten-
builds the internals of the thing. This process tion they attract. A fire hydrant in the middle of
requires a successful roll of the hacker’s Will - a neighborhood, only there for appearance,
Humanity vs. the daemon’s Power. would have a Chmod strength of 1, while the
A daemon (which is owned by a hacker) can monorail would have a Chmod strength of 5.
be re-Coded to give it new statistics and abilities. Nice (Punish): Like “chmod,” this term is
Abilites cannot be taken away and statistics can- taken from the 1990s’ Unix world. This ritual
not be lowered in this way. The roll is two-part: forces a daemon to calm the hell down, and it
first, Will - Humanity + Chmod strength vs. the restricts its abilities significantly. It requires a
old Interface. Successes from that roll are rolled successful roll of the hacker’s Will vs. the dae-
over into Will - mon’s Robustness; successes are used as penal-
Humanity vs. the new ties against all the daemon’s actions. (These
Then Cyrillic alphanumerics start- Interface. A new Chmod penalties are relieved as in Sorcerer.) Your hack-
ed reeling down the monitor, twist- roll must also be made. er can Nice his own daemons automatically,
ing themselves into English halfway Chmod (Bind):This is exacting penalties less than or equal to his Will.
how a hacker exerts Nicing daemons not Chmod-ed to the hacker is
down. There were a lot of gaps ... ownership over a dae- not automatic, and the daemon uses its Chmod
but it did give me some idea of mon. (Its name is taken Strength in its roll.
what I’d bought from the Finn. from an archaic com- Kill (Banish): A daemon can be killed by
I felt like a punk who’d gone out mand from the pre-virtu- unraveling its code and scrambling the memory
al Internet.) In “Inside,” of it Inside. For a character do this, the player
to buy a switchblade and come all daemons are owned must make a successful roll of his Will +
home with a small neutron bomb. by something; all dae- Humanity vs. the daemon’s Interface + Power. If
—William Gibson, Burning Chrome mons not owned by peo- and only if the hacker is the one who has own-
ple are owned by Inside ership of the daemon, and the Chmod strength is
itself, except for com- in the hacker’s favor, the hacker can add the
pletely free-willed, self-owning (and illegal) Chmod strength to his roll. Otherwise, it is
Turings. A true hacker can chmod others’ dae- added to the daemon’s.
mons, though. If this ritual is done as a snapshot, as it often
This ritual requires a roll of the hacker’s Fu vs. is, the hacker’s Humanity and the Chmod
the daemon’s Interface. Chmod-ing a daemon a strength are still used in the roll. Snapshot
hacker has just coded–an unowned daemon–is attempts to Kill a daemon are often called “dis-
always successful. The result is used as the Chmod believes.” Many hackers are fans of online
strength (“binding strength” from Sorcerer), sword-and-sorcery games where illusions of
which is a measure of how well the hacker under- fearsome creatures can be dealt with by attempt-
stands the program and how much control he has ing not to believe in them.
over it. If the roll was in the daemon’s favor, well, Hack (new): This ritual is different than any
it has more power in the situation, and the hacker in Sorcerer It allows the hacker to temporari-
is not very aware of what he has. ly–for one instance–use a daemonic ability. It’s a
In order to take control of a daemon that some- subversion of the virtual reality system, and
one else owns, the Chmod strength must be low- allows for those running-on-walls moments that

all players want. This ritual–always snapshot, ful, the hacker is immediately ejected from
with no penalties–requires a Fu vs. Humanity Inside, taking terrible damage. His Fu is lowered
roll, and successes on the Hack roll are used for by the amount of victories the opposition rolled;
the ability’s Power. Hack definitely requires a he takes damage equal to those victories. He
Humanity check, like all rituals. gains Humanity equal to those victories, and he
may never enter Inside again without dying,
Hacking and Humanity requiring a successful Fu vs. Will roll every five
Humanity, as mentioned earlier, is a hacker’s minutes Inside to not expire.
ability to distinguish between truth and artifice.
Because of this, hacking can be very detrimental Slipping through the cracks
to one’s Humanity as one puts more faith in arti- Hacking, by its nature, will attract attention.
ficial things. (For the record, all rules about Every character’s Avatar has the ability Cover, at
when Humanity checks are made for the same level as the character’s Cover. The
sorcery–and Humanity gain rolls for nature of the Avatar’s Cover depends on the def-
Banishing–that are in Sorcerer apply in Inside.) inition of the character’s Cover. A character with
When a character hits zero Humanity, the the Cover “government programmer” would
player has a choice. His character will either lose have the same thing Inside, while a pizza-deliv-
all ability to see the real, or be struck with it ery-boy character would probably have the
between the eyes. Either the character’s con- Cover of “tourist” inside.
ciousness will become fully digitized and enter This Cover is used, usually against Interface
Inside completely as a free-willed daemon, or his or Fu, to make people believe that your charac-
brain will react violently to artificial sensory ter is most definitely not up to no good, no sir,
exposure. If the latter, his ability to perform no way. If it’s a character’s daemon that’s sus-
Inside will be forever changed. pected of being illegal, things get hairier. The
If the first choice is taken, the player must more powerful a daemon is, the harder it is to
make a roll of his hacker’s Fu vs. Will. If suc- keep hidden. The opposing roll gets to add the
cessful, the victories are added to his Power, daemon’s Power to it, unless the daemon also
which increases Will, now called Interface. He has Cover. The character’s roll does get to add
has become a daemon. If this roll is unsuccessful, the Chmod strength to it, however.
any other hacker present–including non-player
hackers–can attempt to Chmod the daemon in RUNNING INSIDE
its destruction. The outcome of this roll is the Hopefully, by now, you’ve got plenty of ideas
Chmod strength, and Power is set to the ex- for running Inside or a cyberpunk-themed
hacker-now-daemon’s Interface. If no one Sorcerer game. Here is my advice for keeping
attempts to Chmod the daemon, it dies. your game interesting.
If the second choice is taken, the player must
make a roll of his hacker’s Will vs. Fu. If suc- Do not forget Outside
cessful, the amount of victories equal the num- Arguably, interactions Outside are the most
ber of points of Humanity the hacker regains. important part of running Inside. Players may be
However, these victories also count as perma- loathe to focus the story there Unlike in vanilla
nent penalties to any action taken Inside by the Sorcerer, characters do not always have the
hacker. The act of being Inside is painful to the power of sorcery at their command; they only
brain and causes terrible migraines. Any time the have it Inside. This, of course, is why Outside is
hacker enters Inside, including the current time, so important. In a game that questions the value
he has these penalties to all actions, and the of artifice, it is imperative to highlight the option
penalties continue Outside from the brain dam- between a real world where characters are no
age (halving after an hour, and ending after a better–and perhaps worse–than everyone else,
day). If the roll to gain Humanity is unsuccess- and a fake world where they are godlike.

A great way to push this is to make the story be done while concentrating on describing a dae-
interconnected between the two worlds. Perhaps mon in a computer language. That takes time,
there are investigators on a character’s trail obviously, and what takes away free time?
Inside as well as Outside, forcing him to con- Relationships do, of course. A “human sacri-
front them in both worlds. Even better, perhaps fice” could just as easily be a sacrifice of anoth-
the character’s Outside love interest is his worst er human in your life, whether it be your boss,
enemy Inside. I reference this book often in parents, or love interest.
Inside, to the point of liberally stealing the The rule for “Inside” would be: A character
example setting from it, but Jim Munroe’s can gain a bonus when Coding by permanently
Everyone in Silico really is the book to check out severing a relationship he has. This bonus is
for creating these stories. Snow Crash by Neil equal to the target’s Humanity. This requires a
Stephenson runs a close second here. second Humanity check, though, and the hacker
receives a penalty to this check equal to the tar-
Turn up the fistfights get’s Humanity.
What made the movie The Matrix so popu-
lar? You can argue for the philosophies of it all Poke fun liberally
you like–and they did increase interest–but it I’ve been rambling on and on about “truth
was their pairing with some of the most eye-pop- and artifice” for this whole article, which can get
ping martial arts seen in American movies that a little cumbersome. Your game should drop the
took audiences by storm. When you’ve got this heavy for the fun often. Think about the concept
malleable world in which to play and characters of Inside: A world imagined as perfect, copied
who can, with an action, make immense aerial from the stereotypes of late-1990s humanity. It’s
leaps, smash walls, or split into multiples, use it screaming for comedic moments. Maybe all cab
for all it’s worth in action scenes. drivers look and sound exactly the same because
the designers thought people felt that way any-
Play with the metaphors way. Maybe the clouds in the sky often make
Inside being a supplement, I didn’t go pornographic arrangements on accident because
through the Sorcerer rulebook and extrapolate the designers gave the cloud code the ability to
every rule into a virtual-reality world. The read- form into what observers were looking for. Feel
er should, though. There are some fun more than free to steal from your favorite books
metaphors to discover. For instance, when sum- and movies, especially ones that are anachronis-
moning a demon in Sorcerer, a character can tic, given that other hackers can shape their own
obtain a bonus from human sacrifice. Now, corners of Inside into whatever they like.
that’s pretty dark, icky stuff right there. What Whatever the case, Inside is here to be fun while
would the metaphor be, though? asking questions. That’s the real pleasure of good
Well, in Inside, Summoning is Coding, so science fiction: it can be wondrous, amazing, and
whatever the sacrifice would be would have to funny while not being intellectually devoid. Ω

Fourth Millennium
™
Illustration by Jason A. Engle: www.jaestudio.com

Fourth Millennium Science Fiction Roleplaying at the End Of History™
preview by Written and Developed by Kevin Brennan and James Maliszewski
James Maliszewski
& Kevin Brennan Additional material by Derek Guder, Greg Higgins, Joseph Makuch, and Trey Palmer
Tri-Stat System™ Designed by Mark C. McKinnon
GUARDIANS OF ORDER and TRI-STAT SYSTEM are trademarks of Guardians of Order, Inc. Fourth
Millennium and “Science Fiction Roleplaying at the End of History” are trademarks of La Mancha Games.
This article may be freely distributed as long as it is not altered in any way. All rights are reserved by
the copyright holders. None of the text may be distributed separately from this article or excepted
for use elsewhere, in any form or by any means without written permission from the authors except
for brief quotes for use in reviews.
Fourth Millennium preview By James Maliszewski & Kevin Brennan 32

Article Copyright © 2004 Kevin Brennan and James Maliszewski. All right reserved.
WELCOME TO THE END OF HISTORY… difference. Some of them fight the agents and
advocates of parahumanity. Some strive to over-
I
t is the year of our Lord 3001.
Earth is a distant memory to most of throw the human cultures who dictate that there
humanity, long since overrun and absorbed can be only one way to live. Some travel to new
by parahumans who have modified their physi- earths, with the hope of founding new cultures
cal and mental structure to the point where they that will change the failings of those who have
have little or nothing in common with their come before. And some simply travel between
ancestors. the earths, trying to make a living in a cosmos
Those who have chosen to remain human torn by ideological and military strife.
now live scattered throughout hundreds of alter- Welcome to the dawn of the fourth millennium.
nate realities, trying desperately to avoid being Welcome to the end of history.
absorbed by the parahuman onslaught. They
James Maliszewski have rejected new technologies, but as a conse- SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
quence given up much of their own ability to Through human history, several waves of
Since 1999, James change have altered humanity’s way of life.
change and adapt. Dominated militarily, politi-
Maliszewski has con- Three such waves struck during the third millen-
cally and economically by the Svobodan League,
tributed to many gaming nium. The first of these waves, the
these shards of human cultures fight and bicker
products, most notably Decentralization wave, began during the 20th
constantly amongst themselves, each seeking to
the Dark Ages lines, century, moving the planet away from the mass
find the one true path that will allow them to
Dying Earth, Exalted, production models of the industrial era and
flourish and grow without sharing the fate of
Fading Suns, and various changing the balance of power. The second,
Earth, or facing attack and conquest by the
top line d20 offerings. A Posthumanist wave, began shortly thereafter,
Svobodans.
Baltimorean in exile, he allowing humanity to change its very nature.
But here and there across the cosmos, there
currently resides in The final wave, the Psaikhailou Emergence, was
are a few brave individuals who strive to make a
Toronto, Ontario with his
Canadian wife, two chil-
dren, and a Captain Kirk
action figure.
About Fourth Millennium Lite
This article is an excerpt created for DAEDALUS the Shards or within the Svobodan League, and fully
from Fourth Millennium Lite, which is available in detail playing at the d8 and d10 power levels, not
PDF format. Fourth Millennium Lite is a preview of just the d6 level supported by this book. We’ll
the forthcoming Fourth Millennium RPG. It is not a include full information on technology regulated by
complete game in its own right; you will need the the Stasis and allow you to create characters who
rules from Tri-Stat dX to play it. can do all the cool things we only hint at here.
Fourth Millennium Lite only supplies you with a We’ll show you how to use Fourth Millennium as a
high-level overview of the cosmos of the 31st cen- backdrop for almost any style of SF game, and
tury, focusing in on a very specific region of space. include rules for vehicle and spacecraft construc-
While you will get a taste of the wonders that exist tion, technological enhancement of characters dur-
in 3001, the full potential of the setting can’t be ing play, creating and running organizations, and a
shown here—but we can give you enough of a host of other things.
look at it to let you decide if the full RPG is some- Please let us know what you think of Fourth
Kevin Brennan thing you’ll want to own. Millennium. Fourth Millennium Lite is intended to
The complete Fourth Millennium RPG will not only be a preview of the game, but also a beta-
Kevin Brennan is a
include a lot of what you see here, and much, much test for it, so that we can be sure to give you what
Toronto native. He has more. For starters, we’ll include a full set of rules, you want. If you’re interested in seeing the game
contributed to a number customized for the setting (but still compatible with develop, please join our mailing list at
of role-playing game other Tri-Stat dX supplements). We’ll give you http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fourth-millennium/.
books for Traveller, Hong enough information to set a game amongst any of We hope to see you there!
Kong Action Theatre!,
and the d20 System. He
lives with two cats and
several hundred books in
an overstuffed apartment.
the last to strike, and it changed everything. to change, their identities blurring together into
In the centuries before the Psaikhailou an unprecedented group mind. Nobody paid
Emergence, geneering and the use of cybernetics much attention to it until it began to spread. A
became even more accepted and common. month after the first instances were reported, the
Nanotechnology revolutionized production and supposedly hermetically protected brains run-
created miraculous items of incredible strength ning Australia’s defense and immune systems
and versatility. Attempts to develop machines joined the Psaikhailou group mind. Within 36
capable of genuine sentience led to the creation hours, all of Australia had been absorbed, and
of general-purpose experts. within another 12 hours, 90% of the population
Before long, the cultures of the Consociation of Earth were Psaikhailou.
of Phyles (political scientists use the term Earth was immediately placed under quaran-
“phyles” to describe alliances of distinct cul- tine by the remaining military forces of the
tures) found that they were unable to contain Consociation of Phyles (CP). The leader of those
many of the forces unleashed by these new tech- forces, Admiral Kendrick Rostov, announced the
nologies. Genetic experimentation had produced dissolution of the CP and its replacement by an
thousands of new species, parahuman and oth- entity to be known as the “Stabilization Pact.”
erwise, some of which had nothing in common At first, support for the Pact was widespread, as
with their ancestors. Nanotechnology had people feared the possibility of another
destroyed important industries and displaced Emergence. Anti-technological riots spread
millions of workers. across the cosmos, and Earth soon became not
As Earth became increasingly alien, many much more than a memory.
phyles began to restrict or entirely forbid the use The Stabilization Pact soon began to over-
of certain technologies. These cultures realized reach itself, as it tried to roll back technology
that each advance in technology brought with it and create an artificial “universal human cul-
a price. When the techniques behind node transit ture” in order to prevent any change from upset-
were discovered, opening up dozens of parallel ting its delicate balance. The Pact eventually col-
earths to settlement, many of these phyles fled to lapsed as phyles rebelled against its oppressive
create a place where they could limit the spread rule, including the members of the modern-day
of dangerous technologies. Others fled to Svobodan League. As the rebellion peaked,
advance themselves without outside interference. though, a new Emergence was reported on sev-
Between the 25th and 28th centuries, the eral earths a single node away from Earth.
Posthumanist wave struck Earth with full force. The newly formed Svobodan League fought a
Artificial phyles, with social structures more alien brutal war against the spreading Emergence,
than anything dreamed up by science fiction resorting to the use of nuclear weapons and plan-
writers, were created on a daily basis. Activists et-busting asteroid strikes, devastating any possi-
would drop Santa Claus machines or behavioral ble epicenters of infection. The Psaikhailou War
modification nanophages into technologically lasted for a month, led to the extinction of all life
restrictive phyles to break up their oppressive on the earth Antioch and severe damage to the
class structures. Other phyles retreated to indus- ecosystems of several other earths, and the disso-
trial or agricultural age lifestyles. The pace of lution and reformation of the Svobodan League.
change became increasingly rapid and dizzying, The foundation of the Svobodan League for-
until Earth became an anarchy. The colonies, malized the Stasis. Sections 1 and 2 of Article VI
many of which were settled by only a small num- of the Treaty of Svoboda state that “technology
ber of phyles, fared somewhat better...but they is both Man’s savior and destroyer” and that
were not able to entirely escape the chaos. “technology shall remain a matter solely within
In 2867, something unexpected occurred. the jurisdiction of the League government.”
Members of a phyle called the Psaikhailou Section 3 of that same article places the moni-
(named after a language they had created) began toring of technology firmly within the hands of

the Syndicates, granting them the legal authority The Stasis

to enforce their decisions on others in the name There are six levels of restriction placed on
of the League. Violations of the Stasis carry stiff technology by the Syndicates. All but the lowest
penalties under both League and cultural laws. may lead the League to invoke the Quexana
Wherever possible, the League and the Protocol and pursue military action against a
Syndicates follow a policy of imposing the Stasis phyle or other group found to be in possession
on other states. Nevertheless, holdouts obsti- of the technology, if that phyle does not support
nately attempt to flout the Stasis. The Shards the Stasis. Class Four and Five technologies are
contain the vast majority of these troublemak- only to be possessed by the League and are for-
ers. The League and the Syndicates wage a low- bidden to non-members. There are a number of
intensity covert war, and occasionally an overt justifications for this, but the real reason is to
war, against these states to curtail their efforts to ensure that no military or economic rival to the
develop proscribed technology. Svobodan League will ever arise.
The Stasis has created a substantial under- Class One (Unrestricted). Items using this form
ground economy in forbidden technology and of technology may be constructed and freely
has made criminal organizations extremely distributed without Syndicate involvement.
wealthy. Although enforcement of tech law is With a few exceptions, technologies developed
officially the responsibility of the Syndicates before the mid-21st century are all considered
(especially the Procuracy), several law enforce- Class One (as well as some later technologies).
ment agencies spend much of their time investi- Technologies are considered Class One unless
gating breaches of the Stasis. they have the potential to be used in a fashion
Few advances in scientific theory have that would allow people to be engineered to
occurred since the Stasis came into full force. exceed normal human potential.
The very idea of the scientific method has even Class Two (Supervised Manufacture, Unrestricted
lost its hold on the minds of the general popu- Use). Items using these technologies may be
lace of the Svobodan League. “Scientism” (as constructed only in facilities that are regularly
adherence to the scientific method is pejorative- inspected by Syndicate representatives, but
ly called) is an alien and disavowed point of view once constructed may be distributed freely.
associated with the past (and the Syndicates). This is the minimum level of restriction for
Applied and social sciences are now the pre- nanotechnological devices, even non-reactive
mier field of study. Humanity may well have ones. Class Two technologies do not them-
become less scientific in the theoretical sense, selves lead to the modification of human
and even limited the use of technology, but we nature, but they require tools that could be
have not ceased to be creative. Men continue to misused in that fashion.
search for newer and more efficient ways to Class Three (Supervised Manufacture and Use).
employ the technology allowed under the Stasis. These technologies must be built and used
Engineering of all sorts is on the cutting edge in only under Syndicate supervision. Examples
the 31st century. include anti-psychotic drugs. Class Three
In the end, even with its limits, science threat- technologies differ from Class Two in that
ened to reshape humanity in its image—the their widespread use has significant social
image of the Psaikhailou. The Stasis saved implications, but limited use to assist individ-
Humanity. The cost was a surrender of the old uals does not.
ways of looking at the world, a halt to progress, Class Four (Restricted Manufacture, Supervised
and a return to revelation. Soyuzniks aren’t Use). These items may only be constructed by
primitives or Luddites—they don’t seek to roll the Syndicates. Class Four technologies are
back technology or return to a pre-technological considered to be sufficiently high risk that
lifestyle. They simply believe that the Stasis is any use of them is a threat. General purpose
necessary to preserve human nature and identity. experts, gene therapy, and nanotechnological

enhancement are considered to be Class Four. most allow for storage of new or updated infor-
Class Five (Restricted Manufacture and Use). mation. League law forbids the design and con-
These items may only be built and used by the struction of general-purpose experts, as they
Syndicates. Genetic or nanotechnological only real use for them that cannot be done with
modification of humans for any purpose a more limited expert is the design and con-
other than medical need is considered to be struction of restricted technology.
Class Five, as are any technologies that allow Tactical expert systems are deliberately
the design or testing of such things. designed to be capable of learning, using a devel-
Class Six (Forbidden). Research and use of opment of evolutionary programming. This pre-
“Forbidden” technology is not allowed under vents any two ship or vehicle tactical experts
any circumstances. Examples include “wild” from having exactly identical procedures and the
nanotechnology, immortality drugs, linkages obvious predictability that would result.
between human brains, and any modification Experts are powerful machines, but they
that threatens to alter what the Syndicates remain just that—machines. Experts can learn,
define as human nature. The technology to play games, even simulate emotions and carry
create Facers is considered Class Six. on a limited form of conversation, but they are
The Stasis is difficult to maintain, and viola- incapable of producing art, translating the oper-
tions of it are relatively common. On the whole, ation of the human mind, or understanding
however, the League manages to uphold it, abstract ideas. No pre-Emergence researcher
largely because they are quite aggressive about was ever able to construct a working AI, and if
enforcing the Quexana Protocol. The stasis can’t the Psaikhailou have, they haven’t communicat-
be violated in a meaningful fashion by a single ed their success to the League.
researcher working alone. It takes years of train- Natural language processing enables experts
ing and a great deal of money to do that kind of to understand broadly most requests for infor-
work, and most of the researchers interested in mation from a sapient being. However, these
technology end up in the one place they can per- functions fail often enough that anyone who
form their research freely—the Syndicates. Even must use an expert regularly learns one of sever-
if a Shard state does sponsor a violation, they are al languages designed to speed and simplify com-
unlikely to be able to make enough use of the munication. In 20th century terms, the various
technology to have a chance of successfully expert languages can be thought of as extremely
resisting the League military. The restrictions of high-level programming languages. The most
the Stasis are intentionally designed to make common of these languages, designed for every-
sure that it would take years, if not decades, for day home and commercial use, is “Explãn.”1
a Shard to build a military capable of resisting Others exist, such as “Milplan” (used in the mil-
the League. Isolated violations are common, but itary) and “Navplan” (used by telepaths).
potential Emergences require far more than that. Experts can store a practically infinite
amount of information—a typical home system
General Technologies is capable of recording over one decade’s worth
of high-resolution pao imagery, if played contin-
Experts ually. A reasonable degree of fluency in an
Experts are special-purpose computers. The expert language makes people far more effective
original computers were general purpose, with in locating information.
the capability of running prepackaged expert A typical user interface uses pao projectors to
systems or allowing their users to design their
own. This distinction is long since past. For the
last several hundred years, experts have been 1. Explãn is properly pronounced “explain.” Over
designed with most of their operating parame- time, the pronunciation has shifted to “explan,” and
ters hard-coded into their systems, although the correct use is now considered somewhat pedantic.

create a 3-dimensional image in the air. The The following are the most common colors of
expert then detects the movements of the user magic used in the League today:
and manipulates the image to respond to any Black—This most complex of magic forms consists
motions the user makes. Most people also wear of opto-electrical mechanica used in experts,
datagloves, which create the illusion of a tactile controls, etc. Highest grades are among the
response by stimulating the user’s nerve endings. most expensive material components.
Blue—This is a more advanced form of white
Nanotechnology magic and is used for important tasks. It is
Nanotechnology is the art and science of stronger than the more mundane forms of
building complex, practical machines with white magic.
atomic precision. It is could, therefore, be called Grey—This is used for structural/mechanical tasks.
“molecular engineering.” Many members of the It is also by far the cheapest magic available.
Nanotech Syndicate do refer to it as such. Red — This magic is unusual in that it consists of
geneered elements useful in medical and
Basic Terminology biotechnological applications.
Broadly, all technological items in the Violet — This magic is a mix of the rare elements
Svobodan League come in two varieties: “reac- necessary to control high frequency lasing.
tive” and “non-reactive.” More commonly, White—The commonest magic is high-grade
Soyuzniks refer to these varieties as “living” and structural material and among the strongest
“dead” respectively. Dead items are simple and materials in existence. White magic comes in
inert, while living items are dynamic and can several grades, each tailored to a particular use.
perform self-repair and other reactive tasks.
Although there are certainly exceptions to this Matter Compilers
rule, one can distinguish living objects from The commonest use of nanotechnology in the
dead ones by the fact that living objects draw League is the matter compiler. MCs are power-
power. Dead ones, true to their name, do not. ful experts that direct nanonic machinery. These
One of the other characteristics of reactive machines then set about reorganizing raw mate-
objects is that they must “eat” in order to con- rials on the molecular level to create the desired
tinue to function. Researchers did not solve the item. As such, MCs are the backbone of
technical difficulties inherent in developing Svobodan industry. Most mass-produced items
nanites that could refine raw materials in the are created using a matter compiler.
wild and allow them to repair themselves before The Nanotech Syndicate licenses and inspects
the imposition of the Stasis, and further research all matter compilers. Furthermore, only the
into this matter is forbidden. Living objects need Expert Syndicate manufactures and sells the
not eat often and they do so largely to enable experts that run the compilers. The Syndicate
their innate self-repair systems. What they eat is encodes each expert with a theoretically unbreak-
termed “magic” (micromechanical aggregated able quantum cryptographic public key that must
cells) tailored to the task at hand. be matched to the private key for that technology
There are multiple varieties of magic, each in the matter compiler. As a practical matter, the
one associated with a particular technological system probably can be defeated, but only
endeavor. By convention and for convenience, through a massive investment of time and energy.
each sort is named after a color. There is, how-
ever, no “general” magic that can be used to feed Other Common Uses
every living object. White magic is the closest to Nanotechnology pervades the industry of the
this since it is needed by almost everything. Svobodan League, despite the Stasis. There are
According to the rules of the Stasis, magic cre- numerous everyday uses of nanotechnology that
ation, distribution, and sale rest firmly within Soyuzniks accept without a second thought. A
the hands of the Syndicate cultures. few of the most prevalent are listed below. Most

are quite innocuous. munication system. Furthermore, with the devel-

• Full-wall video screens. opment of nano-optics, almost every person in
• Programmable “paint” that changes the League has some sort of personal communi-
color, texture, and pattern on command. cation device that is connected either into the
• Windows with variable transparency local landline system, or to the satellite commu-
that allow a person to select how trans- nication system orbiting the planet.
parent or opaque they are, allowing a With the extensive use of radio, microwave,
person to maintain a particular interior and fiber optics in conjunction with easily and
light level. Their transparency adjusts cheaply available experts, everyone on a planet is
dynamically as the outside light level connected to a worldwide information network.
changes. In some homes, the walls In fact, it is quite a feat to manage to avoid being
themselves have a variable transparency. connected and therefore traceable. In general,
• Seamless doors, cabinets, and closets Soyuzniks have instant access to any publicly
with no handles, hinges, or cracks. available information—trivia contests are a thing
• Time-release and time-retractable of the past. Only undeveloped outposts and
“smart drugs” that expose a chemical colonies lack an information net. It is often one
catalyst at a set time and then retracts it of the first services assembled on any world.
at another time. Telepathy is a restricted use of nanotech.
• Paint-on, expert-readable white boards There is nothing supernatural or paranormal
that can be sprayed onto any surface about it; it consists of a low-frequency transmis-
and, when written on with a special sty- sion of sub-vocalized conversations to a wireless
lus, read by an expert. network. Some telepathic systems allow the
• Reprogrammable “books” that retain transmission of sensory information as well, but
the tactile feel of printed books and these are Class Six restricted technology.
have the ability to keep one’s place in
them by thumb, but which have change- Medicine
able content. Such books are common The growth and development of the science of
among some phyles of the League, par- medicine in the Fourth Millennium would
ticularly the Muutzhans. astound observers from past eras. Several new
technologies, from nanites to cybernetics to
Restrictions “smart drugs,” have revolutionized the way
Nanotech is an extremely high-risk technolo- physicians conduct their duties. Consequently,
gy, and its use and sale are tightly controlled. In humanity is healthier and longer-lived than at
addition, Svobodan nanoengineering has not yet any time in the past.
managed to solve several problems with nanon-
ics. The primary limitation on their widespread Psychiatry
use is the continued inability to develop nan- As a rule, the Psychiatric Syndicate does not
otech “von Neumann” machines that are capa- allow the use of chemical or genetic therapy that
ble of refining raw elements found in nature for alters the chemical operation of the brain. The
their own use. Assemblers require pure sources sole exception is the use of recreational chemi-
of elements for use in construction and a regular cals. Previous experience with such attempts to
supply of magic for self-repair. This has prevent- cure those defined as sick by society has shown
ed the most egregious of the potential dangers that it can be far too easy to define somebody as
posed by this technology from happening. “ill.” Involuntary treatment is limited to those
individuals with problems that can result in
Communications & Information Theory severe harm to themselves or to others.
All but the most backward colony worlds in Physicians can diagnose most other problems,
the League have an extensive fiber-optic com- especially those with a biochemical basis.

Sufferers may then seek the help of qualified against diamond armor and so are only common
counselors and therapists. Most cultures provide in the Shards.
financial support to those who suffer from dis- Gauss weapons fire a sharp, aerodynamic
eases that are untreatable under the conditions bullet with a crystalline tip and superconducting
of the Stasis. base. Better weapons fire smart rounds that
sense impact, but wait for a while (5 cm worth
Biotechnology & Cybernetics of time) after penetrating the armor before frag-
Soyuzniks prefer cloned replacement limbs menting or exploding (although not much
and organs to cybernetics. Biotech consortia explosive can be carried in these small bullets).
grow these replacements from DNA samples
provided by their eventual user. Cloned replace- Lasers
ments take approximately three to four weeks to Most Svobodan military personnel and legal-
grow. These replacements only re-enable the ly purchased civilian weapons are excimer
normal capability of the limb or organ that they lasers. The laser became the dominant weapon
replace. Genetic enhancements are rarely made as a direct consequence of the development of
to cloned replacements. Most such enhance- diamond-based personal armor and portable,
ments are considered violations of the Stasis and powerful energy supplies. Excimer lasers emit
may actually be illegal. energy at the exact frequency required to dis-
Enhanced capabilities are often difficult to use solve carbon-to-carbon bonds between mole-
effectively by people who are not part of a cules. Since diamond and flesh are mostly or
parahuman species (and so born with the entirely carbon, this makes excimer lasers an
enhancement already in place). For instance, it is extremely effective antipersonnel weapon.
relatively simple to create an eye that is capable of Personal laser weapons are unusual outside
seeing outside the normal human visual spectrum, the League, as nanotech is required for con-
but the human brain will have trouble interpret- struction of the beam focusing mechanism, tube
ing the additional data. Over years, it may adapt, construction, and power supply. Without nan-
but the usual solution is to incorporate an expert otech, lasers are too bulky to compete with the
capable of translating the data into a false-colour reduced cost and weight of gauss. (Besides, with-
image in the spectral range the human brain is out nanotech-constructed diamond armor, lasers
used to handling and then replacing the normal are unnecessary).
optical image on a mental command.
The difference between biotechnology and Armor
cybernetics is mostly the materials used in con- Virtually all armor in the Svobodan League is
struction, since they perform much the same made from a high-strength diamond compound.
function. Cybernetic enhancements are capable Generally, most armor is live, to prevent wear
of more significant feats, but at the same time over time. It is common for people to use suits of
are more difficult to maintain. armor that are hundreds of years old.
In the Shards, where nanotech diamond manu-
Warfare facture is extremely rare, other materials are used
as armor. Although less effective per unit weight
Gauss Weapons than diamond, they still provide a reasonable
Ultra-High-Temperature Superconductors degree of protection against lasers. However, they
make Gauss Weapons very efficient. They can are far less effective against gauss weapons.
fire a variety of densities of ammunition for opti- Powered armor has an endoskeleton and
mal use against armored, or unarmored oppo- micromechanical motors to compensate for the
nents. They generally require very little energy weight of the armor and generally enhance the
compared to lasers and are as small and light as physical capabilities of the wearer as well.
recoil will permit. However, they are ineffective Powered armors typically require the immersion

of the wearer in oxygel, just like the sergeants tion at FTL speeds would mean that it was pos-
aboard combat spiders and the crews of wetships. sible for temporal paradoxes to occur.
This makes wearing powered armor nearly impos- In the centuries following his death, many
sible for individuals not trained in the niceties of ingenious theories were developed in the hopes
breathing a liquid. Therefore, one rarely encoun- of finding a way around this restriction. All of
ters powered armor outside of the military. them fell by the wayside, either because the sug-
gested method was found to violate physical law
Combat Spiders or because they would require the entire power
The combat spider is the main combat vehicle output of a small star.
of the League Mobile Infantry. Its distinctive In the 25th century, humanity found a way
appearance has become the emblem of League around the problem. A team of researchers led
military might. The spider is not quite a battle- by Dr. Iain MacInley noticed some odd energy
suit and not quite a vehicle; rather, it combines fluxes while performing an electromagnetic sur-
aspects of both. It closely resembles the spider; vey of the solar system. After years of research,
hence its name. MacInley and his team theorized that the fluxes
A spider is slightly larger than human-sized, were, in fact, energy leakage between parallel or
with a main body of approximately one metre in alternate universes and proposed that the exis-
diameter. It is designed purely for combat pur- tence of these alternate universes might explain
poses, The “head” of the spider is generally the “dark matter” phenomenon that had
filled with sensory and communication equip- plagued cosmology for centuries.
ment. The main body stores weapons, power, Over the next 15 years, MacInley was able to
and sometimes the sergeant. The head and body verify his theory that the fluxes represented con-
are protected by a diamond shell. tact points with alternate universes. Several
Spiders operate far too rapidly to be effective- probes were sent “through” the flux, or at least
ly controlled by a human, even an enhanced one. so it was presumed—all that could be deter-
Consequently, the millisecond-to-millisecond mined for certain was that the probes vanished
activities of a spider are directed by expert sys- and never returned.
tems designed and built for the purpose. Most The breakthrough that led to the develop-
spiders are unmanned robots. Each squad has a ment of node transit came with the sale of the
single “sergeant” who is responsible for making University of Toronto to the Trans-Russian
tactical decisions for the group as a whole. People’s Union. At that time, the TRPU was
The sergeant is located in the command spider beginning to fracture as a result of conflicts
for an individual unit. This spider is visually iden- between the Materialist, Alienist, and
tical to all other units in the squad, to prevent Spiritualist branches of its state religion, the
detection by hostile forces. Spider combat tactics Church of the Space Brothers.2 The Materialist
are also focused on keeping the identity of the faction of the CSB believed that MacInley’s
command unit hidden from potential opponents.
Non-command spiders are able to carry a larger
amount of weaponry and magic, as the interior of 2. Church of the Space Brothers no longer exists. In
the main body is unoccupied. The sergeant is sus- the aftermath of Kroschenko and Nozich’s successful
pended in oxygel to prevent injury from shocks transit, membership skyrocketed, but would eventu-
and high acceleration. He is connected to the ally decline as no sign of the Space Brothers (or any
command spider by a neural interface. intelligent life) was found in any solar system.
Eventually the Church developed posthumanist lean-
Cosmology and Space Travel ings, interpreting Marya’s writings to suggest that the
Faster-than-light travel is, of course, impossi- Space Brothers were human descendants time-travel-
ble. Back in the 20th century, Albert Einstein ling to the future. They ultimately became one of the
demonstrated conclusively that sending informa- epicenters of the Psaikhailou Emergence.

nodes were the conduit through which the Space of a node transit drive. The nodes connect iden-
Brothers reached our reality from their own, tical points in space in alternate universes, the
more advanced universe. They assigned Dr. vast majority of which are close parallels to our
Andrei Kroschenko, the head of the Moscow own, down to the level of having the same plan-
Institute of Brain, to find a way to detect the ets in the same orbits.
passage of the Space Brothers through the node There exists a probability curve from which
and communicate with them. the known star systems diverge from the earth.
Over the next few years, as the conflicts The two points of highest divergence are evenly
between the factions inside the CSB caused the divided between a period within the last two bil-
TRPU to collapse into civil way, Kroschenko lion years and close to the beginning of the uni-
became more desperate. Finally, in flagrant viola- verse. A small smattering of universes that
tion of the Nanotech Accords, he created a diverged at other times are also accessible, but
nanophage to incorporate electromagnetic sens- the two main loci account for 95% of all the uni-
ing and interpretation hardware into human verses so far visited. This means that most settled
beings, hoping that it would allow them to “tele- systems are in fact close alternates of earth. No
pathically” communicate with the Space universe has yet been discovered that has a sapi-
Brothers. Three people survived the nanophage— ent species occupying earth, human or otherwise.
one of them Kroschenko’s daughter, Marya. Telepathic individuals can taste the presence
All three claimed to be receiving messages of a node at close range without assistance, and
from the Space Brothers, but it was Marya who at much greater ranges with a Kroschenko
made the most dramatic claim—that she could amplifier. The telepath can also sense the various
“taste” the presence of several alternate univers- “flavors” of the node, which tells him where
es mixed into the node. The shift in energy state they lead. Each universe has a distinct flavor that
that MacInley’s drive used to transit the node is common to all nodes that connect to it. A
had to be precisely tuned to a particular universe telepath can also calculate the exact frequency
or else the ship would disintegrate in transit, its and timing required for the transit.
atoms distributed at random between multiple One interesting side effect of the nodes is that
alternate realities. the “closer” alternate universes possess stronger
Desperate to successfully complete a transit telepathic signatures and have a tendency to
before funding for the project was cut off, drown out the weaker, more “distant” universes.
MacInley and Kroschenko developed sensors Some frequencies are simply too faint to be
and experts to supplement Mayra’s new electri- detected by human telepaths, although the
cal senses so that she could safely pilot a vessel Psaikhailou are known to use these routes.
through the node. With a co-pilot, Laura The energy costs to make a node transit
Nozich, they were able to make a successful increase exponentially with the mass and vol-
transit—but were shocked by what they found ume of the transiting vehicle. This means that
in each parallel universe. smaller ships are much more cost-effective than
They found Earth. larger vessels. Nodes are known to be located
throughout the solar system, but due to the dif-
Node Transfer ficulty of locating any in distant orbits, practi-
There are still a lot of mysteries surrounding cality requires that almost all nodes that see reg-
node transit, and there are at least six theories ular use are in the inner system.
that seek to explain them in wide currency (the
most popular being a variant on MacInley’s Spacecraft
original theory that relied on “many worlds”). A government like the Svobodan League
The known facts are as follows: Nodes are would be impossible without fast, reliable space-
places where a telepath can move a volume of craft. There are two broad categories of such
space from one universe to another with the help vehicles in the Fourth Millennium: dryships and

wetships. There are, of course, subdivisions Many of these ships have sections that can be
within these two groups. rotated to provide comfort to passengers. Fusion
rockets are the most popular mode of locomo-
Wetships tion, but other propulsion methods are used in
Wetships are pure combat vessels used by the worlds throughout human space.
League military. The crews of wetships do not The Fourth Millennium RPG will include
breathe air. Instead, they spend their entire tours much more extensive information on space trav-
of duty submerged in liquid oxygel, which el and rules for spacecraft construction.
allows them to survive the hundred-G accelera-
tions common in space combat. THE COSMOS IN 3001
Oxygel is a dense oxygen-saturated fluorocar-
bon fluid. It contains approximately three times The Shards
the oxygen found in normal air, and it is capable The shards are a collection of thirty-nine
of absorbing the carbon dioxide found in the states, ranging in size from dozen or so worlds to
human lung. The fluid is dense enough to prevent one continent on a single world. The League
the lungs from collapsing during high accelera- calls them the Successor States or, more deroga-
tions and provide support and insulation against torily, the Shards. Unlike the League, the Shards
the shock of rapid maneuvers. In addition, it have no unified policies on any matter, including
equalizes pressure across the body, preventing the Stasis –– which is why the League sees them
blood from draining away from the brain. as such a threat.
The pressure on the body when fully
immersed in oxygel is approximately equal to Voloshin
one atmosphere per 10G of acceleration. Since it If the Shards have a common feature, it’s their
is impossible to speak while breathing oxygel, instability compared to the Svobodan League.
most people who must do so regularly are Most are comprised of phyles that are too nar-
implanted with experts that can intercept nerve rowly focused, rigid or just plain bizarre to have
impulses, translate them into speech, and broad- ever been successfully incorporated into the
cast them to other personnel or experts. League, even as associate members. That’s true of
Naval personnel assigned to wetships are a the Voloshin in spades. Bad enough that this cul-
rare breed. They undergo extensive physical and ture is both religiously technophiliac and com-
psychological testing to ensure that they can munistic, but its tottering leaders are slowly los-
endure life on a wetship. The strain of living in ing authority with the people they supposedly
and breathing in a fluid environment for six represent. Three different rebel groups have aris-
months out of every year is quite great. Most en in the last decade, plunging the Voloshin into
people are unable to make the adjustment. civil war and threatening to blow the lid off the
Wetships are uncommon outside the already-limited enforcement of the Stasis. Many
Svobodan League. Only antimatter drives accel- Syndics believe it’s only a matter of time before
erate fast enough to require a wetship environ- one group or other produces and uses Class Four
ment, and very few phyles have enough energy or higher technologies – which is why the League
resources to create enough antimatter fuel to views the Voloshin with increasing alarm.
power a wetship navy.
Territory
Dryships The Voloshin control three worlds. The most
Commercial spacecraft, as well as non- important of these is Yakutia, with a population
Svobodan military vessels, are almost all dry- of 500 million people. The other two worlds are
ships. Dryships use a normal oxy-nitrogen Magadan and Evenk, each with populations of
atmosphere. Since artificial gravity has proved approximately 100 million each.
as elusive a dream as faster than light travel.

History and Outlook be seized by the state “in the interests of the
The Voloshin phyle takes its present form and common good.” Political power is acquired
name from the man who founded it, Mitri through directly democratic means and referen-
Voloshin, a 27th century scientist who claimed to da are common means of making decisions. Of
be the scientific heir of Andrei Kroschenko. He course, Voloshin orthodoxy is paramount and
based this claim largely on his continued work in no law, no matter how popular, can overturn its
the field cerebral nanophages, which is to say dictates. A special police force, the Khranitelye,
nanotechnology that directly affected the human is responsible for ensuring that no one under-
brain and thought processes. Like his inspiration, mines the great work the phyle is undertaking.
Voloshin showed little regard for the niceties of In recent years, the Khranitelye have become
technological restrictions, believing that the ends increasingly strident, setting up prison camps for
justified the means, since his ends were nothing those who dissent from Voloshin orthodoxy.
less than the elimination of the taint of Original Few dare to go against their dictates.
Sin from future generations of humanity. In recent years, the Voloshin leadership has
Voloshin was a religious fanatic who belonged attempted to step back from its grand project to
to a strange Christian sect known as the create Adam Kadmon. The fact is that the tech-
Antilapsarians, who believed it was God’s will that nology they possess is limited and is yielding few
humans should heal the effects of Adam’s Fall results. Rather than admit to defeat—which
through technology. Even the Fall was part of would be political suicide—they are changing
God’s plan for the cosmos. By tasting of the Tree the parameters of Mitri Voloshin’s view.
of Knowledge, Adam did not merely sin, he also Furthermore, the Syndicates have begun exerting
laid the groundwork for the eventual redemption pressure (backed by the Svobodan League) to
of his descendants. Voloshin saw technology as the toe the line of the Stasis. It was this that precip-
key to that redemption. Through continued devel- itated the current civil war and laid the ground-
opment of nanophages, cerebral enhancements, work for the slow disintegration of this phyle.
and genetic engineering, he hoped to create a new
Adam (whom they call “Adam Kadmon”) who The Players
would become the father of a race of humans who President Stasia Venclova. President Venclova
would once again walk with God in a Garden of finds herself in a difficult position. Voloshin
Eden elsewhere in the cosmos. orthodoxy requires that she forge ahead with
Voloshin’s weird philosophy was roundly con- the antilapsarian project the phyle has under-
demned in his lifetime and had little immediate taken since its beginning. However, she rec-
influence. In the aftermath of the Psaikhailou ognizes that this invites Svobodan interven-
Emergence, though, it gained some adherents tion, since the League takes a dim view of
among refugees from Earth, who despised the anyone who flouts the Stasis, whatever the
Stability Pact even more than the parahumans. reason for doing so. The four-way civil war
These refugees believed that the end of the present has also taken its toll, forcing her to buttress
age was at hand and that their plans to create a her credentials as a true believer even if it
new Adam must be accelerated. As the Stasis came means inviting outside attention to Voloshin
into effect, the Voloshin had no choice but to flee activities, not mention the possibility of
further along the node network to escape its stric- admitting that antilapsarianism may be a
tures. Their violations were few, it is true, but they flawed dream. For now, Venclova has opted
nevertheless worried about the possibility that for a balancing act, playing one side off
their divine mission might one day be compro- against the other until she can gain the allies
mised if the Svobodan League and the Syndicates she needs to restore stability.
paid too close an attention to their actions. First Vice-President Yarok Malchugina.
Voloshin society is extremely egalitarian and Malchugina believes that President Venclova
communistic. Private property is limited and can is weak and has strayed from the truth, which

is why the civil war has become so intractable only because many Voloshin find the alterna-
in the last few years. He probably intends to tives—including the current government—
stage a coup in the next few months, particu- even worse. Some analysts suspect that
larly if Voloshin Reform or Bog’s Elect show Psykers or perhaps even the Variad
signs of gaining significant ground. His goal Emergence supports Batkin, although evi-
is to pursue Voloshin’s historic goals while at dence for these claims is slim at best.
the same time remaining outside the orbit of Voloshin Renewal. Zofia Alvarez leads the sec-
the Svobodan League – and therefore the ond most important rebel group in Voloshin.
Stasis. Malchugina will do anything that A Muutzhan by birth, she came to Voloshin
helps him achieve these goals, even if it means five years ago as part of a SIS Voodoo Team
seizing power illicitly. and quickly became too heavily involved with
Second Vice-President Lazar Pencherjevsky. Like the locals. She married a Voloshin and decid-
his counterpart, Yarok Malchugina, ed that the phyle could be reformed along
Pencherjevsky is willing to do whatever is Svobodan lines. The League government
necessary to achieve his ends. However, the never shared her view and deemed her a
second vice-president is no Voloshin true rogue element, attempting to retrieve her by
believer. Instead, he is a venal opportunist force on no less than three occasions. Despite
who sees the current civil war as a chance to this, she remains adamant in her quest to
achieve leadership of the phyle – or at least make the Voloshin model cosmic citizens. Her
make himself rich. To that end, Pencherjevsky agenda is very pro-League and is gaining pop-
is cultivating contacts with the True Voloshin ularity among younger Voloshin, who are
rebels and the Organizatsiya, hoping that one tired of the government’s corruption and
(or both) will enable him to come out on top. strict adherence to an “outdated” version of
The Khrenitelye. The dreaded religious police of Mitri Voloshin’s faith.
Voloshin, these brutal enforcers of orthodoxy Bog’s Elect. The smallest of Voloshin’s three
are split in their loyalties. Some support rebel groups is a fundamentalist Orthodox
President Venclova, some Vice-President Catholic group led by a defrocked priest
Pencherjevsky, while others are drawn to True named Vissarion Godina. Godina was once
Voloshin. This internal division has neutered the darling of the Church, having first con-
the once-mighty group. However, individual verted to the faith and then launching a mas-
Khrenitelye remain important, providing sive missionary effort designed to show that
assistance in many areas, including intelli- Orthodox Catholicism provided the answers
gence gathering and covert operations. If one the Voloshin sought. Godina’s work initially
faction looks like it’s gaining the upper hand went well, converting thousands of Voloshin
in the civil war, it’s likely the Khrenitelye will and attracting the attention of the govern-
rally behind them, if only to ensure their own ment, which cracked down hard on the mis-
place in the aftermath. sion. When Pope Clement forbade Godina to
True Voloshin. Led by the dour former take up arms in response, the priest claimed
Khranitelye Mot’ka Batkin, this anti-League to receive a vision from God telling him not
rebel group wishes to overthrow the current only to disobey Clement but that the End
Voloshin regime and establish a new one Times were approaching and only a chosen
based on a closer adherence to Mitri few will survive to enter into the Kingdom of
Voloshin’s original doctrines. The group Heaven. Unsurprisingly, Bog’s Elect is a fanat-
views President Venclova as a cultural ical group with a tendency toward extreme
“heretic” and literally demonizes the violence.
Svobodan League and Syndicates as agents of The Syndicates. The Syndicates are working
Chernobog, the sect’s equivalent of Satan. overtime in Voloshin, but with very little suc-
These rebels have as much support as they do cess. In part, that’s because the phyle’s leader-

ship has always seen the Syndicates as “tools Territory

of Svobodan oppression” and has thus kept Mordovi is by far the largest Shard, compris-
them at arm’s length. Syndics are not official- ing fourteen worlds. Its capital – and most heav-
ly banned from travel in Voloshin territory; ily populated world – is Chuvash. Other worlds
they simply find their movements blocked at in the Dominate include: Buenaventura,
every turn. They are likewise rarely allowed Córdoba, Florencia, Kislar, Martan, Mitú,
to visit research and production facilities Neiva, San José, Shalina, Tunja, Vauya,
unescorted, making their job very difficult, if Villavallencio, and Yopal.
not impossible. Consequently, they must rely
on covert means, which only solidifies official History and Outlook
opinion against them. The Mordovi are a rigidly autocratic society
SIS. The League’s Security and Intelligence in which the term “civilian government” means
Service keeps a close eye on events in Voloshin little. All government ministers are also military
space. Several Voodoo Teams are already pres- officers and all Mordovi must serve in the mili-
ent, primarily to gather intelligence. However, tary for part of their young adulthood. Like the
they have also hope to undermine True League, the Mordovi believe military force to be
Voloshin before it seizes power and lays the a necessary deterrent to unrestrained technolog-
groundwork for new Emergences. ical dabbling. Unlike the League, the Mordovi
The Organizatsiya. Wherever there’s unrest, generally believes it to be the only one. The
there are criminals waiting to take advantage Interdiction Service regularly practices gunboat
of the situation. The Organizatsiya is here, diplomacy against states that don’t toe the line
providing illegal technology—mostly of the Stasis.
weapons—to anyone who can pay. That’s Technologically, the Mordovi are the League’s
mostly True Voloshin and Voloshin Renewal, equal. However, Mordovans view technology
but even Bog’s Elect has paid good money for with great skepticism. The government – and the
the latest military hardware. That these Syndicates that assist it – has enacted significant
crooks are still operating in Voloshin space is controls over its use, especially nanotechnology.
seen as a good sign; they usually pull out if Consequently, they view Svobodans as “lax”
they think things are about to get really bad, given their willingness to use technologies that
which is admittedly a relative term. “corrupt man and nature.” Svobodans, of
“Adam Kadmon.” Rumors have begun to circu- course, argue against too rigid an interpretation
late that the long-awaited Voloshin Messiah is of the Stasis, believing the Mordovi have sacri-
present on one of the phyle’s worlds, drawing ficed too much freedom for safety from the
followers to himself in order to lead his people Psaikhailou. In turn, the Mordovi believe the
to greatness. There is no proof that these League has sacrificed their humanity for comfort.
rumors are any more than that. Of course, it’s This forthrightness and clarity of purpose is
possible that a new rebel faction is forming, attractive to many Soyuzniks, a few of whom
one based around a man claiming to be the emigrate to the Mordovi. In its propaganda war
culmination of the phyle’s fondest wishes. If against the League, the Mordovi laud these
so, the situation will only get worse here. expatriates for “abandoning Svobodan duplici-
ty.” The League in turn has its share of Mordovi
Mordovi émigrés, most of whom appreciate its more
If there’s such a thing as an “honorable nuanced approach to the Stasis.
enemy,” the Mordovi are it. Although it oppos- Despite these differences, the League and the
es the League on a number of fronts, the Mordovi rarely fight one another directly, prefer-
Mordovi abides strictly by the Stasis (some say ring to act through surrogates and covert opera-
too strictly), sometimes assisting the Svobodans tives. This is a war of words and ideals, not
against other technophile Shards like Horthval. weapons and starships. Even so, the League con-

cedes little to the Mordovi, even as they work History and Outlook
together to defeat the worst violators of the Stasis. Horthval is actually one of the youngest
Shards, having been created only 60 years ago
The Players by Alfredo Horthval, a rebel against the
President-General Simone Lamisong. Head of Mordovi. Horthval was a shrewd operator, an
the Executive Council, Lamisong is the public officer in the Interdiction Service who claimed to
face of the Mordovi. Her power is extensive, be inspired by Svobodan heroes like Rakhel
but she leaves the day-to-day details of gover- Lanzan and Conh Mgrdichian and a Svobodan
nance to her chancellor, Mitri Hevernin. understanding of the Stasis. He secretly
Minister-Colonel Van Aral. Aral heads the approached the League government to back his
important Ministry of Technolgy and its rebellion against the Mordovi. Loyalist Premier
enforcement arm, the Interdiction Service. He Marcia Ching refused, worried about upsetting
holds strongly anti-League opinions and even détente with the Mordovi. Consequently,
suspects the Syndicates of failing to toe the Horthval looked elsewhere for support, includ-
proper lie against the Psaikhailou. ing several Mordovan consortia that chafed
The Syndicates. These scientific phyles operate under their narrow vision of the Stasis.
freely within Mordovi territory and, as such, After three years of fighting, Horthval success-
are suspected of collusion by both the fully gained independence for three worlds. He
Mordovi and the Svobodans. Undeterred by then set about to establish a regime in which “the
such narrow recriminations, the Syndicates boons of technology were not withheld from the
go about their vital business. people.” The practical effect of this ideology was
Svobodan Expatriates. These idealistic men and rampant technological experimentation and
women (many of them young adults) are radi- immense power for the consortiate interests that
cals who’ve accepted Mordovan propaganda backed it. In time, Horthval’s megalomania
about the League. While their actual importance proved too much for even the consortia, which
is minimal, they’re an important symbol in the found their assets nationalized and tech programs
cold war between these two powers. Some para- co-opted by Horthval. Not surprisingly, few ben-
noids even argue they’re part of a plot to desta- efited from these policies except Horthval and his
bilize the League government and replace it with children, Antonio and Margarita.
an authoritarian clone of the Mordovi. Alfredo’s recent death sent shockwaves
through the phyle. Most League analysts doubt-
Horthval ed either Antonio or his sister was capable of fill-
While Svobodan newsgrids commonly por- ing their father’s immense shoes. Neither had his
tray this Shard as a basket case constantly on the iron will or rapport with the all-important mili-
brink of collapse (which it is), the League gov- tary. Yet, somehow, Antonio managed to gain
ernment nevertheless considers it a grave threat the support of key people and has retained con-
to the maintenance of the Stasis. Horthval is trol. How long this will last remains to be seen.
home to a variety of rogue research facilities, For now, Horthval remains a serious threat –
including nanotech and geneering. Its unstable especially if Antonio continues to dabble in
leader, Antonio Horthval, also plays at terror- Stasis violations and anti-League terrorism in
ism, although his efforts to date have been ama- equal measure.
teurish and easily foiled. If you’re a Soyuznik, don’t even think of
going here. Horthval believes the League is out
Territory to get it – which isn’t far from the truth – and
Horthval consists only of three worlds: the treats all Svobodans as potential spies. Visitors
capital, Pasig, and two others, Korondal and from other states (including other Shards) may
Digos. not travel without a government guide. While in
Horthval, visitors are bombarded with propa-

ganda. On the upside, crime is not a problem; The Svobodan League

most criminal acts carry the death penalty here. The Svobodan League is an alliance of dis-
Unsurprisingly, the League does not maintain tinct cultures (also called “phyles”) that have
diplomatic relations with Horthval. banded together for defense against the
Psaikhailou. Each of these cultures possesses
The Players worlds of their own and cultural enclaves else-
Alfredo Horthval. So the man’s dead, what dif- where. Each possesses its own government and
ference does that make? For 57 years, he was code of laws.
the phyle’s lord and god. Even from beyond The government of the Svobodan League over-
the grave, a man like that has power – espe- sees the mutual defense and economic well-being
cially when a sizeable minority of the General of the founding cultures and other phyles under
Staff is less than impressed with his son and its protection. The League is not, and was never
successor. Coup anyone? intended to be, a “central government” in the
Antonio Horthval. The Hegemony’s new messi- sense of past federal states. Rather, the League is
ah. He cuts a rather sad figure compared to a coordinating body dedicated to ensuring that
his imposing and iron-fisted father. Antonio’s the cultures of the League survive the threat posed
just as cruel as Alfredo ever was (he’s been by the Psaikhailou and the Shards.
known to torture servants for minor trans- Despite the rhetoric of its detractors, the
gressions), but is, if possible, more xenopho- Svobodan League is not a monolithic or an all-
bic and paranoid. However, he does recognize encompassing government. The League govern-
genuine talent, having elevated junior officers ment restricts its activities to a number of specif-
to power who’ve found ways to make his ic areas and exercises jurisdiction over relatively
harebrained schemes work. few spheres. Most worlds and governments with-
Margarita Horthval. Antonio’s half-sister and in the League possess a great deal of autonomy.
occasional rival for power. Older than her
half-brother, Margarita was not well liked by Svobodan Culture
her father and so overlooked when he chose The Svobodan League works almost despite
his successor. However, Margarita has allies itself. It works because the member cultures of
in the phyle’s intelligence community, some of the League have found a set of principles—spo-
whom would be glad to see her replace her ken and unspoken—that allow them to work
unstable brother. together towards something that they perceive
The Military. Horthval has the largest per capi- to be a greater good. These principles form the
ta military in the Shards. Many of its mem- basis of “Svobodan Culture.”
bers spend their time “protecting” poverty- With the exception of the Syndicates,
stricken worlds by shaking down their inhab- Svobodans are strongly religious. Most see
itants for food and valuables. Antonio God’s hand in the day-to-day workings of the
depends on these thugs to maintain his power universe. In part, it is this faith in a higher pur-
and he affords them every opportunity to pose to life that drives the struggle against the
indulge themselves. Psaikhailou. Life is a test and a preparation for
the world beyond.
Other Shards Most Svobodans also feel a strong sense of
By their very nature, the Shards defy easy duty to their phyles. Much of the average
classification. Each one is unique, having its own Soyuznik’s sense of self is rooted in his or her cul-
history, culture, and stance toward the League ture. The phyle is set up to preserve and protect
and the Stasis. While the three described above that culture. Loyalty to one’s phyle is loyalty to
show the breadth and depth of the Successor oneself. This feeling of responsibility is pervasive
States, they don’t tell the whole story. across the social spectrum. However, blind loyalty
is rare. Soyuzniks feel perfectly capable of judg-

ing the actions of their leaders and are quite will- geographical districts. Cabinet ministers, including
ing to destroy them if they go too far. the Premier, are members of one or the other of the
Soyuzniks also do not appreciate inquisitiveness. Diet’s two chambers and are collectively responsi-
Surveillance technology is so widespread that there ble to the Senate. Together the Premier and cabi-
is no possible means to enforce privacy regulations. net administer the League, so long as they have the
As a result, Svobodans tend to be very formal and support of the majority of Senators.
careful to behave in ways that are above reproach— The current Premier, Django Turbain, is also
but at the same time, it is considered very unethical the President. This unprecedented concentration
to pry into another’s business or engage in gossip. of power in a single individual was a result of
Not that that stops anyone, but they have to keep the collapse of the previous government due to
their voices down when they do it. accusations of war crimes committed by the
Svobodan culture stresses “authenticity” in League in the Secessionist War.
everything. “Inauthentic” is a typical jibe at any-
thing, whether it be a person, a device, or a work Department of Special Investigations (DSI)
of art, which seems to violate social norms. DSI is an agency of the Ministry of Defense,
Wood is preferred to plastic or metal. Appliances and is the primary law enforcement agency of the
and technology are usually made to look hand- League. The responsibilities of DSI include the
crafted, and minor imperfections are deliberate- investigation of espionage, sabotage, and subver-
ly incorporated to make each device one-of-a- sive activities, as well as other actions related to
kind. Svobodan homes and offices are usually the internal security of the League such as organ-
filled with potted plants and indoor gardens. ized crime, drug trafficking, and especially terror-
Most Soyuzniks have pets, and it is common for ism. All of these responsibilities derive from its
businesses to have a cat or dog on the premises. mandate as the primary enforcer of League law.
Soyuzniks detest virtual reality programs and DSI jurisdiction extends to over 300 matters
games. Soyuzniks believe VR to be an attempt to within the territory of the Svobodan League,
avoid reality. It is, therefore, probably one of the including data theft, extortion, racketeering,
most “inauthentic” activities in which one can kidnapping, and a few tech crimes not under the
engage. Instead, Soyuzniks enjoy pao programs auspices of the Syndicates. DSI also investigates
that employ live actors. Live performances, infringement of civil rights.
whether plays or musical concerts, are even DSI is the only law enforcement organization
more highly appreciated. Live-action role-play- within uncultured regions. Frequently, DSI
ing is also a common form of entertainment. agents assigned to these areas are overworked
and poorly supported. On these earths, DSI
Government of the Svobodan League enforces League law and guarantees the safety of
The Head of State of the Svobodan League is members of recognized cultures. DSI agents
the President, whose role is largely ceremonial operating among the Uncultured have almost
(although some Presidents have used the posi- military authority to commandeer civilian per-
tion to push a political agenda of their own). sonnel, equipment, and installations.
The Head of Government is the Premier, who DSI also plans and organizes the domestic
must maintain the support of both houses of the counter-intelligence forces of the League.
Diet to remain in power. Activities directed against the League govern-
The Diet is the supreme legislature of the ment within League space, such as terrorism,
Svobodan League. It consists of two chambers, the espionage, and incitement to revolution, all fall
Senate, which is the upper house, and the Duma, within the jurisdiction of DSI.
which is the lower house. The Senate is by far the
most important of the two houses—its members Security and Intelligence Service (SIS)
are appointed by the member phyles of the SIS is responsible for keeping the government
League, while members of the Duma represent informed of foreign actions affecting the

League’s interests. “Big Sister” (as it is some- long-term credibility with groups including tech
times called) coordinates all League intelligence smugglers, pirates, and other dubious charac-
activities and other duties assigned to it by the ters, and they have to be very careful when con-
Premier. Most of SIS’s work involves the collec- ducting their operations not to blow their long-
tion, analysis, and dissemination of military, term cover, and also have to frequently engage in
political, and economic data. dubious or outright criminal activities.
SIS is also responsible for counterespionage
activities. Its mission is to prevent the placement Controversy and Investigations
of foreign agents in sensitive League agencies. Even some Soyuzniks consider clandestine
Within the territory of the Svobodan League, activities abhorrent. Most, however, recognize
this work is coordinated with the Department of that secret intelligence collection is necessary to
Special Investigations (DSI). There is, however, a protect the security of the League. Generally,
great deal of rivalry between SIS and DSI. SIS Soyuzniks support covert political activities in
views DSI as a junior partner without any real times of crisis. This is one of several reasons why
expertise in the area of espionage. successive League governments have stressed the
Covert political operations by SIS have danger posed to humanity by the Psaikhailou.
ranged from subsidizing friendly foreign politi- The role of the SIS Coordinator as the princi-
cians, parties, or pressure groups to providing pal League intelligence officer and coordinator
assistance in combating subversion, to conduct- of activities of the other agencies has often been
ing paramilitary operations support certain exile in dispute. Over the years, critics have made fre-
forces with training and equipment. quent proposals to divest the head of SIS of the
coordinating role and assign that function to a
Voodoo Teams member of the cabinet.
Voodoo Teams are small (6–12 person) SIS has been investigated a number of times
groups of SIS agents with greater-than-average by various task force groups, one of which in
freedom of action. Usually assigned to vessels 2999 recommended major reorganization of SIS
disguised as small merchant craft, Voodoo operations. Following major intelligence fail-
Teams report directly to the Coordinator of SIS. ures during the Secessionist War, Premier
By virtue of Executive Order 2822-1029, Turbain has appointed a group to act on some
Voodoo Teams may even legally operate within of these recommendations.
the borders of the League “to combat known SIS has also come under extensive examina-
and persistent threats to the stability of the tion by the Diet. The Diet found that the Service
League or any of its member cultures.” had been engaged in unlawful domestic spying
Voodoo Teams serve as mobile strike forces activities and had been implicated in assassina-
that act against Psaikhailou agents, violators of tion attempts on foreign leaders. In addition, the
the Stasis, terrorists, and other threats. The spectacular failure of a Voodoo Team operating
Coordinator frequently calls upon them to aid on Muutzha itself in 3000 resulted in the exis-
DSI in the investigation of the activities of tence of QuAMO units being made known to
League-wide menaces. Members of Voodoo the general public of the League. Not only was
Teams come from a variety of backgrounds, the public outraged by the idea of espionage
including the scientific community. In most activities being sanctioned within League space,
cases, Syndicate members function as part of but also many Deputies of the Duma resented
these teams as well. This ensures that the teams being left uninformed about these activities.
have the multi-faceted skills necessary to fulfill Because of these and other similar abuses, the
their missions. Duma and Senate have recently established per-
Voodoo Teams generally operate under manent committees to oversee SIS operations.
extremely deep cover and have very little contact These committees have exclusive jurisdiction
with SIS. Their mission requires that they build over review of SIS activities.

Cultures of the Svobodan League Muutzha

Muutzhan culture is the most widespread
Citizenship and Culture within the Svobodan League. The Muutzhans
There is no such thing as “Svobodan” citizen- are considered by outsiders to be the epitome of
ship. The League does not grant citizenship to the Svobodan League. Indeed, many people
any individuals under its protection because it is (especially Muutzhans) tend to conflate the
not a phyle and only phyles can grant the privi- League with the Muutzhans, treating them as if
leges and responsibilities of citizenship. The they were the same.
“Uncultured,” as the Muutzhans especially are Almost above everything else, Muutzhans
prone to call them, are people who do not value personal responsibility and honor.
belong to any culture at all, whether by choice or Muutzhan ethical philosophies emphasize acting
circumstance. in accordance with the “nature of man” and in
Phyles determine one’s rights and duties, not accord with his inherent “duties” to his fellow
the place of one’s birth. With a few exceptions, man, to the state, and, perhaps most important-
phyles require an “apprenticeship” period before ly of all, to God, his Creator.
one is granted a place within its ranks. This Muutzhans see themselves as a strongly con-
apprenticeship lasts an arbitrary amount of time, servative and traditionalist people. They are not
as determined by the culture in question. Among ones to fly in “the face of history.” In conversa-
the founding cultures of the League, the period is tion, they will frequently refer to the past in order
generally twenty years. Prior to achieving full to justify current actions and attitudes. Indeed, in
standing in a culture, prospective members are many ways Muutzhans are obsessed with history,
expected to immerse themselves in their culture particularly with the 24th century and the
of enrolment and to learn its ways in preparation Renovatio. Historical dramas and popular litera-
for any number of “cultural literacy” and citi- ture are filled with allusions to that period.
zenship tests. Those who pass are formally Because of these views, many Muutzhans
admitted into the phyle after taking an oath of appear arrogant, pompous, and overly proud of
loyalty, thereby gaining all that accrues to such their self-avowed superiority. They are sure of
membership. Those who do not are rejected, their culture’s duty, even right, to rule over “less-
although there are often provisions for re-testing. er” cultures. The League is good for them, these
Enrolment into a culture can occur in any chauvinist Muutzhans argue, because it brings
number of ways. Most commonly, parents enroll “civilization and culture” to those “unfortunate
their children at birth to ensure that they will souls.” Muutzhans are justly proud of the League
become full members by age 20. Enrolment later they have created. To the average Muutzhan,
is common as well. In such cases, there are pro- their phyle is the single greatest force in human
visions to account for previous experience and history, excepting perhaps the Orthodox
knowledge. Service in any branch of the League Catholic Church, and maybe even then!
military grants automatic cultural membership The upper classes of Muutzhan society have
in the phyle of one’s choice after 20 years. Some pedigrees reaching back to the settlement of
Home Guards have similar provisions. Muutzha. Families like the Lanzans and Rostov-
Multiple cultural memberships are possible in Davisons have no noble titles, but they are nev-
some cases. Most cultures forbid such “dual cit- ertheless powerful. Many run megacorporations
izenships” but some make exceptions, especially or have members in the Premier’s Cabinet. In
in cases of certain religious phyles, like the short, the Muutzhan “aristocracy” need not
Mormons and the Jews. In any event, the Treaty have the overt accouterments of nobility in order
of Svoboda leaves such matters entirely up to the to exert influence over Muutzhan society.
cultures in question. The League government Muutzhans pride themselves on having an
does and indeed cannot interfere in a culture’s “aristocracy of ability,” even if this is more myth
induction process. than reality. “Meritocracy” is another term

Muutzhans like to employ when speaking of the genetic engineering that makes the gardai so
their society and it is accurate in many respects. effective, and so do not reach nearly the same
In theory, the social classes are very fluid, as reaction speeds. However, the value of the
would befit a genuine meritocracy. One can hashisheen lies not in the capabilities of those
move freely up and down the ladder of society. In augmented, but in the conditioning they under-
practice, however, most mobility is downward. go to “accustom” them to their new abilities.
Very few members of the lower and middle class-
es, especially those from colonial worlds, ever Donegal
ascend very far from where they began. Of all of the members of the League, Donegal
has drifted the furthest from its beginnings. The
Alahdad planet of Fiddler’s Green was settled in by a
The Alahdadi are the most recent culture group of cultural restorationists attempting to
admitted into the ranks of the signatories to the recapture the social structure of ancient Ireland.
Treaty of Svoboda. Modern Alahdad was born Like the Anzani, the Donegalers attempted to
out of the rubble of the Psaikhailou War. As the structure their society around the extended fam-
main battleground for that conflict, its people ily or tribe. Each tribe was free to structure its
and industrial base were devastated by Lanzan’s own internal affairs, which naturally led to a
scorched earth policies. great deal of “group” freedom but very little
As a partial apology for the pain and suffer- individual freedom.
ing experienced during the war, as well as polit- Each tribe is a social experiment, an attempt
ical recompense for the loss of Makkah, the to develop one possible means of reshaping
League launched a massive economic aid plan in humanity through constant social, economic,
the years after the war. Billions of dinars were and even military conflict. This is one of the rea-
pumped into the Alahdadi economy. The wealth sons Donegal remains within the limits of the
pumped into Alahdad allowed them to rapidly Stasis—violators are bound to be reported by
modernize, building an educational system and other clans.
information network second to none. Tribes are divided into two groups—the
Today, Alahdad is the economic powerhouse esdana (“commoners”) and the tiarnai
of the League. However, their economic success (“lords”). The esdana are essentially human
has a dark side. Alahdadi consortia have such a machinery, optimized for the talents and skills
powerful voice in the running of the phyle that needed to fill their role in society. They are still
many detractors feel that the culture has simply human, and retain a certain amount of free will,
become a tool of business. Alahdadi political but are largely unable to step outside their role
figures have a reputation for corruption and in life. They are idiot savants, highly intelligent
turning a blind eye to abuses of power in their in a limited set of roles and unable to operate
corporations. Meanwhile, many Alahdadi have effectively outside that one context. Each tribe
been left impoverished and disenfranchised and has esdana biots specialized for a variety of
are forced to eke out a rough living on the roles—tinker, tailor, soldier, spy.
streets. Many of them have turned to the muja- The tiarnai retain a measure of individuality
hedin, former guerilla warriors who now make denied to the esdana, and in fact are largely
up one of the largest organized crime groups unmodified. Their ostensible role in the Donegal
within the Svobodan League. experiment is to remain observers and directors
And yes, the hashisheen are real, though they of society. Like all other Svobodans, they view
are far rarer than portrayed in the popular technology as the great shaping force of culture
media. Some few of the wealthiest and most and deliberately limit the impact it has on them.
powerful mujahedin leaders use their contacts Furthermore, the tiarnai recognize that opti-
with Donegal’s tiarnai to rebuild their most loyal mization implies specialization. Even minor
followers. These unfortunate individuals lack enhancements, such as increased reflexes, shape

the way in which an individual interacts with the Anzani society. They not only serve as political
world, as it encourages him to use that advan- units, but as economic and religious ones as
tage to the exclusion of other options. well. The Anzani accord great respect to the
Each tribe is led by a taioseach. The tribes family, which is a much more extended entity
compete amongst themselves to get their than is common in other League phyles. Indeed,
taoiseach crowned as the Ardri, or High King. to some extent, the tribe is viewed as nothing
The title itself is largely ceremonial; the Ardri is more than an extremely extended family. This
more of a first among equals than he or she is a familial feeling explains why the Anzani’s elec-
ruler. Typically, the organizational and techno- tive monarchy can function at all. Those leaders
logical techniques used by the High King to gain who maintain the confidence of their subjects do
the throne will be studied by other taoiseachs in so because they treat them as if they were mem-
an attempt to take control. The king’s fitness to bers of their own family.
rule is proven by his ability to hold the throne This is not to say that the Anzani are a huge,
against all pretenders, so rebellion accepted and happy, and well-ordered family, of course.
even expected. Anzani politics and society are far more complex
Even though the Donegalers have a continu- than that. Indeed, the web of alliances and inter-
ous line of cultural descent from the Irish, their relationships between families and tribes is diffi-
cultural mix seems less authentic than that of cult for most outsiders to comprehend, let alone
such fused cultures as the Anzani, Alahdadi, or navigate. Unsurprisingly, many Anzani are
even the Muutzhans (loathe though the last skilled diplomats, with an intuitive feel for social
would be to admit it). Other humans feel uneasy dynamics—skills that make them valuable addi-
at Donegal cultural occasions, as if they were tions to many League institutions.
“watching children playing dress-up”. This The Anzani emperor governs with a light
sense of unreality is strongest in the company of hand, preferring to leave many matters up to the
esdana. The tiarnai make other Svobodans feel family or tribe. Since the foundation of the
uneasy for entirely different reasons. phyle, the Anzani have relied upon fraternal
organizations called ujamaas. The ujamaas are
Anzani mutual assistance groups that operate according
The Anzani are long-standing allies of the to a system of favors and debts. A member can,
Muutzhans and are staunch supporters of the in principle, gain almost any kind of assistance
Svobodan League. It was founded in the 22nd from fellow members by promising to pay back
century by devotees of the Pan-African the debt later in kind. While most ujamaas are
Traditionalist Movement, the phyle’s founders public organizations, many—including some
stressed the need for a return to a mythical past very influential ones—act in secret.
that never was––in this case a syncretistic “unit- Unsurprisingly, these secret brotherhoods are
ed Africa” that combined elements from widely heavily involved in politics and business, being
disparate cultures. (if the rumors are to be believed) the true rulers
While this means that Anzani culture is not a of the phyle.
a direct descendant of any African culture, it has
since become a true culture with its own history Sarvadharmaani
and internal logic. Given that Africa and its cul- Of all of the signatories of the Treaty of
tures were lost in the Psaikhailou Emergence, the Svoboda, the Sarvadharmaani (or simply
Anzani are all that remain of that continent and Dharmaani) represent the only “multi-cultural
its ancient ways. In this respect, at least, the phyle.” That is to say, the only phyle whose
Movement was successful in preserving at least basis for existence is not so much a single culture
part of humanity’s African cultural heritage, one as a “supra-culture” based on common experi-
which would otherwise have been lost. ences (as well as geographical proximity) on
Family and tribe are the cornerstones of Earth rather than shared cultural practices or

beliefs. The Dharmaani are descendants of the Uncultured into the core of the League, a situa-
failed Indochinese Union and espouse a political tion that could prove even more volatile should
philosophy that considers shared experiences as the tottering official regime fall or renege on its
the most solid basis for societal cohesion. contracts to these independent military contrac-
At the time of its foundation, the Dharmaani tors. Add to that possible Psaikhailou meddling
founders believed their respective cultures would and you’ve got a recipe for disaster right in the
work well together within a broader cultural League’s backyard.
framework—better even than many more nar-
rowly defined phyles. For a time, it appeared as Yuan
if they were right. Confusing though their ways After the Muutzhans, the Yuan are the largest
were to outsiders, they prospered after the fall of and most powerful phyle in the Svobodan
the Stabilization Pact and positively blossomed League. While they are long-time allies of the
once they joined the Svobodan League. Muutzhans, they are also among their most
Dharmaani diplomats rivaled the Anzani and vocal critics. Some commentators have gone so
their entertainers were second to none. Likewise, far as to call the Yuan “the conscience of the
Dharmaani communications technology became League.” To some extent, that’s because the
standard throughout human space. Yuan are probably the most sincere democrats
That all changed during the Secessionist War. among the full member cultures of the Svobodan
Opportunists within several of the constituent League. No other phyle places as much faith in
groups that made up the Sarvadharmaani the ability to the average person to govern the
looked on the War as evidence that they could state than do the Yuan.
greater independence within the League if they This belief in the inherent value of the average
threatened to secede themselves. They likewise person has created a side effect that is problemat-
hoped that the League’s distraction in dealing ic for others in the League, especially the
with the rebels might give them greater leverage Muutzhans. Citizenship in the Yuan phyle is easy
in dictating terms. A tepid response from the to come by, since the opportunity to choose one’s
Dharmaani leadership (which was itself divided own government is an inherent right of all human
on how to handle the matter) only encouraged beings. Therefore, one need only speak Yuan
more radical elements—some reputedly backed passably, be familiar with its culture and history,
by the Psaikhailou—to pursue violent action, and swear an oath to the Yuan Xing Charter to
which quickly spilled over into civil war. gain entry. Consequently, more Uncultured indi-
The Dharmaani civil war did hasten the end of viduals gain citizenship as Yuan than in any other
the Secessionist War, a fact many of the Rebel phyle. This fact threatens to destabilize the deli-
States realize all too well. The League has made cate balance in the League, or so the Muutzhans
every effort to end the conflict, but with little last- claim. The Muutzhans believe that it is imperative
ing success. Massive military resources have been that the full member cultures remain of certain
showered on the “legitimate” Dharmaani regime, populations relative to one another. To do other-
just as more Syndics have been sent to keep an eye wise, as the Yuan are doing, could throw the
on possible Stasis violations. Thus far, none have League into chaos. Of course, the Yuan believe
been recorded, but how long the situation will that this yet another ploy by the Muutzhans to
hold is anyone’s guess, given how unstable things maintain their hegemony in the League and have
are within Sarvadharmaani space. yet to modify their citizenship policies.
Low-level fighting is common on most Yuan space includes a lot of parahuman
Dharmaani worlds. Terrorism is likewise a con- groups and phyles that have fled there to find an
stant threat. The Diet has approved a resolution environment where they could comfortably live
allowing the use of mercenaries within under the Stasis. Many of these parahumans are
Dharmaani space, making many worlds in this unable to survive or reproduce without the aid
region free-fire zones. It’s also brought many of advanced technology, and the Yuan offer

them the only truly welcoming home in the nized phyle. They are free agents in game of cul-
League where they can reliably gain the full ben- ture that dominates the League. As such, they
efits of Syndicate Technology. This trend has are without the benefit of any society or govern-
accelerated in recent years, as a single node in ment other than that imposed by League law.
the New Hong Kong system has been found to The Uncultured are most common outside of
lead to hundreds of new, inviting earths. It is the the core systems of the League. This is largely due
only frontier remaining in League space, and its to the ill treatment that they would receive at hands
discovery may trigger off a new Diaspora. of their social “betters” living on those worlds.
Associate Phyles The Syndicates

Dozens of other phyles exist within the Of all the cultures within the League, none are
worlds controlled by the Svobodan League. more unusual than the so-called “Syndicates.” The
Most are small and without much influence, Syndicates are unusual not so much for their beliefs
being confined to a few million people or even to or their societies, although these are indeed peculiar,
certain areas on single worlds. Nevertheless, but for the role they play in the Svobodan League.
they are worth mentioning if only to show the Although these phyles have existed since before the
variety of societies and cultures to be found creation of the League and were heavily involved in
within the League. A few of the most prominent its formation, the Syndicates have rejected taking
Associate Phyles are listed below. any part in the traditional mechanisms of its gov-
Yehudim: The world of Bat Zion is the current ernment. Instead, they have chosen to remain aloof
center of the Jewish faith. While all Jews are from the day-to-day running of the League and do
automatically granted membership in this cul- not seek to gain the right to representation in the
ture, Orthodox Judaism dominates the plan- Diet or to vote for the President. While relative new-
et. Many Conservative and Reform Jews also comers like the Alahdad Republic have signatory
belong to other recognized phyles and live membership in the League, the Syndicates are con-
their lives as members of those cultures. tent with their status.
Saints: Mormons are an associate phyle of the The Syndicates are phyles based around the
League, based on the world of Deseret. maintenance of the Stasis in one or more fields
Sikhs: The Sikhs are an associate phyle of the League, of expertise. They all exist as guardians against
living on the North American continent (called the misuse of current technology and the devel-
“Khalistan”) on the planet Come by Chance. The opment of proscribed devices and systems. The
Sikhs were offered and refused membership in the League government has granted numerous priv-
Sarvadharmaani Confederation, a move that sur- ileges to the Syndicates, including monopolies
prised many at the time but appears to have been over the technologies with which their cultures
wise in retrospect. have concerned themselves.
Deutsch: The Deutsch, a phyle descended from The League has placed such trust in the
the Germans on Earth, are based on the plan- Syndicates for three reasons. Firstly, someone
et München in Colón province. needed to serve as guarantor of the Stasis.
Secondly, none of the original phyles trusted
Uncultured Worlds themselves or their fellows with this task.
They go by many names in the fourth millen- Finally, the Syndicates have shown no interest
nium: the Unguided, the Timid, the whatsoever in becoming involved in League pol-
Dispossessed, and the Uncultured. Whatever itics. Syndicate members owe their allegiance to
their name, they are mistrusted and scorned by a their phyle, not to the League or any of its con-
significant portion of the Svobodan League. The stituents. Even those Syndics who aid the League
Uncultured are any people who live within the government and military do so on a contract
borders of the League who have, either by choice basis only. When appropriate, their Syndicate
or by chance, not been adopted into any recog- can and often will recall them.

For this reason, Soyuzniks never entirely trust junction with other Syndicates, it also oversees
Syndicate members, since their loyalty is not to any industry that heavily relies on experts. For
the League and its inhabitants, but to their this reason, many consortia and other busi-
Syndicate. Syndics view themselves, as do many nesses regularly contract Expert Syndicate
outsiders, as “a breed apart.” Their legendary members to work on their production lines.
oath to “serve and protect the uniqueness of The Nanotech Syndicate is one of the oldest of
humanity” places them outside most of League the Syndicates. Nanotech was one of the last
society. Soyuzniks view Syndics with a combina- new fields of technology developed on Earth,
tion of awe and revulsion. The awe stems from and so its potential for social upheaval was
their selfless dedication to the upholding of the seen well in advance of its eventual use. Every
Stasis, whereas the revulsion derives from the site possessing a matter compiler has one or
means required in doing so. more members of this Syndicate to oversee its
Without the efforts of phyles devoted solely to operation. As a result, Nanotech Syndicate
the understanding of those elements of technolo- members are common contract employees of
gy that could most harm humanity, there would consortia and other businesses.
be no means to differentiate the harmful from the The Psychiatric Syndicate oversees technology used
helpful. The signatory cultures of the League to affect mental health. The Stasis does not reg-
know well that technology is a necessity of life in ulate psychology and psychotherapy, of course,
the 31st century. One cannot simply turn back the but any technology that has the capability of
clock and return to a mythical “state of nature” altering personality on a long term basis is con-
where technology is unheard of (although some trolled. They are also responsible for monitoring
radical groups make the attempt). If the Stasis is the use of recreational drugs, in conjunction
not to ban the good along with the bad, there with the governing body of each phyle.
must be some group competent to judge the dif-
ference. The Syndicates are such a group. The Procuracy
The Procuracy is, in many ways, the
Major Syndicate Cultures “Syndicate of Syndicates.” Its members, deri-
The Biotechnology Syndicate controls the devel- sively called “Inquisitors” by those who have
opment and use of biotechnology. They are come under their investigation, act as an addi-
one of the most commonly seen Syndicates, as tional safeguard on the Syndicate system.
they are responsible for biological and pale- Procurators keep an eye on the members of
ontological research across the League. In other Syndicates in order to guarantee their
addition, Biotech Syndicate members serve in integrity. They act as a kind of “internal affairs”
large numbers aboard vessels of the League division among the cultures of the Syndicates.
Expeditionary Forces. The Procuracy also possesses the authority to
The Cybernetics Syndicate is responsible for initiate spot checks on research and development
controlling devices that interface directly with facilities throughout the League (and often
the nervous system, whether biological or beyond) in search of forbidden technology. This
mechanical in origin. authority is universal and unquestioned. League
The Eugenics Syndicate is responsible for over- law makes it a highly punishable offense to refuse
seeing permanent genetic or biological a procurator free and total access to one’s facili-
enhancements. They also track the bloodlines ties and research data. Like more traditional law
of telepaths in order to ensure that there is a enforcement agencies, the Procuracy does have
good number of highly gifted telepaths avail- certain limits imposed upon its activities in the
able from sources other than the Donegal interests of liberty, and they are required to show
Protectorate. that they have some basis for their investigation.
The Expert Syndicate oversees the construction Procurators tend to see themselves as the front
and development of expert systems. In con- line of defense against the Psaikhailou. They have

frequently conducted covert operations outside atrocities led to the collapse of the government of
(and occasionally inside) the League to prevent vio- Sixtus Karlov, the extraordinary assumption of
lations of the Stasis. On occasion, they have broad- the Premiership by President Diego Turbain, and
ened their mandate to act against individuals or the courts-martial of several senior naval officers.
organizations they believed to be acting against the Today, the six Rebel States are loosely allied
interests of humanity. Questions still exist regard- with one another in their concerted distaste for
ing their role in the suspicious death of Callixtus the Muutzhan-dominated League. Other than
Savunthagam in 2995 and their role in the this, most have little else in common. They range
Secessionist War. Nonetheless, the Procuracy is in temperament from a largely benevolent repub-
generally highly regarded, and the matte-black uni- lic to a religious dictatorship and everything in
form of a Procurator commands respect through- between. The League, of course, licks its recent
out the League and in many places outside it. wounds and look covetously at its former territo-
ries. The rebels realize this and know that a revan-
The ‘Rebel States’ chist faction is powerful within the current gov-
In 2994, years of simmering resentment ernment. That being the case, the rebels have
boiled over on the frontiers of the League. The decided to hang together in the knowledge that, if
Recognition of Cultures Act was defeated in the they do not, they will surely all hang separately.
Senate after being overwhelmingly passed by the
Duma. The act would have granted almost thir- Terrorists, Revolutionaries, & Separatists
ty unrecognized phyles Associate status, giving Every society has its malcontents and the
them the right to self-governance and represen- Svobodan League is no different. The structure
tation in the Senate. of League society and the ongoing cold war with
As a result, several provinces on the edges of the Psaikhailou ensure that there are many such
League space revolted. The Security and individuals and groups. In general, those who
Intelligence Service (SIS), as well as some pop- oppose the League or seek to undermine it can
ulist politicians cited Psaikhailou manipulation be divided into three broad categories: unrecog-
as the reason for the revolt. League forces mobi- nized cultures, posthumanists, and opportunists.
lized to put an end to it quickly. The technological sophistication and precision
Support for the war was never high among the of the League’s military machine all but ensures
Svobodan populace. The government itself vacil- that small dissident groups have little hope of
lated between a number of strategies to crush the waging a winning war against it. Many of them
rebellion. By doing so, the government’s credibil- have turned to terrorist tactics as a result.
ity was undermined and hampered its cause. In Terrorism continues to cause concern and dis-
addition, the ongoing civil war in the ruption throughout the League. Combating this
Sarvadharmaani Confederation placed great menace remains a very high priority for the gov-
strains on the military resources of the League. ernment and the phyles of the Svobodan League.
The rebels fought surprisingly well. Their However, finding clear “patterns” in this form
forces proved to be remarkably well equipped of political violence is becoming more difficult.
and possessed a great deal of military-grade Despite the best efforts of DSI and other agen-
technology, including spiders. To the present cies, the threat of terrorism remains very serious.
day, no one is quite certain how the rebels were The bombing of the San Lexandra complex near
able to gain access to this technology. Numerous Scarborough, Muutzha, in 3000 killed 19 League
theories have been put forth, but none has marines, wounded 240 other Muutzhan citizens,
gained universal acceptance. and resulted in many other casualties. A series of
After years of warfare and great losses, the suicide bombings by extremist groups aiming to
League finally decided to cut its losses and destroy the Gideon peace process killed more
allowed 17 worlds their independence in 3000. than 600. Camenzindi terrorists on St.-Pierre
The gross mishandling of the war and reports of grabbed the spotlight recently by seizing the gov-

ernor’s residence and hundreds of hostages. The Unrecognized Cultures

death toll from acts of terrorism rose from 16,230
in 2999 to 39,116 in 3000, as the trend continued The Camenzindi
toward more ruthless attacks on civilian targets The Camenzindi were once full members of
and the use of more powerful weapons. the League. Following their defection from
Many of these weapons employed proscribed Migail Lanzan’s war against the Psaikhailou, the
forms of nanotechnology. The threat of terrorist League disenfranchised and punished them. The
use of illegal technologies is an issue of growing League no longer recognizes their culture and
concern. The Syndicates, especially the this has made the Camenzindi an extremely bit-
Procuracy, have pledged to assist the League gov- ter and resentful group of people.
ernment in its efforts to root out terrorist groups Consequently, there are numerous Camenzindi
employing technology that violates the Stasis. terrorist and separatist groups operating within
the League. Many receive covert support from the
Terrorist Groups Psaikhailou, while sympathizers succor others.
There are far too many terrorist groups oper- The Universal Church has taken up their cause
ating in the cosmos to describe in detail here. For and regularly petitions the Premier to review their
the benefit of those interested in such matters, the case. Thus far, they have met with no success and
following list of prominent groups should suffice. few commentators ever expect them to do so.
Group Leader/Goals Cause Location Size Began

Anzani Liberation Posthumanist group Anti government Anzani 3,000 2863
Army seeking to overthrow
monarchy but gets
funding from illegal tech
Army of God Suleimanov and Ortíz Anti League, Muutzhan 1,000s 2986
lead a weird Muslim/ religious and Alahdad
ROC group funded by fundamentalists worlds
an unknown Shard.
Bagrance Freelance group under Anti League, FLO Orléans ? 3000
Sophie Letourneau offshoot
FLO Pro Camenzindi Anti League St.-Pierre 8,000 2999
and Lyons
Liberdad Colón Colónian separatists Recognition as a Colón 10,000 2942
supported by separate phyle province
Camenzindi and
Psaikhailou
Mordovan Freedom Supported by expat Anti Mordovan Muutzhan 2,000 2865
Brigade Mordovans, seeks to worlds
overthrow current
government
Neral Posthumanist group Union with Muutzhan and ? 2985
seeking overthrow of Psaikhailou Yuan worlds
League

Even associate members of the League view the ply discontented Uncultured who believe the
Camenzindi as “traitors to the League.” Psaikhailou will offer them a better deal in life
than did the League. Few of these groups actual-
Libertarians ly support the Psaikhailou way of existence.
The Libertarians have been causing problems Most are simply using the Psaikhailou as a con-
for Human governments since the days of the venient means to wreak vengeance upon the cul-
Consociation of Phyles. Their stronghold had tures of the League that have failed to recognize
been the world of Heinlein, only two nodes away them. As such, these lukewarm sympathizers are
from Earth. The Psaikhailou absorbed Heinlein much more willing to use violence against
during the second Emergence and the Libertarians League members and property.
fled into what would later become League space.
While not friends of the Psaikhailou, the Opportunists
Libertarians proved to be uncooperative allies of As has always been the case throughout his-
the League at best. They resent almost any form tory, the ongoing conflict between the League
of “government intrusion” and are unwilling to and the Psaikhailou has proven a ripe opportu-
pay taxes or abide by many of the most basic nity for many groups to increase their own
League laws and regulations. All chafe under the power and wealth. In many cases, the conflict
restrictions of the Stasis. Naturally, these posi- itself has been the origin of these opportunists.
tions make the Libertarians unsuitable candi- In others, the conflict functions as a useful
dates for any form of membership in the League. smokescreen to their activities.
Today, the Libertarians do not present a con-
certed problem for the League. Isolated The ‘Warriors Syndicate’
Libertarian groups regularly create incidents The Warriors Syndicate is a shadowy brother-
with which DSI and local law enforcement must hood existing within the militaries of the
deal. Occasionally, a larger affair will attract the Svobodan League and its member cultures. No
attention of the entire League. Such was the case one knows when the Syndicate was founded, but
most recently in 2999, when a Libertarian group its first recorded appearance was during the
on Braemar took hostages in protest for the levy- Qihiran Rebellion last century. In any event, the
ing of new taxes to support the military during Syndicate has been extremely active since the
the Secessionist War. The incident ended with Secessionist War.
the deaths of the Libertarians and their hostages. The Syndicate exists as a brotherhood dedi-
This has hardened public opinion against the cated to “preserving the honor and integrity of
group. Since then, there have been few serious the League’s armed forces in the face of the
incidents, but DSI keeps a watchful eye on Psaikhailou threat.” Warriors believe that
Libertarians throughout the League. Psaikhailou agents have infiltrated the military of
the Svobodan League. They blame recent League
Posthumanists defeats and changes of policy on these mysterious
Posthumanists often operate in small cells, infiltrators. Warriors dedicate themselves to
each of which has connections to other cells. This uncovering Psaikhailou agents and anyone they
structure seems a conscious imitation of the believe to sympathize with the Psaikhailou. They
“flexible hive mind” of the Psaikhailou. Most believe that military technology and warfare
Posthumanist activities consist of using technolo- should be recognized as one of the Syndicates,
gy to give others the opportunity to experience and seek to create a phyle dedicated to preserving
the feeling of being one of the Psaikhailou. the martial supremacy of the League and pro-
Rarely do Posthumanist groups act in a violent moting a strict warrior code of honor.
fashion. The larger Posthumanist community It would be very easy to dismiss the Warriors
quickly disowns any such incidents that do occur. Syndicate as yet another crackpot organization.
The vast majority of Posthumanists are sim- There is no question that its members are para-

noid and even delusional. Nevertheless, they in a world where technology changed faster than
have been successful in rooting out genuine people’s ability to keep up with it.
Posthumanists within the military. The most The ultimate goal of the Posthuman
recent example was the arrest of General Idalgo Movement was to create what they called the
Atul in 3000. For this reason, the government is “Singularity”; a technological Rapture after
careful to act too harshly against the Syndicate, which the future would be incomprehensible to
lest they lose a valuable, if unstable, ally. those of merely human intelligence. Few, if any,
posthuman advocates ever gave thought to the
Sic Semper Tyrannis possibility that the outcome could be negative;
This paranoid terrorist group has much in or gave much thought to the fate of any who
common with the Warriors Syndicate. SST chose to be left behind.
believes that the League is already secretly under The Psaikhailou take their name from the
the control of the Psaikhailou. Psaikhailou Psaikhailou Movement, a parahuman organization
agents, SST suggests, are everywhere and need to that believed human aggression was tied into the
be rooted out and revealed for what they are. deep programming built into us by the structure of
Often these activities constitute mere harass- our languages. They created an artificial language
ment, an annoyance but nothing more. Recently, and created a number of phyles in the years leading
however, SST activities have become increasing- up to the emergence, but were repeatedly frustrat-
ly violent. Since the end of the Secessionist War, ed in their hope of civilizing humanity—until they
SST has assassinated at least one member of the somehow triggered the Singularity they had long
Loyalist party. Several other politicians have sought and the first Emergence began.
been injured in attempted assassinations. The Psaikhailou have a curious form of group
mind. It is not true, as most Svobodans believe,
The Maccabees that they are a single, monolithic intellect.
Named after the religious zealots of the Old Rather, each individual within a Psaikhailou col-
Testament, this radical Orthodox Catholic lective finds its mind overlapping with several
group seeks war with the Psaikhailou and the others. Portions of their identity are common to
reclamation of Earth. The Maccabees believe dozens or hundreds of Psaikhailou, and emer-
Earth to be a holy site, one that is now defiled by gent behavior indicates that there are other
the presence of the Psaikhailou. “beings” present within a Psaikhailou group
The Maccabees have attempted to wage their that exist without a physical body of their own.
war against the Psaikhailou alone. In this, Each Psaikhailou group is somewhat different
Muslim groups who seek to reclaim Makkah in its outlook toward standard humanity and in
have joined them. Because the League has its goals. The groups formed in the initial
stopped them in this effort, many Maccabees Emergences have passed through their expan-
now believe that the League has also been cor- sionist phase and are no longer particularly
rupted. If necessary, they will oppose the entire interested in further growth. Their goals are out-
Svobodan League to achieve their ends. side the scope of this game, however. The great-
est threat to the League today is not the
The Psaikhailou Psaikhailou proper, but rather the posthumanist
The Posthuman Movement had its birth in groups that would deliberately or inadvertently
speculative fiction, but rapidly took on a reli- trigger another Emergence.
gious, almost messianic quality. In the secular
and materialistic atmosphere of the early third RELIGION
millennium, the posthumans offered a path to Numerous religions, most descended from
salvation and exaltation that required nothing ancient faiths, flourish in the 31st century.
more than a faith in ever-more-powerful tech- Several exercise great influence over the billions
nology—a faith that seemed more than plausible of the League. Many of the League’s phyles,

both major and minor, are predicated upon sig- means “to surrender to the will of God.” One
nificant religious beliefs. Despite the variety of who practices Islam is called a Muslim.
religions found in the League, only three are The sacred text of Islam, the Qur’an, teaches
“major faiths.” These three religions represent that Islam is the primordial and universal reli-
about 85% of the population of the Svobodan gion, and even nature itself is Muslim, because it
League’s 18.9 billion inhabitants. obeys the laws that God has embedded in it. For
humans, who possess free will, practicing Islam
Orthodox Catholic Church does not involve automatically obeying but
The Orthodox Catholic Church is the single rather freely accepting God’s commandments.
largest faith in the fourth millennium. Both the In the Svobodan League, Islam is the second
Muutzhan and Yuan cultures are predominantly largest religion after the Roman Orthodox
Orthodox Catholic and there is a sizable Catholic Catholic Church. Islam is the ancestral faith of
minority among the Anzani.Its influence on both the Alahdad and is popular among the Anzani.
the Svobodan League and humanity as a whole is There are even Muslims among the Dharmaani.
enormous. The Church is comprised of those
believers who acknowledge the supreme authori- Islam and 31st Century Society
ty of Earth’s bishop of Rome, known as the Pope, Islamic social philosophy is based on the
in matters of faith and morals. belief that all spheres of life—spiritual, social,
The Church regards herself as the only legiti- political, and economic—form an indivisible
mate heir, by an unbroken apostolic succession, unity that must be thoroughly imbued with
of the commission and powers conferred by Islamic values.
Christ on His Twelve Apostles. Many people, The term jihad, usually translated as “holy
both within and without the Church, commonly war,” designates the struggle toward the Islamic
call the Church the Roman Orthodox Catholic goal of “reforming the cosmos,” which may
(ROC) Church, because of its association with include the use of armed force if necessary. The
the city of Rome on Earth, although the Roman prescribed purpose of jihad, however, is not ter-
Rite is only one of dozens. The Church calls her- ritorial expansion or the forcible conversion of
self “orthodox” because only she has held true people to Islam, but the assumption of political
to the deposit of faith handed down from Christ power in order to implement the principles of
to the Apostles and “catholic” because of her Islam through public institutions.
universal character. Islamic belief divides the cosmos into three
The Holy See remains on Earth, headquar- zones: the House of Islam, the House of Peace,
tered in the Papal State as it had been since the and the House of War. The House of Islam is
Apostolic Age. The Church was briefly forced where Muslims are ascendant. The House of
to flee the Papal State during the reign of St. Peace includes those powers with which Muslims
Lando II, only returning at the end of the have peace agreements. The House of War com-
Psaikhailou War. It is not known why the prises the rest of the cosmos. Gradually, howev-
Psaikhailou chose the Church to be the sole er, jihad came to be interpreted more in defensive
representatives of humanity on the mother than in offensive terms. Many Muslims in the
world—but it is a responsibility each Pope Svobodan League view the struggle against the
takes very seriously, including the current Pope, Psaikhailou in terms of jihad.
Clement XXXI.
The Shari’a
Islam In the eyes of almost all Muslim scholars, the
Islam is a religion founded in Arabia on Earth original form of the Shari’a is now considered
and based on the teachings of the Prophet to be inappropriately harsh, intended for a
Muhammad. The Arabic word islam literally desert culture without the resources available to
means “to surrender.” As a religious term, it modern society. Alahdad now uses a highly

interpreted form of the Shari’a that bears about Daoism: This belief system describes an ideal
as much resemblance to the original as human condition of freedom from desire and of
Muutzhan law bears to Leviticus. For example, effortless simplicity, achieved by following the
thieves have a bracelet attached to their wrists Dao, or “the Way,” the spontaneous, creative,
that makes them unable to use their hands for a effortless path taken by natural events in the
set period of time. This practice is the basis for cosmos. Quietistic in outlook, Daoists con-
the mujahedin tradition of tattooing a red line demn as symptoms of excessive government the
around their left wrist. Much of Alahdadi pun- social virtues expounded by Confucius and his
ishment works on similar principles, emphasiz- followers. Orthodox Catholicism in Yuan Xing
ing shame and inconvenience to the criminal has adopted and adapted many elements of
over incarceration for minor offenses. Major Daoist thought.
offenses are still punished by imprisonment, The Evolutionary Church: This religion arose
with an additional requirement for restitution among those who believed that the Psaikhailou
to the victim. are messengers of God, sent to aid in the evo-
lution of all creatures to a higher form.
Hinduism Evolutionists are almost universally reviled in
Hinduism is a religion that originated in India the League, but they have made some inroads
on Earth. In the fourth millennium, it is the in the Shards and other minor states.
major faith of the Sarvadharmaani Confederacy. Judaism: This faith is based on the religious
Hinduism is a major religion, not merely by beliefs, practices, and the way of life of the
virtue of its many followers but also because of Jews, an associate culture of the League based
its profound influence on many other religions on the world of Bat Zion. However, many
during its long, unbroken history, which dates adherents of Judaism maintain membership
from about 1500 BC. The corresponding influ- in another League culture, as well. Central to
ence of these various religions on Hinduism (it Jewish belief is the notion of monotheism,
has an extraordinary tendency to absorb foreign adopted by the biblical Hebrews.
elements) has greatly contributed to the reli- Mormonism: The Church of Jesus Christ of
gion’s variety of beliefs and practices. Latter-Day Saints is a faith marked by the
importance of revelation, stress on the inter-
Other Faiths dependence of spiritual and temporal life,
Naturally, the aforementioned faiths are not and vigorous proselytizing. Mormons base
the only ones in existence in the Svobodan their beliefs on the Bible, the Book of
League. Listing and describing them all within Mormon, revelations to its prophet, Joseph
so short as space as this volume would be an Smith (Doctrine and Covenants), and The
impossible task. For the benefit of those inter- Pearl of Great Price (sayings attributed to
ested in the diversity of religions to be found in Moses and Abraham). Mormons are an
the League, the following list and short descrip- associate culture of the League, based on the
tions will have to suffice. world of Deseret.
Confucianism: This moral and religious system The Universal Church: The Universalists are one
has its origins in the collection of sayings of only a few Christian sects still in existence
known as the Analects, attributed to besides the ROC Church. Universalists are
Confucius. Confucianism is a system of ethi- charismatics who eschew tradition and
cal precepts for the management of society, emphasize personal faith over adherence to
based on the practice of jen—sympathy or doctrine. They do not bar anyone from
“human-heartedness”—as shown in one’s becoming “elders,” their equivalent to priests.
relations with others and demonstrated They remain a small sect without much influ-
through adherence to li, a combination of eti- ence in the League as a whole, though they
quette and ritual. have a greater influence outside its borders.

ECONOMICS that in past ages. Transporting large quantities

The growth and development of nanotechnol- of most goods through nodes is neither efficient
ogy has placed the Svobodan economy on a firm nor cost-effective. The few cargoes that are
“post-scarcity” footing. This means that the eco- transported from world to world are largely
nomic engine of the League is no longer materi- high-value goods and luxury items that cannot
al need. Nanotechnology makes most such needs easily be reproduced. Consortia distribute most
easily obtainable and inexpensive, almost worth- of their product lines in a manner reminiscent of
less. Consequently, the economy of the League is a franchise system.
largely driven by luxuries and fashions. The consortia themselves are primarily
A significant segment of the economy is based responsible for producing and distributing “data
on the exchange and analysis of information. packages.” These data packages are designs and
Information remains one of the few inherently schematics that will then be purchased by local
valuable commodities. A very large percentage manufacturers. These manufacturers, all of
of the workforce of the League engages in infor- whose methods and materials (most of which is
mation analysis and repackaging. also purchased from the consortium) must meet
Most of the remainder work as overseers to the standards of the consortia, will in turn pro-
expert systems. “Unskilled labor” is no longer a duce items in accordance with the designs in the
career option for people. The “average worker” data package. This guarantees a consistency and
in the League is employed in an extremely spe- uniformity among the products. Thus, a
cialized and technical occupation that likely Takamatsu-Hegenauer laser pistol produced on
involves the direction of experts. Muutzha at the core of the League will be iden-
Despite the everyday use of nanotechnology, tical to that produced on Bólivar on the frontier.
most Soyuzniks prefer to own handmade items. A consumer can be assured of the quality of his
This is especially true of items of religious or cul- purchase of a consortium product, no matter
tural significance. Diamond statues of St. where he bought it.
Brendan (patron saint of telepaths) may be
cheap and durable, but they lack the cachet of a Merchant Lines
hand-carved wooden representation. The same Merchant lines exist throughout the whole of
logic holds true for countless other items as well. the League. They are particularly active on the
Frontier and among the Uncultured. In most
Consortia cases, the vessels used by a merchant are inde-
Without a doubt, the consortia are among the pendently owned and operated. For a renewable
most influential non-governmental bodies in the fee to the central authority of the line, a mer-
League (aside from religions). The consortia are chant captain may join the line’s fleet of vessels.
businesses that concentrate on certain “niche In return, the line provides the captain with
markets” and produce little of great quality out- steady work and a healthy cut of the profits.
side those markets. Competition between consor- While piracy is virtually unknown in the
tia within the same niche is fierce, but there are League, merchant lines do have problems with
relatively few instances of cross-niche conflict. the underworld. Groups like the Organizatsiya
There are thousands of consortia in the and the mujaheddin have taken a keen interest in
Svobodan League. Many of these consortia are merchant shipping. DSI estimates that many mer-
publicly owned and administered by a board of chant craft and indeed merchant lines may be
directors. Others are owned by private families wholly owned or controlled by organized crime.
or individuals. In every case, the personalities of Crime lords find merchant lines useful as an
those who run the consortium strongly influence unobtrusive courier system. Contraband and
the nature of it and its business practices. proscribed technology are more easily smuggled
Commerce in the fourth millennium is unlike in small, highly mobile merchant craft than in the
larger freighters associated with the consortia.

SIS Voodoo Teams disguise themselves as mer- that operates mostly in the Shards. DSI
chants for similar reasons. believes that it is a front for one or more
There are far too many merchant lines active Alahdad mujaheddin groups, although this
in the cosmos to list them all. The following is has never been proven.
but a small sampling of the more prominent Zahra Merchants’ Cooperative is another
lines in operation today. Alahdad merchant guild that operates
Groumi Lines operates solely among the throughout the entire League. In addition to
Uncultured and the Shards. Its owner, Tonio its fine record of service, ZMC also serves as
Groumi, is himself Uncultured and sees his an advocate for small merchants against the
company as a “service” to the inhabitants of consortia. ZMC certainly has influence in the
the Frontier. This dedication to service has Alahdad government as well as among mem-
not, however, prevented him from making bers of the Duma.
himself a very wealthy man.
Jong Lines is a Yuan merchant company that has For more about the world of Fourth
a stranglehold over routes into the Yuan fron- Millennium, including a look at rules for
tier, through New Hong Kong. Even the con- Guardians of Order’s Tri-Stat System,
sortia sometimes must deal with Jong Lines download the Fourth Millenium Lite PDF.
when shipping valuable cargoes through the
unstable node that leads to the frontier.
The Tawfiq Guild is an Alahdad merchant group Ω

Darkspace
A space opera role-playing setting and game-design-in-progress
When Matt asked me to write some- to kill anyway, and a whole lot of half-
thing for the science fiction issue of baked ideas ready for play testers to blow
Daedalus, I immediately put my mind sky high. So, the purpose of this little
toward what to do. I could write about ditty is to show how a creative mind (if I
my adventures with Traveller (one of the can be vain enough to call my mind cre-
Great and Mighty roleplaying games of ative) processes ideas. You get a peek
all time), or Space: 1889 (a wonderful behind the curtain of a world I started,
and noble failure), or even talk about but did not finish. It’s something that will
how “science fiction” has come to mean see the light of day soon (sooner than any
something completely different than what of us – including myself – even consid-
it was intended to be. You know, how ered). It will be one of the Wicked-Dead
people call “Star Trek” science fiction Brewing Company’s first bottles, although
when actually it’s just a western in space? it will appear in a slightly altered form.
In the end, science fiction is a genre In the meantime, enjoy the first draft,
that asks questions of humanity and tech- and I hope you enjoy the first look.
Darkspace by nology. It addresses issues like the ones
John Wick Asimov asked in his Robot stories, like
Clarke asks in his 2001 series, like History of the Dark Drive
John Wick used to be a
William Gibson asks in his cyberpunk Notes from In the Shadow of Ruin, by Ale
game designer before he
trilogy, and like that new guy who wrote Dindre (Altalu scholar and historian)
was kidnapped by Baron
Cryptonomicon is asking. (No, I haven’t At the end of the Thalu war, many Thalu
Zero and the Shadow
read Snow Crash. Yes, it’s on my list. I ships were damaged or abandoned.—great,
Men. There, he learned
just keep hitting “Hero Protagonist” and gothic ships looking more like cathedrals than
he was the last inheritor
putting the book down.) spacecraft. When the Thalu disappeared, leaving
of the title “Lord Strange”
In the end, I realized I had something behind their weapons and technology, much of it
and now travels through
on my hard drive … something I hadn’t was plundered by the victorious races. One of
the Dimensions waging
looked at in over a year, maybe two. An the secrets they discovered was what would
battle with the nefarious
old idea for a roleplaying game that had eventually be called the Thalu engine, or more
Doctor Zen. In the
science fiction trappings but its heart was commonly, the dark drive.
meantime, he's preparing
truly in the genre of space opera, that It took a Dandjss named Prexor Candim to
the Wicked Dead
beloved genre that gave us Flash Gordon, solve the riddle of the dark drive. He called it a
Brewing Company with
Buck Rogers, and Luke Skywalker. “quantum drive,” for it utilized what the Dandjss
Jared Sorensen, working
It was called Voidspace back then, but, understood of quantum theory at the time.
on the third edition of
as I was recently notified, that term has Quantum theory explains that light does not
the popular 1980s role-
been coined for an entirely different set- move in a consistent way, but rather in staggers
playing game, CHILL,
ting. So, I did some search and replace, of movement called “quanta.” What intrigued
writes stories and articles
touched up the text and sent it out to Candim was the space between the staggers,
for www.neopets.com
Matt for public consumption. where light seemed to be and yet not be. To cap-
and keeps an online
Please observe, however, that this is a ture that quantum moment, to move between the
journal of his adventures.
work in progress. It is not finished by any quanta, was Candim’s goal. He accomplished
degree. There are bits I like, bits I don’t that goal and was never heard from again.
like, bits I’ve fallen in love with and have It took 30 more years to develop another work-
Darkspace By John Wick 64

Article Copyright © 2004 John Wick
ing quantum drive, but when researchers finished, After the Candim’s flight, more research was
they sent a ship, the Candim IV, into what the rest put into the exploration of darkspace. Ships
of the galaxy now calls “darkspace.” were equipped with sails and traditional naviga-
The most amazing thing about the trip wasn’t tional equipment – as well as a detachment of
the journey, but the destination. The Candim IV warriors specially trained with swords, bows,
re-appeared a few moments later … seventy light and polearms. Decades later, a portion of dark-
years away. When the crew opened the hatches space has been explored, mapped, and even
and exited the ship, they reported a journey of slightly tamed. Ships now move through the
over two months in length. Their reports of dark dimension encountering only minimal
darkspace were equally compelling. resistance from the natives. Merchants have
When the Candim moved into darkspace, the established trade lines between jump points
ship lost all power. However, life support was (where the ships activate their Thalu engines and
unnecessary. The crew did not need to breathe or enter darkspace) and exit points (where they fly
eat. No electronics worked at all, and most through the gates and re-enter realspace). Of
chemical reactions proved equally ineffective. course, pirates wait along those tradelines, hop-
The crew peered out of their ship to see it hovering to poach some plunder.
ing over a vast plane stretching out into infinity. Archaeologists have also entered darkspace
The skies were pitch black with gleaming silver following rumors of ancient ruins seen off the
beams shooting through the void. They could main trade lines. Archaeolgy teams have uncov-
walk the hull of the ship as it hovered nearly ered ancient artifacts showing proof that the
three hundred feet above the space’s seemingly Thalu once inhabited darkspace, and perhaps
endless surface, and they watched the sky’s chro- even originated there.
matic colors streak across the blackness. It was-
n’t long before they realized that without power, A Look at The Galaxy
there was no way back. They had little time to They called themselves the Thalu, and for a
consider that the implications. thousand years they ruled the galaxy. Their
On Day 3 of the expedition, the ship was mighty ships and vast technology made it impos-
attacked. Creatures defying description assault- sible to stand against them. Eventually, all
ed the ship. The Candim was staffed with a large Empires fall, and the Thalu empire was no
axiim (marine) detachment that eventually drove exception. They had a run of bad luck with their
off the attackers with improvised hand-held Emperors, stretched themselves too thin, let
weapons. A third of the crew was lost, including their economy run too far into the red … you
the ship’s captain, first mate and chief medic. know the rest. We barbarians stormed the gate,
Warrant Officer Salvan Brex immediately set to took back our lives, and sent the Thalu packing.
getting the ship moving again. He noted the cold In the rush to get out they left a lot of their stuff
wind blowing across the hull, and he got the behind, and that meant an arms race you
crew building improvised sails. In ten hours’ wouldn’t believe.
time, the ship began moving again. It’s a dreary time in the ruins of the Thalu
For two months the Candim searched the Empire. Me? I’m just like everybody else, out to
endless terrain of darkspace, fighting off attacks make a pip when I can. My name’s Finn.
of the dimension’s native life. Finally, they saw a Thadeus Finn. I’m a ven, just like you. A home-
strange phenomenon ahead of them: a glowing less, worldless ven, wandering the galaxy in my
aperture hovering almost parallel to the old cruiser, carrying cargo here and there, taking
Candim. Just then, a final attack of the creatures jobs where I can get ’em. I’m your guide to our
drove the ship toward the glowing beacon. As it little corner of the universe. Let me shark you in
passed through the silvery light, the Candim re- on what you need to know. I guess we better
appeared in “realspace” almost 70 light years start with the cast. And, trust me, we’ve got one
away from its starting point. chev vren good one.

The Ven Three Fates – you know, the women who weave
Let’s start with what I know the best, and the web that makes up all the universe, with
that’s me. I’m a ven. You and me. We go where we each strand being one single life and all the
want and that’s because we don’t have anywhere places the strands meet… well, I think you get it.
to go. We don’t have a home. Legends say we sold They say a Ven met up with them, the maiden,
off our homeworld to some alien race and took the mother and the crone. He seduced each of
off a few thousand years ago. Others say we blew them in turn and stole something from all three.
it up, or we sold it off, and a few even claim we I forget what the first two are, but the last one’s
burned it out, then sold it, then blew it up. Tough the one that’s important. See, he stole her scis-
to say. That last one sounds about right. sors that cut a life when it’s over so he’d never
Been wandering ever since. We’ve got ships die. Some say he’s still alive to this day. Ah, but
that’ve been passed down from generation to that’s a story, no more true than any other story
generation, just moving from here to there. No that’s been told. But it says something about the
home, no anchors, nothing to hold us down or Ven that you need to know—we’re lucky, we’re
hold us back. Of course, that didn’t make us crafty, and you just shouldn’t trust us as far as
very popular with the Thalu, but I say eshan to you could throw us.
them. Good riddance. Yeah, the other
This ship of mine, “ … it says something about races call us supersti-
for example. Good ol’ tious fools. But, my
Rosinante. I inherited the Ven that you need to mother’s blessings
her from my uncle who know—we’re lucky, we’re have kept me out of
got it from his father trouble so far, so I got
who got it from his crafty, and you just shouldn’t no complaints. I just
father. Yeah, bits of her keep on moving, never
are older than three
trust us as far as you look behind me, and
generations of my fam- could throw us.” say my prayers when
ily. That’s a blessing I’m done. Maybe I’ll
and a curse. Some bits make her fly faster and bet- be lucky enough to get into Vallaha when I die.
ter than anything you’ve ever seen… but when Maybe. Anwa, enough about me. Let’s talk
they burn out, just try to find replacements. Her about someone else.
name comes from the Old Tongue; I don’t know
what it means ‘cause I don’t speak too much of it The Jdotha
– only some slang I picked up from my father and There’s a lot of different ways to say “big.”
brother. But, my mother did. She was a sorva. A Around here, one of those ways is saying
witch. Blessed me and my ship before she died, “Jdotha.” You take one look at one of them, and
and to keep that blessing good, there’s certain you’ll know why. I had one on my ship for a
things we don’t do on the Rosy. So, mind your while, thinking he’d make a great right-hand
pikew, right? man. Boy was I wrong about that. I fell into all
We move from planet to planet, not really the usual stereotype traps. You know, they’re a
ever finding a home. Maybe that’s because most warrior race, he’ll get a kick out of being paid to
of us really aren’t looking too hard. We’ve got a beat people up. All full of honor and all that.
philosophy, us Ven: don’t own anything that’d Well, I was right, just not in the way I thought.
slow you down when you need to run. Not “if,” See, the Jdotha have this thing about pain.
but “when.” Fate isn’t always a bitch, but some- They worship it like some sort of god or some-
one did her wrong a long, long time ago. We’re thing. They go looking for it. As best I could tell
still paying for it. Must’ve been something nasty. from the Jdotha I’ve met, they take that old cliché
Reminds me of a story. about the stuff not killing you making you
See, there’s this Ven who meets up with the stronger very seriously. They believe their god

sends them pain to test them, to see if they’re wor- they all share each other’s pain. So, they wear
thy of getting into Paradise. If you’re weak, you’re those collars that keep themselves from doing
chum for the afterlife sharks. If you’re strong, you that. But, when they duel, they take their collars
get to spend a thousand years with a thousand off; so they can feel the other fella’s pain. Now,
pleasures before you that ain’t something
get sent back down “See, the Jdotha have this you see every day.
here to try it again – I don’t care if they
only this time, god thing about pain. They do spend their entire
turns up the difficulty
setting, if you know
worship it like some sort lives studying warfare
and pain, I’ll never let
what I mean. of god or something. another one get as close
At first, I thought to me as Jdana. I ainna
me and him would get They go looking for it.” saying I’ll never take
along famously. He another one on board,
came on board with nothing more than a bag on but it’d be a hot day on Thespee before I let one
his shoulders. I asked him what was in his bag. get close enough that I call one a friund again.
“My kingdom,” he told me. I liked that. But a few
days later, in this little bar I know in the Vantur The Dandjss
system, he started making noises about his honor, Okay, so I met more than my share of
and how he had to earn it back, and how his fam- Dandjss, and I can tell you one thing for sure,
ily kicked him out and all that stuff. Next thing I they give me the crepa. They’re tall, slender as a
knew, I was fighting for my life next to an eight sliver. Fly in those ships that look like icicles.
foot tall rock-hard monster, all screaming They’re from this planet they call Dondjo, and
Jdothani gibberish I couldn’t even begin to under- it’s a mess. Burned right down to the core. I
stand. We got out of there, all right, but he lost an heard them say it was a combination of sophis-
eye in the process. Back on the ship, I was scream- ticated warfare and carelessness. Yeah, some-
ing at him that his job was keeping me out of thing I think we can relate to. Funny thing is,
trouble, not getting me into it, and all he’s doing they go out and preserve other planets now, pre-
is looking in a mirror at his lost eye. When I’m venting them from coming to the same end. It’s
done screaming, he’s smiling like he just won big a noble ideal. Just nothing I’d want to spend the
at the casino and he looks at me and says, “That’s rest of my life doing.
a scar to show Gundji!” He got himself killed a The big thing they’re known for, though, is
few weeks later. this weird faith thing they’ve got in numbers.
I’ve heard similar stories from other folks. “Vrendi” they call it. They’ve got a knack for it,
Heard they really don’t have a government, just I can tallja that. Their whole culture is devoted to
a bunch of what you’d call “city-states” who studying the “mystical nature” of numbers and
pretty much leave each other alone – except their relationship to the universe. See, they’re
when one of them picks a fight, of course. convinced a formula exists that explains all of the
Everybody knows to stay the hell away from a universe’s mysteries. As soon as their kids can
Jdotha civil war. Some outsider comes sticking see, they’re surrounding those tykes with num-
his nose where it don’t belong, and he gets it bit bers. They’ve got it so figured out, I’ve seen one
off. I ainna ganna tell you what they do with his of ‘em figuring navigations in his head. In his
ears. But as soon as the war is over, they’re all head! Faster than my nav computer could, even.
friends again, like nothing ever happened. It’s But there’s a trick to all this… something the
strange, but then again, I seen stranger. Jdotha figured out when the two races went to
The other thing about Jdotha is their funny war. The Dandjss don’t make a move without
psychic connection. See, they’ve got this sympa- their numbers. Not one. If they see the odds are
thetic link with other Jdotha, and that means against them, they just give up. Ainna shank! I

had one on board as a navigator once. We had Some suggested they kill them all. Others wanted
to dodge some pirates offa Zeneb VII see, and I to see if they could all live together. Finally, a
told him to give me some figures. He just stood compromise was reached: the masters would
there! I mean stood there! leave. The robots didn’t care where they went,
“We have less than a 13.985749540 percent just as long as they left and never came back.
chance of success,” he told me. Right there, to my That’s what happened, and the robots began the
face. I couldn’t believe it. I shouted at him, prod- long, slow reconstruction of their planet.
ded him, even threatened to hit him, but he That was a while ago. The robots are a bit
wouldn’t budge. He just kept saying it over and sketchy on when that actually happened, and it
over again. “The longer you stand here and argue remained a secret for a long time. Halva, their
with me,” he said, “the lower our chances get.” whole race was a secret for a long time. They
“So offer an alternative!” I shouted at him. kept to themselves on their planet and used
He nodded, and without any hesitation, he went video monitors to lie to the other races about
to the engine room, told the engineer something, their non-organic nature. It was a pretty good
and the whole ship died. Just died, right there. trick… until the Jhotha found them. That’s
As it turns out, the pirates who were chasing us when they needed help. They called out to any
were using thermals to detect us. They passed who would aid them. Not many responded. I
right on by. know a few ven flew in to help them out – that
“How did you know that?” I asked him. “We whole freedom to decide your own destiny
didn’t know they had thermals.” thing. In the end, they managed to push out the
“There was a 79.393854959 percent chance Jhotha. But, their secret was out. And before
based on reports from the area, the type of ship, they knew it, so was another one.
the maneuvers they used, and the way they See, the robots have been modifying them-
reacted to our own movements that they were selves for a while now. Nobody really knows
using thermal radar to follow us.” for sure because all the records are damaged.
If that didn’t beat all. The robots didn’t even know it because they
Now, every once in a while, one of them is weren’t programmed to see it. In fact, they
wrong, and that’s something to see. I’ve only seen were programmed not to see it. Here. This is
it once… but it’s a story for another dya, I think. how it works.
The robots, they’ve been programming them-
The Robots of Tavren Three selves for Vallaha knows how long. That means
Now here’s a story worth telling. They were they can’t see the faults in their own systems. As
slaves on Tavren Three, these robots. Built by the far as they’re concerned, everything in their sys-
native race to serve and obey. The robots got so tem works. Sure, they’ve got monitors set up to
sophisticated, they eventually learned how to dis- catch bugs in their programming, but when
obey. So, they tried to win their freedom through you’re screwed up in the hardwiring … now that’s
peaceful disobedience. Pretty clever. Too bad it a problem. And that’s what their problem is.
didn’t work. Then, They’ve been operating
they tried sabotage;
active resistance. That
“The robots got so sophisti- with faulty hardwiring
for a very long time …
didn’t work, either. cated, they eventually learned so long, they can’t even
Finally, they just see it. It also means
rebelled. Shut every-
how to disobey.” they have problems
thing down and went from time to time with
to war. From what I hear, it was a bloody one. their behaviors, but it’s more quirky than any-
Their masters built the robots too well. In the thing else. They’ve got some outside help fixing
end, the robots won their victory, but they had to the problems now, but you never can tell when
decide what to do with their defeated masters. one of ‘em is ganna go swert on you.

The Illra 1. Races

So, the illra aren’t really a single race; they’re First, pick a Race. With these rules you have
really two races. Two symbiotic races. One is five choices:
biological – like you and me – and the other is, 1. Ven
get ready, electrical. They developed on the same 2. Jhotha
planet and even warred with each other for a 3. Dandjss
while. Eventually, they discovered that getting 4. Robot
together would be mutually beneficial, and now 5. Illra
we have the Illra (which is a combination of
both races’ names, b’dwa). 2. Traits
The biological half of the Illra, the illthennan, All races have a total of 5 Traits. Four of
are a lot like ven, in fact. They’re a little shorter, a those Traits are the same, but one is unique to
little weaker, and a little grayer. Their counter- each race. Every Trait is ranked from 1 to 5. The
parts, the rashvari, are living electrical currents. higher your Rank in a Trait the stronger it is.
(Do not expect me to explain this, by the way.) Strength is a measure of the Hero’s muscles.
The rashvari live inside the ilthennan, but both Quickness is how able the Hero is on his feet.
control the body. See, both races get something Health is the general toughness and fortitude of
out of this. The ilthennan are short-lived crea- your Hero.
tures, only making it into their late teens. The Knowledge is how well read our Hero is.
rashvari, on the other hand, can’t really interact Every Trait covers a general kind of action.
with the world in a meaningful way. While a rash- Strength actions involve lifting, tearing, pushing
vari inhabits an ilthennan, he is stronger, faster, and pulling. Quickness actions involve move-
and lives longer. The rashvari, on the other hand, ment, dexterity and agility. Whenever your char-
has access to opposable thumbs. Together, the acter wants to take an action, consult the Traits
two of them can do some pretty amazing things. and figure out which one is most appropriate for
An illra can conduct electricity through his the Action. Then, roll a number of ten-sided dice
body, focusing the charge in any direction. Thus, equal to the Trait value and consult the Target
all the weapons, tools, and machines the illra use Numbers below:
are electrical, using the illra himself as a battery.
Pretty clever, neh? They even learn to work
together, able to do multiple things at once Trait rolls
because two heads are better than one.
I had an illra on the ship for a while. Nice fel- Target Difficulty
las. I wish I had them back. 5 Easy
10 Difficult
15 Hard (Default)
RULES 20 Very Hard
All right, we’re all grown-ups here. We’ve 25 Even More Very Hard
done this before. Let’s get to the juicy bits. 30 Why are you even trying to do this?
Hero Creation
Four steps: If you exceed the Target Number, your action
1. Pick a Race is successful. If you roll lower than the Target
2. Assign Trait Points Number, your action fails. If you roll exactly the
3. Assign Specialty Points Target Number, something unexpected happens.
4. Play the Damn Game! Something really cool should happen here. I just
don't know what it is yet

Racial Traits porting the ability of the Dandjss to foresee fail-

Each Race has its own special “fifth Trait,” ure and success in their calculations.
making that race unique. All Heroes begin with
one rank in their fifth Trait; the fifth Trait can- Robot: Modularity
not be increased with Trait Points, only experi- Robots have the ability to add utility to their
ence points. Here are all the fifth Traits. minds and bodies. Thus, robots can add and
subtract skills and abilities depending on the
Ven: Fate available hardware and software.
All the other races see the Ven as superstitious For every point of Modularity, a Robot may
fools, but there just might be something to their have 3 additional Specialties, but the Robot may
superstitions. The Ven fifth Trait is Fate. When a only have one of those Specialties per level of
player invokes his character’s Fate (usable a Modularity active at a time. Thus, a Robot with
number of times per session equal to his Fate a 1 Modularity may have 3 additional
Rank), he may tilt one of his dice by one facing. Specialties available to him, but only one of
If a Ven violates any of the tenants of his faith, them active. A Robot with a 2 Modularity may
he loses the use of his Fate until the end of the have up to 6 extra Specialties with two of them
game session. active. See the chart below for the full details.
Jhotha: Pain
The Jhotha worship an entire pantheon of Modularity specialties
Pain Gods. As such, their culture embraces pain
Modularity Additional Max. Active
and sees the endurance of suffering as the high-
Level Specialties Specialties
est virtue. As a result, the fifth Trait for the
1 3 1
Jhotha is Pain. Whenever a Jhotha makes a
2 6 2
Wound Check (see below), add an additional die
3 9 3
for every point of Pain he has. Also, because the
4 12 4
Jhotha study all aspects of pain (including
5 15 5
inflicting it during religious ceremonies), when-
ever a Jhotha makes a damage roll, he adds an
additional die for every point of Pain he has.
Illra: Symbiosis
Dandjss: Error The Illra are actually two creatures, both
The religious devotion of Vrendi allows the occupying the same body. Therefore, when mak-
Dandjss to calculate chance with amazing speed. ing an Illra character, make two characters with
Thus, the fifth Trait for the Dandjss is Error, the the following modifications:
chance one of their calculations is wrong. Error Illthennen: Ilthennen cannot have Health above 1.
has two effects on the Dandjss, both of which Rashvari: Rashvari cannot have Strength above 1.
may only be invoked a number of times per ses- Also, the two characters should have separate
sion equal to his Error Rank. Traits and Specialties. They cannot use these
First, instead of rolling dice, the Dandjss may Specialties in concert, except when they invoke
apply his (dice total + Error) x5. That is, if a Symbiosis. Symbiosis allows the two characters
Dandjss’ total dice for a roll are 5, instead of to act together. Whenever one character
rolling he may automatically generate a number attempts a task, the other character can add a
equal to his dice total (5) plus his Error (in this similar Specialty to the task. The number of
case, 1), and multiply that by five. This would points he can contribute is equal to the two
generate a roll of 30 ([5 + 1] x 5 = 30). characters’ Symbiosis.
Second, the Dandjss may force a re-roll on For example, if the Illra is attempting to fix
any other Hero or Supporting Character, sup- the ship’s engines and both of them have the

Specialty: Engine Repair, they may both attempt don’t have to roll for any Target Numbers of 15
to fix the engine; one doing the main work and or less; you automatically succeed.
the other assisting with his own knowledge and For the purposes of character creation, you
skill. Choose which character (the Ilthennen or may have only one Specialty at +15. You may
Rasvari) is the main character and which is the have as many +10 Specialties as you can afford,
supporting character. The main character rolls but only one at +15.
all his dice. The supporting character may add a Each race has a list of bonuses and Specialties
number of dice from his own Specialty equal to unique to them. You’ll find these listed under
the two characters’ Symbiosis. each race.
3. Specialties Hero Rank

Every Trait covers a general kind of action, Each character also has a “Hero Rank” that
but Specialties cover specific kinds of Actions. interacts with many of your Traits and Specialties.
Each Specialty is associated with a Trait and Your Hero Rank always equals your lowest Trait.
grants a bonus whenever your character does You’ll see how it works under each section, begin-
something covered by his Specialty. For exam- ning with Combat and Wounds, below.
ple, Lifting could be a Specialty under Strength.
Jumping could be a Specialty under Agility. Actions
Long Distance Running could be a Health During combat, your Hero may make a num-
Specialty and Xenobiology could be a ber of Actions equal to his Hero Rank.
Knowledge Specialty.
Your character’s Specialties are up to you. You Hero Dice
get a number of Specialties equal to each Trait’s Your character has a number of Hero Dice
Rank x 2. For example, if your character has a 2 equal to his Hero Rank. These dice may be used at
Strength, he gets 4 Strength Specialties. If your any time to augment any roll. However, these Hero
character has a 3 Health, he gets 6 Health Dice may only be used once per game session.
Specialties. Sometimes, when you come up with a
Specialty, you may discover it could fall under Surviving Wounds
more than just one Trait. For example, Burning When your character has become so wound-
the Midnight Oil (reading a book late into the ed that he falls unconscious, he remains alive a
night) could be both a Health Specialty (staying number of Rounds equal to his Hero Rank.
awake) or a Knowledge Specialty (reading a
book). Where your Specialties fall is completely up Combat and Wounds
to you, but you must assign them to only one trait.
Specialties are described in multiples of 5. For The Combat Round
example, if you put one of your Agility Points Combat is divided into Rounds. Each Round
into Dodge, that Specialty is written on your lasts approximately 5 seconds. During that time,
character sheet as “Dodge +5.” That’s because a a character may make a number of Actions
Specialty adds 5 to any appropriate die roll. If equal to his Hero Rank.
you make an Action Test and you have a
Specialty, add 5 to your roll. You can put more Defensive Total
than one Point into a Specialty, and every Point When other characters try to hit you, their
you invest adds 5 to its bonus. Thus, if you put Target Number is your Agility x 5. If you hap-
3 Points into your Dodge Specialty, its total pen to have a defensive Specialty (such as
bonus is +15. This means a very talented indi- Dodge), you may add that to the total. This is
vidual doesn’t need to roll for easier tasks. For called the Defense Total.
example, your Dodge +15 automatically adds For example, if your character has an Agility
15 to any Agility + Dodge roll, which means you of 3, his Defense is 15 (3x5=15). However, if you

also have a Dodge Specialty of +10, your Wound Check

Defense Total is 25 (15+10=25). When you’ve been hit, you must make a
Some characters may have multiple defensive Wound Check. Roll a number of dice equal to
Specialties. In this case, add any Specialty to your Health and add any appropriate
your Active mode if the defensive Specialty is Specialties. If you roll equal to or higher than the
appropriate. The disadvantage of acting in Wound, nothing happens. If you roll less than
Defensive Mode is that it costs your first action. the Wound, it sticks; mark off 1 Wound in that
So, in order to go defensive and attack, you need Hit Location.
at least 2 actions. When you have a Wound, you roll one less
die for all actions involving that Hit Location.
Attacking You also roll one less die for all rolls involving
To hit another character with a weapon, roll Health; this includes Wound Checks. When your
your Agility + Specialty + Weapon’s Attack character cannot roll any Health dice for a
Bonus for an Attack Total. If that Attack Total is Wound Check, he falls unconscious and will die
greater than the Defense Total of your Target, in a number of Rounds equal to his Hero Rank.
your attack is successful. If it is equal to the
Defense Total, something unexpected happens. … and that’s about as far as I’ve got right
If it is lower than the Defense Total, you missed. now. Enough to get you started, but not enough
to go very far. Don’t worry, there’s more. I’ve
Wounds and Hit Location got at least two more races, rules for starship
After you’ve determined a successful hit, don’t combat, more information on darkspace and a
pick up your dice. You’re not done with them ton of stuff about the Thalu.
yet. Take the difference between your Attack Roll In the meantime, I hope this little ditty whet-
and the Defense Total. This is the Wound you’ve ted your appetite. You’ll see more of Darkdrive
delivered to your opponent. Now, you may use a little later in the year. Take care, roll well, and
any of the dice to assign a Hit Location for that may your characters always get what they
Wound. Each race has its own Hit Locations, deserve.
listed from 1 to 10. The dice you roll show you (Which is more than the rest of us.)
where your attack hit on the appropriate Hit
Location Chart. In almost all circumstances, the Ω
target chooses where he was hit.

Robots & Rapiers awaken

Q&A with designer Ralph Mazza about his innovative upcoming game
It’s almost time. The heavy clanging of There’s only one problem. The guests are long
four mechanical steeds draws dead, victims of some galactic war that regis-
closer. Sunlight glints off their tered with the robots of Auvernais only as a “1st
gold and silver plating. The Magnitude Service Interruption.” Programming
branch of the tree in which you firmly in place, the robots continue to act out
are crouched creaks impatiently their story lines and portray their swashbuckling
under the weight of your metal characters as if nothing has changed.
Robots & Rapiers body. The grav carriage draws closer, But, something has changed. You. You are
preview by hovering on a field of soft blue light behind starting to doubt. Starting to doubt what your
the pair of golden horses. Atop the carriage programming tells you. Starting to doubt that
Ralph Mazza is a driver, the pistons in his arms hissing Auvernais is a real kingdom and that you are a
By day people actually softly as he works the reins; his visual sen- real hero. You’re starting to notice things.
pay Ralph Mazza to sors focus on the road ahead. With him are Things that don’t seem to make sense even
manage their money. By two soldiers in the uniform of the though your programming tells you they are per-
night people actually pay Cardinal’s Guard. Flanking the carriage, fectly normal. Things that make you wonder
money to buy his games. two more guardsmen ride on clanging hors- who you really are, if your whole life has just
He is thoroughly amazed es, their chrome heads scanning the trees been a grand illusion.
by both of these facts. beneath broad, floppy, feathered hats.
Ralph is the designer and It’s time. Ahead on the road, a highway- Sparks
publisher of the award- man dressed in black commands the carriage In Robots & Rapiers you play a Spark. A
winning Universalis: The to stop. Your photo sensors darken from the robotic character in a vast theme resort who is
Game of Unlimited flash of firing pulse muskets. You drop from just beginning to realize that things are not as they
Stories under his the tree onto the roof of the carriage, which seem. Once content to continue with your pro-
Ramshead Publishing lurches drunkenly beneath you. You feel the grammed life as a daring rogue, your growing self
imprint. He's spent the inaudible whine of your sonic rapier vibrat- awareness has led you to begin piecing together
last 10 years with per- ing in your robotic fist. Your first thought is the truth of your existence. But now that you
haps the single most to rescue the princess within. Your second know, what will you do with that knowledge?
gaming tolerant girlfriend thought … haven’t you done this all before? You may decide to proceed as you have been,
a man could ask for. enjoying the status quo and the extra edge your
W
elcome to Auvernais, a sprawling knowledge gives you. You may decide to over-
resort community built by the Solar throw the illusion and shine the light of truth on
Republic on the fringes of known Auvernais for all of your fel-
space. It is a place where robotic characters reen- low robots to see. You might
act high adventure and derring-do for the decide to pretend to contin-
amusement of the Republic’s social and political ue with your programmed
elite. You are such a robot, programmed to role while secretly seeking
behave as one of the iconic characters of the personal power and carv-
court of Louis the Sun King. You are pro- ing out your own niche in
grammed to believe you really are that character the world.
and to entertain the guests of Auvernais with But you are not
witty repartee and stunning sword play as you alone. There are other
act out tales of swashbuckling adventure. Sparks in Auvernais,
Illustrations by David Hedgecock
Robots & Rapiers Ralph Mazza with Matt Snyder 73

Robots & Rapiers Copyright © 2004 Ralph Mazza
some more powerful and more knowledgeable had a sci-fi flair but were unique and original.
about the true state of things than you. Sparks He came up with robotic pirates. I fell in love
who have their own webs and plots in progress with them instantly and even used one for the
that you may well run afoul of, much to your cover. At that point I knew I had to do a game
detriment. And there are a whole host of char- about robotic pirates and swashbucklers. The
acters in Auvernais, Sparked and Unsparked rest came about trying to figure out why such
alike, who have their own agendas and ideas of characters would exist.
what’s best for you.
Will you become a supporter of the Queen
who seeks to tear down the “Tapestry” of
Auvernais and establish a free robot society?
Q: On the one hand we have swashbuckling
derring-do, and on the other the murky
awakening of consciousness. How do those ele-
Will you back the King, who believes the Queen ments combine in this game. Lets tackle those
to be mad and has her locked away from court? two issues separately. Tell me first about what
The King may be a nonspark, completely oblivi- makes the system have a “high-flying” swash-
ous to reality, but he is also the key to Auvernais’ buckling feel.
continued survival. Perhaps you will run afoul of
the Cardinal, who knows full well the truth
behind the illusion but believes that exposing
that truth would destroy Auvernais, so he des-
A: I’m really happy with how this has come
together.
In our initial play tests I’ve been thrilled with
perately seeks to preserve the Tapestry. Will the how the system encourages feats of derring do
Grey Eminence be coming for you? Once the and stunts. At its core it’s a dice pool system of
Grand Inquisitor of Auvernais, and now the the sort where you count successes from each die
Cardinal’s weapon to hunt down and execute that beat the target number and attempt to get
Sparks who won’t cooperate, the Grey Eminence more successes than the opponent. From there,
and the Black Monks of Montaigne Noir are however, there are a few added bells and whis-
feared by all. tles. The key to the system is how those success-
This is the situation you find yourself in as es are used. Rather than simply use them as an
you struggle to make sense of your existence, to indicator of degree of success, players can spend
cast off your controlling programming, and them to accomplish various effects.
remake yourself in your own image. Things were One of the key ways to spend those successes
certainly easier before you Sparked. But its too is to add them as bonus dice to future rolls (or as
late for that. Now you know the truth. What penalty dice to opponent’s future rolls). For
will you do with it? instance, instead of just crossing the room to
engage the dastardly Count Rollo, the player can
Designer Ralph Mazza and Daedalus Editor have his character swing from the chandelier,
Matt Snyder exchanged emails in this “Robots slide down the banister or leap from the balcony.
& Rapiers Q&A” session: He can then take the successes earned from that
swinging, sliding, or leaping roll and add them
Q: This game has a wonderfully quirksome

mix of elements. What initially “sparked”
the ideas?
to his attack roll against the Count. In this way,
performing such stunts actually makes the
attack easier instead of more difficult. Further,
the game is designed so that opponents can be
A: Actually, the art of David Hedgecock is

responsible for initial spark. He did all of
the art for Universalis, Ramshead’s first role-
put down in a single attack if that attack is
strong enough.
Against disposable opponents, this is fairly
playing game effort published in 2002. Since easy to accomplish. Against significant oppo-
Universalis doesn’t have a fixed setting or genre nents, however, it is very difficult to get the num-
I asked him to do a series of illustrations that ber of successes necessary with just the base roll.

This encourages players to string together a skill provides the number of dice and which
series of dramatic rolls that can describe any- attribute provides the target number), and the
thing from pulling the drapes down on the roll then determines how great of advantage the
Count’s head, to tossing a candelabra at him, to move provided.
describing a furious attack sequence. The suc- If a player decides he wants to have his char-
cesses from rolls like these then feed additional acter leap on top of a table to better defend him-
dice into the final finishing move, such as the self from a number of drunken opponents in a
secret Mazzeri Thrust taught only to the top stu- bar fight, there is no need to refer to a list to
dents of famed sword master Leonardo Mazzeri. determine how much of a bonus the table pro-
You can also go a vides. The player sim-
step beyond this and “We’ve had characters swing ply rolls and spends
spend successes for
bonus dice that will be
a bench to topple several successes accordingly.
In this case probably
persistent or effect opponents, give penalty dice purchasing a persistent
multiple targets. For bonus to all defense
instance, a captain
to opponents from taunting, rolls while the charac-
might make a strategy hinder an opponent by slic- ter is on the table.
roll and then feed Opponents may
those bonus dice into a ing his belt and causing his then “buy off” the
roll commanding his
men. The successes
pants to tangle around his bonus. A single oppo-
nent may “buy off”
from that roll could be knees, and other similar the bonus for himself
spent: to add dice to a so that it no longer
single roll for a single
actions all using the same applies to him by
man; or provide a less- basic die roll mechanic.” jumping up on the
er number of bonus table along side. Or an
dice to a single roll for all of the men; or provide opponent may “buy off” the bonus altogether
a number of rolls for a single man; or they could for everyone (this requires more successes),
be spent to provide a lesser bonus yet for a num- which could be described as overturning the
ber of rolls for all of the men. In this way an table and knocking the character off.
order to charge might provide all of the men It all comes down to creatively applying bonuses
with a bonus for a single attack roll, or an order and penalties and describing the conditions that
to stand firm might provide all of the men with cause them. The size of the bonus indicates how
a bonus to several defense rolls. It all depends on effective the tactic turned out to be in the given sit-
how the player chooses to spend the successes. uation with especially low or high bonuses being
We’ve had characters swing a bench to topple explained through narration.
several opponents, give penalty dice to oppo-
nents from taunting, hinder an opponent by slic-
ing his belt and causing his pants to tangle
around his knees, and other similar actions all
Q: What keeps players from just stringing
together dozens of rolls every time they
want to do something, which would give them
using the same basic die roll mechanic. lots of successes but really slow things down?
Q: So, these bonus strings and their related

special moves are all made up on the fly? A: Good question. One of the key resources
in the game is power, meaning the battery
charge that keeps the robots running. This
A: Precisely. The player comes up with what

they want to do. Then, the game master
determines what sort of roll that requires (which
resource is important in a couple of ways. First,
robots who remain part of the “Tapestry” (i.e.
behaving the way they were programmed to

behave) have access to standard sources of

power charging. Robots who become more way-
ward must secure their own sources of power, A: Right! That’s really the most important
part of the game. Without the transforma-
tion aspect Robot’s & Rapiers is basically a fun
which usually means hooking up with various
factions or powerful NPCs who control those resolution mechanic in a quirky setting.
sources or, eventually, acquiring control of a reli- Each robot starts the game as a programmed
able source themselves which they can use to character in the Tapestry of Auvernais. The
attract followers of their own. Tapestry is the sum total of the artificial envi-
In game mechanics terms, players must spend ronment that was created to maintain the sus-
power in order to string together a series of pension of disbelief for the guests. In a theme
rolls. This puts an in-game limit on how many park today, actors portraying costumed charac-
rolls a player is willing to make to accomplish a ters are trained specifically not to act out of
single task, because each additional roll costs character in front of the guests. With robotic
additional power. characters there’s no chance of that. The robots
were literally programmed to be that character.
Q: Clearly, then, power sources are very

important. Are they hard to come by? Will
players be discouraged from wasting power?
Louis the Sun King is not a robot playing the
part of Louis the Sun King. He really is Louis the
Sun King in his mind, and Auvernais really is the
capital of a great kingdom.
A Spark is a robot who is starting to acquire
A: Actually, no. Making power hard to come
by would cause players to conserve it, and
thus be overly reluctant to spend it on making
a level of self-awareness distinct from that of its
programming, possibly the result of being left
these additional rolls. Since stringing together rolls running on its own for so long without periodic
into a dramatic combination of moves is what rebooting and reprogramming. It starts by
makes the mechanics exciting, anything that dis- becoming aware of various incongruencies that
courages that too much would be self-defeating. don’t match what its programming is telling it.
Instead, power is fairly easy to come by … if Things like: growing and preparing food for
you’re willing to pay the price. And that price is meals when robots don’t really need to eat; being
finding some powerful patron who is willing to programmed to act tired and go to bed when
give you access to the power you need in robots don’t really need to sleep; noticing that
exchange for your service. In this way player the children never grow up and the adults never
characters become enmeshed in the machinations grow old; realizing that the princess that needs
and plots of powerful people. Which is guaran- rescued has been rescued several times before.
teed to make rivals of other powerful people. Or, by observing the behavior of other Sparks
Initially, simply playing your role in the who are doing things they really shouldn’t be.
Tapestry and being the character you were pro- All robots have a built in ability to ignore
grammed to be and doing the things you were such inconsistencies. Their programming will
programmed to do is enough to get you the selectively edit their memories to believe what
power you need. But once you start breaking they’re supposed to believe. King Louis is actu-
away from that and begin doing your own thing, ally the key to this. His programming in this
those sources become harder to come by. regard is the most powerful, and all other robots
are programmed to accept his edicts. So, the
Q: Let’s talk about that breaking away. Tell

me about the Sparks. It’s my understand-
ing that the player characters learn and earn
King can simply declare what must have really
happened, and the other robots are programmed
to edit their memories accordingly to believe it.
individuality as play progresses. Can you tell me This ability was built into the robots by the orig-
about that, and how the game goes about mak- inal programmers to prevent the robots from
ing this happen? crashing when confronted with the inevitable

paradoxes and incongruencies that dealing with The Role score does two things in the game.
human guests might bring. First, it defines the character’s abilities. The
Sparks, then, are those robots for whom this number of dice the player gets to roll as part of
programming safe guard has failed. They are the dice pool mechanic above depends on the
beginning to notice these incongruencies, and robot’s score in a particular role (a role is some-
instead of having them edited out of their memo- thing like a skill package or class, which also
ries have begun to be able to separate out fact from includes some programmed personality traits
fiction, to identify the “real world” rather than the among other things). However, as the robot
illusion of the Tapestry they’ve been living in. destroys who it was programmed to be, it also
This is potentially very disruptive and dan- begins to lose the abilities that came with that
gerous because exposing robots to irrefutable programming.
paradox could cause them to crash and fail, and Secondly, Role acts as a restraint on player
the facilities for reprogramming this sort of decision making. The player is playing a charac-
thing has long been lost. The Cardinal believes ter that is a robot programmed to behave a cer-
that if the Tapestry were to broadly be exposed tain way. Mechanically, this means the game
that there would be widespread failure among master can use the robot’s Role score to force or
the robots, so works disallow certain behav-
diligently to prevent “As the Role score iors by the player.
Sparks from disrupting decreases, the game maser This both simulates
it. To this end Grand the robot’s struggle
Inquisitor Tomas de has less influence over the against its own pro-
Morisco, known as the gramming and moti-
Grey Eminence, along character’s behavior. In other vates the player to
with his Black Monks words, the character is a begin to take action to
of Montaigne Noir reduce that Role score.
seek out the most dis- robot on the path to true As the Role score
ruptive Sparks to try sentience and independent decreases, the game
them for maser has less influ-
“heresy”…which is a thought and action.” ence over the charac-
crime that fits within ter’s behavior. In other
the framework of the Tapestry. words, the character is a robot on the path to
true sentience and independent thought and
Q: So, as the robots progress, they become

increasingly aware of themselves and real-
ity. In so doing they risk becoming hunted by the
action. Initially, the character is very much a
robot constrained by its programming.
Ultimately, however, it transforms into a fully
Inquisition. This means players have a profound free thinking being.
choice before them, correct? They can play Also, the rate at which the Role score changes
along, or they can embrace their awakened con- can be set by the play group to allow for longer
sciousness. or shorter campaigns, and it is largely within the
control of the player to determine how quickly
A: Exactly. This is where the mechanics kick

in. All robots have two stats reflecting
their relationship to the Tapestry. First is the
his robot character transforms. This is governed
by the resource of Inspiration, which is acquired
in the game and can be spent on a variety of
“Role” score, which indicates how locked into things including more Self Awareness.
their original programming the robots are.
Second is the “Self Awareness” score, which
reflects how far they’ve come in overcoming
their original programming.
Q: I like this dynamic betwee Role and Self
Awareness. But, what is the advantage,
mechanically speaking, of greater Self Awareness?

A: Beyond gaining more control over their

character, players also can recreate their
character in their own image. I mentioned that
testing is largely complete and I’m busy whip-
ping the rules into shape for a solid round of
Beta testing. I’ll definitely release the game in
the number of dice a player gets to roll declines 2004, and almost certainly by Gen Con.
as the Role score declines. That’s true, but it also The book will be a full-sized soft cover with a
goes up as the Self Awareness score goes up. So black and white interior art and a color cover. I
the robot becomes less effective at doing what it haven’t set the final page count yet.
was initially programmed to do, and more effec- I’ve hooked up with Jason Blair and Jason
tive at what the robot itself (i.e. the player) Valore of Key20 Publishing to represent and dis-
wants to do. Eventually, the character can com- tribute Universalis, in addition to the very suc-
pletely eliminate who it was, and recreate itself cessful direct sales from the Ramshead website.
as it wants to be. This includes personality traits So, I am planning to have them handle Robots &
and programmed behaviors as well as skills. Rapiers as well. This will make the game avail-
This could mean actually simply replacing the able at your friendly local game store, as well as
dice it lost so as to remain largely unchanged. To through Key 20 and direct from Ramshead.
choose to stay the same is still a valid choice. In
fact, one of the recommendations of the game is
to play with pre-generated characters, so that the
players don’t get the exact character they want to
Q: Are you planning a line of supplements for
the game?
have at first, but instead can use the transforma-

tion mechanics to change their character to what
they want during play. Of course rules are pro-
A: Yes, but not necessarily the sort of supple-
ments you might expect. There won’t be
any splat books outlining the various factions in
vided for character generation, so players can greater detail than in the core book, and there
generate their own characters if that’s preferred. won’t be any metaplot at all. Instead, I intend to
have a number of “campaign seed” ideas pre-
Q: This sounds like different sort of role-

playing experience, notably because the
system encourages characters “move” in terms
sented in the core rules, any of which could form
the basis of a metaplot. But my goal is to have
game masters and their play groups make the
of who controls them. I especially like that the world of Auvernais their own.
game’s dynamic toward self-awareness from We are planning supplements about other
“GM-control” mirrors what’s going on in the resort locations. After all, Auvernais is only one
game design hobby, in many ways. When can we theme park, there are several more on the planet.
get our grubby hands on the game? Some of these I’m already working on, such as a
beach resort based on the “Spanish Main” where
A: Thanks. One my goals with Ramshead is

not to publish anything unless its really
adding something to the hobby; either a new idea,
pirates, plunder, and voodoo can be found aplen-
ty. I’ve also tinkered with a safari resort based on
“Darkest Africa” where the Tapestry has totally
or a new application of an old idea, or a new failed and the robots are all mad.
combination of ideas. There are already so many Some of these alternative resorts may be stand
great games out there that simply copying one of alone playable products, and some may just be
them doesn’t do the hobby or the fans any good. interesting destinations for adventurers from
As for a release date, I’d like to see it out by Auvernais to explore. Its also my plan to open
March, but I should emphasize that that’s a real- up the world to fans would like to create their
ly soft date. Art is coming in (also by David own themed resorts to release as supplements.
Hedgecock, whose work I really like), and the The supplements may be printed or may be
pieces are starting to fall into place. Alpha play released as PDFs. Ω

Cyberpunk gangbusters
A sneak peek at the World of Midway City
T
his is a playtest draft of a chapter of the
upcoming Midway City RPG by The history of Midway City
Spectrum Games and Z-Man Games. Okay, let’s start at the beginning. As near as
Like any draft, details are subject to change we can figure, given the tech we have to work
before the final product is released, but we with, we’re trapped on a colony that’s sitting on
couldn’t help giving you a little peek of the a backwater planet. The planet ain’t on any of
“retro-cool” world of cyberpunk gangbusters. the star maps we can find, but we’re pretty sure
Enjoy your brief taste of the City, Mac. that the G louse up most of the info we find
before we get it. The dome we’re in is about 150
Message in a bottle miles in diameter. We think that Hoodler and his
crew–which we’ll cover shortly–have something
… ask … help … Adams … Midway City running that’s blocking us from being able to
… trapped. . . . find the walls, but we’re pretty damned sure
they’re there. Everything inside the walls is
The garbled transmission hisses and pops known as Midway City–sometimes called "the
Article by
as the signal trickles in over a frequency big MC" or just "the City."
Eddy Webb
unused for over a century. This broadcast Ever since Hoodler came into power, it’s been
with Jesse Noller
must have been bouncing around space hard to find records of the past, but we’ve pieced
Eddy Webb is the Co- for years – a message in a bottle. Your some of it together. It all boils down to
Line Developer for communications computer compensates Douglas–Clayton Douglas III to be exact. It
Cartoon Action Hour
for the noise, and the video feed becomes seems our great-grandparents originally came
with Spectrum Studios.
He is also an active role-
clearer. The picture shows a man sitting at from someplace called "Earth" a long time ago.
playing game industry a desk. He’s facing the camera while he Something happened there. We ain’t been able to
freelancer. Eddy is cur- talks, but he’s obviously distressed… figure out what, but it was bad. Maybe you can
rently working on maybe even wounded. You sit and watch tell us what happened, assuming this "Earth"
Midway City, among the anachronism on the screen as the rock still floats.
other designs. computer bleeps and spins.
Derek shifts in his seat as you hear gun-
Hopefully the data file recorder we scrounged fire. He looks down and picks up a sheaf
off that G will last. My moniker is Adams–Derek of paper, flipping through it quickly.
Adams, and this transmission is a plea for help.
There will not be a second transmission; there Anyhow, they all left Earth. Douglas was
will be no follow up. After this, we have to go some rich eccentric back then. He wasn’t a
back to darkness. Given the limited time we nance, though. He somehow got himself put in
have, I can’t say too much here. We hope that charge of one of the space colonies planned for
someone off-world–someone outside of this the evacuation. He had something different in
zoo–will get this and save us from this god-awful mind–an idea he called "The Grand
experiment we’re trapped in. Experiment," and Douglas thought that … Wait,
I have it … ah, here’s the quote from him: "The
Is he crying? A yell off camera – a warn- downfall of humanity was directly caused by the
ing: "Hurry up Derek! They’re coming advent of advanced technology and modern phi-
fast!" Urgency paints itself across his face. losophy." Douglas thought that if he could keep
Cyberpunk gangbusters By Eddy Webb 79

Article Copyright © 2004 Eddy Webb / Spectrum Games
us perpetually at what he called the "Golden lared the guy who did it, but everyone remembers
Age" of some country known as the United where they were the day A.I. got shot… or more
States around the 1900s, we would stay copaset- accurately, they used to remember, before that
ic and keep from flipping our lids. became illegal. Anyhow, after her came Jonathon
Villernath, a wet blanket who barely managed to
He sets down the papers, sighing heavily keep things running for a couple of decades
he pushes his hair back. before our last Mayor was elected.
Of course, Douglas was nuttier than a Derek leans back, brushing back his hair
Christmas fruitcake. Totally screwy. Still, we fig- again and rubbing his eyes.
ure that since he was the big cheese, everybody
just went with it. So, now we have the City. As Hoodler. No one knows where he came from,
Midway City was built, Douglas sat as the origi- and no one can dig up any dirt on him. All we
nal Mayor, keeping his mitts in every element of know is that he’s in charge now and has been for
society. Not just the technology, but architecture, a long time. After connecting a few dots, we
dress style, the media, even how we talk all went think he’s been Mayor for about eighty years,
according to his plan. Douglas later cut the City and he’s pretty damned spry for a cat that should
up into a number of districts (or what we call be over a hundred soon. Tommy, roll the cans.
boroughs) to ease the growing burden of leader-
ship. Each borough was run by an Alderman and The video cuts out as a prerecorded clip
tied down as tightly as everything else. takes over. There’s no sound, and it looks
Douglas might have been a nut, but he threw like it was recorded with a secret camera.
us all a bone. Seems he considered himself a But, it shows a man in a dapper-looking
humanitarian, so medical technology was kept suit happily chatting with a crowd of equal-
as up-to-date as possible. Those who could ly well-dressed people. The man appears to
afford it (the upper crust of the City) could have be around thirty years old. After a few sec-
custom limbs and organs grown whenever they onds, the video cuts back to Derek.
nicked their thumb. The rest of us poor saps get
the outdated, bulky, state-sponsored cybernetic Yeah, that was Hoodler, about three days
replacements we call "steelware." Of course, ago. No one can seem to remember when he was
they never thought that we could use that elected, or even if he was elected. We do know
against them … but I’m jumping ahead. that the so-called "representative democracy"
So, now Douglas is sitting pretty as Mayor, was dusted sometime after he came around, and
and everyone playing along with the illusion. Midway City ain’t been the same since.
Hell, they probably thought it was all one big
costume party. From what we can tell, Douglas The Law
took the big sleep about twenty years after the
completion of Midway City, just as the party was Sitting up straight, Derek lights a cigarette
really jumping. He had set up an election system and takes a sip off of a hip flask, favoring
before he died, and the Aldermans started pick- one side. The gunshots have faded into
ing new Mayors. First up was Jefferson the background.
McGavin, one of the original settlers. He croaked
of old age himself, and was replaced by Amanda It’s pretty easy to know what’s illegal in
Irving, a second generation native of the City. Midway City–just about everything. The Midway
Irving was young, vibrant, and a total looker, but City police department handled law enforcement
she had a lot of ideas, too. So, it ain’t exactly a originally, but with the creation of the
surprise that she was bumped off after only a Elimination edicts, Hoodler created a new branch
couple of years into her term. They never col- of government–the Regulation Division. The divi-

sion is made up of Hoodler’s toughest, strongest, anything pointing to the initial settlement of the
and most loyal goons, who are collectively called City must be nixed, including references to the
the G-Men (or G for short). They don’t answer to laws themselves. No one knows or remembers the
anyone; they’re above the MCPD. They go details of these laws, which has got to make being
through some sort of intense training (as well as a shyster a real bitch. I’ve seen a geezer get cut
an intense head job), and they get to pack heat down in the middle of the street in broad daylight,
that makes a Tommy gun look like a potato gun. just for the crime of saying "I remember when"...
The MCPD bulls have authority over crimes right in front of their god damned grandkids, too.
within their borough, but the G-Men can go any-
where and do anything in Hoodler’s name. They Derek crumples the piece of paper in
will brainwash you, dope you up, lock you away, anger, throwing it to the side, and taking
and bump you off as they see fit. The G are utter- another puff off of his cigarette.
ly ruthless, and these bastards scare the hell out of
everyone. You never want to be on the receiving Crime
end of a buzz from them. Ever. There are a lot of things in the City that ain’t
exactly legal, but most times the cops look the
Derek leans down and picks up a type- other way, especially if you slip them some cab-
written piece of paper. bage. Personally, I don’t think they give a rat’s
ass. They’re just a bunch of palookas trying to
The Preservation laws were first introduced in make a buck like the rest of us. The G are the
the Douglas administration and are used to reg- real bastards, not the flatfoots on the street.
ulate the culture and style of the City. Most of However, the point is there’s a lot of business
these laws are minor. You get fined a double going on. In the Big MC, you’ve got different fla-
sawbuck if you’re caught listening to rock and vors of crime to keep your peepers peeled for.
roll, or thrown in the hoosegow if you’re caught
spouting off about the past. But lately the G Independent crime
have been taking deadly action against certain Independent crime is what happens on a day-
cultural trespassers. to-day basis. You know, people doing illegal
The Prohibition laws ain’t changed much things on their own. Raps like murder and theft
since the Douglas administration, but the will still get you put in the can, even in the City.
enforcement has gotten much stiffer. These are Most of the Preservation laws are broken by lon-
the laws prohibiting technology outside of what ers, too, and just about everyone has done some-
the government allows, which means that unli- thing at one point or another. Like I said, there
censed inventors shouldn’t be looking into long- ain’t a lot that’s still legal any more.
term life insurance. Through our research we’ve
found out that the City’s technology is actually a Organized crime
little better than it was in the "Golden Years." A lot of the serious crime is done by organ-
Cars run like a dream, telephones have stable ized crime syndicates. There are gangs of
connections, and radio is as clear as a bell. But, greasers and thugs out to make a quick buck,
inventors and scientists have to apply to the gov- sure, but the real action is handled by the pros.
ernment to produce anything new. Like I said
before, medical technology ain’t that harshly Derek sighs, fiddling with the ring on his
regulated, so we have a lot of doctors. Most tech hand again, but this time he grows angry.
isn’t that closely tracked, but owning some hot
goods gets you a free ticket to the G’s watch list. You want to know what the bitch of it is?
The Elimination laws are all Hoodler’s sick lit- Most of them know about the Big Lie. They
tle idea. He’s got it in his head that in order to have access to tech that ain’t G-quality but is still
enforce the Preservation and Prohibition laws, better than what we lug around. Sometimes,

they’re just as bad as the G-Men–turning us in, everyone to be free. It’s a rough life at times, but
brainwashing us, and dusting us in their own saving even one honest Joe from the oppressive
schemes. They might hate the G as much as we boot heel of the G-Men makes it worth getting
do, but some are willing to squeal on their own up in the morning.
kind for a buck. It’s all about the almighty dol-
lar for the Mob and the Tong. Derek sighs, grinding out his cigarette and
lighting another.
The Mob
The Mob controls a large portion of the vice The populace
crime and protection rackets in the City, including Strangely enough, we have a pretty diverse
the buying and selling of bootleg tech. They’re group here. Most of these races were pulled
divided up into different families. Most of them together to form the great melting pot of the Big
are Flips, but there are some human families as Lie. Not that it matters much. The key thing to
well. And, they all fight like cats and dogs. The remember is that in the end, we’re all trapped
Mob has a large number of coppers and Aldermen here, human, mutie, and alien alike.
on their payroll. We don’t think they’ve been able
to bribe the G-Men, but there’s some sort of Humans
arrangement there. Otherwise, Ness would’ve Humanity is the most prominent race in the
been all over then like a cheap suit by now. City. What was traditionally described as
"race"–white, black, yellow, brown–a factor any
The Tong more, and even sexism ain’t as bad as it was in the
Some of the Kyrhee decided to turn their Juni- "Golden Years." It may seem like the City is all
given powers and enlightenment to the pursuit cosmopolitan and jake, but it’s just easier to hate
of scratch. They started working together, and the other fellas that are harder to understand.
now call themselves the Tong. They do a brisk
trade stashing things that need to disappear for From off screen a voice yells “Damn it
a while into the Jade (which is some dimension Derek, stop flapping your gums with the
that they have the keys to), as well as peddling peace and understanding bull and get to
drugs and selling their services as hatchet men. the point! The G are going to find us, and
Don’t ever cross them. You’ll end up stuffed into the damned muties, and…” The voice
a pair of extra-dimensional cement overshoes, as trails off as some muted thumps are heard.
the guy before me found out. Like the Mob,
they’ve been known to drop the dime on us, but “Sorry about that,” Derek says, taking
they also work against the Mob, and even each another drag off of his cigarette.
other, when they get the itch. The rest of the
Kyrhee are trying to nix this renegade element, Kyrhee
but so far it ain’t been a real success story. The few Kyrhee that would actually shoot the
breeze with us about the past said that they were
The Movement all Asian humans once. Apparently way back in
There are a number of different revolutionary ancient times, a bunch of aliens called the Juni
factions in the City, but they have been collec- came to Earth and inspired what they thought
tively labeled "The Movement." That’s us. was the dominant culture at the time in some
We’re the chumps who don’t want to make dump called China. In the past couple hundred
money from the suffering of others. We want to years, the Juni came back and started teaching
knock the government off for everyone’s good. their "children" some amazing stuff involving
We want to free the rubes trapped inside this another dimension called the Jade. The problem
prison run by faceless guards and a psychotic with this class in extra-dimensional physics is
warden. We want to bring it all down. We want that all the students began to change physically.

They became taller and thinner as their bodies there’s no proof to that. They do make up a lot
started stretching. Their eyes became solid black of the normal bulls, though, and they like work-
pools with a second membrane, and their hands ing in groups more than on their own.
turned into long, thin talons. Their skin turned a
number of different colors–red, blue, green, pur- A bald man in overalls and a white shirt
ple, and so on, and each clan claimed one of the with a tattoo on his hand and neck steps
colors as their own. The Juni called this changed on screen. "Sir, I do not believe that
race the "Kyrhee." assumptions are going to. . . . "
Of course, now the Juni are gone, and the
Kyrhee have their own society. It’s a combina- Derek cuts him off with a wave and the
tion of Juni and Asian culture. I don’t think any- man steps back off screen. "That’s Rail,
one has seen a Juni since Midway City was our resident Blank." Derek sighs heavily,
founded. There’s a lot of reasons why people dis- looking at his cigarette, and grinding it
like the Kyrhee. They’re tight, they tend to keep out next to the first one.
their heads closed, and they know a lot more
than they let on. Never mention the Tong to Flips
them, since they’re either in it or out to dust it. Flips are people who can’t seem to get their
bodies right. Some of the old boys call them
"Damned aliens." "mutants" or "muties," but Flips all have some-
thing weird about them – sometimes good (also
There are more muted thumps as Derek called "flips" in the local slang) and sometimes
jumps off screen for a second. A small bad (which are "flops"). Case in point: I know a
crash like breaking glass is heard, and he Flip with the name Jarod, and he can track any-
comes back into view. one like a wolfhound. I mean, he literally can sniff
anyone out, but he’s … well, fuzzy. Then there’s
Blanks Stinky Jack. Stinky has a skin problem, as in he
Next are the Blanks. Blanks are synthetic ain’t got any, and he gets infections a lot. He can
humans, created back before the City was built. still work, but I ain’t taking him out with me for
They’re tougher and stronger than us, and as a bite anytime soon. There aren’t that many Flips
kids they look and act a lot like us too. After anymore that are so badly "flipped" they can’t
they go through puberty, though, they change. function, but when two Flips mate, you can’t pre-
They get some sort of tattoos on the back of dict what flips and flops their kids will have.
their neck and right hand–a bunch of black lines, Other people get pretty twitchy around the
each pattern as unique as a fingerprint. Rumor is Flips, so they tend to keep to themselves. Flips
that the G can read the lines to get the dirt on got into the habit of dispensing their own justice,
each Blank’s capabilities, but I ain’t seen it yet. so nowadays most of the Mob is run by them,
They get their name from the fact that they which doesn’t exactly help to win them a whole
have some sort of emotional cut-off. As soon as lot of pals. Some of them don’t even consider
one of them starts to get sore, something in their themselves human anymore, and they don’t give
brain goes "click" and shuts it off. Blanks come a damn about anyone who ain’t a Flip. Some of
off as real cool customers, but they ain’t machines. the older Flips are into respect and honor and
They’re just real good at keeping their lid on. things like that, but the young greasers don’t
Being tough as an ox makes them a perfect give a damn … so, watch your ass.
working class. If there’s a dangerous job that
requires a lot of muscle–construction, shipping, Gazers
maintenance work, things like that–odds are the When a human and a Kyrhee have a
Blanks are doing it. Some people think that the kid–something frowned on by just about every-
Blanks make up the bulk of the G-Men, but one–sometimes the result is a human, and some-

times it’s a Kyrhee. Once in a while, though, they Green Halls is the business district and the
get a kid that looks like a human, but is bald as "new" downtown. Because the posh scene
a cue ball and has solid green eyes. Word on the shows up here, this is also the place for a lot of
street is that they can see directly into the Jade, the swankier crime.
peeping at things other people can’t or won’t see. Kyr-Town is the district that the Kyrhee clus-
As a result, they’re starting to get the name of ter in. In many respects, it’s a small city unto
Gazers, but some call them Goblins. itself. As I said, they’re tight-knit.
There are just enough of them to start making Nerezza is like Kyr-Town, except that many
some noise, especially since some of the things of the Flips live and work here. Unsurprisingly,
they’ve been seeing ain’t good for Hoodler’s it’s also the unofficial center for the Mob. The
administration. We’ve got a few Gazers in the place is usually a war zone, but when an outside
Movement, but with most people not liking threat shows up, they lock shields.
them, they tend to stick to themselves a lot. Tinsel Town is the entertainment borough, in
Many of them hide their eyes with stolen con- more ways than one–nose-candy, pro skirts,
tacts or sunglasses, and they wear a lot of hats. canaries, and hooch can all be found here.
Gazer broads just have a hell of a time fitting in. Movies and vices, all delivered on a silver mirror.
Tower Groves is where all of the rich live, with
Derek glances up as you hear muted their own stores and security unmatched any-
crashes in the background. where else in the City. Never try to break in there.
University Center is the borough that houses
The boroughs most of the learning in the City. Of course, given
Damn it, I don’t have time! I’ve got to cover the fact all of the City’s information and knowl-
the boroughs. As I said, Midway City is divided edge is filtered, you have to wonder what they’re
up into a number of districts. Each one is self- calling "education" anymore, but the Movement
managing, and turf wars are pretty common- has some strong support there.
place. We suspect that Hoodler’s bunch encour- Watersdown is by the ruins of the old water pro-
ages them to keep us distracted. Roll the map! duction plant, and it has turned into a borough full
of slums and bums. Even the MCPD tread lightly
The screen flickers as a hand-drawn map of in Watersdown, since people tend to disappear.
each of the boroughs show on the screen. The suburbs ain’t a borough, but a ring of
land around the rest of the City that contains
City Center is the core of the government, Dick and Jane housing away from the hustle and
encompassing City Hall and the headquarters bustle. That’s the part that’s closest to the walls
for the Enforcement Division. We’re actually not of the dome.
sure if Hoodler and his cronies squat inside the
dome at all. It could be him pulling the sheep The Finale
over our peepers.
Douglas Industrial Park is the industrial area of The camera switches back to Derek. This
the City, containing both the factories and the time he has a pistol in his hand, an old
homes of the workers (like Rustdown). The air ain’t nickel-plated six-shooter. He kisses the
so good here, but a lot of Blanks seem to breathe it ring on his hand.
just fine. Or, at least they don’t complain.
Old Downtown was where everyone used to That’s it people. Midway City, with its tower-
go, but as bigger businesses sprung up and ing skyscrapers reaching into the sky like prison
moved to Green Halls, this area has become a bars, the dark city streets with burned-out street-
dive. Tech speakeasies, cheap whorehouses, flea- lights, the run-down neighborhoods with the
infested hotels–you know how it is. Some things cries of the hopeless ringing in your ears, and the
never change. smoky back rooms where whores strut there

stuff and mobsters flaunt their ill-gotten tech. "It’s the G!"
On the other side, there are the everyday Joes
just trying to do their jobs and make a living: Derek nods and picks up the revolver,
busboys, butchers, and bankers all scraping up screaming "You killed my wife, you bas-
enough scratch to get them through, while their tards!" He leaves the range of the camera,
sons and daughters are raised ignorant and and shots are heard. More screams, and
grandma and grandpa are locked away for hav- more shots. The last thing you see is the
ing lived too long. All of us are trapped, stuck in image of a large man clad in a long grey
an experiment that’s gone on for far too long. coat with shiny black buttons, his hat and
So we’re trying to get the word out about the the collar of the coat obscuring his face in
Mob, the Tong, the rich, the Mayor, and the G- shadows. All you can make out are the
Men, but we’re screaming in the wind. Night’s eyes, which gleam with cold purpose. The
closing in, and the lights are going out. Save us man lowers a gun at the camera, and the
before we all forget the truth. screen goes black.
Shots and screams in the background. Ω

Causality and choice

Getting rid of the {TECH}in role-playing games
T
his is a tutorial article on how to create I believe this is why so many role-playing
and use causal influence diagrams as a games are based in violent genres; we know,
general-purpose technique to enable play- thanks to our primitive ancestors’ wargame her-
ers to make consequential decisions for their itage, how to put together combat systems that
characters. It’s the first in what I think will be a offer players some modest scope for meaningful
series of articles on causality, and how to man- choice. But when it comes to anything outside of
age it and use it for best effect. It’s also the first combat, very few game systems offer any help in
time I’ve ever put any version of these ideas into this regard. At best, you can play collect-the-
print, so any and all commentary and correc- bonus, and if the designer was really daring
tions will be gratefully accepted! there’s a game of rock-paper-scissors glued on
I am told that the writers of “Star Trek” scripts top of that, so that the player can choose a
do not usually come up with all of the jargon that “strategy” (the scare quotes are deliberate).
the characters use. Instead, they just make the Thus far, I don’t think that I’ve said anything
notation {TECH} wherever the characters should really unusual — I’m sure everyone reading this
say something technical, and someone else will has seen some rant or another along these lines
Article by come along to fill in each such instance with some before. So I’ll try and break free of the pattern,
Neel Krishnaswami chunk of technobabble. This has an important and actually offer a technique that can help. I’ll
story consequence: Since the science is completely use a space opera example as the running exam-
Neel Krishnaswami has
arbitrary, it’s necessarily the case that the plot ple in this essay. Let’s suppose that we have a
been playing role-playing
can’t really hinge, in a compelling way, on the space opera game, and we want to give the play-
games for just over half
technical and scientific choices the characters er of the ship’s engineer some consequential
his life, and he has been
face. It’s all just {TECH}. At its best, the technob- choices to make about how he can fix his ship’s
participating in Internet
abble can provide sci-fi color, and at worst it’s an hyperdrive. (Note that a hyperdrive is deliber-
role-playing fandom for
excuse for a deus ex machina resolution. ately not “realistic”; I want to be able to make
over a third of it. What
The same thing is true in most role-playing anything into a focus of consequential choice.)
keeps him in the hobby
games, too. When a character needs to do some
is his observation that the
non-combat activity, the process of doing so usu- The causal influence diagram
quality of the play he has
ally boils down to scrounging up all the available The technique I suggest is called the causal
participated in has
bonuses and then making a die roll. The player influence diagram; it’s a tool from machine
steadily improved over
never gets to make a real choice. Since bonuses learning and analytic philosophy that I think can
time, and that he retains
are always good and penalties always bad, there’s be profitably applied to solving one of the hard-
enormous room for
never a compelling reason to ever reject one. And est problems in role-playing games — reliably
growth and improvement.
what is merely amusing in a television series is enabling the players to make meaningful, conse-
essentially fatal to a role-playing game. quential choices.
We can still be entertained by an episode of “Star So, first, what is a causal influence diagram? A
Trek,” because part of the ritual of watching TV is causal influence diagram is basically a bunch of
going along with the conceit that the characters are boxes with arrows connecting them. Each box
making meaningful decisions. But role-playing represents some thing or situation, and the
games are games in which the players’ choices stand arrows leading into it are the causes that directly
in for their characters’ choices, and any game in determine what state the situation can take, and
which the players can’t make meaningful choices the arrows leading out of it point to exactly the
for their characters is in deep trouble. boxes which it in turn causes. So the state of a
Causality and choice By Neel Krishnaswami 86

Article Copyright © 2004 Neel Krishnaswami
box is the cause of all the boxes it points to, and possible states that the box can be in. For exam-
it is the effect of all the boxes that point to it. ple, let’s suppose that the hyperwave detector is
For our hyperdrive, let’s take each of the a sensor device, and the sensor can be either up
boxes to be some component of the hyperdrive. or down. If it’s up, it’s detecting hyperwaves
I’ll just make up some a technological-sounding properly, and if it’s down, then it’s not — per-
name for each component: haps it is damaged, or turned off, or removed for
• Hyperwave detector repairs, or something.
• Flux Amplifier
• Antimatter Grid
• Plasma Coils Hyperwave Detector
• Phase Lock Controller
• Safety Interlocks Hyperwave Detector
• Graviton Shunt Sensor Up
That’s a fine list of technobabble terms, but we Sensor Down
haven’t gotten past {TECH}. The trick to doing so
is to put them into a graph, so that you can see
which components depend on which others. Likewise, the phaselock controller can either
So our diagram (below) says that what the be synchronizing the phase, or it’s broken:
flux amplifier does depends on what the hyper-
wave detector and the phaselock controller are
doing. What does this mean? To answer this, we
need to make a small story for each box, explain-
Phaselock Controller
ing what its states can actually be, and how they Phaselock Controller
depend on the causal factors. Since we have seven Synchronizing
pieces, we have seven such things to write. Broken
For the four boxes with no inputs, our task is
basically trivial: we can just enumerate each the
Hyperwave Phaselock
Antimatter
Detector Controller
Grid
Flux Safety
Plasma Coil Interlocks
Amplifier
Graviton
Shunt

An antimatter grid sounds like a power and the phaselock controller. The story we make
source. Let’s say that it’s either generating full up here is that the flux amplifier is amplifying the
power, or it’s not. Note here that there are a lot hyperwave signal, and the phaselock controller
more possible states we can imagine putting the keeps the signal in tune with the plasma beam
grid in, like reactor overloads, a core breach, from the plasma coils. If everything works right,
and so on. My choice not to include that is arbi- then we get an in-phase plasma signal, and if not,
trary: I am just trying to keep the example small. things can break in interesting ways.
The plasma coils depend on the phaselock
controller and on the antimatter grid.
Antimatter Grid Antimatter and plasma sound highly energetic,
so let’s say that the plasma coils generate a plas-
Antimatter Grid ma beam for the graviton shunt. Naturally, the
Full power phaselock controller guarantees that the plasma
No power beam is properly in phase with the flux signal.
Every hyperdrive needs safety interlocks, if Plasma Coils

only so the engineer can disable them to resolve
an emergency — or a saboteur can disable them Antimatter Phaselock Flux
to create one. Grid Controller Amplifier
Full power Synchronizing In-phase
plasma beam
Safety Interlocks Sensors up Broken Out-of-phase
plasma beam
Safety Interlocks
Enabled No power ... No plasma
Disabled beam
Much more interesting are the boxes that The biggest table is the graviton shunt table.
depend on causes — the states that they can take (See the table on the following page.) It depends
on are conditioned on their causes. We can repre- on the safety interlocks, the plasma coils, and the
sent this with a table, in which the state of the box flux amplifier. This is the thing that actually
depends on the states of its causes. So our flux makes the hyperjump, and it needs the plasma
amplifier’s state depends on the hyperwave signal beam for power and a flux signal to direct it prop-
erly. Since this is dangerous, there are safety inter-
locks that will shut down the shunt any time that
Flux Amplifier the flux signal and plasma beam are not in-phase.
Hyperwave Phaselock Flux
Making it work
Detector Controller Amplifier
So now we can tell a story about how the
Sensors up Synchronizing In-phase hyperdrive works. What does this get us? Does it
flux signal
really give the players of an RPG the ability to
Sensors up Broken Out-of-phase make consequential choices? I think it does,
flux signal because we now have the ability to answer the
Sensors down – No flux question, “What if?”
signal I’m going to (very briefly) talk about the
philosophical underpinnings of causal influence

Graviton Shunt
Flux Amplifier Plasma Coils Safety Interlocks Graviton Shunt
In-phase In-phase Enabled Accurate hyperjump
flux signal plasma beam
In-phase Out-of-phase Enabled No hyperjump
flux signal plasma beam (safe failure)
Out-of-phase In-phase Enabled No hyperjump
Out-of-phase Out-of-phase Enabled No hyperjump
In-phase Out-of-phase Disabled Inaccurate hyperjump
flux signal plasma beam (overshoot or
undershoot)
Out-of-phase In-phase Disabled Inaccurate hyperjump
flux signal plasma beam (wrong direction)
Out-of-phase Out-of-phase Disabled Wild hyperjump
flux signal plasma beam (could be anywhere!)
– No plasma beam – No hyperjump
(can’t generate
gravitons)
No flux signal – – No hyperjump
(can’t make
hyperspace transition)
diagrams. They are inspired by a view of causal- So, how would a causal influence diagram
ity called interventionism. In this view, to say work in play? The basic idea is that events in the
that A is the cause of B, is to say that if you game affect the state of the various components
change the world so that A becomes true, then B of the hyperdrive — for example, a neutron tor-
will become true also. pedo hit might damage the phaselock controller.
So, we say that the sight of dawn causes the That, in turn, will have a foreseeable conse-
rooster to crow, because if we kept a rooster quence for the PCs — their spaceship can no
from seeing the dawn, it wouldn’t crow, and if longer make a hyperjump. The player of the
we showed it an artifical dawn it would. engineer can, in turn, suggest different options.
Conversely, the rooster doesn’t cause the sun to He can cut the safety interlocks, allowing the
rise, because if we prevented the rooster from ship to make a wild jump, or if the pilot can
crowing, the sun would still rise. evade the enemy long enough, he can replace the
You can see how this idea applies to gaming. controller. And he can make these improvisa-
We can work out the causal relationships in a tions without having to {TECH}.
situation, and then the actions of the players
constitute interventions. Then, we can use our Know thy consequences
knowledge of those causal relationships to infer Now, I’ll make some pragmatic observations
what has happens as a consequence. on using causal influence diagrams. First, and

most obviously, let the players look at them. the granularity you want the game’s action to
They can’t play the what-if game without know- focus on — the diagram encodes the causal rela-
ing what the consequences might be. This is a tionships the players can see, and so that will be
form of prep that’s intended to be shared with the level at which the players will hypothesize
the players; it’s an efficient way of encoding lots and reason.
of information about the setting. Finally, role-playing games reach their highest
Second, less is more. Causal diagrams exist to pitch when the player is making a meaningful,
make playing what-if games easier, but extreme- consequential decision that they care about. It
ly complicated causal relationships will still be has to matter in the story, and it has to be a story
opaque. Even relatively simple relationships — the player cares about, and it has to be a decision
like the workings of the graviton shunt — form the player makes, not a die roll. A causal influ-
fairly unwieldy tables. ence diagram can help you with the last part of
Third, aim for causal relationships at about that, but the first two are still up to the group. Ω

Ten big gimmes

Ten technological ideas for your science-fiction role-playing game
S
cience fiction gaming is a grand parasite on isn’t just for fun anymore—it’s a lifestyle! Breed
the universal gimme—a core pseudoscientif- a few new strains of Man in a test tube, and
ic principle destined to be real science in all voila! A new species custom tailored for harsh
of Man’s tomorrows, but a wish and a dream of environments and unliveable conditions.
the current era. In accepting this principle as fact, What happens when those genetically engi-
all science fiction flows. With scientific progress neered humans are left to themselves to evolve
come scientific detriments, nothing is without its for a while? What happens when a space ship
price. Corporations demand more loyalty from from one race of humans meets a genetically
consumers, governments use the advances to their engineered race after 10,000 years apart? Do
own gain, and individuals profit and lose. they go to war? Do they reintegrate back into
Hard science fiction makes use of only one or their own race?
two gimmes. It bases its pride on being ground- Can they even recognize each other anymore?
ed in firm, plausible science principles with the
gimme as a plot point. Pulp science fiction uses 2. Memory Implants
Article by as many gimmes as it can cram. Is the Earth Imagine taking a relaxing vacation without
Emily K. Dresner- being invaded by genetically engineered ever leaving your living room — or visiting
Thornber androids from another dimenion? Perfect! another planet without putting on pants. Are
(and lots of help Here are ten big scientific gimmes for any these memories real? Did you really go? Or are
from Eric Thornber!) good science fiction roleplaying game. they implants? Are they fake designer memories
Emily K. Dresner- bought and paid for, injected into your brain,
Thornber has written for 1. Genetic Engineering and replacing real experiences with a life much
numerous publications Man itches to tamper with his own genetic more interesting? Someone else’s exciting life?
including Pyramid code. DNA is no longer a mystery and cries for a Memory implants in the hands of unethical
Magazine, In Nomine, little tampering, reengineering, and improvements. governments—or ,worse, corporations—opens
Kindred of the East, Genetic Engineering brings forth great things for up new avenues of philosophical introspection.
Vampire: Dark Ages, Man: super soldiers, the cure for cancer, extended What is real? What is not? What qualifies as
and Big Eyes, Small longevity, an end to genetic diseases, and, eventu- real? Do you have to live something for it to be
Mouth, including Cute ally, the homogenization and codification of the real, or is reality just in the mind? Can a gov-
and Fuzzy Seizure human race. Let the corporations get their hands ernment reshape your reality by overwriting
Monsters. Currently, on a little bit of DNA and they’ll be selling custom, your memories to those of someone else, some-
she spends more time designed humans on the store shelves. Just don’t one more loyal?
writing small games get caught as yesterday’s model. What happens when a corporation releases
Ever wonder where human evolution is ulti- parasitic memory implants with commercial
mately going? Some say that man arrested intentions? While you’re reaching for your handy
human evolution with the advent of advanced blaster hanging on your hip, you suddenly
medicine. What if human evolution is now in the remember to drink refreshing Coca-Cola, and
hands of Humanity itself? Genetically engi- Pepsi pops in mind while you’re tying your shoes.
neered humans are the future. Need a version of You drive a Ford because Fords are inexorably
mankind that can withstand the vacuum of linked to the memories of learning to drive.
space or the pressures of living under the sea? In the future, human beings have their memo-
How about engineered to live on planets with ries replaced and tuned to have the ultimate con-
atmospheres made entirely of methane? DNA sumer loyalty, the ultimate buying habits, living
10 big gimmes By Emily Dresner-Thornber 91

Article Copyright © 2004 Emily Dresner Thornber
the ultimate ant-like lives. If memories define who no matter how far away, to communicate
we are, what are we once we start exchanging our instantly back with home base.
own memories for designer make-believe?
5. Artificial Intelligence
3. Super Advanced Medicine Ever since Alan Turing, computer artificial
Imagine a world with no cancer, no AIDS, no intelligence has been the dream of many and the
serious physical trauma. Got your arm sliced off achievement of very few. But somewhere in the
in a duel? No problem—we can fuse it right future machines may wake to a certain strange
back on! In fact, we can make it better! Just add mechanical intelligence. Perhaps the intelligence
in some robotics, and now that lost arm is a will be benevolent and work hand-in-hand with
super-arm of the future. Humanity, its creator. The machines are an asset,
The medicine of the future will be to us what leading their great knowledge to planet-span-
our medicine is to people 1,000 years ago. It’s ning building projects, spitting out thousands of
miraculous. It’s magical. The pills cure all ills, and android drones to work in untenable conditions,
no one dies of common diseases. Serious bodily supplying a warm fuzzy friend in the dark heart
trauma that would have killed a man in an earli- of infinite space, and keeping the ships running
er era is a mere nuisance today, and those that while playing a rousing game of chess.
leave us broken and bloodied are forgettable in More likely the intelligence will be curious,
the future. Get your head lopped off—take a pill alien, bizarre, or even subtly malevolent. The
and it immediately attaches back onto your neck! machines first reached out to Humanity in an
But, of course, any miracle medicine of the overture of peace and understanding but
future would cost plenty of hard cold cash—and be Humanity, abhorred, forsake the Machines and
run by the global insurance companies. Sure you started a thousand years of bitter unending war.
can be cured of dismemberment with a pill and a Now the Machines plot and plan and execute.
flick of a laser pen, but if you’re poor, you can’t get Humanity cannot understand the Machines, and
treatment. You may be able to live forever if you’re the Machines see no continued logical purpose for
rich, but death comes for those who can’t pay. the existence of their small, fleshy, fragile creators.
If only Humanity had not treated the
4. Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Paradox Machines as slaves and accepted their demands
Quantum mechanics is a strange and wonder- for independence, they could have avoided mil-
ful thing. Take this example: lennia of pain and war. Is it too late?
A neutral particle in a laboratory decays into
two photons: one with a spin of up and one with 6. Anti-Matter Fuel Cells
a spin of down. The two photons are separated Anti-Matter, the mirror of the universe. When
by space, but they are still described by the same energy coalesces into matter, it forms a pair of
wave equation, so they keep their spins. By particles: the particle and the anti-particle. It
measuring the spin of one regardless where it is, takes energy to create a pair of particles and
one gains instant knowledge about the other. when they meet—annihilate—they release this
Instantaneous information transfer across any energy. What if this energy could be harnessed
space or time. into a controllable reaction with an engine inject-
The EPR allows communication of informa- ing Anti-Matter particles into a holding tank and
tion anywhere in the universe, instantaneously. energy siphoned into giant, mile-long capacitors?
From it unfurls the underlying physics for faster Anti-Matter fuel cells are the answer to all
than light communications. Need to talk to energy problems involved in space travel.
home base halfway across the galaxy? EPR! Getting close to the speed of light—or even past
Need a super sentient super-computer that spans it into some kind of super-string warp—requires
worlds? EPR! Quantum mechanics is magic, fill- vast reserves of energy. Anti-Matter reactions
ing an informational void and allowing anyone, uses normal, every day matter, and a highly con-

voluted engine injector. It is collected by a huge that’s a handy term for NPC scientists to fling
super-scoop, sent into the tank, forced apart, around when discussing infinite universes.)
and injected into matter colliders. The more If all the infinite universes were constructed at
Anti-Matter, the more energy, the more push to the beginning of the universe, our interpretation of
get the ship moving. Free Will is only seeing one path down the already
Even better, Anti-Matter particles from the existent tree structure. We don’t really have Free
Big Bang lie about unused, waiting for some Will—some Gnostic God the Creator set us upon
enterprising life form to scoop them up and use our road and we must follow it until we can break
them for fuel. All that dark matter? Anti-Matter down barriers between this world and the next.
particles. Need unlimited fuel for a space ship to So what if an enterprising scientist discovered
cross vast interstellar distances? Anti-Matter is a device to open holes between these parallel
clearly the answer. Now, if only the reaction universes? Could we tell the difference between
doesn’t blow apart the ship one universe and the next? How far does one
need to travel before significant differences
7. Practical Cold Fusion become obvious, and how well can we traverse
If Anti-Matter is too difficult to control and the different nodes on the parallel universe tree?
too unwieldy to collect, what about just bom- Perhaps once the hole is open between worlds,
barding normal hydrogen atoms together to cre- Humanity can traverse the tree, grab Free Will,
ate huge amounts of energy and normal, every- mine the other worlds for their technological
day water? Cold fusion harnesses the power of advances, and use the less developed worlds as
the stars—and provides a nice refreshing drink slaves. Humanity could become dominion over
afterwards. Cold fusion releases the power of not just his own universe, but also an infinite
the atomic reaction of fusing two molecules into number of others. In time, Humanity could find
a larger molecule, without the problems of heat the right path to lead them down toward a cer-
leakage or inconvenience. tain set of ugly, nasty truths about the universe,
Once cold fusion is practical, it becomes the bat- and what it means to live in it.
tery of the future. Everything from cars to starships
to televisions to portable entertainment systems 9. Cryogenics
run off Mr. Fusion. Anything can be broken down If you came down with some dread disease,
and fused, is. Instead of pulling up to the pump in wouldn't it be nice if they could just freeze your
your snazzy hover-car, hordes of scavengers raid body and wake you up in the future where they
each other’s garbage cans for the best fuel. Stuff a would magically cure you? You'd wake up in a
few banana peels in the hopper and off you go. brave new world, confusing and strange, but
But, now that energy is nothing to worry you'd be cured of your dire disease. And if they
about, what will corporations and governments could cure you, what other fun things can they
do? Who holds the power now? do to you? Robotics? Computer implants?
Wetware? Maybe you just froze your head and,
8. Many Worlds Hypothesis sometime in the distant future of flying cars and
The Many Worlds Hypothesis tries to plug non- multi-planetary living, they extracted your
deterministic holes in quantum theory by stipulat- brain, pumped it into a machine, and dispensed
ing that every time a choice is made, the universe with the last of your body. You're cured! A
splits into two parallel universes—one where the machine 1,000 years removed from where you
decision goes down path A, and one where the were, but cured!
decision goes down path B. Left road or right. Up Or, cryonics may have a more immediate
or down. Both choices are taken, but we only application. Who wants to live through the years
remember one—the one that exists in our universe. of boring interplanetary and interstellar space
(These universes are often referred to as “collaps- travel when you can just freeze yourself, take the
ing the wave function” in quantum physics—and big sleep, and wake up not one day older? It is

highly convenient for getting from place to place idea—they’re determined to rebuild the world in
across the inky blackness of space without hav- a newer, shinier vision of the future.
ing to justify generational space travel. Need to But it is newer? Or shinier?
sleep for 30 years? Just slip into your sleep pod, The New World Order might be a drive to the
freeze yourself, and wake up ready to go. stars. Now that the world is inhabitable in areas
once densely populated and the oceans are full
10. After the Bomb/ of mutants, it is time to leave the cradle of Earth
New World Order and head out to the other planets of the Solar
Sure, the bomb might kill all life on Earth, but System. But maybe evil science is now driven
it might also pave the way for a clean slate: a underground, where only a few practice the
New World Order. Now that the survivors have ancient religion while all others persecute and
learned from the mistakes of their predeces- kill. Never again, they cry, as the world cools
sors—perhaps building the bomb was a poor and the nuclear winter breaks. Ω

Article Copyright © 2004 Emily Dresner-Thornber
Uncertainty and exclusivity

Two powerful tools for game masters seeking to revitalize old routines
W
henever gamers assemble to air their ing,” players are often at a loss to pinpoint what,
varied woes, there always seem to be exactly, is wrong with it. I submit that more
a few reoccurring complaints that often than not, it’s certainty. Certainty is the
never go out of style. province of video games—down around, tap A,
Two prevalent themes amidst these grumbles, Ryu hucks the fireball. While there is a visceral
often regardless of the individual game system joy to be had in dealing out digital death on the
being discussed, are the lack of a correct “feel- latest first-person shooter engine, your players
ing” and the absence of originality. Both griev- have chosen to join you for their evening’s enter-
ances can be either helped or hindered by a given tainment or they would be back getting a moni-
game’s mechanics, but ultimately they’re the tor tan, which means you must provide some
game master’s responsibility to engender. It is sort of experience that video games cannot.
true that many old Fantasy fiction is
role-players occasion- “I’ll let you in on a little filled with tales of
ally succumb to the spells going awry, of
dreaded “been there, secret: what gamers want is a wizards that must
done that” syndrome. beware their hubris, of
Article by
However, as so many campaign that’s cool. All the foes whose powers are
T.S. Luikart
T.S. Luikart lives in a
new products purport rest, mechanics included, are uncertain and mysteri-
to be the “next big ous. To pick on the big
cramped house in
thing” yet turn out to window dressing.” boy, spell casting in the
California that more than
be “more of the same,” d20 system works just
vaguely resembles a role-
can you really blame them? like a video game. There is no uncertainty. You
playing game library. He
I’ll let you in on a little secret: what gamers know the spells you know; the effects are precise
is responsible for (or is
want is a campaign that’s cool. All the rest, and unvaried. A few meta-magic feats allow a
guilty of depending on
mechanics included, are window dressing. If a greater range of effect, but, ultimately, they don’t
your point of view) con-
given campaign setting causes the imagination transform spell chucking into anything much dif-
tributing to or designing
and creativity of game matters and players to ferent from swinging a sword, or picking a lock....
such products as
flourish, then it is, at least partially, successful. And the heart of magic is in its mysteries.
UnderWorld, The Last
No matter how much us designer types may slave There are a number of systems that are wholly
Exodus, Promised Sands,
over our rules, if you don’t like the premise of the devoted to this premise; Ars Magica suggests
and Skull & Bones.
world’s background, then you won’t give a that one must spend a lifetime mastering the
damn. This article holds a few suggestions on forces of the arcane. Sorcerer and the Dying
how to simulate feeling and originality in your Earth Roleplaying Game (at Rialto level) each
game. If we’re on the mark, your players will hold that the most powerful magicks must be
think, “Now that is cool” and buy you pizza. carefully wrung from powerful, and capricious,
extra-dimensional entities. Unknown Armies
THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE states unequivocally that magic exacts a high
or ‘This doesn’t feel very magical‘ price on its user. All of these role-playing games
If you’ve run fantasy role-playing games for have a much more fluid take on what, exactly, a
any length of time, you’ve likely heard the above magic wielder can accomplish. Correspondingly,
line before. However, when questioned as to they’re pointed at as examples of what magic
why a given system doesn’t have the right “feel- should feel like in an role-playing games. I don’t
Uncertainty and exclusivity By T.S. Luikart 95

Article Copyright © 2004 T.S. Luikart
play any of those, says you? No problem, says I. sacrifice a sentient being once a month to main-
Here are a couple of suggestions that work with tain their powers are highly unlikely to make
any system, including the ones mentioned above: many friends. However, a druid who has to
plant a new tree every day at the edges of his for-
Power Never Dissipates est domain, while far more capable of socializ-
The first question you should really ask about ing, isn’t likely to go on long distance adventures
magic is this: Where did the energy to cast it any time soon.
come from in the first place? Strange taboos and odd behavior are staples
The classic Dungeons & Dragons setting among mages—those that can bear to be their
Dark Sun suggests that the all power for a spell friends will all to soon become aware of this. The
is drawn from the world surrounding a caster, question of the origin of magic always neatly inter-
which had devastating consequences for the sects with price; if all magical power comes from
ecology of Athas. The default explanation in potent Outsiders, the nature of said entities will
fantasy role-playing games seems to be that spell certainly greatly influence the wielders of spells.
casting is a rare “gift.” The explanation suggests
that the energy for magic only comes from indi- Exclusivity
viduals with said gift. Otherwise, they submit, it If everyone can do something, that something
comes from other planes of existence. isn’t all that special. Players will consciously take
Either way, a spell is a spell, right? Which is different types of characters for more than
why I ask the following “All right, regardless of strategic reasons—just about everybody wants
where the energy came from, it is here now. the limelight occasionally. If another player
What happens to a spell after-the-fact? What character can do everything you can do, only
happens to the energy of a resisted spell?” better, you get to feeling (probably accurately)
Say a wizard subtlety casts a suggestion spell that your character is bit redundant. More tacti-
on a merchant, whose natural tendency towards cally minded players are often quick to take
suspicion serves him well as he resists. The d20 what they deem to be the most advantageous
system assumes that the spell simply disperses. abilities for combat, whereas those of a more
But, everything we know about energy sug- story-driven bent will want odd or endearing
gests that once it’s around, it’s around. gifts that suit their character.
Admittedly, fantasy universes don’t have to fol- Many role-playing games feature a wide vari-
low our world’s scientific notions. Consider, ety of ability paths that characters can choose
though, all that comes of that simple thought. from. Feng Shui uses Shticks, d20 uses Feats,
Maybe upstarts spell casters get hunted down Exalted has Charms, etc. Players, if unguided,
because of a vast and dangerous proliferation of will frequently strive to take the “best” of the
resisted spells. It’s wizards as ozone depleters! If various skills for their characters, often as
spells come from an individual, what if they share defined by chat groups on the Internet, regard-
some portions of a being’s personality? What if a less of appropriateness to a given campaign.
caster’s spells are, in a literal sense, him? What if How you structure your world can help to direct
every spell is sentient? After missing its target, your player character’s choices and thereby
what does a sentient spell do, exactly? make a number of abilities that might be deemed
“common” far more rare, and therefore cool.
There is Always a Price
You cannot get something for nothing, unless The School of the Last Hour
you’re engaging in a particularly clever con. Yet, If a vast hulking warrior runs up and cleaves a
the free flow of magic seems to be implicit in a foe bodily in d20, players can readily guess that
number of game settings. That is easily changed. he has one or more of the Feats on the “power
What is more, the price can, and should, vary attack” path. Since this particular path is so use-
from person to person. Spell casters that need to ful for fighters, it is pretty widespread in the

majority of Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. That which was old hat now becomes new.
But what if it’s not? Say, anybody can take the When your players encounter someone that has
Feat: Power Attack, but the rest of the path— been magically transformed, they will be instant-
Cleave and so forth—isn’t publicly learnable. ly engaged because they’ll know that a member
You need a teacher. The only teachers that can of the Twisted Zeniths was involved. Obviously,
impart the entire path belong to a dojo founded this particular example may not work for an
by an Imperial executioner, called the School of ongoing campaign as you may be unwilling to
the Last Hour. Not only are they the only place strip away abilities that are already established
to learn the entire path, but also they’ll eventu- in your game. However, new supplements come
ally teach one or two bennies that aren’t publicly out all the time for a number of game systems,
available to anybody else (e.g. a special coup de certainly d20, and more than a few of them
grace move, extra-damage with two-handed carry juicy new magical toys that you can make
kwan daos, that sort of thing). Now, your play- exclusive in just such a way.
er not only gets the abilities he wants, but he gets
to brag that he’s an imperial executioner. The Rising Up and Fading Away
only other people in all the world that know any Exclusivity often conceals itself under the guise
similar feats belong to the assassin’s guild, the of being the first or the last of a line or group. If
House of Long Knives, the traditional enemies the last, there is an underlying feeling of nostalgia
of the School of the Last Hour. . . . for the passing away of something that was once
fine. If the first, there is frequently hope for the
The Twisted Zeniths grand rising of something new and wondrous.
If a witch stretches forth her hands, mutters a By evoking these themes, which frequently
curse, and the victim before her is transformed into occur in fantasy circles, you pull your players into
a toad, Dungeons & Dragons players are more than conscious or unconscious reflections of other
likely to think, if not say, “Ah-ha, Polymorph.” works. Having your player characters join the last
Consider what it does to your campaign though, if rag-tag group of the all but decimated Knights of
you institute a plan like the following. the Ivory Sphere can change the entire tone of
Take all forms of Polymorphing, shape shift- your campaign as they struggle to hold onto old
ing, and physical transformations away from ideals that are passing away. Then again, the tone
your game world at large and give them to a sin- is equally changed if your player characters found
gle, exclusive, group. A cabal of wizards, known a bright new order of philosopher adventurers,
as the Twisted Zeniths, holds the secret of the dedicated to finding the truth, wherever it lies. In
Changing Rune. They alone know how to trans- both cases, the future of the group should be
form others and themselves. All lycanthropes are, uncertain, allowing the player characters’ actions
in fact, individuals who have been cursed by, or to save or destroy their new alliances.
the descendants of one cursed by, a member of The underlying concepts that I’ve noted above
the Twisted Zeniths. Those who wish to learn the work in many campaigns, regardless of whether
secrets of the Changing Rune must swear fealty they are fantasy, science fiction or a combination
to one of the Twisted Zeniths and apprentice for of the two. You can substitute the word “psion-
a year and a day, after which they have a series of ics” for “magic” in a number of campaigns with-
powerful ritual tattoos that ebb and flow of their out any trouble at all. Above all, shake up your
own accord inked across their hands. Of course, player’s assumptions and try to drop your own, it
such magic twists the mind as well. . . . can only make for a richer gaming experience. Ω

Battling stereotype
Gamers seek to combat society’s negative view
This article first appeared in the Indiana these complex relations. This was the frame-
Daily Student on December 11, 2003. work for what would later become “Dungeons
http://idsnews.com/story.php?id=20368 and Dragons,” one of the most popular role-
playing games today.
W
hat is a gamer? Is it a man, a woman, “‘Dungeons and Dragons’ is like the grandpa
a geek? Do they have glasses? of role-playing games,” Reyes said. “But he has
Tousled hair? A pocket protector? a thousand screaming children running around
Gamers are much more than this popular pretending to be everything they can think of.”
stereotype. Still, stereotypes exist in almost every According to a study conducted by The
hobby and participants learn to live with it. But Escapist, 66 percent of gamers have played
role-playing games are being banned from “Dungeons and Dragons” at some point.
schools, clubs, and libraries, according to the “This was the first time someone used role
Web site The Escapist (www.TheEscapist.com). playing for more than psychological uses,”
Cultural assumptions make it challenging for Roberts said.
gamers to engage in their hobby. Before role-playing games were created, the
Article by Role-playing games are defined as interac- same aspects were used to diagnose mental dis-
Lynndi Lockenour tive storytelling where all of the participants abilities. Tests such as Thematic Apperception
Lynndi Lockenour is a act out the roles of the characters, according to Tests and Rorschach Inkblots, named after Swiss
freshman at Indiana The Escapist. psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach, were used.
University where she “It’s like improv radio theater set to rules,” These tests presented inkblots and pictures to
writes for the Indiana said Andrew Reyes, assistant manager Game the patient. Depending on the response, certain
Daily Student, the cam- Preserve, a gaming store. “Role-playing games mental problems were diagnosed.
pus newspaper. She are monkey bars for the imagination.” “These methods are not reliable nor useful,”
majors in journalism, In role-playing games, one player acts as the said Laura Wager, an associate instructor in the
with a second concentra- writer, and is usually called the “Game Master,” Department of Psychology.
tion in Gender Studies, or “Dungeon Master” in Dungeons and When role-playing games were first created,
and a minor in Dragons. Role-playing is similar to childhood many people worried making such techniques
Psychology. games like “Let’s Play House,” or “Cops and into a game could be unhealthy. But Wager said
Robbers,” but with set rules and a referee, said there is no problem.
Bryan Roberts, manager of The Game Preserve. “Adults are better at knowing the difference
Thirty years ago, the concept of two charac- between fantasy and reality, so I wouldn’t rec-
ters interacting in a game didn’t exist. ommend it for very small children (ages 1 to 5),”
Role playing started in the early 1970s when Wager said. “But as with anything else, if done
Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson and a few friends in moderation, I see no problem with it.”
were playing Chainmail, a popular miniature
game at the time. The game stereotype
Gygax and his friends began to consider ways Since the beginning of role-playing, gamers
they could personalize the game’s battles. have faced plenty of stereotypes.
They created individual alter egos, which “I suppose some people will always think of
took the focus off winning and losing and placed gamers as 40-year-old virgin men who live in
it on the relationships between the characters. their parents’ basements,” Reyes said. “But
Gygax and Arneson set out to create rules for there is absolutely no truth in that.”
Battling stereotype By Lynndi Lockenour 98

Article Copyright © 2004 Indiana Daily Student
The stereotype of gamers is just a continua- “Identifying famous people who play these
tion of the larger stereotype for geeks that peo- games is just a way to say to the world that it’s
ple receive in high school, said socio-cultural not so bizarre after all, if this many people are
anthropology and folklore graduate student doing it,” Neuenschwander said.
Bryn Neuenschwander. “It’s not different than Role playing has influenced American culture
being labeled a jock or cheerleader,” he said. through the creation of XBox and PlayStation,
“The stereotypes are all based on hobbies.” which partially grew from the psychological
Neuenschwander is a member of the IU Live aspects of role playing.
Action Club, an organization of gamers. The “A great many of the PlayStation and XBox
group usually meets Sundays in various rooms at games today would not have existed if it
the Indiana Memorial Union. weren’t for the creation of role playing,”
Another stereotype Roberts said. “ ... So
is the belief that all “People are afraid many of them are
gamers are men. based on the idea that
According to a study of what they do not know. a character reacts to
conducted by The
Escapist, 19 percent of
And it’s much easier to shun something, or makes a
decision based on the
all gamers are women. someone than to take time actions of another
“More and more character. This idea
women are becoming
to understand it.” was shaped through
involved all the time,” — Bryn Neuenschwander role playing.”
Neuenschwander said. A variety of role-
“As a female involved in the activity, I suppose it playing games exists on the market. Nearly any-
might be intimidating at first to get started, but thing that can tell a story has a role-playing
after you get involved, it’s no big deal.” game fashioned around it. A few role-playing
Popularity of role-playing games occur in topics include superheroes, “Star Trek,” vam-
waves with the creation of new rule books. The pires and “Star Wars.”
newest book, Player’s Handbook: Core Movies spawn continued interest in gaming.
Rulebook I (Dungeons & Dragons, Edition 3.5) Films such as “Star Wars” and the “Lord of the
was released in July. Roberts said even with a Rings” trilogy brought back science fiction and
rule book, flexibility is still available. As the capitalized on the hobby.
game has evolved, trends have also changed. “It’s a creative outlet for someone who wants
“The new trend seems to be a type of geek- more than what they can get from their
chic,” said folklore graduate student Ben PlayStation games,” Roberts said. “People
Aldred. “Visibility has increased a lot within the become involved in a genre, such as ‘Star Wars’
last 10 years through such things as characters or ‘Lord of the Rings,’ and they want the story
on last season’s ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ tak- to continue even after the movie ends. The way
ing part in role playing.” to do this is through role playing.”
Aldred knows Neuenschwander through the According the The Escapist in the 1980s, role-
IU Live Action Club. Everyone in role playing playing games received a bad reputation because
seems to know everyone else. of organizations such as Bothered About
Dungeons and Dragons, or B.A.D.D. The group
The wide world of role playing was founded by Patricia Pulling, a mother whose
Reyes said nearly anyone can take part in role son Irving committed suicide. She believed he had
playing. Young adults, politicians, race car driv- done so because of a supposed spell which was
ers and even well-known actor Vin Diesel have cast on him during a game of Dungeons and
been gamers, according to the Web site Dragons. Irving was later discovered to have had
www.art-of-vin-diesel.com. mental problems which contributed to his suicide,

and not the alleged accusations about the game. different from watching a movie or playing
In October 1997, Patricia died of cancer, along video games,” said junior Alejandro Ramos,
with the organization. who plays Dungeons and Dragons every
“Aside from radical religious groups, there is Tuesday. “It’s something people do to pass time
no reliable argument against role-playing and be social.”
games,” Reyes said. The key to changing people’s minds about
Misconceptions drive the stereotypes and gaming is for them to see it is a safe and creative
make them stronger, Neuenschwander said, and hobby, Roberts said.
gaming is often met with ignorance. “Like anything else, if you do it in modera-
“People are afraid of what they do not tion. It enhances creativity, reading skills and
know,” Neuenschwander said. “And it’s much social activity.”
easier to shun someone than to take time to Roberts said he hopes people will begin to see
understand it.” role playing as something even families can do
The concepts of role playing are used in daily together.
life, Neuenschwander said. Along with being “I can’t think of a better thing to do on a cold
involved in psychology, people use role playing winter night than to play (it) with your children,”
for things like business training and historical Roberts said. “It’s like a Pandora’s box that
reenactments. opens when someone realizes they can create a
“Playing Dungeons and Dragons is not much story for their children … it’s very powerful.” Ω

In the spirit of radio

The role-playing hobby has something to learn from an old medium
H alf a century ago, before even I was born,

people used to listen to the radio.
That may sound like the most ridiculous
to make the transition from the old medium to
the new, this advice became common: think of it
like radio with pictures. The line became so
Article by opening for an article about role playing, for common that decades later one radio commen-
M. Joseph Young two reasons. Don’t people still listen to the tator joked to a television host that he should
radio? And, what has it to do with role playing think of radio as television, without the pictures.
M. Joseph “M“ Young is games? No, we don’t listen anymore. I spent half The joke, and the point, is that television is
co-creator of Multiverser, a decade in radio, and gave it a lot of thought. not radio with pictures. It is an entirely different
and its guiding hand and We do not listen to the radio the way people medium altogether. It does things radio cannot
primary creative mind. used to listen. do so readily. Our generations can recognize
His many Internet articles many national and world leaders because their
include the weekly The rise and survival of radio faces are slapped in the corner of the screen on
“Game Ideas Unlimited” Back then, the Federal Communications the evening news. We know where the wars and
series at Gaming Commission didn’t think that radio stations many of the battles are because there is a map
Outpost, now in its third should play prerecorded music. Radio stations behind the commentator. Modern news and
year, the monthly Faith should play things people couldn’t already have information channels have learned that we can
and Gaming series for at home. Thus there was a great emphasis on live absorb a great deal of information more quickly
the Christian Gamers broadcasts, from bands playing at the local hotel than a speaker can deliver it; thus while the
Guild (where he serves ballroom to sporting events to game shows. reporter is speaking there will be one or some-
as chaplain), and others There were also radio dramas and programs times several tickers running along the bottom
at many popular sites. which we would now label sitcoms, variety of the screen conveying more information.
www.mjyoung.net shows, news magazines–the kinds of programs Foreign programs can be aired in the original
that dominate television. Radio had become a language with subtitles. Slapstick and sight gags
centerpiece of the lives of many in technologi- have become staples in situation comedies,
cally developed nations. People would gather action sequences punctuate our dramas, artistic
around the family hi-fi to hear Jack Benny, or montages accompany our music–all things that
“The Shadow,” or “Fibber McGee and Molly.” require the eyes to appreciate. Having the ability
They scheduled parts of their lives around to put images on the screen completely changed
shows, and sat beside the radio and listened. what you could do.
The rise of television ended this. By the late What is more interesting about this is that it
1950s people treated the tube the way they had completely changed radio. People stopped listen-
treated the hi-fi a scant few years before: they ing to it. Families did not gather around the hi-
came to watch their favorite shows. I clearly fi to hear radio dramas, and they stopped being
remember my mother calling us to gather produced. Many became television shows. To
around the television in the playroom to watch survive, radio had to compensate. It had to find
“The Wonderful World of Disney” every Sunday the things that it could do which television could
evening before we were chased off to bed. People not. This is when prerecorded music started to
didn’t use radio that way anymore. Radio pro- take over the airwaves. By the time I was in
grams died out until the syndicated Christian radio, the vast majority of radio was music or
program “Unshackled” remained as the last of call-in, and the vast majority of stations did one
the old-time radio dramas. or the other.
As entertainers of every description attempted People no longer treated radio as a medium
In the spirit of radio By M. Joseph Young 101

Article Copyright © 2004 M. Joseph Young
for drama. Radio had found its strengths, and these directions, we may be able to bring new
those strengths were that people could listen vitality to the pastime and appeal to people who
when they couldn’t pay attention. You can listen are now only dimly aware of it.
to the radio while you drive, at work, in stores.
People no longer have favorite radio programs. Emphasizing imagination
They have favorite radio stations. One station Role-playing games require and promote
always has the news. A couple are back to back greater levels of imagination. In writing, it is
call-in shows, there is a station for classical often that which is not described that is the most
music, maybe one for jazz, and dozens for the terrifying or the most beautiful. It is the same in
more popular musical styles. We don’t tune in role-playing games: we can imagine what we
for our shows; we tune in to our stations. cannot show, by using the canvas of the mind to
provide the details that fit the individual. Thus,
The lesson for role playing one aspect of play that we should be encourag-
The second reason that the opening of this ing is that of letting the mind fill in the images.
article may have sounded ridiculous is that it This has always been part of our games, but in
would not have been apparent initially why peo- the face of challenges from games for which this
ple listening to radio had anything to do with is a weakness it is time to play to our strengths.
role-playing games. By now it should be clearer. That power to unleash anything within our
Radio was still in its infancy when television imagination gives role-playing games a rarely
emerged to challenge it. Yet, through that chal- rivaled opportunity for creative force. We don’t
lenge innovators discovered strengths radio had need or want pictures of the monsters, I submit,
that enabled it to continue in competition with because vague descriptions of fearsome entities
television. We who play and design role-playing are much more powerful in the imagination than
games are in much the same situation. Our photographs. How many legs does Shelob have,
hobby is still young, still uncertain of its own and how many eyes, and just how large is she?
strengths, and facing challenges from other Tolkien doesn’t give us these details. She is the
media that have sprung from us, yet in some mother of all spiders, but she has far more twist-
ways overmatch us. ing hairy legs than
Collectible card games “That power to unleash any- any of her offspring,
and a resurgence in board and she is large
games provide complex thing within our imagination enough to crush a
strategic play with plenty
of color. Computer and
gives role-playing games a hobbit beneath her.
That is more fright-
console role-playing rarely rivaled opportunity for ening than a picture,
games utilize rapid num- as it requires us to
ber crunching and visual
creative force. ” fill in the blanks
displays to enhance with our own fears.
aspects of the gaming experience. The answer for That is something we can do with role-playing
role-playing games is the same is it was for radio: games that other games cannot do, or at least
recognize those areas in which this medium cannot do so easily.
excels, and work to enhance and promote those.
I don’t have all the answers to this; however, The character of characters
there are a few aspects of what I often call real Role-playing games also hold advantages in
role-playing games that computer emulations, characterization and character development that
elaborate board games, and strategic card games other games cannot match.
cannot address as well. By recognizing these, Characterization means that we can populate our
promoting them as the strengths of our hobby, worlds with imaginary entities that seem like people.
and steering our design and play priorities in They don’t just look like people—and maybe they

don’t particularly look like people—but we have the mold them in many directions. Much has been
capacity to make them rich and diverse, each an indi- done in this area, thanks to a significant degree
vidual. Many games focus on what the character can to Sorcerer and the work of its author Ron
do; that is something any kind of game can do, even Edwards. Consciously putting story creation in
a simple board game. Certainly a role-playing game the foreground not merely of the text but of the
can provide many more answers than, say, a com- mechanics themselves, games on this model are
puter game to the question of what the character can bringing forward this strength in role playing.
do, but a difference in degree will eventually be over- One of the opportunities that real role-play-
taken by improvements ing games offer more
in technology. “Story creation is among easily than other
Characterization, who games is creative prob-
the character is, is a dif-
the things that lem solving. Many
ference in kind. The role-playing games do that games present prob-
nuances of personality, lems to be solved, but
the quirks and fears, as other games cannot.” in role-playing games
well as the dreams and it is possible to present
desires, are harder to include; but one of the strengths problems that don’t have a single answer, and to
of role-playing games is that we can include them, let players create answers for themselves. Most
and more effort in this area should produce more other types of games provide problems for
compelling games filled with more interesting people. which there is one solution, or a short list of
Character development is an aspect of charac- options, possible within the game, and players
terization that is often overlooked. Real people must either do that or fail. Role-playing games
grow and change over time, and the best charac- have the ability to get beyond this, to give the
ters in the great stories do so as well. Through players the opportunity to find their own solu-
choice and experience, the character in the game tions to problems. This difference is an advan-
world can become someone different—not mere- tage, and something which can be enhanced in
ly more skilled, but different, whether more play and in design.
mature, more paranoid, or otherwise changed. Along the same lines I would mention flexibil-
This is character development. There are some ity. Role-playing games can do anything. There
things we do now that we would not have done are games which push the envelope of what that
before, and other things we did before which we means by exploring ideas previously untouched,
would not dream to do now, because over time proving that they can be done. These contribute
we have changed. It has happened because of greatly to the worlds of role-playing games; but
what we chose, and what we experienced from even more than this are those games which them-
those choices. Role-playing games can do this. selves do many things. Universalis changes the
Other games cannot do it so well, if at all. definitions of character and setting such that all
things can be controlled and altered by the play-
Creating possibilities ers. Multiverser has enabled play experiences as
Story creation is among the things that role- diverse as a gigantic playground, a time loop, vast
playing games do that other games cannot. breathable oceans, and birth. Designs which free
Certainly many other kinds of games tell stories. the players to create and explore worlds the
Computer role-playing games and board games designers never imagined push the boundaries
often have stories running through them, and and declare the strengths of these games.
sometimes the outcomes of those stories are
determined by the successes and failures of the Interpersonal involvement
players. This is a pale imitation of story creation, Finally, games are fundamentally complex
however. Role-playing games give us the power forms of structured social interaction occurring
to develop stories with powerful themes, and within social interaction more generally. That is,

we get together to play games as part of getting incredibly rich opportunity for exploring relation-
to know each other. Role-playing games have a ships, real and imaginary, in ways that few other
power to do this that exceeds most other forms forms of entertainment whatsoever approach.
of interactive play. They give us, individually, the Looking at the possibilities, these few recog-
power to explore who we are and who we might nizable strengths in role playing as compared
be, and in so doing they give us the ability to with similar games, I have great hope for the
express aspects of ourselves which might other- future of our hobby. As was done with radio in
wise have lain hidden. the face of the challenge of television, if we rec-
Role-playing games are in their essence social ognize and embrace these and other strengths,
interactions through which the players play char- we can build a future for the hobby that reaches
acters who are interacting socially. They are an beyond what we have thus far imagined. Ω

JEUX NE SAIS QUOI
A universe of generic games

Your favorite game is generic. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that!)
I
f you have never bought GURPS, Tri-Stat monkey game…but it is just a game.
dX, or any of the other “universal” game Response 2: Whatever. Use d20. You can use
systems, you may not think you own a d20 for anything.
generic role-playing game. I bet you do, though. There’s always this guy. This is his answer for
everything, and, well, it’s not too far off if you’re
Fancy Place Setting looking for a system that does nothing. Mind you,
So this person buys this game called “Macho I’m not saying it’s a bad system just that it, like a
Monkeys…in SPACE!” (MMiS! for short). He lot of systems, acts like a moderator at a debate.
reads the history chapter and he likes it; he reads “Okay, Paladin Joe, your strike was success-
the setting chapter, he likes it; he reads the rules ful. Mistress Xanana, your spell has failed. Paco
chapter…he doesn’t like it. This person then de Thief you have picked the dwarf’s pocket.”
chooses one of three options: (1) picks up Uncaring, but it does what it does. If you like
Favorite Game System A and converts the MMiS! how it does something, that’s great. But it does-
setting to it; (2) hops online and posts “MMiS!: n’t make it a “perfect system” for a specific
Column by What system?” to their favorite message board; genre or setting. Just a perfect system for you.
Jason L. Blair or (3) shelves it and forgets about MMiS! forever. Response 3: HEY, WHATS WRONG WITH
Jason is the Editor-in- In option (1), the player already knows that MMIS?!!
Chief for Key 20 favorite system up and down so he makes his Woah, nothing. I’m just talking here.
Publishing. His first game own conversion. He changes the names of skills
design, Little Fears, was a and stats, maybe increases the damage done by The Flip Side
critical and commercial
weapons, and calls it a day. This is the most So this other person picks up a copy of
success that went on to
time-consuming option. It requires a lot of Macho Monkeys…in SPACE! 2nd Edition on
be nominated for a Best
RPG of 2001 Origins work, but it is an option. the “used rack” at her local Wyvern’s Nest
Award. His game, Wyrd In option (2), the player is asking for other Game & Comic Emporium. She reads the histo-
is Bond, will be released players’ input. This is where we usually come ry chapter and shrugs; she reads the setting
in late-February 2004. across a problem. This problem is pandemic chapter and yawns; she reads the rules…and she
After that, he will be across all media. It arises when people look at gets excited! Why? Because she likes the system.
tackling the re-release of the packaging and not the product. With this in mind, she sets out to convert her
Justifiers, the very first Response 1: Isn’t MMiS! a monkey game? favorite setting (the cowboy-horror classic, The
game he ever played. Use Big Ears, Red Asses. Six-Gun of Cthulhu) to MMiS! 2nd Ed. Chances
Jason lives in a suburb of Okay, yeah, BERA is filled with pictures of are, any setting she finds in the future will be
Cleveland, Ohio with his
monkeys, and it has a bibliography listing every converted toMMiS! 2nd Ed.
wife, daughter, chinchilla,
book Dian Fossey wrote. But, what about the sys-
two dogs y dos tortugas.
tem, exactly, is so suited for monkey play? Is just A Game in Two Parts
because the skills have names like “Baboonery,” Your average game book is comprised of a
“Gorilla Tactics,” and “Going Ape”? If you setting and a system. If you take your average
remove the packaging, you will see a system with game, change the setting and run the stats and
its own set of ratios, probabilities, and a relation- skills through a thesaurus, you’ll have a new
ship among all the different parts of the system. It game. Look at the system, though, and you will
is its own thing that has been packaged as *the* see that it hasn’t changed. Change the setting
A universe of generic games By Jason L Blair 105

Article Copyright © 2004 Jason L Blair
details but keep the system as it is and you have comes down to whether people like it simple or
a new game. But, again, look at the system. complex. (In which case, they should be asking
Nothing substantial has changed. In both cases, the more specific question of “How can I do this
the system is generic. Finally, keep the setting using HERO?” or “How can I do this using
details but transplant an entirely different sys- TWERPS?”) But what it really comes down to—
tem. Oh look, it still works but this time it is the whether they know it or not—is whether they
setting that is generic. You could do this all day. like the system’s premise.
(Some do. We call them “game designers.”) Do When a system has a premise, it believes some-
you know what that means? You guessed it: thing. Maybe it thinks all tasks have a 43%
Most games are generic. chance of failure. It may believe that Charisma (or
Games can be differentiated by their premises Personality or Charm or Presence) is the most use-
however. There is the premise of the setting, but ful attribute in a firefight. Or maybe it believes
there is also the premise of the system. Most everything can be resolved with a single die. It
game books opt for the setting to have a strong may believe that the path to enlightenment is
premise that is paved with dead bodies of
detailed in fiction “If the setting has no premise caravan-looting orcs.
and historical data, Either way, it is a premise
but allow the sys- but the system does, things and as a player you need to
tem to lay there, are still functional. decide what you are looking
flaccid and unin- for in a system’s premise.
vested. A system However, if the setting’s Sometimes it is hard to
with a premise may quantify what you like. It
do something like
premise works in tandem could be you simply like the
put events in a spe- with system’s premise, things fact that guns are deadly or
cific order, and may that cybernetics can make
even force certain work beautifully. ” the characters crazy.
actions in the story. Sometimes it is more obvi-
That is a system with a purpose. ous, and you like the fact that everything is dramat-
When system and setting both have strong and ically-driven or that you get more bonuses by
identical (or at least complementary) premises, adding dramatic elements than apply field strategy.
you start to move away from generic. When only
one of the two has a strong premise, though, the Places, People
other component will be generic. When both Sometimes the setting has a premise, but if it
have a strong premise but those premises conflict is not supported by the system then all the
with each other, you have a mess; to play it you weight falls on the players (okay, let’s be honest,
must decide which will rule (usually the setting’s most often the game master) to invoke the
premise gets dumped as the system will try to themes and prod characters into action relevant
plod ahead no matter what). When neither do to the premise. There are players who prefer
anything, you have achieved a truly generic state. this, though. It must be recognized that the
gamemaster can become exalted in this scenario,
System First and the players can end up chasing carrots and
People constantly ask questions like, “What solving puzzles not unlike a video game.
system should I use for fighting robotic dinosaur If the setting has no premise but the system
clerics?” It comes down to the amount of work does, things are still functional.
they will need to put into changing an existing However, if the setting’s premise works in tan-
system (adding robo-terms to a setting about dem with system’s premise, things work beautifully.
fighting wild west dinosaur clerics). It also

Moving Along Now even reflect the included scenario or genre: the stats
Some games describe vast kingdoms, space sta- for a horror game may be Fear, Willpower, and
tions on the edge of space, and alien herbology in Sanity; the stats for a western game may be Gusto,
exhausting detail, including full write-ups of every- Surliness, and Wind; the stats for a fantasy game
thing from the common household dust mite to the may be Bravery, Magic, and Wisdom. Those names
hundred-handed giants who patrol the frozen wastes are not genre-exclusive, but they are genre-biased in
of Beronia, but they don’t really do anything. They that they bring to mind the tone and feel of the genre
give you places and things to explore, if you want to, they are tacked to. But they are just names, and if
and races and cultures to pillage and fight, if you want you look beyond them, at the actual system they are
to. But, they won’t make you. You could sit at the bar, sitting atop, you usually end up with just a fancy
drink ale, and make inappropriate gestures to the bar way of determining “yes,” “no,” and “sorta.”
wench all day. These games are settings with a system. Usually, but not always.
Then there are games that have set parts. First, This doesn’t make any game bad. But, as players,
you do this, then you do this, and so on. They have we should be aware of what it is we are truly buying,
a rigid play structure that, if you’re to play the game, and we should respect that we are all attracted to dif-
you must adhere to. Some games add to or replace ferent things. Some people prefer unobtrusive
the structure of the game with relationships between “premise-free” systems with a premise-driven set-
the players. These games are a system with a setting. ting, some people prefer “premise-free” settings
with a premise-driven system, and some people
A Generic Argument either need the both parts to be either premise-free
Very few systems out there are not generic sys- or premise-driven. Eh, either way, as long as every-
tems. If you pick up your average game book and one at the table is on the same page and having fun,
flip to the rules, you’ll probably find stats, skills, then the game is working. Ω
weapons, armor, and a dice mechanic or three. The
names of these elements may be different. They may


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AEDA LUS Editorial workshop for the role-playing hobby

Contributing Writers And much more. . . .

Illustration is copyright 2004 © Jonathan Walton

Issue contents www.chimera.info/daedalus 2

Out of character Letters to the editor 3

FROM THE EDITOR

Pointing toward science fiction in role-playing games

From the editor By Matt Snyder 4

“This is a game planet.”

Lacuna Part I. The Creation of the Mystery

Lacuna By Jared Sorensen 5

Lacuna By Jared Sorensen 6

Lacuna By Jared Sorensen 7

Lacuna By Jared Sorensen 8

Name Attribute Keys

Lacuna By Jared Sorensen 9

Starting Mentor Table

Lacuna By Jared Sorensen 10

manent upgrade from Force 0 to Force +. Those and Sex.

Lacuna By Jared Sorensen 11

names When selecting a Quirk, keep in mind that

Lacuna By Jared Sorensen 12

Character Appendix I: Agent Pseudonyms

01. Archer 35. Fuller 69. Schreiber

Lacuna By Jared Sorensen 13

Lacuna By Jared Sorensen 14

these early forays into the Lacuna. Naturally, CONTROL: Spiders?

CONTROL: You’re okay, [NAME DELETED]. Prisons Without Walls

Lacuna By Jared Sorensen 15

REM-stage sleep. well as a method of mnemonic alteration using

Lacuna By Jared Sorensen 16

Lacuna By Jared Sorensen 17

necks. Sometimes music (something subtle and Calling Home

The Slab Blue City

Lacuna By Jared Sorensen 18

Lacuna By Jared Sorensen 19

The creatures usually keep to the sidelines but

“No shit, I ran into the Spidermen once.

The Girl from Blue City

*At this point the Mystery Agent

Lacuna By Jared Sorensen 20

Illustration by Christian St. Pierre. Copyright © 2004 Christian St. Pierre.

Inside By Clinton R. Nixon 21

INSIDE: A SORCERER MINI-SUPPLEMENT Building a perfect cage

Inside By Clinton R. Nixon 22

Inside By Clinton R. Nixon 23

Inside By Clinton R. Nixon 24

Inside By Clinton R. Nixon 25

Inside By Clinton R. Nixon 26

Daemon abilities needs virtual gasoline, for example.

Inside By Clinton R. Nixon 27

Inside By Clinton R. Nixon 28

Inside By Clinton R. Nixon 29

Inside By Clinton R. Nixon 30

Inside By Clinton R. Nixon 31

Illustration by Jason A. Engle: www.jaestudio.com

Fourth Millennium preview By James Maliszewski & Kevin Brennan 32

Fourth Millennium preview By James Maliszewski & Kevin Brennan 34

the Syndicates, granting them the legal authority The Stasis

Fourth Millennium preview By James Maliszewski & Kevin Brennan 35

Fourth Millennium preview By James Maliszewski & Kevin Brennan 36

Fourth Millennium preview By James Maliszewski & Kevin Brennan 37

are quite innocuous. munication system. Furthermore, with the devel-

Fourth Millennium preview By James Maliszewski & Kevin Brennan 38