06/13/2018 update: pushing things back
almost 8 years ago – Wed, Jun 13, 2018 at 01:51:44 PM

Hi everyone,

I'm just letting you know I need to push back the release of the PDF to august. Things have gotten crazy busy for me, and I'm still missing manuscripts from my writers, and some of the backers.

IF YOU STILL HAVEN'T CONTACTED ME WITH YOUR CREATURE OR STAR SYSTEM, PLEASE SEND ME A PRIVATE MESSAGE.

I hate to give bad news, but I hate to rush books just to meet a date on a calendar. I want to make this a great series of books, and rushing a book is definitely not the way to do it.

I'm sorry this is happening, but I'm fully committed to this project. I don't push off release dates unless I think it's an absolute necessity.

Thanks so much for your understanding and patience.

05/18/2018 update: Star System Preview
almost 8 years ago – Sat, May 19, 2018 at 12:39:43 AM

Hi everyone,

I'm touching base to give you an idea of where we are. While some more people have turned in their star systems and creatures, I'm still not hearing from a number of them, and now it's causing a slow-down. Some systems that have been turned in need more work, as well. Every system still needs final edits and art orders, but art has to wait until the system is finished before I can purchase it.

The concepts for the systems and creatures have been great, but  they need to be fleshed out more, so that's pushing things back somewhat. I'll know more about how long by the end of the month.

In the meantime, I'm linking one of the Star systems I think is ready for a final edit. It's in pdf, so you can read through it to get an idea of the content you'll be getting in this project.

You can grab the pdf here

Here's the Star Map for the system.

04/20/2018 update: No news is good news
almost 8 years ago – Fri, Apr 20, 2018 at 03:18:37 PM

Hi everyone, I'm just touching base to let you know what's up....

Nothing new! This is good news. I haven't had any major hangups in development, so this is good, though there are some of you who pledged for Star Systems and creatures who haven't gotten back to me yet. Please do so as soon as possible so I can get with you on your material, as I'll need time to make sure art/editing, and such are fully fleshed out.

Here's another system map for one of the backers. It's looking great!

03/28/2018; Surveys sent
about 8 years ago – Thu, Mar 29, 2018 at 12:26:51 AM

Hi Everyone, Just an update to let you know I've just sent out the surveys! Let me know if you have any issues with yours, and I'll try to get your problem dealt with ASAP.

Here's another design journal from Mike Welham, one of the writers on this book.

Design Journal: The Heraksis System

Heraksis faced a crisis of apocalyptic proportions. Heraksis, the only world in its solar system with sentient, and living, beings, has a twin planet, Jatt, a dead planet where all its inhabitants had converted to undead creatures. Jatt’s orbit locked in place such that it blotted out the sun and darkened Heraksis’s surface. This left the world of the living fair game for monstrosities unconcerned with the harsh environment between the planets and an all-consuming hunger for living flesh. Researching a way to avert catastrophe, scientists turned to ancient texts to discover if this had previously happened in the distant past. This led to the discovery of hidden seeds capable of generating sunlight through a combination of ancient sorcery and forgotten technology. The miniature stars created when the seeds were placed into the void of space covered much of the surface of Heraksis (rechristened as Dawn’s Hope). The undead who made planetfall now hide in the shadows and seek a way to destroy the new stars, while preying on the unwary.

When designing Dawn’s Hope, I wanted to show a world in peril against a terrible otherworldly menace and the lengths its leaders go through to preserve the world. Everyone latched onto the idea of creating these miniature suns, but no one looked at the warnings (albeit in a forgotten language) attached to the seeds. The world has had eternal day for a generation, and the younger Heraksians have adapted to life with no night. However, the population has incurred minor psychoses as their sleep schedules have been thoroughly upended. This manifests most acutely in a worldwide inquisition in the form of the Church of Dawn to root out “undead sympathizers” and destroy them. Darkness frightens the average Heraksian, and many people avoid traversing underground where many undead still lurk. The challenge is to create a viable adventuring species (should a player wish to create a PC Heraksian) which takes penalties in the dark. Fortunately, they have inherent abilities dealing with light-based powers to offset those penalties.

The world situation presents a challenge to visiting PCs, as they run afoul of the Church of Dawn. The Church sees them as a threat, ostensibly because no one knows their true motives, but mainly because they bring an outsider perspective which may cause people to question the Church’s motives. The leaders may try to kill two birds with one stone by overemphasizing the threat of the undead and their inability to truly end it. Perhaps, they muse, these off-worlders could destroy the undead once and for all.

The Heraksis system has a few threads tying it to Lovecraftian horror. While undead are not inherently Lovecraftian, the nature of their existence harkens back to a deal the people of Jatt made with an unknowable entity to save them from a catastrophe. This entity, in the mold of Nyogtha (perhaps the Dweller in Darkness itself), is a nihilistic cosmic power who can hear all the heartbeats on all the planets in the universe and seeks to snuff them out. Thus, when people turn to worship it, or they grow desperate enough to call upon anything to help them out, it can exert a fraction of its power to sow destruction. The seedlings of sun creation came with ignored warnings. Perhaps the suns grown from the seeds generate unseen energies that warp the minds of those exposed to them, causing rampant paranoia and irrational fears of the dark. Beings made of light overcrowd the star at the system’s center and are attracted to the new sources of light. Jatt blocks the view of slow-moving trails of “embers” thrown by the sun, but a nascent space program allows Heraksians to finally notice them. Finally, and possibly the actual reason for the ancient warnings, the furthest planet from the star imprisons an impossibly powerful creature. The prehistoric species which locked the creature away assumed the icy planet would hold it prisoner forever, since they could not destroy it. The warmth and light from the artificial suns has reached the unnamed world and the being slowly awakes from its cold-induced slumber.

02/10/2018: The Urus System
about 8 years ago – Sat, Feb 10, 2018 at 03:38:25 PM

Hi everyone, as we work on this book, I'll be popping in with some previews of various Star Systems from the people who are writing them. This one is From Hal Maclean, who is writing the Urus System.

Here’s a designer trick. When you create a location, whether a village or a solar system, the first thing you should do is decide how much time you expect people are going to spend interacting with it. Just imagine a line starting with “an encounter” on one end and “a full campaign” on the other and toggle it around in your head until you find the right spot.

If you are closer to the one encounter or an adventure side, focus your word count on creating a central mystery, compelling villain, unique setting, or something else that is cool and memorable for the GM and PCs to enjoy before moving on to the next thing. If you are closer to the series of linked adventures or full campaign side, focus your word count on creating a number of elements that can support a lot of different gaming styles and themes that all still fit together. Think of it as deciding whether you are going to use your word count to go deep or wide.

The Urus system is wide.

It has a gas giant surrounded by moons with more than a billion and half people living on them. Each one has its own terrain, environment and society but they are still connected through trade and culture. One moon, mostly hollow and swept by constant hurricane winds, is dominated by shirren who live in paper cities that never stop flying (that’s why the call life, “the race”). Another, a “round puddle of lava” is home to azer zealots who live in cities that drift above the molten seas. It has a moon that looks like an apple with a bite out of its side, but the people who live on its toxic surface, gathering exotic materials to trade for vital supplies with the decadent orbital cities above, think it far from a paradise. The ice moons are filled with cities frantically ignoring the sunless oceans at the cores of their moons ruled by vicious, tentacled monsters that create icy duplicates that clamber along the ceilings and walls racking up body counts until finally destroyed. The entire zone has problems and needs heroes but it is still a place of cities and the civilization that comes with them.

The rest of the system is a wilderness ripe for exploration and adventure. Each planet has at least one unique product and is, at best, home to tribes with never more than a few dozen members. It has two water giants; massive, liquid worlds, one completely encased in glass and the other constantly pounded by a rain of a thousand moons that orbit through rather around it. The asteroid belt is nothing but wrecked ships and planar debris plucked from every imaginable dimension filled with powerful and paranoid creatures willing to do whatever it takes to survive and return home. There is a planet similar to the reverse of a black hole that constantly spews forth bubbles of glass, tens or hundreds of miles in size, kept barely in check by giant mirrors that use focused sunlight to slice them to pieces. Another world is in three pieces but still sharing the same atmosphere, and ocean, endlessly cycling between them.

All these locations are leavened with strong doses of horror. The abroca, ship sized monsters that eat thoughts and personalities, stalk most of the system. Only the area near the gas giant is safe from them (the reason why it has a billion and a half inhabitants). The people in the rest of the system need to stay in groups small enough to slip their notice because anyone whose mind they devour becomes a berserk savage who abuses and kills anyone, even former loved ones, they come across.

Two secret organizations have descriptions that include, “Their eyes became empty sockets that wept maggots.” and, “… it then paralyzes victims before devouring and replacing their tongue.” Someone in the system made the mistake of rousing a Great Old One and it is slowly creeping closer and closer to waking. The flesh masters, who rule one of the moons around the gas giant, are, “infamous for crafting creatures that can sate any desire and indulge any vice.”