d20 Future has a home
Dawning Star
Operation Quick Launch
Produced by Hammock, Barr, Jacobson, Moretti
Published by Blue Devil Games
http://www.dawningstar.com
ISBN: 0-9763795-0-3
Stock Number: BDG05001
208 b & w pages
$29.95
Dawning Star is a new product line from Blue Devil Games. It’s one of the first d20 Modern settings to use the new material from d20 Future. Written in two-column format, Dawning Star has a wide outer margin and fair text use. The chapter breakdowns are at the bottom of the page. Art is fair and the black and white format doesn’t hurt it.
Operation Quick Launch brings several elements together. For those looking for a d20 Future campaign setting, the book includes more than enough to get you started. It includes background information of humanity and it’s leap to the stars. A meteor was detected that would smash Earth so lotteries were held to launch people into space. Things didn’t go exactly as planned when a space gate left behind by an ancient race activated and sent one ship to another place.
Once there, the members of the ship Dawning Star were lucky enough to discover the planet Eos and that Eos was much like their old planet had been. A lucky event that allowed them to progress faster in terraforming it than they would’ve had. Things weren’t perfect and the planet had its own share of mysteries. For example, there were ruins of ancient civilizations all about and the humans that had founded this new planet weren’t all in alliance over how their new society and civilization should progress.
Along the way, humanity has discovered that they’re not only the only sentient race in the galaxy, their not even the only sentient race on the planet. Through the use of a few well placed secrets, the authors have given the GM numerous tools for his campaign in dealing with the native race, the Velin, a race that when compared to humanity, is primitive, but seems to have some knowledge of an old enemy of man that is commonly referred to as the darklings.
And that technology that sent the Dawning Star ship into another place to begin with? That would be the ancient technology of the tentaari. Or would it? Despite their seemingly superior attitude, there is a lot about the tentaari that is unknown and despite looking like the typical alien from earth, they aren’t well loved or even trusted in the Helios system. Other things go bump in the night too and unlike the Velin, they aren’t interested in friendship and unlike the tentaari, they don’t want to be far away mentors. They want blood.
While the vaasi seem to be one thing to the denizens of the planet, this history is far longer and only hinted at here. Their culture of destruction though, does provide them with several options, including different types of vaasi, including true, phrenic, soldier and warhound. Not quite up to the zherg or tyranids, but it’s a good start and their lengthy origin allows the GM to do more with them than just throw hordes of them at the players.
In addition to the background details, we have information about Eos. Some of this is scientific in nature like how many hours in a day, how maydays in a year, what the holidays of the world are, and what the geography of the planet is like.
Such hard facts, while interesting in and of them, do not a setting make. Rather, we get some of that through the two-page black and white map and its dotted cities. We get that through the various notes on the important locations on Eos, including the Dawning Star city itself, including details on population, major exports, major imports, progress level, purchase DC limit, black market DC, and item restrictions.
While a map of Dawning Star City is provided, there are only some general locations noted on the map. In addition, there are no upclose maps. For a first product in the line, it’s a good start. Dawning Star seems to be a settled frontier city, one where the law has a bit of sway and pull and that people should be on their good behavior.
For those who want a little more wildness however, we have places like Iron Scar, the first major settlement outside the Dawning Star itself. In this mining town, things can get a little rougher and uglier but things aren’t as well watched.
As noted, not everything is happy on the world of Eos. To showcase that, we have different faction camps, these created by people who left the growing Republic that is the Dawning Star, setting in places like Broken Town or Roger’s Point.
In addition to the geography notes, there are several NPCs fully statted out with background details. This allows the reader to get an idea of the types of characters that might be found in the setting, and thus the types of characters that might be made. Also included are archetypes for common encounters like explorer or soldier.
While the colonists haven’t explored all of Eos yet, they do have some knowledge of where they are at, the Helios system, and the stellar objects that make Helios it’s home. This includes the belt of asteroids known as Markin Belt and planets like Thres. A full page map of the Helios solar system breaks down the planets and sun, including how many moons each planet has. Eos for example, has two.
In addition to the background information, there’s a lot of crunch. The good thing is that the authors didn’t try to reinvent the wheel. Where something worked in d20 Modern or d20 Future, they include notes on what’s appropriate, while still giving the GM a lot of new toys for his campaign.
For example, they use racial levels here for the humans and velin. Speaking of which, the velin themselves are a new race that’s uncomfortable around technology but do well in hunting their ‘ancient’ enemies, the darklings. New talent trees are introduced by type of hero (strong, fast, etc…), as well as new occupations, new uses for skills, and rules for bartering. See in Eos, despite some high technology, not everyone has access to the same thing so sometimes it’s best to know how to talk your way into that new item.
New feats are included with new racial levels, advanced classes and even some rare, in d20 Modern at least, prestige classes. Velin can augment their hunting nature while humans can augment their ability to survive anywhere.
Not everyone is going to be concerned with becoming a Velin chief or a Republic Ranger. Some are only going to be interested in how to blow things up and how to avoid being blown up in turn. They’re covered as we have multiple examples of technology in this setting ranging from mecha and ships, to new weapons and armor. The good thing about these sections is that they’re cleanly illustrated. Few things are as frustrating as hearing about how cool an item is only to have to imagine it.
The nice thing about the book is that because the Velin are hunters, not every weapon here is high tech. Next to the Gyro-Jet Ammunition, we have rules for Velin War Bows. Next toe the frontier styling rough outs, we have heavy combat armor. While it’s not Rifts, it’s certainly a good deal better than I expected in a first release in a new campaign line.
While the monster or xenomorph section isn’t huge, it does give the reader an idea of some of the alien life on the planet. This includes the dawson dragon, ridden by ranchers to replace the missing terran horses, to the tasty, depending on who you ask, murcow, the staple food of the people of Eos.
Like some other well-done game books, say, Warhammer FRPG, Dawning Star doesn’t give you everything in one shot. There are hints and suggestions of future books coming down the line with further information to enhance your game. That’s good for those who like a well supported setting and bad for those who want it all in one book.
Unlike some settings that are split between the player and GM, this book has both the basic information or common information, and secret information that only the GM should know. Not a problem if you have an honest group, but at the same time, it wouldn’t be hard to ruin the surprises of the setting for yourself just by reading through things.
While looking over the campaign book, there are some other elements that help. For example, they provide different campaign concepts and adventure hooks to get you started. Some of these are just a paragraph or two, but others include notes on how to advance the particular idea forward, noting what fits into the campaign and how best to move forward with that theme. One old favorite of mine is “The Magnificent 7.1”, updating the old Seven Samurai gig where a group of lone heroes defends an outpost town against overwhelming attacks. Good stuff.
Of course the fact that there is an actual introduction adventure in the book, A Day in the Life, is icing on the cake. One of the problems d20 Modern and d20 Future campaigns have as opposed to say standard Dungeons and Dragons, is that the responsibilities and goals of characters in the settings vary tremendously. While role-playing can shape and focus a fantasy character, he’s really there to collect the gold and the power ups. While futuristic games also have their share of power ups, one of the reasons Rifts is probably so popular; it also has a much broader base of options. Including a starting adventure gets the players into the setting quickly and gives the GM some ideas on how to move forward in this type of campaign.
Overall I like the feel of the planet. On one hand, its history is based in part on our own. For example, while looking to introduce old animals from Earth to the new setting, the scientists are careful not to overburden the eco system of Eos. While needing land and supplies, most of the governments set up don’t want to repeat the mistakes of the past and tend to treat the Velin well. While there is high technology, it’s not everywhere and not involved in every part of live, giving the players plenty of leg work to do.
It has a main antagonists set up that the players might not be aware of for some time as they deal with rogue human factions. It has ruins and aliens who aren’t what they seem. In short, it should have something for everyone.
If you’ve been looking for something to do with your d20 Future book, Operation Quick Launch is worth your time.