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Message: <blockquote data-quote="foolcat" data-source="post: 9433284" data-attributes="member: 7005182">Since Talislanta (“still no elves!”) and Chaosium’s Nephilim (there might be good news in a few months/years) have already been named, here’s my take:Bill Coffin’s Septimus (2009). To my knowledge it’s the last publication ever made under the West End Games label (as WEG54000), but of course the WEG trademark was already owned by Purgatory Publishing at the time. Septimus is based on the Open D6 system, <a href="https://legacy.drivethrurpg.com/product/63991/Septimus" target="_blank">and last time I looked, it was free on DTRPG</a>—as was the Septimus Quickstart (a word or two on that below).I stumbled upon the book one fine day several years ago, and was immediately inspired by the setting’s premise: a galaxy-spanning, ultra-hightech civilization of humans thousands of years in the future is threatened at the very core of their existence, because their FTL tech is failing progressively for unknown reasons. But luckily, a fringe group of scientists and engineers have found a giant Dyson sphere of unknown origin at the very edge of the galaxy and are—altruistically, for sure—publicly inviting everyone to come live safely and soundly inside along with them. That there is enough room inside for everyone currently alive, and then some, there is no doubt about: the “worldsphere” dubbed Septimus (by whoever) has a radius of one Astronomical Unit, or 150 million kilometers. Give or take. It’s ginormous!As far as my imagination was kindled by it, after a first, and then several subsequent skimmings, I was left confused: I felt like I wasn’t getting all of it, and I didn’t know why. Only after a long while and approaching it from different angles, it dawned on me: this book is incomplete! And to add insult to injury, its internal organization is a complete mess as well. There are conflicting facts about the same things in different locations, key concepts that are mentioned several times are nowhere defined or explained, and don’t even get me started about the obvious plot holes (which I won’t spoil here)! An additional editorial pass, or three, would surely have had the potential to do wonders. As would have a historical timeline of events, or maps with actual scales on them.As it is, even the only other publication on the setting, Septimus Quickstart, only manages to add to the confusion, as it seems to describe a very different premise, with only a few names in common.What a damn shame. Septimus has some really interesting takes on Sci-Fi tropes like transhumanism, there’s a warring factions setup that puts Game of Thrones to shame, and the possibilities for storytelling and adventuring inside that giant, yet confined space are huge. If anyone would take pity and grab it up to give it a thorough rewriting, fill in the gaps, and make it logically consistent, I’d totally and gladly back it on Kickstarter.</blockquote>

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