Reign of Discordia - A True20 Setting - Q&A

[Darrin Drader]

The book is written as humanocentric on order to give the reader a solid foundation upon which to explore the universe. In other words, the history chapter starts with the modern day and works its way forward, introducing alien species as they are discovered. As for the campaign itself, the Humans are pretty interwoven into a tapestry of aliens, but the Humans, particularly the ones from Earth, play a major role in the setting.

The major three races of the setting are the Humans, the Lamogos (the dudes who look like Humans but have blue skin) and the Tallinites (the guys who look like ants). The other two heroic races are the Relarra and the Sangor (the ones who look like giant crustaceans and the ones who look kind of wormy). Then there are the R'Tillek and the Gaieti, which are not intended as playable races, though the narrator may choose to make an exception.

It is possible to run a campaign that's focused almost entirely on Humans, though this would ignore a lot of the plot hooks and storylines built into the setting. Races primarily occupy worlds in the same area of space but are not necessarily aligned, so it is entirely possible to run a campaign about the goings on in the Human sector without going against the intent of the setting.

As far as organizations go, there are around twenty discussed in the core setting book (not counting some location specific ones) but only a fraction of those are heroic organizations - the others being the types that cause trouble and help put the setting in motion and propel it forward.

 

[Brutorz Bill]

Could you give us some more info regarding the aliens? I'm curious about the blue skinned ones pictured, seems like I read somewhere you said they were engaged in a cold war with the humans.
I'm really looking forward to this!
Thanks

 

[Darrin Drader]

Could you give us some more info regarding the aliens? I'm curious about the blue skinned ones pictured, seems like I read somewhere you said they were engaged in a cold war with the humans.
I'm really looking forward to this!
Thanks

Sure. They are the Lamogos, and they are obviously one of the major races, so here's what you need to know about them:

1. Humans and Lamogos used to be enemies. Then they were friends. Now they are enemies again.
2. Their world orbits a blue star which many believe is going to go supernova very soon. They want to find a suitable new homeworld for their people, but the worlds they settled in their region of space don't want the excess population relocating to their planets.
3. They tend to make a show of force out of everything. If they want something, they don't bother asking nicely; instead they drop out of FTL with a small fleet of ships, set up a blockade, and attempt to take what they want.
4. Despite all of their questionable cultural traits, they are everywhere and they are a playable race. Not all of them agree with the actions of their military. Humans aren't Boyscouts in this setting either.

 

[Brutorz Bill]

Sure. They are the Lamogos, and they are obviously one of the major races, so here's what you need to know about them:

1. Humans and Lamogos used to be enemies. Then they were friends. Now they are enemies again.
2. Their world orbits a blue star which many believe is going to go supernova very soon. They want to find a suitable new homeworld for their people, but the worlds they settled in their region of space don't want the excess population relocating to their planets.
3. They tend to make a show of force out of everything. If they want something, they don't bother asking nicely; instead they drop out of FTL with a small fleet of ships, set up a blockade, and attempt to take what they want.
4. Despite all of their questionable cultural traits, they are everywhere and they are a playable race. Not all of them agree with the actions of their military. Humans aren't Boyscouts in this setting either.

Thanks for the info. Are humans divided into different groups, cultures, nations?
This looks really cool.

 

[jezter6]

You mentioned something about the whole 'retro' aspect - which gives me all sorts of warm vibes - however I didn't see any robots. How are robots treated in this setting?

How much of the setting is absolutely necessary when it comes to all the aliens? If I were to want to play around with this, I'd probably only have humans and one other race available. How much would I lose out if I tossed everyone but humans and Lamogos?

 

[Darrin Drader]

Thanks for the info. Are humans divided into different groups, cultures, nations?
This looks really cool.

Definitely. This is set five years after the fall of the Stellar Imperium, so every world is more or less on their own. Some worlds do wield a great deal of power and influence over others, however.

 

[Darrin Drader]

You mentioned something about the whole 'retro' aspect - which gives me all sorts of warm vibes - however I didn't see any robots. How are robots treated in this setting?

Robots are an integral part of the setting. However, due to space limitations, I didn't get the chance to go into them in the core book. They will get better treatment at some point in the near future.

How much of the setting is absolutely necessary when it comes to all the aliens? If I were to want to play around with this, I'd probably only have humans and one other race available. How much would I lose out if I tossed everyone but humans and Lamogos?

The core book is written primarily from the Human perspective, and given that the Lamogos are their primary enemy at this point in time, much of the discussion focuses on these two races. I wouldn't recommend tossing all of the other races if you want your game to be true to the setting, but it would be fairly easy to run a game where they don't play a very active role if that's what you want to do.

 

[Brutorz Bill]

Do we have a release date on this puppy yet???

 

[Darrin Drader]

Do we have a release date on this puppy yet???

We're getting closer. The editing is almost complete, so after that we'll just be waiting on the art and layout. I'm pretty confident that we'll see it sometime next month, as announced.

 

[jezter6]

<going back to robots>
So, how are robots treated in the setting? Sentient beings? Sentient but with Asimov style built in rules?

What about campy elements - things like talking space monkeys and ray guns?

If you can't tell - I'm looking for something very SSZ related for True20