Reign of Discordia Design Diary 2 (starship combat) Is Up (Now available for sale)

Darrin Drader

Darrin Drader

Explorer
http://darrindrader.blogspot.com/

What follows in this post is an excerpt that is NOT related to Reign of Discordia in any way.

The Sirius Cybernetics Corporation invented a concept called Genuine People Personalities ("GPP") which imbue their products with intelligence and emotion. Thus not only do doors open and close, but they thank their users for using them, or sigh with the satisfaction of a job well done. Other examples of Sirius Cybernetics Corporation's record with sentient technology include an armada of neurotic elevators, hyperactive ships' computers and perhaps most famously of all, Marvin the Paranoid Android. Marvin is a prototype for the GPP feature, and his depression and "terrible pain in all the diodes down his left side" are due to unresolved flaws in his programming. Ironically, the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation defines a robot as "your plastic pal who's fun to be with".

The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy defines the Marketing Division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation as "a bunch of mindless jerks who'll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes" with "a footnote to the effect that the editors would welcome applications from anyone interested in taking over the post of robotics correspondent." The story notes that a version of the Encyclopaedia Galactica that "had the good fortune to fall through a time warp from a thousand years in the future" defined the Marketing Division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation as "a bunch of mindless jerks who were the first against the wall when the revolution came."

The only profitable division of the company is its Complaints division, which, according to the series, takes up all of the major landmasses on the first three planets in the Sirius Tau system. The theme song for the Complaints division is Share and Enjoy, and has since become the theme apparent for the company as a whole. The main office building and headquarters for the company was originally built to represent this motto, but due to bad architecture it sank into the ground, killing many talented young complaints associates. The downside to this is that the building now read, in the dialect of the planet it was on, "Go Stick Your Head in a Pig."
 
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Interesting.

I, too, was never happy with any space combat rules. There must be a perfect mechanic to cover it*, but it eluded me so far...

*) preferably without using a 3D battle mat. If such a thing would exist, things would be easier...
 





Well, the pdf version looks fantastic. I haven't had the time to read through it in any sort of detail but what I've read so far of the story, history and setting is most intriguing.
There are a whole lot of directions a table could take this setting in, from redemption and a new golden age, to total destruction and all points in between.

The layout, art, and formatting are just about perfect (in context). And the ability to turn off all those fancy graphics (either for printing or for fast perusing) is a kickass touch; layers rock!

The character paths could be better designed (why would the best pilots in the galaxy not have the Expertise core ability?), and there's little oddities that let your realize that a lot of material was copied and pasted from the MSRD (scout armor gives a bonus to Hide checks? What's a Hide check?).
Then there are the author-specific choices, such as tracking every last credit (I really hate doing that, it's why I love abstract wealth), or using facing-based starship combat, but many of these are entirely optional and perfect for people who want them.

Overall, though, I'm pretty impressed. There's a nice, brief, rundown of the major planets and systems controlled by the major races; there is a great rundown of the major history (2080 to 2690) that led the world to where it's at; and there is a quick but useful explanation of what the galaxy as a whole is like five years after the central organization was vanquished without replacement.

It looks like money well spent to me. :D
 


ValhallaGH said:
Well, the pdf version looks fantastic. I haven't had the time to read through it in any sort of detail but what I've read so far of the story, history and setting is most intriguing.
There are a whole lot of directions a table could take this setting in, from redemption and a new golden age, to total destruction and all points in between.
Click to expand...

Thanks, that was one of the objectives, actually. I didn't want this to be your typical post-apocalyptic setting where everything was already lost. I do like such settings, but I was far more interested in creating a setting where things are balanced on the head of a pin. As you said, things can go in any direction depending on where the narrator wants to go with it.

I also wanted to make this as versatile a setting as possible. I tried to cover as many subgenres within the space opera genre as possible. I want players to be able to get an experience out of it that could range anywhere from Star Wars to Firefly and cover all points in between.

The layout, art, and formatting are just about perfect (in context). And the ability to turn off all those fancy graphics (either for printing or for fast perusing) is a kickass touch; layers rock!
Click to expand...

I can't say enough good things about Robert Stefko's abilities as a layout guy and graphic designer. When I described to him the direction I wanted to go with the look and feel of the book, he knew how best to get it done. He also did all of the planets in chapter 2 and the organization symbols in chapter 4. I agree, layers are good, especially if you end up printing out the sections that you need rather than upgrading to the printed book.

The character paths could be better designed (why would the best pilots in the galaxy not have the Expertise core ability?),
Click to expand...

The reason is simple: Pilots are warriors, not experts. Expertise is an Expert class ability. I wanted pilots to be a pretty tough bunch in this setting, much more like your BSG pilots in general. That isn't to say that you can't have an expert pilot. Creating an Expert pilot is just a matter of copying the feat progression from the Pilot path to the Expert path, replacing any Warrior feats with Expert ones (or general ones, for that matter).

FWIW, Pilots almost were experts, but I changed my mind during the design process.

and there's little oddities that let your realize that a lot of material was copied and pasted from the MSRD (scout armor gives a bonus to Hide checks? What's a Hide check?).
Click to expand...

Right, there was a lot of copying from the SRD and modifying the heck out of it. Efforts were made to find all of the D20 Modern relics and convert them over to True20 as appropriate, but obviously a few things have slipped through. This is an issue I've found with most True20 products because they are derived from the SRD. Obviously issues like this need to be addressed in errata and corrected in future revisions.

Then there are the author-specific choices, such as tracking every last credit (I really hate doing that, it's why I love abstract wealth), or using facing-based starship combat, but many of these are entirely optional and perfect for people who want them.
Click to expand...

I'm one of those people who have never liked the wealth system. This is the second time I wrote a conversion away from it (the first time was in D20 Apocalypse). You're always free to reinstate those rules in your games, but I feel that it helps make encounters more dramatic when you've got the credits sitting there on the table and a bunch of guys standing there with blasters, ready to kill for the pile of cash.

Overall, though, I'm pretty impressed. There's a nice, brief, rundown of the major planets and systems controlled by the major races; there is a great rundown of the major history (2080 to 2690) that led the world to where it's at; and there is a quick but useful explanation of what the galaxy as a whole is like five years after the central organization was vanquished without replacement.

It looks like money well spent to me. :D
Click to expand...

Thank you! :cool:
 

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