Reign of Discordia is a 137 page PDF from Reality Deviant Publications. It is a futuristic setting for Green Ronin’s True20 system, and was written by Darrin Drader. The tagline is “Interstellar Adventure in the Ruins of Empire”. I received a review copy.
True20 had a previous science fiction setting, Lux Aeternum, which was one of Green Ronin’s setting search competition winners. That setting described one star system in considerable detail, with plenty to keep heroes occupied but no scope for moving elsewhere. Reign of Discordia takes the opposite approach, giving a broad description of a wide area of space. Some Narrators will prefer the first approach, others the second.
However, where Lux Aeternum was light on rules for True20 in space, Reign of Discordia incorporates the rules on environmental hazards, starship design and starship combat from d20 Future (as set out in the d20 Modern SRD).
The front cover depicts a man in body armour, holding a laser pistol and gazing up at a spaceship as it flies overhead. There is another spaceship, and a couple of moons, in the background. Its aspect is futuristic, dark and thoughtful, and does a good job of conveying the feel of the setting. There is plenty of artwork elsewhere in the PDF, and generally it ties in to the nearby text, which is good. I’m no art critic, but I liked it.
The next page is the credits and then we have a detailed two page table of contents, which is handy because there is no index. The table of contents is linked to the rest of the document, which is nice. A minor quibble is that the chapter headings are not marked as such in the contents.
The seven chapters are “Life After the Stellar Imperium”, “Major Worlds”, “Character Options”, “Politics & Organisations” , “True Space Combat”, “Starships” and “Rover’s Beacon” (a space station).
The last two pages are the OGL, of which section 15 is roughly twice the length of the rest of the licence, and the back cover. So, if my maths is up to the task, the actual setting itself is 131 pages long.
The PDF is in full colour, with each page having a mostly black “starscape” border, with the text in black on a white background within a red frame. I don’t know if there are any plans to release a “printer friendly” version but as its stands printing out the whole thing would use up a lot of ink.
Chapter 1 “Life After the Stellar Imperium” gives the history of the setting.
We start at the end; the current situation is that the Stellar Empire has collapsed, and individual planets are “going it alone”, partly through necessity and partly through choice. The core worlds are crumbling, but opportunity and adventure can be found on the frontier.
Then we get a summary of events from the year 2080 to the “current” year of 2690.
I like the fact that the current situation is described first. In my opinion, too many settings start off by describing the migration patterns of nomadic tribesmen in the dim and distant past, when they should be selling you on the setting as it exists today.
There is nothing particularly starting about the history presented here. Mankind slowly and painfully establishes a foothold in the rest of the solar system, until the faster than light tachyon drive is invented in 2230. Soon afterwards, contact is made with a couple of more or less peaceful alien races. Eventually, the known races decide to get together and found the Interstellar Concord, a military and trading alliance.
By 2417, the Concord had become the Stellar Imperium, under its first emperor. The Imperium entered a phase of ruthless expansion, which ended in defeat by the lizard-like R’Tillek in 2665. The people of the Imperium learned of the atrocities committed against alien races, and many sought to leave the Empire, resulting in civil war.
The R’Tillek attack the Empire on several occasions, devastating a number of worlds, including the capital, which leads to the break up of the Imperium. No one knows if the R’Tillek will attack again. As one philosopher puts it, “Discordia rules supreme.”
The rest of the chapter briefly discusses life in the year 2690, which isn’t very pleasant due to the fragile state of the economy.
Chapter 2 “Major Worlds” describes 11 human systems, 4 systems of the Relarra, 8 systems of the Tallinites, 3 systems of the Giaeti, 6 systems of the Sangor and 8 systems of the Lamogos, plus 11 frontier systems and 3 systems of what was once the Imperium Core. (The six new races mentioned above are described in chapter 3, along with the R’Tillek.)
There is a picture of each world, which helps make them seem “real” planets. Each world has standard information about population, length of year etc. and a paragraph or two of description that generally includes at least one interesting feature. If you need any more worlds, you can just make them up – the setting is very loose in that respect. You can also get rid of worlds with impunity, without worrying too much about any knock on effects.
The chapter ends with a star map, which is always good. I like maps.
Chapter 3 “Character Options” describes the 7 races of the setting. As well as humans, we have the lobster-like (and tasty) Relarra, the insect-like Tallinites, the inscrutable plant-like Giaeti, the extremely human-looking (albeit with blue skin) Lamogos and the weird-looking Sangor, plus the lizard-like R’Tillek. The latter are balanced as a playable race, but are something of a mystery and wouldn’t get on very well with the others.
There is a colour picture of the races standing next to one another, which is useful – although it would be even more useful if it was labelled. It took me a while to work out from the descriptions which were the Relarra, Tallinites and Sangor. (Perhaps that just means I’m not very perceptive.)
None of the races particularly appeals to me as a player. Humans aside, they are just too weird for my taste - apart from the Lamogos, which aren’t weird enough. However, there also other lesser races in the galaxy, and the Narrator is encouraged to allow races from other sources.
There are 7 character paths provided – soldier (warrior), naval officer (expert), infiltrator (expert), mentalist (adept), pilot (warrior), bounty hunter (warrior) and low-life (expert). The mentalist entry includes a list of the powers which are available in the setting (about 36 of them). I don’t get much use out of character paths, so I won’t comment on them.
This is followed by expanded skill uses for bluff, computers, craft (repair), disable device, knowledge (technology), medicine, navigate and pilot. There are also 17 “new” feats, almost all of which are taken from d20 Future.
Next is equipment, which includes new items but also reprints some of the items from the True20 book for convenience. The Wealth system from True20 is not used; instead items are priced in credits. There are no vehicles, but plenty of them can be found in Reality Deviant’s Vehicles PDF.
Finally in this chapter we have some rules for environmental hazards, again taken from d20 Future but adapted to True20.
Chapter 4 “Politics and Organisations” introduces conflict to the setting and gives campaign ideas to the Narrator. It’s a useful guide to what to the setting is “for” and organisations the heroes can join or fight against. A lot of this information is likely to be unknown to the heroes at the start of the campaign so possibly this should be a “Narrator only” chapter.
It is interesting stuff, but I’d have preferred it if the chapter had more directly addressed the question of running Reign of Discordia campaigns. In particular, I’d have liked some direct information about what the R’Tillek are up to. Alternatively, I’d have been equally happy with a discussion of what they might be up to, encouraging the Narrator to draw his own conclusions and promising that it wouldn’t be contradicted by a future product.
As it is, by reading between the lines I think I know what the deal is with the R’Tillek, but I could be completely wrong.
The setting is wide open. You can run pretty much any futuristic campaign in it. I gather that this was a deliberate design decision. It does mean that anyone looking for a more focused setting would be disappointed.
The chapter ends with some sample Narrator characters, making good use of the character paths provided in chapter 3.
Chapter 5 “True Space Combat” provides rules for space combat in True20. These are taken from d20 Future, except that starships use the True20 vehicle damage track rather than having hit points.
The tachyon drive allows starships to escape combat by jumping to lightspeed, unless they are in a gravity well. Ships cannot be tracked once they have jumped. This is very “Star Wars”, although in the Star Wars novels the plot problems this presented were solved by the introduction of Interdictor cruisers. Reign of Discordia leaves open the option of adopting a similar approach by stating that it may be possible to generate artificial gravity wells.
Chapter Six “Starships” gives a number of example starships. Again these are taken from d20 Future (although d20 Future features more of them). However, there is a handy starship size comparison picture at the end of the chapter.
Chapter 7 “Rover’s Beacon” describes a seedy independent starbase which I suppose can be used as a site for adventures. At the moment it doesn’t seem to serve any particular purpose, but maybe the intention is to feature it in future products.
In conclusion, this is a very well put together PDF with some interesting setting information. It also conveniently translates plenty of d20 Future rules into True20 and collects them in one place. There are plenty of plot ideas scattered about the document, and pretty much any style of futuristic campaign can be accommodated. It adopts a very broad brush approach, which might not be to everyone’s taste. My only real criticism is that I’d have liked a bit more help, plot wise, for the Narrator.
True20 had a previous science fiction setting, Lux Aeternum, which was one of Green Ronin’s setting search competition winners. That setting described one star system in considerable detail, with plenty to keep heroes occupied but no scope for moving elsewhere. Reign of Discordia takes the opposite approach, giving a broad description of a wide area of space. Some Narrators will prefer the first approach, others the second.
However, where Lux Aeternum was light on rules for True20 in space, Reign of Discordia incorporates the rules on environmental hazards, starship design and starship combat from d20 Future (as set out in the d20 Modern SRD).
The front cover depicts a man in body armour, holding a laser pistol and gazing up at a spaceship as it flies overhead. There is another spaceship, and a couple of moons, in the background. Its aspect is futuristic, dark and thoughtful, and does a good job of conveying the feel of the setting. There is plenty of artwork elsewhere in the PDF, and generally it ties in to the nearby text, which is good. I’m no art critic, but I liked it.
The next page is the credits and then we have a detailed two page table of contents, which is handy because there is no index. The table of contents is linked to the rest of the document, which is nice. A minor quibble is that the chapter headings are not marked as such in the contents.
The seven chapters are “Life After the Stellar Imperium”, “Major Worlds”, “Character Options”, “Politics & Organisations” , “True Space Combat”, “Starships” and “Rover’s Beacon” (a space station).
The last two pages are the OGL, of which section 15 is roughly twice the length of the rest of the licence, and the back cover. So, if my maths is up to the task, the actual setting itself is 131 pages long.
The PDF is in full colour, with each page having a mostly black “starscape” border, with the text in black on a white background within a red frame. I don’t know if there are any plans to release a “printer friendly” version but as its stands printing out the whole thing would use up a lot of ink.
Chapter 1 “Life After the Stellar Imperium” gives the history of the setting.
We start at the end; the current situation is that the Stellar Empire has collapsed, and individual planets are “going it alone”, partly through necessity and partly through choice. The core worlds are crumbling, but opportunity and adventure can be found on the frontier.
Then we get a summary of events from the year 2080 to the “current” year of 2690.
I like the fact that the current situation is described first. In my opinion, too many settings start off by describing the migration patterns of nomadic tribesmen in the dim and distant past, when they should be selling you on the setting as it exists today.
There is nothing particularly starting about the history presented here. Mankind slowly and painfully establishes a foothold in the rest of the solar system, until the faster than light tachyon drive is invented in 2230. Soon afterwards, contact is made with a couple of more or less peaceful alien races. Eventually, the known races decide to get together and found the Interstellar Concord, a military and trading alliance.
By 2417, the Concord had become the Stellar Imperium, under its first emperor. The Imperium entered a phase of ruthless expansion, which ended in defeat by the lizard-like R’Tillek in 2665. The people of the Imperium learned of the atrocities committed against alien races, and many sought to leave the Empire, resulting in civil war.
The R’Tillek attack the Empire on several occasions, devastating a number of worlds, including the capital, which leads to the break up of the Imperium. No one knows if the R’Tillek will attack again. As one philosopher puts it, “Discordia rules supreme.”
The rest of the chapter briefly discusses life in the year 2690, which isn’t very pleasant due to the fragile state of the economy.
Chapter 2 “Major Worlds” describes 11 human systems, 4 systems of the Relarra, 8 systems of the Tallinites, 3 systems of the Giaeti, 6 systems of the Sangor and 8 systems of the Lamogos, plus 11 frontier systems and 3 systems of what was once the Imperium Core. (The six new races mentioned above are described in chapter 3, along with the R’Tillek.)
There is a picture of each world, which helps make them seem “real” planets. Each world has standard information about population, length of year etc. and a paragraph or two of description that generally includes at least one interesting feature. If you need any more worlds, you can just make them up – the setting is very loose in that respect. You can also get rid of worlds with impunity, without worrying too much about any knock on effects.
The chapter ends with a star map, which is always good. I like maps.
Chapter 3 “Character Options” describes the 7 races of the setting. As well as humans, we have the lobster-like (and tasty) Relarra, the insect-like Tallinites, the inscrutable plant-like Giaeti, the extremely human-looking (albeit with blue skin) Lamogos and the weird-looking Sangor, plus the lizard-like R’Tillek. The latter are balanced as a playable race, but are something of a mystery and wouldn’t get on very well with the others.
There is a colour picture of the races standing next to one another, which is useful – although it would be even more useful if it was labelled. It took me a while to work out from the descriptions which were the Relarra, Tallinites and Sangor. (Perhaps that just means I’m not very perceptive.)
None of the races particularly appeals to me as a player. Humans aside, they are just too weird for my taste - apart from the Lamogos, which aren’t weird enough. However, there also other lesser races in the galaxy, and the Narrator is encouraged to allow races from other sources.
There are 7 character paths provided – soldier (warrior), naval officer (expert), infiltrator (expert), mentalist (adept), pilot (warrior), bounty hunter (warrior) and low-life (expert). The mentalist entry includes a list of the powers which are available in the setting (about 36 of them). I don’t get much use out of character paths, so I won’t comment on them.
This is followed by expanded skill uses for bluff, computers, craft (repair), disable device, knowledge (technology), medicine, navigate and pilot. There are also 17 “new” feats, almost all of which are taken from d20 Future.
Next is equipment, which includes new items but also reprints some of the items from the True20 book for convenience. The Wealth system from True20 is not used; instead items are priced in credits. There are no vehicles, but plenty of them can be found in Reality Deviant’s Vehicles PDF.
Finally in this chapter we have some rules for environmental hazards, again taken from d20 Future but adapted to True20.
Chapter 4 “Politics and Organisations” introduces conflict to the setting and gives campaign ideas to the Narrator. It’s a useful guide to what to the setting is “for” and organisations the heroes can join or fight against. A lot of this information is likely to be unknown to the heroes at the start of the campaign so possibly this should be a “Narrator only” chapter.
It is interesting stuff, but I’d have preferred it if the chapter had more directly addressed the question of running Reign of Discordia campaigns. In particular, I’d have liked some direct information about what the R’Tillek are up to. Alternatively, I’d have been equally happy with a discussion of what they might be up to, encouraging the Narrator to draw his own conclusions and promising that it wouldn’t be contradicted by a future product.
As it is, by reading between the lines I think I know what the deal is with the R’Tillek, but I could be completely wrong.
The setting is wide open. You can run pretty much any futuristic campaign in it. I gather that this was a deliberate design decision. It does mean that anyone looking for a more focused setting would be disappointed.
The chapter ends with some sample Narrator characters, making good use of the character paths provided in chapter 3.
Chapter 5 “True Space Combat” provides rules for space combat in True20. These are taken from d20 Future, except that starships use the True20 vehicle damage track rather than having hit points.
The tachyon drive allows starships to escape combat by jumping to lightspeed, unless they are in a gravity well. Ships cannot be tracked once they have jumped. This is very “Star Wars”, although in the Star Wars novels the plot problems this presented were solved by the introduction of Interdictor cruisers. Reign of Discordia leaves open the option of adopting a similar approach by stating that it may be possible to generate artificial gravity wells.
Chapter Six “Starships” gives a number of example starships. Again these are taken from d20 Future (although d20 Future features more of them). However, there is a handy starship size comparison picture at the end of the chapter.
Chapter 7 “Rover’s Beacon” describes a seedy independent starbase which I suppose can be used as a site for adventures. At the moment it doesn’t seem to serve any particular purpose, but maybe the intention is to feature it in future products.
In conclusion, this is a very well put together PDF with some interesting setting information. It also conveniently translates plenty of d20 Future rules into True20 and collects them in one place. There are plenty of plot ideas scattered about the document, and pretty much any style of futuristic campaign can be accommodated. It adopts a very broad brush approach, which might not be to everyone’s taste. My only real criticism is that I’d have liked a bit more help, plot wise, for the Narrator.
