Darrin Drader
Explorer
ALL CAPS QUESTION OF THE WEEK: HOW MANY REASONS DO YOU HAVE FOR LIKING YOUR FAVORITE SCIFI FRANCHISE?
https://www.kickstarter.com/.../reign-of-discordia-2nd...
We ask because with less than two weeks left in the Kickstarter, our marketing team ordered pizzas, sat us down, locked the door, and forced us to come up with a list of ten reasons you should back the Reign of Discordia 2nd edition Kickstarter. We assure you that such obvious pandering is entirely their idea, their fault, and will ultimately be judged their responsibility in a court of law. Or at least that’s what we decided after ten hours of being trapped by ourselves with only this blank college-ruled notebook in front of us to keep us company. We only managed our escape by feigning a medical emergency to lure the guard into the room, then overwhelmed him with our empty pizza box and skillfully executed Kirk-Fu.
* No creatives were actually harmed during the creation of this piece.
1. An Epic Primary Storyline: Even though there are no epic reveals where you find out the primary villain is the main protagonist’s father, and their entire family line was created by the biggest villain of them all, a villain who inexplicably cannot seem to remain dead twenty years after being tossed hundreds of feet into a fusion reactor, Reign of Discordia does have a powerful overarching storyline. In the original product, it was about the chaos ensuing from the fall of the Stellar Imperium and the persistent threat from the lizard-like R’Tillek. In the second edition, the R’Tillek have largely been dealt with, but the cost of confronting them is the destabilization of the Lamagos home star. This has led to their engaging in their worst militaristic and totalitarian leanings. Meanwhile, people of goodwill try to find a solution to their problems despite their aggressive actions.
2. But Not Too Much Story: We’ve all seen it before. Some game company pays a big pile of money to license a new game that ties into an existing scifi franchise, and because of the way the original story was structured, the only way to bring you in as a player is to also tie you to that main story, thereby limiting the scope of the game. Let’s face it, nuking the planet might be the only way to be sure, but once it’s done, it’s done. Game over, man! And no, we’re not discussing the third and fourth parts of that particular story. With Reign of Discordia, your game doesn’t have to tie in to the epic primary storyline. In fact, most people who set their games in this setting treat that material as background while they play they type of scifi game they’re interested in. It’s background material. You might end up fighting the Lamagos at some point in the campaign, but they might take more the role of the Nazis in that movie about the last crusade for the Holy Grail.
3. We are 100% Influencer Free: Unlike some startups and established game companies alike, we don’t seek out D-list celebrities and attention-seeking grifters to pimp our game. We’re kind to the people who work with us, and we don’t hire anyone unless we already have the money to pay them. We’re interested in gamers, and how fellow gamers are going to use the products we’re making. We aren’t interested in bringing in people who just want to live the highlife while soaking up all that sweet, sweet advertising money.
4. That Gum You Like Has Finally Come Back Into Style: It was a promise made long ago, and somehow you never really thought it was going to happen… A small town in the state of Washington, and a beloved hero who sacrifices everything for knowledge. Oh wait, you think I’m talking about Twin Peaks? No, I live in Pullman, Washington, and this setting was born in this state, in this town, in this very house twelve years ago. In game years, that’s like being stuck in a darkly colored cabin for twenty five trips around the sun. But, after all this time, Reign of Discordia is back.
5. We’ve Got Rules For Space Combat: We’ve already covered the basic design concepts behind our space combat rules in a previous update, so the thing you need to understand about them is they’re straightforward and won’t cause you to make an Intelligence or Sanity check when you’re trying to understand and implement them. This may put your characters into interesting situations, but it’s not an extra layer of rules between your characters and the story.
6. We’ve Got Rules for Psionics too: Here at DDD, we have to be honest about one of our core philosophies: keep your science fiction in your science fiction and your fantasy in your fantasy. What we mean by that is that the 5th edition magic system works really well for fantasy games. It works so well in that genre in fact that we really don’t feel that it has a place in science fiction games, and we get kind of annoyed when we see space magic. If you don’t know what we mean by that, let me fill you in on something. We don’t want to call anyone out here but if a starship can literally disappear from one location and instantly appear in another without passing through the space in between, it might be space magic. Or, if you have a tool where all you have to do is imagine what it might do and it miraculously does it… you guessed it, space magic. Science Fiction imagines a future where humans and aliens have evolved to use the power of their brains to affect their surroundings. You might be able to read thoughts, bend spoons, or move objects with the power of your mind, but there are also logical limitations on these powers that magic doesn’t have. Psionics is an evolutionary ability, not a supernatural power.
7. We Believe Technology As Magic is a Cop-Out: Yeah, so 5E and White Star have excellent magic systems, but how many times have we seen third party publishers solve their design problems by saying, “Hey, this technology is so cool, it works just like spells!” And sure, there are some pieces of technology that might have similar effects as spells, but let’s sit down and really think about this one for a second. You’re telling me some piece of super tech that lets you open any door without fail can only be used a limited number of times a day? You’re telling me that you might have a device that insults your target so bad that they have to make a save or take some points of psychic damage? Technology has limitations magic doesn’t, and that’s OK. But if a system saves a bunch of design space by hand-waving it away and telling you technology is magic, we’re telling you that you deserve a better system.
8. Fifty Worlds: If you don't like sand because it's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere, we’ve got you covered! There are fifty worlds we bring to you in the core book, but there’s room for thousands more. Only a few of them are desert, and even those we don’t necessarily go back to time after time after time after… We have frozen worlds, gas giants, terrestrial worlds, and big, cold desolate rocks. Some of those worlds were inhabited before the Stellar Imperium took over and subjugated the native alien species. On some of those worlds, life was all but exterminated by the R’Tillek. Some are singly focused hives of the intelligent but insect-like Talinites, and some worlds are havens for the development of bleeding edge technology by megacorporations. If you can imagine a world, it probably exists somewhere in Reign of Discordia.
9. We Legitimately Love Science Fiction: Yes, we have lightly lampooned a few of the world’s greatest science fiction franchises here, but it’s all in good fun. The truth is we love science fiction. One of us has taken a college course on science fiction literature, watched nearly every movie within the genre, and we grew up when that rag-tag fugitive fleet tried to escape tyranny and find the lost colony known as Earth. For many of us, we were into science fiction before we discovered fantasy roleplaying games. This is our love letter to the genre.
10. This List Made You Chuckle At Least Once: Let’s face it, by this point, we’re pretty sure we’ve written at least one thing that has amused you to the point where you cracked a smile or even chuckled a little bit. If so, we were clearly successful in to bringing just a bit of joy to your day. As such, we’ve worked hard for your business and hopefully we’ve earned it.
https://www.kickstarter.com/.../reign-of-discordia-2nd...
We ask because with less than two weeks left in the Kickstarter, our marketing team ordered pizzas, sat us down, locked the door, and forced us to come up with a list of ten reasons you should back the Reign of Discordia 2nd edition Kickstarter. We assure you that such obvious pandering is entirely their idea, their fault, and will ultimately be judged their responsibility in a court of law. Or at least that’s what we decided after ten hours of being trapped by ourselves with only this blank college-ruled notebook in front of us to keep us company. We only managed our escape by feigning a medical emergency to lure the guard into the room, then overwhelmed him with our empty pizza box and skillfully executed Kirk-Fu.
* No creatives were actually harmed during the creation of this piece.
1. An Epic Primary Storyline: Even though there are no epic reveals where you find out the primary villain is the main protagonist’s father, and their entire family line was created by the biggest villain of them all, a villain who inexplicably cannot seem to remain dead twenty years after being tossed hundreds of feet into a fusion reactor, Reign of Discordia does have a powerful overarching storyline. In the original product, it was about the chaos ensuing from the fall of the Stellar Imperium and the persistent threat from the lizard-like R’Tillek. In the second edition, the R’Tillek have largely been dealt with, but the cost of confronting them is the destabilization of the Lamagos home star. This has led to their engaging in their worst militaristic and totalitarian leanings. Meanwhile, people of goodwill try to find a solution to their problems despite their aggressive actions.
2. But Not Too Much Story: We’ve all seen it before. Some game company pays a big pile of money to license a new game that ties into an existing scifi franchise, and because of the way the original story was structured, the only way to bring you in as a player is to also tie you to that main story, thereby limiting the scope of the game. Let’s face it, nuking the planet might be the only way to be sure, but once it’s done, it’s done. Game over, man! And no, we’re not discussing the third and fourth parts of that particular story. With Reign of Discordia, your game doesn’t have to tie in to the epic primary storyline. In fact, most people who set their games in this setting treat that material as background while they play they type of scifi game they’re interested in. It’s background material. You might end up fighting the Lamagos at some point in the campaign, but they might take more the role of the Nazis in that movie about the last crusade for the Holy Grail.
3. We are 100% Influencer Free: Unlike some startups and established game companies alike, we don’t seek out D-list celebrities and attention-seeking grifters to pimp our game. We’re kind to the people who work with us, and we don’t hire anyone unless we already have the money to pay them. We’re interested in gamers, and how fellow gamers are going to use the products we’re making. We aren’t interested in bringing in people who just want to live the highlife while soaking up all that sweet, sweet advertising money.
4. That Gum You Like Has Finally Come Back Into Style: It was a promise made long ago, and somehow you never really thought it was going to happen… A small town in the state of Washington, and a beloved hero who sacrifices everything for knowledge. Oh wait, you think I’m talking about Twin Peaks? No, I live in Pullman, Washington, and this setting was born in this state, in this town, in this very house twelve years ago. In game years, that’s like being stuck in a darkly colored cabin for twenty five trips around the sun. But, after all this time, Reign of Discordia is back.
5. We’ve Got Rules For Space Combat: We’ve already covered the basic design concepts behind our space combat rules in a previous update, so the thing you need to understand about them is they’re straightforward and won’t cause you to make an Intelligence or Sanity check when you’re trying to understand and implement them. This may put your characters into interesting situations, but it’s not an extra layer of rules between your characters and the story.
6. We’ve Got Rules for Psionics too: Here at DDD, we have to be honest about one of our core philosophies: keep your science fiction in your science fiction and your fantasy in your fantasy. What we mean by that is that the 5th edition magic system works really well for fantasy games. It works so well in that genre in fact that we really don’t feel that it has a place in science fiction games, and we get kind of annoyed when we see space magic. If you don’t know what we mean by that, let me fill you in on something. We don’t want to call anyone out here but if a starship can literally disappear from one location and instantly appear in another without passing through the space in between, it might be space magic. Or, if you have a tool where all you have to do is imagine what it might do and it miraculously does it… you guessed it, space magic. Science Fiction imagines a future where humans and aliens have evolved to use the power of their brains to affect their surroundings. You might be able to read thoughts, bend spoons, or move objects with the power of your mind, but there are also logical limitations on these powers that magic doesn’t have. Psionics is an evolutionary ability, not a supernatural power.
7. We Believe Technology As Magic is a Cop-Out: Yeah, so 5E and White Star have excellent magic systems, but how many times have we seen third party publishers solve their design problems by saying, “Hey, this technology is so cool, it works just like spells!” And sure, there are some pieces of technology that might have similar effects as spells, but let’s sit down and really think about this one for a second. You’re telling me some piece of super tech that lets you open any door without fail can only be used a limited number of times a day? You’re telling me that you might have a device that insults your target so bad that they have to make a save or take some points of psychic damage? Technology has limitations magic doesn’t, and that’s OK. But if a system saves a bunch of design space by hand-waving it away and telling you technology is magic, we’re telling you that you deserve a better system.
8. Fifty Worlds: If you don't like sand because it's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere, we’ve got you covered! There are fifty worlds we bring to you in the core book, but there’s room for thousands more. Only a few of them are desert, and even those we don’t necessarily go back to time after time after time after… We have frozen worlds, gas giants, terrestrial worlds, and big, cold desolate rocks. Some of those worlds were inhabited before the Stellar Imperium took over and subjugated the native alien species. On some of those worlds, life was all but exterminated by the R’Tillek. Some are singly focused hives of the intelligent but insect-like Talinites, and some worlds are havens for the development of bleeding edge technology by megacorporations. If you can imagine a world, it probably exists somewhere in Reign of Discordia.
9. We Legitimately Love Science Fiction: Yes, we have lightly lampooned a few of the world’s greatest science fiction franchises here, but it’s all in good fun. The truth is we love science fiction. One of us has taken a college course on science fiction literature, watched nearly every movie within the genre, and we grew up when that rag-tag fugitive fleet tried to escape tyranny and find the lost colony known as Earth. For many of us, we were into science fiction before we discovered fantasy roleplaying games. This is our love letter to the genre.
10. This List Made You Chuckle At Least Once: Let’s face it, by this point, we’re pretty sure we’ve written at least one thing that has amused you to the point where you cracked a smile or even chuckled a little bit. If so, we were clearly successful in to bringing just a bit of joy to your day. As such, we’ve worked hard for your business and hopefully we’ve earned it.
