Mach2.5 said:
Skyrealms of Jorune
Simply put, perhaps my favorite sci-fi setting to date. The rules were simply horrible, but the setting was very interesting. Diverting from the typical space opera and post apocalypse genres of the time, Jorune presented a unique single world in the depths of space where humanity had settled a few thousand years before.
I have to agree with Mach2.5's assessment. Amazing campaign world, clunky game-mechanics. Jorune basically boils down to the following:
People from Earth discover faster-than-light travel and are able to find another habitable planet, Jorune. The problem is when they arrive the planet is already inhabited by several other alien species (Shantha, Ramian, Thriddle, Cleash, etc.). Scientists from Earth are able agree with the leader alien species, the shantha, to establish very limited science colonies.
A decade or so later supply shipments that keep the Jorune colonies in business stop arrving from Earth. The science colonies learn that a huge world war has erupted on Earth and the people of Earth have been wiped out. Completely dependent on the supply shipments from Earth for survival, the scientists realize that they are the last humans in the galaxy and they do not have enough resources to survive. Their pleas to renegotiate with the shantha fall on deaf ears. In desperation the humans unknowingly invade shanthic burial grounds in a massive grab for resources to survive.
As a result war erupts between the shanthas and humans. Shanthas begin to warp into human colonies, overload their power generators, and employ strange energy magic to wipe out most of the colonists. The colonists on the other hand develop a genetically modified virus that infects 99.99% of the shanthas.
The result is a complete collapse of the human and shanthic civilization to near primitive levels. The game begins 3000 years later when humans have rebuilt to a medieval technology level and have just rediscovered ancient Earth-tec artifacts (stuff like laser guns and bioengineering). They have figured out enough to operate the stuff but have no idea how to design or repair it.
This is really just scratching the surface of Jorune. There are a lot of interesting things that build into Jorune's history such as:
Paul Gauss the head scientist who engineered the plague to kill the shanthas also develops new earth-hybrid species (mixing human and animal DNA) that may be able to better survive the fall of civilization. These are the woffen (wolf humans), crugar (cougar humans), and bronth (bear humans).
A renegade shantha teaches certain strains of humanity how to weave isho (energy magic) to produce different magical effect. Another strain of humans learns how to naturally resist shanthic isho magic.
Most shanthas remain a mystery avoiding human contact at best. By nature human and shanthas just culturally do not understand one another, which often causes friction. Yet shanthas hold great knowledge for those who can learn to understand them. Different sects of shantha view humans in different ways.
There is no good or evil but each species has very unique outlook and tendencies. For instance, the woffen are very friendly but prone to alchoholism. Crugar are irritable and read deeply into body language. Ramian go through an adolescent phase that throw them into bloodlust before they reach adulthood. Thriddle are a mentally agile and peaceful but know many secrets of Jorune's history and have some hidden agenda.
Human societies are comprised of everything from the bigoted purists of Thantier to the more enlightened monarchs of Burdoth. Much of the game can revolve around trying to become a citizen of Burdoth, a ticket for prestige and political power. All in all, there are many societies on Jorune, most of which are just not very well understood by other societies.
BTW, my avatar picture is a shantha.
And for that I like Scarred Lands.
Just to say this is not "my" setting. This is just a thread with an interesting setting by someone else. I just found it would be worth the look, but I am not its author in any way.
). There was an attempt being made on the conversion boards to turn Skyrealms into a d20 system, but it went the way of many conversion).
