Campaign Setting Shadow Chronicles (Homebrew)

[Rabiddog]

The setting:

It has been two thousand years since the dream of a unified galaxy was shattered by the downfall war; two millenia since most of the sentient beings in the known galaxy were wiped out by the plague devised by the United Mankind as a final measure against ultimate defeat. Great powers are rising; consolidating power and searching for the lost relics of the ancient past. Smaller nations struggle to preserve what's theirs as they crawl towards an uncertain future. The so called reformation sphere is awash in conspiracies, plots, plans and a cold war between the four great powers of the sphere.


Welcome to the universe of the Shadow Chronicles; a galaxy where wonders of technology are contrasted by crushing class based poverty on the outer worlds, where dreams of civilization are counterpoint to oppressive brutal regimes seeking to gain power. This RP will be a dark sci-fi genre blender with horror/action/espionage and thriller elements in the mix. Think a mix of Firefly meets Cowboy Bebop meets Mass Effect gone wrong (no friendly council to unite the great powers).



PCs will play what are known as “contractors” a new kind of mercenary; these elite individuals posess rare and valuable skills making them prized commodities capable of attracting even government contracts when things need to be taken care of under the table. As the RP begins you're character has been contacted by a mysterious employer with unclear motives. Your mission is to join a team of other contractors (other players) and investigate a discovery made on a barren lonely world at the edge of the reformation sphere. For your mission to succeed you'll need at least one good pilot a few science types and some good fighters as well as cooperation and teamwork!



Character creation:

Name:

Age:

Gender:

Bio:

Description: Doesn't have to be too in depth just enough so that others can identify your character by description.

Traits: Please pick five traits that make your character who they are; these can range from being a supreme marksman to being cybernetically enhanced to being a scholar or a poet or anything really within reason.

Equipment: What does your character use for their standard gear? Hacking tools? customized weapons? customized armor etc.


Below is some fluff if you want to take some stuff from it for your character you are not limited to these, you can make up your own origin story and weapons based on the tech available or suggest something you want.

Fluff:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10QgpyppsrQMNko2nXAoN5hBguNfuO9ezOLXXS5AUqL8/edit [timeline]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tc9hHHvqwQPdP0cC4b2glRqihwQWUGMMxvpYhTktS1Q/edit (Major Factions)


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iwIfPG8_roXpZNA4ue6NheDe_pGHZON2pZcFy4i31PA/edit (Minor Factions)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11iLq42wv-Au8lcSolRuR1e8-vvfJmVRpXfbSYQ8rbSs/edit [technology]


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hJhAh2KtRD6VOb3v5aKrd21llcUL8a23tokzRF0RCLQ/edit [ships]


I am aiming for a simple narrative driven RP where stats and number crunching aren't necessary but players can just RP their hearts out and enjoy themselves.

Advice and suggestions are welcome :)

[FreakyCheeseMan]

*Whistles*

Lot of text, but I promise I'll get through. Assembling comments as I go.

First, on presentation, you might consider breaking it up more - I'm doing a similar project, also with google docs, but am trying to assemble it through back-and-forth links. One for each faction, etc, then link them together, wikipedia-style; that way if people see a term they don't recognize, they can check it out quickly.

I'd also include a list of alien races with basic descriptions, etc. Some of that is covered in factions, but it seems like you're mostly not going with pure-race factions, so...

The timeline is very thorough, but maybe a little excessive. Also, kinda heavy on the acronyms.

Shen-Tal motivations are a little weird. As I understand it, they're trying to play other races against one another, in order to weaken everyone but themselves - but they're giving away technology, their greatest asset, in order to do so, and playing a very risky game in the process. It seems like "Nuke everyone" would be an easier fix.

You might want to create "Dumbed Down" versions of a lot of these documents- condense the timeline into a paragraph or so, just to give people a quick sense of context, etc.

I'd also suggest putting a little more work into culture. From what I've seen, you and I probably have pretty similar instincts - we look at things in terms of histories, technologies, wars, etc, all very analytic and pragmatic. If you really want other people to get interested, though, you might consider putting in a few more personal details- culture, art, details of civilian or military life.

You might include a bare-bones short story, or something - a day in the life of your universe's Spike, Mal or Shepherd. What they do to get by, what they think of politics, what dangers they have to face, what dangers actually scare them...

Anything you can do to cut back on the wall-of-textness of it all would be good... pot calling the kettle black, here, but it's true.

Alright, finished reading - I confess I may have given up and skimmed a few parts, but it's late and I'm tired. It seems like an interesting premise, and you've clearly got a very clear idea of what's going on... mostly, I'd just advise working on the presentation. Show more of the flavor of the different groups, species, etc.

EDIT: If there are any specific things you were hoping to get a reaction to, let me know, I'll read back over them more thoroughly and tell you what I think.

[Rabiddog]

FreakyCheeseMan:

On the cultures of the factions: TBH I was still working on how to do that without too much wall-o-textness as you put it lol (aptly put btw). I was going to go with the old "Show, don't tell!" method of storytelling in regards to those things.

What I mean by that is, the players are going to be experiencing the cultures of at least some of these factions first hand as they go into the story. I've been told this can be a more engaging and effective method of storytelling than say just laying it out infodump style.

Alien Races: Yep working on that too, players in the end can actually choose from the "stock" races or make one up (within reason of course) though they'd stand out much more than the average human contractor.

Timeline: That is very much a WIP at the moment, I got some good advice on that from other folks last time I posted this up for some assessment.

Shen-Tal Motives: The trick is to give away just enough of each tech to make the other races dangerous to each other on a truly "worthwhile" scale but NOT give them enough to match you.
That's really why the war lasted a thousand years despite the Shen-Tal being vastly outnumbered by the races that united against them.

As to why they didn't just "nuke everyone" long term goal was essentially keep the survivors of the wars as servant races under themselves. The Shen-Tal did not have the raw numbers necessary for their long term goal to work without pitting the other potential threats against each other. It backfired in the end but that was due to happenstance.

As to the condensced version of the timeline: That's a great idea :)

[Zireael]

I like the idea.

I'm not sure if Google Docs will work for me. Instead of back-and-forth linking, I suggest using wikidot or a similar free web service.

And a contracted timeline is a good idea.

[Rabiddog]

I like the idea.

I'm not sure if Google Docs will work for me. Instead of back-and-forth linking, I suggest using wikidot or a similar free web service.

And a contracted timeline is a good idea.

Hmmm I hadn't heard of Wikidot before I'll definately look into it :)

Yeah the timeline is WIP to get the plot with the Shan-Tal cleared up but brief as well.

[Rabiddog]

So I am stuck using google docs at the moment (at least until the weekend)

Here is a revised "full" timeline (aka the long one)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/10QgpyppsrQMNko2nXAoN5hBguNfuO9ezOLXXS5AUqL8/edit?usp=sharing

And here is the new abridged timeline:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WH4NfF1w_3L6dmExu0rZkqj99mmI4eAPStxmozv-42I/edit?usp=sharing

I changed up the plot with the Shen-tal to make more sense. The abridged timeline pretty much covers all the same stuff as the full timeline but it does it much differently so it's "dumbed down" but still has enough info to get a gist of the type of setting.

Any other advice? :)

Would the "Show don't tell" idea I have regarding culture work or do ya'll think I should still elaborate on the major cultures?

As a note I'm working up some of the species stuff too but I'm still concerned about "INFO DUMP!!!!!" style posts.

[vasharanpaladin]

*sees "United Mankind"* :smalleek:

*thinks "Crest of the Stars"* :smallbiggrin:

*it is not* :smallfrown: