Decode Diaspora
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Decode Diaspora 1 Fate Primer................. 2 9.3 Consequences............ 9 1.1 Aspects............... 2 9.4 Taken Out and Concession.... 9 1.2 Scenes................ 2 10 Wealth.................... 9 1.3 Zones ................ 2 10.1 Selling Things ........... 10 1.4 Actions ............... 3 10.2 Upkeep Period and Maintenance . 10 1.5 Table Consensus.......... 3 11 Spaceships.................. 11 2 System Generation............. 4 11.1 Stats................. 11 2.1 System Connections........ 5 11.2 V-Shift and Travel......... 12 3 Player Characters.............. 5 11.3 Overburn and Extended Travel . 12 3.1 Aspects............... 5 11.4 Ship Generation .......... 12 3.2 Compel Boxes ........... 5 11.5 Stress ................ 13 3.3 Initial skills............. 6 11.6 Stunts................ 13 4 Skills..................... 6 11.7 Space Conflict Scenes . 13 4.1 Skill List .............. 6 11.8 Repair................ 15 4.2 Assistance.............. 6 12 Gear..................... 16 5 Stunts.................... 7 6 Level Up................... 7 12.1 Non-Combat Gear......... 16 7 Personal Conflict Scenes.......... 7 12.2 Combat Gear............ 16 7.1 Defence Rolls............ 7 12.3 Personal Weaponry......... 16 7.2 Skill Usage ............. 7 12.4 Ranged Weapons.......... 16 8 Fate Point Economy............ 7 12.5 Armour............... 17 8.1 Refresh ............... 7 13 NPCs .................... 18 8.2 Compels............... 8 14 Player Advice................ 18 9 Stress, Consequences, Recovery Rolls and 15 GM Advice................. 18 being Taken Out.............. 8 16 Quick Ref.................. 20 9.1 Stress................ 8 17 Character Sheet............... 21 9.2 Recovery .............. 8 18 Ship Sheet.................. 22 Acknowledgements VSCA Publishing for Diaspora, elements used under OGL (http://www.opengamingfoundation.org/ogl.html) Evil Hat Productions for Fate Core, elements used under OGL (http://www.faterpg.com/licensing/licensing-fate- ogl/full-ogl-text/) Monte Cook Games for the Cypher System, elements used under their Fan Use Policy (http://cypher-system.com/fan- use-and-licensing/) 1 1 Fate Primer Decode Diaspora uses Fate Core as a base, with many tweaks and additions. Fate is a narrativist system which means that the mechanics are there to support creating a character-driven story, rather than to provide balanced gameplay against progressively more difficult challenges, or to accurately simulate a world (see GNS theory for more). Decode Diaspora’s rules emphasise speculative future technology and economics in order to tell a hard science fiction story, in which people struggle to survive in unforgiving space. The dice mechanic is 4dF, where F is a Fudge die with two − sides, two 0 (blank) sides and two + sides. So you’ll be rolling a result between −4 and 4 with 0 being common and ±4 rare (see here for probabilities). Zero isn’t a very high number, but it’s the target number for any action that isn’t opposed nor particularly difficult. You won’t be rolling unless both your success and your failure can lead to an interesting story. More on that in GM Advice below. You add modifiers to your dice value. The usual modifiers are: Effort, Edge, Stunts and Aspects. Your Effort and Edge come from the Skill the GM (and the table) agrees the roll relates to, e.g. the Close Combat skill for knocking out the sec enforcer before he comms for backup. Edge is free (you paid for it at character creation), Effort is going to cost you something (see Skills below for more). Stunts give bonuses in certain circumstances (see Stunts below). Aspects may be Invoked at the cost of a Fate Point, or they may have Free Invokes that may be used once to give +2. In special circumstances other modifiers may be used (such as spaceship stats) or assigned at the discretion of the GM/Table. This "roll plus modifiers" mechanic is used for every circumstance in the game. The rest of this ruleset elaborates on what modifiers are applied in what circumstances and how to interpret the results. 1.1 Aspects Aspects are phrases that describe the most important details about characters, objects and locations. Using phrases instead of numerical statistics allows different interpretations to arise. This is desirable as using (Invoking or Com- pelling) an Aspect is a major part of play. When an Aspect is Invoked or Compelled it must be narratively justified how it causes the described effect. As such evocative Aspects are more useful (and fun!) than descrip- tive ones. Usually Invoking costs a Fate Point for +2 to a roll or a reroll. A Compel uses an Aspect to justify some exceptional narrative event occurring, and also usually costs a Fate Point. Aspects may have Free Invokes placed on them, in which case using them does not cost a Fate Point. There are several subtypes of Aspect. Boosts are one-use Free Invokes. Your own character Aspects can only be Invoked for rerolls, you can use other players’ character’s Aspects for +2 though. Consequences are entirely-negative Aspects that are the result of damage. A single roll can only use one kind of Aspect once, i.e. one character Aspect, one environment Aspect, one gear Aspect, etc. Free Invokes can always be stacked, however. 1.2 Scenes A scene is the foundational unit of game time, in which the player characters are attempting to achieve some goal. 1.3 Zones When it matters enough to draw the positioning in a Scene, space is modelled abstractly. Space is separated into Zones, which can be traversed (sometimes only if an obstacle is overcome). Two people in the same Zone are eyeball-to-eyeball, an adjacent zone you could lunge out and touch them, further away it is less concrete. 2 1.4 Actions Mechanically, all character actions are interpreted as one of the following Actions. Each Action has four potential outcomes, depending on whether the roll plus modifiers is less than, equal to, greater than or much greater than a Target Number set by the Game Master. Succeed with Style: beat TN with +3 to spare Succeed: beat TN Tie: same TN Fail: less than TN Overcome Defend Used to get past physical, emotional, intellectual, fiscal Used when actively trying to prevent another character’s obstacles in your character’s path Attack or Create an Advantage action SwS: achieve your goal, get a boost You roll for Defend once and use the same roll until you S: achieve your goal take an action. T: achieve your goal, at a minor cost SwS: no damage/aspect, get boost F: player’s choice: achieve goal at S: no damage/aspect great cost or fail T: see Attack or CaA (enemy gets boost) F: take damage/aspect Create an Advantage Used to create new environmental aspects or to improve existing ones Counterattack For already-existing aspects ignore the "create aspect" Used when attempting to reverse an Attack action against bit, just add the free invokes your character SwS: aspect created with 2 free invokes GM Note: End conflicts quickly, and dramatically S: aspect created with a free invoke SwS: as attack T: you get a boost instead of an as- S: as attack pect T: take damage x2 F: player’s choice: fail to create as- F: take damage x2, enemy gets pect or you create it but the EN- boost EMY gets a free invoke Attack Purchase Used to inflict Stress, Consequences and Take Out an- Used when attempting to acquire an item or service (see other character see Wealth below) SwS: do damage, optionally reduce by SwS: get item with an additional stunt 2 to get boost or aspect with free invoke on it S: do damage OR heal a wealth stress box T: get a boost S: get item, get boost related to F: no damage, see Defend and item Counterattack (as enemy suc- T: get item ceeds in one of those) F: get item, take wealth stress Move In general a PC can move a Zone and make another action, or they can Move twice. Moving through obstacles may require an Overcome roll. Only matters in time-critical scenes, e.g. combat. 1.5 Table Consensus If at any point a ruling or narrative detail is in doubt (commonly the validity of a Compel) each player including the GM (the table) votes, and what the table votes is fact. Ties are broken by the GM. 3 2 System Generation Each player (including the GM) has two star systems to create. Each player names and determines the attributes for their systems. Giving systems names so that each has unique initials is convenient. Systems have three attributes, each graded on a scale from -4 to 4: Technology, Environment and Resources. Technology Environment Resources 4 On the verge of collapse Many garden worlds All you could want 3 FTL mastery Some garden worlds Multiple exports 2 FTL use One garden and several survivable worlds One significant export 1 Exploiting the system One garden and several hostile environments Rich 0 Exploring the system One garden world (and perhaps additional barren worlds) Sustainable -1 Atomic power Survivable world Almost viable -2 Industrialization Hostile environment (gravity but dangerous atmosphere) Needs imports -3 Metallurgy Barren world (gravity, no atmosphere) Multiple dependencies -4 Stone age No habitable worlds at all No resources Tech Levels are mostly self-explanatory, except for T4. This is the point at which a civilisation is surpassing our current understanding of the universe to the point that we would no longer consider what they are capa- FTL ble ’hard’ sci fi. But, as we are primarily interested in The gist of FTL is that its limited to two points 5 As- hard sci fi stories, we also stipulate that at that level of tronomical Units (AUs) above and below the barycen- technology a civilisation is about to disappear.