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DISCLAIMER: This PDF is not intended for distribution. I do not own any of the images contained herein, nor do I have the artist's permission to use them. This system uses the same mechanics, with little alteration, as the Stars Without Number tabletop role playing game by Sine Nomine Publishing, whom I have not obtained any permission of any variety from. I have not been in communication with any artist or any publishing organization in relation to the production of this PDF. The information contained in this document is for experimental purposes among a shared group of collaborators, and any distributors of this document are responsible for any infringements they incur. If you recognize any of the art contained herein as your intellectual property, please contact me at [email protected]. Any one else with questions about this game system can also e-mail me via that address. edit this fucker when done TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction .........................................................................................................................4 Character Creation ..............................................................................................................6 Equipment ...........................................................................................................................24 Mad Science .........................................................................................................................?? Sorcery .................................................................................................................................?? Systems ................................................................................................................................?? Game Master’s Guide .........................................................................................................?? Nation Generation .............................................................................................................?? Factions ................................................................................................................................?? Adventure Creation ...........................................................................................................?? Bestiary ...............................................................................................................................?? Designer’s Notes .................................................................................................................?? Game Master Resources ....................................................................................................?? Index .....................................................................................................................................?? Record Sheets ......................................................................................................................?? The Industrial Revolution is giving way to colonialism and New and revolutionary political ideologies are taking the world globalization, and it is the turn of the century! by a storm. Anarchists and communists talk to each other in hushed circle at midnight in clandestine coffee shops. Great Radio and the telegraph allow people to communicate faster industrial autocracies hold millions in their thrall with than ever before, allowing news to travel at unheard of rates nationalism and age-old kingdoms crumble under the weight of and for militaries to expand further. Morse code is developed. the people, ushering in democracy. Two two ideologies - the and messages are encrypted with the first cryptographic liberal and the national - begin to clash. Tensions rise in algorithms. Strange analytical machines are developed, with a economics as capitalism is threatened by the birth of the promise of a brighter future. Man has begun to look up at the Socialist. Some countries thrive on this new system, happily stars at night, in earnest now, and imagine the worlds that adopting whatever ideology suits them best, while other might circle alien stars, or the strange beast that might walk nations buckle beneath the strain. on Mars. Elaborate scientific fictions permeate literature. New diseases take hold as well, and the masses of people drawn Homes and streets shrug off a gaslight infrastructure and to industrialized cities spread plagues like influenza. Papers welcome the great electric light with open arms. The movie publish articles about Germs and the Invisible Menace. industry makes a splash, with silent black-and-white skits Superdreadnoughts tread the seas and vast zeppelins take to being shown in the new movie-theatres that spring up all over the sky, casting shadows across city blocks below. Brave flight the place. pioneers tackle heavier-than-air flight, and a new field rises as aeroplanes soar overhead. However, some nations are left behind, and the great industrial powers of the day absorb them into their bloated Nations have more exploitable resources than ever before in imperial mass. Exotic foreign spices and cloths come in from history. Their politics, ideologies, and territory lines clash. colonies, and the natural resources are drawn in to support the This new situation, combined with old grudges and politics, ever-expanding infrastructure. lay the foundation upon which tensions rise... XFMDPNF!UP!UIF!UVSO!PG!UIF!DFOUVSZ Welcome to this attempt to adapt the Stars Without boss strats, pen and paper RPGs might appeal. Your Number system for a different setting without the consent characters are limited only by their natural abilities and your of the original authors. Here, you can be intrepid explorers imagination, and you can interact with the environment and in an exotic colony, or a team of spies in the enemy courts, other characters in ways that no computer could ever handle. or rogue airship pirates, or desperate survivors of horrible, horrible trench warfare. A Stars Without Number fan? Not everyone in the early nineteeth century is cut out for such a If you’ve been playing RPGs long enough, you’ll readily life. The vast majority of humanity is content to live out their recognize much of this book. This book is a direct adaptation of lives in their own nations, making the best they can of what the SWN system for a new setting. All credit for the systems fate has given them. involved to to Sine Nomine publishing, as they were the ones that did the real work here. New to Role Playing Games? If you’re unfamiliar with role playing games, this book may not This game is would be compatible with several early-edition make a lot of sense. It’s not a coventional science fiction story RPGs, except for the fact that I completely redid the and it seems to have a lot of rules and tables in it. In reality, attributes, so you'll have to wing it. Characters and game you’re probably more familiar with it than you might imagine. material can be sometimes ported back and forth from these games. One of the largest deviations is in the skill system A role playing game, or “RPG”, is simply a game intended to provided in this game, though the Systems section of the book allow you to take the role of a character in a fictional covers ways to reduce or eliminate the role of skills. A universe. You use your abilities and your natural wits to deal DIESELCRAFT character can usually be dropped into most old- with the challenges of that world, working to attain your own school content without more than a cosmetic tweak of their goals and accomplish those ends that seem most fun and saving throw category names. rewarding for you. In addition to the usual elements expected of a retro-inspired RPGs like this one date back to the 1970s, and were the game, DIESELCRAFT also includes mechanics for developing fundamental inspiration behind today’s enormously popular player-controlled factions and domains and creating massively multiplayer online role playing games. Millions of sandbox-friendly worlds for PCs to discover. A grognard people play RPGs on a daily basis, though usually in the form interested in seeing where this particular game differs from of a computer-moderated online game. A “pen-and-paper other offerings currently available should skim through the RPG” like this one cuts out the server and puts a human in its the GM’s Guide chapter to get an overview of sector creation, place. Th is human is the game master, or GM. He or she designs and then look in particular at world Generation and the the situations the adventurers might fi nd themselves in and Adventure chapters. The Resources section might prove judges the actions they take to deal with these circumstances. useful for other games and settings, as much of the content there is system-neutral. If you’ve ever been playing an MMORPG and wished you could do more in the world than hit your cooldown buttons and work on your Gaming Terminology #d# Dice. “3d6” means, “roll a six-sided die three times and add it together”. Also seen as “2d12+2”, meaning “roll the twelve-sided die twice, total it, and then add two to the total”. GM Game Master; the person responsible for running the game and responding to player choices. NPC Non-Player Character; a character played by the GM, whether an antagonist or otherwise. PC Player Character; a character played by one of the game’s players. The PCs are the protagonists of the game. Before you can begin playing DIESELCRAFT, you need to roll up a In actual play, your character should be motivated to act, and character. While the game can