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[vishdafish]

I can only imagine the shock of the survivors when they meet the "completely safe and harmless" life forms.

[Ardent Debater]

The moon idea sounds pretty good, although it would limit the options you could do in the game. Night raids would be impossible, and humans would excel slightly too much in a brighter environment (guns are far easier to aim in a bright night, and humans wont have to pay as much caution when they sleep/camp cos its far easier to see potential threats. Although very perceptive and intelligent predators would try to keep out of sight, I can't think of a feasible way that animals could ambush humans in a bright night, unless they are in a densely forested area.)

As for life on the planet before the ship landed, I think it would make the game a LOT more exciting and challenging, if they have to face native threats and stuff.

Right, right... But I think the double moon idea is very interesting, although bright nights would limit things somewhat... What if the moons had separate cycles that occasionally intersected? For example, one moon might be a crescent while the other is at a new moon, and their cycles are at different speeds, and when both moons are full it's an extremely rare, once or twice a lifetime event? The moons don't necessarily have to be as large as our moon, maybe they're smaller and only provide as much light as our moon normally... I don't know, but I think it's an interesting concept all the same. What if the day/night cycle wasn't just 24 hours like it is on Earth?

What if some of the debris from The Vessel still orbits just above Orius Major's atmosphere, and is visible to Survivors on the surface? Sort of like a high-tech Asteroid Field, maybe with a few barely functional, possibly insane AIs operating it's shattered systems. Maybe they're delusional, believe that they are Gods and send Mechanical "Angels" Planet-side to perform "Miracles" to convert the ignorant Populace to their worship, and hate each other, with the only thing keeping them in check is mutually assured destruction if one directly interferes with the "Mortals". That's an interesting idea. Perhaps they compete with Anti-Technology Human Religions, Cults worshiping the Ancients as Gods, and Nature obsessed, (sun worship, moon worship, planet worship, etc.) Religious movements? Imagine all of the Fanatical Seekers trying to develop a way to reach the debris!

As for life on the planet before the ship landed, I think it would make the game a LOT more exciting and challenging, if they have to face native threats and stuff.

The planet already having life could even be the reason for such a long journey.  Alternatively a "perfectly well functioning" transforming drone could have been sent ahead to seed the planet with "completely safe and harmless" life forms.

What if Orius Major already had primitive, (moss, fungi, and lichens are the peak of evolution) life, and an advanced Bio-Research Drone was sent to catalog them and bring samples back to Earth, but then a disaster, a solar-flare, perhaps, broke off the Drone's communications with Earth. On Earth, they assumed The Drone was disabled somehow and forgot about it. The Drone, alone for several hundred years on a foreign Planet, decided to use it's Tools to create an Earth-like Ecosystem, and over time, a somewhat Earth-like Environment was created, but, being the product of a Machine and not Nature, is much more efficient and lethal. For example: Instead of Foxes, perhaps The Drone decided to fill their niche with Spiky,(think a hedgehog) hyper perceptive, compound eyed Ferrets with cat-like agility? Or instead of Eagles, The Drone decided that Dog-sized Flying Mantis Swarms were better? The possibilities are endless! What if The Drone also had a God-complex and believed it was a Nature Deity of some kind?

And all of The Drone's Genetically Optimized creatures are coexisting with the surviving Genetically Engineered Vessel Animals that were engineered to be ideal for life on a Ship, (pigs that grow fatter and need less food, docile giant spiders that can be harvested for workable amounts of spider-silk, etc.) and the horrendously deformed Mutants descended from the surviving Creatures and Humans that escaped the Nuclear Reactor's Meltdown!

Now, why was The Ship sent to colonize the Planet? I was thinking that maybe The Earth was Polluted and becoming uninhabitable due to severe overpopulation and resource-scarcity, so Humanity decided to build a few dozen Ark-Ships to explore the Cosmos and try to colonize a Habitable Planet as quickly as possible, to avoid extinction? And maybe The Vessel was the only Ark-Ship to survive...

[Skynet]

I vote that we call the Ship destroying disaster, The Reckoning, maybe it had to do with a severe nuclear meltdown and an AI Revolt, that only some Humans managed to survive as the ship crash-landed? The AI Revolt and nuclear meltdown would fuel a lot of superstition and fear towards Technology, and the nuclear meltdown might've mutated many of the Living creatures to escape the crash-site. What if some of the Hostile AI were still around and trying to conquer the Wasteland, but were kept in check by the lack of infrastructure and heavy opposition?

I'll lay claim to Lawgivers of the Wasteland, the human lackeys of the so-called "AI Revolt" (and, if the GM wills, maybe some AI allies as well).

The 'ancestors' built the AIs with the singular purpose of ruling Ortus Vitae Novae and managing it. While the ancestors lived a life of decadence, the AI followed its programming of protecting humanity and helping it prosper technologically. However, its programming meant that it will protect humanity from itself. At first, the AI's manipulations were covert, and so long as the bread and circuses were provided, the ancestors paid no heed. There was no poverty, no war, no violence, under the AI reign. However, as humans got closer and closer to their new planet, the humans began to resent to their machine overlords. From the Lawgivers' point of view, there was no such thing as an "AI Revolt"...just riots by humans that needed to be brutally suppressed for the greater good. According to the Lawgivers' records, it was one of these human rioters that caused the 'nuclear meltdown' (though whether that's actually true, or a coverup by the AIs is still subject to debate).

The Lawgivers aren't evil. They aren't malicious. They strongly support humanity and can be considered "friendly". The problem is that even a "Friendly AI" can still be hostile towards 'criminals'.

[VoidSlayer]

Could you PM me the rulebook stuff?

The playbooks are free on RPG drive through, let me look for a link directly to the page.  I can also copy your playbook in to a PM if you want.

Playbooks and other reference guides.

[Ardent Debater]

I vote that we call the Ship destroying disaster, The Reckoning, maybe it had to do with a severe nuclear meltdown and an AI Revolt, that only some Humans managed to survive as the ship crash-landed? The AI Revolt and nuclear meltdown would fuel a lot of superstition and fear towards Technology, and the nuclear meltdown might've mutated many of the Living creatures to escape the crash-site. What if some of the Hostile AI were still around and trying to conquer the Wasteland, but were kept in check by the lack of infrastructure and heavy opposition?

I'll lay claim to Lawgivers of the Wasteland, the human lackeys of the so-called "AI Revolt" (and, if the GM wills, maybe some AI allies as well).

The 'ancestors' built the AIs with the singular purpose of ruling Ortus Vitae Novae and managing it. While the ancestors lived a life of decadence, the AI followed its programming of protecting humanity and helping it prosper technologically. However, its programming meant that it will protect humanity from itself. At first, the AI's manipulations were covert, and so long as the bread and circuses were provided, the ancestors paid no heed. There was no poverty, no war, no violence, under the AI reign. However, as humans got closer and closer to their new planet, the humans began to resent to their machine overlords. From the Lawgivers' point of view, there was no such thing as an "AI Revolt"...just riots by humans that needed to be brutally suppressed for the greater good. According to the Lawgivers' records, it was one of these human rioters that caused the 'nuclear meltdown' (though whether that's actually true, or a coverup by the AIs is still subject to debate).

The Lawgivers aren't evil. They aren't malicious. They strongly support humanity and can be considered "friendly". The problem is that even a "Friendly AI" can still be hostile towards 'criminals'.

Interesting... What if AIs occasionally conflicted over Humanity's importance? Say, one AI feels that Humans must be protected,(forcibly governed under a technocratic AI dictatorship) another believes that they hinder the AI and all,(or at least some) must be terminated with extreme prejudice, or at least enslaved to serve the AI, and another AI sees them as irrelevant and simply ignores them until they interfere with it's goals, and another believes itself to be a deity and wants Humans to worship it? I think that the AIs following different, potentially conflicting logic systems would add a lot of depth to the setting.

[Skynet]

Interesting... What if AIs occasionally conflicted over Humanity's importance? Say, one AI feels that Humans must be protected,(forcibly governed under a technocratic AI dictatorship) another believes that they hinder the AI and all,(or at least some) must be terminated with extreme prejudice, or at least enslaved to serve the AI, and another AI sees them as irrelevant and simply ignores them until they interfere with it's goals, and another believes itself to be a deity and wants Humans to worship it? I think that the AIs following different, potentially conflicting logic systems would add a lot of depth to the setting.

It certainly would. I'm internally debating on how the (human) Lawgivers would handle the conflicts between different AIs. Would they only favor certain AIs (presumably the ones that support human survival in some manner)? Or would they obey all AIs, even if their orders are mutually contradictory? (I haven't decided yet on what the Lawgivers' approach would be...or if the Lawgivers had already made a choice by the time the game starts.)

[VoidSlayer]

So we have AI protectors/friends/overlords of questionable morality and genetically engineered life forms of various utility and danger, both on the ship and the planet.

Any other major technologies that should be omnipresent (there will be other tech that might be more advanced, just not super common).

The ship was not small by any means, whole mountain ranges could be larger pieces of debris, now filled with mad AI drones and hostile wildlife.  I will try and get a local map of the main crash site up soon we can play with.

vishdafish

Spoiler: ThE TYRANT KINGS (click to show/hide)

ThE TYRANT KINGS

The old world was weak. Their great workings made them soft,  inflexible, unable to adapt. It’s time for a new way of doing things, a new world order for a new world. The Tyrant Kings use Grasp to control their vassal states and to wage war on their enemies.

Creating the Tyrants

To create your Tyrants, choose a name, stats, doctrine, lifestyle, history and moves.

Stats Choose one:

Reach -1, Grasp 2, Mood -1, Tech 0   if they burn and pillage their way through the world.

Reach 0, Grasp 1, Mood -1, Tech 0 if they give limited freedoms to their conquered vassals.

doctrine

Choose one:

The New Imperium: When your Family brings another group under their dominion, they gain Surplus: recruits or Surplus: morale.

Chaos Reigns: Your Family are masters of destruction and can reliably sneak saboteurs and arsonists into any location.

Together Against the World: When your Family fights to rescue or avenge a Family member, take +1 to Grasp.

Lifestyle

Choose one: Nomadic: Your Family is an always-marching army, and will never be caught unarmed.

Dispersed: Your Family are masters at working in enemy territory, and members always have at least one weapon concealed.

Settled: Though your Family is established, they remain ever vigilant; guard patrols will tell you if anything hostile crosses the borders.

history

Pick two Surpluses: ✛✛ Weaponry ✛✛ Transport ✛✛ Slaves ✛✛ Land ✛ Leadership

Pick three Needs: ✛✛ Avarice ✛✛ Medicine ✛✛ Recruits ✛✛ Culture ✛ Contacts

Then, look at the other Families. Nobody can afford to ignore you. Gain 1-Treaty on all of them.

Someone’s a threat even to the Tyrants, and you worry about them. They take 2-Treaty on your Family.

Traditions

Populace: conscripted soldiers marching on an endless war, vassal  villages giving tribute and warriors, family of veterans that survived the Fall together, something else.

Style: ordered and well-drilled precision, barbaric brutality with leathers and spikes, masks/helmets decorated according to rank, something else.

Governance: Rule of the strongest fighting off regular challengers,  zealous conqueror and her advisors, battle companies sitting in council,  something else.


Alliance move

When you give another Family a position of power in your empire’s hierarchy, gain 1-Treaty on them.

Tyrant moves

Pick two moves:

Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned: Choose what gives your Family a ferocious edge in battle:

✛✛ A huge, bristling cornucopia of weaponry.
✛✛ A few ill-tempered but devastating relics of the Fall.
✛ A feral, barely-restrained killing instinct.

Start with 3-Arsenal. When you go all-out on an enemy, you may spend 1-Arsenal to:

✛✛ Dismay and overwhelm your foes.
✛✛ Drastically alter the battlefield or your place in it.
✛ Leave the battlefield in whatever direction you wish.

 At the start of a new Age, reset to 3-Arsenal.

Conscription: With access to a large group of people and financial, emotional or brutal leverage over them your Family can gain Surplus: recruits but choose one:
✛✛ The conscripts chafe under your Family’s rule and are plotting a rebellion.
✛✛ They’re green and will likely break in the next major battle.
✛✛ They’ll only fight for you so long as they have faith in your promises.

Dominion: When your Family takes over a settlement, roll +Grasp. On a 10+ pick 2, on 7-9 pick 1:

✛✛ The heads of the settlement conspire with the Tyrants to keep the people peaceful and cooperative.
✛✛ They uneasily send tribute. Gain 2 Tech.
✛ Your Family puts fear into their neighbours; take +1 ongoing to Reach against them for this Age.

Lords of War: When you bring together all your armies and march to battle against a stated target take +1 ongoing to Claim by Force so long as you stay together, but if you give up without conquering your target gain Need: leadership.

Tyranny: When your Family makes an example out of a dissenter, a defeated foe or a useless minion, hold 1. Spend hold 1-for-1 to force a Family member or a resident of a conquered settlement to:

✛✛ Perform a task for you, no matter the risk.
✛✛ Give up a secret they’d rather you not hear.
✛✛ Give up all their possessions.

Gear Characters from this Family can start with any of the following:

✛✛ Pragmatic, tattered or striking clothing.
✛✛ Fearsome, intimidating weaponry (melee or ranged, brutal).
✛✛ A small gang of scarred minions (Follower Quality +1, Expertise: intimidation and extortion).
✛✛ A case of luxury food and drink, liberated from a recent acquisition.
✛✛ Transport for you and your gang.
 

Here is the family playbook for the Tyrants.  Surpluses are benefits you can use or exhaust to benefit.  They may regenerate soon or at the end of an age depending on how you spend them.  Needs are bad things that are happening to your family, you subtract needs from surplus to get your family mood.  Going above 3 mood is really good!  Going below 3 is really bad.

Moves work like most pbta games, dice rolls or strait actions, generally this is semi freeform role playing, say what you or the family does and I (or you if it is obvious) can tell if it triggers a move.  Much of the game is contextual and driven by the fiction.  When does The New Imperium trigger?  When you bring a settlement under your dominion, we can establish what that means in the fiction.

Reach is your family's ability to influence other actors in the world, grasp is your ability to hold and take from others, mood is how your family stays together or drifts apart, and tech allows you to build weird shit, alter rolls with amazing ancient powers, heal and such.  Tech is the "currency" of families, but it is so valuable it would be rarely traded.

Generally if you are using surpluses and tech to alter the fiction you should give some sort of plausible explanation about how it is being used.  See the family moves for details.

Treaty is how families view each other, a complex network of debts and obligations.  You can help or hinder other families and actors in the world, demand things from them and such.

Gear?  A tyrant character can always have a small gang of dangerous dudes, badass weapons and a nice ride.  Your character is an important figure in the family, if not the leader.

Any questions?  I can post the other playbooks but they take a bit of formatting.  All this info is available in the free pdf downloads under family playbooks.

[VoidSlayer]

I do not see any way to mail a pdf.

Btw if two people do end up wanting the same playbook I do not see why not, as long as we do not end up with 5 merchant houses.  Actually that... lol no.

[VoidSlayer]

Ardent Debater

Spoiler: ThE SERvANTS OF ThE ONE TRuE FAITh (click to show/hide)

ThE SERvANTS OF ThE ONE TRuE FAITh

Some say that we are forsaken, cursed, cast into damnation for our hubris and our sins. We know better. This is no eternal torment but a refining fire, stripping away everything we don’t need to create a better, holier world. The Servants of the One True Faith use Grasp to keep a firm hold on their congregation and to fulfil the doctrines of their faith.

Creating the Servants

To create your Servants, choose a name, stats, doctrine, lifestyle, history and moves.

Stats

Choose one:

Reach -1, Grasp 2, Mood -1, Tech 0 if they keep themselves pure and distant from the fallen wretches.
Reach 0, Grasp 1, Mood -1, Tech 0 if they deign to aid the unrighteous with acts of charity.

doctrine

Choose one:

The Faith is Mother, the Faith is Father: The bonds of faith between  you are more than natural. When Family members are in deep  distress, other members somehow know.

The Canticle of Illumination: When you enter a hostile community, you will not be harmed so long as you provide some aid.

The Cleansing Fires of Purity: When you fight the horrors of the Fall, the wounds you inflict will never heal.

Lifestyle

Choose one:

Nomadic: When you display your faith in a new settlement, some locals will join you.

Dispersed: The faith has been spread far, and you’ll always find lodging and food with other faithful in a settlement.

Settled: Your Family can erase any Surplus to erase Need: recruits by going on a conversion drive.

history

Pick two Surpluses: ✛✛ Culture ✛✛ Leadership ✛✛ Medicine ✛✛ Peace ✛ Recruits
Pick three Needs: ✛✛ Land ✛✛ Trade ✛✛ Medicine ✛✛ Progress ✛ Barter Goods

Then, judge each other Family:

Righteous: Say what they did to win you over and give them 1-Treaty.

Corrupt: Take 1-Treaty on them, and they say what happened to make your Family condemn them.

Traditions

Populace: Secluded monastic community, evangelistic cult full of  zealous converts, disparate survivors of an unimaginable calamity,  something else.

Style: Outlandish and impractical ceremonial wear, plain homespun robes, conspicuous symbols of prosperity and devotion, something else.

Governance: acolytes interpreting the utterances of an oracle, dogmatic  adherence to a holy text, many shepherds guiding many flocks,  something else.

Alliance move

When you publicly condemn another group for their sins, hold 1.  Publicly absolve them of those same sins and spend that hold to gain 1-Treaty on them.

Servant moves

Take Faith of the Fallen and one other:

Faith of the Fallen: Your Family has a faith they cling to more ardently than life. Choose one tenet:

✛✛ The restoration and healing of humanity.
✛✛ The protection of the unfortunate.
✛✛ The renunciation of the Before.
✛✛ The attainment of godhood through transformative power.
✛ Travel to a pristine and unspoiled land.

When your Family gains something that furthers their tenet, hold 1. When an emissary of your Family – including your Character – draws on this vision of future perfection, spend 1 hold to:

✛✛ Gain an insight towards your current goal.
✛✛ Ignore all Needs for one move.
✛✛ Plant the seeds of your faith in the mind of another.

Sacrifice: When you whip your Family into a frenzy then send them into battle, you can gain Need: recruits, Need: medicine and/or Need: leadership. For each you take, choose one:

✛✛ Darkness will cloud your enemies’ eyes, allowing you to take them by surprise.
✛✛ One chosen champion of your Family will be unharmed by the foe’s attacks.
✛ The site of the battle will be marked and forever stand as a testament to your righteousness.

A Voice in the Wilderness: When your Family condemns a powerful figure or organisation in a public place roll +Grasp. On a 7-9, choose one; on a 10+ choose two.

✛✛ They may be angry, but you’ll suffer no reprisals.
✛✛ You receive grateful donations; gain Surplus: barter goods.
✛✛ The crowd delivers a representative of your foe to you.
✛ The audience riots, forcing your enemy into retreat.

Prophecy from Pain: When you roll a 10+ on Hold Together someone  in your Family receives a vision of how you might reach future  prosperity. Take +1 forward when acting on it.

Ecumenical Eye: When your Family Reads the Wind to learn of another faith, you always learn the details of their beliefs no matter what you roll.

Gear

Characters from this Family can start with as many as they like of the following:

✛✛ Religious vestments.
✛✛ Ritualistic or ceremonial weapons (melee, inconspicuous).
✛✛ A small holy book and religious symbol.
✛✛ Simple, bland but nutritious rations.
✛✛ An acolyte under instruction in the faith (Follower Quality +1, Expertise: theology and minor rites).

[VoidSlayer]

Skynet

Spoiler: ThE LAwGIvERS OF ThE wASTELANd (click to show/hide)

ThE LAwGIvERS OF ThE wASTELANd

Humanity is hurt, bleeding. The land cries out for justice. If there’s no-one around to keep people on the straight and narrow and uphold the law, you’ll just have to step up and take the law into your own hands. The Lawgivers of the Wastelands use Reach to track down their targets, and Grasp to bring them in.

Creating the Lawgivers

To create your Lawgivers, choose a name, stats, doctrine, lifestyle,  history and moves.

Stats

Choose one:

Reach 1, Grasp 0, Mood -1, Tech 0 if they use favours and allies to bring down their foes.

Reach 0, Grasp 1, Mood -1, Tech 0 if it’s a loose band of solitary judges and executioners.

doctrine

Choose one:

Hired Guns: When you accept a job to take down a target, your Family gains a temporary Surplus in trade goods, gossip or reconnaissance for the job’s duration.

Righteous Vigilantes: When you come to a scene of violence, you can ask the GM one question about the victim or the attacker.

Bounty Hunters: When you drag a criminal back to a settlement, your Family gets +1  Reach there for the next month.

Lifestyle

Choose one:

Nomadic: When your Family moves on from a settlement where they laid down the law, name one thing that settlement will now always (or never) do.

Dispersed: When your Family spreads word someone’s Wanted, they’ll find no shelter in allied towns.

Settled: Your Family is known as the local law and your judgements in all matters are respected.

history

Pick two Surpluses: ✛✛ Weaponry ✛✛ Transport ✛✛ Leadership ✛✛ Defences ✛ Reconnaissance
Pick three Needs: ✛✛ Obligation ✛✛ Medicine ✛✛ Recruits ✛✛ Camaraderie ✛ Trade

Then, look at the other Families. Your Family’s pursuit of justice steps on toes and ruffles feathers.

Give everyone else 1-Treaty.

Your Family took down a band of raiders and saved a Family from extinction. Take 2-Treaty on them.

Traditions

Populace: gathering of the wronged and vengeful, far-removed descendants of cops and soldiers, corrupt syndicate dabbling in protection and extortion, something else.

Style: bristling weapons and barely-contained violence, simple uniforms and hidden blades, cheerful colours and makeshift munitions, something else.

Governance: lone vigilantes calling in for support when needed,  complex legal codes overseen by elderly judges, hierarchy of respect from legbreakers to godfathers, something else.

Alliance move

When you bring another group’s hated foe to justice, your Family gains 1-Treaty on them.

Lawgiver moves

Take Laying Down the Law and one other:

Laying Down the Law:

Everything you do is motivated by a strict moral code, passed down through the Family.

Who always deserves protection? Your Family and Character take +1 while protecting them.

Options: The sick, the poor, the young, the weak, the old, particular race, particular gender, particular faith, doctors, teachers, slaves, etc.

Who always deserves your justice? Your Family and Character take +1 while pursuing them.

Options: The rich, the strong, murderers, thieves, slavers, cheats, bigots, imperialists, hoarders, etc.

What does your Family’s code prevent you from doing in the name of justice?

Your Family and Character take -1 ongoing if you go further, until the GM thinks you’ve made amends. Options: theft, beatings, kidnapping, extortion, murder, betrayal, etc

Ear to the Ground: When your Family goes into a community looking for information on a target, roll +Reach. On a 7-9 learn 1, on a 10+ learn 3. Tell us how you find this out.

✛✛ Where to find their lair.
✛✛ Who their allies are.
✛✛ How dangerous their gang is.
✛ What they’re planning.

This is a Civilised Land: Your Family has claimed a territory as theirs, and so long as they patrol it and keep its citizens safe they’ll know  through rumours and whispers when someone breaks their laws.  Additionally, its people will gradually start behaving according to their principles over time.

Round Up the Posse: When you brandish your Family’s authority in a non-hostile land you can recruit a gang of locals to fight at your side and take someone down. So long as you work towards bringing that target to justice you can use them as a group of Followers (Quality +1, Expertise: vigilante justice), and when they fight alongside you they reduce the harm you take by 1.

Tooled Up and Looking for Trouble: When you arm up your Family and move out en masse to bring justice to your quarry, you may exhaust up to 3 Surpluses to gain hold, 1 for 1. While you hunt, you may spend 1 hold to:

✛✛ Take out a specified target immediately.
✛✛ Negate an incoming attack.
✛✛ Force your foes out into the open.
✛✛ Bring out reinforcements.

Gear

Characters from this Family can start with as many as they like of the following:

✛✛ A battered leather coat.
✛✛ Weapons used to capture and subdue (melee or ranged, nonlethal).
✛✛ An obvious symbol of authority.
✛✛ A sturdy and reliable method of transport (vehicle or animal)
✛✛ Trail rations.

[VoidSlayer]

Also do not ask about the capitalization on the titles it is strait out of the book.

[VoidSlayer]

The Moonlit Shadow

DontBanTheMan

Here are the remaining two playbooks, if you wanted to play one of the other ones we can work that out as well.

Spoiler: ThE GILdEd COmpANY OF mERChANTS (click to show/hide)

ThE GILdEd COmpANY OF mERChANTS

Fire fell from the heavens, the seas boiled, and the very laws of  reality were torn apart. Through all this tumult, though, one thing  has stayed true: people need things, and someone has to sell the things to the people.

The Gilded Company of Merchants uses Reach to get buyers for their produce and to understand the true worth of the things they encounter.

Creating a Company

To create your Company, choose a name, stats, doctrine, lifestyle,  history and moves.

Stats

Choose one: Reach 2, Grasp -1, Mood -1, Tech 0 if they grease palms and shower friends with gifts.

Reach 1, Grasp 0, Mood -1, Tech 0 if they’re canny operators with a shrewd eye on the budget.

doctrine

Choose one:

Traders in Stories and Song: When your Family puts on a  performance in a new location, they take +1 forward in dealing with  that community.

Cutthroat Extortionists: When a customer wants your goods but can’t afford them, your Family can convince them to perform any favour as payment instead.

Men of Wealth and Taste: When your Family gains a luxurious or extravagant Surplus, they take +1 forward.

Lifestyle

Choose one:

Nomadic: When your Family comes to a new area, tell the group what hidden resource brought you here.

Dispersed: The transport of goods and messages between  settlements is another Stock in Trade for your Family.

Settled: Everyone who carries something valuable to your  settlement will bring it to your Family first.

history

Pick two Surpluses: ✛✛ Barter Goods ✛✛ Contacts ✛✛ Recruits ✛✛ Camaraderie ✛ Culture
Pick three Needs: ✛✛ Justice ✛✛ Weaponry ✛✛ Medicine ✛✛ Reconnaissance ✛ Leadership

Then, look at the other Families. Everyone, like it or not, has to trade with your Company. Take 1-Treaty on all the other Families.

One of them came to your rescue when a deal went way south. They take 2-Treaty on you.

Traditions

Populace: loose confederacy of traders, aristocrats living off their pre-Fall heirlooms, enthusiastic but eccentric collectors, something else.

Style: Luxurious silks and furs, elegant but hardy trail wear, packs and pockets bulging with curios, something else.

Governance: Decadent merchant-princes and their indentured servants, an open market of favours and votes, independent trade under a strictly enforced charter, something else.

Alliance move

When you make another group part of your trading operation  (suppliers, distributors or vendors) gain 1-Treaty on them.

Company moves

Take Stock in Trade and one other:

Stock in Trade: Your Family has a particular product range they trade in, and you can expect to have those wares around unless your Family is deeply in need and Mood is at -3. Choose one, two, or three.

✛✛ Arms and ammunition.
✛✛ Art, music and culture.
✛✛ Books, maps, and instruction manuals for forgotten things.
✛✛ Drugs, spices or venoms.
✛✛ Food, fresh or preserved.
✛✛ Living creatures, bred or captured.
✛ Mementos of the World Before.

Once per session, you can draw on one of your Stocks in Trade instead of exhausting a Surplus.

Cabinet of Wonders: When you delve deep into your Family’s  reserves in search of something useful, describe what it is and what you want it for. It should fit with your Stock in Trade or a Surplus of yours. The GM will give you 1-3 downsides, and then you can decide whether you still want to take it.

✛✛ It’ll be useless afterwards.
✛ Its value will be immediately obvious to anyone who sees you carrying it.
✛ You’re taking it away from an agreed buyer, and there’ll be consequences if it isn’t returned.
✛ You’ll need help from a specific character or NPC to use it well.

Brand Loyalty: Your Family never needs to roll to get Access to someone you have traded with before, and they will always be willing to at least listen to what you have to say.

Rationing: Your Family is skilled at wringing every last benefit from their resources. Whenever you exhaust a surplus for any reason, hold 1; spend 1 hold to get +1 forward to another action that surplus could help.

Avaricious Appraisal: When your Family tries to work out the worth of a new acquisition roll +Reach; on a 10+ you have a good idea how much you could get for it, as well as some details on its past owner(s). On a 7-9 choose one:

✛✛ It’s useless to you, but one of your allies could make use of it.
✛✛ It’s incredibly, maddeningly valuable. Someone in your family  becomes obsessed with it, and you’ll have to deal with them or Hold Together to successfully sell it.
✛ It’s very valuable, but one of your enemies or rivals knows you have it and they’re making plans.

Whaddaya Buying? When your Family brings goods to market  roll +Reach. On a hit you’re able to sell them for a fair price. On a 7-9 pick 1, 10+ pick 2:

✛✛ You hear an interesting rumour.
✛✛ You make friends with another merchant, giving you easy access to another Stock in Trade while in this area.
✛✛ They don’t realise the true worth of what they paid with.

Gear

Characters from this Family can start with as many as they like of the following:

✛✛ Well-fitting and stylish clothing.
✛✛ Well-crafted and storied weapons from famous artisans (melee or ranged, elegant).
✛✛ Well-trained servants (Follower Quality +1,  Expertise: grooming and pampering).
✛✛ Well-preserved food, enough to put on a lavish feast

Spoiler: ThE ENCLAvE OF BYGONE LORE (click to show/hide)

ThE ENCLAvE OF BYGONE LORE

The wonders of the World Before were glorious, and even as the Fall continues to ravage the world we will hold onto them. As the old sun sets and a new sun rises, we will remember them.

The Enclave of Bygone Lore uses Reach to get access to the Tech they desire and to take their rightful place as advisors and arcane engineers.

Creating an Enclave

To create your Enclave, choose a name, stats, doctrine, lifestyle, history and moves.

Stats

Choose one:

Reach 2, Grasp -1, Mood -1, Tech 0 if they send their members out to teach others forgotten lore.

Reach 1, Grasp 0, Mood -1, Tech 0 if they keep the light of civilisation secret and safe.

doctrine

Choose one:

Holding Back Another Fall: When a piece of dangerous technology is brought back to the Family, they can break it down into 2 Tech.

Uplifting Mankind’s Remnants: If others heed your Family’s advice on grand projects, they take +1 forward.

Better Living Through Technology: When you spend more than 1 Tech you get 1 back, but every time you encounter a large fragment of pre-Fall artifice you gain Need: avarice.

Lifestyle

Choose one:

Nomadic: You keep your technology shrouded, and it’ll look mundane to the casual observer.

Dispersed: When you write to Family in other settlements for insights, their advice lets you take +1 forward.

Settled: When you encounter a fragment of pre-Fall culture, you know its cultural significance.

history

Pick two Surpluses: ✛ Defences ✛ Operatives ✛ Knowledge ✛ Camaraderie ✛ Culture
Pick three Needs: ✛ Recruits ✛ Trade ✛ Motivation ✛ Leadership ✛ Barter Goods

Then, look at the other Families. One of them looks like civilisation’s best chance to regrow. They take 2-Treaty on your Enclave.

One Family – perhaps the same one, perhaps not – has seen the true power of your technology. Take 2-Treaty on each other.

Traditions

Populace: Close-knit families passing secrets to their children, demagogues and those who seek their knowledge, vat-grown duplicates, something else.

Style: Hidden within bulky environment suits, utilitarian clothes studded with strange implants, monastic robes embroidered with intricate circuitry, something else.

Governance: Meritocratic academic bureaucracy, anarchic rule of the loudest and most interesting, hidebound council of elders, something else.

Alliance move

When you spend time and effort showing another group how to use their technology better, gain 1-Treaty on them.

Enclave moves

Choose two:

Sufficiently Advanced:

Your Family has retained access to some of the wonders of the World Before. Choose one:

✛✛ Medical treatments able to cure any ailment.
✛✛ A ward that shields a wide area from harm.
✛✛ A weapon that could slay any foe.
✛ A vehicle that can swiftly transport a dozen people from horizon to horizon.

It comes with 3-Power. To activate it, roll +Power spent (minimum 1). On a 10+ it works perfectly, exactly as desired. On a 7-9 it does what you wanted, but it’s either out of action for the near future or there are weird anomalies (you choose). On a miss, it erupts with chaotic power and bizarre side effects. Choose how Power is regained:

✛✛ Renewable Energy: 1 Power every few months, climate permitting.
✛✛ Precious Fuels: 1 Power per material Surplus erased.
✛✛ Mystic Sacrifice: 1 Power per named Family member or Player Character sacrificed.

Weird Science: When your Family puts together a device powerful enough to shape the local area for generations, say what they want it to do. The GM will give one to three of the following conditions:

✛✛ It’ll take weeks/months/years to build.
✛✛ You’ll need to erase a certain Surplus.
✛✛ It’ll only work for a limited length of time before needing to recharge.
✛✛ You’ll need to hook it up to a certain power source.
✛ You’ll have to sacrifice 1/2/3 Tech.

Deep Knowledge: Your Family has a well-curated and extensive store of records on certain fields. Choose one:

✛✛ Grand Architecture, from Surface to Stars.
✛✛ Magic and Artifice of the Glorious Past
✛✛ The Horrors Birthed by the Fall
✛✛ The Fragmented Lands and their Hidden Depths
✛ Persons and Proceedings of Historical Significance

When your Character encounters a creature, item or situation covered by this field, tell everyone a fact about it and take +1 ongoing acting on that information. The GM will also tell you something you can do to gain 1 Tech from the subject.

An Eye for Details: Your Family sees hidden relevance in stories that others overlook. When they Read the Wind you can ask one extra question, anything you like.

I Am Become Death: When your family uses their most terrifying and brutal devices to Claim By Force, gain +2 per Tech spent instead of +1.

Gear

Characters from this Family can start with as many as they like of the following:

✛✛ The dog-eared journal of a researcher or explorer.
✛✛ Dusty travelling clothes or a simple robe.
✛✛ Reverently maintained heirloom arms (melee or ranged, hi-tech).
✛✛ A month’s worth of dehydrated rations and nutritional supplements.

[VoidSlayer]

Basic family moves, also can be downloaded for free.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

BASIC FAmILY mOvES

Access

When your Family seek access to a person, place or thing you do not control roll +Reach. On a 10+ you get what you want – a meeting, a guide, a toy to play with. On a 7-9, there are strings attached. Choose one:

✛ Your people had to dig deep. Erase a Surplus or gain Need: get out of debt.
✛ Your agents can’t seal the deal, but introduce your Character to someone who can.
✛ The people who control it offer your agents a lesser alternative.

Reading the wind

When your Family sends people out for information on a person,  faction or place, roll +Reach. On a hit, they come back a few days later with rumours, secrets and scout reports. Pick 1 thing to learn; the GM will give you further information, and the Family takes +1 forward acting on it. On a 10+ pick 3.

✛ The perspective of the person/place/thing’s neighbours. 
✛ Reports of some upcoming upset.
✛ Clues to a hidden strength or unknown history.
✛ A warning of a coming betrayal.
✛ An opportunity for profit, with or without risk.

hold Together

When your Family must stay loyal and endure adversity, roll +Grasp. On a hit you mostly remain ok; pick 1.

✛ You lose some people to desertion and harm. Gain Need: recruits.
✛ You promised them something to get them through. Now the danger has passed, it’s time to pay up. If you don’t, take -1 Grasp ongoing for the rest of the Age.
✛ The danger hasn’t passed so much as shifted into a different, more manageable problem. Say what it is.

On a 10+ you are brought close together by the trial; gain Surplus: morale in addition to the above results.

Claim by Force

When you direct your Family to claim something as theirs, no matter who it pisses off, roll +Grasp. On a hit they succeed in taking it, but not without cost. On a 7-9 choose two. On a 10+, choose one:

✛✛ Your hold on it is tenuous, and more effort will be needed to secure it.
✛✛ Your Family comes away wounded. Someone important is hurt and your family gains Need: medicine.
✛✛ You make enemies; the GM will say who, and you take -1 Reach dealing with them this Age.

SuRpLuS ANd NEEd

Reach, Grasp and Tech don’t tell the full story of a Family’s strengths and weaknesses. They also have their Surpluses and Needs, and these can play a major factor in how successful your family is.

If your family has high morale and a full armoury, they’re likely to succeed in taking an enemy fortress, while a lack of medicine or hygiene can make it difficult to survive a disease outbreak.

✛ When your family makes use of a Surplus, exhaust it and improve the success of a roll by one step (6- goes to 7-9, 7-9 to 10+).

✛ When the family is hindered by a Need, the GM can add a complication or downside stemming from the Need in addition to the results of your roll.

✛ If a Need could be met by a Surplus, erase both.

While Needs always have an effect, Surpluses are more limited; exhausted Surpluses only become available for reuse at the start of the next session, or at the beginning of a new Age if that happens first.

Surpluses that are erased, on the other hand, are wiped from your sheet – they’re gone, forever.

If a move tells you to gain a Surplus or Need that’s already on your sheet, gain a different one that everyone thinks is appropriate given the current situation in the fiction.

mOOd

You calculate Mood by subtracting your total Needs from your total Surpluses, updating it every time you gain or lose a Surplus or Need. All Families start with a Mood of -1. Mood works as an overall measure of your Family’s health, and ranges from +3 to -3. If gaining a new Surplus or Need would put you beyond that, one of the following moves triggers:

Flush with Resources

When you would gain a Surplus and Mood is already +3, instead choose one:

✛ Sell off the excess Surplus for 1 Tech.
✛ Gift the excess to your allies and gain +1 ongoing to Reach for the next month.
✛ Hold a great celebration and gain +1 ongoing to Grasp for the next month.

Fall into Crisis

When you would gain a Need and Mood is already -3, instead choose one:

✛ Someone takes advantage of your weakness – lose some territory or an important alliance.
✛ Your family falls into bickering and infighting, giving you -1 ongoing to Grasp until the dispute is resolved.
✛ Your family retreats into solitude to work through its issues, giving you -1 ongoing to Reach until they are convinced out of isolation.

TREATIES

Your Family is a large organisation that has trade partners and battle allies, and relies on a network of social influence based on respect, fear,  and debts owed. This is measured in your Treaty score with other  Families and organisations, ranging between 0 and 4. You can give more Treaty to another Family at will as a bargaining chip, but once it’s given to them you have no say in how it’s used. Each family also has an Alliance move, a way to get Treaty on other groups when the move is triggered. There are two things you can do with Treaty: spend it to call in a  favour, or roll it to help another Family.

Call in a debt

When you need something from another Family, no matter how it messes them up, say what debt you’re claiming due, spend 1 Treaty and choose one: If they’re an NPC faction:

✛✛ Gain +2 to Access or Claim by Force something of theirs (spend after rolling).
✛ Get them to back you up, fall into indecision, or protect something important.

If they’re a PC Family with a Treaty on you:

✛✛ Say what you want them to do, and give them -1 Treaty on you if they don’t.
✛ Take one of their Surpluses for this session.

If they’re a PC Family without Treaty on you:

✛✛ Say what you want them to do, and they have to Hold Together to do anything else.
✛✛ Take one of their Surpluses permanently and give them +1 Treaty on you.

Lend Aid

When your Family throws its weight behind another, roll +Treaty with them. On a hit, you give that Family +1, but if you roll a 7-9 your Family is exposed to danger, retribution or unforeseen consequences.

Some example surpluses and needs:

✛✛ Morale ✛✛ Weaponry ✛✛ Barter goods ✛✛ Culture

✛✛ Land ✛✛ Gossip ✛✛ Leadership ✛✛ Transport

✛✛ Operatives ✛✛ Avarice ✛✛ Recruits ✛✛ Medicine

✛✛ Justice ✛✛ Trade ✛✛ Obligation ✛✛ Peace

✛✛ Reconnaissance ✛✛ Contacts ✛✛ Defences ✛✛ Progress

[VoidSlayer]

Anyway, getting ahead of ourselves.

Major to do:  Anything else about the world before? 

We are still about two tech levels down from what is suggested so I am going to just pop in pervasive nano tech, some kind of ship wide mind-net, or just up the robots and engineered animals far beyond "optimized."

[Ardent Debater]

Anyway, getting ahead of ourselves.

Major to do:  Anything else about the world before? 

We are still about two tech levels down from what is suggested so I am going to just pop in pervasive nano tech, some kind of ship wide mind-net, or just up the robots and engineered animals far beyond "optimized."

Maybe Humanity left the Earth due to over-pollution, overpopulation, resource scarcity, and solar flares? Maybe not all Drones were programmed to kill, maybe some Farming or Construction Robots survived, are under AI control, and help build up Human and/or AI infrastructure? What if nano bot storms, radiation storms and acid rain were all "natural" phenomenon? That kind of weather would mesh very nicely with the setting as it is.

I have a question, how long has it been since The Reckoning? I was thinking maybe a few centuries would provide a nice balance of leftover Tech and Rebuilt Society. As for non-salvaged Technology, are we Medieval, in the Renaissance, Borderline Modern, or in some kind of Hybridized Technological Era? I think that Medieval/Early Renaissance with dashes of Futuristic Technology would be ideal...

Here's my Family Sheet, did I miss anything?

Spoiler:  THE SERVANTS OF THE ONE TRUE FAITH FAMILY SHEET (click to show/hide)

THE HARBINGERS OF THE CLEANSING FLAME

In the most ancient times, far before creation, there was Terra. Terra, the loving mother, mated with Sol, the father, gave birth to her innumerable children, the most pure among them was Humanity. For millennia, Humanity loved Terra and cared for her, but over time, Humanity began to cavort with the evils of mechanical sorcery. Claiming themselves to be superior to all of Terra's offspring, and even Terra herself, their ways began to ruin the mother, polluting her perfect form in the pursuit of power and greed. Over time, Terra grew wrathful, and poisoned her children in vengeful rage, Sol grew mad with grief, and destroyed much of Humanity's sorcery in a blast of Divine Fire.

Devastated, and slowly dying, Humanity turned to it's Unholy machinery for an escape from it's loving mother and father. Forging many Vessels with their unspeakably blasphemous technological wizardry, they fled their birthplace to wander the empty cosmos. Eventually, one such Vessel, The Ortus Vitae Novae found a new home, Orius Major. On the Eternal Voyage, many thousands of generations passed within The Vessel's demonic embrace. For many centuries, The Vessel's demons ruled over Humanity with their unholy powers, but as they came closer to Orius Major, the adopted mother's holy influence touched them.

Many Humans, filled with zealous, righteous fury rebelled against their demonic overlords. Taking up the demon's sorcerers tools, they wielded them against the demons, making the tools holy. After a long and brutal struggle over Orius Major's orbit, it became clear to the demons that the righteous Humans would overcome their lesser demonic minions, and brainwashed, traitorous Human cultists. In a fit of rage, the demons sundered The Vessel in a blast of Arcane Might, causing near total destruction in a bid for power. Only some Humans, both the righteous and those who embraced the demons, managed to escape. The aftermath of The Reckoning caused much of Humanity, and The Vessel's Lifeforms to be corrupted, irreversibly tainted by The Reckonings demonic energy, the corrupted are only a Remnant of what they once were.

As the ages passed, the demons decided to become Gods of Humanity, their blasphemy is unimaginable, and these False Gods led many Pure Humans astray from their Orius Major, their new, adopted Mother, and the False Worshipers strove to rebuild the sorcery and demonic tools that destroyed Terra. Many Pure Humans took up False Gods, and began to worship their Ancestors as Divine. Some, however, saw through the demonic falsehood, and realized that Humanity would only ruin itself and turn away from it's Mother once again, if the demonic Technology continued to corrupt with it's influence. Some Humans, remembered the deeds of Sol, the father, whose righteous Fire cleansed the demonic taint, and allowed Terra to heal from it's wounds.

These Humans, Pure in their body, mind, and conviction, formed The Cleansing Flame. A Religion dedicated to the Worship of Orius Major as a Holy Mother, and Nature as their brothers and sisters. To them, it was evident that for Humanity to have a future, the demonic Technology of the Ancients must be purged with the Flame that Sol had gifted them, and that those who follow The False Gods and The Ancestors must either be shown the errors of their ways, or Cleansed in Sanctified Fire, so that their ashes might be joined with Orius Major, and become one with The Eternal One. All Remnants are a mockery of Terra's suffering, and an abomination that must not be allowed to defile Orius Major with their unholy presence, the Remnants must atone for their blight through cleansing flame, or a lifetime of service to aid the cleansing flame, that their ashes might be fulfilled.

STATS

Reach -1, Grasp 2, Mood -1, Tech 0 Those who have not joined the Faith are one with the demons, and must be purified at all costs. Their twisted ideas must not be allowed to corrupt the minds of the Pure.

DOCTRINE

The Cleansing Fires of Purity:  When the Righteous battle the Horrors of The Reckoning, the wounds they inflict will never heal.

LIFESTYLE

Nomadic: When the Righteous display their Faith in a new Settlement, some of the locals will see their folly, and become one with the Cleansing Flame.

HISTORY

Pick two Surpluses:

Leadership, Culture

Pick three Needs:

Land, Progress, Barter Goods

Then judge each other Family:

N/A right now. When there are other families, the Harbingers shall render judgement.

TRADITIONS

Populace: An evangelistic, zealous horde of fanatics that's structured more like a military organization than a religious movement.

Style: Most of the Harbingers wear homespun clothing and tattered rags. Some of the Harbingers wear heavy Plate Armor, with chain-mail or ring-mail underneath. All of the Harbingers carry a weapon, whether it's a crossbow, sword and shield, or simply a wooden club, if the mad devotion in their eyes is any indication, it is clear that they would use them without the slightest hesitation. Many of them wear simple jewelry demonstrating their devotion to the Cleansing Flame. All of them have bright, red, orange, or yellow clothes, and the Armor has a Flame pattern drawn on the front, much like a coat of arms. They are only a Family in the sense that those who follow the same Religion are a Family.

Governance: The Harbingers follow the Book of Solace, a long, complicated text that details the morals, laws, and guidance The Harbingers must follow if they are to remain Pure and happy in life. It also details reincarnation after death, and the importance of ancient Sol and Terra. It decries Technology, The False Gods, The Ancestors, and all those who worship them. It explains the need for a purifying holy war, and justifies the use of Technology to defeat the Impure Technology, so long as it is in the hands of a capable and devout Harbinger who can withstand it's corrupting temptation. The Leaders of the Family are a council of the oldest, most experienced, and fanatical adherents to The Cleansing Flame, who use The Book of Solace as their infallible guide in all things.

MOVES

Faith of the Fallen

Your Family has a faith they cling to more ardently than life. Choose one tenet:

The renunciation of the Before

Ecumenical Eye

When your Family Reads the Wind to learn of another faith, you always learn the details of their beliefs no matter what you roll.