Visual Inspiration for Arkbound

From top-left to bottom-right.

1: It's really hard to look for post-apoc art without gasmasks. This was my one concession, as him and his dog are clearly scavenging through the ruins of an abandoned slum after a particularly bad engine-leak.
2: Anything natural salvaged from a planet is a luxury and status symbol on the Ark. Here a slum ganger shows she's not to be messed with.
3: Market traders are particularly keen to show off with costumes decorated with bones, feathers and pelts. This stim-dealer is so confident in his reputation that he's willing to have his vision completely obscured.
4: Some mercenary companies have managed to stay independent of the Arks. He drifts from one to the other carrying out work, never staying long enough to become Arkbound himself.
5: It's been fifty years since the tempest and few are alive that remember a time before. He'll tell you stories from before the Tempest in return for a flask of booze.
6: Only a few skilled engineers are Officers, but even those who are Arkbound are generally looked after better than the rest. Here a young worker has been taken under the wing of an Officer.

Taking a Bullet in Arkbound

When I play D&D my imagination can cope with characters' vitals being narrowly missed by swords, axes, arrows and musket-shots. Even though I know how deadly arrows were I can still picture an adventurer stumbling on bravely with an arrow in the shoulder and a gushing spear wound.

But getting shot with a present-day gun? Every piece of remotely grounded fiction I know tells me you're out for the count. That's not even considering your futuristic pulse rifles and bolters!

I won't get into the analysis of how deadly different era's weapons actually were. This is purely how my imagination sees them differently and may just be a personal quirk.

As I'm currently working on a sci-fi game I guess I'd better address how I'm going to keep guns in Arkbound feeling suitably deadly without it being impossible to keep a character alive.

Let's look at Mr. Average and what happens when he gets shot at in the open by Ms. Average.

Starting Stats average at 2.5, which is a little unhelpful. Let's assume that Ms. Average will be dealing with a Complication (-1) to her shot about half of the time. This means she'll be rolling with an average Precision of 2. The target number is always 10 and rolls are 2d6+stat so she'll need to roll an 8 to hit.

She'll hit Mr. Average around 42% of the time.

Your "entry level" weapons range from 1d6 damage for your typical pistol, SMG or autorifle and 1d6+1 for things with added kick like shotguns and the clumsy bolt rifle. We'll be kind and assume she's firing with one of the former.

Damage equalling Mr. Average's Toughness (average of 2.5 again) will incapacitate him and leave him dying. Doubling his Toughness will kill him outright. Here a roll of 3 will incapacitate and 5 will kill.

That gives him equal 1-in-3 spread between being wounded, incapacitated and killed.

If she hit him with one of the heftier 1d6+1 guns? Now it's only a 1-in-6 chance of a minor wound, still 1-in-3 chance of being incapacitated but a full 1-in-2 chance of being killed in a single shot.

Ouch. With odds like this why would anyone want to get into a gunfight? We need to look at what measures Mr. Average can take to push the odds back in his favour.

Firstly, light armour is accessible to all starting characters and subtracts 1 from any damage against you. This pushes the chance of a kill shot from the autorifle down to a less scary 1-in-6 and brings the bigger guns down from 1-in-2 to 1-in-3.

Even better than armour is being in cover, which roughly cuts the chances of Mr. Average being hit at all in half.

The chance of Mr Average being killed in one shot if he's wearing light armour and making use of cover? Just under 4%. That's worse odds than rolling a 20 on a d20. I'm quite happy with this figure.

Still not happy with that small chance of getting a bullet in the head? I suggest you either pump up your Guile score and stay in cover, save up for heavy armour or keep your character out of situations where people are firing at you.

But wait. The arms race works both ways. If Ms. Average has an Incinerator then your flammable cover won't offer any protection. If she's firing with a flashrifle your light armour is useless not to mention the really nasty 1d6+2 weapons like thudguns and rail rifles. Maybe she's got BodyMods and Stims pushing her Precision score higher and fancy weapon mods to counter the usual Complications.

In that case it's probably time to wonder whether it's worth being in a firefight at all. Surrender is a free action.

Introducing Arkbound

Another day, another name change.
This one, though, I'm very happy with.
Xenofringe is now Arkbound.

For nearly all of humanity The Tempest was the apocalypse. Every inhabited world was wiped out and left hostile. Mankind’s wonders left burned, frozen or blasted to dust.
For those of us living off-world, it was the ascension. Captains turned their lower decks into slums and their crew into subjects. The Arks grew into drifting cities.
Fifty years later I rule an Ark twenty miles long with fifty-thousand Arkbound crew and I’d trade it all for the feeling of real wind in my hair.

- Cpt. Juara Banks, "Letters for the Lost Home".

What is Arkbound? What happened to Xenofringe?

Based on +Jeff Rients' 20 Questions about your Campaign Setting I've gathered some thoughts for how I see the Xenofringe setting working out. To reflect these changes the game is now called Arkbound.




ELEVATOR PITCH
For 99% of humanity The Tempest was the apocalypse. Every inhabited world was wiped out and left hostile.

Those living off-world were the sole survivors. Captains turned their lower decks into slums and expanded their one-hundred crew to tens of thousands. This is how The Arks grew into drifting kingdoms drifting through space.

What's the deal with aliens?
Strange creatures have been encountered and man has dabbled with artificial beings enough that some real horrors lurk the galaxy. Intelligent aliens have never been encountered. It seems we're alone beside our own creations.

What supernatural abilities exist and can science explain them?
Superstition and religion have found new popularity since the Tempest, especially in the Slum Decks of the Arks. Any actual psychic or superhuman abilities are yet to be investigated.

Where can we go to buy standard equipment?
Convince an Officer that you need something for the good of the Ark and he'll usually find a way to let you have it but send you on a suicide mission in return. Slum decks have an extensive black market.

Where is the best tech in the universe?
Technology advanced exponentially up until the Tempest. The best stuff sits abandoned on the hostile, flooded worlds.

Who is the most powerful being in the universe?
There are Ark Captains that hope to become Grand Admirals, but no fleets ever stay loyal for long. Whoever helms the most powerful ship is sure to find lots of jealous officers waiting for the chance to mutiny.

What do people do for work around here?
Arkbound do whatever they're told, from toiling on the engine decks to producing feeding slime on the factory decks. Only a tiny fraction of an Ark's crew are free Officers.

Where can we go to get some healing?
Much like engineers, medical personnel are likely to be Officers. There are places in the Slum Decks you can receive more questionable medical attention for something in return.

Can our bodies be taken beyond the normal human peak?
Bodymods and Stims are both established technologies, but often forbidden for an Arkbound. Uploading a mind to a computer was possible with cutting edge technology but no Arks have managed to reclaim that yet.

How well explored is space?
Space around the human worlds was well mapped and explored but unexplored space dwarfs that area.

Where can I hire mercenaries?
Most Arks have security personnel that can be corrupted to your service and fully fledged mercenary companies drift from one Ark to another.

What weapons do people use and who can own them?
People mostly own melee weapons and ballistic firearms not too different to today's weapons, but energy-based weapons have been salvaged from flooded worlds, as well as a few rumoured superweapons. Most Arks have little to nothing in the way of gun control.

Which way to the nearest bar?
Alcohol is typically distilled from waste products of the Factory Deck, so a bar is never too far away from there.

What's the deal with robots and AIs?
Both have existed for centuries in a huge variety of forms, from clunky and mechanical to nearly human-like. Most of the latter lie destroyed on flooded worlds.

Are there any wars brewing I could go fight?
Every Officer has a few enemies. Captains have even more.

How does space travel work?
Inter-system travel requires huge engines typically limited to the Arks. Smaller craft can be transported on these in return for their service but are otherwise limited to travel between neighbouring planets, typically taking a few weeks.

What is there to eat around here?
Arks are rarely able to support the growth of traditional meat or vegetables, so artificial food has become the staple. Typically it's unappetising gruel.

Any legendary lost artifacts I could be looking for?
Space is littered with the remains from the peak of man's achievement.

How Tough and How Strong?

In Into the Odd an unarmoured man with a simple weapon causes 1d6 damage and subtracts 0 from incoming damage (Armour 0). Below is a handy reference guide for what it means to go above this.

To get +1 to Damage and Armour be mounted or large. Otherwise, get of a Martial Weapon, something purpose-made for extensive combat use like a longsword or bow, or a more simple two-handed weapon like a big club, and light armour or a shield. When fighting in a unit, outnumber your opponents by less than 2-to-1.

To get +2 to Damage and Armour be the size of a rhino. Otherwise, get a two handed martial weapon like a halberd, or an exceptional crossbow or gun, and light armour with a shield or a suit of full armour. When fighting in a unit, outnumber your opponents 2-to-1.

To get +3 to Damage and Armour be the size of an elephant. Otherwise, find the most expertly made two-handed weapons in the world and get full armour with a shield. When fighting in a unit, outnumber your opponents 3-to-1.

To get +4 to Damage and Armour you'd better be REALLY big or outnumber your opponents 4-to-1.

Example of Use
I want to make a huge land-eel with a horned crocodile-head to chow down on intruders.

I figure its horns are equivalent to a Martial Weapon (+1 damage) and it's roughly as hefty as a rhino (+2). This gives it an attack of 1d6+3 damage. If I was feeling generous I'd raise this to 2d6.

As mentioned, it's around the mass of a rhino (Armour 2) but lacks any real toughness to its hide, giving it an Armour of 2. Throw together its Ability Scores based on the range of 0-20, with 10 being the average human and decide whether it's important enough to get just 1d6HP or the typical cap of 5d6. 

HORNED EEL-IGATOR
STR 15, DEX 8, WIL 6, 7HP, Armour 2. 
Attacks for 1d6+3 Damage. Surprisingly cowardly if faced with a ferocious opponent. Quite content to snack on plants if it weren't for it being deliberately starved into aggression. 

Two additions to end trap-related heartbreak.

I spent a bit of time this week trying to persuade people that old-school play isn't about antagonistic GMing and pixel-bitching to avoid deathtraps. I'm hoping these additions to Into the Odd will help get that point across.

A Note on Risk
Generally the Referee should make the players aware if they are taking a risk. A game should have surprises, but players should feel that their decisions in the game have led to the risk that lead to the nasty surprise.

For example, when the characters encounter a monster or hazard that is very likely to be able to kill them outright, the Referee should ensure that the players know this is a possibility. Assessing the risk against the possible reward is an important part of the game, so the players should always have what they need to make an informed choice.

Spotting Traps
As a general rule the presence of a trap will always be noticed by characters unless they are sprinting, visually impaired or distracted by something else. After this initial clue the characters may trigger the trap through further inaction or lack of caution. The players should consider creative ways of getting around a trap or disarming it completely. Risky methods may call for a Save.

Dungeon Design by Hangout

Tonight me and a few others attempted a world first (as far as I'm aware). We used Google Hangouts to build a dungeon.

Seven of us contributed at various points throughout the 90 minutes. The product of which can be seen in this map and the accompanying document.

Big thanks to Jez Gordon for suggesting we use his DungeonFu template. It proved incredibly useful.

My personal highlights that I saw other people add are:

• A Pterodactyl cave.
• The scene of a theological debate between pixies, frogs and clams.
• A HUGE table of random smells, sounds and other weird stuff.
• Acid traps and humming mushrooms, just to remind you that this is probably for D&D.

Some observations of this method of dungeon design:

• People seemed very happy to get imaginative! We didn't end up with orcs guarding chests.
• There was less messing with other people's ideas than I expected. It's good because people got to flesh out rooms by themselves but I'd have loved to see a bit more collaboration.
• We made a deadly dungeon.

Thanks to Nadav Ben Dov, Kyrinn S. Eiss, Barry Blatt, Joshua Macy, James Paese and David Reichgeld for contributing (let me know if I missed you off!).

For the rest of you, let me know if you decide to do anything with this dungeon. It's so fresh I haven't even had a chance to look at the whole thing myself yet!