Hey guys. I'm new to Roleplayer Guild, but I'm definitely not new to roleplaying - I've been at it for at least 5 years now. One of my passions has been science fiction "sandbox" roleplaying, or essentially roleplays with almost total freedom. No set course, almost no limitations. Creativity taken to the (reasonable) max. I've been part of a couple of these roleplays in the past, but after years everyone got tired of them... I didn't! So now I've found what I hope to be my new home and I'm not seeing any sandbox sci-fi roleplays, so I made one myself.
I wasn't sure at first whether to put it in the Nation RP section or the Casual RP section, but I decided on Casual because character control and interaction is also a big part of it, and because people post faster in here - you'll see why that's important in the "Per-Post Empire Building System" section later.
I've created a Wikia site to store some of the more lengthy bits of information, such as ship equipment design point costs and the technology tree. They would be too long to include on the forum. If you do not feel comfortable visiting the wiki, let me know and I will post parts of the tech tree / ship system.
So without further ado, here is the design document I've cooked up over the past few days.
Introduction
Space… the great black void that is the home of the entire universe. Never-ending, always changing, home to billions upon billions of galaxies, themselves home to billions upon billions of stars. Within these star systems, some gave rise to the miracle of the universe; life. Some of this life was doomed to die, but some was destined to flourish. Through billions of years of evolution, some of this life eventually left the cradle of their existence and spread among the stars.
One such form of life was humanity. Born on the planet Earth, they eventually took hold of the stars and claimed their destiny for themselves. For centuries they expanded across the known worlds, their empire encompassing thousands upon thousands of star systems. But there was one thing the humans couldn’t conquer: their own nature. Violent, tribalistic, and xenophobic were they. Such qualities helped them build their flourishing nation, but with no enemies left to fight, they turned upon each-other. So grand in scale was the Humans’ war that the galaxy still bears its scars today. But the humans’ extinction event this was not to be, and they persisted, diminished and broken.
Now, centuries later, a new generation of life is reaching towards the stars. The void left by humanity will be filled, of that there is no question; the question is how. Will it be by sword? Will it be by diplomacy? By deception? It seems that soon, we’ll know.
It is in this galaxy that you are born, and it is in this galaxy that you will likely die. What happens in-between is your choice, and what you will be remembered for. Your destiny is in your own hands, now, no longer bound by atmosphere or gravity. It is Standard Year 2870, and the galaxy is at your fingertips. Only with intelligence, prestige, and strength, will you survive and flourish in the never-ending void of space.
Starmap
Philosophy
• Freedom within reason
• Logical, orderly “gameplay” systems which provide for organization without making things overly complicated
• Ability to have variety between different nations
• Semi-hard sci-fi, not Star Trek tier but not realistic either
• Some abstractions are necessary – i.e. “time dilation” when someone is using character control while another player is using empire control
• Can use both character control and empire control completely interchangeably – you can also just use one if you don’t like the other
• Flexibility in terms of rules
• Focused on making things fun without compromising organization and order
Signup Sheets
Notes: Use sheets as they apply. You do not need to fill out a character sheet if you do not intend to use a character, for instance. Some sheets are also not essential, even if you are creating something that a sheet exists for – i.e. you do not need to create a planet or solar system sheet for every solar system or planet you visit or colonize, though it is encouraged. Essential sheets have their titles surrounded by square brackets, whereas non-essential sheets are denoted by squiggly brackets. Certain fields on some of the sheets are optional, which are denoted by a + next to the field name (as opposed to the – associated with required fields).
Mechanics Explained
• The Per-Post Empire Building System: In Shattered Stars, constructing ships, space stations, or researching new technologies is done through posts. In order to keep the game orderly, building or researching have post costs. For instance, to build a frigate (see below) you will have to spend 15 posts. When you start construction on the frigate, you have 1/15 posts complete (the first post counts towards it). Every time you post, you add one so you get 2/15, 3/15, and so on. When you reach 15, the frigate is complete and can now be used in the game. The same principle applies for researching or reverse-engineering technology, as well as constructing space stations.
• The PSI Scale: The Psionic Standard Identification scale is used to measure psionic ability in individuals as well as entire species. Psionic abilities include powers ranging from mind-reading, telepathic communication, and telekinesis to, on the absolute highest level, virtual godhood. The PSI Scale is a series of numbers from 0 to 15, with 0 being inanimate, 1 being normal (no psionic abilities at all), and 15 being, essentially, “Ascended”. Ascension grants the Ascended a form made of pure psionic energy – Ascension is impossible without hyper-advanced technology, however. So no ascended characters! The PSI Scale is covered in more detail on its wiki page. Without special permission from the GM, species cannot have an average PSI greater than 7. Individuals can be up to level 8, but please do not make literally everyone a level 8 PSI.
• Ship Design: The ship design system works on a fairly basic principle. Every ship has a set amount of Design Points which you can spend on things like defenses and engines.
o You have several different ship “types”, which denote the size range as well as the total amount of Design Points you have available. The basic types that we start with are Corvettes, Frigates, Destroyers, and Cruisers (each one being larger and with more DP than the previous). Further variation is possible, as the amount of posts taken to build the vessel directly reflects the DP you have available.
o Each type has a base post amount as well as “wiggle room” where you can add posts to the build time in exchange for more design points – you can add up to four additional posts on top of the base build time for the type. For instance, Frigates have a build time of 15 posts, but you are able to expand that to 19.
o Each post of build time is worth ten design points. So, for frigates, the base DP available is 150 – but can be increased to 185. The first three additional posts that you add grant you 10 extra design points each, but the fourth grants you only 5 additional DP.
o The exact design point costs of the various amenities that your ship can be equipped with are available on the wiki.
o Refitting your ships with new technologies is not a gameplay element – when a new technology is researched, just assume every ship now has that technology (unless you or the RPer in control of the ships states otherwise)
o Everybody starts with 50 ships of whatever classes you want (ship sheets are not IMMEDIATELY required for all classes upon joining, but MUST be submitted in the next few days)
• Shipyards: Ships are constructed via shipyards.
o Shipyards are built by Construction Craft, which are a special type of vessel that you don’t actually design. In order to build construction craft, you must, of course, have a shipyard (though if you decide to start out without shipyards or if all of them are destroyed, CCs can be built manually for 3x the normal post cost). CCs take 4 posts to construct.
o Shipyards have a base cost of 30 posts, and always require one construction craft to build the shipyard; however you can have up to three construction craft working on a shipyard at once, in order to speed up the process. Each additional construction craft takes 3 posts off of the build time of the shipyard, potentially lowering it to 24 posts per shipyard.
o A shipyard can only build ONE ship at a time. So the maximum number of ships you can build at once is dependent on the number of shipyards you have – if you have 30 shipyards, you can only build up to 30 ships at one time.
o Everybody starts with 10 shipyards and 20 construction craft.
• Research: Technological research takes place via posts, in a similar way to construction.
o Technologies have prerequisites. In order to research a technology, you must have researched all of its prerequisites.
o You can research up to three technologies at a time, but you cannot research a technology and its prerequisites at the same time.
o You can submit new technologies for addition to the tech tree, but you may not start research on them until they are officially accepted by one of the game masters.
o See the wiki article for the technology list.
o When you join, you are given 50 points to spend on starting technologies. If you select a starter technology with prerequisites, you must also spend points on the prerequisites. Any technologies you pick with your points are technologies your nation/species has at the very beginning, without having to research them.
• Precursor Ruins: In the universe of Shattered Stars, there existed many civilizations that are now extinct or extant. Some of the ruins of these civilizations still exist in the present, and are known as “Precursor Ruins”. Precursor is a blanket term which is used to describe any extinct, advanced spacefaring civilization. Their ruins often contain valuable technological artifacts, which can range from AI technology to advanced starships.
o Precursor ruins will be found at random and can only be found when the GM gives you permission. Technologies found inside of the ruins are up to the GM’s discretion.
o When you find technology in a Precursor Ruin, you do not instantly gain that technology. You must reverse-engineer it. The amount of posts this takes is again up to the GM’s discretion.
o Please do not beg to be given a Precursor Ruin.
o The method to determine who finds the ruin is by rolling a die with the same amount of sides as there are players in the game. Each player is assigned a number and if their number is rolled, they will be able to discover a ruin.
o This “draw” happens whenever the GM decides is appropriate.
Rules
• The GM’s word is final. You can argue a call if you think it is unfair, but in the end the decision is up to the GM. I like to think I’m a reasonable person, though.
• No rules lawyering.
• You may not make posts just to advance your research or building progress. The following are a few examples of what would be considered “techposts”:
o “The fleet continues to maneuver.”
o “Character waits.” Unless you are put into a situation where your character has to wait by another player. In that case, if you have nothing else to post BUT this, you may.
o “The research on technology continues.”
o “The ships are continuing to be built.”
o Essentially, posts should be around three sentences long at the minimum and should have some substance to them. You do not necessarily have to be interacting with someone else (more on that below), as long as it has substance to it.
• When you are roleplaying with yourself (self-RPing as I call it), i.e. when you are describing what a character is doing in his off time when nobody else is around (please don’t go there), then I hold you to a bit of a higher standard than if you were RPing with somebody else. Try to write a paragraph (five sentences) at least.
• No species or characters with PSI levels over 8 unless granted permission.
• No overpowered ships/techs/species/nations. Essentially what this means is that your species cannot be the best species in the universe at everything. No 10 foot tall superhuman psionics who can lift 100 tons, for instance.
• Be civil with each-other (out of character, anyway. In character, feel free to hate each-other!)
• Don’t metagame (i.e. use OOC information in-character. If someone says they plan to attack you out of character, you cannot attack them in the RP without probable cause)
• Follow the rules of Roleplayer Guild! This should go without saying.
Wiki
In order to organize important information like lore, the ship system, and the tech tree, I have created a wiki for Shattered Stars. Feel free to create articles for your species, characters, nations, planets, or whatever! The point of the wiki is to collect all of the important information in the RP and make it easy for people to access.
I also happen to like designing wikis.
Link: shattered-stars-roleplay.wikia.com/wik..
I wasn't sure at first whether to put it in the Nation RP section or the Casual RP section, but I decided on Casual because character control and interaction is also a big part of it, and because people post faster in here - you'll see why that's important in the "Per-Post Empire Building System" section later.
I've created a Wikia site to store some of the more lengthy bits of information, such as ship equipment design point costs and the technology tree. They would be too long to include on the forum. If you do not feel comfortable visiting the wiki, let me know and I will post parts of the tech tree / ship system.
So without further ado, here is the design document I've cooked up over the past few days.
Introduction
Space… the great black void that is the home of the entire universe. Never-ending, always changing, home to billions upon billions of galaxies, themselves home to billions upon billions of stars. Within these star systems, some gave rise to the miracle of the universe; life. Some of this life was doomed to die, but some was destined to flourish. Through billions of years of evolution, some of this life eventually left the cradle of their existence and spread among the stars.
One such form of life was humanity. Born on the planet Earth, they eventually took hold of the stars and claimed their destiny for themselves. For centuries they expanded across the known worlds, their empire encompassing thousands upon thousands of star systems. But there was one thing the humans couldn’t conquer: their own nature. Violent, tribalistic, and xenophobic were they. Such qualities helped them build their flourishing nation, but with no enemies left to fight, they turned upon each-other. So grand in scale was the Humans’ war that the galaxy still bears its scars today. But the humans’ extinction event this was not to be, and they persisted, diminished and broken.
Now, centuries later, a new generation of life is reaching towards the stars. The void left by humanity will be filled, of that there is no question; the question is how. Will it be by sword? Will it be by diplomacy? By deception? It seems that soon, we’ll know.
It is in this galaxy that you are born, and it is in this galaxy that you will likely die. What happens in-between is your choice, and what you will be remembered for. Your destiny is in your own hands, now, no longer bound by atmosphere or gravity. It is Standard Year 2870, and the galaxy is at your fingertips. Only with intelligence, prestige, and strength, will you survive and flourish in the never-ending void of space.
Starmap
Philosophy
• Freedom within reason
• Logical, orderly “gameplay” systems which provide for organization without making things overly complicated
• Ability to have variety between different nations
• Semi-hard sci-fi, not Star Trek tier but not realistic either
• Some abstractions are necessary – i.e. “time dilation” when someone is using character control while another player is using empire control
• Can use both character control and empire control completely interchangeably – you can also just use one if you don’t like the other
• Flexibility in terms of rules
• Focused on making things fun without compromising organization and order
Signup Sheets
Notes: Use sheets as they apply. You do not need to fill out a character sheet if you do not intend to use a character, for instance. Some sheets are also not essential, even if you are creating something that a sheet exists for – i.e. you do not need to create a planet or solar system sheet for every solar system or planet you visit or colonize, though it is encouraged. Essential sheets have their titles surrounded by square brackets, whereas non-essential sheets are denoted by squiggly brackets. Certain fields on some of the sheets are optional, which are denoted by a + next to the field name (as opposed to the – associated with required fields).
Mechanics Explained
• The Per-Post Empire Building System: In Shattered Stars, constructing ships, space stations, or researching new technologies is done through posts. In order to keep the game orderly, building or researching have post costs. For instance, to build a frigate (see below) you will have to spend 15 posts. When you start construction on the frigate, you have 1/15 posts complete (the first post counts towards it). Every time you post, you add one so you get 2/15, 3/15, and so on. When you reach 15, the frigate is complete and can now be used in the game. The same principle applies for researching or reverse-engineering technology, as well as constructing space stations.
• The PSI Scale: The Psionic Standard Identification scale is used to measure psionic ability in individuals as well as entire species. Psionic abilities include powers ranging from mind-reading, telepathic communication, and telekinesis to, on the absolute highest level, virtual godhood. The PSI Scale is a series of numbers from 0 to 15, with 0 being inanimate, 1 being normal (no psionic abilities at all), and 15 being, essentially, “Ascended”. Ascension grants the Ascended a form made of pure psionic energy – Ascension is impossible without hyper-advanced technology, however. So no ascended characters! The PSI Scale is covered in more detail on its wiki page. Without special permission from the GM, species cannot have an average PSI greater than 7. Individuals can be up to level 8, but please do not make literally everyone a level 8 PSI.
• Ship Design: The ship design system works on a fairly basic principle. Every ship has a set amount of Design Points which you can spend on things like defenses and engines.
o You have several different ship “types”, which denote the size range as well as the total amount of Design Points you have available. The basic types that we start with are Corvettes, Frigates, Destroyers, and Cruisers (each one being larger and with more DP than the previous). Further variation is possible, as the amount of posts taken to build the vessel directly reflects the DP you have available.
o Each type has a base post amount as well as “wiggle room” where you can add posts to the build time in exchange for more design points – you can add up to four additional posts on top of the base build time for the type. For instance, Frigates have a build time of 15 posts, but you are able to expand that to 19.
o Each post of build time is worth ten design points. So, for frigates, the base DP available is 150 – but can be increased to 185. The first three additional posts that you add grant you 10 extra design points each, but the fourth grants you only 5 additional DP.
o The exact design point costs of the various amenities that your ship can be equipped with are available on the wiki.
o Refitting your ships with new technologies is not a gameplay element – when a new technology is researched, just assume every ship now has that technology (unless you or the RPer in control of the ships states otherwise)
o Everybody starts with 50 ships of whatever classes you want (ship sheets are not IMMEDIATELY required for all classes upon joining, but MUST be submitted in the next few days)
• Shipyards: Ships are constructed via shipyards.
o Shipyards are built by Construction Craft, which are a special type of vessel that you don’t actually design. In order to build construction craft, you must, of course, have a shipyard (though if you decide to start out without shipyards or if all of them are destroyed, CCs can be built manually for 3x the normal post cost). CCs take 4 posts to construct.
o Shipyards have a base cost of 30 posts, and always require one construction craft to build the shipyard; however you can have up to three construction craft working on a shipyard at once, in order to speed up the process. Each additional construction craft takes 3 posts off of the build time of the shipyard, potentially lowering it to 24 posts per shipyard.
o A shipyard can only build ONE ship at a time. So the maximum number of ships you can build at once is dependent on the number of shipyards you have – if you have 30 shipyards, you can only build up to 30 ships at one time.
o Everybody starts with 10 shipyards and 20 construction craft.
• Research: Technological research takes place via posts, in a similar way to construction.
o Technologies have prerequisites. In order to research a technology, you must have researched all of its prerequisites.
o You can research up to three technologies at a time, but you cannot research a technology and its prerequisites at the same time.
o You can submit new technologies for addition to the tech tree, but you may not start research on them until they are officially accepted by one of the game masters.
o See the wiki article for the technology list.
o When you join, you are given 50 points to spend on starting technologies. If you select a starter technology with prerequisites, you must also spend points on the prerequisites. Any technologies you pick with your points are technologies your nation/species has at the very beginning, without having to research them.
• Precursor Ruins: In the universe of Shattered Stars, there existed many civilizations that are now extinct or extant. Some of the ruins of these civilizations still exist in the present, and are known as “Precursor Ruins”. Precursor is a blanket term which is used to describe any extinct, advanced spacefaring civilization. Their ruins often contain valuable technological artifacts, which can range from AI technology to advanced starships.
o Precursor ruins will be found at random and can only be found when the GM gives you permission. Technologies found inside of the ruins are up to the GM’s discretion.
o When you find technology in a Precursor Ruin, you do not instantly gain that technology. You must reverse-engineer it. The amount of posts this takes is again up to the GM’s discretion.
o Please do not beg to be given a Precursor Ruin.
o The method to determine who finds the ruin is by rolling a die with the same amount of sides as there are players in the game. Each player is assigned a number and if their number is rolled, they will be able to discover a ruin.
o This “draw” happens whenever the GM decides is appropriate.
Rules
• The GM’s word is final. You can argue a call if you think it is unfair, but in the end the decision is up to the GM. I like to think I’m a reasonable person, though.
• No rules lawyering.
• You may not make posts just to advance your research or building progress. The following are a few examples of what would be considered “techposts”:
o “The fleet continues to maneuver.”
o “Character waits.” Unless you are put into a situation where your character has to wait by another player. In that case, if you have nothing else to post BUT this, you may.
o “The research on technology continues.”
o “The ships are continuing to be built.”
o Essentially, posts should be around three sentences long at the minimum and should have some substance to them. You do not necessarily have to be interacting with someone else (more on that below), as long as it has substance to it.
• When you are roleplaying with yourself (self-RPing as I call it), i.e. when you are describing what a character is doing in his off time when nobody else is around (please don’t go there), then I hold you to a bit of a higher standard than if you were RPing with somebody else. Try to write a paragraph (five sentences) at least.
• No species or characters with PSI levels over 8 unless granted permission.
• No overpowered ships/techs/species/nations. Essentially what this means is that your species cannot be the best species in the universe at everything. No 10 foot tall superhuman psionics who can lift 100 tons, for instance.
• Be civil with each-other (out of character, anyway. In character, feel free to hate each-other!)
• Don’t metagame (i.e. use OOC information in-character. If someone says they plan to attack you out of character, you cannot attack them in the RP without probable cause)
• Follow the rules of Roleplayer Guild! This should go without saying.
Wiki
In order to organize important information like lore, the ship system, and the tech tree, I have created a wiki for Shattered Stars. Feel free to create articles for your species, characters, nations, planets, or whatever! The point of the wiki is to collect all of the important information in the RP and make it easy for people to access.
I also happen to like designing wikis.
Link: shattered-stars-roleplay.wikia.com/wik..
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