Psi-Wars Playtest Session 1 After-Action Report.

Player Characters

Knight Commander Evander Rook, Imperial Space Knight
Sherri Grace, Slave-Soldier Bounty Hunter
 Abbot Chance, Imperial Intelligence Handler
Captain Nal Aldru, Imperial Black Ops Fighter Ace
 Lieutenant Kyra Elso, Imperial Black Ops Handler
Commodore Sho-Taro Greaves, Imperial Navy Officer, CO of the Warmain
 Commander Badri Hara, Imperial Navy Officer, XO of the Warmain
Agent Damari Nash, Imperial Intelligence Spy

This past Saturday we had our first Psi-Wars playtest session, one that I've been looking forward ever since it was announced back in August. The scenario in brief is that Director Thorn, an archaeologist notable for finding interesting artifacts, discovered something particularly interesting on Grist. For reasons as yet unknown, he appealed directly to the Emperor's Hand for assistance in securing his find and rooting out a potential traitor.

For reasons that also remain unknown, the Emperor's Hand chose to send a Commodore and a Knight Commander as part of his carefully chosen set of agents. However, the high rank of both of these characters illustrates the importance of the mission, as did the choice to assign the Empire-class Dreadnought Warmain to the group.

The session began with a briefing on Grist by the lovely Lieutenant Shao-Chan Sun. The information given was...lacking in detail, and the carefully whitewashed nature of the reports gives the impression that someone, or several someones, are covering up the reality. Officially, the rebellion on Grist has been put down, the population is surly and disrespectful, but under control, and the local governor Gideon Voss and the military commander Subadmiral Shaw Starlane are doing at least a competent job.

Knight Commander Rook, not believing the reports given about the rebellion, had previously investigated the matter using the resources of the Order of Imperial Space Knights. This revealed that there were several potential leaders of the rebellion active on the planet.

The Order also underscored the importance of Director Thorn's work, with potentially mystical pronouncements about how he and his work would be vital in defending against a coming galactic invasion. Rook also received a prophecy of the usual vague sort, but it may prove important.

Nal, our Black Ops commando, received reports that the Cybernetic Union was likely working to foment rebellion and might mount an attack on the planet in the near future. Hardly the "everything's under control" that the local authorities want us to believe.

Of the Alliance, there were no indications that they were active near Grist, which is a long way from their holdings in the Light Arm.

As the briefing concluded, the Warmain exited hyperspace, only to be rocked by an explosion! As the alarm klaxons wailed, it soon became apparent that the explosion was caused by a collision with a fighter of an unknown type, and more of them were attacking a beautifully styled Taj Mahal class yacht. A yacht bearing the markings of the Shinjurai, a people who hail from Alliance space! Clearly, the news that the Alliance was not active near Grist was inaccurate.

Commodore Greaves, being the carefully prepared officer, was quickly able to respond to the situation (he has the Battlestations and Scramble! perks) by launching fighters and locking the yacht in a tractor beam. Nal and his handler Kyri jumped into fighters to join the fray, while Sherri persuaded her own handler to let her "borrow" a fighter as well.

Nal, as a Fighter Ace, performed well, severely damaging the enemy ace's fighter and narrowly evading return fire before destroying him the next turn. More interestingly, Sherri took down two fighters as well, though she was not a dedicated space combat character.

I don't remember what the Warmain's fighters did in this fight, which probably speaks to how insignificant they were, since the unknown fighters broke and fled after their ace went down.

Meanwhile, Rook and Nash made their way to the Warmain's hangar to oversee the boarding operation. The yacht possessed verification codes, but with a pattern that marked them as forgeries. Believing the yacht to potentially be involved in spying, Rook ordered that the crew be taken into custody. The space knight was greeted by a protocol droid, who said the "Princess" would meet him.

Rook and Nash followed the droid to the bridge, where they were indeed greeted by Princess of the Shinjurai. She claimed that she was asked to come to Grist by Director Thorn himself, and that she had a recorded transmission from him to prove it. After letting the terrified crew play the message, Nash spotted it as a forgery. Rook, after both rolling a Very Good reaction from the princess (it helps that he has Aspect) and deescalating the situation into something more conversational, invited the princess on to the Warmain to "continue the conversation". Which is a nicer way of saying interrogation, but appearances matter.

During this, Nal and Sherri were pursuing the fleeing fighters, and discovered that they were attempting to hide in the belt of debris surrounding the planet Grist. Sherri destroyed her quarry, so that was a dead end, but Nal was able to disable another of the fighters. After a bit of trash talking and rolling a 3(!) on Intimidation, he convinced the enemy pilot to reveal everything he knew. Apparently, he was hired for the attack on the yacht, but by whom? The plot thickens!

Still on the bridge, Commodore Greaves fielded a call from Subadmiral Starlane, who wanted to know just what the Warmain was doing showing up unannounced. He also demanded that the yacht and all aboard be turned over to him. Greaves, in response, showed Starlane the Imperial Mandate that gave him and the other PCs operational autonomy, then broke the call.

Now in a conference room aboard the Warmain, Commodore Greaves joined Rook in questioning the Princess, whose name we apparently never learned. However, we did learn that she was an admirer of Director Thorn and the Neo-Rationalist philosophy he espouses. When Thorn apparently asked her to bring an artifact from her family's vaults, the Princess jumped at the chance to meet her idol and followed the course that he gave without question.

Intriguingly, Thorn also asked that she bring an artifact, the Marrowheart, with her. Odds are that it's a power source or control device for something Thorn uncovered, and until we know more, it's going to stay safely locked up in the Warmain's vaults. The director is probably loyal, but letting a scientist as enthusiastic as he is have everything he wants is not a wise course of action.

The session ended there, but with a great deal to follow up on for next time.

Thoughts

The best thing about this session was that it got me excited about what was going to happen next. We've got a mysterious discovery on Grist, a Princess who's potentially the dupe of the traitor in Thorn's group, two major Imperial leaders who surely have secrets to hide, and a Gristian "rebel" pilot to interrogate.

I also had fun listening to Nal's player. He does the mindset of a gruff soldier well, and should prove very entertaining if I make good on my threat to pull him into a formal dinner.

On the downside, the session showed some of the weaknesses of a voice-only game. It's hard to know who's talking, but more than that, it's easy to overlook people who might want to have input or who haven't had a chance to speak. I think that this can be solved by doing a round-robin approach, where each person takes a turn in order to speak.

The space combat part went slow, and I think a large part of that is that no one is fluent with the rules yet. Mailanka, the GM, has examined them thoroughly, but it's clear that more practice, greater streamlining, or both may be needed to have them run smoothly.

For my character, Rook, having to ask what the range is for Aspect is annoying. The ability takes standard range penalties, but since it's often going to be used in non-combat situations, having to know just how far away someone is adds another detail. On the upside, it led to a Very Good reaction from the Princess, and I think that will be very useful going forward.

I was also disappointed that I didn't get a fight when Rook and his troopers boarded the Princess's yacht, but it was still fun to do the whole "We are the Empire and we are in charge" bit.

On that point, the group has a lot of power, in theory. They have the Warmain, which is a dreadnought and the most powerful class in the galaxy, a full regiment of ground troops, two hundred fighters, and two high ranking Imperial officers. They also have an Imperial Mandate that gives them free reign to accomplish their mission and orders everyone to cooperate.

That's the theory. In practice, the local governor and garrison commander could stall us using any number of procedural excuses, and if it came down to it, the subadmiral has more firepower than we do. More importantly, our objectives are to secure Director Thorn's findings and return it and him to Sovereign. We don't yet know what it is he's found, or what help he'll need to move it. Until we have more information, we need to tread lightly.

As far as character creation went, I found it to be a smooth and relatively painless process. In fact, the hardest part for me was learning how to use GCS. Oh, and picking gear. I still don't have a good sense of what equipment I should get, so while Rook has a very nice (and very expensive!) set of armor and a matching force sword, he still has more than half of his $1 million budget to spend. Note: Most characters don't have that much money. Rook is just Very Wealthy.

Everyone seems to have interesting backstories and motivations for their characters, but we didn't get a chance to explore that much this session. Hopefully the next one will allow for more intraparty roleplay.

Also, only one person in a group of five relatively high ranking Imperial PCs had Politics. I think we're all correcting that with our 3 points for the session. Heh.

Plans

For the next session in November, we're going to do what I'm calling Operation Trojan Horse and see if we can lure the person the Princess was supposed to meet into a trap. I don't expect anything to come of this, since they probably know about the battle in space and went into hiding, but maybe we'll get lucky.

After that, I believe an immediate with Director Thorn is in order. We need to know what's going on, find out what the Director needs, and work to secure his findings. From everything we've heard so far, it's probably some large, powerful alien technology that could have major ramifications for the galaxy.

Rook now has two secondary goals. The first is to cultivate the Princess as an asset for the Empire. Since she has a connection to the royal family of Shinjurai, she's a link to a world deep in Alliance space. Since that world is also home to a population who may harbor separatist leanings, they have the potential to change the course of the war against the Alliance. Also, if her relationship with Director Thorn is as good as she believes, the Princess may help keep him happy and cooperative.

A little manipulative, isn't it? Well, Rook serves the Emperor first and foremost, and accomplishing the Emperor's goals is paramount. However, if the Princess is as sincere as Rook believes, he may be able to help her meet her idol, which would be good for her.

Rook's second goal is to see Governor Voss investigated for corruption, and if found guilty of that and collusion with rebels, see him strung up on the appropriate charges. It seems like Voss has been enriching himself at the expense of the people of Grist, and since that threatens the Emperor's order, Rook cannot allow it to stand.

Psi-Wars: Ruminations on the Anti-Psi Space Knight

Continuing my series on the Space Knight, I’m going to delve into what they can do with their psionics, starting with Anti-Psi. For a more general overview of what you can do with Anti-Psi, see the Anti-Psi in Action post over on Mailanka’s Musings.

Starting Off

A Space Knight has a minimum of one level of talent and 20 points in actual abilities. What does that get you with Anti-Psi? As a general rule, this level of investment gets you abilities that only affect yourself, need skin to skin contact to work, or need a god-like extra effort to pull them off at range. Plan accordingly.

Astral Blade 1 gives you an attack against things like Force Ghosts, and against material targets you can drain Psionic Energy Reserves.. The latter ability is the more useful one, especially since it can’t be detected, can’t be taken away from, and directly attacks Energy Reserves. However, this is an extremely weak ability. Immaterial targets are rare, the psis you face may not have energy reserves, and if they have any amount of armor it’s completely negated.

Interruption 1 is the max you’re going to buy with 20 points, which means that it requires skin-to-skin contact with a subject to work. Even with skill 17 and extra effort, you’re still only going to really be able to do this at very short range at best. This isn’t all bad, though, since it gives you a way to break the influence a psi might have on someone, and it’s another avenue of resistance if a psi is trying to use them on you.

Para-Invsibility 3 gives a -3 to a psi’s attempts to detect you and anything near you with psi. This isn’t a lot, but it might make the difference between a psi getting their Danger Sense off or not, and that could make a world of difference in a fight. You’re also harder to see coming, which can be useful. With extra-effort, that goes up to -6, which still won’t guarantee protection, but it will help a lot!

Psionic Shield 10 should be read as “Immunity to Mind Tricks”, among other things. Telepaths are going to have a very hard affecting you, if they can do it at all. With extra-effort, you can extend this protection to everyone standing near you, which can be very useful if you’re going after a Telepath.

Screaming 1 may not seem impressive, but since you can buy up to skill 19, you can do more with it than you might think. On its own, it’s a potent defense against any psionics that would affect you or anything you’re carrying. You can also reliably extend this protection to anyone standing very close to you, and if you’re in melee with a psi, they’re going to have a much harder time using combat abilities. With Tiring Scream, a psi will quickly decide to leave you alone.

Resistant to Psionics +8 is another very potent defence, and is perhaps the most generally useful ability you can get with starting points. No matter what the psi is trying to use on you, it’s going to be very hard for them to make it work.

For Anti-Psi perks, Gaze into the Abyss will likely rattle psis, especially if you have one of the defensive abilities. Hostile Dampening is good for scaring psis and getting information out of them. Nonthreatening helps you get close to your targets, while Personal Awareness helps you notice when someone is trying to affect you. Simple Defense is good for making psis regret trying to affect you, whether or not they succeed, and Tolerance makes it more difficult to affect you with certain abilities.

In short, with one level of Talent, an Anti-Psi Space Knight is mostly focused on defense against psionics. There’s variations in the particular flavor you can get, but it all boils down into how you protect yourself against psi.

With 50-Points

I’m going to preface this by noting that, no matter what abilities you choose, the active ones are almost always resisted. Since any psi worth their salt is going to have good levels of skill and Will in their abilities, figure that you’ve got a 50% chance at best of pulling these off.

Astral Blade 7 is a very minor improvement over the base version. If you’re regularly fighting immaterial threats, it would be useful, but it’s just too narrowly effective to be worth the points otherwise.

Cancellation is a very potent ability, if you can touch the psi. Even with Cancellation 3 [50], you still need to make some contact with the psi. With extra-effort, you can do it at range, and at significant range if you can hit level 5, but the penalty to your skill from both range and extra-effort will make it difficult to affect the psi. If you have Luck, this is a good place to use it! You can also use this as Interruption, so keep that in mind.

Interruption 3 makes you very aggravating for a psi to deal with. If you can recognize that they’re trying to do something, you can try and shut it down, and the range penalties aren’t too bad. You’re going to want to buy as much Will and Talent as you can, though, because it’s all Quick Contests and psis tend to have good skill levels.

Para-Invsibility 10 means that you and anything near you can’t be detected with psi. Period. They can’t see you coming, they can’t find you, and they can’t use anything on you until they can physically see you. The downside is that you need to roll every minute. Try and persuade your GM to let you have No Nuisance Rolls for this.

Psionic Overload 3 lets you use this at range, but arguably, you’re better off just getting Psionic Overload 2 and using the rest to buy up skill, Will, and Talent. This is cheaper than Cancellation, but it’s much less predictable in its effects. The greater likelihood of affecting your target should be weighed against the hazards of uncontrolled psionics. If you have Cancellation, then using this becomes a 5 point upgrade to that ability.

Psionic Shield 25 is ludicrous. Psis won’t be able to affect your mind, but you’re better off buying Psi Static. Still, something like Psionic Shield 10 is pretty good, especially if you put points in Talent, Will, and Skill to be able to use the techniques effectively. Expansion in particular may prove important!

Screaming 3 lets you generate a 2 yard radius around yourself where psis have a much harder time operating. With the extra points, you can even buy up more skill to make it harder still. However, the drawback is that you have to Concentrate to use this ability. You’ll need allies to effectively use this ability.

True Sight lets you see past psionic illusions, but how useful this is seems rather dubious. Psi-Wars psionics include very little in the way of illusions, and so it’s unlikely that this will come up much. Perhaps against certain types of Broken Communion?

Psi Static is the ultimate in personal protection against psionics. They can’t affect you, they can’t see you coming with psionics, and there is nothing they can do about it. This is perhaps the best ability Anti-Psi offers, because it’s guaranteed to work.

Conclusion

The single biggest problem with Anti-Psi abilities is that they’re almost always contested. Any competent psi is going to have good levels of skill and especially Will, and since so many of your abilities work only at close range by default, you can’t really sacrifice skill for range. Screaming is an exception, but you still need to get close and you can’t do anything else while screaming.

Really, if you want to go the Psi-Hunter route, take Resistant to Psi +8 and spend your 50 Power-Up points on something else. Your abilities are too unreliable and limited to do more as a 300 point character.

Psi-Wars: Ruminations on the Basic Space Knight

Jedi are some of the most iconic figures in Star Wars, and fittingly, Psi-Wars has its own variation in the form of Space Knights. However, it would be a mistake to directly compare the two. Where Force wielders in Star Wars are essentially pretty similar, with the major distinction being whether they’re the good guy Jedi or the bad guy Sith, Psi Wars has far more variations. The type of psionics that a Space Knight uses and the 50 point Power-Up lens they choose have a great deal of effect on just what they can do. There’s so much potential variation, in fact, that this is only going to be one in a series of posts on the Space Knight. Today, we’ll look at the traits common to all Space Knights.

Space Knights

The Basic Chassis

All Space Knights come with ST 11, DX 12, IQ 13, HT 11, and Will 15. Thus, like most action heroes, they’re going to be at least passably competent in just about anything they choose to study. The high Will, in particular, is important for many psionic abilities that are based on Will, and is just a little shy of letting most abilities qualify for No Nuisance Rolls with a minimum of point investment. It also means that Intimidation is going to be your best social skill, which is handy for Contests of Will in a duel.

Space Knights also come with Combat Reflexes and Weapon Master (Force Sword). Combat Reflexes is pretty standard for any combat-oriented template, but Weapon Master deserves some further consideration. If you know the relevant skill at DX+2, you get +2 per die to damage with that weapon. Since all Space Knights have this, your standard Force Sword deals a whopping 8d+16 (5) damage! That’s enough to get past up to DR 220 on average. Since the maximum protection personal armor offers is DR 120, anyone you hit is dead. Okay, some people will survive, but typically you’re forcing unconsciousness checks and at least one death check.

As a result, the moment you turn that force sword on, expect to draw everyone’s attention. If you want to survive, invest in good armor or your defensive abilities. Fortunately, depending on which force sword skill package you choose, your parries start at 12 or 13, and your Precognitive Defense starts at 13. Fast-Draw (Force Sword) also helps you get your blade in your hand quickly, which begins at 13 as well.

Speaking of combat skills, depending on whether you fight with one weapon, two weapons, or a weapon and a shield, you’re looking at 16 or 18 in your chosen weapon type (force sword or saber). This isn’t amazing, but you’ll at least threaten hits consistently, and have a bit of skill to spend on fancier tricks. Picking up a force buckler is great for your defenses, while the Dual Weapon Attack package improves your offense. In any case, the net result is that you’re very dangerous at melee range, and even shooting at you is unwise unless you’re trying to deflect a lot of shots at once.

For other skills, you have Meditation-14, Philosophy-13, Stealth-12, a choice of Brawling or Karate, and Wrestling or Judo. Meditation and Philosophy are your mystic skills, Stealth is an everyman skill, and the rest are back-ups for close-in fighting.

In conclusion, the basic space knight is a competent if not outstanding melee fighter with a supremely dangerous weapon, and potential to do well in other areas. Unfortunately, you’re also a very tempting target, so try to avoid putting yourself in situations where you draw a lot of fire.

Advantage Options

With only 20 points to spend, you’re not going to pick up a whole lot here. Improved DX and IQ are both tempting, since either of them applies to a lot of your abilities. IQ in particular is great, since it adds to your psionics and your Precognitive Defense. Devotion is good if you plan to focus on the mystic side of the Space Knight, while Enhanced Dodge and Enhanced Parry may very well save your life in a pitched battle.

Destiny and Luck are handy for getting out of a jam, but they’re limited use and so are really emergency-only abilities. Wealth is another interesting option, since good armor and weapons are expensive, and it’s a lot easier to foot the bill if you have Wealth.

Disadvantage Options

Not much to say here. They’re all about what sort of a knight you are. Are you the heroic, knight in shining armor sort? The wandering beggar knight? Or a bloodthirsty dark knight?

Be careful choosing Vow (Poverty) and Wealth (Struggling or Poor), though. Good armor can save you from the attacks you’re likely to face, and forgoing it means relying on skill.

Skill Options

Between your background lens and the secondary skill options, you actually have a lot of options here. Acrobatics and Climbing are suitable for agile space knights, Armoury if you want to tinker with your weapon, and Literature, Law, History, and Intelligence Analysis for understanding what’s going on. Intimidation deserves particular note for how well it synergizes with your high Will, and again, it’s valuable in Contests of Will. Keep that in mind.

Still, you’re not going to be particularly outstanding at any of these, though your high attributes will give you a decent skill level with anything you choose to take.

Martial Arts

With only six points to spend and one those dedicated to a Style Familiarity, you’re not going to get a lot out of this. Depending on your skill choices, you may have to spend some of those points just for the buy-in for the style. You can get a perk or two, and maybe invest in a style technique. Your choices here are mostly a statement of how you’re going to fight.

More to Come…

By default, your standard space knight is a competent combatant with a smattering of other skills and the beginnings of a distinctive martial style. Where they really get interesting is in their choice of psionic ability and 50 point Power-Up lens. However, each of these needs a post of their own, since there’s so much to think about and choose with each. Stay tuned for most posts on the Space Knight.

Psi-Wars: Ruminations on Fighter Aces

I’ve been working on making a character for Mailanka’s Psi Wars, and I’ve decided to share my thoughts on the character templates as I go through them. Today’s entry is the Fighter Ace, the hot shot pilots of the Psi-Wars universe.

Fighter Ace

Core Activity

Fighter Aces have pretty simple lives. Their job is to be the best starfighter pilots in the galaxy, and wow, do they ever succeed at it. They have a bare minimum of 20 in Piloting (Starships) and Gunner (Beams), which is pretty good. In fact, it’s so good that you can probably forgo spending any more points on it and still do well. If you double down on piloting, get a Higher Purpose, Daredevil, Enhanced Dodge (Vehicular), and more Gunner and Piloting skill, you could easily hit total skills of 23, with a Dodge of 12 before starfighter modifiers. And this is without spending power-up lens points on it.

My suggestion, then, is not to worry about your piloting skills, because you’re a great pilot already, and think about what distinguishes you from other pilots, starting with how you fight. Do you like to push the limits of your starfighter and pull off reckless stunts to gain advantage? Then spend points on the Maverick style. If you like missiles and other heavy ordnance, Bombardier Is your go-to, and buy up your Artillery (Guided Missile) skill.

What if you’re not just a great pilot, but a great pilot who works well with others? Then get Leadership and the Starfighter Academy Training style. In particular, Formation Flier is great because you can extend some of your skill to the rest through ranged feints, while if there’s an ever better pilot in the formation, you can substitute their skill for yours. I kinda wish that it instead let you lead the rest of the formation in stunts without them needing to make their own rolls, though. Wing Commander lets you encourage your wingmates with Leadership at no penalty, which is nice.

Associated Activities

Before I go into the rest of the template, I’d like to talk about what else the template is good at, based on just their core skills. `First off, and most obviously, a hot shot pilot is the party’s designated driver. If it flies or hovers, you can make it go. Whether it’s an aerospace fighter or a hefty tub of a corvette, odds are you’re the best qualified to fly it, whether or not you’ve ever trained on that model.

You’re also good with heavy weapons. This includes vehicle-mounted weapons, of course, but if your Commando buddy is hauling around missile tubes or squad support weapons, you’re a great back-up for using them.

With Navigation (Hyperspace), you’re also respectable at making sure you end up at the right planet, though since you only have 13 by default, I wouldn’t try and get too fancy with your navigation. It’s not on the template, but Hot Shot Pilot also adds to Navigation (Air) and Navigation (Space). Since daring raids through canyons and other difficult terrain are very much in-genre, knowing how to get through them really should be a template option.

Everyman Tasks

For the most part, you’re merely decent with anything that doesn’t involve flying, though DX 14 helps with a lot of these tasks. For weapons, your go-to is the blaster pistol or blaster rifle. Carousing, Intimidation, Fast-Talk, and Sex-Appeal are your options for talking to people. If you want to be good at talking to people, a level of Appearance and Charisma will help out. With Savoir-Faire (Military), you can also work with military personnel, which can be handy if your starfighter needs repairs.

Stealth is on the template, and you’re not half-bad at it with a 14, but when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, your best advice is to just stay out. Karate, Brawling, Judo, and Wrestling aren’t going to do much good with ST 10.

You also have Electronic Operations (EW, Comms, or Sensors) as options. The keyword here is SIGINT. If you’re trying to listen in on radio communications, or you need to talk to someone, or you need to figure out where those strange emissions are coming from, you’re a good stand-by option.

Backgrounds

For Fighter Aces, the additional skills are invaluable. Your template options are rather limited when it comes to out-of-cockpit tasks, but your background will give you more options. Outcast gives you more street level skills, Survivor is great for overland and wilderness adventuring, and Aristocrat provides a gateway to high society.

Wanderer deserves particular note as a Fighter Ace background. Since a Fighter Ace naturally spends a lot of time on spaceships, the skills and traits of this background synergize particularly well with the template.

Power-Ups

Experienced and Heroic are your clear go-tos for Fighter Aces. Experienced lets you become an even better pilot, while Heroic’s Destiny and other improvements are great for all-around competence. I’m going to delve into Experienced more with the Upgrades discussion.

Martial Artist is an interesting option, since it offers Weapon Master and proficiency with a style. With DX 14, you have the potential to be fairly competent, too. Picking up a force sword may be a good idea. Too bad Gunslinger isn’t an option in this Power-Up, or I’d suggest taking Way of the Galaxy to get really good with that blaster pistol of yours!

Magnate also has potential, since with Very Wealthy, you can afford a rather heavily customized starship, and probably more than one! It also gives you more organizational pull, which is helpful for getting back-up in combat and covering your lack of expertise in other areas.

Cybernetic strikes me as rather marginal. Fighter Aces are not physical combatants, and so most of the cybernetics aren’t useful to you. Maybe the bionic eyes and their HUD and Telescopic Vision would be useful, but I’m dubious. You flat-out don’t qualify for Communion, so no fancy miracles for you.

Upgrades

You need the Experienced Power-Up to get any of these at character creation.

At the moment, there are two options for upgrades for Fighter Aces. Your first is the Evasion package. Its rationale is representing the training or experience to survive getting shot down, and you’ll certainly have that. With Navigation and Survival, you’ll have a decent chance of getting back out alive. Lockpicking and more Stealth are great for getting into places you really shouldn’t.

The other is Starfighter Tinkerer. As the name suggests, you’re pretty good at working with your starfighter. If you want to be making custom modifications to your ship, this is definitely something you’ll want to get. It’s also surprisingly useful in other ways. Engineering (Starship) will help you figure out where the important parts of ships are, Mechanic (Starships) is great for hot wiring a new ride, and Armoury (Heavy Weapons) has a great deal of potential. It’s not in the upgrade, but Mailanka agrees that Electronics Repair (Any) is a natural fit.

Summary

Fighter Aces are pilots, and if you left it at that, you’d be right. But with so much skill to start with, it’s easy for them to take their Power-Up and Background points and become respectably competent even when they’re not in the cockpit, at least in a few areas.

An Introduction to Psi-Wars

It is a time of civil war. The Federation, a coalition of noble houses that have ruled the galaxy for centuries, has been overthrown. Impoverished and alienated by increasing use of robotic labor, and incensed by the execution of a populist war hero, the people revolted and overthrew the aristocracy.

The leader of the revolt, a former naval officer, has declared himself Emperor on a promise to bring renewed prosperity to the people. To crack down on dissidents and suppress further rebellions, the Emperor has tightened his grip on the worlds of the Empire, giving agents of Imperial Security broad discretion in maintaining order. Abroad, the Imperial Navy conquers worlds, ostensibly for their own protection, but also to obtain their resources to feed an ever hungrier industrial-military complex.

The remaining noble houses, under the leadership of Duchess Nova Sabine, Duke Bale Grimshaw, Marchessa Anna Elegans, and Archbaron Kento Kain, have regrouped and reorganized themselves into the Alliance. Decrying the Empire’s abuses of power and pledging to bring a return to the golden era of the Federation, the Alliance stands in opposition to the Emperor’s increasingly autocratic rule.

Following a period of rapid Imperial expansion, the war slowed into a stalemate, and an uneasy détente has held for nearly a decade. Now, with Imperial fleets marshaling at the border and fiery rhetoric holding sway in the Senate of the Alliance, a new era of conflict is set to begin.

On the ground, blasters rule the battlefield, while soldiers wear light nanoweave and heavier diamondoid armor to protect themselves. In theskies above, fighters swoop gracefully in intense duels, screening might dreadnoughts as they trade broadsides, the light of laser cannons large and small creating a dazzling display.

The galaxy stands at a crossroads, and the actions of a few brave souls may all that decides whether the future will bring renewed prosperity, brutal tyranny, or utter oblivion. Will you join the Empire in their mission to bring order to the galaxy? Will you join the Alliance as they seek to restore the Federation? Or will you be a free agent, charting your own path through the chaos of this war-torn era?

Psi-Wars: Ruminations on House Kain

Completing my series on the noble houses of Psi-Wars, today's ruminations are on House Kain, the independent minded rogues with a love of cybernetics and defying tradition.

House Kain

Who are they?

House Kain is the great wild card of the Alliance, with a tradition of proud, willful action and little concern about noble appearances. This goes back as far as the founding of the Federation, for while House Kain was not invited to the first conclave, Kaito Kain showed up anyway, saying that “You’re not going to build an empire around me without me having something to say about it.” No one could truly fault his logic, and since he came with warships, just in case he was rebuffed, they decided to let him have his way.

This set the tone for Kain’s interactions with the rest of the Federation. While they profited off of the trade that the Federation brought to their territory, Kain made it clear that access to this route was at their pleasure. Nor did they particularly care for the niceties of polite Federation society, and while Kain never quite crossed the line into outright war, their relationship with the other noble houses can be described as “rough and tumble”.

Kain’s independent-mindedness served them well when the Emperor led his coup, for they’ve long taken care to ensure the self-sufficiency of their domain. Combined with the power of the alien station in orbit around Caliban, House Kain solidly controls the primary route into Alliance space, and is a major part of the Alliance’s military power. However, the other houses have not forgotten Kain’s strong arming and disdain for their tradition, and the house’s relationship with the rest of the Alliance is tense at best.

How do the common folk see them?

House Kain is viewed with a mix of awe and fear by the people of the Alliance. Awe for their martial prowess and ability to withstand the Empire’s assaults and their willingness to break from noble traditions. Fear, for their brutality in combat and their extensive cybernetic modifications.

The people of Caliban, House Kain’s homeworld, have a more nuanced view that comes of living with them for many generations. There’s a certain pride in the independent mindedness of their overlords, and a desire to see the house leave the Alliance and go its own way, like the days of Lothar Kain before the rise of Alexus.

How are they seen by the nobility in general?

As a rule, the nobility does not like House Kain, who they see as thugs with no sense whatsoever of aristocratic propriety. Unfortunately, they’re also too useful to alienate. Without the military power of House Kain, there’s a very real chance that the Alliance would fall soon after. Some of the noble houses are willing to take that risk, but at the present enough houses view Kain as too useful to lose, and carefully walk the line between giving in to their demands and alienating them entirely.

On the other hand, there’s a certain romanticism to House Kain’s defiance of tradition and traditional authority, and not a few young nobles fantasize about being spirited away by a dashing rogue to have grand adventures through the galaxy. Even among the older and more restrained nobles, there’s a grudging respect for Kain’s insistence on self-reliance and adherence to their own traditions.

What are the strengths of House Kain?

House Kain’s strength is that it is a self-sufficient power, as per very long standing tradition. If they were to be completely cut off from the rest of Alliance space, Kain has the industrial base to build and maintain their own warships, enough agriculture to feed its people, and so on. What they don’t have themselves, Kain will gladly get through their equally long tradition of raiding.

Knowledge of hyperspace routes is another asset of House Kain’s, for while most of the Alliance and the Empire believes that the only good route through the region is the one Caliban is on, there are more than that. Using these byways is treacherous without the navigational data that Kain jealously guards, however, and so the house has unparalleled mobility, allowing it to slip past attacking forces to devastate their supply lines.

The ancient, alien orbital fortress around Caliban is one of House Kain’s great trump cards, for this vast battlemoon is capable of devastating even fleets of dreadnoughts. Consequently, no attacking force has ever managed to reach Caliban’s atmosphere.

What are the weaknesses of House Kain?

The foremost weakness of House Kain is their pride. Their belief in their strength and independence, while well-founded, often leads to a sense of invincibility, that no matter what happens, House Kain will not fall. This leads them to underestimate the sheer power of the Empire, and to dismiss evidence of weakness in their own preparations.

In particular, Kain’s self-sufficiency is not as absolute as they would like to believe. Their industry relies on imports of key materials not found within the space they control, and without it they could be worn down by a long siege. If House Kain were to be cut off from the Alliance by an assault that went around their space, they would eventually fall.

The orbital fortress above Caliban is another potential weakness. It is an ancient, alien relic that not even they fully understand. A concerning possibility is that the Empire will uncover other artifacts from that civilization, ones that give them control over the battlemoon, and turn its power against House Kain right in the heart of their territory.

Would House Kain go rogue?

This is an additional question, but I think it’s an important consideration, given House Kain’s traditional independent mindedness and their ability to protect their own domain. While they may have the threat of secession as leverage, in a larger sense House Kain isn’t likely to break with the Alliance.

The first reason is pragmatic. If House Kain steps back and allows the Empire to defeat the Alliance, they’d end up surrounded by a power with little love for them. This doesn’t greatly concern them, for they believe that they can hold their territory against all comers, but they could still be bottled up in the Caliban system, a prospect House Kain doesn’t care for.

The second is more ideological. Kainians don’t back down from a fight, and the Empire is the biggest challenger they’ve had in a very long time. Win or lose, how could they pass up the glory of such an epic conflict? Even without the Alliance, House Kain would still be harassing the Empire, raiding its shipping, razing outposts, and generally being a major thorn in their side. How could they do otherwise?

That said, if their relationships with the other noble houses broke down and no reconciliation was possible, House Kain would go their own way and not look back.

How can House Kain be the good guys?

House Kain are not good guys in the traditional sense. They’re too willing to get their hands dirty for that, and they don’t think much of the gentle approach. What House Kain does offer, though, is the romanticism of the outlaw and the renegade. They may follow Alliance law in principle, but in practice they do things their own way, and don’t care much about what other people think.

Thus, you see in Kain not just defiance, but the ability to get away with defying tradition and traditional authority.

How can House Kain be the bad guys?

Kainians are brutal, ruthless thugs without compassion for those who oppose them. Their membership in the Alliance is solely a matter of convenience, for it provides a convenient group keeping the Empire from simply making an end run around their worlds.

If the rest of the Alliance is more idealized, they’ll want to be rid of the Kainians, but they’re too essential for their defence. If the Alliance is more cynical, then they tacitly condone or even approve of the brutality, so long as it’s directed towards their common enemies.

Which Communion Paths do they follow?

House Kain’s lack of psionics makes it more difficult for them to follow Communion Paths than other houses, at least consciously. Despite this, House Kain frequently embodies the Rebellious Beast, for they submit to no authority but their own. If their defiance of tradition and authority is channeled toward a cause rather than their own pride, then you may find Righteous Crusaders.

Kain’s heavy use of cybernetics, while acceptable and encouraged by their traditions, nonetheless distances them from humanity, with some falling into the Path of the Other as a result.

What role does House Kain’s cybernetics play?

Since Kain does not have psionics, they rely on cybernetics to augment their capabilities, especially when it comes to defending themselves against the psionics of other nobles. Particularly important is the Psyber Shield implant, since this guards them against mind reading and emotional manipulation by Telepaths, while the improved HT of their cybernetics guards them against Ergokinesis attacks.

More generally, Kainian cybernetics boost the user’s physical capabilities. Most obviously, this lets them use heavier and more equipment, especially in the area of weapons and armor. A Kainian knight in full combat kit is nearly proof against man portable weapons, though squad operated weapons may give him some pause, and that grand force sword will cut through anything in his path.

However, this ignores the utility of other cybernetic implants. In particular, Kainian Eyes improve the user’s vision dramatically, letting them see greater distances and in conditions that would blind anyone else. This is invaluable for scouts, infiltrators, and the odd scoundrel sneaking into noble palaces at night to woo the lord’s daughter. And with Silvertongue for more favorable impressions, he might succeed!

Cybernetics are also prime for individual tinkering and customization, so each individual Kain likely has a few special tricks built into their limbs. Of course, other nobles are well aware of this, and tend to keep visiting Kainians under close (if discrete) observation.

Psi-Wars: Ruminations on House Elegans

The third of the Psi-Wars houses is that of House Elegans. Once proud, they've been laid low by the rise of the Empire. Let's take a closer look.

House Elegans

Who are they?

Never one of the most powerful houses, Elegans was nevertheless beloved by the other nobility for their charm and flair (not to mention their dueling prowess!). Their connections with the lost house of Alexus lent them a further mystique, and their exploits and scandals were favorite topics of gossip.

Then the Emperor led his coup, and Elegans found itself trapped between the fledgling Empire and the treacherous, untamed wilds of the galaxy’s Dark Arm. With much of the nobility fleeing into Maradonian space on the other side of the galaxy, support and aid was nowhere to found, and the traditional home of Elegans was captured, gutting the house in the process.

The survivors of House Elegans have scattered widely, and while many have made their way to Alliance space, evading Imperial pursuit along the way, many others have not, either going into hiding in the Empire or fleeing beyond its other borders.  Marchessa Anna Elegans is now the Lady of the house, but her power is tenuous at best, with the loss of territory and deep divisions among the members of the house hampering her efforts to preserve what remains.

How do the common folk see them?

Ask a typical member of the Alliance what they think about the Elegans, and the response you’ll most often get is confusion. With their holdings so far from Maradonian space, the Elegans have not had much exposure to the people of the Alliance.

What the people do have opinions on are the individual Elegans they’ve encountered, and these can vary wildly. Some see them as drunken, belligerent rogues with too much provide to accept their current circumstances. Others see the compassionate side of Elegans, and pity them for the trials they’ve gone through. Still others see them as heroic, taking the fight to the Empire where the rest of the Alliance sits around and bickers.

How are they seen by the nobility in general?

As a whole, the nobility tend to look on the Elegans with pity. Here was a proud house laid low by the Empire, with only remnants to carry on the name and tradition. But while many sympathize with their plight, here their thoughts go in very different directions.

Much of the nobility lost territory, power, and members during the rise of the Empire, and they’ve rallied around House Elegans as they call for revenge and a renewed effort to win back their lost worlds. They hold up Elegans as an example of their plight, and warn that, if the Alliance does nothing, the rest of the nobility is next.

Others detest Eelegans, for in Anna they see a firebrand who would goad them all into a headlong confrontation with the Empire. While they sympathize with the motives of Elegans, these nobles believe that such a confrontation is premature, and that her constant calls for a fighter will upset their carefully laid plans.

A third group of nobles, partially overlapping with the second, calls for a formal dissolution of Elegans, and incorporating their remaining holdings into other houses, citing the house’s weakness and inability to control its membership as reasons. Some are doing this for political reasons, especially those who oppose Elegans’ populist and warmongering stance, while others see opportunities for economic gain.

What are the strengths of House Elegans?

With Elegans existing as only a shadow of its former self, it can be difficult to say that they even have strengths. This is misleading, for while they certainly don’t have the economic or military power they once had, the house is not entirely without advantages.

Foremost among these is the legendary Elegans charm. People who meet the Elegans tend to like them, especially if they’re making an effort to make a good impression, and so they find themselves willing to support the Elegans, financially or otherwise.

Elegans also has the support of large parts of the nobility who also lost much with the rise of the Empire, and their very losses make them a rallying point for those calling for revenge.

On an individual level, Elegans have passion. The Empire may have gutted their house, but so long as any of them remain, they will never give up the fight against the Empire. They may not have the strength to stand against the Imperial Navy directly, but they will lead insurgencies, wreak havoc among the starlanes as pirates, and more.

What are the weaknesses of HouseElegans?

The greatest weakness of Elegans as a house is that they are dependent for their very survival on the support of others. With the loss of their worlds, their lord and his heirs, and their wealth, Elegans has very little to draw on. Traditionally, a house that fell on such hard times would be dissolved by the Senate, and Marchessa Anna Elegans is fighting hard to keep her house from suffering the same fate.

The Marchessa is also faced with the daunting task of leading a house whose membership is widely scattered, many of whom have their own ideas on how to take the fight to the Empire. Worse still, Anna Elegans is several steps removed from the previous lord of the house, and while those with a better claim are either dead or in hiding, this undermines her authority.

On an individual level, Elegans cannot count on the support of their house, for even if the Marchessa agrees with their goals and methods, there's not a lot she can offer them in terms of resources.

How can House Elegans be the good guys?

First, note that House Elegans is so deeply divided that the house as a whole can hardly be said to be good or bad. Instead, what you’ll find are individual members of House Elegans acting in either role, depending on what motivates them and how they go about achieving their goals.

Heroic members of House Elegans are out fighting the good fight, opposing the oppression of the Empire and empowering the people they meet. These are your Robin Hoods of the setting, to give but one inspiration.

How can House Elegans be the bad guys?

Villainous members of House Elegans chart a darker course. Revenge against an Empire that cost them everything is their primary motivation, and they will go to any lengths to see it destroyed. Cut-throat brigands, assassins cutting a swathe through Imperial leadership, and insurgents sowing terror among the Imperial populace are some of the possibilities you’ll find here.

See also the discussion on Elegans psionics further down. Telepathy has some scary abilities in its list!

Which Communion Paths do they follow?

By far the most common paths for Elegans are Righteous Crusader or Rebellious Beast, depending on whether they fight for principles or for revenge. Some, especially those with revenge as a motivation, turn to the path of Death.

Others have turned to debauchery as a means of coping with the trauma of losing their house, and these walk the path of the Beautiful Fool.

What role does House Elegans’ psionics play?

The combination of Aspect and Emotion Sense means that people tend to like the Elegans, and they’ve got a knack for reading people that lets them navigate social landscapes readily. This is large of part why, even though the house is facing hard times, individual members are often able to find support wherever they go.

The more manipulative members of the house use Aspect and Emotion Control to push people into doing what they want, and even heroic members will use it to increase the impact of their inspirational speeches.

When fighting the Elegans, the battle is as much mental as it is physical. Instill Fear makes it hard to stand and face them, while their Emotion Sense lets them pick out those who are already wavering.

More subtly, Mind Clouding allows them to slip past living guards (but not robots!) without being noticed, making them excellent at infiltration and reconnaissance.

The most gifted Elegans, with full access to Telepathy, are some of the most feared psions in the setting. Mental Surgery lets them brainwash people, Mind-Wipe to make people forget what just happened, and Sensory Control lets them play games with what people perceive. More ethical Elegans will still get a great deal of mileage out of Sleep, Telescan, and Telesend/Telereceive.

Psi-Wars: Ruminations on House Grimshaw

Continuing my series on the Noble Houses of Psi-Wars, let’s have a look at the conservative, elitist Grimshaw, and why people see them as “obvious” bad guys and how they can be much more than that.

House Grimshaw

Who are they?

House Grimshaw, one of the great pillars of the Federation, was also one of the last to join. Following the execution of Shio Daijin, Grimshaw distanced itself from the feuding that had enveloped the Galactic Core, patiently watching over the Alexian homeworld of Maradon, the great factory cathedrals of House Alexus, and the central archive held on the moon of Atrium, waiting for a true successor to claim them once more.

When the Federation arose, Grimshaw reluctantly admitted that no such heir was likely to be found, and so as the last remnant of the Alexian government, they gave the Federation the legitimacy of their approval. Over time, they grew to become the great industrial base of the Federation, and in the days before the rise of the Empire, Bale Grimshaw was counted as one of the leaders of the noble houses.

Despite their prestige, the Grimshaw never truly considered themselves a member of the Federation, and kept their power concentrated in their homeworlds of Maradon space. This proved wise, for following the Emperor’s coup, Bale Grimshaw was able to escape with a largely intact power base.

Disgusted with the petty squabbling and the erosion of traditional noble values that they see as leading to the uprising, Grimshaw now calls for a return to the ancient ways, with an aristocracy dedicated to the duties their heritage brings. That this would also promote the power of Grimshaw is a burden they are willing to bear.

How do the common folk see them?

Cold, distant, and ruthlessly efficient, there is little love for the Grimshaw among the people of their worlds. Yet, they have also maintained order in their region for centuries, and their government functions with the regular, predictable pattern of clockwork.

While this desire for efficiency and order led Grimshaw to be a leader in the adoption of robotic labor, they took great care to avoid the disrupting effects found in other noble domains. Where they could, they retained their current workforce as technicians and overseers, and where they couldn’t, Grimshaw attempted to find new roles for them.

The price of this order is freedom. House Grimshaw expects that its people will know their place in society, and to keep to it without complaint. In many cases, this place is also hereditary, where if someone’s father was a factory overseer, it is likely that his children will eventually assume oversight of that factory.

Despite Grimsahw’s best efforts, there is a growing population of people without such a role. Use of robotic labor displaced more people than they could accommodate, and addressing this is a primary concern of the house, with the specter of another uprising haunting them.

How are they seen by the nobility in general?

House Grimshaw’s position as the stewards of the legacy of Alexus affords them respect by traditionalist, and their economic might draws both admiration and envy. Their support for the traditional rights and privileges of the nobility is another point in their favor.

However, Grimshaw’s devotion to duty and order is seen as insufferably self-righteous by many, and while other nobles respect their traditionalism, their call for a return to the days of the Alexus and the Oracular Order is considered terribly antiquated. Still, the stability of the Grimshaw realm lends weight to their arguments, and some are starting to take the idea seriously.

Others fear Grimshaw’s claim to moral authority as a cloak for their political ambitions, and they see in Bale Grimshaw someone who wishes to revive the Alexian Empire with himself at its head.

What are the strengths of House Grimshaw?

The economic power of Grimshaw is one of the keys to the Alliance’s continued survival, for while not a match for the Empire’s full power, it is sufficient to keep ahead of the losses in the ongoing conflict. Without it, the Alliance would not collapse immediately, but attrition would eventually force them to sue for terms with the Empire. House Grimshaw has parlayed this power into influence, exchanging the output of their factories for support from lesser houses.

House Grimshaw’s continuity with the government of Alexus, the stability of their realm, and their support for traditional noble privilege affords them a moral authority. While this is denigrated by many who would rather break from the legacy of the Alexian Empire, many others have come around to Grimshaw’s point of view, and represent a growing bloc within the House of Lords.

Stewardship of the remaining holdings of House Alexus is another asset, though it is one that Grimshaw, strictly speaking, cannot make use of. But if an heir to Alexus could be found (or fabricated), then House Grimshaw is in a position to support their claim to the throne.

What are the weaknesses of House Grimshaw?

Grimshaw’s distance from the people and their promotion of traditional noble rights and privileges earns them many enemies in the House of Commons. While much of the nobility is hesitant to undermine their own position by backing the Commons, if Grimshaw looks to be growing too powerful, other nobles may choose to do so.

The conservatism of House Grimshaw, while well-founded and also one of their strengths, could also hamper them. The Empire is rapidly developing new technology, and Grimshaw’s desire to carefully consider the impact of technologies they adopt could leave them at a disadvantage in the arms race.

How can House Grimshaw be the good guys?

Grimshaw is right. The galaxy is meant to be ruled by the aristocracy, who have been carefully bred over the years to produce better rulers and a better fit for their Communion role. Their insistence on order, while it may seem stifling, truly is for the benefit of those they rule. The unbridled populism of the Empire and the slower egalitarianism of the Alliance goes against the proper order, and will lead to a dark age.

The discovery of a true heir to Alexus would strengthen Grimshaw’s position. A revival of the Oracular Order, perhaps precipitated by the discovery of their lost lore, would also do much to enhance their position.

How can House Grimshaw be the bad guys?

Bale Grimshaw is cynically using the concepts of duty and order and tradition as a means of promoting his own power. Under his rule, the common people will be oppressed and confined to their prescribed roles, the rest of the Alliance subjugated to his will, and a new Empire will take shape under his direction.

Alternatively, Bale Grimshaw himself is sincere in his beliefs, but he is being used by a resurgent branch of the Oracular Order, who have promised him that following his path will lead to a new golden age for humanity. This conspiracy seeks to topple the Empire, only to rule the galaxy through their own puppet Emperor.

Which Communion Paths do they follow?

Grimshaw’s dedication to duty and the preservation of order inclines them to follow the path of the Righteous Crusader, though more as inquisitor and upholder of the regime than as a standard bearer of righteousness. The Mystic Tyrant is another common path, stemming from their distance from the people and their belief that only they have the vision to rule.

Less commonly, Grimshaw’s isolation from people leads them to fall into the path of the Other, becoming strange, distant monsters without a shred of human empathy.

What role does House Grimshaw’s psionics play?

In many ways, Grimshaw’s psionic talents plays to a sense of theatrics. With Light Amplification, Presence, and Flash, a scion of House Grimshaw can make themselves very obvious, serving to both awe and intimidate onlookers. Their most dramatic ability, Lightning, is as much a display of power as it is a damaging ability.

More than that, Grimshaw possesses the power of ergokinesis in a setting dominated by technology. The implications of this become readily apparent when you consider that all weapons in common use are susceptible to it, droids and computer systems control the machinery that society relies upon, and people routinely carry communicators and other devices on their person. With a contemptuous wave of their hand, they can completely knock out all of those.

With Electric Vision, you’re not going to sneak spy gadgets past a member of House Grimshaw, nor could an Imperial Commando sneak up on them in the dark. If they try, they’re going to be lit up like a beacon!

Those with an even stronger gift and access to the full power of Ergokinesis are even more potent. They have no need for fancy gadgets to compromise your computer system, for with Data Retrieval, I/O Tap, or Remote Control, all they need to do is touch them to make it give up its secrets, catastrophically compromise the systems they control, and more. Those with higher levels of these abilities only need to be near it!

Just imagine what they can do in the Empire, with all of its highly centralized systems!

Psi-Wars: Ruminations on House Sabine

Over on Mailanka’s Musings, we’ve seen posts introducing the main noble houses of the Alliance, Sabine and Grimshaw, and we'll soon see Elegans and Kain. In my discussions with Mailanka, I was struck by him mentioning that people tended to see Sabine as the “good guys”, and Grimshaw as the “bad guys”. This surprised me, because to my eye there was far more nuance to each house than that, and there’s many ways that each house could be used.

So, I’m going to delve into my views on each house, what I think stands out about each of them, and how you might engage with them in a game.

House Sabine

Who are they?

House Sabine has been the guiding light of the Federation since its inception. Even when they did not lead it themselves, they held extraordinary insight, and it was common for the Federation’s leaders to consult with them before major decisions. By the twilight days of the Federation, though, their influence had waned, and their warnings of what was to come went unheeded.

When the War Hero was executed and the Emperor led the revolt that decimated the senior leadership of the Federation, Nova Sabine was ready to take action, rallying and organizing the remains of the Federation as they fled into Maradonian space. They are now the leaders of the Alliance, but are plagued by mistrust and resentment.

How do the common folk see them?

The people of Persephone love the Sabine, with their willingness to mix with the common folk and their tradition of gentle, wise guidance endearing them to many. Their guidance is eagerly sought, for their insight and desire for fairness is well known. Yet, at the same time, the Sabine are apart from their people, their distinctive appearance and aristocratic breeding but one factor. The Sabine are unnerving, often seeming aware of matters before they are told about them.

The people of other worlds are less enamored of the Sabine, but their push for more egalitarian policies is well-received in many quarters. However, there are those who wonder about their motivations for doing so, and what advantage they might be seeking to gain.

How are they seen by the nobility in general?

The Sabine have a decidedly mixed reputation among the nobility at large. Their decisive leadership during the rise of the Empire  saved many who would have otherwise perished in the coup, and when the Empire finally pursued, it was Nova Sabine who had brought the Houses together to meet them in battle.

Yet, that very leadership leaves many skeptical of the Sabine. They were too well prepared for it. Did they help the Emperor rise to power? Or did they simply have advance warning, but chose to use the ensuing chaos to improve their own standing?

Nova Sabine’s push for greater opportunity and protections for the common folk fuel this mistrust, and much of the nobility resents the erosion of their traditional privileges. In addition, some of the formerly more powerful houses, those who lost the most in the coup, resent Sabine for being a marginalized house that they must now follow. The Duchess remains the Speaker of the Senate, but the suspicion and resentment of the rest of the nobility threaten to undermine her position.

What are the strengths of House Sabine?

Thanks to their preparation, House Sabine weathered the rise of the Empire with much of their assets intact, allowing them to form the core of the Alliance forces. As other houses rallied, this prominence has diminished, but they still contribute much to the war.

A less obvious strength is the ubiquity of the Sabine. While the leaders of the Federation may have disdained them, the purity of the Sabine bloodline, their beauty, and their excellence as councilors led to them extensively marrying among the other houses of the Federation. Consequently, they have an extensive network of contacts, including in the Empire, and are well positioned to both gather and pass on information.

The greatest asset of House Sabine is its oracular ability. On a grand scale, they have a greater understanding of the currents of history and Communion than most, letting them take actions to direct it down the paths they desire. On a more personal level, their insight and knack for finding things makes them excellent guides.

Traditionally, they do not publicly use their oracular abilities. Part of this is a preference to whisper a thought in the right ear, and part of it is a Cassandra effect that plagues the house. When they attempt to openly predict the future, their warnings go ignored.

What are the weaknesses of House Sabine?

While Sabine is a royal house, with strong ties to the Alexian Empire, they lack a firm base of support among the other nobility, who for the most part attempted to relegate them to a marginal role. Their resurgence does not sit well with many.

Sabine is also not a martial house, and while their holdings have been buffered from the worst of the fighting, they stand to suffer greatly if they are ever directly attacked.

How can House Sabine be the good guys?

Egalitarian and idealistic, the Sabine would love nothing more than to guide the galaxy into an era of peace, prosperity, and equality. They despise the Empire for how it oppresses its people, and if they can bring together the other houses into a truly unified force, they would topple the Emperor, dismantle his regime, and establish a democratic government.

The Sabines need support, however, and player characters could go out and work on each house, persuading them of the wisdom of their vision. Alternatively, Sabine could provide them with cryptic clues leading to the location of lost Alexian relics, with which they could legitimize their leadership.

How can House Sabine be the bad guys?

House Sabine are master manipulators. Duchess Nova Sabine saw the rise of the Empire coming, and so positioned her house to take advantage of the chaos. Her egalitarian policies which empower the common folk are a smoke screen, for her true goal is to bring the other houses to heel. If left unchecked, she has the potential to turn the Alliance into another Empire, using her oracular ability to identify and eliminate any resistance to her rule.

The Sabine also use their network of spies and contacts as assassins, quietly eliminating those they deem a threat. Alternatively, their use of Golden Whin can be used to coerce other members of the Alliance into supporting their plans.

Which Communion Paths do they follow?

House Sabine exemplifies the Bound Princess, for they strongly believe in the measured use of power for the good of their people. They are also prone to fall into Madness, both for genetic reasons and because of their oracular power, where the weight of their visions overwhelms them.

They do not typically fall into Paths of Dark Communion, but those who break from the House’s traditions often take to the Beautiful Fool, casting off their house’s restraint to indulge their own desires and using their oracular ability to manipulate others.

What role does House Sabine’s psionics play?

As noted in Strengths, their tendency to oracular abilities makes the Sabine unparalleled guides, whether as prophets or as seekers. When they make a suggestion, or claim that something will happen, you’d do well to listen. They’re quite likely right!

More generally, Sabine are espers. They know things, and for the gifted (or foolhardy) among them, this can manifest as a blind faith in their own ability. They know what’s going to happen, and have an intuitive sense for what’s going to happen, so why should they follow anything other than the first thing that occurs to them?

While this is often true (Sabine don’t get lost much!), the truth is that their abilities are still fallible. This is one of the reasons behind the restraint that Sabine traditionally have. If they’re mistaken, following their impulses could do more harm than good.

Another consequence is that Sabine value knowledge quite highly. Their upbringing includes an extensive education in history, politics, economics, and many other areas, for these are also used as tools to predict the future, and they can corroborate a vision or a hunch.  They also possess some of the most extensive libraries in the galaxy, and are always looking to expand their collection.

The most gifted among the Sabine, those with Bloodline Purity 4 and unrestricted access to ESP powers, are spies, scouts, and treasure hunters extraordinaire. Clairaudience and Clairvoyance are invaluable tools for snooping around without people realizing it, Retrocognition gives glimpses of what happened in a place, and Seekersense is endlessly useful for finding people, places, and things. You can run, but you can’t hide from the Sabine.

However, I’ll also note that the Sabine aren’t telepaths. They sometimes give that impression, but they just have high ranks in Observation, Body Language, Current Affairs, and other such skills. What looks like mind reading is really just well-informed guessing!

Review: Pyramid #3/104 Dungeon Fantasy RPG

Last September, SJ Games ran a Kickstarter for the Dungeon Fantasy RPG, a standalone version of their GURPS Dungeon Fantasy line. As part of that Kickstarter, they promised to release three issues of Pyramid focused on Dungeon Fantasy.

This month, Pyramid #3/104: Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying game was released, representing the first of these three issues. So, what do we have in here? Let's take a look.

Trapped in the Living Tomb
By Steven Marsh

This is a solo adventure geared for new players, and as such, I'm going to be circumspect about spoilers. However, I will say that it's a fun little adventure, and reminds me of old-school text adventure games. The included character sheet is comprehensive, but too detailed for the adventure, which only involves a small subset of the traits listed on it.

It also serves as an introduction to GURPS, and while it doesn't go into detail, it provides you with enough mechanics to get by. After playing through this once, a new player should have at least the basic concepts for playing through a full game.

And again, it's fun. Even if you're experienced, just playing through it is a fun experience, with danger and puzzles and mysteries. But for new players, it's a great way to introduce them to GURPS. If you know someone who wants to try out GURPS, start here.

It's a Quest!
By Christopher R. Rice

One of the most challenging aspects of running a roleplaying game is taking disparate events, places, and people, and tying them all together into a coherent, engaging adventure. In this article, Christopher takes a look at how to do just that.

It begins with a section on sandbox play that is, honestly, out of place. Since the focus of the article is on narrative play, it's necessarily short, and so doesn't offer more than some abbreviated advice on how to keep the GM's workload from becoming too taxing.

The next section, Railroads and Hell on Wheels, briefly discusses what a railroad is, why players react poorly to an adventure with a structured plot, and then offers some advice on how to preserve players' feelings of choice. The advice it offers is sound, including presenting players with options, taking player ideas and incorporating them into the game, and including elements that the players enjoy. Still, it's brief, and a discussion of how to give players a feeling of choice could easily be an article in its own right.

Prodding the Quest, though, is the real meat of the article. There's some advice about how to learn what your players learn through running short, single session adventures, followed by guidance on how to organize and link the elements you're using to build longer adventures. The part on building a Game Clock, where you map out roughly how much of a session your players want to  spend on combat, social interaction, puzzles, and so on, is a great idea. Knowing how much time you're going to spend on something will, with some experience, let you know just how much of that sort of material you'll need to prepare for the session.

Finally, you have the Random Quest Generator. This is valuable, and could accurately be called the GM Writing Prompt Tables. The best part about them is that you can use the tables independently of each other, so if you're at a loss for where the adventure should be, roll on the Place table. Not sure what kind of monsters live there? Roll on the Monster table, and so on.

In the worst case, where you're at a complete loss for what to do, then you're covered as well. By rolling for Touchstone number and then for Tile number, you know how many important elements are going to be in your quest. Then flesh them out by rolling for type on the Keystone table, and continue rolling on the appropriate tables until you've filled everything out. It's quite likely that you'll have a spark of inspiration while doing this ("I've got a Knight and a Faerie involved? Hey! What if the Knight is sworn to the service of the Faerie?"), and then you can play off of that to fill out the rest of the structure.

I suggest liberally crossing over between the tables in this article and the Heroic Background Generator. Sure, one's meant for quests and the other's meant for people, but every adventure will have both, and you can use both sets of tables for filling out details.

Overall, this article has some good advice on how to build adventures, and an even better set of tables to do it with. Even if you're not running Dungeon Fantasy, they're broad enough to be used in any fantasy-esque setting.

Eidetic Memory - Heroic Background Generator
By David Pulver

So who is your delver? For most Dungeon Fantasy games, it's sufficient  to say that they're a Knight in search of treasure and glory, but what if you want more detail? Well, that's where the Heroic Background Generator steps in.

This article is a large number of tables that, when used in order, gives you a more or less complete outline of your character's past, from birth to why they took up delving in the first place. The one drawback is that it's designed to start before you've decided on the sort of character you make. However, this isn't a big issue, because you can go through the steps, picking something appropriate for your character, and then rolling for those things where you don't know or want more detail for it.

And there are a lot of details to be found in these taables. You've got tables for families, ghosts that might be haunting the character, tables for other supernatural entities, prior experience, and many more. While this may sound like a bit much, the purpose of tables like these is to help you answer questions that you're not sure about, and so the best way to use it is to roll on the tables you want and then ignore the rest.

Even after character creation, it's useful as a GM tool. Need to flesh out an NPC's background? This is a great resource. Need to pick out monster types for something? That's in here, too. Bored and need ideas? Just start rolling on tables and see what pops out.

It's tuned for use with Dungeon Fantasy, but like It's a Quest!, you could make use of it in any fantasy-esque setting without much trouble.

Random Thought Table - Preparing for the Hero's Journey
By Steven Marsh

This is a fairly short article, offering various tidbits on how to build a Dungeon Fantasy character. It's general advice, including figuring out what your skills let you do and what will hold you back, but it's useful food for thought.