Saturday, February 23, 2013

A New Start



To Boldly... wait. No.  Move along.  

Its been a while, no?  

Time to start the blog again.  This time with a very different goal.  Rather than touch on the various gaming shiny objects that catch my attention (of which there are a lot), I'd like Vir Triumphalis to serve as a sounding board for me to share a hard-sih Sci-Fi setting I am working on.  

So, what is the setting?  Right now, its mecha (called "Jammers") + year 2131 + hard politics + hegemons + no FTL + revolutionary mindset + Action SCIENCE!  Things are still very fluid and unfolding as I keep adding to the setting - but those are the core aspects that appears to be resistant to the various changes I keep throwing in.

The pitch:  Hard-ish SF coupled with Hard-ish politics.  A nuanced look at modern power politics as seen through the lens of space forces clashing on the Solar stage (100+ years in the future).  One part top gun with mecha, one part Hans Morgenthau, one part war-time journalism.

The game, which I have yet to name*, is my ode to Jovian Chronicles and Transhuman Space.  I look at those settings and see what aspects I want - an ability to embrace real-world science, technology, and politics and extrapolate them into the future - and know that you don't have to throw in psionics, magic or aliens to get gripping stories.  

I plan to use the One Roll Engine for the game.  If it was good enough for Monsters and Other Childish Thingsm its sure good enough for my little homebrew.  

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* okay, thats not true.  I have named it.  I have named it about eight times - and cant come up with something that I like.  Right now, its working under two titles:  "The Vir Triumphalis Initiative" and "Sol Invictus."  I want a title that conveys the core aspects of the game while also telling the reader the game is about doing stuff... about being right there, in the shit, changing the world (Solar System).  I havent quite found that perfect name, yet.