Dungeon Galaxy*

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Jonathan
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Dungeon Galaxy*

Post by Jonathan »

Edit: links for distribution
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C-A ... sp=sharing


*Not the actual name.

A friend of mine & I have been writing a pen & paper role-playing game based on Dungeon World for a while. We have been working more than six months and less than a year.

https://drive.google.com/folder/d/0B3rG ... czaHc/edit

It is heavily influenced by our years spent playing video games and not particularly tied to any film or television space story. It is Powered by the Apocalypse, because there's deep truths about having fun pretending to be fairies or Chaos Marines embedded in those mechanics. A lot of it is a direct reaction to the Fantasy Flight Edge of the Empire Star Wars game, because I am not a fan and I felt the need to rebuke them. The rest is largely an interpretation of Stars Without Number by Kevin Crawford, which is an excellent OSR RPG. We just don't roll OSR, is all.

We've been playing this game for a month and a half. My players like the idea a lot. The main thing we've learned through play is you can never make things too simple.

I made a map for our campaign:
http://jonathan.pearce.name/dungeonworld/blood.html

We still need to do a lot of work to translate what I have been intuitively doing as GM to actual rules for someone else to follow. I think the player section hangs together pretty well now, though.

I know a dude in Seattle who I might convince to run this. If anyone is interested, let me know!

Jonathan
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Re: Dungeon Galaxy*

Post by Jonathan »

Still plugging away at this.

We rolled about three parties while my friend & I were working on character creation, HP/damage, and space mechanics.

Now we've mostly got that in shape, so my group has started a campaign. I have a very barebones sketch of how XP and missions work, which I'm slowly learning about what works.
http://jonathan.pearce.name/dungeonworl ... y:New_Eden

The following occurred:
  • McGee scans the Rorqual and determines that it has a massive stash of tungsten, just sitting on the Estuary-sized docking bay. Mmmmm.
  • We concoct a stupid plan: implant the environmental system virus we were hired to put on the colony into the Rorqual (the mining vessel). The purpose: amusement and/or theft of tungsten.
  • I dunno. Bru breaks into the hull, headbutts an explosion, murders dudes, hacks a ship, and we leave.
  • We warp to Meunvon, nothing gained but much learned about ourselves.
    • We are monsters.

Jonathan
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Re: Dungeon Galaxy*

Post by Jonathan »

This is still something we are trying to make happen. Frankly, I blame babies whenever there is a lack of progress.

At the beginning of the year, we decided to shift the focus of the game more towards the characters rather than the equipment.

http://jonathan.pearce.name/charsheet.html

It makes the tone more fantastic, which I think is good.

The recaps are revealing less about who we are as people and more about how much we drink.

http://jonathan.pearce.name/dungeonworl ... ani_Himear

Jonathan
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Re: Dungeon Galaxy*

Post by Jonathan »

I've been playing this with my regular game group continuously since I last posted 3 years ago, with only a couple months' break for D&D 5e excursion and random board games. What are the odds?

It's going pretty well. We've really doubled down on this idea of genetically engineered humans in a far future dark age, which fits with a lot of contemporary fiction (The Stars Are Legion, Bel Dame Apocrypha, The Culture series, Vernor Vinge), and I think the idea has legs.
One of my players wrote:I also dreamed last night that I erased Elmo's last HP. I can't remember how it happened, but I'm sure it was caused by his lack of a functional multitool arm and not by his recklessness. Perhaps it is time to move on.
We're kicking off a new campaign this year!

Here's the links again for the latest character sheet (you have to select a trait tree in the dropdown menu to see all the special moves it gives you access to):
https://jonathan.pearce.name/charsheet.html

Here's the link for the latest moves packet, including basic moves, special moves, and ship moves (also equipment and how to play):
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... G5zMGczaHc

Alan
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Re: Dungeon Galaxy*

Post by Alan »

That's pretty cool! I like that creativity and storytelling is baked into how you handle dice rolls. Any grander thoughts of disseminating/publishing the game?
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Jonathan
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Re: Dungeon Galaxy*

Post by Jonathan »

Yes, we want to put it online for sure. We've done a couple passes to try to eliminate all the copyrighted content from previous drafts to make it safe to share. :D

Self-publishing would be fun, but I know it's a lot more work to explain in prose how to GM the game. It's debatable whether I have it in me to teach folks through the medium of book.

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