Interested? Take a look for yourself. Keep in mind that this has not been through final editing, proofing and tweaking.

If the response is good, I may release other “raw” chapters. All depends. I don’t want to show too much, too soon, so that stuff doesn’t peak too soon before release.

Next: systems, vehicles and more!

“Good. You’re finally here.” Admiral Narr rapped his desk as if acknowledging the visitor’s arrival. It was the same stone as his hand, his arm, his head. That head was perched atop a huge stone body. Dorian Narr was one of the strongest Golems in the galaxy.

The intruder – Narr knew it must be a Knight – merely glanced up with an annoyed expression. “Call off your fleet,” he said.

The admiral strode to his opponent unhurriedly, crowding him with his enormous black frame. The Knight was huge – what they called “ogrish” before the ogres became part of one Humanity – but the Golem was twice as big, with tusks a metre long and a double headed axe that might have been held by a statue in some temple to the dead Gods.

The stone giant chuckled. “I’ll burn you and dedicate the ashes to the Unspoken Of. And they’ll never know you existed.”

Narr readied the axe.

The Knight crossed 50 metres in a blink of an eye, taking ragged chunks of Golem stone with him: a wound carved with a blade of cold shadow. The dark, crackling longsword shed a cloud of rock dust as its wielder appeared at the far end of the room. Narr activated his concussion field. The Knight was faster than any human could be, but couldn’t outrun the wave of telekinetic force. It knocked him through two statues, so that broken images of the Archonate’s founders glared at him from the floor.

The admiral examined the damage and growled. Inwardly, he prayed – and felt the answer. A hate like a torch to detonate suns swelled within him. Silver runes on his body turned deep red. His stone chest heaved like a living creature. Bloody light welled to the surface, patching his wound, adding an exoskeleton of force and speed.

Narr pounced, axe guided by the red strength and inhuman rage. Every cut would have torn his enemy in two if the Knight had not twisted away, or responded with parries that only deflected part of each attack’s force – the rest knocked him from place to place like a doll thrown by an angry child.

“Why protect them?” The Admiral’s next swing narrowly missed the Knight and decapitated Loh Vess’ bust. “They’re pirates – outlaws too weak for civilization, and signs of our own flawed ways. The Archonate is fragile, rotten with suicidal mercy. It needs a war to refine it, to forge a crown to replace our rotten half-democracy. If crushing Ullat will bring that war, let it be cast into the fire!”

Narr lumbered forward to finish his stunned foe but the Knight’s long black blade vanished; a shorter sword and shield took its place, but still possessed the same pitch anti-glow. The shield held against Nar’s blows, but they still knocked the Knight to the floor. The Golem followed with a foot to his enemy’s chest, stomping, crushing.

“Righteous punishment. Purity through vengeance. We will not compromise what we stand for. What do you stand for?”

*          *          *

Holding the admiral back was like lifting a house. Secretly, Dinnik had always taken pride in his strength, but against the Golem he might as well have been a child.

“What do you stand for?” Narr chuckled and kicked again.

And in that moment, Dinnik couldn’t think of a response. Pain and doubt cast a haze over his thinking. Ullat was home to Roaa’s wprst criminals: murderers, terrorists and their allies. It was a pirate world, thriving on stolen souls. He remembered his argument with the Lords to let the Hunter Fleet have Ullat – even to sabotage planetary defences ahead of the attack. But the Lords sent him to save this world instead.

Dinnik kicked himself across the room and curled up into a ball. He felt a shattered rib float free as he raised himself up on one arm. He used the other to wipe blood from his mouth.

He felt a delicate hand upon his shoulder. The admiral’s charge slowed; a droplet of blood hung suspended in space. A sweet, amused voice whispered: “Look.”

His mind’s eye opened. He saw Ullat station; an enormous sphere with dozens of spider legs for docking ships. It shrunk to fit in the palm of his hand, and a red web erupted from it. He flew along its pattern.

He saw the connection to Amund Croth, the “poison snake,” inspecting smuggled weapons on Zythus. He followed a thread to Dread Richal, rogue runecrafter, torturing energy out of souls, and another to Bartholomew Deth selecting a world to ravage from a ghost display. Weapons, power, pirates – and a station to permit the transaction.

But threads didn’t just spin out of the station. Fine silver lines wove within, connecting lives. One bound Tadrith, maintenance foreman. He didn’t care what passed through station docks, just that they worked – and he got paid. His crowns supported a dozen relatives on the planet below: a clan elder, an artist. Young men and women swarmed the repair bays under Tadrith’s supervision, returning every “night” to tiny quarters, some made tinier still by children sharing the space. Dinnik saw them play in the bulkheads.

His vision followed these gossamer threads to the stars. Voices reverberated along them: “Leda, I’m still in this grey place, but I hope to see you soon.” “The shipment arrived! I’ll return soon with something for Grandfather.” “Made contact with Croth’s inner circle. We’ll be able to press charges soon. Say hi to Ricka for me.” “I learned this recipe from a Zythian gourmand, young lady! Finish your roots and I’ll tell you a story.”

The universe was bathed in silver. It dissolved Dinnik. He was a vessel for it, boundaries gone, able to take any shape to contain it.

Dinnik’s eyes opened. The Admiral’s foot was on his neck, falling in short, brutal kicks.

I stand for nothing. I am nothing.

Rhea was within him. She, the Original Darkness, able to contain anything. He caught the Golem’s foot easily. It weighed nothing.

I stand for everything. I am the darkness that embraces all light.

A short, quick, push sent the Golem crashing into the far wall.

I stand for perfect trust in Her as She trusts us all.

Dinnik rose up, kill gauntlets generating two black blades, saying, “I stand for everyone you’ve forgotten.”

*          *          *

Chapter Four was a real sticking point. This one talks about the Knights of the Hidden Sun organization, its enemies, and the setting’s overarching conflicts. Chris’ setting is extremely detailed, so cross-referencing dates and motives is extremely important. One tricky bit to consider is that the core villain of the game wears a few different masks. How do these plots interact with each other? What does that mean to the Knights?

From here on in, development is primarily technical, as I review the rules and playtest notes Chris has developed to adapt the Ready to Run system to his world. I look forward to it. My momentum kind of slowed down as I got interested in other projects and a bunch of things that have nothing to do with RPGs.

Remember that Chris has a blog and podcast based on Knights of the Hiddden Sun. I’m overjoyed to save the finished chapter, and move forward!

From Consider Yourself in Eternity: An Ascension Guild Guide for Those Considering an Endless Life

No one truly dies, my friend, but who truly lives? That’s Roaa’s paradox. The soul abides in eternity, submerged within the mystical lattice of its crypt stone. When treated with reverence, a crypt stone offers peace after the suffering of this galaxy, but who can guarantee that your stone will always be treated with dignity? You may know pain, confusion, even wanderings outside your refuge if your stone passes to the wrong people. We’ve all seen old, discarded stones, and heard of late-cycle stones goaded into performance with the thread of pain. And even if we find our way to a safe rest, how is it meaningful? To be human is to desire love, achievement, strength, freedom – to always quest for the next dream.

A Golem gives you the power to be human again – human forever.

It’s a simple procedure. Guild professionals will collect your soul within a sturdy crypt stone and join it to a new body, not as a power supply kept asleep, but as a conscious, free-willed being in full command of body and mind. A second crypt stone powers your body, but has no other influence over it. Your will not age or sicken, and although you may tire, it is because of the mind’s habit, not the body’s failings. (You will feel a natural sensation prompting you to acquire a new crypt stone when necessary. It feels like any other normal bodily urge, though it is rare – the recommended array for a given body powers it for an average of 100 standard years.)

If you make a stronger financial commitment, your Golem body will outperform your own through more than its lack of frailties. With skin of rock and blood of silver flame, you’ll shrug off the gravest accidents and run faster that the swiftest sprinting predators – or fly above the clouds. Your sculpt won’t alienate you from humankind – it will represent a higher beauty.

More modest options are available, even emergency bodies in the unlikely event that something damages your near-inviolate form. The Guild works hard to set standard prices across all income ranges in civilized Roaa. But it is here we come to the most common question of all:

Why is it so expensive?

It’s hard to see yourself as a Golem when you first glance at the prices. It looks like a privilege for the supremely rich. It’s a common – and incorrect – misapprehension. Remember that as a true immortal your earning potential is practically limitless. This opens up extended payment plans and loan arrangements that just don’t present themselves for any other investment.

In the next section, we’ll explore several leasing schemes. You’ll be able to pre-screen yourself to see if you qualify.

Public Annotation to the Star Net Edition

Anonymous; Linked to Resource

Yeah, yeah. You’ll make infinite money, so why not get into infinite debt? But the truth is that if anyone could afford to be a Golem, everyone would be a Golem – and nobody could be one, since you need at least one pauper powering every stone immortal. Even if you get a loan, you might end up spending centuries as a near-slave to pay your creditors. Some “freedom.”

Oh yeah: They don’t mention side effects, do they? No more “base joys.” The smell of bread is olfactory data. Love’s rush is a distant echo and sex brings no physical satisfaction. You won’t become emotionless – you’ll just lose the feelings that grow from the delicate interaction between mind and body. If you’re weak you’ll waste immortality on the Star Net, simulating the pleasures of your now-ashen flesh.

Did I mention that they wear out? Stone doesn’t heal.

*    *    *

Praise the Gods, Hidden and otherwise. This took way more time that it should have. I got a little pbsessed with getting this chapter just right. It’s a big one: around 40 pages establishing the nature of runecraft, the particular style of magic that makes space opera civilization possible in Knights of the Hidden Sun. This one’s a real smörgåsbord, covering Golems, vehicles, and as much else as we could fit in.

I was very concerned with making runecraft feel real and consistent so that players could feel like natives of the world. That’s hugely important in any exotic game setting. Star Trek and Star Wars both use a consistent visual language that helps immensely, to the point where we feel like we could navigate those worlds pretty well if we suddenly ended up there. We have a great artist on the job with Hidden Sun, but we need text that will back that up by laying the ground rules of everyday experience, especially when it comes to a form of “magitech” that follows very specific principles.

Supporting text includes a framework for what you’d call “technobabble” in an SF game, but which I mentally tag “runebabble,” in ours. You need the equivalent of Trek’s EPS conduits, though not to the point where they dominate the narrative. I needed to add new material covering all of that. Development also made big changes to the style, rendering most of it as in-world stuff that you can introduce verbatim — the same style we picked for other chapters. Lastly, I made some changes to reduce confusion (I got rid of duplicate names for certain vehicles) and make some setting elements better fit the conflicts that are part of the Galaxy. For instance, crypt stones used to provide a lot more power, but we need to keep demand up so that space pirates keep stealing souls.

By the way, it feels pretty cool to write sentences like that last one.

Chapter Four? Already six pages in. Should be way faster. It’s not only more straightforward, but I now have proper office space to work in. Expect future updates faster!

]]> http://www.mobunited.com/mobunitedmedia/2010/09/06/knights-of-the-hidden-sun-chapter-three-developed-hallelujah/feed/ 1 http://www.mobunited.com/mobunitedmedia/2010/07/25/development-versus-obsession/ http://www.mobunited.com/mobunitedmedia/2010/07/25/development-versus-obsession/#comments Sun, 25 Jul 2010 10:18:57 +0000 admin http://www.mobunited.com/mobunitedmedia/?p=831 Sometimes you just have to relax, dude.

That’s the lesson I’ve learned in this phase of developing Knights of the Hidden Sun, Chris Challice’s interstellar fantasy RPG. I got a bit obsessed with the third chapter because it covers runecraft:…

Roaa is not a kind place. It’s a galaxy on the brink of chaos. Pirates threaten travelers and unguarded worlds. Those who hunt them do it without mercy or regard for anyone who stands between the warring sides. Galactic democracy is paralyzed, serving innumerable, greedy special interests. A monolithic merchant house controls the fate of billions with no oversight. Runecrafting guilds vie for dominance; in secret labs, masters merge howling ghosts ghosts in hope of becoming gods. Two CENSORED* clash in secret but the reverberations from their epic conflict strike everyone.

There is no Heaven or Hell.

Souls feed the splendor of the rich.

See what’s missing?

Heroes.

This setting has no Luke Skywalker, no John Sheridan. It doesn’t have a Star Fleet or a Gondor to fall back on. There are good people in the Roaa but they’re too few, far between and powerless compared to the major powers. Hope rests with player characters.

I’ve left Hidden Sun with holes in it for you to fill. Malcolm mentioned that it’s hard to see where the metaplot will go. That’s because it’s been written so that you can decide. PCs are called Main Characters in Hidden Sun for a reason, and the system reinforces their centrality. They may not instigate the plot — there are other forces in the galaxy, and they’re on the move — but there’s always a “hole” in the story that’s the exact shape of your heroes. Nobody else fits.

* Sorry Chris, we’re not giving that way quite yet. ~ Malcolm

I’ve been pretty sick for about a month off and on due to strep. That’s why this blog’s been silent. What’s going on?

Aeternal Legends: It’s available in print and PDF, still. Stew and I are slowly talking about some cool stuff to come, but we’re both pretty busy. Why don’t you buy that sonofabitch?

Knights of the Hidden Sun: Still on Chapter Three (not many in the book, so this is further along than you might think). Looking at the engineering and programming aspects of soul manipulation. It’s coming.

World of Darkness: I did some work on World of Darkness: Mirrors and the Mage Chronicler’s Guide. Some of it’s very rules heavy. Some of it involves creatures made from the still-bleeding wounds of the dismembered universe.

Eclipse Phase: I did some work for an upcoming book, but can’t say much more.

Other RPG Thing: I’m working on an adventure for a TBA client. Should be fun.

Other Other RPG Thing: I have in my files an amazing game from a Famous RPG Designer. I hope I have time to do him a small service, because the game is amazing, and I would like to help with it.

Other Other Other RPG Thing, What For Charity: I’m currently in the early stages of designing a game as a permanent charity effort — this is what I wanted to get to in February. If you’re a non-flaky creative interested in this sort of project email me.

Conventions: I’ll be at Anime North again this year. Details to come.

Electronic Projects: I recently finished the first phase of concept and setting design for an ambitious multimedia property but again, I can’t say too much.

Playing: I’m still playing Cinnabar, the warforged ranger. 7th level now. Still enjoying 4e. I tease Steve about it not being the Best Thing Evar, but I like it.

Running: Star Wars Saga. One of the PCs is Darth Vader’s artificially created sibling. The PCs just got captured by the Death Star, which contains 6 million Dark Side Adepts trained to use the Force in concert, not a giant laser.

Planning: Might be the SF game, Indigo. Might be World of Darkness. Might be a light fantasy game. Chris Huth said something about playing a mix of old-style D&D and GUMSHOE. I am very interested in this and might try it myself.

Mage: The Dirty Version: I plan on getting back to entries here.

Bloggage Reading: I finally headed to Zak Smith’s D&D With Pornstars blog. I think the mashed up game and visual bricolage is cool, even if the tone and dungeon focus doesn’t appeal to me.

Your Game: I still judge it and find it wanting! I still think your desire for structure comfort and easy answers is making you bad at playing RPGs and really appreciating what they are, and I’ll tell you why at length!

Seriously though, I have some ideas, you have some ideas. Let’s work so hard it turns into play.

From the Bureau of Records: Public Intelligence/Persons

Imagining its signature whirlwind of stars, you soar to the Bureau of Records Constellation. As you look closer you can see that every spire of light from each star divides into innumerable branches and sub-branches.

Bureau Announcer: Thank you for accessing the Bureau Constellation: your universal Star Net resource. Select a star by colour and use your strand’s ghost hand to find the appropriate mote, or think of images that suggest the resource you desire and subvocalize the word “Find.” For literate visitors, we recommend text access to for rapid navigation and use. Summon two ghost hands to trigger the access slate.

You call the slate. In the Star Net, the hands of an insubstantial soul write the words you imagine.

You have selected Persons in Casual Narrative Summary Mode. Please note that the Bureau Act removes all liability for defamation, inaccuracy or the consequences thereof with respect to Bureau resources on persons, but third party users are not so protected.

Bartholomew Deth

Also Known As: Black Bart, the Scourge

Allegiance: Black Fleet

Occupation: Pirate Captain and Commander, Black Fleet

Home System: Unknown

Base of Operations: Various; the dreadnought Croe’s Tomb is presumed to be Deth’s primary residence and headquarters.

Bartholomew Deth (birth date unknown) is the presumed leader of the Black Fleet pirate organization. As a suspect in 5,731 offences and a person of interest in 12,950 others, Deth is the most wanted fugitive from Archonate justice.

Biography: Intelligence archives indicate that from 1552 until 1575 Bartholomew Deth acted an independent arms runner for belligerent parties in the Second War, criminals and ad hoc militia groups. By 1575, Deth’s activities had earned him a considerable fortune, and the enmity of multiple factions. That year, a Tyrant fleet battle group attacked his ship in the Croe system, forcing it into the sun. Deth was presumed dead and his assets were seized by authorities.

This assessment proved to be in error. Archonate intelligence sources report that in 1635, Bartholomew Deth reappeared in a custom dreadnought-class vessel known as Croe’s Tomb. Deth used this vessel to destroy or force allegiance from independent pirates operating in developing systems. These alliances created the core of the Black Fleet.

Archonate Intelligence classified Deth as a tertiary criminal threat until 1638/2/29, when he led the Black Fleet’s raid on Tuldekath. During the raid, eyewitnesses allege that Bartholomew Deth murdered Star Court Speaker Alice Chant.

From 1638 to the present, the Black Fleet is believed to be responsible for attacks on 60 systems, the destruction of 170 ships and the murder of at least 5000 people for the purpose of soul trafficking. Evidence suggests that Deth was in direct command of the Black Fleet for the majority of these reported attacks.

On 1641/3/12 the Archonate Hammer Initiative passed into law in response to Black Fleet attacks. Under the law, the Star Court commissioned the Hunter Fleet to protect worlds from pirate attacks, neutralize the Black Fleet and terminate Bartholomew Deth’s command.

Behavioural Narrative: Profilers have characterized Deth’s actions as signs of an “irrational hatred” for civilized institutions. Deth is believed to be a psychopath who uses a personal ideology for self-justification. In this belief system, dependence on the rule of law indicates weakness and confers upon Deth the moral right to “prey upon” the “sheep” so governed.

Black Fleet operations appear to support this theory. Deth directs attacks against major commercial centers instead of isolated vessels and the other lightly guarded targets preferred by most pirates. The Black Fleet usually ignores offers of parley, destroys civil infrastructures and concentrates on acquiring souls over material goods. Independent analysts from the Golden Crown and Star Travellers have theorized that beyond ideological concerns, these actions spring from the Black Fleet’s logistical needs, as the existence of Croe’s Tomb and other observed signs indicate that Deth has access to advanced military grade runecraft.

Appearance: You have chosen a narrative description. Would you prefer an image? According to most accounts, Bartholomew’s appearance belies his cruel nature. He’s a tall man with soft features and white feathered wings. Bartholomew doesn’t age; he looks exactly as he did a century ago. He acts in a polite, genteel manner. Early in his pirating career, a few victims mistook him for their saviour, right before he cut them down. In recent years, his appearance has been engraved on Roaa’s collective consciousness, so no one will make that mistake again.

*   *   *

As the developer, “Black Bart” is one of the NPCs I like the most. He “pulls the trigger” that brings Knights of the Hidden Sun up to its current year, 1650. Chapter Two features a bunch of these “mover and shaker” NPCs. One of the great things about Chris’ setting is that it feels inhabited, the result of both mass movements and forceful personalities, to the point where there are a bunch of unstable points you can easily jump from to generate an adventure. Out of the other games I’ve worked on, Exalted comes closest to having a similar quality. You can see where things might go, but it’s not where they have to go. (Actually, KotHS probably doesn’t have as much in the way of strongly implied future events.)

I think Chris also created Bartholomew Deth to send an impression about the nature of the game, putting it firmly in the territory of space opera instead of making speculation on the fantasy world the focus. The Scourge of Roaa does trigger a bunch of political and military events leading up to 1650, when your Knights enter the scene, but this isn’t at the expense of the imagery of an angel of death who flies a stone coffin through space to steal souls. That’s awesome, and Knights should inspire imagery to match.

NPCs are just one chunk of Chapter Two, right at the end. They’re part a thorough snapshot of where Roaa is at our assumed current date of 1650. Like Chapter One, we’re doing it through in-character documents, so that the GM can easily tell a player that her character knows exactly what’s in a given hunk of text. Out of character asides provide a less subjective commentary. As the developer, I edited and embellished the text to place more of it in the world. I’ve also elaborated on some sights and sounds to get people inside Roaa.

Anyway, now it’s time for game systems, where I’ll inspect text about supersonic hand to hand combat, the secrets of the Knights of the Hidden Sun and the runes their Goddess inscribes on their souls.

Before Star Wars, my modules worked much like a standard Knights of the Dinner Table session. The PCs would be a group of strangers who united under some nebulous pretext. We’d find a dungeon filled with traps and monsters. We’d avoid the traps, kill the monsters and take their stuff. Along the way the PCs would try to outdo each other in carnage. Crits were politely applauded, fumbles would be met with mocking scorn. I’ll admit it was fun and besides, I had no idea there was any other way to play.

The Star Wars game I walked into was a new kind of beast. The GM ran it like a movie. He had a soundtrack, celebrity portraits for NPCS and detailed maps that were drawn to look like something out of  an official supplement. What truly stood out however, was his pacing. He kept the game moving. Our characters ran from one scene to the next at breakneck speed. He didn’t give us time to argue rules. We didn’t measure out 5 foot blocks on dungeon maps in order to calculate the volume of our grenade explosions – we threw and prayed. An action round involved more than move, hit and damage. We had to weave through traffic, leap across rooftops and dodge explosions in the thick of the fight. The GM seemed intent on using the universe to kill our characters. We loved it.

The players in this group were amazing. Something happened with them that I had never seen before. Near the start of the first session our characters had to chase down a rebel leader on a monorail. It was leaving the station when we arrived. Every character but mine succeeded on the roll to jump on the train. My ended up clinging to the side for dear life. In my old group she would have just died. Everyone would laugh and the game would continue while I found a new sheet. This time, without hesitation, a player informed the GM that his character was smashing through the window, grabbing my character, and pulling her in. I was floored by the idea of a party where PCs looked out for each other. Of course, the GM had given us a good in-character reason to work together form the start. We were an Imperial Special Ops team who had worked together for years.

Needless to say, it was one of the best gaming experiences of my life.

This has coloured how I run my games since and it’s also heavily influenced how I’ve written Knights of the Hidden Sun. I want my game to play like a movie. I want Knights to look out for each other, and I’ve designed tools to help other GMs do this:

• I’ve added a Hazard System to the Ready 2 Run core rules (used in Aeternal Legends) so that characters can jump through windows, pull innocent civilians from harm and run through an exploding dreadnought in the midst of combat.
• Characters start the game knowing each other; they’ve trained together for five years before starting their first mission.
• The reward system is designed to encourage teamwork, not  showboating. Of one person does something cool, everyone wins.

If you can easily run this game like a high-octane action flick then I’ll consider this project a success.