Category Archives: News

I don’t toot my own horn very often but sometimes I wonder if people notice some of the source books. The Fringe is a funny setting book, not “ha ha” funny, I mean funny odd. It is probably the most referred to sourcebook, even if it doesn’t get a lot of love by playing the actual setting in our group. Players are always mentioning “orbital strikes” when the PC’s egos get too big. There’s just a lot of little tidbits in the book that you don’t want to miss.

What’s In This Book?

Dwellers – We get our first look at a minor civilization. This is an ancient group of people that struck out to live in one of the most hazardous environments imaginable, the Methane Wastes. They have adapted by wearing their Hard Suits at all times.

Orbital Combat – Who’s afraid of an orbital strike? Not Major Chan’s guys that are taking the emplacements head on! A fleet of ships and hundreds of E-Suits are in orbit and taking on the superpowers of The Artifact.

Mining The Wastes – Full rules for running Dweller ship and going out prospecting dagnabit!

Fringe Creatures – Strange life flourishes in this liquid methane environment. Why are they on the planet and why do they have almost half the underground designed for them to live in?

Famous People – The Fringe introduces a few movers and shakers. We’ll be doing some more of this in the Tortuga Setting.

New Vehicles – Rall 3’s, Pho’duks, Chezbah Interceptors, the first C-Suit (construction suit)

ICBM Stats – When you’re taking on giant orbital cannons, you need something with a little kick.

So Many Firsts

There are a lot of firsts in The Fringe because it’s the second sourcebook written for The Artifact RPG and it really set the tone for everything to come. There are a lot of ideas that get repeated in other books and in upcoming books (there are three under development now). Even if you’re not going to play the setting, there are ideas galore to flesh out your games.

The Fringe.pdf

Yes, it’s the merit badge thing. I may not have much use for showing players my badges but they make me think about my current practices as a GM. For instance there are a few that used to apply to me but I found they were making the game less fun so I changed. I thought for a moment why I made these changes and realized that I had changed because my gaming group had changed. This is the style that they’ve responded to. There are a few holdovers like the PvP badge, I just don’t belive there should be a wall in between the players. I don’t encourage it, I like a cooperative group but making PvP impossible in game seems like it would cause problems in the story. Think about it, with no PvP, Chewbaca couldn’t really tear C3PO’s arms off and so the threat would be meaningless.

Beer and Pretzels – We don’t take things too seriously

Character death – If you put yourself in a bad position, well, deal with it.

Improv – This is probably the badge that I identify the most with.

I’m the boss – I even say so in my games. Rule 0 is in writing so it’s by the book.

Exploration – I’m big on exploration, I’m not so great with mystery but I’m working on it.

PvP – Possible but not encouraged

Tinker with rules – I make games, you have to tinker if you make games. I do not arbitrarily ignore rules though.

You better run squirrel – Mainly because of the second badge up there. I’m not afraid to use it.

I’ve been working on the map of the city code named Tortuga for the setting sourcebook of the same title and here it is!

Edit: I’ve updated the map, this one is a little more stylized and seems a little more hand made than the first one I posted. Click on the pictures for a larger view.

I need to get a key made for the map to explain what’s going on here. The blue line is the old city walls and are the strongest defenses. The red line is the new city wall. The rectangles on the walls are the location of gates in and out of the city.

The tan is the location of the shantytowns where a majority of the population live. In the center hex of the old city is the Kaloord homes and the Rantaa’ palace. The four yellow circles are the location of fusion reactors that once powered the city.

I need to make sure this shows up in grayscale. The book will be available in color but someone may want to print it out in black and white.

Here’s a close up of the Kaloord district and the palace. Most of the building footprints are actually networks of buildings that are owned by a single family.

I’m very nearly done with the Tortuga setting. I’m working on the city map now. I’d like to scan it and show you but I’m on vacation and don’t have a scanner with me. The only things left is to clean up the equipment modding rules (they’re similar to the vehicle modding rules in the main book) and a few more pictures. I’ve been hesitant to draw lately, being more focused on writing seems to take a different part of my brain and I don’t seem to want to switch back and forth. I’m hoping that if I sit down to draw, I’ll be able to run off a series of pictures.

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There are a lot of you out there that make modules for RPGs. Do you ever feel under appreciated? Would you like to do something official for a setting? I’ve been working on some modules but I’m also working on the site here and sourcebooks so I don’t have all the time I’d like to make them. Store32 is looking for module designers to make games for The Artifact RPG. If you like working self directed, that’s cool, we would want to make sure a module works with the world’s ‘cannon’. If you’d like some story ideas, we can send them your way and you can pick from them. We could also use some cartographers.

What Does It Pay?

Good question, it doesn’t but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t. The Artifact RPG is free, but modules could be sold on RPGNow. Store32 would post them and then do a profit share. The particulars can be worked out. Of course, if you’re looking to share them for free, that can be worked out also.

If you’re interested, email me at admin at store32 dot net

Tortuga started out because players were getting powerful enough to go out on their own and do as they pleased. Some of the things in the main book that the players wanted to get into weren’t fully defined and there isn’t a lot of treasure hunting built into the main book of The Artifact.

After working the midnight shift and watching a Godzilla marathon I had an idea. It was crazy but it snapped into place in The Artifact legend that mentions War Engines being made by Loc. Originally Titans were going to have their own book but it fit in with the treasure hunting and freelancing theme of Tortuga so they’re being tied together.

Titans

They are over three thousand years old, possess power beyond human understanding and there are thousands of them. These titans are the legionary War Engines designed by Loc and built by humans for the war against the old gods.

For most of the residents of The Artifact, that is the extent of what they know about these titans. There are those that have spent their entire life searching for them. Rulers lust after their power. There are those that are haunted by them unable to escape. They have protected and destroyed civilizations.

An ASO mission report referred to one of these devices as “the titan”. After the report was passed around the ASO command and corporate partners began to refer to the war engines as Titans. The title has even been taken up among the IC-A in some commands and so has spread as an accepted term.

Despite all their mystique Titans are a mixed bag of massive raw power and a maddening unpredictability. While they are machines, they have enough intelligence to manipulate their pilots according to their own agenda. This is usually the elimination of all threats to themselves in an almost phobic manner. They distain more mundane enemies and complain endlessly about fighting any enemy they do not see as a threat. Some refuse to function if they don’t agree with a fight.

The Titan itself is immensely powerful but they were designed for a single purpose and are not always well suited to be used in other fashions such as defending a city.

Most pristine Titans are found near the industry pods in the void past the incremental cities. Others are found protecting cities, worn down from centuries of fighting. Some have mysteriously stopped working and have either been left as showpieces to warn off attackers or hidden away from prying eyes. Some are able to keep them running a little bit longer with the help of the unusual ability to ask the Titans why they are not working.

An example of a Titan

No one knows how many Titans are left. Some estimate that there are only a few hundred, most of them no longer functioning. Others estimate that there may be hundreds of thousands.

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I’ve been asked this many times and I’ve tried to give a meaningful answer. I’ve said things like “my own” but never had a good way of quickly saying what I was using an why.

It’s not the system it’s the story

I’ve heard this pretty regularly for a little while now. I’d love that to be the case but there are a few great stories out there that have been pared with the wrong system and suffered for it. A.L. over at Reality Refracted had several great posts about how mechanics alter the story of a game and even help to tell the story. I completely agree with him. I’m not opposed to the idea of porting games to other systems but to get it right would take brilliance or a lot of brutally hard work.

What I’m getting at is that when I make a game, the setting and the mechanics need to match. Not just any system would do.

What’s in a name

Names are really quite powerful, not by themselves mind you but when properly attached to what they represent they do a lot. For example, if I say “the d20 system” most gamers instantly have a lot of information that they can work with to understand what I’m talking about. I have to admit that I failed to recognize the importance of a name for a system and that’s why I’ve only occasionally thought about giving my systems names.

The Fraction Column System

There are a lot of things that The Artifact RPG’s system does that is important to telling it’s story but it’s powerhouse mechanic is the Fraction Column. Let me show you why.

When playing other games, I have to admit that I was a rules lawyer (I’m better now) and one of my worst habits was to make my characters unbeatable. I found ways to do this in most systems that I played. Some systems were better than others but I wanted to do better.

Let’s take a situation. A basic level character is trying to catch a tiger using a tranquilizer gun. The animal is very fast and will almost always be able to avoid the dart because of a high Reflex. To make this work in most games, the attributes (or skills or traits) would have to be close to each other. In the Fraction Column system they can be very different and the task can still be accomplished.

Frank

Frank’s Agility is 30 on a 1d100 (roll under the target number) he has a 30% chance of base success but it doesn’t end there. If the Player rolls lower than his Fraction Columns he does even better.

the Tiger

The tiger’s Reflex (used to dodge) is 100. On a 1d100 the Tiger would always succeed (except for on a roll of 100 which we count as an automatic failure).

Normally Frank could never hit the tiger without the benefit of his Fraction Columns. Lets say Frank gets a great roll of an 8 on a 1d100. He’s just made his 1/4 column and the tiger has to match it or do better to dodge. The tiger’s 1/4 column is a 25, so it has a better chance than Frank does, but it’s not an automatic success at this point.

This does a lot to a game’s story. Even very advanced characters are not immune to danger and that changes the mood and adds to the gritty feeling of the game.

So now, when someone asks me what system I’m using, I’ll answer “The Fraction Column System”. Then they’ll look at me and say “I’ve never heard of it.” Hey, gotta start somewhere.. .