A Space Setting

Combining space and fantasy ain't nothing novel. Dragon Star, Spell Jammer, Star Wars, 40K, that odd story arc in the later seasons of Babylon 5... others, I'm sure. The point is that it's been done. Too much, some say. I, myself, am on the fence about the combination. Really, planet hopping is no different than plane hopping. 

Either way, whichever your take on it, I've got a space setting stuck in my head that's distracting me from demon making. Thus, I'm slapping the odd bits I've got down, making it your problem. As always, use as you like, don't if you don't.

RACES

Dwarves  

Originally a subterreanian race due to the conditions of their home system (see Chthon below), they eventually made it out into the galaxy. Creatures of pure science and reasoning, they've neither the talent nor the place in their society for magic, instead turning to physics and genetic augmentation. Their warrior caste are practically veterans by the time they finish training camp. Were the first race humans met as they stepped out in to the greater galaxy, and therefore are the more accepting of the humans. Though the dwarves view the humans usage of AI as sinful, and it will probably cause a holy war in a few centuries, or one really bad afternoon.

Their society is divided into castes, mimicing the strata of their rocky home world.

Elves 

An odd race, largely hated by the others (no thanks to the Supremecy Wars), the elves have never taken to mechanical science, instead showing natural talent for magic and biological symbiosis. Every elven child, on their naming day, receives a familiar ("illith" in their tongue) not unlike a dog sized octopus. Through out their childhood, the elf forms a pshyic bond with the familiar. Should the elf become a fighter pilot, the illith is surgically inbedded within the living fighter craft, allowing for a neural interface between elf and machine. Should the elf become promoted to captain of their own vessle, the fighter is further surgically inbedded within the vessle, allowing the neural interface to spread.

Should the elf ever commit a crime worthy of capital punishment, and found guilty, the illith is instead executed and the elf themself exicled. In the darker shadows of elven society cults have formed where the elves physically bind with their illithes, becoming strange abominations with aggressive mental powers.

Gnomes

You ever wonder what happens when a society reaches the Singularity? Look no further. Seen as ecclectic by other races, this is a side effect from the mixing of personalities caused by the networked neural implants, allowing for near instant sharing of knowledge among the populous.

Half-Elves

None existent outside of strange and unethical genetic research

Half-Orcs

None existent outside of strange and unethical genetic research

Halflings 

See Humans. "Halfling" is just an insult for decedents of the first off world colonists, who tended to be smaller in stature, due to space restrictions.

Humans 

Ah, my sweet humans. Still the Jack-of-all-trades type. Have science, faster than light travel, AI, robots, all the usual human space stuff. Heavy on the cyberpunk aesthetics, but in space. Cybernetic implants and biochemical mixing are both found within the populous. Some (un)lucky few are born with the ability to harness magic. 

Teleporters are a thing, but philosophers have determined they lead to the Death of Self - where the original is killed from being torn apart, and a copy with a new consciousness is constructed on the other side. This is backed up by magic users losing their abilities after being teleported. So, now they're mostly used for equipment transporting.  

Humans are currently trying to find ways to combine science and magic. It hasn't been easy or successful. There are thems that call themselves "Techo-sorcerers", but really they're just jackasses with nanobot implants programmed to mimic lesser magical abilities. 

Planets and Systems of Note

Chthon

The Dwarven homeworld. A craggy, rocky world with very little surface water. Very little life is found on the surface due to constant impacts from space debris, of which the system is littered with (enough to haze the light from the nearby star). From this combination, life developed underground, within the planet's countless caverns. Also, sometimes Lunar Dragons are a problem.

Necrosol

A system with a dying red sun, who's fifth planet is lousy with the undead. Vampire lords rest eternal, awaiting new food sources, as their zombie minions toil away, up-keeping the castles and properties. What does a zombie do all day? I don't know. Go to the planet and look. Then, realize you're the only source of fresh blood on the planet, and enjoy the attention of vampires.

Terra

Earth! But slightly different. Probably. Home and capitol planet for the Human systems, which are in a feudal empire composed of houses, as it seems to be the only somewhat successful way to organize and administrate large collection of humans. Located in Sol system, if you were wondering

Rivenvale 

The ringed Elven homeworld. Thick green forests, with cities that incorporate the trees and plants naturally. Vast orange oceans, teaming with rich tentacled and finned life. The occasional magic storm. Habitable moons. Cancerous asteroids. The system is teaming with shoals of space squid.

Gnomus Prime 

Gnome homeworld. Once a lush habitable planet, it has been reduced to an irradiated nuclear wasteland, with the populous living in an habitation platform around it. The cause of the apocaplyse is unknown, and the gnomes refuse to answer any questions about it, or allow people down to the planet, but they also see fit to re-nuke the planet every once in a while.

Guns and Shields

Given the nature of guns/lasers and their inherent touch attackness, some fiddlin' would have to be done on this part. As it is fairly hard to actually dodge a bullet, attacks are made against dexterity (or however the system figures touch attack AC) modified by personal deflector shields. Think a combination of what you've got in Borderlands and a Holtzman shield. Actual armor, on the other hand, instead of providing "to hit" protection, serves as a form of damage reduction. 

Shields have two primary stats: Deflection rating and Charge. Deflection rating is what it adds to the defense value. Charge is how many times, number of attacks wise, it can provide the deflection rating before needing a new battery. An armor condition, if you're using one of those systems. 

Some more special shields can probably be given adjectives, and special abilities derived from those. For example, "Grounded" probably provides free protection from electrical attacks. "Asbestic" would probably give protection from fire attacks. When in doubt, loot the Borderlands wiki. 

Classes

A brief invisioning:

Fighters - pretty much the same, just with sci-fi gear

Ragers - like Barbarians, but their rage ability comes from cocktails of combat drugs. 

TechoSorcerers - use nanobot injections to simulate magic effects 

Sorcerers - basically the same, though elf only.

Wizards - basically the same, but human only.

Hackers - from ship systems to building security to laser gun firmware; if there's code, they'll bend it to their will

Clerics, rogue sorts, and the others are fairly the same, like the fighter, just with high tech gear. 

Secrets

Because I'll forget them otherwise. 

The gnomes are nuking their homeworld in order to stop a Cyber horror horde (like a clockwork horror, but cybernetic) from becoming too strong. The cyber queen nests safely deep within the planet, however.

Tuskrok, the orc home world, is covered in buried dwarven ruins. The dwarves genetically altered some of their lower caste criminals thousands of years ago to use as shocktroops. They, however, got out of hand and took over the planet they were created on. - Which means the cruel creature god the orcs worship is the scientist that first created them, but with tusks.

Continue Reading...