Hyperdrift Stories

The Setup

Hyperdrift Stories is an open table campaign with no fixed end date. It consists of Tempest games and Open Strategy games, both which will be run on my discord server.

Tempest games run every second Monday at 19:00 CET, starting January 3rd 2022, I will run a one-shot using 2400 Cosmic Highway. The players create characters that are affiliated with the Tempest. It is not required to own 2400 or know the rules to play.

Meanwhile, I will be running an Open Strategy Game set in the same universe, where players can sign up to control actors. The actors in this game are the big movers described in the Setting section. The OSG will be played over 8 turns and each turn will be resolved at the end of a week.

Events that occur in the Tempest games or in the Open Strategy games may have an impact on each other. Players can choose to participate in either or both games.  

The Setting

Hyperdrift Stories takes place in a sci-fi world. The year is 2439 and times are tough. Humanity has once again bitten over more than it can chew. Natural disasters, scarcity, crime and popular unrest has put a strain on those in power.

The players are invited aboard the Tempest, an aging spaceship held together by temporary welds and scarce paychecks. The crew have a mercenary reputation, but the truth is complicated. The Tempest roams the Cosmic Highway - a network of Hyperdrift Gates that connect the settled solar systems.

The big movers are:

The Terran Systems Defense Initiative is present in all systems, but struggles to maintain stability. Terran Systems Defense Initiative HQ is in Alpha Centauri.

The Terran Systems Union has representatives from all systems. Ostensibly they govern for the good of all, but not all voices are heard. The Terran Systems Union is seated in Alpha Centauri. They have a congress with delegates from every solar system.  

The Red Star is devoted to providing aid and rescue services across the systems. They are spread thin. Many are in need of their help. The Red Star HQ is in Alpha Centauri.

The Polaris Corporation operates across the systems. They have amassed large amounts of wealth at the expense of the minor systems. The Polaris Corporation HQ is in Barnard's Star.

The Outer Systems Alliance works to secure the rights of the colonies that are far from Earth. Far from home, human rights are not guaranteed. The Outer Systems Alliance HQ is in Sirius.

The Visitors are an alien civilization that appeared five years ago. Attempts at communication have failed. Humans have maintained their distance. 

The Problem

Open Strategy Games feature a specific problem. It is the following:

The Hyperdrift Gates that lead to Earth have inexplicably shut down. Earth was the most important supply route to the other settled solar systems.

The Situation

Alpha Centauri is the only solar system with a functional fuel refinery. It is controlled by the Terran Systems Union.

Most solar systems have enough resources to last them a short while. The remote systems are most vulnerable to resource deprivation.

Travel from one point to any other point in settled space takes one whole turn. An unopposed route between the solar systems is a prerequisite.

Space travel will over time deplete the fuel holding of an actor.

The Terran Systems Defense Initiative was previously under direct control to the Terran Systems Union, but is now acting under emergency powers. Their mission is to tackle the increasing amount of piracy.

The alien species dubbed the Visitors have made appearances in all of settled space. Their probes haunt the edges of the systems. They are known to interact with strange wormholes.

The Map


Popular posts from this blog

The Core Mechanic

Image
In this post, I’m going to discuss the most prevalent game mechanic that nobody seems to talk about.  The most important game mechanic in roleplaying games is not about dice rolling and target numbers. It’s about how we share information - the conversation where we describe and act on the world we present. I haven’t landed on a name for it, but I’d like to refer to Chris Engle’s concept of “verbal analysis” - more on that later.  Image by  Pexels , used with permission.
Read more

Free Kriegsspiel's problem with Owls

Image
In the last 12 or so months, I’ve been delving deep into the FKR rabbit hole. It has thoroughly changed the way I play and let me focus more on adventures than ever before. For example, writing things like stat blocks and looking up rules are now a thing of the past. But there are some issues that I think also need to be addressed. In this post I’m going to talk about something I call the “Owl Problem”. How hard can it be? Okay, what’s the deal with bringing owls into this? Well, it’s inspired by the meme above, but related to running rules-light games. In my experience, newcomers to the hobby have almost no issue in joining a session and playing as a PC. However, as a newcomer to running a session, most rules-light games offer little to no guidance.  One central idea to free kriegsspiel is that the referee can just dispense with rules and dice in favor of relying on their experience. This worked out a lot for prussian officers, but a beginner in the ttrpg world doesn't have the sa
Read more

Magic and Free Kriegsspiel

Image
So part of the conceit of Free Kriegsspiel is that the Referee depends on their experience and knowledge of the world to drive the game. That’s great and all, but what about magic? There’s no way to have live experience with that, so there’s only one way out of that. You have to know something about the world you’re running.  Magic! How hard can it be? Image by GraphicMama , used with permission. A typical corollary question of “how do you do magic?” is “how do you handle damage?” which is also a question that keeps popping up. Many newcomers to the FKR way are often already familiar with roleplaying games that quantify damage, and will likely try to find a one-to-one heuristic to deal with that. To help answer this question, I typically ask another question: “What’s the in-world answer to this?”  Many fantasy worlds already present magic systems of various kinds, such as the channeling in Wheel of Time to the element bending featured in Avatar: The Last Airbender. These worlds typical
Read more