Knights of the Spinward Stars

Holovids and galactic historians speak of events unimaginably distant in both time and space: the fall of the Second Imperium after the Scream, the arrival of Ra, myths of the Terran homeworld. Many of your neighbors have distant tales as well. Kerlick boasts of being a chromed enforcer from a sprawling neon metropolis. The Vargr have tales of distant wanderings as the children of Ancients. Liz was once crew on a mighty freighter.

But whether birth or misfortune or a need for a new life, everyone can gaze on the placid shores of Djend; your home, at least for now. Folks worry about cattle dying, about rumors of banditry and piracy, of corrupt Yangi politicians making new taxes, another war with the Bruhkhar.

What story is it that you will bring?

Game Overview

Knights of the Spinward Stars will be a science fiction campaign focused on the struggle to help those who need it most in a precarious region of space. Initially this will be helping your community, but as your journey continues more people will call out for heroism. From disrupting pirate strangleholds to negotiating peace between rival nations the stars need those willing to do what is right. Vast and distance empires promise stability to their billions of citizens, but, in there here-and-now, the only promises kept are by folk heroes and noble leaders. Perhaps in time you could become one of the greatest of these warriors, among the mythical Knights Errant.

The main areas of play will be

• creating a character with ties to their community; both friends in need and treacherous foes
• exploring the mysteries and opportunities of the sector
• managing funds and resources, or giving them to those in need
• becoming an exemplar to those needing hope
• surviving perilous gunfights and piloting potent mechs

In Summary: You’ve ended up on a small world, but your past is still out there, and will embark on an adventure to be a band of traveling heroes. To start read the character creation rules for Stars Without Number.

Characters

We are going to make characters collaboratively during session 0, using the procedures from Stars Without Number (free pdf). This will generate a PC at the start of their journey, and likely will be much less resilient than a typical hero of epic fantasy. Alongside this will either create or roll for a few backstory events to serve as plot hooks for the campaign.

Although the world is dangerous your ultimate destiny will be to become a pilot of superlative skill, using the mech combat rules of Lancer (free pdf). These won’t be important initially, as your characters are not yet mech pilots, but can be useful to keep in mind. This increased power will be the inciting event for increased responsibility as a member of the Knights Errant.

Important aspects to consider for a character

• what was your home like? what is it like now? are you from a high-tech world or a backwater wanderer?
• do you have any important family? notable friends or foes?
• how are you drawn to a life of heroism and adventure?
• why are you connected to the other player characters?

Details can be found in Character Creation Details

Backstory

The game will take place in an alternate version of the Traveler universe, between the Spinward Marches and regions of the Beyond.

#todo
In 1116 an event known as the Scream disrupted advanced technology and drove many psychics mad, as the underlying metaspatial fabric rippled with terrible results. The generations since this called the resulting period the Silence. Your characters live in a world which has in many ways recovered from this disaster, but this hope is tempered by old animosities.

Appendix K

In ancient times Gygax created Appendix N, a list of inspirations for forging Dungeons and Dragons. Below is Appendix K, a medley of media which in some way compose the campaign.

• the rugged gunslinger of the Dollars trilogy
• daring and cunning heroism from the Vorkosigan Saga and heavy-hitting armor of Hammer’s Slammers
• Cowboy Bepop and Trigun’s blend of aesthetics of past and future
• Seven Samurai and other tales of chivalry facing down piracy
• C.J. Cherryh’s Downbelow Station, Foreigner, and the Chanur saga for tales of aliens, alliances, and adventure
• alongside this no campaign of science fiction and mech action could exist without
  • Star Trek
  • Firefly
  • The Expanse series
  • A Fire Upon the Deep
  • the Culture series
  • Revelation Space
  • the Commonwealth Saga and the Night’s Dawn Trilogy
  • The Left Hand of Darkness
  • Ringworld
  • filk music
  • Honor Harrington
  • Forever War, Starship Troopers, and Old Man’s War
  • The Stars My Destination
  • Murderbot Diaries, Bubblegum Crisis, and Bladerunner
  • the Hyperion Cantos