Waterbrick Down

Arthur inspects behind the toilet. "Hold on a sec..."

"So at this point, what are we exactly looking for? Do we think there's enough evidence that Mr. Parry committed the murder? Granted he's got amnesia for the time being, so that's certainly not helpful. It's looking like Mr. Peck may have had technology that was worth stealing, is that what we're trying to find?" Arthur checks the bathroom.

"Should probably put some sort of checklist together so we don't skip anything: Bathroom Closet/Safe Desk Trash Bed Anything else?" Speaking so, Arthur investigates the bed in Seymour's cabin and if there's anything under the mattress.

"I have a feeling we're not going to get through all the rooms before we reach port. Mr. Seymour, you will be charged for the damage to the furniture. Now let's begin." Arthur searches the bathroom.

"My apologies, must have missed that." "See that still doesn't line up though, the door to storage was forced open. It would have been unlocked during the blackout. If Ezra broke in before the blackout, that must mean he killed Alfie before the blackout as well. But we don't know how he would have gotten into Alfie's room without a key. And if this is all true, what was the point of the blackout?" "Trying to be the most efficient with our time, and can you please not destroy the furniture! How would you imagine someone hid something in there so quickly to begin with?"

"Work or pleasure, Genie?" "Looks like no further clues, which leaves only the exercise room and restrooms, excluding passenger rooms of course. I'd lobby for the former unless there's any objections."

Arthur investigates the library to see if there is a check-out system and if so which books are currently not in the library. "Anybody check the trash yet?"

"Well there's plenty of paper, but I'd be distraught if some of our passengers have taken to book burning." Arthur agrees with the motion to head to the library next.

"Not 100% proof, just conjecture giving Mr. Peck's line of work and the letter found on him."

"Why would someone go to the trouble of stealing documents only to burn them?"

"Why burn something in here as opposed to a private room?" Arthur inspects whether the storage room has a smoke detector and if so whether it's been disabled.

"Are you saying you were out of your room when the power went out?" Arthur checks if there is a lock on the door to housekeeping and if it seems to have been recently tampered with.

Perhaps, but it is different in that as neither faction claims responsibility the whole stand-off can only last so long as mutual destruction isn't a guarantee as it would have been in the Cold War scenario. If we are going with something more specified, I'd like to avoid species caused events as that lends itself automatically to one side claiming more of a moral high ground. Yep and that was my main concern. I wanted a creative space where non-fantasy races were as valid a pick both from a narrative standpoint as well as a alignment standpoint. While the starting space station would be somewhat faction neutral, if one faction is tipped more in the fantasy and the other in the sci-fi and the fantasy has more relatable motivations/narratives/etc. we'd be throwing off the balance right from the start.

"I don't think we ever got conclusive proof that Mr. Parry's fingerprints were on the murder weapon, only that his hands were roughed up in a manner that would be consistent with working with broken pottery." As the group heads for housekeeping Arthur recalls his question unanswered from earlier. ""Dr. Frost @Fugazi, Mr. Seymour @Tariq j, your rooms are across from and next to Mr. Peck's, did you happen to hear anything from his room around the time of the power outage?" As they arrive at housekeeping Arthur inspects the transparent red container trying to discern its purpose. "Nobody touch the teapot."

"Has this entire ship gone insane? I don't like the situation we find ourselves in either, but can we at least show some decency to each other without resorting to such barbarism?" "Thank you, a little sense." "As Officer Grace explained, you're currently on board the Excelsior. I'm Arthur Allen, the steward, I'm so sorry about the belligerence of the rest of the group. Please, can you tell us what's the last thing you remember?"

I get it, you're not a fan of planetoid destruction and the idea behind reserving the actual nature of the destruction was to allow for a mystery of what other forces are at work. I'd agree that if it was plainly relayed that the planet was destroyed via a massive super-weapon than you could lose some of the verisimilitude, because it then begs the question as to why it hasn't been used sooner or isn't used more regularly. By keeping it a mystery, it allows for the imagination to run wild on ideas and rumors to spread amongst the populace. And I suppose I should say that it's not a guarantee that a planet would be destroyed at some point, but that the likelihood was high given typical sci-fi tropes. I'll grant you the similarities to Ebberon's last war, the issue I have with the current suggested war is that it becomes so much like the ending of Heroica 1.0. Another issue was the original war seemed geared as traditional fantasy races vs. alien races vs. orcs and I wasn't necessarily completely sold on the distribution of the factions. I like the idea of 2 factions dealing with inner conflicts a little better and I think if we stick to something simple such as the old established military power vs. the new rising economic culture we're sure to get something simple enough without feeling like every quest has to be tied to the current major events. The point of the Embassy topic is to be a repository of species history, we can have other narrative diplomatic embassies across town. Items can interact with stats in a variety of ways in this system, I think I've listed them previously: Increase/Decrease the numerical threshold for a success Add/Subtract automatic successes Increase/Decrease the number of dice Allow for one or more dice to be rerolled And all of these can be applied to an Attribute or a Proficiency or a given Battle Action. So the number of items can be quite numerous. The intention with the shops will be to provide equipment, weapon/weapon upgrades, and consumables. This could be an interesting point of conflict. A recent breakthrough in a new type of transportation technology could certainly upset the balance of the universe and potentially lead to conflict. My original thought was most space travel would be magically driven. Mages were at one point a necessity for star-travel and eventually figured out how to utilize the gates for further travel outside the system. Future advances in magi-tech allowed for fewer mages to be necessary, but the systems still were powered with magic.

Agreed, and at this point I'm thinking of doing away with the trait system to avoid the issue of restraining species. It's probably better narratively, if we want to add it in soon after the beginning we can always revisit. Completely understand about the connection between enthusiasm and involvement. I guess my pet peeve, is ideas are easier than actual work. Looking at Heroica 1.0, there was a lot of sacrifice by a few individuals to keep things floating and I understand that that comes with the territory, just trying to avoid burnout. As for your points on planetary destruction, this is a science fantasy game, the scale is naturally going to be bigger than Heroica 1.0 and the particular plot point of one planet or galaxy's destruction is bound to occur and the idea is by keeping it vague, it allows for some mystery to be expanded upon. Plus the destruction doesn't have to be explosion, as pointed out below: There are other ways to achieve the same effect. My main line of thinking was: - We have a war being fought by multiple factions - Destruction of a galaxy or planet involved in the war leads to a tentative cease-fire/peace as no one is quite sure what caused it - Fallout from the war/destruction have multiple impacts upon the remaining factions as inhabitants from the galaxy or planet had allies among all the factions Also, it should be pointed out, that by the very nature of this being a community run game, there are going to be quests/characters/plot-lines that some folks run that break the verisimilitude for someone. As with Heroica 1.0 we just choose how much we want to engage with that aspect of the world. Personally, while I love Endgame as a QM and creator, I could never get into the Heroica 1.0 story of the Proggs and apart from one quest, avoided from interacting with that huge aspect of the game that I know other people immensely enjoyed. Hence why it's not completely getting rid of the races or establishing that as the only place they exist. There is still room for folks to explore as well as have something new to play off of if they so choose. Completely disagree. Almost all settings have some sort of major events both grand and destructive in their history that impact the way their world is today. One of Heroica 1.0's main underlying plots was the destruction of Mercution and the implications its fall-out had. It feels to me that this is more an issue because it's the fantasy races. How would you feel if it wasn't elves/dwarves/orcs and was simply a different alien species? CMP, answered this one for me: The intention would be for Humans to be pretty standard around the galaxy at this point. I like it, but tricky to balance narratively. Whenever you have tangible beings of immense power it always raises the question of why don't they interfere more often in everyday life, unless of course you make them more aloof and metaphysical. I appreciate the attempt at synthesis. It's keeping orcs as orcs but essentially ignoring that they ever came from a fantasy setting, which I suppose is a good point to cover. In science fantasy we probably unconsciously think of two routes via which culture become spacefaring: 1. A species progresses through natural technological development similar to our real world just more advanced. 2. A species has access to space travel almost from the onset of their creation. Answering this question, I believe can greatly impact how we perceive a culture or a setting. This is where we start to get into the difference between science fiction and science fantasy. I think it's an interesting idea, but let's be careful about how much we set in stone. I like the idea of having magic be a use of another force and agree that the Jump Gates are powered by them, most star-travel might actually be the usage of magic unless technology has developed in a certain culture to replace it.

Again it's not a requirement that all elves/dwarves/etc. characters directly come from that galaxy, its more that the homeworld where the races originated is no longer around. I can't say your war idea is necessarily original either. And this idea is only that, it's not an established canon yet, it's putting feelers out there to establish what aspects need polish, what doesn't work, and what's enjoyable. I've got to be honest, if I don't enjoy something it's hard to feel motivated to put massive amounts of work in to take build sets, edit photos, draft rules, and put everything in a presentable package. It feels like you're jumping way ahead and just taking this at face-value as all there is to a story or to species development. As I said, I'm kicking around the idea, no hard details yet. And...? So you're saying because we may have two somewhat aloof, long-lifespan races that tend to have highly developed cultures and scholarship, that we really only need one of them? Regardless of their histories, philosophy, biology, connections to other species, etc.? Categorizing species for roles, is a gamest and narrative tool, not a RP tool. It's merely used to assist in understanding the generalities of the world and preserving connectivity and continuity in an experience that is being built by multiple individuals.

You mentioned Romans, hence I thought legionnaires. And they're reptilian gator people, hard not to imagine them being imposing. I'm good with still having elves and dwarves, I'm just mulling if the story has to give them the center stage. People can still play them, it's more that they don't dominate the storylines like they did in Heroica 1.0. It's still a science fantasy setting, so I don't think we have to totally abandon the classical races, but I don't think we're beholding to make them the main focus either. Not sure where you're getting this... I wasn't trying to come off as completely erase all pre-conceptions of the fantasy races, more allowing freedom for people to explore other aspects. That's what I'm saying, they don't need to be integral and that's not a bad thing. They don't need to be more important than everything else. The galaxy's destruction is a part of the setup that I'm stewing, I'd agree by itself it might feel tacked on, but it's supposed to be simply an aspect of the larger events of the time. As I've mentioned privately, I'm starting to steer away from the species bonus for the time being in order to keep things streamlined. And the idea isn't to provide a conclusive list, its more to give an idea of how the setting is shaped. In a fantasy setting, there's so many tropes that most people's assumptions about the world have a good probability of being correct. In sci-fi, there are so many variations and settings, that things need to be a little more defined ahead of time to give some consistency. For those who need a list, here's what's I've currently got: Basic Rules - 95% Complete Magic Rules - 50% Complete Class Rules - 75% Complete Species Rules - None Hall - 95% Complete Training Room - 100% Complete Library - 75% Complete Embassy - 0% Complete Vendors - 0% Complete A few pictures of the training room and library to keep your curiosity piqued:

I totally agree with you. Unfortunately there hasn't been much to work with in a while: Nexo-knights - 2018 Galaxy Squad - 2013 Alien Conquest - 2011 Chima - 2015 Apart from those, the closest we'll get to readily available sci-fi figures is Ninjago or Starwars. The former unfortunately all tend to look naturally evil and the latter are so closely tied to another sci-fi setting that I think it'll be hard to make them their own unique thing. I think there's naturally going to be over lap though. Even if we look back on Heroica 1.0 you had overlap between races. Think gnomes and dwarves, orcs and pogcanne or minotaurs or yeti, elves and Aoi or Fenarians, While different races can fill the same archtype, what makes them unique are how their particular features and background contribute towards that archtype. It's why I don't mind having Goblins/Orcs/Hobgoblins/Ogres all be different races. Yes the may all fill the same sort of roll, but their approach to it is different. Same could be said about your Krassar that you've shared previously. If we have a race like that what's the point of orcs or any strong militaristic species? The point is giving people something new to build upon as opposed to relying too heavily on the pre-established races and all the baggage that comes along with them from other settings. And again it's not like that they don't exist, it's that they don't play as heavily a role in the setting compared to others. It also provides opportunity to explore a new background for those traditionally entrenched species with the destruction of their main galaxy.

"I'd be fine heading that direction. Aside from Ezra, do we have any other rationale concerning why the fitness room may be a better choice than the other locations?"

@Bob Just wanted to make sure this doesn't get missed. "Agreed, but because it was unlocked it does mean that someone could have ducked in here to escape detection when the rest of us were wandering the halls. Something to keep in mind."

The idea behind Heroica 2.0 is while it may pay homage to Heroica 1.0, it's its own universe. Races/Factions/Items/Classes may not necessarily be the same as Heroica 1.0. I like to think of it like easter eggs. If you played Heroica 1.0 you may see some things that'll make you smile, but playing Heroica 1.0 won't be a prerequisite for understanding anything in Heroica 2.0 lore wise. It'd be free from Olegaia, I'm currently kicking around an idea where some of the old races (elves/dwarves/gnomes/some humans/maybe orcs) come from a star system that was recently destroyed for one reason or another and now are mainly nomadic/refugees amongst the other species. It's not that they don't exist, it's more that there aren't as many and they definitely don't have as much influence as some of the other species anymore. Instead the focus would be on a different set of species that fill the same arch types: - The big and brawny enforcer types, generally more militaristic or honor focused - Industrious and clever, generally fill the role of engineer or maybe scientist - The cultural elite or high society type - The scholarly type - The one with more affinity to magic or the divine or nature - The elderly or immortal race - The new or young race with little experience in the universe - The survivalist or lone wolf type - The one with a truly alien perspective (i.e. hive minds/logic only processing/reincarnation life-cycle/etc.)

Just to be clear, nothing set in stone yet though. If there are more interesting ideas, there is still open-ness in suggesting them. How would folks feel about a setting where the classical fantasy races still exist, but aren't necessarily the main players in the story anymore? The Starfinder RPG went this route with having the classic orc/dwarf/elf still be around, but not as forefront to the main story arcs as some of the newer species introduced.

Arthur tries to recall if the safe in Mr. Pecks and Mr. Parry's rooms were open and empty. "Did we miss that before..."