Adventures in the Terran Star Empire

By Migwin Crow

‘Adventures in the Terran Star Empire’ is the second in a series of ‘Pocket Sized Adventures’, a set of quick to learn and easy to play role-playing games. They are designed to be picked up and played with minimal preparation, effort or fuss. The Terran Star Empire is a vast and decaying interstellar empire based on the classic science fiction space operas of the 1950s and 60s.

This game uses the ‘Wanton’ Role-Playing (WaRP) system from Atlas Games under their ‘Open Game License’. A basic version of this rules system can be found in Part Two of this book for easy reference. If you prefer a more detailed rule set, with a few more options, then the full WaRP System can be found in the ‘WaRP System Reference Document’ the atlas-games Website.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raven's Staff
• Release date: Feb 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310254741

Migwin Crow

Hi, I'm Migwin Crow and welcome to my Smashwords page, where I aim to publish tabletop Role-playing Games from time to time.So why am I doing this? - Well after playing these games for the past thirty or so years, I thought I might try and publish a few.Hope you enjoy.

Book preview

Adventures in the Terran Star Empire

By Migwin Crow

Pocket-Sized Adventures in a vast and decaying inter-stellar empire

Copyright © 2015 Migwin Crow

Smashwords Edition.

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 9781310254741

The Terran Star Empire is a vast and decaying interstellar empire based on the classic science fiction space operas of the 1950s and 60s.

‘Adventures in the Terran Star Empire’ is the second in a series of ‘Pocket Sized Adventures’, a set of quick to learn and easy to play role-playing games. They are designed to be picked up and played with minimal preparation, effort or fuss.

This game uses the ‘Wanton’ Role-Playing (WaRP) system from Atlas Games under their ‘Open Game License’. A basic version of this rules system can be found in Part Two of this book for easy reference. If you prefer a more detailed rule set, with a few more options, then the full WaRP System can be found in the ‘WaRP System Reference Document’ the atlas-games Website.

CONTENTS

Part One:

ADVENTUES IN THE TERRAN STAR EMPIRE

The Terran Star Empire

A History of an Empire

Humanity in all its forms

Pocket Sized Adventures

Game Setting Rules

Part Two:

The WaRP GAME SYSTEM.

An Overview of the WaRP System

Creating a Character

Basic Game mechanics

Combat

Fringe Powers

The Open Game License

Also Available

Part One:

Adventures in the Terran Star Empire

1 The Terran Star Empire

The Terran Star Empire is an immense interstellar body of space, governed at its centre from Sol III (Earth). It stretches 60 light years out in all directions from Sol, forming a rough and uneven sphere. Within this sphere lie three political regions, the Inner Core, the Outer Core, and the Periphery. Beyond the periphery lies the vast expanse of unexplored space, which the Empire calls ‘The Frontier’.

The Empire is 1,500 years old and has long reached its peak. The political powers, which maintain it, have long descended into decadence, stagnation and decline as the empire becomes more and more introverted, celebrating its past glories rather than embracing its future.

Certain sectors of the Periphery are even beginning to seek independence as once loyal worlds begin to break away.

The Inner Core (0 to 15 LY from Sol)

The Inner Core comprises of six inhabited star systems, including Sol. The other five systems are 61 Cygani, Tau Centi, Sirius, Procyon and Alpha Centari. These star systems are the home worlds of five of the six Noble Houses that rule the Empire for Sol by proxy, the sixth House being Beta Hydri in the Outer Core. Each of these Worlds have their own cultures, norms and values as each Noble Houses is allowed complete autonomy over their subjects as long as they maintain loyalty to the Emperor on Sol III.

Very different in many ways, all Noble Houses have one thing in common; they are all the result of the Empire’s political structure and feudal nature. The Houses are therefore very stratified societies lead by privileged noble elites.

A Noble House usually comprises of three social classes, Nobles, Executives, and Workers. Some have a fourth tear, in that they use slaves, which are usually artificially created clones called replicates. Replicates are afforded no human rights and are treated more as property then as people.

Nobles operate according to their own notions of honour and duty and are responsible for governing and ruling. Subjects are expected to be totally obedient and loyal, though different houses have different methods of ensuring this, ranging from charisma and benevolence to the use of fear, psychosocial conditioning, genetic engineering and eugenics.

Executives fulfil the roles of bureaucrats, specialists and military leaders for each of the Noble Houses, while workers are the skilled and unskilled menial workforce.

The Outer Core (15 to 30 LY from Sol)

Each star system within the outer core is a client state of one of the Noble Houses, though a few independent worlds do exist. Generally speaking, each outer core system’s culture reflects that of its ruling house at the Noble and Executive tiers of society. The culture of the worker class of a client state can be very different from those of its rulers however. This is due to the fluid nature of ownership that exists. As star systems are awarded to Noble Houses, they can equally be taken away and given to another house. Many key political or resource rich worlds have frequently ‘changed hands’.

It is also not uncommon for the worker class on a world to remain loyal to a previous governing house, as some Noble Houses are more charismatic then others.

The Periphery (30 to 60 LY from Sol)

The Periphery is very similar to the Outer Core politically but is much more sparsely populated by inhabited systems. At this distance from the core a world’s loyalty to the ruling house and to the often grows weak and these ties begin to fray. Out in The Periphery what little law exists is usually enforced efficiently and