Here’s my suggestions for how to use the material, and some of my answers to “what are your truths”. I’d ask that we go through this post as part of session zero, or optionally discuss it on the forums beforehand.
As always, these proposals are not the end of the conversation, but the start of it. You should always question, disagree with, or build on what’s presented here!
The Pitch
Some time ago, the stargate network that connects the galaxy together just stopped working. We don’t know why. We’d like to reactivate it, and are equipped with the means to do so.
Questions that we need to answer:
How long ago did this happen?
- If it’s “weeks, months, or years”, that may mean we have family, friends, or perhaps enemies waiting for us on the other side of space, and we can reconnect with them as we go
- If it’s “years, decades, or centuries”, many things could have changed, and every visit to a new world is going to be an adventure
Are we doing this officially, or unofficially?
- If we represent some new government or organization, we may run into planetary organizations that don’t want us horning in on the good thing they have going on
- If we’re just doing this on our own, we may have trouble convincing people to assist us
Why us?
- We have the rare equipment, psychic PC, or mystic dingus needed to do it, meaning only we can reactivate the gates - but that thing can be threatened
- We have the knowledge and can train others in how to do it - but people might go repair gates and launch invasions through them or do other stuff we disapprove of
Regions of the Forge (The Basics p. 10)
- The Terminus - this is the region of space where some stargates have been reactivated, and normal travel has resumed
- The Outlands - worlds that we know exist, but that aren’t on the network yet
- The Expanse - worlds whose astronomical coordinates have been lost or obscured, and must be rediscovered via research (e.g. astronomy, accessing computers on old stargates, talking to knowledgeable locals on other worlds)
- The Void - here be dragons
Choose Your Truths (Launching Your Campaign p. 5)
The main truth we might omit from the starting list is “this is an unjust future”.
For the Cataclysm category, we’re going with “everything fell apart in an age of chaos”, because of “the sudden loss of a key resource”: the stargates.
Write Your Background Vow (LYC, p. 32)
Everyone has some variant of this background vow: “reactivate the stargate network”. You can flavor the vow for your own PC, e.g. “reactivate the network to find my lost love” or “find an important secret on a certain planet”.
Board Your Starship (LYC p. 33)
This isn’t strictly part of the pitch, but I like it anyway so here we are.
I’d like to suggest that the thing we fly around on is big - like a hollowed out asteroid fitted with an FTL engine. This gives us plenty of interior space, a common place to hang out, room to grow and bring new friends along, all that stuff. Let the ship act not just as a vehicle for getting around, but a community or home base where stuff could happen.
That probably requires that someone choose the Support Vehicle/Shuttle asset, so we have a way to get from space to ground.
Create Passages (LYC p. 45)
Failures to set a course don’t have to mean “you’re lost in space” if we use any stargates we’ve reactivated, but they can mean “you arrive at the stargate and bad things are happening, deal with it”.