Elysium Nebula: A brief anecdote.

If he hadn't noticed the cut power lines from the other side of the engine room, Keller would probably have strolled right into the assassin's blade. As is, the human mechanic had stopped in the doorway and thus had an instant for several thoughts to cross his mind as the black-clad figure stepped out from behind the generator and moved to close the distance between them.

The first thought caused feelings of frustration. After the last mysterious sabotage attempt, he'd spent a full day customizing and augmenting the ship's security systems, and assured his crewmates that no one would be able to hack this vessel like they had before. But he hadn't accounted for someone hacking the systems in a more literal fashion.

The second thought was more practical, and led to a surge of fear. Keller was no anthropologist, but his trading days had given him enough experience with elven culture to identify the oncoming figure's robes as the traditional garb of an adept. Which meant this mysterious enemy his group faced was in all likelihood a very dangerous one- and more to the point, so was the individual charging at him now. No one was more dangerous at close range than one of those martial mystics.

The third thought ran through his mind almost casually: Keller wondered if the attacker knew that he wasn't the only one in the have studied the eldritch arts.

As the figure rushed towards him, the human turned and bolted towards the toolkit he'd left open on the shelf yesterday, chanting under his breath. After all the hours spent juggling metal spheres without letting them touch his hands, it took only a moment for him to tap into the waiting current of power and send the arc welder hurtling across the room into his outstretched hand. He spun around and dropped into a crouch as the blade slashed through the air where his neck had been, thumbing the activation on the welder as he brought it down against the floor.

Even with his free arm held over his tightly shut eyes, the light given off by the welder as it scored along the metal floor was enough to blind him for several moments. But as his vision cleared, Keller was treated to the sight of his assailant staggering back and clutching at his face. And that's why you always wear a welding mask, kids. Never one to waste an opportunity, Keller lunged forwards.

The elf sliced the arc welder in half with a one-armed swing of his sword, eyes still closed. There were times when Keller really hated magic.

The tech backpedaled as the assassin stabbed at him, but by going for the welder he'd trapped himself in a dead end. Desperately he began to intone the ritual chants once more, this time focusing on the blade in the attacker's hands- as stupid a gamble as he'd ever had to make. His opponent probably had a lifetime of experience with using and countering tactics like these; an attempt to disarm him with telekenesis was doomed to fail.

Keller inhaled and made a forceful gesture, tugging the blade to the left. The adept reacted by tightening his grip on the sword, maintaining his hold even as Keller dropped the feint and pulled the blade in the opposite direction with all his strength. And because of this the elf was still in full contact with the blade as its tip plunged into the adjacent generator.

The human watched in amazement as his assailant was thrown bodily against the wall, the sword still wedged into the sparking generator. The smell of ozone and burned flesh rose in the air as the elf slumped over. Keller breathed a sigh of relief as he rose. "Well, I guess that tells us a little more about- OH, COME ON." The assassin was staggering to his feet. Keller took the sight in for a moment, then decided to retreat while he had the chance. Let's let the people on the crew with *guns* handle this.

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EN Rethought: Skill List

Here is an alpha list of the d20 Rethought skills for the Elysium Nebula campaign setting. The majority of these skills would be reused in roughly the same fashion for a d20 Rethought writeup of different setting.

Active
-Acrobatics

-Alertness
-Endurance
-Stealth
-Vehicle Group
--[Hover]
--[Personal]
--[Ship Crew]
--[Spacecraft]
--[Surface]

Combat
-Grapple

-Reflexes

-Takedown
-Weapon Group
--[Assault]
--[Long Arms]
--[Melee]
--[Melee]
--[Unarmed]

Eldritch
-Ley Lines
--[Entropy]
--[Force]
--[Growth]
--[Heat]
--[Machine]
--[Matter]
--[Mind]
--[Space]
--[Sense]
--[Void]

Social

-Deception

-Manipulation

-Perception

-Presence

-Therapy

Technical
-Computers

-Cultures
--[ICHA]
--[URE]
--[Fringe Humans]
--[Drow]
--[Duruki]
--etc.

-Investigation

-Mechanics
--[Computers]
--[Eldritch Devices]
--[Robots]
--[Technical Devices]
--[Vehicles]
--[Weapons]

-Sciences
--[Astronomy]
--[Biology]
--[Forensics]
--[Linguistics]
--[Medicine]
--etc.

-Survival

-Tradecraft
--[Starship Engineer]
--[Gambler]
--[Construction Worker]
--[Musician]
--etc.

-Treat Injury

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Elysium Nebula: Magic Breakdown

Again, just as a reminder: Unlike just about every other thing on this blog, Elysium Nebula is neither my own setting, a group effort I'm involved in, or a project aboandoned by the original creators that I'm now trying to complete myself. All I'm doing is offering my take on the setting's crunch as a test of d20 Rethought's flexibility- though while the background fluff is largely set, dictating the nuts and bolts of people's abilities means I'm also dictating some of the nitty-gritty fluff aspects as well. But that's a topic for another post, assuming I ever do revisit my vague "fluff*crunch=optimal rpg experience" philosophy.

In this case, I'm working on using the d20 Rethought magic system to represent Elysium Nebula's eldritch arts. EN has only one source of supernatural power: The ley lines, subdimensional networks of energy that run throughout the cosmos and wrap themselves around all but the most barren of planetoids. My personal take has been to orient the different casting classes around different methods of channeling that power in order to cast spells. The default d20 Rethought magic system works very well here, because we can simply say that each ley line corresponds to single skill.

So here's a breakdown- going off the rough descriptions given to me by the creator (Skrittiblak), I've come up with ten separate ley lines to cover the variety of things magic can do in EN, plus a pair of "schools" for each one. Schools are just three-feat chains that (as a few of you might recall) let your character wield more advanced sets of effects. But enough talk; have at you!

• Mind (Telepathic communication, restore resolve points, read surface thoughts); Manipulation (Charm, confuse, put to sleep) and Mentalism (Mind Blast, read memories, plant false memories or commands)
  
• Growth (Restore vitality points, accelerate healing rate, enhance physical ability); Healing (Heal wounds, cure disease, regenerate limbs) and Shapeshifting (Change features, grow wings, change size)
• Force (Move object, kinetic blast, arrest motion); Forceshaping (Magic Missile, wall of force, grasping hand) and Telekinesis (Wield weapon, levitate, fly)
• Matter (Mold object, shatter, alter composition); Transmuting (Reinforce or weaken object, enhance item, craft object) and Shaping (Conjure and control material, duplicate object)
• Sense (Fool sense, augment sense); Illusion (Conjure illusion, baffle sense) and Perception (True sight, detect)
• Fire (Conjure and control fire); Flameshaping (Fireball, wall of fire, conjure fire elemental) and Heat Control (Heat or chill target, endure elements, absorb heat)
• Space (Remote viewing, locate target, fate manipulation); Timetwisting (augury, slow/hasten target) and Teleportation (Call item, group teleport, create portal).
• Machine (Animate, control or dismantle device); Energy (Drain, store andprovide power, lightning bolt) and Technomancy (Baffle sensors, read or erase data, control or disrupt robot)
• Entropy (Disrupt life, accelerate decay); Necromancy (Create and control undead) and Demonology (Conjure demon, extract spirit)
• Void (Dispel magic, suppress spellcasting); Voidshaping (Antimagic field, antispell shield) and Banishment (Disrupt undead, dispel conjuration, smite)

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Elysium Nebula: Class Concepts

The Elysium Nebula is a sci-fantasy setting; spaceships, jump gates, plasma rifles and conflicting interplanetary empires that happen to feature many staple elements of Dungeons and Dragons- elves, magic swords and fireballs- recontextualized to form an oddly coherent whole. And just to set something straight from the start: It's not mine. At all. The creator and I have been communicating online for a couple years now, chatting several times a week. These conversations began a few months after I joined a play-by-post game, run by him, which continues to this day. According to him, the diverse group of characters created for this game have gone on to become his central idea of what Elysium Nebula's player characters should be like.

One of our more recent conversations shifted to the topic of Elysium Nebula's classes and what the best rule system would be for the first published pdf of the setting. Up until now, the game has largely used the base rules for d20 Modern and Future, but in light of the upcoming 4th edition he's considering a large-scale revision. After discussing the topic for a while he asked me what my own approach to the setting's crunch would be. That question sparked this current endeavor of mine: Coming up with character creation options for EN using the d20 Rethought system. It's a chance for me to stress-test the hoped-for adaptability of the system by using a setting I had never before considered during design. Hit the link for the first thing I put together: An outline of the ten base classes the d20 Rethought version of Elysium Nebula would feature. So far I feel that the current base class concept is proving succesful, letting me create classes that have a strong, interesting feel while still allowing for a wide variety of distinct characters (and I mean within the scope of any single class, even before we look beyond the character's statistics).

Adepts are martial and mystic artists, training body and mind through exercise and meditiation. Though most draw on traditions that trace their roots to elven katas developed several millenia ago, in the modern day adepts can be anything from pacifist wilderness-dwelling mystics to cynical chain-smoking blades for hire. Crunch-wise, they're class-feature centric and the most low-key of the four spellcasting base classes, with abilities resembling a cross between a Crusader and a Monk. Outside of EN, an average Adept would fit best into the Wuxia genre of film.

Commanders are charismatic, determined leaders with nerves of steel. They can serve ably as facemen or team leaders, but the common trait they share is the sort of personal magnetism and determination that leaves others in awe- when they're set on a goal, the wise either follow or get out of the way. A balanced class, they have a place in a wide variety of genres, from the mob boss who fights on the front lines of a gang war to a starship captain who faces down overwhelming odds without batting an eye.

Grifters are keen individuals with a knack for picking up new skills. Their backgrounds are as widely varied as their abilities- a Grifter could be a private eye, hedge wizard, explorer, information broker, or all of the above. Class feature-centric, they tend to have a grittier feel to their abilities and thus would fit in best with genres like modern-day drama or noir.

Hotshots are quick-thinking, quick-acting and even-quicker-moving individuals capable of throwing themself into danger at a moment's notice and emerging on the other side with nary a scratch. They make amazing fighter pilots, gunslingers and stunt-prone daredevils of all types- a balanced class whose features emphasize speed and over-the-top action. An average Hotshot fits best into a Hollywood action film.

Operatives are highly trained and disciplined individuals with an unmatched capacity for infiltration, espionage and/or assassination. They can be martial artists whose intensive training has made them a living weapon, secret agents who can manipulate others with ease and doublethink well enough to fool a master telepath, or snipers who never seem to miss a shot. A feat-centric class, they fit best into the action-oriented breed of spy thriller (the type with lots of high-tech gadgets).

Practitioners study and practice the eldritch arts and traditions with a dedication that can border on obsession. The foremost authorities on all things magical, they wield magic with a degree of fine control most spellcasters believe to be impossible. A feat-centric spellcasting class, they can be thought of as the modern/future-day equivalent of the fantasy genre's wizard.

Psychics tend to be amongst the most low-key spellcasters, using their keen minds to harness the power of the ley lines in a far more subtle fashion than most. Some wield this power as openly as any mage, while others go to great lengths to keep their abilities secret and covertly use them to augment their natural skill for manipulating others. Psychics are a balanced class who thematically have a place in the genre of modern paranormal fiction.

Sorcerors may not be able to match the degree of finesse and complexity with which other spellcaster wield magic; but in terms of raw power they are without equal. Hailing from all walks of life, they capitalize on an instinctive knack for spellcasting. As a talent-centric class, a sorceror can cast potent spells from a wide variety of schools. Depending on individual temprament, many would be right at home in the action-oriented fantasy genre.

Techs are experts on all manner of subjects who apply their knowledge in a practical manner. Xenobiology field researchers, starship engineers, demolition experts and hacker prodigies are all viable examples of this balanced class. An average Tech would be right at home in a work of hard science fiction.

Warriors are no strangers to violence, whether they're hardened mercenaries, veteran commandos or just that rare breed of terrifyingly effective thug. Some have a firm grasp of tactics and a surprising capacity for stealth, while others use far more direct methods and are tough enough to handle the nastiest enemies head on. Removed from the Elysium Nebula, the members of this talent-centric class would have a place in many a war movie or more musclebound action film.

As always, feedback is welcome. Next up: How d20 Rethought handles the designer's concept of magic.

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