BRIGHT BLACK HEAVENS

I'm moving some of the major stuff that I have posted on my Google+ profile over to here, so that it is easy to find and link to.

The Long Bright Dark is my dark science-fiction/gothic science-fantasy hack for The Nightmares Underneath by Johnstone Metzger. I really like TNU, it's one my favourite OSR things, because it fuses a lot of the good ideas from the OSR with some nice modern design ideas from games like Dungeon World and Torchbearer. I'm not planning to review the game, but I recommend Ben L's review on his blog.

The Google Doc is here

The Long Bright Dark is heavily inspired by, and something of a pastiche of, various elements of Warhammer 40,000. In particular, it is inspired by Necromunda and the concept, if not the actual gaming products, of space hulks.

Other influence include John Scalzi's novella The God Engines, the Metabarons, the art of Degenesis Rebirth and the eccentric computer game E.Y.E.: Divine Cybermancy.

I prefer to keep my work organised in Google Docs but, as usual, I feel like it is good manners to post some content directly in the blog post. That way, even the mostly uninterested have a chance to take something away.

One of the things I like in TNU are background tables that provide details of starting equipment for characters based on their social status. I deceived to incorporate that into The Long Bright Dark, as I think it is a succinct way to include some evocative world-building without having to do the hard work of actually writing it up. Here they are:

Backgrounds and Starting Gear

All characters start with 2d6 × 10 Cyphers, a utility knife (Disadvantage on damage rolls), a bed-roll, a backpack, a torch, half a dozen batteries, and 5 days worth of food . Then roll 1d8 for your background and 1d4 for you starting equipment (maybe the DM will be nice and let you pick instead of rolling the d4). All weapons that are rolled as starting equipment come with 20 ammo.

1 - ARK-NOBLE

You are pretty much the best people. You are used to living in luxury at the top of the grand spires of one of the arcologies, known as Arks. You are probably a scion of one of the Great Houses, but maybe you are trusted advisor or even a favoured servant.

1 - Tactical Neural Weaponry (as a Pistol, but you know, in your head), Light Armour, the final hope of your Great House.

2 - Mono-filament Shredder (as Long Arm, with Advantage on attack rolls but only has a range of 10’), A piece of Tartarus encased in crystal, 2d6×10 Cyphers.

3 - Digital Weapons (finger mounter laser weaponry, as a Pistol, with Disadvantage on damage rolls), Bionic Arm/Leg/Eye/Ears (choose one, you get Advantage on rolls where it is relevant), a warbanner possessed by the ghost of your ancestors.

4 - Power Armour, Long-Arm or Automatic Pistol, a mindless servo-vassal (doesn’t fight, unless you find someway to upgrade its mechano-brain).

2 - ARK-DWELLER

You are a regular run-of-the-mill type, just trying to make your way on one of the habitable levels of an Ark. It’s a relatively stable life, and relatively stable, but it is usually pretty dull. Maybe that’s why you were dumb enough to leave for adventure. 

1 - A Long-Arm, Poison (3 uses), EMP Grenade (×3), a book of the true-names of daemons.

2 - A Pistol, a shard of the Bright Black Heavens, 1d6x10 Cyphers, a crushing boredom of your normal life.

3 - Arc-Wrench (can be used as a 1-Handed, Powered close combat weapon, does not require a power source but has Disadvantage on Damage rolls), Stim-Pak (re-roll your disposition, ×2), a valuable contract.

4 - Worn-Out industrial Power Armour (as Heavy Armour, but maybe you can get it refurbished), a mining laser (Automatic Long-Arm, but it only uses 1 ammo per attack, +1 encumbrance), breathing equipment.

3 - ENFORCER

You are the law! Or, at least, that’s what you tell the citizens under your jurisdiction. If you are unlucky you are assigned to the lowest levels of an Ark, dealing with the scum and the gangs. If you are lucky, you work a relatively safe beat in the mid-levels. If you are exteremly fuckign lucky, you are assigned to the top levels, and just take bribes from the Nobles to let them do whatever they want. You probably aren’t that lucky.

1 - Combat Shotgun, Light Armour, Combat Drugs (3 uses), cyber-hound (treat as your level, HD d4, attacks as a fighter).

2 - Combat Shotgun, Light Armour, Night-vision goggles (you can, uh, see in the dark), a network of Ark Noble contacts.

3 - Pistol, Riot Baton (1-handed close combat weapon, power weapon), Riot Shield.

4 - Power Armour, Automatic Long Arm, Fragmentation Grenades (× 3).

4 - SCUM

You dwell in the bottom levels of an Ark. Shit rolls down hill, and you end up swimming in it. You might be a member of gang fighting a proxy-war on behalf of the noble houses, or you might be an independent smuggler, drug-runner, procurer or panderer. You might not be a criminal, but everyone else will assume you are one.

1 - Pistol, Long Arm, Light Armour, Stim-Pak (2d6 disposition).

2 - Pistol, 2-Handed close combat weapon, Heavy Armour.

3 - Combat Shotgun, Pistol, Night-vision goggles (you can, uh, see in the dark).

4 - Brimstone Laser Pistol (targets damaged by Brimstone weapons must save against Health or take 1d6 burn damage at the start of their turn, uses 2 ammo per shot), Fragmentation Grenades (× 3).

5 - TERRAN

You live outside the Arks, in one of the wild terra-formed zones that are known Gaea’s Gifts. You might be a farmer, hunter or craftsperson. Life is simpler out in the wild lands, but you have to make do with outdated tech, and a degree of lawlessness. Still, you get to work out in the un-Sun.  

1 - Spirit Mask, Hunting Spear (1 or 2-Handed, may be thrown), mystical tattoos (Light Armough, 0 encumbrance), strange berries (3 uses).

2 - Power Halberd (Powered, 2-Handed), Light Armour, a carving of an ancient demon/god (your choice), the weight of your family’s expectations.

3 - Bone Sword (1-Handed close combat), Psychic Helm (Helmet, grants 1d8 Psychic Armour), Heavy Armour.

4 - A 1-Handed close combat weapon or a Pistol, a large animal companion (treat as your level, HD 1d6, add its level to its attack rolls), Mystic Herbs (3 uses). 

6 - BRAVO

You are a mercenary, fixer or bounty hunter of no fixed address, and no fixed morality. The Bravos represent a kind of unofficial and private law enforcement system for those that can afford it. Successful Bravos get rich--unsuccessful Bravos get dead in a ditch.

1 - Automatic Pistol, Light Armour, Combat Drugs (3 uses), psychic grenades (destroys all of a damaged target’s psychic armour in addition to damage, ×3).

2 - Chainsaw-bladed weapon (1-Handed close combat weapons, Advantage on damage rolls against living unarmored targets), Bionic Arm/Leg/Eye/Ears (choose one, you get Advantage on rolls where it is relevant), grav-boots that allow you to hover one inch from the ground.

3 - Brimstone Laser Rifle (targets damaged by Brimstone weapons must save against Health or take 1d6 burn damage at the start of their turn, uses 2 ammo per shot), Heavy Armour, a shit-eating grin.

4 - 2 Automatic Pistols, Stim-Pak (re-roll your disposition), a fragment of a God-Engine’s dream.

7 - DARK-DECKER

You live out in the dark decks of Gaea, beyond the light of the un-Sun. Maybe you are  a hermit, or an outlaw. Not many who have a choice choose to live in the dark decks, but you would be surprised what you can find out there in the dark.

1 - Power Weapon infused with Spiritus Mundi of a dead world (1-Handed, Powered close combat weapon, does not require a power source), Mystic Herbs (3 uses). 

2 - A hefty powertool (1-Handed close combat weapon, it might still work as a tool?), Fey-Mail Armour (as Light Armour, but encumbrance 0), pet of alien origin.

3 - An Automatic Long-Arm, a Star-Fey Spider Suit (as Heavy Armour, apparently Star-Fey can use them to teleport short distance--you probably don’t know how it works), the spirit of a dying machine-god.

4 - A weapon of your choice, a psionic parasite (if you let it bond with you, gain mastery over one spell--maybe it does other stuff too?).

8 - LIVERIED MERCER

You are travelling merchant--a member of one of the Livery Companies--or one of their staff or hangers-on. A Mercer has more freedom to travel than most, and such rights extend to those in their employ. You have a degree of access to the latest tech, and make decent money, but the Noble Houses will never accept you as one of them

1 - A single weapon, Light Armour, three bottles of fine alcohol, a secure portable storage container, an unstable DNA transfuser.

2 - Star-Fey Vampire Flechette Gun (as a Longarm, but when you kill a living creature heal d3 attribute damage), a magnificent codpiece (Grants Advantage on checks in social-situations), your father’s disapproval.

3 - An automatic Pistol, Bionic Arm/Leg/Eye/Ears (choose one, you get Advantage on rolls where it is relevant), a small and irritating robot servitor, an old shuttle (like all transport ships, it doesn’t seem to work anymore).

4 - Two weapons of your choice, Light Armour, weird floating alien spore mines (×3), a spare vat-grown limb or organ (your choice, but you’re gonna need to find a way to keep it fresh or it will go bad in a month).

Ask you GM how you can access to the backgrounds below:

CHIMERA

You are probably a Dark-Decker, but even regular Dark-Deckers want nothing to do with you. Whether by accident, or foolish intention, your genetic make-up has been mutated or spliced with something alien. In rare circumstances you might be able to actually enter a human settlement without anyone trying to burn you at the stake--very rare circumstances.

1 - A single weapon, Patagia (skin flaps allowing limited flight), a single phial of pure darkness (absorbs light), mag-boots, a hunger for raw flesh.

2 - A Long-Arm or Heavy Close Combat Weapon, Two additional limbs (choose the configuration), chitin, scales or hard exoskeleton (as Light Armour), an unusually long coil of metal cabling.

3 - A Pistol, shredding mandibles (as a Light close-combat weapon), a book full of mandalas and other spiral designs (if anyone stares at the wrong page for too long, it might devour their mind), an ancient void-suit (some of the life-support features still work!).

4 - Two weapons of your choice, acidic saliva, a very independent mind (no really, like, your head is connected by a prehensile nerve-tentacle that can be decoupled from your torso--your head continues to function when decoupled, but your torso hibernates).

DAEMON-TOUCHED

At one time in your life you were possessed by a denizen or Tartarus. Whether through exorcism, ancient rite or your own force of will, you are now free of the daemon, but it has left an indelible mark upon you--both physically and on your soul. Treated by outcasts by many, as much for your  unsettling mien as the past deeds of your possessed body.

1 - An automatic Pistol, Light or Heavy Armour, an ancient mechanical heart (to replace the one that the daemon tore from you as it fled your body), a profound hatred of man.

2 - A Long-Arm or Light Close Combat Weapon, a potent psychic scream (as a Brimstone Laser Pistol, but doesn’t require ammo but may only be used if you have lost disposition since last time you re-rolled it), the indelible memory of the face of an alien god, wards and sigils marked in scars.

3 - A second personality (it might actually be a second soul trapped inside your body), filed-sharp teeth (as a utility knife, mainly), a weapon of your choice, Light or Heavy Armour.

4 - Two close-combat weapons of your choice, a glowing inverted cross branded-on your forehead, someone who wants to capture or kill you for what the daemon did.

MECHANOFORM

You are a robot, android or a cyborg that is now more machine than man. Most people consider AIs untrustworthy, even hostile.

Mechanoforms cannot cast spells.

1 -  Heavy armour (it is part of your body, and can’t be changed without some serious work), Two Long-Arms (they are your arms--you can fire either one-handed but you don’t have hands), an extremely aggressive AI core.

2 - Light Armour, a Pistol, a machine interface card, a thermonuclear power-core (you don’t need to sleep or use any kind of fuel or external power but there is a nuclear bomb device inside you--good luck with that!).

3 - Any two weapons, a stealth array/skin (you are skilled in activities requiring stealth, and always count as having the proper tools as long as you are unarmoured), a human brain (it’s up to you if it is yours or not).

4 - Six insectoid limbs or tracked wheels, a sensor array, a short rang taser (as a 1-hander power weapon, its built into your chassis), an automatic pistol (it’s built into your chassis), a desire to have your machine consciousness transferred into an anthropomorphic form.