Campaign Elevator Pitch

"In a galaxy of failing tech and hoarding tyrants, you are the most expendable resource of all. As an indentured operative for The Corporation, you spend your lives—all of them—jumping from one vat-grown sleeve to the next to pay down your interest. It’s a dirty, retro-future existence where a broken limb is a line-item expense and a lost encryption key is a death sentence. You’re not just fighting for credits; you’re fighting to ensure your mind isn't 'checked out' permanently when the mission goes sideways.”

THE SETTING

Your adventures are set within the Forge. This is a globular cluster in orbit around your people’s home galaxy. It is 1,700 light years above the galactic plane—a bright island in a dark void. Interstellar nebula span the depths of the Forge, interspersed with denser clouds of vibrant interplanetary dust and strange energies. It is a chaotic galaxy wracked by fiery stellar storms and unpredictable gravitational currents. The planets and stars of this place are born of that chaos. Your people came to the Forge two centuries ago in the wake of a cataclysm in their home galaxy. Today, this new home offers opportunity and peril. Remnants of ancient civilizations hold dangerous knowledge and forbidden power. Your people build settlements on new worlds, but those places rarely offer a safe haven. Conflicts rage between people and factions. Pirates prowl the spaceways in search of easy prey. Baneful creatures and dark forces dwell on corrupted planets and in the abyssal void between stars.

REGIONS OF THE FORGE

Your people divide the Forge broadly into four regions: ✴ Terminus: Your people landed in this region following their exodus from their home galaxy. Settlements are common here. Factions compete for resources, and spaceborne caravans follow charted paths among the stars. But the Forge is a vast galaxy; even here, there are still unknown and isolated domains. ✴ Outlands: In the last few decades, your people have pushed deeper into the galaxy, searching for habitable planets, resources, and opportunities. Settlements within the Outlands are scattered, and navigation paths are often uncharted. ✴ Expanse: A few bold pioneers have delved the far-flung reaches of the Forge. Isolated settlements have been built among these distant domains, but they are usually lost and disconnected from the settled regions. ✴ Void: Beyond the Forge, there are only a few isolated stars and vast gulfs of nothing. Travel beyond the periphery of the Forge is difficult or impossible.

Truths of this Campaign

What are the most important things you want your players to understand about the world and the campaign? Share these with your players.

• This is a perilous future. Two centuries ago, your people fled a cataclysm and settled a distant galaxy they call the Forge. This is a chaotic place full of dangers and mysteries.
• This is a lonely future. With some possible exceptions (that you’ll identify as part of your own truths), humans are the only known intelligent life in this galaxy. Others once lived here, but only mysterious and perilous vaults remain to mark their legacy.
• This is a diverse future. There is a vibrant mix of people and cultures among the humans of the Forge.
• This is a far-flung future. Settlements lie scattered and often isolated from one another. Your starship can travel at faster-than-light speeds, but it’s ponderously slow at a cosmic scale.
• This is an unexplored future. Discoveries await. Even in settled regions, much of the Forge is unknown and uncharted.
• This is a wondrous future. The Forge is a galaxy of ancient mysteries, spacefaring creatures, startling phenomenon, and other marvels.
• This is a retro-future. Envision the technology you wield as only slightly advanced over today’s real-world technologies—or even a step back in many ways. Resources are scarce, and the people of the Forge must cobble together what they can.
• This is an unjust future. Those in power hoard resources, control technologies, and impose their will on others through force or cunning. Others must stand against these forces of imperialism and oppression.
• This is a hopeful future. Despite these challenges, hope remains.
• Cataclysm: We escaped the ravages of a catastrophic war. Over millennia, we consumed resources and shattered lives as we fueled the engines of industry, expansion, and war. In the end, a powerful foe took advantage of our rivalries in a violent bid for power. Fleeing the devastation, we assembled our fleets and traveled to the Forge. A new home. A fresh start. In this final war, we were set upon by Artificial Intelligence.
  • Quest Starter: A delegation of your dreaded foe arrives in the Forge. They claim to represent a rebel force seeking sanctuary. In return, they offer vital information. What news do they carry?
  • Do you possess a keepsake or artifact of pre-cataclysm society? What is it? Why is it important to you?
• Exodus: When the Exodus fleet set off on a ponderous journey to a new home outside our galaxy, they marked the Forge as their destination. Countless generations lived out their lives aboard those titanic ships during the millennia-long passage. The refugees built a rich legacy of culture and tradition during the Exodus. Some even remained in the ships after their arrival in the Forge, unwilling or unable to leave their familiar confines. Those vessels, the Ironhomes, still sail the depths of this galaxy.
  • Quest Starter: Your dreams are plagued by visions of a lost and crippled Exodus ship. What do you see? Why does it call to you?
• Communities: Dangers abound, but there is safety in numbers. Many ships and settlements are united under the banner of one of the Founder Clans. We have a tentative foothold in this galaxy. Each of the five Founder Clans honor the name and legacy of a leader who guided their people in the chaotic time after the Exodus. Vast reaches of the settled domains are claimed by the clans, and territorial skirmishes are common.
  • Quest Starter: A forsaken people, sworn to no clan, live on an orbital station. A recent illness left many sick or dead. Supplies are urgently needed. Why were these people exiled, and why do you swear to give them aid? Which clan stands against you?