Galactic Havoc: Sto Astrocracy

Galactic Havoc: Sto Astrocracy

We have humans, cybernetic humans, rogue robots, but what about the aliens? With only slight adjustments, I can cannibalize an alien species from my other sci-fi setting, rework the racial template, and make them more militaristic. That should work.

Galactic Havoc: Agrobots

Galactic Havoc: Agrobots

Let's get back to this. So far, we only have two factions - the Solar Federation and the Mindkind Unity, and both of those could work as antagonists or protagonists. Sometimes, however, it is nice to have an NPC faction that can supply faceless bad guys for the PCs to shoot. It would be great to also make such a faction provide hooks for missions and adventures. The brief history of the Solar Federation mentioned an AI rebellion that caused the Federation to abolish all AI technologies, so let's provide some specifics. I also mentioned that I'm going to shamelessly rip things off, so the following faction will be based on the Series 9 from KKND2.

Galactic Havoc: Generic Ultra-Tech Weapons

Galactic Havoc: Generic Ultra-Tech Weapons

A couple of months ago, I made a post with lots of ultra-tech weapons cannibalized from one of my previous sci-fi settings, but as soon as I started working on weapon rosters for different factions, I understood that it's too early for that. While the setting isn't finalized yet and hasn't been playtested, I should use generic weapons instead. So, here's the same post, but expanded and made completely generic. The document only has TL9 and TL10 weapons, but eventually I will expand it to cover other TLs, at least partially.

Since blogspot is awful at formatting and tables, I'll just post a Google Docs link.

Galactic Havoc: What's Next?

Galactic Havoc: What's Next?

Rembmer my Galactic Havoc project? I do, I haven't forgotten about it, I have just been busy with other things, such as making videos and preparing/running games. But now that I think about, what else do I need before running a playtest game? I've got two factions and a bunch of weapons for one of them. So, I think what I have to do it to make some equipment for the other faction, make a third distinct faction, and that's it. Sure, I did not cover everything, such as heavy weaponry and vehicles, but that probably won't be necessary in the first playtest. Once I'm done with all this, I'll try running a short game if I have enough time, and that game will show me what is missing and point me in the right direction.

Galactic Havoc: Psychotronics and TL

Galactic Havoc: Psychotronics and TL

As I mentioned in the setting design goals and overview (no, I haven't abandoned it, I'm just doing some other stuff as well), supernatural powers, including psionics, will exist in the setting. Psychotronic devices that emulate or otherwise affect psionic powers are described in GURPS Ultra-Tech and GURPS Psi-Tech, but they are not assigned to any TL - they are just listed as TL^. Splitting them between different tech levels will allow us to create civilizations that have more advanced psychotronics than others or less advanced, which is a good thing, in my opinion.

Galactic Havoc: Solar Federation Weaponry

Galactic Havoc: Solar Federation Weaponry

What is important in military sci-fi? Weapons are. Creating an arsenal of weapons is a daunting task, especially when you are just starting out. Instead of creating it from scratch, I will cannibalize a weapon set that I made for my previous sci-fi setting and change some names and numbers around. I might need to make some extra description adjustments later. This way, I will have a baseline that I can use to make weapon sets for other factions that, if my intentions come to fruition, will give them a distinct feel.

When looking at this arsenal, you might have some questions, such as "Why are there TL9 weapons?" or "Why are there LC3 and LC4 weapons there?" Space is unfathomably huge, and development is not uniform. On backwater worlds, you might have people using TL9 arms. In the same way, military sci-fi is not always about pitched battles between two armies - you may have rebels using civilian weaponry to overthrow a tyrannical government, or planetary defense forces armed with whatever they could've gotten their hands on. I think leaving these "underpowered" weapons in the set is a good idea.

P.S. Formatting tables on this "new and improved" blogspot is a huge pain in the ass. Just like formatting anything else. Yes, I'm still mad years after the "update".

Galactic Havoc: Damage/Armor Benchmarks

Galactic Havoc: Damage/Armor Benchmarks

First of all, I have no idea what I'm doing, but I will hope this works. Since I have described two factions for the Galactic Havoc setting, it's time to work out some damage and armor benchmarks. I will not use premade weapons from GURPS Ultra-Tech but will make my own with my gun generator program that incorporates many houserules.

Galactic Havoc: Mindkind Unity

Galactic Havoc: Mindkind Unity

I have written up the "protagonist" faction, so now let's have an "antagonist." This is going to be one of the primary opponents of the Solar Federation, but still only one of many. Since now I have two factions, I can think of an example conflict and ponder on what technologies could have developed on both sides to help them against the enemies, and maybe even set some numerical benchmarks for balance purposes.

Galactic Havoc: The Solar Federation

Galactic Havoc: The Solar Federation

The introduction to the setting revolved around the Solar Federation, the "main" human faction of the galaxy. I'd like to try describing it in more detail. While it is the largest human polity, it definitely is not the only one - it can serve both as a protagonist faction and as an antagonist faction.

Galactic Havoc: Introduction/Basic Overview

Galactic Havoc: Introduction/Basic Overview

Every setting needs an introduction, something that gives you a basic idea of what it is about. It can include a short historical overview and must describe the current situation to give the readers/players a chance to see if the idea interests them or not. Even when you're looking for some article, you're probably just reading the abstracts to see if the article is something you're looking for or not, right? Writing a good introduction/abstract is an important skill, something I do not have, but everyone has to start somewhere. So, here's an introduction to Galactic Havoc - something that I wrote to have a base, something to graft the details on. All the classical cliches are included.

Galactic Havoc: Design Goals and Considerations

Galactic Havoc: Design Goals and Considerations

So, let's start thinking! To create a wh40k knockoff, I will have to come up with a clear outline of what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. This outline will help me decide on my priorities - what things are important, what things are not even worth thinking about, and so on. I'm not very good with words, but I will try to explain my thought process.