May Housekeeping

Thank you for checking back in. We’ll include more of an explanation at the end of this list as to why we will be doing things in this format, but first let’s go straight into it! Below is a list of how we plan to update the website in the foreseeable future;

Tribes of Man Update, which will include:
– Lunars Page ( w/ “origins” roll table)
– Martians Page ( w/ “origins” roll table)
– Space Traders Page ( w/ “origins” roll table)

The “Tribes of Man” Update will include a page for each playable human faction. Terran Arms will not be playable, but eventually we will create/format the concepts of “cyborg” humans and “halfling” humans (Fay/Human hybrids) as playable. Each page will include an “origins” roll table, which will be a way for you to either roll a random background for your player character or to serve as inspiration for how you might want to write a custom/unique backstory. Even though these are just three pages, they will be lore and information dense, which is why they are blocked off as their own update.

Playable Aliens Update, which will include:
– Fay Page (w/ “Appearance” roll table)
– Neb Page (w/ “Appearance” roll table)
– Purr Page (w/ “Appearance” roll table)
– Saurian Page (w/ “Appearance” roll table)

The “Playable Aliens” Update will include a page for each playable alien species. We might add more aliens in the future, but the simple truth is that several aliens in this setting are extremely overpowered and would probably be very, very difficult to ever balance as a playable character that starts out weak and expands out their skill set over time. Each page will include an “appearance” table, which is actually two tables. Each of the two lists an aspect of that alien’s appearance (examples; hair color & eye color) that can then be combined to create a unique, but setting-accurate appearance for your alien player character. Again, you can also just treat the roll tables like a menu to freely choose from if you prefer not to risk the “random dice look”.

Planet O-oot Update, which will include:
– Geography of O-oot Page
– Caves Page (w/ “Mining” roll table)
– Forest Page (w/ “Foraging” roll table)
– Junkyards Page (w/ “Scavenging” roll table)
– Glock Island Page (w/ “Sweeping” roll table)
– Grasslands Page (w/ “Rooting” roll table)
– Oveen Poles Page (w/ ??? roll table)
– Swamplands Page (w/ “Fishing” roll table)

The “Planet O-oot” Update will probably take longer to put out, as it is larger and dependent on more information in the book that has yet to be finalized. The “Geography of O-oot” Page will function as the table of contents hosting the hyperlinks to all the other pages in the update, alone with more information about how the planet functions. Having this geography page will then allow the “biology page” to be re-done sometime later so that it reflects the wildlife more/exclusively. Each “terrain” or “biome” page will detail how that type of environment differs, as well as list common creatures that inhabit it. The roll tables will work as an optional action you can try while in that terrain / biome; allowing players to collect resources in the middle of their adventure that they can either use directly or combine with other items to create usual tools/objects.

Township Update, which will include:
– Politics and Economy Page (Lore, Lore, Lore!)
– Complete NPC List (an index for cross-referencing, basically)
– Shops and Places (more detailed, to be used with above list page)

The “Township” Update will act as three pages that work together to present a picture of the only Township on Planet O-oot’s surface. All three Pages will exist within the “Township” Page, which will be changed to serve as a table of contents for these and any additional pages about Township. The “Politics and Economy” page will go into some detail on the origins of the settlement, but mostly focus on describing the power structure that runs things as well as how they are trying to create a unique currency for this world. The “Complete NPC List” will act as a very useful index, given that all the NPCs of Township are meant to be interactable to some extent. We want to try and provide enough information to give game masters the freedom to focus on their story telling and to not have to waste time fleshing out an NPC on the spot. The “Shops and Places” Page acts as a cross-reference to the list; every shop and service is run by a named NPC that has a background and relationships with other characters.

Non-Playable Aliens Update, which will include:
– Agen Page (w/ NPC roll table)
– Acitox & Que Page (w/ NPC roll table)
– Distoes Page (w/ NPC roll table)
– Makers Page (w/ NPC roll table)
– Omrah Page (w/ NPC roll table)
– Purr Page (w/ NPC roll table)
– Snakah-Saurian Page (w/ NPC roll table)
– Terran Arms Page (w/ NPC roll table)

The “Non-Playable Aliens” Update is probably the lowest on the priority list right now. Each page will offer information that Player Characters would either know or learn easily about the Non-playable alien species in this setting. Each page will include an “NPC” roll table, which will be a list of NPCs the game master or the players can use to pull random members of that species into the immediate scene. Sometimes a player may reach out and try to talk to someone in a crowd, or the GM will realize they forgot to decide in advance who (or what) would be on the other side of that door!

All of the above being drawn out and presented, let’s return to discussing the plan for how all of this will be released over the next serval months (or years? oh no!). The plan is to stick with the packaged updates as a way to keep things organized. The one aspect of freedom we are allotting ourselves is not committing to which order they will be released in. As inspiration hits, each page will be filled out and re-worked. As one update “chunk” seems to near completion sooner then others, that chunk will get priority and be more likely to come out first. We are trying to find a balance in which creative freedom is funneled just enough into a focused point that things get done, but that it does not feel so restrictive as to cause or encourage a sense of entrapment.

At the same time, instead of keeping this list private information, we thought it could both encourage productivity and a feeling of better transparency to share this. Sometimes, when it comes to creative projects, a follower’s interest wavers if there is a strong sense of a project having no direction, or strategy to get finished. A lot of times developers do have very detailed plans and schedules that they keep private, making it look on the outside that not much is getting done. It’s hard to decide how much to share and how much to hold back, but hopefully this is a reasonable amount. Lastly, we’re going to try and keep with this idea of the update “chunks” as a way to better communicate in the dev blog what we are up to. I (and perhaps others) will try and always refer back to the update names given above to make sure everyone is on the same page. Keep an eye-out for blog posts specifically titled after the updates listed above!

In conclusion; thank you for reading this far. Your interest in our project is very appreciated.
– Admin P.