As I continue to work on the new edition of Thousand Suns, I find myself grappling with questions I didn't anticipate. At the moment, for example, I'm struggling with the extent to which a roleplaying game needs a setting to succeed – and indeed what, in fact, constitutes a setting at all.

Just Right: The Importance of Setting by James Maliszewski

How Much is "Too Much" and How Little is "Too Little?"

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As I posted yesterday, my Barrett's Raiders Twilight: 2000 campaign, which started in December 2021, has ended. Though sad (and even a little disappointing), its conclusion opens up a slot in my weekly schedule for a new campaign and that's always exciting. Just what that new campaign will be is still very uncertain and depends, to a great extent, on the interests of the remaining players. We'll discuss the matter at some length at our next meeting, but, in order to get the ball rolling, I sent them a selection of four(ish) RPG I'd enjoy refereeing for them, which I thought I'd share with you as well.

Gamma World/Metamorphosis Alpha

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned, likely many times, that I've long been a huge fan of Gamma World. In my youth, it was one of my favorite games, just losing out of a spot in my Holy Trinity of RPGs to Call of Cthulhu. It's one of those games I find very easy to run, both from an ideas perspective and from a mechanical one. I have little trouble coming up with fun scenarios for Gamma World and its rules are straightforward and easy to use – two great boons when it comes to refereeing a roleplaying game. 

Notice that I've included Metamorphosis Alpha as a possibility too. That's because, while I have played MA, I have never actually run it myself and doing so has long been a dream of mine. In some ways, I actually prefer the campaign frame of Metamorphosis Alpha to that of Gamma World, perhaps because it appeals to my fascination with "secret sci-fi" settings. So, given my druthers, I would press for MA over Gamma World, but I'd be equally happy with either.

Secrets of sha-Arthan

This is a no-brainer. I've working sporadically on this project since June of 2021, during which time it's undergone a number of different changes and evolutions. Those of you who've subscribed to Grognardia Games Direct know about its current state, since that's where I post regularly about it. However, I've not yet had the chance to do anything more with it than run short scenarios. What it really needs is a proper campaign to take its development to the next level and this might be the perfect time to do that.

I considered starting a SosA campaign after the conclusion of House of Worms last month, but opted not to due to its very broad similarities to Tékumel. It's a baroque, exotic fantasy setting with a secret sci-fi substratum – I'm sensing a theme here – albeit one based on very different historical/cultural influences than those of Tékumel. However, my Monday night group includes a different set of players, so the comparisons to Tékumel wouldn't be a problem.

Thousand Suns

In a similar fashion, Thousand Suns is another good option. Like Secrets of sha-Arthan, I'm currently in the midst of revising and reorganizing it in preparation for the released of a second edition. Also like SosA, I'm chronicling my work on this project over at Grognardia Games Direct. This is a game that's very near and dear to my heart and one I haven't run for some years now, so it'd be great to have the opportunity to do so again.

Furthermore, one of the goals of the second edition is to make the rules of Thousand Suns clearer and easier to use. They're already pretty good in this regard, I think, but I hope to make them even better. I also want to do a better job of highlighting those aspects of the game that distinguish it from its competitors and inspirations. Refereeing a campaign would give me lots of opportunities to do just that.

Urheim

Urheim was my second attempt (after Dwimmermount) to produce a megadungeon suitable as the foundation for an entire old school D&D campaign. I got fairly far into constructing it before moving on to other projects, but it's still something I think about from time to time. 

Consequently, I thought now might be a good time to return to it as a replacement for Barrett's Raiders. A megadungeon campaign is very straightforward and easy to maintain. It's also got the potential to spin off in a variety of different fun directions, so it's a good fit for my personal refereeing style. If I did return to Urheim, I'd almost certainly use Old School Essentials, probably of the advanced variety, for the rules, though part of me wants to dive back into OD&D + Supplements.  

The Problem with Starships by James Maliszewski

In which I once again think out loud by a vexing part of Second Edition

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Starports! by James Maliszewski

Thoughts Occasioned by My Recent Travels

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Troubleshooting (Part II) by James Maliszewski

A New Frame for Thousand Suns

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Troubleshooting (Part I) by James Maliszewski

A New Frame for Thousand Suns

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Federation and Empire by James Maliszewski

The Meta-Setting of Thousand Suns

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Here's another post over at Grognardia Games Direct that would benefit from more eyes. I'm particularly interested in hearing from people who've never picked up or played Thousand Suns, since one of the goals of the second edition is to attract new players who might otherwise have never considered it.

Why Thousand Suns? by James Maliszewski

An Attempt at a Sales Pitch

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It’s now been a month since I launched Grognardia Games Direct, my Substack newsletter dedicated to my various RPG projects, most notably Thousand Suns, Secrets of sha-Arthan, and anthologies of Grognardia’s most enduring and influential posts.

Substack is a very different platform from Blogger. It's newer, more streamlined, and still unfamiliar in some ways, but I’ve enjoyed the process of learning its ins and outs. After just 31 days, I feel I’ve found a productive rhythm, one that’s helped me focus my creative energies more effectively than I have in some time.

I’m grateful to everyone who’s already subscribed. I’m within spitting distance of 500 subscribers, an encouraging milestone for a new Substack or so I’m told. Of course, I’d love to see that number grow. The more readers I have, the more feedback I receive, which is especially valuable in the case of Secrets of sha-Arthan. Unlike my other projects, it’s a wholly new endeavor, not a continuation of earlier work, and outside perspectives are particularly helpful as I shape its direction. If you’ve enjoyed my past RPG writing, I hope you’ll consider taking a look.

I’ll admit, I was initially reluctant to start a Substack, despite encouragement from friends. My chief concern was that it might distract me from Grognardia. As much as I wanted to explore new territory, I had no intention of neglecting this blog or the community that’s grown up around it.

To my surprise, just the opposite has happened. Rather than pulling me away from Grognardia, the newsletter has sharpened my focus on it. In writing for both venues, I’ve written more – and, I think it’s fair to say, better – posts here than I have in quite some time. For whatever reason, working on both platforms has been creatively energizing. I feel more in tune with my work now than I have in months, maybe even years. Whether that’s apparent to readers, I leave for you to judge.

Though the two are separate things with their own distinct focuses, there are times when I think readers of this blog will be interested in what I'm doing over at Grognardia Games Direct. Today's post is one of them, especially since I'm soliciting feedback on a proposed revision to the rules of Thousand Suns. 

Simple Starships by James Maliszewski

Work on Thousand Suns, Second Edition Begins

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Sing, Muse, of the noble dodecahedron, twelve-faced and true, 
So oft neglected in the clattering chorus of polyhedral dice! 
Raise now a hymn to the least loved of gaming’s solids.

Pity the poor d12! Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. The d20, that lumbering golf ball of chance, sees far more use, while even the d4, a caltrop in disguise, is remembered (if only by the soles of our feet). But the d12? Forgotten. Neglected. Dare I say underappreciated?

Yet, what a die it is! Twelve equal pentagonal faces, each meeting at broad angles. Indeed, the dodecahedron is the shape Plato associated with the heavens themselves, the cosmos rendered in acrylic or resin. According to some ancient sources, the gods used d12s when rolling for Fate. Who needs the Pythia when you’ve got precision-milled polyhedra?

Physically, the d12 may be the most satisfying die to hold. Substantial without being bulky. Perfectly symmetrical. It rolls with purpose. It doesn’t skitter like a d4 or overdo it like percentiles. The d12 knows what it’s about. It rolls once and rolls well. There’s something reassuring in that.

But what is it usually asked to do? Calculate long sword damage against large opponents. Serve as the hit die for the barbarian. It's the gaming equivalent of being called in to move a couch. Even the d10, that irregularly-shaped interloper, has muscled its way to the top of the pile, if only for percentile rolls. The d12? Banished to the edge of the table, like some exiled aristocrat.

I've done my part to rectify this injustice in Thousand Suns, where the d12 takes its rightful place at the center of the action. Why? Because it deserved better. Because it felt right. Because when I picture futuristic exploits in a sprawling interstellar empire, I don’t want to roll a pyramid or a cube. I want a Platonic solid whose geometry is touched by the divine. I want the Golden Ratio embedded in plastic.

What's Next for Thousand Suns? by James Maliszewski

A Look at Plans Past and Present

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Writing about the Solomani and the existence of different human races within Traveller's official Third Imperium setting reminded me of the approach I opted for when creating Thousand Suns. One of my cardinal principles was that alien species would, for the most part, never be humanoid in appearance. I'd try, whenever possible, to make my alien species alien, both in mind and body. That's why, for example, one of the main antagonistic species of the game's meta-setting are cephalopods – I wanted them to be as far from human in appearance as possible, while still being somewhat relatable. 

Science fiction roleplaying games have an unlimited "budget" when it comes to imagining non-human species, so there was no reason to restrain my imagination. At the same time, Thousand Suns is still very much a space opera in the vein of most popular SF. Even if my goal was to be a bit more grounded than other space operas, I'm still including stuff like faster-than-light travel that are almost certainly within the realm of fantasy. Consequently, I make no claims that my non-human aliens are necessarily plausible from a xeno-biological perspective. I simply wanted them to look and think differently than human beings when possible. I believe that makes them more compelling allies and adversaries within the game.

Even so, I retain an affection for human "aliens," which is to say, humans whose cultures or societies are so different that they think or act in ways that are unlike what we typically encounter on Earth. The Zhodani of the Third Imperium setting are the kind of thing I mean. In Thousand Suns, I naturally included Terran humans as a baseline species, but I also introduced the idea of clades or sub-species of Terrans, who'd been genetically engineered in the past for a specific purpose and have since developed their own unique societies and cultures.

For instance, there are the Myrmidons, who are a bit like the Dorsai of Gordon R. Dickson – born and bred for war and having a society driven by Social Darwinism. They're my answer to the Klingons or the Jem'Hadar of Star Trek, an attempt to include the "proud warrior race" archetype that's not quite as lazy as it's usually portrayed. Whether I succeeded or not is a separate question, but that was my goal. By making the Myrmidons a sub-species of human rather than a non-human race, I hoped I could focus more on their harsh society than one their biology, since that's (for me anyway) the real draw of this archetype. 

I've rather surprisingly received several comments and emails about Thousand Suns and how it relates to Traveller. In retrospect, I suppose it's not really all that surprising, since I briefly touched on the game last week, in my post "Traveller and I." So, in the interests of answering some of the more basic questions people might have about Thousand Suns, I'm presenting this post. Because my goal here is to be as complete but succinct as possible, I won't be able to answer every possible question here. If you have any other questions, feel free to leave them in the comments to this post or drop me a line at the address found in the "About Me" tab above. 

Thousand Suns is a science fiction roleplaying game I wrote in 2007 and then first released in 2008. The current version of the game (the one available at the link above or the sidebar to the left) came out in 2011. It's not really a new edition so much as a revision of that original version. In addition to having a much better layout and graphic design, it's also better organized and (I hope) clearer, with lots more art. The 2011 edition has its flaws, but none of them have yet convinced me that it's time to do another revision of the game. 

I wrote Thousand Suns as an homage both to the imperial science fiction I've loved since my youth and to Traveller. By "imperial science fiction," I mean primarily literary SF from the '50s, '60s, and '70s that features mighty galactic empires and whose plots take inspiration from the 19th and early 20th century Age of Imperialism. Think authors like Anderson, Asimov, Piper, Pournelle, and the so forth and you'll have a pretty good idea what I'm talking about. These are the authors and stories that captivated me as a child and with whom I still strongly associate science fiction. Thousand Suns was thus, from the very beginning, a self-indulgent project intended to make a science fiction RPG whose primary audience was me. 

Previously, Traveller had filled that role. Back in 2007, though, I had pretty burnt out on Traveller. I'd been playing it since the early 1980s and had thoroughly immersed myself in both its rules and its official Third Imperium setting. I'd also written professionally for the game, during both its Traveller: The New Era and GURPS Traveller incarnations. At that point, I thought I'd learned enough about Traveller that I could improve upon it, creating a better game – or at least one that better suited me and my personal preferences as both a referee and a player. I did say this was a self-indulgent project, did I not? 

Specifically, I wanted to create a generic science fiction rules set, which is to say, one without an official setting. Rather than being a game about any one setting, I wanted to present a toolbox that allowed the referee to create his own imperial science fiction setting. In this, I was inspired by Traveller itself, which, in its original 1977 release, was a game just like this. Over time, though, the Third Imperium increasingly came to dominate Traveller, so much so that, in my opinion, the game became about roleplaying within that setting rather than being a toolbox for creating one's own setting. 

Now, I love the Third Imperium and consider it my favorite fictional setting of all time. But, after almost fifty years of development, the Third Imperium isn't the most welcoming to newcomers to the game. That's why I intentionally designed Thousand Suns without a setting of its own. Instead, it has a "meta-setting" – a flexible outline of a setting, in which some details have been provided, along with lots of "blank spaces" for the referee to fill in himself according to the kind of setting he wishes for his campaign. For example, I don't specify whether the main human interstellar state is a federation or an empire. I simply call it "the Terran State" and provide lots of options on how to portray it, from an idealistic and democratic alliance to an ironfisted tyranny and everything in between. My goal, above all, was to make something that was both adaptable and accessible.

Rules-wise, Thousand Suns is pretty straightforward. Character generation is either by lifepath or point buy, depending on the wishes of the player. Characters are defined by five abilities ranked from 1 to 12 and skills similarly ranked. Skill tests use a 2D12 roll under a target number based on a combination of the relevant skill rank and an appropriate ability. The amount by which the roll is under that target number is important, because, in many cases it helps to determine the effect, like damage in combat. Rolls of 2 are dramatic successes, while rolls of 24 are dramatic failures, with each having its own effects. All in all, it's a pretty simple system, though, like all system, there are wrinkles here and there, once you get into the weeds of modifiers and edges cases. 

The rulebook (also available in Spanish) contains everything you'd ever need to play – character generation, sample aliens, combat rules, equipment, psi powers, starships, trade, world generation, etc. I tried very hard to make good use of all 272 pages of this 6"×9" book. I like to think I succeeded, though there is a companion book called Starships that expands upon the rules for space vehicles, including the starship construction system. There's also Five Stars, which presents another sample sector (one is included in the rulebook), a new alien race, and an adventure that involves both. I once had plans to produce a few other books to support the game, but a combination of factors, including my focus on this blog, distracted me from doing so.

Compared to Traveller, Thousand Suns is, I think, a bit simpler rules-wise, but not hugely so. It's also a bit more "modern" in its approach to science fiction, though, again, not hugely so. For example, there are cybernetics and robots in the rulebook, things Traveller has never really made much space for. I also included lots more advice on designing an imperial SF setting than Traveller ever did, because, as I said at the beginning of this post, I wanted Thousand Suns to be accessible to newcomers who'd never played this kind of science fiction roleplaying game before.

That said, I still call Thousand Suns "a love letter to Traveller," because it's very much informed by my decades of playing that game, which I still adore and consider one of the best RPGs ever designed. Thousand Suns is not a replacement for Traveller so much as another take on the same subject matter, one with slightly different emphases and esthetics reflective of my own idiosyncratic preferences. If you're a fan of Traveller, you might find Thousand Suns useful as a source of ideas, but its rules are sufficiently different that none of its content can be used without modification. 

This turned out to be a lot longer of a post than I intended and I'm not certain I said everything I wanted to say. If you have any questions I didn't answer about Thousand Suns, go ahead and leave a comment below or send me an email. I'll do my best to answer them. 

As many of you know, I wrote a science fiction roleplaying game called Thousand Suns. While not strictly speaking an old school RPG, it is my love letter to the "imperial science fiction" literature of the period between the 1940s and '80s – authors like Poul Anderson, Bertram Chandler, Frank Herbert, Larry Niven, H. Beam Piper, and Jerry Pournelle, among others. 

Outremer Ediciones recently published a translation of the game into Spanish. I received a copy of the translated version last week and was so pleased by how nicely it turned out that I had to share a few photos.

Here's a chapter spread:

 As Urheim continues to grow in size and scope, I'm looking for better ways both to present it and to develop it in the manner I think it demands. For example, I've been commissioning art for it by the remarkable Zhu Bajiee (who's also been a stalwart of The Excellent Travelling Volume) and that's been extremely well received, which pleases me. However, I can't really justify that over the long term without some way of subsidizing the cost. That's why I've lately been contemplating moving development of Urheim to a fanzine. 

I have a lot of experience producing fanzines now. The aforementioned Tékumel 'zine has reached a dozen issues, with a thirteenth under way. I've also produced Imperio to support my SF RPG, Thousand Suns, though that's regrettably a project that's not received the attention I'd like to give it. Between the two of them, I've learned a lot about the process of making 'zines for sale and I'd like to think that, as the years wear on, I've gotten better at it. Given that, I have little doubt that an Urheim fanzine would be at least as good as those, if not better.

The Excellent Travelling Volume sells around 250 copies per issue upon initial release, with a few dozen more in the months afterward – and Tékumel is, by even a generous definition, a very niche setting. Those sales are just enough to cover each issue's art budget, as well as printing and postage, but not much else. I'd like to think that Urheim, being a more traditional fantasy locale, would have wider appeal, but who knows? Judging by Blogger's stats, my Urheim posts are popular, with several among the most read posts in the last three months. That suggests there's interest in it. Whether it's enough interest to support a fanzine, though? That's the question.

I suppose there are alternatives to a 'zine, but, given my desire to develop the site, piecemeal, either continuing to do so here, through regular blog posts, or through an irregular fanzine seem the best options. The excellent Wormskin is my model here, since it's been slowly developing the Dolmenwood setting bit by bit over the course of the last few years. I hope to do something similar with Urheim, though I'm not yet committed to the idea of a 'zine. In discussing this with others whose opinions I trust, the notion of a subscription-based newsletter has been suggested, on the model of the superb Glatisant. 

I'm still uncertain of the path forward or indeed if it's something I should contemplate seriously. For the moment, I'm going to continue to make regular Urheim posts here, at least through the end of the year. Come 2021, things may change and, if they do, I'll explain them decision here. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions of your own to offer, please comment or drop me a note. As always, I'm actively seeking advice, opinions, and alternative perspectives and appreciate those of you who offer them.

Star Empires, subtitled "The Game of Galactic Conquest," is the 1977 sequel to Star Probe. Like its predecessor, John M. Snider is credited as the designer, though it's my understanding that several others, most notably Brian Blume, contributed to the published version of the game. Also like it's predecessor, Star Empires "is an open-ended game that, in the words of Mike Carr's foreword, is not a game which is simply set up and played in a single setting. It is, above all, a game campaign system which can be most effectively run by a referee and numerous players who may be exploring and acting independently of each other. Depending upon the referee and his methods of moderating the game, the play can unfold in many ways and along many avenues."That's simultaneously wondrous and ridiculous. It's a Gamma World-style flow chart, with random roll results and arrows to aid in determining the flow of social development. I adore the ambition of it, but I wonder how well it actually works in play. Star Empires abounds in these things, packing quite a lot of options into a 72-page rulebook. My feeling is that, despite all the charts and tables, it's still more of a sketch toward a game rather than a complete conflict simulation in its own right. Of course, that was very much in keeping with the ethos of the era, the one out of which roleplaying games grew. I think that's why reading Star Empires was so revelatory to me: it exemplifies even more clearly the nimble, flexible, and downright unbounded nature of "experimental" wargaming. This is where our hobby was born and why I plan to spend more time with Star Empires in the week's to come.

Normally, I would post an interview today. This week, there won't be one. The reason for this is time.