The Forge
Long ago, humanity fled the Milky Way to escape the ravages of a catastrophic war, brought on by the discovery of a large, strange alien gate and the turmoil experienced by human society concerning what to do with them. Religious zealots of several beliefs declared that the gate was a blasphemy unto their gods. Unified in spirit and purpose, these zealots wielded nuclear weapons to sabotage efforts to study and use the gate.
As the war raged, the gate opened. Billions of humans fled through, the fate of the gate unknown once they had passed through. Transported nearly instantaneously to The Forge, the colonists began exploring and settling their newfound home. The Terminus was the most concentrated area, and over time natural clans started to claim their seats of power, extending outward into the Outlands and Expanse regions. These Banner families became projectors of power and cultural influence.
An order of mediators known as the Keepers attempt to enforce The Covenant, a set of decrees that are the only semblance of law and order in The Forge. The Covenant recognizes that war is a natural state of man and provides provisions that ban the use of weapons that leave planets inhabitable. Nevertheless, Banner families frequently wage war for resources and power.
Across the vast, dangerous regions of space, Couriers carry and relay information; a Courier is often recognized as one of the most reliable sources of information while Librarians work endlessly to archive happenings.
Humanity did not make the journey alone. Three powerful sentient AIs were created to guide fledgling pioneers on their way: Monk, tasked with religious and spiritual guidance to unify humanity; Constable, who works with Keepers to detect and analyze threats concerning matters of The Covenant; and Deus Machina, a science and engineering AI that once inhabited all machines, long missing now.
The effects of the holy war that led to the exodus of humanity have left their mark; the major religions of the past have taken a backseat while previously minor religions have intermingled and flourished.
Remnants of a long-dead civilization and the strange black iron structures they left behind were discovered. They can fetch a high price on the market, especially sought after are working Precursor facilities. This reverse-engineered alien technology led to the creation of Paragons: humans with new potential and magic. The magic is not without risk, however, as it has proven to be a corrupted force for humans seeking knowledge and power.
Character Summaries
Aboard the Ante Up are two friends on a journey for answers across The Forge.
Frederic “Talisman” Hamm won the spaceship in a poker game by following what he thought was the guidance of Deus Machina, a sentient and powerful AI that lingers like ghosts in pieces of technology that the AI has long since abandoned. Talisman always listens to the voice of Deus Machina, hearing it everywhere. Talisman gave the ship to Deckard “Black Jack” Book, in exchange for Book to journey with him in search of answers about Deus Machina. Black Jack himself seeks to find the truth about what became of the Precursors, ancient aliens that once populated The Forge.
Talisman
Edge +1
Heart +3
Iron +2
Shadow +2
Wits +1
Assets:
Kinetic -
Devotant (Deus Machina)
Lore Hunter
Black Jack
Edge +2
Heart +3
Iron +1
Shadow +1
Wits +2
Assets:
Trader
Scavenger
Explorer
Inciting Incident
The Duo met up with Yelna “Jank” Chang, a black market trader located on Weave, an orbital settlement inside an asteroid field floating around the jungle planet Tangle. Small, crowded, and full of incredible engineers, lacking any effective governmental entity, Weave is an overpopulated libertarian hellhole that rivals ancient and forgotten Kowloon Walled City.
Jank asks the pair to locate and extract someone important to him but couldn’t give the Duo too many details, only that the contact is callsign “Wayfinder.” Wayfinder was located at Prism, a settlement on the nearby planet Underworld. The two decide to travel under the guise of legitimate commerce.
The sector is on the brink of war, but the Duo doesn’t know it yet.
Publishing Note: [BRACKETS and bold text show some behind-the-scenes mechanical functions of the game. Not all dice rolls are listed, only the ones that are memorable and interesting]
Extracting Wayfinder
The Ante Up approached the planet Underworld and made contact with the settlement Prism. Book was able to negotiate passage onto the planet by paying tribute to the local lord, a minor member of the Kai family, one of The Forge’s most powerful Banner Families.
[Black Jack used his Trader asset to be able to roll +supply (5) in place of +heart (3), at the cost of 1 supply, netting a Strong Hit]
Security Chief O’Neil and a cadre of robots greeted the Duo, conducted a survey and scan of their ship and cargo, and escorted them to greet the resident Kai. The settlement of Prism was located deep in the crater impact of the planet and protected by an enormous transparent bubble. The station was home to a replica Meiji era Japanese castle, reflecting the Kai Banner family lineage.
Bruno Kai was located in the station’s dojo, practicing the sword with a martial arts instructor. The Duo gave the Kai a golden panther statue equipped with a holoview projector.
[This expensive gift was a fictional display of losing 1 supply]
The instructor noticeably responded when the Duo mentioned that they were “Two merchants trying to find their way amongst the stars,” the instructor noticeably responded.
[Black Jack got a Strong Hit on the Gather Information move]
Confirming with certainty to the Duo that they had already found their target. The Kai, impressed with their gift, gave them free rein of the station to conduct commerce, mentioning they should visit the agricultural expert, Barbosa, and the tech expert, Kholsa, to see what
Talisman sought out Kholsa, finding an older man lying on a hovercart underneath some sort of mining vehicle. Talisman began to talk with him about the various robots and technologies used by the Kai family station and ended up cutting a deal that netted the Duo a broken survey bot, knowing that Black Jack had been looking for one. Talisman kept on talking with Kholsa, discovering that decades ago, Kholsa had been a boy aboard the Exultant Vagabond, a colony ship bound for a sector somewhere in the Expanse region. Talisman had led the conversation this way, hoping to find information about Deus Machina, who at that time had been present aboard nearly every spacefaring vessel.
[Talisman got a Strong Hit on the Compel move to barter, and a Weak Hit on Gather Information related to his questions on Deus Machina]
Kholsa described the final moments of the Lonely Vagabond, where the emergency klaxon sounded, and it was discovered that there weren’t enough lifeboats to save everyone from whatever disaster the ship was headed towards. Kholsa recalled that Deus Machina had been cold and calculating in choosing which ship members it prioritized for the life vessels. He never knew precisely why he had been chosen over others or why the AI had taken his parents from him. Kholsa was angry at the AI and described it as evil in a way that he didn’t think any other machine was capable of being. Kholsa became suspicious of Talisman’s questioning about Deus Machina, especially when Talisman mentioned worship of Deus Machina as a religion.
Black Jack went to see Barbosa, the “Agricultural” expert. Black Jack was surprised to find Barbosa operating on a person, removing his organs, in an operating room. After failing to negotiate a deal with Barbosa, Black Jack discovered that the entire faculty ate dinners together but that the Duo was not welcome to dine with them.
[Black Jack got a miss on a Compel move to barter]
Hungry, Black Jack sought out the chef, a man named Hunter, at the facility and was able to negotiate a deal for bulk salt and spices on the condition that he was able to fix the facility’s freezer unit.
[Black Jack got a Weak Hit on a Compel move to barter, introducing a complication that the freezer needed to be repaired before more trading could be done]
Black Jack met Talisman at Docking Station 2, where the Ante Up was located, with a bowl of noodles and informing him of his progress. Talisman revealed a special surprise for Black Jack: the broken survey drone. A plan was formulated about how to get Wayfinder out. Talisman rummaged through their supplies, looking for some outdated sleeping pills, and the two set out to repair the freezer unit.
[Talisman got a Strong Hit on Check Your Gear to find the sleeping pills]
Black Jack talked with the cook Hunter, who became more at ease, while Talisman set about repairing the refrigerator unit. Talisman faked dropping a spanner wrench behind the unit and asked Hunter to get it since he was smaller. While Hunter was behind the freezer, Talisman crammed some sleeping pills into everyone’s noodle water. After finishing the repair job, the Duo left and returned to the hangar.
[Black Jack used the Aid an Ally move +heart to lower Hunter’s defenses, and Talisman got a Strong Hit on Face Danger to poison the residents’ dinner]
Black Jack began to grow impatient in the hangar, thinking that perhaps Wayfinder would join them. Talisman looked at his watch and the label of the sleeping pills and figured that by now, everyone at the dinner table ought to be asleep. The Duo made their way to the dining room and found everyone facedown at the table, all unconscious. Talisman scooped up the dojo master, and the Duo carried him arm-in-arm back towards the hangar, convincing the robots that the man had just had a bit too much to drink.
As the Duo secured their new passenger in the medbay, they stirred him awake by pouring water on him. At this moment, the Duo discovered that the martial arts instructor was, in fact, not Wayfinder. The groggy martial arts instructor told the Duo that he knew who Wayfinder was.
[With our vow progress track Find and Extract Wayfinder at the maximum value of 10, we rolled challenge dice to finish our quest. We rolled a 10 and a 10, the absolute worst roll in a game: 10 vs 10/10. We rolled 2d10, subtracting the lowest value (2) from the quest’s progress track, upgraded the quest from Dangerous to Formidable, and took the Miss on the move to mean that we had captured the wrong person].
The instructor told us that he would tell us who Wayfinder was if we swore a vow to take him away from Prism. So the Duo swore that they would carry him wherever he needed to go. The instructor, who revealed that his callsign was Spider, thanked them and it was disclosed that one of the unintroduced people passed out at the dinner table, a sickly-looking, scarred old man, was Wayfinder.
Talisman and Black Jack hustled back through the stage, almost certain that the jig was up and that the robot’s threat-matrix processors would figure out what they had done. With limited time, Talisman threw the old man over his shoulder, and the pair ran as fast as they could before the security robots could take notice.
[We rolled to Fulfill a Vow again with 10 progress and got a Strong Hit this time. We marked one box on the Quests Legacy progress tracker since this was a Formidable quest now. This meant that we now had two Experience available to us, a real silver lining after a catastrophic dice roll when we first critically failed to fulfill the vow the first time]
With two new passengers, the Ante Up cleared the settlement and very likely left a pissed-off member of a powerful Banner family in their wake. Finally, it was time to make the trade with Jank back on Weave.
[We went through the End a Session move, which meant we needed to Develop a Connection with Jank, our black market contact who promised us information. We marked 1 progress and then rolled with the connection’s rank (+3), getting a Strong Hit and marking 2 ticks of progress on the Bonds Legacy progress bar.
The next component of End a Session was Reach a Mileston, which Talisman was able to do having discovered the name and last location of a missing vessel that Deus Machina once inhabited. Since this was an Epic vow, 1 tick was marked.
The last component of End a Session was to make note of a connection, quest, or situation that you would like to make note of in the next game session. Doing so gives a mechanical reward of +1 momentum to characters]
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