DunDraCon & West Marches Style of Play

Warp March

A Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! Initial development is starting on making a West March style game guide for Under a Hostile Sun. Currently a OPRPG proof-of-concept prototype is available. I am getting some playtesters to experiment with it soon.

A West March campaign focuses on minimal preptime and heavy use of randomized tables to generate the growing map. In the Warp March supplement for Hostile Sun players are lead through a five step process for generating a planet randomly.

The first step involves determining the 1-3 main resources for the planet. These resources impact the main remaining aspects of the planet. The Hazard Environment table is rigged so that, for example, a Molten Minerals containing planet is more likely to have a volcanic environment. Numerous combinations are possible, but the table is weighted to ensure a degree of connection between the resource and the environment.

Then the resources will determine the adventure hook of the planet as in-lore the way the Nameless Space Empire and the current humans relate to these resources, and the type of wild life forms they attract differ. Thus a Strange Sap heavy planet is likely to have different problems than an Odd Ore concentrated planet. The tables allow for unexpected combinations, but weight the most likely ones. This one players, when they encounter a new planet, they can determine what risks are likely for exploring each one.

Rules for determining differing gravity are also available.

Non-Combat Stories

Combat gamifies easily - which is one reason it is so prevalent in RPGs. And an endless amound of tropes exist to draw on. Under a Hostile Sun is not combat focused - which for some GMs can make writing story hooks for the game harder.

One of the main uses of Warp March is that it can simplify the process of making a story hook for the adventurers. Non-violent exploration stories are very different than the wargame adjacent stories that are typical in RPGs. I hope Warp March (and hopefully a fuller guide to come) allow GMs to “stat” a Planet as quickly if not quicker than they can “stat” a monster. Thus this style of “exploration-based storytelling” will become more readily available to GMs.

DunDraCon

I will be running a prototype demo of Under a Hostile Sun at DunDraCon. I will also be running BECMI / Rules Cyclopedia Dungeons & Dragons. If you are present, be sure to stop by and learn about the latest developments!