Go to Part 1

WORLDS OF THE CONCORDAT

Although the Concordat sprung up out of the seed of the Ten Worlds it has since expanded far beyond that, encompassing in its modern form a total of thirty-three systems and thiry-one planetary governments. They are a widely varied lot, but all are bound together by their ideological commitment to the virtues of the Concordat.

Originally known as Alhera this world was the brightest and best of the original Ten Worlds. Under the leadership of House Britannia it was one of the first worlds to join the Concordat and became the capital of the new government. Following Sartra’s disappearance and assumed death it was renamed in honor of him. Today it remains the shining star of the Concordat – it’s communities are ergonomically designed and architecturally splendid, with plentiful parks.

The technological hub of the Concordat, Cyberna has earned the nickname of “Chrome World”. Its politics are dominated by the massive interstellar conglomerates which control the vast majority of business throughout. The vast majority of this world is rocky wasteland, and so its cities are tightly compacted bunches of skyscrapers and apartment complexes with the occasional archipelago, all built around technologically-assisted agricultural hubs.

In many ways a showpiece of the justice and idealism which the Concordat represents, Kyreen was originally the homeworld of the K’i’Reen, an insectoid race who was displaced onto reservations during the time of the Second Republic. Few of these reservations were located in the worlds which are now the Empire of Known Space, but in the Concordat they were much more numerous. The more liberal ideals of the Concordat restored their homeworld to them in 4615. The K’i’Reen opted to remain members of the Concordat and share their planet with the humans already living there. Since the K’i’Reen live primarily below the surface an interesting relationship has developed between their revitalized civilization and culture and the human settlements which still dot the surface.

 Unan is a generally unremarkable place. With a fairly even division between industry and agriculture it is one of those rare planets which moved beyond the specialization of its early colonial days and became a largely self-subsisting community. Despite this, however, Unan has distinguished itself as a major tourist attraction as a result of the daily meteor showers. The entire Unan system is full of debris which is constantly peppering the upper atmosphere, creating impressive light shows in the night sky. These displays are particularly impressive near the equator and this fact, combined with the large, peaceful, equatorial seas of Unan, has lead to several booming resort towns and floating gambling complexes in that area.

When it was first explored during the early years of the Second Republic, Mecca was known as Milton – a minor colonial world with poor resources. About two centuries before the Republic collapsed, however, vast archaeological discoveries began to be made on the planet. Many, if not most, of these discoveries were prominently Anunnaki gargoyles. As the fame of these gargoyles spread their religious significance turned Milton into a major pilgrimage site. Eventually Milton changed its name to Mecca and became a major center of Church politics.

After the beginning of the Dark Ages, a council of clergyman formed an organization known as the Cathedrals of Mecca. Although this group recognized that the true center of Church power rested elsewhere, they also recognized the practicality of their current situation. The Cathredals of Mecca became the de facto leaders of the Orthodox Church for the Ten Worlds. They were one of the loudest and most influential of the anti-Sartrans, but eventually lost their conservative battle. Today Mecca remains the last true bastion for religious fundamentalism. The Cathedrals of Mecca still maintain control of the Orthodox Church in Concordat space (although how this will change now that the gates to Holy Terra have been reopened remains to be seen), and the vast majority of Meccans still adhere to the Orthodox faith.

Poa’pal and Tua’kal are two planets which circle a single star in an identical, but opposite, orbit. When they were discovered during the Second Republic it was widely believed that they were artificially placed in their orbit by the Ur races, for reasons unknown. They were each home to an identical species, one of which referred to themselves as the Poa’pal and the other as the Tua’kal according to archaeological records. When they independently discovered spaceflight they also discovered their other half. Religious doctrine apparently convinced the two species that the other was the source of evil and war ensued. By the time humans arrived on the scene, the two species had already wiped each other out. Poa’pal and Tua’kal became colony worlds. Today they are proud members of the Concordat, under the rule of a single, joint government.

The three worlds of Barre, Jandi, and Ayto are collectively referred to as the “Heartland”. The Heartland is the source of the majority of the agricultural output for the Concordat, and is also one of the more conservative regions of the republic, with a particular focus on traditional (or “Sartran”) virtues. Surprisingly, however, this conservatism does not spread to their religious convictions – which are generally nonexistent, and usually non-Orthodox even when they are.

Progenitor, like Mecca, once was possessed of a different name: Lonbette. Once a fairly successful colonial world of the Second Republic, Lonbette fell into backwater savagery during the Dark Ages after its jumpgate was sealed. Then a generation ship from the time of the First Republic appeared in the system and colonized the world. Their civilizing presence restored not only the technological foundations of the world, but formed a strong central government for the world. Eventually their jumpgate reopened, and they found themselves in direct contact with the Concordat, which they quickly joined.

During the Dark Ages four planets (Adde, Polyani, Hannal, and Jelen) bound themselves together and sealed off the rest of the universe. Unlike many worlds which followed their course these four managed to maintain a high level of technology and pushed towards not only maintaining, but improving the technology they had inherited from the Second Republic. Unfortunately, this zeal for progress was ultimately their downfall. Using their own terraforming engines as a basis for experiment they made leaps of massive discovery, but eventually their experiments caught up with them. The terraforming engines on three of the planets began to seriously malfunction. Adde, Polyani, and Hannal became known as the Fallen Worlds as their populations were driven into exodus on Jelen. Billions died, but those who survived renamed their new homeworld Haven.

 Go to Part 4: More Worlds of the Concordat

Go to Part 1

GOVERNMENT

The government which was formed under the counsels of Sartra, Duke Daneel, and General Baghera was, naturally, of a constitutional nature; expounding the freedoms of its citizens and laying out a concrete system of governance. Based upon the classical three-tiered system of democratic government dating back to before the founding of the First Republic, the great nationalistic pride which most of the Concordat communities have felt towards this edifice of power has had a general homogenizing effect on many regional and local governments as well. Although there are exceptions the vast majority of Concordatian governments function along this same basic model.

Essentially government in the Concordat is split as a republic into four different levels: the Galactic, the Planetary, the Regional, and the Local. The former, as the name implies, is the government founded under the guidance of Sartra; it rules over the whole of the Concordat. The second, the next step down from the Galactic, takes a variety of specific forms, but adopts the common name of Planetary because it is generally composed of planet-wide governments. Most planetary governments oversee a group of Regional governments, which deal largely in bureaucratic initiatives focusing on specific sections of individual worlds. Finally, Local governments usually take the form of county boards or city councils, dealing with the nitty-gritty details at the most immediate level to the average citizen.

The galactic government, as noted, is a federal constitutional system with a legislative, an executive, and a judicial branch. The executive is composed primarily of the President, who serves a five year term, and his immediate advisors and bureaucratic chiefs. The legislative is formed around a bicameral Congress composed of two houses – the Assembly and the Senate. The Assembly draws its membership proportionally from each planet, serving three year terms. The Senate is composed of three members from each planet, one of which is elected every two years to serve a six year term.

The Judicial system established by Sartra is the most unique element of the Concordat system of government. At its highest level it is composed of a Supreme Court formed of ten Justices. All of these Justices are popularly elected at the Galactic level. Five positions are possessed of a lifetime term; five of a ten year term. At the lower levels cases are heard by a Judicial Panel consisting of six Judges and six Jurors. The Judges are elected officials; the Jurors are randomly selected citizens who serve on a single panel. Unlike previous jury systems, Sartra’s did not have a lengthy juror selection system designed to minimize prejudice within the jury system – instead he saw that the judicial system could be sped up considerably be simply slotting in the first six randomly determined jurors, and then using the six judges to counterbalance any missteps on the parts of the jurors. The judges would counteract the vagaries and prejudices of the jurors, while the jurors would counteract the tendency to corruption or tyranny which might breed within the judges.

Finally a Bill of Rights rounds out the constitutional system, protecting the citizens of the Concordat from infringement by the government on many “basic rights”.

Most Concordat citizens are, rightfully or not, extremely proud of the freedoms and democracy which their government represents. The Galactic Constitution and the principles on which it is founded are regarded as unquestioned virtues.

RELIGION

In the nine centuries since the end of the Second Dark Age the Orthodox Church and religion in general have weakened within the borders of the Concordat. When the Church Elders, based on Mecca, were finally forced by grassroots efforts to recognize and join the Concordat government they lost a great deal of political power. The Constitution as defined under Sartra not only encouraged, but enforced and exemplified a strict restriction on the intermingling of church and state. He respected primarily the freedom of the individual, and knew that the structure of the Orthodox Church would lead to an oppression of minority interests and beliefs if they were allowed access to pure political power.

Without the political power to puritanically enforce their religious views, the Orthodox Church found its constituency base begin to splinter apart. Although true alternatives to the Omega Gospels and the worship of the Pancreator do not really exist, the way in which the Pancreator is worshipped and the Omega Doctrines interpreted have begun to diversify. As the Church has found itself broken apart by differing interpretations and modes of belief, religious fervor in general has suffered: It is easier to believe in unprovable religious truths if the religious community is unified; if it is fragmented it is easier to simply dismiss them as whole.

ORTHODOX CHURCH: The Orthodox Church is still the primary religious institution in the Concordat, with fully 25% of the population under its auspices in one capacity or another. With that being said, however, it is necessary to admit that the church is little more than a shadow of its former self. Although the official doctrine still supports the belief that the Patriarch of Mecca is the spiritual leader of the Church, the average churchgoer is far more relaxed in his beliefs – accepting official Church doctrine only when it suits them.

As noted the Orthodox Church structure is still based primarily on Mecca, a planet which assumed religious prominence due to the abundance of Ur gargoyles and ruins on its surface. When the Concordat sealed itself off from the rest of the galaxy the church leaders on Mecca seized political control of the planet and asserted their leadership on the church structures of the Ten Worlds.

LIBERALISM: About two decades after Mecca finally capitulated and joined the Concordat the unified facade of the Church began to crumble under the religious teachings of Uther Fairchild. Fairchild preached that belief in the perfection of the Patriarch was a fallacy. Instead of looking to the Church for leadership the faithful should instead look to it only for guidance – the truth of the Pancreator was not to be found in edicts, but through the exploration of a personal truth reached through personal interpretation. Each individual should strive to interpret the Omega Gospels in their own way and to find the truths within it which are meaningful to their own lives. The structure of the Church, Fairchild said, was only useful in so far as it served to educate and to guide the faithful through their own spiritual journey.

Such convictions quickly found fertile soil in the fresh nationalism which was spreading through the freshly formed Concordat. The Church, stripped of its power to politically silence Fairchild, could do nothing more than excommunicate the rebellious teacher. It has long been argued whether or not this was an even greater mistake by the Church – the highly public excommunication of Fairchild, and Fairchild’s own embracing of this new reality, served not as a warning, but as a clarion call that the Church’s ability to tyrannically enforce its view of faith was broken by the realities of the new system of government.

Today nearly 15% of Concordat citizens are members of the Liberalist church – making it the strongest competitor with the Orthodox for the faith of the people. It also remains at bitter doctrinal and political odds with what it perceives to be the archaic, restrictive, and false tyranny of the Orthodox religious teachings.

THE SAINTED ORDERS: The Sainted Orders date back to an amalgamation of different religious sects in the 46^th century. The basic structure of the belief differs depending upon which Order one is analyzing, but the central tenet is that the Prophet was actually the living incarnation of the Pancreator, with all or some of his eight followers sainted and/or deified as well.

Although initially a great populist success the Sainted Orders have faced a general decline for several centuries. During the past hundred years or so this trend has been accelerated because the Orders have tended to be a haven of religious extremists. The loose collection of slightly differing religious beliefs within the Orders makes it easy for radical cults to spring up and mass suicides, murders, and religo-terrorist actions have become semi-regular events.

REJUVENITES: At one point during the early scientific renaissance of the Human Concordat a popular theory held that the dimming of the suns was simply part of a long galactic cycle which would, eventually, reverse itself. In short, there was nothing to be particularly worried about – the problem would take care of itself. Although this theory has since been discredited and now is largely ignored, the idea seemed to find ideal fermentation within the religious community. The Rejuvenite faith maintains the Orthodox position that the suns are fading because of the sins of mankind, but they differ in one important respect: There is no hope of rekindling them. They are a sign of the end of an age, at which point the Pancreator will “clothe himself within the confines of the flesh” and “walk among the people of the Galaxy” to “pass judgment upon the deeds of his servants, faithful and unfaithful”.

If the Pancreator finds mankind worthy he will “rekindle the stars with the light of his love” and a golden age will ensue. If not, then he will destroy mankind and start anew. The Rejuvenites hold that just such an event occurred eons ago when the Ur races ruled the universe, and that the Ur races were found unworthy.

Some fringe Rejuvenites believe that each race will be judged in turn, and particular focus has been spent upon the Vau. Some believe that the Vau have found the true secrets to acceptance in the eyes of the Pancreator and that their ways should be emulated. Others imagine some sort of interspecies contest in which only one will be chosen to proceed into the golden age – they would have the Concordat attack and destroy the Vau.

URITIC ORDER: The Uritic Order was initially an order of monks organized around the teachings of Petref Alanna in the 47^th century. Its spiritual roots lie with both the Rejuvenites and the Sainted Orders. Alanna accepted the belief that the fading suns were an indication of the end times, which would culminate in a judgment of mankind which would determine whether mankind would be sent into a golden age.

Instead of believing that the alternatives were either a golden age here in this plane of existence or utter destruction, Alanna believed that in the judgment the Pancreator would send those he chose as worthy into another plane of existence – a Nirvana or a Heaven. Those who were not chosen would remain behind. He said that the Ur races had not failed the test, they had passed it and been sent on into this other plane – leaving the imperfect Ur-Ukar and Ur-Obun, who had failed the Pancreator’s test, behind.

Finally Alanna said, along with the Sainted Orders, that the Prophet was not a mortal man. However, he did not embrace the conclusion that the Prophet was an incarnation of the Pancreator, either. Instead, he said, the Prophet was a reincarnation of the collective wisdom of the Elder Races and focused particular attention upon the role of the Ur-Obun Follower, Ven Lohji.

Since Alanna’s death the ideas of the Uritic Order become more widely popular and accepted. Although the Order still exists as a brotherhood of monks, it is also complicated by an infrastructure of “Houses of the Order” which teach and give a sense of religious community to those who are not brothers, but still embrace the beliefs of the Order.

PROMETHEAN DIVISION: The Promethean Division is, in some ways, not so much a religious sect as it is the opposite of a religious sect. It is based on the belief that the Prophet was, in fact, a False Prophet used as an unwitting tool of the dark spirits. Where the Omega Gospels present a highly structured set of moral beliefs, the adherents of the Promethean Divsion believe that the only true sin is becoming obsessed with sin – particularly over the sins of others.

This should not be viewed as a complete abandonment of moral authority (few Prometheans take it so far), but Prometheans generally believe the proper purview of ethical questions should be calmly reasoned as a tradeoff between infringing individual freedom and allowing the actions of individuals to impinge upon the freedoms of others. “Sin” doesn’t enter into it, and remains the purview of the individual’s discretion. Risk damnation if you want, but it is your decision so long as you do not infringe upon my freedom.

Nor should this be construed as a denial of the Pancreator. The Promethean Division embraces the concept of the Pancreator, but sees the Pancreator as embracing and supporting their philosophy of freedom and scientific improvement. The stars are not fading because of the Pancreator’s anger over the sinfulness of his people, they say, the stars are fading because religious fanatics are obsessing over imagined “sins”.

SATHRAISM: Although religious freedom is almost utterly uninfringed upon and many minor non-Omega sects proliferate, Sathraism is still banned. Members of the Orthodox Church, other sects, and a majority of private citizens believe that the effects of jumpgate travel on which Sathraism are based are physically and mentally harmful. “Public safety” legislation, therefore, prevents the exercise of Sathraism, and so far the Courts are unwilling to challenge it.

ANTINOMY: Like Sathraism, the mysterious rites of Antinomists have been banned. They are considered highly subversive and dangerous by even the non-religious, and the remaining political forces of the religious orders reinforce this conviction.

Go to Part 3: Worlds of the Concordat

Symbols by Gail Frazer (Design) and Seth Bacon (Digital Finish)
Jumpweb Map by Keith Johnson

This article was originally published in Pyramid Magazine on January 6th, 2001.

THE FALL

It was a golden age, humanity’s finest hour, and it was coming to an end. During the time of the Second Republic all of humanity had been joined into a whole across the vastness of interstellar space, but now, under the petty manipulations and power mongering of the noble families, humanity’s cohesion and greatness was pushed to its limits and then broken. The Second Republic fell.

And as the Chaos of the Fall began to spread, as darkness enveloped world after world, as the people became frightened and afraid, neighbor began to war on neighbor once more and all of human society teetered upon the edge of barbarity and obscurity. World after world sealed themselves away from neighbors who, once friendly, could now only be considered potential invaders.

These worlds were lost from Known Space – that region around Holy Terra, the birthplace of humanity, where treacherous noble families who had engineered the Fall consolidated their power. As the universe was plunged into a new Dark Age, the wonders of the Second Republic were forgotten and lost.

Over the years some of these lost worlds have regained contact with Known Space as sealed gates reopened and forgotten jumpkeys were rediscovered. There they found a power struggle between feudal lords, merchant guilds, and an orthodoxical church all struggling to impose their will upon the shattered remnants of human society. Some of these worlds have rejoined the worlds of Known Space (whether through their own will or through compulsion), while others have maintained their barbarian ways and seek to conquer the Known Worlds and seize their secrets and remaining civilization. Without exception, however, it is believed by the citizens of the Empire that the worlds of Known Space are the only significant civilization of interstellar proportion to have survived the Fall.

They are wrong.

During the aftermath of the Fall a second group of worlds found themselves isolated. As the universe fractured and the shadows spread over humanity, ten worlds found themselves alone among the stars. These ten worlds – Alhera, Cyberna, Kyreen, Unan, Mecca, Poa’pal, Tua’kal, Barre, Jandi, and Ayto – squabbled and traded and warred among each other as the memory of the Second Republic began to fade. As Known Space was sliding into a Dark Age, so, too, were these worlds. As it was for what would become the Empire, so it was for what would become known as the Human Concordat.

THE SARTRAN DOCTRINES

In the year 4110, a mere hundred years after the catastrophe of the Fall and the New Dark Age began, a new voice was heard among this small enclave of humanity. The voice belonged to a man who was known only as Sartra, and he taught a lesson of unity. He refused to recognize Alheran as different from Cybernan, or Cybernan from Jandite, or Jandite from Aytan. He called to them all as citizens of what he termed the Ten Worlds, and he reminded them that all were human. He called them brother, and in seeing him as such so they saw each other as kin. His teachings rekindled the memories of the Second Republic and a time when all humanity was composed of a single, glorious whole. He gave the people of the Ten Worlds a new identity, a common identity. He brought them together and bound them to a common purpose.

His words inspired many, both high and low, but the most important of his converts was Duke Daneel, the eldest member of House Britannia. House Britannia was of minor importance before the Fall, but had managed to secure sole sovereignty over the planet of Alhera. By the time of Sartra, Alhera had risen to be the brightest star of the Ten Worlds and House Britannia’s power had grown great indeed. But Daneel was a wise and compassionate man, and when he heard the words of Sartra he sought out this man and gained his friendship.

Of perhaps only slightly less importance than Duke Daneel was General Anton Baghera, the feudal warlord who had seized control of the world of Cyberna twenty years earlier and now ruled it with an iron grip. He, too, became Sartra’s friend, and these three unlikely allies joined upon an even more unlikely mission – the establishment of an interstellar government which was, in many ways, even more liberal than that which had ruled over the Second Republic. In the year 4125 General Baghera and the nobles of House Britannia both relinquished their power, and the worlds of Alhera and Cyberna both became the first members of the newly formed Human Concordat, with Sartra elected as its first president.

Over the next decade the remaining eight members of Sartra’s Ten Worlds joined the Concordat, one by one, with Mecca – ruled over by the suspicious Orthodox Church – joining last in 4135. Although the Concordat, under the careful guidance of President Sartra, never attempted any military or economic coercion of the other worlds, still blood was shed. Freedom fighters on many worlds threw down what they saw as oppressive governments, while freedom fighters on other worlds attempted to prevent their world from “surrendering” to the Concordat (of particular note is the Order for Aytan Freedom which nearly succeeded in sealing Ayto’s jumpgate in order to prevent their world from joining the new government).

Shortly after Mecca joined the Concordat Sartra’s second term of office as President came to an end and he retired from public life. He lived a life of seclusion for another ten years before disappearing entirely in the year 4145. Shortly following his disappearance, and assumed death, a collected book of his teachings – entitled the Sartran Doctrines – appeared. This book, still considered the greatest philosophical and political teachings ever constructed, has proved to be one of the most important historical documents to the Human Concordat, second only to the Constitution which also bears Sartra’s hand.

THE HUMAN CONCORDAT

It has been over 850 years since Sartra’s death. During that time the Concordat has slowly grown to be the society which Sartra imagined not only as an ideal, but as a reality. They have become a liberal and peace-loving people, worked hard to regain the technological knowledge lost during the Fall, and dedicated themselves to the principles of liberty and equality which Sartra set down in the Doctrines. To a large degree they have succeeded.

Perhaps one of the highest things that the Concordat values is the preservation of knowledge. Through the Doctrines the memories of the Fall are still kept fresh, and all of Concordat society dreads such a repetition. Knowledge, they know, is the most precious of all commodities – and all too easily lost. They have worked hard to regain what was lost during one hundred years of barbarity, and have largely succeeded – propelling their understanding of the universe back to a place which is, in some ways, stronger than the Second Republic, while still being deficient in others.

The Concordat has also taken steps to recompense the alien species which have been trodden under humanity’s foot over the millenia – even going so far as to restore homeworlds where that has been possible. These initiatives meant that when the Concordat again made contact with the Vau, their relationship with them was much easier than it had been in the past. Although it is perhaps not peace, it is an understanding.

But the Concordat has not contented itself with civil rights merely for the disenfranchised within its borders, it has pushed for a society which is in all ways possessed of more liberty and greater hope. These advances, naturally, have had their price for some: The nobles were disenfranchised under the rule of Sartra, and now they are nothing but fading memories. The Church, unable to politically force one view of itself upon the populace, has found itself splintered time and again by divisive sects of belief. Although it is still technically true that nearly 75% of the population believes in the Pancreator, many of these are those whose place in the church has lapsed along with their conviction.

In truth, though, perhaps the greatest accomplishment of the Concordat is not tangible at all – but rather the essence of the society they have unconsciously constructed. Where Sartra found a set of fractured and disparate worlds there is now one society, which has as its identity not separate cultures, but all humanity. Where once humanity was divided, it has been made whole. As, over the years, other lost worlds have made contact with the Concordat and joined this society, it has become apparent that the greatest gifts which have been offered are these: Unity, Peace, and Hope.

CONCORDAT AND EMPIRE

The year is now 5000 A.D. In Known Space five years have passed since the coronation of Emperor Alexius, whose brave new reforms and attempts to rekindle an exploratory spirit in his people have just begun to have some long-term effect. In the midst of this growing renaissance in the Empire, a jumpgate between one of the outer worlds of the Concordat and Byzantium Secundus reopens.

The first tentative contact between these two societies has been mutually positive. Emperor Alexius is overjoyed to have regained contact with so large a segment of lost humanity, while the Concordat is overjoyed in the discovery that they have not been alone in maintaining interstellar civilization. But these two societies are polar opposites of each other – diametrically positioned on the political, social, and religious spectrums. Although for now goodwill prevails, can it not be said that conflict is inevitable? And if so… what then?

Go to Part 2: Government & Religion

“Dice of Destiny” was one of my earliest professional sales. Written in late 1999, it was published in Pyramid on June 16th, 2000. It proved remarkably popular and, until I wrote “D&D: Calibrating Your Expectations” and “The Three Clue Rule“, was the single piece of writing for which I received the most feedback from readers. In fact, enough people told me that they specifically re-upped their subscription to Pyramid on the basis of that article that I am absolutely positive that the $170 Steve Jackson Games paid me for it was money well-spent.

Part 1 – Introduction
Part 2 – Qualities
Part 3 – Examples of Application
Part 4 – Adaptation

Reading the article from a distance of eleven years, I am forced to occasionally twinge at particularly awkward bits of writing. I have, however, resisted the urge to rewrite it. With the exception of noting that Feng Shui is now available from Atlas Games (when the article was written, Feng Shui was a recent smash success that had driven its original publisher out of business because they were reportedly losing money on every copy sold), the article remains unchanged.

I’m also struck, however, by how misleading the published works of an author can be. “Dice of Destiny”, for example, clearly demonstrates my early appreciation of the fact that roleplaying games are improv structures (among other things). It would seem to be totally of a piece with my recent musings on wandering monsters as a mode of procedural content generation.

But if you had actually asked Justin the Younger about wandering monsters, he would have scoffed at the crudities of a primitive and bygone age. Wandering monsters made their way back into my game when I started using them to model “living complexes” that were too large for me to track every individual NPC group in real time, and it was only from there that I eventually realized that a properly constructed wandering monster table is a great improv structure.

In a further bout of irony, it was only a few months after this article was published that the 3rd Edition of D&D was published. Dice pool systems had dominated my gaming during the late ’90s, but for the past decade D&D has taken their place. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve actually GMed even so much as a single session of a dice pool system since this article was published. (Although I’m sure something will probably occur to me as soon as I hit the “publish” button.)

Perhaps because of that, one of the things that particularly caught my eye on this read-thru was the idea of using die qualities while generating ability scores to give you some idea of what a score really means. It really is incredibly easy to just pluck out keywords from the description of ability scores and assign them as qualities. To that end, here’s a quick table you can use when generating D&D characters.

Go to Part 1

ADAPTATIONS

There are a number of simple modifications and adaptations of the basic concept found in this system. The Hit Locations system described earlier is one possibility. This section  of the article will try to point out a few more of these – even if complete mechanics for each of the adaptations are occasionally left up to the GM’s discretion, creativity, and personal needs.

RESOLUTION METHODS: Many games have different resolution systems depending on what type of action is being attempted or the circumstances under which the attempt is made. The most obvious and common of these is the distinction made between “normal” skill resolution and “combat” skill resolution.

Even when the two systems of resolution are practically or entirely identical in game terms the descriptive needs of the GM may alter drastically between, for example, combat and non-combat situations. The simplest adaptation of the systems in this article is to simply use different qualities at different times.

For example, a GM may feel that in non-combat situations he will be most aided by the qualities of Time Required, Outside Influences, and Finesse. On the other hand he might find Skill, Style, and Luck to be more useful for combat situations.

This modification is as easy as simply using those qualities at those times in which you will feel they will be most useful.

DAMAGE:  Many systems on the market today continue to follow the example of D&D and use a separate dice roll to determine the damage done by a weapon. In several cases multiple dice are used and it therefore becomes easy to create a list of “damage qualities” which would help you describe not only the severity of damage, but the type of damage done.

CHARACTER SCHTICKS: Not all characters are the same – and in several genres (particularly the pulp and superhero ones) each “type” of character is possessed of a very distinct, personal style. Superman, for example, behaves and operates in one manner, while Batman behaves and operates in a quite different manner. This system can be easily adapted to such situations.

Instead of having one set of universal qualities which all characters use, let each player decide on a “character schtick” – a set of qualities which he feels would best result in the type of descriptions he feel would be appropriate to his character. The GM, of course, would set schticks for NPCs as he so desired.

For example, in a game set in 1920s Chicago, your typical mob thug might have the qualities of Power and Luck. Al Capone, on the other hand, would have Style and Finesse. Elliot Ness might want Skill and Luck.

CHARACTER GENERATION: Although this is no longer true of many systems, there are still several systems out there that use dice for parts of or the entire character creation process. If you wanted to give even greater control to the dice during character creation it would certainly be a relatively easy task to create a list of qualities for any attributes or statistics which you roll for during character creation.

For example, when rolling 3d6 for Strength in AD&D you could have three different qualities: Muscle Mass, Power, and Physique. Although these would have little or no effect on actual gameplay, they would – just like the qualities for skill resolution described above – be hints as to how your character is strong, not just how strong he is.

DICE POOLS: Dice pools, used in many popular games such as West End Games’ Star Wars and the World of Darkness games from White Wolf Games, are a mechanic under which – instead of raising a number you roll against as you increase your character’s skill – you increase the number of dice which are rolled against a stationary target number as your character’s skill increases. Clearly the basic system described in this article does not work with such systems: you can’t assign a set of qualities to the dice if the number of dice is constantly in flux depending on what is being resolved. There are three ways, however, to alter this system to make it usable in games which employ dice pools.

First, and simplest, is to simply choose two qualities. Have two specially marked dice – each representing one of the two qualities – and make sure these are included in any role. On any die roll in which only one die is involved, ignore the qualities.

Second, you can expand this concept by having a laundry list of qualities. The first might be Skill, the second Style, the third Finesse, the fourth Outside Influences, and the fifth Power. If three dice were rolled you would use the Skill, Style, and Finesse dice. If five were rolled you would use Skill, Style, Finesse, Outside Influences, and Power.

Finally, you can create a “quality pool” from which players may select the qualities they want. Combining the second option above with variable choice you can either limit the choice to pre-campaign (like Character Schticks), or let the players decide on each roll which qualities they want. The only problem with this latter potential is that it can sometimes bog down the session as players deliberate over which qualities to pick (“Let’s see, do I want power and finesse – or finesse and style – or…?”).

CONCLUSION

The system is incredibly versatile and very effective as a tool that almost any Gamemaster can use effectively as an aid to his game. That being said, it is important to realize that this tool is not for everyone. Those who have no difficulty describing the results of action resolution will have no use for this system. There will be those who simply don’t find the system to be particularly helpful. Finally, I have found no way of adapting this system or some variant of it to resolution systems involving only a single die.

However, for those GMs who can use this system, and who find it useful, I think that it can be safely said that you will find your campaigns improved, and not lessened, for its inclusion so long as you remember that this is merely a system of guidelines, and not absolutes.

Reflections on “Dice of Destiny”