House Rules

Order of Calculation- Charon Prime

Character Creation and Advancement

Unlike other versions of FATE, in Interstitial Age zero (+0) is a number; for starting characters skills range from +0 (Mediocre) to +4 (Great) using the FATE ladder below. Unskilled use of any skill defaults to -1 (Poor). Note that some skills, like Psionics, are NEVER allowed unskilled use.

The Ladder

+8: Legendary

+7: Epic

+6: Fantastic

+5: Superb

+4: Great

+3: Good

+2: Decent

+1: Average

+0: Mediocre

-1: Poor

-2: Terrible

At the beginning and end of each session you may change one Aspect or switch one Skill in the Skill Pyramid (say, swap +3 Charm and +4 Slug Weapons to +3 Slug Weapons and +4 Charm. You are relying more on your good looks than firepower now). Skills can only be swapped one position up or down, and at all times the pyramid must be maintained. If you prefer, you may instead chose to change/modify one Stunt, or trade in one Stunt for +1 Refresh, or vice-versa.

Characters start play with 8 Refresh, meaning that you can begin each session (Refresh Phase) with a maximum of 8 FATE points. Refresh can be traded for stunts- standard characters start with 5 Refresh and 3 Stunts, but you can create your character however you like within the limits noted above.

At every minor milestone (as decreed by the Gamemaster) you gain +1 Skill advance, meaning that you can add a single +1 Skill, or bump up one Skill +1 in the pyramid. As ever, the pyramid structure must be maintained, meaning that the number of skills below each level must exceed the level above it by at least one. Every three milestones you gain +1 Refresh bonus instead of a Skill bump.

Four Phases, Seven Aspects

Characters in Interstitial Age are created in four phases, rather than the standard five. The phases are:

phase one: growing up

phase two: starting out

phase three: moment of crisis

phase four: on your own

You may create as many Aspects as you like during each phase of character creation. No matter how many you create, however, you must end up with no more or less than seven (7) Aspects total on your character sheet.

Why four and seven? Well, thinking of character creation as a story, a four-act structure seems more natural than five. And seven Aspects seems upon experimentation enough to define a character. Let's look at the Aspects of notable NPC Emperor Clovis VI of Charon:

Aspects:

Born into power

My brother died defending the Honor of the Realm

Responsibility before pleasure

Those who do not appreciate fine food and liquor likely have other defects

Talk is for courtiers

The Empire for a decent man!

Emperor by the Grace of Providence Clovis of Charon, fourth of his name, Protector of Queequeg, Prince of Montague, Priest King of Castor and Pollux, Cyberknight of Charon Prime, Defender of the Ancient Order of Calculation, Scion of House Merovin

Now although that last Aspect may be a bit long, just the Aspects alone tell us exactly who this character is. Powerful, self-important, enjoys the finer things in life, but wary of letting himself fall into the trap of self-indulgence. Plus, plenty of opportunities for compels; and the invoke/compel cycle is the lifeblood of any FATE game.

As noted above, if any Aspect seems outdated or ineffective for your evolving character concept, just switch it out at the end of or the beginning of your play session. Like every other game feature of Diaspora, Aspects are subject to table consensus. If you are going to take the Aspect 'Emperor of Charon' make sure that everyone else agrees that this is the sort of game that they would like to play.

Navigating the Cluster

Interstellar navigation usually requires the aid of mechanical/electronic computers. Fortuna starships use electronic transistor-based systems to aid with the complex computations involved to get where you are going at the the correct speed and in one piece. Imagine trying to plot a trip from the earth to the moon using only an abacus, and you begin to have a clear picture of the difficulties of navigating in space while in motion at FTL speeds.

But this is precisely what the Calculators of Charon System are capable of doing. Armed with only the most rudimentary of electro-mechanical computers (think pre WWII era), Charon took to the stars with the aid of the highly trained Order of Calculation. For members of the Order, mathematics is not just a science but a higher calling. Calculators are trained to meditate on the purity of prime numbers, and will always try to use navigational calculations that finish with a prime so as to ensure proper feng-shui for the journey.

Calculators serving as navigators will always have the Skill Profession:Calculator and the MG-Navigation Stunt.

Masters of War

Terminus Cluster may have evil space-wizards and a Planet Venice ruled by purple-skinned nobles AND giant mechs, but it doesn't have effective beam weapons. Not yet, anyway. So the Energy Weapons Skill does not have a place in this campaign. You also may not design or build beam weapons within the campaign without a story milestone explaining where you acquired this tech. Tasers can be taken, but are considered Close Combat weapons and only do composure damage.

To reflect this campaign fact, Ships have been modified to show the following abilities:

*V-Shift, Gunnery, Missiles, EW, Trade*

Note that the changing of Beam to Gunnery and Torpedo to Missiles changes none of the mechanics of ship combat- just the flavor of it.

Turing level AI's were once ever-present, but now only their lifeless husks remain. So you can have a drone, but not a droid. And- before you ask- no you CANNOT carry a lightsaber. EVER.

..well, unless you are from Thule and it's powered by your mind. Because that's wicked cool.