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Diaspora: Hard Science-Fiction Role-Playing with Fate
Hard science-fiction role-playing with FATE. Diaspora uses the FATE engine made popular in Spirit of the Century to deliver gritty and realistic science fiction in a unique setting tailored to each group's play.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 14, 2011
My favorite RPG at the moment... although I haven't actually played it yet.
It's a hard science fiction RPG based on the Fate system used in Spirit of the Century, but with a lot of tweaks that look really interesting.
The authors were inspired by Traveller, but have ended up creating something that is unique through the cluster creation rules where the group collectively creates the half dozen to a dozen worlds which make up the setting for that campaign.
The nature of FTL travel in the setting limits the game to a single cluster, but other technological details are left up to the group to decide, within the limits of the worlds they create for the cluster (unless they just choose to go with the defaults, which is fine too).
I'm really itching to play this.
Edit: I've since played this multiple times and it really is a great game. The world building in particular is awesome.
It's a hard science fiction RPG based on the Fate system used in Spirit of the Century, but with a lot of tweaks that look really interesting.
The authors were inspired by Traveller, but have ended up creating something that is unique through the cluster creation rules where the group collectively creates the half dozen to a dozen worlds which make up the setting for that campaign.
The nature of FTL travel in the setting limits the game to a single cluster, but other technological details are left up to the group to decide, within the limits of the worlds they create for the cluster (unless they just choose to go with the defaults, which is fine too).
I'm really itching to play this.
Edit: I've since played this multiple times and it really is a great game. The world building in particular is awesome.
May 5, 2018
Heads up: if you, like me, are looking at this as an alternative to something like Eclipse Phase, think again. It is far too vague to compete with the rich setting of that game, and is much less crunchy, though still crunchier than I might like. (still haven't played the other game either, but am blown away by the setting)
I really like the cluster generation rules and some of the vague, hand-wavey schlock is quite inspired. (hand-wavey is the authors' own term)
I haven't actually read the rules for either of the combat mini-games in the book, mostly because the central Fate-derived rules are very hard to follow. There seem to be more examples than there are actual rules listings. And I didn't have the stomach for more of the same.
Some of my problems may extend from a poor conversion to epub, but nevertheless I have them.
I'll likely give this vague setting and those tasty cluster rules a try with the newer Fate Core rules, which are both simpler and much much clearer.
I really like the cluster generation rules and some of the vague, hand-wavey schlock is quite inspired. (hand-wavey is the authors' own term)
I haven't actually read the rules for either of the combat mini-games in the book, mostly because the central Fate-derived rules are very hard to follow. There seem to be more examples than there are actual rules listings. And I didn't have the stomach for more of the same.
Some of my problems may extend from a poor conversion to epub, but nevertheless I have them.
I'll likely give this vague setting and those tasty cluster rules a try with the newer Fate Core rules, which are both simpler and much much clearer.
January 14, 2011
This is a brilliant scf-fate rpg. Haven't the time to do a full review just now, but had to sing its praise. A simple implementation of the FATE system, it does what it sets out to do efficiently and effectively. This is one game I intend to use lots. I think in FATE I have finally found my rpg alongside Pendragon
December 10, 2014
After spending so long deep in the crunchy mathematical edifice that is Dungeons and Dragons, this is a breath of totally different fresh air. The rules are a version of the Fate system, which is lightweight but still allows for mechanical resolution of challenges and contests.
The setting is a flexible "hard science fiction" one, with the only explicit physics concession being faster-than-light travel (for the sake of making it possible to reach multiple star systems in a human-level timescale). The premise is that solar systems are linked in "clusters" of 6-10 or so by sliplines, paths that FTL ships can take. Over the course of centuries or millennia the sliplines occasionally change, reshuffling the members of the various clusters scattered throughout the universe. Mankind has been traveling the stars for so long now that every cluster has a long history of colonization and Earth is a long-lost legend - hence the "Diaspora" of the title.
Each campaign of Diaspora starts out with a phase in which the players all collaboratively create the solar systems of the cluster, determining what sorts of planets are present, what sorts of people live there and what sorts of civilizations they have. I have long felt that doing "worldbuilding" like this before a roleplaying campaign is a really great idea, and this is the first time I've seen it built right into the official rules like this (normally I use a stand-alone system beforehand, such as Microscope or Dawn of Worlds). It really gets the players invested in the setting and helps out the poor old game master with a nice foundation of ideas to build a story out of.
Then comes character creation, and once again I was really impressed with a few deceptively simple features of the system that I've never seen elsewhere. Character creation involves each player writing a five-paragraph story about their character, with each paragraph covering a different predefined phase of their life. One of these paragraphs focuses on an event that must involve the character of the player sitting to the player's right, and the subsequent paragraph focuses on that character's perspective on the event that the player to their left described in the previous phase. This is a really neat way of avoiding the standard "the party meets in a tavern" origin, giving everyone a connection of some sort from the outset. The character's story also has mechanical aspects. Each paragraph gets distilled into two one-line "aspects" (such as "always finds his way home" or "fits inside a suitcase") that can be brought up by the player to get a bonus to any relevant actions later on.
Other neat features:
* Combat is very "high level", with a map consisting of "zones" (a moderate-sized room could be a zone, or a patch of trees, or a swimming pool) with simple movement and interaction between them.
* Character development is not "leveling up" with an ever-escalating set of powers and abilities, but rather a continuous rebalancing and trading of unused abilities for more useful ones.
* In addition to the "health" and "composure" damage types that are common in other roleplaying rulesets, there's a "wealth" damage type that allows for neat roleplaying-heavy social battles and similar circumstances.
The system's not quite perfect, alas. It requires special "fudge dice" (there are online dice-rollers that can be used instead, or you can make do with d6es and some numeric fiddling) and some of the wording seemed unclear. Perhaps it will get better once I'm more familiar with the system (I haven't actually played much yet) but it seems that terms like "aspects" and "stunts" were come up with mainly to sound different from every other system out there. I'll update this review once I've got more experience, particularly combat experience (haven't actually done one yet).
The setting is a flexible "hard science fiction" one, with the only explicit physics concession being faster-than-light travel (for the sake of making it possible to reach multiple star systems in a human-level timescale). The premise is that solar systems are linked in "clusters" of 6-10 or so by sliplines, paths that FTL ships can take. Over the course of centuries or millennia the sliplines occasionally change, reshuffling the members of the various clusters scattered throughout the universe. Mankind has been traveling the stars for so long now that every cluster has a long history of colonization and Earth is a long-lost legend - hence the "Diaspora" of the title.
Each campaign of Diaspora starts out with a phase in which the players all collaboratively create the solar systems of the cluster, determining what sorts of planets are present, what sorts of people live there and what sorts of civilizations they have. I have long felt that doing "worldbuilding" like this before a roleplaying campaign is a really great idea, and this is the first time I've seen it built right into the official rules like this (normally I use a stand-alone system beforehand, such as Microscope or Dawn of Worlds). It really gets the players invested in the setting and helps out the poor old game master with a nice foundation of ideas to build a story out of.
Then comes character creation, and once again I was really impressed with a few deceptively simple features of the system that I've never seen elsewhere. Character creation involves each player writing a five-paragraph story about their character, with each paragraph covering a different predefined phase of their life. One of these paragraphs focuses on an event that must involve the character of the player sitting to the player's right, and the subsequent paragraph focuses on that character's perspective on the event that the player to their left described in the previous phase. This is a really neat way of avoiding the standard "the party meets in a tavern" origin, giving everyone a connection of some sort from the outset. The character's story also has mechanical aspects. Each paragraph gets distilled into two one-line "aspects" (such as "always finds his way home" or "fits inside a suitcase") that can be brought up by the player to get a bonus to any relevant actions later on.
Other neat features:
* Combat is very "high level", with a map consisting of "zones" (a moderate-sized room could be a zone, or a patch of trees, or a swimming pool) with simple movement and interaction between them.
* Character development is not "leveling up" with an ever-escalating set of powers and abilities, but rather a continuous rebalancing and trading of unused abilities for more useful ones.
* In addition to the "health" and "composure" damage types that are common in other roleplaying rulesets, there's a "wealth" damage type that allows for neat roleplaying-heavy social battles and similar circumstances.
The system's not quite perfect, alas. It requires special "fudge dice" (there are online dice-rollers that can be used instead, or you can make do with d6es and some numeric fiddling) and some of the wording seemed unclear. Perhaps it will get better once I'm more familiar with the system (I haven't actually played much yet) but it seems that terms like "aspects" and "stunts" were come up with mainly to sound different from every other system out there. I'll update this review once I've got more experience, particularly combat experience (haven't actually done one yet).
October 12, 2014
Looks like a good system. Haven't actually played it though. This was my first exposure to the Fate system, and the collaborative nature of character and system creation was a huge revelation.
The different types of combat get interesting, especially the social combat system. They're organized as mini games and all have a typically Fate system of zones on the maps, which was new to me. But, again, the making a system for a non physical combat made me happy.
I need to search for an update for this to bring it into Fate Core.
The different types of combat get interesting, especially the social combat system. They're organized as mini games and all have a typically Fate system of zones on the maps, which was new to me. But, again, the making a system for a non physical combat made me happy.
I need to search for an update for this to bring it into Fate Core.
May 29, 2014
I'm not quite sure how to rate a game rule book. It looks like a good game and I've tested it a bit with my group. I'd definitely like to play it, but it has to wait its turn. Anyway, it's a Fate-based system using aspects (short phrases) to define characters rather than numbers and is very narrative allowing players to collaborate and define the story. It's a great system and I've had fun playing games like this.
January 4, 2015
This a very good FATE book.
It adapts the system to a flexible but realistic sci-fi setting. The system generator is fantastic and allows the players and DM to collaborate in building a setting made of 5 to 10 planets with random tech, habitability and resources.
Really cool and looking forward to playing this. I already bought my FATE dice. :)
You may also want to read the latest update to FATE, that can be easily implemented with this setting.
It adapts the system to a flexible but realistic sci-fi setting. The system generator is fantastic and allows the players and DM to collaborate in building a setting made of 5 to 10 planets with random tech, habitability and resources.
Really cool and looking forward to playing this. I already bought my FATE dice. :)
You may also want to read the latest update to FATE, that can be easily implemented with this setting.
November 20, 2012
Excellent Hard Science-Fiction storytelling RPG, based on the FATE system.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews