In today's post, I will be talking about the core concepts of Starfall.
A Familiar Foundation
Starfall uses the almighty D20 and, in general, it uses all the standard "RPG Dice". I also added in the D3 but this isn't really a new dice since you can just roll it on a D6.
I used to be a Game Master for a lot of Dark Heresy and Deathwatch games and if you are familiar with those, or really any Fantsy Flight TTRPG system, you will know that it uses D10s as its main dice type with weird dice like the D5 thrown in there. Its a good system, don't get me wrong, but I personally think the familiarity of a D20 system is nicer.
Attributes
Much Like Other TTRPGs, Starfall uses the standard 6 abilities (though I named them attributes): Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma.
Again, this is a situation of wanting to make Starfall familiar and friendly to those moving over from other systems. The real deviation from the norm comes from how Starfall uses these Attributes.
Effort, Ace and Exertion
Numenera is a frankly incredible TTRPG, if you haven't played it, please do, its amazing. The main crux of that game is the concept of Effort. Every task is difficult and you and expend some effort from one of three pools to make it easier. Effort is a resource that refills once per day.
In Starfall, I wanted something similar, so I created the concept of an Effort Test. Each task is given a fixed Difficulty Class from 1 to 10 by the GM. This is how generally difficult the task is. It's rolled on a D20 and instead of the DC being the value you need to reach, each DC specifies a minimum value required on the D20 to pass the Test.
Players can spend Effort from one of their Attributes to lower the DC of the task. They can spend a number of Effort up to their Exertion. This means that a low level character can't put as much Effort into a task as a high level character can.
In addition to Effort, players also have Ace. Ace is a seperate Attribute that scales as you level and usually, characters will be an Ace with two Attributes. When a character makes an Effort Test that uses one of those Attributes, they automatically reduce the DC of that Effort Test by their Ace. This reduction also doesn't count towards their Exertion.
Effort Tests are how everything is done in Starfall, from making attacks, to mocking diplomats.
Inclusivity, Built-in
While not strictly a gameplay thing, I did want to touch on something that I think is extremely important in Starfall. Inclusivity. I want everyone, no matter who you are, to be able to enjoy Starfall. As such, the universe itself was built to be inclusive and accepting.
There are many species in the Milky-Way that break 21st century gender norms and those who wish to transition can do so freely and easily, 25th century medical knowledge can painlessly and quickly alter someone's body to match their perception of themself. The difference between romantic, sexual and sensual attraction is a big one for me as I am aromantic.
The way I like to think about it is this: It's the 25th Century, the times have passed where freedom of expression is anything but a normal and accepted thing.
I don't just want to represent the LGBT community. I want to normalise it as much as possible within the universe's cannon.
Thank you for reading and I hope to have more for you soon.
