EternityStation:Main Page
Eternity Station.[edit]
As its name would suggest, this trillion tonne spire of force-shields and metal, home to five hundred million lifeforms, has hung in space since time immemorial. Built in the forgotten mists of yesterday, it has served as the nexus, the centrepoint of galactic culture and rule.
Now, a grave crisis has come upon it. The greatest threat Eternity Station has ever met. The Conclave which now rules it feels inadequate to the mighty task posed. Fraction and dissent splinter it, and the denizens of the station, and none is sure how to proceed.
A plan is hatched. The digitised consciousness of the greatest leaders Eternity Station has ever known will be extrapolated by the vast quantum computer at the station's heart. The historical records will be meticulously studied, and the 'leaders' questioned. The digital consciousness of the one determined to be the greatest leader will be synthesised into a new bio-form and will lead Eternity station against the crisis and into the future.
The players play the leaders of Eternity Station at various points in history, known for the purposes of the game as the Epochs (seeEternityStation:The_Epochs). They are divided across time, each hundreds of years apart. In addition to needing to reconcile their various actions across eras, they have an opportunity to influence the actions of other eras by adding "complications".
The Conclave poses various questions, and the defining moments of each leader in relation to that question are played out. The leaders, via computer reconstructions, then have the opportunity to debate the merits of their actions, and the players award each other a modified form of XP based on the outcome of the debate.
The System[edit]
"Character" Generation works on a point buy system.
The system works along a very basic axis, and is just there to provide both context and a loose framework.
You have 40 points to divide between Command, Development; Resources; Awareness; and Heroism as well as your points left over for Complications.
The first five scores represent the make-up of your leader and their government - command represents military acumen and power and control over the population. Development represents technological and social advancement and emphasis. Resources represents wealth and standard of living. Awareness represents internal and external intelligence and diplomatic clout, as well as espionage. Heroism represents individual personal acumen.
These subcategories are preserved within the attributes themselves, and can be emphasises on a 'point-up, point-down' basis.
Command splits into "Tactics" and "Loyalty" Resources splits into "Standard of Living" and "State Market Power" Development splits into "Advanced Technology" and "Cultural Influence" Awareness splits into "Diplomatic Clout" and "Espionage" Heroism, however, does not split.
A character with high Command and Heroism might be a decorated general whose ability to fly a space fighter could legitimately threaten an invasion force. A peace-loving science council might be high on the development and resources, but insular, and lacking in awareness.
When you come up against a direct challenge in your era (not one that is resolved through roleplaying), you roll a d10 against your relevant score. Come in under the score and you succeed. Over, and you fail. Rolls are triggered by GM command, or by a specific request.
Complications, however, are how you directly compel events in other eras. They come in one or two point varieties, and you spend them to dictate a turn of historical event; someone discovers a superweapon, a new alien lifeform makes contact, someone develops a post scarcity replicating machine. Whoever governs the era in which you compel the advancement has to roleplay the fallout: how well they respond to that crisis will become relevant during the conclave debates. The more unfounded and difficult to deal with a complication is, the greater its point cost. Not only that, Complications will need to be dealt with essentially immediately - they come into effect in the middle of the current plot or crisis in that era.
At the same time, everyone influences the other eras by either presaging or referring to the events in them. Those who come after previous eras will be able to refer to events in their history, which the governors of those eras will have to integrate into their stories. Those who come before will, by their actions, set the status quo for later eras. Unlike complications, which are direct and essentially inevitable, the influence instead represents something that can come to fruition in its own time and as envisaged by the player.
After each 'question' (which should equate to a narrative arc centering around the same theme), there is a debate in the Conclave, where your characters have the opportunity to square off and argue their respective philosophies and the merits of their actions. I'll award further points based on the response to challenges, and the players will likewise vote points towards the player who they think has handled the situation best.
