[8:15 PM] ddrader: Hi, I’m Darrin Drader. I’m a writer and full time freelance game designer in the roleplaying game field. I’ve been in this industry since 2000, worked for numerous companies like WotC, Paizo, Legendary Games, Gun Mertal Games, and so on. If you’re been playing D&D half as long as I have, odds are good you’ve come across my contributions to the game, whether you realize it or not.
[8:16 PM] ddrader
: (done)
[8:16 PM] Dan the GMshoe: Thanks, @ddrader! The floor is open to questions!
[8:16 PM] Dan the GMshoe: What is the premise of Reign of Discordia?
[8:17 PM] ddrader: So this is the second edition of Reign of Discordia. The first one was released in 2008.
[8:18 PM] ddrader: This is a space opera setting. So, if you like Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, and a whole host of other movies, novels, and TV shows that are action oriented and set in space, Reign of Discordia fits neatly within that genre.
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[8:18 PM] Dan the GMshoe: So pre-cynical sci-fi?
[8:18 PM] ddrader: The premise behind it comes down to a simple question. Assume that there was an evil empire. Now assume that it has fallen, but in the wreckage of the empire there’s nobody there to pick up the pieces.
[8:19 PM] ddrader: Pre-cynical scifi is fairly accurate. I think there’s always an element of cynicism in scifi. But that’s not the focus of RoD.
[8:20 PM] ddrader: RoD is a setting where the system was evil, and depending on which species your character is from, they may or may not have been a part of that system. In either case, the focus is on doing the best you can NOW, being heroic, and restoring order.
[8:21 PM] ddrader: I like to compare it more to the original Battlestar Galactica, or the original Star Wars trilogy.
[8:22 PM] Dan the GMshoe: So the PCs are Big Damn Heroes?
[8:22 PM] Biggins342: Does the “action” take place on one planet, solar system, galaxy? What is the scope?
[8:22 PM] Wesley Gorby: Big Damn Heroes are the only real kind 
[8:23 PM] ddrader: With the second edition of the setting, I’m including a number of alien species that were intended for a support product in 1E that never made the cut. That means you can be a member of the species who were the movers and shakers, or you can be one of the others who, let’s just say, might have a bit of a chip on their shoulders now.
[8:23 PM] Dan the GMshoe: Howdy, @Wesley Gorby! 
[8:23 PM] Wesley Gorby: ello
[8:23 PM] ddrader: Big damn heroes! Yes!
[8:23 PM] ddrader: OK, so scope. Great question!
[8:24 PM] ddrader: Reign of Discordia takes place in a corner of the galaxy. The regions within the various alien species sphere of influence is fairly well demarcated, but there’s tons of room within the galaxy to explore. If you want to run a game focused on exploration, you absolutely can do that.
[8:25 PM] ddrader: In fact, the first novel, which is already available, focuses on space archaeology…
[8:25 PM] Dan the GMshoe: How long has the evil empire been gone?
[8:26 PM] ddrader: The empire had been gone for five years in the first edition. We’re advancing the timeline an additional five years for the second edition. And there’s a reason why…
[8:26 PM] Wesley Gorby: Oh… Vash (Star Trek) vibes, nice!
[8:27 PM] Biggins342: Is it solely tech related or is there a “Force” or something?
[8:27 PM] ddrader: In the first edition, the former Imperium was in chaos, but there was a lizardlike species called the R’Tillek was still waiting around to pick off entire former member worlds.
[8:28 PM] ddrader: In the second edition, the R’Tillek have largely been dealt with, but it came at a cost. The Lamagos (aka, basically space fascists) star around which their homeworld orbit, is going to go supernova in the near future.
[8:28 PM] ddrader: This was the result of some super tech that they needed to use to end the R’Tillek threat.
[8:29 PM] ddrader: So now, you kind of feel sorry for them on one hand, but they’ve militarized and are threatening pretty much everyone on the other.
[8:30 PM] ddrader: Biggens342 RoD doesn’t use “space magic” like the force. What it does have, like many scifi settings, it psionics.1
[8:30 PM] Dan the GMshoe: How common are psionics in this setting, and how powerful do they get?
[8:30 PM] ddrader: When I was conceptualizing the setting, it was important to me to make it a believable extension of our own world.
@ddraderBiggens342 RoD doesn’t use “space magic” like the force. What it does have, like many scifi settings, it psionics.[8:30 PM] Biggins342: That is understandable.
[8:31 PM] ddrader: Honestly. psionics is not super common, and for most characters, it will not be super powerful. If you’ve ever watched Babylon 5, it looks something like that.1
[8:32 PM] ddrader: There are some individuals who might focus on it and develop it to a ridiculous extent, but for most people it will be something they either don’t have a talent for, or it’s something that helps them get by without being their focus.
[8:32 PM] ddrader: For those who want to go all the way with it, there will be rules for that, but it won’t be cheap in terms of what you give up to get it.
[8:33 PM] Dan the GMshoe: Standard sidearm: Energy weapon or slugthrower?
[8:33 PM] ddrader: Energy weapon. This is space opera. What good is it without the “Pew! Pew! pew!”?1
[8:34 PM] Dan the GMshoe: Indeed! Good man.
[8:34 PM] ddrader: Hehe
[8:34 PM] Dan the GMshoe: I assume starship combat is space dogfights?1
[8:34 PM] Biggins342: How do the characters get around?
[8:35 PM] Dan the GMshoe: Howdy, @MikeLaff!
[8:35 PM] ddrader: OK, I’ll combine both of those questions.
[8:35 PM] ddrader: Characters get around in starships. They might be fighters. They might be freighters. They might even be attached to larger military ships. It all depends on the type of campaign the GM wants to run.
[8:36 PM] MikeLaff: howdy @Dan the GMshoe
[8:36 PM] ddrader: So space battles can definitely be dogfights, but they can also be capital ship combat too.
[8:36 PM] Dan the GMshoe: Can starting characters afford their own ship?1
[8:37 PM] ddrader: The setting will be for White Star and 5E, but there will be two different modes of starship combat, depending on the particular battle and the GMs preference.
[8:37 PM] ddrader: Starting characters will have access to ships, yes.
[8:37 PM] MikeLaff: why White Star?
[8:37 PM] ddrader: They either find a patron to fund them. They’re assigned one by whichever organization they’re with, or they borrow.
[8:38 PM] Biggins342: Are there a type of skills that characters can learn or advance in?
[8:38 PM] ddrader: White Star because I wanted both a 5E option and an OSR option. Since I have experience designing for White Star, and it has a compatibility license, it seemed like the logical choice.2
[8:39 PM] ddrader: For White Star, I’m not looking to add skills since that set of rules has them covered. For the 5E version, it definitely needs new skills. So yes, depending on which one we’re talking about.
[8:40 PM] Dan the GMshoe: Going back to weaponry for a moment, what sorts of high-tech melee weapons are available?
[8:40 PM] Dan the GMshoe: (brb)
[8:41 PM] ddrader: Guns. Energy pistols, medium weapons, heavy weapons. I’m also going to try and come up with some weird ones that don’t necessarily just sling energy or plasma. Those will be new to the setting, and I can’t elaborate on those yet. LOL
[8:42 PM] ddrader: There may be a large story that kind of unifies the setting, but the type of game really depends entirely on what your GM wants to do with it.
[8:42 PM] Dan the GMshoe: Sorry, I meant melee weapons.
[8:43 PM] ddrader: Oh, there will be melee weapons. But the thing to keep in mind is that, realistically, with technology, it’s never a good idea to bring a knife to a gun fight.
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@ddraderGuns. Energy pistols, medium weapons, heavy weapons. I’m also going to try and come up with some weird ones that don’t necessarily just sling energy or plasma. Those will be new to the setting, and I can’t elaborate on those yet. LOL[8:43 PM] Biggins342: Despicable Me might be inspirational for some new weaponry.
[8:44 PM] ddrader: The rules will reflect existing rules, so if you want to be a melee wielder, you have to get close to the bad guys with guns so you can hit them. If you feel like that’s your thing, you can certainly build that into your character.
[8:45 PM] Dan the GMshoe: I know it’s not quite part of the inspirational material — Luke’s hand notwithstanding — but are there cybernetics?
[8:47 PM] ddrader: There are. That said, most of the time when you get cybernetics, you’re replacing something you lost. You might get some fancy new eyes so you can see in the dark, or get a weapon built into your forearm…1
[8:48 PM] ddrader: So it’s not a front and center part of the setting, but if you want them, you’ll be able to get them. They might also get built out a bit in an expansion product.
[8:49 PM] Dan the GMshoe: Can you give us a high-level overview of the PC races?
[8:49 PM] ddrader: Mike, I can’t tell what I’m looking at. Is that the Winter Soldier?
[8:49 PM] Biggins342: Personal Armor or energy shields of some type?
[8:50 PM] ddrader: Biggins342 – Yes, both are supported by the rules. White Star already has rules for them built in, so I’m going to be bringing that over to the 5E version.
[8:51 PM] ddrader: Dan – PC races are going to vary.
[8:51 PM] MikeLaff: @ddrader yeah – sorry – that’s Bucky. I was trying to find an amusing gif for cybernetic arm – but I hit Return by mistake and got that
[8:52 PM] ddrader: Humans are an obvious choice. The Lamagos are very similar so humans, though they have blue skin. There’s also an insectoid race, another one that’s just… odd. Then there are four armed creatures with an exoskeleton that come from a water world, so they’re always sloshing around in a water filled encounter suit.
[8:53 PM] ddrader: And then there will be the lesser known alien species, which will have a bit of a harder edge to them. They weren’t so civilized when they were colonized, and then they were exploited for their labor, so we’re talking things closer in nature to Wookies, or Sand People.
[8:54 PM] ddrader: The goal is to give you options while providing a cohesive universe.1
[8:55 PM] MikeLaff: what sort of tone and aesthetic are you going for in RoD?
[8:55 PM] Dan the GMshoe: Since the evil empire is gone and the R’Tillek have been dealt with, are there any Big Bads left in the setting?
[8:55 PM] ddrader: Yes definitely…
[8:56 PM] ddrader: The Lamagod have become our tier 1 villain for the 2nd edition – although they were really set up that way from the first edition.
[8:57 PM] ddrader: Next you have the Gaieti. They’ve always been these friendly plant people who observed. It turns out the plant is just an encounter suit, and the Lamagos have done a pretty good job turning them against everyone else, so they’re powerful, but they’re a tier 2 villain.
[8:57 PM] ddrader: And then you have your tier three, which consists of warlord, pirates, and religious zealots.
[8:58 PM] Dan the GMshoe: What classes are available?
[8:58 PM] ddrader: And there are no shortage of them in this setting.
[8:59 PM] ddrader: In White Star, pretty much everything except for the classes that use “space magic.” I’ll be taking a closer look to see if it needs any more, such as possibly a scholar class, or something along those lines. In 5E, it needs an entirely new class system because the existing classes just don’t support non-fantasy settings.
[9:00 PM] ddrader: For that, we’re looking to Ultramodern 5E and adapting those classes to the setting.
[9:01 PM] ddrader: And yes, we have Chris Dias’s blessing on that.
[9:01 PM] Dan the GMshoe: Oh? That’s cool.
[9:02 PM] ddrader: It’s really a matter of there being no reason to reinvent the wheel. It already exists, so make the wheel fit your car, then go and drive it.
[9:03 PM] ddrader: And again, the goal is to make the play experience fit the GMs needs.1
[9:04 PM] ddrader: If you want to run a game that’s like Star Wars, it’s baled into the game. If you’re wanting something more like Firefly, or Star Trek, you can use the setting in those modes as well.
[9:04 PM] ddrader: Sorry – baked, not baled
[9:05 PM] ddrader: The setting doesn’t assume you’ll be locked in the primary story. It’s open enough that you can take your game in whatever direction interests you.
[9:05 PM] Dan the GMshoe: I realize this is difficult to do for an interstellar setting, but is there a bestiary?
[9:05 PM] ddrader: Not initially, unfortunately.
[9:06 PM] ddrader: The problem with a bestiary is that content in the book has to include the important stuff, and then the less important stuff either gets relegated to GMs, published adventures, or support products.
[9:06 PM] Dan the GMshoe: Understandable.
[9:06 PM] MikeLaff: White Star comes with a pretty decent bestiary in the core book though
[9:06 PM] ddrader: And there’s just too much other material that’s more important in this setting, like the 50+ planets that are detailed.
[9:07 PM] ddrader: Yeah, you can totally pull from there.
[9:07 PM] Dan the GMshoe: Are the planets Star Wars-style one-environment planets?
[9:08 PM] ddrader: Not all of them. Yes, we have desert worlds, and we have ice worlds, but we also have worlds that have a variety of environments. We also have inhospitable worlds, like gas giants.
[9:09 PM] ddrader: They mine fuel from gas giants from these floating mining platforms high in the atmospheres of several worlds.
[9:09 PM] ddrader: So in other words, some planets are completely inhospitable without encounter suits.
[9:10 PM] ddrader: Sorry for the pause. Flexing my fingers. These interviews are a lot of typing!
[9:10 PM] Dan the GMshoe: No worries!
[9:11 PM] ddrader: Anyway, my old astronomy professor from WSU picked up RoD 1st edition and he complimented me on the wide variety of worlds I worked into the setting. I’ll take that.
[9:11 PM] Dan the GMshoe: Oh, very nice!
[9:12 PM] Dan the GMshoe: What is the governmental situation in the wake of the empire’s fall? Are there local governments, and if so, how wide is their influence (a single planet, a solar system, etc.)? Or is it total anarchy?
[9:13 PM] ddrader: Excellent question!
[9:13 PM] Dan the GMshoe: Thank you!
[9:15 PM] ddrader: So it really depends on the world. Some worlds are total anarchy, and they might more resemble Mad Max worlds. Earth is still Earth, and it has a one world government, so it’s relatively insulated from the chaos in the former imperium. Others have multiple powers who are battling it out for dominance. Politically, it’s a mess, but this mess leads to endless opportunities for adventure.
[9:16 PM] ddrader: For the most part, worlds stand alone, though there are some alliances. Also, the Tallinites are an insect species, so their queens are their leaders regardless what’s going on elsewhere in the galaxy.
[9:17 PM] Dan the GMshoe: You mentioned exploration earlier. Does that involve visiting planets that were outside of the fallen empire, or is it more like exploring what’s left of the empire itself? Or both?
[9:17 PM] ddrader: Definitely both.1
[9:18 PM] ddrader: There are worlds that were wiped out by the a biologically created disease the R’Tillek loosed on them.
[9:18 PM] ddrader: There are the frontier worlds, which were just beginning to get explored when the Imperium fell.
[9:19 PM] ddrader: And then there are the regions outside of known space, and there’s absolutely nothing preventing you from exploring there as well. The galaxy is a LOT bigger than known space.
[9:20 PM] Dan the GMshoe: Sorry if you already mentioned this, but why did the Imperium fall in the first place?
[9:20 PM] ddrader: It was a combination of internal rot and picking a fight with the R’Tillek, which they couldn’t handle.
[9:22 PM] ddrader: They were technologically unprepared to handle the R’Tillek, which are a nomadic species. They weren’t even native to this region of space.
[9:23 PM] Dan the GMshoe: Based upon some of your previous responses, I think I know the answer to this, but do you see this as the start of a game line?
[9:25 PM] ddrader: Well, it’s more of a continuation of a game line, but yes. Everything depends on the Kickstarter funding. If it does, the book gets made, and there will be support for it. If it doesn’t, I need to go back to the drawing board and decide whether to change some things and try again, or wait for another opportunity to come along. So basically the Kickstarter will make that decision.
[9:26 PM] Dan the GMshoe: How’s the response been so far?
[9:27 PM] ddrader: Interesting…
[9:28 PM] MikeLaff: how so?
[9:28 PM] ddrader: We got off to a pretty good start, and then it started doing what Kickstarters usually do after a few days. At this point Owen, my partner in this, has the flu, so there’s been a bit of an impediment to getting news out. It is coming though and that’s typically what drives interest in these things.
[9:29 PM] ddrader: There are a fair number of people who are super interested in this, and then there are others who are unfamiliar with the setting and they need to hear more.
[9:30 PM] ddrader: We have some artwork to showcase, a layout design, and there will be other things brought out over the next month that should drive interest.
[9:31 PM] Dan the GMshoe: Glad to hear it!
[9:31 PM] ddrader: I should mention that we’re less than a week into it and we are past the 25% funding mark.1
[9:31 PM] Dan the GMshoe: This certainly sounds like an ambitous project.
[9:32 PM] ddrader: It’s ambitious, but also very manageable. When I first wrote it, I was starting from scratch. Now I’m taking what is already there and extrapolating possibilities.
[9:34 PM] Dan the GMshoe: Cool.
[9:35 PM] Dan the GMshoe: In the time remaining, is there anything we haven’t covered that you’d like to bring up?
[9:36 PM] MikeLaff: over on DriveThru -the latest issue of Blaster Bolts (just 99 cents!) is effectively a mini-preview for RoD
[9:36 PM] ddrader: I think we’ve actually covered quite a bit. The main thing I need to emphasize is that we need the support. We don’t have a huge advertising budget, which means we’re running behind a lot of these other Kickstarters. That’s just a fact of life. We need backers if this is going to happen.
[9:36 PM] MikeLaff: It’s got a mini-setting that highlights a planet in the setting and an adventure in the setting as well as some of the art
[9:36 PM] MikeLaff: https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397221/Blaster-Bolts-12OneBookShelf
[9:37 PM] ddrader: Yes, Mike and I did work on issue 12, which is dedicated to Reign of Discordia. All original content there!
[9:37 PM] MikeLaff: here’s the cover – put together by Darrin
[9:37 PM] MikeLaff: also – hey – check out this cover image from the KS
[9:38 PM] MikeLaff: believe Jason Walton is the artist on that
[9:38 PM] ddrader: One thing I forgot to mention is that like an IP in a galaxy far, far away, at least the tie-in products for it, RoD will support both periods of play.
[9:39 PM] ddrader: So if you’d rather go back in time to the 1E era and fight the R’Tillek, that’s totally an option.
[9:39 PM] Dan the GMshoe: Good to know!
[9:39 PM] Dan the GMshoe: Thanks very much for joining us, @ddrader!
[9:40 PM] ddrader: Thanks for having me.
[9:40 PM] Dan the GMshoe: I hope you’ve enjoyed your visit and that you’ll feel free to hang out with us whenever the mood strikes!
[9:40 PM] Dan the GMshoe: Usual reminder: If you’ve enjoyed this Q&A and would like to treat me to a coffee or two, you can do so at https://www.ko-fi.com/gmshoe. Anything’s appreciated! Ko-fiBuy Dan Davenport a Coffee. ko-fi.com/gmshoeBecome a supporter of Dan Davenport today! ❤️ Ko-fi lets you support the creators you love with no fees on donations.
[9:40 PM] ddrader: Will do. You can also find me on Facebook.
[9:41 PM] Dan the GMshoe: Great!
[9:41 PM] Dan the GMshoe: Now, if you’ll give me a minute here, I’ll get the log posted and link you!
[9:41 PM] ddrader: Sounds good!
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