Across a Thousand Dead Worlds
Across a Thousand Dead Worlds
446 pages. Hardcover, full color interior. Includes battlemaps and tokens. PDF sent separately after purchase.
It’s the first decade of the 22nd century. After a complete ecological collapse, Earth is close to becoming uninhabitable. Wars and hunger are all most know, and only those with ungodly amounts of wealth can hope to escape to the only place where a sliver of hope remains: space. A few hundred live in the obscene luxury of the nascent Mars colony, while the rest of the solar system is being slowly taken over by the megacorporations, eager to extract the last drop of usable resources. That is, until Drake Industries bought the exploitation rights of yet another rock in the Main Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. The momentous discovery that hundreds of alien ships remained dormant - a literal treasure trove of technology - within this lifeless asteroid. According to Drake Industries, this immediately justified building a proper station for the cold rock: Karum Station. After decades of studies conducted by Drake Industries scientists (whom achieved little more than simply turning on these incomprehensible artifacts), it was discovered that each ship contained several hundred archived coordinates of unknown "sites". The Karum Station Authority was promptly established to organize expeditions to these locations.
Across a Thousand Dead Worlds is a new horror space exploration tabletop roleplaying game that can be enjoyed as a single player experience, or in a group of up to five players, with or without a Game Master - by Blackoath Entertainment! You'll create your Deep Diver, using a free-form character creation system, and begin your journey across the galaxy where you'll discover abandoned research facilities, explore scientific outposts, and traverse other dilapidated sites in search for ancient alien technology. Take refuge aboard Karum Station, your home between missions (as long as you pay the fees, of course), and enjoy a drink with your crewmates before spending your hard earned credits on equipment for the next mission. Grab your gear, check your vitals, and prepare to deploy Across a Thousand Dead Worlds!
As a Deep Diver, your job is to board one of the alien vessels (referred to as Àrsaidh ships), travel to these unknown "sites", secure anything of value, and safely return all samples to Karum Station. The only problem is, no one is sure where these mysterious coordinates may lead - perhaps an alien facility, maybe an unobserved planet, or unfortunately straight into a star that has gone supernova, spelling the end of your expedition. Built from the ground up with a new, GM-optional system, Across a Thousand Dead Worlds offers a unique solo or group tabletop roleplaying experience with true character flexibility, in-depth setting elements, extensive generational tools, and other immersion building features:
Create your Deep Diver, using a free-form character creation system that allows you to design it the way you want to play. Level up, increasing your character’s power by obtaining powerful gear and equipping the combination of Talents (chosen from a pool of dozens) that adapts best to your playstyle. Want to play a support character or a melee specialist? Everything is possible.
Discover a flexible ruleset that allows you to solve any action with a single D20 roll. The powerful and brutal tactical combat rules will satisfy anyone itching for a fight, offering a level of action that is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. Not a fan of minis or tokens? No problem, you can use the more traditional yet equally thrilling rules for your combat.
Travel across the galaxy, discovering and exploring ancient refineries, scientific outposts, abandoned research facilities, and more, in search for ancient alien technology. Whether aboard a forgotten prison orbiting a dead star or on the surface of an ice planet, what gear you decided to bring with you and who your crewmates are will greatly influence your chances to survive.
Want to know how it feels to be inside a tin can crossing space with a bunch of strangers, not knowing if you’ll have enough oxygen or food for everyone to get there, or even to return? How will your teammates react (PCs or NPCs) when you start breaking down due to stress? Will they help you and tolerate your incessant, maddening foot-tapping, or will things end even before you’ve reached your destination?
Across a Thousand Dead Worlds is not only a complete RPG, but a sci-fi toolbox. Need to generate a planet or an alien station for your favorite sci-fi RPG? Would you like to solo any other sci-fi RPG but don't have the tools to do so? Roughly half of the book is dedicated to random tables and tools that can be easily implemented into any other sci-fi game.
This book is just the first step in a long journey; our intention is to support this game for many years to come, and several future releases have already been sketched out. Hop on in while the story is fresh and new, and be part of the universe's evolving story!