This free supplement contains everything you need to run detailed and epic stories in the Seven Worlds, such as:

• Rules for creating Fate characters with backgrounds from any of the Seven Worlds of human space.
• Aspects reflecting home world and planetary characteristics such as high- or low-gravity, oxygen-level, illumination, culture and society, and more.
• Assistants, AI-enabled customized companions with a personality, that allow players to digitally access and control the world around them.
• Rules for psionic powers, including physical and mental manifestations.
• Simple space combat rules modeling the characteristics of heat, lasers, missiles and more.
• A short conversion of the Seven Worlds introductory adventure using Fate rules.

Note that this free supplement requires either the Seven Worlds Setting Guide or free Seven Worlds Test Drive to play. If you're a backer you should already have them, though! (If you're a backer but don't have your rewards, email me and we'll get you sorted out).

Download the Seven Worlds Fate Conversion supplement today!

Check out the YouTube interview here:

Character spotlights help you explore Seven Worlds through the eyes of its inhabitants. These characters are fully statted and can be used by players. You can get a PDF with Takumi's full background and a detailed character sheet at our Downloads section or at DriveThruRPG or RPGNow.

This is one of the many stretch goals unlocked after the wildly successful Seven Worlds Kickstarter. Enjoy!

Dr. Takumi Sugiyama was born in Okinawa, Earth, on2179. His parents, a successful professional couple, frequently shared with young Takumi the dark tales of their own childhood in a shelter among the ruins of a devastated Okinawa in the years following the comet crash of 2133; and of the death, hunger and disease that defined life in those days. A few lucky souls managed to catch a ride out of the planet in the ships from Project Ascension, but Takumi vividly imagined the remaining survivors needing help to battle the many diseases and health problems of those days. His passion for life, health and the value of medicine began then.

After finishing school, the extremely talented Takumi applied to and was accepted at the prestigious Tsinghua University School of Medicine in the reconstructed Beijing, in former China. He graduated top of his class and joined the surgeon team of the top private clinic back in Tokyo. There he met and married the wealthy clinic owner’s daughter, Haruko; and soon she gave birth to their beautiful daughter, Saki. The ambitious young surgeon looked forward to a life of success and happiness.

Then the dreams began.

At first they appeared to be nothing but vivid, disturbing nightmares. Strange spider-like monsters, with four legs, six clawed arms and long necks ending in huge maws filled with teeth, moving along strange mucus-filled passageways bathed in a strange light. Pulsating monsters covered in a hard carapace, or winged monstrosities flying in alien darkened skies. Once he dreamt of a huge octopus-like creature sitting in the center of an enormous dome built from a flesh-like, mucus-covered substance; the creature moved its tentacles into and out of strange holes in the walls filled with a gelatin-like substance, as if playing an instrument. Then he saw thousands of these creatures walking on planets full of humans, killing at will, burning continents, covering worlds in radiation, destroying everything… And some of the dying people attacked by these creatures turned to him for help, and he healed them, because only he knew how.

He dreamt this day after day. He would wake up shaken and disturbed. He tried to laugh off the dreams, but they didn’t stop, and they were always the same. He began to obsessively focus on dreams. He became more and more convinced, without evidence, that his dreams were a message, something he should urgently understand.

And then the dreams invaded his waking time.

Takumi noticed it first when he was walking to work one day and saw one of the four-legged monsters running towards him from the far end of the street. He screamed in panic and tried to avoid it, while a small part of his mind wondered why everyone else behaved as if they could not see it. When the creature was about to crush him, it suddenly disappeared, leaving Takumi crying and trembling on the sidewalk floor.

He began seeing monsters everywhere. The creatures surrounded him at every turn, they were there, at home, at work, in the park, as if he had schizophrenia or were inside a V-World horror game.

He asked a friend who was a mental expert for help. His friend ran several tests and brain scans and found no unusual abnormalities, but he found what could be faint traces of psionic meddling. Takumi thought these visions might have been planted by someone, but who would want to do that to him? Plus, he did some research and found there is no known psionic power that could create this kind of dream (puppet and other minor powers have been shown to put ideas into people’s heads, but nothing could do something at the scale of what Takumi was seeing). Could Takumi’s visions be caused by the side effect of some psionic power close to him?

Despite one or two awkward moments, Takumi had so far been able to hide his situation from almost everyone around him. His wife Haruko knew about his dreams but he kept his day visions a secret from her; the high-society, everything-is-for-image Haruko would probably be more concerned about how having a ‘crazy’ husband would make her family look than about Takumi himself. So he kept the his problem as secret as he could.

Then one day he was performing a high-risk surgery on a patient, when the doors to the operating room burst open and a particularly huge creature jumped to attack him with its horrifying maw. He screamed, acting on reflex, and when he regained control of himself saw the blood-covered corpse of the patient that he had blindly killed while he was “defending” himself from something that wasn’t there.

His secret was discovered, he was shamed and fired as a doctor. The investigation unearthed the tests his friend had made on him, He was diagnosed as mentally ill and interned in a sanatorium while awaiting trial for manslaughter. Unable to handle the scandal, Haruko divorced him and left, taking Saki with her. And the visions still kept coming, day and night.

Ruined, unhinged and alone, Takumi waited in the sanatorium cell for everything to end, accompanied only by the monsters that were always with him. Then one day he heard voices outside his cell door. The doctor in charge of him was talking to someone he didn’t know. He couldn’t catch the conversation except for one cryptic sentence: “You know, doctor, he might not be as crazy as everyone thinks he is.”

The door opened and a man dressed in Circle uniform entered and introduced himself as Circle Epsilon Leader Trevor Antoine. The man told him his amazing medical skills could be of use to the Circle, and that they could help him deal with his visions. If he agreed, the Circle might find a way to get him out.

In the depths of his despair, a single thought cut through Takumi’s mind: Saki. He might be able to see his little daughter again.

So he accepted the Circle officer’s proposal. The Circle pulled some strings and assumed responsibility for his actions and treatment, as well as for his pending sentence. He was prescribed a very strong medication to control his visions, and underwent Circle training as a doctor.

It’s been two years since he’s joined the Circle, and he’s slowly finding a place for himself in the organization. The nightmares and day visions are still with him, but as long as he has pills to take he feels he can put up with them. He is constantly unsure of himself, except when he acts as a doctor.

In those moments he is fully aware and efficient, just like he wanted to be when he was a child dreaming of medicine. He hopes that one day these dreams and visions will go away and he will go back to being who he always thought he was. That day he will finally be able to see and hug Saki again.

Appearance

Takumi Sugiyama is a thin man with straight black hair and Asian features. He is currently thirty-eight years old. He dresses in standard Circle uniform and usually carries a bag branded with a medical logo. A brilliant doctor, he is severely crippled by his mental condition, which manifests itself in his constant visions. It is not uncommon during a conversation for him to start looking behind someone’s shoulder or at the horizon, as if he were seeing something that isn’t there. How scared or disturbed he becomes depends on whether he has recently taken the pills he brings with him everywhere, and that he takes liberally. One wonders what would happen if he ever ran out of pills. When not lost in his visions, Takumi is an extremely intelligent person and an absolutely brilliant doctor. When doing something related to medicine his constant insecurities dissolve. When in combat, he is usually better at finding weaknesses in the enemy and exploiting them via tricks or subterfuge than in direct confrontation.

Takumi's Assistant: "Turtygon"

Takumi’s assistant is Turtygon, a cute and cuddly mini-monster sidekick from a popular V-World animated series for children. Turtygon can barely say anything other than its own name, but it seems to understand everything Takumi tells him, and Takumi understands its growls and body language perfectly, and can have complex conversations with it. People tend to assume that Takumi’s fondness from Turtygon comes from an odd, brainy passion for kids’ shows, but they miss the real reason behind Takumi’s fondness for his Assistant: Turtygon was Saki’s favorite character from the
V-World show.

Character spotlights help you explore Seven Worlds through the eyes of its inhabitants. These characters are fully statted and can be used by players. You can get a PDF with Amblin's full background and a detailed character sheet at our Downloads section or at DriveThruRPG or RPGNow.

This is one of the many stretch goals unlocked after the wildly successful Seven Worlds Kickstarter. Enjoy!*

Amblin Woo was born on Mars in 2150, into a proud, nationalistic family. Still influenced by the century-old memories of a time when Mars seemed to be the future next home for mankind, a small group of first generation Martians and their families maintained a strong pride in Mars. Unfortunately, fate did not seem to be on Mars’ side, first when the N’ahili arrived and shared the coordinates to the stars; then when new, Earth-like planets were discovered and settled, thus diverting resources and goodwill from Mars’ huge terraforming efforts; and finally when the comet crashed against Earth in 2133, bringing down the economy Mars was almost completely dependent on. Even today Mars is not considered one of the Seven Worlds, but instead a secondary world belonging to Earth’s star system. This irks Martians as nothing else can.

Amblin Woo was born into one of these old-blood homes, and she carries this perceived slighting of Mars everywhere she goes. Her grandfather was a member of the first settler expedition to the planet and one of the founders of Mars Base, the oldest and largest settlement on the planet. Raised with a strong pride in Mars and in her family’s accomplishments in it, Amblin grew up with her family’s appetite for scientific research and investigation, combined with a rough-and-tough attitude to physical activities. A passion for exploration thus seemed to be her calling.

Unfortunately, her beloved home planet never had the resources to mount scientific expeditions outside Mars, especially after the comet hit Earth and the political and economic dynamics of the Solar System changed. With Earth still recovering and in no shape to mount scientific expeditions, it fell to Concordia and Bay Jing, the next greatest powers in human space, to take the lead in interplanetary and interstellar exploration. When in 2165 a new batch of space routes was provided by the N’ahili, there was a great need for skilled explorers with a mix of scientific and physical abilities and with experience in gravities and environments outside Earth-like parameters. Thus Amblin found herself shipping out of Mars and joining a scientific research outfit in Concordia, becoming a member of one of the crack teams ready to push the limits of the frontier.

For eighteen years Amblin developed her skills in interplanetary exploration, visiting many hostile and unknown star systems in far-off locations provided by the N’ahili, eventually being recognized as one of the best and most experienced explorers in human space. Her tough, hold-no-prisoners leadership style and her constant swearing became as famous as her exploration skills. She enjoyed her work and renown, and most of all loved being referred to as “the Martian explorer.” In her mind, she was proof that Martians would make a lasting, leading mark in human space after all.

Then came the expedition to Ross 128b.

Scientists had known that a possible habitable world orbited the star known as Ross 128 since 2017, deep in the pre-interstellar era. Since then it had been established that the planet was not ready for human habitation, but element combinations suggested there might be rudiments of early life. Thus, scientific curiosity about Ross 128b was high. But until the N’ahili shared their new coordinates there had been no practical way to visit that world. On top of that, despite being just eleven light-years away from Earth, the quickest known route to Ross 128 turned out to be a staggering nine jumps away from Concordia, far beyond the reach of even the biggest research ships. Thus the Ross 128 expedition required significant preparation, including the installation of a temporary waypoint station at WD0552-41. Finally, in 2185, when Amblin was thirty-five years old, one of the most ambitions scientific expeditions of the era was ready to begin.

The Ross 128b expedition’s crew included ten experienced explorers, a team Amblin felt very comfortable with. With none did she feel more comfortable, though, than with Stefan Pinheiro, the more-than-friend whom Amblin had met several years before and who had become the closest she had to a family. Although Amblin was not the type of person who found it easy to make deep emotional bonds with anyone, Stefan might just prove to be the person that might help her out of that. The fact that he was Concordian and not Martian and yet connected with her the way he did surprised her immensely as well.

When the expedition arrived at Ross 128b after a long and arduous voyage, they began preparations to go down to the rough and hostile surface and set up a small research base. After a few weeks, the team discovered the initial rudiments of a life based on chemical combinations similar, but not quite the same, as our own. They also noticed that the atmospheric ratios of several elements did not exactly match their models, suggesting something else on the planet was participating in its burgeoning ecosystem. Sadly, the team did not get to discover the source of this abnormality because on October 10th, 2185, everything changed.

That night Amblin went to sleep after a tiring day of outside exploration, and later was abruptly and violently woken up by a wild-eyed and shaken Stefan. Screams could be heard from other parts of the station as well as what could only be shots fired from one of the guns in the emergency locker.

Amblin quickly gathered her wits and was about to jump from her bunk when she felt the pinch of the automated medical injection gun that Stefan had in his hand. The color of the capsule protruding from the injection gun told her it was the drug combination used for relaxing and extending muscles before launching back into space. As she felt the sleeping drug course through her, and as she slipped back into unconsciousness, her last memory was Stefan’s pale, sweaty, scared face, and his words: “I love you, Amblin, always remember that… the monsters are inside!… And they are so afraid…”

When she woke up she was in the surface-to-orbit shuttle in orbit around the planet, strapped to a crew couch, alarms blaring all around her. Apparently, she had been hauled into the shuttle and launched into space by automatic pilot, and something had gone wrong during launch. All indicators showed that the shuttle had undergone severe damage (caused by what?) and could explode at any time. Amblin tried to contact the base, or get the research ship to approach via autopilot, but it was all useless. She barely got to jump into an escape pod and launch off the shuttle before it silently exploded.

Escape pods are the last, desperate hope of salvation in space. By using a combination of coma-inducing drugs and lowering body temperature while keeping minimum livable conditions, escape pods have been shown, in theory, to be able to keep a human alive up to five years before the human body itself begins to fail. In any case, the energy batteries carried by the pods are certified for up to fifteen years of constant use. Thus, it was nothing less than a miracle when Amblin’s pod was recovered in 2205, almost twenty years after the expedition arrived, and she was found barely alive.

Between waiting for the original expedition to return, getting organized and dealing with all the complications occurring in the Seven Worlds in the last decade of the 22nd century, a second expedition to Ross 128b could not be mounted until 2205. Besides recovering Amblin, the expedition landed and found a destroyed research base. As far as the investigation could determine, all crewmen killed each other for reasons unknown. No evidence of “monsters” or anything unusual was found, and Amblin’s reputation suffered as a result.

Amblin returned to a radically different life. Her body was wasted and her health irreparably harmed by the twenty-year-long, zero-g coma. It took her years to recover, and she knows she will be a frail and weak person for the rest of her life. She became immediately famous, a “relic from another time” recovered from the depths of space, and the only survivor of a doomed expedition that failed for no obvious reason. Amblin’s personality was not suited for this sort of notoriety: After a couple of disastrous interviews, the last of which ended with her insulting the interviewer on live V-World, she was shuttled off to a dead-end research post, where her useless body, grating personality and crazy-sounding story about the mission could be safely ignored.

This would not suit Amblin. Whatever else she was, she was a fighter to the end. After uselessly trying to convince people that she could be useful again, she quit and went to the only organization that would take skilled recruits regardless of their past: The Circle.

By 2117 she has spent almost one year in the Circle, and can grudgingly admit she likes it. The “old woman” of the fleet (at sixty-seven years of age she is not old at all by 23rd century standards, but her ravaged body corresponds to that of an eighty-year-old) is bad-tempered, foul-mouthed, and has no obvious friends. Yet the famous fallen-from-grace explorer retains the respect of the other members of the Circle for her professionalism during missions and her undoubted skills and experience.

Amblin’s deepest wish used to be to prove Mars was the best world in human space. That wish is still there but now there’s something she wants even more: To find out what exactly happened in Ross-128b before her weak body gives out.

If only there were a way to know.

Appearance

Amblin is a thin, wiry woman with yellowish hair that looks about 80 years old. She has the tough, unfriendly demeanor of an army sergeant. Despite her constant exercise, in her recovered body she feels constantly weak. She rarely lets it show, though, and anyone who tries to help her should expect a dirty-mouthed barb in response. She is always in uniform and always on duty, even when she isn’t.

Amblin's Assistant: "Norman Woo"

Amblin’s assistant is an idealization of the famous Mars colonist (and her own ancestor) Norman Woo. Norman pushes Amblin as much as Amblin pushes others, and constantly reminds her of Mars and of how proud they should be of what they have achieved there. Significant data corruption during Amblin’s twenty-year-long coma meant that her “original” assistant Norman was lost when she was rescued, so this is a re-creation of her old assistant. Even though she was told all the original data was lost, every once in a while Norman says something that makes Amblin think that maybe some of its old memories are still there. But maybe it’s all her imagination…

The books are now for sale!

Finally, after having shipped the first batch of Kickstarter backer books, I'm proud to announce that the hardcover Seven Worlds Setting Guide and softcover Seven Worlds Campaign Book are now available for purchase! If you're not a backer (or you're a backer but just want more books) there are two ways to get them:

1. Go to your Friendly Local Gaming Store and ask for the books. If you can't find them, ask the store manager to order them for you from their distributors.
2. Go to the Seven Worlds page at Studio2Publishing, our distributor partner, and order the books directly from them.

Some early backers and team members have been posting images of the books they have received...

Came home to find two boxes of gaming goodies from @SevenWorldsRPG and @Chaosium_Inc. Two very different freelance projects, both quite fun to work on. pic.twitter.com/RFqxZMYB0v

— T.R. Knight (@TRKnight) March 12, 2018

Are you a Kickstarter backer who hasn't received your books yet? Have you filled out the Kickstarter survey and paid the shipping fees? If you haven't, check out Kickstarter updates #20 and #21 (Backers only) for shipping costs and info to get your books. Hurry, the second batch of backer books will begin shipping the week of April 16th!

Don't know if Seven Worlds is for you? Check out these great reviews!

In the last couple of weeks Antonios S, star reviewer at site RPG.NET, has made a detailed, extensive review of the Setting Guide, and another review of the Campaign Book. If you want to see whether this setting is for you or not, I encourage you to check out these reviews.

A beautiful, action-filled sci-fi setting anchored in hard science. The best part? The first campaign is bound to forever alter it. Stay tuned! https://t.co/JYBUa71O4T @RPGnet pic.twitter.com/2RINO0SmaL

— Antonios S (@Antonios7S) March 26, 2018

• "When it comes to a thoughtful sci-fi setting, Seven Worlds is at the forefront."
• "The game faces stiff competition from a number of well-designed products. Together we have already visited the iconic Traveller, the oriental Coriolis, the far-reaching Mindjammer, the ideology-based FAITH, as well as the commercially super successful newest iteration of Star Trek, and all this without going into crossovers like the gonzo Mutant Chronicles 3rd Edition or RPGs that started as miniature games like Infinity... When it comes to basing itself on science, Seven Worlds buries them all."

The image on the cover is something that actually happens in the #SevenWorlds #RPG campaign. Awesome? Not more than the other things that take place there, I assure you! https://t.co/eww91Ng4PU @RPGnet pic.twitter.com/qtt9cL3Ch6

— Antonios S (@Antonios7S) April 2, 2018

• "The Seven Worlds Campaign Book is an unforgettable experience... as a player, you want to say you played this. As a GM, take a deep breath and start preparing."

Printer-friendly starmaps are here!

Some of you have been requesting print-friendly versions of the Seven Worlds full and simplified starmaps so you can share them with your players at the table. I'm happy to report that the printer-friendly starmaps are now available at the Seven Worlds Download page. They are also now available as a download in RPGNow/DTRPG. Enjoy!

Stretch Goals update

A very frequent question I receive is "how are the stretch goals going?" I therefore thought it a good idea to give you a status update.

In short, I have been devoting all of my time to launching the books, which means the real hard work on the stretch goals is about to begin. But that doesn't mean there's nothing to share!

Iconics stat blocks

While the full iconics backgrounds are not written yet, both their stats and general bio outline are done. Several people have been asking for extra pre-generated characters for their campaigns. I therefore am sharing the stat blocks for the two upcoming Iconics for the campaign. Expect the full character bios and images in the coming weeks and months.

Takumi: Dr. Takumi Sugiyama had a successful career in medicine until he started seeing visions of weird monsters invading the Seven Worlds. These unexplained visions (psionically-injected dreams? Or just madness?) affected him to such a degree that he lost his job, wife and daughter. On his way back to recovery, only the Circle offered him a job (why?). Besides, having the Seven Worlds invaded by monsters is something that would never happen… could it?

Traits: Agility d6, Smarts d10, Strength d4, Spirit d4, Vigor d6
Hindrances: Psionically Weak (m), Delusional (m), Habit (M) ("crazy" pills)
Edges: Medic, Active Assistant, College Education
Skills (5p Smarts + 15p general): Fighting d4,  Hacking d6, Healing d10, Investigation d6, Knowledge (Science) d6, Notice d4, Shooting d8, Taunt d8, Throwing d4
Pace: 6; Parry: 4; Toughness: 5; Charisma: 0; Mental Toughness: 4
Assistant (extra benny): Persuasion d6, Investigation d4 (1 Level II, 1 Level I). Pokemon-like TV character.

Amblin: Amblin is a proud Mars native (Mars is not considered one of the Seven Worlds, something that irks her tremendously). A rough-and-tough explorer/scout type, she was the last survivor of an expedition to Ross 128B. Her survival has several unexplained circumstances, which ended up in her being rescued after 20 years in a cryogenic survival unit. She’s currently 67 years old, which is not old at all by Seven Worlds standards; but the cryogenic survival pod has severely affected her health. She’s sometimes better at intimidation than at physical combat.

Traits: Agility d8, Smarts d8, Strength d6, Spirit d6, Vigor d4 (Martian: d6 in Spirit (grit from living in a harsh world))
Hindrances: Anemic (M)*, Quirk (m) ("Mars should be the 8th World… actually, it should be the 2nd one!"), Habit(m) (cannot speak a sentence without swearing).
Edges: Explorer, Strong Willed
Skills: Fighting d6, Intimidation d6, Knowledge (Science) d10, Knowledge (Ship Ops) d4, Shooting d6, Taunt d8
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 4; Charisma: -2; Mental Toughness: 5 Assistant: Persuasion d6, Hacking d4 (1 Level II, 1 Level I). Martian founding hero (Name TBD).

(note that as per p105 of the Setting Guide, Anemic is considered a Major Hindrance and gives a –1 Charisma. We're adding that –1 to the –1 for the Habit Hindrance)

Adventure and Fate Accelerated notes

The short adventure and the Fate Accelerated conversion are at this point outlined as well, and ready for me to go into the hard work of doing the actual detailed writing. Stay tuned for that as well!

(Quick call to Fate Accelerated fans: If you're experienced in Fate and Fate Accelerated, and want to be one of the early reviewers for the rough ideas for the Seven Worlds Fate Accelerated notes, drop me a note at luis@intellistories.com!)

Thank you for supporting Seven Worlds!

We'll soon have more stuff to share! As always, feel free to share your comments at our G+ community or Facebook page, or send me an email at luis@intellistories.com.

Endgame, the seventh module and amazing conclusion to the epic Seven Worlds campaign, is now available!

The future of humanity hangs in the balance as the heroes race against time to save Earth from the fearsome Devourers. As the heroes infiltrate a Devourer base, they finally meet the aliens and discover how truly terrifying their enemies are. Then, while the final assault on Earth rages on, they must face the leader of the Psion Brotherhood and wrest from him the secret that can stop the invaders before the Home Planet is obliterated!

Endgame also includes several suggestions and short starters for adventuring in the universe of Seven Worlds once the main campaign wraps up!

As always, if you were a Gamma-, Delta- or Epsilon-level backer you should have Endgame available as a new PDF in the Seven Worlds Campaign Subscription you have received through DriveThruRPG/RPGNow. If you were not a backer for the campaign modules, you can still purchase Endgame as a stand-alone module at DriveThruRPG/RPGNow, or as part of the Seven Worlds Campaign Subscription, which is now an even better deal because…

The Seven Worlds Campaign Book PDF is also being released today!

An all-in-one, 253-page compilation of all seven modules in the campaign, the Campaign Book is included within the Seven Worlds Campaign Subscription, and is your one-stop PDF for running this amazing adventure! Gamma-, Delta- or Epsilon-level backers, you'll also receive this link in your subscription. If you're not a backer, the Campaign Book is also available for sale within the Subscription.

Many people asked me if there was a quick way to leaf through the entire campaign without having to read all seven modules. With the release of the Campaign Book this is more critical than ever, so I'm glad to share that we've posted a Seven Worlds Campaign Overview PDF at our GM Downloads page. This is the best way to understand, in just a few minutes, what the Seven Worlds campaign is all about!

But this is all PDF, digital-only stuff, right? What about the print books? It's good that you asked, because…

The Seven Worlds Setting Guide hardcover and Campaign Book softcover have begun shipping!

As explained in backer-only Update #20 (for Beta- and Delta- level backers) and Update #21 (for Epsilon-level backers), up until March 14th we received shipping payments and survey info for the first batch of backer book shipments. The books should begin shipping this week, and in the coming days and weeks you should expect to receive them at the addresses you indicated in your surveys. Did you miss filling the surveys or sending the shipment costs by the March 14th deadline? Don't worry, I'm still going to keep the surveys and payment info listed in the updates, and coordinate new backer shipments approximately once every four weeks.

With all this activity going on, I thought it might be a good time to update some pending stuff we had in the pipeline. That's why it's great to be able to tell you about the…

Updates to the Seven Worlds GM downloads site and the product PDFs!

Several cool things have been updated recently, mostly based on feedback from you.

• As mentioned above, we've added a new Seven Worlds Campaign Overview PDF for people who want to understand the campaign at a glance.
• There's a new errata page for all bugs, typos and improvements found after the books were sent to print.
• We've applied most (if not all) the known errata to the PDF versions. That's why you can now go to RPGNow or DriveThruRPG and download refreshed versions of the Setting Guide PDF as well as most of the module PDFs. The errata page will tell you what we've updated. I'd like to point out the addition of a new character Edge, Experienced Assistant, to better handle giving a Wild Die to Assistant skill rolls!

What's next?

Many things! First, in just a couple of weeks we expect to have the printed books ready for distribution and sales. Then, we're still working on many of the stretch goals for the campaign. Expect more Seven Worlds news soon.

Thank you for all your support, and I hope you enjoy Seven Worlds!

In Exodus, the heroes have organized a fleet of civilian and military ships, and are now carrying the secret to stop the fearsome Devourer invasion. But can they reach Earth in time? They might, if they decide to follow a tip and shorten a hopelessly long voyage by taking a dangerous route. Unfortunately, rebel elements within the fleet have other intentions, and are willing to put everyone's lives at risk to stop the fleet from reaching its destination!

Besides including three additional side stories, Exodus contains some special features unique to Seven Worlds:

• A detailed computer map and hacking subsystem, designed to get players involved in retaking control of a mutinied battleship. This includes access to systems, security control, computer keys, and more!
• A climactic battle inside a zero-G sphere, complete with rules for moving in three dimensions within the sphere itself!
• And detailed rules to simulate the management and control of a rag-tag space fleet (inspired by that show about a rag-tag fleet, now Seven Worlds-style)!

As always, if you were a Gamma-, Delta- or Epsilon-level backer you should have Exodus available as a new PDF in the Seven Worlds Campaign Subscription you have received through DriveThruRPG/RPGNow. Haven't received your backer links and rewards yet? Did you fill out the contact survey so we could send you the rewards? If you didn't, contact me at luis@intellistories.com for help.

If you were not a backer for the campaign modules, you can still purchase Exodus as a stand-alone module at DriveThruRPG/RPGNow, or as part of the Seven Worlds Campaign Subscription. Purchase the subscription to get all seven modules (as they are released) at an almost 20% discount when compared with single module pricing. On top of that, the subscription also includes the full Seven Worlds Campaign Book PDF (a 253-page one volume compilation of all seven modules with exclusive Campaign Book cover art) at no extra cost!

(plus, you know any product with this cover could never put your players in the way of any harm).

In this chapter, after many grueling adventures the heroes finally reach Chrysalis, a bizarre place unknown to most humans. As the heroes attempt to overturn the political status quo, they discover the secret the leaders of Chrysalis have been working so hard to keep hidden: The existence of a weapon that could stop the Devourers once and for all!

If you were a Gamma-, Delta- or Epsilon-level backer you should have Chrysalis available as a new PDF in the Seven Worlds Campaign Subscription you have received through DriveThruRPG/RPGNow. Haven't received your backer links and rewards yet? Did you fill out the contact survey so we could send you the rewards? If you didn't, contact me at luis@intellistories.com for help.

If you were not a backer for the campaign modules, you can still purchase Chrysalis as a stand-alone module at DriveThruRPG/RPGNow, or as part of the Seven Worlds Campaign Subscription. Purchase the subscription to get all seven modules (as they are released) at an almost 20% discount when compared with single module pricing. On top of that, the subscription also includes the full Seven Worlds Campaign Book PDF (a 253-page one volume compilation of all seven modules with exclusive Campaign Book cover art) at no extra cost!

Seven Worlds at Emerald City Comic Con!

Want to try out Seven Worlds? Live in the Seattle Metro area?
If you are attending the upcoming ECCC in Seattle, drop by the ECCC Indie Games Showcase! We’ll be running a convention-sized version of the Seven Worlds introductory adventure on Saturday, March 3rd, from 5pm-8pm; and on Sunday, March 4th, from 11am-2pm. Hope to see you there!

Welcome to Broken Circle, the fourth exciting chapter in the Seven Worlds epic campaign!

In Broken Circle, while human space slowly but surely falls to the alien invaders known as the Devourers, the heroes get involved in a dangerous rescue mission in the savage jungles of Logan’s End. The reward for a successful rescue: The solution to the mystery surrounding the tragic story of a long-dead smuggler spaceship crew; and the coordinates of a mysterious place known only as Chrysalis, the heroes’ only hope to save the Seven Worlds from annihilation!

Broken Circle also includes five new side stories so your players can explore the Seven Worlds while they play the main campaign!

If you were a Gamma-, Delta- or Epsilon-level backer you should have Broken Circle available as a new PDF in the Seven Worlds Campaign Subscription you have received through DriveThruRPG/RPGNow. If you still haven't received your backer links and rewards yet, maybe you haven't filled the original survey with your reward information. If you didn't, go ahead and fill the survey. If you did and have not received anything, contact me at luis@intellistories.com for help.

If you were not a backer for the campaign modules, you can still purchase Broken Circle as a stand-alone module at DriveThruRPG/RPGNow, or as part of the Seven Worlds Campaign Subscription. Purchase the subscription to get all seven modules (as they are released) at an almost 20% discount when compared with single module pricing. On top of that, the subscription also includes the full Seven Worlds Campaign Book PDF (a 253-page one volume compilation of all seven modules with exclusive Campaign Book cover art) at no extra cost!

• Since the release of the Seven Worlds Setting Guide six weeks ago I've received dozens of comments and feedback. As a result, I'm proud to announce that today we're releasing an updated Seven Worlds Setting Guide PDF with collected errata and rules fixes! The updated file is available for download in your library at DriveThruRPG or RPGNow. Keep the comments coming!

• Into the Fire, the third chapter in the Seven Worlds campaign, is now available as well!

In Into the Fire, several months have passed since the fall of Nouvelle Vie and humanity is fighting a losing war against the alien invaders now known as the Devourers. The heroes are asked to go on a long-shot mission to find an alternative way to stop their enemy. The trail and an anonymous message leads to a political war between corporations in the frozen planet of Apollo, where the heroes have to storm a faraway research facility that has been taken over by terrorists. One of these terrorists has a clue the heroes need if they hope to find a way to save the Seven Worlds from annihilation!

Into the Fire also includes seven new side stories so your players can explore the Seven Worlds while they play the main campaign!

And of course, all the Chapter 3 GM-only support files and maps are available for free at the GM Downloads page!

If you were a Gamma-, Delta- or Epsilon-level Kickstarter backer you should have Into the Fire available as a new PDF in the Seven Worlds Campaign Subscription you have received through DriveThruRPG/RPGNow. Haven't received your backer links and rewards yet? Did you fill out the contact survey so we could send you the rewards? If you didn't, go ahead and fill the survey. If you did and have not received anything, contact me at luis@intellistories.com for help.

If you were not a backer for the campaign modules, you can still purchase Into the Fire as a stand-alone module at DriveThruRPG/RPGNow, or as part of the Seven Worlds Campaign Subscription. Purchase the subscription to get all seven modules (as they are released) at an almost 20% discount when compared with single module pricing. On top of that, the subscription also includes the full Seven Worlds Campaign Book (a 253-page one volume compilation of all seven modules with exclusive Campaign Book cover art) at no extra cost!

And if you still don't have it, don't forget to get the award-winning Seven Worlds Setting Guide, the core book for the setting!

In Divided We Fall, war between Concordia and Bay Jing, the two most powerful planets in the Seven Worlds, is heating up. One of the combatants hides a secret that could change the tide of the war, and it is the heroes’ job to discover what it is. As the heroes uncover this secret and prepare to witness the mutual annihilation of Concordia and Bay Jing, the sudden arrival of a third participant changes everything and forces humanity to choose between leaving their quarrels aside and joining against the darkness, or dying together!

Divided We Fall also includes six new side stories so your players can explore the Seven Worlds while they play the main campaign!

If you were a Gamma-, Delta- or Epsilon-level Kickstarter backer you should have Divided We Fall available as a new PDF in the Seven Worlds Campaign Subscription you have received through DriveThruRPG/RPGNow. Haven't received your backer links and rewards yet? Did you fill out the contact survey so we could send you the rewards? If you didn't, go ahead and fill the survey. If you did and have not received anything, contact me at luis@intellistories.com for help.

If you were not a backer for the campaign modules, you can still purchase Divided We Fall as a stand-alone module at DriveThruRPG/RPGNow, or as part of the Seven Worlds Campaign Subscription. Purchase the subscription to get all seven modules (as they are released) at an almost 20% discount when compared with single module pricing. On top of that, the subscription also includes the full Seven Worlds Campaign Book (a 253-page one volume compilation of all seven modules with exclusive Campaign Book cover art) at no extra cost!

And if you still don't have it, don't forget to get the award-winning Seven Worlds Setting Guide, the core book for the setting!

Head there to get:

• The Seven Worlds Setting Guide, the core book for the game.
• A subscription to all seven episodes of the Campaign (or the stand-alone episodes if you prefer).
• 1"-scale PDF battle-maps for the main battles in the campaign (useful for other games as well).
• A GM screen.
• Starmaps, available as both PDF posters and printed POD posters sent to your home.

Since the game needs Savage Worlds to play, if you don't have a copy of the Savage Worlds rulebook you might want to get it as well.

Are you one of our Kickstarter backers? Then you should have received links to download these products already. If you haven't, check your junk mail folder from emails from DriveThruRPG or RPGNow, fill out the survey form with the information needed to send you the rewards, or contact me by email at luis@intellistories.com.

Thank you for your help making this game a reality, and I hope you enjoy visiting the Seven Worlds!

The Seven Worlds Kickstarter is now officially over. As a result of your support, today according to Kicktraq we broke two records:

• The Seven Worlds Kickstarter is now the #2 all-time most-funded third-party Science-Fiction setting for Savage Worlds (behind Interface Zero), and #4 counting Pinnacle Kickstarters (RIFTS and The Last Parsec).
• The Seven Worlds Kickstarter is, as of today, in the top-five most-funded all-time Savage Worlds Kickstarters run by a third-party (not Pinnacle).

And now, after spending thirty-days in space, we've finally landed, and now we're again under the effects of planetary gravity. Don't worry, all Seven Worlds ships have gravity-gyms (G-Gyms), so you've had enough exercise to help you cope with this. So, you may be asking yourselves, what happens now?

Well, first of all, the last 24 hours of the Kickstarter were notable not only because the game got funded. I regret to inform you that in those last 24 hours Seven Worlds became outdated.

"Outdated?!? What are you talking about? The thing just got funded!"

Yep! One of the joys and challenges of creating a realistic science-fiction game is that science changes so quickly and so much. And two days ago astronomers announced the discovery of a new world, orbiting nearby red dwarf star Ross 128, that might be appropriate for Earth-like life. This kind of thing has happened several times since I "finished" writing Seven Worlds, most recently with the January discovery of a planet around Proxima Centauri b. In this last case the planet seems to be too bombarded by radiation to be habitable, but Ross 128b looks more promising.

So what now? Do we change the name of the game to EIGHT Worlds? Do we need to change the history of mankind's ascension to the stars?

Well, the good news is, we have several stretch goals to produce, including two archetypes and now (by a stretch goal achieved minutes before the Kickstarter ended) a new adventure. Several people have been asking for more details about the archetypes. I don't want to give them since I have not written them yet but the discovery of Ross 128b has given me several ideas.

So, in a nutshell: If you are one of those people who likes your science-fiction games to be updated to the latest, I'm happy to share that we're going to find a way to leverage the archetypes and/or the adventure to update Seven Worlds to consider the two-day-old discovery of Ross-128b! (please don't ask me how yet).

There! Seven Worlds is not obsolete anymore. Instead, it'll be the most scientifically-up-to-date game on the market! Isn't science great?

"Ok, for real now: What's next?"

First, enjoy the sights and sounds of being on a new planet. In other words, thank you for this amazing level of support!

Then, now comes the part where I work and you wait. There are Kickstarter pledges to collect, surveys to send (so we get the names you want to appear in the backer pages of the PDF and Print Setting Guides), PDFs to finish and publish for all of you, stretch goals to write and deliver, and much more!

My most urgent goal is to get the PDF Setting Guide in the hands of all valid backers as quickly as I can! In order to do this the following needs to happen:

• Kickstarter needs to clear all pledges and collect funds from backers. This takes about two weeks.
• In the meantime, I need to get your name as you want it to appear in the Setting Guide backer pages, as well as your email address to receive it via DriveThruRPG. Expect to receive a survey soon.
• As soon as I have final backer email addresses and Kickstarter's final backer list, I'll send you the Setting Guide PDF.

Rest assured that I'm constantly looking for shortcuts in this process, so you can get the PDF even faster. Stay tuned.

Once the Setting Guide PDF is in your hands, the next activities (in parallel) will be:

• Working the logistics of printing Setting Guides, and getting shipping information and payment to get them to you. As you know, we've unlocked the offset-print-run stretch goal, which means print backers will receive hardcover books, and we should have stock to send to stores.
• Starting the distribution of the Campaign modules, one every two-to-four weeks. You should get them in PDF from DriveThruRPG as well.
• Starting the production of the missing stretch goals, such as the two new archetype characters, Fate Accelerated conversion document, GM screen, the new adventure, and others.
• Finally, working out the logistics of printing Campaign Guides and shipping them, along with printed starmaps, to all Epsilon-level backers. These will be needed once all seven modules are distributed.

I'll keep you updated on the progress of these activities, as well as on any hiccups should they occur.

Thank you for making Seven Worlds such a successful reality! I hope this is the beginning of a long time of amazing science-fiction role-playing with your friends and fellow gamers!

There! That video's this Designer Diary in a nutshell. Need more background? Then read on!

Many computer and console games use three-dimensional space maps, but very few pen-and-paper RPGs have done so (again, 2300AD becomes the most obvious counter-example. See, for example, this 2300AD YouTube video and the maps in this conversation thread.). It's a shame 3-D star mapping has been so ignored, because looking at space in 3-D creates an entirely new strategic way of playing.

Which is not saying that 2-D maps suck. Far from it! Here's the Seven Worlds official 2-D starmap as an example (download a full-resolution PDF map here):

When you look at this map, consider that all these are real stars, and their relative positions and distances are real as well. But 2-D is not a perfect representation of their relative positions. For that, we need 3-D maps.

One of the design decisions for Seven Worlds was to have a 3-D starmap based on the real positions of stars. I wanted the 3-D position of the stars to play a big part in the plot (oh, spoiler! That's all I'm saying now…). But, how to do that?

The first step was to get an astronomically valid set of star positions. For this the Hipparcos XHIP set was used. The next step was to load this data into NBOS's software excellent Astrosynthesis 3.0 program to do detailed star modelling and positioning:

The plot of the Seven Worlds campaign, as well as all the details of the setting, including traffic lanes and migration patterns between today and the year 2217, were modelled using this tool. The result was exported to VRML and then edited and retouched. The end result looks like this (seen with the Cortona 3D VRML plugin for Windows here):

Although there are VRML plugins available for many browsers and platforms, unfortunately their quality varies. I have compiled a list of the ones I know in VRML plugins page, but can obviously make no promises about how they will work with you.

Finally, besides the 3-D map for all players, GMs have access to a set of special 3-D maps to be used in specific points of the Seven Worlds campaign. This represents an opportunity for even more immersion in this cool science-fiction setting!

Planet Maps

Speaking of maps, since the eponymous Seven Worlds themselves had already been designed in painstaking detail using Fractal Terrains Pro, I felt it would be a shame if I didn't share them in 3-D as well. Thus, all planets in Seven Worlds are available to explore both as VRML files and as files compatible with Google Earth for Desktop. The end result, which you can run on your computer, looks like this:

So there you have it: The 3-D maps represent a new way to immerse yourself and the rest of your players in the Seven Worlds RPG adventure. And yet another reason to enjoy the Seven Worlds RPG!

If you're not subscribed to the Seven Worlds mailing list, subscribe now to receive weekly updates like this one, as well as Kickstarter announcements!