#novaverse

(translation for a future video on my french ttrpg channel)

I could talk about the evolution of LUMEN toward a diceless,healthless system, how every other games influence this transition. I'll leave you waiting on this one.

In short, one of his big games is Nova, inspired by Warframe, Destiny and the likes. To summarize : Sun exploded. Nobody knows why. Sun shards implanted on the planet. Now the night won't leave me alone.

A Measly lot of years later, the power of these shards can be harnessed, Humanity can continue. Sparks are invented, mecha-armour to explore the Dusk and defend settlements from their many ennemies. Cause we weren't alone when the sun exploded.

Well I said invented but some Sparks...... One of them was inspired by Satan and the only thing we know about it is thus : The Sky went red and it appeard out of the Dusk. Great. No reason to worry at all. It's not like you can't make a horseman of the Apocalypse party with some other Sparks... (something my player actually did, these edgy mfers) The setting is very succint, it's a small book. But it's the Start of the Novaverse.

No, we can also find Luna and Nest in the same setting. Interesting detail : they focus on two of the enemies' factions found in Nova. And none of them have the same system. Well that may be a little exaggeration. Dusk also exists with a similar system and on the Sparks side.

Before writing about them, I will note that supplements for Nova exist. Nova Dusk Denizen. Zine sized, each zine on a singular faction with more lore, more enemies, more tactics for the GM.

So Dusk is the first new game of this Novaverse. The first to use the LUMEN 2.0, now diceless and based on ressources. For me, it's a debate if Lumen and Lumen 2.0 can be considered the same system. More importantly, this is not a supplement. This is a full game. A modular game (another discussion for the future). Nova's focus was on combat, action. Dusk is not. It is exploration. The monsters usually die in 1 hit. Clearly two distinct experiences.

Then Spencer crowdfunded and published Luna. Another change. Here we play a Nova enemy faction : The Lunar Cult. Their goal : infiltrate a city and convert its sun shard for holy moonstone. This is not the type of adventures Lumen is built for. So the game uses the Resistance system, from Spire and Heart, a more adapted system.

This rpg also does something I appreciate more and more : One type of story only, we know what we want and we will play it in a fewshot campaign, 5 sessions max.

To go back to the original question, I ask of you : Same lore, same setting, but is it the same line ? It is a different experience and a different system after all.

Last May, GilaRPGs crowdfunded Nest. Back to Lumen 2.0, still an enemy faction : the Corvus Dominion, an avian alien race. And again, a game for fewshots. Since nothing has been published about it yet,I can't tell you more.

Same setting, sorta same system, but another game.

Thus what is a line ? How do you conceive it ? A base game and supplements ? Including the various editions of its base game ?

It's not like I can't use these games for Nova. Here we have two problems for the sparks to solve. How about multitable ? Between Nest and Nova ? Between Dusk and Nova ? The players of one game reacting to the actions from the other game and vice verse ? Wouldn't that be an interesting experience ? Wouldn't you want to try ?

Plus, the novaverse is not Spencer's only setting like this. He also has Obron, starting with Rune, his solo game inspired by Elden Ring and Dark Souls, where we play an Engraved. Then comes Reap, also solo in Obron, same system, but this time, you're a necromancer.

Since the game designer opens his game to 3rd party content (another reason to love him), someone had the great and terrific idea of a Realm that works for both games. Both characters are there at the same time. On the Rune side, you fight the Necromancer. On the Reap side, you fight the Engraved.

Now we leave the Rune system to go back to Lumen 2.0 again, with a group, for Thorn, also happening in Obron. And that's all I will say about it, the game is not completed yet.

I love this concept, especially with smaller games. While not zine sized, Spencer's game usually count around 50 pages.

We can focus our game on one type of story, of adventure in a particular setting, with an apropos system. Then make another game in this setting but for another story, another system adapted to this story. No more breaking your brain to try and make a size fit all system.

Generally, with a game it's the system that gets out of the line. We create an SRD for other creators. (Don't be afraid to use SRDs , they're here for you) It's rarer to take a setting and make a new different game in it.

Imagine the possibilities : Multitables with different games, reacting to each other, especially if they have opposed goals. There are players who love a setting but hate the system, the types of adventures the base book proposes. Now they can find a game for them in this setting.

 It is (or is it ?) a new direction for ttrpgs. The world of darkness games may profess to happen in the same world, but I always found them too separated. It is something I think about when creating my own games. What would happen if I take this and change the system ? We can find similar ideas in other games.

Starfinder and Pathfinder share the same setting, the same system, bur with different scopes, in different genres.

Spire and Heart : same setting, same system, different stories. Knight and Parias share the same setting too, for the system, it is the same base, but one is heroic horror, the other is survival of the outcasts. The french author Vivien Féasson also does something similar with Perdus sous la pluie. 3 games in the same setting but one is an horror experience, one is exploration and settlement building, and the last is Life in the biggest citadel.

Let's see what sort of discussions this causes...