Time for the November update, and time to explore the Wormhole.
Storm Surge
First, a quick update on Storm Surge. My weird day job kept me heads down in October, but as school year routine finally kicks in and the holidays approach, I will have time to wrap up my final edits of the campaign. Truth is, I have decided the ending options as currently written are a little…dry…for Blue Planet. A little boring even? Realistic, and narratively appropriate, but maybe not as compelling as I think an RPG campaign finale wants to be. Accordingly, I need to reconsider the options and figure out how to inject them with a little more climatic energy. I have some ideas and am excited to work them out.
Wormhole
Since the inception of the Blue Planet line back in the 90s, I have always kept the background concepts that underpin the setting close to my vacsuit, mostly because I believe that mysteries are always more…mysterious…when they are left mostly unexplained. It’s counterproductive, and ultimately impossible, however, to provide moderators with the information they need to present a game world and also maintain the enigma. Therefore, since Wormhole is finally happening and will soon be in the wild, I figure it’s ok to start sharing. The excerpt that follows is from the Wormhole introduction. If you are a player rather than a moderator and would like to keep the mystery, I suggest that you stop reading now and avoid any future updates about Wormhole. If instead, you want to start exploring what’s on the other side, here we go...
“Game Changer
Wormhole was one of the original projects on the Blue Planet first edition release schedule back in 1997. That intent proved too ambitious for the longevity of the original line, so it became a priority of the Recontact project to share at least an abbreviated version with players. Rather than offering a terminal conclusion to the Blue Planet story, however, the ideas in Wormhole offer a game-changing expansion that transforms the setting from its focus on a single planet into a limitless, modern take on space opera.
It is therefore important to provide an earnest warning to moderators. Including the content of Wormhole as canon in a Blue Planet game will fundamentally change the nature of the setting and the focus, tone and scope of adventures in the game. A group can still play on Poseidon, exploring the mysteries and sociopolitical conflicts that make it such an interesting place, but what lies beyond the wormhole will fundamentally change those sociopolitics and the economics driving the colonial effort on the waterworld. That focus will become the limitless resources, knowledge and threats to be found in a suddenly very expanded and very dangerous universe.
Warning - if moderators do not want to upend and refocus their Blue Planet games, they should not include Wormhole in their setting canon.
In this form, Wormhole is a stretch goal funded by the generosity of the Recontact projects backers. It is only budgeted for 20k words, and as a result, it is not as ambitious as it should otherwise be. But as will shortly become obvious, if it were 100k words long, it would still only scratch the surface of what becomes possible in the expanded universe of the setting.
As explained in the Alien Legacy chapter of the Recontact Moderator’s Guide, Poseidon - and perhaps even Earth - was terraformed by an ancient, hyper-advanced civilization that could open stable wormholes and use them to travel through space and time. What that chapter does not explain is why they undertook this galactic-scale terraforming project. Wormhole finally provides this explanation.”
Picard
It’s sad when a beloved icon like Patrick Stewart dies, but I find myself surprisingly moved by the recent passing of Captain Picard specifically. In recent years, my love for Star Trek has centered on its uniquely hopeful vision for the future - the Federation’s aspirations for utopia. The hopeful dream of science and compassion conquering fear and hate. The understanding and unification of very different cultures into a peaceful and respectful collective. The belief that coexistence, cooperation and social good are the worthiest goals. These aspirations feel particularly meaningful in our real world - one plagued by racism, greed and inhumanity.
With Picard’s passing, the beacon Star Trek offers feels diminished. Dimmed proportionally to his significance in the imaginary ranks of Starfleet, and in the very real hearts of all Star Trek fans. Perhaps a meaningful way to honor Picard and help keep the legacy of Star Trek bright is to follow his example, and offer everyone - no matter how alien - the same dignity and compassion he would have shown.
