Just a quick note that we are shutting down the store here on this site. There simply isn’t a need for it anymore.
If you have ever purchased a PDF from this site, feel free to email us at customerservice@voidstarstudios.com and we can give you the ability to add your purchase to your DrivethruRPG library for free.
If possible, please include a copy of the receipt or purchase notification email you received from our old store.
Thanks!
Mike
Mimir continues to receive bug fixes and polish, and is now feature complete and (hopefully) crash-free.
So now I’m opening up playtesting to a larger group. So if you have an iPhone and want to check it out, drop me an email at info@voidstarstudios.com and let me know. Just put ”Mimir Playtesting” in the subject and I’ll hook you up.
So around the time the pandemic started, I had a confluence of ideas that all sort of solidified at once:
I should learn a new skill, preferably something that benefits both my day job and Void Star.
I’ve been interested in maybe going back to school. Maybe for Computer Science this time? Maybe I should go ahead and dip my toes into programming.
Solo-Roleplaying is kind of a neat idea; sort of a cross between solitaire, D&D and a creative writing project. And it seems to be growing in popularity as a result of everyone being locked in.
All of these ideas bounced around in my head until they finally collided and formed into an actual plan. I was going to teach myself to code. And my first project was going to be a phone app designed to aid gamers interested in solo-RPGs. But as these things go, the scope of the app expanded to become a tool for regular GMs running games for players, as well as a way for multiple players to use the app as their GM.
So… blah blah blah.. what am I talking about?
Mimir’s Launch Screen
Mimir is a phone app designed to serve a few different purposes. The original intent was to serve as a sort of intelligent "Oracle" for solo-roleplaying. But it quickly grew into something useful for GM's running standard games, as well as for groups who want to play using Mimir as their GM. It also serves up ambient sound to help set the mood and spur the imagination, generates detailed NPCs, generates an array of additional inspirational details, and allows you to build your own custom lists to randomly roll on.
Currently it's being developed as an iPhone app, and is in the first phase of Beta testing.
Yeah, I know. A lot of gamers use Android devices. And If the IOS version does well enough I’m going to put some effort into putting together an Android version. But like I said before, the reality is that I'm just starting to learn to code and I still have a rather demanding day job. So I'm not ready to tackle duel-platform development just yet.
Originally I started developing Mimir to cover fantasy, modern and sci-fi. But I eventually had to accept that I had to focus on a single era of play if this thing was going to ever actually release. But I absolutely intend to expand into modern and sci-fi as soon as possible.
When you open Mimir for the first time, it will start guiding you though starting a new story. (Story Select Screen) Soon after you'll see the story setup screen. (Story Setup Screen) And as you'd expect, all of the story prompts and details you'll get will be influenced by your selections there. Want to play in Forgotten Realms? You'll want to pick High Fantasy/Traditional. Feel like some Dark Sun? You'll want to go with High Fantasy/Post-Apocalyptic. Is Ravenloft more your thing? Check out Low Fantasy/Horror. Got another brand of fantasy you like? I bet one of these combos will work for you.
The ASK Screen
Mimir works for all fantasy settings, regardless of rules. D&D? Pathfinder? Savage Worlds? Fate? It’s all good. Mimir generates details and inspiration for your setting and NPCs, and doesn’t get caught up in game mechanics.
Once you've made your initial selections, you'll be prompted to answer a simple question about how you want to get started. Do you want start your character(s) just hanging out somewhere, or do you want to get spicy from the start? Once you make that choice, you’re confronted with an introduction. (Intro Text Screen) You are given 2 chances to refresh the intro that's served up to you. But once you're happy with it, hit the green checkmark and then you're ready to get started.
Most of your time with Mimir will be spent on the "Ask" screen. ("Ask" Screen) There is a lot of data here, so there are a few things to point out:
The top field is a place for you to type your Yes/No question for Mimir.
Once you enter your question, you choose how likely you think the answer is to be true. Likely, Unlikely, or Even Odds.
In the top left corner you see a button that opens the ambient sound effects tab. From there you can play mood setting audio for a walk through a forest, a medieval city, a creepy dungeon, etc. (Ambient Sound Selection Screen)
The upper right button is a tutorial that helps players use Mimir as intended. And I’ll be making a downloadable PDF manual available here on the site pretty soon.
Dead center you see Mimir himself. The skull, sporting some fancy Nordic runes, is animated and slowly looks around while this screen is open. Now, notice his eyes. Those are important. Every time the answer to your question comes up some version of "No", his eyes glow a little brighter. And at some point, he triggers a Complication.
The bottom section is a running log of every question and answer you've asked and received. Complications are also inserted into this log. More on Complications below...
When you ask Mimir a question, an answer screen pops up. (Sample Answer Screen) Front and center on this screen you'll see Mimir’s simple answer, which can range though "Yes", "Yes and", "No", and "No but". It also serves up a Challenge Level, which is just a number ranging from 1 to 10 (with a bell curve centered on 5). This Challenge Level can be used to gauge anything from monster strength to how hard it is to pick a lock. It also gives you a Degree and Peculiarity to help further shape the scene. And for further inspiration it serves up a playing card suit and value, an animal, a color, an emotion, a direction, and a Tarot card. The tutorial screen goes over each of these and gives advice for how to use them to guide your story.
A Sample NPC
So what are Complications? If you get too many "No" answers, Mimir's eyes get more red until you finally piss him off enough to hit you with a Complication. Whenever a Complication is triggered, you'll make a couple of selections that help make sure the Complication that gets inflicted on you makes sense within the context of your story. (Sample Complication Screen)
Also, in the next tab you'll find that Mimir also serves up a detailed, randomly generated NPC. (Sample NPC) But let's say you gen up an NPC you love, but maybe you don't care for their profession. You can lock the others entires and re-roll just the values you want to reroll. And when you're happy, if you want, you can save them to view later. (NPC Vault Screenshot)
The next tab is all about helping you fill in detail and generate inspiration of all sorts. Here is a sample screen I generated for you to check out. (Sample Detail Screen)
In the last tab you can create and store your own random lists for stuff more specific to your story. You can make any list you like, and populate it with entries flagged as Common, Uncommon or Rare. These flags will determine how likely a particular entry is to get selected when you tell it to randomly pull something from your list for you. (Custom List Screen) (List Creation Screen)
I think that just about covers it.
We’re accepting playtesters now. So if you have an iPhone, and you want to be a tester, shoot me an email at info@voidstarstudios.com and just write "Mimir Playtest" in the subject line. All I really need is your email address, but if you want to drop some feedback or feature requests in there, I'm happy to hear it. And I'd love to hear what you plan to use if for. Mimir should work with any iPhone 6 or later. It might work on some earlier ones too if you want to give it a shot. But it’s a matter of needing screen-space more than computing horsepower. So beware that it might get pretty cramped.
I’ve talked a little about my day job in the past, and how having a successful career as an engineer can lead to a sort of mental burnout. Many times throughout my career there have been lasting periods of downtime. And as it turns out, being tied to a desk with little to do for a few months at a time is a great environment for writing and game dev. There is only so much internet you can consume before you either start chewing on your cubicle wall, or start making something. And it’s been during those periods of calm that I’ve been able to be the most productive. In fact, it was out of a long week of boring testing that Void Star was born.
But where I am now, stretches of boring calm have been increasingly rare. In fact, Strands of Fate 2e came out on the tail end of the last one. And then all hell broke loose. Just before Strands2 dropped, I got promoted. Yay! And then basically promoted again. Yay!
Don’t get me wrong. It’s been great. And I’m not complaining. Not really. I just wish there were more hours in the day. You could say I became a victim of my own success. Or, more acurately, Void Star was the victim. There are so many projects I’d love to be working on right now. I’d love to be expanding Nova Praxis and Strands2. And while I’ve got notes and partially started projects all over the place, finding time and energy to really devote to them has been a real challenge.
Hopefully, things will ease up at some point. Fingers crossed.
Quick Tact-Tiles Update - Every couple of weeks I get an email from someone asking when we’re going to do another run of Tact-tiles. For now at least, we have no plans for another run. Tact-Tiles did great for us, but especially in the age of COVID, it just doesn’t make sense.
The PDF is, as you’d expect from Void Star, fully bookmarked, layered and linked. In addition, each page features navigation tabs to better enable you to skip around the book to the start of each chapter, or back to the table of Contents.
The print version is available in three flavors: Premium Color Hardcover, Color Softcover and B/W Softcover. And all of them look great!
The print proofs for the softcover copies of Strands of Fate 2e are in, and they look great. The hardcover, however, is still at the printer. Hardcover prints always take much longer than usual this time of year, so I expect it to be a bit longer.
I’d love to be able to release the print versions before the end of the year, but I can’t make any promises.
Fingers crossed for a Christmas miracle!
So, the bad news is that it’ll be another couple of weeks before the print versions of Strands of Fate 2e are available.
We got the first proofs in, and while the interiors looked great, the covers were too dark. I got their ink/color levels balanced out, and just sent them back to DTRPG’s for approval and printing. And then we’ll review another set of proofs.
So, unfortunately, we’re going to have to play the waiting game a little longer.
First up, the print proofs for Strands of Fate 2e have been ordered. We're looking at doing three print flavors: Hardcover Premium Color, Softcover Standard Color, and Softcover B&W.
Once they come in, we’ll review them. And if there are no issues, we’ll hit the “LAUNCH” button on DrivethruRPG. Fingers crossed!
Second, I was recently directed to a really well written review of Strands of Fate 2e over on Cannibal Halfling. I felt it especially notable because of how well the review articulates the differences between Strands of Fate and Fate Core.
Strands of Fate 2e is out, and seems to be getting a very warm reception.
Nothing is perfect though, and we've found a few errors.
If you find any, please mention them in this ongoing Errata Doc. This will help us make sure we get any issues addressed and cleaned up before the print version becomes available.
Thanks!
The PDF will become available on Friday, Sept 14th, on DrivethruRPG.
The wizard’s staff hums with the power of an unleashed spell.
The assassin’s cybernetic arm ejects a hidden blade.
The super-powered defender of New York melts the robots to slag with his heat vision.
The intrepid investigator stands firm against the mind wrenching eldritch horror before him.
Cleaner, clearer and more concise, Strands of Fate 2nd Edition continues down the path set forth by the original Strands of Fate; providing a stand-alone set of core rules for using the Fate game system to tell exciting stories of action, adventure, horror and intrigue across an infinite variety of time periods and genres.
Strands of Fate 2nd Edition contains…
· Core Rules – This book is fully self-contained, and contains all the rules you need for making characters and playing the game.
· Aspects – Full rules for the creation and use of Aspects, the popular narrative mechanic that has defined the Fate game system since its inception.
· Strands – There are guidelines for creating them, as well as four sample Strands you can use as written, alter to suit your needs, or use as examples when creating your own. These include:
o Strands of Cthulhu – In which desperate investigators confront the minions of the Elder Gods.
o Strands of Fantasy – In which bold adventurers fight against savage and ancient evils for honor and treasure.
o Strands of Valor – In which heroes imbued with super powers stand against tyranny and annihilation.
o Strands of Neon and Chrome – In which cybernetically enhanced underdogs fight back against the oppressive mega-corporate elite.
· Perks and Powers – The extraordinary and supernatural advantages that separate your characters from the masses. Whether a mutant psychic, a crusty old wizard, a crazed cultist, an ancient vampire, a cross wielding priest, or a genetically enhanced cyber-soldier, we’ve got you covered. Powers are presented as self-contained special abilities that are defined with Aspects, and further detailed through the application of Limitations and Enhancements.
· Deviations – An entire chapter is dedicated to providing modular, variant rules that are added to, subtracted from, or used in place of the standard core rules. Deviations serve as a series of dials and switches, which can be used to tune the rules to better suit the story you want to tell.
· Antagonists – The Game Mastery chapter contains a number of sample NPCs and creature to challenge your PCs with, or to serve as examples when creating your own.
Strands of Fate 2nd Edition is a fully self-contained Fate game, and requires no other supplements for its use. It is built upon the branch of Fate rules originally published in Strands of Fate 1st Edition and later refined in Nova Praxis.
Note: This is an “Augmented” PDF, and was designed with laptops, tablets and smartphones in mind. It is filled with useful links, and features a special layout purpose built to speed up navigation on a digital device.
The print version of this product will be available a few weeks after the PDF’s release. This allows us to capture and correct any errors discovered in the first few weeks after release, and make sure they are corrected in the print version.
Those who purchase the PDF prior to the release of the print version will receive a discount coupon for the print version!
Despite a painfully slow development cycle, we hit another milestone this weekend with Strands of Fate 2e.
Layout is nearly complete. The table of contents and cross references are done. Still just need to do a little work on the background graphics, lay out a couple of different types of character sheets, drop in the art, and add in a few of the "augmented" links (ones that exist purely to aid in digital navigation).
Unlike Nova Praxis, there will not be a "regular" PDF release for Strands 2. It will be "Augmented" only.
I've managed a few tricks that will mean the Augmented PDF and the book will look basically identical. That means the A-PDF will be portrait orientation this time, but it's still sized for easy reading on tablets.
The printed book itself will be slightly larger than Strands 1e, but smaller than a typical "full sized" RPG book. We're using the same size format as the print version of Nova Praxis: Savage Worlds Edition. And as of right now it's clocking in at around 230 pages.
I just finished ordering a bound print from my local Kinkos, which is actually the milestone I was referring to above. With every book Void Star has released, I've always ordered a bound copy to be printed. I then read through that copy, start to finish, with a red pen in hand, spilling blood where it must be spilled.
Incorporating the edits I find during that read-thru tends to be one of the very last things I do before release.
We're in the home stretch on Strands of Fate 2e. Art is in and I'm about to begin layout.
Layout is the last stage of development before proofs are ordered. And once they're approved, we'll be good to go!
It's been a while since I've posted any sort of update, and I thought it about time for a check in.
Strands of Fate 2e development continues, if at a bit of a slower pace than I would like. The realities of this world continue to obstruct progress, but I promise we're still at it.
In addition to VSS' tabletop RPG products, we've begun to explore the digital realms a bit. And it should come as no surprise to Nova Praxis fans that VR is the tech platform we're most interested in developing for.
It's still in its infancy, but we have a Nova Praxis VR game aimed at Oculus and Vive currently in the works. This is our first serious look at video game development, and we're diving into a market that is itself little more than a technological fetus. So when I say the game is in its infancy, know that I'm not exaggerating.
I'm still working in a sandbox state for the most part, working in Unreal on the Oculus Rift to dial in VR interfaces, inverse kinematics for body and arm animation, working out weapon interaction, building AI, etc.
The game is tentatively titled Nova Praxis: Infiltrator. And if forced to, conceptually, I'd describe it as Deus Ex meets Hitman 2016 in first person VR.
As mentioned in my previous post, we were able to find a small number of Tact-Tiles that have some minor defects. These defects are entirely cosmetic, and should not affect their usability.
We are making them available now, at a 25% discount.
And that's it folks. After this, they're gone.
Update: As of this update, there is only a single set of 6 Tact-tiles left.
Development of Strands of Fate 2e continues at a pretty good pace, and as of today, we're opening up another round of playtesting. To join the playtest, simply go here and fill out this form. That'll get you added to the mailing list, which in turn gets you access to the latest playtest version of Strands of Fate 2e.
You've got a little over a week to sign up (deadline is Saturday, April 29th), and we'll be sending out the newest version of the playtest doc on May 1st.
Also, there are now two official places to discuss Strands 2e and give playtest feedback. The first is our Google+ Community. The other is Reddit, were we've set up a subreddit for this purpose. Feel free to use either or both to give us feedback, as questions, or just let us know what you think!
We are officially out of Tact-Tiles, and currently do not have any plans to do another run. However, we still have a few that were put aside due to minor defects. We're planning to go through those and pull out the ones where the defects are only cosmetic; meaning they might have some minor discoloration, some scratches or dents, etc. but are still perfectly usable.
Once we do that, we'll be making them available at a discounted price.
Stay tuned for more on that.
If you are interested in getting an early look at Strands of Fate 2e, and getting an opportunity to provide feedback and potentially shape the game's development, now's your chance.
Keep an eye on this website, or our Facebook page, to be notified when it opens up again for phase 2.
Thank you!
You might have heard that, when it comes to writing, it's "hard to kill your babies". It is. It's damned hard sometimes. But the casualties are necessary.
Strands2's development is like any other project I've worked on. It left little bodies in its wake. Ideas, ranging from "bad" to "okay", lie scattered on the trail behind us. But this one, Strands of Fate 2e, has been particularly murderous. I've got early design docs that go back 4 years. I never delete anything, so I'm left with dozens of folders that resemble nothing so much as a digital cemetery. There are entire drafts of the book that have been discarded almost in their entirety.
It's evolution. Or maybe they're sacrifices to the muse. But in any case, they've led us here.
On Jan 23rd we're going to be putting out the call for Strands of Fate 2e playtesters. Those who sign up will be given the latest version of the playtest doc and a chance to provide feedback.
For more info, keep your eye on this site, or follow me on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.
It's been a while! A year ago I posted about the need to take something of a sabbatical. And I did, sort of. But as it turns out, I'm not really good at sabbaticals. So, in the time I should have been spending making myself a better person, I've instead been working with a small team of freelancers and playtesters to lay the foundation for the second edition of Strands of Fate.
So let's talk a little bit about that. What is Strands of Fate 2e?
The original Strands of Fate was a labor of love and one of my proudest achievements. And yet, it was way too ambitious of a project for someone who had, at the time, never really published anything before. It was designed to be a massive toolbox, created to empower you to use the Fate game system to play pretty much any sort of adventure game. And while I think it largely succeeded, it did it by sheer brute force and page count.
With Strands of Fate 2e, we're taking a different, more focused and clear, path to the same destination. Strands 2 is designed around a central core set of rules. These rules, Skills, Aspects, Fate Points, Stress.... the Fate classics; they're all there in the core. They make up a solid foundation upon which all Strands of Fate campaigns are built upon, and remain pretty consistent regardless of genre, power level, and other options.
Is it a Fate Core game? No, not really. Fate was first introduced in Spirit of the Century. The first Strands of Fate was born out of a desire to take what was in SotC and create a generic core rule set. And since that time, Evil Hat has gone on to create their own version of that.
This left Strands of Fate to become something of a diverging branch of Fate. And Strands 2 continues along that line. It's core rules borrow heavily from the work we did with the Fate version of Nova Praxis; which served as our starting point early in development.
Strands of Fate 2e certainly shares a lot of DNA with Evil Hat's Fate Core, but we are not branding it as a Fate Core game. Strands of Fate is its own distinct version of Fate.
So what's beyond the core?
Branching out from the core rules are Strands, distinct rules modules added to, or layered over, the core rules to create a more refined experience. It includes Strands that make Aspects play a larger role in the game, and Strands that make Aspects play a smaller role. There are Strands that up the PC lethality of the game, and Strands that make it safer. There are multiple character advancement options, different initiative options, sanity rules, miniatures rules, and much more.
And unlike Strands 1e, where the variant rules were sprinkled all throughout the book, the Strands in Strands of Fate 2e are clearly noted and confined to their own section of the book. This makes it easier to read and understand the core of the game system before muddying the waters with a tidal wave of options.
And to further help GM's and players tailer their experience, we're introducing Schemas. A Schema is a sort of blueprint for your campaign, and there is a chapter in the book devoted to walking the GM through building his campaign's Schema. It asks lot's of questions; questions like: "How lethal to the PCs do you want the campaign to be?" "How much narrative control do you want players to have?" "How big of a role to you want wealth and equipment to play in your games?" And depending on your answer to these questions, it suggests which Strands you should consider adding to your Schema.
And of course, we provide some sample Schemas. In fact...
One of the Schema's already in the Alpha version of the book is entitled "Strands of Cthulhu". And as you've probably already figured out, its a Schema that provides advice for using Strands of Fate 2e to run a campaign in which your PCs investigate and confront alien horrors from beyond.
This particular Schema currently clocks in at four pages, in which we provide an overview of Lovecraft's setting, advice for the sorts of characters the PCs should create, some sample Campaign Aspects (which can either be simple flavor, or provide mechanical effects, depending on the Strands you choose), a discussion of the setting's Tech-Level, the character's starting Power and Experience Levels, what Races, Skills, Perks, and Powers are available, and what Strands are required, recommended or expressly not recommended.
It then goes on to introduce the special Mythos Lore Affinity Skill, Mythos Tomes, and some advice about ancient rites and how the GM can use them in the game, as well as how PCs might access and use Mythos Sorcery.
Other sample Schemas will get the same treatment, and cover classic fantasy, modern super heroes, and a few other common genres.
One of the things players seems to love about Strands of Fate is the vast array of powers available. And on that front, Strands of Fate 2e once again delivers.
But one of the biggest differences is how Powers are obtained and activated. In the original Strands, each Power had a built-in assumption about how it was activated and/or what the costs where (though most had modifiers that allowed you to change this.)
In Strands 2, the Powers are much more agnostic in that regard. In fact, their write-ups don't even mention how they are activated. How a player gets their Powers, and how they activate them, are explained by special Perks called Aptitudes.
For example, let's look at Arcane Apprentice. When you take the Arcane Apprentice Aptitude, you gain one rank in the Arcana Affinity Skill, gain the Cantrips Meta-Powers, and you may choose one Power with the Ritual Activation Limitation. You may then learn additional Powers as you gain Experience and take additional Perks along the path to becoming an Archmage.
Right now we're in the final stages of the Alpha testing. Soon we'll be opening the game up to a semi-public Beta test, in which you'll get a chance to check it out before the Kickstarter launches in March.
Look for more on that near the end of the year!
Official website of Void Star Studios, publishers of Strands of Fate and Nova Praxis.
MIMIR Virtual Game MAster App
Strands of Fate 2nd Edition
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Nova Praxis: Savage Worlds Edition [SW]
Nova Praxis: Savage Worlds Edition GM Screen
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Machinations: The Nova Praxis GM's Companion [FATE]
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Nova Praxis [FATE]
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Nova Praxis Augmented PDF [FATE]
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Nova Praxis GM Screen PDF [FATE]
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Strands of Fate [A FATE Core Rulebook]
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Strands of Power {SoF Supplement]
(OUT OF STOCK)
