DARKSTAR CAMPAIGN UPDATE: DUCHESS ANNABEL’S WAR IS OVER

Okay, Beast of War community … you win!  I am officially running up the white flag!  Your Soviet-style “human-wave” tactics have finally overcome my hesitation, reluctance, fear, and cynicism.  I will bend to your will.

I will write the Darkstar rules – as in actually down on paper.

*… God help me … *

Please understand, I am positively thrilled that this project has had so much support over the preceding year, and continues to draw so much attention and positive feedback from the community.  It really has touched a nerve it seems, in bringing detailed, tactical, “crunchy” wargame play to the sci-fi genre in a way that we really haven’t seen since the 1980s glory days of BattleTech, Traveler, and Renegade Legions.

But as someone who has written wargame rule books before (and I mean written rulebooks, 1980s style, not the glossy, fabulously illustrated, but ultimately vague and badly organized material we so often get today)  …

… I have no illusions what I am in for.

So, a few things:

1. This rule book will be written over the next month or so.  It will take at least that long.
2. This rule book will contain no fluff.  All of that has already been presented in the .pdfs available in this project thread.
3. This will be a bare-bones “legal document” that will emphasize clarity, organization, cross-referencing, examples, and the actual “nutz-n’-boltz” mechanics of actual tabletop play.
4. The Turn Sequence included in this project thread below will serve as a general “table of contents,” with four additional small sections:
   • Setting up scenarios
   • Determining victory
   • Upgrading your ship / commander / crew
   • A sample of warships
5. The book will not include all factions for all ship classes.  I’m sorry, I just can’t.  Not for a first try at a rule book.  That would be 200 additional pages right there.
6. The book will not include the MS Excel tables for building / designing your own ships from scratch.  If anyone is interested in trying that, we can work together online via Discord or GoToMeeting or Google Hangouts or some other medium.
7. The book will not include the full campaign rules for determining how these interstellar wars start, progress, and end.  Again, it’s just too much.
8. The book will not include planetary invasions, ground installations, boarding, etc.  Again, this is all to much, and to be honest, it only transpires in about 5% of Darkstar games anyway.
9. All of these these elements not included may be included in smaller future books, depending on how the first book goes and how well it is received.
10. At the moment I have no plans for monetizing this or anything.  All I will be producing is a series of .pdfs, which honestly can be copied and spread around after the first one is sent out anyway.  There will be no maps, components, miniatures, etc., nothing from which I will be trying to derive revenue.
11. I will be accepting donations through PayPal if anyone wants to support me or my work.  Rewards for such donations may be anything from your name being included in the book, a starship in the official canon being named after you, a colony, or a “legendary general” in the historical background of one of the factions.
12. I will certainly “be around” to answer questions, clarify rules, or even help run online Darkstar games and/or tutorials via a web platform to be determined.

So there it is.  I am officially doing this.

Apologies in advance, I will be more or less vanishing from Beasts of War / OTT for at least the next month or so as this project gets started.

And again, we’ll be running online games in the next couple of weeks.  There’s already a “bit of a line” so to speak.  And I’ll be a little backed up with these written rules.

But stay tuned to this project thread!  Every recommendation and comment is a little more encouragement!  Updates and progress will be posted!

Take care, and thanks as always for everyone’s support.

James “Oriskany”

Historical Editor, Beasts of War