RiftRoamers
RiftRoamers is a free pen & paper role-playing game that emerged from its predecessor, Alien Encounters.
General
In 1991 the first version of Alien Encounters was launched by Mirco Adam and Andreas Schlegel. At that time it was roughly just a modification of existing systems such as Traveler . Over the years, the changes became so serious that no connection could be made to the original system. After Andreas Schlegel had largely stopped his work, Herbert Arp and Gunnar Hay joined them a little later and shortly afterwards (around 1997) Alien Encounters was renamed RiftRoamers. Gunnar Hay has since worked on the RiftRoamers 3050AD project, which deals with the continuation of the storyline after 3030.
RiftRoamers itself is free of charge and all the necessary data, such as a set of rules or character sheets, can be downloaded from the Internet as PDF files. The rules are constantly being revised and various source books exist (online). RiftRoamers puts its main focus on the dense background, which is worked out in many details and offers a complex basis for campaigns and scenarios.
background
RiftRoamers is set in AD 3030, while the Alien Encounters series covered the years 2566 (for adventure only) and 2575 in the same universe, before the alien conquest of Earth. In 3030, the earth is still occupied by the relics of the Morlorn, who wanted to terraform the planet for themselves . The primary intention was apparently to tear the roots of the human psyche away in order to break the resistance in the population against the new rulers. Even after the liberation of the people by the allies of the Cetadeani - above all the Antari - the earth is impregnable by the war machine and the terraforming facilities of the Morlorn. The United Solar Confederation (USC) has therefore moved the capital to Mars, which is only intended to serve as a temporary solution until the earth is habitable for humans again. The USC is by no means a safe place, because the Morlorn are still a threat and only the alliance with the Cetadeani was able to free the people from the Morlorn a good 400 years ago. Now mankind is about to complete a phase of consolidation and development. The people have been offered a permanent seat in the Galactic Council and an ambassador and his staff have set out to represent the people in the Galactic Alliance.
One place, however, is apparently free from confrontation: Freeport. This ring around a sun near the galactic core was - like the network of star gates - built by ancient civilizations of which nothing is known. There are visitors of every species, political orientation or religion on Freeport. There are no territorial disputes there. The exact reasons for this, however, are hidden. Freeport itself is evidently - not only in this respect - a great mystery .
to travel
In general, it can be said that space is big and empty. In RiftRoamers, however, it is relatively busy, even though only a fraction of the people on a planet ever enjoy a trip through space. A high proportion of fully automated, regionally limited freight traffic makes any star system close to the political center very busy. Large freighters several kilometers in length share the space close to the planet with tramp freighters whose length barely extends over 100 m. Passenger liners and feeder ships, courier ships and patrol ships, shuttles and one or two space fighters all contribute to this.
In order to cover great distances, one travels in RiftRoamers with the help of a so-called RIFT drive or with the help of the star gates known as vortex tunnels, which were built by ancient civilizations more than 500,000 years ago - the planetary gates even more than 1 million years ago. were built. Robotic freighters and older ships still use hyperspace jump drives in some cases, but these are increasingly losing their importance due to their side effects. Other drives exist outside the technical possibilities of humans.
Outside the star gate network, most living beings travel with non-reactive drive systems and in the vicinity of planets (e.g. in cities or on highways) with the grav drive, a kind of anti-gravity drive . A high percentage of the planetary individual means of transport are also wheeled vehicles in 3030. The costs for operating a gravure vehicle (commonly referred to as an aero) are also significantly higher than those of ground vehicles during this period. The pedestrians among the travelers get around using mass public transport. Lanes guided by means of a magnetic field or anti-gravure technology and pulsor fields embedded in the pedestrian zones, which provide a kind of conveyor belt, manage the lion's share.
The mystery of the gates
More than half a million years ago, some ancient civilizations - these are now known as the Builder races - created a network of stargates that once spanned the entire galaxy and possibly even enabled connections to other galaxies . The purpose of this gigantic undertaking is speculation. Most of the network is now unexplored. Almost every significant conflict between two civilizations in the galaxy is based on gaining new knowledge about the network. Rumors about segments of an ancient map are circulating everywhere. Again and again, alien relics appear that are said to have one or the other relationship with the gates or their builders. And while trading in relics is not always legal, there is a thriving black market .
The exact functional principle of the gates and its technical implementation are not exactly known to people and are the subject of constant research and fantasies. In space, the gates appear as multi-part structures, the individual segments of which are arranged in a ring around the tunnel entrance and form one or more rings to be crossed one behind the other. Planetary gates - they are apparently technically much more advanced counterparts - are not recognizable as such as long as no passage opens. The star gates provide wormhole-like connections over long distances and are used by all species. An automatism maintains the gates and the routes are passable. Special, planet-bound vortex tunnels also exist - as already mentioned - connected by an ancient road network, passable by almost any vehicle with a closed passenger cell. Conclusion: The network of star gates - be they orbital or planetary - is not even close to being fully explored. There are many individual, non-contiguous segments and only a few consistently usable routes. What they all have in common, however, is that the network is open to anyone who is able to reach such a stargate.
species
There are four important (alien) species for humans: Dhor'Gondar, Morlorn, Cetadeani and humans. There are also countless other types, e.g. B. the Shak'Maral or the ancient culture of the Gamaah'Gin, but these are of minor political importance from the point of view of humans at the time the game started in 3030 AD. The great and ancient species of the galaxy are, for the most part, widely dispersed today. However, they look back on a common age that is described by many as the Golden Age. It is about the rule of the Meta-Lords, which ended a few thousand years ago at the end of a series of great wars on the galactic level and gave rise to today's power structures in the galaxy.
- In the political perception of the people, the Dhor'Gondar appear as a balancing power, whose decisions often have an influence on the distribution of power in the galaxy. You are at an extremely high level of technological development.
- The Cetadeani, on the other hand, appear as strong allies in the melting pot of the Galactic Nations. Thanks to their striving for unity among the numerous small interstellar nations, the strong position of the star state, known in human parlance as the Galactic League, is thanks to them. The Cetadeani are also a highly developed species.
- The counterpart, the great and threatening opponent, is assumed by the people in the Morlorn, who in the past even succeeded in conquering the earth and making it inaccessible to humans. A deeply rooted, subliminal fear of the Morlorn still determines people's actions today - almost 400 years after the liberation. In terms of technological development, the Morlorn are ahead of the human race in some areas.
Another significant human nation from the USC's point of view are the Antari, which, however, developed from one of the colonization projects started almost 1000 years ago and had a stable relationship with the Galactic Alliance for several hundred years before they joined the humans of the USC came into contact. Together with them, people strive for unity among the human nations of the galaxy. The recapture of the earth, the home of all people in the galaxy, is also very important to humans.