#HC Svnt Dracones

[hc-svnt-dracones95]

Solitude in Xen.

Reference.

[elliegoose]

ABSOLUTELY I WANNA HEAR THE FERN LORE LAY IT ON ME!! and hell yes fat orange cats are great pilots, it's the rule now, we made it one

I am so glad you asked!! Time for the Fern Lore...

So in Fern's main timeline in the HC SVNT DRACONES setting, they're a bioship pilot, an occupation which is referred to as Astra Channeler in the game. Here they are in one of their formal outfits.

The bioships in question are a product of Transcendent Technology Inc., the corporation that controls Fern's homeworld of Europa. TTI is known for designing basically everything from living tissues, up to and including their cities, which are giant living structures made of bone and flesh and flowing with hot blood. Here's a cross-section of a Europan city block from one of the HSD supplemental books! To give you a sense of scale, all those little dots are people.

You may think this is creepy, but to Fern it is entirely normal! In fact, Fern thinks it's weird when they can't feel bone beneath their feet and hear the subtle thrum of a building's circulatory system.

Anyway, the ships they pilot are engineered creatures that TTI created from the DNA of beings which were themselves created by a multidimensional, eldritch entity who has a presence on Europa and Jupiter (HSD's canon is bizarre). They are operated through a psychic connection facilitated by a Transcendent brain implant that also gives Fern a number of psychic powers, including biopsionics (healing and flesh manipulation) and precognition.

Here's what one of TTI's bioships looks like. There isn't a canon floorplan, but I've always assumed that passengers enter through the mouth because of uh... reasons... >;3c

Fern originally became an astra channeler because they wanted to get out, see more of the solar system, and meet their long-distance friends on other planets and moons. It helped that being one pays really well. One thing led to another, however, and Fern eventually ended up as an adventurer and smuggler, an occupation where their psychic powers and their ability to interface with biological machines like these bioships have come very much in handy.

And yeah, that's the Fern pilot lore!

[neuroticmoths]

day two of bweirdOCtober : new oc my blip son Cinder from our HC Svnt Dracones game!

[aj-the-satyr]

repercussions or the lack of

ZG knocked on the door and slid in before the reply of “Come in” was even uttered.

“You want to give me a stern talking to boss?” smirked ZG as he closed the door behind him.

The bear behind the desk sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose while throwing a tablet down. “Sit.”

ZG did as asked and slid into one of the two seats on the other side of the desk pulling out his packet of puffs as he did so.

“Really? Now? You’re gonna use one of those things?”

ZG shrugged. “You get your spine snapped in two in front of over a billion people and then you can tell me when I need these. Or be a doctor, that path might be the better one.”

“Look, ZG.” he gestured to the tablet. “Got yet another incident report with your name all over it.”

“Yeah?” ZG inhaled one of the puffs before blowing out the vapour through his nostrils. The office filled with a vague strawberry scent. “Gonna fire me over it?”

The bear growled. “Were it that easy. You’re good at what you do. Almost too good.”

“Too good?” ZG chuckled at that. “Perhaps everyone else is a lazy freeloader jealous that I can get these,” he waved the puff around “for cheap because I have a legitimate reason to get them, while they are simply looking to get high and forget that they’re tied to a shitty contract for a shitty corp.”

“Look. I just need you to tone down this attitude. Your numbers are the only thing keeping you here. I know I wouldn't be the first in line to space you without a suit.”

“Try it.”

Another long sigh. “That’s what I’m talking about. Do you care about anything but yourself?”

ZG frowned. “Doing a good job on whatever I’m assigned. Work keeps me focused.”

“That why you are always first in line for extra shifts?”

“Yeah. Keeps the brain from thinking too much.”

“Shit. Sounds like you need a therapist.” The bear reached for the tablet “I know..”

ZG cut him off. “Don’t bother boss. Fire me if you got you. I get it. I’m disruptive. Seems like I need to get further out into the black.”

“Your numbers….”

“Fuck my numbers. I quit.” And with that ZG got out of the chair and headed for the door.

“Wait!”

ZG paused and looked back.

“Here.” The bear flicked something off the tablet towards ZG. ZG frowned again as his comm chirped.

“What was that?”

“My brother is assembling a crew for something headed out into deep Sol. You’re one of the best engineers I’ve had come through here, even if you are a fucking asshole.”

“Really?”

“If you won’t talk to a therapist then maybe getting lost in a job out there will help. I like you ZG. Just not your attitude towards everything you feel gets in your way.”

“Thanks boss.”

“You quit, ZG. It’s just Gerrad now.”

“Then, thanks Gerrad.” ZG said as he slipped out the door.

[fr0gery]

headshots of some oc deus ex characters judah bishop by by @torakubi grayson torgeyr by @raynerberg salvi kaiserberg and arius silver by @eagle-claws claire by @hc-svnt-dracones ulrika and wu by @cchr11

[mxfloof]

-Sir Terry Pratchett, The Color of Magic, 1989 Reprint, Forward

‘Here Be Dragons’ is a translation of the Latin phrase, “HC SVNT DRACONES,” referring to the imagery of dragons on early maps dating back centuries. The dragons depicted, symbolized incredibly dangerous and unexplored areas.

The Discworld remains unmapped because none of us (including Sir Pratchett) know what the hell is going on in there. Many fantasy worlds put the unexplored territory behind layers of attempted cartography. The Discworld is a true fantasy world. All we need to know to start, is 'There Be Dragons'.

[haveyoureadthisdcfic]

Authour: element78

Subfandom: Batman

Media: All Media Types

Relationships: Shippy (Jason Todd/Dick Grayson)

Year: 2022

Summary:

The shape moves like an oil slick, all serpentine grace as it lightly pushes off from the building it's perched on, big wings tucking in close and body twisting like a cat’s to land on feet and wing-hands on the street below, facing Jason. For one moment they’re eye-to-electric-blue-eye- and then the wyvern pushes up and snaps its wings open again with a sound like a thunderclap. It leaps into the air, beating its wings once, twice, already above the rooftops and gaining altitude fast. “Wait,” Jason croaks, then yells “wait,” but the wyvern is gone, wingbeats muffled by distance, blue flickers of static trailing through the air from its wingtips and tail. Jason stares up after it and aches to spread his own wings and follow it into the sky.

Submitted by anon

Submitter's comment:

Most dragon AUs that I've found tend to just be playing around with a cool setting, but this story not only has some amazing worldbuilding but a really well-crafted plot.

[helenarlett-rex]

Gorge World: Part 2

This post is a continuation from Part 1.

So starting out with my test play of Gorge World, I have decided on the modern setting out of the three available settings in the book.

Welcome to Ahmurica, brought to you by the Coalition of Corporations (CoC). It’s 1997 and there’s a War. A fast food cold war of sorts, as leading restaurant chains fight for dominance. A boost in integrated circuitry during the corporate conflict has caused a variety of growing pains. Neon has yet to be discontinued but LED shines bright in car dashboards. Cassettes still hold on while CDs and cartridges now hold enough data for 3D graphics, with new influence from ‘the Net’. Plastic shelled robots follow their owners commands to some degree of accuracy. To the point where even medical diagnostics and treatment is somewhat automated. And with all of this new progress, all corporations have used it for its advertisement and indoctrination. And it worked somewhat, as sects of brand loyalists dedicate their lives to the consumption of the brand and even fight for it. While others try their best to keep to themselves and live lives the way they want.

I will also be playing the game solo though use of the Mythic Game Master Emulator. It's not like I have anyone else who's going to play this particular game with me. I was lucky to get my regular gaming group to play Hc Svnt Dracones. If I tried pitching this to them... well... it's not going to happen. Besides, I want to actually play this... not just run it for someone else...

So I've got my little Helen mini ready for adventure, but she needs something to actually be doing. Let's start with a pretty standard setup. How about she goes out to grab something to eat? This is Burgerberg after all. Their society seems pretty centered around fast food. And if I look on Helen's sheet, we can see I listed her favorite food as "chicken," so if I look at the setting document in the book I don't see a place to get actual chicken, but I do see here that we have a place called Cheekin Chapel.

Cheekins (not to be confused with chickens) are delicious fat raptor-like creatures known for their white meat. Thus they are great for frying, amongst the other protein sources. No restaurant is known more for its fried cheekin than “Cheekin Chapel”, with its plus sized hen nun mascot holding a collection platter full of fried cheekin. As the pioneer of serving food in cardboard buckets, Cheekin Chapel is one of the few restaurant chains not suffering from growing pains due to the increased demand for larger portions. Even going so far as to up the size of its biscuits to that of burger buns. The current CEO, a very rotund shortstack eagle known as Gazette Gilded, daughter of the previous CEO Garter Gilded, is shrewd in her business practices and runs a tight ship. Also known for her loud angry yelling that can be heard three floors in either direction. Rumor has it she lives a double life hanging around malls and bars under the nickname “Glitter”.

This will do, I think. It may not be actual chicken, but it's close enough.

Forgive my medieval tavern full of human patrons, but I don't exactly have a KFC setup. Helen has poor eyesight anyways so I'm sure she can't tell the difference.

Helen goes up to the front counter to place an order, but I'm thinking she really wanted some actual chicken. So she's going to ask the bartender- I mean, fast food attendant... if he had any "specials" he can offer her. *Wink wink*

Does he? We'll have to consult the Fate Chart in the Mythic GM Emulator.

We are only just starting out so the Chaos Rank starts out at the default of 5, and I think the chances of them having any actual chicken they are just going to hand over to whatever random customer comes in and asks is Very Unlikely.

And we rolled 39. So that's a no. It's not an exceptional no, however. It's just a basic no. What that's telling me is that while he's telling her no, he's not being completely straightforward with her. He may actually have some chicken, or at least know where to get it. But now the question is, does Helen realize he's not being totally honest with her? She'll need quickness of mind here, so that's going to require an Agility roll. Helen's only got one pip in Agility, so she rolls 1 die, and we are going to say this an Average difficulty roll.

And that is a failure... So Helen does not pick up on the fact that he isn't being completely straight with her.

So then... with nothing else to do, I guess Helen will order a meal and go sit down to eat. She will order Fire Flakes. The book doesn't tell me what Fire Flakes actually are, so let's just assume it's like, spicy chicken strips or something... That will cost her 1 Trinket of currency and the book says it "Fills 1 point of Fullness."

Now my next question is, does anything happen while she's eating? We are going to go back to the GE Emulator to find out by rolling on the Event Focus Table.

And we rolled a 38, which is Move Towards a Thread. Hmm... We haven't actually pulled out the Mythic adventure sheet and added any threads yet, but I guess we do sort of have one now... "Find Real Chicken." So I'm going to go ahead and add that to the sheet.

So now that we have an actual thread to move towards, we need to figure out how we are doing that, or what is moving us towards it. For that we will roll on Mythic's Event Meaning chart. And by rolling two d100s I got Abuse The Physical...

Hmm... Okay, yeah... So I think what happens is, while Helen is eating she notices the bartender getting rough with one of the waitresses.

Let's say that she drops a serving tray and spills someone's food all over the floor and the bartender comes out and starts yelling at her. It says Abuse The Physical so let's say he actually slaps her. And being a woman herself, Helen won't stand for that.

She jumps to the waitress's defense and is going to try to make the bartender back down. We're going to use a Force roll to try to make the bartender back off as she bares her teeth and roars at him. And Helen has 2 pips in Force so she'll be rolling 2 dice for this.

Oh my god. And it's worse than a fail. It's a Flub. In Gorge World a Flub is basically like rolling a Critical Failure and the character is punished in some way. Now the rules say a GM may cause something bad to happen or evoke one of a character’s various features in a negative way. Since my GM is an emulator I'm going to have to roll to find out which of the two it wants to do. This will just be a simple 50/50 roll so we'll just roll a d4. Evens something bad happens, odds we evoke one of character’s features.

And I rolled a 4, so that's even. Something bad happens. And to find out what, we will again ask the Event Meaning Chart.

Lie Advice... Ah, okay. I know what this is. The bartender, completely unshaken by having this angry T-Rex roaring in his face, is going to "advise" Helen to back down and make up some kind of lie as to why she should. I'm going to roll one more time to find out what that lie is.

Negligence The innocent...? Oh, maybe he tells her that if they get into a fight there in the restaurant more innocent people are going to get hurt. Yeah, he puts on a show of being tougher than he actually is to make her think that he'll throw her all over the restaurant and create a full barroom brawl kind of situation if she tries to take him on. And because this is the punishment for her Flub Helen doesn't get to roll anything to try and call his bluff. So instead she just backs down and slowly slinks out of the restaurant with her head lowered in defeat.

But that's okay! Because remember, the whole point of this encounter was Move Towards a Thread.

So I think what happens is, after Helen leaves, the waitress chases after her, following her outside, to thank her for trying to stand up for her. And she's going to give Helen some advice on where she can find some actual chicken. And with one more roll that advice is...

Excitement Reality...

Oh... Okay... Yeah, I know what this means. And I will save it for the next post.

To Be Continued

---------------------------------

So after playing my first little session, as short as it was, I do already feel like I am starting to get a handle on the game. I only ended up doing two rolls in the actual game and the rest were all rolling on the Mythic emulator, but they were very simple and straight forward. I'll try making them a bit crunchier as the game progresses by adding in higher difficulties and experimenting with advantages and disadvantages, but so far I like the dice system. I didn't get a chance to try out combat yet either. I was kind of hoping things might go that way with the bartender, but that Flub kind of killed that. We'll see how combat goes when it happens.

As for the setting... This game is made to be played in any setting you want so I could easily homebrew something if I wanted to, but I figured since it's the first time I've ever played I should just use one of the stock settings provided. I didn't even realize it at first, but it's a very Burgerpunk setting. I've heard people joke about Burgerpunk before but I've never seen it actually implemented until now. I mean... I'm playing a TTRPG about trying to find a fucking chicken sandwich... but I'm having fun so I guess that's all that matters.

[hc-svnt-dracones95]

10 likes on this post made me remake this drawing. Have a Paul!!! (honestly I don't know what I intended to do but it looks cool imo)

[sign-seeker]

I thought initially that you were asking for TTRPGS you could use a base for your own wordbuilding, but I see from the replies that I have the wrong end of the stick, and you want to read other people's unusual RPG world building...

I therefore offer up two RPGs I have encountered, with varying flavours of "interesting":

"Worldtree" is a fantasy RPG set on a world which is, as the name suggests, one giant tree, with different civilisations living and dying on various branches, with a surprising level of modern day convenience fueled by magitech, which comes in the form of the gifts to the world of ancient gods, the power of which waxes and wanes depending on which gods are active and which gods are taking a nap...

And "HC SVNT DRACONES", which I am absolutely sure is titled that way because the writer misread the phrase "Hic Sunt Dracones", is the anti-Shadowrun of futuristic sci-fi games, in that it A) steers away from the fantasy route by going full gene-splicing, aliens and high technology instead and B) is explicitly pro-corporation. It has a thorough treatise on the history of the colonisation of the solar system, complete with psychic slenderman martian owls, but all of it is underpinned by the sincere belief on the part of the author that the concept of the Free market is a sacred philosophical concept and that corporations must genuinely have their customers beat interests at heart or else they wouldn't have customers anymore. I must note that my memory of it is based on first edition: it apparently has a recent-ish second edition, and I have no idea if the author had someone take them by the hand and teach them to stop fellating the corpos in the meantime.

Anybody got any good recommendations for ttrpgs if I'm primarily looking for extended loredumps about a setting with little to no intention of trying to run a game? I being realistic about my social prospects, and worldbuilding

[wheretheactionisnt]

hc svnt dracones

[aj-the-satyr]

Distant Memories

The problem with hush money.... it doesn't quiet the nightmares.

I stood at the locker glad for the break from Cryo. A smile formed as my brain informed me that others would consider me crazy for volunteering for this. They use prisoners for this. No one volunteers.

I liked the work. Kept the thoughts in check.

Something appeared to my right, it was one of the guards. He tried to hand me something. I looked. It was a trimmer. My smile widened. "No need." I gestured to my hooves. "Already got the tools."

"But..." they began only to be cut off. "Don't worry, he'll be fine." came a voice from behind me.

"Yessir!" and with that the guard offering me the trimmer left the room.

I turned to see a black furred rabbit vector with red eyes. Nice combo. I looked over his Vac Suit for a tag. Capt Yin.

"Suit up, Kidd. You may be a volunteer and not a prisoner but that doesn't mean you can slack off."

"Yes sir, captain sir." I said with a mock salute as I pressed a palm onto the locker. Slacking off was actually the furthest thing from my mind. The work helped me forget.

I slid my vac suit on taking special care to check the ankle seals. I might want my hooves exposed, but I didn't want to leak that precious O2.

"How much did the reclamation set you back?" asked the captain. "Enough." I said leaning on the locker, adjusting a seal.

"Worth it?"

"Every credit. Don't have to fumble with tools. Or clunky mag boots." I gestured at his own.

He looked down. "You get used to them. Plus plenty of things can't be solved by cutting."

"Solved..... no. But it takes away the pain for a while."

[owlbear33]

I guess the other TTRPG I want right (or really a setting - but I'll get into that) now is one with a Space opera setting featuring a colonised solar system but not much if any interstellar stuff, less transhumanist cyberpunk than Eclipse Phase or Hc Svnt Dracones (or Transhuman space), less retro than Rocket Age or Space 1889

an RPG that understands that space is honking massive, there're I don't know how many cultures on Earth, and technology might one day allow us to live all over the solar system,

Mars ruled by a series of city-states connected by the great rail run by the cult of Hermes, revolutionary politics fermenting in the floating polities of the Venusian clouds, Mercury ground up into the beginnings of a Dyson swarm, Jarls raiding from their kingdoms on the Jovian moons, and who knows what else further out

even given advanced rocketry travelling around the solar system is still going to take age-of-sail type times, and most sci-fi RPGs are built with different assumptions, so I don't know of anything that fits the bill

[zarpaulus]

A lot of RPGs with Transhumanist themes: Eclipse Phase, Blue Planet, GURPS, etc, seem like they trivialize the trans experience by making GRS a relatively straightforward and affordable experience.

I'm not sure if Pathfinder is trying to say "we see you" or just can't break out of their American healthcare mindset with those HRT alchemical elixirs they introduced this year.

Hc Svnt Dracones, whose creator came out as trans a bit after first edition was published, actually addressed how easy GRS might affect society in one module. It was a one-off procedure but expensive and out of many people's price range. A trans character was determined to win an engineering contest so she could afford it.

And then there's Traveller, someone in Journal of the Traveller's Aid Society vol. 13 (this year) managed to get an adventure published that not only made an allegory of the "trans people in sports" astroturf, but directly stated that the drug that world's fascists were demonizing was used for HRT.

D&D is the Taylor Swift of TTRPGs by which I mean it's something with broad mainstream appeal and name recognition and also there are people out there who pretend it's gay

[theabsolutevoid]

Oh my god I just had such a good idea. Is there still a mass tag replacer out there (I've never used one) kinda want to change my big cat tag to hic svnt leones and dragons tag to hc svnt dracones......

[indigoelfinspirit]

Skelly Bear Remains Beloved