#startrip: solar tour

[hankwizard]

STARTRIP: SOLAR TOUR

Devlog #1: the basics

A rules-lite resource-management tabletop about taking your band to the stars!

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with sci-fi! But my interest was definitely "silly space magicians throw lasers at each other's cool robots" way instead of, like, the hard stuff that actually tries to be scientific. I like green aliens, stars that twinkle, far-out words with no vowels, and copious amounts of goo in my futuristic works. I was also a massive fan of Scott Pilgrim... Well, the cool parts I hyperfixated on. To me, ideal young adult living consists of going to basement shows, crashing house parties, and smudging eyeliner on purpose. Of course, I'm now in my mid-twenties, so these are all parts of my life (though I'd never be caught dead at a basement show, they usually reek. free dive bar open mic nights are my ride now), and it's still a lifestyle I love writing about, grungy parts and all.

Startrip: Solar Tour! is the marriage of these two things. Set in a future where each planet in the Solar System is at least semi habitable (except for jupiter, fuck jupiter), the goal is to bounce from planet to planet, rockin' out and reaching the next stop in the competition to become the greatest band in the solar system.

I want to post about some of my progress with it :) So far, it's focused on resource management. Your resources are as follows for each individual band member:

(however i may get rid of scrounging... or maybe add an item system? but adding an item system just to justify a skill seems like how you introduce a superfluous system. would love input)

The band will, to put it super simply, combine the scores of their resources to perform certain actions, or may use their own resources individually. Their vans (well, spaceship-vans) will also have resources to manage.

(I'm making an ever-growing list of starter vehicles... Oh man, I should also add ways to switch out your van for a better one, huh? With extra abilities. That would fuck.)

There are some other mechanics too: "Groupies" essentially buff stats for a price, but you can only get so many. Fail states include starvation, getting your ass kicked in, and losing at one of the major band battles. I'm also planning to add a nemesis system for the game's rival bands (of which there shall be many), but that's on the back burner. I want to make a post going over the many different alien species, but i wanna at least have concept doodles to go alongside. Anyways, that's all for now!

[hankwizard]

doing tabletop/interactive fiction development is great bc now i can POST ABOUT MY WRITING without spoiling my work. however, there are some things about startrip im not spoiling (since it's gonna, like... cost money:)

Rival bands (well, i might post a couple, but i'd leave out backstory n junk)

individual groupies (i may post 1 or 2 to get the idea across, but i want them to be a surprise in the handbook)

expanded planet lore (RN i have very bare bones summaries that are to be replaced later. i'll only post the summaries publicly)

events n shit (duh)

[hankwizard]

happier to report that I'm implementing new systems and rounding it out and getting stuff donezo

exiting a long term writers block feels like being possessed by the voices™ (the voices are I am 60 pages into a story I'm not releasing and I'm like 70% done with a rules-lite tabletop)

[hankwizard]

Startrip: Solar Tour

Devlog #2: semantics, tweaking

(she's from venus)

Changed "Scrounging" to "Brain cells" (or at least that's what i'm probably going with?). You can use braincells for finding things like with scrounging, but braincells can also be used for other situations, like avoiding intergalactic scams. it's a resource easy to lose, however, if you're not careful about Sci-Fi Substance Use or fights. Losing rowdiness checks will often lead to loss of braincells. Think of braincells as the unholy mixture of a health stat and an intelligence stat. If you run out, you die!

I'm also working on some other things... namely, planet-specific events and alien designs. im very excited to reach the playtesting stage!