Stellar Initiation

Stellar Dynamics is a roleplaying system developed by Hroefn, Louloubelle, Icebreed, and NicholasDeLeone. It is both a setting and a set of playing rules which borrow, to varying degrees, from another system we all worked on together, called Alternate Dragonball Z RP. To be clear, however, Stellar Dynamics is not linked to any part of Dragonball Z, and no knowledge or appreciation of that anime series is needed to enjoy Stellar. It is its own beast.

Stellar Dynamics is currently in BETA PHASE TESTING, which means that while the crucial setting and rules backbones are there and we feel pretty confident in the system's ability to support roleplay, everything has a lot of rough edges. Content is still being developed, and the rules are still being tested. Both may change daily, or even more frequently. We recommend that you stay tuned to the Recent Changes page, which can always be found in the navbar on the left, to keep up on new pages and edits to existing ones.

What is Stellar Dynamics about?

In our setting, a Humanity barely a stone's throw into the future from today must co-exist with a multitude of other space-faring races of varying advancement. Some, like the Ellorians and the Children of Karyos, operate on relatively equal levels, though they may be far more advanced in some realms and behind in others. Some races, like the Grey, are exceptionally powerful and advanced societies that act as guardians of the Younger Races, while advancing their own sometimes unfathomable agendas.

But Stellar Dynamics is more than just another sci-fi setting. In this universe, there are beings known as Potentials who are like proto-versions of their race. They have gained inexplicable super-powers that cause them to be extremely capable in one way or another, above the rest of their kind. Frequently, these people become sufficiently powerful that, with their gifts, they can fight with the power of dozens of people, or more. Their power escalates with every day as they reach epiphanies with their abilities. In the Elder Races, such individuals are commonplace, and consist their entire race, but the Younger Races are only just now beginning to have them. As such, the civilizations of the galaxy are struggling to come to grips with the repercussions of the presence of such catalysts. The Elder Races try to suppress their influence in the Younger Races, while the Potentials of Younger Races maneuver and operate independently to advance their own ideals.

As a player, you will generally play a Potential of a Younger Race. Most commonly, people tend to pick one of the races that The Grey watch over, though others are available. Elder Race characters are not usually available for most people to play, though they may appear as story-advancing NPC characters.

How do I join Stellar Dynamics?

All you need is access to Discord, which is a free social gathering app. Though Discord is a voice-chat service, at this time, you do not need to be able to participate in a voice channel to play with us. All roleplay takes place in text channels. You just need to be able to write creatively! You do not need to be a literary genius to play with us, either; we have a variety of players with a variety of play styles and writing abilities. We encourage inclusive, welcoming, and open behavior in this game. Once you have Discord, you will need to secure an invitation to the server we use from one of its staff.

In addition, you will need an account on this wiki. To get one, you need to contact a staff member on Discord. Primarily, this is so that you can create character sheets that are relatively uniform and centralized with everyone else's (not to mention editable, where necessary). Every permanent character in the game must have a character sheet. Those who do not are not allowed to have any permanent or meaningful effect on the setting or its characters. With an account, however, you are capable of editing almost any page on the site. We encourage you to use this privilege to create and modify content, once you are more familiar with the system, to help flesh out the setting and give it a personal touch, rather than feeling like you're simply living in our world.

What is the game system like?

Stellar Dynamics' game system is based loosely on another system we developed for Alternate Dragonball Z RP. That system predicated upon the ability of players to create just about any kind of character from any kind of genre, with almost any kind of super-power they could imagine. As long as a player could visualize their character competing (eventually) on the same levels as characters who could explode mountains and threaten planets with their power, it was a potentially workable concept. While characters in Stellar begin at a somewhat lower scale of power, we anticipate that characters will eventually reach that level of power, too. We embrace the same kind of openness about character concepts. The setting may default to sci-fi, but if you can find a reasonable way for your medieval wizard or post-apocalyptic road warrior or what have you to engage in such a setting, we welcome it.

In particular, this system is unique in that your character can have almost any kind of super-ability you can think of. There are limits, of course, but rather than having to pick from a list of possible powers, or trying to cookie-cutter your power into something similar, we instead start from the concept of what the power is and, from that story-wise description, we develop a sort of rule-wise description of it that allows us to measure its effects in a way that everyone can work with. More powerful effects will generally require more time and effort on you and your character's behalf to master. Many powers may not be immediately possible, from a starting character. You may need to build up toward the power you imagine from something more humble.

Be aware that this system does use a limited amount of multiplicative math. Generally speaking, Potentials have a number associated with their power called their Potency Level, and an exponential level statistic called Potential Tier. All the measurable values that an ability generates are based on the Potency Level, by multiplying it by a percentage. For instance, the default speed a person or ability travels at is calculated as 50% of the character's Potency Level. To make that calculation, you can multiply whatever the Potency Level is by 0.5 (zero point five). Generally speaking, you should at least round to the nearest whole number (nobody cares about fractional power measurements). As long as you are able to convert percentages to decimals and make the calculations, and you are able to look at two numbers and have an idea in your mind of approximately how much bigger or smaller one is than the other, you'll do just fine. If you have problems with this, the game staff can help you.

How do I get started?

Perhaps the best way to get started with Stellar is to go back to the Main Page and peruse each of the setting pages under Local Cluster, to get an idea for what the setting of most of the roleplay is like, and to give yourself an idea of what kind of character you might like to play. Then, read all of the Rules pages, in the next column over. We endeavor to keep the rules simplified so that they are accessible to everyone, but we do require that everyone read and follow them. If you have any difficulty comprehending our rules, please contact a game staff member. We will be more than happy to help you understand our system.

Once you have a grasp of the rules, you can start putting a character together. To do so, you need to create a character sheet on this wiki. Simply search for the name of your character, and when the search turns up empty, it will provide you with a link to create it. You can open a new tab or window, point it at the sheet template, go into edit mode, copy the contents into your new page, then add your own information. If you are savvy with wiki formatting, you can create your own sheet format, so long as it contains all of the required information. We recommend that, for your first few characters, you discuss the abilities of your characters with a game staff member, so you can come to an understanding on how the rules-wise descriptions of abilities should be written, and what you can expect a starting character to be able to begin play with.

It is important to note that while staff members must be able to read and approve the full text of your abilities, you are not required to disclose the ability rules-wise description on your character sheet. Should you wish to conceal these actual workings of the ability, you should submit an email to the staff with all of the character's information for approval. Otherwise, you can assign your sheet the Technical Review category. This will draw the attention of a technical review staff member, who will contact you with any questions or comments on your character, as well as any new technical information about your character that does not need to go on a character sheet, but should be kept for your records (such as the price of their abilities).

Once your character's abilities and story have been approved, you're good to go! You can organize a scene with the other players in the OOC text channels, and then start playing in the roleplaying channels. Good luck and have fun!