As part of my Patreon, we are going to share a Starport Scum Transmission every month. This will feature a single new item, such as a character you can use in games, an enemy, monster or new playable alien race. Basically one slice of gaming stuff that you can fit into a scenario or modify to use. 

The first Transmission will happen this month.

This is the start of a slow process to hopefully get more eyeballs back on Starport in preparation for eventually doing a 2nd edition, as well as making the Patreon contents more varied and fun. 

With a few caveats for tweaks, this is the background section from the rulebook. Formatting is a little wobbly since it was copied from the document :)

THE GALAXY AS WE KNOW IT

Overview

Mystic Space takes place in a remote galaxy, among stars almost invisible to our telescopes. 

Great civilisations have arisen under these stars, which we will discuss in this chapter. After all, you are going to live among them in a tiny way, so you better get your bearings and know who is your friend and who is your foe.

This is not a peaceful galaxy, ruled by reason and prosperity. It is a galaxy riven by war and grand visions of the future in conflict with each other. But it is also a galaxy full of promise for the future, where bravery can change the course of unwritten history.

The “Human” Condition

The people inhabiting the galaxy look like humans, they talk like humans and they behave like humans, at least most of the time. They are not however human. They refer to themselves as the Star-Born due to having emerged simultaneously on multiple worlds. It is believed that they may have originated from an earlier culture of which no traces now remain. 

Star-Born physically resemble Earth humans, though they tend to be slightly taller (about 185 centimetres average for an adult) and with very little height difference between male and female. 

They tend to live slightly longer with the effects of aging not being noticeable until the 50s and average lifespan being about 100. They are also fairly resilient to illness with fewer viruses able to spread effectively.

Star-Born culture varies tremendously across many worlds, but compared to Earth humans, they would often appear to have heightened states of emotion, feeling loss, anger, love and passion very keenly and for prolonged periods of time. This can result in lifelong loyalties but equally lengthy rivalries and feuds.   

The scattering

The cultures that we now call Star-Born arose on their individual worlds in relative peace and progressed technologically at a very rapid pace until they achieved star travel, allowing them to begin their spread throughout the galaxy. Great colony ships pierced the void as exploration fleets spread in every direction.

As they journeyed outwards from their home worlds, they began to discover that they were not alone: Others like them lived among the stars and had similar stories to tell and similar, though scattered, points of origin. All had followed similar paths into the void. All had ambitions for what they were finding under strange stars.

Diplomatic missions were established and forward thinkers began speaking of a galactic unity among the disparate people now calling themselves the Star-Born. This was not to be however. 

As conflicting goals clashed, ambitions and passions flared. The brief dream of a cohesive galactic society collapsed into open warfare.

The Fracture

The Star-Born are intelligent and ambitious, but they are also a young species that lacks experience. 

As conflicting ambitions came into contact with each other, fighting broke out across all points of contact and soon erupted into full scale warfare.
The home worlds were quickly overwhelmed as the pace of combat outstripped the ability to coordinate and control it all. Local commanders stepped in, marshalling reserves and taking action as they saw appropriate, often in pursuit of their own goals. 

Having reached a high level of technology very quickly, the Star-Born lacked many of the foundations of military theory that might have been found in another species. This resulted in both great victories and bitter defeats as untested doctrines were pitted against each other.

Within a few years, collapse spread rapidly as each of the home worlds lost control of their distant possessions. 

This traumatic event is generally known as the Fracture or the Shattering, except among the Dead Wake where it is known as the First Infraction.

The collapse of grand civilisation led to a slow down in the pace of fighting as supply lines ceased to exist and great industrial complexes could no longer be fuelled with raw materials.

The rise of the Factions

 With central authorities failing, galactic civilisation reoriented itself along ideological premises as the Star-Born grappled with how to rebuild a stable level of existence in a hostile universe. 

A number of philosophies began to spread, spearheaded by charismatic individuals and dedicated groups, leading to what historians call the Pre Faction Struggles. As similar ideological movements collided, they merged, struggled or warred against each other. As the ideologies spread across known space, they morphed and adapted along the way with those identifying with a particular ideology allying against their enemies.

Some organisations declared for a Faction quickly while others underwent internal strife before one emerged. Many colonies, expeditions and army units were split and parted ways. Others burned to ashes. 

In the present day 8 grand Factions are generally recognised. They each represent a way of thinking and a way of life, allowing the Star-Born to codify their existence and place in the universe.
Not every Star-Born, nor every colony belongs to a Faction, though such independent groups are often hard pressed to maintain their status long term. 

The Factions have stabilised enough to be roughly on parity, each controlling around 100 worlds though many of these are not inhabitable, being used only as outposts, military bases or for resource extraction.

Mystical space

As the Star-Born spread from their home worlds, they discovered a strange material scattered on a great many worlds through the galaxy. Soon named Element 511 the radiant yellow crystal can be refined into a fuel source, however its real benefit was rather more esoteric:

The awareness of very minor paranormal talents, such as a limited sixth sense, ability to perceive emotions or situational good luck had been quantified by scientists across the home worlds for some time, but the phenomena were too elusive and limited in scope to have much practical effect. 

When exposed to a series of treatments using Element 511 in gaseous form, as well as intensive training, such abilities can be activated to a much more significant level allowing feats such as instantaneous movement, projecting bolts of energy or creating impenetrable walls of force. 

The potential to exhibit such abilities is primarily a function of a particular mindset, requiring the combination of intense emotional force, strength of will and a high level of creative thinking. This can be taught but the training time is much longer and the results are often more limited.

Ever-enamoured with the grand and dramatic, the Star-Born generally dub these abilities as magical abilities or spells, though they are well understood by science. 

The Barren Home Worlds 

None of the original home worlds of the Star-Born contained Element 551, neither could it be found within their solar systems. This is all the stranger as the material is not especially rare throughout the galaxy, though deposits great enough to warrant mining are still uncommon enough to warrant investment.

Communications 

For military purposes when satellite connections are not available the Pattern-Link system is standard for voice communications. This allows ground units to communicate securely at ranges of up to 10 kilometres in dense terrain and about double that in relatively flat terrain.
Transmission of visual data will drop these ranges to about a third. 

Pattern-Link is extremely difficult to jam or intercept, when the system is properly configured but requires that all units on the network are synchronised before combat.
For back up communications, the Beam Link can be used. This has a range of about 1 kilometre but requires a relatively uninterrupted line of sight making it unsuitable for use in urban combat.
The Beam Link transmits audio only. The system can be used in real-time mode where two users can communicate live or in transmission mode where about 5 minutes of typical audio can be transmitted as long as the system can establish a connection for a few fractions of a second. 

The typical infantry communications suite features a Beam Link built into the helmet as well as a Pattern-Link unit which may be mounted on the wrist, in a helmet headset or on the shoulder.  

FTL travel

Travel among star systems (known as Faster Than Light or FTL travel) requires the use of specially equipped craft. There are three types in common usage:

The Slip Drive is the standard for commercial vessels, allowing a jump length of up to 30 light years, though the journey is quite slow taking roughly 1 week per 5 light years. Slip Drives are also used by military vessels for major movements and deployments. 

Slip Drives require about 30 minutes of preparation to jump and jump signatures can be read by scanners to determine the likely destination with 80% accuracy.

The Impulse Jump system allows jumps of up to 10 light years and takes the ship through them quickly, in 2-3 days but requires a sizeable energy build up to perform. The specially built power systems take about 2 hours to fully charge and while the build up can be discharged, the destination cannot be changed once it has begun.

The cutting edge of FTL tech is the Displacement Drive, which allows a vessel to jump out to 6 light years instantaneously with no build up. This is primarily of use in military vessels where it allows quick attacks without being detectable by long range scans. 

Lifeforms

There is only one known intelligent lifeform in the galaxy. However this does not mean the galaxy is empty. Quite to the contrary, many known planets are teeming with life. Unfortunately while many lifeforms are useful and even valuable,  much of it is dangerous and distinctly unfriendly to settlers.
It is common for rookies in the armed forces to get their first deployments on a frontier world, patrolling the wasteland for dangerous lifeforms or hunting down nests of predators. 

Colony worlds can get infested by dangerous creatures and require specialised teams to root out, often at great risk.

To scientists there appears to be patterns linking particular lifeforms across the galaxy, with similar forms showing up on unrelated worlds. Probability calculations suggest a common point of origin, though no concrete evidence has been found, nor has an explanation been given as to how the lifeforms could have spread from this point of origin. 

Medical technology

A standard part of the infantry soldiers kit is the Med-Pack. This is a small high-tech device that can be attached to a wound and will administer needed drugs and first aid. Med-Pack application will not generally restore a soldier to combat condition but unless a weapons hit inflicted catastrophic damage, a treated soldier will usually not perish from shock and blood loss.

Recovery times in an advanced medical facility is quite rapid, allowing recovery at about half the time of an Earth Human sustaining a comparable injury and with a low chance of permanent disability except for the most severe of battlefield wounds.

For military commanders, this is a welcome feature as it means permanent retirement of soldiers is rare as long as the casualty can be recovered from the battlefield.

Cybernetics

The use of mechanical components to replace body parts is quite advanced, allowing replacement of limbs injured beyond repair for example. Attempts to enhance the body beyond its baseline of capabilities have so far failed to provide significant benefits, attributed to the Organic Frame Limitation hypothesis that suggests that there are limitations to what the biological baseline system can be enhanced beyond. 

Helpers

Computer technology has evolved to where most complex systems have built-in Helpers: Artificial intelligences that assist the user in carrying out tasks. Helpers can often operate autonomously with the operator taking over in complex situations.

Space combat relies heavily on Helpers to manage the close range encounters, as reaction speeds are insufficient otherwise. When combat vessels engage each other, the battle is essentially fought between opposing arrays of Helper programs. 

Ground warfare tends to be a little more low tech with Helpers mainly employed to ensure tactical awareness. Group troops have an excellent view of the battlefield, nearby threats and analysis of possible enemy plans, all relayed to them in real time from observation drones and Helper-operated scanning modules. The Helper also filters through the information and prioritises for the troops in the field, preventing information overload. 

Combat Vehicles

Infantry contest the battlefield alongside walking fighting machines. Capable of both carrying heavy weaponry, walkers are also capable of withstanding intense firepower. The armour plating is coated in an Element 551 alloy, allowing the machine to self-repair under Helper guidance. 

As long as internal components are not seriously damaged, a Walker can restore itself to undamaged state within a matter of minutes.

Unfortunately more complex systems cannot utilise this process, due to limitations of in Element 551 manufacture. 

The typical combat walker is about twice the height of a foot soldier. Designs resembling the frame of a Star-Born (2 arms, 2 legs, upright posture) are the most common, but not universal. Some Walkers feature hands that allow picking up and manipulating objects, while others have weapons attached to the body directly.  

As of today, I have decided to delete my Facebook account. 

I had resisted using the service for years but felt that with the rise of the Five Parsecs and Five Leagues communities, my attention was required.

However this is no longer the case as there are ample people who can answer questions and I am increasingly unable to keep track of the amount of traffic. 

What's more, my concerns over Facebook both as a service, its intrusion into daily life, its effects on communication and its general conduct as a company has only grown more severe.

I can't change the world but I can decide for myself and so as of today no more Facebook. 

I can still be reached through the usual channels (Email, Discord) and I remain happy and excited to talk to fans, I would just rather do it on my own terms than under the watchful eye of the Zuckerbot. 

I apologise to anyone inconvenienced. 

Today is a bit of crunch, discussing how building armies will work in Mystic Space. Ill have a lot to say about the game setting but today I want to chat about mechanics.

Army building in Mystic Space takes a bit of inspiration from 3rd edition 40K. 

Army units are divided into Heroes, Frontline Units, Strike Units and Firepower Units. 

When you build an army for a game you choose if it is a Skirmish or a Battle. This is basically the "how much time do you have?" toggle with a Skirmish being a small, quick game and a Battle being more of a commitment.

Since the Battle is probably the default, we will look there first.

Your army must have at least 3 Frontline Units and can take up to 3 more. These are your standard infantry squads, patrols and so forth. 

You also must take at least 3 Heroes and can take up to 3 more. Mystic Space is a heroic kind of place and armies are led by exceptional individuals like mystics, assassins and champions. As a note, you must take different Heroes. You cannot pick 2 of the same guy so you can't just spam 3 Gunners (sorry Arsenal fans). 

For support you can then take up to 3 Strike Units. These are your assault troops, infiltrators and drop troops, capable of either special deployments, rapid movement or, in the case of assault troops, just a bloody minded outlook on warfare.

Finally you can take up to 2 Firepower Units, such as heavy weapon squads or heavy vehicles. 

Skirmish battles are set up to be much smaller and the sort of thing you can paint up in a weekend (or a day in 15mm). Here you take 2 Herores, 2 Frontline units and 1 additional non-Hero unit of your choice and you are good to go. 

One of the things I am hoping to do in 2025 is to refocus NWG to be a bit more community oriented. 

Community is where things all started: Before there was NWG there was Trench Storm and Fast And Dirty, games that existed purely because of a community that believed in them.

It has always been a factor in everything. FiveCore Brigade Commander grew out of discussions on the early Wargames Website forum. Starport Scum began as a discussion with a friend. A lot of things in NWG titles have come from discussions with this or that fan. In fact, without the dedicated folks on the Discord I don't know if Five Leagues 2nd edition would have turned out to be the success it became. 

NWG has stuck it out this long, because (I think) I have always been open to trying different things and roll with the punches. 

With 2025 it is time to take another turn into the community, but in a new way. Some of those I am not ready to talk about yet, but I can talk about two:

I have already mentioned Mystic Space and the ability of folks to create "official" figures for the game. Both Mystic Space and the upcoming Tremorien setting will also have explicit permissions for the creation of fan art, fan fiction and game rules conversions, meaning if you want to write up a set of conversion guidelines to play Tremorien games using Song of Blades and Heroes or want to create a GURPS Mystic Space booklet you can do so with confidence.

This will also be accompanied by an update to History Dad which will allow scenario creators to reference the rules in scenario packs and so on. 

Of course some of these things are things you could probably do already, but I think it is important to take a proactive stance on the topic, as well as open up at least some degree of commercial activities as well. I am still working through the details so stay tuned. 

The fantasy version of Knyghte Pyke and Sworde is a generic game in the sense that while it has a bunch of different fantasy critters and magical items, they are intended as a general tool kit for you to build your own worlds (or to help fight battles in a setting you already like).

My plan is to accompany it with a distinct fantasy world as well: The world of Tremorien. 

There will be much more to follow, but the idea of Tremorien is that it will be a living world that will change over time. There will be a core booklet which discusses the world and provides stats, spells and all that stuff which will get you started.

The starting place is a fairly "young" world where elves, dwarves and humans are starting to tussle for dominance over the world, magic is still fairly raw and many of the typical creatures that inhabit (and plague) fantasy worlds have not yet emerged. 

However over time this will change as nations can rise and fall, heroes emerge (and die), new artifacts are uncovered and so forth. Basically this will treat the fantasy game as a historical game where things occur at certain times and the year you choose to play in will determine what troops and armies are around. 

This would both be a fun way to explore a range of moods and ideas in the game, but also allow people plenty of excuses to paint up new armies and buy more models (I know you people, I got you covered) and just generally be really fun to do.

I am still working out the details of how it will all work. This also aims to establish KPS as the "second leg" alongside Mystic Space as the main focus for NWG in the near future. (This does not affect my plans with Modiphius for new 5x stuff, that is all separate). 

Someone asked if there would be a warband game for KPS. I don't think so, but I have thought about doing something that was a bit more "combat RPG" with a GM creating scenarios and some character progression options in that sense. Kind of like how some people used to play Battlesystem back in the day. Time will tell. 

Mystic Space will exist in a strange sort of place, where instead of being a generic game or a setting-specific game with a bespoke figure range, it will be a setting-specific game without a figure range. 

The idea, as I have discussed before, is that you will basically create your own version of Mystic Space through the miniatures you pick out for the various armies. If you have ever heard the Warhammer guys talk about "my dudes" it is that but tuned up, because your choices of miniatures are not an alternative, they are literally correct :) 

However I want to go a step further. 

I have not sorted out the details yet, but there will be a license available, at no charge, that any manufacturer of miniatures can use to create and sell figures for Mystic Space.

I imagine this will mostly be appealing for 3D print guys, but basically you can sculpt up and sell units branded either as general Mystic Space figures or even as specific unit and character types. So anything from "Scifi infantry usable with games like Mystic Space" to "Mystic Space armoured infantry squad" to "Terra Hold armoured infantry squad" 

If things pick up, this means that you could not only pick out your own figures that hyou like, but you might also be able to pick from several "official" figure options. Maybe one sculptor makes a Terra Hold armoured infantry squad that looks very sleek and high tech, while another makes one that is clunky and archaic looking. 

For the manufacturers of course the benefit is that this will cost you nothing and the conditions will be pretty simple (basically no shovel ware reskins of existing lines unless they actually fit and no lady troopers with their tits out, that sort of thing). However you get the benefit of providing figures that have an audience looking to purchase them. 

More details as we get a bit closer to things happening, but i thought some of you would be interested in this.  

Not every project is one I do for commercial reasons. One of the things I have decided to do this year is to embrace creating something that will exist purely because I wanted it to do so. This is a WW2 "hack" based on the 2nd edition of 40K. Yup, the one with sustained fire dice and all that good stuff.

It is a complete stand alone game which will (over time) get more unique units and so on. Currently the game is playable for infantry games with vehicles being a bit longer in the making, since it takes more work. Army lists are not quite there yet, but you can easily put a couple platoons on the table and have a game.

It does not require owning any 40K material, neither does it really require knowing those rules (though of course it can help having at least a basic idea). 

This will be strictly non commercial, but is something that I am hoping to keep working on throughout the year, both improving it in response to feedback, adjusting points values to be more balanced (as these things go) and adding cool, colourful units to the army lists.

If you are interested in giving this a spin, drop me an email at nordicweaselgames@icloud.com (or discord DM if you have me on there, either is fine) and I will send you the current version. 

With Mystic Space shaping up well, I wanted to do another Q&A post. 

You can find the prior Q&A at https://nordicweasel.posthaven.com/mystic-space-some-questions-and-clarifications and the announcement post at https://nordicweasel.posthaven.com/something-new-this-way-comes-mystic-space

These are more general questions and are both a few questions I have gotten over email as well as anticipating a few that will no doubt arise. So I suppose call it a "preventative Q&A" :)

Q: Won't this compete with <insert game here that has a full figure line, 200 novels and a marketing budget the size of Venus>

A: Not really. I mean, yes in the most basic sense but I think this is the kind of question that you already know the answer to. If you are reading the Mystic Space rulebook, you are already the kind of person who want to try something different. 

Q: How will this work when you do not have a dedicated figure line, but it is a specific setting?

A: You read the book, get inspired by the setting and rules and then run out and find the miniatures you think your favourite faction looks like. This is also why there will not initially be named Heroes, because I want your Heroes to be "your dudes".

Another example here is the weapons tech. You can look at the weapon names and profiles and decide what you want them to be on your models. The Glint Rifle is probably a laser rifle, except maybe for you it is not? 

Q: Why isn't this a solo warband campaign game?

A: I didn't want to make one this time. 

Q: Will there be other Mystic Space games later?

A: Yes. I have two planned. One will be a "competitive co-op" game (think the venerable Space Crusade board game) and one will be a "combat RPG" (think Inquisitor and the likes).

Q: Does this mean there will not be any more Unified Space games from NWG?

A: Under the NWG name specifically, probably not but never say never. There's a pretty full schedule planned for that stuff from Modiphius. 

Q: Will you eventually sell Mystic Space to a big publisher so we can get a glossy rulebook?

A: If the check is big enough sure. It is not really planned though and I can't imagine a conventional publisher is keen on getting into a game that for them WOULD compete with <mega company>.

Q: Will there be Faction army books?

A: Initially it'll fit in the rulebook. I think down the road, it'd be cool to do but I would have to think about how it'd look. I think I would enjoy it being an even split between setting and mechanics. What I do NOT want to do is write 30 new units for each army.

Q: Will the setting be treated the same as in Five Parsecs where it is all really vague and sometimes contradictory?

A: No, it is intended to be a consistent and specific setting. If errors creep in, we will try to fix them. The plan is to even have a timeline that advances every now and again. This could even have units or weapons that are available only during certain periods similar to how WW2 games work.

Q: Can my version of the setting be more grim / more kawaii / more serious ?

A: I am not your dad. There is a set tone throughout. As has already been discovered when discussing it with fans, it can be interpreted pretty widely. 

Q: Will you consider fan contributions into the setting?

A: If it is really good and fits the vibe yes. 

With a little help from a gentleman, Musket to Rifle is shaping to be mostly done. I am still ironing out some of the text and need to write examples and a few other things. So if you are new here, what is Musket to Rifle?

It is a set of rules for "mass skirmish" meaning 20-50 individually based figures. The period, as the name suggests, is basically the end of the black powder period. We kind of had to pick arbitrarily but it is roughly American War of Independence through to the Boer wars. 

The game is a true skirmish game. It is pretty common to do "semi skirmish" where you have small figure counts but the units are still forming squares and lines and all that. Instead we are treating them as actual skirmishers which means a unit of 12 figures represents exactly 12 combatants and thus will act the way 12 skirmishers ought to. Well, within the confines of a game anyways. 

The rules will provide points values for pick up games, a bundle of scenarios you can slot your armies into and solo mechanics. It is structured as a conventional wargame (rather than a narrative campaign - for that pick up the Five Kilometers from Leipzig early version) 

Mechanics are aimed at being fairly conventional with attack dice, morale checks and so forth. The idea here is that by avoiding too many abstractions, it may be easier to convert material either from other games or from books and media.

So if you are a fan of (or especially if you always wanted to get started on) Napoleonic warfare, the Franco Prussian war or the Slesvig wars this will be a pretty good time to jump in.