Torchbearer - Starship Lit by Fire

Torchbearer Expeditions
1

A long time ago, in a forum far, far away…

Somebody once posted a plan for a Dungeon World campaign he called “A Starship Lit Only By Fire” in which bronze-age Fantasy heroes crawl through the labyrinthine tunnels of a gargantuan derelict biosphere.

I’ve been thinking about using this concept for a Torchbearer game, where a fairly standard Fantasy kingdom sits atop a Dark City-style starship long abandoned by its crew. Magic and Miracles would actually be uses (and abuses) of the ships remaining systems and/or the inhabitants’ latent psychic abilities.

Basically, all the standard Torchbear-y stuff. But I’m not sure how to sell the setting. The PCs could find artifacts of bygone eras within desiccated halls of the ship, but I’m not sure how to mechanically represent ancient sci-fi technology without breaking the bounds of Torchbearer’s rules-as-intended.

Do any of you have thoughts on this concept?

Any suggestions of how to represent the “magic” of yesteryear without screwing anything up?

2

I have this “Citadel of Steel” concept hanging from some time in my games. I’m picturing a great starship from a “precursors” race half sunk in the orcish Black Blood Marshes, but never got to write it down.

What I did write down was the spear of an orc chieftain, scavenged from the debris near the Citadel of Steel:

Staff of Azuk
This metal spear has an ancient battery attached to it. The battery is wired to discharge at the blade.
Level: 3
Effect: +1D to Attack and Feint actions in kill, drive off and capture conflicts in addition to normal spear benefits. +1D Attack and Feint actions in kill, drive off and capture conflicts against metal armors (like chainmail or plate) or metal creatures (like automatons).

Inventory: Hands/carried 2.
Type: Magical weapon.

So, basically, I pulled a Clarke’s Third Law and made it a magical weapon.

Stay cool :cool: