It’s been a little while since we last posted an update, but by thunder do we have something special for you spacers this week! In fact, I reckon we should unfurl those silt-sails, because finally it’s time to leave this world behind… The very first playtest-able version of the Lodestar Ship System is here! 

Firstly, it’s important to keep in mind that this is a very early-access version, of purely ship-combat mechanics, limited to only the essentials. We’ve got plenty more already made and in the works, from long distance travel and trade, to upgrades and more, but we wanted to get this version out to you all for testing as soon as we could to make sure the core gameplay is fun and balanced. We’ve even built you a couple of pre-made ships, and two sample combat encounters, for you to give the system a go with without needing to worry about lots of prep!

Secondly, the more we can test this thing out, the better it will be for release. So please, share it with your groups, try it out when you’ve got the time, and let us know your thoughts along the way! We are looking for any and all feedback as always, but primarily we are interested in hearing from people who will have actually played using the rules presented in the playtest and really given the mechanics what-for at the table. Of course we also ask that you don’t share these rules publicly online, especially in ways that mean we can’t gather feedback, they are after all only draft rules meant purely for early testing.

Thirdly, whilst we will put out a survey for this playtest in a month as normal, there will also be (from now until the book’s release) a new channel in the Vault discord server, just for ship system feedback and tinkering, and exclusive to Lodestar backers. So if you want to dig in and maybe have some impact on how we hone the design of the system, or ask us more about the system and what we have in store for later playtests, that is the place to be! 

I truly can’t wait to hear what you all think of the system once you’ve given those silt thrusters a spin! It might not be perfect for everyone just yet, but hopefully there’s something fun here that we can continue build off of. If there’s things you want or feel are missing, please come over to the discord and get involved in discussions. As I said, it’s very early days for the design of this system and we’ve got so much left to show you all, so please have a crack at it when you can!

We will be back Monday with the feedback survey for playtest #2, so until then I hope you have a wonderful weekend and a lovely Spring equinox! I’ll be spending mine sailing the silt and  seeing what these new siltsails are really made of!

- Conor