Design Work and Diaspora Thoughts

Today was an absolutely busy one. I’m beat and a bit brain dead, but I’ll try to make up for on the morrow with a more expansive post. What did I do today? I worked on some societal structure paradigms in regards to game application. While it sounds a bit dry in theory, it should serve to be a real workhorse in play.

This evening, I got the first opportunity to really play Diaspora and it was an absolute blast. The character I created–the one we spent the last session building along with the cluster creation–came across as I expected, but a bit more harder edged than expected. He’s also rather subdued, so I believe I need to focus on more of a motivation for him to sink his teeth into. He’s got plenty of hooks for the GM, but he also seems a bit more reactive than active. I’ll mull this over a bit.

Things I liked about Diaspora are the straightforward skill system, the planetary build system gave us a setting I already feel invested in, and it runs a clean interpretation of FATE.

The only thing I don’t particularly care for is the overly complicated border system it has in regards to zones–I think “standard” FATE does a much better job, and is something I would pour back into the system. It’s also a bit odd there is no real character development, but it’s emulating Traveller in that regard, so its not a real deal breaker for me, as accumulating experience was never the focus of that game to begin with.

All in all, I’d highly recommend anyone who enjoys FATE to give it a spin, and I look forward to playing it again.