THE CAMPAIGN
Mortisphere is designed to be experienced as an ongoing campaign.
A single battle is only one moment in the existence of a crew. The true story is what happens between battles: the members gained and lost, the choices made, the discoveries uncovered and the consequences that follow.
A crew does not enter Mortisphere, fight a battle and leave unchanged.
Nothing survives the final age without being altered.
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THE CREW'S JOURNEY
A campaign follows a crew as it attempts to achieve whatever purpose keeps it moving.
That purpose may be:
- Wealth. - Survival. - Revenge. - Knowledge. - Loyalty. - Power. - Faith. - Curiosity. - Something that only makes sense to the crew itself.
The universe no longer has a grand purpose.
Neither does every creature within it.
Some beings continue because they have a goal.
Others continue because stopping would mean accepting that there is nothing left.
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LAST LIGHT
The campaign begins and continues through Last Light.
Last Light is the final major settlement of Mortisphere.
It is not a paradise.
It is not a symbol of a coming rebirth.
It is simply the last place where enough people, machines and other things have gathered to maintain something resembling civilization.
Within Last Light, crews may:
- Recruit new members. - Replace losses. - Acquire equipment. - Receive contracts. - Learn about opportunities. - Prepare for future conflicts.
Last Light is a place where things still have value.
Even at the end of everything, people still trade.
People still bargain.
People still want.
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HUNGER
Every crew has a reason to continue.
This reason is called its Hunger.
Hunger is not limited to food.
The final age contains many forms of desire.
A creature may hunger for:
- Survival. - Recognition. - Wealth. - Revenge. - Knowledge. - Purpose. - Creation. - Destruction. - Something impossible to achieve.
A crew's Hunger gives meaning to its actions.
It explains why they accept dangerous contracts, explore forgotten places and fight over things that may have no value to anyone else.
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CAMPAIGN PROGRESSION
As a campaign continues, crews develop.
Members may:
- Gain new equipment. - Increase in power. - Suffer permanent consequences. - Discover forgotten technology. - Change through their experiences. - Be replaced by new recruits.
A crew at the beginning of a campaign should not resemble the same crew after many battles.
The purpose of progression is not simply to become stronger.
It is to become different.
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RESOURCES AND REWARDS
Victories provide opportunities.
Rewards may include:
- New equipment. - Additional recruits. - Improved capabilities. - Access to new locations. - Information. - Choices that influence future scenarios.
A reward is not always a direct improvement.
Sometimes information is more valuable than a weapon.
Sometimes a dangerous discovery creates more problems than it solves.
The final age has many things worth finding.
Not all of them should have been found.
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LOSS AND CONSEQUENCE
A campaign should create stories through both success and failure.
A defeated crew is not necessarily finished.
A lost member is not simply removed from a list.
Every loss changes the crew.
A survivor may become more cautious.
A leader may become more ruthless.
A replacement may create a new direction.
The history of a crew is written through everything it experiences.
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THE END OF THE CAMPAIGN
Mortisphere does not promise a final victory.
The universe is already dead.
No crew will restore what was lost.
No battle will undo the end.
The purpose of a campaign is not to save everything.
It is to discover what remains when everything else is gone.