System Creation

The Foundation is a big place - it’s made up of scores of settlements spread across dozens of stars, and that’s if we’re only considering the well-known and established colonies. Because Worlds in the Dark is a game where you play to find out what happens, most of these systems are a big question mark when the game begins. The version of the Foundation that arises at your table is uniquely yours.

You can use this page to guide you along the process of making a new system. Exactly how you do this is up to your group’s personal preference. You might prefer for the GM to take the lead, or you might want to have the whole table decide collaboratively on the choices laid out for you. By the end, you’ll have a basic idea about what’s going on in this system and what its deal is. As you play to find out, you can gradually flesh it out with more details from the other pages in this section.

If you don’t want to make up a new system right away, the pre-made Hope System contains everything you need to start your spacefaring adventures in the Rim sector.

System Name

The Foundation is divided up into three sectors, each with its own character and theme. Decide which sector your system resides within, and then start by giving it a name. Make one up, or pick from the table below:

The Core	The Incorporated Territories	The Rim
Amber	Zhuangzi	Bei’An
Eden	Eyrie	Eschaton
Mira	Limina	Hope
Tau	Monte Cristo	Lucerne
	Nova Sirius	Magrit
	Phoenix	Ishani’s Star
	Shaw	Nemesis
	Vera’s Star	Saanvi
	Wayfarer	Samarkand
	Zenith	Sentinel
	Quadrivium	Markov’s Folly

System Type

Once you know where in the Foundation your system is, pick or roll for a system type on the table below:

1d6	The Core	Incorporated Territories	The Rim
1	in a future version	in a future version	Forgotten System
2			Fractured System
3			Free System
4			Frontier System
5			Isolated System
6			Silent System

The Rim

Forgotten System

A forgotten system is one that has fallen by the wayside, a once-promising colony that has fallen into disrepair. Though it still lives, it is a shadow of its former self. The ghostly presence of what could have been is everywhere.

This system can always:

• Remind you of what used to be here before, and show you what’s here now.
• Show you the anger or despair felt by those who were left behind.
• Show you how the crumbling of old power structures has changed the way people treat each other.
• Give you an opportunity to rebuild what has been broken, or make it into something new.

Choose 1 or 2 truths about this system:

• The system collapsed after a great conflict or disaster, and it never recovered.
• The system was abandoned, and has been falling into ruin for many years.
• The system’s fall was engineered, and someone stood to gain from its demise.
• The system harbours an incredible secret, which has the potential to change everything.

Fractured System

A fractured system is one that is consumed by chaos. It’s war-torn and lawless, caught up in the games of power and capital, or just riddled with pirates and warlords who take what they want without asking. It’s a place of danger and opportunity in equal measure, and one broken by deep divides.

This system can always:

• Tear something apart or rip something away from someone.
• Remind you that loyalties can shift and change on the edge of a knife.
• Show you the terrible cycles of violence and revenge that people get caught in.
• Give you an opportunity to really shake things up.

Choose 1 or 2 truths about this system:

• The conflict that consumes this system is just a small part of a much greater game.
• There are those who can remember a time when it wasn’t like this.
• The conflict has been going on for as long as anyone can remember.
• Someone has a plan to end the conflict and unify the system, for better or worse.

Free System

A free system is one that has achieved the impossible. The people of this system actually did it! They broke free from the Foundation, became self-sustaining, and made a better life for themselves out in the black. Can they hold onto it?

This system can always:

• Show you the conflicts between different ideas about how things should be done.
• Show you the heavy burdens that come with taking responsibility for your own fate.
• Remind you how easy it would be to lose everything that has been gained.
• Defy the Foundation and its mandates.

Choose 1 or 2 truths about this system:

• The system’s freedom is contingent upon a devil’s bargain, which keeps it from being truly free.
• The system’s freedom is troubled by a great threat that looms on the horizon.
• The system is engaged in a constant struggle to hold on to its independence.
• The system is haunted by the terrible price that was paid for its freedom.

Frontier System

A frontier system is one whose ultimate destiny is still undecided. It’s young and not yet able to support itself without assistance. Its future is filled with potential, but danger lurks everywhere and pitfalls line the path. Life is hard, infrastructure is scant. There is still so much left to do.

This system can always:

• Show you the disaster looming on the horizon.
• Show you the razor-thin margins that make the difference between life and death.
• Remind you how fragile life is out here, and that survival is never a guarantee.
• Present you with the vastness of an untamed wilderness.

Choose 1 or 2 truths about this system:

• A local faction exercises outsized influence and authority over the fledgling colony.
• A clashing disapora of competing settlements and claims are constantly at odds with each other.
• The colony is dependent on the aid of a powerful benefactor, and will collapse without its support.
• The colony is dependent on trade, and will collapse if the supply lines are disrupted for long.

Isolated System

An isolated system is one which keeps to itself, and rarely welcomes visitors. Is it isolated because it’s far from trade routes, too remote and poor for anyone to bother with? Or did they isolate themselves?

This system can always:

• Confuse and disorient you with how different everything is.
• Show you something you can’t find anywhere else in the universe.
• Show you the ignorance and fear that isolation can create.

Choose 1 or 2 truths about this system:

• The system is so isolated that an outsider will struggle to understand and be understood.
• The system is so isolated that the facts about it are mixed with rumours and legends.
• The system greets visitors with honour and esteem, but it comes with strings attached.
• The system greets visitors with fear and suspicion. Restrictions, threats and even hostility may result.

Silent System

A silent system is one that is desolate and empty, devoid of any significant human population. Ships and signals rarely, if ever, span the lonely void between its celestial spheres. Is this system dead, or just sleeping?

This system can always:

• Show you how fragile and delicate you are, so far from home.
• Remind you just how lonely and desolate this place is.
• Hint at an eerie absence, or surprise you with an unexpected presence.
• Make it clear why people don’t live here.

Choose 1 or 2 truths about this system:

• The system is wild and untamed. Humans live here, but there is little in the way of government or infrastructure.
• The system is heavy with the accumulated weight of the past. Remnants of what came before are everywhere.
• The system is pristine and untouched. There is nothing human here at all, and nothing to rely on.
• The system is silent because it harbours a terrible threat. Any who come here are in peril.