Freejacks
Epic Space Adventure
Two thousand years ago, mankind invented the jumpdrive that allowed them to cross an entire galaxy of 100,000 light years in only an hour. With it they spread their seed across the entire cosmos.
The jumpdrive was closely followed by a Nexus Gate and the ability to send voice and data anywhere in the universe instantaneously. The Nexus Gate allowed the transmitting of anything with a mass across equal distances.
It was a new dawn, more Nexus Gates were built, and mankind encountered many alien races. Under the guidance of Magnus Osiris, then Prime Minister of the Galactic Republic (GR), a new intergalactic order began with the formation of the Intergalactic Confederation (IGC).
Peace and prosperity ruled for almost a millennium, but the millennium following slowly degenerated into petty bickering and heads of states became warlords. Loyalties among the Confederation were split and for hundreds of years war has raged. The first truly intergalactic war has ravaged worlds beyond compare -- some estimates put the numbers at billions of planets per year, some say trillions.
But, what started as a war of loyalties soon became a battle to control the most valuable assets in the universe -- the Nexus Gates, as these were ultimately the key to military victory.
Worlds lie in ruins all across space. Warlords and tyrants rule. Children are born into war, and if they are lucky enough to grow old, die in war.
This is an age of chaos, tyranny, and eternal war.
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Leave your mind in the now, and think about how many people may have actually seen the whole world. Earth is a big enough place that most people living on it will never see 99% of it. If you spent your life traveling, would you be able to see the entire world? Every city in every country? It'd sure be a tough thing to manage, even if you did have the money to burn.
Earth is a piece of rock circling one star. It's estimated that our galaxy, alone, has 200 to 400 billion stars in an area that's 100,000 light years (or over 30,000 parsecs) across. Measuring in parsecs is more accurate as the speed of light isn't a constant. One parsec is just over 30 trillion kilometres. Thirty TRILLION. Our galaxy is 30,000 of those. Now my calculator just can't cope with this, but the Milky Way galaxy -- the one that houses a wee speck of dust called Earth -- is over 900 TRILLION kilometres across.
Now it's estimated that our observable universe has over 100 billion galaxies. Now I'm no mathematician, but even I know that that's a shitload.
Just mull those numbers over in your head: our galaxy has potentially 400 billion stars (one of which our planet revolves around), and there are probably over 100 billion galaxies. Our galaxy alone is over 900 trillion kilometres across.
If we take these numbers and assume that the Milky Way is an average galaxy and that an average galaxy has 400 billion stars, and that there are 100 billion galaxies in the universe, then we calculate that the universe consists of 40000000000000000000000 stars. No I don't even know what to call that number, but it's 4 * 10^22, or 4 with 22 0's after it. Let's then assume that only 0.000000000000001 percent of those stars have one habitable planet in their orbit, and let's assume that each of those planets has one primary sentient species. That would mean that in the observable universe, there are 40 million different sentient races.
Starting to feel insignificant?
Carl Sagan, in his film Cosmos said "...the total number of stars in the universe is greater than all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the planet Earth." While it's probable that he wasn't more specific because his calculator couldn't count that high, it is a poignant statement that really helps us understand just how small we really are.
Based on what we know, the observable universe has a diameter of 28 billion parsecs. Remember I said that ONE parsec is thirty trillion kilometres? That means it would take you 92 billion years travelling at the speed of light to go from one end of the cosmos to the other end.
However, that's just the bit we can see. Our telescopes can only let us see 14 billion parsecs in any direction. So the odds of us being in the centre of the universe (although possible because there are a few people on this planet who believe they are that centre) are slim.
When it comes down to it, we just have no idea. None at all. Imagine Earth is a grain of sand at the bottom of the ocean. Now you're standing on Earth. Look up.
But to cover this infinite vastness in a game is, frankly, a task beyond Herculean. So we're going to settle on a nice middle ground. The universe of Freejacks is big, real big. Bigger than any other game or movie universe has ever dared to try. In fact, most just stick to one galaxy, and if you so choose, it's entirely feasible that each one of those other galaxies really exists in your game. How you play your game, and how you deliver it to your players is up to you, but we're going to give you the biggest sandbox of any roleplaying game.
In the game of Freejacks, the charted universe is mapped into four quadrants; its equatorial diameter is roughly 1.8 million parsecs, and its meridional diameter is roughly 2.7 million parsecs. This is merely a fraction of what we on Earth can see, but it provides an ample playing field for your games and all your adventures. There are several reasons for this; the first and foremost is that I just didn't have enough paper to draw all those galaxies and habitable planets on; and second, this is a game and should bear no relation to reality whatsoever. You're only allowed one reality, and that's the one outside your front door. Any more than that is just plain greedy.
Starships travel much, much faster than the speed of light. Communications must be able to cross millions of stars in milliseconds. Everything you do in real life now must be able to scale to an intergalactic level. That ocean liner we take on a trip across the Atlantic Ocean becomes a space liner that journeys across a galaxy taking a similar length of time for a round-trip.
Racial tension between one species that has different skin tones becomes intergalactic war between vastly different beings. They don't all have two eyes, two legs, two arms, and compatible sexual organs. Some have writhing tentacles, some have scaly skin, or chitinous carapaces, some will drive a man insane just by looking in their eyes -- actually on second thought, I know some women like that.
If you feel daunted by the sheer scope of Freejacks, then it's perfectly plausible to set your games in one galaxy, or even just one planet. You can still have fun acting, for example, as a private security firm on your homeworld. There are plenty of planets that are conducive to this sort of game while still providing enough action and adventure to keep players busy for years. But the true impact of roleplaying in the freedom of an entire universe is only realised when your characters travel and see it all.
The key thing to remember when playing this roleplaying game is that you're in it to have fun with a bunch of friends, you're not here to worry about the science and the mathematics of every device you may encounter -- unless that's your thing. But the main focus of our books will be to bring you true Space Opera.
The game of Freejacks is a Space Opera. There are as many different definitions of this as there are people describing it, but one thing they all seem to agree on is that Space Opera is epic. However, we'll take that definition a bit farther. Space Opera is fiction in space, and that's not the same as science fiction -- certainly not hard SF. Space Opera doesn't care about the science. It just wants to tell a good story in a far future setting.
Space Opera is big, it's bold, and it's an infinite playground for adventure. That's really all you need to care about. Spaceships just work; and they fly really fast because sentient beings need to get from one side of the universe to the other faster than 30 trillion generations. Laser blasters are a given. Flying cars, standard. Translators to understand hundreds of different alien languages, yup, we've got those too. Robots with advanced AI, check.
It's important that you don't feel constrained by your perception or knowledge of current technology. If there's something you want to do, and feel that it should be pretty common then make it up. OK, your GM might make you go out and buy one at great expense, or if it's likely to be illicit then you might have to go on a dedicated adventure to find it on some rimworld through some dodgy black market scumballs, but you don't need to burden yourselves with explaining how the technology actually works. I mean, it's over 20,000 years in the future. We don't know what the heck will be available then. Your goals are to have fun. If something fits the mood or the adventure, then conjure it up. That's the essence of roleplaying isn't it? Making stuff up?
Freejacks is broken up into three distinct epochs spanning approximately 2000 years. The first is the rise of the Confederation, in which humankind builds the technology to expand beyond the galaxy and into the greater cosmos. It can be likened to the wild west, or to the expansion of the British Empire. The second is a period of peace and prosperity and is after the entire cosmos has been charted. The final epoch, and the default game setting, is after the fall of the Confederation. The cosmos is in strife and tyrants rule the spaceways.
Under the guidance of one man, Magnus Osiris, humankind is brought together for one goal: expand beyond the galaxy. When the jumpdrive is created, Osiris unites most governments into one Confederation. Together, they expand into the stars, farther than was ever possible.
Humanity discovers other alien races and manages to communicate peacefully with most of them, further expanding the Confederation.
Humanity has prospered in the stars and is living at peace with countless alien beings. The Intergalactic Confederation covers most of known space and there are only a handful of other factions who are independent. But the Confederation is amiable toward them, letting them live how they want and where they want.
The first truly intergalactic war all but destroyed the Confederation, and has laid waste across the cosmos. Men hold onto the Confederation by a thread as warlords and tyrants bicker.
Humanity encompasses most of the universe and is the primary sentient race. While the lure of a utopia kept humans in a state of peace for hundreds of years, inevitably, some people wanted more. Their visions outgrew the Confederation's, and their goals became selfish. Creatures who never had any reason to distrust fellow beings found themselves trodden on and taken advantage of.
Unity gave way to savage war, and utopia was crushed under the weight of dystopia. In the wake of the intergalactic war, humans and aliens alike have forgotten their old alliances and fight like every day is their last. For many, it is. Humans and aliens alike conquer, plunder, and rape with no thought of what tomorrow may bring.
The universe is a brutal place to live in and while many still live on planets and even live normal lives, there are those whose home is in the stars -- who live on a starship and only make landfall when the need to refuel or get supplies arises. While land can be got cheap, there is a common fear that the land can be taken by those willing to do one harm. And the universe is full of those willing to do harm for nothing more than amusement. If you live in the stars, nobody can force you to move, and there is nothing anyone can take from you. As the old song goes, "they can't take the sky from me."
That's the dream, anyway. The reality is that the spaceways are riddled with pirates who are more than happy to take your ship, your cargo, your life, and your women. But there's no teaching some people.
The most common calling among those who prefer the freedom of the stars is the scav, or scavenger. Scavs fly from planet to planet collecting and trading what they can for something they can sell at a profit elsewhere. Others listen to nearby comm channels for news of carnage or abandoned ships and then swoop in like vultures to pick whatever they can salvage. In fact, it's a common sight to see a row of scavs waiting just out of targeting range of a space battle. Once a victor emerges, the vultures dive in and claim what they can of the remains.
Interestingly, this has gained media attention, so footage of these 'scav runs' can often be seen live on the Grid. Camera crews just sit past the scavs, filming the battle, then watching the vultures fight over the scraps. It makes great reality vids, and several scavs have brightly coloured markings so they can be identified better by their fans. Needless to say, this has become a sport where popular scavs get voted and bet on.
However, those looking for a more peaceful life have no shortage of carcasses to loot as the remains of space battles lie across the entire cosmos.
But if you're looking for a fast credit, then your path may take you into piracy and smuggling. It is said that smuggling is more dangerous than piracy because the smugglers have the pirates and the law against them.
While the life of a scav may be safe, it most certainly isn't easy. And sometimes, the pay isn't that great. Scavs commonly work in space cutting up wrecks. They take the metals and try and sell them to make enough money to get more fuel to do another run. If they're lucky they'll make a bit of drinking money. Those that aren't sponsored by big fancy corporations usually wear old tatty spacesuits, and have to work with semi-functional hand tools. Cutting up ship scrap so that you can fit it into your cargo bay is long, tiring work.
Most pirates just don't want to do that sort of intensive, manual labour. They'd rather wait for someone else to do the hard work and just steal if off them.
Smugglers are often called the moral pirates -- those who aren't quite cut out for the pirate life. Too soft, don't like hurting people, whatever. Sure they like to act tough, but most pirates -- real pirates would eat them for breakfast and still be looking for seconds.
Those who like to keep good with the law tend to take the route of tramp freighters or trackers. Jobs are posted for trackers everywhere on the Grid, as law enforcement tends to spread thin on many worlds. Trackers act as private security consultants, detectives, and bounty hunters, and only the hardest need apply. Tracking intergalactic fugitives is tough and expensive work, but the payoffs are usually worth the effort.
Tramp freighters tend to be small crews flying large cargo haulers. Most run skeleton crews and hire mercenaries, either onboard or in a convoy, when they're expecting trouble. The most successful tramp freighters are those with large haulers equipped with jumpdrives, as this gives them a longer range and tends to attract the larger hauls with better paying customers.
But the most successful people tend to be the freejacks -- small teams who have a wide range of skills and can pick up work where ever they go. A freejack team can have people with backgrounds such as pirates, smugglers, traders, hackers, mercs, gangsters, soldiers, trackers, scavs, pilots, or fast food attendants. Although the latter doesn't often come in useful.
Freejacks either work for someone who owns a ship, or they own it themselves, or they're paying one off. Paying off a ship can often be a good way for free traders to start out, but a lot of lenders require good sized deposits in these troubled times. Gone are the days when you could walk into a shipyard, sign a few forms, wait an hour for them to be processed and fly out with a shiny new ship without having to pay a cent as deposit. Times are tougher now, but with a group of friends pooling their resources, getting into a new ship is achievable. But make sure you keep up the payments or they will set trackers on you.
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