science-fiction – Mindjammer Press

The Mindjammer Player’s Guide and the Enhanced Commonality Space Schematic – OUT NOW!

We’re delighted to announce today the release of The Mindjammer Player’s Guide – Adventuring in the New Commonality of Humankind, a major new rules release for Mindjammer – The Roleplaying Game, from ENnie-award winning writer Sarah Newton (Mindjammer, Legends of Anglerre, Achtung! Cthulhu, Monsters & Magic).

The Mindjammer Player’s Guide is a book specifically for players of Mindjammer—The Roleplaying Game. It contains all the rules you need to play as a player, with complete character creation sequences, new genotypes and cultures, and a whole new octant of Commonality Space in which to set your character stories and adventures. It contains:

The essential Fate Core system, all the rules you need to create and play characters in the Mindjammer universe—including rules for creating and playing sentient starship characters!
Descriptions and histories of the New Commonality of Humankind.
New starmaps, homeworlds, and genotypes of Commonality Space.
Rules for the Mindscape and virtual worlds.

Note that while the Mindjammer Player’s Guide contains some new content, it also reiterates much of the material of the Mindjammer – The Roleplaying Game Core book. You don’t need the Player’s Guide if you already have that book – although your players may love a copy!

At the same time, we’re also releasing The Enhanced Commonality Space Schematic poster map, a gorgeous remastered and updated version of the New Commonality Schematic from the Mindjammer Core Book and Mindjammer Player’s Guide. Expanded with new information and illustrations of key worlds and system data, the Enhanced Schematic comes in both high-resolution PDF and TIF formats and also as a Desktop Wallpaper for your tablet or PC! Visualise the vastness of the New Commonality of Humankind with this gorgeous artwork schematic by Mindjammer lead artist Jason Juta (Mindjammer, Shadowrun, Gamma World, Warhammer 40K, Battletech, Song of Ice and Fire).

The Mindjammer Player’s Guide and The Enhanced Commonality Space Schematic are available now in PDF digital format on Modiphius.net and DriveThruRPG, with the print edition available from the 23rd November.

Mindjammer: The Core Worlds Sourcebook and The Mindjammer Companion – OUT NOW!

We’re delighted to announce the launch today of two brand new supplements for Mindjammer – The Roleplaying Game!

First up is The Core Worlds Sourcebook, by Sarah Newton (Mindjammer, Achtung! Cthulhu, Legends of Anglerre, Monsters & Magic, The Chronicles of Future Earth), David Donachie (Mindjammer, Legends of Anglerre, Solipsist), Paul Mitchener (Mindjammer, Age of Arthur, Mythic Britain, Starfall), and John Snead (Mindjammer, Aeon Trinity, Exalted, Blue Rose, The Dying Earth).

The Core Worlds Sourcebook details a vast sector of Commonality Space for your Mindjammer games. Focussing for the first time on the ancient, decadent, and sophisticated heart of the Commonality, it provides you with deep background and material to explore this fascinating region. Play Fringe Worlders experiencing the strangeness of the Core first-hand, or Core Worlders, sure of their superiority, until they leave their homes and are found wanting. Play planetary sentiences ruling whole worlds, ancient dynasties with plans crossing millennia, illegal xenomorphs fighting oppression and neglect in the forbidden substrates beneath the towering arcologies. Push the boundaries of transhuman science-fiction gaming—explore what it means to be human itself. A bright, bizarre, and thought-provoking milieu for your Mindjammer games!

The Core Worlds Sourcebook includes:

The history and background of the Core, including lavish maps, new genotypes and strange subcultures.
Deep detail on Manhome, including maps and descriptions of Old Earth, Old Mars, Green Moon, and more!
The Fargate Network and the mysterious 3-Space Instrumentality.
Descriptions, artwork, and stats for the Custodians—the secret rulers of the Core Worlds.
Guides for Core Worlds campaigns. Go beyond what it means to be human!

Second up, the Mindjammer Companion welcomes you to the turbulent worlds of the Outremer subsector, out on the Commonality frontier. It’s the heart of the Rim Sector, a spectacular, violent place of feuding polities in the no-man’s land between the Commonality and the Venu Empire. In the aftermath of war, everything is up for grabs: Successor States rise and fall, the new xenomorph Sentient Alliance flexes its muscles, and the Commonality and the nefarious Venu jostle for position, knowing that war could break out again at any moment.</p

The Mindjammer Companion includes:

History and background of the Outremer Subsector, including subsector octant maps.
Essays on the conflicting economic systems which vie for supremacy out beyond the Frontier, far from the Resource Allocation Sentiences of the Commonality core.
The five generations of Commonality starship design.
New cultures and genotypes.
An octant map of the Heritage Contestation and planetary maps and writeups for 30 adventure-packed worlds!

The Mindjammer Companion presents material which originally appeared in the Mindjammer (Traveller Edition) sourcebook, converted and repurposed for use with the Fate Core system and Mindjammer—The Roleplaying Game. The Mindjammer—The Roleplaying Game core book is required for play.

Both The Core Worlds Sourcebook and the Mindjammer Companion are now available in PDF format on Modiphius.net and DriveThruRPG, with the print edition available from the 23rd November.

Children of Orion: The Venu Sourcebook – OUT NOW!

We’re delighted to announce the launch today of CHILDREN OF ORION – THE VENU SOURCEBOOK, the brand new supplement for our transhuman science-fiction RPG Mindjammer – The Roleplaying Game, by Mindjammer creator Sarah Newton and David Donachie (Legends of Anglerre, Solipsist).

YOU WILL KNEEL BEFORE THE EMPEROR—OR DIE!

“To dwell on the past is weakness! We were born from nucleonic fire. We were forged in flame and suffering. And now we march to the stars and make the spawn of abomination burn!”

Welcome to the Bright Empire of Venu—the interstellar civilisation of the “bad guys” of Human Space! An ancient people of xenophobic human supremacists, survivors of an ancient war, now hellbent on cleansing the cosmos of abomination and bringing the purifying word of their undying God-Emperor to the stars.

Children of Orion—the Venu Sourcebook provides a whole new universe of adventure for your Mindjammer games—a harsh and violent interstellar empire beyond the Commonality frontier. Play rebels against the domineering rule of the God-Emperor, mutated troopers and servitors of the sinister Dark Radiance fighting against the cultural inroads of the Commonality—or Commonality agents themselves, working behind enemy lines to defeat an implacable foe which once devastated the Core Worlds! It’s a completely different vibe for your Mindjammer games—darker, more desperate, where the survival of an entire people is at stake.

Children of Orion—the Venu Sourcebook includes:

Prehistories and histories of the Empire of Venu
The strange powers of the Dark Radiance
Starmaps and world descriptions
Full details for creating Venu characters, including genotypes, occupations, and cultures
Venu tech and starships
Guidelines for playing Venu campaigns. Fight against the Venu, or play a Venu character yourself!

Also check out Sarah Newton’s blog post today on the genesis of the Venu and Children of Orion.

Children of Orion—the Venu Sourcebook is now available in PDF format on Modiphius.net and DriveThruRPG, with the print edition available from the 23rd November.

Mindjammer – Traveller edition now available!

Modiphius Entertainment and Mindjammer Press are delighted to announce the release of Mindjammer – Transhuman Adventure in the Second Age of Space (“Mindjammer Traveller”), a complete 384-page hardback setting supplement for the second edition TRAVELLER RPG from Mongoose Publishing. The ENnie Award-winning transhuman science-fiction RPG setting returns, in a brand new edition for use with the TRAVELLER roleplaying game!

Available now in print + PDF bundle and PDF-only version from the Modiphius webstore and in PDF-only version from RPGNow / DriveThruRPG.

Mindjammer Traveller has been written by Sarah Newton and John Snead (who did all the heavy-lifting on the conversion), with gorgeous layout and artwork from Jason Juta and his team of visioneers, and features:

full rules for starships, organisations, and culture operations;
detailed character cultures, genotypes, and new careers – play a sentient starship!
new and innovative systems for describing planets, star systems, and alien life;
deep setting material on the New Commonality of Humankind;
rules for the Mindscape and virtual worlds;
starmaps and planet descriptions, histories, and background.

THE UNIVERSE AWAITS!

Never has there been a greater time of opportunity. The universe is in flux, and for the first time in ten thousand years no one knows what the future will bring. Charge your blaster, thoughtcast your orders to the starship sentience, and fire up the planing engines. Come and defend the light of humanity’s greatest civilisation as it spreads to the stars!

(Requires the use of the Traveller Core Rulebook, available from Mongoose Publishing.)

Print + PDF bundle and PDF-only version from the Modiphius webstore.
PDF-only version from RPGNow / DriveThruRPG.

BLUE “thoughtcast edition” pre-release PDF

Blue Cover The “thoughtcast edition” pre-release PDF of the new Mindjammer adventure BLUE is now available for Kickstarter backers to download!

If you backed the Kickstarter, you’ll be receiving an automated email with download links shortly, and you can also access it from your Backerkit account at https://mindjammer-the-roleplaying-game.backerkit.com/

This is a multi-session adventure / mini-campaign by Sarah Newton and John Snead set among the ruins of a near-transcendent alien civilisation, and takes your characters deep into the unknown.

Read the update here:

Here’s a landscape shot of the world of Jessila, the second garden world in the system.

blue-interior shot

Two new adventures for the Mindjammer RPG!

We’re delighted to announce the release today of not one but two brand new adventure supplements for Mindjammer – The Roleplaying Game. Funded by last December’s Kickstarter, we’re proud to bring you the thrilling exploration mystery adventure THE CITY PEOPLE, and DOMINION, the quickstart rules and introductory adventure for Mindjammer – a free PDF and special low-price print booklet!

In THE CITY PEOPLE, an event horizon probe has discovered a lost colony world beyond the Commonality Frontier like no one has ever seen before. Join the crew of Maggie, the Magnanimous Intervention sentient starship, and take the light of humankind’s civilisation to the stars. Are you ready to push back the darkness – whatever you may find?

THE CITY PEOPLE includes:

a mysterious and lethal alien world to explore – maps, biosphere, and more;
a deadly multi-session scenario of conflict, investigation, and mystery;
tech specs, deckplans, and details of the Space Force instrumentality;
pregenerated characters, including the chance to play a sentient starship!

DOMINION takes place beyond the borders of the New Commonality of Humankind, in the Sentient Alliance – turbulent worlds where the embers of the Venu War still glow. Even out here, stretched thin, the Commonality still tries to keep the light of civilisation alive: join a team of recruits to SCI Force – the Security and Cultural Integrity Instrumentality – on a mission gone horribly wrong on the cold war frontier with the Venu Successor States. Can you rise to the occasion and save the day before yet another world falls before the encroaching night?

DOMINION includes:

Quickstart rules to enable you to play a Mindjammer game with just this book!
Four pregenerated characters to get started right away;
Descriptions, maps, and plans of a strange alien world with an exotic lost colony civilisation;
A complete action-packed adventure showcasing the Mindjammer setting and rules, playable in one or more sessions.

Both THE CITY PEOPLE and DOMINION are available immediately in print and PDF from the Mindjammer Webstore at Modiphius.com, and in PDF from DriveThruRPG, and will soon be available in friendly local game stores everywhere!

The Mindjammer Kickstarter – Final Week!

We’re delighted to announce that the successful MINDJAMMER KICKSTARTER campaign is now entering its final week. Launched on the 17th November to fund a massive expansion of the far future transhuman science-fiction and roleplaying game setting, the Kickstarter achieved its initial funding goal in 24 hours, and has since been unlocking exciting stretch goals featuring new supplements, sourcebooks, fiction, and adventures.

We’ve been absolutely thrilled by your response. You’ve given us such awesome feedback and contributions, and enabled us to unlock some fantastic goals: right now we have two adventures, a sourcebook for the Venu, an entire fiction collection, a player’s guide, a companion, an introductory adventure, an enhanced poster map of the Commonality, and even a Traveller version of the game! Now that we’re entering this crucial final week the Kickstarter is amazing value, and we’re hoping that even more of you will come on board and help us unlock still more books for your far future transhuman science fiction games.

The Kickstarter is offering a range of pledge levels, from “just the PDF” of the initial funding goal adventure THE CITY PEOPLE (and even that includes a free copy of the MINDJAMMER novel), to pledges including absolutely everything in digital format, and even pledges of print versions including the Mindjammer RPG core rules. The three most popular pledge levels right now are:

£45 / $67.50 PRINT + PDF CORE MASTER: Ideal if you’re getting into the Mindjammer RPG for the first time, this pledge includes physical print copies and digital versions of the MINDJAMMER RPG core rulebook, the HEARTS AND MINDS adventure, and THE CITY PEOPLE adventure; as well as digital (PDF) versions of everything released by the Kickstarter, which so far includes: the MINDJAMMER PLAYER’S GUIDE, the CITY PEOPLE Digipack Graphic and Map Resources, MINDJAMMER TRAVELLER, the MINDJAMMER COMPANION, the adventure BLUE, the MINDJAMMER novel, the novel-length short story collection SONGS OF OLD EARTH, the ENHANCED COMMONALITY SPACE SCHEMATIC, and CHILDREN OF ORION—the Venu sourcebook.
£20 / $30 PDF MASTER: Perfect if you already have the MINDJAMMER RPG core book, this great value pledge offers everything released by the Kickstarter in digital (PDF) format, which so far includes: the adventure THE CITY PEOPLE, the MINDJAMMER PLAYER’S GUIDE, the CITY PEOPLE Digipack Graphic and Map Resources, MINDJAMMER TRAVELLER, the MINDJAMMER COMPANION, the adventure BLUE, the MINDJAMMER novel, the novel-length short story collection SONGS OF OLD EARTH, the ENHANCED COMMONALITY SPACE SCHEMATIC, and CHILDREN OF ORION—the Venu sourcebook. That’s ten products for just £20 / $30!
£25 / $37.50 PRINT + PDF MASTER: Perfect if you have the MINDJAMMER RPG core book and would like a physical copy of the new adventure THE CITY PEOPLE, this pledge includes a print + PDF copy of the adventure THE CITY PEOPLE, and digital (PDF) versions of everything released by the Kickstarter, which so far includes: the MINDJAMMER PLAYER’S GUIDE, the CITY PEOPLE Digipack Graphic and Map Resources, MINDJAMMER TRAVELLER, the MINDJAMMER COMPANION, the adventure BLUE, the MINDJAMMER novel, the novel-length short story collection SONGS OF OLD EARTH, the ENHANCED COMMONALITY SPACE SCHEMATIC, and CHILDREN OF ORION—the Venu sourcebook.

The Kickstarter is also releasing print versions of supplements, which can be easily added to pledges at special “Kickstarter prices”. These include the following—more print versions will be added as they’re unlocked:

The MINDJAMMER RPG core book: 496 pages, hardback.
The adventure HEARTS AND MINDS: 80 pages, paperback.
The adventure THE CITY PEOPLE: 80 pages, paperback.
The MINDJAMMER PLAYER’S GUIDE: 160 pages, paperback.
The ENHANCED COMMONALITY SPACE SCHEMATIC POSTER MAP: A2 / ANSI-C size.

All in all great Kickstarter value—and we’re still unlocking new stretch goals almost every day! Full details, descriptions, previews, graphics, and more can be found at the Kickstarter page at http://tinyurl.com/jammerkick—so please drop by and pledge before Sunday the 20th December, and help fund this massive expansion of our far future transhuman science-fiction setting!

The Commonality salutes you!

MINDJAMMER. BEYOND THE HUMAN FRONTIER.

The Mindjammer Kickstarter – Open Now!

We’re delighted to announce the launch today of the MINDJAMMER KICKSTARTER to fund a massive expansion of the far future transhuman science-fiction and roleplaying game setting. Featuring sourcebooks, supplements, and adventures, as well as new fiction including the second and third novels in the Mindjammer trilogy, this marks a major step up for the award-winning game.

The first £5,000 goal of the Kickstarter is to fund THE CITY PEOPLE, an action-packed 80-page adventure of mystery and exploration on an alien world, featuring horror, thrills, and scientific discovery aboard the sentient Space Force explorer ship Magnanimous Intervention. Once this is funded we have lined up stretch goals including sourcebooks such as the Core Worlds and Venu, new adventures and fiction, and more surprises beyond.

“The time is right for a Mindjammer kickstarter,” said Sarah Newton (Mindjammer, Achtung! Cthulhu, Legends of Anglerre, Monsters & Magic, Burn Shift, The Chronicles of Future Earth), author of Mindjammer and director of Mindjammer Press. “We’ve reached a critical mass of material ready for publication, and over the past 18 months since launching the second edition we’ve assembled a great team of talented artists, writers, and layout designers to take us to the next level. I have over a million words of source material written, and am very excited that we now have the opportunity to bring it to Mindjammer fans old and new.”

The Mindjammer line is co-published by Modiphius Entertainment, who are supporting Mindjammer Press with advice, marketing and logistics to help ensure the Kickstarter and its fulfilment are a success. “With our experience of running several major Kickstarters we’re well aware of how to help where it counts,” said Chris Birch, director of Modiphius Entertainment and leading light of such successful Kickstarters as Achtung! Cthulhu, Mutant Chronicles, and the recent Infinity RPG. “We’ve seen the Mindjammer line grow from the early days of Starblazer Adventures and now working together as Modiphius and Mindjammer Press it’s been great seeing the Commonality grow and grow with fans right across the world.”

The Mindjammer –The Roleplaying Game kickstarter launches today, Tuesday 17 November 2015, and runs until Sunday 20 December. It offers a wide range of popular pledges, from all-you-can-eat digital product pledges to print products and more. In addition to sourcebooks, supplements, and adventures detailing the New Commonality of Humankind and the awesome adventures you can have there using the Fate Core rules (from Evil Hat Productions), the kickstarter also features stretch goals such as a version of the Mindjammer game for the Traveller roleplaying game rules, and brand new fiction in the Mindjammer universe, including the second and third novels in the Mindjammer trilogy following the first critically acclaimed novel already available.

Check out the Mindjammer – The Roleplaying Game kickstarter today at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/328469751/mindjammer-the-roleplaying-game. The future awaits!

MINDJAMMER. BEYOND THE HUMAN FRONTIER.

Mindjammer – Hearts and Minds out now!

We’re delighted to announce that Hearts and Minds, the first scenario for Mindjammer – The Roleplaying Game, is out now! Order the adventure and download a complimentary PDF version today, with your print version shipping immediately. Hearts and Minds will also be available in hobby stores everywhere from May.

“One hundred years ago no one had even heard of aliens. Then the sightings began — uncanny lights by the Snow-Layer, anomalies on our radar, strange reports from lone farmers or the pithecines in the backwoods. Some people thought it was the brave explorers of legend, returned from fabled Homeworld to help us in our hour of need; others thought it was the precursor to an invasion by an alien race, with designs on the fertile lands of our cratered home.

“Twenty years ago they announced themselves — and it was both. The Homeworlders had come, in force, and were nothing like our myths foretold. Heedless of our ways, they swept in like a whirlwind, and it seemed there was nothing we could do to stop them.

“They called themselves The Commonality…”

The world of Olkennedy is on the brink of civil war. Deadly factions with nefarious agendas conspire for power in a society reeling from culture shock, and your characters are the only thing holding back a bloody conflict which will tear the planet apart!

Hearts and Minds includes:

a whole rediscovered world — maps, biosphere, civilisation, and society;
a thrilling multi-session scenario of conflict, investigation, and intrigue against the backdrop of
developing civil war;
details of Commonality factions;
guidelines for convention and one-shot play.

Written by Mindjammer author-creator Sarah Newton, Hearts and Minds is an action-packed scenario for the award-winning Mindjammer — The Roleplaying Game, transhuman science-fiction roleplaying using the Fate Core rules, published by Mindjammer Press and distributed by Modiphius Entertainment (Achtung! Cthulhu, Mutant Chronicles, Thunderbirds). The Mindjammer — The Roleplaying Game core book is required for play.

Grab your blaster, thoughtcast your commands to the starship sentience, and engage the planing engines – the transhuman adventure is just beginning!

Mindjammer – The Roleplaying Game wins Griffie Award for Best RPG

We’re absolutely delighted and deeply honoured to announce that Mindjammer – The Roleplaying Game won the Griffie Award for Best Roleplaying Game at the Conpulsion 2014 convention in Edinburgh last weekend. From among a very competitive field (13th Age, Hillfolk, Numenera, Rocket Age, Blood and Smoke), the convention attendees voted for Mindjammer – The Roleplaying Game as Best RPG, which was awarded to Mindjammer writer Sarah Newton during the Closing Ceremony at 7pm on Sunday 27th April.

We’d like to thank all the convention attendees for voting for us, and the committee, blue shirts, and organisers of Conpulsion for a great convention, and for making the launch of Mindjammer – The Roleplaying Game such a memorable event – and congratulations to all the nominees in a very strong field! Thanks too to all of the many Mindjammer fans who’ve supported the setting over the years, and who’ve preordered and ordered the brand new second edition of the game, available for order now and appearing in your friendly local game store in May.

Creating a roleplaying game is never a solo effort. We’d like to thank Michal Cross for his gorgeous layout work on Mindjammer; Jason Juta, Ian Stead, Paul Bourne, Andy Wintrip, Andreas Schroth, Eric Lofgren, Fil Kearney, Earl Geier, Marco Morte, and Jeff Ward for their wonderful art; the Mindjammer Working Group for their encouragement, feedback, playtesting and support; and Chris and Rita Birch of Modiphius Entertainment for their tireless work promoting and distributing the game; and of course Fred Hicks, Leonard Balsera, and Rob Donoghue and all the folks at Evil Hat Productions for creating Fate Core in the first place, and making Mindjammer – The Roleplaying Game possible.

Thank you!

Sarah Newton
Chris McWilliam
Mindjammer Press, 30th April 2014

*****

Mindjammer – The Roleplaying Game is available in 496-page hardback from Modiphius Entertainment, including a complementary PDF, and in PDF-only version from Modiphius, DriveThruRPG, and RPGNow. Find out more about the game at www.mindjammer.com.