''Dawning Star'' (abbreviated ''DS'') is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

by Blue Devil Games built on ''

d20 Modern ''d20 Modern'' is a modern fantasy role-playing game system designed by Bill Slavicsek, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, and Charles Ryan. The system's core rulebook was published by Wizards of the Coast on November 1, 2002; by 2006, ten additional supp ...

'' and powered by ''

d20 Future ''d20 Future'' is an accessory for the ''d20 Modern'' role-playing game written by Christopher Perkins, Rodney Thompson, and JD Wiker. It facilitates the playing of campaigns in the far future, using elements such as cybernetics, mecha, mut ...

'' by

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for ga ...

. It is the first full-scale campaign setting using the ''

'' ruleset. It is published under the

Open Game License The Open Game License (OGL) is a public copyright license by Wizards of the Coast that may be used by tabletop role-playing game developers to grant permission to modify, copy, and redistribute some of the content designed for their games, nota ...

. The setting is self-described as "firm science" and is designed to support a number of science-fiction subgenres, including: space Western, 'bug hunt' (like the ''

Alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...

'' series of films or ''

Starship Troopers ''Starship Troopers'' is a military science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. Written in a few weeks in reaction to the US suspending nuclear tests, the story was first published as a two-part serial in ''The Magazine of F ...

''), alien ruin exploration, political intrigue, etc.

Synopsis

The setting history commences in the year 2184. Having detected a dark object on a collision course with Earth, a massive multinational evacuation plan is set into motion. The evacuation takes place in 2196 shortly before the destruction of Earth. At the outer limits of the solar system, the evacuation fleet interacts with a Tentaari gateway device. Because the device is damaged, the ships of the fleet are scattered randomly throughout the

galaxy A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. ...

. One ship—the titular Dawning Star—finds itself in the Helios system. The humans land on Eos, one of the planets in the system that is environmentally quite similar to Earth. Following their arrival, the humans begin to colonize the planet and explore the numerous alien ruins that dot the planet's surface. A government is established called the Dawning Star Republic. However, some of the rebellious colonists break away to form the Eos Freedom League. In 2248, the Tentaari make contact with the humans. They are very secretive about the history of the planet and are cautious about helping the humans. In 2249, humans first encounter the Velin, an indigenous species similar in appearance to humans.

Alien species

The following species of

alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...

s exist in the Dawning Star setting. This list is not exhaustive. *Haimedians: Plant-based humanoids that are the minority population on C'thalk. They are experts with organic technology, including genetically engineering task-based species. *Humans: Evacuees of Earth and their descendants. They have colonized Eos and are just starting to explore the rest of the Helios system. *Saurians: The dominant population on C'thalk. They are genetically similar to terran dinosaurs and have four primary sub-species: brachins, flyers, shellbacks, and tyrans. *Tentaari: Small gray humanoids. They are highly intelligent but also mysterious, reluctant to share any information with the humans. *Vaasi: The primary “villains” of the setting, consisting of several related insectoid xenomorphs, including true vaasi, phrenics, and vaasi warhounds. Also referred to as "darklings". *Velin: A humanoid species indigenous to Eos. They are very similar to humans, causing some to theorize that they are genetically related.

Publishing history

The game went into development shortly after the announcement by Wizards of the Coast that they would be publishing ''d20 Future''. Blue Devil Games stated a desire to be the first campaign setting using the ''d20 Future'' rules. To accomplish the feat they announced that they would attempt to fully develop the setting prior to the release of the book. Then, upon ''d20 Future''s publication, they would incorporate the rules into the setting material. If successful, they would be able to publish ''Dawning Star'' immediately upon the release of the ''d20 Future'' rules to the

System Reference Document In the open gaming movement, a System Reference Document (SRD) is a reference for a role-playing game's mechanics licensed under the Open Game License (OGL) to allow other publishers to make material compatible with that game. History The first ...

. The plan suffered two setbacks. Joseph Martin was the initial author contracted to write the setting. Citing lack of time to complete the job given the time constraints, he was released from the project. (Martin has a credit in the book for the “original concept”.) At that time, Lee Hammock was contracted to complete the project. Additionally, Danilo Moretti was contracted to take over art direction duties. As a result of these obstacles, the book was delayed for several months after the publication of ''d20 Future''. However, during that time, no other company published a campaign setting based upon the rules. ''Dawning Star: Operation Quick Launch'' was released in

PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...

format on February 24, 2005, and released in print format shortly thereafter. It is the first full-scale campaign setting using the ''d20 Future'' rules and remained the only such setting for some time.{{Citation needed, date=August 2007 Following its release, ''Dawning Star: Operation Quick Launch'' earned a 2005

ENnie The ENNIE Awards (previously stylized as ENnie Awards) are awards for role-playing game (RPG) products (including game-related accessories, publications, and art) and their creators. The awards were created in 2001 by Russ Morrissey of EN World i ...

nomination for ''Best d20 Game''. In 2005, Blue Devil Games released ''Shadow Falling'', an

adventure module An adventure is a playable scenario in a tabletop role-playing game. These can be constructed by gamemasters for their players, and are also released by game publishers as pre-made adventure modules. Different types of designs exist, including l ...

for the setting. Blue Devil Games released ''Helios Rising'' at Gen Con in 2006. It was originally scheduled to be published as a 208-page book and released at Gen Con in 2005. However, the book expanded to 540 pages. The book describes the rest of the Helios system in great detail, including 12 playable PC species and hundreds of feats, occupations, talent trees, classes, and equipment. The book also describes 'Red Truth', a futuristic take on

psionics In American science fiction of the 1950s and 1960s, psionics was a proposed discipline that applied principles of engineering (especially electronics) to the study (and employment) of paranormal or psychic phenomena, such as telepathy and psychok ...

. In 2007, ''Helios Rising'' earned four

nominations for ''Best Cover Art'', ''Best Setting'', ''Best d20/OGL Product'', and ''Product of the Year''. ''Helios Rising'' is the largest science-fiction setting book ever published. In 2006, Blue Devil Games also started the ''TERRAFORMER'' line of products, a regular series of short texts in PDF with additional content for the setting. At

Gen Con Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playing ...

2007, Blue Devil Games hosted a "Dawning Star VIP Game for Charity". The public bid on and purchased tickets to both play in and attend the event that was held in a private room at the Alcatraz Brewing Company.

JD Wiker J. D. Wiker is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. Career JD Wiker originally comes from Indianapolis, where he began his love of games, starting with his family's collection of board games and the weekly game night. ...

, one of the designers of ''

'' was the VIP.

Lee Hammock Lee Hammock is a professional writer and game designer. Hammock has worked on numerous products for numerous companies, including '' NeoExodus: A House Divided'' RPG by Louis Porter Jr. Design, ''The Halo Graphic Novel'' and the '' Dawning Star Cam ...

was the GM. During the game, players and attendees were able to donate additional money to influence the events in the game. One attendee, donated $5 to have the elevator between ship levels play bad elevator music; another donated $60 to "summon" a Vaasi war

mech In science fiction, or mechs are giant robots or machines controlled by people, typically depicted as humanoid walking vehicles. The term was first used in Japanese (language), Japanese after shortening the English loanword or , but the mean ...

. All told, the event raised $2,500 to benefit the

Shriners Hospitals for Children Shriners Children's is a network of non-profit medical facilities across North America. Children with orthopaedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate are eligible for care and receive all services in a family-center ...

. Blue Devil Games ran a successful

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign to relaunch the setting using the Fate Core rules from

Evil Hat Productions Evil Hat Productions is a company that produces role-playing games and other tabletop games. Chief among them is the free indie RPG, ''Fate'', which has won numerous awards. History Fred Hicks had been working with Lydia Leong, Rob Donoghu ...

. The campaign ended on October 15, 2013, with 884 backers pledging a total of $28,138.

Books

* ''Dawning Star: Helios Rising'':

Campaign Setting A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A ''campaign'' is a series of individual adventures, and a ''campaign setting'' is the world in which such adventures and ca ...

* ''Dawning Star: Operation Quick Launch'':

* ''Shadow Falling'':

Adventure (role-playing games) An adventure is a playable scenario in a tabletop role-playing game. These can be constructed by gamemasters for their players, and are also released by game publishers as pre-made adventure modules. Different types of designs exist, including l ...

* ''Dawning Star: Fate of Eos'':

(announced)

External links

''Dawning Star'' Homepage

Kickstarter Page

Reviews

C.W. Richeson's Review at RPG.net
Campaign settings D20 System publications Role-playing games introduced in 2005 Science fiction role-playing games