Command the Battlestar Valkyrie, a fleet of Vipers, Raptors, and repurposed ships for a covert last stand against the Cylons.
Join the GHOST FLEET OFFENSIVE
Ghost Fleet Offensive is a campaign-length role playing game that combines the strategic legacy of Band of Blades with the tense interconnected relationships of Battlestar Galactica.
Can you shepherd a slapped-together Ghost Fleet of secret ships to gather resources and strike at Cylon targets? Can you turn the tide in the decade-long war between human and machine? And can you do it without losing sight of the difference between the two sides?
Known Pillars
Our Bonds Define Us
The characters of Battlestar Galactica are linked through fraught relationships. Commander Adama and his son struggle to reconcile the death of Zak through their military hierarchy. Thrace is driven as much by her love for the CAG as by loathing for her XO. Everyone is human, and we are defined by our interconnections.
All of This Has Happened Before, and Will Happen Again
This is a prequel story that is rarely told. This game is driven by tragic dramatic irony, religious prophecies, and the habits of our humanity. Characters are arch and understandable, and the story resonates through time with the tales of Battlestar Galactica. We know the war turns on this moment, but we don’t know if the Ghost Fleet Offensive succeeds or fails.
Mechanical Choices Spotlight Character Moments
Every mechanical choice is viewed as an opportunity to define fiction and highlight connections and disagreements between characters. We create the strategic layer to give our characters something to care about, not to give our players busywork.
Materiel is Abundant but Fickle, Experts are Scarce but Reliable
The universe is giving. Floating wrecks hide caches of munitions, asteroids are abundant with tylium ore, and the colonies overflow with supplies. But it only takes one hit to wreck your Viper. The Fleet can’t contact you to pass on more Raptors. Every bullet fired will have to be restocked somewhere in secret. Plus, most of your crew are Ghost Fleet conscripts from ships saved from Cylon attack. Your pilots are office-workers from Caprica. Your engineers are miners from Troy. But if you look after your people, train them, and build their connections, they will be your greatest weapon.
Open Questions
Can We Use Perceived Pressure to Create Arcs and Beats?
Blades in the Dark relies on table-set position and effect negotiation to manage tone. This leads play-culture toward every action creating drama in similar ways. Is there a way that we can establish more apparent beats of greater and lesser risk, such that a table can create its own arcs of pushing against big targets for big rewards?
How Do We Balance Conceptual Play and Systemic Decision-Making?
Band of Blades institutes several flow-of-play requirements to make the strategic game work. Even in Blades in the Dark, the systemic bump between downtime and heists is unusually uncomfortable. How do we bring a stronger role-play angle into “downtime” or the “strategic layer” so that players are less limited by codified rules and but still follow the desired play experience?
What Changes in the Core Loop?
What Do We Roll?
Forged in the Dark is traditionally very focused on conspicuous “what” you do with Action-focused verbs. How can we encourage players to instead focus on their resources: Fragile but powerful gear, volatile but genuine relationships, and our very humanity.
What Does Character Growth Look Like?
A fresh recruit with few relationships is volatile and expendable. A long-time pilot with a lover, father, and a blood-feud is something special. How does the game shepherd Picon Aqua-farmers into combat veterans without relying on “Number Get Big”.