Projects - Through The Stars

A Narrative-First Science
Fiction RPG

Through the Stars is a storytelling science fiction tabletop RPG set in the Prime-Originate Galaxy. Gather your friends and assemble a crew to choose your place within a galaxy beset with interstellar conflict and powerful ancient forces. Build a crew of pirates, form a group of explorers, or fight in the galaxy’s shared efforts against its common enemies—tell the story you and your friends have always wanted to tell.

A Narrative-First Science Fiction RPG

A Setting Unlike Any Known to Our Galaxy

The Aleph

The Prime-Originate Galaxy has existed for billions of years, and an ancient civilization, the Aleph, left behind thousands of psionically powered ruins. Though their disappearance is still a mystery, the relics they left behind have propelled science and engineering far beyond that of our own world. Common technologies found in the Prime-Originate, like the FTL gates, advanced starships, and psionic implants, were all derived from these devices and structures.

A Galaxy Beset with Looming Threats

The Cerebran

Over a thousand years ago, a powerful psionic force known as the Cerebran made first contact with Human colonies in the Shura system. The presence of this force fused metal and inorganic material with flesh, creating psionically powered husks which turned against Humanity. Now referred to as the Cerebellum, the Shura system quickly became home to a great structure known as the God Brain, which absorbed all into itself. Undead flesh-machine hybrids work endlessly in the dark presence of the sun-smothering God Brain, their intent still mysterious to the rest of the galaxy. Though its origin remains unknown, the governments of the galaxy managed to destroy the FTL gates which lead to the rest of the charted systems before the Cerebran could spread any further, those centuries ago. But today, they have made contact deeper into the charted systems, where the galaxy’s forces fight to beat back the presence once more.

The Firmament

In the far reaches of the galaxy, a parasitic organism known as the Firmament spreads itself rapidly by offering painless death, peaceful religious doctrine, and “Ascension,” a process of being dissolved back into the inherent psionic energies of the galaxy. While they have remained peaceful for the many years it has engaged in interstellar travel, rumors spread now of the Firmament moving deeper into the charted systems, where it’s never been documented. Groups of religious followers gather in the population centers of these planets, where they preach the dogma of Ascension. Tensions rise in the Thek Hive Worlds as they prepare for a border restriction in order to keep the Firmament’s parasitic spread from infecting their many trillions of citizens.

Five Playable Races, Some More Familiar Than Others

The Prime-Originate Galaxy awaits. Five sentient species dominate the charted systems. Play as the plantoid Zyran and use pollen communication, and connect to your genetic ancestors. Join into battle as the aquatic Cartilan, donning an armored water suit, the Malh Hassar, and tap into your evolved psionic brain to sense others around you. Become a Thek Drone, one of trillions of insectoid followers of the Hive Queen, Thek’Katta, and carry out your pilgrimage. Play as a Human, aliens to the galaxy, who arrived thousands of years ago from the great ship, the Exodus. Become a Leshan, whose people became the conquerors of the interstellar industrial economy, and carry extra equipment with your three, flexible arms.

A New Tabletop Engine

Play the Game,
Ditch the Crunch

Through the Stars is built on the Tests, Trials, and Sacrifices (TTS) system, which is designed for fast and collaborative gameplay. Players can assist each other at any time, and the Game Master (GM) can help them accomplish their goals quickly. With just a set of D6’s, the GM and a group of players can enjoy blasting apart spaceships, delving into ancient alien ruins, and surviving the interstellar conflicts of the Prime-Originate Galaxy.

Make Choices and
Face Consequences

Players level up their characters by engaging in the galaxy. As they play, their character passively gains skill points, and at each major skill level, players pick traits that fit their playstyle. Character creation in Through The Stars is fast and easy, and like the rest of the game, it’s meant to enhance the narrative component of play. Player character death can be tragic, but the Crew Manifest allows that player to easily take over an already beloved NPC crew member.

Tell
Stories

Through the Stars utilizes lightweight rules to enhance a table’s focus on telling stories. The Prime-Originate Galaxy offers countless settings for players to set their exploration and adventure in. A table’s Game Master prepares and simulates the game along with the players, but everything is a shared experience from Skill Tests and combat order, to starship action and character choice, players and the Game Master work together to create the adventure.

Command
Your Crew

Players and GMs can paint elaborate scenes and tell engaging stories of conflict and intrigue aboard a range of starships. Rules for starship combat and travel are robust but easy to use, and allow for scalable interaction. Play with a small crew of players aboard a single ship, or command hundreds of NPCs and build a fleet for yourselves. No matter what size ship you choose, your crew can tell its story.

Build Your
Starship

Players can choose from a list of starships, ranging from the fast and agile Frigates, to the immense and imposing Dreadnoughts. Pick from dozens of modules which modify and add mechanics to your ship’s weapons, engines, communications station, medical bay, bridge, and more.

Work
Together

Through the Stars offers the players endless possibilities for assisting each other, and the starship rules offer unique roles for the crew, including the Captain, Communications Officer, Weapons Officer, Medic, and Engineer. Players can fit into the role they need as long as they want, and they can even elect for non-player characters to fill the roles they need.

Music to Guide You Through the Stars

In collaboration with our very own in-house musician, Latent Arcana Games is proud to present the Through the Stars Original Game Soundtrack. This album of 13 songs is available now to help you immerse yourself in the Prime-Originate Galaxy.

Ground your game in the themes and soundscapes of the setting’s most notable places. Fight for your survival in the Death Shoals to the sound of the ancient shell horns of Malh Hattat. Walk around Zira’s natural cities, and listen to the Infinitum’s Song-Fronds greet you as you pass. Hear the sounds of the galaxy’s most famous nightclub, the Fugue, as you make deals with the dangerous representatives of the Associated Mercenaries Syndicate. Whatever your adventures in this galaxy are, set them to the original music made by the creators of the game.