One-page Game Summary

Major Themes

The characters are living in a world with collective social and biological trauma inherited from the deep past. In a moment of high potential, the people of this world will decide what role the past will play in shaping the future. As a small group with extraordinary powers, the characters plunge into a life of Discovery, Camaraderie, and Power that helps guide them to thrive in this setting.

Genre, Setting, and Tone

Relics of the Moon is a science-fantasy roleplaying game of outlandish action-adventure. The setting is a post-post-apocalyptic alien world following a global technological-environmental catastrophe caused by an earlier advanced civilization. This catastrophe came in the form of the Moonfall when a fabricated crystal moon infused with the power to rewrite reality exploded and rained down upon the world. Having made it through a post-apocalyptic era, the people have transformed their tried methods of survival into the foundations of a new society supported by the remnants of the ancient technology that once brought destruction.

The player characters are a small band of enhanced professionals in the service of powerful patrons who seek to shape this new world in their image. These characters often find themselves engaged in the search for ancient artifacts of power, armed and philosophical conflict between peoples, and the challenge to survive dangerous environments. Intrigue, intense battles with extraordinary abilities, and mind-bending surprises are all part of a days’ work. Through it all, the characters will test their relationships with each other.

The setting is inspired by the surreal and psychedelic worlds of sci-fi and fantasy from the early- through late-20th century, particularly the sword-and-planet genre, as well as animated and comicbook storytelling. It is intentionally phantasmic and a little bombastic, with a mash-up of retro futuristic sci-fi, sword-and-sorcery, wild west, post-apocalyptic, and solarpunk elements. Mix in a more contemporary view of social and cultural diversity while maintaining high drama and you have the tone of the game.

What is the Society of Anasta Like?

A form of magic exists as abilities activated through advanced technology, a kind of techno-fantasy where magic and technology are interchangeable. A common theme in science-fantasy explores a conflict between magic and technology, ancient versus modern. Relics of the Moon explores this theme through the lens of an ancient global cataclysm. How might the people view this power when it is both useful and ubiquitous, as well as dangerous? While some individuals in the world are simply pragmatic and side-step the issue by using whatever technology is readily available, many have preferences backed by ideology or even physiology. Some are quite fanatic in their choice and align themselves with one of the major factions in the world.

There are varied anthropomorphic life forms/mutations on this world called bioforms. Though there are human-like bioforms, many are very different. There exist cultural norms for many bioforms, but individual characters may be more or less aligned with these. Indeed, there may be conflicts of values between a character’s cohort or faction and their bioform’s dominant culture.

Philosophical factions (some composed of one bioform) define the most distinct cultures, and there are a handful of large faction-led settlements that resemble city-states. Kratocracy (“rule by the strongest”) is the de facto political structure everywhere, though some of the settlements maintain the facade of other political structures.

In the millenia since the Moonfall, the population of the planet has driven itself to near-extinction multiple times. In the last world-wide conflict, an alternative to war was adopted, and large-scale battles have been rare during the last millenium. In part, this lack of war is what has allowed the post-post-apocalyptic era to arise. However, as recent generations begin to forget where they came from, the shadows of war are beginning to return. Smaller-scale conflicts are common as people vie for resources or play out personal dramas, but they have not yet turned to war.

While pure survival is less of a concern than it was in the previous era, thriving on Anasta is a different matter. With few central authorities outside of the main settlements, brigands, thugs, and thieves are common. There are dystopian as well as utopian elements, and everything in-between. The key element is that the world is in a moment of opportunity that will be decided by those that seize the day.

The economy is a mixture of barter and trade and revolves around the exchange of survival goods and Moonshards, the literal fragments of the previous advanced civilization.

The land is mostly wilderness that is home to exotic mutant flora and fauna. This wilderness varies from sub-tropical jungles to boreal forest, golden plains to dark, storm-ridden coastlines. Some areas on Anasta are radioactive and toxic from the Moonfall (far more so than anything on Earth), and some weather phenomena are downright deadly.

Who the characters are

The PCs are members of a cohort, a small gang common to this setting. The characters are bonded together through various means and motivations, some of which may be faction-related. A cohort typically spends most of its time fulfilling jobs obtained from various patrons, though they have time to pursue other goals/activities as well. Whatever the goal, Moonshards are often involved. Individual characters are seasoned, starting with a professional background and are assumed to have the equipment necessary to handle a variety of dangerous situations. Each possesses at least one ability accessed through an item or by having a Moon Relic infused into their body. Every cohort has a shared vehicle that will assist them in fulfilling their goals. These vehicles—colloquially known as “Mules”—are among the most advanced technology on the planet. Mules enhance and support the capability of a cohort beyond what their individual members provide.