Coriolis introduction

New player information

Checking on the Coriolis Discord, I read that the publishers are OK with players recreating tables, figures and data from the RPG source material where the only purpose is the facilitation of playing their game and I hereby promise this is my only intent with this article. Coriolis information is direct from the game's core rules - Doctor Weather

This is a checklist of things I like to go through before I start a game for players new to Coriolis. I try to keep it as short as possible, to introduce as much as possible within the game itself, but have come to value a little scene setting and have found benefits in giving players some starting assumptions to work from.

Coriolis - setting

• Science fiction - heading towards space opera

1001 Nights inspiration

• Arabian inspired setting
• Science and religion are intertwined
• Icons vs. the Dark Between the Stars
• Icons: the divinity guiding the people as they explore the stars
• Give the players a hand out listing the Icons and their spheres of influence
• The Dark: a force challenging humanity's worth as it dares to risk the vast wilderness of space
• Culture clash between the First-come and the Zenithians:
• First-come:
• Those who've been here in the 'Horizon' for a long time, surviving the dark-age and devastation of the Long Night
• Tend to emphasise the spiritual meaning behind their science: “the Icons gave us science to help us understand the greater meaning of life, to help us become better people”
• Zenithian:
• A newly-arrived peoples, interfering everywhere but also bringing back lost connections between the First-come colonies and planets
• Tend to emphasise the rational meaning of their science: “the Icons gave us science as a tool to help us learn, so we might one day see and understand the wonder of the universe as they do”
• The player handout also has this culture information

Firefly inspiration

• Parties start out as a crew taking missions for a patron

Alien inspiration

• ...influencing what you find when confronting the Dark Between the Stars

JUMP TO CONTENTS

Gameplay and choosing characters

Reading the character sheets

• Group concept, concepts and ship position
• Upbringing, reputation and the social order
• Abilities and skills - numbers that show what the character is good at
• Personal problem
• I like to put some Arabian name suggestions on the player handout too

Rolling system - if it didn't come up with skills

• Tends towards a narrative system but not a true one
• Rolls are a level up from task-based (like D&D) but a level down from true narrative games that might have a single roll to cover a whole 'scene'
• A single 6 is all you need to succeed - more 6s bring bonuses

The important things

• Start Darkness Points = number of players
• A currency to allow the Darkness to challenge the worthiness of the PCs by throwing in extra complications in proportion to how much the characters lean on the power of the Icons in-game
• Name your ship?

JUMP TO CONTENTS

Contents

• Coriolis - setting
• Gameplay and choosing characters

Related

• GM style overview
• House rules summary