Aether Adrift RPG for Savage Worlds

Progress Report April 2025
over 1 year ago – Sun, Apr 27, 2025 at 03:55:11 PM

Greetings, Voyagers!

Once again I must apologize for the long silence. It's been checks notes 5 months since the last update. Work is still proceeding, and we're just about ready to drop Playtest book 1.4, which will probably be the last version of the playtest before the release candidate.

Progress Report

What have we been up to?

Since the last update we've finished writing up the details on the Island of Elisi, the NPC dossier, and the NANA uncommon ancestry.

The Island of Elisi

Elisi is the focus of the core book. It's an island roughly the size of australia where the majority of the Albatross leadership seems to have touched down. The guide chapter details the island, broken down into 5 regions (North, South, East, West, and Central), with points of interest like settlements, precursor structures, significant landforms, and notable beasts. 

The chapter also includes an NPC dossier that details some of the NPCs that can be found at the points of interest. All of the Shaper NPCs are found in this section as well.

NANAs

The NANAs are personal assistant constructs made of nanoparticles. Their page in the book had been mostly blank until now. 

What's Left to Do?

The last thing to do before we release Playtest Book 1.4 is to finish one last Shaper entry. Once that's done and in, I'll post an update with a link to the latest version. Once that's done, the book will be 'feature complete', meaning that it will have all of the promised content inside and just need clean up and art.

The first part of cleanup will be going through the book and figuring out where we can clarify language or pare down text. The book is nearly 400 pages in its current incarnation, which is... Very long.

The second part of cleanup will be editing. We're going to attempt to hire an outside editor to make sure the book is as good as can be. 

while we're working on that, I'll be putting existing art into the book and spending time finishing existing art. We want to put as much art into the book as we can. Once we get an up-to-date quote on the printing costs of the book, we'll see if we have the budget to hire any additional artists.

Once that's all done we'll be at book version 1.5 Release Candidate. If there are no glaring issues, this will be released as Aether Adrift 1.0. Backers will get their PDFs through BackerKit and the PDF will be put up for sale on digital marketplaces like DriveThruRPG.

Non-Book Items

Once the book is ready for PDF release we'll turn our full focus on non-book items. This includes the posters, dice, poker cards and chips, and the GM Screen inserts.

The cards are partially colored. The poker chips will likely use crops of the front cover with the Heroes on one side and Fulgor on the other. We've got a new mikwa die design based on the couriers, and one of the poster designs will likely be a poster map of Elisi.

Printing

The plan is to wait a while between the PDF release of the book and the print release so that we have a better chance of catching critical errors in the book. 

Concerns About Current Events

Without getting too deep into it, current events in our home country of the United States of America have been negatively impacting work on an emotional level, but also potentially on a monetary level as well.

If tariffs are instated, it will likely increase the production cost of the book and other products. The printer we've chosen is based in the US, but it's very likely that SOME part of the supply chain needs to come from outside of the US and you deserve to be made aware of that possibility.

What Happens If Prices Get Too high

In the event that we aren't able to print all physical products, we'll prioritize the main play materials first. Books > Cards > Bennies > Wild Dice > Posters. If print costs for the books end up being too high, Print-On-Demand is always an option.

This game will be printed, come hell or high water, even if we need to pay out of our own pocket to make sure it happens.

In Conclusion

We're still pushing on. The horizon is in sight. We're going to stay the course and hopefully see you soon.

Voyager Command signing off.

Playing Card Line Art Preview
almost 2 years ago – Tue, Nov 12, 2024 at 07:48:56 PM

Greetings, once again, Voyagers!

Apologies for the long silence. We've been hard at work on the game, as usual. I'll provide a more general progress report in the next update, but for now I want to focus on...

The Playing Cards

This is the current line art for the face cards. Each set is dedicated to one faction, and each face card has a general meaning. The Ace represents a faction's hidden edge, some sort of secret threat or X-factor that will change the course of the conflict. The King generally represents the primary leadership figure, or a representative leader. The Queen is typically a less powerful, but still significant leader. The Jack represents the salt of the earth, the jack-of-all-trades, the everyman. I'll explain what the art means starting with the...

Fulgori (Spades)

The Fulgori are represented by the Ace because one of the early designs is thought to represent a pike or halberd head, and the fulgori empire is the most militaristic faction.

Ace (Denmother)

The Ace depicts Headmistress Valda with two fulgori students flanking her. On the topside of the card they're young and full of wonder. The girl is reading a book and the boy is carrying a sports bat. On the flipside Headmistress Valda has crossed out the imperial symbol on her headdress and the students, now adults, have joined the rebellion.

The reason the headmistress is the Ace is because the den parents who raise fulgori children in the state academies command more real authority and respect than the emperor. One den parent defecting will often be followed by their den students, and seeing a den parent in the field can often cause a squad of soldiers to defect on the spot.

King (Fulgor and Baldric)

The King depicts Emperor Fulgor and his bodyguard Baldric. On the topside of the card they stand on uniform close together, implying that their relationship is much closer than that of a simple bodyguard and charge. On the flipside they are shown during the vorati war, where Fulgor led what should have been a doomed mission to save a squad from an overtaken outpost, where Baldric was found as the only survivor fighting off the hordes of insects with a knife.

Queen (Master of Science)

The Queen depicts Master of Science Victali Genassi. On the topside we see him young and successful, surrounded by his fellows as he leads them towards scientific progress. On the flipside we see him scarred, alone, and dour, still marching toward progress despite everything it cost him and will cost him in the future.

Jack (Arms Master Kilgore & His Brother)

The Jack depicts the The Master of Arms, Kiliano Gorenvin, and his twin brother (who doesn't have a name yet). On the topside of the card Kiliano is depicted holding weapons - a pistol and a knife - befitting of his position as the leader of the fulgori military. His knife reflects Fulgor's crown, showing that his loyalties might not be ironclad. On the flipside his twin brother wears a similar uniform but with the rebel insignia. His knife reflects Kilgore's shocked eyes, implying he regrets what he may have to do.

Mikwa (Hearts)

The mikwa are represented by Hearts because they embody passion, warmth, love, kindness, and pastoral life.

Ace (Couriers)

The Ace depicts the adramail courier service. It might seem like an odd choice, but the couriers are the connective tissue of the disparate mikwa settlements and tribes, able to deliver mail anywhere on the island to almost anyone with as little as a description and a last known location. Every mikwa settlement has a big post box.

The topside depicts two couriers - a mikwa and a newly hired rebel fulgori, running a package. The flipside depicts those couriers delivering packages under much less friendly conditions. While the fulgori is not having a good time, the mikwa is thriving.

King (Chiefs Pookwa and Qooma)

The King depicts the leaders of the two mikwa groups that the Albatross' crew first became acquainted with. Chief Qooma, the shorter of the two, leads the town of Qochawasi, which has become a sister city with the human settlement of Firstlight. Pookwa, with his bangs covering his eyes, leads the southern nomad tribe. On the topside of the card the two reach out a hand in friendship. On the flipside both are quiet and contemplative.

Queen (Rangers)

The Queen depicts a group of rangers. The rangers are the closest thing the mikwa have to soldiers. They are expert survivalists and fighters, using their knowledge and skills to repel dangerous megafauna and invading fulgori soldiers alike. The topside depicts two mikwa and their loyal tukulqu hiding in a bush wearing animal disguises to remain unbothered by the wildlife. The flipside depicts the mikwa as they appear to other animals - and reveals that the tukulqu is actually a fulgori rebel in disguise!

Jack (Nomads)

The Jack depicts a group of mikwa nomads traveling their route across the island. On the topside the nomads pass a precursor structure, and on the flipside they pass through the woods.

Albatross (Diamonds)

The Albatross crew, humans and robots, are represented by Diamonds. Diamonds represent wealth, and human technology is the most useful and valuable of the 3 developed factions. Also Diamonds was the only suit that was left over, so humans ended up in that suit. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ace (Nanotech)

The Ace depicts science chief Marleen Scarce discovering and utilizing Nanotech - a technology that utilizes programmable matter to achieve magic-like results. Nanotech is the humanity's Ace because they have learned to use and reverse engineer the technology faster than any of the other factions, and it makes up for their limited presence on the planet.

On the topside we have Marleen using the wrist console to activate a nanotech power. On the flipside we have her demonstrating control over all 4 (known) elements of Nanotech.

King (Admiral Guillaume Dupont)

The King depicts Admiral Duillaume Dupont, the Admiral of the albatross, and the sole crewmember to remain outside of cryosleep for the duration of the 20 year journey. On the topside we have the Admiral as he was last seen, an old man with a full beard, saluting in front of the broken Albatross. On the flipside we have him as he was when the Albatross was first launched, a younger man saluting in front of an intact Albatross.

Queen (Harleen Davis & John Breaker)

The Queen depicts the two leaders of the primary human-led factions. On the left we have Chief Harleen Davis, who has stepped over from her role as security chief on the Albatross to become the leader of the human settlement of Firstlight; on the right we have Voyager Organizer John Breaker, who has taken his experience in the earth military to become the leader of the Voyagers. On the topside we have them as they are now, hopeful and bright. On the flipside we have them as they were after first touching down on the island, battered and bruised from fighting wild beasts to secure as many survivors as possible.

Jack (Francisco and Chad)

The Jack depicts two robots, F1-X and C.H.A.D. These two represent the ideal robots but also the current state of robots. On the topside we have the two as they were when the Albatross first left on her journey - unblemished tools in perfect working condition. On the flipside we have the two as they are now, worn and weathered from building up the human presence on the island, and wearing articles of clothing that hint at developing divergent personalities.

Beasts (Clubs)

Beasts are represented by Clubs almost entirely because Sam suggested that we make the Club symbol look like a paw. Originally I had wanted to give the Clubs to the mikwa, but I wanted the 'enemy' factions and the 'allied' factions to share colors, and I definitely wanted the Fulgori to have Spades.

Luckily, Clubs also represent nature, so it does fit quite well.

Ace (Ugu Fish)

The Ace depicts an ugu fish, a harmless little fish that everyone generally agrees is extremely cute. On the topside we have a single ugu fish looking cute. On the flipside we have an ugu fish with the shadow of an entire school behind it.

I will not explain the ugu fish, but it is the Ace for a reason.

King (Hatukiwya)

The King depicts a hatukiwya, an apex predator large enough to swallow a mikwa whole and aggressive enough to push even larger predators out of its territory. Hatukiwya are the most dangerous predator known to the southern elsi mikwa, the King of the Wilds, so to speak. The topside features a hatukiwya pouncing upon a hapless mikwa. The flipside features a hatukiwya and a grizzled mikwa guard locked in a pitched battle.

Queen (Mokochi)

While the hatukiwya is the king, a brash and loud predator, the mokochi is the queen. Mokochi are subtle stalking predators that use cunning and trickery to drive their prey into a panic before striking when they are most vulnerable. A much more intellectual predator befitting of the title of 'Queen'. On the topside we have a mokochi preparing to finish off a panicked fulgori soldier. On the flipside we have a miyu'mokochi with its poison stinger poised to strike.

Jack (Allqu Variants)

The Jack depicts a gathering of Allqu, the most common beast found across the biomes of Elisi, the Jack of the wild. On the topside we have an adralqu (Dragon-wolf) flanked on the left by a fluffy fuwaq'allqu (Snow wolf) and right by an average allqu. On the flipside we have an adralqu flanked by an as of yet unnamed allqu variant on its left and a gaunt paquanch'allqu (sand wolf) on its right.

Jokers

Red Joker (Paku-paku)

The red joker depicts the clumsy mikwa Paku-paku wearing a jester unitard and attempting, unsuccessfully, to juggle 3 balls. The red joker represents the silly and pleasant side of the island. A somewhat traditional jester. Paku-paku herself is actually a backer insert.

Black Joker (Precursor Drones)

The black joker depicts a precursor V-Command drone standing in command of a unit of V-Drones. The black joker represents the most potent of all threats, and the richest of all rewards - the Precursors. They are as enigmatic as they are dangerous and the silent army of robots represents both perfectly.

We'd love to hear what you think of our designs!

That's all for now, Voyagers! We should be back soon with more general information on how the game is going.

Playtest Document Update 1.3
about 2 years ago – Thu, Aug 08, 2024 at 10:20:03 AM

Aether Adrift's Playtest Book has been updated to version 1.3

Changelog:

Welcome to Venteras

• Added the Supplies Setting Rule, which points to Goods and Gear for elaboration.
• Added the Barter and Trade Setting Rule, which points to Goods and Gear.
• Added the Slowed condition, which reduces your pace by half. Edited several descriptions across the book to reference this condition.
• Added the Frozen condition, which causes you to become Bound but can be more easily removed with the help of heat or fire.

Creating a Voyager

• Added the option of draining a nanotech-powered object using the Nano Drain edge.

Goods and Gear

• Revised Barter and Trade rules for clarity.
• Added the rules for Supplies, an abstracted item that can be ‘converted’ into certain other items to simulate preparedness
• Fixed alphabetization of Adventuring Gear
• Added Illumination Flare, clarified that Signal Flare is designed to be shot out of a mortar, grenade launcher, or shotgun.
• Renamed the Fulgori gear and weapons to have unique ID numbers instead of everything being Type-#.
• Renamed Signal Flare and Hand Flare to Flare, Signal and Flare, Hand. Renamed Rarana Oil and Scented Oil to Oil, Rarana and Oil, Scented
• Added Illumination Flare and clarified that flares can be shot from Grenade Launchers, Mortars or Shotguns. 
• Added a note to the Prosthetics description that specifies that prosthetics can be easily customized using a fabricator.
• Removed the Revolver weapon trait because it has no mechanical basis in SW
• Added the Returning weapon trait and changed the Boomerang and Bladed Boomerang description to reference it.
• Added a note to the Hover Parts mentioning that they can be used to add Returning to a weapon.
• Fixed the weight of Gel Rounds from ⅕ to 1/50.
• Changed ammo weight to represent the quantity of ammo you get for one ‘trade value’
• Alphabetized (hopefully all of) the gear section.
• Added rules for how many items you can get for free in friendly towns, and added penalties for trading for large amounts of common or uncommon gear.
• Added a note at the beginning of each Ammo section that clarifies that when trading for Ammo you get a box full of the amount listed in the Weight section, and that trading less than a full box is worth on rarity less.
• Clarified canister shot rules for fulgori tank rounds.

Fixed Improved Arm Cannon damage from 1d6 to 1d8.

Guide to Planet Venteras

• Added mikwa naming convention to the mikwa infodoc.

Building a Base

• Added a section explaining what features are and clarified that more people helping makes the work go faster
• Added a Recycler that can be built using a Fabricator, and allows the party to recycle items into Albatross Supplies.
• Added a Nano Recycler that can be built using a Big Replicator, and allows the party to recycle items into Nanopods.
• Aded a mention to the Replicator that it can create ‘precursor supplies’ limited to the item’s library.
• Added bridges to the description of Roads in Utilities.

Controlling Nanotech

• Changed the Nanotech Error Table results for Cold to Entangle on a Critical Failure, and Arc from Staggered to Shaken, Stunned with a Critical Failure.

Shaping an Island

• Added 2 new biome types to round out the generation tables Miasma (volcanic area with toxic vents) and Mushroom Lake. (Lake filled with mushrooms)
• Fixed Dormant Volcano’s short description to match its long description.

Generating an Adventure

• Changed name to Running an Adventure
• Deleted the second instance of ‘Precursor Events’ table.
• Added Travel rules to the beginning of the chapter and reorganized the tables.

Secrets of the Empire

• Removed Recoil +1 from MSR-4X because it only holds 1 bullet and can’t autofire.

Secrets of the Precursors

• Corrected ‘weight’ to ‘weigh’ in the Compression Pack’s Notes.
• Fixed the table entries for several precursor melee weapons that had been shifted.
• Added several new precursor items: Heat Drops, Cool Drops, Antidote Drops, Nanotech Shard, Arms of Dora, Loader Pack, Downsizer, Shiftool, Nano Statue, Hard-light Statue, and Hologram Pedestal.
• Added mention of the Orbital Defense Field that is holding the Albatross.

Creatures and Characters

• Added new creatures: Adrasnutl, Arpakichwi, Arpakichwipu, pipipupu abi, Rara’kupachi, Sinchi’arpalqu, uku’moko’chi, wabun’pumkaywa, wakusuka mushroom, wanra’kupachi.
• Added template: Ray’pachi.
• Most artwork temporarily removed from the bestiary until the bestiary is creature-complete.

Playtest Document 1.2
over 2 years ago – Thu, May 09, 2024 at 02:44:07 PM

Aether Adrift Playtest Document 1.2

Aether Adrift has been updated to playtest version  1.2

Aether Adrift Playtest Book 1.2

Book-wide

• Added chapter names to the sides of every page.

Ch 2 - Creating a Voyager

•  Corrected a typo in Advanced Arm Blade description. “hit knife” changed to “hot knife”
• Clarified that Dual Boot can be linked to an untrained skill, and that the untrained skill is treated as d4-2, not gained at d4.
• Added notes about sign language to the Languages subsection.
• Added Ukusin and Ukusuka ancestry stats.
• Compressed the Seasoned version of Archetypes to make room for pictures.

Ch 3 - Gear

• Human Adventuring Gear table headers corrected. 
• Climbing Rifle RoF corrected from 7 to 1. Weight corrected from 1 to 7
• Climbing Scattergun RoF corrected from 8 to 1. Weight corrected from 14 to 8.
• Climbing Rifle/Scattergun blade damage added to Notes.
• Scavenged Battle Helmet coverage corrected from Torso to Head.
• Removed AP reduction from Broadhead and Great Broadhead Arrow.
• Removed Damage reduction from Needle and Great Needle Arrow.
• Corrected Rail Slug’s size from 2mm to 20mm.
• Added Nonlethal (Optional) to human energy weapons.
• Changed the “Recharge X” Property to “Cooldown X” to avoid confusion with the Rechargeable property.
• Removed No Recoil property from Gear section because it is already mentioned in the Savage Worlds Core Rulebook, and should be self explanatory.
• Alphabetized Weapon Notes
• 3RB removed from all Arm Cannon variants because it is useless. Improved Arm Cannon’s Rate of Fire reduced to 2
• Made minor tweaks to layout for usability.

Ch - 5 Nanotech

• Added clarification that Nanotech powers can be Maintained while resting, but stop when Incapacitated. 
• Corrected ENHANCE’s rank from Rank to Novice.

Ch 6 - Base Building

• Precursor Motor Pool now upgrades Motor Pool instead of Garage.
• Increased the construction time of some features
• Re-formatted Fabricator and Replicator names so they’re easier to read.
• Added Roads to the base improvements.

Ch 7̶ 12 - Bestiary

• Moved from Chapter 7 to Chapter 12.
• Major changes to descriptions of special abilities, beasts, and special effects.
• Added Engulf, Tremorsense, and Blind Sense to special abilities at the beginning of the chapter.
• Ipu Paquancharappa’s drone effect given an effective range of 12” instead of ‘if you can hear it’.
• Edited the descriptions and stats of each pakupachi variant to save space.
• Changed the Mokopulu’pakupachi’s name to Mokopulu’pachi
• Increased the Pakupachi’s athletics to d4. Increased the Kuchi’pakupachi’s Athletics to d6.
• Increased the Rappakachapachi’s Athletics to d10

Ch 9 - Secrets of the Empire

• Edited the descriptions and stats of each fulgori soldier to save space.
• Rearranged the equipment section to closer match the Gear section’s layouts (moving tables before descriptions in most instances)
• Fixed table coloration and made minor tweaks to formatting for readability.

Ch 10 - Secrets of the Precursors

• Edited the descriptions and stats of each precursor drone to save space.
• Rearranged the equipment section to closer match the Gear section’s layouts (moving tables before descriptions in most instances)
• Fixed table coloration and made minor tweaks to formatting for readability.

Planned Future Changes

Chapter 6 (Building a Base) will be converted into a chapter about exploring, including the rules for travel, a list of the different environments, and weather. A lot of the fulgori's Type-# gear is going to get a rename to something less banal and repetitive, but still with the same flavor.

I'm unreasonably excited to have custom wild card symbols working. Look at it, it's glorious!

We're still running open playtests every Saturday, so come by the Discord Server if you're interested in joining!

That's all for now, Voyagers!

Weekly Playtesting begins on Mar 9
over 2 years ago – Wed, Mar 06, 2024 at 07:17:36 PM

Greetings, Voyagers!

It's almost time for us to start up our official weekly playtests!

Weekly Voyages

Welcome to the Eastern Roost, a newly established Voyager outpost on southeastern Elisi!

Over the course of several months, You and your fellow Voyagers will build this humble outpost into a thriving base by taking on jobs from the local communities and Voyager Command.

You will create a character at Novice level, and every time you complete a job, whether successful or non, you will gain one Advance. You may make as many characters are you like, and all will stay at the same level of advances.

Any spoils you bring back from a job well done can be kept for your character or added to the base armory for anyone to use. Any helpful NPCs you bring back from a job well done will join the base and may offer new services.

Approximately 1 week of game-time will pass between jobs, within which time you can socialize with your fellow voyagers, get to know each other, plan your next moves, and vote on which new improvements to construct - Though some necessary improvements will have to be  found on the job, like albatross fabricators or generators.

Upon the completion of every session, you will be asked to fill out a Feedback Form, and your group may be asked to give live feedback on your experience with the game and session.

What Time

Weekly Voyages will begin around 3:00 CST

How To Join

If you'd like to come on a Weekly Voyage, join our Discord Server and go to the #get-roles channel and click on the 🏕️camping emoji to give yourself the Weekly Voyager role.

If you've done it correctly you will now see the #playtest-material channel. There you can find the Aether Adrift Playtest Book. Please note that you will need a copy of Savage Worlds Adventure Edition in order to create a character and participate in the playtest.

Once you have a copy of SWADE and the Aether Adrift Playtest Book find the Roll20 link in #weekly-voyage, log in to your Roll20 account (or make one if you don't have one), click on the Journal tab once you're in the game and click +Character to get your character sheet.

Feel free to ping a Designer on Discord if you need help. I recommend also downloading the form-fillable character sheet from #playtest-materials and filling that out as a backup in case anything happens to your Roll20 sheet.

Aether Adrift Playtest Document 1.1

We've also updated the Aether Adrift Playtest Book to 1.1

Playtest 1.1 Changelog

Book-wide

• All instances of Venterra or Ventus changed to Venteras.
• Fixed several typos and adjusted writing for clarity and intent.

Introduction

• Added Table of Contents.

Gear

• Biogel Bandages no longer require the Healing skill to use.
• Rearranged Gear chapter to put the tables ahead of the descriptions in each section for better readability.

Bestiary

• Corrected Ipu Paquancharappa’s  Toughness to 11 (2) from 9 (2).

Special Thanks

• Corrected second Colonists tier to Explorers.

Planned Future Changes

The Bestiary will be moved into the GM section. I would have done it already, but moving the chapter into the GM section will require changing all of the graphical elements and formatting to match the purple and red GM styling, so it can wait until later.