Dawning Star (abbreviated "DS") is a science-fiction tabletop role-playing game by Blue Devil Games built on d20 Modern and powered by d20 Future by Wizards of the Coast. It is the first full-scale campaign setting using the d20 Future ruleset. It is published under the Open Game License. 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A collection of well-known science-fiction novels and magazines Science fiction is a genre of fiction in which at least part of the narrative depends on the impact of science, either real or imagined, to generate settings or events which have not yet occurred in reality (and may never... d20 redirects here. ... A collection of well-known science-fiction novels and magazines Science fiction is a genre of fiction in which at least part of the narrative depends on the impact of science, either real or imagined, to generate settings or events which have not yet occurred in reality (and may never... A role-playing game (RPG) is a type of game in which players assume the roles of characters and collaboratively create narratives. ... d20 Modern is a roleplaying game designed by Bill Slavicsek, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, and Charles Ryan. ... d20 Future is an accessory for the d20 Modern role-playing game written by Christopher Perkins, Rodney Thompson, and JD Wiker. ... Wizards of the Coast (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is a publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes. ... d20 Future is an accessory for the d20 Modern role-playing game written by Christopher Perkins, Rodney Thompson, and JD Wiker. ... The Open Gaming License (also Open Game License or OGL) is an open content license designed for role-playing games. ...

The setting is self-described as "firm science" and is designed to support a number of science-fiction sub-genres, including: Space Western, bug hunt, alien ruin exploration, political intrigue, etc. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Science fiction Western. ...

Synopsis

The setting history commences in the year 2184. Having detected a dark object on a collision course with Earth, a massive multilateral evacuation plan is set into motion. The evacuation takes place in 2196 shortly before the destruction of Earth. At the outer limits of the solar system, the evacuation fleet interacts with a tentaari gateway device. Because the device is damaged, the ships of the fleet are scattered randomly throughout the galaxy. One ship -- the titular Dawning Star -- finds itself in the Helios system. The humans land on Eos, one of the planets in the system that is environmentally quite similar to Earth. Gateway has several meanings. ... NGC 4414, a typical spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices, is about 56,000 light years in diameter and approximately 60 million light years distant. ...

Following their arrival, the humans begin to colonize the planet and explore the numerous alien ruins that dot the planet’s surface. A government is established called the Dawning Star Republic. However, some of the rebellious colonists break away to form the Eos Freedom League. In 2248, the tentaari make contact with the humans. They are very secretive about the history of the planet and are cautious about helping the humans. In 2249, humans first encounter the velin, an indigenous species similar in appearance to humans.

Alien Species

The following species of aliens exist in the Dawning Star setting. This list is not exhaustive. Look up alien in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

• Humans - Evacuees of Earth and their descendants.
• Tentaari - Small gray humanoids. They are highly intelligent but also mysterious, reluctant to share any information with the humans.
• Vaasi - The primary “villains” of the setting, consisting of several related insectoid xenomorphs, including true vaasi, phrenics, and vaasi warhounds. Also referred to as “darklings.”
• Velin - A humanoid species indigenous to Eos. They are very similar to humans, causing some to theorize that they are genetically related.

Publishing History

The game went into development shortly after the announcement by Wizards of the Coast that they would be publishing d20 Future. Blue Devil Games stated a desire to be the first campaign setting using the d20 Future rules. To accomplish the feat they announced that they would attempt to fully develop the setting prior to the release of the book. Then, upon d20 Future’s publication, they would incorporate the rules into the setting material. If successful, they would be able to publish Dawning Star immediately upon the release of the d20 Future rules to the System Reference Document. The System Reference Document, or SRD, is the collection of open gaming works licensed under the Open Gaming License by Wizards of the Coast (or WotC) and based upon their Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game. ...

The plan suffered two setbacks. Joseph Martin was the initial author contracted to write the setting. Citing lack of time to complete the job given the time constraints, he was released from the project. (Martin has a credit in the book for the “original concept”.) At that time, Lee Hammock was contracted to complete the project. Additionally, Gary Simpson was the initial art director contracted to do all of the art and layout for the setting. During the production stage, it was brought to light that several of the illustrations Simpson created for the book contained images by other artists and used without permission or credit. Simpson was immediately terminated from the project. At that time, Danilo Moretti was contracted to take over art direction duties.

As a result of these obstacles, the book was delayed for several months after the publication of d20 Future. However, during that time, no other company published a campaign setting based upon the rules. ‘’Dawning Star: Operation Quick Launch’’ was released in pdf format on February 24, 2005 and released in print format shortly thereafter. It is the first full-scale campaign setting using the d20 Future rules and remained the only such setting for some time.

Following its release, Dawning Star: Operation Quick Launch earned a 2005 ENnie nomination for Best d20 Game.

In 2005, Blue Devil Games released ‘’Shadow Falling’’, an adventure module for the setting. See also Adventure! (role-playing game), a role-playing game from White Wolf Game Studio. ...

Blue Devil Games previously announced that it would be releasing ‘’Helios Rising’’ as a follow-up to Operation Quick Launch. That book will describe the rest of the Helios system. However, the book has been delayed because it has been expanded from its originally planned 208 pages to over 500+ pages. The book is now scheduled to be published in 2006.

Books

• ”Dawning Star: Operation Quick Launch” - Campaign Setting
• ”Shadow Falling” - Adventure (role-playing games)

A campaign setting is a fictional fantasy world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame. ... See also Adventure! (role-playing game), a role-playing game from White Wolf Game Studio. ...

External links

• Dawning Star Homepage
• Dawning Star Message Boards