At Any Cost is a science-fiction tabletop role-playing game setting built upon the Fate Accelerated TTRPG system.
In the year 13812, mega-corporations have long divided the solar system up amongst each other. In this corporate government landscape tensions are running high as inter-corporate vies for power strangle competition in the face of dwindling new resources. When a new solar system is discovered a power vacuum was created, drawing the attention of these mega-corporations to it. Whether it be via the means of force, negotiation or sabotage, the colonization of the Tyche System means life or death for a corporation. As the risk of outright war ever looms over everyone involved, the only thing stopping it from escalating is the thin veil of peace that the masses still believe in.
— At Any Cost, Page 7
The world of At Any Cost was created from by combining the team's individual world concepts. When filtering down our ideas to their most primitive form we found a unifying theme - humanity. Specifically, how humanity will fare in the face of a new space era, and the political structures underlying a technologically advanced multi-planetary society.
For the month long duration of the project, I took on the roles of producer, editor, and a writer.
In my role as a writer, I took on the tasks of designing and writing two of the nine factions in our setting including the Empyrean Bullion. This faction's purpose was twofold: to drive exploration in the second solar system through mining opportunities, and to create corporate ties which then drew lines of alliance in the sand.
In addition to writing factions, I undertook the writing of the two solar systems: the Sol System and the Tyche System. The Sol System is the re-contextualization of our own solar system within the world of At Any Cost. Each planet has been colonised by corporations and average citizens over the last two millenia.
The Tyche System is an entirely fictional solar system which is the closest to the Sol System. This system was designed as a mostly uninfluenced solar system to allow a greater variety of stories to be told in At Any Cost.
The last of my writing on the book took place in the combat and character advancement sections. Here I altered the Fate Accelerated base combat system to add a combat variant for space ships, and associated character sheets. Secondly, I added a variant character advancement system which drives characters to focus on personal goals more than combat, as is often the case in traditional TTRPG's.
Finally in my role as producer and editor, it was my job to manage team meetings, create and maintain the project tracking spreadsheet, and to perform the full editing passes of the document.
As yet this project is unavailable for public download, but when it does become available, a link will be added here.
Below is a gallery of my work writing the Sol and Tyche systems.
