Destiny: Dark Futures
A re-telling of the Destiny story, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Destiny franchise!
Magic, space ships, enchanted swords, wish-granting dragons, grenade launchers for said dragons. Not completely repulsed yet? Maybe even curious? Well... Read on.
Don't know anything about Destiny? That's fine! No, seriously! This game might work a little better for people who are not intimately familiar with the Destiny franchise.
Here's the basic pitch:
The world of Destiny, if you do not know, is a post-apocalyptic world based on our real world, but in a distant future where humanity has ascended into a Golden Age of science and peace... only to be knocked all the way down to brute survivalism.
We will go further, focusing on narrative, lore and story developments and less on combat and conflicts than the video game. This is Destiny, reimagined in an adjacent timeline. Here, the science fiction and modern war elements of the game world are slightly down-played, while the concepts regarding magic, fantasy and mythical adventure are emphasized. The Traveler doesn't just awaken soldiers but the entire mythic history of humanity; our warriors of blade and bullet, our hopes of the divine, our desire for the arcane.
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Reborn In The Light, you are thrust into a world you do not recognize, centuries after your own death was long forgotten. You awaken confused and alone, stripped of your personal memories and your identity, but not your mind. You can see the world around you, recognize objects and the dire decay of everything around you. But you don't have any real memory of your own life. All you have to go on are the clothes you're wearing and the place you're raised...
Into this strange nightmare you awake, only to be confronted by a small autonomous drone, swirling little grey shards of a shell spinning around a glowing blue eye. You could fit the little thing into your hand. It jets back and forth as if by magic, although the scans and beaming lights it keeps running over your body tell you something else. It calls itself "your ghost".
It then proclaims something incredible, something impossible; you have been dead for a very long time. Now you are reborn, and according to the ghost, you are in imminent, terrible danger. You can walk, and talk, and even figure out how to fire that rusty old pistol you just found... but you have no personal memories. Utterly amnesiac. Maybe you're lucky enough to be reborn wearing a name tag, but you'd never remember it on your own.
Who were you? Who are you, now? How will you survive in a hostile world you do not know? Whoever you used to be has been washed away, to create room for... something new.
"Those reborn in the Light get to make their own fates", your ghost proclaims.
What will yours be?
/////
...That's it.
Of course, there's so, so, so much more, but the world is truly meant to be discovered by exploring it, by asking questions, by satisfying the curious adventurer within. And I want this version of the setting to be as approachable as possible for new players, while still providing something new for those of you who know and recognize the setting.
And for those of you who ARE intimately familiar with the games and the story, I will simply explain quickly here; this is a story remix. We will, for the most part, follow the same "big strokes" as the major expansions, while taking absolutely MASSIVE creative liberties with the setting and characters to tell our own story, situated in an alternative timeline. Events may occur in significantly different orders and even different contexts than you remember. Characters and events may occur much earlier, much later, or much differently than you are familiar with.
Which is an actual thing, in Destiny. Alternative timelines. :) ...Timeline shenanigans for all of you!
Is this the type of game for you? What is Mythical Science Fiction?
Well, before you go running for the hills at the sight of these science fiction elements, make no mistake; Destiny is a world full of magic, mystical power and cosmic wonder. And I intend to significantly emphasize those aspects. Here, it would be appropriate to think of technology and science the same way you look at quest-related loot or rare salvage. Because that's usually what it is. The setting leans, I would say, in a 60/40 balance towards the mythical side, more heavily inspired by fantasy and grimdark elements. But our take will be even more, like a 70/30 split. The "science" of the world is broken, reclaimed technology from a long-lost Golden Age or the dangerous and oft-unrecognizable loot of alien invaders.
I say all of this because I really don't want Pathfinder fans who love this game to flee for the hills just because they see some tech. And on the same greater topic, I don't want you to run away just because the vast majority of the enemies are technically aliens. They don't READ like aliens, they're not lording over the world, enslaving humanity and enacting grand schemes. Many of them have journeyed far from home, some are suffering from intense in-fighting, others are practically refugees just trying to steal a little piece of humanity's last loaf of bread. Clans, tribes, houses, cults, schemers.
Not unified alien armies against which humanity stands no chance, but rather just... aliens. In game-play terms, so many of them will be otherwise indistinguishable from the fantasy monsters you're already used to fighting, with just a few small, important differences.
I've made this a Path of War game deeply rooted in Pathfinder 1e rules for a reason. This game has a place for the legendary sword-and-shield in hulking armour, the nameless Six-Shooter Mysterious Stranger, the odd-ball esoteric Mystic hungry for forbidden knowledge. I'm again emphasizing that humanity isn't just dependent on finding discarded firearms. That's not real and that's not interesting. Given no other option, humans have once again taken up the sword, the spear, the gun yes, when you can find one but mostly these crude implements. But blades don't run out of ammo. And in our version of the setting, Risen don't just fire guns and blast aliens with energy evocations. That's the video game. We have room here to do something much more interesting.
The type of character you play, the amount of technology you do or do not use, the amount of magic and fantasy involved in your daily life... these are all up to you. But we will spend some time dwelling in the world where you're not small-g gods, you're just... people, who happen to be able to come back to life, who happen to have a LITTLE power to blast aliens or conjure simple arcane shields. We will spend time building up your characters and finding your first real weapons, progressing the story forward only once we've really earned it.
If you aren't completely disgusted by the heavy genre-blending of the Mythical Science Fiction setting, this world will provide you with shifting themes and sub-genres, take you to locations both mystical and mechanical, pit you against foes who wield magic, swords, and nano-technology in equal measure! Likewise, as your Guardians grow in power and wisdom, they will journey from desperate, nameless, unarmed and terrified immortals trying to carve a little piece of safety out of a world full of hostile chaos, all the way to eventually become reality-warping demi-gods carving a unique path through the universe. And if we nail this journey just right, hopefully this game will last for years and take a long time to reach those space-opera levels.
Alright, but, what the hell is the story?
Destiny is fundamentally a world of mystery and secrets, buried by alien intentions and the passage of countless centuries. Why is the world post-apocalyptic? What destroyed our world? This is one of the most important mysteries waiting to be solved. Where did all of these different alien species come from? Another good question worth asking your little ghost companion. Destiny is a world where seeking the deep answers is part of the grander quest. You will encounter sights and wonders both bizarre and occasionally down-right horrifying.
And if you're intimately familiar with Destiny's story, don't worry. I've added some truly new things, my own creations, as well. Even if you're a Destiny veteran, there will be something novel for you along the way, too! Likewise, you will see familiar elements used in new ways, or certain plot elements introduced much earlier, later, or in a different context than you remember.
The game begins with your Guardians newly resurrected and forced to survive in a world that is implicitly hostile. With no personal memories, amnesiac confusion and new-born terror will be among the first emotions you are forced to contend with. Lacking any other option, you must push forward against all odds. Unite with other Guardians, with the light-less, with anyone who will have you.
An awesome power blossoms within you, begging to be called forth and mastered. But you don't have it yet. You are a godling, born anew and directionless yet possessed of the power of the cosmos locked away deep inside your soul.
Okay, but... what is going on? What type of character should I make?
Guardians typically come in three varieties; The Titan, The Hunter, and The Warlock. This is your traditional fantasy stuff - warrior, rogue, wizard - except everyone's got guns and rides into battle on a steed made of steel with of a jet-engine in it. You've got a big guy, a fast guy, and a strange guy. I'm aiming to down-play the god-like power Guardians would normally find, well, normal, because the video game you play stars one of the world's most powerful Guardians. It's a power fantasy.
But we're not doing that. The rules give you the hints you need. You're low level, but you've got enormous potential. Narratively, you're newly resurrected and still trying to figure out who you really are and what you should be doing. So, pick an archetype, Titan, Hunter or Warlock. I will be hiring two of each, for a total of six players. Beyond that? Literally, whatever you want. Do you want to play your Warlock as a creepy and power-obsessed rule-breaker? That's fine. You tell me who you are and who you are likely to become. Want to play a Hunter with ambitions to profit off of the illegal trade with underground alien networks in deep space? Destiny and this GM have got you covered. Want to play a massive hulking warrior of a Titan who wields a sword and a tall shield and uses the light to tank the hell out, but who also has a heart of gold and a soft spot for kittens? Do it.
I am looking for six players, ideally, who will come in the form of distinct and unique characters representing pairs of these classes - that is to say, I am recruiting two titans, two hunters and two warlocks. My hope, my ideal, is that these six characters will all feel very different, look different, have different sub-classes and will therefore play quite differently. However, based on the number of applicants and the quality of those applications, I may scale back to just three players, one from each superclass. It depends on you!
The base game presents Guardians as being reborn in simple woven fabrics and light armor, each shaped to fit one of these three vague archetypes. Updating your Guardians appearance will be an ongoing collaborative experience, but I ask you to start simple and respect the "humble origins" of your Guardian. Your clothes can absolutely give you a hint of who you used to be, maybe you got a name tag, or maybe you and your ghost made up a name for you based on where you were or some action you first took. Telling me this story of your resurrection will represent the primary important aspect of your character application.
Within the grand tapestry of Destiny's setting, we will focus initially on certain aspects of adventure-realism, survivalist gameplay and the rationing of ammunition as you trek on foot through difficult terrain. As you gain levels, gathering your Light and enhancing your bond with your ghost, these worries will fall away to a much higher-stakes drama playing itself out across multiple planets and even esoteric dimensions and magical realms. But I really want to spend time in that lower level space first, and develop slowly and avoid any massive time-jumps that don't benefit the narrative.
My plan, my other hope and ambition, is to find six players who want to join me on this journey. That means players who will ENJOY, from the get-go, the sense of oppression, the harshness of this new world, and the rush of satisfaction that comes each time you set something right. I want to scale up the drama and widen the focus naturally, over time, gradually, while still also producing identifiable objectives for your fireteam to crush as major story beats. Once we get the Fireteam together, the story will become about trying to figure out what you should do, and how you should do it.
Can you tell me anything else about the story?
I will try. Again, regardless of whether or not you're familiar with Destiny's story, it doesn't matter because I have no intentions of copying the story of the video game. Our story will follow different characters, introducing new players on Earth and beyond, and will fundamentally take the story into a different direction. We will begin in a fragmented and mostly barren city, and move into an adventure I will describe with the most minor of spoilers, here:
"Risen In The Light and left with no larger concept of what is happening to the world around them, six desperate new-born Guardians must find a way to trust one another and unite against the alien creatures who now hunt them. The normal human people trapped in the city with them are defenseless, but these Guardians are inexperienced and nearly as powerless. Salvaging everything from discarded crow-bars and blood-stained steel pipes to scraps of vehicles as pieces of armor, these six must do everything in light of their shared amnesia to fight back and find peace, hope and a sense of purpose in a world that appears to have come to an end. Escape the shattered city, salvage gear from a broken world, protect the innocent when and where you can, and discover your purpose as a Guardian!"
If you're NOT familiar with Destiny and it's story, that's great. You won't have any baggage and will get to experience the world as a new setting with fresh eyes. The differences between the video game and my new take on the world won't be obvious and won't matter to you. The setting will be yours to sink your teeth into; a fantasy-first, sci-fi-second post-apocalyptic world that is yours to explore and redeem. We'll explore survival-adventurism, the struggle of daily life on a hostile road, and the important tension within Guardians; they are immortal, while so many others will die. Can they protect this world? Defeat the endless alien hordes? Handle the life of constant loss and sacrifice?
Is there even any point?
If you ARE familiar with Destiny and it's story, you will recognize things, people, and places along the way. But there should be enough "new" for you to really enjoy. You'll also need old things used in new ways, or aspects of the story focused on that are only minor points of interest in the game. One example for this will be the often-rumoured, never confirmed concept of a "black market" in the solar system; rogue factions of humanity, Fallen Houses and even Legion-less Cabal warriors operate as pirates, thieves and shady merchants in places like the Reef, but in the video game we learn almost nothing about these parts of the world!
In the very end of act one, you will have all six players together in a relatively safe location, and a very clear set of objectives to focus on.
From there? Explore a universe full of dark powers and alien squatters who have turned out former colonies among the solar system into their hidden bases for their operations against us. Explore a solar system where even the alien species have clearly been impacted by the apocalyptic past, leaving them scattered, disorganized and prone to in-fighting. You may even find yourself one day haggling with a Fallen mercenary for alien weapons, or negotiating an outer-system ceasefire with a monstrous Cabal Commander.
Each choice you make will bring you opportunity and consequences. Just try not to attract TOO much attention out there, or you may bring a horrible mess back home with you.
Some additional story details....
Your Guardian is a New Light, which means they are less powerful and less experienced than other Guardians, recently reborn. Your struggle to reach the last safe city forms the core of your character application. While my initial goal was to play through the entire "I've just been born" part of the story, I just don't think I can replicate that story six times over, in separate threads... and Guardians are almost never reborn at the same time, in the same place. So that story will be left in your hands and we will use it as the core of your applications instead.
Were you born among the ruins of Old London, spending countless months evading Fallen gangs and crawling through crumbling underground subways until you found a low-orbit capable cruisier? Did you find yourself reborn in the deep woods of the European Dead Zone, only narrowly escaping the clutches of a Cabal patrol unit before you were picked up by Pilgrim Guard? Your story isn't very long, and it sounds a lot like the stories you've begun to hear all over the Tower. Your new Guardian companions all relate the same stories of amnesiac confusion and learning, against all odds, to fight the good fight.
But each one is also unique, a tale of heroism and cunning that defines the type of Guardian you will soon become.
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