The year is 2119. An alien race known as Vanguards discovers Earth due to the amount of radiation emitting from the solar system. World War III has caused a nuclear fallout with disastrous results. All ice caps have melted, drastically raising the sea level and drowning several major cities. Yellowstone Volcano has erupted, covering most of North America in toxic ash. Bomb-mining on neighboring planets has contributed to the quantity of radiation in the solar system as well. My PC's play as the crew of a Vanguard Ship sent to investigate the source of the radiation. On Vanguardia, all peaceful races are welcome, and Bioroids are treated as equals. The crew of the Vanguard ship is a diverse mixture of various races and types of robots and bioroids (Vanguardia and other worlds with advanced space technology use the Space Opera rules for technology).
On Earth's surface, the humans that survived the bombs and radiation struggle to survive, fighting over scarce resources in a desolate wasteland (Weird War/Modern Day technology). On the moon, a large base has been constructed and is inhabited by the six countries that were able to achieve space travel before the bombs dropped: U.S.A., China, Russia, U.K., Japan, and India (Canada made it to space with a large colony as well, but as there was no more available space at Moon Base, they live in their large city-ship instead, in orbit around the moon. Colonies in space function under the Science Fiction rules for technology). Moon Base is home to the leaders, military personnel, randomly selected citizens, and the super-wealthy who fled Earth in their own pleasure spacecraft.
Light years away lies another planet full of life, Mennara. Mennara is a young world, perhaps still centuries away from the technology to travel the stars, and trespassing is strictly forbidden. However, ages ago, a colony of humans was transported here from a place on Earth called Roanoke for reasons that remain a mystery. Vanguardian capital ships enforce the travel ban on this world and on the world humans call Gliese 832c, a planet completely overrun by the robots, nanites, and combat drones that were created by the animalistic aliens that used to live there. There are no known life forms left on the planet, and anything that attempts to leave the planet is shot down immediately.
Another world full of life (and even more filled with death), Wolf 1061c is home to every nightmarish monster imaginable. Playable races from this realm include Animalistic Aliens, Beastmen, Vampires, and Reapers.
The role of a Reaper is to transport the souls of the dead to the underworld, a dimension of death ruled by the tyrannical Kronos, a telepathic half elf, half Vanguard who is determined to gain enough power to return to life in physical form and dominate the galaxy. Reapers use the Psionic profile, and are two-dimensional creatures that can only exist in the shadows; unless they are possessing a vessel that gives them permission or has no soul, such as a revenant. Reapers are currently engaged in a civil war between those who serve Kronos and those who oppose him. Kronos demands an unnatural number of souls per day, forcing reapers to grab souls that aren't yet ripe. Players can only play as a banished reaper; one who Kronos has exiled for refusing to bring him extra souls. Banished reapers are stripped of their ability to travel to the underworld, and are forced to possess a vessel or stay hidden in the shadows forever.
When a creature dies, its soul is snatched by a reaper and deposited into a black hole, a dimension gate that leads straight to the underworld. This realm is a massive, other-dimensional dead star that collects all of the souls in its light sector. The soul then rises from the mud in the realm of death, and appears exactly as it did the moment before it died. The creature spawns with all of the gear it was wearing, if any, but not whatever it was holding. It exists indefinitely in this state among other deceased souls until it is killed in that realm too. The soul is then able to choose a new creature to become. Its memory is wiped and the soul is recycled. Electricity does not work in the underworld, and all technology is steam-powered (Steampunk rules for Technology).
Reapers aren't the only dimension-hopping beings, however. Any living creature can be born with the ability to lucid dream (roll to see if your character has this ability). A lucid dreamer can travel dimensions in the astral plane the same way a reaper travels to collect a soul. If the dream-walking skill is mastered, these characters can carry items into and out of the underworld, fly, and even shapeshift while in non-material dimensions.
Atomic Dreams is an all-in-one Space Opera, Science Fiction, Weird War, Steampunk, Fantasy adventure, and unlike many games where death means you lose, in this game, it simply unlocks new abilities, dimensions, and characters. Robots, bioroids, and Revenants beware- soulless beings don't get the luxury of being able to travel to the underworld for a second chance. Atomic Dreams revolves around the ideas that not every player likes the same things, and not every player can make every session. By including several genres under the Space Opera umbrella, it's more likely that each player will eventually encounter a genre or theme that they really enjoy, while getting a taste of everything else Genesys has to offer. Having a spaceship serve as a home base means that an absent player can simply not be on the current mission, but is rather taking care of other duties on the ship. And, to top it off, all of my characters, ships, and locations are built from LEGOs serving as scale models for my adventures (Pictures coming soon). Enjoy.
