RPG Fiction

Okay, so RPG fiction (as in fiction within RPG books) has a reputation for being... wordy? benign? uninspired?

I've seen several times where RPG designers are called out as frustrated fiction writers... and I get it, it's like 'if you want to write a novel so bad, go write one. I'm here to play a RPG.'  But sometimes a little fiction is the best way to get you into the game world. I could TELL you about the game world, or (if I do it well) I could SHOW you the world through a minimalist piece of fiction that whets your appetite for the game. Here's my first draft at something along those lines. I can see this ending up on the back cover, and/or in the general promo blurb for the game...

***

It was war. That’s all I can tell you. That’s the only way to make sense of it.

The Confederacy had turned the tide, driving the Orak back and rooting out several of their strongholds on Confederate worlds. The war was crawling towards its final stages, and our victory was a matter of when, not if.

As I said, it was war. You can justify a lot in war.

In desperation, the Orak enacted their final strike. They caused their own sun to super-nova, opening a nexus into the Void.

That’s how the Undead got back. That’s how the Fiends returned. That’s how the Messari came.

Their arrival was sudden and devastating. They had long brooded on the other side, spending the centuries since the Cleansing planning their revenge, crafting their own technologies, preparing to invade.

In a desperate gambit, the Orak had unleashed death itself.

Valhalla help us all.