TEXT: Dubrovnik 
   
  The Dragon Stars 
  Humanity’s Colonisation of the Stars was a 
  terrible thing to behold. They were not 
  explorers, taking a brave step into the void. 
  They were not adventurers, striding out 
  towards the unknown. 
   
  They were refugees, fleeing the crumbling 
  cradle that was Earth. Fleeing the plagues 
  and the wars, the ever rising salty waves and 
  the ever-receding water. 
   
  They did not take sleek and shining 
  Starships, flying the flags of this state or that 
  corporation. They did not plant pretty flags 
  into the soil after landing. They crashed, and 
  most burnt. No one knows how many fled, 
  and no one can bring themselves to count the 
  dead. No one can point at an unexplored star 
  and say ‘here be humans’ or ‘here be no 
  humans.’ They say ‘Here de Dragons.’ 
   
  Nevertheless, they are there. The luckiest of 
  the luckiest of them managed to preserve the 
  technology they left with. The others 
  regressed, some further than others. It is 
  estimated that there are more swords and 
  spears used in warfare now that in any other 
  time in history. 
   
  You’re the luckiest of all. Your grandparents 
  couldn’t flee and didn’t die and now here you 
  stand, on Dubrovnik, moving among the stars 
  like Humanity should have: Commanding, 
  not Commanded. 
   
  Dubrovnik 
  The Free and Europan Ship-State of 
  Dubrovnik to give it the proper title, 
  Dubrovnik is a constituent member of the 
  Europa Organisation. It is not, as one might 
  think, a Military vessel or a merchant trader. 
  It is a City-State given a Hydrogen Fusion 
  power plant, H2/O2 Thrusters, Alcubierre-
  White Jump-Warp Drives, Trow Class Strike 
  Craft and one very large Rail/Coil Hybrid 
  Mass Accelerator (Cannon). 
   
  Due to the lack of FTL Communications 
  (asides from mail sloop) and it’s somewhat 
  unsurprising habit of moving all the time, 
  Dubrovnik and its ilk (Venice, Visby, Beirut 
  and the like) function rather more 
  autonomously that you’re average Member-
  State or Colony. For one thing, it doesn’t 
  properly participate in Europan Elections, 
  unless by happy accident it is in Europan 
  Space come Election period. Instead, it (like 
  all of its fellows) has a dedicated 
  remembrancer who speaks, but does not vote, 
  on its behalf in the Europan Parliament. 
  Dubrovnik has a directly elected President 
  and departmental (Life Support, 
  Administration, Medical, Gunnery, the 
  various Engineerings etc.) Heads. The 
  President and Heads are elected to one year 
  terms, and serve as the Ship’s Executive. 
  Legislative initiatives require a majority vote 
  from the Heads and the voting Population 
  (two thirds of each in event of a Presidential 
  veto.) The Judiciary is self-regulating and 
  independent of the other two Governmental 
  Branches. 
   
  All of Dubrovnik’s sons and daughters 
  Citizens serve twenty two years as ‘Service 
  Crew’ (Conscripts) with two years of training 
  from 18 to 20, and twenty years of service 
  from 20 to 40, spending ten years shuffling 
  from department to department, and ten years 
  in a specialist field. After they have 
  completed their Service period they are given 
  the option to be moved to the reserves (which 
  they will stay on, barring exceptions, the rest 
  of their lives.) 
   
  The Non-Service Population do a number of 
  things for a living. Many Menial jobs, on 
  Dubrovnik in any case, have been 
  automated away. A few of them do 
  nothing, happy to live of their Basic 
  Support Payments. Many of them are 
  artisans of some sort of another, tinkerers 
  or artists or composers or writers or 
  singers or musicians etc. 
   
  A few of them, as might be expected, follow 
  the world’s oldest profession (and indeed, the 
  Dubrovnik Sex Workers Union has been able 
  to send the Ship grinding to a halt on 
  occasion via Industrial action, and is 
  currently attempting to get legislation passed 
  banning a variety of Robotic alternatives to 
  their trade.) 
   
  Life is quite good on Dubrovnik, all things 
  considered. Bunks aren’t bad, nice mix of 
  places to stare through your porthole at. 
  Acceleration’s usually a nice 0.5G when it 
  happens, and 0G is fun the rest of the time. 
  But that’s all changing now… 
   
  Because Dubrovnik’s and all it’s ilk have 
  new orders, and into the Dragon Stars they 
  go. 
   
  What you’ll need:  
  People! 3 or more is recommended. One of 
  them shall be ‘The Game Master.’ This will 
  be a title, bestowed upon one of the People 
  you have collected. Following in with the 
  Dubrovnik spirit, you may wish to elect him 
  or her. The Game Master serves as the 
  Universe: They control the story, arbitrate 
  rules disputes (and may overrule the written 
  rules) and generally facilitate the running of 
  the Game. They are necessary, and are not to 
  be neglected, especially given they control 
  every other person in the world not under the 
  purview of the Players. 
   
  The other people are Players. They build 
  characters, and take on the role of their 
  characters within the world of Dubrovnik. 
   
  Six Sided Dice, at least eight between you 
  (The Game Master may wish to have their 
  own stock.) 
   
  Writing implements. Pencils are 
  recommended (in conjunction with Rubbers) 
  as well as paper for Note taking. 
   
  Who’ll you be:  
  The Players take on the role of members of 
  Dubrovnik’s Special Operations Group: 
  ‘Shore Party’ (Although you’re often 
  working on Ship as much as off it. Spy Rings 
  don’t bust themselves.) 
   
  What’ll you do:  
  Your job is whatever is required of you by 
  the Heads. That could be anything from 
  providing security to a visiting EAF 
  diplomat, to boarding a derelict Ship 
  alongside Dubrovnik’s Espatiers (There are 
  no Sapient Aliens. As far as is known) to 
  landing on a world in the Dragon Star world 
  to see if the Locals throw rocks or bullet at 
  you. 
   
  But mostly, you’ll be one of Europa’s tools 
  to influence in the Dragon Stars, before the 
  Indians, the Chinese, the Brazilians or the 
  ANZ-SEA-L do it. Dubrovnik will be 
  trading, wheeling and dealing, carrying 
  enough Von Neumann rated RapFabs and 
  feedstock to kickstart Industrial Revolutions 
  on a thousand worlds. Medicine, guns, 
  mining equipment. If it exists, Dubrovnik can 
  print it. 
   
  But so can Macau, Mumbai, RDJ and 
  Tokoyo. Then there’s the Wildcards like 
  Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. With them 
  business can be done, perhaps. 
   
  Pray you don’t meet Hong Kong. But if you 
  do… 
   
  Unfurl the Battle Ensign, Mobilise the 
  reserves, batten down the hatches, charge the 
  Accelerator and just try to run. You won’t 
  succeed, of course, but you’ll feel better. 
  
  Character Creation 
   
  Birth 
  First, pick from where your character came: 
  Highborn, Midborn or Lowborn. 
   
  Highborn came from high gravity 
  environments. Typically shorter, squatter, 
  and tougher. Stereotypically musclebound. 
   
  Midborn came from roughly Earth Like 
  gravity. Bog standard and boring. 
  Stereotypically charming for whatever 
  reason. 
   
  Lowborn came from low gravity 
  environments. Typically taller, slimmer, and 
  fragile. Stereotypically cerebral. 
   
  Characteristics 
  Everyone has nine Characteristics: Three 
  Matter, three Mind and three Ego. 
   
  Matter:  
  Strength: How strong you are. A high 
  Strength means denser, toned muscles and a 
  better punching arm. 
  Dexterity: How good your muscle control is. 
  A high Dexterity means you’re quick with 
  your hands and have good fine motor control. 
  Constitution: How tough you are. A high 
  Constitution means you’ve got a strong back 
  and that one punch won’t knock you over. 
   
  Mind 
  Knowledge: What you consciously know. A 
  high Knowledge means you know when 
  Dubrovnik was laid down, when it was 
  launched, all of its Presidents and their term 
  dates etc. etc. 
  Intuition: What you unconsciously know. A 
  high Intuition means you just know when 
  something is right or wrong, or what 
  someone will do, even if you can’t explain 
  why. 
  Control: How good you are at organising, 
  sorting and using information in your head. 
  A high Control means you know that 47 * 47 
  = 2209, not because you memorized it, but 
  because you did it in your head just then. 
   
  Ego 
  Charm: How good you are at talking to 
  people. A high Charm means you’ll never be 
  without a friend or a bed-mate. 
  Will: How good you are at keeping yourself 
  focused. A high Will means you can keep 
  your mind focused and on the job, and not on 
  the person trying to distract you. 
  Fortune: How lucky you are. A high Fortune 
  means that you can do stupid reckless things 
  and somehow come out the other end 
  smiling. 
   
  Every character starts with one point in each 
  of the nine Characteristics. In addition, every 
  character starts with six unassigned points: 
  Two in Matter, two in Mind, and two in 
  Ego. 
   
  In addition, Highborn receive an additional 
  two points to assign to Matter, Midborn 
  receive an additional two points to assign to 
  Ego and Lowborn receive an additional two 
  points to assign to Mind. 
   
  Gear 
  Your character has no specific gear. Instead 
  they are assumed to have what they need to 
  hand (the wonders of modern technology…) 
  unless their Gear has been explicitly taken 
  from them or lost. Note that without certain 
  types of gear some actions cannot be done 
  (Eg: Can’t shoot someone without a gun.) 
  The Game Master may also wish to penalise 
  certain actions if gear is damaged, sabotaged, 
  substandard or otherwise below par. 
   
  Vitality 
  Add up your Constitution, Will, and Fortune. 
  That is your Vitality. Don’t lose it. You need 
  it to live and stuff. 
   
  Tests 
  A test is required every time a character does 
  something with a reasonable a chance of 
  failure. Things like trying to negotiate with 
  the angry natives, trying to shoot that damn 
  Sniper before he kills someone, staunch the 
  bleeding before he kills him, sneak past that 
  thug, etc. etc. 
   
  In order to do a test, declare what you’re 
  trying to do, then look at your characteristics. 
  Pick two, each one from a different category 
  (Eg: Dexterity and Intuition, not Dexterity 
  and Constitution.) Justify why each one is 
  relevant to whatever you’re trying to do. 
  (Example: Charm is not helpful when you’re 
  trying to shoot someone.) Note: Can’t use 
  Fortune for this! 
   
  Add up all the points you’ve got assigned to 
  those two Characteristics. Grab than number 
  of six sided dice and roll them, adding up all 
  the results. 
   
  What you’re doing whatever towards (Eg: 
  They guy you’re trying to shoot etc.) is also 
  doing the same, this time to do some suitable 
  reaction (Eg: ‘Dodge’ or ‘Spot him sneaking 
  past me’ or ‘not trip over my tongue and tell 
  him what he wants to know.’ Even if it’s an 
  inanimate object.) 
   
  Whoever gets the higher number does 
  whatever they set out to do. If tied, use 
  Fortune as a tie-breaker: Higher Fortune wins 
  the test by difference between scores. If 
  Fortune scores are tied, re-roll the test. 
   
  Wait,  who goes first? 
  If you need to decide what order people act 
  in, add up Dexterity and Intuition for each 
  character, and run from highest to lowest, 
  each person making one test then passing off 
  to the next highest person until everyone has 
  acted once, then go from the top again. If 
  characters are tied, use highest Fortune. If 
  still tied, all tied characters roll a six sided 
  dice, highest result going first. If these results 
  are tied, re-roll until results are not tied. 
   
  Help!  I got Shot!  
  If you got shot, stabbed, had rocks fall on 
  you or otherwise lost a test in such a way that 
  you were physically damaged, reduce your 
  Vitality. 
   
  For every full six your opponent’s roll was 
  above yours, deduct one point of Vitality, 
  losing at least one each time. 
   
  Help!  I’ve got no Vitality left!  
  Fall unconscious. You’re now Dying! 
  Whenever the Game Master feels like it (in 
  situations with established move orders, 
  every time the Dying character is due to take 
  their test would be recommended) the Player 
  controlling the Dying character rolls as many 
  six sided dice as they have points in either 
  Constitution or Will (Player’s choice) adding 
  the results together. If the result is equal to or 
  higher than the number of times this ‘try-not-
  to-die’ test has been called for, you continue 
  Dying. If you rolled lower, Bye! 
   
  Fortune 
  Fortune’s special. Fortune makes you 
  special. You can’t use it for tests in the usual 
  manner. (Only characters belonging to 
  Players get Fortune.) 
   
  You can use it, however, to re-roll any test 
  that either you or someone else has taken 
  immediately after the fact. Any test, even 
  ones rolled by the Game Master (and the re-
  roll must be rolled openly.) 
   
  Every time you use Fortune, mark down how 
  much Fortune you have expended. You may 
  expend as much fortune as you have points in 
  the Fortune Characteristic. 
   
  Game Master is at liberty to restore Fortune 
  as he or she wills. (They are encouraged to 
  reward funny and/or awesome feats. 
   
  We Won!  Yay!  
  Congratulations on the success! Restore your 
  vitality and Fortune to full. If the Game 
  Master wills it, you may place another point 
  in a characteristic
  
  Dubrovnik 
   
  Name:   
   
   
   
   
  Birth:  lowborn-Midborn-Highborn 
  Age:   
   
   
   
   
  Charm 
  Will 
  Intuition 
  Knowledge 
  Control 
  Mind 
  Strength 
  Dexterity 
  Constitution 
  Matter 
  Ego 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Other (Unique) Systems/Top Secret Games Two Page Tabletops/Dubrovnik.pdf