The author has carefully looked at his fairly extensive collection of old SPI games covering future history and/or science fictional topics, and attempted to come up with a coherent time-line for these. Humorous elements were at times unavoidable, given the nature of some of the source material. The author has left aside SPI’s more hypothetical modern conflict games such as Invasion: America; Objective: Moscow; China War; World War 3; and Minuteman: The Second American Revolution, some of which can be discussed separately under the rubric of the near future. Also, After the Holocaust, a “realistic” portrayal of the “recovery and reunification” of America after a major nuclear war, and The Omega War, which depicts a rather fanciful post-nuclear holocaust situation in the 25th century, probably cannot be placed into this future history (the latter is also a TSR/SPI game). Preceding the time-line is the list of games from which it is derived, roughly in the order in which they appear in the time-line. All dates not explicitly identified in the games are shown as c., i.e., circa.

List of Relevant Games

All games by SPI unless otherwise noted (I have in all cases identified the main designer as could be deduced from the credits, though in some cases, another person might have been the de facto main designer. In some cases, listing two persons seemed necessary from the credit information.)

Battlefleet: Mars
Space Combat in the 21st Century Designers: Brad E. Hessel & Redmond A. Simonsen; 1977

Titan Strike!
Battle for the Moon of Saturn Designer: Phil Kosnett; 1979

StarForce ‘Alpha Centauri’
Interstellar Conflict in the 25th Century Designer: Redmond A. Simonsen; 1974

StarSoldier
Tactical Warfare in the 25th Century Designer: Tom Walczyk; 1977

Universe
The Role-Playing Game of the Future Designer: John H. Butterfield New York; Bantam Books/SPI.; 1982 (“New 2nd Edition”)

The broad Universe background is too dissimilar to be integrated into the elaborated SPI future history, although the three alien races, which never officially made an appearance in print -- the sht’kl’p (shapeshifters); “a race of lupine carnivores with strong family ties”; and “a race of symbionts” -- could easily appear at some time, in a diverse galaxy of the future. Many of the technological devices are generic to conventional medium-term future history scenarios.

DeltaVee
Tactical Space Combat System for Universe, The Role-Playing Game of the Future Designer: John H. Butterfield; 1981

DeltaVee concerns largely what could be called small-fighter combat under strictly Newtonian conditions. This kind of combat could easily occur as an adjunct to the fighting at almost any period in the future history.

Vector 3
Tactical Space Combat in Three Dimensions Designer: Greg Costikyan; 1979

WorldKiller
The Game of Planetary Assault Designer: Redmond A. Simonsen; 1980

StarGate
The Final Space Battle for Galactic Freedom Designer: John H. Butterfield; 1979

Outreach
The Conquest of the Galaxy, 3000 AD Designer: Irad B. Hardy; 1976

The background to Outreach posited in the game itself is deliberately open-ended and purposefully left vague (apart from the fact that the technology is a continuation of that of StarForce). However, given the vagueness and the enormous scale, other kinds of faster-than-light (FTL) travel could easily be envisioned as taking place.

The Time-Line

2001

Birth of Gamil DesJardins in Old Beirut (eventual Chairman of Ares Corporation)

mid-21st century

“White War(s)”. Some especially ferocious conflicts between the major powerblocs of Earth; WORD (World Organization for Resource Development) formed in a worldwide sense of revulsion against such fighting

31 December 2093

Beginning of Martian Rebellion (Battlefleet: Mars)

3 March 2094

The Battle of Vesta

18 June 2094

Attempted Assassination of Dalia Ashad, high WORD official

2094-2096

Martian Free Traders vs. ARES Corp. (WORD represented Planet Earth) The First Battle of Pallas The Battle of Vesta The Raid on L-5 Second Battle of Pallas Battle of Juno Third Battle of Pallas Battle of Mars: Conclusion of Conflict. Mars gains independence; ARES Corp. mostly dissolved

2090s

dissolution of WORD

2105

First discovery of fissionable materials on Titan, moon of Saturn.

2117

War on Titan. Titan-Prime: Main Chung-kuo/ Nippon (in game, Hegemony of East Asia) base; New Saar: Main Europa (in game, EEC - European Economic Community) Mining Complex. (Note: diverging from the brief background notes for the game, both the USSR and USA are considered to have dissolved by this time.)

c. 2200

establishment of Solar Government (also called Solar Hegemony) (Note: A separate article will probably be written on the StarForce background. Some of the additional extrapolative future history material included in certain issues of Moves (e.g., no. 21) could probably be seen as non-canonical, relative to information that can be extrapolated from other published games. I have prioritized material appearing in other published games over such ancillary StarForce material. Generally speaking, the StarForce background combines coherent and incoherent aspects. The background story of a conflict between a more conservative, Earth-based power (the Pan Human Hegemony -- PHH), the frontier-oriented Human League -- HL, and an “all-lifeforms liberationist” Pan Sentient League (PSL), is sociologically interesting.

2317

Female Cyborg Lauren Silverwolf discovers “discontinuity effect” (later to be called J1)

2322

First Teleship, Argenta Lupa, lost in trans-Plutonian space

2328

(First) Sentience Status Act

2337

1st TeleMEG (TeleMapping and Exploration Group) slow sweeps of trans-Plutonian space to enhance its familiarity to “Telesthetics”; 2nd to 7th TeleMEGs quickly formed; beginning of Telesthetic Guild

2341

First Interstellar Expedition (to Alpha Centauri system); the “Outleap” begins

c. 2380

The Alpha Centauri Campaign The Solar Hegemony quickly reacted to the attempt by Lauren, the main Earth-like planet of the Alpha Centauri system, to declare independence.

Intra-Specific Wars of Autonomy

2405

The Epsilon Eridani Campaign Epsilon Eridani revolts against Solar Hegemony, and endeavors to seize Epsilon Indi system. Revolt of Epsilon Eridani successful, but fails to capture Epsilon Indi. The Earth-like planet at the Epsilon Indi system is Epsilon Indi I. (from StarSoldier)

2415

The Rise of the Human League Frontier-oriented Human League endeavors to seize Epsilon Indi from Pan Human Hegemony

2430

PHH - HL Showdown Another war between the Pan Human Hegemony and Human League. The Pan Human Hegemony endeavored to strike the planets at Tau Ceti, the most heavily populated of the Human League systems.

2451

L’Chal-Dah Contact First Contact with parahuman L’Chal-Dah, at Eta Cassiopeiae. The PHH and HL join together to defeat the L’Chal-Dah. The Earth-like planet at the Eta Cassiopeiae system is Eta Cassiopeiae II (this was where First Contact between the Humans and the L’Chal-Dah occurred) (from StarSoldier)

2462

Second PHH - HL War Second major conflict between the more conservative and more frontier-oriented human blocs. Ended in an indecisive victory for the PHH. Described as “a brief and inconsequential struggle. The HL did mount one expedition to Alpha Centauri and succeed in gaining control of local space long enough to land troops on Lauren, but they were swiftly repulsed.” (StarSoldier rulebook, p. 14) See also Moves 21 (“StarForce as Fiction: An Account of Scenario Six in Story Form”, by Neil Shapiro.) This can be accepted as semi-canonical. The story in fact has several inaccuracies when compared to the actual scenario set up. Human League systems: Tau Ceti, Epsilon Eridani, 82 Eridani, Delta Pavonis (9 StarForces); HL StarForces “Wing Toucher”: Viola Clearwater PHH systems: Sol, Alpha Centauri, Epsilon Indi (7 StarForces); PHH StarForces “Wing Toucher”: Phyllis Webb As described in the story, the PHH won a decisive victory by bluffing an attack on Delta Pavonis, while actually concentrating to attack Tau Ceti. Perhaps it can be assumed that Alpha Centauri fell to the HL assault, before the PHH victory at Tau Ceti, so the results of the campaign might be seen as more “inconclusive.”

2465

Revolt of Epsilon Indi PHH victory - L’Chal-Dah intervened on behalf of the PHH (when it became clear that the PHH was winning).

2476

The War with the Rame The Consociation decided to use this name instead of that given - “Human League” - as HL refers to a different body in the future history. The Consociation absorbed the L’Chal-Dah on an Associate basis, and together fought against the far more alien Rame. What had erroneously been called the “Human League” in the War with the Rame, 2476 A.D., and War of the Defense League, 2482 A.D. scenarios in StarForce, is identified in StarSoldier as the Pan Human Hegemony (PHH); however, perhaps the term Consociation (coined by the author) can be used for the general organization linking the PHH, L’Chal-Dah, and Rame.

2480

L’Chal-Dah Expansion L’Chal-Dah launched an aggressive policy of trying to subordinate the Rame. The Rame were defeated.

2482

War of the Defense League L’Chal-Dah and Rame form Defense League, renouncing their associate status in the Consociation. This is the height of L’Chal-Dah power. War between the Consociation/PHH and the two alien races, who are trying to break away from human tutelage. “The Rame were more or less unenthusiastic partners [of the L’Chal-Dah] due more to bad feelings vis a vis the L’Chal-Dah than any love of Humanity and refused to commit troops to the attempt to subjugate PHH planets.” (StarSoldier rulebook, p. 15) The Consociation/PHH was able to capture the L’Chal-Dah StarGate at 61 Cygni. “After capturing the StarGate at 61 Cygni, it was necessary to secure the outer ring of debris which ringed the system to protect it from low-velocity counter-assaults, which could have been staged from any one of the several of the larger pieces of debris.” (StarSoldier rulebook, p. 16)

2487

The War for Identity In the wake of the collapse of the Consociation, three-cornered struggle between: Pan Sentient League, “advocating complete freedom for all biologic and cybernetic sentients”, centered on the L’Chal-Dah and Rame systems; Human League, frontier-oriented and more radical human systems; PHH, more conservatively oriented human systems, including Sol. Triumph of PSL.

2488-2504

First Interstellar Peace, (Second) Sentience Status Act

2505

War for the League Brief resurgence of the PHH at Sol and Epsilon Indi, who fought in a three-cornered war with the Rame and the L’Chal-Dah, who had also pulled out of the PSL. (The human systems in the PSL remained neutral.) It may be assumed that in this scenario, the Delta Pavonis StarGate had been destroyed, e.g., in the preceding War for Identity, 2487 A.D. (The scenario notes in StarForce erroneously point out that Delta Pavonis lacked a StarGate of its own up to that time.)

Note: The Earth-like planet at the Delta Pavonis system, Delta Pavonis II, had a hostile native life form, the Dinkblog, “a carnivorous four-legged creature possessing the ability to teleport itself.” (StarSoldier rulebook, p. 16) StarSoldiers were called in to cope with it. There was more than one Dinkblog, i.e., it was a species of creatures (though presumably quite few in number) rather than a unique creature. For the designers, the idea of the creature or creatures appears to have been partially inspired by the Japanese Godzilla monster, so it might be seen as only semi-canonical for the StarForce background, and it does indeed seem very silly. Perhaps the Dinkblog should be re-conceptualized as a large, carnivorous, agile, Tyrannosaurus Rex-like creature, but without the rather unlikely seeming teleport ability. So fairly conventionally armed ground forces would probably be able to deal with it. By extension, Delta Pavonis II, or some parts thereof, might be a “lush garden landscape”, in accord with an ecology appropriate for T.Rex-like creatures.

2506-2774

Second Interstellar Peace

Xenophobe Incursions and their Aftermath, 2775-2787

2775

The First Xenophobe Incursion The Xenophobes are a fanatical race that induces novas in stars through Conversion Triggers thus destroying their enemies’ planets and populations.

2785

The Second Xenophobe Incursion After the First Xenophobe Incursion was beaten back, the inevitable second try at conquest took place.

2786-2787

Virtual Destruction of Xenophobes The Xenophobes were beaten back to their own home space, virtually annihilated, and confined to their home planet, under careful watch.

Some Issues About the StarForce Background

Telesthetics:

These are in some senses superhuman beings. They are also said to be exclusively women. The background never seriously considered the possibility that persons with superhuman powers might tend to despotism or tyranny. In Frank Herbert’s Dune universe, power was divided between the Emperor, the Great Houses of the Landsraad, the Bene Gesserit Order, and the Guild of Space Navigators. The Fremen were also important because they lived on the desert planet that was the source of the spice that drove interstellar travel.

The most obvious real world analogy for Dune is the attempts of various Arab and Islamic countries to leverage their control of most of the world’s oil to obtain greater power for themselves and achieve various political objectives. In that sense, Frank Herbert’s Dune could be seen as a prediction of the OPEC crisis of the mid-1970s, when the leading OPEC countries decided to assert greater control over their own resources, and use the oil-power to weaken the links between Israel and the U.S.A. In the 1990s, Saddam Hussein would probably like to see himself as Paul Atreides! The StarForce Telesthetic Guild seems to combine the characteristics of the Bene Gesserit Order and the Guild of Space Navigators in Dune -- an overwhelming concentration of power.

Perhaps it could be suggested that there are only slightly more female than male Telesthetics, and that they are relatively evenly distributed between different human ethnic groups, otherwise the sociological effects on human societies might be devastating (e.g., might not some planet consider that a virtually all-female population would be the way to increase the number of precious Telesthetics?) Another thing to be considered is that there have to be extensive procedures and institutions for the retrieval of Telesthetics from the general population. This would probably be something similar to the PsiCorps model in the Babylon Five television series, where the Telesthetics would live in special facilities apart from the general population.

Planetary Combat:

In the StarSoldier rulebook, the interactions of planetary combat are quite well-characterized. Perhaps the notion that the StarSoldier Active Battle Dress operates on a G-less drive is too ridiculous. The StarSoldier equipment can be characterized as micro-atomic- driven power armor loaded with electronics, but NOT a G-less one. It could perhaps be suggested that alongside the StarSoldiers, there would be ground Regiments who would have armored and transport vehicles shielded from the Heissen Effect; and similarly shielded sophisticated atmospheric fighter planes, space fighters, as well as ground bases with laser-weapons and missiles. Perhaps it could also be argued that the over-all number of StarSoldiers be smaller (e.g., one-tenth the numbers suggested in StarForce/StarSoldier, where a StarForce is said to carry 100,000 StarSoldiers in stasis plus their support equipment) as their ABD and full equipment might have the relative cost of an expensive jet-fighter to the Earth’s GNP, today. So the new suggested total would be 10,000 StarSoldiers per Star Force, or 2,500 per teleship. However, the over-all numbers of StarSoldiers could not be reduced too far, as planets might then become unconquerable.

L’Chal-Dah:

The L’Chal-Dah home system, Sigma Draconis, is less than twenty light years away from Earth. So, if that civilization has been using radio communications and television broad casting for roughly the same time as humanity, the two civilizations should have become aware of each other far earlier. One wonders what semi-credible reason one could find for the First Contact taking place as envisaged in StarForce and StarSoldier? Some kind of blocking magnetic cloud between the human and L’Chal-Dah systems?

2836/c. 2836

First Contact [described as unspecified First Contact in StarForce] with Igugui (from StarGate) Igugui have unusually high telesthetic abilities - short, stocky, friendly aliens

c. 2850

(J2 - single Psion/Telesthetic jumping from outside a system’s gravity well) [about 2300, according to Universe/ Delta Vee]

c. 2870

First Contact With Duonoips (from Stargate - tall and highly-muscular aliens; but rather unintellectual)

c. 2880

First Contact With Meta-Mex (Meta-Mex are machine intelligences with highly sophisticated warp drives)

c. 2900

J3 - purely-technological warp drive from outside a gravity well. This would mean a profound weakening of the Telesthetic Guild’s power.

c. 2950

War in the Gilgamesh Cluster (located in Outreach hex 1315 - one hex above SOL): Vector One: planet-to-orbit shuttles Vector Two: solar-wind powered ships (interplanetary) Vector Three: central cylinder; and various types of pods Xandri-Bratcom Coalition - a human commercial empire (Bratcom), allied with a saurian race (Xandri), who provide the company “muscle” Humano-Cetacean Civilization -a splinter group of humanity living in harmony with genetically-enhanced telesthetic dolphins, who provide various telepathic skills Aaland: strategic base and site of the major battle

c. 3000

(J4 - Mini-Jumps within a gravity field) This would probably permit faster maneuvering near planets.

3021-3023

E’kenn Assault on Outer Human Colonies -- E’kenn are supercilious parahumans (or perhaps descendants of some throwback line of Earth humans) with an extreme sense of hierarchy. Note: the game is clearly only a schematic of a far larger conflict.

c. 3100

after the defeat of the E’kenn, dissolution of their civilization into commercial, demotic forms

c. 3439

[changed from 2439] Virunian “War of Purification” begins (80 years)

Note: Since this is so far in the future, Virunians can be conceived of as virtually anything. Perhaps one could speculate they are actually a coalition of three races: supercilious parahumans (or even descendants of Earth humans), the brain; saurians, warriors, weapons section; and, short, stocky techies/workers, transport section

c. 3519

[changed from 2519] Battle at Null-Gate.

Note: Human J4 drives are unable to function in the wild energy fields of the Null-Gate. Meta-Mex have the J5 (or Wobble) Drive. The game is clearly only a schematic of a battle that could have involved thousands of ships. Race that defeated the Virunians: Hidden Guardians of the Galactic Core (extremely telesthetically and technologically advanced parahumans).

The far future games, The Sword and the Stars and Freedom in the Galaxy, have not been included in this piece. Freedom in the Galaxy is too obviously derivative of George Lucas’ Star Wars to be considered a distinct background whereas The Sword and the Stars seems to be an entirely self-contained background, although somewhat derivative of the setting (and clearly the game system) of SPI’s Empires of the Middle Ages.