Heavy Sky is a modern sci-fi setting that mixes various sub-genres, drawing from a whole array of influences. The setting has some aspects of cyberpunk, with oppressive corporations, exploitative capitalism, and underdog characters eking out a living in a world that is at once both a plausible but also a fantastical future. There is more to it, however. As a game that has been thought up in the second decade of the twenty-first century, Heavy Sky has a strong post-apocalyptic streak to the setting. Most of the Earth has been ruined by capitalism-induced climate collapse. But there is also a fair amount of hope for a brighter future. The characters will go on their fair share of space travel. And the setting also features a hefty dose of trans- and posthumanism.
The name implies that the SKY features prominently across the planets: Earth's sky is heavy with storm winds and brutal climate collapse weather, and higher up littered with the remnants of the Bracer War.
Mars' skies are heavy with terraforming nanobots and the promise of a better life for its colonists - to either get away from the Red Planet, or to shape it into a home worth staying on.
Venus' colonies literally hang in the planet's skies.
And the sky of Mercury is either heavy with the all-engulfing sun or the all-encompassing darkness of the Void.
The skies of Jupiter’s moons are filled with the radiation-spewing gas giant, that illuminates the homes of the posthuman Great Houses, who scheme against each other and possibly against the rest of humanity.
In this future life is difficult and people are being tossed across the worlds humans and their offspring inhabit like leaves in the wind. But it is also full of hope,camaraderie, and adventure.
Heavy Sky is played using Mongoose Publishing's Second Edition of the TRAVELLER Tabletop Roleplaying Game, while borrowing concepts, starships, and gear from the 2300AD setting books.
All words (cc 4.0 attribution, non-commercial, share-alike) 2023 @Sebastian Wuepper
Traveller and 2300AD (c) 2021-2023 Mongoose Publishing
Cover image by Paul Chadeisson