Flat Black

Flat Black is a homebrew science fiction setting for RPGs, designed by Brett Evill in 1988. It has made successful appearances at gaming conventions such as Sydcon (in Sydney) and Phenomenon (in Canberra), as a setting for a freeform/LARP and ForeSight tabletop RPGs.

Flat Black is modestly hard science fiction: realistic except for the inclusion of faster-than-light travel and a 'catalytic thermonuclear' bomb that can destroy all the life on a planet (along with its oceans and breatheable atmosphere). Indeed, its projections of computer power, nanotechnology, and the uptake of transhumanist possibilities may be unrealistically low. The setting is designed to support adventures along the lines of Jack Vance's Demon Princes, Gaean Reach, and Alastor Cluster cycles, ie. in which the PCs come usually as outsiders to struggle with the perversities of isolated human societies that have often bizarre social peculiarities. Science and technology are realistic, but not the focus of attention.