Wanted to post this yesterday, but life got in the way. Back to Folded Steel.
The Second Fold is the definitely the most established of the setting options. Mankind has fallen after the Jeohbin Empire punched through from another dimension. The roving band of dimensional conquerors arrived with their massive bio-titans and swept aside what little resistance the First Fold nations could. Aside from the military might that they were able to bring, just the arrival of the invaders has brought destruction. Their dimensional tech has fundamentally damaged our reality, which is now slowly crumbling around us. The Empire knew this would happen. It always does. They simply gather resources in preparation for the next dimension they will attack. When the time is right they will move on like a plague of locusts and leave us behind with our shattered husk of a world.
Humanity is on a timer. To prevent this eventuality mankind has pushed their tech to new heights (mechs are pushed up to Tier 4) through both natural innovation and theft of Imperial secrets. Enclaves in this fold are about HOW you rebel. Are you guerrilla fighters, saboteurs, seditionists? Each has their place in stopping the Empire before it finishes off our world and giving mankind a chance to survive. In addition this is the first fold where Enclaves have Echoes, which are ways to tap into the Enclave playbooks from the previous Fold. Inspiration for this comes from various Gundams, Robotech (Mospeda), and Venus Wars.
This Fold was originally the only setting for Folded Steel. It maps the closest to Blades in the Dark, but with a much more definite story arc (rebellion in defiance of the apocalypse). This means that it is the most realized Fold, but also the one that has had the most reworked. Originally Enclaves had a progression built into them and with certain Enclaves being limited to certain Tiers of play (as well as legacy mechanics to show how your progressed through the Tiers). It ended up being too unwieldy, and I am much happier with the idea of Echoes and how they are currently shaping up.
If a new game started during a later Fold do you pick an Echo from previous Folds to reflect how the group feel they developed (without playing that/those Folds)?
Looking forward to more I go on Echoes, I like the legacy idea, makes sense and could change how 2 different groups play the same type of Enclave and make for some good story moments.
Mechanically Echos are a permission to take certian Enclave upgrades from a previous Fold. The upgrades available will only be the ones that don’t interact with the fold specific mechanics. New or old Enclaves can both take it, but are not required to either.
I love the idea of Echoes and legacy play!