Devblog: NPCs, Factions, and Ships Come to Augur Sci-Fi (Patreon)

We are finally reaching the point where my modules are coalescing into the original idea: tools to create, manage, and play entire game worlds in Foundry VTT. The next Augur Sci-Fi update brings that vision much closer by adding NPCs, factions, and ships as first-class entities, each with their own dossiers, generators, visual assets, and connections to the wider campaign web.

The new NPC dossier gives each character a clean, readable profile with personality traits, a portrait, and compact story prompts like Descriptor / Role / Drive and Action / Theme / Focus. The goal is to give GMs just enough structure to spark ideas without locking the character into a wall of prewritten lore. Completely customizable, of course.

The Sci-Fi module will also include portraits, so generated NPCs can immediately feel grounded in the setting. You can reroll, edit, choose a different portrait, or link the NPC to an Actor later if you want to place them directly on a scene. This makes NPCs easier to create, organize, connect, and actually use during play.

Ships are also becoming their own Nexus entities. A ship dossier gives each vessel a compact identity through Model / Class / Role and Action / Theme / Focus, while the ship image picker lets you choose between different models and visual styles (included in the module). The intent is to make ships feel like more than scenery: they can become recurring campaign objects with their own presence, purpose, and relationships.

Most importantly, ships plug directly into the Nexus connection system. You can assign crew, link a ship to factions, connect it to places, attach important items, or tie it into an NPC’s affiliations. This means a ship can sit at the center of a small web of story: who owns it, who serves on it, who wants it, and where it belongs.

Factions are the third major piece of this update, and they are essential for making a sci-fi setting feel believable. A world becomes much more interesting when it is shaped by companies, syndicates, militias, cults, colonies, research groups, and political blocs all pushing toward their own goals. The new faction dossier captures that quickly with Type / Method / Drive and Action / Theme / Focus, giving each group a clear identity without forcing a long lore entry.

Like NPCs and ships, factions are built around the Nexus connection system. They can have members, rival groups, affiliated ships, important places, and key items connected directly to them. This lets a faction become more than a name in a notes page. It becomes part of the campaign web, something the GM can browse, expand, and use to generate pressure across the game.

And of course, I will try to include as many of your suggestions as possible in this next update. I read every comment here on Patreon, Discord, Reddit, and YouTube, and I’m doing my best to add the things you’ve been asking for: galaxy maps, custom star images, orbiting ships, orbiting site markers, and many, many more.

This is a colossal update, and I’ve been even more obsessed than usual working on it. I’m aiming to release it next week!