In the games, we see the presence of technology everywhere.

When the table sits down to create the cluster, the slipstreams become the links between the mass relays, and each system can have several planetary systems reachable by ships. This reflects back to the Cluster generation mini-game quite easily. From the Mass Effect wiki:Ĭlick to expand.So, whilst limited FTL is possible, it's much more efficient to use the mass relays to navigate the galaxy.

In that time several races have reached the stars and begun to unlock the secrets of the mass relays, and the usages of their Element Zero based technologies. The last such galactic extinction event happened approximately 50,000 years ago.

By leaving the mass relays, and their focus, the citadel, behind them when they again leave for millennia, the Reapers provide the building blocks for their next harvest. An advanced hybrid race of sentient synthetic/organic warships, they wait thousands of years for sentient races to climb again to the stars before harvesting them in a devastating orgy of extinction. In the dark spaces between galaxies, slumbering in hibernation, were the Reapers. In setting, the last great technological society, dubbed the Protheans, are not in-fact the creators of the mass relays scattered through the galaxy, but the latest in a long line of intelligent races to unlock the secrets of their use and discover their purpose. In particular, the idea of technological advancement to the point of collapse is here, as are limited FTL routes, and the heat debt acquired by interstellar travel. Some of the fundamental basis of the Diaspora setting mesh quite well with Mass Effect. I'll refer a bit to the Mass Effect Wiki, which you can find here.

Whilst a 'softer' approach than the default Diaspora, there's plenty of scope for characters and their stories. Aspects and stunts seem a good way to model the game's biotic and tech powers without going overboard with the rules. So I've been thinking about Diaspora, and it occurred to me that it may be the system to hack for Mass Effect.

Mass effect 2 hacking