TiGGR: Seveneves

Series Introduction

Neal Stephenson's Seveneves is a novel that refuses to stay in one genre. It begins as a hard science thriller about humanity's desperate escape from Earth, transforms into a claustrophobic survival story aboard makeshift space habitats, then leaps 5,000 years forward to reveal a solar system where our descendants have become something both recognizably human and wonderfully strange.

That third act—with its glimpses of New Earth's terraformed landscapes, the Ring's orbital politics, and the seven races descended from the original survivors—reads less like traditional science fiction and more like someone's campaign notes from the most ambitious tabletop RPG ever played. Scattered vignettes show us crews dealing with crises across vast timescales and distances: investigating signals in Hawaiian ruins, mediating factional disputes in spinning habitats, herding icebergs through the Kuiper Belt.

This is a setting that practically begs for tabletop exploration. The novel gives us just enough detail to spark imagination while leaving vast spaces for players to fill with their own stories. Rather than drowning in lore about what specific augmentations each race possesses, we get something more valuable: the feeling of a universe where humanity survived by adapting, spreading, and sometimes splitting apart.

These TiGGR scenarios assume you've read Seveneves and felt that same spark of possibility. They're not here to explain the difference between Red and Blue factions or catalog the abilities of each race—if you know, you know. Instead, they offer quick-setup adventures that capture the novel's blend of hard science, political tension, and the profound melancholy of a species that lost everything and somehow found a way to continue.

Each scenario stands alone, but together they form a love letter to Stephenson's vision of humanity's long survival. Whether you're exploring the gaps between orbital habitats or the spaces beneath New Earth's crust, the goal is the same: honor the source material by creating new stories within its shadow.

The following scenarios will be published weekly, organized by setting and theme. All you need is the TiGGR rules, some dice, and the memory of what it felt like to read about humanity's return to the stars.