Monday, March 31, 2014
Monday, March 17, 2014
Re-Incentivising Play
So after de-Incentivising play in my games. I went on for a few years, quite happy. Play was focused on what the players and their characters were interested in doing. I wrote games based on the StarCluster engine, like a second edition of StarCluster, Sweet Chariot, Blood Games, Book of Jalan, Cold Space, and FTL Now. Then I decided to write the first game on my bucket list. My bucket list is a list of games I passionately want to write, whether or not they had any real commercial potential. StarCluster, Blood Games, and Cold Space all sold very well, and gave me resources to indulge my stupid side.
The first game on that list was something based on the long running Age of Sail naval series, like Hornblower, Aubrey and Maturin, Ramage, and Lewrie. I grew up with Hornblower, and the others I encountered and loved for their own sakes. I settled right away on a name - "In Harm's Way", after the quote from John Paul Jones: "I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way." That quote epitomized everything I loved about this fiction! Utter badassdom! So I started to adapt the StarCluster system engine to this setting.
The thing is, I needed to model a specific kind of behavior to make this work. This was a military game - and had to produce characters not only wiling but thirsting to go "In Harm's Way!" Characters content to sail around, visiting ports, and only getting into trouble when they couldn't avoid it were out! That was civilian think! Characters in this game had to mold their characters around a military framework, and adapt their dreams to it. So, I had to incentivize this!
Being a bear of very little brain, I went the only way I knew, which was research. How were the characters in these books formed into badasses? How were they able to stand there, not taking cover, standing exposed on their quarterdecks, and calmly order their ships into battle? These were, I found, two separate questions. The characters in the books were promoted for two reasons. They almost never screwed up normal jobs, and they succeeded far more than normal at extraordinary jobs. This was enforced by a system of "Notice". Notice was, in short, the ability to make your superiors *notice* you. If you failed at routine tasks, you were blisteringly reprimanded, and held in scorn. If you succeeded at extraordinary tasks, you enhanced your superiors' reputations, and they were pleased and sought you out for more.
So, in the game, Notice equated to points awarded or taken away for success or failure. The harder the task, the more points were at hazard. If you avoided bad Notice, and accumulated good Notice, eventually you would get promoted. I set out guidelines for awarding notice, and insisted on superiors giving notice personally, or in writing if that was impossible, *in-character*. Now all that did was give the character more authority. It did not affect traditional targets like skills, attributes, or the like. The most fit to command is not usually the best fighter, but is instead the best *leader*.
That brings us to the second question - "How were they able to stand there, not taking cover, standing exposed on their quarterdecks, and calmly order their ships into battle?" The answer, of course, is that if they showed the fear they felt, their men would break and run.
There are two means of getting men to risk their lives in war: Discipline and Leadership. The first drives the men, the second leads and assumes they will follow. Both are equally valid. So, Discipline and Leadership are skills - and are the defining skills of any officer. It doesn't do any good to be the best tactician if you try to drive the men and they won't go.
To back this up, I instituted a new metric for characters - Honor and Practicality. Like Pendragon Traits, these are an opposed "seesaw" stat - they were fixed in total, so that if one went up, the other went down. Honor engendered trust, so it measured the character's reputation for honor, and added to Leadership. Practicality engendered fear, so it measured the character's reputation for doing whatever was necessary for success, and added to Discipline.
So, in order to advance in rank, you had to attract good Notice and not bad Notice, and accumulate it. In order to get that Notice, you had to control your men, using either Leadership or Discipline, backed in either case by your reputation. The more difficult the task, the more good Notice you got if you succeeded. This was the school that made officers long to go In Harm's Way!
Despite being a game I did not expect to do well, it did very well indeed, and there are now seven In Harm's Way RPGs in print, ranging from Age of Sail to dragons to fighter pilots to space.
The first game on that list was something based on the long running Age of Sail naval series, like Hornblower, Aubrey and Maturin, Ramage, and Lewrie. I grew up with Hornblower, and the others I encountered and loved for their own sakes. I settled right away on a name - "In Harm's Way", after the quote from John Paul Jones: "I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way." That quote epitomized everything I loved about this fiction! Utter badassdom! So I started to adapt the StarCluster system engine to this setting.
The thing is, I needed to model a specific kind of behavior to make this work. This was a military game - and had to produce characters not only wiling but thirsting to go "In Harm's Way!" Characters content to sail around, visiting ports, and only getting into trouble when they couldn't avoid it were out! That was civilian think! Characters in this game had to mold their characters around a military framework, and adapt their dreams to it. So, I had to incentivize this!
Being a bear of very little brain, I went the only way I knew, which was research. How were the characters in these books formed into badasses? How were they able to stand there, not taking cover, standing exposed on their quarterdecks, and calmly order their ships into battle? These were, I found, two separate questions. The characters in the books were promoted for two reasons. They almost never screwed up normal jobs, and they succeeded far more than normal at extraordinary jobs. This was enforced by a system of "Notice". Notice was, in short, the ability to make your superiors *notice* you. If you failed at routine tasks, you were blisteringly reprimanded, and held in scorn. If you succeeded at extraordinary tasks, you enhanced your superiors' reputations, and they were pleased and sought you out for more.
So, in the game, Notice equated to points awarded or taken away for success or failure. The harder the task, the more points were at hazard. If you avoided bad Notice, and accumulated good Notice, eventually you would get promoted. I set out guidelines for awarding notice, and insisted on superiors giving notice personally, or in writing if that was impossible, *in-character*. Now all that did was give the character more authority. It did not affect traditional targets like skills, attributes, or the like. The most fit to command is not usually the best fighter, but is instead the best *leader*.
That brings us to the second question - "How were they able to stand there, not taking cover, standing exposed on their quarterdecks, and calmly order their ships into battle?" The answer, of course, is that if they showed the fear they felt, their men would break and run.
There are two means of getting men to risk their lives in war: Discipline and Leadership. The first drives the men, the second leads and assumes they will follow. Both are equally valid. So, Discipline and Leadership are skills - and are the defining skills of any officer. It doesn't do any good to be the best tactician if you try to drive the men and they won't go.
To back this up, I instituted a new metric for characters - Honor and Practicality. Like Pendragon Traits, these are an opposed "seesaw" stat - they were fixed in total, so that if one went up, the other went down. Honor engendered trust, so it measured the character's reputation for honor, and added to Leadership. Practicality engendered fear, so it measured the character's reputation for doing whatever was necessary for success, and added to Discipline.
So, in order to advance in rank, you had to attract good Notice and not bad Notice, and accumulate it. In order to get that Notice, you had to control your men, using either Leadership or Discipline, backed in either case by your reputation. The more difficult the task, the more good Notice you got if you succeeded. This was the school that made officers long to go In Harm's Way!
Despite being a game I did not expect to do well, it did very well indeed, and there are now seven In Harm's Way RPGs in print, ranging from Age of Sail to dragons to fighter pilots to space.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
De-Incentivizing Play
De-incentivizing play was one of the central concepts I formed before writing my first game.
Back in the late eighties, I wrote a version of what later became my
first released game (StarCluster) back in 2002. I call it StarCluster Zero Edition, and it is now in its third edition. It
was painfully typed out on a typewriter, and I still have it somewhere. I was
already sick of experience points, and the way they pushed play - "I'm
five XP from leveling up! Is there a rat in the alley? I want to kill
something." - that was an actual quote from a game session. This didn't model anything I wanted to do in the game, so first I discarded them from my AD&D game, then still running, by switching to a model of per session increases. The group had no problem and continued on their merry way - with some beneficial changes explained further on.
When I wrote the StarCluster Zero a bit later on, I avoided all trace of XP, leveling, and the like. Instead, the character's age determined his skills. It didn't matter whether that age was gained in-play or out of play - you could create a character of any arbitrary age, then advance her during a game campaign, then gen them up a couple years in-between and be older, and there was no functional difference between that character and a character who had been in play the whole time. No "reward" for inching the bastard up through some bogus "Hero's Journey" from incompetent to functional to ultra-competent.
Balancing that, I dropped the concept of inflating Hit Points as well, creating a derived stat from combining your physical stats and using that as an ablative pool. Balancing things, I made physical stats deteriorate with the years from the end of that plateau after maturity. So increased skill was balanced with decreased natural ability. I also made the age-related increases small, so that younger characters could play with older characters, and they wouldn't be totally outclassed.
So, the final product looked like this: Slow but sure advancement in skill if the character survived, along with slow but sure physical deterioration, and a life-pool based on those deteriorating stats. This resulted in something that felt more natural. Younger characters were less skilled, but harder to injure or kill. They were unskilled compared to oldsters, but were better at picking up unfamiliar skills. Older characters were very good at doing things they knew how to do, but grew increasingly fragile. That looked pretty organic, self-balancing, and facilitated a somewhat more survival oriented feel.
So, without the incentives, why play? I had already proven to myself that such play was just as much fun when I dropped XP from D&D - that experiment worked like a charm. Besides, Classic Traveller had already shown you didn't need leveling - hell, it didn't really have any advancement at all at first! It seems play itself is a hell of a lot of fun, even without the "kick" of leveling, and very different to boot. Players didn't do things just for the sake of grinding out a few more XPs. They did them because they were interesting, or for in-game rewards, or for achieving personal goals. All the XPs had been doing was getting in the way of that.
With XP, characters had been doing things that gave rewards preferentially, whether or not those things in themselves were interesting to the player. Once doing things for rewards had been stripped out, players began doing things they wanted to do. It fostered a revolution in tactics - if you don't get XP for killing things and taking their stuff, it's just as good to scare them away or trick them. The mission is accomplished either way, and it makes characters built on things other than combat far more viable.
When I wrote the StarCluster Zero a bit later on, I avoided all trace of XP, leveling, and the like. Instead, the character's age determined his skills. It didn't matter whether that age was gained in-play or out of play - you could create a character of any arbitrary age, then advance her during a game campaign, then gen them up a couple years in-between and be older, and there was no functional difference between that character and a character who had been in play the whole time. No "reward" for inching the bastard up through some bogus "Hero's Journey" from incompetent to functional to ultra-competent.
Balancing that, I dropped the concept of inflating Hit Points as well, creating a derived stat from combining your physical stats and using that as an ablative pool. Balancing things, I made physical stats deteriorate with the years from the end of that plateau after maturity. So increased skill was balanced with decreased natural ability. I also made the age-related increases small, so that younger characters could play with older characters, and they wouldn't be totally outclassed.
So, the final product looked like this: Slow but sure advancement in skill if the character survived, along with slow but sure physical deterioration, and a life-pool based on those deteriorating stats. This resulted in something that felt more natural. Younger characters were less skilled, but harder to injure or kill. They were unskilled compared to oldsters, but were better at picking up unfamiliar skills. Older characters were very good at doing things they knew how to do, but grew increasingly fragile. That looked pretty organic, self-balancing, and facilitated a somewhat more survival oriented feel.
So, without the incentives, why play? I had already proven to myself that such play was just as much fun when I dropped XP from D&D - that experiment worked like a charm. Besides, Classic Traveller had already shown you didn't need leveling - hell, it didn't really have any advancement at all at first! It seems play itself is a hell of a lot of fun, even without the "kick" of leveling, and very different to boot. Players didn't do things just for the sake of grinding out a few more XPs. They did them because they were interesting, or for in-game rewards, or for achieving personal goals. All the XPs had been doing was getting in the way of that.
With XP, characters had been doing things that gave rewards preferentially, whether or not those things in themselves were interesting to the player. Once doing things for rewards had been stripped out, players began doing things they wanted to do. It fostered a revolution in tactics - if you don't get XP for killing things and taking their stuff, it's just as good to scare them away or trick them. The mission is accomplished either way, and it makes characters built on things other than combat far more viable.
Monday, March 10, 2014
Perfectly Star Wars-ish!
This episode seemed to me to be
perfectly in tune with the Star Wars feel, and I offer it up for your
enjoyment. Again, I am using StarCluster 3, with specific "Star
Wars-ish" modifications.
So the PCs are temporarily stranded in Tibannopolis, the abandoned floating city on Bespin, their ship's landing gear broken, sitting on a landing pad. Sharaska, Dindar, and Delilah wanted to explore a small ship they saw through a break in the clouds, sitting on a pad about a quarter of the way around Tibannopolis. There was no way to go there directly, so they had to go into the abandoned city, then out the other side. They left the droid and Lyssia aboard, working on the landing gear.
The layout of Tibannopolis is as follows - each landing pad is linked to other landing pads like a cluster of grapes, with the stem leading to a door. Inside, the level of the landing pads is a commercial level, with bridges arching up from each landing pad stem and meeting in the center at a small park - all plants dead now, of course - with waist-high parapets on each side of the bridge. All around the periphery are stores, shops, eateries, and bars, with occasional others beside the bridges. Between the periphery and the center are two radial roads, like a spiderweb. There is a void/atrium under the center area, going down the four levels of residential living area, and a clear glass dome overhead. All very airy and clean. Below the residential levels are a couple of maintenance levels, with work docks and a well equipped hospital, then the huge work levels, extending downward, where the Tibanna gas is extracted and refined.
The PCs had gone to the center and headed back along the proper bridge, when they met up with a tall figure in black jedi-style robes and a deep hood, accompanied by five stormtroopers. He demanded the party turn over Duke, as his master - assumed to be Vader - required his (Duke's) services. This was in response to Duke 'throwing in' with Vader to avoid being thrown into carbonite last weekend. Sharaska refused to say whether they had Duke or not. The Dark Jedi got impatient and force-choked Dindar, picking up the Wookie and dangling him over the void/atrium, then demanded Duke again, the stormtroopers readying their blasters.
At that point, Delilah broke out into a song and dance - being a former entertainer, she pulled it off well. All eyes turned in her direction. At that moment, Sharaska launched herself through the air, knocking the Wookie across to the inner circle bridge with her, and breaking the force choke. She called immediately for the Jedi on the ship to come to their aid. At this point, while attentions moved back to Sheraska, Delilah darted into a small alleyway between two buildings, and hid herself - Delilah is at her most dangerous when you don't know where she is.
In a short, sharp fight, the dark jedi gravely wounded Sharaska, though not before she got an excellent hit on him, whch he half-healed. Dindar hid from the jedi, as not only was he badly wounded by the force choke, he is a bit of a coward. Three storm toopers went down the alley to locate Delilah, while two remained, covering the Dark jedi.
The troopers went right by where Delilah hid, and she slipped out behind them. She sneak killed two, leaving the leader alone while hiding again. The leader turned around at the end of the alley, and seeing his two mates dead on the ground behind him, and nothing else there, he opened up at random, then dashed back to the mouth of the alley. Again, Delilah slipped in behind him and her knife flashed once more, and none were left.
Meanwhile, the jedi from the ship - Hosea, his padawan Torota, Duke, and Daykon - came in on the scene. The Dark Jedi stood, one foot on Sharaska, his light saber on and pointing down at her back. He offered to trade Sharaska for Duke, implying that she was of far more use to them than a jedi who was definitely darker than he ought to be. They conversed, while Hosea readied a TK. He flung a pebble, loosened in the fight with Sharaska, up into the Dark Jedi's light saber, turning it off for a crucial moment.
The two covering storm troopers immediately started firing - and missing! I couldn't roll anything at all on ten total dice! - and the Dark Jedi grabbed Sharaska and force jumped down four levels to the floor of the atrium. At this point, with four jedi against him, he was just trying to escape. He had only known of Duke and Daykon, but four was a bit much, even for a very dark adept.
Torota leapt and killed one of the two stormtroopers. Daykon grabbed his blaster rifle, and began shooting at the Dark Jedi below. Duke and Hosea followed the Dark Jedi, matching his leap. and confronting him below. This time he held Sharaska up with his light saber at her throat. He bargained, offering to let them have Sharaska if they would let him go. He had his lightsaber in shield mode, and it would take a lot to batter that down. Meanwhile, Torota killed the last storm trooper. Daykon, firing from above, couldn't penetrate his defense, as he slowly backed towards an opening.
Duke offered to let him go, abiding by the deal. The Dark Jedi refused to accept his word, as he had proven himself false already. Hosea, a jedi slightly on the light side, took his offer, promising to let the Dark Jedi leave if he left Sharaska behind, alive, and agreed to cut off Duke's head if he intervened, promising to do so "by the light side of the Force."
The Dark Jedi took Hosea's word, letting Sharaska go and steping back towards the door behind him. Duke grabbed Sharaska and dragged her away to safety, but Hosea attacked, becoming forsworn, and gaining dark side points while losing light side points. Between Hosea and Daykon, shooting from above, they had beaten down his defenses, but had nothing left to actually harm him, when Torota force leapt from on high, coming down behind him, slaying him with her light saber.
With this, they located the hospital level and patched up Dindar and Sharaska, Daykon and Torota contributing jedi Healing as well. Then they moved the partly repaired Albireo, and the Dark Jedi's small ship, down to the garages below to hide from sight and finish all repairs, and as well to reconfigure both ships so that they looked somewhat different.
So the PCs are temporarily stranded in Tibannopolis, the abandoned floating city on Bespin, their ship's landing gear broken, sitting on a landing pad. Sharaska, Dindar, and Delilah wanted to explore a small ship they saw through a break in the clouds, sitting on a pad about a quarter of the way around Tibannopolis. There was no way to go there directly, so they had to go into the abandoned city, then out the other side. They left the droid and Lyssia aboard, working on the landing gear.
The layout of Tibannopolis is as follows - each landing pad is linked to other landing pads like a cluster of grapes, with the stem leading to a door. Inside, the level of the landing pads is a commercial level, with bridges arching up from each landing pad stem and meeting in the center at a small park - all plants dead now, of course - with waist-high parapets on each side of the bridge. All around the periphery are stores, shops, eateries, and bars, with occasional others beside the bridges. Between the periphery and the center are two radial roads, like a spiderweb. There is a void/atrium under the center area, going down the four levels of residential living area, and a clear glass dome overhead. All very airy and clean. Below the residential levels are a couple of maintenance levels, with work docks and a well equipped hospital, then the huge work levels, extending downward, where the Tibanna gas is extracted and refined.
The PCs had gone to the center and headed back along the proper bridge, when they met up with a tall figure in black jedi-style robes and a deep hood, accompanied by five stormtroopers. He demanded the party turn over Duke, as his master - assumed to be Vader - required his (Duke's) services. This was in response to Duke 'throwing in' with Vader to avoid being thrown into carbonite last weekend. Sharaska refused to say whether they had Duke or not. The Dark Jedi got impatient and force-choked Dindar, picking up the Wookie and dangling him over the void/atrium, then demanded Duke again, the stormtroopers readying their blasters.
At that point, Delilah broke out into a song and dance - being a former entertainer, she pulled it off well. All eyes turned in her direction. At that moment, Sharaska launched herself through the air, knocking the Wookie across to the inner circle bridge with her, and breaking the force choke. She called immediately for the Jedi on the ship to come to their aid. At this point, while attentions moved back to Sheraska, Delilah darted into a small alleyway between two buildings, and hid herself - Delilah is at her most dangerous when you don't know where she is.
In a short, sharp fight, the dark jedi gravely wounded Sharaska, though not before she got an excellent hit on him, whch he half-healed. Dindar hid from the jedi, as not only was he badly wounded by the force choke, he is a bit of a coward. Three storm toopers went down the alley to locate Delilah, while two remained, covering the Dark jedi.
The troopers went right by where Delilah hid, and she slipped out behind them. She sneak killed two, leaving the leader alone while hiding again. The leader turned around at the end of the alley, and seeing his two mates dead on the ground behind him, and nothing else there, he opened up at random, then dashed back to the mouth of the alley. Again, Delilah slipped in behind him and her knife flashed once more, and none were left.
Meanwhile, the jedi from the ship - Hosea, his padawan Torota, Duke, and Daykon - came in on the scene. The Dark Jedi stood, one foot on Sharaska, his light saber on and pointing down at her back. He offered to trade Sharaska for Duke, implying that she was of far more use to them than a jedi who was definitely darker than he ought to be. They conversed, while Hosea readied a TK. He flung a pebble, loosened in the fight with Sharaska, up into the Dark Jedi's light saber, turning it off for a crucial moment.
The two covering storm troopers immediately started firing - and missing! I couldn't roll anything at all on ten total dice! - and the Dark Jedi grabbed Sharaska and force jumped down four levels to the floor of the atrium. At this point, with four jedi against him, he was just trying to escape. He had only known of Duke and Daykon, but four was a bit much, even for a very dark adept.
Torota leapt and killed one of the two stormtroopers. Daykon grabbed his blaster rifle, and began shooting at the Dark Jedi below. Duke and Hosea followed the Dark Jedi, matching his leap. and confronting him below. This time he held Sharaska up with his light saber at her throat. He bargained, offering to let them have Sharaska if they would let him go. He had his lightsaber in shield mode, and it would take a lot to batter that down. Meanwhile, Torota killed the last storm trooper. Daykon, firing from above, couldn't penetrate his defense, as he slowly backed towards an opening.
Duke offered to let him go, abiding by the deal. The Dark Jedi refused to accept his word, as he had proven himself false already. Hosea, a jedi slightly on the light side, took his offer, promising to let the Dark Jedi leave if he left Sharaska behind, alive, and agreed to cut off Duke's head if he intervened, promising to do so "by the light side of the Force."
The Dark Jedi took Hosea's word, letting Sharaska go and steping back towards the door behind him. Duke grabbed Sharaska and dragged her away to safety, but Hosea attacked, becoming forsworn, and gaining dark side points while losing light side points. Between Hosea and Daykon, shooting from above, they had beaten down his defenses, but had nothing left to actually harm him, when Torota force leapt from on high, coming down behind him, slaying him with her light saber.
With this, they located the hospital level and patched up Dindar and Sharaska, Daykon and Torota contributing jedi Healing as well. Then they moved the partly repaired Albireo, and the Dark Jedi's small ship, down to the garages below to hide from sight and finish all repairs, and as well to reconfigure both ships so that they looked somewhat different.
Friday, February 28, 2014
Mercurian Mystery
AP Wire story, originally published in the Sunward Observer, Bitter Sea City, Mercury.
Remains of five earth humans were found today in a newly discovered shadowland sunward of the Salt Desert. Judging by the skeletal structures, all five were males, the youngest under the age of majority - possibly the child of one of the others. Analysis of evidence at the site showed copious ammunition expended, yet no sign of anything actually being hit.
Examination of the skeletal remains indicates the bones were gnawed clean, as if by hordes of giant rodents. A nearby abandoned lander may have been the vehicle used to bring them to this remote site far from any inhabited area. The lander appeared to have been damaged in landing, and the five may have been marooned. The lander had apparently been subject to an abrasive sandstorm at some point, because all serial numbers and other identifying marks had been ground off. The skeleton of a large snake was also found, possibly the pitiful survivors' last meal.
Dr. Kladeny Jorikov of the University of the Bitter Seas, who headed the expedition which found the remains, theorizes the five men may have been survivors of an accident in orbit who came down in the wrong lace. "They had obviously been blinded by the katabatic winds, or possibly a glimpse of the sun," explained Dr. Jorikov, "As despite being well armed, the men seemed to have been firing at random. The only creature they injured was the snake, which appears to have been strangled. Perhaps they encountered it by touch?"
Ample provisions appear to have been available in the lander, but being blinded, they may have been unable to find it once they had left. The details may forever remain a mystery. Were they fleeing some unknown space battle? Had their ship been struck by a sunward meteor? We may never know. For now, their bones hold the only testimony.
Remains of five earth humans were found today in a newly discovered shadowland sunward of the Salt Desert. Judging by the skeletal structures, all five were males, the youngest under the age of majority - possibly the child of one of the others. Analysis of evidence at the site showed copious ammunition expended, yet no sign of anything actually being hit.
Examination of the skeletal remains indicates the bones were gnawed clean, as if by hordes of giant rodents. A nearby abandoned lander may have been the vehicle used to bring them to this remote site far from any inhabited area. The lander appeared to have been damaged in landing, and the five may have been marooned. The lander had apparently been subject to an abrasive sandstorm at some point, because all serial numbers and other identifying marks had been ground off. The skeleton of a large snake was also found, possibly the pitiful survivors' last meal.
Dr. Kladeny Jorikov of the University of the Bitter Seas, who headed the expedition which found the remains, theorizes the five men may have been survivors of an accident in orbit who came down in the wrong lace. "They had obviously been blinded by the katabatic winds, or possibly a glimpse of the sun," explained Dr. Jorikov, "As despite being well armed, the men seemed to have been firing at random. The only creature they injured was the snake, which appears to have been strangled. Perhaps they encountered it by touch?"
Ample provisions appear to have been available in the lander, but being blinded, they may have been unable to find it once they had left. The details may forever remain a mystery. Were they fleeing some unknown space battle? Had their ship been struck by a sunward meteor? We may never know. For now, their bones hold the only testimony.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Star Wars-ish Characters
An intro to the characters in my Star Wars-ish game:
The Crew of the Albireo
Sharaska Vey, Captain and pilot of the smuggling ship Albireo, Sharaska is a stunning Togruta of 38 years. She is a master pilot, and has Masteries in Beam Weapons, Sneaking, and Stashing contraband. She is smart and strong-willed, and is always finagling for a profit.
Dindar is a Wookiee, dapper and sleek, and 31 years old. He's a ladies' man, and has been known to be kidnapped by love-lorn women. He is the co-pilot, and pretends he understands the ship's machinery, which he bangs on with a wrench until it surrenders and starts working again, or it completely falls apart. As the only male in the crew, he gets far too much attention.
Delilah is a pretty Twi-Lek thief and stage magician of 30 years. Actually a Force adept, she uses stage magic to make people think she's not using the Force. Sh is the ship's cargomaster and the Captain's right arm.
G2S4 (General-Purpose 2 Spacer 4) is a droid assassin, disguised as a butler. He is a Master at programming and Beam Weapons, and can do just about any job on the ship except pilot.
Lyssia Highsaber is a 40 year old human. Attractive and ultra-competent, she has masteries in Navigation, Blades, Ship's Drives, Electronics, and Mechanics. She is strong in the Force, but completely untrained.
The Passengers
Daykon is a very handsome human Jedi of 30 years. He is firmly of the Light side, and a master of Stun, Telekinesis, and Blade. He is a human, arrogant and roguish. He lived quietly on a backwater planet for many years, attracting no attention from the Empire.
Duke Warcest is a Dark-side human Jedi of 32 years. He is a master of Jedi Mind Tricks and Telekinesis, and loves to manipulate people. He hid for many years among a teeming crowd of people in the sector capital. He is patient and sly.
Hosia Zabos is a mildly Light-side human Jedi, and also 32. Strong and enduring, he is Master of Melee Weapons, Telekinesis, and Shield. He hid for a long time on an ice age planet, making a good living by trapping and hunting animals and selling their fur. he uses a Light Pike - a long-handled staff-like weapon, and is upright and blunt. Intellectually he professes neutrality in the Light vs Dark question, but has a slight attachment to the Light.
Torota Savina is a 25 year old Timactrin female Padawan. She is sleek and otter-like, and militantly neutral in the Light vs Dark question. She is Padawan to Hosia, and her coming to him, with Daykon and Duke tagging along, precipitated their flight from the comfortable lives they had been living in hiding into their desperate search for the Rebel Alliance.
Torota was half-trained, but her master died leading her people, the Timactri, to pushing the Empire out of their space. Her people wanted her to lead, but she - being extremely traditional Gray Jedi - did not consider herself a Jedi yet, and left them to find a new master. The Force led her to Duke, Daykon, and finally Hosia - whose masters all had the same master, and thus knew each other - but the Empire was trailing her, as she is naive and a motormouth. They fled just ahead of the Imperial unit that was there to capture them, and have been on the run ever since.
Last year they were instrumental in bringing the Mon Calamari into alliance with the Timactri, and eventually, they hope, with the larger Rebel Alliance.
The Crew of the Albireo
Sharaska Vey, Captain and pilot of the smuggling ship Albireo, Sharaska is a stunning Togruta of 38 years. She is a master pilot, and has Masteries in Beam Weapons, Sneaking, and Stashing contraband. She is smart and strong-willed, and is always finagling for a profit.
Dindar is a Wookiee, dapper and sleek, and 31 years old. He's a ladies' man, and has been known to be kidnapped by love-lorn women. He is the co-pilot, and pretends he understands the ship's machinery, which he bangs on with a wrench until it surrenders and starts working again, or it completely falls apart. As the only male in the crew, he gets far too much attention.
Delilah is a pretty Twi-Lek thief and stage magician of 30 years. Actually a Force adept, she uses stage magic to make people think she's not using the Force. Sh is the ship's cargomaster and the Captain's right arm.
G2S4 (General-Purpose 2 Spacer 4) is a droid assassin, disguised as a butler. He is a Master at programming and Beam Weapons, and can do just about any job on the ship except pilot.
Lyssia Highsaber is a 40 year old human. Attractive and ultra-competent, she has masteries in Navigation, Blades, Ship's Drives, Electronics, and Mechanics. She is strong in the Force, but completely untrained.
The Passengers
Daykon is a very handsome human Jedi of 30 years. He is firmly of the Light side, and a master of Stun, Telekinesis, and Blade. He is a human, arrogant and roguish. He lived quietly on a backwater planet for many years, attracting no attention from the Empire.
Duke Warcest is a Dark-side human Jedi of 32 years. He is a master of Jedi Mind Tricks and Telekinesis, and loves to manipulate people. He hid for many years among a teeming crowd of people in the sector capital. He is patient and sly.
Hosia Zabos is a mildly Light-side human Jedi, and also 32. Strong and enduring, he is Master of Melee Weapons, Telekinesis, and Shield. He hid for a long time on an ice age planet, making a good living by trapping and hunting animals and selling their fur. he uses a Light Pike - a long-handled staff-like weapon, and is upright and blunt. Intellectually he professes neutrality in the Light vs Dark question, but has a slight attachment to the Light.
Torota Savina is a 25 year old Timactrin female Padawan. She is sleek and otter-like, and militantly neutral in the Light vs Dark question. She is Padawan to Hosia, and her coming to him, with Daykon and Duke tagging along, precipitated their flight from the comfortable lives they had been living in hiding into their desperate search for the Rebel Alliance.
Torota was half-trained, but her master died leading her people, the Timactri, to pushing the Empire out of their space. Her people wanted her to lead, but she - being extremely traditional Gray Jedi - did not consider herself a Jedi yet, and left them to find a new master. The Force led her to Duke, Daykon, and finally Hosia - whose masters all had the same master, and thus knew each other - but the Empire was trailing her, as she is naive and a motormouth. They fled just ahead of the Imperial unit that was there to capture them, and have been on the run ever since.
Last year they were instrumental in bringing the Mon Calamari into alliance with the Timactri, and eventually, they hope, with the larger Rebel Alliance.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Star Wars-ish Season Two Begins!
My second campaign of StarWars-ish began yesterday. The Albireo came out of hyperdrive over Hoth. There were a number of Star Destroyers orbiting the planet, along with great chunks of debris.They were, of course, immediately noticed, and were ordered to prepare for boarding. The Captain ordered Lyssia, the Engineer, to disable the hyperdrive, and she did so. The Jedi spilled into their usual hidey holes in the smuggler ship, and the ship was boarded.
The Captain, Sharastra, managed to convince the Imperials that she was on her way to Javin, but her hyperdrive had blown coming into Ison. They bought a new shunt there, but only made it as far as Hoth before that, too, blew. They inspected pulled the hyperdrive shunt and, examining it, found evidence of tampering. They gave her a lecture on buying cheap, possibly stolen parts, told her the people she sold it to probably rigged it to blow near Hoth so they could come in and collect the ship after everyone starved, and sold her a new shunt at "Fair Value" from their stores. They gave her a warning, and left. The engineer installed the shunt, and they headed off to Bespin, figuring it was the closest advanced world the Rebels might flee to, if there were any Rebels left!
They came into Bespin, and noticed that the beacon for Tibannopolis was darkened, but they ignored it and landed on a landing pad on Cloud City. As they exited, Sharastra noticed the Slave I on a nearby pad and wondered what Boba Fett was doing in Cloud City. She knew him as a former bounty Hunter herself. They split up into three groups - Sharastra and her second, Delilah, the Jedis Duke and Daykon, and the Jedi Hosia and his Padawan Torota - to find out what had happened on Hoth, and where the rebels had gone to. Lyssia, Dindar, the Wookie co-pilot, and the Protocol/Assassin Droid G2S4 remained with the Albireo.
Sharastra and Delilah cornered a Bespin worker, who tole them that Vader was there and had taken over the city, and that Boba Fett was there to collect a gift from Lord Vader. They let him go and contacted the others. "Darth Vader is here!"
Duke and Daykon were walking through the city when they felt a metal-clad hand on their shoulders. "The Force is strong in you. The last time I had seen you, you were about to destroy a Star Destroyer." said Darth Vader. There were two dozen Stormtroopers at his back. "Come along with me," he told them. "I have a proposition for you." They were taken down into the bowels of Cloud City. Their communicators chirped. "Lord Vader is here!" "Thank you, we know." answered Duke. Sharastra immediately contacted the others that Duke and Daykon were captured by Vader.
Duke and Daykon were brought to catwalk high above a huge room. "This," said Vader, "Is how I treat my enemies. Join with me, or enjoy the pleasures of carbonite." They watched a hoist lift a slab of carbonite from a pit. Protruding from the slab was part of the body of a man, his hands reaching out and his face contorted in sheer agony. Daykon flinched. "I will not work with you!" Duke, on the other hand, said "Carbonite looks very painful..." Duke was somewhat Dark already, and Vader knew it. Daykon started to walk away, when Vader said "Stop him, and earn your place at my side." Duke drew his lightsaber.
"you are drawing on me?" said Daykon. He hit Duke with a powerful stun. Duke fought through it, but had a significant penalty as his head rang and swam. Nonetheless he said "You want to surrender" and waved his hand at Daykon. Jedi mind tricks! Daykon fought, but couldn't resist the compulsion. An aide came up to Vader and whispered in his ear. "I have pressing duties." he said to Duke. "Finish this one, and I will meet with you on my return." Duke contacted Sharastra telepathically, telling her not to leave, and mentioning he was working with Vader. She immediately dropped the connection and told everyone else by communicator that Duke had gone to the Dark side - he was always teetering - and that they were going to leave immediately.
When Vader had left, the two dozen Stormtroopers still surrounded them on the catwalk. Duke said to Daykon, waving his hand: "We have to get out of here," reversing his former trick. His mind fogged with pain, Duke was not up to facing down twenty-four Stormtroopers. Grabbing Duke, Daykon force-leapt through the steam and smoke of the carbonite pit, landing well on the other side, the Stormtroopers missing with every shot. (I rolled straight, not nerfing them for 'genre', they just completely failed!) He and Daykon found a lift and headed up to the living levels. Daykon contacting Delilah telepathically, and telling her that they were coming, and not to leave until they did.
Hosia and Torota force-questioned a Stormtrooper, who told them that Lord Lando Calrissian was working with Lord Vader to trap the Rebels leaders, and that Vader was currently in the mining area deep underneath the city. They headed down to the nearest lift, when Sharastra's call to leave immediately came through. "But what about the Rebel Leaders?" asked Torota. "Shouldn't we rescue them?" "We have to go! Sharastra won't wait!" They headed back to the landing pad.
Sharastra and Delilah got to the Albireo first, closely followed by Hosia and Torota. As they were running up the ramp, they all watched as the Slave I departed in a hail of blaster fire. "Maybe Fett is rescuing the Rebel Leaders!" said Torota. "I doubt that," said Sharastra darkly. They grabbed seats as Duke and Daykon came in, and they blasted away.
"When you told us to get ready," Lyssia told Sharastra, "I checked comm traffic. There are a couple of Star Destroyers in orbit that came in after we left. We'll never get out!" Sharastra remembered the darkened beacon. "We'll go to Tibannopolis - I think it's deserted. We can hide there." Sharastra did some neat piloting, and located Tibannopolis deep in a cloud bank. It was dark and lifeless looking. She parked the Albireo on a firm looking pad, and they all went to sleep, to wait out the Star Destroyers.
The Albireo groaned and shifted as they slept, waking everyone up. When they looked out the view ports, there were huge, two meter long feathers everywhere. Hosia left though the ramp, while Sharastra told Daykon to shoot the giant bird on top of them with the top turret gun. Instead, Daykon pumped loud music through the external speakers, frightening the bird away. As it leapt off, however, it overstrained the landing gear, which collapsed. Torota wormed her way out and joined her Master.
They went inside, where Hosia brought a public kiosk up to power. They encountered a flock of man-sized bird-things with sharp teeth, but were able to frighten them off. They returned to the Albireo, and told Sharastra what they had found. The Jedi combined to lift the Albireo up while Lyssia and Dindar built temporary supports to hold the ship up while they repaired the landing gear.
As the clouds lifted, Sharastra saw a small ship on another nearby platform. "Let's investigate that!"
End of session.
The Captain, Sharastra, managed to convince the Imperials that she was on her way to Javin, but her hyperdrive had blown coming into Ison. They bought a new shunt there, but only made it as far as Hoth before that, too, blew. They inspected pulled the hyperdrive shunt and, examining it, found evidence of tampering. They gave her a lecture on buying cheap, possibly stolen parts, told her the people she sold it to probably rigged it to blow near Hoth so they could come in and collect the ship after everyone starved, and sold her a new shunt at "Fair Value" from their stores. They gave her a warning, and left. The engineer installed the shunt, and they headed off to Bespin, figuring it was the closest advanced world the Rebels might flee to, if there were any Rebels left!
They came into Bespin, and noticed that the beacon for Tibannopolis was darkened, but they ignored it and landed on a landing pad on Cloud City. As they exited, Sharastra noticed the Slave I on a nearby pad and wondered what Boba Fett was doing in Cloud City. She knew him as a former bounty Hunter herself. They split up into three groups - Sharastra and her second, Delilah, the Jedis Duke and Daykon, and the Jedi Hosia and his Padawan Torota - to find out what had happened on Hoth, and where the rebels had gone to. Lyssia, Dindar, the Wookie co-pilot, and the Protocol/Assassin Droid G2S4 remained with the Albireo.
Sharastra and Delilah cornered a Bespin worker, who tole them that Vader was there and had taken over the city, and that Boba Fett was there to collect a gift from Lord Vader. They let him go and contacted the others. "Darth Vader is here!"
Duke and Daykon were walking through the city when they felt a metal-clad hand on their shoulders. "The Force is strong in you. The last time I had seen you, you were about to destroy a Star Destroyer." said Darth Vader. There were two dozen Stormtroopers at his back. "Come along with me," he told them. "I have a proposition for you." They were taken down into the bowels of Cloud City. Their communicators chirped. "Lord Vader is here!" "Thank you, we know." answered Duke. Sharastra immediately contacted the others that Duke and Daykon were captured by Vader.
Duke and Daykon were brought to catwalk high above a huge room. "This," said Vader, "Is how I treat my enemies. Join with me, or enjoy the pleasures of carbonite." They watched a hoist lift a slab of carbonite from a pit. Protruding from the slab was part of the body of a man, his hands reaching out and his face contorted in sheer agony. Daykon flinched. "I will not work with you!" Duke, on the other hand, said "Carbonite looks very painful..." Duke was somewhat Dark already, and Vader knew it. Daykon started to walk away, when Vader said "Stop him, and earn your place at my side." Duke drew his lightsaber.
"you are drawing on me?" said Daykon. He hit Duke with a powerful stun. Duke fought through it, but had a significant penalty as his head rang and swam. Nonetheless he said "You want to surrender" and waved his hand at Daykon. Jedi mind tricks! Daykon fought, but couldn't resist the compulsion. An aide came up to Vader and whispered in his ear. "I have pressing duties." he said to Duke. "Finish this one, and I will meet with you on my return." Duke contacted Sharastra telepathically, telling her not to leave, and mentioning he was working with Vader. She immediately dropped the connection and told everyone else by communicator that Duke had gone to the Dark side - he was always teetering - and that they were going to leave immediately.
When Vader had left, the two dozen Stormtroopers still surrounded them on the catwalk. Duke said to Daykon, waving his hand: "We have to get out of here," reversing his former trick. His mind fogged with pain, Duke was not up to facing down twenty-four Stormtroopers. Grabbing Duke, Daykon force-leapt through the steam and smoke of the carbonite pit, landing well on the other side, the Stormtroopers missing with every shot. (I rolled straight, not nerfing them for 'genre', they just completely failed!) He and Daykon found a lift and headed up to the living levels. Daykon contacting Delilah telepathically, and telling her that they were coming, and not to leave until they did.
Hosia and Torota force-questioned a Stormtrooper, who told them that Lord Lando Calrissian was working with Lord Vader to trap the Rebels leaders, and that Vader was currently in the mining area deep underneath the city. They headed down to the nearest lift, when Sharastra's call to leave immediately came through. "But what about the Rebel Leaders?" asked Torota. "Shouldn't we rescue them?" "We have to go! Sharastra won't wait!" They headed back to the landing pad.
Sharastra and Delilah got to the Albireo first, closely followed by Hosia and Torota. As they were running up the ramp, they all watched as the Slave I departed in a hail of blaster fire. "Maybe Fett is rescuing the Rebel Leaders!" said Torota. "I doubt that," said Sharastra darkly. They grabbed seats as Duke and Daykon came in, and they blasted away.
"When you told us to get ready," Lyssia told Sharastra, "I checked comm traffic. There are a couple of Star Destroyers in orbit that came in after we left. We'll never get out!" Sharastra remembered the darkened beacon. "We'll go to Tibannopolis - I think it's deserted. We can hide there." Sharastra did some neat piloting, and located Tibannopolis deep in a cloud bank. It was dark and lifeless looking. She parked the Albireo on a firm looking pad, and they all went to sleep, to wait out the Star Destroyers.
The Albireo groaned and shifted as they slept, waking everyone up. When they looked out the view ports, there were huge, two meter long feathers everywhere. Hosia left though the ramp, while Sharastra told Daykon to shoot the giant bird on top of them with the top turret gun. Instead, Daykon pumped loud music through the external speakers, frightening the bird away. As it leapt off, however, it overstrained the landing gear, which collapsed. Torota wormed her way out and joined her Master.
They went inside, where Hosia brought a public kiosk up to power. They encountered a flock of man-sized bird-things with sharp teeth, but were able to frighten them off. They returned to the Albireo, and told Sharastra what they had found. The Jedi combined to lift the Albireo up while Lyssia and Dindar built temporary supports to hold the ship up while they repaired the landing gear.
As the clouds lifted, Sharastra saw a small ship on another nearby platform. "Let's investigate that!"
End of session.
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