Merchanters and Stationers Spyrates Playtest 2

In my Merchanters and Stationers game, the PCs had to leave Romekia Station in a hurry - the Captain staved off being served in a lawsuit long enough for the crew to return to the ship - the last one in losing a bit of fur from her tail, then broke out of the lock. Romekia was a Trissein port, and the lawsuit was a nuisance designed to hold the ship in port.

they took off on a heading to Kodia Point, a rogue gas giant, where they would change vectors for Varania Station, in the Disputed Zone. Another ship was following them out of Romekia, at the last minute moving up on them trying to crowd them so they couldn't jump. The PCs ship shot forward at the last second and made it into jump. When they came down at Kodia Point, they had not been in system for fifteen minutes when a ship came out of jump right on their tail.

The Captain knew it must be a the same ship that crowded them before Jump, as it came in on the Romekia Vector, and that it must be a hunter ship like theirs, because of the speed it showed in Romekia system, and by it's behavior in crowding them, but it showed a different name on it's transponder than the ship in Romekia system.

They were still coming in a .8c, as was their tail, as they had not yet made their first velocity dump, so they were still blind to what was in the Kodia Point area as they were just behind their own wavefront. The Captain knew that the species in that ship must be active in Jump, and only the Tamberlin and the Malamo were so, and the Malamo were pacifists who were miserable with technology. This ship had to be a Tamberlin hunter ship like them, and that meant it was an enemy. He ordered a salvo fired down their tail, and the kinetic killer shots absolutely shredded the other hunter. Now, this was pretty much mass murder, but as they dumped v to make their turn, they found the system empty. No witnesses.

New Review of Volant

The RPG Pundit reviews my Volant - Kingdoms of Air and Stone. He, of course, hates anything in it that's that Forgey or Story Gamey, but ends up overall liking it. I, of course don't care about whether or not something is Story Gamey, so long as it does what I want it to do. http://therpgpundit.blogspot.com/2015/08/rpgpundit-reviews-volant-kingdoms-of.html

Stress in Merchanters and Stationers

Working on Stress in Merchanters and Stationers. Originally, I had lists of stress-inducing and stress-relieving events, and if one of those things happened, you rolled for how much stress it would cause or remove. I've refined that during play. Each payer now can remove one item - except Jump! - off the stress inducing list along with one from the stress relieving list for their character. For example, carrying a weapon is a stress-inducing event, but for professional soldiers and security, they could remove that. OTOH, they would be somewhat jaded with stress-relieving events as well, so perhaps a drink no longer does much for them any more. I do not insist the characters must tie their stress changes to their professions, but I think it's a good idea.

Also, you cannot relieve stress while in jump! Several alien species can move and operate in jump, and some selected humans as well, so initially I was allowing stress relief in Jump, but in thinking back to the books, jump itself - being in jump - is a stress-inducing event by it's nature. That means stress cannot be relieved during jump, no matter how your species deals with jump.

Outremer and Ohmas available in the latest Bundle of Holding.

Hi folks! Two of my games - On Her Majesty's Arcane Service (OHMAS) and Outremer are available in the latest Bundle of Holding, for less than the cost of one of them, along with Age of Arthur and Time Master. For a higher price, you can get additional bonus titles - Pirates & Dragons Core Rulebook + Dragon Isles Poster Map, Maelstrom Domesday, Heirs to the Lost World, and Northern Crown New World Adventures + Gazetteer. The price can't be beat, and the games are excellent. Go to the site below if you are interested! http://bundleofholding.com/presents/TheAges2

Trouble in Paradise!

Leaving for work this morning, I noticed two people digging up the nearest fire hydrant. Next to them was parked a van with the name HydraTech proudly displayed. Dammit S.H.I.E.L.D.! You said they'd never find me! Now what do I do? Move out? I need a new identity PRONTO!

First outlines of StarCluster 4 - System

Working on StarCluster 4.

I'm dropping the old Constitution mechanic, going with a completely different mechanic using successes.

I'm adding Negative Edges.

I'm using an adaptatation of the Lowell Was Right! skill system - you can have a maximum of 3 in any skill. Any more goes to a sub-skill, which is freeform - like Science/biology or Blade/dagger.

I'm using the Template Tree chargen method like in Lowell or Volant.

All resolution methods will use the same scales, so you can change resolution methods on the fly.

Some big changes in the game itself, which I didn't anticipate. I was thinking it would be more about the presentation, so fooled me! :D

Update

Wow! It's the tenth of August and this is the first post this month!

I haven't posted because there is not a lot going on.

Merchanters & Stationers is at a standstill. I can't go any further without Alpha playtesting, and that has been defeated by summer.

You don't really care about how my games are going. :D

I'm thinking about finally retiring StarCluster 2. It's been available for free DL for four years now, or in print for the cost of printing. It was written in 2004, and it's old, creaky, and not at all indicative of what I can do now, and besides, I am starting prep work on StarCluster 4! Recently some guy decided to review it and gave it a lousy review. Why is it still up there? I'll just have to take it down.

Talking about Active Plasteel armor today with Albert and Klax. That was unceremoniously ditched in SC 3, and Klax didn't notice - too distracted by all the cool things you could do with regular armor. He's putting up an impassioned plea for it's return, but I don't see it. It's a super armor and devalues anything else. It's the one obvious choice, and that's not a good thing.

That's about it. Talk later.