Lowell Was Right! - Martians

Martians in Lowell will be non-hominid, but humanoid in general form.  They are of the same taxonomic order as the armadillos, Cingulata, and share many traits with these Earth species. They are native to Mars, but have spread elsewhere in the Solar system, particularly to Mercury, where the gravity and air thickness is much like Mars.

Martians are larger than the earth animals they resemble, and are bipedal. The most striking difference from armadillos is the length of their limbs, which are as long as human limbs, which with their long bodies make them taller than humans. Like armadillos, they have a jointed leathery armor shell. There is a  Cap on their heads, a Cape round their shoulders, four or five Bands across their backs, a Skirt around their hips, and a set of small bands down their tail. Only the back is armored, with the front being covered by fur.

As Martians dye their fur and armor, it seldom shows, but armor runs from bone white to chocolate brown, while the fur ranges from off white to sand color. The fur is thick and warm, and well insulates the Martians from cold, though they have great trouble in heat. The four banded Martians are a distinct sub-species encountered only on Mars. Most Martians are of the five-banded variety.

Martian hands have three fingers, the middle one formed by the fusion of the middle and ring finger bones, and correspondingly longer and much thicker. The thumb is opposable, and thicker than the two side fingers, though not as thick as the middle finger. The feet have four toes, with the fifth toe being vestigial. Both fingers and toes have long, extremely strong digging claws. Martians generally lacquer and sharpen these implements, with more complex and precise painting signifying consequent social rank.

Martians give typically birth to four genetically identical children. These are smaller and more immature at birth than Human babies, and require a warm and comfortable den to survive. Primitive Martians carved these dens from the soil, while civilized Martians build them, furnishing them with every affordable luxury. The Martian children take somewhat longer to develop outside the womb than humans, but by six months are equivalent to a newborn Human.

This four-fold birth is central to the development of Martian culture. Martians ideally marry an entire brood of four to another brood of four, forming a very tight and strong family unit. This family unit is the basis of the Martian Houses, clans of strongly interconnected families. As Houses rise or fall in wealth and status, the families of the House prosper or decline in step. Dens are generally built by the House, not the family, and are available to all families. Most marriages are made by mothers confined for giving birth at the same time. Families have standing within the House, just as Houses have standing with other Houses, but the status of a Family is dependent on performance within the House.

Where the four-fold symmetry is broken by disease or death before marriage, families tend to unravel. Threesomes seek threesomes and pairs seek pairs, but often singletons of various families end up cobbling something together with pairs or triplet survivors. These catch-as-catch-can marriages are held to be extremely unlucky, and are low in status. If death occurs after marriage, however, there is no loss in status, and the surviving triplets remain mated with the relict quad.

Like Humans and armadillos, Martians are subject to Hansen's Disease - leprosy - and lepers are subject to social sanctions.

The End of the Pickerel

Again, last night's Pigboats game was a classic. Last time, we had ended on a cliffhanger, where the XO, Lt. Bob Vaugirard, had just anchored the junk Pickerel off Punta Praet in a typhoon, when they sighted a Japanese navy (IJN) corvette coming towards them through the driving rain and swirling wind.

The XO grabbed two small, wiry, dark haired men and sent the rest below, including the aviators and Lt. jg Yoder, who was both tall and blond. He showed the men how to apply grease from the crankcase of the engine they had just broken up on their face, legs, and arms; to turn their fishbelly-white skin - an occupational hazard when subs are underwater all day and only surface at night - dark brown. They stripped off their uniforms, and stained and ripped their skivvies to look from a distance like the sort of clothes a set of down at the heels Filippino fishermen might wear.

By this time the corvette, which was moving slowly in the poor visibility near shore, had come close enough to make out some details. As Yoder swung through the hatch, the Japanese prisoner - who had been patiently sawing his ankle rope against a sharp rib down below - snapped his foot rope and started to dash uo on deck. Yoder grabbed a rope, and using his Rope skill brought him down with a loud crash. Yoder leapt on his back and hogtied him, then stuffed his mouth with a spare IJN uniform.

A Japanese sailor on the corvette shouted out in Japanese, but the crew shook their heads. He tossed over a line, miming the crew to catch it. The XO, not able to speak anything but English and his native Cajun Creole French, decided to pretend that he could speak Spanish. " PRONTO MATADOR OYA POYA ESTA MUY PEQUENA!" he shouted angrily, using the skill Adapt, and his Trait Big Fat Mouth. He threw the rope back to the corvette.

The Japanese sailor points to the loom of Punta Praet, and mimed tossing the rope back again. Vaugirard did not understand, so he goes to the tiller and yells at his crew "MUÑECA CARAMBA HASTA SIEMPRE LA REVOLUCION!!". The IJN sailor yelled something at the corvette's bridge in Japanese, whereupon the XO hurled a basket at the corvette and made shooing gestures. "GAUCHO VOLARE HO HO!!" he shouted ay the corvette's bridge. The sailor raied his hands in surrender and walked back towards the bridge. The corvette turned and started away quickly, as a machine gunner opened up  with a long trailing burst into the Pickerel's hull. Three of the rescued fliers were killed, and one flier and one crewman were injured.

The sea poured in though the gaping holes the machine gun had opened in the junk's sides. The XO dashed below, as he and Yoder stuffed sailcloth into the holes to try and stem the horrendous leaks, while one seaman worked the hand pumps, and another gave the wounded first aid. They got the leaking barely under control - the pump had to be manned continuously, but it was no longer gaining on them. Yoder noticed the XO's strange reactions, and realized he had lost his battle with the stress, staring off and talking to himself - he failed his stress roll - and suggested the XO might like to help the two good swimmers fother the hull with a sail. He did so, and it kept the XO busy, but didn't improve the leaks much.

Meanwhile the Pike reached the rendezvous point and the Pickerel wasn't there. They tried listening, and Lt. jg O'Grady heard the sounds of twin screws at very low revolutions - a navy boat moving slowly towards them. He warned the Skipper, who held the Pike right where it was. The boat moved slowly over them, without hearing a thing - sonar being useless in the downpour. They tried getting up very close to the cape, but there was no sign of the Pickerel.

Finally, the Skipper and Mr. O'Grady poured over the charts, and using Research and Analyze, they realized that with the nasty wind and the currents, the Pickerel probably never made it past Punta Praet. They headed back on the surface towards Punta Praet, O'Grady lsitened to the Spanish language propaganda broadcasts, and heard that IJN planes had sunk a submarine in the Gulf of Davao today. "Hey Skipper! They think we're sunk - or at least they brag about it!"

Eventually, they reached Punta Praet and took the remaining crew and fliers aboard. The Pickerel sank within ten minutes of the pumps not being manned. The Skipper looked the XO over as he climbed aboard, then told him to get a shower and he's be waiting for his report in an hour.

End of Session.

 

Under Pressure

So in last night's Pigboats game, Lt. Vaugirard and Lt. jg Yoder and five men had left the Pike, and were using the captured sailing junk they had christened the Pickerel to pick up ditched American plane crews - and a captured Japanese fighter pilot as well. The Pike was forced under by Zeros, but they ignored the Pickerel. The Zeros were replaced by a floatplane which looped and stooged around, keeping the Pike underwater. Finally, from the direction of Davao came two corvettes.

The Pike was trying to get to the rendezvous south of Talikud Island, which was due west, but turned south to present her smallest profile to the corvettes. Even so, they got enough of a return to chase down into the Pike's general area. The Skipper did not want to delay things any more than necessary - he wanted to get to that rendezvous! He ordered silent running, and depth to 150 feet. The Signals Officer, Lt. jg  O'Grady detected a thermocline at 230 feet. Unfortunately, the Pike's test depth was 250 feet. Since there were fifty feet between the keel and the tops of the periscope shears, They would have to go to at least 285 feet to get under the thermocline. The Skipper ordered them down to 300.

"The Engineers build in a safety margin" said the Skipper. "We'll be fine!" Then Lt. jg Rizzo dashed in from the back of the boat, his pants soaked to the knee. "We blew out the packing in the port shaft. Windy (Mr. Windham, the Engineer) is trying to re-pack it, but we're taking on a lot of water aft!" Ensign Bollings, taking over for Mister Yoder as the Diving officer, set the rear planes on full rise, but the weight of water aft kept increasing, and they couldn't use the pumps while running silent.

The Skipper sent all non-essential men forward, but that too was soon useless. Mr. O'Grady suggested a bucket chain from aft to forward. This was also implemented. He then went back to the hydrophones. The continuous pinging of the corvettes above him had stopped. He couldn't hear their engines. All he could hear, at every point of the compass, was a soft roar. "It sounds like there are ships everywhere around us!" he said to  Bollings. "That's weird! Wouldn't they run into each other up there?" It was a puzzler all right. The creaks and groans as the pressure hull was compressed made it hard to think. He listened again... What would make that kind of noise, all around, everywhere at once? He had it!

"Skipper! I figured out the puzzle!It's a monsoon up there! It's pouring out, and those covettes are deaf - and probably mostly blind too!" reported O'Grady. "Are you sure? Could they hear the pumps?" asked the Skipper. "They can't hear a thing, sir! Neither can I!" replied O'Grady. The Skipper turned to the others in the conning tower."Let's get out of here! Rise to 230 feet and head  due west. Secure from silent running! Get those pumps online!" With the pressure lessened and the pumps working, the leak in the port shaft was soon sealed.

Meanwhile, on the Pickerel, the clouds gathered and the sky darkened. As they were approaching Punta Praet, the southern cape of Mawes Island, beyond which was Talikud, the clouds opened up with a crash. The battened sails slammed and rattled against the masts as the wind swirled and capered. The men lowered sail, and the Pickerel began drifting. The wind was from the southeast, so they were slowly being pressed  northwest, up against Punta Praet.

Mr. Vaugirard, the XO, ordered a sea anchor be built of spars and canvas, and that helped slow the boat, but the leeway was inexorable. The XO ordered Johnston to the bow with a lead line, to test the water's depth, and the other four crew below, to start converting the useless gasoline engine into an anchor which might *hold* the boat. When Johnston began ticking off the rapidly shelving bottom, the four sailors brought up the engine, wrapped in a line.

Just then, Yoder heard diesels from the southwest, the direction of the wind. He called out, and Vaugirard turned to see the shadowy form of a Japanese corvette take shape in the murk. "Shit!" he said.

Session over!

-clash

It's Raining Planes!

Last night (Monday), our In Harm's Way: Pigboats session finally reached the special mission stage. The Pike was in Davao Gulf at sunrise, on Lifeguard station, with a prize - a sailing junk captured from the Japanese. The skipper figured to use the junk to help pick up airmen from the waters. The junk was given over to the XO, Lt. Vaugirard, along with Lt. jg Yoder and a five man crew. Both Vaugirard and Yoder were experts at small boat, and could conn the vessel under sail. There was a gasoline engine, small, ancient, and rusted, but no gasoline. They renamed the prize Pickerel, to go with Pike.

The carrier planes flew in from the southwest, and would return from the north, directly over the Pike. The Skipper sent the Pickerel north and west of the Pike, and had them place identification cloths on their deck, identical to those on the Pike. All was ready before the carrier planes returned.

Now rather than set this all up beforehand, or totally wing it, I set up an ad-hoc tool. Roll d100 - on a 20 or less, there would be a plane needing to ditch. If yes, roll a d6 for the number of planes. Pilots trying to ditch make an IQ check. On a failure, they ditch near the Pike, on a success, they ditch near the Pickerel. Make a StarPool Pilot check with a skill level of +2, vs a TN of 9. On 3 successes, the plane lands perfectly, all crew uninjured. On 2 successes, the landing was complicated - roll 1d20 for each crewman vs a TN of 13 - failure means an injury. on 1 success, the ditch was rough! Roll 1d20 for each crewman vs a TN of 9 - failure means an injury. On no successes, the plane crashed - flipping over or cartwheeling - with no survivors.

I had set up the raid itself beforehand - surprise was total, and opposition from the air was late, with the planes exiting in four groups - a group of Dauntless dive bombers, a group of Curtiss Helldivers, a group of Avenger torpeckers, and a group of Grumman Wildcats holding back the Zeroes, Oscars and Tonys from the bombers. This last group would be dogfighting in a snarl as it came over.

The first flight came over - the Dauntlesses - and the flaw in my plan became apparent. Statistically, the dice should cause planes from maybe one of the flights to ditch. No, of course not! Planes came down from every single flight! One Dauntless. Three Helldivers. Six Avengers, One Wildcat, and one Zero! And the pilot check rolls! Out of 28 crew in those planes, twelve lived. Finally, the Pike was chased down by Zeros, while the Pickerel sailed into the west to the rendezvous. The dice are laughing at me. Rolling on the table laughing their butts off. 

Post Partum Repression.

OK! Post-Volant release post! I am finally out from the release responsibilities for Volant. This is typical - I  am going crazy sending out comp copies to playtesters and reviewers, making up a web page, promoting the game, making banner ads and trying like hell - and failing - to get anyone to notice the game. Never mind *selling* the game. You can only sell a game to someone who knows the game exists. *That* is the great struggle! Every time, I try and I fail.

Back to the Salt Mines...

Volant Released, and Other News

Volant is out the door! It's done! I heaved a vast sigh of relief at 3:00 this morning as I uploaded it to RPGNow. I have been working on this a long time. It's been a lot of hard work, and a lot of fun! Now I concentrate on Lowell Was Right, and bring along a new project. I always work on at least 2 projects at any given time. Sometimes I get stuck on something in one, and switching to the other allows me to keep writing. It also allow me to keep a tough release schedule going all by myself.

I'm starting to cook on Lowell. Deciding on Mercury as the first planet I develop allowed me to concentrate on getting that in shape for play, which will be of enormous help in fitting together the bits of the system. I find playing in a setting to be inspiration for learning what you need to cover with the system. And making a map of Mercury helped me to visualize it, and how it works!

Klaxon will be putting out LUITS! for beta playtest soon. He's just adding in some examples. If anyone is interested, let me know!

-clash

The Art of Indexing

Volant enters it final stage of (de)composition. I am currently working it over developing the index. I *could* just generate one, but indices really need intelligence and design. You need to prioritize what someone will be looking for, and ignore what the generated link actually says.

For example - I want to link the (made up) phrase "Creating  Surface Native Characters in Volant" into the index. By default it would be listed under C for 'creating', but no one is going to be searching for 'creating'. What they more likely will be looking for is 'chargen' or 'characters' or 'natives, surface'. I would then create an index link which would say something like "Chargen, surface native" and/or "Characters, surface native" and/or "Native, surface, creation of characters" - I say "and/or"  because it would be wise to place an obscure but likely-to-be-searched-for rule under more than one pertinent topic.

Indices take hard work, time, and understanding of the way people are likely to use the book to be properly functional. All my pdf indices are hyperlinked, as are my Tables of Contents, though pdfs are by default searchable anyway. People who prefer looking through indices will use the index, and those who prefer web-style searching will use the built-in Find function. However I also sell print books. A print version of a pdf cannot be hyperlinked, nor is there a Find function. That leaves the old fashioned Index with page references the only way to find anything.

Of course, there is a side benefit to creating a proper index. The index phrase "Chargen, surface native" would be right beside all other character generation information, and searching for one will uncover them all, even if you aren't looking for it, and that is always handy for developing ideas. "Hey! I forgot all about the people who live on the surface! That would be cool to explore!"

So I am manually combing through the book, looking for useful trigger phrases, and creating best-use index phrasing to optimize searching, both focused and serendipitous. I'm no S. John Ross on index creating - read Rembrandt or Shakespeare or Lennon or whatever great artist suits your fancy - but I do try. This will take a few days...

-clash