Still floating

This map, all you need

40 questions for the G+ SWN game

Semi Reboot soon of the G+ SWN game, getting my stuff in order

Reboot will be FLAILSNAILS friendly in the fact that this time we blend more magic with rayguns.  we will be using SWN, Otherdust, and Lab Lord as our systems. this new system has SPACE DRAGONS and ANIMAL MUTANTS and PLANET EATING BUGS



from http://untimately.blogspot.com/2012/02/20-quick-questions-rules.html
some rules questions

Ability scores generation method?

 4d6 and assign or 3d6 in order your choice, we are all here to have fun so i dont really care

How are death and dying handled?  0 hp is a roll save to see if your really dead, if you pass you will have another roll to determine your affliction 

What about raising the dead?  there are Vats for that, they might be expensive in something other than coin

How are replacement PCs handled?   open up a cryo stasis chamber,  take over a henchman, or have 2/3 of your xp to roll up someone new

Initiative: individual, group, or something else?  d8 individual

Are there critical hits and fumbles? How do they work?  yes,  you can either do double damage or something cool OR  your weapon breaks/ you shoot someone else

Do I get any benefits for wearing a helmet?  in space, yes, in spore fields, yes,  while partying on the orbital, no

Can I hurt my friends if I fire into melee or do something similarly silly?  yes, yes you can

Will we need to run from some encounters, or will we be able to kill everything? fortunes wheel is fickle, but you can try to talk to anything

Level-draining monsters: yes or no?  yes, but rare

Are there going to be cases where a failed save results in PC death?  yes, especially in the void of space

How strictly are encumbrance & resources tracked?   dont try silly things and i dont seem to care

What's required when my PC gains a level? Training? Do I get new spells automatically? Can it happen in the middle of an adventure, or do I have to wait for down time? inbetween episodes

What do I get experience for? spending money, killing things, talking to things, seeing new planets

How are traps located? Description, dice rolling, or some combination?  all of the above, there will be hints

Are retainers encouraged and how does morale work?  it depends on the mission, they can be useful, you will get NPC's to do things you cannot.   anyone can run at any time

How do I identify magic items?  through science

Can I buy magic items? Oh, come on: how about just potions?  you can buy science, you can buy stims

Can I create magic items? When and how?  depends on how you roll a crafting skill, and usually a big expensive lab

What about splitting the party? I have seen it work and not work

and some more on setting from

http://jrients.blogspot.com/2011/04/twenty-quick-questions-for-your.html

What is the deal with my cleric's religion? we support futuristic polytheism, dream up a god, and it will be fit in, but its hard to play a cleric in SWN as there arnt any.  Psychics are a hybrid MU/Cleric (more on that later) 

Where can we go to buy standard equipment? at the commisary it will be issued, or on the market deck of the Orbital, or Tween decks if you want something maltech. if you buy enough of it you can start your own asteroid supply store

Where can we go to get platemail custom fitted for this monster I just befriended?  most monsters either have a culture and armorers or they are just monsters and you dont befriend them

Who is the mightiest wizard in the land?  Dr Zo on the Orbital, any Mother of the Steel Arks, chi'gdf'odj-sdsd'sdfkq of the Insectoids,  and perhaps any Ancient Asteroid Dragon that take a fancy to you

Who is the greatest warrior in the land?  the HMCS Medusa, a capitol ship of the line.  

Who is the richest person in the land?  Golden Koi Brewing and its board of directors

Where can we go to get some magical healing?  Dr Zo and his Vats

Where can we go to get cures for the following conditions: poison, disease, curse, level drain, lycanthropy, polymorph, alignment change, death, undeath? If Doctor Zo cant do it, a Dragon might be able to, or a steel ark medic porcupine

Is there a magic guild my MU belongs to or that I can join in order to get more spells?  you experiment for spells or suck them out of AI

Where can I find an alchemist, sage or other expert NPC?  Try the Orbital vermin roachs on the tween decks if it isnt something in ships stores

Where can I hire mercenaries?  Zippys Caberet or the closest boarding ramp from a miner freighter. do you want quality or quantity

Is there any place on the map where swords are illegal, magic is outlawed or any other notable hassles from Johnny Law? If you start a fight on the promenade, maintenance bots might fry you 

Which way to the nearest tavern?  The whole orbital is a brewery, if you want fancy stuff go to Zippys Cabernet 

What monsters are terrorizing the countryside sufficiently that if I kill them I will become famous? Insectoids, think steel bugs who eat steel, that is the pressing problem.   or a Asteroid Dragon, havnt seen one of those dead in ages

Are there any wars brewing I could go fight?  The Steel Arks hate the dragons, the dragons hate the spacers of any sort, the Insectoids hate everone, well dont hate, just want to eat

How about gladiatorial arenas complete with hard-won glory and fabulous cash prizes? Deck 13, the stardome

Are there any secret societies with sinister agendas I could join and/or fight? The Steel Arks are pretty secret, there agenda is pretty open, they want to free the animal in all of us.  The Deckhands union just wants time to be fixed and to go home, The brewery just wants to make money, but there are those shadowy elementilists, they have secrets

What is there to eat around here? spent grain cakes with yeast icing, fungas and tomatoes

Any legendary lost treasures I could be looking for?  any lost ship is treasure

Where is the nearest dragon or other monster with Type H treasure? the purple nebula has richs, so do the belts around Camelot, but you need a fast ship for those 

WE SHALL PREVAIL BEFORE TEATIME

Im reformatting my online Stars Without Numbers  game on G+ now that im comfortable enough with the system to see where i want to go with it and it looks like i will have a little more time to play at the random times i do.

and as to rocketman blue, i know nothing about this painting of him, but i would so hang it on the wall

D88 Whats in the Cryo - Stasis Chamber

On the Orbital there are a number of Stasis Chambers, who and what are in them is always asked by players when they find them, so i made a table. This is ment to be playable characters or henchpeople with an eye to ASE, TotGaD, LabLord, SWN,Other Dust, and my bizzare imagination . Feel free to do what you will with it

For some of the Mages i use the free  Theorems & Thaumaturgy.   


Roll two different colored D8, the table is broken up into tech levels and genres for ease of use, you will find the character class, brief description, and a little bit of equipment that might be preserves with them. all you need is a name (i make these up on the fly, and stats)

multiple use, this could be used as whos in the crypt, who is the stowaway, who is trying to kill me, anything really. If they are coming out of scientific or magical stasis i usually give them d4 levels and half hitpoints for a few days as being frozen hurts


Basic Shoot or Hit low tech guys and gals, assume most equipment is akin to burial goods

11. Ranger, Scruffy tattooed human of middle age dressed in leather buckskins and wolfskin hat. Equipped with hunting bow, 10 arrows, knife and a great disdain for being indoors and a mighty thirst for whiskey. last remembers being on the trail of some metal bear

12. Fighter, broken nosed and bruised mercenary, in chainmail with a greatsword. speaks a guttural ancient dialect of common and last remembers drinking and playing dice at a tavern. alcoholic and a bully to smaller people. fears magic

13. Thief , youngish female dressed in rags with the remains of a noose around her neck. remembers standing on the gallows and a storm on the horizon. excels in pickpocketing
and rooftop burglary

14. Fighter, tough leathery skin man in his 30’s, dressed in flowing red robes over half plate and carrying a matched set of scimitars, claims to have seen his God in a sandstorm and last remembers walking into the desert. does not drink or dance or laugh, silent most of the time with watchful eyes.

15. Thief, nearsighted locksmith with lock picking tools. dressed in homespun work clothes and with a balding head. has a uncanny knack with safes, locks, and traps. his last memories where of opening up a wizards chest a bright flash of light

16.  Ranger, stout woodsman with a large axe, dressed in plaid wool tunic and leather pants, smells of goats and sourmilk. claims that the last thing he remembers is the trees eyes opening up and the branches grabbing him

17 thief, adolescent child dressed in beggar's rags, has a cup with several copper coins in it, and will attach himself to the eldest party member and offer to steal for them. last remembers crawling into a warm box in a abandoned warehouse near the wharves. dislikes soap

18 fighter, fur and leather clad nomad with a spear and a hunting horn, claims to have been struck by a great light from the sky while hunting swamp rats at night.  will pass out at first sight of blood if save not made each combat, snores loudly while sleeping and eats with fingers



Basic casters in lab lord or equivalent tech level 2. i use T&T a lot here so you might want that download, OD is otherdust
21. scholar (bard or speaker OD), Older man dressed in toga, speaks in ancient dialect of common and has a large blank book, quills, ink and a thirst for knowledge. has a dagger concealed in his toga and a set of keys that he doesn't know what opens

22.  cleric, Shrunken faced cleric with a tonsure , dressed in robes of grey hues, will be clutching holy symbol and a scroll of cure disease when awakened. will think he is in a afterlife granted by his god and to have been rewarded for his service to that God. (choose random God)


23. mage, young apprentice with a random wand and random spell book, dressed in robes and skull cap, will have last remembered a spell casting that went horribly wrong and the learning faces of demons and burning ice, very crazy roll a madness and a random familiar in stasis with him

24. necromancer T&T young 11 year old boy with a stuffed teddy bear, he will be dressed in black clothing and mutter about revenge and “bringing them all back”  remembers legions of skeletons and the wailing of ghosts from a dark frozen place

25.  druid, Wise old peaceful Hippie with a love of psychedelic mushrooms and all critters great and small. carries a large petrified tree limb club and a bag of nuts for his animal companion squirrel that is in stasis with him under his robes. last remembers finding a blue mushroom


26.  vivimancer T&T crazy eyed middle age woman in a leather labcoat. has pockets full of vivisection tools and a large book filled with spells that look like lab reports. will cackle fanatically
during lightning storms and claim to have trained under a great doctor that created life. will tell everyone a monster shoved her in a box

27 elementalist t&t, pick your own element on this one.  Young girl with flowing robes and braids, armed with a staff and a bottled elemental (small) spell book is in the form of metal disks on a necklace. will longingly dream of planer travel to her chosen elements plane and remembers a great temple to her element overrun by other elements

28 witch/warlock  choose a gender, very cunning and seductive human dressed in evening finery, carries a small black book of spells, the true names of 1d4 random demons, a bag of salt, 13 candles, a piece of chalk and an attitude of disdain for mortals. smells of sulphur and only remembers a party after a banishing that must have gone horribly wrong


non humans tech level 2 and 3 still with a fantasy bent but some of them might be from alternate worlds

31. dwarf fighter, red mo-hawked, tattooed, and bound in a great chain which he will use to fight with since someone stole his axe. has a grudge about everything and will tell you about it right before he charges straight at any monster in sight. doesn't remember much, must have been that 113th pint of ale

32 elf thief, dressed in a black leather like rubber suit that has lots of zippers and pockets, armed with just a dagger and a black black heart. hates anything colorful or fun. last memory is of opening a bag of what was supposed to be gems. has 50 feet coiled silk rope, thieves tools, smoke bombs, a secretly hides a small brightly colored plastic unicorn that he talks too in total darkness

33 half ork assassin,  Ugly bastard dressed in a smart pinstripe suit and a fedora, carries a concealed pistol with a silencer, several hundred credits/gp in small bills/coins and a old subway map from somewhere you haven't heard about. likes pasta and vino, smells of garlic and cigars

34 gnome illusionist,  tiny man in a blue tunic and tall red cone shaped hat, with a smoking pipe, tobacco, a love of animals and practical jokes. HATES TROLLS, will berserk and charge them shouting obscenities

35 dwarf alchemist brewer , wakes up asking for a drink and clutching a recipe book of brews and explosives title “anarchists cookbook”  he is hell bent on getting back to his still and cant remember where it is. dressed in leathers with a sack of bottles, 3 beers, 3 whiskeys, 3 molotov cocktails, and armed with a large metal spoon (mace) pyromaniac, drunk, paranoid, hillbilly dwarf

36 elf blade dancer This female dressed in silks and carrying a matched sword and dagger will speak to few, and no males. she will seem to gracefully float in combat with 3 attacks with the sword and dagger.

37 fey sorcerer, This wispy wood elf girl will be clothed in green and brown silks resembling leaves and will have a silver sickle at her side. a practitioner of nature and trickery magic, she remembers the home tree being struck by lightning, but there was no storm, she will not touch iron or consort with foresters or industrialists. T&T

38 halfling cook, thief , a cooking pot for a helmet and a cleaver for a weapon, this barefoot hobbit is a lecherous glutton and will awake from stasis with a ravenous hunger exclaiming that he is the grand chef of thuria and only cooks with the finest ingredients. he will remember being on a hunting expedition with the prince and a blizzard snowed them in, he will say no more

tech level 3 archetypes characters gleaned from TotGaD and twisted for my imagination

41 cultist (mage)  Dressed in purple flowing robes with a bald head tattooed with purple tentacles this sour little man will often stare into the night sky and preach about the nameless ones and their return. A silver ritual dagger and a staff shod in silver at his side, his spell book looks to have been bound in human skin. he will say nothing about his origins except he is with those who wait.

42 big game hunter (ranger)  Armed with a large bore hunting rifle and dressed in khakis and a pith helmet this hunter remembers a great orange rhino charging from the bush . he is an excellent tracker and hunter with a full kit of wilderness supplies tuck into pockets and a great knowledge of the outdoors. he is terrified of mice and rats

43 monster slayer (paladin) Clad in full black plate mail and with a fiery mane of redhair, this young lady swings a great two handed sword and remembers being swallowed by the jabberwocky. her divine powers come from a consuming lust for killing monsters of any type though she will not harm a human unless pressed to save others

44 arcane taxidermist (vivomancer or necromancer T&T) dressed in a top hat covered with bits of fur and feathers, this older man rejoices in the dark fauna of the shadows and is a creator of life and unlife depending on your point of view. he last remembers falling into one of his own growth vats when a monster he created surprised him. armed with etched glass and copper spell book and a revolver and accompanied in stasis by a taxidermy owl and a preserved jackalope in a jar

45 condemned criminal (thief) a woman in a orange jumpsuit with the number 567 stenciled on the back and a shiv hidden in her sleeve. she will kill without hesitation and burglarize for fun over profit. pyromaniac, immune from mind affecting spells as she is pure psychopath. the last she remembers is being strapped to a gurney and a needle stuck in her arm

46 spy (illusionist) A demure gentleman in a tweed suit and wire rim spectacles
clutching a briefcase with encoded documents (spell book) and a garrote. he will say nothing about how he came to be here but will discuss the weather or how he takes his tea.  

47 spiritualist (TotGaD class, unreleased at this time) This hollow faced man dressed in a somber grey suit seems normal on the outside but is haunted by the dead. he will often stare into the darkness for hours. He carries a holy symbol and a revolver, a bag of salt, and a bottle of fine port. (use a cleric if the class is not available)

48 seductionist (bard) This fiery dame dressed in a short red cocktail dress carries a little black book (spells) a engraved zippo, cigarette case and the voice of an angel when she sings her sad songs. She will wake up startled and ask about the other people in the car, it went over the bridge, didnt it?



tech level 4 space explorers SWN CLASSES

51 exploration pilot, expert , Early deep space wormhole explorer dressed in a Vac suit with a smashed face visor, at his belt is a medical kit and a ray gun with a stun setting only. numerous astromaps on clear plastic surround him and he is devoid of any last memories. HATES AI’s and ROBOTS

52 high tech criminal, expert class, Young woman dressed in futuristic uni suit with nueral implant sockets and her hair in braids. She is wearing a set of low light goggles and has a blacknet hacked datapad .( Other dust reference, use as you wish) Her last memory is of entering stasis for a “job”

53 mindhealer , psion. This is a bald human female dressed in white robes emblazoned with a red seashell, she remembers being put in stasis in order to help others in the future. She is trained in bio psy and telepathy and carries a shock staff and several doses of healing in her bag.

54 frozen soldier, warrior, Red haired and bearded man dressed in tattered tundra camouflaged field uniform armed with a depleted laspistol and combat knife. remembers scientists throwing him in stasis after his base was overrun by space monsters.

55 astronav, psion, Wretchedly twisted by madness (roll a few random ones) after passing through a warpstorm this astronav has sockets and ports all over his bald head and is dressed in the traditional ships robes of orange. his last memory was of the colors of the storm and the leering demon faces made from nebulas. he awakens unarmed and restrained by plastic manicals

56  noble , warrior A gallant prince dressed in rich velvets and armed with a mono-rapier and laspistol who tells a sad tale of going into stasis with his true love, where is she now? he does have a large ornate key to the treasury of his keep and will promise large rewards for those that help him find his princess

57 life pod escapee , expert, clerical  A short little man with glasses, dressed in standard shipssuit, armed with a clipboard data slate with cargo manifests.  He made it to the lifepods and put himself in stasis when the aliens infested the cargo ship he was working for as cargo master. is he infected by alien spoor? or a pirate coward?


58 heretic psyker , This young man dressed in a odd collection of plastic sheeting and cording is elaborately decorated with tattoos and has a shagy mange of hair shaved into a spiral pattern on his head. when he wakes up he will savagly strike out with his mind at anyone looking remotely military and will tell you that he was “put away for the good of humanity”

tech level 4 aliens demi humans
61 space elf (psion) non violence.  Clutching a handful of flowers and with pointed ears sticking out from her golden hair, this damsel is a healer who will not shed blood in any way if it can be helped. She has no memories other than being held in the embrace of the world tree and seeking peace above all things. she will not speak to or around men

62 space dwarf (miner)  A burly short bearded man in a dirty jumpsuit with a cybernetic drill (d6) replacing one hand and forearm this stout spacer will regale the party with tales of asteroids full of rare ores and minerals. if asked why he is in stasis he will only say “lost a bet”

63 space ork (slayer OD or assassin)  Dressed in black rubber and ceramic armor, this tusked beast of a humanoid will growl at his rescuers mentioning nothing of his last memories except for “the beast in the night sky”. He fears bright lights and will stay to himself, though he is an efficient killer who will rip out and eat the heart of any beast he slays

64 space dwarf (expert)  Mirrored shades cover the eyes of this dwarf dressed in a ceramic mesh suit and carrying a datalab and metatool, he will ask about any salvage opportunities and bemoan the fact that the last thing he remembers is his exploration ship hitting that comet

65 space elf (biologist , expert  A stoic pointed ear elf dressed in exploration suit with a geode clutched in his hands, this space elf had just discovered a remarkable find deep underground when gas escaped the rock formation. his many pockets will contain survival gear and sampling containers

66 space ork , warrior heavy weapons)  Dressed in black rubber and ceramic armor, this tusked beast of a humanoid is wrapper in belts of heavy machine gun ammunition and screams in rage that his “Ghat” (gun) is missing and demand to know when it will be returned so that he may continue his one Ork war on the civilized planets, once calmed down he will ask for tea and be very refined. His last memory is of the inside of a giant robotic beast in a radioactive jungle

67 space lizard man, warrior  armored in a bronze segmented suit and carrying a mono axe, this reptilian humanoid loves flies dipped in honey and the splatter of blood from his foes. He believes he is in his own heaven for faithful service on the battlefield, he fears children of any race

68 exotic green girl, dancer expert Dressed in revealing flowing robes concealing a poisoned dagger, this green skinned dancer has a 3 in 6 chance once a day to hypnotize any humanoid male with her dance, right before she will want to plunge the dagger into his chest. She remembers being traded 27 times before she was put into storage for shipping offworld due to her fiery temper

mutants and others  

71 lycantrope http://untimately.blogspot.com/2012/12/were-creatures.html   Go to this blogpost, roll as needed.  This 1-2 child 3-4 woman 5-6 man person remembers nothing except for the last full moon. They will be dressed in rags and human

72 mutant cultist OD speaker Dressed in Orange robes, this elderly man will have D3 mutations from Otherdust  and will be a spokesman for the rights of mutants and the change in society that mutants herald. He has been placed in stasis so that he can communicate with later generations what will become commonplace if mankind continues to war among the stars

73 mushroom man A darkened chamber will reveal http://vaultsofnagoh.blogspot.com/2012/06/fungal-murderhobos-of-wilds.html when opened along with a starchart to his home planet, and he wants to go home

74 Space amazon swn warrior She has raven hair, alabaster skin, golden armor that reflects energy weapons on a 4 in 6, a chainsword, and a attitude of misandry.  

75 jungle cat girl  A jet black jungle version of a ASE 2-3 Moktar entangled in a net and roughly stuck in the chamber. while her communication skills might be lacking, that is made up for by her excellent skill in tracking and pouncing


76  holy warrior (tech level 4 paladin warrior) Dressed in reflective plate armor with a two handed mono sword, this older man serves the machine and worship of the machine, he can turn robots as a cleric of same level and has several schematics on him for servitors. also in the stasis chamber is a servitor skull that floats around when freed and serves like a familiar


77 samurai turtle man.warrior mutant    clad in both protective shell and shell armor this old turtle knows a thing or two about tactics and how to swing his Katana.  He loves pizzas and only communicates in haiku. his last memory was falling down an open manhole in some far future radioactive city

78 bird man , warrior mutant Wings folded around him in order to fit inside the chamber, this humanoid is covered in grey plumage and is in stasis with a laser sniper rifle with telescopic sights. He will remember being on a mission with his flock of elite warriors when a storm blew them off course

81 half ogre ,  large and cranky this half ogre with the mind of a curious child will be clutching half a teddy bear in his large hands and will answer to any name given him. he was orphaned on the battlefield and raised by kindly missionaries and doesn't understand that he is an ogre. he hid inside the stasis chamber when some aliens attacked the mission

82 mutant badlands survivor, opening this stasis chamber gives off a light dose of radiation and the girl inside is dressed in a hospital gown tagged SPECIMEN #39495.  She remembers wandering inside of a great space ship that went through a storm. roll 3 OTHERDUST mutations with NO stigmata

83 lionman Moktar from ASE 2-3   Dressed in a smoking jacket and wearing a green fez, this cheerful Moktar is a rare curiosity as he seems less savage than other specimens, but just as dangerous. He still has limited communication but seems more calm and refined. will stare at a mechanical clock as though mesmerized and prefers his raw meat with a dipping sauce and a tankard of wine

84 badger man mutant  “Did we make it out of the tunnel” he will say when revived, this mild mannered fungus farmer in glasses and wearing a homespun tunic will remember a earthquake and then darkness. In his pockets are recipes for d8 potions made of mushrooms

85 cybernetic bear. Its a grizzly with lots of metal implants and a laser sighting eyepiece. he doesn't talk but loves to dance and shoot things. when a gun runs out of ammo he will just use it as a club

86 savage half elf  Dressed in furs this pointed ear space elf is a mute savage with great skill of hunting, tracking, and setting traps. can not learn the use of tech 2 or above weapons or armor and will collect ears of foes as trophies. FEAR of robots

87 bullywug  A Sinister looking toadman who seeps a hallucinogenic slime (save or confusion if touched with bare skin) armed with a obsidian dagger and dressed in a loincloth. He can talk common he just doesn't like too and collects the eyeballs of his foes and strings them on a necklace. expert swimmer, breaths underwater, and only heals if immersed in mud

88 insect man ASE2-3  A Mantis man from ASE2-3 armed with a sack of grenades and carrying a sack of baby grunkies for food, though he would prefer fresher meat.  CLAUSTROPHOBIC and requires a swig of liquid courage to go underground. last memories are of the hive chasing a pack of feral humans down into a missile silo

some of these are underlined, those are what my homegame rolled as new starter character choices

We are off to see a Wizard, Perhaps

The Home Game meets tonight after the winter holiday break. they have 3 options presented for them,


They can stay on the Orbital and fiddle with the controls, theres not much left for them to fight there, so that will be tedious for a few of them. This might mean back to the planets surface and straight into level 2 of ASE

They can listen to the Planetband radio and pick from any number of juicy rumors, Orks in Space, Dwarves in Space, Bring me a Pineapple, or Hark a Void Dragon , all of which will eventually lead to something wild im sure


or they can crack some new characters out of cryostasis , I have mentioned Thieves guild based campaign, they have a spaceship, it could run out of gas somewhere backwater,

It will all be very interesting and include a D66 chart somewhere im sure

For the Next Year List

List of things i want to work on for the next year (sorta in order)

1. I have played through the orbital with both a home group and a online group, its mostly played through, now is the time to finish it and write it all down from the chickenscratch pieces of graphpaper its all on. that means typing up pages, redoing the maps and looking about for some art. It was important to play though it to tweek it as it was going.

Levels of the orbital, Botany, Starport, Museum, Entertainment, Habitation, Import/Export (Research), and command and control also finishing a thing on the factions and history and the new playable race, ORBITAL VERMIN

      

      2. ZEPPLINS AND AIRSHIPS, This has been stewing for some time and after much book collecting i think i have a plan to do some simple rules for a fantasy/postapoch bolt on ruleset for building and flying balloons and aerial towns that should be LL/SWN compatable

      3.  I really want to do a setting based around a jungle island ala a pulpy Doctor Moreau, setting that would be a WFRP/ASE/WWII thing, im sure its been done before but i have ideas and i want to have tigers and Amazons in my game

 

Damage Reduction, Sorta and energy weapon missfires

In the home game on the Orbital, there are these very large maintenance robots (more on them later, all their secrets arnt out yet)

In order to simulate the heavy plating on them i have a quirky home-rule. A character rolls to hit them normally but when it comes to damage rolls, they must do at least 5 points of damage for the damage to go through. now these things have been shot, grenade blasted, stabbed, picked up with telekinesis and dropped and all kinds of different violence.  I also have an odd ruling on low rolls

example, Spaceman Biff shoots his trusty laser rifle on  burst fire, he gets three shots. he rolls a 17 an 13, and  a 3.  since he is firing on burst fire (my rule) any roll of a 1,2 or 3, (times shot) is a weapons foul. energy cell depleted, barrel fouled, however, but the first two shots went off and hit. this was done so that people thought about odds to miss better when spraying out laser bolts. I have a similar mechanic on the heavy machine gun user but he gets to roll a d10 for chances of belt jam or missfire, being whatever he rolls number wise is the number of times that he can missfire. we use a cone effect for the HMG, evade save or damage, hits everything

now  Spaceman Biff rolls damage, he rolls a 4, and a 9, to simulate the sheer hard to kill of these things anything under a 5 is glancing , the 9 goes all they way through.  In a game where shooting robots is the main for of entertainment for a few of the players, this has worked so far in making the harder to wound but still killable as they are a main target.  So its not really DR, its potential DR

is this a fiddly mechanic, i originally did it as easy way for me to track damage as i didn't want to worry about small numbers when the weapons where capable of doing such large damage and multiple times.  

Thoughts?

Sector mapping out the Gothic

we possibly might be leaving the dungeon on the next game day, we might go back to space, so i grabbed my handy copies of TotGaD and fiddled with it a bit adding SWN tags. what we end up with is a world that was already mapped out being remapped into a sector with planets and space stations






(NOTE, the planet MUSE is missing on this map, its in THE LIBERTIES , this is the working copy and i just didnt get the words to fit, and yes i do use odd graph paper, but it allows planets to be near each other but still take a few lines of spike drive, to the far right are THE WILDS, a combination of two of the TotGaD regions

if you are familiar with TotGaD the regions will be easy to identify, i like the setting alot, i plan to use it, just in SPACE




A brief Primer of the lost sector with names, flavor and SWN tags. if you are unfamiliar with SWN area/planet tags please see chapter seven in SWN

Garical- Decadent tradehub starport with hive cities overrun with crime, drugs and sinister bio-tech (Flying Cities, Trade Hub, Major Space Port)

Hoarfrost- Grim frozen planet of mercenary warriors and Psi witches (Rigid Culture, Hostile Biospere, Psionics Fear)

Cloudburst - Soggy Agri-world home to mal-tech cryoto-bilogy, violent storms, and superstition
(Freak Weather, Zombies, Secret Masters)

Harrows Lament- Industrial world controlled by two hostile corporations, full of hive cities and a polluted atmosphere (Heavy Industry, Secret Masters, Bubble Cities)

The Dominions - Asteroid Mining belt populated by pockets of feuding corporations fighting over ore rich hunks of space rock (Cold War, Heavy Mining, Hostile Space)

The Mysteries- Isolated area of psi academy moons, warrior clans, and secretly ruled by Unbraked AI (Unbraked AI, Psionics Academy, Minimal Contact)

The Liberties- Lawless Pirate moons where blasters are plentiful and life is cheap (Hostile Space, Friendly Foe, Trade Hub)

Zephyr - Fractured feudal colony world set amongst witch hunts, secret cults, and duelists (Sectarian, Psionics Fear, Feral World)

Hypogeum- Tomb world over run by AI controled robots (Tomb World, Unbraked AI, Sealed Menace)

Muse -Seemingly primitive forest world inhabited by warrior cults and high cities housing repositories of pre-tech knowledge (Preceptor Archive, Civil War, Pretech Cultists)

Rabesca- Cultured planet of spacefarers haunted by the spirits of lost pretech (Pilgrimage Site, Restrictive Laws, Theocracy)

The Wilds- Zone of wild radioactive magic, mutants, and lost worlds (Badlands World, Quarantine, Radioactive, Warlords, Hostile Space, Out of Contact) This effectively combines two areas into a chaos waste like area

The Shaes- a collection of primitive agri worlds on the edge of known space inhabited by tech fearing cultists, mutantants, and primitive agriculturalists  (Feral World, Forbidden Tech, Eugenic Cult)

Cathedral -Dreary bubble cities of stoic workers and tradition consumed by their own mortality and reliance on failing tech Industry and Interstellar Banking  (Bubble Cities, Police State, Exchange Consulate)

Thank you Fictive Hack for already drawing the map

i based the space sector map on the map drawn by Andrew and Kristy over at http://fictivefantasies.wordpress.com/fictive-hack/ of the the world by Jack at http://talesofthegrotesqueanddungeonesque.blogspot.com/ be sure to see more images of it over at fictive fantasies. its basically an over draw of the map below, keeping relative location but instead of one world it turns it into many

map from http://fictivefantasies.wordpress.com/fictive-hack/ with permission


in the pipeline, orbital vermin and three levels of the orbital 

down down down into the gatehouse

Same cast of characters so far, but this was done over 2 sessions, one long Saturday and a normal Tuesday and so one of the henchmen was played by a guest

last time we got the door open after much walking, this time we explore. ROOM DESCRIBTIONS PURPOSELY OBSCURE for spoiler reasons

looking through the open door, our sturdy adventures and henchhuminoids entered cautiously, they after all had seen some cyber-bear spore, but where not interested in sticking around the cave.  They headed down in the direction of the lab area and quickly came into contact with some automons, They did not bother to use diplomacy and quickly gutted their wires. (maybe we need to do some on the fly upping of HD, scribble scribble, note , note)  

exploring down halls and stairs a little more they a room literally full of more ramshackle automons and quickly pull the pin figuratively on their remaining supply of grenades (lots of noise, lots of damage, lots of bits laying around) at this point i just started having a random encounter every room, because we had woken up everything, its one way to clear a dungeon after all.

what followed next was lots of sneaking, which i didnt understand as the earlier grenades negated the need, but it was fun. i kept the greater leviathan's in reserve and tooled them as steel leviathans on the fly. the party eventually made there way to some simulated treasure but where wary of it and used telekinisis for optimal looting effect

this session ended with a flight of highly advanced radioactive stirges winging their way down the hall towards the party ( this was a long Saturday session, but a sick baby cut it shorter than planned, so we ended on a cliff hanger. )

BETWEEN A STIRGE AND A BIG  STEEL THING (the continuation)

we left our intrepid adventures with a flight of green glowing hungry bugs swarming down from one direction and something big clanking around from around the corner. heres where i have a houserule, i like CLEAVE, especially on hordes of smaller than human things, and thats just what our space princess did, she charged at them swinging. everytime she hit one and wounded it with better than half her damage on the dice, i let her take a swing at another one. She hit well and she damaged well and by the end of it she had a pile of green goo and murder at her feet, BUT, she ended up looking like shehulk and feeling stronger due to a few of them hitting her and some well placed rolls.

the boys behind her braced behind a super strong boarding shield and lobbed the last of the grenades around the corner at whatever was treading towards them through a now smokefilled halway. Imagine their suprise when two heavy machine guns opened up on them. they made saves and the guns missed but we still rolled strength checks to keep standing behind the braced shield. This was a glorious combat as we had melee fighters back to back with ranged weapons fighting a two front assault.  lots of concentrated weapons fire slowed the leviathan to a crawl as it raised it melee choppa to slice them down as the last of the stirges where slaughtered in the other direction. everyone was wounded some very critical when they started wondering "where are the henchhuminoids"

TREACHEROUS VILLAINS

you see, since we had started this session in the middle of a fight, i kinda expected them to ask about the hench's. they didnt until the battle was over, so i had them slip off with all the loot they where being forced to carry during the fight. well except for the mute one eyed fling monkey JANGELLS, he stayed at the cave entrance earlier because the space princess called him cute, he can hear, just cant talk ASTRID had already been gamma spit by a stirge the session before and was glowing green, MONY had been played by a guest the week before, and the HONORABLE SAMURAI had fallen to ASTRID's hypnotism to lead the way out, she is crafty like that.

WHERE DID THEY GO
much time after the battle was spent analyzing the newly glowing space princess with a bio scanner, she seems ok. much time was spent trying to salvage the only undamaged 70lb heavy machine gun off the steel leviathan. even more time was spent discussing the dangers of grenades and loud noises in the dungeon. meanwhile the 3 henches where on the run out of the complex

MORE SWARMS AND A SHOCK

 going into the reactor core was dicey for the adventures with ever increasing flights of radioactive stirges flapping about and being sliced, but we eventually made it through there and into the dust room. i knew the dust ghosts wouldn't be a challenge as they where so i made them more of a puzzle. they just hovered up and stared at the party, the party who avoided them like they should because any contact was going to be electrically charged.  tension was very high at this time as they backtracked a little and wondered why there was a cage on the ceiling.

THE DOOR TO DOWNSTAIRS

we eventually meandered through rooms we had been in before that where mysteriously clean of automon debris and glanced cautiously into the room with the guard leviathan.

"Greetings Researchers, are you prepared to enter the facility"
"Um, no, whats in the chests"
"combat research documents and sundry knick knacks"
"whats behind the door"
"are you not researchers"
"Yes, yes, we are"
"please sign the book if you wish entry to the complex"
"ok, we will be back later"
"as you wish, researchers"

So, no, as of now the door hasnt been opened to below, i think they are scared of the guard. They doubled back towards the entry and low and behold they found another battle, this time it wasnt them in the battle though but ASTRID, MONY, and the SAMURAI fighting a giant CYBER_BEAR with a radiobackpack. they kinda just stood there and watched before someone wanted to use the heavy machinegun on the whole group. meanwhile the monky was taking a nap in a hammock with a pineapple drink, where that came from no one asked

RULE #123 DONT FIRE LOUD WEAPONS OUTSIDE AND THINK NO ONE WILL NOTICE

lets just say disloyal henchmen and bear where suppressed.  ASTRID slipped away with the loot, a katana lost its owner, and the guest players character MONY was just knocked out. The cyber bear was put in bio-stasis with talk of healing and befriending him, whatever that means

MORSE CODE AND BANANAS

I like to give my group options, lots of them, so hence the radio on the bears back, its a SAT-NAV radio, the kind you can talk to ships in space with. while they where pondering what to do and dragging bodies into the cave entrance, JANGELLS starting twirling some dials and got lots of noise and some voices and then started sending morse code into the atmosphere. noticing this they managed to contact AJAX, an expert they had left on their ship and tinkering with another ship in the orbital's hanger

He reported that the original exploration ship in wich they arrived in this sector had been dismantled by now hostile robots but him and several ORBITAL VERMIN had managed to get the other ship a flying saucer out of the bay and where circling the orbital. The vermin had good drugs and Twinkies and all was cool, did they want a ride!!!!

About this time someone noticed a giant stone head circling the mountain

So, thats where we left it, back to the orbital or space in general, down to open the door to the lower level, or off to search for ASTRID and the loot in that big city by the river. ill find out in about and hour and yall will find out later if you are still reading this

Getting there is half the sneaking

Our next session had us walking or rather sneaking around at night , offroad towards the mountain, this post will mostly be things they saw and avoided or dealing with things they couldn't avoid




The Cast

Queue level 2 chameleon alien Psychic with a background in Bio-Tech lab research
Grog Nash level 2 man-boar (hogeth) warrior with a criminal bent for breaking and entering
Rythin Coa level 2 Space Princess warrior hot with a blaster and on the run from her disgraced family
Rex Ripcord level 2 ex mercenary warrior from a frozen swamp planet

with skeptical henchmen

Kyoto, Samurai , Honorable to a fault
Asrtid, card shark illusionist
Mony, Female adventuress in armored corset
and Jangells , the mute, oneeyed flying monkey with a blunderbus



we set off in the direction the map indicated, skirting roads and habitable places traveling at night

we saw and avoided in no particular order

a large Obelisk with red blinking lights at its top

three creepy statues at the start of a road leading to same obelisk

we saw a man riding a giant bee in the sky

we saw ghost like astronauts  drilling with military precision in an open field

we avoided the shadows of the flying deer like creatures

we carefully edged around a well kept town and farm area with a tower and clockworks

we ran from the large hybrid beast thing hunting in the woods

as to any interaction with the locals it came the morning the party was leaving the Fens,
several fen dead scouts with a couple of ghost drummers riding giant toads

well being that out Man-Boar has a recently acquired  hatred of large frogs and the party thinks all zombies must be destroyed, combat ensued with a clever ambush, liberal grenade use, a charge against shambling zombies, some crack laser gun shots, and aerial support from a flying monkey. the ghost drummers where wisely dealt with first before they could get many spells off and hilarity ensued when the Psychic tried to control the zombies by using the drum. not particularly musical, he instead enraged the zombies while the rest of the group dealt them mighty blows and automatic weapons fire.

rummaging through the corpses after the battle, Astrid muttered something about magic and cut the drum skins off to stares from our space-adventures (magic spells on the drum heads) a few plastic toys where found along with a human skin map of the area (places to avoid).  they did seem amused that every time the monky fired his blunderbuss he tumbled in the air from recoil and that the zombies all had cheap toys strung on necklaces for whatever reason.

but the joy of grenades and automatic weapons fire brought out more of the inquisitive looking for them, more giant bees in the air and a large floating stone head with laser beams for eyes. they hide well, too well some days.

finally reaching the mountain, after several days of skulking about and avoiding conflict, they see an epic aerial battle between the head and the bee in the sky but clouds prevent seeing its conclusion

arriving at the cave entrance to the gatehouse to ASE, they are kinda puzzled by the bear spore mixed with transistors  and bits of wire (the cyber-bear was not home) and manage to hack the control panel to open the door (i sometimes need to let them use those criminal and computer skills, over dropping sick rock in, but it cost them a battery pack)

lower on ammunition and with just a few precious grenades left, what will the gatehouse have in store for them?