Session 4: Meet the engineering department

It was a bit more of a lackluster gaming session than I would have liked, but D'Arlee is a civilized world with high law levels, and the Travellers are all, for the most part, law-abiding Imperial citizens.

So, the day after Morgana's welcome home party the group returns to the starport to review the ship and the new Navy crew. The NPCs were rolled by RPGSuite, and it took me a while to get 3 Navy engineers. I also rolled for random race and gender, and ended up with a human female, Vargr male and Aslan female. I've only the 1 character card so far, but will probably make the others so I can use them when I am "playing" those characters.

  Lt Oeg "Egg" Aghdzoksdhaekhsfudzzong is the chief engineer, a Naval Academy Honors graduated who is serving in his 3rd term. He has been on diplomatic missions, foiled a major crime on board a Naval vessel (hmm, perhaps something to do with the Saki-Ryant Consolidated Networks Group?), and had advanced training. It was during this year that he picked up a pristine 1092 Ling Standard mk6A air/raft. It has been somewhat embellished outside of Navy norms with an interestingly contrasting paint job and some quite unnecessary fins that "really make it go faster". It was stowed in the cargo area of the lab ship with permission from the captain.  Lt Oeg has wide experience in all engineering systems. He also enjoys flying fixed and rotary wing craft.

  Petty Officer 3rd Class Shenna Barrick has risen fairly quickly through the ranks working in the Engineering/Gunner sections of the Imperial Navy. A tiny woman with green-tinged hair (within the boundaries of Naval culture and protocol), Shenna specializes in engineering power systems, and tinkers with Oeg's air/raft to see if she can get a better power ratio. She can actually fly it, whereas Oeg is still learning grav vehicle. She participated in the 4th Cytec Hegomemy Convention, representing the D'Arlee Naval Group 1134 along with the rest of her crew. She has actually met with the reclusive Cytecs.

The final member of the Naval Engineering group for the lab ship is young Crewman Heeahfi "Sneezy" Fteftaistiysiyei. She also gradated the Naval Academy of D'Arlee, and has published in the Naval Archives a treatise on ancient weapons, a comparison of Human and Aslan ancient weapons. However, in her first term her immediate supervisor made an error that caused a rapid decompression in a cargo hold, and killed several crewmembers. Sneezy was blamed initially but the truth did come out, leaving her still in the Navy. As a partial recompensation she was given a membership in the Traveller's Aid Society. She has not yet decided if this will be her final tour of duty. She specializes in life support.

Trying another PDF for the crime syndicate:

Player Cards v2

Added a bit of color and the birthday of the characters. Established that we are sometime in 1105 s back-tracked all the players and had a random day assigned as their birthday.  I also established their birth worlds. Imperial citizens have that Imperial logo on there, non-Imperial do not. Only Osrum is not an Imperial citizen. All the characters except 1 come from D'Arlee. Max is from Rhylanor as the player indicated his character came from a core world and wanted to get away from a far too civilized world.

I've also added the card for the Captain of Finn's Tripper, and the lab ship's new chief engineer, as well as a ground crew tag for the port. Just in case I need to have someone wandering around the ship at some port at some time in the future.

I've printed it out on card stock and they came out pretty nice, I do believe.  I'll be able to hand these out next game night.

This is the sort of thing I love to do. I have expanded out my D&D Paladin's backstory in concert with the DM to fit her world. That paladin is the youngest of 8 siblings from 2 different mothers. As the character generation indicated he had a scroll of ancestry, I created his family tree based on maps of Greyhawk as he is of nobility. Back when I played Traveller, I did the same sort of thing with my characters: expanded out the home worlds, and any tech they got I usually designed and got approved by the referee. Only 1 player has the rules for Traveller, although I did send them the link the RPG DriveThru when it was offering Starter Traveller for free. So I don't expect my players to get quite as involved as I do in just creating stuff.

The medal is from Meteoric Assault from COTI. As Max has a medal for gallantry, his card is doubled over so he has a copy of the medal as needed.

Session 3: Welcome Home!

Session 3 saw most of the players back, as well as a new player. Fortunately, using Cepheus Engine rules part of the character generation involves contacts, so our new player is playing Detective Inspector "Iva" Zoeoeztha Dhasvoengrrang, an ex-Police detective. She was heavily into sports and the Doctor and her family watched those exciting soccer games, and after "hat one time you made that amazing save...and then managed to somehow, despite having digigrade feet, managed to kick the ball all the way across the field" they made friends with each other.

Anyway: Finn's Tripper, the A2 trader, lands in the Antares SB&TS landing area at the D'Arlee Down port. This is a busy starport, a small city basically, and ASB&TS leases a chunk of the port for trade, minor ship construction and repairs, and so forth. This is one of the ways that the Port Authority gets money. While it is not 100% "then Imperium owns and controls the port" it is within those boundaries I think. And I just like the idea.

As the air lock opens on a balmy day, the crew and our Travellers are met by both the port authorities as well as a small Naval group. The Travellers get their weapons returned from the ship's locker, the three criminals in low berths are transferred to the Port Police to be defrosted and interrogated, and the Naval Attache indicates that the Navy Lab Ship, a Cygnus Class vessel (Kickstarter / 0-Hr poster and mini. I so like to have pretty deck plans!) is ready for their inspection and the official turn-over from the Navy to Dr. Morgana Greyborne. There is also a request to meet the base commander at their earliest convenience for a possible service they group may be able to help with.

Also at the port is Iva, waiting to check up on her lost and now friend. She has recently retired from the local police force, and is wanting to explore more of the universe. So now we've managed to get everyone together with the ship that they will be using.

The ship is partially owned by Morgana, Lt. Sir Max is also trading in his ship shares as does Sabsawa the Bwap and Osrum the Barbarian who somehow has several ship shares. So currently the percentage of the ship is:  40% Morgana, 2% Sabsawa, 4% Max, and 8% Osrum. The remainder is similar to the Scout ship: the ship is basically on permanent loan from the Navy, and at times their services may be required.

The ship was inspected: extremely clean and smelling sterile. Specifics are given below so we don't have too much of a wall of text.

The group manages to get cleaned up and have a minor shopping trip to get clothing not scavenged from the test site back on Q'Antar. Feeling better, they also make any calls as necessary, and Morgana's mother would like to have a small get together that evening to celebrate her daughter's safe return.  Before leaving, they do check in with the Commandant of the base. He has a proposition for the group, as well as revealing information about our barbarian friend Osrum.

Apparently, three red-zoned worlds, known as the Pax Stellar, are under close scrutiny of the Navy and Scouts. There is technology there that befuddles the Imperium. A recent spike in energy readings from a facility has them very interested in what is going on. Unfortunately, they have been completely unable to get there: all three worlds are inimical to Imperial technology. Nothing works more than a few hours before breaking down and becoming useless (see previous blog postings on that). Osrum, being a native of the planet, actually has viable nano-technology in his blood. And we can go with this is also how he ended up with some ship shares: the Navy really wants to keep an eye on him! After signing a contract (which was reviewed by Sabsawa, the groups legal advisor), they are offered a job: get to Pax Stellar, get down to the planet via a drop ship, and visit the facility. The group agrees, then off to the family get together after a bit of an issue actually leaving the port do to filling out the forms.

The Marquessa's mother is the Imperial representative of the planet (borrowing some from T5 here). Her estates border the capital city and extend for hectares. The group notices a large number of vehicles parked in the visitors area from their vantage in the grav taxi. Landing, they are ushered in and introduced by the seneschal. Who does manage to get all the proper names and titles presented. It is a much larger gathering than expected, and Morgana's father is just overcome with emotions and has to leave. This particularly noble family is matriarchal and the positions pass through the female line.

It was quite the party. And that's where we ended that session.

Showing an image of the shuttle and ship. As previously noted, the nacelles are mostly fuel tanks, not Star Trek warp drives. Yeah, fuel tanks...

I've also rolled up 3 Navy characters for the engineers: while the original group had a couple of engineers, not all players did come back (D&D was too strong a draw :) ).  Next post I'll outline them as they do have some minor back stories, and one does have an air/raft that oddly he cannot drive (he has fixed and rotor wings for drive - being a Vargr he does like to have a bit more of a thrill in flying). And as the Navy is underwriting the next couple months in terms of paying for salaries and fuel (Cr50,000 to top off those tanks!) they do want a presence on board. And there are barracks in this ship.

(image from the 0-Hr Cygnus PDF set)

Current ship status (parts from the PDF with the Cygnus class ship)

The ship has been stripped of advanced sensors and all weapons.
Originally the ship had a Computer/25 and a Core/70 along with extensive software packages
and military level sensor packages. The computer was replaced by a Computer/15 and Core/50.
While it retains the generate and jump software, as well as basic library functions, remaining
software was not re-installed on the new systems. The 15 is the bandwidth and controls what
software you can have running at the same time. For instance, to make a jump, that’s all that
can be in the computer from jump entry to exit of jump.
Sensors are civilian grade, a step above basic sensors. Sensor pallets are scattered over the
hull, currently mostly empty.
Turrets were removed. There are 10 hardpoints where turrets and weapons may be re-added.
Gunnery software and gunners would be required.
Internal security mostly remains. Cameras are in most public spaces (bridge, cargo, lounge).
Internal software systems maintain a hard level (12+) to access without correct authentication.
Authentication may be password (spoken or typed), biometrics such as eye or hand scanners or
other combinations. Physical locks requiring a physical key are also available but not currently
in use on the ship.
Doors have locks. External airlock doors have heightened security locks in place, also hard
(12+) to bypass. Internal systems vary by area. Crew staterooms have average (8+) locks on
them, the labs all have hard locks, as does access to the bridge and the various ships lockers
spread throughout the ship.
Grav plates can vary from 0 (off) to 2G. In MTU (My Traveller Universe) I borrow from one of the
Star Trek manuals: losing power will cause the gravity to slowly be set down to 0 in about 2
hours. However, you can turn gravity on and off, and this does represent a possible
anti-hijacking possibility. It is not instantaneous: 10 seconds per G unless you can override the
safeties, so no playing ping pong with pirates. But you can make it difficult. Grav plating is by
major section (the larger grids).
The shuttle is still present:Novemere-class ShuttleThe Novemere is the 9th generation of a common shuttle craft design found throughout Imperial
space. This particular shuttle (designated “Novemere Alpha”) has been refit to accommodate a
pair of senor and science stations. The original configuration had additional seating in this area,
allowing it to comfortably transport eight people instead of just four. There is an equipment
locker accessible beneath the carpet in the middle of the floor. It contains emergency vacuum
suits,tools, and supplies

Player Cards

Trying to help the players a bit, so playing around with some ID cards I can print out for them to have. Publishing here to get their feedback.

Somewhere (probably the forms book) there are sample ID cards for a variety of services. I've got 8 of them printed out but heck if I can find them in the literally 1000's of Traveller documents I have. They are a research station card, Scout ID, Naasirka, Tukera Lines, Marine, Navy, Makhidkarun and the 4518th Lift Infantry Regiment ID cards.

So I will need to up my game a bit to make these a bit fancier. I do stick their primary "certifications" on the front - I will probably do the reverse to hold all their skills. I also am planning on printing out cards for the weapons they have: we're doing Classic and some kind soul managed to create all the weapon cards (one of the 1000's of Traveller files I have...) Just need to pull out at least one of each. And I have a printer and card stock.

And apparently I need to ge tin touch with Qat to see what her primary skills are!

A Vargr and an Aslan walk into a bar...

Well, actually, the group only has a Vargr. Working on prepping for session 3. There may be a bar involved so  I am checking to see if a perhaps excessively large Lego collection can work for miniatures. Maybe I can play the Star Wars Cantina song in the background, but there is no band. Maybe a holographic on the big square behind the counter.

I also purchased the Diverse Roles career book from Gypsy Knight Games as they were having a sale in honor of John Watts moving full time into publication. Fortunately I had the rules and core setting book (from a Bag of Holding Sale - apparently I am not only a sucker for Kickstarter but also sales!). Those are required to use the book fully (which is good as I was having problems following the Space Patrol book from Stellagama Publishing - as they both use the same core Cepheus Engine rules I can now figure that out as well).  I bring this up as that book has, amongst the other careers, an Organized Crime career. As the players found some leads, and I have some angry characters, I feel they may follow up on the leads. And for that I need some organized crime NPCs and a bar so we can have a fun bar fight. If we actually get there, the plan is for damage to be only temporary and heal faster than normal unless real weapons come out.  Then all bets are off.

One of the player's characters is a Barbarian from Planet Bob, aka Pax Stellar. The character is unaware that he has nanites in his system and that's what lets him talk with his mechanical pet / familiar (I think there is a post somewhere with some images from a Kickstarter book that I am incorporating into MTU). I've not decided yet if he will have slightly faster healing abilities or not - I don't want a super hero game, but do like little positive quirks for the players. We'll play that by ear.

The bar is from something I found years ago and for some reason printed out. It is finally getting used.

I also have a few games with miniatures - I need to see if those may work as well. In fact, that is the primary reason I backed the Zombicide SF game (and can't recall the name now) - it has a lot of minis, and several fit well within the Traveller Universe. The game mechanics are also pretty fun (basically a B-grade zombie movie, and the game is cooperative: either you all win or you all die. Usually die.)

Session 2 Game Recap: From Q'Antar to D'Arlee

We had a different set of players out sick the last session. But to recap our adventure to date:

The first session brought the Travellers to the Q'Anatar starport, consisting of a few ferrocrete landing pads and four beat up 30 ton modules. Met at the port by the port staff, all three of them, the sheriff and one Lenard Catlow, they discovered a larger plot, found strong evidence of ill-deeds at the Catlow Range, and gathered some leads as to contacts on D'Arlee.

Finn's Tripper, an AL2m Dione class Far Trader, had just returned from picking up cargo from several other proving sites to be shipped back to D'Arlee. While our Travellers had no credits, being the victims of the skill-jacking crew. the doctor's assistant, Sabsawa, did have a credit card, and managed to book passage on the ship.  The 3 prisoners were transferred to the low berths to stand trial and whatever is needed on D'Arlee as there are no facilities on Q'Antar for prisoners. With a population of just 10 people living in a pseudo-steam punk western world, its all they can do to farm and get by at times. The mayor/sheriff/judge Agerimo Cigomas, packed in all the evidence and added quite a letter condemning  Lenard Catlow.

The Travellers are brought aboard, weapons stored in a locker next to the starboard air lock, and presented their rooms. Sabsawa immediately sets the humidity of her room to the maximum allowed by the environmental system.

At a suggestion from Qat, the ship's launch is delayed while the crew reviews the cargo to verify that there are no EMPs involved on this trip. After an extensive search, the cargo is cleared, and the ship launches. They make an easy transition to jump, and during the week, do general cleanup as best they can, as they are wearing a mismatching set of clothing they got from the initial proving grounds.

As we were missing a couple of people, including the character whose ship they were going to, we decided to go and end that session as they come out of jump space, and view the bustling world of D'Arlee.

D'Arlee is the capital of the quadrant and has over 10 billion inhabitants. It has a very busy class A starport.  I may play with some ideas posted on G+ about exiting the port: they will need to roll the local government level or above (or was that law level?) to get an exist visa to the planet itself. Admin, advocate and social class may all help, so I believe that the part will be able to get to the planet and follow up on the leads they discovered early on.

As a test, I am seeing if I can embed a PDF in this post. I tend to overdo setting things up that never get used, but as it is what I do for fun, it is all good. I've not detailed the startown much beyond a few locations I am snagging from the BITS Rendezvous book, just trying to establish broad impressions of various areas. The whole MOAN (Map Only As Needed) principle. Except that I really enjoy mapping More Than I Will Ever Use :)

Traveller Tracker Ideas

I do believe I am going to start yet again, but this time possibly via a self-hosting web API. The advantage of this, assuming I actually follow through, is that using the latest .Net stuff it should run on Windows, Linux and Macs. And if I can get it down to a simple installer, bypasses a bunch of issues with the UWP. It also means all the XAML (UI framework) goes away and I go full web. Which I really need to learn.

I've not fully decided - the option for just a more generic Windows program is also still there and would be easier for me in some ways. Especially if I can figure an installer.

And there is still the "really clean up the mess I've made" in the existing program. Get a better UI, fix the cargo process which tried to stuff 3 different versions into a single thing with far too many checks.  I think a unified cargo generator backend makes more sense, and perhaps I really should start with that. Of course, that still requires a UWP, but I may start with simply "enter the UWP here" and generate the cargo from that.

So many decisions. And so little time. I prefer spending my time prepping and actually playing Traveller finally after a long break. But as previously mentioned, my son will be off to college in a few months, meaning I will probably have too much time on my hands again to go with that whole empty nest thing.

Pretty sure very few people read this blog except for the ones I share on G+ (which will be going away soon - I'll probably have to craft a post to share indicating that I will still be adding posts here and submitting stuff to COTI, but that will be about it as I do not use Facebook, and I really don't need to try & join up with one of the far too many other little hosting sites that some people are moving to.)

And I may even open up the Trello board and get real feedback from users - meaning I need to have something that they can actually install & use w/o too much difficulty. *sigh*

Viota - Startown of D'Arlee

D'Alee supports both a high port and ground facilities. D'Arlee Down shares some space with the Naval port for some common facilities, particular craft that are not pure Naval vessels such as the soon to be transferred lab ship.  D'Arlee down covers about 300 square kilometers on the outskirts of Viota, which has, over the last hundred or so years, become more of a traditional startown than the original city planners may have wanted.

Baor River bisects Viota into two main sections nicknamed Startown West and Startown East. Across the river, in Startown West, lies the main warehouse district. This area contains hundreds of warehouses ranging from a bare roof on metal trusses to fortified cargo depots. South of this, the business district contains brokers and businesses supporting the port as well as the Naval port. Brokers, bars, Naval recruitment centers and other professional facilities form the core of this section. As you head south and west, the businesses become less savory, and the traders and brokers may trade in things best unmentioned. This section of town, nicknamed the Skids. has bars of loose morals and rumors of criminal elements are not far from the truth. The police and Navy military patrols occasionally pass through, but this is a favorite haunt of Naval personnel as well as trader crews on leave when on D'Arlee.

Startown West, as you move out from the warehouse district, has the better quality suppliers and more uptown offices. This is the area the D'Alee government maintains business dealings with the ports, and police are more visible. Moving further west, as you approach Lake Kian and its estates, houses and businesses are farther apart and more luxurious. Most residences are fenced, and some may have military grade defenses in place according to rumors.

Viota has approximately 150,000 residents in the city and the neighboring suburbs.

I used the RPG City Map generator to create the city, then Google Draw to add text and the ports. The city generator also lets you save the image into smaller, more detailed images. So while the main image is 3200 pixels, I also exported 16 (4x4) images also at that resolution.  So I can plans the mean streets of Viota depending on what the players end up doing.  I see gun fights as a possibility, although with a law level of 8, not sure how that will actually happen!

Game Prep after getting slighty off the rails

As the game went a bit sideways, but not nearly as bad as it could have, I need to prep for the next session.  As they have uncovered the majority of the plotting going on, managed to get some contacts over on D'Arlee for the dark web of skill jackers, I probably need to expand out that criminal element a bit.

I did use the characters from the Moon Toad book as the ship crew, and printed up my cheat sheet with images and a brief blurb on the front, and skills and notes on the back. I may even cut it up - it is basically a 2 column, 3 row sheet that has each NPC on an index card sized piece. That way, when playing, I could just have that particular card in front of me to let the players know who I am at that moment (as I cannot fake accents or anything).

While normally I would add that image here, I think it is too much of that book so I won't do that, I'll have to have another image as blog posts with pictures tend to do better :)

Anyway, for the next session, I've got the ship and crew prepped for the journey - they may be recurring or not, but for the moment they are just transportation to D'Arlee. For D'Arlee itself I need to expand it out a bit, possibly generate the seedy side of town if they are going to pursue the leads they got on Q'antar, and also prep the Navy hand-off of the lab ship, along with all the responsibilities that they will also have.

One of the issues with this group is that they are mostly D&D players, or other games where they get better stats and abilities as they play. Traveller does not work that way, and so a couple seem a bit disheartened by not being able to become super characters. Hopefully we can figure it out - they are getting an unarmed ship, so perhaps a small boarding action at some point to indicate perhaps arming the ship would be a good idea. And paying the crew will be important, although the Navy does have a job for them on the longer-term game play that involves our Barbarian player whose blood is full of nanites. I just don't want it to boil down to accountants in space!

I'll probably detail out some locations and the criminal part in the next day or so as they may get there Monday depending on how we finish up on Q'antar. As I've also got the BITS 101 Rendezvous, I can certainly incorporate some of those. I knew my Traveller hoarding could pay off!

D'Arlee from a sunny orbit (or perhaps from all the GPS image sats):

Session 1: Discoveries

We pick up our Travellers soon after they get picked up by the Katydid. The flight back had our heroes with guns on the kidnappers, finally getting some of the details of what went happened.

I attempted to play the NPCs as well as I could, using some notes from the COTI group.  So while there were no monologues, at least there was some conversation. They spilled the beans as much as they could, although they are only a small part of the entire kidnapping chain. Had to do some adlibbing as I had some vague notions of the larger plot, but decided to wait to see how things unfolded during play. Plans and players, we all know that drill.

They are met at the port by the sheriff / mayor and the port crew. Having some lockable rooms in the lounge module, they march the prisoners there. Sayelle lets it be known that the gentleman waiting near the air raft is often a customer, and is more in charge of the process than they are. They are simply hired muscle.  The sheriff goes down to talk with the gentleman, and as she turns to walk back inside, he makes a run for it in his air raft. While the sheriff tries a quick draw shot and misses, Max manages to take well enough aim to hit the air raft, disabling one of the grav engines. The air bag explodes and pins Lenard briefly to the vehicle.

Another conversation occurs, and some contacts on D'Arlee are given. The doctor knocks Lenard out and they take the air raft to his spread, some 100km south of the port. There, after some exploration, they discover the Scout ship in the hangar, and the 4 cells in the basement. They also find the lab were he was experimenting with the creeper venom, which is also why he needed the occasional guinea pig. That probably would have been Osrum's fate. That entire scene was also adlibbed - the plan was for Lenard to get away and become some sort of potential recurring bad guy.  They also find a computer and take it back to the port.

With no one having any computer skills, the force Lenard to open the system up, and decrypt the drives. They find some mention of the League of Planets, and some sort of criminal group that is kidnapping Imperial citizens as an indentured labor class. The sheriff is quite willing to take the Scout ship, and she is also the judge, can easily sentence the bad guys. Although her long term plan is to get the Imperial authorities involved as they have no ready penal system. For a planet of 10 people it has never been needed.

I believe everyone had a pretty good time, although we were short a few people due to illness. It looks like there will be 5 players in total.

I've also got Max's background, which is well done and gives me some potential hooks.

Next week we'll probably manage the jump to D'Arlee on the A2L trader which is about to make landing, and then they can go over the fancy lab ship and be greeted by the Navy crew turning over the ship, along with a request that will pay salaries and supplies for a bit. Assuming that they take the offer, which is just that: an offer to underwrite about 4-8weeks of their time and effort. Plus, it will help Osrum explore more of Planet Bob, otherwise known as Pax Stellar.

Below is a test for an NPC card with some hints to how to play her. Comes from the Flatlined Mongoose adventure, which was translated to the D'Arlee Quadrant.

Game Prep part II

As I left the luxury lab ship one jump away, after the Travellers deal with the events of Q'antar, they will need transportation. As we have a lot of characters, Travis' Scout ship the Katydid would not suffice for that jump. I'll go with it would overload the life support system (there are about 6 players and at least 1 NPC to make the trip. Plus Travis, so 8 people on a 4 person ship would be both crowded and strain the life support).

Looking through my existing resources, I have several ships that could take them, but none that would have any real reason to be at the back-end of nowhere planet. No reason for a passenger liner to be dropping by a planet with a dozen people living on it. Not much in the way of a bulk hauler, and the ones I have don't have much in the way of accommodation. Checking out a couple of the ships I used previously as Scout ships, none would support that number of people.

I dug back a bit more - I do have more than just those 0-Hr maps and minis. And I do like Classic Traveller.  And then I remembered I bought the Moon Toad Publishing book, the A2L Trader. Basically larger versions of the Marava class trader. That book, and others I have bought from them, are most excellent as well. Well laid out, sharp, usable deck plans (unlike the horrible isometric Mongoose plans which you just can't use and basically are a waste of paper. At least in my opinion).  So the Dione Class A2Lm Far Trader is perfect: a 300 ton trader with jump 2 and space for 6-12 passengers. And, I am working in Antares Ship Builders and Trade Speculators: this ship will be one of the dozens of ship owners who work with ASB&TS for the brokerage system. Bringing in more of my background to fit into this sandbox. Plus I have a mini of a Marava class ship that also fits on the printed starport map.  Yay for visuals!

So without further ado, below is a small screen shot of the handout. Printed on tablet sized paper it almost fits 15mm minis. The back contains the ship stats. I'll also borrow all the characters in the book for the ship crew. As it has a Vargr engineer and there are 2 players with Vargr characters, that could be fun.