End of 2022

Another end of the year - time flies (unless you are stuck in jump space for a week in a tiny ship. With only 1 bathroom. Always find it funny that few deck plans seem to have enough bathrooms - what if that 1 breaks down? Always have a spare! Or at least one of those backpacking pails if all else fails I suppose).

I've been a bit slack lately - holidays and all that of course takes its toll on me. I really enjoy the run up to Christmas but always get a bit depressed when it is all over. I think I just prefer anticipation rather than the actual thing. 

Which brings me to gaming: I often think that is the same for my gaming. I really enjoy talking about gaming and prepping for games, but sometimes the games just don't live up to my expectations. I'm in a game now where the GM is doing a good bit of world-building which is great. Except I can barely read my notes (and I am moving those hand-written notes to an electronic document so that should help). He's mentioned a number of names and places that I've forgotten about until I read them in my notes. I feel I am failing in paying enough attention to the game & the world that is getting created as we play. And I know that the reverse is also true: I do a lot of world building (I can hear the shock from some of you long-time readers!) and I feel I just don't get that world across as well as I should. 

I've read a few books on the process (XDM is the latest, but also Robins Laws of Good Game Mastering, and a couple others, as well as various blog posts. Yet I feel I am still just not doing things right. Then I also realize that there is not "right" other than everyone is having fun. I just tend to over-analyze myself at times. There is this constant dichotomy between those two ideas in my head: I am not doing things right vs there is no real right as long as everyone has fun.

I've mostly resigned myself to accepting that my world-building I do mostly for myself. I enjoy it, and if the players at least see and get to play in part of it and seem to "get" my worlds, then it is all good.

Anyway - no end of year recaps or previews of the next year. I'll probably the character challenge again as it is both fun & fairly easy. I don't have to think a lot, just generate characters. That I can use in my various worlds. Still need to flesh out Fort Covenant and the smaller Windemere as I am hoping that I'll actually use them some day! I'll get some free characters to stick there.

I think the group is excited by the idea of a bounty hunter game. Still not sure if I'll do this in Traveller or not: the issue with Traveller is the speed of communication, so bounty hunting is almost forced to be in a single system. That 2-week time lag (1 week out, another week back) means you will always be chasing and never catching anyone. I have at least 2 Traveller bounty hunter books, so I need to read them with the intention of seeing how to play/run that sort of game. And I may just expand out one of my D'Arlee Quadrant worlds to give them enough to do in a single system. I just feel like an SF game, especially one named Traveller, you should be traveling a lot!

I'll use the rules from the Moon Toad Bounty Hunter book and generate a bounty hunter to start with at least. Here they define several types of bounty hunters: bondsmen, actual bounty hunters, repossession agents, tracers, process servers. Of those, the most "adventuresome" types to me are the bounty hunters and the repossession agents. We could do a repossession style game if we get characters with pilot skills so that they can take the ship back to where it needs to go. Which could be its own adventure as who knows how well the ship has been maintained since being absconded? 

From the book:

The Economics of Bounty Hunting

Inter-system communications in the vastness of space are at the speed of transport. If you are lucky enough to be on an X-Boat route, that means the news normally propagates at Jump-4. Of course, if you are not, the chances are that there will be delays, bureaucratic hurdles, and slow transports filling in the gaps. This means that a Bounty Warrant from one system will take time to arrive in another system – if we merely assume that it is a single Jump away - it will probably take a minimum of 2 weeks for the Bounty to be sent to nearby systems.

This means that there is no chance for two-way communications, or extended negotiations – the individual or organisation taking out the Bounty Warrant has no alternative but to put together the details of the target, at a price that they think is enough to get a Bounty Hunter interested – and fire it off. Then they wait, and hope…

...

Hey kid, being a Bounty Hunter is different to the entertainment channels – you know dashing off to some new system every week, blazing a trail in a fast ship across the Sector. It isn’t like that – just think for a few minutes about the distances, the time in jump, and the speed of comms. If you found a warrant in one system and got the information the target was in another system, the chances are really high they won’t be there when you get there. All Bounty Hunters are local – except for a few corporate types – and most of the time, we just track the target in system, slap them in a Low Berth, and take passage as cheap as we can to the Bounty Warrant Holder, cash in, and go home.

That helps define a few things: there should be local competition (friendly or not) and there may be a lot of waiting (of course, we'll start with something more actionable than sitting at the port checking the warrant space!)

The Bounty Hunter book also uses a "fast character generation" system that gives players a lot more control over their skills and even stats. There is also the traditional version, which I'll use. I just prefer a more random approach most of the time for generating RPG characters.

For the fast version, we start with 777777 and have a max of 42 (feels like The Fantasy Trip other than we're actually starting at 42, so can only adjust 1 up by going down in another). We have the same 4-year terms as Traveller and get 2 skills per term. They cannot be the same skill in the same term, and interestingly, at level 3+ you have to start specializing (i.e., pilot for specific class of ship or tonnage). At level 4 a specific ship, such as Scout. A nice overview is that level 1 = qualification training, 2 is really experienced, 3 is master's level, and 4+ is PhD level and requires daily exposure to keep that up. And apparently bounty hunters get pensions after 4 terms. Think it was 5 for classic.

There is a set of skills, most from various versions of Traveller. I do like that gambling requires a +1 intelligence, or an intelligence of, err, I think 9+? Need to check that out.

Moving on to the traditional character generation, I'll roll my stats: 397678. Hmm, with that 3 strength, think I'll allow myself my optional rule: 1 extra roll to replace any single stat. UPP is now 997678. A bit better than the 777777 at least. Next, I need to pick what I want to be and roll to see if I can get in. Think we'll go corporate (meaning I need to create a corporation of some sort!). An 11 lets me get in, a 10 means I also survived, a 5 means no promotion (so I am a support officer), and I manage to get back in. For skills, I get an automatic Gun Combat-1, picking Pistol-1 (though I need to recheck for which gun skills are available). Plus 2 skills per term, and I'll roll on the personal and then service: +1 social (UPP 997679) and vehicle, so Grav-1. I'll also roll on the events table: bad reputation. This explains the lack of a promotion! And I also lose that social I just picked up: UPP 997678. There was also some armed conflict during this 1st term.

Next term, I fail my survival roll. I could go all Iron Man and start over, but we'll just dump our hapless bounty out in the street, as he tries to go freelancer. A d4 and he managed 2 more years.

Johnne Martz 997678 age 24, ex-corporate bounty hunter from Chasers Incorporated.

Pistol-1, Grav-1, Cr10,000, pistol

A large young man who thought he would be a bounty hunter like those on the entertainment channels, he soon found that his aptitude for the career was not as bountiful as his aspirations. Getting kicke dout after 6 years, he has decided to go solo. Living in a small apartment in the startown, he visits the port's legal department daily, checking for bounties. His evenings are spent in various bars, trying to pick up any clues to any bounties that may be on planet. 

Short tempered and often brandishing his auto-pistol in what he thinks is a show of strength, he so far has managed to capture one bounty in the last 6 months, and is starting to get desperate.

And I hope everyone has a happy & safe New Years!

A Tale of Two Tavern Generators

 A while back I got the Kickstarter 'zine Two Minute Taverns. I liked it as it makes some interesting taverns, and even used it for non-fantasy taverns, though I had to curtail some of the more, well, fantastical aspects! See this post for that initial run-through.

The Fantasy Trip's Hexagram 10 recently arrived, and it too has a tavern generator. It also came with a nice box to put all the Hexgram magazines in. Taverns are suitable for any fantasy game - there are no rules for the ambiance and designs of taverns. So either generator is equally viable for any game regardless of which rule set.

So, let's run through the version by Christopher Rice and see what we get!

First, we roll for the class of tavern, and our 2d6 roll of 6 gives us a typical tavern, the local hangout. One nice part of this is that there are some rules that are specific to TFT, though not really. The prices for food and services are given, which is nice. I always have a hard time figuring out how much to charge for some of the most basic things. I really need to make a table for basic costs. Though perhaps not as detailed as the one I cribbed for the Cowboys & Dinosaur game: I researched prices in the 1880s. Anyway, our typical tavern meals run about 2 silvers, a room for 10 silvers or 1 gold. 

For services, I rolled a 4, giving us 1d services. Our typical tavern has 3 services:

• entertainment - there's a dance hall available and dancing is there. It does not say if the patrons are dancing, or there is a dance troupe, but as "the patrons should toss a coin", going with this is dancers for our patrons entertainment.
• long-term storage is available. There are some rules for strongboxes, which could easily be translated to other systems. A block of storage holding 50 pounds of equipment will run you 5 gold a week. And there are some adventure hooks for stores that have not been picked back up and the proprietor may be willing to sell, sight unseen, the contents.
• lodging. our typical tavern is really an inn

Checking for special clientele, our inn seems to cater to wizards. Now I am thinking of that pub in Ankh-Morpork that the wizard hung out (and I cannot remember the name, but it was in several of Terry Pratchett's very excellent books.

Finally, there are some suggestions about organizing things, and suggestions about notable characters but nothing to generate these characters, nor any random naming processes. As there are a lot of random name generators out there, no real loss. So off to a random inn name generator!

The Known Loaf Tavern is a typical tavern: a main floor with kitchens and the tavern. What sets it apart is the raised dance floor where a local dance troop of Gnomes performs 3 times a week. It is also the local hangout for wizards, and non-wizards tend to get a quick glance of disapproval. Meals run about 2 silvers, and a room for the night can be had for a gold. There are also long-term storage boxes available for the adventurer who may need to put some of their equipment up for a spell. Hagatha Vexx runs the place, and due to having the meal spell, can readily make anything that is not normally on the menu.

Hagatha Vexx, older female wizard, retired from adventuring. Almost 6' tall but thin, she does most of the cooking and her sons tend the bar and act as the occasional bouncer as needed. Though the sit eof the magic sword hanging above the kitchen door does tend to dissuade most people from causing a ruckus. ST 10 DX 12 IQ 14, Light, Magic Fist, Meal, Staff II (3 mana points), Sooth, Sword, Literacy, Business Sense. Magic sword; Keskirr (+1 damage, +3 vs goblinoid; from Dyson's Book of Swords)

In the end, I think I prefer the two-minute tavern: it has more fun quirks and things, as well as some interesting character building. Though I'll also pull from the services here as that is nice (though the zine also has something similar). Of course, the two-minute tavern is also a complete 'zine of 11 pages versus a 5-page article in a relatively short (38 page) magazine.

Old School Essentials - Classes and Races Bibliography

This last week was a good week for Kickstarters showing up: 3 of mine showed up, along with my Shado Technical manual! Sadly, the post office really hates my drieway, so I had to visit the post office to pick up those 4 packages. Fortunately, I waited until the end of the week as new packages seemed to show up daily. An early Christmas to myself!

The OSE box was exciting - I bought both boxed sets, the Classic and Advanced. I also picked up all three Carcass Crawlers, their in-house magazine for OSE (similar to The Fantasy Trip's Hexagram, which was also one of the Kickstarters to show up). And I have a nice t-shirt as well. The boxed sets will make playing this at the table a lot easier: I can use the tomes that have the complete player and GM rules, and the players can use the smaller books to stay focused on the stuff they need immediately. This is also why I got both the basic and the advanced: there is enough overlap that I should have enough books on hand. And as for the moment I only have a single player showing up, yes, I have that covered!

Between the two sets of rules, and the Carcass magazines, as well as a few related Kickstarters, I have quite the collection of races and classes a player could use. As noted in the 1st magazine, you don't have to make them all available - it is probably a good idea to restrict the available classes and races based on the type of game you want to play. Though I can also see that going the other way: let the players choose, then figure out the game from that. If we manage a Traveller game next year, that is my plan: I'll find out what sort of game they want to play, and then create something around that. Stealing from the hundreds of adventures I've got or can find!

Anyway, just as I have my Traveller bibliography for the various careers. I figure I should do the same thing for other games. And this post will be the OSE Bibliography of classes and races one could play. Note that Classic, the races are classes, so I'll try and make a note of that in the process. Some races are limited to which classes they can be, as well as their maximum level. Humans have no restrictions.

And I know I've more than what I've listed below - somewhere I've a liche class, complete with spells. 

PT = Player's Tome (or the books in the sets)

CCn = Carcass Crawler 1/2/3

FG = Father's Goose Creations

Fairyland was a zine. I backed it here. Parts of my current in-play Goblin from this, as well as the Gobsmack zine. Probably need to post about my grumpy, non-trusting Goblin as I am playing out of my normal range of characters. And it is really throwing off one of the players I think as we've sort of switched roles somehow in the current game!

OS&Cn Old School and Cool from here Think I only backed the 1st one as I was not playing OSE yet. And realized I really don't need 5000 classes and things...though they are fun! And - I never backed this and somehow have the PDF. It may have been part of another KS - no idea how I got it as I am very strict about only getting legal PDFs and things like that! Though now thinking if they do another KS I may back and get physical copies...

UPDATED August 15, 2023: added Mushroom Gnome race, Necromancer class

UPDATED April 3, 2023: added Dungeon Duck race, and the Merchant class

Races

Bullbeggar (demi-human class or race; small, unassuming demi-humans with uncanny heads) (Fairland)

Dragonborn (demi-human class or race) (CC3)

Drow (dark Elves). Demi-human class or race  (PT)

Ducks (Dungeon Ducks)

Duergar (grey Dwarves) Demi-human class or race (PT)

Dwarf (Dwarf) Demi-human class or race (PT)

Elf (Elf) Demi-human class or race (PT)

Gargantua (huge humans, demi-human race or class) (CC1)

Gnome demi-human class or race (PT)

Goblin demi-human class or race (CC1)

Half-Elf demi-human class or race (PT)

Halfling demi-human class or race (PT)

Half-Orc demi-human class or race (PT)

Hephaestan(demi-human class or race; think Spock) (CC1)

Human - stock human, can be any class (PT)

Mutoid (demi-human class or race) (CC3)

Mushroom Gnome (demi-human race) (FG)

Mycelian (demi-human class or race. mushroom people) (CC3)

Phase Elf (demi-human class or race) (CC2)

Svirfneblin (Deep Gnomes) demi-human class or race (PT)

Tiefling (demi-human class or race; demon descendants) (CC3)

Wood Elf (demi-human class or race) (CC2)

Classes

Acolyte (CC1)

Acrobat (PT)

Assassin (PT)

Augur (An augur is a scholar that can read the natural world by observing the flights of birds) (OS&C1)

Barbarian (PT)

Bard (PT)

Beastmaster (CC3)

Beerzerker (Beerserkers are cowardly brawlers known for their unquenchable thirst for mead, ale, and all things fermented) (OS&C1)

Bullbeggar (Fairyland zine)

Cleric (PT)

Dragonborn (CC3)

Drow (PT)

Druid (PT)

Duergar (PT)

Dwarf (PT)

Elf (PT)

Fighter (PT)

Gargantua (CC1)

Gnome (PT)

Goblin (CC1)

Half-Elf (PT)

Halfling (PT)

Half-Orc (PT)

Hephaestan (CC1)

Heliothra (Heliothra are creatures of pure light that spontaneously coalesce into mortal beings) (OS&C)

Illusionist (PT)

Kineticist (CC1)

Knight (PT)

Language Expert (OS&C1)

Lizardling (OS&C1)

Lycan's Bane (supernatural creature hunters) (OS&C1)

Mage (CC1)

Magic User (PT)

Merchant (The Merchant)

Mon Frere (The mon frere is a bit of a reluctant adventurer. Ideally, they’d be growing grapes or hops in their monastery) (OS&C1)

Mutoid (CC3)

Mycelian (CC3)

Necromancer (OSE) 

Paladin (PT)

Phase Elf (CC2)

Puppeteers (Puppeteers are masters of manipulation and can mesmerize the average person with their deft handiwork) (OS&C1)

Ranger (PT)

Scop (Bard variant) (OS&C1)

Space Dwarf (OS&C1)

Svirfneblin (PT)

Tiefling (CC3)

Thief (PT)

Wood Elf (CC2)

Traveller 5.10 System Generation Part 7: Native Intelligent Life History and Society

In our first part 7, we covered creating the Liobbe. A bilaterally symmetric filtering herbivore with graspers, 3 sexes, and significant senses in their torsos. What I neglected to do is figure their tech level, which, now that that there are Imperial citizens there with a base tech level of 8, and the port probably significantly higher due to being an A port, just where do our gore-filled Liobbes stand?

Going with a flux roll, they are mostly TL-2, living across most of Iomaria. Evolving from the wetlands, the Liobbe are herbivorous filters, with large filtering openings in their torsos. These "mouths" are encircled by a ring of eyes and noses, allowing them to sense the foods they basically suck up and filter through a variety of stomachs. Mostly various grasses and herbs, along with the biomasses that cause Iomaria's atmosphere to be considered tainted. The planet's dense atmosphere, especially in the wetlands, is rich in floating plants that can cause severe and fatal reactions to those not native to the planet. The Liobbe spend a large amount of their time grazing, but as this is a low-intensity thing, they ended up gaining intelligence out of sheer boredom as one sophontologist put it. Having few natural predators, they evolved slower than the major races did.

The Liobbe's social structure grew out of the three genders. While the females carry the eggs and are protective of them, the males appear to have little to no attachment to any specific off-spring but treat all children equally - generally neglect. The neuters tend to be the power behind the rulers, or shamans in earlier times. Males tend to be larger and much stronger than the females or neuters and have a heavy fight reflex when threatened. Generally, males are the titular ruler, but it is not uncommon for females to rule. However - it is the neuters that advise and actually make most of the actual decisions. Neuters are seen as something almost divine, though not in any specific religious sense. There is an intense respect for them, and in the infrequent battles, it is only makes who actually fight. 

From this, early tribalism evolved from small family units to larger "pods". These pods grazed larger areas, eventually merging and branching out. Civilization grew in response, mostly centered around improved agriculture to reduce the amount of time needed to feed. While the Liobbe are generally TL-2, they do have some interesting agricultural techniques and more knowledge on genetics than expected. 

Their tools still tend to be simple: a pair of 4-fingered graspers give them a very hearty grip but not as much fidelity as the human hand. Their tools and weapons tend to be much thicker than human-standard between their graspers and the heavier gravity. While humans can use their tools, they are uncomfortably heavy and have much thicker grips than similar human-styled tools. While on average a bit smaller than humans, though wider, their grip strength has been known to damage human tools. Fortunately, handshaking is not a custom the Liobbe share with human.

Little communication exists between the Imperial settlers and the Liobbe. There have been some interesting architectural finds, but the Liobbe seem to have settled into the TL-2 existence for centuries. They have coastal towns and villages and have spread out over most of the world except for what they call the Teilza, or the Darkness. Their language can be translated and spoken by humans with some difficulty. One disconcerting aspect is that they tend to be eating while talking: their torsos filter the food, yet they have a head and mouth to speak with. Unlike humans, speaking with their "mouth" full is perfectly normal and even expected.

Their skins come in a variety of colors, though tending to the copper tones. 

There are some scientists living in some of the towns, but require frequent supply runs. The dense tainted atmosphere makes living with the Liobbe difficult: humans cannot breathe the atmosphere, and they cannot breathe a standard atmosphere. 

Few Liobbe have ever left Iomaria: requiring significant life support both in terms of atmosphere and their somewhat unique food source, it becomes very expensive very fast. And while a few of the neuters have expressed a desire to see the universe, the operational aspect of this is very daunting. 

There is little trading between the Liobbe and the alien residents of the planet. In the scale of things, the Liobbe are a very minor alien race among thousands throughout the universe. Human expansion is pushing into some areas that the Liobbe want to keep, so there have been minor skirmishes between Iomaria's nascent army and the Liobbe. There is a Liobbe ambassadorial group at the starport, trying to mediate between the various factions. In particular, a megacorporation has been developing an industrial complex in the middle of a Liobbe tribal tlingra, or grazing fields. There are some local human groups trying to prevent the corporation as well, and further development is held up due to the immense amount of red tape.

Okay, not a great write up. And took longer than expected. I think this is one of those cases where it would be great to bounce ideas around. While I generally have a pretty good imagination, sometimes I get stuck. And coming up with a completely alien race is really hard to do honestly. We don't have anything really other than humans to decide what makes intelligence. Yes, some other animals are tool users, and seem to have fairly complex social hierarchies, even they are from this planet and share the same basic biology. An entirely alien biology would create, I would hazard, a completely alien intelligence. Few SF authors have managed this particularly well, I think. Just finished reading (maybe re-reading but if so, I've forgotten the 1st time I read it) A Mote in God's Eye, and even that alien civilization is not really that alien: they have relatable drives and needs. Their biology does dictate things, but it is really just an extreme form of issues we have as humans. CJ Cherryh does some pretty good aliens but for me, most of her books were a hard read for that reason (as well as her human protagonists generally seeming just reactive and not even particularly reactive at that. Though I may be misremembering that as well) 

Anyway - my first Traveller aliens. I think. And happy December!