Space Gits Session 1: Into the station

We started the session with the Mistios (their ship they just joined) parked at Mars. They were with the mercenaries that Carter Burke runs as COO. They also met the rest of the mercenaries as introductions were made and they signed the contracts. Which are for 1 year. They spent the evening carousing and there was a bit of chitchat as we kinda felt out various characters. They did meet specifically Quantum Sentinel which my mind is part of the Sentinel series of combat bots. He has a Cockney accent as the company that makes them is in what was once Britain (and that accent is due to me listening to the Disney soundtrack on the way home, even though Dick Van Dyke has horrible version of such an accent. I am sometimes nostalgic about movies I watched growing up and we had that on vinyl way back when). They also met the head of the mercenaries, Kai, who challenged Mugwart to a practice fight tomorrow on board the ship to see how the new recruits stacked up.

Our players consist of the rat brothers, Skabbs and Fingers. They are Scritch, and brothers who followed the criminal career in the game. Though Fingers got through all 4 terms, Scabbs got caught and was in prison for two years. Where he met up with Geran, a human who was court-martialed from the Navy after 2 terms and sent to prison for, oddly enough, 2 years as well. And finally Mugwart, the Toadian. The player wanted to play a battle toad so we made it up:

The Toadmen of Venus arrived during the early terraforming days, quite surprising the Terran engineers. Being in a deep hibernation, they are the lost colony of a long-forgotten alien race. Their technology is similar to humans, and while they can use human equipment, it is at a disadvantage unless it has been modified for them specifically. In the same way, their own equipment or modified equipment runs at a disadvantage to non-Toadmen.

The remaining Toadmen were a warrior caste, and generally prefer fighting over diplomacy. Seeing as they are close to 7’ tall, they do tend to be intimidating.

As a Toadman, you gain the following benefits:
+1 Strength and Will
Talent: Gunslinger (+1d4 damage with handguns)

Toadman of Venus

the Scritch

Anyway, they get to their ship before launch at 04:00 Mars time. I am using the 0-Hr Atlas as an old colony ship as the bottom half is all cargo bay (and I liked it enough I actually got 2 minis!). They get a tour of the ship and meet the pilot, Helene, They share one of the bunkrooms on the ship with Viktor, a huge Russian. 

The practice fight was over quickly - it was really an attempt to test the melee combat rules for to the 1st hit. Mugwart won in 2 rounds. It was simple enough I think - basically roll a d20 against your target's defense score (aka armor class) and add in your coordination bonus and any brawling skill. Though I may have picked strength bonus... Anyway, Geran is now the ship's medic and patched up Kai from the punch.

Fingers and Scrapp then fix the ship's fabricator. The players helping another player and giving advantage to the test worked well, and Scrapp fixed the broken fabricator. A Traveller 5 Maker, or just a really advanced 3D printer/Assembler thing that can craft items. They used it to craft fittings to make one of the bunks in their barracks to be combined so that Mugwart's feet do not hang over the edge of the bed.

4 days later (it is a quick transit from Mars to Jupiter) they are approaching the mining station floating in Jupiter's upper atmosphere. There are no responses to their hails, so they approach carefully. Helene horribly failed her pilot roll - a 1! So Geran, who has pilot, took the pilot seat and managed to dock successfully with the quiet station. The lights were on but no one appeared to be home.

Their squad, which are the players and Viktor, get armored up, gas masks as they are concerned about pathogens or plague, and enter the docking tubes. Safety systems and a small airlock only allows 2 to go through at a time. Fingers has to unlock the interior door with a hacking talent he has as the station inner airlock was locked. The red warning light was flashing as well. 

There was much discussion and much hesitation, but eventually all 5 of them manage to crowd into the security section. I had the entire map out for them of this level as they do have the plans for the station. Assuming nothing has changed! Viktor checks out the bathroom as he is at the front of the group. There was still no one there, and they break into the security office, and find footage of what happened 2 days prior: some alien ship, which no one in the group recognized, was approaching the station. There were 4 security guards at the ready then the feeds all stop. Looking back at the airlock, they now see that there are las burns on the walls and air lock door.

It was quite alarming, so radioing back to Carter and Kai, they are told the 2nd squad was suiting up. Then they hear some skittering in the air system (yay - I had made random encounters! And there were 12 so I had a player roll a d12). Mugwart lifts Scabbs up to the vents (they are about 6x12") and he can hear something approaching through the air system. With claws. He drops back down as a small, armored little alien bursts through the vent. Mugwart swings with his Jolt fist and smacks it, and Scabbs swingers his spanner on it. The creature is killed - it had missed its attack on Mugwart. But Scabb's spanner and the deck is sizzling: the blood is very acidic!

attack at the security station

And this is where we left the game. One of the players had been up for 30+ hours, so, just like my Saturday game, I had people falling asleep! They assure me that my games are not that boring!

Thinking we probably have 2 more sessions for this space dungeon crawl. And the players do have a scanner that should indicate where their target device is located. 

Game Recap: The Fantasy Trip Session 8

We finally got all together again and once again stepped into my Fantasy Trip game. I did do a bit of a jump cut: covered a few days of travel through the Cutting Fields. Their supplies were getting low despite having two expert woodsmen with them: the corruption of nature and magic means that there just is not a lot to hunt.

Sister Ishbarra is still sorely wounded, and there are a few other wounds here and there but nothing too bad. But we cut to late afternoon a few days after our last meeting, and off in the distance they can see a small, 3 story or so keep or tower. Violet hears the stamping of feet, and off in the distance, they can see a troop of gnolls and a small band of goblins moving to ancient tower.

Seeing some flickering light inside the tower, the party was uncertain if the war party was going back home or going to attack. A small, redhead peeked out and even from the distance they could hear a curse. It looked like the remains of the door were being pushed back into place.

As the gnolls climbed the narrowing approach to the castle, arrows started shooting down from the top of the tower. It appeared to only be a single archer at the top, and the gnoll closest to the door was protected by the overhang. The 2nd was not as lucky, but the arrows seemed to barely penetrate their thick hides.

Deciding that attacking the attackers from the rear and possibly saving whoever was inside was a better choice. the group attacks: Hexis and Exz throw rocks as they get closer (and Axz never once hits anything), Violet is also throwing rocks, and Marianne and Dawn are shooting arrows. The Druid and cleric both move up to attack the goblins. 

Deimos attempted to cast an illusion of a door at the castle but sadly failed that roll. The next roll for the bear was successful, and due to the narrowing of the gorge to the castle, formed an effective barrier to prevent the gnolls from getting to the group (which, had they hit, may have well been insta-skill for some of the players!). The battle only lasts a few rounds: there are a lot of payers and NPCs in this group. I should have added a few more gnolls or something but TFT is a fairly deadly game. And no one has stocked up on healing potions. And they've not had time to rest: it requires 2 days of rest to recover 1 point of damage. At some point the archer from teh roof drops her bow - I rolled a 17! There was more cursing.

They kill all but one of the goblins, and one of the gnolls decided running away was a better life choice. From this goblin they found that they were also after the Orc Fist Gauntlets, so the party now knows they are where they need to be. Game-time it was only a few weeks at most, real life has been challenging!

They also end up killing Eugene the Goblin despite his pleas that he could help. They also find, from Deimos (and the player is really good at reading the rules) mentions that touching the dead goblin's magic staff would not be a good choice: 3d damage. There was a lot of discussion on how to use it has a weapon and not touch it but in the end they just left it alone as too dangerous. I also used the Ultimate Bestiary for the stuff the goblins and gnolls were carrying: while the ratted meat rations from the gnolls was not used, the goblins had 5 days of rations. Which with the group as large as it is is not even a day....

Inside the tower, they find two halfings: Aigulf and Dinah. Aigulf has been tracking down the history of Stubboon, and Dinah is there to protect the mostly helpless hearthsinger. A bit of food, and a bit of rest for Deimos, and then some tower exploration. I do want to say they slept overnight but I do not recall for certain. They do find a small coin and a few other bits, but nothing of importance. Deimos checks for magic and there is a sense of magic below the floor, despite the solid rock floor. I think ii was Axz who found the impression of the coin in the stairwell. Putting the coin in there, it dissolves in a puff of smoke and the staircase opens up to continue below the floor. Deimos, having the light spell, gave the pendant to Hexis, who followed behind Voilet. The rest of the group followed (and I just realized left no one as a guard upstairs...) with Aigulf and his torch bringing up the rear. At the bottom of a narrow staircase is a small area with room for maybe 3 people. And a door locked on this side. They realized it was locked to keep something in. Opening the door, they find a small 10' wide corridor leading on. Following this around a couple corners, they find a more open area. There is a small pool of dark water in one corner, and the group is searching inside this space. Not realizing the drips of water do not create ripples in the pool. By the time they do realize this, a gelatinous cube is emerging from the water. Doyne recognizes this and tells the group important information as they have never met such a thing before. Deciding that it was too large, and that the gunpowder from the blunderbuss may be their best approach, they create a small pile of the gunpowder, and when the cube gets close, throw Aigulf's torch. As gunpower does 3x the damage, there is splattered gelatinous cube all over the place.

And this was where we stopped the game for a few reasons. It gives me a chance to finish dealing with the rest of this dungeon they are now in. They have 3 torches left, as well as Deimos' light pendant. But the group is so large that they will need a torch at least, maybe two. And they last about an hour. 

And the question came up at the end about XP. I decided to wait until they get to a resting spot: XP in the middle of a dungeon delve just does not sit right with me. They will get experience though, maybe enough to help them over a couple hurdles. 

I also am going ot use a few things I have and let them roll up what we discover. Who knows what Stubboon managed to cache down there? He was carrying a supply of magical armaments according to legends. Which Aigulf is researching. I did that so that I could explain what they are getting mostly.

I am also leaning to having something down there that may help or show something about the corruption. And while I have actually finished putting together a few things from Archon that have been sitting on my desk (or under it) for years, I don't plan on dropping that on them!

not going to show up, but at least I got it together! Now to paint it!

And there we have the 8th session.

Game Prep: The Fantasy Trip & stocking the dungeon

While the outside areas have wildlife and thus resources such as potential food and water, what about underground dungeons? Especially those that are sealed off? I'm extending one of the maps with a few map tiles I've got but it is essentially a dead end.  And being sealed, nothing could live down there, right? I do have a note scribbled on the index card where I have the 3 square tiles sort of outlined, and in one I'm adding a small underground stream with some fish. Where the stream comes from and where it goes, who knows. But it is not enough to feed anything for long. 

However - while I was thinking I was just joking about the gelatinous cube simply because I have a big die that IS such a beast, I read the description in the book to see if it indicated what it ate other than the occasional adventurer: 

Deep underground, the party enters a small room, only about a megahex wide by seven megahexes long. The door is completely rotted away – only a few fragments of wood remain stuck to the top hinge. The room is completely bare except for a pool of water a hex in size, at the end away from the doorway. The water is undrinkably acid. Things thrown into the pool vanish into its greenish murk. Before long (sooner, if the party interacted with the pool) the water will begin to overflow, and a greenish pseudopod will emerge and quest about. Then the whole pool hex will be filled with the greenish flesh of a gelatinous cube, slowly emerging. It will take a minute for it to get completely out and move toward the party. 

So I can have that cube in there! Probably no other creatures other than maybe rats?

I've also written down two other characters (Dina Goldenfoot and Aigulf Proudfoot) that I may have in the tower when the group gets there. They were part of the January character challenge and while written for OSE I've basically created TFT character cards for them to have. And having Aigul there, as he is a bit of an historian, when I let the players roll for the weapons, he will have a decent chance of knowing about them so the players may have a better idea of exactly what they are getting.

And since I've also recently decided to get some of the scenery and figures off of sprues from Archon, I actually have a couple camp rolls, tents and stuff. I may add that to the center of the tower. 

camping in a tower with unpainted camping equipment

Part of my questions on dungeon creation are coming from my reading of a few books on game mastering, and the new book that showed up on actually designing dungeons. I need to think of just how things survive in places. And a sealed dungeon does not give a lot of room for the living. It does for the undead though. And at least one of the players does have an enchanted sword that works great against the undead. So maybe I'll add a few skeletons or something. As I have way too many skeletons!

Like Checkov's Gun, everything in a dungeon must be there for a reason. And that equally applies to the various critters that are there. There needs to be a reason the creatures are in there. Though to be fair, I will leave clues for things I am planning for down the road, and so they do not have an immediate use in that particular game and may never actually come to fruition. But I do have the concept of a plan usually!

But I also thinking traps: I've not been good about adding traps to dungeons. I worry that they can be insta-kills or too easy. Not sure how to balance that really, despite reading a lot on it. But I think I can add at least 1 trap in the adventure. Just need to figure out how to role play it well for the players.

Anyways - thinking of a living dungeon that has its own ecology can be a fun challenge. But a dungeon that is only (let's see, each tile is 7x7 5' squares, so 49x3 = 147 square feet, which includes walls) does not leave space for an ecology honestly. But, what if there was another secret door on one of the rooms, and a much larger dungeon behind that? Maybe I could connect it to the Lost Depths of the Ageless or the Glimmering Crypt of the Ioun King! One of these days I will try to run those as well. 

As an aside on living dungeons - that is really what the wandering monster tables are for in various games and adventures. In OSE you roll every 20 minutes to see if something shows up, and that reflects that the dungeon is not a static place with creatures just sitting in a room waiting for someone to show up. I do use the OSE time tracking sheet even for TFT when they are inside as it is really pretty handy. Those torches are not going to last forever!

And while unrelated to TFT, we did have basically a session 0 for Space Gits and everyone has their characters. Character generation went well and even with the random process, they ended up with the characters they envisioned, I think. I'll try & have a post on those characters, but this weekend is running the Fantasy Trip game, then Monday night is session 1 for Space Gits. Not sure I'll handle running two games concurrently well, but the Space Gits game I think will only be 2-3 sessions, and TFT is only monthly. Surely I can handle that! And don't call me Shirley!

Game Prep: The Fantasy Trip

Then I realized I have a face-to-face Fantasy Trip game coming up this next Saturday. I have to catch up as it has been a while since we ran. And funnily enough, it has been 1 year since we started this game. But this will be the 8th session. Getting together consistently is hard, plus this is a once-a-month game.

Recap so far:

S1: Sewers, found crypt, rescued Keg https://traveller-ct.blogspot.com/2024/02/to-sewers-once-more.html
S2: return for the crypt, find Ax (goblin rat catcher), Hexis has sword https://traveller-ct.blogspot.com/2024/03/fantasy-trip-game-recaps-two-for-one.html
S3: shopping, get medicinal weeds for sick child thieves, stay at Olmsted farm https://traveller-ct.blogspot.com/2024/04/saturday-fantasy-trip-recap-to-weeds.html
S4: back to Edge City, twin Elf children of possible royal descent. mission to head north for Orc Fist Gauntlets, fight a sect https://traveller-ct.blogspot.com/2024/07/battle-of-sects-followup.html
S5: escort Clybe to Bresselwyth, fight demon, meet Marian Harefolk, stay in goat town https://traveller-ct.blogspot.com/2024/07/battle-of-sects-part-3.html
S6: heading north, meet harpies, fight wolves, find strange green crystals in the wolves https://traveller-ct.blogspot.com/2024/09/meeting-harpies.html
S7: Battle of the Cutting https://traveller-ct.blogspot.com/2024/12/fantasy-trip-game-recap-7.html

See - I knew there was a reason I do game recaps in electronic and shareable format!

One of the things I am doing is putting the NPCs on note cards - old school style for an old-school game! I did have them printed up on paper but that kept getting lost in the other papers. I *could* use a notebook with tabs but the only one I have at the moment is filled up with characters I've played in games. Though yeah, I could get a notebook! But I have a set of index cards that came with the recipe box I got to put the TFT monster cards in, and they can in 4 colors. So blue are NPCs to help track things.

I am also planning on doing a jump cut to get straight to some action: they are trekking through the Cutting Fields, Sister Ishbarra will get a little better, but she was sorely injured last session. But they will be in sight of what appears to be a small tower. And then hopefully will notice the goblins and gnolls also approaching the tower. 

And when I was looking for kobold and gnolls for TFT, while kobold still are not there, the Old School Monsters book does have gnolls in it!

TFT Old School Monsters

And I am using some maps I got from the Campaign Cartographer series - 24x26" dry erase maps. Plus, I got the map tiles from their last KS and have some ideas for extending the map beyond what is there. And I've been told I am far too stingy with treasures and magic items. So, I'll have them roll on the d20 table from the OSR Booster. I may not explain all the effects though as some of those things are more than a literally 2-edged sword. I still need to stock the new section not on the map - thinking I do have these gelatinous 2" dice...

what's on the other side of that door?

I have the maps set up the way I think will work, almost finished painting 2 additional gnolls I picked up from some KS (and sadly think there are more eventually on the way). I am hoping we'll have a good time. 

it is a narrow staircase to the castle entrance

Entirely unrelated to games

And entirely unrelated to gaming, I managed to add a new process for work that is infinitely expandable as I know that there will be more options down the road. And the actual code to get the correct mapping is only a few lines long. And this was in Ruby, so we also ported it to the .NET C# code base we are replacing the far out-of-date Rails application (safer to start all over than to try to update the old application as there are significant breaking changes to get it up to date. Plus, I really prefer .NET / C#) But the fun part was once I had the Ruby code, working (and yes, it worked in production in the first order that came in. But I did test the heck out of it before deploying), I got AI to translate it to C#. And that worked out of the box with just some minor tweaks. I know people keep saying AI will take over, and while it is a tool, they've been saying this sort of thing since I started almost 40 years ago. And I am still writing code.  And as I retire with any luck in just over 4 years, I'm good. Like a lot of things, it may be close, and in some cases good enough, but for a lot of problems that are not simple, it still takes the creative spark to figure things out. After all - you need to know just what to ask the AI. All it does currently is spit back out the stuff it has been trained on, though it can find interesting combinations from that morass of data. Which someone has actually written, drawn or whatever. Eventually the androids will dream of electric sheep, but we are not there yet. 

Space Gits game prep

 Moving into high gear now. I am still trying to get them to name the ship, but so far they are just making jokes. All fine and good but we may end up with a joke name. Which is perfectly fine by me!

Thunderchicken did come up

And I decided that I did not need to roll up ALL the NPCs. Asked AI for 8 science fiction mercenaries, and this is what it gave me. Now to wrap them up in Space Gits skills. I did the 1st one as a test. And yes, fairly stereotypical, but at least I don't have to try and come up with a minimal background and personality. 

1. Kai "Ironclad" Drayden

   • Background: A former military strategist who now operates as a freelance mercenary, Kai's tactical genius is unmatched. He carries an aura of authority and a sense of justice.

   • Skills: Tactical planning, hand-to-hand combat, advanced weaponry

   • Personality: Calculated, determined, and fiercely loyal to his comrades.

2. Lyra "Shadow" Voss

   • Background: Lyra is an elusive infiltrator with a mysterious past. She specializes in espionage and covert operations, often working alone.

   • Skills: Stealth, hacking, close-quarters combat

   • Personality: Quiet, resourceful, and exceptionally perceptive.

3. Rex "Blaze" Thorne

   • Background: A pyrotechnics expert who thrives in chaos, Rex loves nothing more than creating spectacular explosions. He's known for his recklessness and thrill-seeking behavior.

   • Skills: Explosives, demolition, high-risk maneuvers

   • Personality: Energetic, unpredictable, and fiercely competitive.

4. Zara "Frost" Kallus

   • Background: With a cold and calculating demeanor, Zara is an expert sniper. Her precision and patience make her a deadly adversary from a distance.

   • Skills: Sniping, reconnaissance, survival tactics

   • Personality: Stoic, focused, and highly disciplined.

5. Jax "Echo" Ryder

   • Background: Jax is a communications specialist with an uncanny ability to intercept and decode enemy signals. He's invaluable in electronic warfare.

   • Skills: Signal intelligence, hacking, communication systems

   • Personality: Witty, clever, and always one step ahead.

6. Nova "Rogue" Hayes

   • Background: A former bounty hunter, Nova is a skilled tracker and hunter. Her unorthodox methods often lead to unexpected successes.

   • Skills: Tracking, marksmanship, hand-to-hand combat

   • Personality: Independent, rebellious, and fiercely determined.

7. Viktor "Titan" Kruger

   • Background: A towering figure with unmatched strength, Viktor is a heavy weapons specialist. His imposing presence often ends conflicts before they start.

   • Skills: Heavy weaponry, mechanical engineering, close-combat

   • Personality: Brash, fearless, and fiercely protective of his team.

8. Raven "Specter" Cross

   • Background: Raven is a master of disguise and deception, able to blend into any environment. She's an expert in undercover operations.

   • Skills: Disguise, espionage, martial arts

   • Personality: Charismatic, enigmatic, and highly adaptable.

NPC card - as small as I can I think at 1/4 of a page

playing with WordArt on Publisher :)

Of course, the players are just part of a team here. I am used to running and playing games where we ARE the team, though there are some NPCs who get added to the mix to help. But they are not the top dogs in this group (which is closer to the original version of the game). Though if everyone else dies, guess they will be the top dog. I think this may be a fairly lethal game if I play it right.

I've even started coming up with a list of atmospheric descriptions I plan on dropping in at random time. I want to see if we can make this feel as claustrophobic and stressful as some SF horror movies are. Which I don't really like though I did see Alien way back, and I think at least 1 more. But those types of movies give me nightmares and I have strange enough dreams as it is. Sometimes I feel I am living other lives in my dreams, which may explain why I am always tired when I wake up. Perhaps I am really a butterfly dreaming I am a man!

• flickering lights
• grav field fluctuating (unless they have 0-G at disadvantage?)
• no life support sounds - e.g.,no air flowing
• metallic banging - rhythmic, random, code?
• scream in distance - organic? machine?
• flickering shadows
• sounds of *something* in the life support ducts
• dripping sounds - sizzles?
• pitted deck plates
• stains on the floor - blood? food? mechanical fluids? something else?
• single boot on the floor - empty? a foot remaining? vermin in it?
• odd smells - acrid? smoke (always a bad sign in a ship or station!)

I'll add more but I need to see if I can get the scenes set and the atmosphere for this. I can't do background music or sounds as those just distract me as I am listening to that rather than the players. If we were face to face and it was dark that would help but when we do play face to face it is daylight. Me and my getting up at 4am makes staying up late not great as I start getting sleepy not long after 8!

And Happy Valentine's Day!

Quick catchup

I had to take a break after a post daily for 31 days (with a couple exceptions). The blog is supposed to be fun, not work! 

Still working sporadically on the Space Gits game coming up, and I've decided to try & see if I can do a bit of horror-styled gaming. We had an interesting conversation last night rather than gaming, so I know (a) that the game is dwindling to its conclusion as the current GM does the same thing I do when getting tired of running! and (b) I need to start working a bit harder for the game as it will start soon. But one of the players was talking about how can you get the sense of horror in an RPG game? Gore is easy, but how to portray that creeping sense of dread and pressure? Of course, I am not a fan of horror (and less so of splatter gore stuff. I have a sensitive mind and stomach! One of the reasons I run PG-13 games basically).

I'll be taking a mostly Alfred Hitchcock approach if I can: hint at things, try to set the scenes but try & let players imaginations do more than me. So I need to make a bunch of little snippets I can inject into the game: flickering lights, odd sounds, the grav net fluctuating. (Note: grav net came from a  Closed and Common Orbit which was a really good book (as was the 1st) and really posits some very interesting questions about what a person is. And 99% sure grav net was used before that but that's where I last read it). I have 3 decks of the station even though the image I have of the station I want has a deck plan, I want something a bit less Traveller-like and more complicated. Of course, stitching together maps from different sources is a bit clunky but good enough for me.

I did do a few characters and the aliens in the game, so need to polish those up and get them actually ready to play. As I am using one of the 0-Hr maps for their ship, I'll probably do a quick write up of that and the crew of mercenaries of which they are a part. I have 3 players, and the ship is pretty large, so I need some crew and of course a couple squads or so of NPC mercenaries. Red shirts in this case to show how dangerous it may be. I'll just mook the NPCs - no need to really go through char gen, just get their stats needed and personality quirks so I can at least attempt to differentiate them. The players I am with who run games are really good at doing NPCs and I am jealous of that.

For what was a colony ship (this is the cargo version of the Atlas) it works out well for a mercenary group as there is also a drop-ship version. The only difference was the bottom part. But there are 2 barracks, so I'll have 2 squads. I have things to do in the next few weeks!

And this is a short game - 2-3 sessions. Maybe more if we're having fun. But no grand plot - just a single scenario. 

0-Hr Atlas