Opinions, and a bit of game info dumping

Note - there is actual game content at the end. Sometimes I just get oddly philosophical and throw things out there. Feel free to skip ahead!

I have a lot of strange thoughts, and often in the middle of doing something else so then lose those thoughts before I get a chance to write them down for later. For some reason, at the gym the other day between chest exercises, I started wandering around the concept of opinions. I think it was triggered by my constantly saying that developers such as myself are full of opinions. But also, yet another book coming out against the idea of free will. And then all that triggered me into wondering if I should get my readers' opinions as to what I should write about. All that while sitting on a bench press machine (I tend to cycle each chest day: barbells, dumbbells, machines. Figure get a bit of variety in, and this chest workout was back to the machines. But I, as usual, digress).

Anyway, part of this view on opinions is frameworks and software. Every time a developer solves a problem, there is a choice to which language, and increasingly, which framework, to use. And those choices last. Then I see the parallel with Traveller: Traveller has several frameworks: each version is a framework so to speak. Some are more inter-operational with others, but all can be used to play Traveller. Of course, this is not unique to Traveller as any TTRPG that lasts more than a few years ends up getting enough revisions to be a new version. Heck, even the OTU, if based on the rule set in place, has a different framework (and then Marc Miller writes Agent of the Imperium and changes even more of the framework).

And then I sprung full-bore into the idea of our universe being a computer simulation. Which does seem to preclude free will. And also makes it a clockwork universe, unless we throw in some truly random things that change things in unexpected ways. And then I brought in the oddity of quantum physics, a potentially self-aware universe that has its own opinions, then realized I read an awful lot of science fiction. And also see the connection between me preferring TTRPGs vs computer games: you can only do what is programmed in the system for a video game, even one with generative systems. TTRPGs have the infinite human mind backing the play. And if we're living in a computer simulation, it is way beyond anything we can currently even dream of doing. And then inception as we generate a computer simulation inside a computer simulation. Turtles all the way down for sure.

The initial choice of a game for instance has ramifications. Traveller, if using Classic, has characters that have few specific abilities and are pretty much the everyday person hopefully doing extraordinary things. As we move to MegaTraveller, we start to get skill creep, which tends to change how we play as well: do we have that skill vs we can do anything but are really good at a few specific things. And a subtle slide from role-playing to roll-playing. 

Of course, this all really depends on the group playing. Of which they all have opinions on how to play. Some prefer a rules-light approach: just try to do things, and if necessary, let the dice adjudicate when things matter. Others prefer to roll for everything and have that roll defined on the character sheet. Though to be biased, I really think this is due to players coming from the video game RPG world versus us old people who have been playing for decades. And how did I get to be the same age as old people?! Though that theory falls short when some of my gaming buddies, as old as I am basically, rarely use the character sheet and just role play. And they play video game RPGs as well.

Though this also feeds into my grumpiness that we rarely go back to games and game systems. I've stopped getting more RPGs as I already have too many and I really want to get good at a few. Good at running and at playing. Others want to keep trying new things. Sometimes I get tired of trying new things and just want the comfort of things I know. I just know I am going to end up being a recluse...

And then I start to spiral down opinions and how politics feeds into that, and then I run away. There is a reason COTI sticks political discussions in the Pit, and even though as a Moot member I have access, I do not want to get mired into that mess!

And back to opinions: if anyone has any opinions on what they want me to write out, feel free to post comments. While I recognize this blog is mostly my blathering about a variety of perhaps tenuously linked things, I can try and write about specific things if some would like me to. And hey - 24 people actually following me which is both gratifying and silly to feel that gratification. 

Game Content for the OSE game

And finally, as I needed 5 merchants that the group rescued, I decided (hmm, free will or as a result of some epiphenomenon interactions deep in my brain or my simulation of a brain [and now you know why I don't drink or do drugs - enough craziness already in my head!]) to create 5 merchants. I actually have a merchant character class for OSE, so let's just roll up 1 as the prototype, and the others will just get names.

Sady, there are actually some pretty high minimums for that class: INT 12, WIS 13 and CHAR 14. Normally I do roll and use the stats in order, then allow 1 extra roll to use wherever. Personally, I don't like the roll 4D and take the highest approach a lot of people use (hey, and opinion!) as I like, as previously mentioned, flawed characters that actually have characters instead of uber-characters. And interestingly, the current game few of the characters have any high stats, though there are a few exceptions. I took 2 tries to roll 6 stats that had at least 3 meeting the minimum, and allowed myself to re-arrange them. 

STR: 11 INT: 14 WIS: 15 DEX: 6 CON: 10 CHA: 15

As he got caught pretty easily, I'll make him match our adventurers and be a level 2 merchant; the others are all level 1 as he is the leader of this small group. He is a member of the Sericulturist Guild, as they all are. Traveling as much as he has, he has a 1 in 6 chance to determine cardinal directions. He also, due to his intelligence and being a merchant, knows 3 languages: Common, Low Elven and Orc. There will be a story there for the Orc language and hopefully I'll both come up with that and remember next game session!

His skills, at level 2, include appraisal (AP) 25%, Bargaining (BR) 20%, Equivocate (EQ ) 10%, Lie Detection (LD) 10%, Open Locks (OL) 20% and find or remove traps (TR) 15%.

Samir Mitra

Getting Samir, Ibn Tutullia, Borthelwort, Yin Lahoiu, and Ranno Grey back to town, the adventurers pick up that the wizard they killed, Quintis, was an aspiring necromancer who wanted to command an army of the undead. His spell backfired apparently: they were brought back to life but not under his control. His only bargaining chip was that he could give them flesh, he just needed victims. Which is where the merchants came in, captured a couple miles away at a campsite. While eager to return to Windemere Crossing, they would like to see if anything is left of their campsite.

Samir will note the game amulet Quinby is wearing and will recognize it as expensive. And he will also note that the adventurers have picked up quite the pile of gold. 

And finally, as the adventurers leave the barrows, the two horses loaded up, Baldur notices a giant rat sitting at the entrance to the barrows, waving goodbye. And as they move off and the rat scurries back  into the barrows, they may be able to hear a pixie screaming in anger as she finds her gold has been stolen.

OSE Session 4 Recap: Through the Barrows

We last left our adventurers chasing after the remaining skeleton. Kragh of course smashes his way through the door, and through the pile of skeleton dust. Grace Carver is now wearing a scarf over her face, as the barrows is full of dust, and she seems a bit more susceptible now to dust. Having a slight allergy to my cats, I can understand! Seeing another door in front, that one is also immediately smashed.

In the room, the floor has a series of occult symbols written in blood, a pile of fairly fresh human bones and gore, and a thin wizard, reading a black leather book. Looking up in fear, the wizard starts what sounds like a spell. Kragh, having nothing to do with magic, decides to tackle the man. He actually did a natural 20, and the wizard's spleen was no longer an internal organ. A pool of blood comes from the now dead wizard, and Enoki felt some sort of lightening of the spiritual world. Unbeknownst to our group, they had broken the spell that was reanimating all the skeletons. 

In the meantime, Kragh, who cannot read the book wants to know what is in it. Quinby, barely literate, decides to tell the tale of Princess Bubble Fart, and Kragh, our hulking half-Orc is either entranced or disturbed by the story the strange Halfling is spinning. Deputy Ellis takes a look at the book, and finds it is an evil tome to reanimate corpses, a foul magic. The book is soon burned after that, though Grace stepped out of the room to avoid the smoke. Searching the body, Quinby finds a ruby amulet and puts it on. It is not magic so has no effect on him, despite them all watching in curiosity to see what happens to the magpie Halfling.

Having spoken aloud of the shift in the feel of the barrows, Baldur and the group go back to find the undead Treant is now a pile of dust mixed in with the murky water, and Enoki and Quinby (I think!) each take some in one of the many bowls they have picked up. These are not Tupperware so not sure how they'll keep the contents from spilling out but we'll go with it is a game and they figure something out.

Deciding to investigate the rest of the barrows, and Kragh is still looking for Lurbok's stolen sword, the continue onward. Up the cave from the now truly dead Treant, they find a sword coated in blood and carcass crawler gore. Kragh picks it up, hoping it was Lurbok's. It was a fine blade, with the sigil of Sir Ignatius on it. Quinby found a holy symbol in the nest and paid no attention to what sounded like a voice in his head. Perhaps he is used to voices in his head. That, and I forgot to mention it until later...

The blue gore, though, was having an effect on Kragh: his arm was getting numb holding it. For some reason he thought this was a fine thing and waved the sword about. Even with a -2 he had a good grip on the sword despite the numbing effect of the carcass crawler blood. They move forward and are met with five very healthy-looking rats. I did try and stress how healthy these rats were. Not wanting to kill the rats as some remembered that Baldur had spoken with a rat, they moved a bit closer and tried to wave a torch to scare them off. The rats, however, felt cornered, and as Kragh was waving his very numb arm about, with the sword tied to his hand thanks to Baldur, they attacked the nearest big thing threatening them. The others tried to sweep the rats off of Kragh to little effect, yet he only took a single nip before they finally got the rats off of him, with three of them knocked out due to excellent shots by the thief with his sling.

The next chamber was a dead end, but with a strangely glowing pond in it. Through a bit of experimentation, they found that rubbing the water on their wounds helped heal them a bit. Kragh washed off the sword and got all feeling back in his arm, but made the little pond look dirtied from the blood and gore. Enoki walked out to the water and sucked water through what passes for feet in a Mycelium. And got a full healing just about. They tried to take some of the water in another cup but the effervescent nature of the water soon stilled once out of the pond itself.

A bit healed up, and taking a short break, they retrace their steps to explore the rest of the barrows. All the skeletons found at this point are all collapsed, no longer undead or animated. They find a storeroom with three skeletons that had been smoking pipes. One had a key around his neck, but with the door smashing barbarian, who needs a key? Inside a storeroom they find 5 merchants cowering and smelling pretty bad. They had been abducted by the skeletons, and they had overheard the guards planning on using their body parts to get back to a real life somehow. The tobacco they found would be of great interest to the Goblin Merchant Zesp back in Windemere Crossing. 

After a brief discussion, Grace takes the 5 merchants out to wait outside, and the crew carries on their exploration, though now without the constant clicking of Grace's 10-foot pole tapping the floors. Sadly, there were no traps in this barrow, though in hindsight I should have put one that she finds. Just to prove the usefulness of a good pole in a bad barrow. They find a defiled crypt, and in the eye sockets of one of the skeletons find a pair of very lifelike eyes made of stone. They find a room with 3 tattered tapestries, one looking like it is covered in gold. Alas, it was a yellow mold that exploded when they tried to move that tapestry. Fortunately, the only 2 within the space that the spoors exploded into made their breath saves, else they would have died within six rounds. Though I would have allowed them to try & get to the healing waters which I would have allowed to save them. If they thought of it.

The other tapestry held a chain that opened the door behind the middle tapestry. This alcove of a room held a statue with no eyes in its sockets, holding a brazier with 3 blue gems in a writhing mass of white flames. Taking Kragh's sword, Quinby tries to scoop out the gems but instead, the fire crawls up the sword and starts burning his arms.

Enoki, remembering the eyes, gets them and places them in the socket. The flames go out, and they pocket the gems. I believe they left the eyes in the statue when they left, and they also burned that yellow mold tapestry, not seeing the treasure behind that now smoking tapestry.

They find a trapped pixie, Alfwine, in the next room. Freeing her, she says that the skeletons had captured her to be some sort of magical elixir for the wizard. Which brought back bad memories from her of Woodfall, where she was once a member of the Pixie Liberation. She is eager to help, not knowing that these same saviors had also stolen her 500 gold. At least not aware yet...

In a pile, clasped by a now unmoving skeleton hand, the Orc sword is found. While looking clumsy, when wielded by an Orc it handles very well. And I thought I had written that up but cannot find it. So will have to do that again before next week.

from Dyson's Book of Swords

And that was the last room - had they made a right at the beginning rather than a left the sword would have been found the first few minutes into the barrows.

They meet up with Grace outside the entrance, and started loading their loot on the two horses that Ellis and Grace came in on.

Next post I'll go ahead and do a bit of an info dump as they walk back to Windemere Crossing to get the merchants back there and get another 1200 gold. Which they may have to look into a bag of holding, healing potions and the like. We are also close to the thief leveling up, and possibly the barbarian as het is getting a 10% bonus on XP.

Slither Elkwood, Gator Raised By Squirrels

As I am easily amused by many things and spend way too much time looking at silly memes (mostly about cats but gaming ones as well. Enough bad things happening in the world and I'll take my escapism where I can) and this one meme showed up and I thought, I could make a character from that.

The original plan was to use it to replace my dead Ursa Major (see last post for the death stamp) in the random RPG game we were playing. But then we switched to a non-random game so the character showed up there, alongside the river of regrets (we killed off a bunch of slavers who were trying to take Slither as a slave, my character came into session 2 or 3 of the game. They kept falling into the river realizing they had made regretful life choices).

At the River of Regretful Life Choices

the origin

Mine also combines the Squirrels from Lumberland as well as a vague connection to my interdimensional library. Which fits nicely with the description of the squirrel city:

The city’s inhabitants are a combination of fairly intelligent mundane squirrels, sapient talking squirrels hailing from more than one dimensional realm, and the aristocratic clans of the Nutkin — squirrel-kin tracing their descent directly to one or more deities of various realms. Baudekin is also home to squirrel-like refugees from a hundred worlds, including chipmunks, marmots, flying squirrels, and beyond.

And my library of worlds (stolen from a lot of stories but most recently this series of the Invisible Library (which I've only read the 1st 3 or so books but greatly enjoyed them. As I just like libraries in general. In high school I was a page at the public library and had the Dewey Decimal system memorized. Thought I'd be a librarian in life but got interested in computers). From our groups RPG thing a day challenge:

The Library of Gnoth is an interdimensional library that connects to libraries across the planes, dimensions and universes. Not only does it hold an untold wealth of books, parchments, scrolls and other written items of its own, but connects to other libraries across reality. And while there may be some order and design, only the Librarians know how to safely navigate this space. Many adventurers have found the Library to never return, lost in another world or plane. Infinite knowledge may be found here, as well as infinite danger. If one were to simply enter the room one can see bookcases stacked high with books, scrolls and tomes of every sort, ladders and spiraling stairs reaching to the upper floors. The walls and ceiling appear vague, cloudy or a piercing view of infinity. Nooks and rooms are visible, though to enter one you may not be able to return to where you came from. 

The Library is guarded by the Librarians, no two ever looking the same. From many races, and many planes of existence, these Librarians are both guard and keeper of the knowledge in the infinite Library. Often the Librarians will leave the library to search out new books or scrolls to add to its collection. These Librarians can use any Library to return to the Library of Gnoth. 

The entrance to the Library of Gnoth varies from world to world. In the world of Cidri, there is an entrance in The Elemental City of Athukthad, at the north of the Kalor Desert. There is a small library there that, in the special collections room in the cellar, one may find the entrance to the Library of Gnoth. The head librarian is also a Librarian of Gnoth, but prefers to stay on this plane even though she is aging. The Librarians do not age while in the Library, and some are more than a thousand years old, and have accumulated much knowledge and wisdom.

All of my worlds are somehow vaguely connected. Anyway, the background for Slither. 

In the Squirrel City of Baudiken, a librarian squirrel found a basket outside the library entrance, high in the treetops. Thinking someone had returned some overdue scrolls or books, the basket proved to be heavier than expected. Looking inside, Hiccuptail found not books or scrolls, but a small baby lizardfolk. A note inside said that he would be safer amongst those with knowledge, and one day he would return the axe to its rightful place. Looking up, Hicciptail noticed a huge rune-encrusted great axe sitting against the branch. Looking around, he could see no-one around, and dragging the basket inside the library, called for help from the other librarian, his wife Caperknot. Between the two of them they managed to drag the great axe into the library. 

Despite access to other libraries from other realms (there are many portals in Baudiken leading across various realms and worlds) they never found a translation of those runes. There was a similarity to some runes from the far north, from a city in the mountains full of Men. In the meantime, the librarians decided to keep the little lizardfolk and carefully raised him. Barriers had to be put up as he would slither all over the floor and threaten to fall off the great branches. Which is where is name came from, and he took his last name from the great elk tree the library was in and on.

Years went by, and Slither read everything he could, and often read and re-read that note left behind, looking for clues as to where he came from. The great forest bordered swamps, and while he started making trips to those swamps as he got older, he never found another lizardfolk or any information as to who he was. 

Finally a young adult, he decided to leave the village, taking the great axe to find that city in the north, hoping there would be clues as to who he was, and why he was safer with the squirrels. 

leaving home

The Squirrels were of course sad to see him leave, but also wanted him to find his destiny in the world. 

The game is mostly homebrew, so I created a character sheet and printed it on parchment-style paper. It came out pretty good if not great.

character sheet, complete with family portraits

Slither Elkwood

OSE Session 3: Entering the Barrows

Deciding that entering through the main entrance was the only way the group could get in, they did enter the barrows. The flickering candles gave enough light to see the various burial niches, empty but for some linen scraps. The door to the rest of the barrows had scratched into it ALL WHO ENTER HERE ARE CURSED. Quinby, our not-quite-right-in-the-head Halfling thief did not like this, so started adding NOT before the cursed. Baldur indicated that there may be something shiny in the alcoves, but Quinby found nothing there. Kragh, having enough of the scratching on the door and Quinby's antics, decided to go forward and opened the doors. The cobwebbed hall had a clay pot hanging by a thread across from the door. While Grace Carver, still carrying her 10' pole, went to the other side, Kragh tried to grab the pot, but the thread broke as soon as he touched it, to smash on the floor. While Kragh made his breath save, the storied Grace Carver did not, and was coughing up bone dust the next few rounds while the rest of the group started to enter. 

However, as they were moving into the hall, a carcass crawler came around the corner, startled by the coughing. A battle quickly ensued, though Grace was not much help, and the beast was killed without a lot of fuss. Which, for those not familiar with OSE, a carcass crawler is a 9' worm with a tentacled head that has stun tentacles. Think very similar to this, though the notes indicate a carrion crawler. 

Heading around the corner, they see a cobwebbed cave. Seeing the giant spider sleeping, they decide to kill it. As they had initiative over a sleeping spider, they quickly killed it.

Further up the corridor, they see a huge stone slab blocking a hole in the wall. Though it takes three of them, they manage to move it and find the undead Treant. At first it was going to attack, but Baldur stepped up and it remembered him. The Treant really wants to die for real, but the group had no good way of doing so. The puddle and damp cave would hamper any fire efforts and chopping it up may not kill the undead Treant. He said there was a dark, evil spell haunting the barrows, and to stop that would let him finally die the final death. 

Continuing, they come to a room filled with refuse and giant rats. Shaking the torch, they manage to scare off the rats (which counts as XP - nice thing about some games, it is not always about killing but just getting past the monsters!). They find 4 bronze bowls, as well as a brass medallion or coin that has a woman with crossed arms. This object came from our PRG item a day challenge:

What is unknown about the River Maidens is the fact that they are solvers of problems. It is known to some that a simple brass token of a woman, arms folded and some two inches in size is all that is required to gain audience with a River Maiden Factor, or in the rarest of cases, the Brass Mother. These tokens are rare and valuable, being very hard to come by and costing huge amounts of coin to procure.

None of the group made a successful wisdom roll, so have no idea. However, there are people in Windemere Crossing who may have some knowledge. 

Moving on, the group enters a large room, filled with laughing skeletons and zombies attempting to drink and pretend they were still alive. One invited the group over, waving a gold-rimmed drinking horn. Quinby, having absolutely no common sense and the attitude of a magpie around shiny things, of course heads to the group at the table. While Enoki tries to stop him, he manages to miss the spry Halfling. As Baldur, Kragh, Grace Carver and Deputy Ellis Newtonson move forward, a skeleton to the left of the drinking one starts to draw a sword. 

The fight was drawn out and played poorly: Grace Carver's legend was severely tarnished as she continuously managed to miss the skeleton she and the deputy were fighting. She was hurt badly before it was finished off. Meanwhile, Enoki tried to flip the table and did succeed but not a lot of damage. He was taking on two zombies, who almost finished him off, leaving the Mycelian warrior with a single hit point. Sadly, as these were undead, his spore spray (once per day) would have no effect. Baldur, on the table, also had some poor rolls and it took a bit to kill off the zombie he was attacking. Kragh and his skeleton continued to swing and miss each other. Finally, they started getting some good rolls, and finished off the first bunch of the undead. Realizing that their bony and rotting companions had been killed, the remaining skeletons decided it was time to attack. The adventurers decided it was time to retreat.

Running out the door and down the corridor, they get into the Treant's cave. The first skeleton, not knowing what was in there, chased after them. To be swiftly broken down into more bone dust. Causing Grace Carver another coughing fit. Her legend is being severely tarnished and I feel there will be another stanza in her song after the group returns or meets up with a bard. Grace takes a healing potion and gives her final one to Enoki. Ellis has 2 potions left.

Realizing that the newly opened cave meant death for the undead, or at least an abrupt end to their undead life, they hang back. I believe (and I did not keep notes as I should have) another got killed as either Baldur or Quinby, perhaps both, managed to use a sling. The skeletons move further away. Enoki, newly revived, makes a lasso and makes a natural 20 roll, grabbing the skeleton and running as they did when they popped Quinby out of the cave entrance. The skeleton had a rapid unscheduled disassembly. Grace Carver had another coughing fit. Realizing that they were now outnumbered, the remaining 3 skeletons raced off. With the group in rapid pursuit, they did not last long.

And this is where we ended the evening.

I think it was a bit more fun, though we almost lost a player character. And they knew better than to try and attack the remaining skeletons and Quinby actually thought of the undead Treant which managed to turn the tide for our adventurers. 

Which reminds me - I need to use my death stamp on my poor Bear character Ursa Major. I need to use those - I also have success stamps, so maybe use those assuming they live!

Organic Towns Month 6: Windemere Crossing

Somehow, I managed to miss September's posting. A lot, of course, is going on. And with me running the Monday night games and my predilection to over-preparing yet still not getting things ready to be run at the table, I've lacked time for following up on this. And of course, I also realize it is my own impetus behind doing this, but still, I like consistency.

However - I had thought to bring in the adventures in month 5, which is when that did happen. Now we're going into the future as they have only been there a couple of days, so I may have to slow this down, and start doing another town to bring it up to speed. And I really have no idea where they will go next. The mining town is a possibility, but it is very tiny and basically a corporate-owned town (thanks to the Grinning Frog's the Oracle as that had a good low-level adventure they could survive). So, I may expand out Fort Covenant more as I don't want to get too far ahead of where the characters are. Or start an entirely new town, who knows, and leave the location vague until I need it. Though most towns are going to be heavily dependent on location as to why they are even there!

Anyway - some of these events may still happen before our brave adventurers leave to go wherever they go. Assuming they survive the barrows! And who knows - perhaps Windemere Crossing becomes their base for a while. Though Baldur the Druid will probably stay out of the town in a yurt somewhere.

A recap to month 5:

The pasture and western gate are complete, and a small festival was held in the town. Unfortunately, during the festivities, some illegal alicanto beasts escaped their cages. One was found drowned in the well, and now the town has to boil water for the next few weeks. Which is also slowing down the start of construction for the new eastern gate. Swordsmen are being added, giving us 2 squads of 10 fighters to help defend the city. The main merchant area is being moved to outside the western gates. Both to free up space for the military to train, as well as needing an expanded area as the Burgermeister believes trade is the heart of Windemere Crossing. And the western gate will let the light stay longer in the evenings. 

This month the finishing touches are completed in the new market square outside the town walls. The new market gives easier access to the caravans, as well as a larger area for the wares and tradespeople. From a military viewpoint, the 10-person squad of swordsmen is now fully integrated into the town's military forces.

Rolling on our tables, the moral this month I rolled a 14, so nothing specific happens to the town. Just another month of caravans coming and going, adventurers running off to places where they could have gotten paid to go (though I pulled a GM fiat and had Rennor run off to tell the sheriff what had happened at her father's stables, and he sent out Deputy Newtonson & Sgt Grace Carver to do what he was willing to pay them to do (which that would come out of the town resources. I think there was a relationship between settlement points and gold. Sort of like the vague connection between Traveller's resource units and credits. Though I never played Trillion Credit Squadron which is where I think that comes from. But moving on to our fantasy world...)

Crime wise, there is a group of people in town have been the target of property damage and hate messages. This also gives a -1 to the moral roll, but that still falls into the nothing much happened. Which group could be targeted? You really don't want to irritate the Goblins, as they can be quite cunning and vicious in return. Besides, who would do all the jobs they do that no one else wants to, and Zesp is a cornerstone of the town. Perhaps the Orcs: Orcs are not usually welcome most human places, yet there is an entire family living outside of town, and they actually own property. Going with that, and that one of the outbuildings at the stables had its wall knocked down, and one of the horses was hurt. 

As for events, one of the houses in Windemere Crossing has an infestation of rust monsters! The locks have crumbled, and they may soon be leaving the house to invade the town! The swordsmen do not want to attack as they will lose their swords. However - they can fashion clubs, and lead by Sheriff Sprigbasher manage to successfully assail the creatures. If the adventurers are around in a few weeks of game time, they may help as well.

The population moves to 378 residents as Windemere Crossing this month as the market expands and brings in new travelers tired of the caravans and wanting a more stable and quiet life.

As to what the town wants to do next, they are working on the eastern gate still (done in month 8). For the size of the town, they really have enough food stores. But as winter is approaching, they send out a hunting party. Sadly, they find nothing nearby and come back empty handed (10 SP). To be safe, they start storing food (10 SP) to prepare for the cold season. There is the on-going guard patrols (10 SP). With word of the Orc attacking a caravan the previous month, they start training archers (10 SP). And they also start work on an outpost a day's travel west, where the attack was (10 SP). This will aid in defense and trade. And while they wanted to upgrade the road, it was deemed too expensive at this time (and at 75 SP, we don't have the necessary settlement points). However, one of the newcomers is a master brewer, and so they start building a brewery as the farm produces some fine grains, and there are mountain spices for various flavorings. Next year they may even make a pumpkin spice ale (yes, it is that time of year again, isn't it?).

And that brings us to the end of month 6 for Windemere Crossing. I'm going to switch towns and build that up, leaving Windemere Crossing here until we see what our adventurers do.

And speaking of, my next post will be a recap of our Monday game. We are back to OSE, the Traveller game left at a cliffhanger and who knows when we will get back to that game. 

Can't recall if I shared this, but I made a cover for my PDF. Looks like a travel brochure!

Come for the views, stay for the Orc battles!

Traveller Bounty Hunter, Session 3 Recap: To Oriryu

Seated at the CoffeeRUs after Lt. Pratricia Kern left, our bounty hunters try & decide what to do. Realizing that Katja has a few days lead on them and recognizing that with the OTU and how travel works, if they guess wrong, they have just made an expensive mistake. They decide to utilize their skills and start poking into the port data systems. After some good rolls, they do narrow down the most likely as being the Empress Brooke. This was a chartered A2 Trader, owned by one Captain Juan O'Conner. Because it was charted, the passenger manifest and cargo was not made public. However, in researching it's last few jumps and the dossier provided by the Navy, they did tie together the ship and Katja having several overlapping world trips.

The Empress Brooke has 2 engineers, a medic, a gunner/steward, and the navigator who has been with the ship for as long as Juan, over 20 years. The engineers, James and Anna, have been aboard less than 2 years.

As the Empress Brooke was heading to Oriryu, they board the Fenris (as they have named their ship) and take off for Oriryu. I did the Mongoose skill package a bit and one got Navigate (sorry, I just can't seem to make myself call that astrogation though it is more technically correct!) and the other pilot at level 1, as well as each getting an engineering level 0 skill. They still need an engineer, so I need to generate that character should they continue to play. 

The pilot and navigator made good rolls, though the lift off was a bit rough. A week later, after numerous meetings that were often filmed with the Intstellarms weapons on good display, they pop out of jump space and arrive at Oriryu.

At the port they land on pad A6. Again perusing public records, they find that the Empress had landed on pad T3, which is a landing pad with attached warehouse. They also find that a woman and two men had left the ship and headed to the star town. The woman did match Katja's description. 

Anastasia had gotten Martha to basically photoshop a picture of her and Katja looking like buddies. Took a bit of work from the mug shot, but as they have TL-C equipment available, pretty certain that AI manipulation for media can do just about anything. She was planning on using that to help track down our fugitive. 

Going to the World Police (with a population of 900K, there is not a lot of layers to police) they find Captain Jane Fren. She looks up Katja, but there is only a Cr10,000 award for her here, and when they produce the MCR2.5 reward, she is all ears and wanting to assist. They manage to score an unmarked police vehicle, though none actually have any driving skills, so "Wild Bill" Davidson, our nearly 7' tall cameraman, will drive (and he is very vaguely based on a character from the The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind series which is a very fun series. But in hindsight will play up more of his characteristics should we continue playing).

Captain Jane Fren of the World Police

They find that she and her thugs have checked into the Hotel D'Orroe, a cheap hotel in star town. Deciding to check it out, Anastasia finds a very disinterested manager watching a wrestling show. And Shintaro goes to the Purple Fountain Club, which is adjacent to the hotel. When a break comes up, Anastasia slips Cr40 to him (and no, she does not have bribery skill and technically I could have rolled for the reaction, but figured moving the story forward as I was thinking we may be able to close off the adventure that night. Spoiler: did not). He said yeah, they had checked in but were at the club next door. Sharing the picture of her & Katja, Anastasia stressed she wanted it to be a secret to surprise her for her birthday. Clicking a credit on the counter, the manager smirks a bit and indicates he'll think about keeping quiet, but after another Cr20, his silence is a given. 

Purple Fountain Club, from Points In Space

Shintaro had been scoping out the club, bit no sign of their target. At the foyer, Anastasia again tells her story, and finds that Katja was on the private meeting room at the back of the club.

And that is where we left things. I hurried through a few things and ignored a few things to move things on to what I was hoping to be the end. However, we talked a bit, and we moved slower. And sadly, I am never as prepared as I wish I were. None of the NPCs really had anything behind them. And I can barely play my own characters, let alone several NPCs. And as mentioned, I felt I was rushing to get something exciting to happen. 

Not sure if we have another week of Traveller, or back to the OSE game. So I need to find that out so I can plan for the next session!

Traveller Bounty Hunter, Session 2 Recap

After returning to Checkmate Acquistions headquarters for a brief nap and regroup, Shintari and Anastaisa head to the port. The class A starport on Zeng is a huge complex, though most of it is set up for the Imperial Navy and Scouts. Perhaps 10% of the actual port is for civilian traffic. 

They meet up with Charlie Michelson, who is running his 4 autobot cleaners across Annex 43. He is at first disappointed that the film crew for On The Hunt are not there, but Shintaro explains that they want to set things up and make sure the conversation goes smoothly and will be ready for recording and broadcasting later. They find that Charlie saw a blond woman and two men go through the Navy security gate. This particular gate is often used for Navy personnel returning from shore leave but is still guarded well as it does lead to the Imperial Navy's section of the port. Charlie said he has spoken with a Jan Voohikan, a Navy captain working the case. The blond woman and the two men did not look like Navy, and Charlie has seen a lot of Naval crewmen return to the base in all sorts of states. 

At this point, Mac, Wild Bill and Martha, the film crew, show up. Mac starts getting things moving while Bill sets up his records, and Martha sets the 3 camera drones to start getting some blocking and background shots of the starport annex. A small crowd gathers to watch the interview process. A few more Navy personnel show up at the security gate, including an officer or two at least. Charlie shares the autobot cleaners footage of the group entering the Navy base, but the footage does not give enough resolution to identify the group. They have low-res cameras and lidar to avoid people while cleaning floors, not for surveillance. Though now I am thinking that could make a good way to spy in public spaces in Traveller. 

During the discussion, Charlies lets them know that Lisa also works the same shift as he does, over in the OnePrint shop, a news and printing service. As the shop may have better security, they talk to her. It turns out that the shop sells local and regional tourist things, as well as having an extensive library of books. Anastaisa decides to get an actual printed volume of War and Peace, and while not getting the top-of-the-line acid-free paper, Smythe binding, pseudo-leather cover and satin ribbon, she does get the book maker to manufacture a decent book. At a cost of Cr15. Yes, my Traveller universe has Makers, but some are a bit smaller and make books. People in the future still like to have physical things. And I personally prefer real books (as I type on an electronic story...)

The security cameras from the shop only cover the shop area, though Linda does mention that the SPA cameras would have high resolution 3D imagery. And while I strongly hinted that between their admin and advocate skills they could probably get access to the recordings, the players decided that they were at a dead end. 

Sitting down and having a coffee, one Navy Lt. Pratricia Kern walks over. She lays it on the line: yes, Navy Intelligence would prefer to capture Katja Rigg themselves, they want her captured at all costs. Which is how the bounty got put out a day after the explosion. She lets them know that the two Naval guards are both being interrogated by her boss, Capt. Voohiken. They were bribed but not aware of Katja's ID: they thought she was just another Navy junky who wanted a quick peek at the shipyards. A few hundred credits and promise to be fast and she was in. An hour or so later she left, and not long past that the explosives took out the INS Far Stretch, the Imperial courier. Our group also notices one of Martha's drones perched up high. This area of the starport is probably 3 stories high, but those drones have 360-degree views with very high-definition cameras. They have done this before, and their commdots can be linked to the drones, so our bounty hunters are recording this conversation just in case. They are used to Martha recording things after several episodes of their show.

Handing them her card, Lt. Kern follows up that she will be available if they need more, and that her card would also aid in getting access to the SPA's security. She also gave them the list of civilian ships that have come and left in the last few days:

Incoming last 7 days (other than Navy or Scout ships):

• Free trader (type A2), Empress Natashia. Left night previous to explosion
• Subsidized merchant (type R) on charter from political group bringing in an executive party from a neighboring system to plead for aid. Still at the port. Giddy Up
• Subsidized merchant (type R) on free trade status, Fat Chance. Left day before the explosion

Leaving last 3 days:

• Seeker (type J). This ship may be on a trade mission or may be prospecting on the moon. Hopper, heading to the Belt in the Zeng system
• Free trader (type A1 ), Empress Natashia. Left night previous to explosion. Destinatin: Agdarmi
• Far trader (type A2) leaving system, Empress Brooke. Had been there almost 2 weeks. Destination: Oriryu

• Subsidized merchant (type R) on subsidized merchant route.  Carrying mail and loading up on aid supplies. Gilded Princess, heading to Sorel

And that is where we left that session.

Unfortunately, despite Zeng being fleshed out in my head pretty well, I don't think I am getting the "feel" across to the players. And they do prefer fantasy or more pulp science fiction games, so I am thinking as much as I enjoy it, they are not enjoying it as well. Dry, rather than juicy was mentioned. Part of this is that every time I run Traveller with the current group (even years before) they always play the straightlaced Imperial citizens. Even as bounty hunters, they don't want to carry weapons, even though the stunners are allowed in the port (well, they do have their stun sticks). Of course, in a high-tech world like Zeng, and especially in the port, there are cameras and things. So getting caught is a lot different than a fantasy game. In the end it is my failing - while I really enjoy Traveller, both MTU & OTU, the wide divergence of play style from fantasy RPGs, as well as the lack of an established sense of what the technology has available, detracts from that. For those who play Traveller a lot, there would be a lot more digging into the differences in the tech levels, how to use their skills to better things, and all that stuff. I think if I run Traveller again, I'd much prefer the players to generate not only their characters, but also at least describe their home worlds and systems. None of them want to actually roll up the worlds (and I'd go full Book 6 on that!), but from the descriptions I can establish the details. And then we could establish at least that corner of the universe and perhaps they would "understand" at least that MTU. Unless they wanted to roll up the system as well, but this group is NOT a crunchy rules group. We play a lot of rules-light games. I'd really like to get back to games and get better at understanding the rules, as for me that is a lot of the fun. And while we do play for much longer than the previous 1-to-2-month cycle, we rarely go back to an earlier game. We talk about it a lot, but everyone one keeps getting more games, and wants to play and run that. One of the reasons I stopped buying games - I want to get good at the ones I have. I prefer a more in-depth approach to a lot of things (probably one of the reasons I write software: it is ALL details!) Just a difference in how we play and enjoy the games. Which does make for some fun games, and I appreciate getting to play at all. 

I did do a survey of our group using the types of players as described in Robin's Laws:

3/4 picked "the story teller", much more interested in telling a story and not preoccupied with XP or levels: The Storyteller: Like the method actor, is more attuned to the roleplaying side and less interested in XP or levels. More interested in taking part of a fun narrative that feels like a book or movie than strict identification of his character. Quick to compromise if it moves the story forward. The other was a butt-kicker: The Butt-Kicker: wants to let off steam with a little old-fashioned vicarious mayhem. Picks a simple, combat-ready character whether or not that is the best route to power. Wants to let off steam and prove his superiority over all who would challenge him. May or may not care about the rules as long as he gets plenty of chances to clobber things.

Bottom line: I need a better way of running Traveller for this group. The way I played in college (where 3 of the 5 of us all had dog-eared copies of the game as it was our primary game we played for years) does not work here as that group knew Traveller and we all played or ran the game pretty much the same way as each other. At a guess, the first several sessions may have been "dry" but as we played most Fridays for 5-8 hours (yeah, I used to stay up late!) we all figured out Traveller. Heck - one of the players created an Aslan font. And this was in the early 80s, so way before the internet gave us all these cool tools. Another player actually had Vargr custom tags - yes, we were really into Traveller! Which goes back to my really wanting to play a system enough so that I can understand the rules. And I actually like crunchy rules (again, I write software. It is also all crunchy. Been doing that for 40+ years so apparently, I do like crunch!)

Traveller Bounty Hunter, the Ship To Be Named

I used the fairly simple Mongoose v1 ship rules to create their ship. Based on the 0-Hr Tachikaze Interceptor, it is a 30-year police pursuit craft that has seen better days. But is is also how they can afford it: the new 40-year mortgage is for 1/4 the original price which was just over MC120. And also, they have a bit more income than normal as they are the stars of the On The Hunt holo-series, a reality show about bounty hunters. And they also do product placement for Instellarms, LIC. 

Working out the basic costs, I get the following:

Monthly costs:

                Pilot                        Cr6000

                Navigator               Cr5000

                Engineer                 Cr4000 x 3 = Cr 12,000

                Life Support           Cr2000/person (x5 crew = Cr10000)

                Power Plant fuel   Cr2000

                Mortgage               Cr125,000 (MCr30 / 240 payments over 40 years)

                ==========

                Cr159,000

Which for starships is not so bad. And also, the PCs will fill in 3 of those roles, so we can really subtract that. Life support I am going with Cr2000/person/month which is how I read those rules. Though I think Classic is Cr2000/person/week but that always seemed really high to me. Regardless, house rule if nothing else!

We also need to figure out how much they are getting paid, both from the residuals for the show and their sponsor, Intstellarms. A search indicates that a popular bounty hunter in real life gets $75,000 a year for his show. As credits are about $2/credit (well, they were in the late 70s, and I'll go with that!) meaning the players also earn Cr150,000 a year, or Cr12,500/month. Which is already 2x the pilot pay! We'll add a bit more as the show does promote the arms maker, so let's add Cr50K/year, bringing our players getting Cr200,000/year, or Cr16,666/month. Plus, any bounties they get. 

We have a few decisions to make: is the ship the characters' ship, or does it belong to Checkmate Acquistion? I am going to go with the players are owning this but use their company to help back the loan. Assuming we get 3 players (only 2 showed up the first night), the mortgage split 3 ways is Cr41,666/month. So, while it looks like they are making a LOT of credits, they are really still in the hole. Starships are really expensive in Traveller. 

I've pegged the bounty on Katja Rigg at MCr2.5. And there may or may not be accomplices - they have yet to do any real investigation other than talking to one of their contacts, which did give them the lead to the starport custodial engineer who "saw something he should not have". 

Maybe they will name it this session. They did just get it

everyone needs ID cards (I'll add the skills on the back and voila, character sheets!)

And as I've noted before: Traveller is really different than most SF games. Things are expensive. Star Trek and Star Wars everyone and their dog has a spaceship, can fly it, and it costs nothing. Of course, RPGs should not be accountants in space, but things should not just be given away. Similar to why I like low-level games - there are consequences and this this is not just a fantasy fulfilment thing for me. Traveller has a different set of struggles than a lot of SF games in addition to your normal things. One of the reasons I really enjoy it!

And yes - it is also time for the next Organic Towns for Windemere Crossing. I may get that out tomorrow, though I also need to finish my 3 sessions outline (and one session is done). I generally plan the overall arc, but never define how to get to the endpoint specifically. Basically, we start at A and need to get to F. There are a number of ways I throw out there, and then build on the choices the players take. And yes - part of that comes from the XDM book which I need to re-read. And yes, I did back yet another GM book, The Secret Art of Gamemastering though I only backed the book and not the whole thing as the other two books are really just forms, and I can make those myself. One of these days I'll be good at running games (though it seems the ones I do less prep work run better. But I like prep work!)

Traveller Bounty Hunter, Session 1 Recap

Setup

There was a bit of housekeeping to set things up, characters 4 and 7 were picked up, so let's give a bit more information from the players.

Bounty Hunter support specialist Shintaro Ruye has a heavy autopistol and a stun gun. I tried to get him a stunner, but the player wants a shotgun that shoot bean bags basically to knock people out.

UPP 989577 age 29, Bounty Hunter Support, Rank2

Skills: Slug Pistol-2, Investigate-1, Computer-1, Admin-1, Deception (Lies-1), Electronics-0, Streetwise-0, Broker-0, Advocate-0

Cr10100, Auto Pistol, shotgun w/stun bags, Cloth armor

Bondswoman Anastasia Rozhenko is proud of her Deception (Disguise-0) and apparently carries a wig with her most of the time. She wears a cloth duster over a flak vest a lot of the time as well. And for some reason, no idea what guns she has!

UPP: 7889B6 age 34, Rank 4, 4 Terms, Trust 4

Skills: Advocate-1, Melee (Martial Art-1), Investigate-1, Remote Operations-1, Carouse-1, Deception (Disguise-0), Gun Combat (Energy Wpn-1, Slug Pistol-1), Medic-0, Streetwise-0

Cr30,000, Gun, Flak Vest, Cloth Duster

They are still employed by Checkmate Acquisitions, a bounty hunting company situated on Zeng. With a population of only about 10,000, you may be wondering why Zeng? Beyond the metagaming aspect of me picking a random planet in a system I've never played in again, of course! Zeng is the capital of the Zeng subsector, and the class A port has a huge Naval component as well as a a large Scout base. There are almost 10,000 service personnel who move through Zeng on a yearly basis as their terms move them from system to system. Communication is top-notch for the sector, and so our bounty crew is based here.

Johanne Von Num owns Checkmate Acquisitions, but with the fame of our hunters becoming a subsector phenomena from the On The Hunt holo-series (brought to you by Instellarms, LIC) bringing in even more revenue, they have managed to purchase an older police pursuit ship. Which the players have yet to name!

The police version retains the Tachikaze name but ditches the heavy weapons and armor to focus fully on speed and maneuverability. There are several of these law enforcement ships in service throughout the Zeng subsector as they excel at their pursuit and interception role. They can chase down just about anything heavier than a fighter, but are lightly armed and fairly fragile. This means that they are excellent for law enforcement against common civilians and merchants, but must depend on backup in order to bring more serious criminals to heel.

300 tons, TL 13

Jump Drive D: Jump 2      25 60 (2xjump 1, 1x jump 2)

Man Drive E: Man             5 9

Power Plant E:                  16 20 (4 weeks)

Bridge 20

Model 2 Computer

Basic Military Sensor Specs 2

Kintaro from 0-Hr

I'll see about the Traveller details in a later post, but we are handwaving big chunks of what I consider basic Traveller game mechanics. I feel my players would rather fall into a pit trap than deal with the details of managing the details. The handwave is that between the product placement for Instellarms and the residuals of the popular show, we'll just keep the high cost of starship ownership in the background. Should we decide to play more than what is assumed to be a 3-session deal, we will start layering in those details. Probably via an NPC so it will be me, but they will be aware of more. But my breakdown of the ship-to-be-named will cover operating costs (and it is a 30-year-old ship. so not brand new). 

Our holovid crew consists of the 3 people mentioned in the set-up post though they were only background in the office when we finally got to the start of the session.

The Job Starts

The explosion was 2 nights ago, and Johanne finally has the information needed, and the license, to go after our fugitive Katja Riggs. Getting Anastasia and Shintaro off the sofa, our two decide to check in on one of their known sources, a Miss Dawson. 

Miss Dawson is a companion for hire, who is usually available at the Star Dwellers Bar and Lounge. Taking the underground walks, it is not too far from their headquarters. Which, like 80% of the population, lives in Startown. The transient population of Zeng is about 10x the locals. 

Finding her at her usual haunt, they start talking with her and find that her friend Charlie Michelson, a custodian at the starport in Annex 43, "saw something he should not have." While Anastasia was questioning the diminutive Dawson, Shintaro noticed two goons watching with a bit more than the usual interest in the conversation. Paying for their drinks, they use a bit of a ruse to exit the bar, and noticing that they are being followed, go up the street to the Star Motel, a cheap hotel frequented by Navy personnel on shore leave. There is much discussion and planning as to what to do, but in the end, they took a simpler route. Anastasia puts on the far-too-small clothing of Miss Dawson and dons her wig. Hoping to be a distraction while Shintaro goes out the back and grabs a handy lead pipe. No one questions why a TL-C world has a lead pipe lying around, but this is not the nicest of neighborhoods. It really should be some lightweight composite pipe, but that just does pack the same punch. And pretty sure plumbing is not made of crystaliron...

Anastasia horribly fails her deception/disguise roll, but is distracting enough as is, especially as the dress starts to tear for her first (and only - this is a PG-17 game!) wardrobe malfunction. But it is enough for Shintaro to come up behind one the thugs and knock him down, to stand on top while Anastasia uses her martial arts to successfully take the other thug down.

While they want answers, the thugs were singularly unhelpful in giving them any information, and eventually they are let go. 

Returning to the Star Motel, they give Miss Dawson Cr25 to pay for the dress, and the ever-helpful woman mentions that the Ine Givar would never just stay on the planet after something like that. 

Calling her friend Charlie, the janitor who runs 4 auto-cleaner drones on the night shift, they make plans to interview him in the morning. They will bring along the camera crew as he is a huge fan, and his parents on Quirinal would love to see him on the holoseries. Of course, between editing and transit time, it will be months before the episode on Katja Riggs even airs, let alone gets transported 4 parsecs away!

And session 1, done!

I've mentioned before that running Traveller is a bit harder than most games to run. Not for the mechanics, but for the "feel". The OTU is a distinct type of universe, and though Zeng is TL-C, they've been staying inside as the very thin atmosphere if nitrogen trichloride is not particularly appealing, even with compressor/filter masks! And being that high tech, the entire city is on grav plates, so the 0.5G that the planet has is not noticed. We did comment on the sun being far larger than ours is as they are all of .25AU or so away from the M3 star. And the day sis a 20 hour day, but other than that, it mostly feels like just being here on Earth. 

I'll have to try and get some underground future city pictures to help, but by golly, we are going to get  into a spaceship as this IS Traveller, not On the Hunt (brought to you by Instellarms, LIC). Have to make sure that they do some product placement while interviewing Charlie next week! Meaning I need to get some products ready :)

I'll also get more details about the potential worlds they can go to. They do have the investigation skill but we've been light on actual skill usage. Investigate: The Investigate skill incorporates keen

observation, forensics, and detailed analysis. Which really does not apply in this scenario much...

Finally, including the cover to the Clement Sector rules. The starport and startown could look like this but probably not. I'll have to get some good pictures for next time to help them get a feel for the science fiction.

Bounty: Katja Rigg, Insurgent

 Katja Rigg, Group Commander of the Ine Givar

Katja Rigg is a human female, approximately 38 years old. Raised with a twin sister, they took wildly divergent approaches when the Tigress Incident of 1094 happened. While her sister ended up being an agent for the Imperium, Katja thought that the Imperials were the ones at fault, and somehow came into contact with the Ine Givar. She has been an active member about a dozen years, and quickly moved up the ranks within various cells. She has had to move often but has only been compromised twice. A quick bribe to a port guard allowed for access to the Naval base.

Character

UPP: A46A97 Group Commander Katja Rigg

Weaponry-2, Mechanical-2, Slug Pistol-1, Blade-1, Instruction-1, Combat Engineering-1, Comms-1

A tall blond, with a perpetual smoke stick hanging from her lip, though never lit. Though strong she tends to be clumsy, though watching her tear down any weapon and put it back together seems to bely her normal physical ineptitude. Her last act of sabotage against an Imperial Naval Base on Zeng resulted in the deaths of more than 2 dozen Naval personnel and Marines as well as the complete destruction of Naval Courier. She has escaped the system, current whereabouts unknown.

History in the Ine Givar

Year 1: Training, Recruit -> Recruit 1st class. Gun Combat: Slug Pistol-1, Blade-1, Operations

Year 2: Military Support, -> Section Leader, Instruction

Year 3: Intelligence Gathering, Compromised -> Support Services

Year 4: R&D, Weaponry-1

Year 5: Sabotage, -> Group Leader, Combat Engineering-1

Year 6: Intelligence Gathering, -> Force Leader, Comms-1

Year 7: Internal Security, bribed official Cr6000, Mechanical-1

Year 8: R&R year (visited with family for an extended time)

Year 9: R&D, -> Commander, Weaponry-2

Year 10: R&D, -> Group Commander

Year 11: Sabotage, compromised and on the run.

The Navy has one less on Zeng now...

The character was rolled up from the RIPs In Traveller (Rebels, Insurgents and Partisans). From Adventure Gaming, Dec 1981. I miss the days of general RPG magazines!

The PCs are part of a bounty hunters' group. One of them (and if none of the players pick character #6, instant NPC on deck!) did so well is a media star which is where a chunk of the funding comes in as there will be a holovid crew on board for the popular holo-series, On The Hunt, brought to you by Instellarms, LIC. Would also explain how shiny and new their weapons and arm or may be! And allows me to handwave the expense handling for this group for a bit. As well as have some interesting characters. 

Holovid Crew:

• Mac Tudor, manager. Handles most of the expenses and directions on the show. Has some say in where the group may go as well as a hand in picking out the next target. I picked Katja Rigg as he is also getting an advance from the Imperial Navy with the understanding he shares all footage and info with them first, before broadcasting. A small man just under 5' tall, he is loud for his size and wears flashy clothes. He is not afraid to be in the midst of firefights.
• "Wild Bill" William Davidson. Considerably the opposite of Mac, Wild Bill is almost 7 feet tall, making the holographic gear he carries look tiny in his hands. An eye for detail, he seems to know just where to go for the best shots. Though the more dangerous shots do use drones for holo-capture. A fairly quiet man, he does not want to be in the spotlight but does want to capture the spotlight. 
• Martha Snow, technician and runner. Evan smaller than Mac, Martha is the tech wiz maintaining the equipment as well as doing most of the initial editing and processing of the various feeds. Gregarious, she gets along with pretty much everyone and is very tech-focused. 
• Holo-equipment. The main system is the gear Wild Bill carries on him, for capturing the hunters close up and giving that raw footage style. Even though the cameras have extensive image stabilizing, they often add fake jitters to make it seem "more realistic". They also have 4 remote drones used for wide-angle and distance shots.