[GM School]Into the Unknown:Adrift (Inactive)

Game Master eijel

Welcome all to the second quest of Into the Unknown. I want to apologize for the late start on this quest as it seems to have run up against GenCon.

I expect that I will be posting at least once a day each weekday and at least once during the weekend. I am asking for a similar commitment from those playing in the game. If you know that you will have a difficult time meeting this expectation due to scheduled events, please let make sure you have botting instructions available for your character and let me know ahead of time so that we can perhaps plan together. If botting instructions are not given, I will assume that the character does nothing for that round and will move on if a post is not made within 48 of the character's previous post.

As I am sure you are all aware, this quest does include Starship Combat. As this is not familiar to everyone as thoroughly as other parts of the Starfinder system, I have included a sort of cheat sheet on Starship Combat Roles. Feel free to refer to this, as I know I will be. Also, due to the asynchronous nature of PbP, there will be some slight rule alterations.

• To keep the game flowing as efficiently as possible, I will not require posts in the order of your role. However, the actions taken will be resolved in the appropriate order, which I will post as a summary each round.
  
• For the same reasons as above, I am asking for the Pilot to roll a Piloting check at the end of each of their posts to determine the order for the following round.
  
• As facing is very important in starship combat, the forward arc of all starships is indicated on the map. I will assume that the facing is correct for any starship on the map. If you need help with pivoting the pawns, please let me know.

I hope to have a fun time here, but I want to do this right by you. If you have any suggestions that will make this go smoothly, feel free to let me know either here, in the discussion, or through a DM.

If all we do in this portion of the adventure is starship combat then this might not matter much here. But I have a list of the loot we found in game in the last part. I believe it should be usable for then entire run, right?

In Scenario Gear:
plant bulbs X6 each bulb acts as a dose of tier-1 antitoxin.
assault hammerX2
azimuth laser pistol with battery (20 charges X2 and 1 with 17) X3
Datapad
credstick with 250 credits X2

One thought would be to use the cred sticks to purchase healing serums, but that might decrease credits awarded at the end. ???

Please decide and let me know what stations you will be starting at.

Just as a reminder, there can only be one Captain and one Pilot. There can be multiple Gunners, Science Officers, and Engineers. Also, you are able to change your role between rounds, if necessary.

I sorta built Rig to pilot. He has the Ace Pilot Background and even a Skill Focus. He is +11 at piloting.

It would help me with piloting if I already knew the result of the engineering phase. It could be a big deal to have +2 yo speed for instance. That could be the difference between weapon range increments and firing arcs. Is there any way the pilot can know the result of engineering before I post?

Also I am a little confused about facing. I see the triangles you used to try to indicate facing by they are triangles and point inn3 directions. Lol.

The roles for the engineering phase are included in the spoiler. Feel free to peruse. I have included the DCs in the rolls. In this case, they were successful in diverting to their engines, so they gained the +2 speed. Also, they were successful in taunting, giving a -2 to the helm phase checks and -4 to help phase push checks for 3 rounds. I tend to use spoilers liberally, so unless there is a DC that isn't met in the spoiler title or includes the word 'secret', I have no problems with you reviewing them.

As for the facing, I agree that the images don't paint the picture I wanted them to that well. side of the hex that touches the colored triangle is the forward arc. Right now, both ships are facing towards the left of the map.

I hope that helped. Feel free to give me any pointers that you think might help out here.

That helps on the facings. I need to know my side’s engineering check, not the enemies.

Rig will ask for more power to the engines this round.

Long day at work. I understand now. Sorry for being thick.

Also, can you show the enemy's starting position and how it moved? Knowing its speed might be useful and I think we just saw it move so we would know that.

I have added an arrow showing the movement of the enemy ship to the map. This round, the ship moved 8, but it was pushed to that speed.

To make sure that we still have everyone, can you just let me know when you are back and ready to go?

Ready to go!

Also, is anyone going to take Engineering right now?

Also, is anyone going to take Engineering right now?

I see no need for Engineering this round given our small crew, especially since we haven't taken damage.

My thoughts for Morvruul are to:

1) Scan the enemy ship for potential weak spots
2) Get on the secondary guns (multiple gunners are likely to do far more damage than empowering weapons or targeting systems)
3) Jump into engineering role if ship starts taking significant damage

Also, I suggest that we "assign" the floating +1 ship computer bonuses to the Pilot and turret gunner each round (unless particular circumstance suggest we should vary for a round).

At Dragon Con. Back home Monday. Might get a post off before but not for sure.

Sorry this is taking me some time. I am back from the con but behind on everything. The information on the ship is lacking and I am having to look things up. For instance our missile launcher has a range of 20 and the missiles have a speed of 12. That is important stuff if I am piloting for a firing position. Also our computer, a Mark 1 Trinode, give out a Bonus of +1, +1, +1. I am not exactly sure what that is but I think its +1 to piloting, maybe +1 to Computers and some other plus 1?

Also, after a lot of time reading rules and trying to understand tactics I am finally ready to pilot but cannot edit the map. lol

I swear I made it editable when shared. Oh well, I updated it again so you should be able to edit the map now.

Grr. Now I have somehow moved the map under the ships without meaning to. And I am not sure that the distance between ship is the same as it was before. Can you check that? Sorry. I moved and hope I did it right. I should be out of their forward firing arc while catching them in ours.

First of all, does anyone know how to lock an image in google slides?

I have moved the map back and marked your original location with a silver donut. Unfortunately, the placement of the ship is not possible given the original facing and speed of the ship. Also, as you have placed the icon, the Loreseeker is facing towards the upper right of the map, not at the Endless Threnody.

With that being said, there is a way to achieve what you are trying to do. Just remember, due to the maneuverability of the ship, it must take 1 move in the direction it is facing before it can turn 60° (one hex side). The ship was originally facing away from the enemy ship.

I was thinking it was 2 moves strait before turning? Regardless I think I have a firing solution.

I hate to break it to you, but you are unable to Turn in Place and move in the same turn. Turn in Place is considered a stunt.

I am not saying you are wrong but I just watched GMs do that at the SFS interactive this weekend. That is move two and then turn.

I believe we have to move at least two before turning right? Are you saying you have to move after turning? If so do you have to move before and after turning?

How about now?

And this is my problem with using SFS for DM school. I do not plan on running SFS...

I hate to say that anyone is doing it wrong. However, the rules, as written in the Core Rulebook, say that each role can take one action per turn. Evade, Fly and turn in Place are all separate actions. The number of hexes needed to move in order to turn 60° are determined by the maneuverability of the ship. If the ship has a perfect (0) maneuverability, they can, in a sense, incorporate a Turn in Place action into their other action. In the case of this ship,, which has a maneuverability of good (1), the ship must move 1 space before they turn 60°. Unless using a stunt that specifically allows something different, a ship can only move in the direction of their facing.

I have added a path on the map that fits these criteria and also puts you out of the Endless Threnody's forward arc while still having it within the Loreseeker's forward arc. Feel free to use this positioning.

I am willing to do what I can to help move things along, however, I am afraid I may have slowed us down.

So, first I pre-rolled this Scan action under a spoiler

However, I had unfortunately missed this request for more speed (then made things worse by writing that "I see no reason to take Engineering this round").

If Rig called for additional speed at the beginning of the round, then Morvruul would have moved to Engineering and attempted to provide it.

@ Rig - Sorry, I missed your request earlier.

@ GM DamonLuos- Please let me know if I may move to engineering and make a check this round (or if my prior action stands) for this round.

First, I am not trying to do more than one action this turn. I am evading, which is all I claimed. You keep bringing up that I am trying to do more but I am not. I may have been confused about the need to move after a turn, but am happy to take your call on that, even though after reading the book I believe I am right. Here is the passage:

"Every round in which a starship turns, it must move
a certain number of hexes before each turn, determined by its
maneuverability (see the table below). For example, a ship with
average maneuverability making two turns in a round must move
at least 2 hexes before its first turn, and at least 2 more hexes
before its second turn. If a starship has perfect maneuverability
(the distance between turns is 0), the ship can make two turns for
each hex that it moves (allowing it to turn around a single point)."

There is nothing her that says you need to move "after" you turn. Can you review that and let me know if you agree?

But now we have the you telling me we have +2 to speed, but our engineer telling me we really don't, or at least he posted something different. So I need a GM call on that to know if I have the +2 to speed or not.

Also I think I was looking at the wrong ship this entire time. We are on the Loreseeker? I was looking at the Odyssey. :(

You are correct. You do not have to move after a turn. I was only saying that it is not possible to Turn in Place and move all within the same action.

As for the +2 movement, since this is our first round in starship combat, I am ok with giving some leeway. As Morvruul has not acted (I am not counting the extra scans as, in my mind those happened before you arrived here), he can make an engineering check to attempt to divert power to the engines.

And you are correct, this is the Loreseeker. I can understand the confusion as they have different stats.

OK. Tae 3, or 4 or whatever it is. I finally think I know enough to pilot the ship. Sorry that was so painful. Our ship is faster and more maneuverable than I was thinking but packs less of a punch. I am moving now. Light Laser cannons are short range. Let me see what I can do.

And now I cannot move the ship any more. ?

I am back home and can move the ship again fine. I could not move it from my laptop. Not sure why. And now that I know what ship we have I need a little guidance from the group. Do we want a close firing position like the one shown? Our guns are not long range. How many gunners do we have have? The place indicated at the moment would let three guns fire but I am betting we only have at most two gunners.

we could also be at the short arrow bringing one weapon arc and the turret to bear. That would be in the first range increment of both weapons. I think this is better if we cannot fire 3 weapons.

We have one gunner at present. It will be hard to fire three weapons, if not impossible--particularly with the minimum crew we have.

I suggest scanning the enemy ship to try and learn it's capabilities, weapons, and defenses as that should help us determine optimal placement during piloting (although, I believe the flavor text already provided gives us some clues).

That can be done next turn before the ship moves (but it means forgoing engineering for the round).

For this round, I suggest we stick with the current ship position ans let this round be resolved.

Once we know what we are up against, we can decide if Morvruul is better off doing Engineering, Science, or Gunnery for future rounds. I believe Captain and Pilot roles must be filled each round, but the remaining two can be changed/vacated between rounds.

Gotcha. Sorry this drug out so long Next round will be much faster. If we only have one gunner then there is no issue with our facing as we just stay on on the better turret gun. Please move us to the small arrow. Once again I cannot do so from my laptop. If no one does I will do so tonight.

Gotcha. Sorry this drug out so long Next round will be much faster. If we only have one gunner then there is no issue with our facing as we just stay on on the better turret gun. Please move us to the small arrow. Once again I cannot do so from my laptop. If no one does I will do so tonight.

Moved.

Just a heads up that I leave for an 11 day trip out of the country on the 19th. I'll have an ipad and can post some but will not be reliable.

I recommend one of the gunners bot me if I am late to respond while I am out. Piloting is 11+1.

I recommend one of the gunners bot me if I am late to respond while I am out. Piloting is 11+1.

If you don't mind a simple merchant trying to direct the pilot, I am happy to bot for you.

I am heading out of town from September 30th through October 7th. I expect to have very limited ability to post between then. Please bot me during that time.

I understand that Rig is returning on the 30th, the same day I am leaving, so continuing to bot Rig shouldn't be an issue.

Right. I am back and catching up. Thanks for the help with botting. :)

Hi, everyone.

I'm going to be stepping in to act as your mentor for a while, because Poblano/Morroda is dealing with some real life craziness. I'll be reading carefully through this mission so far in the next day or two, so that I can be available for any help or questions. Don't feel that you need to stop while I do so or anything.

It seems as though our game has stalled a bit. I want to ask everyone to try to post once per weekday and once per weekend, at the very least. I know that I haven't been doing this either, but I will be trying to stick to that from here on out.

I will take some of the blame for the stall on my side. So I am going to try something different for the rest of the game. First of all, feel free to post for your round even if your character wouldn't act yet. I will resolve the actions in appropriate order in a recap post. If your action will no longer be valid, we can do a few things. You could post an alternative in your initial post that I will use or a new post to replace the initial one. Alternatively, I could semi-bot you by applying your roll (with appropriate modifiers to a more fitting action). Please let me know what you guys want to do.

For Rig, at the end of each of my recap posts, I will roll the 'initiative roll' for both ships. I think this might help with some of the lag.

Please let me know what you are thinking. We are closing on the end of this combat and I want to give someone else a chance to GM sooner rather than later.

I am good with that. It still lets me roll piloting for maneuvers.

I am around now and should have no problem posting at least once a day.

I am fine with the plan that you have proposed. I am back from traveling and should be able to stick to a once per day post.

The way turns are written for starship combat just seem to not work well in PbP. I don't think we as a community have settled on exactly what does work.

That plan should definitely help speed things up.

So who is up? I have posted my turn and moved the ship.

At this point, I've given one post to push you forward. Hopefully we can get everyone posting frequently again and move this forward.

GM DamonLuos, I appologize if I've stepped on your toes here. This got very messy when your mentor wasn't here to help, and I believed that one big push forward may get everyone back on track.

If this was a normal weekday and I was trying to reestablish the pace of a game, I would have by now botted everyone who has not posted and moved on to the next round. Because it's weekend, I'm waiting until it's been more like 24 hours.

I also hope GM DamonLuos is OK, he has not posted here or elsewhere since Tuesday.

Hey all, this is GM Hmm, your friendly backup-backup GM.

Redelia has been feeling under the weather, so I thought that I'd come in and watch things and chat with you all about starship combat in the meantime.

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Starship combat can be tons of fun, or it can be an absolute slog. But I firmly believe that any group can have fun in Starship combat if the GM is ready to show them a good time.

I wrote some advice on Starship Combat that talks a lot about how it works for in person games. Still, I think it's worth reading Bret's and my posts there, because some of the skills and tips that are used in person can also be used in Play-by-Post.

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Here are things that I do for PBP ship combat:

1) Keep a player folder with all sorts of useful information for the players.

For my 1-99 Scoured Stars group, we had:

Hey Gang --

Can I have a show of hands of who is still here?

Hmm

"I do hope that this is not some sort of hold up!" Morvruul lifts his hands--all four of them!

Here!