I think we ought to wrap up the plague plotline in a "Captain's Log, Supplemental" and move on to a new adventure.
I'm fine with this as I'm much more eager to see what you have planned than to simply play something off the cuff (although that can be fun at times).
I must admit that I am still figuring out rules myself, but I think you (and the other PCs have been doing well explaining things).
I’m curious who was behind the sabotage and why
Lance, I think some of this was in the interrogation, but I'll clear up the details:
Kyle was working for the Orion Syndicate. The colony is near the Klingon Border, and the Syndicate wanted to be the ones to deliver the cure for the plague so that they could gain a foothold in the colony, allowing them to move easily between Klingon and Federation space. Kyle tried to keep you from getting to the colony on time, but didn't intend to send you into a dangerous situation with the Klingons.
Thoss, absolutely on the family thing. I'm hoping at some point to make that matter, possibly with some time travel shenanigans.
What were you thinking in terms of a rebuild? I'm up for that. I think it is always good when dealing with new rules like this to let people fiddle.
I'll try to be explicit with rules explanations as we go through the next adventure, but of course please ask questions and feel free to call out if you think I messed something up. I have only used these rules in PbP, and only for a couple months, so I'm not that experienced.
I'm going to run the next adventure from the Living Campaign, called Abyss Station. It involves a mission to a planet and an alien space station (that isn't spoilers, it's in the mission briefing). This will require you to split up. You have two options: we can just split up the player characters into two groups, or we can do that and have other players play supporting characters, so you would have a character in each group (and thus maybe more engagement). I can go either way, though I'd love to try out the Supporting characters option if that is interesting to anyone. Let me know what you think.
I really like how Thoss is put together, I am just not sure whether he is optimized or not (or even if that matters here, he he).
The Supporting character option is intriguing to me, though I am still trying to get a handle upon the Skills rules. How difficult is the Supporting Character option to learn?
I think we're in over our heads and supporting characters may be a bit too much at this point.
I'm fine with two groups of PCs, though. No different than when some guys are on the bridge and some in Engineering.
I missed that it was Orions that were behind this.
Should we...retaliate or anything? They could have started a war so that they could play big damn heroes...
I'm fine with just splitting the party, no need for supporting characters.
Having shown up late, I am still getting a "feel" for the doctor.
The idea of supporting characters sounds fun, but I'd like to get more experience with the rules and my main PC first, before adding a support PC to the mix.
I am happy with either.
Out with walking pneumonia. Please bot as necessary.
FYI - a combination of pneumonia and moving house means I'll be offline for most the week. And the week after that (if alive) I'll be at GenCon.
I'll be camping with my son and the scouts this weekend, so I won't be posting anytime before sometime Monday, US East Coast time.
I am back from Gen Con, but have no Internet at home ( the house I just bought wasn’t wired for it) until Friday the 10th at the earliest and can’t access it at work. I’ll do my best with my iPad until then, but it’s going to be slow.
Oy vey.
Let me tell you what's going on with me. First, I'm not dead nor fading away. However, after a week of illness and a week of reasonably ill vacationing, I'm now stranded without access to the Internet (I'm writing this from my mother's house, which is definitely not a long-term solution).
Then, the team of electricians who were going to wire my house were in an automobile accident and several were injured. So still no Internet.
Other electricians are coming to wire my house for the Internet and -hope- they can do it by next Friday.
Trying to stay connected by iPad has proved too difficult when I can summon at most 1 or 2 bars at my house. Thus, I'm just going to be offline for a bit. I'm sorry, but now you know why.
Reeves, take care of your problems. We'll be here when you get everything together. We can knock you out until you get back.
I've re-watched the first 5 Mission Impossible movies this week as well as going to see the new one. In watching the current movie, I found myself thinking about the 2d20 system and it focus on the cinematic. It occurred to me even as I was watching that the system would be perfect for a Mission Impossible style campaign. Mission Impossible has the benefit of being a team system, so better for roleplay than something like James Bond. Obviously, it would take some work on Focuses and a few other rules areas, but 2d20 would make a great generic action/espionage sort of game.
Interesting stuff there GM ST. Were you thinking of trying a 2D20 Espionage type campaign?
Not in the near future. I'd need to poke around in the rules and work on customizing the rules elements. At the moment, I'm trying to reformat the STA book to make it easier to navigate. Once I have that, maybe.
This continues to fascinate me to the point of obsession.
Here is an update on my situation:
GOOD NEWS:
At long last my house has been wired for Internet and my service is on.
BAD NEWS:
My computer seems to have suffered total failure in the move, possibly from static discharge. So I now have no computer. If it weren’t for bad luck I’d have had no luck at all lately.
THE PLAN:
I have ordered a new motherboard and CPU from NewEgg. They should arrive tomorrow. I built the computer myself and so should be able to rebuild it. I hope to be up and running by the Monday the 27th, but see my previous comments on luck...
NOTE:
If this is a game I play in, I’m sorry for my absence. If this is a game I GM, I’m very sorry. If this is a game I’m supposed to be GMing but have not yet begun... it gets better.
Welcome back Captain Reeves! The Paizo site has been going through extended site outages so you have not missed much :P
What a mess! I feel completely lost in my campaigns after the extended outage. I'll try to get things back together. Bear with me.
Okee-dokee. I think we're ready to roll.
After more than a month, I've finally gotten Internet access again. Seems as though the site's been down most of that time, so not much loss there.
On the other hand, I'm leaving on Monday the 3rd for a week at the beach with my kids and won't have any access out there, either. I'll try to catch up this weekend at the least.
What a mess! I feel completely lost in my campaigns after the extended outage. I'll try to get things back together. Bear with me.
@ GM I think the feeling is wide-spread. Take all the time you need. Doctor's orders.
@ Captain - Save travels!
Hey! It’s back! I’ll post tonight!
Hi! Sorry! I’ve been suffering from an inability to access the site on mobile. I’ll be back to a computer later this week and I can resume playing.
Been missing you in both games, Meetch. Glad you will be back soon.
I'm posting this to all of my games:
I apologize for my slowness in posting. Back to School has been kicking my ass more than normal this year. I'm working way too much. I keep thinking Things will get better this week. and that keeps not being the case. Hopefully things will start getting better and I'll be able to post more frequently. Until then, I apologize again for being so slow to update.
Real life happens, play by posts have the advantage of in built notes on where we left off last!
Yeah, take your time. We'll be here.
We all get overwhelmed from time to time or just need a bit of a break.
We should pretty much be at the end of the episode here. The mystery of the subspace signals leaves a nice future plot hook. Also, there is dealing with the Ithik, who must be more than they initially appeared.
You guys can investigate the effects on T'Karra and her actions, but since Reeves is already inclined to think it was the result of the station, its probably appropriate for that not to go too far.
If there is anything else you want me to put in a follow up file, just let me know.
Think we just need to do some wrap-up here. Drop off the Ithik back at their planet (or where ever they were going to be re-settled) and then perhaps investigate the destination of that subspace communication.
Thoss has little to say at this point, he is just awaiting orders :)
Sorry folks. Many bumps in my life at the moment. Then trouble getting on the site this weekend, then back to new bumps. I'll get back as soon as I can.
I imagine this should get into some of the rules for reputation and such. I'll take a look at those this weekend. I should be good to get back some good posting on Friday and through the weekend and going forward from there.
We can keep resettling the Ithik in the background. I think some ongoing ramifications for the actions of T'Karra if we want. I think my preference would be to keep you responding to emergencies for the moment, then come back to some of these dangling threads.
I do look forward to whatever Kreskin has in store for the Captain. And nice log post, Captain.
No. And you'll be returned to duty at the start of play.
Edelsmirge - Realistically, we can't have the genocidal Vulcan being on officer on the ship. Out of character, what do you hope happens here? The best I can see is that T'Karra doesn't get returned to duty and gets a lot of therapy.
I’m actually not sure I buy her logic. Surely a war, even a prolonged violent one wouldn’t lead to the catastrophic loss of life caused by the utter destruction of the Klingon homeworld. It’d lead to fewer FEDERATION casualties, but it’s not a logical conclusion from a needs of the few/needs of the many standpoint.
Yup. I'm hoping that our present Vulcan can, with a tune-up and oil change, be returned to the road of logic and peaceful exploration.
If that timing chain is gone, it gets expensive.
T'Karra's character is certainly taking an interesting and unexpected turn (at least, I didn't see it coming). There is absolutely precedence for T'Karra's views among members of Starfleet, including the admiralty both during the timeframe we are playing in and beyond.
That being said, I doubt that T'Karra could openly maintain such views and still continue to serve as a ship officer in her present capacity.
Yet, I doubt those who (far more quietly) share her views among the admiralty would allow her talents to go to waste. It would be interesting, if T'Karra's service aboard the Valiant ends, to see this character reappear in some capacity in the future.
Just chiming in here...
I believe T'Karra's logic is flawed, as while the Klingon Homeworld would be destroyed, the Klingon Empire would still be alive and well...with thousands of combat ready warships crewed by Klingons thirsting for vengeance (justifiably so) against the Federation.
While the Federation holds a technological edge in ship combat, I don't think they have the numbers to withstand a full scale invasion of Klingon ships, which would only lead to the slaughter of countless millions of Federation citizens.
Perhaps Captain Reeves could use this as an argument to persuade T'karra of the error in her logic...
You could add in that the weapon would not stay in Federation hands. The Romulans, Thollian, Gorn, Orions etc would all want to control or destroy it lest it be turned on them. They might even forge an alliance to destroy the doomsday weapon and then the Federation. Also clearly it's a divisive issue which would fracture Star Fleet and the Federation.
It's a game changer.
Even if the Federation could maintain control of it they'd likely start being seen as stepping into a new tier of civilisation and draw more attention from some of the older factions like the First Federation... and less altruistic ones as well.