DMDM's Last Fleet (Inactive)

Game Master Douglas Muir 406

I thought it was funny. I'm having a busy day but will post something later.

I'm back! Spent the weekend walking around a lovely French city with the family, also went to a cool museum.

So we've split the party for a little bit. I'll try to re-unite the story lines in the next few days, but for the moment let's play this out.

Seek Out to Pinpoint the SOS Signal: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (5, 6) + 1 = 12

So did this 12 not lead to any further information about the SOS signal. Such as location (inside/outside the refinery, another part of the asteroid completely), strength of signal, is it a military or civvie channel, are we able to send a tightbeam reply?

Thea 'Firefly' Gillis wrote:

Seek Out to Pinpoint the SOS Signal: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (5, 6) + 1 = 12

So did this 12 not lead to any further information about the SOS signal. Such as location (inside/outside the refinery, another part of the asteroid completely), strength of signal, is it a military or civvie channel, are we able to send a tightbeam reply?

Ah, reasonable questions.

1) Outside the refinery, among the domes. (Of which some are wrecked and some intact.) Narrowing it down to a single dome would require either a couple of very low passes, or landing and exploring on foot.

2) Weak signal.

3) It's not a tight beam at all, and it's spread across various frequencies. It's like the signal you'd make if you were hitting a charged cable with a hammer to intermittently short it, or some such.

4) Tightbeam reply, need to locate. You could broadcast a reply, but then of course that would be broadcast to everyone in the vicinity.

it's as if she's completly unaware that there's an alien ship partked nearby. Which of course she is.

GODAM IT, GUNNY

(stirdcctly speaking this isn't gunny's fault at all but it's a Thing now so I had to. I'm sure you understand.)

I'm having a bit of a crazy tiem at work but I will post again tomorow.

Dotting for reference

Lost a day to travel (7 hours on a plane, woo) and now the site is being obstreperous.

Nevertheless, will post this weekend.

Quote:

On a 7–9, the GM chooses two:

-- You can’t do it without help from someone you you’d rather not get involved with.
-- Someone demands a favour in return, or else they won’t help.
-- You attract unwanted attention.
-- There’s an unexpected cost or consequence.

Team, I'm open to ideas here. The game obviously intends the consequences to be pretty harsh. And that makes sense, because otherwise, Pull Strings would just allow you to make NPCs do anything you want. But none of the consequences above are clicking for me right now.

Perhaps they will once I sleep on it -- but meanwhile, feel free to offer suggestions. The goal is, Sasha gets what she wants (autonomy, at least for the next little while), but pays a price or suffers a consequence that has her sincerely cursing or clutching her head.

Thoughts?

I have the Influence move which lets me limits to 1 instead of 2 choices so that means you only need one thing :-) Maybe the XO want something in return? Is he still annoyed that Thea got away with her prank and is still in charge? I don't know how petty he is so maybe that's ooc for him. Now Sasha is in charge on the ground maybe he make it clear (without saying exactly) that he wants a negative report on Thea so he has ground for some sort of case against her?

This kind of screwes Thea over so I'm not sure about it but let me know what you think.

-- Is Hannah still with us? Monday night here, and her last post was Thursday.

maybe he make it clear (without saying exactly) that he wants a negative report on Thea so he has ground for some sort of case against her?

This kind of screwes Thea over so I'm not sure about it but let me know what you think.

I would be completely fine with this! However, (1) Sasha would have to be willing to go along with it (meaning, she would actually have to file that negative report), and (2) obviously Thea's player would have to agree, since it means Thea is eating the bad consequences of your roll. Or at least some of the bad consequences...

Thea? What do you think?

As an alternative, maybe the XO orders Sasha to assist the chief engineer - her nemesis - with access to whatever she wants?

Hmmmm....I'm willing. But there's a few holes here in my mind. First, yes the XO is the number 2 in command, but command of the pilots usually falls to the CAG. So the XO would be completely undercutting his CAG if he were to directly go after Thea. More importantly though is why is he out to get her? So far we've established exactly zero relationship between the two. The CAG disciplined her for the hanger incident, she did her dirty work, and he reinstated her. If he thought she needed a bit more penalty, why not just have a word with the CAG and make it happen that way vs. all the trouble and potential pitfalls of trying to falsify a report?

Second, she's not in command of anything except her own squad, so she's equal with Gunny in that regard. (From a game perspective, if Thea is in command of the overall mission then she could be using her Squad Leader trait, but I've assumed she isn't.) Sasha is the highest ranking officer on the mission as far as I know, so she could already have ordered us to back off. Probably too late now.

Third, Thea has actually played it pretty close to the book so far. She's backed off after initially being fired upon. She's answered and tried to locate a (as far as she knows) legit SOS call. She reported sighting the enemy and the SOS, requested orders from Cerberus command and got...nothing...in response. Therefore she has acted on her own authority to best support the overall mission, locate those broadcasting the SOS, reestablish connection with the ground team to secure the juice, and generally try to figure out what's going on. Neither she or Gunny have fired on the base despite being fired on a second time after establishing contact. Certainly all of this could be phonied up, but that's a lot of flight recorders and comm traffic to manipulate, lose, or destroy. Of course, maybe all of this is just her future defense. :)

But like I said, I'm willing to go along with it.

As an alternative, if the XO is just generally looking to put the crew in their place and reestablish discipline and his authority on the ship, why not make a deal to shut off the flow of alcohol for 30 days or some other period of time? He believes going dry will reduce the number of D&D related accidents, brawls, etc. But in order to do that, he knows he needs Sasha's support. Either willingly or not. A slightly different twist, maybe he knows there is a free flow of illegal stims getting to the pilots and crew. He knows Sasha knows people and has her fingers in various pots. So he wants help finding those stim sources which could mean her grassing on some of her contacts/connections at some point.

Probably too late now.

Yep. (LoL)

As an alternative, if the XO is just generally looking to put the crew in their place and reestablish discipline and his authority on the ship, why not make a deal to shut off the flow of alcohol for 30 days or some other period of time?

NOOooOOOOOOooooo!

Team, I'm open to ideas here. The game obviously intends the consequences to be pretty harsh. And that makes sense, because otherwise, Pull Strings would just allow you to make NPCs do anything you want. But none of the consequences above are clicking for me right now.

Perhaps they will once I sleep on it -- but meanwhile, feel free to offer suggestions. The goal is, Sasha gets what she wants (autonomy, at least for the next little while), but pays a price or suffers a consequence that has her sincerely cursing or clutching her head.

Thoughts?

OK, I wasn't going to chime in on this until Thea mentioned a booze restriction.

Perhaps the XO has been feeling a bit lonely lately. He knows Sasha has connections and perhaps may even be free herself for a night of entertainment. If for some reason she is not impressed with the offer, she could seek out someone else to spend an evening with the XO. She would have to completely role play this wonderful conversation, convincing another woman to take her place. Perhaps it could be Thea?

Hell, he might even mention his interest in Thea.

Long live the booze!

Sorry. Busy afternoon and evening. Probably won't be able to post until tomorrow.

Happy Halloween all!

As an alternative, if the XO is just generally looking to put the crew in their place and reestablish discipline and his authority on the ship, why not make a deal to shut off the flow of alcohol for 30 days or some other period of time? He believes going dry will reduce the number of D&D related accidents, brawls, etc. But in order to do that, he knows he needs Sasha's support. Either willingly or not. A slightly different twist, maybe he knows there is a free flow of illegal stims getting to the pilots and crew. He knows Sasha knows people and has her fingers in various pots. So he wants help finding those stim sources which could mean her grassing on some of her contacts/connections at some point.

Ah ha.

Okay, I think we're on to something here...

Meanwhile: pinged Hannah, let's see.

I think it's a given that Sasha *has* to agree to teh terms of whatever is offered, whether she lieks it or not. So she'll go along with teh deal, and try to fix whatever problems it causes later on. This is not a sensible way to live your life, but its' the PbtA approved way to play the game :)

Well, that's why I-the-GM discuss it with you first!

Okay, I like the idea of a crackdown on booze and drugs on the Cerberus. Things have been getting out of hand. The XO knows that this will drive people to you, so he needs your cooperation. Short rations on alcohol, no pills or anything stronger.

You think this is a terrible idea that will lead to a whole range of problems -- and that's in addition to making you an unpopular enforcer of an unpopular rule. But you /really/ need to be in charge down here.

Work for you?

Any word from Hannah?

Okay, I like the idea of a crackdown on booze and drugs on the Cerberus. Things have been getting out of hand. The XO knows that this will drive people to you, so he needs your cooperation. Short rations on alcohol, no pills or anything stronger.

You think this is a terrible idea that will lead to a whole range of problems -- and that's in addition to making you an unpopular enforcer of an unpopular rule. But you /really/ need to be in charge down here.

Work for you?

I'm fine with that, Sahsha will grit her teeth and try to fix the problems it causes ltaer down the line.

Any word from Hannah?

No, and it's been a week since the last post. I think we may want to open up recruitment for a replacement.

Hi All, I'm afraid I'm going to have to drop out. The game has been fun and interesting but I'm beyond my capacity. I didn't expect the degree to which setting, background, and gameplay would need to be workshopped along with getting a grip on a new rules system.

I don't have the time for the extra posts at the rate the game has been generally moving. It also seems I'm in an awkward time zone so I was often playing catch up. I wish I did have the time, it is a neat rules system. But we're approaching the holiday season and I don't see a change in the time I have to devote anywhere on the horizon.

I wish you all the best, and hope you have an excellent time.

It's true, we are doing a certain amount of workshopping as we go.

Mmkay: we're down to three. Shall I post on the recruitment thread, then?

Hannah, sorry to see you go, but totally understand. To be honest I'm just in denial (as are most of my coworkers) that the holidays are upon us.

DM: Sure if you want to do an open recruitment, its fine by me. There might be one or two folks I can reach out to directly that might be interested. I'll point them to the recruitment page.

Sorry to see you go as well, but fully understand your point. I hope to see you around on the boards. Good Luck and Happy holidays!
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I'm ok with opening recruitment as well.

Oh you will Diego. I'm Nico. :p

Also yes, Happy Holidays to you all!

Oh you will Diego. I'm Nico. :p

Also yes, Happy Holidays to you all!

LoL, didn't realize that!

I'm realy sory to see you go Hannah, but all teh best and I hoep we can game together again very soon. Happy holidays :)

I think I'm going to be stepping out as well. For Prety much the same reasons Hannah mentioned. Good luck to everyone, it was an interesting endeavor.

Oh, dear. Are we down to just two, then?

Does anyone want to try recruiting someone?

I've put a post in the game I'm running but so far no takers :(

Been a bit busy today, but I'll do a bit more outreach tomorrow. Seems like in general the boards have slowed down a bit the last couple of weeks.

I'm willing to try to go forward with just three PCs, but two seems like a bit of a dead end -- the game implicitly assumes a certain number of Moves and PC actions that are kind of hard to pull off with just two.

Anyone want to bump the recruitment thread?

I was thinking one small barrier might be that the Bundle with the rules has expired. I'm happy to set up a google drive link to the pdf for those who are interested in checking it out. Unless you want to pop something in Campaign Info, they can PM me and I'll send them the link.

I agree 2 PCs is going to be dificult, unfortunaly. I have put someting in recruitment, let's see if it pays off.

Well, let's give it another day or two.

Got a nibble over on recruitment. Let's give him a day or two to look it over, then let's see if he's interested in joining us!

I am interested, but need to check the rulebook (I got the link sent to me, thanks.)

Okay. Standing by to hear back.

Thea, Sasha -- assuming we get another player or two, are you still with us?

Yep. Still here.

Confirm!

Okay a week has passed, and we haven't heard from either of the other two maybe-recruits.

Last call?

I'm still here but less hopeful than I was :(

Still around, but I'm fine calling it quits since at this point there doesn't seem to be much additional interest and things are only going to get slower going into the holidays.

It's too bad since I think these more narrative/character development focused rulesets with limited dice rolling, fewer fiddly-five-foot-step-type tactics, and no long lists of feats/spells/powers/modifiers are way better for the PbP format.

Still around, but I'm fine calling it quits since at this point there doesn't seem to be much additional interest and things are only going to get slower going into the holidays.

It's too bad since I think these more narrative/character development focused rulesets with limited dice rolling, fewer fiddly-five-foot-step-type tactics, and no long lists of feats/spells/powers/modifiers are way better for the PbP format.

I comletely agree with this, I also love that they give more power to players to do narative and world builing, which means it's not all on the GMs shoulders!

@Doug, if you would like to join my BitD game then please fell free to dot into the discusion thread and say hi! We're down to 3 which is sustainable but another player would be really nice to have :)

Okay, I guess that about does it. Officially closing this.

Sad face.

I was thinking to do twelve sessions, consisting of six arcs, with each arc having one social and one action session. (Why twelve? Because it's thematically appropriate, of course -- the whole 12 houses thing. Also because it gives us a fixed end point, which I think is very important in PBPs.) So, we were halfway through session 2, which would have completed the first arc.

Arc 1 -- Introduction, setup
Arc 2 -- Meet the Avatars; or, Who Can You Trust
Arc 3 -- Weird Cult Fun
Arc 4 -- TBD, kept open, probably something political
Arc 5 -- The Truth
Arc 6 -- The Final Confrontation

The weird cult would be (assuming the billionaire survives) a cult of followers for him. You remember how he has this kind of Gnostic idea that the Corax are pure evil, but there are also Celestials and they are pure good? So he declares himself to be their avatar among humanity -- "Celestius the Man-God" -- and gathers hundreds of fanatic followers.

At the end of Arc 3, there's a surprise reveal: he may be insane, and he's definitely a very bad person, but he's actually right about one thing: there are Celestials. Specifically, there was an incredibly advanced species that seeded the galaxy with life several billion years ago.

At the end of Arc 4, there's another, double reveal: (1) the Celestials are still around, and (2) the Corax don't oppose the Celestials -- they serve them.

Arc 5, The Truth, is the arc where we find out what the Corax actually are, and why. (I sprinkled a few clues in the background material, and was planning to sprinkle more.) And at the end, you get to roll for the fate of humanity.