EltonJ Presents "Cosmic Flash" (Inactive)

Game Master EltonJ

Discuss the game here, fellas. I'll make up an episode list. Ping here with a paragraph or two to describe your character's background. We are playing with an Ensemble cast, so everyone will get a focus episode.

14 is a nice number, but i do hope this has several seasons^^

That said i think it's as many episodes and seasons as needed.
@EltonJ do you have a plot or story prepared or is this free range?

Also i have some questions about Space Elves in this setting.

14 is a nice number, but i do hope this has several seasons^^

That said i think it's as many episodes and seasons as needed.
@EltonJ do you have a plot or story prepared or is this free range?

Also i have some questions about Space Elves in this setting.

Ask your questions about space elves. Also, I'm planning a 3 season story. Eberron is such a niche world that I would guess something as ambitious as this would have three seasons planned.

I reckon elves are from Eberron originally? But could be on Okra? Are there any other planets?

I reckon elves are from Eberron originally? But could be on Okra? Are there any other planets?

Yes there is.

The planets include: Dol Arrah (Sun), Aureon (Mercury), Arawai (Venus), Eberron (Earth), Dol Dorn/Okra (Mars), The Traveler's Sons and Daughters (Asteroid Belt), Onatar (Jupiter), Kol Korran (Saturn), Olladra (Uranus), Boldrei (Neptune), The Sons of the Fury (Kupier/Asteroid Belt), The Fury (Pluto), and Dal Quor (very erratic planet).

Those are the planets of Eberron's Solar System. Dol Dorn/Okra is a desert world that is currently being terraformed. It's still a red planet, but people here settled to make their own way. The elves of Dol Dorn/Okra came to Dol Dorn to make their own lives.

The colonies of Dol Dorn/Okra are thought to be utopia. Most people settled on the fourth planet so that they can worship as they please, away from the Silver Flame (which is in decline). Colonies on Dol Dorn include:
* New Aerenal (Elf colony)
* New Breland (Colonized by Breys)
* New Karrnath (Karrn Colony)
* New Reidra. (Sarlonan Colony)

All of those are republics, although the New Reidrans are still controlled by the Inspired.

(apologies for the dot, the website nixed the delete with an error, and I didn't notice in time)

Declan "DeeCo" Coffey was a resident of Okuru City. A part of the "CrashCorps" (the name given, not chosen), they were a bunch of saboteurs that inadvertently gained a name for themselves when their payback against the regime that was trying to keep itself in power through violence. It entirely was their fault that a couple backup buildings lost power— it was not their fault that those buildings were storing something important that no one knew about.

She would argue that it is a fine line between a "prank" and "sabotage".

So just like that, they have a name, they have a presence, and they suddenly have influence. Notoriety is not a good thing when you're just pushing back against those that are pushing you down, and a couple of bounties later, Spatz, Graff, Tilde, and Goomer are gone to ground... Or they might just be gone. She hasn't really stopped to think about that.

So now she's ducking the heat, on a ship of misfits... Funny how that goes, but no point in the truth if you don't live it loud and in your face!

The whole Eberron system! Nice, have no clue beyond my basic Eberron knowledge. I'll trust your guidance^^

We said Seo-Yeon might be from the house of shadows and dragonmarked?
I think i still have 1 feat free or could change one.
Just take the original Eberron ones? Or do you have something prepared there?

Also i remember this website about TV Tropes, but i couldn't find something about the typical scifi show cast.
Think it would be funny to use stuff from that website for the characters when you want to do it like a show :D

Hello everyone,

Looking forward to the game. I agree that 14 "episodes" seems a good idea to shoot for.

Going by tropes, DR34-M12 would be the Kaylee of the group. A Kaylee that likes dance clubs and laser rifles. I imagine she was created/worked on one of the asteroid installations, which she found incredibly boring. The crew rescued her and offered a life with more freedom and excitement.

Any thoughts on who the captain would be?

Hello everyone,

Looking forward to the game. I agree that 14 "episodes" seems a good idea to shoot for.

Any thoughts on who the captain would be?

No idea. So far among you three, no one has a take charge personality. Or I missed something. Also, the captain will own the ship, but all of you get to design it. After all, the ship is the sixth character in the show (like the Serenity was on "Firefly).

Haha yeah if Dreams was the captain an "Our Flag Means Death" situation would be the best case scenario. JR Klein responded earlier so we should have Pax on board as well. Soldier with a merc background could make a good captain.

Mh i guess with some minor adjustments i could go for captain, but originally aimed for pilot, which Seo-Yeon might be best at.

Firefly wise she'll probably be a mix of River and Hoban "Wash".
I thought of a background story and will pm you about it later EltonJ, to check some stuff with you.

I'm not married to the spy specialization, so i could be a bit flexible there to fill needs. Also could reallocate for higher CHA if needed.

The whole Eberron system! Nice, have no clue beyond my basic Eberron knowledge. I'll trust your guidance^^

We said Seo-Yeon might be from the house of shadows and dragonmarked?
I think i still have 1 feat free or could change one.
Just take the original Eberron ones? Or do you have something prepared there?

Also i remember this website about TV Tropes, but i couldn't find something about the typical scifi show cast.
Think it would be funny to use stuff from that website for the characters when you want to do it like a show :D

Just take the original Eberron feats for right now. We'll see how they do in play. As for T.V. Tropes, they have nothing on a group of players and a DM. :)

I had my exocortex skill focus in Perception but I think I'll move that to Engineering until my bypass hit's +2 at lv 5. Drops my perception to +6 and bumps engineering to +12.

I had been planning to take Technomantic Dabbler at level 5 anyway, so I'll probably fluff that as an Aberrant dragonmark.

Mh i guess with some minor adjustments i could go for captain, but originally aimed for pilot, which Seo-Yeon might be best at.

I realize now there is a "Captain" role for starship combat, so I should clarify that I was using captain colloquially. We definitely need a pilot before a captain, so for your mechanical role pilot is fine. I mean more who is the "Mal" of the group. And by that I mean who has to role play being responsible for us.

I don't know, i think we could go a democratic route about it. Perhaps the starship is a joint venture?
With strict hierarchical captain roles i don't have the best experience, but that's mainly from water faring pirate ships.

We could do with kind of a dedicated spokesperson though in some cases.

I'm still alive, but just barely. I caught the flu and it's kicking my ass.

I suppose Pax could be the leader, but he'd be very reluctant about it at first. But hey, character development is part of the fun.

As a big fan and an experienced SF player, I can tell you one thing - avoid starship combat by all means. This is a long and not very fun mechanic, believe me .)

About the captain and so on. In game mechanics, it's just the role of the "bard" on the starship combat. Usually it is not meant that cap literally makes decisions for the whole crew, just inspires the shooter to shoot better, the pilot to maneuver better, and so on. By the way, we can change roles every round of the starship combat, so everyone or no one* can be the captain (*this is not the most important role on the ship) during one fight.

Yup i wasn't talking about starship mechanical roles^^

I did Starship combat only once and didn't find it bad, but that was a low level one.
I believe there are some alternative mechanics out there, up to using Star Wars X-Wing game or Armada rules.

Ah, I'm sorry, I misunderstood.
By the way, yes, it would be amazing to try new alternative mechanics. Especially a more narrative ones.

I winged it when I ran one of the published adventures.

Finally made a character. He turned out to be an excellent healer and a very reasonable guy .)

Himo Naïlo. An inhabitant of the New Aerenal, an elf who reveres the traditions of his people and worships the Undying Court. Years of training as a medic at the military academy, plus the traditional for his people ways of magic and mystical contact with his ancestors, made him a unique specialist in saving other people's lives, welcome aboard any ship. He took advantage of this, having first asked for the role of a paramedic in a mercenary organization years ago. To become Undying yourself, you must be worthy of your ancestors, you must do Deeds, gain wisdom and experience. And how to do it in greenhouse laboratory conditions? Now he is a mercenary himself, hired healer and a mystic on the ships of those who surf the expanses of space, smuggle or fight enemies and dangers lurking in the unknown. One thing is for sure for him - never deviate from the moral standards of the Court, so that one day he himself will become a part of it. Fit, with long white hair and a bunch of earrings in each ear, in a black armor suit in the elven fashion, with a pistol on his hip and a small backpack with medicines, Himo Naïlo is ready to go on his next flight with a new team!

_
‘Eκάτη

And finally we have Aloysius "Pax" Paxton, who spent most of his developmental years training for a war that ended up never happening. He's a big man, as any half-orc should be, but his preferred weapons are pistols, and the armor he wears is older than he is - most likely, it originally belonged to his father or grandfather. But he keeps that armor clean and his black hair neatly clipped, carrying himself as best he can like the soldier he was always meant to be.

Himo Naïlo. An inhabitant of the New Aerenal, an elf who reveres the traditions of his people and worships the Undying Court.

Excited to have you on board. I've been reading up on the undying court and I can't wait to see them in the future setting.

And finally we have Aloysius "Pax" Paxton, who spent most of his developmental years training for a war that ended up never happening.

And our crew is complete! Glad to have a soldier on board, for too many problems can only be solved the soldier way.

@EltonJ For the campaign, is Eberron generally in the same place as the Alliance in Firefly? Meaning they won the war and control the system, or at least the core. With a lot of people viewing them as tyrants.

I saw that more of an expanse setting, Dol Dorn/Okra/Mars is independent from Eberron/Earth and things are tense.

Also very interesting, two very different elves on board, no possible tension at all there :D

Looking forward to getting started!

Just before we start, you should work on your spaceship. :) Pick a frame, then add modules to it. You may used the Starship Operations Manual as well as Starfinder itself.

What BP are we working with?

I tried my hand at a ship: From LINK

What BP are we working with?

Tier 1

I tried my hand at a ship: From LINK

** spoiler omitted **

** spoiler omitted **...

I recommend Hephaistos for the builder, has a better UI. Overall I went with the same idea you had, though I went with transport instead of explorer. Has a bit more room for stuff.

Test Ship

At Tier 1 we can get our basic systems, shields, and weapons set up but expansion bays and extras will have to be future upgrades. For now we'd just have 5 cargo bays for lots of storage. This is assuming the standard Starfinder set up.

If weapons/shields are a bit more restrictive for the eberron setting, than we could bump those down for medbays and the like.

We should definitely go with an explorer/transport. I personally prefer the extra turret and bay from the transport, but the extra mobility from explorer is just as good.

What are we thinking as a backstory for the ship? Ship the vets flew during the war, something purchased and added to, or maybe it was a pile of junk we turned into a functioning ship?

This is a silly idea, but sometimes silly is good: maybe our ship used to be something like a transit shuttle/tour bus? Then after that company went out of business, we bought it on the cheap and made it our own.

This is a silly idea, but sometimes silly is good: maybe our ship used to be something like a transit shuttle/tour bus? Then after that company went out of business, we bought it on the cheap and made it our own.

Yes, sometimes silly can be good. What do the rest of you say?

> Ship the vets flew during the war

I like this as a concept. An old wreck that was once the main striking force of one of the fleets... But time flies, technology is becoming more and more perfect... And we bought this junk on the cheap at a landfill and slightly brought it to mind. There's something romantic about it.

I like that too.

I like it too.
But how about an addition? This is also kind of an adventure hook/proposition :D
Making some assumptions on how we met or meet.

300 years after the war, somewhere on Dol Dorn, a band of ragtag "veterans" came together, all on the search for food, a place to stay and a job. Some also for some sense and direction in their lives, but that's a different matter.
Jobs on the planet were alright, but not as good and in space with the gates open there were plenty of new opportunities and riches to be made.
The only issue - in space, you need a starship.
Luckily there was this otherwise often eerily quiet elf maiden, who suddenly very flatly stated that she would be able to organize a ship.
Not the best or largest, but it would fly and do. A relative of her was about to retire and ready to let go his old ship, only for a small amount of credits.

And she was able to deliver. Some days later an old, but nice ship stood in a bay nearby. Some bumps and scratch marks on the hull - you're uncertain whether some of them are actually scorch makes from laser fire or not -, technology and outfitting kind of old, but trustworthy, proven time and time again. It's a small old freighter or transport shuttle. The design is a bit unfamiliar, but average, wouldn't raise eyes anywhere. It's a totally safe, sound and secure deal. Who wouldn't trust a lovely elf and dismiss such a good opportunity?

Let me know what you think?

Boy the hug of death really took this site down.

This is a silly idea, but sometimes silly is good: maybe our ship used to be something like a transit shuttle/tour bus? Then after that company went out of business, we bought it on the cheap and made it our own.

I'm not opposed to silly. How silly are we talking here? Here is a really cool guitar space ship, if we are thinking of going that route.

And she was able to deliver. Some days later an old, but nice ship stood in a bay nearby. Some bumps and scratch marks on the hull - you're uncertain whether some of them are actually scorch makes from laser fire or not -, technology and outfitting kind of old, but trustworthy, proven time and time again. It's a small old freighter or transport shuttle. The design is a bit unfamiliar, but average, wouldn't raise eyes anywhere. It's a totally safe, sound and secure deal. Who wouldn't trust a lovely elf and dismiss such a good opportunity?

I image the rest of the party sitting in a space tavern talking how "we should totally form a band(of adventurers)!". A conversation we've maybe had around drinks before. But then this runaway walks up and actually has a ship, and we could totally form a band(of adventurers)!

Although I'm guess in this version it isn't a guitar ship haha. I don't know about the rest of the party, but Dreams and her -2 sense motive doesn't see anything wrong with this totally safe, sound and secure deal.

Anyone have any references they'd like to share? I haven't been able to narrow anything down but I find myself really like the idea of a lot of vehicles still having the elemental ring design. Though the rings probably have a lot more tech in them now.

Ship reference board

Haha i feared the worst when you said guitar ship, but it's actually not bad! A lot of scifi ship designs come from everyday items. Starships for tabletop gaming often are build out of water pistols, there's a lot of challenge on youtube.

Did you just make that board?
Interesting question there, how does propulsion work in Eberron Starfinder? A lot of the ships have rings and that reminds me of the elemental propelled airships. Is that still a thing or is it the drive from Starfinder?

I've been working on it for a few days. A lot rings on the ships are actually there to spin and generate gravity for the crew. But I like the idea that they are the propulsion system to continue with the Eberron vehicle theme.

I've been working on it for a few days. A lot rings on the ships are actually there to spin and generate gravity for the crew. But I like the idea that they are the propulsion system to continue with the Eberron vehicle theme.

Yes, I find that idea will grow on me.

Oh, does anyone want to be party leader?

Himo or Seo-Yeon seem the best candidates for the "leader" role. Would we like do some backstory questions to help set up the group history or do we want to just start in medias res and figure that out as we go?

Himo or Seo-Yeon seem the best candidates for the "leader" role. Would we like do some backstory questions to help set up the group history or do we want to just start in medias res and figure that out as we go?

We can go with the questions.

Like what did you do in the War? What did you lose?

Was it the war of independence or the old great war from Eberron that was 300 years ago?

Was it the war of independence or the old great war from Eberron that was 300 years ago?

The war of Dol Dorn's independence! :)

That would be a question for the elves in the group then. However, I do have a fun thought. Assuming Androids/Warforged still do the thing of the soul leaving the body so another can be "born" thing. What if DR34-M12's "mother" was a vet of the war and served with the other vets? Maybe they recruited Dreams later or maybe they "raised" her. In as much as a being who comes into existence as a fully formed adult can be raised. More like had to put up with the hardened combat vet one day becoming a cheerful mechanic who loves to dance.

I've been working on it for a few days. A lot rings on the ships are actually there to spin and generate gravity for the crew. But I like the idea that they are the propulsion system to continue with the Eberron vehicle theme.

I dig that. The construct in the center of the rings is the control devices and crew housing. I support this.

What's a question for the elves of the group?

I'm fine with the ship design and don't know any better there.

How does everyone feel about the backstory about how we got the ship?
I think everyone has their own character backstory, so the only thing to figure out is how we exactly met each other.
And the GM question about what we lost in the war.

Well if the war was 300 years ago most species will have gone through numerous generations, so they wouldn't have much personal loss through it. I suspect I might just be confused about things though.

Ignoring time constraints to come up with an idea, let's go with the classic: faith.

The war shattered DR34-M12's faith in any greater system. There is no grand design, everything is chaos, and the only thing that matters is the moment. Dream's colorful nature comes from a greater sense of nihilism than any sort of true cheerfulness or the like.

Backstory on the ship sounds good. To just throw ideas out there for how we met: DeeCo and Dream's seem a good pairing, maybe they ran in the same gang or Dreams helped to hide DeeCo after s&#+ hit the fan? Likewise Himo and Pax seem a good pairing, being the more martial of the group. Maybe they did some mercenary work together? That leave's Seo-Yeon to pull everyone together with the ship.

Oh i see!
But, it was the war of independence, which happened just recently, right?

Speaking of faith, Seo-Yeon is a follower of Calistria and that for good reason.
Quiet on the surface and seemingly a bit introverted, deep inside she is just as temperamental, scheming and maneuvering as the goddess.

What did she loose in the war for independence?
I'm not really familiar with the timeline, but i imagine this happened towards the end of her training and perhaps even at the beginning of the war she was scheduled to run missions for her house.
During those missions she had contact with different ideas and saw lots of stuff with her own eyes for the first time.
And she was also able to find out that even her privileged booty was just a pawn that would be risked and sacrificed in the game of houses when the gains would be sufficient.
This led to her running away, loosing her house, her status and her family.

I think my elf is quite (relatively) young, albeit ambitious. So let him find the war 300 years ago as a child.

I like the background of the ship from Seo-Yeon (sorry, I couldn't resist getting into the spoiler and this is a good hook for the future). The only thing about Calistria. Are we using Eberron or Starfinder deities here? I'm OK with both, we just need to decide. We can even use both if desired. Just without thinking too hard about exactly how it works .)

I like it too.

But how about an addition? This is also kind of an adventure hook/proposition :D
Making some assumptions on how we met or meet.

300 years after the war, somewhere on Dol Dorn, a band of ragtag "veterans" came together, all on the search for food, a place to stay and a job. Some also for some sense and direction in their lives, but that's a different matter.
Jobs on the planet were alright, but not as good and in space with the gates open there were plenty of new opportunities and riches to be made.
The only issue - in space, you need a starship.
Luckily there was this otherwise often eerily quiet elf maiden, who suddenly very flatly stated that she would be able to organize a ship.
Not the best or largest, but it would fly and do. A relative of her was about to retire and ready to let go his old ship, only for a small amount of credits.

And she was able to deliver. Some days later an old, but nice ship stood in a bay nearby. Some bumps and scratch marks on the hull - you're uncertain whether some of them are actually scorch makes from laser fire or not -, technology and outfitting kind of old, but trustworthy, proven time and time again. It's a small old freighter or transport shuttle. The design is a bit unfamiliar, but average, wouldn't raise eyes anywhere. It's a totally safe, sound and secure deal. Who wouldn't trust a lovely elf and dismiss such a good opportunity?

Obviously, this ship is stolen and once belonged to House Phiarlan. Seo-Yeon used it in her escape, removed the house signs and any or most other traces of the origin.She might have done good, or not. Could also be interpreted as an undercover ship by some.

Let me know what you think?

I think it works. The ship can be stolen. What are you going to Christen the ship?