Discussion to happen here :)
I will preserve info from the Connection thread on my PC, but feel free to add whatever you want into this thread in order to continue the discussion.
Enjoy :)
The darn thing ate my post! GRRR... I had a ton written up, and it ate it :(
Okay, I will have to do it bit by bit so that the forum doesn't freak out & eat another post.
The ship did come from Troophon. The ship is carrying medical supplies & synthene (minus the tax documents for synthene, so if the ship was boarded, the crew would be in trouble).
Phloeron is a "super earth" - a big world with higher gravity. Humans are the dominant species. There is a lot of mining on this planet, with many corporate interests involved. The inhabitants are shorter and stockier than average human folks.
Each character will have their own info & motivations on the planet, mainly to kick-start the game and explain why everyone is there. I want your characters to have reasons to be who they are, not just being empty vessels without a motivation.
If I get too heavy-handed with motivation, let me know. I'm trying to set the initial scene, and then you can all run with it (or run in the opposite direction if you like).
OH, and everyone try not to read other people's spoilers unless you feel like spoiling things for yourselves.
For Laris...
Okay, so Laris set up the Synthene smuggling run from Troophon to Phloeron.
Her contact on Troophon was a Duro named Derval - a "fixer" in the Diarah Hutt organization who coordinates smuggling to/from Troophon. The Synthene trade is the most common thing that Derval organizes. The demand is good, the short shelf life encourages frequent smuggling, and the tax situation means that a wide band of profit can be extracted from the Synthene smuggling industry.
The actual profit/cost issues I haven't nailed down yet.
HOWEVER, there's one catch. The profit margin for Synthene delivery is time-dependent. The sooner you deliver the Synthene, the more that the ship/crew will get paid. The short shelf life is a factor in this. And it's a character motivation, the accumulation of stuff :)
Laris' contact for delivery is a Duro named Gumal (Derval's half-brother, and fellow Diarah organization fixer). He will be identifiable by his ornate, engraved Tritanium walking cane. Delivery will be made in the Grey Sector docks at Port Bellarin.
Captain Mayvar also arranged for a delivery to the planet Phloeron, involving an honor debt to an old acquaintance.
Okay, time to type up another one...
For Captain Mayvar
Mayvar has a debt of honor to be repaid to a country doc named Bryce Dikissen. Doc Dikissen patched Mayvar up after a nasty gunfight even though Mayvar was dirt poor & didn't have any way to repay the good doc.
Doc Dikissen and his young wife live in Connmohr, near Port Noctis on the southern continent on Phloeron.
Mayvar knows Laris wants to deliver the Synthene as soon as possible, but Mayvar is motivated to do right by his old acquaintance. The profit from this won't be very good (haven't calculated that yet), but it'll settle a debt & make Mayvar feel better.
Thus, if Mayvar can convince Laris to deliver the medical supplies to Doc Dikissen first, Mayvar will get a +1 morale bonus to all of his defenses for the remainder of the scene on Phloeron.
*sigh* silly thing eating my post... Okay, next up...
Elliott
I do have ideas. Ways for Elliot to begin unlocking his past, perhaps, since Phloeron sees a lot of trade due to the mining interests.
There's just more concrete things for the other characters now, and I don't want Elliot to be left out. I am thinking about Elliot's story.
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Next... Wade.
I'm just setting up a larger story, even if I don't know where it's headed yet.
Ulula...
Maybe the ship is a motivation this time. Let's say it's reached the point where it's -1 on the condition track, so Ulula really needs to repair it & do the required maintenance.
Hyperdrive coils are worn, and several structural members are showing signs of stress after a run-in with pirates a couple days ago.
If Laris & Captain Mayvar want to take off right away, Ulula has to persuade them not to.
It's all I can think of right now. Getting tired...
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Cinder...
So Ulula knows the ship is down -1 on the condition track. Hyperdrive is kind of wonky right now, and the ship makes a lot of groaning sounds when Captain Mayvar does any aggressive course changes.
Cinder doesn't want to work on the structural members & would rather work on the hyperdrive.
If Cinder can convince Ulula to let her work on the hyperdrive, Cinder will get a +1 morale bonus to Will defense for the remainder of the scene on Phloeron.
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Soz...
Derval, the contact who set up the synthene delivery from Troophon to Phloeron, is a member of Hutt Diarah's organization. He arranges for smuggling work to/from Troophon. Intoxicants/narcotics are part of what he moves around. Derval likely had some part in Soz's "lost period".
Soz knows that Derval's shipment is bound to go to someone who isn't a good man. It pains Soz to know that he might be aiding a bad guy, almost to the point where I considered a temporary morale penalty to some of Soz's rolls for this scene.
If Soz can find out more about the synthene delivery & who it's going to (Laris might now a tiny bit more, but the most information will come after the crew lands on Phloeron), then it would help Soz feel better.
If Soz can completely ease his conscience about who the delivery is going to (even if it means gunning down a bad guy), then I'll grant him a +1 morale bonus to hit for the duration of the scene on Phloeron.
The forum does tend to eat posts. What I do for posts that require some time is I will actually create a text document, and type up the post. That way, if the post is eaten, I just copy and paste the text document back. I just open the "Post Reply" area, preview it and check for clarity of thought and spelling and grammar, then hit Submit post when I'm ready.
Hopefully that will help you avoid wasted time. :)
Does the crew at large know that a portion of the shipment isn't properly documented? Is Cinder worried about the Imperial dreadnought, or unconcerned due to ignorance of the nature of portions of the ship's cargo?
For Laris' part, she'll keep things close to her chest, She'll have told Mayvar, and left it to his discretion as to who on the crew should be informed.
For Darth Gamemaster:
NOTE to all:
Feel free to ask questions in spoiler format if you like, or to send email to the gmail addess if you like.
ruelavie at gmail etc
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For Darth Gamemaster:
** spoiler omitted **
Response to follow.
A penalty might be a bit rough right now without a temporary way out of it. I will think about it some more.
Maybe falling off the wagon/having a drink can "cure" a shaky feeling in Soz & temporarily alleviate a penalty (and have associated penalties and bonuses). I'd have to set up associated things with other player characters. Soz getting back into drinking will have consequences for other players, but the removal of a morale penalty might be enough for you to drive Soz back to drink?
I do like the idea of Soz being a sleeper agent for the Empire. Figuring out a good story-driven way to overcome it will be inteesting.
I didn't have anything specific in mind with the Intro, and if it is tied to a plot involving Soz, that can work.
When Captain Ruuchs makes his next appearance in the game, maybe it will be for Soz. Perhaps he has other motivations. I haven't decided yet.
Just a note...
I don't plan to put too much trouble in front of your characters in space (yet), unless you all seek out trouble, anyway. It's more to get us started, maybe give the Captain & Maeris time to trade words, figure out where to set down.
Trouble will find you all soon enough, anyways :) Much as we all like the talking, it's not the only part of the game.
Okay, time for bed.
Hey, I'm sorry is this is an idiotic question, but Ulula,
what does the italics mean? Is that comm traffic? Internal thoughts? Muttered aloud? I thought we were going with "spoken word = bold"
Mostly I want to know what Cinder has heard you say, and what she hasn't.
thanks! and sorry! Any other conventions I should know about?
Oh, sorry, I wasn't sure of a specific protocol...
But the Bold stuff was stuff on the INTERCOM, and stuff I spoke aloud was in (italic) quotes...
The part in italics (at the end) was more of a synopsis of what the system diagnostics readout on my datapad says and how I would explain it to Mayvar. Anybody else in/near-by the cockpit would hear that, but if you peek over to my console it's probably still up on the screen... :-)
Okay, that sounds like a good format. Whatever works :)
I still need to define things, like how many credits Laris/the ship has banked.
Also, how much the ship is paid for its jobs on Phloeron. I'll detail these over the weekend.
Also, docking fees. They range from "free" on patches of open ground (with no security, no refueling facilities, no easy access to spare parts) to something not free. ~100 credits per day for poorer facilities (like those around Port Noctis), 250 credits per day for more average facilities (like the majority of those around Port Bellarin).
Watching Season 1 of Buffy on my laptop as I type... you know, that Sarah Michelle Gellar is easy on the eyes.
I did work out my credits, and it's on my profile, though feel free to adjust as I've not factored in anything for the ship, clothes or other accessories. Just what I consider 'Gear'.
I've been slowly watching my way through the Buffy seasons over about the last 2 years (I've got 2 children, 2 Gaming Group & a house that seems to constantly need work doing on it - free time is somewhat limited). Now I've got season 4 on order.
Though I must say I'm not a big fan of Sarah, much prefer Alyson Hannigan.
I was going to create a buffer & general ship fund that ran separate from Laris' personal wealth, kind of as a crew/ship's scorecard. Also, things like docking fees, resupply, refueling can & should come from the common fund. Plus, pay for the crew & split of spoils should probably come out of there.
As owner/operator, control of the fund falls to Laris, and it's effectively an extension of Laris' personal wealth, but behaviorally/psychologically it's a separate bin. I think the separate ship's book is a good practice.
A separate book gives me some fudge factor as well in case I don't tweak the credit in/outflows properly.
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Also, I'll have a cluster of stocks that you all can choose to invest in or not. Just let me know in this thread. Share prices are/will be in the spreadsheet. It's still really basic right now.
As the game world becomes more populated & detailed, you'll occasionally get holonet news reports that also include some financial highlights.
Where the market may be going will impact the trades and jobs you might do. We just haven't gotten that far yet.
Of course, right now I think I am using the Ron Moore/BSG method of world building. Just throw a bunch of stuff out there & make sense of it in a later episode :) I will eventually link it all together.
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My only time to watch tv shows is after my kids are asleep. They're not old enough to watch Buffy anyway. With the laptop, I can watch something & go through the pbp stuff at the same time.
I think I will order up more Buffy DVDs for father's day, or maybe some PDFs for gaming. Since I travel for business, it's just easier to deal with PDF. I don't like PDF for screen viewing, but a bunch of annotated PDFs in a memory stick are easier to pack than a pile of books.
Sorry for the delay. I think I caught whatever bug my kids have been dealing with, so I was mostly out of commission this weekend.
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The ship is in the docking bay. I'll post something more tomorrow morning during my commute, I think.
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As for the planet itself... Phloeron is a mining world, mostly human.
Beyond that, let's see... Knowledge: Galactic Lore & Social Science, or whatever the Saga Edition uses for planet info.
For Elliot, Ulula & Laris...
Its primary "industry" would be mining. Therefore, it is a net exporter of ores & metals, and generally a consumer of heavy machinery & foodstuffs.
A single corporation (Phloeron Metallic, a subsidiary of Plaxtem Holdings) dominates the mining on the northern & more hospitable hemisphere, while wildcat miners live in the rougher southern hemisphere.
Hailodyne (a member of the Trade Federation) was contracted by Phloeron Metallic to build the maglev train lines that criss-cross the planet, bringing ores to the primary smelting towns. This primarily Duro & Neimoidean company was absorbed into the larger Plaxtem Holdings towards the end of the Clone Wars. Plaxtem itself has mostly resisted domination by Imperial interests in the wake of Palpatine's campaign of trade nationalization. Whether this separation from the Imperial order is real, or simply a masquerade for greater Imperial control behind the scenes... it's impossible to say.
As for the current situation on Phloeron...
The Duro descendants/remnants of the maglev railway builders live in small "Durotown" communities across the planet, having been abandoned to their fate in the wake of the dissolution of Hailodyne.
Miners working for Phloeron Metallic are increasingly upset with working conditions following the collapse of a Oratium mine & the death of scores of miners. Phloeron Metallic has brought in miners from off-world to re-start mines that have been shut down by organized labor strikes or losses of workers (miners who have quit & gone wildcat in the south).
Okay, that's near the end of my current notes on the planet.
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I'll have more for specific characters tomorrow.
*sigh* Commute time often is the best time to do this, but then I have the least access to my notes & books.
Things I owe you all:
- amount in the Ship's Credits account (mostly for Laris)
- payment expected from current jobs (for Mayvar and Laris)
- specific individual character knowledge of Phloeron
Anything else important to do, let me know.
And is the ship's name settled?
Ok, time for work.
Oh, I also do plan to give Wade some info about the Sun Hammer & her captain, but I am still working on it.
That might come first on the commute home.
The financial info & more planetary info might require access to my google docs, which is complicated during working hours.
I think I've provided an adequate sense of the world as a start, which is hopefully rather Earth-ish in a Star Wars way rather than funky/strange sci fi that is interesting but not necessarily in the style of the movies (Geonosis, Kamino, Mustafar, and the various smaller scenes in Ep.3 being exceptions to the norm set by Episodes 4-6 plus Coruscant and Naboo).
Other worlds in the Sector will be different from this one, needless to say. There's no necessity to stay on Phloeron beyond your interests. There is no grand metaplot - only what your characters may have brought with them into the adventure (and that is dependent on me keeping everyone's storylines straight).
If you would like style tweaks, let me know. I read a lot, and thus I think I can play a variety of styles as a writer - from Western, to romantic/space opera, to hard sci fi, to classical literature, etc.
"Arma virumque cano..."
(Don't ask me to do this in Latin, however)
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I was thinking, it might be a good idea if we all work together and figure out how much each of us knows about each other, so we don't get into any confusing situations. Just list basically what your character has told the others, not necessarily the truth about the character.
The story Wade has told the crew(who each may know it whole or in parts as each of you choose).
Wade was born a spacer and became a war orphan from around the middle to the end of the Clone Wars, to be raised in a state orphanage on Corellia.
At the age of 19, to try and make something of his life, he applied for and was accepted to the Imperial Academy as a pilot. About a year and a half into things, he got involved in an incident which resulted in an expulsion and discharge of a number of cadets.
He'd set off to make the most of what he'd learned as a pilot-for-hire/mercenary/bodyguard/what-have-you, until he'd managed to save up over the past two or three years to get his own craft and manage himself somewhat.
The crew found him drifting in space because he'd had to leave a port of call after a job due to a disagreement with a local sabaac card shark, who turned out to be the son of a minor ranking member in a crime syndicate. The card shark told his father's goons to work Wade over, but he distracted them by kicking the table up into their way and running.
He'd managed to make his way to his ship and left as he found out maintenance had been completed, but overlooked that they hadn't refueled it yet.
He'd slipped out of the immediate threat only to run out of gas with a limited number of consumables. That was eight months ago.
Ah, home again, home again...
Feel a little like death warmed over & I think I'll rest early tonight.
Father's Day stuff is in my own hands. I think I'll get more Buffy DVDs for my collection. Still have to think of something inexpensive to get for the free shipping on Amazon...
Okay, as for the game... I am still on my crackberry at the moment.
Wade... Still debating the nature of info about the Sun Hammer & her captain that Wade might be able to know. Just want to be sure it's good/memorable and not just a waste.
Soz... I will supply some Duro info about their history on this world (maybe during commute time tomorrow if it becomes too thinking-intensive). If there's a great source for Duro history, let me know. I should check wookiepedia, but I am winging it with the Durotown stuff. The current basis on Phloeron is Chinese railroad laborers in the American West.
Elliot... I hope I am not short-changing the character, but I have ideas for later, although not necessarily on Phloeron unless things break in certain ways. Elliot will also have his time to shine brightly.
Ulula... Also feel like I have more in store for later. Water worlds, AquaEden, plenty of things to come. Did I need past ships and crew assignments? I should go through the old stuff again...
Laris/Maeris... Also ignoring her history right now. It'll come into play later, but I should think about some cool ways to do it before I forget.
Cinder... I have fancy plans, but nothing to say now.
Mayvar... I think it's kind of his show right now. His time to not be as visible will come later, though. My job is to keep you all rotating through the spotlight.
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Actual details that I owe hopefully to come later. Some of it might be important to how you all choose to deal with the folks in the docking bay, so I need to provide it to you.
I was thinking, it might be a good idea if we all work together and figure out how much each of us knows about each other, so we don't get into any confusing situations. Just list basically what your character has told the others, not necessarily the truth about the character.
Good idea. You all are good storytellers too, so it would also be interesting to me.
The Ship's Credits are effectively the second pile of credits owned by the ship's owner.
Its purpose is to pay the various fees related to ship's operations (docking fees, refueling, restocking food supplies, repair, licenses, upgrades, etc), crew "pay", and other expenses.
Also, payment for completing jobs will go into this bucket as well (the primary source of replenishment for the jobs).
Again, the credits in the account are Laris' as she is the owner. Mayvar's role is more of consultant and crew advocate.
At this time (and without looking at my notes on google docs), the account has:
5,000 credits
(minus 75 for the daily docking fees at the Gullroost bays in Port Noctis).
This may be adjusted if it's too low, or the fee structure may change if it proves to be low/boring.
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Payment.
Current job: 10 large crates of medical supplies
Mayvar arranged the job from an old friend. The Doc deals with poor miners who often pay in semiprecious & precious metals instead of credits.
The Doc has promised 3 kg of Oratium & 3 kg of Tritanium in the form of coins, nuggets, and ingots. (These would both be in the Metals - Semiprecious category, worth approximately 200cr in an average market) The Doc has also pledged 125cr to cover docking & misc fees at Port Noctis.
The medical supplies, including high grade medical equipment, is worth more than the metal... Like most jobs, your good names are worth more than what you'd get by misappropriating what you're carrying.
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Job 2 - Delivery of 3 large canisters of Synthene
Payment will be 2,500 credits
More details to come.
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As to the matter of the anti-ship guns on the cruiser, I'd have to look at my books when I get home. Anti-personnel weapons are a separate modification, likely of questionable legality. Off the top of my head & not knowing the rule, while you can fire a turret-mounted gun on things that are people-sized, it may incur some penalty for shooting at smaller-than-Colossal-sized targets. I will check on it, although I am sure it would be an impressive light show :)
The best info I found was a small mention in the Saga book on page 183 when it lists a Star Destroyer's stats. "Apply a -20 penalty when firing against targets smaller than Colossal-size." Neither the Citadel-Class Cruiser nor the R-41 Starchaser entries have such a mention. However, the designers obviously didn't consider the possibility of using such large, powerful weapons against single characters, so it might be fair to include a -5 to -10 penalty to such attacks, in addition to making them area attacks without the damage muliplier(due to relative power, as a good blast could drop some mid-level character's quickly).
As for anti-personnel weapons, the only one I can think of is the "Docking Gun" modification in Starships of the Galaxy, page 47. Its basically a mount which allows you to load a character scale weapon on it creating a turret. They have a rating of Licensed, can fire as long as the ship has power, cost is 1000 plus the cost of the weapon used, and the damage based on the weapon mounted. What it doesn't say is whether or not manually controlled or automated.
It was so much easier in D6... :-)
Another relevant bit is whether/how Autofire works (with this Starship Weapon)...
ACTUALLY, looking up the Citadel Class on Wookiepedia, it says the only TURRETS are ION guns.
Of course, that may not be immediately obvious to those staring down the barrels :-)
But unless this is a non-standard Citadel, we wouldn't actually kill anything with them, though I could certainly short out any weaponry/ electronic gear in the swath of it's blast...
(I thought someone posted the ship stats in one of the threads, but I couldn't find it when I looked... ???)
Hey, I was taking a while writing up those background contacts, so I thought I'd post the 2 I already had:
"Bad Rep" Pirate Crew (w/ Mayvar)
This crew was the same one that mutineed/ turned against Mayvar, though I have no experience with that incident, we would be able to figure out it's the same crew from their names/ aliases/ looks/ personalities/ etc. (I would recognize all the crew except captain)
They actually became well known within space-pirate circles because of their complete lack of even "thieves morals", and eventually could not find anybody willing to work with them, if not actively seeking them out for revenge, as word spread of their reputation and they could no longer function within the black economy. (Sharing our bad experience with pirate/smuggler types would probably elicit grudging sympathy/mutual disgust from other pirate types almost certain to at least have heard of this gang).
I was almost screwed over/killed by them after thinking they were trust-worthy partners on some smuggling deal and having them try to turn on Ulula's crew - Ulula saved the day by quick thinking and turning the ship security system against the Bad Rep crew: one of their crew died (and one of Ulula's crew as well), though that isn't really the biggest motivator to them.
Though not particularly trying to seek out Ulula for revenge or anything, if they run into her they would automatically be antagonistic given Ulula fought against them. They're antagonistic to about anybody they figure is weaker or can be tricked, they're usually just deceptive about it - their experience with Ulula would probably just make them "fast forward" to this stage - Unless their Captain has other plans (see below).
WHAT I DON'T KNOW: Captain got cosmetic surgery & fake ID once too many cops and too many crooks were gunning for his head. Corrupt Imperial Intelligence faction paid for and arranged the whole thing, and now uses the captain/mercenary crew for projects, though has no real interest in their welfare beyond as an expendable tool.
His crew often splits up, infiltrating other ships with just enough muscle & guns to take control of the situation, which is also a pragmatic tactic since the chances of being recognized as Roid Rats increases when they're all together. Scum of the Scum.
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Sobla the Hutt
Jotraxa "Freestation" Owner (in ? subsector)
(AKA the Pirate Free-Port)
I frequented this station often during my time smuggling/ salvaging/ etc with (my former salvage/smuggling crew). It was run as a 'neutral' station where the "grey" (well, dark-grey) economy could function no questions asked, off a space station in a non-habitable system.
The Hutt generally maintained her neutrality, content to make a large mark-up profit on the various services offered at the station, which everybody was content paying because there wasn't the normal planetary/Imperial police (much less taxes) to worry about. She also ran multiple side businesses of her own (usually similar to that of other residents here: smuggling, piracy, salvage) some of which benefitted from her good relations with (X noble house/faction), but unless someone was an out-and-out enemy of Sobla, other businesses and operations were free to operate on Jotraxa, and Sobla generally respected her customers' privacy.
Overt Rebel operations were seen as a danger to the station, but nosing into customers' business was bad for business, so as long as people were discreet and didn't cause a problem, Sobla didn't make a problem either. Large-scale contra-band operations also weren't allowed on the station itself (as it would draw too much attention), but the large operators still found Jotraxa convenient to use as an intermediate staging point, re-stocking their own factories and capitol ships thru multiple smaller ships which blended in more.
Most everyone aboard was armed and looked out for their own - Bars with more effective (lethal) security charge higher prices.
For "crimes" large enough to attract the Hutt's attention (destruction of super-structure or vital systems of the station itself, crossing the line from one-off business disagreement/murder to random killing sprees or all-out warfare - anything which might impinge business at large OR interfering with Sobla's personal business), the only "penalty" was death: Anything below that threshold didn't concern Sobla. Most of the inhabitants relied on affiliation with a gang/ family/ guild/ armed faction of some sort to provide a semblance of security, which was the easier (and cheaper) solution from Sobla's perspective.
Sobla happens to be personally familiar with Ulula (if superficially) because of the 'Roid Rats, who had been targetting ships to hijack (like Ulula's) out of Jotraxa itself: Sobla is one of the many parties who would kill the Roid Rats on sight (or smell). Since she views the Roid Rat incident involving Ulula as an affront to Jotraxa's reputation as a "safe" place of business, she's probably inclined to a small gesture of good will to make up for her "failure" of tolerating the Roid Rats previously - Not much of substance (i.e. effecting the bottom line), but she's sensitive of any rumors about Xabul's reliability getting around.
WHAT I DON'T KNOW: allied with X noble faction in X business?
The best info I found was a small mention in the Saga book on page 183 when it lists a Star Destroyer's stats. "Apply a -20 penalty when firing against targets smaller than Colossal-size." Neither the Citadel-Class Cruiser nor the R-41 Starchaser entries have such a mention. However, the designers obviously didn't consider the possibility of using such large, powerful weapons against single characters, so it might be fair to include a -5 to -10 penalty to such attacks, in addition to making them area attacks without the damage muliplier(due to relative power, as a good blast could drop some mid-level character's quickly).
As for anti-personnel weapons, the only one I can think of is the "Docking Gun" modification in Starships of the Galaxy, page 47. Its basically a mount which allows you to load a character scale weapon on it creating a turret. They have a rating of Licensed, can fire as long as the ship has power, cost is 1000 plus the cost of the weapon used, and the damage based on the weapon mounted. What it doesn't say is whether or not manually controlled or automated.
Thanks for that. Been a busy weekend.
And to Quandary, I had debated whether to do this in d6, but I haven't really used SAGA, so I figured it was time to try it.
I wouldn't want anti-ship weapons to negate the usefulness of that Docking Gun modification. The Docking Gun should be the most useful thing for this sort of work...
...but it stands to reason that a turreted ship's weapon would be able to blow up people-sized targets, albeit at some penalty (since D20-ish games often like to throw penalties on big things trying to smash little things, with bonuses for little things trying to poke big things).
It's a matter of saying "Yes", in the most appropriate D20 way.
And thanks to everyone who looked up the ship elsewhere. The Starships book is rather general when it comes to weapon system descriptions. Maybe it has something to do with the generalized nature of the Starships miniatures game from Wizards, I guess. It's a superior book than previous incarnations in many ways, but I'm seeing more of the flaws now.
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I think its mainly listed as having one Ion and one Laser so that it actually has one damaging weapon on board other than the missile launcher. Some players out there hate the concept of "nonlethal" damage.
Anyway, if you like, I have a rough idea of penalties for using Starship-scale weapons on character-scale targets that I've been working on as a "just in case" for a SW game I'll be running soon. My players have been known for doing some crazy things, I've learned to anticipate many of them.
For vehicles of size Huge and Gargantuan apply a penalty somewhere from -5 to -10 on attacks against character-scale targets. For Colossal sized vehicles, apply a penalty somewhere from -10 to -15. Exception- Vehicles that are logically used to attack character scale targets(i.e. an AT-ST) are exempt to these penalties.
Addendum: It may make sense for the penalties to bee -5 for Huge, -10 for Gargantuan, and -15 for Colossal; leaving the -20 for Colossal(Frigate) and up.
Attacks made by these vehicles is targeted at a single character, but is considered an area attack, with the character being at the center of the attack. Damage is not multiplied, instead, the damage multipliers determine the size of the damage radius. A multiplier of x2 means that the damage covers the square in which the targeted character stands, plus a radius of one square; a multiplier of x3 would mean the occupied squares with a radius of two squares; and so forth. This keeps most such attacks from being instant-kills at low levels, while remaining dangerous.
Those rules seem well considered. Definely the 5d10 x2 (or there abouts) of the laser cannons would pretty much instakill a lot of characters, not to mention mook NPCs. Maybe it would be fun for a little while, but it would have too many unintended consequences.
Okay, time to compose a game post.
Did my best to stay away from the computer & spent time with the kids all weekend.
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Those rules seem well considered. Definely the 5d10 x2 (or there abouts) of the laser cannons would pretty much instakill a lot of characters, not to mention mook NPCs. Maybe it would be fun for a little while, but it would have too many unintended consequences.
Okay, time to compose a game post.
Did my best to stay away from the computer & spent time with the kids all weekend.
I think massive damage shouldn't be that much of a problem, the primary places you'd be using it would be starports/docking bays and they're going to start charging compensation for blasting up their property, assuming they don't just sic the law on you.
In a docking bay is even worse, as you might accidentally blow out something that runs those nice wierd force fieldy things that keep the atmosphere in. Even if you're all in a ship, I can't imagine it's going to do you much good being suddenly sucked out into space.
Ah, the joys of quant stuff.
10,000 simulations of daily returns over a 3 month period in Excel takes a couple minutes to run. I should probably run more than 10,000, but it's enough to make my point for these folks...
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As for ship's guns, my unintended consequences are from a different perspective.
For instance, clever & jaded players might routinely transform the game into "We hover the ship and blow up NPC Xyzabc" if ship-board weapons are too useful. Jabba the Hutt? Ship's guns. Darth Vader? Ship's guns :)
Also, the antipersonnel docking gun modification needs to have meaning. Another potential casualty if the wrong path is taken.
I moved too quickly from orbit to planetside & glossed over details in the rush to get you all to some dice rolling.
I presumed some limited comm contact with the Doc or his protocol droid announcing the arrival of the medical supplies prior to landing.
I should have stated this explicitly instead of moving so quickly to the docking bay, although I will try to err on the side of continuing action rather than stretching out scenes too long. I don't want to let things flounder if I can help it.
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Okay, my 10,000 x3 months worth of data points are ready. Time to do some mathemagics.
Sorry my query was about the contact for the Synthene, is he within communication/land travel range or is he in a different city/locale.
Sorry my query was about the contact for the Synthene, is he within communication/land travel range or is he in a different city/locale.
Port Bellarin is on the northern hemisphere, and is the main spaceport for the corporate-dominated north. Laris' contact is out of range of handheld commlinks, but the ships's comm system should be able to reach him.
Port Bellarin is geographically distant from the ship's location, although the extensive maglev rail network should be able to take the crew and the Synthene cargo there for a fee.
The passage will take more time than flight, but land transport will be more difficult to track & interdict (if that is the primary concern).
We'll wait until this deal's complete and then fly over there then. Laris just has this clock ticking in her head and it's making her itch.
Good :)
in fact, it gives me an idea for another game post.
I don't mean to set you all at odds, and you all seem to be fine roleplayers who can find a happy medium... but some tension was what I was hoping for.
Maybe if this were the Mandalorean Wars, the separate goals might be bad, but hopefully it makes for a more interesting & living setting.
BTW, do we all have a security/door code to the ship (& hangar?) or what?
I also had a post eaten, but this time it was my Opera Mini browser experiencing some sort of error.
Good point. About the security code. I would have had a post about that... Technology is great, though.
Won't be posting Monday or Tuesday, as I'm going to be camping with some friends. I'll be back to normal on Wednesday, and ready for action.
No problem. I'm expecting some delays due to the July 4 holiday here in the U.S.
*sigh* Forum ate another post.
Okay, was just going to say that you're all going to be awarded for avoiding that fight earlier (i.e. gain experience equal to defeating the equivalent CL of those shipment-jackers)... not that you HAD to avoid the fight, but you did eliminate the situation & should be rewarded for that.
If you want more fights/less fights, let me know. I will try to provide opportunities for fights, but if there is too little fighting or too much fighting, I can always fine tune it as we go.
If only D20 games weren't so clunky with the fights these days... ;)
Okay, if I get time, I'll try to arrange some info on a wiki & post a link here. There's a couple different free wiki sites that I'm looking at, and if I can make the planets in the setting more wiki-ish, maybe it will help flesh out the environment for us all.
I'm used to looking up stuff on the wookiepedia, and I don't know if I can guarantee a similar look & feel. However, if I can borrow an idea or two from there (look & feel for planet layouts, for instance), then I will.
Just wanted to point out a website I found useful for my last few posts, when looking for imprecations, derogatory modifiers and atmospheric exclamations:
A Mouth Like An Intergalactic Princess: Cussing In A Galaxy Far, Far Away
I do get an advantage for picking a phobia! It gives a quick and easy hook into making Cinder a character, and gives me something to work with while I get a feel for the more subtle and interesting parts of who she is. The agoraphobia is something she's going to get over, and I'll make sure it doesn't inconvenience the party too much. :)
Just wanted to point out a website I found useful for my last few posts, when looking for imprecations, derogatory modifiers and atmospheric exclamations:
A Mouth Like An Intergalactic Princess: Cussing In A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Nice link :)
A lot of the sources are EU, but it does help to set the proper mood...
Okay, time to continue thinking about the next couple game thread posts. The vacation was too short, and I had to chase a lizard out of the bathroom (have no idea how a small lizard got up to the master bathroom on the 2nd floor)... but there's still one more day of rest for me :)
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I am looking at small press stuff these days. Wondering if I can put Star Wars stuff into a better fleet battles system.
Even if it's a huge improvement over the last D20 version, the Saga Edition starship book is still not enough, and the ship minis game apparently was not that great.
There's a system that looks simple enough to do HUGE fleet conflicts on hex grids, maybe even with inertia-based vector movement (totally un-Star Wars, though).
Maybe down the road if I do a Clone Wars or Mandalorean Wars game.