FARADAY’S FOLLY – EPISODE 02
The Folly docked at a mining camp on the stripmined world of Carthage, in search of Chobara Entresi and her impervious survey tank*. The crew split up to gather information in various ways: Corporal Cho checking in with a mining recruitment officer, Dr. Kovacs scanning SectorNet for logs of mining crew activity, and Zeke jury-rigging a surveillance drone to hover through the camp and eavesdrop.
They uncovered the following:
– Carthage was divvied up almost entirely between member worlds of the Ariel Mutual Prosperity Sphere: Persephone, Ariadne, and others.
– However, there was a sizable patch at the south pole that no one had laid claim to yet, occupied by wildcat miners. Entresi and her crew were last logged as exploring a claim there.
– To disperse the miners, Ariel had called in Captain Reynolds and the Dusters **, a cold-blooded crew of mercenaries. They were loading up for the south pole.
The crew promptly returned to orbit and relocated the Folly to the south pole. They fast-talked their way past Ariel Orbital Control, claiming they’d suffered a major hull breach. Orbital Control graciously offered to send some techs to help them fix it, forcing Zeke to create an actual hull breach after they landed.
They snuck up on Entresi’s crew at the base of a massive strip mine crater. Zeke rigged an explosive and snuck it next to some industrial waste stored at the far edge of camp. Dr. Kovacs hacked into the survey tank using the computer in his suit and climbed inside. The industrial waste exploded, causing a distraction, and Kovacs drove the tank off, ignoring the miners’ small arms fire.
Unfortunately, the Dusters were inbound to scatter Entresi’s camp. Zeke opened fire on them from his spider-tank, drawing the attention of a few tanks and APCs. Kovacs charged them in his invulnerable tank, opening a wedge for Zeke (with Cho riding on the back) to follow behind.
The crew made it back to the Folly and sped through the repairs, which Ariel’s techs hadn’t been able to finish. While Zeke patched the ship, Kovacs cracked the encrypted datastore within the tank. Someone had recently used the tank to surveil Mason Brooks, a ranking Flotilla arbiter, on the industrial planet Hephaestus. As the Dusters appeared on the horizon, the crew quickly lifted off.
Orbital Control was waiting to intercept them, given their unauthorized landing at the south pole. Unwilling to wait for a customs team to inspect their ship, Cho punched in a wild jump. The Folly fell out of the galactic disc, spiraling into a realm of impossible perspective, before slamming back into real space at unknown coordinates. Some diligent searching of star charts revealed the nearest known system – Sirrus 2160-A20, populated only by a research station around a gas giant that had been abandoned over a century earlier.
Exploring the research station for some needed deuterium fuel, the crew found the feral descendants of the station’s last inhabitants. Cho got shot with a nailgun trying to parlay with them. He retreated to the ship and studied a fragment of their recorded warnings, deducing the ancient language it had derived from. Returning to the station, he worked out a trade: the Folly could take as much deuterium as they needed, but they’d have to bring six “Chosen” members of the tribe with them. Six volunteers were escorted aboard, while Zeke left them a laser-light show “Captivator.”
https://fsr2n.wordpress.com/2016/09/19/uncharted-worlds-faradays-folly-episode-2/
* which I stole from a G+ thread; wink wink.
** I watched Firefly once, over a decade ago, but this didn’t click with me until after we’d cemented it into the setting. Ah, well.
https://fsr2n.wordpress.com/2016/09/19/uncharted-worlds-faradays-folly-episode-2/
GM Notes:
* “So, what does a normal Jump feel like?”
PCs describe some sensations, symptoms.
“Okay, so what follows is nothing like that …”
* All the PCs suffered minor debilities from their Wild Jump (“void horror”). Since it takes a Patch Up to treat debilities, they narrated that their medkit had a brochure on dealing with existential crises. So You’ve Fallen Outside The Galactic Plane: Finding Answers.
* There have been a couple of bits of technical narration that, hours after the fact, I wondered if I should’ve checked for an appropriate kit. Zeke cobbled together a surveillance drone (Assessment action) and Cho activated the recorder on his battle armor to catch snippets of the ferals’ speech. I know that there might be skills or kits that govern these sort of devices, but I didn’t feel like stopping the action to check or saying “no” to their ideas. Rolling the dice opens up so much opportunity for drama in PbtA games that I look for every chance to allow it.
* The move for PCs to fix other characters (Patch Up) is pretty clear. I couldn’t find a corresponding move for NPCs to fix up other characters. Since this was an NPC treating someone else’s void horror, I ruled that this was a Face Adversity check for the PC being treated.
” So You’ve Fallen Outside The Galactic Plane: Finding Answers. “
You know, I had always considered the Patch Up of emotional debilities to be various sedatives and mood equalizers. I love the idea of “Dealing With Crisis” booklets in Medkits.
As for NPC treating PCs, you’ve got a few options.
– If you’re hiring a specialist and their workspace (surgeon + operating room) then it’s an Acquisition. A failure of such might end up with Dr Nick Riviera (“Hi everybody!”).
– If the NPC is being convinced to Patch Up or instructed in medical care (which usually happens when the medic of the group gets injured), then it would be a Command.
– If it’s a painful procedure, it could be a Face Adversity using Physique (“Stay with me, don’t pass out!”).
– If it’s a personal moment, I’d use “Cramped Quarters”: the healing is not as important as the connection between the two people.
– Failing all that, you can always default a 7-9 result of a Patch Up (Success but they can’t do any more), just to keep the story going. Maybe apply an extra cost of time, materials or a promise.
Sean Gomes : Cramped Quarters is one that hadn’t occurred to me – thanks!
Sean Gomes “Hi, Dr. Nick!”
Sean Gomes All standard medkits should come with a blanket and packets of hot cocoa.