Uncharted Worlds – Page 38 – Powered by the Apocalypse G+ Archives

I’d like to ask a question about a specific Move (Access + Interface) and also follow up with a more in depth…

I’d like to ask a question about a specific Move (Access + Interface) and also follow up with a more in depth question about hacking networks.

As I understand in general, use of a Move (and rolling dice) typically signifies that at the end, when all is resolved one way or another, your player turn is done. Time to move on to the next person. (Move Chains are the exception to this).

I think I’ve been running something wrong with my players.

On Player Bob’s go, he rolls Access + Interface to initially “get inside” the target computer system. Bob rolls 10+. All good.

Bob then says “Now that I am in, I want to do that thing with the system” and Bob immediately rolls again Access + Interface to try and do that thing”.

I see two errors here…

I think I should have stopped Bob after the initial and successful attempt to access the interface. Bob’s rolled dice, so time to move to the next player ?

The other error, is, I don’t think Bob needs to roll Access + Interface again to do the thing he wants inside the network, because he already has access. I think he needs to do Face Adversity / Get Involved / Assessment to do the thing he wants, is that right ?

However, as I noticed on another read of the rules (P25), it says “A successful Access gives one complete privileges over the content in that cluster”, so does Bob even need to make a second roll to do that thing, if he has complete access ?

Whilst we are talking about SectorNet, what are folk’s take on it ?

I kind of envision a galaxy spanning PWW (Planet Wide Web) as appropriate to the campaign.

In both of my campaigns, it exists in all the known and colonised planets.

Access is via wireless, or hardpoint/terminal if available, wherever you are. Within reason.

Reason being :

Any ship, of any type will have sufficient arrays to always be connected to SectorNet if desired. They are just nodes after all. If you met a surprise alien civilisation who have just popped up in the campaign world, never been met before…they are not on SectorNet. They have their own tech.

Any colonised planet with settlements will have SectorNet in all but the most remote locations. It’s no big deal to have a sat dish on a shack roof, in the middle of the forest.

If you happened to be in the forest / somewhere remote with your “deck”, and the dish on the roof was broken, now you are in trouble. No deck has enough juice to uplink to a satellite. Best fix that dish, or crank up the power on the deck…consequences. If your flyer is nearby, just uplink to that instead..boom…SectorNet. Seems legit ?

A bit about hacking now…

So let’s say the player wants to hack Evil Megacorp (EM)

It seems reasonable they exist on SN. But protected.

So, player wants to hack in to their network…

1. SectorNet is easily accessed by everyone. It’s just the PWW.

2. Player Bob makes Access + Interface to get in to EM network

3. Player Bob wants to do that thing. Drain all their accounts and bankrupt them immediately. Face Adversity + Interface. Bob succeeds. Bob has just destroyed a Faction. At least in the short term. Bob could have wiped off his Debts instead. Or all manner of massively game breaking things. Is Bob “playing in the spirit of the game” or just being a douchebag to the rest of the table ?

Final question if I may ?

Corporate Military jet about to drop a ton on bombs on you.

1. Log in to SectorNet

2. Try and access EM network with Access + Interface. Success.

3. Tell GM “I want to screw with the targeting on the jet”. Face Adversity + Interface. Success 10+

4. GM says “Well done, at the last moment the bombs fall short missing you and the crew on land”. (I guess for a partial, the bombs fall short, but take out some collateral)

Seems legit ?

Thank you !

The game is amazing, and I’ve run 6 sessions now. A fellow GM has now purchased it, and I know of another GM who is going to give it a try too 🙂

Far Beyond Humanity Weekly Update #5

Far Beyond Humanity Weekly Update #5

Well it was one of those weeks: Wrote less than I hoped, more than I expected. Fighting a bit of a throat infection that’s sapping my energy in the evenings, even had to cancel my gaming session ’cause a GM without a voice is kinda useless. Other than that, things are ok.

New Chapter 2: Technology

Still missing the back half of this chapter, but I made enough headway that I figured I’d upload it and get first impressions. Thanks/curses to Noah Doyle, whose breaking of the Vehicle system folded super well into my early designs of Mecha rules, so the two have been merged into Greater Vehicles. (And yes, the actual upgrades for Greater Vehicles aren’t there yet, making it a tremendous tease).

Also included are the SectorNet rules. I tried to create a system that could simulate (hah) ye olde Netrunning/Matrix-y fun without being an entire campaign setting. It’s a system that I’m not entirely sure about because all that Netrunning stuff is a bit outside my wheelhouse. I’d appreciate feedback from aficionados of the genre.

Reformatting: Characters

Still slogging through the reformatting of the Characters chapter. Tedious, thy name is Layout.

New Art!

Every week I’ll be revealing a new piece of art from the upcoming book. I’m super stoked to be getting these in, they’re exactly how I pictured them. First up we have the Chapter Cover of the Technology Chapter, by Juan Ochoa:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/25i6bcd996fcqqh/SectorNet.jpeg?dl=0

What’s Next

Going to try to finish up the technology chapter, get in the actual combat/operations rules for Greater Vehicles, etc. Also finish the dang Characters chapter.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/atd0ygpwhur5yp6/AAB140jz3usjE3imwUkkCTLia?dl=0

We started some preliminary discussions about our campaign and quickly realized that everyone had a different idea.

We started some preliminary discussions about our campaign and quickly realized that everyone had a different idea. One wanted human only like Firefly, another High Tech with lots of aliens like Mass Effect and a third Trans Human stuff with living spaceships grown from their pilots DNA in a symbiotic relationship. To avoid too much problems and divergent visions I created this. This is just a starting point and each section can be refined or amended completely . But it gives a good baseline to work from and gets everyone on the same page. It is not super detailed but gets the flavor across without really defining anything too specific. Looking forward to work on it in our session 0. What do you think? How do you get them all synchronized?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9xbfAd2Rj8rNUt4RmMxdGJNemc/view?usp=drivesdk

Looking for a term for “super vehicles” like airships, mega-tanks and mecha.

Looking for a term for “super vehicles” like airships, mega-tanks and mecha. Things that are only built by governments and factions, costing millions if not billions of credits.

So we finally finished our year plus game.

So we finally finished our year plus game. I wanted to leave a brief summary and postmortem. Feel free to ask more specific questions.

The setting was loosely based on Chris Wooding’s “Tales of the Ketty Jay” series, where instead of starships we had jet-powered airships. The world was crisscrossed by powerful belts of persistent thunderstorms that are incredibly dangerous to fly through except at certain “passes.” The crew flew the “Goose’s Gimmick,” which looked something like the galleon from treasure planet (complete with open top deck).

What worked well:

– everyone had a great time, across a wide variety of rpg experience levels from first timer to decades-vet. This is really the most important thing! The players all want to keep playing and we’ll be jumping into a new campaign with a first time gm (a role we may start rotating)

– prompts, and getting everyone directly involved in world building and figuring out consequences, worked very well. Although some players are more comfortable with that improv than others, with experience I got better at making sure I didn’t ask stuff that left people feeling clueless and pressured.

What didn’t work as well:

– advancement fell apart and everyone got massively over leveled. I think the characters had something like 14 skills each when we wrapped up. This has already been well discussed and I think the new advancement rules largely should fix this.

– Debt/factions proved difficult to use effectively. Some “factions” ended up operating more like threats. Others never really had much narrative impact at all when the characters veered far from their sphere. And the impact of each level of debt and what it should mean in terms of the narrative was chronically unclear: what’s the difference between 2 debt and 3 debt? It was also often unclear how an individual’s debt reflected on how the ship/crew were treated. Most interactions with factions were quid pro quo deals with the whole crew, where any debt/favor was very specific and usually canceled out quickly. Narratively the faction interactions all made sense but it was awkward to fit the mechanics.

– Skills that give specialized equipment made sense at character creation but were awkward later on, when suddenly acquiring a shiny new toy probably didn’t make any narrative sense at all when you’re in the middle of nowhere fleeing pursuing pirates.

I may add more as I think of them but those are the bits on my mind for now. Hope this is useful to someone!

Synopsis of Session 0 of my new Online Uncharted Worlds campaign.

In our first ever session of the Uncharted Worlds: A Journey Into the Unknown, we established a ragtag group of mercenaries, pirates and profiteers hell-bent on taking advantage of a weak and war-torn system. During this session, we created characters (mostly) and played out the beginning of our Heros’ first adventure: the acquisition of a space ship from the run-down remants of Theta station.

We jumped right into the action under the bubble shield on the main level of the Theta Station platform. Sven, Harland and Thanatos all stood together among ships of all shapes and sizes, all of them in disrepair and mired with wear and tear and damage. Sven and his accomplices, a group of rough and tumble mercenaries who he had persuaded quite convincingly to leave their own criminal enterprises for a promising share in adventure, riches, and notoriety.

Immediately, the group made note of 5 security bots watching them and their unusually well-equipped squad. Taking note of this, both Thanatos ( a tall, grizeled mercenary with a penchant for violence) and Harland Briggs (a smug and inventive technomancer with a knack for the unexpected) made their best attempts to remain unseen as they split from the group. Unfortunately, Thanatos’ skills lay elsewhere, and his large frame and errant feet caused him to fall in front of the attentive robots, who, sensing a possible threat, scanned him thoroughly before moving back to their posts. Meanwhile, Harland’s wiles and a murmured paradox allowed him to move past undetected and begin his own efforts on the nearest computer terminal: a barely functioning piece of machinery he was nevertheless able to use to infiltrate and hijack the poorly protected computers system of the station.

With the surveillance robots following, the rest of the group followed his instructions and shared data to the elevator that would lead them to their vaunted prize: the most expensive craft on the station, an Alton Cruiser on the lower levels of the station. However, they quickly came across unforeseen complications.

A duo of security guards met them at the elevator and asked for identification. Due to the less than legitimate means the group had entered the station, they were unable to comply, and Thanatos, itching for a fight, began the hostilities. Between the combined firepower of the heroes and their allies, they were able to incapacitate and dispatch all 5 of the security droids as well as killing the remaining guard, but not without consequence. A missed electric shot struck Thanatos, paralyzing his legs temporarily and causing him to pulse with hot and damaging electricity,.

From there, they were able to override the lift’s main systems and use it to descend several levels, all the while attempting to care for Thanatos in his injured condition. After bypassing a level full of unguarded cargo, the characters made their way down to the correct elevation of the craft’s hangar area and made haste, as it was clear that the authorities were making their best attempt to override the hijacked server. Instead of choosing the longer way around, they decided to risk a quicker, yet more dangerous route to their destination through corridors and areas of incredible rot and disrepair.

During that time, they encountered a strange organism equal parts cybernetic and gooey organic, which they quickly dispatched without a second thought before continuing on. With the use of their remaining administrative access, they were able to traverse the remaining distance to their destination by disabling the gravity systems and floating over several chasms and pits that blocked their way.

Eventually, the party’s journey came to an end in a hangar dominated by the Alton cruiser, a savage looking craft with two tusk-like protrusions on either side of its body, reminiscent of the ancient Alton raiders. However, standing in front of it, armed to the teeth, is an old friend of Sven’s dressed in crimson syndicate garb. “We’ve been expecting you.” he says with a carniverious smile.

The newbie with the questions again.

The newbie with the questions again. The tips I got in my last post are invaluable, thank you for that! Question for today: Has anyone Created/Gathered custom Origins or Careers?

I love the approach used here: http://tangent-zero.com/map_gen.htm of tagging planets with origins. This will be a great Starting point to get the creative juices going instead of a total blank slate.

I am looking for custom ones because… Currently there are a total of 15 Origins and 17 Careers (Including FBH) These numbers are horrible to roll. 🙂 I know many of you will probably find that weird, but as someone who loves OSR and it`s approach of randomly generating content I always try to get stuff in roll able tables. Especially since I am really not a very creative person while I prepare stuff, it comes super easy to me during play, but not in isolation in front of my monitor.

When it Comes to Careers I specifically miss a real “law man”. The clandestine works only for a certain subset, especially with his skills more geared to subterfuge and murder and less on investigation and tracking fugitives.

http://tangent-zero.com/map_gen.htm

Had a fun mini-session (around an hour and a half) with a couple of players yesterday, wrote up a short Play Report.

Setting: Shadowrun-esque Dystopian City

8X – Cyborg Assassin (Programmed Augmented Clandestine)

Geomar – Rebel Miner (Impoverished Industrial Fanatic)

While trying to meet with a contact, the two ended up in a bar-room brawl. 8X saw their contact get pickpocketed by a young hive-ganger under the cover of a general brawl and intercepted her, while Geomar dealt with a belligerent orc who was furious/terrified of Geomar’s vague-but-seemingly-personal relations with the orc’s sister (and the social consequences for their family, fraternizing with a known terrorist).

The hive-ganger passed off her holomusic audition disc as “the thing she stole” and fled 8X with the actual prize; a data rod she was hired to steal.

Geomar took a heavy iron barstool to the side of the head, was tossed over the bar, and brawled with the orc woman before he was able to retreat to the parking lot.

Using the holomusic disc, the two used the surface SectorNet to track the hive-ganger girl who stole the data rod, and discovered a revolting history of abuse and desperation in the process. They tracked her to a youth hostel in an ash-covered ore processing district. 8X set up a sniper position from Geomar’s beat up pickup truck, while Geomar assessed the possible escape routes if the girl got away.

Instead he stumbled on the girl herself just as she was handing over the data rod to her employer, an almost invisible woman in a stealth suit. The hive-ganger was promptly executed by her treacherous employer, leaving Geomar at the scene of the murder, desperately hunting an invisible foe as the hostel workers found him with the murdered hive-ganger.

Me gain!

Me gain! Thank you for all the input on my questions so far You are great! As a GM and group new to PbtA there are issues we have to work out still. One worry a player communicated was: “If we all create everything together just form thin air, how can we properly explore a universe together? It doesn`t matter if we go left or right because there is only stuff there we make up!” I feel this may be a valid issue of PbtA games that rely heavily on player input like UW. Has that been a problem in your experience? How do you handle this? Do you actually let the players decide everything together with you or do you prep stuff for your own so they can discover it?

As said we are new to this kind of game, having played mostly DnD and the like in the past where I as the GM did most of the worldbuilding.

Because Todd Zircher asked, and because it’s easy and fun..

Because Todd Zircher asked, and because it’s easy and fun..

Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II

(Class 3 Speeder, Armored, Armed x3, Rugged)

GAU-8 Avenger autocannon (Class 2. 2H, Clumsy, Destructive, Penetrating, Spray)

(Class 2 still doesn’t seem right for this, but I could be looking for too much specificity…)

AGM-65 Maverick (Class 3, 2H, Clumsy, Destructive, Breaching, Penetrating, Seeking)

Generic Guided Bomb (Class 4, 2H, Clumsy, Destructive, Breaching, Concussive, Detonation, Seeking) (Can represent Paveways, JDAMs, any standard bomb with a guidance package)

Generic Cluster Bomb (Class 3, 2H, Clumsy, Destructive, Detonation, Shrapnel)

Of the 3 Armed slots, the GAU-8 always takes up one, and the others can be a mix of the other choices. No, you can’t take another GAU-8…

The A-10 also normally carries a sensor/marker pod on one pylon, and a pair of AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles on another for self-defense. Add in one more Armed slot, and put in this:

AIM-9 Sidewinder (Class 2, 2H, Clumsy, Destructive, Seeking, Shrapnel)