Is anyone familiar enough with Roll20 that knows how to get the Uncharted Worlds character sheet up there?

Is anyone familiar enough with Roll20 that knows how to get the Uncharted Worlds character sheet up there?

Is anyone familiar enough with Roll20 that knows how to get the Uncharted Worlds character sheet up there?

Perseus Expansion – Episode 5

Perseus Expansion – Episode 5

Perseus Expansion – Episode 5

Yes, morning arrived for them and they were treated to breakfast, warm breads and a discussion about their plans. The evening before had been an exploration of the treatises of Harmonious Future, an organisation committed to the eradication of social injustice and a levelling of opportunities, education, health and wealth. Links were discussed between the Outer Territories Alliance (the failed rebellion of 15 years ago) and Harmonious Future.

A tourist interlude took them to nearby ruins with Tamara, a student on sabbatical who enjoyed reading at the ruins. The players discover a set of structures that could be aged to greater than 40 thousand years old, constructed for a humanoid species and involving some subtle but powerful molecular manipulation of the granite based building materials.

The players decide to visit the huge structure and understand what it is. They are reluctant to tell the Harmonious Future of it and mention an ‘anomaly’ instead, deep in system. Unphased, Saran Gumai offers two of her people to accompany the heroes: Joe-ann a space scientist and Derrat a spacer handyman.

Arriving at the structure they find it is enormous but inactive. Whilst approaching there was a power spike in the cargo hold. Shielding the two new crew members from the truth they went to investigate. It seems the sphere they picked up on Near Dark was in contact with the gate structure. Something was going on. Some heroic assessment and EVA later the sphere was inserted into the structure which seemed to be powering it up!

The gate came online, exhibiting the same behaviour as the two other known forerunner gates. A probe was sent in to assess safety and determine where the other end of the gate might be. It returned to confirm that it had travelled to another sector of space thousands of light years away, though its power systems were run down. As they debated taking the gate power spikes indicated that something was coming through! Five huge warships of unknown configuration emerged through the shimmering veil of the Star Gate. Run away!

In the upper atmosphere of the nearby gas giant they duelled with a huge bulk freighter that had been lurking there. I say ‘duelled’, the jo Lynn freighter they are flying has some point defence blasters, this converted Class 3 was armed with energy cannons. Heroic Shields Up prevented any meaningful damage but the point defence guns just ‘impacted on the surface’ of the targeted engines. Tyrrell was using his ace pilot skill to great effect, using the ‘escape from pursuer’ option they headed back to the gate to find an enormous war fleet was now on this side with one Class 4 vessel lurking above the gate.

As they approached the gate the defending vessel spewed forth a dozen fighters to intercept our intrepid heroes. Hurtling through the gate in the wrong direction, all they could see were the bright blue lights of the arriving war fleet with the enemy star fighters closing on their tail and into combat range. There was nowhere else to go. Undertaking a neat 180 degrees power turn, our heroes flew straight through the gate.

Good place to close the session… 😉

So I have a quick question regarding negotiating in a world without real currency.

So I have a quick question regarding negotiating in a world without real currency.

So I have a quick question regarding negotiating in a world without real currency. How would you handle, say, cutting someone in on a deal? If I’m making a deal to trade some illicit cargo to a guy, and want to hire some muscle for 20% of the take, how do you translate this into UW? Should it be phrased differently?

Here’s some short history of my campaign setting. Left basic so we can fill in the blanks:

Here’s some short history of my campaign setting. Left basic so we can fill in the blanks:

Here’s some short history of my campaign setting. Left basic so we can fill in the blanks:

It’s been over 500 years since the first colony ships arrived. The location of the Sol System, of Old Earth–it’s been lost. No one knows the way back. Legends tell that when we left, the planet was choking on the fumes of our forebearer’s ancient dirty industry. Don’t think anyone really wants to go back, place is probably a hot stinky swamp still.

The Sector started off with growth and colonization. People spread out, finding dozens of habitable planets. Corporations set up shop, churning out profits. These were the good days, the simple days. People cooperated, for the most part. When things didn’t cut into their pockets.

But, that didn’t last long. The corporations grew greedy–as they have done since the first idea of a corporation was ever thought up–somewhere back on Old Earth. They began to fight and squabble.

That is until the Black Fleet came along, out of nowhere.

Their tech was like nothing we seen. They were from some other sector, a place where other groups of humans set out. They laid siege to countless worlds, burning those them to the ground. We realized–they weren’t here to conquer. They were here for a mass slaughter.

The corporations joined up, they formed the Panstellar Consortium. The combined military might of the entire Sector became a thing to bear witness. They fought back against the Black Fleet–and they suffered for it. It was a long arduous campaign, but they sent the fleet crawling back to the depths of space. Not that there was much left of their own after that.

The Sector licked its wounds. People began to question their place. Survivors of the ransacked worlds started to look at the big picture. Mankind was going to fight itself into nothingness. There had to be a better future, a better version of humanity.

Thus the Human Preservation Society was formed. The keenest minds started to dream this huge project. They cloned humans, improved on their flaws. They created colonies where people didn’t fight and compete. Where they served their purpose. They grew in power too, soon rivaling even the Consortium.

Other people looked for a way out. Suffering was a thing they accepted. But, not something they wanted to revel in. They looked to the old books, the religions of Old Earth. There were no answers, not ones that brought any comfort. Just stories. The idea of heaven, of transcending suffering and death it became a thing that took over minds. The sharpest of those minds began working on the Nexus. A way for people to leave behind their broken bodies and live forever. A way to exist, virtually, for eons–in peace and happiness. A manufactured heaven. They grew a cult following too, a new quasi-religion was born. They called themselves The Ascendancy. Their influence spread like a wildfire. So did their wealth. So much that they could rival the Consortium, even as they lived among it.

Now-a-days the Consortium, the HPS, and the Ascendency butt-heads against each other in the shadows, for control over the people. Most of us don’t see it. We live in our ramshackle houses, our rusted up ships, and we work. We just try to get by. Like we always have.

Welcome to the Sector–Avalon Omega. Welcome to hell.

Tales of the John Henry

Tales of the John Henry

Tales of the John Henry 

 

Setting Info: 

I’ve started running UW for the Sunday Skyper’s crew which is our actual play gaming group.  The modular transport John Henry is run by an NPC Captain, Silvas Trask, and each of the PC are shareholders.  How they each became a shareholder has not been revealed,  saving that for flash backs/debt. 🙂 

 

We have Jaxon Kane (a shady info-dealer, Technocrat / Scoundrel / Galactic), Omega (a ‘vanity clone’ of pop-star Nova Starburst, Personality / Academic / Productive), Febe Keergard (a salvager foreman, Galactic / Industrial / Personality), and Jason Flanders (a space merchant, Commercial / Starfarer / Crowded). 

 

Other named crewmen; Juanita Price – a jump drive tech on loan from Nakamoto, Taylor – fellow engineer and a bit of a letch, Frick and Frack – hairless ‘rad hardened’ engineering clones that spend a lot of time in the aft section. 

 

The John Henry is a non-military transport in a dumb-bell configuration with a multi-level crew section up front, a skinny spine for carrying modules and cargo, and an engine section aft.  It is not designed for atmospheric flight.   

 

In our setting, AI never developed (or has been effectively and perhaps brutally suppressed.)  This has led to the rise of Second Life and the use of clones for cheap labor instead of robots or androids.  Most clones are treated as property or the local equivalent to serfs, but there are free clones such as Omega.  How the law reacts to clones varies from world to world.  In general, purpose-build clones are not known for their independence and free will.   

 

Material (ala 3d) printing is common, but complicated parts and materials requiring special processing are done at factories with purpose-built facilities.   

 

There is no anti-gravity, but most ships have a really efficient form of fusion drive and can maintain constant thrust when not docked.  Similarly, most space stations are either built in the ring or cylindrical configuration that spins to provide gravity. 

 

The jump drive is an energy sponge and sucks up waste heat (well, nearly any form of energy for that matter.)  So, most starships don’t run with radiators although you could add radiator modules if you knew you were going to be sitting still for a long time and not going to jump.  The jump drive can be ‘saturated’ and will stop taking in heat.  At that point you either jump, cook, or dump fuel to cool down the engines/reactor.  Non-FTL space ships and stations have radiators built in by design and necessity if they have a large reactor. 

 

On the big picture, the crew is in the Yanapol Expanse, a relatively new region of space that is mix of old colonies, new colonies, mining, and unexplored systems.  Further coreward are the Core Worlds and the birth place of humanity.  These systems are predominantly human controlled by the Empire of a Thousand Suns.   

 

The Session Report 01: 

The game starts with the crew having just completed a jump from the agro-world of Han’s Landing.  The ship has executed turn-over and beginning the long deceleration burn towards Marsk Station which orbits Marsk Eta, a cold dead rock of a planet.  Marsk Station is a dedicated research facility that is off the normal trade routes.  Ships that do visit tend to bring in food or entertainment goods while ferrying people to and from the other systems.  Elliot’s Hope, an industrial world, forms the other corner of this little trade triangle. 

 

The lion’s share of the facility, its labor force, and security are handled by Second Life.  There are a number of smaller tech firms like HyperLight Technologies that have space here and enjoy the relative privacy and security that Marsk Station provides.   

 

To warm up the players, I started with “Gimmie a project you’re working on or deal with the cramped quarters for six days.”  Jason started on market research.  Omega locked himself into his cabin where only a mysterious green light could be seen from time to time.  Febe decided that team building meant “Let’s build a rail gun and play tag.”  Surprisingly enough, no one was seriously injured.  Jaxon tried a little skullduggery and didn’t meet with too much success.  It didn’t help that some idiots were running around the ship with an unshielded rail gun. 

 

Approach was uneventful with Captain Trask handling the hand shaking with traffic control.  Docking was a paint scraper which embarrassed the captain.   Juanita got the blame for that.  She might have ‘borrowed’ the docking range finder for the rail gun project and forgot to put it back (or gambled poorly that the ship would dock on the starboard side.) 

 

The trip through customs was uneventful.  Jaxon was able to smuggle some items in without tripping the sensors.  Flanders declared his pistol, but was warned that using it for anything other than self-defense was a crime.  Omega showed the custom officer his free clone card and was given ‘the look’ since security was being ran by Second Life staff.  Febe actually debarked with a fair amount of tools, perfectly legal, but was warned about job licensing and fees on station. 

 

Marsk Station is a counter-rotating wheel design with the center core being a zero-G docking hub and loading zone.  Febe show boated in zero-G, everyone else managed to stay out of trouble.  The near ring is the public zone; housing, clubs, the market, administration are all there.  The far ring is strictly corporate territory.  Because the rings are counter rotating, the only (legal) connection points are in the central hub.  Elevators in the spokes of the wheels take people and goods to the rings and back.  It’s a good sized station with thousands of people.  Almost everyone in the service industry is a clone with a Second Life logo on their chest. 

 

As per tradition, the party immediately splits up.  🙂 

 

Febe takes her engineers to a local pub and buys the first round. 

 

Trask and Jason head down to the market to set up their wares. 

 

Jaxon does a does a little info gathering and hacking. 

 

And Omega wanders about, fails to be stealthy (or manages to look incredibly suspicious) and gets accosted by an Internal Security Officer. 

 

Jason and Jaxon both discover that HyperLight Technologies might be a buyer for the salvaged  jump drive that they have in a cargo net on the outside of the John Henry.  Of course, they do go about it in different ways. 

 

Trask more or less pawns off the selling of goods to Jason while the Captain heads off to a meet and greet with the station administrator. 

 

Febe calls tries to get Jason involved in a deal, but it turns out she’s not happy with meeting with any corporate weasel types.   

 

Jaxon (Kane) failed to find a buyer for his illicit financial information, which is why he started digging into HyperLight. He called Febe to get in on the jump drive deal, but she was still sore about their Cramped Quarters failure so she turned him down.  Taylor reminds everyone why he’s a letch, but gets rebuked (as usual.)  Febe leaves the engineers to their drink. 

 

It turns out Jaxon tripped an alarm at HyperLight, but he slips past the station cops like a ghost.  We’ll see if the impact of that comes back to bite them. 

 

Febe discovers one of the ‘open air’ ballrooms that the locals have set up to amuse themselves with, boredom is a real problem on the station.  Their style of dance is an alien thing to her and refuses an invitation to participate.  Sitting on the sidelines, she observes that it is a spectator sport as well, but she can’t figure out who’s winning. 

 

Omega wanders in from a different direction and in a rare moment of exhibitionism drags Febe on to the dance floor during a break in the dancing.  All aboard the awkward train as Febe freezes up in from of an audience of curious onlookers.  Also, the DJ recognizes Omega (well Nova Starburst) and plays one of Nova’s love ballads.  (Probably triggering even more moments of recognition.)  Did I mention it was a train wreck? 

— 

TAZ

Now that folks have been running games for a while, has anyone created, imported from other PbtA systems, or…

Now that folks have been running games for a while, has anyone created, imported from other PbtA systems, or…

Now that folks have been running games for a while, has anyone created, imported from other PbtA systems, or otherwise scrounged up alternate advancement goals?

Our players are starting to amass quite a lot of skills, and some of them are standing out as the more frequently useful ones; Toughness and Tactics come to mind. Yes, I do know a good GM can make the others relevant, but that’s a separate topic. 🙂

I know in Dungeon World you typically are encouraged to retire characters at level 10. I’d just like to get creative about alternate rewards to be bought with XP if some sort of skill cap is enacted. Some ideas we’ve bounced around are: data points, reroll credits, skill trades, equipment, currency, political favors. I’d love to come up with something system-related so people still feel like their characters are earning something fun and powerful, but we don’t end up with everyone being good at everything.

Time to start that Epic Level Handbook! 😉

Last Sunday’s game went pretty smoothly for this rookie PbtA/UW GM.

Last Sunday’s game went pretty smoothly for this rookie PbtA/UW GM.

Last Sunday’s game went pretty smoothly for this rookie PbtA/UW GM. A few stumbling points and the PbtA guru had to bite his tongue in a few places.  But, it was all good and well.  The goal was to let everyone run around in their character’s skins and get a feel for the mechanics and setting we’re building.  Our guru said that the feel of the session was one long foreshadowing move, in that case, I’ll call that a win in my book.  🙂

I’m working on a session report, but not sure if that will be a published thing since we’re also an actual play podcast.  Hey guys, can we spoil our own show or should I hold the report for use as show notes?  

When a character chooses their advancement, do they choose one for each career or just one single advancement?

When a character chooses their advancement, do they choose one for each career or just one single advancement?

When a character chooses their advancement, do they choose one for each career or just one single advancement? On page 162, it’s kind of unclear to me.

I have a question about the “stun” upgrade on weapons.

I have a question about the “stun” upgrade on weapons.

I have a question about the “stun” upgrade on weapons. It’s always seemed to me like its somewhat punishing to have it cost an upgrade, since its more like a sidegrade to me, as stunning an enemy can be better than killing them, but isn’t always. As well, some weapons make sense to have the stun tag and another tag (namely how they stun), like Chemical, Concussive, or Shock. But a taser doesn’t really strike me as a class 2 weapon, even though it would be Stun/Shock. Any opinions that can help me wrap my mind around this?