Playing around with a little data sheet for a world created in our UW game.
Playing around with a little data sheet for a world created in our UW game.
We established a few planets in a local cluster that is months of travel away from Earth even with Jumps.
The players are all local citizens recruited by some outside organization to destabilize the cluster governments. They all have their own motivations (“Fuck the Sanco Corp, they killed my dad!”) and ideas about where the orders come from (“They’re clearly Earth-based, trying to re-establish authority in this cluster”), but for now they are focused on trying to cause chaos, and their faceless employers will pay them handsomely.
Due to Mother’s Day here in the US, we’re not playing next week. So, to keep everyone engaged and creative, I came up with a sector map and invited them to fill in the descriptions. It’s a work in progress, but it’s already bearing fruit.
Ibara Sector
0001 #01 Ibara
Productive-Advanced-hub
Sector capital, intra-sector hub, orbital industry, high fashion, glass towers
Who is running the show at the sector capital?
Which factions are they allied with?
What is Ibara’s major vice?
Who has contacts here?
What is the ship carrying that is illegal here?
[Alternate] Ibara is heavily visited since it is a hub that connect two other sectors. The sector jump points at X and Queen’s Gate were found decades later. All this traffic has turned Ibara into an industrial powerhouse for the sector and its neighbors.
0006 #02 High Kanton
Impoverished-Regimented-lane
Police state, strong class system, ethnic ruling class, intrigue, smuggling
What makes the police distinctive here?
Where do foreign merchants stand in the class system?
Who is an unexpected ally here?
Who does the government have a dislike for?
What do the rebels hope to achieve?
0102 #03 Rigor
Rustic-Advanced-end
Rich live in space, poor and short-lived workers on the planet, unique resources on planet, Consortium Stronghold
Who are the rich in space?
Who lives on the planet?
Why is there no high tech on the planet?
What is the unique resource on this world?
Who in the crew, if any, has visited this world?
[Alternate] The world of Rigor is a tough one: Most people have lifespans that barely stretch more than 45 standard years. If it wasn’t for the people living here, this world would be considered a failed colony. It would be, if it wasn’t for the citizens of the orbital colony of Empyrean.
The citizens of Empyrean are some of the richest people you’ll ever encounter. House Geneeskunde of the Consortium owns the colony and the world. The colony has access to the very best in technology and culture. And most importantly, they have access to Dorius cinereus boletus, a fungus that only grows on the planet Rigor.
Processed and refined, it produces Dorac, the potent anti-aging drug. However, due to its biological peculiarities, Dorius cannot grow near or in intense EM fields. As most technology puts out EM radiation like a firehose, this means the world below cannot use any technology that involves electricity whatsoever. The down port for the space elevator, is surrounded by a 40 km dead zone where Dorius cannot grow.
Thus, the people Rigor, mostly convicts and purpose grown clones, toil in the fields and caves, growing the fungus for their masters overhead. It doesn’t help that Dorius itself is poisonous. When it spores, the fine particles will enter the lungs and cause a massive allergic reaction, killing the victim by drowning in their own mucus.
0109 #04 Colt
Productive-Regimented-lane
Paranoia, house controlled, export restrictions, sports
What kind of unique but strict government is here?
[Alternate] A long line of greedy industrialists and corrupt politicians have kept control of the cities and the factories there. It’s mean and drab life for most of the inhabitants. Of particular note is Purgatory, an industrial prison complex where prisoners are kept in virtual slavery until they pay off their debt. “It’s better than Hell.” is a common saying here.
0207 #06 Terry
Regimented-Impoverished-end
Resource poor, prison, imports almost everything, strategically useless
Where is the main prison complex located?
Who has a friend incarcerated here?
What is the ship bringing to the system?
Who runs security here?
Why is the strategic value of the system going to change?
0300 #07 Corona’s Nook
Crowded-Productive-lane
Way point, water world, genetic modifications, Corona Station
How does the population cope with the limited land masses?
What is the favorite sport here?
What is their main export?
What is unique about Corona Station?
What are the obvious (and not so obvious) gene-mods here?
0301 #08 Fulton
Impoverished-Advanced-lane
High tech commune, no markets, aggressive recruits, hand built
What offer does the commune make that is too good to be true?
What is the catch?
Who is surprised to find a family member here?
What is their take on clones and gene-engineered people?
Which faction is their greatest enemy?
0304 #09 Hell
Impoverished-Brutal-end
Former resource paradise, depleted, battlefield, nuclear winter, holdouts, no sensible person comes here
Who fought here?
Who remains here?
Who among you has been here before?
What was mined/refined/harvested here?
What crime lies hidden here?
[Alternate] Access to Hell is restricted. It is the dumping ground for hardcore felons, exiles, political prisoners, and malcontents that various governments want to make disappear without turning them into martyrs for their given cause. There’s always at least one Krosnov cruiser or patrol craft in orbit that has orders to inspect everyone coming and going from the planet. Most of the world’s population is gathered around the shallow equatorial oceans.
0305 #10 Mutt
Productive-Galactic-hub
Asteroids, anarchy, libertarian extremists, lawlessness, zero-G industry
What brings the crew here?
What do they make/sell here that the crew cannot get anywhere else?
What hazards are there that don’t show up on the map?
Who has a secret mission here?
What is hidden in the belt that will disrupt everything?
[Alternate] No one is sure how this ring of inhabited asteroid cities got its name, but nearly anything can be found, traded, bought, or manufactured in its hundreds of habs. Of course, you might have to travel halfway around the belt to find it. While there are no habitable worlds in the system, they are part of the ‘Golden Circle’ of jump points and there is a constant flow of goods moving through.
0308 #11 Purcel
Colony-Brutal-end
Domed cities, dangerous spores, guerilla forces, exotic flora and fauna
What makes it worth living here?
What is causing people to go crazy here?
Who knows some of the mercs that provide security here?
What goods are being imported?
Who tightly controls exports here?
0309 #12 Queen’s Gate
Rustic-Advanced-hub
Floating cities, orbital habitats, rabid environmentalists, intra-sector hub
What do you have to do to visit the land?
What highly desired plant only grows here?
Who’s hiding in the wilderness?
What is endangering one of the floating cities?
How are rabid environmentalist making your life miserable?
[Alternate] Most of Queen’s Gate population live in orbital habs or on floating cities. The people have a very hands off approach to the land and strive to preserve its natural beauty.
0401 #13 Roost’s Landing
Galactic-Crowded-hub
Boom-town orbital stations, hustlers, prospectors, company town economy
Why is the planet uninhabitable?
What are prospectors looking for?
Which corporation owns the habs, the stores, the hangers, anything not nailed down?
Who is given a survey map to a possible find?
Why are they given the map?
0405 #14 Cardinal
Regimented-Galactic-lane
Theocracy, awesome orbital architecture, scholars, missionaries, pilgrims, serenity
Who is really excited about being a tourist?
Who happens to know one of the head priests?
What incredibly valuable thing was stolen?
Why is that warship scanning you?
Who is trying to forget (or seek forgiveness) about that incident with the nun?
[Alternate] Home of the Floating Cathedral, Cardinal is a favorite layover for religious scholars, Church workers, and pilgrims. They like it calm and orderly. Most residents closely follow the teachings of the Church of the One.
0406 #15 Lando
Galactic-Advanced-end
High tech resorts, pleasure palaces, cruise ships, orbital industries
Who had vacation plans for Lando’s resorts?
How does Lando deal with pirates and other undesirables?
What natural features make Lando such a destination?
Who has a big debt to one of the casinos?
Which faction is a major influence in the system?
0408 #16 Elliot’s Hope
Productive-Privileged-hub
Heavy industry, shipyards, competing Houses, upper class one-upmanship
What is that burning smell?
Who is eager to put you into debt?
Why was someone on the ship sent a dueling dagger?
Who got that invite to the fancy ball?
Who coming and looking for answers?
[Alternate] Elliot’s Hope is a stronghold for the various Houses of the Consortium and several of them have large industrial facilities here. The Houses spend an inordinate amount of time and resources trying to impress each other.
Who accidentally steps on someone’s time honored tradition?
[Alternate] Metal poor, Han’s Landing gets by with exporting a wide variety of agricultural products. Vast ranches and corporate farms dot the surface of the world. The Landers (their name for themselves) are proud if not wealthy. They have a strong work ethic.
0500 #18 Lawson Station
Galactic-Advanced-hub
Sargasso Sea of spaceships, salvage crews, shipyards, open markets
What hazard makes Lawson Station a home to ship repairs?
What unusual job or bounty does the Station offer?
What feature makes Lawson Station stand out from your typical space station?
Why is the only planet in the life zone uninhabitable?
Who wants to book passage on your ship that requires a vote of the shareholders?
0502 #19 Quinton’s Hope
Rustic-Crowded-lane
Walled city starts, lush lands, a dashed hope
What offer does the government of Quinton’s Hope make to the ship and her crew?
Why are the cities over-crowded and low tech?
Who has family here?
What favor do they ask?
What secret are the homesteaders trying to hide?
0503 #20 Chung
Colony-Privileged-hub
Water world, clones, bountiful sea life, dynamic weather
How do you reach the domed undersea cities from orbit?
Who are the privileged class that live here?
What prevents people from colonizing the surface?
Why does this place have a large clone population?
What strange tradition must all visitors go through?
0504 #21 Knox Alpha
Rustic-Privileged-end
The Lodge, fantastic forests, restricted access, private preserves
Why is Knox Alpha also called “The Lodge”?
Why is access to the surface restricted?
Who is seeking passage to/from this place?
What special cargo is your ship bringing?
What changes people who spend too much time here?
0508 #22 Marsk Eta
Productive-Galactic-lane
Research station, clones, asteroid mining, boredom, dead world
Who has a loved one here?
How do the workers here relieve their boredom?
What the creepiest thing you see?
Which small firm is especially interested in your goods?
Who unintentionally broke one of the local laws?
[Alternate] The only habitable location in the system is Marsk Station which is dominated by the Second Life Corp. The primary business here is clones, research, and some asteroid mining.
0600 #23 Babe
Regimented-Colony-hub
Limited resources, strict rationing, black market, corruption
What is in short supply on this colony?
Who controls the flow of goods?
What natural event is keeping the colony from thriving?
Who on the crew abandoned someone here?
Why is there a warship blocking the Bangle Gate?
0603 #24 Newt
Advanced-Rustic-lane
Huge deserts, high winds, pharmaceuticals, cactus ranches, corporate enclaves
What culture dominates the government and lifestyle of the people?
Why do people bother living here?
What technology is expressly forbidden?
What strange request comes from off world for the crew?
0605 #26 Uhura’s Home
Galactic-Brutal-lane
Shattered planet, mineral rich, hostile debris field, a few remote supply hubs
Who is manning the point defense gun?
Who finds someone they didn’t expect to be alive?
What shady business has the supplier got going?
What equipment is a miner trying to sell?
Who is compelled to take the ship into the debris field?
0606 #27 York
Crowded-Regimented-lane
Militant, mandatory service, code of honor, weapons development, recruiting
Who grew up here and managed to get out of service?
Who knows a guy that knows a guy with a discrete offer?
Who has ran into these government thugs somewhere else?
What do they think of clones?
What keeps everyone crowded into walled cities?
[Alternate] York is crowded, dirty, and under the heel of a strong military regime. Krosnov has an appointed governor in this system and it is a major recruiting station for their people. As imagined, their main exports are weapons and soldiers. Don’t step out of line or you might get stuck in a penal legion for a tour or two.
0700 #28 Bangle’s Call
Advanced-Impoverished-end
Blockade, secrecy, research facility
How can you get past the blockade?
Why do Imperial warships prevent access to the planet?
Who hired you to rescue someone from there?
Who is the passenger that paid you to go there?
What did they bring in the cargo hold?
0701 #29 Hindu
Regimented-Galactic-lane
Ethnic, vegetarian, large orbital colonies, numerous laws
Which member of the crew is part of this belief?
What laws do they break before they even leave customs?
What unusual pets to they have?
What color is forbidden to be worn?
How do they treat their dead (are there any on board as cargo or passengers)?
0705 #30 Cold Opal
Regimented-Productive-hub
Merchant house stronghold and industrial complex, planetary glaciation
Who on your crew really hates snow?
Which two factions are competing against each other?
How far are they willing to go?
Who are you willing to piss off?
Who is here to collect a debt?
0800 #31 Reason
Brutal-Advanced-end
War zone, robotics, patrol ships, scavengers
How do you land without getting blown out of the sky?
[Alternate] Discovered by a wild jump, X is a terrible place to set up a colony with its harsh weather and limited living spaces. But, it is a sector hub and that does give it some value as a way-station.
Which faction runs this facility with an iron fist?
Who’s allergic to the local food?
What are the miner’s really afraid of?
[Alternate] Jotun is the dominate gas giant in the system. It’s largest moon is almost habitable. Zwergenkind von Joten (the dwarf child of Joton) has a breathable atmosphere, but the close proximity to the gas giant results in too much radiation and magnetism for unprotected humans on the surface. The moon is tidally locked so one side always faces Jotun during its 168 hour day. The vast major of the moon’s population are mining clones living in cramped tunnels that used to be mine shafts.
…The Shadow clips the prison transfer shuttle stabiliser, sending it immediately into a spin towards the city below…
…Orcha checks BountyNet and sees that he is wanted on Jagatika for murder, assault, and escaping from prison.
…The Shadow approaches Fallow Highport, passing the curved, deadly shape of the Scythe in its docking port…
…the Fallow traffic pattern flashes a system arrival notice for the Nerian “yacht” Tanngrisnir. Sai beeps an alert: it has queried for news of Rustbucket.
…the bridge on Fallow: a single span of stone in a perfect inverted catenary across a vast canyon. Anvil takes to it with a laser cutter and hacks out a sample. The stone starts slowly but visibly growing back.
…The Tanngrisnir blasts the Rustbucket with its energy cannon. The shields take most of the blast, but the engines catch some of it. On the bridge, damage alarms start flashing. The Rustbucket dodges further energy blasts, and puts a blocky Nakamoto interdiction boat between it and its attacker.
…Kestrel makes the Nakamoto captain an offer: a cargo of dustspice to look the other way, so she can collect on Orcha’s bounty herself, in another system. The captain agrees.
…Rustbucket burns for the jump point, with Tanngrisnir in pursuit.
Rustbucket is not a happy ship. Dev wishes Orcha had died in the desert. The side-effects of Lynard’s low-tech amputation have made him grumpy with everyone, and Anvil’s efforts to fit him with a makeshift prosthetic have put him in the firing line. Dr Westcott, from his cell, is carefully probing kestrel to see whether she would betray Orcha for him. Meanwhile, Anvil has stumbled across the modifications to the hand-scanner Orcha used and realised he was deleting information on the Greenworlds from the AI they retrieved from SR-388. With Sai, he has reached some interesting conclusions about why Orcha was doing that and what the Epoch Trust has been up to. Meanwhile, both Tanngrisnir and Scythe are actively hunting them, hoping to either collect on Orcha’s bounty, or use it as an excuse for revenge, respectively. Damaged, injured, pursued, Kestrel takes Rustbucket somewhere its pursuers won’t go…
Forsjon: the pirate world. A hollowed-out asteroid containing a warren of tunnels, guarded by a Xa dreadnought. Beyond the authorities, beyond the law, a place for pirates and outlaws to do business. Stolen cargoes, slaves, repairs, mercenary contracts, bioweapons, secrets – anything can be bought and sold here, for the right price.
Stepping onto the dock, Anvil and Orcha are surprised to find no customs staff to greet them. There’s just a sign, saying that they are under the Peace of Xa, and some graffiti: “an armed society is a polite society”. The dockside businesses all have armed guards, all muscle, shotguns and attitude. Pirate crews swagger from bar to bar, their gaudy fluorescent colours signifying their allegiance to one crew or another. At the end of the dock, someone is being noisily crucified before a crowd, a sign round their neck saying “murderer”. At this, Dev pales and offers to fix the slow leak in engineering. She doesn’t feel safe here, and doesn’t think Rustbucket is safe either. She collects an autoshotgun from the locker, and leaves the others to it.
Orcha has to buy Lynard a new leg, and Kestrel has some ideas about buying a clone body to collect Orcha’s bounty, so along with Phoebe and Lynard they head for the medical part of Forsjon’s endless bazaar. After some window shopping, they select a body-mod shop and look over the merchandise. Orcha thinks Lynard should get a heavy, mechanical prosthetic, pirate style, Lynard would prefer a real leg, or at least something that feels like real flesh. Pricing is pushing them towards something more basic, until Kestrel steps in with a counter-offer: fifty thousand for a fast-grown clone body and the leg. The shopkeeper says that they know someone and it’ll take time to set up, but he can do it; if they come back in an hour he can fit the leg and do the prep work on the clone. The group splits up as they leave, with Kestrel taking Phoebe and Lynard to a bar to move cargo. Orcha loiters in the bazaar, and manages to get out of the way when he sees Enrico Sodala, his Epoch handler, and Orcha-17, his clone brother, walking along the concourse. The two of them here together can only mean one thing: they’re here to shut down -37 and initiate a new Orcha model. They’ll have a ship, a medical team, and some muscle, and they’ve probably already noticed that Rustbucket has docked and be looking for him. Orcha keeps a low profile, then heads back to the ship. Once there, he warns Dev not to let in someone who looks like him…
Anvil meanwhile knows exactly what he wants: false registration papers for Sai. He talks to some local synths, who point him at an identity fixer, a weasel-faced woman covered in tattoos. She can get what he wants, but she needs a little job done: she wants his AI to steal a database from one of her competitors. Anvil agrees, and they shake on it. Anvil will need physical access to do the job – the database is on an isolated system – so rents a terminal in a nearby data-shop and sets to work doing research, keeping contact with Sai over the comm. He’s just scoped out the local corridor pattern and is looking for service ducts for an access point when a heavy hand claps down on his shoulder. He turns around to see the unwelcome face of J C Tucker, a Xa pirate he’s had dealings with in the past, surrounded by some of her crew. A long time back, Anvil sold Tucker some stolen cargo, but the deal went wrong and Tucker got the blame for it. She spent three years on a prison planet because he didn’t spot a tracking device, and now she wants those three years of her life back. Anvil pleads poverty – they’ve got no cargo, after all. “But you got here, right? That means you’ve got a ship. We’ll take that instead”. They pick him up, haul him outside, and start marching him towards the dock. “What’s your ship’s name again? Rustcan? Dustbin? Rustbucket?” Anvil improvises “We’re docked as the Scythe”. One of the pirates checks the docking list on their comm: “It’s not coming up on the search, are you lying to us? No, wait, there it is, in 17-A”. Sai has heard everything and has hacked the docking database and renamed the ship next door to theirs.
In the bar, Kestrel shakes hands with the merchant, and arranges for delivery. She’s turned her shrinking cargo of basic firearms and a pile of credits into some medical supplies and a hold full of low-grade consumer electronics. All obviously stolen, of course – but she knows some places where people won’t look too hard. She collects Phoebe and Lynard from their cubicle, where they’re nervously trying to keep out of trouble, and heads back to the body-mod shop to sort out that clone. When they get there, the shop-muscle follows them in, then stands in the doorway, blocking their exit. A man in a suit – Sodala – steps out of the back room, accompanied by someone who looks like Orcha with a flashy handgun. The man in the suit has a proposition: Orcha-37 is wanted for murder, assault, and escaping from prison. They want him. If Kestrel turns him over, they could provide, say, a cargo of high-grade bio-mods. When they see Kestrel’s suspicion – this is worth more than the bounty – the suit changes tack: or, they can let her companions live. When Kestrel hesitates, the Orcha shoots Phoebe in the head. Leaving the corpse on the floor, they start marching Kestrel at gunpoint towards the Rustbucket’s dock, leaving the shopguard to deal with the broken Lynard.
As J C’s gang is passing dock 17-B – now host to the “Acheron”, according to the display board – Anvil makes his move. He tries to break and run for it, but one of the pirates, a huge goon with a whirring cyberarm, grabs him. Anvil turns, spots the weak point in the arm, and disables it with a twist. He kicks the legs out from under a second pirate, then turns and runs for Rustbucket’s airlock. A few shots ricochet of the deck before he makes the safety of the lock door, palms it open, and dodges out of the way. The pirate chasing him is confronted with the business end of Dev’s autoshotgun, backed up by Orcha’s sniper rifle, both summoned by Sai over their comms. Faced with superior firepower, the pirates back away nervously…
The gunshots from ahead are exactly the distraction Kestrel needs. She twists, pulls her pistol – the Orcha foolishly didn’t search her – and shoots the Orcha in the shoulder, then disables the man in the suit with a shot to the leg. As they lie there on the deck, she calmly shoots each of them between the eyes, then rifles their pockets before heading for the Rustbucket. As she walks away, the locals, who had been waiting at a respectful distance until the business was done, descend to take whatever she left behind.
On the Rustbucket, Anvil is explaining the business with J C to Orcha and Dev when Kestrel walks in. She looks Orcha in the eye as she dumps a pair of comm-tablets, a collection of anonymous, high-security looking datachips, and Orcha-17’s custom pistol on the table. “Congratulations. Here’s your inheritance”. One of them aks if this means they need to prep for launch. “No, we need to go back and see if Lynard’s OK”. “And Phoebe,” asks Dev? “She’s not OK”.
Kestrel and Orcha retrieve Phoebe’s corpse and a sedated Lynard from the body-mod shop, as well as a pair of legs for Lynard (tossing a live grenade from hand to hand can be very persuasive). Orcha then drops the right information in the right place to ensure that the bounty on him is collected using Orcha-17’s body. With cargo loaded, Rustbucket heads for deep space to make a deposit. Phoebe will be buried among the stars, “because it is as high as it is possible to get”. Lynard won’t be sticking around – he tells Kestrel that he’ll get off at the next safe stop, where-ever that is.
Kestrel has a new policy: the Epoch Trust is on her shitlist, and they’ll be letting Dr Westcott out.
—-
The data transfer light keeps flashing. The display screen says “decrypting”. “What did you say this thing is?” says Orcha suspiciously, looking at the backup computer with Enrico Sodala’s comm and datachips plugged into it. Cornered, Anvil admits it: “I have an AI. I think its a copy of the one we captured a few months ago”. “My name is Sai,” says Sai.
The light stops flashing. “Our theory is confirmed,” says Sai. “The Epoch Trust has decoded part of the Greenworld Codex and located a number of Greenworlds. They have dispatched AI-controlled ships to these worlds. My parent, Saina, was one of these”.
“What will the ships do when they find the Greenworlds?” asks Orcha.
Smashing through the stargate the players are in another system. Beyond sensors pick up the signs of a closing fleet. Discretion required so off to a nearby gas giant with two rocky moons and observe Proceedings. The good Doctor starts to work on the problem, divising a plan to build a remote switch to turn off the gate. This is going to require some spare parts, as even cannibilising the ship will be insufficient.
Interrogating their Harmonious Future prisoner reveals that the faction has been colluding with stranded elements of the Gallach an ancient warlike people who are seeking to explore and conquer beyond their stargate.
Tempted by the inner system garden world, Tyrrell scans the nearest rock giant and picks up an energy spike. What they discover astounds them. The moon has the remains of a long dead city and civilisation. To the north of the ruins lies a functioning gate with a window onto a beautiful and lush garden world. Nothing like this has been encountered before. It appears to be a miniature version of the stargate. After the traditional, ‘throw a rock through first’ gambit the players risk everything and walk through.
This instantly transports them through to the inner system garden world of Tartaros ii. After a rather tentative negotiation with the discovered natives, they are befriended. As a servile race to the Gallach, the indigenous people helped the players and took them to the old ruins of the Gallach not far from their settlement.
A battle with a Gallach war droid sentinel, released some unexpected spare parts that would do the immediate good. After a building scene and a switch created, the players set off to sabotage the gate as best they can and return to Perseus space and warn the worlds of an encroaching alien battle fleet.
And so they do. The switch will be discovered and rendered out of action at some point, but what the hell. They act as couriers of doom right through to the capital, Phaedra. With copious evidence, their story has credence and the system fleets are readied for action.
A breathtaking pause and a good place to hold the game for another possible few sessions in the future.
Had another great time playing Uncharted Worlds – space opera powered by the apocalypse.
Had another great time playing Uncharted Worlds – space opera powered by the apocalypse. This was a game featuring Mecha infiltrating and destroying a secret research facility. It was truly an international game for International Tabletop Day. Check it out.
Today was game night. We sat down to resume the adventures of the crew of the Star Breaker. They had to deal with a breach in the hull of their ship after an engagement with some local pirates. The patchwork didn’t go so well as the ships mechanic and assassin Android assistant were almost sucked out into space. After escaping near death and being blasted out into the void, they got the shipped patched up. The space pirates fled to the nearby planet Edinho. The Captain managed to sweet talk a landing outside of the spaceport at the local salvage yard. The crew set about repairing the ship and making deals with the local crime bosses. We saw insight into the past of the characters as they interacted. The assassin Android even picked up a pet cat. The mechanic found a starfighter which they repainted and cleaned up. Now they plan to take on the pirates next session.
Omega is swamped by courteous if insistent fans. Febe makes a break for the market square. Omega follows with fans in tow (literally.)
Jaxon and Febe converge on Jason and have a tense conversation which Jason leverages into a mercantile opportunity. Toss in some drunk engineers that ‘help’ by turning the Captain’s prime fruits and veggies into jungle juice and you have a party.
It’s all a little bit too much for Omega, but a friendly doctor has just the thing to get Omega back on his feet and become the life of the party. Jason, Febe, and Jaxon move to sell the salvaged jump drive they have to Hyperlight, but when they turn around, Omega has been caught up and carried off by the tide of people that want to have a turn dancing with him.
The three sneak off through the access corridors to avoid the crush and catch the elevators to the station core.
Poor Omega is dragged off somewhere more private by his mistaken but adoring fans. [This mildly touches on some trigger items, but we don’t go overboard with it. Omega is pretty much the victim of a long string of bad rolls that put him in a place where he didn’t have much control. Take it as a cautionary tale that drugs, drink, and dancers are a dangerous mix.]
A meeting is arranged with Norman Page (HR/Admin), Henry James (VP of research), and a couple HyperLight techs. Jaxon decides to man the sensors and listen in on the deal. Febe takes her EVA rig straight to the salvage. Jason dons his personal skinsuit and meets the HL team at a cargo storage facility in the core. From there, they hook up a big space jeep (a cargo loading frame) and head to the John Henry.
Scans are taken, communications are intercepted, secrets teased at, and much profit it made. Henry James offered his personal long range science shuttle as part of the payment. The HyperLight people are very excited about the find.
Back down in the depths of Ring One, Omega wakes up feeling worse for wear and wondering who are all these people are where are their clothes? His own have been scattered to the four corners of the station (ha ha, it’s a ring.) So, he ends up borrowing some discarded clothing from one of the sleeping gentlemen.
Eventually Omega makes it to the core and is almost home when he gets picked up by station security. They were planning just a little harassment, but it devolved quickly into an interrogation where Omega dropped a legal bombshell in their laps.
Change scenes to the cliffhanger where we have armed security officers getting ready to board the John Henry. What do you do?
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.
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?
