#PlanetBoundSalvage #KapCon
Over the weekend I ran Uncharted Worlds at KapCon, New Zealand’s top tabletop rpg convention. I used the “planet-bound salvage” jumppoint from the book, as it seems to produce reliable fun. The characters were chosen from the public pre-generated archetypes, plus the options of Bounty-Hunter (brutal clandestine military) and Smuggler (not used). Here’s how it went.
The group consisted of Barton, a fighter jock (pilot) working for the Shards of Xa; Xil, a Bounty Hunter on retainer to the Shards (1 debt) and with a bad history with the Epoch Trust (2 debt); “Rat”, a Melange-addicted Drifter with a price on their head by Ironclad (3 debt); and Claudia, an analyst who had fled the Epoch Trust (2 debt) with the assistance of Nakamoto Horizons (1 debt). They generated their ship – “Shrike”, a stealthy, stately ship with a few hidden compartments and a medbay – and decided that as Barton seemed to be the richest, he owned it and the others were crew / business partners. It later emerged that Nakamoto was their employer on this run, Claudia having brokered the job.
In the initial setup they decided that the crashed ship had belonged to the Epoch Trust, who were also trying to defend it form them. Epoch had evaded Barton’s airborne overwatch due to the tough terrain and use of stealth tech. He was just lining up on their troop transports for a strafing run when he was jumped by a pair of stealth fighters. His ship crippled, he was forced to flee and make his way to the (landed) Shrike.
In the ship, the fight went badly. Xil fled from the oncoming Epoch marines, ducking into the air vents and going stealthy. Claudia cracked the vault open with the aid of a charge from her shock cables while Rat tried to hold off the Epoch marines, but there were too many and they found themselves cornered in the vault. An attempt to blast their way out with an experimental Epoch Trust rapid-fire plasma cannon was unsuccessful – the marines stormed the vault, injuring them both in the process, and they were forced to surrender. Xil’s attempt to rescue them went badly as well, resulting in more injuries and Claudia receiving a crippling shot to the leg. Some botched battlefield first aid by Rat confirmed the worst: Claudia was going to lose the leg.
Back at the Shrike, Barton powered up and headed for the wreck. With Epoch fighters on his tail, he executed a daring pickup, using the ship to shield the others from their strafing run, then powered for orbit. Where things promptly got worse in the form of an Epoch Trust frigate. While they shot down its boarding shuttles, they were forced to flee and hide in the stormy atmosphere of SR-388’s moon, where they went dark and waited for a chance to escape.
Meanwhile, Claudia had finally opened the package, discovering that it was a sample (well, two samples) of superheavy superfissionables, elements from the far end of the periodic table, well beyond the island of stability. Enough to blow up a good-sized planet. This was not what she’d been told she was after, and a debate immediately ensued about what to do with them: continue on with the delivery, or try and find a new buyer. Barton suggested the Shards of Xa, Rat just wanted whoever would give them the most money, while Claudia pushed for fulfilling the original contract. It was interesting seeing the way people’s debts helped drive this debate. Eventually, they decided to go ahead with the planned delivery on the hub-station of Yabos. After a nerve wracking flight through the moon’s atmosphere, they were able to make a stealth run for the jump point. On the way out, they were able to eavesdrop on some Epoch communications – learning the unwelcome news that Epoch had their ship’s ID codes, and had squirted the data out via a (hugely expensive) jump buoy. Even if they escaped the system, Epoch forces would pick them up where-ever they went.
Tensions rose on the trip to Yabos, with Barton locking Rat out of the medbay to prevent her from pillaging its supply of pharmaceuticals and Claudia blaming her for the loss of her leg. The debate over what to do with the cargo reopened as well, but they pressed on. At Yabos, they exited the jump point in stealth mode and on a wide orbit; while they weren’t detected, listening in discovered even worse news: the Epoch Trust had reported their ship as a pirate and put a price on Barton’s head. If they tried to dock, they’d be shot out of space. If by some miracle they made it on board, Barton would be arrested or killed the moment anyone recognised him. But after analysing broadcast traffic data with Xil, Claudia was able to hack the SectorNet and change the transponder codes in the Epoch warning notice. It wouldn’t help Barton, but it would at least let them dock.
The rest was easy: disguise Barton, go to the meet – which turned out to be with Claudia’s ex, a Nakamoto executive in the acquisitions division. Things were tense, and not assisted by some of the crew wanting more money for transporting such a dangerous cargo. But their contact made it clear that they could take what was on offer, or Nakamoto could tell everyone where they were and let the bounty hunters kill them. Face with that threat, the crew backed down, took the money and ran off for their next exciting adventure. Which probably revolves around Claudia having to get a new leg while dealing with her brand-new drug habit.