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Post by Rigil Kent on Feb 21, 2016 13:04:52 GMT -6
I'm planning on rehashing the Trevor Prescott character I used in that Star Trek game SQ ran. I sort of envision him as a retired Imperium scout of some sort, probably a pilot type (presuming we don't have an actual pilot.) What points are you thinking of starting with? What era? I would love to be able to use the Exeter again. It's a bit on the large side, yeah, but I've got that really big poster map of it so I'd love to use that puppy again. I also have some small (but high quality) versions of these:
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Post by Rigil Kent on Feb 24, 2016 11:45:23 GMT -6
Something that occurred to me is that it would be a very interesting experiment if we started out with a much bigger ship/crew (ala the Monarch, Giger.) That way, if someone wanted to sit in on a session, there would be many spare characters and if a scenario called for a specific skillset that some of the PCs don't have, we could have Red Shirts running around... I'm totally thinking of the Drake or Horizon from Future Armada stuffs...
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Post by Gigermann on Feb 24, 2016 12:51:52 GMT -6
Since this thing is sorta rolling forward without my input already—like a car with the parking brake off —I should make a point or two about what I have in mind, and what the players need to think through. My intention is to do a more-or-less pure sandbox: I'll drop you at the starting point, and you go wherever you want to from there, without any "leading" by the GM. As such: - We'll need to decide what kind of ship you want to start with. My tiebreaker preference is to start small, with a crew of PCs+a couple of NPCs, and minimal overhead (will generally mean 100-200 tons)
- We'll need to decide where to start the game, at least, which sector. Most of us aren't going to know quite enough about the setting to make a properly-educated decision here, so I'm thinking we probably need more of a general idea (like "middle of nowhere," or "center of civilization" kinda thing)
- I'm presuming the tone of the campaign to be one of free (maybe occasionally illegal) commerce—not necessarily Firefly's "struggling to keep going" tone
- Starting point values are going to be 200, I think, to avoid having to refactor pre-existing characters
- I'm planning to use the Traveller setting pretty much as-is—easier that way for everyone
Basically, I'm planning to keep the feel of the S³M setting, generally—really, this is just a re-do of that campaign, set in the existing Traveller "3rd Imperium" period. And FYI, I'm probably going to start with a shipwreck scenario.
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Post by Rigil Kent on Feb 24, 2016 13:06:09 GMT -6
Since this thing is sorta rolling forward without my input already—like a car with the parking brake off Well, to be fair, you did tell WxMAN that you might be ready to run when I'm done and that's 6 weeks or so away... I lean toward the Jo Lynn ship (see here for external shot and here for deckplans) which is very Firefly-like. Alternately, we could totally reuse the Bad Omen - I always liked that boat. My vote is "The Fringe", so we can include "exploration" as a possible mission down the road, but I would like to have civilization nearby so every planet isn't a miserable, useless rock. Ideally, I'd like to do as you were doing in the S3M verse wherein the PCs have a home base somewhere that is "home" to us...
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Post by Gigermann on Feb 24, 2016 19:19:55 GMT -6
A bit of Q&A for everyone: What do you need to know to get plugged in here? (That I haven't already said)
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Post by WxMAN on Feb 24, 2016 20:28:02 GMT -6
I need some time to read - honestly these last two weeks have been pretty hellish at work so I unfortunately haven't had time to really read and respond to anyone as much as I'd want.
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Post by Gigermann on Feb 24, 2016 21:45:12 GMT -6
A bit of Q&A for everyone: What do you need to know to get plugged in here? (That I haven't already said) I should probably clarify that this is not a demand for action, but an invitation to ask
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Post by Rigil Kent on Feb 25, 2016 10:46:17 GMT -6
Let's see: characters. We probably need a genius (if unorthodox) engineer/mechanic, a brilliant (or at least tolerably decent) pilot/helmsman/navigator, a good medic (although this seems a likely candidate for NPC-dom), a deadeye gunner ... I'm going to wait to formalize any build for Prescott until we know what everyone else is playing. So, FREX, if LabRat decides to be the pilot and WxMAN revives his crazy engineer idea, then Prescott will likely have been a weapons officer in the Imperium navy, but if LabRat decides to be a medic (or maybe even an actual physician, stripped of her license or running from debts or just suffering from wanderlust) instead of doing the piloty thing, Prescott will probably pull double duty (pilot, navigator) and so on. So, positions I suspect we'll need to fill: - Pilot/Navigator (based on observation from Saturday game, essential s/he has Nav (space) and Nav (jumpspace)
- Engineer (based on observation from Saturday game, essential s/he has Mechanic (Jumpdrive)
- Gunner
- Medic
- Face Man (I think that Tulk (Magman) has this sort of covered, but possibly not. Don't recall his character) for business purposes.
- Freight handler (can possibly be handled by numerous PCs.
Anything I'm missing?
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Post by LabRat on Feb 25, 2016 11:20:01 GMT -6
A bit of Q&A for everyone: What do you need to know to get plugged in here? (That I haven't already said) Right now I just need some time to read everything and get up to speed. So If you just want to head down here, I'll set you up with a lab coat and you can totally do my job for me while I catch up. So, positions I suspect we'll need to fill: - Pilot/Navigator (based on observation from Saturday game, essential s/he has Nav (space) and Nav (jumpspace)
- Engineer (based on observation from Saturday game, essential s/he has Mechanic (Jumpdrive)
- Gunner
- Medic
- Face Man (I think that Tulk (Magman) has this sort of covered, but possibly not. Don't recall his character) for business purposes.
- Freight handler (can possibly be handled by numerous PCs.
Anything I'm missing?Security? Or is that tucked under Gunner? Other than that, I don't have any. What type of character was Tulk? That will help me decide on what I want to do. Kind of learning towards a whiskey drinking pilot right now, but I'm not entirely sure.
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Post by Rigil Kent on Feb 25, 2016 11:23:27 GMT -6
With Magman out this week and having already determined his character, I can probably set aside some time on Friday (2/26/16) to discuss this...
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Post by Rigil Kent on Feb 25, 2016 11:25:39 GMT -6
Security? Or is that tucked under Gunner? Other than that, I don't have any. What type of character was Tulk? That will help me decide on what I want to do. Kind of learning towards a whiskey drinking pilot right now, but I'm not entirely sure. Original Tulk: So he sort of covered Security and a lot of the face stuffs for business.
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Post by Rigil Kent on Feb 25, 2016 14:52:16 GMT -6
A bit of Q&A for everyone: What do you need to know to get plugged in here? (That I haven't already said) I should probably clarify that this is not a demand for action, but an invitation to ask What books would you recommend using? Even though it is the wrong era, I was probably going to use the Starship Commander template in Traveller - Interstellar Wars as well as the Alpha template in Bio-Tech. ETA: Also, what's the disad level. You said 200 pts overall, but disads?
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Post by Gigermann on Feb 25, 2016 15:07:21 GMT -6
What books would you recommend using? Even though it is the wrong era, I was probably going to use the Starship Commander template in Traveller - Interstellar Wars as well as the Alpha template in Bio-Tech. T:IW should be fine for character templates. GURPS Travller (3e) has a crap-ton of templates and will be a good source, but the templates won't translate as-is (costs of stats is different, and to a degree, so are some assumptions about stat levels). Also, what's the disad level. You said 200 pts overall, but disads? Look at Tulk and/or the S³M stuff, but I think it was -100.
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Post by Magman on Feb 25, 2016 20:24:33 GMT -6
Wow! Can't believe you have a Tulk original. What I have is different but very close.
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Post by Gigermann on Feb 25, 2016 22:22:55 GMT -6
Was reading back through the Chronicles of Trent a little bit, and maybe it's just me, but I always felt like that crew had really good chemistry—I miss that bunch; really wish we could've done more with them. Just an observation—not trying to talk anyone into anything.
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Post by Rigil Kent on Feb 26, 2016 13:04:25 GMT -6
Was reading back through the Chronicles of Trent a little bit, and maybe it's just me, but I always felt like that crew had really good chemistry—I miss that bunch; really wish we could've done more with them. Just an observation—not trying to talk anyone into anything. How would you go about running those characters in Traveller? I'm not opposed to the idea - I can totally revise my thinking and run AJ if it makes more sense - but I'm curious how you would go about translating them over? FREX, AJ has Grimm as a Patron, but I don't know of any Technomage equivalent in Traveller universe ... and what about location? That said, I am kind of warming up to running AJ again and hanging with the old crew (presuming Steg would be NPC'ed so if SQ drops in, he could pick up the character.)
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Post by Gigermann on Feb 26, 2016 13:17:33 GMT -6
Like I said—I wasn't pushing for it; just reminiscing. I think Grimm would not need to change, on the surface at least. We don't know for a fact that there is no such thing as a Technomage in Traveller—they would certainly never admit it
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Post by Rigil Kent on Feb 26, 2016 13:22:53 GMT -6
Like I said—I wasn't pushing for it; just reminiscing. No, but its a nicely established group, we had a groovy "home" and like you said, was pretty fun when we did it. More and more, I'm leaning toward that because we've constantly wanted to replay those characters... Okay, but what about the rest? Specifically, the Navigator's Guild and AJ's general background (former TFR navy, now hiding out in the USA, etc.) The more I think about it, the more I'm liking the idea of seeing AJ make a return...
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Post by Rigil Kent on Feb 27, 2016 14:33:25 GMT -6
Something that occurred to me: if we're actively looking at using the S3M characters (AJ, Tulk, others), then it might be an option for LabRat & WxMAN to take one of the existing characters and retool them. So, FREX, if LabRat wanted to take Mishka, our genius engineer with a noble background, she could rebuild her or whatever. For WxMAN, the pickings are a bit slimmer - there is Ty Coleman, I think, but I don't quite recall what his skillset was.
That said, I also recall they had some characters in mind the last time we tried to do the S3M thing (WxMAN was looking at Zenneth Moss, a genius engineer in his own right, and LabRat had Anya Steele who was a (right sexy) info-broker and possible future "face" of the group, what with Tulk being paranoid and wanting to run things from the shadows.)
Alternately, we could do sort of a "soft reboot" where the timeline is altered so the Bad Omen isn't ours yet and we haven't yet set down roots. This is probably the best option, I think, so Tulk will be coming off of that Replacement Miners thing where he fought Aliens (TM) and AJ has just split from the Sophie crew. Then bad shit happens, we all bond as a group and end up with a new ship and a new goal: do stuffs.
Just had an amusing thought, Giger. We could start out on the Supernova Sunrise (?) ship as passengers/crew, and you could crash that!
ETA: Additional amusement follow-up - the crash is because of our insane PCs in that aborted first run thing...
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Post by Magman on Feb 27, 2016 21:12:50 GMT -6
Alternately, we could do sort of a "soft reboot" where the timeline is altered so the Bad Omen isn't ours yet and we haven't yet set down roots. This is probably the best option, I think, so Tulk will be coming off of that Replacement Miners thing where he fought Aliens (TM) and AJ has just split from the Sophie crew. Then bad shit happens, we all bond as a group and end up with a new ship and a new goal: do stuffs. Sounds like a plan. Gigermann do you have GURPS PDF's for Traveller?
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Post by Gigermann on Feb 27, 2016 23:15:19 GMT -6
I have lots of Traveller PDFs
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Post by Rigil Kent on Feb 28, 2016 11:24:34 GMT -6
Alternately, we could do sort of a "soft reboot" where the timeline is altered so the Bad Omen isn't ours yet and we haven't yet set down roots. This is probably the best option, I think, so Tulk will be coming off of that Replacement Miners thing where he fought Aliens (TM) and AJ has just split from the Sophie crew. Then bad shit happens, we all bond as a group and end up with a new ship and a new goal: do stuffs. Sounds like a plan. Actually, on further reflection, that isn't a "soft" reboot. That's a hard one. A soft reboot (which I think would be ideal) is "all events from previous sessions - Replacement Miners, the Sabo Affair, other stuff - happened but in slightly different ways (since we're now in the Traveller verse) and we resume play an 'unspecified amount of time later'." That way, we have the ship, have the home base, have the background with NPCs, etc., and there is a built-in explanation why we have new people in the company (LabRat & WxMAN) because time passed. I think I'd prefer that.
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Post by LabRat on Feb 28, 2016 20:18:13 GMT -6
So here's the thing, I don't have much invested, so I'm willing to play whatever would have the established players feel warm fuzzies for the days of yore. I've always felt you guys really like the S3M campaign, so if you need me to play Mish, then that's totally fine with me. If we need a face, Anya Steel was re-skinned as Madelyn Reeve who played the main character in my NaNo book Kepler's Highway (yeah, I liked that character concept so much, I wrote an 88k word novel over it...go figure), so I'm very much in her head...or she's in my head?...Anyway, I can also play someone new to fit the needs of the ship, no worries. I'm excited you guys are excited, so that will definitely translate over character building and roleplaying. I just need to figure out where I fit before I start thinking up ideas.
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Post by Gigermann on Feb 28, 2016 20:25:41 GMT -6
yeah, I liked that character concept so much, I wrote an 88k word novel over it...go figure) Well, Rigil did the same thing with AJ
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Post by Rigil Kent on Feb 28, 2016 20:55:45 GMT -6
Which reminds me: I really need to get back to work on "Vorticity"...
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Post by Rigil Kent on Feb 28, 2016 23:07:28 GMT -6
So here's the thing, I don't have much invested, so I'm willing to play whatever would have the established players feel warm fuzzies for the days of yore. I've always felt you guys really like the S3M campaign, so if you need me to play Mish, then that's totally fine with me. If we need a face, Anya Steel was re-skinned as Madelyn Reeve who played the main character in my NaNo book Kepler's Highway (yeah, I liked that character concept so much, I wrote an 88k word novel over it...go figure), so I'm very much in her head...or she's in my head?...Anyway, I can also play someone new to fit the needs of the ship, no worries. I'm excited you guys are excited, so that will definitely translate over character building and roleplaying. I just need to figure out where I fit before I start thinking up ideas. What do you want to play? We can make it work. If you liked your concept, use it! We can talk N8 into playing Zenneth so we have a genius mechanic. And having multiple fast-talkers is always a good thing!
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Post by LabRat on Feb 29, 2016 13:39:59 GMT -6
What do you want to play? That's my issue, I honestly have no idea. I figured a nudge in the right direction might help me get over my character ADD
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Post by Gigermann on Feb 29, 2016 13:49:28 GMT -6
Mishka is a good backup in the event we have to start immediately, unless the other one is already "completed," but the old "chemistry" isn't going to be the same with a different person playing her, so it's not really a thing here—plus, you can spend your whole life chasing the way things were…
If you wrote a novel based on the face-girl, I presume you liked the idea—I'd run with it, unless a new idea presents itself.
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Post by LabRat on Feb 29, 2016 14:56:05 GMT -6
but the old "chemistry" isn't going to be the same with a different person playing her, so it's not really a thing here—plus, you can spend your whole life chasing the way things were… If you wrote a novel based on the face-girl, I presume you liked the idea—I'd run with it, unless a new idea presents itself. Sound advice that I really need to take into consideration. At the very least I'll start building up her character. That way I can see if I actually like her when she starts taking shape.
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Post by Gigermann on Mar 1, 2016 10:53:57 GMT -6
An update on my current leanings: - I'm currently favoring the "soft reboot"—that is, all the S³M stuff happened, including Chronicles of Trent, and we start some unspecified time later with some changes in the lineup
- I'm probably going to drop the whole "ship owner" thing—it really is unnecessary
- It'll probably start in the Spinward Marches
- Previous crew/characters will be available as Allies, Contacts, etc.
- It's likely that the crew will start with a stake in "the Bar" (Hard Vacuum)
- I'm not going to be requiring any background story stuff, but I will still give the +5 extra for doing it anyway
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