Issue 13 Discussion

jedion357's picture
jedion357
December 12, 2009 - 6:18pm
Thought I'd start a thread to open the floor for discussing the various things in issue 13 as apposed to the news thread.
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!
Comments:

jedion357's picture
jedion357
December 12, 2009 - 6:52pm
I just wanted to mention, since there is no credit in the issue, that Terl Obar did a lot of editorial work on my Spy PSA article and the artwork was cool as well.

Plus I did share the Volturnus encounter with Umungus by email and he got to play test it with his F2F group (whereas mine has stalled out again) this was his eval and his twist on that encounter, he does mention other items from my own personal campaign that I shared with him so I hope thats not too confusing:

Hi Tom,
I used your desert encounter on Fridays game. It went great!
 
After the poison well and the dead Loper encounter. I said they could see a shiny object sticking up in the distance. (reflective hull)
 
I made a few changes to the encounter. I hope you don't mind. I put the star devil insignia on the ship. I had the pirates from the jet-copter set up an ambush at the crash site. When the characters approached I had four pirates attack.
After two pirates where down I had the other two run over a hill and take off in the jet-copter.
 
The (players) burned through two clips trying to open the hatch. The environmentalist analyzed the blood stains. They found the computer. They were very intent on the info hand out.
 
They characters split up and one got bit by the burrower snake on deck one.
 
I put a malfunctioned auto-doc with a dessicated Yaz corps in it, on the engineering deck. The characters used the power from the laser power torch to hot wire the auto-doc.
They questioned the auto-doc. It tells them that the Astrogator was placed inside after receiving multiple knife wounds. He went into shock so the auto-doc placed him in a freeze field. Shortly after the power was cut. (presumably when the ship was salvaged.)
 
This threw the players into wild speculation. Why would they stab and then put an officer in the auto-doc? Why would they leave an auto-doc? etc.
 
The players then did something I wasn't expecting. They got a critically injured pirate from the ambush and put him in the auto-doc. For later questioning. I said the auto-doc had no medical supplies left. I really didn't want them to have use of it. The medic player asked if he could use his salvaged medical supplies to refill it.
I though this was resourceful thinking, so I allowed it.
 
After a day the pirate was healed enough to get a dose of Telal. They questioned him about the computer files. He said they have been partnered up with the orchid group. The group is growing some sort of "super orchid", but he doesn't know anything else. He told them where the pirate outpost is located. He told them how the ship ended up there. He also told them that they used slaves for mining minerals. They also got info on how to contact the outpost by chronocom. after that they 'unplugged him.'
 
This caused a moral debate among the players. In they end they decided they needed the medical supplies more than a slave driving murderous pirate.
 
The Dralasite computer player imitated the dead pirates voice. (his reasoning was that a Dral can change shape of its vocal organs to imitate voices.)
Another bit of creative thinking that I allowed.
He claimed to have survived and needed to be picked up...
 
So, the plot took a bit of a twist. I was impressed with the players on this one. They really tried to take advantage of every angle. The kept me on my toes, which I like. I'm not sure how to handle the pirates now. I'm trying to decide on whether the pirates would buy the impersonated voice or not... any ideas?
 
Thanks again Tom.

Again it was written as a Volturnus encounter but would work well enough in another setting.

EDIT: the computer he mentions that his players found was a Hackers computer I worked up based off the lap top type new equipment item from the Dark Side of the Moon module. I also created a slew of computer files ahead of time- some were just there for color like the bio scans of a few Volturnus animals which were just cut and pastes of the animal's description but should act as a bit of forshadowing for the air whale and may give them a chance to aviod that animal. others were clues and such plus a list of sites that geo scans turned up rich mineral deposites- those sites locations and the geo scans could be sold latter if they get off Volturnus. The idea of the hackers computer was that it had hacking software and an internal chronocom to give the players another option for tackling the first pirate outpost. Its sort of an analogue to magic items in a fantasy campaign. You can find my files on the hackers computer and the computer files in the Volturnus Revisited project.
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

umungus's picture
umungus
December 14, 2009 - 6:49pm
Very enjoyable encounter Jedi. Thanks again for letting me test it out. I think I will be using it again in the future...

I recommend it. It is umungus approved HeHe Wink

At least I got to scare an alien rabbit thingy......


jedion357's picture
jedion357
December 14, 2009 - 11:08pm
umungus wrote:
Very enjoyable encounter Jedi. Thanks again for letting me test it out. I think I will be using it again in the future...

I recommend it. It is umungus approved HeHe Wink


Actually I may just get to use it very soon as I'm getting one of my stalled F2F groups to move onto a yahoo group and I plan to use your little ambush. but instead of the mumified remains in an auto doc it will be a damaged life pod with mumified remains. the pod will have taken a ship based laser blast and lost integrity killing the occupant by vacuum despite the bullet holes he was carrying. I plan to make him a retired Royal Marine and the pod has markings from the first ship to disappear in the system. It could be the pirates landed to run down the pod only to discover the occupant dead and their ship half in a sink hole.
On the body will be an old style Royal Marine Combat harness: a combination power belt and harness with pouches for 1 small melee weapon and six ammo clips- I assess 0.1 worth of wt for clips and grenades to prevent carrying cases of 50 grenades. but with the combat harness it distributes the wt of the melee weapon and the clips so there's no wt. cost.
its basically identical to the combat harness from my Warriors of White Light game but without the intregal body comp. The belt will be fully drained of power but rechargable.
Plus I've thought up a few more wrinkles.
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

Anonymous's picture
w00t (not verified)
December 15, 2009 - 7:30am
Umungus Approved!

Smile

jedion357's picture
jedion357
December 15, 2009 - 9:45am
Hey umungus you should join my Volturnus Revisited progect as it's my journal/diary of running the campaign. The membership settings require that I approve you, which was done as I keep promoting this site to my F2F players, who haven't but still could join and I didn't want them to catch wind of what I'm planning and spoil their fun.

Plus I just uploaded 2 maps/images I created with google earth of the ambush. They are for a abstract refereeing style [yes the avowed worshiper of miniatures is using abstract refereeing if you can believe that] as this encounter will be played out on line with that group but I think you'll like them.

The images are in the project forum thread "Working tech skills in earlier in the volturnus campaign"
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

umungus's picture
umungus
December 15, 2009 - 5:28pm
w00t wrote:
Umungus Approved!

Smile


Very funny Woot... I need that on a shirt or something hehehehe Foot in mouth






Hey Jedi,
Sure I'd like to join. I have a player map I can contribute. I'll put it in the project if you want..

At least I got to scare an alien rabbit thingy......


Zeram's picture
Zeram
December 27, 2009 - 3:05pm
I'm looking for some clarification on the Container Article.  It is listed as Container Size 5, what exactly does that mean?  It is not a hull size so I assume it is something even larger considering it contains room for five fighters plus other various decks and components.  A little extra info explaining what this would have been helpful in the article.   If this is built on homegrown rules that's fine but I like to know on what something is built especially if it is new and does not follow any normal build rule (which the KH ship system aggravated me to no end with).

Some similar info on the fighters would be helpful as well.

Thanks.

Shadow Shack's picture
Shadow Shack
January 5, 2010 - 4:16am
It's being addressed...just a minor glitch on the sequence of articles. Long story short...chapter two was printed before chapter one. Larry ( w00t ) is addressing it, suffice it to say once the intended chapter one is re-released  in the upcoming Issue #13 re-issue (and if you hang on the soon to be coveted "misprint" copy to compare), it'll make a lot more sense.

The S-4 Corsair fighter is detailed on p.32 of the current printing, which part is in need of clarification?
I'm not overly fond of Zeb's Guide...nor do I have any qualms stating why. Tongue out

My SF website

Zeram's picture
Zeram
January 5, 2010 - 10:00pm
Shadow Shack wrote:
It's being addressed...just a minor glitch on the sequence of articles. Long story short...chapter two was printed before chapter one. Larry ( w00t ) is addressing it, suffice it to say once the intended chapter one is re-released  in the upcoming Issue #13 re-issue (and if you hang on the soon to be coveted "misprint" copy to compare), it'll make a lot more sense.

The S-4 Corsair fighter is detailed on p.32 of the current printing, which part is in need of clarification?


Thanks for the heads up on the container info.

On the fighter, I managed to dig back through SF Issue 7 and find the article detailing the fighters and their equipment, etc. based on your house rules.  It would be helpful to cite the source for such things in the future.  If someone was checking in to the current issue without reading any previous issues they might be wondering on what rules basis the fighters were created.  They are obviously not based on any KnightHawks ship creation system.

Thanks again.

Shadow Shack's picture
Shadow Shack
January 15, 2010 - 2:48am
I'll keep that in mind for future submissions (citing prior sources). The Pod Laser was a Dragon magazine article (or Ares, can't recall which at the moment), I merely made a turret weapon on that premise and for this ship I simply added a second drive to compensate for the extra payload (while still suffering a small performance penalty compared to a standard KH fighter).
I'm not overly fond of Zeb's Guide...nor do I have any qualms stating why. Tongue out

My SF website

Anonymous's picture
w00t (not verified)
January 15, 2010 - 6:57am
I have redone Issue 13. Yes, redone. There was an issue with the original Word document. :-(
Anyway...it's in Bill's hands for review and should be out this weekend.

:-)


Ascent's picture
Ascent
January 15, 2010 - 3:11pm
I got another issue for you: The word "Standad" is repeatedly used in the Ora System Brief. It should clearly be "Standard". :)
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