 July 19, 2011 - 10:41am | http://www.badassoftheweek.com/hardberger.html He rescues freighters from corrupt ports. Sounds like a game, no? |
 July 19, 2011 - 11:13am | Sweet. That would make a great series of adventures, trying to recover ships that have "gone missing" to another part of the Frontier. (Always check Outer Reach first  ).Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
 July 19, 2011 - 6:22pm | I like the "Mos Eisley" retaining cargo ships by proxy by false trumped-up means. That makes for some great campaign ideas. What a kick-ass profession. A party of ship repo men would be awesome. I actually designed a profession for repo men that I have somewhere among my discs. I'll see if I can find it. Max "Overdrive" Hardburger rocks! I want to read more about this guy's life. I hope he writes a book about his exploits. However, it's also possible to have a BBEM who nabs ships like that and then turns around and gets a profit by "stealing" them back. But oh, look, it was all a scam to begin with that the courts knew nothing about! Is Max the goodguy they think he is? Or a badguy in an angel's disguise? Your players must expose him and stop his activities. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
 July 20, 2011 - 7:33am | Mmm... a tasty adventure nugget! Don't mind if I do thanks!  My SF website izz: http://ragnarr.webs.com |
 July 21, 2011 - 6:38am | I thought there was some discussion this past year about ship repo men. Deff food for thought.
EDIT: I think this sort of scenario will draw out the RPG player tendency to open fire to solve problems. So it could easily turn into another tactical problem. To prevent that it would need to be thought out with opportunities built in that allow the players to attempt "getting the guards drunk" or "cutting the anchor chain with a blow torch". No doubt some player will come up with something the referee never anticipated. XP should be prorated downward for shots being fired though the bad guys firing impotently as the ship pulls out of dock wont necessarily reduce XP depending on the circumstances as the referee could put that in for dramatic effect. A militia cruiser or a privateer taking pot shots at the fleeing ship may not harm the XP award either but getting boarded could have all sorts of consequences. I think the way to do this is lay out what nearly all (keep 1-2 things a surprise) : Obstacle 1, armed guards. Obstacle 2, no fuel. Obstacle 3, docking bay doors are usually closed. Obstacle 4, militia patrols. All of that obstacle list is laid out by the party's employer and the game is played out by the players gathering information about each obstacle and planning how they will overcome each obstacle. Then in phase 2 the play out the Ocean 11style caper. If they failed to obtain good intelligence on militia movements this will become a problem during the caper. The secret obstacle could be the crime boss showing up to show the ship to a buyer during the middle of the caper and throwing a wrench in the works. Finally, I very strongly believe that you need deck plans that include air vents, engineering chases, ladder wells etc beside the std. elevators. First of all this is more realistic and creates opportunities for player creativity. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
July 21, 2011 - 7:25am | RE: my previous post: the handful of armed guards need to have a paragraph detailing their personality, vices, and peculiarities as this is the kind of thing that a player may take advantage of to neutralize said guard. Probably needed for all the other significant NPCs in the opposition. A referee will need a patrol schedule for the militia, though this should not be easy to get and details about the dock master and or customs official as well as policies and procedures connected to that office. Might be good to determine response times for various parties that might shoot back. Plus the referee will need 1 small surprise obstacle and one large surprise obstacle. If the heist is already going to he'll in a hand basket he can ignore the surprises. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
July 21, 2011 - 7:25am | RE: my previous post: the handful of armed guards need to have a paragraph detailing their personality, vices, and peculiarities as this is the kind of thing that a player may take advantage of to neutralize said guard. Probably needed for all the other significant NPCs in the opposition. A referee will need a patrol schedule for the militia, though this should not be easy to get and details about the dock master and or customs official as well as policies and procedures connected to that office. Might be good to determine response times for various parties that might shoot back. Plus the referee will need 1 small surprise obstacle and one large surprise obstacle. If the heist is already going to he'll in a hand basket he can ignore the surprises. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
July 21, 2011 - 6:41pm | This is the perfect type of thing for location-based adventures, where most everything is keyed to maps and deck plans. There's little-to-no need of complex story for repo adventures. Great stuff. I'll use that bit of info for the repo'er article. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
 July 21, 2011 - 7:03pm | http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/Grab-the-Airplane-and-Go.html Here is an article about airplane repo. |
July 21, 2011 - 7:27pm | Thanks Tekrat. @Ascent: you're quite correct; but its also a chance to detail some Frontier locations too. I'd have to check, if my in depth article on Laco's World made it into publication yet but one location there (inspired by Mos Eisley) sounds like it's tailor made for this. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
July 21, 2011 - 8:17pm | Suggested locations for repo adventures:
1. Dark World station over Outer Reach, Dramune
2. Mo's Easy in the outback of Laco's World, Dixon's Star
3. Cass, Deco system
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
July 22, 2011 - 5:37am | Max "Overdrive" Hardburger rocks! I want to read more about this guy's life. I hope he writes a book about his exploits. He did, the title is "Seized: A Sea Captain's Adventures with Scoundrels, Con Artists, and Pirates in Recovering Ships from the World's Most Troubled Waters" |
