 December 18, 2011 - 7:07am | Couple of issues with a revamp. 1. Do you start the module "en media res" with the pirate attack or do you start it in a more logical place back in Truane's Star? 2. What is the meat of the story? Crash in the desert and meat the Ul-mor or should it be changed up? I think that a revamp aught to be changed up, since the original module is 30 years old and a known entity. So... A. Need an encounter or series of encounters in Truane's Star or on the Serrena Dawn before the pirate attack or leading to the pirate attack. Sabotage of the original ship and players must rescue themselves and the crew. Serrena Dawn is a replacement ship but the expedition has been delayed by a month or two. B. Pirate attack- Pirates slipped people aboard the Serrena Dawn as well as a couple of boarding shuttles lifting from Volturnus. Floor by Floor fight with the PCs discovering that the pirates will just blow the ship rather then keep taking losses from the PCs activities- a call comes the chronocom of a pirate they just defeated that tells him to get to the shuttle cause they've detached the cargo module and will just blow the ship. C. Crash on volturnus- instead of the desert they crash in the bashanda forest amongst the thick throns and trees. they have a large area the life boat gouged out and need to attend to the wounded and put out fires. Queequigs come calling- combat encounter. Feeling of being watched- kurabunga hunting party watching them but from a distance- GM fiat they automatically pass stealth and concealment rolls but PCs sense them. Kurabunga think the PCs are pirates, sky demons, and so they just observe rather than contact. Within a day a jetcopter comes to hover over the trees then departs. Next day a large group of pirates are heard moving through the tree branches closing in on PCs position. PCs have a chance to set an ambush but it is a large party of pirates and the kurabunga will join the fight if they are successful in the initial phase of the fight. D. Meet the kurabunga- go to village and win the chief over- role play and hunt by hang glider challenge. With success they join the village without they are asked to leave. They do garner some intelligence on the missing expedition members being with the Ul-mor and the direction of a pirate outpost. End of Crash on Volturnus 2.0 I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 18, 2011 - 6:36pm | I just cant bring myself to start the module in the middle of the action, though I know the pros for doing so. So to outline Alpha Section is: A1: Mission Briefing A2: Boarding the "Albatross" (working title for the ship) Two days out system (just before attaining jump speed a saboteurs bomb goes off. The militia is ill placed to perform a rescue- perhaps the communications system is affected. Perhaps the command crew is affected or blown out a hull breach- yeah sabotuer's bomb blows a hull breach shortly before void jump speed is attained and the command crew is killed and bridge is open to space. PCs have and a limited number of NPC crew need to effect their own rescue (one crew person will be hysterical and only physch-social sub skills will allow the PCs to get any use out of that person; one may go get drunk, and one will help- the cargo handler) Objectives, 1.) Halt acceleration 2.) get the ship under control, 3.) call for help Complications: 1.) Bridge open to space, 2.) some controls fuse 3.) some surviving crew is no help A3: After returning to Pale (if they return) and further delay the mission goes forward with a chartered tramp freighter called the Serrena Dawn. [I never liked how the pirates where suddenly on board the Serrena Dawn with no warning. Presumably the ship has a radar and it should spot approaching pirates and there should have been a warning. So the new story will be that there are infiltrators on the Dawn who wont reveal themselves till the Dawn is close to its destination. "P" hour is during breakfast on the last day aboard ship with the captian. First mate (the infiltrator is on watch) will A.) shut down the radar B.) set charges in the weapons locker C.) do ___________? The fact that he will leave his position during this hour will be a clue that something is up. the scenario will run with a deck by deck fight as pirates board and the first mate eliminates crew and attempts to kill the PCs. At a point a pirate chronocom will announce they have the cargo module and will just blow the ship. PCs must get out fast. If they managed to secure a pirate boarding shuttle the other pirate ships will fire on it and their lack of starship skills will tell. If they use a lifeboat then the pirates will simply shadow it until almost at the planet but then decide to shoot it- causing the crash. B1: Crash in the bashanda forest- life boat gouges out an area out of the impassible thorns. small fire is started, wreckage and injured PCs to deal with. latter queequigs (as if they're a wandering monster) show up- combat. Not long after that a kurabanga hunting party takes up watch in secret on the PCs. Then a jetcopter comes and circles the crash site. and night fall. (no water available even though this is a forest) Next day (or days if GM decides to let the PCs have a few to recover) PCs detect a large party moving toward them through the trees. First Mate provided the pirates with the chronocom numbers of the PCs, unless the coms have been explicitly shut off the pirates can track their rough location when within call range of the chronocom. (Create a com tracker device.) PCs will find the device with their codes dialed in and realize how they were tracked when they loot the pirates. If PCs have an initial success the kurabunga will join in and this will lead to meeting the primitives. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
July 14, 2012 - 12:06pm | The only kurabanga intervention in the fight between the PCs and pirates is that the clearly recognize the pirates as being bad guys and will shoot a few arrows from cover. GM can use this as a little help for a PC who is about to be totally taken out by a pirate that has him dead to rights. In the after math of the fight the PCs notice the hand crafted arrows and have to wonder who helped them. MEANWHILE. The kurabanga are having a pow wow about the PCs and decide to send an embassy to parlay. This leads to a role play encounter with the chief, who wants something and perhaps will require the hang glider hunt- a yazirian in the party gets the chance to shine here. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
