 July 2, 2012 - 2:20pm | I have also GMed players with even larger ships, but the craft were not their own...they were the hired help, eventually earning enough to buy their own smaller vessel.
After writing that I had an idea for a SF/KH adventure: a prequel to Dramune Run where players portray the five dralasites under Garlus Tylappar on the Gullwind. Granted in the module they end up dying in the Theseus system...but there is a very generous 20 year gap between the commissioning of the Gullwind and the ship's log in the module that "Garlus & his five rubbery companions built a reputation on". It should also be noted that Garlus is the original owner of the ship according to the module, which states that for the past 20 of his 60 years he has operated the ship. |
 July 3, 2012 - 2:12pm | I would say make it early in that 20 year history just in case someone absolutely has to play a vrusk or yazirian or simply fudge it and ignore the fact that the crew is suppose to be all dralasites. I also had the feel that Gnarlus hadn't concerned himself with legalities and that he had been a something hat regular business associate with the Malthar so perhaps this should figure into it. What might be interesting is giving players a death scene where they sacrifice themaelves for the ship to get away- then it doesnt matter that they essentially use pregens because everyone sort of knows the outcomes foe these characters. Have to think more on this. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
July 3, 2012 - 4:11pm | Gnarlus has a "coming to Jesus" moment when he discovers the critters and Malthar's nefarious plans so he's been on the shady side of the law for a while. One has to ask the question when did start walking in darkness? Day one with the Gullwind? Or was it somewhere along the way? How did that happen? I think these are questions that should be explored where your prequel adventure involves these events or not. You could of course just run a regular old trap freighter campaign but I dont see the point if using the Gullind unless it relates to Dramune Run events in some way. How Gnarlus got involved with the Malthar or something along those lines. Anither question that comes to mind is what is the possible involvement of Gnarlus and Gullwind in the previous Dramune War? Or in a power struggle between the Malthar and planet bound crime lords on outer reach? Finally Larry's villianous npc article which used the Malthar as an example throughout would be good to review- i cant remember if that was published in 17 or was slated for 18 ; if its not published I'm sure we can get a copy of it for you. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
July 4, 2012 - 7:50am | I would say that the five dral crew would at least comprise the second decade of service, and I seriously doubt five players would ever all agree to play the same character so without resorting to pre-gens or hoping everyone plays a dral...I agree that it would have to be earlier on. Since the Dramune Run module itself hints at a quasi-Han Solo/Millenium Falcon I would probably run with that, and go with some pre-Episode IV type of adveture hooks. Not neccessarily Kessel Run in 12 pasecs or anything to that degree, but just a few freight missions that would elevate the Gullwind above the rest. Blockade running, threading known pirate lanes, smuggling (LOIS sits on more than one secret in 20 years...that hidden maintenance shaft obviously begs for some ilicit activity on Garlus' behalf), stuff like that. A link to the second Dramune War is a good idea too. Perhaps that would be a jump-on point for the small package trade, a pre-MalCo operation in Outer Reach. |
July 4, 2012 - 11:02am | Remember Malthar didnt become a crime lord in a vacuum. If he's jabba the butt in Dramune Run then he's obviously somewhere earlier in his career for your proposed adventure and you should factor that it as it lends some continuity to the Dramune Run adventure. That idea is the core of Larry's article and it proposes methods of handling the big baddie over the course of a long running campaign. There is nothing wrong with you doing the early career of said PCs and then hand waving a time change of a decade and those same PCs are now in White Light looking for work when Gnarlus shows up looking for help. In fact there could even be an incident causing a fallout between Gnarlus and the PCs that must be resolved by role play. You can also run as a vignette session the death of the all dralasite crew with the players, the drals are pre gens and the players should probably rellish the chance to play out a TPK especially since its just pregens and they essentially know going in that this is the deal. I'd be up for it- campaign player EXP is based on good play and a death that accomplishes the mission at hand or translates to how badly the Gullwind is shot up when the PCs get back with Gnarlus. Ooooh did i just invent a new rpg concept? Campaign player EXP? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
July 6, 2012 - 7:46am | Oh there's definitely going to be a Malthar appearance. I had envisionedsomething like the Episode IV digital remake where Jabba is slithering around on his own --- the Malthar would be capable of waddling around without the help of his hover-round. Everyone is going to be as little leaner and cleaner...the Malthar will still be a "stocky oversized dral" but just more self reliant. Before he let himself go. Back when he was capable of taking care of business over barking orders. In fact what I had in mind is Malthar being the guy who first tempts Garlus into illicit activities...thus building the relationship later on in the actual module. Have him as a low level pirate who is responsible for the upkeep of a corsair freighter or something to that effect (he has to be an engineer, he's a scientific type for using chukkah brains to make ixiol after all). Perhaps he's even a temporary crewman for Garlus, sort of a Han Solo/Lando Calrissian relation per se. The climax, of course, will be a hairy run from Clarion to Dramune. The first Dramune Run. Maybe even use that to kick off the second Dramune War --- thus giving the UPF a reason for being so suspicious during the DR module ;) " She'll make point five past void speed. She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid. I've made a lot of special modifications myself. " |
July 6, 2012 - 8:28am | Here's an idea make the first Dramune Run go through Fromeltar- planetary footnotes say that the Terledrom militia is death on smuggling. Couple that with the fact that Terledrom is Vrusk/Dralasite population you could have the Malthar start out there and in the course of the next few decades he takes over at Outer Reach. Perhaps the adventure starts at Kisk Kar which is a colony controlled by Terledrom which suggests that the KH's listing for its militia is actually part of the Terledrom militia. In fact this system has an armed space station and a trade station- trade station could be the reason for the Gullwind's visit. Two more jumps away on the vrusk loop is K'tsa-Kar with a RRS resort station which may also have figured into the reason for the Gullwind to have been on the back side of the vruk jump loop. In fact a good set up may have been that Gullwind picked up ag goods at K'acken-Kar for hungary miners at Kisk-Kar and now they are at the Trade station looking for a cargo, so far Gnarlus has been an honest merchant but this run saw the spoilage of the food before off loading and hes lost money. so hes a bit desperate to make the mortage payment. In walks this fat business dral from Terledrom looking for a fast ship. NOTE: the AD planetary footnote says that Kik-kit(Kisk-kar) controlled by Terledrom the Zebs footnote is more bland in its statements that "raw ores are exported mainly to Terledrom for manufacturing" I would thus judge the AD footnote to supercede the Zebs footnote. Also Zebs states that Trade stations are prohibited from selling goods manufactured on the planet that they orbit- why? DamifIknow but certainly its a major retail hub on the vrusk loop with ships departing in both directions toward Fromeltar/Dramune/Cassidine or toward White Light. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
July 6, 2012 - 6:17pm | Hmmm, I pretty much want the first run to be the same route as the module. But I realy do like the Fromeltar spin, I'd definitely like to work that stuff in (along with the Terledrom bits) as a precursor to the "reel 6" event. NOTE: the AD planetary footnote says that Kik-kit(Kisk-kar) controlled by Terledrom the Zebs footnote is more bland in its statements that "raw ores are exported mainly to Terledrom for manufacturing" I would thus judge the AD footnote to supercede the Zebs footnote. You know me, I like to avoid the Zeb's Guide as much as possible. AD Rules supercede Zeb's Rules every time in my game. Also Zebs states that Trade stations are prohibited from selling goods manufactured on the planet that they orbit- why? DamifIknow but certainly its a major retail hub on the vrusk loop with ships departing in both directions toward Fromeltar/Dramune/Cassidine or toward White Light. Uh, yyyyyeahhhhh...just like above, KH Rules supercede Zeb's Rules. Cargo acquisitions in KH state the source and destination prices. So according to Zeb's, the trade station orbitting the source world doesn't sell the source world's goods, not for source or destination prices. The source world produces goods, and then transports them to the station for...what, eternal storage?! I mean if they can't sell them then the only option is to store them. After all the source world is eventually going to be overstocked with goods that can't be sold, once full they have to expand storage into space. Exactly what does this trading station TRADE?!? "Sorry, we can't sell you the stuff we manufacture. But we'll happily BUY some if you have any, with money that is backed by...well, ink and paper. Alas we'll have to ask you to park your ship in orbit and ferry the goods by shuttlecraft as all our berths are filled with stuff we produce and can't sell. See that's what happens, all our storage is full and it's spilling over into the docking bay. By the way we'll be assessing a tax on your imported goods, since we need to build another trading station to store more goods that we can't sell...wait, I'm getting an update here. Oops, it would appear that this station is completely full now. Hey, can you do us a favor...just tether your stuff we're buying & taxing to one of the station spokes?" Simple economics: you buy from the place that produces it and sell at the place that doesn't. Supply ---> demand. Way to completely botch that basic concept, Zeb's.  See, there's a reason I try to avoid Zeb's Guide as much as possible. |
July 6, 2012 - 7:32pm | @ Shadow Shack: Ahh come on, all you need is one too many drinks and you'll take Zebs to bed. I never went to bed with an ugly rule set but I may have woke up with a few. Blame it on the alcohol. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
July 6, 2012 - 9:39pm | I tried sneaking the Zeb's Guide into my home a few times at 2:00am, hugging her closely in my trench coat so nobody would see...secretly hoping that despite her outward appearance she'd be sporting some form of talent under the covers. Left me hanging every time. |
July 11, 2012 - 4:27pm | So I'm thinking this should all begin at the Trans Travel Shipyard at Gran Quivera. Garlus acquires a brand new TT-6150 "Pacific" class freighter with a few custom archetectural modifications to suit his fancy. I figure Garlus should have just washed out of a SpaceFleet career (20 of Garlus' 60 years are spent on the Gullwind, so I figure there's at least another 20 before that we need to explore), and having mustered out he has some coin to spend. Gotta drum up some more back story for that...to parallel Star Was Han got kicked out of the Empire for interfering with a wookie slave trade operation (where he befriended Chewbacca). Obviously the UPF condones no such activity, but Garlus eventually questions and objects to authority somehow to get the boot. Just need a ore fitting scenario...plus it helps define his ease in accepting illicit jobs, having defied the UPF once already. And it also serves to promote the UPF's suspicion of him prior to the third Dramune War. So here's our man Garlus, former officer of the UPF, with a brand butt-spanking new ship he affectionately christened "the Gullwind"...looking for a crew. He doesn't exactly have any enemies at the moment, but he certainly could use a few friends. _____________________________________ Re: the ship --- I figure it should be a stock freighter. PGC Eureka drives haven't been invented yet so standard HS:6 performance applies at the start. The LB still factors in nicely, it can be safely added with no restrictions per the KH rules. It simply gets modified more over time. The maintenance shaft for the computer doesn't even exist yet (I don't have that on the stock Pacific deck plans, I figure it's something Garlus adds later --- http://www.starfrontiers.us/node/3455 ). I'll have to revise the deck plans to reflect the Gullwind more, but that's not much of an issue. |
July 11, 2012 - 7:47pm | Gnarlus washed out over extreme response to a corporate miss-behavior. Corporations have the clout to force a Space Fleet officer to be washed out. It leaves him a little bitter. Those in the know will be sympathetic to him but those just looking over the record will be suspicious of him. If I was looking for a Star Wars parallel I would dig up the material we did this past year on the vihm and tie that in but it sort of almost calls for Gnarlus to have a vihm side kick. But it doesn't have to be a vihm it could be a sape or something else. Perhaps the corporate contractor got someone killedl, a junior of Gnarlus and he feels guilty over it and reacted badly- forcing a court martial. Perhaps the corporation was abusing someone(s) and he reacted badly. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
July 12, 2012 - 8:44am | Hmm...Garlus had a soft spot for the chukkahs. Perhaps it was an animal thing that got him into trouble the first time around as well. Said corporation gets him busted down to piloting UPF freighters, and a job to transport herd animals from planet A to B for scientific research (aka slaughtering) sends him over the edge. He doesn't exactly do anything criminal, not enough to warrant a court martial...but such a trial is hung over his head with hopes of "shaping him up again". Garlus says "go piss up a rope,I'll take my chances with the courts", and is tried. The UPF doesn't build much of a case, even with the help of a corporate attorney. Meanwhile a new up and coming JAG (or whatever passes as such for the UPF) defensive attorney Jr Lt Malic Tharigan --- the future Malthar --- defends Garlus. Garlus doesn't get off scott free, but he is able to draw an honorable discharge and muster out...thus acquiring enough to make a substantial down payment on a new freight hauler. Malic eventually steps down from the JAG as well, joining a shady operation that seems more profitable. Knowing his way around the law helps him to succeed, and he slowly rises through the ranks to eventually form MalCo. He is able to hold Garlus' freedom over his head a few times to convince him into performing a few lucrative side jobs. Nothing horrifically illegal, but a few corporate raiders need some sensitive files transported or such, thus enabling a few computer upgrades starting with the purchase of a Langdon Optimal Integration System mainframe to replace the original computer the Gullwind came with, a computer complex enough to mandate a (cleverly hidden) maintenance shaft. |
July 16, 2012 - 5:17pm | Well here's another parallel thought...Garlus won the ship in a high stakes gambling contest from his old vruskan pal L'nto C'lrxyn. It happeend at the fabled Dance & Dice on Clarion Station, and Garlus has the decahedrons from that game hanging above the Gullwind's helm. Right from the Han Solo back story where he beat Lando in a game of sabacc to win the Falcon. Next time you watch Episode IV watch Chewie as he climbs into the cokpit at Mos Eisley docking bay 94, he hits his head on a pair of silver dice hanging from above that were used in that historic game. Eh, too beligerently plagarist...but perhaps something to work with in lieu of actually buying the ship? |
 July 16, 2012 - 6:18pm | How old is Boneyard station? Could he have picked it up there and restored it? -iggy |
July 17, 2012 - 4:10pm | Boneyard Station is relatively new at the time of the Dramune Run module. My reverse Zebulon game (where players portray the pirates instead of the heroes and play from that perspective through all three modules) a Pacific class frieghter is used to board the Serena Dawn, and it is a relatively new ship at that time --- which is set in the early fy-40s in my game. That, and I just don't see the Gullwind being a clunker...although it would definitely be more Millenium Falcon-esque if it were. It's like car enthusiasts always say, "I really like my Lexus but it just doesn't have the personality my Jaguar had." Which is usually interpreted as "The Jaguar enjoyed numerous tenures in the shop, which is why I really like my Lexus." ;) |
