Everytime at the Table: Halloween 2025

   
   While previously planning to do Wobble session last night, around Wednesday (October 29th) I suddenly wanted to composed a Hammer horror film-style adventure. So by the next day, I scripted a quick scenario, what I'd call a  "room-crawl"  with a mystery to solve. So I announced "Assault on Castle Vulgarr" on Thursday and welcomed any player back to Blegovia (17th-19th themed horror).  Now I expected a couple regular players would be showing up, but this apparently excited a couple others.  Imran, from India, as well as S.  Dresser, an old friend from New Hampshire days, decided to show. Iron Curtis showed up wearing his best dress to top things off. 

So the main roles were the Inspector, the Fortune-teller, and the Scientist. Through random draws, Dresser was the Scientist; Peryton (Robin) was the Inspector; and Curtis had to fill the role of the Fortune-Teller. Imran was there to watch. Curtis's fortune-teller looked awesome in their purple dress. Later Kal Luin (Brett) showed up ready to play. I didn't bother with character creation, he was an interloping English consultant arriving to tell everyone already in the game how things should be done.

So we started out with a strange murdering of multiple people, a family, so the Police-Watch of the city couldn't just file it away. The Inspector found those closest to the deceased, namely the Fortune-teller, and, after concluding that they were not guilty, arrested them. A decision not only historically accurate, Robin's decision was wonderfully apt to 'get the party together.' She was about to arrest Dresser's Professor, when the English-Consultant, played by Brett, showed up. The combined PCs not only coped, they made the story rather awesome.

Things ended up at Ostruk Vulkarra, A vampire was defeated after all but one of the Party was slain. I was surprised that any Player-Character survived. 

GenCon 2025: We Still Don't Jump the Shark...

 the Shark Jumps Us

Something about the old carpet

   
   Robin (Peryton) flew into town on Tuesday, which made doing things that one does for Wednesday at  GenCon fairly easy, that is buy badges and have a per-convention party. Walking past the Will-Call line to the GM HQ was, as always, fun.  Mark Hunt author and owner of Gangbusters RPG since about 2015(?) showed up for dinner, which topped off the night with Kevin J, Natalie, Kal Luin, Doug Jean (Zack), John Bennet and John's new gal Kirsten. GM Badges distributed and drinks had, this year's PeryPubbers, Mark included if he wants, let GenCon begin-- we voted on it even.

Peryton and I had to park a mile from the Kentucky border of Indiana to get parking, Thursday AM. I about lost my German card for being almost 15 minutes late for "Gotham City Major Crimes: The Secret Ingredient." For a scenario with Condiment King as main NPC, I had some perfect players. One in particular does gigs with a band called "the Spice Boys" and his stage name is "Sage."  The group also inspired me for next year's GPDMC scenario as well.

For the record, con pizza was had for lunch

I would also run Crawlspace: 21 and Over in the afternoon and evening with the tales "Ten Minutes Alone" and "Musical Gravestones." I was lucky enough to have many return players which means that I should have brought my popcorn because they did all the work. While it sometimes felt like a CAT 5 hurricane going on, wrangling the PCs into some sort of paced plot, I have only myself to blame. The rules system is designed to let people go wild. The PCs did make the sessions true B movie horror classics. 

 For some reason, Friday was my easy day. Running only a Qalidar session in the morning and then Crawlspace that evening. Peryton and I watched John run his Gangbusters game. I also met a fellow named Tyler that was American but living in Italy(?). He was running Arcanis a system and we talked in-depth about the 17th Century. Already speaking with Pedro Barrenechea(sp) about the system, it would one of two purchases of the con. Then some pizza happened with John and Kirsten. Of course, when "Dancing on Graves" came up, Doug Jean played Dug the Camera Guy and did his best to emulate the previous night's stress level for me. So after a bit of presenting the dilemma, I  called upon the adage "when in doubt, zombie out" for the climax. Being a small group with intimates like Michael Springer, Peryton, and Doug's wife Rae-Rae, it was still a comfortable get-together. I think we all stayed around and chatted for another hour.

I'll admit it. Saturday was hard on me. The day started at 8am. A mistake on the scheduling but I liked getting to a parking space early and cheaper. Cheap enough for Peryton to Uber herself down that afternoon and still beat parking fees for the other two days. 
 The early session was Wobble so that was easy enough and the players were old-school like me. I enjoyed Doug, John, Mark, and Craig getting my 70s sci-fi references throughout the course of "Port Spoons: Anew." Mark was a great technobabble guy and Craig helped me run the game even.

Not pictured is Craig. PLZ contact me

While I was tired, the player's for Crawlspace's "The Spirit Box" a couple of return players got everyone into the mood for some good old fashioned werewolf action. Things got campy and great by the end of it. Peryton showed up and helped me get myself ready for the final session with CONVENTION PIZZA! 

To make things easier, the Spice Guys, from the "Gotham City" scenario returned to help me keep things smooth for "A Horror of Rooms." My fake nephew, Liam (The Boy!), and two other kids (Aden and Jenna), as in under 20 showed up as well. So I banned any mention of whiskey to keep things age-appropriate. One of the kids chose a bag of cocaine as his carry-on item for his character. Spice Boy Sage at least hid is heroin in his novelty bat. I was supposed to go to 11pm, but by 9:30pm and everyone having been spooked at least once, I "zombied out." The death scenes were decent I heard. The Boy! wanted to hang but I was flaking and Peryton's feet needed some doctoring. 

We didn't go Sunday. Instead we stayed in my neighborhood and did the movies and just a bit more pizza. Scientists that we are, Peryton and I were experimenting with can one have too much pizza in one long weekend. No conclusions yet. We're still experimenting. 

The secret hiding spot for good con pizza at the Convention Center

Quick Maps: Star Tracking "Battle for the Pacific"

 

Star Tracks 2025: (fifth page) The U5S Pacific

 

The Mercury Class star-vessel is the most common for DERP echelon missions

U5S NKC25 the Pacific is one of six "Patrol Speed" vessels in the Charlie Quadrant (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta... and so on) of the United Star Systems Alliance. The area happens to be one that Earth Central is charge though Terrans only make up about 30% of the starfaring populations in it. Its how the USSA does things. Having the less than dominant species in a sector take responsibility for defense and order while their homeworlds are looked after by their peers brings understanding and trust to a whole new level. 

The Pacific
Designed to be deadly and never be too close to port. Capable of FLAT drive as well as Interstellar Travel speeds 1 through 5, maybe 6 (Warp).

Ship Stats:
Mass: 160
Speed: 75
Maneuver: 100
Offense: 90
Defense: 120
Armor: 80

Prepping for the Table: Star Tracks 2025-? (fourth page)

 Travel Speed- 1 through various higher numbers depending on technology aboard the starfaring ship. Often called "Warp," the number following the mode is how many light-years are traversed in ten hours. "Travel 1" equals one light-year in ten hours, and so on. 
An Astronomical Unit, or just "Subspace"- Around 93 million miles traveled in the course of ten hours.
Half Subspace- A unit of Subspace traveled in twenty hours. This is known as "Patrol Speed," when vessels are scanning the areas around them.
Orbit- The spacecraft slows down enough to maintain what is colloquially called a "stationary orbit" around a larger object.
Fall- Speeds where the spaceship is effected by the gravitational forces of the masses around them. Also called "Pond Speed." 



Navigation

Hawaii Zero
   Earth's interstellar maps are considered some of the better maps that aren't kept secret by their makers of known space. Earth Central is the starting point of the official United Star Systems Alliance maps. Coordinates are in order of the X,Y, and Z axes. and those integers are where locations are in comparison to "Hawaii." The Sol Star System the center, if not actually at its center, of the USSA and home of the U5S military and governmental ministries. 

Space Routes
   Most of the time straight lines just aren't helpful. There's a lot of stuff that just is in the way. On top of that the stars and whatnot that are visible to planet's night sky just aren't where they appear to be anymore. Now that Faster-than-Light travel is actually a thing, finding out where the objects are in real time (so to speak) takes a lot of exploration. So because of this, starship exploration of the galaxy tends to resemble the Age of Sail, where gravitational masses moving along varied vectors replace currents and environmental conditions. 

Prepping for the Table: Star Tracks 2025-? (third page)

"Golden" 
    Space Fleet crew wearing gold uniforms are at the top of their class so to speak. Commanding star-faring vessel is in their plans. (Player-Character must have an ACC above 16)

"True Blue" 
    Space Fleet crew wearing blue uniforms are very accomplished scientists. They might even have a whole lot more training than the other crew around them.  (Player-Character must have an INT above 16)

"Green Beans"
    Space Fleet crew wearing green uniforms quite proficient in their fields of practice. They do, though, tend to be extra hands outside of situations concerning their specialties.

"Redheads" 
    Space Fleet crew wearing red uniforms are drilled in tactical proficiency and trained in Engineering. Most are bucking for promotion into the Golden and aren't afraid of some conflict to get there. A smart few really dig engineering. 

"Tangerine" 
    Space Fleet crew wearing orange uniforms are very accomplished warriors. They might even have a whole lot more training than the other crew around them.  (Player-Character must have an STR above 15)








Star Service
   It's not all Space Fleet in the USSA parts of the galaxy. 

Space Fleet "FLEET" Ranks

Admiral- 10
Commodore- 9
Captain- 8
Executive- 7
Lieutenant- 6
Chief- 5
Senior- 4
Junior- 3
Crew- 2
Recruit- 1

Tactical Force "TACFOR" Ranks

Marshal- 10
General- 9
Colonel- 8
Major- 7
Captain- 6
Commander-5
Sergeant- 4
Corporal- 3
Troop- 2
Boot-1

Colonial Integrated Institutional "CIVI" Ranks

Governor- 10
Representative- 7
Mayor- 5
Agent- 3
Local- 2

The Alliance Way
After the Tantrum Wars of the 21st-22nd centuries and the overreactions of the 23rd Century's Earth Central "revolutions," the Terran system needed to evolve. Luckily humanity had met enough alien species to realize perhaps their human problems were a bit exaggerated in the scheme of things.  
   The United Star Systems Alliance (the USSA) is done with arguing about structures of power in its interstellar territories among its leaders. Assigned ranks accompany any branch of the USSA Star Service. When orders from Central Command are absent, up to ten leaders of disparate groups will come together to discuss how they want to handle whatever is going on. This is within a predetermined time frame set by the two highest ranking individuals attending. No branch will be excluded from the decision making and all the highest ranking representatives must be present. The ranks of those leaders will determine how many votes each of those participating has in comparison to the other participants. 

Prepping for the Table: Star Tracks 2025-? (second page)

 

A bit about the crew of U5S vessel the Pacific.

Uniform's color indicate job as well as status. 
Shirts and pants VS Coveralls
Coveralls are enlisted with bands of color indicating their specialty areas. Plain gray coveralls are drafted personnel.

United Star Systems Space Service Uniform  Classifications
Golden-green- Command level
Red- Engineering and tactically-trained personnel
Baby blue- Scientist level
Gold- Tactically-trained and in line for command positions. They though are not science trained and must have a Scientist confirm any decision that they make in the course of a mission.
White- Science and technically-trained personnel
Green- Specialized technology technicians.
Orange- Tactical combat and weaponry-trained personnel

Prepping for the Table: Star Tracks 2025-? (first page)

 

All these star systems to be explored before Tales of the Arcadia starts again

At first I wasn't sure anyone wanted to even bother, now the slots are full and two others had to be turned away. Sorry folks, but five slots are all that I can handle online; and, to answer an emailed question, no I will not be running any Spacers at GenCon 2025-- see you at the Wobble session though. 

"Star Tracks"
All the PCs must be rolled up using the Spacers: 180° rules. Everybody playing already has them so no hyperlink to boost sales. The psychic stuff can wait until the first session. NO MECHANICAL INTELLIGENCE are eligible for psychic powers (Ben). 

Background 
Set from the Star Trek (tOS) movies to around the ending seasons of 'the Next Generation. So, while Star Tracks is not Star Trek Players can play members of the species, loosely stated, from the following list:

Andorian- (andorian)
Bajoran- Glorp Blort 6
Cardassian- Kodoan
Ferengi- Floda
Human- Human
Klingon- Rekki
Kzinti- Togaat
Mechanical Intelligence
   (NO BORG)
Nautsicaan- (nuatsicaan) 
Orion- Kaalish
Romulan- Kaalish
Suliban- Swah
Tellarite- subBerger 8
Trill
    (Must be mixed with one of the listed species here)
Vulcan- Kaalish
Xindi
   Hyboreal- Lam 
   Insectoid- Bugg
           PYD- D8 
   Aquatic- Spranger
   Reptilian- Ramo
   Human-like- 
   Avian- Soat

Sadly, they will have actual names from my Spacers species list. I'll be finding which of my species fit which of the list here this weekend. 

Interstellar nations that are featured:

United Star Systems Alliance (USSA)- Hawaii, Earth is where the politicians forming this faction meet.

the Corridor- Klingon, Romulan, Suliban, Xindi, and Cardassian worlds that were once competing empires. Defeated, to varying degrees, by the USSA and the USR during the Corridor Wars, they don't mind being sites where tourism adds a lot to their local economies. These individual factions do have interstellar ambitions still. 

Uniform Subjugated Regions (USR)- Totalitarian cliques of Cardassian-styled kodoans and regressive Kaalish power mongers control these worlds.

Totally a homage.

Everytime at the Table: Spacers 180° 'Downhome Mars'

 I jokingly told Peryton that if showed for the Spacers season finale I'd give her 50$, but minus 10 bucks for every hour that she was late. Well she showed up at 9:45, the session started at 9:30. Damn I guess I owe her $50 now. 

Alezander's mother explaining to him that most Martians are clones these days.

Cut to the alien Odo Maximus working out in an area of The Arcardia's cargo bays that he set up a gym in. Nextremi 37 has promised to stay in her room and told him that he should work out while she rests, for her better protection. After the physical training, the Crig hears about her leaving the ship with her boyfriend... 

So The Arcadia and its shifting and growing crew has finally showed up at Mars. Specifically, Krakatoa City (name thanks to Steven Miles Lewis of Austin, Texas) deep within the Gran Mariner canyons, on the west side. Its domed covering already sheltered by the martian landscape around it, is filled with water surrounding the living areas. It helps with solar radiation deflection, easy way to help with maintaining pressure, and it's pretty noticeable when the living areas have a leak. Most of this extremely salty water is frozen but around the city its very sea like-- bulked up "dolphins" (see Spacers:180° for species description) live and work in these parts. 

The Characters were Alezander Deju (Curtis), Steev Sagus (Ben), Odo Maximus (Brett), and Nextremi 37 (Robin). Ship-based NPCs include Gal Qixtar, Punches Pilot, Chief Bloom, Doctor Orlando, and, brought over from the Flash Gordan homage Sphere of Doom, Broomstick the bot. 

As The Arcadia is brought down onto the planet via a Pike space station's tether, everybody got to meet Alezander's mom, Othra Deju. After a few formalities, Othra got her med-bot X-40 "Knee Brace" to start treatment immediately on her son's Dulcina disease. This point in campaign was supposed to be the "Big Reveal" but by last session all the Players had figured it out; everybody is a clone. While Earth Central, with all its old-time religions and their regressive collective of Long Arm militants, has dictates against cloning and genetic alteration of the human species, about 40% of the Terran solar system are doing these things all the time.  
"How else does one fill up a galaxy?" She asked rhetorically then added the death blow. "I often wear wigs."

NPC Cut-Away: Seeing everyone else preoccupied watching Alezander having a snark fest with his Matron, Gal Qixtar slipped off and headed out of the Deju complex. He hailed a taxi and was taken to a complex of deserted warehouses. There he met his 7th Republic controller, Vanda Lixx, She being an Askode, sexy reptile humanoid with cobra manes instead of hair, could smell the Divvah better than he could anyone else. 

She demanded his  Interstellar FastTalk stick. Upon having it she snapped it into a massive machine that can only be described as a "faster than light frequency generator" (a FLAG). A holographic image showed three Panni battleships and a "harvester" platform rounding Earth's moon and bringing a mountain-sized asteroid into terminal orbit of the Terran System's mother planet's gravity well. These vessels being cloaked by the "faster than light frequencies" that they were generating. 

Gal Qixtar after a bit of dialogue (Me talking to Me) then pulled out his retro-engineered  Interstellar FastTalk to call upon the Close Orbit Commands of both Mars and Earth and warn them of impending strike about to happen. So instead of New England being removed from the map, the Panni bombing run, avoiding Earth's defense forces, adjusted towards north of Alaska, the northern coasts of Canada, then along the Hudson Bay and Baffin Island. 

Oh crap

Things would still be cataclysmic for Earth Central but not as much as Qixtar being shot through the chest by Vanda seeing his betrayal.

Back to the Game Being Played: As news of the asteroid bombardment on Earth's most northern latitudes began filling TV streams, it was Nextremi that noticed that Gal Qixtar had stepped out of the room. He, err it, seemed a bit preoccupied. An hour later, the Devvah had not returned, Steev Sagus found a piece of the Insurance Salesman's equipment left behind. With Alezander's Fix-It  Perk, the group was able to view Qixtar's "If you're watching this, I'm in trouble. ..." message. Stepping away from his Dulcina treatment, this would cost his health even if getting treated again soon, Alezander rallied everyone to find their missing companion. It wasn't long until they essentially traced Qixtar's cell phone.

Now the Player Just Ben was a bit besides himself finding Gal Qixtar near-dead. Besides me being a mean GM, like Ashoka and Sabine Wren in Star Wars: Rebels, the two Characters had never really spoken. Like a true champ, he assumed the role of Chief Bloom to express his emotions. Good thing the kind-of Engineer was there. As Knee Brace, the med-bot, shuttled the lizard hominid to a hospital, everyone noticed the the FLAG in the center of the scene. It took a bit of railroading but Alezander was able to contact Mars Close Orbit Command about the device. 

Using the FLAG, MCOC was able to send messages in real time as well as see through the Panni's space vessels cloaking frequencies. I then sped through the following months (Earth time), narrating the ending of the 812 War. So then I did a "90 Days Later" thing with the Characters. Every Player almost cried as Gal Qixtar was released from the hospital. 

I then worked through the PCs to ask where they were at and what they wanted to do next. Here's to the 2025-2026 season. 



  

Everytime at the Table: Spacers 180° 'Asteroid Fixes'

 Tales of the Arcadia "The Asteroid-End of the Solar System"

Well Robin (Peryton) had a date with Joe-Bob Briggs and Darcy the Mail-Girl, but Ben (Just Ben), Curtis (Iron Curtis), and Brett (Kal Luin) wanted some Spacers last night. While the work week, over 36 hours!, has been tiring, I was glad by the end of the session that they insisted. The Characters were Alezander Deju, Odo Maximus, and Steev Sagus. 

The Arcadia accompanied the Hop model craft, Stardust to its base of origin SGS-7 grouping of asteroids. This being the homeland of Steev Sagus, the fourth son, and ninth child of an even dozen, of the Sagus Clan of Rix humans, we got to meet my cast of his family. Great-Shown (Sean for short) the fiefdom's Patron. Hilda-Mom, the Lady and mother. PedXing (the oldest brother), then One Stop (Steev's closest sibling), Phreddi (Steev's rival sibling) and a cast of dozens which I didn't give names to. Throughout the game, the player-group's NPCs, Nextremi 37, Gal Qixtar, Chief Bloom, and Doctor Orlando were in the mix. I think that all the NPCs, whether of note or not, were handled quite well as well by yours truly, ME. Too long an intro already, by the end of the scene, the PCs were shacked up in decent digs, if a bit chilly, and our Manatee-class spaceship was in a repair bay. A big social gathering at Dinner was twelve hours away.

Rix days are 30 hours long. 0600 being breakfast. 0900-1800 Work. 1900 Dinner. 2300-3000 Leisure. 0100-0530 Night shift. Our Spacers showed up at 0700 hours or there about-- I know, I rolled a D30. Now I had notes for the scenario filling up all 30 hours, but only four paths would be taken. My PCs did not disappoint. 

Steev would help form how a Space-Sage meditates. We played with the SHRUG mechanic.
Alezander got into some steam in the kitchen with an older man. 
Maximus refined his roll as kick-ass while being a babysitter. 

In short, boundaries are meant to be crossed. Alezander Deju would make out with Steev's father. Steevimussus "Steev" Sagus learned that his family were siding with the UK (the Panni) versus EARTH CENTRAL in this 812 War. Maximus would kick some ass, finally, after trying to follow Nextremi into bathing areas but not in a sexual way, getting everyone back to the Arcadia before the HULCHERs showed up.

The fourth path, ever forgotten player NPC Stewart Medium-Sized would use up all the hot water in The Arcadia during the events of play. He was "Shower-Bath-Shower"ing (See Cowboy Bebop).

A World a Week: Caught Up In It all

This is the starting point of my "World of Keen Excitement" world for my TOG D20 rules set, which has been at a standstill play-wise since before last year. At the same time I have typed over 15,ooo words of a story written set in the world. Taking a year, plus, this could turn into the first piece of not-RPG writing I get done since 'o8 or so. So let's talk about this spot in my head that gets typed up while so many of my worlds stay in head where I hash them out as relaxation technique-- yes. They put me to sleep. My WOKE world has me sitting up and typing pages, often before dawn, for some reason though. 

Disclaimer: My Woke is not our mas-media wokeness. Even before Lovecraft Country, I was aware of the African-American cultural phenomena of being woke. It was never about sexual ambiguity or tearing down tradition, I was about being aware that if you are different more than a lot of people will not like you.                           





Keen part one

So here is "Upstream" 
The Characters are from our world and usually start out someplace near Landing. This "patch" where houses, campers, cars, and even tents have fallen from out of the sky have turned into a community of its own. Many of the newcomers, throughout the decades, if not ages, have gone on from here and interacted with the self-named World of Keen Excitement around them, but most haven't. Fixing up their belongings, more than few have formed the community to instruct newcomers as well look for a way to get back from where they came. As time passes, the town has made things even more comfortable for themselves, despite internal divisions. The biggest factions are the typical capitalists of the "Ten Rent Association" and the often accused of subversive activities "The Welcoming Committee." 
Some though, usually born in Landing and not knowing the "Other Places," get caught up in the Excitement around them.

The "spot" of Trott is about half a mile higher in elevation than any part of the region around itself. Its steeper surroundings and harsh winters suits the more individualistic newcomers (and their kids) as opposed to climates  nearby. That means as opposed to the Excitement of It All or Landing, or the rest of the world beyond not to their liking. Trots of turkeys, vultures, and eagles tend to nest here in the warmer season each year, hence the name. 

So we have to discuss cob at this point. 
Cob is the product of trees that resemble stalks of corn. Its fruit grows in bundles that look like banana batches. Each of these cob are packed full of calories and very sweet in flavor. The stalks (trees) that provide them bloom repeated from late Spring until the first few days of Winter. The stalk as a vegetation seems to grow wildly without much prompting by local farmers. It is too good to be true.
And it is...
Those that eat a lot of cob tend to get bigger and stronger. Then their brains also shrink. They also die within a decade, not decades after maturing. 
A less harmful variant of con is manufactured by the Ogre-Spawn. This collection of ogres, she-Ogs, Og, and piltdowners controlled by an entity known as "the Ogre," sometimes just Ogre, produce "family-friendly cob." The edible products can be eaten while the side-effects are reduced drastically among its consumers by eating more. Effects on lifespan are not being studied too hard.

While Landing and Trott are where folks from Other Places and their descendants have congregated for centuries. Many descendants, as well more than a few Just-Arrived, folks have succumbed to the effects of cob-enriched diets and become brutes or tools of those that would exploit them. More than a few would be from Trott or Landing, scores more would be from the Excitement. These natives of All the Excitement have been "gob-smacked" to say the least, but not so awed as to begun to learn new things from the newcomers.

All the Excitement has lived in the World of Keen Excitement forever. Many can look human, but they are not for the most part. They, the Keen, have for most of their lives have not needed the extravagant items and materials of Other Places (Our World).  Seeing what "Newcomers" have brought with them though, they see no problems with bettering their own lots with those imported things.
This has lead to more than a bit exploitive exploration in these Upstream parts, Meaning the Natives (All the Excited) would form partnerships with the newcomers, especially the more cob-inundated and start to seek treasures to replicate parts of the Other Places. 

Digg is the new spot where All the Excitement pins it hopes and dreams on fixing everything that has led to lackluster performance in the World of Keen Excitement. It is overseen by the cob-fed, the Excited, and Hobs (hobgoblins not from 'Keen or Other Places), while being worked by enslaved beings.

The ten days-worth of travel locales that make up Dugg are abandoned strip mines and supporting facilities where All the Excitement feel that they have gotten their fill. Now mostly populated by the Cob-fed and a few newcomers, that while they are thriving like to raid each other. Only the "Main Roads" can be traveled with only a minimum of banditry. 

Everytime At the Table: "Tails of the Arcadia"

 Just Ben has been singing on Broadway, so the regular Tales of the Arcadia has been on hold for a bit. Instead Peryton, Iron Curtis, and Kal Luin have been meeting up with me and doing some Superhero stuff. Last night though the Spacers: 180 main campaign has been able to continue. Making allowances for Robin (Peryton) coming in later, we started the game at a reasonable hour. The Characters were Alezander Deju, Nextremi 37, Odus Maximus, and introducing Ben's new role of Steev Sagus. Much love Gal Qixtar is becoming a NPC for a bit as we explore Curtis's Character class of Space Sage in the rules system.

We "storied" the missed session, where Maximus just awakening from hibernation heard over his internal radio receivers the call of a Crig queen under attack and his warrior instincts took over. He grabbed an unsuspecting Nextremi and started dragging her unwillingly towards the docking hangar. With quick D20 rolls we determined he basically beat up anybody that got in his way. Then in the bay, Nextremi was able to knock her abductor out for a couple seconds. Upon awakening, the would-be kidnapper realized that he was being manipulated by a nearby enemy using radio waves, which led to him looking at everyone. shaking off his pheromones, and shouting "WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"

At which point the Arcadia's SHIP system (AI) popped up in holograph form to inform the Captain, Alezander by the way, to announce that two H.U.L.C.H.E.R. (Hulches from now on) 88s were attacking. As we were supposed to explore the "quick" space battle rules, Iron Curtis, as Captain Deju, decided to turn into the fire and engage. So as a group we played out a ship-to-ship combat for four turns (rounds, segments... whatever) and rules for "Sparks Inside the Ship" giving PCs that weren't flying the ship something to do. If our space vessel had been up against a couple fully maintained "Barracuda" class opponents, the combat would have ended quickly, but 88s are "previously owned" and held together by duct tape and hate. All participants in the encounter went away limping, including the ESR ARCADIA.

In true Spacers fashion, the repairs were tricky-- that means Players' rolls were having bad results. Overall, I was happy with how I, as the GM, was able to make Nuts and Bolts jargon and technicality pull all the present players into the fray. Alezander, found a couple larger asteroids to hide in the middle of while fixing the damage.

Meanwhile, Steev Sagus ( Enter Just Ben's latest Character. I wouldn't allow Steve the Space Sage)  traveling home from the Big City, that's Earth, to the SGS-7 grouping of asteroids where the "Sagus" clan of Asteroid Belt colonists claimed as their homelands, noticed the damaged ship. Seeing potential salvage and/or new friends he started hailing them. At this point Curtis and Ben made the game. Steev using his newly honed skills as a Communications Major from University of Lakefront Chicago was talkative and friendly, while Alezander was not. Deju (Alez) just wasn't feeling that friendly towards Terrans, finding out only recently that he was a clone. He did reluctantly open up transmissions and except help in repairs.

I brought the NPC Gal Qixtar into play. He needed to get to someplace where he could power his Interstellar FastTalk stick. In a cut-away, the Devvah offered his resignation from the Kodoan 7th Republic's Spy Service. His contact, an Askode wearing her tattered Space-Nazi uniform, let him know 7th Republic (Soviet) spies didn't get to retire. She would be there on Mars when he got there. End session.

GM's Note: The "tails" in the session title is about Gal Qixtar's new path, but imagine that great roleplaying Characters wouldn't get to where the scribbling author meant to they should.

Rix
Humans that are colonizing the Asteroid Belt of the Earth System and have been doing so for centuries. Because of life in the Belt, they have some very-special adaptations towards living in micro-gravity.
HP: 8
AC: 12
Save: 12
PYD: D2
HD: 2
Attack Bonus: nil
# of Attacks: 1
Damage: none
Special: Originally called "The Asterisks" but that is from like before their grandparents were born .

A World a Week/Everytime at a Table: POW 2025

 

Building a Super-Character
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Types

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Biggie- +2D PHYSICAL
Blaster- +2D NERVE
Brain- +2D MENTAL

Origins

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Accident- Luck/5 (round up) Powers
Design- Chosen STAT/5 Powers
Mutation- 2D2 Powers
Item- D6 Powers

Powers
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Agility-
Blast-
Clue-
Dexterity-
Element-
Empathy-
Flight-  At 3rd Level Physical X 10 MPH
Illusion-
Intangibility-
Invent-
Invisibility-
Invulnerability-
Magic-
Matter-
Mimic-
Sap-
Shoot-
Senses-
Speed-
Stealth-
Strength-
Stretch-
Telekinesis-

Player Characters

Red Shift, Human, 1^st Level Blaster
An accomplished US Army sniper, she suffered a devastating accident with a toxic waste truck while on deployment. While in intensive care a mad scientist, Colonel Maxwell Jorges, Dr. used his experimental pain relieving serum, Halcyon, and the street drug Mut-8, to assist the healing process.
NERVE 13
Aim 27
Powers:
Flight- She can fly as fast as her PHYSICAL Stat miles per hour.
Intangibility- Must be rolled below on the PHYSICAL Stat on a D66 to be successful.
Rage Blast- Able to throw bolts of rage, worth of NERVE Stat in damage. Armor can reduce the assault.
Illusion- using her ability to shift light she can shape surrounding light into mirages.
Sense (Radio Frequencies)- She can hear radio transmissions.


Lost Star, Human, 1^st Level Biggie
A gifted engineer, his life changed when his construction crew uncovered the armband of Tonatiuh. Thus a lump of aged muck, chose him as the avatar of the Aztec sun god to protect the earth from predatory forces from without.
PHYSICAL 23
Powers:
Invulnerability- He is impervious to as many Damage points as his PHYSICAL Stat before taking anything to his HITS.
Strength- His PHYSICAL Stat divided by ten (rounded up) will add that many dice towards any Strength-based Saving Roll. Note, that a Critical Failure can’t be helped.
Sun Blast- Able to throw bolts of glory, worth of CHARM Stat in damage. Armor can reduce the assault.
Flight- He can fly as fast as his PHYSICAL Stat miles per hour.
Fire, Immunity- Immune to the effects of open flame.
Fire, Shape- Can direct the flow of flames.


Burgeon City
One time the city was was rustic community known as Lotus Grove, but now it it is a burgeoning city of 640 thousand people and the epicenter of the NEW ENERGY WORLD.