Pirates of Drinax - GMs thread
- Thread starter Sven2300
- Start date
Democratus
Mongoose
True!
Something tells me they were drawing heavily from Flash Gordon for this:
Flying city. Check.
Hawk wings on the royal guard. Check.
Big, fat, bombastic king. Check.
Attractive, yet lethal princess. Check.
Something tells me they were drawing heavily from Flash Gordon for this:
Flying city. Check.
Hawk wings on the royal guard. Check.
Big, fat, bombastic king. Check.
Attractive, yet lethal princess. Check.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
I wrapped up a "season" of my Drinax game, the second so far--Real Life means our group needs to take a break for some months.
A short summary:
I was running the pirate half of Sun & Shadow. In our last game, they'd gotten some good intel, and were able to ambush and capture the Prophet Zomon. This game, they stretched all of their efforts to fly that beastie to Theev and cash in. It took them cramming their existing ships into the big cargo hold, filling most of the rest with fuel from a gas giant, and using all of their crews to run the Zomon. They succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, and the characters decided to retire with their winnings. Two of them opted to retire to Court at Drinax, one to cruise the Imperium, the rest to Torpol.
I'll start the next season with new Travellers in the (fully repaired and decorated Harrier) Manticore . This group had started to bring in the Borderlands cluster, and I expect the next crew to do more of the same.
A short summary:
I was running the pirate half of Sun & Shadow. In our last game, they'd gotten some good intel, and were able to ambush and capture the Prophet Zomon. This game, they stretched all of their efforts to fly that beastie to Theev and cash in. It took them cramming their existing ships into the big cargo hold, filling most of the rest with fuel from a gas giant, and using all of their crews to run the Zomon. They succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, and the characters decided to retire with their winnings. Two of them opted to retire to Court at Drinax, one to cruise the Imperium, the rest to Torpol.
I'll start the next season with new Travellers in the (fully repaired and decorated Harrier) Manticore . This group had started to bring in the Borderlands cluster, and I expect the next crew to do more of the same.
Old School
Mongoose
So I couldn't stand to see this thread all the way down to page 4. So. . .
The Demon’s Eye. . .Man, it’s been a while
So, it’s only been six months since our last campaign update, but for better or worse (probably worse for any in the Trojan Reach trying to live a quiet, peaceful life), we are back.
Last installment is on page 23 of his thread for any that might be interested.
Our Heroes, the “B Team” of the upgraded far trader Lady Miria:
Captain Alaina Madigan, retired Imperial Navy
Colonel Chadwick Vangeles, retired from the planetary army of Simok. Married to Alaina
Lt. Gemma Arminger – former Naval Engineer, Alaina’s protégé
Sgt. Junior Sanchez – also from Simok, served under Chad. Not terribly bright or charming, but good to have around when trouble hits. Often that trouble is of his own making.
Lemuel Volin, NPC, geeky kid from Neumann.
Buddha, NPC, former Navy enlisted, left the service after finding religion. Getting a lift to Mirage in return for getting our Travellers admitted to the religious conference there. Passable sensor operator.
Our heroes finally depart from Tobia, sans some of their best gear, which is still impounded by the authorities at the Starport. Two jumps later, they arrive at Simok, and fulfill their task for the Duke of Tobia to deliver his messages to both sides in the conflict there: “Wrap this up in the next year, or I’ll have Imperial Marines wrap it up for you.” Chad adds a personal appeal, telling both sides that the war has gone on far past its original points of contention, and that they need to rebuild, as their fighting skills and experience will be needed for a bigger war that is coming. Buddha also spends some time with the rebel leaders, but refuses to disclose to the team what was discussed.
Of course, no trip back to the home planet would be complete without going to see Mom, so the team extends its stay for week so Chad and Junior can visit their families. Chad’s mother still doesn’t quite approve of Alaina, but is happy enough to see her son after several years that she mostly behaves.
Junior takes the team to meet his family, and warns his friends: “So my Mom is going to bug me about getting married, and she’s really going to bug me about it when she meets Gemma.”
Gemma: “Eww.”
Junior: “Sorry, it’s just how Mom is. I can’t stop her.” True to form, Mrs. Sanchez makes quite the fuss over Gemma, but eventually the team manages to depart, without any nuptials.
Three weeks later, the Lady Miria finally arrives in Mirage. What a dump. Desert world populated by poor farm workers, sand bugs that are crushed to make hallucinogens, and a handful of very, very wealthy farm owners.
Upon arrival, the team quickly learn that Dr. Jali’s stolen ship, the Lord Gerald’s Fancy, arrived a couple of weeks earlier. Working the docks for information, they ascertain that Dr. Jali departed the ship shortly after arrival, paid berthing fees for two months, and hasn’t been seen since. The port workers don’t know where she is, and why would they care?
After setting up discrete surveillance camera on the Fancy, the team arranges a meeting with the Marquise D’Haube, the wealthy landowner sponsoring the conference. Although reasonably polite, she doesn’t seem too impressed with what she learns of Buddha’s religion. She’s actually more excited to learn that Lemuel is originally from Neumann, and peppers him with the questions about the Shield Church. She tells the team that the Shield Church’s official representative, Archon Dreek, is arriving soon. The Marquise would appreciate anything they can do to help her gain the Archon’s confidence, and she provides Buddha and his entourage with a villa conveniently located next to the one the Archon will be using. She offers transportation to and from the conference each day, but the team declines, renting an air raft of their own use instead. They also purchase four stunners, appropriate for a holy man’s bodyguards.
As a Neumann native, Lemuel has no trouble arranging a visit with Archon Dreek, and takes Junior along. Ever since he got infected twice in the same week by nanobots, Junior has become an eager student of the Shield Church’s teachings. They also learn that the Archon travels everywhere with two Shield Knights, both in battledress. After the initial meetings and getting settled in, the team decides to inform Archon Dreek that he is in danger, and hopefully enlist his aid to capture Dr. Jali so she can be cured. Unfortunately this plan backfires, as the Archon declares Dr. Jali’s work to be demonic, and that she can only be cured by the cleansing fire of nuclear fusion.
(Unbeknownst to the team, Lemuel contacts Dr. Jali, letting her know the team is still after her, that her ship is under surveillance, and that the Archon has been forewarned.)
The team snoops around for a few days, looking for clues as to Dr. Jali’s whereabouts, without success. Then, very early one morning, pay dirt. Their surveillance camera picks up an air raft landing at the Lord Gerald Fancy. Dr. Jali is a passenger, and the driver is a Miragian, wearing the full uniform and head covering of the pilots employed by Marquise D’Haube. As they walk up the ramp and board the ship, they see that Dr. Jali is holding a laser pistol, and that the driver is actually her hostage. A few minutes later, however, the pilot is seen running with abandon from the Fancy, falling once in his haste to escape, before diving into the air raft and departing at full acceleration.
The team watches this in almost real time, and are preparing for an assault on the Fancy when they watch the flyer depart. They have no way to track the air raft, and it appears Dr. Jali is still on board the tramp trader. But how did the Miragian chauffer escape?
The team decides to storm the Fancy regardless, as that’s where they except to find Dr. Jali. Having been forced to leave their heavy armor and weaponry in Tobia, they don poly carapace armor. They all carry stunners in hopes of detaining Dr. Jali. Chad picks an auto shotgun as his primary weapon, along with a monoblade. The ladies go with their usual laser carbines and monoblades. Junior packs two gauss pistols, along with his trusty knife. Lemuel has his auto pistol, as always. Buddha stays at the villa.
At the Lord Gerald’s Fancy, Alaina hacks her way through the security system, and is able to not only open the airlock, but access the ships internal security cameras. They watch as two of the “cursed” zombies walk the ship, and then Dr. Jali and her prisoner arrive. She forces him into the crew stateroom closest to the airlock, and the two cursed follow them in. After a minute, the chauffer darts desperately from the room, out the hatch, and to his air raft. Dr. Jali and the two cursed have never left the stateroom.
Knowing the enemy is right around the corner from them, the team tries to silently plan their attack. After a minute of this, Junior motions to the others to draw their blades, and puts his back to the wall of the passageway, next to the corner where the stateroom door is. He draws his second pistol and smiles. Whirling around the corner with both pistols up and a yell of “Leeroy Jenkins!”, Junior opens fire with both pistols on full auto. The cursed are waiting for their own surprise attack, not knowing that the team has access to the camera feeds. They launch themselves at Junior, who keeps firing while backing into the crew common area behind him. The others then approach the cursed from behind and to the slide, swinging monoblades while trying to stay out Junior’s line of fire (referee’s ruling, -2 to attack, and if anyone rolls snakes eyes, bad things may result). Junior hit one cursed three times, and the other once. The first falls to blades, but the second manages to land one attack on Junior even as it is stuck by Alaina’s blade, but its poisoned claws are rebuffed by the carapace armor.
For round two, Junior disdainfully throws both pistols aside, draws his knife, and stabs the cursed in the chest (a high rolls results in 2 damage after armor). No longer having to avoid friendly fire, Gemma steps in with a mighty swing for 22 damage, killing the second creature with style (anyone else ever play the Baldur’s Gate video games? Remember when your “tank” fighter would hit the bad guy so hard it would just explode into chunks? That’s how I envision Gemma’s hit)
But where is Dr. Jali? In the stateroom, they find a bound, naked man, who, when freed, identifies himself as Jek, a flyer in the Marquise’s employ. Oh, no. Dr. Jali forced him to take her to the Fancy at gunpoint, then stole his clothes and tied him up. Barely pausing long enough to cut Jek’s bonds, our heroes race out the ship and into their own air raft. With Alaina at the controls, Chad tries to call Buddha, but he doesn’t answer. Lemuel calls Dreek, but apparently the Archon has them all blocked. Lemuel pauses for a moment, then punches another code his comm, but after a moment he puts it away. “Can’t get any of them, he says”. Gemma uses her handheld to search for Buddha’s location, and sees that he is travelling at relatively high speed in the direction of the Marquise’s estate. High speed, as in the cruising speed of an air raft.
As they race to catch up, Junior spots an air raft in the distance, and using binoculars he sees five occupants, including two in battledress. Just then Buddha returns Chad’s call. “Hey, yeah, the Shield Church guys let me ride with them to the conference since ya’ll were busy. Figured I’d be safe with these Knights around in any case. What the hell, my seatbelt. . .” Chad hears Buddha’s high pitch scream before the call cuts out.
Junior yells: “The air raft just flipped over! The Knights and Buddha are falling!” Their air raft is now close enough they can see the falling figures. Then one of the three falling bodies begins to slow, and the second figures changes direction slightly, veering towards the third.
Lemuel, watching from the back, says “The Knights have grav assist in their armor. Jali probably didn’t know that.” As the team approaches, they see one of the Shield Knights deftly catch Buddha before coming to a stop some 10 feet off the ground. The other knight pulls a fusion rifle from behind her back, aims, and fires, striking the air raft. As the raft falls, both knights and our heroes fly in pursuit.
The B team arrives at the crash site, in a grove of trees not far from the estate, after the Knights. Jali and Dreek are both alive. Jali, still wearing the heavy cloak of a Miragian flyer but now unmasked, is unconscious on the ground, and appears to have suffered far worse from the crash than Dreek, who is struggling to his feet. Buddha is standing next to her, arms out, pleading with the Neumannian’s not to execute her. The team arrives just in time to hear the knight who shot down the air raft tell Buddha “Pastor, I know you are a man of peace. We are not. I shot that raft with my Archon it. I will shoot her with you standing there. You need to back away. Now.”
Her partner, the Knight who caught Buddha in mid air, looks at the Travellers, while casually holding his FGMP not quite in their direction. “Ya’ll need to step back, too. This is no longer your concern.”
Chad, hands raised, replies “We made a promise to save her. We keep our promises. You don’t have to kill her. She can be saved, physically and uh, spiritually”
Archon Dreek, standing as straight as he can muster with his injuries, spits in disgust and says “By the authority granted me by the Shield Church, in the name of the Immor. . .”
“BY ORDER OF THE IMMORTAL PROTECTOR, YOU WILL STAND DOWN!” Lemuel’s voice rings out from behind the rest of team, as if amplified by powerful loudspeakers. As the team covers their ears in pain, Lemuel strides in front of them to face Archon Dreek.
The two shield knights appear momentarily stunned, but Archon Dreek’s face is filled with rage. “You! Blasphemer! You are not the Immortal Protector! You are in league with this demon, and you will burn with her!” Dreek moves quickly towards he closest knight, attempting to take her FGMP. Junior quickly motions Chad, Alaina, and and Gemma away while quietly saying “radiation, back back back”. The knight refuses to surrender her weapon, and Dreek’s strength is no match for her battledress enhanced power. The knight looks quickly from Lemuel, to Dreek, to her partner, and then back again, but holds fast to her gun. After a few moments, Dreek gives up on the heavy weapon, striding towards Lemuel while producing a laser pistol from under his robes. As he raises it to fire, Lemuel nods towards the knights. The female knight moves quickly in front of Buddha and Jali, as if to shield them. The second knight raises his FMPG, and reduces Archon Dreek to radioactive ash.
Both knights then drop to one knee, saying “Immortal Protector” in unison. Lemuel, apparently unconcerned about any radiation walks up to the scorched earth where Dreek stood, and says” I’m sorry, old friend. You were a good soldier, but your faith failed you in the end.” Then looking, at the knights “Ya’ll best get up. Those fusion guns tend to attract attention." Turning to the unconscious form on the ground next to Buddha, "Come Dr. Jali. Neumann has excellent medical facilities. We’ll get you patched up and you can continue your research at the very edge of the swarm zone.” A Shield knight gently picks up Jali. The other picks up Lemuel, and their grav belts begin slowing carrying them upward.
Lemuel then looks down at our heroes. “So I’m off. I’ve got my own ride now, but I appreciate you getting me this far. If you want to come with, meet me at the Archon’s ship on landing pad 14. You’ve come all this way, you might as well see it through to the end, right? Its two weeks to Neumann at Jump-3. Would take four weeks in your ship, so don’t bother unless you want to ride with us.”
Buddha, staring up at Lemuel, says “I think I’m gonna stay here. You people are a little too exciting for my tastes”
Lemuel: “Well then, bhikkhu. This is goodbye. I enjoyed our theological discussions. Do stop by the church if you’re ever on Neumann.” Then looking back at Chad, Alaina, Junior, and Gemma, “Pad 14. C’mon, it’ll be fun”. As they turn in the direction of the downport, the male knight looks at his partner and says “This conference was lame anyway.” While the team stares in stunned silence, the Immortal Protector and his two Shield Knights fly way, skimming just above the treetops of the oasis surrounding the D’Haube estate.
The Demon’s Eye. . .Man, it’s been a while
So, it’s only been six months since our last campaign update, but for better or worse (probably worse for any in the Trojan Reach trying to live a quiet, peaceful life), we are back.
Last installment is on page 23 of his thread for any that might be interested.
Our Heroes, the “B Team” of the upgraded far trader Lady Miria:
Captain Alaina Madigan, retired Imperial Navy
Colonel Chadwick Vangeles, retired from the planetary army of Simok. Married to Alaina
Lt. Gemma Arminger – former Naval Engineer, Alaina’s protégé
Sgt. Junior Sanchez – also from Simok, served under Chad. Not terribly bright or charming, but good to have around when trouble hits. Often that trouble is of his own making.
Lemuel Volin, NPC, geeky kid from Neumann.
Buddha, NPC, former Navy enlisted, left the service after finding religion. Getting a lift to Mirage in return for getting our Travellers admitted to the religious conference there. Passable sensor operator.
Our heroes finally depart from Tobia, sans some of their best gear, which is still impounded by the authorities at the Starport. Two jumps later, they arrive at Simok, and fulfill their task for the Duke of Tobia to deliver his messages to both sides in the conflict there: “Wrap this up in the next year, or I’ll have Imperial Marines wrap it up for you.” Chad adds a personal appeal, telling both sides that the war has gone on far past its original points of contention, and that they need to rebuild, as their fighting skills and experience will be needed for a bigger war that is coming. Buddha also spends some time with the rebel leaders, but refuses to disclose to the team what was discussed.
Of course, no trip back to the home planet would be complete without going to see Mom, so the team extends its stay for week so Chad and Junior can visit their families. Chad’s mother still doesn’t quite approve of Alaina, but is happy enough to see her son after several years that she mostly behaves.
Junior takes the team to meet his family, and warns his friends: “So my Mom is going to bug me about getting married, and she’s really going to bug me about it when she meets Gemma.”
Gemma: “Eww.”
Junior: “Sorry, it’s just how Mom is. I can’t stop her.” True to form, Mrs. Sanchez makes quite the fuss over Gemma, but eventually the team manages to depart, without any nuptials.
Three weeks later, the Lady Miria finally arrives in Mirage. What a dump. Desert world populated by poor farm workers, sand bugs that are crushed to make hallucinogens, and a handful of very, very wealthy farm owners.
Upon arrival, the team quickly learn that Dr. Jali’s stolen ship, the Lord Gerald’s Fancy, arrived a couple of weeks earlier. Working the docks for information, they ascertain that Dr. Jali departed the ship shortly after arrival, paid berthing fees for two months, and hasn’t been seen since. The port workers don’t know where she is, and why would they care?
After setting up discrete surveillance camera on the Fancy, the team arranges a meeting with the Marquise D’Haube, the wealthy landowner sponsoring the conference. Although reasonably polite, she doesn’t seem too impressed with what she learns of Buddha’s religion. She’s actually more excited to learn that Lemuel is originally from Neumann, and peppers him with the questions about the Shield Church. She tells the team that the Shield Church’s official representative, Archon Dreek, is arriving soon. The Marquise would appreciate anything they can do to help her gain the Archon’s confidence, and she provides Buddha and his entourage with a villa conveniently located next to the one the Archon will be using. She offers transportation to and from the conference each day, but the team declines, renting an air raft of their own use instead. They also purchase four stunners, appropriate for a holy man’s bodyguards.
As a Neumann native, Lemuel has no trouble arranging a visit with Archon Dreek, and takes Junior along. Ever since he got infected twice in the same week by nanobots, Junior has become an eager student of the Shield Church’s teachings. They also learn that the Archon travels everywhere with two Shield Knights, both in battledress. After the initial meetings and getting settled in, the team decides to inform Archon Dreek that he is in danger, and hopefully enlist his aid to capture Dr. Jali so she can be cured. Unfortunately this plan backfires, as the Archon declares Dr. Jali’s work to be demonic, and that she can only be cured by the cleansing fire of nuclear fusion.
(Unbeknownst to the team, Lemuel contacts Dr. Jali, letting her know the team is still after her, that her ship is under surveillance, and that the Archon has been forewarned.)
The team snoops around for a few days, looking for clues as to Dr. Jali’s whereabouts, without success. Then, very early one morning, pay dirt. Their surveillance camera picks up an air raft landing at the Lord Gerald Fancy. Dr. Jali is a passenger, and the driver is a Miragian, wearing the full uniform and head covering of the pilots employed by Marquise D’Haube. As they walk up the ramp and board the ship, they see that Dr. Jali is holding a laser pistol, and that the driver is actually her hostage. A few minutes later, however, the pilot is seen running with abandon from the Fancy, falling once in his haste to escape, before diving into the air raft and departing at full acceleration.
The team watches this in almost real time, and are preparing for an assault on the Fancy when they watch the flyer depart. They have no way to track the air raft, and it appears Dr. Jali is still on board the tramp trader. But how did the Miragian chauffer escape?
The team decides to storm the Fancy regardless, as that’s where they except to find Dr. Jali. Having been forced to leave their heavy armor and weaponry in Tobia, they don poly carapace armor. They all carry stunners in hopes of detaining Dr. Jali. Chad picks an auto shotgun as his primary weapon, along with a monoblade. The ladies go with their usual laser carbines and monoblades. Junior packs two gauss pistols, along with his trusty knife. Lemuel has his auto pistol, as always. Buddha stays at the villa.
At the Lord Gerald’s Fancy, Alaina hacks her way through the security system, and is able to not only open the airlock, but access the ships internal security cameras. They watch as two of the “cursed” zombies walk the ship, and then Dr. Jali and her prisoner arrive. She forces him into the crew stateroom closest to the airlock, and the two cursed follow them in. After a minute, the chauffer darts desperately from the room, out the hatch, and to his air raft. Dr. Jali and the two cursed have never left the stateroom.
Knowing the enemy is right around the corner from them, the team tries to silently plan their attack. After a minute of this, Junior motions to the others to draw their blades, and puts his back to the wall of the passageway, next to the corner where the stateroom door is. He draws his second pistol and smiles. Whirling around the corner with both pistols up and a yell of “Leeroy Jenkins!”, Junior opens fire with both pistols on full auto. The cursed are waiting for their own surprise attack, not knowing that the team has access to the camera feeds. They launch themselves at Junior, who keeps firing while backing into the crew common area behind him. The others then approach the cursed from behind and to the slide, swinging monoblades while trying to stay out Junior’s line of fire (referee’s ruling, -2 to attack, and if anyone rolls snakes eyes, bad things may result). Junior hit one cursed three times, and the other once. The first falls to blades, but the second manages to land one attack on Junior even as it is stuck by Alaina’s blade, but its poisoned claws are rebuffed by the carapace armor.
For round two, Junior disdainfully throws both pistols aside, draws his knife, and stabs the cursed in the chest (a high rolls results in 2 damage after armor). No longer having to avoid friendly fire, Gemma steps in with a mighty swing for 22 damage, killing the second creature with style (anyone else ever play the Baldur’s Gate video games? Remember when your “tank” fighter would hit the bad guy so hard it would just explode into chunks? That’s how I envision Gemma’s hit)
But where is Dr. Jali? In the stateroom, they find a bound, naked man, who, when freed, identifies himself as Jek, a flyer in the Marquise’s employ. Oh, no. Dr. Jali forced him to take her to the Fancy at gunpoint, then stole his clothes and tied him up. Barely pausing long enough to cut Jek’s bonds, our heroes race out the ship and into their own air raft. With Alaina at the controls, Chad tries to call Buddha, but he doesn’t answer. Lemuel calls Dreek, but apparently the Archon has them all blocked. Lemuel pauses for a moment, then punches another code his comm, but after a moment he puts it away. “Can’t get any of them, he says”. Gemma uses her handheld to search for Buddha’s location, and sees that he is travelling at relatively high speed in the direction of the Marquise’s estate. High speed, as in the cruising speed of an air raft.
As they race to catch up, Junior spots an air raft in the distance, and using binoculars he sees five occupants, including two in battledress. Just then Buddha returns Chad’s call. “Hey, yeah, the Shield Church guys let me ride with them to the conference since ya’ll were busy. Figured I’d be safe with these Knights around in any case. What the hell, my seatbelt. . .” Chad hears Buddha’s high pitch scream before the call cuts out.
Junior yells: “The air raft just flipped over! The Knights and Buddha are falling!” Their air raft is now close enough they can see the falling figures. Then one of the three falling bodies begins to slow, and the second figures changes direction slightly, veering towards the third.
Lemuel, watching from the back, says “The Knights have grav assist in their armor. Jali probably didn’t know that.” As the team approaches, they see one of the Shield Knights deftly catch Buddha before coming to a stop some 10 feet off the ground. The other knight pulls a fusion rifle from behind her back, aims, and fires, striking the air raft. As the raft falls, both knights and our heroes fly in pursuit.
The B team arrives at the crash site, in a grove of trees not far from the estate, after the Knights. Jali and Dreek are both alive. Jali, still wearing the heavy cloak of a Miragian flyer but now unmasked, is unconscious on the ground, and appears to have suffered far worse from the crash than Dreek, who is struggling to his feet. Buddha is standing next to her, arms out, pleading with the Neumannian’s not to execute her. The team arrives just in time to hear the knight who shot down the air raft tell Buddha “Pastor, I know you are a man of peace. We are not. I shot that raft with my Archon it. I will shoot her with you standing there. You need to back away. Now.”
Her partner, the Knight who caught Buddha in mid air, looks at the Travellers, while casually holding his FGMP not quite in their direction. “Ya’ll need to step back, too. This is no longer your concern.”
Chad, hands raised, replies “We made a promise to save her. We keep our promises. You don’t have to kill her. She can be saved, physically and uh, spiritually”
Archon Dreek, standing as straight as he can muster with his injuries, spits in disgust and says “By the authority granted me by the Shield Church, in the name of the Immor. . .”
“BY ORDER OF THE IMMORTAL PROTECTOR, YOU WILL STAND DOWN!” Lemuel’s voice rings out from behind the rest of team, as if amplified by powerful loudspeakers. As the team covers their ears in pain, Lemuel strides in front of them to face Archon Dreek.
The two shield knights appear momentarily stunned, but Archon Dreek’s face is filled with rage. “You! Blasphemer! You are not the Immortal Protector! You are in league with this demon, and you will burn with her!” Dreek moves quickly towards he closest knight, attempting to take her FGMP. Junior quickly motions Chad, Alaina, and and Gemma away while quietly saying “radiation, back back back”. The knight refuses to surrender her weapon, and Dreek’s strength is no match for her battledress enhanced power. The knight looks quickly from Lemuel, to Dreek, to her partner, and then back again, but holds fast to her gun. After a few moments, Dreek gives up on the heavy weapon, striding towards Lemuel while producing a laser pistol from under his robes. As he raises it to fire, Lemuel nods towards the knights. The female knight moves quickly in front of Buddha and Jali, as if to shield them. The second knight raises his FMPG, and reduces Archon Dreek to radioactive ash.
Both knights then drop to one knee, saying “Immortal Protector” in unison. Lemuel, apparently unconcerned about any radiation walks up to the scorched earth where Dreek stood, and says” I’m sorry, old friend. You were a good soldier, but your faith failed you in the end.” Then looking, at the knights “Ya’ll best get up. Those fusion guns tend to attract attention." Turning to the unconscious form on the ground next to Buddha, "Come Dr. Jali. Neumann has excellent medical facilities. We’ll get you patched up and you can continue your research at the very edge of the swarm zone.” A Shield knight gently picks up Jali. The other picks up Lemuel, and their grav belts begin slowing carrying them upward.
Lemuel then looks down at our heroes. “So I’m off. I’ve got my own ride now, but I appreciate you getting me this far. If you want to come with, meet me at the Archon’s ship on landing pad 14. You’ve come all this way, you might as well see it through to the end, right? Its two weeks to Neumann at Jump-3. Would take four weeks in your ship, so don’t bother unless you want to ride with us.”
Buddha, staring up at Lemuel, says “I think I’m gonna stay here. You people are a little too exciting for my tastes”
Lemuel: “Well then, bhikkhu. This is goodbye. I enjoyed our theological discussions. Do stop by the church if you’re ever on Neumann.” Then looking back at Chad, Alaina, Junior, and Gemma, “Pad 14. C’mon, it’ll be fun”. As they turn in the direction of the downport, the male knight looks at his partner and says “This conference was lame anyway.” While the team stares in stunned silence, the Immortal Protector and his two Shield Knights fly way, skimming just above the treetops of the oasis surrounding the D’Haube estate.
Old School
Mongoose
Question for anyone who’s had Aslan Travellers in their game. How did you handle the male / female only skills in character creation?
The Service Skills and Advanced education tables for many careers include skills that are male only or female only, despite the tables being available to either. Did you just re-roll, or let them pick?
There are allowed rare cases for an Aslan to learn an “inappropriate” career, such as Wanderers learning Engineering, but I wouldn’t expect that to apply to Military Officers, for example.
The Service Skills and Advanced education tables for many careers include skills that are male only or female only, despite the tables being available to either. Did you just re-roll, or let them pick?
There are allowed rare cases for an Aslan to learn an “inappropriate” career, such as Wanderers learning Engineering, but I wouldn’t expect that to apply to Military Officers, for example.
paltrysum
Emperor Mongoose
Generally, I let them keep them with the caveat that as opposite-gender skills, using them is frowned upon in Aslan society but that there are times when necessity trumps tradition and the Aslan can be expected to "look the other way" for the sake of getting the job done. I don't recall whether I've done so, but I would also let a player repick if they would prefer.
Ursus Maior
Banded Mongoose
We rolled up characters the other week and my Aslan player rolled at least one of these skills. I'm comfortable that he can handle his male Aslan use female skills, as he knows the potential consequences of their use. I wouldn't paint that issue to black-and-white, especially outside the Hierate. On the other hand, going around and telling every (male) Aslan how good a painter or broker your Aslan is, might just end up in interesting situations.
Old School
Mongoose
Thanks for the input. I think there certainly situations in which a traveller could learn an “inappropriate” skill, but I couldn’t see the can military teaching a female how to be a gunner, how example. Separate service and advanced skill tables by gender would solve this.
I started Traveller with a group of newbies to Traveller (but experienced pen & paper players) in November last year. It’s also my first game in Traveller but I wanted to play or GM it for quite a while now (what else to do with all this traveller-stuff in my bookcase and PC?). They wanted pirates and a long campaign so obviously Pirates of Drinax came to my mind. Even though we are already a few sessions in, only one of them really dug into the rules, whereas the others are still a bit reluctant because they are still not decided if they prefer FFG Star Wars or Traveller. Even though I don’t know if the group will continue playing for the long run, I wanted to share their story a bit. We are currently close to finishing “honour among thieves”, so I have to catch up quite a bit. But let´s just start at the beginning.
The group consists of:
Captain Janos Ahbe, 3879CF, 1 term university, 1 term Marines, 5 terms Navy from the floating palace. Ahbe is the son of an influential noble house on the floating palace and started university to become a member of the star guard. The attack on Asim changed those plans as he was drafted into the Marines to support the attack. The young veteran was permitted into the star guard afterwards and boosted his influence in Drinax with his successful career. Lord Wrax convinced King Oleb to give Ahbe Command of the Harrier – to minimise the danger of this crazy endeavour. Did I mention he earned quite some titles in his career?
Eve Brooks, 7CCA64, 1 term school of hard knocks, 4 terms pirate. Eve was born on Asim and joined a pirate crew a few years after Asim was conquered by Drinax. She became second in command on a pirate vessel in the region and came into contact with Drinax and Oleb a few times. Oleb had planned to give her command of the Harrier but was convinced by Lord Wrax to install her as second in command and “piracy advisor” for Captain Ahbe. Her origin from Asim is a nice political bonus.
Carlos “Scar” Audowecc, B7EB95, 1 term psionic community, 2 terms psion (psi C)/2 terms rogue from the floating palace. He was part of a group of “special kids” trained at the scholar’s tower in secret to become a special weapon for Drinax. Because secrecy might be quite important for a psion Drinax sent him to gain experience in various underworlds to further advance his skills. When the harrier was found he was recalled to support the crew and utilise his skills.
Dalton Vanlith, 66ACF8, 3 terms Navy, 3 terms citizen. Dalton is originally a vespexer who gained the attention of the floating palace early on because of his intelligence and ingenuity. He was allowed to work as an engineer on the floating palace and in the star guard. After a few years of service he wanted to use his skills to improve life on the surface of Drinax and lead several projects to create liveable space on the hostile surface – even though he was more than once invited to work in the scholar’s tower. He was placed on the harrier’s crew for two reasons: First of all his skills as an engineer and secondly for political reasons – the vespexers are a part of the kingdom of Drinax and should be part of its restoration.
Lieutenant Colonel Ronio Sonels, 669699, 1 term military academy (graduated with honors), 5 terms Marine. Ronio is another veteran of the conquest of Asim where he was stationed several times during his career. He is a loyal subject of Drinax and has proven this time after time. His skills and loyalty brought Princess Rao to him. On one hand Ronio is supposed to coordinate boarding actions and other military actions on the ground. On the other hand he is part of the command crew to keep the ambitions of all participants in check and report to Rao directly. Will Captain Ahbes ambition result in a plot to move against the throne? Is the pirate trustworthy or will she try to steal the ship? Is the psion able to control himself or is he a liability to the thrones plans? And will the vespexer do his part or revert back to his tribal behaviour?
The first session of the campaign started at the floating palace. The players and their characters already had a vague idea of what to expect as they entered the throne room. Oleb was mainly explaining his great (and bold) scheme to them and what he expected of them if they were willing to accept. The PCs were compliant and accepted his conditions without a lot of discussion. At the end princess Rao joined her father and pretended to be the obedient daughter. Oleb dismissed the PCs and told Rao to show them the harrier.
Rao escorted them to a safe briefing room near the royal docks and started to “adjust” some of Olebs statements so the PCs would not start their adventure guns blazing and getting killed in a heartbeat. She explained a few basics of piracy and that it is of utmost importance to stay low-key and not involve Drinax officially in piracy. Rao suggested the NPCs to test the harrier and piracy in a nearby system.
The PCs listened carefully to Rao and accepted her suggestion. After Rao left the crew discussed her role in the whole scheme. Was Rao testing the group by giving them different instructions? Is this the start of her own plot to take matters into her own hands? Or was she just trying to adjust the more bold ideas of her father? For now, they decided, it wouldn’t matter. They made final adjustments to the ship by spending their structural and technical RU from their ship shares. They increase the maximum hull points to 91/100, repaired the manoeuver & jump drive and brought maintenance costs back to normal.
Finally the harrier was ready to move. Captain Ahbe started with a motivational speech at the bridge as they were moving to the jump point. Their endeavour would require obedience in critical situations – the chain of command (meaning: Him telling the others what to do) would be vital for this mission. Nonetheless he was aware of their unique skills and the importance of suggestions. He would consider all of them but the moment he decided he would need their compliance. All of them being experienced space farers resulted in total agreement.
Their first test, Captain Ahbe decided, would be to look for easy targets in Torpol or Clarke. They first jumped to Clarks gas giant to look out for targets and possibly a cheap refuel. After refuelling they detected a subsidised merchant that had just started skimming for fuel. Playing it safe (and not yet fully understanding the strength of the harrier) Captain Ahbe decided not to approach and to jump to Clarke instead. Reaching Clarke the crew detected a far trader that had just departed from the surface and was heading for the jump point. Captain Ahbe decided to simulate a ship that had just emerged from a misjump. His plan was to get the far trader to dock with them so his crew could loot the ship. They utilised their holographic hull and let Dalton do his magic to simulate damaged drives and comms (only short range communication).
The moment the far trader was close enough Ahbe sent out a distress signal that was promptly answered. He asked for immediate support to contain the damage on the ship. Being elusive and rolling a double one Ahbe could not convince the free trader to cooperate – instead the free trader told them he had just informed Clarke highport to send help ASAP as he was not able to support the damaged ship. Angered by the free traders behaviour Captain Ahbe ordered the immediate jamming of the free comms, a warning shot and demanded surrender of the whole cargo. The free trader, knowing highport was already informed (and rolling high on morale), bargained for some of his cargo and jettisoned 40 tons (of his full cargo hold) of uncommon ore.
The PCs now learned a few things: a) The harrier only has a cargo hold of 31.7 tons, b) it takes quite a while to pick up uncommon ore from space and c) time is of the essence, especially if highport is already sending someone and there was already pirate activity recently (the group didn’t know of that). Nonetheless: Speeding up the process as much as they dared the group was able to pick up 30 tons of uncommon ore before the system defence boat was close enough to target them. As the defence boat fired its first missile salvo the harrier initiated its jump drive and escaped to safety.
The role playing part was and still is a bit hard for them. Even though I told them just to play and not to think about “being perfectly in-universe” they have their problems with it. It will work out and if there should be any real problem in-world I would tell them. It is getting better but it will still take some time.
Comments, suggestions and ideas are always welcome.
The group consists of:
Captain Janos Ahbe, 3879CF, 1 term university, 1 term Marines, 5 terms Navy from the floating palace. Ahbe is the son of an influential noble house on the floating palace and started university to become a member of the star guard. The attack on Asim changed those plans as he was drafted into the Marines to support the attack. The young veteran was permitted into the star guard afterwards and boosted his influence in Drinax with his successful career. Lord Wrax convinced King Oleb to give Ahbe Command of the Harrier – to minimise the danger of this crazy endeavour. Did I mention he earned quite some titles in his career?
Eve Brooks, 7CCA64, 1 term school of hard knocks, 4 terms pirate. Eve was born on Asim and joined a pirate crew a few years after Asim was conquered by Drinax. She became second in command on a pirate vessel in the region and came into contact with Drinax and Oleb a few times. Oleb had planned to give her command of the Harrier but was convinced by Lord Wrax to install her as second in command and “piracy advisor” for Captain Ahbe. Her origin from Asim is a nice political bonus.
Carlos “Scar” Audowecc, B7EB95, 1 term psionic community, 2 terms psion (psi C)/2 terms rogue from the floating palace. He was part of a group of “special kids” trained at the scholar’s tower in secret to become a special weapon for Drinax. Because secrecy might be quite important for a psion Drinax sent him to gain experience in various underworlds to further advance his skills. When the harrier was found he was recalled to support the crew and utilise his skills.
Dalton Vanlith, 66ACF8, 3 terms Navy, 3 terms citizen. Dalton is originally a vespexer who gained the attention of the floating palace early on because of his intelligence and ingenuity. He was allowed to work as an engineer on the floating palace and in the star guard. After a few years of service he wanted to use his skills to improve life on the surface of Drinax and lead several projects to create liveable space on the hostile surface – even though he was more than once invited to work in the scholar’s tower. He was placed on the harrier’s crew for two reasons: First of all his skills as an engineer and secondly for political reasons – the vespexers are a part of the kingdom of Drinax and should be part of its restoration.
Lieutenant Colonel Ronio Sonels, 669699, 1 term military academy (graduated with honors), 5 terms Marine. Ronio is another veteran of the conquest of Asim where he was stationed several times during his career. He is a loyal subject of Drinax and has proven this time after time. His skills and loyalty brought Princess Rao to him. On one hand Ronio is supposed to coordinate boarding actions and other military actions on the ground. On the other hand he is part of the command crew to keep the ambitions of all participants in check and report to Rao directly. Will Captain Ahbes ambition result in a plot to move against the throne? Is the pirate trustworthy or will she try to steal the ship? Is the psion able to control himself or is he a liability to the thrones plans? And will the vespexer do his part or revert back to his tribal behaviour?
The first session of the campaign started at the floating palace. The players and their characters already had a vague idea of what to expect as they entered the throne room. Oleb was mainly explaining his great (and bold) scheme to them and what he expected of them if they were willing to accept. The PCs were compliant and accepted his conditions without a lot of discussion. At the end princess Rao joined her father and pretended to be the obedient daughter. Oleb dismissed the PCs and told Rao to show them the harrier.
Rao escorted them to a safe briefing room near the royal docks and started to “adjust” some of Olebs statements so the PCs would not start their adventure guns blazing and getting killed in a heartbeat. She explained a few basics of piracy and that it is of utmost importance to stay low-key and not involve Drinax officially in piracy. Rao suggested the NPCs to test the harrier and piracy in a nearby system.
The PCs listened carefully to Rao and accepted her suggestion. After Rao left the crew discussed her role in the whole scheme. Was Rao testing the group by giving them different instructions? Is this the start of her own plot to take matters into her own hands? Or was she just trying to adjust the more bold ideas of her father? For now, they decided, it wouldn’t matter. They made final adjustments to the ship by spending their structural and technical RU from their ship shares. They increase the maximum hull points to 91/100, repaired the manoeuver & jump drive and brought maintenance costs back to normal.
Finally the harrier was ready to move. Captain Ahbe started with a motivational speech at the bridge as they were moving to the jump point. Their endeavour would require obedience in critical situations – the chain of command (meaning: Him telling the others what to do) would be vital for this mission. Nonetheless he was aware of their unique skills and the importance of suggestions. He would consider all of them but the moment he decided he would need their compliance. All of them being experienced space farers resulted in total agreement.
Their first test, Captain Ahbe decided, would be to look for easy targets in Torpol or Clarke. They first jumped to Clarks gas giant to look out for targets and possibly a cheap refuel. After refuelling they detected a subsidised merchant that had just started skimming for fuel. Playing it safe (and not yet fully understanding the strength of the harrier) Captain Ahbe decided not to approach and to jump to Clarke instead. Reaching Clarke the crew detected a far trader that had just departed from the surface and was heading for the jump point. Captain Ahbe decided to simulate a ship that had just emerged from a misjump. His plan was to get the far trader to dock with them so his crew could loot the ship. They utilised their holographic hull and let Dalton do his magic to simulate damaged drives and comms (only short range communication).
The moment the far trader was close enough Ahbe sent out a distress signal that was promptly answered. He asked for immediate support to contain the damage on the ship. Being elusive and rolling a double one Ahbe could not convince the free trader to cooperate – instead the free trader told them he had just informed Clarke highport to send help ASAP as he was not able to support the damaged ship. Angered by the free traders behaviour Captain Ahbe ordered the immediate jamming of the free comms, a warning shot and demanded surrender of the whole cargo. The free trader, knowing highport was already informed (and rolling high on morale), bargained for some of his cargo and jettisoned 40 tons (of his full cargo hold) of uncommon ore.
The PCs now learned a few things: a) The harrier only has a cargo hold of 31.7 tons, b) it takes quite a while to pick up uncommon ore from space and c) time is of the essence, especially if highport is already sending someone and there was already pirate activity recently (the group didn’t know of that). Nonetheless: Speeding up the process as much as they dared the group was able to pick up 30 tons of uncommon ore before the system defence boat was close enough to target them. As the defence boat fired its first missile salvo the harrier initiated its jump drive and escaped to safety.
The role playing part was and still is a bit hard for them. Even though I told them just to play and not to think about “being perfectly in-universe” they have their problems with it. It will work out and if there should be any real problem in-world I would tell them. It is getting better but it will still take some time.
Comments, suggestions and ideas are always welcome.
paltrysum
Emperor Mongoose
Restarted my Drinax campaign last night after an eight-month hiatus. We had a good start, but the new group (two returning players and one new one) is taking a vastly different tack. They won't be doing the piracy part—Miria Silverhand (from "Honour Among Thieves") will be flying the Harrier and the players will be engaged in diplomatic/intelligence network activities to get other worlds on the side of Drinax. We're going full sandbox and the campaign's adventures will be inserted should the players make their way into the settings of the campaign adventures.
We had already completed "Honour Among Thieves," "Ihatei!," "Treasure Ship," and "Prodigal Outcast." I look forward to seeing how this highly different, player-driven approach will pan out as we continue with the campaign.
We had already completed "Honour Among Thieves," "Ihatei!," "Treasure Ship," and "Prodigal Outcast." I look forward to seeing how this highly different, player-driven approach will pan out as we continue with the campaign.
Old School
Mongoose
Welf: glad to see another campaign get started. I hope the players buy in. Most other systems don’t put quite the effort in shipboard operations as traveller does. Some like it, some don’t.
Advice, in no particular order:
Good luck, and keep the updates coming!
Advice, in no particular order:
- despite the name of the campaign, random piracy gets old, and isn’t actually required at all. Going after the big score is much for interesting and entertaining.
Figure out with your players how much bookkeeping they want to do. This might change over time. We used to keep track of odd freight they picked up to pay the bills, fuel costs, etc. It got in the way of the game, so now we just assume enough incidential freight is carried to cover those costs. It doesn’t take much when you don’t have a mortgage payment.
Psions, especially telepaths, are ridiculously powerful. Reading key NPCs thoughts on a regular basis can be an easy ticket to success. Keeping it from being too easy might be a challenge.
Good luck, and keep the updates coming!
Old School
Mongoose
Glad to see you’re up and running again! We’ve had a few sessions, but not enough. I’m itching to run Ihatei! and Treasure of Sindal. I think my group is done with piracy as well, although Oleb will have something to say about that. Of course, taking ships from anyone who chooses to oppose the Heroes of Drinax isn’t really piracy, is it? Seems like outsourcing the actual piracy is a trend.paltrysum said:
paltrysum
Emperor Mongoose
Old School, I liked your comment that it gets old. It does. Piracy is fun one or two times and then gets kind of rote. Plus, the Harrier is just too damned powerful to make it interesting. It's a ridiculously powerful ship and I'm kind of glad it's not being featured in my campaign right now. The group is currently flying in an aged and quirky safari ship that a noble in the group acquired as a mustering out benefit. That said, I look forward to "Treasure of Sindal" and the little discovery at the end. Could be that they graduate to a fancier ship at that point.
I'm running the game as a sandbox, but I do hope to include the remaining adventures in Pirates Book 1 and some of the add-on adventures, with "Revolution on Acrid" and "Liberty Port" being personal favorites. I also hope to be pretty subtle about it when they step into a published adventure. I want the whole thing to feel improvised, so I have to avoid conveying excitement when they wander into "published territory" or visibly grabbing one of the books. We run most of our sessions over Zoom, so I think I can pull it off. Of course, after diving in, they're bound to recognize that some of the stories have more depth and are hence, published; but by then they'll be all the way into the story if all goes well. :twisted:
I'm running the game as a sandbox, but I do hope to include the remaining adventures in Pirates Book 1 and some of the add-on adventures, with "Revolution on Acrid" and "Liberty Port" being personal favorites. I also hope to be pretty subtle about it when they step into a published adventure. I want the whole thing to feel improvised, so I have to avoid conveying excitement when they wander into "published territory" or visibly grabbing one of the books. We run most of our sessions over Zoom, so I think I can pull it off. Of course, after diving in, they're bound to recognize that some of the stories have more depth and are hence, published; but by then they'll be all the way into the story if all goes well. :twisted:
I saw earlier in this thread a breakdown of the Pre-Fall Sindalian Empire fleet, but I'm wondering if anyone has created a list of remaining ships used for Drinax' Star Guard at the beginning of the campaign. Book 2 says it's a handful of ships ranging from 100-ton scouts to max 400-ton ships...anyone have a notion of how many and what other types Lord Wrax would be leading?
Sorry if I missed this somewhere in the previous 24 pages of the thread.
Sorry if I missed this somewhere in the previous 24 pages of the thread.
Old School
Mongoose
I believe it says somewhere they they have nothing over 100 or 200 tons that is jump capable. I haven’t worried about it. They get whatever ships the plot needs them to have, and no more.
Ursus Maior
Banded Mongoose
The only jump-capable ships are their 100 dton scouts, or more precisely their scouts, which I read - in combination with the maximum displacement of Drinaxian ships to be 400 dtons - to be 100 dton scouts. For my campaign I invented the Star Guard as follows:
Bottom line: I took the 'handful' very literally, when it came to real starships, gave some leeway regarding small craft and created means to make the players do what his royal highness wants them to do. Might turn out to be a one trick pony though...
- Highly Esteemed Squadron of the Left Wing: Contains all non-jump-capable system defence boats, namely a modified 400 dton System Defence Boat and two 200 dton System Defence Boats. The squadron is commanded by Star Guards 2IC.
- Glorious Squadron of the Right Wing: Contains all jump-capable scouts, three to be precise, and is directly commanded by Lord Wrax.
- Star Guard Small Craft Wing: This unit administers all small craft of the active forces, from fighters to cutters or shuttles. If it's less than 100 dtons, the Wing Commander is responsible somehow. Of course, many of these 'boats' are on detachment duty, e. g. part of a ship's fighting complement.
- Star Guard Reserve: The reserve is a somewhat ominous name for what the Star Guards fancies it's 'shadow force'. Every ship owned by a citizen of Drinax has nominally to be included in the reserve fleet roster an can be mustered by the king in times of need. For my campaign, that's just a fancy way to say that there is a law to make sure the king can claim everything as his. It also makes sense for such a law to exist, given that Drinax was battered into oblivion by a superior Aslan force once already and the king would make sure to have means to prevent that from ever happening again. Benefits for the king are thus (but not limited to): direct access to ships he might need, when he needs them. Of course, nothing stops Drinaxian citizens from simply not being in communication distance, when the king demands their ship. On the other hand, Drinaxians who have their ship commandeered might get temporary access to privileges, such as spare parts, repair crews etc. It's all a big give and take in the royal court after all.
Bottom line: I took the 'handful' very literally, when it came to real starships, gave some leeway regarding small craft and created means to make the players do what his royal highness wants them to do. Might turn out to be a one trick pony though...
