The big Darrian campaign topic

[zero]

So I dont saturate the forum with topics, I'm going to throw all my concerns, questions, ideas and general advances here in this topic.

To start with, I have an important question; I'm wondering about the scale of mercenary missions. This is due to an idea for the game that sees my Special Arm characters eventually caught on a black op in the Sword Worlds. The Darrian Confederation denounces their actions and claims the PCs are acting alone.
Cue the PCs fleeing across Imperial Space, continually watching their back as they venture further through other territories (leaving the 3I into Vargr space), trying to make things right.

After building this awesome 600dton military vessel (many, many MCrs in cost), I figured they would need money for not the mortgage but basics like monthly Life Support, Maintenance when possible and other smaller costs such as berthing and fuel when it comes up.

The game will start with the Confederation footing the bill (mainly because I dislike the accounting since Ive started military Trav gaming), but then the characters will be Exiles and cut off.
With costs being around 40,000 credits w/o Maintenance if they get a bad roll berthing on an A-class Starport that wants 6000 creds with nothing to skim, I wonder what kind of Mercenary ticket pays that much? (btw they can also trade using the ship's cargo bay, but it'll mainly be a Mercenary game)

I dont want to do accounting, so I assume if they succeed in their job they get whatever money is needed. I just wonder if anyone has any info on what kind of jobs Mercenary Tickets give based on pay?

Of course, this is all an excuse to get the characters out of Darrian space and keep the game rolling. I would also wonder if the Darrian's going out and scouting would be a believable and good idea (with the Confederation still footing costs) to forgo all this bother. :roll:

Opinions welcome! :lol:

 

[Liam Devlin]

One easy answer Mssr Zero (if you have the Books Mercenary, Merchant Prince, & Spica Publishings SP1001 Field Manual)

:arrow: They've an armed ship, not a cargo-carrier.

Answer #1: Privateer, (see Merchant Prince for details)

Answer #2: Star Merc Convoy escort ship,
ticket pays % of total cargo value; % paid for success depends on how much of the cargo gets from point/port A to point/port B.

You will of course, put hostile vessels trying to pry the convoy away from them....

:twisted:

 

[zero]

I wouldnt like to go down the privateer route, however a Convoy Escort could be quite the fruitful pay-off

I was also thinking about the Confederation secretly backing the Exile characters - that its all a deliberate act to set them on their lengthy mission (ie, they get deliberately caught by the Sword Worlders - they are then sent on their mission and have caused more than enough damage for the SWs to notice).

But then I have to decide what a mission would be that'll push the Darrian Special Arm characters through the Sword Worlds from their usual black ops into Imperial space, then the Federation of Arden to Zhodani before going to Vargr space (and beyond!)

Of course the whole thing could be a lead-up to a big ol' anti-Zhodani mission that will lead to them fleeing Coreward-Trailing into Vargr space (First Stop = The Anti-Rukh Coalition, potential allies!) once complete!

 

[phavoc]

Are your characters expected to be fighting at all? Assuming that they may, here's how you should break your mercenary ticket down:

1) Base rate covers the cost of operation of your ship + salaries of all members involved
2) There would be an expectation of the hiring company to pay for all munitions expended (missiles aren't cheap if you get into a lengthy running battle), plus repairs. And ground weapons, if it comes to that, can burn through expenses as well.
3) Take #1 (that's your base cost) and then add your profit percentage. If violence is gonna be involved, most professionals don't risk their lives cheaply (unless its for the flag... which this isn't).

So you are most likely looking at expenses + 25% (or more) for profit / wear and tear, etc.

Now, if your group is a team, you can suspend payroll to everyone and just account for minimal expenses of the ship operation, food and fuel. Careful shopping around by the PC's should be able to lower the prices too. And most likely they'll be willing to run in a smelly ship for a little while, but so long as the lifesupport functions (stink you can handle, no O2 is a tad harder).

As for what kind of tickets pay that much, ask yourself will their ship be involved in this or not? Also, where will they be operating? A poor world might be able to offer raw materials that are valuable on a high-tech world, assuming one can transport them there. But locally they aren't worth much.

So you could do potentially a cadre ticket, but for 40kCR/month that's a tough one to do. A corporation might hire them to put down a rebellion by pesky indigenes, or perhaps they have a pesky pirate problem in an asteriod operation and they expect the PC's to hunt down the pirates and eliminate them and their base.

The ship itself could be hired out as a privateer / escort. But with the small size of the crew you can't field your own fighting force. You could, though, take on a janassaries-type gig where your PC's are the hammer to some TL5 army. Still a risk, but anything that stands against your guys would be clobbered.

 

[Liam Devlin]

I wouldnt like to go down the privateer route, however a Convoy Escort could be quite the fruitful pay-off

I was also thinking about the Confederation secretly backing the Exile characters - that its all a deliberate act to set them on their lengthy mission (ie, they get deliberately caught by the Sword Worlders - they are then sent on their mission and have caused more than enough damage for the SWs to notice).

But then I have to decide what a mission would be that'll push the Darrian Special Arm characters through the Sword Worlds from their usual black ops into Imperial space, then the Federation of Arden to Zhodani before going to Vargr space (and beyond!)

Of course the whole thing could be a lead-up to a big ol' anti-Zhodani mission that will lead to them fleeing Coreward-Trailing into Vargr space (First Stop = The Anti-Rukh Coalition, potential allies!) once complete!

Mssr zero,

Fair enough (Privateer vs STar merc Convoy escort).

The reason I ask about Field Manual is twofold: the first is a shameless plug for something I authored with a close friend of mine that goes over *how* the mercenary unit behaves and lives and operates. MgT's Mercenary tells you how to create such a unit. The second is that there is an example of a unit within it that mixes privateering, convoy escorts, groundside cadre, and dirtside whup up on the Sodbusters tinhorn dictators tickets.

ANY star Merc unit is ALWAYS looking 2-3 jobs down the road, because their ship is expensive to keep up (as you pointed out). Now "convoys" for a single player ship might not be bigger than 1-6 civilian vessels.

The ROLEPLAYING your players get to do is negotiating how much of the % of the convoy is theirs, vs the patron who might not be counting say, the starships lugging the freight.

Fuel and any repairs for battle damage OUGHT to be standard in their tickets--IF they don't mention it, the patron doesn't pay it, because its not part of the contract, right?

Have fun! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

 

[zero]

You all make a fair point, but again, I'd like to keep accounting out of it (Its more I'm trying to justify how these Darrians stay afloat rather than make them rich mercs).

I'm planning on taking a "planet-of-the-fortnight" route to my game, where the actual roleplaying is having the characters react to a specific culture (This will play strongly when they meet the Vargr for the first time!), they have an adventure or do an A-Team style mission, then move on.

Them being mercs (if I do go round this road) is only an excuse for them to do things that are exciting, relevant to the planet and culture, then justifiably having the money to berth at the Starport of their next destination, keep the ship in good nick and then have another adventure! :wink:

 

[rust]

You all make a fair point, but again, I'd like to keep accounting out of it ...

Then let someone of the Special Arm back home do the accounting. The
Special Arm pays the characters their regular salaries plus the ship's ex-
penses and transfers the money through covert channels (e.g. a chain of
minor companies) to the characters, and the income from the mercenary
tickets is just a way to cover a small percentage of the actual costs. Sin-
ce the ship will never stay long in any region, outsiders will not be able
to realize that the ship should have gone broke long ago.

As for a reason to send the characters from planet to planet, the usual
one would be the search for an item or, more likely, something mobile
like a person who attempts to run and hide. To involve the Special Arm
in a hunt of that kind the item or person should be rather important for
the Darrians - like someone who has discovered proof that the Star Trig-
ger is just a bluff, and now tries to sell that proof ...

 

[zero]

Excellent idea, rust

The idea of the Special Arm Darrians acting as mercs as a cover is a great idea (seeing as theyre armed to the teeth with high-tech wizardry :lol: ).

Also the ongoing quest is also something I'd like to use, although chasing a nemesis is going to get old when theyve passed through four planets and havent caught them yet

There has to be some kind of other hook, something that would push the Darrians to go faaar out, far enough to the Two Thousand Worlds level of far. To keep pushing, even when theyre going through so many Vargr worlds in Gvurrdon with no end in sight

Perhaps a load of Pre-Maghiz items (possibly a Lost TL 16 ship/fleet was found and scavenged) found their way into a non-Darrian's hands and theyve sold them to various factions, so the Special Arm characters are sent on a long-lasting mission to retrieve the pieces? Theyre spread far out so the Darrians must take the long way round in collecting (meaning not every world has an artifact, but each world travelled gets the crew closer to another piece).

Possibly whilst doing black ops in the Sword Worlds, the characters are alerted to a reported find of the Ship/Fleet around the Zhodani world Ninjar's space.
It gives them the reason to then cross through Imperial space, through the Federation of Arden to the Zhodani Consulate, however upon reaching the co-ordinates, the ship/fleet has been scavenged, leaving the Special Arm to trace where they've been sold!

I like it! Posing as a merc ship, they hunt for their lost over-technology whilst helping those who need it :wink:

If you have a problem, perhaps you can call... The A-Team!

 

[rust]

The idea to let the characters search for some ... displaced ... TL 16 ships
reminds me of something I used in one of my settings, and which could
make a nice red herring for your setting: An ancient Droyne ship of TL 17.

For example, the characters could hear rumours that a single seemingly
unarmed ship of unknown design was attacked by four Vargr corsairs, and
destroyed all four corsairs in a fight which lasted less than half an hour.
The characters would almost certainly think that this was one of the ships
they are searching for, a way to guide them to wherever you want them.
And there will be an interesting surprise if they ever manage to locate the
elusive ship, which is far more powerful than their own ship and manned
by Droyne who do not want that the existence of their ship becomes wide-
ly known - an opportunity to remind the players that their characters are
not the top of the interstellar food chain ...

 

[Rick]

If I were setting up this sort of campaign I would really flesh out an NPC 'handler' for the team - a superior officer who could meet up with them at pre-arranged secret rendezvous in deep space - this could be a way of dropping in replacement PC's if needed and 'nudging' the team back on track if they start going a little astray with timely intelligence reports.

 

[AndrewW]

Also the ongoing quest is also something I'd like to use, although chasing a nemesis is going to get old when theyve passed through four planets and havent caught them yet

It doesn't have to be just one. When they catch him they find out he's been in contact with others. Then it's chasing down the next one in the link, possibly a whole chain of links they have to follow that leads back to some organization. When the eliminate Colonel Decker then they have to go after the general and so on...

 

[Liam Devlin]

A Darrian A-Team... hmmm. Good idea! 8)

Part of the process of your accounting by the "off-stage" (and out of game) can also play into your hands in this manner. The Darrians DO sell a lot of TL-D goods outside their small insterstellar state.

The Darrians have an extremely old and trustworthy banking system, which their merchants can call upon and has offices across the Spinward Marches in many of the Non-Aligned & Imperial Worlds. They of course do crunchy things like money laundering and currency exchanges--wherein if the players get paid in planetary scrip, coin, bullion, etcetera, they can cash it in, and convert it back.

it would, even for a Special Arm Team, very unwise in some locales to be saddled with Darrian credits only for cash-purchases, bribes, and what not.

These banks, their factors, and Brokers to some extent can be the places where your players can drop off the receipts, and meet or receive messages far from home. While not exactly in the class of James Bond's "Universal Exports", you get the idea. Darrian Bankers of course use secured mail handling (that 25Kcr 5 dt idea) that the Imperium uses, so a lot of the messages from the player's NPC Handler can come along and get pased down to them via these innocuous bank statements when they stop off and get "pay-updates".


You can of course make this a lot of fun and very colorful, ala the Bond movies as to *where* these bank offices and branches are at (Given the fluid politics of the region, some might not wish to be "in plain sight anymore", lying too close to the Zhodani, or one of their Client State worlds for example, or in the worse case, a world which has become a Zhodani Client State well after they had been established there.

YMMV

 

[zero]

I love the Darrian Bank front idea, very nice and plays into that whole espionage feel thats going on in the background

The "25kCr in 5dtons"... is that literally that the banks hand over 25,000 credits, fitting 5dtons?

The banks being placed strangely on different worlds is a nice touch too, I will def. be using it in the games before the chase brings them to the Vargr Extents.

Then I figure they can send a message to their handler(s) that they'll be at a certain starport in so many weeks and for any message to be sent there.
Of course soon the messaging will get more and more delayed as they venture further to The Two Thousand Planets, which adds a new facet to the games

The droyne ship is also a great idea, I'll surely save that for a future game.
Atm I see it that some Vargr corsairs made the salvage from Zhodani space, so thats why the Darrians go to the Vargr Extents after the brief trek to the Zhodani Consulate. Upon finding out the ship pieces have been sold on, thats what puts the characters on their long long quest to retreive the over-tech

 

[Liam Devlin]

I love the Darrian Bank front idea, very nice and plays into that whole espionage feel thats going on in the background

Thank you sir!

The "25kCr in 5dtons"... is that literally that the banks hand over 25,000 credits, fitting 5dtons?

No, this refers to the Imperial mail packet many Merchants vie for, providing whether they get any or not, that they keep 5dt of cargo reserved for mail. It earns them a steady +25Kcr a jump. Come to think of it, :shock: your players could be couriers themselves, and this 25Kcr could go towards their monthly 40Kcr expenses... :wink: :?: Or, is their "slush" fund to convert into local currencies...

The banks being placed strangely on different worlds is a nice touch too, I will def. be using it in the games before the chase brings them to the Vargr Extents.

Then I figure they can send a message to their handler(s) that they'll be at a certain starport in so many weeks and for any message to be sent there.
Of course soon the messaging will get more and more delayed as they venture further to The Two Thousand Planets, which adds a new facet to the games

Well, Darrian merchants do possess J-3 drives more commonly than Imperial merchies do. I would imagine they convoy in 2-7 vessel groups from time to time running to any Vargr extant client worlds...safety in numbers & when in the Vargr Extants, act like a pack, of course! :wink:


Glad to be of service again!

 

[BFalcon]

I like the Broken Arrow/Black Hawk Down idea - a "Star Trigger" carrying ship misjumps while moving along the border and is now stranded in a neutral or (worse) hostile-minded system. Luckily it is stealth-coated, so although the rival powers' agents in the system know that it is in-system from the transmissions they intercepted, but nobody knows precisely where in the system they are. No suitable ships are available, so top-priority mail is sent out through diplomatic channels to each of the powers to alert their superiors.

The players are enlisted, being the only nearby ship with the proper clearance to handle the situation. Unfortunately, so are other powers' scouts and naval ships that happen to be nearby...

A race ensues between all available ships nearby to get to the system and find out what is going on...

 

[Liam Devlin]

Since you possess Aliens: Darians, the best guess for you as a GM/Ref is placing the Darrian Banks. Based on the History time line, and other data within, I would say these banks exist in a 20-parsec diameter around the Darrian Confederation.... maybe some newer branches further out to the Extants, but along a trade route to a particular Vargr State???

 

[rust]

And if there is no Darrian bank on a planet, you can be sure there is a
local representative of the Happy Fish Company, which specializes in
exotic fish and their equally exotic food, and buys them on water worlds
to sell them as aquarium fish on all other worlds, even desert worlds.
The company has only one or two representatives on each planet, but it
has an excellent communications and transport network, necessary be-
cause it trades in high value exotic live animals for the wealthy and bo-
red.

A cover for a Darrian intelligence network ? - Never, just some people
who get rich through a weird hobby of others.

On the other hand, who would x-ray a live Poisonous Spitting Terrorfish
from Killyouall IV to see what it has in one of its four stomachs ... or un-
derstands enough of marine xenobiology to recognize the beast as a Red
Sleepy Dreamer from Harmless Alpha ...

 

[zero]

There wouldnt be any Darrian banks in The Vargr Extents, they didnt really get out that far, although the Federation of Arden may have a branch or two.

Of course, like rust said, further out may be a branch of a Darrian trade business :wink:

Also thanks for reminding me about the mail courier 5dtons, completely forgot about that :lol:

@ BFalcon, nice idea for a game!
After finding out that the Star Trigger is a 50m ball, it'd need a Capital Ship (in canon demilitarised) to carry one. I almost had my players as some officers on such a Capital Ship, but its better to have such a ship as a "main base" or mission target.

 

[zero]

I have a new question.

In character generation, one has got the Event from the Special Arm that they gain an experimental augment (as Darrians dont usually use augments, this has become a big thing) up to TL 16. The character now has a TL 13 neurojack (which reads like a GITS: SAC Cyberbrain).

Now buying gear, they can see the Translator Rating 0 software, and thinking it would be useful, wants to buy it for their neurojack to use.

For those in the know, excluding the Darrian language and the common Ganglic, what are the various races own languages if they have any (I know Hivers need translating at least - what about Zhos, Vargr, Aslan and Kkree?) and how many main translators would the character need?

They want to be prepared for any non Ganglic-speaking race (at most Zho, Vargr, Aslan, Kkree, Hiver) and so I need a bit of help saying which languages theyd need.

Also to save cash, would a language database, at 10 creds per added language be a good idea?

Thanks in advance :wink:

 

[GypsyComet]

If they ignore the really minor races of the Consulate, Zdetl would be enough.

The majority of the Vargr behind the Claw speak Gvegh, though at least one other Vargr language becomes more common as you get closer to Windhorn and Lair.

The Aslan language is variegated along gender lines, but a good translater will handle that, so Trokh is a single option.

Also to rimward would be some variant of Oynprith, and whatever the Floriani speak.

There is also the lingua blondica of the Sword Worlds.