Archive Page 13
July 30th, 2009 by admin
Someone asked me about my Reach for the Sky play-by-post game. In particular, they were interested in its origins during the Unification War. I thought it would make a good opportunity to lay out the concept. If it someday becomes a full-fledged adventure module, all the better.
So, the name. Reach for the Sky has two meanings. First, the old west command to put your hands in the air. Tags into the Western theme in Serenity pretty nicely. Second, flying in the black is presented as the ideal way to maintain your freedom and live true. Using Sky for Space is reinforced by the theme song line “You Can’t Take the Sky From Me”. All in all, I love the phrase as a handle for a series of Serenity adventures I’m writing and running with a play-by-post group.
The original overall concept was a three adventure series.
Adventure 1 is set during the final days of the war. The moon of Harrow, orbiting Hera, is the sight of a months long protracted battle between Alliance and Independent forces. Spacecraft which normally would have established air superiority for the Alliance troops are allocated to Hera proper. Independent forces launch a crazy, surprise attack hoping to crack the Alliance buildup over Hera and win a decisive battle. This touches off the hot war on Hera. An Alliance cruiser is caught off-guard by the small but swift Independent attack fleet. A freak strike cripples the cruiser over Harrow and it begins to break apart. A very large chunk of the cruiser falls quickly to the surface of Harrow.
The impact of the crashed cruiser includes earthquakes, a firestorm, an atmosphere choked with ash and dust… basically a major disaster on the moon. Caught in the middle of the disaster are the player characters. Some were aboard an Alliance prison ship struck by Independent fire and which crashed prior to the disaster. Other PCs are Browncoat troops who survive by sheer luck in the near-impact zone. Other ideas are possible.
The PCs stumble on to one another as they try to escape the disaster zone. One might have water where the other has a compass. In an [i]Enemy Mine[/i] situation, even Browncoats and Purplebellies might need to work together to survive.
Reaching the only town that survived the destruction, they have to find a way to get passage on one of the only ships available, doing long favors for various factions and wrestling with their own loyalties and goals.
Lifting off planet and surviving the danger of ash choking the engines at the wrong moment, the PCs “win” the first adventure. Depending on the ship they chose, they might be dumped back into the military or they might slip away from the battle zone free people, their past lives buried in the ash of Harrow.
Adventure 2 was intended to tell the story of how these people who met and bonded in the disaster of Harrow’s Moon strive to find a home together, a ship they can fly, make money, and stay free. Leveraging old friends, making new contacts, doing jobs to raise money (risky-type jobs for the high return). The end of Adventure 2 would leave the PCs with a ship they obtained by hard work.
Adventure 3 would be their first adventures with their ship. I imagined very ship-oriented challenges including making critical repairs and improvements in their new home.
So the adventure started at the very end of the war, but it doesn’t give a proper model for others who want to set a campaign during the course of the war. Here are my thoughts on that.
A war-time Serenity campaign might take on some of the structure of the Star Wars films (4 through 6). There the Rebel fleet is always outgunned, outmanned, but elusive. The Alliance (a’la the Empire) is hunting them, driving for a real battle which the Browncoats fondly wish to avoid.
Characters could be special ops types, working undercover in Alliance territory. They could be a a military unit on one side or the other. You could use the TV show Band of Brothers as your model for a series of adventures. Look in books about the U.S. Civil War to get ideas about battles and ways the sides struggled against each other (and to maintain that connection Whedon made to the Old West post-Civil War.)
Movement is key, so they could have their own ship, disguised as a merchant vessel that they use to do their Special Operations. Or they could be ‘stationed’ on a larger Independent warship and let that transport them from adventure to adventure (more like Starship Troopers).
I think it would be vital to impress on the players that what they do, what the Independents do, could change the course of the war. There has to be a chance (even a slim one) that the Browncoats will win and the Alliance will sue for piece.
While it would be easy to say that the Alliance would easily have numerical and technological superiority over the Independents, I don’t think that is strictly the case. I think the Alliance has more worlds to defend, merchant convoys to defend, etc. I think they would be stretched thin, unable to quickly marshal overwhelming advantages versus their opponents. The Independent worlds have some manufacturing which could be creating new spaceships, new weapons, and the ammunition needed to fight the war.
As with any game, judge what your players are interested in. You could have spies and political intrigues dominate, or a hard, gripping tale that requires players to develop military tactics to solve most problems. What flavor do people want to get out of the campaign?
Those are my thoughts about my Reach for the Sky campaign and about running a Serenity game during the war. I hope they are helpful and please drop me a comment.
July 21st, 2009 by admin
Time to catch folks up on recent developments here at Dragonlaird Gaming…
- 2009 Origins Award for Best RPG Supplement – I was one of five adventure authors who created the Serenity Adventures book that won the fan voting this year at the Origins Convention. A proud moment for me and the team at Margaret Weis Productions led by Jamie Chambers.
- Gaming the Movies – My movie column in Knights of the Dinner Table magazine by Kenzer & Company is going strong. I just turned in my 12th column (Ghostbusters) and I’m planning my second year of target movies. I’m also going to evaluate some TV shows, probably starting with Burn Notice. Is there a movie you’d like advice on how to run an RPG in that world? A TV series? Tag a comment here and let me know.
- Embracing Technology – In addition to the makeover of my website, I’ve been embracing internet tools in order to include an old friend into my live gaming group. He was one of the founders but has been living out of state for several years. Now through the power of Skype, Maptools, and webcams, it’s almost like having him at the table again, which is a real pleasure.
- 17th Annual Ohio Game – Once again, friends from around Ohio are coming back to Columbus for a one-day tournament game. We’ve been doing this for 16 years now (we did two one year) and it is a great tradition. New players come from groups our members have started in their new locations. Lately we’ve needed two table to handle the number of players. I’m pleased that my son has been playing in the Ohio Games for several years now. This year is a Serenity adventure with a horror twist. Since some of my players are watching my website, I’ll have to wait until August to post my Design Diary on the adventure, as well as the adventure itself. That is, if anyone is interested in getting a free copy. 😉
- The Future – After experiencing Origins again this year, I’m pretty pumped for pushing my game and my freelancing career to new heights, new places. I had conversations with the guys at Savage Worlds at the con as well as played in a thoroughly enjoyable demo game run by Chaos Steve. I’m planning on sending them some work to try to join the team there. Out of Margaret Weis Productions comes Signal Fire Studios, Jamie Chambers’ and Cam Banks’ RPG and Card game creative house. I hope there is more opportunities with their future projects. And there were other contacts made at the con. We’ll see what happens next.
July 20th, 2009 by admin
Fifty miles north of the teeming city of Eavesdown sits the plantation known as Hobbville. Established by Cletus Hobb with special backing of the Governor of Persephone, the plantation lies on two thousand lush acres of farm land. They grow a wide variety of fruits and vegetables to supply the tables of the rich and poor in Eavesdown.
A dedicated rail line runs from Hobbville to Eavesdown. Every night a train rolls south to deliver fresh produce and every morning, it makes its way back to Hobbville. Hobb owns a series of warehouses in Eavesdown at the south end of the rail line as well as a commercial market for selling the produce to restaurants and other buyers.
The population of Hobbville runs around 500 people including Hobb’s personal staff and a cadre of muscle called the Cousins. The rest are little better than indentured workers. The workers are kept in dormitories and not allowed to leave Hobbville until their debts are paid. A small street of company stores does a good job draining their meager pay away.
Adventure Ideas
Cletus Hobb doesn’t allow visitors to Hobbville so word about conditions of the plantation only leak out slowly from the train operators or the warehouse workers. The latest rumor? There is some sort of illness in the town. Cletus Hobb doesn’t admit there is a problem and will turn away any nosy doctors, including those from the Long Reach.
What Cletus isn’t saying, is that the Right Reverend Lawkins from Parson City is trying to muscle in on Hobbville, get the produce heading north to Parson City to be canned and sold to Eavesdown at a big profit. The Right Reverend snuck some of his followers into the workers and they are fomenting some sort of action against Cletus. Where there are two powerful forces against each other, either side might see the advantage of using some ‘independent contractors’ to tip the balance.
July 20th, 2009 by admin
Here’s an expansion of Persephone which I always felt had more potential than just Eavesdown.
Sprawling across the top of a broad mesa and backed up against a breathtaking mountain range, Parson City overlooks the breadbasket of Persephone. In the summer, standing on the edge of the mesa, one can look eastward across a swath of green fields cut by several glistening rivers. Rich farmland producing food which is in turn, brought to Parson City to be frozen, dried, canned, and otherwise prepped for shipment across the ‘Verse.
Parson City, more than most border world settlements, has stuck to its original layout plan, broad circular avenues bisected by roads leading out from the city center like radii. Roads have been laid out past the edge of the settlement through civic vision, plentiful nearby stone quarries, and the need to keep workers busy. The only place where this order and regularity breaks down are the Boneyards south of town. Regular streets end at the edge of the vast field of rusted metal hulks and scraggly vegetation. Parson City continues to grow north and west, but south they’ve left alone… for now.
The biggest figure in the city is its mayor, the Right Reverend Hezekiah Lawkins, leader and Superior of the Parson City Traditionalist Church. With his muttonchop beard, full hair, and easy smile, he often seems more like a snake-oil salesman than a holy man, but there is no arguing that he has Parson City’s health and success dear to his heart. Some say the Right Reverend IS Parson City.
But if one is willing to turn away from the Right Reverend’s brilliance, one can find other important people in the city. There are the Right Women of Parson City, the most devoted zealots and supporters of the Right Reverend. The Right Women exert enough influence to keep the brothels off the main streets and folks lookin’ respectable.
Jack McCollough, Persephone’s own robber baron, owns several food packing plants and many of the necessity stores that serve his workers. Lizzie Proud owns the most profitable mines in the region and loves to stick it to McCollough, her fiercest rival. The Macabies are an odd sort of fraternal club/company of thieves who keep the underworld orderly.
If you look long and hard, you can find dens of debauchery and hives of scum and villainy. They just don’t walk around twirling gold watches on Main Street like in Eavesdown. Some of the most successful enterprises serving the darker needs of society are actually set up inside the Boneyards, inside the rusting, stripped hulks of spaceships. An informal community called Bonetown lies a half mile into the mothball zone and supports a small population of the criminal class who serve more “visitors” than the Right Reverend admits.
Places to stay aren’t too hard to find in the city, though you’d better keep your mouth clean in most of the rooming houses you’ll find. One too many gorrams and you’ll be tossed on the street by somebody’s grandmother. Finding work isn’t too hard either, though it isn’t work many people would be looking for. Working 12 hour days in the cannery or meat-packing plants is exhausting and poorly paying work. But most folks arrive in Parson City having spent their money on the trip, with little chance of leaving again.
Landing a spaceship at the city means either landing at Lawkins Airfield under the watchful eyes of the city government or at one of the company zones around the city. Things are orderly enough in the city that you’d have to go out over twenty-five miles to find unclaimed land big enough and hidden enough to leave a ship.
Adventure Ideas
At the end of the war, the lucrative canned/preserved food contracts that Parson City Foods has with the Alliance were quickly lost. A loss of income that big brings a lot of pain. The powers-that-be in Parson City may set their eyes on Eavesdown, moving in on smaller operations, disrupting current arrangements, using muscle if necessary.
The Right Reverend Lawkins is the face of Parson City, but he has secrets. A special yacht adorned with all the luxuries he claims to eshew? Secret control of Parson City Foods when he professes to be uninterested in material things? He could be the hand behind all manner of dastardly deeds.
July 20th, 2009 by admin
(Originally published on www.dragonlairdgaming.com on August 1st, 2008)
General Description
Gathering the finest minds in the ‘Verse in the areas of botany, zoology, and many other scientific disciplines, the Society is a fraternal organization dedicated to exploring the ‘Verse and its many natural mysteries. They seek to establish the truth of scientific matters by direct observation and experimentation. Members include full-time professional scientists and far more amateur natural philosophers who are prominent in other fields such as politics, the military, or entertainment.
Inspirations
The Society is a ‘learned society’ patterned after the Institut de France and the Royal Society in London. The character of Stephen Maturin from the Aubrey-Maturin series of novels by Patrick O’Brian is a great example character of the Natural Philosopher type.
Common View
“The Society of Natural Philosophers is a bunch of egghead Core folk with too much money and too much time on their hands. Traipsing around the ‘Verse looking at bugs seems like a waste of time. But heck, if they want to hire my ship to take them there, I’ll take their money.” – Captain Donnell, the [i]Glorious Swan[/i], a bar on Boros.
Alliance View
The Society is seen as harmless to those who look for trouble and an honor to those seeking status and rank in society. To be invited to join the society is quite a mark for any scholar be they amateur or professional. The Society Symposium on Londinum each year are a major social event in addition to the revelation of new knowledge as members share papers, findings, and reports of their trips.
Gamemaster View
The Society is a great way to have knowledge-oriented characters connect with each other. Fellow members of the Society usually enjoy sharing a cup or a meal and comparing notes. For enthusiastic members, these meets can last for days or even blossom into plans to travel together.
Adventure Ideas
The Society can influence adventures in many ways. Society members could hire a ship to go to a remote area, bringing the PCs into contact with wildlife or some of the more bizarre fringe settlements. PCs and NPCs can connect as members of the Society, obeying traditions of sharing drink, food, and their latest discoveries and theories. An NPC society member could get himself innocently into trouble with ‘a bad sort of people’ and need the help of our heroes. A PC member enriches their character with an engrossing hobby.
Membership has its Privileges
A member of the Society has the right to visit Society locations in the Core Worlds and utilize their extensive library and collection of natural phenomena. They can contact other Society members to discuss matters of natural philosophy and lean on the general goodwill and aid members provide each other. When visiting a new world or remote area, finding another member probably means a place to stay, good meals, and many hours of discussing the latest discoveries.
More Details
When the worlds of the ‘Verse have been terraformed to Earth-That-Was-like standards, what is there for a natural philosopher to do? Aren’t all the plants and animals already known, tagged and numbered for the journey to these new worlds? Well, yes and no.
Although well-known to the Society, it is not general knowledge that many of the plant seeds and even some of the preserved species from Earth-That-Was were not well catalogued. One ark-ship lost many of its records even though the sophisticated replication equipment still had enough to regenerate species. The original colony worlds of Londinum and Sihnon had existing, human-compatible ecosystems with their own flora and fauna. A few hundred years of cross-breeding and natural hybridization combined with uncontrolled import/export of plants and animals and the migrations of humanity have created a ‘Verse rich with species in many kingdoms unknown to man.
The central location for the Society is the Society College on Londinum. This ornate and extensive campus contains the Society Collection, the Library, several lecture auditoriums, offices, apartments for rent by Society Members, and a well-funded Emeritus Wing for retired and ailing members.
July 20th, 2009 by admin
(Originally published on www.dragonlairdgaming.com on July 29, 2008)
This suggestion provides an enhancement or twist to the Long Reach organization I posted earlier. Read that post first and then this one.
Common View
There is currently no common view of the Zodiacal Light. They are a very secret organization.
Alliance View
Dedicated members of the Alliance intelligence community are trying to put together the puzzle pieces of a diverse set of events, places where the Light has acted through focused destruction, media leaks, and even assassination. Honest Alliance agents believe that they are hunting a terrorist organization, likely Browncoat-related. They are not public about their search.
Gamemaster View
A variation on the Long Reach organization that I’ve chosen to incorporate into my own personal Serenity pbp campaign is the Zodiacal Light. Essentially, a small group of Long Reach members got together and agreed to form a secret society within the LR. Their intent is to act against the Alliance to prevent the sort of tragedies that the Long Reach typically has to address after they’ve occurred.
The Zodiacal Light was formed by a man known to the others only as Excalibur. He has protected his identity fairly well, although the Long Reach only has around 100 members, so some educated guessing might correctly identify him. His vision is for the ZL to be the hidden shield that protects the people of the Border and Rim worlds from the atrocities and neglect of the Alliance government and corporations. It is willing to use any tools at its disposal, but strictly limits itself to preventing tragedies. It will not attempt to overthrow the Alliance government. They will advertise corruption and individual government members who are the cause of the tragedies they strive to prevent, but that’s as far as they go publicly.
Privately, their methods may seem to contradict the code of the Long Reach. They are willing to kill if they deem it the only way to stop harm, injury, or deaths of innocents. Members of the ZL can sabotage Alliance schemes and bring dirty dealing to light, but it requires the sanction of Excalibur himself to kill someone.
No one in the Long Reach knows about the existence of the Zodiacal Light unless they are a member. Membership invitations are not extended until the ZL has absolute confidence they will be accepted. Where LR can be seen as a noble, fraternal organization, the ZL is a dark and secretive cabal, acting where the LR cannot or will not.
Adventure Ideas
Having player characters associated with the Zodiacal Light provides a more driving campaign dynamic than simply having them associated with the Long Reach. The realm of spies, espionage, covert operations, paranoia, and secret wars becomes the main stage. For characters active in the ZL, this doesn’t blend well with a devil-may-care tramp freighter existence, but those who are ‘inactive’ could be compatible. The ZL can always contact them with a job that needs doing. The ZL tolerates long absences from ZL work as it helps to hide the organization and provide cover activities for its members.
Once nice twist would be having Shepherd Book be a member of the Zodiacal Light, perhaps in the past. He might have been a Alliance/ZL double agent. The organization does provide characters with a reason to have accumulated specific military and covert skills outside of direct participation in the War of Unification.
So the ZL can drive a campaign or even be an NPC organization getting the heroes into trouble. It could even be seen as an evil organization depending on the viewpoint of the PCs and thus a running antagonist to them. Let me know if you bring a little Zodiacal Light into your campaign.
Membership Has Its… Burdens
Once invited to join the Zodiacal Light, there is no going back. In fact, there really isn’t a choice to join or not. When you are made aware of its existence, you are a member or you are dead. Joining means that you know, at most, three other members of the group and usually the members try to retain their anonymity even among themselves.
In general members go about their lives until the ZL contacts them. They are given a mission and an explanation about why the mission must be done. That’s about it for the typical circumstance. An inner circle chooses the targets.
If necessary, a member can call on additional members but only in dire circumstances. It is expected that members will use their own resources and allies to accomplish their goals. If more than one ZL member is required, the operation is coordinated by Excalibur and as much separation between operatives as possible is maintained.
July 20th, 2009 by admin
(Originally published on December 20, 2007)
The Pilgrim’s Campaign
This suggestion provides the Gamemaster with a campaign concept that might give them a nice variation on your typical Serenity campaign.
Although the following campaign model originally came to me in terms of a fantasy campaign, I think it can work just as well in a Serenity campaign. The central concept is of a pilgrimage, a journey by people of all sorts of backgrounds across distances to reach a holy shrine or gathering. Sort of Chaucer in Space. Let’s look at the core elements.
- The concept provides the perfect way for all sorts of characters to end up on a ship travelling together. Some might be on the pilgrimage for actual religious convictions, for others it might be a form of tourism, still others are hiding under its peaceful purposes to achieve darker ends or to escape their own misdeeds. So you have a ship taking pilgrims and let the players create whatever they like.
- It gives the adventure focus, whether it is a campaign or a four-hour convention adventure. Getting to the goal location is always the end-game and the GM can lace it with as many fun complications as their heart desires.
- It lets the GM take the players to locations in the ‘Verse they might never otherwise see. The most likely spot would be either Bernadette with its many churches or Sihnon if the goal is Buddhist in nature. Who wouldn’t want to see the “ocean of light”?
So, do the adventures tie some of these pilgrims together by their experiences? Do they travel together after the incidents of the Pilgrimage are over with? That depends on how the characters are created and how their long term goals align. Unless care is taken, it will make much more sense for them to go their separate ways at the end of the adventure. But that isn’t always a bad thing.
You can have the pilgrimage be something that happens year-round, a once-a-year event, or even something more momentous, like a once-in-a-lifetime occurance. Whichever way you decide, I hope you and your players have fun with it.
July 20th, 2009 by admin
(originally published on www.dragonlairdgaming.com on February 12, 2007)
The Dressler Report
This suggestion provides the Gamemaster with a “big secret” of similar scope to “Miranda” to set behind their campaign. It should be laced behind a large arc, a season or two worth.
The exodus from Earth was an achievement on a scale unheard-of in human history. Massive amounts of technology, machinery, and people flew across the heavens to land in a new universe, a star system that promised miraculous possibilities. Planets were settled, terraforming began and in the short time of a few hundred years, dozens of planets were human habitable.
As planets became more difficult to terraform, as the work moves away from the support of the Core Worlds, the effort became more expensive and much slower. There came a point where the drain on the government’s resources became too great and any terraforming efforts now are simply for show.
Most of this is common knowledge to anyone in ‘the know’, business men, senior government officials, masters of the guilds. What is not generally known is contained a highly suppressed document called the Dressler Report. It was written a few years ago by Hiram Dressler, a sharp analyst in a forgotten government bureau. Dressler concluded that the financial base of the ‘Verse, of the mighty Alliance itself was deteriorating quickly and there was no way the government could maintain its size and scope. To attempt to do so would undoubtedly bring everything to a violent economic crash.
The implications of the Dressler Report are staggering. Anyone in government would likely lose power. The markets would crash taking massive amounts of paper wealth with them. A military coup would be inevitable as the ‘Verse descended into chaos and war.
Suppression of the Dressler Report is key to the preventing all these things, to letting people keep their heads stuck in the sand as long as possible. For some, they truly believe that belief in their future will make it come true, that it will overcome the forces of economics and human nature. Perhaps, if they can change the rules of the game… adjust human nature… they can rig the game and avoid the ‘prophecied end’.
Several variations present themselves for introducing this secret into the game.
- What ever happened to Hiram Dressler? Perhaps he’s still on the run, keeping his secret, perhaps even trying to flee it and its consequences. Is the government hunting him? Do they think he’s dead but then during the adventures he gets ‘rediscovered’? He could be sought by enemies of the government as well, willing to bring everything down.
- A copy of the report is stolen with the intent to use it as blackmail against the government. That copy gets lost and eventually comes into the possession of the PCs. Do they know what it means? They should hang on to it, even if its for a completely other or bogus reason. Later, when they learn what it is, they’ll have it to use.
- The report is released somewhere and causes shockwaves across the ‘Verse. The end it predicts starts to come. How you conceive of this playing out is up to you and how drastically you want to affect your version of the ‘Verse. Does the military shatter into independent factions? Is travel and connection to the Core worlds restricted or even cut off with the collapse of the Cortex?
Consider the Dressler Report and how it might bring some of the epic gravity that Joss Whedon introduced with the Miranda plot arc.
July 20th, 2009 by admin
(Originally published on www.dragonlairdgaming.com on October 7, 2006)
In the August 17, 2006 issue of TV Guide (large format), there was an article by Billy Campbell (actor, The 4400) who spent 13 months sailing on a square-rigged tall ship (The Picton Castle) as a crew member. His briefing recounting of what he found fascinating about his time aboard the ship (and why he plans to return to sail with her again) inspired this next contribution to the ‘Verse.
At First Sight…
“When I first set eyes on her, I thought I was looking at a Cortex show on the Earth-that-Was. The Dandy Flyer looks more like ancient sailing ships than a real spacecraft with her long booms, solar sails, and sleek lines. I don’t know how long I peered out that portal of the Jazonah Skyplex before I decided to see what she was about. I latched on to an enthusiastic crew member and soon was getting the grounders’ tour of the ship. Kinyeta, the First Mate, told me later he saw something in my face and he knew I’d be joining them. ‘It’s easy to see who hears the song,’ is how he put it.
“The Dandy Flyer was a relic of the great expansions from Sinhon and Londinum, when people were trying all sorts of ways to make travel to the other planets cheaper and easier. There used to be hundreds of her type but she’s one of the few left that doesn’t hang in a museum. When she was built, pulse drives weren’t being built for civilian vessels so she had to make do with reaction drives and an elaborate and elegant set of solar sails. Where a ship today takes an engineer or two to keep the pulse drive running smoothly, the Flyer needed a crew of forty to sail her effectively. And that’s forty experienced zero-g crew, able to spend hours in the black tending the sails, then come inside and keep working, repairing one of the delicate microfiber sheets, fabricating a new part for a broken winch, or just maintaining the rest of the ship. These days you crew her because you want to, not because she’ll make anyone rich.”
“You never got lonely on the Flyer. She can haul twice as much cargo as your typical Firefly-class, but the living space isn’t generous. Fully crewed, you hotbunked at times, and hammocks lined single room serving as crew quarters. (Officers had it a bit better). That makes an unusual community these days, but you soon learn the rules. As Captain Campbell put it one night at his mess table, ‘Serenity, hard work, and good cheer make a good shipmate.’ Kinyeta had his own version: keep sharp objects and sharp opinions to yourself, live and let live, do your job.”
“The crew I sailed with were mostly dark-skinned men from the moons of Londinum, those hot-climate settlements where many of the original African settlers drifted to. That said, the face and character of the crew continued to evolve as some left and new hands were always coming on board. It doesn’t take too long before you either were in love with the Flyer or you couldn’t wait to get to a decent pulse-drive ship. I enjoyed meeting so many different people.”
“In my time, I saw more lonely settlements and outposts than I can count. Captain Campbell was devoted to bringing food, medicine, and other supplies to places forgotten by everyone else. Much of his payment was in trade so while you never had much coin in your pocket for shore leave, I’ve never eaten better.
“They’ll never credit a solar sailer with making a fast crossing, though on a long leg, she can certainly get much faster than just reaction drives would be able to get. So, yes, sailing the black is a slow process but you… you hear the quiet of the ‘Verse better. It isn’t a complicated life, once you get your duties down. It’s a nice escape for awhile.
“I sailed with her for three years before I had to make my parting. And I know, if I see her again, I’ll be sailing the black with the Flyer.”
The Dandy Flyer
Still need ship statistics for here. Any fan want to submit stats for the Dandy Flyer?
July 20th, 2009 by admin
(Originally published on www.dragonlairdgaming.com on October 6, 2006)
There is a group in the ‘Verse that changes whole worlds but never gets any screen time. I felt it appropriate to document the ‘world-builders’ in some way and express their role in the current ‘Verse. Enjoy!
The Terraforming Consortium
Before the War, before even the Alliance, when humanity was still trembling from its multi-generational voyage from Earth-That-Was, there was the Terraforming Consortium. Combining the resources of all the major governments, corporations, and groups of people, it was founded to fashion the dozens of worlds into places for humanity to settle. Wealth of a kind almost unimaginable was poured into the endeavor and technological research focused on little else for several decades. Slowly, the TC began to visit more worlds in the Core, making ‘adjustments’ to climate, atmosphere, water, plant life, etc., always striving for more ‘Earth-like’ planets.
In most respects, the TC was amazingly successful. Few ‘blackrocks’, or uninhabitable planetoids, remain from their early failures and they have shaped dozens of worlds in the ‘Verse for mankind. True, some require a hardier folk to want to live on them, but with populations exploding on the Core worlds, the push to settle and seek new lands is inexorable.
These days (circa 2517+), the TC is less of a Colossus across humanity’s consciousness, but a titan slowly being forgotten. They have active projects on only a handful of worlds now and much of their gargantuan machinery has been abandoned on ‘finished’ worlds, or floats in the black unneeded. They no longer recruit scientists from the Universities and few study the science of it any more.
But where the TC is still active, there are good men and women trying to play God. They breed stock of plants and animals of a stunning variety from the DNA Banks from Earth-that-was. They watch newer planets carefully to detect signs of seismic instability or ecological breakdown. And there are still a few rocks within the warmth of the sun that await the breath of life.
A TC Monitoring Outpost
The most likely way characters will encounter the Terraforming Consortium is at one of their Monitoring Outposts. Placed late in the terraforming process, some sit in what are now cities while others lie in the most remote parts of a planet. They interface with TC satellites in a mesh over the planet, watching countless aspects of the world and waiting for it to fall out of required parameters.
Each Outpost is fairly small, usually a block building or small compound to house the scientists who analyze and direct the data gathering as well as a support staff to secure the valuable computers, sensor equipment, and data. These will likely be poorly-paid, non-Alliance guards, though some are devoted to keeping their charges safe.
Adventure Suggestions: While a petty theft attempt on an Outpost might bring heroes in to save them, it’s also likely that someone will pay top dollar to get some of the information the TC collects. The TC only shares a fraction of what it collects with the general public and on poor worlds, the rest would provide significant economic advantages to miners, farmers, etc. For something more cataclysmic, a world might start to go ‘bad’ (earthquakes, disease, blight, foul air, etc.), drawing in the TC into a crisis which can’t help but affect the people on the planet.