Remember the Reaction Roll

Posted on January 20, 2013 by takeonrules

Having hastily perused Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game Rulebook, I remember the Reaction roll, something that I’ve so quickly forgotten from my 3E and 4E days.

The reaction roll is for monsters that aren’t predisposed to attacking the player characters. And with a random component to how each encounter begins then most play-throughs of an adventure will be significantly different. Interesting.

This is very analogous to random encounter tables, but instead of provides a mechanism for the GM to defer a decision regarding monster reactions.

Sidebar

Remember Vincent’s Admonition? (TL;DR – “Roll Dice or Say Yes.”) The admonition is for a GM responding to a player. But sometimes, a GM, without input from players, may not know what to do next. Enter the random encounter, reaction roll, etc.

So I am realizing there is a corollary for this admonition for the GM – “Don’t know what to say or do next? Roll the dice.” I suppose that is what is behind the Mythic Game Master Emulator (a fantastic product in its own right).

Reaction Roll Table

Now back to the Reaction Roll Table from Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game Rulebook.

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Reaction Roll Table (2d6+Charisma modifier)
Roll	Result	Explanation
2 or less	Immediate Attack	The monsters are so offended that they attack immediately.
3-7	Unfavorable	The monsters do not like the player characters, and will attack if they may reasonably do so.
8-11	Favorable	The monsters will consider letting the player characters live if they choose to parley; it does not necessarily mean that the monsters like the player characters.
12 or more	Very favorable	The monsters (or perhaps only the monster leader) do, in fact, like the player characters; this does not mean that the monsters will just hand over their treasure, but it does indicate that they may choose to cooperate with the player characters in mutually beneficial ways.

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These days, when I see 2d6+n I think And when I see 2d6+X, I think its time for a move in Dungeon World. Given that the Charisma modifiers in Basic Fantasy RPG range from -3 to +3, this table could map directly, but would break with the concentric game design.

Dungeon World Move

When you attempt to placate one or more monsters that are waiting for you to make the first move, roll+CHA. On a 10+ they will cooperate with you so long as its mutually beneficial. On a 7-9 they are willing to listen.

Bulldogs! Pre-Release Review

Posted on June 26, 2011 by takeonrules

I was a participant in Brennan Taylor‘s Kickstart Campaign for the Bulldogs! RPG. As I wrote about earlier, I received my pre-release PDF copy of Bulldogs! RPG. Whereas that post was about my initial impressions, this post is a more in-depth review

The table of contents is on a single page, providing a list of the 14 chapters and their related subsections.

Introduction
The Galaxy
FATE Basics
Alien Species
Crew Creation
Aspects
Doing Things
Advancement
Skills
Stunts
Gear
Ships
Running the Game

The Wheat

Aspects Everywhere - As is expected, Aspects are everywhere: Corporations, Systems, Ships, Weapons, Scenes, Campaigns, Adventures, etc. Entities (i.e. aliens, corporations, systems, etc.) in Bulldogs! have a two or three paragraph description followed by three (or so) aspects and possible invokes and compels. Below are the aspects of the Frontier Zone, an area positioned between two rival super powers.

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The Frontier Zone Aspects

Patchwork of Jurisdictions

Invoke: evading pursuit, “We just left Korrell Consortium space.”

Compel: issues with proper legal authorization, “Well, that writ was good two systems over. It’s nothing but words on the screen over here.”

“On this planet, I am the law.”

Invoke: you’re in tight with the locals, “Well, my buddy’s the administrator of this station, so you might want to rethink that.”

Compel: local hopped-up bosses can mess with you, “I don’t give a damn who you work for. Write an appeal to the AFFS if you want.”

Your Rep is all You’ve Got out here

Invoke: your rep is good (or scary), “I heard you were a fair dealer. Let’s talk.”

Compel: you’ve left a trail of infamy, “Aren’t you the guy who shot up the bar on Galvatorix V? My brother lost an eye in that gunfight.”

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Resources - I really like how Bulldogs makes reference to loans. The idea that you are going to slowly payback something that is beyond your financial means is very interesting. It is well established that scruffy looking space scoundrels naturally owe gangsters money.

Minions - There are rules for quickly defining minions, and how a group of minions can work together. The rules are rather elegant, defining a single as Average (+1), Fair (+2), or Good (+3). This reflects their prowess in combat as well as the amount of stress they can take. There are then rules for having minions act together so they can receive additional bonuses. A nice rule for generating a meaningful battle between a group of stormtroopers and a couple of heroes.

Alien Creation – Aliens are comprised of stereotypical aspects and stunts. You needn’t select the stereotypical aspects for your character, but they do provide a mechanical backdrop for playing a character of that species. The stunts further define the uniqueness of your character’s species. Below is the mechanical write-up of the Saldrallans. The suggested aspects and stunts show us what a Saldrallan is all about.

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Typical Saldrallan Aspects

Exothermic

Invoke: you can lie very still and quiet when resting, “Holy crap! I didn’t see that Saldrallan there!”

Compel: you’re sluggish in cold weather, “It must be 10 degrees in here. I think I’ll take a nap.”

Lidless Gaze

Invoke: this can really freak people out, “OK, I’ll tell you! Just stop staring at me.”

Compel: you seem weird and scary, “I don’t want to talk to you. Just go away.”

Ruthless

Invoke: no one can tug your heartstrings, “Damn. I can’t believe you shot him down like that.”

Compel: you’ll cut even friends loose if you need to, “Sorry, there’s no time to wait for you.”

Eefficiency, Expansion, Power

Invoke: you’re relentless in pursuit of what you want, “This is what it takes to succeed.”

Compel: your desire for success can strain your friends, “Again? I’m getting tired of doing all this work.”

Tolerant

Invoke: you can get along with anyone, “I don’t mind his peculiar habits. He has an excellent eye for investigation.”

Compel: you may miss problems that actually demand attention, “Hmm. His gambling wasn’t an issue before.”

Flexible Morality

Invoke: doing bad things just doesn’t bother you, “This may be illegal, but the net gain is quite high.”

Compel: you don’t understand why it’s bad, “I am confused. You didn’t want to sell your vintage discs? The profit was exceptional.”

Saldrallan Species Abilities [–2]

Heat Sense [–1]

Saldrallans have heat organs underneath their eyes that allow them to see in the thermal spectrum. Any scene aspect that restricts vision or other senses must directly block this additional sense, otherwise the Saldrallan can ignore the aspect.

Poison Bite [–2]

Saldrallans possess long fangs that can inject poi- son into an opponent. Once per fight, in addition to any normal damage, a Saldrallan may place an immediate consequence on an opponent (Poisoned, Spreading Weakness, etc.) if Fists is used for the attack. Only the lowest available consequence is used, and you must successfully strike your opponent to use this ability.

Cold Blooded [+1]

Saldrallans require external heat or cooling sources to regulate their body temperature. The GM can compel this attribute as if it were an aspect once per session. If the player wishes to avoid this compel, she must spend two fate points to refuse. Check out the Aspects chapter for more on compels (page 55).

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The Chaff

Guessing Aspects – Standard fare for most Fate games, I prefer aspects to be known but not free-taggable. The idea of guessing that the encounter has the aspect “Shadow-filled” seems a bit odd. Perhaps in play this works a bit better.

Pushing Beyond the Limits - I feel that Diaspora pushed the envelope of the Fate system, whereas Bulldogs! settled within the boundaries of what was already established. Then again, if it ain’t broke…don’t fix it.

Conclusion

Bulldogs! is a very engaging system that builds on the solid foundation of Spirit of the Century and other Fate 3 games. The tone of the game is all about playing a scruffy looking band of scoundrels flying around the galaxy in their hunk of junk. I’m eagerly awaiting my print copy so I can proudly add it to my game shelf.

Diaspora Spacecraft Rules Addendum #1

Posted on April 29, 2011 by takeonrules

The Diaspora Spacecraft Design section provides a list of common stunts. Given the build point system there is plenty of room for more stunts. One of the things I’m curious about is exploring spacecraft stunts that cost zero or less build points.

Another element that is not addressed in the core Diaspora rules is improving existing spacecraft. Included is a section for improving spaceships.

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Additional Stunts for Diaspora Spaceships (Alpha)

Broadband Guidance Jamming: May make EW skill check at -1 as defense against torpedoes. 1 bp.
Expanded Trade Capacity: -1 V-shift, +1 Trade. 0 bp.
Expanded Beams Array: -1 V-shift, +1 Beams. 0 bp.
Expanded Torpedo Array: -1 V-shift, +1 Torpedoes. 0 bp.
Explosive Beams: Beam weapons may attack all ships in a given band. 2 bp.
Explosive Torpedoes: Torpedoes may attack all ships in a given band. 2 bp.
Hardened: Choose one stress track; when choosing consequences to mitigate damage against the chosen track use the following schedule: 2/3/4. 1 bp.
Improved Armor: +1 Frame stress track, +1 Cost, -1 to Maintenance checks. 0 bp. (Not available for Wargaming)
Improved Heat Sinks: +1 Heat stress track, +2 Cost, -1 to Maintenance checks. 0 bp. (Not available for Wargaming)
Improved Computer Systems: +1 Data stress track, +1 Cost, -1 to Maintenance checks. 0 bp. (Not available for Wargaming)
Penetrating Beams: Beams inflict one more point of stress on a successful attack. 1 bp.
Penetrating Torpedoes: Torpedoes inflict one more point of stress on a successful attack. 1 bp.
Penetrating EW: EW inflict one more point of data stress on a successful attack. 1 bp.
Prototype: Choose an aspect, it is free-taggable once per encounter by your opponents. -3 bp.

Proposed Rules for Spacecraft Upgrades (Alpha)

Upgrades must be performed at a space station. An Assets and Engineering check are required to complete the upgrade.

Paying for the upgrade requires an Assets check against a difficulty of base 4 + build point difference + difference in Tech level between ship and system. For example, if the T2 spaceship is at a T1 space station and is going to improve it’s V-Shift from 2 to 3 then the base difficulty is 7 (base 4 + 2 for V-Shift 2 to 3 on a T2 ship + 1 for T2 – T1).

Completing the upgrade requires an Engineering check against the same difficulty as the Assets check, with a base time of one day with (positive or negative) shifts modifying the time to repair by one per shift.

Once an upgrade is complete, replace one of the spaceship’s aspects with an appropriate aspect representing the upgrade. If the spaceship loses the aspect related to the upgrade, the upgrade is lost as well.

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Planning Diaspora: The Precious Few, Session #4

Posted on April 21, 2011 by takeonrules

Taking the excellent advice of the gentlemen that wrote Diaspora, I opted to create a character in the campaign: Billy Sadan, a gun happy former agent of New Florida. This upcoming session, Joe is planning on running the campaign. The crew of the Precious is on the run, and needs to get to New Florida. Who knows, perhaps Billy will try to clear his name; After all William has the keys to do so.

The Diaspora rules lend themselves to this. Unlike other Fate games, which ask that you guess a non-player character’s aspect, Diaspora encourages aspects to be public knowledge and collaboratively created. After all the Game Master knows a character’s aspect, why shouldn’t the player know an opponent’s aspect.

I like the idea of enabling a player’s public knowledge to help drive the character narrative via the Fate point economy. Some of the mystery, and possible “big reveals,” can certainly be more challenging to pull off, but I believe the trade-off is fair. If I want the players to interact with someone diabolical then why not let them tag or compel that aspect; I’m sure they can come up with truly wicked things.

So it is with little reservation that I had the keys of the Diaspora campaign to Joe; After all he created the Vulcan system and William, the ship’s scientist.

I also believe that sitting on the other side of the table, as a player, will help give me some insights into how I can run my next FATE session.

So instead of focusing on this week’s campaign, I’ve thought a bit about the H-series The Bloodstone Pass Saga adventures, and how I might translate that to FATE (either Diaspora or Legends of Anglerre). What follows are two unit’s I created for the Diaspora Platoon Combat. Note: If I were running a Fantasy combat via the Platoon Combat, I’d likely grant each unit an additional stunt, and likely give “magical” units an additional stunt.

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Dwarven Militia

Dwarven Irregulars x6, Dwarven Graybeard x1

Dwarven Irregulars (T-3 Infantry)

Specialist (sink) 3, Hand to Hand 2, Armour 2, Command 1, Observation 1, Direct Fire 1
Morale: OO
Command Range: 1*
Out of Ammo
We know how to use our hammers!
* – Command Range of 1 due to leader’s Battlefield genius.

Dwarven Graybeard (T-3 Infantry leader)

Veteran 3, Command 2, Hand to Hand 2, Armour 1, Signals 1, Specialist (sink) 1
Morale: OOO OOO
Command Range: 1
Battlefield genius: units can be one zone further from the Leader than otherwise allowed.
Out of Ammo
This is the oldest trick in the book.
I’ve seen it all before.

Ogre Headtakers

Ogre Skullcrushers x4, Ogre Chieftan x1

Ogre Skullcrushers (T-3 Infantry)

Armour 3, Hand to Hand 2, Movement 2, Indirect Fire 1, Veteran 1, Command 1
Morale: OOO O
Command Range: 0
The chieftain demands blood!
Out of Ammo

Ogre Chieftan (T-3 Infantry leader)

Command 3, Hand to Hand 2, Armour 2, Indirect Fire 1, Veteran 1, Movement 1
Morale: OOO OO
Command Range: 0
Large-Sized: Platoon may use Hand to Hand skill to attack adjacent zones
Crush the puny weaklings!
Ravage the archers!

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Diaspora: The Precious Few, Session #3

Posted on April 11, 2011 by takeonrules

When we last left the Precious, and her crew, they had just narrowly escaped from amongst other things an aggressive Hobbes Class Heavy Cruiser, slipping away with both a moderate (“hull breach”) and serious consequence (“torn a new one”). The Precious was on the prowl for a space station where they could dock and perform repairs; No small feat for a T3 ship on the run in a T1 system. The Precious crew opted to stop at a T1 station “The Watering Hole” and begin the repairs. I explained that repairs on a T3 ship in a T1 system would require 4 successes to fix the moderate consequence in a week and 8 successes to fix the serous consequence in a week. The rules are vague concerning repairs of serious consequences at a station two or more tech levels apart from the ship, so I extrapolated a bit.

Maintenance and Repair

The Precious docked at “The Watering Hole”, and Timothy made the ships maintenance test: +5 on the role (Trade 2, amplified by brokerage, and +2 for trafficking in illegal cargo) vs. a target of 4 (2 for the two consequences, a 2 for the T3 vs. T1 docking). The crew was paid, and the repairs were started. Fortunately, Mason had a 5 Engineering which meant that an 8 was within his grasp, but Fate would need to be invoked if things were going to be fixed in a timely fashion. The dice came up -2 for the Serious and -2 for the Moderate; So lots of Fate points were burned to keep the repair time to a minimum (Mason was down to 1 Fate point).

Father on board

The crew of Precious went to meet up with “Frying Pan” Pete, the ship’s cook and medic. Before they could get to the galley, Mason spotted his father, Randal Widmore, talking with “Starbase” Sid (the man that was going to pay them for delivering the weapons to the Vulcan rebels). With Mason’s aspect “Indebted to Dad”, he clearly had to shell over their hard earned money. Timothy, the ships broker and accountant, made sure all the transactions were properly recorded and verified.

Randal, owner of numerous exotic resorts and shady establishments, was looking for a steady supply of XX, and would absolve Mason of half of his debt if Mason could hook his “dear old” dad up; XX was the drug that had consumed Timothy’s love; The drug that Martin once trafficked in; The drug which Billy had busted up part of the supply chain. Mason, ever indebted to Dad agreed to set him up with a contact. Randal was also willing to pay Mason and his crew with the Sabre of Cortez, the cultural relic brought from old Earth 20,000 some years ago (They’d later learn that it was stolen from the museum).

Randal offered to bring the Vulcan refugees back to his establishment; Even though they had some mystery infection after eating a nasty batch of space shrimp. If you ask me, this offer was a bit generous for Randal (Aspects: Seedy, Power Hungry).

This was a good role-playing moment, as Timothy and Mason were at odds. Timothy is a good guy caught in a web of trouble. Mason could pay off his debt by diving deeper into the seedy side; William, ever the collector could hardly pass this up.

Death of a pilot

Their return to “The Watering Hole” also brought news of the death of Alfred, Precious’ previous pilot. Alfred had been suffering from a nasty bit of food poisoning likely caused by some bad space shrimp. Talking a bit with “Frying Pan” Pete (Aspects: Sharpened Cutlery, Mumbler) he said that Alfred had passed away 2 days after they first left “The Watering Hole”. Out of respect, Alfred was kept in the station’s galley’s freezer for when the Precious’ crew came to claim him. William eagerly brought the body back to the ship to study; After all he’s a scientist and a collector.

With a bit of Science, Joe (Mason’s player) decided that the Space Shrimp contained an infectious pathogen that was transmitted via ingestion or bodily fluid exchange. And upon close inspection of the ship’s galley, there was another package of space shrimp which had been tampered with.

During this exchange, Mason was compelled to not let the innocent suffer; He was going to have to tell Alfred’s family on New Florida that Alfred was dead. I opted to compel something a bit more than just “in the moment,” figuring that this would give some future direction to the story.

Self inflicted complication

Matt (playing Timothy Heizerman, CSA) had decided to proffer Mason with a Fate point to have a Dynamic Solutions agent on-board the Watering Hole (Mason’s Aspect: Favorite Enemy is Dynamic Solution); Matt wisely realized that Mason having one fate point could be very vulnerable to a hard-move against him. Needless to say, Mason accepted the Fate point and knew his life was going to get all the more complicated.

Through a bit of palm greasing, Mason found out that someone from Dynamic Solutions was on board. Martin, Precious’ pilot and face man, said he’d find out more information about this guy. Martin met the guy in the gym, and they talked. The agent was interested in Precious, and even attempted to compel Martin’s unscrupulous aspect to bring the suitcase on board. Martin declined the compel, but accepted the suitcase. Martin also learned that there was a Dynamic Systems ship hiding in the asteroid.

With a little work from William, it was determined that the suitcase was an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) device, and could be armed remotely, and then detonate 12 hours later. It looked like Dynamic Solutions wanted their stolen ship back. There was some debate on what to do, but William opted to dismantle the device, not wanting to risk a remote trigger.

While Martin and the Dynamic Solutions agent were interacting, Timothy was walking around the station to get various scanners to detect those infected. Matt (Timothy’s player) narrated that Timothy passed by with a bag of sand, some balloons, then shamefully a stack of porno mags, followed by a set of cutlery, and finally the broadsword that Billy wanted. I don’t have the sequence correct, but Matt was highlighting the fact that Timothy knew how to up-trade, much like one paperclip. It was hilarious.

Here comes the sheriff

Randal was set to depart but informed Mason that a couple of Constables were coming in two days to negotiate working with Precious and crew. Precious had some time and redoubled their focus to get the ship space-worthy. As the time wound down, they were in communication with the Constable, but with 20 hours until the Constable would arrive, a distress signal was received: Randal Widmore’s spaceship was being overrun by the dead. Constable Pilo’s ship, the Rattlesnake, responded. There was a quick debate about responding to the distress signal I attempted to compel Mason’s indebted to dad, but he refused. Mason wasn’t about to leave the safety of the station with an unknown enemy in the asteroids and a ship still hobbled. I think I should have doubled down the fate point offering, asking Mason “Are you really really sure?” The rescue mission bought them some time to get the first set of repairs done but they learned two things: that the Vulcan Rebellion that they had supplied was trying to incite war with Exxon, believing that the Vulcan government was too soft on it’s monopolistic hold of slipdrive technology; And the Vulcan Delegation was enroute to negotiate the transfer of Precious to the Vulcan Government.

In the Name of Science

William was going to research a cure for this infectious disease; I set the time at a decade, allowing each shift to reduce the time. William made the roll, and opted to tag Martin’s unscrupulous aspect to reduce the time to a couple of months. Looks like Martin was going to be finding some infected people and helping with some experiments. This was a great tagging of an aspect; The narrative is wonderful, highlighting that Martin will do anything to survive and William is more concerned with getting it right, claiming repeatedly that you can’t rush genus. Joe (William’s player) could’ve tagged other aspects, but opted to let the infection spread a bit more. Plenty of laughs.

Further investigation revealed that “Frying Pan” Pete had likely exposed everyone on the station, as well as those that had visited in the last 18 days, to this virulent strain; After all he had stored the body of Alfred in one of the food freezers, and space being a premium…Well, needless to say, “Frying Pan” Pete wasn’t going to win any hygiene awards.

With Mason knowing that they’d need to head to New Florida, and wanting to stock up and resupply, he wanted the body spaced…

Shooting shrimp in a ship

The rescue mission was in full swing, and the Space Marines were dealing with what turned out to be the animated corpses of the rebels. As William pushed the airlock button, the message went out from the RNM Rattlesnake that exposure to vacuum was what animated the corpses…Alfred’s body drifted momentarily, then started moving back towards Precious. The crew of the Precious dropped into combat, with a hastily sketched out deck design. William had one hatch between him and hard vacuum; Everyone else was one room away in the bridge.

The battle went rather quickly, as Billy jumped in to join William in the elevator shaft while William resealed the airlock. Billy opened the airlock, to engage with the space shrimp zombie host whom screamed in Billy’s face; The Intimidate 4 vs. Resolve 4 resulted in no composure damage for Billy. Billy responded by opening fire with his handgun, and got a modified 8 slug throwing (tagging I love the sound of gunfire) versus the abysmal -1 alertness (-4 on 4DF is brutal). The battle was quick, but the characters were rattled. But these zombies would likely be everywhere!

Had William opted to maneuver to help Billy instead of delaying to see what Billy had done, the zombie would’ve been destroyed. Instead, William free-tagged the two consequences that Billy had generated and blew the creature apart…but not before I offered a compromise, saying that the zombie was rendered inert and the shrimp could be harvested and brought back to the lab. William took the concession, so Precious has some live space shrimp specimens.

I also opted to not give the space shrimp zombie host any Fate points; If I had, it would’ve rerolled the -4 alertness.

cracking the code

When Constable Pilo returned, having rescued only two of the refugee Vulcans, Martin and the Constable began discussing an option for Martin, Precious, and the crew to work with Real New Mexico; After all, the crew was very talented and had created the T3 Precious. Even with a compliment of Space Marines, Real New Mexico was hesitant to press Precious into service; They needed all the skills of the crew and forced conscription was not the way to do this. Mike (Mason’s player) tagged the systems aspect of Hate those Vulcans to seal a deal with the Constable; Precious would fly under Mason’s crew, and Mason would provide technical know-how on the Slipdrive. Constable Pilo said he would need to communicate with his superiors. And that is when William easily hacked their encrypted communication, and had plenty of successes to spare, so I handed the narrative to him, and lo the Constable had been ordered to detain the entire ship by force. So Joe (William’s player) had complicated the story, and William quickly yelled “It’s a trap!” Martin spooled up the engines and they took to flight.

Precious dropped into space combat with a T1 Rattler and a T2 Prototype (cribbed from the Hobbes Class Heavy Cruiser, but with a Cheeky A.I.). And as has become expected, the Cheeky A.I. was causing some grief (I have been pounding this aspect with compels, so much that William is considering rewriting the A.I; In hindsight I should’ve just compelled the serious consequence, after all that is the problem). The R.N.M. Rattler class did not engage in combat instead hoping the T2 Dynamic Solutions prototype would attempt to capture the ship, and the Rattler could then pick up the pieces.

Desperate Maneuvers AND Repairs

With some clever piloting, a navigation maneuver of “Putting the asteroids between us and them”, and a heavy burn; The beleaguered Precious was able to escape the waiting Dynamic Solutions ship and the constable’s R.N.M. Rattlesnake (a T1 Rattler Class Comm Defense Platform). Now they were desperate! The ship still needed repairs, and I had them make a Culture test to find another somewhat friendly station; I set the difficulty to 7, with the idea being the less shifts they got the less safe or the worse the trap would be. Martin tagged the campaigns aspect “Always on the Run!” and Real New Mexico’s “Hive of Scum of Villainy” to make sure to got 7 successes.

So they came upon “Honest Abe’s Station”, a remote gas refinery that could service Precious…for a cost. But Timothy Heizerman, CSA, is always flush with cash (Assets 5), and easily paid the “keep it quiet” cost and chipped in a Fate point to ensure their safety, tagging his “Well Connected” aspect. The ship was fixed, but they need to:

Tell Alfred’s family on New Florida about his demise
Connect Randal Widmore to a XX dealer
Finish the cure for the infectious disease
Get clear of Dynamic Solutions

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Space Shrimp Zombie Host

Intimidate 5, Natural Weapons 4, Alertness 3, MicroG 2, Agility 1
Health: OOO OO
Composure: OOO
Natural Weapons: Harm 1, Range 0-1, Explosive
Natural Armor: Defense 2
Doesn’t Breath
Chittonous husk
Animated corpse
Tireless
Swarming layers

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T1 System Ships of the Exxon Theocracy

Posted on March 25, 2011 by takeonrules

This post includes 3 related spaceships that are part of the Exxon home-system.

T1 Apostle Class Hauler
T1 Benedict Class Assault Carrier
T1 Bishop Class Fighter

The Benedict Class Assault Carrier is a modified version of the old standard Apostle Class Hauler, a long-time staple of the mining operations of Exxon. Even though severely outclassed by the T2 Vulcan spaceships, a Benedict carrier can easily pounce on an enemies miscalculations by launching a swarm of Bishop class fighters.

The Bishop class fighter is always piloted by either religious zealots or those seeking to have the punishment for their transgressions commuted. In either case, only the most capable are given an opportunity to fly a Bishop class.

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T1 Apostle Class Hauler

V-shift 1, Beam 1*, Torpedo 0, EW 0, Trade 3

* Effective level 2 with default crew

Frame OOO
Data OOO
Heat OOO
Civilian

Firewall: base defense 2 against electronic warfare

Faith in the Profit
Huge
Cargo hauler

Hide behind the escort

Steers like a cow

T1 Benedict Class Assault Carrier

V-shift 1, Beam 1*, Torpedo 0, EW 0, Trade 3**

* Effective level 2 with default crew
** Reduced to 0 with 3 fighters
Frame OOO
Data OOO
Heat OOO
Vector Randomizer: base defense 2 against beams
Firewall: base defense 2 against electronic warfare
Point Defense: base defense 2 against torpedoes
Carries Fighters: has upto 3 Bishop Class Fighters

Faith is our copilot
Probably a bad idea
Huge
Swarm of fighters
Sure does look like a cargo hauler

T1 Bishop Class Fighter

V-shift 3, Beam 1*, Torpedo 0, EW 0, Trade 0
* Effective level 2 with default crew
Frame O
Data O
Heat OO

Faith is our copilot

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Pondering a Social Conflict in Diaspora

Posted on March 24, 2011 by takeonrules

Given the backgrounds of the Diaspora Campaign’s characters, I decided that the campaign should have the “Always on the Run!” aspect. In it’s early stages, the characters’ ship is being sought after by Dynamic Solutions. I want there to be a natural progression of the chase; Where are they spotted? How are assets brought to bear for capturing the ship? How quietly is Dynamic Solutions working at reclaiming their ship?

With inspiration from Brad Murray, one of the creators of Diaspora, I was wondering how I might model the long-term chase. There are a two directions that I’m kicking around. The first is pretty much lifting Brad’s Assassination social combat. The second option is representing different entities and their disposition towards the two parties. Namely how the “Vulcan military complex”, “Real New Mexico smugglers”, “Church of the Profit” or other such entities would view the T3 prototype.

The first option, aka assassination, keeps the scope tighter and directly related to the two conflicting parties. The other option, with “pawns” will bring others into the mix rather quickly, and seems, in many ways to run counter to the goal of flying under the radar.

Enter the Dynamic Solutions Reclamation Group; When Dynamic Solutions needs something to go away quietly, they mobilize their Reclamation Group, bringing to bear tremendous wealth, an in-depth knowledge of bureaucracy, and a powerful ability to work from the shadows.

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Dynamic Solutions Reclamation Group

Assets 5, Bureaucracy 4, Stealth 4, (Slug Throwers 3, Composure 3, Culture/Tech 3)
Composure: OOO OO
Wealth: OOO OOO

Bring back our quarry
Friends in all the right places
Indiscriminate use of cash
Lurking in the shadows
Outside the law
Ruthless
Thugs in suits
We don’t exist
We’ve got the appropriate papers
You can’t hide from us

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A Couple of T2 Intended to Traverse Hostile Regions

Posted on March 24, 2011 by takeonrules

As I’ve been thinking about the initial seeds of the campaign, I have pondered how to bring the two logical groups together and get the action going immediately. At this point, I’m not going to divulge what might happen, but I believe it is clear that spaceships will be involved.

Below are two ships deployed by Vulcan:

T2 Kirkegaard Class Armed Courier
T2 Hobbes Class Heavy Cruiser

Given Vulcan’s relatively isolated nature, and the fact their only neighbor really hates them, it seems natural that Vulcan only deploys Military-Grade ships. Both of these ships have the Aspect Stay out of enemy hands; reinforcing the idea that Vulcan seeks to maintain it’s Technological superiority.

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T2 Kirkegaard Class Armed Courier Ship

V-shift 4, Beams 2, Torpedo 0, EW 0, Trade 2
Hull OO
Data OO
Heat OOO OOO
Point Defense: base defense 2 against torpedoes
Firewall: base defense 2 against electronic warfare
Slipdrive: can traverse slipstreams.

The mail must get through
Fragile
Stay out of enemy hands
Desperate burn to escape
Low on r-mass

T2 Hobbes Class Heavy Cruiser

V-shift 3, Beams 3, Torpedo 3, EW 3, Trade 0
Hull OOOO
Data OOO
Heat OOO
Slipdrive: can traverse slipstream
High Capacity Magaizine: Torpedo does not get the automatic “Out of ammo” aspect.

Built to last
Stay out of enemy hands
Loaded with weapons
Standing in the line of fire
Nasty, brutish, and short

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Two T1 Diaspora Spaceships

Posted on March 23, 2011 by takeonrules

On the heels of my previous post concerning a handful of system ships, here are two mainstays of the Real New Mexico fleet.

T1 Rattler Class Comm Defense Platform
T1 Chupacabra Class Interceptor

Each of these ships are system bound, and are a reasonable defense against any Vulcan incursions. Each of these ships of the Real New Mexico navy share the common aspect “Call us Procurement Specialists”; paying homage to Real New Mexico’s “Hive of Scum and Villainy”

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T1 Rattler Class Comm Defense Platform

V-shift 3, Beam 0, Torpedo 0, EW 3, Trade 0
Frame OO
Data OOO
Heat OOO
Vector Randomizer: base defense 2 against beams
Point Defense: base defense 2 against torpedoes

Antenna everywhere
Call us “procurement specialists”

Fragile
This snake has teeth
Making trouble from afar

T1 Chupacabra Class Interceptor

V-shift 3, Beam 1*, Torpedo 1*, EW 1*, Trade 0
* Effective level 2 with default crew
Frame OOO O
Data OOO
Heat OOO O
Boarding party

Call us “procurement specialists”

Out of ammo
Protecting the homeland

We’ve made a few custom modifications

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A Handful of T2 Diaspora Spaceships

Posted on March 21, 2011 by takeonrules

Though I’m still waiting on a few players to fill out the Google Spreadsheet, I’m going ahead with the Diaspora campaign preparation. Below are three of the primary components of the Vulcan navy:

T2 Socrates Class Assault Platform
T2 Plato Class Escort Gunship
T2 Aristotle Class System Defender

Each of these 3 system ships have one aspect in common: Hungry for Spare Parts. The idea being that the home system is somewhat starved for resources, having a Resource -1 in the Diaspora system. Given the opportunity, these ships will work in conjunction to disable a ship and then work to bring the ship back to the home system. Note, the T2 Aristotle Class System Defender is bound to the home system; But poses a tremendous threat to any ship seeking to engage.

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T2 Socrates Class Assault Platform

V-shift 2, Beam 0, Torpedo 3, EW 3, Trade 0
Frame OOO
Data OOO
Heat OOO
Vector Randomizer: base defense 2 against beams.
Point Defense: base defense 2 against torpedoes.
Slipstream drive: can traverse slipstreams.
Attack a different track: Torpedoes attacks damage Heat instead of the Frame.
Confounding Missives
Fragile
Hungry for Spare Parts
Out of ammo
Tactical Mircowave Torpedoes

T2 Plato Class Escort Gunship

V-shift 3, Beam 4, Torpedo 1*, EW 1*, Trade 0
* Effective level 2 with default crew
Frame OOO O
Data OOO
Heat OOO
Overwatch: may use its beam in defense of friendly vessels.
Firewall: base defense 2 against electronic warfare.
Vector Randomizer: base defense 2 against beams.
Slipstream drive: can traverse slipstreams.
Defensive Weaponry
Fragile
Hungry for Spare Parts
Out of Ammo
Boarding Party

T2 Aristotle Class System Defender

V-shift 1, Beam 0, Torpedo 0, EW 4, Trade 0
Frame OOO
Data OOO
Heat OOO
Point Defense System: base defense 2 against torpedoes
Vector Randomizer: base defense 2 against beams
Attack an Additional Track: Electronic warfare attacks damage Data and Heat
Boarding party
Defending the homeland
Hungry for spare parts
Sensitive communication instruments
Overwhelming computer viruses

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