Ergonomic Cat
17th of June, 2011, 09:41
Some folks may remember me, most probably don't. I was around, in some games, running a game, and things got complicated locally (job, kids, etc) and I was forced to flee the realm.
Well, stuff is mostly settled down. And I'm back with an urge. First urge is to run one game, and play one game, max. The other urge is likely more of interest to y'all:
I want to run a Firefly/Serenity game.
Parameters:
Set concurrent to the series, prior to the events in Serenity. I don't plan for this to be a game of people interacting with the crew of Serenity or the like, simply existing in the same universe. Lesser figures (Badger, Fanty and Mingo, Prudence) could make an appearance as contacts or plot points, but that's the likely extent of it.
Ruleset would be D20 Modern, with a smattering of D20 Wild West and D20 Future (Future will be restricted to Core World/Alliance folks, or people with access to same). d20 rules are available here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/msrd) if you don't have them. Characters would start at 4th level, which gives the potential to have one level in their first advanced class if so desired. I'm open to pieces from Star Wars d20 that fit, or really anything else that isn't out of theme.
I have no set agenda for the game beyond "everyone is a member of the same ship." Crew, passengers, mercs, whatever. Alliance supporters, Browncoats, true independents, undecideds, whatever.
Background bits:
There must be a ship. One player may take the feat "Captain" which grants a basic ship, as well as a bonus to one of a number of skills of the player's choice. If so, that player is the captain, and the ship is his or hers. If no one wants to be the captain, then I can make an NPC captain. Every player would submit a list of 4 traits, at least one of which must be negative, and I'll assemble a captain out of them. If someone wants to be the captain, but doesn't want to spend the feat, I'll give you a ship, but with a gotcha. For our local campaign, that's what I did - we ended up taking possession of a ship first game when the owner died, and the crew fled. Later, we learned that the ship was carrying about 50,000 credits worth of illegal drugs, for which the prior owner had already been paid to deliver, and that the Alliance was tracking the ship as a drug runner. We quickly became beholden to a crime lord for a time. Clearly that wouldn't be the case this game, but something of that magnitude is what you should expect.
Character creation caveats:
Everyone must have a character flaw. It can be a minor one (drinks too much) or a huge one (strange code of honor, still fighting the War, completely nuts). Minor flaws may get you a couple of additional bad karmas later in the game. Average ones are average. Spectacular ones (in scope or design) can net you extra skills, professions, or even feat(s).
I'd like interesting characters. I know not everyone can be clever on demand, but given that this is play by post, you have a bit more time to try. http://swordandshieldgaming.com/forums/Smileys/default/wink.gif Ideally, I'd like to see times where the PCs interact for a full page or two without my involvement. And to me, one of the most interesting bits of a character is their weakness, and how the accomodate it.
I'm open to home brew stuff. As an example, here's one I'm considering using for the game:
Devil's Own:
Gain one additional action point each time action points are gained. Additionally, when spending an action point, the character has a 33% (1-2 on a d6) chance to retain that action point and still gain the benefits. For each time this occurs, the character will experience a piece of bad luck at some future time.
Examples of bad luck include learning that the ship they just scavenged was an Alliance honeypot, being subject to a random search in port, finding another crew is also working their job, learning that the doctor you brought on board has his sister in cryofreeze, etc.
I'm also considering this:
Combat will take place on the boards, but will use a modified resolution system - for any non-critical combat, after 4 full rounds, I will calculate average damage using an algorithm created for this purpose (not by me, by someone who's spent much more time on it), and let you know the results (combat lasts for 5 more rounds, Mal takes 15 points of damage, Zoe takes 11, Wash takes 3).
Scales of War uses a similar mechanic (and I've blatantly stolen the idea), and it seems to work well. It's not made for d20 modern, but I think it's adjustable. Also, I don't expect the game to be severely combat focused, unless everyone is interested in that. And if everyone wants that, there are probably better systems than d20 Modern for space faring badasses (like, say, 40k).
Given that I'm not planning to shape the initial part of the story, I don't have a lot of pretty intro stuff, or clever hooks. I'm hoping to gauge interest, and help the players work out who they are, why they're together, and what's come before. The nice thing about a game of this sort is that it can support a few players, or a mess, with NPCs taking up the slack. If I have three PCs, I can write 6-7 NPCs. If I get 8 PCs, then they'll be the crew in its entirety.
Also, I promise not to have to flee this time.
So, anyone out there itchin' to run the Black? Got an Alliance lawman creepin' around your doings, makin' you a mite twitchy? Lookin' ta make some hard coin without some go tsao de enforcer taking his cut? Find yourself staring up at the sky thinkin' that there's gotta be something else out there besides this gorram hunk of brown and slightly-less brown you're scratching away at? Then roll up your sleeves, strap on some iron, and step aboard.
Well, stuff is mostly settled down. And I'm back with an urge. First urge is to run one game, and play one game, max. The other urge is likely more of interest to y'all:
I want to run a Firefly/Serenity game.
Parameters:
Set concurrent to the series, prior to the events in Serenity. I don't plan for this to be a game of people interacting with the crew of Serenity or the like, simply existing in the same universe. Lesser figures (Badger, Fanty and Mingo, Prudence) could make an appearance as contacts or plot points, but that's the likely extent of it.
Ruleset would be D20 Modern, with a smattering of D20 Wild West and D20 Future (Future will be restricted to Core World/Alliance folks, or people with access to same). d20 rules are available here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/msrd) if you don't have them. Characters would start at 4th level, which gives the potential to have one level in their first advanced class if so desired. I'm open to pieces from Star Wars d20 that fit, or really anything else that isn't out of theme.
I have no set agenda for the game beyond "everyone is a member of the same ship." Crew, passengers, mercs, whatever. Alliance supporters, Browncoats, true independents, undecideds, whatever.
Background bits:
There must be a ship. One player may take the feat "Captain" which grants a basic ship, as well as a bonus to one of a number of skills of the player's choice. If so, that player is the captain, and the ship is his or hers. If no one wants to be the captain, then I can make an NPC captain. Every player would submit a list of 4 traits, at least one of which must be negative, and I'll assemble a captain out of them. If someone wants to be the captain, but doesn't want to spend the feat, I'll give you a ship, but with a gotcha. For our local campaign, that's what I did - we ended up taking possession of a ship first game when the owner died, and the crew fled. Later, we learned that the ship was carrying about 50,000 credits worth of illegal drugs, for which the prior owner had already been paid to deliver, and that the Alliance was tracking the ship as a drug runner. We quickly became beholden to a crime lord for a time. Clearly that wouldn't be the case this game, but something of that magnitude is what you should expect.
Character creation caveats:
Everyone must have a character flaw. It can be a minor one (drinks too much) or a huge one (strange code of honor, still fighting the War, completely nuts). Minor flaws may get you a couple of additional bad karmas later in the game. Average ones are average. Spectacular ones (in scope or design) can net you extra skills, professions, or even feat(s).
I'd like interesting characters. I know not everyone can be clever on demand, but given that this is play by post, you have a bit more time to try. http://swordandshieldgaming.com/forums/Smileys/default/wink.gif Ideally, I'd like to see times where the PCs interact for a full page or two without my involvement. And to me, one of the most interesting bits of a character is their weakness, and how the accomodate it.
I'm open to home brew stuff. As an example, here's one I'm considering using for the game:
Devil's Own:
Gain one additional action point each time action points are gained. Additionally, when spending an action point, the character has a 33% (1-2 on a d6) chance to retain that action point and still gain the benefits. For each time this occurs, the character will experience a piece of bad luck at some future time.
Examples of bad luck include learning that the ship they just scavenged was an Alliance honeypot, being subject to a random search in port, finding another crew is also working their job, learning that the doctor you brought on board has his sister in cryofreeze, etc.
I'm also considering this:
Combat will take place on the boards, but will use a modified resolution system - for any non-critical combat, after 4 full rounds, I will calculate average damage using an algorithm created for this purpose (not by me, by someone who's spent much more time on it), and let you know the results (combat lasts for 5 more rounds, Mal takes 15 points of damage, Zoe takes 11, Wash takes 3).
Scales of War uses a similar mechanic (and I've blatantly stolen the idea), and it seems to work well. It's not made for d20 modern, but I think it's adjustable. Also, I don't expect the game to be severely combat focused, unless everyone is interested in that. And if everyone wants that, there are probably better systems than d20 Modern for space faring badasses (like, say, 40k).
Given that I'm not planning to shape the initial part of the story, I don't have a lot of pretty intro stuff, or clever hooks. I'm hoping to gauge interest, and help the players work out who they are, why they're together, and what's come before. The nice thing about a game of this sort is that it can support a few players, or a mess, with NPCs taking up the slack. If I have three PCs, I can write 6-7 NPCs. If I get 8 PCs, then they'll be the crew in its entirety.
Also, I promise not to have to flee this time.
So, anyone out there itchin' to run the Black? Got an Alliance lawman creepin' around your doings, makin' you a mite twitchy? Lookin' ta make some hard coin without some go tsao de enforcer taking his cut? Find yourself staring up at the sky thinkin' that there's gotta be something else out there besides this gorram hunk of brown and slightly-less brown you're scratching away at? Then roll up your sleeves, strap on some iron, and step aboard.