Heist the Colours 2: Now in Space (OOC)

Out of character chatter about Heist the Colours 2: Now in Space can go here to avoid cluttering up the Roleplay thread.This is for longer questions and answers related to that Roleplay, general rules questions not answered in the Help! thread can go in General Chat.

Add a link back to the post in question so we can have context. After posting you can right-click on the orange header and select 'copy link address' (or whatever your browser calls it), then paste that in your OOC post.

With Cat gone, does anyone else want to swap out a Skill and say they are the one to have learned Astrogation? Best if it is someone with decent EDU, since that is what it uses per the book.

Else we can say you had Abby learn that, or learn how to make the computer do it.

Sorry for the delay.

I guess I qualify for the job.

Any thoughts on which skill I should get rid of?

But only if you want to. We can have Abby take care of that if no PC does, but it does seem like a fairly integral skill that will come up often and lead to adventure, I prefer for players to be rolling such things rather than NPCs being responsible for putting you off-course and into the action. But, again, only take it if you think it would be fun.

Leo does make sense with his higher EDU, which it uses, and, under the previous assumption, it was a skill that was learned recently just for this trip, and 'learning' things is a function of EDU (or INT, I suppose). If you do take, did you know it from before, or were the one who drew the short-straw and was forced by the group to learn to do it so they could get away?
If you do take it, it was a Package Skill, so it should replace one of your skills you picked up from that Package. I believe you picked up Survival and Tactics? If that really does not suit you, we can talk about replacing something else instead.

Ok I'll ditch tactics.
It would make sense that Lio learned astrogation in de military, but I'll have to look it up to know exactly what it is/does.

Navigation in space and (mainly) plotting Jumps.

sounds like a course one gets in military training. Is that good enough?

Absolutely. You only have it at Level 1, so it might just be a theoretical understanding you have from that class a while ago. Level 1 is still pretty good, and many people who have been doing it all their life would still be Level 1, so you can say you have as much actual experience as you want.

Quick question.
I rolled recon as 2d6+1. But I don't have that skill.
Shouldn't it be 2d6+1 -3 ?

Also I think I never deducted the meds from my wealth. Will try to look it up.

That is correct. If you don't have the Skill you roll at -3. That is why having 0 on a Skill is still very good and useful.

I am not sure where you rolled this, but I assume it is past, we can ignore the mistake (if it would have made a difference) and get it right next time.

Yes, she will have chipped in her share. So far she used her own meds, but they might not work in extreme situations, presumably yours are better.

5? Are you including Bob? Remember that you have lost Cat, though maybe you never had a Cat?

The 'plan' is not to take Bob with you, so you probably did not plan for meds for him. If you end up taking him that will be a problem you need to deal with. Bob did not contribute for meds, he expects to be paid.

This was just a copy of what a wrote a couple of months? ago.
Then we were still 5. So probably everybody payed the 1920.
We can adjust the price for 4 people of course. 2400

Though, you were buying meds for 5, now you are only buying for 4? So the 1920 is still correct, but you take fewer?

I'm fine with both options.

Makes sense that we'd take less in that case. I've removed 1920 of my credits.

I did not take an amount of meds that is dividable by 5. So I'm going to have to recalculate the costs.

OK. Take however much you want. I just assumed it was per person.

Speaking of money, according to the recent update to the rulebook, Power Packs (magazines) for Lio's Laser Pistol now cost Cr1200 and not Cr3000

It will have to wait until next week, I'm now on Holliday in France without a proper computer. But I guess one extra week won't make a difference anymore 😂

Without the proper gear this would either be impossible or Impossible (16+). Impossible (16+) is actually possible for you (+3+1), but you would need to roll double-sixes.
Sure, with big chunky numbers that can be operated in a spacesuit.

As mentioned in the thread and the book, airlocks are not locked when there are possibly people outside, so locking and unlocking is almost always done from the inside. There is not likely to much wear and tear on the buttons, hence the high Difficulty. It almost seems like that asks for a Bane Die as well, but don't think it is needed.
That seems like the most appropriate, with INT, as well.
Yes, that could be a Task Chain, though those make it harder if you roll badly and I don't see how this could make it harder. If you decide to roll and you succeed, I think it will be momentous, but a fail will just be Ronny realising that will not help here (unless you get double-ones?).

Hmm, in that case I don't think it's needed to even roll. Ronny just won't be able to tell.
I'm not going to risk the snake eye roll :D

Makes sense.

I've removed 1920 of my credits too - then.

About getting through the locked airlock. As we were talking eerier my ship shares could come in many different "shapes". We even once talked about Raf getting codes for the ship from his earlier Captain of a capital ship Raf was serving on. As part of paying back some favor that this Captain owed Raphael. But the second part was meant to be provided by Cat. But she is no longer here. So maybe Raf is able to provide half of the code, so in the same time provide Abby with it's length? Can I answer with this to Abby?

Ronny also has a ship share. But I'm not sure what that really gets us.

Ship Shares reduce the cost you have to pay every month. That is their only mechanical effect. In the story they provide a reason you are working together and a vested interest in the ship, we can describe them how we want, but they don't have mechanical effects here.

---

If you know the door codes then there was some price in the story for getting them. We can define what that was or leave it to come back to bite you later.

Else we can pay the price right now and have to take action to deal with the immediate problem. There is no doubt you will get in, but the choice you make about how and how long it takes (based on the rolls) will affect things. At a minimum you will get the caretaker taking an interest.

I'm always fond of the 'bite-back' . Love the element of surprise.

Looks like we're kinda stuck here. Is there a chance another airlock (are there any for this ship) will be open?

By that I mean is there a dice roll involved? Because if it is just RP it will probably be the same everywhere.

You guys have options, but need to choose what to do.
Checking the schematic on page 195, it only shows one airlock to the outside world. That seems foolish to me, and I assume one would want at least another airlock on other side in case of emergencies?

Airlocks are not mentioned in the Spacecraft Construction Chapter, so they don't appear to cost anything. Each one is a place you could be boarded through, though, so limiting the number of places you need to guard also makes some sense.

It is up to you guys if you want more.

There are also the two Cargo Bay doors. Using them will vent the ship's cargo area to space, but that should not matter now since you can assume there is no (significant) atmosphere in there and you will have to get the life-support running before you can work in there without spacesuits anyway.

I don't suppose the Cargo Bay doors are supposed to be opened from the outside, but you can do that if the airlock proves too hard.
If you decide there is another airlock you can try it. The risks will be that it could also be locked, but also that it will be suspicious for you to be undocking and moving to the other side and then trying again, so it will draw may attention. Going in through the Cargo Bay seems like it will also be suspicious, though.

A roll will be called for based on what you do.
Abby can try to get in --hacking such codes is why you brought her. She has a good chance, what with her stats and the fancy hacking computer. If she fails you have options:

She can try again, till the caretaker gets suspicious, maybe she learns something from the first attempt and you guys can prepare for the next one and find some way to Help.

You can try another airlock and hope only this one is locked, or that another one was mistakenly left unlocked (you guys can decide if locking them while in storage is normal and expected (seems likely to me)). You may have to roll based on what you find. Either social to bluff the caretaker, or technical to hack the lock.

If there is only the one airlock --as per the book-- then you also have the Cargo Bay doors. They will be harder to get open, since they are not meant to be opened from the outside, and may be more Mechanical than just Computers (Skill).

You could say you have the code. Then you either need to explain how you got them, possibly in a flashback, possibly with a roll to judge the 'cost'; or possibly with you owing someone a favour to be determined at a later date. If so, you can decide if they are the full door codes (or override codes), if they are for this ship only or maybe work on the all the ships in the yard (useful of you plan to swipe fuel from the nearby ones?); or if they are only a suggestion of what sort of code they are to make Abby's roll easier, and you decide by how much. How powerful the codes you have are will define how powerful the 'cost' or favour needs to be.

Somehow I feel I would prefer to this ship be inline with schematics - so one airlock only. Just expressing my feelings about the subject. If others see this differently, I will not have a problem with ship having more airlocks.

"Just" having the codes seems/feels "cheap" to me for the story purposes. But in the same time it would be strange if would be planing all this heist and didn't thing about such situation. So I have some ideas with - I think proper cost - and will write them in RP in the moment.

Done. Hope I introduced the proper "cost" for 2nd and 3rd option. Personally I think: I did:)

I tend to agree. But there are costs associated with having more, and many ships might have been adjusted in such ways. Up to the group.
Yes. It is the 'easy mode' option, if you want to do that. But it is not 'just', it will have consequences later when that debt comes due.
You know you need to hack and replace codes. That is why you brought Abby. You might have hoped you could get inside before needing to do that, but you did plan for this. Abby can get you in, it is just a question of time.

---

Let's try to keep this out of the realm of fantasy. 'Reverse EMPs' are not possible and would bypass all sorts of obstacles in the story going forward. We spoke about the problems an EMP device could have on the story, this magical, 'controlled, non-damaging, insta-hack' device is pushing that too far and making me worried about the concession for the EMP grenade at all.

A hole in your ship will be a serious problem you will have to deal with for everything you do till you get it fixed. Any problem with any other airlock inside the ship will result in decompression and death. If you cut your way in, you will need to focus on getting that destroyed equipment replaced pronto.

Those reverse EMP is only to activate the probe drones. As I presumed the are off line right now too. No to hack them! Hacking is on Abbys job:) And controlling them on Raf side eventually. That's how I have seen them. If it is still "too much" - maybe the Pontiak is just a con. Or maybe you will provide me with some other ideas "in the physics of this world" that would allow us remotely activate the drones - so they will be possible to hack by Abby?
Yes. Exactly:) So I hope Abby will hack the door. Or we will manage to activate drones. Or better yet - other players will have better ideas. But as last resort it could be an option... at least in excited book of Raf:)

You also seem to be assuming there are Probe Drones. There are none listed on the Far Trader, the Courier and Survey Scout and the Laboratory Ship have them, but not your ship.
Even if there were Drones on the ship, they would need to be close by. You would need to get through the hull protection (which, as we discussed, blocks EM radiation). Then they would have to have their batteries plugged in, and to have any real switches turned on (basic safety, to prevent people from turning on things inside your ship and doing damage).
She can't just 'hack' things she does not have access to, else she could just take over other people's ships.. or cars or toasters or webcams. She would have to plug into the Drone or connect to its network to hack it.
Sounds like it.
They are the same physics as in our world. Here we have FTL, and slightly smaller phones and batteries, but that is about it.
I can't see any way that could be possible. Not in a controlled way.
Also, not possible with them being somewhere randomly inside the ship, on the other side of the hull that prevents EM radiation, and without being able to plug into them.
Yes. You can definitely cut your way in, same as if you were a boarding party. That does break the ship, though, so you are correct that it is a 'last resort'. You can get the ship fixed, but this is 'destroyed equipment', so is the job for a shipyard and not the Repair mechanics.

[ref] OK. It sounds like Abby is going to try hack the lock.

Is anyone doing anything that would help her in that task? We can do a Task Chain. (Handing her tools does not really count as 'help'.)

I'm not really sure how Ronny could help. I don't see him as having much knowledge about that kind of thing. The best I can think of is some psychological knowledge. Like "people tend to go for this or that kind of pattern"
Would that be useful at all?

That's fine. If we can't see how PCs would help then they probably can't help.
If you can justify in the fiction how Ronny would be the one to know that sort of thing, sure.
That sounds like 'hacker knowledge', though, so trying to mansplain her job to her might just piss Abby off? I don't think Ronny is a hacker or someone to have such knowledge? But he may have picked some of this up during his time as a Spy (with stated lack of hacker experience? but maybe that is just not 'computer' stuff?)?

Can we get our Careers somewhere on our Sheets? That is important information that is fading from memory after this long since Character Creation.
Yes, definitely... to the point where it is almost 'required hacker background'. Maybe you bring specific knowledge about the 'complexity requirements' the navy might have?

Lio has some computer skill, probably not the right one, but maybe it's enough to follow instructions?
I mean, hacking is quite specific knowledge.

Yes, and you said you did not have such knowledge, which is why we brought in Abby.

That sort of 'general computer help' sounds more like something you could do if/after something went wrong? Maybe you offering could provide 'reassurance' or something? I am not sure how else to model that in the rules.

If we can't see how we can help, it is fine not to help. 'Too many cooks spoil the broth' I have heard... :)

I agree

Yeah, I think so too. I'm not going to try.

@pedrop. Hope you're ok with that piece of history.

Lol... it is one aspect of the case (or should we call it my mistakes? :) ) ... I was looking at the ship's schematics in the core rulebook and took "LOW BERTHs" as drones... my bad. Sorry. You are right there shouldn't be drones on the Far Trader :/
Yes... you are right. Probably not only my PC was over-enthusiastic about this idea... :)
As I don't give up easy... :) And what if we would have spider-like drone, cut a small hole in the front airlock or wall - that would be easy to repair "on the field"(more like jury-Rig...)... in such case: could we use it to open the door from the inside with lower difficulty?? Asking for a friend...

To the rest: I also agree.
Yes. Last resort indeed:) But... maybe not least fun... ;)

No worries. Once again my ideas were flushed down the toilet... My world view shattered. All the doubts about my intelligence returned. And all enthusiasm was trampled into the ground... but... that's ok... at least Raf have two coat now... so it is not so bad...

;) ;) ;)

And now being serious: no problem at all, I think it's GM job to keep world coherent and it seems to me that our beloved GM is just doing that. As far as understand it: we agreed on "science fiction" setting/theme, not "science fantasy"... so all those remarks seam very good and justified.

Now... let's see if Raf made a complete idiot of himself in RP thread( I begun here at OCC... )... ;)

I made exactly the same mistake when I want to go check. Spent ages trying to see how many drones there were and why they weren't listed before checking the legend and seeing those were low-berths. Seems like a lot of low-berths.
You are welcome to get some, but there is no reason it would start with them.
For the record: I did not enjoy addressing this in character, but you asked us not to take it to OOC and to have your character make mistakes. My preference is always to address these possible misunderstandings about the setting out of character and assume the characters know more about the world than the players do. But that is your choice.
We know. :)
Things like that could exist. You would need to find them (possibly when they are used against your ship?). Since Abby Succeeded we can leave this for later?
Yes, that would be a way to force entry. But it does leave a hole in your hull, which is really bad, even if patched.
Easier, yes. And it would cause less problems when those repairs fail in the story.
That is how pirates do it. Tell your 'friend' that they may be looked at askance by the law if such things were found in their possession. It could be argued that 'they are repair droids' but they are suspicious.
Yes. Absolutely. The players are welcome to pick very sub-optimal choices if they want to take 'more fun' routes. Just so long as they know they are deliberately taking a risk they may not need to.

That is normal in PbP. I left plenty of spots where people could interact or leave the scene, but I am not going to wait for each player to confirm each possible interaction, else it will take too long.

I did wait the weekend for you or Raf to respond, but Tuesday came and I went on with the scene.
Is there some element here of a boy trying to impress a girl and saying all the wrong things? Does the fact that she is Ronny's ex affect that?

Yes. Indeed that was my pov on the subject. And I think it still is. Those mistakes could lead us to some interesting things - like some of those below:)
Yes. Sure. Later. Just "checking the bounds" of this world:) For a friend... ;D
"Mr Officer! That's only a pet!" ;D

Thats perfectly valid/ok with me! No use to wait too long for players that are lagging(I mean: me). But I just felt that I "should" add those responses in order to provide some "flavor" to how Raf reacts in those situations. The thought of having a "grievance" against you, of not waiting for me - didn't even crossed my mind.
Until now as player or Raf I didn't think that there could be anything between Raf and Abby. It is Ronny ex - so it could get too complicated to bother. That thought of Raf was supposed to represented how he feel embarrassed about situation and being not sure how to handle it.

But now... when you mention it... If Generator is ok with that... we could introduce something like that into this story... this "love triangle" could bring some funny or fun situations into existence... :) I'm not sure I will be able to properly RP that... but we can try:)

Absolutely. We post out of order all the time. Such is the nature of PbP. Those responses were needed and good.

I'm fine with that. Maybe Ronny can even be Raf's wing-man :P

(*) What do we call your new ship? We can use the name you plan to use after you change its registration, or we can change our minds and change the name we use later. But give it some thought, as not having a name will get progressively more awkward now that we have to refer to it a lot.

I apologize for being absent. I'll catch up tomorrow.

Do we all need to wear a vac suit, or only the people who go in to power up.
Lio doesn't have that skill.

Anyone going into the other other ship will need to wear a suit till it is powered up enough to bring life-support online and get air. If you don't go over there you won't need a suit, if all you do is carry Abby's gear (so it does not fill the airlock with her and the other two), you won't need to roll anything ... not until something goes wrong.

If you have to roll, it is just -2 for 'each missing level' presumably level 0 is a level for this purpose. These standard TL8 suits require Vacc Suit 1, so that is two missing levels for Lio and Abby, and 1 missing level for Raf.

There was talk about Lio getting a TL10 Vacc Suit which would halve the penalty, and be easier to work up to the Vacc Suit 0 requirement they have. They are slightly cheaper than TL8s, but hard to come by and TL8 Suits are 'free' in almost all airlocks (presumably one size fits all). I believe this was before Raf joined, but such a Suit would remove Raf's penalty.

Abby did not know about this problem, so she does not have a TL10 Suit of her own.

You are unlikely to need to roll the Vacc Suit Skill itself, but the bulky Suit will make everything you do hard. As will the zero-G.

---

Presumably Vacc Suits were part of Lio's Navy training. How come he does not have the Skill? Did they skip that because you were a doctor, or did they try and the training did not take?

Did Lio have problems with that part of the training? Was it claustrophobia or distrust of vacuum, or just lack of time, or something else?

Interesting question. Thinking about it.

I'm thinking claustrophobia would be a nice add-on to the character. I'm not familiar with it. But it could lead to interesting situations.

Cool. Do you need guidance on it or will the wikipedia or webmd or NHS websites be enough to get you going?

I don't think it needs a mechanical effect --though you are welcome to take a Bane Die if the fiction suggests it as appropriate-- and can just be a thing you RP struggling with. Maybe you need to take a moment to calm yourself before donning the vacc suit; Maybe you just find it uncomfortable till something goes wrong and triggers you; it is up to you how often and how much it comes into play. You can also get over it, or have it come in waves with long periods of not being significantly bothered by it.

Alright. Just hope I won't forget. 😉

Do you want me to bring it up and remind you in times where it might be relevant? It will always be up to you if it comes into play in a way worth mentioning.

Yes please.

'K.

I left Lio alone to get suited up and deal with it, you can have Bob around if you want, or have him doing something elsewhere in the Gig.

But, does he need to suit up. Maybe he can weasel out of entering the ship until the main power supply is running?
Something like '' do you guys need any help? I can stand guard if you like''

Absolutely. You could load the gear into the open airlock and let them take it from there. That does mean you are either out of that scene till it is done, or we can engineer a situation to 'force' you to go over there (only if you want, though).

You can have a scene of your own with Bob, or help via the comms, or all sorts of things in the meantime.

I left Bob with you in case you wanted to persuade him to go in your place, but he would prefer to stay with his ship so he can use it if something goes wrong.

First I was thinking about something modern, serious and pompous... ;-D But... then I realized as it is our first real, "own" starship. It's big, cumbersome - at least from the looks. So I started to thing about something more personal, "close to the heart". And my mind produced, simple proposition:
Betty

Ginger & Betty... almost like "Bonnie and Clyde"... almost ;)) And some potential for earning interesting nickname in the future as... Bloody Betty, Stone Betty, Lucky Betty, Fat Betty... :) ;)

What do you guys think? Too "simplistic" ? I'm curious about other ideas.

Whoa-oh Fat Betty, Bam ba lam! :D

That works for me.
We could also name it after some sci-fi reference that wouldn't even make sense in this world. Like "The Palpatine" or "The G. Jetson".

Either way, I do think we need to have a story behind the name. For example "My great aunt Betty always wanted to go explore unknown space but never had the chance. I'd like to name the ship after her." Or something better than that.

Of course, if you get a bad reputation, it might become 'Black Betty' since we know our music still exists as a reference. :)

Or after an emergency landing: bouncing Betty

One can only hope it bounces. We don't want to have to add an 'l' to 'Fat Betty'. :)

It does sound like we might have a name?

We will call her Betty. When she calls us she can call us Al.

Nice one. :D

---

I think we're waiting on Raf to enter the ship first?

Slightly, but the weekend is over and it is not worth waiting longer for something that is mainly flavour and has no real impact on the story.

We can still assume Raf was the first to enter (or that Ronny does not afford him that 'honor'?) while proceeding with the story of Ronny and Abby and how Abby learns to deal with the situation.

Once the people are out of the airlock, Lio can load the gear and cycle it through. Lio can come with it or choose to stay with the Gig, @Airshark can tell us if that is a surprise to those in the Betty or if he had already told them that he was not coming in. We can have some interactions between Ronny and Abby while the airlock cycles, and Raf may be back by then.

---

Presumably you have the basic deckplan, so you know where the engines are and where Abby needs to get set up to start the process.

Do we want to treat this as a challenge, something everyone to has to work towards, or do we want to have this be a roll or two that summarises the process and mostly tells us how long it takes and how much suspicion it draws (i.e. how tense things are when you move out)?

For instance: Either you say OOC what you do for fuel, or we play out the task of getting Betty fueled up.

I think everyone is getting involved anyway. So a challenge might be good. I don't really know how difficult it should/would be.

---

We're using the one form the rulebook right? Page 222?

Yes, "challenge" seams good for this too, for me. Is this general term or something connected to mechanics?

Can you remind me what is the situation with the fuel in general and Betty. As I think we talked about it quite a lot, and I'm not sure what is established in the end about it? As far as I remember there was talk about Betty having some minimal amount of fuel and we were supposed to get some more from some other ships?

Do the caretaker have some additional fuel for such emergency departure? What is the standard procedure for such sealed ships? I thing Raf and others that worked at army should know that?

---

By the way... looking at the deck plans I can see we will be walking near the low berths room... it would be VERY strange if our PC would found there someone "hibernated" in one of the berths that happen to have it's own energy source connected... wouldn't it?

Just thought... :)

The Free Trader Deckplan is on page 195 (per the numbers printed on the bottom of the pages).

Ha! I was actually just checking the book to make sure I did not accidentally use a mechanical term. :)

I did not mean anything special, just that we would play it out. The book does not use terms like "Skill Challenge" or anything like that.
I don't think it should be too onerous, so a few activities and rolls per character should do it. The Difficulty of each roll or task will depend on what you choose to do, and on what came before.

Until you get the relevant systems online every action will be affected by Zero-G and Vacc Suit Penalties (no Vacc Suit Penalty for Raf). So take that into account in your descriptions (and your characters' decisions).

In case it helps, there is a Search function at the at each Forum page. Searching for 'fuel' in the base game page yielded two pages, which led me to the previous discussion. There may be more detail in there, and there may be more options not mentioned there, that was just me trying to get a conversation going.

We can flesh out whichever options you guys are interested in, or come up with more. Just ask.
Each ship has enough fuel to get it powered up and to fly it to the nearby Gas Giant (planet) and scoop up Unrefined Fuel to fill its tanks. You have Fuel Processors that can turn it into Refined Fuel in a day, else there is DM-2 to the Jump roll. All the numbers are in the book.
The Depot has enough Fuel to fill your tanks. But that costs money (Cr11000). You might be able to convince the Caretaker that you are somehow authorised to take Fuel for free 'on the navy bill', maybe you fast talk him, maybe you bribe him, maybe something else?
Each ship has enough to get it up and running, you could flit around and siphon the fuel from them (causing significant trouble when they try to start them up), but that will take time (everything takes time) and may look suspicious.
Indeed you would.

'Standard procedure' is to get Unrefined Fuel from the Gas Giant if there is time, else to get Refined Fuel from the Depot if in a hurry.

Cat never rolled her Quirk, so you still have one to discover (I rolled mine in secret and you will learn about when it comes up).

I am not sure if this would count as a Quirk --it is not part of the ship-- but we can introduce such new surprises as we play. If you want such a thing, you can check the Low Berths and find someone whenever you choose.

You might not want to complicate your escape with this, and there is no reason to be checking the Low Berths right now, it can surprise you later if you want.

I have read some Lem, but it was decades ago and I don't recall specifically which books I read. I believe Pirx is 'short stories', and I don't tend to read short stories, but even if not, I don't think it is among those I read.

Ah then I had the wrong one. Thanks.
Alrighty :)

---

I have not ;)

So what are we rolling today?
DEX +

Athletics?
Vacc Suit?

Both 0 so a little difference? Or should not I roll?

Tricky one.

You almost never roll the Vacc Suit Skill, except if you are doing something directly related to the suit itself, like checking it or putting it on under stress.

You do take a -2 penalty to everything you roll because you only have the Skill at 0 which is 1 level below these suits requirement (for some reason I maybe thought you had it higher or I meant Ronny when I said above about 'no penalty'?).

This does seem like DEX +Athletics(Dexterity). We would use the Effect Level (past 8) to determine how it goes, ranging from Raf getting a bit bruised same as Abby on the low side; to Raf instead of Abby; to no bruising at all; all the way to 'heroic and spectacular saving of the damsel who swoons in your arms' on the high side.

Roll it and then describe it.

Roll added: 8 - not bad. Must be a real love - considering the huge patently..... ;) ;) ;)

Nice. That is a a success, though not a great one. There was never any real 'harm' on the line, so you don't need to mark anything on your sheet, but you can go ahead and describe what you do, how you keep Abby safe, and what happens to you as you do it.

Ok. Later. This day. But can I incorporate us gettin to engine room in the same description - to move things forward?

Sure.

That is correct. It would be a net 2 gain, but you would also have to deal with the ship signalling that it was being powered on and have people wonder why.

Once the power is on you can also turn on the Gravity, so that is another +1.

---

Raf is a Power Plan Engineer, he may be able to do something with the Power Plant without the computer, but that would be very risky. It would solve all three of the above problems, though.

Hmm, that would complicate things in a different way, that's true.

I'd say either Abby does a slow hack during the boot sequence or a rush job after the boot sequence.

I'll wait and see what the others think.

Do we know who would be messaged by booting up? Like what is 'the standard list of contacts' of this? If it's only the caretaker, maybe we can get out of it with a quick lie. Either before we start booting or after.
If also the ship owner gets a notification, that might be more annoying.

Well, yeah. Would not be much of a devil's bargain if there was not a cost. :)
I am not sure the +2 is worth it taking maybe 6 days when it could be done in 10 hours (both extremes of the dice outcomes, of course). But that option is there.
Yeah, maybe. 60 hours on the 'normal' speed might be a long time to delay if someone is after you. (But see below.)
You can be pretty sure it is 'the military'. But they may have their hands full with the unrest, and may even --if you get really lucky or set something up-- write it off as a thing they were expecting to happen as part of their mobilisation.
I doubt it. There is also a good chance the manufacturer has backdoor telemetry in the software (you might want to have Abby look into that... later?).

I would say it is 50/50 whether the caretaker is even in that loop.

The caretaker also knows you are there, and probably assumes you need to power up to do your work. He probably won't care till you start getting cleaver with the fuel or start moving the ship. It is the other people who you have not lied to yet that are a problem when they find out you are there.
Yes, though he is also the closest, and would have to be dealt with while you are still here in the Depot. Anyone else would probably be many days away (space is big) and you know that from the time it took you to get here, but you don't want to bargain on that, there may be a ship cruising around this area.
Yeah, maybe either deal with it before, or hope no one notices until it is too late... or have made a plan for this (your characters would have known about this, but you did have your schedule shifted up, so may not be fully prepared).
You can assume they will notice it being gone eventually. If you let it signal the startup then they will be an immediate threat, if you keep it quiet then they will not know till they see the ship moving away or maybe until they find it gone.

No matter what, you are still talking about 'days' for anyone other than the caretaker to get to you. But it will take time to get fuel, and then will take time to plot the jump (Lio might appreciate being able to take his time on that Astrogation Check rather than being rushed:) and time to get to the 'safe distance'. Lack of time for either of those will make the jump calculations harder.

---

But, in all this, remember the promise that you will get the ship, and that a mis-jump won't be the end.

Closing the unclosed threads:
Ok, it was just an idea. Maybe useful maybe not. And you are very right: IF there is something strange we should discover it later, not to "disturb" the current main aim: to get the ship and flee with it:)

Edited: Post about Stanisław Lem -> moved to General Chat.

Wow... things are starting to get complicated:)

Ok, after reading all that you have written my view/ideas on the situation is this:
- the official story is that we are installing a new module on the ship ("a med bay" - I think - it was?) - so it would mean that caretaker should not see anything suspicious in us powering up the ship. I think he didn't expect us to install it with no gravity at all on the ship? That would also mean that he is expecting us to work on the ship for at least few days? Installing such a things isn't just plug and play - I presume?

- but... the above doesn't mean we don't have to take care about the party that will be signaled about "unauthorized" ship powering up - indeed. But to me it seams that if they would get the signal AND decided to do something about that, they would contact caretaker first. Wouldn't day? And apart from that it will took them days-long-time to get to the depot. So maybe we could try to "just" intercept the signal TO the caretaker or if he get it, just lie or stop him in other wat to do something about situation? Do any of us have some Comms or Sensors skills to do the interception i.e. being on the Ginger - near the caretaker office - while Abby will be booting the ships system?

- to help Abby on the site I have such idea: could Raf make something with the power plant that will only last to open the cargo hold for Ginger to fly in, then close it? Or now that we are inside - use some Ginger power to get the cargo hold door open and then close?

Why? - you may ask:)

Looking at the ship's schematics: it looks that engine room have it's own air lock door... so maybe we could use Ginger's life support, or air reserves (Bob will be more then happy... ;D ) to pomp the air in this engine room ALONE and (before :) close its airlock - so Abby (and Raf!) wouldn't have to work on the engine in the vac suits! :) Making it 4 points easier for Abby and 2 for Raf?

Any other ideas?

Apart from all of this. It is supposed to be a military ship sealed to be ready for semi-fast mobilization when the times come. So should it have something ready in cargo hold for such occasions? Stuffed with food at the minimum? :)

Traveller is not rules light. :)
Agreed. He would expect it. And may see it as strange if you don't do that soonish.
Indeed. You can assume that whatever lie you told him covers you for at least as long as you would stay. The longer you stay the more chances there are that he will decide he needs to actually see your paperwork, or that he is lonely enough that he wants to come over and talk, or for news from the planet to get to him and change the situation, though.
Presumably. He would then tell them "people are doing work up here" and they may spend time checking their records before telling him that you are not authorised.

But they may also decide to check it out immediately, the tense political situation might have everyone on edge --or have them ignoring this-- so you don't know for sure how they will react, it might not be by the book.
Probably, though that discounts the possibility that they may have a ship or a squadron in the area, or they may be on their way here already 'for other reasons'.

Whatever you do, there will be some risk, and some unpredictability.
It seems easier to try intercept the signal from the ship than to try to intercept a signal to a third-party at a distance.

It would take quite an operation to disrupt military communications in the field. But you are hands-on with Betty, so you have more options here.
If he gets a signal, and tells you about it, then you will have such options. If he just answers the signal, then you might not even know about it.
Abby has some Comms (possibly 2) and I plan to have her pick up some Sensors (this was just to fill in the gaps in the character sheets). So the only person who could really try such a thing is already busy. :)
Sure. You could try something like that.

Starting up the fusion power-plant without the computer is a significant risk though.

You could maybe find a way to open the cargo bay doors without power.
A Power Engineer should be able to use Ginger's power (run an extension lead over) to get the door's motors going.
Correct.
Possible. Though the engine room is twice the size of Bob's Gig, so it will strain his systems. Maybe a Power-Plant Engineer could help there, or at least reassure him that it will not strain them enough to be a problem.

Your presumption that Bob will be happy with this relies on your making him happy. :)
Or attach a docking couple (you planned for this, right?) to the inside and dock Ginger to the Engine Room, that way you can have access to both the Engine Room and the Gig (with its bunks) for the duration. This would mean that Bob is not available for other duties quite as easily.

Taking the Gig inside would also reassure the caretaker that things look normal. He may assume that means you have power (as expected).

I don't know what 'Grav Plates' look like, but you may have planned ahead and brought some temporary ones that you can place in the Engine Room so Abby does not need to deal with Zero-G (and its -1) as well.

Each of these would require some sort of roll or risk, or be a thing that could go wrong. But each step you take is also a step to make your job easier.

Thanks for answers and considerations. I love idea about mobile grab plates! Looks like we would be really smart and well prepared for this heist... :))

Let's see what others thing about situation and those ideas.

No, it is 'in Mothballs' (google 'ships in mothballs' or 'mothballed ship' for more details). This state is not meant for quick activation, but rather 'quicker than building new ones'.

A force that wants to make use of these old ships would ship over all the personnel and requirements to get it going. Taking a week or so (about how long you might be taking) would be fine for getting more ships into a military action --and only if they were called for, the currently active fleet would bear the brunt of the action till help can arrive if needed.

Any food left here would be purely by accident and would not be very appealing. Ginger can carry 8.6 Tons, so you can have all the food you want... though you were rushed in your departure.

Could be. What did they cost you? Where did you get them?

I don't know if you still remember ;) But once we were talking about trying/checking the trading rules of Travller? I think we could go back to the idea and do it in parallel thread as "events in the past" where will only interested players participate? Do we have this sill on the plate? :)

So... I think it was PCs that were involved in those trading activities... that: one day happened on this container with those grave plates and bought it with a barter exchange... but from who? And what were the consequences of this deal? Why the other party had even them on sell? I would like to find out... :)

Have a look through those rules and let us know if they can solve this issue. We already ran into this with 'Ship Parts/Spares' and them being something separate from the Trade rules.

I am not sure a detachable Airlock Dock or temporary Grav Plates would be something you would be 'trading in', they are more specialty items that you would need to have made or find a specialty seller for. They may be 'Spare Parts', and you would need to convince some captain to part with them.

I am going to say that most of the Spare Parts have been removed from these ships when they were put into storage, you will have to replenish as part of the cost of getting the 'free' ship. If you want to try to find the parts you need up here --on Betty or another ship-- you can play that out.
I am happy to do that, so long as it does not slow down the main story. It also needs to make sense within the confines of the story we have (unexpected timing, limit on the capacity of the Gig, unsure destination, need to be circumspect, ...), so this might not be the right time?
That does not fit within the purview of the Trading rules, that sounds like an RP scene. The Trading rules are for when the group does not want to RP out the act of such barter and don't really care too much about the nature of the goods.

Your looking for specific items would not be 'Trade' under the way Traveller defines it in the rules.

What I had in mind:
- we do those "Trading rules" and narrate the outcomes together - from bird eye point of view - on the level of events, not individual characters,

- doing this trading thing will probably give us some story hook - to introduce how we came to knowledge about or possession of those grave plates, this particular aspect could be shortly RPed on more personal level,

- so the trading would give us the background for the "grab plates story", and we would use this separate thread to get to know how we did get those plates and what was the cost, So: the outcome is known - we have grave plates in current time line, but we have to determine the costs,

- so this separate thread would be able go much slower ("on back burner" - is it a proper term? ), when we will have more time to write there, and would have almost zero influence an the current story (apart from costs) - or apart that could be used in the future for some other stories, so shouldn't have influence on the main thread at all,

But if you think it is a bad idea - no problem for me. Just proposition:)

In other words: my proposition is to use "trading rolls" similar to oracles from systems like Ironsworn Starforged - to give us a prompts for some events:)

For the record, I don't mind if the main story goes slower when Raf and Ronny are busy trading in a paralel universe.

The Trading rules don't involve the characters, they purely a player system. They are meant for when you don't want to RP the act of buying and selling or exploring the markets.

The book recommends that the GM hand over that chapter to the players who are interested and let them take care of it in the background, there is nothing for the GM to do in those rules (aside from helping, and, of course, defining the planets' tags).

Trading has very little effect on the story and the book might imply that it is to be done 'between sessions'.

Most probably you are right - I have checked those trading rules very briefly. But I think I will try it some day and will try to show you what I meant by that. I will simply create a new thread for it. At first we will treat it as just a simulation, and if you will agree we will introduce to the our world some things from that thread... or no at all and leave it as simulation only. Ok?
I can see that our talk about training already have "bad influence" on the main story... :( as Airshark apparently complete ignored earlier discussion about next steps to make things easier for Abby??

@Airshark @TheGenerator what you think about my proposition of next actions on our side? Do you have other ideas how to help Abby or next actions? As mine seem quite risky and convoluted... :(

Do we have those grave plates with us? What is the cost for them - as GM asked?

Yeah you are right. Let's forget about intercepting signal to caretaker.
Good to know, there could be such way:)
I like this idea too:)

The grav plates are a cool idea, but I feel like we're making this extra complicated by adding more things that could go wrong :P
Maybe some magnetized boots would do the same thing? That seems less cumbersome to carry with us. What do you think about that, Pedrop?

I think that's basically what you're looking for.

vague, would that be plausible to have with us?

---

If you want to play out how we got stuff, I'm happy to join you in that :)
I'm not sure how much it will add to the story that's following. Maybe we'll meet those traders again some day, I suppose.

'Mag Boots' only stick your feet to the ground, they don't stop your tools from floating away, or make the tears run out of your eyes and not pool over them, or settle your stomach, or any of the myriad of other things that gravity does. They also don't help you at all if you ever end up without at least one foot on the deck and float away.

The lack of Gravity is only a -1, so it is low priority.

It is fine if you want to say you brought some with you (Raf always has them in his everyday-boots). They still require some learning to walk around in them, so all the floating and careful moving from the previous scene would still apply, they would just make it easier to move around going forward.

---

A portable airlock dock would be something pirates use, but also useful for repair teams. If you don't want to have incurred some cost or risk or suspicion by getting one earlier (on the planet where it would draw attention, and signal your intentions), you could try persuade the caretaker that there is something wrong on the ship, or that you found you need to cut into something and need to borrow one from his stores?

Ah, right. That's a good point. Not ideal then.
I suppose it might give a slight narrative advantage.

I'm not sure how Ronny is able to help with what we do next. I think the best way for him to help is to do any needed social interaction. Like talking to the caretaker or answering a call from the ship's HQ is they happen to phone in. He could pretend to be the caretaker possibly.
Is that something we can embed into a task chain to help Abby?

---

I noticed yesterday that I made an OOC post in the RP section. Sorry about that, I think I got confused with which one I was actually reading :P
I'll add the OOC tag to it.

I don't think Lio can help Abby out at this point. Unless maybe she asks for help which would give him an extra incentive to get into a vac suit.

That would depend on what you do next, or what happens next. Decide on a way forward and then the characters parts in that plan will become clear.
Exactly. Once things happen and such interactions are called for things will be clearer.
Possibly.
Those would be more like dealing with consequences than actions that would help her roll. Task Chain Actions need to come before (at least in the fiction). If you wanted to preemptively reach out and make contact then that could allow her to ignore any 'phone-home' routines and focus on other things, making her life easier... but that means you definitely have to deal with talking to people --which is currently only a possibility.

This would still be less of a Task Chain, and more of a separate thing that has a set mod to her DM. If you failed at this she would still not need to worry about the signal, but it would change her time-pressure and choices.
It happens. You could also delete it, since I quoted it in my answer. I don't like deleting players' posts myself.

The job will take time. If you want we can call you in later, maybe you are 'second-fiddle' with your Computers Skill and have to monitor stuff while Abby sleeps?

If we open the door and bring Ginger in, you may be needed for that job.

Will do :)
You're welcome to move posts of mine in the future. I have no problem with that, as long as it's clear that it happened. Which I know you would mention ;)

sounds good

So what do we do? As far as - I think - understand all of our intentions the things looks that way:
- as magnetic boots won't do, the best idea so far were those grave plates?

So to get them we had to provide our vague GM the proposition for the cost for them. Any ideas? Mine? Hmm... it doesn't seem that simply buying them would feel "natural" enough - so it feels to me that, more probably we have lend them from someone. So either we have to give it back somehow on the planet - what we won't do, as we are planning to leave the system... or this same person(s) that lended them too us, asked us to do something else with them in other system where we are heading? Please feel the gaps, or propose anything else for getting them.

- but to install them we have to get the Ginger inside Betty's cargo hold... and connect Ginger airlock to the engine room's one.

I would say: to me to involve every character there are two steps for this:
- Raf has to work on the cargo hold ramp/main door to open it - without the main power plant active. Hmmm... Maybe... he have some additional batteries with him that will allow him use/overwrite the cargo-crane and use it to push the ramp open - after opening the lock of course. And when the Ginger will be in, pull it to the closed position. Yes. I see it that way.
- The second - or rather parallel - step is for Ronny and Lio... I think they have to go to the caretaker and convince him that we need to lend(again) this: Portable airlock dock...
"Repair teams version" - of course

Not rising any suspicions in him... in the process of course... or take him hostage if there will be no other way - for the period of our work... ;)

Please: propose something else or let's just do that:)

Gravity is only a -1, so you probably don't want to make too big a deal of the job you have to do just for that. They may be useful at other times, though? We could decide on a suitably 'quick' --by design even if not by execution-- job once we get 'there'.
Presumably you need Ginger for power, the airlock connection is not needed for that, just a wire. The airlock dock is for providing air to the engine room, which takes away the need for Vacc Suits and their -4.
Or a generator, or anything to provide power. Raf does have Engineering Power Plant, so he would know about such things.
Could do.
That is a possibility.

---

I can imagine that is a particularly scary combination. Like being in deep, dark water at night. :)

So if GM is claiming that there is possibility for such plan... I'm half way... now let's see what other players think about it? If you would agree to that, I will end Raf's statement that we get grave plates in the container and explain the proposition of a plan in RP to others - or any one could took it from there.
Exactly. I see it the same:) Good that PCs have not too much time and are focused on the task at hand... :) For now... :)

So does it mean I should roll with my proposition of plan? @TheGenerator ?

I say: go for it. No one else seems to be proposing plans.

Work on getting the doors open and the Gig connected (or connectable), the others can maybe say how they get/got the docking couple (which may or may not be from the caretaker).

Looks like a good plan pedrop.

Sorry for the late reply.

Yes, I think that's a good plan to go for, Pedrop :)
If you want to have bought them before we left, Ronny can put in some money as well. We are all in this together anyway.

For the power, is it possible to have a battery? I suppose after the initial hooking up of the electronics, the gravity will be less important. Though still annoying maybe.

---

As a side note, I'm usually happy to go with whatever you guys have as ideas :)
So if something happens in RP, I'll just go with it and try to build upon that.

@Pedrop: Ronny is a bit concerned about the complexity of Raf's idea, but if Raf tells him it'll work, that would easily convince him. :)

Yes. You can have batteries or generators. That seems like the sort of thing you would have planned for. I doubt they are overly expensive (we can look in the book, or maybe just ignore it).

Generators need fuel (could be a tiny amount of the same fuel the ship uses, or could be 'solar' or something like it, or diesel or something like it), but can run for as long as you need. Batteries don't need fuel, but have a limited-time use.

The Gig will be able to power any of these small things indefinitely... but only when it is here. If you take the Gig to the caretaker, you will need something to tide you over.

Raf has Power Plant Engineering, so he would be able to do fancy things with these, and would know about them and their limitations.

You have all worked on ships before. This should not be a task you guys consider very tricky even with your lack of Engineering or Mechanic Skills. There would be almost no risk to Ginger --it will be attaching to the 'outside' of the airlock same as normal, and the risk to Betty is small since it is inside the ship not exposed to space. If it goes badly it may come back to bite you later in an emergency when the internal airlock to the engine room becomes important, but you can get that fixed before such a thing comes up, right?

The bigger risk is to the people who take their Vacc Suits off, if something goes wrong with the seal or something, they may be exposed to space and have to get their Suits on again in a hurry (one of the rare situations that does require a Vacc Suit roll).

Oh, ok. In that case I will rephrase my post a bit. Just the last line.

Cool. Let us know what you did.

I colored my edited text blue here.

Are Lio and Ronny going into the caretaker's office (and home) to talk to him? That will increase your chances of success, but will mean he has seen your faces no matter the outcome.

If you are going in, go ahead and narrate it. He will be more than happy for the company, so there is no worry about him turning you away.

That was my intention

For the future: No problem for me at all. Even if Ronny would completely not agree with Raf (in character ).

I love those "small touches" (hope the phrase is proper for the context... ;) ) in RP threads - they make PC feel really alive and have their pov and concerns.

Similarly: I loved when you have build upon (or even noticed) Raf's little "slip of the tongue"... ;)

Since you are inside, we can assume you don't have to worry about doors being locked anymore.
You will need to roll to get the job done, but what you roll will depend on what you are doing. Presumably you are connecting your generator/batteries directly to some motors or something (presumably after disconnecting it from the main power circuits for safety)? Those rolls should be fairly self-explanatory (Engineering Power Plant, with INT?). Then whatever you do next may need some fine-control and Mechanics rolls?

I assume there is a valid reason Raf is powering the crane to open the doors and not powering the doors? Maybe the doors' motors are harder to get to, or harder to disconnect, or more risky if there is a complication?

@Airshark and @TheGenerator: Do you want me to narrate your getting to the caretaker? I wanted to leave space for you to define your terms. There is also time to change your minds if you want to leave Raf alone and take Abby with you instead, but being alone in dark space is very dangerous, small mistakes can turn lethal if there is no one there to notice and help.

I was waiting to see if Raf needed anything else before we got to that. You're welcome to narrate us getting there though, that'll speed things up.
Great :D I try to interact with such things when I can.

What is your 'prank'? You going to squish poor Ronny under unexpected 7Gs of acceleration? You going to wait for him to be in a crash-couch, or you going to stick him to a wall?

You can go ahead and narrate that (assume you and Bob already set it up). If you do it right it should just be flavour and we don't need to worry about dice or actual injury.

@Pedrop: You will have Healed your three points of END Damage during the trip over here.

With Lio's help that is guaranteed, but you might have done so without Medical Care if the dice were good to you. Feel free to narrate it if you want, or we can just assume it happened.

Just flavour was my intention. Something like standing in the subway train when it departs. Times 3...
No intent of doing any harm. It will probably piss him off though.

Might do. That's up to TheGenerator. As is any later retaliation.

You'll have to live in fear from now on :P

Is there anything anyone wants to do specifically before we get to the caretaker? The only thing I can think of is trying to disguise ourselves a bit so we look like we are who we say we are.

Besides that, I'm happy to go to the arrival already.

I'll narrate the arrival tomorrow.

We can assume you do that to the best of your ability. Do you don 'workers' clothes' or do you pretend that you are workers who 'dressed up smart to meet the management'?

I don't think there is sufficient cost on such, non-specialised, clothes to need to worry about Credits?

I also don't think we will roll for the disguises, but what you narrate will factor into any Deception rolls you may need to make.
Cool.

Do you have a plan for why you changed the previously male caretaker to female? If you are doing a thing here I don't want to interfere.

If you don't have more you want to do with this I have had ideas based on this new information (unexpected caretaker and state of disrepair and lack of people working here).

I forgot it was already specified. We can ignore that part or I can edit.
No special purpose.

If there are other things that don't fit the scenario I'm happy to adjust.

Understandable. My NPC usually don't have genders and such till the players assign them. This one happened to have been mentioned as 'he', but I have no special reason for that.
No, no. I is true now, and a surprise to everyone.

I have ideas around why this is the case, I just did not want to conflict with anything you were doing.
Cool. I will go with my idea in a few hours. It may help you guys.

Thanks for catching it! Corrected. It jus happened, but with Lio assistance of course.

Great RPs guys in the thread! I'm almost jealous that Raf is not with you;)) Be careful out there! :) I wouldn't want Raf and me to loose our first space-RPG-team... just few post after calling us this way - as a team:)

Tx!

Exactly! Doors' motors are inside ship hull and probably have some security measures to not open them from different place than from the bridge. So would need some more work. And cranes are "naked" - suspended from the ceiling or installed on the floor? So shouldn't be too hard to get to them, disconnect from the main power/network and connect to Raf's generator? And considering that door's lock will be unlocked, just push and pull it open.

OK. I don't see this 'failing to get the doors open', so the dice will tell us about 'damage' and such, maybe how much it will inconvenience you when flying, or when you are needing to load cargo later, or when the caretaker notices that something strange is happening, it will all depend on what you do and how the dice feel.

Abby won't be able to help you very much, she can't 'hack' the systems that are powered off, after all, and she is very clumsy, but keeping her with you will distract her and make sure she does not get into more trouble while waiting for the air.

I was thinking about saying the job would go faster if we could lend the portable airlock. But it occurs to me she might want to keep us there longer for company.
So: We want to do some additional work, but that's only possible with the airlock. If we can't have it, we will be out of her hair faster. It's a bit of a gamble, ...

That seems likely, yes.

You could always lie to her (some more) and tell her "it will take weeks". If she 'wants company' then she might want that company to be happy and friendly, no?

Let's see what comes of her interaction with Ronny.

Makes sense. Messing with the crane is fairly safe and Routine (6+) (for a Power Engineer), but does not actually open the door. Opening the door with a crane sounds like Difficult (10+) Remote Ops? Raf has a 1 in that (and Abby has a default 0, so may be able to help if you are desperate... or really want to stroke her ego).

This sounds like a Task Chain, with the Effect of the Engineer Power (with INT?) playing into the Electronics Remote Ops (with INT?) task.

INT Checks should not suffer from the -1 for Zero-G, but the Vacc Suit affects all rolls, so its -2 does apply.

You can 'take your time' on both tasks (though Raf might not know he has the time to take a few hours for this?) and take a DM+2 to each task individually.

The doors will be open either way, so we are mainly rolling for Effect to see what it costs you.

---

Agreed.

I figure they are something like garage doors that slide rather than swinging open, but that does not affect the mechanics, just the description.

---

@Pedrop: How much do you want to play out the scene with Abby? You have sent her off on her own again [ref] (though still in the same room). If I roll for her to manoeuvre over there she is almost bound to fail (-3 for Athletics (DEX), -4 for Vacc Suit, -1 for Zero-G) but we can assume you help her enough to get her there (you can narrate it however you want) or I can roll to see how badly it goes and you can deal with the consequences (with no Lio). Your call.

I don't know how trusted these caretakers are, but if we can get her on our side, she might be able to assure the owner of the ship that nothing is wrong. Giving us more time to work with.

Im not so convinced that it should be so hard for her... ? I basically have sent her from one point in the cargo hold (room) to the other and to look at the boxes... I know it is zero-g and she has vacc suit on... but she don't have any time pressure and don't have to do anything complicated... I think even any one of us (players ) would be able to do that. Just move from point A to point B. So how did she even managed to get to the engine room if every step is so "deadly" ? ;)

Of course: just presenting my point of view:)

But you are GM, and to meet your expectations: I will narrate briefly attaching her suit to the guiding railing on the cargo hold wall.

I would say that the best feeling for me would be if we add +1 for this - Raf is not rushing himself, but not exactly "taking his time" without paying any attention how long it will take. Will add it in the roll, hoping you will agree, but you can change it if you will see it differently. NP for me:)

Ok, going to RP thread now:)

I left it up to you how much you want this to matter or factor into the story. You can have her answer after your phone call or have her struggle, whatever you want in the story.

Mechanically just 'Righting Yourself' (which is needed for moving around) without gravity is an 8+ Athletics Dex check, and she can not pass that so would fail. She needed help to get to here, and the last time you left her she needed rescuing. But we can 'only care about those mechanics if they add to the story', so if you don't want to struggle with this we can assume she succeeds eventually. No problem, it will have no effect on the larger story.

Drive a forklift. +dex or +edu? Or maybe both.

Never both. :)

EDU is always a weird one, ask yourself 'were you specifically trained/taught to do this', if so then EDU can apply, else probably DEX, or maybe even INT?

Since Lio also has the mechanic skill too I would say edu applies. He would have driven a forklift before.
The drive wheeled skill (in my mind) applies to more ordinary and military vehicles.

Makes sense. Go for it.

It is Average (8+) (as most things are unless there is a reason for them to be different) but remember that you can choose to take your time and add +2.
Yeah. It is probably the closest, but I would also have accepted Track or even Walker for what they use to load stuff here if a player wanted.

I think we can skip the Ronny/Lio story to where we meet up with the rest again?

We can assume you tell Bob as much as you want, and define exactly what if it becomes relevant.

We are waiting for Raf's actions to see if the cargo bay doors are open and you can just fly in, or if you need to approach differently. But we will make assumptions and skip ahead after the weekend regardless.

Ah. Right. :)
Ready to head to the next scene when that's possible!

Just reading all your posts and will be posting in RP myself in the moment. Sorry, I had very busy week and am not able to play at weekends, but this one should be better:)

Bonus and penalties don't technically 'cancel' each other, so the roll is actually `+2-2` and it can help to include those, 'for clarity'.

Then we ignore it. No problem, there. It is not your first time in Zero-G, so, while you still need a week or so to acclimate (each time, by the rules), it just makes your life more awkward rather than causing direct problems.

Youtube - Tom Scott - This is how zero-g flights actually work (vomit comet)
Missed it by one. Maybe a little wait would have looked better in the long-run? :)

Great remark! I will do it from now on.

Youtube - Tom Scott - This is how zero-g flights actually work (vomit comet)
Interesting video, thanks!
Most probably... especially as player I agree... but it wouldn't be in Raf's style... ;)

Airlock install:
Being a Mechanic, Lio could help Raf. But he is hesitant putting on the vac suit.

Maybe Ronny can help with the suit?

If we don't hear from Raf before the weekend we can maybe assume it gets installed and move on?
If it becomes relevant later we can roll to see if the install did anything to the ship that costs you.

That works for me.

Ok

Given how the weekend is almost over, we can leave it another day or so and see if Raf can get it done soon?

Being quite Busy myself, I don't mind the slower pace at this moment. ☺️

Sorry for the delay on my end as well. I've got more time again starting today.

Cool.