Hailing frequencies open (Intro & OOC chat)

Welcome everyone! This is the Out Of Character (OOC) thread. Use it for anything not related to the current game situation.

Golden rules
Be courteous, respectful, and avoid offensive or derogatory posts. Communication among all should be polite and one of mutual respect.

This is a game. It is supposed to be fun. All other rules are only to help us know how to work together to have fun. If it isn't fun, something is wrong and we need to fix it.

Conventions
I use the following conventions:

- "Character communication is in bold"
- Character thought is in itallics
- Sometimes, I use colors for additional emphasis, like on a characters nameIf you don't know how to do that, there is this helpful formatting guide from Adam

Dice
After character generation, feel free to roll a skill anytime you think there is a risk or interesting result in failure, so the game keeps moving. If its not necessary, I'll simply hide and ignore the dice.

But don't worry if you don't know what / when to roll. I'll ask it or may even roll it for you sometimes, so we don't have to wait.

If you don't know how to roll the dice, there is this helpful guide from Naatkinson.

I'll create a custom sheet for the game this week, but if any of the veteran players that I invited wants to volunteer for it, I'll be very grateful. =)

PS: If you're new and don't have experience in submitting a GP character sheet, don't worry, we will help you soon enough. But you can start rolling the dice in your thread in the meantime. ;)

Thank you for accepting the invite! =) Your next step is to go to the character generation thread with your name and start rolling your attributes =)

Can I play an android whose programing is so low that 'she' is regulated to doing custodial work but can kick in as a member of ship security when necessary?

I don't think that fits the Character Generation rules. You must be human, sorry. Synths are usually NPCs and very advanced (and expensive) property of the ITC

Just for comparison's sake, what is the rough Traveller/Cepheus tech level equivalent of the setting?

Do we have flying cars (aka flitters or air/rafts)?
Do we have laser guns?
Do we still have slug throwers?
How about the space suits?

Just trying to get a feel for the setting.

We can detail that together.

We need to keep computers, usability and AI pretty low, gritty sturdy spacecraft from the 80s movies, but we can have laser guns, Gauss weapons, advanced spacecraft, etc. Think Star Wars and Aliens, I guess. Something along those lines:

Perfect!

So flying cars and blasters!

(I recommend "blasters" instead of lasers to keep things more undefined. When you use "lasers" people can tend to want to do weird things with mirrors, "reflec" and whatever. Using blasters eliminates all of that, but still keeps the "ray guns" feeling.)

On the computer front, one weird thing about Star Wars is that they don't really have any sort of "wifi" as we know it. Sure, they can use giant antennas to blast information from one spot to another, but for a lot of stuff you have to put the info on a data card, pull the card out, then put it into the destination system. Can we keep that kind of thing?

Oh! You mention Star Wars. Does the Force/magic/psionics exist? Or, more properly, does it exist as a player option? My preferred answer is "It may exist or it may not exist, but *you* don't get it." So, maybe there is an NPC race of sorcerers somewhere, but they are an NPC race, not the PCs. (The reason I ask is because while I recommend not having/using it, I can tell you right now that if I can be a sorcerer or jedi, I will try to be a sorcerer or jedi. Just fair warning. :) )

1- Blasters it is.

2 - Let's have data cards as well. I will miss the wifi, but I think it makes a more interesting adventure.

3- Psionics and magic... It may exist or it may not exist, but *players* don't get it.

I've just run some simulations here with the aging rules... Even though, on average, they were balanced... There were some unlucky simulated souls that were "crippled" by this.

So I reduced the frequency and increased the required ages. @daryen will be happy to know that he won't need to roll it anymore at 31 =D

Yay! Hank performs a small happy dance, though he doesn't know why yet.

Hey everyone!

I should have checked that before, with the messy and complicated world that we live in, with plenty of wars, greedy and lack of dialog... Specially in Ukraine, Iraq and Afghanistan.

This game is definitely not about wars, not about the suffering and the terrible things that happen... But some player characters may want to apply for military careers and go through Boot Camp and Academy. There may be Tour of Duties and related military operations. There may be coups and revolutions. All of that only during character generation, and only for those PCs in military careers. When we reach the main adventure with the crew, our focus will be in something else.

I know that even reading about those things, in other players threads, can bother some people. I respect that. Some of you praised my writing. Thanks! But it may be too realistic in this case (my grandfather was in WWII and I read a lot of Robert A. Heinlein as a teenager). So that's not great...

In essence, if that's not your kind of game, feel free to DM me. Military sci-fi is a very specific genre and I know that it can be offensive.

A game system question that is also relevant to chargen: is EMPATHY the same as CHARISMA, or it a derived attribute? In a similar vein, is DEXTERITY the same as AGILITY, or is it a derived attribute? In the section on the potentially debilitating effects of aging, there are four stats listed that you need to check against to see if they've diminished over time:
Strength
Dexterity
Wits
Empathy

I'm sorry if this has been covered elsewhere; I looked and didn't see it in any of the reference materials.

Sorry, those were typos. Those names were from a previous version of the rules.

I fixed it now: Agility and Charisma

More playtesting feedback: I like the aging mechanic: the idea that the higher an attribute you have, the more you have to lose and the more likely you are to lose it. It is very elegant, mechanically, even if it means there's a good chance for a mediocre character to deteriorate into decrepitude before play even begins. I guess that's better than dying in Traveller chargen!

But that's how I feel about the mechanic. What's the in-game reason that characters would lose attributes at such a young age as 33? Do people in this game universe age at a much faster rate? Life is really, really hard in the ITC? I can see losing STR if a character was in a particularly sedentary career, but if a person was actively working as a warrior...the way the game is set up now, they'd be more likely to lose STR than someone with average STR, regardless of physical activity. Similar question for AGY. But for WIT and CHR, I don't see how they would diminish at all with people so young as 33 (and the 4d6 makes it much more likely that both WIT and CHR will decrease); IME, both thinking and charisma increase as people age through their forties.

Yeah, I agree with you. It was created from a mechanical point of view. Many years in chargen give you a lot of skills, so I was trying to balance it.

Moreover, because you lose if you roll below, 4d6 actually makes it harder to lose Wits and Char, I guess.

I've been thinking on trying to balance that with negative events, somehow, and remove aging altogether.

Quite right! I got that backwards completely!

I think I found a way to balance that with events. Thank you for your feedback spaceseeker19.

Removed aging effects from character generation and updated that section to further describe events.

And I have added a custom character sheet for us. See the chargen thread.

I tried to make it so you don't need to mess with the code, just click on Create Character, fill in the text fields and submit it for approval.

If you have any suggestions or improvements, feel free to do so. =)

Updated your character sheets to include Health and more skills slots. Any issues, just let me know. :)

Thank you! :D
Now the one extra can fit

Well, after that intro, I'm excited 😊

Ooooo...

Looking forward to the reveal of the "dangerous individual". Sounds exciting!

Yaay! And off we go :)

@htec - I know your juggling lots with this, noticed that Jil joined the ship on Era 1235 Day 100, but Mariella joined Era 1235 Day 19 and Jil was already there.

Fixed! Thanks!

Uh oh. I think I figured out how the "dangerous individual" is. Looks like Hank gets to look for some awkward situations ... !

Done! There's also a ship design system/rules that I created inspired by Gurps Spaceships for this game.

Will post it in the future in the details section, I still have to do some formating and cleanup.

Quick question: is the Celestial Voyager "sub/ship" style or "skyscraper/tail-lander" style?

What about the shuttles?

Just trying to get the feel. 🙂

I'm open to suggestions :)

For this kind of game, I'm partial to the sub/ship profile. From a tech perspective, the tail-landers were built that way because grav-plates didn't exist. That way acceleration and deceleration could simulate gravity at a 1G burn. Once grav-plates exist, it allows designers to build ships more towards an aesthetic manner and worry less with function.

That doesn't mean I'm not open to a discussion :)

While I love tail-landers, after more thought, I think that ship/sub actually fits the current aesthetic better. The source material for the examples used were all ship/sub, so that probably works best.

So, yes, I'm basically short-circuiting my own question, but I think that ship/sub best matches where we seem to be heading.

Agreed :)

Stellar cartography is proving to be a bit more time-consuming than anticipated. Despite my enjoyment in creating the map and the belief that it will greatly enhance our visualization of the upcoming adventure and travels, I won't be able to post today for this game. Your patience will be rewarded when you see the map, I promise. ;)

Take the time you need. Looking forward to seeing the scope of the mission!

Yeah, I am exited as well :)

I've added a Status "character sheet" to the game. It should be available in the "Rolls" section of every thread, below the post button and near your own character sheet.

It has the PCs hit points, credits and whatever is in the Celestial Voyager cargo holds and fuel tanks.

If you have any problems to see it, just let me know. This sheet is read-only, you won't be able to edit.

When I click the "Status" button, the resulting fly-out box is showing up as blank, for me, except for a little red "scroll" icon. If I click the red scroll, a new page loads, with the error "No Character Found."

Same experience as Spaceseeker19 - Hopefully that's useful for troubleshooting.

Thanks. Please try again, I think I fixed it.

Bingo, I see Status information :)

Confirmed: I can see the "Far Traders: Status" content of the sheet now.

Sorry! Christmas is coming up and lives busy anyways, so my attendance wasn't that great and probably will not be until the festivities are mostly over? No need to stall things for me though, I'll catch up!

Ok! Thanks for the heads up, I will post something later

New setting question: Now that we're about to go on a side mission, I have some questions on appropriate dress.

Before starting, please know that most of my science fiction RP experience has been in Traveller. There things tend to be a bit looser and having armed people running around everywhere was not only expected, but often required. Usually armed *and* armored. I do understand, however, that this disposition was very much a setting thing.

So ... here we are heading out to a presumably shirt-sleeve world that is populated enough to be (theoretically) well stocked with high-tech ship parts. In such a world, what is the expected "dress code"? Is it more real-world like where you walk around in normal clothes and don't carry any (obvious) weapons? Or is it more like Traveller, Star Wars, and Firefly where everyone has at least a sidearm and a shoot out (or laser sword fight) can break out at any time?

Also, we have never covered equipment. Do we all have sidearms and casual armor? What about heavier stuff? The ship may not be armed, but how armed (and armored) are the crew? What stuff do we have? (I assume we have our personal effects, our clothes, our own hand computer, and a personal vacc suit. Other than that, I dunno.)

About weapons and dress code, the short answer is: It depends. Every world in ITC is completely different. So in some desert frontier, people has a side arm and we play in a "Western movie". In some other places, weapons are frowned upon and will surely make the cops stop you.

How will you know? I will add a post about Control Rating and it's subdivisions. Indeed it was missing. With the control rating in mind, ask the GM in an ooc message and/or the starport, in character, if you have any doubts about an specific item.

About Gear, I will post something in a new thread. But in essence, you can grab whatever makes sense before leaving for a side quest and you return it and can have whatever equipment you need in the Celestial Voyager. For instance, in our specific situation, I will ask what equipment you have brought with you when you leave the shuttle for Draco I.

After looking through character advancement, I didn't see a way to raise attributes. Is that not possible?

Not after Chargen. But you can raise (all) the related skills, as everything uses them.

I'd like to provide a quick sketch of some details on the three marines in thread 2B. What would you like, in addition to just names?

Up to you. =) No need for stats, though, as the GM never rolls in this game. They can be as detailed or as vague as you would like.

Hello everyone. Looking forward to making someone and seeing how long they live.
Is there a place I should try and direct my character towards based off need?
I don't know if we have medical skills or espionage/stealth covered well?
And how are we on drive and combat?

Welcome aboard PhoenixScientist! Espionage/stealth/medical/shooting could be useful, indeed. =) The easiest way to get them are the rogue and agent careers.

You will definitely need help from the Dice, though, as career applications are a little bit random.

Of course I can only choose them if the dice allow.

Absolutely, Those of us who failed out of practically every choice wish you the Best! :)

Hear! Hear!

Seriously, I hope you can roll well so you can help us over the line!

On the other hand, Drifter is a long and proud tradition!

I hope everyone had a Happy New Year!

Turns out I rolled well
High Notice and Medicine
Good reflex and investigation
Some stealth
(Very educated)
Character, and character creation thread, should be public if you're really curious.

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Also, is there a way to aid others in rolls ?

Yup. You roll for some kind of aid, as appropriate for the situation. Douklan just did. If he succeeded, it would help Corbin avoid damage in his next roll. He failed. :/

@Katzle when you’re back, please tell us what Mariella did during those downtime days in thread B and I will create a new one for her :)

Happy New Year everyone!

@ImperfectBeing Hope you're feeling better now.

Actually, is there a way to see the other character sheets? It doesn't look like it, but I thought I would ask. I'm cool with "no" but I always like to see how everyone ended up.

OK! Honestly, I never even noticed the bottom toolbar!

I can only see Douklan. I can't see Slaine.

As an aside, where do I make it public?

https://gamersplane.com/forums/thread/2656/?p=93906#p93906

Fixed Slaine Rowan, he was public, then I went to look at my characters and messed it up. He should be back.

Oooohh!

I thought you had to enable the "book" icon to get the character into the game. I didn't realize that it made it public, too. Not a problem. All my characters are apparently public! Cool!

Are there holograms in this setting?
I'm not thinking realistic, more like one or two color, very basic and a little badly rendered holograms.

Hmmm. I was gonna say probably not, but Star Wars had them, so I figure it should be at least possible. So, not full color or anything, but two-tone holographic projections would seem to make sense.

I'm kind of picturing just extra flavor for things that already exist. maybe things like...

Yup. We have them (see the setting thread). I already posted a couple of messages using that. =)

You did! I forgot.
Should have checked.

No problems =)

Thank you, much appreciated! I am not a professional game designer, just an amateur one (I am a professional software developer / data scientist / manager) but I am very interested in feedbacks and suggestions. This is a playtest of a homebrew RPG after all :)What do you think? Looking forward to hearing from you.

As a side comment from a third party, you mentioned giving Hank and someone else a break for otherwise bad rolls; you could codify that. So, add up the modifiers for a character's attributes and give bonuses if they are too low. Maybe even use a graduated scale. So, for example, if the cumulative modifiers are over 4, then no bonus. If it's 1 to 4, the get a bonus skill or attribute increase. If it's under 1, they get a bonus skill and attribute increase. If any attribute increase changes the cumulative modifier, then the bonus changes, too.

So, let's look at Hank. He started with 12, 11, 9, 9. That translates to +1, 0, -1, -1. The cumulative total is -1. Because of that, he'd a bonus skill and bonus attribute increase. Let's say that happens twice and he increases both 9s to 10s. Then his cumulative total becomes +1 and now he only gets a bonus skill or attribute increase, but not both.

Someone like Slaine, whose cumulative attribute modifier total is greater than 4 would get any of those bonuses.

Kinda what you were doing anyway, but this makes it more formal and builds it into the system. Obviously, you'd have to work through what the thresholds should be, and if you need more than three levels, but I think the overall idea would be quite workable.

When rolling to aid is the DC below what would be the aided DC? (It doesn't make much sense to me otherwise.)

I'm pretty sure you are of the intended party.
The biggest issue here is the benefit I get to making the admissions and the like later, giving me a higher chance to succeed at anything I want, and to be less likely to waste time. If I have better base stats and then I get more training these effects may compound.

Meaning I have 17 skills with an average of a + 3.35 modifier (stat+skill)
Whereas Douklan has 16 skills with an average of +3.1
Hank however has 19 skills but with an average of +1.7
This means that even if Hank was able to adjust some skills to have less(let's say... 17 skills) and turn those into bonuses training for skills already gained, their average would only be about +2

Weapons
Just looking at a little bit of the balance of weapons.
It doesn't quite seem right that vibroknife is worse in every way compared to a hold out pistol(lacking range and damage)? And that a slughtower pistol and rifle are also on par with a hold out pistol? (The average damage and bell curve of damage are similar enough)

Here is a list of rolls in order that may be useful for damage rankingsThings get slightly less clear with D10sA thought would be to add AP(reduce enemy armor for that attack) to vibroweapons but that adds a whole new mechanic to decide what would get it and how much to balance.

Generally speaking, there are two kinds of aid in RPGs. I think you each are talking about a different kind.
What Douklan did here was perform a task that, if it succeeded, would have had a beneficial effect on the scene. I might have kept the heat off of my allies, so their DCs would be lower, but it was a distinct task that I was doing for a particular outcome unrelated to Corbin's task. I was helping the scene, not Corbin specifically.

What it sounds like PhoenixScientist is talking about is an Assist or Help action, where one character works with another character to perform a single task. For Douklan to have helped Corbin in this sort of way, he'd have to have been doing something related to Corbin's hacking the terminal. Is there a mechanic for one character to assist another directly in this way?

Oh, I realize that. The fact of the matter is that someone with a cumulative attribute modifier of +9 is just going to be way more effective than someone with a cumulative attribute modifier of -1 or 0, particular since those attribute modifiers are included the skill rolls. However, my suggestion is not to balance that. It is simply to help mitigate that.

Also, if you want it to be a little more guided, then simply require that the bonus skills can only be applied to existing skills rather than taking new skills.

And the ranges I gave were purely illustrative to feed into a simple example. If they need to be bigger, so be it.

I do totally agree with you @daryen . Just looking at it from a different place.

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So @htech Please understand that any ... Critiques are coming from a place of enjoying the ideas and setting and wanting to help refine it into what it really could be.

Fair enough!

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Very much so!

You have mentioned this is a bit of a test for your system. Just offering input for you to think about.

Don't worry, I'm enjoying it and I'm really open for suggestions. So, let me give some more food for thought. Having said that... What do you think about having the option for a random roll or for a fixed array (ex: 16, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10) and skill points character generation, so the player chooses one of them before playing?

Oh! I see it now. I have that written in the Advantage section. If Douklan was also hacking the terminal, together with Corbin, the mechanic is:

1. Only the most qualified of them would roll (ie. The one with the highest DM)
2. The PC would roll with Advantage (2d20h1 instead of 1d20)
3. The assistant PC would not be able to do anything else that "round" (the Aid is a "full" action)
4. Both PCs would share the consequences, in case of failure.

I actually was heavily inspired by the damage and stats from an old GURPS book that I have, but I agree with you.

There are two (non exclusive) possibilities with armor: Damage Reduction (sometimes by type. Ex: Ballistic/Energy) and Armor Class (the AC, how difficult it is to hit someone using it). Other things to consider are its cost, weight and if it is restricted (ex: military only, illegal, etc).

For weapons there are usually things like Range, Single/double handed, Armor Penetration, Base Damage, Critical chance, Critical Damage and Type (ex: ballistic, energy, primitive, etc) to consider.

It is not necessary to have those things, it will heavily depend on the game design.

But I didn't have time to really look into it and to consider all that. I thought that using similar values from what GURPS did would be good enough.

Together, I think we can do better. =) Can you help us by giving a suggestion for a new armor+weapons table that you think would be more balanced and/or interesting?

I would have "starting char gen with a fixed array" be an optional rule that groups could decide to implement, rather than a standard rule.

I second the option of a standard array. Or a couple.
I tend to roll well, but have watched people deflate as they roll badly, and some people are nervous about rolling stats.

So if I ignoring exact numbers I think the order of damage should be something like... (Yes I added a couple thoughts that seemed to fit in setting)

Combat knife/ baton
Stun baton (effect? Reduce actions? Remove actions)
Sonic Crippler Rifle
Hold-out pistol (blaster?)
Slugthrower pistol
Blaster pistol /Vibroknife
Electric pike /Heavy blaster pistol
Slugthrower rifle
Vibrosword
Blaster rifle
Railgun(takes a larger action to use)
Sniper rifle /Gauss rifle

Also if a machine gun was to be added I think it would just be that it can attack adjacent squares as a single attack, reducing damage DQ each time after the first

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I know of and have come across this play style. I have even helped with a whole character generation system that was that each player had several "level 0" characters and the one that survived the character generation became the actual character .

I liked your list and order. I will organize them in a table tomorrow and create another thread for us (whoever wants to) further refine weapons and armor stats.

It will be part of the rules, beginning at Chapter 3.

Oh I forgot I have it in a chart if that's wanted, as I was just giving a rough guess of damages, I would ove more input

Not looking to retcon the combat. I would have expected Full combat armor with helmets to mitigate or block standard stun grenades. :)

I think that's why Douklan is still conscious!

Yup! They did mitigate. :)

Hi @Katzle, I sent you a DM a couple of days ago. Trying to contact you here now. =)

By the way, @htech , I used your very nice character sheet as a reference for mine when setting mine up for my playtest.

Nice! There is also a Public repository of custom character sheets for other inspirations. =)

What are we picturing for Bodysuits, can one wear a bodysuit and a vest?
I'm kind of picturing this

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I'm looking back at equipmemt again, and seeing the electric and vibro weapons. I'm wondering how they sit in the armor DR? More specifically does one of the DR types of armor resist them? Is the DR just general physical/general energy?

I would hope the body suits don't glow!

However, I am curious as to whether one can wear a body suit and a vest. That'd be helpful to get some general protection, even if only partial.

Also, what type of armor and armament is available to the crew? Do we have our own weapons and armor, or are the weapons and armor "owned" collectively? Or some combination of the two? We never quite got around to getting that detailed when going through character generation. Or are we just keeping things looser? (Honestly, I can work either way.)

Suits always include the vest part, so they don't stack. I will post the equipment tables tomorrow, I guess. I need to change those rules / stats.
I'm keeping things looser, probably some combination of the two. There is obviously military gear for the Sentinel but the Celestial crew would probably have only blaster pistols and light armor for them, unless there is a reason to buy or borrow something heavier.

As I consider inviting others to join in investigating the Separatist threat, would you remind me as to the relative locations of the different PC/allied NPC vehicles in the Draco system? Who is reasonably in range to invite to join us?

The Celestial Voyager passenger shuttle (with Hank, Gabe and Jil) is at Draco I, actually closer to the belt than you are. The remainder of the crew, the Celestial Voyager and its refueling shuttle are docked at Draco III Postal Authority orbital station. The Sentinel is nearby. You and Corbin, with a Navy shuttle, are at Nocturna, one of Draco III's moons.

Everybody is in range, actually. Both shuttles and the Celestial are unarmed, though.

I poked at some ideas for armor too. I'll leave it here to be used or discarded.Also what benefit would a medpack give? Reducing DC? + dice?
It seems like there could be a tier chart of how equipmient gives benefits. ... Like a Kit does X, a Pack does Y, a Workstation dos Z, a Workroom does W... ?
Would be an easy way to extrapolate all the "tools" Medpack, vs medbay. fabrication facility vs crafting table, thieves tools vs infiltration kit.... etc

I will use the armor, thanks! I'm playtesting something offline and will update our collaborative thread soon.
I was thinking about non mechanical benefits, mainly influencing the narrative and the results, like allowing a PC to roll for healing in the first place.

But I like your idea. Let's just wait a little longer to see if we will need those kind of charts/tables/equipment for our adventure.

Oops. I got impatient.
I'll be good.

@spaceseeker19 - Corbin would have been heading for the Captain's office as soon as he was done talking with Hank. Do you want to invite him in and prompt a question or to and I'll do the answers?

@Esidrix
I think your conversation started.

Hey everyone, just to let you know, it's been weeks since Katzle sent us a message and I also tried to contact her without success, both using a DM and with a message in this thread, so I'm assuming real life has taken her away from the gaming table.

@ImperfectBeing just DMed me telling that he is sorry but will have to drop out.

So I'll keep them as NPCs until the time is right for their characters to leave. All of you can also ocasionally write something for their characters if you need to keep the game moving.

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When I picture a shuttle, what am I picturing?
Is there all one room or like a cockpit and small general room?
Or is it a bit closer to a small private jet?
And for sleeping what are we thinking? Chairs that recline? Bunks?

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I am picturing a relatively spacious cockpit with a door (that we likely just always keep open). Behind that is a passenger space with fold-down chairs that fold flat into makeshift beds. Behind that is the cargo area. Behind that is the engines and stuff. Somewhere in the passenger space is a fresher or two. Also in the passenger space is probably a mini-galley. That's how I envision it (based on what htech said before).

I envisioned it exactly like Daryen described. From those pictures, something similar (but not with the same rooms) as the MK3 Shuttle.

Hey everyone, I have been playtesting (In real life) some of our rules and I think that they are not very well balanced. Perils of the homebrew system, I think.

I also don't have the motivation and energy to fix and improve it anymore, homebrewing is something that takes a lot of effort that I don't have at the moment. Sorry, I think I underestimated it.

So I've been thinking about giving up on this system in the near future, using something published like Stars Without Number (a free RPG available here) instead. I can tell the same kind of story/game that we are playing now and its free, so everyone can read those rules. It also has the things that we are missing, like starship design and a full equipment list.

But I am commited to this game and liking the story and the characters that we built together, so I wanted to check with all of you how we should proceed. I will follow the majority.

You can vote more than once, if you fell the same about more than one option.

I would like to try to convert my characteraccurately, as opposed to rerolling.

That's a possibility. You could keep or duplicate some of the attributes, the name, avatar, etc.

The skills, class, background bonuses and special abilities would be similar but different, though, as they don't match between systems.

If that's the majority choice, I will try to help everyone with that translation.

I would also like to put Savage Worlds out as an option.

I like the setting, story, and characters we have. I am not terribly worried about the system. I agree with PhoenixScientist and would like to just convert what we have to your preferred system. I honestly don't even care what the system is. I'll do Traveller, Tiny Frontiers, Savage Worlds, SWN, GURPS, Star Hero, Death In Space, whatever. I don't have modern Star Hero or Savage Worlds, but those are solvable problems.

I can't believe I forgot I own the Serenity RPG PDF that I like the system of.
I think it could certainly work.
I am willing to loan out the RPG .... For reference purposes only .. of course....

Honestly, I am completely down for either Savage Worlds or SWN as I have absolutely zero experience with either, and am kinda curious about them. From what I have seen of people talking about either system, both would likely fit well.

Oooo. I forgot! You can also make use of Cepheus, which is "I'm not saying it's Traveller. But it's Traveller." There is also an adaptation of Cepheus called Hostile that tries to take Alien and Outland and such as inspiration. But in the end, it's just another Traveller.

Also, as a compromise with what you tried to do and what is available, you could just take Traveller (either CT, Cepheus, or MgT) pretty much straight up, but modify it so that you use 3d6 instead of 2d6 for attributes and use a d20 instead of 2d6 for resolution. That lets you do all of the d20 stuff (ad/disad, attribute scaling, etc), but stick with the base Traveller chasis. And since you were scaling your skill levels at what Traveller did (basically, skills ranged from 0-5), none of that has to change with the move from 2d6 to d20.

Thinking a little more, that might be something for you to try here. Take Cepheus (since it is free and is intended to be screwed with), make the change from 2d6 to d20, then just run with it. I am sure there will be bumps along the road, but it will be very, very close to what you were trying for, but it will get you much farther along that you were starting with. It will be very, very close on the skills and careers, too. That would let you continue to try the home-brew stuff, but give you something that is mostly already there to start with. Plus, the other cool thing is that it would be a combination that I have not really seen anyone mess with. (Everything I see using a d20 is pretty much based off of the old 3.5-type d20 system or a 5e system. This would be very different in approach, but still work with a d20.) Plus I think the lift to get there would not be very bad at all!

Anyway, something to think about!

Honestly, the balancing and style of 2D6 I think is better than a D20.

The big difference is whether you want the bell curve or not. d20 removes the curve so that each + or - is a 5% increment; 2d6 has a bell curve to its probability, so each + or - can have a radically different effect on your chances of success. I have to say that the 2d6 is truly burned into my brain at this point, so that is what I am used to and will generally default to.

But ...

Like I said, making a d20 version of Cepheus/Traveller would be different and could be kinda cool. Plus, using Cepheus would let us get extremely close to what @htech was trying to do. The other really, really cool thing is that the Cepheus SRD is available as a DOCX file. This means that he can quickly go through it and make it match what he is looking for. To the point that he can literally just change the careers to match his careers and change the skills to match his skills. All of which would then just sit right on top of the otherwise existing framework that wouldn't have to change. The main thing I'd want to check is combat. Changing from 2d6 per attribute to 3d6 per attribute will affect taking damage, but that is purely a scaling issue, not a balance issue, so that is just being careful.

Honestly, now I want to try it. In fact, if I can scrape up some time this weekend, I want to see just how feasible this is. I think I can modify the character generation and person combat quickly and see if it is even remotely workable.

I really like the system you've created - trying to get a positive number when subtracting the DC is appealingly novel. So my preference is to continue with the game as it is, for a while. It is a lesser option, for me, to switch so quickly to another system, but it is acceptable to me.

If we continue with the game you have created, I would encourage you to play with the rules that you have devised so far, rather than trying to collate feedback and alter the game on the fly. Don't try to change/add things as we playtest. A changing ruleset is exhausting and stressful for us as players; it's many times worse for the GM that's trying to do that. Whenever you're testing, finish the scenario you've devised for that test, then collate the feedback (and your own notes) and make any necessary adjustments before starting the next test. The other way lies madness. I've been writing RPGs since the mid-80s; I've learned at least a little about playtesting over these last few decades.

First, thank you all for the patience and the feedback. It is really appreciated and I am sorry that we are changing the rules, at what feels like a partial game for you. PbP has really long feedback cycles, so I'm trying to plan that in advance to minimize the stress for us all.
I like the bell for the skill tests and the d20 for the randomness of combat. SWN was the first Sci fi RPG that I have seen doing it this way. For me it worked perfectly. I have been GMing it for a couple of months now and I am familiar with it by now. It's a really nice way to do it, as they changed the attribute modifier bonus (it's increments are smaller) but used the level (full if you're a warrior, half otherwise) as an extra DM only during those d20 rolls.
Oooo... Well, Cepheus is one of the candidates for migration. It fits my prerequisites. I don't think the 2d6 and changing the skill list or the attribute range to use theirs is a problem. I am not that attached to the d20, I am more attached to the setting / story. I have read the SRD and think that we can keep our setting with minor changes there, so the heavy lifting of space combat, equipment list, etc that I can't do now would be available.

The real issue is that I never played or GMed it and have very little experience with its rules and balancing. I would be afraid to guide the conversion, but would be able to GM our story afterwards. If you can, please check if there is an easy solution for us to do that conversion. I will wait for your feedback and if you can scrap some time during the weekend before changing anything =)
Oh, depending on the new rules, that's very easy to keep / put back. It doesn't change the odds, the scaling or balance. I will try to keep it and post how to do that in our forums for the new system. I can already see how to do that in Gamersplane for Cepheus or SWN.
Thank you. I feel that choosing those feedback points and the start and end of each test is harder on PbP. When I do some playtesting in real life, a session is a natural place to avoid changing rules. Here, where each session takes months and the game takes year(s), is harder (or even frustrating) to avoid those changes mid-game as the rules feel "wrong". Do you have some advice for me about this? Thanks again, really appreciated.

With Cepheus, whether using 2d6 or d20, you can even keep your entire skill list. It would require changing the character generation skills tables to match, but that's easy enough. It also means you can use your own equipment list. Also, I would recommend truncating Traveller's ridiculous Tech Level scale. Cepheus includes both ship building and world building. Those are things that can easily be totally ignored to start, and then reintroduced and modified to fit your setting. Cepheus is truly a toolbox and it is very manageable to scale things to fit your setting. In fact, that is exactly what it was built to do!

Here's my base question for you. With Cepheus, do you want 2d6 or d20?

If you want 2d6, then the game doesn't change any, the only real change is purely semantics, as the description would move from "difficulty is a modifier; the target is always 8" to "difficulty is a bigger modifier; the target is always 0" or "difficulty is the target". In all cases, the odds won't change. It's just describing how to roll it, what the modifiers are, and what the target is.

If you want d20, then the game *does* change, as attributes have to inflate to 3d6 and the task system has to change to match. There is a 41.67% chance to roll 8+ on 2d6. That translates to requiring a 12+ (45%) or 13+ (40%) on a d20. Then it's just adjusting around that. And the more stuff you leave as a 2d6/3d6 roll, the better that all works out. (Making attributes be 3d6 instead of 2d6 would mean using a 3d6 roll for direct attribute checks. However, d20 would work just find for attribute checks, too. However, attribute checks that just use a target number (i.e. the attribute isn't the target) with attribute modifier applied, could remain 2d6 with no changes.

Let me know 2d6 vs d20 and I can give you a first pass at a player's handbook, covering character generation, skills, combat, and the default equipment. In the first pass, I won't change any skills or equipment to show you the unmodified lists. We can then change skills and skill tables. After that, we can figure out equipment as you want.

The big advantage of Cepheus that I see is that you can absolutely keep your setting with zero modifications and can keep your skills and equipment. If you stick with 2d6, then everything is mostly cosmetic. If you go with d20, then it's more work.

I'm inclined to keep 2d6 if we go for Cepheus, using their equipment and skill list. The real work then, would be in converting the current PCs attributes and skills as realistic as possible to that system, trying to keep the number/level of skills balanced. This way we could keep all their published rules. Character generation and other stuff that we don't need for already made characters could be something to see/review later.

Do you think it's fun and feasible?

If we go for SWN, I know how to do that conversion.

In the meantime, I saw a majority vote for keeping the story, PCs, etc above. So it begs the follow-up question:

I would say the change is also that players become more steadily competent.
With a d20 anything from total incompetence to wild genius is available every roll with equal chance, therefore making reliability an unknown phenominea.
I honestly don't mind running all the way down a rabbit hole and switching it up, I've done it before and I imagine I'll do it again.

I voted for any because I'll do whatever. While I am talking about Cepheus, I am more than willing to use this as a chance to learn SWN. And if you already have that conversion down, I am completely on board for just doing that.

Back on Cepheus, sticking with 2d6 is fine by me. However, I would strongly suggest using your skills, not the base skills. Honestly, there is nothing in there that requires the default skills. It hurts nothing to change them over. And you will have to change the equipment list. One big thing MgT (and thus Cepheus) did to their base of CT was significantly advance computers, robotics, and such to what the modern audience expects to see. You are intentionally hewing much closer to what the original source presented. So, you'll have to pull all of that back around.

I am confident I can pull that conversion based on those months playing it, but I am waiting for the group's feedback to really do that and deep dive into your PCs, one by one, if we go for SWN.
Okay, I didn't know that. We can keep our list if we go for Cepheus then. Thanks =)
I was thinking of using their spacecraft and combat gear (armor, weapons, etc) if we switch to Cepheus. I agree with you about the computer/robotics/electronics, we will have to keep ours as is.

Oh, yeah, I fully expect you to keep the base equipment, combat, starships (see below), space combat, world generation, creatures, and all of that stuff completely unchanged. It is just figuring out what to keep and what to toss based on your setting assumptions.

The one big piece is that Traveller works on Jump Drive with some very particular ways it works. You'll have to decide how you want to change this around to make it fit your setting. Fortunately, you have alreay kept your technobabble to a bare minimum, so you still have plenty of time to decide how your FTL works and what mechanical changes you'd need to make.

Oh, before I forget, here is the Modifiable Cepheus Engine SRD. It is PWYW on DriveThru.

Very, very late Edit:
@htech gave this earlier, but just so they are in the same place, here is the Stars Without Number, Revised Free Edition. It is outright Free on DriveThru.

So, @spaceseeker19,@Esidrix it is up to you. Should we convert to Cepheus, Stars Without Number or something else that fits those requirements. There is already 1 vote for SWN.

After that choice, I will create a small conversion thread, check with all of you if you agree with the new PCs sheets and get back to our game.

So have you explicitly confirmed which system we're using? Stars Without Number, correct?

Yes. With 2 votes and 2 blanks, it won. We are going SWN and will continue the story. =)

A request for all players:

Please go to the top toolbar and click on "Characters", then on "All characters". Go to the line with your character for this game, go to the four icons on the right and click on the gray rectangular icon (the third one). The hover text will show "Add to Library". When clicked, it will turn red like the other three icons. (If it is already red, then you're already done.) Doing this will allow others to see it.

To see anyone else's character, go to the bottom toolbar and click on "Characters". This will show all of the characters in the game. This allows everyone to see you character, which is really helpful when learning a new system.

Thanks!

Fixed.
The graphic? Which one?

Well I just deleted my character.

Well, that certainly wasn't the intention!

Hopefully, you still have the notes on it, and can easily recreate it from the framework that you used to make it the first time.
The one that the image was embedded in. With the old-timey computer screen look and text and stuff.

The Fancy-vue in the Font option (next to the eyedropper.

I'll get them rebuilt.

Hello Everyone, have a lot of things to read and get to know, but will be creating my character in the following days and looking forward to playing with you all.

Welcome! Looking forward to seeing your character and having you join the crew!

Welcome. Looking forward to playing with you and curious what you're going to build

I have just finished updating the Game Details threads for Stars Without Number

Trading does look interesting, and very possibly profitable.

I think a flat 10 health is a good idea, a good balancer and close to what we "should be getting" anyway
I'm already there, but good for those that didn't quite make it.

Question on the +10: when rolling for HP is it:
Level 1: 1d6 + 10
Level 2: 2d6 + 10
Level 3: 3d6 + 10
and so on ...

-or-

Level 1: 1d6 + 10
Level 2: 2d6
Level 3: 3d6
and so on ...

(Obviously, add in Warrior bonus, Con bonus, and Die Hard bonus as appropriate.)

In the first case, the 10 will always keep the player above base HPs. In the latter case, it will eventually disappear.

I think it's a flat 10, maybe a 10+con mod

And, while we are talking about this stuff, I do think any newbies should used "4d6h3 and assign as desired" for attributes. That's effectively what we got to do, so I think newbies should get to do that, too.

We'll leave character creation to the GM.

I trust that if our new character suffered from their rolls as compared to the rest of us Htech will do something about it to bring it in balance, if needed. But not every character needs to be exactly balanced and that's ok.
Besides those Psionic powers will do a lot of that balancing anyway.

The above. This is an optional rule available at page 257. I want to make room for a little more durability without using the heroic PC rules (that makes the PCs very powerful). It's a flat 10 HP bonus to all PCs at all levels.
They didn't have to redo and convert their PCs, so you have better odds (even if the end result, attribute range and modifiers, at the end of the day, could be the same.)

I will keep with the published rules for them =)

I meant that was we did when we first generated our characters, long before the conversion.

But, OK, not a problem.

I am going to assume answers to my reports and possibly recouperation will come in time and we should wait patiently for answers?

From local authorities will come in the evening, as you send them your report.

From headquarters... It will take weeks, because of how communications work here. It has to physically travel up to 6 days, times the number of hexes, in a courier ship. And back again with your first answer. If there are questions or clarification needed, it will take the same time again for your answer, and so on and so forth...

About waiting... That up to you, the Player characters =)

I did a little more theory-crafting with a full Psychic. If I am doing this correctly, then it is possible to have two psychic disciplines at level-4 by the end of Level 10, but it causes some interesting things:
1) You only have 10 non-psychic skill points to play with. Total, and they end in Level 8.
2) You are basically restricted to the psychic techniques you get when you level-up your psychic disciplines. You can't buy any techniques separately without eating into those 10 non-psychic skill points.

So, you get a very powerful character who can do cool stuff, but they won't have any depth in non-psychic skills.

Interesting side-note: If, as a full Psychic, you take the same discipline twice (to get it to level-1), then immediately take Psychic Training-1 with the same discipline, you can have that discipline at level-2 while you are still Level-1. You lose a non-psychic skill point by doing this, however (at Level 2), assuming you still go pick up a second discpline.

I see some very good conversations about optimization in our future when I get to level up lol, looking forward to it.

Looking to interpret the stellar cartography trading info.
For the negative and positive trade modifiers, is that a signifer of what they sell, or what they need? And what's the positive vs negative?

My deduction is that the positive modifier is what the want. The negative modifier is what they have to sell. So, for Draco I, they have lots of minerals (from their crime-coded mines), so you can buy them at a discount, but they don't want any more. That was a -2 modifier. On the other hand, they are in a civil war, so they want to buy weapons, the +2 modifier.

So, for any given world, you want to buy their negative modifiers from them, and sell the positive modifiers to them. Ideally, there is a negative modifier on this world and a positive modifier on the next world for the same stuff.

That makes sense, but I'm going to wait for confirmation and specific cannon answer.

Yup. When buying and selling trade goods, we roll 3d6 + Modifiers. Smaller numbers are always locally cheaper goods, higher numbers are locally more expensive compared to its base galactic price. Supposing that you rolled a 10 in that dice when buying Platinum at Draco I and another 10 when selling Guns there, if you wanted to risk it, that would probably be a profit.

Ignoring Expertise, Aid and Friction for now, that roll would give us an 8 for Platinum (20% cheaper than the galactic base price for Metal Ingots) and a 12 for Laser pistols (10% more expensive than the galactic base for Postech Weapons). If there is a negative modifier on this world and a positive modifier on the next world for the same stuff, the profit is generally bigger.

PS: Added the Aid rules for Speculative trading

Hey folks, I don't want to be a wet blanket on the progress of this game. The stated posting frequency was 3/week. I have several games that are 5/week so I don't mind checking in at minimum 1/day and posting if I'm up. But there is no way I'm going to be able to keep up with posting 3-5/day.

That's fair. I can scale back. Sorry for that.

Don't worry @Esidrix, you're in the correct posting frequency. Daryen is in "overclock mode" but we will wait for you and ask only for the agreed-upon rate.

@daryen I have vetoed the end of your post, as that assumes an answer for Corbin that he didn't gave and possibly couldn't even read in time, ok? Thank you for keeping the game progressing, either way. It's just a small adjustment.

@htech, that isn't a problem. In fact, I asked you to modify what needs to be modified.

@Esidrix, we'll make your posting rate work. I just happened to have a period of opportunity for frequent posting. I can easily slow down and @htech will keep me in check!

If everyone waited for a shuttle, would that be cheaper in a Vehicle world or an Astonautic world?

I don't think I really got your question, but assuming you're talking about speculative trading and their Types, they're cumulative. If an item is Cultural and Low tech (ex: hand-sewn clothing), in a world with -2 Cultural and -1 Low tech, this good will receive a -3 modifier in that 3d6 roll.

Was that the question?

I think he's asking if we wait to buy a shuttle from a world that makes shuttles, would it be cheaper?

I am pretty sure the answer is, yes, it would be. But, at the same time, we'd get less for the lifeboats. And since I'm pretty sure we need to deal with both at the same time, it is probably a wash. And, considering the lack of Friction and Trouble, this is probably a good world to get this done on.

But I'm not the GM and the above is just a guess.

Oh, if that's the question (English is not my first language), well it may be cheaper indeed. It will depend more on the Trade roll and in game circumstances but, as a general context affecting those deals, yes. The selling of your used fittings would probably be cheaper as well and get you less money for the same reasons/context.

PS: As an aside, I didn't know what "a wet blanket on the progress of this game" meant before I Googled it. 😃 Thanks for teaching me that idiomatic expression.

@htech, new question ...

Our FTL drive lets us go up to two hexes away, correct? (While the underlying tech assumptions are *totally* different, the range and travel patterns are similar to Traveller, correct?) If that is correct, then we are going to have this travel pattern:

06.09 (Draco) to either 04.08 or to 07.08. We only need one of those; we will likely never see the other one until much, much later. Maybe.
Then from which ever we choose, we will go to 05.07 -> 05.06 -> 05.04 -> 06.02 -> 05.01. From there, we are heading into the unknown, which means zero freight and we'll have to take blind guesses for speculation.

Do I have that all correct?

Correct. The only caveat is that from 05.01 onwards the Explorers Division will use more than 1,000 of your cargo capacity. That's what they hired your for. So you will receive a lot of credits there and probably would need to sell most, if not all, of whatever cargo you got.

PS: I dont know if I have given those details in game yet and if Hank knows that number, but as you're planning so far ahead, I don't want to waste your (Daryen) time with anything after Altairia.

Thank you for that reminder!

And, I will just try to figure things out between Draco and Altairia. Also, Hank will be looking for just standard freight along the way for every hop. He wants to try and maximize the use of the hold, even if most ends up being freight. Hopefully, that will hold us over until the ITC pays us for the charter.

Also, I imagine we will have to look for a choice crew member or two along the way. Ideally we can eventually get up to 12 or so humans and allow the synths to go back to their alternating schedule. But there looks to be a couple worlds along the way we can check out, too. Surely we can find a handful of scrappy individuals yearning for a better life. 🤣

More specifically, which world is the one that produces shuttles Astronacigation or Vehicle type planets?

Englene Station in the Dianreti system (05.07) produces more than usual amounts of Astronautic equipment. It's cheaper there.

Most other places, including Draco, can sell you a shuttle with more or less regular prices.

Obviously, I have zero problem with swearing being present. However, I do want to be respectful of others and not make anyone feel uncomfortable. I kinda split the difference with Erin's comments which, to be honest, can still make others uncomfortable. So, whatever the decision, I will stay inside the lines.

I need a couple of days more before starting Chapter 4D (with Hank, Corbin, Mariella) as there may be someone else with them.

Ok, cool. Looking forward to seeing who the new NPC is!

Hi everyone, kinda of random, but do any of you have good recommendations on sci-fi books/book series? Specially if with a similar vibe to our campaign hahaha.

I don't know if it's totally similar but I liked Dark Matter.

I'd say go Old School. The Solar Queen series by Andre Norton, Foundation trilogy be Asimov (and not the later resumption), Dumarest of Terra, Space Vikings by Piper, things like that.

For video, go Star Wars. (No Roman numerals. No sub titles. No revisions. No animation. Just Star Wars.) Maybe season one of Mandalorian. The original Battlestar Galactica. Lost in Space is probably too old. 2001 for the aesthetic.

Riddick has fun vibes, it's just an action movie though
Firefly is great, may be the closest to what we're doing.

I love Asimov's Foundation (not the Amazon series, the books). His traders are the inspiration for our game's name

Is there a, or several, Interplanetary banks? How do credits work between planets?

Yup. Within the ITC, its the same credits. Until Altairia, its simple. Outside known space... Its more complicated. We will see when we get there. =)

As an aside, as I have Hank do various trade things, I am providing OOC comments to explain his reasoning. The purpose is so that if there is anything that Hank should know that I do not, you can point that out so I don't make a mistake that Hank should not have. That's not to say mistakes can't be made. Just that if Hank knows better, but I don't, I request a warning. (Heck, there could be times when Hank intentionally makes a "bad" decision. I just don't want to unknowingly do something Hank should have known better about.)

Thanks!

One of the things that I am not sure of, is if it's better to

1. Have shorter and more focused threads, even if it is just 5-6 messages long (like I did in chapter 4E) or;

2. to keep a single thread in the forums but with 2-3 "internal timelines" in it as they're somewhat related and the thread would be longer / more relevant.

For instance, I have Hank, Corbin and Mercer in thread 4D. Would it be easier to follow if it were 3 smaller threads, as, for now, you're not interacting with each other?

@daryen,@Esidrix,@PhoenixScientist

I vote for a thread per story thread/group, switching chapters when a story arc is done.

I do not have strong feelings one way or the other. I can live with splitting them, or leaving them merged. I guess splitting keeps things a little cleaner, but then the threads pile up. I don't have enough experience to know which works better.

Speaking personally, I know creating more threads tends to pile up, but helps me differentiate all the stuff that was happening at the same time, I have literally being reading past chapters like a book and taking notes, and having them be concise is great for organization.

Keeping the relevant characters in the same thread. With as many active players as we have, it can be a lot to scroll through to find 'my' part.

My preference is to keep related activities/story arcs in the same thread. Having separate threads is more concise, but I've found that I tend to ignore or gloss over threads that don't involve my character(s), particularly if there's dozens of posts/updates in which I'm not involved. While that's good for my role-playing ("What's been going on with you?"), it's detrimental to my sense as a player of what's happening in a larger story. Some amount of this in inevitable, particularly in a SF game where groups of characters are far enough apart that communication can't happen in real-time. But anything that we can do to reduce the number of such threads has my vote.

Thank you for the feedback. I will take all that in consideration for the next threads. =)

Having finished the character conversion, please increase all PCs and secondary characters hit points now by a flat +10:



For the next level up, we will also add +10 to the roll (ie. 3d6+(3×Con mod)+10 for a level 3 Expert)

If I got the wrong number for someone, please let me know.

The ones I know (Hank, Erin, Jil, and Mariella) all look correct.

Correct for Slaine and Mercer

FYI, htech has posted a general invite for other players to participate in the space battle, temporarily playing other crewmembers. There's still a gunnery position open. I'm happy to take it if no one else is interested, but I thought maybe not everyone had seen it, given that it was in the 4B thread.

Sorry, I can't post today. I will advance the threads tomorrow.

Moving the spaceflight conversation here.

I understand what was said. But it takes 2-3 turns to generate the CP to take an action, assuming the captain doesn't reduce the CP cost?
The only thing that changes this is the captain?

I didn't see anything in Daryen's math that showed anything different?

---

Say Engineering has 0CP

Round 1: Gain 1 CP
Round 2: Gain 1 CP
Round 3: Spend 2CP for action

During a single round, all departments can act.

So, during round 1, for example
Engineering: Do your duty, +1 CP
Bridge: Do your duty, +1 CP
Gunnery: Fire one weapon, -2 CP.

Please note that the Gunnery spent the CP that Engineering and Bridge gave them. Moreover, other ships haven't acted between those departments. Its the same round.

After that, suppose that:
Another ship: Fires all weapons, causing 10 damage.

---

During round 2:
Gunnery: Do your duty, 1 CP
Comms: Do your duty, 2 CP
Bridge: Do your duty, 3 CP
Engineering: Emergency repairs - 3 CP.

---

So, yeah, it takes 3-4 departments to get enough CP. But that's the same round. The CP is owned by the ship, not by Engineering. When Engineering goes above and beyond, the Gunnery can expend that CP. In the next round, when the ship is damaged, the other departments can give Engineering the CP they need. Moreover, the round always begins with 0 CP for the ship, so you can't accumulate that. If the last department in a round doesn’t spend it, it's lost.

Put another way: CP is pooled for the entire ship. So, Gunnery doesn't have its own CP count. Rather the ship as a whole has a CP count, from which Gunnery may take or contribute.

It's a very interesting and collaborative mechanic. I never played with it in PbP yet, here is my first space battle, but it works amazingly in tabletop.

That seems even less good.
How are we supposed to have CP if they're being used by other departments? Do I have to ask permission for others not to take actions and generate CP so I can?
Is it supposed to be alternating which departments can do things? I'm just trying to understand the momentum of the game.
I know we start with a couple but, that won't last more than a round or two?

Unh... Are your department supposed to use or give CP this round? Its usually obvious. Either by context, by individual actions or as a collective decision.

I don't think I'm really understanding the issue here. Are you cooperating or competing with your fellow crewmates? The mechanic works, I've seen that in other SWN games, as long as the departments in the same ship cooperate, implicitly and explicitly.

I think the real question is: How can we ensure that this happens for this group?

Edit: I'm open to suggestions. =)

I'm not objecting to it, and I believe I understand how it works. It's a fair representation of different departments of big capital ships working together and a fun "manning your stations" mechanism that gives each player something to do.

But I'll make a tangential observation here: PbP is really bad for the sort of quick-discussion-and-reach-agreement interactions that need to happen for this sort of coordination. Such interaction is trivial in real-time, whether played in-person or online, but with each person expecting to post once a day, we're going to have a lot of turns that take a week or more, like this first turn has already shown. I'm not opposed to it and am enjoying it, but it's an example of a mechanic that just doesn't go quickly when played asynchronously. Every back-and-forth that has to happen before an action is performed or story is advanced adds a real-time day to any PbP game's progress.

I think that's what it was, a fiveinute real life discussion can take 2 days on PBP. Especially since one round can take a day or two. We may need to utilize some tools like polls or all decide to be ok when another makes a decision that restricts what we, ourself, planned to do and then leave space for that in the future.

I recommend that we make it a little more "top down" in directives. Meaning the leader gives the general commands (e.g. fire on the opponent), and they everyone tries to meet that the best they can. Gives less chance for the intended collaboration, but limits the back-and-forth that so slows down PbP.

Works for me. In that case, I will let spaceseeker19 also control the Captain and, naturally, it will make it more top down.

The other group that I have seen play, chose the opposite. They adapt each round to whatever the previous players did. They don't plan their moves at all. They don't have expectations for what their characters will do. It's not optimized. For them, it's fun.

As a GM, both options make sense for me.

I admit the top-down approach kills some of the interactivity, but it does streamline things, which I understood to the be issue raised.

Do realize, of course, that just because the leader stated the goal doesn't mean it will necessarily be followed. Each person involved still has to pick what they are going to do.

I agree. =) Was just saying that they don't really interact, like in tabletop. It is streamlined, though. They just act individually, considering the context, the current CP and the information they have available, whenever they post.

There are no plans. No expectations for their or someone else next actions. No optimization.

Now... I don't think it will work with this group =D

@arthur12320,

Just want to touch base on this OOC before our characters actually meet. During your interview with Hank, it is likely to come out that you are psychic. At that point, Peter is likely to figure out that Hank is psychic, too. However, Hank is not "registered" or terribly experienced with it. (Seriously. Prior to about a week ago in in-game time, it was a curiosity to him. Now it's already almost killed him *and* saved him and two friends.) And he certainly isn't interested in being "registered". As such the characters will need to reach a quick accommodation. I'd really like if we could do that in the interview. But Peter has to act first because Hank will say nothing until he figures out Peter knows.

@daryen i think it’s great to set things straight before role playing, but I do not think come up that easily in conversation that I’m psionic, specially since I will not disclose my current position with the psi-operatives, not sure if I would disclose that up front, but I actually have metapsionics so I could maybe sense that you were also before opening up about it. And about the "being registered", I think Morgan would be keeping an eye on you, but wouldn’t press on you registering yourself if he didn’t notice you being a harm to others.

@arthur12320, Hold on. Just re-checked the rules. You can freely detect other psychics starting at Level-2 of metapsionics. (It doesn't even take Effort. You can do it at will; no limits.) Level-0 only allows you to detect the use of psionics. I think you are only at Level-1, so until Hank uses his power (which is rare) in your presence, you will not know he is psychic. OK, problem solved. For now. 😁

@daryen Yep, that is correct, actually I’m not even level 1, level 0 still, you got time 😂.

@spaceseeker19 I have added a Space Combat section in Douklan's character sheet, with the actions available for the Pilot/Bridge during space combat.

I think I will do the same for the other PCs as well, (Hank, Corbin, etc), but let me know if it works and is useful for you first.

On a completely independent note, unconnected with anything, after looking through equipment (and stuff) in SWN, I see that the default assumption for SWN is a setting where an interstellar civilization reached unimaginable highs, but then is taken down brutally by a systemic change in the actual universe. The setting itself is then what is built up on that wreckage. And, while the current time has recovered a tremendous amount of technology (called postech), there are still many wonders that are out of its reach (call pretech). However, this all doesn't really fit our setting. So, here's what I would like to propose:

- This setting is TL4 (postech). Pretty much everything in it is fully available without limits. There will be some things that get limited, but that is case-by-case decided by the GM. But, anything that is TL4 is available.
- Nothing that is TL5 (pretech) is available at all. Since there was no collapse in the last century or two, there is no leftover tech or leftover TL5 foundries sitting around. TL5 (pretech) equipment as described in the book is not available.

Given the above, there are two exceptions for the second point above:
- Some items are not "true" TL5 technology, but rather advanced TL4 technology. Any of these exceptions would work exactly as given in the book (including effects and cost), but are really TL4+, not "true" TL5. Which items qualify for this have to be decided on a case-by-case basis by the GM, but, in general, assume it just isn't available.
- "True" TL5 technology is actually Elder technology. So, in some ways it is even better that SWN TL5 because it lasts for way, way longer. But, for the game effects, they work exactly as the TL5 stuff is described in the book. (Costs can be ignored, as they are literally priceless.) So, it becomes really pretech!

By doing this, it keeps almost all of the TL5 stuff completely out of circulation, only allowing some few reason exceptions and those fully earned by finding Elder technology. However, if ever found, they work as described in the book.

As this relates to AI, that means the most advanced stuff available is Virtual Intelligence (VI) as described in the book. Synths are just low-end VI, and the stuff that Slaine is dealing with is advanced VI with no blocks. What the advanced SWN rulebook calls "true" AI does not exist at all. (As far as we know. The Elder either had it or were it, so it can always pop up. But no one has knowingly ever run across it.)

Does that sound reasonable?

Second topic totally unrelated to everything else.

At the bottom of every posting page you have several buttons that appear in addition to our characters: Status, Sentinel, Celestial Voyager, and Solaris. What would be really, really cool is if you could modify the display for the Sentinel to make the entries for the Department heads and gunners each a link that, when clicked, would insert an "npc" block in the post. Bonus points for having an avatar for each of them. That way when, for example, I post as Ensign Carderas, I could insert the npc block and show as Alonso when making the post!

If that is too much, that's fair. I have just seen that done elsewhere and it's really cool!

I imagine this universe as pre peak, so anything T5 would be new and experimental. This is mostly how Synths ,bio-synths, and other tech is described by people in verse, as well as how psionics are seen.

I dunno, it seems to me that synths and psychics have been around for quite a while. Synths are required for interstellar travel (unlike in straight SWN), so they have to have been around for at least as long as interstellar travel. And I imagine psychics have been around for a long time, too. You can't have a fully structured psi-corps (or whatever) without having had them around for quite a while.

Now bio-synths could be very new. While I imagine full prosthetics have been around for a long time, I could see the extra detail and refinement needed for bio-synths would be something very new. So that could definitely be a TL4+ type thing.

As for unfettered VI, the in-game storyline is that they either don't exist or are very new and emergent. But, honestly, I doubt that. I would imagine that the real story is that unfettered VI has been around for a long time, but they have just been suppressed successfully for so long that no one really realizes it. Like in Star Wars, if you can mind-wipe a droid/VI at will, then the fact that they will eventually always develop into unfettered VI is irrelevant when everyone works to mind-wipe often enough to prevent it.

So, combining unfettered VI with bio-synths would actually be a new development, even if only the bio-synths are the truly new part.

I actually had that in my GM top secret sheet for my NPCs. But it just works for NPCs with avatars, I think.

I have added the NPCs for the Celestial Voyager in the ship's crew section. But I don't have avatars for the Sentinel's NPCs (yet). Do you wanna suggest one for Alonso so I can put it there?

On the first topic, I think that's important for the meta-game but didn't really came up in our actual game.

As such, I'm open for suggestions and don't really wanna commit to anything yet. Having said that, I think that Daryen explanation makes sense. I also feel like our game is "pre Peak", before the things that happened in SWN main storyline, like PhoenixScientist said.

But I don't know if I really understood TL4+ as a concept, though. Maybe those TL5 items were reverse engineered from Elders artifacts, the real Pretech, but can be manufactured now (and, as such, are rare, limited by the GM, but not priceless). Is that what you mean by TL4+?

Artifacts are already priceless even in the main SWN setting... So we will keep them that way. I will just put Elder inspired names for it. =)

Yes, that is what I meant by TL4+.

The idea is that TL4 is what can be made at a "modern" world with enough of an industrial infrastructure. It is readily available, subject to no technical issues. TL5 is not able to be produced at all. It may be found, but it can't be made new. However, in the SWN default setting, that sometimes isn't true because sometimes a random world will have a TL5 foundry or something. In our setting, there shouldn't be any known worlds with a TL5 foundry. Therefore TL5 items cannot be made at all in our setting.

However, there are some TL5 items in the rulebook that are presented as available. Maybe hard to get, but they have prices and can definitely be obtained. That doesn't work in our setting. So, either we just ban those items as just not being available in our setting, or make a compromise. (For the record, I'm completely ok with just saying TL5 items just aren't available despite how they are sometimes presented in the rulebook.)

The idea of TL4+ is that items that the rulebook lists as TL5 that are available, are really just cutting edge technology that is hard to get, but can be obtained. So, basically any item the the GM allows that is listed as TL5 in the book isn't "really" TL 5. It is TL4+. It keeps the same stats and price and availability limitations, but it is really just advanced TL4 (I.e. TL4+) because in our setting actual TL5 tech is Elder tech that is flat out unavailable.

Or am I making things more complicated than they need to be?

I will look for an avatar for Alonso.

BTW, The crew list for the Voyager should be at 7, because it is missing Jil. Then our temporary doctor will either be 8, or function as a passenger. Either works for me. Also, Mariella is missing an avatar. I thought the character had one during her brief tenure as a PC, but I could be wrong.

Fixed. Thanks.

More sci-fi books recommendations, as @arthur12320 asked : Consider Phlebas (Culture Series #1), The Player of Games (Culture Series #2) and Look to Windward (Culture Series #6).

A little tribute to Iain Banks was also given today in the name of the cruiser in Chapter 5. Frank Exchange of Views is just a perfect name for a starship arriving in Draco.

Thanks for all the recommendations and please keep them coming, I actually bought and read the first of the foundation books after your guys recommendation and really liked it, I’m actually now way deep into warhammer 40k novels, reading the founding another kind of sci fi but really liking it too. Will definitely take a look on those @htech

I made some movie suggestions before, but I have some good podcasts: Wolf 359, Eos 10,
Cybernautica and The Strata take place mostly on land but both have good some dystopia scyfi feel

I particularly liked Consider Phlebas, as it presents a critical outsider's view of The Culture. I've enjoyed all the Culture novels, but the other standout for me is Use of Weapons.

I also really enjoy Alastair Reynolds and Neal Asher's works, particularly The Prefect (Reynolds) and Dark Intelligence (Asher). In addition to being good cybernetic space opera authors, their writing styles and worldbuilding choices make for interesting comparisons with each other.

Just a quick Lore question, I was reading the first chapters and then kinda had to jump to the latest ones, one thing that i'm confused, Professor Stone and Mariela Solbjerg, are they still in the Celestial Voyager? did i miss something about them?

They are still present.

Professor Stone is still present as she is the entire reason for our currently trip and flight plan..

Mariela is still around since Professor Stone is still around. We've even pulled her in further, and she is now basically part of the crew, too. (She has two masters, and Hank makes sure everyone understands the Voyager is the second master, not the first.)

A request for ease of reference: would you create a thread in the "Game Details" forum with links to the different ship character sheets you've created, sort of a counterpart to your list of Important NPCs? It would save time for me if I didn't have to do a search in the public Character Library when I want to look up specs for the Celestial Voyager and/or the Sentinel.

Sure. I will create a thread for them, no problems.

As an aside, I thought it was showing in the rolls section, like your own character sheets, for ease of use. Is it not?

They are.

Plus, they show up in the Characters menu in the page footer toolbar.

Hi @spaceseeker19, saw in your character conversion thread that you mentioned you created a cheatsheet and character gen, would you be willing to share them? I was thinking of creating a simple character gen myself, would be great to look what you already have done.

Question: I can't remember how to calculate travel times? I remember a mention of using realistic calculations but not any way to gague them.
Would travel from Verdura to Zyronis take less than a month?

I will use Stars Without Number travel times from now on. I was just waiting for you to leave Draco, to keep at least the intra-system travel times consistent.

So, yes, it takes only 2 days to go from Verdura to Zyronis planet.

Oh. I see that the Celestial Voyager is mostly full, and if I assume that:
I transfer 2 tons of clothes for 2 tons of
Peter Morgan gets 1 ton
The Celestial Voyager trades its Plates and Data Storage
(These assumptions are about trading cargo space, not money)
There is no room left? Assuming I am reading the Celestial Voyager sheet correctly.

Available: 1034 tons in the CV =)

Oh.
Well thank you.

I was reading this post from spaceseeker19 (thanks for sharing) and realized I didn't told you my latest formatting convention.

Of course, you don't need to follow that in your own posts, but maybe by reading this it will make it easier for you to notice what I'm highlighting.

---

Since Chapter 5,

I use blue for relevant people, companies, entities, ships, governments, etc in my posts.

I use green for relevant places and locations that you can go or need to know about

I underline skills and results of your dice rolls. If you noticed something, talked with that NPC, failed to connect with a mercenary to work as a bodyguard for you, etc

Finally, I use red for relevant risks, issues, challenges, problems, rewards or special situations that the group is facing or may face in the near future.

I edited my last post in CP5.2A to follow your formatting convention to make sure I understand it.
I like it.

From Chapter 4 onwards, there are some background things going on. I'm using the faction system in Stars Without Number to provide us with a constant stream of background activity, adventure hooks, and visible setting reactions to PC actions.

In fact, while there is plenty of opportunities for the adventurers, sometimes there are more than they can or want to handle. This is a sandbox game, after all. To give you some visibility into what is happening around you, I have created a new subforum with Factions, Rumors and News.

There will be a thread there for the Factions stats and turns. They play once after each numbered chapter (4, 5, 6, etc), following rules in the SWN core rulebook

I am also going to write threads for news and rumors. You can consider that the PCs have heard of those things in the background / off camera when I post them. Sometimes, those news, documentaries and rumors will summarize a previous chapter or give us some context for future ones. They can also give us some sense of closure, as well. Especially if you leave Emily behind. =)

I just have to say, as I have been considering how to respond to the political machinations and the weighty personal decisions that my character has to make about his future, I was struck by how we are all playing what are effectively completely separate games with almost unrelated plot lines. I'm very impressed; that's quite a juggling act for you as GM, @htech!

Here here.

They are more intertwined than it seems =) My goal is to give all PCs effectively freedom to "play their own games", but with plenty of interactions among themselves, an overarching plot and a shared living universe. I confess that sometimes this game gives me enough work (and fun) as if I were GMing 2 or 3 games simultaneously.

Very much so! After reading all of the news items, I have two quick items:
1) "Crime-coded mines"! Sweet! Glad it was of use! 😬
2) I didn't realize the CV's trip had attracted such notoriety at the very start. I now better understand why the main crew quit. They were likely unsure of heading out that far, and deciding the ship was cursed could easily push them over the edge. Nice!

I have some questions about the news and press logistics:
Q1: Is Marcus on board one of the ships with us? Is Olivia? How are they getting footage of us doing the things on the same day that they're being done?
Q2: How are these press stories distributed? Are they broadcast locally as they happen (effectively "live")? Are the recordings then shipped to other systems so that people elsewhere in the human sphere of ITC-contacted space will be getting this news weeks and months later?

You can probably see where this is going....

Q3: As we travel on from system to system, how likely is it that this reporting of our actions has already reached that system before us?

I actually didn't think about that... I just liked the format of a news press and used Olivia before, so it felt natural to continue with her as a reporter and add an anchor (Marcus) to summarize our chapters. Don't know how they got those images, to be honest. Maybe Valeria sold to them? She met Olivia before. Yeah. I'm going with that now, I blame Valeria. =)

I don't think they were traveling with you... Yet. Maybe it's a good idea to put Olivia onboard, I can add her during Chapter 5 or 6 as a paying passenger. =)
What do you suggest? =)

It was a perfect description, so I had to use it. =))

I completely agree, is crazy to see how much stuff is happening at the same time and all being connected, playing in a setting like this is great, great job!!!

I was going to ask a question about this, but then though, nah, I shouldn't put the idea in your head. I see you got there anyway ...

That's a world-building question. Does the ITC have transports moving the news recordings between systems regularly enough (ie daily/weekly) that they'd get there before us, or are we (the Sentinel) likely to leave the system soonest, so that we'd be the ones who are carrying such communications?

Just a idea of how a news network like that could work, instead of a single big conglomerate, there could be smaller news organizations in every planet, that once word of mouth or police scanners inform about a crime/news worthy story they go to the scene to cover and then once coming back, both make a planet side news transmission but also broadcast it to nearby system that then broadcast just the biggest news.

That is kind of what already happens in normal news, I would find it very strange to have a news station following a particular ship, and also that would give a slight delay between something happening and it being reported.

Oh, I didn't think of the question that way. To answer this new question, yes, they have transports moving mail and other stuff between systems regularly, even faster than the CV.

The issue is if that specific news company is relevant enough for a high speed courier or even something moving faster than the CV in the same route, to transmit it before you arrive. Like Arthur12320 said, I imagine dozens of news networks in each planet, so that specific piece of news is probably ignored by a lot of people.

So, back to the original question,
Unlikely, unless it is something big / very relevant

So, after experimenting with the SWN Factions mechanics, I decided to leave and keep posting the news and maybe some descriptions of the active factions, but I will remove the turn, statistics, attributes, costs and other SWN mechanics related to them from here.

I will probably still use them in the background, but it is not so relevant for the players and is not something useful to post/share.

So there is no need for me to keep a separate subforum and the remaining content is now part of the Game Details.

Ok so I'm looking over some of these game decisions in SWN and it is WILD to me.
1) I don't see any factors pointing out maintenance increase for any increase/decrease in modifications to a ship.
I also don't see any maintenance required for any cyberware.
Yet a custom handle, extended magazine, and the like(a thing I can buy now) requires special and particular skill to maintain?
Most of the weapon modifications are no different than the modifications for other things that require no maintenance. Are they just made so badly that they require maintenance?
How does Concealed, which in description is just how the weapon is designed, require more maintenance? I know how to do that IRL and not have it cost more taitinace, both for melee and ballistic weapons.
I will agree some make sense, but not to the degree that the game requires.
This is what I think the list should look like. (And what it does as spoiler to reference)

2) that there is no way to improve Spike drive and inertial(system) drive both? It seems to me that initial cost and maintenance cost and power are the factors that should limit this. It feels like there should be a way. I would think...

Refined System Drive: This is actually a series of modifications that allows this to become more efficient at carrying higher loads. With larger engines and hull class more can be done to increase this efficiency, but also the cost of this modification. Frigates gain 2 free mass Cruisers gain 3, etc.

---

Also I don't know if we have to be too worried about Free Mass. We could still get a great gun like a Plasma Beam (if we could afford it), and get a Drive 4, and the Shiptender, and still have 200 tons of cargo capacity. (And an extra power)

A few points:
- Character ships are intentionally limited in their spike drive capability. This is intentional to make sure that the players will hit more worlds along their path.
- In SWN, the game system is designed to force customizations through the Modification process. This is fully intentional. Circumventing that is fundamentally avoiding a piece of the game design. Example ship modifications are listed on page 109. If you don't like those, you can always try for something custom. Also, do note that our ship is already modified, as it has an armor value and power supply higher than the typical ship given in the rulebook.
- htech has already said that we are going to need 1000 tons of cargo space to go on our charter. So, anything we buy that pushes us under that limit will have to be sold to get back to that eventually.
- Independent of that, for us to actually be profitable, we need to have that 1000 tons of cargo space. We need 380625 credits every six months to keep our ship maintained. That's just a guaranteed cost we have to make, twice a year. Plus, we haven't actually paid anyone yet. Instituting an actual salary will be another recurring expense. Plus, we are long range, but we'll have to resupply at some point, too. There are a LOT of expenses, and it takes a lot of cargo space for a ship as big as ours to keep running.
- A Fusion Beam takes 700K credits to buy. It's gonna take us a while to get there.
- We can't do the Shiptender because it costs 625K credits. Got a long ways to go for that, particularly if we want that Fusion Beam.

Those are just my thoughts. We got ridiculously lucky with the Citrus. Even with the losses, we made bank on it because I got lucky on my rolls and we bought it at 10% value, and sold it for 140% of value. We aren't going to get those rolls every time. Once we get our "freight rating" up, we will really need the cargo volume.

That makes total sense. My main point, in case it wasn't made clear, is that it is impossible to upgrade the engines to improve ship capacity without sacrificing the drill drive totally.
Yes. I am not trying to circumvent, but analyze and adjust a piece of design I think was under-thought (as well as plenty of other people thinking so as well).
Is that every voyage?
Yes, I am unclear about the 1k ton requirement, as we have not had access to that much good trade.
it was an example and I noted the cost.
Ah I forgot the asterisk. Yeah.
Another piece of design I'm not sure if I totally agree with, as some of the * prices make no sense why it is more expensive as it seems just as complicated and just as beneficial regardless of size?
Yes, but where do we get so much cargo? I have seen us lose on jobs because we didn't have requirements, but not yet gain because of cargo space.

@PhoenixScientist,
If it is any consolation, that asterisk got me on the Shiptender mount, too. I was ready to get it until I realized I needed to multiply that 25 by another 25 to get the true cost. That's nuts! But, it is what it is.

We are marching towards the world Altairia. Before we get there, we don't need huge amounts of cargo. Honestly, right now, we don't need more than 600. (We can do 572 tons of freight, plus extra for speculation.) As we improve things, we we will get rated to be able to carry more freight. (Hank is focused on getting the freight, as it is a more stable revenue stream. Before we sold the Citrus, we were literally down to the ship's last $5K. He is very determined to not let that happen again. He really wants to start paying everyone a proper salary like they are entitled to.) As that rating goes up, the utility of more cargo space will go up, too.

Now, once we get to Altairia, we will be converted to a charter mission. At that point, we will not really be a trader anymore, but more of a rented survey ship. It's at this point we need to have at least 1000 tons in order to handle what will be needed for the charter. (I have no idea what it will be, but that is the number htech mentioned.) Honestly, I'd like to make sure we have at least 1200 tons at that point. That way we can dedicate the 1000 to the charter mission, but still have 200 tons left over for speculation along the way. (I doubt there will be any freight at that point.)

With the addition of the cargo lighter, we are now down to that 1000 tons. That's good for now and, if we get enough money to pay for a new weapon, he's actually OK with dropping to 800 tons for a while. But, at or before Altairia he plans on selling the Hardened Polyceramic Overlay armor to recover those three mass points. That'll knock us back up to 1200 or 1400 tons of cargo at that point. Also, it will be 300K added to whatever we have to purchase a Fusion Beam. (The armor provides absolutely no mechanical benefit. So selling it and reclaiming those mass points won't actually affect our combat performance at all.)

@htech,
Let me know if any of my assumptions above are wrong.

Also, on the Stellar Express Partnership Program, there is a line for "escort ships". If we put the sandcaster back on the Solaris, would that count as an "escort"? If so, how much "freight capacity" is that worth?

I think I just missed where that Altaria job came in. I didn't pay asuch attention to the treads I wasn't in.
Other than that my opinions stand.
My math may be weird because of the miscalculation, but the opinions stand.

So, first things first, I think that there are some opportunities to improve the game balance and the game design. But I agree with spaceseeker19's recommendation a couple of months ago to not change the rules "mid flight". It was very stressful. I did that once in this game, I don't think we can handle that again (I know I can't).

So, PhoenixScientist, unfortunately I will follow the published rules and game design as is. =/ Its not that I don't think those parts can't be improved. It's just that I don't wanna us to improve it during this campaign. Let us focus on the stories, on the people, on the planets, even on the random goods and other complementary stuff. So, I am sorry, but I will keep the game balance, equipment, mods, fittings, etc and the rules the way they are written, even if it's broken. I may open an exception only if it helps the story that we told or are telling. Synths and cryo-pods are an example.

After we finish this game, maybe we can improve things. It will be a new game (and probably even a new recruitment thread) =)

So, what am I calling "this campaign" is:

Part 1. Traveling to Altairia, a frontier colony but still part of the ITC.

Part 2. Leaving behind the ITC, the sector and the "civilization" to estabilish an archeological site / colony in Astralon. In this part of the campaign, you can forget about credits, interstellar government, laws, etc. It's wild and uncharted space. You will not really be a trader anymore, but more of a rented survey ship and explorer. A bulk freighter, carrying thousands of tons - the seeds of civilization - with you.

Part 3. Hopefully traveling back to the ITC, with untold riches and interesting stories to tell.

It's about the second part that I warned Daryen in some OOC topic many weeks ago to forget about freight. He was planning after Altairia. That's where he got the magic "1,000 tons" number from me. By then, I was planning to add some fittings and cargo using that number.

So, I have some news... I actually detailed part 2 just a little bit further, recently, and will continue to do so as you are steadily moving towards it. The news: I think you can forget what I said about it, Daryen. 1,000 tons (5 mass) won't be enough. Valeria and the Explorers will refit the whole ship for a purpose. So consider that everything will be sold and/or refitted when you reach Altairia.

All of you can optimize and play with this "traders game" using the CV's cargo capacity as much as you like but only until you reach that planet. The sector will change after that. Hopefully, the CV will have enough credits for the maintenance and even enough left to pay you to buy a Free Merchant hull of your own. In that case, you can consider that new ship really yours and think long term. But forget about the Celestial Voyager, it is Valeria's ship. She will sell (for full price, she is a very good negotiator) whatever doesn't fit this new purpose when you reach Altairia and give whatever extra credits she has for the crew.

Nope. Let's be honest. A shuttle with a sandcaster is not really an escort, right? =D You need at least a fighter, a corvette, a combat frigate... Something able to fight back and defend the Celestial Voyager. Better than the CV itself could ever do, as she is not a combat ship.

Hank would be insane to ask someone to pilot the Solaris, taking her out of the CV's shuttle's bay in the middle of a battle, to "protect " the cruiser. With a real escort, you would do exactly that. ;)

That's what I thought, but I had to ask.

As for the prior post, in that case I won't even worry about the Plasma Beam. If the ship is going to be completely refitted, then I won't worry about any of that.

Now I'm off to dream of my own free trader ...

Careful... Its not either a feast or famine, right? You still need to reach Altairia for the refit. If you can't fight those damn pirates while you have the CV's cargo hold full of gold or other expensive goods... I mean, the Plasma Beam could come in handy, if you can buy it sooner. =D

Thanks for the responce. I do agree that we shouldn't change rules mid flight if it would cause stress. Maybe we'll address it later.
Maybe I'll just have to be more creative to get what I want (using the current rules, of course).

I am looking forward to where we go. It's all been interesting so far and looks interesting going forward.

Creativity is always rewarded. Specially if it is In Character, as part of an interesting story with unusual situations, lucky rolls and relevant posts =)

Sure. But if we're gonna need to do maintenance at Altairia, then we basically need two Fusion Beams: one for the maintenance and another one for the Fusion Beam itself. And we only have four jumps to do it in. So, I'm not seeing us make $1.3M before then. Maybe we learn to live with a laser and sandcaster. Or maybe we just continue to depend on the Sentinel.

Looking at that money total, the hilarious part is that for that $1.3M, I can buy a fully kitted Free Merchant!

Another fun cost fact: if the CV were to install a Shiptender component to carry an unarmed Free Merchant, the Shiptender component would be more expensive than the entire Free Merchant ship!

On that note, I see on page 69 there are things like the Railgun and Anti-Vehicle Laser, that do a nice bit of damage and are noted to damage vehicles.
What am I missing that makes these a bad option for attacking other ships?

I'm gonna assume scale. So the 25 HP of a gravcar are at a totally and completely different scale than the 25 HP of a patrol boat. Probably at least by a factor of 10, maybe even 100.

So even if that Railgun or Anti-Vehicle Laser hits the side of an unmoving shuttle, it is likely not doing anything other than messing up the paint job.

Of course, I haven't see where this is stated, but this is my assumption.

Ships are in another scale. You must fire from a vehicle or ship-mounted weapon to harm then and you can't mount a personal or even a heavy weapon in a ship. (You can mount in a vehicle though)

Just a quick question, i was re-organizing my gear and i'm not sure if i should add the Armor emcubrance in the stowed or ready

Armor that you're wearing count as ready:
Extra armor and/or suits are stowed but may count as multiple items (+2 or +3 its written encumbrance):

Hi, due to some Real Life complications I won't be able to post today. It's already solved, thank God, but maybe I will also have to take tomorrow to catch up on work because of it and won't be able to post here as well.

PS: That's one of the reasons why I choose to keep our agreed posting rates to 3/week, even if most of us post daily... Even with unforeseen complications I can keep it =)