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Post by Null and Void on Jan 14, 2010 15:09:00 GMT
Ok, the first session of my campaign began last night. The biggest part of the session was character creation.... largely due to one player who quite literally agonizes over names... typically he doesn't pick a name until 2 or 3 weeks into a game, but I pushed him to decide on one (Captain Nathan Tripps was eventually decided on)
So the characters are:
Aleister Templeton - 51st Century geek, and technician for the Time Agency. He knows how to operate, build, and fix Vortex manipulators, but they won't let him out into the field. He's considered 'too valuable' in the lab. He's ... bored.
Dr. Paul Travers - 42nd Century Archaeologist and Historian, working for the Torchwood Archive. He has worked closely with the survivors of the Impossible Planet mission, and is highly curious.
"Bill" - Just 'Bill'. Bill is a girl from 2020, who is a wildly unpredictable and eccentric computer anf mathematics genius. She largely does things just to see if they are going to work, and then comes a cascade of wild speculation about why it worked or didn't. Failure doesn't deaden her enthusiasm though.
Captain Nathan Tripps - He's from 2072, a member of UNIT (or whatever agency has replaced UNIT in 2072), and was a pilot of what was supposed to be the final rocket flight to the moon. He considers himself an explorer, and is unhappy with the shutting down of moon missions in favor of T-Mat technology. (This is according to the Time Line in Lance Parkin's AHistory. I've decided that T-Mat tech was invented at this time, but was abandoned shortly after in the face of insurmountable economic considerations).
The game started with everyone going on about their normal daily business. For most it was the dull, humdrum daily grind that they had been used to. Dr. Travers was deep in the Torchwood Archive house in the Cobalt Pyramid doing research, Dr. Templeton was esconced in his laboratory, bored as usual and dreaming of field work. The good Captain was enroute to the moon, complaining to his co-pilot about T-mats putting them all out of work. 'Bill' was arranging an experiment in transdimensional engineering using laser pointers and her laptop... strickly for her own amusement.
All of them began to hear the tolling of a deep, sonorous bell... they were able to quickly ascertain that no one else was hearing it. Except for Bill, who took it as proof her 'dimensional gate' was beginning to function. Tripps and Templeton ended up visiting their sickbays and having their respective doctors prescribe some rest for them. They took the advice, but found out in short order it wasn't helping at all.
To their shock, they realized they could view each of the others in their own environments... and equally to their shock, they discovered they could talk to one another as well! Some arguement went on between them as to what was happening; Tripps insisted they were all just dreams induced by his exhaustion, and couldn't possibly exist; Bill and Templeton got into an arguement that quickly went over the heads of the others as they compared mathmatical dimensional theory and temporal physics, trying to decide if this phenomenon had to do with Time Travel or Interdimensional crossover. Travers began to research the ideas of Bells and Time Travel, and dug up... with a steep Ingenuity + Knowledge (History) Roll at the heart of the Torchwood archive... that the mysterious Time Traveler known as 'The Doctor' had claimed that there was a bell of this sort that would toll in his TARDIS when it was in danger of being destroyed.
As if to drive this point home, the Captain was visited with the vision of an explosion... and one by one, the others began experience terrifying scenes of destruction. Bill saw what looked like a flying saucer burning and tumbling toward him. Templeton felt a twisting and turning under him as he felt like he was falling through the air uncontrolled and burning. Travers felt the impact against the ground...
The four of them tried to figure out what this meant when a shining tear in space appeared in front of Bill, who excitedly claimed that her dimensional experiment had worked, grabbed her laptop and ran through it, disappearing from the room, and from the others minds.
Templeton recognized it as a Temporal Rift (Ingenuity + Science + Vortex against 18) and immediately hooked int othe Time Agencies computers to scan for a rift that could be connecting all of them. Sure enough, there was one forming in the Cobalt Pyramid (He had gone there in search of Travers but was 900 years too late.) The rift opened for both Travers and Templeton and they entered it as well.
Captain Tripps' rocket had landed at the Moonbase, where he was greeted by the base administrator. An anomaly had formed in the docking bay, and Tripps recognized it was another of the rifts that he'd seen the others go through. Before he could be ordered not to, and true to his desire to explore, he jumped in...
They all arrived simultaneously in the ruined console room of a ship... a ship with a hexagonal control panel and rondel wall designs. The crew of the ship was dead, with one of them clutching a couple levers on the console in a death grip. It was uncomfortably hot, dry, and there was a smell of scorched electronics in the air. To their confusion, Bill apologized for 'collapsing their home dimensions' but noted cheerfully that 'At least they'd survived!' (The girl was still believing her 'dimensional gateway' had worked at this point.)
They noted a door to the outside, where the air was cooler and cold white light was spilling inside.
And... that was where I had to leave them, because by that point it was late and we all had to get up early in the morning.
Over all, character creation took a little longer than I expected... largely because there was only one copy of the game to go around, and I had to do some lengthy explainations of some of the peculiarities of the system. The system once into the game flowed smoothly and quickly, and almost invisibly.
Story points will be an issue, as people (myself included) will have to how to use them properly. The give and take of story-points should be a lot more rapid in DWAITAS than in other games, and we just came out of a Mutants and MAsterminds game, in which the Hero Points were a little harder to get and were rarer. Its just going to be a learning process.
Next week... They explored the crashed TARDIS, the land around them, and encounter their first enemy....
Stay tuned.
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Post by The Professor on Jan 14, 2010 16:58:05 GMT
Sounds like it was a great session. I especially like the mix of characters and how you brought them all together. Well done. I'm curious to see if this is them taking over for the Doctor or some other time lord.
I'm gonna toss yu a karma for providing a bloody good read ^_^
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Post by allenshock on Jan 14, 2010 17:56:33 GMT
Outstanding! I am interested in this story, hope you will continue post about it  Allen |
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Post by JohnK on Jan 15, 2010 15:25:23 GMT
Hullo, Null and Void, What a great game that sounds like! Thanks for posting up the details of the first session here and all. Yes, I know, I'm being delinquent about posting up my own Friday session notes, but have been working on a couple of scenario ideas for the game. Have some karma. |
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Post by Null and Void on Jan 21, 2010 15:31:27 GMT
Ok, the second session went off last night.
Some observations up front. As I expected, story points were the sticking point. However, once people began to understand what kind of power they had, they started using them a lot. The most common uses were turning failures into 'success, but...' and in making small adjustments to the story ('Convieniently placed loose equipment that we can push over onto the Dalek.') One on the fly gadget was made during the course of the game. One player noted at the end of the game that Story Points essentially made everyone into co-gamemasters, which was a description I happily told them was true.
There was one name change, although not the one I expected. Dr. Paul Travers became Dr. Jack Travers.
The game began with a recap... the players had come into the ruins of a TARDIS console room. It wasn't long before an emergency hologram of the Pilot appeared giving them a pre-recorded distress message. It informed them that 'Emergency Protocol 415' had been initiated and the TARDIS had sought out people who might be able to insure its survival and that of its crew. It further stated that the ship must not fall into the hands of their Enemies, and that they should... do something if it did. The message cut off before they could be told what, but they had a pretty good idea what he meant. There was a quick check of the bodies of the crew, all of which were wearing something that looked like armor/environmental suits. Bill immediatey spotted a terminal on the console and started playing, but couldn't make heads or tails of the script it was in until Nathan decided to play with two small levers one of the bodies of the crew was clutching. He felt a sensation like ants crawling on his brain, and suddenly the terminal began reading in English, much to Bill's delight.
Aleister went to the open door and looked outside, and saw a vast, silvery wasteland of crashed and crushed ships and ordinance, that shread out into the distance and into what looked like the heart of a galaxy. Empty space was visible in gaps in the ground, and there were tremendous shafts of colored light erupting in the far distance. The sky was filled with colliding debris, drifting and careening off each other. This, although they didn't find out the name, was the Silver Devestation. He called the others over, and both he and Jack recognized Dalek saucers within the wreckage.
With Bill's help, they were able to find some basic controls, such as door control, scanner, and damage reports. They also discovered that the hologram was vaguely interactive, as it would answer queries about certain things, and show the computer files on the main screen relating to it. Once they determined there was an atmosphere of sorts outside, Aleister ventured out. However, once he saw the two 15 foot bio-mechanical spiders, one of which was holding onto the ship, his cowardly trait kicked in and he fled inside.
At the mention of spiders, Bill got excited and left to go look at them, followed shortly by Jack. (Insatiable curiousity for both of them). Bill decided she wanted to keep one as a pet.
However, Nathan discovered, using the scanners, that each spider had half a critical mass of an explosive capable of a burst of Arton Energy powerful enough to destroy the ship, and a large chunk of land around it. He called the others back inside, and panic began to set in as they tried to figure out how to escape from the spiders. In their panic, however, I noted that they failed the obvious; they didn't bother to query the computer as to what they were or what their weaknesses might be.
They quickly discovered however that the dematerialization circuits were drained of all power, and while the main drives were still functional, they had an incompatable power source, and so they needed to find a new one to 'jumpstart' the dematerialization circuits.
Aleister used his Omnicom gadget (Scan and Transmit - technology only) to map the circuits and discovered that they required a gravimetric power source, and so they used the ship's scanners to scan for one nearby. To their surprise, they found one... in a crashed Dalek saucer nearby. Jack was unhappy about the prospect of going anywhere near something that involved the Daleks, but eventually, they all decided to go... although Bill was enthusiastically out the door and halfway there before they were finished discussing it.
Let me note here, that by far the most common rolls being made were Awareness + Ingenuity for basic perception checks, and Ingenuity + Technology for working on equipment.
At any rate, They came up on the Dalek Saucer that was missing a large chunk out of the side, and moved up to it. Aleister used his Omnicom to scan for the power source, but instead discovered the unsafe radiation levels in the area, which caused them to retreat to a safe distance. Nathan and JAck decided to go back to the ship to see if they could find anything that could help against the radiation, while Bill and Aleister stayed behind to try and pinpoint where the power source was.
On returning to the ship, they took another look at the bodies and realized they could possibly cobble together a couple working environmental suits from the six damaged ones. This they did, and discovered, quite accidentally, that there was a communicator in the suits capable of contacting the ship's computer, and so they were able to ask it some further questions.
They found out that the spiders were called Gravity Spiders (see my write up in the Aliens section) and that they were weapons created by The House Military on Gallifrey. They were capable of homing in on microgravity shifts occurring when a dimensional or time capable ship was materializing or dematerializing. Nathan speculated that they had accidentally locked onto the ship when it crashed.
Meanwhile, Aleister was just about done with his survey when they heard a voice screech EX-TERM-I-NATE! and an energy bolt flew by them from the open space in the hull of the saucer. They ducked behind cover, and attempted to talk to the dalek, but they noted its speech was odd, and halting, even for a dalek, and it seemed a lot less interested in talking than in exterminating them. It kept them pinned down for a while, until Nathan and JAck returned...
They were quickly brought up to speed on the situation, and were devising a plan (involving not just the power source but an apparently active panel on the saucer bridge), when Bill bolted, trying to get to the opposite side of the vessel. She narrowly missed being exterminated (a tie between her dodge and the dalek's marksman, breaking in her favor) and so got pinned down on her own. Nathan decided to break the other direction, and dodged energy bolts until he was safe. Jack and Aleister began talking to the dalek again, keeping its attention on them.
It informed them that if they surrendered they could serve the greater Dalek cause, and more importantly, they could help it get out of this place. They responded by mocking it, which it didn't take kindly to, and it took a few more pot shot at them, before falling silent.
Nathan and Bill found a hatch on the far side, and forced it open wide enough for NAthan to get inside. He made his way to the bridge and began trying to figure out the controls, finding something that resembled a dematerialization circuit... and realized just before he activated it that it would dematerialize *instantly*, not only trapping him in the ship, but summoning the Gravity spiders. He radioed this to Jack.
Aleister was on top of it, and used his resourceful pockets trait to dig out a futuristic egg-timer and rig it for a ten minute delay. This he gave to Jack who would take it in to Nathan, while he and Bill returned to the ship and tried to prepare it for flight. They ran cables back to the ship, but needed the saucer end connected by Nathan and Jack before it would work.
On the bridge however, Nathan found himself attacked by a dalek mutant. (As a side note, they never bothered to find out why it was out of its casing, or why it was attacking then bare-tentacled. Had they investigated, they would have found its casing was in horribly damaged condition and incapable of moving more than a few feet. Its gun was also largely depleted of energy. Had someone been hit by it, it would have been for much reduced damage.) After a few moments of dodging tentacles, Jack arrived, and they began trying to push over equipment and consoles onto it until they finally trapped it. (Coordination reduced to 0). Then they activated the timer... AND THEN were informed that they had to hook up the power conduits on their end. With much cursing they ran to the engine room where Jack was able to hook in the cables, and then they fled back to the TARDIS.
From there, things went off more or less without a hitch. They used the computer to find out what the dematerialization sequence was, which, between Nathan's photgraphic memory and Aleister's knowledge of vortex manipulators, they were able to set off, once the Gravity spiders had been drawn off by the dematerializing Dalek wreck. They caught the wake of the explosion and rode it out, and found themselves on their way to a random set of pre-set coordinates they found in the ship's computer.
And so ended the first story of my campaign. Next week I'm considering running Judoom! but I'll have to read it over again. I may substitute Arrowdown, but we'll see. By that time, I think we'll all have enough confidence in the system to go forward full throttle.
My one concern for this week... since it was an adventure that largely involved a lot of technology and a bit of fighting, Jack's player felt a little bit unneeded and something of a fifth wheel. There just wasn't much call for history or archaeology in it. I'm not sure how to address this in future Sci-Fi oriented sessions. Suggestions?
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Post by JohnK on Jan 21, 2010 16:17:07 GMT
Hullo, Null and Void, Sounds like a fun time was had, mate. Got a question for you... First off, when making the scan rolls for stuff using the scanning device, what did you use for the rolls Attribute and Skill wise, and did you give a bonus for using the device? An observation... Yes, that scenario made sense to have lots of Awareness rolls and lots of fixing technology, trying to understand technology, and so forth rolls. I think games of Doctor Who-like stories and plots can fall into this sort of trap, because they are obvious skills that we see used in the series a lot. The key becomes incorporating ideas and concepts into our stories that encourage the use of other skills. My one concern for this week... since it was an adventure that largely involved a lot of technology and a bit of fighting, Jack's player felt a little bit unneeded and something of a fifth wheel. There just wasn't much call for history or archaeology in it. I'm not sure how to address this in future Sci-Fi oriented sessions. Suggestions? Well, would it have been possible for the character to use the History or Archaeology skills to see what he could find out about some of the other alien vessels, or perhaps the character could have gone to check out the ruined ships, maybe finding something that the skills could be used for? In answer to your question, however, the key will be to write a scenario or a sub-plot in a scenario that gives Jack the opportunity to shine a little bit. To some extent, this is a common problem I think with writing scenarios set with a TARDIS and its crew, especially if there are more than 2 companions - finding things for the various characters, who may be very different in style and feel to one another, to do. I don't think it's a huge problem for GMs who can think on the fly, but it may be more difficult for a GM who isn't good at improvising (and you don't strike me that way). Anyway, hope this helps. Good write-up, want to give you some Karma, but I've got to wait an hour to do so. Btw, have you looked over the second session of "Ghosts in the Machine" yet? |
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Post by Null and Void on Jan 21, 2010 16:42:57 GMT
Hullo, Null and Void, Sounds like a fun time was had, mate. Got a question for you... First off, when making the scan rolls for stuff using the scanning device, what did you use for the rolls Attribute and Skill wise, and did you give a bonus for using the device? I actually just had him roll the Ingenuity + Technology roll, but it allowed him to gather the information without having to tear things apart or get too close. In retrospect, I should have used Awareness + Technology for scanning, but... Live and learn. Still getting used to things. And thats why I noted it... so I can remember that in the future and mix things up. Looking over my list of scenarios I've prepared, I think there will be enough variety in the future that it won't be TOO much of a problem. |
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Post by The Professor on Jan 21, 2010 19:23:11 GMT
First off, a little Karma your way. That was another great session read. Sounds like the start of a fun campaign.
In regards to your question about Jack, John pretty much hit on the best suggestions. I also have had games where I've informed players that there may be some tims where the focus is not on them. that way either they'll work hard to participate when they can, or at least be aware that it's not negligence on my part as a GM and I'm not intentionally ignoring them.
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Post by JohnK on Jan 21, 2010 21:07:46 GMT
Hullo, Null and Void, Sounds like a fun time was had, mate. Got a question for you... First off, when making the scan rolls for stuff using the scanning device, what did you use for the rolls Attribute and Skill wise, and did you give a bonus for using the device? I actually just had him roll the Ingenuity + Technology roll, but it allowed him to gather the information without having to tear things apart or get too close. In retrospect, I should have used Awareness + Technology for scanning, but... Live and learn. Still getting used to things. Actually, I kind of thought that both Awareness and Ingenuity can be rolled with Technology, depending on what one is trying to do with the skill. Like you said, live and learn. But what about giving a bonus to the character when using an appropriate device like a scanner to make the scan, or a tool kit to make the repairs? Thats the idea... there are certainly some historical scenarios that he'll excel at where themore technically minded ones may find themselves at a loss. He's also given me an incredibly specific request for a future story... alien, time, location, and even vehicle. Essentially, he's requested something that I can adapt an old Hammer film for (One he's not seen), so it will be an easy request to fulfill. Yes, the historical scenarios are ones where the character will be better off using those skills, but there are also other situations where they can be used as well. Damn, that sounds like an interesting scenario...and now you've got me all curious. (Any chance of you dishing in PM?) Btw, have you looked over the second session of "Ghosts in the Machine" yet? I did, and I actually gave you karma... I just didn't comment because I couldn't think of anything intelligent to put down. Its been a frazzling few days and my brain is burned out. Tell me about it. Been working my butt off on a couple of projects for work, and putting in a bit of time on the PBeM game as well. That and trying to get Jo Grant done up for the forums. (She's done and going up shortly.) And, as promised, here's the Karma point for this. |
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Post by Curufea on Jan 21, 2010 22:12:31 GMT
I've a few comments Introducing Artron energy as a power source for the spiders - I'd always thought Artron was mostly psychic energy and a kind of nebulous undefined energy that very few people know about. I wouldn't have thought anyone other than a Gallifreyan would even have heard of it. I take it the Timeship is a warship - but if the spiders are House Military, shouldn't the ship be as well? Or are you making the Timeship something more interesting than a House Military ship? As for the archeologist - might I suggest dumping them into the Dalek Empire at some stage? He could have invaluable informatoin about any of the major wars involving humanity (ie Cybermen come to mind as well). If you want to have an FP twist to it, you could also have the PCs being hunted down by some kind of combat monster - which could be the nth regeneration of one of the surviving pilots of the Timeship. It may even be a regeneration gone wrong, where the intelligence hasn't carried over properly. Anyhow, sounds fun, a good writeup of the sessions, and well done! |
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Post by Null and Void on Jan 22, 2010 14:02:12 GMT
I've a few comments Introducing Artron energy as a power source for the spiders - I'd always thought Artron was mostly psychic energy and a kind of nebulous undefined energy that very few people know about. I wouldn't have thought anyone other than a Gallifreyan would even have heard of it. I've always believed it was somewhat psychic in nature as well, indicating it had a certain amount of intelligence to it, AS WELL AS having the standard properties of energy. This makes for a very weird substance. I've always felt Artron energy was something necessary for Time Travel, and so the only people who discover it are the ones that actually USE time travel technologies. Consequently, the Time Agency would have at least a knowledge of it, even if they don't fully understand what they have. Of the players, the only one who might have knowledge of it is Aleister... all the others know is what scanner told them. If we want to get really weird, and pull in a lot more Faction stuff, I could always say that Red Uranium generates Artron Radiation, and that the Spiders were primed with Red Uranium. Actually, no, its not. One thing I didn't want was players having access to a Ship of War. There are no weapons aboard, so in that sense I've gone more traditional. I pictured perhaps a fast recon ship. However, its become something slightly more... it has a consciousness merged from its former pilot. So, in that way it is sort of a hybrid, but also somewhat haunted. The players are unaware of this yet, and haven't really questioned why the hologram of the Pilot appears every time they pose a question to the computer. The Spiders ARE House Military, but the Ship was badly damaged when it came across a Dalek fleet. As it turns out, the Daleks were the target for the Spiders, but the ship crashed and didn't broadcast the right 'friend or foe' code because of damage, so the spiders latched on, but couldn't get joined up in time to completely destroy it. Its the exquivalent of a soldier stepping on an unexploded mine, that turns out to be from his own side. I actually find the Daleks rather boring, and would rather find something more interesting to have them face. The Cybermen are much more appealing, especially from an archaeological standpoint. Not only do I intend to have an archaeological scenario that involves cybermen, One of the characters, Nathan, is from a point in Earth history that has seen a couple cyber wars already. Interesting idea... I wish I'd thought of it before the players gave the bodies a 'Burial at Vortex'. However, that certainly doesn't preclude something like that happening. Thanks! |
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Post by Null and Void on Jan 22, 2010 14:10:21 GMT
Its certainly a possibility, but I would also think that would mean the trait 'Technically Adept' was given to the gadget in question (For example, the sample 'Engineer's Mate' gadget). I would think that since thats not a trait you can stack, it would be fairly useless if you already had the trait 'Technically Adept.' Sure, I can give you a heads up, with a caveat that its only a sentance or two long at this point. For me, its been... believe it or not... Paranormal investigation. I've had group functions pretty much every night this week, and into the weekend. meetings, site surveys, investigations... I wish it would slow down, so I could have more time to RP. |
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Post by JohnK on Jan 22, 2010 15:57:59 GMT
Hullo, Null and Void, Its certainly a possibility, but I would also think that would mean the trait 'Technically Adept' was given to the gadget in question (For example, the sample 'Engineer's Mate' gadget). I would think that since thats not a trait you can stack, it would be fairly useless if you already had the trait 'Technically Adept.' While I understand what you're getting at here, I always thought the Technically Adept Trait was meant to allow characters bonuses on the fixing of broken things and the use of complex gadgets. What I'm getting at here is that a player making repairs to something (regardless of whether they have Technically Adept or not) receives no benefits from using a tool kit. So, by definition, does a character without a tool kit take a penalty to fixing something? Sure, I can give you a heads up, with a caveat that its only a sentance or two long at this point. Ah, but I fully expect to see a full fledged Adventure Seed at some point... You're just too prolific. For me, its been... believe it or not... Paranormal investigation. I've had group functions pretty much every night this week, and into the weekend. meetings, site surveys, investigations... I wish it would slow down, so I could have more time to RP. That's just a function of Real Life(tm). Things have a way of balancing out, so to speak. |
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Post by Null and Void on Jan 28, 2010 20:13:46 GMT
WARNING.... SPOILERS FOR JUDOOM! FOLLOW: So the next installment has the players in flight to some random destination chosen from the TARDIS' memory banks. Jack is off exploring the TARDIS while Nathan, Aleister, and Bill all try to repair it in their own way. However, before much can be done, the central column shudders and seems to seize up and the whole craft lurches. They checked the readings and the viewscreen to see where they were. They saw a small asteroid field in front of them which they thought was interesting, and noted that the time and location indicators placed them in the Sol system, near Earth, and the asteroids were most likely from the Perseid cluster. Nathan decided to try and fly the ship in Real Space, and so (using ingenuity + transport) managed to rotate the capsule in time to see a huge ship on a collision course with them. Aleister leapt to the console, and, having the vortex trait, was able to dematerialize the capsule for a moment to save them. It materialized onboard. As soon as they materialized, Bill went running out in an enthusiasm to explore, and, with a weary glance between the two of them, Aleister and Nathan followed. It didn't take long before a squad of Judoon found them, and held them at gunpoint. Aleister ran, but didn't manage to hide very well and was dragged back to the others. The lead judoon took off his helmet and scanned them, informing them that they had been found guilty of the misdemeanor crime of trespassing, and would be taken to the captain for sentencing. The captain proved fairly uncooperative, however, when he noticed from the scan that Nathan and Bill were from the 21st century. He decided to offer them a deal... 5 years of prison time plus a 50000 credit fine, or... sentence commuted in exchange for community service on a work release program. The characters enthusiastically accepted the work release. The captain had them issued with translators and instructed them that the ship was off course and that a plague was infecting the ship. Oddly, he refused to answer what the symptoms of the plague was, but sent them to go mark areas as 'safe' or 'quarantined'. The characters didn't spend a lot of time debating , but for to work. They quickly noticed that the comms terminals were smashed between the bridge and the rest of the ship. Aleister took out his omnicomm and tried to scan the ruined console... and was able to discover that there were old earth media signals clogging the ship. However, when he tried to examine them more, he very nearly found himself hypnotised but was able to shake it off. Nathan and Aleister began to suspect the signals may have been the source of the mysterious 'plague' and speculated as to whether that was what caused the TARDIS to malfunction. (Never mind the generally poor condition of the thing in the first place.) Aleister used the omnicomm again in order to track the nature of a signal, but after a disasterous result, the gadget burned out. (Netting him back the 2 story points tied up in it, for the duration of the story). Moving on they found more smashed comms, and then stumbled into the Mess Hall, much to Bill's delight. She ran off into the tall grass, and after an arguement between Nathan and Aleister, Nathan left Aleister to find the girl on his own while he continued the task at hand. Bill discovered the wildlife in the Mess Hall, and decided she needed a Rockdog as a pet... (and after an animal friendship check, and an expenditure of many story points, she got one.). (I've not decided about what to do about the rockdog yet. I will have to stat it up, I suppose. I demanded 5 story points, largely out of annoyance that something so tangential should become of such importance to Bill. But, it was happily paid.) Nathan discovered signs of a struggle, and managed to deduce that it seemed to be the Captain who was responsible. When Aleister and Bill joined them, Aleister perceived that the Captsain seemed to be responsible for the smashing of the terminals as well. Bill was the first to point out that there might been comm equipment in the captains helmet, and he might have been being infected by the strange hypnotic signals that Aleister experienced. The struggle marks may have been his attempt to smash the equipment. None of them could fathom why they were sent on their mission though, especially if he was infected. The next level they began to hear voices, and tracked it down to a Judoon in a cell, who seemed thrilled to see humans and began throwing strange pop culture phrases at them. Unsure what to do about this bizarre encounter, they again began to speculate about the comms terminals, when the judoon, who introduced himself as Flo, explained that he was the communications officer, and told them of the mission of the ship to track and capture an electroform criminal. This criminal impersonated signals and started wars by creating hostile signals. Flo was scanning for him when he found the Earth transmissions and got fascinated by them, learning as much as he could about earth culture. Bill was suspicious that Flo was infected, but when he offered to help Aleister get back into the comm system, Nathan and Aleister agreed. Between them, they were able to break into the system and discovered that the orders to capture the electroform were false, and that the electroform was trying to get to the judoon homeworld. Worse, the shields and engines of the ship were disabled, and they were entering the asteroid field. Boom! The ship was rocked by an impact. Flo and Nathan rushed to the Engine room, while Bill and Aleister tried to use the broken omnicomm and parts cannibalized from the comm system to develop a trap for the electroform. Down in the Engine room, Flo and Nathan reversed the polarity of the engine, effectively 'jump starting' it, when the others arrived and hooked up their trap. Several more impacts occurred, and they realized that the shields had to be turned on from the bridge. Bill rushed to the lift to go to the bridge, but was blocked when Captain Kro emerged from the lift. The Judoon tried to grab her, but Bill managed to get around him and into the lift, headed for the bridge. Flo and Nathan engaged the captain, Flo with his bare hands, and Nathan with a Judoon stunner. After several rounds, they succeeded in knicking him out long enough for the electroform to escape his host and Aleaister activated the trap. After a few rounds of struggle the creature was trapped. Bill ran out onto the bridge, and announced that the Captain had ordered all bridge personnel to the engine room. Remarkably, with a very high roll on her Presence + Convince, and a very low roll on their resistance, the Judoon obeyed instantly, apparently conditioned to accept a command from anyone who could issue them an order with authority. As soon as they were gone, she activated the shields in time to prevent a massive collision that would have torn the ship in two. The Captain awoke, and rather gruffly acknowledged that the others had done a good job. He validated there community service was complete, and ended their sentence in appreciation... as much as a judoon CAN show appreciation. As for Officer Flo, the Captain declared him a hero of the Judoon... and then ordered him back to his cell. He still lacked focus and discipline, and now had a charge of escaping added on to it. FLo asked the characters if they could take him with them, and they agreed, slipping away when no one was looking. They decided to drop him off on Earth, and Nathan suggested UNIT. With an absolutely remarkable roll, Aleister managed to materialize dead center of the UNIT Director General's office in Geneva. With a little fast talking and diplomacy, they convinced them to take Flo on... And then they were off for their next adventure. Thoughts: The scenario, as written, was a little thin, and was missing large sections of explanation. This was confirmed by the players. Largely, there are a lots items mentioned in the scenario that are never explained... so it required a lot of improvising. For example... what are the symptoms of the supposed 'plague'? Why are all the parts of the ship deserted? Where did the rest of the crew go? Nothing insurmountable, but it could have stood with a bit of fleshing out. The players however, latched onto the more slapstick aspects of the scenario, and played them up. So, they had a bit of fun regardless of the weakness of the scenario. Next week... Cybermen. |
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Post by Kit on Jan 28, 2010 22:07:12 GMT
Looks like you are having fun with this. Thanks for sharing.
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Post by Curufea on Jan 28, 2010 22:52:49 GMT
Excellent! Cybermen to come too As to the rockdog pet - I've had players become fascinated with pets and things before. If they're investing points in it, it should be useful somehow. But it also should come with plot hooks attached. Thanks to the New Series, we now have more excuse to think 4-dimensionally, and an item does not have to be special in its past to be special - there can be ripples from the future as to its eventual potential. So you can basically either give it hooks to use randomly later, or you can build an arc on it with "Bad Wolf" style hints. It gives the player something to roleplay with as well - a prop for expositions or just to have fun with. |
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Post by JohnK on Jan 28, 2010 22:54:04 GMT
Hullo, Null and Void, Good stuff, good writing. Sounds like the players are having a good deal of fun with the game, and have a good grasp of things and how they work in DW: AiTaS. Have a(nother) point of Karma! Btw, looking forward to the Cybermen stuff. Classic or New? |
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Post by The Professor on Jan 28, 2010 22:59:11 GMT
Another well done write up N&V (Karma-rific). Fortunately, my player's have not yet blind-sided me with anything off the wall....yet ^_^ But fortunately, I've convinced them to keep this as the main campaign, so I suppose anything can happen.
BTW, Cybermen? Ooooo! Can't wait.
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Post by Null and Void on Jan 29, 2010 0:03:00 GMT
Hullo, Null and Void, Good stuff, good writing. Sounds like the players are having a good deal of fun with the game, and have a good grasp of things and how they work in DW: AiTaS. Have a(nother) point of Karma! Btw, looking forward to the Cybermen stuff. Classic or New? I was actually thinking of the tomb of the Cybermen era Cybermen. Definately one of the earlier ones, Mondasian or Telosian. I needed ones that were space capable, and the new series ones don't seem to be. Thank you for the karma! |
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Post by Null and Void on Jan 29, 2010 0:09:12 GMT
Another well done write up N&V (Karma-rific). Fortunately, my player's have not yet blind-sided me with anything off the wall....yet ^_^ But fortunately, I've convinced them to keep this as the main campaign, so I suppose anything can happen. BTW, Cybermen? Ooooo! Can't wait. Players always blind side you eventually. I actually expect this a lot from this character who is more ADHD than an entire kindergarten hyped on sugar and caffeine. the other players were even musing on the merits of Judoon stunners as ritalin substitutes. Thank you also for the karma |
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Post by JohnK on Jan 29, 2010 15:19:05 GMT
Hullo, Null and Void, Good stuff, good writing. Sounds like the players are having a good deal of fun with the game, and have a good grasp of things and how they work in DW: AiTaS. Have a(nother) point of Karma! Btw, looking forward to the Cybermen stuff. Classic or New? I was actually thinking of the tomb of the Cybermen era Cybermen. Definately one of the earlier ones, Mondasian or Telosian. I needed ones that were space capable, and the new series ones don't seem to be. Thank you for the karma! I actually like the Cybermen from "The Tombs of the Cybermen", but depends on what you're doing with them. The Mondasian and Telosian Cybermen are very different in feel, although I have to say that the assessment of the different Cybermen in AHistory, 2nd Edition, page 123, was fascinating, and gave me ideas on a few things. Haven't come up yet with a story idea that's good enough for Cybermen for my own campaign. *sigh* As for the Karma, well, you earned it in my opinion. Now I just have to remember to post up my write-up on last Friday night's game. Forgot all about it this week.  |
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xandines
2nd Incarnation
Posts: 35 
Favourite Doctors: 6th and all the others
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Post by xandines on Jan 29, 2010 15:26:04 GMT
The throughton era's cybermen are my favorite. that's this one i use in my own campaign.
Unfortunnatly i'm the only one in my group to know them, and i'm not an expert, so i created lot of material to help them.
one of them said that they look like teapot... philistine.
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Post by Null and Void on Jan 29, 2010 15:45:48 GMT
Hullo, Null and Void, I was actually thinking of the tomb of the Cybermen era Cybermen. Definately one of the earlier ones, Mondasian or Telosian. I needed ones that were space capable, and the new series ones don't seem to be. Thank you for the karma! I actually like the Cybermen from "The Tombs of the Cybermen", but depends on what you're doing with them. The Mondasian and Telosian Cybermen are very different in feel, although I have to say that the assessment of the different Cybermen in AHistory, 2nd Edition, page 123, was fascinating, and gave me ideas on a few things. Haven't come up yet with a story idea that's good enough for Cybermen for my own campaign. *sigh* As for the Karma, well, you earned it in my opinion. Now I just have to remember to post up my write-up on last Friday night's game. Forgot all about it this week. Ok, here's the basic idea behind the scenario. The TARDIS crew materialize on a Dyson sphere, and find a team of Data Archaelogists who are looking into the forgotten history of the sphere. The Dyson sphere has trillions of inhabitants, but the secrets of its construction were lost in time. The Cybermen... I'm thinking they are from the same era as the Tomb ones, so the cybermen are thought to be either extinct or dying out after the ends of the Cyberwars. They have infiltrated the sphere, acting as 'friends' to the inhabitants (largely because they know that they are too few to take on billions) and are offering 'medical assistance' and 'life extension' technology to the locals... cybernetic limbs, and full conversion for the elderly and dying. They are working behind the scenes. When the Data Archeaologists make a important discovery that will allow the Cybermen to take the next step in their invasion, they come out of hiding and hold the entire Dyson Sphere hostage. |
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Post by JohnK on Jan 29, 2010 15:55:42 GMT
Hullo, Null and Void, Ok, here's the basic idea behind the scenario. The TARDIS crew materialize on a Dyson sphere, and find a team of Data Archaelogists who are looking into the forgotten history of the sphere. The Dyson sphere has trillions of inhabitants, but the secrets of its construction were lost in time. The Cybermen... I'm thinking they are from the same era as the Tomb ones, so the cybermen are thought to be either extinct or dying out after the ends of the Cyberwars. They have infiltrated the sphere, acting as 'friends' to the inhabitants (largely because they know that they are too few to take on billions) and are offering 'medical assistance' and 'life extension' technology to the locals... cybernetic limbs, and full conversion for the elderly and dying. They are working behind the scenes. When the Data Archeaologists make a important discovery that will allow the Cybermen to take the next step in their invasion, they come out of hiding and hold the entire Dyson Sphere hostage. Now that is a very cool, very neat basic plot for a scenario involving Cybermen. Using the "Tomb" Cybermen is a neat touch, because as you say it makes the Cybermen thought to be dead and/or extinct. Look forward to hearing more about the scenario, or possibly seeing this as a full-fledge Adventure Seed at some point. |
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Post by Curufea on Jan 29, 2010 23:22:55 GMT
Do you know the population you would have in a Dyson Sphere? There would be more people there than in most galactic empires combined. 2.72x10^17 km^2, or around 550 million times the surface area of the Earth I once had an Amber character who was from Dyson Sphere shadow ruled by the AIs of the Matrix BTW, on a note of trivia - Freeman Dyson proposed platforms on rings around a sun, not a full shell. I think it was scifi writers that first attributed a full shell to him. The primary purpose of a Dyson is to collect energy from the sun. But then, I guess everyone knows that who has bothered to use the internet |
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Post by Null and Void on Jan 30, 2010 0:32:27 GMT
Do you know the population you would have in a Dyson Sphere? There would be more people there than in most galactic empires combined. 2.72x10^17 km^2, or around 550 million times the surface area of the Earth I once had an Amber character who was from Dyson Sphere shadow ruled by the AIs of the Matrix BTW, on a note of trivia - Freeman Dyson proposed platforms on rings around a sun, not a full shell. I think it was scifi writers that first attributed a full shell to him. The primary purpose of a Dyson is to collect energy from the sun. But then, I guess everyone knows that who has bothered to use the internet I DID know that in fact. The low population is by design on my part, and the platforms in question are going to be a key plot point. The energy collection systems will be posed as a way to eliminate the cyber threat... by feeding back too much energy to them. |
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Post by JohnK on Jan 30, 2010 15:15:15 GMT
Hullo, Null and Void, I DID know that in fact. The low population is by design on my part, and the platforms in question are going to be a key plot point. The energy collection systems will be posed as a way to eliminate the cyber threat... by feeding back too much energy to them. I am curious about something here. What are you using as the rationale for the low population of the Dyson sphere? |
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Post by Null and Void on Jan 30, 2010 15:43:13 GMT
Hullo, Null and Void, I DID know that in fact. The low population is by design on my part, and the platforms in question are going to be a key plot point. The energy collection systems will be posed as a way to eliminate the cyber threat... by feeding back too much energy to them. The people on there are not the builders of the sphere, who disappeared, perhaps in a plague, millennia ago. The ones that ARE the are from a group of colonists who have been living there for several thousand years on their own, and who don't remember that their people did NOT build it. They've been around long enough to increase the population to its present levels. The Data Archaeologists are only just beginning to suspect the true origins of their people. I am curious about something here. What are you using as the rationale for the low population of the Dyson sphere? |
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Post by JohnK on Jan 30, 2010 22:21:29 GMT
Hullo, Null and Void, I am curious about something here. What are you using as the rationale for the low population of the Dyson sphere? The people on there are not the builders of the sphere, who disappeared, perhaps in a plague, millennia ago. The ones that ARE the are from a group of colonists who have been living there for several thousand years on their own, and who don't remember that their people did NOT build it. They've been around long enough to increase the population to its present levels. The Data Archaeologists are only just beginning to suspect the true origins of their people. Hmm, that rationale makes a lot of sense, even if I don't recall from the original post how many colonists are now living on the Dyson sphere. Several thousand years is quite a while for them to breed, barring major catastrophes such as natural phenomena and plagues and the like, so I trust the numbers are almost right on that element. But I do like the rationale for this that you've provided. |
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Post by Null and Void on Feb 4, 2010 15:27:25 GMT
This Weeks episode: The Silver World, Part 1
The crew are in flight after dropping off Judoon Trooper Flo on Earth in 2020. There is still a lot of repair work to be done, and mot everyone is doing their part. Jack is busily trying to figure out the origins of the Time Capsule, Aleister and Bill are working to repair some of the systems, and Nathan has opted to begin a log he can turn over to UNIT.
Bill begins playing with some console connection she's unfamiliar with, and it sends a ripple through the entire ship (Side note, although no one figured it out, she was playing with the architectural reconfiguration system. After doing it several times, Jack and Nathan grabbed her by the feet and dragged her bodily out from under the console.
Nathan quickly checked the coordinates to see if they were still on course (though they have no idea where they are headed.) and declared that everything was safe, and Bill hadn't messed them up. But then the ship lurched and began accelerating. The ship was yanked out of the Vortex by a gravity well, and Aleistair couldn't get it stabilized (The only instance in game of someone hindering themselves for Story Points). Nathan however, was able to get it direct it in real space flight, and they found themselves falling toward a massive object that they were quickly able to deduce was a Dyson Sphere. JAck managed to bring the capsule to a skidding halt on the surface, and they had some room to breath again.
The lure of finding out what might be inside such a structure was too great a curiousity for them, and so they used the real space flight mode to lower themselves through an opening and down to the surface. They noted the large panels that seemed to float between the inner surface of the sphere and the star it surrounded. They also noticed vegetation and even an area of population. To the extreme range of their sensors, it only detected about a trillian life forms, so they steered toward that.
To his surprise and consternation, Nathan discovered that some automatic landing computer had activated, and it set them down on the outskirts of the most populated are... on top of what looked like a Mesa overgrown with jungle. Once landed, Bill once again rushed outside (prior to checking if there was a breathable atmosphere.) For once though, the others simply followed her out.
They had landed near what looked like an overgrown Mayan pyramid. They marvel for awhile at the engineering of the place, and spent some time speculating about who built it (Navigation showed it was in one of the older parts of the Universe). Bill pointed out that there were people at the pyramid, and so they set off to meet them.
As they approached, Jack noted that the encampment had the look of an archeologist's base camp. They were spotted by a man who came out to greet them. He introduced himself as Scholar Revlan Rix, and explained that he was part of an archaeolgical expedition led by Scholar Prime Soonyi Dayce. He was surprised to see another group, and assumed they were from another expedition, and enquired after what university they represented. When Jack claimed to be from The University of Edinborough, Rix look confused, but generally accepting. When they asked his institution in return he told them 'Alpha'.
He took them into the camp and introduced them to the Scholar Prime and the other members of the expedition... Scholar Prime Soonyi Dayce, Scholar Tamlan Boy, Senior Student Dexlan Brek, and Students Ishlan Pak and Securi Mig. They discussed pleasantries for a bit, and the characters were able to establish themselves as being a seperate, though highly eccentric, expedition. There was an agreement made that they would not 'poach' on the pyramid, as that was the job of the Dayce Expedition.
Rix offered to show them the main features of the dig, as a professional courtesy. NAthan feigned disinterest and instead joined Senior Student Brek, and the other Students on one of their minor jobs, which seemed to be attaching datapads to subterranian cabling and taking readings. He was able to get a bit more information from them, finding out that they were looking for the technologies that helped to build the sphere. They claimed their ancestors had built it, but after a plague, or some other catastrophe, most of the knowledge was wiped out. Theyare attempting to recover their past. Brek left to take some data to the Scholars, and Nathan took advantage of the situation to steal Student Pak's datapad. All he could see in it was mathematical formulas, but he still pocketed it.
In the meanwhile, Rix and the others went onto the pyramid where he showed them the main portal that they had managed to get open. He keyed in a sequence on the lock, claiming it required a complex geometric algorythm in order to open and it had taken them days of work with their data excavator to break it.
Taking them inside he showed them a second set of doors, to which a large machine was hooked up. The machine was their Data Excavator and it was presently engaged in trying to break the codes of the next set of doors. Bill, being Bill, took one look at the data it was trying and walked over to the door and quickly typed in a series, and the doors opened. She was once more living up to her reputation as a child prodigy! Rix radioed back that they were in, and the rest of the crew joined them.
They entered the pyramid and found a massive room full of building sized machines of different shapes and configurations. After looking around for a bit, Scholar Prime Dayce ordered the Data Excavator brought in and wanted it hooked up to one of the machines to begin their analysis. The prospect of this terrified Jack (I may end up giving him the cowardly trait if he keeps this up), and he gave an impassioned speech about the dangers of such an approach and advocated a more cautious, deductive approach. Reluctantly, after his speech apparently sways Scholar Boy, Student Pak, and Senior Student Brek, she agreed.
They broke into smaller groups and began looking into the machines. Nathan accidentally activated one, and it opened up. They were able to climb inside and found what appeared to be a cargo bay that was still partially covered in mineral dust. General consensus was that it was an Ore Carrier. Eager to find out if it was still in working order, Nathan ignored Scholar Prime's request to leave the machines and return to base camp. She sent Tamlan Boy after him to recover him, and then confronted Jack, demanding to know if his group was a part of something called the FNL.
It seems his attitudes to the technology is similar to theirs, and his constant messages of caution seems to echo their philosophy. He managed to (barely) convice her that he was not a member of such an organization, and that the rest of his party weren't either. She remained suspicious of them.
Nathan in the meantime had found the control room of the ore carrier and had discovered to his disappointment that it appeared to be robotic. There were no flight controls... so, he dejectedly returned to the group, shepherded by Scholar Boy
That night (Night being defines as a time when one of the power collection screens eclipses the Star), they were able to find out a little more... the FNL mention was the 'Foundation for a Natural Life' and advocated a sort of spiritual rejection of technology. Their belief was that their ancestors were wiped out for a reason, after the creation of the Sphere, and that it was a sign that they should not pursue the sort of knowledge about how it was built and instead live a simpler, less technological life. Though not stated explicitly, it was implied that some members of the FNL are more militant about it than others.
NAthan gave Bill the pad he'd stolen earlier, and she was able to bring up information on the formulas that were on there. They were apparently diagnostics that the pads could tap into and see how much power was being redirected to the Pyramid from the solar collectors of the sphere. They use this data to try and deduce what sort of technology might be within a site. In this case, the pyramid seemed to be drawing moe power than it technically should have for a dormant facility.
Jack returned to the TARDIS and did some quick research, and discovered himans had only colonized this area of space a few thousand years ago... it was *highly* unlikely their ancestors had anything to do with the construction of the Sphere.
Bill, meanwhile, noticed there was an encryption on part of the pad, and worked at trying to break it. It proved tricker than she thought, and needed more time to work on it.
The next morning saw both teams up and running... Scholar Prime had consulted with Scholar Boy and Scholar Rix and they had decided to hook up the data excavator to one of the machines in the Bay. They chose one, apparently at random, and Rix began to oversee the scan while Senior Student Brek assisted him, and the others took their own readings.
The first sign of trouble was when Jack and Bill noticed a vibration that seemed to be growing. By the time the others noticed it, it was too late... parts of the machine were glowing ominously electric blue... Rix yelled that it was going to explode, and everyone started running. The resulting explosion.... was the cliffhanger ending for the week.
Notes: They still are struggling with the idea of story points. I have a feeling its going to take longer for them to get used to them than I thought. Suprisingly, Alistair did fairly little this week, apart from hit on Scholar Rix and Student Mig. I'll have to check with the player to see if that was something intentional on his part. The explosion actually only became the cliffhanger once the game began to go late. Jack's reluctance to let them use the Data Excavator and Nathan's side trip through the Ore Carrier were completely unplanned, and took longer than it should have, due to me trying to improvise. However, I was able to turn his obsession with spacecraft into a point of suspicion from the NPCs. The explosion was supposed to happen much sooner and would have gotten them to a medical hospice where the reveal of cybermen would have happened. However, this worked out a bit better, and now that they are thinking the FNL are the real enemies, the cybermen will be that much more of a surprise.
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