Sunday 30 December 2012

Some thoughts on Gamemastering

Or Five Old Guys Go Looking for Their Salad Days


This post started off as a write up of a game I ran last Friday. Then it went a bit philosophical so I’ve split it in two.

On Friday night, I had the pleasure of running a Classic Traveller game for the first time in at least four years. The players were four of my old gaming group who all happened to be in the country at the same time, for the first time in ages, and who all managed to get leave passes from wives and children.

I pregenerated ten Book 1 Army and Marine characters for Dylan and Chris to choose from, using the app on the Signal GK: Online Traveller Resource site, while Jonathan and John manually generated a couple of Book 4: Mercenary Army and Marine characters to refamiliarise themselves with the character generation rules.

I recall that back in the day we used to laugh about how all our characters were these ancient old fossils – Hell’s Grannies – and should really be tucked up in front of the telly with a cup of cocoa, rather than rushing around the universe, getting into gun fights with pirates and rogues. Now we’re saying, “He’s 42, what a pup! And he’s retired. His life’s just beginning. Your character is 22? Can he dress himself, yet?”

Age does tend to change one’s perspective.

I had bullet pointed out the adventure that I intended to run – working up some details to give a bit more background – and pretty much had a beginning, middle and end, though I was a little hazy about what the exact end would be. Oddly enough, this is my comfort zone as a Gamesmaster. Roleplaying is a collaborative exercise in storytelling and I want bits in there that surprise me, too.

In the past I have winged games to great success, and I have written successful scenarios. Of the two, the former relies upon the Gamesmaster knowing his setting very well, and being able to think on his feet. The latter also benefits from having a well developed setting but, to me and for my style of gamesmastering, is much more restrictive.

Early on in my roleplaying experience as a player, I saw incredibly complicatedly plotted adventures come completely off the rails because a) the players did something the Gamesmaster hadn’t expected; b) the players just couldn’t solve the cunning puzzle/trap and got bored; or c) the players missed the vital connection with the NPC who had the clue/tool/map/key that would have taken them to the next stage. In a discussion on G+, I suggested that Gamesmasters shouldn’t over think a scenario – if success of the mission depends upon one “thing” then you can almost guarantee that the players, when meeting the NPC with the clue, will instead mug him and take his stuff; that when the mysterious old man with the limp shows up with the warning, a player will kill him, or the party will flatly refuse to believe him; and when the players should be meeting the shifty ship captain down at the Rough and Tumble Tavern (Thursday night is Quiz Night), they’ll be uptown at Chez Swankies, knocking back wine coolers.

The secret, for me, in plotting an adventure is to work up the background and motives of the various Non-player groups in some detail, and then work out a basic story arc for the adventure as a series of bullet points. This means that you can chop and change your plan in response to the players’ actions while maintaining a logical narrative flow that pretty much writes itself. It also means that you can drop in the information/object/tool that are required to progress the story as you need it, rather than having to say, “sorry guys, if you’d looked behind the counter, back at the shop, you would have found the coil of rope you now need to escape from this Inescapable Pit of Doom.”

Writing a scenario should, in my opinion, be more like plotting a graphic novel or writing a film script, than writing a weighty tome of deathless prose. Chunks of what you plot will never be used, scenes will be deleted, and clever stuff that you’re really proud of will be ignored.

I'm not a fan of Total Party Kills, or even character kills. You do something dumb as a player and I'm usually prepared to help you out of it. Do something stupid, though, and you will be suffering consequences. I would define "dumb" as, say, trying to kill the space monster that's attacking you with a weapon that you can not only not use, but you can barely carry. "Stupid" might be defined as landing your scout ship on the roof of a ruined skyscraper in a city that's been a ruin for 200 years, without checking that the building is sound enough to bear the weight of your ship.

At the end of the day, the Gamesmaster and the Players aren't actually competing against each other - it's not that sort of game. It's about hanging out with friends and having a good time and telling a story together.

And, when time’s been called and you’re packing your dice away, if the Players say, “that was excellent! When’s the next session?” then you know you’ve done your job and aced it.



Next: Secrets in Sulphur – the game

Friday 28 December 2012

Solo Traveller - Aloin's Saga Backgrounder #6

Now that the Iridium Queen has entered Kamperelian Space, it’s time to look at the Kamperelian Navy.

With a Tech Level of 11 Kamperel, on the face of it, should not stand a chance against the might of the Imperium. In reality, the Kamperelian Republic controls over 80% of the population of the Miazan Subsector. With a wartime military budget of TCr32 (that’s 32 Trillion credits), the Kamperelian military budget dwarfs the TCr6.78 that the Duchy of Miazan is able to raise, while the Kamperelian Navy Yards have over nine times the capacity of the slips at Miazan.

As Miazan Subsector Navy can, at best, draw on about a squadron of Tech Level 15 Imperial Navy ships, the Kamperelian Navy is a current and growing threat.

Amongst the numerous classes of escort deployed by the Kamperelian Navy, the Revolutionary Class Frigate and the Van Dransiquor Class Missile Barge Frigate are two of the most common.

Ship: Glorious 2nd Ferami
Class: Revolutionary
Type: Frigate
Architect: David Billinghurst
Tech Level: 11





USPFF-E2266D4-790000-65000-0 MCr 5,749.5945 KTons
Bat Bear 123 Crew: 66
Bat  1 23 TL: 11





Cargo: 37 Crew Sections: 4 of 17 Fuel: 1,300 EP: 300 Agility: 4 Marines: 10
Craft: 2 x 50T Type-103 Cutters
Fuel Treatment: Fuel Scoops and On Board Fuel Purification

Architects Fee: MCr 56.228 Cost in Quantity: MCr 4,625.035


Detailed Description
(High Guard Design)

HULL
5,000.000 tons standard, 70,000.000 cubic meters, Cone Configuration

CREW
13 Officers, 43 Ratings, 10 Marines

ENGINEERING
Jump-2, 6G Manuever, Power plant-6, 300.000 EP, Agility 4

AVIONICS
Bridge, Model/4fib Computer

HARDPOINTS
3 50-ton bays, 20 Hardpoints

ARMAMENT
3 50-ton Plasma Gun Bays (Factor-5), 10 Triple Beam Laser Turrets organised into 2 Batteries (Factor-6)

DEFENCES
10 Triple Sandcaster Turrets organised into 1 Battery (Factor-9), Armoured Hull (Factor-7)

CRAFT
2 50.000 ton Type-103 Cutters (Crew of 1, Cost of MCr 63.400)

FUEL
1,300 Tons Fuel (2 parsecs jump and 28 days endurance)
On Board Fuel Scoops, On Board Fuel Purification Plant

MISCELLANEOUS
37 Staterooms, 37 Tons Cargo

USER DEFINED COMPONENTS
None

COST
MCr 5,679.022 Singly (incl. Architects fees of MCr 56.228), MCr 4,498.235 in Quantity, plus MCr 126.800 of Carried Craft

CONSTRUCTION TIME
148 Weeks Singly, 118 Weeks in Quantity

COMMENTS



Revolutionary Class Frigate

Book 5 Crew Breakdown
Command section: 7 officers and 4 ratings; Engineering section: 2 officers and 17 ratings; Gunnery section: 1 officers and 9 ratings; Flight section: 1 officers and 4 ratings; Service section: 1 officers and 9 ratings; Medical Section: 1 officers and 0 ratings; Marines: 10

HULL
Hull: 0.000 Td; MCr 550.000
Armour Factor-7: 1,200.000 Td; MCr 1,200.000

ENGINEERING
M-Drive Factor-6: 850.000 Td; MCr 425.000
J-Drive Factor-2: 150.000 Td; MCr 600.000
P-Plant Factor-6: 900.000 Td; MCr 2,700.000; +300.000 EP

FUEL
P-Fuel: 300.000 Td; MCr 0,000
J-Fuel: 1,000.000 Td; MCr 0.000
Scoops: 0.000 Td; MCr 5.000
Purification: 7.000 Td; MCr 0.034
L-Hyd Drop Tanks: 0.000 Td; MCr 0.000

AVIONICS
Bridge: 100.000 Td; MCr 25.000
Computer Model/4fib: 8.000 Td; MCr 45.000; -2 EP

WEAPONRY
3 x 50T Plasma Gun Bays: 150.000 Td; MCr 16.500; -30 EP
10 x Laser Turrets: 10.000 Td; MCr 30.000; -30 EP
10 x Sand Turrets: 10.000 Td; MCr 7.500

SCREENS

CRAFT
2 x Type-103 Cutter: 130.000Td; MCr 0.260; Cost of craft: MCr 126.800

ACCOMODATIONS
37.0 x Staterooms: 148.000 Td; MCr 18.500
Cargo: 37.000 Td; MCr 0.000

USER DEFINED




Ship: FM-3227
Class: Type-103
Type: Pinnace
Architect: David Billinghurst
Tech Level: 11




USPKG-0106621-A00000-00002-0 MCr 79.25050 Tons
Bat Bear       1 Crew: 1
Bat        1 TL: 11




Cargo: 3 Crew Sections: 1 of 1 Fuel: 3 EP: 3 Agility: 4
Fuel Treatment: Fuel Scoops

Architects Fee: MCr 0.793 Cost in Quantity: MCr 63.400


Detailed Description
(High Guard Design)

HULL
50.000 tons standard, 700.000 cubic meters, Needle/Wedge Configuration

CREW
1 Officer

ENGINEERING
Jump-0, 6G Manuever, Power plant-6, 3.000 EP, Agility 4

AVIONICS
No Bridge Installed, Model/3 Computer

HARDPOINTS
1 Hardpoint

ARMAMENT
1 Triple Missile Turret organised into 1 Battery (Factor-2)

DEFENCES
Armoured Hull (Factor-10)

CRAFT
None

FUEL
3 Tons Fuel (0 parsecs jump and 28 days endurance)
On Board Fuel Scoops, No Fuel Purification Plant

MISCELLANEOUS
12 Acceleration Couches, 3 Tons Cargo

USER DEFINED COMPONENTS
None

COST
MCr 80.043 Singly (incl. Architects fees of MCr 0.793), MCr 63.400 in Quantity

CONSTRUCTION TIME
24 Weeks Singly, 19 Weeks in Quantity

COMMENTS



Type-103 Class Pinnace

Book 5 Crew Breakdown
Command section: 1 officer; Engineering section: 0 officers and 0 ratings; Service section: 0 officers and 0 ratings; Medical Section: 0 officers and 0 ratings

HULL
Hull: 0.000 Td; MCr 6.000
Armour Factor-10: 16.500 Td; MCr 21.450

ENGINEERING
M-Drive Factor-6: 8.500 Td; MCr 4.250
J-Drive Factor-0: 0.000 Td; MCr 0.000
P-Plant Factor-6: 9.000 Td; MCr 27.000; +3.000 EP

FUEL
P-Fuel: 3.000 Td; MCr 0,000
J-Fuel: 0.000 Td; MCr 0.000
Scoops: 0.000 Td; MCr 0.000
Purification: 0.000 Td; MCr 0.000
L-Hyd Drop Tanks: 0.000 Td; MCr 0.000

AVIONICS
Bridge: 0.000 Td; MCr 0.000
Computer Model/3: 3.000 Td; MCr 18.000; -1 EP

WEAPONRY
1 x Missile Turrets: 1.000 Td; MCr 2.250

SCREENS

CRAFT

ACCOMODATIONS
12 x Couches: 6.000 Td; MCr 0.300
Cargo: 3.000 Td; MCr 0.000

USER DEFINED



Ship: Progressive Advancement
Class: Van Dransiquor
Type: Missile Frigate
Architect: David Billinghurst
Tech Level: 11




USPFM-E3244D4-A90000-00008-0 MCr 5,633.5945 KTons
Bat Bear  1       4 Crew: 72
Bat   1       4 TL: 11




USP
FM-E3244D4-A90000-00008-0 MCr 5,633.594 5 KTons
Bat Bear 1 4 Crew: 72
Bat 1 4 TL: 11

Cargo: 35 Crew Sections: 4 of 18 Fuel: 1,200 EP: 200 Agility: 3 Marines: 20
Craft: 2 x 50T Type-103 Cutters
Fuel Treatment: Fuel Scoops and On Board Fuel Purification

Architects Fee: MCr 55.068 Cost in Quantity: MCr 4,532.235


Detailed Description
(High Guard Design)

HULL
5,000.000 tons standard, 70,000.000 cubic meters, Cylinder Configuration

CREW
13 Officers, 39 Ratings, 20 Marines

ENGINEERING
Jump-2, 4G Manuever, Power plant-4, 200.000 EP, Agility 3

AVIONICS
Bridge, Model/4fib Computer

HARDPOINTS
4 100-ton bays, 10 Hardpoints

ARMAMENT
4 100-ton Missile Bays (Factor-8)

DEFENCES
10 Triple Sandcaster Turrets organised into 1 Battery (Factor-9), Armoured Hull (Factor-10)

CRAFT
2 50.000 ton Type-103 Cutters (Crew of 2, Cost of MCr 63.400)

FUEL
1,200 Tons Fuel (2 parsecs jump and 28 days endurance)
On Board Fuel Scoops, On Board Fuel Purification Plant

MISCELLANEOUS
40 Staterooms, 35 Tons Cargo

USER DEFINED COMPONENTS
None

COST
MCr 5,561.862 Singly (incl. Architects fees of MCr 55.068), MCr 4,405.435 in Quantity, plus MCr 126.800 of Carried Craft

CONSTRUCTION TIME
148 Weeks Singly, 118 Weeks in Quantity

COMMENTS


Van Dransiquor Class Missile Frigate

Book 5 Crew Breakdown
Command section: 7 officers and 4 ratings; Engineering section: 2 officers and 11 ratings; Gunnery section: 1 officers and 9 ratings; Flight section: 1 officers and 6 ratings; Service section: 1 officers and 9 ratings; Medical Section: 1 officers and 0 ratings; Marines: 20

HULL
Hull: 0.000 Td; MCr 500.000
Armour Factor-10: 1,650.000 Td; MCr 2,145.000

ENGINEERING
M-Drive Factor-4: 550.000 Td; MCr 275.000
J-Drive Factor-2: 150.000 Td; MCr 600.000
P-Plant Factor-4: 600.000 Td; MCr 1,800.000; +200.000 EP

FUEL
P-Fuel: 200.000 Td; MCr 0,000
J-Fuel: 1,000.000 Td; MCr 0.000
Scoops: 0.000 Td; MCr 5.000
Purification: 7.000 Td; MCr 0.034
L-Hyd Drop Tanks: 0.000 Td; MCr 0.000javascript:void(0);

AVIONICS
Bridge: 100.000 Td; MCr 25.000
Computer Model/4fib: 8.000 Td; MCr 45.000; -2 EP

WEAPONRY
4 x 100T Missile Bays: 400.000 Td; MCr 84.000
10 x Sand Turrets: 10.000 Td; MCr 7.500

SCREENS

CRAFT
2 x Type-103 Cutter: 130.000Td; MCr 0.260; Cost of craft: MCr 126.800

ACCOMODATIONS
40.0 x Staterooms: 160.000 Td; MCr 20.000
Cargo: 35.000 Td; MCr 0.000

USER DEFINED

Wednesday 26 December 2012

Aloin's Saga - Solo Traveller #14


“Are they still out there?” Captain Lukk asked, craning to see Scan over Aloin’s shoulder. Aloin settled back in the chair at his station, presenting Lukk with an unobstructed view of the display.

“Yes, Captain,” Aloin said. His pointer highlighted two returns on the Near Range Field. “The Progressive Advancement is holding station about five thousand kilometres off us on 155, azimuth 62. She’s actively scanning us, but her guns are cold.”

“Could be a missile barge,” Miska whispered from Nav.

Aloin shrugged. “Could be,” he said. He tapped the second return. “The Glorious 2nd Ferami, however, has us painted with active LIDAR. Which probably means active scan and targeting as well. She’s at about one light second – say 300,000 kilometres – so I’m having difficulty getting fine energy reads off her.”

“And they’re both Kampies?” Lukk asked.

“Yes, Captain,” Aloin replied. “The Library Data isn’t so hot on frigates and monitors, but looking at their drive and transponder emissions, and watching their comm patterns, Kiirgun and I are pretty confident that they are both Kamperelian Navy frigates.”

Lukk looked at Aloin, expecting to see uncertainty or youthful messing around - 'Kiirgun and I are pretty confident' indeed. Instead, she saw a confident young man, seriously studying his boards and analyzing the data to provide his Captain with the information she needed to make hard decisions. She smiled to herself. It had been a long voyage, but Meccan Vesukka hadn’t let Kiirgun down when she had recommended her stepson as a crew member for the Iridium Queen.

“Do we have a visual for the Progressive Advancement?” she asked Aloin.

Aloin frowned and tapped a couple of keys. Layers of data from Scan - energy emission signatures, mass spectography, visual occulting against the background starfield - spawned a wireframe silhouette. Details slowly mapped onto it as algorithms refined the data. Revealed, the stubby, cylindrical hull of the Progressive Advancement slowly rotated against the distant starfield, four massive 100-ton missile Bays gaping open and ready to fire.

Captain Lukk cursed under her breath. “Good call, Miska,” she said, finally. “Missile barge, alright. Gut us with the first salvo.”

“Hailin’ us,” Miska replied and switched Comm to the main speakers.

“This is the People’s Republic of Kamperel Naval frigate Progressive Advancement hailing unknown Imperial ship,” the clipped, neutral tones of the comms officer boomed across the bridge. “Identify yourself and cut your drive in preparation for boarding.”

“'Unknown Imperial ship'? Can’t they read a transponder?” Lukk snapped and then gritted her teeth. “It’s nice to see that the Kamperelian Navy has improved its customer service,” she grumbled. “They used to hail you after the first salvo.” She reached for the comm key and glanced at Aloin. “Get aft and tell Kiirgun we have visitors inbound. Make sure he does a quick cabin and access way check for any contraband on the Kampie list. We are not going to get grounded because someone has left a copy of Interspecies Hotties lying around.”

The Navy boarding party duly came aboard – a nervous, young Midshipman with five marines in full combat armour. Aloin thought that, in other circumstances, the Midshipman might have even been pretty, but her pale skin only accentuated her rather bad acne. Also, extreme nerves had sharpened her clipped Kamperelian accent to an irritating nasal whine, which grew increasingly wearisome as Aloin escorted her around the Iridium Queen. Eventually, with all paperwork in order and no copies of Interspecies Hotties in evidence, the Midshipmen and her marines trooped back aboard their cutter and returned to the Progressive Advancement.

To Captain Lukk’s relief, the Iridium Queen was escorted insystem to Floranna Highport and then the Progressive Advancement, and her silent companion, accelerating hard, headed outbound to resume patrolling the Floranna approaches.



Aloin struggled as he hefted the freezer bins onto the cart. The metal boxes were slick with condensate and heavy. “Four, five, six. That’s our lot,” Kiirgun said, tallying the boxes into his handcomp as he checked the seals. He scanned the barcodes on each box and updated the e-docket. “Looks good to me,” he concluded as he signed off the docket and copied it to the supplier and to the Iridium Queen.

“Happy?” the burly Floranni supplier asked as he acknowledged receipt of the e-docket.

“Ecstatic,” Kiirgun said. “Marine life form is back on the menu.”

“Could always eat at the commons,” the supplier suggested as he packed his trolley away.

“No I couldn't,” Kiirgun said with a sad smile. “They only serve three kinds of marine life form, and I've eaten all three, cooked every which way possible, over the last four weeks.”

The supplier chuckled. “Welcome to Floranna,” he said as he headed for the cargo lift to the planet-bound shuttle dock.

“Do you think the Captain’s found a cargo, yet?” Aloin asked as he pulled the cart towards the access lock to the Iridium Queen.

Kiirgun checked his handcomp and then slipped it into his belt pouch. “If she has, she hasn’t announced it,” he replied as he glanced up. He stopped walking. “Oh, my,” he said.

Aloin walked another couple of paces further on, and then hesitated as he realised Kiirgun wasn't following him. He glanced in the direction that had grabbed Kiirgun’s attention. Over the access port to the Iridium Queen, the service and destination board was lit up. “We’re taking freight, again?” he asked. He knew that freight runs were marginal at the best of times.

“Yes,” Kiirgun replied, and stomped towards the access hatch. “And we’re heading for frakking Naltor!”



Commentary:
Another hurry-up-and-wait session. Rolled a ‘Patrol’ result on the Ship Encounter table. As we’re in Kamperelian Space, the patrol was obviously Kamperelian Navy. Reaction rolls produced a fairly neutral response and given the political situation between the Kamperelian Republic and the Imperium, I decided to downgrade this to Neutral/Hostile.

As Lukk runs a tight ship, there was little chance of a slip-up that would have got the Iridium Queen busted for contraband. As the reaction rolls were fairly neutral, I decided that, after a bit of hassle and bluster, the Kamperelians would have escorted the Iridium Queen into orbit and left it at that – especially given that the Iridium Queen’s cargo of vacc suits was actually bound for the Kamperelian Navy station at Floranna.

And once again, useful cargos eluded the Iridium Queen for four weeks, until Lukk gave in and decided to take a load of freight.

And just to round out the year in the real world, for the first time in about twenty years, my old Traveller group is all in the same country at the same time. We’re getting together for a game on Friday night which should be very cool.

Thursday 13 December 2012

Aloin's Saga - Solo Traveller #13

“I’m open,” Aloin shouted, dodging between two of the stocky defenders. Bel Karmhen paused, jumped, and passed as a defender cannoned into him. Both men went down in a flurry of limbs. The ball arced over the court.

Time seemed to slow down for Aloin as his consciousness expanded. He was aware of the ball rising from Bel’s hand, even as Bel was thrown backwards by the defender. In Aloin’s mind’s eye, he saw the equations computing the ball’s velocity, and the atmospheric and gravitational effects upon the ball in flight, and the velocities and trajectories of the players swarming across the court.

Aloin took two long steps and launched himself into the air, aware that two more defenders were converging on him. He stretched out in flight, straining towards the point in space where the ball would be in time. His hand, fingers dagger-pointed, swept up as the ball flashed past, deflecting its course towards the backboard behind the goal. Even as he fell he twisted. The ball struck the backboard with a crack and rebounded. As the ball struck his hand again, stinging, he pushed back, flicking it up in a parabola. Shedding velocity, the ball shot through the goal hoop. With a bone-jarring crunch, the two defenders collided with Aloin, spinning him around and throwing him to the ground. The goal buzzer sounded and then the full-time hooter blew.

Slightly dazed, Aloin looked up and then took the hand offered to him. Bel Karmhen helped him to his feet. “Amazing shot, Aloin,” Bel said, his Kamperelian accent clipping the ends of his words. “You ‘kay? Needo and Jymi are pretty good blockers. Needo played for Karystar Tower United back before call-up. “

Aloin stretched, trying to pop the kinks out of his aching back. “I’m ‘kay,” he said. He had started to pick up some of the conscripts’ slang. “Great pass,” he added. “Could see all the numbers running, just like plotting for Jump. Set me up, extra fine. “

Bel laughed. “Navigators make pretty good shooters in Jumpball. Got time for a drink, after?”

Aloin checked his chrono. “Not due back onboard until 1500,” he said. He headed towards the public showers. “’kay, see you in the cafeteria.”

The Iridium Queen had been docked at Ektra Downport for nearly a week. The cargo of blades had been quickly discharged and sold. It was only then that Captain Lukk had discovered the 10% sales tax the Kamperelian authorities had imposed on all goods crossing the XT line. Protests to the Starport Authority had been met with the advice that, as the Kamperelian Navy was providing enhanced security within the Ektra system, visiting merchant ships were invited to contribute towards the cost of that enhanced security. When Lukk was tempted to point out that the Kamperelian Navy was actually an occupation force of dubious legal standing, Kiirgun was obliged to remind her that arguing about the legal status of a Navy patrol from the bottom of a gravity well was a potentially futile pastime, particularly when no longer in Imperial Space and so not under Imperial Charters or Regulations.

After a couple of days of light duties while Lukk hunted down another cargo, Aloin decided to investigate a sports facility and gymnasium attached to the starport. It was here that he discovered freely available pickup games of Jumpball, and a semi-regular group of bored eighteen to twenty-somethings to play with. Having established a friendship with Bel Karmhen, one of the regulars at the gym, Aloin learned that Bel and his compatriots were Kamperelian conscripts, performing their two years of compulsory military service as members of the Kamperelian garrison on Ektra.

For Bel, compulsory military service was just a fact of life. All Kamperelian citizens were called up for at least two years service upon completion of compulsory schooling. And while it was possible to gain a service deferment if attending a course of higher education, most citizens chose to perform their service and get it over and done with.

Bel had thought he had lucked out when he drew Offworld garrison duty. Any sort of escape from the bleak and dreary tower blocks of crowded, over-populated Kamperel was a lifeline to hope. Ektra was not what he expected, though.

Smaller than Kamperel, Ektra was a dry world with a very thin atmosphere. The population lived in a series of warrens that had been so mutually hostile as to effectively be at war with each other. The one thing they had agreed upon, however, had been their hatred of the Kamperelian Business Houses that had dominated the Ektran economy prior to the Kamperelian annexation. This hatred had spilled over, one seconday in 1051, to become the series of riots and massacres known as “The Night of Knives”.

The Kamperelian response consisted of six cruisers and a gross of thermonuclear bunker busters. When the firestorm burned itself out, a Kamperelian garrison dominated the warrens – a state of affairs that, over fifty years later, showed no signs of changing.

Aloin had been surprised at just how little Bel and his squad mates either knew or cared about the origin of the occupation. This was probably because the Kamperelian conscripts were disillusioned and angry. They had been told that garrison duty was a lighthearted lark, a break away from the grindingly grim reality of the barrack towers and prole estates of Kamperel. While bashing a few heads to keep the Ektrans down was little different from the casual brutality of the corridor gangs at home, the reality for the conscripts was that they had exchanged the vertical mazes of the towers of Kamperel for the subterranean warrens of Ektra – only the lighting and graffiti were substantially different. Even disarmed by their NCOs, bored Kamperelian conscripts were a constant source of incidents – both on their fellow troopers, and on the Ektran populace.

While Aloin liked Bel, and enjoyed the opportunity to get back into shape with a bit of Jumpball, he found the casual, simmering, undercurrent of violence amongst some of Bel’s squad mates very disturbing.

“Vacc suits!” Captain Lukk exclaimed, slapping a bill of lading on the table top in the Iridium Queen's Crew Commons. She beamed. “Tech Level 8, no fancy nonsense, keep the air on the inside, vacc suits. There’s an Ektran company, Gaspourishidaminda and Sons, that’s been making vacc suits for two hundred years. They’ve survived the annexation; the Long Knives; the Warren Wars; the Outrim invasions; everything, and they’re still in business. They refused the Kamperelian Business Houses; survived the nuclear bombs; and secured a contract with the Kamperelian Navy to supply basic suits for all non-Jump capable ships.”

Kiirgun looked up from reading the lading bill. “But, thirty tons?” he asked. “And Tech 8 vacc suits?”

“The Kamperelians love them,” Lukk said. “They have a lot of conscripts in their armed forces, and they like stuff that is simple, efficient, and idiot-proof.”

Aloin nodded. “Some of my friend Bel’s squad mates are pretty low wattage,” he said, tapping the side of his head.

Kiirgun looked at him with surprise. “Since when are you all friends with the Kamperelians?” he asked.

“Since ‘e been goin’ to the gym,” Miska wheezed and then snuffle-laughed. “Where you think his new slang come fro’?”

Aloin looked puzzled and then shrugged. Kiirgun laughed.

Captain Lukk tapped the tabletop with the stem of her pipe. “It’s going to take us a day or so to get all the export paperwork lined up,” she said. “But as our destination is in Kamperelian space, believe you me, this simplifies matters a great deal.” She tapped a series of commands on her handcomp and pulled up a local area starmap on the Commons main screen. “That’s where we’re heading, ladies and gentleman, the beautiful water world of Floranna.”

“Beautiful?” Holi smirked.

“That’s what the Kamperelian Ministry for Truth and Tourism says in their brochure,” Lukk replied. “I read all two hundred and nine pages twice while waiting for the export licence to be processed.” She held up a hand. “But fortunately, we are not going to Floranna itself, as it is a water world and does not require vac suits. Our buyer will be at the local High Port.” Elera Lukk smiled smugly. “This will be an easy run, and then on and out to Imperial Space.”

“When’s loading?” Aloin asked.

“0545 tomorrow,” Lukk replied. “We’ll look for an 1100 launch window.”

Aloin looked dismayed, and then shrugged. Miska snuffle-laughed and poked him in the ribs. “They still be here when we come back,” she whispered. “Those kids’re not goin’ no where.”



Commentary:
A hard post to write as nothing really happens during the lay-over at Ektra. Aloin's friend Bel shows up later (another NPC thrown up by a reaction roll) so I actually developed him a bit more here than as he features in my notes. I also took the opportunity to look more closely at how Kamperel came to dominate Ektra. All the information was in my notebooks from 20-odd years ago and just needed a little polish and cross-check against other material I've written on the Kamperelian government.

Jumpball, like basketball and tlachli, is one of those games were a group of, predominantly, young men get together and throw a ball around. This seems to be a very common, human, thing and something that will probably outlast the N.B.A.

Thursday 6 December 2012

Liebster Blog Award



WQRobb over at Hard Boiled Zombies has very kindly nominated me for a Liebster Blog Award - the "Sharing the Bloglove" award meme that has been doing the rounds of the interwebs.

And, yes, it did put a smile on my face receiving this award. While I like the concept of "I'm only doing this blog to amuse myself - if you guys like it as well, then I guess that's ok", in truth if someone likes something that I've posted enough to comment or ask a question, then that is really cool and a source of great personal satisfaction. And so a Liebster Award is just Zero Kelvin! Extremely, ultimately, cool.

And so to:

The Rules
  • Copy and paste the award to your blog, linking it to the blog who nominated you.
  • Pass the award to your top five blogs with less than 200 followers by leaving a comment on one of their blog posts to notify them that they have won the award and list them on your own blog.
  • Sit back and bask in that warm fuzzy feeling of knowing that you have made someone's day
There is no obligation to pass this onto anyone but it is nice if you do.

My Nominees
  • Captain's Blogs: Malleman is both a keen Star Trekker, and an excellent figure sculpture. He has also developed a set of Star Trek-inspired skirmish rules called "Away Team" so his blog features photos of his figures as well as AARs. I have bought some of his Sybot figures, conversion heads, and assorted laser pistols and they are both useful and very good.
  • ClearHorizon 15mm SciFi: Mr Harold is an excellent painter and modeler and his work is very inspirational. He also likes to talk about the practical aspects of taking photos of your 15mm miniatures and lately has started looking at rulesets to play with.
  • FelonTrav: Felonmarmer's blog for the Mongoose Traveller game he was running recently. Very nice to read an AAR or someone else's game. Felonmarmer's other blog, Felonmarming, covered his figure painting and other activities. Both have been rather quiet of late, so I hope that this is just a seasonal fallow period.
  • In Like Flynn: Flynn is a world builder - in both Fantasy and Science Fiction settings - and he likes systems that give him results in a controlled, random fashion. I have a copy of his Flynn's Guide to Alien Creation which is a great little tool for making consistent, and logical, aliens - primarily for Traveller but, with minimal work, adaptable to other systems as well.
  • Thornwood-Daarnulud Institute: Craig G. has been working on his Traveller Universe for a while and, lately, has been refashioning it towards the arrival of T5. It's fascinating watching someone else going through the whole idea development/stream of conciousness/refining process as concepts and conundrums come up and need to be teased into shape.

Looking at my blog roll, there are others I could have nominated but I was only allowed to choose five, while others either fall outside the award criteria by having too many followers, or they have been inactive for too long.

To my five nominees, many thanks for the inspiration and pleasure you have given me over the time I have followed your blogs and I wish you success and great ideas for the future.