OOC Discussion

[Enoch]

I like the Cradle the best.

[Marullus]

I won't weigh in with a vote.

On Cradle, it does appear they swivel but the forward firing arcs are hindered by the ship itself. That said, I kind of like that our run-like-hell scavenger ship only shoots pursuers.


On the background, I removed the Colbayb thing. I'll switch the culture back to Traveller. I am tying to too many things. If nobody is excited about it, I won't push it and even so the GM can use it later if he likes and let us stumble into it.
Something nagging about the nature of neural symbionts... the current race of Colbayb has reached an accord with them, but he dug deeper into their history, making it a subject of his theses. The appearance of the symbionts before the Scream... deep in knowledge and technology, feared as 'infiltrators' and mind-wipers, he learned as much as he could of this race but too many records were destroyed to find a full truth.

[kmbll]

Marullus - I thought the neural symbiont thing was cool but I didn't really have anything to add and I thought it was more Mister-Kent's place to speak to that. I thought the underworkings of a mindcontroling parasite inciting a civil war and messing with the Solar Republic could have really fascinating implications - I just didn't have anything to add. They could even impact Rhal's character - like he could've recognized them from his pre-podborn days or something to that effect.

A couple of other questions - are Rhal and DexterWard still participating? And explosiveghast could you post your character sheet if you don't mind? Sorry if these are dumb questions; I'm new to the site.

[Glintwine]

Apologies for not posting for a day or so, mates - had a busier start to the week than anticipated.

Oh man! I love this ship designer thing! I agree with the general sentiment that Cradle is probably the coolest looking one, but I also really like Cradle le Cat. Both have that bulky, inelegant, free trader look to them that is just awesome. Reminiscent of Firefly's ships in a strange, more square kind of way.

I don't really have too much to add to the whole neural symbiote discussion other than to say that it sounds awesome. xD Very much reminds me of the yeerks from Animorphs, I'm somewhat embarrassed to say.

[kmbll]

Why embarrassed? Animorphs was the shit. That was what it made me think of too.

[Glintwine]

Hah! Animorphs was indeed the shit! I suppose it's how devoted I was to the series as a young'un that is embarrassing. I believe there's still a few boxes full with the complete series still stored away in my parent's garage. That, and the complete series of R.L. Stein's Goosebumps. xD

Ah, to be a child and able to just read day in and day out, again.

[DexterWard]

Hey Guys,

Yep I'm still here. I had a couple of large papers to write (College is a pain in the arse sometimes). Between work and school I was running from one thing to the next. Mid-terms are over now, so I'll have more free time. I'm trying to catch up as quick as I can. You guys are definitely ahead of me as far as knowledge of the game. I'm an old school D&D dude. This is my first Sci-Fi RPG.

If I get to be too slow or a pain in your arse let me know and I will bow out. I definitely don't want to drag the whole thing down. That's no fun for anyone.

Working my way through all the posts now.

[kmbll]

Wasn't saying because of that Dex! Definitely hope you can and will participate. I would say that we don't necessarily need a mechanic/land driver anymore so that may shift your role.

[DexterWard]

The Cradle iteration kind of looks like a stubby crossbow, not my favorite, But I'll go with whatever the majority vote is. I'm not too picky.

Here are a couple of iterations in French

Cat's Cradle (Le berceau du chat): http://ship.shapewright.com/?name=Cat+Cradle

Cradle (berceau): http://ship.shapewright.com/?name=berceau

[DexterWard]

Wasn't saying because of that Dex! Definitely hope you can and will participate. I would say that we don't necessarily need a mechanic/land driver anymore so that may shift your role.

I was just throwing it out there, since most people here seem to be on top of things concerning SWN. I wouldn't want to drag everyone down, that would probably bug me more than anyone else. I intend to give it my best. I wasn't taking anything you said negatively either (I rarely do). Just don't want everyone irritated at me for getting a late/slow start.

I'm kind of leaning away from the mechanic/land driver now, just because of the path the character is taking presently. I'm kind of letting the character take/make its own course. If anyone sees a place for improvement / a skill or direction that would benefit/help the party I'm all ears. I rarely chose one character type and stick to it. I like to let each character grow naturally.

[Marullus]

I'm kind of leaning away from the mechanic/land driver now, just because of the path the character is taking presently. I'm kind of letting the character take/make its own course. If anyone sees a place for improvement / a skill or direction that would benefit/help the party I'm all ears. I rarely chose one character type and stick to it. I like to let each character grow naturally.

I think that is the right idea. . Whatever you enjoy is good. Though, I was tempted by the Transport Specialist background and an Expert/Explorer class package!

[Mister-Kent]

Had a rough day, but I'll be updating shortly

[DexterWard]

I think that is the right idea. . Whatever you enjoy is good. Though, I was tempted by the Transport Specialist background and an Expert/Explorer class package!

There are so many combinations and good options, its hard to decide sometimes. Its a good thing

[DexterWard]

I'm noticing people are posting descriptions for GRID's in the Galactic Encyclopedia thread. Are we each making a post for our character's background? Did I miss a post somewhere along the way? Just checking.

[kmbll]

Earlier in this thread and in this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=216&t=4058

[DexterWard]

I was thinking of basing my character from:

DAEDELUS: Popotas
Atmosphere: Breathable mix
Temperature: Warm
Biosphere: Hybrid biosphere
Population: Millions of inhabitants
Tech Level: Tech level 2. 19th-century technology.

SURVIVORS (Class)

Privation harvests countless men and women in the wastelands. Hunger, disease, radiation, and the unnumbered enemies of the fallen world take their toll of those who remain. The Survivor stands apart from these unfortunates, a man or woman too hard and too strong to be culled by ordinary dangers. The Survivor goes where others dare not and lives where others can only die.

Whether a wanderer, hermit, ranger, explorer, or a simple man who will not die, the Survivor defies the privations of the new world. He or she finds food and clean water where others see only a wasteland, and a path where others see only confusion. The Survivor’s skills aid not only their personal survival, but also the sustenance of those who travel with them.

As a Survivor, it’s your job to be the last hero standing. Thanks to medical stims and Old Terran first aid, even grievously wounded teammates can be saved from death- if there’s anyone left to rescue them. As the Survivor, your teammates also tend to rely on you for the survival skills and practical expertise to keep them in one piece.

EXPLORERS (Training Package)

A hard-bitten adventurer with a mind to find what has been lost, an explorer seeks out the ancient ruins of the old world to liberate whatever wealth or secrets it might hide. These expeditions tend to be hard on the participants, and there are times when the explorer himself is the only one to make it back: half radioactive, all mangled, and clutching a king’s ransom in tech.

ENGINE CREW (Background Package)

Ferocious radioactivity and arcing power makes the engine room of a large spacecraft into a deathtrap for an unwary engine “snipe”. Ancestral rivals of the “deck apes” on most ships, engine crew wear heavy protective suits while tending the balky and temperamental postech engines of modern starships.

Combining Class, Training, and Background with his “null-strain human” I was kind of thinking his planet, Popotas, was once more advanced and then suffered a planet-wide collapse setting it back to 19th century Earth technologies. Possibly an asteroid strike or nuclear disaster. He loses all of his family and in the aftermath finds he is immune to Highshine.

The harsh new environment soon hardens his body and mind. His mental and physical facilities, hardened and robust, prove beneficial for the path he will eventually take. Morals and justice no longer matter, only survival. His first foray into space strands and nearly kills him. A pirate vessel lands on his home world of Popotas, intent on harvesting resources, illegally of course. Bryan Alexander Milford (B-A-M) sneaks onto their ship and forces the pilot to take off. Soon thereafter a scuffle ensues leaving the pilot dead. Bryan finds himself helpless and nearly dead after drifting for several weeks. With life support on its last leg and Bryan in bad shape an adventure/exploration crew, in route to a dead world in search of lost treasures, stumbles upon the vessel. Bryan is thus introduced to the world of exploration at the age of fifteen.

Bryan hops from one planet to the next never calling any one place his home and never keeping anything he can’t carry on his person. He makes few life-long friends, opting rather to model his personality and behavior to that of the surrounding environment. He’s been trained in the engine compartments of dozens of spacecraft by hardened exploration crews, surveyed, and explored dangerous and deadly worlds most wouldn’t even give a single thought.

Bryan doesn’t typically set in with prison hardened crews, but perhaps he’s between exploration crews and bored. He needs something new, something to make him feel alive. Maybe he gets wind of the Cat’s Cradle crew or simply stumbles across it in his search for something new. He’ll fit in just fine, because that’s what he does best, fit in.

Other Dust Mutations

The effects of the warped Highshine nanites pervade the badlands of the New Earth. This omnipresent nanite dust was originally intended as an emergency disaster-recovery failsafe, meant to provide instant containment and medical care for victims of some planetary catastrophe. The Crazed twisted Highshine’s programming even as they detonated the atomic power plants that fueled so many of Old Terra’s manufacturing centers.
Humans who suffer radiation poisoning or genetic damage are susceptible to being “cured” by exposure to Highshine. Most of the human survivors of the present age have only limited susceptibility to Highshine thanks to natural selection, but even they run the risk of encountering a mutant strain that ignores their natural defenses.
Highshine mutants suffer alterations that range from the wholly beneficial to the near-terminal. The Crazed were unable to pervert Highshine’s fundamental directive to keep a subject alive, but they were able to cross-tangle its coding with a wealth of terrible experimental biomodifications. Some mutations have bred true over the past two centuries, while others are recurrent from some unusually ubiquitous Highshine sub-strain.

If you spend all three rolls to boost your attribute modifiers, you may optionally decide that your character is a “null-strain human”. These humans have a remarkably well-encrypted genetic code that is immune to Highshine alterations. They will never mutate, no matter how badly radiated they become or how heavily exposed they are to Highshine’s warping nanites.

Please give your character 3 goals to pursue. They can be of varying difficulty, but should require some effort to complete. If you achieve these dreams, you'll get some xp depending on difficulty!

I'm going to work on this next.

I'm open to suggestions.

[kmbll]

I think our last discussions on crew formation were:

1. Raquel and Guy are incarcerated in a tyrannical prison around the same time as Malachi (and possibly others)

2. Group orchestrates the prison break, then goes its separate ways

3. Guy has his masterstroke where he betrays the 11 other pirate lords, becoming famous and known as "The Savage". Uses the reward money and new reputation to obtain a ship and crew to pursue career as bounty hunter.

4. Everything goes down the drain for Guy as he botches job after job. His crew desert or die one by one until none are left.

5. With nowhere else to turn, Guy reaches out to Raquel and Malachi (and possibly others) remembering their competence in the prison break. Offers them a place on his crew for a cut of the profits. Offer is accepted.

6. The Crew travels to Killdozer's homeworld for a job, screws up somehow and ends up captured, either made into slave prizes for the tournament winners, or forced to fight in the same gladiatorial arena as Killdozer.

7. After escaping the arena with Killdozer, the mutant warrior. Crew leaves the planet with the Cat's Cradle as their new ship (unless it always was) and Killdozer as new ship cook/medic.

8. Cat's Cradle ends up crashing/making an emergency landing on Modashi's backwater world, probably because of botched repairs on Killdozer's world, Modashi shows up and repairs the ship as if it were child's play. He ends up joining the crew.

9. Possible campaign start, unless other character introductions are written in after Modashi's

Presumably the Fallen Angel prelude is around 9. Not sure where you want to fall in Dex. Maybe you're a hold out from one of Guy's crew in 4? Otherwise it's up to you.

[Marullus]

I think 6 and 7 were vetoed by Killdozer; it was decided that the Cat's Cradle always belonged to Guy Savage. I also think that two jail breaks is superfluous... all we get for that sequence right now is picking up Killdozer and I think we can do that with a better bit of story than repeating the jail-break narrative a second time. Pulpatoon? Did we rescue you, buy you from your slave-owners, win you in a game of chance? How do you want Killdozer acquired?

I like the idea of Malachi and Nikademos become partners between steps 3 and 4, then he can rejoin the crew together with Malachi at step 5.

Viktor 'Mayhem' Mekhdiev is our most recent addition (at his player's request) so he can still play out his acculturation. I think it might be cool if, after the Fallen Angel and our talks with Shefelbine about Cloning, we ran a job that resulted in us finding the pod with Viktor in it.

Dex's survivor-guy makes sense as one of the original jailbreakers (giving him that sense of camaraderie/loyalty to overcome his 'why am I here' question posted earlier), or he can be more recent and retain his question of allegiance.

[Marullus]

Killdozer looks distraught at first, then resigned to Augmentine trailing after him. "Yeah, lady, I'm sick, alright." The moment they are away from the crowd, he spins with electric suddenness and grabs both her hands, holding her hard enough to cause pain. Pressing in close, he hisses, "I got a belly fulla rotten blood an' death. I got enough violence in me t' drown planets. I wuz borned inna glad pit, and spent everyday a'my life killing my own friends for the amusement an' profit of empty husks like you. Now I'm out, an' I wanna stay out, and I ain't gonna let you drag nonna my new friends inta th' pits with yer honey an' yer poison." Increasing the pressure on her hands, he says "Y'ain't gonna contact Raquel. Y'ain't gonna let me see, hear, or smell yuh. An' if y'gotta scrap of soul left in there, lady, yer gonna get a new job."

Killdozer drops her hands, and steps back. His eyes are wild and glassy, his nostrils flared wide, every muscle in his body tensed.

Wow, that gave me chills. Good job!

[Pulpatoon]

I think 6 and 7 were vetoed by Killdozer; it was decided that the Cat's Cradle always belonged to Guy Savage. I also think that two jail breaks is superfluous... all we get for that sequence right now is picking up Killdozer and I think we can do that with a better bit of story than repeating the jail-break narrative a second time. Pulpatoon? Did we rescue you, buy you from your slave-owners, win you in a game of chance? How do you want Killdozer acquired?

I like the idea of the crew meeting Killdozer when stuck in the gladiator pits, and them all busting out together. It probably never occurred to Killdozer to even try to leave, before he met the crew. Fighting his way out with them would be the first time he seized his own agency.

As for repeating the jailbreak—seems like that could be a reoccurring motif in this crew's story.

Wow, that gave me chills. Good job!

Thanks!