Traveller game last night...

We played Traveller last night... first game since the first of March!  Rather than our usual 9+ players, we only had 7, and I think that made a huge difference!  While I could probably run 15 in my OD&D game, Traveller is a MUCH bigger sandbox.  With travel times between even the closest two stars of a week, it becomes far too difficult to run if the group splinters:  OK, you stay on planet X to look for a patron, while you book a high passage to planet Y to do the same.  That week in hyperspace is a single die roll (to check for drive problems), while that week on planet X could be daily activities, appropriate encounters, success of search, etc.  I don't like to have players sit at the table when they're not involved, for several reasons:  in-game, they learn things their characters shouldn't or wouldn't know, and out-of-game, they tend to get bored and become distracting to either me or the active players.  Even with just 7, this happened, but it was easier to deal with than when the group is bigger.

In my Star Clans campaign, I have them working directly for the O'er King (leader of the interstellar govt) but they're given wide latitude in terms of timing and specific actions, so I don't feel like I'm railroading them.  I use random events (the tables from the old AD&D Oriental Adventures are great!) to plan my "future history," and player actions directly affect the flow, so I'm as often surprised by the direction things go as they are.  Keeps it fresh for me as well.  

Their current "mission" is to expand the Ardeni Kingdoms... and they've done very well.  Each time they visit a system, I let them make their arguments with the local leaders.  If their argument rings true to the locals (given what I know of the govt type and my notes on the leaders), I give them a bonus on the reaction roll... if not, they either get a straight roll or even a negative modifier if they misjudge the locals.  

Of course, they could tell they O'er King they're done with that, and move on to something else, and I actually expected them to... Overall, the game did NOT go where I expected last night, but that's fantastic for me!  They opted to continue their diplomatic & trade mission, and were very successful.  And they all seemed to have a good time.  

Now, if only the larger group would believe me when I tell them they can opt out of one game (Traveller) and still be included in the others (OD&D, AD&D 2e, etc.)... Yeah, I know, it's the equivalent of a "First World Problem!"  We have TOO MANY players to run a single group!  (More on that later...)

Inspiration, move me brightly...

Got busy a few months ago and paused in my blogging... only to fall off the wagon completely.  I'm running Star Clans tomorrow night, and prepping for it is just what I've needed... Hearing Terrapin Station the other day helped too!

"Terrapin Station"
Words by Robert Hunter; music by Jerry Garcia
Copyright Ice Nine Publishing

LADY WITH A FAN

Let my inspiration flow
in token lines suggesting rhythm
that will not forsake me
till my tale is told and done

While the firelight's aglow
strange shadows in the flames will grow
till things we've never seen
will seem familiar

Shadows of a sailor forming
winds both foul and fair all swarm
down in Carlisle he loved a lady
many years ago

Here beside him stands a man
a soldier by the looks of him
who came through many fights
but lost at love

While the storyteller speaks
a door within the fire creaks
suddenly flies open
and a girl is standing there

Eyes alight with glowing hair
all that fancy paints as fair
she takes her fan and throws it
in the lion's den

"Which of you to gain me, tell
will risk uncertain pains of Hell?
I will not forgive you
if you will not take the chance"

The sailor gave at least a try
the soldier being much too wise
strategy was his strength
and not disaster

The sailor coming out again
the lady fairly lept at him
that's how it stands today
you decide if he was wise

The storyteller makes no choice
soon you will not hear his voice
his job is to shed light
and not to master

Since the end is never told
we pay the teller off in gold
in hopes he will come back
but he cannot be bought or sold

TERRAPIN STATION

Inspiration, move me brightly
light the song with sense and color,
hold away despair
More than this I will not ask
faced with mysteries dark and vast
statements just seem vain at last
some rise, some fall, some climb
to get to Terrapin

Counting stars by candlelight
all are dim but one is bright:
the spiral light of Venus
rising first and shining best,
From the northwest corner
of a brand-new crescent moon
crickets and cicadas sing
a rare and different tune

Terrapin Station
in the shadow of the moon
Terrapin Station
and I know we'll be there soon

Terrapin - I can't figure out
Terrapin - if it's an end or the beginning
Terrapin - but the train's got its brakes on
and the whistle is screaming: TERRAPIN

AT A SIDING

While you were gone
these spaces filled with darkness
The obvious was hidden
With nothing to believe in
the compass always points to Terrapin
The sullen wings of fortune beat like rain
You're back in Terrapin for good or ill again
For good or ill again

I Was Pleasantly Surprised!

I thought last night's game got off to a rocky start... once again, side conversations, people wanting to peruse the rule books rather than play, a bunch of "Hey, Mr. Kristof, can I...?" in the middle of other action, etc.

As I mentioned before, I run my games from the kitchen island, looking across it to the dining room table where all my players sit.  (We have an open floorplan with kitchen, dining room and living room just one long room.)  When I'd had enough of trying to track all the different threads, I straightened up, looked at the group, and said something like, "OK... I'm going to leave the room for a few minutes.  While I'm gone, you guys need to figure out what you're going to do as a group.  I can't keep running multiple threads for you because none of you can agree on a way forward.  We can do whatever you want, but you all have to be involved."  Well, it was something like that, anyway.  Then I left.  Went into the front room, then upstairs, then back through the kitchen to the garage for a beer.

When I came back into the kitchen, beer in hand, they started to tell me what was up, but I ignored them and poured my beer into a frosty glass from the freezer.  Only then did I turn to them, and say, "OK, I'm back.  What's the plan?"

They surprised me.  They really did!  They kept each other quiet and on task... they asked each other (in character) for advice and kept each other engaged.  The side-conversations shrunk to almost nothing.  And I was then able to run the game as I enjoy... actually pulling ALL the players into the action at appropriate times.  For instance, while negotiating with the Council of Seven on Tralnor, the Kearnayan pirate Chidi simply acted as bodyguard for Tiernan, the group's prime negotiator at one point. One of the Councilmen, Milos, was short and fat, thought rather highly of himself, and wasn't too sure of what benefits Tralnor would receive if they signed a pact with the Ardeni Kingdoms.  Then he saw that Chidi was armed, asked about the weapon, and for a demonstration.  Afterwards, they were able to convince Milos of the value of the negotiations by reminding him he'd be able to purchase weapons like the hand cannon he'd been so intrigued by!

We'd scheduled to play from 1900 to 2200, and although I told them we couldn't, everyone wanted to continue playing... everyone seemed to have a good time, and I definitely had a good time!

Now I've got more work to do... finally got around to looking over the Stars Without Numbers rules for Factions, and they'll be perfect for the work I still need to do on the clans (hence Star Clans).  Also have to detail a few more nearby worlds, since it looks like they've got plans already written on what they want to do next time we play!  Oh, and of course, I've got to write up the Play Report for the Star Clans blog!

I Have a Bad Feeling...

about tonight's Traveller game.  And I also found (via Facebook), a site called PULP-O-MIZER you should check out!

This image was optimized for Facebook (hence the black square around it).  I fear half my players are going to revolt, and screw over the other half... we shall see.

Another Great Day of Gaming!

We met again today... this time to play in my son's DnD campaign world, then to play in my own Star Clans Traveller campaign.

We spent about an hour revising our characters to handle the move from DnD 4e to AD&D 2nd ed.  Some folks opted to start from scratch, others converted backwards, rebuilding 2nd edition characters as close as possible to the 4e characters we had.  For those who kept their characters, we recalculated experience based on the percentage from current level to next level... one of the kids said, "Wow, we actually CAN use algebra outside of school."

Once we got underway, the game was a lot of fun.  We played for about 4 hours and by sheer luck managed to work our way through the dungeon almost directly to the sceptre we were asked to retrieve by the local Big Wig.  We lost one character... one of the 4e retreads... a dragonborn.  We managed to find a cleric willing to resurrect the character, but a failed resurrection survival  roll meant another quick death... and no more chances to come back.

Afterwards, my son said he was thrilled with how much less time he had to spend on mechanics and how much more on interacting with us players.

In my Star Clans game, the party was asked to attempt to bring two more worlds into alliance with the Ardeni Kingdoms.  Two characters ended up in jail on one of the worlds in the middle of negotiationsr, and the rest of the group told the local government they should try them according to local law to show the Ardeni Kingdoms wouldn't interfere in local politics.  They were asked to head home, then come back a few months later, so headed back to their starship and took off for Arden.  In the meantime, one of the two party members who was in jail used his psionic telportation to jump directly from his cell to his stateroom on the ship before it lifted off... The game ended with the pilot rolling a misjump.  Odd whine from the engine, and after a week, they didn't drop out of hyperspace where they expected... in fact they didn't drop out at all!  We ended for the night at that point, with the party trying to decide if they could shove someone out of the airlock in hyperspace!  I'll post the game report tomorrow after work over on Star Clans.

Busy Evenings Ahead...

This evening, before my son went to bed, but after he, my wife and I played 2 games of Settlers of Catan on our Kickstarter produced wooden board, we got around to discussing this upcoming three-day weekend.  The current plan is that I'll run another session of Exploring the Outside Inn on Friday night from 1800 to 2200.

On Sunday afternoon, starting at 1400, he'll spend about an hour "converting" the player characters from The Heroes' Gauntlet from DnD 4e back to AD&D 2nd edition.  After I started running the Outside Inn campaign, I think he realized his difficulties with his 4e campaign were NOT creativity problems on his part, but simply annoyance at the ruleset itself, which is far too ridiculous to be used as anything more than a source of ideas.  But I digress.  From about 1500 to 1900 we'll play in the revised version of his world with our revised characters.  I recreated Corrin Aledrinker in 2nd edition, keeping as close to the 4e version of him as I could, and dropped from 5 sheets of paper to 1 for a character sheet.  I showed my son and his friends, and even those who weren't sure they wanted to switch their characters immediately changed their minds.

Finally, from 1900 to 2300, we'll play in my Star Clans Traveller campaign.  My evenings will be spent prepping for Star Clans, with just a few hours devoted to Outside Inn, since I've got enough material for it to keep them busy for weeks.  I'll also spend some time going over the rules of AD&D 2nd edition with my son, after his homework is done each night, to help ensure he's ready as well.

Gonna be busy... having fun!

Stars Without Number

Back in September, I picked up a copy of the Stars Without Number free edition pdf.  I glanced through it quickly, and found a lot to like.  Then I got busy and didn't open it again until today.  I run a Traveller game, but Kevin Crawford's work here is simply amazing!  With Traveller, I can use random numbers to generate a sector full of defined planets, but I still have a lot of work to do before I can run my game.  Even winging it takes a lot of effort.  SWN not only lets me generate a sector full of defined planets, but I can add tags, adventure hooks, and factions as well, all from wonderful tables that simply require me to roll some dice.  I prefer winging it when running my games:  I pre-define the general themes going on in my settings, then I keep them in mind while reacting to my players... which helps pull them into the setting all the more.

SWN makes my winging it even easier, all the additional tags and snippets of data I can generate at random beforehand simply add fodder to my general themes and really get my creative juices flowing!

It's been months since we played in my Star Clans setting, and my players recently asked about it.  I'll be using SWN tables to fill in some detail on the worlds surrounding the Ardeni Kingdoms, and, I suspect I'll use them in my OD&D Exploring the Outside Inn setting as well!  As I do, I'll discuss here what I'm up to.

2013 Gaming Goals

Tim, over at Gothridge Manor, asked this question the other day, "So now the world is not ending, what game are you hoping to get into this year?  What gaming goal, if you have one, would you like to accomplish?"

My gaming goals for 2013 are several... First, I want to run my Star Clans Traveller game at least monthly.  This will probably be the tough one, since the current players are my son's high school marching band friends, a group of young people with very little free time!  Second, I want to finally start the OD&D campaign that's been floating around in my head since summer.  I may actually run two groups there, my son's friends, and a group on the Air Force base where I work.  There's a nice cafeteria/lounge area that's available in the evenings, and I know of several folks there who might be interested.

Finally, I WILL do a better job of posting on my blog(s), both in terms of frequency, and length/content!

Star Clans Heraldry

Star Clans Heraldry originated with the unit pennants carried by the brigade of genengineered soldiers stranded on Arden.  The brigade was heading to do battle on a low-tech world, and carried unit pennants based on the style of their target world. 

Over time, as the Uruki forgot their origins, the military symbols were simplified into stylized icons or replaced by icons with local meaning representing the kingdoms and clans.  Uruki pennants have typically been dark ink on pale leather, without additional color.  Since the founding of the Ardeni Kingdoms, the use of color has slowly been added, though not yet above the Family level on Arden itself.

Formal banners use the layout shown here:

This picture shows the symbols of the Oer King (formerly referred to as The King Above) and the two High Kings:  

Imported Posts

It occurred to me my blogging isn't up to snuff.  I'm currently running a Traveller campaign, and had both a Star Clans and a Star Clans Background blog in addition to the blog you're reading!  Further, I'm working on a D&D campaign (or possibly two... an LBB game as well as my AD&D 1ed/2ed mix.)  If I were to follow the Star Clans pattern, that would be an additional 4 blogs to keep track of, and keep interesting... something I'm having trouble with now, before adding new blogs!

To head off this problem, I've imported the Star Clans Background posts here, and will label them as such.  The blog will be deleted momentarily.  The Star Clans blog will continue to be for Actual Play reports, and other information specifically for my players, and any new Star Clan background information will be posted here from now on.  I know my players can get to it if they want to... but if they want to NOT know all the background, they'll still have all they want or need to play.  I'll also create two new blogs; one each for play reports in my D&D campaigns.  They'll be place holders until I actually start running those games.  Background and DM information for those campaigns will be posted here.

BTW:  If some of the posts labeled "Star Clans Background" don't make a lot of sense, there's additional information over at the Star Clans blog that will clear things up!

Mercator

While looking for ideas for interstellar trade in my Star Clans campaign, I came across a sweet little book translating the original Traveller ruleset to ancient Rome.  Very cool!

Here's the description that caught my eye:

A complete 56 page rules conversion of the Classic Traveller rules-set, turning it from interstellar trade to trade in the Roman Empire! New career tables allow you to roll up centurions from Rome, thieves fromAntioch and even tribunes from Caesarea! Of course there are rules for ancient trade, for sailing and weather and also for encounters and equipment in the Roman Empire. Trade in Aramis for Alexandria,Efate for Ephesus and Kinorb for Corinth!


The site has other interesting documents as well.  Check it out here:

Zozer Traveller Notes