One thing I forgot to add.
Both the Hierate and the Solomani Confederacy are in a de facto cold war with the Imperium, so having two nobles flying one of their ships might not be appropriate and will certainly raise questions about their loyalties by some.

  Well... what training rules are we going to use for skills? The 2E beta makes it much more practical to raise skill ranks compared to the current version. Maybe we can go with those?

With the speed this game is progressing one week will be over in 5 years from now ;)

Also, unless Starmaster has the beta, too I say we stick to the published books.

In reply to Kheaiftouaw (msg # 142):

Concerning books, At least for now, I´m for sticking with the published stuff also...Honestly, I´m biased, I´ve spent around $400-500 on the new books and would hate to give that up so soon...(Watching the gaming money-pit... ;-(

For the time being, lets stick with the current books and if they release errata, we can update then.

In reply to Walter Zeller (msg # 144):

There´s a reason why it´s called beta-testing....hopefully, before all the new and totally correct stuff comes out, I´ll have saved up the energy and natural fluids to donate to gain enough money to buy them. (Joking...)

I was writing something up about group, individual needs and how agendas work...but, after 7+ paragraphs...I realized, why even bring it up, basic gaming starts with many factors....

Anyone really interested in that, would most definitely cluster up an average OOC. The purpose of an OOC in game is to cover the stuff not IC in a specific game, and in and of itself can be a lengthy matter...It would very soon prove to be a heavy burden and in general a waste of time for those just looking to talk about that particular game.

What if there was a thread, within a game that dealt with those bigger issues of player/character/group/individual, obviously, the general public (internally) would say, we don´t need that.

Basically what I´m saying, I´d like a thread, perhaps called (Roleplaying Basics?) introduced into the game.  It would not be editable except by certain players, and might not even be viewable by most.

Anyways, just a thought. Actually, the more I think about it, it doesn´t make sense, but, when I started...there is something in it that makes sense.

I think that you might be trying to get at is that we are acting like a bunch of cats. If we were operating a vessel, we would need to have someone be the Captain unless we NPC'ed the role.

So it boils down to who is going to be the Captain as their actions will steer the rest of us in one direction or the other. If no one else wants the role, then we have some options, but we need to come up some sort of plan before we take off or it will slow us down.

1.) Walter takes the role but that would mean that the game goes more towards trading since that is his strength.
2.) We all take jobs on the Free Trader Alton's Souvenir with Captain Merrick and have the GM NPC the role (Making a over qualified crew and does not make any sense that a Count and Knight are working on it).
3.) Split the groups? (Way to much work for the GM)
4.) Some other option?

  Alton's Souvenir? Captain Merrick? (Please tell me he doesn't belong to some elephant-like species...) First mention I've seen of those!

  I was under the impression that this had already been settled, but Kaengarr has been a Captain (well, the Vargr equivalent), and he wouldn't hesitate to put himself forward if the group is being indecisive about it, even though they've just met. If there's one thing that triggers Vargr instincts, it's watching people waffle about leadership. ;)

  I don't think we'll be able to stretch the budget to buy both ships, though that would certainly make for impressive cargo hauling as a startup company.

You could always do like the old Manfred Mann rock group used to do--everyone took turns being 'Manfred Mann'. That was an effort to avoid a front man... like Paul Revere and the Raiders featuring Mark Lindsay.

So you could all take turns being 'Captain Merrick'.

I think rotating Captain may be an idea. Especially as I see it more as first among equals than supreme dictator

I agree that it would take alot of the fun out of "roleplaying" if everyone just became a machine that kept saying Yes, sir...however, there has to be structure/order, otherwise every mission/adventure would devolve into chaos and it would be hard to get anything done. That´s one of the reasons in almost all RPGs, there´s a group leader/speaker/whatever.

I´m up for taking the Captain position. Note, crew positions aboard ship would be left up to the most logical person for the job.

Count Darrell is used to being in charge, and well, he´s a Count...logically (And I´m not just saying it because he´s powerhungry), it makes sense that he expects to be in charge.

Plus, although we´re not in Imperial space, having the Count as "Boss" will likely prove beneficial in having some leverage when dealing with authorities.

Lastly, if things are going sideways, he would be in a better position to work things out than most.

Anyways, that´s my thinking...

Or the Dread Pirate Roberts!

*shrug* OOC - PCs will be PCs.  IC, Sharik is fine with Darrel taking lead or being faceman, at least out of combat.

In combat, Vonon (space) or Tolman (ground) are more likely better as 'Captain' since they have Tactics skills.  Though it may be a toss-up as Shar has JoAT/3 and +2 INT DM; so, her Tactics checks aren't great, but at least have a decent +ve modifier.

  This will all partly depend on how many players we have left. The additional fade-outs are unfortunate in some respects but the smaller group size does make things more manageable.

  Tolman is gone, AFAICT - he's not on the UPP list anymore, at least.

  StarMaster, could you perhaps transfer the no longer active characters to the NPC section in the game/player list? It'd be easier to keep track of who we still have!


  As for specific roles...

  Vonon is our tactics man, since he's the only one left with it.

  In addition to Tactics, there are three characters with Leadership: Kaengarr (1), Samantha (1), and Vonon (0), which is also the descending order of their typical DMs. This may matter when we're dealing with high tension situations.

  Darrel is clearly our best bet in peaceful (or reasonably close to it) dealings. Kaengarr is probably second there because he has a similarly high Persuade.

  No one is going to beat Walter at the negotiating table!

  (I can't tell where Quinzella stands because her base stats aren't listed in her UPP entry.)


  Everyone except Darrel has some sort of personal combat skill so we're okay there, and it looks like every shipboard operation is covered by at least two qualified people. We might actually have trouble finding something for everyone to do when things AREN'T going south!


  Of course, these kinds of assessments assume that we're all together. If we're dealing with several things at once then we probably won't have the luxury of putting the 'best' person on every job.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:09, Tue 29 Sept 2015.

Not sure but I think Quinzella might be our version of River Tam and do not count on Walter using a weapon, he might as run around with a medic kit since his physical stats are so low. (I think he picked up the rapier since it was expected of a noble)

Not sure but for the time being, I think we need to agree on a vessel and then give the data to the scouts. That might ended up being our next mission when they want us to deliver it back to the Imperial sector.

In reply to Walter Zeller (msg # 153):

Well unless one can come up with a better ship than the corsair which we can reasonable get (In character opinion, price and availability) my vote is for the corsair.

Leadership is SOC, right? So, Kaengarr normally has a total +2 DM (before situation and difficulty modifiers), while Samantha, Vonon and Sharik all have a +1 total DM to any Leadership check they make...

With respect to a ship, I am fine with the corsair, but we are likely to need a smaller ship for atmospheric duties.  Even if the piloting DM is 'only' a -2 for standard-hull ship, I would prefer not to continually subject the ship to that kind of stress (if, in theory, it was never designed for it).

Otherwise, we need to get off-planet by commercial charter soon (TAS dividend, here we come!) ...

Most planets would hopefully have a high port where we can dock or can otherwise provide orbit to surface transportation. So I wouldn't see a shuttle as high priority.

The smallest standard transport would be a 30 ton launch for 14 MCr. The cheapest non-standard solution would be an Air/Raft.
But as the corsair lacks scoops & processors we might need a modular cutter for that. Problem is that this will cost us a lot of cargo space and only carries small amounts of cargo (11.5) if we customize the fuel module to only carry 20 tons (1 day of processing) and the processor of course.

Problem is that if we are going to trade it will take a lot of flights with the launch to fill up cargo and the Air/Raft won't help at all.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:33, Tue 29 Sept 2015.

  I also feel that the corsair is the better option, and for the time being we can make do without the shuttle/lift, but we add fuel processors (which are cheap and don't use much space) so that we can fill up with unrefined when we're at lower-grade starports.

  If we stick to starports as much as possible then we shouldn't need to take the ship itself down much if at all, and once we have a healthy bank account we can look into getting another ship, or even having one custom-designed.

By the way, if our nobles want something more appropriate for the travels from orbit, the Solomani book has stats for an Armoured Grav Limousine.

Kind in mind, though, that good role-playing is better than just rolling dice. This works much better on a pbp game than in ftf, since you don't usually have the time to think about what you are going to say/write around the gaming table.

GMs/Referees (particularly this one) can assign a bonus of up to +3 if your post covers role-playing your character's actions. Heck, if your post is REALLY GOOD, success can be automatic.


So, basically, don't get hung up on the skill ranks. Use them more as guidelines for your character rather than an absolute value of your ability.

I realize that Darrell isn't Han Solo or a starship trooper. He's used to delegating the "tactical" stuff to those better suited for those particular tasks...I'm thinking more along the lines of...strategic planner or something like that...not getting my wording right this morning, ran out of coffee and the brain isn't quite with it yet. ;-(

It is by caffeine alone that I sent my mind in motion. It is by the Bean of Java that the thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shakes, the shakes become a warning. It is by caffeine alone that I sent my mind in motion

LOL, Brother ain't that the truth.

Stepping away from the group for a minute, the Count looks like he´s in communication.

Returning, "Well, it looks like Ms. Blue has another mission for us and would like for us to meet her. She mentioned it will be well worth our time."



At Vonon´s statement, Darrel looks at Vonon then Captain Ruzokh, "I might have some information on that, but, let´s meet with Ms. Blue then we can discuss the Darrian trader- Myst Fortune."

  "Who is Ms. Blue?" Kaengarr looked at Darrel, then Walter, then Darrel again, curiosity evident. "Is it actually about the trader?"

  Whether or not it involved the trader, this was surely related to the mysterious enterprise that Walter hadn't wanted to talk about when they met at the bar.