A place to sit back and kick your feet up and talk about anything and everything.

Hello everyone!

I can't find a good portrait for Cheng ch'Zynes. It seems no one thought to put an Andorian/Klingon hybrid portrait into the system.

I'm sorry. I'm interested in what that would look like. What I am picturing may not be what most would picture, so I look forward to seeing how you write it.

He mostly takes after his Andorian mother. But I do have his description up if you want to take a look.

   Hey, GM:



   Right church, wrong pew, I think ...

Neat. Thank you for being so informative. I'm sorry he was bullied. I am curious though, how well would we know each other? Would Timor have known about it? I mean, Timor is an engineer and if starfleet is big enough I could see even two engineers never meeting or knowing much about each other. On the other hand, if the graduating class at any time is small, it becomes more likely that two people in the operations track might know each other. I just don't know where on the continuum of possibilities we are with it.

Also, howdy doctor. It is good to have someone to patch us up after Ensign Ch'Zynes bravely fights off whatever is trying to hurt us.

  *Waves while in the midst of character making*

   Will talk more when done and vetted.

Well, while Cheng was Operations track, his Engineering is 1. Most of his studies focused on Security and Science. That said, Cheng is actually a rather friendly guy and my assumption is that he had a few friends in the Academy. Perhaps Timor was one of them.

I like the idea that Timor and Cheng were friends in the Academy. Early on he needed extra effort for his Science classes, perhaps Timor tutored him a bit.

I will add a link to Cheng's character sheet to my description.

Timor would be all for helping someone in their classes. A willingness to keep trying at something that is hard would be a respectable thing to him and it is likely in the early days he was still inclined to prove to himself that he was still valuable. Helping someone would be great.

It took me an embarassingly long time to see that typo :P

Just pretend it was an intentional test of our attention to detail.

Nice write up on Timor. I wasn't expecting a 4 in Security. But very cool. You can shoot things, I can hit them.

Thank you. I wasn't expecting that at first either, but it made sense as I was building the character. Having him be good at using weapons made sense after I gave him a focus related to them. Admittedly it was under the idea of repair, building, and modifying, but it was still a focus in them. Then I had a bunch of stuff that needed moving, so I bumped it up under the idea that while he was learning all that stuff he was also picking up the ways to use them. You can make a better tool if you know how people tend to use the tool after all. Plus, as you said: You can hit things, I can shoot them. You could likely hunt targs saber bears with just your ushaan-tor. I need a couple hundred yards and phaser in my hand to stand a chance.

So I know you're all selecting "Rolled" as part of character creation on that site but I meant roll the d20s here and then just pick the appropriate one.

Hello everyone! I'll be your pilot today. Please be sure to return your phasers to the upright position and don't mind the meteor swarm, it's all part of the fun aboard the USS Belfast.

But my phaser is in my boot. Proper phaser safety says it should be pointed down, or at least in a safe direction, until I am ready to shoot.

1. Treat every phaser as though it is charged at all times
   
2. Always keep your phaser pointed in a safe direction.
   
3. Keep your thumb off the trigger until you are ready to shoot
   
4. Always be sure of your target and what is behind it

These are day one of phaser training.

I kid. It is good to have you. I look forward to playing with you.

Hello, I am playing John Bradford Garrity II, son of the Admiral John Bradford Garrity. I am 2nd Officer which my primary duty is running the Delta Shift which is the Graveyard Shift thus mostly just low priority maintenance and babysitting the conn because of the reduced staffing of Delta Shift.

Congrats, Sir. I'm sure you will do well in your duties. I'll just be wandering around your ship doing all that low priority maintenance and quietly fuming because you suggested maintenance was low priority. One again, I kid. What is your rank? I need to know what to call you when we start posting.

Lt Jg.  Did the Command Track and promoted at Graduation.

Cool. Thank you. And once again: Congrats, Sir. It is an impressive posting.

   Not to worry, Mr Universe. As a former Librarian and failed writer in College, I catch certain things ... being a perfectionist also helps. :)  I only caught it on the second pass because I thought something looked 'off'. Some folks get a little riled when you mix metaphors like that. ("You got CHOCOLATE in my PEANUT BUTTER!" might ring a bell or two) As for me, I like both 'Trek and 'Wars, so no harm - no foul.

Character is now done. Also, my description is up. Thanks Timor

Cheng, given our shared "outsider" histories, would you like to start with having met at Academy and become friends? Maybe T'Saen jumped in to help defend you one night in a well-remembered drunken brawl?

May I assume then that your history and behavior at the academy is well known?

I'd think so, if you want to be someone who knows it.

Well, you mentioned possibly being Cheng's friend and Timor knows Cheng, so it seemed reasonable that he might know of you. Also, in case it matters to anyone, my sheet has undergone changes due to events changing and some issues with some of my previous values. It is nothing major, but it has refined some details about how things will play for him and generally improved our understanding of him and his past.

Makes sense. Can I call you Igor?

I would think that most of us were in same graduating Class or at least within a year or 2 of each other.

My character was a little stiff in the first few years. Much more concerned about being the best, but as he made a small circle of friends he realized that the bond that was being formed was more important than competing with them

Unless there is a reason to be ahead/behind you would all be part of the same graduating class by default. Therefore you would have known about one another during the academy, perhaps being teamed together for various projects or perhaps even competing against one another as rivals.

In reply to T'Saen (msg # 27):

Yeah. Sure. She's likely heard him called it more than once and he isn't going to stop her. Tone is likely going to play a big role in how he takes it. Keep in mind that it works as well as an insult as it does a term of endearment. For someone who has never heard him called anything else, they could assume it was his name. For a friend they might know the context and think its cute. He is still on the boarder of mad science at this point. From someone who wants to use it as an insult, it does tend to cultivate the image of a servant. The idea that he is just a lackey. The difference comes down to tone and context. It is useful that way.

Sounds like a great idea! If you can look past his heritage, Cheng is actually a very friendly young man. And is loyal to his friends unto death.

Excellent!

While I'm getting things ready on my end I had a couple ideas that I would like to run by you, maybe even take an informal vote.

Show Format
I was thinking about presenting the game in the style of an actual Star Trek episode. What this means is that each "episode" would be broken up into 5 acts and labeled as such, including "commercial break cliffhangers" during the transition from scene to scene.

While I won't be breaking the 4th wall the familiar style and format would lead a since of predictability to each mission. If you're on Act III then you have an approximate sense that the ending is going to come sooner than later although the actual length of each Act will vary wildly depending on how quickly or slowly you advance the plot.

I am not worried about you guys prematurely ending an episode. Star Trek is rife with surprise twists where it looks like the plot has been resolved but then suddenly a twist happens to extend it out another act or two.

I think this would be neat but I don't want to lean too heavily on the 4th wall if you find it disruptive to break things up like that.

B and C Stories
One thing that concerns me is that not every character will be engaged in every scene or even mission. In a tabletop game that is the point of supporting characters but given how long a play-by-post game can go I don't want you losing interest in the game because there isn't a medical/engineering/piloting/security emergency to deal with. Given that we can have multiple active threads going at the same time I was thinking about introducing "B stories" so that while Garrity and T'Saen are trying to navigate an ion storm in a shuttle Cheng and Abdool could be engaged in a increasingly competitive music competition or Timor could be overworked in engineering and having to learn a lesson about delegating work to others.

The idea that I had is basically to have another OOC thread called the Green Room where if you are not actively involved in the plot you can submit your name for either A) a side story or B) a supporting character to introduce into main plot or both. In addition if you have an idea like "I would like to have a thread with So'And'So about our friendship or rivalry or burgeoning romance that would be the place to nominate it, get acceptance and let me know to get it set up.

Romance
So as I put up in the important info thread romance will be an option but it is one your character can always opt in and out of. I may introduce NPCs to be the "minor object of your affection of the week" however before I even start thinking about romantic entanglements for your character, if either you as a player or you think your character would have zero interest in a random romantic side plot just shoot me a PM saying you'd like to opt out for now. Note that even if you opt out now that doesn't have to be a permanent decision and there is a big difference between a "Captain Kirk's love interest of the week" and a multi-Season relationship built up through trials and tribulations.

The point is that I would never wish to force you or your character into that kind of uncomfortable situation.

Also please specify whether it is you the player or your character who is opting out. I am currently re-watching Voyager and there are situations where aliens try to seduce either Captain Janeway or Tuvok with amusing results.

   Speaking personally, I'm all for an 'episodic' sense to the game. (Having a deliberate beginning, middle and end point has always been good storytelling, IMHO) Admittedly I'm not one for 'commercial break cliffhangers' - cliffhangers are (I've noticed) overused as a plot device, and grow stale all too quickly. Once in a while is good to heighten tension, but more than that, you'll have people turning blase to the storyline all too quickly. As for the '4th Wall', I'm content to leave things like that to the Superheroes - one in particular that I won't mention - and not go there. I'm no 'method' style of player, but breaking that wall just doesn't do it for me.



   Star Trek has more twists and turns in it than a logging road deep in the mountains ... If we end things prematurely, we're doing our jobs famously - and that's a good thing. If we're doing it most of the time, however, that's when the Universe starts taking stuff away. (No pun intended)



   This is a game about the 'lesser lights', like the upcoming (Netflix) series, so I'm not expecting to be going on a fair amount of missions. Bones didn't either, but he made the most of it when he was. I don't have a problem with putting the good doctor in a "B" or "C" story - I think of this as an ensemble cast, everyone will get their chance, at some point.



   That's fair - no rushing on that one, as long as we have the option of 'opting out'. I'd rather have romance happen on a more 'organic' level. (I personally am not wild about romance, so I'd prefer not to ... but if built up over time, I'm not averse to playing the concept).

I am very much in favor of the B and C stories as an idea. You make valid points about the time scales involved in play by post and having your main character sidelined for a few months could indeed damage fun. I think that that idea addresses it well and is in the style of the show. Every got screen time every episode even if it wasn't part of the main plot. I am similarly pleased with the idea of being able to opt in or out of romance as some people may be more or less comfortable with it. The ability to say "No." is important and I appreciate your attention to that.

I had a long thing on my opinion about the show format idea, but I'm just going to go with: I have mixed feelings and concerns, but I'm generally positive about it. Both of you made decent points about plot twist being a common thing and getting a feeling about an arc for each is valuable, as Laila pointed out. Rather than it all feeling long and rambling, we get the arc in each episode that contributes to the over all story.

On format of the game. I am a go. In a STA forum; a writer made the point that threat was the means to allow the traditional Star Trek format to exist. The Director introducing new story elements by spending threat, and allowing the players to deal with those elements.

   And just to get a post in about characters possibly knowing one another ...

   Some possible contact points for Ens/Doctor Abdool:

• - Born in Vancouver, North America.
• - Daughter of Federation Diplomat - Faisal Abdool and Star Fleet Commander Ja'nelle Shepard-Abdool [ret.]  Her father is a Diplomat to the Klingon Empire and has been for some time. Her mother was a respected member of Starfleet Sciences until her retirement and worked in the Astrogation and Stellar Cartography branch. Since her retirement, she has been a consultant to that same branch and commutes between her home and Star Fleet Headquarters in San Francisco
• - Considered very studious, usually found in the Academy Library researching her latest assignment. Known for pursuing a point with near Vulcan-like intensity until finished.
• - Caught up in a cheating scandal, was thought to have been the Cadet responsible for the submission of several graded assignments found to be fraudulent. Cleared of any wrongdoing when another Cadet stepped up and admitted guilt. (Three Cadets were dismissed as a result)
• - Was challenged by Cadets from Command Services to play out the infamous 'Kobayashi Maru' test. Although her command was eventually destroyed, Cadet Abdool managed to keep her command and the crew of the 'Kobayashi Maru' alive the longest of any previous Cadet. Her use of beaming photon torpedoes onto the unshielded bridges of the enemy Klingon ships resulted in the loss of 42% of the attack force and has since been dubbed the "Shepard Option" - at the Cadet's request.
• - Seriously injured on a field trip to Onari V to help with recovery efforts after a massive tectonic shift on the planet's main continent. When asked to help, Starfleet sent their most senior Cadets in addition to Doctors to aid in the recovery. During an aftershock, while Cadet Abdool was in the midst of moving a patient, the ground gave way and she fell two stories, the building then collapsing atop her. When she was rescued, she was unable to walk and was taken back to Earth, where her shattered hip was replaced. During her recovery, Starfleet permitted her to graduate with her class - although she was only permitted to attend via teleconference.

I'm not a fan of threat as it ignores the nature of the GM and could make them somewhat adversarial. They control the universe no matter what pool they have. They don't really need threat to say, "5 more romulans show up having heard the phaser fire and converging on it." or "Unfortunately, you ship was damaged in the crash." They build and control the world and could send a whole army of romulans or have an asteroid hit us. They don't because they are not our adversary. We are working together to have a good time. The fact that they have a pool of points in front of them to screw us over sends the message that they should be spending them. Ideally it is to improve the story, the same way they might bring in the romulans mentioned above after a decent first volley from us unexpectedly takes out the first ones too quickly or tell us our engines are broken to avoid having us take off and short circuit the story, but they never needed threat points to do that. Similarly, if I give the GM a billion points of threat by getting additional information, its meaningless. Sure the rules let them wipe the floor with us by using that, but that would be no fun for anyone and no different from our perspective than sending the asteroid or army. They could have done whatever they would do with the threat with the power they have as a GM and still have to act responsibly in that position.

On a more useful topic, more in line with the doctor's post about getting to know each other than the nature of mechanics. Timor, due the events rolled in creation, was embroiled in a scandal that ended in the court martial of another officer for negligence. Timor's reports and other records were quite damning. Much like Cheng, he was called upon to rat out someone who did some thing wrong. Unfortunately, he wasn't nearly as noble as Cheng was. His reports and documentation already existed. It may not have been intentional, but he had ratted out a fellow officer. All he ever did was speak honestly about his own work and evaluations of the situation. Not being intentional may have been worse, at least if he had been trying to do it, he could have claimed some nobility in trying to take down a bad actor. There were no good guys in this situation.

I definitely understand what you are saying and it is less about giving the GM a way to screw the players as much as it is a way for the players to understand why they are being screwed with.

First of all threat plays out a lot more in published adventures that I have been flipping through. Second it gives the GM "permission" to be a jerk without being unfairly judged. As a long time GM I can say that it is really hard sometimes to balance drama and tension without a jerk. There are definitely encounters that I planned out where three turns in I'm mortified thinking "I'm suuuch a jerk because I misread the group's capabilities". If they are mopping up with the bad guys do I let them have the easy win or bring in reinforcements? If they're cruising right along do I throw up some obstacles and increase the difficulty or risk making the game too easy.

Threat isn't about giving permission to GMs, its about giving justification to both GMs and players that your actions earlier are why this encounter suddenly became harder. Threat is just a "get out of guilt free" card for GMs to use to push their players more.

All positions are filled. Almost everyone has a character sheet complete. I plan on kicking off the game Monday so get ready to rumble!

Cool. I look forward to it. I'm interested in seeing how things go. We can have all sorts of ideas, but until the rubber meets the road and things actually start up you never know how they are going to play out.

Hello everyone, I snuck in under the wire. I'm your friendly neighborhood red shirt. Don't mind me, I'm going to go over behind this rock and die horribly off screen!

Dying off screen doesn't work. We need you to die on screen so that the audience can see how hard your death hit us and how serious the situation is.

On that note those of you done with characters start thinking up fun support characters. I plan on putting them into a public pool so they can be reused so try and make them more fun than just “generic soon-to-be-killed guy #6”

Also I said the game wasn't going to start until Monday however I'll throw up a quick introductory post so you guys can get into character before the big day starts.

Slight note on my post. I may have screwed up a pronoun somewhere, but the bolian was female. Timor and the ferengi are male. I will reread my own post to see where I screwed that up, but there seemed to be somewhere I lead Laila to think that the ferengi was female. Sorry for the confusion.

Welcome aboard Ylis zh'Kerja! And no dying on my watch!

I'm interested in seeing how Ylis reacts to an Andorian/Klingon officer.

I will try to get an introduction post up in a bit.

Perhaps it is a feminine Ferengi?

   Cheng: Are you Operations, or Sciences? You list wearing a standard Security uniform on your description but came into the lounge in Science blues ... just wondering.

  *Waves to the new batch of arrivals*

He should be in yellow. I believe I confused him during a PM.

Fixed it. Sorry about that.

I'm fine with this. I think presenting the mission in acts will help us format our posts as we mutually drive the story. If we don't expect a conclusion until the last commercial break we'll be able to work on subplots, complications, relationships, etc., even though we understand that we might find the answer sooner than expected.



I like this a lot. Plus it'll give us a chance to flesh out the ship's crew.



I'll give this one some thought if that's okay. Most of the time I like to allow for relationships to build naturally, but since this is a new character it may be that "minor object of affection for the week" or NPC romance is the way to go.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 13:20, Mon 15 Apr 2019.

Random musings:

Star Trek Voyager
This is what I'm currently working through. Next up is to finally finish Enterprise and head on to Discovery.

At least from what I recall Voyager caught a lot of flack compared to DS9 and TNG but watching through it again I think it compares better than critics gave it credit for. I think Seasons 2 and 3 kind of spoiled the show for many but by Season 4 it seems to have really hit its stride.

I think the main problem is that overall Voyager's best actors are Janeway, Seven, Doctor and Neelix. Given that the Doctor was restricted and Seven didn't exist that basically left Janeway and Neelix to carry the show which explains why Neelix is so over used in the first two seasons to the point of annoyance. He became the Wesley Crusher forced into each episode with a "Oh I know how to do that!" but without nearly as much in-universe justification. Once Neelix is no longer dominating the screen I started to appreciate him more. Same with the Doctor where before the show had to be forced to bring him on screen but once he became mobile it felt more natural. Kes was the biggest failure of that show. She was spoiled from Day 1 by making her 3 years old. I'm sure some writer though it was an interesting twist but then having her be in a romantic relationship with Neelix was just...ugh. I feel bad for the actress because Kes was an albatross on many episodes. She was too young and childish to be a real romantic interest, she was too inexperienced to be really helpful as a counselor, she was too adult-like for the classic "child coming of age stories". Basically what they failed on Kes they succeeded with on Seven because although she was also "only" 6-years old, she was also late 20's. I realized that they could have run almost the same storyline of Seven "discovering how to be human" with Kes with only a few modifications but they didn't.  Anyway Season 4 onward I think stacks up well against TNG and DS9 minus the odd silly gimmick episode here or there.

Exploration
I always wondered how Star Fleet was still exploring after hundreds of years. My mind literally could not comprehend the vastness of space until I played Elite Dangerous. Elite Dangerous is a space flight simulator that has billions of stars populated within. They basically just downloaded the entire NASA database of known stars (so 99% are just Epsilon 1, Epsilon 2 etc.) and they are not actually generated until the first player enters. Then the system is procedually generated and the seed is stored in the central database so even if you're playing single-player you can be part of the global exploration. If you're the first person to a system it gets noted. If you're the first person to scan a system, it gets noted.

I wasn't really paying attention and just flying around in the "bubble" which is the center of explored space. The game is 5 years old at this point with hundreds of thousands of players exploring the galaxy so the bubble is heavily explored. Anyway I was just cruising along and I found an unexplored system. Just like that. It was actually really easy. It then dawned on me that for every system you explore it puts you closer to 2+ unexplored systems. And that pattern repeats effectively endlessly. If I send out 100 ships to explore a hundred systems, they'll come back with 500 unexplored systems. If I send out 500 ships then they will come back with over 1,000 unexplored systems and so on.

This explains why Starfleet is still talking about short-term exploration even in the 24th century.  As part of the Fermi Paradox it's talked about that with exponential growth you could colonize the known galaxy in 5-50 million years. The thing is that is assuming exponential growth so by year 1 million you are producing millions of ships to explore. Given that it hasn't even been 1,000 years for Starfleet this is still an age with endless possibilities even close to home.

I did a long journey and in Elite Dangerous some people even done comparable 65,000 Ly+ missions making them comparable to Voyager's journey. It is really hard to keep forward momentum when you're trying to explore because there is always. ALWAYS something new to distract you from your destination :D

Conn Skill
I am planning on expanding/clarifying the Conn skill as all operations of technology. It's basically a stand in for "computer use" in y opinion and hopefully that makes the Conn skill a bit more applicable in game. While breaking into a system will still require Security, repairing it will still require Engineering and studying it might use Science, actually using a piece of technology for its intended purpose would use the Conn skill. There are obvious and numerous exceptions. Weapons still all use security. Scientific instruments still use Science etc. but to access an alien version of Facebook would use the Conn skill.

Let me know your thoughts, please!

I've been watching actual play stuff and they seem to allow for an argument to be made based on approach and I think that that would be the better approach. If the engineer is approaching it from a systems point of view and the Conn guy is approaching it from a familiarity with control systems then that is reasonable. I would just be careful about taking it away from the engineers. Suddenly they know how to build, repair, maintain, etc. but not how to use technology. Basically, I could repair the alien computer. I could reprogram the alien computer, but the proper user interface of the alien computer is beyond me.

I'm not saying that the expert in conn shouldn't be able to say, "Hey, I've been dealing with controls on innumerable ships and systems. I should know this." but I also think that the engineer has a good argument that they should know it from their side of things.

As one of the people who stands to benefit from this, I approve. :D

Yes the intent is to expand the usage of the Conn skill but not diminish existing uses of other skills. With the right point of view and equipment, most skills can be used in most situations although they might have differing difficulties.

I've added everyone's ranks in the bio lines. Just to clarify everyone is an ensign except Garrity is a Lt. Jr. and Ylis is just a crewman 1st class.

I thought that T'Saen had indicated that she was promoted as well.

Another miscommunication. Just skip past it and remember this going forward. In hindsight it's not completely unexpected as I opened up the story threads before everyone has had their characters 100% finalized.

For now just ignore that interaction and move forward. It'll be too much work to retcon it out and wont' really change much anyway.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:11, Mon 15 Apr 2019.

Shouldn't be hard to fix IC!
This message was last edited by the player at 21:00, Mon 15 Apr 2019.

   *Corrected last post to remove the extra pip from T'Saen's collar.*

Just as an FYI due to limitations of pictures and portraits on rPoL expect to encounter a lot of Mass Effect/Star Wars races. They won't actually be but I don't feel the need to come up with crazy wacky alien descriptions when I can just grab them from other IPs.

In general I like to keep the general ideas about the races similar so as not to be too jarring. Aasari are mono-gendered, Twi'lek are known for their beauty, Turians are militaristic etc. although the details (and species names etc.) will be different

This is NOT going to suggest that this is a cross-over game. There is no force, no jedis, no specters, no mass relays etc. I draw inspiration from all sorts of sources but I will never try and merge different sci-fi universes together. I will lift and customize singular elements that I enjoy but not others and in all instances I will stick to the spirit and themes of the Star Trek series.

Sounds like a plan!

Regarding posting pace and availability. I'm rarely able to post more than once or twice a day as I post from work during my breaks.

I'm in Anchorage, Alaska USA and I work 1300 to 2200 Monday through Friday. I'm usually unable to post on weekends as I'm limited to a tablet and my fingers don't deal well with typing on the screen keyboard. But I do work one weekend out of every six and can post on those weekends.

Hopefully, this is acceptable to everyone. If that isn't fast enough and it causes a problem, I'm willing to bow out for the good of the game.

I personally think you will be fine. I am sure if you have been on Rpol for any time that you realize that often the games start at a hyper post rate, and then they slow down.

Now Timor is going to have to make replicator patterns for the fines blood wine in the galaxy just to properly reward you for being a good friend.

Keep in mind that typically when a game first starts there is a flurry of posting but my games usually settle down to an update per day.

Don't get Cheng talking about replicated food/blood wine. While he will appreciate the effort, drink it, and even like it, his father taught him that, "You can't replicate blood wine boy! Just like meat tastes best when you hunt it yourself. Bah! Starfleet and their replicators will ruin everything!"

Yep, Cheng's dad is a grumpy old warrior. He eats replicated meat and drinks replicated Andorian ale. He draws the line at synthehol however. That stuff is just wrong.

Well, I assume he could also build a still and look up how to ferment it properly. I'm not exactly sure what the limits on "personal effects" are for starfleet. If I choose to decorate my birth room with a still while someone else chooses to decorate with family photos, well that is just a personal choice. I half kid. I doubt Timor is going to get that crazy anytime soon.

*cough, cough* Don't forget The Orville!
https://orville.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Species

It's not about finding pictures online, it's about finding pictures of them on rPoL :D

Yeah, I figured. I feel like I saw some Farscape critter avatars at one point. I could very well be mistaken.

Looking at the Alien avatars, I see Babylon 5, Farscape, Star Trek, and Star Wars all represented. Some from Mass Effect. A good number from comic books.

And even one from Ashen Stars! Of course, I'm the one who submitted a Tavak avatar. I really wish that game hadn't died.

Checking Demi-Humans and Monsters might also yield some decent results, but you probably knew that. :D

   Yeah, seeing anything like that would likely be a dealbreaker here. I'm open-minded on a lot of things, but if I were to see anything Force-related here, I'd have to bow out. Mixing metaphors is one thing, but mixing genres is a whole other deck of cards.  :)

Come on don't you secretly wish to see the scene where a man turns in his Captain's Chair as he pulls down his hood from his Star Fleet Robe Uniform. "Hello, I am Captain Luke Sky Walker of the USS Midi-chlorians.

Just teasing.

In reply to John Garrity (msg # 76):

   Two words: Eeee-yuck.

   :)

"Use the Proton Force and push their Cylon Shadows into the Stargate!"

- Obi-John-Luc Crichton, while wearing a very cunning hat
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:07, Tue 16 Apr 2019.

And then of course there is this gem:


This message was last edited by the GM at 16:07, Tue 16 Apr 2019.

The Miranda class has extensive shuttle bays. Do we have a concept of what sort of shuttles we have? I mean, I assume that as an officer in engineering, getting access to the full list of parts and things that might need fixing should be well within reasonable for my character, so I would assume he could become generally aware of these things rather quickly.

   So, what's next? I'm assuming we find our bunking assignments and get ready for our 'day jobs' - not much to RP out there, I'd think.

   Just wondering where the next story point will begin.

I figured we would find that out when they posted their next post. My guesses would be meeting our direct superiors or with some event happening: Ship starts exploding, we move into the nebula, we find out that we accidentally brought on tribbles with the supplies.

Yes..."accidentally..."

Just keep them away from me. I'm only half-Klingon, but still... I don't know how you people can stand those things.

If properly cooked I'm sure they could make a fine meal.

Is Garrity there or just the ensigns, captain, and T'ra?

I am there just posted. I was waiting for your questions to be answered

The reason I was asking was he had a question for you as well. Actually a request, but it would have been silly to post when I wasn't sure you were there.

Makes sense. I read the first post and I could see if I wasn't as well, but I believe I am there.

For some reason, I thought we had done a time jump and were being briefed right before heading down to the planet. Since we have days of travel before we head down, Cheng will shut up now.

I'm not sure how long we have. You might be right about days, and I just missed it, but I was figuring that it wouldn't take that much longer for him to instruct his away team to assemble in the transporter room and I could do my tests while the others were getting equipment.

I am not certain if we time jumped or not. Still, most missions allow from prep time, so I left it open for the Captain to say we are going. Or, if he we do have time we can do that to.

It's been about a day. I use horizontal rules to designate time jumps and transitions but I will try to make it a bit more clear in the narrative going forward.

example:

---

So I don't want to discourage players asking questions but I am trying to keep up the feeling and pace of a Star Trek episode. If you watch the briefing scenes there are a couple rounds of Q&A just so that one character isn't delivering minutes of exposition by themselves but there is also a "Chekov's Gun" approach to details where if it's not important it doesn't get screen time.

That would be my objective as well with this is that I don't want you to think that I am misleading you or withholding information from you. I will never run a game where you will be backed into a corner and I'll say "well you didn't ask the right question."

I perfectly understand that you need information to make informed choices but I ask that you trust me that I will deliver that information to you. I am not playing this game to see if I can outsmart my players, I am playing this game to focus on what choices do you make: given all available information do you go up or go down, left or right etc.

Those hard choices are easily the best part of Star Trek. It's not the cheesy dialogue or poorly choreographed fight scenes or perfectly mediocre special effects. It's the aliens, the excitement, and the hard quandaries approached with emphasis on both logic and emotions, future consequences and past precedences.

Therefore all I ask is that if there is a clarifying question about something that your character could reasonably figure out on their own, feel free to shoot me a PM or address it OOC. I'll deliver pretty clear narration in game when I think you guys are overthinking things and I'm ready to push on but if there is other questions I will address them continuously in OOC/PMs.

ALSO if I ever do forget to mention anything, if that information becomes pertinent I will make sure to deliver it to you prior to making a decision.


Finally this goes for things like equipment. Anything that would be considered reasonable and standard duty: you have unless I specify otherwise. The engineer always has his tools, the security officer always has their phasers, the science & medical always have their tricorders etc.

In addition for away missions a standard and reasonable load out is assumed. You have your environmental suits as well as a belt with spare parts/climbing gear/emergency shelter equipment etc. Again this is not a game to try and trick you. This isn't a dungeon crawler. The individual obstacles are fairly linear but the focus is on the reperussions of those decisions. Who do you help? Who do you abandon? Who gets injured because of your choices?

---

That being said here are some clarifications:



Cheng would know that only Starfleet personnel use starfleet signals. If they were civilians they would be using standard Federation signals. The scans in the report show no sign of other Starfleet signals.



Timor would know looking at the report that there is nothing he could do. It would be like trying to fly a kite through a hurricane. There is no additional information that can be gleaned from orbit.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:26, Wed 17 Apr 2019.

Also, one last warning. This game is going to feel kinda railroad-y at times. There will be specific obstacles that you will have to face from a specific starting point and no matter how much you would like to try there will be no getting around it. You will have to board the alien ship, you will have to beam down to the planet's surface, you will not be able to escape to warp etc.

HOWEVER how you solve the problem will some room for variation. While there is only one way to fix a broken warp nacelle there are a LOT of ways to disable alien attackers or ships or quarantine a population from the plague or break up a doomsday cult.

 Finally there will always be critical decisions that are completely free for you to choose. Will you break the Prime Directive? Will you destroy the alien menace or let it roam free once the danger has passed? Will you reprimand your insubordinate crew or try to become their friends?

Not to get to meta but everything else is really just setting up that central dilemma for the show. Episode after episode are built around "rail road obstacles" that lead up to a central decision that a character is able to make freely:

Do they give in to fear or rise to bravery?
Do they bend their laws to do good or sacrifice what is right for what is proper?
Do they respect the culture and quirks of an alien species or reject them?

That is why your values are so important and ones I wanted to spend a LOT of time on so if you do not have them memorized I encourage you to do so because you should be looking for every opportunity to engage or challenge them as ultimately you can think that those values are what each missions is really about.

Sometimes I will build a mission with a specific value/challenge in mind but other times it will be more open and it is up to you to decide if you want a value to come into play.

Above all else though, TALK TO ME. Send me a PM if you have an idea or a question or need something clarified. If you want to bring a value into play but aren't sure if it is appropriate or not or if you would like to see a situation where the value can be challenged shoot me a PM. It is so important that this becomes your natural reaction to any questions/comments/concerns you have which is why it is always Rule #1 in my games. Forget having fun, let's have an open channel of communication and fun will naturally emerge from two people playing on the same page.

Okay. So, I won't need the test cylinders, but the reason I wanted them in the transporter room was also to get transporter scans of everyone right before the mission that would be on both our shuttle and the ship. They are used with one of the medical devices and are just generally nice to have. I doubt we will need them, but it is much better to have them and not need them than need them and not have them. The same way he backed down because "snitches get stitches" and he has become gun shy about suggesting that they might be wrong, he is attending to potential problems that might crop up early in line with the way he attends to machinery. It is also an opportunity for Garrity to tell him he is being overly cautious, support him, or do whatever he would do when a subordinate makes a request.

Question: Aren't crews basic transporter scans on record already?

They are.  Getting a physical is probably standard procedure before going on an away mission.

New ones are more up to date by dint of the meaning of the word "new", but you have every right by nature of your position to tell him "No." You are in command. If you think that his requests are unreasonable you can react as such. At no point has he questioned the fact that you are in command. Heck you can ignore him if you so choose. He made his request. The choice of how to react is yours. This is a chance to give additional insight into how they interact with each other. You don't have to jump on it if you don't want to. Timor can just shut up until he is needed.

15:14, Today: Timor Imonim rolled 17 using 2d20 ((8,9)).

Okay, so looking at my results from deionizing the hull, I succeeded and can now help T'Saen with her thing. Can I make a case that with the EPS focus and the concept of rerouting power to restore her controls or sending it to shields to soften the impact? I'm just looking for ways to get her the 4 successes she needs. If I can get two on my roll, she would only need to get two on her's. She may also have focuses she can bring in. I'm not keen on handing over threat, but the choice would be her's at the end of the day. If she feels it is needed. That is up to her. I'm just trying to get the best idea of what is going on and what our options are. As we get more used to the system we will have to ask these questions less often.

Sure! As heavy handed as I feel that I've been these past few days I highly encourage you guys to be creative on bringing your focuses to bear. Bring on the Treknobabble!

On the fitness roll; what is that with to avoid being tossed by turbulence.

  Two questions:
 1) Fitness check (Fitness + ???)

 2) Did I manage to get any data on the Scientists to review before boarding on the shuttlecraft?

  Mucho obrigado.

One last question, do we need to make an assist roll for the shuttle.

Pure Fitness. It's a tricky one but only one 1 success is required.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:38, Wed 17 Apr 2019.

18:36, Today: Ylis zh'Kerja rolled 29 using 2d20 with rolls of 16,13.  Turbulence - Fitness TN 10.

I failed my Swaying in Time with the Other Actors test. What do I win?

A concussion and a director yelling at you. I kid.

Didn’t think we would have a redshirt death this quickly :P

kidding of course

*accidentally hits airlock button with elbow* WHOOSH!

Were phaser rifles authorized? I was thinking one for Timor and one for Ylis. Cheng is okay with phasers, but I know Timor is much better and I suspect Ylis is as well.

One thing to remember is that using a Phaser rifle generates the weapon's escalation value in threat when used. I am uncertain if the Captain authorized.

It does it when obtained and I would assume if I couldn't generate threat or momentum during that period, neither could anyone else. So, we might have lucked out on that one.

Thats a no on the rifles. Even if contact with romulans was confirmed the empire is not at war and that would represent a clear escalation.

Just waiting on T'saen for the big roll!

I'll get a post up shortly, please stand by!

So full disclosure I am still new to this system so if you see anything that looks off please feel free to bring it up!

I just got my copy of the rules in the mail and have only started diving in, so the same goes for me!

   Only the Basic Core Rules here, so you know as much as I do, GM! Guess this is a learning curve for a few of us.

Roleplaying 101: Never let the rules get in the way of a good story. :)

Seems like a few of us are fairly familiar with the rules. I have done a few Streams of it as a player, so feel mostly comfortable. The only thing I saw that has been a little off was a call for a singular Fitness roll. Normally, the rules call for a Attribute and Discipline to be rolled with a set difficulty number based on how challenging it was.

On that roll, I would of probably called for a Fit+Security with a difficulty of 1 maybe 2. Depending on the narration I might of spent threat to increase the complication range to add drama.

With that said; I thought what you did worked just as well. It did add drama without totally hurting any player. On average, rules wise you are doing great.

Just my two cents of which I have been told is sometimes worth less than 2 cents.

One thing I think would be helpful would be a Notice Thread with Momentum, threat, and any current complications. I saw this used to great effect by another ST on Rpol for STA.

I am still playing around with the OOC notes so bear with me on that.

I'll try and note advantages in Green and complications in red.

Also just as a refresher:

---

Momentum: Gained by having extra successes. Can be spent as follows:
2M  to create an advantageous trait, remove a complication or create a complication for an adversary as appropriate to the task.

1+M - can repeatedly be used to add d20s to a task. (maximum of 5 total dice per roll). 1 die = 1M, 2 dice = 3M and 3 dice = 6M

2M+ - can increase difficulty of a task for an opponent

1+M - obtain additional information (max 3) from the output of a task.

---

Focus - If a task is aligned with a focus that you have then each success counts as 2 successes for overcoming difficulty or generating momentum.

---

Threat Basically momentum for the GM. Players can substitute adding Threat as opposed to spending momentum for adding d20s/difficulty before a roll.

---

Determination Everyone starts with 1 pt of determination and can generate more by challenging their values. They can spend determination by performing a task that supports their value and can use it in the following ways:

- add a d20 that is automatically a '1' an thus generates 2 successes towards the task
- re-roll all their dice
-immediately perform a second task
-immediately create an advantage for the current scene.

---

Finally you all have the directive of: Uphold the Prime Directive but beyond that you have not been given a specific mission or directive so no worries there.

Also I highly recommend coordinating before attempting tasks. This is the time in the show where the CO goes and says "You do this and you do that etc."

You are free to discuss the situation all you want in-game but you only get a single task (i.e. roll) to attempt before the story moves forward.

If discussing things in character takes too long feel free to do it here in the OOC threads for easier coordination.

Finally if you're taking too long I'll pick a task off my "obvious task" list appropriate for your character.

While I want to give you time to deliberate and plan I have also seen waaay too many games die because it is difficulty to get consensus on a plan online.

A suggestion to the players, and also would be helpful for me. I believe the players would have familiarity with each others discipline levels. I would love to see those placed in cast listing with possibly focuses. Anything else is great, but not as necessary.

This will help when assigning tasks.

I could see it being helpful and I think I still have a character sheet you can access in my description, but I'm thinking that much of that may be out of character knowledge for anyone who hasn't bothered to get to know others.

   I'd like to look after two things in my next post:

• - Make sure that Crewman Ylis zh'Kerja is all right - just a short RP will probably do it
• - Insight + Science/Engineering (difficulty 2) - decipher and understand the Partial Scan Garrity attempted during the descent with the much more powerful shuttle scanners I'd like to work on this one, I'm reasonably competent as a Science Officer as well as a Doctor, possibly assisting Lt. Garrity after he's made the appropriate speech. :)

  Well, that's my plan, at any rate.

   As for character sheets, just scrub out any personal details you don't want to be public knowledge.

   (Should the GM see fit to release the Character Sheets, that is.)
This message was last edited by the player at 17:20, Thu 18 Apr 2019.

For me as 2nd Officer; I will make an assumption I know the disciplines perhaps relevant focuses. Ones that SF would care about.

I am going to make a suggestion that you allow me to make command roll first and with that I am fairly certain I will generate momentum which can be used for other tasks. Will have another task in list. T'Saen determining shuttle damage.

Reason + Science to scan the area (difficulty 1) - please specify what you are looking for (e.g. alien signal, starfleet signal, mineral composition etc.) Timor

Insight + Science/Engineering (difficulty 2) - decipher and understand the Partial Scan Garrity attempted during the descent with the much more powerful shuttle scanners Abidool

Daring + Engineering (difficulty 1) - attempt repairs on Laila's faceplate Cheng

Presence + Command (difficulty 1) - give an inspirational speech to improve morale Garrity

The "scan the area" task  is repeateable with different people scanning for different things.

Also don't forget you can have people assist to add more successes to a roll.

Yeah, T'Saen might do a decent job scaning for something else. Then we could work on assessing damage and the like together, but as always, the choices are yours about what orders you want to give.

  Just a thought: Is it possible to have a Momentum/Threat Pool thread somewhere? Was thinking it might be nice to know if we have Momentum to borrow from, rather than scrolling back over and over.

  I'll get to an actual post before too much longer.

Was not certain on the Scan. Believed maybe it would be a Momentum spend for more info, but that is good. I left a spot to allow for recommendations, so if Timor believes that is the way the go he can rec.


Question: Are ship roles in effect. I am not thinking they are since the none of the team is an actual Senior Staff

I'll be tracking momentum and threat in each of my updates per scene. I don't like having it in a separate thread because I will forget to update it and then I will feel obligated to run a full audit which means time spent book keeping instead of furthering the story.

---

Ship roles are not in effect because, as you correctly surmised, you are not senior officers yet.

Also it is fine to be a bit disorgnized at first. It is your first away mission as a group after all.

But it's not perfect. My commanding officers will be disappointed. I kid, but I think Garity legitimately has a value related to that and the captain was quite explicit on the expectation of perfection.

The captain also said you wouldn't achieve his standards of perfection :P

  *Looks up at the ship*  Someone needs reminding that perfection, like life, is a journey and not a destination.

  ;)

Not quite how a focus works. It only increases the chance of getting 2 successes from one die.

You need to roll TN or less to get a success. A "1" is a critical and gives you two successes.

If you have a Focus that applies, you get a critical on a roll of your Discipline or less.

Example:

Cheng attacks a Romulan with his ushaan-tor. Daring 10 + Security 4 gives him a target number of 14. I decide to add Threat to buy 2 bonus d20s. This gives Universe 3 extra Threat, but I get to roll 4d20.

Say I roll 3, 5, 14, and 19. Normally, that would be 3 successes for 3 dice below 14 and no "1"s.

But, Cheng has the Focus Hand-to-Hand Combat. With his Security Discipline of 4, that turns the die that rolled a "3" into a critical giving him an additional success.

Thanks Cheng! Now I know!

@Laila - I'm pretty sure you're supposed to spend the momentum first and then roll the dice pool together however as this is our shake-down scene I'm willing to allow it this time.

   Learn something new every day, it seems. Well, looks like we'll be spending Momentum on most tasks ^1, then.

Remember that Focuses can help increases successes. Like if you have Computer as a focus. Great for sensors.

Yep, build your dice pool, then roll. The one exception is you can spend Determination to reroll your pool.

You start with 2d20 and get add up to 3d20 by spending Momentum, Threat, and Determination. There are a couple of Talents that give a bonus d20 or allow rerolling some or all of the pool under specific conditions.

If you Assist someone, you only roll 1d20. If you get any successes, they only count if the primary actor gets at least one success.

The ship or a shuttle can Assist on rolls that relate to their systems. They roll a single die and are considered to always have a Focus that applies.

One place I was a bit fuzzy was if you could have an assistant spending momentum to expand their dice pool as well. If you are both rolling can you both spend 3 momentum to each add 2d20 to each of your pools

Generally the Computer Focus doesn't apply to Sensor Scans. The Sensor Operations Focus applies to Sensor Scans. The Sciences Division book has a good list of Science and Medical Focuses. Science Focuses start on page 36.

Cheng has the Computers Focus and I wish it applied to Sensor Scans. It could be useful in a detailed analysis of the data from the scan, but that's up the the GM.

Thank you for your precision, but does not change my point about making sure you examine your Focuses.

No, it is a good point.

As per RAW



So the assistant can only roll 1d20 to help and cannot buy up more dice with momentum or threat.


Also important: TALENTS!!!

I'll work on getting talent descriptions added to character sheets but make sure to keep aware of them so you don't miss out on anything

Can I get a quick clarification on what you want T'Saen to be scanning for please?

Also, sorry if my rolls & responses are a bit brief; until I have a handle on the rules and how to maximize my abilities I'm kind of winging it here. :)

Reason + Science to scan the area (difficulty 1) - please specify what you are looking for (e.g. alien signal, starfleet signal, mineral composition etc.)

I believe Timor did Starfleet Signal. You can choose any other. I would recommend Alien Signal, but Garrity was not clear on which one.

Remember you can spend Momentum for extra dice. Also, you can spend momentum generated or otherwise after roll for additional information. This is usually done after Director gives result.

One thing I am wondering is if the Shuttle can do an assist for Laila, Timor and T'saen.

As long as the shuttle sensors are working, it can Assist. Assuming a standard Shuttlecraft, it has the following stats:

Systems
  Comms     07     Engines 05     Structure 05
  Computers 06     Sensors 05     Weapons   00

Departments
  Command 00     Security    01     Science  00
  Conn    01     Engineering 01     Medicine 00

Assisting the scan, it would be 1d20 with a TN of Sensors (05) + Science (00) or 5. So, not all that likely to provide a success.

   From what the Director has mentioned, and I might be incorrect ... but the ship/shuttle gives us no bonuses - something about being Ensigns/Young Officers/Cadets, etc. I might be wrong, but thought I heard something along those lines.

That was for ship roles. Which are positions held by senior staff.

I am trying out the style of putting heavy emphasis on traits. Let me know if that is appreciated or bothersome. I personally am liking it as a neat way to attach little reminders of bonuses and penalties.

Also let me know if you'd like me to attach the effects of the traits as well. Hopefully they are descriptive enough that it isn't necessary but as they accumulate I can see it getting confusing.

What is the difficulty of checking out the shuttle? Is that what our commander would like me to do next? I sort of jumped the gun last time, so I thought it would be better to ask this time.

Difficulty 2. Whenever the hull gets ionized it can throw the sensors for a loop. It's easy enough to realign them given time but for quick diagonstics it can be a little tricky wading through the false positives to get at actual problems.

Hey all, quick check in from the road. I'll try to get a post up tomorrow detailing my findings, but the holiday weekend is putting a crimp in my gaming. If anyone feels the need, go ahead and take the GMs notes as read and reported to move the story forward.

Let me know if you have any questions.  Also I know this is a hierarchical command structure but keep in mind that you are highly trained officers, not grunts and your expertise is expected.

If there is a task that you would like to pick up that would suit your character's background I don't think anyone would argue with you stepping up instead of waiting for the commander to tell you to do the job everyone figured you were going to do anyway.

I want to be able to have PCs giving out the orders so it doesn't feel arbitrary or linear however I don't want the game to grind to a halt because everyone is waiting to receive their orders.

I will post soon. I took an electronic vacation this weekend. In the little the PCs have worked with Garrity; they see he is firm, but has a team dynamic philosophy. He gives goals, and wants the subordinate to determine how to achieve the goal.

Sorry, as I said before, I felt like I jumped the gun last time and wanted to make sure that I was acting along the lines of what Garrity wanted. And so far, what I have seen of his philosophy has been platitudes and orders.

There was the introduction where he focused on talking to Laila and basically ignored Timor. Then the toast where he tried to quickly bond them as though as single drink was all it took to make a team. Then a speech where he basically said, "That was a bit rough, but maybe deserved. We all have good traits and can be more. Go be all you can and do your jobs. I'll be around to look over your shoulders in the next few days."

Then the briefing where you basically just issued standing orders and gave him permission to go on his fools errand out of pity and a concern that he wouldn't be as useful if he didn't get a chance to do his thing. Then after the crash, more orders with some brief concern about our crewman. I've seen no indication that he has any concept of team dynamics in that I haven't seen anything that suggests a "team". Firm I get, with the orders and what not, but I'm curious when we would have learned that he had shown any interest in getting to know us as a team.

There was a dynamic between Timor and T'Saen that he just tried to bury with a toast rather than understand. Then he offered platitudes rather than any actual attempt to form them into a team when he addressed them on the ship. Then the rest of it was basically giving us orders with recommendations as an after though. I was very much getting the impression that he was more about "You all are under me and it is my job to make you better" in line with the value he has about perfection. I was taking it as him doing his best to just sort of plaster over faults in things, avoid doing the wrong thing, and make it work right without any actual attempt to understand it, rather than him taking an interest in team dynamics. Sorry if I misread that.

That Value is more applying to him. He is not good enough in his own eyes because of Father

   Something that's sort of had me wondering the last little while - I come from FASATrek, so this might be a leftover and I'm looking for a little clarification. Bear with me for a moment:

   The Captain seemed to think that we're Cadets, and it's been hinted at that this is sort of a Cadet-style cruise. But it seems to me that if we are Ensigns and above - we've done the Cadet Cruise a while back and this is our first *real* assignment. Anyone remember "Wrath of Khan"? - now that was a Cadet cruise and one that went horribly wrong. I don't think that we're that far back, or our character sheets would be even less than they are now.

   As for following orders and such:

   We have a certain amount of 'leeway' in how we deal with matters, being actual officers of Starfleet and such, but there is still a hierarchy to follow. In my case, I presented the data I had, then asked for a direction to go. I was under the impression that we'd inform Lt. Garrity of what's happened as well as what's going on, then he could make the decision as to where to go next - being the more experienced leader. We have 'wriggle room', but we're still Officers. Lt. Garrity can give directions on where we can pursue knowledge, but leave the specifics as to *how* to fulfil those requests up to us. And as long as we're getting things done - and advancing the story in the meantime - all is well.

Just my 0.02 cents (plus taxes and fees)

This is your first posting after Starfleet. You are not cadets but the captain is using it in a condescending manner.

I'll post it now and then as a reminder but for additional information please PM me so we can rapidly go back and forth on the momentum spending/information.

Real quick. I believe the max Momentum pool is 6

   A bit tied down here at work - will try to get something done tonight.

  Not sure of what's left to do looks like everyone's got a task at the moment. I don't want to set off anywhere and split the party if I can help it.

I'm not going to be able to respond until tomorrow. Sorry.

And the Lt is right about the limit on the Momentum pool.

So because people might be spending momentum for additional information I will be tracking above 6. If the extra isn't spent down then it will be lost.

Current momentum pool is now 4 based on recent spends.

   - May I still try to help this, or has that window closed. I had something prepared - but 'maintenance' seemed to put the kybosh on posting anything until now. If so, great ... if not, meh.

Even if you assisted he needed 3 successes and only got 1 so bringing it up 2 wouldn't help.

Was getting a "404 error" all day from rpol.net, but will try to catch up today.

Laila, just want to clarify one little point:



Just to confirm: T'Saen isn't betting anyone from the away team will die; she bet Timor that the shuttle was salvageable and can be fixed enough to get us all off-planet (and it is). :)

I'm out of town w/out my laptop.  I'll be able to check and post, but dont expect any speeches worthy of James Tiberius Kirk or anything.

    Sorry, but it wasn't made completely clear. Amended the post to reflect Abdool's distaste for human (or most other forms) of flesh.

Sorry, I should have made it a clearer. Onward, upward, and all that jazz!

Phew! I'm pretty exhausted atm. Just finished making a GIANT exploration map for you. I've decided to take this game in a more non-linear fashion where you'll be assigned to explore a region of space and you'll be presented with a map and points of interest that represent things of notice and potential adventure.

I won't have hard rules like it takes X time to move through a grid or Y hours/days/weeks to explore a grid but instead as you move around and adventure the map can change.

Fail to stop a star from going super nova? Well then this grid is now off limits as a navigation hazard, hope that doesn't mean you have to fly through enemy territory now. Intercede on behalf of one alien race in a war against another? Then their borders will expand. Fail to cure a plague and their borders will contract etc. etc.

Fantastic! Thank you!

In reply to Universe (msg # 177):

  Almost sounds like you're heading in a "West Marches" style of game:

   https://youtu.be/oGAC-gBoX9k

   Here's to hoping for the best outcomes on all counts.  :P

Would the talent "I know my ship" apply in this situation? I wasn't sure if it was just the Bellfast, the Bellfast and its shuttles, or whatever my ship of the moment was.

Sure. I mean it's a standard shuttle and it is part of the standard kit & caboodle of the Belfast.

Per the Core book, Challenge dice are as follows in a normal d6:


Edit: This is on page 74 of the Core book.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:17, Tue 30 Apr 2019.

See, I apparently missed that chart. Thank you.

Just to get things straight in my head, I have a couple of questions. There is a scene I would like to have with Cheng and Ylis before we reach this world, but not if the trip was less than a day.

• How long after we boarded were we given the mission briefing?
• How long after the mission briefing did we reach this wonderful world?

It was less than a day, call it a couple hours at medium warp.

Gotcha, so really close to the Starbase. Now I have a better understanding regarding the use of just a shuttle by the scientists.

Repair team: I have retconned the extended task into an effective difficulty 4 task. I realized there wasn't a time constraint on the task and thus it was a poor candidate for an extended check.

   Just a note: my weekend's gotten a little more convoluted than I'd planned - I'll work out something to post on Monday.

   Sorry for the inconvenience.

Okay, before we respond, I need to actually know if there are any parts we need. Last I knew the shuttle was good to fly, but it was the storm and being shot down again that were the concerns. I don't want to say we don't need parts if we do, but the impression I got was that we should be fine.

Right now it is seeming that our best bet is just to raise shields and wait for the storm to pass possibly shifting the shuttle every so often to keep it less buried, but never so far off the ground that it might get damaged if it goes down again.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:05, Tue 07 May 2019.

Understandable.

I would suggest barely lifting off, then firing the shuttle's phasers on lowest power/widest dispersion to melt the snow, then settle back down again. We can also take this up IC if you'd like to discuss.

Correct no additional parts are needed as you passed your check.

mini update to bide time while we wait for others...

I will post by morning. Had a family emergency. Been device free for several days. I am sorry for any delay I have caused my other playerss

no worries. This game is moving at a pretty good clip.

Also as the comms have been severed I've isolated the two groups.  You can assume that you were kept appraised so Garrity's group would know that Timor and T'Saen repaired the shuttle while Timor and T'saen would know that the rest of the team found the scientists (dead) and a tunnel going underground.

Gentle reminder to T’saen and Timor...

Hi, sorry for the delay! Can I get a quick clarification please? You wrote



Do you mean we'll need to fire up the thrusters when this happens, or that it's snowing, and hey you guys, the proximity sensor just went off, you might want to check that?

Quick question: Are both of these affecting Lt. Garrity's party?



Because with the blurred faceplate the Doctor has, the Difficulty will be 4, and I'll need both my Value and some help from Mr. ch'Zynes to make head or tails of this technology. (I'm also considering using a point of Determination to get started).

EDIT: I'm guessing that Garrity's Teamwork! will lower the difficulty to 3.

Oops! I forgot to remove the subspace scans and replace it with the new trait: Ancient Insulation...

lol why didn't anyone tell me I mixed up my trackers :P

Oh yeah, I guess that's what happened. <_<

   I'm not usually one to point out mistakes and such - some GM's get right out upset over having things pointed out to them. But if you're asking for help in spotting mistakes ...

Cheng: Teamwork! - -1 difficulty to one task

 - Think that this should be from Garrity, as he's posted this before. (Unless Cheng has it as well, then my bad).

Garrity granted that to all of us. I haven't used it yet.

Correct. Everyone has used their bonus but Cheng.

GM, can I get a read on this please so I can get a post up and keep us moving forward?

Missed that, sorry. It is the latter: it is snowing. Someone is approaching the shuttle.

   Excuse me, GM ...

Descend shaft: Fitness + Security Difficulty 1

   Are you waiting (and wanted) the rest of us down to where the Andorians have repelled down to? (I have this bad feeling that the 11 or less I'm going to need will not end well - especially with the Blurred faceplate)

   Just wondering.

Does an Emergency Survival kit include rope? If so, Ylis and Cheng can assist the Doctor and LT. We could assist you by cutting finger and toe holds into the stone with our hand phasers but that could cause other problems.

Laila, your Blurred Faceplate shouldn't apply to this test. That was intended for tests that require clear vision.

Sure you guys can assist. Correct blurred face plate doesn’t apply. You can always add threat to roll more dice...

My work schedule has been insane. Will catch up today.

Sorry for going silent for a few days. Had a bit of a health issue. Will post a bit later today.

Due to the holiday, I won't be able to post tomorrow. I will be back in action on Tuesday.

John, let me know if it's easier for all if I move our thread along. I've been waiting on a post from you, but happy to keep waiting if you need. :)

EDIT: Sorry, meant Timor! Already spoke to GM, and am moving forward.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:09, Wed 29 May 2019.

FYI I'm putting up a Wanted-Player to replace Timor. It's been a month since he's logged on and given his attitude prior to leaving I don't expect him to be coming back.

Q has snapped his fingers and Timor is no more; Sarah Greene has always been

Oh gods the great Q exists in this game, should we run?

does anyone want to give me a quick rundown of what I've missed? Or shall i start reading the back posts now :)

Hi Sarah!

You & I are on the shuttlecraft that went down to the planet. Lots of sensor intereference, and also a blizzard. I poked my head out to see what was what, and got shot at by Romulans, who appear to be unfriendly. I just fired up the shuttle to A.) Try to scatter them or at least bury them in snow and B.) Keep the blizzard from covering the shuttle. Next step is to try and raise the rest of the team to warn them and see how they're faring.

Welcome aboard, and please help!

Gladly what type of shuttle? do we have any armaments onboard?

GM? I'm not sure on the specific specs.

Also, hopefully our other intrepid away team members can give you the lowdown on how they've been faring. :)

Standard shuttle. Yes it is armed but using it directly on personnel would be considered a war crime. Don't really have stun settings on ship-based weaponry :P

*poke for the cave crew*

Make your rolls if you're going to continue following the tunnel, otherwise I can split the group again.

Welcome Sarah!

Thanks its a pleasure to join the game Ylis, :) Lets have a great time!

*poke* Garrity? Otherwise I can roll for you to keep the story moving...

In reply to Universe (msg # 224):

   Are we waiting on Mr Garrity? I'd prefer not to wait much longer, if possible.

   The show must go on, after all.

Giving Garrity a poke and a bit more time while I formulate the next scene.

Spoke with Universe. The reason I have been gone is my Girlfriend's father died a few weeks ago, and we have been out of state dealing with the estate.


I am pretty good, but have been playing emotional support pet for Christine. We are starting to come to the other side of this, and we are good. Universe has said he will NPC me if needed.

In reply to John Garrity (msg # 227):

   I can understand - was a caregiver for my own father, along with my sister until he passed, then pulled a "Swedish Death Cleansing" to get stuff out of the house. It wore down my sister immensely, but I soldiered on and got most of the stuff cleared away. (Nothing makes you realise how much stuff you have until you have to clean out someone else's)

   Best wishes on the emotional end, and hope that you'll come back ready and willing to jump in (as much as one can, given what you've gone through)

Cheers.

thats a good question, whats our battle plan T'saen?

Per my earlier post, my plan was to follow the heading of the away team, but feel free to offer other ideas! Heck, I'll fly us back to the relative safety of the Belfast if you want.

since i'm the newbie :) I was assuming you knew where we dropped off the away team, although in this storm it'd be easy to get lost probably.

They left us behind to fix the shuttle while they went off to be heroes or something. Now between the blizzard and the Romulans we need to find and probably save them. ;)

What model of shuttle are we dealing with here? Also how hard would it be to configure the sensors to look for life signs through the blizzard?

I mean in theory we could still pick up data by focusing our IR spectra search on an inverse of this graph

 https://pubs.rsc.org/image/art...06756a-f2_hi-res.gif

since that's the IR spectra for ice (in blue) we would get no interference from the blizzard, but it would limit our ability to detect liquid water as well.  When you cross reference that with the IR Spectra of Hemogoblin, you'll find that we should be able to locate any humans (and presumably other aliens) in the area, by looking for blank spots in the scan well searching between 1000-2000, specifically near 1600-1700 cm-1

https://www.researchgate.net/f...fiber_fig3_275157451

 or atleast find any corpses :)

I hope i didn't scare anyone by showing my inner geek...*blushes*

Scare, nothing. I think I'm in love!

so the lovely Ensign T'Saen approves then?

I'm just not sure if my character has enough ranks in science to suggest that :( with only 2 ranks it could be to low to reference Organic chemistry, and the IR spectra of specific compounds.  Although I could see it being something engineering might know as well...so not sure.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:24, Thu 13 June 2019.

I've only got 1 rank in Science, so am even less of a help there. Maybe the GM would allow a roll for it?

I have to ask if I even know the info off my character's head, I mean Sarah's an engineer, not a scientist, my background IRL is in medicine, having had to take physics and instrumental analysis as part of my degree.

Between the alien signal and the storm detailed sensors are pretty much off the table. You can still navigate and marked out points of interest prior to take-off but there isn't much hope of finding a signal to guide you by.

so it'd be ineffective sorry T'sean.

What should i roll to try to get sensors to collect enough data to try to locate our teammates?   Control + Conn?   Daring + Conn? reason + Conn?

Nothing. For a variety of reasons stated before sensors will be unable to find their signal.

Even if their not powerful enough to break through the blizzard :) I should in theory be able to cancel out the interference from the subspace signal, if I created an interference/nullification signal by broadcasting the same signal back offset enough to create the peak and toff matching up.

GM, sorry to need further clarification, but do we have any idea where the subspace interference is coming from? If not, there's no benefit to us landing, since we know there are hostiles, we're in the middle of a blizzard, and sensors are useless. Just trying to line our space ducks up in a row before making a decision.

At this point we're in a catch 22, if we retreat to be able to get better readings from orbit and such we won't be able to come back, if we land we won't be able to leave. :(

I say we run away and become private detectives instead. Someplace warm, with no extradition laws.

sadly i'd have to challenge a value to do that T'Saen but it would prove interesting.

Value in question "Never Leave a Man Behind"

I'm not above kidnapping you if it would assuage your guilt.

well you are the pilot ;) I had no choice but to go along :P

Any nonverbal communications methods that starfleet would have taught us?

Ordinarily yes but as you're all in environmental suits it is going to be difficult to be subtle. Not impossible but just keep that in thick gloves and bulky suits it'll be difficult.

If i wanted to use nonverbal communication what would I roll? and what would the # of successes be?  Trying to guess if it'd be worth it or not?

Sorry for going silent for a few days. I had a birthday that took me away longer than expected.

   Just wondering if Lt. Garrity will speak, or I can step up a little and post what I'm working on. (As I said, I don't wish to step on the Lieutenant's toes, but feel that something needs to be said)

   Cheng: Congratulations on the Name Day, just celebrated one last week myself.

Who's the ranking officer in this scene?

As far as I know, it is Lieutenant Jg John Garrity. The rest of us are Ensigns or enlisted.

This message was deleted by the player at 20:59, Wed 26 June 2019.

So since he hasn't logged on in 2 weeks, that means no one is in command?   o.O Well, who wants to be in charge of our rag tag group of ensigns?

Also, why is the only engineer we have (me) being labeled as being in operations? o.O

I believe in the TNG era, everyone who is not in science, medical, or command is lumped into operations.

I could have sworn Engineering and Security were still their own departments..but maybe not

hmmm guess your right after 2350

There are still tactical, security, and engineering departments, they just all fall under the umbrella of operations.

I gave Garrity a gentle nudge. I'll give him to tomorrow to post before I start NPCing him. I don't want to put any pressure due to the RL stuff he's dealing with so he might just be NPC'd for the rest of the mission until he comes back.

Understood, and if i get a reprimand for my character's actions just now I understand :) she does feel this information is vital for not only their mission success but their survival as well.

Very well done ms Abdool :)

In reply to Sarah Greene (msg # 265):

  Thanks, I try. Just trying to move the story forward, is all. :P

I wonder if T'Saen or I should tell you that soon we won't be able to evacuate the planet till the signal is stopped though :D

That's what I was building up to. Feel free to tag in. :D
This message was last edited by the player at 20:11, Thu 27 June 2019.

you can post it my lovely half vulcan friend :)

I'm going to give our dedicated GM a chance to wade in here, since we've been piling on the facts, and then will drop the anvil of truth.

Thank you all for your support with my family's crisis. Things are finally stable. I think I said that before, but this time I think I am right. My girl truly appreciates the kind words a few of the cast offered. So once again thanks.

Life is always more important than fiction, John, even awesome shared fiction like this game. Glad to read things are going better!

Glad you could make it back for the big finale!

OOC what's wrong with my idea,the emission would travel off into the distance, likely never to be seen again, and nothing in the target galaxy will feel it because life couldn't have evolved in a galaxy with an active quasar, due to the sheer volume of radiation sterilizing worlds.

If you fire it at a distant it would be like shouting through a megaphone at it. It would be noisy and half the galaxy would know you just made a collect call but otherwise shouldnt have more impact then a strong solar flare.

From your stellar rolls there are three “safe” options:

1) Activate it as a subspace beacon (as above)

2) Rearrange the solar system

3) Fire it as a weapon at a “safe” target like a barren planet a couple light years away.

Also meta-game, with this much threat any decision you make is going to end badly :P

I refuse to metagame, but i assume my character has basic knowledge of stellar phenomena across the universe from childhood classes and such.  Ex. a quasar would render a galaxy lifeless because of the sheer amount of gamma radiation being emitted, black holes tear appart anything, stars heat up then cool down as they get older etc.

   Not sure that the existence of the Terrans is common knowledge, might want to check on that. An extra-dimensional threat like that would be likely classified way over our low pay-grade.

   Jus' sayin.

its not really an extrademensional threat, its an alternate timeline, and it was like what? 60 years ago or something?  Kirk ended up replaced with Kirk from that timeline.  instead of a Federation, humans were a warmongering race that wanted to conquer the universe, and enslave all other races.

I'd imagine some things like that would be taught at the academy or atleast be available for study but I'll remove the reference if you want.

That may be true of real life but in Star Trek they are pretty frequent. Kirk encountered on in the TOS so they can't be that far away from Earth.

There was a quesar just three days away at Warp 1 from an inhabited planet so they must not be that catastrophic in the Star Trek canon.

In TNG Picard was investigating one as part of his surveys.

Due to real life concerns, I can't post until Monday.

To clarify tractoring the planet doesn't have to shoot it out of the solar system. You can just use it to adjust its orbit around the same star.

You could shoot a planet to another solar system too if you'd like.

Also Signi VIII is not the only planet in the system

---

Signi Solar System

Signi
Type K6 V Orange Main Sequence
Radius 6.01 x 105 km   (0.86 x sol)
Mass 1.41 x 1030 kg   (0.71 x sol)
Temperature 4000 K
Luminosity 1.81 x 1026 W   (0.47 x sol)

Signi I
Type Rock Planet
Orbital Radius 1.59 x 107 km   (0.11 AU)
Period 6.77 x 102 hours   (0.08 earth years)
Radius 4979.11 km   (0.78 x earth)
Gravity 8.12 m/s2   (0.83 x earth)
Special Large moon

Signi II
Type Rock Planet
Orbital Radius 5.80 x 107 km   (0.39 AU)
Period 2.51 x 103 hours   (0.29 earth years)
Radius 4459.49 km   (0.70 x earth)
Gravity 7.28 m/s2   (0.74 x earth)

Signi Asteroid Belt
Type Asteroid Belt
Orbital Radius 1.51 x 108 km   (1.01 AU)
Period 1.05 x 104 hours   (1.20 earth years)

Signi III
Type Rock Planet
Orbital Radius 1.83 x 108 km   (1.22 AU)
Period 1.11 x 104 hours   (1.27 earth years)
Radius 4133.05 km   (0.65 x earth)
Gravity 6.66 m/s2   (0.68 x earth)

Signi IV
ype Jovian Planet
Orbital Radius 2.03 x 108 km   (1.36 AU)
Period 3.09 x 104 hours   (3.53 earth years)
Radius 73432.27 km   (11.53 x earth)
Gravity 32.51 m/s2   (3.32 x earth)
Special 51 small moons, 6 large moons


Signi V
Type Rock Planet
Orbital Radius 2.41 x 108 km   (1.61 AU)
Period 2.13 x 104 hours   (2.43 earth years)
Radius 9000.85 km   (1.41 x earth)
Gravity 14.02 m/s2   (1.43 x earth)
Special Heavy radiation

Signi VI
Type Rock Planet
Orbital Radius 4.21 x 108 km   (2.81 AU)
Period 4.90 x 104 hours   (5.61 earth years)
Radius 3483.66 km   (0.55 x earth)
Gravity 5.67 m/s2   (0.58 x earth)

Signi VII
Type Ice Planet
Orbital Radius 4.97 x 108 km   (3.32 AU)
Period 5.97 x 104 hours   (6.83 earth years)
Radius 18091.27 km   (2.84 x earth)
Gravity 10.08 m/s2   (1.03 x earth)
Special 2 small moons

SIgni VIII <--- you are here
Type Ice Planet
Orbital Radius 7.42 x 108 km   (4.96 AU)
Period 1.15 x 105 hours   (13.15 earth years)
Radius 12746.43 km   (2.00 x earth)
Gravity 6.62 m/s2   (0.68 x earth)

This is a very strange planet. the density must be very very low.

how hard would it be to place this planet at the L5 or L4 points for the 4th planet (gas giant)

Well universe I've been given my orders, what do i have to roll to try to do them? :) whats the DC and is it even possible?

It is mostly ice not rock, thats why.

This is exciting :D

has the storm started to calm down now that the signal shouldn't be being broadcast anymore?

@Storm: No.

As for this:




You really should start checking with me before making these giant leaps.



This would imply that reactivating the device is not an easy matter and just for moving the game along as far as you can tell is not possible. It needs an activation signal from "someplace else" to reactivate.

Also remember that the settlers have said that the device and surrounding structure are impervious to known technology.

edited sorry, for overstepping my bounds.

   Do we have enough time to get back into our suits (I'm assuming the movement of the planet will make the weather more than slightly unpredictable at this point) and find cover before the Romulans arrive? If so, I'll pattern my actions accordingly - minus the helmet for the time being - to help fight off the enemy attack.

   If not, then it will simply grab some cover and hope for the best ...


P.S. Any chance of a map, or are we remaining with 'Theatre of the Mind"?

Theater of the mind. It's not really a tactical combat system.

Yes, you have time to suit up. That would probably be a good idea due to the weather outside.

I don't think T'saen or I ever got out of ours.....

Yeah you did:

we had to come down a ladder to get here I believe. I was gone during some of that. How would that be as an active choke point. Also considering that we hear the shots are they already in or almost in the underground of the structure.

   We had the option - I simply took it to avoid having to deal with the faceplate modifier.

yeah but until the start of this scene, T'Saen and I were in the shuttle, I don't recall removing the suit i'd have to put on to travel, off the shuttle, after we got captured by the colonists.

I assumed we had based on the quote from Laila above.

I am hoping that there is a good ambush point. I want to create an advantage using master strategist before combat begins representing the that choke point. The one question is approx. where the Romulans are.

I was told that I still had mine on at the start of the scene and I don't recall every taking it off.  but I guess it can be forced that i did.

   No one's forcing anything - the option was offered and the Doctor took it. If you don't want to, that's your prerogative. It will simply be a few moments before those of us that did remove ours will have them on back then. Simple as that.

if we're fighting I propose others go before me :)

Let me go to make advantage. Than One of the heavy combat guys spend threat or momentum to cease the initiative

ooooohhh.... i can’t wait!! the big payoff is right around the corner!!!

   I'll remain with Greene to help with the VLC - Very Large Console. This is more of something that belongs to the Fighters amongst us, so I'll keep out unless I'm needed.

I'm waiting till last in line so i know whether or not to begin sabotage

So I wasn't sure how to do the Area Damage Effect, do I roll a CD for it, or just use the result of the Damage Dice rolls?

Your a beast.
Here is how the Book says it is done

AREA: The attack affects a wider area, and can affect
several targets at once. The attack automatically affects
any character or damageable object within Reach of the
initial target, and then one additional target within Close
range of the initial target for each Effect rolled, starting
with the next closest (as determined by the Gamemaster).
If one or more Complications is rolled when using
an Area attack, the Gamemaster may choose to use
Complications to have an ally in the area affected by the
attack. A target cannot be hit if it would have been more
difficult to hit than the initial target


You did 5 damage with 4 effects, so depending how close they are you should pound them hard

Charge allowed you to do
Charge: The weapon has an adaptable energy supply,
allowing its potency to be scaled to various levels. If
the character performs a Prepare Minor Action before
attacking with this weapon, they may add one of the
following weapon Damage Effects to the attack: Area,
Intense, Piercing 2, or Vicious 1

Okay, cool, so from here it's up to the beneficent GM to determine how many I've humiliated!

I'm holding back to see what the results are; no point in firing at random until I see what targets are left.

Same here. Also, I believe an NPC has initiative now.

Yep yep, I am just reading and re-reading how combat works on my end. Give me a bit of time as this is a new system for me.

Ditto, so take your time! :D

yeah, have fun.....

So I think I would prefer everyone to just post their actions and not worry about initiative orders. You can specify things like “do me last” or contingency things like “if someone is injured...” or “spending momentum to get another player to go” but as most people are just taking cover and firing I am going to handle turn order on my end. I can’t post frequently enough to do alternating turns. Combat will last for weeks and weeks if you try posting in order and waiting for me. If things come up that dramatically change things I can always pause and give people the chance to react but in general if we are just shooting or other straight forward stuff then everyone just post ASAP and I can sort out the details in my updates..
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 00:34, Thu 18 July 2019.

is david blackfield the GM? o.O

lol no that is the name of an NPC from a superhero game that autofilled in for some reason...

I hate to do this, but real life has taken a bad turn. I need to drop out of the game. Sorry all - I was having fun.

I'm sorry to hear that we'll miss you Cheng

Good luck Cheng! Hopefully we'll get to write together sometime in the future!

   I hear that have been having a few RL difficulties here as well - I'm keeping the hounds at bay - just, at the moment. Good luck with RL, Cheng. Hopefully, your absence will be short.

Apologies for the delays. I hope to get a combat round updated today.

@Sarah: You guys are basically defending the center of a star and the romulans are coming down the spokes. In order for them to get to the machine they'd have to shoot their way past you guys. Hope that helps with determining your actions

---

@Laila: Need you to decide what you're going to do

---

@T'Saen: Waiting for your round action

---

@Everyone else: Give me your round 2 actions

   Find cover and if any Romulans come close - shoot 'em.

Is there anything that can be shot that might fall & block a passageway, or explode and take out several Romulans without killing everyone? If not, I'm just going to pick a target and try to get a lucky shot in.

Those would be attempts to create advantages I would say. While the hallways themselves are indestructible there is probably equipment from the settlers that can collapsed. Anything you create would only be temporary. As discussed before there is no way to seal off the chamber permanently.

Hey all, I'm sorry, but I need to drop from the game. I wish you all the best!

That explains that. I'll get an update out shortly. In the meantime I'm not too worried about losing players. There will be an opportunity to bring on new players and characters so no worries.

I mentioned that there would be an opening to one of the STA Storytellers i play under...but they havn't said if there interested yet.

Right now it looks like we could use a science officer and a pilot.

Round 2 is up. Waiting for Laila and Ylis' actions.

Cheng and T'Saen both took 5 pts of damage resulting in an injury. As their players are AFK and you have no momentum to spend I took the liberty of knocking them out via injury mechanics.

Apologies for the delay. I was having too much fun in the meatverse.

   A question before I put virtual pencil to paper:

   How far is it from me to Cheng? I'm thinking that Abdool will likely have to sprint to get to him, and any Momentum gained can be used the First Aid roll to stabilize, or use 2 Momentum to get Cheng back up and functioning again. (I know I'm stabilizing a character whose PC has left the game, but we need bodies, or we're going to become bodies at this point)