TheRPGSite

This will be the thread I'll use for my latest campaign, Traveller 2300 AD - Rise of the Sathar.

A brief background on the game - the rules I'm using are about 80% Classic Traveller / 10% Mongoose Traveller / 10% Houserules. The setting is a mix of the 2300 AD setting with the setting for Star Frontiers.

Some Specifics on Character Creation Rules
* I'm using straight 2d6 rolls for stats, but allowing to assign rather than in order.
* For background, I am using the 2300 AD nationalities (more or less) and giving characters their starting languages based on nationality. Depending on intelligence, they can start with one, two, or even three native languages.
* I am using the 2300 AD background skills idea (core vs. frontier) but I've heavily modified the skill table.
* I like to use a random starting age of 15 + 1d6
* Careers use the lists from Classic Traveller. I've adjusted the tables a bit to be a little more straight-forward / consistent and lowered the numbers to allow for easier enlistment / promotion (though the initial PCs were created before I adjusted that; hence a lot of enlistment fails and low ranks).
* I do allow for changing careers ala Mongoose Traveller rather than a one and done approach.
* I use a mishap table that does allow for character death or less deadly results when they fail a survival roll.
* I use the Mongoose method of ranks for officers and non-officers, so characters can always make a promotion roll.
* The rank tables are expanded a bit to allow for ranks 0-9 (both enlisted and officer). For the naval career, I also have a set of ranks for Warrant Officers.
* For skills, I'm using the PD / Service Skills / Specialty Skills / Advanced Education sort of approach. Military careers have different specialty tables based on MOS. Scouts differ by scout mission type.
* I use a completely customized list of skills. I don't like either the defaults for CT or MGT, so I mixed together the two (along with their supplements) to come up with my list of skills.
* I use the aging rules from MGT.
* I mostly use the mustering out benefits from CT, but the other benefits tables are more MGT.
* I use the team skills concept from MGT to allow the team to make sure they have level 1 in each of ten different skills.
* I also give a starting money amount for each character (outside of mustering out) equal to 6 months worth of monthly expenses (based on their Soc rank).

As with character creation, I'm using a mix of rules from the CT and MGT editions for general rules.

More on the general play rules I'm using:
* I'm using the "effect" rules of MGT to gauge levels of success and handle opposed actions.
* Combat is largely using the CT rules, though I am using initiative rules from MGT along with partial autofire rules and how damage is applied.
* I'm using the vehicle combat rules from MGT as well.
* Most starship operations are using the MGT rules, but I'm mostly using CT for the combat rules.
* I'm using the crew positions rules from MGT, along with some of the other rules for movement.

So why the rule changes? Well, I find CT to be "missing" some elements I like, while MGT is too complicated (my players prefer simpler rules). And the rule changes from MGT 2300AD are largely terrible (IMO) so I used barely any of those.

The same is true for the setting. I love the human governments in 2300 AD (though for simplicity, I combined some of the smaller tier ones), but I hate the aliens. So, I threw them all out except for the Kaefer and added in the Star Frontiers aliens - Dralasites, Vrusk, Yazarians, and Sathar.

But in my setting, the aliens are truly strange and distrusted by humans. The Dralasites are a strange, silicon-based life form that no one can hardly communicate with. The Vrusk have a rigid caste system (think Droyne) and although they deny it, many humans believe the Kaefer are simply a warrior caste of the Vrusk. The Yazarians are presented as a violet species that have a shaky non-aggression treaty (that not all clans follow), and the Sathar are more of a rumor than anything at this point.

Technology is largely 2300 AD, though I've de-emphasized the cyberpunk feel of the 2300 AD line (I preferred the original Traveller 2300 approach that GDW took). Since I loathe the spaceship / construction rules of MGT 2300 AD, I'm using the standard MGT rules and just making the differences cosmetic. I'm also just using the generic weapon stats of CT instead of the more individualized by country approach of 2300 AD.

I'm still working on refining my equipment guide. It's a real mix of CT, MGT, and SF equipment.

The one thing I haven't decided on yet is whether or not I'll use any kind of advancement rules.

Character Creation Session

Two weeks ago, we got together to create characters. As mentioned above, I was using the CT numbers for survival / advancement / enlistment which were not as kind to the players.

Since no one had played Traveller before, it took us a little bit to get through the process. We did create some interesting characters, though.

The first player had a heck of a time getting into a career. He failed to get into any of the military careers and had three terms as an "other" before finally getting into the merchant career. He got commissioned and promoted right away, but then nothing. He kept on trying up to the maximum (7 terms). The end result was that he was 51 years old and had really low Str and End stats by that point.

The second player had a good laugh as he got into the marines right away. He got commissioned but no promotion, and the laughter died quickly when he only completed one term before failing to survive. He was left with a cybernetic eye and had to move to the merchant service for his next four terms He ended up doing well there, though, if a bit older as well.

The third player went straight for the merchant career. He had a good four terms then called it quit before he had to worry too much about aging.

The most interesting thing was how none of the PCs are American - we have a Frenchman, a Brit, and a Texan.

My big takeaways from the session were:
* Make the rolls a little easier
* My skill list still needed simplifying (I ended up cutting down another 12 skills or so)
* Put better benefits for other benefits (way too many low passage tickets the first time through)
* Reorganize my character creation rules to make it clearer what the players are deciding on and what the impact is (one example - instead of just saying to roll and assign stats I now say what each stat is used for)

Initial Characters Created for the Campaign

Jean Danielou: Son of a wealthy French businessman, Jean spent his youth wandering aimlessly after failing to get into the army, navy, or marines. He eventually settled into a low-level job in a merchant fleet before venturing out on his own at 51 years old.

James "Wreck" Deckard: A former marine from the Texas colonies with a promising career until a boarding incident left him with a purple heart and a missing eye. He later went into the merchant services where he rose through the ranks until he was ready to start up his own security firm at the age of 42.

Burton Steele: A young up and comer from the United Kingdom. Rising through the ranks of the merchant services quickly, Burt abandoned a promising career at the age of 36 to join up with his acquaintances in their private security firm.

Session 1 - Scene 1 (of 9)

Jean Danielou, James "Wreck" Deckard, and Burton Steele were having a slow first month getting their new private security contracting firm up and going. The rent on the office space was coming due, and they still hadn't found a first assignment. It seemed like it might be a long time before they could even afford a starship, much less achieve the high levels of success they planned.

As they checked the local system network for open ticket assignments, a message appeared on Jean's dataslate that an incoming ship had a holo-mail (or h-mail, as most people call it) for him. It was from his cousin, Rene La Barre.
The miniature holo-projector on the dataslate projects the small image of Rene. Rene wishes Jean well from himself and the rest of the family in Fromme, out on the colony of Kimanjano in the DM +34 2342 system.

Renee also mentions Jean's new security venture and advises that he's heard the Rebco Corporation is looking for people for a job in the adjacent system of Beta Canum Venaticorum. Rene goes on to give Jean the name of a contact in Rebco, a man named Jackson Maddox.

Jean discusses the potential job with the others. Although they have little information to go on, the prospect of working for a major transnational corporation sounds promising and they agree they should look into the job. Jean records a response to Rene to tell him to pass along his information to Maddox.

A few weeks later, a mail courier drops off a package for the group sent by Rebco. Opening it up, they find a letter on company letterhead inviting them to come to Beta Canum-4 for some survey work, singed by Jackson Maddox, VP of Operations for the Canes Venatici region. Also enclosed are download codes for low passage tickets for each of them from their office on Tirane to the spaceport orbiting Beta Canum-4.

Before heading straight out on the 8 parsec journey, the group decides it would be best to do some due diligence first. Wreck suggests to Jean that he use his computer skills to try and get information on Rebco.
Most of what Jean is able to find is standard public information. Like most transnationals, Rebco has a lot of different divisions and activities. One of those activities is mining, which is likely the key activity out in the Canes Venatici space.

Jean also finds some basic information about Beta Canum-4. It is a very Earth-like world, with a similar atmosphere and gravity, and is about 4/5ths the size of Earth. There are three major colonies on the planet – one French (Premiere), one British (New Africa), and one German (Jurgenberg). The French colony is largely agricultural, the British focus on tourism, and the Germans have heavy mining operations.

After more discussion, they ultimately decide to move ahead with the job. Jean is a little nervous about using the cryotubes given his relatively weak constitution, but ultimately opts not to spend his money to upgrade to better passage. They schedule passage on the next liner out of the system the next day.

Session 1 - Scene 2 (of 9)

Several weeks later, the liner arrives at the space port orbiting Beta Canum-4, which has been unofficially named by the French as Chien Aerien (or "Sky Dog"). Wreck and Burton emerge from cryostasis just fine, but Jean does not initially respond and has to be resuscitated; he ultimately survives, but it causes permanent damage to his already frail health. Burt wonders if they will soon need to buy a hoverchair for Jean to be able to get around.

Once Jean is good enough to walk, the three proceed to head into the main lobby of the spaceport. They notice a servitor robot holding a sign labeled, "Jean Danielou". When they approach, the robot scans Jean's RFID implant to verify his identify and tells them to follow it.

The robot leads them to a large lounge area. It heads over to the bar where a man in his forties, wearing a business suit, is drinking a martini. He stands to greet the men and introduces himself as Jackson Maddox. After introductions are made, he scans the ID cards for Wreck and Burt along with the RFID chip for Jean.

Maddox explains that he has added an access code to their IDs that will allow them to get into a storage locker on the ground. He has also added tickets for them for the gravity elevator beanstalk transport so they can get down from the spaceport to the ground. Jackson then explains he will take them back to a private room to discuss the job in more detail.

Heading into a private conference room in the back of the lounge, Maddox asks for their drink orders (a pint of ale for Burt, a glass of red wine for Jean, and water for Wreck) and has his servitor go get them.

He then brings up a holo-map of Beta Canum-4 on the table. It shows the three continents – French, British, and German – rendering out a 3D image of the planet's general topography. Jackson explains that Rebco has spent the last several years with its agricultural operations in Premiere, but now wants to expand.

Maddox zooms the hologram into the mountainous region south of Premiere. He explains that the French have decided to open up mining operations there, and Rebco wants to do a survey before putting in its bid for the mining rights. Jackson wants to hire Jean and the group to perform the survey mission, noting that his cousin Rene indicated they did this kind of work before.

Jean agrees they can handle it, though mentally notes that Rene may have exaggerated their experience doing surveys. Maddox tells Jean it is good he is in charge, as the colony has not been allowing non-Frenchmen into the colony without a lot of checks.

Burt and Wreck hold their tongues, though Jean can tell they clearly want to correct Maddox's assumption that Jean is their boss and not a three-way partnership. Jean plays along.

On one of the data display walls, Maddox brings up a list of supplies that is waiting for them in the storage locker on the surface. Reading them off, he explains they will have two hoverjeeps, a portable solar power station, two recording cameras, two dataslates with attached sensors, all the camping equipment they will need, and two months' worth of food and water. Jackson notes that he expects the 15 hectare valley to take around two months to fully survey.

Wreck is interested in the kinds of wildlife on the planet. Maddox explains the planet is mostly host to small vermin, but there is a larger creature they should watch out for, which the locals call blindeebuff (or "armored buffalo"). He describes the beast as a large herbivore that travels in large packs and have been known to trample people.

Concerned about security, Wreck asks how common the creatures are. Maddox explains herds have been spotted in the valley, but they are unsure of exact numbers. In fact, Maddox notes, determining an estimate of the blindeebuff population would be part of their survey mission.

Wreck also wants to know about any natives. Jackson assures him there is no intelligent life on Beta Canum-4 outside of the colonies.

Burt is more focused on the money end. Maddox gives the pay as 2,000 cr each per month, plus a 1,000 cr bonus when the survey report is sent in. Attempting to ward off any attempts to negotiate, Jackson notes that Rebco is also paying for the passage to and from the planet as well as providing all of the equipment.

Wreck does make a point to ask for a middle passage ticket for Jean for the return trip, as the cryotube experience was a bit rough on the Frenchman. Maddox is non-committal, but agrees to discuss it once the survey work is complete.

Jean is interested if any other corporations are interested in the mineral rights. Maddox says there are others, but so far no one else has scheduled a survey. Wreck makes a mental note to be wary of any rival teams that might show up.

Session 1 - Scene 3 (of 9)

Once the meeting with Maddox is complete, the group decides to talk with people around the station a bit to get a feel for the planet, and Rebco, before they begin the five day trip down to the surface.

Jean elects to try and talk around more to the corporate types on the station, while Burt and Wreck split up to talk to the workers. Also wanting to use his gambling skills, Jean decides to try and make some contacts at the gaming tables of the station's casino while Wreck looks for some mechanics and Burt tries to find a friendly freighter pilot.

Burton is able to make the first contact, finding a British pilot in the lounge area. The man gives his name as Mador Miller, captain of a freighter out of Aliceport on Beowulf. Mador explains he has been running freight to and from this planet for the last couple of years.

Miller doesn't know anything about Maddox in particular, but is very familiar with Rebco. He describes them to Burt as being in very tight with the local French government; possible even controlling it. Burt is suspicious about them actually looking for ore to mine, but Miller explains that the mining is likely part one of a bigger plan to increase arms production in the region because of the conflicts with the Germans.

Burt is curious about what kind of battles have broken out between the Germans and French on the planet. Mador explains that there has been no open conflict yet, mostly legal disputes involving border and resource use rights. He does say that the local man in charge, named Lt. Dumont Bellaire, is looking for German spies everywhere. Miller advises Burt to watch himself down there.

When asked about any local aliens, Miller tells him there are no sentients in the area. Or, he corrects himself, at least not on the planet. He does mention that from time to time, he sees an alien ship pass through the space lanes near the planet. Mador goes on to say that he's even seen their courses take them through the French restricted space area (that he naturally isn't allowed to fly in).

Before leaving, Burt has the bartender put their drinks on Jackson Maddox's tab. The thought that Maddox will simply deduct the amount from his pay does not enter his mind.

Meanwhile, Jean takes a seat at the card table and attempts to strike up conversation. He has little luck that night, either in his attempts to talk with people or win any money.

Over at the repair bay area, Wreck finds some British mechanics to talk to. He asks one of the men, named Jacy Lawrence, about Rebco. Jacy gives an account similar to what Burt heard from Mador, along with the rumor going around the station that Rebco is looking for minerals to produce weapons for the French so they can protect against German border incursions.

Wreck tries to see if he can steer the conversation in a different direction, making up a rumor about Rebco being involved in the opium trade. Jacy hasn't heard anything about that, noting there is very little demand for drugs in the colony. He doubts the market would be big enough to warrant attempting to smuggle things in, particularly given Lt. Bellaire's aggressive tactics in trying to find German spies.

When Wreck mentions his surprise they haven't found any spies yet, Jacy just laughs. He claims the lieutenant is simply mental, and there are no "Jerry spies". Wreck is surprised they would go to all of the effort with no evidence of spying, but Jacy figures it is the same as the zone of "restricted space" the French insist on – they just like being secretive. Wreck, however, believes that the French must have something they want to keep secret.

Wreck then asks about the blindeebuffs. Jacy, though admitting he's never been to the planet surface, describes them as "big as a house". He also mentions their thick, scaled armor hides. He tells Wreck it will take a large gun to put one of them down.

Jacy then starts talking about a story he heard about a man who was trampled by a heard of blindeebuffs. The man, named Stanley, was crushed so bad by the creatures that people referred to him as "Flat Stanley" afterwards. Wreck struggles not to roll his eyes, wondering if Jacy is having fun at his expense or truly believes the urban legend and doesn't know enough about history to get the joke.

Wreck is more concerned with what kind of weapon he might have access to in the French region. Jacy confirms that legally, heavier weapons are illegal in the colonies outside of the military. Wreck subtly asks if there would be a way to get around that.

Jacy tells Wreck there's no way to sneak anything by the French security forces, but rumor has it that the sergeant in charge, Sgt. Mason Pinet, can be more agreeable to special requests with the proper incentive. Wreck thanks him for all his help.

Session 1 - Scene 4 (of 9)

The three eventually meet back together near the airlock for the beanstalk transport. Wreck asks Jean what he found, to which he responds "the tables are colder and the women are colder". Wreck isn't surprised the Frenchman's efforts were unsuccessful. Knowing Jean's penchant for lechery with younger women, he asks the man rhetorically, "You didn't try that creepy old Frenchman shit again, did you?"

Burt is happy to report he was a lot more successful. He relates hearing that they should be on the lookout for "Jerry spies, aliens, and bloody blindeebuffs". He goes on to give more of the details he was told by Mador. Wreck confirms that matches with what he heard from Jacy as well.

Wreck also mentions the description of the blindeebuffs he was given. The two agree that Jean would be the most likely to get "squashed flat". Burt wants to look into getting some weapons. Wreck explains about Sgt. Pinet's obliging nature.

Burt wonders if Maddox can do anything for them, noting that he said they would have everything they need. Wreck describes Maddox as being "as full of shit as a polar bear."

After much discussion, the group elects not to try and find weaponry on the station and instead wait until they reach the surface. They get scheduled on the next beanstalk transport down.

Session 1 - Scene 5 (of 9)

The trip down takes five days, much to the displeasure of everyone. They are happy to have their own private room for the trip.

With little else to do, the three men discuss the idea of talking with some of the other passengers. Since most of the passengers are wealthy French people, Jean is elected to go do the talking.

Jean decides to approach a middle-aged couple on the dining level. He introduces himself and takes a seat at their table. They give their names as Peter and Anne Marie Kirouac. When Jean mentions he needed to get away from the rabble in his stateroom, Peter mentions they had noticed the large Texan.

Peter goes on to explain that they are headed down to Premiere to check on their chateaux and surrounding farming operations. Jean makes polite conversation about the man's wheat farm, which Peter describes as being largely robotic with assistance from peasant workers.

Jean asks if they have had any problems with the blindeebuff herds attacking their crops, but Peter tells him the animals are largely found in the mountain valley; and like everyone else, they never go into the valley. Peter describes the valley as having "nothing" there except for one crazy old man who lives there.

With his interest piqued by the mention of the old man, Jean asks for some more details. He learns from the couple that the man is an old hermit by the name of Gagan Hubert, who has a mas (Provencal-style farmhouse) at the edge of the mountain valley.

Peter is curious about Jean's trip. He gives the couple a story about coming to Beta Canum for a vacation, saying he was originally planning to go camping in the valley but is now thinking twice about it. Peter warns him to stay away from the Germans.

As the conversation comes near an end, Ann Marie slips a note to Jean. She winks and tells him to give it to his Texan companion. Jean reads it on the way back; it reads, "Ménage a trios?" and includes the couple's stateroom number. Jean slides it under the door of the closest stateroom before going back to his own.

When he gets back, Wreck asks Jean how the discussion went. He responds that they do not like Texans. Wreck mentions surprise, noting he thought the older woman was giving him the eye.

Changing the subject, Jean explains he heard about Gagan. Wreck, pronouncing it "gaggin" asks if it is some kind of creature. Jean clarifies and tells all he heard about the old hermit. The Frenchmen believes Gagan might be a good guide for them as he has lived in the valley for several years.

Wreck also wants to know if Jean heard anything more about the German spies. He says that the couple gave the same story as everyone else. Wreck, though, is convinced that Jacy's comments about it being nonsense is more likely the truth. Jean notes that the upper classes always believe stories that make them afraid of a danger.

Session 1 - Scene 6 (of 9)

On the second day of the trip, Wreck is feeling a bit restless. He wants to talk with an engineer on board; however, he discovers they are all located back in a restricted area.

Wreck decides to start by approaching Olivier Mange, the steward for their level. He begins asking questions of Olivier about how the beanstalk works – noting that it works a bit different than the gravity elevator he was used to on New Austen, where he's from.

Olivier explains he knows nothing about the technology, but Wreck isn't surprised. He clarifies that he wants to talk to an engineer about it. Olivier notes the request is most unfamiliar, noting security procedures technically prevent it. But Wreck's discussion about his mechanical work convinces the steward it would probably be all right as long as no one sees him.

Wreck approaches the secure area and meets with an engineer named Stephane Juaire. Stephane is happy to discuss the technology with the Texan. Wreck begins by complaining about the slow speed of the transport down and how he hates being stuck with a snooty Frenchman.

Stephane explains that the reason for the very slow rate of travel is that the beanstalk is focused on comfort, not efficiency, as most of their customers are of the upper class sort.

Wreck also asks about how old the transport is. Stephane explains that beanstalk was built shortly after the colony was established; he has a lot of pride in the beanstalk, noting the UK and German colonies do not have one (the Germans rely on a space plane for passengers while the UK colony has no method of transport of its own outside of chartering private ships).

The mention of the Germans gives Wreck the opening to ask about the spies and how real a threat they are. Stephan claims the spies are a real threat, noting that there has been at least one incident of known sabotage by German spies. He says a recent interruption of service on the beanstalk was likely caused by the spies as well, and that he and the rest of the beanstalk staff are always on the lookout.

Wreck thanks him for the discussion and offers to buy him a drink if he's ever on the surface. Stephan thanks him in return, though notes his job requires him to be on the beanstalk for a month at a time.

Session 1 - Scene 7 (of 9)

After another three days, the beanstalk finally lands at the station on Premiere. There is a short line to get through the secure area of customs and out into the main station.

Jean is first in line. The guard asks for his name, then scans his RFID chip. Verifying he is French, he lets Jean pass through.

Burt and Wreck are not so lucky. When they give their names and have their ID cards scanned, the guard explains to each of them that they have been "randomly selected" for enhanced security checks. They are each moved to a separate room for the additional screening procedures. Jean either doesn't think or care enough to attempt to intervene in the process.

Inside one of the rooms, Wreck has his belongings and body cavities thoroughly searched. The supervising guard, wearing a tag identifying him as Sgt. Pinet, asks Wreck what his purpose is. Wreck explains he has been hired for a survey mission by Rebco, and is a bit indignant over the anal cavity search. Pinet claims they have to be sure because of the German terrorist activities.

Pinet interrogates Wreck about any contact with Germans, but Wreck assures him he can't speak or even spell German. The sergeant is sympathetic, noting Wreck seems too stupid to be a spy. He regretfully tells the Texan that normal procedure is to keep him locked up for a couple of weeks until a detailed background check can be made. However, Pinet notes, the "accelerated background check" form could be available; with an extra "filing fee" of 500 credits. Wreck eventually convinces him to take only 150, along with a promise of 5% of his findings from the survey mission.

When he's done with Wreck, the sergeant heads into the next room where Burt has already been equally probed. As with Wreck, he begins asking about the purpose of Burt's visit. After Burt relays the same information Wreck did, Pinet gives his pitch about the accelerated background check.

Burt, however, is a bit less willing to negotiate. Instead, he calls the whole process shady. Pinet assures him it is the way things are done there.

Taking a different tactic, Burt tries to delay paying the man until after the job. The sergeant insists he'll need to wait the two weeks then.

Burt then asks for Jean, identifying him as his foreman. Pinet notes the decision to not want the detailed background check is very interesting. As Burt becomes increasingly uncooperative, Pinet calls for one of the other soldiers. He tells the corporal he does not think the previous search was "deep enough".

After a second, more thorough examination, Pinet comes back. He explains to Burt that it is good they have not found any contraband on him, and asks if he is ready for the express paperwork yet. After some failed attempts to broker the price, Burt finally agrees to pay 250 credits now, and 250 later.

Session 1 - Scene 8 (of 9)

Jean, relaxing on one of the couches in the waiting area, finally sees the Texan emerge after a while. He tells Wreck that apparently they must have run into some trouble, and notes that perhaps he should have said something to the guards.

Wreck grumbles a bit, and mumbles something about the French being very thorough. Jean asks where Burt is, and Wreck mentions that he was in the next room but sounded like he really wasn't enjoying the search, crying out at two different times.

After a bit longer, Burt eventually walks out, moving a bit bow-legged. Jean asks if he ran into trouble, to which Burt simply responds, "You French bastard, why didn't you say anything?" Jean responds that it slipped his mind. Burt tells him he owes him one now while Wreck grumbles something about Jean remembering the next time they see a blindeebuff and saying something about it being mating season.

As they exit the waiting area, they are approached by a younger woman. She greets Jean and gives her name as Charde Delin. She greets all of them on behalf of Governor Henri Robillard and officially welcomes them to Premiere.
Jean is surprised the governor is taking an interest in them, but Charde mentions the governor always takes an interest in special visitors from Rebco. She gives them an invitation for dinner at the governor's palais and invites them to spend their first night there.

Answering for the group, Jean agrees. He tells her that it would be fine if his lower-classed companions sat at another table during the dinner, but Charde insists that won't be necessary.

Charde then introduces herself to the others. Wreck is temporarily struck speechless, claiming it to be caused by her beauty. She laughs, mentioning how Texans are always being funny. She compares Wreck to "the great" Jerry Lewis.
After introductions are made, Charde escorts everyone outside the station to where her hoverlimo is waiting. They decide to go with her and come back for the supplies at the storage locker tomorrow. She has her aides put all of their personal belongings into the trunk.

On the drive over to the governor's palais, she serves some drinks (with Perrier for Wreck) and everyone observes the city. It appears to be a mix of large, wealthy homes for the corporate employees and small shacks for the peasant workers.

The palais itself is an extremely grand structure. Wreck is interested what the peasants do. She explains about the types of manual labor jobs available.

Wreck notes the peasants do not appear to be paid that well. Charde admits that like most colonies, there is a bit of a divide between the corporate owners and the poorer people who come to the colony for work.

Getting on his soapbox for a moment, Wreck gives his thoughts on poverty on the colonies and how it might make them more susceptible to cooperating with the kind of espionage they are trying to prevent. Charde dismisses the concerns, saying that Lt. Bellaire is on top of it.

Wreck tries to get more information about the lieutenant. He learns fairly quickly that Bellaire appears to be in firm control of the colony, with little oversight.

Session 1 - Scene 9 (of 9)

After getting settled in their rooms at the palais, everyone freshens up and dresses for the formal dinner in clothing provided by servants. From Charde's explanation, not only will the governor be there but an ambassador from the UK colony as well, a man named Tabor Stevens.

Charde wears a tight, revealing dress and brings the group into the dining room. There they meet the governor (who seems to be a rather cheerful man) and the ambassador (who seems rather dour).

Burt tries to get the ambassador off to the side. Burt bonds with the man by mentioning how there are "too many Frenchmen" in the colony. Stevens chuckles, noting that it is almost enough to want Ambassador Eichel there.

Probing a bit, Burt asks who Eichel is. Stevens explains that Ambassador Helmut Eichel is the representative from the German colony, but that Lt. Bellaire has him under house arrest at the moment on suspicion of promoting espionage.

Burt asks what the ambassador thinks. Stevens quite candidly explains that he believes Bellaire is unhinged, and there are no German spies. He also explains that the colonial government and Rebco are letting Bellaire go wild with the idea because it will scare up support for increasing weapons production, which will bring the colony and corporation a lot of profit.

Meanwhile, Wreck flirts with Charde while Jean talks with the governor. Jean wants to understand why Henri is so interested in Rebco. He responds that a prosperous colony is a secure colony.

Jean asks about Rebco taking over the colony, but Henri describes them as a strong partner, which they need for survival. The governor seems particularly agitated about the Germans, saying a strong presence from Rebco will keep their land claims under control. When Jean asks about the military, Henri clarifies he is concerned about economic, not military, security.

The conversation then turns to Lt. Bellaire. Henri explains that Bellaire is head of the Free French Militia, which is not a part of either the French Empire or Rebco. Because they keep the colony safe, no one interferes with his operations.

Everyone then sits for the first course. The whole meal is a traditional fourteen course French meal.

During the dinner, Wreck probes more about the economic strength of the colony. He makes several remarks about the impoverished workers, but the governor gives his philosophy that those with the greater investment deserve the greater rewards.

Wreck still believes that better compensation would be better for worker morale and security for the colony. Henri condescendingly tells Wreck that the colonial peasants are a simple people with simpler needs. Wreck remains unconvinced, and expresses his dislike of the decadence of the feast they are having.

The discussion continues for a while. Wreck discusses Lt. Bellaire and his unchecked security powers while Jean questions the influence Rebco has over the colony.

Governor Robillard tells the men they act strangely, reminding them they are working for Rebco. Jean clarifies they are independent contractors. The governor reminds them, a bit sternly, to focus on the job at hand as everyone wants the survey mission to succeed.

Jean settles things down a bit by saying they just want to make sure they understand the risks associated with their mission. Following a brief discussion about the blindeebuffs, they also ask about the hermit Gagan. Henri warns them to stay away, as the hermit does not like guests.

Once the dinner is over, everyone retires to their rooms for the night.

Session 1 - Session Notes

The first session of the game went along without a hitch. It did move a little slower than I expected (they did a lot of interaction with the NPCs) but laid some nice groundwork for the next couple of sessions.

I decided to start the campaign with the Tricolor Shadow adventure from the original Traveller 2300 set (there is an adventure for sale for the Mongoose version, but I have not seen it). That adventure is very bare-bones so I spent a fair amount of customizing it and fleshing it out.

Also, before we get too far, apologies to anyone who actually speaks French as I have undoubtedly butchered your language at several points.

Various notes on the session:
* The "h-mail" concept is something of a joke, but I wanted a quick way to get the PCs off and going.

* Rene La Barre's name is an homage to Rene Picard from Star Trek: TNG.

* The locations of the PCs and Rene were not actually given during the session. I've retroactively added them to the write-up.

* Astronomers will likely balk at the idea of a space "region" based on constellations but I just needed something to call a region.

* Jean royally botched his rolls to google (or space google, as we called it OOC) Rebco and Beta Canum-4. Had he made it, they may have found more information.

* Jean failed his End check to get out of cryostasis. Instead of killing him, I made him make aging checks. He is now at Str 3, End 3.

* The robot with the sign was for humor effect; but it does make sense to have servitor robots doing low-level tasks like pick people up at the airport (so to speak).

* Jackson Maddox wasn't originally planned to be French (hence why his name isn't French), but I mistakingly used a French accent and the rest was history. It retrospect, it made sense anyway given the relationship between Rebco and the French colony.

* The blindeebuff is my creation, a portmanteau of the French words (for buffalo and armor, I think...) Everyone loved saying the name.

* The rumors about the German spies were fun, because they asked multiple NPCs and each of them gave a different answer based on their own POVs.

* Many of the random NPCs the PCs met with didn't have names during the session. It always takes me a while to come up with names (I use a Scattergories letter die to get the first letters and look up name lists for first names - usually baby lists - and last names - usually genealogy lists).

* One of the other funny things is that I'm attempting to use French pronunciations for all the names. Since my players don't speak French, they always have to ask for clarification on spelling (as they always get it wrong when trying to write it phonetically).

* I couldn't resist throwing in the Flat Stanley joke.

* In addition to info, there are several foreshadowed things in what the NPCs relate to the PCs. As usual, I'm not sure the players caught those.

* Burt and Wreck being singled out for security checks was planned all along. Actually, I foreshadowed it quite a bit (making it even funnier that Jean doesn't try to help). The body cavity searches were thought up on the spot, though, for humor value.

* I wasn't expecting such an anti-corporate attitude from the PCs, but I thought it was kind of cool they stuck up for the impoverished peasants. Perhaps the PCs will be a bit more heroic this game (as they were horrific monsters - real and figuratively - during the Cthulhubusters campaign).

Quote from: jgants;711694So why the rule changes? Well, I find CT to be "missing" some elements I like, while MGT is too complicated (my players prefer simpler rules). And the rule changes from MGT 2300AD are largely terrible (IMO) so I used barely any of those.

My impressions exactly.

Quote from: jgants;711694The same is true for the setting. I love the human governments in 2300 AD (though for simplicity, I combined some of the smaller tier ones), but I hate the aliens. So, I threw them all out except for the Kaefer and added in the Star Frontiers aliens - Dralasites, Vrusk, Yazarians, and Sathar.

My reaction was exactly the other way around; I like the aliens (super weird and unearthly, which I consider a hard SF-y trait), but the human politics came off as horribly dated to me.

Quote from: jgants;711694But in my setting, the aliens are truly strange and distrusted by humans. The Dralasites are a strange, silicon-based life form that no one can hardly communicate with. The Vrusk have a rigid caste system (think Droyne) and although they deny it, many humans believe the Kaefer are simply a warrior caste of the Vrusk. The Yazarians are presented as a violet species that have a shaky non-aggression treaty (that not all clans follow), and the Sathar are more of a rumor than anything at this point.

I admit to not being Star Frontiers-literate but you've definitely piqued my interest.

As before I'm jealous. Sounds like a fun start to a great game. Oh and melding SF with 2300, gets a big thumbs up from this SF fan:)

Oops, I see I forgot to include the session 2 report here. So, two new sessions being added this time (the holidays really impacted a couple of the planned sessions, so we've only had two since Nov).

Session 2 - Cast of Characters

Jean Danielou: The older French merchant with a sordid career.

James "Wreck" Deckard: A former Texan marine who later joined the merchant security service.

Burton Steele: A younger up and comer from the United Kingdom.

Session 2 - Scene 1 (of 7)

 The next morning, the team begins planning what to do next as they access the locker at the space depot. The first question is what to do with the hover jeeps – whether to take both of them out or just one of them and then come back for the second jeep and set of supplies when it is needed.

 Wreck is also concerned about the lack of heavy firepower. Although he has his usual assortment of firearms, he'd feel a lot better if he had a heavy weapon to take out any blindeebuffs with. Burt suggests that perhaps the hermit, Gagan, would have access to such weapons.

 But Jean wants to make sure to exhaust any options in town before heading all the way out to Gagan's farm. Burt likes the idea, and suggests maybe they could find someone to take on a courier job for on the side.

 Wreck likes the idea of taking on a side job, and wants to find the local black market. He'd prefer to get some armament mounted onto the jeeps before taking them out into the wild. The three decide to split up – with Jean attempting to contact the higher end of the black market while Burt and Wreck attempt to find a contact starting from the lower end.

Session 2 - Scene 2 (of 7)

 Jean spends the first part of the day trying to get an idea on any shady dealings of the local corporations. He asks around and even checks the popular online listing service, Jacqueslist, but doesn't find anything hinting at who might have a connection to guns or other criminal activity.

 Meanwhile, Burt and Wreck head over to one of the local bars popular amongst the farmers. Wreck orders a Perrier for himself and whatever Burt wants. After the bartender promises the best selection of French beers around, Burt decides to have a Perrier himself.

 Wreck explains about the work he and Burt are doing for Rebco, and mentions they'd like to make themselves available for other courier work while they are in the area. The bartender suggests they use Jacqueslist, though notes that since no one goes out to the valley he suspects there is little trade to be had.

 Changing the subject, Wreck mentions hearing about the old hermit who lives out in the valley. The bartender agrees, identifying Gagan. Wreck tries to illicit more information, but the bartender just considers him a silly old hermit. The bartender also confirms that Gagan pretty much stays out on his farm, never coming in to town and rarely ever trading goods with anyone.

 Wreck then floats the subject of "acquiring non-standard provisions". The bartender begs off, saying he has no idea what the Texan is talking about. Wreck tries to offer a "reward" of 150 credits for information, but that doesn't seem to help. Wreck gives the bartender his name and comm channel, just in case.

 As they get ready to leave, Burt looks around to see if anyone else looks of interest. No one does, so the two leave.

 When they get outside, a young man calls to them from the alley behind the bar. Wreck notices the youth looks rough, and gets his hand ready to his weapon as they head in, advising Burt to do the same.

 The man tells them that he hears they are looking for something. When Wreck confirms, he tells the two to follow him to a place where business can be done.

 Burt gets a bad feeling about the kid; he's pretty sure they are being led into a trap to get robbed. When the kid's back is to him, Burt tries to smash the bottom of the handle of his sword into the back of the kid's head. But the kid catches the movement out of the corner of his eye. He starts going for his knife.

 Wreck lets loose a haymaker, smacking the kid in the jaw. He goes out cold.

 Burt starts going through the kid's pockets. He takes the kid's knife, a gold chain from around his neck, and a credit stick with 20 credits on it. After taking everything, Wreck decides to strip his clothes off and throw the youth naked into a nearby dumpster.

Session 2 - Scene 3 (of 7)

 Later that day, the three men all meet back up again. Wreck asks Jean what he was able to find, but the Frenchman says there is little black market to be found in the area. Wreck expresses his disappointment that Jean was unable to accomplish anything, once again accusing him of using his "creepy old Frenchman" act.

 Jean is undeterred, saying he has a plan to make the proper arrangements. Wreck reminds him they need to get moving on their assignment.

 They also go back to the port to check on their equipment, making sure not to be followed. Wreck is a little nervous about a reprisal from the punk they assaulted, and makes sure to toss the gold chain down a sewer so as not to have any incriminating evidence of them.

 Jean believes his best bet to find a contact in the local nightlife. After buying some expensive clothing at a local clothiers (spending 2,000 credits), he heads over to one of the casinos in town.

 Looking around, he spots a table that may have some decent action and sits down. At the table appears to be several older women giving Jean the eye, along with some vacationers and a businessman.

 Jean strikes up a conversation with the businessman, who introduces himself as Marcel Dupres. He works for one of the local chemical companies, Biotechnica. Jean tries to bring up the topic of chemicals used in weapons production, but Marcel explains he deals with pesticides and growth hormones for the local crops. He says the heaviest weapon he has access to is an insect sprayer.

 Bringing up the Germans, Jean tries to get a feel for Biotechnica's investment in local private security. Marcel explains they mostly rely on the local militia to keep things in line. So far, Biotechnica hasn't felt the need to bring in private security.

 When asked what he does, Jean explains he is also a businessman. He refers to the team "working for him" and his survey mission. Jean then inquires about Biotechnica expanding its agricultural operations into the valley, but Marcel says the investment into infrastructure is too high for the value.

 Jean starts talking about the blindeebuffs, and that they might be domesticated and produced for food. Marcel is inspired – believing a "Blindeebuff Burger" could be a popular product among the Texans if they can export the meat. He tells Jean it could be a good idea, and suggests they have a meeting with his lawyer tomorrow to set up a limited partnership to explore the business more. Jean happily agrees to the meet.

 Marcel goes on to describe the process – once Jean's survey is complete and establishes there are enough resources for product, they can look at putting together the investment plan. He is open to a 50/50 split with Jean, both for the profits and the initial startup costs.

 Jean notes that until they are domesticated, the blindeebuffs can be dangerous and he will need protection. He asks Marcel about anyone furnishing that kind of protection in the area, but the man confesses he does not. He suggests they could bring in a small mercenary team in a couple of weeks.

 Agreeing to the idea, Jean says that it will be good to have additional people out there looking to support their interests. He offers to give his team's location to Marcel, so that the mercenaries can meet up with them later. Marcel agrees it would be possible. He gives the price for the mercenaries as 20,000 credits to start, noting that breaks out to 10K credits apiece.

 Jean hands over his credit chip. Marcel scans the chip and transfers the credits to his account. He instructs Jean to meet him tomorrow at his office so they can set up the paperwork with the lawyer and get the mercenaries ordered.

 After Marcel leaves, Jean continues to gamble at the tables. He doesn't have much luck, losing another 1,000 credits.

 He also spends some time flirting back with the older ladies at the table, eventually focusing on one of them, named Babette. Seducing her back to her hotel room, he attempts to discuss business but ends up just rolling around with her in the bed for a while. For a woman in her seventies, Jean finds the experience much more enjoyable than he expected.

Session 2 - Scene 4 (of 7)

The next morning, Jean shows back up at the room the group procured at the local motel (part of the Mister Bed chain of hotels found throughout the French Arm colonies). Wreck notices the man looks somewhat disheveled, and smells of old-fashioned perfume and shame.

Wreck asks where they are going to meet their contact for the guns. Jean responds they are to meet with him at the chemical company that morning, and that the lawyer is already at work putting together the contracts. Wreck doesn't understand what a chemical company and contracts have to do with getting guns.

Burt, too, is a bit shocked. He asks where their bloody weapons are at. Jean explains that weapons are not easy to come by here, but he has something better. Wreck is suspicious and wants to know what he got.

Jean explains he has gotten a business venture that will provide security with some mercenaries coming in a couple of weeks. Burt asks how much it is costing them, which Jean explains as a "fifty/fifty split". Wreck wants to know what the split is of.

When Jean reveals the business venture is for an operation selling blindeebuff burgers, Wreck begins yelling. He clearly thinks Jean has gone insane. Burt has no better of a reaction, wondering how they will transport blindeebuffs when they can't even manage to secure guns.

The talk of mercenaries coming doesn't exactly inspire confidence. Wreck is also nonplussed by Jean's fancy outfit, which he thinks makes him look like "a crazy pimp". He wonders if putting the Frenchman out in front of the blindeebuffs will be enough to stun the creatures.

Wreck is already beside himself with frustration when Jean mentions there is one more thing – mentioning that the man he talked to believes Wreck and Burt work for him. Wreck ignores the comment and notes that at least they didn't give the man any money yet, so they can ignore the whole thing and pretend it never happened.

Jean cautiously explains he already gave the man some money, though he won't tell Wreck how much. Wreck describes their situation as having already lost money, and now they must set up a blindeebuff business with a chemical salesman who is sending out heavily armed mercenaries out in the middle of nowhere.  

Wreck announces the men are more likely to kill them all and steal their goods. Jean feels he is being overly fatalistic. Burt muses on whether or not they can partner with Gagan on the burger venture.

Wreck believes the best thing to do is go to the chemical factory and get Jean's money back. He reminds Jean that, "running the corporation as he does", he should be in favor of better fiscal responsibility. Jean reluctantly agrees, but notes the two aren't seeing the big picture he is.

Session 2 - Scene 5 (of 7)

The Biotechnica building in Premiere is quite large. The receptionist is able to direct them to Dupres' office.

Wreck introduces himself to Marcel, and Burton follows suit. Once introductions are made, Marcel begins explaining that his lawyer has drawn up the papers and the prospective business plan. He has also deposited Jean's money into an account for the earnest money for the initial investment.

Marcel begins listing off the things they will need to plan for once the survey is complete – land rights, water rights, facilities, transportation, infrastructure, power systems, and staff. Marcel places the initial start-up costs at 50 million credits, not counting any expenses for a starship to sell the goods.

Rather than wait for the survey to complete, Marcel suggests putting the 50 million credits in an escrow account now so they can establish the corporation and begin borrowing against it. He asks Jean if he has the money now, or if he will need to liquidate some assets first before giving his half of the 50.

Jean stammers a bit as he explains he will need some additional time. He explains he is eager to get moving on the survey before making any final decision. He also says something about his companions believing they will need to table the discussion for the current time because they can't wait the two weeks for the mercenary team.

Marcel says he understands, and notes the deposit on the mercenaries is non-refundable. He also says he hopes Jean will not mind if he pursues the blindeebuff burger plan on his own. Jean agrees and Marcel wishes him luck on the survey and does offer to buy the report once they are done.

Wreck, however, doesn't like the direction the discussion has taken. He wants to know how much the mercenaries cost. When he hears what the full cost was, he notes Marcel is being very generous for being able to lose that money so easily.

The Texan goes on to explain how they will be heading out into the wilderness and offers to make the survey freely available to Marcel. In exchange, Wreck suggests Marcel use the money Jean has paid to get some higher-priced weapons for protection.

Marcel explains he does not deal in these sort of matters, nor does he wish to spend any more money on the survey mission until he sees the results. Wreck tries to press the issue, making veiled threats. Marcel makes a veiled threat of his own, saying he may yet find a use for the mercenaries he has ordered.

Jean tries to smooth the conversation over, saying the Texan is speaking out of turn and doesn't know what he is saying. Marcel wishes them a good day, as they are shown out of the building by security.

Outside, Wreck expresses his frustration about being out the money. Jean tells him he is being a bit foolish, as a man like Marcel can cause them a lot of trouble and perhaps get them killed. Wreck isn't concerned, having threatened better men. Burt grows rather somber, thinking about how they've managed to upset a lot of people but haven't made much progress so far.

Session 2 - Scene 6 (of 7)

Finally, after much more discussion on whether or not to both jeeps, the team gets the hoverjeeps and heads out into the wild.

The valley is 2,000 km away from Premiere, so the group knows they will need to stop and make camp at least once before actually reaching the valley. Burt finds the trip rather dull, with little else to look at but farmland. He pulls up some audio books on the vehicle's computer to pass the time.

Once the sun starts to go down, the team stops to make camp. They break out the camping supplies and start a small campfire. Wreck wants to tell "scary stories" and begins telling a yarn about a dumb Frenchman who spent all kinds of credits in one night with nothing to show for it. Jean suggests he has a scary story of his own about waking up next to an old lady who looked much better the night before, but thinks better of actually going into the details.

During the night, Wreck hears a high-pitched animal noise out in the wilderness. He doesn't get too nervous, but makes sure to stay alert.

Burt is next up on watch, but finds the night as uneventful as the day. When Jean takes over, it isn't too long before he hears a noise; it sounds like a dull thumping noise off in the distance. Using the goggles, he can see a lot of movement out in the fields, heading towards them at a fairly fast rate.

Jean decides to wake up Wreck and let him know. As he is telling him, they can both hear a growing roar of a sound. Jean says they should get in the jeep right away, and Wreck yells for Burt to wake up.

They head into the jeeps, as they see a small herd of blindeebuffs headed their way. Wreck speeds away immediately. Burt follows, but skims a rock with the bottom of his jeep, damaging it.

The next morning, Burt looks at repairing the jeep while Wreck and Jean survey the damage to their camping equipment. Most of the camping equipment is destroyed.

Burt needs some additional parts to get the hoverjeep going again. Wreck convinces them that someone will need to take the spare jeep back to Premiere to get the parts along with some replacement camping equipment. Since he is the best driver and has enough mechanical skills to know what parts to get, Wreck suggests he go. He mentions he will avoid thinking of what a money pit this job has been while he heads back.

Luckily, Wreck is able to make it back in time before the shops close to buy what he needs that same night (including a spare set of camping equipment, just in case they have any more issues). Wreck also asks around about guides, but once again hears about how only Gagan knows the area to any degree.

In the meantime, Burt and Jean will guard the damaged hoverjeep with the rest of their supplies. They do pretty well until a thunderstorm breaks out, soaking them.

When Wreck arrives back the next day, he finds them still looking pretty damp. Jean and Wreck trade barbs, with Jean saying he's glad they have the Texan along to give the blindeebuffs a "good running away from", while Wreck reminds him that every blindeebuff he sees means one more burger he can sell.

Session 7 - Scene 7 (of 7)

The group decides to head out to where Gagan's house is located. The area is filled with rolling hills, and Jean spots a trail ahead.

In the distance, they can see smoke in the air from around one of the hills. Wreck tells them to proceed with caution.

Jean suggests they stash the hoverjeeps behind one of the hills then proceed on foot to do some reconnaissance. Burt agrees it would be a bad idea to just drive up to Gagan's home.

Wreck, however, is nervous about the idea of leaving anything behind. Burt jokes that the blindebuffs don't have thumbs so they won't be driving off in a jeep, but Wreck is convinced there is likely a human danger out in the wild as well, German spies or otherwise.

They decide to settle on having Jean scale the hill and peek over to get a better view of the Hubert farm. He makes his way there without too much difficulty, but does manage to put his hand in a blindeebuff patty as he is crawling around.

Along the hill, he does spot a lot of sheep on the hill along with a cattle pen below. A large provencal farmhouse can be seen below with a large barn area. There appear to be lights on in the home.

While watching Jean on the hill, Wreck regrets not buying some comm units so they could stay in touch with him. Jean appears to put down some equipment then disappear over the hill. Burt wonders what Jean is doing and radios over to Wreck. Wreck wryly suggests perhaps the amorous Frenchman was overcome by seeing the sheep.

Jean heads down the hill towards the barn. Noticing something amiss on the ground, he narrowly avoids falling into a pit trap on the outskirts of the homestead.

Jean sneaks his way around, being careful to look for any traps. He makes his way towards the farmhouse, with 200 meters to go.

Rather than take the risk, Jean calls out for help. Several searchlights come on from the top of the farmhouse, shining on him.

From behind the hill, Wreck and Burt also see the lights come on. Wreck and Burt decide to run up to the top of the hill to see what is going on. He immediately begins heading down the hill while Burt decides to stay back. And that is when Burt hears the snort of a blindeebuff...

Session 7 - Session Notes

This session originally occurred back in mid-December. Apparently I just forgot to post the notes here (I completed the write-up around Christmas time so I probably got too busy).

Here's some thoughts on the session to the best of my recollection:

* The discussion over whether to take one jeep or both jeeps took a lot of time in real life - at least 10-15 minutes.

* Jacqueslist is clearly a joke about a French version of Craigslist. The other joke being it is the sleazy black market portal of the future.

* The joke about the French beer is basically that the French have some of the worst beer in the world.

* The bartender not giving them any info was the result of some bad rolls. Still, I had the kid meet them outside.

* The kid offering them guns was going to lead them into a trap, similar to the situation in the episode of The Shield where the guys are in Mexico.

* Marcel Dupres is named after the monkey in Friends (Marcel) and the Michael Donovan's mother/stepfather in V (Dupres).

* Biotechnica is one of the companies from the Cyberpunk RPG.

* I loved the blindeebuff burger idea, but Jean should have started smaller with a food truck or something.

* Jean with the old lady is part of the running gag that he is the "old" man in the group (in reality, he is only in his 50's).

* Mister Bed is, I believe, a real chain of motels in France. I think I had to look that up later. During the session, I believe I just described it as the French version of a Motel 6.

* Jean's fancy new outfit is one of those things the player likes to do. In our past D&D Bronze Age campaign, he had a priest who spent all his money on opulent robes as well.

* I really enjoy when the PCs are somewhat at odds with each other, so the interaction between Jean and Wreck over the blindeebuff burger business idea was great. In my thinking, Wreck was a lot closer to the truth of the situation, though Burt put it best when he made the comment that they didn't get very far in their mission but managed to upset a lot of people.

* I wanted a blindeebuff attack to happen to give a sense of danger to the wilderness. It also provided a minor inconvenience.

* Gagan's farmhouse was meant to inspire paranoia. I saw him as someone akin to Danielle Rousseau from Lost.

Session 3 - Cast of Characters

Jean Danielou: The older French merchant with a sordid career.

James "Wreck" Deckard: A former Texan marine who later joined the merchant security service.

Burton Steele: A younger up and comer from the United Kingdom.

And introducing...

Gagan Hubert: A mysterious old French hermit.

Session 3 - Scene 1 (of 9)

Burt thinks for a moment; he believes his best chance is to outrun Wreck so the blindeebuff will attack him instead. Unfortunately, Wreck has too big of a lead.

Down below, Wreck hears a loud noise and spots Burt fly by him after being rammed by the blindeebuff. His unconscious body rolls to the bottom of the hill.

Wreck runs quickly to avoid a similar fate. Unfortunately, he doesn't spot the pit at the bottom of the hill in time and falls right into it.

Inside the house, Gagan watches on his wall of computer monitors. There is an injured man on the ground unconscious, another idiot who has fallen into one of the pit traps surrounding the perimeter, and a third jackass yelling and waving his arms.

Gagan zooms in the camera. He can see they are not wearing uniforms, nor do they appear to be affiliated with those he is watching. He grabs some guns and heads to the door.

Outside, Jean sees the door open and the armed old man exit. He calls out a greeting of, "Bonjour!" Gagan asks how many of them there are.

Jean gives their number as three, and says they need assistance. The old man thinks a moment and emerges from the doorway cautiously. He asks what they are doing there.

Explaining they are on a survey mission, Jean notes they have ran into some trouble with the local wildlife. Gagan, however, is more interested in the surveying. He wants to know what type of surveying they are doing and for whom.

When Jean mentions Rebco, Gagan's interest perks up; he knows that Rebco is in bed with the French colonial government in Premiere. Gagan mentions he can help them in surveying the area, particularly with avoiding the pitfalls in the area. Jean agrees they could use the help.

From the pit he is in, Wreck notes that one of them has already found one of the pitfalls, and he needs some help. Gagan is genial in his temperament, but repeats his question about how many of them there are. Jean insists there are only the three of them.

Gagan approaches Jean, keeping an eye on the men as he approaches. He slings his rifle and grabs some rope from the barn. He lowers it down and he and Jean pull Wreck up.

The old man then walks over to the injured Burt. Using a medikit, he patches the man up. Burton regains consciousness, finding himself staring up at the others.

Wreck explains that the "blindeebuff gave you a love tap in the ass". Gagan advises against "wrestling around" with the local wildlife, noting they are more dangerous than one might expect. Burt agrees.

Session 3 - Scene 2 (of 9)

As Burton recovers, Gagan leads the men a little closer to the account, and asks questions about what the men are surveying. Jean explains they are doing a comprehensive survey of the entire valley for farming and mining opportunities.

Gagan mentions there is little of interest in the area, but mentions he'd be happy to watch over them as they survey. He particularly makes a note for them to be careful of the blindeebuffs in the area. Jean confirms the creatures did already damage one of their jeeps.

In fact, Jean wonders if Gagan has a place to store their hoverjeeps overnight so they won't be disturbed by their creatures. The old man offers his barn, causing Jean to comment that he is not as ill-tempered of a man as they were led to believe. Gagan notes he can be gruff and does like to keep his own company.

Wreck, insisting on mispronouncing the Gagan's name, asks him what he knows about Rebco. Gagan feigns ignorance, quickly turning the question back on Wreck to see what he knows and what they are doing for the company.

The Texan explains they don't know much, but have heard rumors that they are looking for mining rights to increase weapons production. He does note they are getting paid well. Jean offers that the Germans may be interested as well, mentioning the border skirmishes.

Gagan claims to know nothing of any border skirmishes or Germans. Under the pretense that he doesn't like the idea of Rebco taking over "his" land, Gagan inquires further about what kinds of facilities Rebco plans to install and where they might be located, or what kinds of armaments they might be building.

Jean says that Rebco was not very forthcoming. Gagan inquires about anyone in particular they were working with, getting Jean to give Jackson Maddox's name.

With the evening getting late, Jean and Wreck pilot the hoverjeeps into the barn. Gagan offers quarters in his home, with a guest room near the main entrance.

Wreck declines the offer, saying he'd rather stay with the supplies out in the barn. Jean and Burt, however, are happy to take the guest room (and suspect Wreck just wants to be around the sheep).

Gagan takes the men inside. The guest room is right near the main door. Noting he will need to lock them inside for the evening, the old man asks what time they wish to get up. Jean prefers to head out at first light. Gagan agrees, mentioning he will get them some food ready in the morning so they can be off right away.

Session 3 - Scene 3 (of 9)

Later that night, out in the barn, Wreck does some investigating. It takes a fair amount of time, but Wreck makes his way through the barn.

Finding a loose board along the interior wall, Wreck notices the barn uses various materials for insulation, including an old pictorial magazine. It appears to be German, with the title, "Sonne und Gesundheit".

Wreck isn't sure what to make of the magazine. He finds nothing else of interest in the barn, nor does a quick scan outside spot anything unusual. He debates attempting to access the house, but is cautious because of any alarms or traps Gagan may have. In the end, he decides to return to bed.

Back inside, Burt is finding the bed rather uncomfortable to share; particularly with Jean insisting on spooning. After being woken up in the middle of the night by is hopefully the older man's impact baton (but more likely nocturnal penile tumescence), Burton decides to get up and look around.

After confirming there is no one else in the room (except perhaps for shame), he decides to try and pick the lock to the room to get out. The lock is an older mechanical lock, so Burt is able to lubricate the tumblers and stick something in there to pop it open.

Once the door is open, Burt makes his way towards the front parlor. He doesn't see anything out of place.

Across the house, a flashing red light at the master control panel alerts Gagan that the door to the guest room has been opened and there is an intruder in the living room.

Gagan rushes up and makes his way to the kitchen. He grabs some sausages from the larder and heads into the living room, nearly running into Burt. He immediately asks Burt if he's hungry.

Burt plays along, saying he needed a drink of water. Gagan says he anticipated the man may have needed something, but carefully mentions he likes his privacy and doesn't want guests stumbling about the house. Burt thanks him for the water and goes back to bed. Gagan locks him in again as Jean rolls over in his sleep, passing gas.

Figuring the windows are alarmed, Burt decides to go back to sleep; making sure to first roll Jean off of the bed. Jean asks what is going on, but Burt pretends to sleep. Jean climbs back into bed, resuming his sleeping position.

Session 3 - Scene 4 (of 9)

The next morning, the four men have an awkward breakfast around Gagan's kitchen table. Having not slept well, Jean pokes disinterestedly at his sheep sausage.

Jean tries to make conversation, asking Gagan how long he has lived there. Gagan gives an answer of 20 years. Further conversation reveals that Gagan does very little trading or contact with outsiders, preparing to keep to himself.

The others are not so convinced. Jean in particular focuses on some of the electronics and traps around the home. Gagan claims they are there to protect against wildlife and to ensure his privacy.

Gagan gives his background as being an iterant farmer doing various work around the frontier. Jean mentions the farming couple he met on the beanstalk, Peter and Anne Marie Kirouac. Gagan admits he knows of them, but has had little interaction. Jean confirms the couple said that no one ever goes into this valley, except for Gagan.

Wreck questions how Gagan manages to fund his farm. The old man mentions he did well earlier in life, so he can take care of himself now and his "little farm". Wreck sarcastically agrees, noting that "travelling vagabond farmers tend to make a lot of money."

Gagan equates it to being frugal. He then abruptly changes the subject to ask Wreck about himself. Wreck says he is from Texas. He gives Jean as being French, and Burt as being British. He explains they all met in the merchant marines, while mentioning he was a former marine.

Wreck goes on to describes them as being a "small consortium" that provides security. Jean elaborates they are independent contractors and not employees of Rebco. Gagan finds it interesting that they are in security, but performing a survey mission. Wreck notes they will do whatever people are willing to pay for.

Jean goes on to talk about how survey missions are often matters of security. He says it is about keeping the wrong people from getting weapons production or getting too close to the borders. As they talk, Jean slips an electronic bug into Gagan's kitchen.

Wreck continues to explain that their mission does have a security element to it, as there are rumors of German spies (the Texan puts an emphasis on the last two words). He pointedly asks Gagan if he has encountered any "German folk" but the old man replies that he has not.

Gagan asks if any have been spotted in the area. Wreck says they have not, but they are keeping their eyes open for any evidence of German activity. He notes that a "good old Frenchman" like Gagan clearly wouldn't know anything about Germans, while thinking to himself about the magazine he found.

The old man mentions the only relation he has to Germans is some wine and articles, noting they are inexpensive. Jean is surprised that a Frenchman would drink German wine, but keeps the comment to himself.

Wreck changes the subject, asking Gagan if he would want to join them on their survey. The old man agrees, mentioning he can help their group avoid getting attacked by any more blindeebuffs. Wreck asks about compensation, but Gagan says he mostly wants to come for the experience and asks for only 100 credits.

The group and the old man come to an agreement. Wreck asks Gagan about his knowledge of interesting mineral formations. The man explains that off to the east, there is a mountainous area that would likely contain mineral deposits. They decide to start there first and circle back around to the forest region.

Session 3 - Scene 5 (of 9)

When they decide to head out, Wreck asks Gagan if he'd like to drive. But the old man explains he does not drive anymore; he just wants to ride along.

They decide to take two vehicles. Wreck has plans to leave the old man in the wild and come back to investigate the mysteriously enhanced home.

Wreck also wants to know how to avoid the blindeebuffs as they head out. Gagan says the best thing to do is avoid their territory, but then starts talking about watching for them hiding in bushes and mentioning they can be very quiet. He also says once they are inside their vehicle, they should be safe.

Wreck isn't so sure this information matches up with their experiences so far. He tells the old man that his advice sounds like a load of horseshit, but notes they have no choice but to listen. He does say the blindeebuffs they encountered were not in a bush and weren't very quiet.

Before they leave, Gagan mentions he needs to go back inside for something. When he comes back out, he has a bottle of German wine. Once he clears the doorway, heavy metal shutters come down to cover the doors and windows of the house. Gagan sits down in the jeep, simply noting that he was thirsty.

Jean, shocked by the security, mentions that it is quite the farmhouse he has. Gagan simply states he values his solitude. Wreck wonders aloud how a vagrant farmer could make such a fortune, but Gagan answers only that he did so by living a "frugal life". Burt mutters something about avoiding expenses like steel shutters.

Wreck has the men divide up, with himself in one vehicle and Jean and Burt with Gagan in the other. Gagan, however, advises it would be safest to divide evenly into the two vehicles. Jean mentions they need to do it that way because all of the equipment was moved into one of the jeeps previously.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Jean says they can shuffle the equipment around later but suggests they get moving. Gagan reluctantly agrees, and gets in the jeep with the others. They head off in the lead, with Wreck following.

Session 3 - Scene 6 (of 9)

For the next week, the trip is relatively uneventful as the group moves up into the mountains and surveys the area. They see the usual rocky formations, land bridges, trees, and other natural wonders of the mountains.

One morning, Wreck's jeep hits a rock as they are travelling through one of the passes. The impact breaks a hole in the coolant line, causing a link.

Wreck manages to make the repair, but they don't have a lot of extra coolant. He asks Gagan about any supplies back at his home. He says he can go back to the farm while the others continue along.

Gagan offers to come back with him. Wreck says he'd rather not leave his companions out in unfamiliar territory. The old man points out that it would be even worse for Wreck to head out by himself, also mentioning he doesn't recall exactly where the coolant might be and would have to come with him.

Wreck responds that he is a Texan, not a Frenchman, and is more than capable of venturing out on his own. He tells the old man to give him the keys to his place, so he can look around for the coolant. Gagan politely refuses, saying he would not feel safe at night in his home knowing someone else may have had the keys.

The old man also mentions using urine as a substitute for the coolant. Conceding defeat, Wreck decides to transfer some of the coolant from the other jeep instead though he is tempted to just leave Gagan there and go back to his place anyway.

After Wreck siphons the coolant and they get moving again, Gagan resumes asking questions about why Rebco would want to be out in such a remote area. Jean makes a comment to Burt, in German, that the old man is asking a lot of questions. Burt agrees, wondering what the old man is hiding. Observing carefully, Jean notices Gagan's face twitch slightly; Jean infers that Gagan can understand them.

Gagan mentions to the men that for all the concerns about German spies, they appear to be speaking in German. He wonders if they are the men the French government should be concerned about.

Jean responds that as part of their training, they have to be ready to infiltrate the Germans, or at least be able to interact with them if they encounter anyone out in the wilderness. Gagan describes his explanation as "plausible".

Luckily, the jeeps manage not to overheat while travelling in the mountains despite being on half their normal coolant. After a couple more days of survey work, they eventually make their way down into the foothills and towards the forested region.

Session 3 - Scene 7 (of 9)

As they head into the forest, Jean spots a clearing up ahead that appears to be missing vegetation. It is a larger area in size, and Jean wants to investigate.

He asks Gagan about the unnatural clearing, and the old man seems genuinely surprised. He says he's never seen something like this before.

Getting closer, Jean sees the clearing is rather circular. He knows it must be artificial in origin.

He has Burt pull over to get near the area. Wreck spots the area once they move out of the way, and radios ahead to the other car. He advises Jean to hold back and scan for radiation first.

Burt pulls the jeep to a stop. He gets out with a rad sensor, and finds faint radiation. As they are out of the jeep, they can tell the vegetation has been burned away, as if by a rocket.

Wreck can tell it is likely some kind of landing craft, though doesn't correspond to the ones he's seen. Jean asks Gagan if there are often spacecraft in the valley, asking if there are any aliens. The old Frenchman says he's seen nothing, noting again that he is a simple farmer who keeps to himself.

Jean jokes about little green men running around in the forest. Wreck makes a sarcastic comment about the blindeebuffs learning to fly.

Wreck and Burt decide to search around the area carefully. Jean takes some soil samples. Wreck spots a bottle in the grass nearby. It has a logo for the popular sports drink Bionade, with German writing on it.

Pointing out the bottle to Gagan, Wreck asks the old man again about seeing any Germans around the area. Gagan again claims ignorance. Wreck calls the situation mysterious.

Jean wonders about the German wine the old man has. He claims to have bought it off some people along the road to Premiere, many years back. Gagan asks if Jean has any ties to the local Germans, since he speaks German and all.

Wreck is more concerned about why the spacecraft would land there. Looking around for geological formations, he spots a large cave.

Session 3 - Scene 8 (of 9)

Jean asks Gagan about the cave, and if he has been inside it before. Gagan mentions he has explored some of the caves in the region, but not a lot and is not familiar with this particular cave. Jean suggests they go exploring into the cave and the old man agrees.

They try to get Gagan to head in first, but he claims he is too old of a man to take the lead. He suggests the most athletic person be in the lead. Wreck suggests he and Gagan go in side by side.

Wreck readies his autopistol and heads in. They look around a bit, finding the familiar stalagmites and stalactites in the back of the cave but little else.

Convinced there is more to the cave than meets the eye, Wreck has them search the area carefully. Gagan makes sure to keep an eye on everyone.

Gagan finds a button hidden on one of the stalagmites. He calls out to Wreck to let him know. Wreck tells him to push the button, while making sure to step away.

The old man says he is not comfortable pushing the button. He wonders if they should look around for a door or other portal first, and suggests perhaps touching it from a distance with a pole or something. He also says it might be best if they just leave.

Wreck insists the old man push the button. Gagan insists this could be dangerous and they should leave. Wreck tells him he doesn't have many years left.

The Texan levels his pistol at Gagan, telling him he doesn't trust him and needs him to push the button. Gagan notes that he doesn't trust Wreck and his team either.

Gagan looks around the area near the stalagmite carefully. He notices a faint discoloration in the back of the cave wall that could be a doorway. He then asks Wreck who he really works for. Wreck tells the old man he has the same question for him, but if he doesn't press the button Wreck knows who he won't be working for.

The man agrees that Wreck has him in a compromised situation. He presses the button, causing a concealed set of doors to open at the back of the cave, revealing a passage beyond. Gagan asks Wreck if his friends are in there, which the Texan responds in the negative to, though intimates that perhaps Gagan's friends could be.

Gagan is still suspicious, wondering how Wreck happened to come to this particular cave in all of the area. He tells the Frenchman they just happened to find it while scouting around, just like he saw.

Wreck radios back to Burt, saying that Gagan found a button that opened some concealed doors. He tells Burt they will proceed forward.

Burt relays the information to Jean. He asks if they should follow. Jean says if anyone is down in the cave, it could mean people are also out in the area, so they should probably stay to guard the equipment. Burt informs Wreck they will stay above.

Wreck motions the old man forward with his pistol. Gagan heads in, unconcerned. As he enters the hallway, lights come on overhead, flickering on and off.

The passageway leads to a small metal stairway leading down. Wreck asks Gagan if anything is familiar to him, saying it is very strange and that he's never seen anything like it. Gagan agrees, saying he has not either.

The stairs lead down to a large, hexagonal-shaped room with metal walls and a concrete floor. The lights continue to flicker on and off.

Nearby is a metal table with something on it. Next to the table area is a large wall of computer monitors of some kind, with what appears to be a storage locker next to that. Across the room, there appears to be some kind of open storage area.

Wreck tries to test radio contact back to Burt; the signal does not get through. He looks closer at the table, seeing there are several objects on it, but he can't make it out from where they are.

The Texan tells Gagan to proceed in, but to be prepared to run. As Gagan gets closer to the metal table, he can see that it is the dissected remains of a human. From the expression on the corpse's face, he appears to have been vivisected.

The corpse's chest cavity is still wide open. Along the wall, there are several jars of pale green liquid with various organs floating in it. Wreck tries to ascertain the nationality of the man, but cannot. The remains are somewhat mummified, indicating the body has been dead awhile.

Wreck says they should check the rest of the room. He tells Gagan to check the locker while he looks at the computers.

At the computer console, Wreck is surprised to see the controls are in a language he does not recognize. They appear to be some sort of symbols. Using his dataslate, he takes image shots of the console and around the room.

Wreck decides to try pressing one of the buttons along the edge of the panel, hoping for a power button. After pressing a few, he hears a hum as the system powers up. The screens illuminate, with strange symbols showing up on the screen, apparently wanting Wreck to enter something.

Pressing a few more random buttons, Wreck tries to get the system to work but nothing happens. Eventually, the screens freeze up with a red background with a different set of symbols. He calls out to Gagan, asking him what he's found and noting they may need to exit the room quickly.

Gagan tells Wreck that the locker is locked. Wreck comes over and tells the old man to step back. He fires at the lock on the locker, but the shot ricochets off and smashes into one of the monitors.

Unable to open the locker, Wreck starts pushing more buttons. A beeping sound begins from the console. It begins to beep faster.

Wreck tells Gagan to make a run for it. They just get out of the room when a blast door comes down to seal off the room and a blast goes off. Outside, Jean and Burt spot smoke pouring out.

Burt's radio comes to life. Wreck yells, telling him and Jean to get into the vehicles. Burt tries to ask what happened but Wreck repeats his request. As Wreck and Gagan get outside, everyone gets in the hover jeeps and drives off.

Session 3 - Scene 9 (of 9)

When they are a safe distance away, the group stops to make camp. Jean asks for more information about what happened and Wreck shows him the pictures of the room from the data slate.

Neither Jean nor Burt recognize the symbols on the image of the control panels. He asks Gagan, but the old man says they are not familiar to him either.

Jean recalls that when they were at the spaceport, Mador Miller mentioned how alien ships sometimes cross through the space near the planet. He asks Gagan if he's ever heard anything about the aliens. The old man shakes his head.

Since the computer system was not in French, German, or English, Jean posits that it must be alien. Wreck points out that the vivisected human was also present. Jean wonders if they are safe in the area, and should camp further away.

Burton is less concerned. He notes whoever was there looks like they may have been gone awhile. Wreck would prefer to stay in the area, to see if they can observe the area to see if anyone returns.

Taking Wreck's plan into account, they position themselves back in the trees and watch. The night passes uneventfully, and no one comes back to the cave.

The group then decides to return to their survey mission. Burton studies their maps of the areas carefully, curious why this area was picked for their landing spot.

Wreck decides to try and stir up some interest. He sends a holo-mail to Jackson Maddox along with the images he took. He tells Jackson about what they found.

Gagan asks Wreck if he is sending a message to his boss. Wreck tells the old man that absolutely, when he finds a vivisected human in a cave with a secret lab and alien symbols he tends to find that reportable.

A text message then comes in on Wreck's communication unit. It says, "Message Received. Await Response Team." Wreck tells the others they have a choice; they can either await the response team or make a run for it.

Jean asks Gagan if he wants to wait around or not. Gagan is concerned about a team going to his house. Jean explains they likely will come straight to them.

Burt says he'd rather not wait to be debriefed. Jean agrees, wanting to head out of the area and let the response team deal with it. Wreck, however, wants to stay there to find out what's going on.

Wreck tells the others he will stay while they move on. Jean tries to advise him to leave too, but Wreck reminds him it would be a trivial matter for Rebco to track them all down since the hoverjeeps are most likely being tracked. He says running will send the wrong message.

Gagan asks if Rebco is really friends of theirs. Jean agrees that this is not the job they signed up for, which Wreck agrees with. The old man suggests that heading back to the farm is the best course, as free agents they are not likely to be too friendly with them.

Wreck is adamant about waiting for the response team. Burt is swayed by the Texan's argument, saying it could look too suspicious if they left.

Jean asks Gagan if he thinks he could make it back on foot. Wreck insists that Gagan stays with them, thinking to himself that if Gagan goes off he will undoubtedly go to a hidden communication station to contact his German spy allies. The old man agrees to stay, not wanting to hike several days through the forest on foot anyway.

Wreck puts his plan into motion. He has Burt and the others move off a short distance away and hide, while he makes a visible camp and waits for the response team. As he waits, he hopes this won't cost him his life.

Session 3 - Session Notes

This session happened about three weeks ago. We skipped a session around Christmas / New Years, then had a OD&D one shot that I didn't take notes for, then had this session but then had to skip the next one (this Friday we are doing another D&D session though, this one with some of the guys' kids).

One of our former player's (Alderman Biggins in Cthulhubusters) new living situation allowed him to rejoin us over Skype again, so I had him play Gagan (who I originally intended to be a NPC). It worked out very well, and the player really got into playing the mysterious man.

I thought the session moved along well, and the sense of mystery kept building up, which was good.

Other thoughts from the session:

* Gagan is clearly more than he appears to be, with his "old French farmhouse" stocked with advanced electronics.

* I thought the Gagan player did a masterful job of avoiding the other PC's questions and turning it back to him collecting information on them.

* The German magazine in the barn was clearly a clue meant to imply Gagan is a German spy. "Sonne und Gesundheit" is my rough translation of "Sun and Health", implying that it was some kind of retro nudist magazine.

* We all agree we went a little overboard with the homoerotic jokes about Burt and Jean sharing the bed (many more were made that did not make it into the writeup), but once we started that ball rolling, it kept on going.

* The Gagan player totally improvised the "water and sausage" routine, which the others didn't buy for a minute.

* Gagan's purported background as a wandering farmer was also improvised, leading to lots of jokes about how poorly thought out the lie was, but the player kept it up very well. I liked that it gave a feel of Gagan is lying, the others know he is lying, and he knows they know he is lying, but it's all part of the polite spy game of wits.

* I got a kick out of the love for German wine bit.

* The Gagan player improvising the bit about the blindeebuffs sneaking up in the bushes was hilarious, because he clearly didn't read up on the past session report very well. It was a very Alderman Biggins moment.

* The steel shutters on the house were meant to have a real batmobile feel.

* If there's one thing I always find difficult, its coming up with enough interesting things to happen out in the wild. The rock and the coolant line was designed to be a hazard with a calculated decision point / risk.

* The duel of wits between Wreck and Gagan over heading back to the house for the coolant was brilliant; particularly the fact that Gagan won.

* The clearing was something I planned to spice up the forest a bit.

* Bionade is a real German beverage, though I describe it here as a sports drink when in actuality it is more of a soda.

* The cave experience is something not in my original plans, but I came up with after session 2 to make the exploration a bit more exciting. It is definitely a deviation from the original Tri-Color Shadow adventure I'm basing this planet on, but in the spirit of alien goings-on.

* I think the Wreck player really thought Gagan was leading him into a trap in the cave.

* The flickering lights of the hallway and hexagonal room were inspired by The Staff base of the Dharma Initiative in Lost.

* The radio not working down there was pure cliché, meant to heighten the tension.

* The autopsied human is meant to be pure alien abduction trope, with the wall of monitors being the typical futuristic computer bank.

* The screen Wreck couldn't understand was a login screen. When it went read, it meant he locked out the system. Clearly, he later activated a self-destruct sequence meant to protect the system from intruders.

* The "storage area" of the room that they never investigated was actually a stasis field. If they would have gone in, they would have been trapped.

* The message back from Maddox was pure Alien 3.

Session 4 - Cast of Characters

Jean Danielou: The older French merchant with a sordid career.

James "Wreck" Deckard: A former Texan marine who later joined the merchant security service.

Burton Steele: A younger up and comer from the United Kingdom.

Gagan Hubert: A mysterious old French hermit.

Session 4 - Scene 1 (of 8)

Hiding back in the forest, Burt, Jean, and Gagan watch as Wreck awaits the response team. Up in the sky, they see something that appears to be a falling meteor. It appears to go down to the ground.

Based on the angle it fell, Jean can tell it fell somewhere deep in the woods, approximately five clicks away. He and Burt are discussing whether or not to investigate it when Wreck radios in, saying that someone should go check out the meteor.

Burt likes the idea of going to investigate, especially if it puts an additional five kilometers distance between them and the response team that will inevitably be killing Wreck. Jean isn't so sure about the idea of driving through the woods in the dark.

Radioing back to Wreck, Burt tells the Texan they will look in the morning. Wreck sarcastically agrees with their assessment to let the mysterious falling object go unchecked for the night, pointing out they just found an alien base. He continues his harangue, telling the two that giving alien invaders a couple of hours to dig in is a great idea.

Getting progressively more aggressive, Wreck asks who came up with that plan, suggesting it was Danielou. He gets nothing but static from the comm unit as a response.

Wreck then asks for Gagan over the radio. Jean quickly hands off the comm unit. Once Gagan is on the line, Wreck asks the old man if he knows how to drive a hover jeep. He tells Gagan that although he's claimed not to drive anymore, he believes the old man still has the skills. Wreck goes on to tell Gagan that they need to go look into the falling object, and if the two dingbats he's associated with can't do it, Gagan will have to.

Gagan reluctantly agrees, stating he's not sure about driving at his age but can probably do so. Burt and Jean reluctantly agree to go along as well.

Session 4 - Scene 2 (of 8)

Shortly after the other three leave the area, Wreck hears a noise overhead; it appears to be the sound of an air skimmer having engine trouble.

A fair distance away, Wreck can see a small, blinking red light coming slowly down to the ground. Wreck gets his pistol ready and takes out a flashlight and shines it around.

Rather than investigate the blinking red light, he decides to hold position. After a second, he realizes it would be better to turn the light off and take partial cover behind the jeep.

Off in the distance, Wreck can see the blinking red light is staying a meter or so off of the ground and is heading slowly towards him. As it gets closer, the light from the campfire reveals the red light is attached to a humanoid shape, tall and thin with long hair.

Wreck holds his position and stays quiet. As the figure gets close enough, Wreck can tell it is a human female wearing a vacc suit, with the blinking red light some kind of homing signal attached to the suit. She appears to be tall and thin, with long brown hair.

The woman calls out, asking if anyone is there. She starts looking in the direction of the jeep then walks that way. Wreck calls out, telling the "little lady" she has gotten close enough. She tells him his name must be Wreck. He responds by telling the woman to identify herself.

The woman gives her name as Gail, saying she is with the response team. Wreck asks where the rest of the team is. She explains they had a problem with their air skimmer, it hit something on the way in and there was some electromagnetic interference.

Wreck wants to know what they hit. She describes it as an orbital object, likely a rock. Wreck mentions seeing an object crashing down to the surface. Gail is interested in the direction.

Gail then inquires about the whereabouts of the rest of Wreck's team. He explains they went off to investigate the meteor.

Turning the conversation back to her own missing team, Gail tells Wreck they need to go find them first. She believes the rest of them also got out using their grav chutes.

Gail takes out a dataslate and opens up an app. While she enters some data, Wreck talks about how curious it is her skimmer happened to hit an "orbital object" so close to where the apparent alien base was found. Gail reminds him that alien involvement hasn't been confirmed yet.

Wreck asks if she saw the images he sent over the holo-mail. Gail mentions they are still being analyzed, but Wreck is quick to point out the area didn't look French or German.

Gail fusses with her app, noting she's having an issue getting a triangulation. After a minute, she gets a signal lock. She instructs Wreck on the direction to go, but he insists she takes the lead. Taking out her flashlight, she heads off. Wreck follows, very alert for an ambush.

While they walk, Gail asks for more information on how they found the base. Wreck explains they stumbled onto it during their survey mission, keeping it vague. She then asks about signs of recent activity, which Wreck confirms.

Gail asks if the site is still accessible, but Wreck tells her no. He says there was a bit of an accident. She mentions hoping they'll get more from the analysis of the images and Wreck cracks a nervous joke about staying away from buttons in places like that.

She coldly says that pushing the buttons would not occur to her. Wreck somewhat defensively points out is felt natural to him, but admits he is a simple Texan. Gail, a bit too quickly, agrees he is "simple".

Changing the subject, Wreck asks if she works for Rebco. Gail cagily answers that she is part of the response team. Looking at her dataslate, she tells him they are almost there, having traveled half a kilometer from Wreck's camp.

Wreck asks how many people are on the response team. Gail gives the number as three, plus the pilot.

Shortly after, another flashlight shines out from the darkness at the two of them. A female voice calls out to ask, "Gail, is that you?" Gail responds affirmatively.

Another woman approaches, a tall blonde with the same vacc suit as Gail. She gives her name as Jo. Wreck introduces himself. She notices the rest of the team isn't there.

Wreck asks where the others might be. Jo isn't sure, but notes that "Laurel" got out of the skimmer just after her. While talking, Wreck carefully examines the woman. She does appear to have been in a recent grav chute jump, but he can also tell both women appear to be professional mercenaries and are carrying pistols as sidearms.

Once again, Wreck tries asking if the women work for Rebco. Gail is unamused, saying she thought they already established they were there as part of the response team. Wreck notes he just likes to know who he is dealing with. Gail coldly notes it is not important.

Jo, being the warmer of the two, touches Wreck on the shoulder, smiles, and tells him not to worry about it. Wreck notes that in his experience, not worrying about things can leave to a man getting killed. He considers whether or not he should attack the women now, but thinks better of it.

Instead, Wreck tries to get the ladies back to the campsite if they can't find their other companions. He notes the rest of his group will be back soon. Gail responds by noting she's picked up Laurel's signal.

Wreck notes his surprise about the group being all women. Jo says they all work well together. When Wreck asks if the pilot is a woman as well, Jo confirms and gives the pilot's name as Sun. Gail suggests they quiet down and get moving.

Not certain he wants to continue, Wreck asks if they still need his assistance. Gail tells him he better stay with them. Wreck asks if it is an option or an order. Gail just says she thinks it would be best for everyone. Jo smiles at Wreck telling him not to worry as it won't take long.

Before long, the group meets up with Laurel. Wreck continues to play along to see what will happen...

Session 4 - Scene 3 (of 8)

Meanwhile, Burt, Jean, and Gagan travel through the dark forest. Gagan drives the jeep at a fast pace, quickly moving through the woods without incident. Jean and Burt both notice they've never been in a hover jeep that felt like such a smooth drive, only confirming their suspicions that Gagan was lying about his piloting skills.

Jean thanks the old man for his smooth driving. Gagan passes it off as "beginner's luck".

As they get near the area they are heading to, they see a red glow off in the distance where something hot appears to be cooling down.

Jean gets out of the jeep and uses his multi-spectrum goggles to investigate. The glow is bright, and he detects a wide band of gamma rays coming off of the object. The radiation is normal for an object coming from space, but Jean also notes it is metallic in nature, not a rock. It appears to be some kind of sphere the size of a large boulder.

When Jean radios back to the others, Burton encourages him to move in closer to investigate further. Jean, however, wants them all to come closer with the jeep. Gagan complies as Jean describes the object as created, but not overtly dangerous.

Using the sensors on the jeep, Burt can tell the object is the remains of some kind of satellite. Gagan has a better idea of exactly what the object is, but says nothing.

Burt tells Jean it is a satellite, which could be worth something. He suggests they go check it out. Jean agrees that Burt should go look at it, but he insists to the older Frenchman that he will need backup.

Gagan tells them they should both go and he can stay back at the vehicle. Burt and Jean are suspicious of the offer. Gagan says he will maneuver the jeep around to point the opposite way in case they need a quick exit. They finally agree to his plan. As they head over, Gagan takes a position halfway between them and the jeep.

When they get up to the satellite, Burt inspects the hull. It seems to be in good shape, and has some writing. It appears to be in French, saying "Projet de Photo Ciel", which roughly translates to "Project Skycam".

Burton asks Jean what it means, suggesting they are being watched. Jean points out it is clearly a French surveillance satellite. Burton looks closer, spotting the remains of the optical systems and the memory port to its onboard computer.

Jean takes out his dataslate and runs a connection into memory port. Using his computer skills, he hacks past the system's security and accesses the satellite's memory files.

Just as he gets done removing the connection, a male voice calls out, "Hey, what are you three doing?" Three men then come out of the darkness, dressed in fatigues and carrying rifles. The man in the lead asks Burt and Jean if they are the three surveyoers.

Jean confirms, introducing himself and Burton and pointing out Gagan but calling him by Wreck's name, "Mr. Deckard". The man tells Jean that they are the response team.

Burt asks the men if they know anything about the satellite. The man in charge says no, saying they were expecting something related to aliens.

Jean says there must be some kind of mistake as now that they've seen it close up, it is clearly French in origin. He asks the man if they are employees of Rebco, but the man deflects by saying they should secure the area. He has his men fan out and patrol the perimeter.

The man himself uses his rifle butt to break open the security panel protecting the memory core. He then reaches in and tears out the memory chip.

Burt starts to ask if they've ran into Wreck while they were headed here, which confuses the man. Jean elbows him in the ribs and points out Wreck is just over by the jeep. The man starts to look suspicious.

Session 4 - Scene 4 (of 8)

While walking along with the women, Wreck clandestinely turns on his radio and ensures it is transmitting. He then talks to the women, asking if they work for Rebco. Gail asks why he keeps bringing that up. Wreck responds that he wants to know who he's dealing with and believes if they really worked for Rebco they would have just said so.

Gail still won't answer. Wreck points out that if they can't prove they work for Rebco, he has no intention of continuing to help them. Gail tells him it will be to his best advantage to continue on with them.

Wreck asks what the advantage is. Gail ignores him, pointing out she's gotten through the magnetic interference of the hull ionization of the skimmer and located its position. She says it isn't far.

Back at the satellite, Jean and Burt are picking up part of the conversation over the comm, but the transmission is spotty from interference from the gamma radiation.

Burt suspects the men they are with are not with Rebco, whispering to Jean in German. Jean points out it is just as likely that the team with Wreck is the fake one, or perhaps neither is actually affiliated with Rebco, and the two teams could be part of the same organization or from competing groups.

Jean suspects Wreck's holo-mail to Jackson Maddox may have been intercepted, possibly by more than one interested party. Burt wonders what to do next. Jean says they should ask to get back to surveying.

By now, the other soldiers have returned. They report to their commander that the perimeter is secured.

Jean suggests to the man they should get back to the survey mission. The man agrees, saying they should all head back to the jeep to check on their supplies and make sure they are good to go.

Trying to get rid of the men, Jean says all the equipment is good and they should not trouble themselves. The man says it is all right, as it will give them a chance to meet Wreck.

Not sure what to do, Jean and Burt start leading the men over to the jeep. Once their backs are turned, the men raise their rifles and ready to shoot them. Gagan watches from the distance, saying nothing. He is pretty sure the man in charge of the team is Wolfgang Cutler, one of the clean-up experts from the German colony.

Cutler and his men let loose a burst of fire into the back of Jean. He falls to the ground, dead.

Burt hears the gunfire and sees Jean's torn-up body. He decides to make a run for it, heading for the jeep by way of the nearby trees.

Bullets fly everywhere, tearing into the foliage. Gagan trots his way back to the jeep.

Burt tries to get back to the jeep quickly, but one of the shots hits him in the leg. He falls to the ground. Burt valiantly tries to crawl his way to the jeep, but one of the men catches up to him. Standing overhead, he brings down the butt of his rifle into Burt's head, knocking him unconscious.

Cutler then looks to Gagan. He tells the old man, the other one is dead but Burt is still alive and asks Gagan what he wants them to do with him.

Gagan looks around carefully. He tells Cutler there is still another man out there. Cutler says Wreck is of no concern.

Mentioning the strange facility they found earlier, Gagan asks Cutler if he knows anything about it. Cutler responds they intercepted the images along with Wreck's message. He mentions he's lost a few men in the area recently and has suspected alien involvement.

Cutler then asks Gagan if he has seen any of the hostiles, referring to the aliens. He says they will need to clear out the whole area.

Gagan mentions that the people he was with, Burt and Wreck, were very interested in earning money. He believes they could still be useful.

Cutler defers to Gagan, having his men load Burt into the jeep. He tells Gagan that if this one or Wreck prove useful to go ahead and use them, but cautions Gagan that if they do not, the old man will need to take care of the mess himself.

Before leaving, Cutler advises Gagan to get out of the area quickly. He notes that Bellaire undoubtedly is also aware the satellite has come down and will be coming to retrieve it.

Session 4 - Scene 5 (of 8)

Across the forest, Wreck and the women have almost made their way to the ship. Wreck is still considering his options; he's a bit nervous he hasn't heard back from Burt and Jean. He decides against making a run for it and continues along with them.

Eventually they come along the downed skimmer. A woman is working on fixing it when they approach. The women all huddle together and talk quietly. Wreck notices they turn back in his direction a couple of times while they talk.

Wreck focuses his attention on the ship. It looks fairly banged up, but he can see there is writing on the ship and sees that everything is in English.

Thinking about the third colony on the island, Wreck wonders if the British are involved. While the women all appear to speak with American accents, he can tell they slip sometimes and can sense they are trying to hide a natural British accent.

Taking a gamble, Wreck sets down his weapons and cautiously approaches the women. He tells them it is time to put their cards on the table, noting they are clearly not Rebco employees nor French militia, nor German spies. He tells them that although he doesn't know what they are doing, it is time to talk straight. He also mentions his companions are not responding to his attempts to communicate so he believes they may have trouble.

Gail responds, in her natural British accent, that Wreck is probably right. She goes on to say that if they have not responded, it may already be too late for them. She then says there is another group operating in the area.

Wreck demands answers, saying he can't help them if he doesn't know what is going on. Gail exchanges glances with the other women before answering. She then explains she can tell him what is going on, but can't promise him more than 10% of the cut.

Gail reveals their true mission is to recover a French surveillance satellite. As the surveillance is illegal, the French had been hiding it in the restricted orbital zone.

Wreck asks what brought the satellite down. Gail explains they did. Wreck gives his belief that it was related to the damage at the station he discovered, but Gail explains there is not a direct connection. She does admit there is an indirect connection.

Continuing on, Gail explains that their employer had been looking into the alien ships passing through the restricted area when they discovered the spy satellite. Since Wreck destroyed the base, they took the opportunity to down the satellite, hoping the French would be too busy focused on the destroyed base to notice.

Gail says her mission is to recover to data from the satellite so her employer can sell it back to the Germans, whom the surveillance is undoubtedly against.

Wreck asks her if they know anything about Gagan. Gail refers to him as "the man who calls himself Gagan Hubert". She goes on to explain that her records indicate his real name is Adolph Mueller and he is a German deep cover spy.

Gail goes on to explain that Gagan is actually only in his forties, having been surgically altered to appear much older after being the victim of an accident that nearly killed him. Wreck notes that regardless, he is an ugly old bastard.

Wreck speculates that since Gagan, or Adolph, is off with his boys, that doesn't bode well. Gail agrees, saying Mueller probably already took care of them himself or is working with the other team in the area. She says the Germans have a specialist in the area named Wolfgang Cutler who will be looking to retrieve the satellite himself.

Since the air skimmer is so heavily damaged, Wreck suggests they head back and use his hover jeep. Gail agrees. She has Laurel stay with Sun to help with repairs, while she and Jo will accompany Wreck to find the satellite.

Session 4 - Scene 6 (of 8)

Sometime later, Burton wakes up to find himself half naked and tied down to a bed with Gagan standing over him. Burt is scared about what Gagan has in mind. He calls Gagan a bastard and asks what his plans are to do with him.

Gagan simply says he does not believe Burt has much choice in the matter of what he does. Burt isn't sure what that means, but calms a little when he realizes his clothes have been removed to bandage his gunshot.

After a dramatic pause, Gagan goes on to tell Burt he needs him to contact Wreck. Burt asks what for. Gagan doesn't really answer, he just wants him to tell Wreck there is an emergency and he needs to come back right away.

Burt asks Gagan why he should help him. Gagan unrolls a cloth with pockets containing various surgical tools. He picks each one up, examining it closely, making sure Burt can see, and then sets them down on the table next to him.

Gagan then smiles and tells Burt the real question is, why wouldn't he help him. Burt responds that he is a lying bastard.

Burt finally agrees to make the call. Gagan is pleased, saying that otherwise Burt is clearly a foreign spy and that as a good Frenchman, he would be forced to defend himself and his country. He asks Burt if he wouldn't do the same.

Gagan continues to play with one of the surgical tools as Burt asks what he's supposed to say. Gagan gives him a set of coordinates to relay to Wreck, instructing Burt to say he was attacked and needs assistance.

Burt tells Gagan that he'll need to release his hand in order for him to use the comm unit. Gagan says that he can operate Burt's equipment without Burt's hand needing to be available.

After Gagan activates Burt's device, Burt starts asking for Wreck. Wreck hears the static-filled message. He signals the women he is getting an incoming message.

Wreck then asks to confirm Burt's identity, then asks where Jean is. Burt tells him they are in trouble. He goes on to tell Wreck that he is hurt, and he thinks Jean is dead.

The Texan tries to process the information. He asks about Gagan. Burt then yells out for Wreck to help him, saying he is being held hostage at Gagan's.

Gagan quickly takes the comm unit away, telling Burt he shouldn't have done that. Wreck then hears the comm disconnect.

Back in the farmhouse, Gagan stabs a scalpel into Burt's carotid artery, causing him to bleed out.

Session 4 - Scene 7 (of 8)

Wreck tells the girls that Burt was back at Gagan's, and he believes Gagan was finishing him off. Gail asks if Burt said anything about the satellite. Wreck reveals the entire conversation, which did not include that subject.

Gail coldly states that she is sorry about his colleague, but their mission is to retrieve the satellite data. She asks if he thinks Gagan already has the satellite information.

Wreck says that Jean was skilled with his datapad, so he might have been able to get some information. But, he can't say for sure if Gagan got it.

Gail wants to continue on to the satellite, saying that if the data is still there, they can complete their mission. If Gagan already has the data, she speculates it may be too late.

A short time later, they arrive at the satellite. Wreck spots Jean's body nearby.

Wreck gets out and investigates. Jean is clearly dead. Gail keeps a close eye on Wreck as he investigates the body while Jo sweeps the perimeter.

Near the body, Wreck finds the dataslate. It appears to have taken a bullet. Wreck collects them and puts them in the back of the jeep.

Gail goes over to check the satellite. She can tell the memory chip has already been removed.

With the satellite useless to them, she asks Wreck if he thinks the data could have been retrieved on the dataslate. Wreck says it could have since Jean had it out, but the unit is destroyed. Gail notes they'll need to see if they can recover the data from the slate's memory, assuming it is still intact enough.

Jo reports her perimeter sweep is complete. She finds casings all around along with a set of tracks coming in and out of the area. She suspects a three-man team. The tracks appear to head back north. Wreck notes that Gagan's house is in the same direction, where Burton said he was being held.

Gail reminds Wreck again that their main objective is retrieving the data, not getting revenge. Wreck points out that Gagan likely has the original memory chip from the satellite. Gail suggests maybe they should regroup at the ship first, which Wreck is amenable to.

Wreck pilots the hover jeep quickly back to the air skimmer. Gail confers with Sun about their plan. Sun points out that if Gagan still has the data stick from the satellite, the data will be worthless; they can only get money if the Germans don't already have the data.

Session 4 - Scene 8 (of 8)

Back at the farmhouse, Adolph spots Cutler and his men pulling their hovercycles into his barn. When they get inside, Cutler tells Adolph they plan to use his concealed escape rocket to rendezvous with their ship.

Adolph says his own position has been compromised, saying he has failed to persuade Burt to assist and that he has a problem with the incoming Texan.

Cutler tells Adolph they will let the Texan come then eliminate him, allowing Adolph to stay undercover. But the spy insists his position is compromised and he will need to leave as well. Cutler goes along with that plan, but suggests they kill Wreck anyway.

Adolph, however, has other plans. He takes Burt's body and sticks it in the hover jeep a short distance away from the house. He arranges the body as sort of a scarecrow inside the vehicle. He also puts the various German magazines and other materials in the jeep with him.

Once the stage is set, Adolph calls into the Free French Militia as Gagan, saying he has spotted German spies in the area and giving the descriptions of Burt and his team.

With everything arranged, Mueller, Cutler, and the other soldiers get inside the escape rocket and blast off.

A short time later, the French arrive, shooting into Burt's jeep without realizing he is already dead. As they pull his body out and see the German paraphernalia, they are excited for killing a German spy.

As Wreck and the women pull up to the farm, they spot the scene with the French militia. Wreck can tell that Burt is clearly dead, and shot so many times that the French are unlikely to notice he was already dead when they shot him.

A couple of the militiamen then spot Wreck's jeep. Wreck tells the women that the militia will likely try to kill them. He says they can either run like cowards (as Jean appeared to be doing since he was shot in the back) or stay and fight. He grabs his laser carbine from the back.

Gail wants to stay on mission, but notes they only have pistols so they may need to regroup. Jo mentions she would feel better with air support. Gail tells Wreck to make a run for it, they can get reinforcements from their ship.

Wreck feels he shouldn't drive since they'll need him to shoot. He has Jo get into the drive position.

By the time they get going, one of the two militia jeeps is getting close. Wreck takes a shot at the driver but misses.

Both jeeps start gaining on the jeep. Wreck fires again but misses. The militia returns fire, hitting Jo in the back of the shoulder. Heroically, she manages to keep the vehicle going.

Now that the jeeps are close enough, Gail opens fire with her pistol. Wreck fires at the same time, blasting away one of the drivers. That jeep goes wild, rolling and exploding on the hillside.

With only one vehicle left in pursuit, Jo attempts to shake them but comes up on a blindeebuff quickly. She manages to veer off in time, with the militia effortlessly following.

Gail fires another shot as does Wreck. Both of their shots take out the men in the front of the jeep, sending it crashing to the ground.

Some of the men in the second jeep do survive and fire as Wreck's jeep leaves the area. Wreck fires back, but also misses.

Wreck then takes the wheel from the wounded Jo, who is getting close to passing out. By the time they get back to the skimmer, Sun and Laurel have completed repairs. Laurel applies first aid to Jo while Gail discusses what has happened.

Gail notes they still need to go back to Gagan's house to look for the memory chip. But Sun explains that a short time ago she did detect a ship from that area heading up into orbit. Deciding that it was likely Mueller's ship that took off, Gail decides they should head back to their ship. She has Sun radio their employer and they take the skimmer up into the upper atmosphere to meet them.

Session 4 - Session Notes

I originally didn't think this session would happen because it fell on Valentine's Day. Apparently everyone else's wife / girlfriend either didn't want to fight the crowds to go out that night or have the same view as my girlfriend that it is a "Hallmark Holiday" to be frowned on. So, we went ahead and had the session.

However, since we were playing on Valentine's Day, I went ahead and made one of the response teams a group of four females who all had names that were slight variations of each of the player's SOs. I overestimated how obvious that was, as I had to point it out to them later.

The satellite falling down was part of the long-planned use of the Tricolor Shadow adventure being the kick-off point. As in past campaigns, the first incident I plotted out ends up being a somewhat minor point by the time I end up expanding the world around it in my plans (similar things happened with my previously-documented campaigns for Cthulhubusters, D&D Bronze Age, Shadows Over Fallcrest, and Rifts North Chicago).

I've always been a big fan of PC vs. PC rivalry as long as it doesn't grind the game to a halt, so I rather enjoyed this session. The player playing Gagan (Adolph) really got into it. For anyone who has been reading my past game reports, this is the same guy who played the mystic turned demon Liftkor in my infamous Rifts North Chicago campaign.

Gagan wasn't always a German spy. In the original plans, back when he was a NPC, he was just going to be the old hermit who could act as a guide. But, when he turned to a PC I thought the only way to make him interesting was to make him the spy. Him murdering the other PCs was not one of my ideas, however, the player came up with that all on his own.

Next session we'll be bringing in some replacement characters from the spaceship Wreck is heading up to.

Other notes from the session:

* Wreck mocking Burt and Jean for wanting to wait until morning to check out the fallen object was hilarious to hear. I think it was the mix of the sarcasm and the Texan accent.

* The air skimmer and women grav chuting is clearly an homage to the scenes in season 4 of Lost.

* The Wreck player really didn't trust the women, but just couldn't think of anything else less risky to do other than to play along with them.

* The jeep ride with Gagan driving wasn't so smooth because he was highly skilled, but because he rolled a 12. Still, it had a humorous result in that it further led Burt and Jean to distrust him.

* The French writing on the satellite wasn't planned ahead of time. I made an off-hand comment to "French markings" and then the PCs wanted to know what it said, so I responded with "Project Skycam" (because obviously it makes sense the clandestine satellite would be marked to indicate it was an illegal French espionage satellite). Not one of my better improv moments. Still, I got to add the butchered French version of it to the write-up.

* Jean hacking the satellite was a great idea. I was particularly happy he was able to succeed before Cutler and his men showed up.

* Cutler had a pretty small team because I didn't want them to seem overwhelming.

* Cutler, btw, is named after one of the bikers in the HBO show, Oz.

* Jean was correct that neither group was sent by Rebco. Rebco, in fact, never received Wreck's message at all (hence why they got a text message back).

* I couldn't believe Jean and Burt were dumb enough to turn their backs on Cutler and his men. I was further surprised when Gagan didn't bother to warn them or tell the soldiers to stop.

* I didn't have a big issue with Jean dying as his character had a very low End score and wasn't long for the world anyway. I thought capturing Burt was the better way to go for him.

* How the aliens fit into the story is yet to be revealed to the PCs, but they will eventually become more important to the plot.

* I found it very odd that Wreck kept badgering the women about if they worked for Rebco, and when they finally admit they work for another employer he never asked them who. That will be revealed next session.

* The scene with Burt tied up and talking to Gagan took a lot longer in game because of all the jokes going on about what Gagan might do to Burt.

* Gagan coldly and quickly killing Burt came as a shock to everyone.

* Once Jean and Burt were both dead, they took over playing Jo and Gail (the Jean player being careful to avoid role-playing the NPC somewhat named after his wife).

* I absolutely loved Gagan's plan about putting Burton's body in the jeep surrounded by German skin mags and wine. He correctly anticipated exactly how I would have had the French militia react.

* The chase scene was surprisingly quick, as combat in Traveller tends to be very fast and deadly.

Session 5 - Cast of Characters

James "Wreck" Deckard: A former Texan marine who later joined the merchant security service.

Samuel "Flash" Gordon: A former Lieutenant Colonel in the American marines who now works as a ship's security chief.

Jasper P. Jenkins: Another former American marine who works security under Gordon.

Schlomo Rabinowitsch: A former officer in the Israeli merchant marines, now acting as the pilot/navigator.

Session 5 - Scene 1 (of 3)

The skimmer docks with a freighter in the upper atmosphere. When Wreck emerges, he sees a couple of security officers waiting in the dock area.

The larger and older of the two men looks Wreck over. The man wears an older set of marine combat fatigues with a rank insignia identifying him as a Lieutenant Colonel in the American army at some point in his career. The younger of the two also wears an old American Marine suit, with the rank insignia of Lance Corporal.

The younger man touches the boarding gun strapped across his shoulder and asks Gail if their passenger, indicating Wreck, is a guest or a prisoner. Gail tells him Wreck is a guest, and they are bringing him to meet with Mador. Thinking a moment, she suggests that the man check Wreck out first while she goes to update the captain.

The other women follow, leaving Wreck alone with the two men. The older man tells Wreck they'll need to pat him down, and asks his name. Wreck responds by asking what his name is. The man tells him he asked Wreck a question, but Wreck proves uncooperative. The man sighs, realizing this isn't going to be as easy as he thought.

The younger man is a little brasher. He tells the Texan to put his hands against the wall and lean against it, spreading his legs and arms. Wreck tells the two "boys" they better behave, as it will take bigger men than them to shove him around.

Raising his boarding gun, the younger man repeats the command. Wreck tells the man to put his cap gun away and he'll comply. He turns to the wall and prepares himself. The younger man, still keeping his gun on Wreck, tells the other man to frisk him.

The older man pats Wreck down, and the younger man assists with his free hand. They take his ammunition, auto pistol, and combat blade – along with the las carbine he had on the skimmer. The younger man comments that Wreck is pretty heavily armed, to which he simply says he likes to be prepared.

The younger man asks Wreck, "what about the surprise?" Neither the older man nor Wreck know what he's referring to. The younger man clarifies that if Wreck has that many weapons that can easily be found, then clearly he must also be in possession of another, better hidden weapon. Wreck suggests that if the man puts down the gun, he'll be sure to give him a surprise.

Undeterred, the younger man takes a step back, aims his gun towards Wreck's head, and tells the older man to "strip 'em". The older man balks, reminding the younger one he is the one in charge. He feels the search up to now has been sufficient.

The older man then asks Wreck, calling him by name, what his purpose here is. Wreck chuckles as he responds "you boys have a funny way of welcoming guests." The man tells Wreck they can't be too careful.

Wreck explains that the girls came down to find the satellite, pointing out he knows the men already know that part. He explains that he teamed up with the girls to barely get away from a house of German spies, including the "dirty bastard" who killed his two compatriots.

The two men express their negative opinions on Germans, with the younger one pointing out they can't be trusted.

Wreck then makes a joke at the expense of the men, asking if they are the "tech support crew" for the women. The older man explains they work security, which he chauvinistically refers to as a "man's job". Wreck tries to get more out of the men, but they defer to the girls. Wreck again says he figures he'd need to get the information from the officers and not the hired help, hoping to goad them into revealing something.

Session 5 - Scene 2 (of 3)

Before the conversation can progress, the door opens and a young African-American man steps through, wearing coveralls. He tells the others not to mind him, he just needs to refuel the skimmer's hydrogen fuel cells. Wreck notices the two men pay the technician no mind.

Since they have little to do, Wreck finally introduces himself. The older man introduces himself as "Flash", which Wreck chuckles at. He asks the younger man if his name is "Bang", but he responds with a lame joke of his own.

The ship then shudders, causing everyone to try and maintain their balance. Gail comes through the door telling the three to come in, they've got company.

Wreck asks Gail who is shooting at them. She tells him the French militia isn't ready to give him up.

Flash asks Wreck what the French want with him. He explains that the German spy has framed him as the spy to the French. Flash says they'll need to convince the French he's not the one they're looking for.

Gail tells the men to get into the turrets and return fire. Up ahead in the bridge area, Wreck can hear the captain telling the pilot to take evasive maneuvers, who responds that he'll do what he can. Wreck notices the captain has a British accent while the pilot has a thick Yiddish one.

The ship dodges and weaves, avoiding the enemy fire. The captain tells the pilot, "Good shot, Schlomo!"

Back in the turrets, Wreck, Flash, and the other man fire away. Wreck scores the first hit on the French patrol ship, striking the main hull. The captain tells Wreck he had a "bloody good shot".

Gail yells there is incoming fire. Schlomo rolls the ship to avoid the blast. The captain tells Schlomo to bank the ship around to expose the ship to the full firepower. The turn doesn't quite make it. The captain tells Schlomo he's getting a little rusty, and he simply says he did what he could.

Another volley of fire has Wreck scoring another shot. The blast tears a section open. Sun, from the sensor station, notes the ship has suffered explosive decompression in the cargo area.

Wreck has Sun check for anyone emerging with vacc suits, but she doesn't spot anyone. He remarks they must know better than to mess with a Texan.

The captain notes the French ship is now veering off. He tells Schlomo to move in for the kill. Getting in close, the pilot puts the ship at optimum fire location.

Wreck misses his shot this time, but the security men both get shots in. Flash's shot blows up the enemy ship's weapon turret while the younger man's shot destroys the rest of its hull. The captain, calling the man Jasper, congratulates him on the kill.

Session 5 - Scene 3 (of 3)

Once the battle is over, the captain explains reinforcements will arrive before too long, coming from the nearby French fleet. He tells Schlomo to navigate a course out of the system, saying they need to find a more hospitable area to stay.

Schlomo plots a course out on the nav computer and flies the ship away. Once they are in a safe location, the captain gets up to introduce himself to Wreck. He gives his name as Mador Miller.

Capt. Miller explains he met one of Wreck's previous compatriots, Burton Steele, while on the space station over Premiere. Wreck notes that Burton was killed, which Miller calls "unfortunate", saying his torture and murder by the Germans sounded most painful. Schlomo helpfully suggests perhaps Burton was killed first.

Miller tells Deckard he certainly got himself into a spot of trouble. Wreck relates that it all started when his ship downed the satellite, saying that once he reported back about the alien base and the satellite to his company, everyone but the company showed up.

The captain laments that Wreck's signal was clearly intercepted. He knew that he had intercepted it, but the Germans must have as well.

Miller is concerned that Mueller made off with the data from the satellite. He notes they will need to hunt him down before Mueller can get the data back to the German government.

Wreck tries to get more info on Gagan Hubert aka Adolph Mueller. Miller explains that Mueller was surgically altered to look older than he was as part of his deep cover assignment.

When asked about the reconnaissance satellite, Miller explains they were thinking they could get rich getting the data and selling it back to the Germans. The captain notes there must be something more important on the satellite than he first thought, as the Germans would be unlikely to send a special forces team just for counter-surveillance.

While Mador ponders what might be of interest in the French surveillance files, Wreck points out the odd coincidence of the timing of the two groups. He asks the captain if he was expecting the Germans to come. Mador admits he did not anticipate that rapids of a response.

Wreck probes a little more, gaining the understanding that Miller was hoping to exploit the Germans but has no real business relationship with them. He is also curious to how the alien base fits in, which Mador says is a mystery.

Mador goes on to tell Wreck the same thing he relayed to Burton - how he saw several alien ships pass through the restricted zone before, but didn't think it was that important. He is starting to reconsider that opinion; he believes something deeper is going on.

Wreck wonders if the satellite contains any data about the aliens. Mador explains that Sun is working on it, but they'll need to pursue Adolph Mueller in the meantime. He notes that Wreck will certainly enjoy the revenge, which Wreck simply calls justice.

Mador then formally introduces Wreck to the rest of the crew. The younger security officer is named as Jasper P. Jenkins, along with his associate Samuel "Flash" Gordon. The young technician, also an American, is introduced as Parker Shaw. Finally, he is introduced to the Israeli flight officer, Schlomo Rabinowitsch.

Wreck compliments Schlomo on his piloting during the battle. Schlomo simply shrugs, saying "What else could I do?"

The captain then has Schlomo try to pick up the vapor trail from Meuller's rocket. He then has Sun use the long range sensors, but she doesn't have any better luck.

Sun does, however, discover something interesting in the data feed from the satellite. It shows a portion of the German continent, with German soldiers entering a hexagon-shaped base that looks very similarly-shaped to the one Wreck found on the French continent. More interesting, they are moving strange, long tubes into the base.

Just then, Wreck lets loose a long stream of gas that interrupts the flow of the conversation. After a bit, they continue, discussing what the tubes could be. Mador suggests the design looks alien, but similar to cryotubes.

Since they have not picked up on Mueller's trail directly, they'll need to circle around and follow his exit trajectory; Mador believes he ultimately intends to return to the surface to get back to the Germans so is likely holding out close by.

In the meantime, he tells Gail to ready her team to return to the surface and investigate the hexagon building. He'll give the girls this freighter and transfer the rest of them to his other trade vessel, the Xanthidae. With that, he formally offers Wreck employment as part of the crew's security force under Lt. Col. Flash, which Wreck agrees to.

Session 5 - Session Notes

This session was kind of a bust. We had the usual 3 hours, but got about 45 minutes of actual gaming in. Part of it was spending a long time trying to get better audio going for our player who plays via Skype. Part of it was that I had some personal issues distracting me and was neither prepared nor mentally there for the game.

Consequently, the session ended up being a lot of fun just goofing off and chatting, but not much actually got accomplished.

I'm a little torn about this campaign. Five sessions in, normally a campaign would be running under its own steam by now but in this case I feel like it's still trying to get up and running.

Part of it could be that I purposely didn't plot anything out too heavy to try and keep the game looser and more open to PC direction, but as I've found in the past many players prefer a more plot-heavy approach to guide them. I need to find that happy medium between hoping the PCs have plans of their own and coming up with a crazy kudzu plot of a conspiracy that is so complex none of the players ever really follow it even when I explain it after the fact.

The other part is that I seem to have fallen into the trap of having come up with a base idea / houserule set, but not having fleshed it out enough to get the campaign moving.

I'm also having GM ADD, thinking about other things I'd rather be running (I'm starting to come up with ideas for a fantasy pirate game).

Part of me also wants a break. That may have also been an issue - I don't usually like to jump straight from one campaign to another because I need time to recharge my GM batteries.

I'll see what I can do to flesh things out for this Friday's game, but this campaign may be more short-lived than I originally intended.

A quick update - I've been busy working on my house to get it ready to sell, so I haven't had a chance to type up my game notes (each session takes at least 3-4 hours for me to listen to the recording and type up). We also missed a session because of the Memorial Day weekend.

I have the notes typed up from our second to last session (from back in April) and will be putting those up today. Once I get around to typing up the last session's notes, those will go up as well (though it may take me a while). And we have another game coming up this Friday so I will still be behind. Sigh...

Session 6 - Cast of Characters

James "Wreck" Deckard: A former Texan marine who later joined the merchant security service.

Samuel "Flash" Gordon: A former Lieutenant Colonel in the American marines who now works as a ship's security chief.

Jasper P. Jenkins: Another former American marine who works security under Gordon.

Schlomo Rabinowitsch: A former officer in the Israeli merchant marines, now acting as the pilot/navigator.

Laurel Brien: A former petty officer in the UK navy, now acting as the ship's chief engineer.

Session 6 - Scene 1 (of 5)

In pursuit of Adolph Mueller, the Xanthidae comes up on system DM +34 2342. Captain Miller suggests they stop at the space station in the system to refuel and investigate for signs of Mueller. He tells Schlomo to dock the ship at the nearest spaceport.

Once the ship is docked, the captain tells Flash to take his security team and Schlomo, and look for signs of Mueller while he, Laurel, and Parker work to get the ship refueled.

Wreck kind of takes over once they get on the station. He tells the others they should look for a ship registry.

The group heads over to the port authority office. A man behind the counter has a nametag of "McMillan". Wreck tells the man they are looking for a friend.

McMillan tells Wreck he's sorry, but doesn't see how he can help. Wreck tries to offer some credits to sweeten the deal, but the man tells him he must have the wrong office.

Flash and Wreck both consider a more violent means to get to their objective, but Wreck is worried about the local security forces. Instead, he tries making another appeal, but McMillan tells him to look elsewhere to find the man he is looking for.

Rebuffed, the group leaves the office. Wreck wonders if they can hack the system. Jasper suggests perhaps they could try bribing him with more money while Flash suggests coming up with a more sympathetic cover story.

Flash wonders if it wouldn't just be easier to go looking for the ship. Wreck says the station is too big for that, hence why he wanted the ship registry. Flash agrees, but notes since the duty officer apparently hates his life, they'll have to come up with a different approach.

Wreck decides to go with the hacking route. Schlomo uses his data slate and connects into the refueling order system. Wreck tells Schlomo to look for ships based on classification rather than name, since they don't know what Mueller's ship is called.

Schlomo brings up three fuel orders in the last day for the size class they are looking for. One appears to be a French ship called Le Vision, the next is a German ship called the Rakete Einstechen, and the last is simply called Gold Estates #5 which sounds like an American ship.

Wreck believes the German ship is the most likely. Schlomo brings up the information on the Rakete Einstechen. It is registered to a man named Alfred Miller. Wreck sarcastically notes the name sounds familiar while Flash takes him literally and slowly explains it must be an alias for Adolph Mueller.

Now that they have the information, Wreck suggests they check out the German ship first. Schlomo downloads the data to his machine from the system and the head off to investigate.

Session 6 - Scene 2 (of 5)

As they head over to the bay, Wreck suggests Flash head back and grab Laurel; if Mueller's ship is still there they may need her to investigate it.

Wreck leads the others over to the docking bay and sees the rocket is still there. He doesn't notice anyone hanging around, though people do pass through in the nearby area. He tells the others to wait until Flash and Laurel get there.

When Flash doesn't show up after a while, Wreck has Schlomo send a holo-text to Flash. When it turns out that Flash wasn't listening to Wreck when he explained where the docking bay was, Schlomo gives him the information. Moments later, the two groups meet.

Wreck posits that Mueller won't recognize Schlomo, so he volunteers the pilot to go up to the rocket and see if he can verify Mueller is there. Schlomo examines the rocket, wondering how big a crew compliment the rocket has. Laurel confirms the rocket can't hold more than four people.

Schlomo goes up to the bulkhead door and knocks. He hears a man on the other side yell something in German. Since Laurel speaks German and he does not, Schlomo signals her over. He knocks again, and the man yells again. Laurel explains the man is asking for a password. She responds by saying "we go".

That appears to be the wrong password, as Laurel hears the voice behind the door say, "Vernitchen!" The door immediately opens, with two men emerging with boarding guns.

Schlomo puts his hands up, while Laurel puts her hands on her hips and gives them a forbidding look. Wreck gets Flash to walk to the other side to get into a flanking position.

The men with guns grab Schlomo and Laurel. A third, larger man steps out of the ship holding a pistol. He tells Flash to stop where he is, or he will execute the two.

Flash plays dumb, which isn't too hard for him to do. Everyone else recognizes the man in charge as Wolfgang Cutler, the German commando whose men killed Jean Danielou.

Wreck wants to take advantage of the fact that Cutler hasn't spotted him yet. He looks around for a way to turn the situation to his advantage.

Meanwhile, Cutler asks Flash why he is approaching the ship. Flash rambles something about checking cargo, and Cutler tells him to go on his way then.

As Flash exits the other side of the walkway, he turns his attention back to Laurel and Schlomo. He wants to know what they are doing there, and reminds them he has ways of making them talk.

Schlomo tries to say he went to the wrong ship, but Cutler isn't buying it. Wreck tells Jasper it is time to make their move, telling the man to start heading in. As they move towards the ship, Wreck starts yelling out German-like gibberish.

With the men distracted, Flash emerges from behind the wall on the other side of the walkway and prepares to shoot Cutler. Meanwhile, Laurel knees the man holding her in the groin, grabs his gun, and shoots the man in the chest.

Inspired by Laurel, Schlomo tries to wrestle away his captor's gun as well. But the pilot is less experienced in combat, and takes the butt of the gun to his head for his trouble.

Flash's shot hits Cutler. The wounded warrior fires back, but misses. Meanwhile, Wreck uses his blade to cut down the man who was holding Schlomo.

Taking his time to aim, Jasper fires a shot at Cutler hitting him in the side of the head. Cutler collapses into a pool of blood.

Session 6 - Scene 3 (of 5)

Laurel takes her gun and covers the bulkhead door of the rocket while Jasper bandages up Schlomo's broken nose. Once the area appears to be secure, Wreck has them get the bodies out of sight. Jasper makes sure to get any weapons and other valuables off of the men.

To help clean up evidence of the deaths, Schlomo contacts Parker and has him bring some equipment from the ship to help clean up the blood in the dock area.

Once the cleanup is underway, Laurel checks the computer on the rocket. She discovers a reference to someone named "Sven Liefson" on the planet. She surmises that Adolph must have gone off to meet Sven.

Deciding what to do next, the group discusses several options. Eventually, after much discussion, they decide to leave Jasper and Parker at the docking bay to see if Mueller comes back, while Wreck, Flash, Laurel, and Schlomo take the rocket down to the planet to find Sven.

Laurel points out they still don't know where to find Sven. Flash suggests he and Wreck check out a local bar to see if anyone has heard of him while Laurel and Schlomo stay back at the rocket.

At the bar, Wreck orders sarsaparillas for everyone (or spacesarapillas as the bar menu calls them). He motions for Flash to start the conversation. Flash asks the bartender if he ever heard of a guy named Sven.

The bartender asks if he realizes how many people come through there. Instead, he directs Flash to a man sitting by himself at a corner table. The bartender identifies the man as "VanSloot".

Wreck stays put while Flash and Schlomo head over to talk to VanSloot. He introduces himself, and the man gives his name as Ansfeldt VanSloot. Flash asks him if he knows a German named Sven Liefson. VanSloot says he may know a Norwegian by that name.

VanSloot wants compensation for his information. Flash asks how much he usually gets for that sort of information, and VanSloot responds he'd take 100. Using his dataslate, he transfers the money to VanSloot's account. The man then explains that Liefson can be found on the surface, at a place called Dunshire Salvage.

The Dutchman goes on to say that if he wants to speak to Liefson, he is too late. Apparently, Liefson recently died from a mysterious illness. VanSloot has no details of the death, but directs Flash to Dr. Jelleke Verhagen at the local medical clinic.

Flash asks the man if he has any more information. Ansfeldt mentions only that lights were spotted at the salvage yard building the previous night, so someone must still be operating it.

Once Flash tells Wreck, he calls back to the rocket team to check in. Wreck sees the obvious that the salvage yard is where they need to head, but suspects a trap. When he reaches the rocket, Laurel reports that Schlomo is busy in the bathroom but nothing else is going on.

Session 6 - Scene 4 (of 5)

Everyone meets back up at the rocket. Wreck decides they should proceed with the plan to fly him, Flash, Laurel, and Schlomo to the planet and leave Jasper and Parker behind.

Wreck wants to take the bodies up into space to get rid of them, but Laurel reminds him the rocket doesn't have enough lift for the weight.

Flash comes up with a plan to put the bodies under the rocket boosters and let them get incinerated, giving people the impression a horrible accident had occurred. Laurel agrees the bodies will be incinerated and likely not be too suspicious. Just to be safe, Wreck tells Parker and Jasper to clean up after.

Parker is less than thrilled about the plan, but doesn't argue too much. Jasper keeps a lookout while the technician gets the body.

Once things are in place, the rocket takes off and heads towards the surface. With Schlomo still suffering gastro-intestinal distress, it is up to Wreck to pilot the ship through the stormy lower atmosphere of the planet.

Laurel warns the hull is picking up some ionization, putting pressure on the rocket's heat shield. Wreck manages to change the trajectory and lands the rocket successfully.

Safely on the ground, Wreck radios back to the station crew, asking how things are looking. They give him a signal phrase ("the chicken is in the pot") indicating the plan has worked.

Using a dataslate, Laurel plots the location of the Dunshire Salvage Yard. She suggests they send out someone to scout. Wreck agrees, suggesting her and Flash act as the scouts.

Under the cover of darkness, Flash and Laurel approach the salvage yard. They spot the usual fence and razor wire surrounding the area. It appears to be quite large of an area.

As they get close, Flash spots a light inside one of the buildings inside the yard. They scan the perimeter to look for a weak spot.

Flash doesn't find an overly advantageous area to enter. He decides Laurel should just climb the fence. She effortlessly gets over, doing a back flip at the top to land gracefully in the yard beyond.

She uses the shadows to approach the building and looks in one of the windows. She sees what appears to be an empty office.

Finding the door unlocked, she sneaks inside. She looks around for any buttons or other controls, finding a hidden panel of buttons under a desk. Pressing a button, it reveals a hidden door in the floor with a ladder heading down.

Wanting some backup before heading down, she decides to head back to get Flash. She grabs some tools in the office and cuts open a hole. Flash decides to head back to the ship to get the others while Laurel elects to meet them back at the office.

As she heads back to the office, Laurel hears a growl. A short distance away, a pair of dog-like creatures are standing ready to pounce. They appear to be a cross between a dog and a tiger.

At that moment, Wreck's voice comes over the radio. Laurel panics, throwing the communicator into the mouth of one of the tiger-dogs. The creature's powerful jaws clamp down, easily shredding the device.

Laurel breaks into a run, with the creatures hot on her tail. She makes it into the office and closes the door. She can hear their claws ripping into the door.

Session 6 - Scene 5 (of 5)

Back at the ship, Flash greets Wreck and explains about the office. Wreck doesn't understand why Flash didn't just use his communicator. Flash explains Laurel wanted him to come get them. Wreck is hesitant to leave the rocket unmanned; worried that someone will come take it. Flash eventually convinces Wreck and Schlomo to go assist.

In the office, Laurel is growing impatient and is upset about panicking. She readies her boarding gun and throws open the door, intending to take out the tiger-dogs.

Unfortunately, the tiger-dogs are quicker. Once pounces on her, knocking her to the ground. They begin biting her. Laurel tries to fight them off, but is unsuccessful. Moments later, she falls unconscious.

A short while later, Flash and the others make it back to the office. Flash remarks there is a lot of blood around and sees the creatures feasting on something.

Wreck and the others approach quickly, spotting the injured Laurel. Wreck tries to fire with his auto pistol, but it jams. Flash has better luck with his boarding gun. Schlomo takes out the other.

They manage to bandage Laurel up, but she's badly injured. Schlomo goes to take her back to the rocket while Flash and Wreck go down the ladder.

Heading down the ladder, Wreck finds a large underground hanger. Inside is an older spacecraft standing upright. It has Cyrillic writing on the side.

Flash punches in the writing to his dataslate. It translates to Russian for "Khlodnyy Oktjabr", or the "Cold October". Wreck approaches carefully and sees smaller writing on the door, apparently giving its place and date of construction. The dataslate translates it as "2031 Aprel Sankt-Peterburg", or "Saint Petersburg, April 2031". The men realize this is an ancient, Twilight War-era spaceship of the Russian Empire.

Session 6 - Session Notes

Again, this session was back in April so I don't necessarily remember a lot. But, here are the notes I can give:

* Laurel is played by the wife of the guy who plays Flash. In fact, the character was originally based on her (though had no personality in the previous session because I hadn't met her before). She was a little wishy-washy at first about whether she wanted to actually play.

* Because I needed a character for her to play at last minute's notice, I ret-conned that Laurel stayed behind in engineering instead of going along with the other team. Originally, the plot for the episode also included the captain looking for an engineer to hire (hence, why he isn't with the group).

* We kind of forgot that Flash, not Wreck, was supposed to be in charge of the security team. Hence, Wreck ends up giving most of the orders.

* McMillan was named after a book lying around in the house we played at. When I need a quick name, I'll grab it off anything nearby.

* "Rakete Einstechen" is likely horribly garbled German. I don't really speak anything but English, so ramming words together via an online translator is the best I can do. It was intended to be a joke name, "The Pocket Rocket".

* "Vernitchen!" was intended as a nod to the Battle of Britain (I seem to recall that being the one word given by the German commander at the start of the battle, but I can't think of where I read that).

* I did the "we have ways of making you talk" without the stereotypical thick Nazi accent, but it is still along the lines of the classic cliché.

* The gibberish Wreck yelled out was something along the lines of "Argen bargen sticken viken" or something like that.

* Everyone was surprised a plan of the group's actually worked.

* Sven Liefson and Ansfeldt VanSloot aren't named after anyone in particular, but I wanted to be sure to have very ethnic names.

* Dunshire Salvage was a nod to "The Cones of Dunshire", from Parks and Rec.

* I intended that the PCs follow up on the mysterious death of Liefson, hence giving them more information than they needed. Since they did not, they did not discover the foreshadowing (sort of) clue that he was mysteriously poisoned by Polonium, something that hadn't happened in hundreds of years.

* Schlomo being in the bathroom was something the Laurel player ad-libbed. What she actually said during the session was, "He's taking a space dump; it's a real upper decker" which was unexpectedly hilarious coming from her.

* Schlomo mysteriously becomes absent halfway through the session because he had to have a work-related call. Jasper doesn't do much because we kept losing his Skype connection. The session notes are actually a bit of a recon - originally it was Schlomo who stayed on the station and Jasper who went to the surface. Unfortunately, lacking the notes we mis-remembered it during the next session and since it didn't really matter for this one, I opted to make the story make more sense as opposed to being accurate.

* Wreck kept forgetting Parker's name during the session and would use various aliases. He also seemed to think Parker was the ship janitor rather than an actual technician.

* The stuff about hull ionization, etc., is probably Hollywood science. I'm not versed in astrophysics so I just threw out some words that sounded good.

* The creatures being half-dog, half-tiger actually has a story behind it (more on that next session). During the session, we debated whether they'd be "togs" or "digers".

* The Wreck player was positive I was going to have someone steal the rocket if they all left it.

* Laurel probably should have died in her attack, but since it was her first time playing I didn't want to kill her off that quick.

* I actually used Russian translators and wrote out the Cyrillic words. Once again, the translations may be a bit rough.

* The October part of Cold October is a nod to the Red October (from Hunt For Red October) but the Cold part is actually meaningful (see next session).

* April 2031 is a nod to the song by Warrant.






*

Session 7 - Cast of Characters

James "Wreck" Deckard: A former Texan marine who later joined the merchant security service.

Samuel "Flash" Gordon: A former Lieutenant Colonel in the American marines who now works as a ship's security chief.

Jasper P. Jenkins: Another former American marine who works security under Gordon.

Laurel Brien: A former petty officer in the UK navy, now acting as the ship's chief engineer.

Session 7 - Scene 1 (of 5)

Down in the hanger, Wreck examines the area around the ship. He is surprised to see that the hanger has no opening at the top and wonders how the ship can take off. Flash believes the ship is so old that perhaps the salvage yard was built above it later.

Flash wants to head back up, but Wreck wants to look around the area more. Flash wants to know if Wreck plans to steal the ship which Wreck agrees he does. Flash suggests they make sure there are no alarms in the area.

The two search around the hanger. Wreck does manage to find an alarm, but sets it off in the process.

Seconds later, the door to the ancient space ship opens and two figures emerge. They appear to be heavily-modified cyborgs.

One of the cyborgs carries a hammer in one hand and a sickle in the other. It immediately jumps down onto the floor of the hanger. The other cyborg is wielding a heavy assault gun and begins shooting.

After briefly considering the merits of trying to deactivate the alarm, Wreck pulls out his laser carbine and fires at the cyborg on the ground. The blast hits the cyborg but it continues running at him.

Flash readies his laser rifle to fire at the cyborg with the gun, but Wreck quickly yells to concentrate their fire. Flash misses with his shot as he is hit by a spray of bullets from the other cyborg. He collapses in a pool of blood.

The other cyborg reaches Wreck and slashes out at him with its scythe. Wreck manages to move out of the way and blasts through the cyborg's head.

Wreck rushes for cover and fires out at the cyborg, but misses. It fires back, but Wreck is protected. The two exchange fire back and forth for a minute until Wreck scores a hit.

The cyborg appears to get upset about getting hit and begins running down the stairs. As it runs towards Wreck, he blasts it again but is unable to put it down.

Grabbing Wreck, the cyborg throws him across the room. He drops his laser carbine in the throw. While still on the ground, Wreck pulls out his autopistol but misses.

The cyborg rushes over to the semi-prone Wreck and kicks him hard in the chest. Wreck winces as he feels his ribs crack. Because of the pain, he has trouble firing his gun.

Grabbed again, Wreck is slowly strangled by the cyborg. With his last ounce of strength, Wreck manages to fire his gun straight into the cyborg's head, killing him.

Wreck sits on the ground, wheezing for breath. Once he recovers, he deactivates the alarm then checks on Flash. Flash has started to regain consciousness.

Flash, still badly injured, asks for help. Wreck believes clearly there are no more cyborgs or they would have shown up by now, so they should look inside the ancient ship to see if they can find a first aid kit of some kind. Flash asks for help getting up the stairs, but Wreck simply tells him to stop being such a wimp.

Session 7 - Scene 2 (of 5)

Back at the Xanthidae, Jasper gets an emergency call from Schlomo. He informs the security officer that Laurel has been badly injured and they need Captain Miller to bring the Xanthidae down to the surface so they can get Laurel into the autodoc.

Jasper complies and informs the captain. A short time later, the ship lands on the planet's surface near the rocket. They get Laurel into the autodoc and a short time later, she is recovered (albeit with a long scar along her face).

When Laurel wakes up, she's pretty mad about getting injured but happy she is not brain damaged. She talks with Jasper and Schlomo about what is going on.

Jasper decides it would be best for him and Laurel to check on Flash and Wreck in the secret underground area below the office. Schlomo elects to stay behind with Captain Miller and Parker on the Xanthidae.

After Laurel changes into a new set of clothes, the two of them head into the salvage yard. As they move to the office, they spot the remains of the creatures killed by Wreck and Flash. Laurel is upset she will not have a chance to get her vengeance on them.

Once they reach the office and head down into the hanger, the two find the remains of the cyborgs. Laurel examines them closely, noticing a strange symbol on each of them that appears to be a hammer and sickle inside of a swastika. She uses her data slate to try and find information about the symbol, but finds no records on that symbol directly.

Laurel is also interested in information about the ship and the area, wondering why the ship is located here. She confirms that the property has been owned by Sven Liefson for the last eight years, ever since the start of the colony.

On the ship itself, she has a hard time deciphering the Russian writing. She is able to pull up a historical photo from the time of the Twilight Wars – a propaganda photo by the Russian Empire with its leader and other government officials standing inside.

Session 7 - Scene 3 (of 5)

Inside the space ship, Wreck and Flash examine the command module. A symbol of a white, blue, and red colored oval with an arrowhead through it can be seen in various locations but neither man recognizes it. Wreck locates a first aid kit in the module and bandages Flash up.

Wreck then examines the technology in the command module; it is definitely pre-Twilight technology. He tells Flash to look over the command module while he heads down the hatch to the lower levels.

Flash starts typing on the ship's computer, hoping to locate the ship's log files. He can't read the Cyrillic writing that comes up on the screen, but does notice a flashing light. Using his dataslate, Flash is able to determine the flashing light refers to a recently-sent communication.

Accessing the command, Flash sees a star map come up. But, not being a navigator, he is not familiar with where the system of the communication's destination is located.

Meanwhile, in the first habitat module, Wreck sees there are six ancient cryobeds. All of the beds are occupied with mummified remains of Russian cosmonauts, apparently the victims of a failed cryosystem.

Wreck takes a moment to look around the habitat module, but finds nothing else of interest so he heads down to the next level. The third level appears to be another habitat module, similar to the one above. The main difference is that instead of six beds there are only five, with one of them much larger and fancier than the others.

The standard cryobeds in this module appear to have failed as well, but the larger bed appears to have survived though is now empty.

The empty bed has a nameplate above it, identifying its owner. Wreck uses his dataslate to translate, coming up with "Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin". He recognizes the name immediately – it is the name of the "Tiger Prince" of the Russian Empire, the great warlord who started the Twilight Wars.

Examining the bed further, he sees that Putin must have been taken out of the ship alive. Medical equipment lies nearby the bed, suggesting Putin was brought out of the cryobed and revived at some point.

Wreck knows the warlord could have survived long enough in the cryobed to be alive now. He also remembers the stories of the genetic experiments Putin was said to have performed that kept him young and more physically powerful than men a third of his age.

In retrospect, Wreck believes the "Butcher of Kiev" and his fondness for genetic manipulation and tigers might well explain the tiger-dog creatures they encountered in the salvage yard.

Flash hears the sounds of people talking outside the ship, with a woman's voice complaining about not being able to find anything out about the ship on her dataslate. He recognizes it as belonging to the ship's engineer, Laurel.

Opening the door, Flash spots Laurel and Jasper. As he greets them, Jasper notes there appears to have been some action in the hanger. Flash agrees, noting he was shot up pretty bad.

He goes on to explain that Wreck is exploring the rest of the ship, but notes he has found something in the command module. When he explains about the recent transmission, Laurel offers to help trace it.

With all of the talking going on, Wreck comes up to see what is going on. Once everyone is together, Wreck explains about the cryobeds and the VIP module for Vladimir Putin.

Flash wonders if the two cyborgs they shot up sent a message to Putin. Wreck suggests Laurel should be able to make better sense of things.

Unfortunately, Laurel is still having issues with her dataslate and has trouble tracing the signal. Wreck, however, can tell from the star charts that it appears to be somewhere in the 6 Canum Venaticorum system.

Just then, the computer beeps and a light flashes, indicating an incoming signal. Flash presses the button to activate the comm system.

Adolph Mueller's voice comes over the speakers in the ship, asking for Mr. Deckard and his friends. Wreck responds back belligerently.

Mueller thanks Wreck for taking care of Commander Cutler and his men, saying they could have eventually proven troublesome to his plans. Wreck mistakes him for meaning the cyborgs, but Mueller clarifies he is not referring to the "soldiers for their new world order", but rather the men they left back at the docking station.

Wreck continues to insult Mueller, mockingly saying he is glad he could help. He then asks what he can do for Mueller. Mueller responds he needs nothing, saying he just called to say, "auf wiedersehen".

With that, the signal abruptly cuts off. The group suddenly hears a mechanical voice making an announcement in German from the hanger. Listening closely, Wreck hears it say, "...Elf..Zehn...Zwolf..."

Despite not knowing the language, Wreck gets the intent immediately. As the announcement counts down, "Neun...Acht...Sechs...Sieben..." he yells for everyone to get out.

Everyone immediately rushes out of the ship to the count of "Funf...Drei..Vier...Null..." They head towards the ladder at the exit as the count reaches "Zwei", and then the ship explodes in a giant fireball. Most of the group manage to reach cover, but Jasper takes some of the blast before he can get behind anything.

Session 7 - Scene 4 (of 5)

When the smoke starts to clear, the group makes their way out and back to the ship. The badly-injured Flash and Jasper limp their way to the medical bay with the help of Schlomo, while Wreck and Laurel go to see the captain.

Wreck starts to explain about the Twilight era ship they found. The captain begins musing on the price they could get for that when Laurel interrupts him to clarify the ship blew up.

When Wreck brings up Vladimir Putin, Captain Miller is clearly disturbed at the idea that the "Mad Killer of Crimea" could be on the loose.

Wreck challenges the captain, saying he must have been expecting something like this. Miller clarifies that he knew Adolph Mueller was up to something, but has no idea what it is or how Vladimir Putin would fit into things. He expresses his hope that Gail and the team back on Beta Canum-4 will find something.

Given that the Cold October was trapped with a bomb, Wreck wonders about the rocket they took from Cutler. Entering the room, Parker announces he already checked the rocket and it is rigged it with explosives. Parker thinks Laurel could deactivate the explosives in a couple of days, but Captain Miller doesn't think it is worth the time.

Flash suggests simply selling the rocket, which Miller agrees seems to be the prudent course of action. Laurel begins to object, but Miller assures her they'd inform the buyer about the explosives first.

Once the discussion is over, they turn their attention back to Adolph Mueller. Wreck expresses his belief that Mueller is headed to 6 Canum Venaticorum, a known pirate haven.

In an effort to turn a bit of a profit on the long journey and hide their true intentions from the network of pirates and outlaws in the area, Captain Miller has decided to pose as a transport ship heading for the nearby system of R Canum Venaticorum.

While Laurel can remain as chief engineer, Miller informs Wreck, Flash, and Jasper they will need to pose as stewards. Flash decides that he will cook, Wreck can be the waiter, and Jasper will be in charging of cleaning. Wreck makes a joke about Jasper having to dress like a French maid which causes confusion when Jasper takes him seriously.

Laurel is skeptical they will find crew, but Miller is confident there will be at least a couple of people on the station looking for cheap transport. He has Schlomo fly them back while he puts an ad out over the planetary network.

Sure enough, before long the captain has lined up three passengers to come aboard. The first is a middle-aged French businessman. Wreck recognizes him as Marcel Dupres, the man who Jean Danielou tried to start the "Blindeebuff Burger" business with. The second man is a young Texan named Terman Gale. He appears to have been blinded at some point in some kind of accident. Finally, there is a younger female executive named Claire St. John.

The trip starts out uneventfully. Jasper does a great job cleaning the rooms complete with fancy towel animals, earning a nice tip from each passenger. Flash, however, makes a lousy cook though at least Wreck manages to serve everything adequately. Dupres sneers at Wreck, noting how far he has fallen, while St. John complains about wanting her meal cost refunded.

Session 7 - Scene 5 (of 5)

A few days into the trip, everyone is woken up one night when the ship suddenly drops out of stutterwarp and the alarm klaxon goes off. The artificial gravity switches off and the ship is on emergency power.

Flash gets up and yells for Laurel. Laurel doesn't know what is going on, so she heads for main engineering. Although not trained in zero gravity, she manages to find her way along quickly.

Meanwhile, Wreck readies his pistol and blade and emerges into the main habitat ring. He quickly moves towards the bridge using his expert zero gravity training. Flash follows behind, but has trouble. Jasper tries to make a "towel lasso" to help himself along, but the construct doesn't work as well as he planned.

When Laurel reaches the door to main engineering, she sees the blast door has come down. She realizes that the engineering module must have depressurized somehow. When she brings up the sensors on the room, she can tell it has suffered an explosion.

The engineer then makes her way over to the airlock and puts on her vacc suit. Grabbing some hull repair equipment, she heads outside the ship to make the necessary repairs.

Inside at the bridge, Wreck finds there has been an electrical explosion. Flames float through the air along with the unconscious bodies of Schlomo and the captain.

Wreck quickly puts out the flames using one of nearby extinguishers while Jasper manages to grab Schlomo and treat him. As they are working, Jasper finally arrives using another towel-lasso to help him move.

Using his lasso, Jasper grabs the captain and gets him to safety as well. He tries to treat him with the first aid kit, but the captain is badly injured. Flash has better luck with Schlomo, and is able to revive him. Schlomo explains his panel exploded suddenly.

Back outside, Laurel manages to repair the hull breach to engineering. Looking around, she doesn't see other ships and can't tell how the ship was damaged.

After making her way back in to the ship, Laurel heads into engineering and restores main power and the artificial gravity.

Back at the bridge, everyone abruptly drops to the ground as gravity is restored. Wreck calls to main engineering to get a status report. Laurel explains that main engineering was clearly tampered with.

Wreck instructs Laurel to check the security footage for engineering. As Laurel suspected, there is a one hour data block missing from the surveillance video during the time the incident occurred.

Flash suspects a spy is on the ship. As he heads back to check into things further, he has to deal with the passengers. St. John and Dupres are both upset and Flash has to yell at everyone to get back into their quarters.

Wreck and Flash discuss what to do next. Flash wants to check the room logs, but finds that all security data during the time period is missing.

Schlomo tells Wreck and Flash he is having trouble flying the ship and it will need major repairs. The captain, meanwhile, is still badly injured and Jasper takes him to the medical bay.

Technically speaking, Laurel is the highest-ranking officer on the ship and takes control. Before they move out of the area, she wants to find who the saboteur is. The crew attempts to discuss what to do next with the occasional interruption from the passengers (particularly Claire St. John, who insists they head to the nearest safe port).

Laurel decides the next step is to interrogate the passengers. Since Wreck has built up relationships with the passengers while serving them, she assigns him to handle the interrogations.

Session 7 - Session Notes

As before, I am still a couple of weeks behind in getting my notes typed up so these notes refer to a session that happened a month ago.

I tried to start out with an action scene to get things moving a little more with the game. I think that worked, but by the end of the session I realized I cobbled together a mess of side plots that don't really go together well. All that, and I've sidetracked what was intended to be my main plot - the shadow invasion by the sathar aliens.

I'm starting to see how TV shows and book series that started with a good idea went off the rails after a while - sometimes you get too wrapped up in different ideas you like that you forget to sit back and think things through as a whole and to make sure everything going on is driving the events forward.

I'm still not sure how much longer this campaign will last. I'm not feeling particularly proud of this one, the players still aren't sure what to make of it, and it seems to require more thought and attention to planning than I have to give it at the moment.

General notes on the session:
* The Schlomo player couldn't make it this session. Hence, his character becomes more of a NPC.

* The underground hanger with the ship didn't have big doors that opened because it was never intended by me to be operational again. That said, it did point out a plothole that just didn't occur to me - how'd they get the ship down there.

* The cyborg soldiers are modeled after a couple of illustrations in the Rifts: Warlords of Russia book (literally, I used that illustration to show the players).

* Strictly by the book, the cyborg should have easily killed Wreck but that would have been pretty anti-climactic.

* The part about Laurel changing into a new set of clothes referred to a discussion during the game about how she woke up in one of those hospital gowns with her ass hanging out.

* The hammer and sickle inside the swastika is the "Commie-Nazi" symbol from the McBain movie on the Simpsons where he is fighting them off to save the UNICEF pennies. It is to be explained later as part of a joke about future historians drawing incorrect conclusions about 20th century politics because of the destruction of records during the Twilight Wars.

* The picture of the ship was a real picture I got about the PPTS (or PTK NP) Russian space ship. It had Vladimir Putin in the picture.

* The symbol they see inside the ship was the real symbol of the Russian Federal Space Agency (FKA or RKA).

* There aren't real cryobeds on the PPTS, but there was a picture of the seats that looked close enough that I used. As for the mummified remains, I was inspired by the opening of Planet of the Apes when they find what happened to the "new Eve".

* It was a bit of a laugh when it was revealed to be Putin's cryotube. I wasn't originally planning to include anything about Putin in the game nor explain the Twilight Wars as having anything particularly strong to do with Russia. However, with the incidents in Crimea, I thought real life was writing too good a plot to pass up. Plus, the Commie-Nazis will get a great head villain and think of all the wacky things I can add (up next - Cossak troops with shock whips).

* The over the top nicknames for Putin are part of an idea that past historical figures are often vastly inflated by modern mythology. Instead of just being a petty politician from a belligerent nation, Putin is thought of by the people in the 24th century like some sort of super villain.

* I'm not sure the player's really caught what Mueller was saying about thanking them for taking out Cutler. As will be revealed later, Mueller is not necessarily on the side of the German government but part of a massive shadow force.

* I had the computer count down in German because it would take the players a couple more seconds to figure out what was going on, ratcheting up the tension.

* During the game, the French passenger was intended to be Peter Kirouac. But during the session, we confused Kirouac with Dupres and so I changed it to the appropriate name for the write-up since we used Dupres' personality the entire time.

* Terman Gale is pseudo-inspired by Ron Silver's character in Lifepod. The original plot idea I had was to follow lifepod and have them forced to abandon the Xanthidae, but that was when there were less PCs and it would have made more sense.

* The crack about Jasper taking Wreck seriously is an in-joke to something hilarious that happened during the session. Around this time, the Wreck player started cracking jokes about the Jasper player playing a French maid. We didn't think much of it until almost the end of the session when I asked "Jasper" what he was doing and the player was confused. Apparently, he'd been having connection problems on his Skype audio and didn't catch everything. For at least a half hour, he thought Jasper had died of his wounds and he was playing a new maid character.

* The reference to towel animals comes from a discussion we had when posing as stewards first came up. We took a 20-minute break to talk about towel animals and even had a contest where we all tried to make the best one (hint - don't hire any of us for your hotel).

* When Laurel went out to fix the ship, I made the appropriate heavy-breathing in the vast silence of space noises (ala 2001).

*** Final Update on this Campaign ***

It's been awhile since I updated this thread. Basically, we had one more session on this game then I ended it.

I started to type up the notes, but it just wasn't that memorable of a session so those probably will never see the light of day since I won't finish them.

In summary, the campaign just didn't work for us. I lost my inspiration for the campaign and had been floundering for weeks. I got too involved in personal stuff (like buying a new house) to really focus on it. Other players have had a lot of stuff come up too (I'm not the only one buying a new place, and there are weddings and divorces going on in the group).

I've decided that outside of a small arc for Star Wars, sci-fi/space opera type RPGs just aren't something I'm comfortable enough running. I get writer's block too easily (something that doesn't come up as much when I'm doing fantasy or horror gaming).

From here, I'm planning to go back to a D&D type game. I've had good luck with the OD&D one-shots I've ran but am moving towards a more 2e style ruleset to do an AD&D Al-Qadim set campaign. Not sure when that will start up - some of the guys want to play some Car Wars first.

But, once that's up and running I will have a new AP thread for that.

Pity. :( Good luck with the new campaign. Keep us posted!