Strictly (Duke) Springer - Day 031

We get our full five rolls today. On the very first roll, I get status units.

Status units are interesting devices. They take up one CU plus the size of the area protected. The one in the cockpit was a 2 CU unit, which actually took up 3 CU, which is why I didn’t need to dump stuff to remove it. The space got bigger, I held a heavy side arm and a was wearing a U-Suit.

They are cheap for what they do. They are 50 secs. per CU in size. I need one that is 3 CU to recover Emily. I also need to replace the one she was in.

Here’s what I am going to do. I have 7 crew. The crew quarters are 16 CU in size. I could purchase a giant Status unit for the whole thing, but instead, I will purchase 8 single CU Status units. That costs 50 times 8, or 400 secs. 

Next, I will purchase an additional 2 CU unit to replace the one that saved Emily in the cockpit. That is another 100. I will also get one 1 CU unit for the ships gun turrets. And of course, a 3 CU units, one to recover Emily. Plus a 2 CU unit will go in Engineering for additional coverage. Now every crew area of the ship is covered.

The cost is staggering. It’s 900 secs. Bur that isn’t the true cost. My crew quarters now only have 8 CU of space. Engineering is down to 2 CU inside the status unit itself plus one CU outside of the unit. The turret has 2 CU, one for the gunner and one for the Status Unit. I am running low on space.

Now there is a trick question in all of this. Can I renegotiate salaries based on providing Status Units? Most NPC will work for less if their area is covered by a Status Unit. The rules don’t say I can renegotiate, but they sort of imply that you can. 

I’m not doing that, it makes record keeping a nightmare. Plus I have two gunners, who gives a discount, the one in the turret or the one outside the turret? If I didn’t have a replacement unit in the cockpit, would that increase Emily’s pay? It seems fair to count only increases, not decreases.

On my very next roll, I get a 3 – No more rolls.

Our assets are:

1 Antelope starship, which I owe 118,300 secs. in principle.
2 CU Status unit in Cockpit and Engineering, 8 1 CU Status units in Crew Quarters and one 1 CU unit for Gunnery.
2 Repair units,
4 Life Support Units,
1 U-bot,
7 PS-bots,
2 U-suit,
10 Heavy Hand Weapons,
210 Side Arms,
and the ship is fueled with 3 hypercharges. 
1 Boat guns, TL-3,
5 U-suits.

I have 6,081 secs.

What I need is more storage space.

Area 12, Demented Distraction

I am still playing along with Matt Jackson and his amazing Collaboration Dungeons. In Dungeon #2, I have populated a room with an great trick Statue. Check out the full post on MSJX.com.

12. Demented Distraction.

The long passageway is lit from above, in a soft orange light when viewed from the hallway. As the characters progress down the stairs, the light shifts to a strong blueish white. The light emanates from a long central beam in the ceiling.

The alcoves are not lit at all and have deep shadows. The characters will find searching for traps or secret doors to be very difficult without their own bright light source. Torches and lanterns are insufficient to remove the penalty, but a magical light spell or a magic weapon’s glow will help. Waiting a round for one’s eyes to adjust also is beneficial.

At the far end of the chamber is a titanic statue of a man with eight arms. Each arm holds bowl like mirror. The statue is made of steel, but show signs of distress.

When the characters step off the last stair and on to the floor of the hallway, a bolt of energy will lance out from one of the mirrors striking a finger’s breadth in front the lead character’s foot. Every time the characters step forward, the statue fires.

There is a pattern to the bolts, the top two left hands, the right bottom two hands, the upper right two hands, and then finally, the lower left hands. The statue responds instantly to any motion forwards, and can fire as often as necessary to lash out any and all members of the party. It can detect people that are astral, invisible, out of phase, etc. unerringly.

If a character contrives to place an item between their foot and the bolt, the item will be vaporized without a saving throw. The character will be blown backwards 5 feet and take 1d4 points of damage.

Likewise, firing missiles or spells at the statue causes a bolt to vaporize the missile or in the case of magic, negate the spell. There is no saving throw for this, it is automatic. Once the attack has been dealt with, the statue does not fire on the players unless they move forward again.

Characters can step into the alcoves to avoid fire, which will likely confuse the issue.

Retreating or moving left or right does not receive a response, so long as the person doesn’t advance towards the statue.

There is no way to prevent the statue from firing, no way to reflect, block or deflect the bolts or hide from them. There is no solution to this puzzle. The statue unerringly fires bolts one finger’s breadth IN FRONT an advancing person’s foot.

The statue will stop firing at a character as soon as they advance past the last alcove. Players who figure out the puzzle will find the statue to be quite inscrutable. It is resistant to all attacks of any kind, and ignores any brute force attack made on it. It will also ignore people searching or climbing on it.

However, if someone attempts to vandalize the statue, all eight mirrors will fire on them for 1d4 points each. This requires a normal attack roll and happens 8 times per round. Bolts that miss the vandal will NOT hit or injure other people. It will not stop firing on the vandal until they have been vaporized or they escape up the stairs leading to area 8 or around the corner to area 7. If the character returns, the statue will start firing again. In fact, it will fire on vandal as soon as they enter it’s line of sight.

The statue is unaware of speech and will only attack the people that attempt to harm it. If the party waits 3 rounds after the vandal leaves or dies, the statue will glow bright red for 10 rounds, after which, vandal’s handiwork will be burned away.

Behind the statue is a corpse wearing +2 chainmail, holding a wax crayon in one hand. There is also a Mace of Disruption under the corpse and in it’s Bag of Holding are three potions, to be randomly determined. If the characters are having a rough time of it, there is also map to this point showing the hidden doorways in the alcoves.

Strictly (Duke) Springer - Day 030

We need to get home in a flash, so we are making a double jump. It burns 3 hypercharges. On entry to Regari, we see a ship under repair. There is no encounter.

We need a lot of different things, so we are going to an Industrial area. It takes 4 hours to get there.

We buy 200 Tech Level 1 Side Arms at a cost of 1000. We get no other good rolls.

I pay the crew, which is 80 secs., including Emily who is still trapped in status.

Our assets are:

1 Antelope starship, which I owe 118,300 secs. in principle.

1 Stasis pod 2 CU, (In use, holding Emily.)

2 Repair units,

4 Life Support Units

1 U-bot,

7 PS-bots,

2 U-suit,

10 Heavy Hand Weapons,

210 Side Arms,

and the ship is fueled with 3 hypercharges.

1 Boat guns, TL-3,

5 U-suits.

I have 6,981 secs.

Strictly (Duke) Springer - Day 029

We continue making rolls here in the spaceport.

We sell the ship’s boat, sans it’s guns. Those are nice guns. We make 6,000 secs. off of this one transaction.

We can sell FU at 5 each. We dump all 30 of them as we have no device that uses them. 150 secs. We can sell LSU for 10 each, so we also dump all but 4. Another 250 secs.

We have just enough time to pay on the ship and get to orbit.

Our assets are:

1 Antelope starship, which I owe 118,300 secs. in principle.

1 Stasis pod 2 CU, (In use, holding Emily.)

2 Repair units,

4 Life Support Units

1 U-bot,

7 PS-bots,

2 U-suit,

10 Heavy Hand Weapons,

10 Side Arms,

and the ship is fueled with 6 hypercharges.

1 Boat guns, TL-3,

5 U-suits.

I have 8,061 secs.

Strictly (Duke) Springer - Day 028

We have a pair of options, the spaceport or the space station. Things tend to cost at the space station and sell for less. We move to the spaceport. We need hypercharges.

It takes 3 hours to get the hypercharges. We buy a full load. That takes the rest of the day.

Our assets are:

1 Antelope starship, which I owe 118,300 secs. in principle.
1 Stasis pod 2 CU, (In use, holding Emily.)
15 Fuel Units,
2 Repair units,
24 Life Support Units
1 U-bot,
7 PS-bots,
2 U-suit,
10 Heavy Hand Weapons,
10 Side Arms,
and the ship is fueled with 6 hypercharges.
1 Hopper, with TL-3 guns,
15 Fuel Units,
5 Life Support Units.
5 U-suits.

I have 1,961 secs.

Strictly (Duke) Springer - Day 027

We are off to Imperia again, via Palatek. On arrival at Palatek, we are ordered to stop and wait for an escort to take us into the space station or spaceport. Not a chance. We jump.

And get into more trouble. The ship is hit by a mirco asteroid right in the pilot’s compartment. If it wasn’t for the Status Unit, Emily would be dead. We use a RU for the patch but now have a secondary problem. We can’t recover Emily without a 3 CU status unit. She is stuck in there.

It takes an hour to patch up and start moving again. It takes 4 more hours to get to the surface. Our first priority is to make money. I want to sell these guns, so we are off to the slums. We aren’t detected on entry.


We can sell RU, FU and LSU. We can sell RU at ten times their normal cost, so we unload 20 of them for 200 secs. We also can sell side arms at 40 each. We get rid of 90 of them for a return of 3600.
Our day is done. What a rotten day.

Our assets are:
1 Antelope starship, which I owe 118,300 secs. in principle.
1 Stasis pod 2 CU, (In use, holding Emily.)
15 Fuel Units,
2 Repair units,
24 Life Support Units
1 U-bot,
7 PS-bots,
2 U-suit,
10 Heavy Hand Weapons,
10 Side Arms,
and the ship is fueled with 2 hypercharges. 
1 Hopper, with TL-3 guns,
15 Fuel Units,
5 Life Support Units.
5 U-suits.

I have 3,961 secs.

Matt Jackson's CollaboDungeon #2

Here we are, round two! I picked room 22, a forested room in a dungeon. Click here to read Matt's full post and see all three maps.

22. The Faerie Queen’s Thicket

Small animals frolic among all the trees. Under the largest tree is a white brocade blanket, upon which sits a elderly woman. On noticing the party, she sings out:

“Come out, come out,
“I am the mistress of scrying.”

As the characters approach her, she issues a warning:

“Come and sit,
“There is a place for all here,
“But don’t drink the water.”

The reference to water refers to room 15. She offers the characters food and drink. Consuming the food and drink of the Faerie Queen will restore 1d6 hit points and remove any curses or poisons. Characters may be reluctant to partake of the Faerie Queen’s provisions, but it is safe.

If asked about other rooms, the Faerie Queen will produce a crystal ball and describe them. The only limitation to scrying is if the characters have not be there, they might not understand. If characters look at the crystal ball, they see nothing but cloudiness.

The woman is reluctant to leave room 22, but the party can convince her to leave if they promise to take her out by the shortest route. If the party deviates from the shortest route, she will teleport back to her seat in room 22.

If they return to her, she will sing:

“This is my home,
“And you have been banished.”

No food or drink will be offered this time, and if the characters consume it, they will die in 24 hours. There will be no pain, only a sudden feeling of certain doom.

If any character takes the crystal ball, the Queen will vanish and that character will take her place.

The Goblin’s Henchmen’s rule is in effect, 300 words, less 1 for fun. This post draws on DMB’s song Don’t Drink the Water.

Strictly (Duke) Springer - Day 026

It will take 5 hours to get to the jump point. I’m gonna make my 5 rolls and hope for the best. I would like a couple of more items.

I buy two hypercharges then fill the ship with Fuel Units and Life Support Units. Every single area of the ship is packed with stuff, to the point that I need to play Russian stacking dolls and fill the Hopper with crap.

We break for orbit and arrive at the jump point in the 10th hour.

Our assets are:

1 Antelope starship, which I owe 118,300 secs. in principle.
1 Stasis pod 2 CU,
15 Fuel Units,
23 Repair units,
24 Life Support Units
1 U-bot,
7 PS-bots,
2 U-suit,
10 Heavy Hand Weapons,
100 Side Arms,
and the ship is fueled with 4 hypercharges.
1 Hopper, with TL-3 guns,
15 Fuel Units,
5 Life Support Units.
5 U-suits.

I have 161 secs. I’m broke.

The Best Module Ever - SES-01 - The One With The Killer Hook

Incredibly, everyone gamer in the WORLD owns the best module ever. It's called SES-01, The One With The Killer Hook. Who knows where you got it, but you have it. We all have it. Where it came from doesn't matter. 

What is SES-01?

Remember your first game session? All of the excitement and adventure, with dozens of mistakes and missteps? Yeah, of course you do. 

It's X years later. Your players have returned to the place where it all began to relive their early days, to see what has become of that place and the inhabitants. Everything is exactly as they remember it. Nothing has changed in all this time... except one thing. The denizens of where ever are somber, saddened by an incredible loss. And they need the Party to help them. 

Help them with what? 

Bury the dead. There are x numbers of caskets in need of pallbearers and escorts. There are graves to be filled and prayed over. One for each brave party member who participated in Session 01. They didn't make it. The locals are not so much holding out for heroes but burying their past. They are honored, loved, and respected, but gone. So much tragedy.  

What happened? This is all on you and your players to discover when you go back and play SES-01. 

Strictly (Duke) Springer - Day 025

Ratchet, the
Engineer

We move back to the spaceport and roll for detection. Being in a spaceship, we are detected. The result is holdup men, but because I have more than 2 companions, there is no encounter.

It takes an hour per contact attempt here, so nine rolls. I pretty much want one of everything offered here, so rolling should be easy. Unless I get a 3, which means no more rolls.

I buy a hopper (ship’s boat) for 900. I buy 20 RU at a cost of 1 each. I hire a second medic at a cost of 10. I buy 5 PS bots at a cost of 120 each for a total of 600. I buy some hopper guns, Tech Level 3, for 80 secs.

I still don’t have my hypercharges and I am out of daylight for today. Time to move on soon.

Our assets are:

1 Antelope starship, which I owe 118,300 secs. in principle.
1 Hopper, with TL-3 guns,
1 Stasis pod 2 CU,
15 Fuel Units,
23 Repair units,
20 Life Support Units
1 U-bot,
7 PS-bots,
7 U-suit,
10 Heavy Hand Weapons,
100 Side Arms,
and the ship is fueled with 2 hypercharges.

I have 1,185 secs.

Strictly (Duke) Springer - Day 024

I posted this as a "the Demon Core", but it could just as easily
be a hypercharge.

We are on our way back to Regari. I am down to 2 charges at the end of today. I need to purchase 4 more hypercharges once I get there… If I get there. Palatek is really a bad place.

I’m approached by two ships, which heavily out gun me. I have the option to jump away, so I do that. I enter the Regari system and I am not detected. I descend to the planet. I spent two hours jumping and then 4 more landing. I have 4 hours of daylight left.

Let’s talk about economic cost of space travel. Hypercharges cannot be stored, the can only be installed in empty slots. I have four empty slots. Hypercharges have a standard cost of 500 secs. As a standard cost, they are not modified by wealth codes. This is so you can’t get stuck in a bad system for a want of 500 secs. times a ridiculous number. Another cost of installing hypercharges is, it takes the rest of the day, which WILL screw you an the most inopportune time.

In my last run, I made 4600 secs. I used up 7 skimmers, 20 RU and two hypercharges. The skimmers were free. The RU were not, but didn’t cost that much. The hypercharges cost 2000 secs. for four replacements, which I currently don’t have yet. I really spent several weeks digging in the dirt for less than 3000 secs. It would take forty, forty! runs like this to pay off the ship. That’s not a fun game.

I need those hypercharges and something else to sell. The ruins are right out. I’ve had weeks of that. The Industrial, Mining, Colony and Rural are secondary objectives as they have a lot of good opportunities. I need weapons and I need crew, so we are off to the Slums.

We are detected. We have a contact that wants to buy all kinds of illegal stuff I don’t have. It takes no time.

My very next roll yields something great, heavy hand weapons for 23 secs. each for Tech Level 5 weapon. They also take up 1 CU. My ship can hold me, plus 15 other people in cramped conditions. I want those heavy hand weapons, and a lot of them. I buy ten, one for every crewman, plus 4 extras.

My next roll, I get regular side arms. They cost 4 each, are tech level 4 and take up no space. I purchase 100 of them. Again, one for every crew member. I can’t get hypercharges here, so tomorrow, we will move on to the spaceport.

Our assets are:

1 Antelope starship, which I owe 118,300 secs. in principle.

1 Stasis pod 2 CU,

15 Fuel Units,

3 Repair units,

20 Life Support Units,

1 U-bot,

2 PS-bots,

7 U-suit,

10 Heavy Hand Weapons,\

100 Side Arms,

and the ship is fueled with 2 hypercharges.

I have 2,795 secs. 

Strictly (Duke) Springer - Day 023

We are still in the city. We have 7 skimmers to sell and I can roll once an hour.

I get another 10 right off the bat. But then roll a 1 which means these skimmers are worth 30 each. No deal. Roll again.

I get a 5 then a 10. I finally get that luck six, which means the Skimmers are worth 20 times more than their base price. That’s a total of 4200 secs.

Before I leave, I pay the crew early and pay that ship payment. I throw an extra 1000 at the principle. That works out to 70 secs. salary for the crew, 1,300 for the interest and to pay down the principle owed on the ship. Remember, there is no adjustment in the interest payment. I read that rule wrong the first time I played and won rather easily by counting the 300 secs. of interest against the principle.

I boost for orbit and then 4 steps out where I will pause for the rest of the day. Technically, I don’t have to pause, but it makes record keeping easier when you are blogging the results. I could back at Regari today, but I want a fresh start in the morning.

Our assets are:

1 Antelope starship, which I owe 118,300 secs. in principle.
1 Stasis pod 2 CU,
15 Fuel Units,
3 Repair units,
20 Life Support Units,
1 U-bot,
2 PS-bots,
7 U-suit,
and the ship is fueled with 4 hypercharges, having used 2 to get here.

I have 3,425 secs. in my pocket. And I feel great!