Strictly (Duke) Springer - Day 012

We are ready to fly. Let’s talk about movement. Each “unit” has a movement rate and each area has a movement distance between two places. I want to get to the Spaceport, which has a dotted line with a 10 connecting it to the Ruins. There are dotted lines to Industrial area marked 4 and the Colony marked 3.

If we walked, it would take one hour times the number labeled on the dotted line. It would take 10 hours to walk to the Spaceport, 3 to the colony or 4 to the Industrial area. Thankfully, ships, boats and skimmers are faster. A skimmer will move from one area to another in 1 hour. A boat or a ship takes 1/10 of an hour.

There is an economy to movement. A boat burns 1 FU per hour of operation. A skimmer burns one FU a day. A ship doesn’t use any fuel, why really isn’t clear in the rules. Additionally skimmers, are not sealed, so you could be burning Life Support Units, too. The boat is sealed but also burns LU in space. 

Yesterday, I made another accounting mistake. It turns out that loading a boat into the ship requires no energy or effort, so I marked off a Fuel Unit for nothing. I'm not going to fix it now. 

We spend an hour moving to the Spaceport and I have no problem entering the area as we are detected but nothing comes of it. I want to hire more crew and sell off the found boat.

When buying and selling things, you have to roll the appropriate event. In the Spaceport, each roll or transaction takes an hour. In this case, I want a 5 to sell these boats. I didn’t get that today.

I do hire two ships gunners. Each one has a salary of 15 and a sign on bonus of 10. This move makes me nervous, because I need to pay 300 on the ship by the end of the week.

Our assets are:

1 Antelope starship,

2 Hopper with 14 units of fuel between them

1 Stasis pod 2 CU,

20 Repair units.

1 U-bot.

and the ship is fully fueled with 6 hypercharges.

I have 220 secs. in my pocket.

In the cache in the Ruins of Regari are:

3 Skimmers,

4 Repair Units,

100 secs.

New Markers, New Drawings - Long Barn

My friend Sarah got me some new pens and I have been trying them out. They work great. The text on the side was quickly scratched out as the ideas came. The text of this post is somewhat better.

The Long Barn is a storage barn for fodder. Its low to the ground and only has one level.

The long low barn is used for storage of hay and feed.

In spring, it is often used for weddings. The bride's guests sit on benches or bales of hay and alfalfa. The new husband and his groomsmen eat outside. The south end of the barn has doors which open for dancing in the yard.

In this way, the newly joined families get to know one another.

Product Updates for 2020 - Kobold's Folly and The Compass Rose Mini Setting

I have updated the files for The Compass Rose Inn and The Kobold's Folly products. These items are still pay what you want, however, in each case I have increased the suggested price to $3.99 each.

In the case of the Compass Rose Inn, the map has been reworked to be 1 inch = five feet. This now brings the page count to 63 pages. Additionally, this file has map tiles that enable you to print out additional green space for more terrain. To fill some of this space, there is now a barn map with two levels, a stable or work shed with two levels, a well and bake house map. 

In Kobold's Folly, I detail what is different between the Tribe of Minwan and other kobolds and provide images of King Minwan and his sister using the two magic items found at in the folly.

If you have already downloaded these files, my thanks. You should receive an email shortly with the new files. If you can't wait, simply check your Library tab at DriveThruRPG.

Click the images below for full resolution images from the Compass Rose Inn.

NFL Championship, Power Outages and Bolt Cutters

Between the Bills washing out of the playoffs, today's power outages, and me getting ready for school, we taking a week or more off.

I have been hanging out with the players so I do have an idea of what happens next. I'll call it "Ortaire-4-9-3". One of my players asked if there was a spell that would remove shackles. A different player inquired about bolt cutters. So the players themselves have decided to free Ortaire the Raider from being auctioned off as a slave. 4-9-3 refers to the 4 raiders, the 9 characters of the player's party and the 3 elves.

I was expecting this very type of rebellion from the players, but not right in the face of the Coven of Ash. These are a triplet of 3rd, 5th and 7th level magic users. They can totally destroy the party in a direct confrontation.

Let's restate the facts:

• The Emperor and his council have given the players a letter which allows them to purchase or hire a ship at a price not to exceed 4,000 pounds silver. (40,000 silver at 1/10 of pound is 4,000 pounds). 
• Anytime this letter comes into play, it's being read as a grant of power which allows the players to do whatever they like as if they have the Emperor's blessing. 
• Roleplay is making this happen, as the players themselves don't state this and are only vaguely aware that this is happening despite a lot of hints, like the reader can't read or notes the Seal of Office on the outside.   
• Theoretically, they could simply demand that the town officials turn over Ortaire with that letter. (I would make them lose it in this play. It's a problem.)
• The Emperor really wants to end slavery, so the PC kind of do have his personal and private blessing. But the Emperor is unaware of the PC's outlook, so blessings would come after the fact.  
• The Emperor is hamstrung by other forces which prevent an outright end of slavery. 
• The Coven of Ash will kill the characters outright if they try a bold approach. The city will go into lockdown mode to avoid the wrath of the witches, which means there will be no help. 
• Senator Vitus is willing to help the PCs free Ortaire, but he has already contacted the 3 elves to do this anyway. They don't have a plan yet. 
• The raiders don't necessarily care if Ortaire is freed or killed. His silence is enough. 
• The raider's plan is to hoof it to their comrade's farm far to the east of the city. They will not do this if the witches are chasing them, but think it's a good place to be in a fight with the elves or the party. 

If the characters do anything on the sly, and it looks like they will, this will not trigger the Coven to take direct action. They will make a play on the PCs through mundane means, perhaps by sowing confusion among the city guard which has lost it Praetorian leadership. 

Other points of interest, the Praetorians in this setting are 20% assassins, 70% fighters and 10% all other classes as councilors and advisers. All of the assassins were wiped out by the Coven, so the Praetorians are reeling and allowing city officials to issue orders. Nobody wants to be in charge while the witches are in Nace. 

I'm setting a goal of playing again on Feb 1st, but we might have a session before that.