New Markers, New Drawings - The Stargazer's Tower

This whimsical tower was the home of an astronomer and astrologer. The man retired many years ago, after serving in the war against the elves. Although it doesn't look like it, the telescope can be replaced with something ol' Harvey called a "Cannon" or perhaps, "Canon". No one is sure. Whatever it was, it helped the magician stop the elves from entering the valleys his tower looks down upon.

In recent years, the tower has been inhabited by 12 students of the stars. They don't seem to be much good as magic users, but the men and women who live here are pretty special when it comes to observing the stars and laying horoscopes.

One of them is even familiar with the foreign principles of card reading, while another has invented a game where the players pretend to be tradesmen in the distant future, trading in luxuries on a "stock exchange" and "social medias". Whatever those are...

Strictly (Duke) Springer - Day 014

We move the ship back to the ruins for another run at found treasures. And we have an immediate problem. We fly through a radioactive area and everyone takes one hit damage. Nice.

Even better, I recall wanting to spend a day looking for Life Support Units and Fuel Units back at the Spaceport... Did anyone check to see if Kevin was onboard when we left? Too late now... 

In the remainder of the day, we get lucky and find one intact skimmer and one intact U-Suit.

Let’s recap the crew. There is Duke, Emily, Doc, Ratchet, and two Gunners I’ll call Lefty and Deadeye. I will also pay them today, so I don’t have to do it on Ten-day.

Emily, weekly pay 15 secs. Sign-on bonus of 20. Death pay is 200. She has 65 secs. and a side arm.

Ratchet, weekly pay 15 secs. Sign-on bonus of 15. Death pay is 120. He has 60 secs.

Doc, weekly pay 10. No bonus which feels weird and death payment to family is 80. He has 30 secs.

Lefty, weekly pay 15. 10 secs. bonus and 100 death payment. She has 40 secs.

Deadeye, weekly pay 15. 10 secs. bonus and 100 death payment. He has 40 secs.

Total crew salary is 70 secs. a week.

Our assets are:

1 Antelope starship, which I owe 119,300 secs. in principle.

15 Fuel Units,
1 Stasis pod 2 CU,

20 Repair units.

1 U-bot,

1 Skimmer,

1 U-suit,

and the ship is fully fueled with 6 hypercharges.

I have 650 secs. in my pocket.

In the cache in the Ruins of Regari are:

3 Skimmers,

4 Repair Units,

100 secs.

Strictly (Duke) Springer - Day 013

Lucky day 13!

I make my roll to sell the boat for a base price of 500 secs. But what makes this so lucky? Each planet has a wealth code and based on that number, it can apply a multiplier to the base price of an item. In this case, I rolled a 6 for the base price which indicates a 1.5 multiplier. That base price shifted to 750 secs.

Ok, metagame time. How bored are you? Each item has a base price so rolling on the wealth code table is a good idea. The price won’t go down, but could go up which is excellent. But how should that be applied? As I read this scenario, I can sell a hopper for 750 credits. But can I sell both? The rules aren’t clear. In some cases, the rules specifically mention a number. For example, in the Colonies, there is a listing for “One side arm”, yet sometimes I can buy many side arms.

Do I make a roll for each? In general, I don’t. If I have 50 side arms, and go to sell, I roll once and simply accept the given price. I can choose not to sell and have to go through the whole process of rolling to get that sell side arms result again, which also allows me to roll on the multiplier table again. It could be more or less. I think that is fair and it is pertinent to this particular event.

I sell both boats for a total of 1500 secs.! I make a payment on the ship of 1000 secs., which is another level of accounting. 300 went to the interest payment for this week and 700 reduced the principle on the ship.

Reducing the principle owed on the ship does not reduce the interest. This is a front ended loan which was a real thing in the 70s and 80s. 

I want to purchase consumables since I have nearly 100 cu of empty space to fill. I need Repair, Life Support and maybe Repair Units plus 6 Utility Suits. I don't get any of those numbers here. Luck is fickle.  

Our assets are:

1 Antelope starship, which I owe 119,300 secs. in principle.

15 Fuel Units,
1 Stasis pod 2 CU,

20 Repair units.

1 U-bot,

and the ship is fully fueled with 6 hypercharges.

I have 1720 secs. in my pocket.

In the cache in the Ruins of Regari are:

3 Skimmers,

4 Repair Units,

100 secs.

New Markers, New Drawings - The House

I was trying to draw a Roman villa and it came out more like a Frank Llyod Wright. Buffalo is loaded with Frank Llyod Wright homes. They are beautiful and I drive past many every day. 

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.