Tag name：rpg

Traveller Session 16

Game Date: 240-1105
Location: 886-945 → Bularia

A map of the local jump map around Bularia

View of a sandy desert-like scene viewed though a large window on a spacecraft flying over the scene

View of 886-945 when landing half a planet away from the encounter.

GM⇒Fiorana

240-1105: Was there really a creature? Could Earl have been just making it all up? There's nothing in the photos after all and he never hit anything....

Note that the Vagabond's Hope still needs to refuel before it can make its next jump.

GM⇒Earl¹

240-1105: You definitely saw a creature - and one that wounded Cyndariel for sure. It did seem to be able heal itself from the shots and bites (from Kimbley) that did it damage - this was not instant and took the creature some time and you did see it 'glowing' while it was doing so.

Earl is trying to research the creature he assures us he saw and has asked the computer to try and scan the photo he took and the computer does appear to be doing something but to the rest of us there is something wrong with it. There is no indication that anyone is tracking any specific keywords during this search.

While this search is taking place we search for a water source to gather for fuel and somewhere we can also land to gather all the relevant samples we need for the survey. We find a fairly large lake and set down on its shoreline and there are several types of terrain for the samples we need. Cyn lifts the quarantine of the other crew members, and Earl's initial searches done turn up anything useful, but over time the results throw up a lot of references leading to conspiracy theories around Aliens that can make themselves invisible and can alter memories and perception. Cyn runs some tests on the blood sample that was gathered from the ground after the creature was injured, it is contaminated with sand and soil but still viable for some tests, the results are that it is indeed some form of blood mixed with soil, but it not Human, Vargr or Aslan, it in fact shows no terrestrial markers at all.

Junebug reports that the communications blackout has been lifted. (familiar somehow?)

Masuyo wonders about the age of the two ships we encountered wondering how long they have been here. The smaller scout ship appeared to have more dust gathered around and on it showing it may have been here for some time, a few months maybe?² The other larger ship seemed to be on the surface for less time, perhaps it was here to investigate the Scout ship? Is it worth us heading back for another look? I enquire if it would be possible to remotely access the ships logs to download them for further study and request a flyby but it is decided that we should probably just focus on our survey.

We have almost gathered enough water to purify for our refuel when an active scan of our ship is detected from a ship in a transfer orbit, heading out to the jump point. We are unsure who is scanning us , possibly one of the two ships we already found? The comms activate and a female voice is heard asking What are you doing here? Earl responds with We are surveying the plant at the request of the Scout service, who are you? The voice is familiar somehow. You don't recognise me, well that is disappointing. Then Earl makes the connection this is the same female we helped on one of our previous missions, dealing with the contraband we had unwittingly picked up. She seems to be under the impression that we are in fact following her, but Earl assures her that it is merely a coincidence that we happen to be here on the same planet as she is at this time. They continue their conversation for a while the creature is mentioned and Psionic abilities etc. and she asks a few questions which are answered but by this point I have tuned out of their talk, focusing on my task of refuelling. She expresses some concern over what we have found and experienced on the plant but Tharbin assures here that none of it will go into the official report only the relevant survey report will be submitted she seems the be happy with this and tells us not to be concerned over the creature as it has been handled and advises us not to do anything Stupid and takes her leave wishing us a cheery goodbye and we may meet again.

Throughout this entire process Masuyo has been diligently gathering all of our samples and has now completed this task and has brought them back to the ship for testing and storage, after Masuyo has been briefed on the events whilst she was away from the ship we discuss what to do with all of the evidence gathered and the internet searches on the creature and any other odd findings, and it would be best for the to be deleted so that there is no trace of what we encountered here for anyone to find and we do not want it to be shared or downloaded in our information transfers. I, as an amateur artist, however have made several sketches of different creatures form the planets we have previously visited and like to sketch random thing as well have made a few discreet sketches of the creature mixed in with my other drawings so they could be seen as the figment of some ones imagination, but still serve as some kind of record of what we encountered. Cyn manages to purge the medical records of the blood tests and the psionic testing she carried out and then incinerates the samples.

We look through all of the samples Masuyo gathered and check all of our scans and photos of the planets surface and decide that we have what we need to make the official survey report. Would we recommend colonisation? Although colonisation is a viable option, the costs would exceed the overall rewards of doing so, the return is not worth the effort. and as there have been signifiant reports of Pirates in the area this would pose a considerable risk to the colony.

Chase purges the computer system of any remaining information on the strange creature.

We plot our course back to Bularia and make a smooth Jump, we continue our training/studying whilst in Jump space and one uneventful week later arrive at our destination.

A clean view of an agricultural town from a few thousand feet above. A wide river is flowing from the top of the image to the bottom of the right hand side of the image while the town is surrounding by farm fields.

View on approach to Bularia Town

Masuyo contacts Star port Control announcing our arrival and requests permission to land, refuel and pick up cargo, this is given at landing pad 6. The crew on the bridge however pick up that the voice on the other end of comms is less friendly than from our last visit.

As we make our approach, Cyn advises caution. There are two Cutters (50 tons, short range vessels) on pads adjacent to ours. Masuyo acting upon the advise of Cyn asks our pilot (Chase) to make our approach flight a bit off and to only let some of our landing gear deploy to show we cannot land at this time, she then contacts SP control again We are having trouble landing need to pull up, standby It is very strange as they do not give any of the usual responses for this situation and respond very slowly Vagabonds Hope is there a problem?

We have a problem with our landing gear we will need to come around again or land on water

We keep a close watch on the Cutters as we move away from the Star port, and still there are no comms asking if we need to declare an emergency they have not initiated any emergency procedures at all, we find this highly suspicious as this is the first place we have attempted to land after our survey was completed. We find a large body of water approximately 50 miles South of the Star port and make our flight towards it a bit more erratic playing into the 'we have an emergency situation on our hands' to help allay any suspicions and make our landing there as this will give us plenty of time to see anything coming our way. Tharbin sets up the passive scans to help detect any active scans directed at us and we begin scooping the water we need for fuel. SP control are not really showing any concern about our apparent situation which is very odd, not the reaction that would be expected under normal circumstances.

All available crew are sent topside with bins to keep watch and assess any damage to the ship. Masuyo asks if i can make something on the ship smoke without actually causing any damage and being the engineer it goes against everything I believe in but yes I can make one of the thrusters emit smoke without any damage. A small dot is eventually spotted coming from the North, the direction of the Star port, Masuyo asks us all to discreetly arm up, An active scan is detected and it is coming from the Cutter that is making an overflight, Junebug watches the Cutter and determines that it is making a tactical surveillance flight not a rescue flight. we currently have enough fuel to take off but not enough to make a Jump flight, The Cutter makes a second overflight and we keep the scoop going. Strangely the Cutter is making no attempt at communicating with us and makes a third pass over us, so Masuyo makes contact: Orbiting Cutter are you going to help us or not? there is no response and it heads back to the Star port. We cruise away from our current location to make it harder for them to pinpoint our exact location if they return.

We finally collect enough fuel to make our Jump 2 but it still needs to be refined and we need 22 hours for that so we decide to attempt to submerge the ship and make it look like it sank, while Chase takes the Air raft away from the ship to appear that we have abandoned the sinking ship, the attempt to submerge fails but we continue South while Chase pilots the Air raft around the lake back to us.

Footnotes

Shared with the rest of the crew ↩
this done by examining the photos of the landing site ↩

Cyberpunk

This is a collection of notes and other details from and about Neil's cyberpunk game:

The GK Strategem

I'm running a new traveller campaign - pages about it can be found here:

D&D Session 10

The combat continues as the party attempt to retreat to the exit to the south, I open the door with Fiorana watching my back, whilst Silanne, Tharbin & Crom keep the bugbears at bay.

Silanne swiftly darts northwards and disappears from sight

It appears some of the party have continued to pursue the retreating bugbears. Tharbin is heard shouting over here, Silanne shouts out to Trem to cross the bridge and head up the tunnel to the north.

Crom storms off muttering “death, murder, mayhem”

Most of the party have moved up to the north & turned down the west tunnel.

Silanne's voice is heard shouting there's a Goblin at the south door.

Tharbin advances further down the tunnel & is heard shouting instructions for somebody to secure a prisoner at the north door and get them to open the south door.

Crom is heard muttering, agitated at not having anything to hit with his weapon, I urge him to come to our position.

[REDACTED BY GM]

Bluebell enters the revealed room.

Trem in the meantime interrogates the goblin to the south door and quizzes him about the whereabouts of any other bugbears.

Bluebell is heard searching the room before a loud bang-frizzling is heard from inside. I enter the room and exclaim what on earths going on here with a puzzled look.

[REDACTED BY GM]

The party are heard shouting “Bash the door, Bash the door” as Crom enters the room, I just point at the door. Crom swings his mighty axe and misses, and nearly knocks Bluebell out with the backswing.

[REDACTED BY GM] and insert a tool, a door opens, and I hear some muffled muttering as I enter the room, I just see a room with a desk some paper and notice an odd movement in the wall to the north corner & feel a slight breeze. Crom & Bluebell enter & Bluebell makes a bead to the corner I point out before disappearing through. She shouts back that it’s a narrow space.

[REDACTED BY GM]

In our minds the party hear “playtime again”. & we see an image in our minds:

Silanne's voice is heard off in the distance & the party pause for a brief moment.

Updated 22^th November to redact some of the text. The [REDACTED BY GM] sections will be revealed again at a later date.

Cyberpunk Session 19

A narrow alleyway leading onto a road in a cotswold village. A cat is sitting on the right hand wall of the alleyway. It is sunny and pleasant

The view inside the closet

The closet door opens to ... a narrow alleyway between buildings. As Wakiya steps through it is indeed afternoon on the far side and the cat stands and stretches. More outsiders it purrs. After a pause Wakiya says that we need to find someone called Robin. Once all the rest of us are through we notice that behind us is just an alleyway leading away - there is no sign of the closet or the Tokyo apartment we left.

Tharbin marks on the wall where the portal was while the cat looks on with distain. Once the mark is made the cat turns arounds 360 degrees, lies down and goes to sleep.

Nameraka moves to the end of the alleyway and onto the street. He can see the faint outline of a few people moving about the street. Nameraka turns right down the street.

Wakiya says that someone went to the left down the street and there is a solid figure 150 metres that way up the street. Tremen moves to the figure at a fast walk (but not a run) - and the rest of the party follow (with Tharbin calling Nameraka back to us). Spooky is shaken when the faint outline of an old style ground car passes straight through her and hears the faint sound of a cat sniggering¹. We do also perceive that there are a lot of solid cats in the village.

Tremen reaches the solid figure. It/She is a young girl with red hair and with a black dog by her side. She spoeaks in english but accented. She gives directions to a small shed down another alleyway saying that the person we're after is in that shed. Tremen, possibly rashly and trusting, follows the direction to the shed and enters.

Ricky engages the girl in conversation (Ricky, like Tremen, can speak english in addition to japanese and streetslang). She calls this place the village of cats and that it is old and will be here much longer than Ricky.

The rest of the party (including Ricky) follows Tremen into the shed and ... arrive outside a warehouse back in Newport City - it is back to nightime and rain. We're outside a warehouse next to a set of containers. We hear activity from within and we move to explore and investigate.

One part of the team enters a corner office where there is a computer running (showing some kind of spreadsheet) which Spooky can use to hack into the security cameras.

The other part of the team moves further also the edge of the warehouse and enters a small part of the warehouse set up as a bar. Tremen moves in to ascertain whether the bar is clear or not. He quickly determines that while the bar is empty there are windows which allow others to see into the bar. This determination is made quite easy when he sees a figure through one of the windows who takes a shot at Tremen. The shot misses and Tremen returns fire lightly wounding the shooter.

On hearing the shots Wakiya and Tharbin move deeper in the warehouse complex and, with help from Spooky, see that there are multiple figures there with whom they exchange shots. Wakiya is wounded.

Ricky moves into an alleyway alongside the bar that also leads deeper into the complex.

Nameraka and Spooky follow up behind Wakiya and Tharbin also providing fire support - though Namerake could probably have done with being shot in the back by Wakiya

We all end up (in different ways) in the middle of the complex with eyes on at least four hostiles....

Footnotes

You'll probably be glad to learn that sound of a cat sniggering didn't have any direct search hits ↩

Converting traveller maps to globes

To get a globe of a traveller world do the following steps:

Goto the world on the Traveller Map.
Open up and expand the menu for the world and click on the link to Generate World Map
At The Traveller Worlds website, choose a world and select: Map action >> Download Cropped PNG Format from the drop-down menu at the top of the page.
(Thank Jonathan Sherlock for adding this feature to his amazing page)
Goto to the Icohex to Plate-Carrée Converter, click Browse and select the downloaded cropped file. Let the conversion run and then save the resulting image
Now goto that site's main page and again use Browse to load the image from the previous step. Use the options at the top and the mouse to control the image and viewpoint. Once happy use Alt-PrtSc to capture the globe and then paste into GIMP.

D&D

We're also now playing a D&D campaign on Fantasy Grounds Unity. Some notes that have been taken are:

Traveller Session 15

Game Date: 239-1105¹
Location: 886-945

Two ships on a mars like surface. The ships are separated by a shallow canyon and overlooked by a large dark brown cliffside. The left hand ship looks like a standard type S scout ship. The right hand ship is larger and two decks in height.

The approach to the two vessels

Masuyo attempts to cycle the airlock but alas nothing, she does however discover that it is not a standard issue Imperial airlock, it has been significantly upgraded. She turns and asks me to have a look to see if I have any more luck but it seems to be beyond us for the time being. Tharbin runs a scan using the ships systems and it does not show anything unusual in the immediate area, Earl continues eastwards and rediscovers the creature at approximately 25 meters East of him which he relays to us despite the fact we cannot see it, He also takes a picture of it with Cyn's PC. Junebug tells us that Kimbley can see something as well and is quite agitated by it, so they both head towards it as well to give Earl some back up. As there is no way for us to access the ship we quickly discuss our options on what to do, meanwhile Junebug throws some chem lights towards the creatures position to see if it casts a shadow so we at least have something to target, she does catch a glimpse of it but nothing more. We remember the body lying at the base of a ladder from the ship across the canyon and decide it might be best for us to return to the ship and carry on with our mission rather than risk further injuries fighting whatever this creature is as we also don't know if there are more of them. Kimbley is straining at her collar as Junebug holds her back, it seems she is trying to defend Junebug implying the creature is indeed hostile.

Cyn gives Masuyo a hypo designed to help against Psionic powers to see if that helps her to see the creature, but it has no immediate effect, she shouts to Earl to throw some dirt over the creature to see if that helps us to see it and Junebug takes a blind shot at it letting Kimbley go in the process. Kimbley takes off towards the creature and bites it causing injury to it and Junebug chases her taking another shot at it and hitting it. Earl however misses again (methinks he needs to target practice 😉 ). Tharbin turns on the manoeuvring thruster jets to kick up dust in an effort to help but we still cant see it.

Earl yells that it is retreating again and it does appear to be injured and it has apparently left some blood behind on the ground. Masuyo lets Tharbin know we have all made it back to the ship so he opens the airlock for us and we all scramble onboard. Once inside and safe we have Tharbin take some images of the canyon and the ships and immediate surrounding area for later study. Cyn takes the injured team members and Junebug to the Med bay to document their wounds and get DNA samples and treat them. We run an Anti Hijack search for any unauthorised entries to the ship just in case any more of theses strange invisible creatures have come onboard without our knowledge. Cyn decides it is best to quarantine herself, Earl, Junebug and Kimbley in the Med bay for the time being.

We take the ship to 500 meters above the surface to carry out our survey, it is an Earth equivalent sized planet, we take all the usual samples soil, air, water for testing. We run the mapping program and continue with the full survey.

Earl searches the computer for any reports or legends and myths for indigenous lifeforms on the planet but comes up blank on all counts, nothing to be found no strange reports or occurrences. We change the planets classification to E833, 0 Population, 0 Law, 0 Tech² there is no sentient life on the planet (at least as far as we can tell from the scans etc. our experience is quite another thing) there is some plant life.

We check the photo Earl took of the creature and distance does not change our perception of the creature, we still can't see it even in the photo.

Masuyo asks for some clarification on some points, The Imperial ship is it Standard? From a distance yes, but up close it has been significantly modified with advanced tech, the engines are also uprated.

The other ship is 200 tons, streamlined needle formation, possibly a courier vessel, she asks again if any of us have every see a ship of the configuration before, we agree that we are not certain at this time, but it does appear to be more Zhodani than Darrian based upon Masyo's knowledge.

Masuyo speculates that there may be some connection with the 3rd Imperium worlds Goethe, Emape, Mirriam, Jone and Karin, which are all Amber worlds.

Warning: Information regarding an individual's psionic ability is confidential, and may not be released without consent.

Warning: Use of this test is NOT conclusive proof of psionic ability, skills or use.

Warning: Use of psionic abilities is illegal anywhere within Imperial Space unless sanctioned by §SO1.6.112

Replacement test kits can be requested using form IISS952432

Warning text on the Psionic test kits³

Cyn runs tests while in quarantine and there are unfortunately inconclusive, but show them all to physically fit, I am not so sure about their mental health however. Psionic testing may be required, but this will need to be kept off the records as great efforts have been made to suppress Psionics within the Imperium. Cyn tells us what she is planning and we all agree to the tests, these are just basic tests, Earl and myself both show a similar levels of genetic traces of psionic abilities, but only potential at the moment as neither of us has had any training, Cyn and Junebug both have slight indications of potential psionic abilities, Masuyo and Tharbin do not show any signs of potential and finally Chase is somewhere in between.

Footnotes

Mid-afternoon Imperial Standard Time and Local Time ↩
GM: Interestingly, I've now seen three different Universal Planetary Profiles (UPP) for 886-945, E800000-0 from the original Supplement 3, E833000-0 from the later Imperial Atlas, the current published Mongoose material and on travellermap.com, and E883000-0 on the traveller wiki (which I suspect is a typo of some kind!) ↩
Ten kits were part of the standard scout service medical supplies on board Vagabond's Hope ↩

D&D Session 9

Two figures fighting at the bottom of a flight stairs

AI's best interpretation of Crom's fight (it's nothing like the fight but still....)

The fight continues in all directions, Crom continues in a rage & moves back down the stairs backed up by Fiorana. Chanting is heard by the party but seems faint & fades into silence again.
Silanne moves north, I head for a vantage point on the bridge we both observed something appear, possible supplies but I notice a light emanating from its location, I think I see something materialising from within.
Tharbin continues his pursuit of one of the enemies but is hit by a trap with spikes, he flinches and takes a slicing blow.
To the south light appears as Fiorana lights a lantern - illuminating much of the main cavern. Silanne moves to the object and observes its some sort of door but with light emitting from it. I join Silanne at what I think is some sort of portal as Fiorana moves up to our position. Tharbin appears a few secs later and heads to our position and Fiorana rushes past him advancing up the northwest tunnel towards the door to the south.
Bluebell tries to stuff blueberries down Trem's face, not realising it's Crom that needs healing and heads down the tunnel towards him.
Tharbin is heard shouting a warning saying creatures are appearing from the green portal, which confuses me as I am stood next to it. I realise there must be a second portal, whilst I peer at the portal next to me.
The battle continues to the south, an ice explosion is heard & Croms battle cry echos down the tunnel, in the thick of the battle you can hear some of the party shouting warnings amongst the chaos erupting all around. I head back down towards the noise and cast my light to illuminate the area. The main party continues to retreat to the south whilst Crom keeps the Redbrands & bugbears at bay to our left. He is joined by Tharbin & Fiorana, who collectively whittle down their opponents before Fi is heard shouting out that Tharbin is injured, Trem casts his spell that energies Tharbin and allows him the strength to retreat slowly.
Fi is heard shouting bugbear heading from the north. Silanne guards our exit route whilst I head out to check the entrance to ensure the door is accessible & our escape route is clear.

D&D Session 2

A map of the village of Phandalin showing several locations including Shrine of Luck, Townmaster's Hall, Town Green, Stonehill Inn, Sleeping Giant, Barthen's Provisions and Alderleaf Farm

A map of Phandalin

Once the ambush has been dealt with, investigation of the goblin dead leads to the observation that the goblins had their teeth sharpened, some of the party suspect they may be cannibals.

Tremen, Basher and I tend to the dead, collecting the bodies and creamating the bodies. The smoke from the funneral fire will be seen some distance away, hopefully detering any other ambushers.

The party collect the right ear of each goblin in order to claim the bounty. The barbarian Basher, makes a move to cut off a goblin head to post on a spike as a warning, however it is strongly pointed out that the spread of decease will be a problem. In the mean time Silanne has scouted ahead and found a goblin path that is well used and plenty of signs of use by goblins.

The party reassemble with the cart and move further up the track aiming to hit the turning before night has covered us. Tharbin takes the reigns with Bluebell staying on the cart and myself walking along the side. Silanne scouts ahead with the rest of the party taking positions up in between. Silanne signals that they have discovered some discarded armour and is continuing further up the path, and instructs Thrabin to send Fiorana forward.

Fiorana arrives at the place marked by Silanne and checks items and location out, and indicates its safe to move up, which we do. Fiorana continues to move forawrd and follow up Silanne.

On inspection of the discarded equipment, a emblem is made out, and is recognised as the Lord Alliance emblem.

The night draws in and it is becoming difficult to see ahead, the main party have not heard back from Silanne & Fiorana for a while. We continue with the cart along the path and arrive at a suitable camp site.

Sometime later, they both arrive back at the cart and Silanne discloses that a goblin camp / guard post is up a head and looks like the owner of the armour was killed by the goblins.

The party settles into the evening, watch parties are set up.

Ist watch is Tarqual & Basher.

2nd watch is Silanne & Fiorana.

3rd watch Tharbin & Tremen.

The rest of the night passes uneventful, and we awake to the smell of a cooked breakfast.

Day 4. Once everybody has eaten and gear is packed we set off the following morning. We soon approach the town of Phandalin, which consists of about 40 log buildings, some on flag stones with some in ruins. we see children playing out on a green and the locals seem happy to see us as they smile as we pass.

We arrive at a building with a signpost outside - Barfin supplies, which we pull the cart upto and announce our arrivial. Tremen ventures in to talk to the owner and assures the owner that everything is secure and safe. The woman informs Tremen to pull the cart up around the back where their is a stable. We eventually get paid our 10 gold pieces.

The women owner pops her head back out of the building, with a tabard on her arm and asks Tremen where we got it, as she informs us that it belongs to Silard the proctector of the dwarf. Silanne informs her that it was a few miles back and neither of them will be returning.

While Silanne and Tremen go to the Townmaster's Hall to report, Basher heads of to Stonehill Inn to secure some rooms if available, Tharbin head to the smithy, Fiorana to the sleeping gaint, myself to the miners trail.