Space Governments Musing

In its most simplistic explanation, a government and its effectiveness in maintaining security and loyalty over its citizens is dependent upon transportation and communication. As all have improved, it's been possible for nations to grow larger, keep their holdings, and maintain their borders. Once you get into space, however, geopolitical borders and control go out the window. This is especially true the slower you make transportation and communication between two star systems. If everything is done with wormholes (or any relatively short hyperdrives) and instant ansibles, then it's a lot easier to have sector-spanning star empires. It's easier to get military ships to defend your planets from pirates or enemy alien attacks. You can send supply aid quickly in case of a natural disaster. Or, you can stop those damn space Yankees from revolting and throwing your supplies of space tea into the space Boston Harbor.

But, the slower things are, the harder it is to maintain security, loyalty, and control. So, if you have something like Traveller's jump drive, it's going to be more difficult to set up the big grand empire. In a setting where travelling to a star can take a week or more
per parsec, you would need a less centralized government to keep your outworlders happy about their independence, but planetary governors to keep them loyal to your government. A standard unitary sphere couldn't work like that. So what kind of governments could you see in such a setting? Luckily, a lot of this can be seen in settings like the Third Imperium of Traveller, as well as several of the 50's to 70's sci fi that inspired it and many modern takes on the space opera genre.

A note here. I'm no political scientist. I'm just a cook that has an interest in sci fi cultures and politics. So these are just rudimentary explanations done with the intent to provide interesting ideas for sci fi games within the constraints of a slower FTL drive. They aren't meant as a treatise on why one is better than the other.

Anarchist Communes

This is one I see a lot in transhumanist RPGs and literature, such as Eclipse Phase and The Culture series. Essentially, due to the vast distances and time that transportation and communication must cross, enforcing control over a planet is difficult. So these planets have to make due on their own in a lot of cases. Now, this really can only work if either there are a lot of resources available on the planet, or they have advanced mining and nanofabrication machines that can literally print what they need. If you are lacking either of those, then the colony is entirely dependent on either their patron, trade, or neighbors. Still, it's an interesting culture to see in space, and one that can be pretty alien to many of your players.

Feudal Empire

Whether it's Dune or Traveller's Third Imperium, a feudal space empire dominated by houses is another possible government that one could see across the vast gulfs of space. One could see it as a fairly decentralized monarchy, with each planet owned by a house of nobility. There would be a great deal of tradition and honor laws to keep people loyal to the capital world, and the capital world would have to have a large space fleet to keep a good military presence. Basically replace tithes and levies with taxes and militia prospects and you've essentially got a cool and interesting space empire.

Republic Confederation/Federation

With this, much like Star Wars's Galactic Senate, you have a union of worlds that want to retain some independent government over their planet and holdings, but still have an overarching government that runs things between the members. Stuff like trade and economics, social and civil rights, law and order, military, and foreign policy. The overarching government is the federal government, while the individual worlds would be the world government. People in America are fairly familiar with the federation, while a confederation is more decentralized. This puts more power into the world government and they are more likely to be different governments from each other than in a federation. Unlike the feudal system, where the members are all subordinate to the capital, the federation/confederacy members are generally equal (at least on paper). People in these federations would be united against a major threat. Think something like the Klingons and Romulans, or the Zerg in Starcraft. Because of the remote distances and transportation times, sticking together against enemy empires is a good reason to form a federation.

Free World Alliance

Similar to the federations and confederations, an alliance is a cooperative union of planets that remain very independent and under control over their own populace, but have banded together for mutual defense or economic trade. Unlike the federation, this one is much looser and laws (usually called treaties or accords) are decided on by the members. This can be mutually beneficial, or it can lie more in the realms of realpolitik, with each trying to get the most from their relationship with the least give. An alliance is great because the worlds can be completely different governments and cultures from each other but still be together. So players can go to a monarchy one adventure and deal with social intrigue and nobles, and the next, they can deal with someone tampering with the bureaucracy of a republic's elections. Worlds would unite either for resource trading or to go against a common, but less powerful enemy. Like pirates and raiders, or other free worlds looking to exploit them. Maybe even a budding galactic empire looking to grow quickly.

Trade Empire/Cartel Plutocracy/Kleptocracy

This is a set I like. You can have a group of worlds united under several different companies, corporations, and conglomerates. Each planet is a client state under a specific corp rather than a government agency. Perhaps the government of the capital world prefers the private sector to fund colonial and trade efforts. Or, perhaps you can go full cyberpunk and the government is bought out by the different corporations at the expense of the citizens. Or maybe they simply are the government, with CEOs also holding government positions and social mobility being very limited or non-existent. Or perhaps the government retains control, but focuses less on claiming holdings for themselves and more on setting up trade agreements for either mutual or personal benefit. These could be balanced for the benefit of both parties, focused on the benefit of one, or the detriment of the other. Think Venice or Portugal during the Age of Discovery, or England and America during the 1800s with their aggressive trades with China. You can actually go a lot of ways with this beyond the usually evil megacorps you see in cyberpunk. The groups of corps in similar industries could form a cartel that controls the price of their exports. It'd have to be something not readily available or some sort of service or luxury (or even drugs). If you really want to make them the bad guys, you can have them form a kleptocracy, where they steal from their own people to supplement their own expenses. These worlds can be great for games of traders, political intrigue or, for the kleptocracy, rebels trying to overthrow their government.

That's all I have. I'm actually using a lot of these ideas for my current sci fi game that I'm running on Wednesdays. I like being able to add different types of planets and governments to make them feel like the players are entire a different world. I've actually had a lot of fun making the Trade Empires and Cartels in my game. What are some other empires and governments one could see in a sci fi setting of slower FTL ?

Twenty Parsecs: Aliens

I've been rummaging around in between my two long weekend shifts. Stayed too late at work and woke up too late to blog about anything substantial. Tomorrow is the end of my thirty day challenge, and I promise to have something longer and with more meat in it. So aliens.

I'm wondering how many aliens I want in the game. I'd like the scope to feel a bit more personal, so I kind of want to do what Starcraft did and have just two aliens, or even just one. Keeps the setting more tightly knit I feel, and allows me to really sit down and detail more about the aliens. Much easier when there is only one or two, rather than ten or twelve like your standard space opera.

Twenty Parsecs: The Commonwealth

Korhal, the capital of the Terran Dominion in Starcraft

One thing that I've been rummaging through my head is how I want the Commonwealth of Free Planets to feel like. I definitely want to keep a frontier feel about it, but at the same time, I do want points of human and alien civilization so that I can have interesting urban and political adventures. For this I've found a great deal of inspiration with Starcraft, the implied setting for D&D 4e, and the TTRPG Clement Sector.

Both are settings that take place out in a frontier area and have their fair share of worlds to explore and colonies to meet with. But they also have that 'points of light' style of campaign where you can have large capital worlds that the players can run through for fun. So using Starcraft's Terran Confederacy/Dominion as an example, for every Korhal capital planet out there, you'll have plenty of Mar Sara backwaters out there for 'lawless adventuring'. Which to me, is the core of exploration. Lawlessness and lack of social rules and etiquette so the players can (and many times have to) use their wits to overcome difficult obstacles. While the points of civilization are mostly safe havens until trouble happens (or they go looking for it). Then they have to use the same wit and canny but with the limitations of the social center they are in. Which to me, can bring about the most innovation and ingenuity from players. Conflict + limitations = ingenuity.

So the Commonwealth have been there for centuries. With a decent enough population growth, I see most of the Core Worlds with a population in the tens to hundreds of millions. Most would be centered around the first colony of the planet, with many of the later ones acting as satellite cities. You'd probably have the occasional colony far away for reasons unknown (resources, religious, or simply tired of the main colony's shit). Leaves plenty of undiscovered wilderness on the planets for intrepid players to explore, while still having cities for other adventures. I'm thinking five main core worlds would be good enough, with the oldest being the most populated and probably the capital. Soon I'll have to give these planets names and maps, but for now, it's a bit up in the air.

Twenty Parsecs and FTL

Getting a new puppy acclimated to a new house and new people has been a full-time job in of itself. It's been fun at the very least, and I'm working muscles that haven't been used in years. In the meantime, an idea for the sci setting I was thinking up called Twenty Parsecs (I really like that name).

While there is definitely FTL, it's new for both sides and not super face. Going a parsec takes a week and this sector is very very far away from Earth. But, even with a week, they could still get to Earth in a year. That's partially why I had FTL development take so long. It doesn't really make much sense if they have been separated for centuries if they can simply go to Earth in a year. So I'm thinking that FTL for the Commonwealth of Free Planets is in its infancy, only a decade old. With this, planets are focusing on reconnecting with each other via trade and transport, instead of travelling to an Earth that may simply be a fable.

Campaign Space Ship: NECI Sigrun

This here is the spaceship that my players have been using for their game of M-Space. While it's mostly just been a plot device to get to the planet from the Ark, this time around, it'll get put through its paces in actual space combat. For those more knowledgeable of M-Space, you'll notice that the speed, engine power, and armor is low. This is to represent a lower tech ship on the cusp of achieving fusion drive, somewhere between Traveller and Orbital 2100. Many of the added stats like tonnage were mathematical formulas I used to convert Traveller stuff to M-Space.

I plan on working with either Blender or Unity to combine the 3D models of the ships and planets to make cool landscapes with them. It's something my players certainly will like. 

NECI Sigrun (created using the Galactic Civilization III Ship Builder)

New Earth Colonial Initiative's Sigrun

Pathfinder-Class

Size: 58 (290 Tons, 52 meters/170' 7" long)

Armor: 2 AP
Speed: 5 (Delta V: 80 km/s)
Handling: 3
Distance per Month Traveled: 200 Mkm
Fuel per Month Traveled: 3 tons
Fuel Capacity: 10 tons

Name	d% chance	HP
Cockpit	1-4	2
Engines, Thrusters	5-13	5
Engines, Maneuver	14-22	5
Sickbay	23-30	4
Crew Quarters	31-40	9
Cargo Hold	41-45	5
Railgun	46-47	1
Railgun	48-49	1
Engineering Lab	50-51	1
Crew Common Area	52-66	8
Hanger, Rover	67-74	4
Hanger, Shuttle	75-92	10
Sensors	93-100	3

The NECI Sigrun is the premier spaceship for the Initiative Scouts. It is outfitted with two railguns for defense, a standard nuclear thermal rocket, and a life support system to last a crew for six months. The Sigrun has a connection to the ark AI, Noah, for information and orders from the higher echelons of the NECI. Able to traverse 1.3 AU in a single month and scan for all kinds of minerals and chemicals to locate important resources for the survival of humanity. The Sigrun can fit a standard crew of 9, including pilots, surveyors, and an engineer, all of which crossed trained to be survivalists, scientists, and security for the planetside away team.

M-Space Campaign

This coming Wednesday, I'm continuing my M-Space colonial campaign by using the above module with some changes to the adventure here and there. The main focus isn't going to be on the alien, though it will play a large part in harrying the players. The focus will be on the ship itself and a crew member cryogenically asleep in there.

While my game has been more of a episodic sandbox of exploring a hostile planet with a lethal atmosphere, there has been a sort of metaplot that the players have found. Some context. The players were on an ark leaving a dying Earth for a new planet through a wormhole. The plan was to set them there, set up shop, then bring resources back to Earth to help everyone survive. However, the ark stayed in the wormhole for 86 years before letting the players out, then closing forever, leaving them stranded away from a now dead Earth. As the players explored the planet, they found a crashed human ship called the FEI Icarus, despite the fact that the PCs were the first to make planetfall. Whats more, is that the spaceship has a more advanced power plant and an unusual engine in it that is more advanced than anything the player's or their colonial initiative has. 

So the question is, who are these humans and where did they come from?

In the next session, the players are going to the second planet of the star system to investigate an unusual radio signal. What it'll end up being is the sister ship of the Icarus, the FEI Iapyx. Inside will be the discovery of a lifetime for them. Evil hydrocarbon aliens, a rogue AI protecting the Iapyx, and the only living crewmember of the Iapyx, trapped in cryostasis.

The discoveries the players make will be this:

• Earth and humanity still live on! Though in a much different state than they left it.
• The Iapyx and Icarus were ships testing an Alcubierre warp drive that sort of worked, but left the Icarus marooned on the planet the players were on, while the Iapyx simply got lost.
• The warp drive and the fusion power plant can be retrofitted by the player's engineering after some time.
• The players are on the other side of the galaxy.

This will advance the metaplot by a great deal, and it will give the players a chance to upgrade their spaceship to take them beyond the confines of the stellar system. Just gotta do some more stuff for the module Wednesday and I should be a-ok. I plan on having the crewmember in stasis for a time due to health reasons, before revealing more about the state of Earth. But in the distant future, I do plan on having the colonies encounter Earthlings. And it won't be pretty.

The Great Kitbashed Campaign

From the game Offworld Trading Company

The current game I'm running is an M-Space/Mythras game, where the players are colonists, explorers, and security for the last of humanity aboard a giant ark ship. It's been a fun game with a new system for all of us. We're still getting used to how Mythras does things and keeping track of things like special effects, hit location, luck points, and action points. But I feel it's made a much more meaning game with how it does combat. And I really enjoy the more skill based system as opposed to class and levels.

One of the things I like is the way they do spaceships. Everything is bought in modules and most of the actual cosmetic design is left up to the GM and players. I personally made the ships similar to Traveller with a bit of tweaking and math here and there, but kept it lower tech. Like something from Orbital 2100. No fusion drives, no FTL, no artificial gravity. It means travelling to the different planets in the new star system can take a little longer in game, but it gives the players some time for their characters to do their own things. One is building battle droids and researching a fusion drive they found. Another is focused on making their weapons better. And now that their colony is close to up and running, there can be more human interaction for them (since near everyone is in cryo stasis).

The game is a huge kit bash of sci fi rules systems (and one fantasy!). The base is M-Space and Mythras, with more and more from Mythras coming into play as we learn the rules more. For the creation of solar systems and planets, I ended up using Mindjammer and Traveller, with an extended table for creating gas dwarfs, ice giants, and gas giants. Much of that comes from Freelance Traveller's article about gas giants, because so much has changed since Book 6: Scouts was published. Mindjammer has some extended stats for planets, like temperature, gravity, and radius that I honestly like for flavor and world-building.

With the colony coming close to running, I've turned to the OSR for this. Stars Without Number has a supplement called Suns of Gold, which details a cool systems for running colonial holdings. In addition, there is Adventurer, Conqueror, King, which has a very robust set of rules for domain holdings, population growth, armies, and taxes. I've done a bit of massaging between the two and have a system that does the best of both systems. It's a bit simpler than ACKS, but unlike SoG, it has more of the land holdings and resource harvesting to get more raw materials for the colony. The colony starts with 5000 people, and the goal is to hit 100,000 citizens so that it can become self-sustaining. This is more of a side game, played in-between sessions throughout the week. And really, only for those interested in that style of game.

We are very close to beginning that, and I think one of the best things I like about the colonial game is that the players can see real, tangible results in a world with little law and order set up. And I think that's why they've really enjoyed the game so far. It's been a real pleasure.

Twenty Parsecs: The Setting in Broad Strokes

Was thinking a bit more on yesterday's article a bit more. I feel I should amend something. I guess while I love just about all sci-fi, it's space opera that really does it for me, alongside spacefaring hard sci fi. Military sci fi doesn't do it for me much anymore, but I partially blame its overabundance. It is a common theme since in many ways, that would be the future equivalent of the D&D adventurer. Can't really blame it honestly, since it really works. And, any time I say the word 'space marine', I get a litany of Warhammer 40k quotes about burning heretics and never suffering xenos. Gets old hat quickly. Cyberpunk is a mixed bag for me, though I love some of its tropes appearing in some Transhuman fiction. 

So, Twenty Parsecs. How do I imagine it? I'd like to subvert a lot of the expected tropes used in sci fi. First thing, no colonies vs homeworld. At least, not at the beginning and not as the main focus. I've seen enough Expanse and Gundam to last a lifetime, so I don't feel the need to do a spacer revolution for this. Rather, I want this to be about two cultures, separated by the vast gulfs of space and time for centuries, reconnecting and the trials and tribulations that come from it.

The first is the Commonwealth of Free Planets, a confederation of five core human worlds that exist 20+parsecs away from Earth. Each one was part of a generation ship many centuries ago, though most of the common folk have long forgotten that past. The planets have been united under a common lineage but have, over the years, changed enemies and allies alike, like squabbling siblings. Still, they get along enough with themselves and their alien neighbors these days. Many of the survival protocols set from the onset of the colonization program almost a millennium ago have become almost doctrine. Survive, reproduce, build, adapt. The planets have, until recently, looked inwards to ensure their own survival, but the last couple of decades have seen them finally branching out beyond their cluster.

Then there is the Republic of the Earth Cluster. Like the Commonwealth, the Republic is made up of several core worlds in the Local Star Cluster, but much more united under a representative democracy. With their own history has been several eras of war, peace, and a futile attempt at keeping an interstellar empire centered on Earth. Now, Earth keeps a light touch on its outer colonies, though still remains the capital and in charge of their Republic. Unlike the Commonwealth, Earth has yet to find sapient life forms. In many ways, this gives them a more humanocentric view on the galaxy when compared to the Free Planets, who regularly trade with, befriend, and make war (or love) with aliens. 

There will definitely be more culture shock differences as I flesh them out, but I think the key adventures would lean more on social intrigue and on planet adventures. I'm not too keen on wilderness exploration as a major focus, only because my current game is already all about exploration. Plenty of room for city and spaceport adventures for the players. Of course, I'd like to have a main conflict in the setting, as a sort of metaplot I can fall back on when the more episodic adventures run their course. Maybe most or all the players are all Earthlings that are the first to enter Free Planet space. This would allow them to rub shoulders with the leadership of the Free Planets while still able to have adventures with the common folk. I'll have to think about it a lot more.

Sci Fi Setting Idea

For as long as I can remember, I've always loved sci fi. Books, movies, video games, and RPGs. While my desire to play or run in a fantasy, superhero, or other RPG game has always waxed and waned over the months, I'm always in the mood to run or play some sci fi. There's just something about exploring new worlds, encountering new aliens, and dealing with new technologies and cultures that has always spurred my imagination.

I'm currently running an M-Space colonial game, where the players are on an ark colonizing a hostile new world to ensure the survival of humanity. It's been a fun and interesting ride, and I've been blessed by some of the best players a GM could ask for. Still, I always like to brainstorm new ideas for future campaigns, especially with the Microscope game I wish to do, and this is one that I've thought about a bit. Here is one.

Twenty Parsecs

Humanity has, through the use of slow generation ship, colonized many of the planets outside of the Local Interstellar Cloud. Through long gulfs of space and time, they have lost contact with Earth, their homeworld simply becoming the place of legends and folklore. That is, until recently, when a space exploration vessel has crashed on the rim world Morning. The locals have discovered a real, bona-fide Earthling in their midst. What happens to Morning and the other colonies when this discovery is made? And is this the only Earthling that made it, or simply the vanguard of a larger force?

The name comes from Asimov, who calculated that at 20 parsecs, you can no long see the Sun in the night sky. The idea behind this is a political and locale adventure where the world as the players know it is being turned upside down. Earth, the fabled cradle of humanity, is real, and this is something that can shake the very foundation of the Union of Free Planets. Some may accept them with a cautious curiosity, while others may see the explorer(s) as a threat to their identity and independence. Whether or not the Earthlings come in peace, I haven't decided. I like the idea of keeping them mysterious and different, as it will have been several centuries since humans left Earth. I prefer a bit more of an optimistic theme for this campaign, but with the lingering fear of an unknown friend or enemy. I haven't decided on whether there are aliens here or not, but if there are, I prefer them to be crazy lifeforms, not humans with different ears and foreheads. I'd probably stick with M-Space/Mythras combined, with some elements of Traveller/Cepheus Engine thrown in there. Though I have been tempted to go back to Traveller for nostalgia sake.

There are other ideas I have for settings that would be fun, but I'll detail them another time.

Continuing a Solo Microscope

I'm getting into my work week now, and since I have the house alone to myself, it means I'll be fairly busy with work and housework for the next week. That means it'll be hard to really get into a game of Microscope until at least Sunday. Luckily, that should give me some time to sit down and figure out what I want from this.

So first, the "players".

I'm thinking about making four players, each one representing a different facet of making a history. They are the following"

Player 1 "The General": The general loves military history and battles. They are more likely to create scenes about war, whether it's the actual battles or the time leading up to or following a war.

Player 2 "The Politician": The politician loves social intrigue of leadership. Economics and trade, real politik, and Machiavellian machinations suit them well.

Player 3 "The Zeitgeist": The zeitgeist loves cultural movements, scientific innovation, and philosophical dialogue. Many of their scenes will be about advancements or regression in science, the arts, and reason.

Player 4 "The Explorer": The explorer loves the frontier and discovery. Scenes by the explorer include the discovery of new worlds and cultures, or lands of plenty.

These four players should be enough to do a good game of Microscope. What I plan to do is to use an oracle like GMA deck or Tangent Zero's Dice and interpret the icons in a way that would fit what each player would do. While it's still going to be biased towards my thinking, the random icons should inject a form of chaos to make the histories varied while keeping them coherent. I'll also have the standard Yes/No, And/But, Twist! dice for basic stuff.

The only thing I'm not sure how to model is the concept of Pushing a different idea. Obviously, it's kind of hard to push an idea or vote for one when I'm ultimately the only person doing it. I've thought about maybe having a d6 I roll for an idea Push if it hands on a 1, and adding +1 to it if it doesn't land on a one. But I'm curious how others would model someone pushing. 

A lot of this will really take putting myself into the minds of the four players above. I tend to be more of the Explorer myself, so that one will be the easiest. The Politician might be the hardest for me to grok. 

If anyone has more advice for running something like this and setting it up, I'd love to hear about it!

Thought for the Day: Supers Setting

Many don't know this, but the current solo superhero game I'm running is based out of an old setting I've run for over a decade. It started with my first time GMing a non-D&D game, HERO System. From there, it has changed to different systems and has been tweaked here and there, from Savage Worlds to the recent ICONS. It can be hard to keep track of changes to your heroes and villains and making them as close to their original concept as possible. And while I've sadly been unable to run a lot of games in the setting until recent, it's been really enjoyable when I have. Also, it's good to have different settings on retainer, just in case you get players that want to do something different from fantasy gaming.

My setting is very inspired by Watchmen, moreso in its timeline than tone. In the setting, I made a conscious decision to have heroes around for centuries, with the more superpowered ones coming out during WW2. Most of the history isn't detailed, but it follows what one would see in comics throughout the decades. I'd probably advance technology much more, much like they did in Watchmen. In there, you had an 80's New York with widespread electric cars and other stuff that you wouldn't see for decades. But also, the setting I have is of its time. There is social media, smartphones, and the internet. And I like taking advantage of that, with heroes having Twitter meltdowns or Facebook fan pages and things like that. 

This is where my game comes in. Another specific choice I made for my game was to have it as a school style game in the vein of X-Men, Young Justice, or My Hero Academia (which may have had a lot to do with this choice). However, I wanted to avoid using teenagers. Why? Truthfully, I don't really have an interest in roleplaying teen angst and romance. I already lived it many many years ago so I don't want to play a hormone-ridden teen boy. I think I have more in common with the college goer, especially since I recently graduated from my second attempt at school last year. And I picked community college because at least from what I've seen from people, there is this negative bias against it. Many people look down on those that go, so community college students make the best underdogs. And everyone loves an underdog overcoming adversity story! So instead of teenagers rebelling against adults and figuring out what their bodies do, now they are young adults that have 'failed' being 'proper adults' and are now figuring out what they are doing with the rest of their lives. Which resonates more with me. 

The place is set in Miami for three reasons. One, I lived near their for a couple of years while going to culinary school, so I know about it more than other cities. Two, it's the only big city I've ever lived in. Before that, Charleston, SC and Orlando FL would be the biggest cities I'd ever visit on a weekly basis, so it was a big culture shock to me. And three, I don't think there are any big superhero teams in Miami. New York is teeming with superheroes and villains, and Los Angeles and San Franscico have a decent amount. But there is no love for the Magic City.

So in this setting, Miami is in the last decade getting a huge influx of 'snowbirds', villains from New York that are tired of dealing with all of the heroes and rival villains up there. Looking for more space and less heroes, they come down to Miami to find their fortune in a much warmer climate. Now Miami has its own government super team (The Magic City Defenders, another game I ran a couple of years ago) as well as a new super community college. And that's where our story begins. Imagine Community meets X-Men for a superhero team of the new millennium. At least, that's what I'm hoping for. 

Solo Supers Aftermath: My Thoughts

So while this wasn't my first foray into solo gaming, it was the first one where I didn't use a pre-made adventure. That would be my Mythras game, which I will eventually finish writing up. However, doing the super hero community college was a fun romp with some good stuff and some concerns for my next session. For those who want to read them, they are here and here.

NPCs

So one thing I did a lot of in the first session was the creation of NPCs. Obviously, with NPCs comes the need to stat them. However, when I just create one on the fly and I need stats for them, I tend to take a while to get them up. And with something like a superhero school, there are a lot of NPC students and teachers that I'll need. So it's slowed down my solo game a bit when I'm trying to get some quick stats for my NPC heroes and villains. For random NPCs, I don't mind just rolling a simple Yes/No; And/But roll when they need to do something, but if it's a main villain or hero, I'd like some tangible stats for them. I wonder if there is some middle ground to do with this? Luckily ICONS's random attribute level table does a quick job of this. Still, I may need some sort of compromise with this to get something fast enough but still crunchy enough for a main villain. Perhaps combining the oracle I have (Game Master's Apprentice Deck) with the random power tables of ICONS. 

Speed

That brings me another thing. Sadly, I don't have a lot of time, with work, house stuff, and GMing an M-Space game on Wednesdays. So I generally only have an hour or two to really game on my own. I've done a lot to streamline my game since the Mythras one, and the simplicity of ICONS makes it run by quickly. However, I have come up to some obstacles that do slow down the flow of the game. Creating NPCs on the fly for a scene can take awhile, especially for action packed comic book fights with multiple people duking it out. Other stuff includes looking up how powers work in ICONS. While the conflict resolution system in the game is very simple, looking up what all the different powers do takes awhile. Gravity Control and Probability Control are two that came up in a recent session that took me a bit to understand. Also, the powers are very vague on their ranges and duration. Is gravity control concentration? I don't know, it's very unclear and frustrating and I wish the powers were written better. Also, despite my familiarity with FATE, it can still be hard for me to grok things like tapping Advantages and Troubles. That requires me simply reading a bit more and playing more I think.

Lack of Focus

This one is more on me rather than solo rpgs in general. Because there isn't a group of people to engage with, I find that sitting down for more than ten minutes causes me to lose focus. This is especially true if I'm gaming at my computer. I do use Evernote for my notes and most of my rules are in PDF form. However I may have to bite the bullet and simply disconnect my ethernet cable so I won't be distracted. Sitting down for a long period of time without a lot of stimuli has always been difficult for me, and starting to do it is even harder. I tend to procrastinate it a lot more than playing with people. It's why I find that I can make it a bit easier by just writing what happened in the last session. It puts me in a more engaged mode, but man, it can be hard to keep that focus. 

Advice?

So for those of you that have a lot of experience with Solo RPGs and/or ICONS, I'd love to hear from you on how you solve a lot of these issues. Especially the 'lack of focus' for me. I enjoy these solo sessions, but I definitely want to make them better experiences.

Hero Southern Community Solo Session #1: School is in Session!

Below is the first half of my solo ICONS session I did the other night. Because of work and house stuff, I unfortunately have to break the summary down into two halves. Tomorrow I have the day off so I can do more with the blog. Apologies again.

For this, I used 3d6 for my basic GM, where the first is Yes/No, the second is And/But/Neutral, and the third is a Twist die. In addition, I use the GM Apprentice cards for more extensive answers. For rolling up NPCs, I have some of Ennead Games's superhero kits to roll up any superhero teacher that I need. As for ICONS, the only modification I've made is that I'm going with their 1d6-1d6 version of rolling. Basically I roll 1d6-1d6+my modifier against the difficulty (or NPC's modifier, if I'm going against them) and try to roll higher. Since I'm the only one rolling, it makes sense for me to do it this way.

Here we go!

*               *               *

We begin our adventure with our 'hero' Raul Montanez getting off the bus and arriving at HSC in the early morning. Plastered on his face are bags under his bloodshot eyes, red from the shots of coladas and 'greenery' he took to ease the anxiety. But today was the day he had been waiting for. While it wasn't any of the big academies, HSC was the closest Raul could get to finally getting his shot at the big time. A shot at being a bona fide superhero. Taking in a deep breath and readjusting his back pack, Raul takes his first steps onto the campus.

Taking in the sights, the campus was fairly normal looking for a supposed superhero school. The buildings were all from the 60's and most had bars over the hurricane windows. The lawn was tall and pot holes littered the roads running through the campus. The buildings were covered with make-shift decorations and homemade banners one would see at grade school orientation. A feeling of dread and regret hit Raul in the pit of his stomach, and he wondered if this was really going to get him into one of the bigger academies.

Do I spot any friendly faces?: Yes And

Just when he was contemplating leaving turning back, Raul spotted two friendly looking people at the bulletin board. They were a guy and a girl, both with pale skin, bright red hair, freckles, and similar enough features that they looked like they were siblings. Raul strolled up to them and tried to break the ice.

"Hey there," he said, voice crackling. "Is this were we get our class assignments?"

The guy smiled a goofy grin and nodded, "Yeah man, they got the listings up here." He scratches his short hair and pointed his thumb at the girl. "Me and my sis are first years, so we're hoping we don't get lost in this hole."

His sister shrugged, "Yeah, last thing I need is to make a wrong turn and run into some homeless guy out of his mind on flakka or some shit." She took a drag from her cigarette.

"By the way, I'm Jordan," she offered her hand out to Raul. "And this rude asshole is my twin brother Alexander. Too cool to introduce us."

"Hey, I'm your older brother!" Alex exclaimed, barely taking his eyes off of his phone.

"By like two minutes!" Jordan said. "You always bring that up like it's supposed to matter!"

"Hah, well it's good to meet you guys," Raul interrupted before their bickering could continue. The three continue talking while walking to their first class, trading stories and info. They live out in Miami Shores and apparently have opposite powers, with Alex being able to control ice and Jordan being able to control fire. They take turns showing off a bit before realizing that they are going to be late for their first class.

Do we have the same homeroom?: Yes But

While they had many of the same heroic courses, Raul failed a bunch of his general studies and is stuck in the remedial courses for math and literature. 

The trio make it into Hero Orientation, where they grab their seats at desks from the Reagan era and wait for the teach. Raul looks around to see a fairly large class. Most of the people have to stand since there aren't enough desks.

Do I spot anyone familiar?: Yes But Twist!

Looking around, Raul spotted a face he had hoped to never see again. A tall, muscular young man with a dark, charcoal skin and a buzz fade hair cut shoots Raul a dirty look and approaches him menacingly.

It was fucking Craig.

"Holy shit!" Craig yelled loudly, "They let YOU in here? Shit man, I think I picked the wrong school to go to. How you living, Soggy?"

"*sigh* Hey CJ..." Raul didn't make eye contact. Craig Jacobs was a childhood friend from when they were in diapers. They used to be close, until Craig hit puberty, got buff, and got in with the cool crowd. Since middle school, CJ has been calling Raul 'Soggy' because when Raul's weather powers appeared, it was in the middle of their middle school dance and soaked everyone in the gym, ruining the dance for the whole school. CJ never let him live it down.

"Man, don't be like that," CJ frowned and firmly pushed Raul's shoulder. "Though I guess if I didn't make any of the good schools, I'd be all cranky too."

"Hey, don't forget CJ, you're also here. Sounds like you didn't do so great either." Raul grew a bit of a backbone, getting tired of CJ poking fun at him

Rolling Will vs Will to insult and get a rise out of CJ: Difficulty 6; 4-4+6=6 Success!

CJ's face turned into a scowl and his body armored up, revealing a metallic coating around his whole body. He looked like a human statue made from iron. CJ made a fist and spoke.

"Listen here, I actually passed my entrance exam unlike you, Soggy. I'm just using this to get REAL experience before getting to the big time. And if you got something to say about that, I'll break your face in."

Before Raul could get up, a short, scrawny kid interposed himself between the two. "C'mon guys," the kid said, "the teacher's here! We can't get expelled on the first day!"

CJ sneered at the two, then took his seat. Raul felt that this probably wasn't the end of it.

"Thanks again. I didn't really want to see where that was going," Raul said.

"No problem. Name's Melvin. It's my first year here too. I can't wait to get this started."

The orientation teacher finally walked into the class room, placing his suitcase on the desk and straightening his tie. Raul and his classmates looked in awe as they realized who it was

Rolled a quick NPC with a weird name, but I liked it and decided to roll with it.

"Hello class, I'm Galactic Arm," he said, fixing his mask a bit. He was wearing a normal suit, but still had his mask over his face. "You can just call me Mr. Arm. I'll be your orientation teacher this term."

Galactic Arm was a fairly popular super hero in the day. His right arm was imbued with the powers of the cosmos, and it glowed like a star-studded nebulae. Arm could heal people with it, or launch cosmic blasts with it.

Is he friendly?: Yes And Twist!

"In this course, we'll be discussing the basics of applying your super powers to help others," his smile shone through his mask and one could sense the energy and desire to do good in his voice. "Being a super hero is more than about fighting the bad guys. It's about stopping crime and rescuing innocents. Expecting the unexpected."

Mr. Arm fiddled with some keys in his pant pocket, "And speaking of unexpected, we have a pop quiz for you all. I think you'll like it. Follow me."

The class groaned as they were led to the campus gym. It was the largest and newest building on the campus, capable of housing all kinds of crazy scenarios to test the students on proper rescue procedure. On the way to the gym, Raul and Melvin hooked back up with Alex and Jordan. Melvin spent the walk chattering about his life and powers. His powers included wall climbing, minor leaping, and giving people rashes with his bites. Apparently, Melvin had barely passed his entrance exam, but most of the academies didn't accept him. Most felt his powers simply weren't enough to handle fighting crime, which left Melvin no choice but to enroll in HSC and try to get in that way. Raul felt bad for the poor kid, since he himself wasn't able to pass the power control portion of his exam. Still, there was a sort of camaraderie of taking this last ditch effort to become a superhero.

As the class entered the gym, they are greeted by a gruff old man wearing a Navy inspired outfit with a giant hammer tattooed on his left arm

"Alright kiddos," he said menacingly, "I'm Admiral Hammer and I'm going to be in charge of making sure you all don't die out there on the streets." Hammer was a super strong brick that could swim through water like a torpedo. Raul didn't know much about him beyond that, except that he's been around since the 80's.

"Out there in the real world, villains, criminals, and Mother Nature won't give two shits whether you're too tired or not ready to deal with the day. When disaster hits, you need to be prepared to hit back, twice as hard. So put on yer big kid pants and get in line. We need to see what you can do first."

Hammer pointed to a circle in the dirt and explained that they had to use their powers to launch a baseball as far as possible. Anything went, but the only rule is that they have to stay in the circle.

CJ was the first up, and he transformed into his metallic form. He wound up for the pitch and launched the ball several hundred feet away. The class was impressed and it even caught the attention of Hammer.

"That was some fine throwing, Mr. Jacobs," Hammer nodded at the proud young man. "Mr. Montanez, you're next!"

As Raul walked to the circle, he went passed CJ. CJ bumped his shoulder into Raul on purpose, "Beat that Soggy."

Raul tried to calm his nerves and cupped his hands in front of him with the ball inside. The wind around his hands began to twist and turn, faster and faster until it created a small, horizontal cyclone.

Roll my Wind Blast against a Difficulty 4 to land a good score and Difficulty 8 to beat CJ's score: 4-1+6=9; Moderate Success!

Raul levitated the ball in the twister and launched it like a missile. The ball went passed CJ's marker by a decent enough margin. Raul turned to see Craig's disgruntled face scrunched up. It was worth it just for that, Raul thought.

"Ah, so we got ourselves a weather wizard here, eh?" Hammer looked sufficiently impressed, "Here's hoping you don't kill anyone with that power." Despite his laughing, no one could tell if he was serious or not.

Does anyone beat our score?: No And Twist!

I actually drew a GMA card for this one and got Significant Obstacle of Conflict in a Different Area.

No one is able to beat our score, though many come close. Alex came in last, as he couldn't think of a way to use his ice powers to launch the ball far. Jordan blasted the ball like a rocket and it reached a good football field's length before burning away. With the ball launch done, Hammer spoke.

"Now that we are done with that, it's time for the second part of your test. We've seen your powers, but now we have to see what YOU are made of with a little simulation the teachers came up with." Hammer motioned for the class to follow him.

What's in store for the students? Will Raul's and CJ's rivalry heat up too much and boil over? Will they all survive their first term in HSC? We'll find out next time!

Solo Supers Sandbox Character: Raul Montanez

For my solo game, I have decided to go with ICONS for now. Guardians actually looked really interesting and I may give that a run for a different game. But for now, I'll stick with what's somewhat familiar to me, even if it is FATE based.

Anyways, the elevator pitch of the solo game setting:

"It is 2017 and the world has had superheroes for over a century. Great people with incredible powers that perform mighty feats of heroism patrol the cities of Earth, protecting up from those that would do harm. But all superheroes, especially new ones, have to learn and train from somewhere. There are many great academies to train young adults in the career of superhero.  

This is not one of those academies.

For those that didn't make the grades, have the money, or pass the entrance test, but still want to try to help, there are several community colleges that can pick you up. And that's where our story begins, with a young Miami native named Raul Montanez. He enrolls into Hero Southern Community in Miami, looking to get into the world of superheroes, no matter what it takes."

Here is the character sheet:

Raul Montanez

Origin: Birthright

Attributes

Prowess: 5

Awareness:2

Coordination: 4

Strength: 6

Intelligence: 7

Will: 6

DP: 3

Stamina: 12

Powers

Elemental Control (Weather): Limit (Concentration; +1 DP); 6

Flight (Windrunning): 5

Blast (Hailstorm Blast): 5+1

Reflection (Wind Shear Shield): Limit (Kinetic Only; +2 Power Level); 6

Specialties

Mental Resist: +1

Power (Blast): +1

Qualities

Force of Nature

When it Rains... it Pours!

Raul is a third generation Cuban-American born and raised in Hialeah. He's the first person in his family to manifest a super power, with the ability to control the weather. Raul tried for the Standardized Hero Assessment Exam to get into the big schools, but a lack of control in his power and inability to pay for school meant that he had to go to community college to make his dream come true.

He's 18 and somewhat chunky with a tan complexion and short, curly black hair. A bit on the shorter side.

That's all I have time for today. Long shift at the restaurant, so not much time otherwise. ICONS should be an interesting fit to play. I'll also explain later why I went with college student as opposed to teenage academy like Teen Titans or X-Men.

Musing on Solo Supers

Firstly, a big thank you to +MoonSylver for their huge repository of superhero sandbox links. It's been pretty awesome to sift through this treasure trove of good ideas to get things set up on my end. So, many thanks to Moon.

With that in mind, I have a simplified patrol table for ease of use in the middle of a game. I'm going to be using Alien Shores's table, but paired down to just using a d10. I thought about having different odds of certain crimes depending on the area (industrial vs commercial, slums vs ritzy) but from reading tons and tons of comics, crime of any type can really happen anywhere. And plus, this is more going to be for fast use in the middle of a game, whether it's a solo game or with a group of friends. I am considering a drop-down dice table, but we'll see what time permits. Working at a restaurant next to a movie theater in the summertime means my time is very very limited.

That all said, I haven't quite decided on what to use as a system. I'm going between ICONS, Guardians, and now Supers!, which I hear is really good. ICONS seems good but I just don't like FATE all that much. Guardians is OSR and more familiar to me but seems more limited. Supers! I don't have, and looks really unfamiliar to me, so it'll take time to learn it. I'm down for trying anything new though.

A Solo Superhero Sandbox Scenario?

Switching gears from constant sci-fi and M-Space stuff, lately I've been in the mood for superhero gaming. I blame binge watching Flash season 3 and My Hero Academia with the lady friend. But I don't really want to cancel my M-Space game. So I've decided to try my hand at solo gaming again and do a superhero solo game.

Right now, I'm waffling between using ICONS, a simple hero game reminiscent of FATE done by the Mutants and Masterminds guy, and Guardians, an OSR clone done more in the style of super heroes rather than fantasy. I've played ICONS and liked it, but I also like trying new things and am looking at Guardians. I am looking to keep it simple for ease of solo play, so anything in that style can fit.

I'm going to be taking my notes from a superhero campaign I ran a couple of years ago called Magic City Defenders. In it, I had the players as Miami's first premiere superhero group. There's a map of the different sections of Miami (Overtown, Brickell, Wynwood, etc) that I had planned to use as a sort of patrolling 'hexcrawl'. Basically, the players would patrol a different borough and I would roll a random crime encounter table. The difference between this and fantasy games though is that something would always happen. It was just a matter of how important it was. More often then not, it would be simple stuff like muggings or car jacking, but every so often, there would be a bigger supervillain event that the players would have to contend with. The map of the neighborhoods is below for anyone interested

So with this, I plan on taking those notes and applying them to this superhero solo game. Luckily, ICONS has a fairly robust adventure generator that I can use, even if I use Guardians or some other game. In addition, I have a great catalog of villains from all kinds of systems, from HERO and M&M to ICONS and Savage Worlds. I think I'll have enough to go off of for a good solo campaign. I think I'll start with a premade adventure at first, to get my sea legs again with solo gaming. After that, I'll do more of my own adventuring.

My biggest enemy is time, or lack thereof. With summer here and working at a restaurant next to a movie theater, there is no slow season. People flock to our kitchen while on their way to the next summer blockbuster. And this week is the premier of Spider Man so... it will be a difficult time to say the least. That's partially why my Mythras solo adventure write had been put on hold (the other being bed bugs). I'll have to finish that sooner rather than later.

I think I'll decide on which RPG to use by tonight, though I'm always down to try new games out there. I'm leaning towards ICONS since I've played it before, but Guardians looks like a lot of fun. And I am more familiar with d20 systems. Also I'll post my hero at some point, before I get to the adventure.

GMing Challenge: Non-Sapient Wilderness Encounters

The last couple of months has seen me running a really fun sci fi game where the players are part of an expeditionary force going planetside to explore and colonize a lush but dangerous garden world. This is to ensure the survival of a dying human race, suffering from a shattered moon that has made the Earth unlivable for humanity. It's inspired by media such as Interstellar, Mass Effect: Andromeda, and Alpha Centauri/Civ: Beyond Earth. 

So this has been my sci-fi, planet-focuses hex crawl that I have been running. The maps are bigger because the players have an all-terrain, and there are lasers and such, but essentially, it's a good little excursion into surviving a deadly and alien wilderness. Because this is a brand new world that is mostly untouched by civilization (more on that another time), one of the biggest challenges I imposed on myself was to have wilderness encounters that didn't involve ancient ruins, forts, or dungeons. Essentially, nothing built by a sapient species, except for certain things that fit the metaplot of the game (for example, crashed resources pods launched ahead of their expedition). I wanted to make all of the encounters based on the xenowildlife on the planet and showcase a world virtually untouched by advanced civilization.

This proved to be incredibly difficult.

Wilderness encounters were much more limited to either finding evidence of an animal, encountering it, then fight or flight. While there has been some variation here and there, many of the encounters have felt the same sadly. And without intelligent, sapient aliens, there isn't too much in the way of role-playing opportunities. To my players' credit, they have spent a lot of time taming the animals in the wild rather than killing them. But I can really only get so much mileage out of throwing an animal-of-the-week at them and exploration of forests and caves before things get boring.

One solution I did was to take advantage of the fact that it's an alien planet, so I can get away with crazy, gonzo things for the players to explore. I found that I could write up a dungeon as a ruined keep, but then reflavor it as something natural. For example, the players found a massive mound-like structure with several tunnels throughout it, similar to a termite mound. It was essentially one big dungeon, but it was easy to explain as part of the alien wildlife. Same with having trees that grow rooms, or massive vines that excrete a sap that slows the players, or natural burrows of some trap-door predators. I've gotten pretty adept at making these encounters for the game, though I do have a hankering for adding some kind of alien ruins in the future. 

I'm curious how everyone else would do a game of just wildlife and wilderness adventures, with no dungeons, no ruins, and no sapient creatures and structures.

Solo Gaming Using Mythras Part 3: The Blood Money of Yahina

Here it is, the actual solo adventure where I teach myself how to play Mythras and how to do a solo game. It'll be complete with story, mechanics in italics, and my thoughts on how I did, what I liked, and what I'd change. If you want to know the set up, here are the first two parts here and here that detail the setup.

The Cast

Mucario: The main solo character, a Sulano fisherman with some fighting and casting skill
Ana: One of the pregen characters, she's a tan Okulek warrior trained in the spear and shield
Kara: Another pregen, she is the sister of Ana and a priestess of Amuzencab, goddess of medicine and community
Kju: The last pregen, he is a nomadic brave from the plains of the northern continent looking to make his fortune
Captain Abraham Spalding: The captain of the ship Kayaben, looking to break the Curse of 65 Coins

Act 1: Revelations and Superstitions

Day 13 of Alexan of Her Holiness's Course

We begin aboard the Kayaben, a large carrack cutting through the clear blue sea, sailing towards the island of Yahina. The island has a cursed past, where the village on it was raised to the ground years ago during the Great Island War. Most of the natives and colonists believe that the spirits of those murdered years ago haunt the land, hunting and devouring any that land on the shores. Most boats avoid the island at all costs, wishing not to anger the ghosts or be reminded of the terrible war.

I rolled a Locale on this and got a critical. Mucario has heard of the stories behind Yahina and is rightfully nervous, yet excited, about going to the island.

While Mucario and his compatriots were told of the destination by Captain Spalding, the rest of the crew were kept in the dark about it. Spalding finally reveals the destination of the Kayaben about three days out, and the crew are none too pleased. Whispers of cannibalism and angry spirits fill the decks until three sailors decide they have had enough and try to stage a mutiny.

The bodyguards are near Abraham when three sailors approach him with clubs. "We are turning this boat around, whether you like it or not cap'n," one of the wind beaten shiphands says.

Mucario tries his best to reason with the mutineers, but the older and exhausted sailors brush past the naive boy and attack the captain.

Mucario tried to roll Influence to dissuade the mutineers from fighting, but with only an 18%, he fails it spectacularly and is ignored for not knowing what he's talking about.

The first two sailors try to beat down on the captain, but only one is able to land a solid hit on Spalding's right arm. Mucario, frustrated with being ignored, loses his temper and strikes at one of the soldiers. His spear lands true and slices the shiphands's ear clean off. The pain is unyielding and the blood gushes from the wound as the sailor cries out.

"Back away from Abraham, or it'll be your other ear next!" Mucario shouts, hoping the sailor finally takes him seriously. The man balls up, clutching his severed ear, and yields to the adolescent.

Mucario got a lucky critical against a failed parry. Mucario went for Scar Foe and Compel Surrender, and did enough damage against the head to bring it to a Serious Wound. The sailor can't attack for 3 rounds and further more, he failed his Willpower Roll and now capitulates against the teen warrior.

Kju joins in the fight, firing an arrow at another sailor, but his bolt flies passed the man's shoulder and into the mast. 

"Dammit!", the proud brave mutters under his breath. He can't let the younger fisherman outshine him.

The remaining two sailors become furious at the maiming of their friend, and realizing the youth meant business. turn their attention to Mucario, They try to get past the range of the spear and within reach of Mucario, but are unable to keep up with Mucario.

"You'll have to do better than that if you want to hit me!" Mucario taunts the men

The two sailors flat out fail their Close Range action and Mucario doesn't spend an Action Point to press the advantage.

Ana moves up to one of the sailors and prepares to strike. Mucario finds a great energy from the adrenaline rush and presses his luck, attacking the next sailor. His spear lands on the chest of the second sailor, but the blow was softened enough that it only bruised the hardened sailor.

"You don't know what you are doing, kid!" The sailor shouts at the fisherboy. "This island will kill us all if we land there! No amount of money is worth that!"

Mucario landed another spear blow, but this time the sailor was able to succeed in blocking it. He parries it for half damage, then his armor brings the damage down from 4 to 1.

With the melee slowing becoming a bloodbath, Captain Spalding tries to talk some sense into his crew.

"You may or may not lose your lives on the island lads, but you will surely lose it here if you keep fighting. Lay your arms down and you will be spared a mutineer's death!"

Seeing no other course of action, the sailors drop their clubs and capitulate, not wanting to be keelhauled.

"Old man, you know nothing of the old ways," one of the sailors shouts as he is being shackled by Ana and Mucario. "Your greed will be the death of us all, mark my words!"

"I know of the cruelty and terror of your old ways... more than you'll ever know," Abraham's mind wanders for a brief moment before he shouts at the rest of the crew. "Take these traitors down below and keep them there until we leave Yahina. Anyone else that has a problem with this can join them in the brig!"

After dealing with the three traitors, Captain Spalding turns to Mucario.

"I'm grateful I didn't make a poor decision in hiring you," the captain chuckles a bit. "You're not half bad with the spear, though I hope to see it done to the ghosts on Yahina next time..."

"I hope we don't end up running into any of the dark spirits there," Mucario says with a nervous laugh. "Why are we going to Yahina? There hasn't been anything there in decades."

Captain Spalding's demeanor becomes more serious, "It is not the shield's place to ask why, but to protect. I am grateful for your service, but you need to remember your place in this world, boy." Abraham storms off, leaving behind a bewildered Mucario.

End of Act 1

My thoughts

This was my first combat in Mythras, despite running M Space. A bit more complicated since I am using melee weapons with Size and Reach, rather than ranged weapons that don't really need to worry about such things. It took me a bit to get through this first combat, though I'm happy to say that it gets faster as the adventure continues. At least until I get to magic.

Writing these are turning out to be another hard task all together. Between my inability to focus and people interrupting me at every chance, it definitely took me longer to get this written up than I had hoped. Ended up having to break it up into different acts, so I'll be sure to post more of this in the coming weekend.

Solo Gaming Using Mythras Part 2: The Character and the Oracle

Yesterday was all about the setting and system. Today, you'll get to see the character and the oracle, as well as get some good background on some of the cultures in Anacaona.

Mucario, the Young Fisherman

Mucario is the character I'm running in my solo Mythras game. He fifteen years old and is a short, lithe young man at 5'4" and 103 pounds. His skin and eyes are a dark brown and his wind beaten hair is wavy and wild, covering his ears but not quite to his shoulders. Personality-wise, he was born under the Bat star sign with an ascendant Carrack sign, so Mucario is clever and wary, but has the demeanor of a driven and reckless youth. The personality chart I use is one I've made, linking the world's zodiac to different personalities. You roll twice, once for the main personality traits (the sign you were born under) and once for their demeanor (the ascendant sign on the east horizon), the mask they put on for the outside world. I'll have to post these one day.

One thing veterans of Mythras will notice is that despite Mucario being a sorcerer, he doesn't have the Shaping skill. I decided that since he is still a teenager, he hasn't quite mastered all of the ins and outs of sorcery. So while he learned two spells, he has no idea how to master them and change them. One of the rewards I plan for him is to find a tutor to teach him more about shaping. Maybe even join the ranks of the legendary mages in the Bulgaoya, an ancient college of sorcerers in the floating capital of Locanigua, Uraya.

Here is his bio:

"Mucario is a young Sulano native from the shattered island chain of Locanigua. Like his forefathers, he is a nomadic fisherman that travels between the small islands, trawling for sea creatures aboard small canoes and living in semi-permanent shelters on the islands during the hurricane season. Mucario is an only child, living with a single father named Guabano, but a huge extended family of aunts, uncles, and cousins. His mother was killed by the Blood Phage at the end of the war 6 years ago, so he has been raised by his father and his mother's eldest brother, Suyono. While Guabano has shown Mucario the family trade of fishing, Suyono has taught the lad about fighting with a fishing spear and shield to defend against pirates and slavers, an all too common hazard in Anacaona. 

When Mucario was 11, he fished up a set of protected scrolls. Instead of discarding them, curiosity took over and the young fisherman opened them. He revealed them to be a series of sorcery scrolls that showed how to cast two spells in the Spirit of the Ocean School of Magic. It took months of learning, but Mucario learned to cast Might of Waves and Call Lak-Lak, a friendly water elemental that can heal and entertain the lonely trawler. Despite knowing basic magic, Mucario never learned how to shape and enhance his cantrips and hopes to find a tutor that can show him how. 

Mucario enters his fifteenth year and passed through his rites into manhood. Tired of life as a fisherman and consumed with a desire to both fight barbary and learn more magic, Mucario took his canoe, some of his uncle's old armor, and left to make a name for himself as an adventurer. Patient and thoughtful, but naive and innocent, Mucario sailed to the harbor city of Puerto Oro and took a job as a bodyguard to a Captain Abraham Spalding of the carrrack Fortune. The pay seems good and a merchant like Spalding should have some good connections to the arcane tutors of the islands."

And his stats

Mucario

Nomadic Free Fisherman

                                                                                      AP/HP
STR: 12       Action Points: 3                 1–3 Right Leg 0/4
CON: 10      Damage Modifier: +0        4–6 Left Leg 0/4
SIZ: 10        Magic Points: 13                7–9 Abdomen 0/5
DEX: 13      Movement: 6 metres         10–12 Chest 3/6
INT: 13        Initiative: +13                   13–15 Right Arm 0/3
POW: 13      Armour: Linen Armor      16–18 Left Arm 0/3
CHA: 9                                                  19–20 Head 3/4

Skills:
Standard: 

Athletics 45%, Boating 42%, Brawn 32%, Conceal 26%, Customs 26%, Dance 22%, Deceit 22%, Drive 26%, Endurance 50%, Evade 36%, First Aid 31%, Influence 18%, Insight 26%, Locale 31%, Perception 56%, Ride 26%, Sing 22%, Stealth 41%, Swim 32%, Unarmed 25%, Willpower 36%

Professional:
Lore (Trawling) 41%, Musician (Wind) 27%, Navigation 61%, Seamanship 33%, Survival 43%

Magic:
Sorcery: Invocation 36%; Spells (Enhance Strength, Summon Water Elemental)

Combat Style: Locinaguan Sea Reaver 45% (Spear/Harpoon, Shield, Dagger, Bow; Excellent Footwork)

Passions:
Hates Injustice 56%, Desires Arcane Knowledge 56%

Weapons:
Spear
Knife
Buckler Shield

Armor:
Linen breastplate and brass helmet

The Oracle

The Oracle I am using is a modified version of the one found at Tiny Solitary Solider's website. I roll 2d6 and 1d3, all different colors. The first d6 is simply Yes and No. Generally it's 50/50, but I change the odds depending on whether I have a good or bad chance of the answer. So sometimes, I'll have a 2/3 chance of a yes or a 1/6 chance of a no. The d3 is And, But, and Neutral. That one stays simple. The last is a twist die, where if I roll a 6, a twist in the scene happens. I either roll for it on his table, or use a tarot card or Tangent Zero's image dice for the twist. Every time I don't roll a 6 on this, I add a cumulative plus 1 to the Twist die until I eventually roll a 6 or higher.

Beyond that, since I'm running a canned adventure, I probably won't edit it too much with twists from tarot cards and Tangent Zero's story cubes. I am looking forward to sharing the adventure later this week.