Thursday, November 22, 2012

Thanksgiving Apocalypse

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving today.  The Seussian City I sketched on the way to the farm, however, did not.  It's kinda hard to draw a straight line in a truck bouncing on gravel roads.


- Ark

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Player Portraits: Kaye

Kaye is the man behind the infamous, and incompetent, wizard Torvalds.  He complained vociferously about the double chin in the picture I drew of him, but like his fake name Kaye, the picture isn't the real him - it's a caricature.  Well, at least that's what I told him.  This is actually, exactly what he looks like - sketch lines included. :)  The grin on his face?  That's the grin that Kaye gets when his character is contemplating genetically building acid dripping xenomorphs that will get out of control and eat the rest of the party.  On accident.  Of course.



- Ark

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Desmond Connors

The Boy's write up of his Stars Without Number character:


Recruit Archive Desmond Connors
Occupation: Military assassin
Height: '5"6
Weight: 150 lbs
Age: 26
Eye color: steely grey
Hair color: Dirty Blonde
I.Q: 143
Bench: 351 lbs

Background: Desmond Connors was born 3175 in the small town of Autumn Springs. At age 5 the Skorpios attacked the countryside he lived in.

He and a few of his quicker friends escaped the fray. They left the area and hunted and gathered for several years before making their way to the big cities.

While there Connors left the group and went to a stealth class. During this harsh time in Connors' life, he made a living as a petty thief, Then quickly realized it was not a "worth-while" career. At age 18 Connors was drafted into the military, and the recruit trainers quickly learned of his skill. He was put in a special unit for stealth ops and climbed the ranks to Petty Officer First Class. Then 7 years after being drafted, he volunteered for the Reprive expedition, where a new adventure awaits him.....

The Boy can draw too.  That's Desmond up there fading away with help from a camo-suit. :)

- Ark

Saturday, November 17, 2012

SWN NPC Profile: Admiral Beringer

Kaye wanted to know some things about the commander in charge of the Void Expeditionary Force in the Redshirt Stars Without Number game.  That would be Admiral Beringer.  He looks and talks just like General Beringer in the movie Wargames.  Well, as so far as I can imitate Barry Corbin, of course.

McAllen Beringer was born in 3143 CE and raised on the wild island continent of Garuda on Aquila, where his father was a park ranger at the Ganymede National Wildlife Preserve.  He grew up learning to ride horses and the Momma-Long-Legs, a native pack animal, while acting as a tour guide through the region's varied biomes.  He was very involved in helping his father to enforce the park's anti-poaching regulations, tracking and capturing several illegal hunters during his summer months off from school.  He moved to the Aerie, the capital of Aquila Prime, during his last year of high school, and joined the Reserve Officers Training Corp.  After graduation he joined the Aquila Space Navy and went to the Naval Academy on Eagle Eye Station, in orbit above Aquila.

Beringer developed an aptitude for recognizing patterns in data and entered the Communications Corp.  He was assigned to the AUS Hummingbird, a patrol boat in the Ptolemy Wilds that monitored activity in the Atlas system.  He participated in several anti-pirate actions, until the Hummingbird was appropriated by the Naval Intelligence Division for espionage purposes.  The boat did rim dives into the Skorpios held Novikov and Smirnova systems.

This led to the Novikov Incident of 3164, in which two Skorpios patrol boats detected and fired upon the Hummingbird.  The Aquila ship was crippled, but as the Hummingbird was being boarded, the crew killed the Skorpios marines and boarded the enemy ship instead.  Lt. Beringer successfully took over the Skorpios patrol boat's computers, destroyed the Hummingbird with the boat's weapons, and helped the pilot jump the boat safely to Atlas before the other patrol craft could react.  The three survivors were given commendations and Beringer was permanently assigned to the Naval Intelligence Division.

Beringer was then assigned to the Grendel, a free merchant ship secretly owned by the Aquila Navy.  The Grendel plied the spaceways along the Skorpios Cluster, collecting data on ship movements, the construction of the battle station Joseph Stalin around Skorpios held Corvus, and the Skorpios invasion of the Apotelesmatika system.  The latter part of his tour involved running guns to the Almagest rebellion.

He was promoted to Lieutenant Commander on his second tour and took control of the Grendel, continuing to gather intelligence data deep within the Skorpios Empire.  Most of that time was spent setting up a covert base on Smirnova and creating the Smirnova-Harmonics-Almagest Railroad, helping refugees from the war to escape, and sending munitions and supplies to the front. His last official action as an undercover intelligence officer was the sabotage and destruction of the battle station Joseph Stalin around Corvus, which was the first act of the Annihilation War.  The Grendel was destroyed in the escape attempt, and Beringer spent a year on the surface of Corvus, fleeing from Skorpios patrols and radioing troop emplacement data until he could be extracted after the Aquila fleet secured the system.  During his stay, he helped to organize the Witches of Corvus, an indigenous psychic contingent, against Skorpios troops, and they used their powers to help drive the Skorpios away from the planet.

He was then promoted to Commander and put in charge of the Brimstone, a Frigate class warship that was used for long distance intelligence gathering in the Agro system.  Beringer helped lay the groundwork for the Argo Invasion three years later, and then repeated the job six years later with the invasion of Belinski in 3180.  After the front was stabilized, he was promoted to Captain and forcibly assigned a desk job by the Naval Intelligence Division.  Beringer disliked the sedentary life, but did his job as ordered.

With a peace treaty signed in 3182, he worked quietly for Naval Intelligence Division, organizing the intelligence networks.  Over the years, he noticed patterns of movement within the Skorpios Empire and the wilds that disturbed him.  He wrote many reports on what was called the 'System Independence' movement within the Wilds, but his warnings were ignored.  He predicted the formation of the Alliance of Independent States five years before it happened.  But the people of Aquila were tired of war, the Navy lost funding, and complacency set in.

The Peace Movement on Aquila grew so strong that Belinski, then Argo, and finally Corvus were handed back to the Skorpios Empire.  Commodore Beringer had predicted that failure in judgment as well.  He worked hard to create intelligence network throughout the three systems that would survive the hand-over.  Beringer decided to lay low during the Wild Systems independence movement and fallout.  A number of military leaders resigned as Aquila lost the five additional systems in the bloodless coup known as the Alliance of Independent systems. 

In 3197, the Muldoon-Shaw administration was voted into power on Aquila.  One of President General Muldoon's first acts was to promote Beringer, the man who had predicted the loss of eight systems, to Admiral and put him in charge of the newly formed Special Projects Division.  The intent of the Special Projects Division was to, at a minimum, rebalance the strategic power in the Ptomemy sector in favor of Aquila, and ultimately, to complete regime change in the Skorpios Empire.

While marooned on Corvus, Beringer had heard tales of undiscovered caches of military hardware, but could never get any of the top brass interested in the rumors.  With his new authority, he sent covert operatives to Corvus and discovered the rumored bunkers deep underground.  The only problem was that there was no way to covertly reach the bunkers and extract the goodies inside.  

Reluctantly, President General Muldoon ordered a full strike on Corvus, at the request of Beringer.  Caught by surprise, the Skorpios Empire fled to protect the new shipyards at Argos.  With Corvus secured, Beringer and his people located the bunkers and extracted the pretech weaponry.  Regretfully, there wasn't much, but there were enough remaining components to construct a jump-4 spacecraft.  Thus began the Void Expeditionary Force - which officially began when Perimeter Station Nine was destroyed and the AUS Reprieve escaped to Three Sisters.

Admiral Berenger has focused the Special Projects Division on extracting lost technology from the Void sectors.  Once Beachhead Base was established in the Three Sisters system, and additional jump-4 transportation secured, Beringer moved his operations into the Void itself.  He understands that Skorpios has military superiority, better intelligence networks, and more wealth.  Much of the government, and even the military, does not understand how dire the situation is.  Beringer has the weight of the union on his shoulders.

- Ark

Thursday, November 15, 2012

SWN Faction Turns: February 3200

Due to popular demand (Kaye and Bill being popular,) I'll be adding two new new factions, a gang of psychic outlaw misandrist pirates called the Asteroid Witches and a rebellious army of androids called Steel Dawn.  I don't think either faction will like one another, but in case they start acting too chummy, giant snakes will attack everyone and make them nervous and prone to blast anything in view.

I'll add them in the future when it feels right.

Meanwhile, on February 2nd, the Redshirts game started with the Skorpios Empire attacking a secret Aquilan base in an attempt to steal or destroy the high tech spacecraft Reprieve.  The pretech research base, and the attacking fleet, are not really represented in the faction game itself, though they would be powerful assets.  I'm not going to worry about it.  I'll just say that the fleet and the base destroyed one another and that was that.  Accounting is easy when you close your eyes and wave your hands about.

So now, on with the faction game for February, 3200 CE.

Initiative is still using a d4, creating this order of play - the Almagest Rebellion, the Skorpios Empire, the Aquila Union, and the Alliance of Independent Systems.

Almagest Rebellion - The rebellion took a complete trouncing in January, and has little desire to do anything but hide and lick their wounds.  Regretfully, they don't have the resources to hide everyone.  The faction earns 2 FacCreds this turn, and with the 2 they squirreled away last turn, they have a total of 4.  It takes 3 FacCreds to purchase Stealth, and since they have two assets on the ground, one will have to remain exposed.

The rebellion uses the Buy Asset action and decides to spend the FacCreds and stealth their damaged Vanguard Cadre on Almagest.  This leaves their band of Zealots visible, with only one hit point remaining,

NEWS BLURB - On Almagest, the Talus Red Cross - and independent humanitarian group from the Alliance of Independent Systems - reported on February 5th that there was an influx of homeless children seeking shelter at the aide camps in the capital.  PXL News believes that these refugees may be remnants of indigent families that were driven out of the sewers during a violent purge last month.    The Sister Sally Saracen of the Talus Red Cross is asking for donation all across the sector due to this tragic turn of events.  Imperial Skorpios officials refused to comment on the story.

Skorpios Empire - I think I'm going to change the Tag of the Skorpios Empire from Imperialists to Eugenics Cult.  That just fits a lot better with their modus operandi.  I should have stuck with it, as it had been my first, instinctual choice.  Oh well.  So, the empire is feeling plucky since their victories on Almagest and the landing of the stealthed assets on Corvus last month and their hefty bank balance this month of ten FacCreds.  They unleash the dogs of war by selecting the Attack action this turn.

Their first military action is to use the stealthed Treachery asset to attack Corvus.  The treachery asset attacks with Cunning vs. Cunning, but does not do damage.  Instead, on a successful attack, it destroys itself, gives the user 5 additional FacCreds, and changes the ownership of the defending asset to the attacker.  The target is the union's Postech Infantry on Corvus.

The results of the combat are 10+7 vs. 4+4 - thus the empire wins.  The Treachery asset disappears, the empire's bank balance goes to 15 FacCreds, and the empire now owns the infantry.  That is a pretty devastating turn of events for the Aquila Union, who is only left with the Tripwire Cell and the Base of Influence left on Corvus.

Continuing with it's attack, Skorpios turns it's eye on Almagest.  The Zealots are in view, so the Impeiral Posttech Infantry attacks.  (In actuality, the infantry asset attacks the rebellions 'presence' on Almagest, and Almast chooses to defend with the Zealots rather than taking a direct hit to their Base of Influence and end up loosing the hit pints of the very faction itself.  A slight difference in working, but an important one.)

The results of combat are 6+8 vs. 1+3.  Yeah.  The empire wins overwhelmingly.  A d8 produces 6 points of damage, leaving them at a -5 and destroyed.  The rebels' Zealot asset is removed from play.

These events really inspire two separate news blurbs:

NEWS BLURB #1 - DATELINE CORVUS, FEBRUARY 9, 3200.  Residents fled in horror from the capital in the early morning hours as the sounds of fierce fighting erupted from the military base inside of town.  When the dust had settled, the top brass, including General Wallace McKenzie, lay dead in a bloody coup.  Witnesses report soldiers' eye glowing yellow and shooting anything in sight.  Since then, the base has been sealed off and communications blacked out.  "This yellow glow from the eyes and erratic behavior smacks of fungal mind control," Chief Research Scientist Fenrus Lucifer of BioTonics Labs on Aquila said in an interview.  "As we know, Skorpios is home to various fungi that are compatible with human DNA.  It's possible that the Empire has whipped up some sort of elixir that creates . . . fungal zombie armies.  I know that sounds a bit odd - but worse things have happened.  I have suggested to President General Muldoon that we inoculate our entire military force with a new anti-fungal vaccine we have just developed called Defungicin X-12.  BioTonics will be happy to provide the medicine at a reduced rate, of course."

NEWS BLURB #2 - The Talus Red Cross on Almagest is reporting that Skorpios Shock Troops launched a series of blistering assaults on refugee camps between the 12th and 13th of February.  Troops appeared to be targeting homeless children, and were killing them on sight.  Sister Sally Saracen of the Talus Red Cross denounced the attacks, describing them as unwarranted, shameful, and horrific.  Video smuggled out of Skorpios controlled space showed disturbing images of children wired with belts of high explosives hurling themselves at Skorpios Troops, then igniting into bright, orange fireballs.  The Skorpios Government denies any of the events took place and reports that all is calm on Almagest and that production in the rifle factories of Almagest is up sharply.

Aquila Union - This month, the union earns 5 FacCreds.  It is still in Peaceable Kingdom mode, so Aquila needs to avoid launching attacks on any other factions to gain experience points from the goal.  That doesn't stop it from getting it's war machine moving by choosing the Use Asset Ability.

On Aquila, the Postech industry asset is called to action.  The d6  roll results in a 4, indicating that an additional FacCred is earned.  The Venture Capital asset activates, and using the Postech Industry asset as leverage, rolls a d8 for a 6, indicating that another 2 FacCreds are earned, bringing the faction's bank account up to 8 FacCreds.

On Ridgway, Aquila sends its Blockade Runners to the Patton system for 2 FacCreds, with the intention of transporting the Postech Infantry asset located there to Corvus so that they can help defend the capital.

NEWS BLURB - PXL Financial News Update for February 20th, 3200.  Stocks rose for a third straight day today as investors dismissed conflicting reports from Corvus.  "We at MacBeth Trading are very bullish," said CEO Allister MacBeth.  "I whole-heartedly recommend buying into stocks from Yamato Shipyard Industries, the Maximum Defense Company, the LaserStar Weapons Combine, and BioTonics Amalgamated, home of BioTonics Labs.  This week's orders are up tremendously.  The recent downturn due to that Corvus hogwash is just that - hogwash.  Government sources tell me that it's a minor issue.  Assets are being put into play to deal with the situation, and they'll have things straightened out shortly with a minimum of fuss.  Yes, we are bullish on the future."

Alliance of Independent Systems - The Alliance again gains 4 FacCreds and decides to pump it's wealth into building a Base of Influence on Cicada by using the Expand Influence action.  Aquila tries to counter this move, and both factions roll off.  Since the Alliance is using a Surveyor crew, they get an additional roll.  So, it's d10 plus Cunning vs. d10 plus Cunning.  Aquila gets a 10 on the die, plus it's 4 for a 14.  The alliance rolls a 2, plus the 6 cunning, resulting in only an 8.  However, their reroll is an 9, giving them a 15 and a new base on Cicada with 8 hit points.  Aquila does not get to fight back.

NEWS BLURB - On February 25th, Harry Freedonia announced the creation of the School of Native Unity on Cicada.  "The Inland Relation Office is a serious threat to the well-being of the native Klakker community on Cicada," Mr. Freedonia said at a press conference.  "Governor Vidalia would get the peaceful race hooked on F-3000c like a common drug pusher.  What's next?  Offering the Klakkers blankets smeared with oozing small pox sores?  We reject this intolerable treatment and are building schools in the jungle to help educate the Klakkers about their unalienable right to free speech, to free assembly, and the right to bear arms for the defense of their well-being.  Klakkers are people too, you know?"

So that is February in the Factions game.  During that month, the players explored the Three Sister's system, discovered the Ark, destroyed the Shibboleth, unleashed GAIA the AI, followed the Ark to the Ukraine system, discovered that a lost Skorpios warship found it's way there 50 years ago and had taken over the planet, stole a Lost Skorpios patrol boat, escaped back to Three Sisters, and were in the process of hollowing out an asteroid to create Beachhead Base for the Aquila Navy to use as a privateer base to launch raids of Ukraine.  Meanwhile, the Reprieve travelled to Schwarzkopf to alert the brass back home and resupply, leaving the PCs busy mining out an asteroid and installing toilets.

- Ark

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

SWN Faction Turns: January 3200

The map is drawn, the combatants are stated up, and the pieces are in place.  It's finally time to begin the Redshirts Stars Without Number faction game for the Ptolemy sector.  I am sad, though, that I did not think to include an ASTEROID WITCH.

For those who have come late, or never paid attention and suddenly want to, here are the blog entries detailing the setup (but you probably don't need to really know any of it):

Galactic End Game
SWN Factions: The Begining
SWN Faction Game: Movement and Geography
SWN Factions: The Alliance of Independent States
SWN Factions: Aquila Union
SWN Factions: Almagest Rebellion
SWN Factions: Skorpios Empire

The Redshirts campaign began on Groundhog Day, 3200 CE, and has been going on for at least ten months in game.  That's a lot of travel time while they have been frozen scout-sicles.  I'll start the faction game one month earlier, and take it in one month turns until we've caught up with the PCs.

In the faction game, the first bit is initiative.  That's page 113 in the fancy (core) Stars Without Number rule book.  There are four players, so a d4 will do.  The order of the factions will be (dice roll please,)the  Alliance of Independent States, the Almagest Rebellion, the Skorpios Empire, and last, but not least, the Aquila Union.

Alliance of Independent States - They AIS gains four FacCreds for this month, and has no maintenance charges, giving them a total of four FacCreds in the bank..  The Alliance decides to take the action of Use Asset Ability, sending their Demagogue, Surveyor, and stealthed Psychic Assassin assets from Atlas to Cicada via their Covert Transit Net.  This moves almost all of their assets out of their realm of control, but their intelligence is good and the Alliance knows that the Aquila Union will be busy with Skorpios for a while.

NEWS BLURB - Labor leader, human-rights activist, and well know seditionist Harry Freedonia arrived at the Cicada system on the January 5, 3200.  "I'm simply here to speak to the natives - the so-called Klakkers - about their unalienable rights to freedom and self expression.," he told the PXL news service.  The Aquila Governor's office on Cicada issued a statement shortly thereafter, indicating that they had detained Harry Freedonia upon his arrival, but had released him and his staff within hours after they were unable to find official links between him and the Alliance of Independent States.

Almagest Rebellion - The Rebellion scrounges up two Fac Creds in January, and has no bills to pay.  Looking at the Goals, I think I assigned one that is far too unrealistic - that of seizing the planet.  I'll reassign a goal that is more plausible, without punishing the poor rebels.  Blood the Enemy requires eight HP of damage to be done to the enemy, which is far more doable.  With that, the rebellion chooses the Attack action, sending their Zealots and Vanguard Cadres into battle vs. the Skorpios Postech Infantry on Almagest.  They must come out of stealth to do the attack.

In the Vanguard Cadre battle, d10 + rebel's cunning vs d10 + empire's cunning result in 2+4 vs. 1+7 or 6 vs. 7 in favor of the Skorpios Empire.  The Postech Infantry's d8 counterattack did 6 hp to the Vanguard Cadre, leaving it with 6 hit points.  The zealots lost as well, 8 to 16, and took 2 hit points.  As zealots, they damaged themselves with a d4 resulting in 1, leaving them with only 1 hit point.  In seeking to do eight points of damage, the rebellion's assets took nine points instead, and exposed their positions.

NEWS BLURB - Scattered reports from Almagast City over the first two weeks of January indicate a major offensive by the Skorpios Empire into the city's sewage infrastructure.  On January 12, Scientist-Theologan Yuri Azov announced via The Mouth of Truth News, "The womb-born slave malcontents of Almagast made a paltry and pathetic attack on the Chernobyl Barracks, but were massacred where they stood.  We've taken the liberty of gassing the sewers to root those maggot-eaten rats out of their fear holes.  All is calm now, and we are in control.  Praise Emperor-Scientist Andropov!"

Skorpios Empire - The most powerful faction in the sector pulls the biggest income at 6 FacCreds for January.  Like Almagest, I probably chose an unrealistic immediate goal, and will pick Expand Influence instead.  The Alliance decides to take the action of Use Asset Ability and sends the stealthed assets Surveyors and Treachery from Argo to Aquila held Corvus via it's Beachhead Landers for 2 FacCreds.

This movement sets off the Tripwire Cells that Aquila had placed on Corvus.  Rolling vs. Cunning against each asset, The tripwire ties with a 4+5 vs. 2+7 against the Surveyors, and looses to the Treachery at 4+5 vs. 6+7.  So, the Surveyors and the Treachery land stealthed on Corvus, safe and sound.

NEWS BLURB - The PXL news service had learned that due to a complete lack of suspicious activity along the Corvus/Argo border, military leaders are relaxing protocols, calling for a parade in the capital, followed by a planet-wide leave on January 21st.  "While we will still be on high alert," said General Wallace McKenzie, "I've got a feeling that the Skorps don't have much fight left in them.  After all, they've been getting their nose bloodied by the rebels on Almagest.  I think we'll be perfectly safe.


Aquila Union - The union gains 5 FacCreds this round.  While I would have normally had the union continue to build up militarily against the Skorpios Empire, I am going to go with the Tripwire Failure above and have Aquila turn its attention to the Demagogue Harry Freedonia who is making trouble on Cicada with the alien Klakkers.  Aquila will decide to buy an asset, specifically the Saboteurs asset on Cicada for 5 FacCredits.  This will probably cost them against Skorpios in the long run.

NEWS BLURB - On January 30th, the Aquila Governor's office on Cicada announced the formation of the Inland Relationship Service, a governmental organization tasked with improving relationship with the native Klakker populations.  "Its been centuries since the Terran Mandate put down the Great Klakker Rebellions," said Governor Alice Vidalia.  "The Klakkers left on Cicada mean us no harm.  They live in their little mud heaps out in the jungle and get on with their lives.  I think they are perfectly safe, and have no intention of building another Death Fleet intent on wiping humanity from Known Space.  We've assembled some highly talented teams to teach them the art of papier mache, how to perform classical theater, and each Klakker will receive a Rubik's Cube which will spray them with Happy Pheromone F-3000c when they complete the puzzle successfully.  I think these are excellent building blocks for an improved relationship with our impoverished alien hive-mind neighbors."

This has actually been pretty damn enjoyable.  It's pretty quick and simple once you get the hang of it.  The abstractness of the system lets me use my imagination in ways I wouldn't have expected, and writing up those news blurbs has been really fun.

So, that's it for the month of January.  Three days after the Klakker announcement was released, the Redshirts blasted out of a surprise Skorpios Naval Blockade on the Schwarzkopf Rim and began their adventures in The Void.

Oh, for those that have read down this far and still have some sort of clue as to what is going on - and care - here is a sector map detailing the large scale movement assets of the factions and some places of interest.


- Ark

Monday, November 12, 2012

SWN Factions: Skorpios Empire

The last of the major factions in the Ptolemy sector is the Skorpios Empire.  When settlers arrived on Skorpios, they discovered that it was dominated by a single type of organism - an alien fungus that would destroy or eventually choke out every other type of life.  High technology kept the fungus at bay, but after the Silence, desperate researchers discovered how to prevent the fungus from killing humans by adding the alien fungal DNA to the human genome.

The hybrid offspring had a tendency to be stronger, smarter, and a bit more crazy that regular humans.  The scientists decided that they had stumbled upon the secret to human perfection, and executed everyone who refused the upgrade.

Six hundred years later find the humans of Skorpios unable to naturally reproduce, requiring automated vat systems to produce new generations of crazy little supermen and women.  Scientist-Emperor Leonid Andropov, a 300 year old short, bald, macrocephalic crazy man in a white lab coat, rules the empire with an iron lab glove, intent on enslaving all other humans in the galaxy, working them to death, and replacing them with his vat born children.

Faction Skorpios Empire
Attributes
Force
8
Cunning
7
Wealth
5
Hit Points
49
Systems/Assets
Almagest
Planetary Government
Base of Influence HP:29
Postech Infantry/Force 4
Apotelesmatika
Planetary Government
Base of Influence HP:12
Argo
Planetary Government
Base of Influence HP:12
Postech Infantry/Force 4
Extended Theaters/Force 4
Beachhead Landers/Force 4
Treachery/Cunning 7
Stealth/Cunning 3
Stealth/Cunning 3
Surveyors/Wealth 2
Belinski
Planetary Government
Base of Influence HP:4
Dubyago
Planetary Government
Base of Influence HP:4
Harmonics
Planetary Government
Base of Influence HP:4
Optics
Planetary Government
Base of Influence HP:4
Skorpios
Homeworld
Base of Influence HP:49
Tags Imperialists
FacCredits/Turn
6
Goal Planetary Seizure

- Ark

Sunday, November 11, 2012

SWN Factions: Almagest Rebellion

The third, and weakest, of the factions in the Ptolemy sector is a covert military organization.  The rebellion on Almagest has been taking place ever since ships from the Skorpios Empire invasion force landed there a generation ago.  The empire has enslaved the population, ravaged the landscape, and pillaged the planets natural resources, but it has not broken the will of the people.  The conquered populace has a tradition of giving one child per family over to the rebellion to be trained in the ways of combat and sabotage.

The Almaghest Rebellion has no visible leaders.  It is divided up into small cells that commit covert acts of violence to the Skorpios Empire whenever they get a chance.  In between one fifth and one sixth of the world's population goes to the movement, but in actuality, the empire finds and kills half of the cell members on a regular basis, leaving a very small and scattered organization left in operation.

Faction Almagest Rebellion
Attributes
Force
3
Cunning
4
Wealth
1
Hit Points
15
Systems/Assets
Almagest
Homeworld
Base of Influence HP:15
Vanguard Cadres/Cunning 4
Zealots/Force 3
Tags Secretive
FacCredits/Turn
2
Goal Seize Planet

- Ark

Saturday, November 10, 2012

SWN Factions: Aquila Union

The next faction, alphabetically speaking, is the Aquila Union.  It is an federation of two major systems, three average systems, and four weaker ones - founded and dominated by the Aquila System.  Currently, the Union is led by two people.  First is President General Moira Muldoon, instated by the Union's Congress of Planets as the Supreme Commander in Chief under the long standing Temporary Defense Initiative.  The second is Prime Minister Charles Shaw, elected by popular vote and charged with keeping the Union strong economically.

The Muldoon-Shaw Administration is only three years old, forged out of the seven years of political chaos caused by the succession of Talus and the other members of the Alliance of Independent Systems.  Shaw is desperate to stabilize the economy of the union and balance the budgets, knowing full well that Mulddon will need the wealth of the nation to combat the eventual invasion of the Skorpios empire.

The capital, Aquila, is well defended and hosts the bulk of the union's industry and market activity.  The union's military is positioned towards Skorpios, ready to defend when needed.

Faction Aquila Union
Attributes
Force
7
Cunning
4
Wealth
6
Hit Points
38
Systems/Assets
Aquila
Homeworld
Planetary Government
Base of Influence HP:38
Planetary Defenses/Force 6
PostTech Industry/Wealth 3
Venture Capital/Wealth 6
Arachne
Planetary Government
Base of Influence HP:3
Cicada
Planetary Government
Base of Influence HP:3
Corvus
Planetary Government
Base of Influence HP:3
Postech Infantry/Force 4
Tripwire Cell/Cunning 4
Locust
Planetary Government
Base of Influence HP:22
Patton
Planetary Government
Base of Influence: 18
Postech Infantry/Force 4
Pershing
Planetary Government
Base of Influence HP:18
Ridgway
Planetary Government
Base of Influence HP:3
Strike Fleet/Force 4
Blockade Runners/Wealth 5
Schwarzkopf
Planetary Government
Base of Influence HP:18
Talus
Base of Influence HP:1
Tags Warlike
FacCredits/Turn
5
Goal Peacable Kingdom

- Ark

Friday, November 9, 2012

Player Portraits: Crazy Ass Tim

In my games, I not only subject my players to horrors beyond space and time, but I also torture them by attempting to draw them.  This one is Crazy Ass Tim.  I think I should start calling him Cray-Cray.  Anyway, here he is, staring incredulously at a fellow player who just opened a closet and began digging through a sock drawer while the rest of the party fought off Cthullu's personal demonic guard dog Sparky-Of-The-Thousand-Eyes.


- Ark

SWN Factions: The Alliance of Independent States

I am going to start outlining the four big players in the Stars Without Number factions game, starting with the Alliance of Independent States.  As said before, this is a loose alliance of worlds that were wrested from the Aquila Union and the Skorpios Empire by regional warlords.   The AIS is situated in the Wilds, far away from the travelled space lanes in the Ptolemy Sector, so it was easy to escape retribution for the rebellion.  However, that distance also makes it difficult for the Alliance to bring much force to bear against their former friends.

The leader of the Alliance, Magistrate Popova, has decided to continue his already successful campaign of coercion, sabotage, and shit-stirring to disrupt the trade in both Aquila and Skorpios controlled space.  He has built a covert transit net, giving him easy access to most of the planets of Aquila and a piece of Skorpios.    Now he is prepared to send a wave of spies, assassins, and loud mouthed trouble makers out into the galaxy and make a base of operations where he can cause even more trouble and profit as much as possible.

The stats for Magistrate Popova's political machine are below:

Faction Alliance of Independent States
Attributes
Force
5
Cunning
6
Wealth
3
Hit Points
29
Systems/Assets
Atlas
Planetary Government
Base of Influence HP:5
Covert Transit Net/Cunning 6
Demagogue/Cunning 6
Psychic Assassins/Force 5
Surveyors/Wealth 2
Geographia
Planetary Government
Base of Influence HP:1
Novikov
Planetary Government
Base of Influence HP:1
Smirnova
Planetary Government
Base of Influence HP:1
Talus
Homeworld
Planetary Government
Base of Influence HP:29
Tags Pirates
FacCredits/Turn
4
Goal Expand Influence

- Ark

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Redshirts: UFO Invasion!

In last night's Stars Without Number game, the scouts awoke to learn that they were going to an isolated human planet named Tunguska, with a technology approximating Earth around 1940-1970.  Black and white TV, check.  Radar, check.  Sonar, check. Disneyland, check.  Computers that could calculate PI to the 12th place that filled up a garage, check.  Given the fact they would be going there in an ancient alien spacecraft that resembled a flying saucer, the session had The Day the Earth Stood Still written all over it.  But strangely, it devolved into The Creature from the Black Lagoon.

I added a pack of rival scouts called the Omega team, headed by Lt. Chad Tarkinson.  Lt. Chad was, of course, blonde, square-chinned, and arrogant.  The crew found out that Omega Team had been going behind them and cleaning up the messes that they had left on various planets, and that Omega Team was jockeying for their jobs.

The players were PISSED.  Plans of how to destroy the Omega Team immediately began to take shape.

Omega team took the Northern Hemisphere of Tunguska, and '"Alpha' Team took the south.  A flyby revealed a huge structure sticking out of the sea near the only southern continent.  Quickly they determined it was what was left of a kilometer wide Jump gate.  What was above the water resembled the top of a giant "C."  Along the ocean, boardwalk, piers, and even hotels had been built by the natives.  The coral reef that had formed made the area excellent for fishing - which made stealth a bit more difficult for our intrepid crew.

Anyway, here are our dear Adelaide's notes for the night's festivities, the the traditional purple:


Stars Without Number (Bullet Points)
The newest player, Skipper again drew
her character - Manna 'Doc' Davies

  • The group awakes from the freeze sleep once again with Lt. Commander Gonzales is standing creepily over them.
  • Ken arrives with his band of plastic Barbie dolls (she's talking about Omega Team here - see how pissed off she is? -ark) and the dick measuring begins. Owlicious will forever be looking for an excuse to fire upon them.
  • The group is given a crappy beat-up version of the UFOs from last time, pissing the group off further, and they leave.
  • The group, while scanning their tiny part of the world, find part of a ship (pretech jump gate) sticking out of the ocean and they decide to investigate.
  • The native people of the world have mined out a lot of the ship and are using it for like a Disney vacation spot. 
  • They go down deeper into the ship and they discover a giant eel the size of the UFO. It attacks the ship so they decide it would be best to fire at it with the heat cannon even though Owlicious advised against it. The heat kills the eel but also wounds the UFO and probably alerts the people up above them that something has happened.
  • Doc Davies artfully awakens Kal Kek but Miles Obrian only manages to dissect Professor Ramapudi and Doc Davies is forced to try and stabilize him. She manages to keep him alive but he is now in a vegetative state.
  • The group leaves Kal Kek and Professor Ramapudi behind and head on to the door leading into the giant ship. (jump gate)
  • They come across a giant room that has a bar and dance floor as well as a giant window where the group can see sea creatures outside it. The tank, Titus Leandros, instantly runs to go get plastered and then loses himself on the dance floor. (Break dancing, strangely enough.)
  • Lt. Taylor calls for a guide to take the group to the jump gate's barracks using the wifi he’s found and the guide takes the group to an elevator that then opens to water, wounding several of the members. The team then splits up, with the power-armored people leaving to go find any items that might still be okay.
  • Owlicious, Lt. Taylor, and Desmond leave and return to the bar/dance floor area. The other party members manage to find some guns that they then load up on. Titus takes 22 stun-guns and 3 grav-harnesses. Doc Davies picks up 19 lifeboat survival packs. 
  • They then meet back up with the rest of the group and Owlicious casually lets Lt. Taylor know that Titus had consumed Methyl alcohol instead of alcohol. Doc Davies then is ordered to heal him and succeeds only in getting the toxins out of his body.
  • Fish people suddenly come out into the bar and fire upon Titus and Lt. Taylor and they go down. Miles slaps a laz patch onto Titus and he comes back to consciousness.  Doc Davies then laz patches Lt. Taylor and he is also up.
  • Lt. Taylor hits one of the guns that knocks them all, except one, unconscious. Everyone else had missed with their guns. The last fish person then disappears into a grass door that opened underneath them.
  • Lt. Taylor then gets angry and destroys all of them and Owlicious collects samples for SCIENCE. 
  • Lt. Taylor then makes the ship play the sonic sound all over the intercoms, which makes all the life signs on the scanners slowly disappear.
  • They find jewelry and the females go crazy! Then they find a box with a little sphere in it. It opens up to show a small AI and Owlicious tells it she is a princess and claims him as her new companion. She names him Teddy.
  • The group then leaves, Owlicious taking Teddy with her, and head to the hangar; which isn’t looking too well.
  • They find pieces of great ships but no full ships themselves. Owlicious and Titus decide to test Teddy’s healing abilities and he cuts Titus open, then re-closes him and actually managed to not kill him.
  • The group decides to attach a beacon to the spike drive so that they will know if it moves.
  • They wake up Professor Ramapudi using Teddy, which surprisingly it works.
  • The group decides then to stay for an extra month to build their own ship instead of trying to look for another one and lets Omega team know.
  • They take off in their new ship but it has no cloaking which terrifies the natives and causes them to react badly. The team fires their ships gun as a warning and also to test it out, cause why the fuck not?
  • They manage to make it back to the main planet with the ship and everyone is promoted! Yay! 
Adelaide drew her character's new AI friend, Teddy the floating eyeball

So, the team made some pretty good choices - and because they were so pissed off with the Omega Team - they stayed on task and completed one of the most important parts of the entire mission into the Void; obtaining a ship - other than the Reprieve - that could make a 4 hex jump.

Meanwhile, Omega Team found a museum, which they broke into, and only recovered some pretech walkie-talkies.  Alpha Team rubbed their noses in it. :)

- Ark

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Kickstarter Art

Yeah yeah yeah, the last thing you want to hear about is more Kickstarter projects.  Well . . . tough noogies. :)

Two projects are on my mind today - both having to do with art.  Both projects are by people who actually deliver - Jeff Dee and Kevin Crawford.

First up is Jeff Dee's new project, "Revisiting my Legions of the Petal Throne Art."  Jeff has been redrawing art from his from the early days at TSR.  It's kind of like he's been taking your childhood and bringing it into sharper focus, with more detail and and a higher pixel count.  This time he's redoing work from an Empire of the Petal Throne article originally published in Dragon Magazine #6.  How cool is that?  Very cool.  Go get some prints!

Secondly, Kevin Crawford's Spears of Dawn RPG project is moving along swimmingly in the funding arena. It's all funded and everything.  Except . . . there is this stretch goal.  It's a stretch goal that doesn't give you a box full of minis or your name emblazoned inside the cover or anything.  It's a stretch goal that gives back to the community - and it's a hair's breadth away from getting funded - and it's soo annoying that it's not there yet.  From the page:

"Moreover, there's now a new $10,000 stretch goal- hit it, and the art for the bonus module The House of Bone and Amber will be full-color and designed to be suitable for cover use by other publishers. With your help, we can provide other creative souls with every bit of the art assets they need to make their own take on an African-flavored gaming creation."

Uh uh uh.

Now, I have no plans to make any modules or anything.  That would take FOCUS and DRIVE.  But I would love for that art to be available for other people to use in glorious color as module covers or what have you.  I mean, really, how cool it that?  Very cool.  Go throw money at Kevin.

I'll shut up now.

- Ark

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Redshirts: Banyan Trees of Mars

The inspiration for last week's Stars Without Number's game came from photos beamed back from the Mars Global Surveyor.  They caused quite an uproar a decade ago, as they appeared to show gigantic trees thriving at the Martian poles.

The images looked very much like banyan trees.  Whatever they were, the shapes looked very organic.  It caused quite a stir.  Even venerable Arthur C. Clarke thought he was looking at a new life form.  NASA disagreed.  New World Order conspiracy nutjobs came out of the woodwork, proclaiming that NASA was hiding the BIG SECRET from us all, and the Banyan Trees of Mars were final proof.

Alas, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, with it's much better imaging system, showed the Trees to actually be cracks in the polar ice.  Bummer.  

The image of gigantic black trees contrasting against an icy, white landscape on an alien world has been burning in my mind for over a decade now.  So, in my mind, I made that planet.  I populated it with strange creatures that fit into the ecology of the Trees.  Then I sent the Redshirt crew to the planet and tried to kill them with it.  Ahh - good times. :)

Our intrepid documentarian Adelaide took notes on the adventure, as it happened:


  • Six months have passed since more hell went down; some of the crew is still in the sleep pods - Nick Scryer and “Doc” Davies to be specific.
  • The rest are left on an asteroid to mine out a base before kicking the crew off so they can use it for pirating.
  • While the group was mining Lt. Commander Gonzales and the ship received a signal from an indigenous species that contacted them and asked for assistance getting off the Skorpios invaded planet. In return they will assist in destroying the Skorpios.
  • The group is to take a gun printer to the world and they will be dropped off there. They each need to drop most all of their items to do so. (the party must walk for two days with a heavy load. -ark)
  • The planet is very shiny white except for around the equator, which is black. There is very strange plant life around this planet.
  • Doctor Daktan scans the trees and thinks they are elephants, and Professor Ramapudi thinks it is actually aardvarks. Owlicious knows they are alive and that they are made of graphite and they are very efficient at surviving. She also sees no animal life just plant life.
  • Professor Ramapudi uses his drill to grab some DNA from the trees and see’s that they will work well as raw materials for the gun printer. Owlicious cuts down a bush and notices it starts to bleed a tar like substance.  
  • The group continues on and the sun finally sets, the planet cools down.
  • Lt. Five gets attacked at night by a black mass and tries to attack it with a butt of his gun. He fails and whacks himself instead. The black mass rips out his intestines while he screams in pain.
  • Everyone wakes up suddenly; Kal Kek rushes out to search for Lt. Five. He only see’s the shadow moving away and a bloody trail but nothing else. He fires his thermal pistol at the shadow and see’s he’s shot what looks like a four legged, eight foot tall “bush” and Lt. Five dangling from its “mouth.”
  • Professor Ramapudi bioscans the creature and see’s that is it an animal.
  • Owlicious fires at the creature but misses, Loranzo also misses, but luckily Doctor Daktan teleports Lt. Five safely into the snow in the group. 
  • Lt. Taylor rushes out and angrily runs up to the monster and punches it into the ground. In his boxers. Holy shit.
  • Doctor Daktan Laz patches Lt. Five successfully bringing him back from the dead. For the third time in Lt. Mark Fives existence.
  • Professor Ramapudi and Owlicious gleefully dissect the creature. Professor Ramapudi programs the bioscanner to detect these creatures (FOR SCIENCE) and Doctor Daktan notices it’s registering 35 different once surrounding them.
  • Lt. Taylor orders everyone to reenter the campsite and no one is allowed to leave, they also close off the opening. 
  • The next morning Doctor Daktan’s bioscanner detects 5 creatures following from behind.
  • The group decimates them and then Lt. Taylor sets up his compad to constantly signal Russian chatter to him so he always attempts to know where they are.
  • They find a domestic “dog” just sitting in the street and the group waits to see what it’s going to do. It leaves and they continue.
  • As it starts getting dark the group starts to see something shiny under the canopy and they find that it is a building. There are 12 foot monsters under the canopy as well.
  • These creatures look like thorny silverbacks. It has a belt and a sword on its side. Lt. Taylor has a staring fight with it and 19 others come out of the canopy.
  • Lt. Taylor opens his compad to try to communicate with it but the voice over the compad says he is not the gorilla creature and to stay calm.
  • Another gorilla comes out and says thanks for bringing the “medicine” and to come with him.
  • The group proceeds to show the gorillas the gun printer and then follow the gorillas into an underground tunnel.
  • In a room the group sees that there are lots of random human items there but also a dissected human on the wall.
  • Everyone proceeds to talk some bullshit until they ask for some medicine and they find out Lt. Mark Five is infected with a toxin that he is then given an antidote. It makes him puke a bunch but he feels better.
  • Everyone decides to test out the gun printer to make sure it works and Owlicious suddenly screams “WE USE MY BUSH” while excitedly holding up the bush she slaughtered earlier. The men whole-heartedly agree.
  • Lt. Taylor manages to talk what seems to be the main priest into letting the group into the silver temple. While the rest of the group gets carried (Especially Owlicious because she offered up her bush and deserves to be treated like a fucking princess) Lt. Taylor gracefully climbs the steps much to the gorilla’s amazement. At the bottom they see an altar and everyone offers up their branches.
  • Professor Ramapudi does a scan and can see that the alter will move and there are areas underneath it.
  • Lt. Taylor bullshits with the priest some more trying to get him to leave them there alone. It works and he stomps off but then dogleader speaks up and seems nervous about the group setting off explosives.
  • Loranzo finds a switch and tells Lt. Taylor while he stupidly attempts to force it open. They open the altar and see stairs leading down and near the stairs there is a bowl.
  • As they go down all the signals jam, at 50 meters they get to a platform that is held in place by the stairs and then there is a drop. Kal Kek drops a glow bug down there and it lights up the walls slightly. They see more drawings on the walls and see that there are three legged creatures that seem to be much larger than the gorillas that are petting them like they are just dogs.
  • At the very bottom there are four disks about forty meters across a piece and look a lot like flying saucers.
  • Lt. Taylor presses a button and the platform disconnects from the stairs and starts going down.
  • They open a ship and stand on a slab that came out of the ship and the group goes into the ship except Kal Kek and Doctor Daktan who stayed behind.
  • Lt. Five sits in a large uncomfortable seat and sees a button near him which he presses and it lights up the entire inside and the inside group can see outside the ship now and a camera narrows in on Doctor Daktan and Kal Kek with red squares around their image. Doctor Daktan wanders off down a hallway as Kal Kek enters the space ship.
  • The group inside the ship realize once they need to go find Doctor Daktan that they are stuck inside until Loranzo finds a picture button to open the ship again. 
  • Doctor Daktan encounters a giant robot hand grasping for him when he opens a random door down the hallway and screams.
  • Lt. Taylor, Kal Kek, and Loranzo left the saucer to try and save Doctor Daktan but Loranzo runs back to warn the rest of the group to leave.
  • Owlicious presses a button and the three left in the ship as well as the ship shoot upwards and stay stuck against the ceiling as Professor Ramapudi hacks into the wifi system.
  • Doctor Daktan, though he ran, gets captured by the robot.
  • Lt. Five points at the red circle that was on the robot and the image got much bigger with data charts coming up that seem to be about the robot.
  • The robot shoots a beam of light straight into Doctor Daktan ‘s head but doesn’t seem to be in pain.
  • The three in the ship see the red circle on the robot flashing as the robots light grows brighter and Doctor Daktan passes out and his eyebrows and hair light up. 
  • Lt. Five makes a gun symbol with his fingers at the robot on the ship and the ship fires a light beam at the robot hitting it. It drops jimmy and Loranzo hides in another ship. It makes a fist motion at the ship with the scientists and Lt. Five.
  • Owlicious decides it would be a good idea to make the fist action back at the robot. Lt. Taylor drops unconscious but Kal Kek stays standing. The robot bursts into flames. Doctor Daktan is dead.
  • Kal Kek picks Lt. Taylor up and brings him to the lift where they ascend. 
  • Professor Ramapudi finally hacks the space ship and is able to drive it out with no problem.

So, after escaping from the giant three legged robots, the scouts ran all the way back to the shuttle and high-tailed it off the planet.


Next session is tomorrow. :)

- Ark

Monday, November 5, 2012

SWN Faction Game: Movement and Geography

There is something about the design philosophy of Stars Without Numbers were categories are sharp.  Starship levels go from Fighter, Frigate, and Cruiser; each one much bigger and more powerful than another.  The Faction game is no different.  At one ability level, it may be possible to hold together a small stellar empire - but probably not much bigger.  With another power level - wham - you can march across the sky with your jack boots.

When setting up your factions in a sector, it's important to have an idea of scale.  Stars are arranged in hex patterns, and each level of distance away is strategically huge.  A clump of stars together at zero hexes apart would be relatively easy to control, as long as you had the right amount of Force, Cunning, or Wealth.  Move outside that cluster, and it becomes almost impossible to affect anything without a great deal of effort.  Inter-cluster invasions are nearly impossible without the right combination of sneaking in, establishing bases, moving more covert forces in, and then blasting away.  Strategery, or something like that.

Want to have influence on a system more than three hexes away?  Impossible in the Faction game.  That's where the PCs come in, of course.

Below is a list of Faction Assets from that game that I've worked up, describing assets with movement abilities - either itself of hauling other assets.  Its' probably important to have a grasp of this chart before finalizing the factions in your sector.  Intergalactic domination can be difficult and expensive. And yeah, you may notice that your big shiny Strike Fleet can't make it from cluster to cluster.  You'll have to invade a cluster, gain a foothold, and buy a whole new Strike Fleet for operations in the new cluster.  What is an evil overlord to do?

Force Level Tech Can Move? Distance Move Cost
Beachhead Lander 4 4 Any (multiple) 1 1
Blockade Fleet 5 4 Self 1 0
Capital Fleet 8 5 Self 3 0(2 upkeep)
Deep Strike Landers 7 5 Non-Starship, Self 3 2
Extended Theater 4 4 Non-Starship, Self 2 1
Heavy Drop Assets 2 4 Non-Starship, Self 1 1
Space Marines 7 5 Self 1 0
Strike Fleet 4 4 Self 1 0
Cunning Level Tech Can Move? Distance Move Cost
Covert Shipping 3 4 Special Forces 3 1
Covert Transit Net 6 4 Special Forces (multiple) 3 0
Smugglers 1 4 Special Forces, Self 2 0
Wealth Level Tech Can Move? Distance Move Cost
Blockade Runners 5 4 Military Units, Special Forces, Self 3 0
Freighter Contract 2 4 Non-Force, Self 2 1
Mercenaries 3 4 Self 1 0
Scavenger Fleets 8 5 Self 3 0(2 upkeep)
Shipping Combine 4 4 Non-Force, Self 2 1
Surveyors 2 4 Self 2 0
Transit Web 7 5 Non-Starship, Non-Force (multiple) 3 1

- Ark

Sunday, November 4, 2012

SWN Factions: The Begining

The key thing about Factions in Stars Without Number is they need to be pissed at one another.  It doesn't really matter if they are a gang in control of a inner city block, or a star spanning empire - they just need the desire to do harm to ANOTHER faction.  The harm could be physical, logistical, or financial.  Someone is threatening their turf, and that somebody must be taken DOWN.

I'm going to go through the steps to create and run a Stars Without Number Faction Game here on the blog, using my Redshirts campaign as a basis.  Now, the factions and the PCs in Redshirts are typically very far from one another.  The main factions are active in the home sector.  The PCs are off in other sectors, exploring and such.  But the two are closely linked, because the PCs are searching for assets that their home faction can use to survive and destroy it's enemies.

First off, it's handy to have a place where these factions can fight.  Chapter Seven: World Creation, has a really nifty sector generation system.  Yeah, it's like Traveller, except where Traveller's sub-sector generation mainly deals with the physical placement and attributes of star systems, Star's Without Number focuses on the adventure potential of said star systems.  Actually, you could probably use the creation systems of both, in concert, and have some pretty nifty results.

But whatever . . .

So, after the dust settles, I stare at the sector map and try to understand the relationship of the worlds I just created, physically and ideologically.  Empires and Federations morph into my head, and a rough history develops.  it's the kind of creation that's hard to quantify, as it just happens in my head.  Call it a Gedankenexperiment.  But if I see the potential for a group to dislike another group, I try to turn up the amp to ELEVEN and make them loath one another.

I'm not going to get into the specifics of each world.  Actually, there are a lot of nifty secrets about the systems that come up in sector creation that the players definitely do not need to know (yet,) and besides, the Faction Game is rather abstract, and we don't  need to know too many specifics other than where worlds exist in relation to one another.

I decided that the Ptolemy Sector had four major factions, two being superpowers, two being minor players. I felt that would be enough to get the ball rolling.  Those factions are the Aquila Union, Skorpios Empire, the Alliance of Independent Systems, and Almagest Rebellion.


Aquila Union - During the Silence, the inhabitants of Aquila fashioned a government using the long gone United States of America as a template.  This was successful, and as they rebuilt and explored the sector, they offered the denizens of other planets egress into their union.  Due to the sheer power and reach of Aquila, it was hard for other systems to say no.  The influence of Aquila continued to expand until the Skorpios Empire entered the stage.


Skorpios Empire - Russian speaking researchers on the fugus infested planet of Skorpios Prime began horrific experiments after the Terran Mandate fell, eventually creating a race of vat-bred neo-humans infused with alien fungal DNA.  Assured by their Scientist-Emperor that theirs was a better way, the Skorpios Legions spread into the Ptolemy Sector to proselytize at the trigger end of a gun barrel.  Needless to say, everyone loves the Skorpions.


Alliance of Independent Systems - Tired of the endless war between Aquila and Skorpios, the systems on the fringe rallied together to break from the warring superpowers and create a haven of peace and economic freedom.  In reality, the Alliance devolved quickly into an area controlled by greedy warlords intent on squeezing wealth from the weak.  The green flag with yellow circle replaced the skull and crossbones within the Ptolemy Sector.
Almagest Rebellion - The quiet planet of Almagest was recovering nicely from the Scream, rebuilding its government, infrastructure, and social institutions.  Then the Skorpios Empire invaded, labeling all inhabitants as slaves and test subject for the greater good of science.  No one on Almagest felt really good about the turn of events, and they have been fighting underground ever since.  The rebellion is tenacious, if not well armed or funded.  They consider the Skorpions insects to squash, and anyone who reminds them that scorpions are arthropods, not insects, gets punched in the nose.

The war between Aquila and Skorpios went on for a hundred years, sometimes hot, sometime cold, but stable, for the most part.  Both sides were equally matched, and brought every world in the sector into the fray.  Neutrality was not an option.  But then the system of Talus lead a unilateral revolt against the two superpowers, forming the Alliance of Independent Systems.  Talus had been allies with Aquila, and it's loss was devastating.

Realizing that they didn't have much time on their hands.  Aquila spearheaded an invasion of a system rumored to have stores of advanced technology, discovered an ancient spike drive capable of a 4 hex jump, and launched the Void Expeditionary Force to secure more technology in a previously unreachable sector of space.

So, that is sector situation for the Redshirt Faction Game.  I'll be getting into the nitty-gritty in later posts.

- Ark