Aslan Route Interlude: Lessons, NPCs and Plots

“The most effective thing, as ever, is therefore the thing you’ll actually do.” – Matt Brookes-Green

One of the table rules we have for this game is that if only one player is missing, we go ahead with a session, but if two are absent, we defer it. It's summer holiday season, and absences overlap so that the next session will be 2nd August. That suits me very well, as I need to take stock and consider where we go after the next session, which is the last one I have even the vaguest plan for.

Let's take a look at the lessons learned so far, the active NPCs, and the open and closed plot threads.

Lessons Learned

• Scenarios. However often I try to steer them towards a sandbox style of play, my players are simply not interested. They want a patron who will assign them missions.  I'm not going to fight that any more.
• Campaigns. My intention was to shift away from a Plot Point campaign to a more emergent style of play, with less preparation and more reliance on random tables. It turns out that for me, this is more work, not less. So once we get to the end of this campaign, probably around the end of the year, I'll want to shift back to a more structured campaign, something along the lines of The Pirates of Drinax or The Dracula Dossier, both of which rocked. The experience of the Fury tells me the campaign frame needs to be agreed in Session Zero as trying to retrofit one to a game midflight is problematic.
• Hindrances. For years I've assumed that these were the players telling me what they wanted the campaign to be about, but it's become clear to me that one player is using them purely to create his character's backstory and doesn't want them to come into play. That's OK, but it does reduce his chances to earn Bennies.

Notable NPCs

I'll limit these to 20, so I can randomly select one with a d20, and when that limit is breached, the least interesting one is removed from play.

1.     Mobile: Vila’s Enemy: Shugaka Vilani crime family.
2.     Mobile: Captain Scarlett Vipera of the Red Adder, Zhodani intendant and spy.
3.     Mobile: The Eye and the Claw of the Ahroay’ifko.
4.     Cordan: Baron Ferro, Zhodani catspaw.
5.     Cordan: Diideshur Laarbak, Shugaka crimelord, owner of Diideshur’s Pre-Loved Parts.
6.     Cordan: Kenneth Prasad, IISS handler and port broker.
7.     Drinax, Torpol: Assorted minions of the Fury.
8.     Sink: The Abbot, the Sage.
9.     Sink: Ahoakhi, Port Authority, Clan Iuwoi.
10.     Sink: Ahoi, Elehasei’s chaperone.
11.     Sink: Elehasei. Prince Hteleitoirl’s betrothed.
12.     Sink: Ftoilakh, warrior of clan Iuwoi,
13.     Sink: Prince Hteleitoirl.
14.     Tyokh: Clan Aftei, Elehasei’s clan.
15.     Tyokh: Okheai the Alley Cat, aslan female mafia boss, and assorted minions.
16.     Tyokh: Clan Iuwoi, Prince Hteleitoirl’s clan.
17.     Tyokh: Clan Htyowao, rivals of clan Iuwoi.
18.     Tyokh: Troisei, Ellie’s missing sister.

Open Plot Threads

These will be limited to six, so I can randomly select one with a d6, and when that limit is breached, the one the PCs show the least interest in will be moved offstage. (Why not more? The table has trouble tracking large numbers of open plot threads, especially over breaks of several months between sessions, which are a thing for us.)

1. Mazun’s handler has instructed him to support Clan Iuwoi as part of a long-term plan to embed agents in the Hierate.
2. The Android Liberation Front and their secret base in the Exe system.
3. Why were both Imperial and Zhodani agents interested in the House of Shrouded Mirrors?
4. What is the Third Most Valuable Thing and what does it want from Dr Matauranga?
5. Ellie’s sister Troisei is missing. Find her.

Closed Plot Threads

These are either resolved or have been moved offstage as the group doesn’t want to pursue them.

• Deliver the Prince to Tyokh and clear his name – completed.
• The Fury. This is being handled offstage by NPCs.
• The Shugaka crime family put a bounty on Vila’s head, but he has convinced the closest Shugaka boss this is not the Vila he is looking for and bought a really expensive fake ID. Moved offstage.

Coda

Although I don't use the Mythic GM Emulator that much at the moment, I do find the idea of making lists of key NPCs and plot threads helpful, as I tend to forget them if we go more than a week without playing. However, they need to be pruned regularly, or they get out of hand.

Arion 1-10: Falling

"The course of true love never did run smooth." - William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

Hollis Highport, 1105 Week 48

Cori is nearly well enough to be signed out of medbay even by the excessively cautious (or possibly jealous) Major Sheng, and knowing when Sheng will next drop in, she has meditated to elevate her psionics to the peak of their power. Directing Sheng's thoughts using the pretext of asking how Arion is, she uses her powers of persuasion and ability to read Sheng's emotions to find weak spots; jealousy of Officer Muhammed, and fear that Arion is ignoring her because he is not interested in her. Jealousy is not so useful to her, so she fans the flames of self-doubt in Sheng's mind, and the Major leaves more certain than ever that Arion finds her unattractive.

Hollis Badlands, 1105 Week 49

With Cori still in medbay, Karagoz tasks Sheng to assist Arion and Mr Osheen in returning to the surface to investigate the abandoned hut further.

Local dawn - light enough to see, but not yet in the full blaze of the sun - finds Arion gingerly nudging the ship closer to the hut, fifteen metres up.

"Move a bit further to port," Major Sheng says. "We should try not to put the hut in shade if we can avoid it." Whatever's inside might notice. Arion complies, and locks the autopilot into station-keeping before the three of them troop back into the cargo lock, right at the rear of the Dolphin, and lower the door flat. The wind is buffeting the wedge of the ship back and forth, and Arion realises he should have parked nose-on to the prevailing wind, rather than sideways, even if it did cast a shadow on the hut. All the same, everyone hooks themselves on to the ship, and Arion goes over the side, swinging in the wind. The others swing the rope to assist his dive, but even so he lands short and has to jog a few metres to the apparent wreckage. He clips his line to a convenient piece of debris and gets to work, with suggestions helpful and otherwise from the other two in his headset throughout.

The wreckage they noted last time as being a concealed hatch opens easily under persuasion from Arion's belt tool kit, and he finds a small room dug into the bedrock under the wreckage, with an obvious comms terminal and a small server. There is no sign of the maintenance robot they saw last time, and he wonders where it can have gone. All the gear looks like commercial off the shelf kit, so he brings out a portable memory unit and uses the built-in near-field communications to clone the server's drive. Time enough to decrypt it when they're back in a shirt-sleeve environment.

"Arion," Sheng calls, with the flat emotionless tone he has learned to associate with real danger, "Get out of there, now. There's a wave coming toward you through the scree. Might be a worm."

Arion has had enough sandworms to last him quite a while, so he hurriedly packs up and levers himself out through the hatch, stepping to the line and snapping it to his suit once more.

"Reel me in," he calls, and the others do so just as Big Jim emerges next to him. Mr Osheen lends his considerable strength to lift Arion clear of the gaping maw as he curls up his legs to present a smaller target. Sheng grabs his arm as soon it appears over the edge of the ramp, but miscalculates and starts to slip; Arion puts an arm around her to hold her steady, and she darts a glance at him.

"Easy," he says. "Nearly lost you there."

"Not a chance," she says firmly, daring to hope again.

GM Notes

Cori is being naughty, and lucky. She gets a success and a raise on boost/lower Psionics, then a success and a raise on her Psionics to cast empathy - and Major Sheng fails her Spirit roll to resist. The upshot of this is a +2 on her roll to Persuade Sheng to give up on Arion, and since that roll aces twice, she gets an 18 overall. Sheng resists with Spirit and gets an 11! Cori wins by 7, so is able to shift Sheng's original 11 (Friendly) down one band to (Co-Operative); she will be a little cooler towards Arion in future. Only after I finished rolling all this, feeling pleased with myself for thinking of it, did I realise Cori would be better off statistically by simply boosting her Persuasion to begin with. Oh well, as they say, we play to find out. Cori has long been established as ruthless, and while she usually prefers Arion's genuine affection, I think she would definitely be up for manipulating the other women.

On the surface, we have a complex dramatic task to deal with; eight tokens to collect in five rounds. I'll limit the NPCs to Support rolls, but leave skills open to make the narrative more interesting. I won't break the task down into separate steps though, as I don't want to restrict carrying over successes and raises between steps. The plan and outcomes, round by round:

• Round 1: Piloting to park the ship suitably. Sheng supports with Battle (fail, +0). Arion draws a club (-2) and rolls 5+0-2 = 3, failure, 0 tokens.
• Round 2: Athletics to rappel down to the hut. Sheng and Osheen support with Athletics (4, +1, and 11, +2, respectively; note that no single supporter can give more than +2 whatever they roll). Arion rolls 3+3=6, success, now up to 1 token.
• Round 3: Repair to get inside. Sheng and Osheen support with Common Knowledge (+0) and Notice (+0) respectively; Arion rolls 17 thanks to Aces, success and 3 raises, now up to 5 tokens.
• Round 4: Notice to find something useful. Sheng supports (+2) as does Osheen (+0), and Arion also has Alertness; he rolls 5+2+2=9, success and a raise, two tokens, now up to 7.
• Round 5: Athletics to get back up to the ship. Sheng (+0) and Osheen (+1) support; Arion rolls 10+1=11, success and a raise, now a total of 9 tokens so the mission is a success. At the end of round 5, Big Jim arrives and interrupts.

I was concerned that the NPC support might make it too easy, but what made the difference was the great roll in round 3. Without that, he would've failed.

Current status: Arion 6 VP, BBEG 2 VP.

Roll Big or Go Home

Since I've already fallen off the wagon as far as impulse buys go, and I felt the need to cheer myself up, I went for some retail therapy and treated myself to Humble Bundle's Roll Big or Go Home bundle - 57 gaming products for about £30. I figured if only 2-3 of them were interesting I'd be ahead on points. (Note that sometimes these are not complete games, just the players' guides. Although I can see the value of a DRM-free players' guide, and an experienced GM can usually run a game without anything else.)

This is boosting the signal as much as anything; the link is good for another couple of weeks at time of writing.

Looking at the bundle's contents, I see:

• Two things I already have, the SWADE core rules and Night's Black Agents. That's not much overlap for a bundle like this.
• One thing I'll definitely use, the SWADE version of Deadlands; I'm already playing in a Deadlands campaign. That will get reviewed.
• Eight things I would have bought eventually anyway, and might use later. Those will get reviewed.
• 19 things that interest me enough to read. These might get capsule reviews in due course.
• 27 things I'm not at all interested in. Those won't even get read.

So that's roughly 50p each overall, £1 apiece for the things I'll at least read, and £3 each for stuff I would've bought anyway. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Red Flags

I select games mostly on a whim, but there are certain filters I apply... there's a specific kind of game I enjoy, and there are some early indications that a game is not going to fall in that group.

• Fiction first. I learned to play by rolling the dice first, then fitting the fiction to it afterwards; dice first, I suppose you could call it. Fiction first is counter-intuitive for me, and it also suggests the game was written for theatre kids rather than grognards such as myself. I've nothing against theatre kids, but that's not how I roll.
• Safety tools; that's correlation, not causation. Yes, players should feel respected and safe, but experience teaches me that a game with a significant focus on safety tools and sensitivity is a game I won't enjoy playing.
• Statements involving the word "over". Over 30 new races, over 50 new spells, that kind of thing. That suggests the game's focus is not what I'm looking for. I don't need more PC options.
• Some games just aren't my cup of tea. Gumshoe, for example; some of the settings and adventures are really good, but you'd have to pay me to play Gumshoe. Pretty much any game that proclaims it is a "storytelling" or "narrative" game falls into this category for me.

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You...

As usual my initial reviews will be based on reading through the products; think of it as a first date. I won't slavishly review everything in the bundle, that's too much like hard work; but there are enough I'm interested in to keep the blog in reviews for some months.

Aslan Route 18: The Eye and the Claw

"As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and back —
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack."
— Rudyard Kipling, The Law of the Jungle

Fast Travel, 1106 Weeks 01-10

The team make a couple of runs between Exe and Tech-World to acquire and drop off supplies to the Android Liberation Front, then travel to Sink via Paal.

Sink, 1106 Week 11

When the Macavity arrives on Sink, the crew immediately notice an Ahroay’if warship in orbit – just a small one, 800 tons – but this does not concern the crew as they are associates of the Iuwoi clan, which is one of the Ahroay'if's vassals. Their friend Ahoakhi tells them that a dodgy-looking scoutship is somewhere on the planet, and a short hop plus a sensor scan tells them this is the Red Adder and it has parked next to the swamp a few kilometres away from the Monastery.

Ahoakhi also says the warship’s passengers would like to see them.

Their first order of business is therefore to visit the warship. On arrival, Mazun hands over a note for the Captain, explaining that the Red Adder is thought to be a Zhodani spy vessel commanded by a psionic and so cannot be trusted. (For the aslan, psionics are inherently dishonourable, as they are either an attempt to gain an unfair advantage, or an insinuation that the psionics don’t trust you.)

The Macavity’s crew are ushered in to meet a female and a male aslan, who introduce themselves as the Eye and the Claw of the Ahroay’ifko (clan lord) respeectively.

“It’s his hard man,” Rex whispers to Mazun.

The Claw lays out his position. Torpol has gone silent; the clan and the Imperium both sent flotillas to investigate; neither has returned. He knows about the clan flotilla as he sent it, and the Imperial one as protocol dictates military vessels transiting the neutral zone explain their purpose, to minimise the risk of unnecessary violence. His investigations to date reveal the Macavity was the last ship out; can the team shed any light on what’s going on?

As it turns out, they can. Over the course of a lengthy interview they explain what they saw and what they have learned since. The Eye and the Claw digest this, and decide a larger expeditionary force is needed; they don’t care what happens to Drinax, losing Torpol to the Fury is a great inconvenience, but if the Fury takes over Pourne, a high-population world which is already militaristic and xenophobic… well, let’s just say the Fury needs to be dealt with before that happens. Under normal circumstances the Claw would impress the team as advisers, but given what they’ve told him about how the Fury operates, he can’t risk them being mind-controlled and sabotaging his fleet from within. They are therefore free to go, but he would like them to find out what the Red Adder is up to.

They decide to brief the Abbot and the Prince, and conduct their trade with the Monastery, as the Abbot will also ask them to investigate, and that gives them a legitimate remit from the planetary government, such as it is. The Abbot in particular is not happy with the Red Adder once he learns her captain paid vargr corsairs to attack his secure satellite site at the House of Shrouded Mirrors.

A visit to the Red Adder finds field maintenance in progress, while Captain Vipera sits cross-legged on a rock near the swamp, apparently meditating. Everyone puts on their psi-shield helmets, and Mazun approaches to confer with Vipera. She concentrates on what he has to say, and he begins to think she’s not so bad, and there’s no need for violence. Is she manipulating his mind even through the psi helmet?

Mazun asks what she’s doing; she says she’s listening to the swamp. Mazun says the Abbot doesn’t like that, and as a representative of the planetary government, he would like her to leave. Or the friendly warship in orbit could ask her to leave.

Vipera recognises Rex as the vargr who killed half her crew and seriously injured her on Cordan. Mazun points out that her vargr catspaws tried to kill the Macavity’s crew on Pourne. The two agree it’s nothing personal, just business; nothing is explicitly said, but each recognises the other as an agent of their respective powers. Vipera deduces that Mazun is infiltrating the Hierate on behalf of the Imperium, and to avoid future unpleasantness, explains that her brief is to observe and report on the neutral zone, as rising tensions between the Hierate and the Imperium affect the Imperium’s military deployments, which are of interest to the Zhodani Consulate. She proposes that the Fury taking over additional worlds is not in anyone’s interest, and suggests that if an opportunity arises, they might work together against it. Then, the Red Adder leaves; Vipera says she often calls at Cordan, so messages for her can be left there.

Dr Matauranga suggests that Vipera might be useful later, but not if she is killed first; so the team let her go.

Fast Travel, 1106 Weeks 12-20

The Macavity makes several charter runs between Sink and Tyokh, ferrying supplies and ihatei to Sink and trading on behalf of the Abbot. In week 19, the Prince’s exile ends, and the team return him to Tyokh. They are of course invited to the wedding, so they expect to be on Tyokh for several weeks.

During this time, Dr Matauranga determines that the artefact he retrieved from the House of Shrouded Mirrors on Pourne is not Sindalian after all, but is an Ancient artefact in a Sindalian case. He feels compelled to take off his gloves to touch it, and at once hears a voice in his mind:

“Guard me well, for I am the Third Most Valuable Thing. Stay alert; trust no-one; keep your weapons handy.”

The voice advises him not to tell anyone else about it, and asks what his aims are. The doctor explains he wishes to learn, especially about matters genetic.

“Good,” says the voice. “Learning is the goal.”

Repeating its advice to him, the voice falls silent. For now.

Tyokh, 1106 Week 21

Ellie takes time out of wedding preparations to contact the Macavity’s crew on a matter of some delicacy. When you meet her to discuss it, gender roles and crew personalities dictate that she focuses on Vila.

Ellie says that her sister Troisei has gone missing. They don’t get on too well, but nonetheless she is a sister and her maid of honour at the wedding; her absence will be embarrassing to say the least. Vila wants to know what’s in it for him. Ellie explains that Troisei is the best commercial brain of her generation in the clan, and will be able to steer lucrative contracts the Macavity’s way. Ellie thinks this might be the work of the rival Htyowao clan or Tyokh’s organised crime syndicate; the former seek revenge, though this would be an unusually dishonourable way to go about it, and the latter seek leverage. It’s also possible that Troisei’s interest in gambling on duels might have led her astray, so at least the initial investigation needs to be handled discreetly.

Meanwhile, Mazun reports back on his meeting with the captain of the Red Adder to the Prince, the Abbot and the Claw, mostly accurately, but omitting the “false and irrelevant” speculation about his profession and allegiance. He also sends a report to his factor by regular post, disguised as a trader keeping a friend up to date with the news. He mentions meeting the Claw, that the Aslan are worried about Torpol and sent a detachment that vanished, and that the Aslan heard of an imperial detachment going the same way and also vanishing, and also mentions meeting the Red Adder captain and what was said there too. He puts in nothing secret or that betrays his true nature, writing on the assumption that someone along the way will read it.

To be continued...

Meanwhile, Off-Camera...

It looks as if some Fronts (see Dungeon World or Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master) are emerging of their own accord.

Front 1: The Fury. Even if the PCs don't rise to the bait, the Fury can still be a Front. Specifically, the Ahroay'if are growing concerned, and will want to nip the Fury in the bud while they still can.

• 1106 Week 01: Ahroay'if mission to Torpol declared overdue. Ahroay'if know about Macavity by now and want to interview crew, send word to Sink.
• 1106 Week 03: IN mission declared overdue. Ahroay'if Type C arrives at Sink, waits for Macavity. The Claw of the Ahroay'ifko (20, Heroic) is aboard to debriefs Mazun and company. He has authority to act in the Ko's name on this matter. The female known as the Eye of the Ahroay'ifko (13, Observant) is with him, acting as his G2.
• 1106 Week 06: Mazun's report reaches Tobia. Hilarity ensues.
• 1106 Week 07: GeDeCo mission to Tropol declared overdue. IN starts assembling task force.
• 1106 Week 11: Macavity arrives at Sink.
• 1106 Week 19: Prince's exile ends, boon companions invited to wedding on Tyokh.

Front 2: The rivalry between the Iuwoi and the Htyowao clans. A low-level vendetta which can pop up any time things go quiet.

Front 3: The "Unpronounceable Mafia". What if the Alley Cat has been unable to sway Hteleitoirl, and instead starts talking to the Htyowao?

GM Notes

I did very little prep for this session, beyond thinking about the implications of the fronts; that's what they're for, after all. I reasoned the Ahroay'if need information the PCs might have, and the only place they know the PCs will eventually turn up is Sink, so they would send an envoy to wait for them. I made up the job titles for the Ahroay'if visitors. My players struggle with aslan names so NPCs need memorable job titles. Likewise, not everyone is happy about the impending wedding, and a couple of the fronts could get some mileage out of sticking a stick in the wheel.

The "Third Most Valuable Thing" is a tagline from an old Digest Group Publications magazine, and its instructions come from a couple of oracle rolls on tables in the Mythic GM Emulator. Not entirely sure what I'm doing with this yet, but both Imperial and Zhodani intelligence are interested in it and it is somehow connected with the Fury.

I've realised it has been months now since I actually looked at any of the Pirates of Drinax files, confirming that my player handout on the Aslan Route's worlds has everything I need to know on it. So PoD has been archived. This matters partly for my state of mind - I'm happiest when I'm only using 2-3 documents for a campaign - and partly because my cheapo supreme laptop only has about 4 GB of usable HDD space, the rest is taken up with Windows and whatnot, so all of my gaming files need to fit into about 1 GB if they are to sync with it.

Arion 1-09: All's Fair in Love and War

"Anye impietie may lawfully be committed in love, which is lawlesse." - John Lyly, Euphues

Hollis Highport, 1105 Week 46

"Hey, Karen, it's me... I need to get the ship decontaminated, who are the best guys for that... Plant spores from the surface... no, I'm okay, so's my gunner, but Cori's in medbay for a while, got bitten by a sandworm... Coffee? Sure, I'll be right over."

Officer Muhammed has quickly identified Ganzfeld and Sheng as rivals for Arion's affections, and is secretly delighted that Ganzfeld is laid up in the station medbay recovering from her sandworm bite. It reduces the competition. However, Major Sheng is still in play, and doing her best to divert Arion's attention. Fortunately, there are hours every day when she is either looking in on Ganzfeld or working with that Karagoz person. In those hours, Arion is hers, at least when she can pry him away from his beloved ship; and introducing him to her favourite decontamination team is a good way to do that, especially when she can help arrange the work - which is, after all, part of her job - as part of a coffee date.

Coffee turns into a longer conversation involving pastries and arrangements for dinner, which is interrupted by Karagoz in a scout uniform with what Arion suspects are variable-geometry rank badges.

"Enough fraternising," Karagoz says, unsympathetically, frustrating both of them. "New plan. Get the ship turned round stat, I have an insystem mission for you. Come on, I'll brief you."

When he and Arion are outside, Karagoz continues.

"I want you to check out the other end of that transmission."

"I thought we were going back to the surface?"

"Too risky. You were on the surface less than an hour and now 25% of the team is incapacitated. Whatever's receiving those signals is probably less dangerous, or at least easier to cope with."

"Can't you get the base to send someone downstairs?"

"In theory, yes. In practice, they have some convincing reasons not to go." Arion glances sideways at the set of Karagoz's mouth.

"They laughed at you, didn't they."

"They did."

Meanwhile, Major Sheng drops by the medbay to check in on Ganzfeld. If she has adjusted the tissue regenerator to its most conservative setting, who can blame her? She takes a malicious pleasure in informing Ganzfeld that she and Arion have an appointment later for hand-to-hand combat training, unaware that Arion will have to cancel it.

"Today, grappling practice," she says, just to rub salt in the wound.

Ganzfeld consoles herself that in addition to the usual feminine wiles, she can adjust his attitude psionically. A thought strikes her: Is that cheating? Even if it isn't, is natural affection more valid, or at least more valuable, than feelings she has manipulated?

Time enough to worry about that once she's got him, she decides. Another thought strikes her: Suppose instead of adjusting his opinions, she adjusts those of other two women? Come to think of it, why does it have to be one or the other?

Hollis System Transfer Orbit, 1105 Week 47

"What I want to know," Arion asks, "Is why the plumbing always fails while we're in space." He pulls out a lump of Hollis plant tissue which grows visibly as he looks at it and stuffs it in a sample container, then peels off his disposable gloves and throws them in after it, spraying the pipework enthusiastically with potent herbicide. "I thought they decontaminated this?"

He hands the sample container back to Mr Osheen without looking. "Here, throw this out the airlock, and don't get that stuff on anything." He shines a torch into the pipes, and uses a handheld scanner to check for more spores.

"It's always fine while we're in port," he muses. "It passes all the preflight tests. Then as soon as we're in space, bam! It..." He hears a slurping noise, and glances over at Mr Osheen suspiciously. "What are you doing?"

"Consuming bodily fluids. For nourishment."

"Well, stop it. It's disgusting. When you said bodily fluids, I assumed you meant blood and stuff."

"That, too."

Arion steps up the level of hygiene for the rest of the trip. For multiple reasons.

Hollis Outer System, 1105 Week 47

After an unusually thorough check of their spacesuits, Arion and Mr Osheen have put them on and depressurised the ship, partly in case of combat, and partly to keep the pernicious moulds under control.

Arion is forced to resort to active sensors to find the target; a one-off bearing and signal strength from several weeks ago give him a direction and a distance he can estimate from the fact that it hasn't been detected yet; one point in a sheaf of potential orbits, not a lot to go on. However, luck is with him, and at length he discovers a small automated satellite, orbiting a moon which itself orbits one of the system's gas giants.

"Now," he muses aloud, "Do we gain more by interfering with it, or by leaving it alone?"

"Ask Karagoz," Mr Osheen replies, having mistaken this for a question. Arion considers this. He is used to operating alone, far from any support or authority; but as Karagoz is only a few tens of light-minutes away, he might as well ask. He prepares and encrypts a message, then sends it to Karagoz via tight beam. An hour or two later, he has a response.

"Leave it," Karagoz says. "Watch it for a while and get a solid set of orbital parameters so we can find it again later, then come back."

Arion sends a terse acknowledgement and settles in to his revised task. Working up an orbit is something he knows how to do.

GM Notes

Behind the GM screen... here's the core gameplay loop for Interstellar Rebels:

• Envisage the next scene: Arion and Mr Osheen go back to the surface and finish checking out the abandoned hut.
• Curveball check: 44 - doubles, so we get a curveball, in this case "describe a new place", and roll another d6 for what happens: 4 again, relates to the primary subplot. That was the robot's head icon. What is it with these dice? Not long ago it was three 5s, now it's three 4s.
• Scene challenge: I decided last time this would be a Quick Encounter, since we haven't had one of those yet.

And there's "contending with a change of plan" emerging organically from the dice rolls. I had been wondering how I was going to handle that, but if you trust the process, it works. Since I changed over to Interstellar Rebels as the solo engine, the game is flowing much more easily and fluently, so that was a good choice.

Opening up Classic Traveller Starter Edition, which is handy for this sort of thing, I see that a typical gas giant is 4-5 days away at 2G, so let's say it takes them a week or so to reach and deal with the signal recipient, and they head back the following week, so they return to Hollis sometime in week 48.

The yes/no oracle in IR works by you setting a target number based on how likely you think the outcome is; rolling at least that is a yes, anything else is a no. If you feel like it you can roll a second die to add "and", "but", or neither. I had two main questions:

• Is the Quick Encounter Dangerous? (Maybe, 4+): 1, no. I try the second die and get 6, "and". Not dangerous and not that hard either, so I won't make it a Staged encounter.
• Who is behind this? Zhodani? (Maybe, 4+): 2, no. Second die: 1, "but", suggesting it's somehow linked to them. Pirates? (4+): 1, no. No second die this time as I don't think it would add anything. This could go on forever so I decide the Ine Givar are responsible, I haven't used them in ages. Arion doesn't know this yet, but it helps me frame what he finds; it would be just as valid to ask a complex question.

Enough dice for now, so I decide the transmission is being received by a distant unmanned satellite (the robot). I decide the Quick Encounter is an Electronics roll for Arion to scan it with sensors; 3 on the skill die, 6 then 5 on the wild die  - 11 total, success and a raise, so he finds it more by luck than skill. Karagoz's reaction roll to the idea of leaving the satellite in place is a 9, so that is what they do.

Current status: Arion 2 VP, BBEG 2 VP.

• Envisage the next scene: The only lead left is the abandoned hut, so I guess we need to revisit that.
• Curveball check: 34 - no curveball.
• Scene challenge: Let's call investigating the hut a complex dramatic task, haven't done one of those yet and they're worth a juicy 4 VP.

Next time: Back to the hut.

Review: Swyvers

"You and your gang of criminals scarper through heists and sewers, walk through the filth of The Smoke and, if you're lucky, you'll make it out with a few extra shillings. The whole of this city is your filthy, sickly oyster." - Swyvers

This is an impulse buy from last year which I never got around to reviewing, and there was no game last Saturday because of reasons. So...

In a nutshell: Stand-alone grimdark fantasy RPG about nasty criminals pulling off heists in a city that isn't quite mediaeval London. 96 page PDF (104 if you count stuff like endpapers and covers) by Melsonian Arts Council, £9.47 on DriveThruRPG here at time of writing.

What's Inside

Swyver Creation (10 pages): Roll 3d6 for each of Constitution, Dexterity, and Strength - your intelligence and wisdom are down to the player. You have 1d10+10 shillings, a ropey shank (poor quality knife), some 'orrid rags (what they sound like), and one random item such as a full bucket of night soil or a live rat in a bottle. You may also roll for a personality trait if you wish, learning that you are perhaps 'jammy' or 'away with the faeries'. By now you will have realised that a familiarity with British slang is going to be helpful. There are optional additional, errm, let's call them ancestries such as ruined noble, ratman exile, and hedge-swyver (out of towner), but the GM is cautioned these change the game significantly. There's a page of pre-selected equipment packages if you don't want to pore over the next chapter choosing gear, and a character sheet.

This 'n That (10 pages): The equipment section. Normally these are huge and my eyes glaze over when I try to read them, but this one is actually funny, which helps a lot. Tables of gear with prices and sometimes encumbrance, but what makes it are the descriptions - "Imported Spices d100 s. Fancy flavour powder. Suspicious if you ask me." This includes animals, which if they survive and contribute to heists can learn tricks, such as humping someone's leg on command to distract them. You can also buy a stake in a business, or even set one up yourself. Honestly, this paragraph took a long time to write as I was laughing so much at the gear lists.

General Rules (18 pages): Swyvers has two main forms of task resolution. Rolling Under requires you to roll the relevant attribute or less on a variable number of dice - 2d6 if the average person could probably do it, up to 5d6 for an amazing feat; that's reminiscent of Wizard and In The Labyrinth. Rolling Under is either a skill roll for a deliberate action, or a save if you're reacting to something; if no skill or attribute seems relevant, there's a table of target numbers depending on difficulty. Then there are competing rolls, which most games call opposed rolls; each side rolls a d12 plus the relevant attribute, high score wins.

Combat is in 6 second rounds, in each of which you may take a full action (attack in melee, disengage, aim and fire, etc.) or two half actions (move, snapshot etc.). To attack, roll 2d10+Fighting skill, hit if you meet or beat target's Defence (which is based on what weapon they have), roll damage for weapon and deduct armour value from the result, damage eats your Constitution and when it reaches zero bits of you start getting broken and cut off, leading to penalties and disfigurement.

An interesting rule I've not seen before is that recovering the corpse of a fallen comrade allows you to buy their XP, the cash is spent on the funeral and wake and the XP are divided among his surviving friends. I can't help feeling this encourages letting party members die, which would be in character for these fellows.

When a swyver levels up, he may improve a skill (such as First Aid) by one point; if the skill is relevant to a roll, he adds it to the relevant attribute, thus making it easier to succeed by rolling under it. However, this is a game where the authors believe most things can and should be resolved without skill rolls, so skills - and even attributes - are de-emphasised in favour of asking questions and proposing cunning stratagems. Very Old School.

This chapter also includes rules for various diseases, morale, complications, experience and advancement, expenditure, random consequences for carousing, crime and punishment, NPC followers, and fences (name, what they buy, how much they pay for it).

Running Swyvers (22 pages): This begins by explaining how to generate your table's very own version of The Smoke, which like many fantasy cities is built on a dungeon, in this case one called The Midden, a mess of forgotten ruins, sewers, wine-cellars and temples. The Smoke itself begins with 1d4 rivers merging and flowing into the sea, and four initial districts; the GM adds more as necessary, for the Smoke has no predefined size or shape, and is encouraged to start with five additional districts generated using random tables. Additionally, there are three levels of rulers - the Smoke, the Country and the Continent - a church, and an ongoing war, again detailed using random tables. The chapter also lists the likely 'treasure' carried by an average inhabitant and present in his house, depending on the wealth of the district; random encounters by district wealth and time of day; random street names; example missions with likely pay; bribes required to get out of being arrested for various crimes; and creating the Detective who will be the swyvers' nemesis.

Then we move on to generating the Midden. Mapping it in its entirety is not recommended, but there are tables for generating points of interest and what lurks within them. Some of these seem to be persistent, so my guess is you're intended to map as you go and retain the result for future expeditions. The Midden has no levels as such but is divided into Shallow (forgotten basements and paved-over streets) and Deep (hidden secrets). I won't dwell on this as random dungeon generators have been around for decades; but these tables focus on details to create a gothic-horror atmosphere rather than the shape and size of chambers.

Arseholes and Adversaries (8 pages): The bestiary. Here we find animals, monsters and NPCs, each with a statblock, a description, and a nickname by which swyvers know them. Some of these creatures are frankly disturbing, again very gothic-horror and grimdark. I especially like the vampires, which can only take damage from their weaknesses - these are determined randomly and include such fun items as "cheap drink" and "bloody foreigners".

Magic (12 pages): Here's the magic system and spells, which I shall gloss over as no swyver begins knowing anything about it, they only know what they find out during play. The sole exception is how spells are cast, which is done by playing blackjack;  scores below 17 mean the spell fails, 17-20 means it works as intended, 21 means it is more powerful than expected, and scores over 21 are critical failures which invoke some very nasty effects.

Blue Cheese, Left to Rot (13 pages): An introductory scenario, in which the swyvers encounter a mansion being fought over by different factions. Neither of the factions is very nice, but either could use a group of competent swyvers for future missions. Shake on it, but count your fingers afterwards. This is intended as an example; going forward, the players are intended to plan and execute their own heists, rather than being presented with a mission.

What I Think

This was an impulse purchase. I found it by accident and was intrigued by the idea of every group having its own version of the city, emerging in play from the numerous random tables. Plus, what appeals to me most about fantasy these days is urban intrigue, and I already have several such settings, including Lankhmar and Jalizar.

There's a fair amount of swearing and British slang, so if those are not your thing, drive on. I found it a mixture of the humorous and the grimdark, like some of the early Warhammer FRPG scenarios, and it had me laughing out loud in places.

The game packs a lot of implied setting and adventure into a small space, and is not overwritten like many RPG products. The rules are not going to tempt me away from SWADE, but the emergent setting appeals strongly, and is a candidate for me to run as a future campaign.

Halfway through 2025

"Be not solitary, be not idle." - Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy

My big problem with gaming so far this year has been anhedonia; the feeling that nothing is fun or worth it any more.  I get that feeling sometimes, but despite writing in 1621, Mr Burton nailed it; one addresses this issue by meeting people, preferably face to face, and keeping oneself busy. Neither of those are necessarily gaming-related.

Of course, Mr Burton did not have to deal with social media or TV news, but then strictly speaking, neither do I. There are OFF switches.

Blogger

Since the move from Wordpress, I've used Blogger enough to get a feel for the pros and cons.

Things Blogger does better than Wordpress: Creating and editing posts is simpler and more intuitive. The default layout is closer to what I need. Above all, it doesn't randomly insert adverts every few paragraphs.

Things Wordpress does better than Blogger: You can 'like' posts - I can't see how to do that in Blogger at all. Once you've accepted a comment from someone in Wordpress, it automatically accepts all their future comments; in Blogger, you have to accept each comment individually, or accept all comments regardless of author.

Naturally, as soon as I moved across to Blogger, I found a free Wordpress host that doesn't stuff posts with adverts; but I've already moved twice this year and I don't want to move again for a while.

Campaigns

Solo: As I said above, this has been more fun for me since I moved the PC to a new and less constrained setting. I've been meaning to start a new All Things Zombie game, but so far I haven't been sufficiently motivated, so that will wait a little longer.

Group (GM): The Aslan Route has been a bit of a slog; the players enjoy it enough to keep turning up, which is a good thing, but as Marie Kondo might say, it no longer sparks joy for me. Maybe it will do so again if I power through the current malaise.

Group (player): I'm thoroughly enjoying Deadlands, as it's great to play SWADE after running it for so many years; interestingly, the other players seem to enjoy SWADE a lot more now someone else is running it. I'm also having a lot of fun playing in The Jagermeister Adventure under Mongoose Traveller 2nd Edition; I can't see myself running MgT2, but I'll happily play it. Finally, Leaves of Chiaroscuro is teaching me how FATE works, which has always been a gap in my gaming knowledge.

Progress Towards Objectives

We're far enough into the year that my New Years' Experiments (as I think of them) are starting to show results.

• Intentionality. That's to say, no impulse purchases. Failed, due to an impulse purchase of the Giant Book of Cyberpunk Battlemats from Loke Battlemats.
• Play with 15 different people. Achievement unlocked; playing in The Jagermeister Adventure takes me to 16.
• No campaign reboots. Failed, rebooted the Arioniad. I regret nothing. Well, not that, anyway, it's been more fun since.
• Play 300 hours in 100 sessions. So far 208 hours in 71 sessions; ahead of target.
• Read 50 books, 5 in Italian: So far 32, 3 in Italian; on track.
• Videogaming. Complete two games this year. I'll probably fail this one. I haven't launched a videogame in three months now.
• Boycotting. This has gone as far as it's going to get; it's hard to be an ethical consumer, the best you can do is favour one reprehensible behaviour over another. I don't imagine my targets are quaking in their boots, but I'm doing what I can to slow them down. Hopefully it all adds up.

All that said, I'm not actually doing anything with this information, so I might not bother keeping score in the second half.