Aslan Route 34: Deepnight Endeavour, Part 1

Previously, on The Aslan Route… The Macavity has misjumped into deep space, with no star system nearby. However, a sensor scan reveals a large power plant ticking over nearby, and with no other options, the crew set course towards it...

This contains spoilers for Mongoose Traveller Great Rift Adventure 2: Deepnight Endeavour, but it was published in 2017, so I regret nothing.

Void 8 Subsector, 1108 Week 40

The Macavity quickly closes on the source of the neutrino emissions and discovers a starship, apparently of human manufacture, tumbling gently. She is broadcasting a low-powered transponder signal and has some energy emissions suggesting that at least some parts of her hull are still powered. However, all is clearly not well. The ship is heavily damaged and is at the centre of a slowly expanding debris cloud. She has no radar or other sensor emissions, and does not respond to communications. The slow tumble would make docking difficult, but not impossible.

Analysing the debris pattern reveals the debris was scattered from two points of origin, one the ship itself, centring on one of the ventral pods but with hits scored elsewhere on the hull. The second source was about 500 kilometres away, and appears to have suffered a catastrophic explosion scattering wreckage at much higher velocities.

The ship herself looks to be around 40,000 tons, prompting Vila to note that even if the fusion plant is running on fumes, fumes for a ship that size represent more fuel than the Macavity will need.

Mazun is easily able to reach, and fly around, the ship; the name Deepnight Endeavour is painted on the side in the usual places. Mazun admits that he did his national service in the Scouts, and heard of a corporation called Deepnight Exploration LIC which specialised in exploring rifts and other hard-to-reach places.

While the crew discuss what to do next, Dr Matauranga refines his location data and announces Macavity is three parsecs from Zuflucht in the Islands Clusters; the ship’s Library Data says there is an Imperial enclave there, with diplomatic, Navy and Scout representation, although neither of the latter can be called a ‘base’. This is an issue as even on full tanks the Macavity can only jump two parsecs, but they know it is possible to carry extra fuel, refill the tanks in deep space, and then jump again, so this makes things harder but not impossible.

The docking ports on the starboard Primary Structural Member are the obvious entry point, and with assistance from Vila, Mazun is able to dock the Macavity to one. Vila can see that it is intended as a docking cradle for fuel shuttles, but also quickly establishes that some inconsiderate soul has locked out the pumping station, so boarding is necessary. There are lights on and the power plant is operating on ‘hotel load’, i.e. just enough power to keep the ship habitable, suggesting there is someone aboard to ask for fuel, who would probably agree in exchange for passage out.

Leaving Mazun behind on watch, the rest – Rex, Kharrash, Dr Matauranga and Vila – don vacc suits, or in Rex’s case a pressurised infantry battle suit, and head up in the lift. Rex has two laser SMGs, Kharrash an automatic shotgun, Vila a stun pistol, and Dr Matauranga his sampling and medical kits. Once the lift stops and the doors open, Vila dismantles the panel and starts hacking the ship’s systems, muttering to himself “Any exploit is a total exploit”. He is unable to gain access, as the systems have been deliberately locked down and show evidence of cyberwarfare being waged inside the ship. There’s nothing for it but to emerge and look around.

After a short while, a shambling humanoid figure comes into view; it has the rough shape of a human being, but seems to be made of some combination of fungus, vegetation, and alien protoplasm. On detecting the boarders, it breaks into the closest thing to a run it can manage and charges. Vila’s stunner has no effect on it, so Rex cuts it into chunks with his lasers.

It seems to be alone, so Rex and Kharrash cover Dr Matauranga as he examines the body and takes samples. Under the outer fungal layer, the thing is wearing a jumpsuit with a nametag: STERLING. Mazun advises that the decontamination protocols he will enforce on return have just gone up a notch, and he orders everyone to stay in their suits.

The boarding party hears sounds from one of the nearby compartments and moves towards it. Kharrash opens the door and Rex lines up his lasers, ready to deal with whatever is inside; this proves to be a white-haired human male in a dirty lab coat who raises his hands and asks not to be shot. Rex decides he must be a scientist so calls Dr Matauranga forward, and the Doctor asks for information.

The survivor says he is Trennance Zedehlale, a research assistant, and explains what he knows or suspects happened; crewmembers investigated an alien ship, then fell ill, and soon afterwards, others did too. While heading for home, the Deepnight Endeavour misjumped - Trennance thinks that was deliberate - but the captain said he would get them home somehow and headed for a deep space fuel cache. By the time they arrived there were strange growths, a lot of sick crew, and zombies shambling around. The weapons officer blew up the fuel cache, and the surviving crew have split into factions and are competing for resources. Sooner or later the power plant fuel will run out or the zombies will get everyone.

In turn, Dr Matauranga explains to Trennance that Macavity has also misjumped, but if she can refuel she can make it to Zuflucht, and Trennance can go along in exchange for his help. He readily agrees, and suggests talking to the captain (who is in the command section somewhere) or the chief engineer (who is in engineering).

The Macavity's crew decide to begin with the engineering section, so leaving Trennance to shelter in place until the Away Team gets back, and under tactical direction from Mazun, they move through the starboard hull towards engineering. En route there is a minor firefight with several zombies; one of them makes it into melee range, at which point Kharrash’s casual lethality clears any remaining queries about why the Captain chose him as a bodyguard.

Not far into Engineering, they encounter an armed foraging party, and at first things are tense; but one of the engineers has the presence of mind to notice that the Away Team includes an aslan, and the Deepnight Endeavour’s crew does not. This buys enough time for Vila to explain that the Macavity has misjumped and needs fuel, and as a consequence there are a number of opportunities to Be His Friend and win an all-expenses paid trip Anywhere But Here. This is going out on a limb, as he has no idea how many engineers there are, but it sounds good to them, and they advise the Macavity's crew should meet the Chief Engineer.

Chief Engineer Dakh Moralder is a female vargr; pragmatic, if not as good at delegation as she might be, and focussed on saving what’s left of her engineering department – all 17 of them. She quickly agrees to the deal of helping Macavity refuel in exchange for a way off her own ship, and says the problems are that the relevant control circuits have been physically cut in the Operations Module, and her command authorisation has been revoked. This leads to a long discussion of how to overcome those problems, with Vila leaning towards either hacking the control systems on the pumps locally, or hacking the HR system and re-instating Dakh. The captain would notice either approach, but it’s not clear how he would respond.

Dakh says the suits aren't necessary, her section of the ship is free from infection. Dr Matauranga – never one to take anyone else’s word on medical matters – checks this personally, and agrees with her.

Mazun is reluctant to allow potentially infected people aboard the Macavity, but does want to save as many as he can, so proposes low berths as a solution which reduces risk and also increases the number of people who can be rescued. Dakh tells Vila that there are several dozen emergency low berths scattered around the ship – when you need one, you don’t want to travel far to get to it – and they can be demounted like ordinary low berths, making rescue easier and faster, and ensuring revival can be delayed until proper facilities are available.

So, it’s agreed that Dakh’s people, under Vila’s instructions, will fabricate some kind of fuel pod to carry extra fuel, allowing Macavity to reach Zuflucht. Once the ship is fuelled, people will be frozen by Dr Matauranga aboard the Deepnight Endeavour, and the berths then transferred to Macavity’s cargo hold.

Dakh doesn’t know how many people the bridge faction has; more than her, she thinks, but maybe not many more. Trennance said earlier he thought there were less than a hundred people left alive, and wondered why there weren’t more shamblers – there should be a couple of hundred. Nor is it clear how many people are left in the Mission faction.

The next step is to contact the Mission Specialists in the forward science pod. Dakh says that they are completely isolated in there, and she thinks their foraging parties get in and out using vacc suits to spacewalk to other pods.

Vila, Matauranga and Mazun compare notes on the art of the possible. They will need to fashion a 20-ton drop tank for extra fuel. If they abandon all the cargo that will leave enough space for forty emergency low berths, each of which can hold four people; that should be more than enough. The limiting factors will be how many berths and survivors they can recover.

Overall, they decide, it will be challenging, but doable.

To be continued...

GM Notes

Although I often berate myself for not having a better grasp of the detailed combat rules, after the initial battlemat fight with the zombie to show the players how they work, we shifted to a Dramatic Task for exploring the ship and a combination of discussion and basic Trait rolls for everything else, and you know what, that worked just fine and it didn't seem to be any less fun than any other approach. Maybe I should lighten up about this.

The next session should see some intra-party conflict. Mazun is Heroic, so will want to save everyone. Dr Matauranga has Curiousity as a Major Hindrance, so is itching to learn more about the fungal infection. Vila is Cautious, so won't want to run any risks.

The gun bunnies - Rex and Kharrash - have historically done whatever Mazun tells them, so my money is on him.

Fringe Space: Makavan 004 - New Hope

It's a mystery to me; and the game commences
For the usual fee... plus expenses.
- Dire Straits, Private Investigations

Deep Space, Late February '01: Contact in Space

Leaving Thalweg, the Egregore's sensors picked up a suspiciously heavily armed trader; the transponder showed Gaea Prime registry. Makavan decided it was probably a pirate, but if it didn't bother him, he certainly wasn't going to pick a fight with it. They passed each other in silence, a small fish and a shark which for some reason wasn't hungry that day.

Just as well; even with the benefit of ATPs, it took Makavan and the AI six hours to plot the course through hyperspace to New Hope, and trying to do that under fire would have been hopeless. Makavan would've rage-quit had that been an option.

Approaching New Hope, another trader responded to his hails with pleasantries and a data packet of news from its independent homeworld; Makavan sent what he had picked up on Thalweg, which cost him nothing but a few Watts of energy and might help his reputation.

He also checked the spaceport bounty board, mostly in case he was on it. He wasn't.

New Hope, Late February '01: Chillin'

Safe from extradition, if not bludgeoning, Makavan disposed of his cargo and made his way back to the Snakebite Inn. He was relatively flush this month, thanks to Ribeiro's charter, but who knew how long that would last? If his balance kept increasing, maybe he would find a better class of diner. However, there was something to be said for being within running distance of the ship.

Inside, four of the tables were already occupied; the place was unusually busy. He hadn't chosen the Snakebite Inn as his regular haunt for its food or drink, but because it seemed to be an informal clearing-house for clients with questionable judgement hiring borderline legal people such as himself to do unusual things. Checking in with Billy the Snake and buying the necessary drink to cover his activities, Makavan learned from Billy who was offering work, then worked the room until he found something suitable.

A couple of apparently unrelated ordinary working Joes wanted help defending their shops and each offered 4 IRD. Makavan was sure he could do better, and anyway his skill set was not focused on breaking things and hurting people. That was something Guzman would be better at. At least these potential patrons were both human.

Two different private eyes wanted help finding the same criminal bail-jumper and each offered 5 IRD. One razor, one grath; Makavan could see why they might need someone who would blend in to a largely basic population. The razor looked a lot more dangerous, and by that token the more useful ally. Makavan decided that was the one to hire on with.

"Okay," he said. "I'm in. Who are we looking for?" The razor slid a holocube depicting a shifty-looking hishen across the table.

"This one," she said. "I would start in the spaceport, but he may be in Little Hisha."

Makavan started to feel uneasy. A razor was perfectly capable of doing this job, and more likely to interact successfully with a hishen. Something was off here; but it was too late to back out now.

Status at End February '01

• IRD/DRD: +7 (Hauling Cargo with no patron - miscalculated that last time), -3 (ship upkeep), -2 (fled an encounter in episode 3). Total, +2 IRD. I roll 5, 6 which would have given another increase in Rep; so Simon's Wealth increases to d10 (then drops to d8 as he goes shopping).
• 5150 Stats: Rep: 5. The game can't function without a Rep, and it usually begins at 5, so we'll assume Simon's Rep is 5 for the moment. Current IRD: 0. Lifetime IRD: 11; there's a long way to go yet, we're aiming for 300.
• SWADE Stats: Bennies: Refresh to 3 at session end. Wounds: None. Advances: None.

GM Notes

I see that in episode 3's fight I forgot to give the pursuing Zhuh-Zhuh the benefit of light body armour; still, one of my rules is "no do-overs", and that works to my PC's advantage as often as not. I figure it all evens out in the end. However, if everyone's wearing body armour, a 9mm auto pistol doesn't cut it, so Simon makes a Wealth roll to buy a laser pistol; he rolls a Success, and since it costs more than $10 x Wealth die type, he gets it but his Wealth drops one die type to d8.

This time around, I also realised that my Star can Haul Cargo just by saying he's doing that, which makes a big difference to being able to maintain Rep. I've been playing 5150 wrong in that regard since 2015. Oh well.

The astrogation roll (SFC) was a real mess; it took six tries to get a good enough result, but so long as you're not under time pressure and don't roll a critical failure, you can just keep trying until it works. However, it isn't fast, furious or fun, and the 5150 setting doesn't really need it as interstellar travel uses portals called Automated Transfer Points, so when we get to the end of the three month trial run, I may drop it.

Hauling Cargo back to New Hope means two PEFs encountered en route; I think the "one PEF per Ring" rule for Hauling supersedes the "1/2 d6 PEFs" in Contact in Space. We get a Gaea Prime Pirate (who may attack) in Ring 4, and an independent Basic Trader (who ignores us) in Ring 3. No Limits p. 37 says Pirates attack Traders, but it also says refer to p. 29 to see what happens, so let's try that... Each side rolls 1d6 + number of figures (in this case, ships); Simon gets a 6, the Pirate gets a 5; since neither side scores at least twice as much as the other, there is no fight. I forgot to check that in episode 2, but as well as playing to find out, we play to learn.

Turning to the Job Offers (5150NLMV p. 44) I roll Rep - 1d6 = 4 for the number of job offers; the implication is that I can only take one, but I decide to game the system a little and pay all 4 of the PEFs I get while Chillin' to check out all of them, and you see the outcomes above. (Why? PEFs might be immediately dangerous, but Job Offers are only dangerous next month and then only if you take them.) Thus it is that Simon agrees to Find a Rep 3 Hishen for a Rep 5 Razor.

I'll have to figure out what IRD is an abbreviation for in-game. It would be useful if the player and the character used the same term.

Aslan Route 33: The Most Valuable Thing

“That is not dead which can eternal lie.” – HP Lovecraft, The Nameless City

Iroioah, 1108 Week 38

The Macavity is associated with Clan Iuwoi, which is a vassal of Clan Ahroay’if, and the latter clan thinks of its crew as trustworthy after the incident at Torpol, so when they ask Macavity to deliver some despatches and minor cargo to Iroioah, one jump away, the crew sense opportunities to gain honour and cash, so they agree. Kharrash signs on as Mazun’s bodyguard, which is both practical and a sign of growing status in Clan Iuwoi. He’s not the sharpest tool in the box, but Rex tests his mettle and declares him competent enough.

The delivery itself goes off without a hitch, but that night everyone except Kharrash has the same nightmare: Being buried alive out in the deep desert. On learning everyone had the same nightmare, Vila draws his psionic shield helmet from the ship’s locker and starts sleeping in it.

The following night, the nightmare returns, with a psionic message from the self-styled Most Valuable Thing; it gives Dr Matauranga rough directions to its location, a temple in the deep desert, and asks that he re-open the temple so that it can drive the meddling aslan from the tombs of Iroioah.

Asking around the starport reveals that the 80 or so inhabitants of Iroioah mostly work at the starport, which serves as a transport hub linking Tyokh to Vorito, Hleakhayes and points rimward. However, there are a couple of small archaeological teams working on two of the three closest ruins.

Officially intent on trading with the archaeologists, and unofficially trying to find out what they are meddling with, the crew visits them in turn.

The first team is happy to order some comforts from home and show the crew around the dig. They explain that these are tombs of the Kursae people, who once ruled a large empire colonised with slower-than-light ships. They have left remarkably little evidence of their presence, and no depictions of them have been found to date.

Dr Matauranga knows that theories about the Kursae are questionable, and better suited to action-adventure holodramas than serious scientific research. Inside his skull, the Second and Third Most Valuable Things (sulking, presumably because they now have to cede precedence to the Most Valuable Thing) explain that this is a memorial to a politician who has exaggerated their own importance and wasted resources on a cenotaph which could have been better used in expanding the empire.

Vila, the team’s aslan expert, advances the theory that just as human archaeologists tend to assume anything they don’t understand has a religious purpose, aslan – who venerate their ancestors but have no religion in the human sense – tend to assume anything they don’t understand is a memorial.

The second team is somewhat more brusque; the good Doctor thinks they believe they have found something and don’t want to share it, as the teams must compete for research funding. Matauranga returns to the first group and they spend a happy hour or two gossiping and complaining about their academic rivals.

Having gleaned what they can locally, the team sets off towards the Most Valuable Thing’s temple, concealed in a valley some hours’ flight away. This proves to be psionically concealed, with Dr Matauranga able to see it clearly through his MVT goggles, Kharrash unimpressed but recognising it as some sort of building, and the others unsure whether it is a building or just a hill.

Rex is left guarding the ship, while Kharrash is ordered to keep watch outside the temple, mostly in case the rest of the crew needs to do something dishonourable inside. Mazun and Vila don their psionic shield helmets, but Dr Matauranga wants to be able to hear the MVT clearly so leaves his off – not that it would fit over the goggles, anyway.

The temple has six hexagonal towers or entrances, evenly spaced at ground level around the outside. Each seems to have a ramp down to a lower level, and the six are connected by a ring corridor running around the inside of the building.

Dr Matauranga, convinced that the MVT has asked them here (true) and will therefore guide them inside and protect them from any dangers (debatable), marches firmly up to the closest entrance, where an electrical discharge shows something is shorting out. Vila points out this is the power circuit for operating the door, and he can repair it.

Going right on the same level, they encounter some kind of psionic presence which asks Dr Matauranga what his purpose is.

“Knowledge,” he replies confidently, and is told to continue, but warned he will face challenges ahead to prove his worth.

Continuing clockwise around the ring corridor, the explorers enter a featureless chamber; once everyone is inside, the doors slam closed and the ceiling begins to descend. While Vila scrambles to find some way of jamming the ceiling, Mazun notes that the door closing the ramp is having trouble, apparently due to debris in its track. Everyone dives through that and rolls down the ramp before they’re completely trapped, with Vila trying to block the door with whatever he can find in the room.

Dr Matauranga pulls everyone up short, and explains the floor and walls of this new chamber are being patrolled by spiderlike beings of little apparent intelligence, since their patrols follow a simple and easily-understood pattern. Lacking his goggles, the others can’t see them. However, Matauranga gets through them easily enough and reports that he can see chambers around a central shaft, connected by ramps and walkways but all opening onto the shaft. There are three chambers on this level, two on the next, and finally one.

Matauranga attempts to guide his crewmates through the spiders; he succeeds with Mazun, but Vila is briefly mobbed by a swarm of them before he can break free.

The level below has one chamber with a wide crack in the floor, so they take the other one, where they are again challenged, this time by something visible: A large amoeba-like being which appears to be made of quicksilver and has an unstable surface given to extruding fractal branches like those of a Christmas tree. Dr Matauranga talks his way past it, and the team proceeds downwards.

Here, three more silver amoebas lie in wait, and challenge them again, explaining that they guard the entrance to the Most Valuable Thing, and the crew must pass by them to reach it. One of them always tells the truth, one of them always lies, and the third one shoots people who ask smart-ass questions; the last one helpfully extrudes a silver barrel to identify itself.

Dr Matauranga opts for the traditional question of “If I were to ask your colleague how to get past what would they tell me?” but twists it slightly to precipitate an argument among the three about whether this question is sufficiently smart-ass to allow the third one to open fire, and while their attention is distracted, the humans sneak past and open the door to the inner sanctum.

The MVT itself, a larger and more impressive silver amoeba, welcomes them and asks for help in repairing its generator, a pool of silver fluid which it points out. Vila sets to work, following the MVT’s instructions, while Dr Matauranga questions all three Valuable Things about the nature of the vanished empire. They confirm it was very large and settled using sublight travel; they knew of jumpspace, but chose not to use it as it is full of “spiky things that don’t like them”. The MVTs are unable to agree on whether the empire had one species, or several, but do agree that when they first discovered jumpspace the spiky things came to them and tried to kill them.

At this point, Vila concludes his tasks, and the MVT immediately tries to dominate all the humans psionically. Mazun resists, and Dr Matauranga barely manages to fight it off thanks to support from the other Dr Mataurangas and the Chicken (which has been a gibbering wreck since the first nightmare but is now roused by terror of what might happen otherwise). Vila, however, is completely dominated. The MVT, so far unfamiliar with human physiology, grants him enough autonomy to maintain his flesh shell in an operational state.

Dr Matauranga draws his stun baton (which uses an electrical discharge for its effects) and thrusts it into the generator pool. Discerning his intent, Mazun pushes the MVT, rolling it into the generator, while Vila stuns himself to ensure he can’t be used to stop them. Dr Matauranga triggers his stun baton, incapacitating the MVT and blowing out the generator.

Taking stock quickly, Mazun and Matauranga grab the unconscious Vila and run for the exit, pursued up ramps and through corridors by silver amoebas, swarms of spiders, and other things they daren’t stop to identify. Gathering up Kharrash, they dive aboard the ship and lift for orbit.

Much to their surprise, the temple doesn’t explode behind them.

Void 8, 1108 Week 40

In jumpspace, Mazun grows concerned that the exit timer is showing an unusually long countdown, which often presages a misjump. Questioning Dr Matauranga, who among other things is the ship’s navigator, reveals that while he believes he entered the correct coordinates, he has no memory of what he actually did; he seems to have blacked out.

Further, the Second and Third Most Valuable Things are no longer in residence in his head; just the various versions of himself, and the Chicken. The goggles remain, but it’s not clear if they still function as he has nothing to test them on.

At length, the Macavity steps out of jumpspace and Dr Matauranga takes the usual bearings on assorted pulsars; it transpires they are not at Tyokh at all, but somewhere in the Void 8 subsector, chiefly notable for the total absence of star systems.

A joint effort on the ship’s sensors reveals that there is an active fusion power plant somewhere relatively near by, at least by interstellar standards.

With no other option, they lay in an intercept course and move towards it.

To be continued...

GM Notes

That started as the adventure seed The Nameless Keeper in The Pirates of Drinax, then I built the temple using the extremely useful and flexible SWADE supplement The Scheme Pyramid, then I just started making stuff up on the fly with occasional reference to the Mythic Game Master Emulator when I got stuck. I was constantly nervous that the whole session would fall apart, but people seemed to enjoy it, and total prep time was under 30 minutes.

Kharrash is the Sidekick Mazun took on reaching Legendary Rank; tough enough to add to the party's combat strength, honourable enough to be useful as an aslan liaison, and dumb enough not to notice when the crew stretches the boundaries of the aslan code to breaking point.

As Matauranga's player has been so creative and such a good sport about his PC effectively having multiple personality disorder, I allowed the PC to support himself during his fight to avoid psychic domination. Rolling the MVT into the generator and blasting it with the stunner was so in-genre that I let them get away with it (for the cost of a Benny to gain narrative control.)

I want to run Islands in the Rift for this group, but having re-read it I don't think there is enough there for what I think of as a full campaign, which left me with the problem of getting the PCs there; I opted for a forced misjump, leaving them a few clues as to what actually happened. I try not to do that more than once every few years.

I'll bridge the gap with Deepnight Endeavour, so that's up next.

Fringe Space: Makavan 003 - Thalweg

"Down those mean streets a man must walk, he thought. And along some of them he will break into a run." - Terry Pratchett, Sourcery

Thalweg, Late January '01

There was nothing much to interest Makavan on Thalweg; its chief value was positional, marking the midpoint of the demilitarised zone between the Hegemony and Xeog space. While it was technically habitable, the cold and ice made it undesirable; Basics might have shrugged on an extra layer of clothing and made do, but the Xeog's preferred costume of thigh boots and a few strategically placed leather straps kept them indoors. Makavan delivered passengers and cargo, refuelled, and replenished stores without needing to leave the spaceport.

Ribeiro and Guzman showed no signs of wanting a ride back, but he and Guzman had hit it off and exchanged commlink numbers. You never knew when you might need an extra trigger finger or a ride somewhere.

Thalweg, Early February '01

The laws on Thalweg were few, and lackadaisically enforced, so Makavan moved cautiously, drank little, and stayed to the better-lit areas. Still, he had to emerge from the ship to do some things, and on his way back in the gathering gloom he noticed two shadowy figures lurking with apparent intent to intercept him; a pair Zhuh-Zhuh with what looked like big sticks.

He decided he had nothing to gain by engaging them, and as soon as he got to a suitable intersection, he turned the corner, and once out of sight he took off. The zhuh-zhuh pounded after him, and he fired at the one in front to discourage him, but missed.

End of Turn 1: Makavan (red) on the run from Zhuh-Zhuhs (black).

For what felt like hours, but was probably less than a minute, the three of them hurtled through the streets and alleys, tripping over things and recovering, banging into passers-by and staggering on, and in Makavan's case firing odd shots whenever he thought he had a chance of hitting a pursuer without taking out an innocent bystander. Eventually he hit the bigger Zhuh-Zhuh, which was of course the one closest to taking his head off with a length of pipe, evidently somewhere important because it tumbled in a surprised heap in the gutter. The second one was slower, and eventually he pulled far enough away to lose it.

End of Turn 5: Makavan escapes.

Breathing heavily, Makavan slowed to a pace he hoped wouldn't attract attention, stowed his pistol, and made his way back to the Egregore. 

What was that about? he wondered. A random mugging? Or maybe a message from home?

He didn't know what Thalweg's position on extraditing him would be, and he didn't want to risk finding out.

Time to leave, he decided.

GM Notes

It's going to take me a while to adjust to the drumbeat for this game; solo Traveller works best for me at one week per post, and solo 5150 at two weeks per post, but I'm not sure what the best pace for this beast will be. I'll just roll with it and let the pace emerge naturally; it may be that new posts are triggered by events rather than the passage of time.

Now that we've arrived at Thalweg, we need to decide what it's like; we start by rolling 1d3 for planet Class and get a 2, then roll 1d6 - Class to get the Law Level; 2 - 2 = 0, but Law Level is always at least 1. So, Class 2, Law Level 1. What Class 2 means varies from edition to edition, sometimes it means small, sometimes inhospitable; in No Limits Maiden Voyage the main game effect is adjusting the encounter tables.

I felt the need for more detail on Thalweg, and pondered which of my numerous SF RPGs might be best suited to generating the world; but in the end I looked out of the window, saw snow, and thought "That'll do." So now Thalweg is cold.

Simon and Yelena have nothing in common really, but Guzman shares a sense of honour with him, so I decided they would part on friendly terms; Yelena and Simon remain neutral towards each other.

I see I forgot to mention rolling on 5150 p. 26 to see what the end of month encounter was, but since I rolled a 3, there wasn't one. The involuntary encounter (p. 30) for the start of month 2 is an attempted robbery (p. 50); the dice tell me that one night a pair of zhuh-zhuh gangers try to rob Simon. The gangers have non-lethal melee weapons (let's say clubs), and the Rep generator on p. 28 says they are Rep 5 and Rep 4, respectively. That's not good. Now we switch to SWADE to resolve the encounter, and I decide on a foot chase with the city streets modifier. The fiction tells me the zhuh-zhuh are behind so they start on the leftmost card; I give Simon a Notice roll to see how far away he is when he notices them; he gets a 2 and I decide that is worth a two card head start. I deal 9 cards as per SWADE p. 113 and place some meeples on them as I can't be bothered to do anything more photogenic.

• Turn 1: Simon 9C, zhuh-zhuh JH. The zhuh-zhuh go first and opt to Change Position as a Limited Action, giving them +2 to their Athletics rolls. The Rep 4 is rolling 1d8, fails, so stays where he is. The Rep 5 is rolling 1d10 and gets a 9+2=11, advancing two cards and catching up with Simon; but as he didn't declare multiple actions he can't attack. Simon rolls a 17 to change position and moves two cards away, using his action to shoot at the nearest pursuer. His action card and the card he's on are both clubs, and he must make a manoeuvring roll to avoid problems; luck is with him and he scores an 8-2 (club chase card)-2=4, good enough. He rolls a 5 with his attack, -2 for city streets - a miss.
• Turn 2: Simon 7D, z-z 5S. Simon only manages to move one card, and misses again. The z-z likewise both move one card and are out of range.
• Turn 3: Simon QH, z-z 4C. Simon gets lucky and advances two cards, but still can't hit anything. The z-z move one (Rep 4) and two (Rep 5) cards. Both z-z get complications, the Rep 5 is fine but the Rep 4 gets Bumped one card back.
• Turn 4: Simon 9D, z-z 8C. Simon moves up one card and hits the lead z-z with his fourth shot. He rolls 11 damage vs the z-z's 7 Toughness, and Wounds him, which also Bumps him one card away and as he is an Extra drops him. The rear z-z gets a complication and is bumped one card back, but advances one card as well, leaving him where he was. As the z-z have suffered 50% casualties I decide the survivor must make a Spirit roll to continue; he succeeds.
• Turn 5: Simon 2C, z-z 9S. The z-z fails to make any headway. Simon fails his manoeuvring roll to avoid a complication and takes a point of Fatigue, but gets lucky on his Change Position roll and advances two cards. He is now 7 cards ahead of the remaining z-z so tries to Flee; he gets a 6 and succeeds in escaping.

Simon's d4 in Athletics did its very best for him there. However, I'll count that escape as leaving the battle board, which is worth 2 Decreasing Rep Dice. On the plus side, NLMV doesn't seem to have a mechanism for the police investigating gunfights in the streets, not that they would at Law Level 1; so I think Simon gets away with killing a zhuh-zhuh.

Aslan Route 32: The Lions of Thebus, Part 2

Previously, on The Aslan Route: The crew of the Macavity are looking for a missing aslan ihatei called Ftaheas, and believe they have found his ship on Thebus...

Thebus, 1108 Week 26

Vila is absolutely confident he has found the missing aslan ship, but when the Macavity flies over it, in a forest clearing and refuelling from a lake, it narrowly misses with a potshot from one of its heavy lasers, and they jink away. Thinking it possible the aslan are just a bit trigger-happy, they stick a low range of hills between them and the other ship, intent on approaching stealthily by air/raft, but in doing so notice a groove through the forest of the kind made by ships that crash into it.

They decide the first order of business is to look for any survivors, and leaving Mazun in charge of the Macavity, they follow the trail of wreckage in their air/raft, discovering that the crashed ship will never fly again, but the crew and passengers appear to have survived and retreated in good order to a nearby ruined building, taking with them everything of utility or value. Dr Matauranga fortunately had the foresight to bring with him a database of part numbers for the missing ship, and is able to match part numbers from the wreckage to it, thus learning that the wrecked ship is the one they want.

Circling the ruins at a safe distance, Vila, Rex and Dr Matauranga approach on foot from what they hope is an unexpected direction, and at length discover Ftaheas holding court in the ruin with his followers. Running low on oxygen and filters for their respirators, they are confused, irritable, and struggling to concentrate in the thin air; despite their (well-founded) concerns that Rex's irascible and impulsive nature might lead to bloodshed, he is the one best suited to make contact, and to everyone's surprise manages to negotiate civilly with the aslan, offering them new respirators and inviting them to join him aboard the Macavity for a meal and medical treatment for those who need it. They accept upon learning that Macavity's crew know Ftaheas' father and were asked to deliver a message from that worthy.

Once restored to full capacity, the aslan explain that they were ambushed by cowardly Oghman raiders and shot down, since when they and the pirates have been hunting each other in the forest. While Dr Matauranga is patching them up and taking medical samples for his collection, Vila uses a small drone to scout out the ship in the clearing, which proves to have a number of Oghman raiders relaxing around it, totally oblivious to his observation. The Macavity's crew explain to Ftaheas that his father would like to see him, and say they don't know why to minimise loss of face for Ftaheas himself; it would not do for anyone to think his father had to send monkeys to rescue him from a botched ihatei expedition.

Ftaheas and Rex are now of one mind: The raiders must pay for their insolence. Vila declines to take part in the assault (after all he is legally female) but Dr Matauranga says he will follow to provide medical help as needed. Ftaheas gathers his retainers, and following a plan concocted by Mazun and supported by a berserk Rex lasering everything that moves, the aslan assault the Oghman vessel.

Taken completely by surprise, the Oghmans' morale breaks quickly, and they flee to their ship, intended to lift off and escape in it; unfortunately, Rex and Ftaheas scramble up the ramp as it closes, followed by the other aslan males, and the carnage continues aboard the rising vessel. Having lost their advantage in numbers and with nowhere left to run, the Oghmans surrender to the boarders.

Rex restrains himself from massacring them, and leaves their fate in Ftaheas' hands. It is decided that the raiders will be stuffed into low berths, and Ftaheas will travel back to Tyokh in company with the Macavity aboard his new prize. Their story will be that his original ship suffered minor damage, and lacking enough skilled crew to fly both vessels, Ftaheas has returned with prisoners and a new ship to see what his father wants of him; after paying his respects, he will return to repair his own ship.

Dr Matauranga suggests that there is plenty of room for Ftaheas on Sink, but the crew agrees this needs to be discussed with Prince Hteleitoirl and the Abbot before it's mentioned to Ftaheas.

Tyokh, 1108 Week 36

Leaving Ftaheas and his father to their reunion, and Dr Matauranga to his customary date with Bridget Harries, the rest of the crew settle in to one of the starport bars on Tyokh to discuss options for their next voyage.

GM Notes

This was a modified version of the adventure in The Drinaxian Companion; I replaced the hunters intended as the main antagonists with Oghman raiders on the fly, as it suited the flow of play better. It turned out to be a more enjoyable scenario than I'd expected on first reading.

I have never seen so many Critical Failures so close together. The session began shortly after Vila had critically failed his Electronics check to find Ftaheas' ship, and had thus directed the Macavity to the Oghman raider which had shot it down. He quickly handed over the baton to the Oghmans, who critically failed their attempt to notice the PCs surveilling them and then went on to critically fail every roll of importance in the ensuing combat.

You just can't get the staff these days.

Fringe Space: Makavan 002 - Contact in Space

In Cisco’s Dewdrop Dining-Rooms
They tell the tale anew
Of a hidden sea and a hidden fight,
When the Baltic ran from the Northern Light
And the Stralsund fought the two.
- Rudyard Kipling, The Rhyme of the Three Sealers

New Hope, Late January '01

"Egregore," Ribeiro read aloud as she, Guzman and Makavan approached the boarding ramp, followed by their luggage. "What a strange name. Why is she called that?"

"Brokers tend to remember unusual names," Makavan said. "Makes them more likely to think of me for a job." He didn't add the real reason, which was his conviction that the Egregore would only fly if everyone on board believed really, really strongly that she would.

They walked up the ramp, a robot rolling past them into the port payload bay as they climbed, towing a cargo pallet behind it. As they entered the ship, a cheerful baritone called out.

"Well, hellooooo nurse!"

"Behave yourself, Greg," Makavan said, then to Ribeiro: "That's the ship's AI. I'm afraid it's developed something of a personality over the last couple of decades, but it's harmless enough."

"Step outside where I can get a target lock and say that," Greg said.

"Aren't ships considered female as a rule?" Ribeiro asked.

Greg shifted its voice to a husky contralto and said "I can be female if you like. Simon responds better to this voice anyway. He's shallow like that."

"Greg, please ready the ship for lift and hard vacuum, then get launch clearance and take us to low orbit."

"We're going to hang out our washing on the Kármán Line," Greg sang, baritone again. "Have you any dirty washing, Simon dear?"

"It's going to be a long trip," Guzman muttered to himself.

Ring 3, Late January '01

Approaching the New Hope Automated Transfer Point, the Egregore was hailed by a cutter from the Hapflorean Federation.

"Cease accelerating and prepare to be boarded," the cutter's captain radioed. "You are suspected of carrying contraband." Ribeiro, in the right hand seat on the bridge, looked at Makavan and shook her head.

"No can do, monkey boy," Greg called, and muted the channel as the zhuh-zhuh captain exploded in a fiery rage.

"I wish you hadn't said that," Makavan said. "You know how it upsets them."

The AI threw a course plot up on the main display screen. The marker for the zhuh-zhuh cutter changed from NEUTRAL to HOSTILE as its sensors shifted from scanning mode to trying for a targeting lock. A sheaf of potential intercept courses sprang onto the display.

"Punch it, Simon, you can beat them to the ATP," Greg encouraged. Makavan checked the Limiting Cone of Approach on the course plot; the AI was right. It had probably checked that before kicking off.

Makavan slammed the throttles forward hard enough that the ship's gravity momentarily couldn't cope, and as Guzman staggered to stay upright he splashed hot drinks from the tray he was carrying over the three of them, causing scalds and harsh language.

"Next time, a little warning," Guzman said. "Or I'll brain you with the jug."

Ring 4, Late January '01

Emerging from the ATP at Thalweg, Makavan noted a local cutter in company with an independent trader; as soon as it detected the Egregore, it disengaged and moved onto an intercept course.

"Strap in," Makavan called to the others, "And brace for manoeuvring." He didn't want to be brained with a jug.

However, orbital mechanics and pursuit curves being what they were, it was clear the Egregore would be in the approach pattern before the cutter had any hope of catching up. Its captain apparently decided the incoming trader was the Port Authority's problem, and turned in search of easier prey.

Next: Thalweg...

Status at End January '01

For the moment, I'm going to say that if the IRD would increase Simon's Rep, his Wealth die type goes up one, and if they would decrease it, Wealth goes down one. Lifetime Rep is tracked as normal for 5150, and I'll pretend his Rep is always 5 - the default for the player character - to avoid needing to track that; the SWADE equivalents of increasing Rep are Advances, and decreasing Rep - permanent injuries.

• IRD/DRD: 9. Dice rolls vs default Rep 5 give +1 Rep, so Wealth goes up to d8.
• Current IRD: 0. Lifetime IRD: 9.
• Bennies: 3 left, next refresh episode 004.
• Wounds: None.

GM Notes

I'm still mulling over the designs for the various ships in the campaign, but it seems to me that one reason 5150 abstracts the general crew might be that they are an AI with repair drones. More about the ships later.

Checking the Hauling Cargo encounter on NLMV pp. 41-42, it seems I can simply say I'm hauling two units of cargo to Thalweg, gaining a total of 8 Increasing Rep d6. That takes my total for the month to 15 IRD, offset by 3 Decreasing Rep Dice for ship operating costs. That's 12 left at the end of the month.

Simon needs to make a Science roll for astrogation, and it seems reasonable to let Greg Support him. The SFC says the basic AI has a d6 and a Wild Die, which roll 3 and 6+6+4 respectively; that would give a +4, but the maximum a single supporter can offer is +2. Simon has a d4 plus a Wild Die, which roll 4+2 and 3, then we add the Support +2 and the -4 modifier for jumping to another star system within the same galaxy, for a grand total of 4; success. Hmm, Simon will have to git gud at that. The jump transit time (SWADE p. 144) is 2d6=7 days, which is also how much energy the ship consumes; I expect the ship will wind up with about 30 once designed, so that's OK. (Note that although I've rolled that first, in the narrative it actually occurs between the two encounters.)

En route there are two Contact in Space encounters, using NLMV pp. 35-38; the first is a single PEF, the second is two PEFs. PEF 1 is a zhuh-zhuh military cutter with a Rep 4 captain; PEF 2 is a xeog cutter with a Rep 4 captain; PEF 3 is an independent basic trader with a Rep 3, which acknowledges us and then moves on, so we don't need to worry about that one. However, reading p. 37 carefully I decide that on a roll of 3-6 on 1d6, cutters will be hostile; both of them are.

Since I'm still thinking about the various stock ships, I ran the ship combats as Dangerous Quick Encounters based on Piloting; I allowed Greg to Support with Piloting (the basic AI is explicitly stated to be able to fly the ship).

• PEF 1: Support gives a +1, Simon rolls 5; total 6, success but with Bumps & Bruises (-1 for Fatigue).
• PEF 2: Support gives +0, Simon rolls 6+4=10, -1 for Fatigue gives a total of 9; success with a raise, no injuries.

Experiment 8: 5150 for Savage Worlds - NPCs

Don’t create your Extras with the character creation rules. Just give them what you think they ought to have in their various skills and attributes and move on. - Savage Worlds Adventure Edition

Here are my guidelines for converting 5150 characters to SWADE; I find it useful to have some mechanism for randomly generating NPCs for solo games, and this works well.

The Least You Need to Know

NPCs in the pre-generated encounter tables have a Race, a Rep, and a Weapon; most NPCs in my game will be limited to this to avoid the campaign drowning in its own statblocks.

• Most NPCs are Grunts (Extras) though the odd one might be a Star or Co-Star (Wild Card).
• The die type for SWADE Traits is twice the 5150 Rep or Skill; Rep covers Agility, Strength, Vigour and linked skills; People covers Spirit and linked skills; Savvy covers Smarts and linked skills. For example, a character with Rep 4 has a d8 in Agility, Strength, Vigour, and linked skills.
• 5150 Attributes are represented by SWADE Edges or Hindrances; I'll allocate those on the fly as and when appropriate - I generally don't use them at all, except for the racial ones.
• Weapons may be P-1 (Glock or laser pistol), B-2 (Desert Eagle), A-3 (MP5 or laser SMG), or Melee (usually a dagger/knife, but could be anything).
• Armour is usually light/civilian body armour, but military personnel upgrade this to an infantry battle suit.

Statistically, assuming passing 2d6 is a success, Extras with a d4 in a Trait are roughly Rep 3, those with a d6 are roughly Rep 4, and d10s are about Rep 5; for Wild Cards, Traits of d4 or d6 are roughly Rep 5, so the standard Rep 5 Star is a close match for a beginning PC. However, the above rules feel closer in play, even if they are a bit off statistically.

Races

5150 Races become SWADE Ancestries. I'll work the Ancestries up in detail at some point, but for now we can get by with the Edges needed to represent 5150 racial attributes:

• Grath have Berserk (SWADE) to represent Rage (5150).
• Hishen have Menacing to represent Cruel.
• Razors have Level Headed to represent Quick Reflexes, and AB: Gifted plus the Stun Power to represent their Mental Blast.
• Xeogs have Charismatic to represent Smooth.
• Zhuh-zhuh have Berserk to represent Rage; muggie zhuh-zhuh instead have Small to represent Runt.

Examples

One of the things I like best about SWADE is the ability to zoom in or out to different levels of detail, depending on available time and motivation. I extend this concept to NPCs, which in this campaign come in low resolution, high resolution, or full statblock versions. Let's look at a couple:

Yelena Ribeiro: Rep 4 Mover (Office Holder), unarmed. Pep 3, Savvy 4, Near Sighted.

The 'low res' version of Ribeiro only has a Rep, a profession, and a weapon (or not); so she rolls a d8 for everything, and that's all I need to know.

The 'high res' version rolls a d8 for everything except Spirit, Intimidation, and Persuasion, where she rolls a d6 instead. Her profession and the fiction have already established she should have the Attractive, Aristocrat and Filthy Rich Edges, but there is no reason for her to have Soldier. Her 5150 Attribute (Near Sighted) suggests Bad Eyes as a Hindrance and the to-hit penalty drops her Shooting to d6. The meanings of her names suggest she should be bright, tranquil, and resilient; I'll use those keywords instead of rolling on the Allied Personalities table (SWADE p. 112).

If I need a full statblock, then to avoid the NPCs having skills coming out of their ears, I normally start from the Soldier NPC template and then modify it using the above guidelines. For Ribeiro, this gives me:

• Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d8, Spirit d6, Strength d8, Vigour d8.
• Skills: Athletics d8, Common Knowledge d8, Fighting d8, Intimidation d6, Notice d8, Persuasion d6, Shooting d6, Stealth d8.
• Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 10 (4*).
• Hindrances: Bad Eyes.
• Edges: Attractive, Aristocrat, Filthy Rich.
• Gear: Commlink, light body armour.

Mikal Guzman: Rep 4 Exotic (Mercenary), A-3. Pep 4, Savvy 3, Dim.

The 'low res' version of Guzman again rolls a d8 for everything, and is packing an MP5 or a laser SMG.

The 'high res' version rolls a d8 for everything except Smarts and its linked skills. As a mercenary he ought to have the Soldier Edge; notice how close this makes him to a SWADE Experienced Soldier Ally. The meanings of his names suggest he should be honourable and wise, so he can have the Code of Honour Hindrance, and the 5150 Attribute Dim - despite its name - has the mechanical effect of making interacting with NPCs harder, so let's give him the Mean Hindrance as well, giving a -1 penalty on Persuasion. If I needed a full statblock, it would look like this:

• Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength d8, Vigour d8.
• Skills: Athletics d8, Common Knowledge d6, Fighting d8, Intimidation d8, Notice d6, Persuasion d8-1, Shooting d8, Stealth d8.
• Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 10 (4*).
• Hindrances: Code of Honour, Mean.
• Edges: Soldier.
• Gear: Commlink, light body armour, MP5 or laser SMG.

It will be unusual for me to work up NPCs much beyond 'low res' levels, as one detailed character (my PC) is generally enough for me to keep track of; the typical NPC in the campaign will have a Rep determining its die type in all relevant Traits, and possibly an Edge if non-human. It's surprising how far you can get with that.