 |
Virus-free. www.avast.com |
25.5.17 VIII. Carsten 1
Carsten C427402-B NI
[You’ll note that none of this is in TTA save for some line about the “trip being uneventful”. But I wanted to do a tiny bit of the ‘wandering’ that’s suggested before the Wolf at the Door chapter. But not too much as I don’t want to fatigue players across years of playing. I thought these two days would be ONE night in the pub and we did the banquet and some other bits but at the end of the night when I said we’d be off to Aramanx next time they all clamoured for the Other Day. So we fitted that in as well.
You can of course read pretty much what we did, but written up as an adventure as though it were another chapter of TTA, in:
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/
A fair few of the bits of detail you can find in there came straight out of these sessions.]
[Interestingly, I'm more convinced than ever after writing the above that TTA was originally in just this way. Adventures written after the fact of a gaming group play through (or two). I think that may account for some of the 'railroading'. It's what the PCs did in the game.]
Visit to respirator collection, visit to Museum of Geology, Dinner with townswoman’s Guild
Here’s the write up for the players: (the write up for TML follow covering the same ground but there might be those interested in comparing the two]
Arrival at Carsten went without a hitch and you met no other ships as you moved in from the 100 diameter limit. Options to refuel included wilderness fuelling at a gas giant, refuelling at the very small high port, or landing and refuelling. [Call it Cr100/ton x 100 tons + berthing cost of Cr150 + Life Support for the last two weeks ~Cr20,000 = Cr30,150]. The landing option was taken as prices were half that of the high port and besides, at a C class starport you could only buy unrefined fuel. So with two days of refining to be carried out you wanted somewhere to stretch your legs.
[The figures there don’t include salary which would be, for two weeks: Loyd Cr2500 (as astrogator - does he add anything for his captaining?), Kunal Cr3000 as pilot, Tess Cr2000 as Engineer, Fred and Gvoudzon Cr1000 each as stewards, Adma Cr1500 as Medic, Egon Cr500 as gunner - he’s really earning his money, isn’t he?! Though I suppose he’s looking after the Squeedles well. Is anyone helping with that? Brett and Lily of course are working passage.]
Fred very unwell in his stateroom and Brett, his cabinmate, concerned enough to make sure Adma is watching him closely.
Loyd had been reading up on Carsten and discovered it was a fairly lawless mining world of maybe 80,000 people. No government but lots of small local prospecting companies making money out of the radioactive materials that are in small pockets of ore near the surface.
He also checked up on the attractions of Carsten which had everyone’s mouth watering for tickets and time off the ship:
- a Museum of Geology
- the birthplace of Rina Shimada, 1st Colonist (though as Tess pointed out, she was the first colonist *born* on Carsten, not the first to arrive)
- small settlement called Boring - which ironically is built near some open cast works rather than a mineshaft
- a chemical leaching plant that processes the radioactive ore out at Jachymov, and
- Teju Chishpish’s collection of respirator masks.
The crew cleared customs and immigration etc by around 4 in the afternoon so the crew decided to hit the town, leaving Fred largely comatose in his bunk [did Adma say he’d be ok, just needed to sweat it out? Not sure]. When I say town, we’re talking about a half buried in the rock (so not quite underground) sealed environment not even as large as Gosport. Most of your passengers had booked ‘through’ to Aramanx but a couple departed; Oberlindes and Arrlanroughl headed off on their own business. But immediately through the starport gate was a corridor of hostelries and IIRC most plumped for the Miner’s Pick, a moderately busy place where Loyd stood everyone a round.
Lily wanted to know if there were any attractive
young men present, and as it happens there was, one Dane Buckminster - maybe
mid-20s - sitting at a table and very happy for Lily to buy him a drink. (I’d
just been reading him online https://ancientfarfuture.
Tess and Brett didn’t hit the bar, but having spent a couple of weeks up their armpits in the sealant for the inside of the water tank they’ve been dealing with, perhaps very wisely opted for a small hotel that had a spa and they whiled away the evening cleansing their pores and relaxing. Presumably Lily just exuded eau-de-epoxy and no one minded. They stayed the night at the hotel as well to escape the confines of the March Harrier for a while. Brett particularly was desperate for a good night’s sleep without Fred snivelling, coughing, sneezing and generally being restless. Call that Cr40 a head per night - nothing to write home about in terms of quality but the spa is included (bear in mind it’s a small room with showers and hot tub - not an extensive 5 star facility) and there was a hearty breakfast.
Meanwhile, Lily and Dane had hit it off so well that he invited her back to his place. Although it was very low rent, Lily wasn’t at all put off. “I’ve been cooped up for the best part of two weeks with a vargr... this looks palatial.” [or words to that effect]. We faded to black at that point. Loyd, Adma, Kunal and Egon stayed for a lateish drinking session but Gvoudzon called it a night and headed back to the ship where a little later Oberlindes and Arrlanroughl returned with news that they, and the crew, had been invited to a dinner the following evening hosted by the Townswomen’s Guild. Oberlindes looked a little deflated not to be able tell anyone but Gvoudzon about this small coup.
At breakfast next morning, Oberlindes gets his chance to tell everyone about the invite and Lily returned, I dare say, with something of a grin on her face. The decision was made that for the majority the day’s outing would be to the Museum of Geology - although it’s opening hours weren’t so extensive to preclude a trip to the shops for Tess at least who needed a gown for the evening. Adma and Kunal opted for the respirator collection which they didn’t think would take them much past tea break in terms of a day out.
At the museum, not a large place - maybe three rooms off a central hall if it can be dignified with the term, lots in the way of rocks were seen. Mostly concerned with Carsten but there was stuff about the wider Aramis subsector. If you wanted to know about geology or the mining operations (in general terms) on Carsten, this was the place. One of the side rooms was themed around archaeology and had a display - nothing physical just illustrated boards and ‘artists impressions’ of a supposed Ancient site out at a mine where nothing had been found. Lily with her professional hat on could read between the lines and work out that they were making an awful lot out of next to nothing. Or possibly nothing, even.
Over at the respirator museum, Adma and Kunal were
essentially in Teju’s front room
which was filled with shelves lining the walls and respirators of all
kinds. Current, old, vintage, stylish, functional, good repair, natty,
tatty, some with stories attached, others that just looked like he’d picked them off a scrap heap.
He probably had. Some three and half hours later they were still being
given the full tour. Teju rabbited on quite happy to chat with the first
people to show an interest in who knows how long. Clearly they asked too
many questions as well. “I’ve even got Jedz Trayzor’s respirator, no less. From 150
years back.” “Why was he famous?” Adma asked though I can’t
help feeling he might have regretted the question. “Well, he’d found a great
lode of radioactives and made a lot of money,” came the response. Adma wasn’t finished however, “is
there anything known about how he found the lode?”
“Well, some say it was just blind luck, some way it was an old Scout survey he had access to, there’s even a theory that it was some old Vilani Empire era map he’d got hold of and most outlandish of all <but Teju’s eyes lit up like *this* is the theory he favours>, there are those who believe he had access to some Ancient technology.” At this point Adma and Kunal could see the crazy beginning to start and made their excuses to leave.
Back at the museum, the rest were looking for a gift shop. Gift shop? In the Museum of Geology on Carsten? Were they kidding? But the 90 something former miner who’d let them in and sold them a ticket - for those tracking finances call it Cr2 a head - dug around in his drawer and found some postcards; a couple were even holographic. I think three were bought. Very exciting. A single crystal of galena [Loyd?], a rock with mica in it [Gvoudzon?] and a graphic of a supposed Ancient site at one of the mines [Lily?] [2].
On the way back to the ship, Tess stopped off at some of the (limited) shopping facilities to purchase a dress for the evening banquet. A gorgeous purple I think it was. [Think Kaylee in the ‘Shindig’ episode of _Firefly_]. Back at the ship, Lily was changing into the one thing she had in the wardrobe, a little black number. Cue not quite heated discussion with Gvoudzon about the wardrobe space he was taking up (3/4 of it) with his fancy threads and capes. He, in turn, was going out in a natty, multi-coloured cape that Joseph would have been proud of. Well, I say natty. It was actually Gvoudzon who described it that way. Other’s mileage might vary. The rest of the crew dressed for the evening - although I’m sure Adma must have looked in on Fred and checked he was ok. Loyd’s evening wear, however, was so informal - open shirt, no tie - that their hostess took one look at him down her nose and made sure he could read her expression as “well, you might have made an effort, Captain”. [Well, she would of if I hadn’t completely forgotten to do that bit]
So the Townswoman’s Guild dinner.
[If it helps to imagine it, I tried to run the conversations below as ‘cuts’ between the tables like you might get in a tv programme these days rather just following a particular conversation through to the end. It should make the players feel more involved and should be easier for the players to manage as they get breaks between ‘lines’ but it’s harder for the referee to keep track of. Whether this worked successfully or whether I should avoid it another time, I’ll leave for others to comment on.]
[oh, and for Ted who was interested, the seating plan was a ‘Smart Art’ graphic in Word that defaults to a circle with five text boxes around its edge but you can easily add a sixth]
Multiple round tables that seated six with the matriarchal Komarneni Dajo at the head of the top table. She’d seated Marc hault-Oberlindes at her right as befitted his status and Loyd at her left because “he was Captain and it was appropriate” not because he was particularly desirable. So she spent much of the meal engaged in conversation with Oberlindes about the state of affairs on Carsten as well as in the Aramanx subsector and the various trading possibilities there might be (although the latter wasn’t as ‘direct’ as that but more couched in terms of stories and possibilities). Which left Loyd talking for most of the evening to the guest on his left. Well, wouldn’t you know it, it was a Pretty Young Thing. 20 something and definitely in Kaylee pink which Tess had decently managed to avoid. To Anni-Peae Bertrand’s left was a very quiet older miner whose name no one ever caught and to his left, and Oberlinde’s right was a teacher Penni Doman who struggled womanfully to converse with the miner when Oberlindes felt he had to return his attention to the formidable Mrs Dajo.
[Irritatingly, I ran through PYT’s questions to Loyd such as ‘What brings you to Carsten?” and “Why is the March Harrier called that?” but I completely failed to get to my favourite “<coyly> I’ll bet you’ve got a girl in every port, like the holovids?”]
Over on the next table, Lily was placed at the head (can you have a head of a round table?) with Tess and Kunal. Interspersed between them were Ashwin Chooder, (maybe late 50s, made good eye contact and had good lines in compliments about dress and looks and conversation) and Anand Meeta (mid 20s, [funnily enough doesn’t look dissimilar to one Alexander Vlahos], who were seated either side of Lily and vied for her attention all evening. At least one of them invited Lily on a date to the Museum of Geology. Absolam Sharma (40 something? holoscreen good looks) was seated between Kunal and Tess but he tended to focus his attentions on Tess - well, Kunal hadn’t made much of an effort with what she was wearing and so got a bit left out. He told stories of his time in the Navy as a Pilot. [I think it was Tess] also heard a story about one Jude Honan, a former marine, travelling through the region. The captain of the ship he was on couldn’t believe how clumsy he was and the number accidents he’d caused alone. That captain had said that the captain of the *previous* ship he’d been travelling on had thought they had a saboteur aboard it was so bad.
On another table there was Gvoudzon, Adma and
Arrlanroughl with three ladies between each of them - somewhat intimidated and
made rather shy by the two vargr - Pali Magin (30 something), Dajjy Goosh (very
young, freshly minted miner) and Adah Bertrand (mid 40s, not unattractive, but
rather distracted by glances at the top table). It didn’t take Adma and Gvoudzon two moments to
ask her if she knew someone on the table and immediately found out that the PYT
was her daughter and she was a bit concerned about her sitting next to a “captain”. Cue Adma and Gvoudzon winding her up mercilessly about the
Captain’s “reputation” and how it
was a “good job she’s in good company” etc.
What was particularly fun about this was that Carl
had slipped out to the loo just at the point this conversation was going on so
he came back none wiser about the PYT and had Loyd continue to chat her up,
sorry, chat to her, famously throughout the evening, oblivious to mother’s glances.
In an effort to change the topic of conversation Adah complimented Gvoudzon on his colour selection in his clothing. “I’d never have thought of putting those colours together, but somehow it works.” You should have seen Gvoudzon beam. [or am I just “remembering” that after the fact?!] [I failed to get onto a question about how he kept his fur looking so slick “if it’s not rude to ask”, which might have been fun]. But she picked up on the theme and told them about a trader who had come through the other month with some stunning fabrics he’d picked up in Junidy and which were selling exceptionally well throughout the subsector.
So the meal wound up and I resisted the temptation to have this be the location for a bar brawl - tempting though it was! Loyd made a very gracious thank you to the host but as he attempted to give his comm contact to the PYT and mother swept up behind her to say “I’ll take that, thank you very much”, his face was a picture. At least it was in my head. Everyone else just stood around smirking.
On the way back from the dinner, in a darkened corridor, the crew came across a small man, Renu Khan, lying on the floor, apparently beaten to within a millimetre of his life. Before he lost consciousness he handed over a small package he’d been protecting and asked that it should be delivered to the Oberlindes office on Aramanx. Adma looked him over and called the emergency services, also finding ID identifying him as Oberlindes employee, Cr10,000 and three high passages. While the medics turn up there’s a quick debate as to whether to take the package, never in much doubt, and whether or not to take his other possessions. His ID is copied and then left with the money and tickets and just the package is taken. The medics show up and Khan is taken away.
Back on the ship, the discussion revolves around there being no need to take the package to the Oberlindes office when they’ve got old man Oberlindes himself. Marc looks at the ID and doesn’t recognize the man. Arrlanroughl double checks their records. The decision is taken to open the package, and cautiously, very cautiously, it’s opened down in engineering behind blast quality plating. I think Lily volunteered for the job. Inside was Cr25,000 with what look like instructions to an employee.
In the normal course of things Anita Tokopa wants to book passage through to Junidy (or Towers if the ship goes there first) but Aramanx will do if the March Harrier isn’t going onwards in her direction. She pays upfront, in cash. Meanwhile, Loyd has been approached as he returns to the ship after business in the port office and is accosted by a shabby and gaunt figure, one Padsekura Varadan. He’s in grimy miner’s coveralls and explained that he’s retiring from mining - he’s come to the end of his money and his health - now he just wants to go home. He can’t afford a ticket but his brother is a chief assistant of the starport warden at Aramanx starport. He’ll pay for the ticket, in fact Padsekura is pretty sure he’ll pay double the usual price. Loyd, heartstrings suitably tugged, gives him the last remaining stateroom on the ship.
[At which point I think it was, Emily said “can we have more deception, in this game? Everyone does what they say they will.” Might have been a different word to ‘deception’, I can’t recall. I’ll remind you of that at some point in the future. :-) ]
Now I was just about to sort out whether you did or did not purchase/sell any cargo (selling howood and buying gems was discussed) and then cut to arrival on Aramanx and a <dun, dun, dunnnn> moment of a sort, when a cry seemed to go up around the table “what about the second day on Carsten?” Apparently there was lots of love for the place - so much for me trying to making it a dull, rock-ball of a non-entity backwater - and everyone wanted to go and see more sights - not least the old mine for some reason. But it was 9.30pm so we decided to call it a night and save that for next time. Maybe Dajo or one of her minions will turn up with some broth that has a restorative effect on Fred that’s Adma’s ministrations haven’t yet achieved.
Hmmm, I didn’t expect that to be quite so long, so probably no one’s read this far, but I hope it fairly captures events and I appreciate it’s not the same as being there, but maybe gives Jane a flavour of the evening. I’m not promising to do this every time someone’s missing, call it a thank you for all the times J’s note taking has helped me out when my forgettery has triumphed once again.
have a good weekend
tc
[1] Now formally from Paya, not Pysadi. For more on that world, see this:
http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/
[2] Not 100% certain who bought what so correct me if I’m wrong. While the players described the postcards they were buying Ted found photos online on his phone to depict the postcards which was fun. (He’d also dug up some respirators for those of us in Teju’s front room.)
Recap of session VIII
You’re on Carsten (Spinward Marches 2906 C427402-B) for just a couple of days while you refuel before Jumping on to Aramanx as quickly as possible because Marc hault-Oberlindes and his vargr PA Arrlanroughl need transport there.
You visited the Museum of Geology and its temporary archaeology exhibit of a supposed Ancient site out a mine.
(which led to you booking a tour of a dig site and nearby mine for Day 2 of your stay)
Two of you (Adma and Kunal) went to see Teju Chishpish’s respirator collection
You were invited to a Townswoman’s Guild dinner by Matriarch Komarneni Dajo - as a result of Oberlindes’ connection.
o The Captain chatted up a Pretty Young Thing but found at the end of the evening that her mother was at a nearby table keeping a close eye on her (especially after Adma and Gvoudzon had bigged up the Captain’s reputation as a ladies’ man).
o Gvoudzon had his orange/green cape admired. [Forgot to admire his sleek fur and ask how he kept it?] He and Adma [the doctor, now played by DB] wound up Pretty Young Thing’s mother about the Captain’s reputation as a lothario. Picked up rumour about trader with fabrics selling well throughout subsector.
o Tess was chatted up by Absolam Sharma but I don’t recall him making much progress. Also heard story about Jude Honan, a former marine on the crew of a recent ship through Carsten who’d been so clumsy the captain of his ship thought he was a saboteur.
o Lily was chatted up by Ashwin Chooder, an older man who was charming and Anand Meeta, a scout somewhat younger than her and perhaps trying too hard.
o Fred was drugged up to the eyeballs to get through the occasion with his rotten virus and I doubt remembers the names of either of the two lovelies sitting either side of him - fortunately Brett and Egon could take up the slack. [actually, I misremembered this. Fred stayed in his cabin]
(if there was anything else anyone recalls, please let me know!)
On the way back to the ship you stumbled across a beaten up Renu Khan (which gave Gvoudzon a mild panic attack as he had a flashback to his own mugging back on Aramis [which was where we started]). Just before Khan slipped into unconsciousness he asked you to deliver a package to the nearest Oberlindes office. He had on him an Oberlindes employee ID, Cr10,000 and 3 blank high passages. You copied his ID and returned everything to his pockets (except the package) before medics showed up.
You decided to forget the office and just go direct to Oberlindes but not before - very, very cautiously - opening the package which contained Cr25,000 (was there a note as well?). Lily bravely volunteered for this. Oberlindes didn’t recognize the ID.
Amongst the passengers looking for passage were:
o Padeskura Varodan, a shabby, gaunt prospector who told Loyd
he was at the end of his money and health and that his brother Palani, PA to
the Starport Warden on Aramanx would pay double the normal rate for a Mid
Passage on arrival.
o Anita Tokopa, a middle aged business woman with two large suitcases and wants to go on to Junidy (or Towers) if you’re headed that way after Aramanx
TML Report
Firstly, we had another Library colleague drop in rather unexpectedly. Three of the players (plus me) are also in the Library book group which meets every other month (in between), so we think he may have got confused about that. However, he was up for giving it a go and dropped into one of the NPC crew (the medic - an ex-rogue enforcer) with no trouble. He’s played D&D before and skimmed the rule book while we ate, so he wasn’t a complete neophyte. As one of our regulars was off sick it was good to have a sixth around the table.
Secondly, I forgot to book the back room (often the job of the player off sick as she’s waaay more organized than I am) so we were out in the main pub which wasn’t ideal. Although we pushed a couple of tables together and it wasn’t too crowded, the noise levels were just enough to cause a couple of us problems hearing. Will try to definitely get their back room next time.
Thirdly, I was more apprehensive about this episode
than many others because we’d
finished First Call at Zila last time and were theoretically into the ‘roaming’ section that’s more
sandboxy. You can skip straight to Wolf at the Door, but I wanted to at
least see if we could fit in some roaming and not feel as if we’d rushed through it. [Hah! 18 months – so far – is hardly rushing
through it!] Also, I was keen to try
letting the players/PCs pick up whatever they wanted to run with rather than me
driving it. (After 7 sessions, even the newbies are relatively
comfortable taking actions now). Thirdly, Wolf at the Door is relatively
complex and I’ve not been feeling
well enough this week to get my head round it.
So, despite the book saying that the trip from Zila to Aramanx via Carsten with
Oberlindes onboard is “uneventful”, I couldn’t bear to pass by Carsten with nary a mention but the refuel that’s required. Yes, it is pretty
much a rockball with just a few miners (80,000 - just the size of my hometown)
and almost nothing written about it (see wiki.travellerrpg.com) but I thought it might be fun to see how much interest there might be
in such a ‘dull’ place where I specifically can’t
have anything *too* interesting happen. :-) It takes
the March Harrier a couple of days to process all its fuel (C class starport,
so, unrefined) so they’d have a
couple of days there despite Oberlindes desire to press on asap.
Cue the Townswomen’s Guild and some of the dullest tourist attractions I could come
up with (a - small - geology musuem, a tour of a chemical leaching plant, a guy’s front room with a respirator
collection he’s very proud of, etc).
First night’s entertainment kind of
wrote itself. I thought it would be a quick three minute “what are you up to?” “well, what bars
are there?” “three small ones off a corridor just
past the starport airlock into the main semi-sunken city” “ok four of us hit the
second bar, the other two go off to a hotel with a spa as we’ve just spent the best part of two
weeks resurfacing the inside of an empty water tank”. Only the players were keen to know who was in the bar,
chat up the attractive man at one table (which one PC went home with...), chat
to the old miner at the bar, etc etc. Turned into maybe half an hour of
game.
The ‘attractions’ proved more of a draw than I expected with the crew all taking up
one offer or another. Most heading to the museum and a couple heading to
the respirator collection. Lots of making up stuff on the fly - including
why this ONE respirator from way back was such a treasure [1] although my
favourite bit was when they asked for the gift shop in the geology museum. I
thought it would be very limited so this very ancient miner at a desk opens a
drawer and finds some postcards of rocks - one or two are even
holographic. He sold three of these and asked about a cafe for drinks and
cake, went out back to bring them four mugs of tea and some biscuits. [How
British are we?!] Asked about a pencil
that a PC hoped had ‘Geology Museum
of Carsten’ printed on it, the guy
couldn’t help but did have one with ‘2B’
on the side his eyesight eventually revealed.
So they filled in a day doing that and shopping for dresses as they’d also received an invitation from the Townswomen’s Guild by then - perhaps at the behest of Oberlindes, they never asked - inviting all the crew to a dinner. I’m not certain, but it looks like Carsten gets very little traffic so any visitors would be a great entertainment. I had a seating plan for at least four tables with all the crew (+ Oberlindes and Arrlanroughl) sitting on circular tables seating six. Roughly three crew to a table (all the same gender) with three locals (of the opposite gender) in between (call Carsten old fashioned if you will). Some older, some younger, some attractive, some single, some with rumours about trade and passengers and other things. Of course, our notorious (failed) lothario Captain had Pretty Young Thing sat next to him. I had one line of description per NPC and a question or two they might ask their neighbour.
I was a bit worried there was no ‘climax’ to all of this (tempted though I was just to have a bar brawl in
this scene!), but as far as I can tell the players really got into the way this
would be an entertainment for the locals *and* that they’d be equally keen to get off the ship for some change of
scene.
Cue lots of chit chat and me trying - rather than just deal with each player in
turn through the whole conversation - trying to ‘cut’ it like a tv show
and jump around the tables keeping each conversation in mind but giving each
player a sentence or two at a time. Less demanding for them as they get
to think and keeps everyone involved. Tad harder for me but
interesting.
Rather wonderfully, the Captain’s
player nipped out to the loo just at the point two other PCs discovered that
they were sitting next to the Pretty Young Thing’s mother who was obviously keeping an eye on her. No prizes
for guessing that they a) wound up the mother about the Captain’s reputation and b) ‘forgot’ to mention to the Captain that “his” Pretty Young Thing’s mother was in the room. His
face (and the other players) at the end of the evening when he was giving PYT
his comm number and mother marches up with “I’ll take that, thank you,” was a picture.
I was debating which of the three ‘Encounters’ listed for Carsten (Special Delivery, Last Ride Home and Temptation(? from memory)), I was going to run with when it occurred to me I could do all three.
On the way back from the dinner they found the man in the corridor (and Gvoudzon had a flashback to his own beating that left him in a cold sweat and his cabinmate patting him calm!). The Last Ride Home panhandler approached the Captain privately to do his begging - not knowing what a soft touch he’d be! And as a normal passenger (it seemed a bit much having them all a bit special), the counterfeiter has just booked a trip with few questions asked.
I thought it a bit ironic - and mildly hysterical - when one player muttered about the game needing more deception as everyone is so nice and does what they say. If only I could have recounted at that point all the people who have been lying to them in the last days, weeks, months!
I had *thought* the climax of the evening would be the news broadcast at the beginning of Wolf at the Door and was just about to skip on through the Jump to Aramanx and arrival and so on and have them spot Bannerji <dun, dun, dunnnnn>, when a chorus went up around the table... what about day 2 on Carsten? We wanted to go to the archaeological dig site (even though they knew from the museum trip that nothing of any interest had been found there).
So even though I’m pretty sure they understand that there is nothing “plotwise” there, it looks like we’re going to do another evening in the pub on Carsten when I thought it might only be half an evening at most! It also means I have to come up with something at least moderately interesting for the dig site but not *too much* action so that TTA’s report of the trip being “uneventful” isn’t given the lie. Well, at least I’ve got a couple of months to think about it.
The one thing I did observe that TTA possibly overlooks, is having one of the Encounters (Special Delivery) involve the Vemene agent saying get the package to the Oberlindes Office. Well, I know you could be picking it as an encounter later on on another trip to Carsten, but of course for this trip we actually have old man Oberlindes himself on board. Fortunately I’d spotted this as I prepared and so wasn’t caught on the hop when the PCs immediately said “stuff getting this to an office, we’ve got Oberlindes on board let’s just take it to him”. I couldn’t see any problem with this and so, after Oberlindes saying he didn’t recognize the (supposed employee but actually a Vemene agent) and them being trebly cautious of the package - they opened it very carefully behind blast doors etc and found the money (I’m on option 1-3). I guess they’ll see the news of the sacking of the employee on Aramanx after they arrive... (but the book could have mentioned the possibility just to forewarn you).
But, great fun all round. I think the players
enjoyed it. We’ll see if the
drop in player returns next time.
In short, the moral of the story is don’t
dismiss those rockballs as mere stopovers and skip over them to get to the main
action. Even dull places can be fun even with dull (i.e. no ‘action’) events. I rather like that a) a lot of this was made up on
the fly which I’ve wanted to try but
feared my inability to carry off; b) *isn’t*
in the published book but is part of the roaming; and c) I hope helps muddy the
waters in what’s plot and what’s not so that the published bits don’t seem so much more detailed that it’s
easy to tell when we’re on track and
when we’re not. (i.e.
none of this evening actually advanced the plot of TTA one iota although I don’t
believe that was obvious to the players) (not that there weren’t several of the players listening
closely to the recap of the story so far that I did for the drop in player as I
don’t think they’re paying that much attention over the months!) (they rather
live for the moment)
tc
[1] Jedz Trayzor’s
respirator, no less. From 150 years back. Why was it famous I got
asked. Good question <quiet panic, but a thought quickly
comes>. Well, obviously because he found a great lode of radioactives
and made a lot of money.
The PC/player was satisfied but then asked a great follow up question - do the
stories tell anything about how he found the lode?
<real panic, but then the ideas just came flowing> Well, some say it was just blind luck, some say it was an old Scout survey he had access to, there’s even a theory that it was some old Vilani Empire era map he’d got hold of and most outlandish of all <but the guy whose living room they’re in - who’s just spent three and half hours enthusing about shelves full of respirators in various states of age and disrepair and style - eyes light up like *this* is the theory he favours>, there are those who believe he had access to some Ancient technology.