Hello Alex,

Thank you for another episode which has me smiling and wondering what would happen when your crew interacted with Timothy's crew.

Tom Rux

> On 06/27/2020 7:18 AM Alex Goodwin <xxxxxx@multitel.com.au> wrote:
>
>
> From Shulgiili (SR 1326), the Boat and its Boatload O' Lunatics ended up
> in Neworld 1002 (IN... DEEEEEP... SPAAAAACCCCEEEE!).
>
> By common consent, the Nikki-induced misjump was named "The Goofy
> Holler" - with 27 parsecs, I think they managed to set a Terran misjump
> record in the process of jumping clear off the IW-era map.
>
> "It's a good thing we've got an extra jump worth of fuel" - Nikki
>
> A GMing note here, Mr Collinson et al - if you're even _half_ planning
> to do something like this, roll it up ahead of time and avoid looking
> like a complete goose in the middle of gametime.  I originally had
> planned for it to happen as they were evading inbound nuclear missiles,
> but the best laid plains of a certain wombat didn't survive contact with
> the PCs.
>
> Another trick that I've been increasingly using with time is to
> paraphrase heavily-used rules sections into their own open office docs -
> it's a lot easier to look up, consolidates rules from multiple sources,
> and I'm more familiar with that rules chunk for having paraphrased it.
>
> I used the GT 2e misjump table because it had more opportunities for ...
> fun - the most likely misjump direction using the GT table would have
> taken the Paradise even deeper into the Ziru Sirka and having to evade
> the Aasha Ziru Sirka (Vilani Navy) while running like hell for the UN.
>
> A quick shufti indicated that Neworld 1101 had two gas giants that could
> presumably be refuelled from (chalk this one up to Early Installment
> Weirdness on remote survey ops), so Das Boot proceeded (not _quite_
> Ankh-Morpork City Watch style) to the smaller, further out GG.
>
> Here is where we can probably start charting Rosa's rise from a merely
> _decent_ pilot.  A ship quirk imposing a -1 DM to all Pilot rolls means
> it's a lot healthier to be lucky AND good.  However, with Pilot
> (spacecraft) 1 but overall dexterity that would make alley cats jealous,
> Rosa had to focus more on luck at the moment.
>
> Wilderness refuelling (and other GG operations) are _nasty_ in MGT2. 
> For game purposes, a GG is partitioned into multiple layers.  "Base
> rate" fuel skimmage collects 1% of ship displacement in 2D6 minutes.
>
> Wisp - too thin to skim fuel in useful time.
>
> Extreme Shallows (aka Cloudtops) - fuel skimmed at 1/10 base rate, no
> (additional) penalty to Pilot rolls, 2d6 of turbulence.
>
> Shallows - fuel skimmed at 1/2 base rate, -1 penalty to Pilot rolls, 3d6
> of turbulence.
>
> Deeps - fuel skimmed at base rate, -2 penalty to Pilot rolls, 4d6 of
> turbulence.
>
> Extreme Deeps - too turbulent to skim fuel, -3 to Pilot rolls, 5d6 of
> turbulence.
>
> Depths - Unless specially designed to operate this deep, 2D6 of hull
> damage each round, up to 6D6 if power is lost. -4 to Pilot checks,  6d6
> of turbulence.
>
> Abyssal Depths - You lose.
>
> To transfer between layers, a merely average (8+) Pilot check is needed,
> with the greatest Pilot DM applied as a penalty.  Eg, entering the Deeps
> from the Shallows would apply a -2 DM.
>
> If the initial check fails, you need a difficult (10+) Pilot check,
> based on the layer you're currently in - failure on this check means
> your ship cops the listed turbulence damage from the layer you're in as
> you bounce off the shear layer.
>
> Rosa decided to keep it simple and, after bouncing off the sheer layer
> above the shallows (Nikki and Bert both found the sound of frames
> twisting somewhat distressing), decided to skim at cloudtop level.  Luck
> was not with them overly much, as refuelling turned into a 36 hour
> marathon to collect 3 parsecs' worth of fuel.  Their refiners merrily
> rumbled away in the background.  El Capitane may or may not have smugged
> about his foresight.
>
> Once fuel (and kip) had been obtained, the Objective Interim Moustache
> Support System set up shop on the sensors to spend a week casing Alpha
> Crucis 1039 from long range.  He managed to rumble the red and brown
> dwarfs in the middle, and not much more.  El Capitane decided that was
> good enough and they can go look-see.
>
> Rosa flatly rejected any idea of skimming a brown dwarf as outright
> suicidal.
>
> Upon arrival in AC 1039, with half an idea of the ecliptic, it didn't
> take too long for Jim (with Rosa's help) to spot a gas giant that was
> over a week away by realspace.  Even though it was quicker to jump, El
> Capitane didn't want to waste the fuel, and figured it would probably
> take that long to case Alpha Crucis 0840 anyway, so it can be done while
> in-transit.
>
> Two of the three bridge bunnies (Jim and Rosa) camped out on the sensors
> while en-route, to notably better results.  A G-class primary, 3 gas
> giants, 1 planetoid belt (a bit further out) and 9 other worlds,
> including one roughly Terra sized.
>
> Refuelling took 10 hours, and twisted yet more frames (again distressing
> both Nikki and Bert).
>
> After a routine jump, the Boatload of Sanctioned And Worthy Lunatics got
> a nice surprise.  The Terra-sized planet was a much closer analogue than
> merely similar size - it was a full-blown garden world.
>
> After putting down just north of the antarctic circle, El Capitane
> exercised his prerogative as Him Wot Takes The Blame And Gets Shot
> First, naming the planet "Paradise Landing".
>
> The atmosphere turned out thin but breathable with respirator support. 
> Bit chilly, for some mysterious reason.  El Capitane surprised the
> blazes out of _everyone_ by having some directly-relevant scientific
> skills (ie, exobiology) and, after some quick checks, pronouncing the
> local biology not to harbour _too_ many surprises.
>
> Jim and Rosa wander off and scope out the surroundings, and end up
> getting attacked by a flock of local avian-type critters.  My players
> being my players, these were promptly labeled "murderbirds" and riffed
> on with "5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Murderbirds are GO!".
>
> After Badass-Moustache blatted one with his rifle, the rest of the flock
> decided they had a pressing appointment somewhere else - exactly where
> is irrelevant as long as it's _not here_.  The walkabout pair collected
> the remains and lobbed back to the ship.
>
> "We come bearing..." - Badass-Moustache
> "... chicken!" - Rosa
>
> The murderbird meat smelled ok when being cooked, but turned out to
> taste _foul_ - worse than galah.  The PCs had to content themselves with
> enlarging the dent in their supplies.
>
> With the Paradise grounded for the first time in roughly three months,
> Nikki took the opportunity to collar everyone and do maintenance. 
> Powerplant, drives and life support all needed work.
> The three bridge bunnies (Drake, Jim, Rosa) then tore into the sensor
> suite, tearing it down, then rebuilding and realigning it.  They were
> pretty sure they had resolved the sensor quirk (imposing a -1 DM to all
> sensor use) in the process.  At least two mummified ex-rodents were
> found and unceremoniously pitched during the process.
> --
>  
> -----
> The Traveller Mailing List
> Archives at http://archives.simplelists.com/tml
> Report problems to xxxxxx@simplelists.com
> To unsubscribe from this list please go to
> http://www.simplelists.com/confirm.php?u=zZOCJCw2BI9jPrGTB4OJoibiHbbTEiok