CT Solo - Part 4 : Being useful

"Lock the door!"

"I did lock it!"

"Obviously you didn't."

"I tried!"

"Try again."

"I am trying."

"Then you're not doing it right."

"I think I know how a door works."

"Then prove it!"

Ortance has been sat on the bed staring helplessly at the two squabbling starship crew trying to lock her in a stateroom for several minutes before a third voice in the corridor barks at them to stop.

The captain appears in the doorway looking peevish. "What now?"

"The door doesn't lock."

"At all?"

"Maybe from the inside, but..."

"Lluyd, any ideas?" says the Captain, addressing someone behind him.

"It's probably the anti-hijack programme glitching again. I did warn you not to buy software off the back of an air/raft."

"Hmmmm."

"Excuse me," says Ortance, "but I might be able to help with the computer. That's part of my job at the lab. Was part of my job. If I can fix it, maybe you won't space me. Deal?"

[I'd asked the Oracle--
Q: Does Ortance overhear anything useful to her predicament? unknown d6=5; O6 C2 - yes, and...

The Captain's reaction roll (spaced on 6 or less!): 2d=7, non-committal]

"Huh," says the Captain. "Sure, OK. Why not? But you're to be under armed guard at all times. You two, escort her to the bridge."

"Er," says Ortance turning to her captors," might I have that shower first?"

. . .

Ortance feels like a new woman after a quarter of an hour in the fresher and a clean change of clothes (she'd been saving it for planetfall). The elation lasts precisely until she opens the stateroom door to see the short woman with closely-cropped hair aiming a pistol at her chest.

"Let's get this over with," sighs her captor, and marches her forward to the bridge. "Sit at that workstation. Do you need a toolkit?"

"I shouldn't think so. I will need the password to access the system, though."

"It's written on the sticker on the terminal."

"Of course it is."

The ship's computer is somehow less sophisticated than Ortance's hand computer. Indeed, the green CRT terminal can only display text [both are Model/1, but it's TL5 vs. TL11]. But if she can find the error in the programming, it should be easier to fix than she'd feared. The creeping sensation of having a gun aimed at her back, however, is quite a source of distraction.

[8+ to fix, DMs +computer, +1 INT > 10, -1 nerves: 2D+1=9, OK]

Within the hour, Ortance has isolated the bad lines of code and before a second hour has gone she's re-written them properly. "There!" she announces triumphantly, "you may now lock me in my stateroom!"

[So, what does the captain want to do with her now that spacing is off the menu?

2d6 result
--- -----------------------------------
2-5 dumped on Whanga
6-9 allowed to work off debt (cr10,000)
10+ offered normal working passage

2D=7]

The Captain seems pleased enough with her work. "You'll be happy to know I've made up my mind about you. We could use someone to look after the computer, but as the conditions of our subsidy contract don't allow for a computer technician, we'll need to take you on as a steward. The pay's not bad -- cr3000 per month -- but we're going to withhold 75% of your salary until you've paid us back for this little 'high passage' it seems you've booked with us. Otherwise we'd need to throw you off the ship at the next port and forget we'd ever heard of you. What do you say?"

"A steward, you say. I can probably manage that."

"Welcome aboard, then."

[Q: Do they need a medic? doubtful (6): O5 C1 - no, and... Steward-0, cr3000/month (actually pays better)
Q: Anyone's uniform fit her? 50/50 (4+): O6 C2 - yes, and... 2d3= both Gzo & Lluyd are about her size (hal Ushsh is much shorter & stockier)
Q: Any guns on the ship? unlikely (5+): O6 C3 - yes, but... only one double turret

Crew is 6 [5 required +1 gunner]. I hadn't rolled much more than the Captain's personality until now, though I included a few snippets about the crew in the narrative above after the fact.

For simplicity, the ship's locker is identical to the one in the Chamax Plague, but includes breathing apparatus (x8) for all the planets on the ship's route (Regina to Efate).

Q: Anything unusual happen for the rest of the trip? unlikely (5+): O5 C3 - yes, but.. just the usual crew infighting

9+ to pick up on the simmering problems: 2D=5, no idea as of yet.]

Ortance spends the next two days of the jump getting a tour of the ship and its systems and becoming acquainted with her new shipmates, who are all surprisingly sanguine about the new addition.

There are six other crew aboard the Issaries, [1d6=] four of whom have spent their entire careers in the merchant marine. Most of them are around Ortance's age.

Captain Rov seems much older than his 38 years. He's prone to fits of melancholy and apathy, and his thoughts are often parsecs away from anything that's happening round him. He alternates between by-the-book captaining and extreme negligence -- he's the one who keeps the ship's computer password written under the display on the bridge.

Captain Otchter Rov
977C89 Age 38 Merchants 5 terms
Pilot-1, Vacc-1, Cutlass-2, Body Pistol-2, Electronics-2, Steward-1
cr20,000

The 2nd officer/gunner (the captain keeps intending to promote everyone a place, but never files the paperwork) is Ardriss Adpl, who is not very well liked, and may be after the captain's chair. He tells Ortance he's from Regina too, but she doesn't believe him.

2nd officer Ardriss Adpl
B78756 Age 30 Merchants 3 terms
Steward-1, Navigation-1, JoT-1, Blade-1, Vacc-1, Gunnery-1, Carbine-1
cr10,000
carbine

The navigator is 3rd Officer Listria Gzo. Her perfectionism borders on obsessiveness, and how she can serve under Rov is a complete mystery, as she brooks no deviation from the rule with those under her.

3rd Officer Listria Gzo
7466A5 Age 26 Merchants 2 terms
Blade-1, Laser Rifle-1, ATV-1, Navigation-1
Cr21,900

Rawwan Lluyd is the 4th officer and engineer. It was she who first discovered Ortance in the crawlspace, and has since apologised for whacking her in the foot with a spanner. Lluyd is a Solomani -- not just descended from Solomani settlers in the Marches hundreds of years ago like Ortance, but an actual, born-and-raised on Avalon/ Reaver's Deep 3238 Solomani. She comes from a family of dissidents, which explains why she's so far coreward of her homeworld.

4th Officer Rawwan Lluyd 
89B857 Age 34 Merchants 4 Terms
Vacc-1, Mechanical-2, Engineer-1, Gunnery-1, Air/Raft-1, Autopistol-1
cr5000
autopistol

Nifuim hal Ushsh did a tour of duty in the army to avoid prison[Soc 2], where she ended up in the medical corps. As the ship's medic, her bedside manner is far too military. Her final rank was captain, and she and Rov have a running bit where they both salute each other as 'Captain' (though not in times of stress).

(Cpt.) Nifuim hal Ushsh 
6885A2 Age 22 Army 1 term
Rifle-2, SMG-1, Tactics-1, Medic-1
cr17,200

The pilot, Lt. Stantil, is ex-navy. He's the most welcoming of Ortance's new shipmates, and she has a feeling that he may just be the glue that keeps them all together.

(lt.) Srdonottorviu Stantil
777C89 Age 34 Navy 4 Terms
Pilot-2, Admin-1, Vacc-1, Revolver-1, Ship's Boat-2
cr9100
blade






040-1105
Whanga E-676126–7 Ni

Ortance is rudely awakened by the entire world pulsing and shifting sideways -- apparently no one remembered to wake her up when they came out of jump. She steadies herself for a few minutes, then decides to get cleaned up and head to the bridge. There's a message light flashing on the panel when she emerges from the fresher. It's from Lluyd, apologising that they forgot to warn her about jump exit.

When Ortance stumbles onto the bridge, she finds only Stantil and Gzo present.

"Oh!" she exclaims. "So empty. I thought the bridge would be full."

"Why?" says Gzo, looking up peevishly from her instruments.

"Because... well, because we came out of jump."

"It's 6 hours until planetfall. I'm only here checking the route, then I'm going back to bed."

[no ship encounter

Q: Welcoming party upon landing? doubtful (6): O4 C4 - no, but... captain has radioed ahead and someone is expected in about 8 hours
+Event: PC positive - Gratify / Dispute - they've all basically forgiven her for stowing away. though she still owes the money]

The ship sets down on the flat rocky field near the nav beacon. "I've radioed ahead," says the captain, "Someone'll be here in eight hours to pick up the freight. Mister Adpl, hand out the philtre masks, then organise the work detail." Ortance is unsurprised to find herself on it, along with everyone else save the captain and 2nd officer.

The next eight hours are an endless haze of using grav pods to unload all the cargo crates onto wheeled flatbed trailers that were lined up for them in advance. They're almost finished when six enormous internal combustion vehicles roll up on their steel treads.

The people who emerge from their cabs treat the ship's crew like old friends [reaction=12], and have even brought gifts -- a knitted jumper for (d6=) the captain, plus sweets, pastries, and half a dozen bottles of some sort of fruit liqueur for the whole crew to share. They're excited to meet the newest member of the team. They help with the rest of the loading, then come into the ship for an hour or so for tea and cakes -- the Captain and 2nd officer have set out the galley in readiness. The Captain also hands over a box with a spare holo projector and some of the latest films out of Efate for their friends on Whanga -- their old one is getting worn out and they can't manufacture replacement parts on-world (TL7).

When the Whangans leave, the crew retire for the evening.


Next post: the primitives

CT Solo - Part 3 : Stowaway

Getting to the starport via the moving pavements is fairly straightforward, though the crowds are so thick in places that Ortance is forced to stand rather than walk along them. Security at the extrality barrier is noticeably lax, and she breezes past the checkpoint without being stopped. [She needed to roll over the Law Level (9+) to avoid customs; DMs +1 for festival, +Streetwise : 2D+2=12, OK]

Everything Ortance now owns in the world is in her shoulder bag, or as she now thinks of it, her stowaway kit. There's an assortment of tools comprising a makeshift electronics toolkit, a roll of bin liners (comprising, eew, a makeshift loo), a few extra layers of clothing, diet pills, and some protein wafers. She buys some more packaged food and a quantity of bottled water at some starport shops. She stares disapprovingly at the thin stack of Imperial Credit banknotes she has remaining, counting but [2d6x10=] cr80.

[With medical-1, I assume she has correctly calculated how much food and water she'll need for an 8 day trip to avoid serious starvation and dehydration. And I'd asked the Oracle:

Q: Does Amlaani have a spare respirator mask she can part with? 50/50 (4+): O4 C2 - yes, and... an extremely makeshift toolkit (DM -2, but better than nothing if needed)

Starport encounter: 1D=2 peasants

Q: What do they want? Travel / Rumour]

Most of the starport crowd is oblivious to the festival, save the skeleton crew of workers who couldn't get the day off. But the chaos and delays it's causing means that, for the most part, Ortance can get around without impediment. She is briefly approached by some very obvious offworlders, migrant labourers by the look of things, asking if she knows about any passenger liners that have docked. She takes them over to one of the arrival/departure boards to check, and finds that the ship they want isn't due to leave for [1d6=] four days yet.

[I also rolled a Startown Liberty encounter check (9+) 2D=12]

Ortance wanders through some of the starport bars, looking for inspiration. In one she espies a trio of offworlders wearing identical crew jackets, getting quietly pissed in a corner table. She takes a place at the bar, orders a pint (-cr5), and does her best to get them to notice her, but they are steadfastly ignoring her. She can't quite make out anything they're saying, but she at least notes the name of their ship emblazoned on their jackets: the Issaries.

[6+ to overhear a rumour: 2D=4, no

Q: Can she figure out what ship they're from? likely (3+): O3 C1 - yes, and...]

She finishes her pint and leaves the crew to their next round. She looks up the ship's name on a terminal and finds learns [per Solo's Available Starship Table, 2D=] it's a 400t Type-R Subsidised Merchant, and due to ship out in [1d6=] one day. The destination is also listed, but the name means nothing to her; it's not in this system, so that's all that matters. Ortance intends to immediately reconnoitre the docking bay. After she pops to the loo.

[Q: On a scale of 1-6, how well guarded is the ship? d6=1, not well at all.]

The docking bay is one of the cheaper surface berths. Ortance is thankful Amlaani packed her off with a respirator mask. With so many stevedores off at the festival, it's a trivial matter to exit the pressurised passenger loading terminal and wander across the restricted area and right onto the Issaries' landing pad. The two dockhands are paying more attention to the festive celebrity gravball match on a portable viewer than they are to the robots loading freight.

[Roll under DEX (DEX 9, so 8-) to sneak aboard: 2d=7, success]

Ortance sneaks right past them up the cargo bay ramp. She finds a maintenance hatch at the back behind a stack of standard cargo containers already in place, and uses her little toolkit to get it open and climb inside. Then she crawls through the ducts until she's out of sight completely, a looks for a particularly inviting looking bit of ductwork to bunk in. Then she prepares for some crushing boredom.

Ortance finds the thuds resounding through the ship as the robots load the cargo oddly reassuring, but it stops after six hours or so. She's too exhausted to sleep, and her mind won't stop turning over her predicament in excruciating detail. She lays awake and numb in the dusty vent until at last she feels the air pressure change and the ship's engines fire up.

[Since our heroine isn't choosy about destinations just yet, I hadn't rolled for it. The ship is only Jump-1, so there are but 3 possibilities; d3=Whanga.

I thought I should also roll for freight & passengers, in case anything came up on the voyage. The difference in Tech Levels between the two worlds (13 vs. 7) meant the ship was travelling light.

0 high passage
0 middle
1 low

50, 40, 10t major cargoes
25, 15t minor

+10t copper (for speculation) -- only 150t cargo (out of 200)

There were no malfunctions or important encounters on the way to the jump point, and there was no misjump.]

Ortance collapses into sleep for about four and a half hours as the freighter travels out to a safe jump distance. The prickly sensation as the jump field engulfs the ship wakes her from a nightmare, and she feels waves of nausea and exhilaration commingled as the ship passes into jumpspace.

She spends the next few days napping as much as she can to conserve energy. She eats a little to keep her stomach sated (the diet pills help immensely) and monitors her liquid intake. Now that she's well outside the reach of Uakye's planetary network signals, she finally feels safe in turning on her hand computer -- though she makes doubly sure it won't try to ping the ship's computer. She's got nothing but time on her hands -- it's the best possible opportunity to read one of those classic novels she's downloaded and has been putting off starting for ages, or maybe have another go at the anthology of Vilani Poetry of the First Imperium before she forgets all the Vilani she'd learnt at school.

And speaking of school, that was the last time she'd ever seen an hour tick by so slowly. The hand computer's clock -- still set to Uakye's civil 24-hour clock -- is constant reminder of how much longer this jump is going to take.

[I've never gotten a chance to use the stowaway rules before. I remembered they were there, but that's about it.

So, according to the book, the basic throw for a stowaway to be caught is 4+ per day. DMs are allowed for "various elaborate schemes", so :

-2 hidden in ductwork/maintenance crawlspace
-1 brought water & food & appetite suppressants
-2 won't need to sneak out to use the loo...

If she lasts more than 4 days without discovery, I'll roll for a shipboard event. Otherwise, the discovery counts as the event. A random event might impose more DMs depending on what happens.

day 1: 2D-5=1
day 2: 7-5=2
day 3: 5-5=0
day 4: 3-5=-2

She's been lucky so far! Ship event (Solo): The ship computer is acting oddly. Why? Is it malfunctioning? Has it been reprogrammed?

That's good for another -1 DM as the crew think any anomalous readings are probably the computer playing up.

day 5: 11-6=5... discovered anyway.]

The next few days pass in a haze of tedium and nerves as Ortance becomes settled into her routine -- until a sharp pain in her foot wakes her. A bright light is shining in her face, and she can just about make out the silhouette of a mop of curly hair and narrow shoulders behind it. She can also see the glint of the heavy spanner which was responsible for her sudden awakening, and its wavering tells her it might just like to strike again. And above the hum of the pipes and machinery she hears a dusky voice which is currently demanding to know just who the fuck she is.

"Oh, Er, um, hi. I'm Ortance."

"You going to follow me out, or are we going to have to turn off the oxygen on this deck?"

"Um, the former, please."

The woman turns and Ortance crawls after her. As they are moving noisily forward through the twisting, confined space, Ortance sees her activate a commo and mumble something into it. The only words she can make out are 'bloody stowaway'.

[Per the rulebook, a reaction roll needs to made be for the captain. The stowaway will be spaced on a result of 6 or less.]

They emerge from a hatch in the cargo bay. The lights have been turned up, and though the grey walls and low work lights in the grotty bay are anything but bright, Ortance's eyesight takes some time to adjust to the (relatively) dazzling brilliance. Five crew members in addition to her discoverer are surrounding her in a semi circle, and in her blind panic she fears to look any of them in the eye. But she sees with perfect clarity that two of them hold pistols, and a third has a small rifle slung on one shoulder [it's a carbine, but Ortance isn't the sort of person who would be aware of such distinctions].

"Well, this is unexpected," says an older man, probably the captain, with a trace of a Rhylanese accent. "Adpl, hal Ushsh, why don't the two of you lock the stowaway in one of the empty staterooms whilst I decide whether or not to throw her out the airlock."

"Why not do it now?" asks one of the women.

"Because," says the woman who found Ortance, "it might fuck up the jump field. The arrays have been misaligned ever since we added that poxy turret."

At a nod from the captain, the short woman with the pistol motions for Ortance to start walking, which she does without complaint. But as they are showing her into her cell, she finds she can't take the silence any more.

"Excuse me. May... may I ask a question?"

"What?" She isn't amused.

"How long do you think it will be until we exit jumpspace?"

"About 40 hours."

"Then would you mind, awfully, if I used the fresher? Only I'd rather not go to my death smelling like an open sewer."


next post... is going to be very short if I don't roll 7 or higher for the captain's reaction roll!

CT Solo - Part 2 : Run and hide

Threading her way through the jovial crowds, Ortance jumps when she feels a hand clamp firmly on her shoulder from behind. The police! But no, her momentary panic vanishes when she finds her assailant is a sequin-clad drunk from a roving hen do, who is offering her some sort of pungent red spirit to drink out of a pink plastic replica of an Imperial Marine's battle dress boot. She laughs and politely declines, and the woman totters off towards another unsuspecting bystander.

[The random encounter at the end of part 1 was rolled as--
d66=riotous mob, 4d6=9 members
reaction=9

Q: Any surprises when Ortance gets to the restaurant? unknown d6=4: O3 C1 - no, and... Amlaani is trustworthy]

The Zikisud in Bloom is a cavernous late-night eatery that caters to a less rowdy clientele than do most of the local bars. Ortance makes a circuit of the tables before finding Amlaani sitting in a cosy alcove along the far wall.

"Hi, hun. Oh, you look awful. Sorry-- I mean the 'disguise'. I'd barely recognise you. If I didn't know you so well, that is."

"Um, hi. You look amazing! I mean... blue hair really suits you."

"Ta. The new boss wants to appeal to a younger crowd, so I jumped at the chance."

Small talk continues until the waiter has taken their orders and been back with drinks. But Amlaani is visibly bursting with curiosity.

"So, what have you been up to? The news said you'd embezzled a lot of money from the Luenvire and had done a runner."

"The filth outside my flat block seemed a wee bit excessive for tracking down an embezzler. Why are you laughing?"

"Sorry, love. I never get tired of hearing Lady Regina Poshington use our proletarian slang."

They laugh about old times for a while when the food has come, then Amlaani abruptly suggests they head back to hers. "You can stay until things blow over. If you don't mind slumming that long."

[Amlaani's SOC is only (2D=) 5.

Q: Any problems getting to Amlaani's? unlikely (5+): O5 C2 - yes, and...]

Amlaani lives in one of the 'warrens', a labyrinth of wide, dull grey corridors with numbered doors to the lower working-class quarters. The monotony is occasionally broken up by an 'open' space with shops and the occasional leisure centre.

As Ortance and Amlaani turn into the passage leading to Amlaani's front door, they see a pair of uniformed police officers waiting outside it. [2D=Medium range ~25m]

"Shit!" says Ortance as they duck back around the corner. "They must already have gotten my commo records."

"Don't panic, love. Disappear for an hour or so. That rubbish vargr chippie is still open all night. If they're still here, ring me up tomorrow and we'll figure summat out."

Ortance nods and does as she is told. Amlaani goes off nonchalantly towards her flat. The officers stop her brusquely and demand to see identification before quizzing her about her recent contact with Ortance.

[The Reaction roll would determine how this encounter played out. Any Hostile result would mean they take her down to the station for questioning, and an 'attack' would mean they hold her at least overnight. Any other result will determine the throw required for her to get rid of them easily.

Reaction: 2D=6, unreceptive; So she needs a 6- for them to believe her story: 2D=5!]

"She said to call her so I called her. I said if she wasn't going to return my Red Muons reunion tour t-shirt she could fuck off. She told me she was in trouble. I was like, 'does that mean you aren't returning my shirt'. She said yes. I said to fuck off. I didn't see the news until later. So I guess it's good she didn't have it, because aiding and abetting a fugitive isn't really my style. Then again, it was a really ace concert, and I really miss that shirt. Hey, if you guys search her flat can I get it back?"

The officers give her a comm-code in case she has any further contact from the suspect and bid her a good night.

[Q: Any further issues getting there? unlikely (5+): O2 C2 - no, and...
+Event: PC positive - Assist / Attention =a false lead that night takes the heat off somewhat

Amlaani has to work for the next 1d6-1=0 days; she gets the 'weekend' off.]

When Ortance finally arrives, Amlaani ushers her into the lounge where a pair of drinks are already waiting on the table by the settee.

"So, the police...?"

"Don't worry, love, I got rid of them. They think I still hate you."

"Do you? I mean, after--"

"I did. Not any more, I don't think. Do you still hate me?"

"No, I-- Looking back, I do think it was more my fault than yours. Um, sorry, I guess."

"You don't have to say that so I'll let you stay, you know."

"I know. But thanks for taking me in. I promise I won't stay long. I've been thinking it over and I've come up with a plan."

"Do tell."

"I have to get offworld."

"That seems a little drastic."

"Not really. The police were here, which means they are using my commo records to track me. I daren't turn this on again in case they can track its current location. Nor can I use my hand computer on the planetary network. They'll probably be freezing my assets too."

"OK... but why offworld? Why not tell the authorities what you found out? Not the cops. Planetary security, maybe. Seems they'd take a dim view."

"Far too risky. I can't trust them not to be involved. Luenvire is a subsidiary of Sharurshid -- our director moves in some pretty high-up circles."

"So where will you go?"

"Regina, I guess."

"Running home to mummy and daddy?"

"Rather! It's the subsector capital. I can get this to someone in the MoJ or... or... I'm not sure exactly. I'll figure it out when I get there. First things first: I need to find a way into the starport."

"OK, how are you planning to do that?"

"Not sure. I can't even go outside without risking being caught."

"That's not so hard. You just need a new look, is all."

"Is that all?"

"It'll be easy! And fun, besides. First, let your hair down out of those braids. It totally changes the shape of your face. And we can dye it. This is finally my chance to get you to go pink. Or maybe not. That would attract too much attention. Maybe something dark. A nice dark brown."

"Ugh, anything but that. You do know that's my original colour?"

"We dated for five months, love. I had noticed."

[Q: Does Ortance quickly wear out her welcome? 50/50 (4+): O3 C3 - no, but...
+Event: Remote event - Extravagance / Extravagance]

Whatever tender feelings may have been rekindled, within a few days Ortance and Amlaani soon start to remember why it is they weren't a good match. Ortance stays on her best behaviour and does everything in her power to avoid antagonising Amlaani, who tries in turn to focus on playing dress-up with her captive model. Ortance has ample time whilst Amlaani is at work to plan her escape. There is a three-day planetary festival coming up, the kind of which locals all know the origin from their school days but can never quite explain to foreigners. But the near-shutdown of all but essential services and constant street parties should make it easier to get away.

Ortance's new look

033-1105

The very early morning of Ortance's departure has arrived. Poor Amlaani is due to be at work early for a long day of overtime (there's a festival sale on), which she sorely needs after her unexpected house guest has stretched her budget this month. But she didn't want her to run off without a proper goodbye.

"You promised you weren't going to cry," says Ortance.

"I didn't think I would. You know, I was starting to hope that you'd stay for good this time."


next post: into space!

CT solo - Part 1 : Working late

018-1105
Uakye B439598–D Ni

Ortance promised herself she'd not be the last one in the office again this evening. Some of the Gamma Lab technicians were going out to the Zhodani's Head for a few pints and she'd been invited. But here she is, double-checking her sim reports so she can drop them off when she knows the section chief won't even look at them until after the weekend. Besides, she can hear voices coming from the admin cubicles down the corridor. So she isn't the last one here.

Oh, but she shall be if she stays to finish these figures. Right, time to knock off and have a go at being social for a change. She takes up the stack of the annotated hardcopy reports she'd finished and then heads over to the section chief's office to deliver them.

The desk lamp is on, as is his computer, but the section chief is nowhere to be seen. Ortance helps herself to a memo pad and dashes off a note to say the rest of the reports are to follow. But when she puts the reports on his chair, she can't help but peek at what he has up on his screens.

It seems to be notes on a clinical trial of whatever hush-hush project they're working on in Theta Lab. Water cooler rumours say it's some sort of chromosomal therapy agent, but looking at the graphs on the screen she's sure it can't be. Intrigued, she reads the note from the head researcher below the raw data: "Batch 92.003-z results disappointing. Euphoric effects and addictive properties both lower than last. Perhaps we can increase addictiveness if the peptides..."

She can't believe what she's seeing, or stop herself from looking further. It looks like they are purposefully developing a street drug to be highly addictive with a minimum of immediate side effects provided that a steady supply is maintained, but painful withdrawal symptoms should it be broken: chemical shackles for a productive slave class. And she recognises the names of a dealer or two in the local 'test market' delineations.

Ortance is sickened at the thought of her company engaging in such heinously immoral research, and she immediately resolves to report it to the authorities. There's a fresh datacrystal on the desk. She slots it into the dataport and begins copying files onto it, hiding behind the desk so no one sees her in here. If someone does come by, she'll pretend she dropped the hardcopies on the floor and is picking them up. Is that a voice in the corridor? Why is this taking so fucking long...

[As stated in the character creation post, the 3rd Life Event I rolled on the table in Solo made a good campaign start: Learnt something you shouldn't know; you fled for your own safety.

Sometimes getting a first adventure going requires a fair few Oracle questions as well, so here are the ones that I used to figure out the exact set-up described above--

Q: What does Ortance discover? Divide / Status quo (new drug to control workers)
Q: Any nearby portable storage? 50/50 (4+): O5 C2 - yes, and...
Q: Is anyone else about? 50/50 (4+): O4 C3 - yes, but... only 1d3=3 others still in the office

Rules for the campaign will be Classic Traveller. I'm just going to use simple character creation methods for all PCs/NPCs (i.e. Book 1 & Supplement 4, but not books 4-7). All the world data will be a combination of the published sources I have in hardcopy and my own extrapolations from the UWPs, so it might contradict later sources that I haven't seen; I'm more interested in keeping the game moving than researching canon.

My copy of The Traveller Book still has the original dustjacket, since the previous owner protected it with a plastic cover.
But it's very shiny and hard to photograph in a nice tableau.

I've been using Mythic & my MCSV for the oracle, but due to the hexcrawl-y nature of a lot of Traveller, I haven't been using scenes yet. This will probably change if I continue much longer and pick up Patron missions or the like. I'm using a lot of the random tables in Zozer's Solo (ship encounters, bad reactions, port/jump/world events, NPC relationships, etc.) as usual. I'm using UNE for NPC conversations.

Now, back to the adventure...

Ortance needs a Computer skill roll of 7+ to make a quick backup: 2d+1=8, success

Q: Does anyone happen by? unlikely (5+): O4 C4 - no, but...
+Event: Move toward a thread - Imprison / Fears]

The upload proceeds at a crawl. Ortance has seen faster glaciers on the annual school ski trip to Mt. Cratesicleia. 15 seconds... 20... 25... finally! [that's several terabytes of data transferring from a TL13 computer]

Ortance pockets the datacrystal and nips out of the chief's office, nearly running into Nirsiin, one of the receptionists [d6=f, d6=1 term], on her way to the kitchen with a handful of dirty dishes.

"Watch where you're going! Enri left half a cup of tiluu nectar on his desk and I don't want to drop it on the carpet or the smell will never go away."

[Ortance needs to roll SOC or less to keep it breezy (9-): 2D=10]

"Nectar? OK! Sorry, I really need to get home. For the weekend. For my plans. That I made."

Ortance doesn't wait for a response, but scurries off toward her office.

"Sure," mutters Nirsiin. "Fuck you very much, I guess."

"What was that?" calls Ortance over her shoulder.

"I said, 'have a great weekend!'" [reaction roll=6]

[Q: Does Ortance make it as far as the lift without further incident? 50/50 (4+): O5 C3 - yes, but...]

Throwing on her coat, Ortance walks speedily across the office. She glimpses Nirsiin talking to the chief by the kitchen, then hurries into the lift.

The security guard is on the commo as she is walking past the front desk. She quickens her pace as she steps out into the street.

The crowds are thinning out, as all sensible workers have already left Gahaskil business district to start their weekends. The street lights set in the level-D skyceiling have already dimmed to 'night' mode, which after 12 years Ortance still finds somewhat pointless, but then, she grew up on a planet (OK, a moon) where cities were mostly on the surface. So what does she know?

Right now, she knows that the security guard has followed her outside and is calling after her. Pretend not to hear. Head for the nearest group of people and try to get lost in the dwindling crowd.

[She needs to roll Streetwise 8+ to pull this off: 2D+1=10, OK]

The ambient hum of traffic, voices, and air recyclers makes it impossible to hear if she's being followed, but as she doesn't hear her name being shouted any more, she can assume she's lost them. She passes the maglev station, and vaguely follows the line overground for 800m to the next station before hopping the train back to her district.

[Q: Anyone obviously watching her flat? unknown d6=2; O6 C5 - yes
Q: Corporate security? 50/50 (4+): O3 C5 - no (=police)
Q: Are they uniformed? likely (3+): O6 C5 - yes

rolling encounter range : 2D=Very Long (probably too far for a residential street in an enclosed city, so dropping it to Long, ~60m]

Thanks to a good salary on top of corporate-subsidised housing, Ortance lives in one of the "undercity neighbourhoods". Tower blocks rise up almost to the artificial cavern's dome, where sunlights shine down to create the cycles of 'day' and 'night' in accordance with the 24-hour standard planetary clock. Between the residences are shops, parks, and recreation facilities. The truly wealthy live on the surface with ocean views out their windows, but Ortance has always been content with looking down on Gushdikaar park when it's lit up at night.

But the lights that catch her eye now belong to the police air/rafts outside the entrance to her building. She turns down a side street and keeps walking whilst considering her options. If the police are already onto her, it might mean they're going to start tracking her movements. They might even freeze her bank account. At least, that's what they do on all the crime shows she used to watch on Regina. And those were made all over the Marches.

She goes to the nearest shopping complex and withdraws cash up to daily limit: [1d6=] cr600. Then she goes to one of those discount clothing stores -- the kind from which she normally wouldn't deign to buy socks -- and purchases a casual, nondescript outfit off the rack (-cr50), including a floppy hat (fashionable back in 1103 -- ugh!) to hide her hair. She's kept it in the same blonde crown braid since she got her last employee identicard photo taken 4 years ago, mostly since it doesn't get messed up when she has to don a full protective suit to go into the clean room or the cryo-lab. She changes in a public toilet (again, ugh!) and walks the entire length of the shopping complex to where it opens into the next undercity neighbourhood over and looks for a somewhere to go where she can hide in a crowd. She tries to come up with a plan for survival whilst she walks.

"Right, I've go to know someone who will let me hide out at theirs whilst I think of a way out of this disaster..."

[I decided there should be three people from amongst her acquaintance that she might consider approaching for help. I rolled them on the Patron tables, but absurd results counted as mundane jobs instead. Then I rolled on the SOLO PC Relationship Table to see how they fit into Ortance's life

NPCs
1) hijacker bar staff, human female
2) speculator, solomani female
3) rumour shop assistant, human female

relationships
1) loner
2) dependent on PC's support (but it's all an act)
3) broke up over differences]

"Hmmm," muses Ortance, "I could call Tirrins... but she hates people in her space, so probably wouldn't want me to stay over. Maybe Ianice... no, she'd make this all about her, somehow. and possibly try to sell me on one of her naff schemes. Or I could look up Amlaani... she's probably not still bitter..."

She doesn't think the police would be able to track the location of her personal commo if she uses it to call Amlaani -- not just yet, at any rate -- but just in case she makes the call from a public terminal.

[Q: Any luck? 50/50 (4+): O4 C3 - no, but... can only leave a message
Q: Does she call back? unknown d6=4: O6 C6 - yes. after 1d6-1=4 hours
+Event: PC negative - Communicate / The public]

Amlaani's comm must be set to private as it goes straight to her voicemail, so all she can do is mumble, "Hi. It's Ortance. Call me when you get this. Please."

She is sat in a gloomy dive bar nursing something bitter when her communicator finally goes off. It's Amlaani! she abandons her drink and goes out into the street to take the call -- the street noise is much quieter than the piped music.

[Reaction=10, responsive]

"Hiya, Ortance. Got your call. I was just thinking about you."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Saw your face on the news."

"Oh. Shit."

"I'm guessing you weren't just looking me up out of overwhelming nostalgia--"

"Ummm--"

"Or the burning desire to finally admit it was 70% your fault--"

"Amlaani, I--"

"Prolly not though. And this is more a face-to-face discussion than over the comm."

"Yeah."

"Where are you?"

"Um, just walking around. Maybe we can meet somewhere. Fancy a late dinner? We could meet at that place that Ishidadiin had her 30th."

"You mean, the one where we first met? Are you sure this isn't just nostalgia."

Ortance sighs. "Sadly, no. But, hey, I can be there in about half an hour. 40 minutes tops."

"I'll get us a table."

[Q: Any issues getting there? unlikely (5+): O5 C3 - yes, but... =random encounter]

It's only two districts over, but Ortance doesn't dare take public transit, but instead walks through streets and lesser corridors and finally the last kilometre along the moving pavement.

The restaurant is in the theatre district, which is also the bar district once all the performances have let out, which they have by now -- it's already 00:30.

Threading her way through the jovial crowds, Ortance jumps when she feels a hand clamp firmly on her shoulder from behind. The police!


next post: dramatic entanglements!

A random start to get over a creative slump

It's been a while since I posted anything here. Life was alternately busy and full of studies, and failing that I've had a long spell of writer's block. I've also been bouncing from game to game without making much progress, and playing through lots of published solo adventures (DSA, T&T, and Dragon Warriors) which I never record. Lately I couldn't seem to stick with the same game for 4 days running, and felt creatively blocked on top of that.

Poking at an established but stalled campaign and getting nowhere is particularly dispiriting, so I decided it would be best to try something new. I thought that it might be a fun experiment to generate a character completely at random, start them off in a random situation, and see what came of it (minor spoiler: it worked; my notes file was at ~6100 words when I started writing this up).

But what game to choose? Throwing money at a new game that might fail to spark was off the table, so instead I turned to what I had on my shelves already. Any game without (mostly) random character generation was automatically out, which cut down my options considerably. I wanted something that had lifepath-type character generation, so, to make a long story short, I eventually went with classic Traveller.

(Almost) completely random character creation

To keep things simple (and get playing faster) I decided to stick to just the Traveller Book and the Third Imperium setting -- starting in the Regina subsector as detailed in the back of the book.

The first order of business was assigning a homeworld. I did my usual trick of rolling a d8 & d10 on the subsector map. If a blank hex or Red zone is indicated, the homeworld is the one with the highest population out of the nearest surrounding systems. The dice gave me hex 0409, a blank. Regina (pop8) is bigger than both Hefry (4) and Yori (7), so my new PC grew up on the subsector capital.

Regina A788899-A Ri

I usually make a bunch of characters at once and the most interesting one(s) tend to become the stars of the show. For the purposes of this experiment, though, I was going to roll up only one, so they needed to be cogent enough to carry the story. I rolled stats in order (B97789, off to a good start!), and swapped the highest into Intelligence, but after that I let all the dice fall as they may.

Initial UPP is thus: 797B89

For non-Traveller players: The Universal Personality Profile (UPP) is a 6-digit hexadecimal sequence (A=10, B=11, etc.) that gives the PC's attributes in the order below. Attributes are rolled on 2d6, 7 being human average. Humans can potentially have a max of 15 with increases through character creation (or later training). If you want to see the rules, the Facsimile Edition is free on Drivethru (at the time of writing); it's the same ruleset I'm using, minus the brief sketch of the setting & adventures.

My PC's beginning stats are--

Strength        7 (average)
Dexterity       9 (good)
Endurance       7 (average)
Intelligence   11 (exceptional)
Education       8 (can use all the skill tables)
Social Standing 9 (posh)

At this point, a fledgeling PC is 18 years old with a universe of possibilities before them. Or in this case, with a subsector's worth.

I made my character in the order I usually do (homeworld, stats, career, mustering out, life events, gender, ~ethnicity, name) and then analysed the results to put together a biography. I'll run through this term by term to illustrate how it all fit together. But here's a picture of the raw character generation steps, if you can read my handwriting:

To tell the story of my new PC's history, it makes sense to engage in some chargen hysteron proteron and give them an identity first. I rolled a d6 to determine their rough ethnic background: 1 solomani, 2-5 imperial human, 6 vilani. This far away from both Terra and Vland, the only real effect is of this roll is to give me a schema for naming them.

1d6=solomani. Another die roll decided my PC is female. Given those two data points, the first thing that popped into mind for a name was Hortense, after a random minor character in the French novel I was reading. I changed the spelling (though not the pronunciation) to account for 3 millennia of linguistic drift and/or spelling reform. The surname will be created by just stringing some syllables together that sound plausibly like a name that could have originated on Earth but which either doesn't mean anything in particular or is at least not absurd/obscene/embarrassing; I tend to Google these things to be safe!

So, what does young Ms. Ortance Staalazingen want to be when she grows up? A d6 tells me she wants to be a scout. I was hoping for something different, as I frequently play scouts, but then again, I don't usually have trouble finding stuff for them to do. And I committed to playing what I rolled, so off she goes to the IISS recruitment centre.

Enlistment

Ortance submits her application to the scout academy, brimming with hope. She has DM+1 for her high INT, but her STR of 7 affords no bonus. She'll be accepted on a total of 7+ : 2d6+1=4... failure! Her dreams of adventure are dashed against the rocks. She'd been sure she'd get in. She hasn't really known hardship up to this point, having been insulated from it her whole life. She's from a well-to-do family on a rather nice planet, after all. Whatever shall she do now?

The Draft

She's forced to submit to the draft. 1d6=6, Other. I take this to mean that there was no draft at the time (she turned 18 in 1089, so the 4th Frontier War ended 5 years prior). And none of the service recruiters really wanted her. At least, not the navy. She'd not apply to the army or marines, and the merchant service (probably a desk job at Tukera Lines) sounds a bit too much like being in trade.

Terms of Service

Cycling through the Other 'service' is a lot simpler than the others, as there is no Commission or Promotion, and only 1 skill per term after the first. Survival is easy (5+ with a +2 DM for INT 9 or better), and re-enlistment is similarly 5+ (no modifiers). I am using the optional rule where failed survival results in an injury instead of death. I will only be mentioning the survival & re-enlistment rolls that were interesting enough to tease bits of narrative out of. Ditto for the mustering out benefits.

I rolled 3 Life Events from the table in Zozer's Solo. Two of these made sense to put in her career path. The third one didn't go into her history; instead, it gave me the perfect idea for the first adventure!

Term 1

'Other' characters frequently end up looking like career criminals, but her two rolled skills were Jack of all Trades and Medical. I could have gone the mob doctor route, but the term 2 & 4 skills suggested a different path.

Ortance spends several weeks moping round the family home until her parents begin to fear she's not planning to leave. "You'd really ought to go to university, darling. We're certain it would be for the best. It's only, you're so awfully clever. 'Twould be a shame to let that go to waste." Mater and pater know someone on the admissions board, of course, so young Ortance is soon bundled off to the University of Regina. She casts about for direction a bit, taking whatever elective suits her fancy at a particular moment (JoT-1), but also finds a great interest in both sophontology, organic chemistry, and the biological sciences (Medical-1). She also gets up to the usual sorts of uni activities -- drinking, shagging, parties, zero-g lacrosse, and getting her heart broken at least once (Life Event: Fell in love, but your lover (d6=)turned against you).

Term 2

Poor spurned and humiliated Ortance wishes she could just fly off into the stars. And as fate would have it, an opportunity to do just that arises. Ortance secures a prestigious internship as a lab assistant with Luenvire BioMed LIC, a bio-technology corporation based out of Rhylanor. She doesn't look back as the Type-M subsidised liner (j-3) races out to Regina's 100d limit to begin the 3 week journey to Uakye (B439598–D Ni), one of the highest tech worlds in the Subsector.

[Uakye was of course also chosen at random: (d6) 1-3 Regina, 4 Research Station Beta (Yori), 5 random high-tech world (TL A+), 6 random Industrial world; d6=5]

Things went swimmingly at first. She soon learnt her way round the lab and got extensive training on the equipment: electron microscopes, cryo & radiation chambers, field emitters, filtration rigs, particle stasis regulators, and molecular disassemblers, just to name a few (Electronics-1). And when the internship ends, she finds that she has impressed her bosses so much that she is offered a permanent contract.

Everything goes well for the next 2.5 years, despite constant nagging project deadlines and excessive amounts of overtime, until a few weeks before her 25th birthday. Just what occurs she can't remember, nor has she much recollection about the days immediately preceding her waking up on a ventilator in hospital, covered in bruises and lacerations. Worse still, neither the police nor any of her colleagues at work (she'd hardly time for friends) are able to shed any light on the matter.

[Survival rolls are 5+, and she gets a +2DM for her INT, meaning she can only fail if the dice roll a natural 2. A roll of 3 this term barely scrapes by.

Life Event: Suffered amnesia, something bad happened to you but your memories are vague.]

She spends only a few days in hospital (of which one is spent unconscious under the influence of medical slow drug), but the constant panic attacks and night terrors keep her off work for about three months with a phased return thereafter. Luenvire take care of their valued employees, however, and a psychiatrist is appointed to treat her at no expense.

Term 3

Not even a string of hypno-therapy sessions (non-psionic, of course!) are able to reveal the events resulting in her hospitalisation. Her psychiatrist tells her to mind her stress levels and not to waste her entire youth slaving away in the lab, and Ortance takes the advice to heart. But she soon finds that the more interesting clubs on Uakye are in the seedier parts of the city (Streetwise-1), and she starts having to lie to her analyst about how she's spending her weekends. And evenings.

But she's still young and indestructible, so she can survive coming to work hungover. Or still drunk. Or with a makeup case full of powders and/or ampoules to help her through the day. Her performance at work noticeably suffers, and a disciplinary hearing or two convince her she needs to slow down (her re-enlistment roll was 5, the minimum needed for continuation).

She also begins to suspect her psychiatrist is spying on her for her bosses. And that it's somehow related to what happened, and they are purposefully keeping her ignorant. Paranoia gets the better of her, and she uses some of her less savoury new friends to acquire a pistol to keep in her flat for safety; she's not legally allowed to own a gun under Uakye's law level of 8 (rolled gun in mustering out benefits).

Term 4

The paranoia starts getting to her, so she decides to clean up her act, once again throwing herself into her work. She learns how to programme and run simulations (computer-1) and how to reset passcodes when her boss forgets his kid's birthdate. Again.

She's not going out dancing as often, and she'd stopped going to the company gym when the hot vilani from accounting got transferred back to Regina, so her physical fitness sees a slight decline (ageing: -1 STR). But not spending the bulk of her paycheck on booze is having a salubrious effect on both her liver and her bank account (mustering out benefit Cr10,000; made the ageing saving throw for Endurance).

She's beginning to feel like her life on Uakye is stagnating, though. Maybe it's time to move on (failed re-enlistment roll).

Mustering Out

The Other service has the worst benefits table of any of the standard careers (a roll of six nets you nothing!) and the most variable cash table. I almost never take more than one roll for cash except in very special circumstances (like when I rolled up a 5-term navy ensign with Social 12). Besides, if you roll multiple blade or gun benefits, you can convert some to skill levels. For this PC I went with 1 cash & 3 benefit rolls and got the following:

1. +1 INT
2. gun
3. -
4. cr10,000

As I mentioned earlier, the 3rd Life Event roll made for a better campaign start than part of her history, so I'll get to that in scene one of the adventure. This will be one of the few Traveller campaigns I haven't started off just using Travelling Alone!

Here is the final character sheet & character portrait I made with Heromachine:

Ortance Staalazingen
697C89   Age 34   Other  4 terms
JoT-1, Medical-1, Electronics-1, Streetwise-1, Computer-1
cr10,000
auto pistol


next post: space adventure!