Sunday Afternoon Game - Thousand Suns, Session 4
Yesterday afternoon, the Sunday gaming group met up for their regular game session at my place.
spross is currently running the Thousand Suns RPG of Imperial science fiction. He wrapped up the first scenario last session. You can read the report on the events of the last session here by following the link.
SteveR and Tammy showed up at my place on time, so there was no delay in the game session. We chatted for several minutes about life the past few weeks, and talked about some of the current politics going on. Then SteveR got down to the game session.
*****
CHARACTERS
Marko Rojas (JohnK) - Xenoarchaeologist
Maja Ma (Tammy) - Scout
Day 10, Month 7, 500 NK
I've been aboard the Evening Star, captained by Maja Ma, for some twenty-one weeks. We've travelled twelve weeks to head out of the Kvin Steloj sector, and some nine weeks into the Great Spiral sector we're now travelling through to get to the planet Selbin located in the Daishin system. We're still in the Marches, but I really do miss Empire space. So much more civilized, though I can't complain about Captain Ma's company. But I've gotten a bit ahead of myself...
Back on Savuul around Month 1, Day 5 or so, Ifigenia Mkombe told us that she'd got another job for me. It seemed that a courier arrived on planet looking for me, and the Encylcopaedia Galactica Foundation (EGF) expedition on Selbin was in need of some...assistance. Professor Vi-chan was asking me to come to Selbin and help him study an active Traveller installation there because his own research had hit a snag. The EGF also wanted to hire Maja Ma and her crew to a) get me to Selbin; and b) to scout out the domes they hadn't looked at yet. This is where it gets a bit convoluted. Miss Mkombe admitted that Vi-chan's stumbling block was that he hadn't yet figured out the written and spoken language of the Travellers on Selbin, which implied that they were a new species of Traveller. She showed Maja and me the holoimages of the species that the expedition had taken at the active Traveller site - humanoid, gold-skinned, large brown, pupil-less eyes, with three fingers and a thumb per hand. I have never seen a Traveller of this species, but the architecture of the ruins on Selbin reminded me of the Tarshin ruins found at Tarsus crater on Mars. Vi-chan's been working at the site since late 498 NK (about two years). Maja and I also saw that the site was something like 500 acres, consisting of 354 domes, and Vi-chan and his team of 30 members have only looked at 57 of them, but only fully explored some 14. The domes appear to be some sort of advanced ceramic material, opaque, averaging around 71.63m in diameter and about 2.5m tall at the edges.
The Daishin system consists of a yellow-white star, slightly larger than Sol, with five planets orbiting it, two of them gas giants. I won't bore you with the astronomical data, but Selbin is the 4th planet, is located in the Goldilocks zone, has two moons, a gravity of 1.2g, a 569.5 day year, an average day of 27 hours, and is slightly humid, though the terrain is largely plains and steppes. The Selbin colony consists of 6,000 individuals and was settled some three years ago, the main colony being the town/city of Disri, which also has a small spaceport (more of a landing strip of concrete with some buildings and hangars around it, as I later found out). The Traveller ruins were discovered by accident, though that struck me as odd. When I decided to accept the contract, Miss Mkombe and the EGF had drawn up a standard contract, with additional clauses that I would receive full credit for any discoveries I made (and that I'd share credit for discoveries made with Professor Vi-chan), and that I was considered a full partner in research at the dig. Furthermore, the expedition funding was up for renewal in three years, so it required a commitment. Maja and her crewmates decided to accept the job, though it meant heading deeper into Empire space (even if we were in the Marches), and so that was that.
While making preparations for the trip, I was able to do a bit of research on Professor Vi-chan. He's a xeno-archaeologist from Wa-lu who's somewhat haughty, known for discovering what is now called Vi-chan's Installation on Selbin. He has several published works, nowhere near as many as I do, but has somewhat conservative views on the Travellers. That could be problematic down the road, especially over the next three years (or more).
And that's how I ended up on Selbin. Anyway, the Evening Star came down on her gravitics, landing at Selbin's spaceport/landing pad. Debarking the ship, Maja and I met Juri Han, Professor Vi-chan's Terran assistant. There were some anti-grav trucks and cars and jeeps (!!) at the landing pad, and a freighter called the Distant Sprite according to her markings. Juri Han told me that arrangements for our transport to the site had been arranged, and I wasn't too discomfited in the knowledge that we'd be living out in the wilderness, though I could tell Ariela was. At that point, the Selbin authorities, an administrator and a constable, showed up. They had a green and blue badge thing going, the Selbin Port Authority. They gave Maja a bit of a hard time, but gave me the respect that I deserved. Maja made the arrangements to have the Evening Star stored at the landing pad (for a nominal fee, I'll bet), and then we got on to other matters.
*****
I don't really have a lot to say about the game session, other than that I enjoyed parts of it, had my eyes glaze over somewhat during some of the infodumps there were a lot of them!), and was glad that we got a bit of actual game play in at the end. There was also a major bit of time spent going through some of the mechanics and ramifications of the jump system and jump lanes in the game, during which SteveR had to make some decisions about continuity (among other things). There was also a good deal of inconsistency in some of the elements of the game session (SteveR knows what I'm talking about, so if he wants, he can address those issues), and that marred play for me somewhat, to be honest.
In the meantime, I'm looking forward to the next game session for the most part.
spross is currently running the Thousand Suns RPG of Imperial science fiction. He wrapped up the first scenario last session. You can read the report on the events of the last session here by following the link.
SteveR and Tammy showed up at my place on time, so there was no delay in the game session. We chatted for several minutes about life the past few weeks, and talked about some of the current politics going on. Then SteveR got down to the game session.
*****
CHARACTERS
Marko Rojas (JohnK) - Xenoarchaeologist
Maja Ma (Tammy) - Scout
Day 10, Month 7, 500 NK
I've been aboard the Evening Star, captained by Maja Ma, for some twenty-one weeks. We've travelled twelve weeks to head out of the Kvin Steloj sector, and some nine weeks into the Great Spiral sector we're now travelling through to get to the planet Selbin located in the Daishin system. We're still in the Marches, but I really do miss Empire space. So much more civilized, though I can't complain about Captain Ma's company. But I've gotten a bit ahead of myself...
Back on Savuul around Month 1, Day 5 or so, Ifigenia Mkombe told us that she'd got another job for me. It seemed that a courier arrived on planet looking for me, and the Encylcopaedia Galactica Foundation (EGF) expedition on Selbin was in need of some...assistance. Professor Vi-chan was asking me to come to Selbin and help him study an active Traveller installation there because his own research had hit a snag. The EGF also wanted to hire Maja Ma and her crew to a) get me to Selbin; and b) to scout out the domes they hadn't looked at yet. This is where it gets a bit convoluted. Miss Mkombe admitted that Vi-chan's stumbling block was that he hadn't yet figured out the written and spoken language of the Travellers on Selbin, which implied that they were a new species of Traveller. She showed Maja and me the holoimages of the species that the expedition had taken at the active Traveller site - humanoid, gold-skinned, large brown, pupil-less eyes, with three fingers and a thumb per hand. I have never seen a Traveller of this species, but the architecture of the ruins on Selbin reminded me of the Tarshin ruins found at Tarsus crater on Mars. Vi-chan's been working at the site since late 498 NK (about two years). Maja and I also saw that the site was something like 500 acres, consisting of 354 domes, and Vi-chan and his team of 30 members have only looked at 57 of them, but only fully explored some 14. The domes appear to be some sort of advanced ceramic material, opaque, averaging around 71.63m in diameter and about 2.5m tall at the edges.
The Daishin system consists of a yellow-white star, slightly larger than Sol, with five planets orbiting it, two of them gas giants. I won't bore you with the astronomical data, but Selbin is the 4th planet, is located in the Goldilocks zone, has two moons, a gravity of 1.2g, a 569.5 day year, an average day of 27 hours, and is slightly humid, though the terrain is largely plains and steppes. The Selbin colony consists of 6,000 individuals and was settled some three years ago, the main colony being the town/city of Disri, which also has a small spaceport (more of a landing strip of concrete with some buildings and hangars around it, as I later found out). The Traveller ruins were discovered by accident, though that struck me as odd. When I decided to accept the contract, Miss Mkombe and the EGF had drawn up a standard contract, with additional clauses that I would receive full credit for any discoveries I made (and that I'd share credit for discoveries made with Professor Vi-chan), and that I was considered a full partner in research at the dig. Furthermore, the expedition funding was up for renewal in three years, so it required a commitment. Maja and her crewmates decided to accept the job, though it meant heading deeper into Empire space (even if we were in the Marches), and so that was that.
While making preparations for the trip, I was able to do a bit of research on Professor Vi-chan. He's a xeno-archaeologist from Wa-lu who's somewhat haughty, known for discovering what is now called Vi-chan's Installation on Selbin. He has several published works, nowhere near as many as I do, but has somewhat conservative views on the Travellers. That could be problematic down the road, especially over the next three years (or more).
And that's how I ended up on Selbin. Anyway, the Evening Star came down on her gravitics, landing at Selbin's spaceport/landing pad. Debarking the ship, Maja and I met Juri Han, Professor Vi-chan's Terran assistant. There were some anti-grav trucks and cars and jeeps (!!) at the landing pad, and a freighter called the Distant Sprite according to her markings. Juri Han told me that arrangements for our transport to the site had been arranged, and I wasn't too discomfited in the knowledge that we'd be living out in the wilderness, though I could tell Ariela was. At that point, the Selbin authorities, an administrator and a constable, showed up. They had a green and blue badge thing going, the Selbin Port Authority. They gave Maja a bit of a hard time, but gave me the respect that I deserved. Maja made the arrangements to have the Evening Star stored at the landing pad (for a nominal fee, I'll bet), and then we got on to other matters.
*****
I don't really have a lot to say about the game session, other than that I enjoyed parts of it, had my eyes glaze over somewhat during some of the infodumps there were a lot of them!), and was glad that we got a bit of actual game play in at the end. There was also a major bit of time spent going through some of the mechanics and ramifications of the jump system and jump lanes in the game, during which SteveR had to make some decisions about continuity (among other things). There was also a good deal of inconsistency in some of the elements of the game session (SteveR knows what I'm talking about, so if he wants, he can address those issues), and that marred play for me somewhat, to be honest.
In the meantime, I'm looking forward to the next game session for the most part.