okay, folks. we actually played this mothership game i told you about rolling the characters up for last time ... and it is one big heap of nail-biting scary!
so we've all got our characters, right? (we rolled them up here) and i'm thinking they're a pretty rag-tag bunch, like, a "what are these guys all doing together anyhow" bundle of misfits: an ex-dentist with a bag of teeth, an android in a fleece-lined parka, a couple of marines, a hard-partying one-woman starship crew, and a mechanic named "spanky."
pretty quickly it turns out we're not all together. msg is the "warden" (gamemaster) and starts right off handing out these backgrounds for our characters, which end with a question about when we show up to the docking bay for this ship we're supposed to meet.
GMSG: Okay, these sheets tell you a little about what your character's initial situation is. You're all strangers, so don't share them with each other.Akane: Secretive!
GMSG: Not really secretive, you just have some information that the other characters might not have, and part of the scenario may be affected by which characters share what information with which other characters.
Akane: So ... secretive for Akane, but Doctor Yamaguchi can blab it all?
GMSG: Basically, yes.
Ariel: That's a relief, because I don't know if my dumb character would remember to keep things secret!
Harriet: Ariel, dear, statistically a score of 23 is only somewhat below average for 6d10. Right, Warden?
Elle: What was your Intellect score again, Het?
Harriet: *Ahem* ... 23.
Elle: So you kind of have a vested interest in that not being such a bad score, hmm?
Harriet: It just stands to reason, if two of the six of us got that score, that's a third of the group, right? So at worst, it's probably, you know, in the bottom third of IQ ratings.
GMSG: Wellll ...
Harriet: Oh my. I'm about to find out I should stick to word issues and not try my hand at math, aren't I?
GMSG: There are six of you, but you each have four stats. That's two dozen total stat rolls, and three of those rolls came up as 23. That's more like one stat roll in 8 being a 23. But no given set of rolls produces perfect probability outcomes, so the actual odds could be less or more than that.
Harriet: I see. So it's ambiguous, but I guess we are probably somewhere in the bottom quarter or worse, Ariel.
Elle: Interesting.
Ariel: I don't like how you said that! What are you looking at?
Elle: I did a web search on dice and probabilities and found this spreadsheet tool. I just put in the number of dice and the desired score, and voila.
Ariel: You're so mean! "Voila" is bad, isn't it.
Elle: In this case, "voila" is about the bottom nine percent.
Ariel: omg, Hettie, we're so dumb.
Harriet: I'm ... well ... let's just take it as a role-playing challenge. Also, if our characters are that low of brow, let's make sure we make the worst possible decisions about how to help Elle's character out if she needs it.
Ariel: I guess I can try ... it's probably less of a challenge for me than you anyway.
Elle: Oh, hush. You don't have to be a walking dictionary to be smart.
Harriet: I'm mentally filing that slight away for the first time your character needs something from mine. Don't expect Spanky to provide a competent assist.
Elle: I'm an android. I don't expect that from any of you humans.
Sasha: I'm done reading my sheet. Very interesting!
Akane: So. These are such straits that Doctor Yamaguchi endures.
Claire: Party Pandy thinks it's par for the course. Nicely written too, MSG!
Ariel: Oh no. Now I'm dumb and behind!
Sasha: Then maybe close your yapper and read?
Ariel: Okay ...
Elle: Hmm. Hmm. All right then ...
Harriet: Given your description of this game, MSG, I'm seeing any number of ways this setup might go badly awry.
Ariel: Nooo, why'd you have to remind me? I was thinking my paper actually had some nice things on it!
GMSG: Is everybody done reading, then? Any questions? No? Well, in that case, everyone please write down the information I requested from you and pass it to me. No peeking at anyone else's notes!
Ariel: Am I already near Sash's character so I can just do whatever she does?
GMSG: Not at this point, no.
Ariel: Poop.
Sasha: Done. Here you go.
Harriet: I'm finished as well.
Claire: Me too.
Elle: Ariel, my little aprilcot, you might want to hurry or I'll be done too, and then you'll have the added stress of everyone waiting on you.
Ariel: I just ... I can't decide! I know what I would do, but Stickshift McDiggitt's in the bottom 10% of her class. Is she even going to remember the instructions? Hey, can I just roll and see if she remembers?
GMSG: Sure. That's going to be an Intellect roll. Do you have any skills that might apply to remembering things or being on schedule?
Ariel: Military Training! I bet they drilled that into us at boot camp for marines.
GMSG: That makes sense to me too, so you get a bonus of +10% for having a tier one skill that applies. Now just roll percentile dice and try to get under 33%.
Ariel: ... still not a very good chance ... are these ones my dice? Okay, rolling ... 68!
GMSG: Well, you definitely forgot something, but that's not a critical failure, so you might just be a little late or a little early. Roll again to see if you realize pretty quickly that you can look it up on the space equivalent of your smartphone.
Ariel: 51!
GMSG: Nope. Make a fear save now or you'll gain a point of stress. It's low stakes, so you have advantage on the roll. That means you get to roll twice and take the better roll.
Ariel: I roll 84 and 49.
GMSG: Add a point of stress, then. Eventually you'll figure out that you can look up the departure schedule on the spaceport's information interface. Or you just go as soon as you've got your stuff ready, and if you're way early, you're way early. You can pick how early or late you are.
Ariel: But ... the whole point of rolling is I didn't want to have to pick! Ugh! Okay, odd I'm early, even, I'm late. Odd. Now I'm rolling the number of hours. I guess I'll use this d4. And the answer is, 4 hours early.
GMSG: So you get to the spaceport a total of 6 hours before departure time, 4 hours earlier than passengers are recommended to arrive.
Ariel: I guess I'll get out my marble and play with it.
GMSG: Okay, so Stickshift McDiggitt is the first one to the spaceport and is playing with a vantablack marble while she waits for it to be time to go to the docking bay. Let's see what the rest of these notes say. Doctor Yamaguchi wants to make a good first impression, so she's 15 minutes early ... 4.25 hours before departure time. Pol d'Eurothein is going to be exactly punctual, so he shows up 4 hours beforehand. Akane, when you arrive at the docking bay, you can see The Inner Peace through the windows of the concourse. It's a beat-up, pretty old-looking freighter. Are you going to go down the access tunnel and try to board?
Akane: Mm ... any sign of people?
GMSG: Not that you can see. It looks like the ship's cargo bay doors are closed.
Akane: Yamaguchi will wait, then. At two minutes early, I will go and knock. Or does the door have a bell? Buzzer?
GMSG: You know there should be a comm panel at the end of the access corridor next to the airlock.
Akane: Good. I activate it at 4 hours, 2 minutes before departure time. What do I roll?
GMSG: You don't have to roll for something as simple as turning on a comm panel. If you were trying to repair it or bypass its systems, you'd roll. But not for mundane use.
Akane: Aha! Doctor Yamaguchi provides our first success in this game!
GMSG: Maybe not. You turn the panel on and activate the comm link, but you have to tell me what you say, and then I'll tell you what happens.
Akane: Hello! It is Yamaguchi Daika, here for the duty of medic for this ship!
Akane: What do they say to me?
GMSG: Nothing. You don't get a response.
Akane: Hmm. Maybe even 2 minutes early is too prompt. I will wait.
GMSG: At exactly 4 hours before departure time, you see an android walking down the access tunnel to you. Elle, as you walk punctually down the access tunnel, you see someone standing at the comm panel. Why don't you each describe yourselves?
Akane: Oh! I hadn't considered the visage of Yamaguchi! She is ... small, even for a Japanese person. This explains her weakling strength. Her garb is laboratorical, long white coat and so on. There's a patch of happy dog imagery on one shoulder with "Good Boy!" as the caption. The hair of her head is ... white! Cut severely at the level of the jaw. It's a bleach or artificial white, though, not agedness.
Elle: Pol d'Eurothein is a light blue color with aquamarine hair. His pupils are metallic grey. You see he's wearing a parka, zipped up regardless of the temperature here. On the parka is a "Security Guard" patch. His features are capable of expression, but at the moment he doesn't have one.
Akane: Yamaguchi will ask if this person is also for crewing The Inner Peace.
Elle: Yes.
Akane: Yamaguchi has a voice very high in pitch. It says, like this, "I am here early, but it's not giving any answer."
Elle: Did you try to activate the door and just go in?
Akane: "No. Perhaps it would be rude or an intrusion, when early."
Elle: Well, we're not early now.
Akane: "I will signal again." I operate the panel once more.
Elle: I tell her that's fine, but I also reach past her and hit the door button to see if it opens.
GMSG: It does not.
Akane: "You see? We must have patience." Does anyone answer yet?
GMSG: Not yet.
Elle: Here, step aside and I'll hack the door.
Akane: What? Our characters will get in such trouble!
Elle: Maybe. But that's what Pol says to you. While he's looking down at you with his cold, steel-colored eyes.
Akane: Yamaguchi makes way for this android of intimidation. But she isn't happy. "I think waiting is better ..."
Elle: Pol shrugs. Like, a stiff android shrug. He says, his orders are to be aboard the ship 4 hours before departure. If no one answers and the door is locked, perhaps it's meant as a test of our rigor in following instructions and our resourcefulness at solving problems. Warden, what do I need to roll to hack the door?
GMSG: Hacking is a tier two skill, so add 15% to your stat. You could use Speed if you're trying to get in as quickly as possible, or Intellect if you're being more methodical. There would be different consequences for failure depending on which you pick.
Elle: I got here on time and now we've wasted some time talking, so we're already late in Pol's view. I'll use Speed. It's coincidence that it's also my best stat. I roll a 20, way under the 61 I needed.
GMSG: Okay, you're doing very well and are almost done when the screen on the comm panel shows a pop-up with an image of a man in a captain's uniform. Do you keep going?
Elle: Yes.
GMSG: The pop-up is small, but you can see that the man looks exhausted and that his uniform is somewhat rumpled. He says, "Kellerman. You the new crew?"
Elle: Greetings, Captain Kellerman. I don't know whether we're all of the new crew or only two of a larger complement. But there are two of us.
GMSG: Okay, I'll buzz you in.
Elle: Unnecessary. I have almost finished bypassing the door's security lock.
GMSG: Just as you say that, you finish, and the door slides open. Kellerman looks like he's not quite getting it. "You what?"
Elle: As my employment file indicated, I'm knowledgable of many security protocols and coding structures. My orders were to be on board by a specific time, so to avoid being late, I hacked the door controls. It was quite easy, really. You might wish to invest in one of the spaceport's enhanced protocol levels if this alarms you.
GMSG: He just stares for a moment and then says, "Wait ... in the airlock. I'll meet you there."
Elle: I proceed into the airlock.
Akane: This android ... Yamaguchi is doubtful. But she will wait in the airlock also.
GMSG: When Kellerman arrives, he looks even worse close-up than he did on the video pop-up. Dark bags under his eyes, and his unkempt uniform clearly hasn't been washed recently.
Akane: Does his issue have indications for diagnosis?
GMSG: You can make either a First Aid or a Psychology roll.
Akane: Psychology is the best, right? +15% exceeds +10%. I use that. Roll is ... 18.
GMSG: It could just be exhaustion. But you notice a slight tremor in his hands that might be a sign of stim addiction when you put it together with the other clues.
Elle: Uh-oh. Do I notice that?
GMSG: I'm not sure if you have any pertinent skills, and as an android, you tend to think human bodies are subject to a bewildering array of malfunctions.
Elle: I do have Linguistics. Is he slurring any words, or maybe talking in some weird characteristic pattern?
GMSG: Would your character be looking for that?
Elle: Hmm. If I have to be honest, probably not.
GMSG: Go ahead and make an Intellect roll with disadvantage. That's rolling twice and taking the worse result.
Elle: Swell. Oh, look, 21 and 31, and I needed anything under 53.
GMSG: Something's definitely off with his speech, so you know he's got an issue. But you don't know if it's an illness or a substance problem or something congenital.
Elle: Probably congenital. So few humans are built to consistent specifications.
GMSG: Regardless, Kellerman shows you to the bunkroom so you can drop your stuff off, then gives you a tour of the ship. Pol, your workstation outside of hyperdrive is the computer. He tells you some functionality issues it has that drive him crazy and tells you to fix them, since you're such an amazing hacker. Doctor Yamaguchi's workstation is the medbay, just down the hall from the cryosleep chamber. Once you know where everything is, he leaves you to settle in and just says to be at your stations an hour before departure time.
Elle: I'll immediately start working to fix the software issues.
GMSG: They're minor and not in critical systems, but some of them are boondoggles of patched, old code, so it will take you quite a while, even though there's no particular risk in the task.
Akane: Yamaguchi conducts inventory at the medbay. What is there? What is not there? Is a should-be-there thing also a not-there thing? It's especially a narrow look at all drugs.
GMSG: You pretty easily determine that the pharmaceutical stores are supposed to have about two dozen stim packs more than are currently present.
Akane: What is the current presence of stim packs?
GMSG: I'll roll a d10. Only 5.
Akane: This Kellerman! What a drug-hog!
GMSG: All right. Those tasks will keep you both busy for a couple of hours at least, and around that time some of the other characters are getting to the spaceport.
Ariel: I'm already there, remember!
GMSG: Yes.
Sasha: Playing with your marble.
Ariel: It's a cool marble!
GMSG: Where do you think you're doing this, by the way? It's like an airport -- there's an area with shops and food, there's a lounge, and there are waiting areas on the concourse that the access tunnels branch off of.
Ariel: I'd probably wait in the waiting area nearest my ride. Until I got hungry. And I guess if I got there so early because I was worried about not remembering the right time, probably I didn't eat any breakfast. So I would probably go to the food area when my tummy started getting grumbly.
GMSG: Okay, make a Body save. If you fail, you get hungry after an hour or two. If you critically fail, you get hungry right away.
Ariel: Why are you only telling me what happens if I fail? It's like you're planning that I'm going to fail already!
Elle: Maybe he's just trying to motivate you to prove him wrong.
Ariel: Well ... there! I roll a 29, and my save is a 35. Pbbbttt!
GMSG: It takes you about 4 hours to get really hungry, then.
Ariel: Okay, um ... 6 hours minus 4 hours is math even I can do. That's 2 hours, which is right when they said we should get to the spaceport. (Not that Stickshift remembers that part.)
GMSG: Great. The notes I got from Sash and Hettie both said they'd show up at the recommended time. Do either of you two go to the dining area?
Harriet: I imagine Spanky's hungry, so sure.
Sasha: Narcy would probably go to the lounge and get a drink.
GMSG: Okay. I'm going to say there are 6 tables with open spots. Aers and Het, roll a d6 each to see if you happen to end up at the same table.
Ariel: 3!
Harriet: 2.
GMSG: Close! You're at adjacent tables but not the same one. Either of you think you'd do anything noteworthy that would attract the other's attention?
Ariel: Probably not. I'm just going to eat and then play with my marble some more.
Harriet: That Rimwise skill means I'm probably staying alert for signs of shady or suspicious stuff going on. Would I notice her playing with the marble?
GMSG: Make a Rimwise and Intellect roll.
Harriet: Only a 33% chance. Ouch. Here we go ... Aha! That's a 13.
GMSG: So while on the lookout for criminal shenanigans, you notice this woman playing with a really, really black marble at the next table.
Ariel: Like, for the whole hour until it's time to go.
GMSG: Go ahead and describe Stickshift McDiggitt, since I'm guessing Hettie's character watches her for a bit to size her up.
Ariel: Well ... "McDiggitt" would be a name from one of those English countries, right?
Harriet: British, more precisely. Scotland, most precisely.
Ariel: Yes! That makes it easy. Scottish people all have like, red hair and stuff, right?
Harriet: That's really quite an appalling stereotype, dear.
Ariel: Is red hair bad or something? I mean, I can't have a character this dumb and pick some background that everybody stereotypes as being dumb, can I? Wouldn't that be worse than assuming somebody has red hair?
Claire: Some of us are kinda in favor of red hair ...
Ariel: Yeah! See?
Harriet: I'm just saying that brown-haired and black-haired and blond-haired Scottish people probably get pretty unhappy when they hear people assuming all of Scotland has red hair.
Ariel: Fine! Stickshift McDiggitt is Scottish, but she's ... black! And she used to be super-smart, but these jerkwad racists beat her up really bad and left her with brain damage. She was a genius when she was in her archaeology class! After that, she was pretty pissed off and wanted to do something about bad guys, so she joined the marines! And her "For Science!" jacket patch is there because after she got beat up, the person who came along and helped her get to the hospital was a scientist and they put the jacket on her because she was in shock and then they just let her keep it because they knew she could use it more than they needed it. Well ... and also I guess because it had her blood all over it by then. So how's that? She's a tough-looking black chick whose face looks like it got beaten up really badly and she's wearing this "For Science!" jacket with old bloodstains on it while she eats a plate of chicken tenders and plays with this really black marble that maybe she keeps partly because it's black but it's clean and smooth and not cracked at all and she thinks it's like how she could have been in a universe that wasn't so freaking messed-up!
Elle: Holy shit, that's fucking dark, babe.
Ariel: Well, sorry! I just wanted everybody to know I wasn't being all racist saying Scottish people all have red hair.
Harriet: On the plus side, I think you just destroyed everyone else's backstory. That was amazing. And I'm really sorry I made that stereotype comment. I know you don't have it in your heart to think badly of any group of people.
Ariel: I mean ... except for bad guys. I do think badly of them, if they count as a group.
Harriet: Well, let's pretend they don't. As far as I'm concerned, they can all be considered anomalous outliers. Even if some of the evidence suggests otherwise.
GMSG: I won't comment on the volume of that evidence.
Harriet: Good, because I'd just as soon get back to our imaginary science-fiction universe of horrible stuff than think so much about real-world horrible stuff. Spanky Spannerman watches Stickshift play with the marble for a bit and then says, "Hey, tough gal. What's up with the cool marble?"
Sasha: Do you need a hankie, Aers? You're looking kind of sniffly there.
Ariel: No, I'm fine. Stickshift will tell Spanky all about the marble while they're waiting. Like, all the archaeological details of where it was found and what it's made of and why she likes it so much.
Harriet: Can I roll Intellect and Rimwise to generally suss out the fact that there's a backstory with considerable gravitas going on here?
GMSG: Sure. I'll even let you roll with advantage.
Harriet: Oh dear. A 42 and an 88.
GMSG: Whew, good thing that was advantage and not disadvantage. Rolling doubles above your goal number is a critical failure.
Harriet: Unfortunately, 42 is still a failure.
GMSG: Sure. But it's also the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," so maybe it's sort of a success in the grander scheme.
Harriet: At any rate, if Stickshift is in any way looking for a companion, I'm sure she and Spanky will be fast friends by the time we need to get to the ship for departure.
Ariel: Aw! Thank you, Hettie!
[closing note here: there was a lot more to this session, but this seems like a really good place to break for now! see you next time for part two ... xoxo, claire]
