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Redmark Session 27: Hagagigak and Her T-Rex

April 6-7, TA 1331

Akamu, a jungle walker, joins our intrepid heroes as they begin their journey to find the Rock’s nest and the infamous White Buffalo. Looking out at the mountain, Ghost Dance and Quintos decide to fly up the mountain using Ghost’s spell, in hopes that they can retrieve several items that the party are hopeful are present. Marcus and Akamu prepare to mimic animal sounds to distract the Rock in case Quitos and Ghost Dancer are vulnerable. Upon landing on the top of the mountain near the Rock’s nest, Quintos and Ghost both use their magics to go invisible. Quintos notes a bottle of whiskey and a few notable features of a man that he has heard tale of whose body is in this gigantic bird’s nest, but can recall nothing specific. Nerio, Quintos’ reliable familiar, notifies the duo of danger and our heroes sprint and jump off of the top of the mountain (nearly 1.5 miles high).

The Rock, having noticed an odor that was off in its nest, begins to search the area. After making noises to distract the great bird, Akamu and Marcus are discovered and attempt to flee the clearing and make for the tree line. Akamu stumbles and is scrambling for safety when Marcus, in a moment of clarity and brilliance, casts Banishment on the great best – sending it away for 60 seconds. Ivamel, deciding to be useful, spots a cave on the mountainside and the trio on the ground scramble toward the hole in order to reach safety before the Rock returns. Inside the cave Marcus gets a premonition from Marsssh that there is certain evil nearby in the cave.

Quintos and Ghost Dancer make their way down the mountain and just reach the inner sanctum of the cave before the Rock reappears and begins frantically tearing up trees and brush to find those that have disrupted its nest. The party of 6 decide to head toward the mountain shown in the map that Quintos recovered from the nest. After some tracking and climbing through muck, mire, and dried out plains the party happens upon a village protected by a fence that backs itself into a large cave.

Slowly, Akamu and Marcus decide to approach the village. From the tree line, the party can see a few people moving inside the walls and all take precautions, preparing for possible battle. As the pair nears the village a witch of some kind yells out and speaks some commands in a seemingly primordial language. A rumbling starts, but the party has other things to worry about as two other sorcerous villains begin to cast spells their way. Ivamel fires arrow after arrow and Quintos blasts with eldtritch power, both picking off enemies from a distance. Akuma and Marcus freeze in their tracks as a giant lizard appears and storms toward the party. Ghost Dancer casts spell after spell at the creature and those protected behind the walls of the village. After dispatching with the shamen, the party turns its focus on the giant short-armed lizard creature. Quintos places a Hex on the creature, Marcus bestows a curse from Mars, and Ivamel strikes so furiously that the giant creature becomes frightened. After only a few seconds, the beast is destroyed. Adrenaline still flowing the party turns its fury onto the witch who had tucked herself into the cave beyond the village. A few strikes from swords, arrows, and magics subdue the woman and she is defeated.

The party find that her name is Hagagigak and she owned quite a collection of shrunken heads…

Dicehaven Podcast Naming Convention Proposal

Here is my proposal on podcast naming conventions.

Seasons and Episodes have 2 digit numbers and we abbreviate them for the podcast feed but spell out ‘Season 01 Episode 06’ in blog posts and other contexts.

Each season has ‘Specials’ which are bonus games we play opportunistically at ShinnCons and what-not. These are not tied to the main campaign, but are in the same universe during the approximate same time as the main campaign. We use secondary characters or pregens. We can release as part of the normal season release schedule, or hide behind a Patreon paywall.

The convention is therefore:

<Season #>-<Episode # OR ‘Special’> <Game System><Optional Campaign Name> – <Adventure Name><Adventure Part #>

Over time the podcast feed would look something like this:

S01-E01 STA Vanguard – Signals Part 1
S01-E02 STA Vanguard – Signals Part 2
S01-E03 STA Vanguard – Signals Part 3
S01-E04 STA Vanguard – Signals Part 4
S01-E05 STA Vanguard – The Edge of Eternity Part 1
S01-E06 STA Vanguard – The Edge of Eternity Part 2
S01-E07 STA Vanguard – The Edge of Eternity Part 3
S01-E08 STA Vanguard – The Edge of Eternity Part 4
S01-E09 STA Vanguard – The Edge of Eternity Part 5
S01-E10 STA Vanguard – The Edge of Eternity Part 6
S01 (Special) STA Vanguard – The Orion Syndicate Part 1
S01 (Special) STA Vanguard – The Orion Syndicate Part 2
S01 (Special) STA Vanguard – The Orion Syndicate Part 3
S01-E11 STA Vanguard – A Plague of Arias Part 1
S01-E12 STA Vanguard – A Plague of Arias Part 2
S01-E13 STA Vanguard – A Plague of Arias Part 3
S01-E14 STA Vanguard – A Plague of Arias Part 4

S08-E01 John Carter of Mars – Swords of Mars Part 1
S08-E02 John Carter of Mars – Swords of Mars Part 2

S11-E01 AiME Mirkwood – The Darkening of Mirkwood Part 1
S11-E02 AiME Mirkwood – The Darkening of Mirkwood Part 2

We can discuss in person but thought I’d memorialize this as a blog post.

Vanguard Session 01: Signals (Take 2)

Red Dwarf by Justv23

Red Dwarf by Justv23

Captain’s Log: Stardate 1253.01

“We’ve received a message from the civilian exploration starship Ventura that their long-range shuttlecraft called the Susquehanna has gone missing in the Carina Nebula, deep within the Taurus Reach. The Susquehanna was investigating an unusual alien signal that originated from the nebula on the newly discovered Class M planet Seku VI when all contact was lost. We have been ordered to enter the nebula, find the shuttle, and determine the origin and cause of the alien signal. Starfleet has also advised that Romulan and Tholian ships have been sighted in the region, so we should exercise caution since they may well have detected the alien signal as well.”

Characters

  • Lieutenant Bennett (the Human Chief Medical Officer, played by Bailey)
  • Lieutenant Commander Abossas Zharath  (the Andorian Chief Of Security, played by Mason)
  • Commander Cort Ranier  (the Human 1st Officer, played by John)
  • Lieutenant Commander Brev Chasch (the Tellerate Chief Engineer, played by Jeff L.)
  • Ensign Sevek (the Vulcan Science Officer, played by Jeff M.) (Not Appearing in this session) 
  • Captain Gregory Konstans (NPC)
  • Lt. Commader Chen (NPC, Transporter Room Engineer)

Episode Summary

Captain Konstans summons an away team aboard the U.S.S. Darius, a single-nacelle, Saladin class starship patrolling the Taurus Reach. He dispatches a team of 3 to beam down to a Class M planet recently discovered nested in the Carina Nebula. The Darius had traced the ion trail of the lost shuttle Susquehanna to this location. Heavy electrical interference in the atmosphere is making reads on the planet difficult, but a clearing in the perpetual storms allows to take the shuttle Defiant and hazards the storms down to the site of interest. The team first investigates the communicator signals and found the two hapless scientists (Scientist Eloy Pedigrew, and Scientist Henry Watson) dead from a transporter malfunction, partially beamed into the ground.

A tricorder scan of the area indicates three notable areas of interest.

  1. Two kilometers to the North are trace signs of the lost shuttlecraft.
  2. Three kilometers to the Southeast, a trail of smoke (barely visible in the red, dim horizon) snakes up into the sky.
  3. Six kilometers to the Southwest the tricorder picks up a chirping signal consistent with the signature of the alien signal the Ventura was seeking when it dispatched the shuttle the Susquehanna to investigate.

Investigating the crashed shuttle Susquehanna, the away team is  immediately attacked by 2 Romulans. Due to their superior training and tactics, the Starfleet officers manage to stun the Romulans. The Romulans are beamed about the Darius, and the away team then takes to skies to investigate the next site of interest.

The episode ends with the away team’s shuttle being struck by a massive energy surge and the shuttle plummeting down planetside just like the crashed Susquehanna had done previously!

Momentum, Threat, & Advancement

  • 0 Momentum at end of session
  • 1 Threat at end of session

 

 

Star Trek Podcasting Best Practices & Improvements (Updated)

Here are some notes from our 1/4/2017 recording sessions on ways to improve our podcasting of Star Trek Adventures game sessions.

Tools Needed

  • Rank Chart
  • “Stay In Character” Sign
  • Cheat Sheet — People/Places/Things Cheat Sheet
  • Player stand — Stand for character sheet (not sure this is practical given the current room on table)
  • GM Tools — I’ve got a host of GM tools (name tables, techno-babble tables, sector map, etc.) I’ll be creating

Behavior Changes

  • Talking over people — I think we still talk over each other and it will be distracting
  • Rabbit trails — Need to avoid tangential discussions not related to the story
  • Eating at the table — We should restrict eating to the breaks
  • Table Noises — Avoid dropping phone on table, crinkling water bottles, excessive shuffling of papers, etc.

Hand Signals

Add the following hand signals.

Podcasting Hand-Signals

Podcasting Hand-Signals

  • Timeout — Pause recording
  • Move Along — Used to shut down Rabbit trails digressions, excessive time in a scene, etc.
  • Come to an End — About to close the segment so don’t start new actions

Standard Terms

  • Session — An evening of play. Target is 3 segments per session. Games start at 6:30pm (activities at 6:30pm include leveling up, podcast logistics discussion, and other off-air activities). Recording starts around 6:45-7pm. Segments record from 7-8pm, 8-9pm, and 9-10pm. Session ends around 10pm.
  • Adventure — An adventure arc of approximately 3-6 segments, run over 1 to 2 game sessions.
  • Segment — aka an Episode. 45-55 minutes of roleplaying which close on a satisfying ending. Each segment will eventually be packaged as a Podcast Episode. Followed by a 5-10 minute break.
  • Episode — Individual segments packaged up as an Podcast episode. Follows the Season # + Episode # format naming convention, e.g. ‘Vanguard S1E01’ or ‘Vanguard: Season 1, Episode 01’.

Notes from 1/17/2018 Discussion

  • We will publish an org chart of characters and setting information.
  • We will post a summary of podcast rules in the room where we podcast.
  • Season One — have both a Primary and a Secondary character.
  • Season Two — One of your two characters is likely to die, and the other one you carry forward. You’ll create a new character of the type (Primary or Secondary) you don’t have. You’ll have again have a Primary and a Secondary character at that point. Any time a character dies, you replace them with a new character of that type.
  • Stan starts off as the NPC captain. Pretty quickly, Mason becomes the new captain for Season 1. We plan on John S. becoming captain at the beginning of Season 2. Idea is that seasons run around 6+ months and end with a big milestone event, after which time the current captain gets promoted, killed, or otherwise is off-stage. Character who was the captain before comes in with a new character at much lower level (maybe an Ensign).
  • Whoever is playing the captain does the podcast intro. and reads the captain’s log ‘boxed text’ that kicks off an adventure. So the poll results are moot at this point.

Star Trek Rules Q&A Part 1

Rules Questions

Here are some answers to last sessions Star Trek Adventures rules questions.

  1. Question: Does momentum go away at the end of a scene?
    Answer: “At the end of each scene, one point of Momentum in the pool is lost” (p. 84).
  2. Question: How many questions does Momentum grant you?
    Answer: A successful roll achieves some result. For each point of Momentum a player spends, then can receive 1 additional answers.
  3. Question: How does “retain the initiative” work?
    Answer: “After a character has completed their Turn — attempted a single Task and any Minor Actions they wish to perform — the Player hands the action to the opposing side (typically, but not always, Gamemaster-controlled NPCs), who will choose a single character to act next. Alternatively, the Player may spend 2 Momentum (Immediate) to keep the initiative, handing the action to another Player Character instead. Once a Player has opted to keep the initiative, nobody on that side may keep the initiative again until the opposition have taken at least one Turn of their own. In any case, no character may take more than one Turn in a Round.Once all characters on one side have taken a Turn, then any remaining characters on the other side take their Turns in any order they choose, one at a time, until all characters on both sides have taken one Turn. Once all characters on both sides have taken a Turn, then the action goes to a character on whichever side did not take the last Turn, and the whole process begins again for the next Round.” p. 163
  4. Question: How does Advantage and Complications work and what mechanically it means to create a problem (Quickstart rules are unclear on this).
    Answer: See pp. 76-77. Traits (with Complications and Advantages) are similar to Aspects in Fate RPG. Complication increases Difficulty of related tasks by 1.
  5. What type of ‘Ice pick’ does the Andorian have?
    Answered: It’s a climbers ice pick.

Phases Roll-out of Rules

Star Trek Adventures core rules book is over 300 pages, so its amazing, but a lot to digest. Here’s my approach for learning and rolling out the rules.

Phase I (Now through most of Season 1)

Using 32 pages of rules from the main book (pp. 73-88 Core Rules, and pp. 163-180 Conflicts), which covers roughly the same rules introduced in the Quickstart.

Phase II (End of Season 1, or Season 2)

Add 26 additional pages of rules (pp. 89-91 Advanced Rules (Challenges & Extended Tasks), and pp. 210-233 Starship Rules).

Phase III (At Kickoff of Season 2)

Character creation and the rest of the rules.

 

 

 

 

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