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50 Fathoms: Session 22- A Visit to Baltimus- Part 1

May 7, 2016 / Jeff Messina

A Visit to Baltimus- Part 1

Characters:

Kaliferous: Kraken mage
Rodrigo: Human priest and water Mage from Earth
Bracus: Scurillian merchant and Super

Date: 5-7-16

XP: 2

Recap:

The Crew arrived in Baltimus only to learn that Byron Baltimus (one of the Jurors seen in the Vision) passed several months ago and is survived by his only heir Bruno. Unfortunately they found that Bruno was not accessible directly. During their search they found a few possible ways to speak with Bruno. One was to request audience via BEIC and Lazenby and another was to wait to possibly speak with him at the monthly Town Hall, or to attend Bruno’s monthly Gala. While searching they also discovered that Byron was a prolific author and found several excerpts from his personal diary regarding the flood, this indicates that there might me more written down elsewhere.

Another option presented itself by an old man named Mannie Morkan. They learned from Mannie that Bruno hosts a lavish party monthly for the wealthy of the city. However after the party there is a more “private” event in Bruno’s quarters which involved pretty women, powerful men, drugs and alcohol. Unfortunately Mannie’s granddaughter was invited to one of these parties, attended naively and was treated very poorly. Mannie found his granddaughter abused and dazed on his front step the following morning.

He wants revenge for his granddaughter and is willing to provide an invite to this party and the sword Veralis as payment for the promise Bruno’s death.

The Crew is left with a decision: How will they get close to Bruno? There are many paths but which one is right?

Kaliferous

High Admiral Caspian,

Our search for a resolution to the Sea Hags has brought us to Baltimos in the hope of speaking with Byron. Having been a judge at the hags’ trial we believed him to be a good source for the names of the hags. We have since discovered that he passed several months ago. Fortunately, this is only a minor set back.

Byron is survived by his son, Bruno. By all reports he is a brute of a man who cares little for the welfare of others. Regardless, it is reasonable that he will have some of Byron’s notes and journals which may contain the information we seek. Thus, we must meet with him. After failing to obtain an audience with him, another opportunity arose. A local, Mannie Morkan, approached us with a particularly upsetting story that grossly highlights the depths of Bruno’s depravity. In short, he violated a young woman in the most evil way.

Mr Morkan has also made us an offer. If we will avenge his daughter by killing Bruno, he will help us gain access to his home and give us Veralis. How he came to have this sword is unknown but Veralis would prove an invaluable tool in the fights to come. One I am prepared to do what is necessary to gain. Yet, not everyone on the crew agrees. There is a divide amongst the crew on whether or not killing such a monster would be morally acceptable. Now we find ourselves debating the issue.

While I consider upholding a moral code an honorable thing, this is not the time for such restraint. The fate of Caribdus hangs in the balance and to stumble over something like killing a vile criminal, which is insignificant in relation to the lose of our entire world, would be the height of foolishness.

Do not worry, High Admiral, for I will not allow this opportunity to pass us by. Even if I must act alone.
~Kaliferous, Archmage of the Kraken Fleet

Stan's Favorite Systems Compared

May 6, 2016 / Stan Shinn

I’ve played and read dozens (or maybe hundreds) of RPGs over the decades. For the last two years, I’ve settled on these as my current favorites. They each have distinctive features so I’d thought I’d compare each of them. Some of these observations are subjective, but they’re based on what I’ve seen in the games I’ve run.

[table id=2 /]

One Minute More

May 2, 2016 / Robert Miklos

This is the Last Chronicle of Thorvald, the Undertaker.

Ragnarok was close at hand. The party rushed from Dublin to the Baltic States on a quest to find the way to Musspielheim, to find the tree branch that would fuel the renewal of the mechanical sun. We wasted no time crossing the marshes and forests of Samogitia, until we summoned that old mistress, Baba Yaga, and her hut.

The strange apparition, part chicken, part hut, came to us. We were eventually invited in, and talked to the old lady. That is Mrs. Yaga to youse guys. *pause* . Anyway, soon enough Mrs. Yaga gave us a quest to prove our worth. We left down stream, until we came upon the wreckage of a forest area, and a recently roused troll with the village totem pole in his hand, wielded like a club. The party acquitted itself well, and soon the troll was again sent to meet its maker. We debated keeping the totem pole, but then settled upon returning it to the villagers, who were thankful and gave us a warm welcome.

Mrs. Yaga soon returned, marveling at our steadfastness. Without further debate, she delivered us just outside Dublin, where we rushed through the guardian tree, grabbed the tree branch that we needed, and ran as fast as we could. Having obtained the tree branch, we quickly delivered it to the mechanical sun, to reignite the sun. But the minions of Musspielheim would not let such an action occur without a fight, and fight they did. The evil scourge poured through our defenses, slaying most of the party (but not all). We defended just long enough, and killed enough of them however, to allow the sun to ignite. Defeated, the evil spawn, what was left, withdrew to their ship. What remained was a mass of bodies, both there’s and ours. I had been knocked unconscious, and burrowed out of a mass of bodies only to see most of my comrades dead. A costly victory.

Regaining my senses, I drew up my wounded body, and again called to Baba Yaga to return to me. Only moments passed, and the strange hut with giant chicken legs returned. The door opened, and Mrs. Yaga herself asked what I could want. I told her that she already knew, and she laughed an old, raspy laugh. A pulse of the new sun struck the battlefield, and there, where my Ingrid’s coffin had been, there she stood, alive, and in her wedding vestments.

The ceremony took just a minute. “In hardship and in plenty, until the final battle horn sounds…” Ingrid, my bride, smirked at that, and said “they got that right.” Then we kissed. At that moment, the three witches bellowed a mournful scream, a scream of defeat and hatred for all people. Baba Yaga flicked her withered left hand up, and dispelled the storm cloud that held the three witches. The crowd, that had gathered, relieved, began to cheer. Baba Yaga smiled, and Ingrid and I felt the warmth of the sun.

Here ends the last chronicle of Thorvald the Undertaker. A note. It is said that the crowd who witnessed the marriage of Thorvald and Ingrid saw a last burst of the New Sun, and Thorvald and Ingrid (and Mrs. Yaga and her strange hut) were gone. But the crowd remained for quite a while, and soon, the story went out all the way back to Gotland that the witches had been defeated, that they could not prevent Thorvald and Ingrid from marrying. And more importantly, the crowd, and all who heard the story from that time forward knew that the witches had failed, and that hope had prevailed. Because what importance is there of the sun shining high in the sky if there is no hope.

Questions of Fate

April 30, 2016 / Stan Shinn

Having run two Fate Core games in the last month where I’ve really tried to use all the rules properly, I noticed a few rules questions have come up in-game. I’m memorializing those here to make sure I research these and also alerting the group so others besides myself can read up on how these should work. 🙂

Rules Questions

What are the results of a success-with-style roll on a skill check vs. passive opposition (e.g. a skill roll that isn’t combat)?
What are the results of a success-with-style roll on an opposed roll that isn’t combat?
How do you handle allied NPCs? Can you use Mob rules or is that only for enemy NPCs?
I was sketchy on what skills you can use for Defend and how/when you can use something besides Athletics to defend.
I believe someone said Free Invokes could only give you a +2, not a re-roll. Is that correct?
A Star Trek rules specific questions — how should skills work when Extra’s are piloting an enemy ship?

Math/Logistics Question

I noticed that players sometimes get confused when tallying up their skill modifier, adding any stunt bonuses, adding the dice results, and comparing against the GM’s opposing number. If that were the end of it, it would be OK, but as we turn in the Fate Point tokens, and folks spend additional Fate Points to do re-rolls, we sometimes forget how we got to those original numbers. I’m wondering if there are some best-practices like putting all your Fate Point tokens on a special mat so you can track how many Aspects you’re invoking or some other way to help players and GM alike keep track of the math as you progress through your evolving numbers to get to your final results.

Updates:

Conversations ongoing about this on Google+.
Alternative way to track Aspects.

Star Trek TOS: The God of War

April 24, 2016 / Stan Shinn

Last night’s Star Trek game was one of the most enjoyable games I’ve run in a long time! Partly it was my own love of the Star Trek setting, partly it was the enthusiasm of the players (notably Robert with his props and wardrobe), and partly it was the cinematic nature of the Fate RPG which I think was a great fit for this setting.

The Characters

Lt. Cmdr. T’shani

We had the following characters:

Capt. Lorn Harper (Human, Commanding Officer) — played by Robert
Cmdr. Arlin Cross (Human, 1st Officer) — played by Mason
Lt. Cmdr. Mac’Vor (Half-Vulcan, Chief Engineer) — played by Todd
Lt. Kelly Bishop (Human, Comm Officer) — played by Martin

We also had one notable NPC — Lt. Cmdr. T’shani (Vulcan, Chief Medical Officer) — who for some reason received a lot of attention in the game. 🙂

The Story

The story opened on Stardate 41661.7, where the U.S.S. Ares was exploring an uncharted system on the fringe of Federation space.

U.S.S. Ares

Energy signatures indicated a recent battle. The crew of the Ares investigated and learned that a Human-looking peaceful race called the Coborati were attacked by a warlike neighboring species called the Bellani. The Bellani were 3 meters tall with soft features and elongated necks and limbs, led by a mysterious figure called “The Oracle” who was said to be their “God of War”.

After a starship battle with the Bellani, chief medical officer Lt. Cmdr. T’shani, along with a few other crew, are captured by one the Bellani ships which then jumps to warp.

The U.S.S. Ares then travels to the nearby planet Cobor. The Federation crew hatched a plan to use a captured Bellani scout ship to infiltrate the Bellani homeworld, rescue T’shani and her companions, and unravel the mystery of the God of War.

Eventually, assisted by Bellani resistance fighters, the crew managed to insert themselves into the Bellani prison where T’shani and companions were held. The companions were then summoned to appear before The God of War. Obtaining their phasers smuggled in by the Bellani resistance fighters, Capt. Harper led a fight against The God of War. After sufficient taunting by the Federation crew, The God of War in his anger began to lose his shape. He was a Changeling, not a Bellani, who had duped the Bellani people for many years! As the fight ended, the Bellani government officials realized they had been deceived and renounced their erstwhile ‘god’ and entered negotiations to enter the Federation and forsake their warmongering ways.

Rules Observations

I’ll make a separate post on rules that we need to look up or master. The Starship rules worked well I think, with the Fate Fractal making it easy to run the combat using ships treated as characters. The ‘Shields’ house-rule letting you know ‘shields are at 94%!’ was a nice bit of flavor which mapped to the Stress boxes as you tracked damage.

Roleplaying

There was some great roleplaying! Things I remember:

Mason played a character with a ‘Lady’s Man’ aspect. His distraction when seeing the attractive Alani (a Coborati officer) led to him botching a control panel repair job, which resulted in the reactivation of a previously suppressed transponder inside a rescued Bellani escape pod reactivating. Shortly thereafter, 7 Bellani warships emerged from Warp and confronted the heroes. Later, Mason’s character acted on an aspect and wandered off to explore the back-alleys of Cobor, only to be confronted by Alani’s jealous husband. I love how Fate mechanics tie into getting yourself into trouble 🙂
Robert was in great form doing a Shatner-style captain. I loved it! His props were second to none as well.
Todd worked his ever-impressive Scottish accent for his engineering role.
I was impressed with how quickly Martin picked up on the Fate rules. He slid into great, genre-specific roleplaying. Loved how his attempts at Empathy and negotiation served as the foil for the trigger-happy, Kirk-style Capt. Harper!