out into the black

[Pruneau]

Over the weekend I didn't get a lot of stuff done coz I just watched the entire firefly series and to top it off the Serenity movie.  Absolutely brilliant stuff, talk about a revelation, I've enjoyed it tremenduously.  Not to mention the four hot ladies that star the show, excellent stuff!  I'm a believer now 

I can see how that would be great fun to create some games in, be it in a rpg fashion or just some frantic reaver skirmishing!

Thanks for the tip guys!

[Pruneau]

Cheers Nik.
I need a large, rotund colonel Saunders for the captain, ...(he ended up being an arab gentleman on Monday night

Better call him Kaliph Saun-Dir then 
Seriously, I'm liking the idea of setting up a bit of game in this universe more by the minute.  Are there any specific sourcebooks available?  Spaceships, planets, Alliance info, independent civilisations, etc?  What do you use for reavers?  Maybe we need to start a new thread here 

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Great isn't it, all this talk about it has led to me really wanting to see it again, so...
I watched the first 7 episodes whilst doing teh ironing yesterday! Yes that was a GORAM pile of ironing, but at the end I felt like I worked in Janes's Town!

[Maenoferren]

Glad you are enjoying it guys...got more to write up from last weeks game.
Reavers - they are a myth, the boogeyman to scare kids 
in terms of reference materials:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_i_1?rh=k%3Afirefly%2Ci%3Astripbooks&keywords=firefly&ie=UTF8&qid=1300750578
some ideas here
various maps online I got some good free ones, but can't remember where from...blew them up to A3 for the players.
Ships - I use the following:
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=19929&it=1 this is the players ship (the Jo-Lyn) I bought about 5 different sets for different craft.

Basically I make up the storyline as I go along... I have the RPG book and a set of adventures which I probably wont use, as knowing what my players are like they will do something so wierd that it will change totally They will meet the crew of Serenity somewhere and somehow   I keep watching the series especially when I head to the mainland.

The storyliine is sort of set for the next few sessions. I know what I want them to do, whether they will do it is anyones guess. But if all else fails a distress beacon will be heard, or armed gunmen will appear if things are getting a bit slow Oh and they are about to lose just about all of their hard earned money, can have them rich enough to avoid having to take the jobs I want them too

[Squirrel]

Ships - I use the following:
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=19929&it=1 this is the players ship (the Jo-Lyn) I bought about 5 different sets for different craft.

I can recommend these too, great value - especially if you can print them at work

Cheers,

Kev

[Pruneau]

I found some goodies yesterday night, including film scripts for serenity, the original and the XL version where Wash lives, the script for a new movie, the map of the verse, the verse in numbers, a maniacal attempt at putting the firefly universe in numbers - very impressive and some firefly comic books in avi format, desktops...

I can't seem to relocate the link though, I'll have to check this evening on my home PC'S history.  I think it's all bona fide, site says it came of the cantstopthesignal.com site, which now loads universal pictures, so it seems official enough.

Also found a site with ships and stuff.  What rules does everyone use to play this?  Flying Lead?  I know there is another ruleset that works well for this mix of sci-fi and hack and slay, but I forgot the name, it's kind of a western book cover...

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

GZG do a 'glowworm' space ship, I have one painted for our Starship game we wrote (Wargames Unlimited) a few years back. I'll have to see if I can dig out the photo..
Yep, there she is...


Ohh that's a really bad photo, the paintjob looks alright in real life!

[Pruneau]

Yup, that looks close enough    What scale is that?

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

It's listed under cargo, think they're 1:2400, or not in this case! Think the boys were just having fun...

[Maenoferren]

I eventually managed to write up the last game 
Heading back into town the crew radioed ahead and got the sheriff and mayor to organise a burial detail, which were standing by when the Jo Lyn landed. The evidence that they had collected was taken into town and showed to them.
The crew and passengers returned to the Hunt Ranch and set about burying the rather large number of dead. One body, was, however missing. Michael Hunt's body was gone. A search of the surrounding area showed that some form of vehicle had been present and had headed up into the hills. The crew left the burial detail and followed the tracks. They eventually came to a scorched area where some form of craft had taken off. This trail had evidently gone cold.

When they returned to the cabin they returned inside and noticed a letter on the mantle, a quick read showed that Mr Hunt's brother Robert would be arriving in the future. A quick chat with the Mayor told them that he thought he remembered Michael Hunt sending a telegram to a relation in the South, but couldn't rightly remember if it was a brother. 15 bodies and 6 huge dogs was taking a lot of burying, so the mayor asked the crew if they would return to Dry Gulch and bring back a mechanised digger.

The captain and Toad headed back across the lake and located the vehicle in question, as they were loading it aboard the ship a clerk from the rail road arrived to say that a Mr Hunt was asking the direction of his brother's ranch. The captain kindly offered to fly him across but also felt the need to give him the bad news and all the gory details. Evidently Michael Hunt and Robert hunt were twins, because this man looked the spitting image of his now deceased and missing brother.

On the flight across the captain ordered Toad to 'keep Mr Hunt company'. This didn’t please Toad as he had already stripped the brakes off the caterpillar digger and by time they landed he somehow forgot to put them back together again. 10 minutes later they arrived back at the Ranch and the New Mr Hunt was able to see the devastation caused  by the attack and to view the dead bodies and massive dogs, he seemed to find viewing the corpses distasteful.
The shepherd had a nice chat to him, offering her condolences etc. although the crew believed that this Mr Hunt was in fact the Mr Hunt from before they couldn’t find any chink in his story, demeanour or trip him up in any way shape or form â€" (if only the had wondered how the letter seemed to appear  after they had left the ranch as they had searched it thoroughly for clues  the night before )
Anyway they all headed back to town to return the townsfolk back to their abodes. They  had already decided to do a wide sweep of radio signals and as they lifted off they heard a strange, demonic voice ordering them to do it!.. they headed back to the ranch and unloaded the diggers and using triangulation located the source of the signal. It was coming from a long valley up in the mountains.
As they landed in the valley on the other side of the ridge from the large fire spotted a few nights before they got their night vision gear out and loaded up the mule. Toad carried the portable device to track the radio signal and sure enough it seemed to be emanating from a cave. Toad took the portable device, a weapon and night vision goggles and investigated. He found evidence of habitation a very crude bed, evidence of animals being eaten and a well hidden speaker from which the message was coming. Evidently whoever slept in that bed, was getting a subliminal (or maybe not so subliminal) message, on inspection of the equipment Toad realised that it was automatic, and on a timer. Some poor soul was being brain washed, but who and why? He investigated further into the cave and found a narrow passage heading straight into the mountain. A brief radio exchange and the crew figured that if they followed it they would find a way under the mountain to the valley opposite, where the fire was. As toad made his way back the other pressed further up the valley and there in front of them was a mountain of brushwood and other inflammable things. At the edge of the night vision range a figure appeared, hunched over, almost on all fours like an animal. The captain ordered Alice to shoot him in the leg and make sure he couldn't escape, seconds later the captain switched on the main beam headlights on the mule and Alice took the shot. With a tortured scream the figure dropped and the mule leapt forwards.

Whoever it was was in one hell of a mess, his face was just a mass of scar tissue, as if someone had tried to rip his own face off. The figured that the pathetic wretch was no other than the James boy, the one who had gone missing the day before the murders started. This was no Reaver, this was some poor dumb kid who had been brainwashed into thinking he was a Reaver. The fire was deliberate, ( a quick scan of the other messages found various ones, such as everything must burn, etc) this poor kid was a scapegoat, the fire was meant to attract attention and he, the 'Reaver' was going to be found and prosecuted â€" aka hung. They were dealing with a very sick mind, but as Toad had been with them at all times, they figured it must have been another sick mind!

The bundled the poor lad onto the mule, heavily sedated and clutching tightly to the shepherd and headed back to the ship and town. A quick explanation to the sheriff and mayor about all of their findings  and then to bed.
The next morning they decided that they had achieved everything that they could in this locale, and had to consider finding the missing wife who had fled to Athens. The captain (pockets laden with credits from the Hunt ranch) asked the Mayor about a reward for saving the place. They were given a reward in cattle The mayor did ask that they settle up with the widow Jones before they left. Strangely Alice volunteered for the task, he had decided he might get payment in kind.
Asking shyly that as the widow hadn't had a man to help her with all those things that a good woman needed a man for, he was amazed to find himself being taken up to her boudoir, only to find that the widow needed a man all right and that was to fix that damned shutter, oh and while he was offering manly things he might as well cut lumber for the wood shed, as well as draw water and repair the drains poor Alice left the credits for the board and lodgings and staggered back to the ship. With half a dozen prime head of beef the crew blasted off and headed towards the for want of a better word â€" star port to try and track down the missing woman.

[nikharwood]

Excellent stuff M - top-notch 

Only thing that would make this better would be seeing it gamed out in 10mm 

[Maenoferren]

I have resized the plans for the Jo Lyn down to 10mm and keep on meaning to get some figures painted - as yet no paint has been waved about, never mind put on any fgures. I did get them out the other day and and then thouht bollox can't be ars*d and put them away again
I will attempt to paint some fgures and then get some photos taken of a game in progress, however most of it is in the minds of the players and only combat causes figures to be broken out

[Maenoferren]

After a brief Hiatus we return to Whitefall again.

The crew were heading towards Halldene Canyon star port with their 7 contented cows and a strongbox containing a lot of dosh.
About 40 minutes out from their destination Toad got an inkling that the engine wasn’t quite right, whether it was a sound or a vibration nobody knows but after an amazing roll he realised that the compression boot was bent and if they didn’t land within an hour the ship would land for them more than likely in a flaming fireball. The captain ordered that Toad do what he could to keep them flying. Toad went back to the engine, and again with an impressive roll on his repair dice, he managed to extend the flight time to 4 hours.

Everyone got ready for a crash landing just in case.

Upon landing in Halldene Canyon they were met by an officious looking customs officer who asked where they had come from as they hadn’t appeared on any of the long range or short range scanners (they had in fact landed illegally to sell the original herd of cattle) When asked what the cargo was the captain replied cattle...
Then the questioning began
“Where did you get them?” a quick look at the map
“Errrrr Ita?”
How long have you had them?
“Emmmmm a long time” a quick think “in fact they are almost part of the crew!”
“You will of course have a bill of sale as well as custom dockets?”
“I believe we have suh, somewhere on the ship, as I said we have had them a long time!”

The customs officer then went aside a little and spoke into a communicator, before inviting the crew to a meeting with the commander of the base. The concrete and steel structure was akin to a heliport. All other buildings surrounding it, and outside the perimeter fence were made of wood or adobe.

The commander asked the questions again and this time Toad (who has the big mouth hindrance got to answer before the captain)

“Why didn’t we pick your vessel up on our long range or short range scanners?”
“That’s easy mate, because we sneaked in, avoiding them!”
“Oh really and why would that be?”
The captain tried valiantly to get a word in before Toad in his Australian accent burst out,
“We were smuggling cows to that town over in Greendale, then we went up to Dry Gulch and killed a pile of people, oh yeah and a pile of dogs, oh not to mention those bank robbers too”
The captain apologised for the outburst of his chief engineer, stating that...”as a decorated soldier he had received a head wound, and unfortunately he has these strange outbursts poor man, actually believes what he is saying!”

The commander flicks a switch and there on the cortex is the picture of the crew in the process of thwarting the aforementioned bank robbery.

“SO captain would you like to reassess the story you have just told me, or would you like to continue with the pretence?”

Having been rumbled the crew were left to stew a bit, after first of all Toad asking if they had a compression boot to replace theirs. A few moments later the commander informed them that they did and that it would cost 4000 credits to get it.

After a few hours the crew were again interrupted by the commander who asked if they would be willing to pay a fine, before the governor arrived. The captain, a few twinkles short of a rainbow, snapped that the man should call it the bribe rather than a fine. Without blinking, the commander then repeated would they be willing to pay a bribe, before the governor got there, he then added that the Governor could potentially impound their vessel for illegal entry, smuggling, travelling without necessary paperwork, lying to an official and other illegal activities that they would find with enough time. The crew however, decided to risk the governor the following day.


Around an hour later a gentleman wandered into the room and asked for the captain of the Jo Lyn as he had a proposition to make to him.

It transpired that he was the captain of the Anaconda the Firefly class that they saw on landing. Unfortunately the ship wasn’t able to fly due to a plasma coil breech. He wanted to know whether our captain would be willing to take his cargo of passengers to Athens, if he would Captain Luther would pay for the fuel and a little something on top. The captain pointed out that the Jo Lyn although spacious, had only one cabin spare and the Anaconda had seven that needed accommodation for the two day flight.

Luther had solved the problem with his company’s ingenious hab pod set up. Basically within a few hours a self contained habitation block could be installed in the Jo Lyn’s forward hold. This block could hold up to 6 people, with running water, toilets and entertainment. It did not have space for catering, so the passengers would eat with the crew, or at least use the Jo Lyn’s mess for their meals at a  different time to the crew.

The captain agreed that as they (if they managed to get away with their ship) were going to Athens anyway would surely be delighted to help a fellow businessman. â€" The trick would be getting out of the star port, preferably alive.
The captain asked Luther how he accessed the room; the simple answer was to pay the man outside the door to let him in J
The shepherd asked to speak to the commander using barely veiled threats about what would happen when the governor arrived, somehow the shepherd seems to be changing, it is almost as if she has been reprogrammed and the outer facade is starting to slip... I mean she knows brothels and has contacts with a crime lord; it does make one wonder, but anyway...

The commander seemed unduly worried as he was a nephew of the governor and believed that blood was indeed thicker than water. Evidently they weren’t going to leave through intimidation. Perhaps money would talk where threats wouldn’t...
A mere 1000 credits would allow them to leave; the captain offered a tenth of this price, merely 100 credits.

As it happened, Patience (the governor) arrived the following morning, after the shepherd gave their word that the crew would not try to escape even when allowed to return to the ship.
The cows had been sold for a quarter of their value, but at least they were out of number two hold. The captain and Alice were off talking to the passengers, worried that they may cause problems, Toad was attempting to help the crew of the Anaconda get her working again, this left the shepherd to deal with patience, which she did admirably. It was agreed that they would pay the fine of 100 credits as well as take a personal cargo to Athens for the governor.

All that remained was for the passengers to assemble on board and then once refuelled they could take off, admitedly with the mysterious cylinder complete with a cryogenic computer attached.

The captain and Alice were a suspicious lot and had already a brief description from Luther on who the passengers were.

A soap star
An underwear model
An agricultural parts salesman
A married couple moving to angel to set up a hardware store with their son
A Chinese Traveller, seeing the verse
A businessman of nondescript origin.

Therefore they decided that the Chinese passenger was obviously part of a Tong gang and they would be looking for missing fingers and tattoos up both arms.

As for the agricultural parts salesman, he would be selling guns, missiles and the odd tank.

The model was fair game for Alice - or so he thought (she might actually be a model for the magazine Chicks with D*cks we are keeping him in suspense on that one )


When they entered (what might be described as the passenger lounge)  they were met by a Woman with Purple hair, in her 50's who was shocked that they did not recognise her. Evidently Kelli Eyte thought everyone had seen her in the Cortex smash hit 'Whitefall' (think Dallas,dynasty and Little House on the Prairie all rolled into one) She was most put out by their indifference, which was tempered when they pointed out that the shepherd was a fan.

Second to catch their eye was a well endowed woman in her early 30's who was watching them with interest. Jane Owens the underwear model, although in her 30's is a good looking woman with ample assests to help sell ladies underwear.
Alice introduced himself, by saying that he would quite happily share his cabin with her. The captain again had to apologise for Alice's behaviour mentioning the head wound, (or potential head wound if he didn’t stop it).

Bob Worthington the arms dealer - sorry agricultural dealer was indeed a tractor parts salesman.  He was able to show Alice a very nice working model of the latest design.

Lei Chow Fe is a man in his early 20's who is travelling the verse on the futuristic equivalent of a gap year. He is travelling from planet to planet on his journey before returning to the central planets. Much to their relief he had all digits attached and lack of visible tattoos.

Angelo and Vivian Potter are the married couple travelling to Athens and then to Angel to meet with their son.

Mr Roy Keene however was missing and only arrived as the ship was about to leave.

The captain decreed that Miss Owens would have the one spare cabin  in the ship, much to the disgust of Ms Eyte. He also considered asking toad to put a temporary weld on her door, or better still Alice's.

As soon as the shepherd heard that the captain had 'allowed' the heroine of Whitefall to languish in the hold immediately offered her cabin for the duration of the journey.

A few minutes before take off Mr Keene arrived in a rush apologising for his lateness as he had been in a meeting with a lady. The captain did enquire as to whether or not the lady in question would be setting out an arrest warent against mr Keene, who assured him that Tallulah had been recompensated and she wouldn't be worried about anything

With roaring engines the Jo-Lyn lifted off, with the new compression boot repaired to such a high standard that I allowed the original ship hindrance to be removed.

We shall have to wait until next week to see what will happen next

[nikharwood]

Excellent again - nicely set up for the next shenanigans 

[Maenoferren]

Cheers Nik - two days  journey time between Whitefall and Athens, I am sure nothing can possibly go wrong