Secure Comms 001: OOC Chatter, Prattle, Gossip, and Blather

[Pulpatoon]

This is the place for all non-diegetic conversation, beginning with workshopping your characters!

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[shaidar]

Hi everyone, this sounds like a whole bunch of fun.

Here is my general character concept:

"Bertie" Wilberforce, human female. Bertie is from a highly advanced, and socially regulated, human world full of scientists, intellectuals and academics. She didn't fit in to such a controlled environment, and decided to leave before she was thrown out (they don't want such traits to remain in the gene pool). She's smart and educated, but naive to the 'real world'. She has skills in medicine, science, culture and technology and a 'droid butler called Jeeves, plus likely a minor psychic power (telepathy or maybe limited remote viewing). She had a short break on her journey of a few hours as she had to change ships, where she had her credits, and her Stunner when she tried to stop them, stolen. Luckily most of her equipment was being transferred to the other ship at the time and the journey itself was already paid for.

Equipment:

Suitcase trolley
Link

Equipment count: [_2d6]=(4+1)=5
1. Skeinsuit
2. Stunner
3. Toolkit
4. Medpack
5. Environmental Protection Cloak

Lost items:
Lost item count: [1d6]=1

Lost item:
Lost item: [1d5]=2 = Stunner


I'm happy to mix things up a little if someone else is interested in those types of skills, or we have a bit of a skills gap somewhere.

Some pics:

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[Rex]

No idea yet. Have some thinking to do and want to see what else we have.

[shaidar]

At least characters are quicker to create with this game than Hero

[Rex]

Yeah Hero took some work, of course it didn't help that I am not real familiar with it. I can do HarnMaster in my sleep and that is about as complicated as they come, but I am very familiar with it.

[Algernon]

I'll start working on mine tomorrow. Had a stupid busy day today. But looking forward to char gen

[cybersavant]

Skur Vonn, from Alpha Kantoris on the frontier
Yazirian (male) with tawny fur; his mane slightly lighter in color

itinerant explorer, pilot/ tech for hire
currently at Starspiel as that's as far as his credits lasted


dextrous

combat proficiency (pistols), piloting, stealth, technology

darkvision, minor telekinesis

skeinsuit
laser pistol
sensorpack
air filter mask
rations
toolkit


equipment


languages ::
pangal
yazirian
- kantorin
- english
- Vrk'tliktl
- dralasite
- interlink standard


Due to some remarkable mix-up, most of Skur Vonn's luggage did not make it to Port Verdigris. Upon entering the station, he heads over to the Spacelane Properties Department to initiate tracking of his stuff.

[Pulpatoon]

"Bertie" Wilberforce, human female. {...} She has skills in medicine, science, culture and technology and a 'droid butler called Jeeves...

I love it. My all-time favorite 5e character was a valet named Penthorpe, based on Jeeves. He was a reskinned bard, who'd grant inspiration by tidying people's clothes, and heal by mixing the perfect cocktail. It's harder to come up with those perfect Wodehousian turns of phrase at the table than one might think.



Is Jeeves a virtual intelligence, or a true AI?

[Pulpatoon]

Skur Vonn, from Alpha Kantoris on the frontier
Yazirian (male) with tawny fur; his mane slightly lighter in color
darkvision, minor telekinesis

Welcome, Skur Vonn! Regarding the Darkvision and TK, are you taking these instead of Gliding and Relentless? You're welcome to roll your own yaziriran—I just want to make sure we're on the same page. If so, what happened to Skur Vonn's gliding membranes? Does this have anything to do with him being a pilot, or his nomadic lifestyle?

Due to some remarkable mix-up, most of Skur Vonn's luggage did not make it to Port Verdigris. Upon entering the station, he heads over to the Spacelane Properties Department to initiate tracking of his stuff.

Having traveled around the Starspiel for a while, Skur Vonn would have a sneaking suspicion that his luggage "fell off the back of a loader." But if you can find the black market on Port Verdigris, some helpful soul would be wiling to sell it back to you. With just a slight finder's fee added on top.

[Pulpatoon]

No idea yet. Have some thinking to do and want to see what else we have.

I'll start working on mine tomorrow. Had a stupid busy day today. But looking forward to char gen

No worries, and no rush! We've got over a week before we get this show on the road.

[Lignacious]

Character

Chipsqueak or 'Chip', from The Mother. A mostly unexplored frontier world which is small, rocky and wet. Groundling, genderless (may use 'he' for convenience)

Groundlings are a sentient & telekinetic form of lichen and moss that bind stones together for structure. Their own language uses the rocks to shape ambient air currents and sound.


Grey small boulders and pebbles with mottled brown, green and orange lichen


Background
The Groundlings go through a period of hibernation when The Mother's elliptical orbit takes it far from its star. During one such period, a Vrusk mining crew surveyed the planet and found it rich in minerals. Not knowing ( or not caring) that the rocks were sentient, they set about their business. In the process they excavated much of Chip's henge ( collective noun for a group of Groundlings).

In the years that followed, Chip set out to find the stones of its lost siblings to return them to The Mother so they can be properly laid to rest. It found a visiting explorer who gave Chip a lift off planet after Chip sang its sad tale to her, and has been hunting for that Vrusk crew when the story begins. Chip operates slowly (Groundlings are long-lived) and so has been somewhat distracted from this task with exploring the wider universe, but it remains on its mind.

Mechanics

Charismatic
Extraordinary Abilities:
- Keen Hearing (a la tremorsense)
- Minor Telekinesis (a little excess of the ability that binds chip together used for fine manipulation)
Skills:
- Performance (Groundlings are finely attuned to sound and vibration, and even among his people Chip was considered gifted)
- Pursuasion
- Stealth (Chip is a pile of rocks and can hold very still)
- Medicine (The moss and lichen that make up Chip's body turn out to have beneficial effects on more organic beings, and Chip has begun to learn to use the equivalent of his 'dead skin cells' to heal others)

Equipment:
Items- [2d6]=6
- Toolkit (Medical)
- PolyVox
- HoloRecorder
- Environment Cloak
- Stun Baton
- Rations

- Carryall
- Link

Lost Items- [1d6]=2
- Environment Cloak [1d6]=4
- HoloRecorder [1d6]=3

Chip lost his Holorecorder and Environment cloak due to a misunderstanding. He had been exploring a planet and found some native sentients, and needed very little excuse to attempt to perform his favorite aria. Unfortunately the particular high note Chip hit caused all the natives to become extremely nauseous and he got out of dodge very quickly, leaving his cloak and recorder behind. The cloak is a small loss, but the recorder had some of his favorite compositions and he misses it. He's low on funds (the whole idea of 'credits' is still a bit novel) and is signing on with whomever will take him/tolerate his singing.

Links to other characters

Shaidar - if Bertie is game, she and Jeeves could be the ones who found Chip on his planet (maybe she's interested in this relatively unknown lifeform/culture?)
Cybersavant - maybe Skur Vonn is looking for a medic? Haven't thought this one through too much.
Also open to any ideas other folks have.

[shaidar]

"Bertie" Wilberforce, human female. {...} She has skills in medicine, science, culture and technology and a 'droid butler called Jeeves...

I love it. My all-time favorite 5e character was a valet named Penthorpe, based on Jeeves. He was a reskinned bard, who'd grant inspiration by tidying people's clothes, and heal by mixing the perfect cocktail. It's harder to come up with those perfect Wodehousian turns of phrase at the table than one might think.

Is Jeeves a virtual intelligence, or a true AI?

Well, Bertie is green when it comes to life on the frontier, but not as dim as Bertie Wooster.

Her father is a renowned roboticist and quantum engineer on her home planet. While he doesn't agree with some of her behaviour, he loves her and created Jeeves to help look after and protect her. She suspects that he is a true AI, although her father would not have had permission from the scientific council on her planet to go beyond a virtual intelligence, which she finds very interesting.

I'm thinking that minor telepathy works better for Bertie than some kind of remote viewing.

This is my Jeeves and Wooster:

Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie

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[shaidar]

Links to other characters

Shaidar - if Bertie is game, she and Jeeves could be the ones who found Chip on his planet (maybe she's interested in this relatively unknown lifeform/culture?)
Cybersavant - maybe Skur Vonn is looking for a medic? Haven't thought this one through too much.
Also open to any ideas other folks have.

I had planned on having Bertie having just arrived at the Frontier, but this could work. Maybe the stopover was longer than planned (a couple of days) and there was some kind of tourist visit to the planet, where she got lost and found him.

[Pulpatoon]

I had planned on having Bertie having just arrived at the Frontier, but this could work. Maybe the stopover was longer than planned (a couple of days) and there was some kind of tourist visit to the planet, where she got lost and found him.

Perhaps Bertie dumped out a steamer trunk in order to smuggle Chip onboard the starliner?

[shaidar]

She could be out of credits because of the additional freight charge, and her Stunner could have been lost on the planet.

[cybersavant]

Welcome, Skur Vonn! Regarding the Darkvision and TK, are you taking these instead of Gliding and Relentless? You're welcome to roll your own yaziriran—I just want to make sure we're on the same page. If so, what happened to Skur Vonn's gliding membranes? Does this have anything to do with him being a pilot, or his nomadic lifestyle?

Due to some remarkable mix-up, most of Skur Vonn's luggage did not make it to Port Verdigris. Upon entering the station, he heads over to the Spacelane Properties Department to initiate tracking of his stuff.

Having traveled around the Starspiel for a while, Skur Vonn would have a sneaking suspicion that his luggage "fell off the back of a loader." But if you can find the black market on Port Verdigris, some helpful soul would be wiling to sell it back to you. With just a slight finder's fee added on top.

oops, missed the alien sidebar - drop the tk for gliding, keep the darkvision to explain his light sensitivity

could meet some of the others while contacting the black market ????

[Pulpatoon]

With the addition of seanfsmith, we have now reached maximum capacity! Thanks, everybody, for joining the crew—I think it's going to be a ton of fun.

The characters so far:

• Bertie Wilberforce, human science brain, and her gentlesapient's sapient, Jeeves
• Skur Vonn, yazirian itinerant pilot/techie/explorer
• Chip Squeak, telekinetic pile of mossy rocks, on a meandering mission of grief

The adventure ahead will probably involve an on-the ground planetary survey (although, who knows? You are welcome to hijack the plot at any time), in case that helps folks feel around a character concept/expertise.

[Rex]

I will have some time and make a character Saturday-day.

[shaidar]

Bertie's full first name is Bertilastrix, definitely not Larry

[Rex]

Items owned [2d6]=10

Listed in order they appear in Equipment, free items first.

Lost Items [1d6]=1

Lost Item [1d12]=4

Her Laser pistol was damaged and un-repairable during a fire fight with some drug smugglers.

Carry All
Link
Skeinsuit, Light Armor
Laser Pistol
Stunner
Lockcompick
Polyvox (5 languages)
Anti-Stun Implant
Fusion Light, 50' illumination
Night Vision Googles
Stimdose
Slipsuit, Enhanced Stealth