Intro

Also in favor of moving things forward. I was just thinking that once it was said IC, Pelopionne is a robot from a strict hierarchy and probably supports people focusing on their specialties. But as a player I'm on Team Go For It. 🙂

  "It may be that we can find our subject through meeting this tribunal," Pelopionne offers. "If someone made Cats-Paw disappear and covered their traces they could be difficult to track. But given we are searching for ancient technology and the L1Z1X perhaps these presumably-well-informed entities might provide knowledge or resources even if they don't fully understand the import." They pause for a moment. "But I agree that being guided by the undersecretary in matters of diplomacy seems the best course."

Most of Pelopionne's skills revolve around being a 3-meter robot, with 3 our of 4 Brawn skills, along with a smattering of Knowledge. You want large things lifted, Pelopionne's your being, though.

Given the info on neural shunts, I think warranted trust might be effectively zero unless we can do a brain scan first. 🙂

I assume we worked out an approach on the flight - complete honesty, limited honesty, complete lies?

The book page has updated playbooks and moves at the bottom.

No mention of queuing or tea. 3/5 Britishness.

I've got a background and the mythology part down. Still need to come up with the monster origin story. But if you've got comments on the existing bits I'd welcome them.

Details College: Christ Church Course: Philosophy, Politics, and Economics   The Warwick Sword The Warwick Sword has been held by the family of the Earls of Warwick since Guy of Warwick used it to slay the giant Colbrand in the 10th century. (While modern historians see the story as just referring to a particularly large Dane, the Bearers know differently.) It's purpose has been to defend the Realm against supernatural threats, and it has been passed down the family through the years. (Though the Sword does not follow the same rules of inheritance as the title, making for occasional awkward moments when a sibling or cousin receives the blade.) The Bearer has been based in Warwick Castle for centuries, with substantial training grounds and other resources located on the estate. Inn times past the Crown even paid for its maintenance due to the Sword's recognized importance. The Bearers have not always been great heroes or warriors, but the Sword still remains in the family and the Realm still stands, so there's at least some record of success. Of course, monster-slaying has proven to be less of a Crown priority in the last century. The formerly-private Warwick Castle had been turned more and more towards tourism as the Bearer has been out of the direct line of Earls for decades and the titled family have been uninterested in supporting the eccentric role and responsibility of the Bearers, especially as there has been little need for them. And so a bit less than 30 years ago the Earl sold Warwick Castle to a tourism company and swanned off to Australia, and the last bearer died in a car accident not long after. Background Alex was chosen by the Sword as a youth, and is the first to grow up without access to Warwick Castle. Given that a new Bearer only arises after the previous one's death, knowledge is passed second-hand, and much of what Alex received references chambers that have been sealed up below the castle. He's done his best to prepare himself, but feels it likely that there are many things he is missing. Having heard hints that there is an organization with a similar role at Oxford, his choice (inasmuch as it was a choice between the Oxbridge institutions) was clear. As with many of those from families with more lineage than currency, Alexander intends to join the civil service upon graduation, and so Philosophy, Politics, and Economics seemed the most apt course. Commissioning as an officer would have been his first choice, but the chance of being stationed on the wrong continent when needed to fulfill his other duty makes that a non-starter, so some place in a ministry will serve as a day job.   Charm Cool Sharp Tough Weird +1 +2 +1 +1 -1 Manipulate SomeoneOnce you have given them a reason, tell them what you want them to do and roll +Charm. For a normal person: • On a 10+, then they’ll do it for the reason you gave them. If you asked too much, they’ll tell you the minimum it would take for them to do it (or if there’s no way they’d do it). • On a 7-9, they’ll do it, but only if you do something for them right now to show that you mean it. If you asked too much, they’ll tell you what, if anything, it would take for them to do it. For another hunter: • On a 10+, if they do what you ask they mark experience and get +1 forward. • On a 7-9, they mark experience if they do what you ask. • On a miss, it’s up to that hunter to decide how badly you offend or annoy them. They mark experience if they decide not to do what you asked. Monsters and minions cannot normally be manipulated. Act Under Pressure Investigate a Mystery Read a Bad Situation Kick Some Ass Protect Someone Destiny's PlaythingAt the beginning of each mystery, roll +Weird to see what is revealed about your immediate future. On a 10+, the Keeper will reveal a useful detail about the coming mystery. On a 7-9 you get a vague hint about it. On a miss, something bad is going to happen to you.  

Ack. I was just writing up a Chosen based on English mythology (though I went for the heritor of Guy of Warwick for a slightly more constrained myth), though I was thinking of a British relative of the Earl of Warwick trained from birth to fight monsters. I shall consider more. 🙂

Yeah, I was also thinking a "retired" Erinyes could be a fun Divine classicist, maybe as a "family member" that pops up as a lecturer at Somerville every other generation or so, with a weapon and partial panoply on permanent loan to the Ashmolean that occasionally is "removed for cleaning". But that felt more like an instructor than a student, so I've been letting other ideas rumble around.

Pelopionne collaborates with Jana on the scans; they use their knowledge of ancient technologies to look for their particular traces, including the possibility of Titan sleepers...

Also trying to decide on that. 🙂 It looks like Acuity is the "piloting" Attribute for this game (based on the Bush Pilot ability), so thinking maybe that'll be a good role. A speeder racer for the fancy Cloud City folk to gamble on? Could give a good connection to shady sorts, and maybe a sideline in smuggling. Right now just looking through images of Star Wars pilots to see if there's a good droid or other species that speaks to me.

Apparently the eldest just stands in the middle of the capital and looks down on the skycrapers. Would make taking a step kind of an ordeal, after all.

The Titans were created as semi-organic slave robots by the Mahact. They went inactive when the Mahact got sealed away and some woke up when they came back, but were aware enough in the intervening time to subvert the whole "having to obey" thing. So now they're rebuilding for themselves, and looking for the missing ones who didn't wake up. (Titans apparently also keep growing, so Pelopionne is just a baby. Elders can be dreadnought-sized.)

Looks like no one has Astrocartography so probably one of the Int 3 characters for the navigator?

"As am I," Pelopionne agrees. "One hopes that we can continue the same way, but given the gravity of the situation one is not entirely confident." They shrug their organometallic shoulders.

Name and species TBD based on what the dice suggest Attributes: Menace +1; Daring +0, Guile +1, Acuity +3, Presence +1, Spirit +0 [Big ol' nerd] Species: Skills Career Roll 2d6x100 Credits Buy Equipment Background (and whether you know the other PCs) Goals; one Major (takes months or years) and one Minor (takes days or weeks)

Success with a Triumph. Respect the power of snitching! 🙂 (Extra bonus ideas: secret spacer charts for the area we're going, up-to-date info, recent sightings that didn't hit the Council's radar, etc.?)

As the others negotiate with the associates of Grugg, Pelopionne does as they suggest and contacts higher authority. Using their internal relay, they find contact information for the harbormaster and their head of security and send a message.   "Good evening. I am a member of a Council Keleres team on a time-sensitive assignment dealing with a situation with danger to risk of sentient life," Pelopionne begins. "There are some individuals attempting to interfere in our departure with our assigned vessel. The Keleres are of course amenable to dealing with any of their concerns at the appropriate time and through the appropriate channels, legal, administrative, or other, but our urgent business precludes it at this time. If you could prevent their interference and take note of any of their claims or commentary, it would be a service greatly appreciated by the Council."

It's always humans causing trouble in the galaxy. 🫤

I was Miller for a game that only lasted a few pages before hitting a GM non-game responsibilities wall, but I'm game to try again. I'm fine with either Miller or Cham, so I could see what someone else goes for? @SunDuck How long until you plan to start?

Yeah, you gain and lose Strain very quickly and easily. For a perception roll, could just be that you're so focused on your subject that you're less able to respond to other things. Since you're more likely to get lots of Threat (leading to Strain) on a difficult check and lots of Advantage when it's easier relative to your skill level, maybe it's easier to think of it as more "mental focus available" rather than "damage".

Here's a map of the galaxy in case anyone's interested.

Ah, well. Don't feel particularly discouraged - player attrition is seemingly unavoidable. It probably works out best to start with about 50% more players than you want to end up with. That makes it especially tricky when you're using less mainstream systems. So you made your first attempt on Ultra-Hard Mode. 🤷‍♂️ Thanks for making the attempt, in any case. Look forward to seeing you around as a player!