J-005: Previously on Dominion Space, Part 5…
Module Introduction
The continued catch-up history for Chris…
(Played date 26 July 2020)
Module 12: Chasing the Goose
Maldemar 732 [211.419 – 211.440] Not in Play
We know Chris filled Erin in to some extent about what happened on Pristine and what the group is doing next when he got back to the ship. However, we don’t know what Chris did aboard ship on the journey from Pristine to Zarg’s World (via the Adal system).
- The ship didn’t stop at the Way Station in the Adal system, but was met in space by a Legion Customs Pinnace operating from a carrier near the star’s safe jump zone.
- The ship jumped out again as soon as the Engineers had retuned the drives.
- The trip from Pristine to Zarg’s World was 21 Cycles
- Customs inspection on arrival at Zarg’s World is a cursory affair
Once the customs inspection is completed, Oliver briefs the crew on his plan: 
- Oliver and Alan
will head into the Highport administration area to try and track down the ship they’re after - Erin
and Ahbineet 
will remain with the ship and organise restocking supplies - Chris
is to stand by for Oliver’s call in case Oliver wants or needs assistance in confronting the smuggling crew
In response, Chris says he will take some dock leave now while Oliver is dealing with the administration people…
Chris will stand by for Oliver’s call but says he will go into the port for some leave.
– C-139
Vizierate Sloop Maldemar 732 docked at Zarg’s Moon Highport [211.440+ (?)] Not in Play
However, when Chris returned to the ship after an unspecified period of leave he found the following:
- Oliver and Alan found the ship they were after, and learned from the crew that the merchants had taken Argyle, their quarry, over the border into Separatist Space.
- Halcyon says as a Legionnaire, he’s not allowed to fly into Separatist Space.
- Consequently Oliver has left the ship without discussing his decision with anyone and arranged for the merchants to take him to Separatist Space alone in pursuit of Argyle.
- Oliver has ordered the ship to return to GRRAS.
- But, Alan says without Oliver there aren’t enough crew to fly the ship safely, so they’re stuck here until they get a Comm/Scan officer at a minimum.
- Erin suggests they just go to the local Vizierate office and ask, but Alan insists he’s messaging Dicard for orders.
- The round-trip time for that message will be 40-45 Cycles
So here’s Chris on Zarg’s World, waiting.
Module 12 was completed when Oliver boarded the merchant ship, it was worth 6 XP.
Oliver has subsequently completed a further three modules.
The total XP value for Oliver for all modules being 41 XP.
~ End of Recap ~
Module 19: The Wild Wine
Say it’s the wine that leads me on,
the wild wine
that sets the wisest man to sing at the top of his lungs,
laugh like a fool
— it drives the man to dancing…
it even tempts him to blurt out stories better never told.
– Homer, The Odyssey
Game Mechanics
Chris’ character sheet: CristopherUddin_2019-07-06.pdf
We can chat about GURPS character software.
Unspent XP
- Chris had 3 unspecified quirks removed, which can be returned for 3 character points
- In addition since the start of play, Oliver has earned 41 XP which amount you can add to Chris if you wish
- During Module 7, Chris had a chance to train with the Vizirate Wardens if you need a justification for enhancing his skills
- We can talk about XP options if you wish
Starting Money
- Chris has a Wealth Disadvantage – Dead Broke
- However, Chris can theoretically have earned a bunch of cash – about 50k – in play
- I’ll leave it to you to decide if he’s bought off his Wealth disadvantage (cost you 25 points out of that 41) or he’s pissed almost all of that away with little to show for it
- We can talk equipment when you’ve decided the above
Situation
Chris is based on the ship, Maldemar 732. The ship is a small sloop, it has an advanced sensor array and a launcher for probes (but Chris does know that’s basically a missile launcher and a probe is just a missile packed with electronics instead of a warhead.) It has a small shuttle. It seems like it was built as a small science recon vessel or transporter for a small mission team – ie, pretty much what it’s being used for right now.
See here for deckplans.
The ship is docked at Zarg’s Moon Highport – a facility built into a small moonlet orbiting the ocean planet Zarg’s World.
Legion Under Commander Alan Halcyon is in charge, and Alan isn’t going anywhere until he hears back from Vizier Dicard – a message that is at least 40 Cycles in the future.
About Zarg’s World
Zarg’s World is an A-class Colony world situated in the Goldilocks zone of a yellow main-sequence star. Tidally locked to its star – it doesn’t rotate – the stellar point (closest to the star) is a blisteringly hot mountain range surrounded by a boiling sea, while the antistellar point (farthest from the star) is a solid block of ice almost a kilometer thick. Between them in the twilight zone is deep sea covering most of the globe with strong currents and huge waves. The main Downport is sited on a thick block of pack ice toward the anti-stellar point. The 85,000 inhabitants of Zarg’s World – small by A colony standards, are scattered in small communities across the planet in varied locations from the hot mountain mines to the frozen starport to the undersea arcologies to the floating village of Gravport.
The atmosphere is unbreathable, and mildly toxic as well as being devoid of oxygen. Gravity away from the settlements is just under half standard.
The Highport itself is constructed out of the moonlet that naturally orbits Zarg’s World, and no large, artificial station has been put in orbit.
Stuff You Can’t Do
Because some events have already been played, there are things Chris can’t do. Particularly, he can’t chase Oliver to go with nor affect events that have already happened for Oliver nor for the other character that is also on Zarg’s World at this time.
Chris as NPC
So as an NPC I basically played Chris as thinking he’s on a pretty easy gig. He gets to lounge around mostly being paid a pretty decent wage in return for occasionally being scary and threatening or actually committing state-sanctioned violence and always being the one asked to carry things.
If he has a complaint it’s probably that paydays are a bit infrequent – it’d be nice if the people in charge paid him on a regular routine, instead of almost random big payouts.
That said, he’s here because Vizier Frederick 
threatened to prosecute him for his various crimes, so quitting might have adverse consequences, even if he wanted to.
Because there don’t seem to be many consequences for not doing so, I had him fall off the wagon a bit because of his Alcoholism Disadvantage, though when he has to be sober he’s mostly functional (he has an ok Will stat).
He’s actually fairly Charismatic, which ability hasn’t really been used by the party, but I’ve tried to portray him as actually somewhat funny – if dark – to be around.
You are, of course, free to have him now change his mind about any of that stuff.
Next Steps
What will Chris do?
What are his plans?
What’s he thinking?
What sort of game do you want as the player?