The Adventures of the I.S.S. Otter (Captains Log 1)

[jimmyd]

Late last Fall my son decided it would be more fun to switch our Adventure RPG campaign to a space and SF setting. The fantasy dungeon party got just about wiped out after "The Crown of Kings" adventure so it seemed like the right time to try something new. So far, it has been tremendous fun. I will post the captains log of the adventures here as two attachments and will add more as the campaign continues. You will recognize the S.O.S. and Repel Boarders adventures in the first log.

Enjoy. Let me know what you think. I will try to post pictures later. We made the character figures out of Lego people. My son and I also had a lot of fun building the ships from Legos.

Jimmyd

A Space "Otter-see"
(Captains Log of the I.S.S. Otter)
A Space "Otter-see"




Captain: One Eyed Burt
Gunner & Medic: Bill the Cyborg
Pilot: Skye
Engineer: Tom Hanks
Cargo Loader: Zorgan Zarg

Stardate: 3150

"Freelance" (Sector Coordinates 0,-1,0)

Station Commander picked up a distress call from the Lemm quadrant, from a spaceship. I decided to
investigate to see if there was anything of value to salvage.

Location: Lemm Quadrant Sector coordinates (1,1,1,)

Came out of hyperspace and detected an alien craft. I hailed them and they demanded that we leave
the area. When I refused to leave an alien boarded our ship and a fight ensued. One of the crew, a
reptilian from Algore, was injured in the fight. He was later healed by our cyborg-medic but then did
something very unwise... he bit into the alien carcass.
I located the distress beacon coming from a desolate moon in the quadrant and Myself and the other
three crew boarded our shuttle "Darwin" and headed for the wrecked ship.
I left the Algoran in the shuttle since he was starting to not feel too well. The other two members and
myself suited up and crossed a short distance to the downed ship. We were able to locate the bridge
and our engineer downloaded the ships log. The ship was the research vessel "Clementine" apparently
doing some experiments in this quadrant when it was attacked and crash landed on the surface of the
moon. I did not like the looks of the situation and decided to return to the sector station with the info.

Location: Sector Station "Freelance" (Sector Coordinates 0,-1,0)

I Returned to "Freelance" and immediately went to the station commander with the info we retrieved
from the "Clementine". He was pleased with the downloaded information and paid me 10,000 Credits.
Because we had been exposed to the atmosphere of the science ship I wanted the entire crew to be
checked out by the station's doctor so we all headed to the infirmary.
The engineer, the Cyborg, and myself got a clean bill of health from the doctor. But, as the Algoran was
on the examination table his stomach was sucked out (the doctor was not familiar with the Algoran
anatomy and did not know that they had a reversible stomach) at which time a small alien creature that
was growing inside the stomach jumped off the table and started attacking us. Unfortunately for the
Algoran, he died when the alien ripped out his insides.
The station security personnel responded immediately (after I killed the alien, of course) and escorted us
to the commanders office where I was informed that we would have to leave immediately and the ship
would be quarantined and refused access to the station until further notice. We had to leave.

Location: Quadrant trading station "Rendezvous" (Sector Coordinates 0,0 ,0)

We made for the trading station to pick up a new crew member and to refuel as well as resupply. I was
asking around about crew in a bar on the station and was talking to two possible candidates when the
infamous "Skylar" brothers approached us. Apparently, they had heard about the crashed science vessel
and that we had found it. Since we had turned off the distress beacon when we left the ship they did not
know it's location and demanded that we give them the information to find it. The salvage business is
cut-throat and these two obviously were the bottom of the barrel. When I refused to give up our
precious information the brothers started swinging. One of the new recruits, Skye, performed well in the
fight. I decided to end the fight and fired my rifle into the air. The fight did stop but my firing brought
the security police who then gave me a warning and kicked us out of the bar. I decided this was a good
time to leave.

Having a full crew (4) and a resupplied ship I decided it was a good time to go back to the Clementine to
see if we could salvage anything of worth. After all, a captain has to make a living and the ship won't run
on space dust.

Before going into hyperspace we got a nasty surprise. The Skylar brothers ambushed us and I decided to
try to outrun them. I finally managed to shake them and enter hyperspace but not before they damaged
our cargo hold section and even some of our living quarters. I decided to try to shake the brothers by
jumping to Larry Sector; so named because it was the location of Larry Bricker who owned a very large
salvage and repair space yard (Larry's Space Salvage Emporium).

Location: Larry Quadrant (Sector Coordinates 1,0,0)

Larry is an old friend. We have had many deals together... some of them were even legal. He patched
the Otter up and topped off my drive tanks for a pretty average price and then we were on our way;
trying to keep ahead of the Skylar brothers.

Location: Uncharted Quadrant (Sector Coordinates 1,1,0)

We ran into trouble in this quadrant. As soon as we came out of hyperspace we were immediately
attacked by two pirate gunships. We quickly destroyed one of the ships and disabled the other but not
without sustaining some damage to the Otter. We boarded the disabled vessel and killed the two crew
members. I decided to have Skye pilot the captured gunship and follow us back to Larry's. I knew that he
would give good money for the small vessel.

Location: Larry Quadrant (Sector Coordinates 1,0,0)

Larry was surprised to see us so soon but was happy to give us some cash for the beat up gunship. The
price he gave us was enough to top off our tanks again and to patch up our hull... again. We were able to
use the rest of the money to purchase a small laser turret. This would give us the option to split our fire
in a battle and to shoot behind us in a running fight. Larry also let me know that he was looking for some
Orion coils and would pay a good price for them as demand was high. I suspected that a ship like the
Clementine would have at least one of those coils in its engineering section. We headed out towards
Lemm again but this time decided on another route there.

Location: Unoccupied Quadrant (Sector Coordinates 1,0,1)

After our last encounter with pirates I was fully alert when we entered the quadrant and was eying the
scanner closely. It was a good thing too. I detected a ghost on the scanner readings and went to full
alertness and power right before another pirate ship came out of cloaking. This one was bigger than we
were but we had the advantage over him and disabled him with one good hit. I did not want to tangle
with this pirate and boarding a bigger ship with my small crew was too risky so... I had Bill blow him into
space dust. We moved on to the Lemm quadrant.

Location: Lemm Quadrant (Sector Coordinates 1,1,1)

We finally made it back to Lemm. We encountered some asteroids on the outer limits of the quadrant
but made it through unscathed thanks to Skye's quick piloting reflexes. She is becoming quite a valuable
crew member.
I ordered Skye to stay back onboard the Otter to keep an eye on the ship while the rest of the crew went
back down to the Clementine. That crash site is a scary place. We encountered a crew member that was
speaking gibberish. He was injured and died right there in front of us but not before he freaked us all
out. I decided to take a look in the cargo hold of the Clementine to see if there was anything of value.
That was a bad mistake. We were jumped by two strange creatures, presumably a couple of their
escaped experiments. I was critically injured but , Bill, our cyborg doctor quickly patched me up so that I
could keep moving. There was nothing of real value in the hold since it seemed to be badly damaged in
the crash.
We moved on to the engineering section; our engineer was hoping to find some Orion coils. The scene
that met us there was not very pretty. We found three small alien animals feasting on the remains of
one of the Clementine's crew. We started to fire at them and they began to attack us with, what seemed
to be, a psychic blast. Luckily the power of these blasts was only enough to give three of us nose bleeds.
After we killed those miserable creatures our engineer did find an Orion coil and we all worked quickly
to free it from the engine equipment. None of us had any intention of staying on that ship any more
than necessary.
We got the coil back to the shuttle along with three alien carcasses that might be of value to some
scientists. We got quickly into orbit and docked with the Otter. When everything was stowed we got out
of there and headed right back for Larry's. This time we did not encounter any pirates along the way.

Location: Larry Quadrant (Sector Coordinates 1,0,0)

Larry was happy to see us and even happier to see the Orion coil. He gave us 12,000 credits for the coil
and topped off our tanks for the journey back to Rendezvous Station.
Location: Quadrant trading station "Rendezvous" (Sector Coordinates 0,0 ,0)
We are taking a little rest after a very busy run to Lemm and back. I am going to make the usual rounds
of places to get information while here and see what jobs may be available. I'm not too picky these days.
I hear there are a couple of rough jobs around this sector, or, I may head in towards the core and see if I
can sell those deceased aliens to the highest bidder. For right now I'll keep them in the freezer.
I don't know if this crew is up for any more adventures... my suspicion is that I may lose a few of them to
other ships. I know Bill is a bit restless these days. Tom Hanks is a good engineer and very handy so I
hope he stays on for another run. I'd be sorry to lose Skye if she decided to go; she proved herself as a
good pilot. All-in-all it looks like some interesting times ahead for the Otter and whatever crew I pick up
for the next job.

[jimmyd]

A Space "Otter-see"
(Captains Log of the I.S.S. Otter)
The Pirates of Vankilla (No it's not an opera)


Captain: One Eyed Burt
Gunner: Sect the Cyborg
Pilot: Howard
Gunner: Bill
Scientist & Medic: Shitaki
Computer Technician: Paul
Pasengers: Mim and Barlo James



Stardate: 3150.1

Location: Quadrant trading station "Rendezvous" (Sector Coordinates 0,0 ,0)

The crew of the Otter has had a tough last couple of jobs in this sector. The entire crew decided that the Otter was not a very safe way to make a living and each one of them either found more peaceful jobs on other ships or drifted off into the verse. So, I advertised around station Rendezvous for new crew members. .. and the result of the search is the toughest crew I have ever seen this side of the Core.

There are several skilled fighters including what seems to be an ex military sniper (Paul) and a recovering cyborg that is tough-as-nails. I also signed on a very skilled pilot who claims that he has lived his entire life on this station. He must have picked up his piloting skills from dozens of captains and learned them very well because he so far has proven to have a deft hand at the controls. I have also signed on a very strange little man that hails from a planet dominated by fungi! He is a little strange but his medical skills have already proven valuable. Lastly, I hired a man (he claims his name is Bill) that I hope will come in handy in a fight. I don't know much about him but my guess is that he has been traveling quite awhile.

Well, I am hoping that this crew brings me good luck, and more importantly, good profits. I have chosen a job that looks pretty straight forward and should allow this crew some time to ease into working together. The request I got was from a third party goods agent to deliver a cargo of security bots to the University of Mary of Mars in the Vankilla system. Usually I ask for half the payment up front but this looks to be a trusted source and the University is a respected institution in this sector.


Location: Larry Quadrant (Sector Coordinates 1,0,0)

We left the trading station after settling the new crew and taking on the cargo and necessary supplies. The funny little mushroom guy asked for permission to set up a lab in the cargo bay. Since the cargo crates don't take up much space I gave him the OK and it seemed to make him pretty happy. Bill is a strange man (as are most of the others)... he claims to have special abilities to see things before they happen and to sense the presence of others. I usually don't go for that baloney but something about him makes me wonder. When he started having some strange dreams I decided that it was best to just get through this system and jump to Vankilla as soon as possible. I would usually stop in this area to say hello to my friend Larry, but feel the need to keep going.

Location: Vankilla Quadrant (Sector coordinates 2,-1,0)

Came out of hyper space and into the system without any problems. We were 8 hours into our approach to the outer Vankilla asteroid belt where the University is located when things started to go wrong.... very wrong. We had no idea that some of the crates that we were transporting contained four pirate stowaways that were waiting for just the right moment to take over the ship. Luckily, Shitaki was spending a lot of time down in the cargo bay with his experiments and when the pirates activated the cargo of security bots he was able to escape out of the cargo hold and run back to engineering to warn Paul.

After that it was a full battle for the control of the ship and it was a very close thing. Two brief but very hot firefights took place: one in the corridor heading to the bridge and one in the engineering section. If the engineering section had been taken by the pirates they would have had control of the life support systems on the ship and killed us all. Obviously, that didn't happen. Both Shitaki and Paul fought bravely and desperately to buy time until the rest of the crew could get down to engineering. Both were hurt badly, Shitaki was knocked unconscious by one of the bots and is still traumatized.

The fight in the corridor could have been a disaster for the crew. The pirates were well armed and experienced and cleverly used the captured security bots as a shield. But, luck was with us and though Sect seemed to take a lot of the laser fire everyone survived the battle more or less intact. I monitored the entire situation through the monitors on the bridge... I was going to help as soon as I finished my coffee. Well, someone had to make sure that the bridge door was locked and secured.

The entire fight for the ship lasted only a few minutes but in the confusion an unidentified ship was able to approach the Otter without being detected. It wasn't until the fight in engineering was finished and we were heading back to the bridge that we heard the unknown vessel docking with us. Howard and Sect hunkered down near the hatch with readied weapons and watched with surprise as two battle armored figures entered the Otter and looked around. There was a tense moment as the two strangers took stock of the situation and saw two things: an alert crew and the bodies of dead pirates in the hallway. Without a single shot the strange intruders were hoisted back up through the hatch and were gone. We still don't know who they are but I suspect that they were connected with the pirates in some way.

Location: St. Mary of Mars University

Initially we received a cold reception from the University port control. They had no documentation of either our ship or the cargo we were supposed to be transporting for them. After some confusion I was put through to the President of the University, Dr. Elsie Itcher, and she granted us permission to dock. St. Mary's is a renowned engineering university that is spread out over 4 asteroids in the outer belt of the Vankilla system. The port is very small with only 5 docking bays. There were three other ships already in port: a small freighter, a scientific research vessel, and a sector ranger patrol ship. I met Dr. Itcher at the docking hatch and she greeted me warmly but with two security personnel. After a short conversation she explained that she was just taking precautions and invited myself and two other crew to a dinner that she was hosting that evening.

At the dinner I was introduced to Barlo James and his daughter Mim James. Barlo is a respected leader of a farm collective on the colony planet of Mytoka. He has come to the University to take his daughter home at the end of her term.

I told the whole story of our journey to the system and the battle with the pirates on board the Otter. It was obvious that the University had not been involved in the ordering of security bots and that the pirates had created the ruse to sneak aboard a trading vessel in order to disable or dispatch the crew and then steal the ship. I think Dr. Itcher felt somehow responsible and took pity on me for being out of a job and offered a solution. A merchant ship that was going to make a run to Mytoka for a grain supply for the University is undergoing repairs and unable to make the journey. Since the crops are in and the pick-up has to be fairly soon it would be a good thing for the university to transfer the contract to the Otter. The Dr. will pay the same price.

The James will also pay for transportation to the planet as it would be the fastest way home and Barlo is anxious to oversee the harvesting and storage of grain at his farm. He is also nervous because there were rumors that pirates were threatening to steal grain from some farms on the planet. In fact, part of the deal that the university had set up with one community was to partially pay for the grain with weapons. I immediately agreed to all of this arrangement and started to prepare for departure as soon as we got back to the ship.

Passing through the outer rim asteroid belt on our way to Mytoka ended up to be trickier than I thought it would be! But, a combination of great piloting skill from Howard, some fine gunnery from both Bill and Sect, and a bit of luck got us safely through the belt with not even a scratch off our painted hull. The rest of the journey to the planet was uneventful except for the many tasks and chores that the crew went about taking care of during the four days of travel. I was pleased to see the efficiency of the crew and most everything on our list of repairs and maintenance was completed. Some of the crew also got the chance to train or teach each other some skills during their free time. I always say: "A busy crew is a happy crew... and an even happier captain"

Location: Mytoka, Farm Collective Beta

After achieving orbit I decided to take the shuttle down to the planet to meet with the leaders of Collective Beta where we were supposed to pick up the grain. It was not a good sign that we could not reach the collective by signal... I was starting to have a bad feeling. Sect and Shitaki volunteered to come down in the shuttle and Mim James was anxious to see her uncle and aunt, as well as her cousin, that lived at the farm so she joined us as well.

From the air we could immediately tell that something was wrong. There was a dark smoke plume hanging over the location of the farm. All of the buildings were burnt out hulks. After we landed we found the only survivor in the middle of the common area working on a large farm robot. Keyvan Myles, a 12 year old boy was the only one left. Mim recognized the traumatized boy as her cousin. Nearby was the dead body of what we presumed was one of the attackers... he had a tattoo on his arm that was identical to one that had been on the arms of each of the pirates that tried to take our ship.

When I returned back to the ship with our new passenger and the news of the destruction of the farm Barlo immediately called his collective. His farm collective Alpha is intact and had just finished bringing in the crops early. He sat down with me over a beverage and made me an offer: He was authorized by the other families at his farm to make me the same offer that the University had made with Beta. They would load the grain into the hold of the Otter for the same price, the shipment of weapons, and..... the crew of the Otter would have to train the farmers on how to use the weapons for a week. After some thought I agreed to his offer. With pirates killing colonists it was the right thing to help these people to defend themselves.

I, and the crew, are on edge. The boy seems to be coming out of his daze but the crew knows that the farmers were massacred. the James are agitated and afraid but eager to get home. I am just hoping that we can train Barlo's people and then get the goods off the planet before something happens...

To be continued...

[darkscar]

Great write-ups, jimmyd. Looking forward to reading more.

[mister frau blucher]

OK, this is the coolest thread on the boards...

[jimmyd]

Thanks Darkscar and Frau Blucher. I appreciate you reading through the log. I will try to get the photos on the thread this weekend. I made a pretty cool 3-D map of the star sector so it is easier for the players to know where the different systems are. I like my play aids...

Also, I am digging the fact that I can view the LTS rules as a .PDF file on my Android device. I have a 7" HD screen so the rules are always at my fingertips, in full color. It would be great to have the adventures on .PDF for the same reason.

-Jimmyd

[jimmyd]

Here are some photos that accompany the stories above:

The Outer Rim Sector 3-D Map



The Interstellar Salvage Ship (I.S.S.) Space Otter with the shuttle "Darwin" docked.



THE CREW:

Captain One-Eyed Burt


The Bridge of the Otter at Full Alert


The crew battles the pirate controlled security bots in the corridor


The I.S.S. Otter navigates the outer asteroid belt of the Vankilla system

[vladtaltos]

Nice photos, presentation, jimmyd! One-Eyed Burt, what a great name for the ship's captain.

[jimmyd]

Thanks Vladtaltos. That is my son's character. My son's imagination is excellent... he is the one who named the ship the "Otter" and the shuttle "Darwin". He plays Burt well: he chose a shot gun/axe for a weapon because his use of a patch makes him myopic and it's harder to hit targets with anything else. The patch is not really needed since his eye is fine but he thinks that he can keep the crew in line a little better if he looks more surly... like a pirate. He has explained to me that he has his character switch the eye patch to the other side just to play with the crew's minds. I'm gonna make him wear a real eye patch during the next play session so he can do just that during the adventure. He, he... good old role playing.


I'll post some pictures of the other crew soon.

-Jimmyd

[jimmyd]

Here is the latest LOST adventure write-up:

A Space "Otter-see"

(Captains Log of the I.S.S. Otter)
The Pirates of Vankilla (No it's not an opera)Continued...

Captain: One Eyed Burt
Gunner: Sect the Cyborg
Pilot: Howard
Gunner: Bill
Scientist & Medic: Shitaki
Computer Technician: Paul
Pasengers: Mim and Barlo James

Location: Mytoka, Farm Collective Alpha

It will be about a week until the farm collective can get all the crops in and ready for transport. In that time we have to get this mish-mash of farmers and herders into fighting shape... at least enough to protect themselves. Most of them have never even held a firearm before let alone fired one.

The crew and I have picked out five of the farmers to train while the others will help us get some sort of defenses in order. I have picked out Fred and Brett as pupils while Earl and Al will train with Bill. Farmer Dell will be trained with Mimm James.

The defenses could be worse... but not much worse! The compound is too large to fence in even if we had the materials. There are wooden towers at each corner of the compound that the farmers use to keep watch from during the night. I have supervised the digging of tiger pits at key locations around the compound ( a little trick that I learned while hunting Sorgaths) and we have landed the Otter on a hill overlooking the compound. It will cost more fuel and maintenance to keep the Otter dirtside but I want us to have the ability to load the ship quickly and get out of here just as soon as the harvest is done.

As far as weaponry goes; I wish that I had more. The payment that we brought from St. Mary of Mars University was a few crates of weapons but nothing heavier than assault rifles and pistols. There are a few hand grenades and three flak vest but there is not going to be a lot of firearms to go around. Sect, the cyborg, has been busy outfitting the collectives surveyor hover craft with one of the assault rifles that also has an under slung grenade launcher. That should come in handy if we get attacked.

Although the collective farmers and their families seem highly motivated after what happened to Beta colony I don't know how they will hold up if the pirates attack. If'n I was a prayin man I would pray for more time... but I'm not.

Attack in the Night:
This morning we woke to a grisly scene. One of the sheep had been mauled during the night and another sheep and goat were missing. The farmers say that it was an attack by a Lossend dragon. The dragons are a local flying carnivore the size of a lion. I didn't let the colonists see that I was unnerved , but,... I was. If a creature can fly into the compound during the night and attack three creatures without a sound or alerting the guards then we are all in trouble. I'm hoping that the pirates won't be able to do that.

The farmers were all pretty agitated. The livestock is a good part of their livelihood and several of them wanted to go out into the hills and track down the Lossend dragon and kill it before it struck again. I told them that it was a foolhardy idea and that it would leave the colony vulnerable to attack from the pirates if they did. No more was said but Brett and Fred seemed pretty unhappy with my comments.

It was not until lunch on the same day that I realized that Fred and Brett were missing along with one of the assault rifles. I knew where they had gone and that I needed to act quickly. I took off in the shuttle in order to search the area from the air and about twenty minutes later spotted Brett dragging an obviously wounded Fred through a field. I landed the shuttle and was just making my way towards them when Fred raised his weapon directly at me and fired. For a split second I thought the farmer had gone mad and turned on me, but, just then I heard a thump behind me. When I turned I saw the tawny body of a Lossend dragon sporting a new bullet hole right between its four eyes. The blasted thing had flown up directly behind me in absolute silence. I was glad to see that Brett had learned from me how to shoot but then realized that it was probably more of a case of beginner's luck (Good dice rolling)... that's when my knees buckled.

Dust and Death:

It was two days after the Lossend dragon attack that the pirates made their move. It was late afternoon when I received a call from the Otter spotting several dust clouds on the horizon to North and West. Howard, Shitake, and Paul were doing some maintenance on the ship and it was a good thing they were. Since the ship was parked Northwest of the compound I ordered them into the air to avoid being attacked. The problem was that they needed Bill as a gunner on the ship and he was still in the compound. So, Bill made a run for the ship. I swear that's the fastest I've ever seen him move! He made it just as the pirate vehicles came into view, but, it was a close call.

What occurred next is a big blur but we have been able to piece some of the attack together. Here are the highlights:

• A truck with several pirates aboard and a combat buggy attacked from the North. Sect engaged both of them with the hover craft in a swirling battle. The buggy also engaged one of the farmers in the North tower. The pirate leader was in the truck and managed to get to the edge of the compound before being gunned down by Mimm James and one of the trained farmers.
• Two motorcycles attacked simultaneously from the West. One was evaporated by a great shot from the ship's laser. The other motorcycle barreled into one of the tiger traps, killing the driver. A passenger escaped the crash and began firing at Fred, Brett and Captain Burt.
• A large truck with a heavy weapon (an EM64 heavy gauss machine gun) was able to sneak up from the south and work its way into the compound opening fire behind Fred, Brett, and the captain which caused them to beat a hasty retreat.
• The Otter was slightly damaged by ground fire and Howard decided to take the ship up out of the range of the small arms. This made targeting the pirates more difficult for Bill.
• Mimm James was gunned down from behind and killed by one of the pirates that had snuck into the compound.
• The pirate Heavy weapon truck and the hover craft both stopped inside the compound and began exchanging fire. The hover was slightly wounded but distracted the crew of the truck enough so that One-eyed Burt could toss a grenade at short range directly under the vehicle (a good toss for a myopic fella). The explosion tore up the front of the vehicle and killed the driver. The gunner was wounded but Sect finished him off with a burst of automatic rifle fire.
• Once he saw Mimm's body the Captain started to search the compound for the stray pirate. He and Fred found him... actually almost ran into him around the grain silo. The pirate was fast and put a quick automatic burst into both of them; killing Fred and wounding Burt. It was a desperate moment for the captain but his luck held and he was able to give the pirate a full blast of his shotgun before the scoundrel could take aim again. The pirate fell in a crumpled heap.
• The remaining combat buggy decided to beat a hasty retreat . Sect and the hover might have caught up with the buggy if the hover hadn't been damaged in the fighting. The buggy hightailed it to the North and we let them go.

The Final Toll:
Pirates: 7 dead, 2 wounded and captured
Colonists: 3 dead, including Mimm James
Crew: One-eyed Burt severely hurt, everyone else is fine
The Otter: Slight damage to the cargo hold


Pay Day:

Without the pirates threatening the collective any more the harvest was quickly brought in and stowed into the hastily patched hull of the Otter. The run in-system back to St. Mary of Mars University was a quick one without any further incidents. I decided to not put in for repairs or fuel at the starship base on Mytoka to avoid the possibility of running into the pirate's ship.

Dr. Elsie was very happy to see us and very happy to receive the cargo load of grain. Pirate attacks in the Larry quadrant had stopped shipments of food to the university and things were getting desperate until we arrived. She paid me 15,000 credits for the job and I gave the crew their share (after expenses, of course) and let them do a little shopping on the campus.

Now that my wounds have fully healed I have taken stock in where we might find work next. After the battle we found the pirate leader's PDA and we were able to hack the security code. It revealed what appears to be a treasure map of a planet called Torrent a couple of sectors away, in towards the core. I have talked it over with the crew and they have agreed that it might be lucrative to check it out. Who knows, maybe I'll get the chance to hunt a Sorgath down while I'm there. Anyway, the crew's spirits are high and I'm feeling stronger every day we are in space...

[vladtaltos]

As always, JimmyD a very entertaining write-up, and glad to see the team survived. Beware the Sorgaths!

[jimmyd]

The next adventure will be an emergency stop at Void Station 57... and we all know what will happen there! Mwahahahaaaa! I may only give a quick wrap-up of that adventure so it does not have a spoiler effect for folks.

-jimmyd

[mister frau blucher]

Another awesome AAR!

Was this played out with Legos as well? Any photos (pretty please)?

Bret

[jimmyd]

Sure Bret. The table is still set up so I'll see about taking a few picks of the legos and post them.
-Jim

[jimmyd]

Here are the photos to go along with the last instalment of the "Pirates of Vankilla" adventure.


The pirate convoy on the move



The attack from the North led by the dred pirate "Rocket" Rodriguez donning his traditional pirate hat.



The truck with the EM64 Electro-magnectic gaus machinegun that snuck in from the South. Uh-ohhh!



The attack from the West on Motorcycles.



The modified survey speeder goes out to meet the enemy with a very happy farmer driving.



A rear view of the speeder and it's brave crew.




Caught under heavy fire Captain Burt and Farmer Brett decide to make a run for it. The two got lucky when the gunner missed almost every shot and they made it to cover safely.

I should have a new installment in the next week or two after our intrpid crew starts a new adventure. Stay tuned.

-Jimmyd

[jimmyd]

The Otter makes a stop at Void Station 57!

I decided to start the boy's summer vacation off with a bang last night. The Otter made a fatefull stop at VS57 to replace the Hyperspace Drive fuel that was lost due to a leaking fuel line (caused from the damage in the last firefight: see the Pirates of Vankilla thread). I will give you a full account later in the captain's log but thought I'd post some pictures for you now.

SPOILER ALERT: Some photos will give hints for the VS57 module.



My usual setup for our games. My "Captains Chair" and the black table cloths give a nice sci-fi feel. I love the height adjustable folding tables for this because the center table can be a setting higher than the players tables giving a very visible common area to play on while hidding all my GM crap under it.




My 3-D model of the station was a big hit with the players. It let everyone keep track of where we were without any record keeping. The red flag is where the crew are. The model cost about $8 in materials from Michaels craft store and took about an hour to make.





About an hour before the game I actually pulled this off a clock that was in my trash! Thanks to David O. Miller for this idea. I just happened to have a broken clock at just the right time (yeah, that was a pun).





Sect interfacing with the computer console in the Engineering section.




What's this... a visitor?




What a strange, unhappy, being! Does it need a hug?





I don't think hugging is an option here.





Many of our intrepid crew are already wounded... how many will survive this encounter with the massive construct creature? Stay tuned to find out. What a cliffhanger!