So, fourth session last night.
They've been exploring an old starship in orbit around Saturn (see ongoing campaign in signature if you're at all interested in reading about the bumbling campaign I'm running).
I've been adding to the mystery with dates (the ship is over 100 years old), weird mutated humans (ghoul and gorger stats), something big behind a door they never managed to open ... and a nightlord as the xenomorph stand-in. And lots of sounds, smells, and ... a hydra in the water reservoir.
Twice one or two members of the have been close to dying (i.e. rounds until death).
First time was the hydra - two got punctured lungs and were bleeding out. The medic is luckily as cautious guy, and competent, so he saved the day with bandages, suture pen and good rolling. That was two sessions ago. They spent three days on their ship just resting and recuperating, then went back in to fire up the main-frame computer and to locate one of the main generators.
Second time was last night. They'd seen, or heard, the nightxeno last sessions, so they were being really careful and vary about everything they did. They built traps, planned to trap it, or squash it using the big freight/cargo containers in the cargo hold, and so on...
In the end the xeno ambushed them by jumping down from above, and using its tendrils attacked all of them. One crushed windpipe, three entangled legs, two fate points and an aimed burst at point-blank range with an autoshotgun later and the thing was pretty much dead, and they were covered in acidic blood (ext. poison.) One guy is unconscious, another guy is dying (but unaware of this fact) and the other two guys go on to finish a remote control and ... and now things get silly, but this all happened: the pilot (autoshotgun guy) is unconscious from having taken too many concussion hits, the sniper is dying (but unaware), the medic is tending to them all, stopping bleeding and making sure the pilot isn't dead. The engineer finishes some work he started.
Now, to get evidence about these mutated creatures, and that they have found alien life (first they ever heard of that existing - what would happen if the general public heard about this?), the sniper decides to shoot down some of the mutated creatures that are hanging from the ceiling, all tied up and dead, but not shotgun blasted beyond recognition. He fumbles. He fumbles badly. He shoots the medic. The medic, luckily, survives. At this time I remembered that the sniper was supposed to be dying - I had forgotten to tell him, because he also almost died the last session he was in, the hydra puncturing lungs (just (un)lucky rolls on my part.) So he collapses and goes unconscious. The medic decides to help. So pilot and sniper unconscious. Sniper is stabilised, but needs hospital. In other words, they have to leave*. Intending to come back the engineer decides to hide the canisters they've taken from their ship to get the generator going. He hides one ... badly... and fumbles the camouflage check. So, moving maneuver I decided, he's carrying around a 20 mass canisters, trying to hide them in some shelves among other stuff. It's heavy lifting. He's weak. He fumbles. He rolls not too badly, but ... 2d10+10 on crush. He drops the damn thing on his leg, takes 7 hits ... goes unconscious. He had like 1 left... So, pilot, sniper and engineer is unconscious. The medic is alone with them, locked in a generator room, ~150 meters or so in a slightly winding route from where their ship is docked. A ship they know is populated by mutants, and now also aliens... and they know there's at least one or more thing still alive on this level.
In short: It worked out, but there was A LOT of grumbling and told-you-sos and more throughout the whole thing... quite entertaining, even if it was against my intent and desire for the ongoing game.
Now I suddenly find myself in the situation of having to make, populate and develop a bubble world in orbit around Jupiter. Caelestis - the name and place is taken from Tintamar in the HARP SF book, but I guess my version
may be a bit different from what may have been the idea behind it by the developers.
Originally I hadn't given it too much thought, they were dungeon crawling in space, the ship is big, they had time, I had time, no need to develop something that specific. I've made my alternative time-line and political environment in our solar system, based on Tintamar, but things are different and most is developed in a more general way. To give an impression of genre, tone... aesthetics. Stuff like that.
So, as they fled and arrived at Caelestis, I said the following: imagine Blade Runner, dark, neon, dirty, used, worn and nothing like associations the name of the bubble city may want to inspire.
Now, going by the HARP SF CRB, I can glean some ideas about these floating cities, they're the power in the Jovian system (confederation), which is still possible in a run-down, grimy, dark, corrupt version of it. But how big is it? There are three cloud cities according to the book, 27 million people, and colonies on some of the moons. Population is one measurement, but how big should they physically be? Has anyone made like a map, with zones, levels, detailed or more abstract, it doesn't matter.
I know that there may come a Tintamar setting book, at some point, and that I'm free to ignore whatever is in the CRB and/or any future supplement, but in working on my own alternate reality Tintamar - currently dubbed Sepsis, a pre-FTL version centred on our solar system - I wouldn't mind some more insight into what actually
is the intent, design and flavour of some of these places.
Or some suggestions, experiences and what you (and your group) have done in your own games, if your game ever went to Caelestis.
Next session is in a week and a half, so I have some time... but yeah, tips, tricks, ideas... suggestions. Anything.
Thanks.
*That's not what I wanted, but I realised things were getting out of hand quickly and they were suffering badly. And were about to run out of food.