The Opening Gambit

Setting up the Opening Scene

[Using GMA, I draw 7 cards to develop the opening scene:]

• Catalyst: A ship reappears…
• Location: Smuggler’s Den
• Senses: rumble of hover drone, lamps from the ends of barrels, rumbling sensation, scent of sage

From this, I decide Janus is on a space station in a smuggler’s den. Why is Janus here? [Working with the Action and Theme Tables from Starforged, I get: Impress Defense.] So my ship has been impounded, and I’m meeting with a Council Woman named [GMA draw] Veda to try and get access/release of my ship. Why is my ship impounded? [Descriptor and Focus Tables: Haunted Resource.] I’m smuggling something like Ectoplasm which is an illegal substance in these parts. They detected something amiss, so I’m using the ship’s AI, holoprojectors, and such to try and pass off the idea that the ship, itself, is haunted. This is what they detected with their scans. Before moving forward with this interaction, I think about the rest of the scene setup.

This ship reappearing: [I turn to the mix of Loremaster/Story Engine, drawing cards:

• Figure (of the options, I decide): Wayfinder, Troubled by Nightmares] From this I conclude that he’s been kidnapped and has nightmares from that time. [Continuing to develop this, I go back to drawing cards:]
• Faction: Coalition, Wanting to Start/Prevent a Ritual
• Figure: Lich [GMA draw for name] : Sib was kidnapped by the [Starforged Faction Name Tables] Coalition of the Radiant Suns. They used him to stop a ritual by [GMA draw] Tamora, as she was in the final stages of becoming a lich. (Not sure if this will have a place in the ongoing story yet or just interesting backstory material)

Regarding the senses, perhaps the Councilwoman smells of sage, but the rest put me in mind of a raid of some sort on the smuggler’s den. [I return to the Loremaster/Story Engine and draw cards:]

• Faction: Legion, Desire to Gather Object, Powder, Which can affect light/darkness So I’ve got the [Faction Name Tables] The First Accord who are seeking to acquire Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder (thank you Rowling). Some smuggler here has either stolen, lost, or somehow mishandled a shipment on their behalf. This might affect my ability to meet with the Councilwoman. `` [Using the MSE, I ask if there will be time to conduct business before the raid. Yes, but I’ve also rolled a Twist, which means something minor happens in the current scene. I roll on the Random Event Mythic Table and get New NPC.]

[I go back to the Loremaster/Story Engine:]

• Figure, Refugee, able to speak a dead language, ongoing sickness [My mind goes to the Protheans in Mass Effecet or Atlantians from Stargate. This is a lone survivor from a now-extinct/lost civilization. GMA draw] Zuri has recently been awakened from cyrostasis of some sort and has a related sickness (or perhaps something worse). [Since I’ve got an unexpected NPC arriving soon (Sib), I draw a motivation card for him and get “wants to protect.”] Somehow, Zuri has ended up with Sib (perhaps he rescued her?).

  Action of the scene

  (I begin thinking about the conversation with Councilwoman Veda, when one of my five year old sons comes over to the table, “What are you doing?” He’s seen me play RPG with his siblings (though their interest changes faster than the weather here in western PA). After a bit of explaining, he decides he wants to join me. The next few decisions are collaborative, especially when his twin brother comes and joins us, too).

We decide we’ll try and persuade the Councilwoman that our ship is haunted, but my magic makes them little more than a nuisance. [I’m thinking that I’m trying to use “official” language here, so I’ll use our Noble d4 (I think this would net us a plot point), we’re arguing from a place of logic, so Smarts d10, since I’ve been on the run, I’ve worked with lots of different people, so we’ll use the Escaped Clone distinction d8, and we’ll have Nandita look up local laws for helping us make our argument, adding Nandita d6. We’re rolling against 2d8, 1d10. We fail the check but decide to spend a Plot Point to turn it into a success (Were I alone, I might have taken the failure and played out the consequences).] She also informs us that they ordered [Figure draw Paranormal Investigator (seemed the most appropriate), GMA] Ophelia, a paranormal investigator, to search my ship (and hence why it had not yet been released from being impounded).

She’ll begin processing the paperwork to release our ship. That’s when hear the rattling of glasses and the floor begging to shake. The whine of an engine, then lights, and soldiers from The First Accord raid the den. It’s decided we’ll try and flee and reach our ship. [Our challenge of “Escape” is set at 3d6.]

The first thing we do is send Nandita to fly into the air as we flip the table, causing the Councilwoman, who doesn’t want to be seen here, to scream. Pockets of the air are instantly turned to darkness, so we decide to make an escape from the den. [This calls for Haste d6, Escapted Clone d8, and Scoundrel d10. We succeed on the check, and our effect die is high enough to knock a die out of the challenge pull.]

Getting into the hallway, we spot a local guard, who is reacting to the noise at the den. My kids (as expected) decide that we should punch the guard. We make use of our illusion magic, taking on the appearance of a guard so that we can close the distance. [We’ll use Initiate distinction d8, Fighter d6, Guile d8, and Mask of Many Faces d8. Rolling against 2d6, 1d8 (the guard), heroic succeed on this check, banking a d8 Hero Die and are able to remove another die from the challenge pool.]

With only 1d6 left in the challenge pool, we decide to try use the guard’s radio and lure some guards away so that Veda can also escape unnoticed. [We roll Escaped Clone d4 (we’re reluctant to use our voice on the radio), Guile d8, Scoundrel d10, and Nandita (helping us with protocol) d6, against 1d6, 1d8 (other guards) and succeed, but we roll two Hitches (1’s).] This whole ordeal has left us shaken, so we take Afraid Stress d8.

Since we helped Veda escape, she’ll accelerate the paperwork. [Will we get there before Opehlia? MSE result: yes, but not too much sooner.] We decide that we’ll get there before she has a chance to board but she is going to end up tracking us.

As we begin to pull away from the station, Nandita alerts us that there’s a familiar IFF signal that just popped on the radar…

Threads List

1. Expose Nakajima Technologies
2. Help Sib
3. Deal with Ophelia