L5R - Whats Next

Seeing as its not me who is running Legend of the Five Rings, it does give me a chance to reflect and get ready for next games to come.

I have the desire to finish the Freeport Trilogy as it has an ending worthy of the effort - even if the group are heading in the wrong direction.

But as to what comes next, well thats an open book as far as I am concerned, but I do have a few "pages" bookmarked.

Firstly, Serenity. I really would like another player or 2 to join in the boost up the crew numbers. There is a story to tell and I suppose Id be happy to finish that off with the current group, but I doubt I'll continue as part of the success of the game is the dynamics of the group.

Here are a few of the other games that I have chosen to run, and curious to know what other people think of whats on offer.

Werewolf: The Dark Ages - yes I know I said Id never run this 3rd part, but I find the idea alluring still to run a game set in the dark ages. Not because the skies were black, but rather the period of history where we know so little of the occurings.

Twilight 2000 - there are enough military and gun nuts in the group that this could be fun, I think having grown up in the 80s, calling myself a child of the bomb, its fair to say I'd like to run a game set in the era (which is now history rather than the future.)
Engel - angels and demons in a devastated future, I've wanted to run this the moment I heard about the game, let alone actually now owning it. I am not 100% sure Ill run it as a D20 game or use the Arcana system which is available online

Orpheus - a role-playing game about a ghostly detective agency, limited short run campaign written by White Wolf

Deadlands - carrying on from where we left off

I have a few one-shots lying around that might be interesting;

Judge Dredd - the original Games Workshop flawed edition

Paranoia - the new XP edition

&

Warhammer 40,000 RPG Demo Adventure - we are all fans of the WHFRP game, and this should just be a perfect extension of the game. I loved Fading Suns RPG, and this game will be even bleaker than that little effort.

News Update

Lots to say, both good and bad.

New job, better prospects and money, and more local so no commuting.

Back in the RPG saddle both running and playing (Im running Serenity for those that need to know, and gearing up for WHFRP2 playing).

The book was on hold anyhow because Im writing the RPG campaign and I wrote it while commuting on the train. So now that Im not commuting it means less time to write RPGs and my novel. Its not forgotten.

More at 10

Serenity Episode 1.02

o my second session of Serenity came and went. About half of the original players turned up, plus we had a new player. So first of all the group size was smaller and because of the players, the dynamics of the group were different too. I basically had 4 quiet gamers!

Heres hoping session 3 brings better rewards. My appraisal of the session, was great role-playing from the attended, but a serious lack of preparation on my part fucked the night up for me, and a couple fo the players, so sorry.

From the log of Capn Linlora, Ms

The Christeen V, my Ship, took off into the black, just as planned, but that's the only thing that happened as scheduled. Funny thing was that was the part I expected to go wrong. Still can't blame a woman for betting on a being in a bad place in good times.

Soon as Norm (our opera loving pilot) gave the all-clear, we dropped the seat-belts and got about our duties. Seems Agatha (our resident Shepherd Doctor) took it upon herself to start cleaning my ship. Never thought I'd say how nice disinfectant smells in the morning. Of course no one has any idea whether it is morning or day, unless we are on the clock. This is my first time in charge of a ship and a crew, so I needed to learn fast about what deals make money, and who to trust.

I'll be honest and say I'm not happy with the crew at the moment, seems they all have either too much or too little to do. Trouble is I'm too busy to do anything else. Hopefully that will all change soon. The moment our course for the mining belter colonies was set, Ewen reported that Jal (that womanising mechanic who along with Norm formed my first two crew) wasn't at his engineering post, and to make matters even worse, this new engine was pumping red oil out like a fire hydrant.

Jasper (an unfortunate punk with a penchant for knives), reported that someone had smashed the outer airlock glass. He noticed the damage on a routine tour of the cargo bay.

A sharp judder from the engine room had everyone on alarm and everyone was ordered to the engine room. Everyone excet of course Jal, but jasper it seemed had uncovered a stowaway!

For a man with enough weapons pointed at him to down a small army, the stowaway remained pretty cool. When I challenged him on his sudden appearance, it seemed it had been hiding in the cargo bay for a number of hours. Apparently he came about the job advert. According to him, we were in eager need of a troubleshooter, a gun for hire, and he felt he fitted the bill. He looked more like a trouble-maker than shooter. The young man who called himself Ash, also smoked like a trooper. Oh lord, why do you test me so.

I locked him in one of the defunct shuttles (one of Jal's many unfinished projects) minus his weapons and smokes and called a crew meeting in the mess hall. I had a question that only Jal could answer, and he aint anywhere, despite his bunk unmade, and his gear still lying around. I'm still hoping the kid turns up, not because I want him to fix the ship's engine, Ewen did a decent enough hack job, but because I need to flay the idiot alive for hiring a 3rd unwanted crew member. Do we really need a cook and a doctor? The food tastes the same, and I don't envisage us getting into too many sticky situations. And a shepherd doctor at that!

No one gave me a good reason to keep him, but only Jasper voice a desire to see the man eat a deathly dose of the 'verse. Because I don't rightly trust Jasper, I'll keep this Ash alive.

By the time I'd sorted this mess out, Norm informed me that we were about to be boarded by a bunch of Federal Cops. How they had managed to sneak up on when Norm was at his station I've no idea, but I didn't have long to find my paperwork, let alone get it in order. Seems these two federal goons were looking for a certain Captain Jacques Devlin, who was caught heading Coreward with a bunch of forged Independent Script. Guess that would be my fault, but a deal is a deal.

Norm, apart from practising a little helpful paranoia, called me up onto the flightdeck. Seems this police ship, aint what it appears to be saying. A little New Mexican standoff ensured these guys revealed they were just security goons hired by the Nyotenkyo corporation to keep tabs on who is and who isn't flying in their part of the 'verse. I don't blame em for trying, well not after I cleaned out their ship of the few supplies they had stored, kinda nice of them. There wasn't a lot. Maybe enough for two guys for a couple of weeks.

Norm worked some of his magic on their flight console. I'm not interested in knowing the details, just as long as we aint followed, which I was assured would would happen long after we left.

Things don't always go smooth, next time I hope the take off is the problem, not stowaways, missing engineers and bogus federal cops.

Serenity Episode 1.01

Writing has halted for now, partly because I need to get more material written up from notes onto my laptop. The other reason for it halting is we had a massive crash at work on our servers meaning I couldn't print anything for a week, and seeing as 90% of my printing of my book is done at work, that has held it up.

Also I am running a RPG game again, Serenity, carrying on from where I left off. I only ran 1 session but it spawned 2 write-ups, which I am giving you the link for here.

http://www.ukroleplayers.com/viewtopic.php?t=824

One write up is from the Engineer, the other from our resident Shepherd Doctor.