OSR Commentary On The Hostile Rpg & The Shoulder of Orion Military campaign- Session Report 'The Tiger or The Lady

 Last night's Shoulder of Orion game picked right up from this blog post here  & got kicked into high gear with the player's PC's facing down semi black & blue horror from beyond the depths of space. 
Our ships ended up near some nameless little rock after exitting the hyperspace gate via Tanhauser Gate & getting into a running battle with a cruiser near this nameless rock. 

Things went from bad to worse when we decended planetside to land after doing a series of controlled burns. And there was evidence of a what was left from a colony. We made contact with the colony's surviving forces & the local milita. All of which was taken directly out of Independence Games Hub Forces book. 

What came at us came at us out of the darkness and hit us hard. These things tore into our guys in a hurry and it was brutal. There was little time to call in for back up as our Gypsy ships moved in for strafing runs across the planet's atmosphere. We've located the survivors before the 'wasps' that's what we're calling em managed to take anymore. The party managed to add in about fifty survivors to our current ship's roaster. And we managed to add in at least three more minor ships for our portable battle stations. We went over the ships for the 'alien wasps' that we faced down. 
All of these battle stations came directly out of &  can easily be designed from Independence Games Port of Entry Starports in the Clement sector book. 

We hit em hard & fast then left before any other corporation merc forces came into the area. And we scorched the land behind us as well. The campaign is feeling more like a 2d6 version of Science Fiction Vietnam & this has been another thing that John Brunner talked about in his Science Fiction. The never ending wars attrition that the corporations got into. 
We're regrouping around some nameless star system & checking for signs of an alien infection or issues. We've got our own version of CCA scout crews and explorers going ahead of our party now as we learned from our mistakes the last time. 

We've already got runners in Gypsy ships going with our explorers after some weird engagments we had last game. Will we survive?! Tune in next week! 

OSR Commentary On The Hostile Rpg & The Shoulder of Orion Military campaign - Explorers & Miners

 This morning over a spot of breakfast & some tea with a few of my fellow DM's at a local donut place. And we're talking space colonies within the Shoulder of Orion. So we picked straight up from this blog post here.  The way we're envisioning this is the fact that these megacorps were dropping colonies like McDonald's Happy Meals. After the explorers & mining expediations blew through these various systems. 

At this point however the locals are now in the cross hairs of the marines & the megacorp forces. The colonists of course might be expenable assets. But are they really?! There might be a hidden asset that comes in the form of a station refinery outfit that takes on any & all planetary ores to be processed. These can easily be designed from Independence Games Port of Entry Starports in the Clement sector book. 

But are these corporate assets really going to be destroyed or will the colonists simply switch sides when the marines arrive?! A simple change in corporate logos and back to work they go under new management?! I believe the answer to this,yes. 

And that answer is found within Zozer Games ubiquis Pioneer Stations that seem to be scattered across the Hostile sector like so many pebbles across a beach. 

Because all of these campaign elements work hand in hand with the explorers and who sends out these teams?! The Cascadia Colonization Authority, which is made up of the department heads from various mega corps. Because even though the mega corporations might be at war not every end of the hydra is going to be. Some of these get along just fine especially when newer alien planetary resources are to discovered. We wouldn't want any of the other megacorps gaining a lead over the other now would we. 

To be sure there are going to be causlities of engagements & outright corporate destruction of property & assets. But the companies will 'try' to minimize the taking of life especially of colonists. Because skilled labor is downright expensive and putting a colonist out in middle of nowhere squared only to be killed by Gypsy ships? This is just not acceptable. 

And what about those entities that simply don't care?! We discussed yesterday the idea of waste products being left scattered across the 'Shoulder of Orion' in the form of artificial alien entities or biological product. 

This is where  Zozer's Alien Breeds comes in for us. 

The idea that we are the product for the other products is nothing new. But add into this the factor of artificial biological soldiers and things get weird & interesting. Weird because the locals just the sort you find in  Hub Federation Ground Forces are going to be on the production schedule for the deadly creatures found in 'Alien Breeds'. 

One second the synthetics megacorporation A. might be fighting against the colonists or locals & then in a death rattle with them against things that have been inactive for eons. Things that  only to adapt to our biology very quickly and shift their focus to a very alien agenda to the human race. 

Alliances shifting like sands because of the radical movement of history is another theme that John Brunner addresses over & over again in his fiction. 

OSR Commentary On The Hostile Rpg & The Shoulder of Orion Military campaign - Send in the Marines or The Locals

 When it comes to putting together mercenary corporate forces Zozer games delivers the goods with the Marine Corps Handbook 2215. You get your money's worth with a perfect balance of background, character careers, weapons, vehicles, air- and spacecraft, rules enhancements, and mission creation. But let's pick this up from the last blog entry here.  The marines are not used lightly in a military campaign such as the Shoulder of Orion. 

Who or what military forces could a well established colony world bring to bear on other incoming corporate forces? What 2d6 supplements could be used to throw light on such an eventuality that players wouldn't be expecting?! Two supplements come to mind right out of the blue. Tim's Guide to The Ground Forces of Hub Subsector & Zozer Games Modern War both spring to mind for very different reasons. The Ground Forces of Hub Subsector  has a perfect set up for an organized & well developed military for an advanced  planetary defense force. And Zozer Games Modern War has an excellent 2d6 military set of rules for exactly the kind of actions one may see planet side. 

Out around the Shoulder of Orion there could be countless colony worlds that have been established for a very long time & yet they've gotten sucked into this corporate for the control of the Tanhauser gate hyperspace net work. Yet,colonies with fully home grown & manufactured militaries are going to put a kink in the armor of many corporate entities. 
If the marines are called in they are going to crush ninety percent of the corporate colony forces. There three reasons for this state of affairs. One the marines have access to better weapons & technologies. Two year is 2022 and the military are on the move again. So the weapons get teased at get their debut within the military events on the colony worlds. Within John Brunner's Science Fiction there's plenty of  people who are a part of the local colony milita's & military forces. In John Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar there's hints of the outer world colonies already forming military forces against Earth. You can get caught up with Brunner's incredible book on the Blackgate blog here. 

And can you really blame the colonists in Stand on Zanzibar?! Think about it within the blackness of space between the natural forces trying to anhiliate you & the overpopulated Earth screaming into the solar system and beyond. The independent colonists don't have a lot of choice but to think about taking up arms against Mother Earth. But what does this have to do with the Shoulder of Orion campaign?! Quite a bit if we think about. 
The Earth's megacorporations  has pushed it's colonies further and further from Earth in a race to claim as much of interstellar space as possible. And some of these colonies could we be on the very edge of what was our known points of knowledge. Places where other alien civilizations once flourished in point of fact. But it's what they left behind that concerns our players. The  Fermi Paradox included within this campaign leaves the question given time & possible alien technologies what could we find around the Shoulder of Orion?! The most dangerous thing in space might still be mankind. But would we recognize the remains of alien technology or would it look like alien life?! 

Given this would such alien life adapt to our biology exceedingly quickly enough to begin adapting itself to our needs or it's own? The thought here is the latter and not the former. The frontier of space is much more dangerous then we even know. And this is where Zozer's Alien Breeds comes in for us. 

Speaking with my fellow DM's for two days or so, the origins of the Xenomorphs from Alien & Aliens esepcially from the heady days of the Dark Horse comics series. Seem more like a left over biological or is it extra biological technological product rather then some A.I. created abomination to us. And from this perspective then technologies left on some distant world might be more akin to a bioengineered disease rather then a biological weapon whose purpose is long forgotten. A product able to adapt it's biology to have humanity service it rather then the point or purpose of a tool user such as the human race. Stumbling across such a waste product might be the last thing that humanity would expect. 
And who would be dealing with such entities?! Well, that would be the local militia forces whose colonists stumble across such 'products'. On the outer edges of the Shoulder of Orion some colonists stumble into what they think are caves or caverns billions of years old. These are actually the remains of alien architecture and something begins the process of adapting the humans to servicing it. 
The  Unmerciful Frontier: The CCA Sourcebook Third Edition's forces would be called in first and eventually the marines would. But would the megacorporations let such secrets go?! We all know the answer to that one. 

Imagine what happens when the other armed forces stumble into such an alien world?! They might not even have a ghost of a chance. Whose left to clean up such a mess?! The local military forces of course. You've got to clean up your own back yard after all. And what is the role of PC's in all of this?! Well it just might be their backyard after all. 

OSR Commentary On The Hostile Rpg & The Shoulder of Orion Military campaign - Hyperspace Gates & Artificials

 Today was another day when we players & dungeon masters got together to shoot the shite. Down some beers & work on some of our cars. And it came up as to the continuing role that China would play in the instellar warfare scene? And what would happen if one or more countries came across something truly alien on some exoplanet far from Earth?! This blog entry picks right up from here. The various interstellar corporate powers begin sending out scouts & explorers into  the Tannhauser gate. And these are as vital to our Shoulder of Orion game as the soldiers fighting on the various planetary beach heads. 

The  Tannhauser gate isn't simply one hyperspace gate but an artifact if you of a network of hyperspace gates built eons ago by some alien civilization. And in point of fact it's the only left over artifact of these unknown aliens. But what of the planets on the otherside of the gate network?! Well these exoplanets are actually the prize. But how to design the alien life forms of these?! While Zozer Games Explorers goes into some deep meaning exploritory material. We wanted to go into more details on these alien lifeforms that while familar are going to be few tech levels away. 

Enter Wondrous Menagerie: Uplifts in Clement Sector Third Edition By John Watts. Here we've got a guidelines for creating uplifted animal PC's and some common types of uplifts. These uplifts are perfectly suited to the Frontier feel of the Clement sector. But it doesn't take a genius to take one or two types add in some other cybernetic systems and here's an alien no one is expecting. 

But what if this is only the start of it?! Imagine coming across wild cybernetic lifeforms operating out of some poisonous world waiting for our space explorers to run across them?! Imagine running across a SW11 Malingee Warbot with zero touch stone for why it's there, who built it, and what it's purpose is. The SW11 Malingee Warbot is taken directly out of Artifical Robots in the Clement sector. Here's the full breakdown;" STR DEX INT EDU SOC 15 13 8 8 3 Hit Points 60/124 Spherical (Sphere) Chassis TL 11 Overall Weight = 394kg Armour = Cloth Reinforced Chassis = 4 points Hardened and Sealed System Spherical Chassis Head = All sensors & Vocoder Fuel Cell 50 Power Duration = 18 Days Arms = Standard (Heavy) 2x, Locomotion = Anti-Grav A (200kph) Medium Machinegun (Arm Mount External) 2x RAM Grenade Launcher (Chassis Integrated) 1x Low Autonomous Core, Full Command Core/6 Module 6x Synaptic Storage TL 10 5x (15) Advanced Storage 10x (20) Heavy Weapons (Vehicle Mounted)/2 Ground Combat (Infantry)/1 Flyer (Grav)/1 Recon/1 Zero-G/1 Advanced Optical 2x Optical Zoom 2x Advanced Audio 2x Polarising Shield 2x Vocoder Personal Comm Radio Class III (Regional 500km) 500 Round Machine Gun Magazine 2x 24 Round RAM Grenade Magazine" 
This cybernetic lifeform is really nasty. So who or what is maintaining it and why would it be way out on some random exoplanet?! 

Could corporations of Hostile accept the fact that there are other life forms out in the universe?! Or would the inherit paranoid of mankind expose some other power fielding such powerful warbots?! In John Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar we see the first automated weapon systems & the seeds of the evolution of warbots such as these. In the alternative history of the Shockwave Rider we see that these warbots are just entering production. But these warbots are very flawed and the first steps maybe mankind's last. 

Warbots such as these especially if alien would be some of the deepest & darkest secrets of the megacorporations. Cybernetic lifeforms are a game changer for mankind the least of which is unravelling the secrets of such life forms. 

OSR Commentary On The Hostile Rpg & The Shoulder of Orion Militery campaign - From Board Room to Battleground

 So today was a day where a bunch of us gamers got together to do a couple of quick oil changes, check spark plugs, and generally do some routine gear head stuff. And this blog entry picks up from here & especially here.   The question came up,'What would China do to level the corporate playing field in the Shoulder of Orion' campaign? What would happen if China had produced some incredibly bright & highly dangerous replicants that created to workover corporate board rooms. And so we're talking about something beyond the usual capabilities of Zozer Games Synthetics & Zaibatsu operatives here. 

And then the answer was one that was already on my hard drive and that's Tree of Life: Altrants in Clement Sector Third Edition By John Watts. Within Tree of Life is a specific style of what they call Altrants ie replicants or vat grown clones with special abilities. And the ideal candidate type of agent to field for this style of work would be the sirens. Sirens are created to be the ultimate sexual partner & plaything but they could also be the perfect spies or agents for a cyberpunk style corportation. According to the Tree of Life: Altrants in the Cement Sector's description; "Sirens are altrants created to be sexual partners for baseline humans. They were first created by adult entertainment corporations in the United States, Japan, and Indonesia. The name “Siren” stems from the corporation Pleasures Incorporated’s original name for the altrant. As with many altrants, the first name used for the type has, over time, become the standard term. Sirens have since been created by several corporations and are seen in Earth Sector and Clement Sector. Sirens are specifically designed to match the beauty standards of the culture for which they are intended. This can vary wildly as tastes are often different across many strata of society and thus there are a variety of appearances for Sirens. Sirens are often created with exaggerated features designed to entice members of the cultural group to which they are attractive." 

Imagine a small R&D cloning lab somewhere in the South China Sea which has cutting edge bio engineering  technology.  They develop the first of the Sirens as corporate agents able to read body language, have perfect memory, and the ability to seduce in mind or body. Since the Sirens have a limited lifespan they make the perfect agents for the state. And possibly one of the most extreme state secrets for it's time. And with the interstellar war going on in the Shoulder of Orion the Sirens are simply another agent on the field or in the board room. 

So what does any of this have to with John Brunner's Science Fiction?! Back in the alternative Science Fiction history of Shockwave Rider we get our first hints of clones such as the Sirens. Clones whose genetic makeup is pushed in the direction desired traits. Things don't work out for such creatures and I believe the shortened life spans of the Sirens are another example of this. 

OSR Commentary On The Hostile Rpg & Round Rigel's Moon A Part Of The Military Action At The Shoulder of Orion - The Chess Pieces Move Into Place

 One things that one does to be a dungeon master is to look outside of the norm and over weekend I was talking with some folks about ecology. Specifically, planetary ecology &  that brought our attention back to our 'Shoulder of Orion' Hostile & Cepheus Engine rpg campaign going on. And this brought my personal attention back to the Dirtside rules by Paul Elliot.  Why?! Because the planetary wilderness is as much of a character in our games as the war. Today's blog post picks up right from here. 

The corporate powers have made their move. The 'Shoulder of Orion' action has moved to the star Rigel and if we look at the Rigel wiki entry; "Rigel is a blue supergiant star in the constellation of Orion. It has the Bayer designation β Orionis, which is Latinized to Beta Orionis and abbreviated Beta Ori or β Ori. Rigel is the brightest and most massive component – and the eponym – of a star system of at least four stars that appear as a single blue-white point of light to the naked eye. This system is located at a distance of approximately 860 light-years (260 pc) from the Sun." 
Because Rigel is a blue supergiant that has exhausted it's outer core, the systems around it are perfect for the fast moving, loosely put together, and easily deployable 'Gypsy attack ships'. There is very little to these ships except for a cockpit, ion engine, and weaponry. These ships are perfect to go up against the big boys in this case Historical ships of the Clement Sector's Trent Destroyer.  

The Trent Destroyer is literally the cutting edge of corporate interstellar mayhem and fielding one costs large amounts of money. Why field a few of these artillery pieces into the war?! The fact that Betelgeuse is also on the field of war & that star means resources folks. The action however is going to be starting planet side on one of the minor planets of Rigel first. The planetary action is going to be man to man with soldiers going up against each other with the alien wilderness playing it's part. 

OSR Commentary On The Hostile Rpg & Dragon Magazine issue #27 A Part Of The Military Action At The Shoulder of Orion - One Thing Leads To Another

 This post is going pick right up from here where the Dutchman has been fading in & out of his history off the 'Shoulder of Orion'. Who or what is responsible for the universal hyperspace gate at Tannhauser Gate?! Possibly aliens who are long dust millions of years ago now only a few artifacts remain and this goes deeply into the mysteries surrounding 'The Shoulder of Orion'  at Mu Orionis. And the artifact in question comes from The Dragon magazine issue#27  in  'Tesseracts: A Traveller Artifact' By Gary Jordon..


Played correctly & the Tesseract itself becomes an alien artifact or space dungeon of high value: "Tesseracts (or hypercubes) have appeared in the pages of TD before, as a gimmick to confuse the mapmakers of D&D. Rather than attempt to confuse the players of TRAVELLER, I’d like to present that device as a boon to them. Readers of that previous article will recall that tesseracts have the peculiar property of containing eight times their actual physical volume, sort of a technological bag of holding. Considered as an artifact, rather than a magical nexus, I postulate the tesseract as a cubical structure with no openings into the “normal” three dimensional space. This is merely the framework, connected to a hyperspace generator; inside is the tesseract itself, consisting of eight cubical rooms or compartments weirdly interconnected (for how weirdly, see the previous article) and each with the same volume as the framework which contains them. Figure 1 is the layout of the internals and their interrelationship; Figure 2 is how the tesseract might be represented in ship’s plans." And within a hypercube of this nature space itself could be warped & the hypercube's technologies valuable beyond reckoning; "Access/egress to the tesseract is via matter transmitter/receiver pairs (mattermitters). One is located within each tesseract employed, while one is located outside the tesseract but within its limited range. The internal structures within are constructed by the shipbuilder and mattermitted into the operating hyperfield. The contents of a hyperfield are impervious to influences exerted from without. Nothing, up to and including a supernova will affect a tesseract in operation, so long as the hyperspace generator continues to function. Interruption of power to the generator for durations of longer than 60 seconds or destruction of the generator itself will cause the field to degenerate and collapse, resulting in the permanent loss of the contents in hyperspace."  The original builders of these technologies are long dead & have passed beyond the pale of the universe. But the tesseract itself bends the laws of physics while keeping the mysteries of hyperspace intact. 
What is the tesseract itself & what was it's function?! Issue#27 of The Dragon's article offers some possibilities. But we're not going to explore those in our springing this on the crew of the Einstein. 

The Dutchman has the location of the Tesseract within it's memory banks & it appears a light refractive sphere floating against the background of Mu Orionis. But there's another corporation's ship in orbit around the artifact ship. How will the crew react to their presence & one of humanity's greatest discoveries?! Probably with extreme violence but we shall see coming up over the weekend! 

Legend of the Dutchman - The Hostile Rpg & Dragon Magazine issue #51 A Part Of The Military Action At The Shoulder of Orion

 This post is going to pick right back up from this blog entry here So today DM Steve came over to help out with putting some air conditioners in at Casa De Fabiaschi and since he's one of the players in our  'The Shoulder of Orion' campaign. I let it slip between beers that the Dutchman had been sighted  within the  'The Shoulder of Orion'  at Mu Orionis. Now Steve goes outside and calls everyone to tell them. What they don't know is that a hundred years has passed at 'The Shoulder of Orion' due to  time dilation. The crew of the Einstein a Rockwell Harbinger is made up of veterans of 'The Shoulder of Orion' conflict  And whom DM Steve is a part of is now on their way to the Dutchman. And it's simply another angle to the 'The Shoulder of Orion' battles which to current game is current events. But to the crew of the Einstein is hundred year old history. But who cares about 100 year old information?! 

Remember Carter Burke from Aliens the guy who got the wild cat miners killed? He was acting on Ripley's intelligence about the Space Jockey ship looking for his big payday. And the crew of the Einstein is no different except there's a lot more going on here. That ship has information on a whole array of unexplored planetary systems out on the bleeding edge of space. 
But there are other interested parties in the Dutchman including the Space Force. So it's going to be a question of who get's to it first. And then there's the question of the computers aboard the Dutchman. These were taken specifically from Dragon magazine issue #51's article 'In Defense of the Computer' by  Paul Montgomery Crabaugh. Why use an ancient Traveller article!?  Because I want the players to have to deal with 100 year old technology that will cause headaches! 

Crew Expendable features  the Rockwell Harbinger & for the crew of the Einstein this ship has been home for over a year now. And it's a tight little family of a crew that has deep connections to 'The Shoulder of Orion' campaign setting. Two of the crew are synethitcs for the eight man crew and are obsolete combat andies. The captain is also a veteran of the Adam program who mustered out with a Harbinger in his background. The others have a stake in the Dutchman as well for varying reasons. Will the Dutchman's A.I. know about the Einstein?! Most likely with the various sensors on board. 
The legend of the Dutchman blew up with the players making up rumors about the survey ship. Here's ten rumors about the Dutchmen: 

1. The Dutchman has been in hyperspace longer then any other survey ship & has been to otherside of the galaxy or else where. 
2. Hell rides with the Dutchman & to see it is bad luck & you will die in 10 days from the sighting. 
3. There are aliens watching the Dutchman and it's now spying on the human race watching for what we're going to next. 
4. Time runs funny around the Dutchman & she can yank a ship right outta of hyperspace.
5. The Dutchman is home to a radical terrorist organization or cult that worships some dark alien menace only they know about. 
6. Treasure flows in the hold of the Dutchman her captain made a deal with the Devil.
7. Anyone who comes in contact with the data from the Dutchman's computers goes mad! 
8. A family of corporate heads has secrets in the Dutchman's computers that they want hidden & they'll kill anyone who finds out their secrets. 
9. The whole starship is now a living alien thing that plies the space ways for starships to consume them whole! 
10. Aliens are now in control of that ship and she sails the damned winds of alien stars to see her is death! 

 

OSR Commentary On The Hostile Rpg & Dragon Magazine issue #51 A Part Of The Military Action At The Shoulder of Orion

 This morning its been a whirl wind of activity followed by phone calls & player's questions about throwing something together this weekend. So this weekend it's gonna be a balancing act of taking on a whole bunch of DM Steve's players from old school Traveller & bringing them into my on going Hostile game. Enter Dragon magazine issue #51 which has lots of articles devoted to old school Traveller!  This is post is going pick up right from this blog entry here. 

And one of the articles in The Dragon issue #51 is Masers & Cameras By Paul Montgomery Crabaugh. Within it is section on adding in a Survey Module; 'The Survey Module For those of you who spend a lot of time poking around uncharted planets wondering what things are like at ground level, there is the Survey Module. The module is an array of cameras, sidescanning radar, IR cameras, telescopes and such, along with various support equipment, to gather the information needed to map a planet. The Survey Module masses three tons and costs MCR 1. The three tons are fairly amorphous, being mostly freestanding consoles and the like, and can thus be fit into any three-ton volume aboard which has at least one exterior wall. The most common installation is in the erstwhile cargo hold of a Scout ship.' Sounds like perfect retrotech device  to add into a Hostile game. A corporate exploritory ship that holds a few of these Survey modules is lost or captured by 'outlaws' who demand a randsom for the return of the module. 

Let's give this ship a spin with the effects of time diliation here by allowing the survey ship to be lost for fifty years or so. This ship's hyperspacial transponder then begins transmitting and now the Space Force suddenly becomes very interest. Where has it been & what data does it contain?! If we incorporate this into the Shoulder of Orion campaign setting suddenly things become a lot more interesting. 

The automated survey ship may have brought far more back with it then the player's mercs are going to be expecting. How will this play out?! There a few ideas that are playing in the back of my head with Dragon magazine issue #51. Because in the same article there's a bit on Masers; 'Masers are microwave lasers. Actually, technically, a laser is a visible-light maser, to reflect the priority of invention. However, the term laser has become ascendent. A ship-mounted maser cannon is not much of an offensive weapon, although at close (boarding) range it could have unpleasant effects on a person’s nervous system. Maser cannons are intended primarily as defensive weapons, since a hit by a maser would tend to confuse electromagnetic sensors (such as radar) rather thoroughly. A maser is similar to a beam laser in size, shape and so forth. It costs MCR planet’s rotation has not been retarded: the length of the day, in other words. More will be said later about the odd entry for a size 8 world. Mass is the mass of the planet, relative to Earth. The lower three sizes are best described as “very small.” If it is necessary to have a figure in pounds, by all means look it up. But the relative figure is the most useful. O(t) is the period, in minutes, of a tight orbit (200 miles). A useful figure for planning pickups or surveys. O(synch) is the altitude of a synchronous orbit in kilometers. A good place to be to maintain communications with a ground party. Once again, the planet is assumed to have an unretarded rotation; retarded rotations produce other altitudes. Concerning retardation and the 15-hour period of 8000-milewide worlds: 15 hours, more or less, is how long the Earth’s day would be but for the good graces of (mostly) the moon, which has been slowing our rotation down, bit by bit, over the eons. This phenomenon is called “retardation.” 1.25, since it is not a commonly used item. It is not affected by sand in combat. If the target ship has a fibre optic computer, a DM of -2 is imposed to hit (actually, there is the same chance of hitting, but less chance of confusing, the target). A successful hit by a maser has the effect of imposing a -1 DM on the enemy‘s attacks for the next turn. This effect is cumulative; three hits by masers cause a -3 DM on all attacks made during the next turn." 
Now I'm wondering if maser systems might be used in the Shoulder of Orion as another part of this automated  survey ship's systems. And this is when it hits that the reputation of this survey ship should be like a legendary flying dutchman of  'The Shoulder of Orion'  at Mu Orionis. Corporations will fight over such a ship, assassins will murder for it's location, and we can create a blood thirst mess in the middle of interstellar space quite easily! 

 

OSR Commentary & Session Report II - Military Action At The Shoulder of Orion Using Synthetics By Shawn Fisher, & Paul Elliott From Zozer Games For The Hostile rpg

 I'm just getting back from the weekend's Hostile game part II, you can read part one here.  Our PC's consciouses were back loaded into new clone bodies  by the company. And we're found ourselves in Starlifter Module shuttle down to the surface of some nameless moon within the  'The Shoulder of Orion'  at Mu Orionis. 

Soldier 3525 was a part of the Adam Project section III. And we were going up against a unit of combat androids who were a part of a rival mercenary company. Gemini IV is a Mars like world with very little atmosphere & what is there is a poison cocktail of rare gases . We were looking to secure a square patch of mountainside military base & the base's transponder. 
Things moved along until we met the local alien wildlife that appeared to be part crab, part giant spider, and a very bad attitude. These things bounded from their underground lairs & took out two of our number.This time I didn't die. But Hostile's Rpg system can be brutal! We scambled up the mountainside because of low gravity & landed in powered milk for sand. We had to bounce & slog our way through the lower part of the mountain. 
And that's when we came under fire from the combat androids. And we hit cover as fast as we could and had to do a quick sweep of the area picking off four combat andies. The  Starlifter Module shuttle came in low & the door gunner got three of the others on fort's left side. An incoming missile almost got our ride back ship side! 

We got a chance to see ship to planet side weapons in action during this game! As  kinetic bombardment weapons rained down on the planetside of Gemini IV from the orbiting space craft! Huge swaths of the local countryside were gone in an instant. And the base full of the andies is still there! What will happen from here?! 

Once again I got a chance to step away from behind the DM's screen & jump into an on going game. We were soldier clones this time & we didn't put much thought into the characters per say. They were combat clones & therefore expendable at most. But what is over riding is getting into that fort and securing that transponder! While the game action was going on was the fact that some corporate  generals & businessmen were sitting in their distant ship. Bastards  controlling the military action like chess players controlling the lives of the androids & clones in a military action they have no say in.  

OSR Commentary & Session Report - Military Action At The Shoulder of Orion Using Synthetics By Shawn Fisher, & Paul Elliott From Zozer Games For The Hostile rpg

 Tonight I got a chance to play in a quick one shot military mini adventure that happens At 'The Shoulder of Orion' which took place at Mu Orionis. Our group of synethic soldiers was to secure a quadruple starsystem which held the beginnings of a naturally occuring "wormhole's throat. "

 












And what is Mu Orionus? Well according to its Wiki Entry; "μ Orionis (Latinised to Mu Orionis, abbreviated to μ Ori or Mu Ori) is a quadruple star system^[6] in the constellation Orion, similar to Mizar and Epsilon Lyrae with combined visual magnitude of 4.13. The four stars are known as Mu Orionis Aa, Mu Orionis Ab, Mu Orionis Ba, and Mu Orionis Bb. The A and B systems are several tenths of an arcsecond apart. The entire system is located approximately 150 light years from the Sun."

Every mega block corporation became embroiled in this interstellar police action. It was discovered that a naturally occuring "wormhole's throat" allowed a starship to only consume half of its fuel for hyperspacial jumps between sectors. The Shoulder of Orion allows these ships to move to the universal jump gate of 'Tannhauser Gate'. The Shoulder of Orion acts as branch of the sub reality of hyperspace that Tannhauser Gate represents. He who controls both the Shoulder of Orion & Tannhauser Gate controls a good deal of the traffic to other systems. Needless to say every corporation even those without stakes rushed their own super soldiers into the action. 

Needless to say that we were playing synthetic super soldiers & things did not go as planned. Our unit landed planet side on some god forsaken rock in the middle of no place squared and my PC bit it within the first two minutes of combat by automated machine gun defenses! In point of fact in tonight's game it was a total party kill because the dice were completely and utterly against us. 
We simply rolled up characters & went into the situation with little intel as posssible. The mission was simple secure this rock of a planet for the corp and wait further instructions if you encounter resistence then destory the enemy. The fact that we were in point of fact cogs for the machine didn't matter to us. All in all it was a great set up and the chance to play combat synethics was a welcome change for us.