He's back. And this time, he's not taking no for answer. The question of course is, "Are you full yet?!"
So this weekend we celebrated my friend Rebecca's birthday with the gift that keeps on giving. That's right, role-playing games.
As per the birthday girl's request, the game of choice was Galaxy Quest, my wacky Teenagers from Outer Space homebrew, back after seven years. Yep, the last time we played it was 2003 and Rebecca confided that she could not actually recall much about the original game except that it was really fun. Hey, that's all I needed to hear. I did my job.
The adventure consisted of the formerly black sheep commander and crew of the NSEA Galient, having successfully made up for past errors, being assigned to a high profile diplomatic event. According to the attending Admiral the Galient will be permanently back in the NSEA's good graces if they can provide security and assistance at this special assembly of the Galactic Peace Treaty participants.
Unfortunately for our heroic crew, a series of sabotages to the space station they are on as well as some of the Ambassadors ships threaten both the peace talks and everyone's lives. As the PCs investigate various angles it seems like one party after another has both motive and alibi, leading the team to think the true enemy is not one of the attendees.
This theory turns out to be correct, for clues lead to a cloaked ship belonging to an alien race of weapons manufacturers and gun-runners. Turns out peace talks among species who always hated each other is bad for business and the weapon makers and their people are falling on hard times. That's what happens when your interstellar government's only major commodity is stuff people can use to beat up other people.
Using a little clever deduction and smooth diplomacy, the PCs take the gun-runners into custody and imply that the peace talk should continue unless the assembled ambassadors want to hold court there on the station (thereby possibly airing the dirty laundry that they had all worked with the warmongers at one time or another). With all out war not being something anyone really wants, the peace talks continue and the baddies brought to Earth, at least temporarily.
While it was very fun and the dialogue was laugh-our-asses-off hysterical, I think the players were hoping for something just a bit more action packed. I had intended there to be more combat scenes and fighting but the players in my NJ group can sometimes be too darn thoughtful and well coordinated for their own good. They don't fight unprovoked and even provoked they try to find more rational solutions. Funny but ultimately rational.
Anyway, I will probably go into more detail another time and try to recall some of the better lines but right now I need to get to bed.
Oh wait, one more thing...we are working on a way to start up a new ongoing campaign in NJ if possible. I hope so. I love these guys.
Happy Birthday Becca,
AD
Barking Alien
"They don't fight unprovoked and even provoked they try to find more rational solutions."
ReplyDeleteAs I've gotten older, I've found myself dealing with more of this than in the past. I like it, don't get me wrong, but there are times I find myself wishing for players who will just throw down from time to time. ;)
1)Kick in door.
ReplyDelete2)Kill "monster(s)".
3)Take their stuff.
4)Heal up (if necessary).
5)Find next room/hut/cave/castle/dungeon.
6)Go to 1).
That's how we played D&D back in the 1970's and the early '80's. I do enjoy a good dungeon crawl, but that's not this group's style. 'Course, I miniature wargame, so I get all the battling I want. :)
And this is not to say that this particular group doesn't see its fair share of action and combat. It's simply a matter of fighting for a cause or some concrete reason. Usually its in defense when an enemy attacks or to defend someone innocent who can't fight back.
ReplyDeleteIts interesting to me how often players claim their PCs are heroes when they're not. They're characters are just another roving band of people seeking adventure and willing to kill for gold. I am happy to say that this group of PCs can portray actual heroes. Their characters would go into a burning building or a ghoul infested castle to rescue an NPC and expect no reward.
Of course, that's the kind of characters they were playing and have played. They could play characters of a more mercenary mind set too but just don't go in that direction very often. Again it has a lot to do with what I run; Superheroes, Star Trek, Galaxy Quest, Star Wars and the like tend to focus on the heroism of the PCs and not how much stuff they can steal.