Serenity/Firefly: Hole in the Black IC

[ancalimohtar]

General flavor and ethos:

I just watched all the Firefly episodes and then Serenity, and thoroughly enjoyed the setting. I love the fact that it's just a group of people on a mobile stronghold, working together, doing random stuff under the radar. Also, I hate unrealistic scifi with aliens, and ships shooting green lasers at each other, and hyperspace travel and teleportation, and all that.

I'm still not sure how much of the mechanics of the Serenity RPG I'll keep, but I'm slowly making my own changes. Although I'm used to really number-crunching, tactics-heavy D&D, I'm tired of that, and not interested in heavily investing myself in another complicated system in the months before 4E comes out. So I'm more interested in the roleplaying and the feel of the universe, again, the group of independent people working together thing.

I want this game to be more freeform than I'm used to playing. I'm tired of quibbling over the rules because it matters: it shouldn't matter. I don't expect someone to be upset at a combat roll because it boned his character. I'm going to try to make sure nothing bones your character unless you want it to. This is going to be more of a collaborative storytelling game, and I as the DM should have less control over the direction of the game than DMs generally do. If you guys get together and decide you want to take a break from the current villain chasing after you, come up with a way to stall the guy, and I'll make it happen, give you a chance to chase your fortunes somewhere else temporarily. As long as verisimilitude is preserved, the story makes sense, everybody has fun, it's all good.

More on "collaborative storytelling": I want you all to keep in mind that "collaborative storytelling" means you should be thinking of the game as a whole rather than the character you happen to be playing. Think of everybody together as a group of writers for a TV show. If one of the characters never fails at anything, never has interesting problems and obstacles, never grows and never seems human, viewers get bored of the character, the show as a whole suffers, and the boss (me) is going to get rid of this character, and the responsible writer will get a good talking-to.

I know most people are used to having their own enjoyment of the game be tied directly to the successes of the characters they play, and so people "powergame" or whatever, but I'm taking a different approach. If everybody identifies with the whole story rather than one character in it (just like a TV show's writers), then nobody takes it personally when one character suffers professionally, financially, emotionally for the benefit of the show as a whole.

What makes a good life for most people is financial stability, food, shelter, luxuries, excitement, happiness, basically resources to do what they want. What makes a good story is different. In collaborative storytelling, we create characters that are searching for a good life, but in that search, go through things that make a good story.

For example, when Mal is unsuccessful at selling the Lacetor, nobody watching the show really cares; being able to sell it doesn't really make the plot of the show any more interesting. But if the story were being roleplayed, the people playing Serenity's crew might get upset over it. Not to say that I would stymie Hole in the Black's crew just because, or that I would intentionally keep the finances ragged, or dangle rewards I wasn't willing to actually give the characters, but it's just an example of how what makes a good (fictional) story is different from what makes a good (fictional) life.


Campaign concept:

I want you guys to talk to each other instead of only to me, about what you want to play, the type of game and adventures you'd like, etc.

Perhaps you would like more ship combat rather than person combat. We could do two pilots, two gunners, two mechanics, etc. Maybe even have detachable one-man fighters for additional players. Proceeds could go towards souping up the ship Millenium Falcon/Slave 1-style.

Perhaps you guys would like to run a more legitimate operation. The group could be trying to start an interplanetary business, much of the time could be spent building contacts and forging relationships and squeezing out competitors.

Maybe you guys want to run a passenger transport/protection service for high-profile clients. One or two players could play the clients, who get where they're going and are replaced with new clients. This would involve a lot of fresh and new roleplaying (plus a lot of combat as the clients get tracked to the ship or whatever).

Minchandre's idea:

Here's one idea: courier ship. It gives us an excuse to have a super fast vessel and offers a broad range of both legitimate and illegal jobs - we might even end up working for the Alliance at some point. Difficulties could be involved with pickup and delivery, as well as offering a lot of potential for stuff going wrong in space (e.g. being shot at by someone who wants whatever is valuable enough to hire a courier for). Because our ship would likely be unarmed, escaping pursuit would be a matter of applying our superior speed and maneuverability, as well as shear awesomeness."

Jannex's ideas:

We could be people-finders. Anything from kidnapped children, to new corporate recruits, to escaped convicts, we go and find people, and retrieve them.

Or we could be information-brokers. Other ships are given leads into jobs; a certain payroll shipment's scheduled arrival at a bank on one moon, or a specific vintage weapon might be available for "covert acquisition" on another planet. We're the people who find these things out in the first place. You want dirt on someone for blackmail purposes? You want to find out the holes in a security system? You want some obscure historical data? You come to us.

The point is, it all depends on what you guys want. Throw some interesting ideas out, don't be afraid. If other people don't like it, we'll keep talking. I just don't want to create another Serenity, with the exact same makeup of roles and personalities.


Logistics:

Private Communication: If you want say something to me in private, unless it's very short (a paragraph or two), send it through email. If it is very short, you can just PM it to me here. The thing is, there are 10 players, and I can't do the three-PMs-a-day-each thing anymore. This site limits your PMs to 100 total, and I'm almost full already, so I'd prefer you to email me anything there's a remote chance I'd want to save, i.e., anything over two paragraphs. My email address is ancalimohtar, and it's at gmail dot com.

Character sheets: Fill this character sheet out! The blue boxes calculate themselves--don't touch them. They're there to make it easy to see how many points your character has, make sure the numbers are right. Just fill everything that the sample character has filled in.


Player List:

Koji playing Trevor Zane: Jittery, mentally and physically fragile teenage pilot
Sunfall playing Grace Willows: Caring gardener and cook, into botany and geosciences
maniac playing Alex Gibbs: Core planet mechanical engineer who wanted to live on the Rim
Kyuss playing Lee Enfield: War vet (Browncoat blockade runner), tough type who wields dual pistols
Nelphine playing Boran: Mousy sneak taken with communications and scanning equipment
Rachel_Lorelei playing Jin Wei-Li: Alliance experiment, dextrous combatant with knives, rifles, other weapons
Jannex playing Annalise Long: Good natured diplomat, computer and technical engineering expert
Conners playing Ryder: Former orphan, led a life of petty crime, now a doctor
roninkelt playing Abel: Middle-aged prospector, also a jack of all
two_many_tamale playing Sam West: Principled smuggler and interceptor pilot, suffered a mutiny by his crew


The Incomparable Hole in the Black!

Deckplans for the four levels of the ship: Each square is 10' x 10', so the ship is about 25% longer than the Firefly, and much more massive due to its bulkish shape.

• Lower level
• Mid level
• Upper level
• Escape level
• View from the side (stairs/ladders are purple, the hot pink one goes through an airlock)

Filled-in deckplans: This is a work in progress, probably on hold until January.

• Lower level
• Rough layout of the garden, located on the upper level. For this, each square is 5', not 10'.

Action shots:

• From the bottom, front

Operating costs: Tentative list, figures are credits per month:

• Fuel: 1100
• Food: For someone eating only protein packs supplemented by the garden, it would be 11; throw in some canned and fresh goods, and it would be closer to 20. All in all, for ten people, probably about 150.
• Medical supplies, ammo, garden supplies, docking/water fees, etc.: 400
• Ship maintenance: 700

Recruitment thread for reference

[ancalimohtar]

There are quite a few changes I made from the official published Serenity RPG rules. Here they are, for easy reference:


Houserule #1: Universal points system

The way they have the creation and advancement of attributes and skills set up, it's stupid as all hell. Nothing makes any sense. The cumulative costs of getting to a certain point are different. The rules in the book give a clear-cut best and cheapest way to get good stats: put d12s in your favorite attributes and d4s in the rest, and raise the d4s during play. If you spread d6s and d8s across everything at the beginning, it would take you a stupid number of points to get anything to d12. I changed it so creation worked the same way as advancement:

Score	Attributes	Base skills	Advanced skills
	margin	cumul	margin	cumul	margin	cumul
d2	8	8	2	2	-	-
d4	16	24	4	6	-	-
d6	24	48	6	12	-	-
d8	32	80	-	-	8	8
d10	40	120	-	-	10	18
d12	48	168	-	-	12	30
d12+d2	56	224	-	-	14	44
d12+d4	64	288	-	-	16	60
d12+d6	-	-	-	-	18	78
d12+d8	-	-	-	-	20	98
d12+d10	-	-	-	-	22	120
d12+d12	-	-	-	-	24	144
etc.	-	-	-	-	+2	+marginal cost

Everything works the same way. Don't have to plan ahead now. In addition, if you really want, you can have a d2 attribute. This way you can actually play a mentally retarded character, or an invalid pilot or something.

Traits are now valued at 40 points for a minor one, and 80 for a major one. Traits, attributes, and skills all draw from the same points pool.

For comparison purposes:

Spoiler

Show

Book's rules:

Score	---------Creation---------		---------Advancement---------	
	Attributes	Skills			Attributes	Skills
	marg	cumul	marg	cumul		marg	cumul	marg	cumul
2	(2)	(2)	2	2		(8)	(8)	2	2
4	2	4	2	4		(16)	(24)	4	6
6	2	6	2	6		24	48	6	12
8	2	8	2	8		32	80	8	20
10	2	10	2	10		40	120	10	30
12	2	12	2	12		48	168	12	32
14	2	14	2	14		56	224	14	46
16	2	16	2	16		64	288	16	62

You pay linearly for each point of attributes and skills at creation, and they cost the same number of points. But when you start the game, all of a sudden attributes costs four times as much, and top it all off, you pay increasing amounts to advance any of them. It's really messy compared to my solution, where all the columns make sense and follow the same pattern:

My revised rules:

Score	---------Creation---------		---------Advancement---------	
	Attributes	Skills			Attributes	Skills
	margin	cumul	margin	cumul		margin	cumul	margin	cumul
2	8	8	2	2		8	8	2	2
4	16	24	4	6		16	24	4	6
6	24	48	6	12		24	48	6	12
8	32	80	8	20		32	80	8	20
10	40	120	10	30		40	120	10	30
12	48	168	12	42		48	168	12	42
14	56	224	14	56		56	224	14	56
16	64	288	16	72		64	288	16	72

More specifics on character creation: Now, because of all the rejiggering I did above, Greenhorn/Veteran/BDH doesn't fit anymore. It was stupid anyway (you could build a BDH that took forever to become if someone started as a greenhorn, or you could build one that was marginally better, kind of defeats the purpose?) So instead, I looked at what was possible with the system given in the book, and gave enough points so that roughly the same power level could be achieved with my system. That gave me a benchmark.

But there's a great thing with my system: Points are always worth the same! a Plot Point has always equalled an Advancement Point, but the points you got at character creation were different, worth much more. Now, you can rapidly add up the total number of Points your character is worth and figure out an objective measure of character power or level.

What you can do now at character creation is give your character a crappy set of attributes, but save the points for skills (just like you could always save them or add to them with traits). You can also do the reverse. Remember, attributes cost four times as much.

What I found messing with the numbers is that greenhorn roughly corresponds to 600 points, veteran somewhat under 750, and BDH about 900-950, points used on skills included.

For this game, take 600 points total, to distribute among attributes and skills as you like. I suggest you split them up in roughly the ratio given above.


Houserule #2: Agility and Strength

Spoiler

Show

These two attributes in this game have a few problems. First, Agility represents disparate qualities of a character--manual dexterity and full-body agility. When it's used for, say, Craft/Watchmaking and Medical Expertise/Surgery, it describes someone who has excellent hand-eye coordination, but more importantly, very precise and steady hand movements. However, when it's used for Athletics/Dodge or Performance/Dance, it's describing body control, center of balance, and full-body agile movement.

On the other hand, Strength is pretty much useless. You use it to make Strength checks to move stuff, sure, but otherwise, you only need it for Melee Weapons and Unarmed Combat, and those two are generally for backup when guns aren't available. Just like in real life.

As a result of this, Agility is way, way too good of an attribute, and Strength is crappy. You pretty much need a good Agility for any kind of combat character--first, to Athletics/Dodge or /Run or /Acrobatics or /Whatever on defense, and then also to Gun/Pistol or /Rifle or /Shotgun on offense. Nobody here has a higher Strength than Agility, for example. I'm going to shift everything with full-body motion from Agility toward Strength and rename the two.

Agility and Strength as attributes are being replaced by Dexterity and Agility. Dexterity represents accuracy, precision, and strength of hand movements. Agility represents control of full-body motion, balance, momentum, and leverage. Most of what Strength did (hand-to-hand combat, both with weapons and melee, moving stuff, encumbrance) falls under the new Agility, and makes sense there. Anything left over that doesn't fit Dexterity or Agility will go to Vitality.


Houserule #3: Revised Skills

The skills are written and categorized really poorly in the book. Revisions:

Planetary Vehicles is eliminated. Its advanced skills are now split between Pilot and Athletics; anything with a machine is Pilot, otherwise (scuba, horseriding, etc.) it's Athletics.

Mechanical engineering/Technical engineering get shaken up and cleaned up. They used to have repair, and then create/alter. Which was dumb. Now, the advanced skills are individual disciplines, and having points in a discipline means you can create/alter and repair stuff involving it:

Mechanical engineering
-mechatronics (robotics/automatic systems, includes navigation computers)
-structural analysis
-propulsion
-demolitions
-guns
-heavy weapons
-any other category of non-electrical machinery someone would want to make/alter/repair

Technical engineering
-mechatronics (just like in real life, different backgrounds can both reach the same place)
-communications/sensors
-hacking (fold technical security systems into this)
-electronics
-computer programming (you probably won't need this--what are you, a software developer? most programs you'd want to write probably fall into one of the others above)

Covert can also lead to hacking and comm systems.


Houserule #4: Vehicle and Ship combat

I haven't decided how I'm going to change this, but I really dislike the way ships are treated as characters and given stats in a really forced and artificial manner. I think ship combat could be very exciting, and a battle in space might involve everybody--engineer tweaking the systems, pilot and copilot dogfighting, gunners manning cannons, etc. The way the game does it right now--lame.

Update: I'm working out a system for this, and so far it's promising. Attack roll will be the sum of a Pilot/Ship Type roll (for positioning) and a Heavy Weapons/Weapon Type roll (for aiming). Defense roll will be the sum of an innate ship Evasiveness value added to a Pilot/High Speed Maneuvering roll. Damage reduction and HP will depend on armor and hull.


Misc. Flavor Houserules

Cortex: The internet is not that scary, invasive, and simultaneously inaccessible, even in the future. Imagine the Cortex to be the future's Internet, modified because the speed of light is now a factor when we're talking about such distances.

Terminology: As the game progresses, I hope everybody will introduce new words/slang to make the setting more believable and organic. I'll keep a list here:

-float(s): hovercraft, for passenger transport; similar to how "car" is used today.

[ancalimohtar]

Learn to speak (and type) Mandarin!

For the sounds that exist in English, I'll use English sounds to approximate it. For the ones that don't, I'll use pinyin. You can learn the pinyin system from Wikipedia or other sites. I really recommend you listen to some of those .wav files. The pairs of consonants are related to each other in the same way. Sounds that I will use pinyin for:

• zh vs. j: They're both like the English j, but the difference is like the difference between "genie" and "djinni"; zh is a full-mouthed genie, while j is pronounced closer to a closed d sound, almost trying to squeezing the air out.
  
• ch vs. q: Both like English ch, but the same as the above. The ch is fuller, the q is more hissing air.
  
• sh vs x: English sh, but again, sh is fuller, x is flatter and hissing.
  
• z: dz (suds)
• c: ts (cats)

Now the vowels:

• a: long/Spanish a as in ah. Thus dang is not like the English exclamation dang! but like dahng
• e: kind of like uh
• i: long ee
• o: oh. Thus gong is like gohng instead of "hit the gong!"
• uo and ou: Break down the word "whoa": it's mostly pronounced wuo + ou
• u: oo
• ü: kind of like yu

Okay then. Now the words that are most likely to be used/abused changed from the sourcebook:

• Accusing someone of lying, a ridiculous notion, or talking out of the posterior: Fuhn Pi Fang pi (fahng pee), literally “farting.” Carries the implication that the person being talked to is saying something so untrue/worthless it's like he's farting instead of talking. Kind of like "Bullisht!"
  
• Alas, not good, what a mess, too bad: Jao Gao Zao Gao (dzao gao), literally “spoiled cake.” "Oh isht!"
  
• Alliance: Nien Mohn Tong Meng (tong mung)
  
• Bastard, jerk: Huen Dahn Hun Dan (hwen dan), literally “rotten egg.” Connotes much stronger hate than both "jerk" and "bastard," more like assohle
  
• Big boss or operator of a business: Lao Buhn Lao Ban; Lao Buhn Ni’un Lao Ban Niang (lao ban nyang) for female boss or proprietor’s wife. Also informal appellation for acquaintances.
  
• Bottoms up: Gon Beh Gan Bei (gahn bay), literally “dry cup.”
  
• Brilliant: Jing Chai Jing Cai (djing tsai).

A few that have already been used or introduced as the game's progressed:

• Cow dung: niao fung Niu fen (nyio fen). It's not really used in any figurative way. You can't use it as "bullisht," but I suppose in the future things could change. Most likely used to compare something to poop.
  
• Are we understood?/Understand?: Dohn mah? Dong ma?
  
• (at the end of a sentence) Right?/You know?/Am I right?/You know what I mean?: Shi Dui bu dui? (dway boo dway), literally "right/wrong?"; or Ni shuo dui bu dui? (nee shwua dway boo dway), literally "tell me, right or wrong?"; or dui ma? (dway ma), literally "right?"
  
• You understand, right?: Ni dong ba? (nee DOHNG bah)

[Conners]

((This is how you use the forum dice-roller: [roll=Example]XdY+Z[/roll]
X = The number of dice. Y = The number of sides to each dice. +Z = Add on the bonus/penalty you have with the skill you're rolling (replace "+" with "-" if penalty ).))

Ryder shakes Alex's hand with the same enthusiasm as before (he was wearing gloves to his hands' hygienic benefit). "A pleasure to meet you!" he says nicely, "the ship looks in good condition, not that I can say that with mechanical experience." He smiles back pleasantly. Alex has a bit of trouble working Ryder out... Strong, agile, but not quite so good for taking a punch, would be a good physical description where fighting goes. Although he's physically like a Rim-Worlder, his accent, manner and appearance point him out as a Core-Worlder. In the end, he is strong or leans toward it heavily.
The doctor listens politely for a moment. "Dohn," he answers simply. Ryder immediately aids in carrying the larger chest, trying to carry the majority of the weight for Alex.
If necessary: [roll=Strength+Vitality]1d8+1d6[/roll]
"Yes, I spent a lot of time on a ship like this as a child, so I generally know what to expect," Ryder answers. "I don't really have trouble getting work, but I'm tired of the Core-Worlds."

"Ryder!" he answers One-Eye--almost extending his hand while carrying the crate but remembering not to just in time, "it's very nice to meet you Lee, or do you prefer the other name? Don't worry about calling me mister!"

He watches Lee take his rifle (or pistol) interestedly. "My father made it," he says conservatively as the sight is adjusted, "it does seem to need a checkup though... Well, I better help Alex carry this, I'll come right back for my rifle (or pistol). Thanks!" With that said, he snaps back to helping carry the crate.
After they place it down. "Is there anything I should learn or do before I get back my gun?" he asks Alex politely.

[Koji]

Trevor Zane

Trevor sits at the bridge, intent on familiarizing himself with the controls. He has said very little since his recent arrival, and has spent most of his spare time making fine adjustments to the equipment, focused on proving his prowess as quickly and completely as possible.

[mainiac]

Ryder strikes a cord mentioning the Core. As they continue past Lee she continues the thread of conversation.
"Yeah, I get your meaning about the Core. Shiny as an oil slick, but sometimes ya gotta wish life had more excitement. Like, y'know, the excitement of living life off the cameras..." She smiles ruefully and continues to lead Ryder, going through the depth of the ship into the engine room. "Yeah, set 'er here and I'll get it later. Come with, I'll show you the infirmary. Speakin' of which, how you'd pick up on doctorin'? You an ex browncoat or the like?"
Alex listens as she leads Ryder up another level to the infirmiry. "The infirmary's right opposite the garden, which is very Zen and all, definate selling point." She opens the door on the infirmary, currently a barebones affair with little more then shelves and a couple beds.
"Infirmary's pretty basic right now but I figure you can gussy the place up a bit." She rolls up her sleeve as she says this. "Now, if'n we sign you we'll head on over to the moons, won't take more'n a few hours. You got the supplies to give me a 'noc for anything they got up there or you gonna need to get some shopping done?"

--------------------------------

At an earlier time:
"Hey kiddo." Alex flush with the success of her huntin'. Said success was carried under her left arm, a fuse box from a ship not so lucky as theirs. Her right hand held a sandwhich, which was to say a piece of protein between two thicker pieces of protein, which she set aside at the moment to work and talk.
"We'll, your right about the ship needin' a pilot. Our first fellow took his leave here, leavin' us stranded." As she spoke she opened the back hatch on the pilot's terminal and got to work. She replaced the busted fuse, then secured the extra's for spare keeping, strapping them to the inside with a length of patchtape she retrieved from the depths of her bulky overalls.
"Not exactly sure I'm so desperate as to put a child at the wheel of my bird though." Alex speaks not unkindly as she flips the breaker, causing the terminal to spring to life.
"Don't get me wrong, kid, I like your spunk, but on a ship like this, you need someone who with a steady hand in an emergency, someone with experience, Dohn-ma? But hey, I got an offer for you. We're gonna head to the factory town over east, try to find us a pilot there. You take the helm for the hop, if I like what I see you sign on as co-pilot, alright? Won't pay more'n three square a day, but it'll be a good way for you to get time behind the wheel and learn the tricks o' the trade. Should make it easier to impress some other captain when your time comes. How you like the sound of that, kid?"

[Koji]

Trevor Zane

Trevor stares at the floor panelling while Alex speaks to him. His only affirmaiton of her offer is a nod. He honestly hadn't even expected that good of an offer, and tries not to muck it up by saying anything.

[Conners]

Ryder nods in agreement to the mention of cameras. He always hated those things... "The planet I lived on was neutral in the war, so I didn't really take any part in it. I got my medical degree through a scholarship," he answers Alex's question, following her into the infirmary, "but even with that, my family and friends had to scrape all their money together to pay various, 'expenses', required to carry on with my scholarship... As for why I became a doctor: I'm not overly sensitive to blood and injuries. And, well, the pay is good--" he grins widely as he adds in the last part, "--Doctor skills are also useful in most any situation." He looks around the infirmary with some surprise. "Aren't there any medical supplies?" he asks, slight shock in his voice--he calms down when Alex mentions shopping on the moons. "I have all my own tools, but I don't carry many medical supplies with me. The amount we need really depends on how long till we can resupply, as well as how many injuries will need to be treated until we do. So, I guess I'll work it out when we get there!
"I'll get my tools sorted with the infirmary! When I'm done, may I look at the garden you mentioned?" Already Ryder begins unpacking medical equipment and arranging it to match the infirmary, as he waits for his answer. He scans it carefully, to such an extent that you wouldn't want to bet that he couldn't walk through it blindfolded.

[Sunfall]

A soft murmuring can be heard from the greenhouse door, which only ever closes at night-time. There, in the luminous glare of lamps creating artificial daylight and a fine mist emanating from the watering systems, a figure can be seen, half obscured between abundant leaves, twines and blossoms. There seems to be quite a variety of plants, neatly ordered in rows of gel containers, but leaving this sort of order soon after they emerge from their soil, entwining gaily and creating a strange sort of snow-globe jungle.

At the back of the room, a vast container can be glimpsed, carrying the customary labels of crop supplies. Tools, pots, seeds, bulbs and little plastic bags are everywhere, but despite its seeming a bit cluttered, everything has its own place in this garden.

The woman who seems to tend the plants seems completely oblivious to anything that happens on the nearby hallway. Her age is hard to place - she could be in her late forties, but her scrawny frame, weathered skin and silver-grey hair make it impossible to be sure. Wide pants hang on her a bit like a portable black tent, and there is a well-worn green cardigan hanging from her sinewy shoulders. She also wears a dark blue hat on her short wavy hair.

Her movements seem relaxed and fluid, as she weeds and clips, digs and plucks. She works in a tender, peaceful flow that can be noticed about many an experienced gardener. Now and then, she seems to be muttering under her breath or humming a tuneless melody. Right now, that woman seems to have all the time of the world.

[mainiac]

Alex pauses a bit, unsure what to make of the young man's silence. She decides to shrug it off, and reaches for the intercomm. "No real sense in dwadling here. You wanna show me what you can do?" Alex flicks on the comm and is pleased to hear her voice echo throughout the ship. "Hello travelers. Hey, shiny work getting the comm patched, Annalise, sounds fine. Anyways, we're going to be taking a short hop right now, check out the prospective pilot in, Ta ma de, what's the name of that town? Anyway, stap in. Alex out."
Alex flipped off the comm and turned back to Trevor. "Ship's yours kid."

----------------------

"Scholarship case! Huh." going by her surprise, Alex was obviously pretty impressed at that. "Don't get too many minds of that caliber chosing life on the rim." she stuck out her hand. "Makes this simple though, if you got the cortex records to back up your story, you've definately got a berth on my ship." Alex held onto Ryder's hand and leaned in close. "Won't be any unpleasant surprises on the cortex, will there doctor? Y'know, reasons a licenced doctor would want to head out towards the rim?"

[Jannex]

A pretty young woman with bright red hair pulled back in a braid strolls down the stairs from the crew quarters. She wears a tank top, cargo pants with bulging pockets, and combat boots. "We got new people, Alex?" She wanders down to the infirmary, finding a place to strap in as per the captain's orders, and gives the man sorting out his tools a friendly smile. "Hi," she says brightly, "I'm Annalise. Are you joining up?"

[Koji]

Trevor Zane

Wordlessly, Trevor begins initiating the takeoff sequence. He flicks several switches, manually starting each process individually to ensure that there are no hitches in the system, and smiles as the engine begins to roar to life.

He says to Alex, "No need to leave atmo, but the cloud cover makes Beylix a bit of a rough ride, even for a boat this size. Should be simple for me to handle so long's the Hole's in good shape."

Spoiler

Show

((I am unsure of whether checks need to be made for standard flight operations, and what stat they correlate to, so I'll leave the dice off for the moment. Someone wanna clarify in the OOC thread?))

[Conners]

"I wasn't born on a Core-World," Ryder answers Alex calmly, "is there any reason I shouldn't like to see the Rim again?--" he paused a moment after saying it, considering reasons he wouldn't want to... "--All right, so there are a lot of reasons. Still, I came from a tough a planet--so I can handle most troubles the Rim can throw at me." As he speaks, the doctor forages through his pockets, finally pulling out an electronic identity card and handing it to Alex. "Just press the button there, and the small screen will display my record," he said, pointing out a small button to the side of the screen.
As his record slides up (at an adjustable speed), Alex can find no criminal record. She does notice, however, that Ryder is listed as a graduate from one of the top Alliance Medical Academies. "Everything is in order then?" he asks nicely. Information on card:

Spoiler

Show

Age: 20. Sex: Male. Occupation: Doctor. Criminal Activities: None recorded. Eyes: Blue. Height: 6'00". Weight: 144 lbs. Academic Records: Federal Alliance Medical Academy, Scholarship: Surgery A-Class, Internal Medicine A-Class, General C-Class. Debts: $0.00.

Ryder smiles back at Annalise. "Yes," he says cheerfully, "or at least I think I am! I'm Ryder. It's a pleasure to meet you, Annalise! Just tell me if you if you get sick, I have an immunization pack in my first-aid kit." He extends his hand to her, trying to work her out similarly to when Alex looked him over. Was she from the core, or the rim--a fighter, or a speaker?
For fun: [roll=Influence+Willpower]1d10+1d8[/roll] (Sweet and Cheerful)

[Conners]

((Rerolling.... Stupid roller.....))

Influence - (1d10)[8] (Sweet and Cheerful) + Willpower - (1d8)[4] Total: 8 + 4 = 12.
((Wow, that would beat a difficulty over hard... And I even forgot to add the Allure trait's bonus, .))

[Kyuss]

The one-eyed warrior saunters his way into the infirmary, holding the newly arrived doctor's firearm in his hands. With his good eye, he takes a final look down the sight, and hands it back to its owner. Lee takes a quick scan of those gathered around in the upper level, looking for a place to strap in. He moves in the way of Annalise and Ryder, and begins to speak to the young doctor.

"Weren't exactly introduced right back there. Name's Lee Enfield, but like I said, most just call me 'one eye.' How'd you hear about our little Hole here?"

[Conners]

"Thank you," he says to Lee as he takes his rifle back. He straps it casually onto his back. "Nice to meet you Lee," he says, shaking the man's hand, "I'm Ryder, the new doctor, as you probably heard. Thank you for fixing my rifle's sight. How I heard of this ship? Well, i was looking for a ship going to the Rim, and this one's design and course interested me the most. So I heard about the Hole-in-the-Black from general scouting."

[ancalimohtar]

People, ships' proper names have no article preceding them. Thus, "Serenity," not "the Serenity," and "Hole in the Black" and not "the Hole in the Black."

Also, you don't need to roll for social interactions between you guys. In fact, don't worry about rolling for anything while you're just setting up the story.

Edit: If you're going to use it as a nickname, I suppose "the Hole" would work, as in "Let's get back to the Hole.

[mainiac]

Alex smiles confidently at Trevor. "Good shape ain't gonna be a problem on my boat, kid. Not too brag or anything, but my ship's gonna purr by the time I'm through. Hm..." Alex takes note of the manual startup Trevor is excecuting. "You always this meticulous?" she asks in a neutral sort of curriousity.

-------------------

Noticing that a crowd was begining to form, Alex discretely slipped the card back to Ryder. She then gives him a reassuring pat on the back. "Of course he's signing on. Hey folks." she nodded at Lee and Annalise. She listens a bit before excusing herself. "Hey, looks like we'll be leaving the world soon so make sure y'aint forgetting anything. I'm gonna spread the news. Y'all help Ryder feel at home now." With that, Alex headed into the garden.
"Hey, there Grace." Alex greated the older woman as she walked in. Alex took a moment to appreciate the crisp freshness that filled the room before continuing. "You could probably hear, but looks like we found a doctor, a real good one at that. So our bussiness on this world is wrappin' up an' I realized I hadn't checked in on if you wanted to pick anything else up while we were so close to the core. Hm?"

[Jannex]

Annalise's smile brightens at the mention of the immunization packs. "That's awfully handy! I might take you up on that, if we end up anywhere that folks are sick." Reaching around Lee, she accepts Ryder's hand and shakes it; while firm and friendly, her grip doesn't have a great deal of strength behind it, suggesting she's very much not the rough-and-tumble combat type. "Anyway, welcome aboard. I'm sure you'll fit right in around here." Ryder can probably detect a trace of crisp Core diction in her speech, though it sounds like she's grown used to affecting Rim speech patterns.

[Conners]

"Well, I better get some more when I restock on medical supplies," Ryder laughs after hearing Annalise's eagerness. "Thank you, I'll do my best to fit in and be useful!
"So, Alex is the mechanic for the ship, and I'm the doctor--but what do you two do here?" He gets back to work as he waits for an answer, turning to look at them as they speak for politeness.

[Kyuss]

Lee looks behind him and looks down at Annalise.

"Oh...uh, sorry there, Anna. Hehe...Didn't notice ya' there. Not that you ain't woth noticin'...but, you know what happens when I see good pieces, hehe... How's them sensors runnin' today, kiddo?"

Without waiting for an answer, Lee quickly turns around and begins to walk out of the room, mumbling under his breath. Upon hearing Ryder, he turns around and faces the new doctor. Pointing at the newest bullet-holes in his shirt, he smiles and responds.

"I'm a leaky bucket that makes more leaky buckets."

[Jannex]

Annalise rolls her eyes, and favors Lee with an amused smile. "S'alright, Lee; we all know how you get about your toys," she teases. "And the sensors're just shiny, if I do say so myself."

She turns back to Ryder, her expression again reflecting friendly interest."Oh, I handle electronics and computer systems," she explains offhandedly. "You know, keep the NavSat and the sensors in good order, fix the comm occasionally, keep an eye on the Cortex; that sort of thing."

[Kyuss]

Upon hearing Annalise's answer, Lee blushes just a tad and shouts back to Anna:

"Figured they would be. We'd probably be blind withoutcha, kiddo."

Lee walks into Grace's garden, perhaps having a little better of a day, where she and the captain are discussing items and materials. Knocking as he enters, he bows to both.

"Apologies, Ms. Willows, but I just had a quick question for the good cap'n here. Cap'n, you got a new job lined up? Maybe somethin' in the arear of a nice lil' delivery run...or, you know, the ol' guard/escort mission? Somethin' I can my hands dirty in..."

[Sunfall]

Grace looks up as the Captain enters, and gives one of her forlorn smiles. "Oh, Alex, dear, didn't hear ya come in..." She sets down a small pair of clipping scissors and glances trough the door to the infirmary as Alex speaks. "A doctor, how shi sung chung", she replies. "Good ter have a real doctor on board."

As the Captain mentions the supplies, Grace gives one more of her small smiles, saying: "Oh, how good of you remindin' me! I've ordered some spices and supplies, and now look at me, I nearly forgot ter pick 'em up..."

As Lee comes in and greets her, Grace's smile grows wider, and she exclaims: "Jao Gao, Lee, don't make me older than I already am! How often should I tell you to call me Grace? I'm just the cook, fer cryin' out loud..."

[Koji]

Trevor Zane

"You always this meticulous?" she asks in a neutral sort of curiousity.

"No ma'am," he says with no small shade of timidity. "Just gettin' a feel for the ship. Every one of them startup processes helps clue me in on how she's gonna fly. I cut my teeth flyin' scrapped ships, and they taught me how important it is to know every nook and cranny of the boat yer flyin'."

[Conners]

"Well, you must certainly be glad to have me here now I expect," Ryder says to Lee, as the "leaky bucket" walks away.
"Oh, so you're our electronics mechanic, basically?" he asks Annalise, grinning a little, "it's good to have someone who can keep the sensors in order.
"On the subject of computers, doesn't the infirmary have one? Since the war, most ships with an infirmary are set up with a medical computer."

[Nelphine]

Boran

"No ma'am," he says with no small shade of timidity. "Just gettin' a feel for the ship. Every one of them startup processes helps clue me in on how she's gonna fly. I cut my teeth flyin' scrapped ships, and they taught me how important it is to know every nook and cranny of the boat yer flyin'."

"Oooh hey cap'n; is this the new pilot? Shiny! I know every nook and cranny of this boat, and I try to know everything that happens around her too. Like that!" Boran tilts his head, listening to the headpiece in his ear. "There's something small out there floating around; never even cross our path, but I like to know what rocks is out there, even if it's just to give Lee something to aim at for practice."

Boran goes back to his scanners, fingers fiddling with controls, and eyes far away; he lives to find new things, though when he goes off duty.. the new people will be at least as good.

[mainiac]

"Hey Boran." Alex says without taking her eyes off of Trevor. She keeps a watchful gaze on the child, not wanting to miss out on anything while he holds the fate of her ship in his hands. "Yeah, Trevor here's the latest addition to our outstanding cast. Still gonna keep lookin' though, check out that other applicant we had. Been thinkin' we'll head coreward a bit, get ourselves a doctor and something to fill up the empty room. Gettin' sick out in the black once was more then enough for me."

-----------------------------

"Why, Mr. Enfield, you truely can be virteous to a fault 'round us wimmin' folk." Alex adopts a stuck up high class Persephone drawl in a momentary show of cheek at Lee and Grace's exchange.
"But Lee, don't get too twitchy yet. I didn't want to find work until we'd had some time to look for the doc, not to mention we still gotta fill up the infirmary. Our doc seemed shocked to see we didn't have a full trauma ward." Alex smiles wryly at such naivite. "Couple days, one eye, then you can shoot folk up to your hearts content. But Grace, sooner we get this boat off the ground the better. I'm gonna go find where Boran and the kid got to. See if you can wrap up you're shoppin' alright?"

[Conners]

((OOC: I say we start the ship off and head to where we can purchase those medical supplies . Maybe we can get our job there too...
Who wants our first job to have a lot of combat?))

[mainiac]

((We're killing time cause the GM isn't ready yet. Certainly a good brawl is worthwhile, though I'm excitable as to variety myself.))