On Tue, Aug 16, 2016 at 4:39 PM, Timothy Collinson <xxxxxx@port.ac.uk> wrote:

My goodness - has anyone seen how large the crew of a Tukera freighter is?!  That'll fill Smitty's then if only half of them go!  14 of them.  <resists temptation to roll them all up>


They won't all go to the same bar, even if the adventure text says they will, so long as there is more than just the one establishment (can't remember after all these years how big the startown is supposed to be). Ship crews spend a minimum of a week in jump staring at each other's faces. When they hit port, they're going to split up and go looking for OTHER faces. Assuming multiple available establishments, then you're only going to have a couple of pairs of close friends at any given place. 

  Did name their ship the Golden Wheatsheaf - imagining a bunch named on the Golden... theme given in TTA.


Called the "Gilded Chaff" by those who don't like her, of course.
 

Although I have generated 10 Vargr UPPs (mainly because I wanted to know their charisma so Gvoudzon could interact with them and all the PCs, if they wish, could play footy with them.  (What do you reckon on a task - Difficult Dexterity to score a goal?!)


Depends on the quality of the goalie, doesn't it? In Savage Worlds (my system of choice these days), I'd run it as an Opposed Roll of Agility.
 

Concierge (looking after bookings/cargo): Deeko Maistairs

With a name like that, you just have to try for the voice of Spike (James Marsters) from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and later Angel. A representative scene (Spike has the platinum blond die job):   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_qNLDvIi8g

[Oddly enough, Marsters is actually American. He narrates most of the audiobooks in Jim Butcher's "Dresden Files" series in his natural voice.]

That should keep me going for a bit.


One thing I do prior to each session is make a list of a couple of dozen different names: some male Human, some female Human and the rest a mix of commonly-encountered aliens. Then as the party encounters NPCs through the course of the session, I pick the next relevant name from this list, create something memorable and then jot down enough notes by the name to enable me to remember their relevance later (e.g. "Port guard, curses every other word, drops every g, young daughter, bribes cheap."). Names that get used go into that sessions notes along with their generated details, names that don't get used form the start of the next session's list.

Oh, and I've named the five settlements between Sadi and Itzeny: Walton, Western Junction, Lauraville, Karto and Plain Sailing.  Mainly because I've always wanted to do a train announcement.  "This is the 5.30 departure for Itzeny calling at..."


And - frankly - that's probably the only way you'll use those names, unless the PCs for some reason end up getting [thrown] off the train at one of those places.
 

That should keep me going for a bit.  Though I'm not sure it's what Richard meant about being relaxed about the details!  Still, I feel a bit more confident now.


Doing extensive prep is fine, particularly if it gives you confidence. Just keep it in your possession until and unless it's actually needed in play.
 

My 15 (going on 21 catwalk model) year old French niece was most impressed that I could look at the text of the chapter and say "Hang on a minute, that govt code isn't 0, it must be D" so I gave her the Itzeny church to examine.  Took her about three minutes to spot the lack of stairs.  I mean I wouldn't mind so much if they'd just duplicated the plans but they *redrew them*! <sigh>


To be charitable, they may have given each floor to a separate artist, so nobody had a chance to realize there were any missing stairs.
 

Right, I'm off to get high on the tainted atmosphere of Pysadi...

thanks again for the encouragement.


You're welcome. :)

--
Richard Aiken

"Never insult anyone by accident."  Robert A. Heinlein
"I studied the Koran a great deal. I came away from that study with the conviction there have been few religions in the world as deadly to men as Muhammed." Alexis de Tocqueville (1843)
"We know a little about a lot of things; just enough to make us dangerous." Dean Winchester
"It has been my experience that a gun doesn't care who pulls its trigger." Newton Knight (as portrayed by Matthew McConaughey), to a scoffing Confederate tax collector facing the weapons held by Knight's young children and wife.