Fading Suns True20: A Road So Dark (Sess. 2)

The trip to Leaguehiem

The second session of the adventure was a little more impromptu and I did not prepare well, so these sessions notes will be more about what I wished I had done.  This part was born of simple hints in the adventure text that revealed great potential to me.  Unfortunately my unpreparedness did not explore that potential enough to keep all players engaged but we hit the key points.

The session’s adventure centered around the trip to Leaguehiem.

Silent Flight, League Drayman Class Freighter

First the smaller freighter, the Silent Flight, League Drayman Class Freighter, was cramped and I stressed that just like the adventure suggested.  Nothing major changed here, I just found ways to make the PCs feel more and more uncomfortable.  But that can drag on too long and there is very little interaction.  More interaction with the crew would have probably created more drama or encounters.  Ideas include:

• A crewman who has something against the nobility picks a fight with the noble.  For those unfamiliar with the setting, this can act as a way to show the division between the Nobility and whatever the particular crewman represents.  The crewman could be a charioteer or a freeman hired on as crew for the charioteer. In hindsight, I could have done something more with this but I did not plan well.
• In my conversions to True20, I converted the Entertainer character to a female because I pictured that character as such.  This could have lead to interesting encounters with less-than classy crewman and the only female on board.
• A poker game or other game of chance leads to a unpleasant encounter

The one thing I did inject was the crew had heard of the next ship they were going to board, the Republican Dream.  They snickered about it but never told the players that they heard it was haunted.

Republican Dream, Second Republic Liner

I decided to pursue the haunted aspect of this ship because I really liked the twist that it was an old AI.  In doing this, I had to come up with a reason for the character to have an encounter with the AI. Enhancements I made to this part of the adventure:

• The AI has developed some mental problems – namely megalomania and schizophrenia. But because the technology to repair it is lost, they crew serves the AI as it were a god, appeasing it however it needs.
• I retained the hatred of the Church and its anti-technology doctrine. But it also has issue with not being respected.  Anyone that does not show the ship reverence is also somewhat tormented.  It enjoys being fears and the stories of hauntings.
• I placed aboard a troop of Muster returning from the Vuldrok lines, some suffering from PTSD.  Unfortunately, I did not pursue this like I wanted to.  This could have been an interesting encounter.

In the end, of course all the player could do is figure out what it was.  They could not change it or fix it.  Unfortunately, that is not as satisfying of an ending as I imagined so I should have thought of something else other than just figuring out what the “hauntings” were.