Revision to the Revised Revision

So I fire up an episode of Enterprise, and was immediately reminded that yes, Phlox is another alien aboard the ship, so I reinstated Botta, the Denobulan Engineer.

I thought about restoring the Andorian XO, but that still didn’t make sense to me, though it could have played into where we are in the current adventure, as the Andorian fleet is hailing the Excalibur.

Nah, too tropey for what came to mind for that possible interaction.  Maybe a tweak on that in a later installment.

Don’t touch that dial!

Revised Revision

As I was reviewing the bridge crew of the Excalibur, I realized that I may have made a mistake by including non-humans, specifically an Andorian first officer and Aenar security chief.  So I swapped out all the non-humans.

Again, I may not be as well versed in Enterprise lore, so maybe there eventually are non-humans (besides Vulcans) serving aboard Earth ships by this time (2154).

I also figured that a majority of the crew should be from Earth or Luna, and not colony worlds.

Stay tuned!

Wait a minute….

I’m thinking too big.

I’m thinking that Solo RPGs should be this big grand adventure similar to what happens when a group gets together.

It shouldn’t be that at all.

It *can* be, but I may have to work my way up to that.

I have ideas all the time of what should happen next, but I don’t have to set up the whole game on my tabletop in order to run with it.

It’s about the journey and what happens next, no matter how big or small or whether or not dice are rolled.

It’s story telling.  I’m trying to tell a story.  And I should not let the tools hamper me, they should help or enhance the experience.

So, as I had noted back in November, the Excalibur had run into an Andorian blockade, with hails being ignored and weapons being trained on the ship.

Commander Saguisag orders the shields raised hull polarized and to continue hailing the Andorians.

“Charge cannons?”

“No, let’s keep a defensive posture for now.”

The gambit worked, the Andorians do not fire on the Excalibur.

“We’re being hailed by the lead ship.”

“On screen.”

See?  Was that so hard?  I can do this, I just need to adapt my playstyle to something simpler.

DON’T TOUCH THAT MF DIAL!

SWADE Characters

Concepts:

Captain George, or just George, a character for the inevitable non-Star Trek sci-fi campaign that I’ll end up running.

Or some guy that the Pulp Heroes stumble upon.  Man of Tomorrow, or just some crackpot?

The Baron, who will more than likely be the big bad who The Tiger Beetle and Jazz Bungo test their mettle against in the coming days.

Don’t touch that dial!

The Plot

I’m relying too heavily on the random tables in my Captain’s Log campaign.

I need to set up some plot points or even a story arc that I want my character to follow.

And I’ll need to do something similar for any of the other solo RPGs that I start playing, too.

For now, I’ll have Excalibur return though the spatial rift and have them encounter a…

Now that would be telling.

Meanwhile, I’m coming up with ideas for Savage Worlds Pulp, including the big bad that The Tiger Beetle and Jazz Bungo will be fighting throughout the campaign.

Don’t touch that dial!

Systems Recap

Remember when I said I was going to shelve Savage Worlds and focus on Dragonbane, Captain’s Log, and Dungeons & Dragons with the Mythic Game Master Emulator?

Well, 1 out of 3 was accomplished.

And while I still do plan on starting Dragonbane and Dungeons and Dragons, I’m re-adding Savage Worlds Adventure Edition to the mix, using Pulp Fantastic as the setting.

Along with The One Ring.

In the last month or so I’ve been delving into reaction videos for The Lord of the Rings, and *tried* to continue watching Rings of Power.  The latter never got done, and after reviewing the game system, I’m going to play The One Ring with Strider Mode, the solo system for TOR.

Don’t touch that dial!

Star Trek: Excalibur, S01E01

Ship’s Log, July 29, 2154.

While attempting to explore a spatial rift, the Excalibur was struck by a wayward piece of stellar matter from the nearby star, knocking us into the rift itself.  We have sustained minor damage and many casualties, none fatal, but the crew will be operating at less than peak efficiency until our shipmates heal.  Meanwhile, we have detected an uninhabited world nearby and upon further scanning there appears to be a graveyard for numerous shipwrecks scattered on the surface.

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Star Trek: Excalibur: Season Preview

It’s starting to click.  And not just this game system, but the way solo RPGs should work, sparking the imagination in driving the narrative of the story being created.

Listening to Star Trek music while playing really helps the mood, too.

This first episode is going to feel very much like a pilot episode, as the writer’s room (me) starts to find it’s legs.

I’m gonna go for 13 episodes for season one, with the option to pick up the back 9, as it used to be for TV shows in the days before streaming.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to play out Act 3 of this pilot episode.

Don’t Touch That Dial!

For those keeping track

I actually started my first foray into Captain’s Log Solo Role-Playing!

I have to admit it was a bit slow going, and I didn’t get much past the initial first act after the title sequence/first commercial break.

But yeah, the first episode of Star Trek: Excalibur is underway!

I believe one of the best things of Solo RPGs (so far) is that you can decide just how long a session goes, from a whole day dedicated to it (a couple of Saturdays were spent reading the rules and creating characters, basically a Session Zero), or a couple hours on a Sunday afternoon followed by a couple of lunch sessions while working from home (like I did this past week).

For now I may follow that schedule, playing during football on TV on Sundays, and maybe one or two lunch sessions at home.

Don’t Touch That Dial!