tiistai 29. lokakuuta 2013

Pen and Paper

Today I will take a bit of a sidestep from my normal computer game rants. A friend of mine dropped some of her stuff at my place for safekeeping, while she lives with her parents untill her apartment goes through some mold repairs. Along that stuff was her old Shadowrun books, so we decided to play again after all this time.

Damn that was fun!

If you don't know what pen and paper RPG's are you have missed a lot. The idea is that the game books give you a new world and gaming rules, and rest is up to the players and the gamemaster. First you make a character. In this case you could pick pretty much any of the basic fantasy races, but the world is set to a cyberpunk future (go watch Blade Runner, Johnny Mnemonic or even Robocop if you don't know what cyberpunk is). After that it's pretty much same as any computer RPG, but there are no limits to what you can try to do and you throw dice when you try to do something. Compared to computer games it requires you to memorize at least some rules and know some basic math, but usually the gamemaster handles most of the heavy lifting. There are no nice graphics. You'r character is just a piece of paper with stats on it (and picture if you can draw). So why is this better than computer RPG's? Imagination! Stories! Freedom!

So what we needed for our little gaming gettogether?

First was tons of dices. Shadowrun uses a metric shit ton of regular six sided dice. After ransacking all my boardgames I decided to actually go and buy some, because same size and weight dice just feel better than random wood and plastic assortment.

Next thing is some players. These games could, in theory, be played with just two people (heck some games have a single player tutorial campaign), but if you really want a good game you need a gamemaster and 3-4 players minium. I know a guy who has been running a lot of p&p games, including Shadowrun, so I called him. He was happy to join us as gamemaster even though I warned him that few players might be newbies. Hell I think he prefered the newbies as they don't know how to abuse the rules. Rest of the players were bit of a problem. Pop culture has painted Dungeons and Dragons players (along with pen 'n paper players in general) as lonely, pathetic nerds. This fact hit me hard when I tried to convince few of my friends to try it out. After a ton of calls and IM's we now have a gamemaster and five players (some of which are a bit reluctant).

For a third part of this checklist we needed some snacks and drinks. This is a crucial part! You don't want to wait for people to go pick up some food while you are trying to play. Usually alcohol isn't too good idea in a game where you need to keep track of you'r stats and tons of dice rolls, but as I knew some of the players were a bit shy/introvert we decided that some beers and wine might be ok to help them relax and keep the ol' imagination running. This whole snacks thing was a bit new to me as our old group was used to twice a month gaming sessions, and brought their own snacks.

Now we are all here, and ready to play. Next step is making the characters. Remember that this is not a computer game with limited choices in character creation. You could just as well be a troll magic user or elf with dexterity of an infant. This will take time. Luckily our gamemaster had this nifty program that made the character creation a bit easier (NSRCG). While we are figuring out the classes and stats, everyone needs to make up a personality and backround to their characters. No amnesia shortcuts here. You need to figure out who you'r character really is. We ended up with one magic user who specialized in healing and one decker (Read: futuristic hacker. That was me by the way). Rest of the group were more conventional street samurai (fighters) and one rigger, which means he can use bots and such as his minions.

Fourth step is the actual game. Let's just say that we took an allnighter and scheduled a time for the next session, including the newbies. I took some notes during the game, so I might post a transcript of the game sometime, but I won't promise anything.

You'r imagination beats any graphics card or physics engine.

P.s. You need the books and at least a gamemaster who has actually read them. The games can easily turn into a still if you need to flip through the books at every action.

P.p.s. If you want to see what Shadowrun is like, but didn't get interested in the p&p you should pick up this nifty little game called Shadowrun Returns. I mentioned it in earlier post, so go check that out if you want more info.

maanantai 28. lokakuuta 2013

Adventures of spaceship Nyema. Fourth entry.

 I got the next part to the story of spaceship Nyema!

 NYEMA'S FATE

This is captain Lagardi of Federal Spaceship Benevolence. We are looking for a scout ship named Nyema, the ship which was supposed to steal and deliver military intel from the rebels. It was already four days late of the planned arrival and we had not heard a word of them. General Markand decided that we should do a rescue operation. Some of the rebel fleet's vanguard ships have already reached the base of operations and there are definitely more coming. If we had received that intel in time we could have prepared better, but since the attack started this has been a losing battle. I think it's useless to even look for Nyema anymore.

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They may have tried to use the safer route through the engi sector nearby.

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We found a ship with federal markings on it. This far from the base of operations it can be no other than Nyema. I send Corporal Baars to investigate.

There are five dead people on the ship, Captain Aiden, Borman and an unidentified engi male. Body of Howard was not found. There are also two bodies with rebel uniforms. Telemetry indicates heavy ion damage prior to boarding.

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I think it's better not to return to the base. We must find a safer place elsewhere to take shelter from the war.

I leave my log, along with captain Aiden's log we found hidden on Nyema, in this preservation capsule. Whoever finds it, consider it as part of history of the greatest war humankind has ever seen. I do this to silently respect the memory of the very brave people who met their untimely demise while serving the federation. May their souls rest in peace.

This will be my last entry.

Captain Lagardi, Spaceship Benevolence, United Space Federation.

May gods be with you all.

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No!

It seems like captain Aiden didn't make it. Rest in peace heroes. You did all you could.

That's it for the FTL story, so next update (whenever it will be) is going to be about me, myself and my games. Once again thanks to our anonymous contributor. See you all next time.

perjantai 25. lokakuuta 2013

Adventures of spaceship Nyema. Third entry.

The story of captain Aiden continues. Again thanks to the unknown writer, jada jada and so on. You know the deal.

DAY THREE of the return trip

This is captain Aiden of Federal Starship Nyema. Our operation is going well. Our ship's firepower and shields have been upgraded since we started, by an engi named Markus we saved earlier. Weapons specialist Borman has been doing great job taking down the enemies, who have caused only little harm to us so far. Unfortunately we lost our original shield operator Howard in a little accident when he went to investigate an abandoned space station. May he rest in peace.
Our crew is getting tired of the battle, as we have had two very action packed days across three galaxies and it has taken its toll. I hope the two others are ok. Borman has been acting really stressed and Markus sometimes looks a bit distracted in situations where focus is needed. He has to do two men's work but he's very experienced in what he's doing.

Our missile and fuel supplies are pretty low, but I think we can manage. The ship is in nice condition with just couple of scratches. We just arrived in a rebel controlled sector to avoid another nebula, and the intergalactic map says we could finally reach a non-hostile region from here. We still need to proceed carefully to avoid conflict.

I summon a morning briefing. Exit point is six jumps away if we don't need to stop at traders. For now, I am again heading towards the exit because next sector should be easier to explore than this. Markus looks like he has been working all the time while others slept. Borman is slightly calmer than before. I am ready. "Man your stations."

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First jump is interrupted by another automated sentry with level three shields. I hope we don't run out of missiles.

Fire in the medical bay. Markus suggest over the radio that we upgrade the doors to prevent fire from spreading because with only three of us, we don't have time to take care of them. Borman concentrates on taking down the enemy shield system with missiles because lasers don't do much against the ship that still has two blocks of shield. He misses two times in a row and has to use the slowly charging ion cannon to finish the job, there is no more ammunition for the Artemis.

Ion cannon takes the enemy shields down so that our burst laser can destroy their weapons. Borman still keeps missing most of the shots but without resistance it is only a matter of time before we destroy the enemy. Another victory. The ship dropped 30 units worth of scraps, which should be enough to upgrade the reactor to keep almost all of our systems running at the same time.

I call Borman for a meeting asking why he was performing so poorly. He explained that the enemy autopilot was programmed too well for evading but I think it's because he can't concentrate enough and there's something he needs to get off his chest. He shrugs it off and returns to his position. Maybe we need a longer talk when we reach the friendly sector.

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I received a distress call that's off our course but couldn't risk running out of fuel, so we continued forwards. On the way there was a shipwreck orbiting a gas giant and surprisingly no one had raided it yet. It must have been destroyed just a while ago. We got more fuel and lots of scrap from it.

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A rebel scout ambushed us and tries to escape to inform the pursuing fleet of our position. We must quickly try to stop it. I was so nervous and concentrating on dodging the ship that I couldn't get into a good firing position, We couldn't hit almost a single shot on the enemy ship. Destroying their cockpit and maybe killing the pilot would have delayed them a little but they got away. Now we have to hurry to the exit as fast as we can.

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Our ship also took massive damage in this desperate combat, but we definitely don't have enough time to search for repair stations. If we come across one on our way we might just barely get our ship repaired and reach the exit before we are caught.

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At the next jump point an automated scout was waiting for us. If it too gets away the rebels would know which way we are heading in addition to earlier discovering our position.

I can't dodge all of the enemy lasers. It keeps our shields down with its ion cannon. Markus rushes to the engine room to overload our hyperdrive charger. The shields are practically useless right now anyway. This is a fight we may not win, so we need to get going right away. I hope the scout doesn't come after us. I think there is a hull breach somewhere on this ship, I see the internal air pressure dropping. Sensors are down so I can't be sure.

Now the scout starts ioning our weapons too. We have no way to prevent it from getting away. It speeds up a little and almost instantly disappears into distance. We are fucked.

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A trader hails us. He sees we have taken a bad beating and offers us repair service, for a price of course. Now I feel like being in the same situation as the rockmen we gave fuel to earlier. It's not gonna be cheap for us.

Yep. They took ALL of our scrap in exchange to repair some of our ship's damage. I had no choice but to pay. As we leave after being practically robbed clean they even tell us to come back later for shopping. I hope I never have to see them again. I don't even want to know what Borman thinks about them.

I step into the cockpit, sit down and check everything is ok. One dial indicates that we have fuel for two jumps. HOW COULD I FORGET!?

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There's no one at the exit beacon. Just vast, empty, silent, dark space. We are about to get stuck in that space. Intergalactic jump would consume our last fuel, and we don't know where it would take us. I don't know how we ever manage to survive. We are still too far away to radio the base of operations. I call the crew for an emergency meeting.

We have no other chance than to take this leap of faith. The rebels are right on our heels, but the jump might lose them for a while. I try my best to give faith to Markus and Borman, but it's useless. I can't even lie that we still have hope. We go to the cockpit together, I light up the engines and look out of the window in silence. May the stars guide us.

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We arrived in engi space. I pray for someone to find us and give us some fuel. I turn on the distress beacon. It's like a bait for the rebels and bandits but it's the only way out of this.

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Oh crap! Seems like they are screwed for good. Godspeed Nyema. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you guys.

tiistai 22. lokakuuta 2013

Adventures of spaceship Nyema. Second entry.

Two updates in one day? Are you sick or something?

Don't worry. I'm as lazy as I always was, but I got a bit more news from the spaceship Nyema. Editing is fast enough, so I might just as well edit and post it right away. Again the story is all thanks to our anonymous benefactor, and I only edited it to fit the Blogspot format and fixed some (very few) grammar/spelling errors.

P.s. Some of you (Read: One of the approximately three people who still reads this. Hi mom!) have asked why I changed back to this old blogspot account. My old blog got hacked and I really didn't have anything backed up, so rather than setting the preferences up again I chose to just post a link pointing here. I didn't really like the updated system on the old site anyway, so it wasn't too big of a deal (not counting the loss of old posts).

Ok enough about me. What happened to captain Aiden and the crew of Nyema?

DAY TWO of the return trip, part I

Intergalactic travel gave us some time to rest. After just a few hours of sleep we arrived in a rebel controlled sector. I didn't have much choice when taking this dangerous route, as the other one would have been through an uncharted nebula, which I am still a little afraid of. Just a little.

Rebel sectors, obviously, are not much less dangerous, though. The jump points are scarce and we should proceed forward as fast as we can. There is already a whole fleet of rebels chasing us and ones in this galaxy are probably doing all they can to stop us.

We gather for morning tea, or whatever time of day it is. We look at the map together and plan which is the shortest way to the exit beacon. We could reach it with as few as four jumps, but if there are any stores I might head towards them for upgrades. Our ship is still in pretty much factory condition and I have a feeling it might not be enough. Who knows what threat we face when we get closer to the Federation base. There's a war going on after all.

I program the navcom directly towards the exit beacon hoping we can salvage something on the way.

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We did find a small trader ship, but they are in trouble and ask us for assistance. When I ask what's the matter they tell me their courier has disappeared, probably died. They don't have anything to sell us, but they ask us to take a drone parts delivery to a larger trading post for a "generous reward," and give us a map marker where it is located. I am not sure if we should venture anywhere outside our planned route. I tell them we will deliver the package IF it doesn't divert us from our plan too much.

Our quest would require just two extra jumps, and we still have plenty of fuel so that won't be a problem. Maybe we could even get more from where we are going. Borman says in his own grudging way that we should not be helping every single stranger in trouble we meet. Markus is still more civil and says I did the right choice.

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Jump takes us near a random small station with rebel markings. No surprise. I try to sneak past it but without an engine operator it's difficult to stay stealthy and we are spotted. A lightly armed ship, with trademark orange and turquoise paintwork launches from the station directly towards us. Thankfully it does not LOOK like a big threat.

They lauch something at us. It's not a bomb or a missile but I can't really tell what it is until it gets too close. It's an attack drone which starts beating our shields with a small laser, depleting them so their main weaponry can hit our hull with ease. Borman fires a missile at the drone control station of the enemy ship first, and aiming lasers at the weapons main as usual.
The drone hits harder than expected. I have never encountered them in combat before and I greatly underestimated it. It grinds through our shields right away and begins battering our engines, which makes it impossible to dodge anything. Markus could repair it quickly but he's very busy at the shields. I still command him to the repairwork because dodging always beats soaking damage.

Markus rushes through the corridors of our ship and starts furiously whacking the control panel with a wrench. It doesn't look much like repairing, rather the opposite, but I'm certain he knows what he's doing.

BULLSEYE! Borman manages to hit the critical systems of the enemy and both their weapons and drones are disabled and their hull seems to be leaking like a shark-bitten rubber boat. From then on it was the usual "shoot at them until they die." From the remains we salvage a pretty good amount of scrap metal, some of which goes to repairing the little damage we received from couple of laser hits. Nothing serious.

Markus injured his shoulder when repairing the engine. Don't ask me how it happened. He returns to the shield control room muttering that he is doing ALL the work now that Howard's gone. I console him saying that it's not easy for any of us, as Howard was one of my best friends after all. Silence followed, so I think it marks the end of discussion and time for the next jump.

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One jump between our little quest's end and it was just empty space. Our radio picks up some chatter from very long distance and when decrypted it's just some rebel trucker communications bitching about their wives and such.

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We arrived at the trading station and instead of being happy, they say we are too late and there's not even need for what we delivered to them anymore. What ungrateful bastards. I demand our reward anyway, but they pay only half of the supposed amount and tell us to leave. THEIR courier was already late and we just tried to help, so it's not our fault.

Borman rushes into the comms room and is yelling at the asshole traders to shove the drone parts into all of whatever body cavities they have. Sometimes I just want to hit Borman in the face but his temper is sometimes actually pretty amusing and strangely cute. I tap him on the shoulder and tell him that we don't need to care about these poor people, as they will be trampled over by the rebel fleet soon anyway.

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A distress signal in a system next to the exit beacon. We still have plenty of time before the fleet reaches us, so we investigate.

A rockman ship is floating in space with no fuel,. They ask us for some extra so they could get to a trading station. Our detour took some excess amount of it already, but I'm relieved that it was not an ambush so I give them three units and we are left with five.

They gave us 30 scrap in exchange. That's like 10 units worth, but what would have they done if we didn't help them. They are in debt of their lives but I don't want to demand any more and jump to the intergalactic travel beacon right next to us.

We could finally afford some upgrades from a store, but Markus could also tinker something useful out of the metal.

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Engi researchers were heading same way as us and the mantis were trying to take down the defenseless ship but as soon as they noticed we were closing in they zoomed away. Damn pirates, trying to be the tough guys and bully everyone but cowards in the end. The engi give us some drone schematics which we have not yet any use for unless we get a control system installed. Could be worth thirty-forty scrap at a market.

Intergalactic map shows only two beacons again. One is told to be controlled by pirates, and the other by rebels. Pirates, as said, should be no problem to handle and they sometimes drop exceptionally good loot.

We got through this sector so fast that we could reach the end of the next one too today if we are lucky.

DAY TWO of the return trip, part II

(Yes you got two posts for the price of one. Get over it.)

Tea time in the intergalactic travel idle time.

We discuss our plans. Markus tells me he has dealt with a lot of pirates before in his combat ship engineering career, and has special contempt against them because they took him captive in one unfortunate battle. He warns me about anarch regions and that the pirate ships' looks can be deceiving. Borman assures us there will be no trouble as long as he gets to do the shooting. Markus is a little less sure about that and suggests we hire more crew. He says he could try to boost the shield power now that we have few hours to spare, just for survival.

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Shit, I remembered our fuel is low after we played good samaritans and getting some more is a real concern. Markus' tech work took almost all of our scrap and we can buy only few units of fuel to carry us further. There are no trading posts marked on the map and we should really try to find one by exploring. I try to navigate the ship so that we pass near as many star systems as possible. Nearby comes a distress signal but right now we can't risk it.

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Once again due to calculations mistake we almost run into a star. There are rockman pirate opportunists there, damn bastards being immune to fire and all. Engines don't charge very fast without an operator and this is not a place we want to be in, so we have to fight. Borman, do your best.

Crippling hit to our engines. Now it's sure we won't get out right away. Solar flares set our portside airlock on fire again. I have to inform the Kestrel manufacturers about this weakness. Opening the airlock will help again and we can concentrate on the combat.

Rockmen realize they are losing and offer us heaps of resources but no fuel. We can't accept that as a bail because fuel is what we desperately need. Solar flare damages our shield system and we have no hands available. Let's hope we endure.

Once the rockmen's ship is destroyed I quickly scoop up all the remains before it gets burnt. A little scrap and one unit of fuel. Not a treasure but will get us one jump further which may be critical. We have to leave the proximity of the star right away. Shield control room was drained of oxygen but we can't wait for it to refill, and definitely not to repair the system. I hope you have big lungs, Markus, and that we don't encounter anything worse than these little bitches we just obliterated.

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Paranoid engi tells us to keep our "shady business" to ourselves. I tell them we are no pirates, but they have a hard time believing and accuse us of stealing a Federation ship and threaten to report us and whatever consequences that might have. Finally I can convince them to keep their damn mouths shut. I thought engi were friendly but they just keep on yapping. We can't leave yet, however. Markus has to repair the shields and we have to wait until the oxygen levels restore to healthy levels.

Two units of fuel left. I am getting worried. I light up a cigarette. I quit smoking four months ago but have been keeping a pack in the dashboard locker just in case. Now it was really needed. It tastes like shit, but it helps me keep my nerve. I feel the nicotine and whatever they put in them these days rushing into my head. I feel a little dizzy and have to wait a few minutes before I can program the navcom again. There's no stores in sight. We don't even have enough fuel to reach the exit.

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Unexpectedly a hostile automated sentry ship opens fire at us. Unlike most of them, this one has shields. I know that if we disable its weapons it can do nothing against us because there's no one to repair it. Our Artemis missiles can penetrate shields with ease but before we can even hit the drone it destroys our ship's internal sensors. I no more have any idea if the ship's on fire or whatever.

The sentry was easily taken care of, and dropped some FUEL! We might be saved after all. Markus repairs the sensors and I sigh in relief now that I can confirm that the hull is not breached.

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On the last jump before exit we run into pirates. I intimidate them that they won't get us and that we don't even have anything to loot, so their time would be wasted but they won't respond at all. They open fire.

Borman disables their oxygen supply with an accurate shot to keep them busy but our sensors are down again by the return fire. We also took some massive hull damage and the pirates, after thinking they gave us a teaching, start to speed away. Despite of our efforts to chase them as fast as we could, they got away and we didn't manage to benefit from this battle at all. The ship now needs repairs badly.

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With our next to last fuel unit I jump to a store next to the exit beacon. It was like some gods were watching us struggle and decided to pity us. First I order the mechanics at the trading post to repair our ship, then I buy all of their fuel, hefty three units of it. I sell the drone schematics we obtained earlier from the friendly engi, and the trader offers 30 scrap for it. They also pack some weapons. I'm considering buying a heavy ion cannon but our ship's weak power supply is not yet enough to use it. If I sell the Artemis launcher we can get the scrap needed to upgrade our reactor. Is it a good trade?

I buy the ion cannon just in case, keeping the missile launcher, even though it is utterly useless weight load for now.

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At the intergalactic travel beacon I see a civilian ship chased by pirates. They can't seem to get away and I decide to help them in hopes of a reward. By the way, Markus forgot to repair the sensors because he had a couple of drinks at the traders bar. I need to tell him to focus on the mission after we're in the clear. The fight was trivial. Pirates are just cocky sissies who bark but don't bite.

"MARKUS! GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER MAN! Go repair the systems right away. We can't continue if our ship isn't in condition." The civilian ship gives us huge load of scrap for our trouble and fire their hyperdrive before I can even tell them goodbye. Sensors back online, and no noticeable damage. There's another store nearby where we could get fuel from but Borman commands Markus to upgrade the weapon power supply with the scrap instead. I lecture Borman that I am the one who gives orders here.

I am noticing some dispute in my crew and ask everyone to sit for a cup of tea to get things straight. We can't start fighting now. We have still not even reached halfway of our destination yet and if we don't keep together it won't end well.

Maybe a little rest would do everyone good. We have a few hours to sleep while travelling between galaxies. It has been a long day. Markus stays up a little later doing his mechanics work, which he seems to love. I hope he doesn't exhaust himself completely, as he never seems to sleep. Maybe these half-mechanical men don't even need to rest. He tells me that by the time we arrive our ship would finally have more firepower. Sounds good. I head to the sleeping pods and close my eyes. Visions of space sheep prancing on the moon of Gaigymeda under the double sunset of red and blue slowly lull me into sle...

Adventures of spaceship Nyema. First entry.

A friend of a friend wrote this nifty little story. The author wanted to stay anonymous (I myself don't actually know who the person is), so I'll just thank him here. Thanks! This first part was fun to read.

The story is the captain's log of spaceship Nyema. The game is FTL: Faster Than Light. One of my favorite timekillers of all time. I only checked for most typos and edited the text to fit better on the page, so I don't know anything about the specifics of what happened gamewise. The story will progress sector by sector whenever I get updates.

Without further ado. Let's see what happened:

Captain Aiden, spaceship Nyema

Earlier we succesfully gathered intel which will greatly aid the Federation against the rebels, but the mission is not yet over. The spying mission was not a great challenge, but we still need to get the information back to base of operations and I'm afraid the trip will not be a walk in the park once the rebels find out what we have been doing. It has been over a week already since we departed and it will take at least another before we can rest back home depending on what happens on the way.

Our ship is a factory model Kestrel. It doesn't have much firepower by default and it can't take a lot of beating either, but what could you expect for a cheap piece of junk like this. I'm accompanied by shield operator Howard and weapons specialist Borman. We are fully stocked. Our hyperdrive is charged, and we are ready to go. Captain Aiden out.

DAY ONE of the return trip

Right after the first jump we encounter some slavers who demand us to surrender one crewman or they'll attack us. We don't have enough men yet to operate all the systems anyway, so no way we can afford to give in to their demands. I think we may even be able to free their slaves and recruit them for the good cause if we give the scumbags a little teaching. I tell Borman to warm up the lasers and get ready to engage the enemy.

It appears on our sensors that the tiny ship is pretty damn well armed for its size, so I ordered Borman to cripple their weapons system first.

All it took was just one hit to scare them for good. They exchanged one Engi slave for their lives and we let them go home to tell their slaver asshole friends that we are not to be fucked with. As I watch them speed up to the distance I prepare tea for our new friend. I can't be sceptic enough, though, we rescued him but there's no reason to trust him yet.

His name is Markus. He tells me he's experienced in system repairs. After a little chat I think he could prove himself at the engine room. If he has the skill to help me control the ship better we have much greater chance of survival. Hyperdrive is charged and there's no more time to stand around and talk about cosmic weather so we need to get going.

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We received a distress call nearby. It's not the straightest route but I can not watch others suffer so I decide to take a detour to help them. As we close in, I see a miner ship stuck in an asteroid field. They ask us to destroy some of the asteroids so that they can get away alive, but I think they might be up to no good because when I asked them who they work for it appears they have no miners' licence at all. It's a tough decision and even though they are in trouble I am not going to be friendly to pirates. Borman "accidentally" missed the asteroids and the pirate ship is shattered into pieces, from which we can gather some metal but nothing else. It might have been a better idea after all to help them because they could have rewarded us with better things but it's already late. Onwards.

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I have never been in a nebula but I have heard stories of how dangerous they can be so I steer off the course for another couple of fuel units worth just to be safe. We pass a planet that is apparently under quarantine because of some disease none of us had heard before. Maybe it's just to keep outsiders away but I think it's better to heed the warning and continue.

Markus somehow managed to tinker with the engines in the idle time to drive more power to them. It's easier do dodge attacks now that the ship is faster.

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The "safe" choice of route was a bad decision. My navigation calculations tell me that we might not even be able to reach the exit beacon from where we are going. As I examine the galaxy map I suddenly notice some warning lights on the dashboard blinking. SHIT! WE ARE TOO CLOSE TO A STAR! I should try to be more careful. Even better is that some unlucky rebel had wandered into the same area as us. We need to get away as fast as we can. Markus is surprisingly calm under stress, I bet he hasn't been sleeping in the mechanics class at school.

A rockman teleported into our ship. None of us has been in a fistfight yet. They didn't even have any training program in the space academy. I command my men to confront him in the life support room where they might have a better chance of survival. That means, of course, that our systems will be operated by the computer which can never perform as good as a skilled (hu)man.

A solar flare set fire in our portside airlock. It can be easily extinguished by draining the oxygen and causes us no trouble whatsoever, yet. The rockman was no more experienced in close combat than Borman so, being constantly healed by the med-system, he easily beat the intruder to death.

The battle continues in my advantage. Enemy ship is on fire too and we temporarily disabled it's weapons. They offer surrender and would give us some missiles and trivial amount of scrap metal but Borman has returned to his post and continues a laser barrage on them.

Engine overheated in the vicinity of the star and Markus needs to take his hands off the controls for a while. The shield system can't stand the heat either. Our engines should be ready to fire (hehe) as soon as they are put off fire (hehe) and we are able to continue. The enemy was obliterated and whatever whas left of it will burn in the fires of the star. We didn't even take any hull damage.

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There's a store one jump away but it's in the wrong direction and we don't have enough currency anyway. Money is worthless in this intergalactic crisis, and most accepted commodity is scrap metal. Fortunately our ship is almost fully intact and we should have no trouble at least until the next galaxy.

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The Mantis ambushed us demanding a ridiculous amount of the aforementioned scrap. I think their ship is slightly damaged and that's what they need it for. It'll be easy pickings for us to get what THEY still have.

Howard had suffered some minor burn damage before and has to rest in the medical bay for this combat. Markus will take his place in the shields once he has repaired them. We didn't have time to take care of it when they were damaged in the last combat.

Enemy realizes they have no chance of getting away alive if they don't retreat and sensors indicate they are charging their hyperdrive. A quick burst of laser into their engines or cockpit should delay them a while. No one's surprised when the trick worked and we salvaged some of the remains of their ship. We could even afford some upgrades to our ship now.

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At the next beacon we encounter a stranded trader ship who need to sell their equipment to afford repairs. They had an ion bomb which I'd really like to equip on our ship but it's a tad expensive. In these parts of the deep space you can really ask for anything. Some stupid people even pay. I buy all of the fuel and missiles they have to spare and hope they manage to get home but quickly forget them because there are more important things to pay attention to.

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There's a blip on the radar. Could be another ship. I carefully advance closer and I hear a non-hostile greeting that sounds like a Slug. I could hire them to delay the rebels in this galaxy but I'm so close to the exit beacon that I can easily lose them myself. Borman suggests we destroy the Slug ship for loot. I wouldn't kill friendlies but Borman convinces me that no one will ever know, as there's no other soul in lightyears. I try to reason with him but before I can prevent it he launches a missile...

Another direct hit to the enemy weaponry. It seems that this is the best strategy. Their low level ion cannon still works and keeps our shields disabled, but as it does not do any other than electrical damage itself, and the enemy is hopelessly busy trying to get their lasers to work, we don't take even a scratch to the hull.

My conscience blames me for unnecessary killing, but since we got so much loot that the purchases and repairs at the previous station were practically free, I don't mind losing honour much. Just one more jump to the intergalactic beacon. I hope there's no ambush.

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No ships, but there's a seemingly abandoned almost destroyed station. There could still be survivors, as part of the station is still intact despite the attack which seems to have been very brutal. Markus insisted that we try and rescue whoever are still alive. Maybe it's because his own life was saved just a while earlier.

Pulled straws and Howard has to go investigate. He describes terrible mayhem and death on the station, and says there are mangled corpses all over the hallways. The radio transmission begins to fade. There must be some ambient radiation from the destroyed reactors on the station.

We wait.

Two hours have passed. No word of Howard. I'm really worried about him. Markus says that there's no chance he's coming back anymore. It's been too long. Markus is sad because he should have volunteered for the investigation himself instead of sending someone else. We wait for another half an hour. It feels like ages as we sit gathered in the recreation room, not amused. "Fuck this shit, let's just save ourselves" says Borman and rushes to the engine room, and presses the button that starts the hyperdrive charge. Markus sighs in frustration and shoves Borman into his own post muttering that incompetent people should stay away from the controls. Markus decides that he'd better take the shield operator's place and let computer handle the engines.

It was a dark moment. Now I start to realize that we are really on a dangerous military operation and death will surely follow. We just have to make sure it's not us who die. I hope the remaining crew doesn't get too depressed, as focus is needed.

I look at the intergalactic map. There are two possible choices which galaxy should we head to.

tiistai 8. lokakuuta 2013

Indieindieindie

What? Three years now? Huh... Well I don't know about all that because I got frozen in carbonite by... No I did NOT steal that from Star Wars! No YOU suck!

Regardless of my reasons of silence, I welcome you back to MyGames (not trademarked or profitable name in any way as I don't update this shit ever). Soooo... I'll move to the gaming stuff now.

INDIE!

Oh god I love indie developers. Crappy computer? No sweat! Most of these things run on ten years old stuff! Low on cash? Yeah... I just got 14 games for 10€ (and shitloads for free). Bored of the sequels that are just better looking versions of the last one without any real changes? Try indie!

Sorry for the foul mouth before, but I really can't stress enough how much indie games mean to me. When you don't have huge budget to make your game look great, you have to make the game good. We have seen this in the past years with things like Minecraft, World of Goo, Faster Than Light, Torchlight and many others.

Today I will tell you about some of my favorite indie games.

The most recent one: Papers, Please

"That stupid spot-the-difference game? Are you an idiot" Says the imaginary person I just made up in my mind.
The game might sound simple when you try to describe it, but try it out. You'll be surprised. Were you pissed off because Mass Effect simplified the ending into three generic versions that had nothing to do with your character? Papers, Please has 20 different endings that depend on your actions alone. Even the "spot the difference" is made interesting. You have limited space on your desk, so you need to figure out what papers you want to check at the same time. The bacround story is actually clever and doesn't shove the "right" way down your throat at any time.

The most I have played: FTL: Faster Than Light

If you don't have this you are a horrible person, and should go and make that right. Idea is Sci-Fi roguelike (roguelike means the playtroughs are random and you need some luck to even survive. Plus permadeath... ) where you don't actually fly a starship, but manage the crew and equipment. I could go on and on about this game and how great it is, but just buy it. It's worth the few coins.

The most oldschool one: Legend of Grimrock

Good news everybody! You don't even need a PC for this one. A tablet version is just as good (minus the graphics, but that's not a big deal). Remember old Eye of the Beholder? Anything like that? No? Get off my lawn!
Simple puzzle/action/adventure where you move in 90 decree turns and square by square steps. Sounds simple, but your brain will overload, if not with the regular puzzles, then with those extra doors.

The actually most recent one: Shadowrun Returns

Oops! I messed up the first entry! Still I'm too lazy to write it again, so here we go.
Someone actually said this about the new Shadowrun: "I thought I bought a game, but I got an ebook"
Isn't that great!? You get a great story with the game! To be honest the game itself isn't anything groundbreaking, but the dialogue is some of the best I have seen in any game (ok few typos and so on, but thats just indie for you). It really gives off that Shadowrun vibe. I would love to see something like this with Cyberpunk 2020 world. I'm not a fan of magic, but at the moment this is the best Cyberpunk story in a videogame (Yes I know of both Deus Ex's and I love them, but the story could take notes from SR for the next one). Add a free campaign editor and you get shitloads of fun with just fifth of a regular game's price.

The most Telltale one: Everything!

Yes I count Telltale as an Indie developer. Why not?
Anyway. I still haven't found a single Telltale game that is not worth it's price. Sam 'n Max! Tales of monkey Island! Awesome! They friggin' made Back to the future IV, and it really is all that it's supposed to be. Their Walking Dead is one of the best zombie stories of all time. What do you still want? Go buy that shit! Haven't played the Jurassic Park yet, but I have no reason to doubt it wouldn't be good too.

The most "needs a mention too" ones:

Just quick notes of some things I liked too, but couldn't write a decent short sum-up from.
  Kerbal Space Program (rockets are fun!), Dungeons of Dredmor (Funnier version of Nethack), CartLife (I don't know why, but this thing is addictive), Frozen Synapse (just check it), Monaco: What is yours is mine (absolutely hilarious with few friends), Retro City Rampage (16bit GTA) and of course Unreal World (Nothing to do with the Unreal series. It's a friggin' starving simulator).

Thats it today. Hope it doesn't take three more years to actually update this again.

-Q-