gurps rimworld: crash and burn

[u-b]

Chad is unsure how long the emergency power will hold, given the circumstances, but normally he should have enough time. He mostly kept away from cryo-pods, but he has read about them. He carefully opens some pods to make sure he gets the procedure right...

Spoiler

Show

(3d6)[13] on IQ 13 (15 base, -3 difficulty, +1 extra time) with complimentary (3d6)[11] on Techie! 15

[bramblefoot]

three cryo-pods pop open and three people get out, weak and dizzy from the drugs coursing through their bodies. they look shocked to see the condition the ship is in, and one, and older man in his mid-fifties, makes an attempt at levity. "well it could have been worse" he chuckles halfheartedly. the other two, a younger woman and her son, look unconvinced

wdyd?

[u-b]

With a fresh knowledge of how this can be successfully done, Chad proceeds to open the cryo-pod in moderately-sized batches, letting Alec sort the woken-up people for their usefulnes in the sutuation at hand.

Spoiler

Show

Will open no more than 10% per batch. Here we go:
(3d6)[13] on IQ 16(?) (15 base, -3 difficulty, +4(?) following a known-good procedure) with complimentary (3d6)[13] on Techie! 15
(3d6)[7] on IQ 16(?) (15 base, -3 difficulty, +4(?) following a known-good procedure) with complimentary (3d6)[11] on Techie! 15
(3d6)[9] on IQ 16(?) (15 base, -3 difficulty, +4(?) following a known-good procedure) with complimentary (3d6)[18] on Techie! 15
(3d6)[9] on IQ 16(?) (15 base, -3 difficulty, +4(?) following a known-good procedure) with complimentary (3d6)[13] on Techie! 15
(3d6)[12] on IQ 16(?) (15 base, -3 difficulty, +4(?) following a known-good procedure) with complimentary (3d6)[12] on Techie! 15
(3d6)[12] on IQ 16(?) (15 base, -3 difficulty, +4(?) following a known-good procedure) with complimentary (3d6)[9] on Techie! 15
(3d6)[10] on IQ 16(?) (15 base, -3 difficulty, +4(?) following a known-good procedure) with complimentary (3d6)[8] on Techie! 15
(3d6)[6] on IQ 16(?) (15 base, -3 difficulty, +4(?) following a known-good procedure) with complimentary (3d6)[9] on Techie! 15
(3d6)[10] on IQ 16(?) (15 base, -3 difficulty, +4(?) following a known-good procedure) with complimentary (3d6)[10] on Techie! 15
(3d6)[9] on IQ 16(?) (15 base, -3 difficulty, +4(?) following a known-good procedure) with complimentary (3d6)[14] on Techie! 15

[bramblefoot]

you awaken the rest of the people in cryo-sleep. they're all weak and dizzy, and are unlikely to travel far in their current condition.

[Volthawk]

While Chad wakes people up, Alec corrals them all into one place so he can address them as a group when they're ready. "Alright people, this is the situation - we're crashed in some rimworld or other, in a jungle to be specific, there are locals but we're not sure of their exact intent, scared tribals at the least, and odds are help isn't coming in...a while." Alec shrugs. "So we've got to sort ourselves out. Step one is figuring out what it is we can do, so - introductions!" Alec claps his hand for attention. "I'm Alec. Ex-military, trained in jungle survival, so I guess my job is to make sure we don't die out there. Chad there, working on the machines, was crew - marines, to be specific. He knows the ship, and a good amount about machines, so he'll help us get anything useful out of this place and keep anything we can take with us running. We're also both trained fighters, and have guns, so that's something. How about you guys? Who are you, what do you know about, anything else useful come to mind? Let's go down the line-" Alec grins. "I'll avoid the forced icebreakers, let's stay focused on the issue at hand for now."

[bramblefoot]

can i get an IQ roll at -2 to separate the useful ones from the bog standard please?

[Volthawk]

Spoiler

Show

Chad has better IQ, so he might want to have a go, but for Alec:
IQ 11 (base 13 -2): (3d6)[11]

[bramblefoot]

out of the roughly 75 people here, about a third of them are self-defense proficient, if not combat-trained. all of them know the base colonist skills. you have a trio of combat medics from the krailein wars, and about six general repair and maintence gurus from autus VII, a noted production planet. the biggest find however, is an honest-to-god psionic user of above average strength

[u-b]

Well, 75 was not much by any measure. Chad recognized these people will need food, water, shelter and medical help. So, he lets medics help any and all injured in the crash, and chooses the ship for the shelter. Food and water... the ship should have no huge problem with that, at least for the start, but that was also worth checking. So, Chad starts to assembel a list of things to do, and present it, soliciting suggestions:

1. Find the state of the ship's water supplies and water recirculation systems
2. Find the state of the ship's food stores and food storage equipment
3. Find the state of the ship's hydroponic and food processing equipment
4. Find the state of the ship's main power system and backup power systems
5. Find the state of the ship's in-flight workshops
6. Find the state of the ship's other systems, including the computers, comms, unused escape pods, Chad's own armor / vacc suit and the gear of other marines, etc., etc.
7. Find the state of the ship's cargo intended to use upon landing (including weapons, armor, tools, vehicles and materials)
8. Find a way to deal with the dead before they start decomposing (the options are to freeze or cremate them if we have the capacity, or to bury them if we do not)
9. Potentially set up a perimeter and find out more about the locals

Chad is inclined to take all techies with him and tackle on numbers #1..6 on this list while some people deal with #7 after escorted to the cargo holds and Alec deals with #9 (can the psi guy help him with that?) and the rest eventually deal with #8, but now just make one big heap of bodies.

Spoiler

Show

Supposing we have 75 alive out of original 7500, how many of them are wounded and in need of medical help?

[bramblefoot]

alright. im just gonna do a montage of the stuff you see

1. water supplies are at 50% and draining rapidly due to a breach in the water-reclamation facility. getting the breach stopped up will take six hours of labor and a roll at -6 on techie

2. the food is fine. It's all like protein bars and freeze dried meals. the equipment is a tad battered but should work fine

3 & 4 hydroponics is shot. it took a hit from the spinal railgun, and is basically a writeoff. aint nothing getting it to work short of a spacedock. main power is offline, and the reserves are running on like 25% power. if you got the solar panels extended, that would work wonders towards getting the shortfall fixed. main power will take a dedicated effort to get back online and significant parts

5.workshops have insufficent power to print anything but basic schtuff like ammo or b-cells

6. computers are semi-functional, comms also. escape pods are lootable. there are two suits of marine armor and two-days of power for each suit

7. weapons and basic kevlar are fine. vehicles are smashed, tho you prolly could get a frankestein vehicle going if you really tried. (call it a techie roll at -5 and 4 hours of work). basic colony materials are purrfectly fine in their places

8. you should start a grave detail.

9. yes the psi can help

Spoiler: ooc

Show

only bumps and bruises. the cryo-pods are remarkably resilient

[Volthawk]

When it comes to securing the perimeter, Alec takes the psion along as he starts by patrolling the exterior of the ship, looking for any other easy ways into the ship. Along the way, he asks the psychic what it was he could actually do - that kind of thing had always been a little outside of his speciality, but the guy said he could help with Alec's job and if nothing else an extra pair of eyes was useful at this point.

If any entrances are found other than the one they were planning on using (the way they first came in, presumably), Alec starts figuring out ways to secure them, seeing if any basic traps could be rigged out of some combination of ship debris and jungle materials, or if there was some way to cover or conceal the other ways in. The main entrance gets a little bit of this treatment, Alec pointing out to the colonists where he put them along with letting them know the wider state of the perimeter - after all, checking the ship was still secure was a job that some of the colonists capable of fighting would have to take on down the line.

Next...the locals. Assuming nothing goes wrong up until this point, Alec intends to report back to Chad with an update on the situation, then starts mapping out the area to the best of his knowledge (from what he saw from his vantage point and the walk from there to here, estimating relative distances from that). It was nowhere near perfect, and he intended to work on it as they explored more of the area, but he hoped it'd be enough to figure out the right way to go to reach one of the smoke signals he saw before - if that wasn't happening in a settlement itself, it must have been nearby. He also noted which direction the tracks he saw earlier were going - he still didn't know if they were colonist or tribal, but either way it was worth following up on, particularly if it was on the way to one of his potential targets.

He then asks around the colonists to see if anyone has anything in the way of diplomatic experience or training - Alec didn't see himself as the best option for potentially brokering some kind of truce, and he figured someone here must have relevant experience - along with a few people with some ability to defend themselves, just in case. He also stops by Chad again, seeing if his salvage work and the inventory of the surviving equipment had thrown up anything useful for the trip to find the tribals, and to see if he wanted to come along.

Spoiler

Show

Rolls that may be relevant, let me know if anything else comes up:
Ship Patrol - Perception 15: (3d6)[8]
Trapping - Traps 12: (3d6)[9]
Mapping - Cartography 12: (3d6)[10]

[u-b]

After performing an examination of the state at hand, the first thing Chad wants done is stopping the water leak. Some alternative source of water could be produced, of course, but nothing as good and reliable as what they have onboard. He takes all six techies to aid him and sets to perform the task now. When interrupted by Alec, Chad only says he trusts the two to do their good enough best, hands them two gray-colored reflex tacsuits (complete with combat infantry helmets and batteries), still bearing the marks of the colonial marines, including one named "TSgt. C. Vreeland", tells to go to the storage to pick up a gun for psi guy, and continues on with the fixing.

Spoiler

Show

(3d6)[8] on Techie 9 (15 skill, -6 difficulty) and up to six persons helping, as practical, with (3d6)[14] (3d6)[10] (3d6)[11] (3d6)[11] (3d6)[9] (3d6)[9] on skill 12+ for +1 each?

[bramblefoot]

alec

the psion, whose name is jakob, has good skill in telepathy and psychokinesis, which he shows by flinging rocks and hitting a bird on the wing as it gets a tad too close. he also has an annoying tendency of finishing your sentences. traps are set, positions are staffed, and the remaining colonists set up for the night

chad:

you do get the breach stopped in reclamation. the water is currently at 35% which should last you for several months. you and the gurus are soaked to the skin and bone tired. night is rapidly falling, as the twin moons come out over the jungle. you both have about two hours before you need to tuck in for the night

wdyd?

[u-b]

Having stopped the water leak, Chad has his dinner in the company of some of the other colonists. He sort of has some free time so if anyone wants to address him about something, this is a good time to do that. After the dinner, Chad makes sure everyone able to use a gun has one and also has some light body armor. He gets some light armor for himself. He then tries to arrange the new colonial militia into something not exactly resembling a crowd. That is, he expects to be busy for a few more days, so if some people have field experience, command experience, or have had military ranks, those should be appointed to command the militia in some simple structure. Chad then lets the newly-formed militia organize the night guard and goes to sleep.

[Volthawk]

Spoiler

Show

From what Alec can tell, how close are the smoke signal sites from the ship? Close enough to have a look tonight?

[bramblefoot]

Spoiler: ooc

Show

not tonight. but tomorrow yes

the militia set up a watch system. nothing happens the first night save for strange rustlings in the jungle

[u-b]

In the morning, Chad has the breakfast along with some other colonists. He asks if some of the techies could unfold the solar panels while the rest will help him make some vehicle.

Spoiler

Show

Chad's vehicle-making efforts:
(3d6)[8] on Techie 10 (15 skill, -5 difficulty) with four techies helping (3d6)[7] (3d6)[3] (3d6)[8] (3d6)[11] on 12+
Ideally, it would be something smallish, tracked (rubber tracks will do), with an open cargo section in th back and a dozer blade in the front, but Chad is not picky.

Two guys unfolding some solar panels:
(3d6)[7] on Techie 12+ with complimentary (3d6)[6] on the same

[bramblefoot]

chad:

the solar panels are set up on the back of the ship where the sun shines brightest, and a small half-track is assembled and pronounced fit for travel by the gurus. the half-track has a full tank of fuel and is raring to go.

alec
chronic pain
(3d6)[9]<6

nightmares
(3d6)[12] <12

[Volthawk]

Alec was a little dishevelled when he wakes up and joins the others. He doesn't talk about why, but if anyone was paying attention to him (and probably the guy who woke him up for his turn on watch) might guess that he'd been having some kind of nightmare all night. He decides to wait until the techies are done with their project before setting off - he reckoned they might come up with something useful, and when he sees the halftrack he's impressed. He took that into mind as he started planning the excursion to the tribals.

Spoiler

Show

At 12FP at the start of the day from that Nightmares roll. As for the last bit of disadvantage business, First Aid 13 to see if Alec's taken care of his wound properly: (3d6)[14]

So what's the capacity like on the halftrack? How many people can Alec bring with him? Working on a list of priorities for putting a team together for the trip, but I'd like to know how many are coming first. Also, u-b, is Chad coming along or would he rather stay in the base to work on things here?

[bramblefoot]

Spoiler: OOC

Show

the half track seats six, with handles for four to ride on the outside. Such travel costs 1 fp per hour in addition to heat penalties, and imposes a -4 to guns skill while hanging off it. The nearest smoke signal by your reckoning is two klicks northeast

[Volthawk]

Spoiler

Show

Alright. Since they're not heading out to war and Alec doesn't want to present too aggressive a front to the tribals, he'll leave off the side riders this trip. That leaves six seats to fill, and what Alec's looking for is something along the following lines. He's preferably looking for militia volunteers, for the decent chance a fight starts, but if need be he'll draw from the two-thirds of the colonists without any combat skill.

1. Someone to drive the thing. Alec can drive, but he'd rather someone else did so he can focus on navigation and looking out for threats.
2. One of the combat medics, for obvious reasons. Things might get violent, and in any case the jungle isn't a kind place and accidents or animals might happen.
3. Someone with some mechanical aptitude. Chad if he wants to come along, otherwise someone drawn from the crew - the gurus probably have better things to do, so just someone with a decent ability to deal with any typical field issues would be handy. They did just put this thing together today, after all, and jungles can be troublesome places.
4. Given they want to deal with the tribals peacefully, anyone with some of diplomatic or speaking experience - hell, even just a pretty face, point is someone to present a softer face to the colonists and make it more likely they can come to an agreement. Mercantile experience might be handy too, in case they can make some kind of trading deal with the tribals. Naturally, Alec's less stringent on looking in the militia for this, since people with the right skills are likely to be in the other two-thirds.
5. Jakob, if he's up to accompany Alec for a little longer. Telepaths are handy when dealing with a group with unknown intentions.
6. Alec himself, naturally.
7. Any remaining slots (none if all works out, maybe some if an earlier slot can't be filled or someone doubles up) with militia, so they've got some more guns on their side if the tribals are not willing to talk.

Incidentally, any word from the other prospective players, GM? Been awfully quiet in the recruitment thread. Is it just going to be u-b and me playing?

[u-b]

When Alec proposes to ride out on the newly-fixed half-track, Chad makes sure the colonists proceed with digging a grave some short distance away, protected by militia, while he is away. He also makes ture the tech guys have someting to do, like unfolding the rest of the solar panels, digging through ship's logs to have this planet located in space and space catalogs and suchlike. Chad takes, in addition to his normal load, two tactical knifes from the storage, half a backpack of tasty preserved food (nuts-in-honey class of thing, but varied), a mirror taken from a wall in some bathroom and a medikit.

[bramblefoot]

alright. everyone piles into the halftrack and about a half-hour into the journey, you come across a giant monolith. a heavy stone door sits ajar, and you feel a strange sense of foreboding as you look at it. it appears to be at least a half-football field long, and half as wide

[u-b]

Chad looks at the thing and is quite impressed. "I do not think it's going anywhere. Check for tracks, mark its location and move on?"

Spoiler

Show

I guess our tasks would be to investigete anything smoky to...
1. Establish contact with the locals
2. Find those who landed in other escape pods, and the pods themselves

[Volthawk]

Alec nods. "Exactly. We're here to make contact, not root around in their possessions." He makes the necessary notes on his map and then start looking around the immediate area for tracks or anything else of interest that might indicate a good direction other than towards the other smoke signal sites.

Spoiler

Show

Perception/Observation 15: (3d6)[8]
Tracking 16: (3d6)[7]

[bramblefoot]

alec picks up several sets of insectoid tracks leading inside the monolith. you also get a weird feeling of being watched, but the whole place seems silent as a tomb.

an hour and a half later you arrive at the first smoke signal. It's a medium village surrounded by a wooden palisade and holding maybe forty-odd souls. the village hetman, a wizened, stooped man of indeterminate age hobbles out on a gnarled stick. "have you come to take the strong away?" he asks in broken galactic standard

Spoiler: ooc

Show

you are all down 1 fp from the jungle

[u-b]

Chad greets the man in a more modern and clear galactic standard. "No, that's not the purpose of our visit. We've come to establish contact with your people and find our people that have landed in the escape pods. Maybe yours have already met some of them. We will then want to establish a trading relationship."

[bramblefoot]

the hetman looks a little taken aback. "strangers only take the strong away" he murmurs, then composes himself and says "what will you be trading for?"

the village has plenty of scrap electronics, and other things they dont know how to use

[Volthawk]

"Ah, well, we have some ideas - Chad there might be interested in some of your junk, and I'm interested to hear first-hand about how you live out here and the techniques and equipment you use. I know my way around a jungle, but hearing first-hand experiences may be helpful. However, this first visit was, yes, to see if we could talk peacefully and establish contact, so if you're happy to deal we can return later with stuff to trade." He glances over at Chad, unsure what said trade goods would be, but doesn't let that stop him. "What do you mean about taking the strong away? Are you having problems with another group of strangers? Some kind of conscription, forcing your skilled and strong warriors to fight for them?" He couldn't help but be a little concerned at the implication - if there was a group around here with that attitude towards recruitment, they'd have to be careful since a crashed ship full of colonists would be an open buffet to those types.

[bramblefoot]

the hetman says to alec "they come in large beast-less carriages stinking of smoke from the east and take the strong. none return"

to chad "that junk. we have no use for it. take as much as you would like"