The Fore Edge Campaign: Mulligan Psmith and the Wild Goose

 I played out on adventure in this campaign, using the Starforged rules almost exclusively. I kept it light and ignored stuff I didn't want to deal with, such as "Iron vows". Mostly wanting to see if I could use it to play something less grimdark. I think it worked reasonably well. I also kept minimal notes as I didn't want to spend much time writing up more detailed stories.

Starting planet:

Tir

minor military base and associated town: Sirius Station

population: thousands

first look: rustic architecture

settlement projects: pacifism

local landscape/biomes: coastal wetlands

Note: One decision I made here is that the biome I roll for a planet is the biome for the part of it where I am at at the time, rather than a planet-wide biome as in some sci-fi stories.

Thread: (using One-Page Mythic from Mythic Magazine 25)

Learn about ship; where did it come from, who did it belong to, what happened to them, etc.

• Was it in the starport? Nearly certain = exceptional yes

Maybe? yes, and it was fully serviced, stocked, and fueled up; or yes, and the owners hadn't claimed it for so long it was considered abandoned? I wasn't sure so decided to roll 1D6, 1-3 -> first option, 4-6 -> second option = 6, port authorities declared the ship abandoned and put it up for sale/auction

• Were other parties interested in it? very likely = yes

I gave this some thought and realized that in Starforged you are generally meant to have a spaceship as one of your starting assets. I also decided I didn't want to spend time playing around with who the other parties were (at least not at this time - maybe it will come up at some point in the future?) or with whether Psmith was able to acquire it or not or play out that scenario. 

In any case, I decided instead that Mulligan was able to pay for the ship, and now has legal title to it.

So, now that he has his ship, time to find things to do.

Day 1

Mulligan walks through the starport, to find news, job postings, etc.

(rolling on a table for benign starport encounters (I forgot where I found these) – results may just be for flavor or may lead to more)

He notices a group of religious pilgrims standing at a window, watching a ship loading cargo. Nothing of any real interest there for him.

A concerned looking team in hazmat gear run past.

hmmm, wonder what that was about...

Mulligan continues on and finds a computer terminal where he can check for job listings.

(rolling on the Jobs table from The Book of Random Tables Science Fiction, by Matt Davids) (later, I found Starforged has some options that could work for this, too – such as the table on page 130)

Rescue survivors of a pirate attack. Search and Rescue mission – I will probably mostly use Expedition moves, with a progress bar (Troublesome) and tension clock (6 segments)

To start out, I'm going to roll on the Swear a Vow move (just not calling it a vow; more like, taking on a job).

Rolled 2 and 2 on challenge dice; rolled 3 on action die, plus 1 for Heart = strong hit

(the doubles on the challenge dice could give an interesting twist or opportunity)

“you are emboldened and it is clear what you must do. Take +2 Momentum.”

Mulligan has a good idea of where to look for the victims of the pirate attack.

So let's start with Set a Course.

Rolled 2 and 9 on challenge dice; rolled 5 on action die, plus 5 for Supply = strong hit

arrive safely at destination (last know location of pirate victims' ship). +1 Momentum.

Note: The Wild Goose is the gray ship, which looks larger because it is closer - it's a very common ship model; sort of like the VW van of starships. The white ship is the damaged vessel that had been attacked by pirates.

Next step, could be either Gather Information or Explore a Waypoint – both use Wits.

I think I'll go with Explore a Waypoint.

Rolled 4 and 9 on challenge dice; rolled 6 on action die, plus 3 for Wits = weak hit

Need to hide from pirates until they move on (next move is probably in the direction they came from). No progress. +1 Momentum, and +1 for Explorer.

Acting casual, parked next to an asteroid, as a pirate ship sails past in the foreground.

Search continues. Going with Gather Information, looking for the ship or escape pods or anything else.

Rolled 9 and 10 on challenge dice, rolled 1 on action die, plus 3 for Wits = miss

Pay the Price. Tension clock advances. I decide to roll on the Spaceborne Peril table. 59 = others obstruct your path

Looks like too much pirate activity nearby; I'll have to try sneaking around. It will take longer, but there is still time.

I'll try Undertake an Expedition, using Shadow to keep under the radar, and try to sneak past the pirates.

Rolled 5 and 7 on the challenge dice; rolled 2 on action die, plus 2 for Shadow = miss

Pay the Price. Tension clock advances. Another Spaceborne Peril. 23 = gravity well or vortex takes hold.

Calling this Face Danger. Mulligan tries to pull the ship out of the vortex. Focusing his wits on that task.

Rolled 6 and 8 on the challenge dice; rolled 6 on action die, plus 3 for Wits = strong hit

Marking progress, +1 Momentum. He manages to pull the ship out of the vortex.

Explore a Waypoint to look for signs of the pirate victims.

Rolled 6 and 9 on the challenge dice; rolled 4 on action die, plus 3 for Wits = weak hit

Rolling on Spaceborne Opportunity; 17 = clear path through otherwise perilous space. +2 Momentum.

Gather Information; looking for clues or signs

Rolled 4 and 6 on the challenge dice; rolled 4 on the action die, plus 3 for Wits = strong hit

I'm going to mark progress; Momentum is at 10.

Mulligan spots the escape pod from the ship the pirates had attacked, and brings the victims aboard the Wild Goose.

Now we just need to chart a course back to Tir, and avoid any pirates who might still be lurking about.

Rolled 8 and 9 on challenge dice; rolled 2 on action die. Even when adding 5 for Supply it would be a miss. Mulligan burns Momentum of 10 to turn this into a strong hit.

Upon their return to Tir, Mulligan makes a “Progress move” to Finish an Expedition.

Rolled 2 and 6 on challenge dice; Progress of 9 = strong hit

One tick mark on discoveries legacy track

Everyone celebrates the rescue!

Cue celebratory music!

This concludes this chapter of the adventures of Mulligan Psmith and the Wild Goose in the Fore Edge Campaign.

I may return to this at some point, but for now I want to try some other games, and get some more minis painted.