ZEITGEIST Impossible speeds

[kelots]

Hey guys, do you know why adventure 3 makes a big deal about this:

Exploration/Social. Montage.​

Race by sea before another portal unleashes monsters into the world.​

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The PCs have a ship assigned to them, which is fast enough to reach the northeastern coast of Ber, where the sunken seal lies, in seven days. If the party calls in a Level 6 Favor from Risur, they can instead enlist the Impossible, the RHC’s fastest ship, commanded by Captain Rutger Smith. The Impossible can make the journey in three days, but getting clearance to use the ship would take longer than the time saved sailing. Should naval combat break out during the voyage, its recommended that the GM narrate up until the adventurers can get in on the action.​

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The Impossible does, however, have a larger crew, handy as backup. If the party doesn’t try requesting the larger ship, Stover Delft might recommend they bring along backup. He suggests they request four Risuri soldiers to sail with them for a week, a Level 5 Favor. If they’re in a rush, they might get a single soldier as a Level 4 Favor.​

But then the players guide says?

The 250-foot Impossible is built wholly for speed, and is primarily used for missions of immense urgency. Due to the ship’s great expense, it is usually only deployed by the order of Lady Chief Inspectress Margaret Saxby or one of her superiors. Its captain, Rutger Smith, has never seen combat. He sees himself as a philosopher, not a warrior, and while his crew have great morale, they are the target of light mockery from other crews in the RHC and the navy.​

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Requesting the Impossible and its crew of sixty-four is a Rank 4 favor using Risur prestige, modified by the time the ship will be needed.​

I'm rolling it as what the players have in their guide, so they're waiting a day then heading out with /64/ soldiers and gonna get their in record itme.... Is this a typo or am I not understanding the rules?

 

[RangerWickett]

What you're missing is the time modifier. If you need the ship for a half hour, it's rank 4. But the adventure would require the ship for over a week, which I think takes it up to 7, or maybe 8. It has been a while since I read those favor rules.

 

[Meigeall]

And a crew of 64 is not 64 soldiers; it is likely a mix of 64 level 1 experts and level 1 warriors. Given that it carries 22 light cannons, I'd assign a gunner for each (22x level 1 warrior), have almost all the rest be common sailors (40x level 1 expert), and add a couple officers (first and second mate: 2x level 3, mix of expert, aristocrat, adept, and/or warrior depending on your setting). If Captain Smith counts as one of the 64 crew, I'd drop one of the mates.

Personally, I like the thought of a couple adept aristocrats as officers given Risur's magical traditions in my campaign. This also meshes nicely with an adapted version of Starfinder's starship combat I plan to use for our naval battles—using magic to recharge the ships' shields

 

[Andrew Moreton]

The Invincible of not going to have a crew of 64 unless magic is doing all the work
A royal navy 6th rate frigate of 1790 had a crew of between 150-200, the Invincible seems to be heavily overrigged to be such a fast ship that means a larger crew , a 9-12 lb gun typical for a small frigate needs at least 4 crew although they often don't have a full crew for both broadsides so that alone is going to be over 100 crew, Typically that is going to be captain, 3 Lieutenants, several midshipmen, and a number of proffesionals (Carpenter, Doctor, Sailing master, Bosun etc). On a risuri ship I would expect a mid level druid as well.

I am a naval pedant, and one of the weaknesses of Zeitgeist is its ships, wooden sailing ships cannot compete with steam ships over the distances of the map even early steam ships. Given the time scale of the steam ships being discovered , there are no wooden sailing warships left as frankly they are just death traps which will get all the crew killed in a few minutes against an armoured steam powered warship.

I wrote up some stuff on my estimate of what the local navies would look like when a naval battle occurred around Axis Island

 

[kelots]

AHHH wicked thanks guys

 

[kelots]

In other news, I'm a little stumped on how to react to this interaction:

One of my players, Mason, had evidence planted in his property by Kell which was uncovered in the Audit. He was picked as he also had the most dodgy record across the constables (stealing wands, pushing for deals with kell, making friends with Cippiano, planting evidence for Cippiano to get a lead on the dragonborn brothers etc, killing one of the dragonborn brothers with a knife in the back on a busy street etc.)

He got upset at the Audit but managed to talk his way out of it with the help of his team, but they were officially On Thin Ice.

Fast forward to the end of the session, Mason's player wanted to crash IRL so went back to HQ by himself, I included the a hint that Saxbys house had been robbed as a lead for them to possibly investigate.

He then got really excited, and did the following:
1) he skipped through the office, singing "i'm walking on sunshine"
2) he made two coffees and walked to Saxby's office, kicking the door in unannounced
3) he drunk both coffees back to back (referencing a earlier interaction between the two)
4) he laughed and shouted "HEY SAXBY I HEARD YOUR HOUSE GOT BROKEN INTO, THAT SUCKS DOESN'T IT"
5) he then skipped out of the room singing walkin on sunshine again

I described her turning beet red, face a mask of rage and that her grip on the edge of the table was beginning to splinter wood as he got up and left before she could shout, and then we paused that er... scene there and switched to wrap up what the rest were doing.

Me and the rest of the players were pretty shocked and talked OOC asking wtf the player was doing. He seemed confused at our reaction expecting everyone to find it hilarious and said he was playing it like some characters from brooklyn 99 (holt/wunch).... Another player pointed out they're peers he just went to her two up boss and mocked her for being robbed. He obviously saw it as payback for the evidence plan in his home... but as other players in his party pointed out she was just doing her job following up on that investigation (which is still ongoing).

I'm honestly stuck on how to react here... would Saxby just fire him or bust him down to an office worker? Seems like an un-fun but probable real world repercussion for something like that, but effectively the player would be out of the squad and it'd be like he died. The wording he used... she's going to suspect he's the person who robbed them now right?

Do I put them in for interrogation/official questioning for all the stuff they already talked their way out of?

Basically trying to think how I penalise/react to this player for his behavior IC without the rest of the party (who were OOC shouting "DUDE NO WHAT ARE YOU DOING" and IC on the other side of the city so couldn't stop him) being impacted.

 

[Meigeall]

Depending on how you're running the stipend/pay the constables get, you could have him 'demoted' and cut what he is allowed to spend on gear.

My group has the total value available and can check out or swap out a sum of equipment up to that limit whenever they are at a RHC headquarters. If one were to be demoted, I would drop a level's worth (according to wealth-by-level, since Pathfinder has that). Once they have their next big 'win,' the character's proper rank would be reinstated.

 

[Andrew Moreton]

I may allow a take back because that behaviour is so obviously stupid, If I did that with my boss , I would be dealing with the diciplinary process for being sacked and I work in a laid back public sector bureacracy. If you did that in an police/military organisation you would be suspended or sacked almost immediatly. (Unless your name is Paddy Mayne).

Otherwise I may consider firing the character and get the player to start a new character, as this comes under the heading of things I will Kill characters for (Stupidity). Other punishments are hard to come up with that don't get in the way of game fun. It sounds like they are about to go on a long range mission to investigate underwater ruins maybe have him play a specialist in underwater operations while his main character is suspended , then have him suspended pending dismissal when they return but helping out the team unoficially until he gets really lucky and Saxby is revealed as a traitor and in the admin changes after that her charges are dropped

 

[RangerWickett]

I mean, is the rest of your game running on Brooklyn-99 logic?

My first advice is to talk to the player one-on-one (not whole-group-vs-him) and ask where he wants things to go. It seems like there's a disconnect between your expectation and his, so an out-of-character discussion should be useful. If he expected everyone to laugh and roll their eyes at his antics, and you think the rest of the group wants a more grounded narrative, ask if he'd be comfortable fitting in with the grounded consequences. Maybe he'll just be willing to switch tone.

Or maybe, if he doesn't want to switch tone, and you don't want to ask the player to leave, you lean into a setting element to justify how he gets away with it. Like, they call him in for a disciplinary discussion, and as he's waiting, a commotion arises in the building as Ekossigan of Fall, Lord of the Unseen Court, strolls in. He heard what the PC did and wants to commend him for bringing some joy into this stolid organization that rudely keeps trying to eliminate the wondrous mysteries of the world out of some misguided desire to 'learn the truth.'

Truth, after all, is a matter of perspective, and perspective changes with the seasons, and if we forbid whimsy and mockery, nothing ever changes, and the world would turn dark and lifeless.

Basically, an Archfey says, "I like this one," and it scares the politicians out of punishing the PC. But of course this raises some questions. One big one is: why the hell was a Lord of the Unseen Court in Flint? The fey broadly hate the city for its industry. So you turn the potentially game-ending dispute into a jumping off point for a hook for the character. Maybe the Viscount even suggests the PC might be able to use his link to the fey to do some good, if you don't already have a PC with fey ties.

And when Ekossigan shows up in adventure 5, the PC can have a more personal link to him.

 

[kelots]

Definitely not running a Brooklyn-99 game, though definitely a fan of the show!

Ooh I like this bit about the Archfey, he's a vekeshi mystic so could be a tie in there. I'll go read adventure 5 a bit more...

I was thinking overnight that maybe Stover steps in and tries to defend him (he must have been out of his mind, he'd barely slept in days, they're about to crack the case and he's my best detective etc) and then Stover gets fired (to return later).

Will have a chat with him today and get a feel for where the players heads at, love the suggestions thanks all