So, this post is going to be very sketchy. For more information on the characters, the setting, the worlds, and and the factions, check out the Galactic Playtest section of RandomWiki -- Denver Playtest Two.

Players involved were Tim, Chris, Dave, Jay, and Randy.

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Tim came up with Nils Belinar, Captain of the civilian cruise ship Isabel's Dream. On the face of things, Nils (and most of the crew) are just folks that are doing this job until they find something better, or get enough money to go into business for themselves. In actuality, most of the crew are 'true believers' who use the harmless-looking cruise ship to prepare for the coming of the Scourge.

Crewmembers include:
* Reverend Ray, ship's priest and head of security, who is a professional rival of the Captains -- doesn't think he's Hardcore enough.
* Brad Janette, student and assistant purser -- one of the crew who isn't 'in' on the hidden agenda.
* Katya, physical fitness leader and mistress of crew discipline, who secretly pines for the Captain.
* Shandar Belina, Nils's brother and head of shipboard entertainment/lead electronics technician, he's family

We didn't nail down Tim's first quest, or anything about it (at least I can't find notes on it), but Tim's "Scourge Hint" is that they can read minds -- he comes from a long line of 'be prepared' fanatics who have schooled him to protect his thoughts... whatever that means.

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Chris introduced Argon Slash, Captain of the junkpile ship known as Legion. Argon scours the Remnants looking for lost Republic tech that he can somehow integrate into his ship.

Argon, being kind of a nut himself, attracted nutty characters:
* Jake, crew shootist, loose cannon, and Argon's fifth cousin.
* "Pockets" Mulvey, the ship's pilot
* Margo Gray, planetside recon (and survivalist nut)
* Sonja Bellingham, negotiator (and Argon's ex-wife)

His first quest involves finding some tech to diagnose a new Artifact he found and figure out what it does. He's headed for "The Drift" to accomplish this -- a huge unregulated 'space station' composed of hundred of derelict spaceships, connected tenuously together. No cliffhanger as yet.

His "Scourge Hint" is that they have very advanced technology.

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Dave created Allysande Daen, Captain of The Hart of Darkness, a corvette-class decommissioned military craft. This is sort of what I think of as a 'classic' Galactic character -- the Navy captain who resigned her post after a family member (Dad) sends her a frantic and/or mysterious communication from parts unknown.

The crew:
* Smoke, zen engineer -- Yin to Daen's Yang.
* Nestor Wynn, representative of the private consortium who's funding the Captain's new career in the private sector (rival)
* Bosley, her personal aide (professional)
* Master Chief Barkin, ball-buster (family ties?)

Her first quest deals with finding out where her Dad was last seen and where he was going -- she's heading to talk to an old friend of her Dad's to find out (I think -- notes are illegible here).

Dave's "Scourge Hint" is "a burning revenge."

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Jay came up with "SenEx" Neil Lymon, representative to the Concordant Board, Captain of the Veracity, and currently running for Concordant Syndic.

His crew:
* Lawrence Lymon, pilot and Neil's older brother
* Michael, press secretary (who feels unrequited love for the SenEx)
* Sister Bridget, nun/head of security and source of Romantic Tension
* Clark Lymon, pain in the ass son who needs to be kept out of the public eye for awhile

His Quest:
In a move that's half strong leadership and half publicity stunt, Lymon is taking his ship deep into the Remnants to the Bermuda-triangle-like "Core", which is a source of terror for the Alien clans and rumored to be the home of the Scourge, or the origin of the Republic, or both.

His goal: debunk the Scourge Myth and prove that military spending can be redirected elsewhere when he is elected Syndic.

(Later that evening, he'll be eating crow in a nice orange glaze.)

Jay's "Scourge Hint" is one of the recurring myths about the Scourge -- they they exist entirely along straight lines in what is largely a curved Universe, making them incomprehensible at some level.

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Captain Swann, of the Smuggling Ship of Many Names, played by Randy

Swann was found in a survival pod (I missed how she got there) by an Alien clan who, unexpectedly, returned her to the nearest human settlement, unharmed.

Ever since then, she's had some kind of ... compulsion ... in the back of her mind... like a blinking alarm light. "The Scourge Are Coming."

Her Crew
* Tomas Dupre, latin lothario pilot
* The drunken Dr. Sanjay Rahan
* Spence, 'the kid' and math wiz -- possibly Swann's nephew, or just unofficially adopted
* Ben Venger, hard-nosed black market appraiser

Her quest involves a very personal desire to find out what happened to her during her cryosleep that left her with this weird Scourge compulsion and the recurring dreams she has.

Her Scourge Hint (which wins the contest for Most Creepy): "They love us."

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Finally, there's me... all I contributed at the point was my own Scourge Hint.

I chose "Seizures."

First session is Thanksgiving weekend.

We started at around... 1:30/2 in the afternoon, and had a hard stop set at 5, due to other commitments.

- explaining the setting to everyone took some time
- we didn't get to setting up cliffhangers. we're doing that via email.
- we each did one planet, one faction -- I figure I'll have people add a new world between each quest -- sort of space it out.

Other than that, it went well. No one complained about the set up time (though some mentioned being creatively flatlined by the end) and, as you can see, we had a LOT (too many) captains, so there was a metric assload of crew members to work out.

I'm allowing five captains because we're trying to get through as much of this before December 15 as possible -- at that point, Neil Lymon's player leaves back to NYC -- this way, we can say "if three Captains can make it, we play" and increase the odds of that happening.

We have had two sessions now, and we're very close to the end of our first quests for Nils (2 wins, 1 fail), Allysande (2 wins), and Slash (1 win, 1 loss).

A full actual play of both sessions will be forthcoming. With feedback. Some technical (the parts on 'things you can do to save your dice after they are rolled' are mixed together with 'the fallout from after a conflict' parts in a mishmash), some social (there's a lack of incentive to do any RP leading up a conflict), and random bits.

Thought that came out of a conversation today: it would be interesting if, when setting up their quest, the player's had to choose between an "easy", "hard" or very hard quest level.

- Easy: GM limited to 8 dice on the table, per round, in the conflict. Quest Reward Die is a d10.
- Hard: As usual - GM limited to 10 dice on the table, per round, in the conflict. Quest Reward Die is a d12.
- Very hard: GM limited to 12 dice on the table, per round, in the conflict. Quest Reward Die is a d20.

Maybe. This thought came out of a conversation with a player who opined. "It doesn't substantively matter what I decided to do -- say, it's WW2, and I'm the US: do I jump into the fight in France or in North Africa? It doesn't matter, because the GM still has the same number of dice to throw at me either way, in the conflict system (which is a great system)."

And people can (and should) point out that that's perhaps missing the point of the game, but... I do see his point. The game has such rich tactical choices to make in the dice system that players want some of that in the larger game as well. Hard to fault that.

All in all, though, Matt: the game is going really really well. Players have been most complimentary and happy with the scenes where they LOST. It's great.

1. The rules on the GM Dice Sheet say that the GM can only have 10 dice on the table. Let's say I start with 10 in the first round, and after the first exchange, I get two dice knocked out. Is it okay for me to cross off two more dice from my dice sheet to bring my total back to 10? I think it is, but I wanted to make sure.

4. Edges. Do they refresh to full between quests?

Yes.

How hard has it been so far to keep track of nine different characters?

And are you getting in some good story stuff in between the crunchy dice moments?

Hey there, Tim White from Doyce's group here!

I thought I'd throw in a few comments based on my experiences.

1) I *love* the rotating character mechanic. I can't express to you how much fun it is to be able to play your main character, as well as playing crew for other captains.
* As a long (long) time GM - one of the things that frustrates me as a player is the fact that I only get to play one character.
* Switching between characters 'refreshes' your role-playing energy.
* I feel like you get a much more cinematic feel when you have a main character and supporting characters than with chaotic independents.
* It seems easier to role-play a *character* when you are crew than when you are a typical PC, or even a captain.
* With the ebb and flow of the dice, it's much easier to accept consequences as crew than as a typical PC. "Let me take that bullet for you, sir..."
* With the...less interesting...captains, we find our selves RP'ing between the crew a lot more "Does he know what he's doing?"

2) I *love* the fact that the dice rolling is more strategic and abstract than 'climb check'-y. You really get that ebb and flow feel, which is fun to narrate to. I enjoy taking consequences and then deciding what that means in terms of the story.

3) I'm definitely more excited about the mechanics of this game than any in a long time.

4) I think the book needs some reorganization - group similar stuff together, index, typos etc. - some of which have driven me mad (like trying to find where it mentions refreshing edges).

5) I often find myself unsure of how many resources to spend on a conflict - should I blow all my edges and save all my dice?

6) IMO, d10's seem superpowerful compared to all the other dice.

Well, anyway, more later...just wanted to say yay! and thanks!