>Investigate
As far as ideas went, investigating the hulk on the horizon seemed like a good idea. The catch was both getting there.
“Sir, we’re losing oil pressure!” one of the “engineers” told you, gazing down at the control panel like it was going to try and kill him.
“Fix it!” you roared down to the now-open air engine compartment. They just banged wrenches faster. Sighing, you leaned back on the bulkhead rail and rubbed your hair. This was not going well. As the engines caught and died in a black cloud, you snarled.
“Fix it or there’s no shares! Move!”
In truth, you disliked being this barbaric, but it was currently almost your only option. The other option, appealing to the group’s collective collegiate and pseudo-Greek élan, was NOT happening. In the words of Machiavelli, if one had to be loved or feared without being both, pick feared. Right now, an old Luger and a set of knives kept the fear going, as well as the conscientious objector strapped to the bowsprit like a demented figurehead.
“Sir, got the oil back, but the radiator is shot! Can we build a replacement?”
Dear god, one of them could use their heads? Hello, potential mate!
“Yes, get moving!”
>Crew XP get: +1
(CONT)
It was maybe four nautical miles to the ship, silhouetted against the horizon. While you were not a professional seaman, you were smart enough to know that it should not take the better part of two days to sail somewhere you could freaking walk to if you weren’t on water.
Oh well. When you finally got close enough, you grinned slyly. It was a motor yacht, about ten feet longer than your current joke-boat. More importantly, you could feel it calling to you.
“Take me” the sultry craft said, smiling. “Make me yours… Captain.”
Shaking your head, you went to find the small girl you had saved. She liked to play chess for some reason, and you needed to clear your thoughts.
“You, smart person who built a radiator.” You said flatly.
“Yes?” he replied, dumbstruck.
“You have the watch. Don’t fuck up my boat.”
One fairly good game of chess you lost later, you looked back at the yacht. It was about forty-five feet long at the waterline, no obvious zombies, and nothing remotely conspicuous about it.
Therefore you were paranoid as all fuck. If you boarded, something was bound to go wrong, as this particular ship had Murphy’s Law written all over it in big red ink. Oh well- that’s what you had the meat shields for. If they each had a knife, that should be enough for them to either work together or stall long enough for you to cap the zombies fairly efficiently. Alternatively, you could just leave, and pass this boat up.
Decision Time.
>Assault the yacht.
>Ditch the bitch
>>46230726
Assault the yacht.
Hopefully we thin some crew if it aint big enough to be comfortable for what we have.
>>46230795
It's a 45-footer, so it's not huge. However, you're not exactly planning on giving the no-skill plebs decent quarters anyway, the mouth-breathing food eaters.
>>46230726
>>Assault the yacht.
Assault the yacht
Hey, look, the pastebin with all the quest docks!
http://pastebin.com/u/0WarWolf
>>46230726
>Assault the yacht.
Disregard potential trap, obtain yacht
>>46230726
>Assault the yacht
>Assault the yacht.
Roll 2d20 for Command. Include sample rousing speech for a bonus. St. Crispin's Day and Vaas' Soliloquy from Far Cry 3 are right out.
Rolled 7, 12 = 19 (2d20)
>>46231424
someone better then me will come up with a speech
Rolled 19, 12 = 31 (2d20)
>>46231424
We can do it.Also, source?
Rolled 12, 19 = 31 (2d20)
>>46231424
>>46231424
Did I mention this is a best of three and you're getting a difficulty boost from low moral? Well, I have now!
>>46231491
St. Crispin's is a bit of often-parsed Shakspear. I dislike it, as my DnD group abuses it badly.
>>46231491
>>46231506
Does this give us a bonus?
>>46231424
Return of the King Aragorn's speech in front of the Black Gate
>>46231545
I don't know it.
>>46231424
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhwJHF1Amkg
Simple and to the point.
>>46231424
"Ladies and gentlemen, that beautiful son of a bitch over there is our next home. Unless you want to keep living on this barely functional piece of shit, you better give it your fucking all to clear out our new home.
If you prove that you're cut from a better cloth than the rest of the shitstains around you, you might just get an extra reward. Impress me enough, you might move up in position.
Now go out and give whatever's on there hell."
>>46231608
WE DOES NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THAT BASTARD CHILD OF HEINLEIN! BURN IT TO THE GROUND!
Incidentally, I love the book, but the movie makes a complete and utter hash of it. For God's sake, Johny's a fucking Philipino, not some WASP cityboy!
>>46231662
+4 COM from that piece. Nice!
>>46231693
Different anon but i agree that it was a lower quality, still one of my favourite films (in the genre of sci-fi wars) just thanks to the interesting concept by comparison to much of what i saw; "The future where we solve everything" No 23 or whatever.
>Assault
You made up your mind. Even if it was infested with zombies, you had guns and grunts. You could do this. Now it was time to make them believe it.
"Ladies and gentlemen, that beautiful son of a bitch over there is our next home. Unless you want to keep living on this barely functional piece of shit, you better give it your fucking all to clear out our new home.”
“If you prove that you're cut from a better cloth than the rest of the shitstains around you, you might just get an extra reward. Impress me enough, you might move up in position.”
“Now go out and give whatever's on there hell."
As far as moral-building speeches, you were fairly certain there were better. Between the lapping of waves, the smell of feces on the side of the hull, the nervous clumps of girls looking at the guys like the Rape Train was going to start any minute, and the fact you had literally press-ganged them into this, there were a lot of detrimental effects. There wasn’t just hot bunking, there was hot-sitting. Your French expat loli, whom you really needed a name for, had taken the other shift in your bed as you manned the wheel, giving Potential Mate a relief.
Getting closer, you made sure the grapplers got ready. The initial throws had to be golden. Most were –thank God- but it was close. As the warrior-potentials climbed over the gunwhales and started tossing ropes to the plebs with initiative (who you had mentally bookmarked to become your sailors once you got some training in them) the two boats got lashed fairly well together. Going up yourself with pistol in hand, you ceremonially handed out each warrior their two knives. There were barely enough to go around, but that was okay.
Battle Plan:
>Imperial Guard Style: You in the back, them in the front.
>Varangian Style: You in the front rank with them
>Iranian Style: Them in front, you on your boat making sure none of those plebs try and steal it.
>Write-in: The girl’s name. What do we call her?
(Pic for the top because I'm still new at this whole Quest thing)
>>46231693
Not that anon but I agree that the book is amazing however I do like the movie a lot. I just keep them as two separate pieces on intellectual property in my head, tangentially related at best. Best argument I've ever heard for the movie is that it's all one big propaganda piece.
>>46231926
>Imperial Guard Style: You in the back, them in the front.
>>46231926
>Iranian Style: Them in front, you on your boat making sure none of those plebs try and steal it.
Can't trust these little bitches. Make sure they have instructions not to stab someone who's alive, and to tell us as soon as possible
>>46231924
I'd agree with you somewhat in that it's better than the contemporaries, but it does that in spite of it's shitty film style. The story had SO MUCH you could do with it to make the MI not actively look like they were a WWII Nazi parody and have them be badasses as the same time, instead of looking like SS 2.0, now with fancier uniforms and shittier tactics.
>>46231926
>>Imperial Guard Style: You in the back, them in the front.
>Girl's name is Amelia
>>46231926
Imperial guard style. We're the incentive to keep pushing forward.
Call the girl...i dunno, maybe Zahra.
Flower in arabic.
>>46231926
>Varangian Style: You in the front rank with them
Gotta start building that moral back up. I'd like to take the position of "That son of a bitch with us" rather than "That son of a bitch over there"
>Joan of Arc
Joan for short
>>46231926
Tactics; Roman legion - Us in the middle, them in the front and back
>Write-in: The girl’s name. What do we call her?
Alice or Emma
>>46232015
Changing my tactic to
>>46232041
>>46232015
Our MC is not-so-specifically a natural-born American. Also, I have classes with a Zahra, and she is one scary bitch. If it means "flower", she would be a poison ivy vine. Furry, huge, and has cute flowers that try and kill people who are allergic.
>>46232024
A little stereotypical, but if annon likes it, okay.
>>46232041
Alright, but remember that last thread I did issue a Potential of Mutiny warning.
>>46232080
That is the reason for us being in the middle; we are far enough from the sides to be caught unprepared but are able assist them in fighting to grant fire support.
>>46232136
And also conveniently surrounded. Just saying...
>>46232182
Maybe we could give them some encouragement.
Shout "Don't worry about getting bit, lads, I'll cap any of the biters that try!"
>>46232182
True... maybe it's not advisable but we can always promise those closest to us an extra share or two not to shank us...
Writing now! Roll 2d20 for a Ranged Combat check, please.
>>46232229
>>46232240
Not telling you if you passed the COM check yet for a REASON, Annon.
Rolled 13, 6 = 19 (2d20)
>>46232283
dice
Rolled 3, 15 = 18 (2d20)
>>46232283
If thirty five aint passin it, then god dang
Question, what does our combat score translate to?
Rolled 9, 15 = 24 (2d20)
>>46232283
Rolling
>>46232283
>>46232024
>>46232080
also I'll second Joan as a name
>>46232302
The problem is that Moral is a stat out of twenty. The current moral is one. That's a -9 modifier right there.
Combat score, by the way, works like this. I roll Zed combat, then I roll Warrior combat. If the Warriors have any boosts from COM or the Party is directly participating in combat, then I account that into Warrior rolling.
Once that's done, I compare and roll casualties. Warriors soak casualties first unless it's a MASSIVE win by the zombies, so once that's done I roll the Party fighting. After that, combat round's over. In the Imperial Guard method (tied with Roman, gets priority b/c NOT write-in), you preform a Ranged check in the Warrior phase, then a Melee check in the Party phase. If you went Varangian, you'd get the Melee and Ranged checks as both rolls in the Warrior phase, and a severe nerf in the Party phase. Roman would half your Warrior's Melee check, but double your Ranged check and only allow Command actions in the Warrior phase.
Iranian-style, meanwhile, gives absolutely NO bonuses anywhere. Cowardly fuckers.
>Imperial Guard Style: You in the back, them in the front.
>Warriors: 12+ (1/2(24) = 24
>Zombies: 31
>Party: 35
Needless to say, things go absolutely nowhere according to plan. In retrospect, arming a bunch of college-age kids with fucking kitchen knives and telling them to go kill once-people was a BAD FUCKING IDEA, but you know, hindsight was 20/20. After one brave soul cracked open a hatch, there was a positive FLOOD of zombies going for you. Needless to say, the collegiate Warriors failed miserably at stopping it, and you were left slamming shot after shot into the horde. When your pistol went dry, you took up your trusty flail and waded into the mess headfirst, slamming the series of weights into one zombie after another with devastating results. You were getting good at this, and it let you pull off some sweet combos, such as knocking a zombie down, breaking it’s neck, backhand-whipping it around your body into a decapitation shot on another zombie, and finishing with a cool-ass weight catch.
>Result: 3 Warrior fatality, 4 Warrior heavy casualty, 1 Warrior light casualty. +3XP full crew, +10 Warrior Ratings
Getting into the nitty-gritties of the ship, you got to work. The remaining standing Warrior helps you patrol, armed with a collection of his fallen brethren’s knives and a spar he grabbed. Smart man. Most of the ship seems to be medium-trashed, while the food prep areas are surprisingly clean. There wasn’t much in the storeroom, but there was a decent amount of canned food and more Mountainhaus. God, you were starting to hate Mountainhaus.
Finishing up, you get to the ropes and beckon the engineers up. It’s time for them to shine- because if the boat is useable, you can scrap the fucker you were just in and scuttle it, and then get on with life.
>Roll 2d20 for Engineers determining Usability (DC 20)
>Ceremony for the Fallen: Write In.
>What Next?: Write In.
>>46233007
>Ceremony for the Fallen: Write In.
Carve their names into the new ships hull, assuming it is usable.
Rolled 19, 11 = 30 (2d20)
>>46233007
Viking funeral for the fallen, find something to use a raft that we won't need
Take stock of living space and supplies among both boats, get to work cleaning, obtain captains quarters
Rolled 2, 9 = 11 (2d20)
>>46233007
Full Burial at Sea, ask some of the kids who knew them to give a nice eulogy, write their names down somewhere that way the dead are respected and remembered (should help with moral)
Wait for word back from the engineers, promote the surviving warriors, check the wounded for bite marks and bind them in case of turning. If they turn take them out and provide the same funeral rites
Rolled 3, 16 = 19 (2d20)
>>46233007
>>46233078
Like the old boat, seeing as you absolutely nuked the DC?
Pic Related
>>46233007
Viking funeral. A warrior's sendoff.
When we finish scrapping parts from the old ship, put the bodies on it, ignite it (with reasonable distance between new ship and old ship, dont want to accidentally ignite our own ship) and sail off. Have everyone salute the burning ship.
>>46233080
I feel we should attempt to armour our warriors using metal scraps and the clothes of the dead, your thoughts?
>>46233141
Quick question, did you get inspiration for this quest from the Black Tide Rising novels? Because when I first saw this quest that was the first to come to mind
>>46233180
Yes, in fact. It's spent about a year in beta as a tabletop RPG, and this is an alternative test of it in naritive/Quest format.
The problem with a tabletop is that testing is slow, as I get one day to run it for about two hours a week. If I'm lucky. This is faster, gives me different stress tests, and helps a LOT with player/NPC interaction.
>>46233159
Metal would be good, especially on the extremities which seem like what a zombie would go for first, being the easiest to bite, etc.
>New ship get!
Thankfully, against all odds the new ship was useable! After getting all the lame and lazy unspecialized plebs to start cleaning up zombie shit under the watchful eyes of the Warriors while the Engineers began disabling everything every dreamed on your old boat, you look around carefully.
“Joan?” You try quietly, whispering into the empty Captain’s cabin on the new boat.
“Non,” a small voice said in French from the closet, before it opened up and Joan flopped out. You just stared. Either she had turned invisible, scampered across the ratlines without making them move, and get in here to hide in that closet; or she had teleported. Neither was very plausible.
“Thank heavens you’re here,” you sigh, and flop onto the clean bed. No zombies in this room, ever.
“Oui.”
“What do you think about funerals? The dead zombies, we can just chuck over the side and say the Seaman’s Hymn after, but the fallen Warriors, they need something else. Something special.”
“Mon nom est Spectre.”
“We can talk names later, Joan. They need something different.”
“Je suis heureux que nous ayons quitté la barge.”
“Glad to see you talk, by the way.”
“Hmph.”
You think on it, hard. A permanent memorial, and a prominent departure. That’s when it hit you.
“The Vikings.”
“Les Normands?”
“They would celebrate the passing of a great warrior by placing them in a boat, and bury them if they were far from the sea or send it out, burning, if they could. If we make a memorial in the ship’s hull, and then proceed to set them on the old boat and light it off… Brilliant!”
“Non.”
“Shh. I’m thinking here, Joan.”
>Roll 2d20 to prepare funeral celebrations
>Write-in: What’s next? Seriously, think of something before I hit you with a Quest.
>>46233621
>“Je suis heureux que nous ayons quitté la barge.”
Je suis heureuse. It's a girl, or are you telling us something? Also 8/10 years old kids don't usualy use "ayons", more the "avons" though it is a fuck up.
Rolled 2, 1 = 3 (2d20)
>>46233621
Promote the last standing warrior to alpha warrior, let him take pick of any one girl besides joan. Or another guy besides us, if he swings that way. We don't judge on this ship.
Then start working on expanding our water and fishing capacities, we have to be able to take care of everyone.
Rolled 10, 11 = 21 (2d20)
>>46233621
It's time to find more lifeboats to recruit more minions
Rolled 15, 14 = 29 (2d20)
>>46233621
That was super close to a critfail
Rolled 4, 15 = 19 (2d20)
>>46233621
Same as the last time, take inventory and hope the radio works
>>46233621
Next objective is more ships/better ships or somewhere to base out of, preferably we would have a map by then.
>>46233701
This is smart
Heirarchy is good
And so is survival basics
>NEW SHIP: ARROSCHERE
>Item Get: ROWPU (Poor)
>Item Get: Ceremonial Sword
>Item Get: 20x 9mm Parabellum
>EXP Get: Engineers, 5XP
>EXP Get: Sirnath, 10XP
>LVL UP: Sirnath, LVL 2
>Skill Get: Joan, Mystic.
On level up, you get three (3) stat points to put into Sirnath's 10 skills and five (5) Ability Points at which to buy abilities. As there are no 5-point abilities, you're just going to need to sit on them. Sirnath's current Character Sheet is Here.
http://pastebin.com/PcrCyRii
And the rest of the stuff I've moved to digital in this system is here
http://pastebin.com/u/0WarWolf
>>46233823
Could you list the full stat/skill name in this shit instead of the two letter abbreviations? I have to reference other pastebin to decipher shit
>>46233693
I have no levels in Language: French. Blame Google.
>>46233701
Decent ideas. Will implement slowly. CAN NOT afford pregnancies.
>>46233721
Ok.
>>46233735
No, but it was VERY bad before modifiers. After modifiers it was merely bad.
>>46233746
Annon thinks he gets a map without making a salvage check... jejejejeje...
Pic related.
>>46233766
Si.
>>46233823
2 in command, 1 in fellowship
We shall be a pirate lord
>>46233823
Fellowship to 4 so we can try to not have a mutiny
>>46233870
Agreed, its annoying to have to look it up when you can just type the word
>>46233981
Seconding
>>46233981
>>46234020
Fellowship is for close comrades like Joan. Command is for our crew and such, so we would want command to prevent a mutiny
>>46233895
>I have no levels in Language: French.
No worries, it's a bitch of a language to get around and google translation is good but doesn't make it work for everyday's speaking.
Though, now that I've got more time to think about it, she'd be rather formal at first with our MC and use the proper tense then as she become more familliar with him so would her speech.
>>46234061
No, fellowship is for all allied npc interactions.
Our crew is an allied npc
>>46234061
Oh, in that case...
Changing from
>>46234020
This vote to
>>46233944
This
>>46234114
>COM: Command. This skill controls all buffs, debuffs, and restoration skills as well as Crew NPC.
>FS: Fellowship. This skill controls all noncombat buffs and interactions with Allied NPC.
Crew npc and allied npc are different. In an earlier Thread we used fellowship on a roll involving Joan. For rolls involving the crew we used command. Therefore to control the crew and prevent mutinies, we need command
>>46234114
>>46234061
Fellowship is for allied NPC. Crew fall under Command, unless you all want to be hippies.
Don't be hippies. The zombies think they're tasty.
>>46234066
Whatever mounts your headcannon.
Also, looks like putting two points in Command, one in Fellowship is the plan. Updating character sheet in five minutes, so please make sure you're all good with this.
>>46234233
Sounds good to me
Sooo
Alright guys, I need sleep badly now. Good session, all. Much was acomplished. As normal, archives will be up tommorow morning on Sup/tg/. Character sheet will be updated also in morning, as well.
Also, only real way for me to determine popularity is by number of posters (all 12 of you!) so if you could do me a solid and upvote this on the Archives if you liked it, thwt will help a lot.
Now, time for Zzzzzzzz....
>>46235118
Good quest QM, see you next time
