Quick NPC Stats for USR

 Book Three Worlds of Adventure includes a bestiary for Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery. Fully-stat'ed animals and monsters the Crypt Keeper can use to quickly populate their Sword & Sorcery world.

Even though Unbelievably Simple Roleplaying is a simple roleplaying game, crafting and creating NPCs does require much supposition and guesswork on the part of the Crypt Keeper. Rules-lite roleplaying systems, if they have one thing in common, is the expectation the game master will do much of the world building and additional rules creation as fits the genre. This makes relevant supplements written for the obscure, niche games are doubly valuable. 

But if you are not sitting down to write a book for other referees to use you can save yourself time with useful shorthand for the statistics and mechanics of the game. Here is the shorthand I devised for Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery;

• One Attribute die instead three. Instead of listing all three attributes of Action, Wits, and Ego just assign one die type to cover the spread. For example, listing d8 instead of Action d8, Wits d6, Ego d10 as would normally be written.
• Pick Hits, don't roll for them. Whatever you think the NPC should have is what they should have. 
• List attack and defense as briefly as possible. For example, +2 A means any roll against the Action Attribute receives a +2. Or +2 short sword. This means the wielder applies this bonus only when using this specific weapon. 

Therefore, a mad Battle-Ape could look like this: 

Gorilla Guard d8/7, +2 A when Berserk, +2 DR. 

What is left out is the headings for three attributes and Hits. We use a d8 for everything, and the creature has 7 hits. Any "physical" actions it takes receives a +2 if the beast is in an enraged state and the triggering events would be known by you, the Crypt Keeper. And the +2 damage resistance from both hide and armor is not detailed in full. What is here is enough to run an encounter with these creatures whenever they come up. 

The Alchemist's Folly

Kael pressed his back against the cold stone wall, listening to the guttural hooting echoing through the alchemist's tower. Beside him, Mira checked her throwing knives for the third time, her dark eyes reflecting the sickly green luminescence seeping from under the laboratory door.

"I don't like this," she whispered. "Torven was supposed to meet us an hour ago."

"Torven's probably dead," Kael replied, adjusting the leather bracer that concealed his lockpicks. "Along with everyone else foolish enough to collect Magister Vohn's bounty."

The bounty had seemed straightforward enough: enter the alchemist's abandoned tower, retrieve his research journals, collect five hundred gold crowns. But abandoned was not the word Kael would use now. The tower was very much occupied.

A crash from below made them both freeze. Heavy footfalls on stone, then silence.

"They're hunting," Mira breathed.

Kael had seen one of the creatures from the courtyard before they'd climbed in through the third-floor window. It had been massive, easily eight feet tall, with shoulders like a bull and arms thick as tree trunks. But it was the intelligence in its eyes that had chilled him. This was no mindless beast.

"Vohn was experimenting with transformation elixirs," Kael said, piecing it together. "The city guard said he'd been buying apes from the exotic traders. He must have been trying to create soldiers."

"Well, he succeeded." Mira peered around the corner toward the laboratory door, which hung askew on broken hinges. "Question is, can we get past them?"

Through the doorway, Kael could see overturned tables, shattered glass, and the scattered pages of ruined books. Claw marks gouged the wooden benches. Whatever had happened here, Vohn had lost control of his creations.

A shape moved in the shadows of the laboratory. Massive, deliberate. Then another behind it.

"Two inside," Mira reported. "Both between us and wherever Vohn kept his journals."

Kael studied the room's layout. A balcony overlooked it from the floor above, and a heavy chandelier hung from iron chains over the center. Alchemical apparatus lined the walls, including several large glass vessels still bubbling with colored liquids.

"I have an idea," he said. "But you're not going to like it."

"I already don't like it."

"We need a distraction. Something to get them out of that room."

Mira's hand went to the small pouch at her belt. "I have two smoke bombs left."

"Perfect. Throw one down the main stairwell. When they go to investigate, we slip into the laboratory, grab what we can, and get out through the balcony window."

"And if they don't take the bait?"

"Then we improvise."

Mira gave him a flat look but moved silently toward the stairwell. Kael watched the laboratory entrance, counting heartbeats. One of the apes moved past the doorway, knuckles scraping the floor, its enhanced musculature rippling under patchy fur. It wore the remnants of a leather harness, probably from Vohn's attempts to control it.

The smoke bomb clattered down the stone steps with a pop and a hiss. Thick gray smoke billowed upward.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then came a deafening roar that shook dust from the ceiling. Heavy footsteps thundered toward the stairs—not two sets, but three. A third ape emerged from the laboratory, this one bearing a wicked scar across its face and wielding a broken table leg like a club.

"Go!" Mira hissed.

They sprinted for the laboratory as the apes descended the stairs in pursuit of the phantom intruder. Kael leaped over an overturned chair and began searching the debris. Papers everywhere, most torn or stained with chemicals. Mira rifled through a chest in the corner while keeping watch on the door.

"Here!" Kael found a leather journal wedged under a collapsed bookshelf. The symbol on its cover matched Magister Vohn's seal. He stuffed it into his pack and grabbed two more nearby that looked intact.

A roar, much closer now. The apes had discovered the ruse.

"Time to go!" Mira was already at the balcony door, forcing it open with her dagger. She swore. "It's locked from the outside!"

Footsteps pounded up the stairs. Kael looked around desperately. The chandelier. The alchemical vessels. The balcony above.

"Up there!" He pointed to the interior balcony. A rope used for hoisting equipment still hung from its railing. "We climb!"

The first ape appeared in the doorway, scarred face twisted in rage. It spotted them immediately and charged, table leg raised high. Kael grabbed a glass beaker of violet liquid from the nearest table and hurled it. The vessel shattered against the creature's chest, and the liquid began to smoke and hiss. The ape howled, clawing at its burning flesh.

Mira was already climbing, her lithe form scaling a bookshelf to reach the rope. Kael followed, hauling himself up as the second ape entered the room. This one was smarter. It grabbed the bookshelf and shook it violently.

Kael jumped, caught the rope, and scrambled upward as the bookshelf crashed down. The ape leaped after him with terrifying agility, its massive hand closing around his ankle.

Mira's knife flashed. The blade sank into the creature's wrist and it released Kael with a shriek. He pulled himself onto the balcony as Mira helped drag him over the railing.

The third ape appeared below, pointing up at them. All three began climbing—using the furniture, the walls, the very architecture of the tower itself. They moved with horrifying coordination, their enhanced bodies making them far more capable than natural apes.

"The window!" Mira ran for the balcony's exterior window. This one opened easily. Cold night air rushed in.

But escape meant a three-story drop to the courtyard below. Kael looked around frantically. The rope they'd climbed. The chandelier chains. An idea formed.

"Cut the chandelier!" he shouted, drawing his sword and hacking at the thick rope secured to the balcony railing. "When it falls, it'll hit those chemical vessels!"

Mira understood instantly. She sheathed her knife, drew a small hand axe, and began chopping at the chandelier's chain where it anchored to the balcony wall. The metal links parted slowly.

The apes reached the balcony level, pulling themselves up from below. The scarred one, still smoking from the chemical burn, was in the lead.

The last chain link separated. The chandelier plummeted, its iron frame crashing directly into the cluster of bubbling alchemical vessels below. Glass exploded. Liquids mixed. For a heartbeat, nothing happened.

Then the laboratory erupted in flame.

The explosion sent all of them sprawling. Kael felt the heat wash over him as he grabbed Mira and pulled her toward the window. Below, the apes' roars turned to screams as fire engulfed the chamber.

"The roof!" Mira pointed upward. A wooden beam extended from the window to the tower's peaked roof. It was narrow, precarious, but it led to the exterior.

They climbed out onto the beam as smoke poured from the window behind them. The night wind whipped at their clothes. Behind them, the entire tower was now burning, flames licking from windows on every floor.

The beam led to the roof's edge, where a decorative spire stood. And beyond that, the stone wall of the adjacent building, perhaps ten feet away.

"Please tell me you're thinking what I'm thinking," Mira said.

"Jump or burn. Easy choice."

They ran along the beam, footsteps sure despite the smoke and heat. At the edge, they leaped together into the darkness, arms windmilling for balance. Kael hit the adjacent roof hard, rolling to absorb the impact. Mira landed beside him with cat-like grace.

They lay there for a moment, breathing hard, watching Vohn's tower burn against the night sky. From within came one final, agonized roar before the roof collapsed inward.

"The journals?" Mira asked.

Kael patted his pack. "Three of them. Singed but readable."

"Five hundred crowns?"

"Split two ways." Kael grinned despite the pain. "Not bad for a night's work."

"Not bad?" Mira laughed, the sound slightly manic. "We were nearly killed by enhanced apes in a burning tower!"

"That's what makes it worth five hundred crowns." Kael pulled himself to his feet, offering her a hand. "Come on. Let's collect from Magister Vohn before he hears about this and decides to renegotiate."

They disappeared into the shadows of the city rooftops, leaving the blazing tower behind them as the watch bells began to ring across the midnight streets.

In his pack, Vohn's journals remained safe. And in their margins, scrawled in the alchemist's desperate hand, were the words that would have warned them all: The formula works too well. They're learning. They're organizing. Gods help us, they're planning.

But that discovery would have to wait for another night.

 

Optional Ideas for Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery

Starting to want to write again. This has got me looking at my USR products, especially Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery. I am about to start another campaign in the world of Xoth, and improving the total three-book gaming kit is starting to fester.

Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery is a fantastic, lightweight engine, but its "Unbelievably Simple" nature can sometimes feel a bit too abstract for a gritty pulp fantasy campaign.

To improve the game while keeping its minimalist spirit, I’ve brainstormed the following ideas: Streamlining the Janky Bits, Deepening the Pulp Flavor, and The "Blood & Grime" Combat Patch.

---

1. Streamlining the "Janky" Mechanics

The Deluxe edition adds layers (like hit locations) that some believe clash with the core system's elegance.

• Ditch Hit Locations for "Wound Descriptions": Instead of rolling a d20 for a hit location (which slows down the flow), use a Damage Delta (the difference between rolls) to describe the wound.
• 1–2 Damage: A shallow cut or bruise.
• 5+ Damage: A "maiming" hit—the Crypt Keeper (CK) applies a temporary penalty to a relevant attribute based on the narrative.
• The "Undefended" Rule Fix: The RAW (Rules as Written) says once you use your actions, you are "undefended" and hit on a 4+. This can lead to "gang-piling" where a hero dies instantly.
• Improvement: Allow a "Desperate Defense." If attacked while undefended, the hero can still roll their Action die, but it is halved (rounded down). This keeps the tension without making death a mathematical certainty.

---

2. Deepening the Pulp Flavor

Sword & Sorcery is about high stakes and temporary riches. These rules reinforce that "Conan-esque" cycle.

• "Loot for Life" (Carousing Improvement): In S&S, heroes are often broke by the next adventure.
• Rule: To level up or increase Hits, players must spend their gold on carousing. 100 Silver spent = 1 XP. If they don't spend it, they don't grow. This solves the "hoarding" problem and keeps them hungry for the next quest.
• Corruption & Dark Sorcery: Magic should feel dangerous.
• Rule: Every time a Sorcery test is failed, the caster gains 1 Corruption Point. At 5 points, they gain a physical or mental deformity (milky eye, withered hand, paranoia). This makes magic a "nuclear option" rather than a reliable tool.

---

3. The "Blood & Grime" Combat Patch

If you want combat to feel more tactical without adding a 300-page manual:

Fighting Styles (Bonus Specialisms)

Instead of generic specialisms, allow players to pick a Stance that modifies their dice:

| Stance | Benefit | Drawback |

| :--- | :--- | :--- |

| Berserk | +2 to Damage Delta on a win. | -2 to your roll if you lose (take more damage). |

| Defensive | Win ties automatically. | You cannot deal damage this round. |

| Precise | Crit on a "Max Die Roll" even if the enemy doesn't roll a 1. | -1 to total roll result. |

The "Shields Shall Be Splintered" Rule

• Rule: If a player takes a hit that would kill them or knock them unconscious, they can choose to have their shield shatter. The damage is reduced to 0, but the shield is gone forever. This adds a dramatic "last stand" moment.

---

4. Summary Table of Action Difficulties

If you find yourself stalling to think of Target Numbers (TN), use this "Pulp Standard" scale:

Difficulty	TN	Example
Pulp Heroic	4+	Climbing a rough wall, intimidating a guard.
Legendary	7+	Deciphering a cursed scroll, jumping a 15ft gap.
God-Slaying	10+	Resisting a Sorcerer Supreme’s mind control.

 

Converting DCC/OSR stats to Mongoose Traveller (part 2)

 Time to finish up my Dungeon Crawl Classics conversion to Mongoose Traveller Stats. We are in the process of converting a Trillomite Guardian into the Traveller 2D6 system. 

The beast has the following DCC stat block: Init +2; Atk tarsal claw +2 melee (1d4) or barbed chains +2 (1d8) or special; AC 14; HD 2d8; hp 14 each; Move 40' or special; Act 1d20; SP cannot be surprised by normal means, wall-crawling, pheromone blast 20' radius once per turn - all living creatures in range must succeed on a DC 18 Will save or become confused and attack a random target in the area; SV Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +4.

All we have left is the "special" abilities the creature has as well as how to use the Saving Throws as Die Roll Modifiers (DRMs) on the 8+ target number scale. Like many special abilities there is an important narrative element involved in the action as well as rolling dice to adjudicate a result.  Here we have a creature which can never be surprised except by advanced forms of cloaking, can climb inverted as well as climb vertical surfaces, and has a pheromone blast in a 20' radius. These are details which need no dice roll to rule on. In fact, they inform the Game Master on possible behaviors and "best practices" these guardians may utilize prior to any encounter. 

So how does one handle the pheromone blast? The power lists a Difficulty Class (DC) of 18. That is a steep number to achieve on 2D6, no doubt. Here I need to scale the numbers down a bit. Keeping it simple, I just divide the DC in half. 18 becomes a 9. PC needs a 9+ roll to resist the confusion gas. I personally use the Endurance (END) stat on the Traveller character sheet as the roll-against ability. If the PC has a high enough END score to grant a DRM you add it. 

The DCC Saves (SV) are self-explanatory, these alien fucks have a +2 Dodge. If they take some kind of concussive system shock the Fortitude +5 DRM gives you the factors you need, and Will +4 is the alien creature's resistance to psionics, mind control, truth serums, etc.

The trick with making conversions at the table fast is to pull out the basic numbers any NPC in any game is likely to have and find the corollary with the game system you are actually using. There are not many scales of values you are really comparing and contrasting. 3D6, D20, D100, 2D6, 2D10, Success #s, Dice Pools. This is all simple math in the hands of an experienced Game Master, or should be.

Converting DCC/OSR stats to Mongoose Traveller

This simple hack allows me to use Dungeon Crawl Classics modules, Lamentations of the Flame Princess modules, and any D20 system really, at the table in my classic game of science fiction adventure using Mongoose Traveller. The reason I do this is because to a certain degree fantasy and science fiction are two sides of the same coin. There is even a genre convention for when the line between fantasy visual medium and science fiction visual medium, Science Fantasy!

I find site location adventures the most straightforward example of this use. Where a "Tomb of the Ancients" would not be out of place in either adventure setting. So I am going to take some monsters out of DCC #84A Lost Tomb of the Ancients to demonstrate this hack.

A Trillomite Guardian has the following DCC stat block: Init +2; Atk tarsal claw +2 melee (1d4) or barbed chains +2 (1d8) or special; AC 14; HD 2d8; hp 14 each; Move 40' or special; Act 1d20; SP cannot be surprised by normal means, wall-crawling, pheromone blast 20' radius once per turn - all living creatures in range must succeed on a DC 18 Will save or become confused and attack a random target in the area; SV Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +4.

Kind of a bloated stat block for an OSR creature, but this is DCC and they go over the top with some fairly cool features built into monsters and PCs. But this DCC stat block does provide some very useful numbers to use in game for combat resolution or any other action a character in Traveller would attempt to do. 

First one is Initiative (Init). Just use this straight, no modification. For our Trillomite Guardian this is +2. Therefore the referee would add 2 to the creatures 2D6 initiative die roll. Same with Attacks (Atk). Just use as listed. A Trillomite's tarsal claw provides +2 melee and does 1d4 points of damage. 1d4 may not sound like a lot of damage, but don't forget the add-on benefits of "effect". The higher a die roll achieves the greater the damage of a successful attack. In Mongoose Traveller 2e. So a decent roll of 9 or 10 gets boosted two plus the d4 die roll giving you 4-8 pts of damage on an attack. If the opponent is not armored this can become a serious wound really quick.

Yes, just use the damage dice as listed. Traveller is a 2D6 game system. But I am not going to go through the brain damage of converting 1d8 into 2d6 terms. Just have the dice on hand and roll a d8. These DCC monsters are being converted into "alien humanoids" so any difference in mechanics can be hand-waved away. The aliens are well and different then humans so there.

Ascending Armor Class I use the value for the creatures innate armor, or at least reflects how hard it is to actually damage the creature. In Traveller armor absorbs damage, not make one harder to hit. Is this balanced? Does it make sense? My gut says "close enough to not give a shit".

Whether actual armored plates or reflecting special abilities, the armor factor does not have to mean physical protection. I can use this value for a game mechanic to adjudicate damage effects not covered in the basic Traveller rule set. Just like in superhero game systems where you have base, generically described powers, and it is up to the PC to color in the "effects" of the power. Describe the very nature of the generic 5d6 energy blast, is it frost, flame, etc. This type of in-game decision making is a hallmark of old school games and their OSR derivatives. 

Hit Dice for Hit Points, feel free to roll them. I just take the listed HP right out of the book. So these Trillomite bastards have an armor value of 14 and 14 HP. It will take at least 15 points of damage inflicted on a Trillomite to start hurting it physically. This makes autofire and lots of ammo the PCs' best friend, and that is just the way I like it!

I have to jet to work, so I will finish up the conversion in the next blog post.

Mongoose Traveller Session The Alien Anomaly

 Another game session tonight. Let me see if I can get caught up a bit on the “story so far” before game time. Get my head just right…

Under the cover of continuous acid rain-soaked skies and Imperial authority the PCs pilot the 50 ton modular cutter towards their destination, a singular disturbance in the “G” band long-range communication frequency emanating from a fixed location on the skillet-hard pock marked surface of Excalibur. The 60 km journey is only delayed for an hour during extremely intense rains. Not an uncommon occurrence when traveling along the surface of the planet. They could have easily avoided the weather in between them and their destination with a sub-orbital lift and set down.

Problem is, this makes them an easy spot, if someone is looking. With the fallout from the failed economic summit at Red Cliff, everyone is looking. Sword World Confed, Imperial authorities, the Darrians, Omni Corp, the Border Worlds. Everyone with the ability to influence interstellar politics is not only watching, but most likely acting. Whether galactic players choose covert or overt methods remains to be seen. If the PCs are going to explore the alien anomaly unmolested, they will need to make a stealthy approach.

The source of the interference is coming from the top of a tall massif cut away from the nearby ravines by gaping canyons of deep, acid-etched substrate. The summit is too narrow and broken to land the cutter, so the group pilots the craft down to a wide, gentle shoulder of the mountain 800-900 meters further below the top. From there they unload the VTOL and sail up to the top. This is the same vehicle which made its debut in my second Traveller campaign. This is when I was using the 1981 Starter Set rules. A cost-saving nightmare of jet propulsion and retro-fitted grav engine put together to make a cheap all terrain vehicle for the demanding conditions of Excalibur's surface.

The piloting roll fails by one in the extreme weather always present. I declare they make the landing, but the vehicle now has 8-12 hours of repairs to be able to lift off again. Damage to one of the grav engines on landing is the cause. The PCs decide to deal with repairs later and start looking for the source of the interference. 

This leads them to some type of hatch in the ground. It is damaged. The hatch does not sit right, a circular lid recessed into a circular frame which has experienced some type of violent shock, or sheer. Possibly from a seismic event. This gives the PCs purchase for tools; crowbars, winches, hydraulic jaws, anything they came up with which was reasonable to have gotten in Central Lake when outfitting their expidition. Most gear available on Excalibur would be stuff like this. Penetrating the crust of Excalibur's tough surface and digging out what is underneath is the entire purpose of people's existence on Excalibur. They have scanners out, checking radiation and interior atmospheric signatures. They are suited up in their vac suits designed for extremely hostile environments. Basically being a most excellent and organized dungeon-delving party standing at the threshold of their next dungeon crawl. Western, Fantasy, Sci-Fi; they all can carry a fast and exciting pulp story. 

So I have a very careful party. The character Sun Tzu has an alien tech enhanced arm and Commander Frank has psionic ability. Both of these features were rolled up by their players during group character creation. These aspects need to have some bearing on the nature of our shared game world. As an adventure progresses you need to move from speculation to "fact". Science fiction adventures do demand this. The technology, cosmic phenomena, and aliens can be as weird as one wants but there has to be a "why" of things. Because players want to find out the why of things. Why are things the way they are when you can possibly have anything occur or experience in any given science fiction adventure? In lieu of gold-for-experience mechanic in Traveller to incentivize exploration of face-eating danger, the science fiction genre offers answers to the unanswerable questions of life. More precise, the illusion of a fictional answer which can be deduced by exploring the environment and having encounters with it. I mean, it is one of many possible uses of the genre for entertaining roleplay. This is what the players and myself landed on during our session zero when we discussed everyone's expectations.

There were two expectations, three if you count the general conceit of week-long jump times and an overall Imperial authority backstopping galactic trade as would be found in the Sword Worlds. The first was to explore secrets of the ancients which came before man and the other was to get into ground combat with mechs. And the Traveller game does these two things really well. If you have a referee willing to put in the time and make a puzzle which has a connected structure which can be traced by players. I like to make a lot of shit up, so this style of old-school play is what I like. And it is what I know. 

This has gotten well away from a recap at this point, and I want to spend some time in daydreamy prep with coffee, cat, and couch so I need to call it quits on this entry for now...

Continued Traveller Campaign Post

(Campaign's first post) 

The PCs plotted and planned how to infiltrate the underground fight scene and locate the girl, along with her captor, the gang leader Carlo Rossi. But all their strategizing was for shit when they reached fighting ring and rowdy gambling crowd. Victor’s mate Vince was in the middle of fighting for his Vargr life against a cyber-enhanced miner jack-hammering the alien’s face. Once Victor saw this, he went into full Vargr freak-out and jumped into the ring to aid his friend. This started the predictable uproar and mayhem as debts were voided and angry patrons started to fight among themselves.

Pushing through the crowd, Commander Frank was getting a psychic signature nearby which could only be from the little girl they sought. It was hard sorting out the gambling patrons from Rossi’s hired guns so a pop-up firefight sprung up suddenly during the mayhem. With cloth body armor on against unarmored assailants the PCs are lethal. As it should be in Traveller. The PCs are veterans of a hundred dangerous situations before they are played in the game, and their skill levels make for devastating hits. The reason the damage is amped up in Mongoose Traveller (we are playing with the 2e rules) is because of “effect”. The degree of success on a to-hit roll counts as additional damage. So, if a character rolls particularly well, say a 10 modified to a 13, they are doing an additional 5 points of damage. Throw in autofire and a gun can dish out an additional 6-10 points of damage a combat round. Against unarmored street thugs it is no contest. Their assailants were down before they could get off a shot.

The PCs find their way into Rossi’s backroom office and pose as members of Rossi’s gang with bad news from up top. Of the attack on their headquarters at the mechanic shop here in Central Lake. Rossi doesn’t know who these PCs are, doesn’t recognize them of course. The gangster is behind is desk, gun sitting on top. The little girl is sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. Four or five armed henchmen are sitting or standing as well in the room. Everyone eyeballing the PCs. Watching Rossi. Rossi tells his guys to throw the PCs out.

“If they give you any trouble just dump ‘em down a mine shaft.” He says with the sardonic grin of a consummate reprobate. And so the knives and guns come out once again. Great initiative rolls favor the PCs once again, and their accuracy and acumen start dropping opponents. Some of the gangsters get lucky and get hits. But once again, cloth armor keeps the PCs on their feet while unarmored foes go down in a pool of blood. Rossi does wound Commander Frank and this sets the little psychic girl off. She is incensed Frank is hurt and vents her anger at Rossi which has the result of swelling his head till it explodes in a welter of brains, bone, and gore. The little psychic girl can explode heads! The remaining henchmen are like WTF and scramble for the exits. Then their heads explode.

The PCs all freeze in the face of this violent psychic display and hold up their hands as to signal they mean no harm. Funny thing though, the girl seems really happy to see them. To see Commander Frank. The voices in her head had insisted the two of them meet. That she wishes to come with them to the ancient alien site. I am surprised the PCs tell the girl no problem, more than happy to take the orphan along with them into unknown danger. Through further interrogation she discloses it was her who tipped off the Central Lake criminal underworld of her psychic abilities. To instigate a kidnapping which would bring her face to face with the PCs. The voices in her head gave her plans and instructions on how to do this. The PCs are aghast at her callous indifference to her parents’ death but do face the fact she is not a helpless girl dying of an inoperable brain tumor, but a powerful psychic compelled to find them. To find Commander Frank.

The rest of the session is roleplaying the fallout from the shootings at the mines in Purple Sector and the vehicle garage in town. This means contacting the Scouts in Kazawan City. The local contract police cannot be trusted. They are most likely involved in the human trafficking business being conducted in Central Lake. The Scouts can claim jurisdiction over the case on behalf of the Imperium due to its interstellar implications. This means waiting for them to show up. It is good many hours before the crime scenes are taped off and processed, statements taken, and current victims are cared for. This brings the group and the authorities in contact with Dr. Quar. Dr. Quar was expecting the girl’s arrival as he is the talented physician going to operate on the girl’s brain tumor. He is horrified of the past days events and dismayed the PCs intend to keep the girl with them. He argues with the Scout officials that this is ridiculous. The girl is in dire medical condition and needs to be treated. Is expected to get treated.

This is all above the officer’s pay grade and gets in touch with Scout Commander Casarria in Kazawan City. Casarria is an Imperial contact and has been briefed on the PCs mission here on the surface of Excalibur. She instructs her guy that the PCs are on a priority mission and if they say the girl is coming with them then the girl goes. This takes much explaining, as I demanded they make a decent argument for this reckless endangerment of a child with Casarria. The roleplay is a combination of in character dialogue and me saying “Yeah, but you are trying to go off with a child after all this murder. Convince me!”

But Sun Tzu makes his persuade/negotiate roll. The Orion Directive credentials seem to give the PCs some much needed clout out here on the rain-washed ravines of Excalibur. The doctor is kept in the dark on Casarria’s orders and the PCs load up the cutter that night and in the morning head out into the storm-wracked skies to cover the 60 km to the alien site.