Good Monday, Gamer! 🛸
I cracked open my Mothership Cargo Crate this week. It's a fantastic box set. I think it'll be my second game on offer for monthly game days here in KC and maybe the start of my open table Sundays at the FLGS exploring the Kuiper Belt Anomaly —my Dunegon23 swing and miss!
Cameo NPCs
A favorite prep 'cheat code' of mine is to use fictional characters in NPC roles. It's probably more like inspiration rather than cheating. During a pre-play run of my 12 Parsecs one-shot for the May The 4th Be with You mini-con. I based a rival smuggler group around some X-Men characters. See who you recognize:
Slim. Ex-Trooper-In-Charge, lethal with his blaster carbine. Solid Operator.
Patch. Nasty attitude, all vibro-knives, and sharp teeth. An all around stabby thing.
R3D. Pilot, droid, recon.
Badhank. Wookie. Technician. Blue fur.
Nobody caught on, which is ok. Using the X-Men in this way is a nice shorthand for solving 'What do these NPCs do now?' It allows me to add depth on the fly with little effort. My table reactions are nearly second nature since I’ve based these NPCs on characters I’m pretty fond of. The players picked up on the friction between Slim and Patch over the droid, and that the wookie seemed to find joy in dismantling everything or one. I have used Kojak, Starsky & Hutch, The crew of the Farscape and The Most Interesting Man in the World as short-hand NPCs to great effect! Try it!
Other dragons
I'm still on my Metabarons kick; I think I have a copy of the Metabarons RPG in the garage! It was a West End Games D6 variant, but I get Burning Empire vibes as I re-read the graphic novels and I’m curious to review how the D6 RPG was setup. I don’t remember playing it.
I think I've figured out how to beat the lodging situation at GenCon and Origins. Both are easy road trips for me. I'll rent an RV, drive it, and stay in it at the con. Problem solved!
Catch ya next week!
ICYMI - the 1000+ subscriber celebration sale ends in two days!
I got my Mothership box this week too. How does one find a mothership game in Kansas City? Also: all other indie games: Mork Borg, Torchbearer, etc! Asking for a friend and the friend is me.
I don't know why I've always been put off by Mothership. Something about it makes me think it'll be a creepy and sad game.