Earth Fleet Officer's Handbook

This is the handbook of operations for Earth Fleet, with suggested rules for various standard actions, equipment, and ship specifications. It is a supplement for These Are The Voyages, a LUPOS game.

General Orders

Earth fleet gives its officers a small set of crucial, don't break these!, orders. They are known as general orders. Here are the general orders of Earth Fleet, and what they mean in play. Violations of general orders are harshly disciplined.

Order 1, Hesitate and Think: This isn't meant to mean inaction, or delaying needed action. Instead order one simply means that Earth fleet personnel think first. They never act brashly, never shoot first and ask questions later, they think and plan first. The way we refer to this in the game is acting with hesitation and that is the normal state of all Earth Fleet. When acting otherwise is called acting without hesitation, in this state the advanced training of Earth Fleet kicks in and they earn a bonus die for all rolls. There are many times you are allowed to act without hesitation, even under order one: dangerous or harrowing situations, and certain alert statuses.

Order 2, Never Surrender: Earth fleet doesn't wave the white flag, they don't give up and they don't quit. When the chips are down, they come through or die trying. In the fiction, this “can do” attitude is represented by a simple rule. When a character is disabled, all advantage is returned to the pool as if the situation just started, and the GM picks a player to earn a die.

Order 3, Respect Others: This is just as it sounds, Earth Fleet expects its personnel to treat other species and beings as they would like to be treated. It has a couple of ramifications: If someone needs help, offer assistance. When engaged in talks, invite others aboard and accept open invitations. Exceptions to these action guidelines are from the obvious: state of war, in which case order 3 may be disregarded, and often order 1. If a situation occurs under either of these circumstances, give the group an extra three advantage at situation start, they are well trained to respond to trickery here.