Wishray Wiki

A central hub for intelligent game design and play.

User Tools

Site Tools


these_are_the_voyages

This is an old revision of the document!


These are the Voyages...

This is a game about those old scifi movies where earth space ships explore the unknown of the universe. Earth ships manned by earth crew and the occasional humanoid alien embark from earth space and travel the frontier of space. Take on the role as ship leader one of the five command branches: Command, Medical, Security, Science, and Engineering and let the stories unfold in spectacular technicolor.

Creating The Ship

First, you must define the ship itself. Starting with the GM, each player adds some particular asset of the ship in turn. Each asset is a general description of the capabilities of the ship. Once those assets are recorded, the group decides on the name of the vessel and its class. Here is a sample ship:

  • Asset: Fastest ship in the galaxy. - Notorious
  • Asset: Cutting edge engine system with terrific power.
  • Asset: Armed to the teeth.
  • Asset: Advanced talking computer system makes life easy. - Problematic
  • Name: Enterprise.
  • Class: Battlecruiser.

The GM then picks one asset that is Notorious, meaning the ship has a reputation across the universe for it, and one asset that is Problematic, meaning it is likely to cause the crew difficulty during missions. The class can be any of: Escort, Corvette, Assault, Frigate, Destroyer, Cruiser, Battlecruiser, Flagship, Explorer, and Dreadnought. You can picture this as a scale of size and strength, from small to large. Normally the ships of the game fall into the range of Frigate to Explorer. If you want you could roll a d6 and take: 1, Frigate; 2, Destroyer; 3, Cruiser; 4, Battlecruiser; 5, Flagship; 6, Explorer. All ships also have a five part situation track, which counts the situations they experience. Each five situations gives them a moment, and this moment is a dramatic test that lets the ship upgrade further. The result of the dramatic test is one more asset for the character to add to their sheet.

Creating The Crew

Second, each player creates two characters: one officer and one second. The officer is the ship's lead officer in one of each of these sections: Command, Engineering, Medical, Security, and Science. There may be no overlap, so players must decide among themselves who will play each officer. The second is from another section, they can't be from the same one as player's officer. Each of these characters can be male of female, and are defined the same way. Each character has a name, a nickname, a rank, a look, an asset, and a vulnerability. The rank of the lead officer is usually Commander, except for Command which is Captain. Seconds can have the ranks of: Crewman, Ensign, or Lieutenant, except in Command which can only be: Lieutenant or Commander. The only level of rank that can't issue orders to another is Crewman. The asset of a character is just like the ship, a general description of something that is impressive about the person. The vulnerability of the character is a defect or flaw, physical or mental, that could be exploited and hinder the character's ability to take action.

All characters have five physical health squares, and five mental health squares. Each character gets a special ability they may use in play as well. For the officers, these are fixed, but for the seconds the player may select from this list. Only one of these selectable powers can be in the game at a time, so players must make sure they don't overlap.

All characters also have a five part situation track, which counts the situations they experience. Each five situations gives them a moment, and this moment is a personal scene that lets the character develop further. The result of the moment is one more asset for the character to add to their sheet.

Second Abilities

  • 1) Hot-blooded. The character is deeply passionate and clings to their emotions. When facing harrowing situations they may roll an ability die to gain advantage. If this die fails though, they instead take crazed action from an emotional outburst as the GM describes and their action is forfeit.
  • 2) Green. The character is not yet seasoned, and while they have potential, they are sometimes brash and make mistakes. The player of this second may make such a mistake and cost the group one advantage, in return that player earns one a die. They may not make a mistake when there is no advantage to be lost.
  • 3) Curious. The character has a curious nature that can't be denied. When exploring, the group always gets an advantage die if a curious character is present. If the GM makes a roll for escalation that results in a dramatic entrance, the curious character is usually the victim.
  • 4) Promising. The character just has one of those kind of auras, and you know they will go far. When the promising character is in the group, once per session a player may reroll the dice as the player that controls this second chooses. If the reroll fails, the group still gains one advantage. If the promising character is injured badly or otherwise disabled, all advantage dice are rolled and those that come up more than 5 are lost.
  • 5) Troubled. The character has issues they have yet to overcome to reach their potential. When a troubled character takes action, they may choose to forfeit their action and instead roll a die. If it comes up 5 or less gain advantage, and if its 6 or more the troubled character fills a mental health square.

Officer Abilities

  • Medical: (B) The medical officer can stabilize a badly hurt character with 3 die result, unless the situation is harrowing and they only roll one die. The medical officer may add a medically related helping or hindering feature to the situation as they desire for an action and earn a die.
  • Security: (A) The security officer may act without hesitation with immunity to game effects if the situation is dangerous or harrowing. The security officer may use one advantage in a situation as if it were a personal die if the roll is for a situation building action.
  • Science: (B) The science officer may trade advantage for personal dice, if any one other officer allows for an action, making a remarkable discovery. They may give this die to any officer of their choice. The science officer may add a science related helping or hindering feature to the situation as they desire for an action and earn a die.
  • Engineering: (A) The engineering officer may alter any asset of a ship to make it fit a situation for the cost of one die. When the engineering officer uses advantage in any way that creates outcome, they roll a d6 and take the better result. When anyone uses advantage, the engineer may explain why its not possible to do so in the situation and earns a die, as long as they don't have more dice than the group has advantage.
  • Command: (L) The command officer may give a forceful order to any other character that is not in command, allowing them to act without hesitation with immunity. At any time, the command officer may place another officer in charge of the ship, with the duties and responsibilities so attached. The command officer may make an officer's gamble once per situation, declaring the outcome of a player's roll before its made. If it results as called: a success on the roll gets an additional d6 of outcome (never more than 5 though), and a failure earns the group advantage. If it results not as called, the command officer must act next and any action they take suffers an additional level of challenge.

Creating The Stage

Third, the Captain selects another officer as their First Officer. The GM then selects a player that is neither the First Officer, or Captain, as the Foil. The Foil manages the details of the ship and the character's lives that the Captain and First Officer do not. They are the power trio of the game, and they manage the microcosm that is the ship. Note, the foil is a role at the table, not in the fiction of the game.

Outside the microcosm of the ship is the GM's territory, they control that part of the game universe directly. Lets show the process of playing the game in some detail.

The GM sets the initial stage as so: The enterprise moves into a high orbit above the barren world of Ceti Alpha Six. Then the Captain adds in mission details to the stage: Captain's Log: We are arriving at Ceti Alpha Six as scheduled for routine sensor calibration. After this the First Officer describes the crew's general readiness and attitude, The crew of the Enterprise, weary and bored, laze about the ship haphazardly. Even the Captain isn't immune from the humdrum monotony of these routine missions.

Now the GM returns to the forefront, creating an interesting scene that will set the play in motion. This is the hard part, as they have to take the cue from the Captain and First Officer's lead, including their details into this first setup scene. The GM may offer a general idea to the foil though, and let them set the scene instead. Normally the foil decides the details of the characters in play who aren't the player's officers or seconds, such as the other crew on the ship. The foil does not have control over character not of the ship however.

these_are_the_voyages.1328218825.txt.gz · Last modified: 2012/02/02 13:40 by JasonP