Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Space Opera Season 3: Deepnight Revelation


This week, our group returned to our Space Opera campaign, which I have been planning for before the last session of the previous season ended.

(You can read about Season 2 of the campaign here.)

The basis for this campaign is Deepnight Revelation, an epic Mongoose Traveller campaign which seems to dovetail with our campaign so far. As we have two new players in our group whom I wanted to introduce to the campaign, I decided to employ troupe play with the players from the previous campaigns playing their old characters, plus a new, less experienced character, and for the new players to play new characters too.

For rules I stuck with Savage Worlds, which has served us well so far. The SW rules are nowhere as detailed or "hard" as Traveller, but I suspect even if we were using Traveller rules I would still be playing fast and loose.

I imagine the campaign to play like episodes of Star Trek: Voyager, with the players playing the main characters, and with a cast of recurring NPC crew members.

In our version of the campaign, we follow the mission of the starship Deepnight Revelation as it travels through the wormhole to reach the galaxy which the Grens have come from, and as they explore that galaxy with the goal to end the Gren threat if possible. The Deepnight Revelation has a crew of close to 500, and so I employed the help of my friends, readers, and fellow forummers to create character concepts for the crew. I will introduce them as they appear in the story.

For the main cast (NPCs in italics), we have:

MISSION COMMAND DIVISION

Captain Beverly Reid, human, United Confederation - Previously on a career path to become the captain of a carrier, she gave up her plan to become captain of the Deepnight Revelation when she learned about the mission.

Commander Zruke, Rakashan, Tazanian Empire - Previously in command of a Tazanian troop ship, Commander Zruke was accused of cowardice during the Gren Wars and stripped of his commission. He was invited to command a Tazanian "freikorps" ship and distinguished himself in that role, eventually participating in the Battle for Earth. When Captain Beverly Reid was given command of the Deepnight Revelation, she requested for Zruke as her First Officer, and Zruke was re-commissioned and assigned to the ship.

Mission Officer Nick Johnson, human, Neutral Zone - Ex-cop from the United Confederation who fled to the Neutral Zone after being falsely accused for the murder of his wife.

Mission Officer Kumra Ka'an, space yeti, Neutral Zone - A former criminal, Kumra Ka'an was captain of The Magpie until its destruction on Pallas during the Battle for Earth.

Mission Officer RB-62, re-programmed droid, Neutral Zone - RB left his leadership position in the Robot Collective to join his old crew on Deepnight Revelation.

Mission Officer AJ Stamper, human, Neutral Zone - A former space-miner and a demolition expert.

ENGINEERING DIVISION

Petty Officer Jet Black, human, Neutral Zone - A crew of The Magpie, Jet left the Teamsters Guild to join the Deepnight mission as an engineering team leader.

OPERATIONS DIVISION

Marine Sergeant Ahab, Rakashan, Tazanian Empire - A marine and a veteran of the Gren War.

Marine Scout-Trooper Blake, human, Neutral Zone - 

Lieutenant (Doctor) Cho Sen Wan, human, United Confederation - Trained as a surgeon, Lieutenant Cho is also a taekwondo practitioner.

Lieutenant Junior Grade (Doctor) Balilaika, human, United Confederation -

Crewman Ajax, Serran, Neutral Zone - His application to join the mission having been rejected due to the lack of any outstanding talent, Ajax successfully stowed-away on the Deepnight Revelation. When he was discovered, he was assigned as probationary crew in the Deck Department.

SCIENCE DIVISION

Social Science Officer Gregorio Tsoukalos, human (?), United Confederation - Xeno-archaeologist and head of the Social Science Department.

Social Scientist Ippy Goldfone, human, Neutral Zone - A social media celebrity and communications equipment expert who joined the Deepnight Revelation mission to rescue his waning career.

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