Wing Commander RPG

Greetings, Wingnuts and Citizens!! Time for the weekly WCRPG Update.

This week's update is going to be short once again, but not necessarily because nothing happened this week; quite the contrary, actually. This week with Vespus I decided to knuckle down and focus on finishing up the characters. I can report that as of Friday afternoon, that effort has been completed; all twelve pilots of Fireball Squadron now have completed bios and stat blocks, as do their Kilrathi opponents and all the auxiliary personnel I intend to put into the campaign at this point. What's left now is the missions - the complicated part of them is going to be the briefing text and the interludes, which is where I intend to focus this coming week.

Saturday was Free RPG Day across the country. Unfortunately, I learned when I called for permission to set up my display at Game HQ that they were not participating this year; in fact, the closest store that was participating was two hours away. They did, however, let me put up the display anyway (and I took the opportunity to pick up a board game that had been on my short list for a while, sort of as an early Father's Day gift to myself). I do hope that some of you were able to participate this year; some of the Paizo stuff looked pretty interesting.

Alright, so briefing texts this week and maybe try and finish up the first two missions (finally). Going to try to have this ready for the CIC's birthday; it's a real good thing I got my months confused in the last update (for some reason I thought August came right after June). Means I have more time to get things done than I originally thought...

That's it for this week; next update will be sometime between 11-14Z on June 24.

capi
 
Greetings, Wingnuts and Citizens!! Time for the Weekly WCRPG Update.

Well, with nothing else to work on at this point with Vespus, I turned my attention to working on missions. I added some notes on Kilrathi behaviors in the main Encounter for mission 1 on Monday and completed that mission's end text on Tuesday, leaving it at the point where all it needs is the interlude text at the beginning (i.e. the campaign opener). Tuesday also saw some work on Mission 2's briefing, where we begin to build tension (the whole "five million lives at stake" bit). Work on the briefing continued into Wednesday and is still not complete as of this morning. My focus turned to Mission 3A later in the day on Wednesday (after adding a blip of text for mission 4B's briefing). I got Mission 3A's commencement text finished on Wednesday and was also able to complete the Kilrathi fighter table for that mission's main encounter that same day. Thursday saw the addition of navigational notes for mission 3A, some notes for the briefing in mission 3B and some work on the mission commencement text in Mission 4A. Mission 4A also saw addition of encounter notes and navigational data for its main encounter. Finally on Friday, I knuckled down and determined how many possible campaign points were in the campaign as written and began setting down the "threshhold values" that would determine which of the final missions (5A or 5B) the players would experience. I'm thinking that I need to redo that work slightly, as the possible number of points is highly dependent on the number of PCs playing the campaign (I originally set the victory threshold based on the lowest possible number of players).

This week I also received a set of bios for the characters in WC Saga from Nick Huynh; these are the bios that would've appeared on the Saga site had not a healthy heap of RL landed in his lap all at once (a concept with which I'm sure we're all too familiar). This, combined with the release of the excellent 300 Origin series brochure from RSI this week (thanks to the RSI team for putting in beam and draught data this time around!!), has convinced me that I may need to do an annex volume for WCRPG at some point in the future. I'm in the very early thought stages for this, but I think I would like to include more fan-based material from multiple sources (for instance, I would dearly love to put in some of the old Aces Club designs in there - if I had the information). If any one's interested in seeing such a volume or has anything they'd like to contribute to it, please drop me a line. Looking forward to seeing the new RSI site this week (not just to see what it looks like - I'd like to finally be able to spend my Kickstarter credits).

Well, that's it for this week. I actually think that most of the Vespus campaign is going to come together pretty quickly at this point; I'll probably continue my focus on the actual missions instead of the briefing, ending and interlude texts this week, and hopefully have something close to an otherwise finished campaign before the week is out. The goal is to have half a chance to proofread the thing before the CIC's birthday; we'll see if that happens or not.

Next update will be sometime between 11-14Z on July 1.


capi
 
Greetings, Wingnuts and Citizens!!! Time for this week's WCRPG Update.

This week I was focused on Mission 3A and 3B of Vespus, in particular finding a reason for having a Mission 3. I mean, in Mission 2 you go look for the Cats but they throw you off with a ruse, in Mission 4 you're destroying them once and for all - so I had to figure out something to go in between. Ultimately I decided the point of Mission 3 would be to start wearing down their defenses for the big show in Mission 4 (and it is a big show, especially if the Cat carrier is still intact). Despite my earlier intent, I found the missions easier to compose with the briefing text completed, so I worked on those. Monday I worked on the Mission 3A briefing and ultimately finished in on Wednesday, along with all the encounter information and notes. Mission 3B is basically mission 3A's dark losing path twin, so it came together pretty quickly on Thursday. I made a few adjustments to beef up the difficulty (!) of 3B on Friday, then turned my attention to finishing up the Mission 2 briefing. That also went quickly, so I ended the day by working on the Mission 4B briefing (the one where Concordia's going down...). All in all a productive week, despite the return of an annoying tendency to fall asleep while I'm on break.

As I'd hoped, I was able to convert the Origin 300 series from Star Citizen to WCRPG stats (again assuming it's a Privateer craft). Unfortunately, I didn't realize until after the RSI site migration that I had never copied down the original programme text for it and it doesn't look like a new ships database has been established (none that I can find anyway), so I've copied some text from the 300 series brochure instead for that purpose. I don't necessarily want to sit on the converted stats and it occurred to me that I have the Saga character bios that people might be interested in using immediately, so what I'm going to do is release these during the next few weekly updates. I'll do the 300 series today and I'll start in on the Saga bios next week. I'll keep it up as long as there's new material to be released. This may also give an opportunity for those of you who missed the publication deadline to submit any new designs you'd like to release to the community. You can contact me through this thread, via PM or email, or through the WCRPG wiki.

Alright: Missions 1-3 are fairly far along at this point; I still need to add information on the endings for Mission Three and notes for the second two Navs in Mission 2, but otherwise those are nearly complete. I think Mission 4A and 4B will be on the block for this coming week, and we'll see how things are going from there.

That'll be it for this week. Next Update between 11-4Z on July 8th. Those of you in the States, I hope you have a most excellent Independence Day this week.

capi


/////ORIGIN 300 SERIES, 300i TOURING MODEL VARIANT/////

The 300i touring model is the premiere spacecraft hull on the market today. A true jack-of-all-trades, the 300i is capable of making any role its own and doing so with the class and sophistication expected of an ORIGIN design. All models feature Gorgon Defender shields and A&R Omnisky VI cannon standard.

NAME: Origin Jumpworks GmbH 300 Series, 300i Touring Model
MAKE: Heavy Commercial Fightercraft
SIZE CLASS: 11 (6,181.92 m^2)
SI: 295
COST: ¢9,929,450
HD/BHD/FHD: 35/41/39
INIT: +9 (Eighth Class Engine)
MAX SPEED: 500/1,000 kps (3/6)
SHP: 100 (First Class Shields)
AHP: 175 (Plasteel; 1.75 cm)
GUNS: Laser Cannon, Rapid-Fire (12/5/10)
ORDNANCE: None
X: None
CREW/PASSENGERS: 1/0 (1 1.5625 m^3 Crew Berth)
CARGO CAPACITY: 2.83 m^3 (1.6 m^3 base, 0.17 m^3 from accommodations, 1.06 m^3 from accessories)
ACCESSORIES/PODS: {Tachyon Radar, Ion Engine}, Modified Chassis +7 (6 available), Cargo Module (1.06 m^3), Scout Module, Maneuvering Thrusters x2, Impulse Engine, Akwende Drive, Afterburner (x2.00), Weapon Station x5 (Gun Hardpoint x3 (Forward Narrow; Laser x2); Dual Light Ordnance Hardpoint x2 (Forward Narrow; None).
FLAWS/BONUSES: None
----
NOTES:
There is no current printed source data for the defensive capabilities of this craft. The statistics given for its shield, armor and weapons capabilities have been arbitrarily selected to place it in the Privateer era and should not be considered official information. All other information listed on this craft is based on the craft's original design and may vary significantly from its final form.

This craft may accept any type of Light Ordnance common to the era; furthermore, it may be outfitted with a different set of accessories (hence the higher than would otherwise be required Modified Chassis accessory).

The indicated statistics are for the 300i Touring model of this craft; there are three other known variants as follows:

315p Exploration Model: This version replaces one Gun Hardpoint with a Tractor Beam. Its cost is ¢10,429,450; it otherwise uses the same set of stats.

325a Interdictor Model: This version replaces the Eighth Class Engine with a Ninth Class Engine, increasing its speed ratings to 600/1,400 kps (4/7). It also is armed with a single Mass Driver Cannon, Rapid-Fire (10/3/20) and four Heat Seeker (LHS), Light (1/6-9/160). Finally, it replaces its First Class Shields with Second Class Shields for 175 SHP. Its cost is ¢11,734,006 and its HD ratings are 33/39/39; it otherwise uses the same set of stats.

350r Racing Model: This version replaces the Eighth Class Engine with a Ninth Class Engine, increasing its speed ratings to 600/1,400 kps (4/7). There is no Cargo Module on this model (bringing its cargo capacity to 1.77 m^3) and its guns are replaced with a pair of Laser Cannon, Civilian Grade (5/5/18). Its cost is ¢11,403,750 and its HD ratings are 33/39/39; it otherwise uses the same set of stats.
 
Greetings Wingnuts and Citizens! Time for the weekly WCRPG update.

Short week this week owing to the Fourth of July holiday, so not a lot of work was done on Vespus though what happened was fairly significant. I spent some time on Monday finishing up Mission 2 except for the interlude text and did the same for missions 3A and 3B over the course of the next two days, bringing them to the same level of completion by Wednesday afternoon. Calculation on the final campaign point totals required for Mission 5A and the addition of that information to the end of Mission 4A and 4B was done on Wednesday, with additional work done on these two missions on Saturday. As of this morning, half of the missions are essentially complete (merely lacking interlude texts). Mission 4A and 4B need initial texts, a few notes and completed briefing data, but those are also nearing the same level of completion. No work has been done on Mission 5A and 5B; I hope to get to them this week.

I didn't take any time to work on Saga character profiles this last week, so I'm already behind on that score. I'll try to get one prepped either later today or sometime during the coming week. If necessary, I'll release two profiles next week. At this point with the CIC's birthday just over a month away, though, I may try to focus on finishing up Vespus; it had been my hope to have it proofread before the celebration. At this point if I can't pick up the pace I might be lucky just to finish. The fact that I've been spending more time on non WC-related projects hasn't helped matters much at all, though I do have plans in the works for another WC-related project once my current project reaches a certain level of completion.

That'll be it for this week. Next Update between 11-14Z on July 15th.

capi
 
If you need any help with proofreading or testing, please be sure to contact me. Been without much to do for the RPG since combat testing.
 
Will do.

To be honest, Vespus has a fair share of problems. There's not much variety in it as far as the type of missions go (they're almost all Strike missions) and I'm in serious need of exposition - I haven't said why the Cats are raiding the system yet (main target is Ella but Vespus is a heavily populated Confederation world along the way). I'm worried a) that it's too difficult of a campaign as written and b) that all told it's a fairly boring campaign.

I'm also hoping that the character of Mot doesn't come off too annoying...

First four missions are essentially done if you want to try to roll them out - they're only missing Wingnut's interlude (Wingnut being the name of Bhopal's chief tech, of course).
 
Greetings, Wingnuts and Citizens!! Time for the weekly WCRPG Update.

This week my time was split between two projects, Vespus and a non-WC project I've been working on for quite a while now (a board game; I find myself once again stymied by a lack of willing playtesters on that project). Work on Vespus didn't get started this week until Wednesday, when I picked up on mission 4B by adding some text and filling in notes on the mission's encounters. The briefing text followed. All of that was finished on Thursday, with work switching over to Mission 4A. Largely the same happened there and by the middle of the day on Friday I had both missions complete aside from the interlude texts. This puts six of the campaign's eight missions at that status, with the two finale missions having seen no work whatsoever to date. It's likely I'll begin work on them this coming week; only other thing I could do is get to work on the interludes. Since I've now got under a month to go before the CIC's 15th birthday and I want to get at least some of it proofread, I will make an effort to pick up the pace...

I have my first Saga character profile ready for y'all this morning, Jonathan "Assassin" Chaplin. He wasn't particularly difficult to do; I do remember Assassin from Prologue though I'll admit I have yet to start The Darkest Dawn, so I hope I did him justice. Would definitely like to hear back from some of y'all who have played the game whether you like the profile or not. I hope to have Ninja ready to go for next week; going to depend on how much free time I have this coming week.

That'll be it for this week. Next Update between 11-14Z on July 22th.

capi


===Assassin===
Jonathan Chaplin was born and raised in the Border Worlds. He earned one of the few Academy billets reserved for Borders Worlds applicants, majoring in computer science and theoretical mathematics. He graduated in the top 20% of his 2669 academy class and was selected for flight school. He was going through advanced flight when the False Armistice was revealed to be a sham and subsequently found himself flying a Ferret off of TCS Arc Royal during the Battle of Earth; he was forced to eject during the final phase of the battle. His later academic training was accelerated and within weeks he was commissioned and assigned to the 347th Training Wing aboard TCS Wellington as a junior instructor. He later survived the Kilrathi ambush on Wellington and was later assigned to TCS Hermes as a combat pilot. At war's end, Assassin returned to the Border Worlds and volunteered to serve in the Border Worlds militia in 2373 when the Black Lance Affair began. Though he fought for independence valiantly, it pained him to be fighting his old war comrades and was among the first to call for mending fences with the Confederation after Admiral Tolwyn was brought to justice. Assassin is adept in assuming multiple personalities, to the point of borderline bipolar disorder. Outside the cockpit he has a fun and easy going personality; in combat, he is as cold as a contract killer or as excitable as a hyperball enthusiast. His combat style emphasizes not on weapons or gunnery skills but on pure flying. He prefers lighter, nimbler fighters that allow him to perform high-g acrobatics to outmaneuver his opponents.

Jonathan Chaplin, Callsign: Assassin
Species: Terran (Union of Border Worlds)
Rank: First Lieutenant, TCSF (Pilot, 544th Fighter Squadron, TCS Hermes)
Gender: Male
Height: 1.9 m
Mass: 80 kg
Handedness: Right
Birth Date: 2647.060 (Age 22; Adult)
Place of Birth: Nuevo Línea de la Concepción, Quarto, Trafalgar, Epsilon Sector

Initiative: +7
Attack Bonuses - Melee: +9; Ranged: +10
Saves - Fortitude: 35, Reflex: 37, Willpower: 37
HP/NHP: 65
HD/THD/FHD: 43/43/50
SI: 65

Power : 60, Three-Dimensional Maneuvers : 15 (Climbing 10, Jumping 10), Brawling : 10, Lifting: 15.
Finesse : 75, Dexterous Maneuvers : 20 (Balance 10), Dodge : 25, Hiding and Seeking: 20.
Physique : 50, Stamina : 15, Concentration : 20, Recuperation: 15.
Intellect : 105, Knowledge : 20 (Kilrathi Tactics 10, Practical Jokes 10), Resourcefulness : 25, Cunning: 25 (Persuasion 15).
Acumen : 70, Perception : 20 (Spot Enemy 10), Performance : 20, Survival: 20.
Charm : 65, Personality : 20 (Taunting 10), Leadership : 20, Diplomacy: 15.
Command : 55, Security : 15, Strategy : 10, Guidance : 15, Coordination : 15.
Science : 70, Technology : 25 (Computer Programming 10), Typhonology : 10, Archaeology : 10 (Anthropology 15).
Navigation : 115, Vehicle Piloting : 25 (Ferret 20, Arrow 20), Astrogation : 25, Stealth: 25.
Tactical : 85, Evasive Maneuvers : 20, Combat Maneuvers : 20, Targeting : 10, Marksmanship : 15, Ballistics: 15.
Engineering : 40, Damage Control : 15 (Guns 5), Mechanics : 15 (Fightercraft 5).
Communications : 35, Rapport : 15, Translate : 5, Negotiate 15.
Medicine : 10, Psychology : 10.
Traits: Navigational Sense +10, Math Expert +5, Overconfident -5, Impulsive -5, Social Status -5.
 
Greetings, Wingnuts and Citizens!! Time for the weekly WCRPG update.

Had a rough time of it this past week. I spent a fair amount of it making some tweaks to my non-WC project and the terminals at my workplace ultimately became quite adamant about not letting me work on that particular project. Everybody on the KSP boards are talking about how saves won't be able to carry over to the upcoming next version, so it seemed pointless to work on any of that stuff. You'd think I'd've worked a bit harder on Vespus than what I ultimately did. I suppose I did go from having almost no work done on Mission 5A whatsoever to having it nearly completed, but that's about all that happened. Briefing came easily to me on Monday. After setting the initial disposition of forces and adding the statistics for the Confederation Nugget (something needed for Mission 4A/4B), I began adding nav data, with that work completed on Thursday. Friday saw the bulk of the work for the week, with the completion of section introductions, Kilrathi force dispositions, encounter tables an initial texts. I was also able to finish up the mission end section. I've got a small piece of alternative history there in the event Concordia survives the campaign...

I've got two Saga character profiles ready this morning (to make up for two weeks ago). First up is Ninja. I gotta say he gave me a bit of a challenge. The notion of a Brazilian who's a Buddhist warrior monk is definitely cool, but I had some problems reconciling the motivations in his early history (i.e. how he became involved in Buddhism, what made him decide to join the Space Force, etc.). There was enough that was ambiguous there that I decided to go ahead and ask the Saga team for the in-between mission texts to see if we get more of his story; I want to be particularly sure I didn't write anything contradictory. Special thanks to those who have helped me out with that endeavor so far; I haven't yet extracted the text, but plan to do so this week. Next pilot this morning is Viking. He was relatively easy to do; about the only thing I'm not sure about with him is his trait sets. Again, I'd sure like to hear back from some of y'all who have played The Darkest Dawn to know whether or not I've done these characters justice and if I need to make tweaks.

Next week I hope to have Vespus finished, or at least to have nothing left to do besides interlude texts. I am going to lose time to work late in the week on account of my tenth wedding anniversary - not something I particularly mind at all. We'll see how things go.

Next Update between 11-14Z on July 29th.

capi



===Ninja===
Alec Crisologo is a first-generation Proxie, his parents migrating to the Leto colony from Brazil a number of years before he was born. During his youth, young Alec was given the opportunity to study Shorinji Kempo martial arts under Master Ii Misao, a local Buddhist monk. Alec embraced the Shorinji philosophy, converting to Buddhism and shaving his head in the style of the monks (much to Catholic family's dismay). He ultimately acehived the rank of Jun-kenshi. His motivations for leaving the temple are unclear, but by the time he turned 18 he applied and was accepted to the Space Force Academy and later entered flight school. Cadet Crisologo became one of the leading competitors in the Academy martial arts team, earning the callsign "Ninja" from his peers. Ninja was among the cadets who were assigned to fight in the Battle of Earth, stationed aboard TCS ''Ark Royal'' during the campaign's climax; he survived where most of his cadet friends had not. After finishing his accelerated Academy education (graduating with a B.A. in Military History and Psychology), he was given a commission and assigned as a junior flight instructor aboard TCS ''Wellington'' along with his old roommate Jonathan "Assassin" Chaplin under the command of Major Kenny "Kettle" Baws, where it was noted he cared a great deal for the must-pump nuggets under his charge. He survived the subsequent attack on ''Wellington'' and was reassigned aboard TCS ''Hermes'' as a fleet replacement pilot. Ninja survived the war and continued serving in the Space Force until Black Lance Affair, when he defected to the Border Worlds Militia after encountering Assassin during their raid on the Speradon system. Afterwards, he decided to stay on with the Borderworlds Militia for an exchange tour. Ninja’s opinion about combat is that it’s not about actual flying or gunnery skills, but rather a person’s morale, attitude, and mental state. He meditates for hours off duty, trying to reach that perfect “Zen”. He participates in various ancient Buddhist and New Age rituals. As a result of this intensive self-training, Ninja is always optimistic and has virtually unbreakable high morale. Ninja is an optimist who tends to look on the bright side of things no matter how bad the situation might be. A bit on the sarcastic side, he likes to joke around but he can handle just about any situation with cool precision. A very skilled flier, he's someone who can handle just about anything.

Alec Crisologo, Callsign: Ninja
Species: Terran (Confederation)
Rank: First Lieutenant, TCSF (Pilot, 544th Fighter Squadron, TCS Hermes)
Gender: Male
Height: 1.7 m
Mass: 70 kg
Handedness: Right
Birth Date: 2647.322 (Age 22; Adult)
Place of Birth: Mantenópolis, Leto, Proxima Centauri, Sol Sector

Initiative: +9
Attack Bonuses - Melee: +8; Ranged: +12
Saves - Fortitude: 35, Reflex: 39, Willpower: 37
HP/NHP: 65
HD/THD/FHD: 41/41/50
SI: 65

Power: 55, Three-Dimensional Maneuvers: 15, Lifting: 10, Brawling: 15 (Shorinji Kempo 15).
Finesse: 90, Dexterous Maneuvers: 25 (Balance 15), Dodge: 25, Hiding and Seeking: 25.
Physique: 55, Concentration: 25, Recuperation: 15, Stamina: 15.
Intellect: 95, Knowledge: 25 (Military History 20), Resourcefulness: 20 (Pranks 10), Cunning: 20.
Acumen: 75, Perception: 25 (Spot Enemy 10), Survival: 20, Performance: 20.
Charm: 55, Diplomacy: 15, Personality: 20, Leadership: 20.

Command: 45, Guidance : 15, Coordination : 10, Security : 15, Strategy : 5.
Science: 65, Archaeology : 15, Planetology : 15, Typhonology : 10, Technology : 15, Geology : 10.
Navigation: 80, Vehicle Piloting: 25 (Ferret 10, Arrow 10), Stealth: 25, Astrogation : 10.
Tactical: 60, Evasive Maneuvers : 15, Combat Maneuvers : 15, Targeting : 10, Marksmanship : 10, Ballistics : 10.
Engineering: 60, Damage Control: 20 (Guns 10, Mechanics: 20 (Fightercraft 10).
Communications: 50, Rapport: 25 (Nuggets 10), Translate: 15.
Medicine: 40, Psychology: 25, Xenobiology: 10, Intensive Care : 5.

Traits: Discipline +15, Nerves +10, Temper +5, Impulsive -10, Wealth -10, Social Status -5.


===Viking===
Viking didn’t attend any formal school; he simply learned how to fly from his father. He grew up flying racing craft and flying interstellar transports for the family business in the Border Worlds. He flew for the family business until he was accepted into Space Force AOCS at the age of 26, earning a commission in 2662. His first duty station was TCS ''Armageddon'', where he spent five years flying a ''Rapier-II'' on the front-lines and developed a solid reputation as a combat pilot and a team player. He was transferred to the inactive reserves during the False Armistice; by the time Viking had arrived home in Circe, he had already come to terms that he’d never fly again in the military. The Battle of Earth changed that: by the time Viking was reinstated, the Battle of Earth was already over. Due to Confed’s need for combat pilots, Viking lobbied hard for a squadron on the carrier closest to the front lines but got assigned to the training carrier TCS ''Wellington'' as a member of the wing’s sole combat squadron instead. Even though he was disappointed in not seeing action, Viking came to enjoy his job; in addition to ensuring safety of ''Wellington'' and her nuggets, Viking along with his squadronmates volunteered to assist as flight instructors and mentor the rookies when their schedules allowed it. Viking, along with the rest of his squadron, was transferred to TCS ''Kennedy'' as FRPs shortly before the Kilrathi ambushed and destroyed ''Wellington''. Viking would later be transferred to TCS ''Hermes'' again as a FRP and would reunite with the surviving members of ''Wellington's'' last cruise. Viking survived the war, going back to the family business and turning it into a private security business for those needing security or defense services along the frontier. During the next decade, his “private security contracts” helped him to stimulate a long-lasting business connection with him and Confed, which subsequently saw the rise of his company as one of Confed’s largest defense contractors. Equally proficient on all types of fighters and bombers, Viking is a steady and absolutely trustworthy wingman.

Marcus Snyder, Callsign: Viking
Species: Terran (Union of Border Worlds)
Rank: Captain, TCSF (Pilot, 544th Fighter Squadron, TCS Hermes)
Gender: Male
Height: 1.90 m
Mass: 90 kg
Handedness: Right
Birth Date: 2636.147 (Age 33; Adult)
Place of Birth: Nytt Skjervøy, Circe V, Antares Quadrant, Epsilon Sector

Initiative: +7
Attack Bonuses - Melee: +11; Ranged: +12
Saves - Fortitude: 37, Reflex: 37, Willpower: 38
HP/NHP: 67
HD/THD/FHD: 43/43/50
SI: 67

Power : 60, Three-Dimensional Maneuvers : 20, Brawling : 25, Lifting: 15.
Finesse : 70, Dexterous Maneuvers : 25, Dodge : 25, Hiding and Seeking: 20.
Physique : 70, Stamina : 25, Concentration : 20 (Concentrate Under Fire 10), Recuperation: 15.
Intellect : 105, Knowledge : 25 (Business 10, Kilrathi Tactics 10), Resourcefulness : 25, Cunning: 25 (Persuasion 10).
Acumen : 80, Perception : 25, Performance : 25 (Flight Instructor 15), Survival: 15.
Charm : 90, Personality : 25 (Debating 10), Leadership : 25 (Wingman 5), Diplomacy: 25.

Command : 105, Security : 25, Strategy : 15, Guidance : 25, Coordination : 20, Inspire: 20.
Science : 45, Technology : 25, Archaeology : 10, Typhonology: 10.
Navigation : 160, Vehicle Piloting : 25 (Capsules 10, Transports 15, Confederation Light Fighters 15, Confederation Medium Fighters 15, Confederation Heavy Fighters 15, Confederation Bombers 15), Astrogation : 25, Stealth: 25.
Tactical : 125, Evasive Maneuvers : 25, Combat Maneuvers : 25, Targeting : 25, Marksmanship : 25, Ballistics: 25.
Engineering : 60, Damage Control : 25 (Guns 10), Mechanics : 25.
Communications : 35, Rapport : 20, Translate : 15.
Medicine : 40, Intensive Care : 20, Psychology : 20.

Traits: Navigational Sense +10, Tactical Sense +10, Reputation (Wingman) +5, Allergic (Pollen) -10, Honest -5, Education -5
 
Greetings, Wingnuts and Citizens!! Time for the weekly WCRPG Update.

This week my focus was on Mission 5B. Owing to the fact that this mission has got about twice as many elements of any other single mission in the campaign and the fact that my time-to-work situation has if anything worsened over this past month, it's understandable that I didn't get the whole thing done this week like I'd originally hoped. A fair amount did get done though: the briefing was completed on Monday, nav data for all points was added Monday and Tuesday, Nav 1 was finished up on Wednesday along with the first ambush and Nav 2, and the second ambush section was completed on Thursday. I took the day off on Friday owing to it being my wedding anniversary. At this point, Missions 5A and 5B are the only ones with substantial amounts of work remaining; 5A just needs encounter notes for each Nav point, while 5B needs mission start text, encounter tables for the last two main Nav points and notes, and the campaign ending text.

No new Saga characters this week, though I did want to give a shout out and special thanks this week to Tolwyn for supplying me with some of the between-mission texts from Saga on Tuesday. They've been quite enlightening so far. Haven't found anything contradictory so far with the characters I've already done, which is a Good Thing.

I have had a few thoughts on what I want to do next in terms of a new campaign (not sure I really want to do another one, given how long Vespus has taken - though granted, I was also dealing with WCRPG's proofreading at the time). One thought was to do a campaign involving the Pilgrim Stars/Truth cycle. Another involved the exploits of a Bearcat squadron - I've always liked the look of the Bearcat and never have felt like it's gotten any love anywhere. It would be a little difficult to come up with a premise for that one, though. I've also still got the ideas to do a campaign where the players are the Cats or possibly Marines in one of the major campaigns like Repleetah or Operation Backlash. This is probably a question where a poll would be useful...

That's it for this week; next update will be sometime between 11-14Z on August 5th.
 
Greetings, Wingnuts and Citizens!! Time for the weekly WCRPG Update.

Well, this is a big one. After eight months of work, I can report this morning that principal editing of Vespus is complete. After last Monday's update, I spent the day finishing up work on Mission 5A and 5B, and did some work reviewing what had been written so far to confirm that all I had left to do was write the interludes. Tuesday I spent the day determining how I wanted the Wingnut character - Bhopal's Chief Tech and the main figure of the interludes - to talk. I ultimately decided to make the interludes conversations between Wingnut and Whistler (the CAG), and that Wingnut would talk like a sailor. And yes, I mean like a sailor: I had a couple of good sources of naval slang and picked out some of the more useful terms (my favorite being "dilligaf", though I may have only gotten to actually use it once). The rest of the week was spent composing those interlude texts, with work reaching completion Friday afternoon. With that last bit done, Vespus moved into the proofreading phase, which is where I am this morning. I hope to have a PDF available for download in time for the CIC's birthday celebration this coming weekend; whether or not that happens is going to depend on how much time I have available this coming week.

Incidentally, if you are reading this update on the RSI forums, I'd like to invite you to come over to the CIC for the birthday celebration. The CIC website turns 15 this year. Each year they have downloads and trivia on their IRC channel at #Wingnut...last year, Chris Roberts himself stopped by to chat with the fans (this of course being roughly two months prior to the announcement of Star Citizen). It's a good time to be had by all, so stop in if you get a chance.

No Saga characters this week and probably none next week since I'll be spending the week proofreading. Means I'll owe y'all four next chance I get...

With Vespus essentially complete, I have begun to consider where I should turn my attention next. I have started a poll over on the CIC (at https://www.wcnews.com/chatzone/threads/next-wcrpg-campaign.26965/) asking the community what they'd like to see next. So far the poll is leaning towards "a campaign where the characters are Kilrathi" and I've been working under the assumption that this will be the prevailing selection, so I've started thinking about what kind of campaign it would be (though I have a grand total of three votes as of this morning; sure would appreciate it if some more of y'all would vote). I've been leaning towards doing something with the Demon's Eye Pack mentioned in Waypoint! (the Prophecy documentation), with the notion of having Bloodeye being some kind of Sitting Bull figure. I even have a working title for that campaign - "An Elegy for Sivar". I'll of course let y'all know how things develop. Meantime, please add your two cents to the discussion if you wish; I definitely could use additional ideas.

Well, that's it for this update. Next Update will be sometime between 11-14Z on August 12th.
 
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Dammit. Looks like I won't have Vespus ready in time for this weekend's celebration after all. So close...
 
I completed the final proofreading of Vespus this afternoon about 4:00 or so; the version on the wiki is complete and locked down and I now have the "back half" in MS Word format. I don't have a print version to report tonight, but at least the wiki version is playable.

Naturally, I'll be finishing up the print version next week. It's the "front half" I don't have; that's the same material from Prelude and Enyo, and it hasn't been updated since the full rules went to print. Need to do some GIMP work too. Hoping to have something at Lulu early next week.
 
Greetings, Wingnuts and Citizens!! Time for the weekly WCRPG Update.

Not much to report this week; I spent the entire week proofreading Vespus, and can report that I completed the text proofreading on Friday afternoon. The campaign is not yet 100% finished and ready to send to the publisher owing to some changes that need to be made to the "front half" and some graphics work. Lemme explain - Prelude and Enyo were both sent to the publisher with a light set of rules, which covered the information the GM and players needed to know in order to play the game without having access to the full rules. I had been debating whether or not to do the same with Vespus, owing to the fact that the full rules have been available for some time now. Ultimately I decided to go ahead and add these light rules to the finished product to make it more flexible (I mean, a hard-copy of the full rules costs $80 and some folks like having the print in front of them). Only problem is that this information hasn't been updated since WCRPG went to print. I hope to be able to take care of this work later today. Other thing that Vespus is missing is mission maps, which I also hope to take care of some time this coming week. I have plans to proofread (finally) the text of Prelude and Enyo, and hope to be able to report new versions of both documents some time in the next two weeks. I do plan on getting all this done before commencing work on Elegy.

So yeah, work has not yet begun on the next WCRPG campaign, but I'm pretty sure the poll I set up isn't going to get any more votes and so I'll be doing a Kilrathi campaign next. The campaign has been tentatively titled "An Elegy for Sivar", and I'll be referring to it as Elegy for short. Right now I'm still considering the story; I think my initial plan would prove to make for something compelling, provided it's done correctly.

No Saga character this week (as predicted). I guess that means I now owe you guys five, unless I've lost track. It's either four or five; I dunno.

That's it for this update. Next update will be between 11-14Z on August 19th.
 
Gentlemen, I'm please to announce that after nearly eight months of work, the Vespus campaign is finally complete. As with Prelude and Enyo, I have it available from Lulu.com as a free PDF and as a paperback. The paperback is going for $7.48 plus S&H and tax; my copy came to about $11.50 all told. I have asked the site admins if I can host a downloadable copy here; I'll keep y'all posted on that.

Share and Enjoy. I've got about five weeks worth of back Saga characters to create profiles for and then it's time to start work on Elegy.
 
I just got done putting up a revised version of Prelude to Goddard on Lulu a short time ago. I'm hoping the party that downloaded the game from Lulu today did so after I sent the revision...I seriously doubt that's the case, though.

The changes just addressed spelling and grammatical issues with the original. The paperback is now slightly shorter than it was, though that's due to formatting changes - it in fact has more content than it did previously (added information on relative bearings for weapons and I figured I should probably add capital-ship scale combat rules, although Prelude doesn't really need them). Means the hardcopies are cheaper than they were (and they should now be relatively error-free, or at least have fewer typos anyway). Anyways, new versions are up in PDF and paperback.

Yes, Enyo's on the block for a revision at this point; I hope to get to it next week.
 
Received word from the site admins; they've agreed to host a copy of the PDF version of Vespus. So for those of you who do not want to register with Lulu, you may download the PDF here.
 
Greetings, Wingnuts and Citizens!! Time for the weekly WCRPG Update. This was a pretty big week all told, so this update's going to be a bit on the meaty side. Apologies for the long post in advance. Probably will have to split it on the RSI boards...

For those of your who follow my updates on the RSI site, I completed Vespus this week after eight long months full of work (to be fair, I started Vespus about the same time I started proofreading the Core Rules, so about four of those months were spent working on that instead). The campaign went to Lulu shortly after noon CDT on Thursday, and is available both as a Free PDF download and in paperback. CIC has also agreed to host the PDF of Vespus; here is the link.

I also spent part of the week prepping up to make revisions of Prelude and Enyo; if you've been following the WCRPG thread for a while, you'll remember that neither underwent a period of proper proofreading owing to a lack of time prior to their release (with Prelude in particular barely completed in time for Free RPG Day 2012). Monday I began a proofread of the Prelude mission and completed that work on Tuesday. After taking the time to manufacture mission maps for Vespus, I began work on the "front half" - the rules section - which I needed to update for both Prelude and Vespus. Rebuilding the front half for Vespus was completed on Wednesday and I added the campaign "back half" and built the cover images before the day was out. After sending Vespus off to the publisher on Thursday, I copied the front half over to Prelude and began making the necessary tweaks (basically replacing the words "Vespus" with "P2G" and swapping out the appropriate craft tables. That effort was completed on Friday, and by the noontime hour on Friday I had a revised version of Prelude up at Lulu. I did note that someone had downloaded the PDF version of Prelude on Friday; I certainly hope that whoever that was waited until after the update...

So, Vespus is up, a revised version of Prelude is up, and if y'all have been waiting for a corrected paperback of Prelude, it's up. I intend to spend at least part of this coming week revising Enyo; again that's just going to require a little bit of text replacement in the front half and a proofread of the campaign portion.

Switching gears a bit now, CIC released the IRC transcript from the 15th birthday celebration last Saturday and I took some time to look through it on Wednesday (mainly I just wanted to see which trivia questions I missed; just wasn't fast enough with "serra"). I noted on the log that tabletop roleplaying was the first topic being discussed during the period and there was some talk of WCRPG. Couple of things to clarify based on the transcript (sorry in advance for singling particular people out!!):

@AD: WCRPG's system is a complete homebrew. It's in the d% family of RPGs, but I didn't reference any of them during WCRPG's construction. I actually developed it while working on Starflight RPG; that game was originally intended to be d20-based but during the construction process I and the folks who were helping me out discovered d20 didn't offer a sufficient level of flexibility for the skill rolls (its kinda difficult to adapt a system where the skills were all rated from 0-250 to an RPG based on a d20); d% was the solution we came up with. The system's largely the same as it was for Starflight, though for WCRPG I abandoned the notion of having to calculate a DC in favor of having it set by the character's skill scores (yeah...WCRPG's system is simpler, if you can believe it).

@NinjaLA: If you think WCRPG looks like a lot of work, you should see Starflight...
I have put a fair amount of work in the hands of the GMs, true. And there is a lot of material there. The good news is that there's also a "pick and choose" factor at work there, so you can ignore the complex stuff if you want. Thing about trying to design an RPG for everybody, you have to design it with the really picky people in mind (i.e. build the most complex version you can for the sake of the dorks). I was also trying to give folks the materials they would need to build their own stuff - that actually takes up a fair portion of the core game. And the playtests I was running with Whistler were using that most complex set of rules (I suppose we could've been using the physical grid rules; then things would've been really hairy).

@Whistler: I tried not to mess with your character too badly in Vespus. Only area where I'm concerned is in his dialogues during the interludes with the Wingnut character (who, let's face it, is pretty foul-mouthed). The whole notion of having conversations between Wingnut and Whistler in between missions was kind of a last minute decision - something I'd already considered for Elegy, to be honest - and I wanted to see how well it would work. Other than that, I may have done a little bit of proofreading in his bio - I swear I didn't change anything major. Vespus is finished now; please let me know if you think I should change anything. The beauty of self-publishing is that you can change things whenever you please...

Alright, last minute stuff. No new Saga characters this week but I swear to have at least one next week (I think I'm up to six that I owe y'all). I've also been drooling over the new ship page at RSI...and I'm definitely thinking about finishing out the "collection" now. Actually, I had a thought that I was going to need some Terran civilian ships for Elegy (pirates terrorizing a Sector have to have some targets after all) and that there'd probably be some new designs in use along with the Orions, Galaxies and Centurions out there, so Elegy might give me an excuse to sneak a few SC designs in. Elegy's still in the planning stages anyway, so that may or may not happen.

Well, that's it for this week's update. Next Update between 11-14Z on August 26.
 
It actually looks like Whistler's character is spot on. All business but hasn't forgotten how to laugh or how important his crew is. Bio edit is fine, even enjoyed the light edits for details. Sorry if it's a little long. I was given some good advice from an old GM friend of mine, "Be as detailed as possible, even if long-winded. This is YOU who's in the game so best not to leave anything to misconception."

That one bit where he's telling Wingnut he shouldn't swear so much in front of an officer? Friendly advice rather then a "dressing down" for protocol. Whistler never gave a damn for fluffing brass, just doesn't want to see his Chief catch a write-up from any "visitors." Otherwise I rather enjoyed Vespus' scripting. Dont be so hard on yourself Capi, this looks fun, AND a helluva fight.

Besides, how else is the crew going to hear fresh scuttlebutt. :D
 
Good Morning, Wingnuts and Citizens! Time for the weekly WCRPG Update.

I can sum up this week with the phrase "I was proofreading Enyo". I had forgotten just exactly how beefy and nuanced that campaign was, and that fact coupled with a couple of rough days this week meant that try as I might I was unable to complete that effort. Awfully close, though; I'm sitting in the early part of the losing path finale mission (5B). I anticipate finishing that effort up early this week, however, and I hope to be able to report a revised version available soon. I'll be happy to finish up proofreading - it's always a fairly boring process, though it is funny occasionally to hear Google Speak mangle names (for example, with both the Kilrathi and the bulk of their fighter names, it insists of pronouncing the last syllable with a long "I" sound...).

I started a discussion thread for Elegy earlier this week. As I mentioned in that thread, my intent with it is to do a full-blown campaign setting, and to that end I got some very preliminary work done on system maps for Epsilon Sector. This mainly involved using the Nav Map creation procedure in Chapter 10.2.2 of the core rules for all systems in Epsilon to generate positions and dispositions of jump points, ambush points and bases. I still need to overlay the information that's known about the Sector over this machine-generated data but once that's done I'll have a clearer picture of how things stand there, which will help with logistical decisions such as figuring out what system the Demon's Eye Pack will be based out of. I think once I've got the nav data down I'll focus on prices for commodities in the Sector at various bases. I had considered doing something similar to what appears to be happening in Star Citizen, where you can land at more than one point on a planetary base and each point has a different set of characteristics. It certainly makes sense to do something of that nature. Work on the campaign's setting is continuing, albeit slowly for the time being.

I still haven't delved into the RSI ships page as deeply as I'd have liked to by now and I still have no new Saga characters this week, though in the case of Saga I have a legitimate excuse: Nick Huynh, one of Saga's developers, gave me some additional information regarding the Saga characters this week and I'm taking the time to peruse what he sent me before I proceed further. I'm very grateful for this information; hopefully it'll help me to build better profiles. On a similar vein, I downloaded the design documentation of Wing Commander: Shadow Force this week along with the Feng Zhu images that LOAF posted earlier this week and I'm considering building profiles for those characters just for the hell of it.

I've got another WC side project going on at the moment, which I'm going to keep under wraps for right now. It's helping me to develop some newly found skills a little better. Hopefully I'll get to surprise y'all with it in the near future...

That's it for this week. Since next Monday is Labor Day here in the states, I'll still plan on posting an update then but I do intend to sleep in, so that one may be later than 14Z.
 
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