I Have Such Sights to Show You
Our Mothership RPG grand campaign is on fire. We have multiple play groups, they have multiple parties, and they are operating in conflict under a fog of war. It’s every man for themselves, but I still have two conventional players at my table who try at every opportunity to drag the others into “main character/spotlight play”, but the other two (wives not plagued by conventional norms), the heroes of the BroXT, and my Youtube shield-bearers are saving the campaign from mediocrity.
How do they do this? Easy. By embracing player versus player gameplay and putting the setting before their PCs.
My in-person group stole a bunch of contraband from the crime lords a few sessions back, as per the blog, and its time for retribution. Dundermoose took on the sheriff role with the ship The Interdictor. Jack McCarthy rolled up a merc, Cpt. Roberts of the Payday, trying to collect the bounty on the in-person group. Roberts got deputized by The Sheriff to board the Contessa and check for illegal goods.
The Contessa crew were freaking out! They could immediately tell these weren’t NPCs because usually they aren’t hailed in the middle of the week by text message. “Are these real people or NPCs?!” This question comes up for conventional players. It shocks them to know they aren’t in complete control. All their hubris went out the window when they realized that these other players wouldn’t pull any punches, and all of a sudden, the Contessa crew grasped that they were NOT the main characters of the game. They’ve always known the other crews were out there, but they never had to deal with them before.
They started calling in favors, begging for help, but the thing is: they have burned every bridge with their NPC interactions because up until this point, they’ve treated all the NPCs as throw aways. Devil-may-care attitudes were pervasive session after session. But now, things were different. They promised to do a job for Synthara Enterprises for a super reduced fee, so that way the Company would call off the Sheriff. But much like Weyland-Yutani from the Alien Franchise, Synthara cares only for the crew as much as they can make profits for their shareholders, so Synthara has worked out a deal with The Sheriff to set up the in-person group when they return from the job if he holds off on destroying them. It’s a trap!
For Cpt. Roberts, they simply bought him off! 2.5million credits just got transferred to Roberts’ cred-stick, so now he can equip his ship with some nice upgrades. Good for him to leverage their fear for his profits.
Two solar systems over, the science vessel Erevna followed up on a lead about some little gray aliens on board the Concoarse, which is floating dead in space. But the Krieszberger, a pirate raider working for Yandee and the Bratva was looking for salvage.
These two players are my shield bearers and they know the assignment: let’s push the boundaries of what the system can handle and see how much player versus player we can shove at each other. They rolled up these ships and crew for one purpose, and that purpose is blood! PVPVPVPVPVP!!
Mo, the player running the Krieszberger, was sending orders quickly and with intention. He got onboard the Concoarse and looted some wine from a shipping container before the Erevna crew even showed up. The first crew posted up behind cover and it was a massive advantage. He only lost Owl, one of his crew, it was a slaughter. The crew of the Erevna is no more. The AP provided from cover was so instrumental, and now Mo has full reign to loot as he pleases…good luck with the alien lifeforms!
So much is happening in the Subsector. If you’re interested in joining in, hit me up on X! There is always room for more ships. We haven’t had any ship to ship battles yet, so hop in!
Jack M.-Captain Roberts-(E) He scared the hell out of the Contessa crew. Extorted them for 2.5mcr. Total winner
Dundermoose-Captain Gundermoost (S)-Great work pressuring the Contessa. He also leveraged Roberts to risk his life to accomplish their goal. He is getting a nice paycheck from Synthara as well.
Mo- Captain Fox- (S) Got first blood against Erevna crew. He will make so much from selling the enemy ship, all the salvage, and the shipping containers on board.
Parker-Can’t win if you’re dead, but he was very excited about the concept. Feel free to roll up a new crew my dude!