Nasi Lemak Protocol

The Man From Counter Possession

Episode 1 The Man From Counter Possession On this slow lazy Sunday afternoon, after binge watching the new series Stranger Things which I had described elsewhere as “totally a Laundry RPG scenario set in America, where Black Chamber operatives in the Department of Energy attempt to contain their screw up in a small town in Ohio”, I thought I would sit down with Irfan to generate a Laundry RPG character. And if I had the time, then I would run a short, simple scenario for him. The Laundry RPG is based on Charles Stross’s The Laundry Files novel series, which is a delightful mashup of unspeakable horror and droll British humour, where the world of espionage meets the Cthulhu Mythos. It uses the Basic Role Playing (BRP) system used by Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest, Pendragon and Stormbringer RPGs. Irfan created a 25-year-old British grad student named Dustin Hopkins, a Capital […]

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Meow, Jax and Amnesiac Lady prepare themselves for future adventures

SWD6: The Privilege of Choice

Time is the Hunter Episode 04: The Privilege of Choice A 1500th post special! Last time on Star Wars Time is the Hunter, Jax Hunt finds himself being forcibly inducted into a bounty hunter posse bent on killing his mark, known only as The Skywalker in the abandoned structures deep beneath Spaceport Tower 214 in the Byblos system. Jax recently learned that The Skywalker was also helping to save young orphans of victims of the tyrannical Galactic Empire. Surrounded by a colourful group of nearly 20 bounty hunters consisting of a variety of species, Jax Hunt faced their prune-faced Dressellian leader who wore a DL-44 blaster at his hip. The leader barked with a smile, “My name is Kozener. And I lead this crew to claim the bounty on The Skywalker. But we will kill this Skywalker and claim 20 times the reward of the one posted through your House […]

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So these randomly-grabbed paper miniatures became the basis of actual NPCs during the game

SWD6: Deeper Undercity

Time is the Hunter Episode 03: Deeper Undercity Last time on Star Wars Time is the Hunter, a gunfight between bounty hunters accidentally activated a trio of Separatist BX commando droids from the Clone Wars. Malfunctioning, they began hunting for targets deep in the bowels of Spaceport Tower 214 on level Brown-212 in the Byblos system. The three rusty droids fanned out with vibroswords drawn, their joints sparked when they moved jerkily. “Kill all Republic clone troopers.” “Roger roger!” Jax Hunt hugged the debris-strewn floor behind the engine of a Y-wing fighter. Beside him, a fellow bounty hunter – the Nimbanel named Tulon Tash – lay injured and semi-conscious after being shot by a rival hunter. Meanwhile the furnace behind both bounty hunters illuminated the chamber of scrap metal and discarded technology with angry colours. Jax considered throwing one of the two grenades he was authorised to carry, but the […]

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Irfan's not a galactic bounty hunter. He just plays one in a roleplaying game

SWD6: Stalk the Lower Levels

Time is the Hunter Episode 02: Stalk the Lower Levels Last time on Time is the Hunter, Irfan played bounty hunter Jax Hunt who signed up with the Byblos chapter of the House Benelex Bounty Hunting Guild at Tower 214. Jax Hunt arrived the next day at Abbit Mowba‘s office. The signs of battle from when Jax saved Mr. Mowba from a disgruntled bounty hunter the previous day were still there. But Mowba seemed distracted. “Hi Mr. Mowba,” Jax greeted the Aqualish manager. “Jax,” he stuttered. “I… There seems to be a problem.” “What is it?” “There is a new mark. The bounty is right here on Byblos. In Byblos Spaceport Tower 214 itself. Way down dozens of levels in Brown-212. It’s a difficult mark. I sent three bounty hunters after the mark. They should have returned yesterday evening.” “I’ll take the bounty,” Jax exclaimed. “I usually do not send […]

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Wait, I thought this was a tabletop game

SWD6: Point of Entry

Time is the Hunter Episode 01: Point of Entry I figured it was time to return to the source from whence my interest of simulationist/narrativist tabletop games originated: Star Wars The Roleplaying Game once published by West End Games and run using the D6 system. It was the first RPG that I ran for Irfan once upon a time and we have never played it since. Irfan plays Jax Hunt, a young human bounty hunter who is on his way to get his House Benelex Bounty Hunters’ Guild membership card from an agent/broker in the Byblos system. Jax wears a flak jacket body armour, a Relby-k23 on his hip and a modified helmet to protect his head. After some decades living alone and scrounging in the streets, bottom feeding, Jax had decided to pursue a career as a bounty hunter. Perhaps someday he would even be able to catch the […]

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CoC 5.5 Edition

Call of Cthulhu: Happy Endings

Episode 5 Happy Endings Last time on Call of Cthulhu (back in June) our solo protagonist, the young Detective DJ Stark failed to stop whatever unholy occult occurrence at Horton Opera House. Stabbed by cultists, blind luck caused a passer-by to notice him and call for an ambulance. The incident cost Stark another two weeks in the hospital, but he insisted on returning to duty quickly. Mr. Chao had all but disappeared, and there was no sign of the cultists in the opera house. There was no clue as to what the swirling bright light that he saw before he fell down the trapdoor. At the end of his shift he was approached by his new partner Detective Alex Sim, a young Asian woman who knew of Stark’s proclivities with investigating strange and unexplained things and getting into severe injuries. She warned him that she did not wish for her […]

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Winter is coming

Call of Cthulhu: A Night At The Opera

Episode 4 A Night At The Opera Last time (a year and 4 days ago in real time), despite being badly injured and walking on crutches, Detective DJ Stark (played by Irfan) succeeded in thwarting the scheme of the Cult of the Pale Nurses in their bid to summon the extradimensional being Sharakh-Kheth from crossing over into our universe and utterly demolishing the Saint Agatha Medical Centre in Brisbane, San Francisco. (Yesterday afternoon we continued the Call of Cthulhu RPG campaign to see how Detective Stark was faring. Polyhedrals and paperminis deployed, Irfan wondered what Lovecraftian creatures and machinations he would encounter in this session. It was six weeks later in game time…) Stark had been back to work at his precinct for two weeks, getting quickly bored by a desk job. His phone rang. A familiar elderly voice could be heard. “Mr. Chao,” said Stark. “I take it my […]

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Betty wants to play

EOTE Tabletop Day Episode: Together Again For The First Time

Edged by the Empire Episode 10 Together Again For The First Time Previously on Edged by the Empire… It was International Tabletop Day again, and like last year we played Star Wars Edge of the Empire again. However we played not on a table, but on the floor. With the 15 XP carried over from the previous session, Irfan bought the Grit talent for his smuggler character Hondo Pash, increasing his Strain. The finale for the campaign that started on January 2013 with Escape from Mos Shuuta begins… One Man Revolution Radiation and stellar gases swamped the Shadda-Bi-Boran system from its primary star. A squadron of five Star Destroyers aided by numerous smaller corvettes and tenders manoeuvred themselves to surround a three-klick wide asteroid that sheltered a secret Imperial base that belonged to Admiral Keargan Kanu. As the cordon closed in on the flat lump of rock, Admiral Kanu was […]

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Hondo Pash reads a book

EOTE: Adversity of the Unexpected

Edged by the Empire Episode 09 Adversity of the Unexpected Previously on Edged by the Empire… Ticket to Ride A pair of grey Aratech 74-Z speeder bikes – modified to have no flight ceiling – flew westward from the city of Shoribus, the capital city of Kabal in the Mayagil Sector, on a personal mission. Smuggler Hondo Pash‘s sister Yuzy and mother Doro were abducted by his father, whom he recently learned was an Imperial Admiral named Keargan Kanu. To retrieve them, he would have to find Admiral Kanu. The only clue as to where Kanu might be is his secret weapon cache located upon the vast Skolaris Cliff. As they passed over thick swamps with winding rivers and the occasional gargantuan trees that towered over everything else, Giin Lawquane, the armored mercenary and security officer in the other speeder spoke via his helmet comlink, “Bothth. What if Yuzy doethn’t […]

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Lava Jaeger nose art

EOTE: On the Trail of Dad

Edged by the Empire Episode 08 On The Trail of Dad Previously on Edged by the Empire… Irfan had 35 XPs, so he blew it on a couple of more Talents, namely a second Skilled Jockey, a second Galaxy Mapper and Improved Dead to Rights. He was free of any Obligations for this episode after rolling an 81. (His Obligation: Family is 30 and Giin’s Obligation: Bounty is 20). Finally the Destiny pool was 2 light side and one dark side. On his homeworld of Blue Nirvada, the young smuggler Hondo Pash, the captain of the Lava Jaeger has discovered that both his parents, long thought to be dead, were still alive and appeared to be mortal enemies. His mother was Doro Pash and his father, the Imperial Admiral Keargan Kanu. Upon Hondo and his armoured mercenary guard Giin Lawquane rescuing his aunt Zosy Pash from Imperial agents, Zosy revealed […]

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Zosy Pash

EOTE: I Was Young When I Left Home

Edged by the Empire Episode 07 I Was Young When I Left Home Previously on Edged by the Empire… Irfan did not use any of his 15 XP to upgrade his character Hondo Pash. He rolled Destiny Points for the PC and the two main NPCs, who are basically auxiliary PCs anyway. Blowin’ In The Wind Recently departed from the port of Silverlake in the Naboo system, the Lava Jaeger flew into Blue Nirvada‘s atmosphere, a frozen ocean world orbiting a blue dwarf star in the Tarabba Sector. However, there was a vicious snowstorm along their flight path toward Obsidian Island, the hometown of Captain Hondo Pash and his 9-year-old sister Yuzy Pash where they grew up. The armoured mercenary gunslinger Giin Lawquane in the co-pilot seat with the BlasTech EE-3 blaster rifle slung on his back asked, “Do we wait it out?” Hondo took a second to ruminate, then […]

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The session notes and charsheets

BareBones Fantasy: The First GM Session

Earlier this week, Irfan gamemastered his first RPG session with his friend at his friend’s house. He had took my printed out copy of BareBones Fantasy, created his own pregenerated characters (asking me a few questions along the way), drew a simple terrain map and filled it with opponents. His friend Fikree, I was told, named his pregenned human spellcaster William Jester. Irfan’s own GMPC is a dwarf named Hector Zorin, a warrior with a greataxe, a battleaxe, and a warhammer. The Simple Scenario Because I was not present to witness the game being played, I interviewed Irfan for details of what went down in the session. William and Hector were scouting the woods near the town where they lived because travellers had been disappearing there. Near a rocky hill surrounded by thick trees they spotted a cave entrance that was guarded by a lizardman. They decided to attack. (Initiative […]

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The dinner table

Golden Sky Stories: Intro Game

Last night, Doug came over to run a game for Irfan and I before he had to move, and it would be more difficult to meet up at nights regularly. We played Golden Sky Stories for the first time. Set in rural Japanese township (not unlike a films like Tonari No Totoro) Golden Sky Stories is a tabletop roleplaying game where players take the role of magical animals called henge who are able to change into human form. It’s a great game to be played with children because there’s not a single iota of violence, or situations that put the player characters in dire peril. It’s all to do with making friends with other henge or little children in a small township in a rural Japanese countryside. In fact, if you can grasp the situations in Tonari no Totoro where characters experience wonder and express their likes and dislike in […]

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Grinning at a missed missile

EOTE: Family Obligations

Edged by the Empire Episode 06 Family Obligations Previously on Edged by the Empire… Before the game began, no Obligations were triggered. As before, even if there was only one player, I considered all three main characters as player characters so three Force Dice were rolled, resulting in a Destiny Pool of 3 Light Side Points and 1 Dark Side Points. Irfan finally did some character advancements with the 60XPs he had been saving up, purchasing the Dead to Rights Talent and upgrading skills like Melee, Piloting (Space), Gunnery and Stealth. The YT-1300 light freighter Lava Jaeger and her crew, Captain Hondo Pash, his kid sister Yuzy Pash, their armoured hired gunslinger Giin Lawquane and the astromech droids R2-8B8 and R5-K2 arrived at Naboo where Imperial Star Destroyer Obdurate was patrolling. Hondo informed them of their cargo of computer parts from Christophsis bound for Silverlake a port city on Naboo. […]

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Horror GM-Dad

Call of Cthulhu: Healthcare Blues

Episode 3 Healthcare Blues Last time on Call of Cthulhu (almost two years ago in realtime), Detective D.J. Stark played by Irfan (the youngest Call of Cthulhu player ever? I have no idea) killed his partner who turned out to be a ghoul cultist and prevented an entity called Sharakh-Kheth from emerging from its universe into ours. However he was badly injured – lots of broken bones – and was hospitalised. Three weeks later he was moved from intensive care into a shared hospital ward at Saint Agatha Medical Centre in Brisbane, San Francisco, located all the way in Firth Park Canyon. Doctor Geisler was his doctor. His ward-mates were three other elderly men Beck, Dolce and Nunez. The ward had one window that had an iron grill installed. Stark could see trees outside from the third story of the hospital. Day One In the morning, Eleanor Stark a professor […]

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Hondo, the GM and Gheed

EOTE Tabletop Day Episode: First Day on the Job

Edged by the Empire Episode 05 First Day on the Job For International Tabletop Day today, Irfan a quick game of Edge of the Empire for Irfan. Then, Farid and Cikma came a-visiting and Farid joined the game. Previously: Hondo Pash and his little sister Yuzy Pash had finally freed themselves of the crime lord Teemo the Hutt. With their newfound friend the armoured bounty hunter Giin Lawquane and two astromech droids R2-8B8 and R5-K2, they began to carve a life for themselves in the spacelanes of the Outer Rim Territories with their YT-1300 light freighter Lava Jaeger. The first stop in their quest for their first freight job: the planet Rodia. The ship set down in Landing Bay 4 in the small town of Port Trammel on Rodia. (Music played: “Approaching Rodia” by Kevin Kiner from Star Wars: The Clone Wars for atmosphere. You can find the mp3 at his website.) Hondo is met […]

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