Solo GURPS: Moises Ramirez, Session #1
All right, it's time to do another solo game, but this time not in a fantasy setting, but in a soft-ish sci-fi setting. I do have a setting writeup, but there are some things and aspects that I would like to polish, change, or remove. Maybe this game will be also a worldbuilding exercise!
Session #2 - link.
Setting Synopsis
Mankind has spread into space, colonized the Solar system and many extrasolar worlds. There is superscience FTL travel that is relatively slow, FTL radio requires expensive and heavy installations, so most of the interstellar communication is done via FTL courier ships. Thus, the human worlds are merely a loose alliance (USA - United Solar Alliance) where every world may have their own laws, military, and technological development level.
There's psionics, but most of the superscience technologies do not exist.
The galaxy is inhabited by hundreds of alien races of various types - from humanoid "rubber foreheads" to bizarre beings with different biochemistries. There's even two different human civilizations that have developed independently from the one on Earth. There's, of course, extinct precursor civilizations. The baseline TL is 10, but there are factions of higher and lower TL.
Character
As with my previous solo games, I want to try to generate my character mostly randomly. I'll use Central Casting: Heroes for Tomorrow as a base and create new tables to roll on in the process. Never tried that book before, I wonder what the result is going to be.
Moises Ramirez was born on an USA borderworld of Delvenus II. This planet's surface was a molten hellscape, but its clouds had a comfortable, habitable zone for bubblehabs. Humans have only recently colonized that world, with only a few bubblehab cities floating in the atmosphere. But they were not alone in that system, as an alien civilization - ofrians - have founded an underground colony on a rocky world of Delvenus III. That planet was quite close to Mars in terms of habitability - thin atmosphere, no indigenous life, no large bodies of water. However, not only it was rich in minerals, it also had ruined installations of an extinct species under its surface.
Moises' father was a criminologist who supported his wife and four children (Moises is the firstborn). He was a very religious person, a member of a Christian splinter sect that believed that all alien species have their own prophets that have the memories of God suppressed, and that have to be found and have their suppressed memories awakened. Moises himself did not really understand religion as a child. His childhood wasn't a very happy one. When he was 10, his parents got divorced, but soon after that religious tensions in the colony turned into an open revolt, and the power was overtaken by the advocates of the Cyber-Spirit. During the revolt, Moises' father, mother, and one of the younger brothers have been killed. Moises and two surviving younger sisters were taken as refugees by the ofrians from Delvenus III, raised communally by the alien caretakers.
Forced to live among very spiritual aliens after seeing what religious tensions did to his home made Moises an atheist. When he was adolescent, the alien caretakers thought it to be just a quirk of his upbringing that will soon go away, but this trait persisted into adulthood, making Moises less appealing to the ofrians.
When he was 18 years old, Moises attracted attention of one of the alien caretakers. Lisoss Tumalik was an expert geologist who was in charge of a prospecting company. He decided to fund Moises' education if he agrees to help him run his business. Of course, Moises did not really have another option at the time, so he agreed. Moises, on the other hand, took great interest not only in geology, but also in his patron's descendant who was only a couple of years older (note: ofrians are hermaphrodites). Depending on the planet in question, this kind of an interspecies romance would be considered as anything from a silly quirk to serious sexual deviancy. However, both ofrians and humans from Delvenus II had some xenophiliac tendencies, so it was only considered a silly quirk. Romantic relationship with Filis Tumalik lasted only a few months and ended when Moises found out that his partner was being unfaithful.
This breakup forced Moises to quit his job as a geologist at Lisoss' company and try looking for another prospecting company to work for. He failed to find such a job, and also failed to find a job as a carpenter (he learned some carpentry during his formal education, because carpentry on a barren world was considered exotic). Instead, he was persuaded into trying smuggling some illegal drugs. During the first attempt he was arrested and imprisoned for more than a year.
After serving his sentence, Moises managed to find a job as an archaeologist at the Baraus Foundation. That was surprising, because not every employer will hire an alien criminal.
SESSION #1
Scene 1
Setup: Moises Ramirez is contacted by his boss, possibly about the upcoming expedition.
CF: 4
Character List: Moises Ramirez, Hoss Baraus (boss).
Thread List: N/A.
Chaos Roll: Normal Scene.
Detail Check Question: What is the job?
Detail Check Table Result: Disfavors PC
Meaning (Action): Abuse Plans
Meaning (Description): Interestingly Remarkable
Hoss Barauss contacts Moises over the radio comm, using secure encryption. They tell Moises that a different company has just arrived to this planet, planning to investigate some of the alien ruins. The company is called Sarapoint Association, coming from Delvenus II - Moises' homeworld. The boss wants Moises to investigate their plans. Perhaps, they know something that our company does not know? They probably will be happy to see a human here. On the other hand, that human has a criminal record and is more adept in field work than in social situations and espionage, so this puts Moises at a disadvantage. Howerver, he's the employee here, so he has no right to refuse.
Without any preparations, Moises sends the leader of the human expedition an email in English, claiming that he learned about their arrival in the local news and wants to offer his services as a guide. He mentions being an archaeologist and suggests that he may provide some insight about their expedition.
[Let's resolve this as an Influence roll using the Diplomacy skill. First, we have to determine the leader's Will. As usual, let's roll 9+1d. I got 10. Now, we roll a Quick Contest of Diplomacy vs. Will. Moises wins with a margin of victory of 7. An incredibly lucky result that gives us the Good reacion.]
The leader of the human expedition agrees and schedules a meeting.
Scene 2
Setup: Moises Ramirez goes to the spaceport district where the human expedition is staying temporarily.
CF: 3 (the previous scene was in character's control)
Character List: Moises Ramirez, Hoss Baraus (boss), human expedition leader.
Thread List: Find out what exactly the human expedition is planning to do here.
Chaos Roll: Normal Scene.
Detail Check Question: Who's the expedition leader?
Detail Check Table Result: Favor Thread
Meaning (Description): Politely Large
[Let's determine gender randomly first: male]. The meeting was quite official - in a small briefing room at a hotel where the expedition was staying. This room probably was used as a small conference hall. The leader was alone, dressed in a suit. He was a man of African descent, tall (taller than Moises by at least 2 feet), but skinny. [Moises lived on Delvenus II, so he gets the IQ-4 default on Area Knowledge concerning that world. I roll against 8 and get an 8.] That person's build implies that he's a genetweaked light worlder. Delvenus II has gravity of 1G, so the leader must be from somewhere else. The human expedition leader intoduced himself as Mbita Omehia. [Let's make a Reaction roll. No modifiers, because Mbita does not know about Moises' criminal past, and the disadvantages impose no penalties in this situation. I get the Neutral reaction.]
Fate Question: Will Mbita Omehia be interested in sharing his plans? Perhaps, they aren't secret?
Fate Check Modifier: Unlikely (-2)
Fate Check Result: No.
[Now we know that he will not share his plans freely. Moises will be penalized at his rolls to find things out.] Moises decides to start by inquiring into Mbita's past, asking about the research that Sarapoint Association is conducting, and sharing his own opinions on the current scientific advances. [We'll treat this as a Current Affairs (Science and Technology) roll. I roll against 14 and get 17. That's a critical failure.]
While discussing archaeology, Moises managed to say something of such profound stupidity that Mbita, while remaining polite, told him that he does not believe that Moises can provide any assistance with his level of knowledge and proficiency in the matter at hand. This hurt Moises' pride. [Roll against Overconfidence (12). I get a 16.] So, he suggests Mbita and himself to play a quick quiz where Mbita will be asking archaeology questions. Of course, he also said something insensitive about his height first too. [Let's make another Quick Contest of Diplomacy vs. Will, but this time Moises will be rolling at -4 for critically failing his Current Affairs roll and possibly offending Mbita too. Moises loses by 1.] Mbita tells Moises that this idea is stupid and politely tells him that the meeting is over.
After failing to learn anything, Moises does not give up. He stands in the hallway for a minute or so, thinking about what to do next, and decides to knock on another door, i.e. try talking to another human expedition member. That new person was another male light worlder, but of Latin American ancestry, judging by his appearance. Moises tells him that he is happy to see another human on this planet and asks if they brought any Earth fruit with them. Moises misses human food.
Fate Question: Did they bring any Earth fruit?
Fate Check Modifier: None.
Fate Check Result: No.
Well, that's unfortunate. The plan of buying fruit and offering it as a bribe to the receptionist to find things out will not work now. But maybe there's no need for a bribe? Moises decided to go and talk to the receptionist and try to persuade them into subtly asking Mbita and his expedition about what exactly they are interested in on this planet. [Let's resolve this as an Influence roll using the Diplomacy skill. First, we have to determine the alien receptionist's Will. As usual, let's roll 9+1d. I got 12. Now, we roll a Quick Contest of Diplomacy vs. Will. Moises loses with a margin of failure of 7.] The receptionist either respected the patrons' private business too much, or was aware that Moises has a criminal record and did not trust him. In any case, Moises failed at this task. But he has another way to find things out.
Scene 3
Setup: Moises Ramirez travels to the spaceport to try talking to some maintenance staff or space traffic controllers.
CF: 4 (the previous scene was not in character's control)
Character List: Moises Ramirez, Hoss Baraus (boss), Mbita Omehia (human expedition leader).
Thread List: Find out what exactly the human expedition is planning to do here.
Chaos Roll: Interrupted Scene.
Event Check Focus: Move Towards a Thread
Event Meaning (Action): Inspect News
Event Meaning (Description): Helpfully Dull
[I think this is the first time I havs an Interrupted Scene.] As soon as Moises went outside, he was met by an ofrian journalist with their operator operating a camera drone. They begin talking through the Ofrian-English translation software while gesturing wildly, like all ofrian do. Evidentally, they couldn't distinguish between humans, so they thought Moises to be one of the expedition members, and that the journalist has information about the expedition's goal from some unknown sources.
Detail Check Question: So, what is the human expedition planning to do here?
Detail Check Table Result: Focus Thread
Meaning (Action): Imprison Danger
Meaning (Description): Loyally Ruined
Apparently, Sarapoint Association's expedition was sent to inspect what they believed to be a ruined prison facility. Why they were hiding this fact? Because there's a faint signal that something might still be inside. [Let's roll Acting. The default is IQ-5. I roll against 7 and get 11.] Moises could not maintain the facade for too long, and eventually the frustrated journalist shooed him away, once they understood that Moises is not the right person to talk to. But at least now our hero has completed his first task!
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