At this point in the game I only had 4 players - Brad: Captain Church, Nigel: Helmsman Gregg, Randy: Dr. Randallia, and his son Oren: Engineer Joseph Oren. All other crew were NPC's.
The players all made their TN checks to remain at station when the first shear hit the ship. The NPC science officer is asked to scan and confirms what hit the ship and that more are coming and they are emanating from Tannos IV itself, he also relates that shields will NOT reduce the effects.
The crew scrambles rolling Investigate & Engineering checks to work out the Gravimetric distortions, they survive a second shear with only minor hull damage from buckling ( i played the sound effect of disruptor hits to simulate hull damage). I then relate to them how the shears are like ocean waves in space and they are sailing directly at them. The Captain and the Navigator get the hint and proceed to ask about other ways to Navigate through. Helmsman Gregg gets the spotlight and rolls a total of 17 to steer the ship into orbit without suffering any more ill effects.
Once in orbit the Captain requests that Engineer Oren set repair crews to work, has Comms attempt to hail Madsen's Hope and he congratulates Helmsman Gregg on an excellent job piloting the ship.
Once it was determined that atmospheric interference was rendering scanner and communication almost useless the Captain decided to beam down. The neutrino beacon was located and locked on to.
The landing party consisted of the Captain, Helmsman Gregg, Dr. Randallia, Engineer Oren, and 1 Red Shirt: Ensign Jones. The party is outfitted with communicators, phasers, a medical tricorder ( the Doctor), and a standard tricorder (Engineer). I did prompt this allocation by asking the Captain player how he would equip his landing party.
Madsen Hope settlement is pictured above. A couple of aquarium plants, two plastic bowls from the $1 store with a few stickers, a clear plastic dome, and two Reaper Bones Starship Generators.
I asked the Captain to place the figures for the Landing Party on the table where he would like them to beam in. (I then played the sound effect of transporter materialization, followed with the space wind sound effect). The party immediately scanned for life signs and found none within range and proceeded to the habitat with the dome on top, after asking if there was a difference between the two. (I changed Madsens Hope to be a Geological Survey Team of 20 members.) The party moved into the main hut and looked about for clues. The Captain ordered Red Shirt Jones to stay on guard outside (perfect!), they found Head Geologist Stewart's bunk and a picture of him and the Doctor from school. Engineer Oren went outside to check the generators so they could have power for the admin computer. The Captain and the Doctor related their concerns about the missing personnel, they and Helmsman Gregg were investigating the old food etc. and determining just how long everyone had been missing.
Outside Oren waved to Red Shirt Jones, then set about getting the generator running, which he did with little difficulty. Oren returned inside with the others and Gregg used his computers skill only to discover the odd damage and Electronics checks were made to recover the records. ( I opted to drop the time-limit suggested in the adventure, and opted for success gets info, failure and "event" happens then give the info.) I had Gregg make a Computer check and Oren make an electronics check to get the records. The info from Records Search page 11, were paraphrased to them as though I were Geologist Stewart making Log entries.
Then the Red shirt screamed!
The party bolted outside phasers drawn, only to discover Jones was gone!?!?! The Captain tried calling the missing security man by communicator, the Dr. did a life signs scan at maximum ranges, while Oren and Gregg searched the other building. The Theta-band radiation was discovered. The Captain then called the ship and had them pinpont Red-Shirt Jones by his communicator. This was a great idea by the player as on page 8 under Eye of the Storm - communicator signals can be locked on to from the ship for Transporter purposes. So within moments the missing man was located then beamed back to the settlement. Much to the horror of the party,(sound effect - dramatic que) the man had suffered severe trauma and needed immediate attention or would die! At this moment the ship called and relayed the fact that a Klingon ship was inbound fighting the shears. ( I changed the ship to Klingon D-5, but used the stats in the adventure). The Captain requested the entire landing party be beamed back up to the Xenophon.
At this point the Father and Son playing the Doctor & Engineer said they really liked the game but wanted to go walk around more and return later, I thanked them for playing and they left. We decided to take 5 and continue the game.
I was feeling really good at this point, the system was working brilliantly, everyone loved the simplicity and commented about how "Original Series" the game feel was.
Upon return from the break we had been joined by a new player. He had chosen to play the Communications Officer - Mr. Ciano. We placed all the figures at their stations on the bridge along with a few NPC's and started the scene with the Captain and helmsman Gregg coming out of the turbo-lift!
Stay tuned for Part 3!
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