Intermediación financiera

executing raids or strikes, assessing the dangers of any landfall, making discoveries away from the fleet, enforcing the supremacy of the Colonial Fleet command, or even investigating crimes and threats within the fleet. Other scenes worth role playing include blowing off steam in the pilot’s lounge, butting heads with comrades or civilians, standard duties like in-fleet escort or ferrying dignitaries that go SNAFU, and the like.

Military personnel may be drawn into civilian struggles at times or face individual moral decisions. That’s the exception; clearly directed action is the rule.

Ci v i l i a n

Characters in a civilian campaign are the non- military members of the fleet. They come from any walk of life, thrown together by horrific events. They bring talents and abilities that may be used in new ways in the fleet. Former police officers or private investigators might be “volunteered” to investigate crimes within the fleet. Medical personnel undoubtedly are drafted into tending to the survivors, usually with an emphasis on military casualties. Politicians or bureaucrats could become leaders of ships, members of the Quorum of Twelve, even the President.

A military campaign relied on action for its typical adventure; civilian campaigns run into violence less often. Adventures focus on the problems, tensions, and strains of the survivors. Civilian player characters must deal with these troubles, help the people, defuse tension, and keep the darkness and chaos from overwhelming all. Outwitting or outmaneuvering their opponents is their kind of battle.

Possible adventures vary depending on the civilian characters chosen, but here are some ideas. A group that brought their ship to the fleet focuses first on their own survival and that of their ship. They may need to obey Colonial Fleet commands at times, but they assert their own authority otherwise. The type of ship can spawn further adventures—a pleasure ship attracts all manner of people; a military or support ship (even obsolete) would be commandeered from time to time; a transport ship might contain scare resources, a manufacturing ship needs resources, a corporate yacht with advanced technology might be dragooned into special missions; a passenger liner sports a workforce and citizenry, creating labor, government, economic, and mass psychology

issues.

mi x i n G iT uP

Campaign approaches and styles need not be mutually exclusive. The Galactica can reach back to the Colonies to pursue mystic goals or to rescue more people. An emergency landing could uncover resistance fighters. Other surviving fleets can be encountered. Some known characters can be mixed with new personalities in the campaign. Events and elements from the show can be played out, while new developments spice the mix. A military-oriented arc can be played out, then a series of civilian issues.

Mixing it up allows the players to enjoy different adventures with the same characters. Survivors on Caprica may be drawn into a religious mystery, then battle Cylons before being rescued and joining the fleet.

You can go even further by introducing flavors from other genres. If the Cylons introduce a zombie- making disease, you’ve got the makings of a horror twist to the campaign. If dark powers are discovered in the desperate religious quest, you’ve heightened the supernatural. A healthy dose of noir investigation might go well in the dark atmosphere of the fleet.

You could stick closer to basic premises but drop the characters into a little explored corner. Maybe they are military police, investigating and trying to prevent crimes in the fleet. Journalists and gumshoes have good reason to stick their nose in all sorts of situations, especially with so many mysteries to be solved. A group of priests might end up leading the search for religious clues and the way to Earth.

Another tool that enhances mixed approaches and styles is for each player to create more than one character. A player’s primary character might be a political operative, but he could also create a Viper pilot for use in space battles with the Cylons. Another person might focus on their doctor/scientist unraveling the mysteries of the Cylons, but take time out to play a member of the CIC staff of Galactica for a military story arc. This causes some complexity and makes it a bit harder for you to plan, unless you dictate which character is played when. Still, for the right group, it can expand the game dramatically.

Designing

Adventures

Adventures are created by outlining a plot or plots, and then adding characters, complications, interesting places, and situations. Adventures are made up of “events.” You assemble events like a puzzle to enhance the challenge and carry the plot forward. You create pieces of the puzzle until you know how the story might play out, the folks the characters

Game Master

are likely to meet, and how the action might flow. Remember, you are sketching out possible adventure paths, not predetermining every action or decision. Your adventures must be flexible enough to give the players a say in their direction. You will end up tossing out some pieces; others will take on more importance than you expected. As long as you don’t force scenes on the players, they shouldn’t ignore the general

path of the adventure. It’s cooperative story-telling,

mixing free will with prepared plots. Save all the pieces you’ve created, even if you don’t use them. You never know when an idea, scene, nonplayer character, or description will come in handy in a later adventure.

One of the best ways to start the game quickly is to drop a player character into the middle of action: escaping the Colonies when the Cylons arrive, driving off a raid until the fleet is ready to jump, or settling a dispute between two mobs of survivors. High tension with minimum background leaves the players scrambling to catch up. Explanations come later, now they need to act. Starting things off this way avoids a lull at the beginning as the group sits around deciding where to go and what action to take. The overall adventure may be related to the starting action, or the opening sequence could simply set a mood, establishing your primary subtext.

If the characters don’t all know each other, you can start with the event that first connected them. Take advantage of the tendency for people to bond in the face of imminent threat or peril. A group of strangers may run to the nearest ship to escape, only to discover that they are unlikely companions for the rest of the journey.

Make sure when you start the players in the middle of the fun that they are properly motivated and understand what options they have. Civilian survivors won’t be flying Vipers to dogfight Cylons. They might deal with a Cylon attack in their own ways (doctor helping the injured, tech helping to repair their ship’s FTL drive, marines defending against a Cylon boarding squad).

Starting things in the middle of the action is best at the beginning of a campaign or session. It gets players involved quickly and the plots started. As the adventures continue, the players become more involved in what happens next. Again, it’s a shared story unfolding here.

ad v e nT u r e Co n C e P Ts

Thinking of new adventure ideas can be a bear. But anything and everything can happen to the fleet. Here are a few ideas.

New Familiar Thing: Take the basic premise of a BSG TV episode and muck with it. Many of the most logical and exciting topics have already been covered in the series. Don’t give up on those ideas, just make them your own. Start with the premise that something has caused most of the fleet’s water (or food, or fuel) supply to be lost. It could be Cylon sabotage, a political statement, or a simple accident either in storage or inventory. The player characters might discover that various groups have been stealing the supplies for some unknown reason. In solving the mystery, you need to consider what the fleet will do to rectify the situation. What options exist and what other problems do they create? The adventure follows the discovery of the loss as you create related NPCs, relationships, and the actions the PCs must take to solve the problem.

Murder Mystery: Start with a body and find the killer. The obvious suspect no doubt is the wrong one (or is he?). “Sure I wished he were dead, but I didn’t kill him!” A few twists scatter the player characters to different parts of the fleet in their investigation. To avoid impasses where the players just aren’t putting the clues together, remember that many famous investigators succeed simply by stirring up trouble, and hoping they survive long enough to get to the bottom of things.

Natural Hazard: Even in space—especially in space— Mother Nature can take a pot shot at you. Uncharted asteroids post-jump could cause tremendous damage and necessitate emergency operations. What if a random spark causes an explosion in the fuel ship? Is anyone trapped in a section of a ship with limited air supply? Are damaged ships drifting without power, ready to be pulverized by a piece of space debris? Brave souls are needed to reach the ship with critical parts. Can the maneuver drives be repaired in time? Might be a good idea to have a couple Viper pilots nearby to destroy smaller projectiles coming the ships way.

Disease in the Fleet: When folks are crammed together for months, disease is a near certainty. The outbreak can be as devastating as you like, perhaps even threatening people on every ship. Like any disaster, consider how the player character can contain it. Jumping back to Caprica to get serum, or to snatch the tech to make the cure, might be necessary. Scientists and doctors work feverishly to diagnose the disease and find a cure. Someone with a Cylon connection might be offered a serum...in exchange for a small favor. Did the Cylons bring the disease to the fleet for just this purpose?

An Issue Heats Up: Think of a policy or law being enforced in the fleet. Consider who

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might oppose that rule. Create an incident that brings the law into focus, debate, or worse. For instance, what if policies were put into place encouraging or even mandating women to get pregnant. Just raising such a policy would provoke a firestorm, protests, and a political crisis, no matter how necessary it might be.

Cylons Appear: From a single Cylon raider on recon to the Cylon fleet trying to catch Galactica in a vulnerable position, toasters cause trouble. If one or more fleet ships had problems with their FTL drives, Galactica might have to remain behind to protect them until repairs were made. The Cylons might attack indirectly, or use some kind of disguise. A captured Colonial ship, like a Raptor, could be used to deliver a bomb, to land Cylon agents among Caprican survivors, or to strike Colonial One with a Centurion assault squad.

Opportunity Knocks: A source of fuel, water, supplies, people, technology, or clues is found. But getting at it is risky. Does the fleet go for it? Who will be sent to make it happen?

ad v e nT u r e sT r u C T u r e

An adventure is a segment of a campaign that presents a problem or opportunity that must be dealt with, and is resolved, in short order. The plotline could last more than one gaming session, but it rarely goes longer than a month or so of real time. A group that meets weekly might have more involved adventures; a gang that games monthly should wrap up in one or two sessions. If you devise a more extended storyline, it becomes a campaign level plot. It should be broken down into smaller chunks; a game is more exciting if the players have chances for interim victories or resolutions.

Some adventures are self-contained, having nothing to do with the grand campaign plots. They might examine a microcosm of the fleet in detail. Perhaps the characters were looking for some relaxation on Cloud 9 and they get pulled into a hostage standoff. Some campaigns are a continuing stream of these one-off stories, tied together only loosely or not at all. Others weave all the adventures into an intricate arc. Most combine the two.

While everyone’s stories are unique, understanding some basic principles of story structure is useful. The following elements play important roles. Being aware of them will help you orchestrate your group’s adventures.