The Maps of Interstellar Exports Part II

Last time in The Maps of Interstellar Exports Part I I introduced the Galactic Sub-sector that JADE's Traveller Campaign takes place in, and the systems that my players had visited. This time around I am going to show you a specific system, and the planets within.

Interstellar Exports started in the Orion XII system in 0810. There are dozens of Orion systems littered across the galaxy. Each of these feature a massive Orion Class Space Station. These stations were designed as a rest stop for travellers, as well as a place to refuel, trade etc.

Each Orion Class Station has an interior docking ring for smaller ships, and hold larger ships in an outer orbit. Shuttlecraft are used to ferry patrons to and from the station. Orion Class stations are well policed making them safe harbours.

The lower levels of the Orion class stations are reserved, for Fuel, Cargo, and Customs. Anyone or thing  wishing to enter or leave an Orion Class station must pass through one of the four customs check points.

 

The second level of the Orion Class Station, houses the rooms for rent, as well station security and a couple of shops and stores. The most notable establishment is Screeve's bar, where Elijah's first Traveller character James Hornby drowned his sorrows.

The third level contains the main replimat: a free service provided by the station, using matter replicators to create food. While being a free service, the food is considered quite vile, and there are of course several other restaurants around the station.

 This level also houses, The Station's sick bay, the Interstellar Export's office for the sector, and the bazaar. The Bazaar spans a full quarter of the third level and is mostly open space. Shop keepers can register a stall with station security, but over the years, this became more of a curiosity then a rule.

You can find anything at a Orion Class Station Bazaar. The heavy ship traffic means that the wares change from day to day.

 

For those that wish to take up permanent residency on the Orion Stations, the fourth level features several large suites which are available for sale. The permanent habitat ring is divided from the rest of the station by security doors, which require a thumb print to access them; making it one of the safest place on the station.

In the centre there is another replimat, as well as two finer restaurants. The restaurant on the left is Blarn's Fine Geelosian Eatery, which both Elijah and Dave's Character's James and Dry visited in Interstellar Exports Game 1. Geelosian food is quite strange and expensive, but Dry enjoyed himself. James on the other didn't have the stomach for it.

the Stations Fifth and sixth levels are for station personnel, and station operations. To access these levels you must submit a valid thumb scan.

I put a lot of work into creating the Orion Class stations, and the guys spent two entire game sessions wandering all over the place. I think it was time well spent.

The only planet in the Orion XII system is a gas giant called Jupiter 5. It is fairly unremarkable, but has mining station in orbit. The station extracts valuable chemicals from the atmosphere, which can easily be refined into starship fuel.

And since I can't design every station from scratch, thanks to thegGuys at Mongoose Publishing. This is a mining station floor plan is from their Traveller Supplement 14: Space Stations.

Hope you enjoyed these maps! Next time we will take a look at system 0809, and continue our interstellar tour.

Written by: Andrew Gregory

More 15mm Judges!

I had originally bought 6 judges to represent various armed guards in Interstellar Exports, but I had only painted 4. So I decided to finish these guys up in time for Interstellar Exports Game 6.

Both of these guys are a little more heavily armed then your standard judge. This guy features a grenade launcher with a heavy flak vest and helmet.

Our second guy is just holding a rifle, which adds that many more damage dice in Traveller. I love using the judges for guards, they make for a great scene!

Written by: Andrew Gregory

Skraw the Droyne Merc

At the start of Interstellar Exports Game 6, Dry was looking for gunners to man one of the S.S Hornby's four guns. He was lucky enough to encounter a Droyne named Skraw.

Skraw was once part of the Dryone Warrior cast. He had served as a solider and as a ship's gunner before finally deciding to go into business for himself.

He is quite skilled with his laser rifle, and in the short time that he has been employed by Dry, he already demonstrated his worth.

Definitely a valuable addition to the S.S. Hornby's crew.


Written by: Andrew Gregory

The Spot Check with Battlebards

Don't think your sweeping novella of a tabletop experience can get any more immersive? Well it tickles us greatly to inform you of your sweeping wrongness.

Just what is that magical ingredient that takes a visual story (whether movies, shows, and games) to the next level? Why it's sound! But if you won't take my word for it, then surely you'll listen to the folks behind BattleBards, because really how could you not.

Our fine friends at BB have created something so unique and original that these qualities almost eclipse how cool it is. After successfully kickstarting their realmsound project (insert link), Orange County Game group has leveled up and is releasing BattleBards, a fully integrated database of sound clips, music, and other goodies designed to bring your tabletop campaign to life in ways never before seen.

Battlebards consists of a Soundboard, which allows GMs to quickly and efficiently organize audio clips needed for the session, as well as a mixer through which GMs can compose whole scenes with layered scores and sound effects. The Battlebards Soundboard allows for some quick, on the fly adjustments including track cropping, independent volume control, looping, multiple simultaneous playing of tracks along with the controls you’d expect from any media player. The Mixer will let you create entirely new sounds by being able to layer audio. This means your dream of staging a fully immersive battle for your underwater city of Aquopolis can actually bubble up into reality!

What impresses JADE so much about BattleBards aside from the ingenuity on display is the team behind it. OCGG has their own lineup of Voice Actors and composers, with some notable credits to their names, recording original fantasy audio for your pleasure. The goal is to launch the web-based service with over 500 audio clips, a number only to be continually increased over time.

BattleBards continues the trend of finding unbelievably neat gaming projects on kickstarter, ones which would probably never see the light of day if we didn't live in the glorious era of crowdfunding. Of all the ways to make tabletop RPGs more epic, this might just take the cake. Ask yourself would we have laughed and cried as much with Maximus without Hanz Zimmers ethereal Gladiator score holding our emotions hostage? Would we have feared Darth Vader as much without his deep voice and ominus breathing? And would we have really believed that Roses heart really did go  on without that majestic Celeine Dion number mercilessly drilling that message deep into our craniums? Don't answer that.

BattleBards launched on Kickstarter April 14th


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/battlebards/battlebards-fantasy-audio-for-tabletop-gamers-done

Lets find out more about Orange County Gaming Group.

Form their Facebook page!

1) What's your name and where are you based?

We are Battlebards and we’re based in Southern California


2) What got you into design RPG tools?

We’re not strangers to the use of audio in gaming.  Alex, the resident GM of the group has been heavily using audio in his games for 15 years and after too many sessions being ruined by YouTube ads and the scrambling of files among several media players, the frustration became too much.  So as we got the idea of creating professionally made audio, we also knew that the tools to bring all that audible goodness closer to the GM was mandatory. 


3) Why Sounds?

Bringing high end audio to the gaming table is a natural evolution to the tabletop experience.  The example we love to use when explaining the transformative power of audio at the table is to watch the Star Wars opening crawl without John William’s score in the background.  An even funnier example is this rendition of the Star News A New Hope Ceremony scene at the end, again, without John Williams’ score. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj-GZJhfBmI.  It’s the same way with gaming.  In a game that uses the collective imagination of the GM and players, there’s so much to be said for tools that help dial in everyone’s emotional states.  When the GM has a dramatic or touching scene that’s unfolding and the lingering effects of the most recently joke about Game of Thrones is still floating in everyone’s minds, dropping a score like Dumbledore’s Farewell instantly directs that energy where it needs to be. 


4) What is the biggest challenge you've faced?

Coming up with tracks that most fantasy gamers can agree are needed is always challenging.  We all come from different gaming backgrounds and play styles so even with something that’s relatively a no-brainer like “Elven Language” or “Goblin Monsterscape” carry with it nuances which vary greatly from one gamer to another.  For the Goblin Monsterscape, how high pitched should the voices be?  Are most gamers OK with some sort of language in the background to that track or do many think that screams and yells are more appropriate?  The beauty of Battlebards is that we’re going to be able to cast a much wider net, allowing those tracks that meet with our strict quality standards into the library, each offering a different angle to the piece.


5) What do you have in the works now?

Well right now, the focus is on the Kickstarter.  We’re hoping that we’ll be able to not only get funded but also bring down some stretch goals we can push the envelope of the amount of audio we’re going to be able to offer.  Funding will also allow us to explore an ever greater range of audio needs, from the ‘mainstream’ like a zombie monsterscape to the exotic like a volcano soundscape.  Absolutely crushing the Kickstarter will allow us to develop specific apps and even accelerate expanding into other genres like sci-fi and modern.


6) Fave game?

There’s so much we’re all into but to provide an answer that doesn’t span pages and pages where we point out favorites in PC games, console games, board games, etc.  We can say with confidence that on the tabletop side of things, where we draw our inspiration for this whole quest of ours, our heart lies in D&D 3.5 and more and more, warming up to 5E.


7) Most overrated game?

Mike - As far as tabletop games go I really don’t think that they get the whole dog and pony show that video games get, although D&D 5e WAS number 1 best seller release week.  With that side I’m going to say Destiny.  Let me elaborate, with all the hype this game got I think gamers were expecting this revolutionary next saga experience akin to Halo.  It had the largest budget of any game, I believe, to date at about 500 million and while it looks great I feel that is too short and the enemies are VERY similar.  I think I can safely say we as a collective group expected more on launch day, and I know that supposedly there is a 10 year plan in place on this game with new content coming out regularly, I feel it just falls really short from the tree or even scope of Halo CE.  Not to mention the end game content is just grinding, not a particularly favorable end game and don’t get me wrong this is not the only game to have this issue, Star Wars the Old Republic had similar issues.  I just see this being very DLC heavy and for $99.00 on launch with both planned DLC included for what feels like half a game just very lack luster for something that was supposed to replace the Halo franchise.  Oh not to mention no trading whatsoever.


8) Favourite meme?

Has got to be the one where at the top it says “Dungeons and Dragons: where a 3 mile walk takes 3 seconds and a 3 min fight takes 3 hours”......so true, although 5e IS much more streamlined in this respect.


9) What game character would you be out of any?

Awesome question, one that I don’t think the core team ever asked of itself:

Alex - My favorite characters of all time would be my D&D characters DeadTime and Soul Collector but for examples others can relate to, I’ll go with Kyle Katarn from Star Wars: Dark Forces.

Mike - Jarlaxle or Artemis Enterei


10) Best alignment?

Alex - Neutral Good: Do the greatest good, divorced of other considerations.

Mike - Chaotic Good:  I like having the freedom to do what I want without derailing games.


11) Magic or melee?

Alex – Magic baby!  Open your mind to the possibilities!

Mike - Melee.  Nothing better than getting in there and mixing it up!


12) Old school or new school?

All of us here can agree, leverage the new school advances in rule integration and the use of digital tools but keep the rich tapestry of old school mechanics.


13) Sci-Fi or Fantasy?

Forcing us to choose one or the other is like asking which child you love the most.  We’re sorry, we just can’t answer.  Whether day dreaming as heroes delving the deepest dungeons or X-Wing pilots (TIE pilot for Mike) facing down a capital ship, we hold them both quite dear.


14) Most epic win?

Alex – It’d have to be when I was playing a D&D “sort of Jedi” (SEE!?) which translated into a Psionic Warrior with Vow of Poverty, Sandalphon.  I was notorious for missing fights since it would take me so long to buff myself so one time, the GM said that a fire giant was coming at us from the distance, with whatever time I needed to buff before I engaged.  Well, as a level 7 guy, I finally got to blow all of my powers into making myself a mega glass cannon and when I charged in, I crit’ed with max damage, one-shotting that sucker with a quarterstaff. 

Mike - Hmmmm….my rolls are usually so bad it’s not me that does the winning but getting healed off the ground.  I would have to say the time I talked way out of getting my character’s head chopped off by the “Batman” of the town.


15) In a battle for middle earth where would you be?

Alex – Everywhere.  The wandering wizard keeping the kingdoms of men together will always be needed.  And if expunging curses from kings isn’t enough to unite them, than a bolt of lightning should do the trick!

Mike - Can I be a ring wraith?


Thanks Battlebards! Great to see your new product, all the best in the future, and as always Happy Gaming!

Written by: Jeff Clive

The Campaign Creator

So you have all of your rulebooks, your players lined up, and a sweet idea for an tabletop RPG adventure. Now for the hard part: writing it.

Now there are many different ways to go about writing your campaign, but there aren't a lot of tools out there to actually help you write it. Sure you can find of things to help you design a dungeon, or even a tile based setting to guide your characters through every 5 feet of adventure, but there is nothing to just help you write and organize your fantasy world, from top to bottom

So a few months ago JADE teamed up with gbgsoft to create a software suite capable of handling the unique needs of creating an RPG campaign that a note pad simply can't handle.

Campaign Creator

To get started we analysed how we at JADE Gaming create our own campaigns. At JADE we like to think of our RPG games as modules in and of themselves, complete with chapters, different maps, locations, and varying levels of world detail. After talking it over with the guys I also discovered that we all built our campaigns in roughly the same way. We would create a list of locations, and sub-locations and add our notes for the area under each heading.

This would create a sort of "Literary Map" of each area in game. However, most of us also took the time draw out maps of many, if not all, of the locations that our players could visit.

Now, I understand the argument that GM's spend way too much time on maps. And frankly there is some truth to that, but I always find that they helped me run a game. Having a map means I can worry about story and motivation and less about where my players are going to end up when they go off the beaten path.

The problem with using maps is that it is difficult to effectively combined them with your notes in a meaningful way,. That is, beyond creating a legend and what is essentially a giant look-up table, which of course means a lot of flipping back and forth while hosting the game.

Taking all of these ideas we created the Campaign Creator, an open system that will let a GM manage their campaign worlds in as much detail as possible.

Above we have the beta version of Campaign Creator. This is the title screen where you can create and edit your various campaigns. From you here can also Import and Export other campaigns, so you can share them with your friends. Right now I've selected JADE's Impossible Campaign. Every campaign you create gets a Top map and an optional Cover Image. Here we are displaying The Impossible Campaign's Cover Image which contains the Ptolemaic Sphere of Rin.

The top map for your campaign should always be the largest setting. In the case of the Impossible Campaign my largest setting is the world of Rin so that is my top map. Now it doesn't matter what image you use or how good it looks, so long as the image is meaningful to the layout of your campaign. The only thing you need to add a is an image file.

Once your top map is in place, you can start writing. Every map can be labelled by right clicking and creating a new object. Each object adds a numbered icon to the map, and an entry in the table of contents. This way you can keep track of each of your locations.

Further you can double click on any entry in your table of contents to open up note pad associated with that area. This note pad has full text editing, and even the ability to paste images, to help you keep track of what is happening where.

Buttons!

For those notes that don't quite fit in a location, each map also has these three general buttons which are from left to right; Notes, Monster and Characters.  In here you can store you introductory pre-amble, the notes for the monsters you created and any information that the players need to know to be a character in your game.

When you have finished writing everything at that level, you can then right click on your map list on the left hand side and add a sub-map to any map. A Sub-Map can be anything from an interior to a zoom in. In the case of the Impossible Campaign my first sup map is the Country of South Ateland which borders the nefarious Black Mountains.

More Buttons

One of the ultimate goals of campaign creator is be bale to connect with the phone app RPG player which is currently in development. by selected the World button you are able to add in triggers. Triggers are files that you can send to the RPG player program, and can be anything from images to video. The Button with a mini Ptolmeiac sphere of Rin, activates game mode, which will let you invite players using RPG player, giving you a HUD of their stats, as well as tools to help smooth out your combat.

Right now we are ready start seeing what the gaming community thinks. We need Beta Testers to start setting up their campaigns in Campaign Creator and help us find bugs!

We currently support Windows, Mac and Linux! Which are available here:

https://jade-gaming.myshopify.com/

If you are interested in becoming a Beta tester for Campaign Creator please send me an email at jadegamingnews@gmail.com and I will let give you the info you need to get started!

Written by: Andrew Gregory

The Maps of Interstellar Exports Part I

Since I am the one hosting JADE's Traveller Campaign: Interstellar Exports, I took the time to sit down and throw together a whole bunch of maps for the game. Personally I really like using maps in my campaigns. I find they help me figure out the setting and really create a believable scene for my players to interact with.

So since the first chapter of Interstellar Exports takes place in a galactic sub-sector I knew I would need a lot of maps to cover all of the possible ground that my players could cover. My first step was to map out my Galactic Sub-Sector. I needed to know where my players could end up, in advance, so that they (and myself) could plan for their adventures.

Using the Sub-Sector Hex Grid provided in the back of the Traveller Core Rulebook, I scanned it, reversed the colours in GIMP, and added a couple stars with an air brush. I then set to creating my Sub-Sector using the solid white dots to mark the systems, and connected them all using different colour lines that represent standard shipping lanes. The Blue lines are the Transgalatic Highway. It was constructed by the Interstellar Union before its collapse, the highway is now maintained by the IU predecessor the Galactic Council. The Yellow lines are part of the Outer Rim Shipping Lanes: a local mining consortium. The Green lines are Local shipping lanes that lead to the more travelled back-water worlds. And finally, the Red lines are Galactic Council military channels.

With the sector designed, the next step was to design a few systems for my players to visit. Around that time I was playing a clone of the old DOS game Star Control II, and was pretty inspired by how simply they threw together star systems. SO with that in mind I began creating.

Orion XII System

Our game began in system 0810: The Orion XII System. Any system with the "Orion" designation is a sort of interstellar truck stop. A place where travellers can stop, refuel, make deals, find work etc. The Orion Class Space stations are a little run down after their almost century of operation, but they are usually a welcome sight for travellers looking for a change after a dreary week in hyperspace.

Kelnas System

After spending two games on the Orion XII station, The group was finally ready to start exploring the galaxy and set their sights on the nearest star: System 0809, the Kelnas System. The Kelnas System had a number of interesting planets, but after visiting the junk yard orbiting the 6th planet, they were forced to make an unplotted jump sending them hurling into the sub-sector.

From there the game split in two, as the group gained another ship and another series of mis-jumps set them in opposite directions.

Voodar System

After getting back to the Trans-Galactic Highway, Dave's character Dry found himself in System 0708: The Voodar System. The Voodar system was fairly unremarkable containing only one populated planet, but Dry found it a useful place to refuel his new ship and gain a new crew member. He also left one of his injured crew members there with the promise of returning for him.

Galactic Parsec System 0506

Jeff's character Caesar on the other hand was not so lucky and found himself in what was registered as an empty parsec of space.  As it turned out the system was not so empty, and containing an asteroid field drifting in open space. Buried deep inside one of the asteroids, Elijah's character's people the Slugulons had built a refuelling. It was just the break that Caesar needed.

Mycra System

In the soon to be posted Interstellar Exports Game 6 the party is finally re-united in system 0506: The Mycra System. There they ended up on the massive orbital space station that surrounds the entire the planet. Game 6 was full of mishaps, which you will be able to read about soon!

Next time we will take a closer look at some of the locations that crew has visited, from planets to space stations, and continue exploring the world of Interstellar Exports.

Written by: Andrew Gregory

How to Win Your Fiancée with Magic Cards

Get the special geek in your life to say yes!

Even before my partner Kaila and I began dating, I had introduced her to magic cards. Right away she enjoyed the game, and as we spent more time together and our relationship grew, she came to love it even more.

Well, after dating for almost 10 years, I finally popped the question. But of course being part of JADE gaming, I had to do it in style. I decided about a year or two ago that I was going to make custom Magic Cards that Spell out "Kaila Will You Marry Me?" in their titles and figure out some method of delivery.

Now, I didn't want these cards to be dummy cards, I wanted them to be actually usable cards: I thought it would add to the "magic" of them.

So I spent the next couple of months figuring out what each card would do. That was the easy part. The hard part was finding the art for them. I am not much of an artist, so I opted to use photos and a couple of things from the internet to represent the more abstract words in the sentence.

And here they are:

First Card.

Kaila's favourite colour in magic is Green. So I made her a green creature, that produces 1/1 quilt creatures, to show her love of quilting.

Second Card

"Will" was a little more abstracted, so I just googled will and took an image. Kaila likes removing things from the board and life gain, so this card does both.

Third Card

Kaila is a huge Doctor Who fan, so I had to include at least one image of the doctor and her favourite Doctor Who Icon the Tardis. Of course being a card about Doctor Who it had to have some time based effects.

Fourth Card

Like "Will", "Marry" was also a little abstract, so I played around with the rules and used a google image. Went for a little romantic image there (and cheese).

Fifth Card

For "Me" I used Kaila's favourite picture of me that we took on our trip to Chicago a few years ago. I thought it was a fitting face for a Horror.

Sixth Card

Perhaps Kaila's favourite card, (and mine to) is a bit of whimsy, that let me include an artifact in the set, and give her all 6 of the card colours.

With my cards created I was ready to ask!

Excited!

I had planned to work them into a deck and then smoothly pull them out during game, but I couldn't get the combo to go off reliably enough, and I didn't want to spoil it. So in the end i just gave them to her.

Even though we had been together a really long time, and we had even picked out the ring together, I was still really nervous. What if she thought it dumb?

My face.

She loved it! And she said yes!

I love you Kaila Wilfert and I am looking forward to spending the rest of our lives together!

Written by: Andrew Gregory

Battlefleet Gothic Infidel Class Raiders

I snagged these two Infidel Class Raiders from Games Workshop's Battlefleet Gothic, off of Ebay. Frankly I got them because I like have the actual minis rather than my 3D printed facsimiles.

The Infidel Class Raiders, are the standard Chaos escort. They each feature a weapons battery and forward torpedoes, which of course means they can be quite effective in a cluster.

Since I only have two of them, I will never get to see them at their most effective. But they are okay.


Written by: Andrew Gregory

Magic the Gathering: Invasion Block

Symbol of the Coalition and the Invasion Block

I have been playing Magic the Gathering casually for 15 years. Most of my decks do not follow any rule set and are just good fun, exploring and often exploiting interesting rules. However, 15 years is a really long time, and a year or two ago I finally got bored of simply waiting to see whose broken deck got their mega-combo off first. So I started looking into different ways to play the game, and different ways to limit deck building.

After searching through the various types of deck building (and seriously considering playing Commander), I decided to give Block Construction a try. For those of you who do not know, Block Construction is a style of deck building that only uses cards from an expansion block or set.

The first block I decided to explore was the Invasion Block. This was partially because it was the was current when I started playing, and because I did some research and discovered that invasion block works well in this format.

The Invasion Block has a lot of cards that effected by controlling many different colours of mana. This means that when using a 5 coloured deck, these cards can become incredibly powerful. However since most modern decks don't feature more than 2-3 colours, a lot of invasion cards end up gathering dust in the binder.

However, when building Block Constructed Decks, the games are actually balanced enough to use those rules and combos that never made it out of the block. The Trick of course to making Invasion Block decks, is to add as many colours as you can!

So here is my favourite Invasion deck I made, it is called Coalition:

Thank you MTG Vault for deck building tool!

Coalition is my five coloured deck, and frankly it is a bit exhibitionist. I am using a lot of the cards that are effected by different colours, just to see how they work, and to show people unfamiliar with the invasion block what it is all about.

What really makes the five colour combo in Coalition work are Elfhame Sanctuary, and Pulse of the Llanowar. These two cards will let you get the colours of land you need out quickly, and will let you play just about anything of any colour from your hand.

great cards!

From there, it is simply a matter of getting the rest of your land out. Just about any card in this deck gets pumped up by the number of different coloured lands on the board, so just stay the course and build up! The one precaution I included are the 2 Skyship Weatherlights.

looks so cool!

This will let you pull some of the larger cards into a pool which you can draw from to guarantee a good card.

Nice and simply, using a lot of fun rules and all five colours, it is what the Invasion block is all about!

In closing, I highly recommend giving block construction a try! It will let you really explore all the cards within in a block and it creates a unique challenge of creating a deck with such a small card pool to work with.

If you are uncertain of which block to start with, I would recommend Invasion. Its strange cards make for some wonderful combos and great game play! But if that doesn't suit you, then pick your first magic block and go from there.

Written by: Andrew Gregory

P.S. My decks are always a work in progress. So, if you have any suggestions or tips about improving this deck, I would be happy to hear them!