More Gun Cards for Serenity:HeroQuest

I’ll take you through the way I have used the cards at my last game to see if that sheds any light. Now I wanted a way to use the more unique weapons and equipment that we have seen in the Firefly setting, Mal has his special pistol, Zoë has her Mare’s Leg rifle and Jayne has his major gun fetish. Also in other Sci-Fi settings there is a focus on the ‘big guns’ that they use. Another problem I had was the weapons are listed on the character sheets but they had no further details about them. Also at points during some of the scenarios the characters are meant to hand over their guns [or try to smuggle them in]; or swap them between themselves, and with seven PCs that gets difficult to keep track of. My solution was to make Gun Cards, the size of credit cards nicely laminated, and hand them out to the players along with their character sheets. The games I run are fairly prop heavy anyway with printed money, Multipass name badges, full colour character sheets, computer screen handouts, and the like.


The M41A Pulse Rifle as seen from Aliens.


The Newtech Assault Rifle as seen from Alien:Resurrection.



As you can see the gun cards have a picture of the weapon, its mass, firing range, rate of fire, number of rounds in the weapon, power source if has one, and other types of projectile. It also has the HeroQuest keyword with rating, three extra abilities and the HP point spend for that weapon. So the players have their own gun cards, each with their own weapons that they can use at anytime. The player of Johner has these weapons or may get these weapons at some point:


Johner’s Gun-in-a-Thermos that he can sneak in anywhere. From Alien:Resurrection.
Johner’s Grenade Launcher. Not accepted at all establishments. From Alien:Resurrection.
The MP5K variant as seen from the Serenity Film.
Johner may get to use this weapon if Elgyn gives it to him in times of need.
This is the gun Johner wants Elgyn to buy him. Elgyn would be a fool to do it!

So as you can see Johner can get tooled up should he be allowed to but for a simple trip to the bar or enter legitimately a high security area he would have to hand over most of these guns. The player would hand the cards to me, the narrator, so would be unable to use any abilities off them. The chances are the player may want to take along his ‘gun-in-a-thermos’ so he would have to use it’s concealed abilities to get past any security sensors.

So Johner tries to get his ‘gun-in-a-thermos’ past the Gun Detectors at the entrance to the Deep Space Research Complex and also past the Watchful Eyes of the gate guards. A difficulty rating of 1M2 in total. Johner’s Player uses Hidden in Thermos Flask 3M2 augmented by Small & Concealable 1M for a +2 off the card and augments with Johner’s Conceal Contraband 10M for another +3 making a total of 8M2. So masteries cancel so it becomes a 8 vs. 1 contest. If Johner had tried to get his Grenade Launcher through it would just be with his Conceal Contraband 10M with a negative augment of –3 from the Grenade Launcher keyword. So it would be a 7 vs. 1M contest, a lot harder!

With Grahams example I would use the Newtech Assault Rifle’s Rapid Fire-Quite Burst 19M augmented by Newtech Targeting Sensors 5M2 for a +5 and the character’s Rifle Trait 9M for another +3. So 7M2 in total versus the three Alien Bugs Skitter Menacingly 15M. Three bugs so a +8 for a total of 3M2 making a 7 vs. 3 contest. Far better than using the 9M Rifle Trait.

Here are some more Gun Cards




As you can see Graham I have changed the 'M' for mastery on the old cards in my other post for the 'Ace of Spades' that fits in more with the Firefly setting!






More will follow!

Accommodation at John Foster Hall for Continuum 2008.

p>0 Continuum 2008. John Foster Hall, Leicester University. UK.
Friday 1st - Monday 4th August 2008.
http://www.continuum.uk.net.

I thought I would go through and mention about the accommodation we have at John Foster Hall for Continuum 2008.
The Conference Facilities Building is centred amongst the new and very modern development that consists of several pavilion style accommodation blocks.
Each pavilion block is four-stories high and each floor contains two flats.
Each flat has four or five single occupancy en suite bedrooms and a shared kitchen and lounge.
This means that a group of five friends can share a flat together as they share the communal space together but also five strangers can occupy a flat as each bedroom has its own key.

The kitchen is fully functional with fridge/freezer, microwave, electric oven, electric kettle, iron, ironing boards, vacuum cleaner, mop and bucket, and a selection of cutlery and crockery. There is also a large kitchen table with five chairs as well as plenty of worktop space for food preparation. A full list of contents will be posted nearer the time of the convention.

Just off the kitchen is the lounge area. The lounge has a large window lets in plenty of daylight. There are five comfy lounge chairs and a small coffee table making this a nice place to relax in. There are ten chairs in total in the kitchen/lounge making it very useful for running games in, you can either be in the lounge or around the table in the kitchen. There is plenty of space to move about, even for those of us who are ‘standard gamer size’!
With each flat having this extra space ideal for gaming this opens up the possibility that more games can be ran during the convention. Just book the time and space with your flatmates first. Advertise your game with pavilion name and flat number and your gamers can arrive at your pavilion and ring your doorbell to be let in. Or just run the game for all your flatmates, whether you know them or not, simple!

You will be issued a set of keys when you register at the main reception desk in the Conference Facilities Building. The main key will open the door to your flat as well as your own bedroom door. The little key will open the post box in the pavilion entrance foyer and the key fob itself will open the main door to the pavilion electronically. The flats are numbered 1 to 8 while the bedrooms in each flat are lettered A to E.

All accommodation will be single occupancy bedrooms with en suite bathroom. You will be issued a set of towels and some basic toiletries but you will need to bring with you your own wash kits, bathrobes and other personal hygiene items. The bathroom will have toilet roll and the single bed will have fresh bed sheets, two pillows with fresh pillowcases and a duvet with bedspread.
There is a desk in your bedroom with built-in drawers, shelves by the window, a desk lamp, mini-kettle with a small selection of tea/coffee condiments, two power sockets, a phone, and an Internet connection. We do not currently have a list of the charges for using the phone or connecting to the Internet as yet.
Next to the desk is a medium-sized wardrobe with space to hang clothes as well as plenty of shelves to store folded clothes or other items.
The en suite bathroom, consisting of toilet, washbasin and shower cubicle, is located as you enter the bedroom. It has its own lockable door and is light and airy.

The good thing about this accommodation is that it is brand new. Very little wear & tear would have happened over the two years that it has been opened and even students will treat things better when they are new!

The front of the Pavilion [accommodation blocks]. Each has a wide path to the doorway and has plenty of lush growth between each of the pavilions. There is also plenty of car parking nearby.


The front door of one the pavilions. The main door is nice and wide for easy access.


Door bells to each of the flats in the pavilion. The key fob on your room keys will open the pavilion door electronically.


The post boxes for the flats. The small key on your room keys will open your flat’s post box.


The entrance foyer of the pavilion. Note the lift for easy access to the higher floors avoiding all those stairs.


The inside of the lift. Plenty of space to get your luggage in and up to your room.


The inside of one of the bedrooms. A single bed with a bedside table unit and light. A set of towels with basic toiletries will be waiting you on arrival.


The desk in one of the bedrooms. There is a desk lamp, a phone, mini-kettle with tea/coffee condiments, an Internet connection, and two power sockets.


The mini-kettle and tea/coffee condiments on the desk. Just bring extra if you drink many a cuppa.


The inside of the wardrobe in the bedroom. Plenty of space for all your clothes [and all those frocks for the freeforms!]


The en suite bathroom with shower. The shower cubicle is large with a modern shower unit.


The kitchen and lounge area in one of the flats. Perfect area to socialise with your fellow flat mates as you cook, clean, iron your clothes or have a drink. This is also big enough to host a game in either at the kitchen table or in the lounge area or both! Just reach over to the fridge to get a cold drink or put the kettle on to make a brew.


The kitchen area of the flats as seen from the lounge area. A nice large kitchen table, with five chairs, to eat your meals from or play some excellent games!


The lounge area as seen from the kitchen. Five comfy chairs with a coffee table in the centre. Ideal for a nice and relaxed game?


The fridge/freezer, microwave, kettle, and electric oven. Plenty of worktop space to prepare your meals and lots of cupboard space for storage.


Everything including the kitchen sink!

Serenity Money, 1 & 10 Cred Notes

This is the Bhutanese 5 ngultrum note.

This is the note I started with before doing my Adobe Photoshop magic on it.
The money from the Firefly series and the Serenity film was based on the 1 and 2 ngultrum notes. They added the golden globes and the Alliance logo in the centre as well as re-colouring the note.


My version of the 1 Cred Note.

First off I cut and pasted the serial numbers out and extended the circle sections in the corners by coping the trim so that the original numbers were hidden.
I re-coloured the 5 ngultrum note I was using and added the features that had been used for the prop money. I went with a very dark red for the 1 cred note and green for the 10 cred note; I was thinking that the 10 Cred note would be used more as the 'basic' currency while the 1 Cred note would be very 'small change' hence the colours.

I used the Alliance logo out of the Serenity film and made up a planet to fill in the centre of the note. Most of the rest of the note is the original Bhutanese, it looked so cool I didn't change it much.

The new numbers were added using the Batman Forever font as that looks very futuristic.

I printed the notes on normal 80g/m2 printer paper. When I cut the notes out I gave them to my grandkids to play with so they got crumpled up nicely!
The texture of the notes feels very authentic now and I even folded some up and kept them in my wallet for a while. I was a little worried though that I might try to spend them by accident!


My version of the 10 Cred Note.