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 Post subject: A safari...
 Post Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2014 11:53 pm 
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The Imperial Big Game Commission is pleased to present a new world open for your hunting pleasure! Sign up today for the thrill of bagging the local animals, some noted for giving marvelous sport! The adventure of a lifetime can be YOURS!

You? You're a citizen of the Galactic Empire. The only limits are that you are a civilian, not human (nobody has ever heard of them), and that you are not ex-military (they have their own hunting worlds). Oh, and species that are effectively unkillable just don't find hunting very enjoyable; so some moderation please. All equipment provided, so there's no need to worry about packing your microwave scale cleaners or 43 bottles of holy Zgnerch; just come as you are.

The world itself is comfortable enough, in a 'water is usually a liquid and oxygen is the local oxidizer' way; so plan accordingly. And any malicious rumors that the world might be inhabited are to be reported to the IBGC investigators at once...

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 Post subject: Re: A safari...
 Post Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2014 6:21 pm 
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Ok, sounds interesting. Anything in particular we need to do for character creation?

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 Post subject: Re: A safari...
 Post Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2014 9:45 pm 
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Well, first you have to come up with an alien race; then you come up with an individual of that race with a taste for blood sports and the ability to bear arms (possibly even armed bears). For the race, almost anything goes; though in a Star Wars sort of more-or-less evenly powerful races milieu. Tool use should be the primary means of fighting, not an afterthought or a handicap. An intelligent shrub? Fine. A mostly land bound avian? Great. A race of lizard people or gnolls? No problem.

As for the individual, well, they're civilians in a galactic empire. They usually have day jobs of some kind, for certain values of 'day' and 'job'. Those jobs might entail some useful skills for a hunter, or they might not. Again, think of it as a Star Wars high, but not ultra tech milieu...most jobs are still fairly recognizable to someone from 20th century earth, at least in broad strokes. A cop of some kind, a bean counter, a servant of some kind, a file jockey, an eatery owner, a playentity...any of these will do. Wealthy characters or poor ones; if they can afford the very reasonable IBGC safari price, then they'll all get the same first class service and have access to the same high quality equipment. They have the Imperial Big Game Commissions' word on that! Why, even the Emperor's own eldest male child went on one of these safaris; and everyone will get the same treatment he got!*

But in nuts and bolts terms, things are fairly simple. Your character will have several stats: Strength, Endurance, Agility, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Grit (mental toughness). Each of these is one a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being just about hopeless and 10 being nigh on legendary. Choose them with your race in mind; a 15 pound intelligent lemur is not going to have a very high strength, but will probably be quite agile (especially if they still like to live in trees). A race of hobbits would have rather more grit than a race of Yorkies. And so on. One note; anyone with a total score over 42 would have been immediately recruited into Imperial service (and therefore going on safari elsewhere), and anyone with a total under 18 must really love their character idea.



*Absent the detachment of Imperial Marines who served as his bodyguard, of course.

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 Post subject: Re: A safari...
 Post Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 4:59 am 
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Hmmm... I think I have an idea what sort of creature to play here.

Vikkhtimakt of the Kif; a tall, thin, dark-skinned race, originally native to planet around the back of beyond somewhere, now found in small numbers on almost any inhabited world. The Kif have an almost species-wide attitude of "if you don't get caught, you did nothing wrong" (and are roundly despised for it on almost any civilised world); it is a rare Kif indeed who will refrain from theft (or anything else, up to and including murder) if he believes he can both gain some advantage and get away with it. Kif are not merely mindless killers; they will generally refrain from wanton destruction, and will rather work continuously to try to gain their own advantage. (Mind you, if someone's willing to pay to have someone killed, then claiming the payment would count as a suitable advantage...)

Physically, Kif are slightly taller than average. They tend to wear hooded black robes that disguise their identity, and are almost always armed (generally with some combination of knives and pistols). They have the standard two arms and two legs, and sharp non-retractable claws. They can move extremely quickly when they want to and have reasonably good ears, but suffer from the disadvantage of near-total colourblindness (they can pretty much differentiate between light, dark, and blood-red). They have a slight but noticeable odour, smelling somewhat of ammonia. They are strictly carnivorous, subsisting entirely on animal matter; they generally eat in private, though. (This is mainly because they are disgusted at the sight of other races eating carrion - which they define as any meat that wasn't still moving at the start of the meal. To be fair, some other races are equally disgusted at the Kifish habit of eating still-living creatures; including, according to persistent rumour, other sentients).

Kif also hate being on the losing side in any conflict; to the point where, should they find themselves in that unfortunate circumstance, most of them (any who don't expect to be immediately killed by the opposing side) will usually promptly switch sides and serve their new masters with exactly as much loyalty as they served their old. As a result, Kifish leaders (known as hakkikts) tend to specialise in claiming to be far more powerful than they really are (largely in the hope of undermining any rival leader).

Vakkhtimakt himself is a fairly typical example of the breed. He's officially between jobs for the moment, after his previous employer (a large shopping conglomerate) caught him not only stealing from the till, but also framing his fellow employees for the continual losses. Unofficially, he works as an enforcer and assassin for a mob boss. He comes with his own guns and knives (some of which have sentimental value) but will no doubt select his pick of the somewhat superior IBGC equipment. When fighting, he prefers to stand a good distance away from the action and shoot his opponent in such a way as to kill as quickly as possible. If forced into melee, his strategy doesn't change much; he tries not to get hit while attempting to shoot his opponent, generally in the head. His first priority is always to kill whichever enemy would otherwise have the greatest chance of killing him and his second priority is to kill whichever enemy is most threatening to any allies he may currently have.

Strength: 4
Endurance: 4
Agility: 10
Dexterity: 9
Intelligence: 6
Grit: 3

(I'm assuming that, for each score, 5 is approximately the human average, despite 'humans' being unknown except possibly as fiction. If that assumption is wrong, I may need to adjust those scores slightly)

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 Post subject: Re: A safari...
 Post Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2014 7:55 pm 
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Given the general description of that race, he's probably not going to have much luck bringing down his own guns unless they're strictly holdout types and well hidden. They're serious about using IBGC equipment on safari; too many folks think hunting by orbital strike or with heavy anti-armor weapons is 'fun' for them to loosen up much on that. They won't object to knives, though.

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 Post subject: Re: A safari...
 Post Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2014 11:32 pm 
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Going around unarmed is slightly less socially acceptable among the Kif than going around naked. He'll be quite willing to hand over his own guns, as long as he can get his hands on the IBGC equipment first.

If they try to disarm him first, he'll try to keep a holdout hidden, mainly in order to never be entirely gunless.

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 Post subject: Re: A safari...
 Post Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 1:14 pm 
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Makara is from a planet called Xualla, a small planet somewhere in the general area of Betelgeuse.

Xuallan's are a race that are basically left to themselves, and not a lot is know about them. They are rarely, if ever, seen on other planets, though this is usually because they don't want to be seen, as well as the fact that when not on their home planet, Xuallans tend to wear comfortable, if close fitting, clothing that covers their entire body, complete with large hoods and gloves, even if the gloves tend to give way to things like claws. This covering may be attributed to the fact that they start out with elfin features, with blue-white skin and completely black eyes and hair, to slowly turning into vaguely humanoid blue bug creatures as they get older.

But, as mentioned, people really don't know what they look like or their abilities, as the atmosphere interferes with all tried recording devices (especially when the atmosphere in question is made up of a older Xuallan's claws) and any visitors, mainly explorers, who venture past the one trade port on the planet tend to come back completely mute on their experiences, if at all.

Makara is the daughter of the Xuallan 'ambassador' to the trade port on her home planet, and is on this particular trip because of a trader who graciously gave up his spot for the good 'ambassador'. It should be noted that, even though as far as the Empire is concerned Xuallans don't have weaponry past knives or swords, when the trader tried to dissuade her father by saying that Makara would need weapons training, Makara did unexpectedly well in the firing range. She keeps to herself,and people are willing to leave her alone, possible due to the large knife strapped to her back.

Strength: 6
Endurance: 7
Agility: 6
Dexterity: 7
Intelligence: 8
Grit: 6

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 Post subject: Re: A safari...
 Post Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2014 7:53 pm 
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So, Makara and Vikkhtimakt ponied up their thousand credits and flew off the the new safari planet. They disembark to the station set up on the sole moon of this particular world (large enough for reasonable gravity, but no meaningful air); and come out into an arrival lounge which is large, airy, and apparently completely unconnected to the departure lounge. No one is waiting to board that they can see. There is, however, a large banner saying 'Welcome to Dirt!'; and a blue and furry triped waiting patiently, with a sign in several common languages, saying 'Please follow me to the welcome briefing'. In other standard languages it says something closer to 'Submit, vile one, to the attentions of your superiors!'. There's also a glyph which is usually only used in religious ceremonies in certain out-of-the-way places, but that's probably a misprint.

Oh, and in passing; Makara has 19 hit points, Vikkhtimakt has 18. Uninformed rumor has it that they also have luck scores; but luck is such a variable and elusive thing that it probably changes from hunt to hunt.

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 Post subject: Re: A safari...
 Post Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 1:08 am 
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In deference to the sensibilities of most other sentients, Vikkhtimakt's weapons are not immediately visible, though there are a number of bulges beneath his dark, hooded cloak. He glances around briefly to see whether his luggage (mainly, a cage full of chittering rat-like creatures that are a staple Kifish food source, and a few spare robes) can be seen.

...it would not be the first time that his lunch has been delayed in quarantine.

The Kifish line on the sign translates to "Submit, vile one*, to the attentions of your superiors**!" Vikkhtimakt clicks his teeth together, and nods; it's a fairly standard Kifish greeting. "And where is my superior, that I may properly submit to its attention?" he asks the tripod.

--------------

*Skkukuk, or "low-ranking slave".
**Hakkikt, or "leader". Not as high-ranking as mekt-hakkikt, or "supreme leader"; anyone claiming to be mekt-hakkikt is assumed to either be the Emperor, in person, or to be currently in the process of attempting a coup.

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 Post subject: Re: A safari...
 Post Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 2:07 pm 
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Makara is fully covered, everything from her hood up to the sleeve of one hand rolled all the way out to completely cover her hand.

She stays slightly behind and to the side of Vikkhtimakt seemingly unintentionally, but intentions are sorta hard to figure out when you can't see any normal social cues. She'd also taken in her surroundings fairly quickly, turning to the triped expectantly when Vikkhtimakt had asked his question, before her neck(?) contorted painfully to a series of crackles.

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 Post subject: Re: A safari...
 Post Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2014 10:57 pm 
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The six(?) limbed being points towards a door. "Follow me, hunter."

Leading the various arrivals down a short corridor, it steps through an archway into a moderately large circular room. The room is dominated by a large tri-dee screen with various kinds of seating and standing arrangements before it. Around the sides of the room are various standard food dispensing machines. "Select something to eat or drink, or don't; the introduction show starts in five minutes. Any questions, hunters?"

One of the others asks "Do we have to pay for this?" The triped replies "No, the show is free. Sustenance, should you partake, is for sale; but the first five credits worth is on the house. Any other questions?"

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 Post subject: Re: A safari...
 Post Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2014 12:54 am 
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"Kkkkkkkkkt." mutters Vikkhtimakt, quietly. He glances around the room once, cataloguing exits, estimating the threat levels posed by the other hunters (low, since none have immediate apparent reason to attack), and finally looks over the food machines. He slips past the hunters to get to a specific dispenser, and dials up exactly five credits worth of freshly synthesised artificial blood.

Free food is, after all, free food.

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 Post subject: Re: A safari...
 Post Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2014 2:01 am 
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Makara walks over to the back of the room and slouches down in one of the seats there in a way that unnerves most anything with a spine. Things just shouldn't bend that way.

Anyone who tries to sit next to her is stared at till they move. For some reason, the absence of...well, anything, is unnerving.

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