Transit

Setting a Bearing
Before casting off, the ship must set its bearing to an agreed destination. This requires a meeting of the Bearing Council, which consists of the captain and their officers.

The Bearing Council acts as a microcosm of a Captain’s authority on their ship. Yes, the Captain has the power to assign, dismiss, reward, and reprimand their officers, but the ship’s destination is always subject to a vote. Even the Captain is just one vote, with ties broken by the Commander-at-the-Helm.

Captains technically have a veto, but using it is a surefire way to incur a mutiny.

Not every officer really cares where the ship is headed, so they’ll throw their support behind another in return for a promised favour.

Duties
There’s nothing worse than idle crew, so every Officers begin a transit meeting with their Heads and assigning duties, most being self-sufficient enough to continue their ongoing responsibilities. The Heads then delegate to their Hands accordingly.

Reprimands
Whether for a dereliction of duty, misbehaviour at port, or general insubordination, punishments are usually administered during transit. The most common are:

1. Night Labour - You’re given sleep suppressants and forced to work through the nights.
2. Beating - Good old fashioned violence.
3. Public Rebuke - A stern talking down in front of, and involving, your peers.
4. The Grey Cell - A sensory void, where even a few days can feel like a life sentence.
5. Demotion - There’s always a lower rank you can be bumped down to.
6. Debugging - Your mind is at the mercy of the Peoples Executive and their corrective methods.

Traditions

• Any brand new crew members are welcomed to the bridge for casting off from port.
• Officers have the first meal of a transit with their Heads.
• Stowaways are not punished the first time, but punished harshly if caught a second time.
• The Ship’s Song is sung before the first meal past the midpoint of transit.
• Those who die in transit are cast to the void.
• The Captain has the final meal of a transit with their Officers.

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Bastionland Podcast Series 6

That's a wrap on another series of the Bastionland Podcast! If you haven't been following for long, here's the line up who each discussed three games that are important to them:

Episode 1 - LUKE STRATTON
If you ever meet a BORG-like sceptic, point them towards everything Luke has done with Pirate Borg. Always a pleasure to hear him talk about the pirate life with such passion. 

Episode 2 - AMANDA LEE FRANCK
One of the greatest artists in the scene right now and winner of the first guest of this series to make me go out and buy one of her choices.

Episode 3 - COLE WEHRLE
Continuing my theory that you can ask just about anybody to come on your podcast, even the biggest legends of game design, and they might just say yes. 

Episode 4 - GEORGE BICKERS
Creator of the buzz-magnet Mappa Mundi, the first brave soul of this series to bring a videogame choice. 

Episode 5 - BRAD KERR
Brad requires no blurb.
Brad transcends blurbs.

Episode 6 - MARK DIAZ TRUMAN
I feel like I could fill a whole series with just Mark talking about games. I'm hesitant to dig up the questionable OSR/Storygame divide, but if you've never ventured into the latter then listen to Mark talk about his picks. 

It was also a lot of fun making a piece of music for this podcast, returning to the hobby after almost twenty years away. 

If you're inclined to hear more then I'm challenging myself to actually upload stuff on soundcloud and over here with some cutting edge turn of the millennium visuals.

Decks and Compartments

Getting around a ship can sometimes be worse than getting around the galaxy. Any point on a ship is defined by its Deck and Compartment numbers. 

Decks
Standard-sized ships have twelve decks which, beyond the reach of traditional gravity, are rarely lined up like neat storeys in a tower block. 

Like this but worse

Compartments
Each deck is broken down into twelve compartments, each a self-contained room, bay or complex. 

Need a random specific place on the ship? Roll 2d12 on the big list at the bottom of this post. 

Transporters
Powered movers get you around the ship in the most convenient way, but breakdowns and re-routings are pretty common. 

Getting Around
Getting around on a single deck is straightforward enough, but if you need to get between locations on different decks roll d6. Roll even if you’ve already been there before: 

1: No obvious way to even get to that deck, you’ll need to go to a neighbouring deck and find a way from there. 
2-3: Foot access only, so you’ll be passing through a room on each deck on the way. 
4-5: You can get a transporter to a random compartment on that deck but then you’re on your own. 
6: There’s a transporter that goes straight from here to there! 

Ship Variation
Not every ship follows this precise layout, so roll d6 if you want to know the state of a particular compartment.

1: Nope, we’re coping without one of those.
2-3: It’s limited or in a bad state.
4-5: Yeah we’ve got one of them. 
6: It’s state of the art, big, or otherwise impressive.

Decks and Compartments

1. Command Deck
1. Bridge
2. Briefing Room
3. War Room
4. Captain’s Quarters
5. Comm Bay
6. Scanning Array
7. Study
8. Panic Room
9. Ballroom
10. Guest Quarters
11. Express Shuttle
12. Escape Pods
2. Wet Deck
1. Biolab
2. Hospital
3. Surgery
4. Well
5. Protein Vat
6. Pharmacy
7. Morgue
8. Arboretum
9. Algae Tanks
10. Air Cycle
11. Holistics
12. Filter
3. Cargo Deck
1. Main Hold
2. Bulk Hold
3. Small Hold
4. Vault
5. Hazmat
6. Loading
7. Freight
8. Pantry
9. Carriage
10. Inventory
11. Transporter Bay
12. Data Bank
4. Gun Deck
1. Port Guns
2. Starboard Guns
3. Turrets
4. Prow Gun
5. Point Defence
6. Magazine
7. Simulator
8. Generator
9. Targeting
10. Explosives
11. Flushing
12. Grease
5. Office Deck
1. Filing
2. Code Bureau
3. Payroll
4. Tally Office
5. Conference Hall
6. Private Offices
7. General Registry
8. Permit Office
9. Data Processing
10. Data Assessment
11. Break Room
12. Governance Suite
6. Security Deck
1. Arsenal
2. Armour Store
3. Brig
4. Court
5. Surveillance
6. Interrogation
7. Rapid Deployment
8. System Override
9. Boarding Bay
10. Access Control
11. Combat Ring
12. The Hole
7. Logistics Deck
1. Large Transporter Bay
2. Personal Transporter Bay
3. Pump Room
4. Recycling
5. Landfill
6. Sewage
7. Corridor Services
8. Commissary 
9. Ventilation
10. Lander Bay
11. Docking
12. Evacuation Room
8. Information Deck
1. Presentation Room
2. Training Suite
3. Chart Gallery
4. Counselling
5. Logs
6. Research Lab
7. Queries
8. Viewing Port
9. Deep Filing
10. Deliberation Tank
11. Lecture Hall
12. Secure Archive
9. Drive Deck
1. Cooldown Vents
2. Jump Drive
3. Cruise Drive
4. Manoeuvre Drives
5. Exhaust Recycling
6. Monitoring
7. Emergency Shutdown
8. Manual Steering
9. Manual Thrust
10. Intake
11. Valve Control
12. Emergency Brake
10. Commons Deck
1. Mess Hall
2. Tall Quarters
3. Walking Yard
4. Gymnasium
5. Bulk Quarters
6. Cinema
7. Hygiene 
8. Trophy Room
9. Vending Hall
10. Promenade
11. Memorial
12. Low Quarters
11. Reactor Deck
1. Wiring
2. Heat Control
3. Inner Core
4. Backup Generators
5. Power Grid
6. Gravity Generator
7. Main Clock
8. Frag Collider
9. Frag Condenser 
10. Fuse Array
11. Main Output
12. Extinguisher
12. Work Deck
1. Repair Shop
2. Union Office
3. Cleaning
4. Fittings
5. Hull Maintenance
6. Manufacture
7. Refinery
8. Brewery
9. Bar
10. Galley
11. Job Assignment
12. Machine Lounge

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Ludum ex Ludo

I wonder how many games I need to make before I stop feeling shame at the very thought of talking about my creative process.

Today is not that day, but let’s push through together. 

I’ve realised that some of my most productive work comes out of playing a game with my brain. I got onto thinking about this in more detail after my conversation with Amanda, especially in relation to one of her choices (no podcast spoilers here).

I thought I’d share a few that I’ve noticed myself using. They don’t need to be complex solo games, just anything that invokes a feeling of playfulness, tricking the brain into not realising it’s doing work.

I’ll start with the big three categories that cover countless specific techniques. 

Restriction
Set a hard limit on something and follow it (until you’re sick of it). 

• Make this relatively complex game idea only use d6s.
• Write seventy-two character classes, all wizards.
• Fit it all on one page.

Randomness 
Introduce an element of chance to your process. 

• Write a list of 20 types of location then roll for two of them, combining into somewhere more interesting.
• Start each sentence with a random letter of the alphabet. 
• Open an unrelated book to a random page and find a phrase you can use in your current task.

Iteration
Start with a boring idea then iterate on it over and over until we’re far away from the original concept. On each step do one of the following:

• Pivot: Change a bit
• Invert: Reverse a bit
• Expand: Add a bit

We’ll even combine it with an arbitrary restriction (we stop after 10 steps) and randomness (picking two random letters to start with “VG”)

1. VG
2. Vogons (the bad poets from Hitchhiker's Guide)
3. Good poet (invert)
4. Good artist (pivot)
5. Good sculptor (pivot)
6. Good sculptor of giant statues (expand)
7. Good sculptor of tiny statues (invert)
8. Good sculptor of tiny statues who can’t make them anymore (expand)
9. Good sculptor of horrific statues who can’t make them anymore (pivot)
10. Angry sculptor of horrific statues who can’t make them anymore (pivot)

The point isn’t to end up with a fantastic NPC  ready to go, but we’re now at a place to start crafting them into something usable. 

All popular techniques, but the next one’s newer to me, and the one that inspired me to actually write this post. 

Mise en Place 
(Urgh, French and Latin in the same blogpost?)

You know how before a chef starts cooking they get all their equipment out and chop up their ingredients into tiny separate bowls?

Do that, but with writing, and also you don’t know what meal you’re cooking. 

I found myself doing this with music making. The idea of creating an entire piece of music is daunting, so I tell myself to just mess about with a synth and make some cool sounds, saving them in the presets. Maybe I’m just making some drum loops, keeping them aside. Maybe I record a vocal sample and play around with effects to make a weird noise. 

Of course, many of these sit unused to this day, but often once I’ve created an ingredient I like I find myself inspired enough to start putting a full track together. 

For game design or writing this could be a small, seemingly useless mechanic, an NPC without a world to live in, or just an evocative phrase that sounds good.

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The Wheel

Starship crew refer to the reliably repetitive pattern of ship life as a rotating wheel with three handles.

Transit, Dock, Layover, Transit, Dock, Layover, and so on forever. 

1 - Transit: The Captain summons his Officers to discuss the ship’s next destination, often in lively debate. Once underway, the crew carry out their on board duties, get in each other’s way, and hope for an uneventful journey. Even when the work is quiet, crafty crew members will find ways to get ahead on the ship. 

2 - Dock: The crew carry out ship business at their destination, usually a job assigned by their Officer or passed down from the Captain themselves. Common activities are trade, repair, refitting, recruitment, information gathering, and general exploitation of the locals, who are usually trying to do the same back to the crew. 

3 - Layover: Custom dictates that Officers must take shore leave while the ship is at dock and portside business is closed. Usually an Officer takes their Table out into port, or even planetside, to conduct their personal business or just let off some steam while the ship’s drive is in cooldown. You don’t want to work on this ship forever, right? Now’s the time for your side hustle. 

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This post was originally sent as a reward to all Patreon supporters, and is released freely on this site the week after its original publication.

If you want to support my blog, podcasts, and video content then head over to my Patreon.

Life as Crew

Ships large enough to travel between the stars are a big investment, so most interstellar travellers get around as part of a captain’s crew. A standard sized ship has a crew nearing one-thousand souls. 

Below the captain, crew are split into three broad tiers.

• Officers - Each with a sprawling responsibility, reporting directly to the captain. An average ship has six.
• Heads - Specialists and senior crew who lead subteams and train new crewmembers, reporting to an officer. An average ship has seventy-two.
• Hands - General crew doing the bulk of the actual work. An average ship has eight-hundred. 

Officers commonly form a close circle with their most trusted Heads, and maybe a few Hands, referred to as their Table. As well as eating together they often undertake shared ventures during shore leave.

Assigning Roles Each Officer is appointed to their station directly by the Captain. Officers then freely assign roles to their Heads. 

Codes and Conventions A crew is held together by a sprawl of rules, traditions, and superstitions that follow spacefarers across the living stars. Naturally, each ship puts their own spin on things, but it has led to a somewhat recognised set of positions that a ship will aim to fill. 

These are the six most common Officer Stations each followed by the twelve most common Head Roles found beneath them and their area of responsibility. Overlapping responsibilities are opportunities for buckpassing, landgrabbing, and creditstealing.

Below all this, even the Hands are broken into tiers and titles, but the ship’s Auster is already on my back for wasting time. 

High Merchant - Responsible for the ship's financial success. 

• Broker - Trade negotiations

• Fragholder - Liquid funds

• Purser - Improving profits

• Assayer - Goods valuation

• Marketeer - Market forces

• Appraiser - Item valuation

• Exchanger - Internal transactions

• Remitter - Transactions in

• Bailiff - Transactions out

• Comptroller - Financial efficiency

• Auster - Resource efficiency

• Vaulthead - Frag storage

Archmarshal in Arms - Responsible for the ship’s military and security concerns. 

• Armourer - Small arms

• Gunwarden - Naval guns

• Castellan - Deckbound combat

• Sergeant - External combat

• Drillchief - Readiness training

• Vanguard - Dangerous recon

• Surveillant - Internal security

• Voidhound - Enemy intelligence

• Highguard - Captain’s security

• Dropmajor - Mission entry

• Retriever - Mission extraction

• Hood - Interrogation/execution

Commander-at-the-Helm - Responsible for the ship's travel and operation. 

• Astrogator - Route planning

• Pilot - Orbital flight

• Driver - Interplanetary flight

• Underwatch - Interstellar flight

• Overbosun - Ship’s boats

• Router - External Pings

• Addressor - Internal Pings

• Wavesayer - Wave comms

• Lookout - Operate scanners

• Anomaler - Cosmic phenomena

• Envoy - Comms content

• Anchorer - Docking and release

Mate of Papers - Responsible for the records and data that allow for well-informed decisions.

• Ledgereeve - Event records

• Librarian - Data management

• Upperclerk - Data processing

• Auditor - Error correction

• Chronologue - Strict time records

• Storetallier - Inventory records

• Cosmographer - Accurate maps

• Codex- Codes and laws

• Notarian - Binding contracts

• Adjustor - Data reconciliation

• Rollcaller - Crew records

• Papbearer - Information relay

Peoples Executive - Responsible for crew effectivity and stability.

• Constable - Crew discipline

• Handherd - Crew morale

• Allegiant - Crew loyalty

• Surgeon - Crew health

• Chef-de-Ship - Meal preparation

• Chaplain - Spiritual needs

• Troubleshooter - Problem people

• Interface - Machine relations

• Mediator - Intradepartmental relations

• Liaison - Interdepartmental relations

• Medallier - Reward distribution

• Lashy - Punishment distribution

Technical Prime - Responsible for the good running of the ship and equipment on board. 

• Quartermate - Equipment distribution

• Dorgard - Internal structure

• Hulgard - External structure

• Furnishfitter - Fixture deployment

• Rigleech - Fixture maintenance

• Swabwash - Ship hygiene

• Smulter - Waste processing

• Pipeliner - Pipes and wires

• Provost - Scientific research

• Machinist - Machine quality

• Trimtender - Ship aesthetics

• Liverer - Crew aesthetics

The keen-eyed amongst you might think that the existence of 72 of these means that they would define your character in Intergalactic Bastionland, but you’d be wrong.

They’re the opposite of a failed career, which is something for which you have expertise but no employment. Instead, this is a job that you currently work in that you may have little or no aptitude for at all, so any connection to a character’s skill is purely coincidental.

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The Tax, the Tithe, and the Levy

The life of a Knight isn’t all myth-seeking and feast-eating. Sometimes you’re called in for proper work, namely taking stuff from vassals and bringing it to their ruler. 

Of course, you could refuse, but such dereliction of duty is viewed poorly. 

These collection events happen at the end of each season. Let’s look at what’s typically involved, with the usual caveats that individual realms will vary. 

Quick Note on Dominion

A Holding’s Hex is usually big enough to have a few farms and small dwellings outside its walls. 

Beyond that, each Hex technically falls under the dominion of its nearest Holding, which is especially important when it comes to collections. Equidistant hexes that are disputed, leading to some nice conflict. For this topic it’s mainly relevant when it comes to landmarks, especially dwellings. 

Above this, Holdings usually owe fealty to the Seat of Power in their realm, so this results in two layers of collections taking place: Vassals to Holdings, then Holdings to Seat of Power. 

How Much?

Now that’s the question. 

In principle, a ruler evaluates a fair amount to take from each subject based on both the vassal’s needs and the needs of the holding. This judgement often gets passed down to the steward. A shrewd steward will then pass it down to one of their retainers, who may request a knightly escort to go and investigate the state of things. 

In reality the amount is usually “how much can I get away with taking while avoiding short and  long-term problems”. 

The book has a little table for when a ruler wants to squeeze a bit more out of their vassals.

While this is mostly intended for when the players are in charge, rather than collecting for another ruler, it can still give you a sense of the mood in the realm. 

Okay onto the seasonal collections.

The Tax (Leaves, Late Spring)

A collection of coins, based on the idea that a ruler can put this wealth to use protecting and improving their domain. 

As noted in the Arms & Goods page, only the rich deal in coins, so your average farmer is unaffected by this, though wealthier vassals will be expected to pay the ruler of their nearest Holding. Depending on their nature, even Seers may be subject to the Tax. 

The real tension comes when each Holding has to pay their share to the Seat of Power, and these negotiations can quickly turn heated. Coincidently, Sceptremass is just a month before this, and that feast is intimately threaded to the impending Tax. 

The Tithe (Barrels, Late Harvest)

A collection of crop, so that a holding may prepare for desperate times ahead. 

Sure, rich people don’t like it when you take their coins, but in a world where subsistence farming is common, almost everyone ends up paying the Tithe in some form. Empty barrels are rolled in and filled before being taken to the storeroom of the holding, giving this month its name. 

Depending on the ruler, a barrel of mead may be much more warmly welcomed than the more practical barrel of dried grains. Better yet, a collector could be bribed or influenced to return to their ruler with empty barrels and exaggerated tales of the bad harvest. 

The Levy (Candles, Late Winter)

A collection of craft, the fruits of months stuck indoors and fodder for construction to begin in spring. 

This one has a reputation for being looser than the others. Nobody wants to spend the final wet weeks of winter trudging across the realm to bring back some shoddy clothes and mouldy firewood. 

So why do this in winter at all if nobody wants to travel? 

Some think it’s an excuse for the rulers to kick restless knights out of their halls. Others think it’s a census-in-disguise, checking in on who survived the winter. Some rulers might use it as a way to spot especially promising craftsfolk, with a view to bringing them into the holding where they can better serve. For those living close to the holding it’s a prompt to clear the trails now that the worst of the weather has passed. 

For the knights escorting the collection it’s usually just an unpleasant slog.

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This post was originally sent as a reward to all Patreon supporters, and is released freely on this site the week after its original publication.

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