Games I Didn't Run: The Calmquist Chronicles Finale: the End of the Galaxy

This is the final installment of Calmquist's one shot.  I've gone back through and put some links up in places so you can get more insights into what he's talking about, though he notes in his final conclusions that a lot is left off the wiki at the moment (There's just a ton of material to consolidate and edit), so not everything is well explained without diving through the whole blog (and avoiding that is the whole point of the consolidation).  Even so, I'm really impressed by how well Calmquist knows Psi-Wars.  He did a pretty nuanced and detailed version of Psi-Wars that I wouldn't dare spring on a new set of players, but they enjoyed it and the enjoyed Psi-Wars, and that says some good things to me about the quality of the setting.

It also explains why my readers seem more interested in consolidation than new material (new stuff is great, but they want a convenient way to access the old stuff first).

Note: Rosa’s player was absent.

Back to the Throne Room

The heroes were brought to the throne room with Astanya Xakkar the Dark and a few mook guards. Nathram was still loyal to the Tyrant. Raja was confused to see a Keleni Tyrant and succumbed to his charisma (the player chose to go along with it rather than opposing with a penalty). Milmeowna decided to go along with the Tyrant assuming she got paid well enough until she was ordered to take blood samples from the Princess.

Fighting Back

The Princess was able to reduce the Tyrant’s hold over the heroes, but only Milmeowna took advantage of the situation at first. Milmeowna attempted restraining or “binding” the Princess in order to give her a symbolism bonus, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Dark Communion’s hold over the desecrated room. Milmeowna grabbed Nathram’s blaster and tried firing it at the throne, but Nathram never fixed the malfunction from the previous session (Nathram’s player reminded me of this fact), so the attempt was futile.

Seeing his would be assailant fail, he decided to give Milmeowna on more chance to live as his slave. Milmeowna refused, convinced Raja to distract the mooks while she pulled the crown of the Tyrant’s head. Raja succeeded at his task but received a hit with a pain glaive for his reward. As Milmeowna approached the throne, the Dark Tyrant entered the (greater) Avatar State. Milmeowna did not succumb to his majesty and resisted his dreadful mental assault (Rule of 16 has it’s benefits).

Milmeowna managed to grab the cables connecting the “crown” to the throne and yank on them. Xakkar was stunned for a second but suffered no additional trouble. After recovering, he drew his blade and attempted to attack Milmeowna. She attempted to interpose the cords and force the Tyrant to sever them, but the plan failed due to the “blade” being a telepathic psi-sword. Milmeowna fell unconscious and had to make a death check (it did a lot of damage) but survived (for a little while). With no one left to oppose him (and this being the final session), Astanya Xakkar the Dark won the day.

The Storm Came

With the Dark Tyrant’s victory, he amassed enough troops and Alexian artifacts to challenge Emperor Valorian. I never really decided if taking the “Throne” Ship to (or at least close enough to) Styx did what he wanted. Either way, a war was waged, the Cybernetic Union was allowed to expand and the Alliance was forced to fight for real. With the major powers weakened by the war, the Anacridian Scourge was able to return with no power strong enough to stop it. Rosa’s prophesy came true.

The Retrospective

What Went Well

Overall, the (multi-session) one shot went well. The players (including the GM) had fun and all had a reasonable amount of spotlight.

There was a good amount of action that was exciting.

We got to experience some space adventure without complicating things.

We had some fun duels, an exciting chase and clever con artistry.

The players got to experience Psi-Wars and GURPS for the first time.

What Went Poorly

It went longer than I anticipated. It was good that the players were happy continuing, but it meant my planning was off.

It was disappointing that the heroes failed and the galaxy was destroyed.

I think the players may have felt powerless at the end and hesitated for a while before the final struggle. I believe that Rosa would have tried to be heroic earlier if her player was present.

There was more combat than I normally like.

Other Thoughts

Given my players’ lack of GURPS experience (and books), the scattered state of the Psi-Wars material (currently being consolidated) and the current inability to meet in person, I would have a hard time doing a longer campaign. I usually like my players to make their own characters (even if I give significant help or do most of the mechanical work).

I think Psi-Wars is certainly done enough to play and have fun, but it requires a decent amount of familiarity with GURPS.