Movement and Combat on the Astral Plane

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

That's a common effect of the Shadowrun setting, I've noticed or at least heard often enough to take seriously.

Well in Shadowrun you're almost always playing mercenary criminals. That doesn't provide a lot of direcion to a player's moral compass.

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Icelander

So, my PCs finally went to the Astral Plane.

They found the planar conduit that they were seeking, entangled with the underside of a floating planar island, made out of the dreams, memories, regrets, heroes and prayers of a 'dead' deity*.

On that planar island, there was a fortress of the githyanki, several guard towers and moorings for several of the strange astral ships favoured by the githyanki. Due to the way the underside of the god-island interferes with magical powers, the githyanki avoided going 'below' it and had not built any guard towers on that side.

Around the swirling conduit, there were three rampaging monsters, lean desicated-looking creatures half-again the size of a mummified man, with claws the size of kukris and an ability to consume the souls of their enemies, trapping their life force within their rib-cages. These monsters are known as astral devourers and they are driven mad with hunger by the forces unleashed when a portal is created on the Prime Material Plane, linking two places by means of an astral conduit.

So, the PCs destroyed the astral devourers in a few seconds of operatic ultra-violence. Unfortunately, one PC couldn't resist making use of a spiked iron ball full of black powder for a clever trick where he lit the last fraction inch of the fuse and stuck a spike between ribs of an astral devourer he snuck up on. This worked fine on the astral devourer, but the ca 20 lbs. of finely ground black powder densely packed inside what was essentially a shell probably made a bit more noise than was really called for, at that time.

Cue an astral ship crewed by several dozen githyanki checking on the source of the loud bang noise. Enter a swift lie, dramatic boarding in dragonman-form, the Terror spell and much use of Acting and Intimidate. Et voila, the PC priest of Tiamat, the Dragon Queen, as well as the PC warrior/bard**, have convinced the githyanki that they are an embassy from the Dragon Queen, whose consort has an ancient compact with the githyanki. Any interference in their affairs will result in the compact becoming void and the faithless violators being flung into the deepest pits of the Abyss, there to be flayed, unmanned, blinded and generally made to suffer a litany of unpleasant experienced for all time.

Just as they've convinced the githyanki to leave to report the presence of such important dark emissaries to their superiors, the explosives the other PCs were planting around the stalactite that trapped the planar conduit went off. As this was several hundred pounds of powder, there was quite a big boom. The conduit was ripped loose, the stalactite severed from the floating island along with quite a bit of the surrounding god-stuff... and a blindingly bright silver-blue light, so obviously divine it seemed accompanied by a Baroque soundtrack, shone out of the hole exposed in the island of the dead god.

From there, things kind of got messy.

Anyway, during the unpleasantness; Sir Michael Carragher, brave knight, Master of Defence and general devotee of the art of applying boot-to-bum, found himself wrestling a githyanki Tl'a'grakh wielding a fancy silver sword, apparently some sort elite warrior and/or local analogue to knighthood.

Despite being much weaker on the Astral Plane than he's used to being, 'Brash' Mickey was victorious. Of course, if he hadn't had a critical success with his first Bind Weapon parry and thus managed to neutralise the terrible movement advantage the githyanki had over him, he probably wouldn't have been.

Of course, the PCs are still not out of the Astral Plane and there are more than a thousand githyanki kind of upset with them for having destroyed their home. So it might not wind up mattering. But in the event it does, I'm kind of curious as to how to represent the martial art style known by Narzag gi'Shargad; githyanki Tla'a'grakh ('Silver-Sword Warrior').

I know he has skill DX+10 with his two-handed sword and he has Astral Movement and the Combat Movement technique high enough to be able to fight on the Astral at full skill. I also know that his grappling skills are very weak, as he moves so swiftly at the speed of thought on the Astral that he's used to slashing opponents as he races by them and avoiding messy wrestling.

But what other techniques should he have?

*Specific identity of deity unknown as the PCs reached it, but due to the fact that one side of the planar conduit is located within a former temple to an ancient god in the Old Empire of Unther, they speculated that it is one of the dozen or so defunct deities of that pantheon.
**Who spent a century in Hell (or a close analogue), has infernal powers and can summon devils, both to ride with him as demonic cavalry and to back up his vocals as a hellish rock band.

I'm fascinated by your ideas, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter!

:)

[Icelander]

Narzag gi'Shargad is a githyanki 'knight' (which I've rendered tl'a'grakh in the githyanki language), a loyal servant of the githyanki Lich-Queen and a bearer of a Silver Sword.

The thing is, gi'Shargad literally translates as 'student of Shargad'. Githyanki are born from eggs and while there are specialist githyanki within a community who have the responsibility of rearing the young, githyanki do not have any concept of parents or family. The only almost-equivalent is that those who have studied with great swordmasters append their names thusly to their own and the conduct of the protege reflects on the honour of the swordmaster, living or dead.

So not only does Narzag gi'Shargad have combat skills out of the ordinary for githyanki warriors, he has studied these skills formally for much of his life and by his name, he defines himself primarily as a student of a martial arts master.

Obviously, high skill at the Astral Movement skill, the Combat Movement technique at Astral Movement+4 and Two-Handed Sword at DX+10 are the foundations of his art. But what techniques fit someone who uses a two-handed sword while able to project himself at speed faster than world-record running speed in any direction simply by thinking about it?

Anything based on Move and Attack would probably be superfluous, as moving up to 24 yards in the Astral Plane counts as a Step for a githyanki with the right skills and abilities. On the other hand, a flying attack of some sort that was combined with full Move of 100+ might be worth examining.

Techniques or Perks to negate any defensive disadvantage against foes 'above' you would be necessary for githyanki. I don't know if Attack from Above is really necessary to take advantage of better manueverability in zero-g, but if it is, then he'd have that technique.

The signature attack of a githyanki swordsman in the Silver Void, facing a 'prime' who is slower, less maneuverable and entirely out of his element, is probably to swoop in, slash at something vulnerable (joint, vein or silver string) and be out of range of a counterattack when the 'prime' gets to act.

What techniques best facilitate this?

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by tshiggins

I'm fascinated by your ideas, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter!

:)

It was a hectic session and many irrecovable changes emerged.

For one thing, Abadas 'the Mad'* Hussein, former street urchin and naturally gifted sorcerer discovered in the course of play to be the scion of a great emir of the efreet, thus explaining his supernatural elemental flame nature, is notoriously Curious. And Impulsive. And Xenophiliac. So when faced with a mysterious holy silver-blue light coming from the punctured surface of an island in the Astral thought to be the last remnant of a dead god, Abadas did the only thing he could do. He flew into the light.

This was received with mixed emotions among his companions.

His fellow PCs include:

• Murlak Solstice, an amoral merchant-prince** who offers to the Lord of Shadows and the Merchant's Friend, for all that Mask and Waukeen hate each other, but whose primary worship is reserved for his balance sheet;
• Sir Michael Carragher, heroic knight, cheerful brawler, friend to all and lover of life, a man who addresses the gods mostly on feast days or when sporting amorously***;
• Ankhapet Si'Hamet, the son of the Emir of Zindalankh, a coldly rational warrior-scholar who is agnostic on the actual divinity (not to mention Prime Mover status) of the powers that are worshipped as deities but cherishes a hope to acquire worshippers and equal their potency one day;
• Rasul Khamsin Mubtasim (Rasul, the Smiling Desert Wind), Al-Tawil (The Tall One), Sayf al-Murghom (The Sword of Murghom), Al-Andalib al-Asmar (The Dark Nightingale), a desert raider, romantic, songsmith and freedom fighter against the Empire of Mulhorand who lost his family in an ugly guerilla war and swore such a terrible vengeance that he allowed himself to be dragged to the Nine Hells to serve infernal masterrs for a century in exchange for the power to avenge his wife and children, who rose to command legions of devils in the eternal Blood War between the tanar'ri of the Abyss and the baatezu of the Nine Hells and who returned to mortal life in order that he might have the only vengeance that might satisfy him, the utter destruction and doom of the three millenia old Empire of Mulhorand;
• Nelior Bladeburner, a personable and charming priest of Tiamat the Dragon Queen, the Nemesis of the Gods****, who had previously served Gilgeam, the capricious and cruel tyrant of a God-King mostly responsible for Unther's current woes, until service to that defeated god became unhealthy for his future prospects.

*He prefers 'I Get These Headaches'.
**A much more dignified title than the equally accurate 'Master Criminal', 'Robber Baron' or 'The Very Napoleon of Crime'.
***Ironically, apart from a tendency to be irreverent and an utter lack of ascetic sensibility or a formal code of chivalry, 'Brash' Mickey would be quite at home among martyrs and holy men. Mickey scorns to bully or harm those weaker than him, which is most people, without a thought he'd die to defend any innocent who could not defend himself and he is so open-handed that the dragon hoards and jewelled thrones he keeps collecting merely stop lightly in his hands before being scattered among his friends, the deserving, the needy or anyone who catches his eye and appears to be in need of wealth.
****The Gods of Unther, that is. Of which the 'dead' god now giving off suspiciously holy divine light is certainly one. The odds that Tiamat was partially or wholly responsible for his demise are extremely good.

[Rindis]

I am definitely interested in hearing more about this....

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Icelander

It was a hectic session and many irrecovable changes emerged.

For one thing, Abadas 'the Mad'* Hussein, former street urchin and naturally gifted sorcerer discovered in the course of play to be the scion of a great emir of the efreet, thus explaining his supernatural elemental flame nature, is notoriously Curious. And Impulsive. And Xenophiliac. So when faced with a mysterious holy silver-blue light coming from the punctured surface of an island in the Astral thought to be the last remnant of a dead god, Abadas did the only thing he could do. He flew into the light.

This was received with mixed emotions among his companions.

His fellow PCs include:

• Murlak Solstice, an amoral merchant-prince** who offers to the Lord of Shadows and the Merchant's Friend, for all that Mask and Waukeen hate each other, but whose primary worship is reserved for his balance sheet;
• Sir Michael Carragher, heroic knight, cheerful brawler, friend to all and lover of life, a man who addresses the gods mostly on feast days or when sporting amorously***;
• Ankhapet Si'Hamet, the son of the Emir of Zindalankh, a coldly rational warrior-scholar who is agnostic on the actual divinity (not to mention Prime Mover status) of the powers that are worshipped as deities but cherishes a hope to acquire worshippers and equal their potency one day;
• Rasul Khamsin Mubtasim (Rasul, the Smiling Desert Wind), Al-Tawil (The Tall One), Sayf al-Murghom (The Sword of Murghom), Al-Andalib al-Asmar (The Dark Nightingale), a desert raider, romantic, songsmith and freedom fighter against the Empire of Mulhorand who lost his family in an ugly guerilla war and swore such a terrible vengeance that he allowed himself to be dragged to the Nine Hells to serve infernal masterrs for a century in exchange for the power to avenge his wife and children, who rose to command legions of devils in the eternal Blood War between the tanar'ri of the Abyss and the baatezu of the Nine Hells and who returned to mortal life in order that he might have the only vengeance that might satisfy him, the utter destruction and doom of the three millenia old Empire of Mulhorand;
• Nelior Bladeburner, a personable and charming priest of Tiamat the Dragon Queen, the Nemesis of the Gods****, who had previously served Gilgeam, the capricious and cruel tyrant of a God-King mostly responsible for Unther's current woes, until service to that defeated god became unhealthy for his future prospects.

*He prefers 'I Get These Headaches'.
**A much more dignified title than the equally accurate 'Master Criminal', 'Robber Baron' or 'The Very Napoleon of Crime'.
***Ironically, apart from a tendency to be irreverent and an utter lack of ascetic sensibility or a formal code of chivalry, 'Brash' Mickey would be quite at home among martyrs and holy men. Mickey scorns to bully or harm those weaker than him, which is most people, without a thought he'd die to defend any innocent who could not defend himself and he is so open-handed that the dragon hoards and jewelled thrones he keeps collecting merely stop lightly in his hands before being scattered among his friends, the deserving, the needy or anyone who catches his eye and appears to be in need of wealth.
****The Gods of Unther, that is. Of which the 'dead' god now giving off suspiciously holy divine light is certainly one. The odds that Tiamat was partially or wholly responsible for his demise are extremely good.

I like all the titles and blandishments and such. It seems as though your players make up some pretty fun background stories.

It also appears that your game is much more high-powered than I'm used to. My Facets players are all around 180 points, right now, and spend much of their time moving cautiously, thinking things through, and planning exit strategies. :)

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by tshiggins

I like all the titles and blandishments and such. It seems as though your players make up some pretty fun background stories.

It also appears that your game is much more high-powered than I'm used to. My Facets players are all around 180 points, right now, and spend much of their time moving cautiously, thinking things through, and planning exit strategies. :)

We started this campaign in the second year of college, I think. Eleven years ago. 'Brash' Mickey was an awkwardly tall teenage roughneck arriving from the lonesome moor of his a hill clan to visit his sophisticated first cousin, Murlak Solstice, in the big city. Murlak had a day job as a portside 'scrip' trader, selling future cargoes on the margins, but a rather more lucrative night career as a con artist, second-story-man and flash cove with a local band of thieves.

They were 150 points, with loads of disadvantages and not much in the way of sense. Both of them were better street brawlers than they were scientific swordsmen, though 'Brash' Mickey's family were sufficiently close to a rough sort of country gentry that he learned the claymore, dirk, targe and broadsword from his uncle, a former Master-at-Arms under the local lord.

The last eleven years, they've made their Fafhrd-like and Grey Mouser-esque way through many tough port cities, ships' decks, goblin warrens, pirate havens, wizards' laboratories, nobles' balls, foreign temples, warzones, jails, tombs, dragons' lairs and even the odd extradimensional demiplane. In several hundred sessions of game play, they've earned some 1200+ points, and so you find them at their current level of around 1400 points.

On the way, they've picked up allies, rivals, lovers, friends and comrades-in-arms. Some of these have been PCs. Abadas is the third PC of one player who joined the campaign early and Rasul and Ankhapet are each the second PC of their players; the others lost to death or other causes of early retirement among adventurers. Replacement PCs start around the lowest CP value of the party, but no lower, and when they join an established adventuring group hovering around 700-1000 points, they can have quite exotic backgrounds and abilities.

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Icelander

We started this campaign in the second year of college, I think. Eleven years ago.

(SNIP)

I really like long-term campaigns, and that's what I've mostly run in the past, myself. The Castle Falkenstein campaign was meant to be that, but the party and I just didn't gel in the way we needed to, and I'm mostly responsible for that.

Before that, I ran a GURPS Harn campaign that went for nearly eight years, and before that I had a scratch-built high fantasy world that ran for more than six, and used several different systems as I experimented.

The Facets group has a good vibe going, and the campaign has real potential to last a very long time. Part of that is because several of the players have already identified long-term goals. Aurelia's player wants to be a pirate on the Pearl Bright Ocean, Frank's wants his own lands somewhere cool, A.J.'s wants to understand the nature of the universe and command the forces that drive it, and Sunmi's wants her character to become (effectively) an anime magical girl. :)

The nice thing is, GURPS and an Infinite Cabal setting make all of that possible, as long as the GM thinks things through, carefully enough. That's basically why I settled on this system, after trying a number of them, through the years.