Looking over my notes for the third episode, I am transported back to my writing process for this ep, which I am realizing was very difficult. Starting off, I knew I wanted to detail out a big world that would offer the players a lot of different options, and would bite back wherever they went. This means, unlike the last ep, I would have to do a LOT of writing. But I was feeling stumped and uninspired. I had a bunch of ideas where it could go, but none sounded very fun. So I did what I do now when I get a block: I pulled up my Oblique Strategies app and drew a prompt. I got “Repetition is a form of change”

Not a great note for what I was doing, frankly. Apologies to Brian Eno. It really felt like this note was better suited for musicians in a rut rather than a game master podcaster. Doubly unhelpful becauseI wanted to get away from the shooting from the hip of the first two episodes. Even still, this prompt was what was echoing through my head as I wrote.

I’m going to break down my notes differently in this entry than in the last - I’m going to break down my notes into sections and write a little Game Mastery commentary on the process. My notes will be identified by italics.

DEATH IN SPACE EP 3

“Repetition is a form of change”

The Gannon Aside Intro

When I’m in an uninspired state, I’ll try to write out all the problems I’m having, and include all the questions I need to have answered before the recording. I start by asking myself the most important question I ask myself as I begin writing an ep:"

What is fun for me to do right now?

The idea of a sprawling location with multiple paths is REALLY compelling. Maybe the way to that is like a resident evil style “mansion” - stuck in one well defined location

The next question is the number one motivating factor for the characters. Carmen’s husband Seth: where is he, what’s he been up to, what’s his deal. Here, my initial answer to that q is straightforward. I would go on to adjust his exact motivations and history up to the writing for the 5th episode.

What happened to SETH:

After Carmen was gone so long, it was widely assumed she had died. In his grief, (which he is loath to admit) he conspired with Cosmo to steal Carmen’s fortune, and then disappear. He was in a dark place - and decided to live out his days in a literally dark place: the casino floor of CON-PM28

What is CON-PM 28?

words I associate with CON-PM28: mining, sweaty, casino

History: CON-PM28 Started as a humble mining colony, then hit a big gem vein, then a casino parked itself, created a community around it, grew to become a mega casino, became a tourist trap, new vein opened below the casino, casino town got hollowed out, now the casino is for locals only, miners are freaked out drug heavies, vein is cold but the promise is strong. Cheap drugs, sex, gambling.

After answering these initial questions, I made a list of to-write bulletpoints. Here you can see I’m concerned with the balance and thrust of the episode: how do we enter strong? What is motivating the characters? Is it strong enough to propel them into action? Are there appropriate and interesting stakes if they can’t find Seth? Also where the fuck am I putting this dude on this dumbass asteroid?

To Write:

intro

Starting ON CON-PM28

navigating location / random encounters?
pursuing objective
indv character objectives
what comes after objective / "losing" objective
where is seth

Further down in the document, I found some loose to-writes, separated likely because they’re more ephemeral, technical questions: What actions would players have to take to find Seth? How would their intereactions with the world point them closer to their goal? For each location, can I introduce an element of random discovery to give color and chaos to the world? Also, I’ve established that he was known to be a lustful dude. Who are the people he spends time with? What do they do on the asteroid? How could they be found? Will they talk about Seth willingly?

how do you find seth?

roll location
lady he was spending time with

Next I compiled everything other players said about CON-PM28. Yeah, they were improvised, jokey lines, but (classic improv trick) if you remember and call back what the other players have established, you come off like Houdini. audiences love it.

Blair as Olive: “Fuck wolves” are a dangerous presence on CON PM

Casey as Chip: says “that place used to be so nice” - this means he has some history with this location. Since he has lived over the course of several hundred years, he will have known this asteroid settlement from a long, long time ago.

I go on to lay out a somewhat disorganized series of histories, lists, and color generators for CON-PM 28. A Prime piece of motivation in writing here was another bit of advice I got from Kartellian Clamor: “Have something going on in your dungeons.” The NPCs, like us, do not live static lives. We are affected and motivated by the political and cultural movements of the regions where we live, so your NPCs should have movement in their lives beyond the player presence.

I honestly regret making this another Union vs The Bosses subplot here. I already have covered this kind of thing in other episodes of NeoScum, and even in those eps, I always feel like I’m offering a pretty shallow presentation of this kind of conflict. Yeah, we’re all on Twitter, and yeah, we all know the bosses suck and unionizing is almost always a good thing. Still, I don’t love presenting a story where there’s a clear good guy and bad guy. I’d probably benefit from further study on the subject. I’ll end my neurotic rambling there.

What’s going on?

6 months ago, a mining team hit upon an 11 foot tall coffin fused as one with the asteroid. They sent a caravan to spend night and day for 3 months excavating this coffin from stone. Once it was finally freed, the several ton sarcophagus was loaded via mech onto a truck. As the caravan made its way out of the tunnel, it collapsed.

Infuriated mining lead GOON of CON Miners United ordered a strike - no work to be done unless their demands for pay were met. Seth refused and limited all water turned off on the miner side of the asteroid.

I love a damn side quest, so I thought it would provide the players some opportunities to bounce off the creep and nightlife of CON-PM28

Who is offering jobs to players:

Dock: get rid of illegal gambling for a quick buck

Burbs: point us to THE GOON for a buck.

The Floor: Shadow enforcers want a rundown of the valentine clientelle for a quick buck.

Red: Move this package for a quick buck.

Mine town: Drop this package off at the mansion for a quick buck

The Pit: Fuck you

A bit of visual inspiration for the appearance of the well to-do of the asteroid.

The wealthy wear colorful robes of breathable fabric over an air purifying mask.

Highly industrial
Cone shaped, emitting fog
Black dome
Golden dragon

Next I try to breathe some life into this dusty colony by defining who the important people are on the settlement. Whether the players actually meet any of these guys is unimportant, just writing out what kind of people are poking around gives me room and inspiration for NPC improvisation.

Dealer enforcer

Name: Margret

Where: Valentine

Priority: His men protected

Wants: to make enough to pay his debts to enron and hitch a ride out of here

Union chief goon

Name: GOON

Where: Miner Town

Priority: to live long enough to leave this asteroid

Wants: Conversation with Enron Corperate

ENRON merc vet

Name: Shallash

Where: The Burbs

Priority: Sadistic violence

Wants: The union to fully surrender and comply

Casino owner

Name: Verdant

Where: The Floor

Priority: A rebuilt Golden Goose Casino

Wants: Enron off the asteroid

Drug Kingpin

Name: Masillda

Where: The Pit

Priority: Join partnership with Enron

Wants: To kill GOON with a hot pack.

ENRON overseer

Seth

Where: The Burbs

Priority: To be loved

Wants: To fall in love again and be loved back

Now we get to the meat of the writing - world generation and expansion, aka THE LORE. I started by scrawling out a squiggly map on my phone:

Finally, I write a description for each sector of the map along with two generators to be rolled at the same time any time a player arrives in one of these locations. It can be noted that I get less specific the deeper I get into the asteroid. This is because I was running out of time and suspected they wouldn’t get so far on the first ep on the asteroid. I was right!

DOCK/INDUSTRIAL UPKEEP

A crowded industrial dock - dust everywhere. Milky yellow light twinkles off of clear magnetic stones coating the walls. A large door leading out side looms beside the dim floresent of an office. Large mining machines lurch through out a service door at the far end of the dock.

A rolling drone approaches you with a ticket- “2000 Holos to be paid at exit at ENRON offices.”

1d3 EVENTS

argument between Enron toughs and union men
Hopping out of a shoeboxed shaped craft. “Call me the shadowrunner”
kid is selling a fucked up snake

1d3 WHAT PEOPLE TALK ABOUT

You hear about that black hole they just discovered in system? And it’s not even that far off. Incredible how we could miss something like that for so long.
Things are getting bloody out there. If the union doesn’t get their head on straight there’ll be a lot more deaths than one measly caravan.
The Mac Daddy (aka Seth) - throwing money everywhere, which is good. But so obnoxious. Do you hear he spends his evenings alone in the bar he built? That’s pathetic.

THE BURBS

A cul des sac of 4 antiquated wooden houses and one empty bar. The wood was clearly imported. All the houses are at least two stories. The largest house is at the end of the block. 4 guards stand outside.

Enron overseer
- will pay for breaking up an illegal gambling outside of the casino

Blues Club (named in ep Sweet Baby Blosum’s Blues and Buffalo Down Home Cooking)

Empty but for one bartender, does not look like a bartender. The same annoying harmonica music is playing from a wind up music box. They serve protein potatoes coated in a red sauce that’s a little spicy but have a gasoline aftertaste

1d3 EVENTS

Heavily armed guards ask what you’re doing here.
Hologram showing news of the discovery of a new black hole
A lush greenhouse. You can see a gardener spraying a tomato plant

1d3 WHAT PEOPLE TALK ABOUT

wealthy comparing their state of the air air filtration masks
bemoaning how the strike is really going to hurt the union in the end. Can’t work without water!
people might laugh about it, but I was going lucid off a hit of hyde.

FLOOR

Dust everywhere. Crunching under your feet, in your eyes, in your mouth, covering the sad hovels of the local businesses. Dings and hums from the remainder buildings of what was once a majestic casino. A few people operate business out of what still stands. Beside those businesses, a sheer drop into a strip mined bit. The source of the dust.

The casino lights from below sparkle off of clear stalactites made out of clear magnetic stones clumping everywhere over the dome. Beyond the dome, pure darkness.

1d3 EVENTS

Someone whispers to you “wanna try something to cut the thick air a bit?”
gambling - craps
drug murder. perpetrator runs to the floor

1d3 WHAT PEOPLE TALK ABOUT

Hah! I know a bunch of fat pocketed Enron stooges trip their way onto the floor. What’s the matter? Never tasted our brand of air before?
been seeing a lot of pretty girls from the red district traveling to the burbs. Whoever’s making those orders must be well off.
Those “TTO” freaks creep me out. Always wiring off the little they make in the mines to some weirdos in the asteroid cluster. And have you heard what they actually believe? Finding a deeper void? Weird shit, man.”

MINE TOWN

The red light district: clearly identified by the fading rose colored light trickling through the ever present, drifting dust. One candy pink neon sign calls out from the one large building on the block “Valentine’s.” A soft seductive light shines from within. Two punk play dice on the street.

1d3 EVENTS

fuck wolves hit on the crew
magnetic stalagtite falls
I’ll give you 300 holos if you can bring this package back to the C shaped spaceship in the docks.

1d3 WHAT PEOPLE TALK ABOUT

Mac Daddy aka Seth
lost caravan
Cult church

MINE TOWN

The dust has become heavier the closer you get. Crusty brown rust and clear stalactites rise from the cheap metallic storage units turned homes. Dust coated fabric cover the doorways. Mounds of grey dust climbs everywhere. The streets are full but quiet. It’s the feeling of a deep inhale before a drastic act.

1d3 EVENTS

dust storm
pick pocket
someone overdoses on hyde

1d3 WHAT PEOPLE TALK ABOUT

I hear Goon is gonna bomb Mac Daddy’s mansion
weird cult
entrance to the pits from the dock

PIT

Down the slippery smooth stone slope the sound of industrial machines gets louder and louder. You start to see more and more bored holes in the walls. Cranes, excavation equipment and machines with teeth careen against stone. There is a violent joviality to the miners here. Camps are everywhere. The smell of moonshine and cigarettes.

1d3 EVENTS

creature breaks loose
ai dog fight
someone is stelling vegetables - clearly stolen

1d3 WHAT PEOPLE TALK ABOUT

black holes
fearsome creatures
the caravan

That covers the writing! Only other point worthy of note is that it was in preparing for this episode that one of the other players and I came up with a secret motivation - a hook that would propel the course of actions for this and the next two eps, leading to a conclusion that is an absolute slammer. Keep your ears peeled and see if you you can figure it out before the rest of the crew can!

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REPETITION IS A FORM OF CHANGE: Death In Space Ep 3