In a Time of Heroes

Characters

Ken Cooper, a human smuggler with a non-hidden heart of gold [David]

Owe List

1. [David] Ken Cooper
2. [Chris] Kid Quasar, the Pipsqueak Princess
3. [Rob] Isk, the Maimed and Rebuilt
4. [Chris] Kid Quasar, the Pipsqueak Princess

Back Issues

Battle for the Temple of the Noble Mantis

Elements

An alien princess asking for asylum

Smuggled goods of rare fortune, small enough to slip in a pocket

An ancient temple defiled by a swarm of insect-bots, sent by a disillusioned adherent

A galaxy on the cusp of open war

Additional Elements

A neutral space station around a neutral planet on neither side of the war, orbiting the planet containing the temple, whose own neutrality, perhaps temporary, has kept the planet neutral.

Characters

The alien princess [Chris]

A smuggler [David]

A customs officer [Katie]

The disillusioned adherent [Rob]

Player Characters

[Chris] Kid Quasar, the Pipsqueak Princess a diminutive alien princess from a species that is not normally so small

• Covertly d8
• Directly d6
• For myself d6
• For others d10
• With love d12
• With violence d4
• Everyone loves me, through tone of voice and physical appearance people want to aid me, but it requires people to see and hear me
  • PCs: With love
  • NPCs: Self-protection
  • Far-reaching: can affect anyone who can see and hear her
  • Its die is a d8
• It's in Kid Quasar's best interests to...
  • befriend an insect bot and have it become her trusted steed
  • have the Temple Master declare for her people in the galactic war

[David] Ken Cooper, a human smuggler with a non-hidden heart of gold

• Covertly d12
• Directly d4
• For myself d6
• For others d8
• With love d10
• With violence d6
• Technopathy, technology obeys me like a close friend thanks to my psionic gifts
  • PCs: For others
  • NPCs: Action
  • Unique: there are no other technopaths in the galaxy
  • Its die is a d8
• It's in Ken Cooper's best interests to...
  • prevent the war he sees coming, which he sees Kid Quasar as the best way to do
  • keep his technopathy from becoming public knowledge

[Katie] Anka Tripper, a customs officer, a blobby frog-person, no-nonsense, naturally gifted at detecting lies, cranky, with a sticky tongue

• Covertly d8
• Directly d12
• For myself d10
• For others d6
• With love d4
• With violence d6
• I can eat anything, if my tongue can reach it and it can fit in my mouth, I can eat it
  • PCs: Directly
  • NPCs: Action
  • Potent: Its die is a d10
• It's in Anka Tripper's best interests to...
  • get the promotion by solving/catching a high profile case
  • preserve the neutrality to prevent the war

[Rob] Isk, the Maimed and Rebuilt the disillusioned adherent, insectoid brought back from death with forbidden tech and filled with his children

• Covertly d6
• Directly d12
• For myself d10
• For others d6
• With love d4
• With violence d8
• Unleash children, by entering into a harmonizing trance to connect with one's swarm of insect bots to assault and assail
  • PCs: With violence
  • NPCs: Action
  • Far-reaching: his children can travel throughout his local area
  • Its die is a d8
• It's in Isk's best interests to...
  • stop the princess from entering the temple of the Noble Mantis
  • harmonize with the Technopath

Non-Player Characters

Snivil Gabbuh, the Temple Master, influential within the religion, but neutral within this conflict

• Action d6, d4
• Maneuvering d10, d6
• Self-protection d12, d8
• It's in Snivil Gabbuh's best interests to...
  • preserve the independence of the Temple of the Noble Mantis

Nameless Guard, who has a crush

• Action d12, d8
• Maneuvering d10, d6
• Self-protection d6, d4

Notes

Hivvand, destination planet.

Galapagos. An independently operated freighter. All of the PCs but for Anka travelling aboard.

Cooper came to KQ's attention because he was smuggling off-world clothes against the planet's protectionist policies.

Isk wants to avoid drawing special attention to his cyborg nature. KQ wants to avoid being seen by Anka.

KQ has a travelling home in a case. PortaPad. Inertial dampeners. Luxurious, though not at the standard of her home palace.

Anka discovers the case. KQ is taken to diplomatic custody. Ken is taken to the brig.

KQ escapes from custody, but has to abandon her case.

Ken escapes from the brig by distracting the guard with a love note.

Ken hacks Anka’s electronic clipboard.

Race to the temple. A freestanding stepped pyramid with a pair of giant mantis statues alongside.

Snivil is mortally wounded and dying, but not yet dead.

Anka is knocked out for the remainder of the fight.

Kid Quasar frees the insect drones, except for her new mount, and one kept by Ken Cooper. Isk runs away in the chaos, vowing revenge. The temple agrees to support the princess's planet in the war.

Oracles

Space Opera

1. A galaxy on the cusp of open war
2. An interplanetary cold war, threatening to turn hot in an instant
3. A runaway experiment, with strange, inexplicable powers
4. An ancient weapon of mass destruction, left behind by a forgotten race
5. An eccentric inventor, on the run from a dangerous corporate empire
6. A distress signal, with no apparent source
7. A small community of Christians, humans and alien converts, on the aliens' home planet
8. A blue skinned orphan fleeing an arranged marriage to her elderly tutor
9. Smuggled goods of rare fortune, small enough to slip in a pocket
10. An alien princess asking for asylum
11. A young fertile planet with a newly awakened consciousness
12. The rotting hulk of a spaceship, flagship of the old empire, found at the end of a beacon
13. A gunship sold at the end of war into private hands
14. A daring young explorer, fresh from her stint at the academy, eager to prove herself and taking on all comers
15. A sassy spelunker looking for an alien god's heart in the depths of a planet made up entirely of millions of space ship derelicts that have accreted over time
16. A crew of rogues, led by a former war hero
17. A young doctor, throwing away a promising career over a deadly secret
18. A smuggler of dubious repute, only interested in a quick payday
19. An expert assassin, laying low after a botched job
20. The universally famous monarch, hiding as a citizen of no consequence
21. A brilliant scientist, racing against time to find a cure for her affliction
22. The galactic savior-child stolen by pirates who want a planet as ransom
23. A stranded alien, trying to get back to its own people
24. A military AI, trying to override its destructive programming
25. The first settlers on a newly terraformed frontier world
26. A group of freedom-fighters, waging a desperate war against a tyrannical government
27. A secret technology, unearthed by an archaeologist on the homeworld of a long-dead race
28. A cryptic warning, left behind by an extinct alien race
29. The last survivor of a brutal attack, by a previously unknown race
30. A young woman, selected via lottery by an alien power
31. A wayward traveler, hopping between the stars after his homeworld was destroyed
32. An accidental immortal, bored with life, who has become obsessed with carrying out some mundane task
33. A group of alien scientists, trying to recover their lost data, possibly by vivisection
34. An ancient temple defiled by a swarm of insect-bots, sent by a disillusioned adherent
35. The first interspecies child is born
36. A colony of refugees in an asteroid belt