Next WCRPG Campaign

What kind of WCRPG campaign would you like to see next?

  • Something involving the Pilgrim Truth/Pilgrim Stars cycle.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Something involving a Marine campaign such as Repleetah.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Something else.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Enough already, capi...

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    3

capi3101

Admiral
Well, I'm just about done with Vespus - a few notes here and there, add the interlude texts and then it's proofreading time. To be honest, I'm not wholly satisfied with it...

Anyway, as I mentioned in today's update I'm beginning to give some thoughts as to what I want to do as far as the next campaign goes. I've got four ideas of my own and I can't decide on which one I should do next, so I've decided to open it up to the opinion of the CIC community - what should I do next? I'll probably leave this poll open until I get a good sample.

The only thing I ask is that if you do respond with "Something else" that you give me a suggestion; it doesn't have to be a good one, just something that you'd like to see.
 
Alrighty...so far there's been vote, and it's for something where the characters are Kilrathi. So let us discuss.

I think the most interesting time period in which to set a Kilrathi campaign would be sometime post-war; there's a great deal of potential for stories there, particularly given the events listed in WCRPG's timeline. Moreover, it wouldn't be a story that's been told already. I'd have to give some thoughts to specifics, of course. But that's as good of a place to start discussion as any.
 
Votes are sitting at one for a Bearcat campaign, one for a Kilrathi campaign. Occurs to me that the two need not necessarily be exclusive (i.e. I could combine those two ideas), but I'd have to have a pretty good premise.

A Bearcat campaign...since Confed's just starting to field them in 2673 and we don't see them in 2681, that's probably going to be limited to Lance hunting. I suppose the Bearcats could be relegated for use by the militias, and we could see them in the Nephilim War era. Going to need to think about that.

As far as the Kilrathi campaign idea is concerned, my thoughts keep going back to 1) the Indian Wars of the late 19th century and 2) the Demon's Eye Pack. What drives a Cat to piracy?

Would like to hear what y'all are thinking too.
 
I can think of any number of reasons a cat can go pirate. Kilra'hra are without title so any attempt for power, riches, glory, etc., would be a boon to an ambitious commoner seeking a better life. Nobles can be arrogant and/or pompous and would be happy to carve out a little barony all for themselves. In the fringe of space, power for a Kil comes down to how many bow to your power. Riches are just a catalyst to more power.

A Bearcat squadron is ideal even then. Perhaps the cats pirated a transport full of Bearcats I don't know. Ideas churning now. Perhaps the heros fly Bearcats?
 
I think the story would be even more compelling if we've got an honorable warrior out there who's trying to hold on to the old ways of doing things and it isn't working out so well...say, one who is slowly watching everybody around him starve to death while the powers that be do nothing about it (tack on the notion that this is a group of Kilrathi who have been relocated to a "reservation world"). It becomes a matter of "how far would you go", and "can you hold on to your honor". You make that honorable warrior the infamous "pirate" Bloodeye...and it puts a tragic twist on things when Confed finally sends Midway to quell his activities and his pack gets flash-incinerated.

I dunno...I may have to find my copy of Waypoint to see if that jives with that whole incident.
 
A Bearcat campaign...since Confed's just starting to field them in 2673 and we don't see them in 2681, that's probably going to be limited to Lance hunting. I suppose the Bearcats could be relegated for use by the militias, and we could see them in the Nephilim War era. Going to need to think about that.

I would also caution against assuming that Bearcats are out of the picture in 2681 because we don't see them in Prophecy/Secret Ops. Were it not for key missions in WCSO, we wouldn't have seen that there's a bunch of Thunderbolt VIIs still on active duty. Ditto for Longbows in 2701 thanks to some background imagery in WC Arena (despite allusions to their replacement in WCSO, so they may have been brought back for some reason... pretty much anything could come back for the right reason). Bearcats could be in hundreds of places, but just not where we happen to have a glimpse.

It may still be best to root a Bearcat story in something WC4-themed in order to give it a solid foundation, but it's not absolutely necessary.
 
Second vote for a Kilrathi campaign - that's two votes Kilrathi, one vote Bearcat.

Been reading up on the Demon's Eye Pack incident...looks like the main entry is on page 76 (of the Prophecy Gold manual anyway). Drake mentions it had been 58 days since they "took out the pirates in the Valgard system", so that would give me a timeframe for when that all happened. The whole thing reads like this:

Thirty-six Kilrathi convicted of piracy, murder, extortion and malicious disorder were executed 2681.014 at Valgard. Included in the mass execution was the pirate’s leader, Krahtagh N’Ryllis, AKA “Bloodeye.” The executions were carried out at 0700 at the Valgard Military Prison complex. The prisoners were executed as a group, by flash incineration.
The Kilrathi Provisional Counsel protested the executions. Although the Kilrathi did not dispute either the guilt of the accused nor the appropriateness of the sentence, they argued that the pirates should have been turned over to their own people for execution by traditional methods.
Sector Governor Stella Lee issued the following statement in response to the Kilrathi protest.“While the government of this sector appreciates the eagerness of the Kilrathi to assist in the process of justice, we strongly feel that it is important that these bloody murderers should meet their well-deserved fate at the hand of those they so brutally victimized. Therefore, we must respectfully refuse Kilrathi assistance in the
execution of this sentence.”
N’Ryllis and his followers, the so-called “Demon’s Eye Pack,” terrorized colonists and disrupted space traffic in Epsilon Sector for almost five months last year, until their base was taken by Confed Marines. Of the estimated 400 Kilrathi living in the pirate base, at least 300 were killed and the rest taken prisoner. Fifty-four females, children and slaves were released into Kilrathi custody, while Bloodeye and 35 followers were charged in a high-profile trial that resulted in capital convictions for all the accused.

There's a few more dates in the rules to help narrow down the time frame of the Valgard operation...it mentions a Senate debate having occurred on .016 and Blair finds Waypoint! in his email on 2681.023, so we can assume it was published sometime between .017 and .022. 58 days prior to that would be between 2680.325 and 2680.330 (sounds like a hell of a way to have to spend your Thanksgiving). "Five months" would've put the height of the group's activities beginning sometime around 2680.179.

Again, that's assuming I settle on the Demon's Eye Pack. And I know that the date of the initial Nephilim incursion is 2681.018...but that info isn't in Waypoint!, it's in the classified report to Blair.

Hang on a tick, there's an exact date in Star*Soldier for the Valgard Op - 2680.321. So, Drake would've written "58 days" on 2681.013, and the group's activities would've started reaching their peak sometime around 2680.168. I suppose that's not that far off my original estimate...

...perhaps 2680.168 is when they capture a number of Bearcats? I dunno. Something about a Cat squeezing into a Terran fighter doesn't quite make sense (where's the hole for the tail gonna go?). Maybe if the fighter was superior to what they had already...the Bearcat does have a higher SI than Darkets, Dralthi-IVs, Strakhas, Vaktoths , Razors, and Bloodfangs (though just barely on that last one). A pirate group would be lucky to have some of the heavier wartime designs...they'd probably also get somebody's attention sooner.
 
Finished up Vespus about forty minutes ago. Now comes the proofreading...

I am starting to try to figure out where to base the Pack, if I go with the idea of making the next campaign based on Bloodeye and his crew. I know they "terrorized Epsilon Sector" and that they were executed at Valgard, though it doesn't necessarily follow that they were based in Valgard...Vigrid or Bifrost are also strong possibilities. I don't know; there's a lot of places in Epsilon. I do note that there are only four Confederation systems in Epsilon; most of the Terran systems actually belong to the Border Worlds, so there's definitely abundant room for WC4 tie-ins.
 
Quick, somebody suggest a name for a Kilrathi pirate ship and a Kilrathi warship - it can be in English if you can't think of anything that sounds like you're coughing up phlegm.

Alternatively, if anyone knows the name of the Fralthi-II that gets blown up just before the H'rekkah series of Prophecy (the one that Dekker's men are investigating in the very first mission), I could use that.

Had a thought this morning; trying to get it down.
 
Taking from canonical sources documented here on the CIC there are two names I like for each craft, as suggestions:

Kilrathi piracy vessel - Nargrast: A Kilrathi mythological Hell. Harakh - literally, "Shit" (depending on the mentality of the commander)

Kilrathi warship - Kabaka: "Heroic Death" (for its own warriors as much as foes) or Brrajakh Kar: "Fortress of the Dark."

First four I liked the most but don't take my word for it, try this link:
https://www.wcnews.com/articles/art18.shtml

Should have heard this one name of a vessel of the Kzin from Known Space, if I had the book in front of me (dad's collection) translated as, "Nesting Slash-Toothed Bitch." I lmao'd all over the place the first time I read that.
 
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I too usually turn to the glossary for Kilrathi phrases; makes me wonder I hadn't thought of doing that yet. "Revenge" is a common enough pirate ship name and it certainly is a concept the Cats would be familiar with...

Kabaka would be a good name; I'll probably go with it.
 
Still at three votes...something tells me that's all I'm going to get. So, I'll do a Kilrathi campaign.

I think the Elegy campaign as I've proposed it would make for a pretty compelling story, but I still have time to do something different. What do y'all think about it?
 
#cast_spell_of_greater_thread_necromancy

Should have heard this one name of a vessel of the Kzin from Known Space, if I had the book in front of me (dad's collection) translated as, "Nesting Slash-Toothed Bitch." I lmao'd all over the place the first time I read that.

I've got enough work done on the language now to take a stab at a translation. It's not an exact one, but here goes:

Kilavalks Nagdakekh Vrax

That translates to "Fuck(ing) Slash-Tooth Angry Female". I think it captures the proper spirit of the phrase...

I've got a quite different name selected from the PC ship at this point, of course, but there's still the Crimson Claw to consider.
 
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