Jam Session #1 - Orbital Blues
I’ve been a fan of Cowboy Bebop and Firefly for several years and when SoulMuppet Publishing launched their Orbital Blues Kickstarter back in… 2020? (Time has no meaning to me these days) I was very excited. One of my playgroups had attempted a Space Western style game using the Scum & Villainy ruleset and while we had fun, I’d venture and say we had fun despite the game we were playing, not because of it. I’m not trying to say that S&V (or any other Forged in the Dark game) is bad, it just wasn’t for our particular group.
My copy of Orbital Blues arrived a few months back after some COVID-related delays and after some schedule arranging four players and myself (the GM) sat down at the table and started telling our Orbital Blues story. Buckle up, because this post will be a long one. If you want to go straight to the summary, scroll on down to Jam Session #1: Orbital Blues.
Setting: The Solar System, 2264 A.D.
Humanity has managed to expand and colonize all of the terrestrial planets and several of the moons in the Solar System thanks to the use of Skip Drives, an incredible piece of technology invited by Dr. Hajime. Space is big, in case you didn’t know, and travel through it takes time. But the Skip Drive reduces this time by effectively “folding space,” turning trips that would once have taken months or years into trips that only take weeks, days, or sometimes even hours. Most ships contained portable Skip Drives to allow for short-distance travel (relatively speaking) while larger Skip Gates were placed in permanent orbit around planets and moons, essentially creating highway corridors between the Solar System’s various celestial bodies.
The formerly Earth-bound corporations seized the initiative and took the stars, quickly colonizing and terraforming the various moons and planets now suddenly at their fingertips. Terraforming, unfortunately, is incredibly expensive and time consuming, and most corporations were looking to cut corners wherever possible. This has resulted in most of the System’s planets and moons being brought to the bare-minimum of human habitability while the major cities and settlements were made more “Earth-like” in their comfort levels and livability. Well… maybe Earth from a century or two ago, as the planet itself is wasteland where it’s not city, and city where it’s not wasteland as the various megacorporations and zaibatsus have had their way with the little blue dot. Oh, and it rains just like, a whole lot there these days.
In the last century two major powers have risen up in the System: the Parliamentary Alliance and the Imperial Khanate. The Parliamentary Alliance is a conglomeration of various megacorporations and zaibatsus controlling interests and operating in the Inner System (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and their respective moons and satellites). While their public face is that of a free market unbeholden to any governmental body, a group known as the Board runs the show. Meanwhile, the Imperial Khanate was formed when Imperial Logistics was the target of a hostile takeover by Khan Industries. In a surprisingly medieval move, the president of Khan Industries married his son to the sister of Imperial Logistics’ founder - essentially breaking any illusion of the Outer System (Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, Pluto, and their moons) being a “free market.” Dividing the two factions is the Meteor Belt (more commonly called “The Belt”), which remains the wild and untamed home of ravager clans and self-proclaimed freefolk.
Despite their best efforts, neither major power has managed to fully pacify the System, resulting hundreds of various criminal enterprises. Smuggling, extortion, and all manner of crime runs rampant, and with their own MPs and Mardets stretched thin, bounty hunting has been legalized by both entities in an attempt to keep some semblance of order in the seedier parts of the Solar System. This is the stage upon where our campaign will be set…
The Characters: The Crew of the Mississippi Queen
Sirius Wang, the Survivor: Hailing from Ceres in the Belt, Sirius grew up as a pickpocket and street urchin. Determined to get out of Ceres, at some point in his past Sirius committed an act he ain’t proud of and made his way in the System. At some point or another he found himself in Khanate space and managed to win an old gambling barge named the Mississippi Queen in a game of chance. The ship came with a snarky A.I. system nicknamed “Monty” and a single crew member - Cher Pepasi. While Sirius doesn't lord it over the crew, he is the de facto captain of the ship.
Cher Pepasi, the Dancer: An adult dancer from the moon Io, Cher was employed by the former owner of the Mississippi Queen and decided to stick around after Sirius won it. So far a fairly quiet individual seemingly content to “go along to get along.” Is by-and-large viewed as something of a kid by the rest of the crew for his seeming inexperience as an interplanetary outlaw. For his own part, Pepasi is trying to figure out how to make his way in the System without having to constantly live in the shadow of his father - an infamous thief known to many in the System’s seedy underbelly.
Glenallen Mixon II, the Artist: A trust fund kid from Gan Di City on the moon Ganymede, Glenallen decided to ditch his life of luxury in pursuit of his artistic passions - something his controlling parents "never got." He met up with Sirius sometime after this and joined the crew. Spends nearly all of his free time working on artistic projects, which the rest of the crew seemingly also "doesn't get." Worries that he may not, in fact, be a very good artist. Still has access to his trust fund and more or less pays the crew's bills when there aren't any jobs.
Kuru Toga, the Cleaner: The latest addition to the crew of the Mississippi Queen, Kuru Toga was formerly a member of The Golden Girls, a middling hit squad in the Outer System. After a job went south enough to nearly get the Girls killed to a person, they split up and Toga (formerly known as “Rose”) found himself wandering through space alone. A night of particularly intense debauchery brought Toga to the Mississippi Queen where he protected Glenallen from a violent patron on the bad end of a losing streak. Since then Toga has served the crew as their heavy, using his knowledge of weapons and the darker corners of the underworld to help them stay ahead of the competition.
Jam Session #1: “Orbital Blues”
New Galveston Beat Arc Theme Song: “Getting Down” by The Kills // Session Intro Song: “25 or 6 to 4” by Chicago
Alright, I promise that moving forward these posts will be much shorter (well… I guess that depends on what happens in each session) and focused more on what the Crew is doing and less on dumping exposition on you. Our first session, kicking off the “New Galveston Beat” Arc, opens up with the Crew on their way to New Galveston, a major trade port on the watery moon of Europa, Jupiter System. The crew has been together for a month or two at this time and have kept the lights on, engines running, and pantry full hoping from one small-time gig to another. Their persistence and relative professionalism has handed them their first real job - a contract with one Chilong, a capo with the notorious Fu Syndicate. Chilong needed a trio of crates that formerly belonged to Tanegashima Arms to be relocated to the Rising Dragon Lounge in New Galveston.
Fortunately, the job paid well at 4 Credits. Unfortunately, gunrunning is super illegal in Khanate space, forcing the crew to figure out how to get from Xihe Station, Saturn System (where they acquired the crates) to Europa. While the Mississippi Queen possesses a Skip Drive, it would still take the better part of three weeks to get from one planet to the other, and even the smallest delay at that point would probably put them outside their delivery window and likely make an enemy of the Fu Syndicate - not something an enterprising smuggling operation wants to do. Unable to go through an officially sanctioned Skip Gate, which would involve a scan of the ship’s hold and a review of its manifest, the crew of the Mississippi Queen opted for a "Black Gate” - the common spacer’s slang for an old Skip Gate officially listed as decommissioned.
While incredibly dangerous (most Black Gates were decommed for a reason), using a Black Gate would allow the Crew to bypass any security checks. They reached out to Ripley, the A.I. operating the Black Gate near the Xihe Station and ponied up the cred necessary to use the Gate. While Ripley made it clear that they wouldn’t be able to jump directly to Europa (as there weren’t any other Black Gates near the moon), they would at least be brought into the Jupiter System. The city-sized computer ran the necessary calculations and a few hours later the Mississippi Queen was staring at the Eye of Jupiter.
Their destination was still several days away even with the ship’s own Skip Drive, so the Crew decided to try their luck with a smaller Planetary Gate, which tended to be less rigorously regulated than the Gates connecting one planetary system to another. Hoping to add a layer of deception to their plan, Sirius ordered the ship’s A.I. to run the engines “a little dirty,” figuring that any gate attendant would focus on that more so than the ship’s manifest. The plan paid off, and a poor sap named Greg played right into Sirius’s plan. Promises were made, friendly words exchanged, and the Mississippi Queen passed through the Gate and arrived in New Galveston.
Docking was simple, but as the Crew was preparing to unload their goods a half-dozen or so individuals showed up stating that they were sent by “Kot” to deliver the crates to the Rising Dragon Lounge. Initially prepared to hand over the delivery, Glenallen had second doubts and the would-be thieves, losing their patience, played their hand and attempted to seize the crates by force. The Crew of the Mississippi Queen handled themselves capably in the ensuring firefight, laying out each of the thugs without suffering any harm themselves. The local constabulary (the Imperial Khanate’s Mardet Corps) arrived to lockdown the crime scene. Glenallen chatted up the captain of the Mardet force and learned that the gang that tried to take the crates was the local Rainbow Gang, a group of thugs petitioning to join the much larger Why-Oh Gang - a known rival enterprise to the Fu Syndicate.
Fearing additional ambush, the Crew decided to split up. Sirius, Glenallen, and Cher would head into New Galveston to speak with Chilong while Rose would stay with the ship and guard the delivery. After hiring an Auto-Taxi to get into New Galveston’s Uptown district, the trio stopped in a local noodle bar called The Train to Neo Edo to grab lunch and scout out the Rising Dragon Lounge. Chatting with the sardonic counter attendant Mei revealed a bit more about the Fu Syndicate’s operations in New Galveston and Chilong and his lounge in particular. The local authorities tended to look the other way when it came to Chilong’s operations, as he kept most of the violence under the rug and prevented groups like the Rainbow Gang from getting any real traction.
As the Crew left the Train to Neo Edo, the scene cut away to Mei informing the owner that she found Chilong’s couriers. The owner sighed, picked up the phone, and called his boss to deliver the news.
With a belly full of noodles, the trio went into the Rising Dragon Lounge (after ditching a tail of indeterminant origin) and informed an employee that they had arrived to speak with Chilong. They were escorted to a high roller’s suite and promised that Chilong would be with them shortly. The capo arrived within the hour and after a bit of initial annoyance at hearing that the goods were still on the ship and that the Rainbow Gang had tried to seize them, Chilong paid up and sent a team to collect the crates. Impressed with the Crew’s rapid delivery and their handling of the Rainbow Gang speedbump, the Fu Syndicate capo gave them some house money for the evening and invited them to stay the night. He also hinted at the prospect of future employment, should the Mississippi Queen be interested and available…
The Crew, now left alone in a fine establishment, decided to enjoy some much-earned reward. Sirius indulged in some recreational opium, indulging a long-held vice, while Cher (perhaps drawn to his former life) went to watch some live entertainment. It was there that he encountered Kazunori Sato, a renowned retired hover racer. Sato had noticed Cher rubbing elbows with Chilong earlier and was interested in hiring the young man to help fix an upcoming race between his old rival Adderly Jiang and Sato’s son Yuji. Unable to commit at the time, Cher promised to bring it up with the Crew in the morning, for which Sato was quite grateful.
Meanwhile, a somewhat despondent Glenallen stepped out the Lounge, the opulence and his own threadbare bank account reminding him of the life he ran away from to pursue his artistic dreams. As a light rain washed over the city of New Galveston, Glenallen wandered back to the Train to Neo Edo to return a borrowed ramen bowl and contemplate the path his life had taken, earning his first Blues.
The opening notes of “Getting Down” by The Kills began to play as the credits rolled. Sirius was living it up, alternating his time between the gambling hall and the opium den. Cher was enjoying a live show and a margarita, Glenallen was sitting in the corner of the ramen bar absently working on another piece of art, and Toga was asleep in a hammock he strung up in the Mississippi Queen’s cargo hold - a hideous stray cat contentedly purring on his chest.
This is scheduled to be a monthly game, so updates may be sparse. As I said before, future posts will be more focused on what the Crew does and less on the worldbuilding - I just happen to be long-winded and enjoy sharing my ideas (good or bad) with an audience. As music is an important part of Orbital Blues, with many of its inspirations being well-known and regarded for their soundtracks and styles (and the rulebooks sprinkling lyrics to various songs throughout its pages) we decided to create a soundtrack for the campaign, which you can check out on Spotify. As we continue to play, new songs will be added to introduce each Session, Arc, and Swan Song.
