By Gregg Giles

Referee, you’re going to eventually have to figure out who the characters are, and what duty they have on the expedition. This shouldn’t be so hard, since the expedition is more than a mere fleet of ships jumping from world to world – it is an armada of naval, exploration, merchant and hundreds of support ships. Characters can literally be put into any possible duty, such as technician, ship’s troops, logistics officer, bridge officer, thought police (which itself can bring about some interesting opportunities for an exciting game!), gig pilot, medic, or even an astronomer that is helping chart the armada’s path. Let the expertise of your characters decide their duties. Don’t be afraid to give your characters a starship, particularly if one of them is a noble or high-ranking military officer – here, mobility can be your key to escape deadly boredom. When play starts winding down, have the fleet commander order them to explore a nearby system or world.

Naval fighting ships are common in the expeditions, so don’t be afraid to delegate command of one to a character (only avoid massive firepower gunships and dreadnaughts!)

I must warn you not to let players try to play General Kriavr. Putting an armada at the hands of a character will almost certainly ruin the atmosphere of the game. It’s similar to how the filthy rich get easily bored because they can go anywhere and do almost anything they want to. Controlling the armada is just the same. Kriavr is an NPC and must stay that way.

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