Wyrms

One of the plot hooks I gave my players leads to a Wyrm SDS ships being built in Galveston, TX. The only information on them is listed on page 189 of Jihad Hotspots: Terra. This kinda of loose briefing information is, to my mind, ideal for a campaign hook -- a few hard facts, a few dates to orient the plot device in the timeline, and the rest at the gamemaster's discretion. Let's go over what's known about the Wyrm, what I've added so far, and the directions this might go.

The Wyrm was built as a Terran SDS platform to counter the fact that ComStar already knew the locations of all ground-based SDS systems, and could use that to their advantage if they ever attempted to retake the planet. Construction started 3058 or 3059, shortly after the Word of Blake took Terra, but the first system wouldn't launch until 3072, meaning if they played any role in Case White at all, they were firing from the pier. By the time of the Coalition's assault in 3078, twelve hulls would have been completed.

The specific vessel being built in Texas that the party knows of is Wyrm #7. Whether or not this is the seventh or the eighth hull (implying a Wyrm #0) I'm leaving as wiggle room for myself. I know enough about the history of shipbuilding to know that ships don't necessarily complete in the order they are started, let alone the order their numbers are assigned, so I can have this ship completed as early as 3072 if I would like. Likely, its time of completion will depend on when the party gets around to dealing with it.

The Wyrm is also enormous -- six hexes long and five wide at its wing turrets --180 meters by 150 meters, and 60 meters from keel to bridge. It is an ideal environment to run a covert adventure in, especially late in the game. I envision this plot arc as being a number of missions to interfere with the ship's construction culminating in an attempt to destroy it during its launch, or perhaps during the Coalition assault at the climax of the campaign -- forcing the ship to surface so that space-borne fire can annihilate it seems a fantastic session.

From a plot perspective, this hook is my catch-all; anything I need to introduce into the campaign that I haven't already covered with another hook can go here. The original introduction hook had to do with TerraSec trying to requisition Wyrm #7 for themselves, and the yardmaster arguing that it was stupid beyond words for the law enforcement branch of the government to have an SDS system. Whether that was a miscommunication or if there's something more there is something I can use going forward to guide the campaign in the direction I need it to go.

A brief editorial note: Monday is a major national holiday in the United States, and this weekend I'll be away on a family vacation spending time with my nephew, so there may not be a regularly-scheduled posting on Monday. Fear not, though, as we'll pick up Tuesday, July 5th.