Artemis Bridge Simulator at MidSouthCon!

Yes, I know it's been a long time since my last post here, but honestly we haven't done anything new and different with the table so it would have just been more pics of the same group playing at the same table, which would have been exceedingly boring.

However, now we've done something different with Brian's "Ubergeek Game Table."

FAQ:

Before anyone asks, let me go over a couple of things;

1) I didn't build this, nor do I own it. One of the guys in the pics named Brian did.
2) Sorry, but there are no plans or schematics for it. Brian just kinda winged it and built the thing. He didn't keep any notes. Come to a convention or event where Brian takes it and ask him about it. He's happy to talk about it, but he can't give you any paperwork on how to build it.


So, we've been playing something called Artemis Bridge Simulator at the local SciFi/Game Conventions here in Memphis thanks to a couple of Bridge Crews from Arkansas, but this time neither of them could make it. One crew had another commitment and the owner of the other Bridge setup moved away to the Great White North. So we decided to attempt to use Brian's table.

Go check out Artemis Bridge Simulator so you know what I'm talking about;



Here is the basic setup:

We have one computer and 27 inch monitor for the Server/Main Screen, a laptop that is running the projection table and another laptop for a GM Station. For the crew we have two desktop computers for Helm(with Joystick) and Weapons stations. We also have 4 Android tablets for the other crew stations. One tablet is for a spare and also for an extra bridge crew station during the RPG Session(more on that later).

Here's a pic from the GM's seat. GM Laptop is on the right, with the laptop feeding the projector for the Captain's Map on the left. And of course the all important "GM Fuel" (food, drink and cough drops) in the middle. ;)

Next up are some pics of various crew enjoying some basic battle scenarios;

The Captain's Map in use during a battle;

On Sat night I had setup a RPG session using Artemis. This was an experiment to see how well I could pull it together, how well it would be received and if I even wanted to continue to do something like it in the future. The session was named, "Flight of the Vulture." It was about a crew of pirates using a stolen experimental Terran Space Navy ship to fly through area of space immediately after a battle to glean what they could from any surviving ships or wreckage and then get out to sell their ill-gotten booty.

Here are some pics;

In the pic above you can see the Science Officer behind the Weapons Station, and the Captain behind Helm. The Comm Officer(Battle Management) looks on from the far side of the table and the Mission Specialists/Away Team on the near side. For those of you who are Artemis Veterans, you are probably saying, "What do you mean Mission Specialists or Away Team?!" Well, I decided to blend Artemis with a very generic SciFi Homebrew system for some additional fun. During the battle there were some opportunities for the Captain to send an away team to go "take care of business up close and personal" while the battle raged on. The extra crew members were an Assitant Engineer(Scrounger/Damage Control Specialist), Assistant Comm with ground combat experience and a Computer Specialist(i.e. Hacker). Here's a pic of the Mission Specialist Team;

In the above pic, you can see the Engineer on the far right(close to the camera), across the table from Right to Left:
Brian(builder and owner of the table) playing the Asst Engineer
Comm Officer
Asst Comm
Hacker(in the blue hat)

Action Shot of the Captain coordinating the actions of Helm, Weapons and Science;

All in all it went pretty good. I learned a lot of what to do and not to do. Everyone said they had fun and that they'd play this type of scenario again, so I guess that means I'm going to do it again sometime. :)

I learned a lot about scripting missions for Artemis, even though somethings went wrong and I didn't learn to do everything I wanted to do until too late, but that means that my next scenario will be even better!

After the main scenario most of the crew stayed around to play some random battle scenarios and it was during this time we had a couple of "Special Guest Captains" show up unannounced and take over giving orders for a short while;

So

*no, those last two are NOT photoshopped. :)

So, until next time(meaning it might be a while before we figure out what else do do with this monstrosity). Have fun! Come see us at one of the Memphis Cons. If you see this table setup for a RPG, Artemis and/or anything else, don't hesitate to belly up to the table and game with us. Or just stop and ask anything you want to know about it.