Happy Sunday from the cargo bay!

Episode 4 - "Redemption Road," is under way.  The mysterious Sister Lyen Giu has entered our lives, and looks to have Cap'n setting up for the next run.  Now that Rex Black has departed with the Headhunters MC, Yuri's pulling double duty as First Mate and Mechanic 'til he can find a suitable wrench turner.  Of course, sight of Quill Cassidy just about made him forget everything, including his name.  Hook's keeping it on the DL right now, but there is a fresh pot of coffee.  Edina Wyman's searching for a book shop, and Alana's got Abby in the medbay after her time with the bikers.

In RL, [@Gunther] is off with the fam for a week's vacation, so we may not see him while he's having serious fun.  Yours Truly is headed for Dallas, and a week in the belly of the corporate beast.  It may limit my availability to chat or JP, but I don't anticipate writing to be totally interrupted.  If you've got a JP idea involving Yuri  or Abby, don't hesitate to put it out there.  

[@PatientBean] offered a strong introduction for Quill Cassidy, our new Companion.  We're eagerly anticipating first efforts from [@Theyra] and [@udonoodles] as well.  If you haven't done so, you're both welcome to add your CS to the "Characters" tab and get an introductory post into IC.

Wolf and I are planning "Redemption Road" to be brief, our purpose being the welcoming of new characters and setting some plot points that will affect the longterm arc.  Some of our new folks are starting out as passengers who're likely to see things that'll offer them the choice of either avoiding the next caper, or leaping "in for a penny, in for a pound" with the crew.  That decision will be theirs...and yours.  We know it can sometimes be difficult to navigate a new character into the dealings of an established group (sorta like real life).  Wolf and I are always ready to help you settle in, so please reach out.

Oh yeah!  Happy Birthday, FF2V!  We officially started 7/1/21.  Everybody have a slice of cake and cup of that punch!

The fact we've got a year under our belts seems the opportune moment to discuss time in game.   If we were sticklers about this, the recorded exploits of China Doll would seem to span just a few weeks.  However, written RPG's tend to pack a great deal of action and development into this compressed time, with friendships, romances, and histories beginning and ending in impossibly short spans.  At that pace, we might be celebrating FF2V's 2nd year before we break a month of elapsed game time.

Our solution lies in the episodic nature of our approach.  The "Firefly" TV series did not run in linear time, which allowed gaps between episodes. We'll observe the calendar year.  Ere go, today is July 10, 2522.  Abigail Travis has a birthday in August, and it's rumored that Cal and Guy Fawkes might be sharing a day in November.   Before your head explodes over all the "dead time" in between, those voids can be filled as either "time in the black" or "nothing much happened on the last couple runs."   We hope that's not too off kilter.

Speaking of time, I'm officially out.  Hope you all have a great week.

Write When it's Fun,

sail