Hello travelers! Firstly just a quick reminder to
check in to the AC post if you haven’t already. If there’s any issues with how things are spelled or laid out in the
Taken List or the
Accommodation please leave a comment
here!
Welcome to our first worldhop destination, the
Wild West. Originally the Captain did not plan to stop here. He was going to intercept the train, take the crystal and leave. Unfortunately, either because of the miscalculation (intercepting a moving train is difficult, who knew?) or the navigational system failing, instead of a simple ‘grab and go’, the ship will arrive approximately 25 minutes’ walk away from the town of Red Oaks, on the other side of the river.

The ship will remain on the ground to assess the fire damage, restore essential services, and refill its oxygen stores. Characters will be asked to leave the ship while it is under maintenance. They will be staying at the local inn during their time here. While guests can interact with the locals, it is requested that guests do not drink any unboiled water offered to them as it is directly from the stream and people of this time do not have the same understanding of infection and diseases. Stick to coffee, tea, beer, or boil the water first. It is possible to use illness to sit out these events but characters are probably better off trying to persuade the ship staff to stay on board the ship while they work or go off exploring the outskirts if they would rather not participate than sitting around feeling sorry for themselves.
There are no signups and the objectives are fairly freeform. For this setting there will be moderate amounts of NPC involvement but the primary interactions should be with the other played characters, not with the NPCs.
Writing ChallengeThis month’s writing challenge is:
Hungarian Phrasebook!This is just an optional fun little thing that will change every month. Most of the time you will be asked to use or avoid certain words or expressions. For the month of June, if you incorporate any of the following words into your tags somehow - “Bouncy”, “Eel”, “Hovercraft”, “Nipples”, “Six” - you will boost your character’s chances of success with whatever primary or secondary objective your character is tackling. Any permutation of the word is allowed e.g. bouncing, bounced, bounces, ‘as slippery as an eel’, ‘sixth sense’ etc. Humour and creativity is encouraged.
Prologue: Disembarking the ShipThe tailoring team has rushed through making setting-appropriate clothes for the guests. Guests are expected to stop by and get suited up before setting off to Red Oaks. There will be an opportunity for guests to mingle here and also this allows for anyone who would rather play out things that take place on board the ship (restaurant encounters, roommate CR etc.)
Primary Objective: Retrieve the CrystalThe main event in the Wild West setting is the train heist. The train will not be stopping at Red Oaks but it is due to pass through in three days’ time. The overwhelming majority of the Hygge crew are civilians, with only the Captain and some of the engineering staff having an intergalactic military background. He will request the assistance of willing guests to board the train and retrieve the crystal.
However, news has traveled fast across the Frontier of a precious jewel on board the train. A team of dangerous bandits will be boarding the train a few minutes before it passes through Red Oaks. Esteemed guests will have to race and fight against the bandits to get to the crystal first.
If the crystal is lost to the bandits, the ship may be stuck in the desert and unable to return to where it was docked to retrieve any survivors in the transport pods. Those pods do not have food or water and survivors will likely not be able to survive with the minimal oxygen supply inside. No pressure?
The bandits already have a headstart so guests will have to work smart and work fast to get ahead. Those who are more combat-oriented may choose to take the bandits head on while the more slippery ones with quicker hands might be better going straight after the crystal. Of course, all this is moot if you can’t get your horse to go in one direction, so you may want to get a bit of riding practice in first before even attempting to jump from your horse to the carriage.
NPCs will be randomly popping into threads for the primary objective.
hyggemods will be playing the parts of the various NPCs involved, as terrified train riders, menacing bandits, the confused conductor.
If you DO NOT want NPCs showing up in your train heist thread please put “no NPCs” at the end of your subject line. If you participate in the writing challenge you are likely to have bandits miss their shots and passengers less likely to jeopardise themselves and your character. It is not necessary to wait for an NPC response once one has dropped into your thread - please keep going with your threading partner and the NPCs will pop up sporadically.
If the train heist should fail, there will be an opportunity to pursue the bandits making off with the crystal and try to rob the wagon that the crystal is being transported on. Everyone participating in the train heist will receive a notification from
hyggemods if the event should fail and a separate writeup will come up for ‘Plan B’.
Secondary Objective: Assist Red OaksIn order to acquire the horses, munitions and other equipment to pull off the train heist, it is important for the displaced guests to gain the cooperation and trust of the locals. To this end, there will be three ‘side quests’ that characters can do that will boost the guests’ standing among the locals and help secure the required resources.
Assist the SheriffMrs. Robinson’s husband was fatally shot the night before the ship landed. His body has not yet been found. Help the sheriff locate the murderer.
Repair the ChurchThe local church has holes in the roof, broken pews, flaking paint, and other odd jobs that need a helping hand. Help the locals restore the church to its former glory.
Feed the PeopleFollowing the restoration of the church, after the Sunday morning service everyone in town will be having a celebration outside the church in the courtyard. There will be food, music, dance. Help to ensure the party wraps up without incident by lending a hand with the cooking, serve the food, keep the peace, clean up afterwards etc.
There will be no NPCs popping randomly into the second or third side quests so you may handwave these interactions. As you thread out these secondary objectives your character’s names will be placed under the headings as having attempted/completed the side quests.
hyggemods will be playing the part of the Sheriff should you choose to talk to him for the first objective, but only if you initiate contact with him. If you participate in the writing challenge the Sheriff may be more trusting and you may receive more clues.
Epilogue: Leaving the FrontierIf the crystal has been successfully retrieved, it will be installed back in the ship’s engine room and it will start to power on all functions normally. The fire damage was too extensive so the vacated rooms are still uninhabitable. You will still be staying with your current roommates. However the pool will reopen and the ship will be returning to where it was docked in time for the TDM, where the next mission will be to retrieve the heat shielding from a rather mercurial daimyō…
That’s right! For July we will be headed to
Feudal Japan. The Muromachi period features warlords, samurai, ninja and courtesans - they won’t be giving up their newfound technology without a fight!
Feel free to plot with each other below - the event thread will go up on the 1st of June. Apologies for the delay with this announcement post!