"Help fix the ship?!? That's a job for the crew! I'm on vacation!"

players: Megan, Evan, Ben

We wanted to play a lighter Kingdom and after taking a couple of different ideas and swirling them together we decided on a luxury starliner, The Intrepid Princess, that had been lost in space for several years.

Did this little hiccup stop the ever-diligent stewards, bartenders and entertainment directors from making this the very bestest cruise this side of the Crab Nebula? No it did not! A hundred and fifty weeks overdue on a one-week cruise and the passengers of The Intrepid Princess were still guzzling Mai Tai's, sunbathing poolside under whatever star was closest, and dancing the nights away in the transparent stellar ballroom while the glittering dust of the cosmos swirled beneath their feet.

For some passengers, this is paradise. A luxury cruise that never ends? For Ronald Loman (Ben) that's a lot better than going back to a middle management job optimizing mass transit for a fledgling colony world. His only worry is that they'll fix the nav system and find a way home.

For other passengers, it is a nightmare. Piper (Megan) was only 13 when the cruise started and now she's fast on her way to being an adult -- well, once she gets past her "angry know-it-all teen" phase. Trapped on a luxury liner with a bunch of tacky middle-aged vacationers is not how most young girls dream of spending their adolescence, particularly when you want to go to Space Harvard and learn about science and math and stuff, not just sit around playing bingo or shuffleboard for the rest of your life.

What about the crew? Well some couldn't really tell the difference between paradise and nightmare anymore. Rick ("just, Rick") (Evan) had the job of keeping the passengers entertained. No. Matter. What. Exactly how much bingo could someone play before they went start raving mad? Rick was going to find out.


We played a sharp division between passengers and crew, maintaining the slightly deranged formality of a cruise ship as everyone tried to politely ignore the crisis (and the embarrassing hole in the hull where the Captain and a lot of the bridge crew had been sucked out years ago).

We also hit on an excellent divide between people who wanted to go home (i.e. the sane ones) and the passengers who *loved* their eternal vacation and all the tropical drinks with the little umbrellas. Sure drinks weren't covered in the price of your ticket, but if you never got home you'd never have to pay your tab! Bottoms up!

Grumpy teen Piper, the only voice of reason, was a great protagonist. Rick screwing her over by drafting her into crew service and then Megan taking that and launching her career as the draconian junior officer whipping the ship back into shape was great, despite the passengers staging a whiny and eventually drunken revolt, followed by a sorrowful capitulation while crippled by massive hangovers.

I also thought it was perfect that deranged Rick invoked Space Law ("Space Law!") to regain control but was forced to come out of his lair, act normal, and take on the mantle of Captain, which might have been the single thing he least wanted to do. Oh and I loved the awkward conversations between Ronald and Piper about Ronald dating Piper's mom: "Now Piper, I know I'm not your real Dad…" So cringingly fun.

Megan and Evan, if you want to a copy of the rules drop me a line and I'll send you the link.