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This adventure is set in 1936, aboard an experimental rigid airship, the Morgana. Designed by expatriate German engineer Dr. August Ringstrom with funding from British millionaire Robert St. John Pennington, the Morgana is a smaller than the mammoth passenger airships of the Zeppelin company. Compared to other airships, it is both fast and agile, equipped with the latest engine and propeller technology and a lighter, stronger framework personally designed by Dr. Ringstrom.

The Morgana's maiden flight will be from Portsmouth in southern England to Bridgeport, Connecticut. A small group of well-connected passengers are sure to be aboard, but at present, other than Dr. Ringstrom and his patron Mr. Pennington, the only other confirmed passenger is reclusive American millionaire Reginald Monday.


So... who are you, and what are you doing on my airship?

Seriously. Before choosing your abilities, disabilities, and skills, think about what sort of person would be riding aboard this vehicle. I'd prefer not to have player character millionaires, so you'll need some other reason. Perhaps you are part of the crew? Or a journalist, aboard for the story that will make your career? Or you might be a personal assistant to one of the aforementioned men; if you are an assistant to Dr. Ringstrom, perhaps you are an engineer or scientist of some sort.

When generating your character, rather than rolling for the number of skill picks, just assume you've rolled a 5. Go ahead and present your character's "statistics" in the forum, in the "Characters" thread. Then I'll tell you what you come aboard carrying, and if you wish to request something additional, you should post your request there. Remember that you are boarding an airship... large and/or heavy items, or indeed any luggage exceeding a total of 100 pounds, will not be allowed aboard.

If you have questions or comments about this campaign, please post them in this thread (so that everyone can benefit from the answers).

Just getting things ready here. I'll be posting "game aids" here:

http://basicfantasy.org/tsgs/

Right now, you'll find the Duty Roster for the Morgana as a PDF. It lists the entire crew, but not the entire staff... there are three cooks who are not in the chain of command, who will be introduced later.

I've just posted the gondola deck plans of the Morgana to the site listed above.

All aboard!

I've posted Chapter I, so you might all go take a look.

This is a learning experience for me; mistakes will surely be made, but I think this might end up being very enjoyable. I'm looking forward to it.

Let me recommend that you all choose the option at the bottom of the main forum page to "subscribe forum" so you'll get email notifications when one of us creates a new thread. However, if you don't want to do that, at least subscribe to this thread; I'll try to remember to post here whenever I start a new chapter.

Here are some pictures you might find interesting:

A cabin interior shot. The Morgana's cabin windows are more upright (that is, more like traditional windows) but the fixtures and furnishings are very much like this.


What the main corridor looks like. Narrow, eh?


Lounge furniture.


Dr. Ringstrom was employed by the Zeppelin firm, but left after several differences of opinion with the management. It's not surprising, then, that the interior of the gondola strongly resembles Zeppelin interiors. Besides, there are only so many ways to build an airship gondola... you are short of space and have to be very weight-conscious when building such a vessel. For that reason, the classical artwork decorating the back wall of the Lounge is painted directly on the wall panels rather than framed and hung there.

Oh very neat, and most of the interior is not build to react well to bullets!

What about the main envelope, what kind of passages are in there? Are there separate cells for gas connected with triangle suspensions?

The gas envelope consists of a number of helium cells, supported by an ingenious space frame designed by Dr. Ringstrom; he expects it to be much stronger than the standard Zeppelin designs, owing to the fact that he has allowed a judicious amount of flexibility while ensuring that the ship's performance and handling won't be compromised by it. Tests have confirmed his expectations.

A tunnel runs along the bottom of the superstructure, above the gondola and just inside the envelope, running fore and aft. In the front, the tunnel becomes a staircase of sorts, leading to a small viewing area (called the "Crow's Nest" in the plans) which has a large circular window, an uncomfortably small seat, and a telephone connected to the bridge. Aft, the tunnel runs to the engine room, embedded within the gas envelope. Two large engines are positioned at angles in this room, balancing their weight while allowing their drive shafts to feed into a single gearbox; an angled upright shaft transfers the collected power to the twin props mounted above and below the tail. It is by turning the props on their pylons that the helmsman steers the ship left and right. A horizontal tail wing with elevators provides guidance in a vertical direction. The walls and ceilings of all the tunnels and rooms in the envelope are composed of tough yet lightweight fabric sealed with aluminized dope, stretched over a framework of aluminum spars.

The overall design keeps the center of gravity of the dirigible very low, aiding in stability and providing a smooth ride.

As previously indicated, the spiral staircase in the gondola connects to a room on top of the gondola, walled and ceilinged in fabric, where the fuel and drinking water tanks are located. It is from this room that the tunnels run fore and aft.

Incidentally, the gondola is positioned ahead of the center of the superstructure, to balance the weight of the engines, props, and tail wings.

here are some interior shots of the Graf Zeppelin which is much closer sizewise to what Solomoriah (our sun, our moon, our starlit sky) has shown us than the Hindiburg. http://www.airships.net/lz127-graf-zeppelin/interiors

the hindeburg http://www.airships.net/hindenburg/interiors The piano is shown, and the rooms look more like the morgana, but there are just way too many of them and the public areas are too big.